View 381 September 26 - October 3, 2005 (original) (raw)
Monday September 26, 2005
We will have a new debate on what to do about Iraq, but first an interesting item from The Guardian:
Subject: I don't believe this, but it's . . . interesting.
I don't believe this, but it's . . . interesting.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/
international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.html
- Roland Dobbins
UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things,
because that would also stop you from doing clever things.
-- Doug Gwyn
You may or may not agree with the aphorism Mr. Dobbins has chosen to accompany this. Marvin Minsky once told me that programming in a Wirth language was a bit like putting on a straightjacket so that you couldn't hurt yourself. Marvin preferred LISP, although he was known to use APL sometimes. But then Marvin was writing programs to investigate AI, not to control ICBM's... Perhaps it is time to have a new language debate. I am still of the opinion that if our operating systems and software were written in something like Modula-2 (expanded and with better I/O libraries), with strong typing, mandatory declarations in the heading sections, and both type and range checking during compilation we would have far fewer bugs, and far fewer security holes. It would run slower but the hardware is taking care of that; you would not notice the speed difference now. And some of it would run faster because it wouldn't be patched so often. With strongly typed and structured languages, the compiler catches many of the bugs; and once it is compiled it generally does what you expected it to do. As for speed, you can always go in and hand optimize loops if need be.
But that is for another debate another time.
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Of course Katrina was pretty much Bush's fault: At least Al Gore told the Sierra Club so. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/9/12/215525.shtml?et=y
As to what happened there:
Rumors.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/
mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09_26.html
-- Roland Dobbins
Leaving me at a loss: does anyone reliably know what really happened? I have pointers to this article from several of you; thanks all.
We also have this:
Subject: Katrina datacenter blog
Jerry,
It's a lot calmer of late, but there's a blog being kept by the people at DirectNIC in NO who kept their datacenter up & running right through Katrina to the present. They apparently have been working with the city to get at least basic datacomm set up for the recovery work. There's a picture gallery from their vantage point in the business district and from their various sorties into the city. Unfortunately, there's also any number of items about being hassled by both the NOPD and the military patrols. Check http://livejournal.com/users/interdictor (mirrored at mgno.com) for a running journal from the middle of the hairball. -- Bob Halloran Jacksonville FL
And on another subject:
For those that say the Chinese are only repeating Mercury should read this. Each Shenzou leaves a piece of the space station up there.
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/china-05zzzzzzzn.html
R
And if you want to know more about SWIFT:
Dad,
Attached is a video clip taken by the Navy Marine Corps news about Swift while we were in New Orleans. There is a higher quality version available on the web site itself http://www.news.navy.mil/management/videodb/player/video.aspx?ID=5585
Love,
Phil
As well as From Chris Christenson
Jerry: You might want to post this URL, for people who want a little more information on Swift.
http://www.cat.com/cda/files/255880/7/HSV2%20SWIFT.pdf
"Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its students."-- Hector Berlioz
Good article, with good pictures.
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And now something I seldom do: an advertisement. I don't hesitate to post this; I've known Ed Green since he was 18 years old.
Dear Jerry,
Recently, after a LASFS meeting, a group of us were talking about the current job market in Southern California. While it does appear to be picking up in some areas, one of the problem areas is for people with a strong admin background, such as myself.
You kindly offered to post a letter from me about this, along with a link to my resume, if I would send it in to you. I am taking you up on that offer!
I'm a retired US Army NCO, with over 20 years experience. Almost all of my assignments required a great deal of administrative expertise and office management. I've worked in positions in the Law Enforcement, Human Resources and Military Intelligence field. Trust me, I can multi-task and think on my feet.
My resume is available at:
http://www.geocities.com/edwardlgreen/resumeedwardgreen.doc <http://www.geocities.com/edwardlgreen/resumeedwardgreen.doc>
Thanks for your time and help, Jerry!
Ed Green
He's not even exaggerating. I don't mind being a reference if one is needed.
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