I'm part of a community, and slashdot ain't it./. is where I go to be an informed geek. My other community is a group of ppl I correspond with via email and irc, of whom I know many members in meatspace and am actually planning on living with some of them.
The difference?
On slashdot, people who talk about their kids get modded down.
I don't know the specifics of the technology: I won't pretend to be a neuroscientist. However, it strikes me as unsafe that a device would sit on top of a kid's head like that, passively scanning their brain... Hell, I browsed the site for the product for a few minutes, actually looking for a clinical description of what the thing does, and couldn't find one. So using sensors of some sort, this thing measures brain activity. What, is it a home EEG?
I'll not be putting this thing on my kid's head anytime soon... he needs to learn to pay attention, he can learn it the same way I did... without headgear.
Now? I hate to break it to you, but if it weren't for the bigger-better-stronger-faster mentality concomitant to the meta-culture of capitalism, we geeks wouldn't exist. Geeks were spawned as technology began to reach beyond the complexity at which a single human could fully understand the complexity of a machine... that means -all- the bells and whistles, from the hardware (be it gears and motors or quietly humming electronics) to all the various kinds of software, from loom patterns (and I'm not talking Jacquard looms, either) to opertating systems. There are geeks because there are people who take advantage of the technology we have, only to create more technology. What, after all, were geeks before the mass advent of megatechnology? Those of us who are educated were the scholars, the mathematicians and the philosophers, and those of us who are not were the shopkeepers, bumbling apprentices, and nobility. Wait, that means geeks are just like everyone else! So of course we've been overtaken by consumerism. It's a viral meme. It propagates itself with little or no effort -- as the Christian missionaries taught indigines that they were "dirty" and "sinful" by demonstrating that their own ways were holy, we show non-capitalist societies that our way is the Right way by purchasing them with technological gadgetry, saying that life is better when you work less.
Life is -easier- when we work less. Easier isn't necessarily better, it's just easier.
If you are worried about the content your children will be viewing while engaged in browsing the internet, take an active role by browsing the internet with them, and thus policing the content they may view.
I can answer that: Yes. My team is currently engaged in deciphering the "Singapore Code," a code base for our company that was written by the French for a Singapore-based project. Try translating from the french when you've no background in the language... *shudder*
However, an uber-coder can read code, regardless of the mother tongue. We're lucky to have one of those on staff, and I'm not so arrogant to say it's me.
If Slashdot articles suck so hard, go do the active research required to dig up a new story. People submit these things. Find something more interesting, and submit it.
Read Indymedia. Al Gore didn't claim to "invent the internet," he claims to have "taken the initiative in creating the internet." The difference? As a congressman, Gore pushed for funding for the development of networking digital communication.
This is old, so no one will likely read this, and not to be redundant, but...
The spectrum is referring to the Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum of the electromagnetic spectrum, by which we propagate our transmissions. The FCC sells certain sections of the EM spectrum to certain utilizations: for instance, the 10m wavelength of radio frequency transmission is used by amateur radio operators.
Lava and Water. So, huge liquid masses are responsible for carving gullies in the surface of the earth. By extension, if you make an atmosphere cold enough that CO2 is liquid, wouldn't the fluid be equally able to cause erosion?
I'm a sysadmin. That's pointless support job #7 in my personal book of pointless jobs, but it pays the bills, and I work for a company that intends to make a difference (albeit a small one). Every year, 400-600 Americans are killed at grade crossings. People simply -don't- survive getting hit by trains.
My company intends to substantially decrease that number.
So yeah, I can say my job is meaningful. I make it possible for my code guys and gals to write the software that stops trains.
But I'm still stressed. Job-related stressors aren't all because a job has no real worth. I make better money than I expected, I live well, and am still stressed remarkably. I doubt that it has to do with my 9-5 work, either. It's the extra hours, the bullshit from other employees, the cellular leash, and the constant low-grade harassment from customers, clients, vendors, and everyone on the team... because things aren't done yesterday. I hate my job... but I can keep doing it for a little while longer, because a) the project is -meaningful- and b) this company is willing to invest in my career in the form of training, certification, and experience.
We're all stressed. We live in America. And depending upon what you do, you'll bitch about it. Who among us wouldn't sit on their ass, or golf, or backpack, or run naked through the hills, if doing so was a feasible means of producing income?
Complexity and chaos theory are different topics, though interrelated. But you're right in the assertion that chaos theory is replete with mind-bending difficulty... and that's why us Math-bois love it.
To sum it up for those/. readers without a history of complexity theory, P and NP represent certain levels of algorithmic complexity: P representing that the algorithm/problem can be solved in polynomial time. For further discussion, take a course on the Theory of Computation.
Actually, there are a number of schools that -are- banning access to Napster, though not for the reason that corporate entities such as Metallica would prefer. Plattsburgh State University, in NY, for instance, banned access to Napster not because they support the Evil Music Industry attempt to stop free trade of music, but because a school of 4000 students served by a single T1 can simply not handle the traffic that Napster tends to bring. This is about the only reason I can see that a school would have reason to ban access to Napster, or gnutella, or other similar services... bandwidth limitations.
1) Do you believe corporations should have a watchdog to look over them?
I disagree fundamentally with the corporate paradigm. They don't need a watchdog, they need a wrecking ball.
2) How about a watchdog for government?
We're supposed to have that. It's supposed to be called "The Supreme Court." They're the 12 that are meant to keep Congressional law Constitutional, starting from the body of the document, and working forward from Amendment 1.
The problem with a preventative law enforcement agency is that you have to identify the criminals before you can stop them. How do you do it without impinging on personal freedom?
Refinement: The government had a watchdog in the form of wiretap law. The laws governing its use are well-defined, however, whereas the new technology of Carnivore as of yet has no legal restrictions... to the best of my knowledge.
The assertion that "the 16 Myers-Briggs types cover all of the human condition" is erroneous. Psychology, as it is practiced within "Western" civilization, is invalid outside that cultural context. Since a portion of the "human condition" exists outside of Westernized society, it cannot be held under the consideration of the Myers-Briggs personality typing. Now, if a psychologist develops a psychology around the way a particular indigenous culture thinks and interprets the world, maybe then an analog of the MB will come about that holds for that separate culture.
It all comes down to perspective. Psychology holds the MB as accurate since both operate within the meta-culture of capitalism. Take a person outside this meta-culture, raise them in a different paradigm, and then psychoanalyze them according to the dictums of capitalist/consumerist meta-culture, and you'll pull curve-breaking data.
And as far as saying that "reality and scientific fact remain unchanging," you assume an Objective Truth. What version of history dictates Truth, yours or mine? It is scientific fact that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. However, scientists have recently reported findings in faster-than-light motion of particles.
Define the abstract and you open yourself to debate...
--
According to the Meyers-Briggs... nothing. Details of personality aren't necessarily born into us -- while some of us just happen to be wired introverted, some are wired extroverted, and still others transcend all of that "I'm born this way" crap. My score on the M-B came back as INTP... and yes, I'm in the industry. I'm also a poet and a social butterfly. Meyers-Briggs is only one facet, remember? --
Slashdot Mirror
I'm part of a community, and slashdot ain't it. /. is where I go to be an informed geek. My other community is a group of ppl I correspond with via email and irc, of whom I know many members in meatspace and am actually planning on living with some of them.
The difference?
On slashdot, people who talk about their kids get modded down.
I'm a geek. I'm interested in nano-tech. I'm also an outdoorsman. So, yes.
I don't know the specifics of the technology: I won't pretend to be a neuroscientist. However, it strikes me as unsafe that a device would sit on top of a kid's head like that, passively scanning their brain... Hell, I browsed the site for the product for a few minutes, actually looking for a clinical description of what the thing does, and couldn't find one. So using sensors of some sort, this thing measures brain activity. What, is it a home EEG?
I'll not be putting this thing on my kid's head anytime soon... he needs to learn to pay attention, he can learn it the same way I did... without headgear.
Now? I hate to break it to you, but if it weren't for the bigger-better-stronger-faster mentality concomitant to the meta-culture of capitalism, we geeks wouldn't exist. Geeks were spawned as technology began to reach beyond the complexity at which a single human could fully understand the complexity of a machine... that means -all- the bells and whistles, from the hardware (be it gears and motors or quietly humming electronics) to all the various kinds of software, from loom patterns (and I'm not talking Jacquard looms, either) to opertating systems. There are geeks because there are people who take advantage of the technology we have, only to create more technology. What, after all, were geeks before the mass advent of megatechnology? Those of us who are educated were the scholars, the mathematicians and the philosophers, and those of us who are not were the shopkeepers, bumbling apprentices, and nobility. Wait, that means geeks are just like everyone else! So of course we've been overtaken by consumerism. It's a viral meme. It propagates itself with little or no effort -- as the Christian missionaries taught indigines that they were "dirty" and "sinful" by demonstrating that their own ways were holy, we show non-capitalist societies that our way is the Right way by purchasing them with technological gadgetry, saying that life is better when you work less.
Life is -easier- when we work less. Easier isn't necessarily better, it's just easier.
End Rant.
Go to the grocery store nearest you and buy a bottle of citric-acid based cleanser. That stuff is the glue-killer.
Nothing like irony, huh? You spelled "idiots" wrong.
If you are worried about the content your children will be viewing while engaged in browsing the internet, take an active role by browsing the internet with them, and thus policing the content they may view.
Ya'll are bloody perverted.
I can answer that: Yes. My team is currently engaged in deciphering the "Singapore Code," a code base for our company that was written by the French for a Singapore-based project. Try translating from the french when you've no background in the language... *shudder*
However, an uber-coder can read code, regardless of the mother tongue. We're lucky to have one of those on staff, and I'm not so arrogant to say it's me.
Adequate solution, too, except that it does nothing about greyscale or tinted images. Look at goth nudes: most are greyscale, for the aesthetic.
I still say that if you have beef with kids on the net, sit with them while they surf.
If Slashdot articles suck so hard, go do the active research required to dig up a new story. People submit these things. Find something more interesting, and submit it.
Read Indymedia. Al Gore didn't claim to "invent the internet," he claims to have "taken the initiative in creating the internet." The difference? As a congressman, Gore pushed for funding for the development of networking digital communication.
And I'm still not voting for him.
This is old, so no one will likely read this, and not to be redundant, but...
The spectrum is referring to the Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum of the electromagnetic spectrum, by which we propagate our transmissions. The FCC sells certain sections of the EM spectrum to certain utilizations: for instance, the 10m wavelength of radio frequency transmission is used by amateur radio operators.
Lava and Water. So, huge liquid masses are responsible for carving gullies in the surface of the earth. By extension, if you make an atmosphere cold enough that CO2 is liquid, wouldn't the fluid be equally able to cause erosion?
I'm a sysadmin. That's pointless support job #7 in my personal book of pointless jobs, but it pays the bills, and I work for a company that intends to make a difference (albeit a small one). Every year, 400-600 Americans are killed at grade crossings. People simply -don't- survive getting hit by trains.
My company intends to substantially decrease that number.
So yeah, I can say my job is meaningful. I make it possible for my code guys and gals to write the software that stops trains.
But I'm still stressed. Job-related stressors aren't all because a job has no real worth. I make better money than I expected, I live well, and am still stressed remarkably. I doubt that it has to do with my 9-5 work, either. It's the extra hours, the bullshit from other employees, the cellular leash, and the constant low-grade harassment from customers, clients, vendors, and everyone on the team... because things aren't done yesterday. I hate my job... but I can keep doing it for a little while longer, because a) the project is -meaningful- and b) this company is willing to invest in my career in the form of training, certification, and experience.
We're all stressed. We live in America. And depending upon what you do, you'll bitch about it. Who among us wouldn't sit on their ass, or golf, or backpack, or run naked through the hills, if doing so was a feasible means of producing income?
Complexity and chaos theory are different topics, though interrelated. But you're right in the assertion that chaos theory is replete with mind-bending difficulty... and that's why us Math-bois love it.
To sum it up for those /. readers without a history of complexity theory, P and NP represent certain levels of algorithmic complexity: P representing that the algorithm/problem can be solved in polynomial time. For further discussion, take a course on the Theory of Computation.
"Let us assume that you are a member of Congress. Now, let us assume that you are an idiot. But I repeat myself." -- M. Twain.
Awww dammit, now that you've suggested it, some microsoft bithead is going to read this and talk to management about -doing- it. --
Actually, there are a number of schools that -are- banning access to Napster, though not for the reason that corporate entities such as Metallica would prefer. Plattsburgh State University, in NY, for instance, banned access to Napster not because they support the Evil Music Industry attempt to stop free trade of music, but because a school of 4000 students served by a single T1 can simply not handle the traffic that Napster tends to bring. This is about the only reason I can see that a school would have reason to ban access to Napster, or gnutella, or other similar services... bandwidth limitations.
1) Do you believe corporations should have a watchdog to look over them?
I disagree fundamentally with the corporate paradigm. They don't need a watchdog, they need a wrecking ball. 2) How about a watchdog for government?
We're supposed to have that. It's supposed to be called "The Supreme Court." They're the 12 that are meant to keep Congressional law Constitutional, starting from the body of the document, and working forward from Amendment 1.
The problem with a preventative law enforcement agency is that you have to identify the criminals before you can stop them. How do you do it without impinging on personal freedom?
Refinement: The government had a watchdog in the form of wiretap law. The laws governing its use are well-defined, however, whereas the new technology of Carnivore as of yet has no legal restrictions... to the best of my knowledge.
The assertion that "the 16 Myers-Briggs types cover all of the human condition" is erroneous. Psychology, as it is practiced within "Western" civilization, is invalid outside that cultural context. Since a portion of the "human condition" exists outside of Westernized society, it cannot be held under the consideration of the Myers-Briggs personality typing. Now, if a psychologist develops a psychology around the way a particular indigenous culture thinks and interprets the world, maybe then an analog of the MB will come about that holds for that separate culture.
It all comes down to perspective. Psychology holds the MB as accurate since both operate within the meta-culture of capitalism. Take a person outside this meta-culture, raise them in a different paradigm, and then psychoanalyze them according to the dictums of capitalist/consumerist meta-culture, and you'll pull curve-breaking data.
And as far as saying that "reality and scientific fact remain unchanging," you assume an Objective Truth. What version of history dictates Truth, yours or mine? It is scientific fact that nothing can move faster than the speed of light. However, scientists have recently reported findings in faster-than-light motion of particles.
Define the abstract and you open yourself to debate...
--
According to the Meyers-Briggs... nothing. Details of personality aren't necessarily born into us -- while some of us just happen to be wired introverted, some are wired extroverted, and still others transcend all of that "I'm born this way" crap. My score on the M-B came back as INTP... and yes, I'm in the industry. I'm also a poet and a social butterfly. Meyers-Briggs is only one facet, remember?
--