The article asks many good questions, but it seems that alot of the evidence relied on
a) Magazine articles
b) Limited number of interviews (the deatils of these interviews were not revealed)
c) Anecdotal evidence
d) Statistics for which no source is provided
Does anyone know of any un-biased statistics about hiring rates, avg salary, etc? These would go a long way to proving/disproving these claims
It seems that your features on slashdot tend to be editorials, and these tend get fairly poor reviews - while some of the reviews tend to be less than constructive, I've noticed here and there suggestions that could be seen as constructive criticism - do you take these into consideration when writing something for slashdot? Have you considered writing other types of features other than editorials?
I agree that the previous season or two was going downhill, with good episodes being the exception instead of the rule, but I think this season has shown alot of improvement. One thing which I've always thought was interesting about the simpsons is how it appeals to alot of different groups (old, young, geek, suit, jock, average joe, etc) - like rocky and bullwinkle, it worked on a lot of different levels, offering something for everyone. I think part of the problem the past year or two was the show lacked those multiple levels, and in addition just wasn't that funny.
This question is a two-parter. First Part - I've noticed alot of people asking when you are going to release the newest slash code, and complaining about the lack of releases - my question is WHY haven't you released the code? Have you been too busy, is andover interfering with releasing the code, or is it something else? This leads into the second part - now that Slashdot appears to be a fulltime job for you guys, what is a typical day for you like? Or is there no such thing as a "typical day" for you guys?
In areas that are very rich, reps will be elected on how they stand on issues that will affect the income of the (already rich) people in the district (I went to high school in a very rich district - when the rep voted for a tax hike for higher tax brackets, she lost the following election, despite the fact that her opponent was a bona fide idiot). A number of communities will vote for a rep based on his record on a single issue, ignoring all his/her other stances (i.e. jewish community votes for a rep based on his stance regarding the state of Isreal). This type of tunnel vision prevents the government at local and national levels from looking at the "big picture", especially on issues where the richer citizens are asked to shoulder the burden of helping out the lower economic classes. I think judging a candidate in terms of where the stand on geek-issues and non-geek issues is doing the same type of thing. IMHO, you should judge a candidate based on his overall approach, not just specific issues.
Of course, this is all assuming that the candidate will actually do any of the stuff he promises to do - plus, it is assuming that the nation doesn't have more pressing problems like poverty, crime, nuclear missles in the hands of madmen, and a few thousand innocent people to go bomb to justify the military budget
This Mosaic program could be a nightmare or it could be a tool used to get help to the kids who need it most. The problem is that we don't know which it will be - has anyone tried to find out? Maybe with a few phone calls and emails, Slashdot could ask more than the standard questions a New York Times reporter would ask, and get the answers we want. If this thing is gonna be used for good, not evil, then good for them. And if it does turn out to be a nightmare, what then? So far, people haven't really talked about what the average/. reader can do - is there anything we can do, or are we just the quake playing zombies with itchy trigger fingers the media seems to think are infesting the schools?
I've noticed that while everyone is discussing privacy and how the government is becoming/has become big brother, the NyTimes article is pretty vauge about specifics of the Clinton plan (probably because the plan itself is really vauge). Is Clinton's plan talking about intrusion detection on government and "vital" private systems, or monitoring all traffic on the backbones? The NyTimes article talks about gathering data, but then also talks IDS software, implying that the plan is talking about letting the government setup IDS software and then gather the system logs. If this is the case, it seems getting a strict definition of what a "vital" private network is would be in order, not jumping to the conclusion that clinton just wants to play Big Brother. Of course, Clinton could be trying to get the FBI the power to read your email at will - I don't know; it just seems that no one has commented on the fact that the details of the plan are really vauge, and instead jumped to certain conclusions which may or may not be true.
I also went to Carnegie Mellon with Declan - the memory of him that most sticks out in my mind was when he tried organize a rally at CMU when the administration blocked access to some of the usenet groups (specifically the alt.sex binaries groups). He got someone from the EFF to come speak, held the rally in front of the university computing center, and made it out to be a real freedom of speech issue. Of course, the rally was a misreable failure, both in terms of attendance and effect. The university was afraid of lawsuits , so it would have taken an act of god to get them to change thier minds, and not the 50 or so people who showed up. And in many students eyes (including my own), it really wasn't a freedom of speech issue, and we just didn't care since very few people actually used the alt.sex binary groups. Declan seemed to be alot more concerned with the issue than the reality of the situation
Slashdot Mirror
The article asks many good questions, but it seems that alot of the evidence relied on
a) Magazine articles
b) Limited number of interviews (the deatils of these interviews were not revealed)
c) Anecdotal evidence
d) Statistics for which no source is provided
Does anyone know of any un-biased statistics about hiring rates, avg salary, etc? These would go a long way to proving/disproving these claims
It seems that your features on slashdot tend to be editorials, and these tend get fairly poor reviews - while some of the reviews tend to be less than constructive, I've noticed here and there suggestions that could be seen as constructive criticism - do you take these into consideration when writing something for slashdot? Have you considered writing other types of features other than editorials?
I agree that the previous season or two was going downhill, with good episodes being the exception instead of the rule, but I think this season has shown alot of improvement. One thing which I've always thought was interesting about the simpsons is how it appeals to alot of different groups (old, young, geek, suit, jock, average joe, etc) - like rocky and bullwinkle, it worked on a lot of different levels, offering something for everyone. I think part of the problem the past year or two was the show lacked those multiple levels, and in addition just wasn't that funny.
This question is a two-parter. First Part - I've noticed alot of people asking when you are going to release the newest slash code, and complaining about the lack of releases - my question is WHY haven't you released the code? Have you been too busy, is andover interfering with releasing the code, or is it something else? This leads into the second part - now that Slashdot appears to be a fulltime job for you guys, what is a typical day for you like? Or is there no such thing as a "typical day" for you guys?
In areas that are very rich, reps will be elected on how they stand on issues that will affect the income of the (already rich) people in the district (I went to high school in a very rich district - when the rep voted for a tax hike for higher tax brackets, she lost the following election, despite the fact that her opponent was a bona fide idiot). A number of communities will vote for a rep based on his record on a single issue, ignoring all his/her other stances (i.e. jewish community votes for a rep based on his stance regarding the state of Isreal). This type of tunnel vision prevents the government at local and national levels from looking at the "big picture", especially on issues where the richer citizens are asked to shoulder the burden of helping out the lower economic classes. I think judging a candidate in terms of where the stand on geek-issues and non-geek issues is doing the same type of thing. IMHO, you should judge a candidate based on his overall approach, not just specific issues.
Of course, this is all assuming that the candidate will actually do any of the stuff he promises to do - plus, it is assuming that the nation doesn't have more pressing problems like poverty, crime, nuclear missles in the hands of madmen, and a few thousand innocent people to go bomb to justify the military budget
Maybe a better question is, do minors get all the rights that someone who is over 18 (i.e. someone who can vote) get
This Mosaic program could be a nightmare or it could be a tool used to get help to the kids who need it most. The problem is that we don't know which it will be - has anyone tried to find out? Maybe with a few phone calls and emails, Slashdot could ask more than the standard questions a New York Times reporter would ask, and get the answers we want. If this thing is gonna be used for good, not evil, then good for them. And if it does turn out to be a nightmare, what then? So far, people haven't really talked about what the average /. reader can do - is there anything we can do, or are we just the quake playing zombies with itchy trigger fingers the media seems to think are infesting the schools?
I've noticed that while everyone is discussing privacy and how the government is becoming/has become big brother, the NyTimes article is pretty vauge about specifics of the Clinton plan (probably because the plan itself is really vauge). Is Clinton's plan talking about intrusion detection on government and "vital" private systems, or monitoring all traffic on the backbones? The NyTimes article talks about gathering data, but then also talks IDS software, implying that the plan is talking about letting the government setup IDS software and then gather the system logs. If this is the case, it seems getting a strict definition of what a "vital" private network is would be in order, not jumping to the conclusion that clinton just wants to play Big Brother. Of course, Clinton could be trying to get the FBI the power to read your email at will - I don't know; it just seems that no one has commented on the fact that the details of the plan are really vauge, and instead jumped to certain conclusions which may or may not be true.
I also went to Carnegie Mellon with Declan - the memory of him that most sticks out in my mind was when he tried organize a rally at CMU when the administration blocked access to some of the usenet groups (specifically the alt.sex binaries groups). He got someone from the EFF to come speak, held the rally in front of the university computing center, and made it out to be a real freedom of speech issue. Of course, the rally was a misreable failure, both in terms of attendance and effect. The university was afraid of lawsuits , so it would have taken an act of god to get them to change thier minds, and not the 50 or so people who showed up. And in many students eyes (including my own), it really wasn't a freedom of speech issue, and we just didn't care since very few people actually used the alt.sex binary groups. Declan seemed to be alot more concerned with the issue than the reality of the situation