Did you hear about what happened to Maziar Bahari? The Basij and the Revolutionary Guard are holding the real power in Iran right now, and they've gone completely insane. They thought a Daily Show spoof was real espionage and jailed and tortured a man because of it.
I want a legally-hassle-free, open operating system. There's no point if it has to become closed/non-free (by injecting more and more proprietary parts) in order to get the majority of the market... we already have such a system, so why go through all the pain for _zero_ gain?
Because it's not zero gain and Linux isn't the only operating system in the free world. Why do you think Linux doesn't face competition from systems like AROS, Haiku, or ReactOS, because people love using a Unix-workalike so much, or because it's the only free operating system with the driver support to work on most people's machines? Implement a driver standard and you may sacrifice the religious purity of a running Linux kernel instance but you give other free operating systems the driver base they need to really take off!
You've just demonstrated the precise problem: the Linux kernel developers would rather maintain a set of ideals with which the vast majority of their users do not agree than provide a standard driver interface for Linux drivers that would leave them source-compatible or binary-compatible between different versions of the Linux kernel. They'd rather release kernel updates that break every third-party driver every so often to encourage driver and hardware developers to open-source their work in exchange for integration into the mainline kernel tree.
Three separate attempts to create a portable standard for device drivers have already come and gone: the Uniform Driver Interface that started from the mainstream commercial Unix world, guaranteed source and binary compatibility of UDI drivers between OSs on one architecture, and died from pure politics; the Extensible Driver Interface (disclaimer: by me) that pandered to free software ideals by guaranteeing mere source compatibility but failed to gain a following in its tiny home community; and the Common Device Interface that has gained some currency in the German hobbyist OS-development community but has very little material available in English. If the Linux kernel developers went through these and picked any one of them to implement, it could not only increase the market share of Linux operating systems out in "the world" but serve the ideals of free, open software by giving to the OS research and hobbyist world a real, usable way to avoid the tedious drag of reimplementing device drivers for even the most primitive functionality on every single new OS.
Further exception: if the original long, esoteric poster has in fact kissed a girl (or a member of the appropriate sex should the poster be female and/or homosexual), the discussion continues. If the poster has a regular sex life, they win the thread for maintaining a regular sex life while still accruing huge amounts of esoteric knowledge.
That's not a huge accomplishment. AFAICT, most Slashdotters old enough to have married have been married at least once. It's just the teens and 20s, the aimless dating years, that trouble us.
The correct answer is "both". Planning dates is good, but your wife probably won't feel satisfied entirely until you show that you like to spontaneously spend time with her.
I'd figure that a guy would want to spontaneously spend time with his wife, right? Then again, I've never been married and here a lot of stories... so maybe it's different from what I know;-).
Ah yes - since we don't repeal the law of supply and demand, we don't value science.
You think that demanding more young people go into science despite intolerably bad compensation and hours means allowing supply and demand to operate freely? You think I'm the one who wants to repeal the laws of economics? If you demand a larger supply of scientists than will work for the compensation currently available, you will have to pay a higher price in compensation!
Funny, I had a connecting flight just last week through British Airways and Heathrow and didn't encounter any of those problems. A sleeping pill for the trans-Atlantic second flight would have been nice, though.
Do you actually work in the research field? The problem is that you can't always predict the impact factor (a measure of how much everyone wants to know about your results and therefore how useful they are) of a paper, prototype, or experiment before you've actually done it. The whole point of publicly-funded science is to take the risk of funding some useless grad student pursuing esoteric BS in the hope that it turns out to be the next n-dimensional geometry or relativity.
I'm not saying to give every grad student the kind of cushy job a tenured professor has. I'm saying to show some basic human respect and improve conditions for grad students, post-docs, and non-tenured faculty to what these people could have earned had they gotten a non-managerial job in their field in the private sector. Keep up rewarding the really good ones with truly nice job security and pay, but at least make sure that the others can afford to have families.
Well, I'll just bugger off then since obviously, as a practicing Jew and a computer science undergrad hoping to go into research, I can't possibly exist.
I never thought I'd say this, but... ALL HONOR TO ANONYMOUS COWARD! Thank the Lord, you're the first person in the whole damn comment page I've read to actually give any respect or consideration to the kids as human beings with independent existences and desires.
Because the left's power comes from asserting that parents can't and shouldn't be responsible - that the state should be in charge of those young meat computers, instead.
I really hope you've poured some serious irony into the phrase "meat computers", or you've made the same error as the government and the teachers' unions.
I don't see you proposing any solutions, so I've got one for you: stop American anti-intellectualism and display a genuine respect for learning. And we can't just respect scientific learning, mind you, we've got to respect all rigorous intellectual knowledge and achievement.
Great, then maybe could you find a way to label the "also-rans" in undergrad or grad school so they can not waste their youth? Calling everyone who doesn't win tenure and perks with a world-shattering discovery or invention an "also-ran" who deserves nothing but Ramen noodles lacks respect for the humanity of the people who work day and night for years of their lives to push back the dark of ignorance and increase humanity's knowledge.
IMO, I don't see how anyone could complain too much about getting $25k a year for doing something you presumably love doing and not having to do anything else (like "work" for your living. I work for my living and do what I *love* doing in the evening in my "free" time. I make more than $25k a year, of course, but I have to pay for room, board, and my hobby, too).
Right then, give those "hobbyist" grad students and postdocs their 60-80 hours/week back so they can go work for a living. Oh, wait...
Except for the wasting boatloads of cash part - I'd say that's a good thing. Because that means the kids that grow up to be scientists do so because they want to be scientists rather than because it is cool. Real science is hard, dull, and painfully boring detail work - except to those with an interest in and a passion for it.
Well then how about instead of trying to make science "cool" (point: "cool" means it carries wealth and sex appeal) we instead produce a culture that values science and intellect in the first place so that not so many of those youngsters with the capacities and passions to become scientists or engineers wind up deciding that doctor, lawyer, or politician will provide a better future?
Yeah, the Doctor, whose exploits show him to be a magician rather than a scientist and who, in the most recent episode, proclaimed himself a god. That really shows the rewards of a scientific career quite well.
Slashdot Mirror
Did you hear about what happened to Maziar Bahari? The Basij and the Revolutionary Guard are holding the real power in Iran right now, and they've gone completely insane. They thought a Daily Show spoof was real espionage and jailed and tortured a man because of it.
What does some useless, wannabe-Israel-activist site have to do with the Iranian government cracking down on Iranians?
I want a legally-hassle-free, open operating system. There's no point if it has to become closed/non-free (by injecting more and more proprietary parts) in order to get the majority of the market... we already have such a system, so why go through all the pain for _zero_ gain?
Because it's not zero gain and Linux isn't the only operating system in the free world. Why do you think Linux doesn't face competition from systems like AROS, Haiku, or ReactOS, because people love using a Unix-workalike so much, or because it's the only free operating system with the driver support to work on most people's machines? Implement a driver standard and you may sacrifice the religious purity of a running Linux kernel instance but you give other free operating systems the driver base they need to really take off!
You've just demonstrated the precise problem: the Linux kernel developers would rather maintain a set of ideals with which the vast majority of their users do not agree than provide a standard driver interface for Linux drivers that would leave them source-compatible or binary-compatible between different versions of the Linux kernel. They'd rather release kernel updates that break every third-party driver every so often to encourage driver and hardware developers to open-source their work in exchange for integration into the mainline kernel tree.
Three separate attempts to create a portable standard for device drivers have already come and gone: the Uniform Driver Interface that started from the mainstream commercial Unix world, guaranteed source and binary compatibility of UDI drivers between OSs on one architecture, and died from pure politics; the Extensible Driver Interface (disclaimer: by me) that pandered to free software ideals by guaranteeing mere source compatibility but failed to gain a following in its tiny home community; and the Common Device Interface that has gained some currency in the German hobbyist OS-development community but has very little material available in English. If the Linux kernel developers went through these and picked any one of them to implement, it could not only increase the market share of Linux operating systems out in "the world" but serve the ideals of free, open software by giving to the OS research and hobbyist world a real, usable way to avoid the tedious drag of reimplementing device drivers for even the most primitive functionality on every single new OS.
Since when do adults willingly subject themselves to "Twilight" films?
Further exception: if the original long, esoteric poster has in fact kissed a girl (or a member of the appropriate sex should the poster be female and/or homosexual), the discussion continues. If the poster has a regular sex life, they win the thread for maintaining a regular sex life while still accruing huge amounts of esoteric knowledge.
Oh, so you're not a Time Lord then?
That's not a huge accomplishment. AFAICT, most Slashdotters old enough to have married have been married at least once. It's just the teens and 20s, the aimless dating years, that trouble us.
The correct answer is "both". Planning dates is good, but your wife probably won't feel satisfied entirely until you show that you like to spontaneously spend time with her.
I'd figure that a guy would want to spontaneously spend time with his wife, right? Then again, I've never been married and here a lot of stories... so maybe it's different from what I know ;-).
Thank you Professor Farnsworth!
Ah yes - since we don't repeal the law of supply and demand, we don't value science.
You think that demanding more young people go into science despite intolerably bad compensation and hours means allowing supply and demand to operate freely? You think I'm the one who wants to repeal the laws of economics? If you demand a larger supply of scientists than will work for the compensation currently available, you will have to pay a higher price in compensation!
Tax credits don't reward the uneducated for breeding, they help make it affordable for decent people to give their children a good upbringing.
Liberal ideals? I thought we liberals were a bunch of secular nihilists who don't have any philosophical, religious, or political ideals!
Funny, I had a connecting flight just last week through British Airways and Heathrow and didn't encounter any of those problems. A sleeping pill for the trans-Atlantic second flight would have been nice, though.
Do you actually work in the research field? The problem is that you can't always predict the impact factor (a measure of how much everyone wants to know about your results and therefore how useful they are) of a paper, prototype, or experiment before you've actually done it. The whole point of publicly-funded science is to take the risk of funding some useless grad student pursuing esoteric BS in the hope that it turns out to be the next n-dimensional geometry or relativity.
I'm not saying to give every grad student the kind of cushy job a tenured professor has. I'm saying to show some basic human respect and improve conditions for grad students, post-docs, and non-tenured faculty to what these people could have earned had they gotten a non-managerial job in their field in the private sector. Keep up rewarding the really good ones with truly nice job security and pay, but at least make sure that the others can afford to have families.
If we value science, we show it in a very weird way. Would you let your daughter marry a young scientist?
Well, I'll just bugger off then since obviously, as a practicing Jew and a computer science undergrad hoping to go into research, I can't possibly exist.
I never thought I'd say this, but... ALL HONOR TO ANONYMOUS COWARD! Thank the Lord, you're the first person in the whole damn comment page I've read to actually give any respect or consideration to the kids as human beings with independent existences and desires.
Because the left's power comes from asserting that parents can't and shouldn't be responsible - that the state should be in charge of those young meat computers, instead.
I really hope you've poured some serious irony into the phrase "meat computers", or you've made the same error as the government and the teachers' unions.
So how about you reward that category of people, such as myself and others on Slashdot, with the money to support a wife and children?
I don't see you proposing any solutions, so I've got one for you: stop American anti-intellectualism and display a genuine respect for learning. And we can't just respect scientific learning, mind you, we've got to respect all rigorous intellectual knowledge and achievement.
Great, then maybe could you find a way to label the "also-rans" in undergrad or grad school so they can not waste their youth? Calling everyone who doesn't win tenure and perks with a world-shattering discovery or invention an "also-ran" who deserves nothing but Ramen noodles lacks respect for the humanity of the people who work day and night for years of their lives to push back the dark of ignorance and increase humanity's knowledge.
IMO, I don't see how anyone could complain too much about getting $25k a year for doing something you presumably love doing and not having to do anything else (like "work" for your living. I work for my living and do what I *love* doing in the evening in my "free" time. I make more than $25k a year, of course, but I have to pay for room, board, and my hobby, too).
Right then, give those "hobbyist" grad students and postdocs their 60-80 hours/week back so they can go work for a living. Oh, wait...
Except for the wasting boatloads of cash part - I'd say that's a good thing. Because that means the kids that grow up to be scientists do so because they want to be scientists rather than because it is cool. Real science is hard, dull, and painfully boring detail work - except to those with an interest in and a passion for it.
Well then how about instead of trying to make science "cool" (point: "cool" means it carries wealth and sex appeal) we instead produce a culture that values science and intellect in the first place so that not so many of those youngsters with the capacities and passions to become scientists or engineers wind up deciding that doctor, lawyer, or politician will provide a better future?
Yeah, the Doctor, whose exploits show him to be a magician rather than a scientist and who, in the most recent episode, proclaimed himself a god. That really shows the rewards of a scientific career quite well.