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Comment +1 insightful, disagree (Score 1) 430

by chadenright (#42362771) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do Coding Standards Make a Difference?
I lost about three days of productivity on a new programming language (the Asterisk extensions.conf stuff, actually) because it turns out that that particular language treats whitespace after a comma in a function call as part of the passed parameter. A wonderful example of a language enforcing a language standard -- you cannot put a space after your commas, or the language will break. I only wish it had been documented a little bit better. On balance, though, I would argue that that's a perfect example of a very good reason NOT to strictly enforce coding style.

Submission + - Jammie Thomas takes constitutional argument to SCOTUS (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Native American Minnesotan found by a jury to have downloaded 24 mp3 files of RIAA singles, has filed a petition for certioriari to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the award of $220,000 in statutory damages is excessive, in violation of the Due Process Clause. Her petition (PDF) argued that the RIAA's litigation campaign was "extortion, not law", and pointed out that "[a]rbitrary statutory damages made the RIAA’s litigation campaign possible; in turn,that campaign has inspired copycats like the so-called Copyright Enforcement Group; the U.S. Copyright Group, which has already sued more than 20,000 individual movie downloaders; and Righthaven, which sued bloggers. This Court should grant certiorari to review this use of the federal courts as a scourge"."
China

How Technology Promotes World Peace 152

Posted by Soulskill from the everybody's-too-busy-browsing-lolcats-to-fight dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Ayesha & Parag Khanna write in the Atlantic that there are many important differences between the U.S.-China relationship of today and the U.S.-Soviet relationship before the outbreak of the Cold War. One is that the U.S. and China are deeply intertwined through geo-economic interdependence, and the rapid and global diffusion of technology is accelerating these changes. 'As the global economy has become more integrated, states have greater interest in cooperating and less interest in conflict, which can lead to a kind of mutually assured economic destruction,' write the Khanna. 'If military power is inherently competitive — the stronger your army and the weaker your neighbor's, the more powerful you become — then economic power is more cooperative. After all, much of America's power today is economic, but that power would decrease if China's economy collapses.' This economic inter-dependence, the theory goes, promotes peace, but technological power is also cooperative in this way, perhaps even more so. For example, medical research crosses borders, as do the pharmaceuticals or treatments that research can produce. China can increase its power by developing better solar panels — perhaps in part by building on foreign technologies — then turn around and sell them to other high-energy-consuming states, making us all better off. Like economics, technology doesn't just increase cooperation, it is the cooperation. 'The increasingly integrated global system is shaping the states within it, much as individual powers shape the system. The question is thus not who controls technology, but the way in which we develop, guide, and control it collectively.'"

Comment Get some offers (Score 3, Interesting) 171

It sounds like the thing to do is get some solid offers for similar positions elsewhere, then show them to HR. Once HR understands what you -could- be making, they're more likely to offer you a better deal to retain you. On the other hand (though it sounds unlikely given the circumstances described) if you -can't- get any competing offers to refute HR with, that will give you material to re-evaluate with.

Comment Re:I Give Up (Score 1) 489

by chadenright (#39703415) Attached to: Student Charged For Re-selling Textbooks

I don't give a [censored] if the Megacorp doesn't like that I purchased a cheap paperback [censored] copy instead of the [censored], glossybacked American copy. [censored] to be them. It's not my responsibility to bendover and kiss its [censored]..... it is not my [censored]. I have every right as a [censored] (not a [censored]) to buy the [censored] copy I can find. It's called [censored] trade.

TFTFY. At least we're not the only ones with blinders on, no?

Comment Re:Baloney (Score 4, Interesting) 467

by chadenright (#39680755) Attached to: Magical Thinking Is Good For You

But even for those few of us who claim to be complete skeptics, belief quietly sneaks in.

Nope. Not a bit of it. In my experience, only believers believe that everyone else must secretly be a believer. The rest of us live a fact-based life.

I think you are thinking of a complete belief in magical thinking, whereas this is talking about the "magical" type of thought that "this car does not like you to use full throttle until its warmed up", or feeling anger at a beer bottle with a top thet "doesn't want to come off". If you stop and reflect of course you know its nonsense, but I bet you sometimes have those thoughts anyway.

I've found that that kind of anthropomorphization is useful as placeholders for other, complex causations. Perhaps the car has a mechanical or design flaw that makes full throttle when it's cold problematic. Perhaps the beer bottle has a manufacturer defect making it extra-hard to open. In either case, anthropomorphizing it can be a useful placeholder for the exact cause of your difficulties.

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