Encapsulated in this debate is the issue of light pollution.
Any avid astronomer, amateur or otherwise, will agree that the growing plight of the skies is the hazy glow that makes all but the brightest of the celestial bodies visible.
Although not as pressing as the environmental concerns, since simply switching everything off causes the problem to go away (as any blackout demonstrates), the reality of it is that a large percentage of big city dwellers will seldom experience the joy of simply slowing down and appreciating the beauty of our universe!
Aesthetic benefits aside, I feel that such moments would help us put our problems into perspective, thus inducing the calming effect we require to get through this rat race. Quite a natural alternative to 'party supplies'.
Is take it or leave it really the attitude that would promote change?
At this point in time, I feel being disconnected from the flow of information would be the most harmful thing that could happen. We've already taken for granted the impact the abundance of data has had on our lives.
The freer the flow, the faster we advance. By trying to make moral decisions on their behalf, you're likely to do more harm than good. Although it is a controversial topic with no real right answer, simply halting all services would mean leaving the people with even less to look forward to.
And really. Do we think that because the government blocks political content, the people are really left in the dark?
The obvious advantages of USB keys would attract all but the most hardcore of 'old school' representers. And they're most probably doing it out of spite.
When new technology arises, there are several restrictions. Compatability and price being the largest. Once these factors fall away, people will purchase. I mean, at the end of the day, isn't convenience the name of the game?
Those who want to retain the floppies can do so. But as long as they know that they're doing it purely out of hard headedness, and are discarding practicality.
The internet highlights a rather interesting aspect of human nature - the need to idolise other people.
The rise to fame of actors and actresses is a bit more straightforward, since their performances are laid bare for all to rewind and review. We needed to see something about a person before we decided that they were worth the worship.
Now, as we move forward, it seems the time and effort required for someone to bask in the aura of fame is drastically reducing. What we find more often in public forums are people, represented by no more than the text of their name or a default avatar, enjoying heroic receptions.
I guess anonymity of others allows us to identify one or two things we like, and then our imagination fills in the rest.
I think this will negatively effect self esteem in the long run.
I have to stop and wonder why the majority of the replies show such contempt for the diskette.
Where is the older generation? The one that prides themselves on retaining their 5 1/4 inch drives, along with a couple of floppies?
Does no one spend hours pottering down memory lane with a dusty box of floppies and a disk scanner marking off the bad sectors, trying to retrieve those school assignments?
As far as I'm concerned, technology is only as beneficial as it is convenient. Sure a USB key is faster, and can hold more. But don't underestimate the comfort of familiarity for the hundreds of average joes trying to keep their head above silicon waters.
I find it rather ironic that the commercial means of producing the ethanol you so adamantly promote, is going to be coal.
If you want to talk about air pollution, and believe me, I do, then you're going to have to tackle the carbon monoxide, toluene, not to mention methanol, that appears to be the byproduct of this 'safe' alternative.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for saving the environment. Which is why I think we should take a little time and do our research before substituting the ogre for the troll.
What I cannot stand is people like you who claim to be representative of the industry, yet seek to damage it by chopping a rung off the bottom each time it ascends the future-bound ladder.
Don't you realise that your narrow minded perceptions of technological capabilities are simply that? Narrow. That's the keyword the search engines will pick up. That means that if you were a public figure, you would be wrongly quoted as stating computational limitations for the reason we ought stay in the past. Then people will laugh at you.
They will laugh at you, regardless of the fact that you may indeed be a beautiful human being, capable of all the emotions that clouded your judgement and caused you to issue such statements against Flash.
A very good friend of someone I once knew told me he had done extensive work in flash, and he had included graphics, moving images, and text in his website. If that isn't the sweet song of tomorrow, then I must be tuned into the wrong station.
Grammar policing aside, eBay is really doing more damage to the younger generation than we would care to imagine.
In my county, we have petitioned the authorities to put a blanket ban on the site. Why? It appears that suddenly the youth have 'spending power'. Therefore, we're seeing more and more young people, and I'm talking 5th graders, devoting a greater deal of their energies to buying and selling items online using their elder sibling/parent's credit cards than studying or playing outside.
What used to take place on the playground for items of equal value has now moved online for money. Parents are talking about groups of youngsters threatening others into bidding for their items.
All in all, I think eBay is definitely something our community can do without.
Your visually impaired friend can take advantage of several inbuilt effects that ship with flash. One is dubbed Zoom, and is accessible via the magnifying glass icon.
The other is 'keep focus', and vibrates the screen to compensate blurring. It is easily adjustable to allow for a flexible user base.
As far as web standards are concerned, Flash has not yet been ported to mobile devices, but they are currently developing a line of software that will ultimately compete with Mobile Java Appliacations (J2ME).
I appreciate your interest in Flash. They say there are no critics of flash. Just users stuck on the Loading screen.
When I went to purchase one of these badboys, I asked them what type of refund policy existed, were I to manage to damage it.
Surprisingly, they said that they can't replace deliberately damaged pieces.
Have to say they didn't sound so confident in the durability of their products right then. Therefore, if you're considering using it as a party prop to pump your popularity, you're might find yourself a pretty penny out of pocket.
This time it is me who has to physically refrain him from replying in a manner that might be deemed inappropriate.
I just want to tell you that, like English literacy, Flash is a tool. It depends on how you use it.
There is no such thing as a magic wand, although flash does have it in the icon bar which is shown in the tutorial. Therefore, every tool can be wielded in a different way by different people.
You can usually determine who was good by the end result. i.e. if the end result is good, then the person using the tools was good. Vice versa for bad.
From the article:
The system was unable to find the module you requested to edit (moduleID ). I've been professionally developing high end PDF document manipulator applications in Javascript for a year or two now, and this pretty much sums up the the Scripting API.
Adobe needs to focus more on the users' requirements, and less on pigeonholing them into vague outlines of their vision.
Could I just clarify that I'm currently a customer AND an employee of TELUS, and there is no intention of allowing the distribution of pornography to all subscribers.
Don't take me as any official voice piece, but we have clearly stated that there would be a screening process involved.
So for any that want to 'think about the children', don't worry, we already have.
I've been living in the Netherlands for the past 15 years.
Ever since Fortuyn's party was voted out and the CDA and friends moved in (sorry for the political references!), things have been going downhill. I understand the benefits of having a welfare state, and yes, they did slightly improve healthcare, but taxation has been a disaster.
So if you really wanted to know someone who turned down a pay rise, then pleased to meet you. No I won't come and work for you. This was in '96, and I admit it wasn't a significant increment, nor was it a significant position. Granted I left the company shortly after. But the fact of the matter is, I was not in a financial position to accept that raise.
One could argue that things are improving, and this is an exceptional case. Me, I think only drastic change would bring that about.
I know this isn't the best place to be go on about our country, but if you're in Emmen anytime, look me up at Groothuis!
Undoubtedly navigating web pages was the reason that HTML was born.
However, if the tools for web development can expand and grow, is it too much to ask that you follow suit?
I do not mean to be disrespectful, but the major roadblock that programmers face when delving in Flash is the graphical aspect. Perhaps you are not artistically inclined. It is understandably agitating when gourmet code sits beneath a puddle of malformed vector objects. When the end result is pixellated snot, you obviously abuse the application and all it stands for.
But are you not acting out the role of the bad carpenter in this tooly affair?
I showed this post to my friend, and I had to physically restrain him from replying. I have shown you why Flash is a good option without resorting to vague threats involving guns, robots, or fanatics.
Remember, no two applications are the same. Only the person using them.
A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but now I find that people bear unjustified grudges against what is essentially a marriage between visual creativity and ingenuous coding.
Here are a few excellent points I've borrowed from a close friend of mine who works for FlashMagazine.
- Flash is everywhere. For the web version of a game, 96% of the audience won't need to download anything except the game. More importantly, many people won't be able to install arbitrary ActiveX controls, or use a Java plugin, whereas Flash is preinstalled with Windows on corporate machines.
- Cost is essentially free - there is a small cost for the Flash IDE, but it's nearly free to distribute (just some minor licensing things to worry about that don't cost anything). Royalty-free licenses for decoders such as MP3 and Sorensen Spark are included.
- Ease of finding artists. There is a huge talent pool to draw from for creating art or animations for Flash, either on staff or contract.
- A gigantic community and secondary market. There are thousands of Flash related web sites with tutorials, articles, discussions. There are hundreds of Flash add-ons or components for sale.
- Easy copy-paste to test things out. Flash permits drag-and-drop or copy-paste from one FLA to another, and it automatically brings along any dependent objects into the new library. This can make it incredibly easy to try out quick ideas outside of the main game, and is the one case where it's worth using the debugger.
This makes it very attractive to most open source developers (my cousin being a very active member of the community).
Hope my little sermon converts a few disbelievers:)
I don't know why people keep knocking IE like this. The fact that SSL has been found wanting is hardly MS' fault. The problem is that the quoted survey indulges in bad statistical technique. When analysed with higher order trend analysis metrics, it has been proven that the techniques incorporated into IE7 actually *do* reduce the incidence of phishing sites being clicked; the problem is that as IE and windows get easier to use, you have stupider and stupider people getting online, so that the tendency to fall for a phishing scam swamps the effect of the purely technological measures.
In other words, everytime windows and IE get more idiotproof, bigger and better idiots saunter in and proceed to micturate all over it, themselves and the internet.
Actually the solution to the phishing problem is quite simple, and just requires a bit of buy-in from the domain registrars. What is needed is for every site on the web to certify itself with microsoft, so that MS becomes not just the de facto but the de jure gatekeeper of the world wide web.
I know linux fanboys will be throwing a fit around now, but that is simply their quasireligious zealotry blinding them to the fact that there are sound mathematical reasons for Microsoft to control access to website publishing. Linux and FOSS advocates notwithstanding, when you need real world solutions to real world problems, you can't beat a company that has poured so much money and PhDs into product research and development.
Did you know that NASA, in collusion with certain three-letter-acronym government organizations, has already developed a meteor shield?
Studies have proved that the shield is 98% effective (from outside the stratosphere) in deflecting stray bits of interstellar junk...it's a little-known offshoot of the old SDI initiative which most people thought went defunct long ago.
They just don't want to deploy it yet because they don't want canadians and spics getting free shielding at the expense of the US taxpayers.
Now I'm all for letting those idiots south of the border get what's coming to them, but the fact remains that we might not be able to develop a US-only shield fast enough to protect us from the next big strike. Besides, if we really wanted to protect *all* our american people, we'd also have to (shudder) shield iraq...and that's just not done.
Slashdot Mirror
Encapsulated in this debate is the issue of light pollution.
Any avid astronomer, amateur or otherwise, will agree that the growing plight of the skies is the hazy glow that makes all but the brightest of the celestial bodies visible.
Although not as pressing as the environmental concerns, since simply switching everything off causes the problem to go away (as any blackout demonstrates), the reality of it is that a large percentage of big city dwellers will seldom experience the joy of simply slowing down and appreciating the beauty of our universe!
Aesthetic benefits aside, I feel that such moments would help us put our problems into perspective, thus inducing the calming effect we require to get through this rat race. Quite a natural alternative to 'party supplies'.
An excellent read!
Something exciting about delving in the low level logic that gives you the feeling that there's always something more to learn !
I guess always being two steps behind is the motivation that makes it all worth while.
Is take it or leave it really the attitude that would promote change?
At this point in time, I feel being disconnected from the flow of information would be the most harmful thing that could happen. We've already taken for granted the impact the abundance of data has had on our lives.
The freer the flow, the faster we advance. By trying to make moral decisions on their behalf, you're likely to do more harm than good. Although it is a controversial topic with no real right answer, simply halting all services would mean leaving the people with even less to look forward to.
And really. Do we think that because the government blocks political content, the people are really left in the dark?
Well, you're right.
The obvious advantages of USB keys would attract all but the most hardcore of 'old school' representers. And they're most probably doing it out of spite.
When new technology arises, there are several restrictions. Compatability and price being the largest. Once these factors fall away, people will purchase. I mean, at the end of the day, isn't convenience the name of the game?
Those who want to retain the floppies can do so. But as long as they know that they're doing it purely out of hard headedness, and are discarding practicality.
The internet highlights a rather interesting aspect of human nature - the need to idolise other people.
The rise to fame of actors and actresses is a bit more straightforward, since their performances are laid bare for all to rewind and review. We needed to see something about a person before we decided that they were worth the worship.
Now, as we move forward, it seems the time and effort required for someone to bask in the aura of fame is drastically reducing. What we find more often in public forums are people, represented by no more than the text of their name or a default avatar, enjoying heroic receptions.
I guess anonymity of others allows us to identify one or two things we like, and then our imagination fills in the rest.
I think this will negatively effect self esteem in the long run.
I have to stop and wonder why the majority of the replies show such contempt for the diskette.
Where is the older generation? The one that prides themselves on retaining their 5 1/4 inch drives, along with a couple of floppies?
Does no one spend hours pottering down memory lane with a dusty box of floppies and a disk scanner marking off the bad sectors, trying to retrieve those school assignments?
As far as I'm concerned, technology is only as beneficial as it is convenient. Sure a USB key is faster, and can hold more. But don't underestimate the comfort of familiarity for the hundreds of average joes trying to keep their head above silicon waters.
Let's be more accommodating guys.
I find it rather ironic that the commercial means of producing the ethanol you so adamantly promote, is going to be coal.
If you want to talk about air pollution, and believe me, I do, then you're going to have to tackle the carbon monoxide, toluene, not to mention methanol, that appears to be the byproduct of this 'safe' alternative.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for saving the environment. Which is why I think we should take a little time and do our research before substituting the ogre for the troll.
What I cannot stand is people like you who claim to be representative of the industry, yet seek to damage it by chopping a rung off the bottom each time it ascends the future-bound ladder.
Don't you realise that your narrow minded perceptions of technological capabilities are simply that? Narrow. That's the keyword the search engines will pick up. That means that if you were a public figure, you would be wrongly quoted as stating computational limitations for the reason we ought stay in the past. Then people will laugh at you.
They will laugh at you, regardless of the fact that you may indeed be a beautiful human being, capable of all the emotions that clouded your judgement and caused you to issue such statements against Flash.
A very good friend of someone I once knew told me he had done extensive work in flash, and he had included graphics, moving images, and text in his website. If that isn't the sweet song of tomorrow, then I must be tuned into the wrong station.
Grammar policing aside, eBay is really doing more damage to the younger generation than we would care to imagine.
In my county, we have petitioned the authorities to put a blanket ban on the site. Why? It appears that suddenly the youth have 'spending power'. Therefore, we're seeing more and more young people, and I'm talking 5th graders, devoting a greater deal of their energies to buying and selling items online using their elder sibling/parent's credit cards than studying or playing outside.
What used to take place on the playground for items of equal value has now moved online for money. Parents are talking about groups of youngsters threatening others into bidding for their items.
All in all, I think eBay is definitely something our community can do without.
It is hard to say Legionx.
Your visually impaired friend can take advantage of several inbuilt effects that ship with flash. One is dubbed Zoom, and is accessible via the magnifying glass icon.
The other is 'keep focus', and vibrates the screen to compensate blurring. It is easily adjustable to allow for a flexible user base.
As far as web standards are concerned, Flash has not yet been ported to mobile devices, but they are currently developing a line of software that will ultimately compete with Mobile Java Appliacations (J2ME).
I appreciate your interest in Flash. They say there are no critics of flash. Just users stuck on the Loading screen.
When I went to purchase one of these badboys, I asked them what type of refund policy existed, were I to manage to damage it.
Surprisingly, they said that they can't replace deliberately damaged pieces.
Have to say they didn't sound so confident in the durability of their products right then. Therefore, if you're considering using it as a party prop to pump your popularity, you're might find yourself a pretty penny out of pocket.
This is Annoymous Cowherd's friend posting.
This time it is me who has to physically refrain him from replying in a manner that might be deemed inappropriate.
I just want to tell you that, like English literacy, Flash is a tool. It depends on how you use it.
There is no such thing as a magic wand, although flash does have it in the icon bar which is shown in the tutorial. Therefore, every tool can be wielded in a different way by different people.
You can usually determine who was good by the end result. i.e. if the end result is good, then the person using the tools was good. Vice versa for bad.
Adobe needs to focus more on the users' requirements, and less on pigeonholing them into vague outlines of their vision.
Could I just clarify that I'm currently a customer AND an employee of TELUS, and there is no intention of allowing the distribution of pornography to all subscribers.
Don't take me as any official voice piece, but we have clearly stated that there would be a screening process involved.
So for any that want to 'think about the children', don't worry, we already have.
I've been living in the Netherlands for the past 15 years.
Ever since Fortuyn's party was voted out and the CDA and friends moved in (sorry for the political references!), things have been going downhill. I understand the benefits of having a welfare state, and yes, they did slightly improve healthcare, but taxation has been a disaster.
So if you really wanted to know someone who turned down a pay rise, then pleased to meet you. No I won't come and work for you. This was in '96, and I admit it wasn't a significant increment, nor was it a significant position. Granted I left the company shortly after. But the fact of the matter is, I was not in a financial position to accept that raise.
One could argue that things are improving, and this is an exceptional case. Me, I think only drastic change would bring that about.
I know this isn't the best place to be go on about our country, but if you're in Emmen anytime, look me up at Groothuis!
Undoubtedly navigating web pages was the reason that HTML was born.
However, if the tools for web development can expand and grow, is it too much to ask that you follow suit?
I do not mean to be disrespectful, but the major roadblock that programmers face when delving in Flash is the graphical aspect. Perhaps you are not artistically inclined. It is understandably agitating when gourmet code sits beneath a puddle of malformed vector objects. When the end result is pixellated snot, you obviously abuse the application and all it stands for.
But are you not acting out the role of the bad carpenter in this tooly affair?
I showed this post to my friend, and I had to physically restrain him from replying. I have shown you why Flash is a good option without resorting to vague threats involving guns, robots, or fanatics.
Remember, no two applications are the same. Only the person using them.
A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but now I find that people bear unjustified grudges against what is essentially a marriage between visual creativity and ingenuous coding.
:)
Here are a few excellent points I've borrowed from a close friend of mine who works for FlashMagazine.
- Flash is everywhere. For the web version of a game, 96% of the audience won't need to download anything except the game. More importantly, many people won't be able to install arbitrary ActiveX controls, or use a Java plugin, whereas Flash is preinstalled with Windows on corporate machines.
- Cost is essentially free - there is a small cost for the Flash IDE, but it's nearly free to distribute (just some minor licensing things to worry about that don't cost anything). Royalty-free licenses for decoders such as MP3 and Sorensen Spark are included.
- Ease of finding artists. There is a huge talent pool to draw from for creating art or animations for Flash, either on staff or contract.
- A gigantic community and secondary market. There are thousands of Flash related web sites with tutorials, articles, discussions. There are hundreds of Flash add-ons or components for sale.
- Easy copy-paste to test things out. Flash permits drag-and-drop or copy-paste from one FLA to another, and it automatically brings along any dependent objects into the new library. This can make it incredibly easy to try out quick ideas outside of the main game, and is the one case where it's worth using the debugger.
This makes it very attractive to most open source developers (my cousin being a very active member of the community).
Hope my little sermon converts a few disbelievers
I don't know why people keep knocking IE like this. The fact that SSL has been found wanting is hardly MS' fault. The problem is that the quoted survey indulges in bad statistical technique. When analysed with higher order trend analysis metrics, it has been proven that the techniques incorporated into IE7 actually *do* reduce the incidence of phishing sites being clicked; the problem is that as IE and windows get easier to use, you have stupider and stupider people getting online, so that the tendency to fall for a phishing scam swamps the effect of the purely technological measures.
In other words, everytime windows and IE get more idiotproof, bigger and better idiots saunter in and proceed to micturate all over it, themselves and the internet.
Actually the solution to the phishing problem is quite simple, and just requires a bit of buy-in from the domain registrars. What is needed is for every site on the web to certify itself with microsoft, so that MS becomes not just the de facto but the de jure gatekeeper of the world wide web.
I know linux fanboys will be throwing a fit around now, but that is simply their quasireligious zealotry blinding them to the fact that there are sound mathematical reasons for Microsoft to control access to website publishing. Linux and FOSS advocates notwithstanding, when you need real world solutions to real world problems, you can't beat a company that has poured so much money and PhDs into product research and development.
Did you know that NASA, in collusion with certain three-letter-acronym government organizations, has already developed a meteor shield?
Studies have proved that the shield is 98% effective (from outside the stratosphere) in deflecting stray bits of interstellar junk...it's a little-known offshoot of the old SDI initiative which most people thought went defunct long ago.
They just don't want to deploy it yet because they don't want canadians and spics getting free shielding at the expense of the US taxpayers.
Now I'm all for letting those idiots south of the border get what's coming to them, but the fact remains that we might not be able to develop a US-only shield fast enough to protect us from the next big strike. Besides, if we really wanted to protect *all* our american people, we'd also have to (shudder) shield iraq...and that's just not done.
HAHAHAHA.... you thought only jesys saves....well here"s news for yahttp://goatse.cx...../