I am in a major metropolitan area where AT&T is rolling out not only cable internet but also phone access, etc. A number of people I know have switched and are quite happy. Yeah, AT&T is no love child of dereg., but the services now seem to work and are priced below the telcos (for how long, hmm...).
My purely subjective, annecdotal opinion is that our Baby Bell, now part of the truly evil empire of SBC, may wake up in a year or two to find its market share dropping significantly.
I have DSL service from those bozos, and bozos is what they are. Some of the bugs have been masked over the last year, but my packets still hop all over creation within their network, and the simplest of emails are still rejected, sometimes silently, by their for-sh_t servers.
Even if cable is sometimes slower and less secure, I am tempted to go with it, once it gets to me or I move into an active area, just to avoid giving my money to SBC. (And isn't great that while $40 was enough last year, now they want $50 for the same service?)
A lot of people I know feel the same way. If the Baby Bells don't completely squash competition, they're going to find that out some day. They've done an awful lot to piss off an awful lot of people -- a lot of that not internet-related, to boot. Us customers can have long memories.
(But, then, I guess those cable bleeps have been pretty bad, too. Sigh.)
I signed up just in time to pay for nothing. I hope the subscription list is transfered correctly and intact.
Like I said before, Jon, you can publish on a photocopier. As long as the articles are good, I'll sign up.
Can't somebody take 30 minutes and script up an EarthWeb replacement that works better even while running on some funky, retro machine?
japh-wannabe
I would think that, on a level playing ground, Monsanto would be much more liable for damages than the farmer. Of course, it is depending on its ability to far outspend the farmer in court.
Trespass, destruction of property, etc.? I'm neither a lawyer nor a Canadian, but I see a lot of potential for Monsanto's culpability.
I hope some big guns back the farmer and bleep Monsanto over. It sounds like all this guy wanted to do was keep farming and/or retire.
I also hope other farmers are paying attention. Bleep your customers, Monsanto. Oh, they'll never notice! Just a bunch of dumb hicks, eh?
Well, most farmers I know know a lot more about the world than most of us cubicle schmucks. Don't think they aren't watching!
I had a "survey" course taught by a brilliant if somewhat difficult professor. It was an undergrad "200" level course, so roughly a 2nd - 4th class in the field. From transistors through assembly to high level with algorithms and data structures, it attempted to give an overview of the whole machine. Note that it did not directly address cultural issues, etc. (although these came up in anectdotes and stories, inevitably...).
Many of the students found this quite challenging and a bit overwhelming. I had a bit more background and so could place many items into a pre-existing framework of knowledge. I found the course very interesting and very much appreciated the context it provided to topics addressed elsewhere in isolation.
Regarding your goal, I see it as a good thing. I also support the idea of offering it to those with some prior classwork and experience under their belts. Too many people I meet these days don't have sufficient understanding of the context in which they work and create. The ranks of the old "gurus" is thinning, and their stories and hard-won knowledge are becoming scarcer. I believe giving current students some knowledge of what has come before is a good thing.
The "early days" also produced a sense of community that should be remembered. (Note that this happens in many fields, not just information systems or whatever you call it.) I recall getting a new editor on the school VAX just by asking and by being willing to "sneakernet" a tape from someone's employer. They were happy to see it used. With all the "business" going on these days, it's nice to remember the generous spirit of some of those who contributed so much to getting us where we are, now. And who found facination in the topics themselves, regardless of their financial worth.
As for books and such, I can recommend:
The Hacker's Guide, 3rd ed. -- The Jargon File plus a bit, stamped on a dead tree.
Where the Wizard's Stay Up Late -- the birth of ARPANET and subsequent things.
Don Knuth's writings. Aside from being thorough, he's informative and funny.
To the latter: People want to believe what they want to believe. They may purchase some "information" because it confirms their worldview and not because it is objective or challenges that worldview. Not all acquisitions, papers bought, clicks made are being based on the search for an objective truth.
And if you think controlling what people publish is hard, try controlling what they want (i.e. what they think).
Being stuck a lot with minimal Windoze tools (multiple interpretations possible), I tend to use 10 point Courier New TrueType. It's mono, clean, the characters are well-formed, and I can fit a fair amount on a moderate screen. I also like it for printouts.
For Windoze black/color on a white background, it's the best I've found.
Of course, my "environment" merits the modding down of this comment to -something_big.
Re earlier comments, all that white background tires me out, too. Even if you don't consciously perceive the screen refreshes, they strain your vision and so the brain that's processing the vision.
I seem to recall reading that studies show TV, regardless of content, heightens agitation, aggression, etc. Possible link with the flicker -- worse with TV due to interlacing and lower refresh rates.
I would think the effect, if real, is present with CRTs as well. Light text on a dark/black would seem a good choice to lessen the extremity of the flicker's visibility and so its effect.
Anyone use the BAT or another chording keyboard for coding? How is it with (a heavy load of) non-alphanumeric symbols, tabs, deletes? Any alternatives to suggest?
-----
Save your flames for someone who cares...
Teaching kids to "use" computer to get other things done -- no tech interest -- put em on a Windows box. It's what they're going to have to use once they walk out the door.
Teaching them about computers and how to learn for themselves (most important lesson you can give them) -- put them on a Linux box, FreeBSD, etc. Concepts and implementation both much clearer. Chance for creativity vis a vis system itself much better. Frustration much lower, as "how it works" is not deliberately hidden, obfuscated, or outright denied.
Question: If someone gives you a black box and tells you it does cryptography, are you going to trust it at face value with important secrets? A bit obscure, but this is type of question kids in second group should be taught to ask and to answer for themselves.
Cheers
Finally, my eyes may get a rest.
I have considered display technology to be one of the major hangups to further progress towards the mythical, so-called paperless society.
Just like the flicker of Saturday morning cartoons (accompanied by the requisite overdose of simple carbohydrates), my old CRT makes me EVIL!!! #-(
They may say five years, but I bet the process will accelerate. Hope to be not-tanning in front of one of these in a couple of years.
DISCLAIMER: The following represent soley my opinions.
Fearing the ILEC CLEC wars and such, I embraced the dark side and signed up about June with Ameritech, now an SBC flunky.
First, the line work: My neighbor ended up with my phone line for over a week. Me -- no phone service. My answering machine was toasted. Ameritech's response: "That can't happen." Multiple no-shows during 4 hour windows -- gee, I like taking time off for no reason.
Second, the service: As often as not, I'll connect to the local collector but can get no further. Pinging, tracing IP's passed back for DNS dies without completing. Only 'fix' is to wait for the 'glitch' to pass -- can be hours or days. When you call to sign up, the phone is answered within a minute. Any tech call, count on at least 1/2/ hour before hearing a voice. Then, they usually can't fix anything. They're nice and don't sound exceptionally incompetent, but they're subcontractors and have no real control. It seems the only thing they can do is walk you through you own system's configuration. If it's anything to do with the network, you're talking to the wrong people.
Talk to an insider you know, and they'll admit the tech side is severely understaffed.
Recommentaion: STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY from Ameritech (and, I imagine, SBC)!!! My dial up was more reliable.
Slashdot Mirror
About now is when we should be building a monitoring infrastructure. I believe a significant amount of cataloging is already going on.
My purely subjective, annecdotal opinion is that our Baby Bell, now part of the truly evil empire of SBC, may wake up in a year or two to find its market share dropping significantly.
I have DSL service from those bozos, and bozos is what they are. Some of the bugs have been masked over the last year, but my packets still hop all over creation within their network, and the simplest of emails are still rejected, sometimes silently, by their for-sh_t servers.
Even if cable is sometimes slower and less secure, I am tempted to go with it, once it gets to me or I move into an active area, just to avoid giving my money to SBC. (And isn't great that while $40 was enough last year, now they want $50 for the same service?)
A lot of people I know feel the same way. If the Baby Bells don't completely squash competition, they're going to find that out some day. They've done an awful lot to piss off an awful lot of people -- a lot of that not internet-related, to boot. Us customers can have long memories.
(But, then, I guess those cable bleeps have been pretty bad, too. Sigh.)
I think they have it backwards...
Looking forward to that.
The comments in this thread make me feel even better. I'll sit back and trust the issues to start up when they do.
Even if I have to resubscribe, I will. Great product!
I signed up just in time to pay for nothing. I hope the subscription list is transfered correctly and intact. Like I said before, Jon, you can publish on a photocopier. As long as the articles are good, I'll sign up. Can't somebody take 30 minutes and script up an EarthWeb replacement that works better even while running on some funky, retro machine? japh-wannabe
Trespass, destruction of property, etc.? I'm neither a lawyer nor a Canadian, but I see a lot of potential for Monsanto's culpability.
I hope some big guns back the farmer and bleep Monsanto over. It sounds like all this guy wanted to do was keep farming and/or retire.
I also hope other farmers are paying attention. Bleep your customers, Monsanto. Oh, they'll never notice! Just a bunch of dumb hicks, eh?
Well, most farmers I know know a lot more about the world than most of us cubicle schmucks. Don't think they aren't watching!
Ditto. Look around -- maybe you'll find a copy. Borders' "dollar bin" stuff sometimes repeats periodically.
Many of the students found this quite challenging and a bit overwhelming. I had a bit more background and so could place many items into a pre-existing framework of knowledge. I found the course very interesting and very much appreciated the context it provided to topics addressed elsewhere in isolation.
Regarding your goal, I see it as a good thing. I also support the idea of offering it to those with some prior classwork and experience under their belts. Too many people I meet these days don't have sufficient understanding of the context in which they work and create. The ranks of the old "gurus" is thinning, and their stories and hard-won knowledge are becoming scarcer. I believe giving current students some knowledge of what has come before is a good thing.
The "early days" also produced a sense of community that should be remembered. (Note that this happens in many fields, not just information systems or whatever you call it.) I recall getting a new editor on the school VAX just by asking and by being willing to "sneakernet" a tape from someone's employer. They were happy to see it used. With all the "business" going on these days, it's nice to remember the generous spirit of some of those who contributed so much to getting us where we are, now. And who found facination in the topics themselves, regardless of their financial worth.
As for books and such, I can recommend:
The Hacker's Guide, 3rd ed. -- The Jargon File plus a bit, stamped on a dead tree.
Where the Wizard's Stay Up Late -- the birth of ARPANET and subsequent things.
Don Knuth's writings. Aside from being thorough, he's informative and funny.
Good luck!
1) Information
2) Confirmation
To the latter: People want to believe what they want to believe. They may purchase some "information" because it confirms their worldview and not because it is objective or challenges that worldview. Not all acquisitions, papers bought, clicks made are being based on the search for an objective truth.
And if you think controlling what people publish is hard, try controlling what they want (i.e. what they think).
Being stuck a lot with minimal Windoze tools (multiple interpretations possible), I tend to use 10 point Courier New TrueType. It's mono, clean, the characters are well-formed, and I can fit a fair amount on a moderate screen. I also like it for printouts.
For Windoze black/color on a white background, it's the best I've found.
Of course, my "environment" merits the modding down of this comment to -something_big.
Re earlier comments, all that white background tires me out, too. Even if you don't consciously perceive the screen refreshes, they strain your vision and so the brain that's processing the vision.
I seem to recall reading that studies show TV, regardless of content, heightens agitation, aggression, etc. Possible link with the flicker -- worse with TV due to interlacing and lower refresh rates.
I would think the effect, if real, is present with CRTs as well. Light text on a dark/black would seem a good choice to lessen the extremity of the flicker's visibility and so its effect.
Anyone use the BAT or another chording keyboard for coding? How is it with (a heavy load of) non-alphanumeric symbols, tabs, deletes? Any alternatives to suggest? ----- Save your flames for someone who cares...
Teaching kids to "use" computer to get other things done -- no tech interest -- put em on a Windows box. It's what they're going to have to use once they walk out the door. Teaching them about computers and how to learn for themselves (most important lesson you can give them) -- put them on a Linux box, FreeBSD, etc. Concepts and implementation both much clearer. Chance for creativity vis a vis system itself much better. Frustration much lower, as "how it works" is not deliberately hidden, obfuscated, or outright denied. Question: If someone gives you a black box and tells you it does cryptography, are you going to trust it at face value with important secrets? A bit obscure, but this is type of question kids in second group should be taught to ask and to answer for themselves. Cheers
Finally, my eyes may get a rest. I have considered display technology to be one of the major hangups to further progress towards the mythical, so-called paperless society. Just like the flicker of Saturday morning cartoons (accompanied by the requisite overdose of simple carbohydrates), my old CRT makes me EVIL!!! #-( They may say five years, but I bet the process will accelerate. Hope to be not-tanning in front of one of these in a couple of years.
Yes, I saw it, and it was good. Check it out.
DISCLAIMER: The following represent soley my opinions. Fearing the ILEC CLEC wars and such, I embraced the dark side and signed up about June with Ameritech, now an SBC flunky. First, the line work: My neighbor ended up with my phone line for over a week. Me -- no phone service. My answering machine was toasted. Ameritech's response: "That can't happen." Multiple no-shows during 4 hour windows -- gee, I like taking time off for no reason. Second, the service: As often as not, I'll connect to the local collector but can get no further. Pinging, tracing IP's passed back for DNS dies without completing. Only 'fix' is to wait for the 'glitch' to pass -- can be hours or days. When you call to sign up, the phone is answered within a minute. Any tech call, count on at least 1/2/ hour before hearing a voice. Then, they usually can't fix anything. They're nice and don't sound exceptionally incompetent, but they're subcontractors and have no real control. It seems the only thing they can do is walk you through you own system's configuration. If it's anything to do with the network, you're talking to the wrong people. Talk to an insider you know, and they'll admit the tech side is severely understaffed. Recommentaion: STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY from Ameritech (and, I imagine, SBC)!!! My dial up was more reliable.