If you're not going to wimp out and run, then man up, confront the situation, and fix it.
I am with you. He might want to see if this well respected guy is still there and would be willing to do a code review with you. This way you can see what he's done and why with the current code. Try to be inquisitive and not confrontational or critical of anything unless he says something negative about how he implemented something. Show him how a project gets properly handed off and that you want to make things better. If he's that well respected and had kludgey code there might be a reason, time. Why they brought in the contractor, maybe?
I have a device for sale which generates free, unlimited power. The catch is that you cannot measure the power output or it won't function. If you put any load on the device you are directly or indirectly measuring the power, and thus it won't work. So just know up front that stipulation and use the device accordingly.
False equivalence police are coming for you. Quantum computers do produce output that theoretically can be tested and validated. Your imaginary power device, by your own definition does not accept load so does not produce output. Not a similar device. It would have been better to compare it to the computer in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that came up with '42' as the answer to the ultimate question. Since you can't (as in, no present ability to) validate the answer how do you know the computer actually executed the algorithm correctly with the input data? It's a head scratcher and why quantum computing is going to take a while longer to take off. There are some intractable problems for classical computing, but most are not of known great consequence to humanity compared to the work that can still be done on ever advancing classical hardware. Sure, something, maybe quantum computing, will supplant the current tech, but classical computing methods still have a lot of usefulness left in them. Certainly enough to carry them well past quantum computing coming of age.
Apparently the issues are simply down to the differences in the Norwegian network as Norway uses a slightly different charging adapter than other countries in Europe.
There is a right way, a wrong way, and a Norwegian way. --Edgar Hansen, Northwestern, Deadliest Catch
but standard is Logic and/or ProTools. Period. On a Mac.
FTFY
In order to fix something you have to do it with correct information. You have not. I have been doing analog and digital audio production and engineering since 1988. I have seen apps come and go. Pro Tools is the number one digital audio production app out there, and has been for more than two decades. It runs on Mac and PC. Logic is the only real competitor in the commercial/professional space, it only runs on Mac. Having said that the split is something like 70:30 Pro Tools. Now, there are some hobbyists, some garage studios and some outliers using other tools, but most are not what anyone would call first tier professional outfits and they are not the ones setting the standards.
Kids should get some basics on where things come from. How steel is made. How farming works. How electricity is generated and distributed. How cars are made. Where tap water comes from, and where sewerage goes. How houses are built and what's inside the walls.
At the micro level, they should learn basic electrical circuits, basic gears and mechanical linkages, basic hand tools up to an electric drill, and basic woodworking up to building a box or birdhouse.
Not Z80 programming.
Infrastructure is mandatory. Nostalgia is optional.
They should also learn where the computer came from, where the cell phone came from, how life began and that everything that's not hydrogen and helium was made in stars. Teach them how to ask questions that have meaning to them. Teach them not to be cowards. Teach them, although the most advanced animals on the planet, we're still animals. Teach them how to teach themselves. Teach them we're all the same on the inside.
Do you (or do you plan to) educate your kids about any particular older technologies?
HA! They're going to learn them all whether they like it or not, and everything is going to start with "Back in my day..." and end with "...both ways, uphill, in the snow!" Dag nabbit!
Here is another example of battery tech leaping forward. It won't be tomorrow, but in ten to twenty years we just might have a battery to replace gasoline/petrol. I wouldn't start holding my breath just yet, but to play the "show me" game now and scoff is a bit niaive. Kind of like someone in the 1940s scoffing about a plane going faster than the speed of sound. Just cuz it isn't here today doesn't mean it won't happen ever.
But what ACTUALLY happens is that the big companies have their own attorney on staff, whose job it is to robosign "due diligence searches" without bothering to do them.
I don't think so, but if you could point out an example I'd be more inclined to see your point. Most Fortune 100 corporations don't have patent attorneys on staff as employees. They may retain a firm (like they do for accounting audits), but that's not on staff. There are a few exceptions that I do know of, IBM, Intel, HP and Texas Instruments I know for a fact have patent attorneys in house but they are also R&D machines! I assure you they do the due diligence, most times internationally. Because of the high amount of research going on the ones doing the inventing within these companies have a fair idea of what's out there now and what came before.
Connect Four was the same way. Whoever went first wins. Didn't take a supercomputer to figure that out, either. Once you did figure that out, though, it pretty much made playing that game pointless. Up in the back of the closet it went. Something tells me Pentago will be joining it, soon.
Books! Really people their is nothing wrong with good old fashioned books! We are talking about little kids probably from the ages of 5 to 10 years old. Tools? Technology? Stories, adventure, science, and just fun books is what you need. Get the kids in love with the written word. Most of the ideas I am seeing target maybe the oldest age group but nothing for the majority of the age groups involved.
I am also in this camp having been in Higher Ed for the past 20 years. There is still a ridiculous amount of information that is NOT available anywhere but in books, depending on the subject. I would turn it into a reading library, perhaps, rather than a research library for most of the physical space. Current science and other research information is online so you will need a few computers with web access, but books still have a lot to offer. I would agree with a post above that said to skip the Dewey Decimal system. I'd suggest implementing a categorical keyword based shelving system, with titles alphabetized within the shelves. It's kind of like an analog Google search. They will still have to sift through false positives to find what they want. There are ways to "re-imagine" a library that make the skills relevant to what they would encounter in the digital world, while building up their literacy and critical thinking skills. It might be a good idea to work with other schools in the district to spread the load of purchasing books and rotate titles through the different schools every semester so each school gets access to the same titles.
Agreed. The ruling certainly doesn't help the small, private inventor, but does benefit big corps. Not surprising from the court that made corporations people and money speech.
That $10k price is actually not bad, as the due diligence search has to be done first by the patent attorney. Typically, I've seen patents average closer $20k to file. They may also be searching and filing in other countries as well, CYA. So, if he's getting a 10k price he's doing ok. I would not try to self apply if you want the patent to stick. You need a good patent attorney.
Most manufacturers had five year warranties until about ten years or so ago when everything went one to three years. Regardless, your numbers just don't jive with MTBF. You would have seen at least at 2%-3% failure rate over the five year period. That's in the neighborhood of 50 - 75 drives every five years given the number of drives you quoted. Even if you were incredibly lucky the numbers might be half that, but zero, no way. MMV my furry white butt. If you're that lucky you need to start picking lottery numbers.
I sent it back and got a replacement, but it was a huge pain to have to reinstall Mythbuntu and XBMC, get the two programs reconfigured and communicating again, as well as re-import all of my TV shows, movies, and music and fix all of the broken metadata.
You didn't save an image of the system install? And you call yourself a geek. Pfffft;) Learned your lesson didn't you?
A few years back a rep told me that 2.5" drives were generally more reliable than 3.5" because 2.5" were designed for laptops, were they would be expected to have a hard life, and 3.5" were generally used in desktops where they would be less likely to be knocked and dropped. He said that the smaller drives reliability was was still better even when based on relative capacity (say 2x 500GB 2.5" vs 1x 1000GB). Obviously the cost differential for large amounts of storage is not favourable (except to the rep), but for home use or where reliability is important it might be worth thinking about - YMMV based on how careful you are?
I think the reason for the longevity difference that you refer to is based on the auto-park head features on 2.5" drives over 3.5" drives. Laptop drives tend to have accelerometers or the like in them to detect shock and weird motion in order to park the heads quickly to prevent data loss. if the drive is "fixed" and not moving around while spinning nor getting jolted while on or off then I can't see where the reliability would come down to anything more than MTBF and manufacturing defects.
I would say that it also depends on which manufacturing facility produced them. Although, I've had nothing but trouble with Seagate drives for almost the entire twenty years I've been around them. They run hot and thermal degradation usually takes them to an early grave. Thermal stress has been something I try to avoid with drives these days, choosing externals in cases I leave open for most drives. I think it's been the Seagate experience behind that behavior in me.
Slashdot Mirror
If you're not going to wimp out and run, then man up, confront the situation, and fix it.
I am with you. He might want to see if this well respected guy is still there and would be willing to do a code review with you. This way you can see what he's done and why with the current code. Try to be inquisitive and not confrontational or critical of anything unless he says something negative about how he implemented something. Show him how a project gets properly handed off and that you want to make things better. If he's that well respected and had kludgey code there might be a reason, time. Why they brought in the contractor, maybe?
I have a device for sale which generates free, unlimited power. The catch is that you cannot measure the power output or it won't function. If you put any load on the device you are directly or indirectly measuring the power, and thus it won't work. So just know up front that stipulation and use the device accordingly.
False equivalence police are coming for you. Quantum computers do produce output that theoretically can be tested and validated. Your imaginary power device, by your own definition does not accept load so does not produce output. Not a similar device. It would have been better to compare it to the computer in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that came up with '42' as the answer to the ultimate question. Since you can't (as in, no present ability to) validate the answer how do you know the computer actually executed the algorithm correctly with the input data? It's a head scratcher and why quantum computing is going to take a while longer to take off. There are some intractable problems for classical computing, but most are not of known great consequence to humanity compared to the work that can still be done on ever advancing classical hardware. Sure, something, maybe quantum computing, will supplant the current tech, but classical computing methods still have a lot of usefulness left in them. Certainly enough to carry them well past quantum computing coming of age.
"below zero' Kelvin? (is that you, Frank Herbert?) Centigrade? Farenheit?
FRANK: Is that you Leto, or has the Kumquat Haagen Dazs finally arrived?
People disincentivized into buying electric cars, increasing CO2 emissions, raising planetary temperatures until electric cars work.
Is that how Dick Cheney logic works?
I am reminded why most lifeforms has been storing energy chemically, as opposed to electrically, for billions of years.
Oh, you mean like this? Coming soon to an electric car near you! lol
Apparently the issues are simply down to the differences in the Norwegian network as Norway uses a slightly different charging adapter than other countries in Europe.
There is a right way, a wrong way, and a Norwegian way. --Edgar Hansen, Northwestern, Deadliest Catch
but standard is Logic and/or ProTools. Period. On a Mac.
FTFY
In order to fix something you have to do it with correct information. You have not. I have been doing analog and digital audio production and engineering since 1988. I have seen apps come and go. Pro Tools is the number one digital audio production app out there, and has been for more than two decades. It runs on Mac and PC. Logic is the only real competitor in the commercial/professional space, it only runs on Mac. Having said that the split is something like 70:30 Pro Tools. Now, there are some hobbyists, some garage studios and some outliers using other tools, but most are not what anyone would call first tier professional outfits and they are not the ones setting the standards.
Kids should get some basics on where things come from. How steel is made. How farming works. How electricity is generated and distributed. How cars are made. Where tap water comes from, and where sewerage goes. How houses are built and what's inside the walls.
At the micro level, they should learn basic electrical circuits, basic gears and mechanical linkages, basic hand tools up to an electric drill, and basic woodworking up to building a box or birdhouse.
Not Z80 programming.
Infrastructure is mandatory. Nostalgia is optional.
They should also learn where the computer came from, where the cell phone came from, how life began and that everything that's not hydrogen and helium was made in stars. Teach them how to ask questions that have meaning to them. Teach them not to be cowards. Teach them, although the most advanced animals on the planet, we're still animals. Teach them how to teach themselves. Teach them we're all the same on the inside.
Do you (or do you plan to) educate your kids about any particular older technologies?
HA! They're going to learn them all whether they like it or not, and everything is going to start with "Back in my day..." and end with "...both ways, uphill, in the snow!" Dag nabbit!
Smell something? Hokus! Pokus!
Here is another example of battery tech leaping forward. It won't be tomorrow, but in ten to twenty years we just might have a battery to replace gasoline/petrol. I wouldn't start holding my breath just yet, but to play the "show me" game now and scoff is a bit niaive. Kind of like someone in the 1940s scoffing about a plane going faster than the speed of sound. Just cuz it isn't here today doesn't mean it won't happen ever.
Move along, move along.
These aren't the Bitcoin miners you're looking for. First thing in my head when I read the title of the post.
Google: image duplicate finder
But what ACTUALLY happens is that the big companies have their own attorney on staff, whose job it is to robosign "due diligence searches" without bothering to do them.
I don't think so, but if you could point out an example I'd be more inclined to see your point. Most Fortune 100 corporations don't have patent attorneys on staff as employees. They may retain a firm (like they do for accounting audits), but that's not on staff. There are a few exceptions that I do know of, IBM, Intel, HP and Texas Instruments I know for a fact have patent attorneys in house but they are also R&D machines! I assure you they do the due diligence, most times internationally. Because of the high amount of research going on the ones doing the inventing within these companies have a fair idea of what's out there now and what came before.
Connect Four was the same way. Whoever went first wins. Didn't take a supercomputer to figure that out, either. Once you did figure that out, though, it pretty much made playing that game pointless. Up in the back of the closet it went. Something tells me Pentago will be joining it, soon.
He found a way to convert arrogance to electricity. That's how Silicon Valley will save the world. They have enough of it to power the entire planet.
You forgot Wall St. They have enough arrogance to power several civilizations across the galaxy!
Books! Really people their is nothing wrong with good old fashioned books! We are talking about little kids probably from the ages of 5 to 10 years old. Tools? Technology? Stories, adventure, science, and just fun books is what you need. Get the kids in love with the written word. Most of the ideas I am seeing target maybe the oldest age group but nothing for the majority of the age groups involved.
I am also in this camp having been in Higher Ed for the past 20 years. There is still a ridiculous amount of information that is NOT available anywhere but in books, depending on the subject. I would turn it into a reading library, perhaps, rather than a research library for most of the physical space. Current science and other research information is online so you will need a few computers with web access, but books still have a lot to offer. I would agree with a post above that said to skip the Dewey Decimal system. I'd suggest implementing a categorical keyword based shelving system, with titles alphabetized within the shelves. It's kind of like an analog Google search. They will still have to sift through false positives to find what they want. There are ways to "re-imagine" a library that make the skills relevant to what they would encounter in the digital world, while building up their literacy and critical thinking skills. It might be a good idea to work with other schools in the district to spread the load of purchasing books and rotate titles through the different schools every semester so each school gets access to the same titles.
Agreed. The ruling certainly doesn't help the small, private inventor, but does benefit big corps. Not surprising from the court that made corporations people and money speech.
I am not a fan of the current patenting system, but this is BS, a patent application costs $10,000
LOL...if someone is charging you $10K to file it for you, then you are getting ripped off.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/fee010114.htm
That $10k price is actually not bad, as the due diligence search has to be done first by the patent attorney. Typically, I've seen patents average closer $20k to file. They may also be searching and filing in other countries as well, CYA. So, if he's getting a 10k price he's doing ok. I would not try to self apply if you want the patent to stick. You need a good patent attorney.
[face palm]
Most manufacturers had five year warranties until about ten years or so ago when everything went one to three years. Regardless, your numbers just don't jive with MTBF. You would have seen at least at 2%-3% failure rate over the five year period. That's in the neighborhood of 50 - 75 drives every five years given the number of drives you quoted. Even if you were incredibly lucky the numbers might be half that, but zero, no way. MMV my furry white butt. If you're that lucky you need to start picking lottery numbers.
I sent it back and got a replacement, but it was a huge pain to have to reinstall Mythbuntu and XBMC, get the two programs reconfigured and communicating again, as well as re-import all of my TV shows, movies, and music and fix all of the broken metadata.
You didn't save an image of the system install? And you call yourself a geek. Pfffft ;) Learned your lesson didn't you?
A few years back a rep told me that 2.5" drives were generally more reliable than 3.5" because 2.5" were designed for laptops, were they would be expected to have a hard life, and 3.5" were generally used in desktops where they would be less likely to be knocked and dropped. He said that the smaller drives reliability was was still better even when based on relative capacity (say 2x 500GB 2.5" vs 1x 1000GB). Obviously the cost differential for large amounts of storage is not favourable (except to the rep), but for home use or where reliability is important it might be worth thinking about - YMMV based on how careful you are?
I think the reason for the longevity difference that you refer to is based on the auto-park head features on 2.5" drives over 3.5" drives. Laptop drives tend to have accelerometers or the like in them to detect shock and weird motion in order to park the heads quickly to prevent data loss. if the drive is "fixed" and not moving around while spinning nor getting jolted while on or off then I can't see where the reliability would come down to anything more than MTBF and manufacturing defects.
I would say that it also depends on which manufacturing facility produced them. Although, I've had nothing but trouble with Seagate drives for almost the entire twenty years I've been around them. They run hot and thermal degradation usually takes them to an early grave. Thermal stress has been something I try to avoid with drives these days, choosing externals in cases I leave open for most drives. I think it's been the Seagate experience behind that behavior in me.