If you are in a position to be looking at resumes, then your close minded attitude and gross generalizations about the UK university system (which has produced more Noble prizes for science per head then any other country) really don't bode very well for who ever you work for.
Let's not forget that the dumbing down of media, higher education, and popular culture originated in the US (there are so many examples of crud US "degree" courses I don't know where to begin).
But you did pick some good ideas - the study of prime numbers would be apt material for a thesis, let allow a degree. It takes London Taxi drivers about 4 years to know their way around London (contrast that with San Fran, which is grid based yet the cabbies still don't know how to get from A to B). I don't (yet) know much Spanish, so I can't comment on that, and I'll let you have the point about the cultural void that is the 80s!!!;-)
First let me say that this is a true story as told to me by my mom.
My brother at age 3 took the keys from my moms purse and got into the family truck, started the engine and since the truck (a standard) was already in first gear the truck went. My mom realized within minutes that he was gone. She looked outside and didn't see the truck and at first thought it was stolen but then she saw it in the neighbors yard with several neighbors gathered around. The neighbors said that he had managed to drive it between a couple of trees just barely wide enough for the truck to fit through(luck?) and several other amazing things that I can't think of right now and eventually bumped into a tree two lots down. The engine died and when the neighbors looked inside he was trying to start the truck again. Not exactly hotwiring but close enough!:-)
>Let's consider that at six, children are entering first grade. They are expected to be able to do things that are simple tasks. Plugging a wire into a receptacle is a simple task.
What you don't seem to understand is that it's not the act of plugging in wires that impresses us. It was the fact that he UNDERSTOOD THAT HE HAD TO. He understood that this toy will not work without juice. The battery has juice. One gets juice from the battery to the toy by plugging in wires. The wires are hidden. I have to find those hidden wires and plug them in to get juice from the battery to the toy.
This is what impresses us. The fact that he used logic to get what he wanted. Granted it was something simple that only a child would want, but he figured out how to get it.
>Most hackers will attest (at least those who had the benefit of a nearby computer) that at six, they were doing simple toy programs in BASIC considering that was the language available.
In what fucking fantasy world did you grow up? Most of us who grew up to become hackers didn't have rich parents to get us access to computers when we were 6 (yes, once upon a time personal computers were expensive). You're not only showing your age, but you've just shown your immaturity. When I was 6 years old the only computers in the school were in the office. Most people didn't know that a personal computer was when I was 6. I got my first computer when I was 8. I used to write goofy little programs on it in basic. It was my goal to try to create an Eliza type program (way before 'Eliza") but after a few hours I'd screw off and play with my Atari or go to the park to squeeze girls' butts.
Before we had computers we hacked just about everything else, our toys, our radios, TVs, you name whatever else. The hacker spirit has nothing to do with computers. It has to do with curiosity, exploration and ingenuity. If you think hacking is just about bytes, bits, computers, and programming then you're not nearly as much of a hacker as you think you are.
This kid has the raw materials to become a (jedi knight) hacker.
This is the classic story of a fallen hacker. He took advantage of the lax security at the day care. He took advantage of the lax security at reruns for wee ones. He went out exploring. He was seeing the world from a new perspective, and even though he wasn't the only one to blame he was the first to get picked up by the pigs.
As long as his parents don't come down too hard on him for this, and destroy his creative and exploratory nature he has the potential to become a hacker.
And I thought that I was smart for figuring out how to negate the "child proof" medicine bottles, and prevent my mother from locking out the windows on her '86 LeBaron.
Science fiction deals with all the big themes: who we are as a species, where we came from, where we're going, dealing with "the other," meaning of life, etc. Studying these issues is supposed to be what a liberal education is all about. And sci-fi certainly has more relevance for most people than, say, Dante, or Early Medieval History. (No offense, I did liberal arts myself).
Why don't we just have a microphone on there and a voice-recongition system. (Before I get flamed, yes, they aren't 100 percent reliable. Neither is my typing.)
Get these goggles, a mike, a small screen with handwriting-recognition (the Calligraphy software on Vadem's Clio is great) to wear on your arm, and a CPU/memory/storage unit to clip on the belt. Anybody out there build this yet? It's do-able, I'd imagine.
Of course, there's always the possibility of walking into walls while communing with your computer.
A couple others and I have created something new which, after several revisions, is almost ready to release open source. (I won't say what it is until I have it properly hosted on a new web domain, but it's very cool and nobody has done anything quite like it before;-)
To avoid the nightmares that can happen with an open source project, I'm probably giving it its own web domain (so it's always obvious where the real distribution comes from), and I'm going to open it up to threaded discussion by anyone who wants to suggest changes/improved code/etc. I think the problem with program 'P' mentioned above is that there was no mechanism in place to fix/extend it (therefore not really open source at all, right?). My rule #1 on my own project is going to be that if I don't have time to fix it (or if somebody has a really cool idea to extend it or improve it) I'm certainly going to find a way to let others do so. Any changes would have to get past me and anyone else involved in maintaining the project to ensure stability.
As we've gone through revisions of it, we've found that the best improvements have come through a conscious effort to better its ability to handle unforseen extensions and changes once it's released. Few projects do that (heck, even ActiveX might not have sucked if M$ had let anybody external to the company have input on how to do it right).
(The open source part of the project is a handful of XML DTD's (fairly complex ones), while I will be creating commercial software that uses them. Open source has shown itself to be an extremely viable way to get improvements in the XML, while still letting me do a commercial project. If someone who adds/fixes something wants credit for it, I'm not too proud to mention their contributions. If somebody else does a better commercial implementation than me using my own framework, they deserve the money!)
I'm sure this was one of John Kennedy and Nick Veitch's spoof news items in the old magazine Amiga Computing. There was another one that had a velocity-sensitive keyboard that gave you caps if you hit it harder...
Actually, my point is that people who are unwilling to expend a little effort aren't worthy of the right to vote. I don't give a damn if you feel guilty or not. If someone isn't willing to spend an hour to get to the voting booth, I seriously doubt they've done any kind of research into the issues / candidates they'd be voting for - so that means they're pretty much unqualified to cast an informed vote. Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing if someone like that doesn't vote.
Okay i agree maybe people would see the kkk site more. I have many people in my family who faught the nazis during ww2. Alright?, I hate these Bastards! Hate is tearing apart this country, just the other day there were shootings in chicago, during the bombing of kosovo there was a string of firebombings in LA of Jewish Temples.
This country makes me sick. Everyone here thinks that the constitution says they have the right to do all this crap. The other day i saw that there was a Neo-Nazi protest somewhere in the south. I can't believe that, all those flags and pictures of Hitler. A man that killed is directly or indirectly responsible for 26 million dead russians and postilby 100 million more dead. Why?
About the anti religion sites: I mean all those Anti Islam, Anti Hindu places.
I used my post to say that I hate all kinds of oppression.
This planet sickens me, i dunno maybe i'm just bitter
Actually, the LP series cards maintain the same API, much the same way that a family of processors maintains a consistent instruction set. The code will seemlessly port (hopefully).
What I've done to get around spam is set up my email so on receipt everything is automatically routed into its own folder (I'm up to 27 folders now; I do too much email! But it's great archiving). Anything which isn't routed on receipt goes to the default inbox, which is assumed to be spam. On occasion I review the default box to see if anything useful is there, and normally I immediately find that I can just delete its entire contents. I wish I could do the same with what arrives in the mailbox.
It's just a matter of considering all unexpected email suspect. Spam isn't any worse than Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes and other snail-mail spam. Just ignore it. Why is everybody freaking out so much about spam that comes through email, yet perfectly content with the mounds of garbage that's delivered by the mailman?! Personally, I would prefer filtering for regular mail first.
>If the voting software was open-source, people would be able to dike out any tracking 'features'. Any code used in the voting process would be available for inspection by the electorate on the 'net. A new copy of all required software, including a complete copy of the state's law would be burnt off onto a CD every day (or every hour, or whatever you chosen between-election-period was). People suspecting foul play could demand a complete recompile and re-install).
Who is to say that it would or could be open sourced? How often are programs written by government contract open sourced?
>Retina scan? Maybe you should take better care of your invalids (or at least get decent caretakers). Maybe a button on the website:
Let's just say that someone's grand father is in a wheelchair and never leaves the house (a rather common occurance)or just plain senile. They could be forced to ramain still during a retinal scan (we're assuming that this is done at home) and the care taken still gets to vote for them.
>Better the uninformed than the uniformed. This is the information age. Don't ban the uninformed from voting, fsking inform them.
If you can't take 15 minutes to go and vote, maybe you shouldn;t be voting.
LK
Re:People don't vote because of negative advertisi
on
Voting over the net?
·
· Score: 1
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangst:
I'm not blaming Motor Voter. It was a fraud from day 1. It was billed as a way to make it easier for people to vote. People who were not interested enough to register before motor voter would not be any more likely to vote if they were automatically registered. More people were registered because of motor voter. Few if any more people voted because of that registration. I stand by my earlier statement about motor voter.
Slashdot Mirror
Posted by Desva:
;-)
If you are in a position to be looking at resumes, then your close minded attitude and gross generalizations about the UK university system (which has produced more Noble prizes for science per head then any other country) really don't bode very well for who ever you work for.
Let's not forget that the dumbing down of media, higher education, and popular culture originated in the US (there are so many examples of crud US "degree" courses I don't know where to begin).
But you did pick some good ideas - the study of prime numbers would be apt material for a thesis, let allow a degree. It takes London Taxi drivers about 4 years to know their way around London (contrast that with San Fran, which is grid based yet the cabbies still don't know how to get from A to B). I don't (yet) know much Spanish, so I can't comment on that, and I'll let you have the point about the cultural void that is the 80s!!!
Posted by OGL:
Comment on what? I don't understand the question.
-W.W.
Posted by Open Matrix:
First let me say that this is a true story as told to me by my mom.
My brother at age 3 took the keys from my moms purse and got into the family truck, started the engine and since the truck (a standard) was already in first gear the truck went. My mom realized within minutes that he was gone. She looked outside and didn't see the truck and at first thought it was stolen but then she saw it in the neighbors yard with several neighbors gathered around. The neighbors said that he had managed to drive it between a couple of trees just barely wide enough for the truck to fit through(luck?) and several other amazing things that I can't think of right now and eventually bumped into a tree two lots down. The engine died and when the neighbors looked inside he was trying to start the truck again. Not exactly hotwiring but close enough!:-)
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangst:
>I'm so glad you're ever vigilant, protecting my liberty when it's not even in danger.
God protects children and fools.
Sometimes he needs help.
LK
Posted by dglynn:
That's a good thought...
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangst:
>Let's consider that at six, children are entering first grade. They are expected to be able to do things that are simple tasks. Plugging a wire into a receptacle is a simple task.
What you don't seem to understand is that it's not the act of plugging in wires that impresses us. It was the fact that he UNDERSTOOD THAT HE HAD TO. He understood that this toy will not work without juice. The battery has juice. One gets juice from the battery to the toy by plugging in wires. The wires are hidden. I have to find those hidden wires and plug them in to get juice from the battery to the toy.
This is what impresses us. The fact that he used logic to get what he wanted. Granted it was something simple that only a child would want, but he figured out how to get it.
>Most hackers will attest (at least those who had the benefit of a nearby computer) that at six, they were doing simple toy programs in BASIC considering that was the language available.
In what fucking fantasy world did you grow up? Most of us who grew up to become hackers didn't have rich parents to get us access to computers when we were 6 (yes, once upon a time personal computers were expensive). You're not only showing your age, but you've just shown your immaturity. When I was 6 years old the only computers in the school were in the office. Most people didn't know that a personal computer was when I was 6. I got my first computer when I was 8. I used to write goofy little programs on it in basic. It was my goal to try to create an Eliza type program (way before 'Eliza") but after a few hours I'd screw off and play with my Atari or go to the park to squeeze girls' butts.
Before we had computers we hacked just about everything else, our toys, our radios, TVs, you name whatever else. The hacker spirit has nothing to do with computers. It has to do with curiosity, exploration and ingenuity. If you think hacking is just about bytes, bits, computers, and programming then you're not nearly as much of a hacker as you think you are.
LK
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangst:
This kid has the raw materials to become a (jedi knight) hacker.
This is the classic story of a fallen hacker. He took advantage of the lax security at the day care. He took advantage of the lax security at reruns for wee ones. He went out exploring. He was seeing the world from a new perspective, and even though he wasn't the only one to blame he was the first to get picked up by the pigs.
As long as his parents don't come down too hard on him for this, and destroy his creative and exploratory nature he has the potential to become a hacker.
And I thought that I was smart for figuring out how to negate the "child proof" medicine bottles, and prevent my mother from locking out the windows on her '86 LeBaron.
LK
Posted by DonR:
Was anyone else worried that it took the day care center over an hour to notice that he was gone?
---
Donald Roeber
Posted by Mary CW:
Science fiction deals with all the big themes: who we are as a species, where we came from, where we're going, dealing with "the other," meaning of life, etc. Studying these issues is supposed to be what a liberal education is all about. And sci-fi certainly has more relevance for most people than, say, Dante, or Early Medieval History. (No offense, I did liberal arts myself).
Posted by veghead:
We at the Univeristy of Bums on Seats have had
similar quality degrees for years.
http://www.cynicalbastards.com/ubs/
Posted by Mike@ABC:
Why don't we just have a microphone on there and a voice-recongition system. (Before I get flamed, yes, they aren't 100 percent reliable. Neither is my typing.)
Get these goggles, a mike, a small screen with handwriting-recognition (the Calligraphy software on Vadem's Clio is great) to wear on your arm, and a CPU/memory/storage unit to clip on the belt. Anybody out there build this yet? It's do-able, I'd imagine.
Of course, there's always the possibility of walking into walls while communing with your computer.
Posted by 2B||!2B:
;-)
A couple others and I have created something new which, after several revisions, is almost ready to release open source. (I won't say what it is until I have it properly hosted on a new web domain, but it's very cool and nobody has done anything quite like it before
To avoid the nightmares that can happen with an open source project, I'm probably giving it its own web domain (so it's always obvious where the real distribution comes from), and I'm going to open it up to threaded discussion by anyone who wants to suggest changes/improved code/etc. I think the problem with program 'P' mentioned above is that there was no mechanism in place to fix/extend it (therefore not really open source at all, right?). My rule #1 on my own project is going to be that if I don't have time to fix it (or if somebody has a really cool idea to extend it or improve it) I'm certainly going to find a way to let others do so. Any changes would have to get past me and anyone else involved in maintaining the project to ensure stability.
As we've gone through revisions of it, we've found that the best improvements have come through a conscious effort to better its ability to handle unforseen extensions and changes once it's released. Few projects do that (heck, even ActiveX might not have sucked if M$ had let anybody external to the company have input on how to do it right).
(The open source part of the project is a handful of XML DTD's (fairly complex ones), while I will be creating commercial software that uses them. Open source has shown itself to be an extremely viable way to get improvements in the XML, while still letting me do a commercial project. If someone who adds/fixes something wants credit for it, I'm not too proud to mention their contributions. If somebody else does a better commercial implementation than me using my own framework, they deserve the money!)
Posted by King_Arthur:
Then they should also invent a screen which recharges the battery by looking at it.
Maybe a tft photo electronic screen.
Posted by OGL:
> Linux is revolutionizing the information
> technology (IT) universe just like the early
> Church changed the Roman Empire in the first
> century AD.
It's amazing the different types of parallel's people will draw based on their backgrounds...I'm glad to see at least that using Linux isn't a sin.
-W.W.
Posted by Neothi:
I found this to be a helpful link when I was looking for a modem to purchase for use under Linux and Windows.
Winmodems are not modems
Posted by Musical Saw Geek:
I'm sure this was one of John Kennedy and Nick Veitch's spoof news items in the old magazine Amiga Computing. There was another one that had a velocity-sensitive keyboard that gave you caps if you hit it harder...
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangst:
Yes, it can and probably does happen with absentee ballots.
LK
Posted by polar_bear:
Actually, my point is that people who are unwilling to expend a little effort aren't worthy of the right to vote. I don't give a damn if you feel guilty or not. If someone isn't willing to spend an hour to get to the voting booth, I seriously doubt they've done any kind of research into the issues / candidates they'd be voting for - so that means they're pretty much unqualified to cast an informed vote. Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing if someone like that doesn't vote.
Posted by Napalm4u:
Okay i agree maybe people would see the kkk site more. I have many people in my family who faught the nazis during ww2. Alright?, I hate these Bastards! Hate is tearing apart this country, just the other day there were shootings in chicago, during the bombing of kosovo there was a string of firebombings in LA of Jewish Temples.
This country makes me sick. Everyone here thinks that the constitution says they have the right to do all this crap. The other day i saw that there was a Neo-Nazi protest somewhere in the south. I can't believe that, all those flags and pictures of Hitler. A man that killed is directly or indirectly responsible for 26 million dead russians and postilby 100 million more dead.
Why?
About the anti religion sites: I mean all those Anti Islam, Anti Hindu places.
I used my post to say that I hate all kinds of oppression.
This planet sickens me, i dunno maybe i'm just bitter
Posted by Napalm4u:
Man I hate this!! I won't see this for 10 years! man that's crazy. Get some government grants and make them, I want to overclock it now!
btw ll:22 posting! my clock is off 20 minutes!
Posted by phro:
Actually, the LP series cards maintain the same API, much the same way that a family of processors maintains a consistent instruction set. The code will seemlessly port (hopefully).
Posted by 2B||!2B:
I've done programming on punch-cards before. You know your storage is pathetic when it can be messed up by skipping a page.
(and I'm only 30! I started programming _before_ getting my TI99/4A)
Posted by 2B||!2B:
What I've done to get around spam is set up my email so on receipt everything is automatically routed into its own folder (I'm up to 27 folders now; I do too much email! But it's great archiving). Anything which isn't routed on receipt goes to the default inbox, which is assumed to be spam. On occasion I review the default box to see if anything useful is there, and normally I immediately find that I can just delete its entire contents. I wish I could do the same with what arrives in the mailbox.
It's just a matter of considering all unexpected email suspect. Spam isn't any worse than Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes and other snail-mail spam. Just ignore it. Why is everybody freaking out so much about spam that comes through email, yet perfectly content with the mounds of garbage that's delivered by the mailman?! Personally, I would prefer filtering for regular mail first.
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangst:
>If the voting software was open-source, people would be able to dike out any tracking 'features'. Any code used in the voting process would be available for inspection by the electorate on the 'net. A new copy of all required software, including a complete copy of the state's law would be burnt off onto a CD every day (or every hour, or whatever you chosen between-election-period was). People suspecting foul play could demand a complete recompile and re-install).
Who is to say that it would or could be open sourced? How often are programs written by government contract open sourced?
>Retina scan? Maybe you should take better care of your invalids (or at least get decent caretakers). Maybe a button on the website:
Let's just say that someone's grand father is in a wheelchair and never leaves the house (a rather common occurance)or just plain senile. They could be forced to ramain still during a retinal scan (we're assuming that this is done at home) and the care taken still gets to vote for them.
>Better the uninformed than the uniformed. This is the information age. Don't ban the uninformed from voting, fsking inform them.
If you can't take 15 minutes to go and vote, maybe you shouldn;t be voting.
LK
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangst:
I'm not blaming Motor Voter. It was a fraud from day 1. It was billed as a way to make it easier for people to vote. People who were not interested enough to register before motor voter would not be any more likely to vote if they were automatically registered. More people were registered because of motor voter. Few if any more people voted because of that registration. I stand by my earlier statement about motor voter.
LK