It looks to me like the thing that's going to replace my SD tivo and digital cable box is going to be tvrss.net.
All the cable company has to do is give me a price for each channel I want, and I'll pay as I go. Since they're not going to do that, well, thanks for the bandwidth!
"A general purpose computer transcoding video 24/7"...which is what a Tivo is, unless you're talking about the DirecTivo (which writes the compressed satellite bitstream to the drive).
" We learn to communicate primarily through speech, we only learn writing and reading at a later time."
The history of cognition is not germane to how the poster communicates with me, today, on the Internet. It might be interesting and all, but the advent of written language was a pretty long time ago (from my perspective), so I submit that we all know what the rules are.
Some are more attentive and skilled in their application, and some swap "loose" and "lose".
Can I deal with it? Absolutely. Does it detract from the message being conveyed? It certainly can.
I can untangle it just fine. It does, however, distract a reader. I bet you could understand me just fine if I poked you with a fork while I explained something to you, but you'd probably find it annoying, and it would distract you from my explanation.
"second you aren't worrying about the depth / development / support of an idea"
How much does it cost each person who reads your post and trips on your grammar/spelling error? Typos are one thing. Lose and loose is a not-thinking-clearly problem. If you can't take the time to express yourself clearly, how can you expect anybody else take the time to figure out whether you know what you're talking about or not?
"Windows or Linux is not limited in any way or inferior to OSX in this regard."
You're joking, right?
Every Windows laptop I've ever worked on regularly fails to wake up when you open it. There is no clear indication of what state it's in, and pressing the power button for varying amounts of time sometimes wakes the machine up, and sometimes powers the machine off.
When you're calling somebody else stupid, it's a good idea not to make baldly stupid statements.
I DID think about it, and I thought about all the English teachers I've had who have impeccable grammar and vocabulary, and concluded that your gross overgeneralization based on one data point was, well, unreliable.
"And Apple users are already used to mac software having fewer features than most comparable windows software."
I stand corrected. You're stoned out of your damn mind. Software for the Mac is the reason I don't use Linux, or Windows. Even the Mac shareware stuff is superior in almost every way to what's available on other platforms.
They do if they realize that school is not the only place they can learn. All of the smartest, best educated people I know came to that realization.
"and we serve them very poorly by limiting them"
Who's "we"? I'm not a teacher (in large part because I don't think I could stomach the union), and I'm not going out telling kids they're stupid.
I absolutely 100% agree with you: Public education is massively broken. There needs to be some mechanism to teach kids that if they count on the lottery or a pro sports career to get rich, they're just never going to be successful. It takes smarts and hard work and making opportunities. I agree that the public school system does a lousy job of encouraging this sort of behavior.
"higher level of mathematical ability among the populace would be a good thing?"
Sure! It'd be great! I think it's also unrealistic. I flatter myself to think that my mathematical skills are pretty damn good, but working through formal proofs are just not part of my knowledge base. I can solve problems really a LOT well, but doing the game that is proving theorems is not a skill I command.
I submit that that doesn't mean I'm a mathematical incompetent. Would it be nice to be able to do so? I suppose. Is it going to improve my life? Not as much as, say, learning to speak Latin.
I have a very detailed understanding of how transmissions work. I have zero understanding of how to service one. I imagine there are probably folks out there who know how to service transmissions, but do not know how to use one to get around a racetrack rapidly.
Different people have different skill sets, and that's OK. In the best of all possible worlds, everybody would know everything. In this world, we make trade-offs on what skills we find most rewarding and/or profitable, and leave other skills to other people.
I agree that a certain mathematical fluency (along with good command of basic science, history, grammar, government, and most importantly, critical thinking) are key to being an Educated Person.
I do not necessarily agree that being able to prove mathematical theorems is important to that fluency. I can be a very, very good driver without being able to rebuild my transmission. (Can't have a discussion without a misleading car analogy!)
Slashdot Mirror
Gambler's Fallacy for the win!
"And, allegedly, poisonous."
Fixed that for ya.
It looks to me like the thing that's going to replace my SD tivo and digital cable box is going to be tvrss.net.
All the cable company has to do is give me a price for each channel I want, and I'll pay as I go. Since they're not going to do that, well, thanks for the bandwidth!
"it would be relatively trivial for a government to impose"
That phrase gives me the screaming wiggins. ANY government imposition is, by definition, not trivial.
Interesting. I guess that makes sense, with the cable card.
I stand corrected.
"If you'd done any reading at all, you'd know this."
Oh, come on now. I just read Go Dog Go, AND The Pokey Little Puppy last night, and neither one said anything about your cable setup.
"A general purpose computer transcoding video 24/7" ...which is what a Tivo is, unless you're talking about the DirecTivo (which writes the compressed satellite bitstream to the drive).
Tivo transcodes video on the fly.
"nerdstick"
Heh. That's a keeper. I've got three on my person at the moment. : )
Gold star for you. That's awesome.
Yeah, and $25 is way more expensive than MS Office, right?
" We learn to communicate primarily through speech, we only learn writing and reading at a later time."
The history of cognition is not germane to how the poster communicates with me, today, on the Internet. It might be interesting and all, but the advent of written language was a pretty long time ago (from my perspective), so I submit that we all know what the rules are.
Some are more attentive and skilled in their application, and some swap "loose" and "lose".
Can I deal with it? Absolutely. Does it detract from the message being conveyed? It certainly can.
I can untangle it just fine. It does, however, distract a reader. I bet you could understand me just fine if I poked you with a fork while I explained something to you, but you'd probably find it annoying, and it would distract you from my explanation.
Same deal.
"second you aren't worrying about the depth / development / support of an idea"
How much does it cost each person who reads your post and trips on your grammar/spelling error? Typos are one thing. Lose and loose is a not-thinking-clearly problem. If you can't take the time to express yourself clearly, how can you expect anybody else take the time to figure out whether you know what you're talking about or not?
"and people sometimes make mistakes."
Difference is, as a private citizen, I can be punished for my mistakes. As a law enforcement officer, they get promoted.
"is directly attributable to people that have authoritarian leanings" Fixed that for ya.
Voice whatever you want. But, strangely, people value the opinions of others that they respect. And one way to earn respect is to contribute.
Do you require a visual aid?
"Windows or Linux is not limited in any way or inferior to OSX in this regard."
You're joking, right?
Every Windows laptop I've ever worked on regularly fails to wake up when you open it. There is no clear indication of what state it's in, and pressing the power button for varying amounts of time sometimes wakes the machine up, and sometimes powers the machine off.
So, yeah, that's inferior.
For people more familiar with computers than cars, those analogies might be useful, IFF they are written well.
Badly written analogies are bad.
...directed by Michael Bay. I'd prefer the shit and urine.
(I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am...)
More like, "You are responsible for your problems."
That seems pretty OK to me.
When you're calling somebody else stupid, it's a good idea not to make baldly stupid statements.
I DID think about it, and I thought about all the English teachers I've had who have impeccable grammar and vocabulary, and concluded that your gross overgeneralization based on one data point was, well, unreliable.
And stupid.
"Apple charges double for everything it sells."
Huh? You're a loony.
"And Apple users are already used to mac software having fewer features than most comparable windows software."
I stand corrected. You're stoned out of your damn mind. Software for the Mac is the reason I don't use Linux, or Windows. Even the Mac shareware stuff is superior in almost every way to what's available on other platforms.
"But kids don't have a choice! "
They do if they realize that school is not the only place they can learn. All of the smartest, best educated people I know came to that realization.
"and we serve them very poorly by limiting them"
Who's "we"? I'm not a teacher (in large part because I don't think I could stomach the union), and I'm not going out telling kids they're stupid.
I absolutely 100% agree with you: Public education is massively broken. There needs to be some mechanism to teach kids that if they count on the lottery or a pro sports career to get rich, they're just never going to be successful. It takes smarts and hard work and making opportunities. I agree that the public school system does a lousy job of encouraging this sort of behavior.
"higher level of mathematical ability among the populace would be a good thing?"
Sure! It'd be great! I think it's also unrealistic. I flatter myself to think that my mathematical skills are pretty damn good, but working through formal proofs are just not part of my knowledge base. I can solve problems really a LOT well, but doing the game that is proving theorems is not a skill I command.
I submit that that doesn't mean I'm a mathematical incompetent. Would it be nice to be able to do so? I suppose. Is it going to improve my life? Not as much as, say, learning to speak Latin.
I have a very detailed understanding of how transmissions work. I have zero understanding of how to service one. I imagine there are probably folks out there who know how to service transmissions, but do not know how to use one to get around a racetrack rapidly.
Different people have different skill sets, and that's OK. In the best of all possible worlds, everybody would know everything. In this world, we make trade-offs on what skills we find most rewarding and/or profitable, and leave other skills to other people.
That's OK.
I agree that a certain mathematical fluency (along with good command of basic science, history, grammar, government, and most importantly, critical thinking) are key to being an Educated Person.
I do not necessarily agree that being able to prove mathematical theorems is important to that fluency. I can be a very, very good driver without being able to rebuild my transmission. (Can't have a discussion without a misleading car analogy!)