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Like I commented the last time around, the design sensitivity of the Advanced LIGO hardware is enough better than the previous generation that detection odds have gone from "maybe if we get lucky" (a neutron star closer than any known objects, or beating the odds and having a merger transient happen in a much shorter than statistically expected window) to "if we don't get a detection something is wrong" (hardware, data analysis, or the physics itself).
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Open source has won -- as a cauldron for innovation as well as a frictionless means of software distribution. So why are we still messing with obscure licensing minutiae? I blame the lawyers
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Princeton University - Computer scientists launch campaign to guarantee bug-free software[^]
I realize this is old news (Kent posted it last week [^]), but I don't feel that it has been sufficiently ridiculed yet.
Then again, perhaps I am just unduly skeptical about a group of 8 students and 2 professors that "aims to eliminate out [sic] bugs in complex software" with $10M over 5yrs. It certainly is a venerable goal; and who am I to suggest that they might possibly be a tad over-ambitious? After all, they have already recognized that their "initial challenge will be to dissect the overwhelming complexity of modern hardware and software to uncover the factors that determine how various computer components work together," which sounds like a prudent starting point, even if it does end up taking a good couple of weeks out of their schedule. And, of course, I shouldn't overlook the fact that they wisely have planned to develop their so-called "deep specifications" using such proven strategies as "deductive reasoning, syllogisms and mathematics". It's only a shame that we have had to wait so long for these eminent tools to be applied to the plebeian field of Computer Science!
So... never mind my suggestion. I humbly retract my call for ridicule. Clearly what we need to do is herald this project as the "coming of age for the industry". And not just for this industry! Indeed -- as the team has presciently observed -- this breakthrough could impact "not only computer science disciplines, but many other disciplines as well." Think of it! With just a few extra years and some more far-sighted grants from the NSF, we might be on the cusp of seeing the eradication of errors from all modern scientific endeavors!
Wow! I don't know about you, but I think we could use a few less mistakes in science as we know it. And all that for only $10M? What a bargain!
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Of course, they will then need $20 and another 10 years for a project to eliminate all the errors in their "eliminate all the bugs" project. This will then need $40 for another project... [repeating ad infinitum].
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Unless they are planning to code using lego and super glue or get Chuck N to do all the coding this is just foolish nonsense. 
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When Louis Bleriot first flew across the channel, the idea that one day members of the working class would be able to do the same for the cost of a decent lunch and some unplanned intimacy with a stranger under the guise of "security" seemed very unlikely - but now the airline industry is one of the most reliable most of us will ever interact with.
The path of the software industry over similar time span has not gone nearly as well. I think in some respects this is because planes are but by engineers whereas software is built by mathematicians.
Engineers are noise and fault tolerant, mathematicians are noise and fault intolerant. So whilst the hardware we work on is fault tolerant (think parity bits etc.) the software that runs on it is not.
Sadly what is likely to arise from the "DeepSpec" is a shifting of the fault-intolerance up from the software into the design phase. I personally have walked this path before with formal specification languages (Z in particular) but have come to the opinion that they just cannot work because the real world is messy and unknowable so at some point a "tolerance zone" will need to exist. I personally feel that the closer this zone is to the hardware the better our software will be ... bug survivable systems rather than bug free ones.
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It is said that: Only two people make no mistakes - the unborn child, and the dead man. All others in between do make mistakes.
Analogously, only two code snippets don't have bugs - the unwritten code snippet, and the one which is irrecoverably scrapped
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For $10 million, I'll come up with whatever bullshit project you want. The trick is writing good grant requests, not actually making sense with them.
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The syndrome is said to be caused by 'learned bodily habits' and anxiety caused by daily technologies This is why... hang on, I think I have a call coming in
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Kent Sharkey wrote: The syndrome is said to be caused by 'learned bodily habits'
We just won't go there, ok? 
Marc
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ewww!!
Decrease the belief in God, and you increase the numbers of those who wish to play at being God by being “society’s supervisors,” who deny the existence of divine standards, but are very serious about imposing their own standards on society.-Neal A. Maxwell
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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Gives a whole meaning to the Blondie song "Call Me"... 
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
-- Marcus Brigstocke, British Comedian
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The software giant is currently testing a cellular data app that lets Windows 10 devices connect to various mobile network operators without a contract. That should help convince more carriers to stock Windows phones (not)
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Several technology giants, including Microsoft, are teaming up to try and create a framework that helps schools better make sure their children are prepared for the 21st century. "Teach your children well"
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Will it be called Minux or perhaps Minus?
New version: WinHeist Version Tequila, the nigh time, snuffly, sneezing, how the hell did I end up on the bathroom floor medicine.
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To have any group of people in the coming generation lack computer skills would clearly be a massive problem
Idiots. First off, most people don't need computer skills -- the "computers" need to be designed well enough that skill isn't required. Oh wait, we've pretty much accomplished that. The skills we need to teach are things like "don't text while walking along cliffs[^]" and even then, our technology doesn't stop us from making stupid mistakes (from link):
he became districted
Oh, I could just go on and on, but I'll stop now.
Marc
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I was walking my dog and got caught up in my phone yesterday. Walking in the woods my normal path but well lets say that I had walked a bit further than I use too before I looked up and realized I had started walking then long route.
Did the same thing as I turned back... and instead of walking along the path I walked off-road and didn't notice until I got snow in my boots. At lesat no one saw me, I think, so its just between me, my dog and now the internet.
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Why can't we push health education and force everyone to become doctors. I started programming at 11. I'm 17 now, and it used to mean something me programming at a young age. Now every 11 year old can "code" and I have to push to show that I am any good. I wish they would just stop. I really feel like this push for computer science education will make it impossible for m to get a job in a few years.
i cri evry tiem
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The Certificate Authority (CA) Let's Encrypt, is only in Public Beta but is already starting to be abused by criminals. This is why we can't have nice things
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Yep, bummer, I was really looking forward to it.
i cri evry tiem
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Industry giants like Google, Facebook and Ericsson have already solved many of the large-scale problems that smaller companies are now facing. First hit is always free
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Security researchers are worried that critical vulnerabilities in antivirus products are too easy to find and exploit. Computer use could make your company more vulnerable
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How do you avoid sucker culture in the first place, without torpedoing your chances during an interview? "I'm also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday too, kay."
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When I worked for GlobalMegaHyperBank, we had a brilliant developer interview.
My manager asked "How would you feel if we asked you to work an 80 hour week?"
He just picked up his stuff, stood up and walked out saying "I think you've already had all the free labour you are going to get from me"
A couple of weeks later I realised he was right - and also quit that particular race to the bottom.
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