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Comments · 219
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An answer in 4 letter
NTLM.
Seriously, corporate Intranets lock things down and require changing network passwords. FF makes me type all that in manually, and again every time it changes, and manually log in every time I hit a resource.
Fix NTLM and you will remove a large (but admittedly not the only) obstacle to corporate usage.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:question
Without commenting on the allegations of straight-up fraud, becuase I have no evidence one way or the other, I can offer a perfectly plausible answer to your question:
Diebolds ATMs are more secure because they are more profitable. Look at it this way, if you are a business owner and need to allocate resources. You have one project that nets millions and another that nets less than a tenth of that profit. To which project to you send your heavy hitters? To which project do you allocate the most time and money? The voting machines look like they were written by amatuers becuase they, in essence, were. The good Diebold developers were busy securing bank transactions for millions of people and trillions of dollars.
ATMs are huge busniess for Diebold. Voting machines are almost more trouble than they are worth.
That is not to say they are or are not also rigging votes. That is a different question, really, but your question was more basic than that and the answer, I'm afraid is easier than you think. Money drives progress in the U.S. Put differently, profits are the price of efficiency (as Thomas Sowell put it). Frankly, that has worked out very well historically, but there's always an edge case that demands attention.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:No need to be an ass
Didn't mean to come off as an ass. Sorry.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:So now with civilization...
the predicions of "The Marching Morons" and "Idiocracy" will come to pass.
Well, not to be mean about it (no, really!), but if you thought that Idiocracy was a prediction, then you may have been its inspiration.
Seriously though, That's not how genetics work, you understand? All of human history has shown the reverse---smarter children from slightly dumber parents. If stupid people couldn't have smart kids, then how would you explain our rise from Australeopithicus and earlier hominids?
Don't get me wrong, Idiocracy was funny as hell, but it wasn't a documentary, a warning, or even remotely feasible. Despite dire predictions about the "next generation" for centuries (millenia?), we've steadily improved. Don't beleive me? Ask the average black family in the USA if they'd rather have live 100 years ago? Things are getting better. We stumble. We fail. But we always pick ourselves up and grab the next rung on the ladder. Really, we are a pretty great species (though I'm biased, so don't take my word for it).
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
DJBDNS
Good. DBJDNS is, overall, a solid piece of software that kicks the crap outta Bind and leaves it bleeding in a ditch. I'll be glad to see it under a more open license that allows it to prosper and get some of its problems addressed.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:MOD PARENT UP
To say otherwise is to make the essential conservative fallacy
First, telling me what I've done is "the essential conservative fallacy" is itself, just a little too close to an argument ad hominem for my tastes, because underlying it is an attempt to direpute my claim by naming it thusly.
In any case, I am not a conservative. If I must be pigeonholed, I'm more of a Classical Liberal than a Political Conservative.That because it was always this way is a valid reason. 140 years ago we had slavery. Should we still have it today?
That is a spurious relationship coupled with blatantly judgmental language designed to get others to side with you without actually addressing the issue I've presented. A cursory reading would suggest a relationship between my position and a pro-slavery stance, or between a small government and a racist regime. Both couldn't be farther from the truth.
I never said we should have small government becuase it's always been this way. Indeed, for most of our history, we've had large government AND IT HASN'T WORKED. We started with a small government. We were designed for a smaller government. We don't need more than a smaller government. I don't need the government as my parental figure. I can get on just fine without it, thank you very much.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." ~ C.S. Lewis
These are words to consider before we give the government more control over our lives. And make no mistake, giving the government size and power IS giving the government control.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:MOD PARENT UP
Ron Paul makes the ridiculously huge assumption that everyone that takes part in our society is totally informed on everything and that they will use that knowledge in making their choices.
No. Ron Paul makes the ridiculously obvious assumption that the U.S. government was not established or designed to be your parent or babysitter and beyond maintaining itself minimally ought have no stake in your decision-making.
But if you need someone holding your hand through life's difficult choices---like which shampoo to use or which companies best meet your personal ethic---then I can see how you'd mistake his actual assumption for the one you just claimed.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:MS Tax?
I am a custommer [sic] not a tax payer. End of the story.
You're modded funny, but seem serious in intent. Not sure which you intended, but just so you understand, when we talk about the "Microsoft Tax", we aren't talking about MS products we've willingly purchased, but rather MS products we've actively sought not to purchase, won't use, have no interest in, and yet are forced to pay for.
When I buy a computer from most major OEM's, they pay a license fee to MS whether or not I want Windows, therefore, they charge me that fee. I promptly remove Windows and put Linux on there. But I've been forced to pay for Windows anyway. That is akin to a tax. Only now are we seeing serious options for avoiding the MS Tax.it's not funny anymore.
It never was funny. I don't find it funny at all that I've put $1 into MS's coffers for products I didn't want or use. I certainly don't find it funny when the EULA that I'm expected to adhere to is disregarded by the OEM and MS when I try to get the EULA's promised refund for said product. If you thought we were telling a joke when we talked about the MS Tax, then your sense of humor needs an overhaul.
And that is the real end of the story.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
I'm torn
I think that overall it's the right decision. One of the benefits of being the underdog (as linux is on the desktop) is that we are less tied to legacy issues. We can make wholesale changes like this with, frankly, not much blowback (in the big picture sense).
On the other hand, I still can't get Ubuntu to let me play a 3D game (e.g., Tremulous or Guild Wars) while Compiz is active. That and other issues are substantive hurdles that they need to overcome if they intend to push it out and on by default. I'd hate to think that by defualt I couldn't run any 3D games. That would kinda suck.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:The value of Shakespeare alone...
yes, because we can never underestimate the strong economic power brought to bear by the average school play.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:2027 - year of fusion power?
Mostly just to be helpful (i.e., ignore this if it's not what you are looking to do):
Use the upgrade wizard for VS2005 to move to VB.NET from VB6. Then open it in Sharpdevelop (a free IDE that is better than VS Express, but lags a bit behind VS Enterprise) and convert it from VB.NET to C#.
Why? VB.NET is barely similar to VB6. And frankly, if you have to learn the
In any case, once you have it running in VB.NET or C#, run it through the Mono Migration Analyzer.
MoMa will give you a clear report of the API calls that prevent it from running in Mono, and even more importantly, it will give Mono some feedback on the API's they need to step up and support more quickly.
I don't know what your app does, but anytime I see a chance to get more apps on Linux, I like to take the opportunity. I've been on Linux exclusively at home since 2000 and I'm a huge advocate for switching. More apps makes my "sell" easier.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:Teleporter death
What they discussed wasn't the fact, broadly acknowledged, that the human soul is absolutely linked to the body, but what this link was and how it was structured.
Interesting clarification. I dig it. It brings up a question, though. If they spoke in terms of linking the two, wouldn't that imply the two were
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:Teleporter death
Let me ask you a question. Isn't it true that your cells are constantly regenerating themselves? The matter you were made up of when you were born no longer is the same matter, but you are still you. So if your qunatum state was duplicated and during the process the original was destroyed then you would still think you are you. Would you still BE you?
I'd argue the answer is no, but it is, as you point out, an existential problem. For many people there is a qualitative difference between the slow regeneration of that which constitutes you and a transfer of the information that is your current state of being. That's slow regeneration creations a continuity of self that the latter doesn't afford. Does it matter existentially? Well, as Kierkegaard said, Truth is subjectivity. You'll need to decide that for yourself. For me, that continuity is key to selfhood.The question in my mind is can quantum teleportation bring along your soul?
Agreed that this is the million dollar question, made all the more difficult because of the muddying of the term 'soul' itself in the Western world.
In the Hebrew context of the dominant Western faiths (Judaism and it's derivatives, Christianity, and Islam) the soul is not separate of the body. There is no distinction of body and soul in the Jewish, Christian, or Islamic holy texts. The Christian resurrection is a bodily resurrection. The Islamic understanding of heaven is a physical one. The Jewish people never made that distinction. In that context, the question falls away. The soul isn't brought along in any different a manner than your liver or skin. Indeed, by virtue of bringing liver and skin over, you subsume the soul in the transfer in a very real tangible sense. In the Hebrew context, the soul is in no more danger than the body of being labeled a copy.
In the Greek context that informs our Western philosophical outlook, and often works at odds with our religion outlook, there is very much a distinction of Mind, Body, and Soul. So, in that context, the question gets even broader in that you must also ask the same question of the mind. Is it brought over with the body? Is the soul as well? Being separate and noumenal, the mind and soul may not be brought over but copied or a new one created in the reconstitution of the copied body. In that Greek context, teleportation is existentially dangerous, I'd think.
Personally, I've always tended to adhere to the Hebrew context for these sorts of questions, as they seem to make more logical sense and fit closer with my understanding of how the world appears to work.
Not sure that I was coming to any conclusions in this comment, but rather just adding to the thought-noise.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
I, for one...
...can't wait to live off the fruits of robotic labor.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:Research spending != Research
having been a first-hand observer, I saw the leakage and it is immense.
As Thomas Sowell said, profits are the price of efficiency.
I agree with you when you say that the money doesn't all go directly to beakers, superconductors, and lab coats. That said, the leakage (in the U.S. we encourage it and call it profit, not leakage, but either term is accurate enough) exists. It is, nonetheless, overstated in my experience. As you've pointed out, the same has been said of the healthcare industry. Having been a consultant in healthcare and other industries, I can say that the leakage is no different than any other business.
I think when we are talking about industries that touch on altuism we are more sensitive to the profit people make off it. In healthcare and the sciences, therefore, we see the same profit that we might overlook in car sales or shipbuilding with a more jaundiced eye. We are less willing to accept skimming profit from a common good. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's true that we, as a people, do that. At least I know I'm guilty of it and anecdotally, I've seen others doing the same.
Still, even accounting for more skimmed profit in U.S. research, the numbers are vast and orders of magnitude greater. Even with our built-in profit (which some would argue makes us more, not less efficient), we are head and shoulders ahead of our closest competitor. As the blog entry states, China's spending amounts to little more than a rounding error of the amount we spend. It's pretty crazy.
I'm not trying to push an "America! Fuck Yeah!" attitude here at all. Indeed, I would like to see a more equitable situation than exists now, but rahter just saying the numbers show that we aren't in any real danger of losing the high ground for a while.
Now, if we drive ourselves broke buying missiles to shoot at other countries....
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:I call bullshit
That only covers China vs the US. How about all of Europe?
I refer you to the linked UNESCO report that details the numbers for every country. Short answer: Europe isn't even on our radar as a competitor. The numbers are pretty clear.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
I call bullshit
I've said this before, but the real numbers say that this article is wrong.
We outspend every other country by FAR on science and technology. This may be useful propaganda to get the US to reinvigorate public interest in science again, but private and governmental interest has never waned.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
I call bullshit
I've said this before, but the real numbers say that this article is wrong.
We outspend every other country by FAR on science and technology. This may be useful propaganda to get the US to reinvigorate public interest in science again, but private and governmental interest has never waned.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:What's the Point
"Sometimes I think it might make more sense to make a browser-like framework for programs, but built from the ground up for applications instead of static pages."
That is/has been the promise of technologies like XAML and XUL.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:HDMI
what is wrong with DVI?
It doesn't do audio. I dislike DRM as much as the next geek, but even I have to acknowledge the ease-of-installation-and-use factor of a single cable connect between all devices. I have a significant home theater set up. Whenever I can replace 2--7 cables with a single line, I will do it.Why is everyone so HDMI-centric?
Becuase the industry is pushing us that way. I don't like it either. The reality is, however, that if I intend to have a high-end home theater (OK, mid-range if you are one of the $75k+ for a theater crowd!) then I am gonna be using HDMI for any recent purchases. It carries advantages, but I also dislike the DRM side of it. Hasn't bit me yet, but I dislike the potential for lameness that it carries.
Point being, I am not pro-HDMI. I am pro-WantACoolTheater. HDMI is just an unfortunate side effect.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:HDMI
what is wrong with DVI?
It doesn't do audio. I dislike DRM as much as the next geek, but even I have to acknowledge the ease-of-installation-and-use factor of a single cable connect between all devices. I have a significant home theater set up. Whenever I can replace 2--7 cables with a single line, I will do it.Why is everyone so HDMI-centric?
Becuase the industry is pushing us that way. I don't like it either. The reality is, however, that if I intend to have a high-end home theater (OK, mid-range if you are one of the $75k+ for a theater crowd!) then I am gonna be using HDMI for any recent purchases. It carries advantages, but I also dislike the DRM side of it. Hasn't bit me yet, but I dislike the potential for lameness that it carries.
Point being, I am not pro-HDMI. I am pro-WantACoolTheater. HDMI is just an unfortunate side effect.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Estoppel by Silence
OK, so we are violating an unknown subset of your patents. Fair enough. It's possible you are right. If, however, you want to be able to enforce those patents later, you'll need to com e forward right away. Also, you might be needing to prove you didn't wait too long already.
You can't watch a contractor put a new roof on your home and then only afterwards inform him he's at the wrong house. Or, more specifically, you can, but you are paying for a new roof. That's how it works.
If Microsoft intentionally waited until these patents were entrenched and difficult to remove before they acted for the purposes of maximizing their own legal position, then mightn't the doctrine of Estoppel by Silence come into play? Just wondering. I'm no lawyer (though I have been arrested enough times to pass the bar, I think!), but what they are doing seems like it might not be, you know, legal and stuff?
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:And one of those is
Only if you are squinting so hard you're blind. Linux is the only desktop operating system in which if your distributor decides to not include software, getting it anyway is extremely difficult. If a package isn't included in Ubuntu, your only option is either to compile it from source (good luck with that if you aren't technical) or using something like an autopackage.
I empathize with your overall point (and largely agree) but you are kind of hijacking the thread here since you probably already know that Ubuntu does include an easy to install (but not default installed) Wine package. Wine is in the repos.
Click on the Applications menu and at the bottom click "Add/Remove". In the list of applications that comes up you can find Wine (it's got a 5 star rating) alng with a user-friendly plain text explanation of what it is and does. No squinting needed.
That said, I'd love to see something like ZeroInstall or Autopackage become the norm and I strongly suppot the work you ae doing there.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:I'm glad
why do you think like this?
Maybe because after reviewing the evidence, I've decided this is the correct viewpoint? Maybe because I have a deep distrust for marketing techniques and am loath to see it applied to the things I love? Maybe because the world needs less spin and more direct talk? I dunno. You seem to think you have the answer, so please tell me why I think like this.Do you honestly think it sounds as though you're quoting something that's come from your own mind?
Do you honestly think that we have original thoughts that pop de nouveau into our heads? I never said I was the first person to point it out. What sort of point is it you want make so badly that you are willing to put words in my mouth?Maybe being drones is something that some people actually enjoy.
Yeah, because I totally don't agree with you, apparently, so I must be doing so in a drone-like fashion.
I mean, just because there are a boatload of people who agree with you (as their are with me) and just because they pushed your ideas before you did (as they did with mine) doesn't mean you are being a drone (unlike me?).
I disagree with you. Your childish insults don't really address the matter at hand, do they? Insulting me doesn't in any way move this discussion forward. If you disagree with my argument, explain why. Don't waste either of our time with your Ad Hominem attacks. They speak more poorly of you than me.The thing I can't explain is that for a while, the above type of thinking seemed to be fading away
I have not changed my position on this and neither have a great many people. If you perceived a fading away, it was probably wishful thinking on your part.the faithful seem more fanatical and zombie-like now than ever before.
Glad we have such strong free-thinkers as yourself to show us the light.Steve Ballmer has genuinely behaved recently in a manner which reinforces the FSF's fearmongering.
So in other words, what the FSF has been saying all along is bearing out to be true? And this is how you end your diatribe against people who agree with the FSF viewpoint? Damn, you are a wily tactician. I'd hate to sit across from you at the debate table. I am SO dreading the moment when I find out how you admitting that reality proves me right will prove that I should not believe as I currently do!
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
I'm glad
I'm glad to hear someone finally say it. Freedom has totally jumped the shark. It's soooo "post-Enlightenment" and lame.
OK, seriously, though, I am honestly hopeful that "Open Source" has jumped the shark. It's Free Software, dammit, not Open Source, that is what's important here. "Free" as in "Freedom", not "Open" as in "I Can See It". So, yeah, if this whole "Let's call it Open, because business won't like us if we call ourselves what we are, which is Free" thing goes away, I won't be crying myself to sleep.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:So what will happen?
Any lawyers care to comment?
Dear Sir,
Stop. Looking. For. A. Payout. You. Asshole.
The world isn't fair. Sometimes things suck. Deal with it and quit looking for someone to owe you every time something changes.
Sincerely,
Tom Caudron, Esquire[1]
http://tom.digitalelite.com/
[1]The undersigned is not an attorney, but would like to play one on reality TV. -
Re:The More they add, the less I like
There's no such thing as a "box model" in XHTML 1.0. The box model is a feature of CSS.
I agree with everything else you said, but have to defer to the other guy on this one.
CSS allows you to play with the box properties (like borders and padding and margins), but the box model is the direct result of the div structure of XHTML 1.*. I know why you say otherwise. Conventionally, when we talk about the box model, we are talking about CSS's use of it, but technically, convention is wrong, in that the box is defined in the XHTML rather than the CSS.
God. I am such a 'tard that I couldn't let this minor point go uncorrected. lol! Forgive my pedantry.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:a little anecdote...
Could someone explain the slashdot community's priciple or consistency on this issue. Or are we just all selfish assholes with selective morality?
Short answer: Government involvement. We dislike when companies (or anyone for that matter) seeks to perpetuate a lopsided arrangement in collusion with our own government. When the RIAA gets the government involved, it gets guns involved. What the government tells us to do, they enforce with police and military. When Corporate America colludes with the government to increase H1B visas and eliminate service tarriffs and so on, they are involving the Men with Guns. Government is essentially a collective coercion system to keep us moving forward. Kill someone? We make corrections with our police force. Steal? Same thing. Rape? Same thing. The RIAA and Corporate America want to include "Enforce our self-interest" to that list---a list that should be damn short!
So, when we bitch about the RIAA, it's because we know that we can be forced to obey. When Corporate America gets the government to side with them on H1B Visas and outsourcing, they have eliminated the threat of them having to follow the trade laws the rest of us agreed to follow.
And also, we are selfish with selective morality...like the rest of the planet and everyone on it. Community contains a measure of bargaining for a good position. We try to minimize it, but it's always there. We want rules that accommodate us better than others. There is nothing wrong with that as long as we continue to compromise. The RIAA and Corporate America have decided they no longer want to compromise. This upsets me. Like most geeks, I am predisposed to prefer Justice. Right now, they are effectively escaping it. Moreover, it looks like they will get (have gotten?) away with it entirely. They get richer. We get poorer. Why? The deck is stacked against us because the people writing the rules we play by have allegiance to the rich, not the poor.
OK. Turns out this wasn't a short answer after all.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:I See This Already
if we ever have to write a term paper for our job in the real world
Yeah, because, I mean, seriously, why should you ever have to do a single thing in college that doesn't directly and immediately relate to how you will earn your paychecks later in life. To suggest otherwise would be tantamount to suggesting that college were about, I don't know, education?The focus is much more about getting facts on paper from whatever sources we deem suitable, not doing elaborate research to look impressive.
That's good. Research is for pussies who just want to "look good" by "advancing human knowledge". There is nothing more irritating than some nerdy little do-gooder lording his "I cured cancer" bullshit over the rest of us.Another benefit of the memo style over a term paper is that we can't be long-winded. We're given a maximum page length, not a minimum
This professor sounds like a wise man. Nothing valuable or worth saying ever comes from difficult-to-read, long-winded texts. Sound bites, baby. That's the way to do it. "Drop that zero and get you a hero" "Put up or shut up" "Sit on it" Yeah, the shorter and pithier, the better. What did Summa Theologica, The Wasteland, War and Peace, Republic, or The Origin of Species ever do for anybody? Nothing, that's what! It was wordy crap when they wrote it. It's wordy crap now. Besides, they probably used some of that "research" to write those works, which all but invalidates it totally.Real-world types: does this sound accurate (and/or wise)?
OK, enough with the sarcasm. And don't take this message as a rant against you, per se. Rather, take it as a rant against your professor (who I will happily debate on these issues). To answer your two questions: 1) Yes this is accurate to the real world, which expects sound bites and pseudo-thought to rule human communication. 2) No, it's not wise. It's giving in to ignorance. It's eroding that best part of humanity---the part that lets us see farther and know deeper. It's a summary of what is wrong with many (not all) colleges today. It's a damnable trial of what's wrong with parents and students that they expect every moment of their education to be job training without seeing that, whether they like it or not, the two are not always congruous goals. No, it's not wise. It's what worries me about the future. My great grandmother learned latin at the age of 12. So did all her peers. This was in the public school system. No one thought she'd go on to do work as a latin translator. They simply thought that knowing latin would offer her a linguistic perspective she might find valuable existentially. They were right.
There are a host of jokes and Liberal Arts degrees floating around, and I find many of them funny as well, but underlying them is the sad reality that we as a people are slowly turning anti-intellectual and that really saddens me.
But none of it justifies the sarcastic tone I took in the beginning of this message. It probably wasn't the best way to make my point. Sorry if it sounded offensive. It's something I feel passionately about.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Well, I mean...
....it's not like their corporate charter says "Buy no evil".
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:Mono is a Trojan Horse, expect no help
And why do all of his projects follow some tech Microsoft convolutes from some REAL tech(OOP, Java, etc)?
Huh?
De Icaza was at the forefront of Gnome development, the forefront Ximian development, and the forefront of Novell development (pre-MS deal). You may not like his choice here, but seriously, what's with the 'tude? I'm pretty sure he's done more for open source than Locutus of Slashdot...unless "Locutus" is RMS's
Seriously, attack his decision wrt mono if you must, but not his track record, which is fairly solid. He's earned the right to a little wiggle room on this.
Also, he's right about mono. Linux needs it, whether you 'get' it or not. Explaining why is too involved for a
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:still a long way to go
So in a thread about the beta of the next version of Ubuntu, you chime in that it isn't ready, citing as proof a problem your friend had with the
And you got modded "Insightful"?
Perhaps moderators thought it said "Inciteful". Otherwise, as much as I appreciate your comment as valid for what it was discussing, this mod makes no damn sense.
Seriously? Tell your friend to power down like that while a Windows app is writing to the registry (hint: this occurs more than just at install time!) and watch what happens next. Voila! Instant "non-perfection"! We don't need perfection to get people to use Linux. We need people to stop pirating Windows. If A person has to spend $200 to get the latest version, they will be more inclined to consider a switch. If their techie buddy wil just hand em a copy for free, they wil just sit back and bitch that Linux ain't perfect enough, as if Windows were.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:World is bigger than the US...
Google is a U.S. Company
Yahoo is a U.S. Company
Microsoft is a U.S. Company
AskJeeves is a U.S. Company
etc etc etc
I appreciate that you wanna be all "screw you guys in the U.S. for your stupid laws" but if you think they don't or won't affect you in other countries, your head is in the sand.
Not saying it's right or fair or good or bad, but the U.S. is largely in control of the companies that drive the Internet and its content.
So, yes, this ruling can change the nature of the Internet for everyone online.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ (and yes, you may spider my site 'til your eyes bleed and your brain gets a bruise) -
Re:The problem is not lack of money.
Instead educators are trying to turn education into entertainment. Lessons are reduced to wacky fun facts. Everything has to be packaged into bite-sized chunks. It isn't just the curriculum.
I had to reply when I read to this point.
Educators are not responsible to the curriculum in the classroom. Politicians are. Your School Board determines what books and materials are official, what goals are to be reached, and what methods are employed to reach those goals with those materials.
Why? Pay. Whether you think it's relevant or not, teacher ARE paid poorly compared to professionals with similar degrees, which means you end up with two sorts of teacher: those who'd do it no matter the pay and love what they do and those for whom this was the last chance at career. To fix the problem created by the latter, rather than spend money on pay to bring in a better candidate pool, school systems impose strict guidelines and requirements on both sorts of teachers, which hamstrings the former while protecting students (somewhat) against the latter.
Bite sized chunks are easier to teach for poor teachers, which is what you get when you don't offer enough money (across the board, not just in science and math!) and edutainment is what you get when educators don't get to create the curriculum. Parents and politicians end up deciding what the teacher in going to teach, and GOD FORBID little Billy isn't pleased as punch with every lesson else his parents are at the school asking why the teacher is discouraging Billy from academia...rather than asking themselves whey they aren't raising a kid who can listen without needing to be wholly entertained.
The school system has serious problems and those problems are making the whole system mediocre, but don't go blaming teachers for a problem the taxpayers and voters are creating. For all our grandstanding about education, we as a society, put little bite behind our bark when it comes to actually getting the job done. We don't give a fuck if kids are educated for real. We just want the world to think we do. And when our kids aren't educated, we'd rather blame the poorly paid teachers than ourselves for creating an environment where even the best teachers can't succeed beyond a certain (far too low) point.
Raise pay > Raise expectations of teachers > Raise expectations of students. That's how it works. You can't skip a step there. Expect more from students? How if the teachers you hire aren't all qualified? How can you expect them to be qualified if you aren't willing to pay for qualified candidates?
This shit is simple and all the rhetoric from the "Teachers are the problem" camp is just a crock of crap.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
or...
you could just go to a reputable source and do your own research:
http://www.bluebookarchive.org/
No zombies or esp, just government docs about ufo's.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:My question to Ubuntu/linux preachers
so, my question is, is there any (easy) way i could be running the
http://www.mono-project.com/ASP.NET
That's about all you need. Now, that said, I'm a bit confused about something else you said...At work, we do ASP and ASP.net. Not c#, vb.net. I can read c# but i don't really program with it.
ASP.NET is nothing more than c# or vb.net applied to the code-behind files for ASP. If you do ASP.NET at work, then you
To see which language they use just open an aspx file in notepad and look near the top, you'll find a line like this:
<% Page Language="C#" etc....
or
<% Page Language="VB" etc....
That'll tell you what language they are using.
Hope that helps.
As a side note, you ae making a good choice moving to linux for hosting. Once you get used to the idiosyncracies, you'll find it much easier to maintain. Congrats.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:X(HT)ML+CSS?
I read the rant by Opera's CTO about how shit both standards are (a memory dump between angle brackets)
Either the CTO was lying or he's retarded. (There, my obligatory inciting opening is out of the way).
Seriously though, open up OpenOffice.org, make a document, save it to disk, then open the document up in File Roller or Winzip or 7-zip or whatever you use for archives and actually look at the underlying xml. It's pretty damn far from a serialized binary object. A serialized Binary object is what MS's first xml attempt consisted of (essentially a CDATA tag encapsulating a blob). They improved it a bit in the latest iteration, but ODF is most certainly not that. It uses a format similar to the jar format: a set of internal files that each have a function, one for the text, one for the formatting, etc...). It's not XHTML+CSS, but rather it's own XML format. Of course that's because they are smart. XHTML+CSS has a place and advanced print document layout and spreadsheets and presentation animations is not it. If it were XHTML+CSS then Opera could read it much easier, though. Hmmm, I wonder why the CTO of Opera is pushing for that?
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:live performances?
We're slashdotters. How the hell do WE know if a woman is faking something?
We're men. Why should we care if a woman is faking something?
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:This is not good!
Although this raises the question of just what is meant by "slight" autism. Or slight ODD. Or . .
So true. The nature of mental disorders is such that it is easy to dismiss them out of hand, because they aren't so clear as a broken leg (one can't really have a
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:This is not good!
While I agree with you in large part (a great many people self-diagnose Asperger's especially withing our community), it's worth pointing out that you overstate, I think, the issues. While many people with the Syndrome are severe and exhibit behavior similar to that which you describe, there are those who are not as severe and very much know what we are missing. Autism is a spectrum disorder, which means two things, really: 1. It covers a wide spectrum of symptoms rather than a tight clinically clear grouping and 2) those who have it fall on a spectrum of severity. One can have
This is not to say you are wrong, as I think you are right. Just making suring others don't misunderstand your point and take it to mean that what you've described is the only form Asperger's takes.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
I don't want a new privacy law...
...I want a new Privacy Amendment.
Seriously, Privacy is a right (according to SCOTUS) but currently the right is in limbo. The limits and effects are mercurial and need to be codified.
Also, I'm far more worried about breaches of privacy by the government than by ID thieves. Shore up my Right to Privacy properly and I'll feel a little better about things. Adding sentencing recommendations to ID theft cases is like hate crime statutes. I'm not
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
6 degrees
More a question than a comment, but if old uncle Jethro decides to up and rob a liquor store (we always knew how much Jethro loved his liquor) and they collect DNA from him, what does that mean for the rest of the family? I mean, DNA isn't just a way to identify the person. It's a way to identify entire familial relations. So, having never knocked over a liquor store myself (despite those selfish bastards for not giving it away free!) by virtue of a froward uncle, now whenever a liquor store is hit and DNA left behind, not only can they say "looks like Jethro was here" they could conceivably say "looks like a family member of Jethro's was here". What next? Does that give them Probable Cause to DNA test the rest of us...I mean, they KNOW it was one of us, and I do look drunk most of the time.
I hate to invoke the ol' Slippery Slope argument, but it sure seems like a classic case where the government is poring grease on the slope as we speak.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
HIPPA
Tell you what. I'm a consultant with many Healthcare industry clients. You give me a way to set up an online office server at the client's site to make the entire thing an internal app and I'll consider approaching them about it. Til then, every one of these apps is a HIPPA violation (i.e., a guarantee that the government will shut you down if you are in healthcare). Sorry, but I'm not going to send private medical history info to some random service just because they have a posted "privacy policy".
That said, the idea is solid and there are industries for which maybe this is a good idea.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:Hmmmmmmmmn,
I guess the vast majority of end-user couldn't care less what their video codec is doing
In reading the parent post, I didn't get the impresion he was posting as the "majority of end-users" but rather offering his perspective, which might different substantively from the majority opinion. You're right that the majority won't care, but we needn't squash the minority opinion either. Disclaimer: I happen to agree with him in principle, though I do, somewhat hypocritically, run binary video drivers on my system.Does that mean the software is useless or bad?
Useless? Maybe. Bad? We'll never know. It's closed source. We just take it largely on faith in the company from which we receive the binary that the driver doesn't do anything bad.just get over it.
We don't have to get over our opinion any more than you do. We can keep our opinion and voice it and if it is worth hearing, then at least on forums like slashdot, there is a system in place for making sure it gets heard. That's what happened with the parent post. Enough people found it worth hearing that it got modded up, like your post...and probably not like this post here.
Don't take this reply as combative, rather as clarifying. I don't think your point is invalid or even wrong, just that it's not the final word either. When you say things like "get over it" you come across (perhaps wrongly) as appearing like you can't understand the opposing view, which is deadly to honest discussion.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:Funny..
Recidivism rates in sexual offenders are through the roof. There is a reason beyond "ZOMG Think of teh Childx0rs!" Recidivism rates on murder aren't nearly as high. Recidivism rates on drunk driving are a moot point because after 3 times in most states the driver loses the right to drive, which ends that problem.
I'm wary whenever the government wants to
Now, the problem is that if this is true, then it points to an underlying biology (drive in the face of clear negative consequences is nearly always born in the genes somewhere) which means we are punishing people for who they are rather than what they do. No, I'm not feeling sorry for the molester or rapist, but it is sad to know that the person apparently truly can't NOT do it and we can't NOT punish them for it. It's a messed up cycle.
Not to get all Clockwork Orange about it, but maybe one day soon these sorts of behaviors can be deleted from the would-be offenders. Til then, I'm gonna have to side with the government on this one. If the chances of a molester doing it again are great enough, then we need to acknowledge it and protect ourselves. The Constitution is ther to protect the individual, but it is not a societal suicide pact. Sadly, there are things that can and do preempt our individual rights at times. And I don't say that lightly.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:The spin
I can't speak for others, but I am against embryonic stem cell research and I'm also against IVF. For a more nuanced version of my position, you can read this slashdot thread where it was discussed in depth. As a side note, the thread was remarkably polite and insightful for all sides, I think. We all got something from it. It's one of those threads that reminds you how cool slashdot can be.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
The Price of Security
With results like that, is there really a good basis for argument against these cameras?
Being safe isn't a boolean true/false dichotomy. Safety, like security, is a matter of degrees, each degree costing us geometrically more than the last degree. At some point you are face-to-face with the Law of Diminishing Returns.
The problem with anything measured in degrees is that we won't always agree on when the limits are hit. Put differently, exactly how many lives must be quantifiably saved before it becomes worth it to see the government put a camera on every street corner? Everyone has a number. For me, the number is higher than that which I think this one serial killer would have killed. It's higher than the cost in lives of 9/11. It's not higher than the cost in lives of, say, WWII, however. Before I saw that many people kiled, I think I'd agree to the cameras. It's always a matter of degrees. My tolerance for risk is higher than most. I don't, for instance, see loss of our liberty worth it when traded for safety from terrorists. Perhaps it's becuase I underestimate what they are capable of. Perhaps not. Either way, the original question is a good one, but inevitably one that we can only answer for ourselves. I guess the beauty of our democracy is that in answering for ourselves we come to a jagged consensus that lets us make a communal decision and move on. It's worth noting that sometimes that consensus doesn't mesh well with our personal ethic (C.f., abortion, stem cell research, the war in Iraq, seat belt laws, and street corner government cameras). In the end, all we can do it make a personal decision and cast our vote. For my vote, I'll be pushing away from street corner cameras. If I'm on the losing side of the issue...well, it won't be the first time.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Personally, I just hope...
Personally, I just hope that the Java of the future will look and run much less like ass. That would be a great departure from the old Java.
Right about now, you are moving your mouse toward the "Mod this fruitcake down" button, but don't misunderstand me. I have high hopes for the language. I have been saying for a number of years that Sun had been letting a hot property fall into disrepair while MS played catch up and eventually lapped Java with it's own
Since all my home computers use Linux exclusively, I'd love to see some real competition to mono as a platform. An open sourced Java could be it.
Oh, for those still looking to mod me down for speaking poorly of "the precious", you should know you are living in a bubble. Talk to the average corporate developer. The vast vast vast majority of them will say the same thing. "Java? Oh that's that ugly gui stuff, right? Yeah, I don't like Java apps." I've fought the battle long enough to know. Without some fresh blood and a new outlook in the Java camp, it will continue to be further marginalized in favor of
Seriously, how many java apps have made it into Gnome core? How many are even discussed in terms of their value to the end user? Now ask that about mono apps? Tomboy. Beagle. F-Spot. Muine. These apps are making waves. Where are the equivalent Java apps? Eclipse? An IDE isn't exactly the sort of thing to get the end user salivating. A couple of more obscure file sharing tools? Nothing that has the publics attention. Hell, even us open source guys have written Java off.
So for 2007 what do I wish for from Java? A fresh perspective. A renewed interest in delivering the sort of platform and apps that mono and
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:Don't you hate it when the truth is told...
religious followers are always offended when someone pokes fun at their beliefs
Always is a strong word. It's also the word that makes you wrong. I'm religious. I even have a degree in Religious Studies. I poke fun at my and others' faiths often. I am not offended when others do the same. You really should make such sweeping statements on the basis of such little fact. Their are a horde of reasonable Christians, Muslims, and Hindus out there. You wouldn't know that, though, becuase we don't feel the need make it known that we are both religious AND reasonable. to most people, it's obvious we can be both.and forget they are part of one of the most violent and viscious organizations in history. (see: Crusades, Persecution, Inquisition...)
It's funny how people with a grudge against Christianity throw the Crusades and the Inquisition in our faces right away. Interesting how we never get the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and Operation Blessing thrown in our faces. I wonder why that is?
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ -
Re:Remedial geography
That was for 'The Americas'.
Yeah. That's what he said. L.A. New York. Chicago. Detroit. etc.... You know, the Americas. What else is there?
(Es una chiste, mis amigos suramericanos.)
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/