A large company I know does dozens of design meetings (for supermarkets) with a new group of people in each meeting. Instructions go out on paper before and during the meeting. Responses are entered into pre-structured Excel spreadsheets. The meeting manager collects the spreadsheet responses. has code to analyze each response, keeps all the data for central use, and returns an analysis to each participant. Its pretty automated, but relies on 'ancient' technology for input. They also use yellow stickies and camera phones a lot.
15+ years ago, Pittsford, New York (a suburb of Rochester) decided it would remain a mixed community of farms and suburban homes. The town voted for a bond issue and used the proceeds to buy the development rights from the existing inter-mixed farm owners. They are now forever farms. Some of these farms raise commodities, e.g., beans, some raise produce, e.g., sweet corn, raspberries. As people drive about town, they pass by suburban home groups, then farms, then more homes, then more farms. It has been a win for everyone.
This is an elaborate experiment that will prove - we don't know everything in physics, yet.
Seems like there are better ways to spend your time and creativity.
For $15 a month, you can read all the digital NYT you want, including some historical articles. How can the price of a Starbucks Grande once a month make a difference it being informed?
Almost all the studies in the article suffer from various statistical biases - selection bias, survivor bias, etc. I could find only 2 that may have been A-B blind studies over extended periods. One of those 2 is suspect because it was cut short and the article is talking about long term effects. This article was written to sell magazines, not to document biological effects. I take no stand whether vitamins are good or bad, but it is very clear that the article is poor science writing.
From my experience managing large teams that produced millions of lines of code on schedule, here are my guesses about what went wrong.
Factor #1: A requirements hurricane turbulently blew in one direction without control and consistency. It settled down in the 'eye of the storm', and then management said, 'Oh snap, we want it this way', and another turbulent hurricane blew in the opposite direction - without time or skill to change all the original requirements. These problems metastasize through all remaining steps of development.
Factor#2: Management said, "We need this big thing real quick. Lets get a big consulting firm to do it." Several firms gleefully responded.
Factor#3: Management told the selected consulting firm, "We need all of the big thing to go live at once, and remember we need it real quick." Big teams can be very productive, but only when they are carefully grown over a period of years. Quickly assembled big teams become a swamp that absorb money and grow weeds.
The $40-$50 million is just a down payment. Having built a kudzu swamp to serve an Internet market that is rapidly changing, the NYT will spend that amount several times over in the next 5 years to update it and keep it maintained.
We have at least 2 US companies building space launch capability, and several other international "space launch for hire" organizations are operating. NASA's Ares rocket development was a waste of money, and Obama was right to stop it. Let the commercial space trucking business competition get started, and lets try to get new US companies to be the winners in this business. Neil Armstrong is stuck in 1969, but meanwhile, "the times, they are a'changin'".
Judge Vaughn R. Walker should get the Presidential Freedom Award. He has told everyone in government that we are all equal under the law. Even President Bush and NSA spooks don't get a free pass to lawless behavior. As VP Biden would say - this is a BIG F*'g deal - not just for illegal wire taps, but for all kinds of lawless behavior that has been (still is) been done by government employees.
NASA had a vision in the 1980s to become "the trucking company of space", which is akin to the idea of weekly launches. They hired expensive consultants to help them prepare for that future. They ran into at least two brick walls. One was the lack of funding. The second was a culture of being risk averse. The Atlantis crash was used by the risk averse to force the culture everywhere. NASA is now coasting on its resources and is a small shadow of its original dream - being only an occasional developer and launcher of small science probes.
The future of space will be created by corporate development and launch organizations. They will bring a higher risk tolerance to ventures. Some accidents will happen, just as in the early days of air flight. But the flip side is that much more progress will be made, as we have seen from the results of competition in the airplane industry as it developed over the past 80+ years. Some cluster of corporate ventures will eventually produce weekly launches. NASA will not be a party to them. Their dream has passed. Corporations will compete for success and resources, and pass by NASA's shadow.
Lets hope the GAO's nightmare pandemic does not happen, and this is just a bureaucratic CYA report. But if it does happen, we will see Congress and the FCC crack the monopoly positions of phone and cable companies and unleash a torrent of competition that will deliver 100 gig bandwidth to users for a few bucks a month. The rest of the developed world has this already. It would be truly tragic if it takes a pandemic to get the US over the brain freeze it has about protecting monopolies in the telecom industry.
Monetary burden? Is that like Beast of Burden? Rest assured that when investments were made in "internet pipes", some CFO made sure that it would be profitable, and some accountant checks quarterly to ensure that it is still profitable. Urr, where's the burden? And their profitable investment should be regulated. Would you go to a dentist who invested in a chair and a drill, but does not have a license to practice, and a degree hanging on the wall? At least try to be logically consistent.
Until you are adequately informed, you should not comment on law or regulation.
It seems you haven't heard about various ISP's (particularly Charter) shutting down Torrents when they detect the data flow. They also have throttled various other applications at times when their network is not busy, so it is not "network management". So there have been abuses. Wake up.
With a few large, unregulated companies sourcing and directly distributing much of the Internet's traffic, the potential for self interested mischief grows. The FCC needs to set rules that create a neutral, flat playing field for all agents on the Internet - regardless of size or their role.
Think very dispassionately about the 10 year revenue generation from A. an independent company, B. a product inside MegaCorp. Get outside help on this question. It is very hard for a small company to generate a long term growing stream of revenue. It is also common for large companies to completely mess up sales incentives and marketing for a small product in the total scheme of their big business. Forget about profit in this analysis - that will come if the revenue grows a lot. Then trade that picture off with your team's preferences about small/independent/"risky big bang or nothing" versus large/bureaucratic/"take some money now". People's personalities can fit one or the other of these risk scenarios, but the financial stakes can push the team one way or the other - despite personalities.
The software business, and particularly open source, is a race to do two things. Either 1. provide implementation and support services that creatively get cheaper over time to attract new customers, or 2. provide/sell creative new add-on features that serve expanded needs of customers.
If your company is seeing revenue or margin erosion, it is because of a lack of organizational creativity, which is different from individuals being creative. Look for new management. That is their role in software.
Write your Senator and tell them 2 things. 1st, oppose telecom immunity - it trashes the Constitutional idea that we are all equal under the law. 2d, urge them to add an amendment that collects the names of all legislators who received over $5000 from the telecoms, and reads these names into the Congressional Record, so every American can see that the telecoms bought this vote.
Slashdot Mirror
A large company I know does dozens of design meetings (for supermarkets) with a new group of people in each meeting. Instructions go out on paper before and during the meeting. Responses are entered into pre-structured Excel spreadsheets. The meeting manager collects the spreadsheet responses. has code to analyze each response, keeps all the data for central use, and returns an analysis to each participant. Its pretty automated, but relies on 'ancient' technology for input. They also use yellow stickies and camera phones a lot.
15+ years ago, Pittsford, New York (a suburb of Rochester) decided it would remain a mixed community of farms and suburban homes. The town voted for a bond issue and used the proceeds to buy the development rights from the existing inter-mixed farm owners. They are now forever farms. Some of these farms raise commodities, e.g., beans, some raise produce, e.g., sweet corn, raspberries. As people drive about town, they pass by suburban home groups, then farms, then more homes, then more farms. It has been a win for everyone.
This is an elaborate experiment that will prove - we don't know everything in physics, yet. Seems like there are better ways to spend your time and creativity.
For $15 a month, you can read all the digital NYT you want, including some historical articles. How can the price of a Starbucks Grande once a month make a difference it being informed?
Doctors say stop taking vitamins! Aren't these the same folks who make money off sick people?
Almost all the studies in the article suffer from various statistical biases - selection bias, survivor bias, etc. I could find only 2 that may have been A-B blind studies over extended periods. One of those 2 is suspect because it was cut short and the article is talking about long term effects. This article was written to sell magazines, not to document biological effects. I take no stand whether vitamins are good or bad, but it is very clear that the article is poor science writing.
MasterCard is a SOPA supporter - see the list. Use another credit card. Get the word out.
MasterCard is on the SOPA list. Use another credit card. Get the word out.
MasterCard is on the list of SOPA supporters. Use another credit card. Get the word out to others.
MasterCard is in the list of SOPA supporters. You know what to do. Use another credit card. Get the word out.
The "Laser Lab" in Rochester, NY does research on fusion. Tours show the entire apparatus. Check tour schedules because they are not every day.
Whatever your views on this bill, send an email to your Senator. Don't be part of the silence.
From my experience managing large teams that produced millions of lines of code on schedule, here are my guesses about what went wrong.
Factor #1: A requirements hurricane turbulently blew in one direction without control and consistency. It settled down in the 'eye of the storm', and then management said, 'Oh snap, we want it this way', and another turbulent hurricane blew in the opposite direction - without time or skill to change all the original requirements. These problems metastasize through all remaining steps of development.
Factor#2: Management said, "We need this big thing real quick. Lets get a big consulting firm to do it." Several firms gleefully responded.
Factor#3: Management told the selected consulting firm, "We need all of the big thing to go live at once, and remember we need it real quick." Big teams can be very productive, but only when they are carefully grown over a period of years. Quickly assembled big teams become a swamp that absorb money and grow weeds.
The $40-$50 million is just a down payment. Having built a kudzu swamp to serve an Internet market that is rapidly changing, the NYT will spend that amount several times over in the next 5 years to update it and keep it maintained.
Don't normally do this, but to preserve the right to tinker - of course I will contribute, and I did.
We have at least 2 US companies building space launch capability, and several other international "space launch for hire" organizations are operating. NASA's Ares rocket development was a waste of money, and Obama was right to stop it. Let the commercial space trucking business competition get started, and lets try to get new US companies to be the winners in this business. Neil Armstrong is stuck in 1969, but meanwhile, "the times, they are a'changin'".
Judge Vaughn R. Walker should get the Presidential Freedom Award. He has told everyone in government that we are all equal under the law. Even President Bush and NSA spooks don't get a free pass to lawless behavior. As VP Biden would say - this is a BIG F*'g deal - not just for illegal wire taps, but for all kinds of lawless behavior that has been (still is) been done by government employees.
NASA had a vision in the 1980s to become "the trucking company of space", which is akin to the idea of weekly launches. They hired expensive consultants to help them prepare for that future. They ran into at least two brick walls. One was the lack of funding. The second was a culture of being risk averse. The Atlantis crash was used by the risk averse to force the culture everywhere. NASA is now coasting on its resources and is a small shadow of its original dream - being only an occasional developer and launcher of small science probes.
The future of space will be created by corporate development and launch organizations. They will bring a higher risk tolerance to ventures. Some accidents will happen, just as in the early days of air flight. But the flip side is that much more progress will be made, as we have seen from the results of competition in the airplane industry as it developed over the past 80+ years. Some cluster of corporate ventures will eventually produce weekly launches. NASA will not be a party to them. Their dream has passed. Corporations will compete for success and resources, and pass by NASA's shadow.
Lets hope the GAO's nightmare pandemic does not happen, and this is just a bureaucratic CYA report. But if it does happen, we will see Congress and the FCC crack the monopoly positions of phone and cable companies and unleash a torrent of competition that will deliver 100 gig bandwidth to users for a few bucks a month. The rest of the developed world has this already. It would be truly tragic if it takes a pandemic to get the US over the brain freeze it has about protecting monopolies in the telecom industry.
Monetary burden? Is that like Beast of Burden? Rest assured that when investments were made in "internet pipes", some CFO made sure that it would be profitable, and some accountant checks quarterly to ensure that it is still profitable. Urr, where's the burden? And their profitable investment should be regulated. Would you go to a dentist who invested in a chair and a drill, but does not have a license to practice, and a degree hanging on the wall? At least try to be logically consistent.
Until you are adequately informed, you should not comment on law or regulation. It seems you haven't heard about various ISP's (particularly Charter) shutting down Torrents when they detect the data flow. They also have throttled various other applications at times when their network is not busy, so it is not "network management". So there have been abuses. Wake up.
With a few large, unregulated companies sourcing and directly distributing much of the Internet's traffic, the potential for self interested mischief grows. The FCC needs to set rules that create a neutral, flat playing field for all agents on the Internet - regardless of size or their role.
Fast food made us fat. A revolution made us American.
Think very dispassionately about the 10 year revenue generation from A. an independent company, B. a product inside MegaCorp. Get outside help on this question. It is very hard for a small company to generate a long term growing stream of revenue. It is also common for large companies to completely mess up sales incentives and marketing for a small product in the total scheme of their big business. Forget about profit in this analysis - that will come if the revenue grows a lot. Then trade that picture off with your team's preferences about small/independent/"risky big bang or nothing" versus large/bureaucratic/"take some money now". People's personalities can fit one or the other of these risk scenarios, but the financial stakes can push the team one way or the other - despite personalities.
The software business, and particularly open source, is a race to do two things. Either 1. provide implementation and support services that creatively get cheaper over time to attract new customers, or 2. provide/sell creative new add-on features that serve expanded needs of customers. If your company is seeing revenue or margin erosion, it is because of a lack of organizational creativity, which is different from individuals being creative. Look for new management. That is their role in software.
Write your Senator and tell them 2 things. 1st, oppose telecom immunity - it trashes the Constitutional idea that we are all equal under the law. 2d, urge them to add an amendment that collects the names of all legislators who received over $5000 from the telecoms, and reads these names into the Congressional Record, so every American can see that the telecoms bought this vote.
To heck with Score 4, insightful. Do something.