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Comment Re:god-like vs. measuring observer (Score 1) 530

I'm sure he's exactly as Michelangelo painted him on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling in one of the other universes. And one of those universes in our multiverse is a place called hell.

It is a solid, falsifiable theory. At least as solid as any of the other multiverse theories I've come across so far.

Comment Re:No. (Score 3, Informative) 268

I disagree. I have been playing around lately with GNU Radio Companion, designing SDR (software-defined radio) tools using a cheap DVB dongle. The transformations of the signal into a human-digestible format is made very easy. I am a software engineer -- I have written a lot of code. But there is a certain class of problems that lend itself to flow-based programming. GRC is one. And ETL tools are another. That is not to say that one does not, from time to time, have to write one's own code block. I have done that for GRC and for some ETL tools. But for 99% of what I have needed, a simple flow graph was all that was required.

Comment Re:Some questions (Score 4, Interesting) 348

Personally, I prefer the term "Human Rights Management" since the free and open communication of ideas is a human right. This right extends to the public domain and to fair use. But it is much easier to swallow if we "manage" those rights, rather than just violate them outright.

The problem with virtually every DRM scheme I have seen pushed by industry is that they make no provision for fair use or for the limited terms of copyright. DRM is seen as a way to protect from the vagaries and limitations of copyright by silently removing "copying" as an option.

Here's an option: if you want to use DRM, you no longer get copyright protection. It becomes a trade secret.

Comment Source Control (Score 1) 598

I was hoping to find someone that mentioned this already and mod them up, but no one has as yet.

Source Control

Ask any software developer worth his salt and he will tell you that they use source control.

When programming for fun or profit, this is how I start:

  1. Create the repo.
  2. Create a test.
  3. Write the code to pass the test.
  4. Commit the code.
  5. Go to step 2.

You may disagree about the rest (TDD), but step 1 stands. With all the great free source control tools available, there is no excuse for not using source control.

Comment Re:Betteridge Law of Headlines (Score 1) 85

Chicago does have a free "maker" lab at its main public library, and they are creating more. Those are free/nominal fee to use.

As a Chicago tax-payer, if the CPL maker space continues beyond it's $250K start-up grant, it will not be free to me. I should also add that I am a member of a Chicago maker space. Someone always pays; whether donors or taxpayers or members.

I'm all for putting maker spaces in high schools. We called them "shop class" when I went to school. (BTW, get off my lawn!)

I am not yet convinced a maker space belongs in a library.

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