Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] the poetry of donald rumsfeld

[Pierce T . Wetter III]

> > > Yup.   By the time you boil it down to that level of detail, you've
> > > found your reason to vote for Kerry even though it doesn't make all
> > > that much difference.
>
> >   Ugh. I wouldn't go that far. Have you actually read anything Kerry's
> > written?
> > I'm not going to vote for Kerry just because I think Bush could have
> > done a
> > better job, I'd have to think Kerry could do a better job, which I
> > don't.
>
> > Hell, I could have done a better job at my work yesterday, that 
> > doesn't
> > mean I
> > should get fired.
>
> No, but .... if you'd done some pretty difficult things and, in order
> to pull them off, compromised your ability to do what needs to be done
> next --- then you could and should get fired with honor.

 Well, programming is a simpler reality then the fate of the world.

 A perfect example is how with we deal with corporate actions. 
Corporate actions (splits, dividends, acquisitions, mergers) are pretty 
complicated, and the engineer who got assigned to them was supposed to 
get it done in "two weeks", according to the estimate based on someone 
who didn't understand the problem...

 He worked pretty hard, and got it done in 4 months. Some of that time 
was spent finding a good source of data, because GIGO.

 At this point, 2 years later, we're rewriting all that stuff, because 
now we understand the problem. And to some extent, the code that went 
before is now in the way, because we had to "muddle" through before.

 But it was a tough problem. I don't think the engineer involved should 
get fired because he had to do a difficult thing.

 Corporate actions are a much simpler problem then the Middle East 
though. In a perfect world, I could fire Arafat (for instance).

 I definitely feel that Bush kind of "muddled" through Iraq, but I 
don't think he had a lot of other options, and I haven't read anything 
from Kerry to indicate that he would have done any better. Quite the 
reverse in fact, he seems unable to make any sort of tough decisions, 
and has been even worse and handling himself and the media.

 I suspect your impression of Kerry is based more on your hopes rather 
then the reality. Spend an hour on his website before you vote for him, 
taking note of what he talks about and won't talk about. Read both his 
supporters and his critics.

 I find it discouraging, you may not.

 Pierce