I've posted my journal from this year's Ottawa Linux Symposium. It's less professional than the articles linked to by the posts, but it may offer some insight on the presentations not covered by those articles. Also note: I am not (yet) a kernel hacker.
Here's a table of contents for my posts: Day One: 2.6 kernel roadmap, Novell Linux Kernel Debugger, Hot Keys, Video Control, Suspend/Resume, Oh My! -- Recent Advances and Current Challenges in Linux/ACPI, TWIN: An Even Smaller Window System for Even Smaller Devices, Automated BoardFarm: Only Better with Bacon, welcome reception Day Two: Write a Real, Working Linux Driver tutorial, Building Murphy-Compatible Embedded Linux Systems, Networking Driver Performance and Measurement - e1000 A Case Study, Enhancements to Linux I/O Scheduling Day Three: usbmon, SeqHoundRWeb.py: a Python-based interface to a comprehensive online bioinformatics resource, Case Study: Usage of Virtualized GNU/Linux to Support Binary Testing Across Multiple Distributions, Testing the Xen Hypervisor and Linux Virtual Machine, Debian Women: Encouraging Women without Segregation, H'Uru - Coding Beyond MYST Day Four: NPTL Stabilization Project, We are not getting any younger: A new approach to timekeeping and timers, the sysfs filesystem, keynote address
she rants about how she dislikes being stereotyped. i dunno, by the look of her picture, big goth boots and all, she's just asking to be stereotyped...
So in other words, "She rants about how she dislikes being stereotyped. I dunno, I'm great at stereotyping people."
I just got back from said meeting, and I have to say that Jeff Raven was an excellent speaker. I really learned a bunch about how window managers work and about BlackBox. Thumbs up!
I think you have to make a distinction here between the medium and the type of content that's on the medium.
Personally, I think a "movie" qualifies as a type of content, not a medium. And the ruling was clearly in regards to the film-on-a-reel medium.
So, the question becomes, what are they granting awards for? Movies? Or things on a reel of film? I think it would make a great deal more sense for them to be granting awards for movies.
Slashdot is not a linux-only site. Every day you'll see articles about science, movies, books, laws, and other stuff. IOW, "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters." Of course, linux is a big part of slashdot, but it's hardly the only part.
I don't think it's necessary to be so suspicious about the company's intentions. Why would Ford want to know about the personal Internet dealings of its employees? More likely, they're giving them the personal computers so that they don't use their work computers for "inappropriate" uses. For many people, the only computers they have access to are the ones on their desks at work, and that is guaranteed to lead to them using it for personal (i.e., "inappropriate") e-mail, commerce, and entertainment.
Browsing Slashdot is hardly the worst thing a journalist could be doing. I get the impression that if a journalist read the article upon which this forum is based but not the article itself, he or she would never realize that the open source community doesn't particularly care about the Big Thing of the Month. Look at that journalist from Jane's whose article was completely re-done because of the commentary on Slashdot.
As a 21-year-year-old American-born citizen who has lived in one place my entire life (except for living in a dorm at college) and never done anything illegal (except for driving over the speed limit!), I don't understand why my security clearance for work at one of the mega-aerospace firms has not yet come through after *over a year*. Backgrounds don't get much simpler than mine. In my experience, "6 months" would be an optimistic estimate of the backlog.
Sexism is defined by WWWebster's as "1 : prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially : discrimination against women 2 : behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex". By definition, sexism precludes mutual respect.
With regard to the idea that this study proves that gamers aren't deviants, is it saying that they would be if they were female, or poor, or married?
The only actual factor that I can see that might get someone labeled "deviant" in the usual sense is the degree of social adjustment. However, the article doesn't give any evidence to support the idea that gamers are generally well-adjusted socially.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that this study simply supports the generally accepted notions of the "gamer" demographic, and that the people outside of that demographic (married, poor, and female) are logically the "deviants".
"seems as if all slashdot users are running server configured boxes"? Many slashdot users aren't even running Linux. Many slashdot users aren't programmers or hackers or geeks.
As I understand it, the grumpy hackers are the ones who don't want to see Linux everywhere. They want to run an OS by hackers for hackers -- one that will not be adopted by the mainstream.
Since there is some fear of various Linux distros going too mainstream, I propose a solution: the Grumpyware distro. It would be difficult to install and useless for mainstream users, and it wouldn't even support X. Every effort would be made to ensure that it won't accidently become popular among anyone but 3133t hackerz.
You know, the more I think about it, the more interesting that idea sounds.:)
Yeah, I think this idea that there are gender quotas in compsci is ridiculous. In one breath, guys bemoan the lack of geek girls, and in the next they dismiss the geek girls as unqualified poseurs. Gee, and now they're wondering why all the geek girls are hiding from them... I wonder!
At the risk of both sounding AOLish and repeating myself from an earlier post, I agree with you, and I think the overwhelmingly male-oriented response to this article indicates something. Namely, I'm starting to suspect that those women (geeks or not) inclined to be interested in Slashdot have gotten the hint faster than I have and have abandoned Slashdot. The reasons: the prevalence of the stereotypical "computer geek" attitude, and the ignorance of the fact than any geek girls exist. I'm increasingly inclined to catch on and jump ship myself.
I'm starting to suspect that those female hackerz who do exist have abandoned Slashdot due to the prevalence of the stereotypical "computer geek" and the widespread ignorance of their existence.
Well, c'est la vie, but keep in mind that your chances of finding such a woman sans bad personality are low. Women have to spend a lot of time and effort if they want to live up to this standard, and you can be sure that any woman who chooses this lifestyle must have some strong personal motives (not to mention no hobbies or interesting traits at all).
If you're female things are good? Are you from Mars or something?:)
Frankly, I can't imagine that there are a whole lot of geek girls out there hankering for jobs they're not qualified for so that they can fulfill some recruiter's misplaced crush or be ogled by a staff of trolls.
Slashdot Mirror
An acquaintance of mine wrote a more colorful version of Long's article. I heartily agree with both.
I've posted my journal from this year's Ottawa Linux Symposium. It's less professional than the articles linked to by the posts, but it may offer some insight on the presentations not covered by those articles. Also note: I am not (yet) a kernel hacker.
Here's a table of contents for my posts:
Day One: 2.6 kernel roadmap, Novell Linux Kernel Debugger, Hot Keys, Video Control, Suspend/Resume, Oh My! -- Recent Advances and Current Challenges in Linux/ACPI, TWIN: An Even Smaller Window System for Even Smaller Devices, Automated BoardFarm: Only Better with Bacon, welcome reception
Day Two: Write a Real, Working Linux Driver tutorial, Building Murphy-Compatible Embedded Linux Systems, Networking Driver Performance and Measurement - e1000 A Case Study, Enhancements to Linux I/O Scheduling
Day Three: usbmon, SeqHoundRWeb.py: a Python-based interface to a comprehensive online bioinformatics resource, Case Study: Usage of Virtualized GNU/Linux to Support Binary Testing Across Multiple Distributions, Testing the Xen Hypervisor and Linux Virtual Machine, Debian Women: Encouraging Women without Segregation, H'Uru - Coding Beyond MYST
Day Four: NPTL Stabilization Project, We are not getting any younger: A new approach to timekeeping and timers, the sysfs filesystem, keynote address
I just got back from said meeting, and I have to say that Jeff Raven was an excellent speaker. I really learned a bunch about how window managers work and about BlackBox. Thumbs up!
I think you have to make a distinction here between the medium and the type of content that's on the medium.
Personally, I think a "movie" qualifies as a type of content, not a medium. And the ruling was clearly in regards to the film-on-a-reel medium.
So, the question becomes, what are they granting awards for? Movies? Or things on a reel of film? I think it would make a great deal more sense for them to be granting awards for movies.
Slashdot is not a linux-only site. Every day you'll see articles about science, movies, books, laws, and other stuff. IOW, "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters." Of course, linux is a big part of slashdot, but it's hardly the only part.
What are the chances that your boss, a slashdot user, also uses Windoze, Explorer, and Outlook Express?!
I'm not familiar with the "whole programmer's stone mapper/packer thing." Could you please explain what it is?
So, does your reference to senior Taco imply that there's a junior Taco? I never knew!
I don't think it's necessary to be so suspicious about the company's intentions. Why would Ford want to know about the personal Internet dealings of its employees? More likely, they're giving them the personal computers so that they don't use their work computers for "inappropriate" uses. For many people, the only computers they have access to are the ones on their desks at work, and that is guaranteed to lead to them using it for personal (i.e., "inappropriate") e-mail, commerce, and entertainment.
Browsing Slashdot is hardly the worst thing a journalist could be doing. I get the impression that if a journalist read the article upon which this forum is based but not the article itself, he or she would never realize that the open source community doesn't particularly care about the Big Thing of the Month. Look at that journalist from Jane's whose article was completely re-done because of the commentary on Slashdot.
As a 21-year-year-old American-born citizen who has lived in one place my entire life (except for living in a dorm at college) and never done anything illegal (except for driving over the speed limit!), I don't understand why my security clearance for work at one of the mega-aerospace firms has not yet come through after *over a year*. Backgrounds don't get much simpler than mine. In my experience, "6 months" would be an optimistic estimate of the backlog.
Sexism is defined by WWWebster's as "1 : prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially : discrimination against women 2 : behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex". By definition, sexism precludes mutual respect.
With regard to the idea that this study proves that gamers aren't deviants, is it saying that they would be if they were female, or poor, or married?
The only actual factor that I can see that might get someone labeled "deviant" in the usual sense is the degree of social adjustment. However, the article doesn't give any evidence to support the idea that gamers are generally well-adjusted socially.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that this study simply supports the generally accepted notions of the "gamer" demographic, and that the people outside of that demographic (married, poor, and female) are logically the "deviants".
"seems as if all slashdot users are running server configured boxes"? Many slashdot users aren't even running Linux. Many slashdot users aren't programmers or hackers or geeks.
The idea that no intelligent person in her right mind would want installation, a necessary condition for hacking, to be easy is presumptuous.
Since there is some fear of various Linux distros going too mainstream, I propose a solution: the Grumpyware distro. It would be difficult to install and useless for mainstream users, and it wouldn't even support X. Every effort would be made to ensure that it won't accidently become popular among anyone but 3133t hackerz.
You know, the more I think about it, the more interesting that idea sounds. :)
How did you choose which kids to give the computers to?
Yeah, I think this idea that there are gender quotas in compsci is ridiculous. In one breath, guys bemoan the lack of geek girls, and in the next they dismiss the geek girls as unqualified poseurs. Gee, and now they're wondering why all the geek girls are hiding from them... I wonder!
At the risk of both sounding AOLish and repeating myself from an earlier post, I agree with you, and I think the overwhelmingly male-oriented response to this article indicates something. Namely, I'm starting to suspect that those women (geeks or not) inclined to be interested in Slashdot have gotten the hint faster than I have and have abandoned Slashdot. The reasons: the prevalence of the stereotypical "computer geek" attitude, and the ignorance of the fact than any geek girls exist. I'm increasingly inclined to catch on and jump ship myself.
I'm starting to suspect that those female hackerz who do exist have abandoned Slashdot due to the prevalence of the stereotypical "computer geek" and the widespread ignorance of their existence.
Well, c'est la vie, but keep in mind that your chances of finding such a woman sans bad personality are low. Women have to spend a lot of time and effort if they want to live up to this standard, and you can be sure that any woman who chooses this lifestyle must have some strong personal motives (not to mention no hobbies or interesting traits at all).
Why would that be important? (It's about 50/50.)
Frankly, I can't imagine that there are a whole lot of geek girls out there hankering for jobs they're not qualified for so that they can fulfill some recruiter's misplaced crush or be ogled by a staff of trolls.
Just for the record, should I be giving up on the idea that any female hackerz exist?