The concern that people who hold a strictly creationist viewpoint have in terms of their reason for making the argument at all to others is this: that without the literal creation of Adam and Eve, there is no fall, no depravity, no accountability for any human moral action since everything is entirely relative and there are no absolutes (except of course the absolute that there must be no absolutes). That's going to cause a lot of people to be in shock one day... Nevertheless, those who believe it strictly also hold that since it is "by faith that we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God", they don't seek to convince others of creation before they have been given faith which they hold to be something that does not originate in them in the first place but say: "it is the gift of God" to them. As a result, the argument is moot. Teaching it as fact is one thing. Seeking to convince others of the fact is pointless. Teaching about the unproven theories of evolution is a perfectly valid and worthy goal of an educator who believes in a strict view of creation. Depends how they do it.
W.
The Senate approved a bill Monday evening that deals with teaching of evolution and other scientific theories...
Well, there's your problem, right there. The overall concept of evolution is no longer a theory. Surely even the staunchest of Creationists must acknowledge the so called "short-term" evolution that gives us the ability to manipulate plants or breed wolves into dogs.
That's not evolution.
Yes, as with most fields, a long time ago there were sets of theories. Like prior to Watson and Crick, back when you had Darwinian Evolution, Larmarckian Evolution, etc. Not anymore though. You might have theories about very specific things in the field that might be impossible to prove -- like, say, what the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA) looked like -- but Evolution is no longer a theory. The field moves forward while Tennessee makes themselves look like idiots from some forgotten era.
And a theory without experimentation and repeatable results will always be a theory. To teach a theory as fact is contrary to the scientific method which requires a hypothesis and experimentation that leads to a conclusion otherwise it is simply not science. There are none of those for anything that is called evolution. There *are* some of those for what is provably natural selection, but natural selection in a limited context is not evolution on any larger scale.
W.
I've been using Linux as my main desktop operating system since 1993. Didn't have to have it marketed to me - it marketed itself because of its functionality and extensibility at low or zero cost. It was stable - had all the desktop tools I needed at the time and has added most of what I have needed subsequently since. I rarely use anything but Openoffice or, now, Libre Office or sometimes some of the KDE or Gnome counterparts. It ran continuously, did not blue screen, did not require a reboot to update a piece of *application* software, let alone even OS support software, barring perhaps a kernel update.
I admit to using Windoze sometimes if there is a piece of software that is not available for Linux, but I don't do so out of choice and mostly don't need to. Only one major area where I play that I concede to other OS's in, is in music applications where Mac and Windoze have the market - but Linux is a serious contender there too for some.
I have just spent the better part of 12 days also trying to install a piece of OOS on a commercial variant of UN*X - supported - paid for - will not work. A colleague spent the morning installing the base Linux on the same machine (not x86 hardware) and I spent the afternoon installing the software packages - remotely not needing some GUI front end but simply ssh'ed in - and by evening we had the software that had not worked at all for 12 days on the normal vendor supplied OS working just fine. Having paid for vendor support doesn't necessarily mean things are rosy if you don't want to do what is normally prescribed, and I'm sure we've all been down the support route where you call and you get: "OK sir, please uninstall all your other software first, then reinstall the OS and then our piece and we can then tell you what to do? What? You refuse to uninstall all your other software? Well I'm sorry sir your support 'contract' doesn't cover us being able to help you then..." BTW: If I do use Windoze I make a point of installing the Cygwin suite as a fairly up-front procedure too.
Kind regards all....
W
What will follow is caffeine-free Exc*drin, (oh, wait,....) , tea, chocolate etc. etc.
Gives people something to do and get grant mony for. Got to keep research scientists in a job;-)
Here's an issue. I use various packages that are only well maintained for a deb package format. I have been compiling from source code for decades - even OS's - so that isn't an issue per se if I needed to port - but the time and effort involved because of divergence *is* an issue. So, the choice is Ubuntu-based or, umm, Ubuntu-based for some of these, or, spend DAYS figuring out why the thing won't compile from source. I migrated from the bleeding edge of Mandriva (formerly Mandrake) backwards to out-of-date items in Ubuntu some years back, (I've also used, run and installed a significant variety of other Linux versions over the last couple of decades, and the stability is nice). However, much as I don't *dislike* GNOME I like KDE a *whole* lot more, so, to get the combination I need I run Kubuntu. Hopefully this will not die.
Did anyone try the Jupiter Ace? Basically a FORTH version of the ZX81 but with hints of the later Spectrum with the keys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Ace
I got my hands on one for a while but was never able to do much with it - as I recall for instability reasons of the particular unit I was working with. Great device though and great language (FORTH).
Paired with a school friend for Comp Sci A-level, we developed a micromouse (maze following autonomous self-contained robot - as per the competition that was around in the UK then - none of this remote controlled stuff;-) ). It was based around a Z80 with on-board memory. Code was developed on and donwloaded via a ZX81. Keeping it cool and making sure it didn't crash while working was an art form (more than once something we failed to perfect). The days when one coded in 1 or 2k and used up all the internal registers of the Z80 for additional storage as cache for things like a partial maze wall map and how one learned how to squeeze bits by using self-modifying code that updated as scenarios were solved.
Over 3 decades years later... still in the business. I groan that we "need" 8G of memory and 3GHz CPUs.... As for external storage, - cut my teeth on paper tape on ASR33 terminals; those cassettes for the ZX81 - almost as "bad" , but, at least you could easily find the bit error on a punch tape and correct it with a splicer;-)
Ah the fond memories. Clive - we salute your genius!
I agree - the Linux-based kernel at the heart of Android - along with some of the accompanying tools does "qualify" it in a good number of ways. OTOH, I have the latest Kubuntu with KDE installed on a 7" Linux touchscreen devices (x86) natively, and it is quite usable with a finger if you set the icon sizes as you want. Very nice and left-right scrolly desktop too. I installed it on that device specifically to interact with in a touch-based manner and it is quite usable.
HaND.
Sorry, as I mentioned above in reply to another poster - I did not take the "or chroot" at the top to be saying that an Android Linux chroot'ed approach was not an option to be considered vs. not being beholden to chroot in some other way. No offense intended; only seeking to share what can be done very powerfully for free.
Hmmm. I see - I did reread. I did not take the "or chroot" at the top to be saying that an Android Linux chroot'ed approach was not an option to be considered vs. not being beholden to chroot in some other way. I am sorry. No offense intended; only seeking to share what can be done very powerfully for free.
with the caveat that you may only be able to run certain apps as root - especially those that bind sockets. That may be so even if the installer and environment are running under an "allowroot" app. It's a known problem on Android tablets. Other than that - if you don't mind running everything as a root user on Android in certain circumstances - then, yes - not a bad solution depending on what you want to achieve.
No, it works just fine if you set up the VNC X server and connect via a VNC client from the native Android. Worked with that on a 7" tablet just fine. You can install KDE and Gnome - if you have the memory - and they also work. Even if you install a lesser windows manager, you can still install and run the libraries and apps that depend on them from Gnome and KDE on a chrooted environment under Android. Works great. Takes a few seconds to type apt-get... LXDE is recommended though for compactness and is a very nice lean window manager.
You can compile on the TP using UbuntuChroot. C/C++/Perl/Prolog/Python - name your language. All work just fine.
You can also install a similar chrooted self-contained Linux on Android. The problem with Android is the need to have a properly rooted host environment and not all kernels allow that easily. I ran into that with binding sockets as a non-root user on a 7" tablet.
E.g. I could run ssh (client) as root, but not as a user. This is a problem - explained by the author of the chrooted Linux for Android - with the way Android host rooting works. The same problem does not occur on chroot on WebOS. Of course, if you are talking a native environment on an Android-capable machine, you would not have those issues - certainly.
You can also add whatever repositories exist for arm by editing the apt config files.
And having type apt-get in to install an app totally defeats the point of the touchscreen input mechanism and UI, what you want is a MacBook air or other thin laptop.
No, it doesn't. You won't be spending the bulk of your time apt-getting packages on the thing. But for when you do, if the tablet has a real USB port, you could use a normal keyboard, or you could ssh into it.
The apt-getability implies ease of installation and freedom of configuration.
Once you have it setup with for example KDEs Plasma Active gui just the way(s) you want it, you proceed using it in a tablet-like manner, at the same time feeling happy about being a (at least figuratively) bearded champion of Freedom and transparency, the main tenets of democracy.
On the Touchpad running UbuntuChroot you can also install synergy and use a keyboard and mouse from a different machine. No need to buy another keyboard!
Works great!
Slashdot Mirror
The concern that people who hold a strictly creationist viewpoint have in terms of their reason for making the argument at all to others is this: that without the literal creation of Adam and Eve, there is no fall, no depravity, no accountability for any human moral action since everything is entirely relative and there are no absolutes (except of course the absolute that there must be no absolutes). That's going to cause a lot of people to be in shock one day... Nevertheless, those who believe it strictly also hold that since it is "by faith that we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God", they don't seek to convince others of creation before they have been given faith which they hold to be something that does not originate in them in the first place but say: "it is the gift of God" to them. As a result, the argument is moot. Teaching it as fact is one thing. Seeking to convince others of the fact is pointless. Teaching about the unproven theories of evolution is a perfectly valid and worthy goal of an educator who believes in a strict view of creation. Depends how they do it. W.
I'm a scientist and an engineer. I don't believe in evolution. I don't have a blank stare. I work with facts. W.
The Senate approved a bill Monday evening that deals with teaching of evolution and other scientific theories ...
Well, there's your problem, right there. The overall concept of evolution is no longer a theory. Surely even the staunchest of Creationists must acknowledge the so called "short-term" evolution that gives us the ability to manipulate plants or breed wolves into dogs.
That's not evolution.
Yes, as with most fields, a long time ago there were sets of theories. Like prior to Watson and Crick, back when you had Darwinian Evolution, Larmarckian Evolution, etc. Not anymore though. You might have theories about very specific things in the field that might be impossible to prove -- like, say, what the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA) looked like -- but Evolution is no longer a theory. The field moves forward while Tennessee makes themselves look like idiots from some forgotten era.
And a theory without experimentation and repeatable results will always be a theory. To teach a theory as fact is contrary to the scientific method which requires a hypothesis and experimentation that leads to a conclusion otherwise it is simply not science. There are none of those for anything that is called evolution. There *are* some of those for what is provably natural selection, but natural selection in a limited context is not evolution on any larger scale. W.
I've been using Linux as my main desktop operating system since 1993. Didn't have to have it marketed to me - it marketed itself because of its functionality and extensibility at low or zero cost. It was stable - had all the desktop tools I needed at the time and has added most of what I have needed subsequently since. I rarely use anything but Openoffice or, now, Libre Office or sometimes some of the KDE or Gnome counterparts. It ran continuously, did not blue screen, did not require a reboot to update a piece of *application* software, let alone even OS support software, barring perhaps a kernel update. I admit to using Windoze sometimes if there is a piece of software that is not available for Linux, but I don't do so out of choice and mostly don't need to. Only one major area where I play that I concede to other OS's in, is in music applications where Mac and Windoze have the market - but Linux is a serious contender there too for some. I have just spent the better part of 12 days also trying to install a piece of OOS on a commercial variant of UN*X - supported - paid for - will not work. A colleague spent the morning installing the base Linux on the same machine (not x86 hardware) and I spent the afternoon installing the software packages - remotely not needing some GUI front end but simply ssh'ed in - and by evening we had the software that had not worked at all for 12 days on the normal vendor supplied OS working just fine. Having paid for vendor support doesn't necessarily mean things are rosy if you don't want to do what is normally prescribed, and I'm sure we've all been down the support route where you call and you get: "OK sir, please uninstall all your other software first, then reinstall the OS and then our piece and we can then tell you what to do? What? You refuse to uninstall all your other software? Well I'm sorry sir your support 'contract' doesn't cover us being able to help you then..." BTW: If I do use Windoze I make a point of installing the Cygwin suite as a fairly up-front procedure too. Kind regards all.... W
What will follow is caffeine-free Exc*drin, (oh, wait, ....) , tea, chocolate etc. etc.
Gives people something to do and get grant mony for. Got to keep research scientists in a job ;-)
Buy a Raspberry Pi - what better way? ! :-)
Costing more than $6M I would think though...
Maybe this thought will help all of us - and drive Linux DEs away from trying to do things people don't want ;-)
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/five-reasons-why-windows-8-will-be-dead-on-arrival/10275?tag=nl.e539
Here's an issue. I use various packages that are only well maintained for a deb package format. I have been compiling from source code for decades - even OS's - so that isn't an issue per se if I needed to port - but the time and effort involved because of divergence *is* an issue. So, the choice is Ubuntu-based or, umm, Ubuntu-based for some of these, or, spend DAYS figuring out why the thing won't compile from source. I migrated from the bleeding edge of Mandriva (formerly Mandrake) backwards to out-of-date items in Ubuntu some years back, (I've also used, run and installed a significant variety of other Linux versions over the last couple of decades, and the stability is nice). However, much as I don't *dislike* GNOME I like KDE a *whole* lot more, so, to get the combination I need I run Kubuntu. Hopefully this will not die.
Well, not Windows 8 - because that will be that - right?
Baited: Right. It's waaaay better.
Did anyone try the Jupiter Ace? Basically a FORTH version of the ZX81 but with hints of the later Spectrum with the keys. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_Ace I got my hands on one for a while but was never able to do much with it - as I recall for instability reasons of the particular unit I was working with. Great device though and great language (FORTH).
Paired with a school friend for Comp Sci A-level, we developed a micromouse (maze following autonomous self-contained robot - as per the competition that was around in the UK then - none of this remote controlled stuff ;-) ). It was based around a Z80 with on-board memory. Code was developed on and donwloaded via a ZX81. Keeping it cool and making sure it didn't crash while working was an art form (more than once something we failed to perfect). The days when one coded in 1 or 2k and used up all the internal registers of the Z80 for additional storage as cache for things like a partial maze wall map and how one learned how to squeeze bits by using self-modifying code that updated as scenarios were solved.
Over 3 decades years later... still in the business. I groan that we "need" 8G of memory and 3GHz CPUs.... As for external storage, - cut my teeth on paper tape on ASR33 terminals; those cassettes for the ZX81 - almost as "bad" , but, at least you could easily find the bit error on a punch tape and correct it with a splicer ;-)
Ah the fond memories. Clive - we salute your genius!
I agree - the Linux-based kernel at the heart of Android - along with some of the accompanying tools does "qualify" it in a good number of ways. OTOH, I have the latest Kubuntu with KDE installed on a 7" Linux touchscreen devices (x86) natively, and it is quite usable with a finger if you set the icon sizes as you want. Very nice and left-right scrolly desktop too. I installed it on that device specifically to interact with in a touch-based manner and it is quite usable. HaND.
Sorry, as I mentioned above in reply to another poster - I did not take the "or chroot" at the top to be saying that an Android Linux chroot'ed approach was not an option to be considered vs. not being beholden to chroot in some other way. No offense intended; only seeking to share what can be done very powerfully for free.
Hmmm. I see - I did reread. I did not take the "or chroot" at the top to be saying that an Android Linux chroot'ed approach was not an option to be considered vs. not being beholden to chroot in some other way. I am sorry. No offense intended; only seeking to share what can be done very powerfully for free.
Forgive me - genuinely - I do not understand - where was that mentioned in this part of the thread I was answering? Was it a hidden post I missed?
Methinks you got the wrong thread here friends ;-)
with the caveat that you may only be able to run certain apps as root - especially those that bind sockets. That may be so even if the installer and environment are running under an "allowroot" app. It's a known problem on Android tablets. Other than that - if you don't mind running everything as a root user on Android in certain circumstances - then, yes - not a bad solution depending on what you want to achieve.
No, it works just fine if you set up the VNC X server and connect via a VNC client from the native Android. Worked with that on a 7" tablet just fine. You can install KDE and Gnome - if you have the memory - and they also work. Even if you install a lesser windows manager, you can still install and run the libraries and apps that depend on them from Gnome and KDE on a chrooted environment under Android. Works great. Takes a few seconds to type apt-get... LXDE is recommended though for compactness and is a very nice lean window manager.
You can compile on the TP using UbuntuChroot. C/C++/Perl/Prolog/Python - name your language. All work just fine. You can also install a similar chrooted self-contained Linux on Android. The problem with Android is the need to have a properly rooted host environment and not all kernels allow that easily. I ran into that with binding sockets as a non-root user on a 7" tablet. E.g. I could run ssh (client) as root, but not as a user. This is a problem - explained by the author of the chrooted Linux for Android - with the way Android host rooting works. The same problem does not occur on chroot on WebOS. Of course, if you are talking a native environment on an Android-capable machine, you would not have those issues - certainly. You can also add whatever repositories exist for arm by editing the apt config files.
And having type apt-get in to install an app totally defeats the point of the touchscreen input mechanism and UI, what you want is a MacBook air or other thin laptop.
No, it doesn't. You won't be spending the bulk of your time apt-getting packages on the thing. But for when you do, if the tablet has a real USB port, you could use a normal keyboard, or you could ssh into it.
The apt-getability implies ease of installation and freedom of configuration.
Once you have it setup with for example KDEs Plasma Active gui just the way(s) you want it, you proceed using it in a tablet-like manner, at the same time feeling happy about being a (at least figuratively) bearded champion of Freedom and transparency, the main tenets of democracy.
On the Touchpad running UbuntuChroot you can also install synergy and use a keyboard and mouse from a different machine. No need to buy another keyboard! Works great!