Post hoc propter hoc

In the 70s I lead a team of about a dozen software engineers working on technical software (flight test, CAD etc.) . There were three females in the group, and at a later date a female manager ran the whole department (about 100 programmers). So where have they gone? or is it a myth. I know that females tend to leave careers to have families, but why don't they come back? Is it the rate of change in IT ?

I have to agree, I like slashdot a lot, because lots of what we get comes from minorities, and they are where amusing / interesting / insightful ideas generally arise. It gives me a place to express my opinion, which frankly is as weird as you get. A theist, techy, old hacker who started when assembly code was a new tool, and still believes in SSADM (structured system analysis and design methodology) and thinks gun control is good and capital punishment is necessary. In my mind, the most important aspect of the "new media" is the bi-directional nature of the beast. I strongly support free speech, and I like moderation schemes like ours (even if the urge to join in has to be suppressed in favour of "doing ones share").
There are a few times I get annoyed by the number of AC posts, but I suppose that is part of the price we pay for giving minorities a hearing.
Now I know that the Jeff Bates was equating the slashdot community with "a minority", and I am talking about minorities within that, but I think "as below so above" applies, and I expect that model will be applied to many other groups as more people get used to the idea of posting thanks to sites like Fbook but want more "substance".
Keep up the good work and happy birthday!

Just checked on Amazon
Brother MFCJ5910DW Printer (Print/Scan/Copy/Fax)

Price: £98.32 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
Not quite the same beast, but ink system is available at £30
Total cost about £130 or $210
If your Grandma is called Moses, then that's just what she needs.:)
Seriously, I replaced one A4 HP monochrome laser and two HP inkjets with one wirelessly networked printer which I could locate in the kitchen (easy to keep an eye on it, and that's where the coffee is kept). My model has two big paper trays and I can print a couple of hundred sheets before I have to "attend" to it. The ink tanks are clear, so I can check the levels as I walk past, and it's only a minute to pour some more ink in if needed. Full tank is 80 ml, or about four times what you get in a cartridge, so I never run out in the middle of a print run. To be honest, the A3 scanner is rarely needed, and I don't have or want a fax.
You can get ink system for most Epson printers so I guess you can probably get a similar set up with one of them, but I can only report my own experience, and that's with the Brother. A few people have bought similar set ups after seeing mine, and all are happy with the results.
As for picking up paper at an electronics store, you must be mad! Office supply if you want "photocopy" standard, but for decent prints to go on the wall in a frame you need acid free, Thank god Amazon does both, especially for those of us in rural areas. It is a major outing for me to go to my nearest "electronics store", takes at least an hour each way.

Yes most people don't put effort into printing, and boy does it show.

There are many reasons why I print my own pictures, cost being one factor, but artistic control of the process (especially in the use of "special" paper which a commercial printer could not use cost effectively) is more important. I use a Brother DCP 6690 CW printer fitted with a continuous ink supply system (think long range tanks) and I buy ink by the litre. The main cost for me is paper, and hand made 200gsm A3 paper is very expensive. For most work I use water colour paper and that runs to about £5 for 12 sheets of 10" by 14" depending on finish.
Now translating this to 3D printing, I can see the use for "craftsman standard" devices in the production of intaglio or relief decoration and items such as masks, plaques etc., especially if I can apply true colour (24 bit) to the surface. I don't believe that current devices are capable of producing such items to the required standard of finish, but hope that they soon will.
I think that we need to stop thinking about duplicating existing objects and see the technology as a means of producing novel products or novel forms designed to take advantage of the characteristics of the device, and especially to the production of "one off" or very limited "editions". How about a specially designed dinner service for that crucial business lunch?

I know I'm not supposed to actually read the original, but this time I'm going to quote it!

The British component consists of four British minesweepers and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Cardigan Bay, a logistics vessel. HMS Diamond, a brand-new £1billion Type 45 destroyer, one of the most powerful ships in the British fleet, will also be operating in the region.

I don't understand the use of "massing" in this way, and given the claim that the "armada" includes three Nimitz class carrier groups, it would seem that good ol USA is "massing".
Come on editors, at least put an accurate headline on stories, even if you don't check the content.

No amount of comments can replace full and proper design and implementation documentation. In fact the best comments are links to these documents. And don't go on about waste of time producing such documents, in over fourty years in the business I've seen plenty of evidence to support my view. Modern IDEs make it easy to update design and implementation notes and keep linked versions of these and the code in step, and multiple screens make it easy to have all relevant information in view at the same time.
Now get off my lawn and take your badly designed, badly written, and probably irrelevantly commented code away from my system.

I remember when the Harrier was in flight test, there was a 19" rack mount mini-computer in a Nissen hut (corrugated iron) which needed a drastic environmental control soliution. A copper pipe was threaded through the cabinet with a funnel at the top and a thermos flask at the bottom. When it was hot, we poured liquid nitrogen through the pipe, but when it was cold we used hot water. Great skill was needed to keep within the safe working temperature range. Of course this was before health and safety made such solutions illegal.

I need that heat to keep the house warm. In winter I power up the spare systems and run disk tests. In a "heat wave" I turn off a few monitors. :)

Yes, I do RTFA. My point was that I represent a category with sane reasons to volunteer. The category will still exist in ten years, although sadly none of the people that now belong to it.

In spite of all of the posts implying that any volunteers must be "insane", I would be quite willing to go, for the reasons below. The important thing is that they are reasons, i.e. I am sane and have thought about them logically.
I am unlikely to live more than 5 to 10 years more even if I stay on earth, in fact reduced gravity might give me longer.
I have a good knowledge of science and engineering and a practical turn of mind that could let me make a real contribution to the project. I, like most humans, would like to have a chance to "make a mark" and leave a lasting memory, so what better than "third man on Mars"?
I have had a good life, and worked on some interesting projects, but other than /. all I can do now is "play". I help a few local organisations with IT related tech, but I would love to do "meaningful" work again. Don't tell me about Open Source projects, unless of course you are a planning an SST :), I am just not interested enough in the content of projects I've seen. A Mars colony, now that has to be a good gig.
Now for the bad news. I probably would not be acceptable as a candidate because of my health problems. I have limited mobility and have already received a "life time doze" in radiation therapy, I do not rely on drugs, but I have a restricted diet which might cause problems in supply and/or production.
I am probably too old, and although I see this as "having good experience with limited technology", some might see me as "past it".
And finally the game stopper. I don't think I would make interesting TV. I am not "handsome" (downright ugly is closer), I am straight, but the fires burn very low (it's true, I'm old :( ), so no romantic lead for me. I get along with most people (guess we wouldn't be likely to have a young earther along), so probably no exciting arguments, I am British and white , so no points for ethnic origin. And I have no dependents, so no back story, no family problems to pull the heart strings.
All in all then I guess I'm not going to get the trip, and the real sad thing is that I have a feeling that many if not most of those who would go and would have sane reasons for doing so, fall into the same category. Catch 23?

From From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The cellulosic ethanol industry developed some new commercial-scale plants in 2008. In the United States, plants totaling 12 million liters (3.17 million gal) per year were operational, and an additional 80 million liters (21.1 million gal.) per year of capacity - in 26 new plants - was under construction. In Canada, capacity of 6 million liters per year was operational

Somebody tell me how this means "has yet to be commercially produced".

No worship, just admiration. The point about Turing machines is that Babbage didn't know he'd designed one. Although it's possible that Ada had an inkling about the "universality" thing which is what the great man was first to understand.
As for the software problems we face today, and the "parallelism crisis", there is nothing in Turing's work which can be blamed for these, or are you blaming him for not working on these?
Computation is not the same as IT, and failure to understand that may well be the root cause of the poor standards of program design we see today. In fact I am saddened by the thought that even some of the people praising Turing fail to grasp his real gift to us, the fundamental theorem on the unsolvability of the halting problem.

No block at 18:36 BST.