Actually, no...I am not a Scientologist. I am however a member of a religion that gains cult status from many groups, including the current President of the United States. As to the website I linked to, you might want to check things out before posting. The site does have information on Scientology, but it also has information on Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, etc.
As a student who attended a private school, they can enforce restrictions like this. How do they do this, you ask, without violating the Constitution? Well, when your parents agree to send you there, they and you agree to abide by certain rules, hair has to be a certain way, no disparaging remarks about the school, etc. Now when you violate one of these rules, you do not typically get the police called on you, as it is your freedom to say whatever you want as in the case with the website above. However, being a private school, it is their right to kick your ass out for violating a "members only" rule. This is how it is done, and it is not a violation of your right to speak freely.
Actually, it all depends on which definition you use of the word cult. If we were using the traditional, theological definition, a cult is a reference to the external rituals of a particular sect of a religion. So a cultish sect, such as the Cult of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church, have open rituals to their worship. The Church of Scientology, if they actually have internal, secret rites would not fall under this definition of cult.
Now, the sociological definition of the term is a religious movement that has a particular tension with society, such as the Branch Davidians who had automatic weapons and stuff. In this case, the Church of Scientology as a cult would not hold because there is not a lot of public tension between regular people and say, Tom Cruise or John Travolta.
Now, other social definitions of cult would fit the Church of Scientology. They are a small religion, they have non-standard practices, and they are not Christians, which is a definition for many Christians.
I prefer to use the first definition because it doesn't single out just non-popular, evil religions. It also has uses regarding people in the RC Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. A much better label for the Church of Scientology is an occultish sect.
I've got a great idea for patent approval... We can do it the same way that Slashdot moderates posts. When people read through patent applications, have them be able to give them approval with moderation points. Obviously Interesting, Insightful, and Funny could be be accepted patents whilst Troll, Flamebait, and of course Redundant would be patent rejections. Anyone else think this is a great idea?
The way I see it, it all depends on personal preference. I started school as a computer engineering major, mainly because it had the engineering instead of science on the end of it, and besides, the first year of CS and CPE were virtually the same.
The deciding factor occurred when I had to take a class on digital devices and logic design. I enjoyed a good deal of this course, but I hated working on a breadboard. I kind of figured that this was a signe that I was not too keen on the electronic aspect of everything, but I enjoyed the algortighm analysis, algorithm design, etc. of CS.
For me, it turned into which I liked working with most, breadboards or keyboards. Granted with CPE you can do just about everything a CS can do, but call me a wimp, I don't like NAND gates.
But we must all beware the perils of Haagen-Daz Day: 2001-03-16 16:33:58
Re:A great idea for classes...
on
License to Sit
·
· Score: 1
Let me learn what I want to learn, not what you tell me I should know...
The whole idea of a major in college is to allow you to learn what you want to learn. Those required electives are for the sole purpose of educating you, which is the mission of most universities.
This is such a funny case. It brings about one of the more astounding questions in living wherever you happen to live. What does it mean to be an adult. The US magically makes this to be on a person's 18th birthday. I wonder what is so magical about this date that dictates whether someone is a child or someone is an adult. I've seen many people under 18 who act maturely and responsibly and I have seen many older people act irresponsibly. And it is not just the magical 18, it is the magical 21, the magical 25, etc...
I have seen many people who on their 21st birthday, in America, go out for a week straight and get plastered each night. It is not that they haven't been drinking before this, it is that now they can do it by government standards. Imagine, though, if the drinking age were at, say 10, an age where most kids aren't too interested in alcohol. Also imagine a parent who did not deny alcoholic experiences to their kids, but let them make up their own mind and try it for themselves. It may seriously curb the problems of binge drinking that we have in this country. People need to realize that alcohol, sex, and porn are not evil, instead it is the drunk driver, rapist, and pedophile who is evil.
Oh, this is an easy one. Just go pick up a tube of microfan nanotech assemblers and sprinkle them on your CPU. These little buggers go to work and fix any of the broken fans that they find, and then turn into dust which is then cleaned up by the nano-vacuumcleaners that are automatically generated by your computer every twelve hours.
Duh!!!
A. The process accidentally killed all mice, by creating a
doomsday bug for them.
or
B. They were studying a process to sterilize mice.
I can't believe they were studying to sterilize mice. I mean, I'm okay with mouse traps, rat poison, cats, etc. But to significantly alter their biological functions just seems unethical to me. All movies we make where some alien race is coming to eradicate humanity, we do not suffer the aliens and happy endings means we kick them off our planet. But if we reverse the roles to be the ones doing the eradication, we call it pest control. No, sir, I don't like it!
These decisions are often made primarily by the Sales & Marketing types who have little knowledge of computers and only fuzzy concepts of what the software is supposed to do or what the users want.
It is so easy to place the blame on the sales & marketing types, but have you ever considered the blame may be on the programmer. If a programmer does not stop a moment and form an argument for a better way of doing something, then he is not doing anything to deal with the issue. I don't know, maybe I am blessed with a very understanding marketing department, but whenever I have come across a problem with how they want things done, all I have had to do was come up with a group of different solutions, explain why it wouldn't work the way they want it, and ask them to choose one of my solutions. If it is the case that I have a decent marketing department working with me, then I feel sorry for you guys, but if the case is that programmers don't bother to offer better solutions to these people, then I'm sorry, you deserve all that you get.
I cannot remember the name of the psychologist who first presented this, but I know the paper was presented at MIT in 1954. But anyway, he hypothesized that humans could retain a list of seven items before losing more. Now, realize that a ten digit number does not necessarily fall into a ten item category. First of all, we associate area codes, the first three digits with an area and thus chunk those numbers into one item. So for me to remember north Mississippi is under 662 is nearly automatic and easy. In general, we can also remember that a specific area of town has certain prefixes for it, so a number in Starkville will be 323, 324, 325, 320, 338, 320, 615, or 312. These numbers become easier for us to remember if we associate them with their cities. Then the final four digits are the most unique and usually have to be remembered individually, thus becoming the hardest part to remember.
Now, this may not be useful if you try to remember phone numbers for places you are not familiar, but for times like that, they created pencils and paper.
No the voice kill thing was not in the book. Paul and Jessica taught the weirding way to the Fremen, which is a special way of fighting taught by the Bene Gesserit. What do people think of the way this was portrayed in the movie?
I have always been a big fan of the Sci Fi Channel. In recent years, it has gone downhill a bit. Everyone I know agrees that they should have let Sliders die when the O'Connells left. But hey, what can I say, they now seriously have me hooked into their 6PM - 7PM slot. No more Wheel of Fortune and Hollywood Squares for me, it is now Babylon 5 time. If you have not seen this, it just began season three last on December 1st. The great war is beginning, a fine time to start watching the series. Granted, this is not an original series, but Straczynski(sp?) manages to spin a fine tale. Original programming, I personally like First Wave and Invisible Man, but Farscape and Lexx should go.
Did anyone ever see any of the Ghostbusters cartoons written by Straczynski? IMHO, they were the best of the cartoons.
My favorite part of the article is the part where they said his experiment isn't worthy because his credentials were not good. Like a good idea has never come from some non-educated person, and this guy had a degree from John Hopkins. Imagine something like this in our industry where a vast majority of the people don't even have a bachelors degree.
I saw the preview for this book a few months ago in Houghton Mifflin's catalog. I'm glad that you reviewed the book, it gives me a good reason to use that half off discount we get being employees for Houghton. Here is a link to the Houghton Mifflin catalog.
What I worry about is the blatant use of the word "hacker" in the articles. Yet another situation that will put a bad spin on hackers. No matter how many times we insist that the proper term to use is "crackers," they keep coming back with "hackers." Unfortunately, the general public does not hear about the good things that hackers do, such as this or this. If only the media would not blur the line between the two.
Oh, and did you notice that in the articles about M$, it almost sounded like they were talking about a country. You could substitute "nation" in for "company", and it would still make perfect sense.
Vote Libertarian. The only party that wants to treat you like a grown up.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, no...I am not a Scientologist. I am however a member of a religion that gains cult status from many groups, including the current President of the United States. As to the website I linked to, you might want to check things out before posting. The site does have information on Scientology, but it also has information on Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, etc.
As a student who attended a private school, they can enforce restrictions like this. How do they do this, you ask, without violating the Constitution? Well, when your parents agree to send you there, they and you agree to abide by certain rules, hair has to be a certain way, no disparaging remarks about the school, etc. Now when you violate one of these rules, you do not typically get the police called on you, as it is your freedom to say whatever you want as in the case with the website above. However, being a private school, it is their right to kick your ass out for violating a "members only" rule. This is how it is done, and it is not a violation of your right to speak freely.
Geeky
Actually, it all depends on which definition you use of the word cult. If we were using the traditional, theological definition, a cult is a reference to the external rituals of a particular sect of a religion. So a cultish sect, such as the Cult of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church, have open rituals to their worship. The Church of Scientology, if they actually have internal, secret rites would not fall under this definition of cult.
Now, the sociological definition of the term is a religious movement that has a particular tension with society, such as the Branch Davidians who had automatic weapons and stuff. In this case, the Church of Scientology as a cult would not hold because there is not a lot of public tension between regular people and say, Tom Cruise or John Travolta.
Now, other social definitions of cult would fit the Church of Scientology. They are a small religion, they have non-standard practices, and they are not Christians, which is a definition for many Christians.
I prefer to use the first definition because it doesn't single out just non-popular, evil religions. It also has uses regarding people in the RC Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. A much better label for the Church of Scientology is an occultish sect.
For more information on this, try here.
Helsinki is in Finland, Stockholm is in Sweden, Oslo is in Norway, Cobenhagen is in Denmark, and I am in Alabama.
If you are going to call someone and idiot, at least get your info right.
Get Geeky wid'it! Na, na, na, na, nana, na!!
I've got a great idea for patent approval... We can do it the same way that Slashdot moderates posts. When people read through patent applications, have them be able to give them approval with moderation points. Obviously Interesting, Insightful, and Funny could be be accepted patents whilst Troll, Flamebait, and of course Redundant would be patent rejections. Anyone else think this is a great idea?
Real Computer Scientists don't use computers.
Preach on, brother...
I have a CS degree, and the only computer I have is at work.
The way I see it, it all depends on personal preference. I started school as a computer engineering major, mainly because it had the engineering instead of science on the end of it, and besides, the first year of CS and CPE were virtually the same.
The deciding factor occurred when I had to take a class on digital devices and logic design. I enjoyed a good deal of this course, but I hated working on a breadboard. I kind of figured that this was a signe that I was not too keen on the electronic aspect of everything, but I enjoyed the algortighm analysis, algorithm design, etc. of CS.
For me, it turned into which I liked working with most, breadboards or keyboards. Granted with CPE you can do just about everything a CS can do, but call me a wimp, I don't like NAND gates.
The robots name was Johnny 5. He was the fifth in a series of killer, military robots, hence the over the shoulder zapper thingy.
Wow, that would be one small sofa!!!
Sometimes I get a little geeky, and I frignit all over the place.
But we must all beware the perils of Haagen-Daz Day: 2001-03-16 16:33:58
Let me learn what I want to learn, not what you tell me I should know...
The whole idea of a major in college is to allow you to learn what you want to learn. Those required electives are for the sole purpose of educating you, which is the mission of most universities.
Accept their choices or go somewhere else, that simple.
Uh...yeah...try the works of Robert Heinlein.
Yeah, I can't wait for the XFL
This is such a funny case. It brings about one of the more astounding questions in living wherever you happen to live. What does it mean to be an adult. The US magically makes this to be on a person's 18th birthday. I wonder what is so magical about this date that dictates whether someone is a child or someone is an adult. I've seen many people under 18 who act maturely and responsibly and I have seen many older people act irresponsibly. And it is not just the magical 18, it is the magical 21, the magical 25, etc...
I have seen many people who on their 21st birthday, in America, go out for a week straight and get plastered each night. It is not that they haven't been drinking before this, it is that now they can do it by government standards. Imagine, though, if the drinking age were at, say 10, an age where most kids aren't too interested in alcohol. Also imagine a parent who did not deny alcoholic experiences to their kids, but let them make up their own mind and try it for themselves. It may seriously curb the problems of binge drinking that we have in this country. People need to realize that alcohol, sex, and porn are not evil, instead it is the drunk driver, rapist, and pedophile who is evil.
Oh, this is an easy one. Just go pick up a tube of microfan nanotech assemblers and sprinkle them on your CPU. These little buggers go to work and fix any of the broken fans that they find, and then turn into dust which is then cleaned up by the nano-vacuumcleaners that are automatically generated by your computer every twelve hours.
Duh!!!
or
I can't believe they were studying to sterilize mice. I mean, I'm okay with mouse traps, rat poison, cats, etc. But to significantly alter their biological functions just seems unethical to me. All movies we make where some alien race is coming to eradicate humanity, we do not suffer the aliens and happy endings means we kick them off our planet. But if we reverse the roles to be the ones doing the eradication, we call it pest control. No, sir, I don't like it!
These decisions are often made primarily by the Sales & Marketing types who have little knowledge of computers and only fuzzy concepts of what the software is supposed to do or what the users want.
It is so easy to place the blame on the sales & marketing types, but have you ever considered the blame may be on the programmer. If a programmer does not stop a moment and form an argument for a better way of doing something, then he is not doing anything to deal with the issue. I don't know, maybe I am blessed with a very understanding marketing department, but whenever I have come across a problem with how they want things done, all I have had to do was come up with a group of different solutions, explain why it wouldn't work the way they want it, and ask them to choose one of my solutions. If it is the case that I have a decent marketing department working with me, then I feel sorry for you guys, but if the case is that programmers don't bother to offer better solutions to these people, then I'm sorry, you deserve all that you get.
I cannot remember the name of the psychologist who first presented this, but I know the paper was presented at MIT in 1954. But anyway, he hypothesized that humans could retain a list of seven items before losing more. Now, realize that a ten digit number does not necessarily fall into a ten item category. First of all, we associate area codes, the first three digits with an area and thus chunk those numbers into one item. So for me to remember north Mississippi is under 662 is nearly automatic and easy. In general, we can also remember that a specific area of town has certain prefixes for it, so a number in Starkville will be 323, 324, 325, 320, 338, 320, 615, or 312. These numbers become easier for us to remember if we associate them with their cities. Then the final four digits are the most unique and usually have to be remembered individually, thus becoming the hardest part to remember.
Now, this may not be useful if you try to remember phone numbers for places you are not familiar, but for times like that, they created pencils and paper.
No the voice kill thing was not in the book. Paul and Jessica taught the weirding way to the Fremen, which is a special way of fighting taught by the Bene Gesserit. What do people think of the way this was portrayed in the movie?
I have always been a big fan of the Sci Fi Channel. In recent years, it has gone downhill a bit. Everyone I know agrees that they should have let Sliders die when the O'Connells left. But hey, what can I say, they now seriously have me hooked into their 6PM - 7PM slot. No more Wheel of Fortune and Hollywood Squares for me, it is now Babylon 5 time. If you have not seen this, it just began season three last on December 1st. The great war is beginning, a fine time to start watching the series. Granted, this is not an original series, but Straczynski(sp?) manages to spin a fine tale. Original programming, I personally like First Wave and Invisible Man, but Farscape and Lexx should go.
Did anyone ever see any of the Ghostbusters cartoons written by Straczynski? IMHO, they were the best of the cartoons.
My favorite part of the article is the part where they said his experiment isn't worthy because his credentials were not good. Like a good idea has never come from some non-educated person, and this guy had a degree from John Hopkins. Imagine something like this in our industry where a vast majority of the people don't even have a bachelors degree.
I saw the preview for this book a few months ago in Houghton Mifflin's catalog. I'm glad that you reviewed the book, it gives me a good reason to use that half off discount we get being employees for Houghton. Here is a link to the Houghton Mifflin catalog.
I should get a bonus for publicizing my company
The CNN website is listing the recount with this line at the bottom:
Advantage__________Bush__________+362
Wouldn't it be fun to place this up there instead?:
Deuce__________--__________+0
I get a little geeky and frignit all over the place!!!
What I worry about is the blatant use of the word "hacker" in the articles. Yet another situation that will put a bad spin on hackers. No matter how many times we insist that the proper term to use is "crackers," they keep coming back with "hackers." Unfortunately, the general public does not hear about the good things that hackers do, such as this or this. If only the media would not blur the line between the two.
Oh, and did you notice that in the articles about M$, it almost sounded like they were talking about a country. You could substitute "nation" in for "company", and it would still make perfect sense.
Vote Libertarian. The only party that wants to treat you like a grown up.