I watched the news coverage of the Littleton Massacre with dawning horror. There was a feeling deep in the pit of my stomach that what was going on was more than just wrong for the kids of Littleton. I dread that this is going to make life so much harder for kids like them.
When I was in high school I was an outcast by choice. I hung with the popular crowed for my entire freshman year. But I felt so fake around them. I wasn't myself. I did not enjoy the same things they did. I was not concerned with clothes or parties or dances. I wanted to play with my computer and read my fiction books. By that point I had read my entire grade school library and was well on my way to devouring the paltry sci-fi/fantasy section of my High School library.
I met my real friend my sophomore year. We got to gather through a club on campus called the Fiction Federation. Most of us are still friends (I graduated in 89). We were not popular then. Though we were a registered club, we had to fight to get into the year book. We had to fight for a room to have meetings in and for a teacher willing to be a mentor. But we were lucky we found each other. And because we found each other we became a type of gang. We looked after each others emotional needs. We understood each other even if our parents and peers did not.
I am terrified that since the Littleton mess that there will be no more Fiction Federations. That no one will be willing to help the geeks. And more than that, I am afraid that the geeks themselves will be too afraid to reach out. It is hard enough in high school to reach out to another person. Harder still if you are shy and different and your interests are nothing like those of the people around you. But now these people are going to be alienated even further, if not by their peers but by their own feelings.
Where as before they might have brought a fiction book in a shy attempt to attract the attention of someone like them (my best friend and I got together like this), now they will be too terrified to even do that. It breaks my heart to think of how many of these people will succumb to feelings of worthlessness. How many of them will suffer silently in the darkness of their lonely lives. I fear that while before, loneliness will drive them to make contact, now it will drive them to an more permanent solution to their torment.
And it will not be just the geeks who suffer. The artists, the poets... any one who does not fit in. High school was a prison for so many of us. Now it will be a concentration camp. Saddest of all is that the same people who could be helping the outcasts will be adding to the hysteria. Administrators, teachers, counselors... instead of instilling a sense of trust in these kids will now be watching them with suspicion. Alienating them further.
And how many of us had parents we could turn to? I certainly didn't. Neither did any of my friends. If we had net met each other, it might have been one of us with the guns and the bombs. Certainly I have seen that much rage in some of my peers. And back then I was the only one with a computer and a modem (BBS days).
I pray for their sakes that these kids can find an outlet. That they find a support group on line if they cannot find one locally. Find people like them. People who will support them and their creative efforts... or programing efforts. We need to provide access to the internet in every school library. In ever library period. Not everybody has a computer. But everyone needs an outlet. I think that a lot of doors have been closed for kids like these. Time we opened some up.
Um. All I can really say is that I am insulted by this website. I am female and an IT professional, but that is not the point. Any person of reasonable intelligence is capable of understanding the Y2K implications. They do not need to be talked down to or their inteligence insulted. This is in effect the same as cutting someone food up into peices and chewing it for them.
I think that this website does a great disservice to women by perpetuating the stereotype of the helpless female. There is enough sexism still within our society without someone adding to it. I can understand if this site was done as a joke by someone making light of these kidns of issues, but the fact that it was created by a woman for women is insulting to say the least.
This is exactly the kind of think I would have expected were I alive in the fifties. First off, a page like this should NOT exist and second off, women who want equal worth for equal pay should not expect to be treated like this.
Isn't this kind of things why we burned our bras in the first place?
Forget Mom test. How about Dad test. My dad is such a computer moron that I have had to restrict his access level on his computer to guest. And I have hidden every single directory other than the one that contains his files. He can use office, netscape (only if the proper profile is already up) and his CAD. He cannot even figure out how to shut down properly or log onto the net. I have to automate everything. If he can install an OS, then I will be impressed!
I have installed just about a billion NT server and can do it backwards forwards sideways and under. 95 percent of my installs go with no problems. However NT is neither easy nor intuitive to get to perform properly. And after all my experience it still took me 2 days to get my dad's NT 4.0 with a built in version of SP2 to work correctly. Due to a but with SP2 and RAS, ended up having to hack the hell out of it.
Still I have had my problems with Red Hat 5.0 and the never quite correctly recompiling kernal. Slackware didn't have the same problems. But that is besides the point. Every OS has it's purpose. I love my NT box for certain things, my Mac is good for other stuff, and I love Linux's flexability and ability to morph into usefull things (firewall anyone? router?).
In the end, every OS is best in it's designated environment. Linux ROCKS for web stuff. IIs can stuff it!
This would not work. Since the ring is generated on the end where you are calling from is indipendant of the ring generated on the receiving end. To see RL example... every had someone pick up the phone even before it rang once on your end?
I was trying to set up something similar and it kept failing. When I contacted the phone company that is what they gave me as a reason
*chuckle* I use to betatest "violent" games for a living... if that didn't make me and my coworkers homicidal I don't know what will. *tic* *tic* *tic*
Hollywood and he game companies should sue the parents.
If the parent's knew their son had violent tendancies would it not be criminal negligence on the part of the parents to allow him to saticefy his appetite for violence...
Oh, sorry I forgot... parent can't be held responsable any more. It's not PC
this movement right around and go back into obsurity.
Just as open source is gaining popularity and more importantly credibility, these two bozo's have to start acting like 5 year olds.
Indeed it does look like there is bad blood between them, but this should not be aired as pulic laundry. In order for open source to be accepted as a legitimate movement the parties involved have to present a united front. Even if they can barely stand to hear each other's names.
I think that Al Gore is trying to appeal to the young. Because he knows he's doesn't have enough glitz and charisma to appeal to the older more established types, he is trying to go after the technoweenies and the young. Unfortunately what Mr. Gore has forgotten is that most of the people he is trying to appeal to do not vote. They are uninterested in politics and could care less about his thinly vieled attempts to curry favour with the techies.
Slashdot Mirror
I watched the news coverage of the Littleton Massacre with dawning horror.
There was a feeling deep in the pit of my stomach that what was going on was more
than just wrong for the kids of Littleton. I dread that this is going to make life so
much harder for kids like them.
When I was in high school I was an outcast by choice. I hung with the popular
crowed for my entire freshman year. But I felt so fake around them. I wasn't
myself. I did not enjoy the same things they did. I was not concerned with clothes
or parties or dances. I wanted to play with my computer and read my fiction
books. By that point I had read my entire grade school library and was well on my
way to devouring the paltry sci-fi/fantasy section of my High School library.
I met my real friend my sophomore year. We got to gather through a club on
campus called the Fiction Federation. Most of us are still friends (I graduated in
89). We were not popular then. Though we were a registered club, we had to fight
to get into the year book. We had to fight for a room to have meetings in and for a
teacher willing to be a mentor. But we were lucky we found each other. And
because we found each other we became a type of gang. We looked after each
others emotional needs. We understood each other even if our parents and peers
did not.
I am terrified that since the Littleton mess that there will be no more Fiction
Federations. That no one will be willing to help the geeks. And more than that, I am
afraid that the geeks themselves will be too afraid to reach out. It is hard enough in
high school to reach out to another person. Harder still if you are shy and different
and your interests are nothing like those of the people around you. But now these
people are going to be alienated even further, if not by their peers but by their own
feelings.
Where as before they might have brought a fiction book in a shy attempt to attract
the attention of someone like them (my best friend and I got together like this), now
they will be too terrified to even do that. It breaks my heart to think of how many of
these people will succumb to feelings of worthlessness. How many of them will
suffer silently in the darkness of their lonely lives. I fear that while before, loneliness
will drive them to make contact, now it will drive them to an more permanent
solution to their torment.
And it will not be just the geeks who suffer. The artists, the poets... any one who
does not fit in. High school was a prison for so many of us. Now it will be a
concentration camp. Saddest of all is that the same people who could be helping the
outcasts will be adding to the hysteria. Administrators, teachers, counselors...
instead of instilling a sense of trust in these kids will now be watching them with
suspicion. Alienating them further.
And how many of us had parents we could turn to? I certainly didn't. Neither did
any of my friends. If we had net met each other, it might have been one of us with
the guns and the bombs. Certainly I have seen that much rage in some of my peers.
And back then I was the only one with a computer and a modem (BBS days).
I pray for their sakes that these kids can find an outlet. That they find a support
group on line if they cannot find one locally. Find people like them. People who will
support them and their creative efforts... or programing efforts. We need to provide
access to the internet in every school library. In ever library period. Not everybody
has a computer. But everyone needs an outlet. I think that a lot of doors have been
closed for kids like these. Time we opened some up.
That's my two cents.
Um. All I can really say is that I am insulted by this website. I am female and an IT professional, but that is not the point. Any person of reasonable intelligence is capable of understanding the Y2K implications. They do not need to be talked down to or their inteligence insulted. This is in effect the same as cutting someone food up into peices and chewing it for them.
I think that this website does a great disservice to women by perpetuating the stereotype of the helpless female. There is enough sexism still within our society without someone adding to it. I can understand if this site was done as a joke by someone making light of these kidns of issues, but the fact that it was created by a woman for women is insulting to say the least.
This is exactly the kind of think I would have expected were I alive in the fifties. First off, a page like this should NOT exist and second off, women who want equal worth for equal pay should not expect to be treated like this.
Isn't this kind of things why we burned our bras in the first place?
Forget Mom test. How about Dad test. My dad is such a computer moron that I have had to restrict his access level on his computer to guest. And I have hidden every single directory other than the one that contains his files. He can use office, netscape (only if the proper profile is already up) and his CAD. He cannot even figure out how to shut down properly or log onto the net. I have to automate everything. If he can install an OS, then I will be impressed!
I have installed just about a billion NT server and can do it backwards forwards sideways and under. 95 percent of my installs go with no problems. However NT is neither easy nor intuitive to get to perform properly. And after all my experience it still took me 2 days to get my dad's NT 4.0 with a built in version of SP2 to work correctly. Due to a but with SP2 and RAS, ended up having to hack the hell out of it.
Still I have had my problems with Red Hat 5.0 and the never quite correctly recompiling kernal. Slackware didn't have the same problems. But that is besides the point. Every OS has it's purpose. I love my NT box for certain things, my Mac is good for other stuff, and I love Linux's flexability and ability to morph into usefull things (firewall anyone? router?).
In the end, every OS is best in it's designated environment. Linux ROCKS for web stuff. IIs can stuff it!
My 2 cents
This would not work. Since the ring is generated on the end where you are calling from is indipendant of the ring generated on the receiving end. To see RL example... every had someone pick up the phone even before it rang once on your end?
I was trying to set up something similar and it kept failing. When I contacted the phone company that is what they gave me as a reason
*chuckle* I use to betatest "violent" games for a living... if that didn't make me and my coworkers homicidal I don't know what will. *tic* *tic* *tic*
Hollywood and he game companies should sue the parents.
If the parent's knew their son had violent tendancies would it not be criminal negligence on the part of the parents to allow him to saticefy his appetite for violence...
Oh, sorry I forgot... parent can't be held responsable any more. It's not PC
this movement right around and go back into obsurity.
Just as open source is gaining popularity and more importantly credibility, these two bozo's have to start acting like 5 year olds.
Indeed it does look like there is bad blood between them, but this should not be aired as pulic laundry. In order for open source to be accepted as a legitimate movement the parties involved have to present a united front. Even if they can barely stand to hear each other's names.
-Kit
I think that Al Gore is trying to appeal to the young. Because he knows he's doesn't have enough glitz and charisma to appeal to the older more established types, he is trying to go after the technoweenies and the young. Unfortunately what Mr. Gore has forgotten is that most of the people he is trying to appeal to do not vote. They are uninterested in politics and could care less about his thinly vieled attempts to curry favour with the techies.