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Comment Re:Mini-Cluster (Score 2) 233

why? because we can. not because its a good idea, or because there's some potential great end to it, but simply because we can. there is a certain thrill in the accomplishment that transcends any need for a good reason why. and sometimes, just sometimes, "because we can" is the best damn reason ever. other times its utterly f*cking stupid, YMMV.

Comment having worked for both, (Score 1) 183

i can say from experience that neither one is even remotely qualified to manage nuclear weapons. hell, lets be honest, most people people at the management level, civilian and military alike, shouldnt even be managing their own breakfast choices, let alone nuclear weapons, or worse- other people (yes, i consider people much more dangerous than nuclear weapons, but thats just my opinion).

Comment late 80's, early 90's (Score 2) 34

i swear i read an article in discover magazine (i know, a magazine, it was that long ago) about some researcher that had hooked up electrodes to a patient and taught them how to control a mouse cursor, and later and electric wheelchair with their mind. it became and autonomic function, just like moving your arm (i hate the term "thought controlled", you dont really "think" about moving, its subconscious function) and it was done using a basic EEG(?). am i imagining this, or does anyone else remember this as well? its quite possible that this is a completely incorrect memory thought, i was a kid at the time and i read a lot of sci-fi, so its very possible my memories of real-sci have mixed with my memories of sci-fi

Comment Re:As a tech guy get used to it (Score 2) 396

doubtful, considering that most businesses wont move to 8 for at least a couple years, and theres a very good chance theyll skip if altogether and thats the only place where i would NEED to use windows 8. in the consumer world, within a few minutes of sitting down at a win8 computer, ill be able to figure out where everything i really need is at (and most likely how to switch to the non-metro mode, but considering that i avoid using other peoples computers where i can it probably wont ever be an issue. and really, who's gonna point and laugh at me cause i dont know how to use win8? 12 year old MS fanbois?

Comment Designing for the (ignorant) masses (Score 1) 233

One of the big problems in design these days (in all manners of design, including UI's in cars) is that the average consumer has no idea that things like this are a bad idea. They don't think about how tactile feedback, or how much they'll have to take their eyes off the road, or auditory input with visual output, or any manner of things that people like us (/.'s) think of. They think that touch is high tech, and therefore better (regardless of the implementation), they put form over function, they want the newest and flashiest, even if it isn't the best. Good design takes a back seat to "cool" design more often than not, because the mass public only wants what's new, shiny and cool. Every now and then, good design and cool design intersect and everybody wins, but it's rare.
Software

Submission + - Bad software runs the world (theatlantic.com)

whitroth writes: "Excerpt:
What do most people think of when they think of software? A decade ago, probably Microsoft Word and Excel. Today, it's more likely to be Gmail, Twitter, or Angry Birds. But the software that does the heavy lifting for the global economy isn't the apps on your smartphone. It's the huge, creaky applications that run Walmart's supply chain or United's reservation system or a Toyota production line.

And perhaps the most mission-critical of all mission-critical applications are the ones that underpin the securities markets a large share of the world's wealth is locked up. Those systems have been in the news a lot recently, and not for good reasons. In March, BATS, an electronic exchange, pulled its IPO because of problems with its own trading systems. During the Facebook IPO in May, NASDAQ was unable to confirm orders for hours. The giant Swiss bank UBS lost more than $350 million that day when its systems kept re-sending buy orders, eventually adding up to 40 million shares that it would later sell at a loss. Then last week Knight Capital — which handled 11 percent of all U. S. stock trading this year — lost $440 million when its systems accidentally bought too much stock that it had to unload at a loss.* (Earlier this year, a bad risk management model was also fingered in JP Morgan's $N billion trading loss, where N = an ever-escalating digit.)

The underlying problem here is that most software is not very good. Writing good software is hard.
--- end excerpt ---"

Comment Your son is right (Score 1) 342

WYSIWYG editors are great for beginners. but, as most everyone has pointed out, they invariably generate messy code. once you've gotten past the beginner stage, you need to get your hands in the code and learn to do things properly. i realize that designers are often quick to say that you should use an editor, but lets look at it this way- would you take carpentry advice from a plumber? probably not. so why would you take advice on coding a website from a designer? and as for using the tools to generate the code, then going back and cleaning up, personally i find that to be more work than just doing it right the first time. hand coding isnt hard, and the more you do it, the faster you get at it.

Comment Re:Multiple translations = good (Score 1) 326

Maybe it'll help a few of the more ignorant Christians realize that the King James version is not the one allegedly handed down by god.

dont hold your breath. more likely, therell be a whole pile of "KJV only" groups that will denounce this, kick people who own one out of the church, and rant from the pulpit about this being another attempt by the devil to infiltrate our churches

Comment Re:none (Score 1) 423

well, theres the whole "walled garden" thing, and there's apple's tendency to simply stop supporting legacy hardware (which i agree with wholeheartedly, but can be considered an abusive practice), and theres the "apple tax" on desktops and laptops (sure, we can debate the merits of apple's "quality", or their warranties, but at the end of the day, i can buy an equally spec'd machine with windows on it for roughly half of what i would pay for a mac, and do as much, if not more on it than i could on a mac. and if i build it myself, i can probably do it even cheaper.). my comment wasnt a comparison of ms vs apple, but simply a statement of how we, as americans, have a tendency to move from one abusive product provider to another, and we laud how great the new abuser is until we get tired of the way they beat us, and we move again to a different form of abuse.

Comment Re:none (Score 1) 423

and eventually even fat stupid Americans catch on and figure out that you're abusing them

So what will these "fat stupid Americans" switch to? Linux? Or will Apple start selling machines at a reasonable price and achieve larger market share?

most likely we'll say "we're tired of being flogged by microsoft, lets go to apple and get caned instead!". we americans have a high capacity for allowing corporations to abuse us (maybe not those of us who read /. but the average american just moves from abuser to abuser)

Comment questions i ask in the interview (Score 2) 525

im not overly popular with typical HR people, cause i ask lots of questions during the initial interview, such as: how do you handle performance reviews? how is management reviewed (top down, 360, etc)? it weeds out bad places to work real quick. plus, its really fun to see the look on an interviewers face when theyre put on the spot.

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