Actually, most eMachines are shipping with ATI Rage 3D cards.
Now, would you like to back up your statement that the only going for the x86 platform is price? It seems like a rather broad statement to me, but even if you're only talking about the quality of the hardware itself, well, do explain.
Well, some Libertarians would say "The poor people don't need internet access or computers. They're certainly not necessary for life." And I would to some extent agree, but I unlike those Libertarians I wouldn't extend the argument to include the necessities of life.
So why is the Libertarian platform better? Well, first you have to realize that there is no "democrat plan." There are plenty of socially conservative democrats, just look at Joe Lieberman. And 99.999% of politicians will do anything to keep their power, ie. stay in office, ie. get people to vote for them. So if the general public opinion swings towards filtering the internet, any politician that wants to keep his position comes out (in varying degrees) in favor of censorship.
Second, if there is a "democrat plan," what happens when the republicans come into power? They're going to want to implement their plan, which will mean filters, which will mean fighting this battle again.
You can't escape the power-mongers and opressors and censors as long as you keep giving the government power. And that's the beauty of democracy, that you can decide that government should have the power to censor the internet, ever. The only party that wants to do that is the Libertarian party.
So to summarize, the Libertarian plan is to get rid of all the government plans, and let the individuals decide to give to library charities, or buy their own computers, or whatever.
Even further, you're even perfectly free to donate to your local library to install a pr0n-loaded computer accessible to minors.
IANAL, but that's not how I read it.
"...libraries and schools that take advantage of E-rate discounts... will have to adopt an Internet safety policy that incorporates use of filtering software on computers with Internet access.
It doesn't say "only on federally funded computers", it says if you receive funding you must install filters.
Because really it means that only rich schools have access to an uncensored internet.
Which is, as someone pointed out, almost all the schools that the congressman's children attend.
As long as the government is giving you money, you have to realize that whoever in power will probably put restrictions on how you use it.
It's an accepted method of pushing your agenda, and both parties do it. As long as the goverment is giving you money, be it controlled by demicans or republicrats, you're going to have to answer to them.
The solution? Vote Libertarian. The only way to be sure your money will go for what you feel is right is to not give it to the government. Any other way is to submit to the will of whatever bozo happens to be in charge.
Think about it. The Republican party wants you to do whatever you want with your money, as long as it's not "immoral". The Democrats want you to be able to do whatever you want, except use your money for what you feel is right. The Libertarians want to take the Government off your back socially and fiscally.
Libraries need to stop taking government funds. Otherwise we fight a new battle each time some power-hungry politician comes in with an agenda to push (which is every 2 years in the congress, 4 years in the whitehouse).
Hi, I'm not sure where you got that. What history books did you read? The ones I had put Ben Franklin on fairly even ground with Eli Whitney; both were dead white guys who invented stuff and neither was made out to be good or bad in the history books, as I recall.
My point had something to do with the futility of patents. Both had successful inventions, one patented, one didn't, and they ended up the same stature in the "neutral" gaze of the historians. However, now that we have this free software movement, we look up to Ben Franklin as having a superior character.
There. I've fleshed out my argument a little more for you, though its probably no more eloquent.
For all the focus on the whiz-bang of video and audio, Linux is severely lacking in easy control of thhe modern voice/fax/modem in a GUI environment.
How about we worry about getting most instances of "the modern voice/fax/modem" supported under linux, first, ie. Winmodems. *Then* worry about a fancy frontend for using them.
and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. whitney tried to hog his invention and failed anyway. Franklin shared the wealth and did well anyway. They both made it into the history books, but who looks like the nicer guy?
"You can't opt out" of this dance with the goddess, says Pamela McCorduck, an author on technology and society.
I would disagree. It's quite easy to opt out:<br>
<b>Don't buy the technology that offends you.</b> Read consumer-reports types reviews to find out what products won't.<p>
Go ask the former-Soviets how government regulation of science and technology works. They had all the resources the U.S. did except a free market, but look whose technology is more advanced.<p>
And yes, there is the "advanced does not mean better" argument, but if that's what you believe why are you on a computer reading this? Buggy software and VCRs blinking 12:00 are by no means necessary for life, and many do without them.<p>
The thing about computers is that the people who make them think pouring hours of time into using one is <i>fun</i>. The market's response to this was Apple's "Computers for the rest of us" slogan. I'm not sure if they succeeded, though.
Hey, as long as your summers are your own, you always have the option of taking a summer internship. While here at Drexel they have an entire staff that will hold your hand through the entire process and a coop-only job board that attracts hundreds of local companies, you *can* DIY.
The idea is surprisingly easy to pitch to companies, as it makes good business sense. Basically you say to whoever is in charge of Hiring, "Hey, here's my resume. Everything on here is something you can have me do for 1/3 the cost of having a salaried engineer do instead. I require little handholding, learn quickly, play well with others, etc. Plus once I graduate you'll have someone you already know and trust ready to come on full-time. Whaddya say?"
Do this 10 or 15 times and you're sure to get a couple bites. Be persistant! Even moreso that in a normal job market, you are really becoming a salesman whose product is himself (and a very marketable idea).
so good luck, and feel free to email me if you need any help.
p.s. fundamentals first is the way to go. trade school is for weenies;-)
Once you've got a reply that you really like, you save it somewhere, so you can grab it when needed. The next time someone asks the question, you insert the text file.
What I would really like to see is our representatives putting some actual content on their web pages--FAQs on their opinions on the latest issues. That way when they start getting tons of duplicate messages, they can use that wonderful 5-char response: RTFM!
If the FAQs were kept up-to-date, it would be a real benefit to democracy. Many times people don't realize that there is careful reasoning that goes into lawmakers' decisions that just doesn't occur to us. (and yes, sometimes that reasoning is planted in their ears in tandem with checks in their pockets, and sometimes there's no reasoning at all). But if our reprsentatives could tell us why they voted the way they did, without us having to sit through hours of CSPAN, that would be really cool, I think.
Here are Drexel (and I think RIT, too) we have a cooperative education program, or coop. Basically the students start out their freshman year with 3 quarters of classes (fall winter spring), take the summer off, then coming back their sophomore year they work at a real job for two quarters (six months) then go to school for two quarters for their sohphmore, pre-junior, and junior years. Then for their senior year they have three terms of classes again.
I find this is a great way to learn. There's so much more to CS than what comes from a book or a tenured academic. It also can expose you to fields you never thought about before; for example, I took a coop that wound me up writing code for the huge servers that control your cable TV.
Being at a school where everyone is supposed to be doing the coop program makes it easy because the classes are scheduled around different majors' coop cycles and you don't have to wrry about your course sequences getting messed up because you were out working when the one class you needed was being offered. But since most universities haven't caught on to this, I would suggest going out and trying to get a summer internship. There's simply no substitute for real life experience.
Now, as for the academic side, I would give students the opportunity to wrk at their own pace whenever possible. Let them test out of classes if they're learning fine on their own. My school starts students our with a term of HTML, javascript, and "computing fundamentals", which was a complete waste of time for me. But they forced EVERYONE to take it. Luckily the next term was intro to C++ and you had the option of placing out of it and into Data Structures. Yummy stacks, tasty queues, delicious doubly-linked lists!.
why would they kill it when they could make tons of money selling it?
Aren't they ceasing production of the original playstation, anyway? If they keep producing the emulator it would simply allow them to keep selling and collecting licensing fees on playstation games.
All further emulation development for the PlayStation(R) game console will proceed under the auspices of the joint agreement.
This is a great move for Sony. Harware margins are razor thin, if they're not selling their consoles at a loss.
The real money is made on software, which was until now the games. (This is why Sega has been moving out of the hardware market, they can't compete with juggernauts like Sony.)
But now Sony can bring in software-level margins on both the game system and the games!
Plus we can all keep playing our playstation games on our PCs, with an improved emulator, even. Am I being overly optimistic, or does everyone win with this deal?
The Net and the Web have revolutionized certain areas like academic and scientific research. But they've done little to eradicate illiteracy or poverty, or alter education for most students. The search for virtual community remains ephemeral.
Well if you think about it...
Unlike TV, radio, and movies, to use the Net as a source for entertainment and infomation requires the ability to read. I wonder if, as the current generation of schoolchildern grows up and the internet becomes widespread in schools, libraries, and homes, we will see an increase in literacy.
But even if it doesn't (though I think it will), why should it? Prehaps we should expect the net to end world hunger and bring peace to the middle east as well? The net is just another medium for the transfer of information. Ridiculously high expectations is what created the dotcom bust to begin with.
Now how we have had "revolutions in academic and scientific research" but no changes in "education for most students" is beyond me. Even when I was in high school I was able to access research materials on the net that I would not have had access to otherwise.
And the "search for virtual community"? What with the comment about moderation in his last post, this makes me think that Katz is becoming disillusioned with slashdot, maybe? Face it, John, the Net is simply not your place. Leave it to the younger generation; I interact with hundreds of people online each day through listservs, IRC, and even webboards like slashdot. Some of them I would even call friends...
Ephemeral community, indeed!
apologies for the rant, but that's my two cents.
People need to get over the whole "revolution thing", and use the net for the tool that it is.
More publicity on the need for Crypto
on
Crypto
·
· Score: 3
Today's Philadelphia Inquirer had a good article on PGP, including quotes from Phil Zimmermann.
"We've had trouble getting PGP employed across the breadth of society," Philip Zimmermann, the inventor of PGP, lamented. "There needs to be more consciousness raised about privacy, but ease of use certainly has been a factor."
It's always good to see this getting public exposure, and they did a good job of raising the standard privacy concerns (doctors and patients need privacy and therefore encryption, for one), although the article wasn't as enthusiastic about encryption as I would have liked.
i would disagree with your analysis, because after he makes that generality, he goes on to (accurately) say that the net revolution never really had any leaders or followers, in the traditional sense.
he then goes on to say "This fluid, leaderless revolutionary movement has driven Congress, academics, journalists and parents nearly mad", which seems to be his real point. But so what? The pundits are mad because their jobs suddenly got harder. The PTBs are mad because they lost some of their Power?
Who cares? I won't say it would be impossible to separate the internet from the great democratizing force that it has now, but it would be difficult, I think.
The boundless idealism was going to have to even out eventually, but that won't change the basic, underlying principles of the net. And judging from UIDs, I'd say I've been reading/. longer than you, but regardless I know that Slashdot readers have always seen Katz for the hack he is.
If free beer is all that's keeping on the net, then get off already. But Free Speech is here to stay.
Slashdot Mirror
Now, would you like to back up your statement that the only going for the x86 platform is price? It seems like a rather broad statement to me, but even if you're only talking about the quality of the hardware itself, well, do explain.
Has it been that long?? Has everyone forgotten the Communications Decency Act?
We've fought this kind of censorship off before with a massive grassroots effort, and the online community is now more massive than ever.
Bring back the blue ribbons, that's what I say!
So why is the Libertarian platform better?
Well, first you have to realize that there is no "democrat plan." There are plenty of socially conservative democrats, just look at Joe Lieberman. And 99.999% of politicians will do anything to keep their power, ie. stay in office, ie. get people to vote for them. So if the general public opinion swings towards filtering the internet, any politician that wants to keep his position comes out (in varying degrees) in favor of censorship.
Second, if there is a "democrat plan," what happens when the republicans come into power? They're going to want to implement their plan, which will mean filters, which will mean fighting this battle again.
You can't escape the power-mongers and opressors and censors as long as you keep giving the government power. And that's the beauty of democracy, that you can decide that government should have the power to censor the internet, ever. The only party that wants to do that is the Libertarian party.
So to summarize, the Libertarian plan is to get rid of all the government plans, and let the individuals decide to give to library charities, or buy their own computers, or whatever.
IANAL, but that's not how I read it.
It doesn't say "only on federally funded computers", it says if you receive funding you must install filters.
Because really it means that only rich schools have access to an uncensored internet.
Which is, as someone pointed out, almost all the schools that the congressman's children attend.
It's an accepted method of pushing your agenda, and both parties do it. As long as the goverment is giving you money, be it controlled by demicans or republicrats, you're going to have to answer to them.
The solution? Vote Libertarian. The only way to be sure your money will go for what you feel is right is to not give it to the government. Any other way is to submit to the will of whatever bozo happens to be in charge.
Think about it. The Republican party wants you to do whatever you want with your money, as long as it's not "immoral". The Democrats want you to be able to do whatever you want, except use your money for what you feel is right. The Libertarians want to take the Government off your back socially and fiscally.
Libraries need to stop taking government funds. Otherwise we fight a new battle each time some power-hungry politician comes in with an agenda to push (which is every 2 years in the congress, 4 years in the whitehouse).
My point had something to do with the futility of patents. Both had successful inventions, one patented, one didn't, and they ended up the same stature in the "neutral" gaze of the historians.
However, now that we have this free software movement, we look up to Ben Franklin as having a superior character.
There. I've fleshed out my argument a little more for you, though its probably no more eloquent.
How about we worry about getting most instances of "the modern voice/fax/modem" supported under linux, first, ie. Winmodems. *Then* worry about a fancy frontend for using them.
and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. whitney tried to hog his invention and failed anyway.
Franklin shared the wealth and did well anyway.
They both made it into the history books, but who looks like the nicer guy?
I would disagree. It's quite easy to opt out:<br>
<b>Don't buy the technology that offends you.</b> Read consumer-reports types reviews to find out what products won't.<p>
Go ask the former-Soviets how government regulation of science and technology works. They had all the resources the U.S. did except a free market, but look whose technology is more advanced.<p>
And yes, there is the "advanced does not mean better" argument, but if that's what you believe why are you on a computer reading this? Buggy software and VCRs blinking 12:00 are by no means necessary for life, and many do without them.<p>
The thing about computers is that the people who make them think pouring hours of time into using one is <i>fun</i>. The market's response to this was Apple's "Computers for the rest of us" slogan. I'm not sure if they succeeded, though.
The idea is surprisingly easy to pitch to companies, as it makes good business sense. Basically you say to whoever is in charge of Hiring, "Hey, here's my resume. Everything on here is something you can have me do for 1/3 the cost of having a salaried engineer do instead. I require little handholding, learn quickly, play well with others, etc. Plus once I graduate you'll have someone you already know and trust ready to come on full-time. Whaddya say?"
Do this 10 or 15 times and you're sure to get a couple bites. Be persistant! Even moreso that in a normal job market, you are really becoming a salesman whose product is himself (and a very marketable idea).
so good luck, and feel free to email me if you need any help.
p.s. fundamentals first is the way to go. trade school is for weenies ;-)
What I would really like to see is our representatives putting some actual content on their web pages--FAQs on their opinions on the latest issues. That way when they start getting tons of duplicate messages, they can use that wonderful 5-char response: RTFM!
If the FAQs were kept up-to-date, it would be a real benefit to democracy. Many times people don't realize that there is careful reasoning that goes into lawmakers' decisions that just doesn't occur to us. (and yes, sometimes that reasoning is planted in their ears in tandem with checks in their pockets, and sometimes there's no reasoning at all). But if our reprsentatives could tell us why they voted the way they did, without us having to sit through hours of CSPAN, that would be really cool, I think.
I find this is a great way to learn. There's so much more to CS than what comes from a book or a tenured academic. It also can expose you to fields you never thought about before; for example, I took a coop that wound me up writing code for the huge servers that control your cable TV.
Being at a school where everyone is supposed to be doing the coop program makes it easy because the classes are scheduled around different majors' coop cycles and you don't have to wrry about your course sequences getting messed up because you were out working when the one class you needed was being offered.
But since most universities haven't caught on to this, I would suggest going out and trying to get a summer internship.
There's simply no substitute for real life experience.
Now, as for the academic side, I would give students the opportunity to wrk at their own pace whenever possible. Let them test out of classes if they're learning fine on their own. My school starts students our with a term of HTML, javascript, and "computing fundamentals", which was a complete waste of time for me. But they forced EVERYONE to take it. Luckily the next term was intro to C++ and you had the option of placing out of it and into Data Structures. Yummy stacks, tasty queues, delicious doubly-linked lists!.
http://www.drexel.edu/IRT/wireless/
You do have to register your NIC with the IRT, presumably to keep just anyone from leaching off our fiber backbone.
why would they kill it when they could make tons of money selling it? Aren't they ceasing production of the original playstation, anyway? If they keep producing the emulator it would simply allow them to keep selling and collecting licensing fees on playstation games.
This is a great move for Sony. Harware margins are razor thin, if they're not selling their consoles at a loss.
The real money is made on software, which was until now the games. (This is why Sega has been moving out of the hardware market, they can't compete with juggernauts like Sony.)
But now Sony can bring in software-level margins on both the game system and the games!
Plus we can all keep playing our playstation games on our PCs, with an improved emulator, even.
Am I being overly optimistic, or does everyone win with this deal?
Whereas:
Mike Roberts today completes his service as ICANN's first President and Chief Executive Office...
As a direct result of his efforts ICANN as now universally acclaimed as "not as bad as it could be";
I mean, hey, at least they don't take themselves too seriously up there in their cathedral!
We've seen ICANN abuse its authority before; who is limiting the debate on issues really going to help?
it's a mnemonic for Pi. it's also an extremely insightful statement on its own, I believe ;-)
The Net and the Web have revolutionized certain areas like academic and scientific research. But they've done little to eradicate illiteracy or poverty, or alter education for most students. The search for virtual community remains ephemeral. Well if you think about it... Unlike TV, radio, and movies, to use the Net as a source for entertainment and infomation requires the ability to read. I wonder if, as the current generation of schoolchildern grows up and the internet becomes widespread in schools, libraries, and homes, we will see an increase in literacy. But even if it doesn't (though I think it will), why should it? Prehaps we should expect the net to end world hunger and bring peace to the middle east as well? The net is just another medium for the transfer of information. Ridiculously high expectations is what created the dotcom bust to begin with. Now how we have had "revolutions in academic and scientific research" but no changes in "education for most students" is beyond me. Even when I was in high school I was able to access research materials on the net that I would not have had access to otherwise. And the "search for virtual community"? What with the comment about moderation in his last post, this makes me think that Katz is becoming disillusioned with slashdot, maybe? Face it, John, the Net is simply not your place. Leave it to the younger generation; I interact with hundreds of people online each day through listservs, IRC, and even webboards like slashdot. Some of them I would even call friends... Ephemeral community, indeed! apologies for the rant, but that's my two cents. People need to get over the whole "revolution thing", and use the net for the tool that it is.
It's always good to see this getting public exposure, and they did a good job of raising the standard privacy concerns (doctors and patients need privacy and therefore encryption, for one), although the article wasn't as enthusiastic about encryption as I would have liked.
my apologies
I was at New York 2000 and it was great fun. BSD girls, mmmmmmm.
he then goes on to say "This fluid, leaderless revolutionary movement has driven Congress, academics, journalists and parents nearly mad", which seems to be his real point. But so what? The pundits are mad because their jobs suddenly got harder. The PTBs are mad because they lost some of their Power?
Who cares? I won't say it would be impossible to separate the internet from the great democratizing force that it has now, but it would be difficult, I think.
The boundless idealism was going to have to even out eventually, but that won't change the basic, underlying principles of the net. And judging from UIDs, I'd say I've been reading /. longer than you, but regardless I know that Slashdot readers have always seen Katz for the hack he is.
If free beer is all that's keeping on the net, then get off already. But Free Speech is here to stay.
true, true.
they're doing the same thing with Windows Media Server.