Slashdot Mirror

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Science-Mak ing/dp/1565653475/ http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Tips-for-Teaching-Chil dren-Science&id=196885/ here are a few resources for teaching science to kids mutagenic

I never said anything about Windows.

And no, I'm not a 'young-un'.

I'd highly suggest reading Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry--and Made Himself the Richest Man in America by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews. Excellent book-- and it's the source of my comment.

> because the poor American workers have to work for more than 35 hours a week?

This reminds me of a quote by a Communist worker from the excellent book Wild Swans:

"How can you even think about such things [in this context, asking a girl out on a date] while the capitalists in America are living in an abyss of misery?"

This was around the times of the hideous (and Mao-imposed) famines in the Great Leap Forward.

On the other hand I would prefer that his leisure time be spent riding a bike, reading a book, playing with his friends, camping in the woods etc etc etc than being a CEO.

You don't get it, that's exactly what he's doing... reading a book (probably this one) and playing with his friends ("Let's play start up - I get to be CEO!") The only difference is he may make enough money during his play time to pay for college. And if not, he sure learned more than my friends and I did selling lemonade.

So he gave a speech at a conference. Some kids join theater, forensics, or the marching band, some play baseball, some make speeches to Silicon Valley executives. As long as he *wants* to do it and enjoys it, why begrudge the kid his fun??

Hmm. Okay... I'm not a believer in the whole Xenu thing, per se. But mainly because I don't know /enough/ about it - I am quite open to the idea, but currently - I personally don't believe it. Yet. The whole Xenu thing is a bit of an interesting sore point for the church, and people are very touchy about it. It sucks when people are too embarrassed to talk about their own religion because of peoples incorrect interpretations of it :)

Hasn't cost me anything, well, nothing significant. The odd donation at a church and so on. Nothing huge, no more than going to any other church and leaving a good will donation. I've been involved with it for 5 or so years (I'm 20ish, young, ack) heard about it from a few friends, at the time I was curious about religion -- decided I'd use my Computer Science Logic whilst looking for a religion, and amusingly Scientology came out top.

What good has it done for me? Lots. More confident, talkative, and generally nicer. Before I took Scientology seriously I was the typical closed computer nerd - Now I'm a totally different, nicer, friendlier person.

Quotes are just that, Quotes. They arent accurate, they aren't a persons final belief. I don't take his quote seriously, and quite frankly I wouldn't care if it was true. Its helped me, and it's helped some friends - and I don't know anyone it has hurt. I really really really recommend you check out the Dianetics, if only for your own curiosity. For the sake of $10, its worth the chance that it may make a difference to you.

"Gas prices in the USA are not particularly high -- even at $3.50 per gallon. Gas in Europe costs $10 per gallon."

Nevertheless the Smart Car is coming to the US. We're also working on both fuel alternatives and alternative engines

"Thomas Edison invented the light bulb."

Umm.... no. That was Joseph Swan. Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Swan

I am amazed at:

a) what Americans consider is history. I live in Dollis Park, Finchley, in the road where Flower built Enigma, the first computer. There is no mark, indication or any other memorial. It's just not old enough.

b) what Americans think they invented. For some reason the Americans think they are good at science and technology - they actually seem to be very bad at blue-sky thinking. What they ARE good at is technical development of someone else's idea, marketing it and making money. Microsoft, for example, is a classic American company.

However, Americans continually lie to themselves about this; and , indeed, most other aspects of their history. They even make money out of this - here is an example: http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everyth ing/dp/0684818868

Mind you, if I had the kind of history the Americans have, I wouldn't be so keen to publicise it!

$2.75 or even less for 6ft/2m cable on Amazon

Here's two links to amazon offering 6 foot HDMI cables in the $3 range from multiple vendors. Though I admit I paid about $20 for mine.

DVI gear

startech

Here's two links to amazon offering 6 foot HDMI cables in the $3 range from multiple vendors. Though I admit I paid about $20 for mine.

DVI gear

startech

Yeah, and AK-47's would have won the war for the South.

http://www.amazon.com/Guns-South-Harry-Turtledove/ dp/0345413660/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-8054677-9538469? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179518794&sr=8-1

I'm currently reading a fantastic biography of Lincoln & several members of his cabinet, called Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

I've never found politics particularly interesting, but Doris Kearns Goodwin really brings it to life.

Seriously, when I group with people and they have vent or Team Speak I am not amazed that most of them do not have any relationship except with their mom upstairs. When my girlfriend comes on the microphone at least half the time they make lewd remarks. I am using a decent headset is there a way to filter out background noise or make it just broadcast my voice?

There is a decent book out there http://www.amazon.com/JFK-Vietnam-Plot-Assassinate -Kennedy/dp/0806517727/ref=sr_1_19/002-3552579-977 6027?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179492508&sr=1-19 that has some compelling information - like a week before the assassination a National Security Memo from President Kennedy was issued regarding pulling American forces out of Vietnam. This was quickly rescinded shortly after his assassination.

Lots of other information in there as well regarding the build up of arms after WWII in SE Asia, Helicopter companies (Bell) about to go under, etc. It may all be circumstantial, but it is worth a good read.

So maybe if had stayed in office - we wouldn't have had the Vietnam black eye on our history.

There's more to it than that- both sociology and political science are also evolutionary- which means they are mankind's reaction to an infinite universe.

I'm afraid I don't follow you here. Sociology and PolySci are both the study of (Soilent Green! It's) people. I don't understand what you mean when you say they are evolutionary. I don't understand how one may translate calling them evolutionary into saying they are the reaction to an infinite universe. Finally (skipping the evolutionary term) I don't understand how studying people is a reaction to an infinite universe. I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just not understanding you. Perhaps you would care to elaborate?

And I'd suggest that if you're studying *ANYTHING* only in the classroom and the lab, you've missed the entire point of the philosophy of science.

I don't mean to suggest that the philosophy of science is useless. I mean to suggest that cosmology is a hard science. Perhaps if your knowledge of cosmology is based on coffee shop talk and a good NOVA special you might conclude that cosmology is a 'soft science'. Goodness knows, I've heard a number of wide-eyed youths discuss the matter in breathless what-ifs. As fluffy (and cool and entertaining) as that sort of talk is it may sound like 'soft science' talk. But if you trace that stuff backwards, it's not made up by more people in coffee shops. It's made up by people doing work in relativity and astronomy and high energy physics. Math, telescopes, math, particle accelerators, math and math. These people are doing hard science.

A highly entertaining DVD is this one. But though it is about science, it is not itself science.

Translation is hard, really hard. Especially when the languages aren't very similar. Any translation will have a strong bias of the translator. So, while the basics may not change, the inferred meanings certainly have.

The KJV was rewritten to be more poetic, and isn't a very good 'literal' translation.

A lot of verses have been added or changed to suite the times.

Wikipedia is a pretty good place to start, and the straight dope had a good article on the history of the bible. If you want something weirder, check out: http://www.amazon.com/Prayers-Cosmos-Meditations-A ramaic-Words/dp/0060619953/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-015 3266-8695263?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179440604&sr=8-1

That being said, I generally like the bible, I just think that it is used in foolish ways. It's an imprecise work of man from which we can gain some wisdom. Or we could use it to act stupid.

But, the books is the major thing. Is Luther a prophet? How about the church who picked the other books? At best it's, "The word of GOD (edited by man)

Here's a book you might want to read

Amazon had been offering free MP3 downloads for years. I've gotten some pretty good tunes from Amazon, but most of the stuff appears to be self-published content from indy bands. http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Music-Downloads/b/re f=sv_j_7/103-5893090-3536629?ie=UTF8&node=468646 If you find content from someone selling an album (for my buddy Kevin, I'll link to "Man of Constant Sorrow") http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_j/102-0370793-06 08131?url=search-alias%3Dmusic-dd&field-keywords=c onstant+sorrow you'll see that the free download links back to the album.

Amazon had been offering free MP3 downloads for years. I've gotten some pretty good tunes from Amazon, but most of the stuff appears to be self-published content from indy bands. http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Music-Downloads/b/re f=sv_j_7/103-5893090-3536629?ie=UTF8&node=468646 If you find content from someone selling an album (for my buddy Kevin, I'll link to "Man of Constant Sorrow") http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_j/102-0370793-06 08131?url=search-alias%3Dmusic-dd&field-keywords=c onstant+sorrow you'll see that the free download links back to the album.

It may not be science fiction, but this one definitely has the good stuff!

I would recommend the following resources:

1. Technical Writing Textbook, free online, which covers the basics.

2. Writing Technical Papers, also free online, a good introduction to the process.

3. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, not free but very good on the details. Even if you hate Microsoft... they did a good job on this one. Maybe they did steal it from Apple. I don't know. I like this book.

4. IBM Style Guideliness, free on the web, see disclaimer above if AIX raped your dog.

5. Sun Style Guide, not free, but worthy. See disclaimer above if you call Solaris "Slowlaris."

I also maintain a blog called User Advocacy: Technical Writing and Technical Communications in which I detail links and other useful information for people wanting to get into technical writing.

For developers and others who want to explain things to people of varying technical ability, the skills of technical communications (the "new" name for technical writing) are invaluable. If you have any questions, please contact me through the profile link above.

I would recommend the following resources:

1. Technical Writing Textbook, free online, which covers the basics.

2. Writing Technical Papers, also free online, a good introduction to the process.

3. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, not free but very good on the details. Even if you hate Microsoft... they did a good job on this one. Maybe they did steal it from Apple. I don't know. I like this book.

4. IBM Style Guideliness, free on the web, see disclaimer above if AIX raped your dog.

5. Sun Style Guide, not free, but worthy. See disclaimer above if you call Solaris "Slowlaris."

I also maintain a blog called User Advocacy: Technical Writing and Technical Communications in which I detail links and other useful information for people wanting to get into technical writing.

For developers and others who want to explain things to people of varying technical ability, the skills of technical communications (the "new" name for technical writing) are invaluable. If you have any questions, please contact me through the profile link above.

Who, in his autobiography, admitted to lying to animal shelters so that he could adopt their cats, take them home, vivisect and kill them.

Of course, it's also possible that you're not thinking at all, that you're trying to use "Slashdot thinks Republican leaders would kill kittens" as some sort of slur against Slashdot, because you didn't know that until a few months ago Senate Republicans were in fact led by a man who killed kittens. For future irony, I suggest accusing the anti-Bush crowd of thinking that Bush would illegally wiretap our phones without search warrants or that Cheney would shoot a guy in the face.

The best method of brewing is a Vacuum Pot. The technical reasoning is that it keeps the water at the optimum temperature during the brewing process, but my experience bears this out as well. For simplicity I use a Bodum Electric Vacuum Pot - don't get scared away by all the gas-lamp-heated ones you'll see online.

I have also experienced the difference that truly fresh beans can make. To get fresh coffee, I roast my own (an roaster goes for $100-$500 depending on quality). Once roasted, bean freshness degrades over a period of days or weeks; once ground, freshness degrades over a matter of hours. So I roast a small amount and try to use it within two weeks. I buy my green beans from Sweet Maria's and they've got lots of text on the site to get you educated.

I have a cheap burr mill grinder, a $30 Mr. Coffee brand machine, that is good enough for the day-to-day. I got it at a Target store last year, but I haven't seen it on the shelves recently. It never makes a mess, if you treat it right. There's a picture of it here, seemingly on the wrong product.

The trick is to find a grinder with a durable cup that has a lid with a small opening (this one is lexan, and the input opening is about 1cm x 2cm). Cover the opening with your thumb, shake the grounds around, and use a spoon to sharply strike the lid from the side, knocking all the grounds down into the body of the cup. Then, remove your thumb and the lid, pour the grounds into the filter (I use a cone filter), and strike the bottom corner of the container from the side with the spoon again. You should be left with virtually no coffee outside the filter, and a minimum of coffee powder stuck inside the cup. Obviously, YMMV.

There are no magic bullets for solving the problem you are dealing with. A lot depends on what your audience is trying to accomplish, what kind of constraints they feel they have to work within, and how much they know about the subject matter. High level managers and executives can't be experts on everything they need to make decisions on. The span of their decision making is to large and their ultimate focus has to be on bottom line issues like controlling costs, building revenue, and delivering on time. Note that none of those things are technical issues.

You may find considerable value in reading a book on making presentations (the kind they use in basic speech courses in college). There are a number of excellent choices out there. I'm particularly fond of Presentations In Everyday Life: Strategies For Effective Speaking, by Engleberg and Daly, because I think their recommendations are well researched. This kind of text is usually a goldmine of organizational strategies for presentations, any one of which may be right depending on the managers you are addressing and the type of recommendations you are trying to make.

The most important chapters in these books (make sure they have them) are the chapters on researching the audience and listening. Hardly anybody really learns how to do these things, but they are the key to making effective presentations to overburdened managers and executives, who often have to make difficult, risky, and expensive decisions based on one or a few ten minute meetings. What you need to find out, before you even walk into the room, are the following things:

• What they are making the decision about. Like as not you already know this (its probably the only thing you already know). But it pays to confirm it by informally networking beforehand. You probably won't be able to get much from the executive or high level manager, but you probably can get useful information from people on their staff.
• The context of the decision. Most recommendations are made within the context of a larger problem (an overarching project, a promise made to the a higher up, a company strategic direction, a specific customer problem, etc). The more you know about the context of the decision, the better you'll be able to customize your recommendation and presentation to the needs of the people you are presenting to, even if you don't mention that context (and its probably best if you don't).
• The decision makers preferred presentation style. I have found that most executives have a preferred presentation style. Some want to see three slides (problem, solution, cost) and only want to hear your preferred recommendation (keep your other possibilities in your pocket as backup). Others want to see a specific set of tables. Most want you to get immediately to the point without justifying your recommendations (they wouldn't have asked you to present if they didn't value your judgment), but be ready to go into detail. They will ask for justification. Some will "blindside" you (well, they think its blindsiding) with aggressive interruptions. The good news is, there will be lots of people who have presented successfully to the manager/executive. Talk to the staff. Talk to other people who've pitched the executive. Customize your presentation to the decision makers preferences and be ready for their ideosyncracies.

Research. Listen. Listen to the staff you ask questions. Listen to the people who've presented. Take notes. Ask questions. Make sure you understand what you hear. I generally recommend that you do each of the following things as you listen:

1. Stop. Don't think about anything else. Get rid of distractions before you start listening.
2. Tend. Focus on the speaker, not just by paying attention, but by looking like you

Water is the single largest ingredient in a cup of coffee: no great bean can overcome over bad water. Here in San Francisco, we get good tasting tap water, but my cup of coffee does taste better after a pass through a Britta water filter (or from bottled water). If the water smells like chlorine or sulfur, and/or it tastes metallic, then those overtones will come through with the coffee.

That said, good coffee is simple.
* Fresh (local) beans.
* Buy whole beans; grind right before use.
* Good water...maybe bottled.
* Choose any method: drip, mokka pot, French press, espresso

More details on the above guidelines:
* Find a good, local roaster, from whom you can get beans freshly roasted (within 5 or so days, fresher the better). The http://coffeegeek.com/ forums may help. When in doubt, order yours online; I suggest http://intelligentsiacoffee.com/ out of Chicago for their excellent roasts and central location (they can get beans to you reasonably fresh throughout the US). In the Bay Area, I suggest Blue Bottle Coffee or Ritual Coffee.
* Buy whole beans. They keep longer. Use your beans within 10 days of roasting. Store airtight and away from direct sun. Some may argue that beans are best the day after roasting, and while I agree, there is a convenience/cost factor I cannot ignore. I buy 1/2 lb. of whole beans each week for my personal use (I drink a lot of coffee). The beans keep a lot of volatile, tasty compounds when their whole; these compounds evaporate when the bean is ground. In general I suggest a good burr grinder, but the whirly blade ones will work, too, particularly for paper cone drip. It's all about even grind, which is more likely with a burr grinder. For instance, I get more "grit" at the bottom of a French pressed cup of coffee when grinding with a whirly blade. Burr grinder cost a lot more. Check out http://sweetmarias.com/) or http://amazon.com/ or http://1stincoffee.com/ for some gear.
* Use good water: bottled or filtered. Hardness (both too hard and too soft) may turn you off...try bottled in either extreme.
* I like and consume coffee brewed using all methods. Choose one that suits your budget, your mood, and your tastebuds. If you're like me, you'll end up using most of them. My current favorite is the stovetop espresso (mokka pot). It gives a richer cup, which I like in the morning, and it looks damn cool. However, it doesn't travel well, so I drip or French press when I'm on vacation or away from home. I don't have the $$ or time to do espresso correctly. I go to a coffee shop for that style. A word on drip...skip the cheap coffee machines, as most don't get hot enough. You're far better off using a single cup cone filter (plastic or ceramic), a Chemex drip, or the similar model from Bodum. These are also cheaper than most coffee machines. See here http://sweetmarias.com/prod.brewers.shtml or here http://www.fantes.com/coffeemakers_manualdrip.htm
* One last note - varietals and roast do matter a lot. I suggest running through the style of coffee your roaster sells in order to find the one you like most. I'm fond of Ethiopian Yirgecheffe, but you may like something completely different. Experiment! It's fun and tasty!

Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion might be what you're looking for.

Ethiopian Harrar is definitely my favorite bean so far. Harrar is a "dry process" coffee. I don't know why wet processed coffee has such a different flavor-- suffice it to say, Harrar has an extraordinarily full flavor and really intense, earthy aroma. My brother belongs to a local coffee roasting club, and we trade off each month's allotment, since it would just be too much coffee for the one of us alone. Harrar is by far my favorite.

I keep my beans in the freezer, in airtight packaging (although not the nitrogen-flushed foil packaging I keep my hops in; yes, I grow my own hops; and yes, I am crazy). I assume that the flavor components of coffee beans break down much like lupulin's assorted flavor components do in hops; that is, faster in the presence of warmth and oxygen. I keep thinking that maybe there's a book out there like this, that would explain the breakdown rates, ideal temperatures for brewing, brewing chemistry and so on, only for coffee. There probaby is, but I'm too lazy to look for it.

I have never felt the need to plunk down the change for a burr grinder (I've already spent way too much on grinders for barley, to fuel the other hobby that relaxes me after all the coffee), but I've been able to get a consistent grind with a spice mill and some careful shaking and pulsing of the grinder. Of course, I might simply not know what I'm missing.

In my opinion, the most intense flavor (for a regular cup of coffee) can be had with French press or something similar, assuming you don't mind coffee grinds in your cup. But I'm relatively happy with my electric percolator. I found that the Mr. Coffee automatic drip that I used before this produced somewhat uninteresting coffee. The difference is probably the temperature of the water-- a percolator tends to boil the coffee a bit more, and thus add some acidity. Fortunately, I tend to stick to lower-acid, darker roasts. But the acidity probably accounts for the "interestingness" of the flavor. My brother keeps telling me that the coffee should also taste more tannic with a perc (which you would mostly taste as bitterness), but I don't detect it. He's right, of course-- as a homebrewer I've learned (the hard way) that tannins are more soluble in boiling water than in cooler water, but perhaps there aren't enough tannins in the coffee beans I buy to make a difference. Or maybe I just can't taste them.

Anyway, I have a modest setup, but it is of course, all about the beans. Yes, fresh beans do make a difference. If you don't believe me, find a place that roasts its own coffee (or roast it yourself), and give it a try. Some people don't seem to care either way, and of course, your own brewing tastes are highly subjective. My girlfriend's parents are completely happy with Maxwell House, despite me having introduced them to some of my favorite fresh beans. YMMV.

I wonder exactly what more plans they have for markets they "don't really get"....

I have had a pump driven machine that broke a few years ago and have been using a stovetop espresso machine ever since. The flavor is not quite the same but it is a close as I can get without paying 4 dollars for a breve at school.

My setup:

1. Good beans (avoid pre-ground like the plague)
2. A burr grinder
3. A simple plastic drip filter holder with a decent filter

In detail:

1. Either Royal Coffee's Ethiopian Harrar (pre-roasted) or any of various Sweet Maria's green (unroasted) beans which I roast using this roaster
2. Capresso 560.01 Infinity Burr Grinder, which is one of the cheapest burr grinders that you can find, but does the job
3. Something like this simple 6-cup filter

Grind the beans, boil the water then wait a few minutes for it to cool a few degrees, pour and enjoy fresh.

My setup:

1. Good beans (avoid pre-ground like the plague)
2. A burr grinder
3. A simple plastic drip filter holder with a decent filter

In detail:

1. Either Royal Coffee's Ethiopian Harrar (pre-roasted) or any of various Sweet Maria's green (unroasted) beans which I roast using this roaster
2. Capresso 560.01 Infinity Burr Grinder, which is one of the cheapest burr grinders that you can find, but does the job
3. Something like this simple 6-cup filter

Grind the beans, boil the water then wait a few minutes for it to cool a few degrees, pour and enjoy fresh.

http://www.epinions.com/pr-Hamilton_Beach_40729 Seems to do the trick for me. Combine that with a slightly modified (used tinfoil as a shim to move the burs closer for a finer grind) http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DBM-8-Supreme-Grin d-Automatic/dp/B00018RRRK then get some espresso beans fresh from NJ... http://www.coffeebeandirect.com/ and you have an espresso set up that is equivalent to some that cost thousands. Of course if your machine and grinder are better, then you will get better results, but you can't beat the price for that set up.

Find the Russian community in your area and get a Russian art instructor. My wife is Russian, and she was taught to paint as a child by the last remnants of the Socialist Realist school. She did her undergrad at the Art Institute of Chicago, and she has an MFA in painting from UC Davis.

We live in Brooklyn, we have kids, and every now and then, we run across a class for kids with a Russian instructor. My wife always laughs because the kids do charming work, but it's exactly the same as her work as a child. She calls it teaching a bear to ride a bicycle.

Our older daughter takes art classes. She was going to the Brooklyn Museum, and now she's learning from one of my wife's friends, who has an MFA. My daughter learns the American way, haphazardly, without any emphasis on rendering, instead focusing on light, composition, and art history. My wife seems happy with it.

She doesn't think that the Russian approach can create artists. If you've ever been to a gallery that specializes in contemporary Russian art you'll know what she means. The work is always the same: churches, flowers, landscapes, and maybe something resembling Braque. What we've seen in Moscow is similar. I love Sotz Art, which was created in opposition to Socialist Realism, but I can't think of any top tier Russian artists that came to prominence after '91, except for the guy who molests farm animals.

My wife eternally laments the fate of one of her peers from her art academy in Moscow, who she thought was incredibly talented as a teen, but he now paints cubist churches. His art is technically excellent, but it's lifeless and hackneyed.

It may just be sour grapes, since she hasn't painted for several years. She also says she won't encourage our daughters to pursue art degrees later on. However, she did write a book that fondly draws on her experience at art school.

I bought my daughters a bunch of the Ed Emberley books. I really loved them as a kid. His aesthetic reminds me of OOP.

Find the Russian community in your area and get a Russian art instructor. My wife is Russian, and she was taught to paint as a child by the last remnants of the Socialist Realist school. She did her undergrad at the Art Institute of Chicago, and she has an MFA in painting from UC Davis.

We live in Brooklyn, we have kids, and every now and then, we run across a class for kids with a Russian instructor. My wife always laughs because the kids do charming work, but it's exactly the same as her work as a child. She calls it teaching a bear to ride a bicycle.

Our older daughter takes art classes. She was going to the Brooklyn Museum, and now she's learning from one of my wife's friends, who has an MFA. My daughter learns the American way, haphazardly, without any emphasis on rendering, instead focusing on light, composition, and art history. My wife seems happy with it.

She doesn't think that the Russian approach can create artists. If you've ever been to a gallery that specializes in contemporary Russian art you'll know what she means. The work is always the same: churches, flowers, landscapes, and maybe something resembling Braque. What we've seen in Moscow is similar. I love Sotz Art, which was created in opposition to Socialist Realism, but I can't think of any top tier Russian artists that came to prominence after '91, except for the guy who molests farm animals.

My wife eternally laments the fate of one of her peers from her art academy in Moscow, who she thought was incredibly talented as a teen, but he now paints cubist churches. His art is technically excellent, but it's lifeless and hackneyed.

It may just be sour grapes, since she hasn't painted for several years. She also says she won't encourage our daughters to pursue art degrees later on. However, she did write a book that fondly draws on her experience at art school.

I bought my daughters a bunch of the Ed Emberley books. I really loved them as a kid. His aesthetic reminds me of OOP.

Just get a usb turntable and turn any record into a digital format.

There is nothing weird about it if you know who owns the media and how they operate. Disney, Viacom, Timewarner, News Corp, Bertelsmann and GE own more than 90% of US media outlets. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentration_of_medi a_ownership for details. To get an inside view of how the media handle stories that are unwelcome to the establishment, I can recommend the following book: http://www.amazon.com/Into-Buzzsaw-Leading-Journal ists-Expose/dp/1591022304

Testosterone poisoning?

Here's some real poisoning. Estrogen has been correlated with increased risk of breast cancer in pre-menopausal and menopausal women, and can highly accelerate tumor's growth if it is present.

http://www.amazon.com/Estrogen-Breast-Cancer-Warni ng-Women/dp/089793198X

There are those who say this isn't true,

http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hsco ut/2006/04/11/hscout532075.html

but a dear friend passed away from a massive tumor that developed in a mere 6 months while on estrogen therapy for menopause. She was clear of cancer earlier on, and six months later had a golf ball sized tumor that stunned her specialists. When she was put into chemotherapy, the doctor specifically put her on a drug that counters estrogen tumor enlargement, and the tumor responded dramatically to that "anti-estrogen," but the cancer had already reached her spinal fluid...

This is *real* poisoning. Be very cautious of any hormone treatment. Spread the word.

--
Toro

Since someone else started the pimping... we also had Mr. Baer write a few pages for our book, Business & Legal Primer for Game Development . He was gracious enough to write for our chapter on "I Wish I Knew..." where he talked about the importance of saving your work when you develop games. Only a few pages, but I thought it was some insightful advice from someone who was there at the dawn of consoles.

That picture, to be completely honest, looks gifted to me. I still can't draw that well. (Or color, for that matter).

That's because you don't know the "magic secret" of drawing*. I used to totally suck at drawing, until I found The Book. See that picture on the cover? Any idiot can draw that picture in a couple of weeks to a month if you do the exercises and practice every day. People never believe me when I say this, but drawing from life is so easy that it'll piss you off that no one ever taught you how to do it properly. The book has tons before and after pictures of adults that went from pictures that looked like a 3-year-old did it to life-like drawings in two weeks. The lessons in this book are oriented toward adults and would be too tricky for small children, which is why I went seeking a book oriented toward kids (though, Drawing With Kids would work fine for adults as well).

*The magic secret is that drawing is learning how to see, not learning how to draw.

Sorry for the pseudo-rant on art classes, but I've been looking for art instruction for my young children, and it's very difficult to find. I finally found great book and I'm doing it myself. :) Note the picture on the cover that was done by a non-gifted five year old, BTW.

That picture, to be completely honest, looks gifted to me. I still can't draw that well. (Or color, for that matter).

But I do (!) program. And yes, BASIC started it all.

Well, obviously you need a good teacher if you expect to teach anything. A tool alone doesn't teach. But in the hands of oa teacher who understands it, Logo is a great tool for teaching everything from beginning programming to AI and natural language processing. Read Seymour Papert's 1980 book Mindstorms for a description of how Logo worked when it was used well, as opposed to how it works when used poorly.

Thank you! EXACTLY what I was going to post. Screw programming! Certainly kids who are interested in that should be encouraged, but it's a VERY small minority that have a true interest. There are far more important skills that we should be encouraging.

Such as? How about true art training? Studies (which I don't have a link to) have shown that kids that are taught to draw realistically tend to do better in ALL subjects, probably because of the quiet concentration that it requires. Kids as young as 4 or 5 can be taught to do realistic art, but even a lot of art schools don't do beginning classes until 8 or 9, and the closest typical schools get is just letting the kids slap paint on paper without any instruction at all. Only gifted people learn to play piano by banging keys, and only gifted people learn to draw by scribbling. Yet anyone can learn piano through instruction, and anyone can draw realistically through instruction as well.

Sorry for the pseudo-rant on art classes, but I've been looking for art instruction for my young children, and it's very difficult to find. I finally found great book and I'm doing it myself. :) Note the picture on the cover that was done by a non-gifted five year old, BTW.

I have thrown and been hit by textbooks before. They really do not hurt that much (and don't fly that well, especially the thick ones, tend to open up, and they are VERY easy to dodge), I would have little confidence in stopping anyone with a textbook. Also, WTH are you studying with a 10-15 lb text book? This 1700 page beast weighs 5 pounds according to amazon: http://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-11 th/dp/080538684X/ref=pd_bbs_7/103-9873973-0585440? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179191487&sr=8-7

Just to play devil's advocate -- What if its a really crappy movie? One that you, say, value at $5, not the $29.99 the MPAA wants for a new release?

I'd recommend this book for a quick primer: http://www.amazon.com/Intellectual-Property-Exampl es-Explanations/dp/0735527199 It's really quite cheap if you get it used.

There's four books so far

The Fall of Reach, going into the history of the SPARTANs, ending just before the beginning of the first game
The Flood, basically a straight novelization of the first game, a little bland if you've played the game, though they do throw in a few little extras you don't get from the game.
First Strike which I haven't read yet, though judging from the amazon.com description sounds like it may bridge the gap between Halo and Halo 2. Someone who has read it could certainly flesh this out a bit more.
Ghosts of Onyx which again I haven't read, though it sounds as though it takes place alongside either Halo 2 or Halo 3, and I believe wikipedia will tell you it deals with the SPARTAN III project.

Additionally, as you noted, there's the graphic novel, a collection of four stories taking place at varying points in time throughout the Halo universe, published by Marvel. Though I'm not much of a graphic novel / manga enthusiast, I recall a friend saying the names involved with this were relatively big.

There are also three soundtracks out, one for Halo and two for Halo 2 (and a single so far for Halo 3 available on the iTunes Music Store), though these don't necessarily expand the Halo universe; it is interesting to note though that on the first Halo 2 soundtrack there's some additional music not in the game, kind of a 'music inspired by' album, with four selections from Incubus, an opening track by Breaking Benjamin (though no longer available via iTMS) and a closing track by Hoobastank.

On a personal note, if anyone could point me to a source for near-lifesize (i.e. 8ft is too big, but 4-5ft would be good) cardboard standups of Master Chief, I would be eternally grateful. Don't ask.