I can comment on the schools system I know - Germany has miserable school system (I know - I have to work with systems 'products') that is discriminatory by design and by consequence of bad chances some of the schools give they are full of violence. Yet there are brighter signs and these are private schools and among them schools led by the church organisations for instance. They have to observe curriculum given by ministry of education so they cannot exclude whatever they wish from it or they lose the license. I am not in favor of them but if I have a chance I will send my son and daughter there - only I would have to babtize them first and that is a bit of a problem. I suppose it is similar in US so your generalization may be bit off the mark. DO youhave data to support your negative view?
I agree only partially. There is always bias even if you try to reward points to posts that are interesting although not to your liking you use some sort of elimination system to do so. That in itself is not bad - we need restrictions as otherwise we cannot lead any discussion as it degenerates into shouting and abuse. The balance is important. I try to use common sense when I do modding/metomoderating also when I disagree with posts. There will be no violent change unless enough people decide that it is worthwhile.
the two have nothing to do with each other. In reality socialism is not even in opposition to capitalism - it deals with different aspects of living in a society. There is nothing stopping people using market forces to provide social services like health systems for instance. Market participants may benefit and people could too. The principle is social but the tools are free market (as far as free market can go) and the whole thing may be decided in a democratic way so the contradiction does not really exist. Interestingly people call on democracy also when they do not understand what it really means. People can democratically decide to do things that result in human rights violation and destruction of whole countries e.g. Saarland has decided once to join third Reich in such a way (plebiscite on 13 Jan 1935) although people knew there is an politically and racially oppressive regime at power (I am sure there are many other examples) so democracy is not the only thing that we need to live well.
So it is that easy - you can give somebody if you violate somebody's rights to own the thing? Is it not ab it simplistic? This somehow reminds me of arguments different parts of anarchists movements were always throwing at each other (before it all degraded to throwing abuse about murderers and commies). The argument is somewhat fallacious (no it does not have anything to do with fellatio) that is because the rights that somebody (RIAA) has, may have been acquired in unjust way thus removing the need to observe them in the first place. Whether riaa actually posses any right is of course a matter decided by lobbyists and lawyers instead of philosophers and people of statue. That is a pity as that means we have less and less reasonable legal systems in which the small and relatively powerless are subdued to manipulations of the few powerful. I am afraid the unpleasant truth is that if you want to have rights you have to fight for them. The alternatives are to escape (where to ???) or to vent your anger at/.
I wonder why this has been modded troll (as of time of this posting). The guy is angry and maybe he has a reason to be. Disagreement is no reason for marking smoebodys post 'trolling'. Oh well whatever mod me troll too.//
what about deathsman's job? The only problem I see with that is that methods used for executions are chosen by law makers usually and that means they do not change that often. OTOH there are no two same electrocutions so it is not that boring. Come to think of it the strain of daily routine is not that much lately (unless you work in China or any other lullaby of democracy and human rights).
This is probably true. Only it requires a lots of guts to be owner of such view. In modern world it is not only the money that counts but not having as much may suddenly force you to obtain a new set of friends especially if your career change isnot as smooth as it was supposed to be. There are countries where failure is not a step in life but a failure and a reason to be ostracized. Germany is one such country - God forbids to have a whole for fancy things in your cv. This of course may not matter if you are truly devoted to what you do but I suppose that is exactly the problem majority of us have. It helps to have free minded partner and supporting family but that is also not always there. OTOH what are dreams worth if fulfilling them were easy?
well transparent or not belief that users can stay ignorant while industry does its hocus-pocus is just silly. I do not need to know all the gory details of how the car I drive to work every day works but knowing the basics helps to make intelligent guesses e.g. not to buy Toyota's hybrids because they are less efficient than 'normal' cars or to use safety belt etc. On the same principle I prefer to know what and how the tools that protect me and my electronic transactions work. Ignorance may be a bliss but it is a costly one. Still what we have now is a mess that is difficult to handle (for geeks and others too). That is the same for general issue with software - quality. a ot can and must be done. Ignorance prevents already discussing the issue. Then again common sense is not a tool used on managment floors anyway.
They simply say that a field 92x92 can cover needs of US it does not say that one should build one such field neither is says that you should try to cover all country's needs from once source. Read again this time with understanding.
The point is really that: transformers allow for converting the voltage so that the transmission losses are smaller. We have devices that do that for DC so the actual advantage of AC disappears. In fact there are lines that are already in operation that do DC not AC because it is cheaper in a long run.
That is indeed true - the solar panel I have on my roof (middle Germany) is good enough (although it does not face south but west only) to produce enough energy for few days - hot water is stored in the insulated tank. This of course does not work in winter but at least decreases dependency so it is a step in a good direction. I at least do not mind having to pay less for gas heating.
BTW: it is called electrolysis and the verb is to electrolyse (I suppose spelling is different on both sides of Atlantic).
What about using devices that use less energy, turning off the bloody TV set when we do not use it (why would anyone want to watch the crap on the telly anyway???) building a house that is energy efficient and does not need electrically powered conditioners, etc ??? This could decrease amount of energy that one needs also over the night. Having windmill can also help, having access to the grid where some other sources of energy are available can provide backup. Just in case any of the smart people here still would not like to see any solution and only whine and whine about how impossible this all is, here two arguments why we should at least try: - it is a common feature of human history that people claim something is impossible - academy in Paris accepted once a scientific proof that objects heavier than air cannot fly and it was a sensible thing to believe it at the time - we may have no choice soon (at least in terms of human kind) enough
yes and current networks have been built over a day, look right, occupy no space and need no transimssion lines, right? There are projects that propose use of DC instead of AC and this could actually decrease power loss at transmission. The actual power stations based on solar power can be built (for Europe) in Africa and transmission lines towards users in (also) northern Europe. In northern Europe one can built (as it is currently being done) wind mills in coastal areas. This can offset part of the problem with lack of energy if clouds obscure the sun and/or the wind goes elsewhere.
This all may be not nice for average tourist or local resident looking at the wind mill or solar panel so are however highways, train lines, power lines existing today as well as climate changing burning furnaces of any traditional power plant (yes human activity changes climate - for those that do not believe maybe they should buy two weather stations and start measuring temperatures in and outside town for a simple proof). Now all this may be unimportant - the time when currently used fuel for power plants will be gone and something will have to be done is approaching however - we can just as well start doing things now when it is not so troublesome. But of course traditional approach i.e. that of the guy who cut down the last tree on Easter Island and thus destroyed last chance for him and his fellows to build a rescue vessel in case thing get tough (and soon they did) is the only valid mode of operation? I dislike bureaucrats in Europe but they have one advantage over their American counterparts - at least sometimes they think in terms of community. ANother advantage of this technology is that we can do it without Americans, Chinese or whoever still considering and or avoiding looking at the reality. Even if oil will not end (how could this be) we may at least save some billions on energy produced 'locally' instead of imported from civilized and us loving people in the middle east, democrats in Russia or in human rights lovers in Sudan. Could you reconsider?
I suppose this may be part of the story but I think GP was onto something only I think supercoders do not finish projects on time and with good quality, well managed teams do if requirements are clear and not changing every minute. As QA expert I see my job secure because of so many genius coders out there - keep up your smart ways guys!!!
I think religion should be banned and all the religious people should be put into prisons or made rebuild dams in New Orleans. Would you agree? SARCASM SARCASM!!!
What I wonder now is what sort of fanatics will mod me into/. oblivion - the agnostic or the religious ones. SARCASM SARCASM!!!
What do you personally think should be done to me for my skepticism of Dawkins' ideas?
People that discuss matters like religion and faith are perhaps not very surprisingly religious zealots which make them hardly distinguishable from religious zealots. They are obviously not aware of the fact that you cannot prove existence of deity either way so their arguments are rather futile.
Interestingly there are merits for a group when its members believe (in God or in holly pumpkin). The group members that show that they believe are more likely be good mates for producing an offspring (or many) for instance. The believers are also better canon meat and heroes etc. without which no society would be able to face hard times (and other societies).
Even more interestingly it is not only the hard times when believers show their value. Apparently somebody had a look at the gated communities in US and analyzed their life length. The longest lived one was built on (Christian) faith and it is still there after some >100 years. From the ones that had no apparent religious connection the longest surviving lasted 50 years.
Now I do not even go to the church but I see the point here. It does not help of course as you cannot be a believer by reasoning only. I only hope that by believing that I know what is good and bad and by believing in common values I somehow arrive at the merits without the bad parts of religion.
Now I wonder how fast I will be demoted to \.'s hell.
I would mod you up if I could but you have your points already anyway so I comment instead.
You are right that announced death of a newspaper is exaggerated. I do not read newspapers the way I did 30 years ago but I still do because our beloved and indispensable internet provide all information but not always it is is easy to find and when I find it it is usually not very reliable and for instance rarely describes local issues that are important to me. Besides I still prefer to read in depth commentaries and do it while for instance waiting for a train or bus or while relaxing on the bank in the spring sun. The same information in electronic form is either not available or when it is it is so cumbersome to use in such places than I prefer to access it old fashion way.
Besides there is no better way to polish windows than to use old newspaper (at least those printed in the old fashion). When internet becomes available without trouble and polish my windows too I will agree to discard my then pointless habits:)
Note for those slashdotters that never leave the geek's basement: windows are those things people like to have in their rooms so that the sunlight can come in and you can look outside. They are similar to computer display but need no power and you do not need DSL to see naked (albeit not very nice looking) female neighbour taking the sun bath.
In my experience the failure is not caused by people not knowing the language. Incompetence and ignorance are curable by education. Not willing to go through review process, being convinced of own superiority and infallibility, this all is equal to sabotaging the project and all is not curable. I have seen millions sunk not because projects had crews that could not code but because they were not able to communicate. We also have seen new brilliant toys that were to provide silver bullet and failed. I still have to occasionally write code in assembler of the processor that is all but dead and is simulated by virtual machine. It is still cheaper than writing new RT application of the same functionality in new language and just to be able to add this one single module that nobody wants to write in old proprietary language.
What I wanted to say is that the programming language is just a tool, it is a hard heart eeee cool head that allows to use it properly.
They go through tests because they have a job to do and they have to fly those things. Besides that you miss the rich people health factor. It is the poor that is sick (and fat).
You can also argue that the decision on what is trivia is very subjective - for some anime is trivial for some it is important - how to settle this? Besides if articles are so trivial to cause discussion about sense of their inclusion there are markers informing the reader about it.//
Slashdot Mirror
I can comment on the schools system I know - Germany has miserable school system (I know - I have to work with systems 'products') that is discriminatory by design and by consequence of bad chances some of the schools give they are full of violence. Yet there are brighter signs and these are private schools and among them schools led by the church organisations for instance. They have to observe curriculum given by ministry of education so they cannot exclude whatever they wish from it or they lose the license. I am not in favor of them but if I have a chance I will send my son and daughter there - only I would have to babtize them first and that is a bit of a problem. I suppose it is similar in US so your generalization may be bit off the mark. DO youhave data to support your negative view?
I agree only partially. There is always bias even if you try to reward points to posts that are interesting although not to your liking you use some sort of elimination system to do so. That in itself is not bad - we need restrictions as otherwise we cannot lead any discussion as it degenerates into shouting and abuse. The balance is important.
I try to use common sense when I do modding/metomoderating also when I disagree with posts. There will be no violent change unless enough people decide that it is worthwhile.
the two have nothing to do with each other. In reality socialism is not even in opposition to capitalism - it deals with different aspects of living in a society. There is nothing stopping people using market forces to provide social services like health systems for instance. Market participants may benefit and people could too. The principle is social but the tools are free market (as far as free market can go) and the whole thing may be decided in a democratic way so the contradiction does not really exist.
Interestingly people call on democracy also when they do not understand what it really means. People can democratically decide to do things that result in human rights violation and destruction of whole countries e.g. Saarland has decided once to join third Reich in such a way (plebiscite on 13 Jan 1935) although people knew there is an politically and racially oppressive regime at power (I am sure there are many other examples) so democracy is not the only thing that we need to live well.
So it is that easy - you can give somebody if you violate somebody's rights to own the thing? Is it not ab it simplistic? This somehow reminds me of arguments different parts of anarchists movements were always throwing at each other (before it all degraded to throwing abuse about murderers and commies). The argument is somewhat fallacious (no it does not have anything to do with fellatio) that is because the rights that somebody (RIAA) has, may have been acquired in unjust way thus removing the need to observe them in the first place. Whether riaa actually posses any right is of course a matter decided by lobbyists and lawyers instead of philosophers and people of statue. That is a pity as that means we have less and less reasonable legal systems in which the small and relatively powerless are subdued to manipulations of the few powerful. I am afraid the unpleasant truth is that if you want to have rights you have to fight for them. The alternatives are to escape (where to ???) or to vent your anger at /.
I wonder why this has been modded troll (as of time of this posting). The guy is angry and maybe he has a reason to be. //
Disagreement is no reason for marking smoebodys post 'trolling'.
Oh well whatever mod me troll too.
what about deathsman's job?
The only problem I see with that is that methods used for executions are chosen by law makers usually and that means they do not change that often. OTOH there are no two same electrocutions so it is not that boring. Come to think of it the strain of daily routine is not that much lately (unless you work in China or any other lullaby of democracy and human rights).
This is probably true. Only it requires a lots of guts to be owner of such view. In modern world it is not only the money that counts but not having as much may suddenly force you to obtain a new set of friends especially if your career change isnot as smooth as it was supposed to be.
There are countries where failure is not a step in life but a failure and a reason to be ostracized. Germany is one such country - God forbids to have a whole for fancy things in your cv. This of course may not matter if you are truly devoted to what you do but I suppose that is exactly the problem majority of us have.
It helps to have free minded partner and supporting family but that is also not always there.
OTOH what are dreams worth if fulfilling them were easy?
so solution to this is not to have primary task in the first place, just relax and drink another one - you cannot make a mistake there, can you?
well transparent or not belief that users can stay ignorant while industry does its hocus-pocus is just silly. I do not need to know all the gory details of how the car I drive to work every day works but knowing the basics helps to make intelligent guesses e.g. not to buy Toyota's hybrids because they are less efficient than 'normal' cars or to use safety belt etc. On the same principle I prefer to know what and how the tools that protect me and my electronic transactions work. Ignorance may be a bliss but it is a costly one.
Still what we have now is a mess that is difficult to handle (for geeks and others too). That is the same for general issue with software - quality. a ot can and must be done. Ignorance prevents already discussing the issue.
Then again common sense is not a tool used on managment floors anyway.
They simply say that a field 92x92 can cover needs of US it does not say that one should build one such field neither is says that you should try to cover all country's needs from once source. Read again this time with understanding.
The point is really that: transformers allow for converting the voltage so that the transmission losses are smaller. We have devices that do that for DC so the actual advantage of AC disappears. In fact there are lines that are already in operation that do DC not AC because it is cheaper in a long run.
AC was yesterday, DC is tomorrow!
That is indeed true - the solar panel I have on my roof (middle Germany) is good enough (although it does not face south but west only) to produce enough energy for few days - hot water is stored in the insulated tank. This of course does not work in winter but at least decreases dependency so it is a step in a good direction. I at least do not mind having to pay less for gas heating.
BTW: it is called electrolysis and the verb is to electrolyse (I suppose spelling is different on both sides of Atlantic).
What about using devices that use less energy, turning off the bloody TV set when we do not use it (why would anyone want to watch the crap on the telly anyway???) building a house that is energy efficient and does not need electrically powered conditioners, etc ??? This could decrease amount of energy that one needs also over the night. Having windmill can also help, having access to the grid where some other sources of energy are available can provide backup.
Just in case any of the smart people here still would not like to see any solution and only whine and whine about how impossible this all is, here two arguments why we should at least try:
- it is a common feature of human history that people claim something is impossible - academy in Paris accepted once a scientific proof that objects heavier than air cannot fly and it was a sensible thing to believe it at the time
- we may have no choice soon (at least in terms of human kind) enough
yes and current networks have been built over a day, look right, occupy no space and need no transimssion lines, right?
There are projects that propose use of DC instead of AC and this could actually decrease power loss at transmission. The actual power stations based on solar power can be built (for Europe) in Africa and transmission lines towards users in (also) northern Europe. In northern Europe one can built (as it is currently being done) wind mills in coastal areas. This can offset part of the problem with lack of energy if clouds obscure the sun and/or the wind goes elsewhere.
This all may be not nice for average tourist or local resident looking at the wind mill or solar panel so are however highways, train lines, power lines existing today as well as climate changing burning furnaces of any traditional power plant (yes human activity changes climate - for those that do not believe maybe they should buy two weather stations and start measuring temperatures in and outside town for a simple proof).
Now all this may be unimportant - the time when currently used fuel for power plants will be gone and something will have to be done is approaching however - we can just as well start doing things now when it is not so troublesome.
But of course traditional approach i.e. that of the guy who cut down the last tree on Easter Island and thus destroyed last chance for him and his fellows to build a rescue vessel in case thing get tough (and soon they did) is the only valid mode of operation? I dislike bureaucrats in Europe but they have one advantage over their American counterparts - at least sometimes they think in terms of community. ANother advantage of this technology is that we can do it without Americans, Chinese or whoever still considering and or avoiding looking at the reality. Even if oil will not end (how could this be) we may at least save some billions on energy produced 'locally' instead of imported from civilized and us loving people in the middle east, democrats in Russia or in human rights lovers in Sudan.
Could you reconsider?
I suppose this may be part of the story but I think GP was onto something only I think supercoders do not finish projects on time and with good quality, well managed teams do if requirements are clear and not changing every minute.
As QA expert I see my job secure because of so many genius coders out there - keep up your smart ways guys!!!
It is the poor men justice - rich go around in expensive ships that sink occasionally, I'd say better than nothing.
the problem lies not in jumping - when you get shot with real bullet you may feel pain and even die and no amount of hacking will change that.
I think religion should be banned and all the religious people should be put into prisons or made rebuild dams in New Orleans. Would you agree?
/. oblivion - the agnostic or the religious ones.
SARCASM SARCASM!!!
What I wonder now is what sort of fanatics will mod me into
SARCASM SARCASM!!!
What do you personally think should be done to me for my skepticism of Dawkins' ideas?
here is the article from the economist that describes the issue with the possible merits of religion and science of religion as it stands:
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10875666
People that discuss matters like religion and faith are perhaps not very surprisingly religious zealots which make them hardly distinguishable from religious zealots. They are obviously not aware of the fact that you cannot prove existence of deity either way so their arguments are rather futile.
Interestingly there are merits for a group when its members believe (in God or in holly pumpkin). The group members that show that they believe are more likely be good mates for producing an offspring (or many) for instance. The believers are also better canon meat and heroes etc. without which no society would be able to face hard times (and other societies).
Even more interestingly it is not only the hard times when believers show their value. Apparently somebody had a look at the gated communities in US and analyzed their life length. The longest lived one was built on (Christian) faith and it is still there after some >100 years. From the ones that had no apparent religious connection the longest surviving lasted 50 years.
Now I do not even go to the church but I see the point here. It does not help of course as you cannot be a believer by reasoning only. I only hope that by believing that I know what is good and bad and by believing in common values I somehow arrive at the merits without the bad parts of religion.
Now I wonder how fast I will be demoted to \.'s hell.
they did not have copyright or IP in ancient Rome and look what happened to them - where are they now?
I would mod you up if I could but you have your points already anyway so I comment instead.
You are right that announced death of a newspaper is exaggerated. I do not read newspapers the way I did 30 years ago but I still do because our beloved and indispensable internet provide all information but not always it is is easy to find and when I find it it is usually not very reliable and for instance rarely describes local issues that are important to me.
Besides I still prefer to read in depth commentaries and do it while for instance waiting for a train or bus or while relaxing on the bank in the spring sun. The same information in electronic form is either not available or when it is it is so cumbersome to use in such places than I prefer to access it old fashion way.
Besides there is no better way to polish windows than to use old newspaper (at least those printed in the old fashion). When internet becomes available without trouble and polish my windows too I will agree to discard my then pointless habits:)
Note for those slashdotters that never leave the geek's basement: windows are those things people like to have in their rooms so that the sunlight can come in and you can look outside. They are similar to computer display but need no power and you do not need DSL to see naked (albeit not very nice looking) female neighbour taking the sun bath.
In my experience the failure is not caused by people not knowing the language. Incompetence and ignorance are curable by education. Not willing to go through review process, being convinced of own superiority and infallibility, this all is equal to sabotaging the project and all is not curable. I have seen millions sunk not because projects had crews that could not code but because they were not able to communicate. We also have seen new brilliant toys that were to provide silver bullet and failed.
I still have to occasionally write code in assembler of the processor that is all but dead and is simulated by virtual machine. It is still cheaper than writing new RT application of the same functionality in new language and just to be able to add this one single module that nobody wants to write in old proprietary language.
What I wanted to say is that the programming language is just a tool, it is a hard heart eeee cool head that allows to use it properly.
They go through tests because they have a job to do and they have to fly those things. Besides that you miss the rich people health factor. It is the poor that is sick (and fat).
You can also argue that the decision on what is trivia is very subjective - for some anime is trivial for some it is important - how to settle this? //
Besides if articles are so trivial to cause discussion about sense of their inclusion there are markers informing the reader about it.