>"Why can you randomly change instructions and >these things tend to survive?" Adler said. "If >you went in and did that with Excel, the results >wouldn't be good." > >Yeah! Take another bite of that hand... heh - but from the original article: "Dennis Adler, now on leave from his university relations job with Microsoft " Adler is from Microsoft and making the very valid observation that if you screw about with the code of most programs, they would stop working.
In the UK we have been having arguments over similar stuff for a while now. A group has formed called Stand. You can check out their philosophy here. The principal is that MPs (a bit like your senators of something) have ways around huge mailbags of complaints about the same thing - whether electronic or whatever. They'll get pissed off, filter the messages, and write back to everyone with some condescending thanks for your ideas. Stand has organised for groups of concerned constituants to send only one full, explanatory letter to each MP and then anyone else who agrees can write a brief note saying so. You might find a similar approach will work better.
That's not flamebait. It's a very valid philosohical point. What was written in a law is not by definition correct. Take apartheid as an example. (I'm not saying that the sacred constitution is as evil as apartheid, what I'm saying is that slavishly following a set of doctrines is stupid). Why do you think the constitution contains amendments - people wanted to change bits of it, so they did. The constitution of the USA was written by humans, not God - therefore, it may not be perfect. Moderators - mark the previous comment up, please.
The British postal service became aware of this question a while back and there was talk of bringing back something like the telegram.
I think that the idea was that you would be able to email someone who had no computer access (or who lived so far away that it'd take ages by airmail) - so you'd send a msg to the Post Office and they'd print it and deliver it to the addressee. Probably the idea was to have an automated system so that no one would see your msgs.
It sounds like what a lot of people are complaining about with handwritten stuff is: a) The difficulty of writing with a pen b) Spelling and grammar.
What's the deal with schools these days? When I left school to go to university four years ago, I had been taught how to write and how to use a dictionary to look up words I didn't know.
Now unless someone has a genuine learning disability, I think it's pretty shocking that these are the excuses given. It's also worrying because it implies that computer literacy breeds functional illiteracy.
Do we really want to live in a world where the only people who can speak their own language properly are those employed to write spell-checkers? It sounds to me like teachers need to sort out their act and not allow assignments to be typed.
It might also be worth insisting on proper spelling in all subjects at school; I know my brother doesn't care about how he spells a word if it's maths or science - he only gets down-marked for spelling mistakes in English classes. (So, no, this isn't just a dig at America as I'm based in the UK). What do people think?
Scott Adams is the Author of "Dilbert". And I'm from the same side of the pond as you. Was it not Hume who, when running for MP, said "I'm tough on Causality, tough on the Causes of Causality"?
well - the crime rate is one thing you can look at. It might even be significant. On the other hand, look at the numbers of deaths due to weapons in the US each year and compare to Britain.
I absolutely agree that it is the people, not the guns - but, as R Heinlein said, "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.".
The number of accidental shootings alone is terrifying.
The point about your criminal having a gun is interesting - but the ability to draw and shoot someone who already has a gun pointing at you is rare - and in Britain, hardly any of the criminals have guns. If you get mugged, chances are they're gonna beat you up or knife you - either of which is less likely to kill than a gun.
Britain has tightened up it's gun laws recently and the day they relax them is the day I leave the country.
OTOH, maybe if I was less well endowed I'd want a membership to the NRA.
This article appeared in newscientist quite recently. It suggests that RSI comes from doing many repeated sensitive movements. This is why carpenters and mechanics don't get RSI from hammering / spannering whereas typists do.
The authors believe that it is all to do with the brain inventing pain as it isn't designed to do these gentle motions over and over again.
May be that's why old typewriters didn't cause RSI.
It's worth remembering that it's not just your calorie intake/output that needs to be watched. There's all the vitamins, too - If you're doing all the exercise and reducing your calories and drinking *loads* of water (the body requires large amounts of water to metabolise fats) it should make you thinner - but if in reducing your calories, you also reduce the vitamins, minerals etc, then you may be heading for trouble.
It's always a good idea to check with a doctor before anything designed to take your weight down cos you could do yourself some harm.
"That energy would need to go through your hand...(or your head)... not smart and you would loose MANY dB... most of the power.which removes the point"
er...if you are worried about the radiation damaging you, bear in mind that the antenna is already right next to your head. And if worried about reception, there is little need to be - the signal will have passed through buildings, cars, trees, and all sorts before getting to your phone. Unless you are used to wearing a faraday-cage hat, I shouldn't worry too much.
It seems to me that what we need is not so much a big bag of money, as a big bag of free lawyers.
There must be some lawyer geeks out there who would be willing to represent persecuted open source developers in cases like these?
Part of the problem with having a trust fund for law suits would be controling its use. Someone would have to decide who was to get backing and who not. With a list of lawyers willing to represent cases for free, it would be up to them if they worked on a particular suit or not.
As a good meeting point, how about if Slashdot were to have a sign up page for lawyers? What do you think, Rob?
We have to be professional about this. What microsoft are doing will probably raise awareness of GNU/Linux and other free operating systems. They may try to discredit us. If we are to stand up to their accusations, I say the name-calling must stop. For a while it was funny to write M$ or Mickeysoft but this gives the wrong impression. Name-calling is generally used as a last resort when logical arguments have failed - let us acknowledge the strengths of NT (ease of installation for one) but emphasise the benefits of Linux over it (which I don't think I need to list;)
This whole thing is very simple. Parents have a moral and legal responsibility to both society and their child. That responsibility includes saying "NO". Parents must learn that children are not capable always of making their own decisions. If a game is ultra-violent then some concern must come in that it may not be healthy for the child. Would you take your kid to a strip joint? A bar to get drunk? Would you buy him some dope because he wanted it? No. Likewise control must be applied in other areas sometimes.
This was a very sad event - my sympathies *do* go out to the parents of the victims. Also to the child now in gaol. And to the parents of the child. I hope though, that this will serve as a warning to other parents. You Need to Know what your kid is DOING.
I am sure this is just a joke - very nicely executed, but a joke. However, the idea of a GNU/Linux legal team isn't a bad one. Might come in handy in the future. There must be some geek lawyers out there somewhere: 'fess up!
Slashdot Mirror
>"Why can you randomly change instructions and
>these things tend to survive?" Adler said. "If
>you went in and did that with Excel, the results
>wouldn't be good."
>
>Yeah! Take another bite of that hand... heh
- but from the original article:
"Dennis Adler, now on leave from his university relations job with Microsoft "
Adler is from Microsoft and making the very valid observation that if you screw about with the code of most programs, they would stop working.
In the UK we have been having arguments over similar stuff for a while now. A group has formed called Stand. You can check out their philosophy here.
The principal is that MPs (a bit like your senators of something) have ways around huge mailbags of complaints about the same thing - whether electronic or whatever. They'll get pissed off, filter the messages, and write back to everyone with some condescending thanks for your ideas. Stand has organised for groups of concerned constituants to send only one full, explanatory letter to each MP and then anyone else who agrees can write a brief note saying so.
You might find a similar approach will work better.
That's not flamebait. It's a very valid philosohical point. What was written in a law is not by definition correct. Take apartheid as an example. (I'm not saying that the sacred constitution is as evil as apartheid, what I'm saying is that slavishly following a set of doctrines is stupid). Why do you think the constitution contains amendments - people wanted to change bits of it, so they did. The constitution of the USA was written by humans, not God - therefore, it may not be perfect. Moderators - mark the previous comment up, please.
I think that the idea was that you would be able to email someone who had no computer access (or who lived so far away that it'd take ages by airmail) - so you'd send a msg to the Post Office and they'd print it and deliver it to the addressee.
Probably the idea was to have an automated system so that no one would see your msgs.
Any chance of the USPS doing this?
a) The difficulty of writing with a pen
b) Spelling and grammar.
What's the deal with schools these days? When I left school to go to university four years ago, I had been taught how to write and how to use a dictionary to look up words I didn't know.
Now unless someone has a genuine learning disability, I think it's pretty shocking that these are the excuses given.
It's also worrying because it implies that computer literacy breeds functional illiteracy.
Do we really want to live in a world where the only people who can speak their own language properly are those employed to write spell-checkers? It sounds to me like teachers need to sort out their act and not allow assignments to be typed.
It might also be worth insisting on proper spelling in all subjects at school; I know my brother doesn't care about how he spells a word if it's maths or science - he only gets down-marked for spelling mistakes in English classes. (So, no, this isn't just a dig at America as I'm based in the UK). What do people think?
Scott Adams is the Author of "Dilbert".
And I'm from the same side of the pond as you.
Was it not Hume who, when running for MP, said "I'm tough on Causality, tough on the Causes of Causality"?
well - the crime rate is one thing you can look at. It might even be significant. On the other hand, look at the numbers of deaths due to weapons in the US each year and compare to Britain.
I absolutely agree that it is the people, not the guns - but, as R Heinlein said, "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.".
The number of accidental shootings alone is terrifying.
The point about your criminal having a gun is interesting - but the ability to draw and shoot someone who already has a gun pointing at you is rare - and in Britain, hardly any of the criminals have guns. If you get mugged, chances are they're gonna beat you up or knife you - either of which is less likely to kill than a gun.
Britain has tightened up it's gun laws recently and the day they relax them is the day I leave the country.
OTOH, maybe if I was less well endowed I'd want a membership to the NRA.
This article appeared in newscientist quite recently. It suggests that RSI comes from doing many repeated sensitive movements. This is why carpenters and mechanics don't get RSI from hammering / spannering whereas typists do.
The authors believe that it is all to do with the brain inventing pain as it isn't designed to do these gentle motions over and over again.
May be that's why old typewriters didn't cause RSI.
according to this.
/.
(you'll have to click through for the whole speech.)
I'm not gonna print the words cos there's a mixed audience on
True story: (read this Bill!)
I used the windows uninstall utility to uninstall a demo I'd stuck on the HDD some time ago.
"Are you sure you want to remove program X?"
yes
"Removing wheelmouse driver........"
Basts!
It's always a good idea to check with a doctor before anything designed to take your weight down cos you could do yourself some harm.
Good luck to you though!
Athletes row: everyone else just plays games
er...if you are worried about the radiation damaging you, bear in mind that the antenna is already right next to your head. And if worried about reception, there is little need to be - the signal will have passed through buildings, cars, trees, and all sorts before getting to your phone. Unless you are used to wearing a faraday-cage hat, I shouldn't worry too much.
It seems to me that what we need is not so much a big bag of money, as a big bag of free lawyers.
There must be some lawyer geeks out there who would be willing to represent persecuted open source developers in cases like these?
Part of the problem with having a trust fund for law suits would be controling its use. Someone would have to decide who was to get backing and who not. With a list of lawyers willing to represent cases for free, it would be up to them if they worked on a particular suit or not.
As a good meeting point, how about if Slashdot were to have a sign up page for lawyers? What do you think, Rob?
We have to be professional about this. What microsoft are doing will probably raise awareness of GNU/Linux and other free operating systems. They may try to discredit us. If we are to stand up to their accusations, I say the name-calling must stop. For a while it was funny to write M$ or Mickeysoft but this gives the wrong impression. Name-calling is generally used as a last resort when logical arguments have failed - let us acknowledge the strengths of NT (ease of installation for one) but emphasise the benefits of Linux over it (which I don't think I need to list ;)
This whole thing is very simple.
Parents have a moral and legal responsibility to both society and their child. That responsibility includes saying "NO". Parents must learn that children are not capable always of making their own decisions. If a game is ultra-violent then some concern must come in that it may not be healthy for the child.
Would you take your kid to a strip joint? A bar to get drunk? Would you buy him some dope because he wanted it?
No.
Likewise control must be applied in other areas sometimes.
This was a very sad event - my sympathies *do* go out to the parents of the victims. Also to the child now in gaol. And to the parents of the child. I hope though, that this will serve as a warning to other parents.
You Need to Know what your kid is DOING.
I am sure this is just a joke - very nicely executed, but a joke. However, the idea of a GNU/Linux legal team isn't a bad one. Might come in handy in the future. There must be some geek lawyers out there somewhere: 'fess up!