Comment Yeah, well... (Score 4, Funny) 178
When I read the headline, my head parsed "Smithsonian celebrates 150 Years of COBOL"
Comment well it seems obvious... (Score 1) 396
Build better bugs, experience more fruitful testing.
Comment idk.. (Score 1) 426
I've been in the situation where a manager in a crunch period really slowed the whole thing down because they were demanding explanations of every check-in. I've also had the experience of having a technical manager save the team no end of hassle by running interference and buffering us from the political realities even higher up the chain in crunch periods; in those cases the manager was technical enough to just let us get on with it.
Comment SICP (Score 1) 452
Gerald Sussman and Harold Abelson's MIT course "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" is the best beginner's course I've ever seen anywhere. It starts at the beginning and ends up with advanced subjects like closures, and functional composition, building every concept in small pieces with clear examples. Plus the material is freely available, and there's video of Sussman giving the course to a bunch of hilariously dressed HP engineers in the eighties some time.
Submission + - DJB releases qmail to the public domain (cr.yp.to)
fade writes: "In a post on the qmail website, Daniel J. Bernstein released the second most popular mail transport agent on the internet to the public domain... a complete 180 from the license he has used for qmail since it's inception. This means that 'free as in speech' distros can pull qmail out of the doghouse of restricted repositories and bizarre binary source-only metabuilders. Good news for admins that braved licensing insanity because qmail is possibly the single most finished (feature complete, bug free) and performant mailer available."
Submission + - the largest non-commercial rocket launch in Europe
jaweekes writes: The TV program "Top Gear" recently launched the "largest non-commercial rocket launch in European history" in the form of a rocket-propelled Reliant Robin. From the article http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/production_notes /shuttle.shtml "What could possibly be so difficult about building a space shuttle? Quite a lot, as it turns out. This was easily Top Gear's most ambitious film and, while everything didn't go quite according to plan, we're still very proud of the results. Here are just a few of the things that happened when we tried to put an ageing three-wheeler into space."
Submission + - Apple, Cisco reach settlement on iPhone dispute
srussia writes: The Washington Post reports:"Apple, Cisco Settle Dispute Over Use of 'iPhone' Name". The companies said they agreed that Apple may use the name in exchange for exploring "interoperability" between the companies' products in security, consumer and business communications. No other details of the agreement were released.
Submission + - Flash simulation of the three-rotor ENIGMA machine
morpheus83 writes: "The Enigma machine was one of the impressively complex physical encryption devices ever built. This flash file as reports Newlaunches simulates the inner workings of the Enigma machine in real time as you type in the plain text. The Enigma machine was used for encrypting communications during World War II."
Submission + - Consumers pledge to support open graphics drivers
the Hewster writes: "A pledge has been setup at pledgebank.com to let the Free Software and Open Source community show that they are ready to vote with their wallet and support graphics cards manufacturers with open graphics drivers.
To add incentive to either nVidia or ATI to open up their drivers, the pledge is to support the first of the two to open their drivers over the next 5 years. Disclaimer: I am the author of the pledge."
To add incentive to either nVidia or ATI to open up their drivers, the pledge is to support the first of the two to open their drivers over the next 5 years. Disclaimer: I am the author of the pledge."
Submission + - New Zealand fishermen catch rare squid
laejoh writes: A fishing crew has caught a colossal squid that could weigh a half-ton and prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed, a fisheries official said Thursday.
Colossal squid, known by the scientific name Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, are estimated to grow up to 46 feet long and have long been one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep ocean.
Colossal squid, known by the scientific name Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, are estimated to grow up to 46 feet long and have long been one of the most mysterious creatures of the deep ocean.
Submission + - 67 Kilowatt Laser Unveiled
s31523 writes: "We all remember the scene from the movie Real Genius where the nerdy guys get a laser to fire which burns a hole through everything for miles. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has announced they have a Solid State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL) that averages 67kW working in their lab. Developed for the military, Dr. Yamamoto claims this to be a record and is quoted as saying, "I know of no other solid state laser that has achieved 67kW of average output power". The potential uses for this bad boy go well beyond turning a professor's house into Jiffy Pop. Here is what a 40w laser can do, now imagine 67000 watts. Although many lasers have peaked at higher capacities, getting the average sustained power to remain high seems to be the tricky part."
Submission + - why do US citizens pay income taxes?
An anonymous reader writes: Why do US citizens pay income taxes?
There must be a law that requires them to do it, right?
Well, it seems it is not the case [google video].
The Constitution specifically forbids any direct tax on wages and salaries, and the Supreme Courts consistently ruled in the same way.
Not a single dollar of income taxes is used, as widely believed, to offer and sustain public services.
It was an interesting video to watch, and btw I am not an US citizen, have no affiliation with any of the authors or organizations cited or whatever.
There must be a law that requires them to do it, right?
Well, it seems it is not the case [google video].
The Constitution specifically forbids any direct tax on wages and salaries, and the Supreme Courts consistently ruled in the same way.
Not a single dollar of income taxes is used, as widely believed, to offer and sustain public services.
It was an interesting video to watch, and btw I am not an US citizen, have no affiliation with any of the authors or organizations cited or whatever.
Submission + - New Software Stops Mars Rover Confusion
MattSparkes writes: "The Mars rover Spirit used to get quite confused when it came upon a rock. Because it could only plan routes of a metre or two it couldn't understand how to navigate around large objects, and frequently used to rock back and forth for hours trying to figure it out. NASA have written new software called D* for the rover Opportunity, which should allow it to autonomously plan routes up to 50 metres long. The new software still won't be able to avoid sand-traps though."
Submission + - Google to charge for web apps
zakkie writes: "According to BBC News, Google is to start charging businesses for guaranteed availability and more features in the web apps like Gmail. The article suggests the timing is bad for Microsoft and their release of Office 2007, and is a "shot across their bows"."
Submission + - South Africa to switch to open source
Tech writes: The Mail & Guardian is reporting that the South African government has approved a policy and strategy to implement free and open source software in government departments. A project office will be set up by April to ensure smooth implementation of Foss throughout the country.
