This is why standards exist. Write web apps for HTML/CSS standards and damn the browsers that don't implement it properly. Otherwise, you're propping up mediocrity.
Part of my point was that we don't really need e-mail. It's just nice to have. Just like cell phones. Given that my email was turning into a never ending headache, and I can totally live without it, the smart choice was to just ditch it.
We shouldn't get too worked up over botnets fighting.
Dude, sarcasm. I think this is a problem that people should solve by taking responsibility for their actions. But that will never happen because as a society [e.g. as a whole] we have the maturity of a three year old.
Can't have that. People can't be held responsible for what goes on in their computers. After all they're big magical boxes and the public is just so stupid.
As someone who doesn't have an email address anymore, I really don't care about spam in the slightest, or the battle they go over to spam people. Most of my spam, that actually made it to my inbox when I had a gmail account was in Portuguese or some random asian looking language. To me it was all gibberish [more than usual] and fleeting. But the ever presence of it [on average I would receive anywhere between 100 and 500 spams a day, with about 5-10 in my inbox] just gnaws at you. Day after day people keep assaulting your inbox, trying to take away the service from you.
And even though gmail is free, it was still MY inbox, if you know what I mean. And having these low lifes just clutter it up every day with the same foreign language bullshit nonsense was annoying.
Eventually I just deleted my account. I have a cell phone if people want to contact me. And for work I have a private email addy that my co-workers can use. Personal email is just a waste.
$700 for the irex? Geez... and it's a flat device too. Why not just make it LCD then? I'd expect a device that size with an LCD, PDF/HTML whatever viewer [running an OSS distro] to cost all of maybe $200 tops.
For $700, I could just use my laptop [which I lug around anyways], and then pocket the difference.
They would stop fighting other OSes and port their software as widely as possible. No reason why libraries like DX, and programs like Visual Studio can't exist for other platforms. All this anti-OSS shit is just bullshit posturing, and history will judge them poorly for avoiding the obvious.
Of course this is most likely due to the marketingdroids that run MSFT who have zero community experience and don't see how useful OSS can be. This is what happens when a tech company is run by non-technical people.
So are you saying that the kids are being held back because of the lack of state of the art laptops?
That's so asinine I don't know where to begin. The XO is plenty capable of showing text books, encyclopedia, playing learning games [math, reading, whatever].
It's only ignorance and "power obesity" that create the notion that you need a mini-cray on your lap to get "work" done.
My point is we made do with what we had. And they'll do just the same. I should point out that most computers didn't have hard drives let alone CD drives when the Apple ][ was commonly around.
This is a money pit sort of logic that destroys most "good" projects before they get off the ground. I mean if 1GHz is good, 1.5 is better, but if 1.5 is good, 2.0GHz is better, etc. Why stop at 128M of ram, when 1024M sounds so much nicer, etc...
They have to make things economical and practical. It means cutting back and making the most of what you have. That said, I'm sure a 300MHz Geode can handle decoding an mp3 or a MPEG video clip. Heck we were doing that with 100MHz Cyrix processors back in 1998.
How does someone with a 5 digit UID think that the window manager makes the distro?
I've seen Gentoo boxes sans window managers. Is that a different distro than my desktop with Gnome?
There are plenty of surviving Distros out there because they fulfill various niches. Fedora is corporate minded [well sorta, it borrows cred from redhat]. Ubuntu is typically the OS at home, Gentoo for the geeks who like tweaking USE flags, etc, etc, etc...
Where are you getting your "facts"? I seriously doubt any major city could use 10x the power and not run into any problems.
As for why you can't use solar as your major source... well first off, it's not reliable. You need to be able to produce a given level of energy consistently. Solar, wind, and other "eco" sources are only useful to supplement the grid.
And there should be a market for eco friendly devices. We should encourage manufacturers for producing more efficient processes. In a way we do in the CPU world. Intel processors for instance, consume less energy than the previous generation. They're still inappropriate for most of the market. You're problem is you want everyone else to subsidize YOUR living conditions. Let others buy over-powered processors so you can get one cheap too, etc...
But you keep thinking that we should consume more resources without end. And when electricity hits 50 cents per kWh, gasoline is 10$ a galon, etc, you can wonder what happened.
The complete ATP cycle is a grade 11 [or 12] subject if I recall correctly in Ontario. You may have heard of the ATP cycle at an earlier grade, but the chemistry behind it is not a subject I think most 10 year olds would really grasp.
Again that's the difference between a superficial understanding and an in depth look. Heck, there is probably volumes even the high school classes don't cover about the ATP cycle in animals [just for ex.]
I have a saying for you... "jack of all trades, master of none."
Sometimes it isn't about knowing everything, it's about knowing things well. While introductory texts should be worded for the novice, I don't think that means all public resources should be novice level. There are things to learn that require you not understanding them at first.
Good lord, I'd say most of my comp.sci and math texts have required several readings to get the majority of the concepts down. That isn't because they're bad books, it's because the concepts are hard and require you to actually experiment with them to absorb the knowledge. You can't be spoonfed advanced mathematics and actually think you can walk away with a professional understanding of what's going on.
You're an idiot. We're already demanding enough energy from our natural resources. We should be finding better ways to make due with less, not consume more. Solar cells are about 10-20% efficient and are not useful as a source of primary power only as a supplement.
And the cost isn't temporary. I take it you don't pay rent or for your utilities. Electricity has been getting more expensive, not cheaper, over the years. Same with gasoline.
I'm sorry what? You can teach a kid calculus from scratch in 10 minutes? I don't get your post. It takes an entire semester because there are various concepts you have to master like limits, derivatives, how to solve problems like rates of change, integration, etc.
Sure superficially you can describe calculus, but would the person actually know anything they can use from that? I mean I know that ballistics is the science of balancing force with direction against numerous variables such as drag, gravity, etc. Does that make me a rocket science?
If you just want a cursory glance of subjects get a dictionary, not an encyclopedia.
But sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture. There was a push for faster computers before anyone had computers in the home. That wouldn't change as much if home users were buying the lower power cores. There is still enough business/academic push for fast computers.
Part of the problem is the push for fast, or seemingly fast processors doesn't always go in one direction. Look at the P4. That was a leap backwards in technology. The AMD64 has been resting comfortably for far too long [though Barcelona seems to be changing that from what I hear].
And really you should care about what others pay for electricity since it affects what you pay for it.
When I took calc in high school it started on limits and all that jazz. But it took an entire semester of building from advanced grade 12 algebra/math to it. It wasn't a 3 minute blurb somewhere.
In the context of Wikipedia. it isn't reasonable to assume that the head article on calculus would explain calculus in any depth so that all laymen can understand it. And dumbing down [re: removing harder content] just to placate the less educated folk out there cheapens the entire project.
You can't both have a laymens guide to science that they would want to read, and also be authoritative. Otherwise you end up with articles like this.
Calculus. The learning of math when things go near and far.
Yeah, well that's the gist of a limit in physical terms anyways. And it are really smart like. Yup it is.
But the point of an encyclopedia isn't to be an analogyathorous. The ATP cycle is not just "a rechargeable battery" though yeah, Phosphates are added to "recharge it." The entire cycle and what role it plays in biology isn't trivial [and since I'm 7 years out of high school biology I don't remember it all anyways].
Point is, if I were really keen on learning the ATP cycle again, I *wouldn't* want dumbed down pages with content removed to not offend the less educated.
I think adding "see also" references and reading guides would help people who don't understand the article [assuming it's factually correct].
i'm not saying no fast processors should exist. I'm saying we should stop trying to convince the laymen that they actually need it. The amount of power that is wasted on higher performance cpus idling is enormous compared to what our technology could allow for.
It'd be like everyone driving hotrods since the extra HP is "nice to have."
You have to use the "big words" [re: ideas, terms, vocabulary beyond a 6th grade level] to be practical. I mean try explaining something like the makeup of the ATP cycle using words an 11 year old would know. Try explaining calculus with rudimentary algebra [e.g. basic linear systems], etc.
I don't think it would be useful to severely dumb down all of the articles. Maybe they just need more "see also" or reading guides?
Slashdot Mirror
This is why standards exist. Write web apps for HTML/CSS standards and damn the browsers that don't implement it properly. Otherwise, you're propping up mediocrity.
Tom
Part of my point was that we don't really need e-mail. It's just nice to have. Just like cell phones. Given that my email was turning into a never ending headache, and I can totally live without it, the smart choice was to just ditch it.
We shouldn't get too worked up over botnets fighting.
fo rizzle my nizzle, I izzle coolies for me spizzle.
Tom
Dude, sarcasm. I think this is a problem that people should solve by taking responsibility for their actions. But that will never happen because as a society [e.g. as a whole] we have the maturity of a three year old.
Tom
I posted in usenet for several years, wrote OSS software, have my email addy on my websites, etc.
My work email has yet to receive a single spam. Oh, that's because I don't use it for anything but work and it's not on any webpage.
Tom
Can't have that. People can't be held responsible for what goes on in their computers. After all they're big magical boxes and the public is just so stupid.
I think this is a problem only MSFT can solve.
Tom
Trying to care, ..., nope failing.
As someone who doesn't have an email address anymore, I really don't care about spam in the slightest, or the battle they go over to spam people. Most of my spam, that actually made it to my inbox when I had a gmail account was in Portuguese or some random asian looking language. To me it was all gibberish [more than usual] and fleeting. But the ever presence of it [on average I would receive anywhere between 100 and 500 spams a day, with about 5-10 in my inbox] just gnaws at you. Day after day people keep assaulting your inbox, trying to take away the service from you.
And even though gmail is free, it was still MY inbox, if you know what I mean. And having these low lifes just clutter it up every day with the same foreign language bullshit nonsense was annoying.
Eventually I just deleted my account. I have a cell phone if people want to contact me. And for work I have a private email addy that my co-workers can use. Personal email is just a waste.
Tom
$700 for the irex? Geez... and it's a flat device too. Why not just make it LCD then? I'd expect a device that size with an LCD, PDF/HTML whatever viewer [running an OSS distro] to cost all of maybe $200 tops.
For $700, I could just use my laptop [which I lug around anyways], and then pocket the difference.
Tom
They would stop fighting other OSes and port their software as widely as possible. No reason why libraries like DX, and programs like Visual Studio can't exist for other platforms. All this anti-OSS shit is just bullshit posturing, and history will judge them poorly for avoiding the obvious.
Of course this is most likely due to the marketingdroids that run MSFT who have zero community experience and don't see how useful OSS can be. This is what happens when a tech company is run by non-technical people.
Tom
How many of the 235 are actually valid? I'd suspect none of them.
Tom
So are you saying that the kids are being held back because of the lack of state of the art laptops?
That's so asinine I don't know where to begin. The XO is plenty capable of showing text books, encyclopedia, playing learning games [math, reading, whatever].
It's only ignorance and "power obesity" that create the notion that you need a mini-cray on your lap to get "work" done.
My point is we made do with what we had. And they'll do just the same. I should point out that most computers didn't have hard drives let alone CD drives when the Apple ][ was commonly around.
This is a money pit sort of logic that destroys most "good" projects before they get off the ground. I mean if 1GHz is good, 1.5 is better, but if 1.5 is good, 2.0GHz is better, etc. Why stop at 128M of ram, when 1024M sounds so much nicer, etc...
They have to make things economical and practical. It means cutting back and making the most of what you have. That said, I'm sure a 300MHz Geode can handle decoding an mp3 or a MPEG video clip. Heck we were doing that with 100MHz Cyrix processors back in 1998.
Tom
How does someone with a 5 digit UID think that the window manager makes the distro?
I've seen Gentoo boxes sans window managers. Is that a different distro than my desktop with Gnome?
There are plenty of surviving Distros out there because they fulfill various niches. Fedora is corporate minded [well sorta, it borrows cred from redhat]. Ubuntu is typically the OS at home, Gentoo for the geeks who like tweaking USE flags, etc, etc, etc...
Tom
If you just want a dumb terminal you can get that via forwarding X11 sessions. Already.
Tom
Where are you getting your "facts"? I seriously doubt any major city could use 10x the power and not run into any problems.
... well first off, it's not reliable. You need to be able to produce a given level of energy consistently. Solar, wind, and other "eco" sources are only useful to supplement the grid.
As for why you can't use solar as your major source
And there should be a market for eco friendly devices. We should encourage manufacturers for producing more efficient processes. In a way we do in the CPU world. Intel processors for instance, consume less energy than the previous generation. They're still inappropriate for most of the market. You're problem is you want everyone else to subsidize YOUR living conditions. Let others buy over-powered processors so you can get one cheap too, etc...
But you keep thinking that we should consume more resources without end. And when electricity hits 50 cents per kWh, gasoline is 10$ a galon, etc, you can wonder what happened.
Tom
For reference... ATP article from Wikipedia. As you can see there is more information there than simply "it's a battery."
Should we delete the entire page, remove all those big words and just put "it's like a double A battery?"
Tom
The complete ATP cycle is a grade 11 [or 12] subject if I recall correctly in Ontario. You may have heard of the ATP cycle at an earlier grade, but the chemistry behind it is not a subject I think most 10 year olds would really grasp.
Again that's the difference between a superficial understanding and an in depth look. Heck, there is probably volumes even the high school classes don't cover about the ATP cycle in animals [just for ex.]
Tom
I have a saying for you ... "jack of all trades, master of none."
Sometimes it isn't about knowing everything, it's about knowing things well. While introductory texts should be worded for the novice, I don't think that means all public resources should be novice level. There are things to learn that require you not understanding them at first.
Good lord, I'd say most of my comp.sci and math texts have required several readings to get the majority of the concepts down. That isn't because they're bad books, it's because the concepts are hard and require you to actually experiment with them to absorb the knowledge. You can't be spoonfed advanced mathematics and actually think you can walk away with a professional understanding of what's going on.
Tom
You're an idiot. We're already demanding enough energy from our natural resources. We should be finding better ways to make due with less, not consume more. Solar cells are about 10-20% efficient and are not useful as a source of primary power only as a supplement.
And the cost isn't temporary. I take it you don't pay rent or for your utilities. Electricity has been getting more expensive, not cheaper, over the years. Same with gasoline.
Tom
I'm sorry what? You can teach a kid calculus from scratch in 10 minutes? I don't get your post. It takes an entire semester because there are various concepts you have to master like limits, derivatives, how to solve problems like rates of change, integration, etc.
Sure superficially you can describe calculus, but would the person actually know anything they can use from that? I mean I know that ballistics is the science of balancing force with direction against numerous variables such as drag, gravity, etc. Does that make me a rocket science?
If you just want a cursory glance of subjects get a dictionary, not an encyclopedia.
Tom
But sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture. There was a push for faster computers before anyone had computers in the home. That wouldn't change as much if home users were buying the lower power cores. There is still enough business/academic push for fast computers.
Part of the problem is the push for fast, or seemingly fast processors doesn't always go in one direction. Look at the P4. That was a leap backwards in technology. The AMD64 has been resting comfortably for far too long [though Barcelona seems to be changing that from what I hear].
And really you should care about what others pay for electricity since it affects what you pay for it.
Tom
When I took calc in high school it started on limits and all that jazz. But it took an entire semester of building from advanced grade 12 algebra/math to it. It wasn't a 3 minute blurb somewhere.
In the context of Wikipedia. it isn't reasonable to assume that the head article on calculus would explain calculus in any depth so that all laymen can understand it. And dumbing down [re: removing harder content] just to placate the less educated folk out there cheapens the entire project.
You can't both have a laymens guide to science that they would want to read, and also be authoritative. Otherwise you end up with articles like this.
Calculus. The learning of math when things go near and far.
Yeah, well that's the gist of a limit in physical terms anyways. And it are really smart like. Yup it is.
Tom
But the point of an encyclopedia isn't to be an analogyathorous. The ATP cycle is not just "a rechargeable battery" though yeah, Phosphates are added to "recharge it." The entire cycle and what role it plays in biology isn't trivial [and since I'm 7 years out of high school biology I don't remember it all anyways].
Point is, if I were really keen on learning the ATP cycle again, I *wouldn't* want dumbed down pages with content removed to not offend the less educated.
I think adding "see also" references and reading guides would help people who don't understand the article [assuming it's factually correct].
Tom
i'm not saying no fast processors should exist. I'm saying we should stop trying to convince the laymen that they actually need it. The amount of power that is wasted on higher performance cpus idling is enormous compared to what our technology could allow for.
It'd be like everyone driving hotrods since the extra HP is "nice to have."
Tom
You have to use the "big words" [re: ideas, terms, vocabulary beyond a 6th grade level] to be practical. I mean try explaining something like the makeup of the ATP cycle using words an 11 year old would know. Try explaining calculus with rudimentary algebra [e.g. basic linear systems], etc.
I don't think it would be useful to severely dumb down all of the articles. Maybe they just need more "see also" or reading guides?
Tom