I think that a goal of 2 million signatures might be slightly ambitious.
True true.. However, I know other users of "alternative OS's" should be willing to sign it if they know whats going on.. We could even get mac users to be sympathetic and sign.. but only if they hear about it. So perhaps some mac and linux user should post it on a mac general newsgroup or something?
windows users are what made the internet what it is today.
Thats right.
And making the internet more and more user-friendly is a good thing, even if most of the users are AOL-ites. Because we don't want the internet to just stay the domain of techie people. We want it to be easily accessible so that it can do its most important job: to spread information. Knowledge is power, whether its researching for an essay, or starting a revolution.
Yes it does matter. Because it brings the person into the spotlight. The general public will use it as topics of conversation, "Hey, you saw who Time chose? What did he/she do anyways?".. children might question their parents about the face on the cover.
Today, at the end of this tense century, we might look back on it as a pit that Homo sapiens fell into, then somehow managed to climb out of again, chastened and perhaps even a bit wiser.
Quite idealistic, to think that humanity as a whole has managed to change, even if a little, for the good. There are still so many tyrannies and cruelty going on, that its hard for me to believe that humanity have ever learned from the past.
Perhaps we will stop caring about privacy. We will succumb to the fact that all our knowledge is shareable, and we will not become quiet mice, but louder than ever.
That is true, I know that in the MUD I am on, the admin has the ability to log everything you do. And usually this is only done to problem players. I used to be paranoid about everything I do being logged. But after coming to blows with an admin there, in the end I have decided that its really not that important. I don't do things that are illegal and if they really have that much time in their hands to read through every single one of my conversations there, I can only hope that they learn something useful for themselves.
I think in the end, humanity would decide that privacy is nice, but a dream when technology and law gets more integrated.
Yes, there is a tremendous potential of good that can come out of this. However, there is also a tremendous potential of people trying to do good and then messing up humanity royally.
I guess I am one of those people a bit wary of biological technology. I mean, I think advancements in the biological science just have so much more social impact then those in say, the computer sciences. And so we should be more careful.
people always take the negative spin on these things.
I don't know. I think most people just don't think about these things in general. There are just too many issues in the here and now, that most usually push issues like these to the side, until it comes and stares at them in the face.
In the future, everyone might be attractive, healthy, and sociable. Oh, the horror! Only Jon Katz could complain about that. Get over it, for cryin' out loud.
You assume that the technology will only used to create intelligent and beautiful humans. In that case, who will do all the menial work? Who will clean the bathrooms and do the kitchen work? Who will farm the land and herd the cattles? Who will work in factories making nike shoes?
Unless our robotics industry grow faster then the biological industry, then why wouldn't the knowledge also be used to make passive and obedient humans who will do all the above menial work? And will that be a good thing?
Ultimately, companies want the WTO to permanently eliminate customs tariffs..
I am not a student of economics so if someone could enlighten me: If the goal of WTO is to get rid of tariffs and import/export taxes which will result in increased trade among the nations, why is it such a bad thing?
it does not make sense to teach Java before teaching "real" data structures and algorithms, because these tools sharpen your mind to the point where you are ready to deal with the abstract level (which deliberately hides how they work.) Like teaching calc before algebra, almost.
My first semester CS class was in Java, the second semester was in Dylan (Lisp derivative), third semester had a class using an assembly language and logic gates (we built a cpu) and then, finally, fourth semester did I actually take a "Data strutures and Algorithms" class, 400-level. The philosphy of my school is to teach you things as abstractly as possible, so you can apply them towards specific stuff, the language really wasn't that important. Perhaps its not very practical, but it is the theoritical side of CS that made me fell in love with programming. And the side which I most consider as "art".
I wonder when the Internet IPO boom is going to quiet down.
And its funny how a simple search engine can end up making so much money... but i guess even though there are so many search engines out there already, altavista has achieved "brand-name loyalty" among its users.
yes, my poor pinky has to press the enter key, the shift key.. its no wonder i gave up on capital letters altogether.
i try my best not to use a mouse because it causes pains for my wrist (yes, a bad thing). however, not using a mouse in a windows machine can lead to the most annoying combinations like ctrl + shift + tab.
i am surprised to hear that the mac has a program to allow users to define their own keyboard shortcuts. is there any for windows?
Slashdot Mirror
Hrm. *runs quickly to fix a perl script*
I was just printing as yy/mm/dd for a program.
I guess that would give me 100/1/1 tomorrow.
oops.
(Now who says browsing slashdot at work isn't productive?)
I think that a goal of 2 million signatures might be slightly ambitious.
True true.. However, I know other users of "alternative OS's" should be willing to sign it if they know whats going on.. We could even get mac users to be sympathetic and sign.. but only if they hear about it. So perhaps some mac and linux user should post it on a mac general newsgroup or something?
The enemy of your enemy is your friend.
Signee somewhere in the 700's
windows users are what made the internet what it is today.
Thats right.
And making the internet more and more user-friendly is a good thing, even if most of the users are AOL-ites. Because we don't want the internet to just stay the domain of techie people. We want it to be easily accessible so that it can do its most important job: to spread information.
Knowledge is power, whether its researching for an essay, or starting a revolution.
Does it really matter who "Time" chooses?
, Katz's net person of the year , the one on Linus .
Yes it does matter. Because it brings the person into the spotlight. The general public will use it as topics of conversation, "Hey, you saw who Time chose? What did he/she do anyways?".. children might question their parents about the face on the cover.
I mean, look at slashdot itself. At least 4 stories that relate to Time's person of the century have been posted:
This one, A quiet adult
And every time someone says, "Does it really matter what Time thinks?", it gets moderated to 'insightful'.
Oh well.
Looks like the moderators have some Christmas spirit after all! ;)
Merry Christmas and Joyous Holidays to all!
Agreed. Though debugging it is a bigger pain then debugging in C.
You might say that Time is celebrating his vision and foresight, but in truth they're celebrating his bank account.
Here, here.
In the end, its money and power that gets you noticed.
Let the award go to all those people who volunteered for the red cross, the peace corps.. people you'll never hear about.
Today, at the end of this tense century, we might look back on it as a pit that
Homo sapiens fell into, then somehow managed to climb out of again, chastened and
perhaps even a bit wiser.
Quite idealistic, to think that humanity as a whole has managed to change, even if a little, for the good. There are still so many tyrannies and cruelty going on, that its hard for me to believe that humanity have ever learned from the past.
Hrm, just wondering then. What do slashdotters read for general news? What periodicals do people here subscribe to?
(And my small friends would think that Pokemon should be the thing of the year.)
Does the book has an explanation of why Rudolph's nose glows?
Mezz -- always wanted to know.
Perhaps we will stop caring about privacy. We will succumb to the fact that all our knowledge is shareable, and we will not become quiet mice, but louder than ever.
That is true, I know that in the MUD I am on, the admin has the ability to log everything you do. And usually this is only done to problem players. I used to be paranoid about everything I do being logged. But after coming to blows with an admin there, in the end I have decided that its really not that important. I don't do things that are illegal and if they really have that much time in their hands to read through every single one of my conversations there, I can only hope that they learn something useful for themselves.
I think in the end, humanity would decide that privacy is nice, but a dream when technology and law gets more integrated.
The little legs are actually bad for you? *confused*
Is this true? Links to any studies?
Hrm, wrong article?
Yes, there is a tremendous potential of good that can come out of this.
However, there is also a tremendous potential of people trying to do good and then messing up humanity royally.
I guess I am one of those people a bit wary of biological technology. I mean, I think advancements in the biological science just have so much more social impact then those in say, the computer sciences. And so we should be more careful.
people always take the negative spin on these things.
I don't know. I think most people just don't think about these things in general. There are just too many issues in the here and now, that most usually push issues like these to the side, until it comes and stares at them in the face.
In the future, everyone might be attractive, healthy, and sociable. Oh, the horror! Only Jon Katz could complain about that. Get over it, for cryin' out loud.
You assume that the technology will only used to create intelligent and beautiful humans. In that case, who will do all the menial work? Who will clean the bathrooms and do the kitchen work? Who will farm the land and herd the cattles? Who will work in factories making nike shoes?
Unless our robotics industry grow faster then the biological industry, then why wouldn't the knowledge also be used to make passive and obedient humans who will do all the above menial work? And will that be a good thing?
Ultimately, companies want the WTO to permanently eliminate customs tariffs..
I am not a student of economics so if someone could enlighten me: If the goal of WTO is to get rid of tariffs and import/export taxes which will result in increased trade among the nations, why is it such a bad thing?
Oh my goodness, I know who you are!
(Ok, that might be slightly off-topic)
Hrmpf, the Dylan must have given me away. I am now convinced no one else uses it. Though now they switched to Scheme.
it does not make sense to teach Java before teaching "real" data structures and algorithms, because these tools sharpen your mind to the point where you are ready to deal with the abstract level (which deliberately hides how they work.) Like teaching calc before algebra, almost.
My first semester CS class was in Java, the second semester was in Dylan (Lisp derivative), third semester had a class using an assembly language and logic gates (we built a cpu) and then, finally, fourth semester did I actually take a "Data strutures and Algorithms" class, 400-level. The philosphy of my school is to teach you things as abstractly as possible, so you can apply them towards specific stuff, the language really wasn't that important. Perhaps its not very practical, but it is the theoritical side of CS that made me fell in love with programming. And the side which I most consider as "art".
I wonder when the Internet IPO boom is going to quiet down.
And its funny how a simple search engine can end up making so much money... but i guess even though there are so many search engines out there already, altavista has achieved "brand-name loyalty" among its users.
yes, my poor pinky has to press the enter key, the shift key.. its no wonder i gave up on capital letters altogether.
i try my best not to use a mouse because it causes pains for my wrist (yes, a bad thing).
however, not using a mouse in a windows machine can lead to the most annoying combinations like ctrl + shift + tab.
i am surprised to hear that the mac has a program to allow users to define their own keyboard shortcuts. is there any for windows?
here is a list from amazon's
w ards/hugo.html/103-4034132-4208659
w ards/nebula.html/103-4034132-4208659
Hugos:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/lists/a
Nebulas:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/lists/a
Or just give a subscription to asimov's sci fi and fantasy magazines
just like americans say math
and the rest of the world say maths
but yeah, i love lego and would play with those of my neighbours cos they get all the cool pirates/space ones, but i got stupid barbies.
Obviously, the guy does not MUD nor MUSH. Those are *major* time drainers, whether you are just playing or coding for it.
5 days is nothing.