Would you rather that we learn nothing from the Littleton tragedy and that there be *no* reaction to violence, threats, or the poor taste of wearing a trenchcoat to school the day after a massacre? While some of the stories Katz has talked about have been overboard (the parents taking away the 10 year old's computer), most have erred on the side of caution.
I'm not saying that the persecution of "geeks" shouldn't be an issue to be discussed - but to claim some of the actions that I've read about in the past two Katz articles are overreactions is ludicrous. This isn't a freaking deathmatch - 15 kids died.
Now high school and junior high school students are scared of this sort of thing and are afraid to go to school. Teachers are scared by it and are afraid of their students. If you get up in a religion class and say you've wish you had owned a gun, of course someone is going to take it as a sign. I have no pity for anyone punished for saying something like this because they have no common sense, and no respect for the fears of others.
Society is not the cause
on
Why Kids Kill
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· Score: 3
I think the best explanation that I've heard for "why?" this happens came from President Clinton hours after the shooting. These kids build up massive grievances, and no one's reaching them.
I have to admit, I've been glued to the TV when the news of these killings came on. I knew the kids at my HS who wore trench coats and were on the rifle team. They were the science fiction club. I know it's probably a generalization or a stereotype, but every high school has those kids. Does that mean that they'll snap?
I've yet to see anyone to take on the bigger problems in this case. How easy was it for these kids to get automatic weapons? How could they build a massive arsenal of guns and bombs with no one (parents, friends, teachers) noticing? Why did their classmates insist on tormenting and teasing them?
Blaming "society" and our exposure to violence is too easy an answer, and not a good enough one. The U.S. never had this problem when we were involved in Vietnam, in Korea, or World War II.
I'm doing the same thing, with more emphasis on look. If I'm going to spend $100 on an LCD, the machine must look spiffy. Heck, the LCD I bought ($120) cost more than the machine I'm using (including graphics card, network card, processor, power supply, shell, and memory). So, my plan is to juice up an old 70's 8-trak/Hifi shell by putting a pentium w/a large hard drive inside of it. My biggest problem now is that I have over 200 CD's and it's hard to keep them all in one place when I'm listening to them in the car, at work, at home, and in the gym. Storing them all on one machine would solve that.
I'm using a small keypad interface to the LCD, and I'm going to have three modes of selecting MP3's : Random mode, Scroll-to-Select mode, and a search mode that will act like one of those telephone answering systems where you search for someone's extension by entering the corresponding digits of their last name. I should be well on my way after this weekend - I have most of the code written in Perl. I used the POSIX module instead of the C code that came along with the LCD that everyone seems to be using.
The biggest challenge I see is finding the perfect 70's Hifi/8 trak shell for this machine - look is very important (I'll be using this thing at parties) and I want a non-computer user to be able to use it easily. My objective is to create the most powerful 8-trak machine in the universe. No one else will be able to play 200 CD's worth of MP3 off of their 8-trak. The geek factor of this is great too - I'll be able to telnet to my stereo!
I think Wood would provide an excellent foil to Katz. Adding a "In Response To:" type piece along to every Katz article might subdue the Katz haters quite a bit. Wood seems a bit pompous ("I can forgive Malda that, given his youth and lack of a decent education.."), but I wouldn't expect much less from a.UK poster.
In any case, I think providing an alternative view to Katz would be a public service. It seems that public opinion on his merits is about evenly divided. I'd definitely like to see someone provide rebuttle to his articles - preferably from someone technical - perhaps Wood might be a good first choice?
Why do you feel the need to redefine all independent film as "geek cinema"? Is "geek" now some all encompassing word that defines everything under the sun? It's ridiculous. Next you'll be telling us Titanic should have been "geek film of the year", or that the Lewinsky trial was really about "geekdom".
I don't see how Smoke Signals would fit under a category of "geek cinema". Although the character Thomas was a bit awkward, the movie was about something much more universal than "nerds" or "geeks". The fact that the two main characters were mistrustful and wary of the outside world wasn't because they were geeks.
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Would you rather that we learn nothing from the Littleton tragedy and that there be *no* reaction to violence, threats, or the poor taste of wearing a trenchcoat to school the day after a massacre? While some of the stories Katz has talked about have been overboard (the parents taking away the 10 year old's computer), most have erred on the side of caution.
I'm not saying that the persecution of "geeks" shouldn't be an issue to be discussed - but to claim some of the actions that I've read about in the past two Katz articles are overreactions is ludicrous. This isn't a freaking deathmatch - 15 kids died.
Now high school and junior high school students are scared of this sort of thing and are afraid to go to school. Teachers are scared by it and are afraid of their students. If you get up in a religion class and say you've wish you had owned a gun, of course someone is going to take it as a sign. I have no pity for anyone punished for saying something like this because they have no common sense, and no respect for the fears of others.
I think the best explanation that I've heard for "why?" this happens came from President Clinton hours after the shooting. These kids build up massive grievances, and no one's reaching them.
I have to admit, I've been glued to the TV when the news of these killings came on. I knew the kids at my HS who wore trench coats and were on the rifle team. They were the science fiction club. I know it's probably a generalization or a stereotype, but every high school has those kids. Does that mean that they'll snap?
I've yet to see anyone to take on the bigger problems in this case. How easy was it for these kids to get automatic weapons? How could they build a massive arsenal of guns and bombs with no one (parents, friends, teachers) noticing? Why did their classmates insist on tormenting and teasing them?
Blaming "society" and our exposure to violence is too easy an answer, and not a good enough one. The U.S. never had this problem when we were involved in Vietnam, in Korea, or World War II.
I'm doing the same thing, with more emphasis on look. If I'm going to spend $100 on an LCD, the machine must look spiffy. Heck, the LCD I bought ($120) cost more than the machine I'm using (including graphics card, network card, processor, power supply, shell, and memory). So, my plan is to juice up an old 70's 8-trak/Hifi shell by putting a pentium w/a large hard drive inside of it. My biggest problem now is that I have over 200 CD's and it's hard to keep them all in one place when I'm listening to them in the car, at work, at home, and in the gym. Storing them all on one machine would solve that.
I'm using a small keypad interface to the LCD, and I'm going to have three modes of selecting MP3's : Random mode, Scroll-to-Select mode, and a search mode that will act like one of those telephone answering systems where you search for someone's extension by entering the corresponding digits of their last name. I should be well on my way after this weekend - I have most of the code written in Perl. I used the POSIX module instead of the C code that came along with the LCD that everyone seems to be using.
The biggest challenge I see is finding the perfect 70's Hifi/8 trak shell for this machine - look is very important (I'll be using this thing at parties) and I want a non-computer user to be able to use it easily. My objective is to create the most powerful 8-trak machine in the universe. No one else will be able to play 200 CD's worth of MP3 off of their 8-trak. The geek factor of this is great too - I'll be able to telnet to my stereo!
Here, Here.
.UK poster.
I think Wood would provide an excellent foil to Katz. Adding a "In Response To:" type piece along to every Katz article might subdue the Katz haters quite a bit. Wood seems a bit pompous ("I can forgive Malda that, given his youth and lack of a decent education.."), but I wouldn't expect much less from a
In any case, I think providing an alternative view to Katz would be a public service. It seems that public opinion on his merits is about evenly divided. I'd definitely like to see someone provide rebuttle to his articles - preferably from someone technical - perhaps Wood might be a good first choice?
Jon,
Why do you feel the need to redefine all independent film as "geek cinema"? Is "geek" now some all encompassing word that defines everything under the sun? It's ridiculous. Next you'll be telling us Titanic should have been "geek film of the year", or that the Lewinsky trial was really about "geekdom".
I don't see how Smoke Signals would fit under a category of "geek cinema". Although the character Thomas was a bit awkward, the movie was about something much more universal than "nerds" or "geeks". The fact that the two main characters were mistrustful and wary of the outside world wasn't because they were geeks.