Yeah, I was going to suggest the same. Hell, he can send me 4 of them if he'd like, I'll pay shipping. My nephews would love them. I'll take another two-and gladly pay for shipping. My laptop is great for babysitting or distracting young cousins, and I'd love a linux box that I can turn into a dedicated toy-kid I'd mostly be giving it too has a desktop that's running Window's ME so the speed could be an improvement. It'd save fights over who gets my laptop 'cause linux kids games are cooler than anything I've got.
My grandmother told me not to be an engineer and my mommy told me not to be a programmer-so of course I'm majoring in computer engineering. They've got the genes that helped them take to their fields, so makes sense I'd inherit some of it. (I got psychology from my dad.) My brother's the outlier, don't know who he takes after.
*shrugs* I know kids who are 1 of 11 or 12 (my friend's about to marry into a family even larger-but it's also a blend of three)-it's cultural, and religious, and not something I'm about to meddle in. It's so not my business how many kids someone else wants to have-if they can handle 20 (and I've known some who can) more power to 'em. While I'm all for adopting *shrugs* some couples who have 12 kids may very well not treat the adoptee as one of their own (my mom can't wrap her head around why I'd consider adopting), and then I'd rather they don't adopt. (And sometimes stuff happens-I know two foster kids in pretty decent home's who still managed to do some screwed up things;it happens even with good parents, and natural kids.)
Totally picturing those tv show episodes with the egg baby projects.
I mostly agree with you, but I don't think any of the classes or training work as well as actual experience with kids-but I don't think that's very safe or practical. I've worked as a nanny, day care assistant, and babysat for a large family, so I also know just how much of it is sometimes situational. Everything can be just fine until something bad happens, and I'm not sure how many classes can get people to really look at themselves and say "I might be a lousy parent if I'm under a ton of stress".
hope that they're doing more than just treating the symptoms of the problem. That's also hard to do without getting too big brotherish (and veering into all sorts of hazy moral territory). Bad parents mean taxing an already over burdened welfare system to monitor these people and hopefully force 'em to be good parents-or place the kids in an over-populated foster care system that's got it's own problems.
That's just the bad parents-there could also be good parents who are letting their kids skip school for reasons they think are valid. (Kid's not getting anything out of school/learning more outside/etc.) You really want to moniter these parents? (Though somehow I doubt these kids are the ones ending up in juvie.)
Where are these kids parents, why aren't they getting involved and paying attention to what their kids are doing? Working four jobs, getting ready for the 5th move in a year, drunk/high in some alley, in a different state or country, dead, in prison, [insert something here].
Lots of these kids have 'rents who just can't pay attention to what their kids are doing, often 'cause their own lives are too messed up to even think about sorting out their kids. Find a study on truant kids-the usual risk factors boil down to socio-economics, which usual doesn't help with parenting.
Other parents just don't care if their kids are missing school-for whatever reason-according to the studies.
Dept. of Ed table
UPS is big on training people and expecting people to go to classes every year. I love those binders bouncing around the house-used one as a model for my technical writing class.
was not consistent with other code there and in one case used the "too edgy".NET. Inconsistency sounds like it would create an integration problem, but I'll trust you that it's doable. With.NET, I'm wondering about everyone else using it-it's not the easiest thing to train people on (judging by how many comp sci undergrads are completely hopeless at it after years of classes using it).
A lot of reason why it is so old is that "it works". They do not claim nor are they in the businesss of tech. Oh, I know all that-I was just giving the guy an example of older systems still widely in use. From what my mom tells me, it sounds like it'd be a lousy idea to transition, even if it was remotely possible.
They are using some new technology but most of the mid-managers are not willing to (or allowed to) move toward the leading edge. Or have the skill set-seems like in some of the departments they just don't have people with the knowledge to work on leading edge stuff, and training just isn't feasible or worth it for some of the new systems.
Does Pythagoras's formula count? Or Euclid's approximation for the square root of 2? I mean, they basically use the same formulas, regardless of programming language.
Somehow I doubt that many of the people that would be running such old computers such as ones from before 1970 would be reading Slashdot. Dunno about that. My mom's employer (UPS) still runs old mainframes (and employs COBOL coders) because switching would be too expensive/time prohibitive/etc.
Sometimes companies just have ancient systems somewhere in their infrastructure cause they can't gut them.
The nice thing about open source based development is that it's partially merit driven. But it's still audience based, which is gonna skew the feedback. My major problem with the openoffice UI is that there's no learning curve-most of it's functionality is right there; it sounds like a good thing, but actually creates problems by a)making it almost as difficult to do basic tasks as it is to do complicated ones b)cluttering up the front screens. Basically, I want a UI that thinks I'm dumber than I really am, and I just can't see some of the opensource crowd going for that.
The key being "a better broduct." For most companies that shell out for MS framework cost is a secondary consideration. Definitely-my lab tries to do as much as possible with opensource and coding it ourselves as possible, but we're buying office 'cause there are some things no open source alternative does.
Honestly, I've got no problem what-so-ever with cloning-just wish the cloners paid half as much attention to UI as they do to the features.
The improvement in the collaboration/review/track changes is what I'm most thrilled about-previous versions have been so lousy as to be unusable (doing in text comments was faster/easier/clearer to the reader) so this new change looks so promising. I don't care if it's MS cloning-this was my main reason for considering buying MS.
I've been doing robotics for years, and the standard intro kit is a Vex kit. You can buy a basic kit and all sorts of sub kits to build just about anything, but the complexity is a few steps up from a lego kit (which isn't bad, but is better for programming.)
You can also hack together a robot-four wheels, two motors, a board, a battery, a motor control and a switch. Add in a remote control or a pic board to take it a step up. Soldering the wires to the motors can teach you quite a bit.
For making your own cables, just google it. Seriously, the only thing you need for a cat5 is cable, heads, a crimper/stripper/cutter, and a diagram. Most other cables are the same.
As for basics-I've learned as much from wiki+sources in wiki articles+additional links in wiki articles+google as I have from most of the books I've bought.
I'm throwing in another vote for the NAVY electronics manual-really comprehensive, but still understandable.Fundamentals of Electric Circuits is one of the better ones for explaining the basics, but math heavy. Schaum guides also aren't a bad choices, but they get a bit too bogged down in the math.
would be much better off taking a class or two than he would be trying to slug his way through something like the Art of Electronics. Uh, you're assuming that the professors are competent-quite a few profs are so lousy that I've had to learn the material from books and wiki anyway. Plus, most of my ee courses are basically math courses-lots of concepts but it's gonna be hard for him to figure out what it all needs. For that he needs a lab/class with a strong lab component.
So long as someone else can use the stuff you make with those tools, go for it-but if the code has to play nicely with other peoples (like any team coding project/distributed project/whatever) working with the bad tools is often easier than making yours be multifaceted.
[quote]it's still okay to teach kids that school buses can magically fly around the universe[/quote]
Uh, narrative framework? Yeah, it's okay to teach things that 'cause as soon as they get older, they realize that "oh wait, it's not real".
It's like Reboot, which teaches you an awful lot about computers, but soon as you learn all that stuff for real, you also learn that nope-a mainframe isn't its own little city.
Uh, I'm religious and I think magic school bus is one of the coolest things ever. (I also like big bang and evolution and all those fun theories.)
I'm a member of a group that's done both-we've got 20/30 people who have access to one acct. (don't ask, gotta be that way.) There's a separate mailing list for discussions.
Originally it was a folder for what each person had to take care of-now tags for person and content. The way tags are kept consistent is that on list the guidelines are set for what each tag means.
Both work well enough-you've just gotta make sure that if you do use a folder system that the members tag everything, and if possible archive. Otherwise the inbox is gonna be incredibly cluttered and you'll never find anything.
All Amazon has to do is ban publishers with payment addresses in NY... those big enough to care can simply reincorperate in a more tax-friendly state, those small enough not to matter will simply just go away. Reincorporating takes money that publishers don't need to spend-they know people will just buy the books elsewhere.* And in the mean time, New York's got one of the largest publishing industries in the country-Amazon could lose more money on the temp. ban then they would on litigation.
*I'm in New York and I'll stick with amazon even with the tax-I primarily use it for convenience/selection-it'll cost me the same amt. to buy it at amazon as in the store.
*shrugs* She lets fans have their non-commercial RPG's-three clicks on lj and you'll find one.
I think it's probably 'cause the fanbase she wants to most appeal to is kids, so she tries to keep all the official/licensed stuff pretty clean. A mass market HP rpg doesn't have a chance in hell of staying clean-so licensing it 'could hurt the "official" image of the series. I think it's marketing more than personal hang ups.
The idea that DMs might come up with their own stories set in the HP universe infuriates her. Uh, Rowling's always been pretty understanding (and even supportive) of her fandom. I spent years in HP fandom-the worst JK ever said was that she wasn't crazy about some of the ships. Otherwise she's been very hands off, reached out to popular fansites, gave tons of details useful for fics and meta, even made some jokes about the vast quantity of fic ('specially slashfic).
I think this flip is mostly 'cause of the whole profiting from basically c&p'ing her books/interviews/website.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll take another two-and gladly pay for shipping. My laptop is great for babysitting or distracting young cousins, and I'd love a linux box that I can turn into a dedicated toy-kid I'd mostly be giving it too has a desktop that's running Window's ME so the speed could be an improvement. It'd save fights over who gets my laptop 'cause linux kids games are cooler than anything I've got.
My grandmother told me not to be an engineer and my mommy told me not to be a programmer-so of course I'm majoring in computer engineering. They've got the genes that helped them take to their fields, so makes sense I'd inherit some of it. (I got psychology from my dad.) My brother's the outlier, don't know who he takes after.
*shrugs* I know kids who are 1 of 11 or 12 (my friend's about to marry into a family even larger-but it's also a blend of three)-it's cultural, and religious, and not something I'm about to meddle in. It's so not my business how many kids someone else wants to have-if they can handle 20 (and I've known some who can) more power to 'em. While I'm all for adopting *shrugs* some couples who have 12 kids may very well not treat the adoptee as one of their own (my mom can't wrap her head around why I'd consider adopting), and then I'd rather they don't adopt. (And sometimes stuff happens-I know two foster kids in pretty decent home's who still managed to do some screwed up things;it happens even with good parents, and natural kids.)
Totally picturing those tv show episodes with the egg baby projects.
I mostly agree with you, but I don't think any of the classes or training work as well as actual experience with kids-but I don't think that's very safe or practical. I've worked as a nanny, day care assistant, and babysat for a large family, so I also know just how much of it is sometimes situational. Everything can be just fine until something bad happens, and I'm not sure how many classes can get people to really look at themselves and say "I might be a lousy parent if I'm under a ton of stress".
That's just the bad parents-there could also be good parents who are letting their kids skip school for reasons they think are valid. (Kid's not getting anything out of school/learning more outside/etc.) You really want to moniter these parents? (Though somehow I doubt these kids are the ones ending up in juvie.)
Lots of these kids have 'rents who just can't pay attention to what their kids are doing, often 'cause their own lives are too messed up to even think about sorting out their kids. Find a study on truant kids-the usual risk factors boil down to socio-economics, which usual doesn't help with parenting.
Other parents just don't care if their kids are missing school-for whatever reason-according to the studies. Dept. of Ed table
Wanna extend my subscription?
They are using some new technology but most of the mid-managers are not willing to (or allowed to) move toward the leading edge. Or have the skill set-seems like in some of the departments they just don't have people with the knowledge to work on leading edge stuff, and training just isn't feasible or worth it for some of the new systems.
Does Pythagoras's formula count? Or Euclid's approximation for the square root of 2? I mean, they basically use the same formulas, regardless of programming language.
Sometimes companies just have ancient systems somewhere in their infrastructure cause they can't gut them.
Honestly, I've got no problem what-so-ever with cloning-just wish the cloners paid half as much attention to UI as they do to the features.
Why not just code it yourself and submit it as an extension?
The improvement in the collaboration/review/track changes is what I'm most thrilled about-previous versions have been so lousy as to be unusable (doing in text comments was faster/easier/clearer to the reader) so this new change looks so promising. I don't care if it's MS cloning-this was my main reason for considering buying MS.
I've been doing robotics for years, and the standard intro kit is a Vex kit. You can buy a basic kit and all sorts of sub kits to build just about anything, but the complexity is a few steps up from a lego kit (which isn't bad, but is better for programming.)
You can also hack together a robot-four wheels, two motors, a board, a battery, a motor control and a switch. Add in a remote control or a pic board to take it a step up. Soldering the wires to the motors can teach you quite a bit.
For making your own cables, just google it. Seriously, the only thing you need for a cat5 is cable, heads, a crimper/stripper/cutter, and a diagram. Most other cables are the same.
As for basics-I've learned as much from wiki+sources in wiki articles+additional links in wiki articles+google as I have from most of the books I've bought.
I'm throwing in another vote for the NAVY electronics manual-really comprehensive, but still understandable.Fundamentals of Electric Circuits is one of the better ones for explaining the basics, but math heavy. Schaum guides also aren't a bad choices, but they get a bit too bogged down in the math.
So long as someone else can use the stuff you make with those tools, go for it-but if the code has to play nicely with other peoples (like any team coding project/distributed project/whatever) working with the bad tools is often easier than making yours be multifaceted.
Also the best thing when the shiny expensive ones (like my bro's $200 logitech set) break.
I think we actually watched one of the Magic School bus episodes in my AP Physics class-post AP, but still. Definitely one of the best for the basics.
It's like Reboot, which teaches you an awful lot about computers, but soon as you learn all that stuff for real, you also learn that nope-a mainframe isn't its own little city.
Uh, I'm religious and I think magic school bus is one of the coolest things ever. (I also like big bang and evolution and all those fun theories.)I'm a member of a group that's done both-we've got 20/30 people who have access to one acct. (don't ask, gotta be that way.) There's a separate mailing list for discussions. Originally it was a folder for what each person had to take care of-now tags for person and content. The way tags are kept consistent is that on list the guidelines are set for what each tag means. Both work well enough-you've just gotta make sure that if you do use a folder system that the members tag everything, and if possible archive. Otherwise the inbox is gonna be incredibly cluttered and you'll never find anything.
*I'm in New York and I'll stick with amazon even with the tax-I primarily use it for convenience/selection-it'll cost me the same amt. to buy it at amazon as in the store.
*shrugs* She lets fans have their non-commercial RPG's-three clicks on lj and you'll find one. I think it's probably 'cause the fanbase she wants to most appeal to is kids, so she tries to keep all the official/licensed stuff pretty clean. A mass market HP rpg doesn't have a chance in hell of staying clean-so licensing it 'could hurt the "official" image of the series. I think it's marketing more than personal hang ups.