The first thing is probably to define what you want to do more specifically, i.e. what kind of electronic gadget you want to build. Try not to pick something that isn't too hard. Then you look at what other people have built and try to understand their solutions. After that you try to tweak their solutions (adding/changing stuff here and there). Repeat and rinse a few times and before you know it you'll be building your own things.
Ok, I'm not a DNA expert by any means, but doesn't DNA sequences bear some similarities to code/machine language (or maybe I'm just a nerd) ? I guess what they're saying is that there are bad/buggy/dangerous DNA sequences (code) that don't exist naturally. Does that mean that God is a good programmer?
Oh, come on! Not this consumption-of-violent-media-leads-to-real-life-vi olence crap again! When this comes up I usually refer to Japan, which has had (and still does have) a rather extensive consumption of violent media (for example, in the 80s the legendary gore "movie" Faces of Death supposedly even out-grossed Star Wars during its theatrical release in Japan http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/E-H/faces_of_dea th.html) while maintaining a relatively low crime rate and juvenile delinquency is not nearly as serious as in most industrialized nations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Japan.
What will you be watching? If you're only going to watch HD-stuff in a bright environment, you'd probably want an LCD. For non-HD-content (especially in a dark room), plasma generally performs better.
First he rants about the "futurists" and their visions, but then goes on with:
Low-cost connections will proliferate, encouraging creativity, collaboration, and telecommuting. The Net itself will recede into the background. If you're under 21, you likely don't care much about any supposed difference between virtual and actual, online and off. That's because the two realms are penetrating each other; Google Earth mingles with Google Maps, and daily life shows up on Flickr. Like the real world, the Net will be increasingly international and decreasingly reliant on English. It will be wrapped in a Chinese kung fu outfit, intoned in an Indian accent, oozing Brazilian sex appeal.
All of which pretty much seems like "bubble-era vision" IMHO.
I disagree. Programming isn't something you learn from someone else. Programming is something you learn by yourself. Of course, you can get excellent help/lectures/tips/advice/insights/whatnot at an university for example, but my point is that in the end you have to sit down and think and then write some code (and figure out why it doesn't work) by yourself. I would say it doesn't matter if you start with Visual Basic or Pascal; if you haven't got the ambition/derive/whatever to really sit down by yourself and figure things out, you will never be a (good) programmer.
Actually, the quality of the stuff made in China have improved tremedously over the years. In the 80ies (and maybe beginning/mid 90ies), "Made in China" or "Made in Taiwan" meant inferiour quality. Nowadays I would almost say it's the opposite. Just one example: I know that many audiophiles who import amplifiers/speakers/whatnot made in China, due to the high quality and (relatively) low price.
When will they understand that just because you blacklist a website doesn't mean it fixes the problem. It's still there!
Exactly, it's just hiding everything under the carpet instead of dealing with the problem. Furthermore, I don't how the actual blocking is performed, but in Sweden the ISPs have DNS-based child pornography blocking which is really easy to get around if you want to, which means that the blocking is mostly "for show".
Slashdot Mirror
will it be using MySQL?
Ok, 21st century.
Who said anything about a girl? It's the 21th centrury you know :-)
The first thing is probably to define what you want to do more specifically, i.e. what kind of electronic gadget you want to build. Try not to pick something that isn't too hard. Then you look at what other people have built and try to understand their solutions. After that you try to tweak their solutions (adding/changing stuff here and there). Repeat and rinse a few times and before you know it you'll be building your own things.
The ethic issues will always remain as long as there is religion.
Ok, I'm not a DNA expert by any means, but doesn't DNA sequences bear some similarities to code/machine language (or maybe I'm just a nerd) ? I guess what they're saying is that there are bad/buggy/dangerous DNA sequences (code) that don't exist naturally. Does that mean that God is a good programmer?
A real earthquake disrupts virtual currency market? Well, I guess it's better than a virtual earthquake disrupting a real currency market...
Oh, come on! Not this consumption-of-violent-media-leads-to-real-life-vi olence crap again! When this comes up I usually refer to Japan, which has had (and still does have) a rather extensive consumption of violent media (for example, in the 80s the legendary gore "movie" Faces of Death supposedly even out-grossed Star Wars during its theatrical release in Japan http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/E-H/faces_of_dea th.html) while maintaining a relatively low crime rate and juvenile delinquency is not nearly as serious as in most industrialized nations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Japan.
What will you be watching? If you're only going to watch HD-stuff in a bright environment, you'd probably want an LCD. For non-HD-content (especially in a dark room), plasma generally performs better.
IMHO
Correctomundo! Sometimes (most times?) my fingers are faster than my mind ...
Yes, but the correlation between individual effort and organization performance also decreases with the size of the organization.
Who needs those things when you can play a nice game of 3D chess with your new Vulcan moon-friend.
Are you really surprised ?
I disagree. Programming isn't something you learn from someone else. Programming is something you learn by yourself. Of course, you can get excellent help/lectures/tips/advice/insights/whatnot at an university for example, but my point is that in the end you have to sit down and think and then write some code (and figure out why it doesn't work) by yourself. I would say it doesn't matter if you start with Visual Basic or Pascal; if you haven't got the ambition/derive/whatever to really sit down by yourself and figure things out, you will never be a (good) programmer.
Actually, the quality of the stuff made in China have improved tremedously over the years. In the 80ies (and maybe beginning/mid 90ies), "Made in China" or "Made in Taiwan" meant inferiour quality. Nowadays I would almost say it's the opposite. Just one example: I know that many audiophiles who import amplifiers/speakers/whatnot made in China, due to the high quality and (relatively) low price.
Wow, this is really a huge problem that has been bugging me for some time...
I thought we all agreed to stop using the word cyber after the burst of the dot-com bubble.