Posts
Monday, April 27, 2009
First 100 Days: Social Policy Takes a Left Turn Under Obama - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com
First 100 Days: Social Policy Takes a Left Turn Under Obama - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com: "From the conscience clause to stem cell research, President Obama has shifted social policy to the left in his first 100 days in the White House. But the reversal of several of his predecessor's regulations has garnered hardly a whimper -- leaving many to wonder how much social issues matter to Americans amid two wars and an economic crisis."
FOXNews.com - Man Brings Live Hand Grenade to Gun Buyback Event - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
FOXNews.com - Man Brings Live Hand Grenade to Gun Buyback Event - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News: "New York City police were holding a suspect Saturday who they say tried to turn in a live hand grenade to police at a gun-buyback program in the Bronx."
He was following the spirit of the program. They want to get weapons off the street and he was helping. Why arrest him?
He was following the spirit of the program. They want to get weapons off the street and he was helping. Why arrest him?
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Death of XSLT in Web Frameworks | Javalobby
The Death of XSLT in Web Frameworks | Javalobby: "The interesting point is: how the XML-based processing works in practice? The short answer is: very poor. And the weakest link in the whole chain is XSLT."
These are my comments on his 5 problems with XSLT:
1. Conditionals are a pain but are they common enough to be big to be a deal-killer?
2. Creating an extra variable occasionally isn’t a big deal.
3. Can be a pain.
4. Functional programming is different but it is gaining utility if large systems
5. I don't have enough experience with this to comment.
Some quick benefits of XSLT over JSP:
1. Push processing to client.
2. Reduce data sent to client
3. Depending on the data and HTML that needs to be applied, XSLT may be the best fit (just like JSP may be the best fit in other situations).
Some time spent learning the different ways of XSLT may have improved the experience. XSLT doesn't work in all cases (what language does) but I think its a little bit premature to claim it is dead. Not even languages that "nobody uses" like COBOL, assembly, and Fortran are dead.
These are my comments on his 5 problems with XSLT:
1. Conditionals are a pain but are they common enough to be big to be a deal-killer?
2. Creating an extra variable occasionally isn’t a big deal.
3. Can be a pain.
4. Functional programming is different but it is gaining utility if large systems
5. I don't have enough experience with this to comment.
Some quick benefits of XSLT over JSP:
1. Push processing to client.
2. Reduce data sent to client
3. Depending on the data and HTML that needs to be applied, XSLT may be the best fit (just like JSP may be the best fit in other situations).
Some time spent learning the different ways of XSLT may have improved the experience. XSLT doesn't work in all cases (what language does) but I think its a little bit premature to claim it is dead. Not even languages that "nobody uses" like COBOL, assembly, and Fortran are dead.
It's Earth Day so change a light bulb and pat yourself on the back
First I think it is very important to conserve the Earth that God gave us and pass it on in good condition to our children.
But it bothers me when I see people promoting changing a few light-bulbs and commending people for doing that. The reason that it bothers me is because they don't show which actions are most effective (most bang for the buck) and try to promote the most effective methods. It seems that most people just want everyone to do some token action when if they really cared about the environment they would promote the most effective actions.
For example (from Google) an LED light bulb costs about $75 while using 22% of the energy of a regular bulb. Assuming the light is used 3 hours per day after a year that would save 42.7 KWH and 22 pounds of carbon (per PGE). It costs $3.41 per annual pound of carbon saved. Could that $75 have saved more carbon a different way?
$60 could buy 24 CFL bulbs (per Home Depot) and that would save 34 pounds of carbon per year (per PGE). That would cost $1.76 per annual pound of carbon saved. That's twice as effective as the LED bulb.
I'm sure there are more options that are even more effective so those who care should care enough to do the best they can with the resources available.
But it bothers me when I see people promoting changing a few light-bulbs and commending people for doing that. The reason that it bothers me is because they don't show which actions are most effective (most bang for the buck) and try to promote the most effective methods. It seems that most people just want everyone to do some token action when if they really cared about the environment they would promote the most effective actions.
For example (from Google) an LED light bulb costs about $75 while using 22% of the energy of a regular bulb. Assuming the light is used 3 hours per day after a year that would save 42.7 KWH and 22 pounds of carbon (per PGE). It costs $3.41 per annual pound of carbon saved. Could that $75 have saved more carbon a different way?
$60 could buy 24 CFL bulbs (per Home Depot) and that would save 34 pounds of carbon per year (per PGE). That would cost $1.76 per annual pound of carbon saved. That's twice as effective as the LED bulb.
I'm sure there are more options that are even more effective so those who care should care enough to do the best they can with the resources available.
If I Were a Rich Man
Some friends did a spoof of "If a Were a Rich Man" from "Fiddler on the Roof" with a theme of the government bailouts.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Study: P2P thieves buy more music | The Open Road - CNET News
Study: P2P thieves buy more music | The Open Road - CNET News: "As Ars Technica reports,
When it comes to P2P, it seems that those who wave the pirate flag are the most click-happy on services like the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3. BI said that those who said they download illegal music for 'free' bought 10 times as much legal music as those who never download music illegally."
The movie industry fought VHS because movies could be copied but who would argue that VHS was bad for the movie industry?
When it comes to P2P, it seems that those who wave the pirate flag are the most click-happy on services like the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3. BI said that those who said they download illegal music for 'free' bought 10 times as much legal music as those who never download music illegally."
The movie industry fought VHS because movies could be copied but who would argue that VHS was bad for the movie industry?
Innovation can breathe again: Patent filings decline | The Open Road - CNET News
Innovation can breathe again: Patent filings decline | The Open Road - CNET News: "While the PatentlyO blog suggests this is a 'crisis,' I'm with TechDirt: the only crisis is that it has taken so long for patent filings to decline:
Considering the large number of bad patents that got through over the years, and the resulting flood of applications from others hoping to strike it rich by gaining monopolies on obvious ideas, it should be seen as a good thing that applications are finally dropping.
If anything, we should be wondering why they're not dropping more. Patents were supposed to be given out in the rarest of circumstances, when other incentives weren't enough. Somewhere along the way, those who controlled the patent system seemed to forget this and lose their way."
Considering the large number of bad patents that got through over the years, and the resulting flood of applications from others hoping to strike it rich by gaining monopolies on obvious ideas, it should be seen as a good thing that applications are finally dropping.
If anything, we should be wondering why they're not dropping more. Patents were supposed to be given out in the rarest of circumstances, when other incentives weren't enough. Somewhere along the way, those who controlled the patent system seemed to forget this and lose their way."
Monday, April 20, 2009
A conservative
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
A conservative is a man who realizes that when the government takes a step forward it often forces man to take a step back.
Obama Repeats '90 Percent' Stat for U.S. Guns Recovered in Mexico - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com
Obama Repeats '90 Percent' Stat for U.S. Guns Recovered in Mexico - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com:
"Recovered" does not seem like the correct word to describe this. "recovered in Mexico" to me covers all guns that the Mexican government has found.
'This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border,' the president said on the subject in his joint press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday:
To some, it might sound as if Obama is saying 90 percent of all guns captured from the cartels originated in America. But that's not what the president means, senior National Security Council Spokesman Denis McDonough told FOX�News on Saturday.
"By recovered he means traceable, guns traced back to the United States," McDonough said. "These are ATF (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms) numbers. These are the guns submitted to the ATF for tracing. That's what we mean by recovered."
"Recovered" does not seem like the correct word to describe this. "recovered in Mexico" to me covers all guns that the Mexican government has found.
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