Wow, thank you for that article. Looking back on this a week later I'm amazed at what an impact it has had on my life. First of all, this was a very eloquent essay on one of my standard rants. Second of all, it prompted me to do some serious introspection on my own adherence to society's rules. The night after you posted it I sat down and wrote a song about it, and I just finished recording the song last night. It's the best song I've written in a long time.
Re:site is already slow - here's the text
on
Yahoo IM Translator
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· Score: 2, Funny
No Latin?
How am I going to de-befuddle the messages of that annoying co-worker who constantly types to me in Latin?...ok I admit it, I am that annoying coworker.:)
Truly, I think battery life is a much more serious concern than how ergonomic it is. I would become accustomed to the mouse no matter what shape it was within a matter of hours.
The mouse I use is not rechargeable for exactly this reason. It works for 2-3 months of 8 hours per day use on a pair of AAAs.
Furthermore, when my mouse batteries die I can just go get some new ones rather than having to waste even an hour of productive time while the damn thing charges. Any mouse that costs me time would end up in the circular file in short order.
Your observation is quiet correct, but it is one that I've always found odd.
I own two full size pickups in addition to the car I use for running around. The pickups are always full of something I'm hauling from one place to another, so they are not the "car replacements" the article talks about.
An interesting thing happenned when I first drove a full size pickup. I felt an unexpected sense of responsibility. Whereas I'd been an idiot teenager in a sports car when I was younger, I started really paying attention in the truck and driving as much for the other people on the road as I do for myself. I feel the three tons (more with a load) I am pushing around the road, and I take it seriously, without even consciously deciding to.
So why is it these soccer moms and kids don't have the same reaction? I'm not better, smarter or more caring than anyone else; in fact I have a touch of misanthropy to deal with. So why are there so many idiots driving like idiots in their large vehicles?
I hate that, as a parent, I am perpetuating the problem.
I have always believed that the concept of a "curse word" or a word you should not say is completely daft. So I resolved that I would not teach my children that certain words were bad.
However, that was before I had kids.
Now, I'm afraid, that I am teaching them not to say certain words, and punishing them if they do. Why? Mostly because I don't want to put up with phone calls from the babysitter about so-and-so's potty mouth.
When did this change happen? My eldest son came home one day and said "Papa, can I say holy shit?" ".......why do you ask?" "Well because Ms. Debbie told me I can't say holy shit"
Of course at that point I knew this particular boy pretty well, and I knew that he had a habit of repeating any new word he learned over and over at the top of his lungs. I could just imagine him running around screaming "holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshith olyshit!!!!!" at Debbie's. If he were only to do that at my house it would be no big deal. I'd just tell him to knock it off like I do when he runs around saying "snausages!!!!" or whatever.
So I told him to say "Holy Cow" instead. He didn't like that and instead decided to use "Holy Pig", which I got to hear endlessly for weeks.
I am fairly disappointed in myself for not being able to reconcile my beliefs with those of ignorant society at large, but it is what it is, I suppose.
Ah, now that's the method I would have chosen, if I had been able to figure out how to launch the terminal.
I have never really felt comfortable in a gui environment, and I have always chosen window systems that are as close as possible to X11, since pretty much all I want is a bunch of vt100s on one screen.
I guess my disappointment in the mac was because I'd been led to believe that osx was similar to linux, and I misinterpreted that to mean that it had a user interface similar to what you would expect to find on a linux machine, i.e. something x-windowsey.
I had to use a mac late last week... it's the first time I've touched a mac since... oh, jeez 1994 I guess.
I couldn't get the damn machine to do ANYTHING. All I wanted to do was view source on an html document and edit the source to get rid of a browser incompatibility in that infernal p.o.s. safari, and I could not edit a simple freaking text file. It was purely infuriating. And all the cutesy damn buttons that do nothing you expect them to. To hell with that crap.
Whether it a criminal or a civil case, it's the same. You wait for MONTHS in horrid limbo waiting for the other shoe to drop. All the while the worst case scenario plays through your head over and over. There is nothing worse, in my experience, than being totally at the mercy of the legal system. And it becomes clear very early on that whether or not you are guilty of any wrongdoing matters very little.
I thought this was just a problem with the US' horrid legal system, but apparently it's a problem in Slovenia as well.
Absolutely, knowing the lyrics almost always ruins the song for me. But, that is probably because I listen to genres of music that are not about the lyrics.
In fact, in metal (real metal, not the hair stuff and for f's sake not the nu-metal garbage) the vocalist provides no melody, and instead provides subrhythm for the music. I think the initiator of this style was Tom Arays, who although he didn't use the growling vocal style of modern metal, provided mostly rhythm and intensity, and his lyrics relied more on assonance and consonance rather than rhyming.
Fortunately, a good bit of what I listen to is not in english, so I can growl along with the lyrics without having the slightest idea what the song is about.
Ah, very good point in the latter. I entirely missed the fact that there would be no net torque in convection. That should have been pretty obvious:) Getting rusty, am I.
That's pretty good intuition, but you are ignoring the fact that other processes within the earth (such as heat transfer by convection, which also generates motion perpendicular to the raduis) are dissipating energy at a much higher rate than the earth's spin is.
This is a very worthwhile discussion for slashdot as well, and for anyone else who is science-minded. I took a number of courses in geomagnetic theory when I was a graduate student studying Geophysics, and I can tell you that the state of geomagnetic theory is amazingly poor. It is a huge body of amazingly complicated theory that, by and large, doesn't work.
"The end of free Internet content will come when Web browsers start blocking online advertisements by default"
oh yeah, remember how expensive it was to get content on the internet before people started advertizing? I mean... ftping to wuarchive could set you back a day's pay.
better yet, make the water run through some sort of porous pad. The fan will vaporize the water and you will have a swamp cooler, which will work better than the device you just described.
That's fine with me. I am already surrounded by people of my own age group (30s) who are bumbling morons and couldn't integrate e^x if their lives depended on it. I am perfectly fine with the idea of having no competition arising from the younger ranks.
At first I thought "Dilbert clone" but it's not. It reminds me a lot more of a small company I worked for some years ago.
Tell your friend I said good luck.
another timely scoop from slashdot!
on
Blank Keyboard
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· Score: 0
Blank keyboards have been standard items for a looooooooong time. They have been used for teaching touch typing since touch typing became popular. A quick google of "blank keyboard" yielded many results ranging from keyboards that are completely blank like this one to keyboards that have only the letter keys blanked out, to blank overlays to cover up the key labels.
Slashdot Mirror
A-F*king-Men Brother. To everything you said. I wish I had mod points.
Wow, thank you for that article. Looking back on this a week later I'm amazed at what an impact it has had on my life. First of all, this was a very eloquent essay on one of my standard rants. Second of all, it prompted me to do some serious introspection on my own adherence to society's rules. The night after you posted it I sat down and wrote a song about it, and I just finished recording the song last night. It's the best song I've written in a long time.
No Latin?
...ok I admit it, I am that annoying coworker. :)
How am I going to de-befuddle the messages of that annoying co-worker who constantly types to me in Latin?
Truly, I think battery life is a much more serious concern than how ergonomic it is. I would become accustomed to the mouse no matter what shape it was within a matter of hours.
The mouse I use is not rechargeable for exactly this reason. It works for 2-3 months of 8 hours per day use on a pair of AAAs.
Furthermore, when my mouse batteries die I can just go get some new ones rather than having to waste even an hour of productive time while the damn thing charges.
Any mouse that costs me time would end up in the circular file in short order.
Your observation is quiet correct, but it is one that I've always found odd.
I own two full size pickups in addition to the car I use for running around. The pickups are always full of something I'm hauling from one place to another, so they are not the "car replacements" the article talks about.
An interesting thing happenned when I first drove a full size pickup. I felt an unexpected sense of responsibility. Whereas I'd been an idiot teenager in a sports car when I was younger, I started really paying attention in the truck and driving as much for the other people on the road as I do for myself. I feel the three tons (more with a load) I am pushing around the road, and I take it seriously, without even consciously deciding to.
So why is it these soccer moms and kids don't have the same reaction? I'm not better, smarter or more caring than anyone else; in fact I have a touch of misanthropy to deal with. So why are there so many idiots driving like idiots in their large vehicles?
I hate that, as a parent, I am perpetuating the problem.
h olyshit!!!!!" at Debbie's. If he were only to do that at my house it would be no big deal. I'd just tell him to knock it off like I do when he runs around saying "snausages!!!!" or whatever.
I have always believed that the concept of a "curse word" or a word you should not say is completely daft. So I resolved that I would not teach my children that certain words were bad.
However, that was before I had kids.
Now, I'm afraid, that I am teaching them not to say certain words, and punishing them if they do. Why? Mostly because I don't want to put up with phone calls from the babysitter about so-and-so's potty mouth.
When did this change happen? My eldest son came home one day and said "Papa, can I say holy shit?" ".......why do you ask?" "Well because Ms. Debbie told me I can't say holy shit"
Of course at that point I knew this particular boy pretty well, and I knew that he had a habit of repeating any new word he learned over and over at the top of his lungs. I could just imagine him running around screaming "holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit
So I told him to say "Holy Cow" instead. He didn't like that and instead decided to use "Holy Pig", which I got to hear endlessly for weeks.
I am fairly disappointed in myself for not being able to reconcile my beliefs with those of ignorant society at large, but it is what it is, I suppose.
Ah, now that's the method I would have chosen, if I had been able to figure out how to launch the terminal.
I have never really felt comfortable in a gui environment, and I have always chosen window systems that are as close as possible to X11, since pretty much all I want is a bunch of vt100s on one screen.
I guess my disappointment in the mac was because I'd been led to believe that osx was similar to linux, and I misinterpreted that to mean that it had a user interface similar to what you would expect to find on a linux machine, i.e. something x-windowsey.
Simple like the mac, huh?
Have you ever tried to use a mac?
I had to use a mac late last week... it's the first time I've touched a mac since... oh, jeez 1994 I guess.
I couldn't get the damn machine to do ANYTHING. All I wanted to do was view source on an html document and edit the source to get rid of a browser incompatibility in that infernal p.o.s. safari, and I could not edit a simple freaking text file. It was purely infuriating. And all the cutesy damn buttons that do nothing you expect them to. To hell with that crap.
Have you ever been charged with anything?
Whether it a criminal or a civil case, it's the same. You wait for MONTHS in horrid limbo waiting for the other shoe to drop. All the while the worst case scenario plays through your head over and over. There is nothing worse, in my experience, than being totally at the mercy of the legal system. And it becomes clear very early on that whether or not you are guilty of any wrongdoing matters very little.
I thought this was just a problem with the US' horrid legal system, but apparently it's a problem in Slovenia as well.
Wow, it's amazing how well that explains what happenned to metallica.
Absolutely, knowing the lyrics almost always ruins the song for me. But, that is probably because I listen to genres of music that are not about the lyrics.
In fact, in metal (real metal, not the hair stuff and for f's sake not the nu-metal garbage) the vocalist provides no melody, and instead provides subrhythm for the music. I think the initiator of this style was Tom Arays, who although he didn't use the growling vocal style of modern metal, provided mostly rhythm and intensity, and his lyrics relied more on assonance and consonance rather than rhyming.
Fortunately, a good bit of what I listen to is not in english, so I can growl along with the lyrics without having the slightest idea what the song is about.
actually, the urine of *healthy* people is sterile.... That's a subtle but important point.
Yeah, that damn Auto Trader magazine is 100% ads. And people pay money for it.
What?
Ah, very good point in the latter. I entirely missed the fact that there would be no net torque in convection. That should have been pretty obvious :) Getting rusty, am I.
That's pretty good intuition, but you are ignoring the fact that other processes within the earth (such as heat transfer by convection, which also generates motion perpendicular to the raduis) are dissipating energy at a much higher rate than the earth's spin is.
This is a very worthwhile discussion for slashdot as well, and for anyone else who is science-minded. I took a number of courses in geomagnetic theory when I was a graduate student studying Geophysics, and I can tell you that the state of geomagnetic theory is amazingly poor. It is a huge body of amazingly complicated theory that, by and large, doesn't work.
So, theorize on, geeks!
You guys should really listen to NPR instead of that morning idiot on dc101.
If my compass needle didn't bounce, then they did not create a current larger than the one that generates the earth's magnetic field.
s'matter taco? did the football guys stuff you in a locker in high school?
comment on your sig -- I get worked up because, since I don't believe in your god I am less likely to get a full measure of liberty and justice.
"The end of free Internet content will come when Web browsers start blocking online advertisements by default"
oh yeah, remember how expensive it was to get content on the internet before people started advertizing? I mean... ftping to wuarchive could set you back a day's pay.
oh, wait.
better yet, make the water run through some sort of porous pad. The fan will vaporize the water and you will have a swamp cooler, which will work better than the device you just described.
That's fine with me. I am already surrounded by people of my own age group (30s) who are bumbling morons and couldn't integrate e^x if their lives depended on it. I am perfectly fine with the idea of having no competition arising from the younger ranks.
Hey, that's not too bad.... Thanks for the link :)
At first I thought "Dilbert clone" but it's not. It reminds me a lot more of a small company I worked for some years ago.
Tell your friend I said good luck.
Blank keyboards have been standard items for a looooooooong time. They have been used for teaching touch typing since touch typing became popular. A quick google of "blank keyboard" yielded many results ranging from keyboards that are completely blank like this one to keyboards that have only the letter keys blanked out, to blank overlays to cover up the key labels.