This is probably the worst decision any company's made in a long time. Basically every aspect about us is caused by genetics, from factors irrelevant to one's ability to perform well at a job (race, gender, sexual orientation) to ones that have a profound impact on that ability (intelligence, memory, social skills). If genetic discrimination is banned, then publishers won't be able to deny book offers to bad writers; after all, some people are predisposed to be better writers than others. Sports teams won't be able to reject athletes who run slowly; that's a genetic trait as well. Or, in the case of IBM, they won't be able to reject an engineer who can't do math, as that might have a genetic cause. And the list goes on and on. I see where IBM is coming from; it seems only fair to not discriminate on the basis of things that one can't control. But if we carry out that noble idea to its full extent, the whole economy falls apart.
It was bad enough that they had to learn enough geography to know where Iraq is; now they have to learn enough physics to know about LaGrange points? It's tough being an über-patriot.
Blind - I think that a Braille keyboard, combined with audio output from the computer instead of imagery and a shell, would be enough. However, I don't think we should expect people to learn Bourne, or even Thompson for that matter. Most seeing people don't want to learn those. However, a more user-friendly shell might work. It wouldn't be that hard to implement; it could even run on top of Bourne. Some examples:
list instead of ls open instead of cd go back instead of cd.. remove instead of rm
Etc. It'd be like Pascal is to C: just as powerful, but for meant for the masses.
I have a Sonos, and I can say definitively that it's an excellent system. It has the ease of use of an iPod (I would say that its remotes' UI is actually better than the iPod's) and the power of a Squeezebox. The only problem I've had with it is that it doesn't have FairPlay permissions, and thus can't play iTMS music. But other than that, it's great.
Due to the OpenOffice.org Java backlash, expect to see a spike in interest in KOffice, especially considering that, being written in Qt, it should, at least theoretically, compile natively on Windows and (unlike OOo) Mac OS X. However, it's not as if the FLOSS community is hunky-dory about Qt; see the old Harmony project for more on that.
I'm a student who is just starting out with Perl. What do you think is the best Perl GUI toolkit? The main things I am interested in are portability and ease of use. Thanks!
In the recent film, "Minority Report", to stop authorities from tracking him, Tom Cruise has back alley surgery done to replace his eyes. This is the perfect anecdote to explain the paradoxical nature of this question. First of all, since this is not possible, your biological data is with you forever, and so the tossing around of your biometric data is something to be concerned about. On the other hand, for exactly the same reason, this means that, unlike data such as Social Security and credit card numbers, biometric data can't be used for identity theft. Although it is scary to have another person own your personal data, there's not much they can do with it.
It is perfectly legal for BMG to ban 'Nazi' music. People arguing for First Amendment rights in this case are mistaken for what the First Amendment says. It DOES say that the GOVERMENT cannot dicriminate against unpopular speech, but it DOES NOT say that PRIVATE COMPANIES cannot discriminate.
Phil's right on target. Microsoft is in over it's head, with the anti-trust case and all. But this is going to kill them! Plus, the so-called Senator from Microsoft (Slade Gorton of Washington) is gone, except he's replaced by Maria Cantwell, a Real Networks Exec!
I've looked at some of their screen shots, and they pretty much look like an attempt to make Windows (or Linux) look something like a Mac. It's a good start for Windows, but Eazel's Nautilis is a lot better for Linux. It's not going anywhere.
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This is probably the worst decision any company's made in a long time. Basically every aspect about us is caused by genetics, from factors irrelevant to one's ability to perform well at a job (race, gender, sexual orientation) to ones that have a profound impact on that ability (intelligence, memory, social skills). If genetic discrimination is banned, then publishers won't be able to deny book offers to bad writers; after all, some people are predisposed to be better writers than others. Sports teams won't be able to reject athletes who run slowly; that's a genetic trait as well. Or, in the case of IBM, they won't be able to reject an engineer who can't do math, as that might have a genetic cause. And the list goes on and on. I see where IBM is coming from; it seems only fair to not discriminate on the basis of things that one can't control. But if we carry out that noble idea to its full extent, the whole economy falls apart.
It was bad enough that they had to learn enough geography to know where Iraq is; now they have to learn enough physics to know about LaGrange points? It's tough being an über-patriot.
Blind - I think that a Braille keyboard, combined with audio output from the computer instead of imagery and a shell, would be enough. However, I don't think we should expect people to learn Bourne, or even Thompson for that matter. Most seeing people don't want to learn those. However, a more user-friendly shell might work. It wouldn't be that hard to implement; it could even run on top of Bourne. Some examples:
..
list instead of ls
open instead of cd
go back instead of cd
remove instead of rm
Etc. It'd be like Pascal is to C: just as powerful, but for meant for the masses.
I have a Sonos, and I can say definitively that it's an excellent system. It has the ease of use of an iPod (I would say that its remotes' UI is actually better than the iPod's) and the power of a Squeezebox. The only problem I've had with it is that it doesn't have FairPlay permissions, and thus can't play iTMS music. But other than that, it's great.
Due to the OpenOffice.org Java backlash, expect to see a spike in interest in KOffice, especially considering that, being written in Qt, it should, at least theoretically, compile natively on Windows and (unlike OOo) Mac OS X. However, it's not as if the FLOSS community is hunky-dory about Qt; see the old Harmony project for more on that.
It is strange that GCC is lacking in Lisp capability; Richard Stallman is a huge Lisp fan. That's why it's in GNU Emacs, after all.
A few things to remember about the National Rifle Association:
- After Columbine, they organized a rally in Denver.
- After the shooting in Flint, Michigan, they organized a rally in Flint.
- It was founded the SAME YEAR that the Ku Klux Klan became an official terrorist organization.
This isn't a gun safety organization. These are people who want to kill.
I'm a student who is just starting out with Perl. What do you think is the best Perl GUI toolkit? The main things I am interested in are portability and ease of use. Thanks!
In the recent film, "Minority Report", to stop authorities from tracking him, Tom Cruise has back alley surgery done to replace his eyes. This is the perfect anecdote to explain the paradoxical nature of this question. First of all, since this is not possible, your biological data is with you forever, and so the tossing around of your biometric data is something to be concerned about. On the other hand, for exactly the same reason, this means that, unlike data such as Social Security and credit card numbers, biometric data can't be used for identity theft. Although it is scary to have another person own your personal data, there's not much they can do with it.
It is perfectly legal for BMG to ban 'Nazi' music. People arguing for First Amendment rights in this case are mistaken for what the First Amendment says. It DOES say that the GOVERMENT cannot dicriminate against unpopular speech, but it DOES NOT say that PRIVATE COMPANIES cannot discriminate.
Phil's right on target. Microsoft is in over it's head, with the anti-trust case and all. But this is going to kill them! Plus, the so-called Senator from Microsoft (Slade Gorton of Washington) is gone, except he's replaced by Maria Cantwell, a Real Networks Exec!
I've looked at some of their screen shots, and they pretty much look like an attempt to make Windows (or Linux) look something like a Mac. It's a good start for Windows, but Eazel's Nautilis is a lot better for Linux. It's not going anywhere.