If you use the internet for passive information consumption, you are getting maybe 5% of its true value.
You don't really absorb information by reading an srticle; the best learning experiences involve interaction and feedback. This is why teachers still exists, even though most information has been available in books for a long time. The internet provides a way to extend and accelerate your network of friends beyond what would ordinarily be physically possible. In a way, snail-mail could do this, but the process of searching out like-minded individuals and communicating usefully was impractical.
On the internet you can talk with a dozen people who may each have 1/12th of a solution. You can communicate with text, images, and sound. Publishing your solution for others to use is incredibly easy.
It's also a giant retail store, surplus store, garage sale, and swap meet. Just this week I needed a specialized high-voltage supply for an older industrial flat-panel display. There was no way I was going to find one locally. I simply posted my query to the appropriate Usenet group, and in one day I had someone ask me for a photo of the supply, because they might have one in a box in the attic. I already have the power supply and it works. It might have taken me months to find one any other way.
The internet is pretty easy to abuse, and just once I'd like to get my hands on the punk who put out this last email worm. It's probably not possible, but I wish there was a way to find a balance between anonymity and accountability.
Take our jungle-bunny dirt farmer, for example. He will collect more international aid, due to the Internet. Maybe one of the aid workers will let him mess around with a laptop that has a satellite connection. Assuming said dirt farmer can read (and knows a language that doesn't involve clicking), he really won't get anything out of it. Even with some training, he still probably wouldn't get anything out of it.
Well, he could Google on "dirt" and find out that as a crop, it is very lacking in nutrition and palatability, and perhaps get some pointers on other crops that prove more beneficial.
Didn't say it was better because it wasn't mainstream; I said Linux was more in tune with the ideals scientists follow in pursuit of truth. Mainstream OSes exist for one purpose, Linux exists for others.
Turn it around: why should they be interested in Linux? Because it is not mainstream.
Mainstream is for the unwashed masses (or maybe the washed masses, depending on the accuracy of the Linux geek stereotype). Mainstream is for people who want to surf the web and forward letters to everyone on their email list. If they never see how their computer works, so much the better; and mainstream continually works toward that goal.
Linux, on the other hand, is developed by people who have a similar mindset to scientists. It's a system that allows and encourages experimentation, and reinforces the truth that there is never only one way to do something. There are no artificial limits set to prevent you from getting uncomfortable because you're not sure what you're looking at.
It's also the closest thing to an objective OS you can get. If results are called into question, you're out of luck with Windows: "Oh, it must have been a glitch. Let me reboot this...." With Linux you can figure out what's going on behind the scenes.
I can't imagine scientists who willingly reject going a different direction from mainstream. Science is not mainstream.
That's why I'm pretty bummed about dropping mine. I just pushed it right out the back of my keyboard shelf.:-(
I have to push only on the very bottom edge of the up-arrow key for it to work, and the '0' key sometimes types two zeros or closed-parens on one keystroke. I think I'm going to have to do some gentle surgery with an alcohol swab and see if that helps.
My particular Northgate is about 14 years old. They in fact don't make them anymore, the Avant Stellar is supposed to be a remake.
And I call you cheap. I got my keyboard for less than five dollars, the key is finding some thrift store or garage sale where all they can see is an old keyboard. Little do they know they could get upwards of $50 or $60 for it on eBay!
Even so, the keyboard is the only entry point for you to put productive work into your computer. Anything less than the best will negatively affect the quality or quantity of your work.
We threw buckets of these things away when I worked at BMC.
The feeling I am experiencing right now can be summed up with one word: holocaust.
The Northgate Omnikey and the reborn Avant Stellar are hundred-dollar keyboards, made to be actual computer components instead of some freebie add-on. Anything else, to me, feels like typing on a tray of rotten grapes.
Grab one of these, you'll type faster and more accurately. And your neighbors will know every time you press a key.
I might have to find one for myself...I seriously dropped my old Ultra the other day, and I'm having trouble with the up arrow and zero keys. Hope I didn't crack a trace.
You can alcohol- or autoclave-sterilize any cell phone today! It just won't work afterwards.
Seriously though...*doodeedooeeannoyingpolyphonicringTONE* "Hello? Yeah. Uh huh. Well I'm just working on a patient right now. Uh huh. A gallon of milk and some laundry detergent? Ok. Yes I'll remember. I said I'd remember! Last time? But... Yeah last time there was a big traffic jam and I just wanted to get home. Hold on for a sec, I need to install this catheter. Ok, I'm back. What do you mean I don't love you? What? That's not true! I'm sorry? When did I... No that's not what I meant. Ok I'm sorry. What? No, my patients are not more important than you. Uh huh. Yeah. Hmm. Well I'll try harder from now on. Yeah? Ok. All right. Yes I'll remember: milk and detergent. Ok. I love you too. What? Oh. Buh-bye. Yes I love you too. Ok. Bye then."
Nice troll. But the real point of this bill was, if you think more than 5 seconds about it, to indeed tax the Internet. The bill is supposed to ban taxes unique to the Internet. For example, a "web site tax" would not be allowed. But each and every tax that exists in the brick-and-mortar world, which could possibly be applied to some parallel on the Internet...you'd better believe the taxes are coming down the pipe. This is just a smokescreen.
Frankly the interview was painful every time Dave Patterson said something. How many times does he have to ask questions about the concept of mailing a computer? "We mail computers because transferring over the Internet is too slow for these massive data transfers." "Are they computers?" "Yes." "Do you mail them?" "Yes." "It's like a movie." "Uhh ok." "Is it a whole computer that you mail?" "Yes, it is a computer full of hard drives." "Why don't you just use the Internet?" "Because it is too slow."
I can see one major problem with this fantasy: digital ink is not a light-emitting medium. Nerds will be distracted and confused by the necessary blinding abundance of what we call "room lighting."
But actually, since the center of the known universe is the observer and the U.S. probably has more astronomers who have seen furthest, the centerpoint would be weighted over to the centroid of the U.S. landmass.
What's the deal with T-1 lines anymore...for downloading, not really a big deal. On a cable modem I usually get equal speed on up to 1000kbps more. So you can run a server at a higher upload speed, but on the Internet, it is always better to receive than to give. And it's dirt-cheap in comparison.
Slashdot Mirror
If you use the internet for passive information consumption, you are getting maybe 5% of its true value.
You don't really absorb information by reading an srticle; the best learning experiences involve interaction and feedback. This is why teachers still exists, even though most information has been available in books for a long time. The internet provides a way to extend and accelerate your network of friends beyond what would ordinarily be physically possible. In a way, snail-mail could do this, but the process of searching out like-minded individuals and communicating usefully was impractical.
On the internet you can talk with a dozen people who may each have 1/12th of a solution. You can communicate with text, images, and sound. Publishing your solution for others to use is incredibly easy.
It's also a giant retail store, surplus store, garage sale, and swap meet. Just this week I needed a specialized high-voltage supply for an older industrial flat-panel display. There was no way I was going to find one locally. I simply posted my query to the appropriate Usenet group, and in one day I had someone ask me for a photo of the supply, because they might have one in a box in the attic. I already have the power supply and it works. It might have taken me months to find one any other way.
The internet is pretty easy to abuse, and just once I'd like to get my hands on the punk who put out this last email worm. It's probably not possible, but I wish there was a way to find a balance between anonymity and accountability.
Take our jungle-bunny dirt farmer, for example. He will collect more international aid, due to the Internet. Maybe one of the aid workers will let him mess around with a laptop that has a satellite connection. Assuming said dirt farmer can read (and knows a language that doesn't involve clicking), he really won't get anything out of it. Even with some training, he still probably wouldn't get anything out of it.
Well, he could Google on "dirt" and find out that as a crop, it is very lacking in nutrition and palatability, and perhaps get some pointers on other crops that prove more beneficial.
Didn't say it was better because it wasn't mainstream; I said Linux was more in tune with the ideals scientists follow in pursuit of truth. Mainstream OSes exist for one purpose, Linux exists for others.
Only if you want to live in a low-pressure argon environment; which, considering your sig, is surprisingly apt.
Turn it around: why should they be interested in Linux? Because it is not mainstream.
Mainstream is for the unwashed masses (or maybe the washed masses, depending on the accuracy of the Linux geek stereotype). Mainstream is for people who want to surf the web and forward letters to everyone on their email list. If they never see how their computer works, so much the better; and mainstream continually works toward that goal.
Linux, on the other hand, is developed by people who have a similar mindset to scientists. It's a system that allows and encourages experimentation, and reinforces the truth that there is never only one way to do something. There are no artificial limits set to prevent you from getting uncomfortable because you're not sure what you're looking at.
It's also the closest thing to an objective OS you can get. If results are called into question, you're out of luck with Windows: "Oh, it must have been a glitch. Let me reboot this...." With Linux you can figure out what's going on behind the scenes.
I can't imagine scientists who willingly reject going a different direction from mainstream. Science is not mainstream.
I basically agreed with everything you said; then I saw your username and understood why.
Are you challenging me to a battle of wits? To the DEATH?
That's why I'm pretty bummed about dropping mine. I just pushed it right out the back of my keyboard shelf. :-(
I have to push only on the very bottom edge of the up-arrow key for it to work, and the '0' key sometimes types two zeros or closed-parens on one keystroke. I think I'm going to have to do some gentle surgery with an alcohol swab and see if that helps.
That's what they meant by "Principal Photography on Star Wars II Complete."
Would Westley and Buttercup have made it through the Fire Swamp if the R.O.U.S's were this big?
INCONCEIVABLE!!!
Actually, I'd be happy to get a comparable desktop and LCD screen for the price some of these laptops go for.
Why do you think I like the Omnikey?
The keys return so fast, and with the perfect amount of audible and mechanical feedback; I get about 30% better WPM on that keyboard than most others.
10. No girl ever fell for you because you were browsing a cool web page
I have a sneaking suspicion that CmdrTaco might have a different opinion.
My particular Northgate is about 14 years old. They in fact don't make them anymore, the Avant Stellar is supposed to be a remake.
And I call you cheap. I got my keyboard for less than five dollars, the key is finding some thrift store or garage sale where all they can see is an old keyboard. Little do they know they could get upwards of $50 or $60 for it on eBay!
Even so, the keyboard is the only entry point for you to put productive work into your computer. Anything less than the best will negatively affect the quality or quantity of your work.
So? If your keyboard works well, you don't need to stare at it because you're hunting and pecking all day.
We threw buckets of these things away when I worked at BMC.
The feeling I am experiencing right now can be summed up with one word: holocaust.
The Northgate Omnikey and the reborn Avant Stellar are hundred-dollar keyboards, made to be actual computer components instead of some freebie add-on. Anything else, to me, feels like typing on a tray of rotten grapes.
Somebody's selling a brand new Omnikey Ultra on eBay.
Grab one of these, you'll type faster and more accurately. And your neighbors will know every time you press a key.
I might have to find one for myself...I seriously dropped my old Ultra the other day, and I'm having trouble with the up arrow and zero keys. Hope I didn't crack a trace.
You can alcohol- or autoclave-sterilize any cell phone today! It just won't work afterwards.
Seriously though...*doodeedooeeannoyingpolyphonicringTONE* "Hello? Yeah. Uh huh. Well I'm just working on a patient right now. Uh huh. A gallon of milk and some laundry detergent? Ok. Yes I'll remember. I said I'd remember! Last time? But... Yeah last time there was a big traffic jam and I just wanted to get home. Hold on for a sec, I need to install this catheter. Ok, I'm back. What do you mean I don't love you? What? That's not true! I'm sorry? When did I... No that's not what I meant. Ok I'm sorry. What? No, my patients are not more important than you. Uh huh. Yeah. Hmm. Well I'll try harder from now on. Yeah? Ok. All right. Yes I'll remember: milk and detergent. Ok. I love you too. What? Oh. Buh-bye. Yes I love you too. Ok. Bye then."
Nice troll. But the real point of this bill was, if you think more than 5 seconds about it, to indeed tax the Internet. The bill is supposed to ban taxes unique to the Internet. For example, a "web site tax" would not be allowed. But each and every tax that exists in the brick-and-mortar world, which could possibly be applied to some parallel on the Internet...you'd better believe the taxes are coming down the pipe. This is just a smokescreen.
...like a steel sponge.
(source: the hilarious "Use Bizarre Metaphors" idea at the Halfbakery)
Can we download a copy of this "Jim Gray" yet?
No, too big to transfer over the Internet at this point. You'll have to use UPS.
Frankly the interview was painful every time Dave Patterson said something. How many times does he have to ask questions about the concept of mailing a computer? "We mail computers because transferring over the Internet is too slow for these massive data transfers." "Are they computers?" "Yes." "Do you mail them?" "Yes." "It's like a movie." "Uhh ok." "Is it a whole computer that you mail?" "Yes, it is a computer full of hard drives." "Why don't you just use the Internet?" "Because it is too slow."
I can see one major problem with this fantasy: digital ink is not a light-emitting medium. Nerds will be distracted and confused by the necessary blinding abundance of what we call "room lighting."
But actually, since the center of the known universe is the observer and the U.S. probably has more astronomers who have seen furthest, the centerpoint would be weighted over to the centroid of the U.S. landmass.
What's the deal with T-1 lines anymore...for downloading, not really a big deal. On a cable modem I usually get equal speed on up to 1000kbps more. So you can run a server at a higher upload speed, but on the Internet, it is always better to receive than to give. And it's dirt-cheap in comparison.
Say T-3, and then I start to get weak-kneed.