I usually don't like to post, but seeing as I'm from Maine and came from a low-income neighborhood I think I should comment. This will be off-topic for a bit, but bear with me here. First, I know Angus meant well with his laptop deal, and I don't blame him for considering it, but there are better ways to deal with the problems he wanted to solve.
They say this will benefit underprivileged kids. Don't even get me started on that. These kids don't need to be in school, they need to learn how to fix an outboard motor. Not that I want people to stay in poverty, it's just that the best way out of poverty is learn a skill that everyone needs and not a lot of people have -- and you're not going to do that by wasting 12 years of your life in school.
Now there are people who really do want to be in school; I wanted to be a biologist, so I went the traditional route of going to high school, college, and so on. But I've known people who never went to high school and have made more of a "difference" then I probably ever will, and some of the most "educated" people I've ever met were homeschooled. School should be just one career choice, not something everyone should be forced to do. And laptops are the same way. You see, the need for computer access and the need for school are independent. You can't just lump every kid in school, give them a laptop, and say "This will empower them". Some kids want to go to school and don't need laptops, some kids don't want school but need to use computers, some want both and some want neither. If Angus wanted to really make more people happy, he should have bought as many computers as he could: desktops, just enough power to surf the web quickly, maybe a few more powerful computers to use for graphics or programming. Put them in a school, and give kids priority, but make them accessible for all. I'm not going to go into all the more crucial things the governor could have done with all that money, but even as it stands, it looks more like some gimmicky thing a company would come up with at a Pop!Tech conference (which Angus actually attended, although it didn't inspire his laptop program).
Did anyone notice how the Podkletnov effect was used in the "science of star wars" article to show a real-life basis for Star Wars' technology?
Basically, the guy who came up with this theory claims that by spinning a superconducting disk (of a "secret formula" and composition) really fast, he can shield objects from gravity under certain conditions. That sounds more like science fiction than fact to me. Does anybody know if NASA has given this man any more credibility?
This is just like Craig Venter to do this sort of thing. First he starts an independent, private project to try to get his foot in the door first, then he blows the whole thing out of proportion to make it sound like the first one to sequence the genome will have reached a major milestone (the point is to record a variety of genomes: one doesn't cut it). Then his unbridled ego comes into play as we see him try to get his name in the history books by submitting his own DNA. The human genome project should encourage cooperation. You can't just manage it like a McDonald's or whatever he did before going into biotech. What do you expect of someone whose biggest asset is that he used to be a professional surfer?
Why is this such a boon for Silicon Valley? Imagine what would happen if companies were allowed to use the drug indiscriminately. If the drug performs as expected, it will increase performance. But then after all the competing companies adopt it, managers will push their employees to work even longer hours and push the limits of what Provigil can do. If you can stay awake 6 extra hours unmedicated, why not use pills and still stay awake 6 extra hours? This isn't going to revolutionize the IT or trucking industry; once again, only the early adopters benefit.
I would ordinarily be annoyed that yet another perpetual motion scam has been posted to slashdot, but how is this any less credible than that "ultimate stem cell" story just hours before?
This would be a great controller for your computer. You could have a joystick within reach of your hands and not have to keep switching between the two or getting your data cables tangled up. It might be a little hard to lift, but if the joystick handles were raised a little above the level of the keyboard, you could elevate your arms and hold the sides without having to lift anything.
When I played old apogee video games during the early '90s, I would sometimes balance the keyboard on one knee and map the directionals to the number pad, and the action keys to capslock, tab, etc. This was because some keys couldn't be remapped and holding the keyboard this way kept my hands within reach of the quicksave and quickload keys.
It might sound a little strange, but it was pretty fast once I got used to it. I'd be happy to use one of these keyboards...hope somebody finds a way to port one from gamecube to PS/2 or USB.
It seems that a lot of "crazy old men" (like the infamous Dr. Bronner) have good ideas that are discounted whenever people hear their ideology. If I hear someone that sounds crazy to me, I look through their writings for a pearl of wisdom before writing them off as a crackpot. Sometimes it's just a waste of time, but you can learn interesting things.
I don't know if anyone's interested, but the school I attend (College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine)is supposed to be an example of a school teaching a well-rounded education. Students all have the same major ("ecology"), so prospective employers evaluate graduates more on the research they did than on their course work. Students can concentrate on science, art, medicine, etc. but are required to take a certain amount of courses from other areas as well. I've heard a lot of people say that being forced to take a history class made them look at science in a whole new way, or that taking computer programming gave them a new perspective on microbiology. As to whether this "works in real life", I can't say, but other graduates seem to do just fine. I just thought I'd give an example since "Cliff" asked about it in this post.
Slashdot Mirror
They say this will benefit underprivileged kids. Don't even get me started on that. These kids don't need to be in school, they need to learn how to fix an outboard motor. Not that I want people to stay in poverty, it's just that the best way out of poverty is learn a skill that everyone needs and not a lot of people have -- and you're not going to do that by wasting 12 years of your life in school.
Now there are people who really do want to be in school; I wanted to be a biologist, so I went the traditional route of going to high school, college, and so on. But I've known people who never went to high school and have made more of a "difference" then I probably ever will, and some of the most "educated" people I've ever met were homeschooled. School should be just one career choice, not something everyone should be forced to do. And laptops are the same way. You see, the need for computer access and the need for school are independent. You can't just lump every kid in school, give them a laptop, and say "This will empower them". Some kids want to go to school and don't need laptops, some kids don't want school but need to use computers, some want both and some want neither. If Angus wanted to really make more people happy, he should have bought as many computers as he could: desktops, just enough power to surf the web quickly, maybe a few more powerful computers to use for graphics or programming. Put them in a school, and give kids priority, but make them accessible for all. I'm not going to go into all the more crucial things the governor could have done with all that money, but even as it stands, it looks more like some gimmicky thing a company would come up with at a Pop!Tech conference (which Angus actually attended, although it didn't inspire his laptop program).
This gives a whole new meaning to the term "handshaking protocols" :)
Basically, the guy who came up with this theory claims that by spinning a superconducting disk (of a "secret formula" and composition) really fast, he can shield objects from gravity under certain conditions. That sounds more like science fiction than fact to me. Does anybody know if NASA has given this man any more credibility?
This is just like Craig Venter to do this sort of thing. First he starts an independent, private project to try to get his foot in the door first, then he blows the whole thing out of proportion to make it sound like the first one to sequence the genome will have reached a major milestone (the point is to record a variety of genomes: one doesn't cut it). Then his unbridled ego comes into play as we see him try to get his name in the history books by submitting his own DNA. The human genome project should encourage cooperation. You can't just manage it like a McDonald's or whatever he did before going into biotech. What do you expect of someone whose biggest asset is that he used to be a professional surfer?
That's funny, I never heard of a tenant being used this way...
Why is this such a boon for Silicon Valley? Imagine what would happen if companies were allowed to use the drug indiscriminately. If the drug performs as expected, it will increase performance. But then after all the competing companies adopt it, managers will push their employees to work even longer hours and push the limits of what Provigil can do. If you can stay awake 6 extra hours unmedicated, why not use pills and still stay awake 6 extra hours? This isn't going to revolutionize the IT or trucking industry; once again, only the early adopters benefit.
From what I remember, transparent aluminum was supposed to be invented sometime in the '70s.
I would ordinarily be annoyed that yet another perpetual motion scam has been posted to slashdot, but how is this any less credible than that "ultimate stem cell" story just hours before?
Well, at least this explains Bobby Fischer...
I only hope that Quake 3 runs in red-screen mode...
One of my non-linux using friends joked about "selling his soul" to buy Windows XP...take from that what you will...
When I played old apogee video games during the early '90s, I would sometimes balance the keyboard on one knee and map the directionals to the number pad, and the action keys to capslock, tab, etc. This was because some keys couldn't be remapped and holding the keyboard this way kept my hands within reach of the quicksave and quickload keys.
It might sound a little strange, but it was pretty fast once I got used to it. I'd be happy to use one of these keyboards...hope somebody finds a way to port one from gamecube to PS/2 or USB.
It seems that a lot of "crazy old men" (like the infamous Dr. Bronner) have good ideas that are discounted whenever people hear their ideology. If I hear someone that sounds crazy to me, I look through their writings for a pearl of wisdom before writing them off as a crackpot. Sometimes it's just a waste of time, but you can learn interesting things.
Really, what are they going to do? Prosecute anyone who ever taped a basketball game without Express Written Permission of the NBA?
I don't know if anyone's interested, but the school I attend (College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine)is supposed to be an example of a school teaching a well-rounded education. Students all have the same major ("ecology"), so prospective employers evaluate graduates more on the research they did than on their course work. Students can concentrate on science, art, medicine, etc. but are required to take a certain amount of courses from other areas as well. I've heard a lot of people say that being forced to take a history class made them look at science in a whole new way, or that taking computer programming gave them a new perspective on microbiology. As to whether this "works in real life", I can't say, but other graduates seem to do just fine. I just thought I'd give an example since "Cliff" asked about it in this post.