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Comment Reminded of a Parallel Computing Problem (Score 2) 239

Way back in 1993, I visited an atomic laboratory in Pennsylvania. On the tour, they showed us the 30,000 core computing machine they had purchased several years before. "We still can't program it".

30 seconds later he pointed to the next piece of metal.

This is our 120,000 core computer.

I raised my hand "Why did you buy a 120,000 core machine when you can't even program the 30,000 core machine!"

"Well it's faster."

one of my early lessons in big companies attacking the wrong problem.

Comment Remember to look at the data from a grand view (Score 1) 967

here is a picture of the CRU data they released recently. http://www.io-solutions.com/WorldTemps1700-2011wAnoAveCount.jpg

ALL OF IT. That red line in the middle is the GISS temperature anomaly. The Orange dots are the simple average of each months data. All of the gray dots are dots experienced somewhere on the planet.

My analysis.

1. GISS temps seem to match CRU temps.
2. The warming visible if you just look at the Anomaly is almost invisible if you look at the range of temperatures.

Basically you have a bunch of people examining the leaves of a tree in a forest and forgetting to keep track of the forest.

The forest does matter.

Comment CRU Data (Score 1) 821

Here is the CRU Date plotted against time.

http://www.io-solutions.com/WorldTemps1700-2011wAnoAveCount.jpg

That is all the data mind you. The gray dots are station data. The GISS Anomaly Temp is in red. The Simple Mean is in Orange. The black on the bottom is the number of measurements taken. The darker the gray dot the more stations reported that temperature.

Yes this is sophomoric, but basically it tells me someone is playing Charting games to make this look terrible.

Comment Programming Languages (Score 1) 250

Learning a new language doesn't take huge amounts of time. Watching the next wave of 'tools' come washing over the side that will make me more productive because it "just does it", makes me laugh. If all anyone does is what the next tool was designed to do, it just does it, but for some reason no one ever wants to stick just with what it does and suddenly I am figuring out how to twist the new tool to do what the inspired people want.

I suspect the real lesson I need to learn well is "Use programming to make your life easier, don't attempt to make a living programming".

Every time I hear a manager say "That's not hard to do is it?", you should be able to do that in a couple of minutes, I cringe.

Comment Re:you mean Mike "HOCKEY STICK" Mann? (Score 0) 961

http://www.io-solutions.com/WorldTemp1870-2011wAnomaly.jpg

Here is a chart of the GISS anomaly (in red) plotted over the CRU raw data. This isn't the entire history of the earth of course, but it does represent the raw data associated with the Claim the earth has a fever.

I am not sure I can quite agree that the earth has a fever.

Comment Re:Ignorance is diverse as well as widespread (Score 1) 1038

Which only proves that event those educated can be baffled by Bull#*@). Skeptics don't close their minds to any of the things stated, they just realize that its nonsense. James Randi repeatedly tries to expose such concepts as Feng Shui, Astrology, etc with double blind tests. People who are in the fields though DO NOT WANT double blind tests because nothing shows up.

Nothing wrong with massage, but it is also subject to the same idiocies as Feng Shui.

The magic though is that people will pay you more if you do make them believe. I don't blame you for believing. It probably keeps food on your table. That is the number one rule that should never be forgotten.

Security

Submission + - OS X Leopard firewall flawed 1

cycoj writes: German IT magazine Heise takes a look at the new OS X Leopard firewall. They find it flawed. When setting access to specific services and programs for example to only allow SSH access, they found that a manually started service was still accessible. From the article:

"So the first step after starting Leopard should be to activate the firewall. The obvious choice to do so is the option to "Set access to specific services and programs", which promises more control over network traffic. Mac OS X automatically enters all shared resources set up by the user, such as "Remote login" for SSH servers, into the list of accessable resources.

However, initial functional testing quickly dispels any feeling of improved security. A service started for testing purposes was able to be addressed from outside without any difficulty. The firewall records this occurrence."

Even with the firewall set to "Block all incoming connections" ports to netbios, ntp and other services were still open.

"Specifically these results mean that users can't rely on the firewall. Even if users select "Block all incoming connections," potential attackers can continue to communicate with system services such as the time server and possibly with the NetBIOS name server."
The Media

Submission + - NBC supports killing

Moses48 writes: "Disclaimer: I am NOT accusing NBC of consciously supporting or aiding killers. (They'd have to be smart enough to realize what they were doing.)"

Feed Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal Winner Backs Link Between Greenhouse Gases (sciencedaily.com)

Professor Nigel Weiss, 2007 winner of the Royal Astronomical Society Gold medal, will rebut claims that a fall in solar activity could cancel out the effects of man-made global warming. He described how solar activity was an important factor in past climate change but that current global warming is very much driven by human activity, specifically the emission of greenhouse gases.

Feed Dying Sun-like Stars Leave Whirlpools In Their Wake (sciencedaily.com)

Astronomers based at Jodrell Bank Observatory have found evidence that giant whirlpools form in the wake of stars as they move through clouds in interstellar space. Scientists used the COBRA supercomputer to simulate in three-dimensions the movement of a dying star through surrounding interstellar gas. At the end of their life, Sun-sized stars lose their grip on their outer layers and as much as half of their mass drifts off into space.
HP

HP Stops Selling Printers, Starts Selling Prints 346

An anonymous reader writes "HP has launched a new line of business printers but there's a big catch — you won't be able to buy one. For the first time in history, the company will make customers purchase printing services, rather than the product itself. At its biggest printer launch since the LaserJet in 1984, HP's new business-class Edgeline printers will only be available through a managed services contract. Pricing will be per page, depending on the quality of the printout. Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now."

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