You need to learn to do math without a calculator so you actually understand math. Once the basics are mastered (say around grade 11 in N. America) then a calculator is useful to remove drudge work from classes other than math like physics, astronomy, and chemistry.
Not everyone will become a math major, but everyone should understand the basic principals behind the magic calulator BEFORE using it. We wouln't get many new math majors, Doctors etc... if we stop teaching math.
Just because we have machines that can scan text and read it out loud doesn't mean we stop teaching reading. Reading, writing, and math are the cornerstone of a well rounded education. If you can read well you can gain knowledge from books. If you can write you can communicate more effectively, and if you know math you can more easily figure out problems. Knowing how to use a calculator doesn't give you the base of knowledge you need to understand what the calculator is doing and thus how best to use the calculator.
Calculators should not be used at all before grade 11. Graphing calculators should not be used before second year. PDA's and laptops (if you can type faster than you take notes maybe a laptop is useful) aren't useful in most classes.
Simply cutting back and not buying every single gadget produced would help. There are people who are devoted to living "more simply" who advocate giving up some 'luxuries', slowing the influx of 'junk' into your life and making other adjustments. See
Live simple for more information.
Being a CEO is NOT so difficult that it should pay more than 50 times what a skilled worker makes. The USA has hugely inflated salaries for CEO's compared to most of the rest of the world.
I'm not saying this is a problem that needs fixed by legislation, but I think shareholders should think about paring down CEO, and the Board of director's costs.
"Objective morality" is an oxymoron. All morality is subjective. There is no morality measuring device that can be objectively applied to all situations calling fo morality. So while it is important to a stable society to have a common set of beliefs regarding morality, it can't be said that morality is an "objective truth".
I can't believe the absolute avarice shown by the BSA. They have put it all this effort to have a religious edict regarding software copyright violations when:
terrorists are bombing innocents weekly
innocents are starving to death world-wide
Pakistan and India are on the brink of war
any number of things more worthy of consideration
This is disgusting. Its like worrying if the icing on your cake is thick enough when you know your neighbor is starving.
Why don't we see more stories about Muslim's that condem violence and terrorism?
Geneticaly modified bacteria are already being used to clean up oil spills. The bacteria need light to work their magic so the current strains can't decimate oil in tanks and underground.
Try google with "oil spill bacteria" for more info.
This all depends on how you define "human". For the religous its "has a soul" which is imparted by God at conception. For many others it is a collection of traits regarding, sentience, self-awareness, inteligence, etc...
Lets combine human-cloning with gentic engineering to create bodies lacking brains and nerve stems. Is it human? Is it just a sack of meat that can be harveted for organ transplants? We harvest organs from the 'brain dead'. Now thats a lot scarier than harvesting a few stem cells from cloned embryos.
It is generally "I can do whatever I want as long as it does not directly HARM another person". Then we argue about what "harm" means. Most reasonable people would put actions that have a high chance of causing harm, eg shooting a firearm in the general direction of other people, in the "harmful" catagory.
And yes, all decisions regarding what you can and cannot not do are moral decisions even if you are not religious.
A more interesting scenario is the person who wants to sell himself into slavery. Most people would say he is harming himself and no one else, but most people also would want to ban this.
As for human cloning, the current technology pretty much guarantees hundreds of failures if you try for a full term person, with many late, late, failures. Pesonally I don't have any trouble with cloning embryo's until they are few weeks old, but creating hundreds of still born children is a bad thing.
The higher ups have been doing this for a long time, even back when they would use a pointer to move toys on a big map.
If you must fight, and you can reduce or eliminate the use of your own people it would be unethical NOT to use the technology that removes people from harms way.
A completely seperate issue is will this lack of danger for 'our' side make 'our' side more likely to resort to force? I think that the USA already has such a ridiculously high kill ratio that this is an issue now, but it seems that the USA has just gotten more and more sensitive to soldier's deaths. Expectations simply grow with the technology.
The article also mentioned "line of sight" control systems. This would imply some sort of narrow beam (laser?) system that would be much harder to crack or jam.
Re:One thing I've NEVER seen here....
on
Fair IP Laws?
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· Score: 2
The problem with software patents is that most are OBVIOUS. They are so obvious that no has bothered to 'publish' the idea. Software patents are handed out like candy for stuff anyone who has finsished a single highschool programming course could 'invent'. For example, when I was 16 I wrote a simple text mode windowing system. I figured out that you could save the screen memory under where a new window was being displayed then restore this memory when the new window was erased. It took about 5 minutes of thinking to 'discover' this very basic technique. IBM has a patent on this. Many basic tools used in software are simply implementation of algorithms, eg binary search, hashing, b-trees, etc... In many ways, programming languages are fancy math notation ans as such should not be patented.
Debunking the lunar landing skeptics
The above is an excellent link explaining why all the so called 'science' against the lunar landing is bunk and hokum. FOX had a show about people who think the Lunar landing is fake, and this page tears apart these arguments, one by one.
Re:How much more can parents take?
on
XBox Live Network
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· Score: 4, Insightful
As a parent I had a very simple solution - I said no.
I explained to the kids that between the ancient super-nintendo, and the PC they already spent too much time at a computer and there was no way I was going to pay for yet another console. Of course, if the kids actually save up enough to pay for a console I'll let them get one.
What is the big deal to saying no? The parent is supposed to be in charge, not the kids. I don't buy sugar-laden cerals, name-brand runners, or 'designer' anything. I don't just say no, I explain why I'm saying no, and I explain why my kids should skeptical about anything being sold to them on TV.
"The war on terrorism" is becoming like the "war on communism" - a handly label for anyone the USA doesn't like. I'm all for the USA blasting away at real terrorists, but you guys are passing a lot of laws that infringe on your own rights for the "war on terrorism". Notice how the definition of "terrorist" is very flexible? One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
The war on drugs is a failure, and will alwys be a failure. See "prohibition". Legalize, regulate, and tax drugs.
Gun control, or the lack of it, is a singularly American wierdness among countries not actively involved in brutal wars. I hate to be the one to break the news, but the USA has the highest murder rate due to guns out of any western country. Once you include suicides and acidents the death rate from guns is even higher. About 400 American's a week die from gun inflicted wounds. Half are suicides. 10% accidents, the remainder murder. Out of the murders about 90% involve people he who know each other (so even though a lot of people die, you are very unlikely to gunned down at random).
Taxes are not the problem. All those international treating OUTLAWING the commercialization of space are a problem. Have a look here for a list of current space treaties: Space Treaties
The "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (1967)" is a good example with articles like:
The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other
celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the
interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or
scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind.
Emigration rarely helps local population pressure, and I think its obvious that emigraion to Mars will not help the Earth's population reduce. The importance of being on Mars is to seed a new colony that will grow independantly so that humanity now lives in TWO baskets, not one.
15 year to terraform Mars? I think you are a wee bit optimistic. 300 years might be more reasonable. Important things take longer than "one quarter".
And yes, the Martian atmosphere is only about 1% as thick as the Earth's, and is 95% co2.
Mars facts are at:
Nasa Mars Facts More Mars Info
If the kids wants to use a computer they are old enough. It is a parents job to decide which uses of a computer are to be allowed at what age.
This is a good idea for kids under, say 12. Around 12 or 13 kids are old enough to want privacy, and if you have done your job as a parent they should be able to handle it.
and these are the rules:
Never give out your real name
Never give out phone number or address
Be aware that it is easy to pretend to be who ever they want.
NEVER arrange to meet anyone you only know online.
Stop the conversation if it makes you feel uncomfortable.
Tell a parent if someone is threatening, or otherwise 'bad' online.
As kids get older, say 16 or so, you have to hope they have learned to judge these things for themselves as you can no longer watch them 24 hours a day.
I agree that Apple shouldn't void the waranty for putting in a copy-protected CD, but if you want to get snarky with someone it should be the people manufacturing defective, non-stand CD's and trying to pass them off as the real thing.
Sercurity alone is reason enough to ban p2p software at work. The fact that it sucks up bandwidth required to get real work and research done is the final nail in the coffin.
I'm amazed that any corp over a handful of people doesn't run a firewall that blocks this stuff.
As for a 'virtual company' - these rules wouldn't apply as each person would be at home with their own equipment and adsl/cable, not sharing the company T1 (or whatever). It would be up to each person to set their own rules.
Why should he be punished for doing a favour to the citizens and state? He improved the signage. He made it to spec. Just exactly what did he do that deserves punishment?
This type of behaviour should be encouraged. More people should do volunteer work. Punishing this guy is like some of the unions at the schools up here that want to ban parents from volunteering at the schools because it "steals union jobs".
Slashdot Mirror
Not everyone will become a math major, but everyone should understand the basic principals behind the magic calulator BEFORE using it. We wouln't get many new math majors, Doctors etc... if we stop teaching math.
Just because we have machines that can scan text and read it out loud doesn't mean we stop teaching reading. Reading, writing, and math are the cornerstone of a well rounded education. If you can read well you can gain knowledge from books. If you can write you can communicate more effectively, and if you know math you can more easily figure out problems. Knowing how to use a calculator doesn't give you the base of knowledge you need to understand what the calculator is doing and thus how best to use the calculator.
Calculators should not be used at all before grade 11. Graphing calculators should not be used before second year. PDA's and laptops (if you can type faster than you take notes maybe a laptop is useful) aren't useful in most classes.
Simply cutting back and not buying every single gadget produced would help. There are people who are devoted to living "more simply" who advocate giving up some 'luxuries', slowing the influx of 'junk' into your life and making other adjustments. See Live simple for more information.
They take risks with OPM (Other People's Money). CEo's should be well paid but I think it has gotten out of hand in the USA.
Being a CEO is NOT so difficult that it should pay more than 50 times what a skilled worker makes. The USA has hugely inflated salaries for CEO's compared to most of the rest of the world.
I'm not saying this is a problem that needs fixed by legislation, but I think shareholders should think about paring down CEO, and the Board of director's costs.
- terrorists are bombing innocents weekly
- innocents are starving to death world-wide
- Pakistan and India are on the brink of war
- any number of things more worthy of consideration
This is disgusting. Its like worrying if the icing on your cake is thick enough when you know your neighbor is starving.Why don't we see more stories about Muslim's that condem violence and terrorism?
Try google with "oil spill bacteria" for more info.
Try google with "mir mold" for more info. They had mold growing on the outside as well as inside.
Lets combine human-cloning with gentic engineering to create bodies lacking brains and nerve stems. Is it human? Is it just a sack of meat that can be harveted for organ transplants? We harvest organs from the 'brain dead'. Now thats a lot scarier than harvesting a few stem cells from cloned embryos.
And yes, all decisions regarding what you can and cannot not do are moral decisions even if you are not religious.
A more interesting scenario is the person who wants to sell himself into slavery. Most people would say he is harming himself and no one else, but most people also would want to ban this.
As for human cloning, the current technology pretty much guarantees hundreds of failures if you try for a full term person, with many late, late, failures. Pesonally I don't have any trouble with cloning embryo's until they are few weeks old, but creating hundreds of still born children is a bad thing.
If you must fight, and you can reduce or eliminate the use of your own people it would be unethical NOT to use the technology that removes people from harms way.
A completely seperate issue is will this lack of danger for 'our' side make 'our' side more likely to resort to force? I think that the USA already has such a ridiculously high kill ratio that this is an issue now, but it seems that the USA has just gotten more and more sensitive to soldier's deaths. Expectations simply grow with the technology.
The article also mentioned "line of sight" control systems. This would imply some sort of narrow beam (laser?) system that would be much harder to crack or jam.
The problem with software patents is that most are OBVIOUS. They are so obvious that no has bothered to 'publish' the idea. Software patents are handed out like candy for stuff anyone who has finsished a single highschool programming course could 'invent'. For example, when I was 16 I wrote a simple text mode windowing system. I figured out that you could save the screen memory under where a new window was being displayed then restore this memory when the new window was erased. It took about 5 minutes of thinking to 'discover' this very basic technique. IBM has a patent on this. Many basic tools used in software are simply implementation of algorithms, eg binary search, hashing, b-trees, etc... In many ways, programming languages are fancy math notation ans as such should not be patented.
Debunking the lunar landing skeptics
The above is an excellent link explaining why all the so called 'science' against the lunar landing is bunk and hokum. FOX had a show about people who think the Lunar landing is fake, and this page tears apart these arguments, one by one.
I explained to the kids that between the ancient super-nintendo, and the PC they already spent too much time at a computer and there was no way I was going to pay for yet another console. Of course, if the kids actually save up enough to pay for a console I'll let them get one.
What is the big deal to saying no? The parent is supposed to be in charge, not the kids. I don't buy sugar-laden cerals, name-brand runners, or 'designer' anything. I don't just say no, I explain why I'm saying no, and I explain why my kids should skeptical about anything being sold to them on TV.
The war on drugs is a failure, and will alwys be a failure. See "prohibition". Legalize, regulate, and tax drugs.
Gun control, or the lack of it, is a singularly American wierdness among countries not actively involved in brutal wars. I hate to be the one to break the news, but the USA has the highest murder rate due to guns out of any western country. Once you include suicides and acidents the death rate from guns is even higher. About 400 American's a week die from gun inflicted wounds. Half are suicides. 10% accidents, the remainder murder. Out of the murders about 90% involve people he who know each other (so even though a lot of people die, you are very unlikely to gunned down at random).
Space Treaties
The "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (1967)" is a good example with articles like:
The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind.
Very noble, but its hard to make a buck.
As others have pointed out there will ikley be technology developed that will find many uses right here on Earth.
It is just a cool thing to do.
15 year to terraform Mars? I think you are a wee bit optimistic. 300 years might be more reasonable. Important things take longer than "one quarter".
And yes, the Martian atmosphere is only about 1% as thick as the Earth's, and is 95% co2.
Mars facts are at: Nasa Mars Facts
More Mars Info
As kids get older, say 16 or so, you have to hope they have learned to judge these things for themselves as you can no longer watch them 24 hours a day.
I agree that Apple shouldn't void the waranty for putting in a copy-protected CD, but if you want to get snarky with someone it should be the people manufacturing defective, non-stand CD's and trying to pass them off as the real thing.
I'm amazed that any corp over a handful of people doesn't run a firewall that blocks this stuff.
As for a 'virtual company' - these rules wouldn't apply as each person would be at home with their own equipment and adsl/cable, not sharing the company T1 (or whatever). It would be up to each person to set their own rules.
The speed of light through a vacuum is about 360,000 miles per SECOND.
900,000 mph is 250 miles per second.
Hmmmm, which is bigger 250 or 360,000?
And light is stilll the winnnner!
I am a CITIZEN!
This type of behaviour should be encouraged. More people should do volunteer work. Punishing this guy is like some of the unions at the schools up here that want to ban parents from volunteering at the schools because it "steals union jobs".