Congresscritters' expertise is "diarrhea of the mouth" and how to verbally-bribe people for votes (free food, free internet, free preschool, et cetera). They don't actually need to know about how computers or other technologies work. The average voter doesn't care.
If I was a mean and vindictive person (I am), I would have the following conversation with the teacher/superintendent:
"My child has indicated he is going to XYZ College."
"Yeah. So?"
"XYZ College uses Linux OS for their network, and therefore my teen is merely doing some extra homework - studying Linux and preparing himself for XYZ College's curriculum. In fact the computer engineering adviser *recommended* he do this prior to arrival in the fall."
"..."
"I ask that you please stop interfering with his college prep work, and stop confiscating his Linux CDs. Your job is to promote preparation for college, not to interfere with it. So back off."
I can understand a teacher confiscating the Linux CDs, Britney CDs, or whatever CDs, if the teenager was doing his "demonstration" during class hours. But then the teacher followed it up with a letter that indicates an Anti-linux prejudice and a Pro-microsoft bias, so the real motive is now clear. And unacceptable.
What's she going to confiscate next? A Bible? A Koran? A copy of the Libertarian News? Her job is to teach & keep order, not to censor freedom of information. As long as the teen is using his Linux, Bible, or LP News during his OWN time (like study hall), she has no business confiscating it.
One of the best teacher (actually professor) I ever had was from India and made lots of grammatical errors in his speech and writing. And yet I learned a lot from him. I strongly disagree with your prejudice that poor English disqualifies someone from being a teacher.
>>>I then tried to explain about linux and FOSS but he had grown up with the solid idea that nothing worth having is ever free
When explaining complex concepts, it's often better to keep things as simple as possible. I would simply ask the man: "Don't charitable organizations exist to give away free tutoring to students, free food to the hungry, and other volunteer work?" "Yeah." "Well the same organizations exist in the world of computers. They give-away free software to benefit the community." I'd then leave him to think about that for awhile.
>>>The teacher confiscated the CDs and wrote an angry email to HeliOS's founder, Ken Starks:
This is the point where I would take several steps:
(1) Ask the teacher to meet with me so we can discuss why she stole the personal property of my teenager.
(2)(a) If the teacher is not cooperative, I would remind the teacher that theft is still illegal, and that she should return the CDs to my teenager, else she could be prosecuted for criminal acts. (b) Schedule a meeting with the superintendent of the school district to discuss the teacher's stubbornness.
(3)(a) If he is also uncooperative, I would stop paying school taxes to this non-free district. (b) I would then use the money saved to pay the tuition for a private school, or a neighboring public school, that does not violate a young adult's basic rights.
It's a bunch of bullshit that government schools can dictate to teens/parents what OSes they can or can not use. Or what books they can or can not read. Or... Citizens need to fight back when this kind of tyranny happens, not just "give in".
BTW:
My alma mater Elizabethtown College has turned its back on Windoze. They use Linux to run the campus-wide network and for the student labs. I would also mention that in my discussion with the close-minded teacher/superintendent. "Well if Linux is illegal, then why is my college using it?" and see what they say.
Well referring to the Red Mars trilogy again, they started with an orbiting asteroid, setup mining facilities, and gradually turned the asteroid into a cable (which was slowly lowered to the surface).
When the terrorists struck, they simply bombed the asteroid and broke the connection, therefore the cable became a falling object that slowly but surely gathered speed during its descent. It wrapped itself around Mars about four times.
Turn off the SciFi Channel and go read the Red Mars trilogy. Now. That should be required reading for all nerds (along with Foundation, I Robot, The Man Who Sold the Moon, and Speaker for the Dead).
The earth was proven round by the ancient Greeks around 300 B.C., and they even calculated its circumference to within a few hundred miles. That knowledge was lost but later rediscovered during the Renaissance. Scientists knew the earth was round.
Re:I can't do with these new fangled inventions
on
The Mouse Turns 40
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· Score: 1
That's okay to have keyboard-based dropdown menus (like MS-DOS often used), but without a mouse you don't have the ease of "grabbing" a paragraph, dragging it, and dropping it in a new spot. The procedure only takes 1 second; the same task could not be accomplished with just a keyboard.
No he wasn't. That's an old joke that dates back to the 1980s. It was written for the purpose of making BBC and Usenet readers smile.
Re:I can't do with these new fangled inventions
on
The Mouse Turns 40
·
· Score: 1
A speech interface works poorly in an office setting. Imagine 500 people all talking at once in the same giant room.
Mind control is something that was promised in 1980, but still hasn't happened. Like flying cars.
Function keys go back to what I said previously. You have to keep looking in the manual to discover what "F7" does, or else tape a piece of paper underneath the key (common on old MS-DOS machines). And of course F7 has a different function in every damn program! IMHO the better solution was to use virtual keys & pulldown menus in conjunction with the mouse, so there's no need to consult a manual. It speeds things up.
It's not the language we want to change. Just the spelling.
It's not the langwich we want to change. Just the speling. Make it rashonal. For example why add a "u" in the word color? The u is silent and not needed.
No a modern mouse doesn't use left/right/up/down buttons. It uses an analog potentiometer (or something similar) like those old Atari Paddle controllers, so it can sense small or large movements. Not buttons.
I've used a Commodore mouse that operated like a digital joystick (with internal buttons). Yuck. No matter how fast you move your mouse, the arrow moves at the same glacial pace. There's no speed control; no fine movements. I upgraded to a true analog mouse rather quickly.
>>>Canucks tickets... Kike Transportation... Big Beaver at exit #69
I have known some liberal asses.
Later after I got out of college, I had chance to actually speak to some liberals, and they strongly argued that such teams/companies should be forced to rename themselves to non-offensive terms. i.e. The Canucks should be censored & forced to call themselves the Canadians.
I find it ironic that a person calling himself "liberal" demands censorship. That sounds like an old pro-monarch, conservative position to me... the opposite of liberal ideals of freedom.
Congressional law states that coupon-eligible converter boxes may not decode QAM or output component video, therefore even though the functionality is included on the "all in one" chip, it has been disabled by the manufacturer to be compliant with the law.
hahahahaha! You still didn't get it right. Maybe you should make a third attempt?;-)
Is this what you meant? "Smaller frequencies require larger antennae. The smallest possible "largest dimension" of an AM antenna is much to[o] [BIG] to fit in an integrated circuit."
Ahhh.... I see you've read the Red Mars trilogy where exactly that happened (albeit on Mars not the Earth.)
I always thought the space elevator seemed impractical. First there's a LOT of material needed to create the cable. Than there's the problem of "lowering" that massive cable to the ground. And of course it's vulnerability to shifting; half the time we can't even keep our satellites in the sky - how could we guarantee a cable would stay there?
Like "warp speed" it's a neat scifi idea, but not going to happen within our lifetime. Possibly never.
The business has to be able to prove that the comment caused financial damage, and sue for recovery of that damage. It is difficult to win that kind of case. Just ask anyone who tried to sue for negative feedback received on Ebay, claiming the negative hurt their business - so far no one's ever won.
Slashdot Mirror
"Linux is not illegal." - Bill Smith, Ph.D., director of computer science & engineering.
I would love to see the look on the teacher and superintendent's face.
.
Congresscritters' expertise is "diarrhea of the mouth" and how to verbally-bribe people for votes (free food, free internet, free preschool, et cetera). They don't actually need to know about how computers or other technologies work. The average voter doesn't care.
If I was a mean and vindictive person (I am), I would have the following conversation with the teacher/superintendent:
"My child has indicated he is going to XYZ College."
"Yeah. So?"
"XYZ College uses Linux OS for their network, and therefore my teen is merely doing some extra homework - studying Linux and preparing himself for XYZ College's curriculum. In fact the computer engineering adviser *recommended* he do this prior to arrival in the fall."
"..."
"I ask that you please stop interfering with his college prep work, and stop confiscating his Linux CDs. Your job is to promote preparation for college, not to interfere with it. So back off."
(walk out and slam the door)
I can understand a teacher confiscating the Linux CDs, Britney CDs, or whatever CDs, if the teenager was doing his "demonstration" during class hours. But then the teacher followed it up with a letter that indicates an Anti-linux prejudice and a Pro-microsoft bias, so the real motive is now clear. And unacceptable.
What's she going to confiscate next? A Bible? A Koran? A copy of the Libertarian News? Her job is to teach & keep order, not to censor freedom of information. As long as the teen is using his Linux, Bible, or LP News during his OWN time (like study hall), she has no business confiscating it.
One of the best teacher (actually professor) I ever had was from India and made lots of grammatical errors in his speech and writing. And yet I learned a lot from him. I strongly disagree with your prejudice that poor English disqualifies someone from being a teacher.
>>>I then tried to explain about linux and FOSS but he had grown up with the solid idea that nothing worth having is ever free
When explaining complex concepts, it's often better to keep things as simple as possible. I would simply ask the man: "Don't charitable organizations exist to give away free tutoring to students, free food to the hungry, and other volunteer work?" "Yeah." "Well the same organizations exist in the world of computers. They give-away free software to benefit the community." I'd then leave him to think about that for awhile.
>>>The teacher confiscated the CDs and wrote an angry email to HeliOS's founder, Ken Starks:
This is the point where I would take several steps:
(1) Ask the teacher to meet with me so we can discuss why she stole the personal property of my teenager.
(2)(a) If the teacher is not cooperative, I would remind the teacher that theft is still illegal, and that she should return the CDs to my teenager, else she could be prosecuted for criminal acts. (b) Schedule a meeting with the superintendent of the school district to discuss the teacher's stubbornness.
(3)(a) If he is also uncooperative, I would stop paying school taxes to this non-free district. (b) I would then use the money saved to pay the tuition for a private school, or a neighboring public school, that does not violate a young adult's basic rights.
It's a bunch of bullshit that government schools can dictate to teens/parents what OSes they can or can not use. Or what books they can or can not read. Or... Citizens need to fight back when this kind of tyranny happens, not just "give in".
BTW:
My alma mater Elizabethtown College has turned its back on Windoze. They use Linux to run the campus-wide network and for the student labs. I would also mention that in my discussion with the close-minded teacher/superintendent. "Well if Linux is illegal, then why is my college using it?" and see what they say.
Wait til you get to the orgasm, orgy scene. Only a guy would write something like that.
Well referring to the Red Mars trilogy again, they started with an orbiting asteroid, setup mining facilities, and gradually turned the asteroid into a cable (which was slowly lowered to the surface).
When the terrorists struck, they simply bombed the asteroid and broke the connection, therefore the cable became a falling object that slowly but surely gathered speed during its descent. It wrapped itself around Mars about four times.
Turn off the SciFi Channel and go read the Red Mars trilogy. Now. That should be required reading for all nerds (along with Foundation, I Robot, The Man Who Sold the Moon, and Speaker for the Dead).
The earth was proven round by the ancient Greeks around 300 B.C., and they even calculated its circumference to within a few hundred miles. That knowledge was lost but later rediscovered during the Renaissance. Scientists knew the earth was round.
That's okay to have keyboard-based dropdown menus (like MS-DOS often used), but without a mouse you don't have the ease of "grabbing" a paragraph, dragging it, and dropping it in a new spot. The procedure only takes 1 second; the same task could not be accomplished with just a keyboard.
>>>The author of this memo was quite serious.
No he wasn't. That's an old joke that dates back to the 1980s. It was written for the purpose of making BBC and Usenet readers smile.
A speech interface works poorly in an office setting. Imagine 500 people all talking at once in the same giant room.
Mind control is something that was promised in 1980, but still hasn't happened. Like flying cars.
Function keys go back to what I said previously. You have to keep looking in the manual to discover what "F7" does, or else tape a piece of paper underneath the key (common on old MS-DOS machines). And of course F7 has a different function in every damn program! IMHO the better solution was to use virtual keys & pulldown menus in conjunction with the mouse, so there's no need to consult a manual. It speeds things up.
It's not the language we want to change. Just the spelling.
It's not the langwich we want to change. Just the speling. Make it rashonal. For example why add a "u" in the word color? The u is silent and not needed.
No a modern mouse doesn't use left/right/up/down buttons. It uses an analog potentiometer (or something similar) like those old Atari Paddle controllers, so it can sense small or large movements. Not buttons.
I've used a Commodore mouse that operated like a digital joystick (with internal buttons). Yuck. No matter how fast you move your mouse, the arrow moves at the same glacial pace. There's no speed control; no fine movements. I upgraded to a true analog mouse rather quickly.
>>>Canucks tickets... Kike Transportation... Big Beaver at exit #69
I have known some liberal asses.
Later after I got out of college, I had chance to actually speak to some liberals, and they strongly argued that such teams/companies should be forced to rename themselves to non-offensive terms. i.e. The Canucks should be censored & forced to call themselves the Canadians.
I find it ironic that a person calling himself "liberal" demands censorship. That sounds like an old pro-monarch, conservative position to me... the opposite of liberal ideals of freedom.
Congressional law states that coupon-eligible converter boxes may not decode QAM or output component video, therefore even though the functionality is included on the "all in one" chip, it has been disabled by the manufacturer to be compliant with the law.
hahahahaha! You still didn't get it right. Maybe you should make a third attempt? ;-)
Is this what you meant? "Smaller frequencies require larger antennae. The smallest possible "largest dimension" of an AM antenna is much to[o] [BIG] to fit in an integrated circuit."
I'm not allowed to say "fucked up". The UK Internet Watch Foundation might block this p
&%&a^!2^@$ ...
CARRIER LOST
The first time I saw that was about 20 years ago on a local BBS, using a 1 kbit/s modem. It's very very old. (Ist sehr sehr alt.)
There was loss of life (on the ground). And the Russians sent several cosmonauts into deep space (they missed the moon).
Take a ball of paper and throw it at 100,000 miles an hour. Tell me that's not going to cause some damage.
Ahhh.... I see you've read the Red Mars trilogy where exactly that happened (albeit on Mars not the Earth.)
I always thought the space elevator seemed impractical. First there's a LOT of material needed to create the cable. Than there's the problem of "lowering" that massive cable to the ground. And of course it's vulnerability to shifting; half the time we can't even keep our satellites in the sky - how could we guarantee a cable would stay there?
Like "warp speed" it's a neat scifi idea, but not going to happen within our lifetime. Possibly never.
That's not how it works.
The business has to be able to prove that the comment caused financial damage, and sue for recovery of that damage. It is difficult to win that kind of case. Just ask anyone who tried to sue for negative feedback received on Ebay, claiming the negative hurt their business - so far no one's ever won.
Even if the Dunkin Donuts owner learned the identities of the people, what would it accomplish?
Last I checked defamation is protected by free speech. He would be laughed out of court.