It disturbs me that the kid mentioned in the post has been using computers for so long and never -wanted- to learn more about them. It always bother me when i see lack of curiosity...i can understand uninterest in a subject or thing, but even accepting that, i can't understand lack of curiosity.
According to my Operating Systems class...
on
Is UNIX An OS?
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· Score: 2
A modern OS still has a card reader and line printer, and a total user memory space of 300 words (4bytes per word).
In my experience, schools don't seem to give a shit about wasting money, or their student's saving it. I realize it's a very pessimistic view, but unfortunately, it's what i've seen...
for instance, my school (Marist College) recently completed construction of a new (HUGE) library. which is awesome. the place was outfitted with hundreds of computers, etcetc...one floor in particular has about 75 boxes all nicely arranged; when they first put them in, they all had very good quality 17" monitors. good stuff. not more than 2 months later, however, these were all replaced with -15" FLAT PANEL LCD SCREENS-...yep, the ones that run at least $1300 a piece. for a freakin' library computer??? come on now...
i'm not sure if it's to please the alumni/get more $$ or what, but it seems like colleges have to get their financial shit together in more ways than one...
maybe this extra money coming in -without- expectations will throw the administrations in the right direction? i'd rather stare at ads all over campus (hell, i do now) and have extra funding for grants and student jobs than pretty-but-pointless technology and a fatass billionaire alumni spitting on me from above.
"The problem that I always had with flight simulators is that I found the ground just incontrolably aluring. Thank god they don't let people like me fly non-virtual planes;)"
-exactly-. with MS Flight Sim, I used to gain as much altitude as possible and then dive straight down...the object of course being to have as much airspeed as possible when hitting the ground.
I don't think that the value of this lies in 'fixing' ADD (although I won't deny that it's probably what some people do have in mind, sadly..).
My experience/outlook on it is this. ADD and ADHD kids, by definition, have problems with attention spans. Having previously worked in a computer lab for children who are disabled/handicapped/ADD + ADHD/other various distresses, I can say with confidence that computers in general are of -huge- benefit in these cases, especially with ADD/ADHD. Kids who would normally be off the wall could come in to the lab, sit down in front of a computer for hours upon hours, and play educational games, draw, have fun, etc...without hardly ever losing their attention. Because of computers, whole worlds of education and fun are being opened up for kids who would, 15 years ago, be merely chastised and termed "stupid" (I know this as well, because it happened to someone close to me. It wasn't until he was in his 2nd year of college that he finally got the recognition of his disorder that he needed to successfully learn. Previously, he had merely been thought to be of a lower level of intelligence; now, because he was recognized to have ADHD, and in addition took a liking to computers, he's making 6 digits and is quite a reputable employee.)...
My point is, the mainstream realization of this can have profoundly positive affects on the ADD/ADHD community, and I'm all for it.
Re:If you can clone an extinct animal...
on
TigerCloning
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· Score: 1
I thought i'd add to the comparison by giving an account of my experiences learning the OpenGL API...just for reference, i'm a computer science major still in school (although don't ask me why..).
I've been studying/working with OpenGL for only about a year now, but my experience with it has been awesome. Previous to it, I had only a done a -very- small amount of coding with Allegro (which is a 2D only API, IIRC). The learning curve of OpenGL, to me, was almost non-existant. It's structure makes sense, the API functions are pretty straightforward, and there is sooo much help out on the web, it's insane (although I imagine that goes for Direct3D as well). And even if you're starting with the very basics of computer visualization and light (how colors work, mathematics of intensity, reflection/refraction), you can use OpenGL as a learning and teaching tool every step of the way.
Another thing I like about OpenGL, is that it doesn't seem to want to obscure what's going on mathematically; this is one of the things that allows it to be used for things like the Q3A engine. For instance, you have easy, direct access to all the matrices, -if you want it-. Or, you can let the API do the work. good stuff.
As for the cross-platform thing, the one awesome thing that i've personally noticed about it is that when you learn the OpenGL API, you aren't forced to learn a specific GUI API in the process. I've seen Direct3D code, and mixed in with Win32/MFC code, it can get really really atrocious.
Overall, OpenGL is fun to work with, and satisfying as well. If yer just breakin' into the computer graphics programming world, i definitely suggest you give it a try.
IOpener type appliances. If these chips really are on the crappy side, they'll be cheap and consequently put into just such machines, i'd imagine...
I could handle that.
I'd go one step farther, and say that counting the # of shipments isn't even good for that much. After all, think about how much of the "linux" market actually counts on OS sales? Rather, most of the business nowadays seems to be based heavily upon support, other (non-OS) software development, and selling advertising space.
I'm no expert, but I can think of a couple reasons offhand why you'd want to split 1 drive up into a bunch of partitions...
first off, for security purposes. among other things, setting the 'nosuid' flag in/etc/fstab for certain partitions (like/tmp) can be kinda handy...just in case.
second of all, although of course multiple harddrives would be a better solution, there still are cases where a big screwup causes corruption of a particular partition, rather than the whole filesystem. i'd rather take the time to make multiple partitions, and lose my/opt when i mess something up, than lose everything.
I absolutely agree that people shouldn't depend on outside influences to control their privacy when they can help to control it themselves; however, I disagree with your statement that specific legislation in this area won't have long term impact.
The trick is, once a precedent has been set, we have another tool for fighting against these issues. Even if they rename their collection methods, etc, as you described, I would rather keep fighting an even battle then give up on the possibility now that we can win by giving up on legislation.
I used to work at IBM (who owns Lotus), and i'm sure you've noticed, as i did...sametime connect (or VPBuddy as it was previously termed) looks suspiciously (exactly) like AIM.
It seems pretty obvious that IBM/Lotus licenses a customized version of AIM for internal use, and so it's no leap of faith to consider that part of that license is interoperability between the two clients.
First of all, you use of the phrase "some of them" is hittin' the head on the nail. It's important to understand that the majority of overclockers are -not- able to spend more $$ on faster chips, and certainly don't have the money to spend on expensive cooling systems.
That said, i think that those who do have the time/$$ to throw on peltiers (that fluorinert experiment was insane even for overclockers;)) and other such things do it for other reasons than simply price/performance:
Simply put, overclocking is a hack. hacks have value (to some)...it's not a matter of -why- do it, it's -can- it be done...can -I- do it.
Sweet! From what I've been told previously by the maintainers of TradeWars (for those not in the know, TradeWars was/is a multi-player BBS door game which takes place in a "universe" in which you gain power by trading, fighting, and cultivating planets. good stuff.), the only thing stopping them from making a Linux port has been the lack of a good pascal/delphi compiler.
When my friend and I spent a whole weekend downloading the disksets one by one over a 2400bps modem from the AOL filebases (of all places) back in '93 ('94? can't remember..), slackware was slackware (unless i'm having a major brainfart).
how would something like petitioning software packagers to decrease their cardboard/paper usage waste time and energy with trivia?
and why would that -not- be worthwihle for the environment? again, i'm not going to say that it would be anything superbly beneficial, but i do maintain that -any- effort, no matter how small and insignificant, is better than none at all.
i believe there has been other discussion under this topic about the validity of the "one person can make a difference" argument, maybe you should read some of that.
i admit, i don't know much about paper usage and recycling, but it seems to many -any- place to start is a good place to start, no matter how small the field of view.
yes, if people are going to spend X amount of time doing something to further environmental causes, there may be other areas in which their efforts are more productive, but doesn't -every- area deserve to be paid attention to?
Age may very well be irrelevent soon enough...
on
Too Old To Code?
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· Score: 1
Because as more and more developers/engineers work from home and remote offices, less and less interaction between the programmer and the Powers That Be exists.
If i'm going for a project on something like cosource.com or the others, then age doesn't come up. It's pure skill and reputation that get you the job. And this is only going to expand as the years go on and the internet grows.
Slashdot Mirror
It disturbs me that the kid mentioned in the post has been using computers for so long and never -wanted- to learn more about them. It always bother me when i see lack of curiosity...i can understand uninterest in a subject or thing, but even accepting that, i can't understand lack of curiosity.
A modern OS still has a card reader and line printer, and a total user memory space of 300 words (4bytes per word).
*sigh*...;)
Surely, someone could hack together a quick perl script to analyze the scans from a CueCat, right?! *cough*...;)
In my experience, schools don't seem to give a shit about wasting money, or their student's saving it. I realize it's a very pessimistic view, but unfortunately, it's what i've seen...
for instance, my school (Marist College) recently completed construction of a new (HUGE) library. which is awesome. the place was outfitted with hundreds of computers, etcetc...one floor in particular has about 75 boxes all nicely arranged; when they first put them in, they all had very good quality 17" monitors. good stuff. not more than 2 months later, however, these were all replaced with -15" FLAT PANEL LCD SCREENS-...yep, the ones that run at least $1300 a piece. for a freakin' library computer??? come on now...
i'm not sure if it's to please the alumni/get more $$ or what, but it seems like colleges have to get their financial shit together in more ways than one...
maybe this extra money coming in -without- expectations will throw the administrations in the right direction? i'd rather stare at ads all over campus (hell, i do now) and have extra funding for grants and student jobs than pretty-but-pointless technology and a fatass billionaire alumni spitting on me from above.
i goto school with a bunch of 'em, actually.
it's a bit misleading...they call themselves computer science professors.
"The problem that I always had with flight simulators is that I found the ground just incontrolably aluring. Thank god they don't let people like me fly non-virtual planes ;)"
-exactly-. with MS Flight Sim, I used to gain as much altitude as possible and then dive straight down...the object of course being to have as much airspeed as possible when hitting the ground.
it was truly a beautiful thing.
as someone said above, much of the loss/waste of power comes from the transferring that power from the plant -> your home...
Using your analogy, the situation is this...
Is it legal for another vacuum company to build a machine that uses HooverVacuumBagsIE?
not that the whole vacuum thing works too well in this case anyways, considering dvds+movies are a much different product than bags, but whatever...;)
I don't think that the value of this lies in 'fixing' ADD (although I won't deny that it's probably what some people do have in mind, sadly..).
My experience/outlook on it is this. ADD and ADHD kids, by definition, have problems with attention spans. Having previously worked in a computer lab for children who are disabled/handicapped/ADD + ADHD/other various distresses, I can say with confidence that computers in general are of -huge- benefit in these cases, especially with ADD/ADHD. Kids who would normally be off the wall could come in to the lab, sit down in front of a computer for hours upon hours, and play educational games, draw, have fun, etc...without hardly ever losing their attention. Because of computers, whole worlds of education and fun are being opened up for kids who would, 15 years ago, be merely chastised and termed "stupid" (I know this as well, because it happened to someone close to me. It wasn't until he was in his 2nd year of college that he finally got the recognition of his disorder that he needed to successfully learn. Previously, he had merely been thought to be of a lower level of intelligence; now, because he was recognized to have ADHD, and in addition took a liking to computers, he's making 6 digits and is quite a reputable employee.)...
My point is, the mainstream realization of this can have profoundly positive affects on the ADD/ADHD community, and I'm all for it.
"other animals"...yea, like humans.
I thought i'd add to the comparison by giving an account of my experiences learning the OpenGL API...just for reference, i'm a computer science major still in school (although don't ask me why..).
I've been studying/working with OpenGL for only about a year now, but my experience with it has been awesome. Previous to it, I had only a done a -very- small amount of coding with Allegro (which is a 2D only API, IIRC). The learning curve of OpenGL, to me, was almost non-existant. It's structure makes sense, the API functions are pretty straightforward, and there is sooo much help out on the web, it's insane (although I imagine that goes for Direct3D as well). And even if you're starting with the very basics of computer visualization and light (how colors work, mathematics of intensity, reflection/refraction), you can use OpenGL as a learning and teaching tool every step of the way.
Another thing I like about OpenGL, is that it doesn't seem to want to obscure what's going on mathematically; this is one of the things that allows it to be used for things like the Q3A engine. For instance, you have easy, direct access to all the matrices, -if you want it-. Or, you can let the API do the work. good stuff.
As for the cross-platform thing, the one awesome thing that i've personally noticed about it is that when you learn the OpenGL API, you aren't forced to learn a specific GUI API in the process. I've seen Direct3D code, and mixed in with Win32/MFC code, it can get really really atrocious.
Overall, OpenGL is fun to work with, and satisfying as well. If yer just breakin' into the computer graphics programming world, i definitely suggest you give it a try.
IOpener type appliances. If these chips really are on the crappy side, they'll be cheap and consequently put into just such machines, i'd imagine...
I could handle that.
I'd go one step farther, and say that counting the # of shipments isn't even good for that much. After all, think about how much of the "linux" market actually counts on OS sales? Rather, most of the business nowadays seems to be based heavily upon support, other (non-OS) software development, and selling advertising space.
So uhm...what -are- these #'s for?
I'm no expert, but I can think of a couple reasons offhand why you'd want to split 1 drive up into a bunch of partitions...
/etc/fstab for certain partitions (like /tmp) can be kinda handy...just in case.
/opt when i mess something up, than lose everything.
first off, for security purposes. among other things, setting the 'nosuid' flag in
second of all, although of course multiple harddrives would be a better solution, there still are cases where a big screwup causes corruption of a particular partition, rather than the whole filesystem. i'd rather take the time to make multiple partitions, and lose my
...just my $.02
I absolutely agree that people shouldn't depend on outside influences to control their privacy when they can help to control it themselves; however, I disagree with your statement that specific legislation in this area won't have long term impact.
The trick is, once a precedent has been set, we have another tool for fighting against these issues. Even if they rename their collection methods, etc, as you described, I would rather keep fighting an even battle then give up on the possibility now that we can win by giving up on legislation.
after all, who needs stock options and company picnics when you have hot secretaries ready to pork 6-digit+ earning geeks?
oh, wait...bill gates. *shrug*
i wonder if linux NOW has roots in the idea of catholicism WOW!
;)
sorry, i know
I used to work at IBM (who owns Lotus), and i'm sure you've noticed, as i did...sametime connect (or VPBuddy as it was previously termed) looks suspiciously (exactly) like AIM.
It seems pretty obvious that IBM/Lotus licenses a customized version of AIM for internal use, and so it's no leap of faith to consider that part of that license is interoperability between the two clients.
First of all, you use of the phrase "some of them" is hittin' the head on the nail. It's important to understand that the majority of overclockers are -not- able to spend more $$ on faster chips, and certainly don't have the money to spend on expensive cooling systems.
;)) and other such things do it for other reasons than simply price/performance:
;)
That said, i think that those who do have the time/$$ to throw on peltiers (that fluorinert experiment was insane even for overclockers
Simply put, overclocking is a hack. hacks have value (to some)...it's not a matter of -why- do it, it's -can- it be done...can -I- do it.
it's all in the spirit
you still have an hour, they're protesting till 5pm! =)
Sweet! From what I've been told previously by the maintainers of TradeWars (for those not in the know, TradeWars was/is a multi-player BBS door game which takes place in a "universe" in which you gain power by trading, fighting, and cultivating planets. good stuff.), the only thing stopping them from making a Linux port has been the lack of a good pascal/delphi compiler.
awwwwwwwwwww yea =)
When my friend and I spent a whole weekend downloading the disksets one by one over a 2400bps modem from the AOL filebases (of all places) back in '93 ('94? can't remember..), slackware was slackware (unless i'm having a major brainfart).
ahhh, memories =)
i think i'm missing your point...
how would something like petitioning software packagers to decrease their cardboard/paper usage waste time and energy with trivia?
and why would that -not- be worthwihle for the environment? again, i'm not going to say that it would be anything superbly beneficial, but i do maintain that -any- effort, no matter how small and insignificant, is better than none at all.
i believe there has been other discussion under this topic about the validity of the "one person can make a difference" argument, maybe you should read some of that.
i admit, i don't know much about paper usage and recycling, but it seems to many -any- place to start is a good place to start, no matter how small the field of view.
yes, if people are going to spend X amount of time doing something to further environmental causes, there may be other areas in which their efforts are more productive, but doesn't -every- area deserve to be paid attention to?
Because as more and more developers/engineers work from home and remote offices, less and less interaction between the programmer and the Powers That Be exists.
If i'm going for a project on something like cosource.com or the others, then age doesn't come up. It's pure skill and reputation that get you the job. And this is only going to expand as the years go on and the internet grows.