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Comment had to get it right (Score 1) 230

I was a civilian employee at a supply base for the US Navy Polaris missile submarines in the 1970's
The programmers there got only one compile a night with their punch card deck. If you got a syntax error on a compile, you got called in to explain. Two, you got written up. Three in a month and you were no longer a programmer. But, hey, that was the Navy.

Comment cautionary tale (Score 1) 230

I was a physics major in the 1960's-70's. Programming was done on punch cards with the often one day turn around. I believe most of the students doing programming were actually engineering students.
As the quarter went on, the students programs got more complex and the card decks got bigger - often quite large.
So, one day I was headed across campus at the end of the quarter and a rain shower sprang up. People started running and this one guy tripped on the curb. His cards went flying into the mud. He scrambled around trying to pick them up; this was no doubt his final project. He suddenly sat down and started crying.
As I stood there watching, I thought, "If this is what computers do to people, I will have nothing to do with them".

Many years later, as I was sitting alone on the floor in the data center at 3:00 AM after a power failure trying to bring up countless cranky Windows NT servers running on Compaq boxes (why isn't the SQLNT starting?), I remembered my failure to obey that oath taken so many years ago.

Comment Re:vocational schools (Score 1) 367

Good point - you can't get a diploma and walk into such a highly skilled position as those mentioned above, especially one where a mistake can cost some real dollars.

However, today's in today's educational environment skilled trades don't even exist from the point of view of the teachers for school grades 1-12 and college so there' little to no investment in training for skilled trades (welding is not the only one).
Everyone has to start somewhere, and the present system for skilled trades seems to often depend on being someone's relative so you can be carried through the learning period. I think we can do better by investing in and supporting vocational schools.

Comment vocational schools (Score 1) 367

This problem has already been solved. It's done with the state sponsored one and two year vocational school programs.
In more forward looking states, they build these programs in concert with local industries to meet specific needs.

However, there's a political problem.
The universities and colleges fight tooth and nail against these schools because they take funding and students.

Comment Re:Welders make 150k??? (Score 4, Informative) 367

From the article:
A good trade to consider: welding. I recently visited Pioneer Pipe in the Utica and Marcellus shale area of Ohio and learned that last year the company paid 60 of its welders more than $150,000 and two of its welders over $200,000. The owner, Dave Archer, said he has had to turn down orders because he can't find enough skilled welders.

So, the answer to your question is: "Pioneer Pipe in the Utica and Marcellus shale area of Ohio"

Comment It's a good start. (Score 1) 253

After shutting down all science projects that involve projectiles, we need to move against other deadly militaristic skills.

1) stop all activities that train for grenade throwing.
For example, one so-called sport has a group of five taking turns attempting to throw a projectile through a 'hoop', where it should be obvious to anyone that this is training terrorists to hurl molotov cocktails through the windows of our leaders homes as well as elementary schools.

2) stop all activities that train for Hoplite style of battles.
For example, one so-called sport has a groups of eleven engaging in pushing and shoving to get a ball to a goal behind the group.
This is clearly military practice to train for close quarters combat without firearms. No doubt their plan is to disrupt the police who may be engaged in clearing streets from deranged people such as the occupy Wall Street protestors.

3) debate clubs. Why do we need debate clubs except to train people to delude and confuse the populace? The government licensed media should provide all the news and opinions we need.

Comment Re:Yeah...but no. (Score 1) 180

I have to disagree with that. I strongly doubt poorly designed gameplay/games will make you turn violent.

As for hard games? Games were much "harder"/tougher to complete (overall) 20 years ago than they are now and we're seeing a much higher level of violence in today's youth.

Umm, no we are not seeing a much higher level of violence in today's youth. Violent crimes peaked in the 1970's and has dropped ever since then.
http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/ind...

Comment Re:correlation does not prove causation (Score 5, Insightful) 137

If they really wanted to find out whether sunlight affected weight, they would have done a randomized, controlled trial.

They would have randomly assigned half the people to getting exposed to sunlight early, and the other half to getting exposed to sunlight late.

Instead, they let the subjects go their merry way and simply measured their exposure to sunlight during the day.

These kind of studies give spurious results. For example, suppose the ones who are exposed to sunlight in the morning are getting up early to start their day jogging.

Well, no.
You don't begin a line of inquiry with a randomized, controlled trial. You begin with a study to see if there may be a correlation.
Why? If there's no correlation in a study, then there's no reason to spend the (much greater) money on a randomized trial.
If there does appear to be a correlation, you report it so that you (and others) may pursue the inquiry further.

Comment Netflix already explained this. (Score 1) 490

At the beginning of the article, you ask:

"Why do Netflix and a few other companies keep the DVD format alive, when streaming is more convenient for almost all users?

At the End of the article you then say:

I'd be interested in hearing other theories, as long as people understand the question: Why movie studios don't allow movies to be streamed in a manner that mimics, as closely as possible, the experience of checking out DVDs by mail from Netflix (including, say, a mandatory delay between the time you select the movie and the time that you can watch it).

"as long as people understand the question:"?
Which question? The second question clearly answers the first question by asking "Why movie studios don't allow movies to be streamed...". The question itself is saying that movie studios don't allow streaming in a manner to match DVD by mail, so that's why Netflix doesn't do it.

Netflix already explained why they don't license everything for streaming.
https://help.netflix.com/en/no...
http://blogs.indiewire.com/sha...

I used a almost secret hacker tool (used by the CIA, FBI, and NSA!) to get this information.
Try it: http://google.com/

Comment Physical Access = owned (Score 3, Informative) 150

This is a physical access attack and therefore not very interesting.
To do this you have to cut the ATM open at the point where the computer is installed and attach a smartphone to the USB port (or in older versions, a USB stick, or keyboard). They recommend upgrading the OS and securing the hard drive. How about putting epoxy in the computer's device ports?

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