Conceived by unaccountable committees. No independent cost/benefit analysis, no human factors or usability analysis. No testing prior to rollout. Spotty or no technical support. No GAAP accounting to see if the software saved money or accomplished stated goals. No money back guarantee and many of the developers leave the company every four years.
Depends on the level and type of pollution. Some pollution is inevitable if you're on earth and breathing. I'd have to be honest and admit that I'm more concerned with preserving some sort of industrial civilization and avoiding an unpleasant population bottleneck which appears to be where we're headed than I am about pollution, per se. That said, I'm aware that ecological preservation is critical for our survival as a species. In the end, however, money may be the most successful self replicator on Earth for a while until it too, goes through its population bottleneck along with us.
This "electricity" is merely a fad and will come to nothing. Ha, and those bifocal things will cause the innocent wearer to become cross-eyed. Such dangerous radicals are not to be suffered in the King's lands!
Really? If it's communications are conducted in almost unrecognizable languages, and it's conversations mainly esoterica beyond human concerns, and those discussions happened only over very long periods, they might not only be sentient, but also tenured.
. People who go for more "elaborate" languages, with loads of libraries available, should be forced to understand what goes on behind the scenes.
Oh, really? I suppose you advocate that bricklayers should understand chemistry before being allowed to lay bricks, and that your car mechanic should understand enough about how quantum probability works before he attempts to fix the electrical system that failed and made your left headlight go out.
Dude, people have to get real work done, OK. Sometimes they have to use a programming language to sort a list and export a file. Not all of these people need to be, can be or should be experts down to the nth degree.
The fact of the matter is that not just programming languages, but entire concepts, frameworks and practices in computer science are completely untested for efficiency, human factors and most importantly, return on investment!
Examples include: 1) Patterns (Please include a measured, verifiable example of anyone who has saved or made money on this). 2) Agile (See parenthetical above. Extra points on why it's better than just meeting every day and discussing the problems and schedule). 3) The *new* programming language [insert favorite here]! 4) Programming languages with radically different syntax and models. Please don't bother with responses like, "They're *better* because... um....(mutter mumble)... I like them!" 5) Unit testing (Qualifier: It is possible to make this useful, except that most developers don't and don't know how to.)
we all know this is true, particularly many of the people on Slashdot. Think the person who cuts your hair, or the waitress at your local Denny's can make an objective rational assessment regarding the economy, peak oil, red-light cameras or even pick the best low cost cell phone? You know they can't. You also know that they don't know they can't.
Empirically, we're seeing democracy fail in the USA as the dumberati elect people like themselves such as Reagan or Bush II (Well, OK, he wasn't exactly *elected* the first time, but that's for another day). We see politically motivated media hacks whipping up the less gifted electorate by labeling anyone who demonstrates an IQ over 100 as "elitist." While I'm not fond of the fact that the wealthy and powerful accumulate power and care only for themselves, I think the egalitarian democracy that used to exist in the USA is anomalous, that attempts to enforce it have failed, and will always fail. A population of more intelligent people will, (on average) will be more wealthy and powerful over time than a less intelligent bunch.
Bottom line? Expect a multi-tier society to evolve in the USA until we look more like a high tech version of medieval Europe. Oligarchy is inevitable, as are the inevitable revolutions against it.
"Oh golly, Yes!" They must be thinking. "Let me work for an engineering degree so I can compete with someone making $8/hr. in the Philippines and be laid off by the time I'm 50 because I'm "too expensive" and my skills are "obsolete" according to a bean counter and an upper management ignoramus who knows nothing about my industry or what I do."
Sure! Why, I bet the kids are just lining up for that "opportunity." That bed has been made by American corporations. Unfortunately, we must all lie in it.
The USA and its wealth are being harvested by an international elite who don't give a rat's ass about the USA or any other nation state. Nobody with power/money has any interest in having a strong, stable middle class in the USA. The best skill set for a young person with a passion for engineering is the ability to speak Chinese or Hindi and the skill set to acquire permanent working status in China or India, where at least the cost of living is more in line with salaries.
Do they think anybody would say anything in clear if they were trying to hide something? With the words all spelled out correctly? If this really is the list they're using, the DHS employee responsible for this ineffective fiasco should be fired. Moreover, DHS should hire a competent linguist and have them evaluate their software for semantic analysis and relevance scoring. I could do a better analysis by scanning for n-gram and word frequency patterns extracted from known terrorist writings.
Energetically, 6000 sq. ft of natural gas = 1 barrel of oil, and anything that makes the transportation sector as a whole less dependent on liquid hydrocarbons (i.e. oil based petroleum), is desirable if you want to keep something resembling modern civilization going beyond the next 50 years or thereabouts.
I'm not saying we should keep modern civilization going, mind you, just that we need to diversify transportation fuel types to do it.
To quote the ever smug Leona Helmesly, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes..." (And why is it that the most nauseating psychopaths like Helmesly, Milken, Fleiss, et. al always sport that stupid grin that just cries for a fist.)
Surely anyone who's had contact with wealthy people have noticed their underlying assumption of "I am above all rules. Those are for the little people."
While your points are valid, I can only point out Wikileaks, Anonymous and the other groups and individual who don't get into the mainstream media but scare the bejeezus out of the powers that be. Of course, there are consequences for opposing the oligarchs. Always have been. The difference now is that the cognitive gap between the oligarchs and their servants is wider than ever. So, yes, some will be jailed and shot. Just as in every other resistance movement.
...with those who one one. Ultimately, control of the internet resides with those who operate it.
Like the internet? Fond of electricity? And phone? And petroleum products? And a functioning natural gas pipelines? High frequency stock trading? Best not to fuck with those who run these things. This extends to any critical, high-tech, specialized activity. Up to this point, politicians have left the operators of these things alone. Should they become sufficiently annoying, it wouldn't surprise me if the technically competent started flexing some muscle.
Debunked? Um. No. I understand that there's a spate of little happy-talk articles out now in the mainstream media. If you believe them, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. For a numerate discussion of what we're facing, start with the book referenced here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_mile_of_oil.
Peak oil is complicated, and those new to the idea think it's all about quantity of oil left. It's a bit more than that. It's about being able to produce enough oil that's energetically and economically profitable enough to sustain the world's supply chains, particularly those most important supply chains, the ones that support the discovery, extraction, refining and distribution of petroleum. Feedback is a particularly nasty bitch here. When that one collapses, we're done with oil as a significant energy player, even as little stripper wells keep cranking out 1 barrel or two a day for a century.
And of course, if the energy supply chains collapse, so does everything else, more or less, until the folks who aren't starving bang what's left into something useful.
The two arguments against this, of course are: "Gee. We're so wonderful and smart, we'll think of something" or "There's a gazillion more barrels of oil out there. The [insert govt. agency or investment institution here] just said so in a *report!* Alas, innovation rarely happens on schedule and there are diminishing returns on technology. Notice that your PC hasn't sped up this last decade? As for government and investment company numbers... "Hey, I've still got that bridge right over here!":)
Nothing new there, but perhaps we might all need to be a bit less fussy about physical truths. Sometimes an equation ginned up by a GA with no underlying conceptual "theory" is good enough, and as good as it gets. Not satisfying, but probably (and probablistically) true.:)
Actually they are sitting this one out. The RNC doesn't want to win this election any more than they did the last one. Look, the economy isn't going to "recover" in the next four years. Oil prices are going to continue to increase whether Iran is in the picture or not. Formerly prosperous Americans will continue to have their wealth harvested by the global elite that cares about no country. Would you want to be the party in power while all this was happening? Much better to be the loyal opposition and keep those lobbyist checks rolling into those offshore bank accounts.
Absent of a Palin to poison the well, the best the RNC and SuperPACS can do this time is to promote a useful idiot like Santorum. Barely credible enough to be a candidate, but certain to lose to Obama. Keep him in the news. Leak (or create) enough bad press about Romney and it's a shoe-in.
It does depend on what you're doing. Software set up this way tends to speed up as you use it due to more local caching. At any rate, would rather have a a thousand customers from whom you make nothing or a few hundred who are willing to take the performance hit, but from whom you make a profit? This answer is dictated purely by economics. Fast, profitless software is pointless from a business standpoint.
Slashdot Mirror
It's the money guys. You can try and BS that away but that's the reason.
Conceived by unaccountable committees. No independent cost/benefit analysis, no human factors or usability analysis. No testing prior to rollout. Spotty or no technical support. No GAAP accounting to see if the software saved money or accomplished stated goals. No money back guarantee and many of the developers leave the company every four years.
Depends on the level and type of pollution. Some pollution is inevitable if you're on earth and breathing. I'd have to be honest and admit that I'm more concerned with preserving some sort of industrial civilization and avoiding an unpleasant population bottleneck which appears to be where we're headed than I am about pollution, per se. That said, I'm aware that ecological preservation is critical for our survival as a species. In the end, however, money may be the most successful self replicator on Earth for a while until it too, goes through its population bottleneck along with us.
I don't know off the top of my head. It's absurdly cheap. Today.
is all I can think when I read these stories.
This "electricity" is merely a fad and will come to nothing. Ha, and those bifocal things will cause the innocent wearer to become cross-eyed. Such dangerous radicals are not to be suffered in the King's lands!
Really? If it's communications are conducted in almost unrecognizable languages, and it's conversations mainly esoterica beyond human concerns, and those discussions happened only over very long periods, they might not only be sentient, but also tenured.
Right. The sun isn't that sloppy. If it was concerned enough about the midges on dirtspeck 3, we'd have been melted with loving concern long ago.
And how do you *know* the sun isn't sentient? Just askin'
. People who go for more "elaborate" languages, with loads of libraries available, should be forced to understand what goes on behind the scenes.
Oh, really? I suppose you advocate that bricklayers should understand chemistry before being allowed to lay bricks, and that your car mechanic should understand enough about how quantum probability works before he attempts to fix the electrical system that failed and made your left headlight go out.
Dude, people have to get real work done, OK. Sometimes they have to use a programming language to sort a list and export a file. Not all of these people need to be, can be or should be experts down to the nth degree.
The fact of the matter is that not just programming languages, but entire concepts, frameworks and practices in computer science are completely untested for efficiency, human factors and most importantly, return on investment!
Examples include: ... I like them!"
1) Patterns (Please include a measured, verifiable example of anyone who has saved or made money on this).
2) Agile (See parenthetical above. Extra points on why it's better than just meeting every day and discussing the problems and schedule).
3) The *new* programming language [insert favorite here]!
4) Programming languages with radically different syntax and models. Please don't bother with responses like, "They're *better* because... um....(mutter mumble)
5) Unit testing (Qualifier: It is possible to make this useful, except that most developers don't and don't know how to.)
Until the battery runs out, or they get pissy and don't let the carts out to play in traffic.
we all know this is true, particularly many of the people on Slashdot. Think the person who cuts your hair, or the waitress at your local Denny's can make an objective rational assessment regarding the economy, peak oil, red-light cameras or even pick the best low cost cell phone? You know they can't. You also know that they don't know they can't.
Empirically, we're seeing democracy fail in the USA as the dumberati elect people like themselves such as Reagan or Bush II (Well, OK, he wasn't exactly *elected* the first time, but that's for another day). We see politically motivated media hacks whipping up the less gifted electorate by labeling anyone who demonstrates an IQ over 100 as "elitist." While I'm not fond of the fact that the wealthy and powerful accumulate power and care only for themselves, I think the egalitarian democracy that used to exist in the USA is anomalous, that attempts to enforce it have failed, and will always fail. A population of more intelligent people will, (on average) will be more wealthy and powerful over time than a less intelligent bunch.
Bottom line? Expect a multi-tier society to evolve in the USA until we look more like a high tech version of medieval Europe. Oligarchy is inevitable, as are the inevitable revolutions against it.
Well, I want my money back.
"Oh golly, Yes!" They must be thinking. "Let me work for an engineering degree so I can compete with someone making $8/hr. in the Philippines and be laid off by the time I'm 50 because I'm "too expensive" and my skills are "obsolete" according to a bean counter and an upper management ignoramus who knows nothing about my industry or what I do."
Sure! Why, I bet the kids are just lining up for that "opportunity." That bed has been made by American corporations. Unfortunately, we must all lie in it.
The USA and its wealth are being harvested by an international elite who don't give a rat's ass about the USA or any other nation state. Nobody with power/money has any interest in having a strong, stable middle class in the USA. The best skill set for a young person with a passion for engineering is the ability to speak Chinese or Hindi and the skill set to acquire permanent working status in China or India, where at least the cost of living is more in line with salaries.
It's always worked for me.
Do they think anybody would say anything in clear if they were trying to hide something? With the words all spelled out correctly? If this really is the list they're using, the DHS employee responsible for this ineffective fiasco should be fired. Moreover, DHS should hire a competent linguist and have them evaluate their software for semantic analysis and relevance scoring. I could do a better analysis by scanning for n-gram and word frequency patterns extracted from known terrorist writings.
Energetically, 6000 sq. ft of natural gas = 1 barrel of oil, and anything that makes the transportation sector as a whole less dependent on liquid hydrocarbons (i.e. oil based petroleum), is desirable if you want to keep something resembling modern civilization going beyond the next 50 years or thereabouts.
I'm not saying we should keep modern civilization going, mind you, just that we need to diversify transportation fuel types to do it.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
For a while.
To quote the ever smug Leona Helmesly, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes..." (And why is it that the most nauseating psychopaths like Helmesly, Milken, Fleiss, et. al always sport that stupid grin that just cries for a fist.)
Surely anyone who's had contact with wealthy people have noticed their underlying assumption of "I am above all rules. Those are for the little people."
While your points are valid, I can only point out Wikileaks, Anonymous and the other groups and individual who don't get into the mainstream media but scare the bejeezus out of the powers that be. Of course, there are consequences for opposing the oligarchs. Always have been. The difference now is that the cognitive gap between the oligarchs and their servants is wider than ever. So, yes, some will be jailed and shot. Just as in every other resistance movement.
...with those who one one. Ultimately, control of the internet resides with those who operate it.
Like the internet? Fond of electricity? And phone? And petroleum products? And a functioning natural gas pipelines? High frequency stock trading? Best not to fuck with those who run these things. This extends to any critical, high-tech, specialized activity. Up to this point, politicians have left the operators of these things alone. Should they become sufficiently annoying, it wouldn't surprise me if the technically competent started flexing some muscle.
Debunked? Um. No. I understand that there's a spate of little happy-talk articles out now in the mainstream media. If you believe them, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. For a numerate discussion of what we're facing, start with the book referenced here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_mile_of_oil.
Peak oil is complicated, and those new to the idea think it's all about quantity of oil left. It's a bit more than that. It's about being able to produce enough oil that's energetically and economically profitable enough to sustain the world's supply chains, particularly those most important supply chains, the ones that support the discovery, extraction, refining and distribution of petroleum. Feedback is a particularly nasty bitch here. When that one collapses, we're done with oil as a significant energy player, even as little stripper wells keep cranking out 1 barrel or two a day for a century.
And of course, if the energy supply chains collapse, so does everything else, more or less, until the folks who aren't starving bang what's left into something useful.
The two arguments against this, of course are: "Gee. We're so wonderful and smart, we'll think of something" or "There's a gazillion more barrels of oil out there. The [insert govt. agency or investment institution here] just said so in a *report!* Alas, innovation rarely happens on schedule and there are diminishing returns on technology. Notice that your PC hasn't sped up this last decade? As for government and investment company numbers... "Hey, I've still got that bridge right over here!" :)
Nothing new there, but perhaps we might all need to be a bit less fussy about physical truths. Sometimes an equation ginned up by a GA with no underlying conceptual "theory" is good enough, and as good as it gets. Not satisfying, but probably (and probablistically) true. :)
Actually they are sitting this one out. The RNC doesn't want to win this election any more than they did the last one. Look, the economy isn't going to "recover" in the next four years. Oil prices are going to continue to increase whether Iran is in the picture or not. Formerly prosperous Americans will continue to have their wealth harvested by the global elite that cares about no country. Would you want to be the party in power while all this was happening? Much better to be the loyal opposition and keep those lobbyist checks rolling into those offshore bank accounts.
Absent of a Palin to poison the well, the best the RNC and SuperPACS can do this time is to promote a useful idiot like Santorum. Barely credible enough to be a candidate, but certain to lose to Obama. Keep him in the news. Leak (or create) enough bad press about Romney and it's a shoe-in.
It does depend on what you're doing. Software set up this way tends to speed up as you use it due to more local caching. At any rate, would rather have a a thousand customers from whom you make nothing or a few hundred who are willing to take the performance hit, but from whom you make a profit? This answer is dictated purely by economics. Fast, profitless software is pointless from a business standpoint.