Re:The children will ask themselves
on
The Prodigy Puzzle
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
The idea of "No child left behind" is a sensible one. The problem comes when trying to define "Ahead and Behind".
It's funny, I've read this thread up to this point and every single post thus far speaks in terms of acheivement in education as success in the acedemic subjects. We have posters saying how "gifted" they were at school, gifted at sports? gifted at wood/metal works? I suspect not.
What the education system needs to do is provide the core skills, basic (and I do mean basic) mathematics and language skills (reading and writing to a level that allows a person to function in modern society), after that, specialisation is required. Trying to teach a future labourer, sportsman or even salesman advance calculus is a waste of everyone's time.
My personality type is 'problem-solver'. I enjoyed basic to intermediate maths (never really got into the advanced stuff, didnt see it as practical) and of course, IT. If my education had been focused on this then I would be a far better software developer (my choosen career) than I am now. Instead, I wasted hours analysing poems or running in circles around a damn field.
When we accept that children have their own strengths and weaknesses, and we cater to them, then we can say that no child is being left behind.
maybe they use the new money to fix some of the other systems or perhaps increase the police.
Unfortunatly, it is more likely that the money will be distributed around the various family members of government officials who 'happen' to own services companies who amazingly seem to always win those cushy government contracts.
It is not widely known that the NHS often use private ambulance companies. When my mother was in the hospital I got talking to a few staff at the hospital and they let me on on how much the NHS pays for a 15 min ambulance journey between two London hospitals. It is an absolutely disgusting figure and given that my terminally ill mother was left in a seriously uncomfortable state for hours while she waited for an ambulance I can assure you that we do not get our money's worth.
They will put up speed cameras to generate wealth for a government who tells us that it is a choice between raised 'tax' or lower public spending. Very rarely will they mention the waste that is so pervasive in our public services. I suspect because if anyone were to look into the books to investigate this waste they would find corruption that runs all the way up to downing street.
It is just easier to pretend there isnt a distinction between driving fast and driving dangerously (and I have seen dangerous driving within the speed limit and also quite safe driving above the speed limit). Of course, it is far more difficult to punish dangerous driving using a device that will work 24/7/365 and doesnt require a salary!
Uptake of open source is likely to be much higher in the developing world. The crazy license fees when compared to GDP as stated in the summary is one reason but the lack of an 'existing standard' is another. It is difficult for software like OpenOffice to make headway in the developed world as MS office is fairly ubiquitous.
Microsoft believe that the developing world will have to pay the fees because they will have to maintain compatibility with those of us in the west. However, it is a subtle balance. If Microsoft price themselves out of the market and the developing world look into alternative, open source solutions the it is likely that the legitimacy of tools such as open office will increase in the west too. Globalization will require internationally compatible software, and when the choice is between a western world that prefers proprietry software and a developing world which cannot afford the same software then it is a case of Microsoft dropping its prices dramatically, or the western world adopting open solutions.
I admit that I am not an expert but I would think an appropriate way to think about fuel economy would be in the form of "dead-weight mass, per person". A train might not be a shining example in reduction of dead-weight mass but a bus or tram probably is. If we assume an average of 2 people per car, it is safe to say that a bus doesnt have the mass of a car for every two people it carries and therefore, in quite general terms, it should be more efficient. Would this be a fair measurement?
You dont even need steganography to bypass this problem. Just keep encrypted data relatively short, XOR it with the bytes of a picture of your family and carry the result with you on a USB flash drive or something.
If you are arrested you have a key that when XORed with your data produces a perfectly legitimate picture.
The cops find encrypted data, you provide a key, key decrypts data to produce a completely valid and legal file... the prosecution would have a very tough time with that.
That's funny, I never really cared for US chocolate (Hershey and the like) and I have always described them as 'waxy'. I have to say I am not a massive fan of Cadburys either. I am not entirely sure who makes Galaxy chocolate but it's far and away the best I have ever tasted and that includes all the fancy Belgium and German stuff.
The US is generally disliked because of the nationalism that seems to be so pervasive over there. I cannot count the times I have seen a US citizen on TV droning on about how the US is "The greatest country on earth", it is this kind of thing that tends to piss people off. Many other countries have democracy, many the same kinds of freedom in the US, some even go beyond the US with a decent set of free public services (like healthcare).
People react against this attitude and the whole situation escalates. It's like the kid at school is goes around telling everyone how he is the best at sports, has the richest family etc, even if he is correct, everyone still hates the little prick.
I have a lot of friends stateside, I have absolutely no problem with Joe Public American. I dont hate *you*. I do 'dislike' the image your country has, in many ways states become 'people' (like corporations) with their own personality, views and belief structures. When people say they 'hate' America they are not talking about you, they are talking about this virtual person. If they say they hate Americans that is a different story....
Many Americans demonstrate their tendancy towards nationalism when they get all pissed of if somebody critizes their country. I am from the UK, critize my country all you want, I would not interpret this as a personal attack, merely something to be considered if warrented and discarded otherwise.
(At the risk of having Godwin's law invoked) People in Europe grew up being taught of the damage that such passionate nationalism can do. The US is a long way from that point, but is going in that direction.
You can, sure. But who has been putting the majority of development time into InnoDB? MySQL, or Innobase? If it's Innobase, and Oracle says to Innobase, "walk away from this", you're screwed.
I dont agree with you.
If you have enough interest in InnoDB's future (and require new features or bug fixes) then you are free to add thoses features and fix those bugs or sub-contract this work if you dont have the in-house skills. Of course, these enhancements will need to be released under GPL also. It just raises the bar a little. Now if you are waiting on a Peoplesoft enhancement, you are possibly screwed;o).
What you are suggesting is that if Microsoft hired Linus and other senior Kernel maintainers and convinces them to "Walk away from this", Redhat users would be 'screwed'. There might be a talent gap to fill, but that doesnt suit my definition of 'screwed'.
"That doesn't sound right to me. The whole point of keypair encryption is that anyone with the public key can encrypt, but only the people with the private key can decrypt."
This is correct if your goal is to maintain security of the contents of the data.
If you are signing then the grandparent is entirely correct. If I generate a hash of the data and encrypt it using my private key, others can use my public key to unencrypt the hash and verify the contents of the data. Since only me (or my organisation/group) have access to the private key, it is possible for 'the public' to use my public key to verify that it was indeed me who 'signed' the hash.
Essentially, public key cryptography works both ways depending on what your goals are.
Anyone remember when each of your peripherals had a clearly defined function?
Now my mouse can check my email, my printer can send a fax, my monitor can produce sound, my cell-phone can access the web and my keyring can store half a gig of data.
How did I know that the top post on this story would be slamming Microsoft because they didnt do more.
I am no fan of Microsoft software, I spend a good deal of time discussing Microsoft alternative with friends, family and collegues, but frankly people with your attitude are hurting this cause.
When folks read posts like yours they begin to get the impression that people who critize microsoft do so because it is 'trendy' to hate the leader. They then assume that my evangulism of tools like Firefox are just due to techie jealousy.
Microsoft have done some good here. They have seriously hurt a spammer and they have used some of the proceeds to help the community. Ok, its reasonably good PR but I, for one, would rather they got their advertising from acts like than from greasing the already very greasy palms of mass media.
You can only cry wolf so many times.... lets do it when it counts!
They pay me for 40 hours a week, and they get it. No more.
Which is great until your employer finds someone who is prepared to work 60 hour weeks for the same money.
The quality of you work may be far higher, but many employers dont recognise quality the same way that you and I may. Mainly because quantity is a much easier thing to measure and place on fancy looking spreadsheets.
Until it's member of your family who forgets to look both ways at a junction etc etc.... then it will be an honest mistake!
Despite being from a country that does not currently have capital punishment, I do have some degree of support for it, but only in the case of obvious clinical pychopaths with no hope for safe reintegration into society.
Drink drivers deserve strong punishment (including a life-time ban from driving) but they dont deserve death IMHO.
I may be burning karma here but I just wanted to second the recommendation in the parent.
'The Corporation' is a fascinating documentry on the effects that multi-nationals have on our every day lives. Here (SE UK) I found a copy at the local blockbusters (and no, the irony is not wasted on me) if you can find a copy it is well-worth checking out.
You may never drink milk or eat dairy products again!
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The idea of "No child left behind" is a sensible one. The problem comes when trying to define "Ahead and Behind".
It's funny, I've read this thread up to this point and every single post thus far speaks in terms of acheivement in education as success in the acedemic subjects. We have posters saying how "gifted" they were at school, gifted at sports? gifted at wood/metal works? I suspect not.
What the education system needs to do is provide the core skills, basic (and I do mean basic) mathematics and language skills (reading and writing to a level that allows a person to function in modern society), after that, specialisation is required. Trying to teach a future labourer, sportsman or even salesman advance calculus is a waste of everyone's time.
My personality type is 'problem-solver'. I enjoyed basic to intermediate maths (never really got into the advanced stuff, didnt see it as practical) and of course, IT. If my education had been focused on this then I would be a far better software developer (my choosen career) than I am now. Instead, I wasted hours analysing poems or running in circles around a damn field.
When we accept that children have their own strengths and weaknesses, and we cater to them, then we can say that no child is being left behind.
I hereby formally move to rename H5N1 to "The John Cleese Virus" :o).
Not me. The first thing I am invited to do is "download the plugin".
maybe they use the new money to fix some of the other systems or perhaps increase the police.
Unfortunatly, it is more likely that the money will be distributed around the various family members of government officials who 'happen' to own services companies who amazingly seem to always win those cushy government contracts.
It is not widely known that the NHS often use private ambulance companies. When my mother was in the hospital I got talking to a few staff at the hospital and they let me on on how much the NHS pays for a 15 min ambulance journey between two London hospitals. It is an absolutely disgusting figure and given that my terminally ill mother was left in a seriously uncomfortable state for hours while she waited for an ambulance I can assure you that we do not get our money's worth.
They will put up speed cameras to generate wealth for a government who tells us that it is a choice between raised 'tax' or lower public spending. Very rarely will they mention the waste that is so pervasive in our public services. I suspect because if anyone were to look into the books to investigate this waste they would find corruption that runs all the way up to downing street.
It is just easier to pretend there isnt a distinction between driving fast and driving dangerously (and I have seen dangerous driving within the speed limit and also quite safe driving above the speed limit). Of course, it is far more difficult to punish dangerous driving using a device that will work 24/7/365 and doesnt require a salary!
Seashells!!!
Uptake of open source is likely to be much higher in the developing world. The crazy license fees when compared to GDP as stated in the summary is one reason but the lack of an 'existing standard' is another. It is difficult for software like OpenOffice to make headway in the developed world as MS office is fairly ubiquitous.
Microsoft believe that the developing world will have to pay the fees because they will have to maintain compatibility with those of us in the west. However, it is a subtle balance. If Microsoft price themselves out of the market and the developing world look into alternative, open source solutions the it is likely that the legitimacy of tools such as open office will increase in the west too. Globalization will require internationally compatible software, and when the choice is between a western world that prefers proprietry software and a developing world which cannot afford the same software then it is a case of Microsoft dropping its prices dramatically, or the western world adopting open solutions.
Interesting times...
I admit that I am not an expert but I would think an appropriate way to think about fuel economy would be in the form of "dead-weight mass, per person". A train might not be a shining example in reduction of dead-weight mass but a bus or tram probably is. If we assume an average of 2 people per car, it is safe to say that a bus doesnt have the mass of a car for every two people it carries and therefore, in quite general terms, it should be more efficient. Would this be a fair measurement?
Nobody is saying that mass transit systems dont burn fossil fuels, but they burn far less on a per person, per mile basis than private transportation.
Frankly, your comment just makes you look like a fool.
You dont even need steganography to bypass this problem. Just keep encrypted data relatively short, XOR it with the bytes of a picture of your family and carry the result with you on a USB flash drive or something.
If you are arrested you have a key that when XORed with your data produces a perfectly legitimate picture.
The cops find encrypted data, you provide a key, key decrypts data to produce a completely valid and legal file... the prosecution would have a very tough time with that.
That's funny, I never really cared for US chocolate (Hershey and the like) and I have always described them as 'waxy'. I have to say I am not a massive fan of Cadburys either. I am not entirely sure who makes Galaxy chocolate but it's far and away the best I have ever tasted and that includes all the fancy Belgium and German stuff.
Believe me the irony of this experience was not lost on me.
;o)
Just wait until they ban you twice for the same reason!
The US is generally disliked because of the nationalism that seems to be so pervasive over there. I cannot count the times I have seen a US citizen on TV droning on about how the US is "The greatest country on earth", it is this kind of thing that tends to piss people off. Many other countries have democracy, many the same kinds of freedom in the US, some even go beyond the US with a decent set of free public services (like healthcare).
People react against this attitude and the whole situation escalates. It's like the kid at school is goes around telling everyone how he is the best at sports, has the richest family etc, even if he is correct, everyone still hates the little prick.
I have a lot of friends stateside, I have absolutely no problem with Joe Public American. I dont hate *you*. I do 'dislike' the image your country has, in many ways states become 'people' (like corporations) with their own personality, views and belief structures. When people say they 'hate' America they are not talking about you, they are talking about this virtual person. If they say they hate Americans that is a different story....
Many Americans demonstrate their tendancy towards nationalism when they get all pissed of if somebody critizes their country. I am from the UK, critize my country all you want, I would not interpret this as a personal attack, merely something to be considered if warrented and discarded otherwise.
(At the risk of having Godwin's law invoked)
People in Europe grew up being taught of the damage that such passionate nationalism can do. The US is a long way from that point, but is going in that direction.
Interestingly, Bill Gates estimated I.Q. is about 20 points more than Adolf Hitler's.
Yes, they also grade George W as 125. I am not sure I trust the estimations of a group that forget to put in the decimal points in this way.
"What does it mean when MS creates a "smart" interface?"
Roughly translated it means... "Virus runtime included!"
You can, sure. But who has been putting the majority of development time into InnoDB? MySQL, or Innobase? If it's Innobase, and Oracle says to Innobase, "walk away from this", you're screwed.
;o).
I dont agree with you.
If you have enough interest in InnoDB's future (and require new features or bug fixes) then you are free to add thoses features and fix those bugs or sub-contract this work if you dont have the in-house skills. Of course, these enhancements will need to be released under GPL also. It just raises the bar a little. Now if you are waiting on a Peoplesoft enhancement, you are possibly screwed
What you are suggesting is that if Microsoft hired Linus and other senior Kernel maintainers and convinces them to "Walk away from this", Redhat users would be 'screwed'. There might be a talent gap to fill, but that doesnt suit my definition of 'screwed'.
...Not to mention the tool of communism.
"That doesn't sound right to me. The whole point of keypair encryption is that anyone with the public key can encrypt, but only the people with the private key can decrypt."
This is correct if your goal is to maintain security of the contents of the data.
If you are signing then the grandparent is entirely correct. If I generate a hash of the data and encrypt it using my private key, others can use my public key to unencrypt the hash and verify the contents of the data. Since only me (or my organisation/group) have access to the private key, it is possible for 'the public' to use my public key to verify that it was indeed me who 'signed' the hash.
Essentially, public key cryptography works both ways depending on what your goals are.
Anyone remember when each of your peripherals had a clearly defined function?
Now my mouse can check my email, my printer can send a fax, my monitor can produce sound, my cell-phone can access the web and my keyring can store half a gig of data.
I will miss your innovation after you finish building this device.
You will?
To be honest, I suspect that I will be far too busy having hot, deviant sex with a virtual cheerleading squad to care.
Do you have any particular browser vendor in mind?
How did I know that the top post on this story would be slamming Microsoft because they didnt do more.
I am no fan of Microsoft software, I spend a good deal of time discussing Microsoft alternative with friends, family and collegues, but frankly people with your attitude are hurting this cause.
When folks read posts like yours they begin to get the impression that people who critize microsoft do so because it is 'trendy' to hate the leader. They then assume that my evangulism of tools like Firefox are just due to techie jealousy.
Microsoft have done some good here. They have seriously hurt a spammer and they have used some of the proceeds to help the community. Ok, its reasonably good PR but I, for one, would rather they got their advertising from acts like than from greasing the already very greasy palms of mass media.
You can only cry wolf so many times.... lets do it when it counts!
They pay me for 40 hours a week, and they get it. No more.
Which is great until your employer finds someone who is prepared to work 60 hour weeks for the same money.
The quality of you work may be far higher, but many employers dont recognise quality the same way that you and I may. Mainly because quantity is a much easier thing to measure and place on fancy looking spreadsheets.
Until it's member of your family who forgets to look both ways at a junction etc etc.... then it will be an honest mistake!
Despite being from a country that does not currently have capital punishment, I do have some degree of support for it, but only in the case of obvious clinical pychopaths with no hope for safe reintegration into society.
Drink drivers deserve strong punishment (including a life-time ban from driving) but they dont deserve death IMHO.
I may be burning karma here but I just wanted to second the recommendation in the parent.
'The Corporation' is a fascinating documentry on the effects that multi-nationals have on our every day lives. Here (SE UK) I found a copy at the local blockbusters (and no, the irony is not wasted on me) if you can find a copy it is well-worth checking out.
You may never drink milk or eat dairy products again!
WTF is the world coming to when 10 year olds immitate managers and chief execs for fun?!
Funny... our chief exec does a pretty impressive immmitation of a 10 year old!