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Comment: Re:Big inequalities (Score 1) 904

by Cyrano de Maniac (#37738720) Attached to: What Happens When the Average Lifespan is 150 Years?

What happens when enough old people are gazillionaires that they basically set policy (answer: I doubt it will be to the benefit of the young)

You mean that old people don't basically set policy already (at least in the U.S.)? Up until recently any politician who even breathed a word implying that Social Security or Medicare benefits would be reduced, or even held constant, could count on getting kicked to the curb.

The Baby Boomers and their parents have saddled their children and grandchildren with a crushing debt while enjoying the benefits of shifting a bunch of spending from the future to the present. In my opinion it's time for them to start repaying the piper.

Comment: No time travel needed (Score 1) 624

by Cyrano de Maniac (#37305364) Attached to: What Is the Most Influential Programming Book?

Perhaps I was lucky, but I did read the top three books I'd recommend as I was starting my first job:

1. Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment, W. Richard Stevens. This was influential in teaching me what clean functional programming interfaces look like, and hopefully the code I've developed since then has lived up to that ideal.

2. Network Programming in the UNIX Environment, W. Richard Stevens. Much the same as the first title, but in some ways illustrating programming interfaces that tackle more complex/flexible situations.

3. Writing Solid Code. Steve Maguire. Fifteen years later I still daily use a few of the ideas presented in the title. However it also served to show me the ugliness of some programming conventions (e.g. Hungarian Notation and StudlyCaps()) and led me to avoid those practices in my own code when I have a choice (i.e. when not having to conform to the style of existing code).

Science

Physicists Turn a Single Atom Into a Mirror->

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes "Physicists have fashioned a mirror from a single atom. The advance might lead to an atom-sized transistor for light, and experts say it bodes well for broader efforts to shrink optical elements to the nanometer scale. Such an optical system could be faster and more efficient than current electronics"
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Cloud

Mapping the Price of Pot Across the Internet->

Submitted by
Julie188
Julie188 writes "You might not have known that you are paying $526 to get buzzed when that same high, same pot, costs $97 in different areas; but this and other important information can now be found, thanks to a site called FloatingSheep and the mashups it posts. FloatingSheep analyzes geocoded data provided by web users to discover stuff that would normally go unseen, like the maps of the price of pot, of business and sex, of religion, bowling alleys, guns, and strip clubs — yes, all in one map. One of the project's founders, Dr. Matthew Zook, says that FloatingSheep is interested in fighting censorship in all its forms, not just the state-sponsored kind but also "soft censorship or citizen censorship. I'm thinking of things such as the editing wars that can break out in Wikipedia (or rating websites like Trip Advisor) in which less prevalent opinions/viewpoints have a tougher time being heard.""
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China

Meet the designer of China's deep-sea sub->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "You may have heard that China sent a manned research sub down to the ocean deep this summer, marking a personal depth record of 5000 meters (next year it will aim for a world record of 7000 meters). Here's a story about the sub based on an interview with its designer in Wuxi, China. It's got some interesting new details: The designer had never actually seen a submersible before he set out to build the deepest diving research sub in the world; all the stuff he's built before has ended up in warehouses because the Chinese government only funded technological development, not use."
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Please remain calm, it's no use both of us being hysterical at the same time.

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