People are different. Amazingly different. Different people may require different tactics.
I've had subordinates where in response to a mistake, a calm rational approach was the best bet, we get some solid one on one training/mentorship time, and that specific problem never happens again.
I've had subordinates where in response to a mistake, I merely have to say their name in a manner a stereotypical TV mom might while giving them the eyes, and they correct themselves because they know better and the specific problem never happens again, yet if I took the calm rational approach they would tune me out, and continue to make the same mistake, and may even be upset that I talked to them about it.
I've had subordinates where in response to a mistake, if my voice wasn't at least 3dB louder than normal with the word "fuck" liberally inserted into my speech, what I said wouldn't be taken seriously and the specific problem would continue.
I don't know the details of this specific problem, I can only infer from the comments above and what I've been able to read what was actually going on, but it seems like it may have been a case of someone not wanting to take responsibility for their actions (very common) and the lead eventually recognizing this and taking the iron fist approach. It's completely necessary sometimes. In this situation there may have been better ways of dealing with it, but again, I don't have all the details.
The most important thing is knowing your people and knowing the best way to manipulate them towards your (the project's) goals (all forms of leadership require some amount of manipulation). The second most important thing is the ability to be harsh when necessary and the experience to know when it's appropriate. Do it when it's not warranted and people will lose respect for you, do it inconsistently and people won't take it seriously, do it right, and people will react productively and may even gain respect for you.
The joke is attempting to solve the problem by implementing a new standard to replace all the others. In reality it just ends up being another competing standard. Which is what OP was advocating, forcing a single standard.
I intentionally left out language referencing any specific standard because I was arguing my point based on the nature of standards alone. It doesn't matter if we're talking connectors, APIs, or screw drivers.
Maybe I didn't write it out well enough, my main point was really just that it is highly unlikely a single standard will be adopted by everyone. It doesn't matter what the standard is.
I realize the joke isn't exact, but it still applies. His comment states to use one cross platform existing standard, or a new cross platform standard (which is directly relevent to the joke). Either way, even if benefits are gained from having a single common standard, it's unlikely to happen, especially in the realm of graphics/gaming. Enforcing the standard requires either control by a single entity, or mutual agreement by multiple entities. It's feasible when there is not much pressure to change or update the standard, but the moment there is a better way to do something and the standard doesn't adapt, it will fragment. As long as there is a competitive market and technology continues to progress, multiple standards will probably exist.
His comment isn't about reducing control of a de-facto standard, it's about scrapping it for another de-facto standard (granted one that is cross platform friendly). Either way, you're still looking at a single standard, and while having that single standard certainly has its benefits, it's unlikely to be maintained properly forever. It may solve a few problems in the short term, but technology will cycle and we will be right back to where we started.
#1 - Don't make me obligatory xkcd you!;) yeah, one solid standard is nice assuming it can be maintained properly. Unfortunately the latter part of that is pretty rare. Either not everyone adopts updates to the standard, or the standard stagnates, 2 or 3 potential replacements arise to take the torch and we're back to competing standards for awhile. Standards are awesome, but without a walled garden approach (and even then...), I have a feeling this will always be a problem.
#2 - I have mixed opinions on this. I'm not a big fan "virtual goods" sold by the service provider that make game play easier or progress faster as that gives the company incentive to do just as you describe, however I don't really have a problem with a player driven market exchanging virtual goods for real world cash as in most circumstances I've seen this in (MMO's mostly) it really doesn't affect my game play experience if I choose to not take part.
#3 - I totally agree, though I'm not really sure it would be feasible. I think a better option would just be a stipulation that if you are going to provide such services, that should you go out of business or suspend services you allow private entities (individuals, other companies, etc) access to the server side software and code so people may choose to keep the game going at their own expense if they choose and if the server side houses all player records, that those records be made available to the player so they can readily transfer them to a private server if they choose. Of course, re-reading your post, you do seem to mention this option;)
I have to second this. Though I cherish my memories of playing the Ultima series in my youth, I find the games practically unplayable now. Sure, they had a very detailed world and story, but the systems while fairly fresh at the time, seem very primitive and unfriendly now. Granted the games did do a few things that I've rarely seen since (if at all - granted I haven't played every game in existence so I may be missing some things) that would certainly be welcome (by me) in a modern game.
I remember that the story in Ultima VI wasn't exactly linear, though you could follow cue given to you by NPC's and work your way through the game in a linear fashion, you could also avoid the major conflict with the gargoyles from the start and forge your own path through the game. Sure, some things could only be done one very specific way, other could be done multiple ways, especially if you got creative (and if you really got stuck somewhere, you could go the evil route and kill a few npc's or steal some goods to get what you needed, granted you could also make the game unwinnable this way).
I really don't think the state of PC gaming is in that bad of shape. I've also been hearing complaints about the state of PC gaming for almost as long as I've been gaming on a PC (1985). Sure, some companies do crappy ports, others just try to get some fodder out the door to capitalize on the current trend, and other companies cater to the PC audience even while courting the consoles and for others, the PC represents the vast majority of their output.
The first Borderlands runs and looks better on my tower than it's console version does, and can even be dialed down enough to be playable on my laptop (inexpensive laptop purchased primarily for school work, not gaming). I haven't tried to run 2 on my laptop yet, but it's still awesome on my tower. Skyrim? sure the menu system may suffer from consolitis a bit, but everything else about it is better on PC, and again runs great on my tower and can be dialed down to be playable on my laptop. That's not even consdering the mods (and support of!) available for the PC version.
Sure, there are plenty of games out there with poor PC support, barely playable on my tower due to poor optimization, lack of video settings or both, but I'm usually not surprised by those ones when I see who developed/published the game.
Of course there are also several genres that thrive on the PC and rarely, if ever see the light of day on a console (how many 4X games make it to consoles?) and certain games that hold a larger (or longer) PC following. How many people still play Morrowind on the Xbox vs. how many people still play it on the PC? Hell, given how cheap it is on steam, the various (new!) mods, and younger audiences being introduced to TES for the first time by the latest game in the series, I'm sure Bethesda still sees a fair amount of sales on Morrowind for the PC.
The christian church (in various forms) has been around for millenia awaiting the return of their messiah. That is quite a bit of longevity. Perhaps we should convert NASA to a religion, then there will be no problem having someone wait a few hundred years for the return of their white metallic savior.
Actually, there are some universities that penalize you for going beyond a certain number of credits when working toward your BA/BS (if I remember correctly, Univesity of Texas at Austin is one of them, but my memory might be failing me). Which would prevent someone (outside of double majoring) from taking too many courses outside their area of specialization (major).
That said, as someone who has recently (within the last two years) started working on their college degree(s) part time while maintaining a career, I've found my opinion of liberal arts style education changing rapidly. I originally wanted to major in Physics, I still do, but the current phase of my career doesn't allow me to attend a school that offers a degree in Physics (both due to schedule and location). However I am able to pursue a degree in Mathematics on-line. When I first attempted the Physics degree many years ago, I wasn't looking forward to the general classes and wanted to just jump in and do only Physics and Math, maybe some related courses (Engineering, Chemistry, etc). I hated my English and social science classes.
Fast forward roughly a decade, now I'm working full time in a decent career and finding that those general classes I'm required to take actually have value and can be directly applied to my career as I take them. Psychology and English help with the management aspects of my job, Mathematics with the technical, History with the perspective, etc.
While specialization is certainly important in many fields, that doesn't mean a general education isn't important. English has helped me understand what I'm reading as well as write documentation, training materials and performance evaluations. Psychology has given me tools to work with both my seniors and subordinates and made me a more effective manager. Economics has given me a better idea of how our economy actually works and given me the ability to better judge (though not perfectly) politicians and their policies. What I've gained from Mathematics (through multi-variable calculus and soon linear algebra and diff eq.) and Statistics probably doesn't need to be echoed on slashdot.
10 years ago, I would have been pissed I had to take some of these classes. Now, even without the piece of paper, I've already strengthened my career and pushed past many of my peers. Where I started out just looking to do Math, and still enjoying my Math classes quite a bit, I'm now looking forward to my next English class. Hell, I even found a valid use for literary analysis the other day outside of pure intellectual wankery.
Hell, these days, I would take a 4 hour trip with booze over an ~2 hour drive. I just moved back to the states from Japan and miss the public transit (including HSR) immensely. It's about the same amount of time to either of the nearest cities as the Buffalo to Toronto drive, and there is no other solid viable options. At least with a train I can either be drunk, reading, or coding "hello world" in a new language for the 30,000th time.
Then again, this is the states, and I'm sure there would be all sorts of unnecessary security and other nonsense if they ever established HSR here. Hell, in Japan I could bring my own 6 pack, I could get to the station 5 minutes before departure, and if I was smoking at the time, chances were the train had an enclosed well ventilated smoking area.
As someone who also used to make the Buffalo to Toronto drive, quality HSR along that route, as well as from Buffalo to NYC, Boston and Cleveland (and beyond!) would be awesome. Buffalo would make a decent hub station and the rail might even help revitalize the area.
To add to this, regular roads can be as much of a problem as roads with temporary construction zones. I recently moved to a new town, and noticed something odd (at least compared to prior experience), outside of the city, speed limits vary from 35 to 50 mph, often switching multiple times over a short stretch of road, this is especially true where you cross the city lines. You may be in a 50 mph zone, hit the city line, see a sign for 25 mph, and once you've safely lowered your speed to 25 mph, you'll come across a sign with a posted limit of 30 or 35. Most of the signs I've seen posted only occur where there is a change, very seldom do they occur after an intersection, so unless you know the roads very well, it can be difficult to determine what the limit actually is for any given stretch of the road (especially considering that driving too slow can be just as dangerous as driving too fast if you are far enough below the limit). Hell, even having a system in a manually driven car that notifies the driver of the posted limit and any changes in it would be welcome.
The Masoretic scribes (A.D. 500-1000) in charge of the Old Testament manuscript copying used a very meticulous system of transcription and had a deep reverence for the text. God used their almost obsessive respect for the text to preserve the text’s accuracy. They had specific rules on the type of ink and the quality and size of parchment sheets. No individual letter could be written down without having looked back at the copy in front of them. The scribe could not write God’s name with a newly dipped pen (lest it blotch) and even if the king should address him, while writing God’s name, he should take no notice of him. They were so meticulous that they counted all the paragraphs, words and even letters, so they could know by counting, if they had done it perfectly. They knew the middle letter of each book so they could count back and see if they had missed anything. . .
D. The Dead Sea Scrolls
Since the oldest complete copy of a Hebrew Old Testament in existence is dated about A.D. 1000, that’s a long time after the originals were written (1450-400 B.C.). But there are portions that date back farther. Most significant are the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in caves in 1947 by an Arabian shepherd boy. These well-preserved Hebrew text fragments date back to 100 B.C. They include many Bible portions, including some complete books. Their value to the credibility of our Bible is that amazingly, there is virtual agreement between these Hebrew texts and the ones dated 1,100 years later! This proves how accurately the scribes copies for all those years.
The evidence shows that our Old Testaments today are extremely accurate reflections of the original manuscripts.
So how reliable are the manuscripts that all these Bibles are translated from? The evidence is overwhelming and seldom disputed. Manuscripts prepared from different individuals spread over various parts of the Middle East and Mediterranean region agree remarkably with each other. Also, the manuscripts agree with the Septuagint, which was translated to Greek from Hebrew possibly as far back as the 3rd century BC. The Dead Sea scrolls discovered in 1947 also provided a profound testimony to the reliability of the centuries of transmission of the Bible text, as every Old Testament book found was virtually word for word with today's Bible! (the few differences were "obvious slips of the pen or variations in spelling"1).
I see your possibly biased sources and raise you a wikipedia!
According to The Oxford Companion to Archaeology:
The biblical manuscripts from Qumran, which include at least fragments from every book of the Old Testament, except perhaps for the Book of Esther, provide a far older cross section of scriptural tradition than that available to scholars before. While some of the Qumran biblical manuscripts are nearly identical to the Masoretic, or traditional, Hebrew text of the Old Testament, some manuscripts of the books of Exodus and Samuel found in Cave Four exhibit dramatic differences in both language and content. In their astonishing range of textual variants, the Qumran biblical discoveries have prompted scholars to reconsider the once-accepted theories of the development of the modern biblical text from only three manuscript families: of the Masoretic text, of the Hebrew original of the Septuagint, and of the Samaritan Pentateuch. It is now becoming increasingly clear that the Old Testament scripture was extremely fluid until its canonization around A.D. 100.
Sure, wikipedia may not be the best academic source on the planet, but at least the source article above is well cited. Oh, and that doesn't sound like "slips of the pen" to me.
I entered Kindergarten in 1985, can't remember if it was there or in 1st grade, but we got to play with LOGO and learn how to type (granted, I had a computer at home so I could already type). Didn't really touch computers in the classroom again until middle school where we had mandatory computer classes. The mandatory computer classes were typing and programming in BASIC (final project was in computer graphics, we had to make a short animation (~1 minute)). This was probably around 1992 or so. In high school, all computer classes were elective though programming in Pascal and C were offered, around 1995, additionally we had a digital electronics course. The rest of the computer courses offered were "productivity" courses, ie spreadsheets word processing, etc.
I live in Japan. I can see Mt. Fuji from my office. I just got home yesterday from a vacation to Kyushuu (which also has some nice volcanoes, just not as iconic as Fuji). At one of the hotels we stayed at, there was a sign that indicated where the vending machines could be located, and also where the "Emergency Vending Machine" could be located. There were two emergency vending machines, and one was full of beer.
Note: the Japanese on the sign clarified the intent, which was that the emergency vending machines had a backup power supply and would remain operational in an emergency if main power was lost. The english did not mention this at all, so it was quite humorous for me.
I think the other was a "coke" vending machine, though that tends to mean something completely different here.
Yeah well I was in high school when it happened, so there!
erm.. uhh...
ermm...
We had a similar class in my high school, obviously without the mention of the Pentium bug. One of the best classes I ever took at that level, though at my school it was strictly an elective. I still see the Tacoma Narrows video in my head every time I cross a suspension bridge.
Then he doesn't know what a boat is, even by the Navy's definition (of which there are several).
My particular favorite way to differentiate between the two is this (at least for modern vessels, don't know enough if it holds for old sailing vessels):
The difference is in how they turn. A boat tends to lean in towards the center of the turn while turning. A ship tends to lean away from the center of the turn while turning.
I think the movie Battleship actually displays this (at least for ships, in particular a DDG). Though the movie is horrible overall and is best avoided.
Roughly 16 years ago, right at the beginning of the dot com era, back when only the cool (rich) kids carried cell phones to school and everyone else had to settle for a pager, if they could even manage that; I was in the middle of my junior (and last) year of high school.
Due to some family difficulties, I had to switch school districts mid year. I went from a fairly wealthy suburban district with logical bus service to a less wealthy rural district. This rural district still offered bus service, but it was anything but logical. The bus number you were assigned was not labelled anywhere on the bus. Oh sure, there were numbers posted on the busses, several, and in the same familiar places as the suburban district's busses. But none of those numbers matched the number I was given. The students at this school just had to memorize where their bus parked every day and typically learned this information at the beginning of the school year (and I'm guessing it didn't change year to year).
Being pretty close to the stereotypical shy, socially inept nerd at that point in my life, I was hesitant to ask someone, anyone, which bus I should take. So I walked. Being a rural area you can probably assume that my house was not close to the school, and you'd be right. It took 3 hours on foot to walk to and from school (I typically caught the bus in the morning from my driveway, so this was only a concern in the afternoons or if I missed the bus as I was occasionally prone to do). If we assume a typical walking speed of 3 mph, that's 9 miles or 14km (uphill both ways in the snow...;) not too much of an exagerration - This was a rural western ny school in the snow belt off lake erie and there were upward and downward hills both to and from).
No high speed collector roads, but plenty of high speed rural roads with blind spots and no sidewalks or shoulders. Again, this was only 16 years ago. Didn't have a cell phone or pager either.
My situation is probably not oridinary, but you know a 16 year old is biologically an adult and can probably take care of themselves given the opportunity. Younger children, sure more care and consideration is necessary and I wouldn't want to see a 5 year old walking 5 miles to school even back in the "good old days" of 16 years ago.
Hell our playstations didn't even have numbers after em!
Ultimately diversity is about everything that makes us different, primarily the differences that have little to do with outward appearence (other than those driven by outward appearance, if you grew up surrounded by racism and were the wrong "color", you will have a far different perspective than someone who has never experienced racism in their lives).
Bringing in one group based on physical characteristics just to have "diversity" is ignoring the point of diversity. Bringing in someone from the same group based on their unique experiences and perspectives fully supports diversity.
The first case is still discriminating based on outward appearance. The second case builds and supports the team/organization.
That's why you remove two walls and cut your roof in half and move your house about 20 feet up a tree, you can still pee without having to go for a walk, since the waste just goes 20 feet below and you don't have to worry about going outside when it rains to get your shower!
The only thing that sucks (for me anyway) is the giant jungle spiders.
Though at this point I think the tangent is getting a bit far off-topic.
I only let satan pull me down just enough to keep me at the same level as everyone else*
*relative to the 2-dimensional surface of the earth, even if you're on top of a mountain, I'm on the same level.
For a small, really terribly small contribution of 50% of your weekly paycheck, the lord will surely cure what ails you.
For those of you without a paycheck, a tiny fraction of a small amount in the ballpark of 75% of your unemployment check, welfare check or whatever you have, and the lord will surely bless you financially
Slashdot Mirror
Lessons in management:
People are different. Amazingly different. Different people may require different tactics.
I've had subordinates where in response to a mistake, a calm rational approach was the best bet, we get some solid one on one training/mentorship time, and that specific problem never happens again.
I've had subordinates where in response to a mistake, I merely have to say their name in a manner a stereotypical TV mom might while giving them the eyes, and they correct themselves because they know better and the specific problem never happens again, yet if I took the calm rational approach they would tune me out, and continue to make the same mistake, and may even be upset that I talked to them about it.
I've had subordinates where in response to a mistake, if my voice wasn't at least 3dB louder than normal with the word "fuck" liberally inserted into my speech, what I said wouldn't be taken seriously and the specific problem would continue.
I don't know the details of this specific problem, I can only infer from the comments above and what I've been able to read what was actually going on, but it seems like it may have been a case of someone not wanting to take responsibility for their actions (very common) and the lead eventually recognizing this and taking the iron fist approach. It's completely necessary sometimes. In this situation there may have been better ways of dealing with it, but again, I don't have all the details.
The most important thing is knowing your people and knowing the best way to manipulate them towards your (the project's) goals (all forms of leadership require some amount of manipulation). The second most important thing is the ability to be harsh when necessary and the experience to know when it's appropriate. Do it when it's not warranted and people will lose respect for you, do it inconsistently and people won't take it seriously, do it right, and people will react productively and may even gain respect for you.
The joke is attempting to solve the problem by implementing a new standard to replace all the others. In reality it just ends up being another competing standard. Which is what OP was advocating, forcing a single standard.
I intentionally left out language referencing any specific standard because I was arguing my point based on the nature of standards alone. It doesn't matter if we're talking connectors, APIs, or screw drivers.
Maybe I didn't write it out well enough, my main point was really just that it is highly unlikely a single standard will be adopted by everyone. It doesn't matter what the standard is.
I realize the joke isn't exact, but it still applies. His comment states to use one cross platform existing standard, or a new cross platform standard (which is directly relevent to the joke). Either way, even if benefits are gained from having a single common standard, it's unlikely to happen, especially in the realm of graphics/gaming. Enforcing the standard requires either control by a single entity, or mutual agreement by multiple entities. It's feasible when there is not much pressure to change or update the standard, but the moment there is a better way to do something and the standard doesn't adapt, it will fragment. As long as there is a competitive market and technology continues to progress, multiple standards will probably exist.
His comment isn't about reducing control of a de-facto standard, it's about scrapping it for another de-facto standard (granted one that is cross platform friendly). Either way, you're still looking at a single standard, and while having that single standard certainly has its benefits, it's unlikely to be maintained properly forever. It may solve a few problems in the short term, but technology will cycle and we will be right back to where we started.
#1 - Don't make me obligatory xkcd you! ;) yeah, one solid standard is nice assuming it can be maintained properly. Unfortunately the latter part of that is pretty rare. Either not everyone adopts updates to the standard, or the standard stagnates, 2 or 3 potential replacements arise to take the torch and we're back to competing standards for awhile. Standards are awesome, but without a walled garden approach (and even then...), I have a feeling this will always be a problem.
#2 - I have mixed opinions on this. I'm not a big fan "virtual goods" sold by the service provider that make game play easier or progress faster as that gives the company incentive to do just as you describe, however I don't really have a problem with a player driven market exchanging virtual goods for real world cash as in most circumstances I've seen this in (MMO's mostly) it really doesn't affect my game play experience if I choose to not take part.
#3 - I totally agree, though I'm not really sure it would be feasible. I think a better option would just be a stipulation that if you are going to provide such services, that should you go out of business or suspend services you allow private entities (individuals, other companies, etc) access to the server side software and code so people may choose to keep the game going at their own expense if they choose and if the server side houses all player records, that those records be made available to the player so they can readily transfer them to a private server if they choose. Of course, re-reading your post, you do seem to mention this option ;)
I have to second this. Though I cherish my memories of playing the Ultima series in my youth, I find the games practically unplayable now. Sure, they had a very detailed world and story, but the systems while fairly fresh at the time, seem very primitive and unfriendly now. Granted the games did do a few things that I've rarely seen since (if at all - granted I haven't played every game in existence so I may be missing some things) that would certainly be welcome (by me) in a modern game.
I remember that the story in Ultima VI wasn't exactly linear, though you could follow cue given to you by NPC's and work your way through the game in a linear fashion, you could also avoid the major conflict with the gargoyles from the start and forge your own path through the game. Sure, some things could only be done one very specific way, other could be done multiple ways, especially if you got creative (and if you really got stuck somewhere, you could go the evil route and kill a few npc's or steal some goods to get what you needed, granted you could also make the game unwinnable this way).
I really don't think the state of PC gaming is in that bad of shape. I've also been hearing complaints about the state of PC gaming for almost as long as I've been gaming on a PC (1985). Sure, some companies do crappy ports, others just try to get some fodder out the door to capitalize on the current trend, and other companies cater to the PC audience even while courting the consoles and for others, the PC represents the vast majority of their output.
The first Borderlands runs and looks better on my tower than it's console version does, and can even be dialed down enough to be playable on my laptop (inexpensive laptop purchased primarily for school work, not gaming). I haven't tried to run 2 on my laptop yet, but it's still awesome on my tower. Skyrim? sure the menu system may suffer from consolitis a bit, but everything else about it is better on PC, and again runs great on my tower and can be dialed down to be playable on my laptop. That's not even consdering the mods (and support of!) available for the PC version.
Sure, there are plenty of games out there with poor PC support, barely playable on my tower due to poor optimization, lack of video settings or both, but I'm usually not surprised by those ones when I see who developed/published the game.
Of course there are also several genres that thrive on the PC and rarely, if ever see the light of day on a console (how many 4X games make it to consoles?) and certain games that hold a larger (or longer) PC following. How many people still play Morrowind on the Xbox vs. how many people still play it on the PC? Hell, given how cheap it is on steam, the various (new!) mods, and younger audiences being introduced to TES for the first time by the latest game in the series, I'm sure Bethesda still sees a fair amount of sales on Morrowind for the PC.
The christian church (in various forms) has been around for millenia awaiting the return of their messiah. That is quite a bit of longevity. Perhaps we should convert NASA to a religion, then there will be no problem having someone wait a few hundred years for the return of their white metallic savior.
Actually, there are some universities that penalize you for going beyond a certain number of credits when working toward your BA/BS (if I remember correctly, Univesity of Texas at Austin is one of them, but my memory might be failing me). Which would prevent someone (outside of double majoring) from taking too many courses outside their area of specialization (major).
That said, as someone who has recently (within the last two years) started working on their college degree(s) part time while maintaining a career, I've found my opinion of liberal arts style education changing rapidly. I originally wanted to major in Physics, I still do, but the current phase of my career doesn't allow me to attend a school that offers a degree in Physics (both due to schedule and location). However I am able to pursue a degree in Mathematics on-line. When I first attempted the Physics degree many years ago, I wasn't looking forward to the general classes and wanted to just jump in and do only Physics and Math, maybe some related courses (Engineering, Chemistry, etc). I hated my English and social science classes.
Fast forward roughly a decade, now I'm working full time in a decent career and finding that those general classes I'm required to take actually have value and can be directly applied to my career as I take them. Psychology and English help with the management aspects of my job, Mathematics with the technical, History with the perspective, etc.
While specialization is certainly important in many fields, that doesn't mean a general education isn't important. English has helped me understand what I'm reading as well as write documentation, training materials and performance evaluations. Psychology has given me tools to work with both my seniors and subordinates and made me a more effective manager. Economics has given me a better idea of how our economy actually works and given me the ability to better judge (though not perfectly) politicians and their policies. What I've gained from Mathematics (through multi-variable calculus and soon linear algebra and diff eq.) and Statistics probably doesn't need to be echoed on slashdot.
10 years ago, I would have been pissed I had to take some of these classes. Now, even without the piece of paper, I've already strengthened my career and pushed past many of my peers. Where I started out just looking to do Math, and still enjoying my Math classes quite a bit, I'm now looking forward to my next English class. Hell, I even found a valid use for literary analysis the other day outside of pure intellectual wankery.
Hell, these days, I would take a 4 hour trip with booze over an ~2 hour drive. I just moved back to the states from Japan and miss the public transit (including HSR) immensely. It's about the same amount of time to either of the nearest cities as the Buffalo to Toronto drive, and there is no other solid viable options. At least with a train I can either be drunk, reading, or coding "hello world" in a new language for the 30,000th time.
Then again, this is the states, and I'm sure there would be all sorts of unnecessary security and other nonsense if they ever established HSR here. Hell, in Japan I could bring my own 6 pack, I could get to the station 5 minutes before departure, and if I was smoking at the time, chances were the train had an enclosed well ventilated smoking area.
As someone who also used to make the Buffalo to Toronto drive, quality HSR along that route, as well as from Buffalo to NYC, Boston and Cleveland (and beyond!) would be awesome. Buffalo would make a decent hub station and the rail might even help revitalize the area.
To add to this, regular roads can be as much of a problem as roads with temporary construction zones. I recently moved to a new town, and noticed something odd (at least compared to prior experience), outside of the city, speed limits vary from 35 to 50 mph, often switching multiple times over a short stretch of road, this is especially true where you cross the city lines. You may be in a 50 mph zone, hit the city line, see a sign for 25 mph, and once you've safely lowered your speed to 25 mph, you'll come across a sign with a posted limit of 30 or 35. Most of the signs I've seen posted only occur where there is a change, very seldom do they occur after an intersection, so unless you know the roads very well, it can be difficult to determine what the limit actually is for any given stretch of the road (especially considering that driving too slow can be just as dangerous as driving too fast if you are far enough below the limit). Hell, even having a system in a manually driven car that notifies the driver of the posted limit and any changes in it would be welcome.
Idea: Roll out line of washing machines with built in ability to play games.
I suppose it's time I finally came out of the closet.
I actually like the ribbon!
You are way wrong on this.
Transmission
B. The Masoretes
The Masoretic scribes (A.D. 500-1000) in charge of the Old Testament manuscript copying used a very meticulous system of transcription and had a deep reverence for the text. God used their almost obsessive respect for the text to preserve the text’s accuracy. They had specific rules on the type of ink and the quality and size of parchment sheets. No individual letter could be written down without having looked back at the copy in front of them. The scribe could not write God’s name with a newly dipped pen (lest it blotch) and even if the king should address him, while writing God’s name, he should take no notice of him. They were so meticulous that they counted all the paragraphs, words and even letters, so they could know by counting, if they had done it perfectly. They knew the middle letter of each book so they could count back and see if they had missed anything. . .
D. The Dead Sea Scrolls
Since the oldest complete copy of a Hebrew Old Testament in existence is dated about A.D. 1000, that’s a long time after the originals were written (1450-400 B.C.). But there are portions that date back farther. Most significant are the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in caves in 1947 by an Arabian shepherd boy. These well-preserved Hebrew text fragments date back to 100 B.C. They include many Bible portions, including some complete books. Their value to the credibility of our Bible is that amazingly, there is virtual agreement between these Hebrew texts and the ones dated 1,100 years later! This proves how accurately the scribes copies for all those years.
The evidence shows that our Old Testaments today are extremely accurate reflections of the original manuscripts.
So how reliable are the manuscripts that all these Bibles are translated from? The evidence is overwhelming and seldom disputed. Manuscripts prepared from different individuals spread over various parts of the Middle East and Mediterranean region agree remarkably with each other. Also, the manuscripts agree with the Septuagint, which was translated to Greek from Hebrew possibly as far back as the 3rd century BC. The Dead Sea scrolls discovered in 1947 also provided a profound testimony to the reliability of the centuries of transmission of the Bible text, as every Old Testament book found was virtually word for word with today's Bible! (the few differences were "obvious slips of the pen or variations in spelling"1).
I see your possibly biased sources and raise you a wikipedia!
According to The Oxford Companion to Archaeology:
The biblical manuscripts from Qumran, which include at least fragments from every book of the Old Testament, except perhaps for the Book of Esther, provide a far older cross section of scriptural tradition than that available to scholars before. While some of the Qumran biblical manuscripts are nearly identical to the Masoretic, or traditional, Hebrew text of the Old Testament, some manuscripts of the books of Exodus and Samuel found in Cave Four exhibit dramatic differences in both language and content. In their astonishing range of textual variants, the Qumran biblical discoveries have prompted scholars to reconsider the once-accepted theories of the development of the modern biblical text from only three manuscript families: of the Masoretic text, of the Hebrew original of the Septuagint, and of the Samaritan Pentateuch. It is now becoming increasingly clear that the Old Testament scripture was extremely fluid until its canonization around A.D. 100.
Sure, wikipedia may not be the best academic source on the planet, but at least the source article above is well cited. Oh, and that doesn't sound like "slips of the pen" to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_sea_scrolls
I entered Kindergarten in 1985, can't remember if it was there or in 1st grade, but we got to play with LOGO and learn how to type (granted, I had a computer at home so I could already type). Didn't really touch computers in the classroom again until middle school where we had mandatory computer classes. The mandatory computer classes were typing and programming in BASIC (final project was in computer graphics, we had to make a short animation (~1 minute)). This was probably around 1992 or so. In high school, all computer classes were elective though programming in Pascal and C were offered, around 1995, additionally we had a digital electronics course. The rest of the computer courses offered were "productivity" courses, ie spreadsheets word processing, etc.
This was upstate NY, for geographical reference.
Related to both your post and the submission:
I live in Japan. I can see Mt. Fuji from my office. I just got home yesterday from a vacation to Kyushuu (which also has some nice volcanoes, just not as iconic as Fuji). At one of the hotels we stayed at, there was a sign that indicated where the vending machines could be located, and also where the "Emergency Vending Machine" could be located. There were two emergency vending machines, and one was full of beer.
Note: the Japanese on the sign clarified the intent, which was that the emergency vending machines had a backup power supply and would remain operational in an emergency if main power was lost. The english did not mention this at all, so it was quite humorous for me.
I think the other was a "coke" vending machine, though that tends to mean something completely different here.
Yeah well I was in high school when it happened, so there!
erm.. uhh...
ermm...
We had a similar class in my high school, obviously without the mention of the Pentium bug. One of the best classes I ever took at that level, though at my school it was strictly an elective. I still see the Tacoma Narrows video in my head every time I cross a suspension bridge.
Then he doesn't know what a boat is, even by the Navy's definition (of which there are several).
My particular favorite way to differentiate between the two is this (at least for modern vessels, don't know enough if it holds for old sailing vessels):
The difference is in how they turn. A boat tends to lean in towards the center of the turn while turning. A ship tends to lean away from the center of the turn while turning.
I think the movie Battleship actually displays this (at least for ships, in particular a DDG). Though the movie is horrible overall and is best avoided.
More succinctly:
The system doesn't matter, we'll all be fucked regardless.
This will continue until they take away our beer and we sober up.
You can take that last line as methaphor if you'd like, for me it's literal ;)
It was supposed to be revealed the next Monday.
Roughly 16 years ago, right at the beginning of the dot com era, back when only the cool (rich) kids carried cell phones to school and everyone else had to settle for a pager, if they could even manage that; I was in the middle of my junior (and last) year of high school.
Due to some family difficulties, I had to switch school districts mid year. I went from a fairly wealthy suburban district with logical bus service to a less wealthy rural district. This rural district still offered bus service, but it was anything but logical. The bus number you were assigned was not labelled anywhere on the bus. Oh sure, there were numbers posted on the busses, several, and in the same familiar places as the suburban district's busses. But none of those numbers matched the number I was given. The students at this school just had to memorize where their bus parked every day and typically learned this information at the beginning of the school year (and I'm guessing it didn't change year to year).
Being pretty close to the stereotypical shy, socially inept nerd at that point in my life, I was hesitant to ask someone, anyone, which bus I should take. So I walked. Being a rural area you can probably assume that my house was not close to the school, and you'd be right. It took 3 hours on foot to walk to and from school (I typically caught the bus in the morning from my driveway, so this was only a concern in the afternoons or if I missed the bus as I was occasionally prone to do). If we assume a typical walking speed of 3 mph, that's 9 miles or 14km (uphill both ways in the snow... ;) not too much of an exagerration - This was a rural western ny school in the snow belt off lake erie and there were upward and downward hills both to and from).
No high speed collector roads, but plenty of high speed rural roads with blind spots and no sidewalks or shoulders. Again, this was only 16 years ago. Didn't have a cell phone or pager either.
My situation is probably not oridinary, but you know a 16 year old is biologically an adult and can probably take care of themselves given the opportunity. Younger children, sure more care and consideration is necessary and I wouldn't want to see a 5 year old walking 5 miles to school even back in the "good old days" of 16 years ago.
Hell our playstations didn't even have numbers after em!
They have. Those objects are wider than they are long.
Well, I've only had to visit, never stayed.
Packets are passed verbally, it's cheap though completely unsecure and the ping times leave a bit to be desired
Ultimately diversity is about everything that makes us different, primarily the differences that have little to do with outward appearence (other than those driven by outward appearance, if you grew up surrounded by racism and were the wrong "color", you will have a far different perspective than someone who has never experienced racism in their lives).
Bringing in one group based on physical characteristics just to have "diversity" is ignoring the point of diversity.
Bringing in someone from the same group based on their unique experiences and perspectives fully supports diversity.
The first case is still discriminating based on outward appearance.
The second case builds and supports the team/organization.
That's why you remove two walls and cut your roof in half and move your house about 20 feet up a tree, you can still pee without having to go for a walk, since the waste just goes 20 feet below and you don't have to worry about going outside when it rains to get your shower!
The only thing that sucks (for me anyway) is the giant jungle spiders.
Though at this point I think the tangent is getting a bit far off-topic.
It's a sad day that the Great Green Arkleseizure is ignored in favor of the rubbish listed above!
I only let satan pull me down just enough to keep me at the same level as everyone else*
*relative to the 2-dimensional surface of the earth, even if you're on top of a mountain, I'm on the same level.
For a small, really terribly small contribution of 50% of your weekly paycheck, the lord will surely cure what ails you.
For those of you without a paycheck, a tiny fraction of a small amount in the ballpark of 75% of your unemployment check, welfare check or whatever you have, and the lord will surely bless you financially