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Comment: Definitely (Score 2) 208

by caffiend666 (#46066963) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Educating Kids About Older Technologies?

People need both common ground and unique perspective. Some things everyone should know (what does that square icon for save really mean). Other things, we need each person to come at things uniquely (a system where all of the components react the same is a broken system, eg computer viruses on shared standard systems). It's easy to find inspiration in old technology which applies to technology today. EG, Tesla motors took an old forgotten engine design by Nick Tesla and implemented it in the modern age.

I will expose the kid to as much as they have the attention span for. Probably teach each kid different things. EG, one kid will learn basic even though it is outdated. Another will learn one will learn logo even though it is outdated. Both will learn HTML.

Comment: He's right, but wrongly. (Score 4, Insightful) 537

by caffiend666 (#45548985) Attached to: Why Bitcoin Is Doomed To Fail, In One Economist's Eyes
He's right, but in the wrong way. All currencies are doomed to fail. As long as people are willing to exchange something for something else, both have value. Most FIAT money has value because governments are willing to exchange it for taxes, so then it has value to almost everyone. When a government collapses, or people lose faith in it, it's currency becomes worthless. Seashells are no longer values as currency, but they once were. Gold/Silver have boom/bust cycles. BitCoin had value because of SilkRoad, and the silk-roaders were willing to accept it for... something. Frankly I'm surprised BitCoin still has value after SilkRoad's demise. If something significant replaces SilkRoad, BitCoin will remain valuable. Until then bitcoin's going on momentum. May crash soon, may not. Will crash eventually.

Comment: Re: Lilypond (Score 1) 183

by caffiend666 (#44620811) Attached to: Can There Be Open Source Music?
Lilypond is next to useless for techno, and drum machines, but for traditional performance music, composition, and experimentation iilypond is great. The program is backwards for art, in that music is dedcribed mathematically first then performed, rather than performed then described. But, lilypond can drive real performances, both as midi output and real sheet music, from child to orchestra level.

Comment: Messages of Enders game (Score 4, Insightful) 1448

by caffiend666 (#44236575) Attached to: Orson Scott Card Pleads 'Tolerance' For <em>Ender's Game</em> Movie
One of the messages of Ender's game series is about tolerance, another is about bullying. Even someone who is intolerant can have beautiful things to say about tolerance. Just as a peacenic can talk about war, or someone who is themselves racist can have very profound things to say about race. Responding to someone with controvertial beliefs by harrasing, insulting, and boycotting them is not only itself intollerant, but is also bullying. Ender's Game is a case where an authors words are important, rather than their beliefs. Jefferson, Franklin, MLKing were all filandering hypocrites, it is their words which are important rather than their beliefs and actions.

Comment: Very volatile atmosphere? (Score 1) 236

by caffiend666 (#43319985) Attached to: DOJ, MIT, JSTOR Seek Anonymity In Swartz Case
It was a "very volatile atmosphere" before Shwartz killed himself. These people were destroying a life in order to justify their egos, further their careers, avoid suffering through cognitive dissonance, and avoid treating a person as anything other than a thing. Everyone here should come forward and face the music, not to mention lose their jobs. False secrecy like this will only bait the hacktivists.

Comment: Re:Ownership of recovered artifacts (Score 2) 119

by caffiend666 (#43230823) Attached to: Bezos Expeditions Recovers Pieces of Apollo 11 Rockets

Regardless of ownership of underseas artifacts, the finder only get's 10% . If they're taking from a civilian ship lost centuries ago, the finder only get's 10%. If the ship is a 'military' ship, salvaging a hold still only grosses the salvager 10%. But, the government doesn't necessarily own the military ships. Modern ships lost are often insured, in which case the insurance company owns the ship and it's contents, and the salvager still only get's 10%, the S.S. Port Nicholson is a good example where this is possible. I'm sure percentage is complicated if the 'owners' of a ship are unknown, EG ancient Roman ships; typically though the government which owns the territory 'owns' the territory the artifact is on and get's to keep 90%.

Now, I would enjoy hearing how it works out for Bezos claiming a 10% salvage lien on two priceless artifacts which cost many millions in the first place...


Comment: Re:Err ... (Score 5, Insightful) 230

by caffiend666 (#42892203) Attached to: New Medal Designed To Honor Cyber Soldiers

Not all awards are for risking ones life. Some, like the Army service ribbon are given simply for completing training. Some medals are given for achievements not necessarily related to heroism, like the Army Commendation Medal. Technically speaking, people are risking their lives to complete basic training, though.

Although there are no significant physical risks in fighting remotely, these service members are still going through significant stress and risking PTSD in their jobs. Yes, 'it's like playing a video game'. But there are real lives on the line, there is no pause button, and possibly endless days doing a single task. Doesn't matter if it's just pushing buttons in an airconditioned room, they lose sleep and their sanity just the same. Not to mention watching films of people dying, the ones they just killed.

I've read of facebook image filterers suffering from PTSD and depression. Now, imagine if those image filterers had to decide not just whether to block the image, but also whether to kill the people in the pictures.

Comment: Re:You need to work on communications skills (Score 1) 232

by caffiend666 (#42501401) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Advice For Getting Tech Career Back On Track

Would mod this up if it wasn't already a 5. PhD's have a deserved reputation for being slow producing, narcissists, with little grasp of reality; and everything that goes with the narcissism: magical thinking, bad boundaries, arrogance, entitlement....

Please remember, most hiring managers don't choose the people that can do a job; they chose the people they aren't threatened by and that managers believe can be influenced regardless of fitness for a position. If people in interviews make the hirers feel insecure or believe that the hirees would behave like lose cannons, the hirees will not get the job.

Now, none of this will matter to a great manager. But, we can not assume we are dealing with world class people. If you're applying to work directly with the executes at Google, include the PhD. If you're applying for a job swapping cards in server containers at Google, DO NOT include the PhD. If you don't know, assume they are insecure egoists and make the call yourself.

Comment: Re:eBay... (Score 5, Insightful) 291

by caffiend666 (#41808449) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What To Do With Over 500 Used DIMMs?
Just because something is worth a certain amount, does not mean it can be sold for that amount or that it is worth the time to sell something or warehouse it for years. Grandpa still has his tubes from his tv repair days. They are doubtlessly worth thousands. But, no one will pay fair value for them in bulk and it would take hundreds if not thousands of hours to sell them individually on ebay. It would have been better for him to sell them when he retired, even at a loss, and invest the money.

Comment: Nightstands (Score 1) 284

by caffiend666 (#41304375) Attached to: Cutting the Power Cable: How Advantageous Is Wireless Charging?
My alarm clock is a touchpad with wireless charging. Who wants to fumble with fragile cables/docks in the dark? I'm looking forward to having a wireless charging phone again for the same reason, Docks and ports break easily and I do not want to deal with them when half awake. In my bedroom, I want easy access to devices in the dark. The rest of the time, I use wires. Kind of like asking why people want wireless internet or audio, there are places where wireless is worth the hastle.

Comment: Correlation is not causation (Score 1) 131

by caffiend666 (#41108117) Attached to: Fathers Pass Along More Mutations As They Age

The article is rather neutral, but the premise is being misinterpreted. This is comparing the genetic mutations of older fathers, not the genetic mutations of older men relative to their younger days. A man more susceptible to mild genetic abnormalities may be a late bloomer who takes years longer to be comfortable in social and family settings, resulting in him becoming a father later. If a slightly odd duck doesn't manage social situations well until they are later in life, doesn't this mean older fathers would be more likely to pass on genetic mutations? Also, women are typically accepted more in social situations they younger they are, regardless of whether they are slightly different or not. It is much harder for young men then young women, but then the roles reverse. Young women's main problem is keeping people away from them. A clean, polite, well-established older man has a much easier time socially than a similarly positioned and aged woman. I for one am looking forward to being an older man of leisure.

Then again, they seem to have compared against mutations in the children which don't exist in the parents. But did they take multiple genetic readings of the parents, or simply compared the child's readings against the different readings from when the older parent was a child?

Comment: Re:300-400 dollars buys a lot of paper books (Score 3, Informative) 415

My Kobo came with 100 (free) books pre-installed and I have read through about 20 of them so far. Having a good e-Reader makes Project Gutenberg books (free) easy to read, and there are about 40,000 books available, I have read about 10 so far. There are many great $1 dollar books available online. Given my Kobo cost me $80, I have broken even and saved money already, not to mention the tremendous convenience. I am also reading things I wouldn't have read otherwise, that I wanted to read. It wasn't worth spending $7 to buy a copy of Anna Karenina, but it was a worthwhile read at no-cost except for the reader which was already paid for.

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