He was proficient on the PC at 1. A week after his 2nd birthday he did his first Ubuntu install. (No, he couldn't read. Yes, it is really more an example of just how easy it is to install Linux.) He started reading just before three, and started working on electronics projects soon after. At 5, he is currently working on his multiplication, division, and improving his writing skills. He reads as well as many of the kids I went to high school with. ( Yes, that is as much a slight against the public school kids as it is bragging about my own.) When he wants to know something new, he has no problem getting on Google and finding it.
Get real. How the hell is one "proficient" on the PC at 1 if at 2 you're still unable to read? Anyone who can read and write minimally and push buttons can look something up on Google. If you're not careful, your delusions are going to be as detrimental as your coaching are going to be helpful. If your son is brilliant (and he may be), you've offered little in the way of proof. You have however proven you're probably not well equipped to judge his ability as you're way too biased.
Do you really want your child to be a genius? Do you have any idea how hard life is for a prodigy? Why would any parent wish that upon their child?
How much socialisation is he getting? What are his social skills going to be like when he's a little older? What about his ability to tolerate stupidity all around and still produce results? It takes a long time and practice to learn to get along with the other monkeys they share the planet with. Learning to put up with a teacher or classmates that don't like you, as well as learning to form friendships by making others feel good about themselves without a parent in arms reach to fall back on is important. Possibly just as important as academic skills if you want to have a happy life.
I have a 1 year old. Some days he does some very clever things. Other day's he does things that are so bone headed that i wonder how we managed to make it out of the trees. That's what a one year old does.
Would you give an iPhone to a kid who is constantly throwing things around and having temper tantrums?
No, but I wouldn't give them a book either. I speak from experience. My one year old son has torn several "plastic coated" books, and likes to make puddles with his sippy cup at the moment. Last one, on the weekend was on our Guitar Hero Drum Kit, which thankfully survived.
The bottom line is you have to teach the child that destructive behaviour is undesirable and won't be tolerated. Of course they have to be old enough that you're sure they'll understand. You also have to recognise that infants aren't going to have much in the way of common sense or dependability. By the time they're in primary school though, if they're still throwing tantrums and destroying things often, the parent's done something wrong.
Who says free speech needs to be political? My point was simply that unpopular speech is met with violence even in places where there is a tradition of free speech in law and government.
Sounds like more of a culture problem than a Google problem there. I mean, is the west the only place where people can say "offensive" things without riots?
Walk into a biker bar and loudly and proudly proclaim that their favourite brand of motorcycle stinks. See how long you last. The only difference is there won't be a full scale riot because they'll make pretty short work of you.
If you have to turn to "Ask Slashdot" for what's likely THE most important decision your business could make (sale), then you really have no business farming this out to someone you've just met.
He should put it up on Ebay. He can offer up his virginity as a sweetener, but beware the tax man.
Actually, I'm tired of Ask Slashdot. Usually stories are just someone who should know better asking how to do his job. Anything narrow enough to imply competence can be googled and has no appeal as a story. Anything this broad almost by definition implies incompetence. The only ones that don't make me think this are students asking how to break into an industry or similar since they are just starting out and don't have the knowledge, but even then they could Google. It's like Dear Dolly or Ask Abby for Internet geeks. Everyone comes off sounding like a bimbo.
And to be further pedantic, he's not really a captain, so "Captain Sir" isn't actually appropriate. Appropriate forms of address would also include "Sir Patrick", and "Sir Patrick Stewart", but not "Sir Stewart".
Riker still calls him "that old fucker that won't give up the chair"
That's the way it always is. The admins want to limit control to make their jobs easier, and the developers want full control to make their jobs easier^H^H^H^H^H^HPOSSIBLE, and never the twain shall meet.
Sure, if you're willing to spend as much on a dev workstation as you'd normally spend on a server. Have you ever tried running Eclipse and Weblogic in dev mode inside a VM? You might deploy to a Prod or Test environment once every couple of weeks at most. On a dev box you might be doing so more than once an hour. As it is developers are starting to hit memory limitations that are going to require a move to 64 bit to resolve.
If the data don't make sense according to your theory, you don't discard the data, you discard the theory and work out a new one that fits the facts as you've observed them.
If it's a well established theory, you want to eliminate sources of the error before trying to overthrow it. For every Einstein that moves us to the next level from a well established theory there are 3 million cranks that just can't set up a well controlled experiment to save themselves. If you've conducted the experiment sufficiently badly the chances of working out what happened are nil. What you do is repeat the experiment correcting the errors and see what you get.
Alas, too many people who call themselves scientists are more interested in proving their pet theory true than in finding out what's actually going on.
It's a human frailty. Einstein wasted the later half of his career because he believed "God does not play dice", rather than accept Quantum theory. What a pity superstition had to come into it. A decade after his death Bell's Theorem has proven him wrong.
Why not? I already have a GPS, mini binoculars, a radio scanner, a flash light, an external hard drive, a 20x zoom camera, multiple cables, a AAA/AA battery fast charger, batteries, a USB r/c flight sim controller (Realflight), a Logitec gamepad, a graphics tablet and a laptop in my backpack. I figure if I ever get into trouble and get searched the authorities will already think I'm some sort of hyper-nerd spy anyway. Heck if I didn't have to face the consequences it would be a laugh to catch a plane and cross into the US with my backpack just to see the look on TSA drone's face. Why not add a frypan to the mix? Now if only I could work out a way to fit a kitchen sink in my backpack.
Telling the user to Google for a solution is an open admission of failure.
No it's not. I found I was able to do it without Googling. But to give up without even trying to find out what you're doing wrong is just plain lazy. Google is due diligence before whining openly to the world - nothing more.
1. I gave one specific example so my post wouldn't be 1000 words. I don't have time for that at 8 AM on a work day.
It was nothing but an example of user error.
2. If a piece of software is a "threat" to Microsoft Office, then it better function like people who use Microsoft Office every day expect it to function. Resizing all the cells at once is B A S I C functionality, not some out of the way item that should be buried four levels down in the tree.
I just opened OpenOffice 3.1 Calc, a piece of software I rarely use. I entered some data into the first row, selected all the columns and was able to resise all the columns at once. This is exactly the same thing I would do in Excel. If you just select the cells, it doesn't work. Perhaps you're just use to that working from whatever version of Excel you're using, but it's quite clear to me that you simply didn't try very hard.
3. The general public (and I don't fall into that category) won't even give it as much time as I did.
The general public don't know or care how to resize all the cells at once.
4. As far as PEBKAC, get real.
Dude, you just didn't try to solve your problem. You assumed that an obscure formating trick that works in one Spreadsheet works exactly the same way in another. It's not Open Office Excel. It's Open Office Calc. It took me less than 30 seconds to solve your problem. Mind you I'm running on a Core 2 Duo, not some netbook that can't even run MS Office. This wasn't some weird I'm an Excel user who can count the number of times I've played with Calc on 2 hands, so this is hardly some unintuitive obscure reference I'm telling you to dig up.
You installed OO on a machine that wouldn't even run Office, then complained about start up times. You then played with the software for 5 minutes. It didn't do what you wanted. You didn't find a menu item and you moved on probably without even consulting documentation or Googling. It's possible that OO is lacking the functionality you wanted to use. Who knows. You didn't bother to find out, so why should I. Regardless, I'd say the problem is behind the keyboard in this case.
That's also not realistic. Realism would mean that you play once for 10 minutes, get shot, and some guys in army fatigues show up at your house and kill you. Being able to do other things except playing that game isn't realistic.
The difference is you've crossed a line from game to reality. Anything has major effects beyond the game (like someone showing up and killing you) is no longer a game. The game itself can be realistic within the bounds of the game, which means you get one life in game, ever, but can go back to living without worrying about people showing up to kill you afterwards.
Product quality is awful. Customer service is awful. Bang for buck is awful. I could give examples but fanboys like you would just stand there and counter with nonsense.
Removing some buttons, crippling what the device can run, and deciding which useful features to remove doesn't make Jobs a genius. Peddling putrid garbage and making it smell of roses in the ads is where his genius lies.
I'd be a lot more interested in the iPhone if I could write and run my own software, and if they didn't have the ability to pull products at their whim. I'm unimpressed with laptops fitting in a manilla envelope when it makes them weaker and removes something as useful as a CD/DVD. If I had my way all my devices would use standard batteries that are not just user replaceable but swappable on the fly.
Gates and Jobs are no different - rude spoilt children throwing their weight around. You've been brainwashed by their little cult.
Jobs is the shithead that yelled at people who did design the hardware when it didn't meet his personal expectations. He isn't a visionary, just an exceptional salesman. Perhaps at one time he had a hand in design, but these days he's about as much the design man as Homer Simpson was in that episode where he designed the over engineered car. I'm sure I'll be modded into oblivion for telling it how it is but someone has to say it.
Guess you never played the Rainbow Six games. Because that is exactly what could happen,
I'm assuming with the Rainbow Six games if you're killed you can start another game. I'm talking about a game where you're killed and that's it - you can never play that game again.
Operation Flashpoint, ArmA, the Rainbow Six aren't realism. The game mechanics are slightly more realistic, but that is it.
Realism would mean you play once for 10 minutes, get shot, possibly through no fault of your own, and are permanently out of the game because in that game you are dead. No one wants that. Reality sucks. War is not fun. Sometimes skill counts but just as often dumb luck or being born on the right side does. War's not meant to be fun. Playing warrior is.
This is the man who turned the Titanic's story into one about humping the bad boy in a car in the cargo hold, throwing away a one of a kind gem, and Celine Dion whailing. He's just spent 10 years on visually spectacular Sci-Fi fluff. I intend to watch it, but for me it'll be a popcorn movie with visuals. At least this time he isn't using real life deaths to pawn his film
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He was proficient on the PC at 1. A week after his 2nd birthday he did his first Ubuntu install. (No, he couldn't read. Yes, it is really more an example of just how easy it is to install Linux.) He started reading just before three, and started working on electronics projects soon after. At 5, he is currently working on his multiplication, division, and improving his writing skills. He reads as well as many of the kids I went to high school with. ( Yes, that is as much a slight against the public school kids as it is bragging about my own.) When he wants to know something new, he has no problem getting on Google and finding it.
Get real. How the hell is one "proficient" on the PC at 1 if at 2 you're still unable to read? Anyone who can read and write minimally and push buttons can look something up on Google. If you're not careful, your delusions are going to be as detrimental as your coaching are going to be helpful. If your son is brilliant (and he may be), you've offered little in the way of proof. You have however proven you're probably not well equipped to judge his ability as you're way too biased.
Do you really want your child to be a genius? Do you have any idea how hard life is for a prodigy? Why would any parent wish that upon their child?
How much socialisation is he getting? What are his social skills going to be like when he's a little older? What about his ability to tolerate stupidity all around and still produce results? It takes a long time and practice to learn to get along with the other monkeys they share the planet with. Learning to put up with a teacher or classmates that don't like you, as well as learning to form friendships by making others feel good about themselves without a parent in arms reach to fall back on is important. Possibly just as important as academic skills if you want to have a happy life.
I have a 1 year old. Some days he does some very clever things. Other day's he does things that are so bone headed that i wonder how we managed to make it out of the trees. That's what a one year old does.
Would you give an iPhone to a kid who is constantly throwing things around and having temper tantrums?
No, but I wouldn't give them a book either. I speak from experience. My one year old son has torn several "plastic coated" books, and likes to make puddles with his sippy cup at the moment. Last one, on the weekend was on our Guitar Hero Drum Kit, which thankfully survived.
The bottom line is you have to teach the child that destructive behaviour is undesirable and won't be tolerated. Of course they have to be old enough that you're sure they'll understand. You also have to recognise that infants aren't going to have much in the way of common sense or dependability. By the time they're in primary school though, if they're still throwing tantrums and destroying things often, the parent's done something wrong.
Who says free speech needs to be political? My point was simply that unpopular speech is met with violence even in places where there is a tradition of free speech in law and government.
Sounds like more of a culture problem than a Google problem there. I mean, is the west the only place where people can say "offensive" things without riots?
Walk into a biker bar and loudly and proudly proclaim that their favourite brand of motorcycle stinks. See how long you last. The only difference is there won't be a full scale riot because they'll make pretty short work of you.
If you have to turn to "Ask Slashdot" for what's likely THE most important decision your business could make (sale), then you really have no business farming this out to someone you've just met.
He should put it up on Ebay. He can offer up his virginity as a sweetener, but beware the tax man.
Actually, I'm tired of Ask Slashdot. Usually stories are just someone who should know better asking how to do his job. Anything narrow enough to imply competence can be googled and has no appeal as a story. Anything this broad almost by definition implies incompetence. The only ones that don't make me think this are students asking how to break into an industry or similar since they are just starting out and don't have the knowledge, but even then they could Google. It's like Dear Dolly or Ask Abby for Internet geeks. Everyone comes off sounding like a bimbo.
It's a country of saints and monks I tells ya!
Does a bigger brain necessarily mean they had a higher IQ? Does it really work like that?
Yes, but for the love of Pete get that penis pump out of your ear before you hurt yourself!!!
And to be further pedantic, he's not really a captain, so "Captain Sir" isn't actually appropriate. Appropriate forms of address would also include "Sir Patrick", and "Sir Patrick Stewart", but not "Sir Stewart".
Riker still calls him "that old fucker that won't give up the chair"
That's the way it always is. The admins want to limit control to make their jobs easier, and the developers want full control to make their jobs easier^H^H^H^H^H^HPOSSIBLE, and never the twain shall meet.
There fixed it for you.
Sure, if you're willing to spend as much on a dev workstation as you'd normally spend on a server. Have you ever tried running Eclipse and Weblogic in dev mode inside a VM? You might deploy to a Prod or Test environment once every couple of weeks at most. On a dev box you might be doing so more than once an hour. As it is developers are starting to hit memory limitations that are going to require a move to 64 bit to resolve.
If the data don't make sense according to your theory, you don't discard the data, you discard the theory and work out a new one that fits the facts as you've observed them.
If it's a well established theory, you want to eliminate sources of the error before trying to overthrow it. For every Einstein that moves us to the next level from a well established theory there are 3 million cranks that just can't set up a well controlled experiment to save themselves. If you've conducted the experiment sufficiently badly the chances of working out what happened are nil. What you do is repeat the experiment correcting the errors and see what you get.
Alas, too many people who call themselves scientists are more interested in proving their pet theory true than in finding out what's actually going on.
It's a human frailty. Einstein wasted the later half of his career because he believed "God does not play dice", rather than accept Quantum theory. What a pity superstition had to come into it. A decade after his death Bell's Theorem has proven him wrong.
Why not? I already have a GPS, mini binoculars, a radio scanner, a flash light, an external hard drive, a 20x zoom camera, multiple cables, a AAA/AA battery fast charger, batteries, a USB r/c flight sim controller (Realflight), a Logitec gamepad, a graphics tablet and a laptop in my backpack. I figure if I ever get into trouble and get searched the authorities will already think I'm some sort of hyper-nerd spy anyway. Heck if I didn't have to face the consequences it would be a laugh to catch a plane and cross into the US with my backpack just to see the look on TSA drone's face. Why not add a frypan to the mix? Now if only I could work out a way to fit a kitchen sink in my backpack.
I do those translations in my head. My memory is the database. Does that mean I owe IBM royalties?
I can't believe they just patented the lookup table, albeit in a very specific context.
Telling the user to Google for a solution is an open admission of failure.
No it's not. I found I was able to do it without Googling. But to give up without even trying to find out what you're doing wrong is just plain lazy. Google is due diligence before whining openly to the world - nothing more.
1. I gave one specific example so my post wouldn't be 1000 words. I don't have time for that at 8 AM on a work day.
It was nothing but an example of user error.
2. If a piece of software is a "threat" to Microsoft Office, then it better function like people who use Microsoft Office every day expect it to function. Resizing all the cells at once is B A S I C functionality, not some out of the way item that should be buried four levels down in the tree.
I just opened OpenOffice 3.1 Calc, a piece of software I rarely use. I entered some data into the first row, selected all the columns and was able to resise all the columns at once. This is exactly the same thing I would do in Excel. If you just select the cells, it doesn't work. Perhaps you're just use to that working from whatever version of Excel you're using, but it's quite clear to me that you simply didn't try very hard.
3. The general public (and I don't fall into that category) won't even give it as much time as I did.
The general public don't know or care how to resize all the cells at once.
4. As far as PEBKAC, get real.
Dude, you just didn't try to solve your problem. You assumed that an obscure formating trick that works in one Spreadsheet works exactly the same way in another. It's not Open Office Excel. It's Open Office Calc. It took me less than 30 seconds to solve your problem. Mind you I'm running on a Core 2 Duo, not some netbook that can't even run MS Office. This wasn't some weird I'm an Excel user who can count the number of times I've played with Calc on 2 hands, so this is hardly some unintuitive obscure reference I'm telling you to dig up.
Definitely PEBKAC.
You installed OO on a machine that wouldn't even run Office, then complained about start up times. You then played with the software for 5 minutes. It didn't do what you wanted. You didn't find a menu item and you moved on probably without even consulting documentation or Googling. It's possible that OO is lacking the functionality you wanted to use. Who knows. You didn't bother to find out, so why should I. Regardless, I'd say the problem is behind the keyboard in this case.
We all know that there is no sex in Bollywood. It is a chaste and pure place where the pixies and fairies cavort in peace, love and mung beans.
That's also not realistic. Realism would mean that you play once for 10 minutes, get shot, and some guys in army fatigues show up at your house and kill you. Being able to do other things except playing that game isn't realistic.
The difference is you've crossed a line from game to reality. Anything has major effects beyond the game (like someone showing up and killing you) is no longer a game. The game itself can be realistic within the bounds of the game, which means you get one life in game, ever, but can go back to living without worrying about people showing up to kill you afterwards.
Apple is awful.
Product quality is awful. Customer service is awful. Bang for buck is awful. I could give examples but fanboys like you would just stand there and counter with nonsense.
Removing some buttons, crippling what the device can run, and deciding which useful features to remove doesn't make Jobs a genius. Peddling putrid garbage and making it smell of roses in the ads is where his genius lies.
I'd be a lot more interested in the iPhone if I could write and run my own software, and if they didn't have the ability to pull products at their whim. I'm unimpressed with laptops fitting in a manilla envelope when it makes them weaker and removes something as useful as a CD/DVD. If I had my way all my devices would use standard batteries that are not just user replaceable but swappable on the fly.
Gates and Jobs are no different - rude spoilt children throwing their weight around. You've been brainwashed by their little cult.
Jobs is the shithead that yelled at people who did design the hardware when it didn't meet his personal expectations. He isn't a visionary, just an exceptional salesman. Perhaps at one time he had a hand in design, but these days he's about as much the design man as Homer Simpson was in that episode where he designed the over engineered car. I'm sure I'll be modded into oblivion for telling it how it is but someone has to say it.
Guess you never played the Rainbow Six games. Because that is exactly what could happen,
I'm assuming with the Rainbow Six games if you're killed you can start another game. I'm talking about a game where you're killed and that's it - you can never play that game again.
Operation Flashpoint, ArmA, the Rainbow Six aren't realism. The game mechanics are slightly more realistic, but that is it.
Realism would mean you play once for 10 minutes, get shot, possibly through no fault of your own, and are permanently out of the game because in that game you are dead. No one wants that. Reality sucks. War is not fun. Sometimes skill counts but just as often dumb luck or being born on the right side does. War's not meant to be fun. Playing warrior is.
After all the rumoured name of the product: is-Late
This is the man who turned the Titanic's story into one about humping the bad boy in a car in the cargo hold, throwing away a one of a kind gem, and Celine Dion whailing. He's just spent 10 years on visually spectacular Sci-Fi fluff. I intend to watch it, but for me it'll be a popcorn movie with visuals. At least this time he isn't using real life deaths to pawn his film
I guess slashdot's servers must by 5 light years away huh?