Well, let's just take a look at what's on the front page of my local paper, the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer http://www.newsobserver.com/.
An article about the demonstrations in Iran. Probably the biggest world story going on today. Big for USA, too, given our tenuous relationships with Middle Eastern countries. Also given Obama's recent speech in Saudi Arabia. Do I need to go on?
An article about a local man donating a kidney as part of a national donation chain that involves 12 people. Local stories are important. Who else is going to cover them? The story's too big for a blogger and too small for CNN. This is the sweet spot for local newspapers.
Another story in a continuing series about sweetheart relationships and possible corruption involving our previous governor. The N&O reporter uncovered dirt that so far has caused 4 Very Important People to resign. The federal prosecutor has convened a grand jury to look into things. It's apparent that the governor used his position to get privileges he shouldn't have, some of it paid with the people's money. We the people of the state of North Carolina would not have known about this had the N&O not investigated it. This is classic journalism and the reason we call it "the Fourth Estate."
Now go take another look at your local paper. Maybe there's something there you should be interested in.
Part of the reason newspapers are in trouble is because they tell they reader what they think is important.
Wrong. One of the reasons we pay for a newspaper is to have professional editors select and rank-order news for us. There is far, far too much "news" out there for us to be able to do this on our own. Newspapers choose what they think their readers will be interested in (and frequently, what they think their readers should be interested in) and present it accordingly. Yes, they do know more than you do about the news. It's how they make their living.
If you don't like the selections they've made on your behalf, choose another paper. If enough people dislike the selections, the newspaper will have to get another editor.
Yes it is news. Especially for nerds.
The President of the United States gave a gift to the Queen of England. Not a ceremonial sword, or a desk made from timbers from a famous old ship, a signed book, or any sort of gift that heads of states have traditionally exchanged. He gave her memorabilia stored in electronic form on a technological product designed and sold by a United States company famous for its computers, wireless telephones, and portable music players.
Not to mention yet another demonstration of the new administration's preference for Apple products over Microsoft products.
That's newsworthy and as nerdy as it gets.
The problem with newspapers is that the content sucks.
I don't think you and I are reading the same newspapers. My local paper, The Raleigh (NC) News & Observer (http://www.newsobserver.com/), has in the just past few years, put 5 elected state officials (including the Speaker of the House) in prison for corruption, uncovered systemic failures in our state mental health system and probation system, and put pressure on our state's judges to stop freeing speeding motorists with a slap on the wrist. Just this past week they told the story of a local company that sold filthy medical supplies and investigated where the FDA was when hundreds of people were getting sick and 5 people were dying from those supplies. They also find the time and money to sue the government for access to information that the government would rather we - that is, the citizens - not have access to.
That kind of journalism can't be done by any number of bloggers. It takes large staffs of trained and experienced journalists backed by an organization willing to fund multi-month investigations. It takes principled and idealistic owners to be able to stand up to the established interests when the truth comes out.
Nevertheless, with their advertising revenue gone to Craigslist the N&O has had round after round of staffing cuts. To save printing costs they've cut the paper to half its old size, and just today reduced the Sunday color comics section to 4 pages. (Bill Watterson would be ashamed.) I doubt the N&O will survive as a printed newspaper. As much as I love reading my news off of newsprint over breakfast, I'd take it in e-newspaper format in a heartbeat, if that's what it takes for them to stay in business.
To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our health care system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year.
Why don't we spend some time and money on something more important than shiny new toys?
Every other (modern) language is a derivative of C. (Well, except for Lisp, but that doesn't get a lot of use in Linux programming.) Perl, Python, and Ruby are written in C. "C is the atmosphere we breathe."
20 year old eyes are much better than 50 year old eyes. I wonder how many of the 18% are older folks? I'm 55 and I'm hard-pressed to distinguish between SD and HD.
The difference is, of course, that we're on to them now. Although the scenario you describe may have used to work, the 'net is putting a crimp in such plans. The web allows "regular people" to interact and organize at almost no cost. We can share information via blogs like Slashdot, p2pnet and Recording Industry vs. the People. The article says that Anderson "searched the Net for a case like hers." Her lawyer can use the 'net to find and communicate with other lawyers who are fighting the same fight to share advice and strategy.
The 'net helps even the playing field. Think about Sony, still recovering from getting their asses handed to them over the rootkit debacle, backing off on their plan to charge extra for a crapware-free PC http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/sony-pay-an-ext.html within a day of the news hitting the intertubes.
Go read the stories on the Consumerist http://consumerist.com/ about customers using the 'net to get refunds on bad deals and real service from fake "service departments" from the likes of Sears, Citibank, and Comcast. (Well, maybe not Comcast.)
The Internet, like the printing press, is a transformative technology. That means nothing is ever going to be the same. You and I already know it and sooner or later Big Business will, too. For an excellent book on the power that the 'net brings us, check out Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.
do astronauts sign an agreement not to have sex while up there? or how was that addressed? I'm sure it won't surprise you to find out that you're not the first one to ask this question. Unca Cecil gave us the straight dope about it 11 years ago: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_214.html
All leaps and bounds better than the stuff I liked 5 years ago I hate to tell you this, but the crap you're listening to today is no better than the crap you were listening to 5 years ago. I remember carefully explaining to my sister (who was all of 2 years younger than me) how the music I was listening to (Iron Butterfly) was art while her music (The Archies) was just pop. In fact, both were transient crap and I'm willing to bet you've never heard of either band.
Newsflash: The music you're listening to today is transient crap and 10 years from now you'll be embarrassed to admit that you ever thought it was anything else.
The OLPC project halted consumer sales of the cheap laptop at the end of November. Erm, no. The quoted story is datelined November 25. It's January now, folks. The G1G1 program was extended until yesterday
http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php/.
It's not often that a journalist will publicly admit to being wrong. Now I'm waiting for similar apologies from Laura Didio, Maureen O'Gara, and Rob Enderle. I won't hold my breath, though.
I can afford any cellphone out there, but what I have is a pay-as-you-go WalMart special that i got for $30.00. I bought it to carry with me when I'm cycling out in the country, in case of an emergency. It's a good deal for me because I've used it exactly twice (neither time was an emergency) this year. So if Google wants to give me a cell phone with Web access and stuff, that'll suit me just fine. I'll be glad to view some ads the time or two I actually use it.
Hmmm...I have mod points, but instead of just clicking Troll I'll assume you're serious and respond that way. Read the FA and tell me this isn't about extortion, plain and simple. It is also about deterrence, in the sense of the RIAA trying to deter people from defending themselves against baseless charges. The RIAA have no case whatsoever against this woman. Never did. At this point they're simply protecting their techniques for suing anybody anytime on the flimsiest of evidence. This woman has good lawyers and they recognize that she is not only innocent, she's *so* innocent that her case has good chances for setting precedent. With a good, solid precedent, other lawyers with other clients will have an easier time defending themselves.
Nice statement but it would be improved with some explanation that supports your claim. Even a link to some explanation would help, like a link to Lessig's Code 2.0 wiki.
I have a AT&T (nee Cingular) GoPhone that has exactly this plan. Pay 'em $100 up front. Minutes cost $0.25 per. At the end of 12 months they keep any of the $100 that you haven't used.
Since I would only use the phone for emergencies there's no way I'll use 400 minutes in a year (I've had the phone 3 months and haven't used ANY minutes yet) what I'm doing is paying AT&T $100 for 12 months of cell phone service. That's $8.33/month. You do have to buy a phone. Mine cost $30.00.
Slashdot Mirror
Now go take another look at your local paper. Maybe there's something there you should be interested in.
Wrong. One of the reasons we pay for a newspaper is to have professional editors select and rank-order news for us. There is far, far too much "news" out there for us to be able to do this on our own. Newspapers choose what they think their readers will be interested in (and frequently, what they think their readers should be interested in) and present it accordingly. Yes, they do know more than you do about the news. It's how they make their living.
If you don't like the selections they've made on your behalf, choose another paper. If enough people dislike the selections, the newspaper will have to get another editor.
Yes it is news. Especially for nerds. The President of the United States gave a gift to the Queen of England. Not a ceremonial sword, or a desk made from timbers from a famous old ship, a signed book, or any sort of gift that heads of states have traditionally exchanged. He gave her memorabilia stored in electronic form on a technological product designed and sold by a United States company famous for its computers, wireless telephones, and portable music players. Not to mention yet another demonstration of the new administration's preference for Apple products over Microsoft products. That's newsworthy and as nerdy as it gets.
I don't think you and I are reading the same newspapers. My local paper, The Raleigh (NC) News & Observer (http://www.newsobserver.com/), has in the just past few years, put 5 elected state officials (including the Speaker of the House) in prison for corruption, uncovered systemic failures in our state mental health system and probation system, and put pressure on our state's judges to stop freeing speeding motorists with a slap on the wrist. Just this past week they told the story of a local company that sold filthy medical supplies and investigated where the FDA was when hundreds of people were getting sick and 5 people were dying from those supplies. They also find the time and money to sue the government for access to information that the government would rather we - that is, the citizens - not have access to.
That kind of journalism can't be done by any number of bloggers. It takes large staffs of trained and experienced journalists backed by an organization willing to fund multi-month investigations. It takes principled and idealistic owners to be able to stand up to the established interests when the truth comes out.
Nevertheless, with their advertising revenue gone to Craigslist the N&O has had round after round of staffing cuts. To save printing costs they've cut the paper to half its old size, and just today reduced the Sunday color comics section to 4 pages. (Bill Watterson would be ashamed.) I doubt the N&O will survive as a printed newspaper. As much as I love reading my news off of newsprint over breakfast, I'd take it in e-newspaper format in a heartbeat, if that's what it takes for them to stay in business.
Go ahead, mod me offtopic, but somebody has to do it. http://begthequestion.info/
Let's see. We spent the last decade or so focusing on consumer electronics and where has that gotten us? We owe China over half a trillion dollars. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt.) We owe our souls to the credit card companies. (http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6397.) The U.S. lost a half-million jobs in November. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/business/economy/06jobs.html.) Maybe it's time to focus on something besides game consoles and big-screen TVs.
There's plenty of important things that we can be doing with technology. Here's one http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/american_recovery_and_reinvestment:
Why don't we spend some time and money on something more important than shiny new toys?
Every other (modern) language is a derivative of C. (Well, except for Lisp, but that doesn't get a lot of use in Linux programming.) Perl, Python, and Ruby are written in C. "C is the atmosphere we breathe."
20 year old eyes are much better than 50 year old eyes. I wonder how many of the 18% are older folks? I'm 55 and I'm hard-pressed to distinguish between SD and HD.
The only thing wrong with Twitter is that it has too many users. The way to fix it is to stop using it.
http://www.lua.org/
Read Canticle. It's the only book Walter Miller ever wrote. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canticle_for_Leibowitz/
The difference is, of course, that we're on to them now. Although the scenario you describe may have used to work, the 'net is putting a crimp in such plans. The web allows "regular people" to interact and organize at almost no cost. We can share information via blogs like Slashdot, p2pnet and Recording Industry vs. the People. The article says that Anderson "searched the Net for a case like hers." Her lawyer can use the 'net to find and communicate with other lawyers who are fighting the same fight to share advice and strategy.
The 'net helps even the playing field. Think about Sony, still recovering from getting their asses handed to them over the rootkit debacle, backing off on their plan to charge extra for a crapware-free PC http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/sony-pay-an-ext.html within a day of the news hitting the intertubes.
Go read the stories on the Consumerist http://consumerist.com/ about customers using the 'net to get refunds on bad deals and real service from fake "service departments" from the likes of Sears, Citibank, and Comcast. (Well, maybe not Comcast.)
The Internet, like the printing press, is a transformative technology. That means nothing is ever going to be the same. You and I already know it and sooner or later Big Business will, too. For an excellent book on the power that the 'net brings us, check out Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.
I understand that the monks are up to about 8 and 1/2 billion. http://lucis.net/stuff/clarke/9billion_clarke.html/
Here's a thought: Don't like what other people are submitting? Take the time to review a book about your favorite tech and submit it.
Dr. Goodnight was a statistics professor at NCSU before he started SAS. Yeah, he's taught a class.
It's not often that a journalist will publicly admit to being wrong. Now I'm waiting for similar apologies from Laura Didio, Maureen O'Gara, and Rob Enderle. I won't hold my breath, though.
I can afford any cellphone out there, but what I have is a pay-as-you-go WalMart special that i got for $30.00. I bought it to carry with me when I'm cycling out in the country, in case of an emergency. It's a good deal for me because I've used it exactly twice (neither time was an emergency) this year. So if Google wants to give me a cell phone with Web access and stuff, that'll suit me just fine. I'll be glad to view some ads the time or two I actually use it.
Hmmm...I have mod points, but instead of just clicking Troll I'll assume you're serious and respond that way. Read the FA and tell me this isn't about extortion, plain and simple. It is also about deterrence, in the sense of the RIAA trying to deter people from defending themselves against baseless charges. The RIAA have no case whatsoever against this woman. Never did. At this point they're simply protecting their techniques for suing anybody anytime on the flimsiest of evidence. This woman has good lawyers and they recognize that she is not only innocent, she's *so* innocent that her case has good chances for setting precedent. With a good, solid precedent, other lawyers with other clients will have an easier time defending themselves.
Nice statement but it would be improved with some explanation that supports your claim. Even a link to some explanation would help, like a link to Lessig's Code 2.0 wiki.
I have a AT&T (nee Cingular) GoPhone that has exactly this plan. Pay 'em $100 up front. Minutes cost $0.25 per. At the end of 12 months they keep any of the $100 that you haven't used.
Since I would only use the phone for emergencies there's no way I'll use 400 minutes in a year (I've had the phone 3 months and haven't used ANY minutes yet) what I'm doing is paying AT&T $100 for 12 months of cell phone service. That's $8.33/month. You do have to buy a phone. Mine cost $30.00.
C78? No such thing. The first ANSI C standard was C89.