bdunbar

24 ms·

211.
by bdunbar 14y ago
I suspect the poster is neglecting the cost to switch over from the current system of scanning packages to the new one. Either you need to add the ability for reading a 16 digit code to the existing system, or build a second, new, system to
212.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Fair point. I wanted a Barretta Nano, and I know the gun store, didn't want to fool around with waiting for a gun show, or finding a private buyer, so I went with the store.
213.
by bdunbar 14y ago
I've bought a phone and a pistol this year. The phone was by far the easiest: pick it up, pay, walk out. The guns were a lot harder. Background check had to clear, the waiting period had to pass. Two trips to the store.
214.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Interesting. My father started working in data processing in 1965, two years before I was born. When I lateral moved to 'IT' in 1990 we finally were able to talk about 'work'. Since we didn't do 'feelings' this was a major step forward for
215.
by bdunbar 14y ago
FTA "COBOL code was written on paper, sent to a punch operator, who would type the punch cards" Nitpick. When I learned COBOL in 1990 we had terminals, typed the code like gentlemen. What they taught us was 1) flowchart the process 2) writ
216.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Naw. /etc/hosts can be explained to a government. But this kind of thing doesn't give your average government nearly enough power. So: not interested.
217.
by bdunbar 14y ago
That was 'libertarian' with a small 'l'. I'm not dogmatic: if anarchy can work, I'm all for it.
218.
by bdunbar 14y ago
I may have skipped over some steps in my thinking. But yes, a small government with few to little power is what we need.
219.
by bdunbar 14y ago
"What these government-haters" Hi. libertarian here. I don't hate government. Government is probably a necessary evil. I hate obnoxious, inefficient, bug-ridden, corrupt, expensive, government. I hate government that says one thing to g
220.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Simcity Libertarian edition - I'd love that. No, really, I would.
221.
by bdunbar 14y ago
"They wouldn't move to a new city where there is nothing, no schools, no fire department. I think that's close to the real world." Eh. The real world has a lot of examples of people doing exactly that.
222.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Ah! I had not thought of copying between client computers. Now it makes sense. And I can see it's use, at home. Thanks.
223.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Your intended use is a computer that doesn't have SSH running?
224.
by bdunbar 14y ago
"The countryside also can't sustain itself at its current standard of living without goods and services produced in cities." I think it is possible you underestimate how much manufacturing happens outside urban areas. Your argument about 'h
225.
by bdunbar 14y ago
"My hope would be to find some books on farming..." The local library was looted when the Empire withdrew from the outer provinces. Big deal! You're a farmer speaking medieval French: the books are in Latin. And you can't read anyway - no
226.
by bdunbar 14y ago
"Keep your car and your suburban lifestyle" Small town, in my case, 90 minutes from the nearest mid-size city. If you don't demand that I pay for rapid transit I'll never see, or use, don't restrict the kind of car or truck I can buy, then
227.
by bdunbar 14y ago
"Still, would knowledge go away today? " Why not? It has before. IIRC, medieval farmers in Gaul had crop yields a fraction of their Roman ancestors farming the same land. No soil depletion - they'd forgotten how to farm. This seems silly
228.
by bdunbar 14y ago
It's all about the funding. Standardized tests are not new. I took them in the 70s and early 80s: a few days of sitting in home room, filling out circles with a number two pencil. Big deal: they had no affect on my actual grade. What the
229.
by bdunbar 14y ago
There are as many different answers as there are end of the world novels. If we're just wanking along, what to me seems most likely is a 'Fall of Rome' deal where things gradually get worse but no one fully realizes it because it happens so
230.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Point - I hadn't considered the impact of cars on frost heaves.
231.
by bdunbar 14y ago
"I never heard in a disaster novel of people having problem to find glasses," Justin Cronin, The Passage. It's a hundred years after the world ended, one minor character is terribly near-sighted. And he's gone through all of the glasses 'f
232.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Horse have some advantages over bikes. They make more of themselves. And a horse is, last resort, dinner.
233.
by bdunbar 14y ago
After the world ends, bikes and etc. will be fine. For about two years ( less in warmer climates ). After that the roads are going to be torn up by weather and no maintenance and then riding a bike may or may not be such a good choice.
234.
by bdunbar 14y ago
> the implicit threat of having that capability will keep your country from being bullied by other countries? A state arms itself with the most terrible weapons, and the best soliders, with that very idea in mind. Nuclear weapons are no
235.
by bdunbar 14y ago
"...But I don't see a reason why, in 2013, given the tools we have, a developer has to be on-site at a desk every day, as the normal operating procedure..." Tools change. People don't.
236.
by bdunbar 14y ago
I am not so sure. For me, word processors have gotten progressively stupider and harder to use since WordPerfect, circa 1996. Excel is pretty good. I may be biased - I've been using emacs for the last two years and keep finding more ways to
237.
by bdunbar 14y ago
It is possible we've reached the stage, with office productivity software, that there isn't really anything you can _do_ to one except put better cup holders on it.
238.
by bdunbar 14y ago
One thing that soured us on startups was actually dealing with a startup. Or rather, not dealing with them: they folded two years after we acquired the application. Leaving us with a very important tool written in a language nobody at our
239.
by bdunbar 14y ago
On your back, in pieces.
240.
by bdunbar 14y ago
Either a last-man standing deal or they'd invent a practical faster-than-light motor and open up the galaxy. Nothing in between.

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