I'm aware of all the copy protection on DVDs and I don't care. I've never ripped any of them, have no plans to, and still buy them. If there's previews I just do something else while they play like watch TV.
If the general population cared about backing up their stuff there would be an issue. But as it is, the general population doesn't care. It was quite a while before I ripped my music CDs.
Most people have just learned to take care of their stuff. How many people back up their video games, vhs tapes, computer games, dvds, etc? They just keep them in protective cases and don't mistreat them.
Backups are simply not an issue for the mass market.
"Slashdot really doesn't have much for people who are not [smart]."
Slashdot is a community. Claiming it's not for people who aren't smart is exactly the elitist attitude that breeds people who post dribble like this "story." This story should have been rejected out right.
Do you have the IQ results for the millions of people who read Slashdot? Didn't think so.
Basically people who want to believe they're smart come here and think that since they're "part of the community" they must be smart. Because as you say "it's not for non smart people."
"I program a computer, I must be smart." "I read Slashdot, I must be smart." "I use Linux, I must be smart."
All unsound arguments. But arguments believed to be sound by lots of people who want to believe they're smart. They're not the best looking, they're not jocks, if they don't have brains they've "got nothing." Or so they believe.
The truth is that there are a lot of average people who browse Slashdot because they want to learn about things. It's not like only "smart" people care about what's going on with the gaming world or what new gadgets are coming out.
What he obviously means is that there are no artificial limits imposed by his code (i.e. if(connections under 1000) accept Connection). If you can't connect it's not because his code couldn't handle it. The problem could be solved with more RAM or a faster system.
At the time of this posting it's at 2209 domains. In a day or so it should go up several dozen when I do an update.
It's the only thing in a spam that can't be obfuscated or it simply won't work. At best they can do one to one character codes. Occasionally a spammer will try to be clever and request the user copy and paste the link into their browser. I tend to catch those when I examine what got through but the pay off from those is probably so low that the spammer goes back to links. It's hard enough to get someone to click.
The other advantages of blocking based on click-me domains is that the header is irrelavent (it doesn't matter where it came from) and that it's the only thing that costs the spammer real money. And it's the only thing guarenteed not to be in a legitimate e-mail ever.
I've gotten several occuraces of dictionary words inbetween the same obvious spam domain entry. It's quite simple to see which are the filler to fool fully automated anti-spam systems and which are the real links.
The long and shot of it is that if you can use it, so can spammers. Charging thousands for a.mail domain is just dense and turns e-mail into a commodity controlled by big business instead of what is basically seen as something for everyone.
You have to deal with spam within the rules that spammers set. You can't invent rules and then pretend spammers are going to follow them. After an update it takes a few days for the spam to pick up again. If major players would stop worrying about where spam was coming from and start dealing with where it's pointing to, this problem would be a lot more managable.
I've started sending my hotmail spam off to my mail server to help build the filter. It'd be nice if other people were building reliable lists so that I could premptively filter more domains. Nobody really takes it seriously though. They'd rather blacklist countries since it's "easy."
Generally when one turns binary information into audio they just slap a WAV header (or MIDI) on the file and the compress it to an MP3. The result is just static or a mess of notes.
A Better way to do it, is to read in the file as tones. DeCSS.mp3 actually has a deep base beat and repeating melody that's able to be listened to. I ran two versions of DeCSS C code through it and it's very easy to recognize when it gets to the key.
The way it works is that the forumla for piano key frequencies is used and only every other key is used. The result is always harmonies. In the INI file you can specify the number of simultanious tones that make up the chords and the delay between them. If you have say 8 tones, the first 8 bytes will make up a chord. If in the next 8 bytes one of the values is repeated the note is "held." This results in a more fluid "composition."
It's a slightly older version of MathSound. The newest revision will be posted probably this weekend.
It allows for MiddleC to be defined (currently it's 440Hz which is actually A) and what byte value represents it. Currently zero is middle C. It also allows you to limit the number of keys so you don't get too high pitched or too deep.
When one thinks OpenGL they think real time graphics. 59fps sounds impressive until you look at what it's doing in 59fps. Unless he's got his vsync locked that demo should be going several hundred FPS even on a lowly GeForce 2 MX and a barely over 1Ghz processor.
When cross platform is more important than "wow" factor and speed PHP might be appropriate. Otherwise you need to stick to compiled languages. If it can only push a few basic primitives with simple vertex based coloring at 59fps that doesn't leave much time for anything complex.
Neat but very niche. I don't think it'll ever get into the "because it's a good idea" category. It seems to be suited best in the "because I can" category.
Advertisers have apparently gotten around Google's pop up blocker. It still catches many pop-ups but some sites (like GameDev.net) have pop ups that don't get blocked.
If you can't be home on a regular basis (more than a few times a week, at at least one whole day free) at a reasonable time (in time for dinner or sooner) and be willing to spend quality time with your kid you need to find a new job or expect to not be much of an important part of your kid's life.
What job you're working doesn't matter. It's the hours you work. The hours you are home. And the ability to bond with your kid effectivly within the time you have.
All you need is a server in some foreign country with really lax copyright laws (or no interest in prosecuting) and lots of porn.
I don't make millions of dollars with my web-site but it's fully automated. Money just shows up from AdSense. Money just shows up from the occasional subscription (I'm moving away from those and focusing on AdSense). New accounts just show up for Indie-Mail. That's the advantage of running an archival and service based web-site and being a programmer. Whenever I have to do something my first thought is "could a program do this?"
My daily workload consists of checking out the money and updating the spam filter. Every once in a while I have a major update which requires I drive to the ISP and copy the files off of my USB harddrive to the server.
Considering how self-run Slashdot is, it wouldn't surprise me if the owners spend more time playing playstation and counting their money than running the site. Or, if they wanted to, they could.
You just need to find something that people really want that you can automate or that requires very little effort.
I always have at least two systems. One I use regularly and the other is generally used as a server when things are working.
At work, recently one of my systems crapped out. Most likely due to the POS harddrive that's in it. So I'm working on one system while I rebuild the other.
Employers would be smart to Ghost systems every once in awhile (whenever major changes are made to the system) so if something does go wrong they can slap the HD in a second system not on a network, clean and pull off the user's files, blast the image back onto the drive, put the files back and give it back to the user.
It'd also be a good idea to have extra systems ready to go in case of major failures. You don't need to have an extra system for every employee. Just enough to cover when X of their systems go out.
And why would you only have one essenstial server? If it's so expensive when it goes down you should build a twin for emergency use. Take that $300 per week per employee and apply it to purchasing some redundancy.
I had a 386 16Mhz with Win 3.11 installed but the harddrive controller crapped out so I tried sticking it in my 700Mhz system. It booted up just fine. The sound card was too new to be usable. The boot time wasn't really improved but that was probably because I was using the 120MB drive. But once it was booted it ran great.
I read somewhere that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade won't run on newer harddrive. That's bunk. It just won't run on newer OSes. I played it a bit on Win 3.11 on the 700Mhz Duron.
They're suing people who "share" the music. It doesn't matter if you own the music or not. You don't have a legal right to duplicate and distribute.
You can download all you want. But if you put your collection for the whole world to download then they'll rightfully come after you. The RIAA isn't doing anything new. It's just another form of warez, bootlegging and illegal street vending.
Cox blocks port 25 inbound and outbound. It used to be an outbound block only until MyDoom showed up.
This is why Indie-Mail (which is colocated with another ISP) runs the SMTP server on ports 25 and 28. I didn't care to have to run my mail through Cox.
Other people who run public mail servers would be smart to offer that feature. It allows their legitmate customers a way to avoid having to run all their mail through their ISP and doesn't do anything to help spammers.
Unless everybody used the same alternate port enough that e-mail viruses just started using the alt port and the standard.
This isn't even the beginning of the end of email. It's simply becomming less and less workable to run a single mail server system with a large amount of users. Small time mail servers aren't targeted by spammers. Universities are heavily targeted because there are lots of users all going to a common domain.
It's the same reason users of major ISPs are more likely to be probed for vulerabilities.
I've found the method of filtering based on the "Click-Me" domains to be the most effective with virtually no false positives (zero is a realistic number).
I've found that setting up a secure public mail system is cake. Mercury Mail is free and handles well. A single check box set by default is all it takes to keep it from being an open relay. Students of the university could probably do rather well offering their own e-mail services to students. Mercury Mail's filtering system is quite robust.
MM supports IMAP/POP3/SMTP and alternate ports as well as SSL on all them. Adding a web-based front end also isn't that difficult if you know what you're doing. There's actually one built in and a more robust version coming.
I already have a few hundred users on Indie-Mail and the amount of bandwidth used per day is pretty negligable.
Spammers are just going to use a DNS server to tie the domain to the IP.
If I find an open relay in China I simply register a domain, use a DNS server (plenty of those around) to point the domain at the open relay and then fire away. This supposed "verification" is just going to check the domain and the domain is going to report that the IP is "legitimate."
For awhile I had linux.icarusindie.com pointing to the IP of MS's web-site and windows.icarusindie.com pointing to linux.org's IP.
MS's site fixes the url when you click a link on their site while linux.org kept my URL in the browser no matter where I went on the site.
When I worked tech support one of my coworkers had a box of index cards with the answers to everything. Me, being clever, decided to start my own collection so I didn't have to bug him. One day I was on the phone and I recognized the problem and started flipping through my cards to find the one I needed.
I let the customer know about my collection of cards with the answers to common problems to help get things fixed to kill time while I looked.
I found the one I was looking for I started reading it out loud on the phone and quickly realized it wasn't what I wanted.
I really had nothing else to say so I just told the customer "these things are worthless." Fortunatly she had a sense of humor.
I then fixed her problem the usual way and didn't bother with the box of answers much after that. Google, quality coworkers and a background of years of fixing computers is all you really need.
If you have to be trained to handle a consumer PC user tech support line, you're going for the wrong job. You should have years under your belt fixing and building your own systems before you even submit an application. Companies don't want to pay you to sit in a classroom (e.g. training). Like any other job you're expected to be proficient to even be considered to be hired. They shouldn't need to train you for very long. The only training should be to get you're experience focused on their specific products.
Imagine if software companies were expected to train employees how to program (from the basics) and pay them before getting them working on projects that were bringing the company money. Most companies expect you to know what you're doing before you show up.
Tech support companies don't need to worry about training so much as they need to stop hiring morons out of despiration to fill seats. People expect Tech Support companies to operate like McDonald's (training unskilled workers instead of hiring only skilled workers) and then wonder why the support is terrible.
from ASU. Coffee Plantation is now only available off campus.
So yes, they do occassionally step on the "little guy." They're goal is to be everywhere.
Although that makes starbucks good for giving directions. Just go down the road, turn left at the starbucks, go past starbucks, take a right at the second starbucks and you're there.
If you load your car to a friend and they kill someone, you're liable.
That's the problem with analogies. It's so easy to think some detail isn't important to include.
"stealing your car" is not analogous to what this person is doing. They are activly loaning their car. And as such they will be responsible for what happens.
as a theist, the existance of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus is irrelavent.
Satan exists. You don't see Christians running around worshipping and trusting in him do you?
So what makes the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus any different? If they actually exist they're just another two of the many false gods that are to be avoided.
Atheists keep bringing them up because they don't understand theology and what actually matters. Unfortunatly, it's not just atheists that don't get it.
Just because you exist doesn't make you the President of the United States and obligate me to care about what you say.
Ben
I dropped Comp Sci
on
A Worm's Worm
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
After two years I've given up on it. I spent two years studying philosophy and didn't bother trying to get a degree for the same reason I'm switching majors now (secondary education). I got ahead of my math classes. I've always been ahead of the programming classes. And I can't stand physics (which I'm done with finally).
The fact is that if you challenge yourself you can learn everything you'd learn in college on your own for a lot less money. In the field of technology you have to be able to teach yourself anyway or you'll find you've become obsolete.
I switched to education because I think it'd be a more entertaining and fulfilling career than sitting behind a computer all day.
"Maybe that's what grad school is for?"
Save your money. If you want to learn how to program just buy the books and come up with projects.
The reason I know as many languages as I do is because I'm always coming up with ideas. I then figure out what language would be best to implement it and learn the language.
You're better off specializing in an area (like math or physics) and then learning how to program on the side so you can utilize that skill in your profession. You don't need a comp sci degree to write modeling programs for a chemistry application. You need a chemistry degree so you understand what the program needs to do. In programming knowing what you need to do is 90% of it. The other 10% can be learned as you build the program.
Think about it. Little kids can program. It's really not that hard. But little kids don't know enough about chemistry to use their programming skills to write chemistry programs.
If you don't understand chemistry nobody really cares if you can do magic in C++ because you don't have the knowledge to make your programs do what a chemistry program needs to do.
It's the same reason the FBI doesn't care if you were on a police force. An FBI agent needs to know things you can't learn being in the police force. And what you need to learn in the police force can easily be taught to you by the FBI.
Slashdot Mirror
we shouldn't have let them change their minds.
"oops, too late, you already said you wanted to go."
Ben
I'm aware of all the copy protection on DVDs and I don't care. I've never ripped any of them, have no plans to, and still buy them. If there's previews I just do something else while they play like watch TV.
If the general population cared about backing up their stuff there would be an issue. But as it is, the general population doesn't care. It was quite a while before I ripped my music CDs.
Most people have just learned to take care of their stuff. How many people back up their video games, vhs tapes, computer games, dvds, etc? They just keep them in protective cases and don't mistreat them.
Backups are simply not an issue for the mass market.
Ben
"Slashdot really doesn't have much for people who are not [smart]."
Slashdot is a community. Claiming it's not for people who aren't smart is exactly the elitist attitude that breeds people who post dribble like this "story." This story should have been rejected out right.
Do you have the IQ results for the millions of people who read Slashdot? Didn't think so.
Basically people who want to believe they're smart come here and think that since they're "part of the community" they must be smart. Because as you say "it's not for non smart people."
"I program a computer, I must be smart." "I read Slashdot, I must be smart." "I use Linux, I must be smart."
All unsound arguments. But arguments believed to be sound by lots of people who want to believe they're smart. They're not the best looking, they're not jocks, if they don't have brains they've "got nothing." Or so they believe.
The truth is that there are a lot of average people who browse Slashdot because they want to learn about things. It's not like only "smart" people care about what's going on with the gaming world or what new gadgets are coming out.
Ben
you most likely aren't.
Ben
What he obviously means is that there are no artificial limits imposed by his code (i.e. if(connections under 1000) accept Connection). If you can't connect it's not because his code couldn't handle it. The problem could be solved with more RAM or a faster system.
Ben
I filter based on those.
.mail domain is just dense and turns e-mail into a commodity controlled by big business instead of what is basically seen as something for everyone.
Current List of Domains
At the time of this posting it's at 2209 domains. In a day or so it should go up several dozen when I do an update.
It's the only thing in a spam that can't be obfuscated or it simply won't work. At best they can do one to one character codes. Occasionally a spammer will try to be clever and request the user copy and paste the link into their browser. I tend to catch those when I examine what got through but the pay off from those is probably so low that the spammer goes back to links. It's hard enough to get someone to click.
The other advantages of blocking based on click-me domains is that the header is irrelavent (it doesn't matter where it came from) and that it's the only thing that costs the spammer real money. And it's the only thing guarenteed not to be in a legitimate e-mail ever.
I've gotten several occuraces of dictionary words inbetween the same obvious spam domain entry. It's quite simple to see which are the filler to fool fully automated anti-spam systems and which are the real links.
The long and shot of it is that if you can use it, so can spammers. Charging thousands for a
You have to deal with spam within the rules that spammers set. You can't invent rules and then pretend spammers are going to follow them. After an update it takes a few days for the spam to pick up again. If major players would stop worrying about where spam was coming from and start dealing with where it's pointing to, this problem would be a lot more managable.
I've started sending my hotmail spam off to my mail server to help build the filter. It'd be nice if other people were building reliable lists so that I could premptively filter more domains. Nobody really takes it seriously though. They'd rather blacklist countries since it's "easy."
Ben
Generally when one turns binary information into audio they just slap a WAV header (or MIDI) on the file and the compress it to an MP3. The result is just static or a mess of notes.
A Better way to do it, is to read in the file as tones. DeCSS.mp3 actually has a deep base beat and repeating melody that's able to be listened to. I ran two versions of DeCSS C code through it and it's very easy to recognize when it gets to the key.
The way it works is that the forumla for piano key frequencies is used and only every other key is used. The result is always harmonies. In the INI file you can specify the number of simultanious tones that make up the chords and the delay between them. If you have say 8 tones, the first 8 bytes will make up a chord. If in the next 8 bytes one of the values is repeated the note is "held." This results in a more fluid "composition."
It's a slightly older version of MathSound. The newest revision will be posted probably this weekend.
It allows for MiddleC to be defined (currently it's 440Hz which is actually A) and what byte value represents it. Currently zero is middle C. It also allows you to limit the number of keys so you don't get too high pitched or too deep.
Ben
When one thinks OpenGL they think real time graphics. 59fps sounds impressive until you look at what it's doing in 59fps. Unless he's got his vsync locked that demo should be going several hundred FPS even on a lowly GeForce 2 MX and a barely over 1Ghz processor.
When cross platform is more important than "wow" factor and speed PHP might be appropriate. Otherwise you need to stick to compiled languages. If it can only push a few basic primitives with simple vertex based coloring at 59fps that doesn't leave much time for anything complex.
Neat but very niche. I don't think it'll ever get into the "because it's a good idea" category. It seems to be suited best in the "because I can" category.
Ben
Advertisers have apparently gotten around Google's pop up blocker. It still catches many pop-ups but some sites (like GameDev.net) have pop ups that don't get blocked.
Ben
the hours.
If you can't be home on a regular basis (more than a few times a week, at at least one whole day free) at a reasonable time (in time for dinner or sooner) and be willing to spend quality time with your kid you need to find a new job or expect to not be much of an important part of your kid's life.
What job you're working doesn't matter. It's the hours you work. The hours you are home. And the ability to bond with your kid effectivly within the time you have.
Ben
All you need is a server in some foreign country with really lax copyright laws (or no interest in prosecuting) and lots of porn.
I don't make millions of dollars with my web-site but it's fully automated. Money just shows up from AdSense. Money just shows up from the occasional subscription (I'm moving away from those and focusing on AdSense). New accounts just show up for Indie-Mail. That's the advantage of running an archival and service based web-site and being a programmer. Whenever I have to do something my first thought is "could a program do this?"
My daily workload consists of checking out the money and updating the spam filter. Every once in a while I have a major update which requires I drive to the ISP and copy the files off of my USB harddrive to the server.
Considering how self-run Slashdot is, it wouldn't surprise me if the owners spend more time playing playstation and counting their money than running the site. Or, if they wanted to, they could.
You just need to find something that people really want that you can automate or that requires very little effort.
Think "pet rock."
Ben
I always have at least two systems. One I use regularly and the other is generally used as a server when things are working.
At work, recently one of my systems crapped out. Most likely due to the POS harddrive that's in it. So I'm working on one system while I rebuild the other.
Employers would be smart to Ghost systems every once in awhile (whenever major changes are made to the system) so if something does go wrong they can slap the HD in a second system not on a network, clean and pull off the user's files, blast the image back onto the drive, put the files back and give it back to the user.
It'd also be a good idea to have extra systems ready to go in case of major failures. You don't need to have an extra system for every employee. Just enough to cover when X of their systems go out.
And why would you only have one essenstial server? If it's so expensive when it goes down you should build a twin for emergency use. Take that $300 per week per employee and apply it to purchasing some redundancy.
Ben
I had a 386 16Mhz with Win 3.11 installed but the harddrive controller crapped out so I tried sticking it in my 700Mhz system. It booted up just fine. The sound card was too new to be usable. The boot time wasn't really improved but that was probably because I was using the 120MB drive. But once it was booted it ran great.
I read somewhere that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade won't run on newer harddrive. That's bunk. It just won't run on newer OSes. I played it a bit on Win 3.11 on the 700Mhz Duron.
Ben
They're suing people who "share" the music. It doesn't matter if you own the music or not. You don't have a legal right to duplicate and distribute.
You can download all you want. But if you put your collection for the whole world to download then they'll rightfully come after you. The RIAA isn't doing anything new. It's just another form of warez, bootlegging and illegal street vending.
Ben
Cox blocks port 25 inbound and outbound. It used to be an outbound block only until MyDoom showed up.
This is why Indie-Mail (which is colocated with another ISP) runs the SMTP server on ports 25 and 28. I didn't care to have to run my mail through Cox.
Other people who run public mail servers would be smart to offer that feature. It allows their legitmate customers a way to avoid having to run all their mail through their ISP and doesn't do anything to help spammers.
Unless everybody used the same alternate port enough that e-mail viruses just started using the alt port and the standard.
Ben
This isn't even the beginning of the end of email. It's simply becomming less and less workable to run a single mail server system with a large amount of users. Small time mail servers aren't targeted by spammers. Universities are heavily targeted because there are lots of users all going to a common domain.
It's the same reason users of major ISPs are more likely to be probed for vulerabilities.
I've found the method of filtering based on the "Click-Me" domains to be the most effective with virtually no false positives (zero is a realistic number).
I've found that setting up a secure public mail system is cake. Mercury Mail is free and handles well. A single check box set by default is all it takes to keep it from being an open relay. Students of the university could probably do rather well offering their own e-mail services to students. Mercury Mail's filtering system is quite robust.
MM supports IMAP/POP3/SMTP and alternate ports as well as SSL on all them. Adding a web-based front end also isn't that difficult if you know what you're doing. There's actually one built in and a more robust version coming.
I already have a few hundred users on Indie-Mail and the amount of bandwidth used per day is pretty negligable.
Ben
also took a day or so to show up on CNN which Fox news and other local papers had it the day it happened.
Ben
Burning things has been done again and again and really isn't Slashdot (any news really) worthy.
Unless you find a way to pull a MacGyver with it and foil some terrorist plot or something I can't say I'm too impressed.
Ben
Spammers are just going to use a DNS server to tie the domain to the IP.
If I find an open relay in China I simply register a domain, use a DNS server (plenty of those around) to point the domain at the open relay and then fire away. This supposed "verification" is just going to check the domain and the domain is going to report that the IP is "legitimate."
For awhile I had linux.icarusindie.com pointing to the IP of MS's web-site and windows.icarusindie.com pointing to linux.org's IP.
MS's site fixes the url when you click a link on their site while linux.org kept my URL in the browser no matter where I went on the site.
Ben
When I worked tech support one of my coworkers had a box of index cards with the answers to everything. Me, being clever, decided to start my own collection so I didn't have to bug him. One day I was on the phone and I recognized the problem and started flipping through my cards to find the one I needed.
I let the customer know about my collection of cards with the answers to common problems to help get things fixed to kill time while I looked.
I found the one I was looking for I started reading it out loud on the phone and quickly realized it wasn't what I wanted.
I really had nothing else to say so I just told the customer "these things are worthless." Fortunatly she had a sense of humor.
I then fixed her problem the usual way and didn't bother with the box of answers much after that. Google, quality coworkers and a background of years of fixing computers is all you really need.
If you have to be trained to handle a consumer PC user tech support line, you're going for the wrong job. You should have years under your belt fixing and building your own systems before you even submit an application. Companies don't want to pay you to sit in a classroom (e.g. training). Like any other job you're expected to be proficient to even be considered to be hired. They shouldn't need to train you for very long. The only training should be to get you're experience focused on their specific products.
Imagine if software companies were expected to train employees how to program (from the basics) and pay them before getting them working on projects that were bringing the company money. Most companies expect you to know what you're doing before you show up.
Tech support companies don't need to worry about training so much as they need to stop hiring morons out of despiration to fill seats. People expect Tech Support companies to operate like McDonald's (training unskilled workers instead of hiring only skilled workers) and then wonder why the support is terrible.
Ben
from ASU. Coffee Plantation is now only available off campus.
So yes, they do occassionally step on the "little guy." They're goal is to be everywhere.
Although that makes starbucks good for giving directions. Just go down the road, turn left at the starbucks, go past starbucks, take a right at the second starbucks and you're there.
Ben
You can call it rubbish all you want but you are responsible for whoever you allow to drive your car. That's the law.
The dealer relinquishes their responsibility when you sign on the dotted line and drive it off their lot
Ben
then yes, you would be responsible.
If you load your car to a friend and they kill someone, you're liable.
That's the problem with analogies. It's so easy to think some detail isn't important to include.
"stealing your car" is not analogous to what this person is doing. They are activly loaning their car. And as such they will be responsible for what happens.
Ben
as a theist, the existance of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus is irrelavent.
Satan exists. You don't see Christians running around worshipping and trusting in him do you?
So what makes the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus any different? If they actually exist they're just another two of the many false gods that are to be avoided.
Atheists keep bringing them up because they don't understand theology and what actually matters. Unfortunatly, it's not just atheists that don't get it.
Just because you exist doesn't make you the President of the United States and obligate me to care about what you say.
Ben
After two years I've given up on it. I spent two years studying philosophy and didn't bother trying to get a degree for the same reason I'm switching majors now (secondary education). I got ahead of my math classes. I've always been ahead of the programming classes. And I can't stand physics (which I'm done with finally).
The fact is that if you challenge yourself you can learn everything you'd learn in college on your own for a lot less money. In the field of technology you have to be able to teach yourself anyway or you'll find you've become obsolete.
I switched to education because I think it'd be a more entertaining and fulfilling career than sitting behind a computer all day.
"Maybe that's what grad school is for?"
Save your money. If you want to learn how to program just buy the books and come up with projects.
The reason I know as many languages as I do is because I'm always coming up with ideas. I then figure out what language would be best to implement it and learn the language.
You're better off specializing in an area (like math or physics) and then learning how to program on the side so you can utilize that skill in your profession. You don't need a comp sci degree to write modeling programs for a chemistry application. You need a chemistry degree so you understand what the program needs to do. In programming knowing what you need to do is 90% of it. The other 10% can be learned as you build the program.
Think about it. Little kids can program. It's really not that hard. But little kids don't know enough about chemistry to use their programming skills to write chemistry programs.
If you don't understand chemistry nobody really cares if you can do magic in C++ because you don't have the knowledge to make your programs do what a chemistry program needs to do.
It's the same reason the FBI doesn't care if you were on a police force. An FBI agent needs to know things you can't learn being in the police force. And what you need to learn in the police force can easily be taught to you by the FBI.
Ben