I agree taxes are really high. I disagree that people with low wages are "unproductive" and have made "bad life decisions." You wouldn't be driving around in your SUV if it weren't for $20,000/yr. auto workers (or $0.02/hr. auto workers in Mexico and Indonesia for that matter). Why place a value judgement on those who can't afford college or don't want to be computer programmers?
It was also a profound political blunder: there are more Americans turning 18 than ever before, and they now know that at least one presidential candidate is an idiot.
How can it be a profound blunder when Bush is doing well in the polls and most Americans turning 18 aren't voting anyway? Do you honestly think there are a ton of young voters who are die-hard in their belief that there aren't any bad influences on the net? Do you think they'll change their political ideologies and not vote for Bush now?
You're lucky to work in such a diverse place. I'm just reacting to the original question, which cited studies about the low percentage of women in the IT industry. I'm sure there are opportunities out there, but something must be keeping women from studying and taking on computer science. I think a lot of it is people's attitudes torwards what careers men should pursue and what careers women should. You could draw similar conclusions about the small number of men in nursing.
Sorry, I got a bit hot under the collar, so maybe I wasn't very clear. (Obviously I screwed up my italics tags, gosh darn it.) Anyway, most women probably do approach situations differently from men, but I don't think it's clear whether this is due to biological or societal reasons. I personally lean torwards the theory that men are raised to be more aggressive and less expressive than women, but obviously this is a pretty controversial topic:-)
As for the education issue, I'm sure none of her teachers said "don't study math," but there seems to be some underlying current in U.S. society that pushes men torwards tinkering with cars and pushes women torwards playing housewife with dolls.
Since your girlfriend doesn't have a commitment to her current career that holds her back, why doesn't she get trained and become a developer RIGHT NOW?
One last quibble with your reasoning--when you're already stuck in the real world at a low-paying 40-hour-a-week job, it's hard to save up the money and find the time to become a developer. Then she also would have to overcome the stereotype that women don't make good programmers, which isn't as easy as you think.
I'll risk the karma, but I think the problem here is that she felt she didn't have the opportunity.
You're right, she didn't feel like she had the opportunity because her parents and teachers encouraged her to study subjects other than math and science. That was my point.
If there is any "social" problem here, its (sic) how women approach organizations.... women will approach them to some extent on an emotional level...
Come on, man, it's a macho myth that women are more emotional than men. Are you actually blaming women because they can't get into the top corporate and governmental positions in the US?
I don't blame the girls for choosing another path.
First of all, using the words "girls" and "women" interchangeably is a bad idea. Second, why not blame society (I'm talking home and school) for pushing men into math and science and discouraged women from pursuing them. There's no way my girlfriend would choose her low paying secretarial job over a high-paying programming job if she'd felt she had the opportunity to train for the latter.
In any other industry, it's perfectly acceptable to squash rumors of future products. We're just spoiled by years of poor security at computer companies. Why should Apple give away their competitive edge just so we can be entertained by speculation about non-existent products?
This isn't just an issue of audiences becoming more sophisticated. (The remote control's been around for ages now, but the ratings drop for national news happened in the mid-'90s.) According to a recent article in The New Yorker (which unfortunately isn't online), in the past news shows were never produced with the intention of garnering ratings--networks actually felt they were providing a public service. Now news is much more closely tied with corporate agendas--how many ABC News broadcasts have you seen that criticize Disney or its subsidiaries? Foreign bureaus have been cut significantly, and now there's countless hour-long news magazine shows with sensationalized stories about medical issues and bizarre crimes. Maybe people are just revolting against the lack of in-depth reporting.
Sure, it's frustrating waiting for Netscape 6, but I don't see how flaming Netscape for not coding fast enough will further the cause of Web Standards. I used to support WSP because I thought it was voicing valid concerns, but I'm beginning to think WSP just another publicity engine for Zeldman, whose Daily Report is written with the same royal "we" as the WSP press releases.
Sure the action was great, but there wasn't much character development. According to Ebert, 45 minutes were cut after the movie was shown to test audiences. Perhaps that's why it seemed like there were too many people wandering around without lines or any other reason to care about them.
Most gamers are frustrated with Myst because the puzzles all involve randomness rather than logic or skill. You have to literally wander around mousing over things. In the real world you don't have to touch each doorknob before you know whether it works. It's a very frustrating game, in which there are levers and buttons that don't do anything and others that work illogically.
3 copies of each of Episode's 4-6 (the regular edition, the special edition, and the DVD/VHS Episodes 1-6 special edition).
Actually there are even more variations. Don't forget about the normal and widescreen versions of the regular edition and the normal and widescreen versions of the THX-enhanced regular edition. Will we ever see the original theater cut of Episode IV in a home format? Sadly, no.
People are constantly blaming geeks and guns for violence, but they're ignoring one important fact: virtually all the recent, horrific acts of school violence have been committed by males. If Western culture, American culture in particular, didn't teach males that violence is an acceptable mode of expression, we would live much more peaceful lives. The persistence of gender stereotypes--macho males and gentle females, is a major factor in the violence that plagues America, but it's consistently ignored by the media who refer to crimes by "our kids" rather than "our boys."
"Surprise == computerized data can decay before you know it
By Marcia Stepanek in New York
"Up to 20% of the information carefully collected on Jet Propulsion Laboratory computers during NASA's 1976 Viking mission to Mars has been lost. Some POW and MIA records and casualty counts from the Vietnam War, stored on Defense Dept. computers, can no longer be read. And at Pennsylvania State University, all but 14 of some 3,000 computer files containing student records and school history are no longer accessible because of missing or outmoded software.
(...)
"For consumers, the biggest worry is CD-ROMs. Unlike paper records, CD-ROMs often don't show decay until it's too late. Experts are just beginning to realize that stray magnetic fields, oxidation, humidity, and material decay can quickly erase the information stored on them.
"Says Robert Stein, founder of New York-based Voyager Co., which makes commercial CD-ROM books and games: 'CDs have a tendency to degrade much faster than anybody, at least in the companies that make them, is willing to predict.' Stein doesn't expect the CD-ROMs Voyager sells to last more than 5 or 10 years, and neither, he says, should customers."
Slashdot Mirror
I agree taxes are really high. I disagree that people with low wages are "unproductive" and have made "bad life decisions." You wouldn't be driving around in your SUV if it weren't for $20,000/yr. auto workers (or $0.02/hr. auto workers in Mexico and Indonesia for that matter). Why place a value judgement on those who can't afford college or don't want to be computer programmers?
It was also a profound political blunder: there are more Americans turning 18 than ever before, and they now know that at least one presidential candidate is an idiot.
How can it be a profound blunder when Bush is doing well in the polls and most Americans turning 18 aren't voting anyway? Do you honestly think there are a ton of young voters who are die-hard in their belief that there aren't any bad influences on the net? Do you think they'll change their political ideologies and not vote for Bush now?
Wired Magazine is owned by Conde Nast. Wired Digital is owned by Lycos. They spun off into two separate companies long ago.
I one-upped you. I got mine free with a subscription to Wired. Not that it's very useful since my home computer's a Mac.
You're lucky to work in such a diverse place. I'm just reacting to the original question, which cited studies about the low percentage of women in the IT industry. I'm sure there are opportunities out there, but something must be keeping women from studying and taking on computer science. I think a lot of it is people's attitudes torwards what careers men should pursue and what careers women should. You could draw similar conclusions about the small number of men in nursing.
Sorry, I got a bit hot under the collar, so maybe I wasn't very clear. (Obviously I screwed up my italics tags, gosh darn it.) Anyway, most women probably do approach situations differently from men, but I don't think it's clear whether this is due to biological or societal reasons. I personally lean torwards the theory that men are raised to be more aggressive and less expressive than women, but obviously this is a pretty controversial topic :-)
As for the education issue, I'm sure none of her teachers said "don't study math," but there seems to be some underlying current in U.S. society that pushes men torwards tinkering with cars and pushes women torwards playing housewife with dolls.
Since your girlfriend doesn't have a commitment to her current career that holds her back, why doesn't she get trained and become a developer RIGHT NOW?
One last quibble with your reasoning--when you're already stuck in the real world at a low-paying 40-hour-a-week job, it's hard to save up the money and find the time to become a developer. Then she also would have to overcome the stereotype that women don't make good programmers, which isn't as easy as you think.
I'll risk the karma, but I think the problem here is that she felt she didn't have the opportunity.
You're right, she didn't feel like she had the opportunity because her parents and teachers encouraged her to study subjects other than math and science. That was my point.
If there is any "social" problem here, its (sic) how women approach organizations.... women will approach them to some extent on an emotional level...
Come on, man, it's a macho myth that women are more emotional than men. Are you actually blaming women because they can't get into the top corporate and governmental positions in the US?
I don't blame the girls for choosing another path.
First of all, using the words "girls" and "women" interchangeably is a bad idea. Second, why not blame society (I'm talking home and school) for pushing men into math and science and discouraged women from pursuing them. There's no way my girlfriend would choose her low paying secretarial job over a high-paying programming job if she'd felt she had the opportunity to train for the latter.
In any other industry, it's perfectly acceptable to squash rumors of future products. We're just spoiled by years of poor security at computer companies. Why should Apple give away their competitive edge just so we can be entertained by speculation about non-existent products?
It's on MacNN.
This isn't just an issue of audiences becoming more sophisticated. (The remote control's been around for ages now, but the ratings drop for national news happened in the mid-'90s.) According to a recent article in The New Yorker (which unfortunately isn't online), in the past news shows were never produced with the intention of garnering ratings--networks actually felt they were providing a public service. Now news is much more closely tied with corporate agendas--how many ABC News broadcasts have you seen that criticize Disney or its subsidiaries? Foreign bureaus have been cut significantly, and now there's countless hour-long news magazine shows with sensationalized stories about medical issues and bizarre crimes. Maybe people are just revolting against the lack of in-depth reporting.
Sure, it's frustrating waiting for Netscape 6, but I don't see how flaming Netscape for not coding fast enough will further the cause of Web Standards. I used to support WSP because I thought it was voicing valid concerns, but I'm beginning to think WSP just another publicity engine for Zeldman, whose Daily Report is written with the same royal "we" as the WSP press releases.
Indeed, I saw it on the TV show Ebert and the Movies.
Sure the action was great, but there wasn't much character development. According to Ebert, 45 minutes were cut after the movie was shown to test audiences. Perhaps that's why it seemed like there were too many people wandering around without lines or any other reason to care about them.
Most gamers are frustrated with Myst because the puzzles all involve randomness rather than logic or skill. You have to literally wander around mousing over things. In the real world you don't have to touch each doorknob before you know whether it works. It's a very frustrating game, in which there are levers and buttons that don't do anything and others that work illogically.
Aren't most of the people who download MP3s people who can't afford or are too scroogish to buy CDs? They're not going to spring for a $600 player.
Actually there are even more variations. Don't forget about the normal and widescreen versions of the regular edition and the normal and widescreen versions of the THX-enhanced regular edition. Will we ever see the original theater cut of Episode IV in a home format? Sadly, no.
People are constantly blaming geeks and guns for violence, but they're ignoring one important fact: virtually all the recent, horrific acts of school violence have been committed by males. If Western culture, American culture in particular, didn't teach males that violence is an acceptable mode of expression, we would live much more peaceful lives. The persistence of gender stereotypes--macho males and gentle females, is a major factor in the violence that plagues America, but it's consistently ignored by the media who refer to crimes by "our kids" rather than "our boys."
According to the Dead Media mailing list's Working Note 32.4:
"DATA STORAGE: FROM DIGITS TO DUST
"Surprise == computerized data can decay before you know it
By Marcia Stepanek in New York
"Up to 20% of the information carefully collected on Jet Propulsion Laboratory computers during NASA's 1976 Viking mission to Mars has been lost. Some POW and MIA records and casualty counts from the Vietnam War, stored on Defense Dept. computers, can no longer be read. And at Pennsylvania State University, all but 14 of some 3,000 computer files containing student records and school history are no longer accessible because of missing or outmoded software.
(...)
"For consumers, the biggest worry is CD-ROMs. Unlike paper records, CD-ROMs often don't show decay until it's too late. Experts are just beginning to realize that stray magnetic fields, oxidation, humidity, and material decay can quickly erase the information stored on them.
"Says Robert Stein, founder of New York-based Voyager Co., which makes commercial CD-ROM books and games: 'CDs have a tendency to degrade much faster than anybody, at least in the companies that make them, is willing to predict.' Stein doesn't expect the CD-ROMs Voyager sells to last more than 5 or 10 years, and neither, he says, should customers."
Don't forget Usenet and Yahoo! Clubs, There's a bunch of little sects out and about. There's even a clique of pretentious Web designers.