>It sounds like you've never sat in an orchestra. The conductor is more than basic timekeeping at all times. >If this was not the case, why aren't all orchestras just using a metronome at their concerts? >My prediction is that this performance will be under par for the orchestra. It will sound mechanical.
I played in a band through all of my school years until college.
While the director was essential during practice, during performance, all they/were/ was a metronome.
When I sang with a choral group, we did not have a director.
Good performers know the music and are in tune with one another. No metronome needed, human or otherwise.
>Maybe if a job requires a human to lift 200lb payloads, that job should be redesigned.
Geez, dude, don't you ever have dreams about doing cool shit? Ever dream about aiming above the mark? Don't be a wet towel.
When I came up through my CS degree, object-oriented programming was new. Programming was largely a series of sequentially ordered instructions. I haven't programmed in many years now, but if I wanted to write a parallel program I would not have a clue.
But why should I?
What is needed are new, high-level programming languages that figure out how to take a set of instructions and best interface with the available processing hardware on their own. This is where the computer smarts need to be focused today, IMO.
All computer programming languages, and even just plain applications, are abstractions from the computer hardware. What is needed are more robust abstractions to make programming for multiple processors (or cores) easier and more intuitive.
Cars get stolen all the time, too. Do we blame the manufacturers for insecure locking mechanisms and forgo police investigations into auto thefts? No.
The fact of the matter is, the internet is full of lawless activities. Phishing. Hacking. Attacking. There does need to be some kind of law enforcement ability to track down and prosecute the people responsible for these activities.
I was thinking more along the lines of a window that is capable of self-darkening in specific regions of the "glass" when struck by a laser. Like instant-dimming welding goggles, except instead of dimming the entire window only the portion struck by the laser would darken.
Sounds to me like we need a technological solution.
If laser pointers are this dangerous simply banning them is not going to be much of a deterrent against someone who wants to use one to/really/ crash an airplane.
I wonder if some kind of coating can be applied to the windows of airliners that can reduce the intensity of laser beams without compromising pilot visibility?
I remember the first (and last) time I had an IPA. I could not figure out why my roomate thought that stuff was so good. Nasty nasty stuff. Like drinking battery acid, I would imagine. Give me a milkshake.
>The best things in life tend to be a bit bitter or astringent or have some sort of strong flavor >that isn't well appreciated by all. Black coffee, dark chocolate, pale ale, dry wine, skunky herb, >smelly cheese, etc etc. All of these have flavor components that might be unpleasant, but in the >right context to an appreciative palate they're truly wonderful. Try to expand your horizons, >and challenge your palate a little bit. The alternative is a bland, flavorless life.
I like spicy food, so I don't have a bland, flavorless life. I just don't like bitter things - I prefer sweet, salty, and spicy things.
Coffee is bitter. I absolutely detest pale ale. I hate dry wines, and prefer sweet ones. I don't know what a skunky herb is, unless it's a smelly guy named herb:)
If I had to choose whether to be my million bucks on some cushy grant-wallowing researchers or some hungry self-motivated code geeks, I'd pick the latter.
The fact of the matter is, most people have absolutely no idea what route their data takes to get from its origination point to them, and vice-versa.
All they know is that "Gee, the internet seems slow today." They might even call and complain to their ISP, but it might not even be their ISP causing the throttling delay. So in the end it's going to become a big finger-pointing game, and the customer at the end of the day will still have no idea where the bottleneck is or who is responsible.
All the wire owners know this. So they are going to accept bribes for preferred data rates and keep mum about who is getting put into the "bus lane".
I was there back in the dial-up days, too. Ran my own WWIV board for a while.
I never called charge-per-minute BBSes, and I never called long-distance BBSes, because it was so stressful being ever-aware that the minutes were ticking by.
Home internet service is, for me, an entertainment service.
I would/hate/ the idea of pay-as-you-go internet service, because I would/constantly/ be worried, every time I logged on, about how much money I was spending. Consequently, I would not use it at all.
>If you want me to buy a product, make a good product. >Don't try to show me how people are having fun, having sex or having cake; >I'm not interested in pretty little stories. I know you lie, or at least >consciously break the Gricean maxims, hoping no-one would notice.
Here's the rub, though: Marketing research has virtually/proven/ that all the thing you claim won't get you to buy a product _DO_ get people to buy products.
It's easy to get up on the high horse on the Internet and say, "I'm too bright to fall for all that marketing crap.", but, as the article shows, there is a ton of research that goes into finding out what marketing _works_.
Slashdot Mirror
Is it reasonable to assume that if a search for a particular song returns hits that it has probably been downloaded?
I actually finished my degree in 2005, but I took all my CS classes from 1992-1997. I started college in 1988.
>It sounds like you've never sat in an orchestra. The conductor is more than basic timekeeping at all times.
/were/ was a metronome.
>If this was not the case, why aren't all orchestras just using a metronome at their concerts?
>My prediction is that this performance will be under par for the orchestra. It will sound mechanical.
I played in a band through all of my school years until college.
While the director was essential during practice, during performance, all they
When I sang with a choral group, we did not have a director.
Good performers know the music and are in tune with one another. No metronome needed, human or otherwise.
>Maybe if a job requires a human to lift 200lb payloads, that job should be redesigned. Geez, dude, don't you ever have dreams about doing cool shit? Ever dream about aiming above the mark? Don't be a wet towel.
When I came up through my CS degree, object-oriented programming was new. Programming was largely a series of sequentially ordered instructions. I haven't programmed in many years now, but if I wanted to write a parallel program I would not have a clue.
But why should I?
What is needed are new, high-level programming languages that figure out how to take a set of instructions and best interface with the available processing hardware on their own. This is where the computer smarts need to be focused today, IMO.
All computer programming languages, and even just plain applications, are abstractions from the computer hardware. What is needed are more robust abstractions to make programming for multiple processors (or cores) easier and more intuitive.
Cars get stolen all the time, too. Do we blame the manufacturers for insecure locking mechanisms and forgo police investigations into auto thefts? No.
The fact of the matter is, the internet is full of lawless activities. Phishing. Hacking. Attacking. There does need to be some kind of law enforcement ability to track down and prosecute the people responsible for these activities.
Look. I have a pair. I believe in personal liberty and keeping the government in check.
I also believe in law enforcement.
Today we have a huge problem with cyber crime, bot-nets, phishing, etc. etc.
These sorts of things DO merit law enforcement attention, and some fairly comprehensive law-enforcement hooks into the network to be effective.
And yet we all read every day about bot nets and cyber attacks.
Sooner or later government is going to have to take a more active police roll in internet affairs.
Yes, I understand the privacy issues, and I worry about them, too.
I just think today the Internet is much like the Wild West with a hundred miles to the nearest police man.
>You find it reasonable to dig out a CD(-R, erase), burn, rip, encode, and tag every album or track you buy?
I'm surprised someone hasn't made software that rips to a virtual CD, re-rips, re-encodes, and tags all in one step.
I was thinking more along the lines of a window that is capable of self-darkening in specific regions of the "glass" when struck by a laser. Like instant-dimming welding goggles, except instead of dimming the entire window only the portion struck by the laser would darken.
Is the laser inside a DVD writer visible to the naked eye? If not, manual targeting could be more difficult.
Sounds to me like we need a technological solution.
/really/ crash an airplane.
If laser pointers are this dangerous simply banning them is not going to be much of a deterrent against someone who wants to use one to
I wonder if some kind of coating can be applied to the windows of airliners that can reduce the intensity of laser beams without compromising pilot visibility?
I remember the first (and last) time I had an IPA. I could not figure out why my roomate thought that stuff was so good. Nasty nasty stuff. Like drinking battery acid, I would imagine. Give me a milkshake.
>The best things in life tend to be a bit bitter or astringent or have some sort of strong flavor
:)
>that isn't well appreciated by all. Black coffee, dark chocolate, pale ale, dry wine, skunky herb,
>smelly cheese, etc etc. All of these have flavor components that might be unpleasant, but in the
>right context to an appreciative palate they're truly wonderful. Try to expand your horizons,
>and challenge your palate a little bit. The alternative is a bland, flavorless life.
I like spicy food, so I don't have a bland, flavorless life. I just don't like bitter things - I prefer sweet, salty, and spicy things.
Coffee is bitter. I absolutely detest pale ale. I hate dry wines, and prefer sweet ones. I don't know what a skunky herb is, unless it's a smelly guy named herb
Does your pussy taste like coffee?
If I had to choose whether to be my million bucks on some cushy grant-wallowing researchers or some hungry self-motivated code geeks, I'd pick the latter.
I have never understood the appeal of coffee.
The fact of the matter is, most people have absolutely no idea what route their data takes to get from its origination point to them, and vice-versa.
All they know is that "Gee, the internet seems slow today." They might even call and complain to their ISP, but it might not even be their ISP causing the throttling delay. So in the end it's going to become a big finger-pointing game, and the customer at the end of the day will still have no idea where the bottleneck is or who is responsible.
All the wire owners know this. So they are going to accept bribes for preferred data rates and keep mum about who is getting put into the "bus lane".
How do these devices work? I know the GPS part is free, but how is the tracking communications done?
Can I do this without paying someone $10/month?
I was there back in the dial-up days, too. Ran my own WWIV board for a while.
I never called charge-per-minute BBSes, and I never called long-distance BBSes, because it was so stressful being ever-aware that the minutes were ticking by.
They are a PDA with an easy-to-type-on keyboard.
Email? Check.
Surf Web? Check.
Can type on it? Check.
Cheap? Check.
There you go.
Home internet service is, for me, an entertainment service.
/hate/ the idea of pay-as-you-go internet service, because I would /constantly/ be worried, every time I logged on, about how much money I was spending. Consequently, I would not use it at all.
I would
Internet access is flat-rate or nothing for me.
>If you want me to buy a product, make a good product.
/proven/ that all the thing you claim won't get you to buy a product _DO_ get people to buy products.
>Don't try to show me how people are having fun, having sex or having cake;
>I'm not interested in pretty little stories. I know you lie, or at least
>consciously break the Gricean maxims, hoping no-one would notice.
Here's the rub, though: Marketing research has virtually
It's easy to get up on the high horse on the Internet and say, "I'm too bright to fall for all that marketing crap.", but, as the article shows, there is a ton of research that goes into finding out what marketing _works_.
We typically allow 90 days, I think.
I think it's unlikely any government agency will move faster than that.
The Olympics are great for all the corporate entities that belly up to the government trough for contracts to work on all the various projects.
It is pork at its finest.