Forgive me if I'm missing the point, but I can't see that choosing a hard disk on its noise production is in any way sensible. Surely the key factor is performance either in terms of speed, or if on a budget, whether one goes for a larger size which runs at a slower speed. Noise surely must be the most insignificant of all factors.
course I know it is... whilst it may not be true, it's just an amusing exaggeration of what does happen in the NASA space projects- the sheer amount of money spent on arguably fairly futile things. I'm still doing high school physics, and yes I do sleep through it because otherwise it gets boring. Next year Im going off to Oxford to actually read physics, so then maybe I'll be able to write things with a bit more authority;)
1. Large, loft-style apartments in New York City are well within the price range of most people - whether they are employed or not. 2. At least one of a pair of identical twins is born evil. 3. Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don't worry which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one. 4. Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communications system of any invading alien society. 5. It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts; your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors. 6. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish. 7. If you are a blonde and pretty, it is possible to become a world expert on nuclear fission at the age of 22. 8. Honest and hardworking policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before their retirement. 9. Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their archenemies using complicated machinery involving fuses, pulley systems, deadly gasses, lasers, and man eating sharks, which will allow their captives at least 20 minutes to escape. 10. All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets that reach the armpit level on a woman, but only to the waist level on the man lying beside her. 11. All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread. 12. It's easy for anyone to land a plane, provided there is someone in the control tower to talk you down. 13. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off - even while scuba diving. 14. You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home. 15. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German or Russian officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German or Russian accent will do. 16. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris. 17. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating, but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds. 18. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long. 19. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noise in their most revealing underwear. 20. Word processors never display a cursor on the screen but will always say: "Enter password now." 21. Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments. 22. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readout's so you know exactly when they're going to go off. 23. A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty. 24. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you meet will know all the steps. 25. Police departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is the total opposite. 26. When they are alone, all foreign military officers prefer to speak to each other in English.
Thought for the day: THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in 0 gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300C.
nature.com has this story about it too. Seems fairly closely matched with the displayed link.
Re:Why /.?
on
Project Eden
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Dare I say this, but er, what did you expect? Basically all it is, and all in claims to be, is one giant greenhouse. Of all the projects that the UK undertook for the millennium, the Eden project has undoubtedly got to be the most successful, but in terms of innovation and drawing visitors.
As for a tropical biome being a bit hot and humid, well that's what the plants need, that's why they're not outside, and thats why you go and see them inside the biome in the correct conditions for their growth. Ice cream too expensive? You tried buying it at the cinema these days? Of course it's a rip off, that's why you take along your own bottle of water. European plants are outside because England is in Europe, so has the right conditions for those plants outdoors, because that's where they are meant to grow!
£9.50 is an extremely reasonable price for any attraction nowadays. It is a good day out for the price of a pizza and coke in a cheap restaurant. I think perhaps you went along with your hopes too high. You expect to see plants, and that's what you got. I for one was really extrememly impressed and have recommended many people to give serious thought to a visit there.
The article is needless to say stating the obvious, but it is nevertheless drawing attention to an increasing problem as more people use computers, more people use simple passwords.
I think this is particularly the case with novice users- speaking from experience my first use of a password was the school computer system. Firstly, in the first term we were not allowed to change our password from "password"! Then we were told to think up something a bit random that you wouldn't forget- well how was I meant to do that- something random _is_ hard to remember. So I use my middle name. This remained unchanged for a long long long time, until my hacking boyfriend decided to hack into my school network and easily worked it out. It was only then that I decided to change to the serial number on my mouse.
So really, novice computer users simply do not see the need to choose good passwords- who's going to go hacking into the system anyway? Paranoid about credit card usage perhaps, but average users like myself generally don't think too much about anything else. It is here that the problem lies.
"(1) Take Interest in your kids dammit. No matter how important your work is, family always come first. Get your friggin priorities straight."
Letting your children or teenagers use the internet by themselves is not necessarily due to a lack of parental interest. Often it is an escape from the overly interested parents that a child can finally have the freedom and privacy s/he craves for through personal use of the internet.
"(2) Ask yourself whether your kid needs a computer that soon. And why. Books might be better."
We all need computers. Firstly, young children use them invaluably as educational resources where books are seen as "boring". A dyslexic child will find it very hard to read a book, but an interactive program can help enourmously build confidence back by removing the difficulties the child experiences in being restricted to books. Older children need to learn computing skills for later work, and for effective use of resources. A school project on solar energy would take hours of trauling through useless books in a library often several miles away, where learning how to effectively search the internet can produce useful information in minutes.
"(3) Take the computer to the living room and out of the kids bedrooms. Keep a watch over what they do."
A computer in the living room? What is this world coming to? Televisions are ugly enough, but a computer being encouraged to become an integral part of family life? Children need privacy. Parents wanting to read emails is just as insulting as them opening your letters. I'm sure you can remember the absolute fury and feeling of lack of trust when your parents cannot leave a child or teenager to write their own emails.
To be honest, children under 12 are not interested in porn and cannot type fast enough to enjoy chat properly. The most we can do is encourage written communication through email- I sincerely doubt children would be writing letters by hand to each other so emailing is wonderful for encouraging this. Teenagers need their freedom so long as it is informed.
Teenagers chatting is perhaps more of a concern than young children. I know only too well that it is easy to think you have found the perfect partner on the internet, particularly if you are having difficulties in real life friendships. When I was 16 I met a guy off the internet who was 20. I'd never had a bf, and never kissed a boy. I met him in London, 50 miles from home, telling my parents I'd gone to the local town to meet friends. He took me to a park and did everything to me except actual sex, and I let him because I was too afraid.
So why did I not tell my parents? Because with all the hype about 40 year old men claiming to be 17, they would never have let me. I asked, they said no. Paranoia can work against parents. If my parents had been less against internet chat, an arrangement could have been made where the guy came to my house with my parents always there.
How did I end up giving him my phone number? Well, I trusted him, and what could he do with a phone number? Okay I now have a strange guy from texas phoning me (in England) pronouncing my name wrong claiming he loves me every few months, but it's not exactly harassment.
So what do I think should happen? Stop parents becoming paranoid! It simply accentuates the distance between the child and the parent. The child feels trust towards those s/he chats to, and the parent feeling convinced whoever it is s/he chats to is a serial rapist does not help. Teenagers who use chat feel like they have finally made real friends. Real friends chat on the phone, meet up occasionally and have a good time. Parents must try to understand this, and should two children decide to meet, then simple precautions must be taken. Other than that, children should be encouraged to chat on the internet. I have talked to many interesting people, ordinary people, culturally different people and males and females of all ages, and I can only say that it has enriched me and my ability to understand people in the real world too. Lastly, I totally agree with (4):-)
Heh I just submitted this story. Oh well. Here's the link I used for the NewScientist version. I guess the most interesting thing about this is the theory of shrink-wrapping. I think most of the rest of it is just speculation.
I really hope this doesn't get modded down, but I have to say that the world itself is, well, pretty unchanged. Contrary to the belief of apparently nearly every American alive, America does not constitute the whole world apart from the Middle East.
America seems to have adopted the 9/11 tragedy as a tragedy for the world. It is not. It is a tragedy for those in the WTC. Of course we sympathise for those. I don't know the exact figures, but less than 4000 people died. How many people do you think there are who are starving, dying of famine, etc etc? I'm sorry, you do not merit our totally undivided sympathy.
Americans seem to think that they are so powerful that a terrorist attack on them is a terrorist attack on the civilised world. This is simply not true. It is a terrorist attack on America, and nothing more. What gives America the right to assume that the whole world is hugely affected by what happens to them? I can certainly say that absolutely nothing has changed here.
I hate to be so totally against America like this, but I cannot help but feel that you've got to realise that there's a lot of other non-Middle-East countries out there who remain unaffected and who do not have such a superiority complex about themselves as to assume that they reflect the feelings of the world. As for the Middle East itself, well they have their opinions too, and they're not so uncivilised as you might think.
I also have keratoconus, in its moderate-adanced stage. I'm 17. I haven't yet had a transplant but wear contact lenses which gets my vision up to 20/60. I've found theKCenter Website a real help- particularly the message boards. As far as monitors are concerned, well I'm not exactly full of money, so I just put up with having 640*480 res and I find that if you stop white being the default colour background for things it stops the double vision appearing quite so accutely.
I have to say that I am honestly surprised by this result. I have decided to put it down to a few things
1) The novelty has worn off. With the sudden surge in Internet users, there were suddenly a mass of inexperienced users all trying to get the most from this new medium for information and communication. The idea that it is for everyone and everyone can do what they like on it was extremely powerful. Up popped lots of pages of ordinary people. Now most people are used to the internet, they are starting to use it as a tool rather than an experiment. Hence they use it more specifically, and so for less time.
2) People have learnt that whilst writing your email, you don't actually have to be online. They now write to their friends offline, and go online for the two minutes only to send it.
3) People have got rather nasty phonebills. They realise "ah, so this internet isn't really free" and don't use it so much.
4) People are getting more experienced with the internet, and spend less time looking on useless websites.
5) Dare I say that, well, it's boring! It takes people a while to realise that whilst the internet is a marvellous thing, it's not really that useful for every day living just yet.
Classical music does use computers for composition. Many musicians use Sibelius software to write down their compositions.
True, a computer can never compare to a live performance, particularly as far as solo work is concerned. However some of the recent top British musicians have been working to produce purely synthesised classical music. As one whose father owns the main woodwind company and producer of oboes in the UK, (shameless plug for Howarths)I know that a top oboist, Malcolm Messiter, produced a totally synthesised orchestra "The Virtual Orchestra". My father brought the cd home one night and put it on. I merely thought it was an poor recording and performance on terrible instruments. We tested it out on everyone we had to dinner- nobody made comment and all were astounded that it was totally synthesised.
So computers can be used much more than you think in real "classical" music in addition to the obvious uses in popular music.
1) From the poll about age, a significant proportion of your viewers are under 18, and therefore using paypal is a real problem. Myself being british and under 18 makes things even more complicated because I only have a british debit card.
2) If I were to be able to pay, I'd probably go for the scheme of being able to see the present smaller adds and more pages. I think this is a sensible comprimise which will not cause too many difficulties.
other than that, I have no objection to the subscription idea. I am very disappointed admittedly, somehow I can't help but feel it goes against/. philosophy, but it seems inevitable. I hope slashdotters stay loyal.
I'd like to second this support. When I have used Amazon, it has been because of the ease with which I can obtain books which I otherwise have to travel a long way to buy, or have had difficulty buying.
I am very pleased they have at last turned over a profit, no matter how small, as I can only praise their company. Books have always arrived within the expected delivery dates, and it is just so simple and convenient. Whenever I have ordered books from bookshops in the past, there have always been some sort of complication: the wrong edition, it is out of print with a particular publisher, the assistant orders the wrong book.
I really hope that Amazon continue to improve upon their success and improve integrity, as if eery-day consumers are to find confidence within using the internet for shopping, banking, etc, they need a competitive, stable, reliable and reputable company whom they can trust initially- I think Amazon fits that perfectly!
Please don't get me wrong, but I think being young surrounded by older people it is often easy to think they must be singuling you out because of your age, rather than perhaps other problems- reliability, suitability for the job...
I am not for one moment suggesting that you are unreliable, but I am wondering how much you are dismissing the problem without further consideration. If you have the relevant experience, qualifications and good work ethic there is absolutely no reason why age should be a difficulty, particularly as an employer merely wants the best staff possible, irrespective of whether they are young, old, different religion, race etc etc. An employer will not jeopodise his company purely in discriminate grounds, and I feel sure that your perhaps imminent dismissal will be for other grounds.
It would seem strange that they could overlook a problem such as age when you first got the job for it to be a problem now. It may simply be used as an easy excuse for your dismissal, had you not been young another difficulty would have been used as the reason.
I hope you do not find this post too accusing, I simply think that people are too ready to point their fingers directly at one cause- that of discrimination, rather than look around the problem. It is not for us at slashdot to speculate reasons and give advice as to how to overcome these difficulties, since we cannot possibly know the nature of yourself, your work, and your employers.
Firstly a quick explanation of who I am: I'm 17/f windows user with a linux-mad bf. I'd never even heard of linux or any other operating systems other than doze and macs before. As windows users go, I consider myself fairly competent, but of course not an expert. I know how to use software packages, I'm developing a strong hatred of MS products and I spend my life on irc. So basically I come from the standard home computer user environment.
Now as one who is just a normal computer user, I can say truthfully that I do not use help files at all- they have never sorted out the problem since they don't suggest anything that I haven't tried before. As far as manuals and documentation are concerned, I have consulted them occasionally if I specifically can't find a feature I want, but again as far as trouble shooting is concerned, they have never worked. Anything to do with hardware installation is a bit of an "ah scary get bf to do it" area. I did proudly install my modem though:)
So getting to the point, if we are trying to get users to move to linux, the very first thing is let them hear about it! Nobody has heard of it! I'm not just being extreme, but I hadn't heard of it, nobody at school has heard of it, my parents certainly have not heard of it, and in an A level IT text book (I don't do IT but I was curious so I looked) it gets one mention under the operating systems bit, whereas MS OSs gets several pages. Is it any wonder very few non-geeks uses it?
The stigma is not about linux being for geeks only. People love their computers, love having fancy desktops and something slightly different (such as using winamp rather than the windows media player). People start on MSN messenger then go to ICQ because it's different. So they are just waiting for a different operating system too, just they have not heard of it. Perhaps if it was offered pre-installed on computers like windows is then people might well opt for it.
There is however a huge fear about going non-MS. There is a huge fear about the installation, and whether anyone will be able to help them if things go wrong. Perhaps this is why I myself have not progressed to linux. My reasons would not be that I need it for coding, it's just that it's different, I like the idea of it being non-MS, and it just looks so cool! So perhaps I am your typical example of one who is considering linux but not actually making the step.
So my reasons for windows over linux? It's simply that I'm afraid of the transition, and of messing up my computer. The reasion I'm afraid is because I no nobody in real life (my bf is miles away) who can help me and actually come round and sort out my problems. So the problem isn't really the documentation as such- windows users never use it, it's the fact that should something go wrong there is nobody to help, only the internet, which whilst is very helpful, if you're not sure what the problem is at all, its virtually impossible to find help.
I very much remember my first email. It was my first IT lesson at school 5 years ago. We set up hotmail accounts and to this day I still use it for emails to friends. I remember the painstaking trouble of learning what a link was, and how it could possibly work- the internet was some sort of surreal supernatural thing you connected to through a modem. And what on earth did I want to use the internet for? "searching" said the guy next door, but I didn't have anything to search for. Was that all it could do? I used the computers mainly for email after that, the web was still somewhat of a mystery and its uses were not to become apparent for another year or two.
After email came about a month of yahoo chat rooms, then I progressed to icq, then irc where I learnt most of my knowledge about computers. Interestingly my range of friends started off very wide- people from hawaii, honk kong, malaysia and the states (I'm british). Now I mostly chat to UK friends. It was through IRC that I learnt about computers- usenet and then this thing called linux which by this time I just had to try. And so I'm here now not quite geek since I can't code except html. But without a doubt the reason I first used computers was for email, so thankyou to its inventor for more or less changing my life.
This news is also written about in NewScientist here.
I submitted the story yesterday but obviously I was beaten to it, sigh, so people might also be interested in the HumanMarkup.org website dedicated to the language also.
A story like this was posted back in december with the top 15 pc games. they rated it as (15 down to one)
Wing Commander
Ultima III: Exodus
Alone in the Dark
Ultima Online
Tomb Raider
Falcon 3.0
SimCity
Half-Life
Civilization
Diablo
Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
King's Quest IV: Perils of Rosella
Myst
Doom
Quake
Interesting to make the comparison as to which of these pc games rate well when compared with other consoles etc.
Re:People only learn what they're ready to learn
on
Joy of Linux
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· Score: 1
Just my penny's worth of my experience. I've been following/. for well over a year but confess to still being a windows user. The main reason why I haven't got linux? I can't install it, firstly because I've only got a 2gb hd, and I'd need both doze and linux so it'd be a bit tight, and secondly because I can't afford to mess up the install and I'm afraid of doing it. Call me lame, look down on me, you have every right to, but an awful lot of people like me exist.
I met a friend on icq who is a linux geek, and we were talking about how I knew nothing about computers (I really didnt- "name some operating systems" "...er...windows...mac...um...")but was desperate to learn. He simply told me to read/., which I have done ritually since, posting occasionally, hey I've even got a karma of 15 and lost count of the times I've had moderator points. And I have learnt from/. more than I could have hoped. I've learnt about the whole open source thing, and yes I'm a newbie in every respect, but every day I'm learning, and that's what/. is for.
Nearly every book will have some sort of audience for which it is entirely suitable, and just like you need the mixture of stories on/. to appeal to different people, you need a variety of books, both light hearted and serious, to maintain a widespread interest in a subject and to keep it alive.
What don't we understand about Hydrogen that should stop research being done into the existence of new atoms? I believe we have the Schrodinger wave equation sorted out for it, along with a huge list of properties. Of course we cant understand to the same extent larger atoms, but knowing their existence can only be good surely.
I set up a hotmail account about 3 years ago, and used it on practically everything. It was myrealname@hotmail.com, and after 2 years of postings just about everywhere with no attempts so protect it, I still didn't recieve a single bit of spam- I really genuinely couldnt see what the fuss about spam actually was. After my first year or so of using this hotmail address I decided I really did not like using my real name everywhere, and subsequently I have a number of email addresses for personal use, and one for things such as/. headlines etc. I rarely used my hotmail account on usenet posts etc as I had dedicated addresses for posting-related emails etc. And then this January completely out of the blue it started- I get a minimum of 6 spam emails a day into my hotmail now. I suppose I was just lucky to keep a clean account for so long posting the address so widely.
According to the article, this is the second bright feature to be found on Titan with the new optical system employed. The image accompanying the article really does seem to clearly show this apparent land mass or continent, however there is no evidence of the first bright feature. Presumeably this is on the other side of the moon. It would be interesting to note where the two apparent masses are in relation to eachother- if they are directly opposite this might lead to a different explanation of their existence than if they were apparently randomly occuring.
Slashdot Mirror
Forgive me if I'm missing the point, but I can't see that choosing a hard disk on its noise production is in any way sensible. Surely the key factor is performance either in terms of speed, or if on a budget, whether one goes for a larger size which runs at a slower speed. Noise surely must be the most insignificant of all factors.
course I know it is... whilst it may not be true, it's just an amusing exaggeration of what does happen in the NASA space projects- the sheer amount of money spent on arguably fairly futile things. I'm still doing high school physics, and yes I do sleep through it because otherwise it gets boring. Next year Im going off to Oxford to actually read physics, so then maybe I'll be able to write things with a bit more authority ;)
1. Large, loft-style apartments in New York City are well within the price range of most people - whether they are employed or not.
2. At least one of a pair of identical twins is born evil.
3. Should you decide to defuse a bomb, don't worry which wire to cut. You will always choose the right one.
4. Most laptop computers are powerful enough to override the communications system of any invading alien society.
5. It does not matter if you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts; your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.
6. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.
7. If you are a blonde and pretty, it is possible to become a world expert on nuclear fission at the age of 22.
8. Honest and hardworking policemen are traditionally gunned down three days before their retirement.
9. Rather than wasting bullets, megalomaniacs prefer to kill their archenemies using complicated machinery involving fuses, pulley systems, deadly gasses, lasers, and man eating sharks, which will allow their captives at least 20 minutes to escape.
10. All beds have special L-shaped cover sheets that reach the armpit level on a woman, but only to the waist level on the man lying beside her.
11. All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of French bread.
12. It's easy for anyone to land a plane, provided there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.
13. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off - even while scuba diving.
14. You're very likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
15. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German or Russian officer, it will not be necessary to speak the language. A German or Russian accent will do.
16. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
17. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating, but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
18. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.
19. If staying in a haunted house, women should investigate any strange noise in their most revealing underwear.
20. Word processors never display a cursor on the screen but will always say: "Enter password now."
21. Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few moments.
22. All bombs are fitted with electronic timing devices with large red readout's so you know exactly when they're going to go off.
23. A detective can only solve a case once he has been suspended from duty.
24. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you meet will know all the steps.
25. Police departments give their officers personality tests to make sure they are deliberately assigned a partner who is the total opposite.
26. When they are alone, all foreign military officers prefer to speak to each other in English.
Thought for the day:
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in 0 gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300C.
The Russians used a pencil
nature.com has this story about it too. Seems fairly closely matched with the displayed link.
Dare I say this, but er, what did you expect? Basically all it is, and all in claims to be, is one giant greenhouse. Of all the projects that the UK undertook for the millennium, the Eden project has undoubtedly got to be the most successful, but in terms of innovation and drawing visitors.
As for a tropical biome being a bit hot and humid, well that's what the plants need, that's why they're not outside, and thats why you go and see them inside the biome in the correct conditions for their growth. Ice cream too expensive? You tried buying it at the cinema these days? Of course it's a rip off, that's why you take along your own bottle of water. European plants are outside because England is in Europe, so has the right conditions for those plants outdoors, because that's where they are meant to grow!
£9.50 is an extremely reasonable price for any attraction nowadays. It is a good day out for the price of a pizza and coke in a cheap restaurant. I think perhaps you went along with your hopes too high. You expect to see plants, and that's what you got. I for one was really extrememly impressed and have recommended many people to give serious thought to a visit there.
The article is needless to say stating the obvious, but it is nevertheless drawing attention to an increasing problem as more people use computers, more people use simple passwords.
I think this is particularly the case with novice users- speaking from experience my first use of a password was the school computer system. Firstly, in the first term we were not allowed to change our password from "password"! Then we were told to think up something a bit random that you wouldn't forget- well how was I meant to do that- something random _is_ hard to remember. So I use my middle name. This remained unchanged for a long long long time, until my hacking boyfriend decided to hack into my school network and easily worked it out. It was only then that I decided to change to the serial number on my mouse.
So really, novice computer users simply do not see the need to choose good passwords- who's going to go hacking into the system anyway? Paranoid about credit card usage perhaps, but average users like myself generally don't think too much about anything else. It is here that the problem lies.
I'll take this bit by bit.
:-)
"(1) Take Interest in your kids dammit. No matter how important your work is, family always come first. Get your friggin priorities straight."
Letting your children or teenagers use the internet by themselves is not necessarily due to a lack of parental interest. Often it is an escape from the overly interested parents that a child can finally have the freedom and privacy s/he craves for through personal use of the internet.
"(2) Ask yourself whether your kid needs a computer that soon. And why. Books might be better."
We all need computers. Firstly, young children use them invaluably as educational resources where books are seen as "boring". A dyslexic child will find it very hard to read a book, but an interactive program can help enourmously build confidence back by removing the difficulties the child experiences in being restricted to books. Older children need to learn computing skills for later work, and for effective use of resources. A school project on solar energy would take hours of trauling through useless books in a library often several miles away, where learning how to effectively search the internet can produce useful information in minutes.
"(3) Take the computer to the living room and out of the kids bedrooms. Keep a watch over what they do."
A computer in the living room? What is this world coming to? Televisions are ugly enough, but a computer being encouraged to become an integral part of family life? Children need privacy. Parents wanting to read emails is just as insulting as them opening your letters. I'm sure you can remember the absolute fury and feeling of lack of trust when your parents cannot leave a child or teenager to write their own emails.
To be honest, children under 12 are not interested in porn and cannot type fast enough to enjoy chat properly. The most we can do is encourage written communication through email- I sincerely doubt children would be writing letters by hand to each other so emailing is wonderful for encouraging this. Teenagers need their freedom so long as it is informed.
Teenagers chatting is perhaps more of a concern than young children. I know only too well that it is easy to think you have found the perfect partner on the internet, particularly if you are having difficulties in real life friendships. When I was 16 I met a guy off the internet who was 20. I'd never had a bf, and never kissed a boy. I met him in London, 50 miles from home, telling my parents I'd gone to the local town to meet friends. He took me to a park and did everything to me except actual sex, and I let him because I was too afraid.
So why did I not tell my parents? Because with all the hype about 40 year old men claiming to be 17, they would never have let me. I asked, they said no. Paranoia can work against parents. If my parents had been less against internet chat, an arrangement could have been made where the guy came to my house with my parents always there.
How did I end up giving him my phone number? Well, I trusted him, and what could he do with a phone number? Okay I now have a strange guy from texas phoning me (in England) pronouncing my name wrong claiming he loves me every few months, but it's not exactly harassment.
So what do I think should happen? Stop parents becoming paranoid! It simply accentuates the distance between the child and the parent. The child feels trust towards those s/he chats to, and the parent feeling convinced whoever it is s/he chats to is a serial rapist does not help. Teenagers who use chat feel like they have finally made real friends. Real friends chat on the phone, meet up occasionally and have a good time. Parents must try to understand this, and should two children decide to meet, then simple precautions must be taken. Other than that, children should be encouraged to chat on the internet. I have talked to many interesting people, ordinary people, culturally different people and males and females of all ages, and I can only say that it has enriched me and my ability to understand people in the real world too. Lastly, I totally agree with (4)
Heh I just submitted this story. Oh well.
Here's the link I used for the NewScientist version. I guess the most interesting thing about this is the theory of shrink-wrapping. I think most of the rest of it is just speculation.
I really hope this doesn't get modded down, but I have to say that the world itself is, well, pretty unchanged. Contrary to the belief of apparently nearly every American alive, America does not constitute the whole world apart from the Middle East.
America seems to have adopted the 9/11 tragedy as a tragedy for the world. It is not. It is a tragedy for those in the WTC. Of course we sympathise for those. I don't know the exact figures, but less than 4000 people died. How many people do you think there are who are starving, dying of famine, etc etc? I'm sorry, you do not merit our totally undivided sympathy.
Americans seem to think that they are so powerful that a terrorist attack on them is a terrorist attack on the civilised world. This is simply not true. It is a terrorist attack on America, and nothing more. What gives America the right to assume that the whole world is hugely affected by what happens to them? I can certainly say that absolutely nothing has changed here.
I hate to be so totally against America like this, but I cannot help but feel that you've got to realise that there's a lot of other non-Middle-East countries out there who remain unaffected and who do not have such a superiority complex about themselves as to assume that they reflect the feelings of the world. As for the Middle East itself, well they have their opinions too, and they're not so uncivilised as you might think.
I also have keratoconus, in its moderate-adanced stage. I'm 17. I haven't yet had a transplant but wear contact lenses which gets my vision up to 20/60. I've found theKCenter Website a real help- particularly the message boards.
As far as monitors are concerned, well I'm not exactly full of money, so I just put up with having 640*480 res and I find that if you stop white being the default colour background for things it stops the double vision appearing quite so accutely.
I have to say that I am honestly surprised by this result. I have decided to put it down to a few things
1) The novelty has worn off.
With the sudden surge in Internet users, there were suddenly a mass of inexperienced users all trying to get the most from this new medium for information and communication. The idea that it is for everyone and everyone can do what they like on it was extremely powerful. Up popped lots of pages of ordinary people. Now most people are used to the internet, they are starting to use it as a tool rather than an experiment. Hence they use it more specifically, and so for less time.
2) People have learnt that whilst writing your email, you don't actually have to be online. They now write to their friends offline, and go online for the two minutes only to send it.
3) People have got rather nasty phonebills. They realise "ah, so this internet isn't really free" and don't use it so much.
4) People are getting more experienced with the internet, and spend less time looking on useless websites.
5) Dare I say that, well, it's boring! It takes people a while to realise that whilst the internet is a marvellous thing, it's not really that useful for every day living just yet.
Classical music does use computers for composition. Many musicians use Sibelius software to write down their compositions.
True, a computer can never compare to a live performance, particularly as far as solo work is concerned. However some of the recent top British musicians have been working to produce purely synthesised classical music. As one whose father owns the main woodwind company and producer of oboes in the UK, (shameless plug for Howarths)I know that a top oboist, Malcolm Messiter, produced a totally synthesised orchestra "The Virtual Orchestra". My father brought the cd home one night and put it on. I merely thought it was an poor recording and performance on terrible instruments. We tested it out on everyone we had to dinner- nobody made comment and all were astounded that it was totally synthesised.
So computers can be used much more than you think in real "classical" music in addition to the obvious uses in popular music.
Well said.
/. philosophy, but it seems inevitable. I hope slashdotters stay loyal.
I'd like to further both your requests.
1) From the poll about age, a significant proportion of your viewers are under 18, and therefore using paypal is a real problem. Myself being british and under 18 makes things even more complicated because I only have a british debit card.
2) If I were to be able to pay, I'd probably go for the scheme of being able to see the present smaller adds and more pages. I think this is a sensible comprimise which will not cause too many difficulties.
other than that, I have no objection to the subscription idea. I am very disappointed admittedly, somehow I can't help but feel it goes against
But he didn't - he spelt "embarrassing" with only one "r". Or is it different in the States?
Anyway, many congrats Taco and Kathleen!!!
I'd like to second this support. When I have used Amazon, it has been because of the ease with which I can obtain books which I otherwise have to travel a long way to buy, or have had difficulty buying.
I am very pleased they have at last turned over a profit, no matter how small, as I can only praise their company. Books have always arrived within the expected delivery dates, and it is just so simple and convenient. Whenever I have ordered books from bookshops in the past, there have always been some sort of complication: the wrong edition, it is out of print with a particular publisher, the assistant orders the wrong book.
I really hope that Amazon continue to improve upon their success and improve integrity, as if eery-day consumers are to find confidence within using the internet for shopping, banking, etc, they need a competitive, stable, reliable and reputable company whom they can trust initially- I think Amazon fits that perfectly!
Please don't get me wrong, but I think being young surrounded by older people it is often easy to think they must be singuling you out because of your age, rather than perhaps other problems- reliability, suitability for the job...
I am not for one moment suggesting that you are unreliable, but I am wondering how much you are dismissing the problem without further consideration. If you have the relevant experience, qualifications and good work ethic there is absolutely no reason why age should be a difficulty, particularly as an employer merely wants the best staff possible, irrespective of whether they are young, old, different religion, race etc etc. An employer will not jeopodise his company purely in discriminate grounds, and I feel sure that your perhaps imminent dismissal will be for other grounds.
It would seem strange that they could overlook a problem such as age when you first got the job for it to be a problem now. It may simply be used as an easy excuse for your dismissal, had you not been young another difficulty would have been used as the reason.
I hope you do not find this post too accusing, I simply think that people are too ready to point their fingers directly at one cause- that of discrimination, rather than look around the problem. It is not for us at slashdot to speculate reasons and give advice as to how to overcome these difficulties, since we cannot possibly know the nature of yourself, your work, and your employers.
Firstly a quick explanation of who I am: I'm 17/f windows user with a linux-mad bf. I'd never even heard of linux or any other operating systems other than doze and macs before. As windows users go, I consider myself fairly competent, but of course not an expert. I know how to use software packages, I'm developing a strong hatred of MS products and I spend my life on irc. So basically I come from the standard home computer user environment.
:)
Now as one who is just a normal computer user, I can say truthfully that I do not use help files at all- they have never sorted out the problem since they don't suggest anything that I haven't tried before. As far as manuals and documentation are concerned, I have consulted them occasionally if I specifically can't find a feature I want, but again as far as trouble shooting is concerned, they have never worked. Anything to do with hardware installation is a bit of an "ah scary get bf to do it" area. I did proudly install my modem though
So getting to the point, if we are trying to get users to move to linux, the very first thing is let them hear about it! Nobody has heard of it! I'm not just being extreme, but I hadn't heard of it, nobody at school has heard of it, my parents certainly have not heard of it, and in an A level IT text book (I don't do IT but I was curious so I looked) it gets one mention under the operating systems bit, whereas MS OSs gets several pages. Is it any wonder very few non-geeks uses it?
The stigma is not about linux being for geeks only. People love their computers, love having fancy desktops and something slightly different (such as using winamp rather than the windows media player). People start on MSN messenger then go to ICQ because it's different. So they are just waiting for a different operating system too, just they have not heard of it. Perhaps if it was offered pre-installed on computers like windows is then people might well opt for it.
There is however a huge fear about going non-MS. There is a huge fear about the installation, and whether anyone will be able to help them if things go wrong. Perhaps this is why I myself have not progressed to linux. My reasons would not be that I need it for coding, it's just that it's different, I like the idea of it being non-MS, and it just looks so cool! So perhaps I am your typical example of one who is considering linux but not actually making the step.
So my reasons for windows over linux? It's simply that I'm afraid of the transition, and of messing up my computer. The reasion I'm afraid is because I no nobody in real life (my bf is miles away) who can help me and actually come round and sort out my problems. So the problem isn't really the documentation as such- windows users never use it, it's the fact that should something go wrong there is nobody to help, only the internet, which whilst is very helpful, if you're not sure what the problem is at all, its virtually impossible to find help.
After email came about a month of yahoo chat rooms, then I progressed to icq, then irc where I learnt most of my knowledge about computers. Interestingly my range of friends started off very wide- people from hawaii, honk kong, malaysia and the states (I'm british). Now I mostly chat to UK friends. It was through IRC that I learnt about computers- usenet and then this thing called linux which by this time I just had to try. And so I'm here now not quite geek since I can't code except html. But without a doubt the reason I first used computers was for email, so thankyou to its inventor for more or less changing my life.
oops! k it's written here instead! Sorry- I er...copied the address from the wrong window...
I submitted the story yesterday but obviously I was beaten to it, sigh, so people might also be interested in the HumanMarkup.org website dedicated to the language also.
Wing Commander
Ultima III: Exodus
Alone in the Dark
Ultima Online
Tomb Raider
Falcon 3.0
SimCity
Half-Life
Civilization
Diablo
Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
King's Quest IV: Perils of Rosella
Myst
Doom
Quake
Interesting to make the comparison as to which of these pc games rate well when compared with other consoles etc.
I met a friend on icq who is a linux geek, and we were talking about how I knew nothing about computers (I really didnt- "name some operating systems" "...er...windows...mac...um...")but was desperate to learn. He simply told me to read /., which I have done ritually since, posting occasionally, hey I've even got a karma of 15 and lost count of the times I've had moderator points. And I have learnt from /. more than I could have hoped. I've learnt about the whole open source thing, and yes I'm a newbie in every respect, but every day I'm learning, and that's what /. is for.
Nearly every book will have some sort of audience for which it is entirely suitable, and just like you need the mixture of stories on /. to appeal to different people, you need a variety of books, both light hearted and serious, to maintain a widespread interest in a subject and to keep it alive.
What don't we understand about Hydrogen that should stop research being done into the existence of new atoms? I believe we have the Schrodinger wave equation sorted out for it, along with a huge list of properties. Of course we cant understand to the same extent larger atoms, but knowing their existence can only be good surely.
I set up a hotmail account about 3 years ago, and used it on practically everything. It was myrealname@hotmail.com, and after 2 years of postings just about everywhere with no attempts so protect it, I still didn't recieve a single bit of spam- I really genuinely couldnt see what the fuss about spam actually was. After my first year or so of using this hotmail address I decided I really did not like using my real name everywhere, and subsequently I have a number of email addresses for personal use, and one for things such as /. headlines etc. I rarely used my hotmail account on usenet posts etc as I had dedicated addresses for posting-related emails etc. And then this January completely out of the blue it started- I get a minimum of 6 spam emails a day into my hotmail now. I suppose I was just lucky to keep a clean account for so long posting the address so widely.
According to the article, this is the second bright feature to be found on Titan with the new optical system employed. The image accompanying the article really does seem to clearly show this apparent land mass or continent, however there is no evidence of the first bright feature. Presumeably this is on the other side of the moon. It would be interesting to note where the two apparent masses are in relation to eachother- if they are directly opposite this might lead to a different explanation of their existence than if they were apparently randomly occuring.