Agree. I read a Michael Shermer book once where he agreed to go on a Jerry Springer show to argue for skepticism. What on earth was he (Shermer) thinking?
7: There will be a universal currency, universal language, and universal OS (don't worry, not necessarily Windows, MacOS, or Linux) at some point which most (>99%) can and will use. It'll take a while, and will probably happen after most people stop working, but at some point, we will all agree to get along (traveling to outer space, and to the stars may add some confusion to this point however).
In many ways, we're almost already there. What percentage of the world's nations and economies has a working understanding of English and access to some basically-interoperable computer networking system? If you believe in the curse of the Tower of Babel, you might be inclined to argue that humanity is overcoming the confounding of languages and is again a viable candidate to ascend to the heavens.
Uh... I think you're making the assumption that the Universal language will be the one you know: i.e, English. This probably isn't the case. The best candidate I've come across is Esperanto. And that was designed as a Universal second language. (And of course, "Universal"= just this planet in this context. I doubt if the Vegans, Sirians and Centaurans want to learn our languages).
Ah, the USA... land of violence and the lawsuit. Rather than just letting you hit him repeatedly with a baseball bat, and rolling over to give you a better angle on his kidneys, he'll just pull out his a) gun or b) knife and kill you. We know he's a lowlife so it's likely he'll be carrying something.
The "unless you're in SQL, you're not a DBA" attitude. I was DBA here for yonks, then got an email from a new starter signed "Senior DBA". Gave me a start. He was the new SQL man, it turned out.
Basically, it's money. When I was younger I'd wonder why the powers-that-be weren't moving to Client/Server, OO or whatever the current flavour-of-the-month paradigm (I go back to CASE and upper CASE. And Waterfall. Yeah, get off my lawn). Reason is that they can't see any $$ in the move. The only reason they get new shiny desktops, laptops or IPads is because the support lapses on the old ones. And that's also what spurs the move to newer tech.
For newer software, newer design, newer methodology - unless it saves them cash they won't go for it. You can rant all you like about newer tech, latest ideas from Silicon valley, etc etc... the bottom line is... the bottom line.
Trying simple things to lock down military PC's such as sealing up CD-ROM/DVD drives and USB ports is defeated by the motivation of troops wanting to listen to his MP3 collection or view family videos.
Not so. It's thwarted by the officer in charge (civilian or military) not saying "NO!".
And then thwarted by not having an automatic scan of the thumb drive on insertion.
... so it's humans that need to get out there and find more places to live and breed. 7 billion down here now...
By all means use robots to find a good sport to build a house, plant the corn and corral the critters - but it's humans that need to live. Robots can't even do that.
Yep - it's called data mining. Used already to look for secret coded messages in the bible, etc. If you look hard enough and don't particularly care what you find, then you're sure to find something.
Instructor at a physiological flight training course (i.e. "chamber ride") suggests carry one of those large bags for roasting turkeys in the oven, keep it folded inside your jacket pocket. After a rough landing (no, not one that plows in at hundreds mph), pull it over your head and tighten string. Bag should have enough breathing air but it will shield against toxic smoke and much of the heat. In the event of a cabin fire it will mostly be smoke that collapses other passengers, this bag over your head will give you considerable protection for you to quickly egress.
I'd suggest a brown paper bag is another option. Hitchhiker's Guide suggested this in various circumstances.
The only knowledge that would seem useful, from the crash test videos I've seen, is to climb over the top of the seats to get to the exit in a fire. And I doubt they're going to tell you that in a class.
They might show you how to elbow aside kids and women, and knee other passengers in the crotch to get to the exits first and survive.
Reminds me (somehow) of a fault report I closed once. User asked why it worked in Test, not in Prod. Documentation said "unreliable results". I closed it with "Unreliable means it works sometimes - not always". Maybe with "It was so unreliable it was actually right once or twice!".
Slashdot Mirror
Approaching 40 .. from what side?
In many places, you cannot legally build on floodplain.
I think you can if you're prepared to pay the penalty. They're dark green on the map. And volcanoes are those little triangles.
Agree. I read a Michael Shermer book once where he agreed to go on a Jerry Springer show to argue for skepticism. What on earth was he (Shermer) thinking?
Impressive haiku!
This is scary - I just posted about Esperanto in another thread (Universal language). Must be an Esperanto day!
7: There will be a universal currency, universal language, and universal OS (don't worry, not necessarily Windows, MacOS, or Linux) at some point which most (>99%) can and will use. It'll take a while, and will probably happen after most people stop working, but at some point, we will all agree to get along (traveling to outer space, and to the stars may add some confusion to this point however).
In many ways, we're almost already there. What percentage of the world's nations and economies has a working understanding of English and access to some basically-interoperable computer networking system? If you believe in the curse of the Tower of Babel, you might be inclined to argue that humanity is overcoming the confounding of languages and is again a viable candidate to ascend to the heavens.
Uh ... I think you're making the assumption that the Universal language will be the one you know: i.e, English. This probably isn't the case. The best candidate I've come across is Esperanto. And that was designed as a Universal second language. (And of course, "Universal"= just this planet in this context. I doubt if the Vegans, Sirians and Centaurans want to learn our languages).
Remember - this is life, not hollywood or a game.
GET IT IN WRITING with hand signatures. Hearsay doesn't mean diddly-squat to them.
As Sam Goldwyn said, a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.
The "unless you're in SQL, you're not a DBA" attitude. I was DBA here for yonks, then got an email from a new starter signed "Senior DBA". Gave me a start. He was the new SQL man, it turned out.
Hear hear - the "Copyright Microsoft" at the bottom is a bit of a give-away. "BMW cars best" says BMW. etc etc ...
For newer software, newer design, newer methodology - unless it saves them cash they won't go for it. You can rant all you like about newer tech, latest ideas from Silicon valley, etc etc ... the bottom line is ... the bottom line.
Trying simple things to lock down military PC's such as sealing up CD-ROM/DVD drives and USB ports is defeated by the motivation of troops wanting to listen to his MP3 collection or view family videos.
Not so. It's thwarted by the officer in charge (civilian or military) not saying "NO!".
And then thwarted by not having an automatic scan of the thumb drive on insertion.
Larry Niven? Who's with me, here...
... fee speech. ....
Fee speech. I know that's a typo but that's really very good. +1 Insightful
(Thank you - I'm here 'til Thursday)
By all means use robots to find a good sport to build a house, plant the corn and corral the critters - but it's humans that need to live. Robots can't even do that.
Yep - it's called data mining. Used already to look for secret coded messages in the bible, etc. If you look hard enough and don't particularly care what you find, then you're sure to find something.
When the closest thing to a global language was Latin. A time when most people couldn't read or write.
Quidam tamen nos scribere latine te inconsulta glaeba!
(Trans: Some of us still write in Latin, you inconsiderate clod!)
Or I could spend that hour it takes to prep, cook, serve, and clean doing something useful.
Pal, taking an hour to prep, cook, serve, clean is doing something useful. You take showers? You brush and floss? Same thing.
War of 1812. Oh, wait ...
Instructor at a physiological flight training course (i.e. "chamber ride") suggests carry one of those large bags for roasting turkeys in the oven, keep it folded inside your jacket pocket. After a rough landing (no, not one that plows in at hundreds mph), pull it over your head and tighten string. Bag should have enough breathing air but it will shield against toxic smoke and much of the heat. In the event of a cabin fire it will mostly be smoke that collapses other passengers, this bag over your head will give you considerable protection for you to quickly egress.
I'd suggest a brown paper bag is another option. Hitchhiker's Guide suggested this in various circumstances.
The only knowledge that would seem useful, from the crash test videos I've seen, is to climb over the top of the seats to get to the exit in a fire. And I doubt they're going to tell you that in a class.
They might show you how to elbow aside kids and women, and knee other passengers in the crotch to get to the exits first and survive.
Come on, everyone was thinking it...
"Soul Survivor". One those movies that everyone's seen and no-one can remember the title of. Except me, obviously.
Reminds me (somehow) of a fault report I closed once. User asked why it worked in Test, not in Prod. Documentation said "unreliable results". I closed it with "Unreliable means it works sometimes - not always". Maybe with "It was so unreliable it was actually right once or twice!".
And to paraphrase the immortal words of Mandy Rice Davies - they would say that, wouldn't they.