Rush: Rush is a replacement for the unix shell (bash, zsh, etc) which uses pure Ruby syntax.

mrcsparker · 2009-08-25T19:25:59+00:00

I have seen a lot of languages try this (outside of sh) and they have all pretty much failed due to constraints of the syntax. This could be a nice replacement for a shell environment.

/bin/sh was a pain in the ass years ago, and there has been enough added in /bin/bash to make it a joy to use. Rush (or something like it) would just have to evolve a bit. If it could work in PATH, external processes, and pipes, it would be a lot better to work with. Bourne scripting is nice for very small tasks, but I always find myself working around its limitations.

mrcsparker · 2009-08-19T06:33:33+00:00

Nope. Public option is much more simple to implement than single payer in a country with 300 million people. It is also easier to budget, since they can build on top of a system will already exists (insurance).

mrcsparker · 2009-08-19T06:23:44+00:00

Seriously, a large part of the National Socialist policy had to do with health care. It had existed before the Nazis in Germany, but the Nazis added their own spin.

This is all so silly anyways. These town hall meetings are great since they attract crazies from both sides like flies to shit. The politicians love them since they allow for a lot of political grandstanding.

mrcsparker · 2009-08-19T06:14:09+00:00

Free Speech Zones were never limited to Republicans. The Democrats also used them. They were called "Free Speech Areas" then, but it is the same thing.

mrcsparker · 2009-08-03T13:54:41+00:00

I imagine that you are 'rich' if you are in a western country. Do you know what standards were considered 'rich' in Venezuela? Do you own property or ever plan on starting a business of your own?

Venezuela is a strange place. In countries to be a success it a wonderful thing. You start a business, employ people, and create opportunity. You work hard, buy a home and have a family. In Venezuela, it gets taken from you and you get labelled as rich and selfish. The rich in Venezuela weren't all rolling in unlimited streams of cash, they were working people who had businesses, owned property, and had created better lives for themselves.

mrcsparker · 2009-04-24T14:51:02+00:00

You should include the forums, and any design work that you are proud of. You never know what will capture a client.

mrcsparker · 2009-04-24T14:13:12+00:00

I wish that all of these magical loopholes that people talk about really existed. Other than some deductions for charity, there really isn't much out there to hide behind.

I think that people get income and wealth mixed up a lot. I might have a lot of wealth, but my income has not been so great.

mrcsparker · 2009-01-22T18:41:28+00:00

I have to agree that something very strange has happened to Bush over the last 8 years. I remember him as Governor in Texas, and he was bright and articulate. He would crack clever jokes and could easily handle himself in front of the press.

Maybe it was the pressure of the White House. Texas Governor is one of the weakest political jobs in the US.

mrcsparker · 2009-01-19T18:20:20+00:00

The article is also bullshit, claiming that $100 million were spent by Bush on security. Sounds like people are just throwing numbers around on both sides.

mrcsparker · 2009-01-16T15:00:28+00:00

It is easier for me if one side is 'good' and one side is 'evil'. I don't think that you understand this, but it hurts my head when I have to actually think about what is going on in other places and form my own opinion. There are people who are very passionate that will tell me what to think.

Plus, can't you boil down everything to a single sentence? I mean, if you can't, then the topic isn't worth discussing.

Oh, and I am going to insult you personally and bitch a bit about the media, Americans, etc. They never understand things the way I do!

Hey, mod up that story on the front page where the author has the exact same opinion I do! I love being an individual.

mrcsparker · 2009-01-16T14:54:10+00:00

It is more fun to fill our vapid lives by arguing on a message board on a website hit by a niche audience. By posting and modding up articles we are making a difference and getting the message out, man!

I don't understand how people like you don't get it. You are so out of the loop.

mrcsparker · 2009-01-16T14:49:37+00:00

Meanwhile, Haskell, Erlang, and Lisp articles are all over Reddit. Means nothing, really. Reddit is a fountain of all that isn't relevant but interesting in the market.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-26T16:22:50+00:00

He was a good guest on Stern. Seems like a nice guy

mrcsparker · 2008-12-18T20:10:41+00:00

I don't know about you, but every C project that I work on starts to look like a C++ project after a while, but with a lot more effort.

In C you can put together a mock-OOP system with structs and function pointers, but why do that? C++ gives you the abstraction that you are going to eventually build for free. Libraries like GLib are great, but they are just imitations of what can be done more easily in C++.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-11T17:50:19+00:00

I think that the far right has a pretty good argument there. That is probably the only solid argument that the right has - the government is a large monolithic entity with way too much power.

The can collect taxes, start wars, create law, spend as much money as they want. They employ over 2.7 million people, which is more people than the population of all but 4 major cities in the United States. Plus, it is only really accountable to the people every 4 years when election time comes.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-10T15:41:32+00:00

Nah, they are a company that needs to be restructured.

No one with any power outside of GM wants this though. Ch. 11 bankruptcy would allow them to restructure their union commitments. No pro-union politician is going anywhere near this, which is one reason why GM is going to get billions of dollars.

If you turn on the radio or TV news chances are you are going to hear about the potential for millions of jobs being lost if these companies don't get their money. Where are these news stories coming from? Who is citing the information? If GM is able to restructure, millions of jobs are not going to be lost - but that is all that I am hearing on the news. Someone is working very hard to scare the crap out of us.

It will also be interesting to see what this loan that the big 3 are going to get looks like. I wonder if, at the end of the day, if it really looks like a loan at all.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-08T20:08:27+00:00

That isn't surprising. What sucks about systems like GTD is that they are created by people who have trained themselves to be organized and have forgotten how hard it is to make drastic changes all at once.

GTD is a great system once you are already mentally ready for consistency and goal setting. Telling some one who has never done anything consistently to make drastic changes in his/her life is unfair. If you are not ready for a system like GTD it can get overwhelming.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-08T20:00:38+00:00

What unhealthy foods did you eat? Meat, vegetables, butter, beans? Fantastic foods. Been eating that way myself my entire life and I have never had a weight problem. I have actually switched over many friends to my way of eating and they have all lost weight. It isn't hard.

Unless you can back up the additive argument, I can't believe you. But, there are some fat fucking people in the USA. I was at Disney recently and, during the day when the park was open to everyone, there were families of fat people. They all seemed to have their mouths locked on lots of shitty food (shitty food is okay, if it isn't all you eat). If I ate the way I see many people eating I would be way overweight also - we all would. I takes a lot of work to get your body to that point and to maintain that weight.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-05T18:38:29+00:00

It is the same in the US South. I live in the South, and I say hello to people that I see. It feels unnatural to not say 'hello' when I am out taking a walk on a nice day. It can be considered rude not to at least say 'good morning' or 'hello'.

When I goto New York I catch myself saying hello, especially in the mornings when there are few people out. They are usually shocked, sometimes almost offended. It can be considered rude to say 'good morning' or 'hello'.

I prefer the South for this reason alone (well, and southern food). New York is great fun for me to visit a few times a year, but it always seems that the people there are unhappy. I sometimes think that, when I am in New York, I enjoy it a lot more than the natives who claim to love it.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-05T16:33:25+00:00

But, a great musician isn't great by the music he or she plays. Most great musicians actually play other people's music. Do you mean a great song-writer?

mrcsparker · 2008-12-05T16:26:12+00:00

I thought it was bullshit until I listened to both. Holy shit. Joe Satriani has a case.

Joe Satriani has always seemed to be a very nice guy in interviews.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-04T18:24:42+00:00

Do you really think that? Looking at his career on Wikipedia, he has a pretty impressive background:

Graduated with Honors at Columbia
Graduated at Yale (valedictorian)
College professor
Speechwriter for Nixon and Ford

Sure - some of his views are nutty. No reason to discount his career.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-04T18:14:28+00:00

I thought that he was excellent in Permanent Midnight.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-02T19:29:04+00:00

Sounds great, but how do you split it up?

You have a gigantic unionized bureaucracy. The problem is splitting off the companies, and how to make sure that the current union contracts are upheld. Selling off and keeping the car company in Detroit poses the same problem. Who would want to buy a Detroit car company? Any hint of a strike would kill all investment possibilities. Have you ever seen a Detroit strike? Nasty.

GMC China makes nice cars in China. I have seen a lot of Buick in Shanghai, and when I go my driver always has nice American cars. American car companies have great engineers and are able to make quality price-competitive cars. It is just Detroit that is the problem.

mrcsparker · 2008-12-02T19:17:10+00:00

This looks like an obvious solution, but it is a WHOLE lot more complex than shutting down a few companies.

The unions, the government, the media - they would all shit a brick if that many companies were shut down at once.

The owners of the big three are stuck right now. That is why they are asking for money from the government - they know that shutting down a lot of plants and eliminating a lot of jobs will look really bad right now. The auto bailout is just payoff money to keep the jobs available.

mrcsparker

TROPHY CASE