Does it do any good to slap one in every classroom (or on every kid's desk, where it could do the most good) without providing the necessary infrastructure (including software) to use it? No.
A computer at every desk? This is the typical "magic wand" thinking that has created the problem in the first place. It's not a lack of "necessary infrastructure (including software)" that makes computers a distraction instead of an Ideal Teaching Aid-- it's the nature of computers themselves. As you said, in your own words:
Computers are a great tool for storing, retrieving, modeling, et al, information
In other words, computers are a super-convenient library. Most classes (labs being one of the obvious exceptions) are constructed around the speaker-audience model-- they are lectures. No amount of methodology modification can really turn a library into an effective enhancement for a lecture. Lectures require the attention of the audience. Anything that distracts that attention is simply that-- a distraction. Like you say, computers are great at storing, retrieving, and modeling information.
I'd love to see something like a five dollar per gallon gasoline tax phased in over the next few years.
You're totally mad. The burden of $5/gal on interstate trucking alone would bring commerce in the U.S. to a complete standsitll. And what about those who can't afford gasoline at $6.50/gal? "Everyone should use mass transit, like in Europe", right? Well, first you go work on building us this universal mass transit system, because it doesn't exist in this country. You can't force people to stop doing something via taxation if they have no alternative; all you can do is make them poorer. Cause and effect, dingbat! Cripes, you people drive me insane...
Furthermore, some states (like California) have laws about vehicles which cause manufacturers to change the vehicles they make. This results in everyone, regardless of state of residence, buying vehicles that stand up to California's standards. GPS devices could soon come in that category.
This is not necessarily true. California started requiring additional pollution control equipment on all cars sold in the state some time in the mid-sixties, I believe. It wasn't until 15-20 years later that you no longer saw cars that fell under the categories of "California model" and "49-state model". I'm not saying that it'd take that long with GPS trackers, but if it took 20 years to homogenize smog equipment on all cars when California required it, how long will such a thing take when a smaller state like Oregon does?
I preduct a thriving industry in GPS spoofers if this thing passes. It wouldn't be that difficult to generate signals that overwhelm the real GPS and make it look like the car is hardly moving. No mods to the in-car system needed.
Actually, the only "spoofing" necessary is blocking/covering the antenna. The GPS sees no satellites, just like being parked in a garage.
You sig gave me a damm headache trying to decode it to proper english.. nice =).
Heh. Yeah, people have been driving me nuts with their misuse of their/there/they're, so I thought I'd retaliate and throw in it's/its, then/than, and lose/loose as well. Take that, grammar fools! Hoist by your own petard!
Indians are not fiendish . If you think they are then You are the one who is fiendish and a damn MF.
Humor, man, humor. I was mocking those who don't want India to have supercomputers through the use of hyperbole. I was, in fact, subtly (???) suggesting that anyone who does consider India "fiendish" is an idiot.
the people in favour of this sort of solution really aren't worried about preserving other people's rights at all.
Oh, now I see your problem. You seem to think people have a basic right to unfettered email. Sorry to say, friend, but access to my inbox isn't a right. ISPs provide a service. If your customers' ISPs use an RBL, and part of your ISP's IP address range gets blocked, then that's a business matter you need to take up with your ISP, or your customer needs to take up with his. The Internet isn't a public works program. Hell, it's not even really a fully definable entity; its basic common denominator is a few communications protocols.
Don't cheapen real rights by trying to lump crap like "the right to send email to my business clients". The Internet is an amalgamation of commercial enterprises, for the most part. If you don't like it, petition your government to create a happy-socialist public network where there's no spam and no blocked IPs. Otherwise, get over it.
America has sanctions against supercomputers? Why?
So those fiendish Indians won't be able to simulate nuclear warhead tests, that's why. If they could do that, they could BUILD a working one...errr....no, wait...If they can't simulate, the only way to test improvements in warhead yield is by detonating a warhead for real, and that's better because....hmmmm...
Ya got me. Why don't we want India to have a supercomputer?
A much more plausible conspiracy would be that those who protested the dangerous conditions and walked off the job caused the explosion to prove the danger.
Unlikely. These were military personnel who refused to work. When you disobey orders in the military you don't just get fired, you get thrown in brig. Additionally, many of those who didn't walk off were killed. It's a rare individual who is willing to kill his coworkers (many of the probably friends) to prove a point.
Let's try analogy: If someone tells me that the Whinnie the Pooh book in my daughters room is a physics text, who's the idiot if I read it and try to put together a linear accelerator from the pictures in the book? It's even worse if someone else believes that I should have consulted the page on the honey bees instead of the one on where Pooh gets stuck when I built the magnetic arrays.
I think we're arguing from the same position. I think we agree that taking Genesis as the real origin of the universe is absurd. Assuming the bible to be the eord of god, I see it as the "comic book" version of the story for those who haven't the foundation to understand the details. Those who want the details, read further.
They heat the coffee so that it won't be cold when you're done driving. Since responsible drivers, of course, always put their coffee in cup holders and wait until they've stopped, right?
McDonald's wasn't to blame, and no amount of complaining about the temperature of the liquid will change that she's stupid. That she was hurt badly doesn't matter, either. Maybe she'll try being a responsible human being for a change? Doubtful.
At higher temperatures, you get a greater yield from a given quantity of coffe grounds. Heating the water to 190 was a profit decision. Water above 160 degrees is dangerous: it's undrinkable and untouchable, so it's clearly not "so that it won't be cold when you're done driving". McDonalds had been warned in the past not to overheat the coffee water. There were previous incidents where people weren't badly hurt, but could have been. They continued to heat the water beyond safe temperature, however, and someone was hurt. In light of that, the judge basically said "if you won't listen to reason, how about something a little more painful: punitive damages equal to five days coffee sales". As absurd as the suit sounds on the face of it (millions because I spilled my coffee), it was actually a quite rational decision (millions because Mcdonalds repeatedly disregarded customer safety). Whether the woman should have been more careful is irrelevant-- McDonalds deliberately made the decision to choose profit over legally mandated customer safety, and they paid the price.
I could take the most anti-drug, straight-edged guy on the planet, shoot him up full of junk, and within that day he would offering me everything he owns to hook him up again
Errr....that's perhaps edging into hyperbole, there. You'd have to shoot him up a dozen times or so over a couple weeks to give him problems physical withdrawal. I've done smack a half dozen times and I had no physical withdrawal symptoms.
Your friend was the *sort* of person for whom the heroin high is heaven. There are, in fact, many, many casual users of heroin for whom it's pleasant, but not "heaven."
Yeah, this is the point a lot of people miss. Reactions to various drugs are not monolithically homogenous across the entire population. My girlfriend was an alcoholic/cokehead. The taste and effects of both alcohol and coke never appealed to me. Even smoking crack was a non-starter for me, giving me a little tingle and a bad taste in my mouth. Heroin? Tried it a half dozen times. Yeah, I can see how one could go for it, but "numb" was never a big draw for me. I spent two years recovering from a shattered leg in the Army (15mg morphine every 4 hrs for 2 weeks), so I've got a lot of psychological "baggage" already attached to opiates; maybe that's why I don't go for 'em.
On the other hand, if you give me access to my good friend methamphetamine, hooo-WHEEE! We're off to the races! I can come up with all kinds of reasons why meth is better than all those "lamer" drugs. My favorite is: "I may end up sleep deprived and insane, but my house is as clean and orderly as a freekin' hospital". I quit using meth years ago though, because like any drug you "take a liking to", it tends to rule your life. I'm just glad that EverQuest was unavailable back then because I can see a potentially potent synergy between speed and an online game requiring hours of repetitious activity...
From your comments I gather that you feel that societies of 2000 years ago were deficient in their ability to understand or reason.
Keep in mind that some of the greatest philosophers that ever lived lived at that time.
I don't think he was belittling their abilities; rather he was acknowledging their limitations. Where would one start to explain genetics to someone with no foundation in modern biology or chemistry? Back then, chemistry had elements called "fire", "water", "earth", and "air". Do you start by telling those great philosophers "OK, first thing: your system of elements is totally wrong"?
My personal belief is that while we have knowledge that ancient societies never dreamed of, some of those ancient societies had secrets we can only guess at as well. Just look at megalithic structures and such.
Heh. I don't understand why people are impressed by the "ancients" ability to move heavy things without cranes. Get enough people and take enough time and you can move all sorts of rocks around. Besides you think the ancients had mysteries? Try going back in time and explaining how a laser printer works to ANYONE. Hell, try going to your local supermarket and explaining it.
That being said, the way the Bible is written is anything but "abridged and simple." Case in point, you yourself do not even understand it. Furthermore, the account of the creation of the universe and the Earth is spread out over the entire Bible.
be that as it may, the quick-and-dirty "six easy steps to creating the universe" in Genesis certainly does read as a "handwave" explaination, even if the Word of God later in the book makes reference to more details. To me, his comments seem to be aimed at Genesis. Whether later chapter and verse explains in greater detail is irrelevant, as the hard-core creationists tend to be "strictly Genesis" minded.
too hard to generate consistent currents with piezo. Piezo effect creates sharp, sparky jolts. Cheaper and easier to just plug the whole thing into the power grid and be done with it.
Meaning that you don't have to use the Internet to do the job, then?
Jesus fucking Christ, you moron, Kevin Mitnick wasn't just prohibitted from accessing the internet, he was prohibitted from posessing or using any sor of computer, software, or wireless communications device!
None of those jobs require that a computer be connected to the Internet.
The restrictions weren't limited to the Internet, dingus. Quote:
"The proposed restrictions...completely prohibit Kevin from "using or possessing" all computer hardware equipment, software programs, and wireless communications equipment."
Little bit more than you seem to realize. Not just "no Internet". No computers.
Salesman: Yea right try getting a job as a salesman and not using a networked computer. What would this person be selling.
Oh, let's say insurance.
Sir, your very first example shows that you are talking out of your ass. Insurance policy quotes and sales have been done via network computers longer than pretty much any other industry you can name. Much of the systems insurance brokers use are still run over serial cables with VT-100 terminals on the agents' desks. Some of those systems predate the Internet. It's been practically impossible to sell insurance without access to a networked computer for about 20 years. So, nice try, but I'm afraid you've lost all your credibility here.
the only time you would enter the 'web number' is the first time you're going someplace
but where does one FIND this "web number"? Do we trade in the current circus that is domain names for a whole new circus of paying for better positions on search engines? This "solution" is only an added layer of abstraction that shifts the problem to a different space.
most people type URLs for basic things. FOr example, if you want Verizon's website, you type www.verizon.com. makes it pretty easy.
Not for most people. Go watch a normal (ie, not a geek) user. Many of them don't even know what a URL is
hogwash. Every entity with a web presence advertises with their URL in print. People know what URLs are.
Your art analogy fails because what is happening is not that people can't afford the "art" but that other people, backed by the WTO, are allowed to come round and take their legally held "art" off them with no compensation
my art analogy was a deliberate simplification in order to illustrate a point. You don't think the WIPO name-grabbing is about money? Chances are, whoever has the most money is going to win the WIPO hearing. If you can't afford to defend yourself, kiss your domain name goodbye.
Slashdot Mirror
A computer at every desk? This is the typical "magic wand" thinking that has created the problem in the first place. It's not a lack of "necessary infrastructure (including software)" that makes computers a distraction instead of an Ideal Teaching Aid-- it's the nature of computers themselves. As you said, in your own words:
Computers are a great tool for storing, retrieving, modeling, et al, information
In other words, computers are a super-convenient library. Most classes (labs being one of the obvious exceptions) are constructed around the speaker-audience model-- they are lectures. No amount of methodology modification can really turn a library into an effective enhancement for a lecture. Lectures require the attention of the audience. Anything that distracts that attention is simply that-- a distraction. Like you say, computers are great at storing, retrieving, and modeling information.
Let's use them that way.
I couldn't agree more.
You're totally mad. The burden of $5/gal on interstate trucking alone would bring commerce in the U.S. to a complete standsitll. And what about those who can't afford gasoline at $6.50/gal? "Everyone should use mass transit, like in Europe", right? Well, first you go work on building us this universal mass transit system, because it doesn't exist in this country. You can't force people to stop doing something via taxation if they have no alternative; all you can do is make them poorer. Cause and effect, dingbat! Cripes, you people drive me insane...
This is not necessarily true. California started requiring additional pollution control equipment on all cars sold in the state some time in the mid-sixties, I believe. It wasn't until 15-20 years later that you no longer saw cars that fell under the categories of "California model" and "49-state model". I'm not saying that it'd take that long with GPS trackers, but if it took 20 years to homogenize smog equipment on all cars when California required it, how long will such a thing take when a smaller state like Oregon does?
Actually, the only "spoofing" necessary is blocking/covering the antenna. The GPS sees no satellites, just like being parked in a garage.
Heh. Yeah, people have been driving me nuts with their misuse of their/there/they're, so I thought I'd retaliate and throw in it's/its, then/than, and lose/loose as well. Take that, grammar fools! Hoist by your own petard!
Humor, man, humor. I was mocking those who don't want India to have supercomputers through the use of hyperbole. I was, in fact, subtly (???) suggesting that anyone who does consider India "fiendish" is an idiot.
Oh, now I see your problem. You seem to think people have a basic right to unfettered email. Sorry to say, friend, but access to my inbox isn't a right. ISPs provide a service. If your customers' ISPs use an RBL, and part of your ISP's IP address range gets blocked, then that's a business matter you need to take up with your ISP, or your customer needs to take up with his. The Internet isn't a public works program. Hell, it's not even really a fully definable entity; its basic common denominator is a few communications protocols.
Don't cheapen real rights by trying to lump crap like "the right to send email to my business clients". The Internet is an amalgamation of commercial enterprises, for the most part. If you don't like it, petition your government to create a happy-socialist public network where there's no spam and no blocked IPs. Otherwise, get over it.
So those fiendish Indians won't be able to simulate nuclear warhead tests, that's why. If they could do that, they could BUILD a working one...errr....no, wait...If they can't simulate, the only way to test improvements in warhead yield is by detonating a warhead for real, and that's better because....hmmmm...
Ya got me. Why don't we want India to have a supercomputer?
that's me, man. I've been waiting at the airport for days. Why haven't you picked me up?
Yeah, I'm with ya' there. With as little U-235 as they had, you KNOW they were being way too careful to accidentally let one of the bombs go off.
Unlikely. These were military personnel who refused to work. When you disobey orders in the military you don't just get fired, you get thrown in brig. Additionally, many of those who didn't walk off were killed. It's a rare individual who is willing to kill his coworkers (many of the probably friends) to prove a point.
mmmmm.....dessert storm. The rain of custard pies made it all worthwhile.
I think we're arguing from the same position. I think we agree that taking Genesis as the real origin of the universe is absurd. Assuming the bible to be the eord of god, I see it as the "comic book" version of the story for those who haven't the foundation to understand the details. Those who want the details, read further.
At higher temperatures, you get a greater yield from a given quantity of coffe grounds. Heating the water to 190 was a profit decision. Water above 160 degrees is dangerous: it's undrinkable and untouchable, so it's clearly not "so that it won't be cold when you're done driving". McDonalds had been warned in the past not to overheat the coffee water. There were previous incidents where people weren't badly hurt, but could have been. They continued to heat the water beyond safe temperature, however, and someone was hurt. In light of that, the judge basically said "if you won't listen to reason, how about something a little more painful: punitive damages equal to five days coffee sales". As absurd as the suit sounds on the face of it (millions because I spilled my coffee), it was actually a quite rational decision (millions because Mcdonalds repeatedly disregarded customer safety). Whether the woman should have been more careful is irrelevant-- McDonalds deliberately made the decision to choose profit over legally mandated customer safety, and they paid the price.
Errr....that's perhaps edging into hyperbole, there. You'd have to shoot him up a dozen times or so over a couple weeks to give him problems physical withdrawal. I've done smack a half dozen times and I had no physical withdrawal symptoms.
Yeah, this is the point a lot of people miss. Reactions to various drugs are not monolithically homogenous across the entire population. My girlfriend was an alcoholic/cokehead. The taste and effects of both alcohol and coke never appealed to me. Even smoking crack was a non-starter for me, giving me a little tingle and a bad taste in my mouth. Heroin? Tried it a half dozen times. Yeah, I can see how one could go for it, but "numb" was never a big draw for me. I spent two years recovering from a shattered leg in the Army (15mg morphine every 4 hrs for 2 weeks), so I've got a lot of psychological "baggage" already attached to opiates; maybe that's why I don't go for 'em.
On the other hand, if you give me access to my good friend methamphetamine, hooo-WHEEE! We're off to the races! I can come up with all kinds of reasons why meth is better than all those "lamer" drugs. My favorite is: "I may end up sleep deprived and insane, but my house is as clean and orderly as a freekin' hospital". I quit using meth years ago though, because like any drug you "take a liking to", it tends to rule your life. I'm just glad that EverQuest was unavailable back then because I can see a potentially potent synergy between speed and an online game requiring hours of repetitious activity...
I don't think he was belittling their abilities; rather he was acknowledging their limitations. Where would one start to explain genetics to someone with no foundation in modern biology or chemistry? Back then, chemistry had elements called "fire", "water", "earth", and "air". Do you start by telling those great philosophers "OK, first thing: your system of elements is totally wrong"?
My personal belief is that while we have knowledge that ancient societies never dreamed of, some of those ancient societies had secrets we can only guess at as well. Just look at megalithic structures and such.
Heh. I don't understand why people are impressed by the "ancients" ability to move heavy things without cranes. Get enough people and take enough time and you can move all sorts of rocks around. Besides you think the ancients had mysteries? Try going back in time and explaining how a laser printer works to ANYONE. Hell, try going to your local supermarket and explaining it.
That being said, the way the Bible is written is anything but "abridged and simple." Case in point, you yourself do not even understand it. Furthermore, the account of the creation of the universe and the Earth is spread out over the entire Bible.
be that as it may, the quick-and-dirty "six easy steps to creating the universe" in Genesis certainly does read as a "handwave" explaination, even if the Word of God later in the book makes reference to more details. To me, his comments seem to be aimed at Genesis. Whether later chapter and verse explains in greater detail is irrelevant, as the hard-core creationists tend to be "strictly Genesis" minded.
too hard to generate consistent currents with piezo. Piezo effect creates sharp, sparky jolts. Cheaper and easier to just plug the whole thing into the power grid and be done with it.
POKE 53280,0
POKE 53281,0
Argh! That's black border, black screen! God Almighty, my brain is full of the same thing too, and I didn't even know it!
Meaning that you don't have to use the Internet to do the job, then?
Jesus fucking Christ, you moron, Kevin Mitnick wasn't just prohibitted from accessing the internet, he was prohibitted from posessing or using any sor of computer, software, or wireless communications device!
The restrictions weren't limited to the Internet, dingus. Quote:
"The proposed restrictions...completely prohibit Kevin from "using or possessing" all computer hardware equipment, software programs, and wireless communications equipment."
Little bit more than you seem to realize. Not just "no Internet". No computers.
Oh, let's say insurance.
Sir, your very first example shows that you are talking out of your ass. Insurance policy quotes and sales have been done via network computers longer than pretty much any other industry you can name. Much of the systems insurance brokers use are still run over serial cables with VT-100 terminals on the agents' desks. Some of those systems predate the Internet. It's been practically impossible to sell insurance without access to a networked computer for about 20 years.
So, nice try, but I'm afraid you've lost all your credibility here.
Ouch. Nicely done :)
Painful, isn't it? Never seen it that bad in real life but I've seen a few that got close...
Do you really see much confusion between than and then? I've never seen that mistake being made personally.
I see quite a few misuses of "then" in place of "than", but so far no one has used "than" in place of "then".
Yeah, "loose" instead of "lose" is the bane of my existence. I find its misuse even more glaring than the deadly triad of there/their/they're.
but where does one FIND this "web number"? Do we trade in the current circus that is domain names for a whole new circus of paying for better positions on search engines? This "solution" is only an added layer of abstraction that shifts the problem to a different space.
most people type URLs for basic things. FOr example, if you want Verizon's website, you type www.verizon.com. makes it pretty easy.
Not for most people. Go watch a normal (ie, not a geek) user. Many of them don't even know what a URL is
hogwash. Every entity with a web presence advertises with their URL in print. People know what URLs are.
Your art analogy fails because what is happening is not that people can't afford the "art" but that other people, backed by the WTO, are allowed to come round and take their legally held "art" off them with no compensation
my art analogy was a deliberate simplification in order to illustrate a point. You don't think the WIPO name-grabbing is about money? Chances are, whoever has the most money is going to win the WIPO hearing. If you can't afford to defend yourself, kiss your domain name goodbye.