I always wanted to see the high-speed train people get together with the roller coaster people. Imagine a lightweight train, hanging from a single rail hanging from arms offset on posts (so no ground prep would be necessary, just like monorails) with people sitting side by side in groups of two.
Propel the thing in and out of the stations, and at regular intervals, with the magnetic induction methods used by some of the scariest new roller coasters -- draws regular current while idle, and stores it for a big boost when the train passes by.
Attach a small "carlet" at the front, running far enough ahead of the main train that if the rail is broken or damaged, a signal is cut off (think fail-safe here) and the main train comes to a stop before hitting the broken or damaged rail (that probably destroyed the "carlet").
Of course, not all of the roller coaster ideas work -- few people would want to purchase a picture of themselves commuting at the end of their ride.;)
Here's what I do to keep my wife's Windows laptop (with sensitive film production information on it) from being hijacked:
1. Up-to-date anti-virus and zonealarm firewall on the laptop;
2. Mozilla and Thunderbird for web browsing and email;
3. A Mitel SME (formerely e-smith) Linux box between the laptop and the internet -- the firewall is very unobtrusive, but effective -- and the distro itself is low-maintenance;
4. No wireless;
5. Important but not commonly updated information backed up on CD-R and removed from the machine (you can't get information off the machine if it isn't there).
Forgot to mention in my previous post, that the site my wife and I run is in fact a small special interest site. That's why I didn't post a link to it in my previous post (or indeed in this one); I'm still paying for a host that will let me burst up to an insane amount of traffic for a few days each month, though, JUST IN CASE I ever get slashdotted. Nobody likes surprises.
First, find your community, then start a site for that community.
My wife and I were going through something personal, and visited a well-known community board to discuss the subject with other people with a similar problem. The people who used the board were terrific, but the organization running the board were absolutely awful; one of those communities that tries to fiercely restrict and censor the ongoing discussions based on arbitrary rules that are constantly in flux, while (we suspect) harvesting the email addresses of their subscribers for spam.
So, we started our own board, and a large number of people (nearly 100 in the first few days) joined our community. We've grown slowly ever since.
Why? Well, no unholy restrictions; we simply move poorly-placed posts to the appropriate locations and ask people to reconsider certain material that might emotionally disturb others (it's a sensitive subject that's being discussed).
Oh, and we're not trying to make any money, not even to cover our expenses (which are minimal). In short, we're part of the community we're trying to serve, and since we're not motivated by profit (direct or indirect) this community site has been a very easy and satisfying thing to create and maintain.
Second, use open source software with a good reputation and active development.
We use phpBB, and were up and running within a few hours of deciding to start the board. Once in a while we apply a security patch, and our web host does daily database backups, so it's been smooth sailing for quite a while.
Magnatune has been mentioned before, and it offers entire albums from $4-$18 (it's up to you how much you want to pay), free access to streams of the music you want to preview, and you end up purchasing two downloadable.zip files: one with pre-compressed.mp3s, and one with WAV files(!) -- and no DRM whatsoever.
I've bought two albums to date (mrEpic and Brad Sucks) and recommend them both highly. Enjoy!
Re:Sheesh!
on
TiVo Will Die
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· Score: 4, Informative
The DirecTiVo unit is a combination DirecTV receiver and TiVo unit. You can hack it up (I dropped in a second hard drive for 104 hours recording time total), the picture quality is as good as DirecTV's feed (because it just records the pre-compressed signal that DirecTV sends down) and best of all, if you run two coax lines from your dish you can record two shows at once -- all for $9.95 a month. Oh, and you can get the unit right now from Circuit City for $99.
I cannot tell you how many times over the last few years I've read an article claiming that TiVo will die. I read 'em before I bought my first TiVo, and I still read 'em now -- and meanwhile TiVo continues to exist.
Meanwhile, more of my friends have TiVo than ever before. At a recent marketing study of men in my age range with home theater equipment, ALL but ONE of the study subjects had a TiVo (the exception had ReplayTV).
It reminds me of all the stores over the year claiming Apple was on the brink of extinction. Historically, I have not been an Apple fan, but I must admit that I now understand why so many Apple fans are rabid -- because I LOVE my TiVo, and every time I read a story predicting TiVo's demise, it makes me want to evalgelize the company's products to a few more acquaintances. Of course, I'm already evangelizing, because I really do think their products are fabulous.
Eventually, Apple will die. So will TiVo. And Microsoft. And IBM. And RedHat. And so on. I'll just keep using the products I like, and when they finally go under, I'll be there at the going out of business sale.
"Or am I just a prude who's getting worked up over nothing?"
Considering you chronicled the semi-nudity on your web site, I think you're a smart person who knows that nudity (even the semi kind) will get you a posting on Slashdot and a lot of web traffic to your blog.;)
And since I seem to be a very early post, I suspect a lot of people are RTFAWSN (Reading the ----ing article with semi-nudity.)
If you can convince them (and it isn't as hard as it sounds) that there's a story there, and that you'll let them present the event in any fashion they wish, someone'll tag along with you then sell the resulting piece somewhere (or at least show it at film festivals).
Of course, there's always the danger of becoming the Monster Garage or Blair Witch Project of Amateur Radio, so be wary about WHO you choose. Since you're not looking to make any money whatsoever, you can be picky about whom you trust to treat the subject matter with respect. Just don't get in the way on the day-to-day stuff.
...and during a visit back to see my folks, I gave my dad a new computer. The man can write assembler, but he just doesn't "get" Windows, so I figured I'd save myself trouble and bought/installed GoBack with Windows 2000. The idea was, if he got into trouble, I could always instruct him to "go back". Heh.
Well, that computer had constant booting and corruption issues. I spent a few hours a week, every week, on the phone with him trying to diagnose why the problems were happening. I didn't know if it was bad drivers, a bad trace on the motherboard, a flaky drive controller, or what -- but after every call, I would think "thank goodness I installed GoBack!"
I'm sure you can see this coming. After months of this, I went out for another visit, and I removed GoBack. Sure enough, THE HARD DRIVE PROBLEMS STOPPED. I spent maybe an hour on the phone with him in the six months following.
Based on that, and on other, similar experiences, I believe the answer is a resounding no, an experienced user cannot surf the web safely with MS, and it's not just because of viruses and whatnot -- it's because even the programs that purport to help you (in my experience, GoBack and Norton's CrashGuard are the two worst offenders) can hurt you.
I agree with the last part of what you said, but there's an undeniable fact at work here: learning how to be social is more than finding other people who are like you and hanging out with them. That's only social inasmuch as it beats not interacting with other people at all, and it's what many socially-handicapped people do to cope. Tragically, it postpones the inevitable realization that you have no idea how to interact with people who are not like you, and you have to deal with that kind of people (let's call them not-me people) on a daily basis to have a rich, full life.
I spent years hanging out with kids who were just like me -- which is to say socially unchallenging, and few in number -- while I continued to be mystified by the myriad of other people out there in the world that I didn't understand and, let's face it, had no desire to understand. Trouble was, when I HAD to deal with the not-me people (which was often, given that I lived in the real world) I couldn't do it very well, and missed out on a lot of opportunities as a result. A LOT.
Eventually, I stumbled into an environment where I -had- to deal in extensive face-to-face interaction with not-me people to accomplish common goals. Did I like the other people? Nope. Did they become my friends? Nope. But it taught me a great deal about how social circles operate, and those skills transformed me from an introvert full of fear to an extrovert who doesn't hesitate to attack new situations and new people. That's what camp is. That's what high school is. The thing you wish you didn't have to go through, that taught you more about yourself and others than you ever thought possible.
To have the confidence and judgement to play with fire effectively, you have to get burned at least once. Do you want this kid to feel good about himself in the short term but have limited social interaction outside of his immediate comfort zone, or go through some discomfort in the short term so that he can take control of his life in the long term? I know which one I vote for.;)
...because ultimately it's up to him to do the learning. Unless he's asking you for help (which I doubt; this isn't an episode of "Saved by the bell") he's going to have to figure it out for himself, which includes him figuring out that there's something to figure out in the first place.
Ultimately, the motivator for him to learn social skills will be other kids interacting with him in a positive way, and you can't force that. What you CAN do, however, is get him in social situations where his brains will be considered an asset.
For instance, set up class lab activities that require teams of four, and make sure these activities require serious brains to complete. Sometimes, he should be in charge of picking people for his team; sometimes he shouldn't. Does this mean he might get chosen last? Sure, until a lazy and popular kid decides it's better to have this smart kid doing his work for him. Once your smart kid is selected by the popular kid, and they get an 'A' AND get done early because of it, he'll be considered an asset.
The flipside to that, of course, is that the other kids will initially be using him. The thing is, learing that you're being used and learning how to deal with it is as important a social skill as any other, so while it's painful in the short term it's beneficial in the long term.
Also, you'll be giving popular and lazy kids a reason to view him in a more positive light, which is a good lesson for them.:)
TRIO did this on DirecTV not too long ago, and by "on DirecTV" I don't mean "the messages showed up on DirecTV but were meant for Dish subscribers", but that DirecTV was going to drop TRIO and they were running messages about it. Personally, TRIO is a big draw for my family, so when this happened we started talking about switching to Dish...but the deal got worked out.
What kills me is these guys discovered this approach BY ACCIDENT -- when one of their balloon wheels fell off an earlier (traditional) prototype -- but when I described the Los Angeles to Las Vegas autonomous vehicle contest to my wife last year, I described a vehicle just like this one as the perfect choice.
Even the PS2 lacks the best racing game ever: "Test Drive: Le Mans" for the Dreamcast. It was one of many versions of the game for various platforms, but somehow the developers of the Dreamcast version NAILED it. When the PS2's GTurismo3 came out, we played it back-to-back with TDLM, and after oooing and aahing at the graphics on the PS2 for a few minutes, turned it off and went right back to beating up on each other in TDLM.
Why? Well, four-player support, a great learning curve (beginners could turn on so many aids that children could drive well, and if you turned them all off you could really drive quickly -- unless you weren't skilled yet, in which case you turned 'em right back on), and a perfect balance of realism and arcade style.
I still have a Dreamcast tucked away at home exclusively to play that game when friends come over (the GameCube holds the primary console honors.)
Well, it has the exclusive Mario Kart on it, which I love. It has the exclusive Animal Crossing on it, which made me late for work on many an occasion and ate well over 40 hours of time each from my wife's life and from mine. It also has the only non-Nintendo-specific games I wanted, which are The Simpsons: Hit 'n Run and all of the Tony Hawk series (my wife, inexplicably, LOVES the Tony Hawk series and kicks my ass on a regular basis.)
So, it plays exclusive games I love, it plays the multi-console games I want, the controller fits my hand well (including the wavebird wireless), it tucks unobtrusively into a corner of my entertainment center, and it was c-h-e-a-p.
Finally, when my wife gives birth to our first child, I know I can throw the GameCube in the closet and pull it out a few years later and introduce them to Pikmin, Animal Crossing, and other non-violent games.
It is, in short, a great family-oriented middle of the road box with just enough hardcore game titles to keep this mid-30-year-old satisfied. Kind of the Atari 2600 of current consoles.
You say you applied for a position three tiers up to get noticed? Congratulations, it worked -- they noticed, and they asked "hey, if this guy believes he could function well THREE rungs up under normal conditions, I bet he could do a bang-up job ONE rung up on this shitpile. Let's move him into that train wreck, and if he can fix it, he's definitely the kind of guy we want to keep moving up."
Based strictly on how you presented your predicament, I'd say your turning down the one-rung-up promotion would essentially say "no way, man, I want the THREE rung up job", not "no way, man, I don't want to be part of a train wreck." This is bad, because it makes you look arrogant and unrealistic.
Heck, even if it says "no way, man, I don't want to be part of a train wreck", who wants to promote someone who won't jump in and fix problems when they find it? You don't move up the ladder unless you're willing to take the bad with the good.
So I'd personally say, again based exclusively on what you posted (so YMMV), turning down this offer will guarantee two things:
1. You'll get to stay in the position you're currently enjoying.
2. You're going to stay there for a long, long time.
>Malevolent code can enter open source software at several levels.
1. >First, and least worrisome, is that the core project code could be compromised by inclusion of source contributed as a fix or extension. As the core Linux code is carefully scrutinized, that's not terribly likely.
Not likely indeed. Moving on.
2. >Much more likely is that distributions will be created and advertised for free, or created with the express purpose of marketing them to governments at cut-rate pricing. As anyone can create and market a distribution, it's not far-fetched to imagine a version subsidized and supported by organizations that may not have U.S. or other government interests at heart.
Organizations using Open Source Distributions generally purchase a vendor-supplied copy as well as a support contract.
As an aside, do you suppose non-US countries that use Microsoft products are concerned that Microsoft may not have their country's best interests at heart?
3. >Third, an individual or group of IT insiders could target a single organization by obtaining a good copy of Linux, and then customizing it for an organization, including malevolent code as they do so. That version would then become the standard version for the organization. Given the prevalence of inter-corporation and inter-governmental spying, and the relatively large numbers of people in a position to accomplish such subterfuge, this last scenario is virtually certain to occur. Worse, these probabilities aren't limited to Linux itself, the same possibilities (and probabilities) exist for every open source software package installed and used on the machines."
This isn't limited to Open Source itself. The same possibilities (and probabilities) exist for any company that uses customized software AT ALL -- at some point, you have to trust those doing the customizing, or get a third party to audit. I mean, after all, I can wreak havoc throughout an organization just by clever use of login scripts on Windows XP machines, and if everyone in the IT department is in on it, nobody else would be the wiser.
Now that I think of it, even if you're not customizing the software, you're trusting the people who make it. Does Microsoft have your best interests at heart? Does SCO? Does RedHat? Does anyone? That's why it's nice to be ABLE to scour the code -- the smartest, safest groups will obtain source code from those who write it, and have it audited by another group, and then again perhaps by another. Unless they're all in league with one another. [Insert tinfoil hat here]
>"The very notion that I have to get permission to send you a marketing >message doesn't make sense and is not good public policy."
I dunno. I feel like the very notion that marketers should be allowed to cram advertising into the email boxes of anyone they feel like, without regard for the costs borne and time lost* by the individuals and ISPs at the receiving end, doesn't make sense and is not good public policy. I guess it depends on who you think the public is -- the masses as individuals, or the masses as business owners and operators.
*I never really thought about the time lost, until I started administering a few extra domains with email addresses on a lot of spam lists. Even with direct access to the mail server over the LAN, it takes a surprisingly long time for thunderbird to rifle through the messages (via IMAP) to discard spamassassinated messages and apply the bayesian filtering to the rest. I can only imagine how horrific it must be for 56k modem users!
I have DirecTV with TiVo (commonly called DirecTiVo), the dual-tuner box.
I'm not a big fan of Rupert Murdoch, and he's either in the process of purchasing, or has already completed his purchase of, DirecTV. That said:
1. I've had years of mostly trouble-free service. No (zero) outages due to rain or wind. Since I'm in southern california, I can speak to windy days and days-long rain deluges, but I can't speak to snow. YMMV.
2. The problems I have experienced have been with the TiVo unit, but those problems have been so rare and so easily fixed (usually without calling tech support; I just go to AVSforums and check out their DirecTiVo forum for advice) that I can't say it's been anything but a delight.
3. Once upon a time, I worked for a cable company. Having been on the "other side", I can honestly tell you that I avoid cable like the plague unless there's a compelling reason not to. There's always the possibility that the same kind of shenannigans go on at the satellite providers, but it's kind of like KNOWING someone spits in your food at a specific restaurant, vs. merely suspecting it at another -- you're gonna stop going to the first restaurant, even though you might or might not keep going to the second.
Thanks for the heads-up! I used IE6 to follow the article's link to InfoWorld, then downloaded a pdf of the article so that I could share it with others.
Again, it's all in how you (individually) look at it, I guess. I have a 30-mile round trip commute and a 240-volt outlet in my garage, so that electric car would mean I just park it in the garage one night every week or two (depending on other errands) instead of every 1-2 days (without errands) for other electric cars. For my use, that's a heck of a jump. But yeah, I wouldn't take it on a cross-country trip.:)
I recently got a copy of Xandros 2.0 Deluxe. I've purchased and downloaded games and linux distributions before, and ordered individual CDs before, but rarely went for the boxed versions until now.
I must admit, thought, that when I got the box in the mail just before a staff meeting, I brought the box with me and quietly opened it bit by bit throughout the meeting. The anticipation was painful.
When I opened the box and found a 200+ page owner's manual, I got genuinely excited, and even my wife said "ooo, what's that?" when I got it home -- and she's bored to tears with my linux experiments.
So yeah, I think the box is important to the experience.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I always wanted to see the high-speed train people get together with the roller coaster people. Imagine a lightweight train, hanging from a single rail hanging from arms offset on posts (so no ground prep would be necessary, just like monorails) with people sitting side by side in groups of two.
;)
Propel the thing in and out of the stations, and at regular intervals, with the magnetic induction methods used by some of the scariest new roller coasters -- draws regular current while idle, and stores it for a big boost when the train passes by.
Attach a small "carlet" at the front, running far enough ahead of the main train that if the rail is broken or damaged, a signal is cut off (think fail-safe here) and the main train comes to a stop before hitting the broken or damaged rail (that probably destroyed the "carlet").
Of course, not all of the roller coaster ideas work -- few people would want to purchase a picture of themselves commuting at the end of their ride.
Here's what I do to keep my wife's Windows laptop (with sensitive film production information on it) from being hijacked:
1. Up-to-date anti-virus and zonealarm firewall on the laptop;
2. Mozilla and Thunderbird for web browsing and email;
3. A Mitel SME (formerely e-smith) Linux box between the laptop and the internet -- the firewall is very unobtrusive, but effective -- and the distro itself is low-maintenance;
4. No wireless;
5. Important but not commonly updated information backed up on CD-R and removed from the machine (you can't get information off the machine if it isn't there).
Forgot to mention in my previous post, that the site my wife and I run is in fact a small special interest site. That's why I didn't post a link to it in my previous post (or indeed in this one); I'm still paying for a host that will let me burst up to an insane amount of traffic for a few days each month, though, JUST IN CASE I ever get slashdotted. Nobody likes surprises.
First, find your community, then start a site for that community.
My wife and I were going through something personal, and visited a well-known community board to discuss the subject with other people with a similar problem. The people who used the board were terrific, but the organization running the board were absolutely awful; one of those communities that tries to fiercely restrict and censor the ongoing discussions based on arbitrary rules that are constantly in flux, while (we suspect) harvesting the email addresses of their subscribers for spam.
So, we started our own board, and a large number of people (nearly 100 in the first few days) joined our community. We've grown slowly ever since.
Why? Well, no unholy restrictions; we simply move poorly-placed posts to the appropriate locations and ask people to reconsider certain material that might emotionally disturb others (it's a sensitive subject that's being discussed).
Oh, and we're not trying to make any money, not even to cover our expenses (which are minimal). In short, we're part of the community we're trying to serve, and since we're not motivated by profit (direct or indirect) this community site has been a very easy and satisfying thing to create and maintain.
Second, use open source software with a good reputation and active development.
We use phpBB, and were up and running within a few hours of deciding to start the board. Once in a while we apply a security patch, and our web host does daily database backups, so it's been smooth sailing for quite a while.
Good luck.
I guess I need to go there more often -- it's $5 minimum, not $4, and they offer a LOT more download options than mp3 and WAV. Sorry!
Magnatune has been mentioned before, and it offers entire albums from $4-$18 (it's up to you how much you want to pay), free access to streams of the music you want to preview, and you end up purchasing two downloadable .zip files: one with pre-compressed .mp3s, and one with WAV files(!) -- and no DRM whatsoever.
I've bought two albums to date (mrEpic and Brad Sucks) and recommend them both highly. Enjoy!
The DirecTiVo unit is a combination DirecTV receiver and TiVo unit. You can hack it up (I dropped in a second hard drive for 104 hours recording time total), the picture quality is as good as DirecTV's feed (because it just records the pre-compressed signal that DirecTV sends down) and best of all, if you run two coax lines from your dish you can record two shows at once -- all for $9.95 a month. Oh, and you can get the unit right now from Circuit City for $99.
And people wonder why I love my TiVo...
I cannot tell you how many times over the last few years I've read an article claiming that TiVo will die. I read 'em before I bought my first TiVo, and I still read 'em now -- and meanwhile TiVo continues to exist.
Meanwhile, more of my friends have TiVo than ever before. At a recent marketing study of men in my age range with home theater equipment, ALL but ONE of the study subjects had a TiVo (the exception had ReplayTV).
It reminds me of all the stores over the year claiming Apple was on the brink of extinction. Historically, I have not been an Apple fan, but I must admit that I now understand why so many Apple fans are rabid -- because I LOVE my TiVo, and every time I read a story predicting TiVo's demise, it makes me want to evalgelize the company's products to a few more acquaintances. Of course, I'm already evangelizing, because I really do think their products are fabulous.
Eventually, Apple will die. So will TiVo. And Microsoft. And IBM. And RedHat. And so on. I'll just keep using the products I like, and when they finally go under, I'll be there at the going out of business sale.
"Or am I just a prude who's getting worked up over nothing?"
;)
Considering you chronicled the semi-nudity on your web site, I think you're a smart person who knows that nudity (even the semi kind) will get you a posting on Slashdot and a lot of web traffic to your blog.
And since I seem to be a very early post, I suspect a lot of people are RTFAWSN (Reading the ----ing article with semi-nudity.)
If you can convince them (and it isn't as hard as it sounds) that there's a story there, and that you'll let them present the event in any fashion they wish, someone'll tag along with you then sell the resulting piece somewhere (or at least show it at film festivals).
Of course, there's always the danger of becoming the Monster Garage or Blair Witch Project of Amateur Radio, so be wary about WHO you choose. Since you're not looking to make any money whatsoever, you can be picky about whom you trust to treat the subject matter with respect. Just don't get in the way on the day-to-day stuff.
...and during a visit back to see my folks, I gave my dad a new computer. The man can write assembler, but he just doesn't "get" Windows, so I figured I'd save myself trouble and bought/installed GoBack with Windows 2000. The idea was, if he got into trouble, I could always instruct him to "go back". Heh.
Well, that computer had constant booting and corruption issues. I spent a few hours a week, every week, on the phone with him trying to diagnose why the problems were happening. I didn't know if it was bad drivers, a bad trace on the motherboard, a flaky drive controller, or what -- but after every call, I would think "thank goodness I installed GoBack!"
I'm sure you can see this coming. After months of this, I went out for another visit, and I removed GoBack. Sure enough, THE HARD DRIVE PROBLEMS STOPPED. I spent maybe an hour on the phone with him in the six months following.
Based on that, and on other, similar experiences, I believe the answer is a resounding no, an experienced user cannot surf the web safely with MS, and it's not just because of viruses and whatnot -- it's because even the programs that purport to help you (in my experience, GoBack and Norton's CrashGuard are the two worst offenders) can hurt you.
I agree with the last part of what you said, but there's an undeniable fact at work here: learning how to be social is more than finding other people who are like you and hanging out with them. That's only social inasmuch as it beats not interacting with other people at all, and it's what many socially-handicapped people do to cope. Tragically, it postpones the inevitable realization that you have no idea how to interact with people who are not like you, and you have to deal with that kind of people (let's call them not-me people) on a daily basis to have a rich, full life.
;)
I spent years hanging out with kids who were just like me -- which is to say socially unchallenging, and few in number -- while I continued to be mystified by the myriad of other people out there in the world that I didn't understand and, let's face it, had no desire to understand. Trouble was, when I HAD to deal with the not-me people (which was often, given that I lived in the real world) I couldn't do it very well, and missed out on a lot of opportunities as a result. A LOT.
Eventually, I stumbled into an environment where I -had- to deal in extensive face-to-face interaction with not-me people to accomplish common goals. Did I like the other people? Nope. Did they become my friends? Nope. But it taught me a great deal about how social circles operate, and those skills transformed me from an introvert full of fear to an extrovert who doesn't hesitate to attack new situations and new people. That's what camp is. That's what high school is. The thing you wish you didn't have to go through, that taught you more about yourself and others than you ever thought possible.
To have the confidence and judgement to play with fire effectively, you have to get burned at least once. Do you want this kid to feel good about himself in the short term but have limited social interaction outside of his immediate comfort zone, or go through some discomfort in the short term so that he can take control of his life in the long term? I know which one I vote for.
...because ultimately it's up to him to do the learning. Unless he's asking you for help (which I doubt; this isn't an episode of "Saved by the bell") he's going to have to figure it out for himself, which includes him figuring out that there's something to figure out in the first place.
:)
Ultimately, the motivator for him to learn social skills will be other kids interacting with him in a positive way, and you can't force that. What you CAN do, however, is get him in social situations where his brains will be considered an asset.
For instance, set up class lab activities that require teams of four, and make sure these activities require serious brains to complete. Sometimes, he should be in charge of picking people for his team; sometimes he shouldn't. Does this mean he might get chosen last? Sure, until a lazy and popular kid decides it's better to have this smart kid doing his work for him. Once your smart kid is selected by the popular kid, and they get an 'A' AND get done early because of it, he'll be considered an asset.
The flipside to that, of course, is that the other kids will initially be using him. The thing is, learing that you're being used and learning how to deal with it is as important a social skill as any other, so while it's painful in the short term it's beneficial in the long term.
Also, you'll be giving popular and lazy kids a reason to view him in a more positive light, which is a good lesson for them.
TRIO did this on DirecTV not too long ago, and by "on DirecTV" I don't mean "the messages showed up on DirecTV but were meant for Dish subscribers", but that DirecTV was going to drop TRIO and they were running messages about it. Personally, TRIO is a big draw for my family, so when this happened we started talking about switching to Dish...but the deal got worked out.
What kills me is these guys discovered this approach BY ACCIDENT -- when one of their balloon wheels fell off an earlier (traditional) prototype -- but when I described the Los Angeles to Las Vegas autonomous vehicle contest to my wife last year, I described a vehicle just like this one as the perfect choice.
I guess I'm in the wrong business.
"Wonder if there's any spots on that ranch left that can make a good Star Wars movie?"
That is the funniest thing I have ever read in a Slashdot story. Props.
Even the PS2 lacks the best racing game ever: "Test Drive: Le Mans" for the Dreamcast. It was one of many versions of the game for various platforms, but somehow the developers of the Dreamcast version NAILED it. When the PS2's GTurismo3 came out, we played it back-to-back with TDLM, and after oooing and aahing at the graphics on the PS2 for a few minutes, turned it off and went right back to beating up on each other in TDLM.
Why? Well, four-player support, a great learning curve (beginners could turn on so many aids that children could drive well, and if you turned them all off you could really drive quickly -- unless you weren't skilled yet, in which case you turned 'em right back on), and a perfect balance of realism and arcade style.
I still have a Dreamcast tucked away at home exclusively to play that game when friends come over (the GameCube holds the primary console honors.)
Why do I love my GameCube?
;)
Well, it has the exclusive Mario Kart on it, which I love. It has the exclusive Animal Crossing on it, which made me late for work on many an occasion and ate well over 40 hours of time each from my wife's life and from mine. It also has the only non-Nintendo-specific games I wanted, which are The Simpsons: Hit 'n Run and all of the Tony Hawk series (my wife, inexplicably, LOVES the Tony Hawk series and kicks my ass on a regular basis.)
So, it plays exclusive games I love, it plays the multi-console games I want, the controller fits my hand well (including the wavebird wireless), it tucks unobtrusively into a corner of my entertainment center, and it was c-h-e-a-p.
Finally, when my wife gives birth to our first child, I know I can throw the GameCube in the closet and pull it out a few years later and introduce them to Pikmin, Animal Crossing, and other non-violent games.
It is, in short, a great family-oriented middle of the road box with just enough hardcore game titles to keep this mid-30-year-old satisfied. Kind of the Atari 2600 of current consoles.
Plus it's blue. I like blue.
You say you applied for a position three tiers up to get noticed? Congratulations, it worked -- they noticed, and they asked "hey, if this guy believes he could function well THREE rungs up under normal conditions, I bet he could do a bang-up job ONE rung up on this shitpile. Let's move him into that train wreck, and if he can fix it, he's definitely the kind of guy we want to keep moving up."
Based strictly on how you presented your predicament, I'd say your turning down the one-rung-up promotion would essentially say "no way, man, I want the THREE rung up job", not "no way, man, I don't want to be part of a train wreck." This is bad, because it makes you look arrogant and unrealistic.
Heck, even if it says "no way, man, I don't want to be part of a train wreck", who wants to promote someone who won't jump in and fix problems when they find it? You don't move up the ladder unless you're willing to take the bad with the good.
So I'd personally say, again based exclusively on what you posted (so YMMV), turning down this offer will guarantee two things:
1. You'll get to stay in the position you're currently enjoying.
2. You're going to stay there for a long, long time.
Good luck, whichever you decide.
From the article, annotations added by me:
>Malevolent code can enter open source software at several levels.
1. >First, and least worrisome, is that the core project code could be compromised by inclusion of source contributed as a fix or extension. As the core Linux code is carefully scrutinized, that's not terribly likely.
Not likely indeed. Moving on.
2. >Much more likely is that distributions will be created and advertised for free, or created with the express purpose of marketing them to governments at cut-rate pricing. As anyone can create and market a distribution, it's not far-fetched to imagine a version subsidized and supported by organizations that may not have U.S. or other government interests at heart.
Organizations using Open Source Distributions generally purchase a vendor-supplied copy as well as a support contract.
As an aside, do you suppose non-US countries that use Microsoft products are concerned that Microsoft may not have their country's best interests at heart?
3. >Third, an individual or group of IT insiders could target a single organization by obtaining a good copy of Linux, and then customizing it for an organization, including malevolent code as they do so. That version would then become the standard version for the organization. Given the prevalence of inter-corporation and inter-governmental spying, and the relatively large numbers of people in a position to accomplish such subterfuge, this last scenario is virtually certain to occur. Worse, these probabilities aren't limited to Linux itself, the same possibilities (and probabilities) exist for every open source software package installed and used on the machines."
This isn't limited to Open Source itself. The same possibilities (and probabilities) exist for any company that uses customized software AT ALL -- at some point, you have to trust those doing the customizing, or get a third party to audit. I mean, after all, I can wreak havoc throughout an organization just by clever use of login scripts on Windows XP machines, and if everyone in the IT department is in on it, nobody else would be the wiser.
Now that I think of it, even if you're not customizing the software, you're trusting the people who make it. Does Microsoft have your best interests at heart? Does SCO? Does RedHat? Does anyone? That's why it's nice to be ABLE to scour the code -- the smartest, safest groups will obtain source code from those who write it, and have it audited by another group, and then again perhaps by another. Unless they're all in league with one another. [Insert tinfoil hat here]
So. Who's paying this guy?
Sigh. From the article:
>"The very notion that I have to get permission to send you a marketing
>message doesn't make sense and is not good public policy."
I dunno. I feel like the very notion that marketers should be allowed to cram advertising into the email boxes of anyone they feel like, without regard for the costs borne and time lost* by the individuals and ISPs at the receiving end, doesn't make sense and is not good public policy. I guess it depends on who you think the public is -- the masses as individuals, or the masses as business owners and operators.
*I never really thought about the time lost, until I started administering a few extra domains with email addresses on a lot of spam lists. Even with direct access to the mail server over the LAN, it takes a surprisingly long time for thunderbird to rifle through the messages (via IMAP) to discard spamassassinated messages and apply the bayesian filtering to the rest. I can only imagine how horrific it must be for 56k modem users!
I have DirecTV with TiVo (commonly called DirecTiVo), the dual-tuner box.
I'm not a big fan of Rupert Murdoch, and he's either in the process of purchasing, or has already completed his purchase of, DirecTV. That said:
1. I've had years of mostly trouble-free service. No (zero) outages due to rain or wind. Since I'm in southern california, I can speak to windy days and days-long rain deluges, but I can't speak to snow. YMMV.
2. The problems I have experienced have been with the TiVo unit, but those problems have been so rare and so easily fixed (usually without calling tech support; I just go to AVSforums and check out their DirecTiVo forum for advice) that I can't say it's been anything but a delight.
3. Once upon a time, I worked for a cable company. Having been on the "other side", I can honestly tell you that I avoid cable like the plague unless there's a compelling reason not to. There's always the possibility that the same kind of shenannigans go on at the satellite providers, but it's kind of like KNOWING someone spits in your food at a specific restaurant, vs. merely suspecting it at another -- you're gonna stop going to the first restaurant, even though you might or might not keep going to the second.
Thanks for the heads-up! I used IE6 to follow the article's link to InfoWorld, then downloaded a pdf of the article so that I could share it with others.
Uh oh.
Again, it's all in how you (individually) look at it, I guess. I have a 30-mile round trip commute and a 240-volt outlet in my garage, so that electric car would mean I just park it in the garage one night every week or two (depending on other errands) instead of every 1-2 days (without errands) for other electric cars. For my use, that's a heck of a jump. But yeah, I wouldn't take it on a cross-country trip. :)
I recently got a copy of Xandros 2.0 Deluxe. I've purchased and downloaded games and linux distributions before, and ordered individual CDs before, but rarely went for the boxed versions until now.
:)
I must admit, thought, that when I got the box in the mail just before a staff meeting, I brought the box with me and quietly opened it bit by bit throughout the meeting. The anticipation was painful.
When I opened the box and found a 200+ page owner's manual, I got genuinely excited, and even my wife said "ooo, what's that?" when I got it home -- and she's bored to tears with my linux experiments.
So yeah, I think the box is important to the experience.