Well, I'd like to make a contradictory point here. Not that the private sector isn't greedy, because it is, but the government sector is just as greedy. Private sector industries are not burdened by nearly as much red tape and stupid bureaucracy, and will ALWAYS be more efficient that the government. In this case, outsourcing security work to the private sector is fine, as long as the contracts are not written in such a way as to make them anticompetitive (e.g.: sole source), bureauracratic (e.g.: oversight bordering on shouldersurfing), and too lucrative for the contractor. As long as it's planned correctly, a private sector contract will help the nation, not hurt it.
with the advent of the self checkout, I'm beginning to worry that an entire generation of adolescent males (and post-adolescent slashdotters, heh) will not have to experience that wonderful humiliating experience of purchasing trojans from the grocery store! With no common experiences, I predict a demise in the social structure binding us together! What is this world coming to?
Well, I have a completely different take on this. Let's not look at how to change the thinking of NASA here. Instead, lets look at why they're thinking how they are. They are a monolithic organization with too much on its plate. Let's head back to the heady days when NASA was a scientific organization, doing real, legitimate research. Heavy Lift platforms, while needed for research, are not research in and of themselves.
Q: How do we fix that?
A: Allow a private sectory heavy lift industry to develop, and contract for rides to orbit. That way, NASA can do what it is really good at: research. Look at the little roverlies that went to Mars. Fantastic program! Totally well worth the effort put in, but a lot of costs could have been saved by letting the initial part of the mission- the ground to orbit stage- be conducted by the private sector. Private sector industries will always beat the government for cost savings, as it's in their best interest to do it cheaply. Note that I'm not speaking about a private sector that is completely beholden to the contracts of NASA, which esentially creates an arm of the government in the private sector, but instead a truly "private" private sector, in which the capabilities are present intrinsically, and NASA just says, "hey, you have a heavy lift platform, we have something heavy, let's do a deal.".
Anyone want to elect me President, so I can make this happen?
Does anyone else see a problem with modeling a school after a management style better at spin than substance? Or with MS managers telling teachers how to do their jobs?
This is actually the part I worry most about. It's not that MS handed the school some pretty gadgets, and said, carryon as usual, they modeled the entire school in their own image. [joke]Look how well that worked for Christianity![/joke]
On a serious note, despite not having the single organization which projects 'clout', couldn't the FOSS movement do something similar (espeically since MS was able to convince the PA school system to pony up the cost?)??
I'm out.
My apologies for making a trollish post. I was in a pissy mood earlier, firing from the hip, and should have thought my words more carefully. I completely agree with you, actually, regarding your point to the following:
very few people in this world are cut out to be programmers. For some people it's almost natural thing. For others it is a latent talent that can be trained. But most people, regardless of their intelligence, dilligence and personal virtue, could only be trained to the level of mediocrity, at least with the ways we know how to teach.
A lot of people I went to school with couldn't get it. It may have been that the people who didn't get it were the ones that I met in the Information Systems classes (which, where I went to school, was a concentration on a Business Major, where they taught VB as the intro language) were those that were not cut out to be programmers in the first place, thus affecting my perception of languages causing dain bramage.
Anyway, I still don't like VB, but, at least you made me consider my words and thought processes. Apologies to the community at large for being a dick.
One other thing. Visual Basic from Microsoft is an IDE, and their name brand for a language. IronPython is not an IDE, so, no, it probably cannot be used to create GUIs and add business logic as easily as VB.
Visual Basic? Easy to learn? I don't believe that these two statements belong in the same sentance. IMHO VB is a terrible tool to learn, as when used to teach programming fundamentals (as is often done with information systems students in business departments), it corrupts the student's understanding so grotesquely that often, they can never recover.
Okay, not to sound alarmist, but shouldn't you and the grandparent notify the respective companies that own the software to which you both linked of the patent, so that they may submit objects to the patent's filing? That way, the patent doesn't go through?
Colorado State uses SPIM for MIPS as well for our assembly course... They'll probably keep teaching it though, since the concepts that are put forth don't really change, it's the underlying implementation (we're abstracting our teaching methodology!!!). That, and it's emulated. I don't think CSU's seen an IRIX box for some time now.
Yep, Gerrymandering is, and has been, a very large problem in this country for a very long time. See Wikipedia for more. If there was a way to fix it, I'll vote for it. Unfortunately, to fix it requires the consent of the bodies benefitting from it, which pretty much means that nothing will ever happen.
Ahhh!!!! Teh SCO is taking over the world! WTFO!!!! Somebody file a patent infringement lawsuit! All we need is China taking down linux because they are patent trolls. Dammit!
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I'd like to make a contradictory point here. Not that the private sector isn't greedy, because it is, but the government sector is just as greedy. Private sector industries are not burdened by nearly as much red tape and stupid bureaucracy, and will ALWAYS be more efficient that the government. In this case, outsourcing security work to the private sector is fine, as long as the contracts are not written in such a way as to make them anticompetitive (e.g.: sole source), bureauracratic (e.g.: oversight bordering on shouldersurfing), and too lucrative for the contractor. As long as it's planned correctly, a private sector contract will help the nation, not hurt it.
Snakes on a chip?
with the advent of the self checkout, I'm beginning to worry that an entire generation of adolescent males (and post-adolescent slashdotters, heh) will not have to experience that wonderful humiliating experience of purchasing trojans from the grocery store! With no common experiences, I predict a demise in the social structure binding us together! What is this world coming to?
Wow, I guess I need to do my research before shooting my mouth off. Fantastic that they're doing this, I really hope it works out!
Well, I have a completely different take on this. Let's not look at how to change the thinking of NASA here. Instead, lets look at why they're thinking how they are. They are a monolithic organization with too much on its plate. Let's head back to the heady days when NASA was a scientific organization, doing real, legitimate research. Heavy Lift platforms, while needed for research, are not research in and of themselves.
Q: How do we fix that?
A: Allow a private sectory heavy lift industry to develop, and contract for rides to orbit. That way, NASA can do what it is really good at: research. Look at the little roverlies that went to Mars. Fantastic program! Totally well worth the effort put in, but a lot of costs could have been saved by letting the initial part of the mission- the ground to orbit stage- be conducted by the private sector. Private sector industries will always beat the government for cost savings, as it's in their best interest to do it cheaply. Note that I'm not speaking about a private sector that is completely beholden to the contracts of NASA, which esentially creates an arm of the government in the private sector, but instead a truly "private" private sector, in which the capabilities are present intrinsically, and NASA just says, "hey, you have a heavy lift platform, we have something heavy, let's do a deal.".
Anyone want to elect me President, so I can make this happen?
Wait, from management, or from the chip?
But, if you let the smoke out, it won't work anymore! I let the smoke out of a machine once, and without the smoke, it melted!
We put our cows in dresses... makes it easier when you close your eyes.
So what! I see dead people!
This is actually the part I worry most about. It's not that MS handed the school some pretty gadgets, and said, carryon as usual, they modeled the entire school in their own image. [joke]Look how well that worked for Christianity![/joke]
On a serious note, despite not having the single organization which projects 'clout', couldn't the FOSS movement do something similar (espeically since MS was able to convince the PA school system to pony up the cost?)??
My apologies for making a trollish post. I was in a pissy mood earlier, firing from the hip, and should have thought my words more carefully. I completely agree with you, actually, regarding your point to the following:
A lot of people I went to school with couldn't get it. It may have been that the people who didn't get it were the ones that I met in the Information Systems classes (which, where I went to school, was a concentration on a Business Major, where they taught VB as the intro language) were those that were not cut out to be programmers in the first place, thus affecting my perception of languages causing dain bramage.
Anyway, I still don't like VB, but, at least you made me consider my words and thought processes. Apologies to the community at large for being a dick.
Well, Yea! Please tell me that the current state of the art is not our crowning achievement in Computer Science. If it is, I quit.
One other thing. Visual Basic from Microsoft is an IDE, and their name brand for a language. IronPython is not an IDE, so, no, it probably cannot be used to create GUIs and add business logic as easily as VB.
Visual Basic? Easy to learn? I don't believe that these two statements belong in the same sentance. IMHO VB is a terrible tool to learn, as when used to teach programming fundamentals (as is often done with information systems students in business departments), it corrupts the student's understanding so grotesquely that often, they can never recover.
Great... so now all of those new spam mails that I've been receiving will actually make sense, because the author has a microsoft language assistant?
Okay, not to sound alarmist, but shouldn't you and the grandparent notify the respective companies that own the software to which you both linked of the patent, so that they may submit objects to the patent's filing? That way, the patent doesn't go through?
Colorado State uses SPIM for MIPS as well for our assembly course... They'll probably keep teaching it though, since the concepts that are put forth don't really change, it's the underlying implementation (we're abstracting our teaching methodology!!!). That, and it's emulated. I don't think CSU's seen an IRIX box for some time now.
Nö!
Vöilà!
Nöt that that's a wörd, ör anything.
What is uncolicitated, anyway? Is that kind of like un-co-located?
Just don't teach them the Visual Basics [sic], that'll really mess them up ;)
Yep, Gerrymandering is, and has been, a very large problem in this country for a very long time. See Wikipedia for more. If there was a way to fix it, I'll vote for it. Unfortunately, to fix it requires the consent of the bodies benefitting from it, which pretty much means that nothing will ever happen.
I actually meant pl as in planet (similar to .co.us or whateever)
Yikes... I'm hoping this was some kind of drinking game. How did you ever come across doing this for fun without booze?
actually, with the introduction of ICANN's new solar system domain, it won't be a problem!
www.pluton.sol.pl.earth
www.pluton.sol.pl.pluto