i at least expect katz to know the difference between "its" and "it's." it's not exactly rocket-science: if you don't mean "it is," never write "it's." it's that simple.
i guess i can kind of overlook the failure of the slashdot people for failing to master elementary grammar, but they don't claim to be writers. but then again, you'd think with an acquisition that they could hire one twelve-year-old at minimum wage with the ability to master the above rule...
um, yeah, i went to yale. i majored in cs, but i can't say i learned much of anything in the department. all my skills are from outside of class. other than that, it's a great school, and i learned all kinds of interesting things about literature, musical composition, art, history, and so forth. so i'm glad i went. but not for learning cs. the professors are mostly world-class, but they don't care about the undergrads at all.
It's really depressing to see all these white/.ers posting how they had it so tough, just as tough as any poor black kid, and how since they struggled to the top, so should the black kid. This position sounds so rational, but it's really very naive. The problem stems from the culture into which a person is embedded. It's not that a poor black kid in a ghetto _physically_ can't go get a paperroute, and eventually buy a PC, but that the idea is so alien to his or her surroundings that it practically never happens.
Let me make an analogy. After I graduated from college, I took a couple years off and backpacked around Asia. Whenever I tell people back in the U.S. what I did, they always say, "you're so lucky! I wish I could do that!" "Lucky," I think? What's "lucky" about it? I worked for a few months, saved some money, and went. Living there is so cheap that it doesn't take a lot of money to go -- I met plenty of travellers who had worked minimum wage jobs to save money for such a trip. And there were five times as many English travellers as Americans. The concept of taking off for such a trip is alien to most Americans, and _that_ is why people don't do it more. Not because they physically can't. The precedence, personal role models, and cultural encouragement just aren't there. And for working class blacks in America today, they face a similar environment in regards to computers.
What a poorly-written article. Not practical to download a movie on a modem as it would take from a "few hours to . .." A few hours? Four hours, on a 56k modem getting an optimal 5k a second, gives you 72 megs. Enough for about ten minutes of film, and that's about it.
It's about prying out of the box you're in and changing things at a fundamental level that's not possible for the average computer user on one hand, and the non-drug user on the other. On your linux box, you delve into the source and tweak a feature that always bugged you. Or when you swallow some quality E or a couple hits of acid, you enter a new universe that breaks all the rules by which your average Joe is forced to play.
(And for everyone that's convinced that they can get just as intense an experience without using drugs: you are, quite simply, and with no respect for pros and cons, wrong.)
Most of the world operates on a paperless toilet. Personal experience with such in India and SE Asia. Otherwise known as the "left-hand" method. After initial reluctance, it soon becomes fun, and, surprisingly, more hygenic.
I tended to wait a little before informing my girlfriends, however.
Slashdot Mirror
i at least expect katz to know the difference between "its" and "it's." it's not exactly rocket-science: if you don't mean "it is," never write "it's." it's that simple.
i guess i can kind of overlook the failure of the slashdot people for failing to master elementary grammar, but they don't claim to be writers. but then again, you'd think with an acquisition that they could hire one twelve-year-old at minimum wage with the ability to master the above rule...
adum
the intellisense hang happens to me, too. always has in MSVC 6.
um, yeah, i went to yale. i majored in cs, but i can't say i learned much of anything in the department. all my skills are from outside of class. other than that, it's a great school, and i learned all kinds of interesting things about literature, musical composition, art, history, and so forth. so i'm glad i went. but not for learning cs. the professors are mostly world-class, but they don't care about the undergrads at all.
adum
It's really depressing to see all these white /.ers posting how they had it so tough, just as tough as any poor black kid, and how since they struggled to the top, so should the black kid. This position sounds so rational, but it's really very naive. The problem stems from the culture into which a person is embedded. It's not that a poor black kid in a ghetto _physically_ can't go get a paperroute, and eventually buy a PC, but that the idea is so alien to his or her surroundings that it practically never happens.
Let me make an analogy. After I graduated from college, I took a couple years off and backpacked around Asia. Whenever I tell people back in the U.S. what I did, they always say, "you're so lucky! I wish I could do that!" "Lucky," I think? What's "lucky" about it? I worked for a few months, saved some money, and went. Living there is so cheap that it doesn't take a lot of money to go -- I met plenty of travellers who had worked minimum wage jobs to save money for such a trip. And there were five times as many English travellers as Americans. The concept of taking off for such a trip is alien to most Americans, and _that_ is why people don't do it more. Not because they physically can't. The precedence, personal role models, and cultural encouragement just aren't there. And for working class blacks in America today, they face a similar environment in regards to computers.
adum
What a poorly-written article. Not practical to download a movie on a modem as it would take from a "few hours to . . ." A few hours? Four hours, on a 56k modem getting an optimal 5k a second, gives you 72 megs. Enough for about ten minutes of film, and that's about it.
adum
I think there's definitely a connection.
It's about prying out of the box you're in and changing things at a fundamental level that's not possible for the average computer user on one hand, and the non-drug user on the other. On your linux box, you delve into the source and tweak a feature that always bugged you. Or when you swallow some quality E or a couple hits of acid, you enter a new universe that breaks all the rules by which your average Joe is forced to play.
(And for everyone that's convinced that they can get just as intense an experience without using drugs: you are, quite simply, and with no respect for pros and cons, wrong.)
adum
Most of the world operates on a paperless toilet. Personal experience with such in India and SE Asia. Otherwise known as the "left-hand" method. After initial reluctance, it soon becomes fun, and, surprisingly, more hygenic.
I tended to wait a little before informing my girlfriends, however.
adum