I am starting to get a bad taste in my mouth about the amount of effort that some of my professors are putting forward in my courses. I feel like some of them are "skating"
Likely those professors feel exactly the same way about the students taking online courses.
There is an ongoing conservative perception in academia (not without merit) that, quite simply, people that are dead serious about obtaining a quality education are willing to make time for classes and all the homework they entail. I have spoken with a few of these teachers myself; they all felt that anyone whose schedule was already so packed that they couldn't find time to physically attend lectures and discussions was probably better off postponing their enrollment altogether until a point when they had the time and resources to properly devote toward a formal education, rather than risk acquiring something of potentially lower quality.
One of them went so far as to speculate on the much more involved feeling one gets when actually sitting in a classroom surrounded by dozens of students and with the professor lecturing authoritatively at the front. Basically, such a setting makes it all seem more real and therefore adds unconscious pressure to the participating students to take the class and its material seriously--as opposed to viewing absolutely everything to do with the class on your own comfortable monitor, in your own comfortable home, where any pressure to succeed in the class has to be entirely self-generated. And don't kid yourself: motivation can often be totally unreachable without a kick in the pants. Hence why some instructors penalize for non-attendance. They don't do it out of meanness, they do it because such a policy helps students to learn when the students are not willing to help themselves.
Mmhmm. How many people spend their free time idly browsing through graduate students' websites? Stuart Schechter's site doesn't exactly strike me as a major news distribution point. And just to get the jump on this one, here's a line from the end of the paper:
This research was supported in part by grants from Compaq, HP, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft.
And what does IBM support more than any other hardware company? Linux. Thank you.
It's a research paper. For school. It's not journalism, not a "cleverly planted story," it's a bloody academic essay. It is sitting in a student's directory on a Harvard server. The only "planting" I see is the link Slashdot provided to it in the first place.
And folks wonder where the stereotype of celebrities as self-absorbed narcissists comes from. Well, no, perhaps they don't, but regardless--the photograph, taken from a big frickin' distance at that, was part of
environmental and scientific research projects interested in the health of the coastline and coastal erosion.
It isn't about you, dear heart, it's about science. You were old news years ago, though you enjoyed a brief revival with South Park. Get over yourself.
"But the truth is that all of the waste produced by all of the world's nuclear reactors could fit in a two-story building, on an area the size of a basketball court."
Since when does a knowledgeable system admin manage an MS-Windows system?
That was uncalled for. There are plenty of super-knowledgeable, super-skilled sysadmins whose admin duties happen to include that of Windows systems, because it's what their companies happen to have, perhaps alongside other platforms, perhaps not.
Furthermore, do you have any idea what it takes to get an MCSE? It's one hell of a heavyweight certification that entails lots of knowledge as well as the skill with which to apply it.
People who want to work from home are either going to pirate office or install open office (a lot more people are learning that it works well enough for most uses.)
Actually, I'd wager they're just going to pirate Office, period. The ongoing corporate perception is that documents produced with non-Microsoft Office suites still stand a moderate-to-slight chance of not fully working with the officially sanctioned applications. When critical company information and timetables are involved, who but the most enthuastic advocates of alternative office suites, or the most technically adept workers who know exactly what's compatible, both of whom are very much in the minority with respect to the whole corporation, would ever consider using a non-standard office suite?
Security and performance should be qualities that sell your product initially, something to be proud of as a manufacturer, not aspects of a product that you get only after paying annual fees.
Security is hardly a static entity. What's the more convincing sell, the idea that the product is already secure, period, or the idea that the product was as secure as possible when released and can be continually upgraded to maintain that level of security?
What happens when every game follows a tried and true formula? Where do the new ideas go
I, for one, would recommend getting in touch with designers and programmers from the computer gaming giants of the '80s: Broderbund, Sirius, Atarisoft, Spectravision, First Star, HES, Epyx, subLOGIC, Spinnaker, MECC, Synapse... those guys put out some of the most original, on-crack, and wildly entertaining games possible.
Anyone remember Sammy Lightfoot? Crisis Mountain? Boulder Dash? Frenzy? GATO? Paipec? That was a true era of creativity. Imagine if that were applied now.
Slashdot Mirror
...are they going to move it in real time?
...deserves a Nobel Prize for inventing the most effective contraceptive to date.
MPG3xx series hard drives have been failing in huge numbers.
"Pulling a..."
Nope, just doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "Pulling a Deskstar."
I am starting to get a bad taste in my mouth about the amount of effort that some of my professors are putting forward in my courses. I feel like some of them are "skating"
Likely those professors feel exactly the same way about the students taking online courses.
There is an ongoing conservative perception in academia (not without merit) that, quite simply, people that are dead serious about obtaining a quality education are willing to make time for classes and all the homework they entail. I have spoken with a few of these teachers myself; they all felt that anyone whose schedule was already so packed that they couldn't find time to physically attend lectures and discussions was probably better off postponing their enrollment altogether until a point when they had the time and resources to properly devote toward a formal education, rather than risk acquiring something of potentially lower quality.
One of them went so far as to speculate on the much more involved feeling one gets when actually sitting in a classroom surrounded by dozens of students and with the professor lecturing authoritatively at the front. Basically, such a setting makes it all seem more real and therefore adds unconscious pressure to the participating students to take the class and its material seriously--as opposed to viewing absolutely everything to do with the class on your own comfortable monitor, in your own comfortable home, where any pressure to succeed in the class has to be entirely self-generated. And don't kid yourself: motivation can often be totally unreachable without a kick in the pants. Hence why some instructors penalize for non-attendance. They don't do it out of meanness, they do it because such a policy helps students to learn when the students are not willing to help themselves.
I personally prefer a little color to soul-killing, sterile office greys. I for one would love it if they went Fisher-Price (Windows themes excepted).
The "Dyson" computer
:)
Skynet?
It's got the look and smell of a seeded story.
Mmhmm. How many people spend their free time idly browsing through graduate students' websites? Stuart Schechter's site doesn't exactly strike me as a major news distribution point. And just to get the jump on this one, here's a line from the end of the paper:
This research was supported in part by grants from Compaq, HP, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft.
And what does IBM support more than any other hardware company? Linux. Thank you.
It's a research paper. For school. It's not journalism, not a "cleverly planted story," it's a bloody academic essay. It is sitting in a student's directory on a Harvard server. The only "planting" I see is the link Slashdot provided to it in the first place.
And folks wonder where the stereotype of celebrities as self-absorbed narcissists comes from. Well, no, perhaps they don't, but regardless--the photograph, taken from a big frickin' distance at that, was part of
environmental and scientific research projects interested in the health of the coastline and coastal erosion.
It isn't about you, dear heart, it's about science. You were old news years ago, though you enjoyed a brief revival with South Park. Get over yourself.
Palladium may actually make P2P piracy more widespread
Good: 1
Evil:50
I'll assume you're placing P2P piracy in the Evil category, and something else in Good... right?
Second chance for any Heaven's Gate folks that got left behind!
navigate through the game using their mind power,
Wouldn't this discriminate against idjits?
It's not just a pride thing,
Well, thank goodness for that!
(*) of course, I think 20 years later now, looking at a CRT screen all the time has probably degraded my vision back a bit too :-)
Indeed. My eyesight is now only called that out of habit. A normal person wearing my glasses can see through time.
Does Slashdot count as a book? An ongoing saga/comedy/technical reference manual?
"But the truth is that all of the waste produced by all of the world's nuclear reactors could fit in a two-story building, on an area the size of a basketball court."
How did my company even cross his mind?
Since when does a knowledgeable system admin manage an MS-Windows system?
That was uncalled for. There are plenty of super-knowledgeable, super-skilled sysadmins whose admin duties happen to include that of Windows systems, because it's what their companies happen to have, perhaps alongside other platforms, perhaps not.
Furthermore, do you have any idea what it takes to get an MCSE? It's one hell of a heavyweight certification that entails lots of knowledge as well as the skill with which to apply it.
as it was a "security improvement"
Damn skippy it's a security improvement. Can't be attacked if you can't connect!
People who want to work from home are either going to pirate office or install open office (a lot more people are learning that it works well enough for most uses.)
Actually, I'd wager they're just going to pirate Office, period. The ongoing corporate perception is that documents produced with non-Microsoft Office suites still stand a moderate-to-slight chance of not fully working with the officially sanctioned applications. When critical company information and timetables are involved, who but the most enthuastic advocates of alternative office suites, or the most technically adept workers who know exactly what's compatible, both of whom are very much in the minority with respect to the whole corporation, would ever consider using a non-standard office suite?
Security and performance should be qualities that sell your product initially, something to be proud of as a manufacturer, not aspects of a product that you get only after paying annual fees.
Security is hardly a static entity. What's the more convincing sell, the idea that the product is already secure, period, or the idea that the product was as secure as possible when released and can be continually upgraded to maintain that level of security?
Well, there goes my excuse for not being able to view corporate memos and write designs and reports at home.
;)
Just tell them you can't afford a computer that will run it. What does the latest version of Office require now? A Cray?
"One of the advantages we have is that the entire community is involved," said Judge
:)
No comment. None at all.
What happens when every game follows a tried and true formula? Where do the new ideas go
I, for one, would recommend getting in touch with designers and programmers from the computer gaming giants of the '80s: Broderbund, Sirius, Atarisoft, Spectravision, First Star, HES, Epyx, subLOGIC, Spinnaker, MECC, Synapse... those guys put out some of the most original, on-crack, and wildly entertaining games possible.
Anyone remember Sammy Lightfoot? Crisis Mountain? Boulder Dash? Frenzy? GATO? Paipec? That was a true era of creativity. Imagine if that were applied now.
Imagine if Acme had ever made an operating system.
*rubs chin*
Naw, couldn't be...
Motto over the European Center for Nuclear Research:
;)
"Liberate tutemet ex inferis."
No wonder the Christian Science Monitor picked this one up.