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Comment science writing at its worst (Score 2) 707

Almost all the studies in the article suffer from various statistical biases - selection bias, survivor bias, etc. I could find only 2 that may have been A-B blind studies over extended periods. One of those 2 is suspect because it was cut short and the article is talking about long term effects. This article was written to sell magazines, not to document biological effects. I take no stand whether vitamins are good or bad, but it is very clear that the article is poor science writing.

Comment Hurricanes and time pressures (Score 1) 305

From my experience managing large teams that produced millions of lines of code on schedule, here are my guesses about what went wrong.
Factor #1: A requirements hurricane turbulently blew in one direction without control and consistency. It settled down in the 'eye of the storm', and then management said, 'Oh snap, we want it this way', and another turbulent hurricane blew in the opposite direction - without time or skill to change all the original requirements. These problems metastasize through all remaining steps of development.
Factor#2: Management said, "We need this big thing real quick. Lets get a big consulting firm to do it." Several firms gleefully responded.
Factor#3: Management told the selected consulting firm, "We need all of the big thing to go live at once, and remember we need it real quick." Big teams can be very productive, but only when they are carefully grown over a period of years. Quickly assembled big teams become a swamp that absorb money and grow weeds.

The $40-$50 million is just a down payment. Having built a kudzu swamp to serve an Internet market that is rapidly changing, the NYT will spend that amount several times over in the next 5 years to update it and keep it maintained.

Comment the times, they are a'changin' (Score 1) 508

We have at least 2 US companies building space launch capability, and several other international "space launch for hire" organizations are operating. NASA's Ares rocket development was a waste of money, and Obama was right to stop it. Let the commercial space trucking business competition get started, and lets try to get new US companies to be the winners in this business. Neil Armstrong is stuck in 1969, but meanwhile, "the times, they are a'changin'".

Comment Presidential Freedom Award (Score 2, Interesting) 136

Judge Vaughn R. Walker should get the Presidential Freedom Award. He has told everyone in government that we are all equal under the law. Even President Bush and NSA spooks don't get a free pass to lawless behavior. As VP Biden would say - this is a BIG F*'g deal - not just for illegal wire taps, but for all kinds of lawless behavior that has been (still is) been done by government employees.

Comment the dream has passed (Score 1) 145

NASA had a vision in the 1980s to become "the trucking company of space", which is akin to the idea of weekly launches. They hired expensive consultants to help them prepare for that future. They ran into at least two brick walls. One was the lack of funding. The second was a culture of being risk averse. The Atlantis crash was used by the risk averse to force the culture everywhere. NASA is now coasting on its resources and is a small shadow of its original dream - being only an occasional developer and launcher of small science probes.

The future of space will be created by corporate development and launch organizations. They will bring a higher risk tolerance to ventures. Some accidents will happen, just as in the early days of air flight. But the flip side is that much more progress will be made, as we have seen from the results of competition in the airplane industry as it developed over the past 80+ years. Some cluster of corporate ventures will eventually produce weekly launches. NASA will not be a party to them. Their dream has passed. Corporations will compete for success and resources, and pass by NASA's shadow.

Comment sinus congestion,network congestion & brain fr (Score 1) 341

Lets hope the GAO's nightmare pandemic does not happen, and this is just a bureaucratic CYA report. But if it does happen, we will see Congress and the FCC crack the monopoly positions of phone and cable companies and unleash a torrent of competition that will deliver 100 gig bandwidth to users for a few bucks a month. The rest of the developed world has this already. It would be truly tragic if it takes a pandemic to get the US over the brain freeze it has about protecting monopolies in the telecom industry.

Comment Re:more reason for the FCC's Internet neutrality r (Score 1) 153

Monetary burden? Is that like Beast of Burden? Rest assured that when investments were made in "internet pipes", some CFO made sure that it would be profitable, and some accountant checks quarterly to ensure that it is still profitable. Urr, where's the burden? And their profitable investment should be regulated. Would you go to a dentist who invested in a chair and a drill, but does not have a license to practice, and a degree hanging on the wall? At least try to be logically consistent.

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