What about all those uppity colonists in the 1770's-1780s? On this side of the Atlantic, we call that the "Revolutionary War". I don't know how Brits view that historically, but enough people died over it that it would seem it should count.
As a "casual" WoW player, I enjoy many different aspects of the game. I'm an engineer, doing a lot of programming, so I have some appreciation for the scale, complexity, and effort that goes into developing something so vast as the 3d world of WoW. The artistic and tactical development of the world itself merits a lot of appreciation in my book. I don't spend every moment (even online) thinking about it, but its something I do consider often, especially when entering a new zone or raid. Meeting and cooperating with new, completely random people on a regular basis also provides its challenges and enjoyment. Different people get different things out of the experience, sometimes sacrificing other parts of their lives to do so. As the only night owl in my household (always have been) I find an hour or so online to be more enjoyable than most of the TV choices that are available when I don't feel like reading late at night.
I'm not saying people can't overcome their circumstances. I'm saying they're the exception, not the rule, and that the answer of "they're stupid and lazy" seems to me to be a massive oversimplification.
There was a time when we were a nation of such "exceptional" people. At one time, being exceptional in that way was necessary (for survival), so people did it. Now, such people are considered extraordinary, and I find that saddening.
I agree that the broad accusation of being "stupid and lazy" is indeed an oversimplification. Its more likely to be a matter of poorly placed/taught values in things like: self-sufficiency, freedom, choice. Education plays prominently into all 3 of these things, but without valuation of these 3 there is little motivation for the effort of learning, earning, or contributing.
Note that I didn't put "comfort" or "security" in my list. It is fine to value those as well and we all do to some degree. However, when their value relative to rest becomes out of whack... well, then we get what we have and its exceptionally difficult to teach new or contrary values upon a large population. That doesn't make the effort to do so worthless, but maybe it makes us "exceptional" for trying.
Sure, and after 2-3 minutes you'd have a zombie for the party too! Heck, hook up a network of windows boxes and every couple minutes have them play a track groaning "Brains... Brains...!", each in a slightly unique voice. Someone would get the joke on their own though, which would be sad.:-P
Cool is using the next-get AIBO's wireless connection to hack its behavior software to act out "amorous behaviors" with the leg of the VIP's secretary. Cooler yet is watching the VIP try to explain the critter's behavior as he gets sued for harassment by said secretary.
Think twice about your wireless gadgets, especially those with their own means of locomotion and/or video capture.:-)
Acually, I don't believe the first ammendment gives any protection to spam at all. I agree that it does/should protect person-to-person email, but not necessarily spam. A person does have the right to say what they want, but NOT to force others to listen. Whether it takes 5 second or 60, I am still forced to listen/read at least some portion of the spam before I delete it so I know its spam. Their right speak ends when it infringres on my right to not listen just like someone's right to liberty (of action) ends when it infringes on my right to life. We call it murder in these parts, and its just an extreme example of one person's rights being limited when they interfere withe another person's rights.
Also, we insist that we need to define spam in terms of something that's already a criminal act, fine. Spam is an unsolicited email which consumes the bandwidth or network storage, for which I pay my ISP. Not many people are on metered internet usage any more, but the ISP is still a sevice which _I_ am paying for, and they are consuming some (tiny, but I don't care) portion of that sevice. We could also define spam as unsolicited email using up my personal or professional time and either way they have stolen potentially billable time from me or my employer.
Its theft of service, time, and/or resources. Now can we recognize it as illegal like other forms of theft?
I actually hit this one on my own and was pretty amused. The guys who'd introduced me to the site had been reading it for a while and hadn't come across it.
Go to http://www.boortz.com/ and line up your mouse right over the forehead of the Neal (the big smiling guy) in the Nealz Nuze box. Clicking will take you to an animated gif.
I was working as an intern for a telecomm. company
back in 1993 doing enhancements/rewrites for their
cross-connect's database management. One day I
was working in the open lab area on the only fully
populated lab system we had when an upper manager
walked in with a few prospective (and major)
customers. We'd been warned about it ahead of
time so that our "lab attire" would be slightly
more appropriate for a customer visit.
No more than 10 seconds before they had arrived,
I had started a test of a performance feature I
was adding. The manager brought them in and
introduced me, saying that I was working on
database upgrades for the next software release.
No sooned had he finished my introduction than
my "upgrade" hit a snag, and the database on
the entire system failed, resulting in 4,000 red
LED's all going on along with two of the most
critical master alarms. Basically, the system was
terminal and it was rather obvious.
I could see the manager stiffen a bit, and the
customers becan looking at one another in
apprehension. Luckily, I didn't miss a beat and
with a couple key strokes disabled my database
version and restored the original. The alarms
cleared and green LED's came back on all over the
system. My only verbal response was, "Well, the
auto-recovery seems to work pretty well now."
The manager smiled in feigned confidence, and the
customers nodded approvingly at the recovery. Too
bad I hadn't been working on auto-recovery or on
system synchronization. I later had my direct
manager stop by and ask about the incident.
Aparrently, the "auto-recovery" feature wasn't on
the list of fetures the customers had been given
for the next software release and they wanted to
know more about it.. and so did management. After
I explained the situation he departed, most likely
to tell marketing thet they had to put some spin
into explaining on they "auto-recovery" wasn't
going to be available.
I never did hear back about how that turned out,
but I do know that we wound up making some sales
to those customers.
Dave
Slashdot Mirror
What about all those uppity colonists in the 1770's-1780s? On this side of the Atlantic, we call that the "Revolutionary War". I don't know how Brits view that historically, but enough people died over it that it would seem it should count.
As a "casual" WoW player, I enjoy many different aspects of the game. I'm an engineer, doing a lot of programming, so I have some appreciation for the scale, complexity, and effort that goes into developing something so vast as the 3d world of WoW. The artistic and tactical development of the world itself merits a lot of appreciation in my book. I don't spend every moment (even online) thinking about it, but its something I do consider often, especially when entering a new zone or raid. Meeting and cooperating with new, completely random people on a regular basis also provides its challenges and enjoyment. Different people get different things out of the experience, sometimes sacrificing other parts of their lives to do so. As the only night owl in my household (always have been) I find an hour or so online to be more enjoyable than most of the TV choices that are available when I don't feel like reading late at night.
I'm not saying people can't overcome their circumstances. I'm saying they're the exception, not the rule, and that the answer of "they're stupid and lazy" seems to me to be a massive oversimplification.
There was a time when we were a nation of such "exceptional" people. At one time, being exceptional in that way was necessary (for survival), so people did it. Now, such people are considered extraordinary, and I find that saddening.
I agree that the broad accusation of being "stupid and lazy" is indeed an oversimplification. Its more likely to be a matter of poorly placed/taught values in things like: self-sufficiency, freedom, choice. Education plays prominently into all 3 of these things, but without valuation of these 3 there is little motivation for the effort of learning, earning, or contributing.
Note that I didn't put "comfort" or "security" in my list. It is fine to value those as well and we all do to some degree. However, when their value relative to rest becomes out of whack... well, then we get what we have and its exceptionally difficult to teach new or contrary values upon a large population. That doesn't make the effort to do so worthless, but maybe it makes us "exceptional" for trying.
Sure, and after 2-3 minutes you'd have a zombie for the party too! Heck, hook up a network of windows boxes and every couple minutes have them play a track groaning "Brains... Brains...!", each in a slightly unique voice. Someone would get the joke on their own though, which would be sad. :-P
Cool is using the next-get AIBO's wireless connection to hack its behavior software to act out "amorous behaviors" with the leg of the VIP's secretary. Cooler yet is watching the VIP try to explain the critter's behavior as he gets sued for harassment by said secretary.
:-)
Think twice about your wireless gadgets, especially those with their own means of locomotion and/or video capture.
Acually, I don't believe the first ammendment gives any protection to spam at all. I agree that it does/should protect person-to-person email, but not necessarily spam. A person does have the right to say what they want, but NOT to force others to listen. Whether it takes 5 second or 60, I am still forced to listen/read at least some portion of the spam before I delete it so I know its spam. Their right speak ends when it infringres on my right to not listen just like someone's right to liberty (of action) ends when it infringes on my right to life. We call it murder in these parts, and its just an extreme example of one person's rights being limited when they interfere withe another person's rights.
Also, we insist that we need to define spam in terms of something that's already a criminal act, fine. Spam is an unsolicited email which consumes the bandwidth or network storage, for which I pay my ISP. Not many people are on metered internet usage any more, but the ISP is still a sevice which _I_ am paying for, and they are consuming some (tiny, but I don't care) portion of that sevice. We could also define spam as unsolicited email using up my personal or professional time and either way they have stolen potentially billable time from me or my employer.
Its theft of service, time, and/or resources. Now can we recognize it as illegal like other forms of theft?
Well, recorded music in CD format hasn't gotten :-)
any cheaper in the last 15 years. I'm not saying
is isn't cheaper to _produce_ the CDs...
I actually hit this one on my own and was pretty
amused. The guys who'd introduced me to the site
had been reading it for a while and hadn't come
across it.
Go to http://www.boortz.com/ and line up your
mouse right over the forehead of the Neal (the
big smiling guy) in the Nealz Nuze box. Clicking
will take you to an animated gif.
I was working as an intern for a telecomm. company back in 1993 doing enhancements/rewrites for their cross-connect's database management. One day I was working in the open lab area on the only fully populated lab system we had when an upper manager walked in with a few prospective (and major) customers. We'd been warned about it ahead of time so that our "lab attire" would be slightly more appropriate for a customer visit. No more than 10 seconds before they had arrived, I had started a test of a performance feature I was adding. The manager brought them in and introduced me, saying that I was working on database upgrades for the next software release. No sooned had he finished my introduction than my "upgrade" hit a snag, and the database on the entire system failed, resulting in 4,000 red LED's all going on along with two of the most critical master alarms. Basically, the system was terminal and it was rather obvious. I could see the manager stiffen a bit, and the customers becan looking at one another in apprehension. Luckily, I didn't miss a beat and with a couple key strokes disabled my database version and restored the original. The alarms cleared and green LED's came back on all over the system. My only verbal response was, "Well, the auto-recovery seems to work pretty well now." The manager smiled in feigned confidence, and the customers nodded approvingly at the recovery. Too bad I hadn't been working on auto-recovery or on system synchronization. I later had my direct manager stop by and ask about the incident. Aparrently, the "auto-recovery" feature wasn't on the list of fetures the customers had been given for the next software release and they wanted to know more about it.. and so did management. After I explained the situation he departed, most likely to tell marketing thet they had to put some spin into explaining on they "auto-recovery" wasn't going to be available. I never did hear back about how that turned out, but I do know that we wound up making some sales to those customers. Dave