hrmmm....i dunno how that article slipped by me. must have been durring my move to (and waiting for my internet connection at) UC Davis.
My major is EE, but every once in a while, a new technology or discovery such as this one comes around, and i have to pick from a larger list of attractive fields. electronics...nano tech...quantum computing...optical computing...i want to learn it all.:D
If ever there was a taboo subject to top all others... since you brought it up, i might point out another book that considers canabalism -- Stranger in a Strange Land, by Heinlein.
The idea presented by Heinlein is that if there is a full sense of trust between individuals, then one indivitual could rightly put the other to death for any reason, and at any time.
One must wonder then if that kind of trust inhearently exists between mother and child.
On another note, i should mention (after just reading Clarke's predictions for the future) that disabled people might become a thing of the past soon enough.
And on to what i really wanted to say... i dont know how much research has been done regarding this, but it is my feeling that at least mentally disabled people are not useless. It seems that some of these people, while being disabled in a general sense, may excel at one thing or another. For instance, i used to work at a small manufacturing company doing assembly work. My boss hired me to do a lot of the electronics work, but was discussing with me at one point that he tends to hire people who are mentally slow to do some assembly work because their minds dont wander as much.
The article on slashdot recently that associated autism with genius is another clue that might lead us to discover that the common "retard" might actually be a genius in a select field if he could only express he thoughts...or gain the information he needs.
And to sum up these thoughts, i dont think we know enough about the actual feeling of the disabled person to justify putting them to death for their differences. It seems that if this type of practice existed, it would be attacked in much the same way as racism. its just another discrimination against a minority.
-James
(As you can see, my own opinion is still up in the air.)
to completely cure the context problem for M2, put the M2 check-boxes next to every post w/ moderation. then you are able to M2 the posts that you feel most strongly were moderated fairly or unfairly.
possibly, to prevent excessive M2 on a post that was moderated well, you could take the M2 boxes away from posts that have already had M2....or better yet, randomly give posts M2 boxes. then you have the freedom to M2 moderation you feel strongly about, while preventing excessive M2 on one post.
well, to begin with, i said a few days (rather than ten minutes) for a reason...esp for those people on sick leave.
it is my opinion that singling out any one person...asshole or not...drops you down to the status of asshole. maybe i'm a little too "peace and equality for everyone", but it is my feeling that singling out anybody among a group of offenders is unfair. even if the person singled out deserves it. trying to be fair and trying to do what is right can often come into conflict...thats why i feel that giving a warning is the safest bet.
it seems to be an unsaid law of nature that you cant please everybody...but you can try!
do the scan -- make yer boss happy. send out warnings -- to be fair to your coworkers. and if there's an offender on vacation...well, you cant please everybody...or maybe these are the people who's offenses should be overlooked.
if you dont do the scan, your boss will lose trust in you. if you do the scan and nail the offenders, your coworders will lose trust in you (at least in their mind.) Doing the "right" thing is never a clear-cut decision. the right thing always comes down to ballancing the good and the bad -- doing your best to please everybody.
and remember, if you do the scan without warning, you probably wont please your coworkers or your self. consider who is involved, and determine what you can do that will have the greatest benefit or "fairness" for everbody....but also remember, nothing is perfect. if you do your best to help everybody, then you will have the least to feel bad about in the end.
it seems that in a situation like this, you should make every effort to make everybody happy.
do the scan. make the reports....and make the suits happy.
but before that, send an email to everybody reminding them (in a particularly urgent way) that all email is company property, that transfering porn may get them fired, and than that you have been given the right to scan email for such material (and that you may excercise that right)
wait a few days, then do the scan. if anybody failed to heed your warning, then its their own fault.
actually, i'm all for audio jacks on the front. i find myself switching audio cables around now and then for recording and whatnot. i can see that as a real convience. the digital audio jacks go along with that too.
the firewire hookup is understandable too for the same reason as USB.
as for the midi and joystick...well, i can see reasons for having those on the front too.
at least the stuff that belongs on the back is on the back. i wouldnt want my serial ports up front.
At this moment, i am sitting in front of a linux ftp server at work that i set up for this very reason... to get some of the files being transfered out of the email attachments and onto an ftp server. among other things, this reduces a lot of the traffic to and from the mail server, and decreases the chances of somebody opening up one of these macro-virus-attachments.
my co-workers can now upload their file to our server, and email just a URL to the recipient.
what if the internet community developed an online government that had a legilature made up of reps from all countries (or regions?) w/ internet access. then ppl on the net were taxed, and and that money was distributed in a somewhat equal manner to all the companies and organizations for supporting their internet thruput service.
personally, i think its preaty cool that q3 will support smp. with my smp box, i often run a program and just wonder how much faster it would go if it was written to take advantage of my dual processors.
the biggest bonus is that you can buy an smp motherboard w/ one processor and upgrade to a second when they are dirt cheap.
Slashdot Mirror
hrmmm....i dunno how that article slipped by me. must have been durring my move to (and waiting for my internet connection at) UC Davis.
:D
My major is EE, but every once in a while, a new technology or discovery such as this one comes around, and i have to pick from a larger list of attractive fields. electronics...nano tech...quantum computing...optical computing...i want to learn it all.
i'm wondering... can they trigger an optical switch w/ light?? think...optical transistor (including optical base)
If ever there was a taboo subject to top all others... since you brought it up, i might point out another book that considers canabalism -- Stranger in a Strange Land, by Heinlein.
The idea presented by Heinlein is that if there is a full sense of trust between individuals, then one indivitual could rightly put the other to death for any reason, and at any time.
One must wonder then if that kind of trust inhearently exists between mother and child.
On another note, i should mention (after just reading Clarke's predictions for the future) that disabled people might become a thing of the past soon enough.
And on to what i really wanted to say... i dont know how much research has been done regarding this, but it is my feeling that at least mentally disabled people are not useless. It seems that some of these people, while being disabled in a general sense, may excel at one thing or another. For instance, i used to work at a small manufacturing company doing assembly work. My boss hired me to do a lot of the electronics work, but was discussing with me at one point that he tends to hire people who are mentally slow to do some assembly work because their minds dont wander as much.
The article on slashdot recently that associated autism with genius is another clue that might lead us to discover that the common "retard" might actually be a genius in a select field if he could only express he thoughts...or gain the information he needs.
And to sum up these thoughts, i dont think we know enough about the actual feeling of the disabled person to justify putting them to death for their differences. It seems that if this type of practice existed, it would be attacked in much the same way as racism. its just another discrimination against a minority.
-James
(As you can see, my own opinion is still up in the air.)
to completely cure the context problem for M2, put the M2 check-boxes next to every post w/ moderation. then you are able to M2 the posts that you feel most strongly were moderated fairly or unfairly.
possibly, to prevent excessive M2 on a post that was moderated well, you could take the M2 boxes away from posts that have already had M2....or better yet, randomly give posts M2 boxes. then you have the freedom to M2 moderation you feel strongly about, while preventing excessive M2 on one post.
-james
if every first poster feels the need to brag about it, maybe we should get rid of the first post and just start at #2.
jeez you guys, nobody cares if yer first, second, or last.
-james
My secret: make learning a hobby.
well, to begin with, i said a few days (rather than ten minutes) for a reason...esp for those people on sick leave.
it is my opinion that singling out any one person...asshole or not...drops you down to the status of asshole. maybe i'm a little too "peace and equality for everyone", but it is my feeling that singling out anybody among a group of offenders is unfair. even if the person singled out deserves it. trying to be fair and trying to do what is right can often come into conflict...thats why i feel that giving a warning is the safest bet.
it seems to be an unsaid law of nature that you cant please everybody...but you can try!
do the scan -- make yer boss happy.
send out warnings -- to be fair to your coworkers.
and if there's an offender on vacation...well, you cant please everybody...or maybe these are the people who's offenses should be overlooked.
if you dont do the scan, your boss will lose trust in you. if you do the scan and nail the offenders, your coworders will lose trust in you (at least in their mind.) Doing the "right" thing is never a clear-cut decision. the right thing always comes down to ballancing the good and the bad -- doing your best to please everybody.
and remember, if you do the scan without warning, you probably wont please your coworkers or your self. consider who is involved, and determine what you can do that will have the greatest benefit or "fairness" for everbody....but also remember, nothing is perfect. if you do your best to help everybody, then you will have the least to feel bad about in the end.
-james
"Waiting is." -V.M.S.
it seems that in a situation like this, you should make every effort to make everybody happy.
do the scan. make the reports....and make the suits happy.
but before that, send an email to everybody reminding them (in a particularly urgent way) that all email is company property, that transfering porn may get them fired, and than that you have been given the right to scan email for such material (and that you may excercise that right)
wait a few days, then do the scan. if anybody failed to heed your warning, then its their own fault.
-james
"He was a wise man who invented God." -Plato
actually, i'm all for audio jacks on the front. i find myself switching audio cables around now and then for recording and whatnot. i can see that as a real convience. the digital audio jacks go along with that too.
the firewire hookup is understandable too for the same reason as USB.
as for the midi and joystick...well, i can see reasons for having those on the front too.
at least the stuff that belongs on the back is on the back. i wouldnt want my serial ports up front.
-james
At this moment, i am sitting in front of a linux ftp server at work that i set up for this very reason... to get some of the files being transfered out of the email attachments and onto an ftp server. among other things, this reduces a lot of the traffic to and from the mail server, and decreases the chances of somebody opening up one of these macro-virus-attachments.
my co-workers can now upload their file to our server, and email just a URL to the recipient.
-James
...because if he did in fact use these computers for illegal activities, the monitor cables would surely prove it!
*sigh* sometimes our legal system makes me cringe.
-James
what if the internet community developed an online government that had a legilature made up of reps from all countries (or regions?) w/ internet access. then ppl on the net were taxed, and and that money was distributed in a somewhat equal manner to all the companies and organizations for supporting their internet thruput service.
just an idea.
-james
personally, i think its preaty cool that q3 will support smp. with my smp box, i often run a program and just wonder how much faster it would go if it was written to take advantage of my dual processors.
the biggest bonus is that you can buy an smp motherboard w/ one processor and upgrade to a second when they are dirt cheap.
later.