Coming from the US, where I studied education, and then moving to Central America, where the educational system makes ours look fantastic, I have to say that what we need to teach our kids is critical thinking skills. This touches on the OP's point number 2: a lot of us are, indeed, self-educated to some degree. The question is, why aren't others?
I think there are a number of answers. Teachers who teach to the tests (be they their own or state-mandated standardized tests). Students who think that cramming equals learning. Parents who don't take an interest in their kids' progress. Coaches who think that $SPORT is the most important thing in life. Legislators who think that education can be properly quantified with standardized testing. Administrators who won't take the time to listen to teachers. Taxpayers who shoot down bond proposals. And the list goes on.
Education should not be centered on teachers, administrators, sports, or computers. Education should be centered on students. And the most important thing we can teach them is how to think on their own, without asking their friends, looking in the back of the book, or copying out of MS Encarta. If kids can think on their own, their education will continue long after their schooling ends. If they can't, it will have stopped well before that.
Missions were used by the Spanish to colonize Mexican California in the 18th century. Their establishment was instrumental in the genocide of California's native peoples.
There are other handhelds out there - or soon will be. After taking several years off from such devices, I plan to get a Nokia 770... eventually. It's not even on the market yet, and people are already developing for it. The one thing I'm waiting on is VoIP, and that's already been announced. But I can't figure out where the sound-in jack is. I only see sound out on the specs.
Editing sources.list isn't tricky, you're right. But I shouldn't ever have to do it.
I'm not a programmer, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be that hard to slap a variable into sources.list, and then build a tiny GUI with a radio-button list to set the value. Like this:
0 Warty 0 Hoary 0 Breezy 0 Sleepy 0 Dopey 0 Doc
I have had three applications total appear on the menu out of the many I've installed.... In fact, no game that I have installed from Synaptic has shown up on the menu.
Huh, that's weird. Have you submitted a bug report?
Linux isn't competing with a monster with gaping flaws anymore. It's competing with a well-made product.
Perhaps, but there are still security warnings on a regular basis. Moreover, design is one consideration among several. There are also financial, political, philosophical, and technological advantages to Linux.
Synaptic. Synaptic does its job, I can say that. But the user interface leaves a lot to be desired. I upgraded to Hoary yesterday. Why did that have to involve editing sources.list by hand?
Granted, this can be a little intimidating for newbies. But after the first time, it's not that hard. The only tricky part is remembering to sudo.
Applications. Why the hell do newly installed applications need to be added to the menus manually?
Er, they don't. Give it an hour or two, and they will magically appear on their own. I know this from repeated experience (I'm on Ubuntu right now).
This is Ubuntu's biggest flaw. When you install a new program, you'd better know how to invoke it from the command line -- and good luck finding that out from Synaptic's description, which disappears after install anyway.
You can uncheck that option.
Firefox. Ubuntu's web browser of choice, Firefox, is unresponsive after opening new tabs. Firefox is much nicer in Windows. And IE for Windows is far more responsive than either.
This is true. On the advice of another Ubuntu user, I installed Galeon, and I've been much happier since. I'm perplexed as to why Firefox chews up so much processor time.
Folder Navigation. I don't like the fact that there is no back or up arrow when exploring file folders. This is massively stupid UI design.
In the preferences, on the Behavior tab, click "Always open in browser windows."
All in all, it's a nice system. It's a million years behind Windows in usability; there is clunkiness present everywhere.
Gotta disagree with you there. Windows seems far clunkier to me. I work for a non-profit, so I don't have much experience with XP, but the versions I see look like they're held together with baling wire. Ubuntu is the picture of elegance in comparison.
But there are lots of free applications. As usual with Linux, it is so impossible to install or change anything without expert knowledge that you can safely recommend the system to your grandmother without the slightest fear that she will be able to mess anything up.
Er, I think this is the first time I've heard dificulty of use discussed as an advantage. I'd phrase it as "You don't need to learn all that much to make changes, and if you don't want to learn anything, it will still work fine as is."
Does this provide more jobs? No. The machines do the work.
Does this raise wages? No. See above answer.
Does this increase skill levels? No. See above answer.
Does this level the playing field of international commerce? No.
Does this make use of locally-available materials? No.
Does this make anything useful? Not so far, and if it did, it would result in a net reduction of jobs.
This project (or at least this claim for it) seems to be making the same mistake that people in agriculture in the so-called developed world make, which is to think that what people in impoverished nations need is cheaper goods. This is not the case. What they need is goods produced in their own nation, made from local materials by locally-owned companies, so that the money they spend cycles back into their own economy. The poor need cheaper goods, relative to their salaries... but it's far more useful to raise their salaries than to make the goods cheaper.
I am a US citizen who has been to Cuba twice. I made a website about each visit, but they're both currently down, so I'll have to paraphrase.
The second time, I spent the better part of a day at a computer center in Havana. Almost no one can afford a computer there (much like the rest of Latin America, though their education and medical care are far better than the rest of Latin America). The state provides computer centers in every major city and a lot of the smaller ones as well. You have to sign up several days in advance, but then you get four uninterrupted hours to use your computer.
The software is top of the line stuff - Windows XP, Photoshop, MS Office (I know, I know, Office isn't top of the line, but you see my point), all in Spanish, and people were comfortable with it. I asked how they got the software, and the answer was "It's downloaded from the web."
Cubans are allowed and even encouraged to use email and IM... inside Cuba. They have a state-of-the-art fiber optics system from one end of the island to the other, connecting both universities and public computer centers. Contrary to popular belief, sending email out of Cuba is not forbidden... but it must be paid for in US dollars (that may have changed to euros since then, I don't know), so very few people do. The prohibition is not political, but economic. It's a digital divide, Cuba's heterodox economy notwithstanding.
Can the Cuban government read its people's mail? Probably. Can the US government? Probably.
Cuba does several other things that may be of interest to Slashdot readers. One is that the computer center I visited (mind you, I walked in alone and unannounced) took me on a tour of their classrooms - one for hardware and two for software, all completely free. The other is that they have an entire room of computers (eight or ten) set aside for the blind, with both Braille and speaking interfaces.
As for why they would switch to Linux, TFAs are light on details, or for that matter, information of any kind. My guess is that it's not freedom (they do what they want with it) or price (they're not paying for it). My guess is they don't want to use a US product when there's another option. I suspect they've been talking to Lula about this.
I can't speak for Brazil, but here in Nicaragua, the Spanish word for six-pack is... "el sixpack."
Those of us Linux users in other parts of Latin America are keeping a close eye on Brazil. Other governments may not have the foresight Lula does on this, but pockets of the population do. Those who have are fortunate enough to have both the formal education to understand computers and the insight to grok Linux, that is.
More precisely we find that when large masses are placed in a space-time fabric (volume) the space around it gets more dense. If space is more "dense" around large masses then that means there is "more space" within a given volume. But what volume? Gravity waves would be seen as simply variaitions in the densities of space-time.
I get that. Mostly. I see how that applies to astronomical figures. What I don't see is how the variations in the densities of space-time make my pencil fall off my desk. Please help me.
Slashdot Mirror
Coming from the US, where I studied education, and then moving to Central America, where the educational system makes ours look fantastic, I have to say that what we need to teach our kids is critical thinking skills. This touches on the OP's point number 2: a lot of us are, indeed, self-educated to some degree. The question is, why aren't others?
I think there are a number of answers. Teachers who teach to the tests (be they their own or state-mandated standardized tests). Students who think that cramming equals learning. Parents who don't take an interest in their kids' progress. Coaches who think that $SPORT is the most important thing in life. Legislators who think that education can be properly quantified with standardized testing. Administrators who won't take the time to listen to teachers. Taxpayers who shoot down bond proposals. And the list goes on.
Education should not be centered on teachers, administrators, sports, or computers. Education should be centered on students. And the most important thing we can teach them is how to think on their own, without asking their friends, looking in the back of the book, or copying out of MS Encarta. If kids can think on their own, their education will continue long after their schooling ends. If they can't, it will have stopped well before that.
Don't forget Moby. And Herman Melville.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
Missions were used by the Spanish to colonize Mexican California in the 18th century. Their establishment was instrumental in the genocide of California's native peoples.
We oppose them.
(from Eat the State)
There are other handhelds out there - or soon will be. After taking several years off from such devices, I plan to get a Nokia 770... eventually. It's not even on the market yet, and people are already developing for it. The one thing I'm waiting on is VoIP, and that's already been announced. But I can't figure out where the sound-in jack is. I only see sound out on the specs.
Editing sources.list isn't tricky, you're right. But I shouldn't ever have to do it.
... In fact, no game that I have installed from Synaptic has shown up on the menu.
I'm not a programmer, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be that hard to slap a variable into sources.list, and then build a tiny GUI with a radio-button list to set the value. Like this:
0 Warty
0 Hoary
0 Breezy
0 Sleepy
0 Dopey
0 Doc
I have had three applications total appear on the menu out of the many I've installed.
Huh, that's weird. Have you submitted a bug report?
Linux isn't competing with a monster with gaping flaws anymore. It's competing with a well-made product.
Perhaps, but there are still security warnings on a regular basis. Moreover, design is one consideration among several. There are also financial, political, philosophical, and technological advantages to Linux.
Synaptic. Synaptic does its job, I can say that. But the user interface leaves a lot to be desired. I upgraded to Hoary yesterday. Why did that have to involve editing sources.list by hand?
Granted, this can be a little intimidating for newbies. But after the first time, it's not that hard. The only tricky part is remembering to sudo.
Applications. Why the hell do newly installed applications need to be added to the menus manually?
Er, they don't. Give it an hour or two, and they will magically appear on their own. I know this from repeated experience (I'm on Ubuntu right now).
This is Ubuntu's biggest flaw. When you install a new program, you'd better know how to invoke it from the command line -- and good luck finding that out from Synaptic's description, which disappears after install anyway.
You can uncheck that option.
Firefox. Ubuntu's web browser of choice, Firefox, is unresponsive after opening new tabs. Firefox is much nicer in Windows. And IE for Windows is far more responsive than either.
This is true. On the advice of another Ubuntu user, I installed Galeon, and I've been much happier since. I'm perplexed as to why Firefox chews up so much processor time.
Folder Navigation. I don't like the fact that there is no back or up arrow when exploring file folders. This is massively stupid UI design.
In the preferences, on the Behavior tab, click "Always open in browser windows."
All in all, it's a nice system. It's a million years behind Windows in usability; there is clunkiness present everywhere.
Gotta disagree with you there. Windows seems far clunkier to me. I work for a non-profit, so I don't have much experience with XP, but the versions I see look like they're held together with baling wire. Ubuntu is the picture of elegance in comparison.
But there are lots of free applications. As usual with Linux, it is so impossible to install or change anything without expert knowledge that you can safely recommend the system to your grandmother without the slightest fear that she will be able to mess anything up.
Er, I think this is the first time I've heard dificulty of use discussed as an advantage. I'd phrase it as "You don't need to learn all that much to make changes, and if you don't want to learn anything, it will still work fine as is."
If anyone else was as confused as me about the intro, there's a town called "King of Prussia" in Pennsylvania. Go figure.
Can someone clarify for me how tapping on the case with your finger is "hands-free?"
...your friend is only mostly dead. And mostly dead is partly alive.
Putterman is particularly famous for his work on sonoluminescence.
Wow, he works on cold fusion and sleepwalking?
Does this provide more jobs? No. The machines do the work.
Does this raise wages? No. See above answer.
Does this increase skill levels? No. See above answer.
Does this level the playing field of international commerce? No.
Does this make use of locally-available materials? No.
Does this make anything useful? Not so far, and if it did, it would result in a net reduction of jobs.
This project (or at least this claim for it) seems to be making the same mistake that people in agriculture in the so-called developed world make, which is to think that what people in impoverished nations need is cheaper goods. This is not the case. What they need is goods produced in their own nation, made from local materials by locally-owned companies, so that the money they spend cycles back into their own economy. The poor need cheaper goods, relative to their salaries... but it's far more useful to raise their salaries than to make the goods cheaper.
Why, these folks!
I am a US citizen who has been to Cuba twice. I made a website about each visit, but they're both currently down, so I'll have to paraphrase.
The second time, I spent the better part of a day at a computer center in Havana. Almost no one can afford a computer there (much like the rest of Latin America, though their education and medical care are far better than the rest of Latin America). The state provides computer centers in every major city and a lot of the smaller ones as well. You have to sign up several days in advance, but then you get four uninterrupted hours to use your computer.
The software is top of the line stuff - Windows XP, Photoshop, MS Office (I know, I know, Office isn't top of the line, but you see my point), all in Spanish, and people were comfortable with it. I asked how they got the software, and the answer was "It's downloaded from the web."
Cubans are allowed and even encouraged to use email and IM... inside Cuba. They have a state-of-the-art fiber optics system from one end of the island to the other, connecting both universities and public computer centers. Contrary to popular belief, sending email out of Cuba is not forbidden... but it must be paid for in US dollars (that may have changed to euros since then, I don't know), so very few people do. The prohibition is not political, but economic. It's a digital divide, Cuba's heterodox economy notwithstanding.
Can the Cuban government read its people's mail? Probably. Can the US government? Probably.
Cuba does several other things that may be of interest to Slashdot readers. One is that the computer center I visited (mind you, I walked in alone and unannounced) took me on a tour of their classrooms - one for hardware and two for software, all completely free. The other is that they have an entire room of computers (eight or ten) set aside for the blind, with both Braille and speaking interfaces.
As for why they would switch to Linux, TFAs are light on details, or for that matter, information of any kind. My guess is that it's not freedom (they do what they want with it) or price (they're not paying for it). My guess is they don't want to use a US product when there's another option. I suspect they've been talking to Lula about this.
It's a minor and understandable error. I've said far dumber things in Spanish, and to be sure, in English.
No te preocupes.
"Competence" = competition
In Spanish, competencia means both, hence this is an easy error for native Spanish speakers to make in English.
Microsoft, designing something that can't crash? Is this some sort of new Slashdot super-typo?
You're thinking of Easter eggs.
I can't speak for Brazil, but here in Nicaragua, the Spanish word for six-pack is... "el sixpack."
Those of us Linux users in other parts of Latin America are keeping a close eye on Brazil. Other governments may not have the foresight Lula does on this, but pockets of the population do. Those who have are fortunate enough to have both the formal education to understand computers and the insight to grok Linux, that is.
I'll wait for the follow-up, Make Install.
Huh. I thought the road to hell was paved with Bill Gates. Or at least by him.
I wonder who it'll be on the next iteration of the rumor mill.
OSDN?
"Our goal is not to prosecute the individual, our goal is to get to the source"
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that Microsoft is asking for someone to make their source available?
Cynic: If he was being arrested, he wouldn't bother to type "THUMPTHUMPTHUMP".
Cynic's companion: Perhaps he was dictating.
Cynic: Oh, shut up.
I'm guessing that comes without a floppy drive. Or a USB port.
More precisely we find that when large masses are placed in a space-time fabric (volume) the space around it gets more dense. If space is more "dense" around large masses then that means there is "more space" within a given volume. But what volume? Gravity waves would be seen as simply variaitions in the densities of space-time.
I get that. Mostly. I see how that applies to astronomical figures. What I don't see is how the variations in the densities of space-time make my pencil fall off my desk. Please help me.
This is a serious question.