I ask, what in the world does having a computer do to enhance one's education? About the only thing I used my computer for was writing essays, because I type faster than I write. Unfortunatly, I really can't spell very well because I learned to rely on the spell checker too much. I've found that going on-line to look at an encyclopedia is a pretty good waste of time, because all I have to do to get the same information is go out to my living room, and page through all the Time-Life books and Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia that I have. In fact, I usually find something else of intrest when paging though a book that I would have missed if I had just requested a certain article on-line.
There's nothing dumbed-down about current textbooks. Sure, some of them have mistakes, but that should be easilly corrected by a teacher (the teacher's ability to do so is an entirely different debate). Besides, what do you really need current material for anyway? What's changed about the fundamentals of reading or science or mathematics in the past twenty years? I guarantee, nothing that a basic, well-rounded education should be concerned about. (For example, science has changed a few things, but a cation is still a cation.)
There's no excuse for schools' being slaves to textbooks. I had an excellent calculus teacher my senior year. Finding our textbook unsatisfactory for teaching things like the meal value theorem, she got a separate workbook which worked rather well.
The fact of the matter is that if a pupil wants to become educated, he has to do the work himself. The only thing having a computer changes is less money in the school's budget.
Remember, though, who is responsible for all that garbage. What drives the "artists" to produce the junk you hear over the radio? What could motivate them to keep up what they probably know is immoral and wrong. What could prossibly turn a business into a government? The only force powerful enough to do that is stupid people in large numbers.
Are you kidding? The public loves that trash! Eating it by the repititive record is pure bliss for the public! The "artists" have listened to their audience well, and the uncreative shouting they call music is what they want. It's simple supply and demand: the public wants trash and the artists give them trash.
Keep in mind that a national market means national competition. Garage bands that actually put creatitivity and pasion into their music just don't have that same formula that the "artists" do. They get trampled. Their fight is hopeless -- the public's made up its mind.
The problem with things like complex science and politics is that they just are as entertaining as hearing someone shout "fuck you" for five minutes times fifteen songs on a CD. If people were interested in scientific development, there would be demand and therefor money in science. If people cared about politics, there would be demand for good politicians there too. If people were interested in education as personally as they are interested in their music, teachers would be making easially over one hundred thousand dollars per year. But, there's no demand, so there's no money.
To even out the score, you either have to raise the intelligence level of the public, or use communism. Good luck with the former, and the latter has yet to be implemented correctly among humans because of the former.
Ok, I know that there have been several posts pointing this out already, but I have something more to add. Even though I've completed my training as a Linux Knight by building my own distro, I still consider myself an average user. I play games and surf the web for pictures of anime babes and download songs off of napster (all hail Gnapster!) and all that other whatnot. However, I still have yet to come to a site that I can't get at with Konqueror. My own personal experience is that everything is available. Sure, I can't see stupid shockwave intros, but then I just click through with skip shockwave intro. Flash works fine, as does Java 2. I honestly don't understand where the naysayers are browsing under Linux (or KDE at least) that they can't see the web with Linux.
If nanotechnology were real and we could actually copy things, it would be an apocolypse. There would be no need for any kind of work any more. You want food, say "Let there be food," and there's food.
This if fundamentaly different from Napster, because it reverses the the curse placed on Adam and Eve. With Napster, artists who need the money to buy food don't get it. With nanocopying, there's no need to have money.
But, then again, I'm sure we can all count on corporate greed to obfuscate that obviousness, and we'll all get horribly entangled in weird copypatent laws.
Ok, let me get this straight. Micro$oft says that the ECMA will protect its "copyright" or whatever. However, ECMA says that it'll do no such thing. Is it just me or is Micro$oft just acting immature and trying to intimidate Ximian by making stuff up. It's just like being back in middle school:(.
By the way, as said in so many other posts, why is Ximian even trying to clone this? Everyone already knows Java, so why doesn't Ximian trump that? Ximian could get Micro$oft to shoot itself in the foot by trying to get developers to learn another language for a platform that people have to rent!
I think it's a great idea to install Norton Antivirus. If I were at that University, I would gladly install it on my arcade-mode Windows 95 boot. (But then again, I don't trust anything personal to Windblowz.)
But don't force anyone to install the software, or disallow alternate operating systems. I would sooner take my computer back home and use good old pencil and paper than be forced to use Windblows.
Well, why couldn't you just do something like <p style="language:German">blahblahblah</p>. Boku mean, wirklich, how many mal versuche people to schreib in tres languages at the selbe time, ne?
Thank God the Government isn't trying to tell us all what to use -- they actually have enforcement.
Re:in their business section...
on
Shared Source?
·
· Score: 1
Of course this is a PR move. Can't you just smell the BS wafting from their page? There is absolutely nothing substantial about this! So what if Microsoft releases their source code to 31337 h4x0rs that pay for it? It doesn't change anything!
It's kind of sad, but this kind of BS is what makes America America. If we couldn't come up with three thousand 31337 ways of selling the same old snake oil, capatilism would fail. People can't think for themselves -- either some corporation has to do it for them, or a government. Be happy that it's only Microsoft, who has no enforcement, that's doing the thinking insted of good old Big Brother, who has enough enforcement to make you want to throw up. As long as a corporation is thinking for the morons, we'll be free to think on our own. Governments don't only think for morons, they think for smart people as well.
That's how zero-tolerance policies work. Yes they're totally unfair. Yes they're totally illogical. Yes they really don't do anything about the underlying problem. And yes it's usually the people who want this kind of crap.
After all, there's too much corruptin' going on! Corruptin' out there evrawhaz! Why, can't even go down to Wenday Aftanuun SQUARE DANCIN' theyas soooooo much CORUPTIN'. Gotta do somethin about it! Sooo much CORRUPTIN' it's CORRUPTIN' MEEE! Haw! Don't know what we're gonna do but we gotta do SEOMTHING!!!!
It doesn't have to be that way. Open Source advocated simply need to abandon Linux and create a new OS from scratch with the focus on flashy graphics, gaming, same stability, and an equally cute logo.
There is a very good reason why people use Windows: It's easy to use. Right now, I can't print from my Linux box because the print system is too cryptic. There is nothing for me to drapg and drop; and it doesn't help that I can't browse my local network with something like network neighborhood. When I configured my little brother's computer to print, all I had to do was Add a New Printer, type in the URL, and Windows hooked me up. I didn't even need a driver disk; it downloaded the drivers from the other computer automatically. I must have spent over ten hours trying to figure out what's wrong; my Linux box just decided to stop printing one day when I re-installed Windows (grr) on the server computer. Printing shouldn't have to be and doesn't have to be so hard.
In short, quit complaining about how big and bad Microsoft is. They have so much market for one simple reason: you don't need a computer science degree to make Windows work.
Gaming is a big issue for Linux. Until people can play Quake III on Linux at a reasonable framerate (I have a Voodoo 5 AGP card and Quake runs at about two seconds/frame on my box, but 60 fps on Windows). Hopefully the new improvements in kernel 2.4 and X 4.0 will make gaming feasable, but it is too little too late. Windows has the market not because its nice to develop for, but because the game will actually run nicely.
Besides, Linux processes are weak, they die with one kill! Windows processes are where its at: they never die!!$@#^%$*^%#^%$@^%
What is an operating system, though? An operating system is a piece of software that enables a computer to work. It's not just a kernel, or device drivers, or a file system. An operating system is much more; it defines a user's experience.
What are computers supposed to do, though? They are meant for business and entertainment. People want to edit text on a computer, browse the web, check their email, play games, listen to music, and even compose music. If a computer can't do those things, it's not working.
An operating system should come with software to do all that like any Linux distribution. All that Microsoft is doing here is the same thing as RedHat, for example, but I would hate to have to pay for all the extra liscenses to include a hundred word processers, twleve music players, and God knows how many web browsers from companies who need to make money. The important difference is that Microsoft and most companies that develop for Windows make money; Linux-based OSes are maintained primiarily by volunteers who don't need the money.
These companies who are cowering at Microsoft's new products should maybe start making Linux a better desktop OS instead of whining to the government.
I really don't understand the argument against bundling IE with Windows -- having a good (and don't get me wrong, IE 5.5 is the best browser for most users on Windows) browser is as essential to a complete operating system as a word processor. How can one complain about an excellent browser that's bundeled for FREE that you don't even have to use if you don't want to. If I had to pay for the browser, I would simply use Mozilla on Windows like I do on Linux.
People drive the Windows car because it's easy to drive and has a consistent look and feel. On my linux box, I normally use three different widget sets and see about five different save/load dialog boxes. Imagine if you bought a car with a dial for a speedometer, a digital fuel gauge, a joystick for a steering wheel, a knob for a gas peddle, and a button for brakes. It wouldn't make any sense.
There is nothing inherently bad in Microsoft putting things in their operating system for free, because it's a free market. Microsoft is free to do whatever they want, but third parties are free to do whatever they want. If third parties can't handle it, maybe its time they pooled their resources and help give Linux, or whatever your favorite alternative OS is, some consistency and good applications instead of whining about what the big, bad Microsoft is doing to put them out of business.
Are j00 kidding?! Mozilla r00lz! 3y3'm using it right now! J00 just can't beat the Modern theme; of course EarlyBlue r00lz too. The theme whose name I forget can even make Mozilla act like Opera! Oh, sorry, I'll keep my 31337 features to myself.
I believe that the most important part of the question was personal experiences from end users. Slashdot seems as good a place as ever to research that.
Well, that's probably what windoze users have some many problems with that.
But, OTOH I haven't ever had an RPM, InstallShield, WISE installer, TAR, custom installer, or anything else hose either my windoze arcade mode boot or my linux actually-get-something-done boot.
There is perfect reason to carry around a gun in a urban or otherwise population. Where I live, a community of about thrity thousand on the west coast of Michigan, it takes the police about ten minutes to get anywhere. Although I don't know for sure, I imagine that the figure is about the same at the ironically named Santana High (discounting the school's security). A person who is properly trained in the usage of a gun can actually help prevent deaths in a school shooting. This happened to be the case with the cops that showed up after two people were dead and thirteen injured. As far as I can tell there was nothing especially 31337 that the cops did except fill out the paperwork that made everything official and make the arrest. Any administrator or teacher could have prevented at least one of those deaths and a couple of those injuries.
As far as the security at Santana High that was there at all times, I have no idea what happened, but I'm guessing that people hired as part of a PR gig probably weren't trained well nor prepared to actually wield their weapons.
The problem with the society in the States runs much deeper than access to firearms. It more has to do, imho, with a Christian establishment that seems so focused on wealth that I'm beginning to think that the name of their god is Mammon. The only thing the majority of people here care about is how to make the most money the fastest. There is no interest in enlightenment or brotherly love -- most people would sooner send sizeable amounts of money all over the world to teach heathens the word of their god than spend half that much on problems plauging their own communities. The problem is mostly people who come up with convoluted things like graduated driver's liscensing to curb reckless driving, yet can't see where the teenagers ever leared such atrocious driving from. It's people who use things like dress codes and school officials' powers to keep their children from dessing like sluts instead of instilling basic self-respect themselves. This entire problem of violence is so prevalent in the States because children imbibe a lack of value for human life from an older generation that just doesn't care.
As for myself, because I don't think that I could ever be prepared to defend myself or stop time until the cops arrive, I take comfort in the fact that so many people who are at least well-trained in the deadly arts are around me.
Re:It goes against reason, check your bible !
on
New Human Ancestor?
·
· Score: 1
I think that evolution is true, and I don't consider it an insult. Just because something was ignorant or ignoble once doesn't mean that it always is. Why, there was a time when all of us couldn't understand a single word of English or German or Japanese or which ever language you prefer, but clearly we have come to be better than that. It is the same way with the species in general -- it has greatly improved, but it did have humble beginnings. I would hardly consider your averge slashdotter to be no better than a two-year-old simply because he was once. (And in that sense has was personally -- no one's ever personally been a monkey.)
My Bible has a lot of thing in it that don't make sense, either. If Jesus' lineage can be traced from Adam in one page, how can there be compeling evidence from both carbon dating and geology that the Earth is much more than five thousand years old? My own estimates show that the dimensions of Noah's Ark in no way could have allowed for the welfare of two of every species. The stance taken on homosexuality in the sense that those afflicted with it necessairly go to Hell doesn't seem correct or fair, either. Those are three that come to mind off of the top of my head -- if I were to consult my Bible I could probably go on for pages about mistranslations and other logical inconsistancies.
However, I must confess that I do know a lot of people that do seem to act like monkeys!
Socialization is a good idea, but be careful which group he socializes with. There's no way he can relate to his normal peer group and no way they can relate to him. If his normal peer group is anything like mine, all he'll probably get from them is an incredible feeling of loneliness, and he might forget his intelligence and think of himself as failed at the game of life.
If there's a program for extremely talented kids like Path and the Midwest Talent Search, he should take it and get introduced to all the other smart kids in his area. True, he needs charisma, but I doubt that his peer group will teach him anything but how to withdraw into an adamant shell until he can lay on his bed at home and ask a silent God why he's an outcast. He will learn much more about social interaction by being around other children who, if not commensurate with his talent, at least aren't going to throw him away for lack of machismo.
Unless his gift extends into the gym and still allows him to play macho head games unlike mine, his normal peer group will only be a poison that eats at his soul until there's nothing left.
I didn't think that it would take long before there would be a story about a filter company using filters for their own agenda. I think you're absolutely right. If this isn't taken before the general public, these companies will just block out any sites they don't agree with and call it nudity.
Imho, the only way to introduce accountability here is by educating the consumers that the only thing they're buying with filters is a false sense of security and some thought police.
Slashdot Mirror
I ask, what in the world does having a computer do to enhance one's education? About the only thing I used my computer for was writing essays, because I type faster than I write. Unfortunatly, I really can't spell very well because I learned to rely on the spell checker too much. I've found that going on-line to look at an encyclopedia is a pretty good waste of time, because all I have to do to get the same information is go out to my living room, and page through all the Time-Life books and Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia that I have. In fact, I usually find something else of intrest when paging though a book that I would have missed if I had just requested a certain article on-line.
There's nothing dumbed-down about current textbooks. Sure, some of them have mistakes, but that should be easilly corrected by a teacher (the teacher's ability to do so is an entirely different debate). Besides, what do you really need current material for anyway? What's changed about the fundamentals of reading or science or mathematics in the past twenty years? I guarantee, nothing that a basic, well-rounded education should be concerned about. (For example, science has changed a few things, but a cation is still a cation.)
There's no excuse for schools' being slaves to textbooks. I had an excellent calculus teacher my senior year. Finding our textbook unsatisfactory for teaching things like the meal value theorem, she got a separate workbook which worked rather well.
The fact of the matter is that if a pupil wants to become educated, he has to do the work himself. The only thing having a computer changes is less money in the school's budget.
Remember, though, who is responsible for all that garbage. What drives the "artists" to produce the junk you hear over the radio? What could motivate them to keep up what they probably know is immoral and wrong. What could prossibly turn a business into a government? The only force powerful enough to do that is stupid people in large numbers.
Are you kidding? The public loves that trash! Eating it by the repititive record is pure bliss for the public! The "artists" have listened to their audience well, and the uncreative shouting they call music is what they want. It's simple supply and demand: the public wants trash and the artists give them trash.
Keep in mind that a national market means national competition. Garage bands that actually put creatitivity and pasion into their music just don't have that same formula that the "artists" do. They get trampled. Their fight is hopeless -- the public's made up its mind.
The problem with things like complex science and politics is that they just are as entertaining as hearing someone shout "fuck you" for five minutes times fifteen songs on a CD. If people were interested in scientific development, there would be demand and therefor money in science. If people cared about politics, there would be demand for good politicians there too. If people were interested in education as personally as they are interested in their music, teachers would be making easially over one hundred thousand dollars per year. But, there's no demand, so there's no money.
To even out the score, you either have to raise the intelligence level of the public, or use communism. Good luck with the former, and the latter has yet to be implemented correctly among humans because of the former.
Ok, I know that there have been several posts pointing this out already, but I have something more to add. Even though I've completed my training as a Linux Knight by building my own distro, I still consider myself an average user. I play games and surf the web for pictures of anime babes and download songs off of napster (all hail Gnapster!) and all that other whatnot. However, I still have yet to come to a site that I can't get at with Konqueror. My own personal experience is that everything is available. Sure, I can't see stupid shockwave intros, but then I just click through with skip shockwave intro. Flash works fine, as does Java 2. I honestly don't understand where the naysayers are browsing under Linux (or KDE at least) that they can't see the web with Linux.
If nanotechnology were real and we could actually copy things, it would be an apocolypse. There would be no need for any kind of work any more. You want food, say "Let there be food," and there's food.
This if fundamentaly different from Napster, because it reverses the the curse placed on Adam and Eve. With Napster, artists who need the money to buy food don't get it. With nanocopying, there's no need to have money.
But, then again, I'm sure we can all count on corporate greed to obfuscate that obviousness, and we'll all get horribly entangled in weird copypatent laws.
Ok, let me get this straight. Micro$oft says that the ECMA will protect its "copyright" or whatever. However, ECMA says that it'll do no such thing. Is it just me or is Micro$oft just acting immature and trying to intimidate Ximian by making stuff up. It's just like being back in middle school :(.
By the way, as said in so many other posts, why is Ximian even trying to clone this? Everyone already knows Java, so why doesn't Ximian trump that? Ximian could get Micro$oft to shoot itself in the foot by trying to get developers to learn another language for a platform that people have to rent!
View this image from the Microsoft site about .net. At least it's pointed up!
I think it's a great idea to install Norton Antivirus. If I were at that University, I would gladly install it on my arcade-mode Windows 95 boot. (But then again, I don't trust anything personal to Windblowz.)
But don't force anyone to install the software, or disallow alternate operating systems. I would sooner take my computer back home and use good old pencil and paper than be forced to use Windblows.
Cool! It'll be just like Final Fantasy! I wonder if they'll have the cool propellers on the ship too. Although then wouln't it be Final Reality?
Well, why couldn't you just do something like <p style="language:German">blahblahblah</p>. Boku mean, wirklich, how many mal versuche people to schreib in tres languages at the selbe time, ne?
I used to care about what was cool. I tried to be 31337. I had magic cards -- are you kidding? Pogs r00l, d00dz!
Then I entered high school.
You don't have to use Micro$oft's products.
Thank God the Government isn't trying to tell us all what to use -- they actually have enforcement.
Of course this is a PR move. Can't you just smell the BS wafting from their page? There is absolutely nothing substantial about this! So what if Microsoft releases their source code to 31337 h4x0rs that pay for it? It doesn't change anything!
It's kind of sad, but this kind of BS is what makes America America. If we couldn't come up with three thousand 31337 ways of selling the same old snake oil, capatilism would fail. People can't think for themselves -- either some corporation has to do it for them, or a government. Be happy that it's only Microsoft, who has no enforcement, that's doing the thinking insted of good old Big Brother, who has enough enforcement to make you want to throw up. As long as a corporation is thinking for the morons, we'll be free to think on our own. Governments don't only think for morons, they think for smart people as well.
That's how zero-tolerance policies work. Yes they're totally unfair. Yes they're totally illogical. Yes they really don't do anything about the underlying problem. And yes it's usually the people who want this kind of crap.
After all, there's too much corruptin' going on! Corruptin' out there evrawhaz! Why, can't even go down to Wenday Aftanuun SQUARE DANCIN' theyas soooooo much CORUPTIN'. Gotta do somethin about it! Sooo much CORRUPTIN' it's CORRUPTIN' MEEE! Haw! Don't know what we're gonna do but we gotta do SEOMTHING!!!!
It doesn't have to be that way. Open Source advocated simply need to abandon Linux and create a new OS from scratch with the focus on flashy graphics, gaming, same stability, and an equally cute logo.
There is a very good reason why people use Windows: It's easy to use. Right now, I can't print from my Linux box because the print system is too cryptic. There is nothing for me to drapg and drop; and it doesn't help that I can't browse my local network with something like network neighborhood. When I configured my little brother's computer to print, all I had to do was Add a New Printer, type in the URL, and Windows hooked me up. I didn't even need a driver disk; it downloaded the drivers from the other computer automatically. I must have spent over ten hours trying to figure out what's wrong; my Linux box just decided to stop printing one day when I re-installed Windows (grr) on the server computer. Printing shouldn't have to be and doesn't have to be so hard.
In short, quit complaining about how big and bad Microsoft is. They have so much market for one simple reason: you don't need a computer science degree to make Windows work.
Gaming is a big issue for Linux. Until people can play Quake III on Linux at a reasonable framerate (I have a Voodoo 5 AGP card and Quake runs at about two seconds/frame on my box, but 60 fps on Windows). Hopefully the new improvements in kernel 2.4 and X 4.0 will make gaming feasable, but it is too little too late. Windows has the market not because its nice to develop for, but because the game will actually run nicely.
Besides, Linux processes are weak, they die with one kill! Windows processes are where its at: they never die!!$@#^%$*^%#^%$@^%
What is an operating system, though? An operating system is a piece of software that enables a computer to work. It's not just a kernel, or device drivers, or a file system. An operating system is much more; it defines a user's experience.
What are computers supposed to do, though? They are meant for business and entertainment. People want to edit text on a computer, browse the web, check their email, play games, listen to music, and even compose music. If a computer can't do those things, it's not working.
An operating system should come with software to do all that like any Linux distribution. All that Microsoft is doing here is the same thing as RedHat, for example, but I would hate to have to pay for all the extra liscenses to include a hundred word processers, twleve music players, and God knows how many web browsers from companies who need to make money. The important difference is that Microsoft and most companies that develop for Windows make money; Linux-based OSes are maintained primiarily by volunteers who don't need the money.
These companies who are cowering at Microsoft's new products should maybe start making Linux a better desktop OS instead of whining to the government.
I really don't understand the argument against bundling IE with Windows -- having a good (and don't get me wrong, IE 5.5 is the best browser for most users on Windows) browser is as essential to a complete operating system as a word processor. How can one complain about an excellent browser that's bundeled for FREE that you don't even have to use if you don't want to. If I had to pay for the browser, I would simply use Mozilla on Windows like I do on Linux.
People drive the Windows car because it's easy to drive and has a consistent look and feel. On my linux box, I normally use three different widget sets and see about five different save/load dialog boxes. Imagine if you bought a car with a dial for a speedometer, a digital fuel gauge, a joystick for a steering wheel, a knob for a gas peddle, and a button for brakes. It wouldn't make any sense.
There is nothing inherently bad in Microsoft putting things in their operating system for free, because it's a free market. Microsoft is free to do whatever they want, but third parties are free to do whatever they want. If third parties can't handle it, maybe its time they pooled their resources and help give Linux, or whatever your favorite alternative OS is, some consistency and good applications instead of whining about what the big, bad Microsoft is doing to put them out of business.
Are j00 kidding?! Mozilla r00lz! 3y3'm using it right now! J00 just can't beat the Modern theme; of course EarlyBlue r00lz too. The theme whose name I forget can even make Mozilla act like Opera! Oh, sorry, I'll keep my 31337 features to myself.
Aren't all criminals anonymous until they're caught? The Frist Amendment doesn't apply to anything like "misleading investors."
I believe that the most important part of the question was personal experiences from end users. Slashdot seems as good a place as ever to research that.
Well, that's probably what windoze users have some many problems with that.
But, OTOH I haven't ever had an RPM, InstallShield, WISE installer, TAR, custom installer, or anything else hose either my windoze arcade mode boot or my linux actually-get-something-done boot.
mmm, yes, you are stupid and Canadian :)
There is perfect reason to carry around a gun in a urban or otherwise population. Where I live, a community of about thrity thousand on the west coast of Michigan, it takes the police about ten minutes to get anywhere. Although I don't know for sure, I imagine that the figure is about the same at the ironically named Santana High (discounting the school's security). A person who is properly trained in the usage of a gun can actually help prevent deaths in a school shooting. This happened to be the case with the cops that showed up after two people were dead and thirteen injured. As far as I can tell there was nothing especially 31337 that the cops did except fill out the paperwork that made everything official and make the arrest. Any administrator or teacher could have prevented at least one of those deaths and a couple of those injuries.
As far as the security at Santana High that was there at all times, I have no idea what happened, but I'm guessing that people hired as part of a PR gig probably weren't trained well nor prepared to actually wield their weapons.
The problem with the society in the States runs much deeper than access to firearms. It more has to do, imho, with a Christian establishment that seems so focused on wealth that I'm beginning to think that the name of their god is Mammon. The only thing the majority of people here care about is how to make the most money the fastest. There is no interest in enlightenment or brotherly love -- most people would sooner send sizeable amounts of money all over the world to teach heathens the word of their god than spend half that much on problems plauging their own communities. The problem is mostly people who come up with convoluted things like graduated driver's liscensing to curb reckless driving, yet can't see where the teenagers ever leared such atrocious driving from. It's people who use things like dress codes and school officials' powers to keep their children from dessing like sluts instead of instilling basic self-respect themselves. This entire problem of violence is so prevalent in the States because children imbibe a lack of value for human life from an older generation that just doesn't care.
As for myself, because I don't think that I could ever be prepared to defend myself or stop time until the cops arrive, I take comfort in the fact that so many people who are at least well-trained in the deadly arts are around me.
I think that evolution is true, and I don't consider it an insult. Just because something was ignorant or ignoble once doesn't mean that it always is. Why, there was a time when all of us couldn't understand a single word of English or German or Japanese or which ever language you prefer, but clearly we have come to be better than that. It is the same way with the species in general -- it has greatly improved, but it did have humble beginnings. I would hardly consider your averge slashdotter to be no better than a two-year-old simply because he was once. (And in that sense has was personally -- no one's ever personally been a monkey.)
My Bible has a lot of thing in it that don't make sense, either. If Jesus' lineage can be traced from Adam in one page, how can there be compeling evidence from both carbon dating and geology that the Earth is much more than five thousand years old? My own estimates show that the dimensions of Noah's Ark in no way could have allowed for the welfare of two of every species. The stance taken on homosexuality in the sense that those afflicted with it necessairly go to Hell doesn't seem correct or fair, either. Those are three that come to mind off of the top of my head -- if I were to consult my Bible I could probably go on for pages about mistranslations and other logical inconsistancies.
However, I must confess that I do know a lot of people that do seem to act like monkeys!
Socialization is a good idea, but be careful which group he socializes with. There's no way he can relate to his normal peer group and no way they can relate to him. If his normal peer group is anything like mine, all he'll probably get from them is an incredible feeling of loneliness, and he might forget his intelligence and think of himself as failed at the game of life.
If there's a program for extremely talented kids like Path and the Midwest Talent Search, he should take it and get introduced to all the other smart kids in his area. True, he needs charisma, but I doubt that his peer group will teach him anything but how to withdraw into an adamant shell until he can lay on his bed at home and ask a silent God why he's an outcast. He will learn much more about social interaction by being around other children who, if not commensurate with his talent, at least aren't going to throw him away for lack of machismo.
Unless his gift extends into the gym and still allows him to play macho head games unlike mine, his normal peer group will only be a poison that eats at his soul until there's nothing left.
I didn't think that it would take long before there would be a story about a filter company using filters for their own agenda. I think you're absolutely right. If this isn't taken before the general public, these companies will just block out any sites they don't agree with and call it nudity.
Imho, the only way to introduce accountability here is by educating the consumers that the only thing they're buying with filters is a false sense of security and some thought police.
Funny... the same thing happened to me... after I started ignoring all that crap about man being evil and took control of my own life.