Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:"9860 class of releases" (Score 1) 209

Hey, at least they're not decrementing.

I can imagine, "Ok guys, we've released version 1 and there are still a whole lot of bugs. Marketing says negative numbers and zero can't be used, even though zero appears commonly on beverages. So, instead using negative numbers outright, we're moving to vectors like Intel did."

Comment Re:Marketing is everything. (Score 1) 747

I know how to get through to the anti-vaxxers. Just have half of the characters on Game of Thrones die due to measles, small pox, etc... and make sure that the ones who died were the most compelling personalities. Come to think about it, you could also inform about STDs in a similar way...

Comment Re:Here's how I handle it... (Score 2) 388

Well, that's certainly quite the experience.

I had a girlfriend from Australia for an entire year before she figured out that my email address was NOT her boyfriend's. I used to just bounce the emails from my inbox, but they kept coming. For awhile, I was "georgie baby" to some kind of computer illiterate girl. The girl was always talking about picnics and outdoor activities.

I guess a part of me wanted to become "georgie baby," but pulling a Cyrano de Bergerac was more effort than I wanted to go to.

I have to admit, it was very tempting to say, "if you write 'hey georgie baby' one more time, I'm going to f^cking break up with you," but I'm nice like that. :-)

Comment Re: Now for the fun part. (Score 1) 745

I know that the parent comment seems racist, but there really is a devaluation of education in many minority communities. Bill Cosby took a lot of heat for bringing that theory up.

A lot of the problem comes down to income inequality, and fewer minority students being able to afford college outright. There are tons of scholarships available to minority students, but many qualified young men and women don't even know what opportunities are available to them because they don't know how the system works.

So there is a schism in the US about what to do about these minority populations. One side says we need to give disadvantaged people more money so that they can gain parity with wealthier people. Another side says that it's not money that's needed, but hard work and ambition. Both sides are wrong, because giving money to someone who is uneducated in how to spend it wisely will lead to those people becoming disadvantaged again; and on the other front, jobs that offer decent pay for many hours of unskilled work are simply not available.

America is in a real Catch-22, and our political leaders, instead of trying to solve the problem, spout out polarizing language that promotes division and hate. Republicans have their problems, but Democrats need to realize that they are part of the problem, too. President Obama has constantly used intense rhetoric in a bid to sway public opinion towards his side. BBC News quotes him as saying that conservatives are trying to use "coercion," "extortion," and many other high-stakes words that we associate with negativity when debating what to do about our debts.

Every time he does that, he creates more animosity between the "haves" and the "have nots." He purposely does it for political gain, because it wins him and his party votes. The Republicans need no explaining, as they aren't as difficult to figure out. All of this bickering is bad for all Americans, not just poor and middle class people---and it's not going to stop until, by some miracle, we get another person like Bill Clinton, who will reach across the aisle and not have a built-in vendetta against the other side.

People are so worried about proving the "other side" wrong that they are missing the bigger goal of fixing a nation with a lot of income disparity. Two simultaneous conditions are required to fix the income gap: more income for lower earning people, and a shift in culture among those same people towards investing in education.

Just walking around a university campus, you can tell the difference between the black guy from America and the black guy from Burkina Faso, Just the same, you can tell the difference between the latino guy from America and the latino from Columbia. The issue is economic and cultural, and both aspects need to change for there to be any progress.

Please, vote for a third party. Or write in the name of your cat on the ballot when you vote. Just do something to keep get our leaders to recognize that they are dumb-asses.

Comment Re:Just so we're clear... (Score 1) 311

^^This.

This guy is a sociopath. Autism and sociopathy are completely different conditions. The former is a brain disorder, the latter is a personality disorder.

To use "autism" or "mentally ill" as a defense for a crime, you must be defined as mentally insane at the time of the crime. Having autism does not make you insane. Being a sociopath or a psychopath (which has absolutely has nothing to do with severe metal illnesses like schizophrenia) is not an excuse and does not meet the legal definition for insanity. Furthermore, having a low IQ or EQ (for any reason) does not absolve anyone of a crime.

This guy is a self-obsessed sociopath and he needs to be locked away.

Comment Re:Wait.. What? (Score 1) 621

When one party is allowed in power for too long, backstabbing will happen regardless of party affiliation. In other words, it's a human problem.

Certain personality types are attracted to power, and power corrupts people very easily. That's what the one ring in LoTR is about--the intangible allure of power seduces and corrupts people for no more than the purpose that it exists.

Comment Re:Then comes the arms race... (Score 1) 302

Well, then it was decided that -everyone- should have a high school diploma and curriculum gets dumbed down to the point that any person not in a vegetative state can easily obtain a high school diploma...

If you are in a vegetative state during high school, you can still get a diploma, you'll just be in the bottom half of your class. Hell, the pot heads on the debate team will have a higher class rank, assuming you are actually a vegetable.

Source: (Personal experience, and no, that's not just a pun on my user name)
Pedants: I know a "kiwi" is not a vegetable, but try to have some fun with language once in awhile.

Comment Re:aren't there laws against monopolistic practice (Score 1) 202

We haven't had a real Justice Department since before the days of Ed Meese. Meese is really the very model of the modern attorney general, who believes his main job is to make sure no rich people get in any trouble and to find ways to subvert the Constitution.

The current DOJ is good at making sure that no rich people get in trouble---after all, the Feds are the ones who decide what trouble is.

That said, I think you meant to say something regarding morality and ethics---don't worry, I would have made the same mistake.

Comment Re:/. is a bad place for Apple feature advice (Score 1) 262

As an Electrical Engineer who designed UI elements with an industrial design department, I can confidently say that most engineers will ruin the experience. While I'm a bit of an exception creatively, most of the engineers on our team had no clue how to make a polished interface. Working with them is difficult when all you want to do is slap them and say, "Design it this way!" For whatever reason, most engineers don't get it, and they are so abrasive to the graphic designers that the designers don't want to talk to them anyway. Honestly, it's like an exercise in pulling teeth.

I know I will take a karma hit on this one, but having worked on a team that developed sophisticated UIs for Android tablets, Google's native elements feel hacked together (I'm looking at you DatePicker and TimePicker and CalendarView!). UI elements are not optimized and run slowly with complicated layouts--the types of layouts you would expect to have with an iPad. You need a ton more processor power on a Google device just to get the same look and feel as an iOS device. Elements are mostly, but not completely, implemented. For example, you can make a CalendarView that shows one week, but if you swipe up in that view your app will crash. Having two ListViews in the same fragment can also cause problems if you're adding and deleting elements from one view and tap on the other. We used Jelly Bean to make sure we had all the latest stuff, and developing with Google's components was still a nightmare.

I love Android as a concept/idea (freedom, sharing, and equal access for all), and it works well in basic cases. Google's own apps are generally pretty good since Google has the talent to develop their own custom stuff. What's left for the most programmers is not a good solution.

In the project, I ended up building my own custom components to get the look, feel, and responsiveness I needed. I've never had to make the same accommodations in an iOS app. The process was extremely time consuming, which also makes me angry at Apple because their lack of openness means we can't use their APIs instead of Google's.

YMMV.

Slashdot Top Deals

"It is easier to fight for principles than to live up to them." -- Alfred Adler

Working...