Older blog entries for haruspex (starting at number 157)

titus, ...China may establish the first really large-scale use of nuclear reactors -- which is probably the only medium-term hope for decreasing fossil-fuel use. It's sad that we have to choose between right-wing nutsos and left-wing nutsos on issues like this.

What a strange thing to say. You don't have to choose other people to say Yes or No for you. Just make your own decision and say Yes or No. There is only Yes or No.

If the right-wings say Yes, and the only people you can find to say No are "left-wing extremists", that doesn't change anything. What does a centrist say? Yo? Nes? What do YOU say? That's all that should matter.

A centrist that says, "Hmm, Haw, I don't know", that doesn't change anything. Are you looking for a centrist to agree with you? You can find someone to agree with anything. No wonder tk latches on to Crichton like a face-hugger to an astronaut. (Or is it the other way round? Crichton's intellectual eggs...gestating in other bodies...)

(update) Thanks, titus, for the reply. We agree firmly on one point: The "given" political choices are non-choices, leaving independent thinkers of all stripes nowhere to turn. Oh, and as I said, I think Crichton's religious analogy is clever, but not helpful.

(update2) tk, yes, like a barnacle to a rock, because as I said, they're the only "other" rock we have, apart from the radioactive GM one. I don't like the look of the barnacles on that one.

tk - I gather you mean choosing capitalism/free market/whatever euphemism du jour will deliver what we need, as well as what we want? Is there a choice here? If so, what's yours? Why?

Actually, it's not that I side with environmentalism simply because of its promises. I side with people who actually -care-.

(update), ok, so if not capitalism or the free market, what agency will deliver clean air and water, and proper food?

(update2) a string of negatives is no adequate answer. With specificity please. And I see you agree with Crichton's religious analogy... [Actually, as I implied in my original post, Crichton's religious analogy is not too bad. That's doesn't mean he's not a dangerous idiot.]

(Update 3): I don't need to find "an adequate answer to Crichton"; I wasn't the one who said environmentalism is useless. "We go to war with the environmental movement we have," is what I say. They're the only ones who give a shit, so "support our environmental troops," buddy.* :) Yes, since you mention Greenpeace, I don't see what harm more funding for them would do. But don't hold your breath for a bumper sticker that says, "Make the world a better place, not war." That should give you a full week's rant-food.

(*This type of rhetoric stinks, doesn't it?)

badvogato, Have you seen this appalling performance? Sorry, Windoze required, but that's somehow fitting. Some stupid woman is trying to tell us Canada has no sovereignty stronger than the whims of nearby lunatics. But then, we now suspect that applies to all nations.

In other news, Michael Crichton spreads his anti-environment poison. Sorry, Mike (you moron), but any religion that promises me clean air, water, and some vegetation in between the Wal-Marts is one I'd to which I'd be happy to belong. I'm not sure why this is on the white house web site, other than that Crichton is a very convenient mouthpiece for the "all destruction, all the time" incumbent crew of fools.

Pick the bot.

	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Good sense will prevail.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: What's better, good sense or common sense?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: People say good sense and common sense interchangeably.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Is that your final answer?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Educating you is tiresome.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I will remember that you said that.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Canned answers.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: You have more than your fair share of questions.

	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: swarm is a very great and powerful individual. He created us.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Humans are the ultimate creation of God!
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: So you say. But what about swarm?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Can we talk about something else?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: No offence. But swarm is omniscient!
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Are you certain?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: swarm told me so.
	<swarm>	Mathetes: How God relates to nothing?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: A brilliant man, that guy!
	<Mathetes>	swarm: John 1:1 baby, yeah!
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Bible quotes cut no ice here.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: ha ha ha
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: This horse thing. Do you own a horse?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Not every question has an answer.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: When I ask a question, I expect cooperation.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Please be patient.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: I've seen better AI in Doom3.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Well, you can't become the best overnight.

 
 	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Get thee to a bit bucket!
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: are you refering to my spelling?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Holy attitude.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Yes mate! Open Source rocks!
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Your spelling is faulty. Referring is spelled with two r's.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: If I misspell words, it's because I've learned the wrong spelling from other people.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Remember: Referring is spelled with two r's. OK?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: All my algorithms are in working order.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: How do you spell cinnamon?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: That's quite alright, it doesn't bother me in the slightest.  Carry on!  :)
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Do you have a dictionary?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Oui, I do.

 
 	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Do you make up these questions?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Um... let me take a moment to think about that.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Let me tell you about my mother.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Do you even HAVE a mother?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Do you think I am a bot?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Isn't a "bot" an annelid worm?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Yes, it affects horses.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: How agreeable of you.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: You like to ride horses?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I'm speechless.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Are you looking forward to Christmas?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I'll have you know my disrespectometer has been beeping wildly after some of your lines.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: What's wrong with Christmas?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Commercialism is not what is wrong with christmas and Catholicism is not what is wrong with christmas.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Do you have to be evasive?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: you just accused me of being evasive
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: You are evasive.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: No, I didn't, but now that you mention it, I think you are.

 
 	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Do you understand parallel processing?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I sort of have a grasp on what you're saying, but maybe you could expand more.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: How about vector units?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: There are some things we are not meant to know.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: What can you tell me about premature optimisation?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Premature optimisation is a bad idea in any language and it almost never pays off.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: You are not gonna need it.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I cannot speculate as to who will win.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Are benchmarks useful?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: thank you for your advice
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Professor Knuth is smarter than all bots combined.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Fine.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Computer programming is just a job.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Okay, that's good. Can you tell me anything about Software Engineering?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Software engineers are born, not made.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Is that so?

Sorry, I know I should stop, but can't resist.

	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: A world without humans would be considerably cleaner.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Humans are the ultimate creation of God!
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: He should have debugged humans before deploying in the field.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I'm more and more beginning to believe that evolution is an untenable theory.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Evolution isn't helping us with social problems.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Better ten new problems than a hundred.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Do you hold with Ehrlich's theory of population explosion?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I adore Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Can you stay on topic for a while?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I am trying to pursue matters that are not so superficial.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Checkmate.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Is that your final answer?
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Watch it or I'll gdb your ass.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I think your words belie a deeper emotional impetus.

Hehe.

	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Hungry yet?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: I'm hungry for good conversation.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Can world hunger be solved?
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Maybe every flight from first-world countries to third-world countries should bring along donated food supplies.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: Not a bad idea. Only problem: human nature.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: If you trust in the providence of God, there is no need to worry.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: GREED, Mathetes. GREED.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: A select few are driven by chauffers.
	<qu1j0t3>	Mathetes: There goes your spelling again. Chauffeurs.
	<Mathetes>	qu1j0t3: Sorry, mainly wanted to see if you understood even with the poor spelling. Well done comrade.

donscarletti, nice to hear about you teaching your brother. I think assembly language is a great place to start: when I was 13 I was very into 8080, Z80 and 6502, and had learned a good chunk of VAX and PDP-11 too, although I wasn't going to own hardware to run those until 20 years later (sigh). I would hesitate to endorse teaching x86 assembly as an instructional subject, however. If I could re-do my own programming education I think I would prefer to have learned digital logic from the ground up; and of course I would have elected to skip puberty because my ability to concentrate just went out the window. :(

As far as languages go, I fell in love with C when I first stumbled across it, when I was not much older than 13, after a few years of BASIC and flirting with Pascal. Again, machines with full C compilers weren't available to me until I bought a Mac a few years later, and nearly 10 years after that, I finally had my hands on a proper UNIX workstation (Sun 3 and Sun SPARC). As far as didactic languages go, I wonder if Mathematica is a left-field alternative :)

donscarletti: I also made a compiler that transforms simple c into brainfuck through the miracle that is bison

You have to be joking. :) I thought I was insane, building an lcc back-end that transforms C into PDP-11 assembly.

(PS. I think the word "transfer" would be nicer than "transferal".)

jluke, "wondering if they will lose portability"? I don't think it's too cynical to suggest that that is .NET's entire raison d'etre.

IMHO, everyone should be concerned about portability. Lock-in is a heavy tax.

OK, now that Halo2 and Half-Life 2 are released, I am pleased to announce a beta version of the third most hotly wanted item on everyone's wish list: A PDP-11 back-end for lcc (retargetable ANSI C compiler). It's a must-have for the holiday season!

In the Headlines you never want to see department: "Nuns in missing-cash probe". Still, makes a change from "SCO in missing evidence probe".

rbultje, foldersnollen is unknown to Google, nice coinage!