Of course, that would further hinder the poor - who almost always own older cars/trucks, which are in general heavier and more likely to cause mass injuries in an accident. This is particularly an issue in the US; many poor families own an old pickup truck, which is also used as a work truck.
As a general aside, SUVs and trucks have full length rails in order to support a more capable payload and suspension capability. Without the full length rail, the capacity would be limited. Cars used to have this as well, except that it became too expensive...
If you think that not always the job of the parent, you are not ready to have children. Children are not something that you just get to wake up and decide "Hey, I just don't feel like being a good parent today", they take work and effort.
If you are not up to it being 100% your job, don't have kids.
This is a really bad idea. GPS receivers have a number of issues, including the fact that they are not precisely accurate. There is room in many areas for as much as 30m (50') of error - which can be more than the distance specified in the restraining order. Also, there are many locations where two people may be proximate, but still not technically in violation (a grocery store with a movie theater next to it). Remember, it is a restraining order from proximity to the PERSON, not a property.
More importantly though, someone has to actually monitor the GPS device reports. Now, I realise of course that all slashdot readers religiously read their logs, but it is not necessarily reasonable to expect a law enforcement organization to do so.
Finally, just as a parting shot - restraining orders (at least in America) do NOT represent a felony conviction - merely an assertion of fear of violence or harm from the person being restrained. Putting a GPS on someone before they are convicted is just plain wrong.
Sadly, the press kit misses the same point that so much of the computing industry misses today. If the problem is the users, then the problem IS the code. As computing/IT professionals part of our job is to make technology both accessible and usable by people -- the very same people who will make silly mistakes, and not understand what is being asked. HSI is a critical component in any design that will be used by people. This is why, despite the high cost, so many people love the Apple Macs. The OS is fairly intuitive, looks nice, and works in the way a human might anticipate.
If your answer to a problem is a human error that happens once in a great while, fine, but if it is consistent it is an interface/UI/code problem, and it needs to be fixed. We write code, or design systems for humans - not the other way around.
Sorry for the semi-rant here, I even had to log in from a public terminal to get this one out of my system.
Sorry, But I have to throw in on this one. I lived in England for more than five years, including when handguns were banned. Almost overnight, there was an increase in violent crime. Yes, London *may* not have as many stabbings as San Francisco, but the country as a whole certainly has a similar percentage of violent crime, if not a higher percentage.
In fact, you could not drive to work in the morning without hearing numerous BBC news reports on the numbers of people, usually eldery, who had been bludgeoned to death via hammer or mallet, or otherwise brutally killed each day. Thanks, I'd rather be shot.
Crime is a reality in our societies (US/UK/wherever); the amount of gun crime in the US is often cited as a fine reason to ban guns. Of course, if we accept the 15,000ish number of gun crimes posted above, in a population exceeding 283 million, we begin to see a much more realistic view of that crime. (~.00005%, if I hit the right buttons on the calculator) This is much, much lower than the number of accidental deaths due to automobile accidents, etc. Yes, even one is probably too many, but perhaps we should ban automobiles first, or *gasp* cigarettes, which kill far more people.
Whoever had the sig "Guns kill people, like pencils cause spelling mistakes" had it right. The gun is not the problem, it is a tool; fear the idiot with the tool, be it a hammer or a firearm. More time should be spent instilling some civics and ethics than trying to remove the tool. All that happens when guns are banned is that only criminals have them - banning a device or technology has never succeeded.
Forgot an interesting, but important point there -- at least Unix users have had true 64 bit option open to them for quite some time. It is all well and fine to point out the fatal flaw (I am one of the affected 64 bit users, and it is important to me), but I wonder how much better throughput I have had over the years by using a 64 bit Unix OS vice the less than adequate solutions from ms.
MS stuff is fine for the home, and office computers for people who could do most tasks with a 286 if the ms code weren't so bloated (remember when word had most of the same features, but ran off of two 5 1/4" floppies?). Yes, it looks nice and is easy for non-computer people to use, but it is really, really difficult to use in a large system setting -- needs too many reboots, too many additional admins, and is too hard to deal with the crash, restore and pray scenario.
Which is of course, is the EULA truly legally valid and binding? It still has not been truly tested in a court of law. IANAL, but contracts have to meet certain conditions to be valid, and you can not simply sign away many types of rights, at least according to the federal govt's fine class on contracting that I have been taking...
Actually, at the school that I am attending, ALL of the undergrad 4000 series (senior) CSC courses require collaboration. You are required to work in groups of 2-4 and to document your contirbutions to a project. Each member of the team is evaluated both by their peers and by the instructors. It seems to work out fairly well, especially since many of these classes require some particularly hefty programming requirements.
It probably would not be a bad idea for you to talk to the Dean of your college or the Chair; if they have a lick of sense, they will realise that most of the bad programmers became MIS majors about the end of the Sophomore year, and that the remaining students need that sort of collaboration. Point out that more sucessful graduates bring in more DM/$$$/Whatever of contributions than do non-sucessfull graduactes.
Ok, so not everybody has a fast connection like cable or dsl at their home, so downloading may not be very feasible, even with go-zilla or another download manager. Have you checked with your local college or university? Most Computer Science departments have at least one, and probably a lab full of linux/BSD boxes...and will be happy to cut you a cd if you bring them one.
You still have the problem of no paper manuals, but with the $20-$30 you just saved, you can buy an O'reilly book that will be handy for the rest of your computing life...
Caveat: I am a C teaching assistant (T/A) so, my opinion is somewhat biased.
I T/A at a University, which has recently (last year) switched from C to Java as a beginning programming language. The trend that I have seen is that the students who learned C are, in the long run, better programmers; the fact that they were forced to learn typing and pointers as well as "garbage collection" (meaning not to over extend arrays, how to "un" malloc (free), etc.) seems to have given them a *MUCH* better grasp of programming fundamentals. From the student side, they seem to prefer Java - easier learning curve, and they learn to make pretty GUIs early. Unfortunately, this seems to be the big brunt of what they are learning since when they make it to C++ (required for Juniors) or the Unix Systems classes there skills pretty much vanish. We are also finding some difficulties getting Java students to really "get" some of the data structures such as lists, and b-trees, since they do not really have a solid grasp of pointers etc. It has really changed the way our second semester (data structures) class is taught and what the students gain from it.
I would lean away from any OO language as a first language - too difficult to explain polymorphism, etc correctly to a first year, and the enforced discipline of C or Assembly seems to make better programmers in the long run; let them learn java as an elective if they wish, but let's face it, systems are programmed in C and Assembly - EVERYBODY needs to know them.
that this might not have happened, at least according to the parent's logic.So, maybe the PARENT SHOULD BE TRIED FOR NEGLIGANCE as well as being an ACCESSORY.
After all, if the parents had PREVENTED the child from playing the game the entire incident could not have occured - hence the parent's lawsuit is also frivilous...
**common sense - isn't**
p.s. if some lawyer uses this arguement, at least cut me in for part of the settlement
And therein lies the problem: there are so many ways to do things in perl that often only the author can understand them -- this is called a feature?
Hate to bring it up, but out there in the real world most people have to maintain code that may or may not be their own. If only the author can understand it, it is not/not maintainable. It costs an enormous amount of money to maintain software -- even more if no one can understand what was written. This may be fine if you never leave your job, but since the average job only lasts 2.4 years now, it creates alot of havoc and expense.
Python is not the panacea for everything, but it does do very well for many things. I have been using it for a year now, precisely because I found an old perl script that I wrote that I couldn't even follow anymore. Time is money, and I can do more and be more effective in a language that prevents that sort of difficulty.
-- "A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have"
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, that would further hinder the poor - who almost always own older cars/trucks, which are in general heavier and more likely to cause mass injuries in an accident. This is particularly an issue in the US; many poor families own an old pickup truck, which is also used as a work truck.
As a general aside, SUVs and trucks have full length rails in order to support a more capable payload and suspension capability. Without the full length rail, the capacity would be limited. Cars used to have this as well, except that it became too expensive...
Three words "Use a condom!"
If you think that not always the job of the parent, you are not ready to have children. Children are not something that you just get to wake up and decide "Hey, I just don't feel like being a good parent today", they take work and effort.
If you are not up to it being 100% your job, don't have kids.
This is a really bad idea. GPS receivers have a number of issues, including the fact that they are not precisely accurate. There is room in many areas for as much as 30m (50') of error - which can be more than the distance specified in the restraining order. Also, there are many locations where two people may be proximate, but still not technically in violation (a grocery store with a movie theater next to it). Remember, it is a restraining order from proximity to the PERSON, not a property.
More importantly though, someone has to actually monitor the GPS device reports. Now, I realise of course that all slashdot readers religiously read their logs, but it is not necessarily reasonable to expect a law enforcement organization to do so.
Finally, just as a parting shot - restraining orders (at least in America) do NOT represent a felony conviction - merely an assertion of fear of violence or harm from the person being restrained. Putting a GPS on someone before they are convicted is just plain wrong.
Sadly, the press kit misses the same point that so much of the computing industry misses today. If the problem is the users, then the problem IS the code. As computing/IT professionals part of our job is to make technology both accessible and usable by people -- the very same people who will make silly mistakes, and not understand what is being asked. HSI is a critical component in any design that will be used by people. This is why, despite the high cost, so many people love the Apple Macs. The OS is fairly intuitive, looks nice, and works in the way a human might anticipate.
If your answer to a problem is a human error that happens once in a great while, fine, but if it is consistent it is an interface/UI/code problem, and it needs to be fixed. We write code, or design systems for humans - not the other way around.
Sorry for the semi-rant here, I even had to log in from a public terminal to get this one out of my system.
Sorry, But I have to throw in on this one. I lived in England for more than five years, including when handguns were banned. Almost overnight, there was an increase in violent crime. Yes, London *may* not have as many stabbings as San Francisco, but the country as a whole certainly has a similar percentage of violent crime, if not a higher percentage.
In fact, you could not drive to work in the morning without hearing numerous BBC news reports on the numbers of people, usually eldery, who had been bludgeoned to death via hammer or mallet, or otherwise brutally killed each day. Thanks, I'd rather be shot.
Crime is a reality in our societies (US/UK/wherever); the amount of gun crime in the US is often cited as a fine reason to ban guns. Of course, if we accept the 15,000ish number of gun crimes posted above, in a population exceeding 283 million, we begin to see a much more realistic view of that crime. (~.00005%, if I hit the right buttons on the calculator) This is much, much lower than the number of accidental deaths due to automobile accidents, etc. Yes, even one is probably too many, but perhaps we should ban automobiles first, or *gasp* cigarettes, which kill far more people.
Whoever had the sig "Guns kill people, like pencils cause spelling mistakes" had it right. The gun is not the problem, it is a tool; fear the idiot with the tool, be it a hammer or a firearm. More time should be spent instilling some civics and ethics than trying to remove the tool. All that happens when guns are banned is that only criminals have them - banning a device or technology has never succeeded.
Forgot an interesting, but important point there -- at least Unix users have had true 64 bit option open to them for quite some time. It is all well and fine to point out the fatal flaw (I am one of the affected 64 bit users, and it is important to me), but I wonder how much better throughput I have had over the years by using a 64 bit Unix OS vice the less than adequate solutions from ms.
MS stuff is fine for the home, and office computers for people who could do most tasks with a 286 if the ms code weren't so bloated (remember when word had most of the same features, but ran off of two 5 1/4" floppies?). Yes, it looks nice and is easy for non-computer people to use, but it is really, really difficult to use in a large system setting -- needs too many reboots, too many additional admins, and is too hard to deal with the crash, restore and pray scenario.
Which is of course, is the EULA truly legally valid and binding? It still has not been truly tested in a court of law. IANAL, but contracts have to meet certain conditions to be valid, and you can not simply sign away many types of rights, at least according to the federal govt's fine class on contracting that I have been taking...
Actually, at the school that I am attending, ALL of the undergrad 4000 series (senior) CSC courses require collaboration. You are required to work in groups of 2-4 and to document your contirbutions to a project. Each member of the team is evaluated both by their peers and by the instructors. It seems to work out fairly well, especially since many of these classes require some particularly hefty programming requirements.
It probably would not be a bad idea for you to talk to the Dean of your college or the Chair; if they have a lick of sense, they will realise that most of the bad programmers became MIS majors about the end of the Sophomore year, and that the remaining students need that sort of collaboration. Point out that more sucessful graduates bring in more DM/$$$/Whatever of contributions than do non-sucessfull graduactes.
-Sysanalyst
Pardon me, but would you care for a jelly baby?
Ok, so not everybody has a fast connection like cable or dsl at their home, so downloading may not be very feasible, even with go-zilla or another download manager. Have you checked with your local college or university? Most Computer Science departments have at least one, and probably a lab full of linux/BSD boxes...and will be happy to cut you a cd if you bring them one.
You still have the problem of no paper manuals, but with the $20-$30 you just saved, you can buy an O'reilly book that will be handy for the rest of your computing life...
Would you care for a jellybaby?Caveat: I am a C teaching assistant (T/A) so, my opinion is somewhat biased.
I T/A at a University, which has recently (last year) switched from C to Java as a beginning programming language. The trend that I have seen is that the students who learned C are, in the long run, better programmers; the fact that they were forced to learn typing and pointers as well as "garbage collection" (meaning not to over extend arrays, how to "un" malloc (free), etc.) seems to have given them a *MUCH* better grasp of programming fundamentals. From the student side, they seem to prefer Java - easier learning curve, and they learn to make pretty GUIs early. Unfortunately, this seems to be the big brunt of what they are learning since when they make it to C++ (required for Juniors) or the Unix Systems classes there skills pretty much vanish. We are also finding some difficulties getting Java students to really "get" some of the data structures such as lists, and b-trees, since they do not really have a solid grasp of pointers etc. It has really changed the way our second semester (data structures) class is taught and what the students gain from it.
I would lean away from any OO language as a first language - too difficult to explain polymorphism, etc correctly to a first year, and the enforced discipline of C or Assembly seems to make better programmers in the long run; let them learn java as an elective if they wish, but let's face it, systems are programmed in C and Assembly - EVERYBODY needs to know them.
"Would you like a jelly baby? No?"
- actually looked at what the child was playing
- attempted to show some previous concern
that this might not have happened, at least according to the parent's logic.So, maybe the PARENT SHOULD BE TRIED FOR NEGLIGANCE as well as being an ACCESSORY.After all, if the parents had PREVENTED the child from playing the game the entire incident could not have occured - hence the parent's lawsuit is also frivilous...
**common sense - isn't**
p.s. if some lawyer uses this arguement, at least cut me in for part of the settlement
And therein lies the problem: there are so many ways to do things in perl that often only the author can understand them -- this is called a feature? Hate to bring it up, but out there in the real world most people have to maintain code that may or may not be their own. If only the author can understand it, it is not/not maintainable. It costs an enormous amount of money to maintain software -- even more if no one can understand what was written. This may be fine if you never leave your job, but since the average job only lasts 2.4 years now, it creates alot of havoc and expense. Python is not the panacea for everything, but it does do very well for many things. I have been using it for a year now, precisely because I found an old perl script that I wrote that I couldn't even follow anymore. Time is money, and I can do more and be more effective in a language that prevents that sort of difficulty. -- "A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have"