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User: anyGould

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  1. Re:The main issue is monitors. on Why One Person Thinks Raspberry Pi Is Unsuitable For Education · · Score: 1

    Find something else (that came out after the 80s) that makes it as easy to get started in programming.

    Yeah, they can just plug it in and start tapping away... oh wait, no they can't, because they don't have keyboards and monitors since it's "not a fucking desktop pc" and apparently doesn't need them. Whoops.

    Keyboards are $10, and if you somehow don't have an old monitor, hook it up to your TV. It was good enough for us in the days of the Vic20/C64, it's good enough for them.

  2. Re:Holy logical fallacy, Batman! on Why One Person Thinks Raspberry Pi Is Unsuitable For Education · · Score: 1

    You went from a 64K Commodore machine from 1982 to an 8k Atari from 1979?

    That's not entirely out of the realm - I got a Dell 486/25 (yes, 25 MHz) in 1993(?), and it lasted me through high school, university (and for a CompSci degree, no less), and a fair stretch past that until I finally replaced it (I believe it was 2000 or so). And if I had been smart I would have still kept it, because that box was far more reliable than anything I've used before or since.

  3. Re:Those dissatisfied are those changing the world on Why One Person Thinks Raspberry Pi Is Unsuitable For Education · · Score: 1

    Look. What Raspberry Pi has done is great and commendable. I applaud it. But it has also issues, and shouting those down who think about those issues and want to do something about them is -- uh, forget it. I don't know how to put it politely.

    However, there is a difference between saying "hey, here are things that could be done better in the next version/in the project I'm inspired to work on" and what we're getting, which is "unsuitable for education".

    Is the Pi perfect? Hell no, but anyone who was expecting that was smoking the good stuff. Is it a good start? Heck yeah.

    And this is before we tackle the question of - are we truly expecting the target audience to be messing around with the CPU architecture anyway

  4. Re:How many do we need? on Why Aircraft Carriers Still Rule the Oceans · · Score: 1

    But seriously, do we NEED 12 carrier battle groups? (snip) Surely 10 groups is enough. Perhaps even 8.

    Maybe. I would imagine the operative question is "how many carrier groups do we need on station at one time". Then you upscale to account for training, repairs and refits, and losses.

    According to the wikis, American doctrine is that six carrier groups be either deployed or ready to deploy within 30 days, with an additional two ready within 90 days. That's eight. Add in four more to rotate in/out, and that's your twelve groups.

    The question of "do you need six carrier groups active at all times" is probably better left for the Republicans in the room to answer.

  5. Re:But did you find Waldo? on xkcd's 13-Gigapixel Webcomic · · Score: 1

    That's whose cane it is? I saw the cane, but didn't make the connection.

    Wonder if there'll ever be a poster version of it. (Probably multiple posters you have to assemble yourself..)

  6. Re:But... on Cameras To Watch Cameras In Maryland · · Score: 1

    You'd have to be taller than I am - our photo/red light cameras are rigged on the light poles (at about the same height as the traffic lights).

    The other advantage of the RC copter is that assuming you don't give it a custom paint job, you're largely anonymous while you do it.

  7. Re:Next in the series: on The Futility of the Ongoing Piracy War · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is it, then, that they immediately retreat into the anachronistic "you're not depriving anyone of anything, it's not theft, therefore it's okay" argument when it comes to piracy?

    (Rhetorical question, in case anyone doesn't get it. The answer, of course, is because this argument allows pirates to justify their activities.)

    Or, because it's applying the wrong term to the crime.

    If I cross the road in the middle of the street, that's Jaywalking. It's not Assault or Tax Evasion or Murder or Vehicular Manslaughter. And trying to coin a "worse" term for it doesn't make it so.

    "Piracy" isn't piracy or theft. It's copyright infringement. There's a specific crime assigned to that activity - why do people insist on assigning "worse" name to it?

  8. Re:Next in the series: on The Futility of the Ongoing Piracy War · · Score: 1

    Sure...

    Copying stuff is the same as taking physical things and shooting people in the process.

    Can we shoot you the next time you speed or jaywalk? We would only be applying your own standards to you.

    Not to mention the obvious logic of - if we both want free liquor, we both have to rob a liquor store. Whereas once pirate A cracks the DRM and posts the file, users B through ZYZZY are simply taking a copy. It's like sharing a secret - each new person is getting a fresh copy.

  9. Re:Id rather have had creativity or originality. on Nintendo WiiU Price and Release Date Announced · · Score: 1

    My problem with nintendo is they havent had an original idea in literally decades.

    Just for comparison, can you describe the revolutionary changes between the PS2 vs PS3, and the XBox vs 360?

  10. Re:GameCube controllers on Nintendo WiiU Price and Release Date Announced · · Score: 1

    If it runs all Wii games and accepts all Wii peripherals

    If the Wii Family Edition is any indication, then I don't think it takes GameCube controllers, which is a negative for people who play a lot of Brawl. Nor is it likely to support the Homebrew Channel.

    That's the only downside I'm seeing on the U - the loss of GC compatability. On the other hand, I do realize that supporting two generations back is asking a bit much. But it means I'll have to keep my Wii around for the handful of GC games I have.

  11. Re:If you make enough changes on Magic: the Gathering Is Turing Complete · · Score: 1

    Read the article again - while the situation is contrived (a bunch of players aren't likely to ever accidentally create a Turing Maching during a Magic game), they are following all the rules of the game - no external cheats required.

    Pretty sure you're not going to pull that off in Monopoly.

  12. Re:universal connector on Apple Says "No" To Releasing New Dock Connector Specs · · Score: 1

    And it sucks.

    You can't (for instance) use MHL at the same time as USB on the go (USB host mode). Or at the same time as USB AT ALL, as far as I know.

    And you can on the iPhone?

    I've got a connector that has USB, iPhone-dock, and RCA. Might have two, actually - they weren't particularly uncommon.

  13. Obvious counterexample on Do We Need a Longer School Year? · · Score: 1

    If the hypothesis is "students suffer after a two-month break", how do we explain the current post-secondary strategy of *four* month breaks?

    Does anyone know of a university or college that runs a full-year curriculum (besides the "hey, we'll let you take a couple classes over the summer" that the ones I know about do)?

  14. Re:Unintention? Gone Awry?? Incorrectly programmed on Hugo Awards Live Stream Cut By Copyright Enforcement Bot · · Score: 1

    Obviously they were only given a non-transferable license to use them.

  15. Re:Unintention? Gone Awry?? Incorrectly programmed on Hugo Awards Live Stream Cut By Copyright Enforcement Bot · · Score: 2

    Ohh I'm sure NASA would if they could -- but considering the fact that they are a TAX PAYER FUNDED PUBLIC AGENCY, anything and everything written or recorded is subject to the FOIA.

    Moon rocks however, being tangible assets are the sole property of the US Government and owning one, no matter where or how you claim to have procured it can lead to jail time. So don't be so quick to applaud NASA.

    Well, they are the ones who went up and got them. If you want your own moon rock, feel free to go over and pick some for yourself.

  16. Re:Not so sunny on Bill "The Science Guy" Nye Says Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children · · Score: 1

    Alternatively, we can accept that a lot of people don't think overmuch about things that don't directly affect them

    I'm sorry, I don't agree. Knowing that stars are suns just like our own is basic elementary education, unless perhaps your friends are all in their 90s or something. This is something you should have learned in grade school. Now, knowing this one fact isn't exactly important for daily life, but it shows that you're apparently uneducated; if you don't know that bit of elementary education, then what else do you not know, which anyone with a high school diploma would take for granted?

    I did learn it in school. I'm sure they did too. But do you remember absolutely every piece of information over your 12 years of schooling? Even the subjects that bored you to tears? I'll give you a hint - you probably remember less than you think. (If you want a painful reminder, help a kid with their homework).

    I have a general grasp on what makes my car go, but really it's faith: I push this pedal, it goes forward. I push this one, it stops.

    If that's all you know about your car, and don't even know what an engine is, then you have no business driving. There's a reason aircraft pilots have to learn about aerodynamics and how aircraft engines work (though not to the extent that aircraft mechanics do of course), and this is all basic knowledge to a car owner too. If you don't know how to check air on tires and fill them, how to check your engine oil and what the gauges mean, why you shouldn't continue to drive if your temperature gauge is maxed out, etc., then you have no business driving.

    Defending this appalling lack of basic education isn't doing anyone any favors, it's just encouraging the dumbing-down of society.

    The engine makes the car go. But aerodynamics in planes is comparable to stopping distance in cars - this is how the car handles. That's a completely different animal than understanding the details of internal combustion. (And I do know the basics, but it's pure theory - I'd be hopeless repairing a car.)

    But let's look at your list - I can check the air on my tires and fill them, but they hand you a little gauge, say "plug it in and read the number". That's nowhere near an understanding of air pressure, contact patches on the road, or anything close to *why* it's supposed to be such-and-such PSI. Ditto for oil - make sure you have oil in it, up to such-and-such a line. I don't need to know *why* the car needs oil, just that it does, and it should have this much. And personally, I drive a Toyota Echo - it has exactly *two* engine warning lights, which from my reading of the manual end up as "uh-oh" and "you're screwed".

    Do I understand automotive mechanics? No. But I understand automotive *operation*, which is the skill you care about when we're driving around town.

    The modern world is stupidly complex, and it's unrealistic to expect anyone to understand all of it in any sort of detail. What *is* realistic is that people recognize what they know and what they don't, and treat the world accordingly - and to be curious when they're faced with something they don't understand. Which was Nye's point in the first place.

  17. Re:So which field of engineering on Bill "The Science Guy" Nye Says Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children · · Score: 1

    For starters, if you're any of the garden-variety American variations of Christianity, you should be having some serious issues reconciling missile launchers and "thou shalt not kill".

  18. Re:Not so sunny on Bill "The Science Guy" Nye Says Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children · · Score: 1

    Holy crap, are all your adult friends morons or creationists or fundamentalists or something? (To others, yes, I realize those sets intersect in a big way.)

    You need some new friends. Ones who graduated from high school this time.

    Alternatively, we can accept that a lot of people don't think overmuch about things that don't directly affect them (either for work, for family, or where it intersects their interest).

    Look at it this way - if the stars are (a) reflected tiny dots or (b) tiny suns way far away, unless you are an astronaut, teaching your kid, or like stargazing, it really doesn't matter which answer is right. It literally doesn't affect them at all. What's important is that these friends said "oh, they're actually suns? Cool."

    Sad but necessary fact: we live a lot of our lives on faith. I have a general grasp on what makes my car go, but really it's faith: I push this pedal, it goes forward. I push this one, it stops. The problem Bill Nye is pointing out isn't that people don't understand the world, it's that we're teaching them *not* to question it. (To use the car example: the big reason I don't know is that I've never needed to know. If I was fundamentalist, I'd just proclaim that the car works because the Great Petroleum Gods will it to be so. I just accept that I don't know, and take my car to people who *do* know when it stops working.)

  19. Re:Lazy or corrupt? on US DOJ Drops Charges Against Two Seized Websites · · Score: 1

    The fact that you were unable to hire an attorney and get compensation tells me there's a lot more to your story you aren't telling us. As does the fact your assets were seized suddenly and without you having any prior notice.

    While the sudden seizure is a bit odd, I feel compelled to point out that it is hard to hire anybody when all your money is taken.

  20. Re:Don't have to believe in evolution to build stu on Bill "The Science Guy" Nye Says Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children · · Score: 1

    Engineers aren't scientists, and they especially don't care about evolution. An engineer can take some formulae describing how a particular phenomenon works, because god wills it to be so or otherwise, and design stuff.

    Easy counter-example: if you truly believe that $GOD determines the True and Natural Order of things, and the bridge falls over, is it a failure of mathematics or $GOD's Divine Will?

  21. Re:Why bother? on Photo Reveals UK Plan: "Assange To Be Arrested Under All Circumstances" · · Score: 1

    Thanks! It's rare to see statements like that backed up with real links. Thanks for helping Slashdot suck a little bit less:)

    And everyone should take a moment and consider that China is in the role of "defender of due process" here.

  22. Re:Why bother? on Photo Reveals UK Plan: "Assange To Be Arrested Under All Circumstances" · · Score: 1

    I also doubt Russia would risk that diplomatic uproar with the UK. It could also have been a British official who misspoke and mentioned that the UK had such laws, but forgot that mentioning it would certainly sound threatening. British law enforcement has a long history of incompetence.

    I wouldn't be so sure on that - once a precedent has been established, other countries will start using and widening it.

    Expect international opinion to ensure that London's law is never truly enforced. (If you have a problem with the embassy, you evict it - you don't violate it).

  23. Re:Don't have to believe in evolution to build stu on Bill "The Science Guy" Nye Says Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children · · Score: 3, Funny

    "we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems"

    Even people who don't believe in evolution can still become engineers who "build stuff, solve problems"

    Not without a fair amount of mental gymnastics. I've always wanted to sit in on a "Christian Science" class and answer all the questions with "Because God wills it to be so". Seems like an easy A.

  24. Re:prove your memory on Bill "The Science Guy" Nye Says Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children · · Score: 2

    I would, but you should prove first that you exist at all (as opposed to being a figment of my brain). When you fail that, kindly remove yourself from existence.

  25. Re:A letter of condemnation... on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Hits Primetime · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's worth noting that by all rumors, Whedon (and the cast) came out quite nicely already from Dr. Horrible. Remember that it was only available online for free for a short time. Then it was sold on iTunes, then it was sold on DVD (with all sorts of quite-awesome extras). Joss made his investment back on that job.

    So getting it on CW is just extra icing on the cake - especially if it's part of a larger setup for DH2 or whatever Joss' next project will be.