For one reason or another (hmmm... maybe because they tend to go to better schools), white males score better on the SAT. The ETS has attempted to remedy this by making every single blasted essay question about a female of a minority gender. I'm dead serious. I really don't see how identifying with the person in the story can help your score, but whatever. I still scored well and learned a few things about photographers in the Harlem Rennaseance (sorry, spelling). Until the distribution of wealth among races is changed, test scores aren't going to be equal. Public schools are funded by property taxes. White neighborhoods tend to have big 'ol houses and thus get good school funding. Their kids turn out smart. Their kids buy nice houses. The cycle continues. Obviously, federalized education funding (but NOT federal education control) would fix this. As long as nobody is skimming money off the top, all schools would get equal funding/student. My school wouldn't be able to buy G4 Cubes and those massive apple cinema flat screen monitors, but schools in downtown Kansas City may actually be able to hire teachers with degrees and get accredidation.
The reason the tests are racist is because they don't test aptitude. They test knowledge which, like I said, whites have more of simply due to the inequity of their backgrounds. If it was test that evaluated aptitude in a similar fasion to the LSAT (law school entrance exam), the scores would show far less descrepancy. Unfortunately, colleges would rather not like to start from scratch with students who are naturally bright, but never had the chance to learn. They prefer a test like the SAT so that they get students with a decent bank of knowledge to start with, but they are mostly white students.
Good point, but if the tests are directly causing the students to come to college less prepared, and there are other measurement factors that can replace test results, why keep them? Admitedly, they are quasi-useful at this time, but if UofC takes the initiative to start a wave of test result non-reliance, other schools will follow. It only makes sense that some students would choose to apply only to schools that don't require SAT scores. This could eventually eliminate the SAT and, thankfully, reduce the power of the College Board in determining whether students land on Go in the college process. I just finished up the whole college application process and it completely disgusts me how much power the College Board has over my future. Looking over the past couple of years, they have run the PSAT, SAT, AP tests, and their Profile financial aid application. The fact that they have opened a for-profit branch specializing in selling test study materials is even more ridiculous. This president is on the right track - if standarized tests of academic "achievement" are eliminated it will lead to a better pool of students that won't have wasted months of their high school lives studying for a bogus test.
Also, I'm not particularly biased in this area. Having been named a National Merit Finalist and having scored well on the SAT, I imagine that the College Board has helped further my status quite a bit as far as acceptance/scholarship goes. I'd still prefer to fight it out with other applicants based solely on my academic achievement, community involvement, and character rather than my test scores. If all schools were to replace the test score criteria with a short phone interview, they would be far better off.
Yeah, but the whole idea of studying for a single test in order to get into college is wrong. If the SAT were a true aptitude test, like the LSAT (law school test), in the vein of an IQ test, it could accurately measure students abilities. Colleges, however, prefer to know how much students have learned, so they use an achievement test like the SAT. The UofC prez is right when he says that this leads to inequity. Schools that teach to the SAT will put more kids in college - and colleges don't want kids who can show how rain:drop as snow:flake - they want well-rounded people. Your point on studying is a good one, but really, studying is way overrated. Personally, I took the SAT and ACT both once, without studying. Though I did pretty well, I probably could have gotten a perfect math score on the SAT and a 35+ on the ACT had a studied a bit (as it was, I came pretty close). I did look at some ACT questions to see what it was like, but had I taken a single practice test I would have done way better. I had no idea that the test is based more on speed than knowledge, but I found out in a hurry. If I were a college, I'd rather give myself a scholarship than the kid who took an SAT prep class and studied day upon day learning all of the previously used SAT words in lieu of more important things like hobbies, friends, work, etc. Of course, I'm a little bit biased in that respect:) - Ideally, I'd prefer that colleges looked at how many times someone took a test and weighted their scores down using some formula based on average score improvement, but potential enrollees seem to prefer colleges that take the highest score for each section, regardless of the amount of test opportunities, so that's what the colleges do.
They still make the same types of films - they are just presented with a pop music soundtrack and deemed a "multimedia presentation" by the production company. This Thursday, we had our yearly multimedia presentation, thanks to Motivation Media (or something like that.) Basically it was just some company's (possibly government funded... they have to get money somewhere for the speakers and projectors) attempt at forcing Christian values down our collective throat under the guise of movie clips and a thumping soundtrack. Topics included parental relations, having good friends, and abstaining from drugs/alchohol and sex (until marraige of course). Interestingly, though we are allowed to skip pep assemblies and hang out in the commons, they refuse to allow students to miss these propaganda extravaganzas. I've also watched videos before in sexual education classes ("Billy has a wet dream" or something similar) that evoke memories of the old mental hygiene films. This genre is definitely not gone, just reinventing itself to brainwash another generation.
Actually, these movies are a great part of history (a generation of children grew up under the watch of the mental hygiene film industry). I recommend checking out the films made by Centron (also made some movies under the Coronet brand). You probably aren't aware that around 1960, a few Centron employees left Lawrence, Kansas and took a jaunt up to Salt Lake City to film "Carnival of Souls," one of the most innovative horror movies ever (Romero claims this was his biggest influence for "Night of the Living Dead.") Sure, I might be unable to find "Dude, Where's my Car?" on the page, but personally I prefer the several "Japanese Relocation" films available at this site (assuming it gets unslashdotted at some point.) Lest you think that this is just a phenomenon of the past, be aware that children are still subject to this type of brain-washing today. Just two days ago in my high school, we watched a "multimedia extravaganza" titled "G2" - apparently meaning generation 2000. It used popular music and movie clips to overshadow it's actual messages of good, Christian values. Sure, they may be presented using high-definition projection with a thumping soundtrack, but mental hygiene films still exist. I definitely see your point, but I don't think we'll ever see a company intentionally hosting unlicsensed copyrighted material on a website. This is definitely a step in the right direction - perhaps we'll see out-of-print studio works available in a similar format (possibly for a fee) in the future.
I really don't see anything wrong with this. I just bought a Taisol heatsink/fan for my new computer that had a patented fan clip (to attach it to the heatsink). While it was hardly out of the ordinary, it was a novel design that went beyond the normal screw-on method as far as noise production and ease-of-use go. Having attached and removed the fan several times, I can certainly call it a worthwhile patent. The method is probably something that any dedicated hacker could come up with, but no one did. That is what patents are for. From the descriptions that others are posting, it seems that this is a simple, but useful modification to fan design. What's wrong with the patent? If I came up with a bankable idea, I'd sure sue if someone ripped it off. Now, some patents are frivilous (1-click-shopping), and some are rediculous (Rambus claiming that RAM produced following an industry standard in which they were part of the formative group violates their patents). This is a genuinely good use of the patent system though.
According to a CNN broadcast, one of the movies brought was an early DVD release (presumably for Oscar handouts or the like) of "13 Days." Since this is about the Cold War, it'd be pretty interesting to know how the Russians and Americans interacted after the fact. They also should've brought up "Goldfinger" or another good Bond flick since those were banned in the U.S.S.R. at the time of release.
For a bunch of GNU/Linux fans, you all are slow to catch on to a recursive acronym: DCS1000 Castrates Speech.
Oh yeah, I'm all for that cat thing. I've detested those furry bastards ever since one pissed in a pile of clothes in my room long ago. I won't go into what happened to that particular specimen. Oh crap! Gotta go get the door - I just heard three loud, crisp knocks.
I said "essentially uncapturable" - also, in literature the virgin usually doesn't want to capture the unicorn. It sometimes dies upon capture. Basically they are meant to be free.
I haven't seen this movie for a while, but for the most part, Unicorns are usually used as a symbol to show that someone can't exactly find what they are looking for. Unicorns are essentially uncapturable - beyond the grasp. Deckard keeps at his job, apparently seeking something, but not finding it (it, I think, is that he's a replicant, but I suppose that's debateable).
DirectTV actually does this kind of thing all the time, it was just really effective this time because everyone was watching the Super Bowl. I think you are thinking about the cable company trick with your example there. Cable companies have the ability to send out specific signals to specific boxes (they can tell all of the boxes registered, for example, to switch frequencies). During an expensive event like a boxing match or pro wrestling tournament they'll switch the paying customers over to a different channel and show the "pirates" something like "Call 1-800-We-Got-U for a free Super Crazy Macho Mega Man T-Shirt!" Of course, calling the number elicits the response hinted at in your message.
Essentially every hospital in the US has the capacity for electrical generation to sustain vital equipment. Given the other wiz-bang things that are in mind for this techno-clinic, I imagine they'll have a gas generator on the roof.
Super Nintendo? Man, I'm only 17 and my nostalgiac threads run way deeper than that. We're talking NES/2600 here. I'm not knocking you, as there were some good SNES games - just wondering what the median age of the slashdot readership is at. There are good games for new systems though - SSX for PS2 is wicked, the Dreamcast (though now dead) has a plethora of arcade-type games - Samba de Amigo, Crazy Taxi, etc. Oh yeah, get on topic - a bunch of "non-zero-sum" games like crappy japanese roommate simulators as well:)
Re:Has to be for anti-terrorist stuff
on
The Unblinking Eye
·
· Score: 1
Basing your knowledge on the probability of a terrorist attack on Tom Clancy novels is probably a little bit questionable eh?
That said, I'm suprised the U.S. hasn't had a major international terrorist attack (world trade center is probably one of the biggest recently). The biggest domestic attack of the decade came from an American (or 3 or however many people are suspected for the OK City bombing). Seeing how America decides to shoot down other countries' commuter airlines (Iranian I believe) without much apology, I wonder why we haven't been successfully targeted yet. Especially when you turn on the tube to see a touching story about how someone's mom wants to kill every Libyan she sees because an American plane went down at the hands of Libyans.
I think that's a pretty safe assumption:)
Of course, "Puerto Rican" defines a reasonably wide range of folks with an incredibly varied background (american, euro, african, etc) so it's probably easier just to refer to resident's as Puerto Ricans (kind of like I'm a "Kansan" despite being born in Hawaii). Some statistics say that more Puerto Ricans live in the U.S. than in Puerto Rico, but that includes everyone of any fraction of Puerto Rican decent - which, like I said, could potentially be a totally Spanish blood-line or who knows what.
Stormix actually had a decent product. I think there were a couple of things that hurt them:
1. Too much promotional material! I beta tested for these guys and, though it started with just a burned CD, I ended up with a boxed copy of their first shipping product, multiple stickers, a t-shirt (wearing right now actually), and probably other things that I can't recall.
2. Think about it: they marketed their product in Canada! I know Linux supports a plethora of platforms, but the sad truth seems to be that it still hasn't been ported to the pine/tree architecture. I'm sure the four to five Canadian Linux users will rise up in arms against my comment, but seriously, I never saw a single ad for Stormix or noticed the box carried in computer stores. Then again, I live in Kansas - one of the few places technologically inferior to the Great White North. At least CompUSA has a *nix section... not that their employees know what it is.
It would seem to me that the best, and most "scientific" way to go about this would be to program a game program that relies on a certain type of strategy unique to that game. This eliminates experience issues (someone suggested FreeCiv, though not everyone has played that, many have played similar titles). It would have to be a reasonably simple game (no flashy graphics, etc), but with a definite strategic element that at least in some way is allegorical to "business skills." Please note the sarcastic quotation marks at the conclusion of that sentence. Having interned in a cubicle farm I can attest to the fact that a majority of business executives have less sense than their subordinates. Admitedly, there are some out there that know how to get things done - know how to make a more efficient business, but the majority bear a closer resemblance to the boss in Fight Club than to Jack Welch ("Do you have that icon in cornflower blue?") No, this is not jealousy in any way - I was 15 and completely without any illusions that I was somehow more fit for the position (though I did have my doubts occassionaly).
Anyway, and back to the subject at hand. I don't think that relating game performance to SAT scores (or GPA) would be much of an improvement over biz. class performance. The SAT is hardly the apptitude test that it once claimed to be. Luckily, I can usually take tests like the SAT and do well the first time (though I'd defintely improve if I knew more about common questions and the like beforehand). Most people have drastic improvement if they choose to study for a SAT-type test. As a quick example, I took the PSAT sophomore year in high school and scored somewhere below commended scholar status. I studied for the test junior year (scholarships available from my dad's company) and made semi-finalist by a sizable margin. Clearly it was a year between tests, but I know my studying helped to some extent - regardless of how much I try to tell myself that studying is worthless:)
I think a better experiment would be to take law school students, use their LSAT scores, and create a logic/reasoning game - maybe have them solve the kinds of puzzles found in platform games or the like (though obviously, with solutions unique from any other game). The LSAT is much more of an apptitude test than the SAT and would serve as a superior measuring stick.
By the way, it's nice to know I won't be the only high GPA/SAT, low-motivation student at MIT should I decide to head out there! Seriously though, I can see why MIT has their interview process to try and eliminate this type of student - personally, however, I'd make some attempt to motivate people who are incredibly smart by nature, but just fail to see any reason to apply their capabilities. There are a staggering amount of people out there in this situation.
Due to Canada's socialist (sort of) nature, most of your taxes go towards benefits available only through Canadian residence (socialized health care, etc). In contrast, United States has a far lower percentage of social benefits within the federal expenitures. A majority of the funding goes towards things like the military, running the government, infrastructure improvement, education, etc. Most U.S. expenditures go for improving the country as a whole - well, if you are rich, white, and drive an S.U.V. that is:)
I'd imagine, given the liberal leanings of Canadian government, that rules aiming to tax long-term out-of-country Canadian citizens would be struck down by their court system. There could, however, be some sort of lowered tax rate that elimates the portion going towards socialized programs.
How much can you get a sega nomad for now-a-days anyway? It'd be pretty cool to play sega hockey (or whatever the real name is) while on a bus or something.
You know, after watching my Gladiator 2-disk DVD set again I'd have to agree:)
I do see people throwing away their fair use rights with idiotic agreements and whatnot, but then again, I only pay 2-3 bucks or so for my DVD's. Long live eCommerce and venture capitalism I suppose. What would really be ironic is if United States citizens decided to start, en masse, pirating DVD's (using Apple's DVD burner or the like) - CSS actually leading to more piracy.
Hey... check this out:
Slow down cowboy!
Slashdot requires you to wait 1 minute between each submission of/comments.pl in order to allow everyone to have a fair chance to post.
I live here in KC. Apparently I live in the underground storage capital of the world (though the city prefers to be called "The City of Fountains"). We even have underground paintball in one cave. Most of the caves are under our local amusement park (Worlds of Fun... pretty decent for a non-Disney/Busch/Paramount park). I imagine that at some point one of the caves will collapse and there will be a community response to fill them all with cement or something, but whatever. I'm half-tempted to run over there and ask the guy if I could have a couple carts and t-shirts for free. Heck, I need a job so maybe I could work there - I'm sure they'll need help to counteract the retail-slashdot-effect.
That'd be incredibly cool... You'd have to be sure you get the Cartridge with the picture on it and not the red/black text one though. It'd be cooler to get a whole variety of cartridges (like the 32 diff ones this guy has) and arrange them in some sort of pattern. Then you hang the boxes from the ceiling ala the gourds in Evil Dead (and the bones in TCM that ED copied).
Slashdot Mirror
For one reason or another (hmmm... maybe because they tend to go to better schools), white males score better on the SAT. The ETS has attempted to remedy this by making every single blasted essay question about a female of a minority gender. I'm dead serious. I really don't see how identifying with the person in the story can help your score, but whatever. I still scored well and learned a few things about photographers in the Harlem Rennaseance (sorry, spelling). Until the distribution of wealth among races is changed, test scores aren't going to be equal. Public schools are funded by property taxes. White neighborhoods tend to have big 'ol houses and thus get good school funding. Their kids turn out smart. Their kids buy nice houses. The cycle continues. Obviously, federalized education funding (but NOT federal education control) would fix this. As long as nobody is skimming money off the top, all schools would get equal funding/student. My school wouldn't be able to buy G4 Cubes and those massive apple cinema flat screen monitors, but schools in downtown Kansas City may actually be able to hire teachers with degrees and get accredidation.
The reason the tests are racist is because they don't test aptitude. They test knowledge which, like I said, whites have more of simply due to the inequity of their backgrounds. If it was test that evaluated aptitude in a similar fasion to the LSAT (law school entrance exam), the scores would show far less descrepancy. Unfortunately, colleges would rather not like to start from scratch with students who are naturally bright, but never had the chance to learn. They prefer a test like the SAT so that they get students with a decent bank of knowledge to start with, but they are mostly white students.
Good point, but if the tests are directly causing the students to come to college less prepared, and there are other measurement factors that can replace test results, why keep them? Admitedly, they are quasi-useful at this time, but if UofC takes the initiative to start a wave of test result non-reliance, other schools will follow. It only makes sense that some students would choose to apply only to schools that don't require SAT scores. This could eventually eliminate the SAT and, thankfully, reduce the power of the College Board in determining whether students land on Go in the college process. I just finished up the whole college application process and it completely disgusts me how much power the College Board has over my future. Looking over the past couple of years, they have run the PSAT, SAT, AP tests, and their Profile financial aid application. The fact that they have opened a for-profit branch specializing in selling test study materials is even more ridiculous. This president is on the right track - if standarized tests of academic "achievement" are eliminated it will lead to a better pool of students that won't have wasted months of their high school lives studying for a bogus test.
Also, I'm not particularly biased in this area. Having been named a National Merit Finalist and having scored well on the SAT, I imagine that the College Board has helped further my status quite a bit as far as acceptance/scholarship goes. I'd still prefer to fight it out with other applicants based solely on my academic achievement, community involvement, and character rather than my test scores. If all schools were to replace the test score criteria with a short phone interview, they would be far better off.
Yeah, but the whole idea of studying for a single test in order to get into college is wrong. If the SAT were a true aptitude test, like the LSAT (law school test), in the vein of an IQ test, it could accurately measure students abilities. Colleges, however, prefer to know how much students have learned, so they use an achievement test like the SAT. The UofC prez is right when he says that this leads to inequity. Schools that teach to the SAT will put more kids in college - and colleges don't want kids who can show how rain:drop as snow:flake - they want well-rounded people. Your point on studying is a good one, but really, studying is way overrated. Personally, I took the SAT and ACT both once, without studying. Though I did pretty well, I probably could have gotten a perfect math score on the SAT and a 35+ on the ACT had a studied a bit (as it was, I came pretty close). I did look at some ACT questions to see what it was like, but had I taken a single practice test I would have done way better. I had no idea that the test is based more on speed than knowledge, but I found out in a hurry. If I were a college, I'd rather give myself a scholarship than the kid who took an SAT prep class and studied day upon day learning all of the previously used SAT words in lieu of more important things like hobbies, friends, work, etc. Of course, I'm a little bit biased in that respect :) - Ideally, I'd prefer that colleges looked at how many times someone took a test and weighted their scores down using some formula based on average score improvement, but potential enrollees seem to prefer colleges that take the highest score for each section, regardless of the amount of test opportunities, so that's what the colleges do.
They still make the same types of films - they are just presented with a pop music soundtrack and deemed a "multimedia presentation" by the production company. This Thursday, we had our yearly multimedia presentation, thanks to Motivation Media (or something like that.) Basically it was just some company's (possibly government funded... they have to get money somewhere for the speakers and projectors) attempt at forcing Christian values down our collective throat under the guise of movie clips and a thumping soundtrack. Topics included parental relations, having good friends, and abstaining from drugs/alchohol and sex (until marraige of course). Interestingly, though we are allowed to skip pep assemblies and hang out in the commons, they refuse to allow students to miss these propaganda extravaganzas. I've also watched videos before in sexual education classes ("Billy has a wet dream" or something similar) that evoke memories of the old mental hygiene films. This genre is definitely not gone, just reinventing itself to brainwash another generation.
Actually, these movies are a great part of history (a generation of children grew up under the watch of the mental hygiene film industry). I recommend checking out the films made by Centron (also made some movies under the Coronet brand). You probably aren't aware that around 1960, a few Centron employees left Lawrence, Kansas and took a jaunt up to Salt Lake City to film "Carnival of Souls," one of the most innovative horror movies ever (Romero claims this was his biggest influence for "Night of the Living Dead.") Sure, I might be unable to find "Dude, Where's my Car?" on the page, but personally I prefer the several "Japanese Relocation" films available at this site (assuming it gets unslashdotted at some point.) Lest you think that this is just a phenomenon of the past, be aware that children are still subject to this type of brain-washing today. Just two days ago in my high school, we watched a "multimedia extravaganza" titled "G2" - apparently meaning generation 2000. It used popular music and movie clips to overshadow it's actual messages of good, Christian values. Sure, they may be presented using high-definition projection with a thumping soundtrack, but mental hygiene films still exist. I definitely see your point, but I don't think we'll ever see a company intentionally hosting unlicsensed copyrighted material on a website. This is definitely a step in the right direction - perhaps we'll see out-of-print studio works available in a similar format (possibly for a fee) in the future.
Or maybe "From Russia With Love" - Moonraker would be trouble because you'd have to explain Jaws to the Russians...
I really don't see anything wrong with this. I just bought a Taisol heatsink/fan for my new computer that had a patented fan clip (to attach it to the heatsink). While it was hardly out of the ordinary, it was a novel design that went beyond the normal screw-on method as far as noise production and ease-of-use go. Having attached and removed the fan several times, I can certainly call it a worthwhile patent. The method is probably something that any dedicated hacker could come up with, but no one did. That is what patents are for. From the descriptions that others are posting, it seems that this is a simple, but useful modification to fan design. What's wrong with the patent? If I came up with a bankable idea, I'd sure sue if someone ripped it off. Now, some patents are frivilous (1-click-shopping), and some are rediculous (Rambus claiming that RAM produced following an industry standard in which they were part of the formative group violates their patents). This is a genuinely good use of the patent system though.
According to a CNN broadcast, one of the movies brought was an early DVD release (presumably for Oscar handouts or the like) of "13 Days." Since this is about the Cold War, it'd be pretty interesting to know how the Russians and Americans interacted after the fact. They also should've brought up "Goldfinger" or another good Bond flick since those were banned in the U.S.S.R. at the time of release.
For a bunch of GNU/Linux fans, you all are slow to catch on to a recursive acronym: DCS1000 Castrates Speech.
Oh yeah, I'm all for that cat thing. I've detested those furry bastards ever since one pissed in a pile of clothes in my room long ago. I won't go into what happened to that particular specimen. Oh crap! Gotta go get the door - I just heard three loud, crisp knocks.
I said "essentially uncapturable" - also, in literature the virgin usually doesn't want to capture the unicorn. It sometimes dies upon capture. Basically they are meant to be free.
I haven't seen this movie for a while, but for the most part, Unicorns are usually used as a symbol to show that someone can't exactly find what they are looking for. Unicorns are essentially uncapturable - beyond the grasp. Deckard keeps at his job, apparently seeking something, but not finding it (it, I think, is that he's a replicant, but I suppose that's debateable).
DirectTV actually does this kind of thing all the time, it was just really effective this time because everyone was watching the Super Bowl. I think you are thinking about the cable company trick with your example there. Cable companies have the ability to send out specific signals to specific boxes (they can tell all of the boxes registered, for example, to switch frequencies). During an expensive event like a boxing match or pro wrestling tournament they'll switch the paying customers over to a different channel and show the "pirates" something like "Call 1-800-We-Got-U for a free Super Crazy Macho Mega Man T-Shirt!" Of course, calling the number elicits the response hinted at in your message.
Essentially every hospital in the US has the capacity for electrical generation to sustain vital equipment. Given the other wiz-bang things that are in mind for this techno-clinic, I imagine they'll have a gas generator on the roof.
Super Nintendo? Man, I'm only 17 and my nostalgiac threads run way deeper than that. We're talking NES/2600 here. I'm not knocking you, as there were some good SNES games - just wondering what the median age of the slashdot readership is at. There are good games for new systems though - SSX for PS2 is wicked, the Dreamcast (though now dead) has a plethora of arcade-type games - Samba de Amigo, Crazy Taxi, etc. Oh yeah, get on topic - a bunch of "non-zero-sum" games like crappy japanese roommate simulators as well :)
Basing your knowledge on the probability of a terrorist attack on Tom Clancy novels is probably a little bit questionable eh? That said, I'm suprised the U.S. hasn't had a major international terrorist attack (world trade center is probably one of the biggest recently). The biggest domestic attack of the decade came from an American (or 3 or however many people are suspected for the OK City bombing). Seeing how America decides to shoot down other countries' commuter airlines (Iranian I believe) without much apology, I wonder why we haven't been successfully targeted yet. Especially when you turn on the tube to see a touching story about how someone's mom wants to kill every Libyan she sees because an American plane went down at the hands of Libyans.
I think that's a pretty safe assumption :)
Of course, "Puerto Rican" defines a reasonably wide range of folks with an incredibly varied background (american, euro, african, etc) so it's probably easier just to refer to resident's as Puerto Ricans (kind of like I'm a "Kansan" despite being born in Hawaii). Some statistics say that more Puerto Ricans live in the U.S. than in Puerto Rico, but that includes everyone of any fraction of Puerto Rican decent - which, like I said, could potentially be a totally Spanish blood-line or who knows what.
Stormix actually had a decent product. I think there were a couple of things that hurt them:
1. Too much promotional material! I beta tested for these guys and, though it started with just a burned CD, I ended up with a boxed copy of their first shipping product, multiple stickers, a t-shirt (wearing right now actually), and probably other things that I can't recall.
2. Think about it: they marketed their product in Canada! I know Linux supports a plethora of platforms, but the sad truth seems to be that it still hasn't been ported to the pine/tree architecture. I'm sure the four to five Canadian Linux users will rise up in arms against my comment, but seriously, I never saw a single ad for Stormix or noticed the box carried in computer stores. Then again, I live in Kansas - one of the few places technologically inferior to the Great White North. At least CompUSA has a *nix section... not that their employees know what it is.
It would seem to me that the best, and most "scientific" way to go about this would be to program a game program that relies on a certain type of strategy unique to that game. This eliminates experience issues (someone suggested FreeCiv, though not everyone has played that, many have played similar titles). It would have to be a reasonably simple game (no flashy graphics, etc), but with a definite strategic element that at least in some way is allegorical to "business skills." Please note the sarcastic quotation marks at the conclusion of that sentence. Having interned in a cubicle farm I can attest to the fact that a majority of business executives have less sense than their subordinates. Admitedly, there are some out there that know how to get things done - know how to make a more efficient business, but the majority bear a closer resemblance to the boss in Fight Club than to Jack Welch ("Do you have that icon in cornflower blue?") No, this is not jealousy in any way - I was 15 and completely without any illusions that I was somehow more fit for the position (though I did have my doubts occassionaly).
:)
Anyway, and back to the subject at hand. I don't think that relating game performance to SAT scores (or GPA) would be much of an improvement over biz. class performance. The SAT is hardly the apptitude test that it once claimed to be. Luckily, I can usually take tests like the SAT and do well the first time (though I'd defintely improve if I knew more about common questions and the like beforehand). Most people have drastic improvement if they choose to study for a SAT-type test. As a quick example, I took the PSAT sophomore year in high school and scored somewhere below commended scholar status. I studied for the test junior year (scholarships available from my dad's company) and made semi-finalist by a sizable margin. Clearly it was a year between tests, but I know my studying helped to some extent - regardless of how much I try to tell myself that studying is worthless
I think a better experiment would be to take law school students, use their LSAT scores, and create a logic/reasoning game - maybe have them solve the kinds of puzzles found in platform games or the like (though obviously, with solutions unique from any other game). The LSAT is much more of an apptitude test than the SAT and would serve as a superior measuring stick.
By the way, it's nice to know I won't be the only high GPA/SAT, low-motivation student at MIT should I decide to head out there! Seriously though, I can see why MIT has their interview process to try and eliminate this type of student - personally, however, I'd make some attempt to motivate people who are incredibly smart by nature, but just fail to see any reason to apply their capabilities. There are a staggering amount of people out there in this situation.
Due to Canada's socialist (sort of) nature, most of your taxes go towards benefits available only through Canadian residence (socialized health care, etc). In contrast, United States has a far lower percentage of social benefits within the federal expenitures. A majority of the funding goes towards things like the military, running the government, infrastructure improvement, education, etc. Most U.S. expenditures go for improving the country as a whole - well, if you are rich, white, and drive an S.U.V. that is :)
I'd imagine, given the liberal leanings of Canadian government, that rules aiming to tax long-term out-of-country Canadian citizens would be struck down by their court system. There could, however, be some sort of lowered tax rate that elimates the portion going towards socialized programs.
Puerto Ricans are US citizens. Puerto Ricans pay zero federal tax. Wow, that was brief :)
How much can you get a sega nomad for now-a-days anyway? It'd be pretty cool to play sega hockey (or whatever the real name is) while on a bus or something.
You know, after watching my Gladiator 2-disk DVD set again I'd have to agree :)
/comments.pl in order to allow everyone to have a fair chance to post.
I do see people throwing away their fair use rights with idiotic agreements and whatnot, but then again, I only pay 2-3 bucks or so for my DVD's. Long live eCommerce and venture capitalism I suppose. What would really be ironic is if United States citizens decided to start, en masse, pirating DVD's (using Apple's DVD burner or the like) - CSS actually leading to more piracy.
Hey... check this out:
Slow down cowboy!
Slashdot requires you to wait 1 minute between each submission of
It's been 1 minute since your last submission!
Slashdot bug... nutty.
What is this "gun" you speak of? Ingenious I say!
</Mindless_Lackey>
I live here in KC. Apparently I live in the underground storage capital of the world (though the city prefers to be called "The City of Fountains"). We even have underground paintball in one cave. Most of the caves are under our local amusement park (Worlds of Fun... pretty decent for a non-Disney/Busch/Paramount park). I imagine that at some point one of the caves will collapse and there will be a community response to fill them all with cement or something, but whatever. I'm half-tempted to run over there and ask the guy if I could have a couple carts and t-shirts for free. Heck, I need a job so maybe I could work there - I'm sure they'll need help to counteract the retail-slashdot-effect.
That'd be incredibly cool... You'd have to be sure you get the Cartridge with the picture on it and not the red/black text one though. It'd be cooler to get a whole variety of cartridges (like the 32 diff ones this guy has) and arrange them in some sort of pattern. Then you hang the boxes from the ceiling ala the gourds in Evil Dead (and the bones in TCM that ED copied).