Just going from my own experience, intelligence is nice, but motivation and hard work is better. A bit of background... I'm a 20 year old guy with a tested IQ of 143, personality type INTP, who started taking classes at a community college at 13. I got an associates degee in programming at 16 and my GED the next year. But I didn't have a real goal beyond graduating and four years later I've come to realize that I wasted with part-time jobs, taking fun classes and not even trying to define a goal. At the community college, I was taking classes that let me make A s without ever opening the textbook. I didn't need any motivation to do well in what I liked and was interested in. But when I wasn't interested in the class, I failed more times than not, because I had no motivation to succeed.
I'm planning on going to university in the fall so I can find out 1) how smart I am, really 2) how much I like CS 3) if my CS ideas can actually come to fruition. I had the chance to go years earlier but was too afraid to even try. The only dreams I've come up with are to study at MIT, work at Google or program a game or two. All these things could be helped with intelligence, but more importantly motivation and drive.
Right now, I'm currently 3 weeks into unemployment, I have no job offers and will probably have to move back in with family. I haven't figured out a goal yet, but if I hit the bottom like I think I'm going to, I hope it's something I can use to bounce back off of. Think about where you want to go with your education, and whether you'll have goals before you graduate.
I really like the idea of databasing all this analog data, so we can make more informed decisions. However, I don't think that people should be able to collect data on you without your permission, let alone knowledge and then claim ownership of your personal information. And especially not corporations, who can use it however they wish, for whatever is going to make them a profit, whether you like it or not.
If there was some place I could opt-in for certain deals on groceries or whatever, I would sign up. What I don't like is spying on people to try to find this stuff out "to benefit you, the consumer". I'm even for the centralization of most of this information, but within a regulated federal agency where there's accountability and transparency. I'm not too trusting of government, but I think if there were records which you had control over say.. your employment information.. You just allow Company X's HR department permission to read 5 years of your employment history. As long as I had control as to who outside the agency had access to it, I wouldn't have to fill out 10 different applications like I am now.
I think the idea is good, just the methods and the control need drastic change to make it work.
I know there is a law that if you take pictures of people, that they must be in public areas or you must have explicit permission. However, security cameras don't require this, probably since you are often on their property. But what is the legal ruling on the difference in surveillance?
I don't know how much energy it takes to run a calculator, but it might be worth looking into mounting that lil' guy with some solar panels, along with a battery.
This nick came into existance last year, from when I played EverQuest. For each of my 20 characters, I tried to create a nice name, with a decent meaning (Somber Forebodings the Dwarven Rogue, Dyllon Thyrn the Halfling Warrior, Vocal the Wood-Elf Bard).
My brother came across daegred while looking through an Old English section in a book on English origins. We chose our names by their meanings, Sincgyfan was my brother's (giver of treasure), while Daegred means "red dawn". While the meaning was somewhat cliche, I thought the word itself sounded and looked nice.
I use another, more derived nick elsewhere, mainly since it's a real pain trying to change your nick in a community that's known you for a couple years.. I know, I've tried before.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Just going from my own experience, intelligence is nice, but motivation and hard work is better. A bit of background... I'm a 20 year old guy with a tested IQ of 143, personality type INTP, who started taking classes at a community college at 13. I got an associates degee in programming at 16 and my GED the next year. But I didn't have a real goal beyond graduating and four years later I've come to realize that I wasted with part-time jobs, taking fun classes and not even trying to define a goal. At the community college, I was taking classes that let me make A s without ever opening the textbook. I didn't need any motivation to do well in what I liked and was interested in. But when I wasn't interested in the class, I failed more times than not, because I had no motivation to succeed.
I'm planning on going to university in the fall so I can find out 1) how smart I am, really 2) how much I like CS 3) if my CS ideas can actually come to fruition. I had the chance to go years earlier but was too afraid to even try. The only dreams I've come up with are to study at MIT, work at Google or program a game or two. All these things could be helped with intelligence, but more importantly motivation and drive.
Right now, I'm currently 3 weeks into unemployment, I have no job offers and will probably have to move back in with family. I haven't figured out a goal yet, but if I hit the bottom like I think I'm going to, I hope it's something I can use to bounce back off of. Think about where you want to go with your education, and whether you'll have goals before you graduate.
I really like the idea of databasing all this analog data, so we can make more informed decisions. However, I don't think that people should be able to collect data on you without your permission, let alone knowledge and then claim ownership of your personal information. And especially not corporations, who can use it however they wish, for whatever is going to make them a profit, whether you like it or not.
If there was some place I could opt-in for certain deals on groceries or whatever, I would sign up. What I don't like is spying on people to try to find this stuff out "to benefit you, the consumer". I'm even for the centralization of most of this information, but within a regulated federal agency where there's accountability and transparency. I'm not too trusting of government, but I think if there were records which you had control over say.. your employment information.. You just allow Company X's HR department permission to read 5 years of your employment history. As long as I had control as to who outside the agency had access to it, I wouldn't have to fill out 10 different applications like I am now.
I think the idea is good, just the methods and the control need drastic change to make it work.
I know there is a law that if you take pictures of people, that they must be in public areas or you must have explicit permission. However, security cameras don't require this, probably since you are often on their property. But what is the legal ruling on the difference in surveillance?
I wonder if the RIAA could hit Audiogalaxy with a subpoena for the data the spyware was collecting?
I don't know what information the supposed spyware collects, but it could be a scary thing for many people.
I don't know how much energy it takes to run a calculator, but it might be worth looking into mounting that lil' guy with some solar panels, along with a battery.
This nick came into existance last year, from when I played EverQuest. For each of my 20 characters, I tried to create a nice name, with a decent meaning (Somber Forebodings the Dwarven Rogue, Dyllon Thyrn the Halfling Warrior, Vocal the Wood-Elf Bard).
:)
My brother came across daegred while looking through an Old English section in a book on English origins. We chose our names by their meanings, Sincgyfan was my brother's (giver of treasure), while Daegred means "red dawn". While the meaning was somewhat cliche, I thought the word itself sounded and looked nice.
I use another, more derived nick elsewhere, mainly since it's a real pain trying to change your nick in a community that's known you for a couple years.. I know, I've tried before.
- Daegred
I'm suprised you didn't mention the mainstay of all hentai anime, the TENTACLE RAPE MONSTER!
The proper term is manga.
Home of sacred Band(width)
I pay US$75 for 640k DSL on top of my $40 phone bill through QWest. And I'd have to pay extra to get a static IP.
Moving to Canada sounds sweeter and sweeter every day.
... has provided me with more comedic material than any other source.
"Je suis American!"