wow, slow news day, but that story was really thumbthing...
HS computer course a joke....a possible solution..
on
Testing Kids' IT Skills
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· Score: 3, Informative
I'd have to say that more often then not, high school computer courses are a joke...i took all of the ones that were available at my high school...the first 2 were called "computer applications" which basically consisted of doing spreadsheets, or making microsoft word documents....both a total waste of time...but they were still prereqs for the only worthwile computer course we had...
the only worthwile one was called "computer programming" or something...in any case, i took the AP version of it, and it was well worth it...basically it was my first introduction to programming....they taught Turbo Pascal at that time (that was the AP standard)...i'm sure it's not any more...if anyone is wondering, i got a 5 on the AP test....
in any case, the post brings up a good point...with kids getting more and more experience and exposure to computers at home, most high school level courses are a joke to them...
i can't seriously see high schools being able to satisfy the different levels of students by offering a computer science curiculum with enough breadth for all the different students...perhaps high schools could continue offering the introductory courses for beginner students, and work out some sort of program where if more advanced students want to take higher level classes they work out something with the local community college, or local tech training center...a friend of mine in high school did something similiar to this...he had completed all the possible math courses in the high school, so for junior and senior year, he took class at the local community college instead...this could probably work well for computer courses too...
actually, i wasn't counting Dell because i was referring mainly to computers you can walk into a retail store and buy...Dell computers are only available on their website and through phone orders...
yes, dell should be #2 behind them...i just wasn't counting them becuase they are only available, as you said, through the phone or internet...they're not retail, as in "retail" stores...
personally, i would either buy my computer from dell, or build it myself...
quick question...who else is now big in the world of retail computers...meaning like, you walk into a Best Buy or a Sears, whose computers are you gonna see??? this doesn't matter to me, cause i would personally never buy a computer from a store like that....but i'm just curious, becuase it seems like Compaq and HP were always the majority of the retail desktops out there...who is left to compete? or are they gonna have a virtual monopoly in that field???
what's wrong with these guys...my computer at home is way too slow to download all that porn...
seriously though, i'd go crazy if i had to work 8 hours straight without any distractions...so, what if i shoot over to Hotmail to check my personal e-mail, or over to ESPN to check out the latest sports news, or even here to post my thoughts on the latest tech news topics...and that doesn't even count the numerous times i use the internet to look up java related things on Sun's website or trouble shoot my Websphere problems over at IBM...
what's the point of having all that information available at our finger tips if we can't use it...
They should evaluate programmers by the length of thier beards.
no...no...no...it's the length of their pony tails...
Re:Wraparound fabric keyboard for PDAs
on
Great gadgets at CeBIT
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· Score: 2, Insightful
i agree with the vaporware assessment...has anyone checked out the VKB Web Site??? it seems a little lite on information or any actual content...in fact, the only thing there seems to be of any detail is bios of the management and the board of directors...i almost expected it to be one of those fake SEC investment sites...
i agree...this article is sufficiently vaugue that i question whether the author saw the "sneak preview"....i found that there was very little information (if any) that you couldn't get from watching the trailers and reading star wars internet rumour/fan sites....
did you even read the article??? the person clearly states several times that they are *not* claiming to have seen the final cut...only a rough cut...
that said, i still don't believe it...
you know what my problem is??? i have dozens and dozens of passwords to remember...i have my work computer, my work e-mail, my home computer, my 2 home e-mail accounts, eBay, Slashdot, IM, etc...it's just too many passwords to remember...
because of that, i've fallen into a bad rut for my passwords, i only have like three that i use on a regular basis, and i just reuse them whenever i register for a new account...don't get me wrong, i know that's a terrible thing to do...but i just can't bother myself to rememeber more and more passwords...god forbid someone found one out...
does anyone have any tips for things they do, or products they use to keep track of their dozens and dozens of passwords...?
...that said, i think i'll go change my slashdot password...
i'm currently a software engineer, but i wouldn't mind teaching computer courses at a local college or even high school later on in my life...
problem is, the money isn't even close....my parents are both elementray school teachers, and they make a lot of money, but that's because they've been teaching for 30+ years...i know what teachers of 3 or 4 years in their school district are making and even if you adjust for them only working 10 months, it's still not near what i make, and i'm less then a year out of college...
of course they do get other benefits, like the aforementioned 2 months off in the summer, and a pension...so i dunno, maybe it balances out...
maybe i'll consider that if/when i get burned out from my job....
i'm not saying that you have to be a jock...personally, i am a software engineer (although i did play soccer & baseball in high school)...i'm just saying kids should spend less time playing video games, and more time interacting with other kids, and using their own imaginations...i just sited the sports i played as a kid as an example from my life...i didn't mean to say that sports is the only option to video games...
this may seem blasphemous (sp?) to say here...don't get me wrong...i'm 22 and i personally love my PS2 & my PC...but when i was a kid growing up, i never had a console, and i think i was better off for it...sure i eventually had a game boy for a period of time, and i had the old apple IIc, but they weren't a nintendo, genesis, etc...and i think i turned out better off because of it...instead of being constantly inside trying to figure out how to get to world 8-1 of mario brothers, i was outside playing sports, riding my bike, building tree forts...kids today spend to much time playing video games, and not enough time experiencing interactions with real people...at a summer camp that i went to, they used to have enough kids interested in baseball, basketball, soccer, that they could field leagues with 10+ teams...now they're lucky if they get a half dozen kids interested in playing those sports....instead, everyone wants to spend their beautiful summer day inside playing on computers or something of that nature (i.e. Magic card games...)...kids need to be more active, and i know that when i eventually have kids, i am planning on strongly regulated the amount of time that they spend laying video games...it makes me upset to see the state of today's kids...it's leading to the "wussification" of our youth...when i head stories such as this one that talk about banning dodge ball, i think it's upsurd...
so, in conclusion, to those of you with kids, and those of you who plan to have them...don't let your them spend 24/7 trying to beat that the latest version of final fantasy...have them go outside...have them use their imagination...have them interact with others...
there's nothing wrong with Galactic Battle Grounds, in fact I enjoy the game...i was never into AOE2, but since i'm a star wars fan, GBG appeals to me...
i wouldn't excatly call it exactly a rip-off...in fact it actually uses the AOE2 game engine...it's like when they take Monopoly, and then give it a NFL theme to make it appeal to a different market...that's what GBG is....
in any case, i personally find it more interesting to control units and such in GBG because they are units in a universe that we've seen and grown up with (through movies, books, etc...) our whole lives....
well, just my opinion...
Slashdot Mirror
see...and all this time i thought they were saying Utah was 75% mormom...i guess they really meant 75% martian...
makes sense now...ever seen Shawn Bradley anyway...
wow, slow news day, but that story was really thumbthing...
I'd have to say that more often then not, high school computer courses are a joke...i took all of the ones that were available at my high school...the first 2 were called "computer applications" which basically consisted of doing spreadsheets, or making microsoft word documents....both a total waste of time...but they were still prereqs for the only worthwile computer course we had...
the only worthwile one was called "computer programming" or something...in any case, i took the AP version of it, and it was well worth it...basically it was my first introduction to programming....they taught Turbo Pascal at that time (that was the AP standard)...i'm sure it's not any more...if anyone is wondering, i got a 5 on the AP test....
in any case, the post brings up a good point...with kids getting more and more experience and exposure to computers at home, most high school level courses are a joke to them... i can't seriously see high schools being able to satisfy the different levels of students by offering a computer science curiculum with enough breadth for all the different students...perhaps high schools could continue offering the introductory courses for beginner students, and work out some sort of program where if more advanced students want to take higher level classes they work out something with the local community college, or local tech training center...a friend of mine in high school did something similiar to this...he had completed all the possible math courses in the high school, so for junior and senior year, he took class at the local community college instead...this could probably work well for computer courses too...
well, just a thought...
you're right, there are some great computer references on the simpsons....
"They have the Internet on computers now?!?
"To start press 'any' key'"
"All this computer hacking is making me thirsty, I better order a TAB"
those were just off the top of my head....but this website actually does list the computer references...
actually, i wasn't counting Dell because i was referring mainly to computers you can walk into a retail store and buy...Dell computers are only available on their website and through phone orders...
yes, dell should be #2 behind them...i just wasn't counting them becuase they are only available, as you said, through the phone or internet...they're not retail, as in "retail" stores... personally, i would either buy my computer from dell, or build it myself...
is there gonna be a virtual natural keyboard??? i hope so, cause i don't wanna get virtual carpal-tunnel syndrome...
quick question...who else is now big in the world of retail computers...meaning like, you walk into a Best Buy or a Sears, whose computers are you gonna see??? this doesn't matter to me, cause i would personally never buy a computer from a store like that....but i'm just curious, becuase it seems like Compaq and HP were always the majority of the retail desktops out there...who is left to compete? or are they gonna have a virtual monopoly in that field???
what's wrong with these guys...my computer at home is way too slow to download all that porn...
seriously though, i'd go crazy if i had to work 8 hours straight without any distractions...so, what if i shoot over to Hotmail to check my personal e-mail, or over to ESPN to check out the latest sports news, or even here to post my thoughts on the latest tech news topics...and that doesn't even count the numerous times i use the internet to look up java related things on Sun's website or trouble shoot my Websphere problems over at IBM...
what's the point of having all that information available at our finger tips if we can't use it...
They should evaluate programmers by the length of thier beards.
no...no...no...it's the length of their pony tails...
i agree with the vaporware assessment...has anyone checked out the VKB Web Site??? it seems a little lite on information or any actual content...in fact, the only thing there seems to be of any detail is bios of the management and the board of directors...i almost expected it to be one of those fake SEC investment sites...
i agree...this article is sufficiently vaugue that i question whether the author saw the "sneak preview"....i found that there was very little information (if any) that you couldn't get from watching the trailers and reading star wars internet rumour/fan sites....
did you even read the article??? the person clearly states several times that they are *not* claiming to have seen the final cut...only a rough cut... that said, i still don't believe it...
like the movie "Hackers"...it says that 3 most common password are (were) "Sex", "Love", and "God"...
you know what my problem is??? i have dozens and dozens of passwords to remember...i have my work computer, my work e-mail, my home computer, my 2 home e-mail accounts, eBay, Slashdot, IM, etc...it's just too many passwords to remember...
because of that, i've fallen into a bad rut for my passwords, i only have like three that i use on a regular basis, and i just reuse them whenever i register for a new account...don't get me wrong, i know that's a terrible thing to do...but i just can't bother myself to rememeber more and more passwords...god forbid someone found one out...
does anyone have any tips for things they do, or products they use to keep track of their dozens and dozens of passwords...?"Hot Dog! We have a weiner!"
i'm currently a software engineer, but i wouldn't mind teaching computer courses at a local college or even high school later on in my life...
problem is, the money isn't even close....my parents are both elementray school teachers, and they make a lot of money, but that's because they've been teaching for 30+ years...i know what teachers of 3 or 4 years in their school district are making and even if you adjust for them only working 10 months, it's still not near what i make, and i'm less then a year out of college...
of course they do get other benefits, like the aforementioned 2 months off in the summer, and a pension...so i dunno, maybe it balances out...
maybe i'll consider that if/when i get burned out from my job....
I was thinking more like you walk down the street and all girls are modified so they appear cute... ...but beer does that too...
That's when the helicopter comes out of their helmet, and they drift slowly to safety....
oh wait, that was inspector gadget..."go, go, gadget-copter!"
yeah, ok, they look pretty dumb...and i know i wouldn't play one of them...
but maybe these guys should...
i'm not saying that you have to be a jock...personally, i am a software engineer (although i did play soccer & baseball in high school)...i'm just saying kids should spend less time playing video games, and more time interacting with other kids, and using their own imaginations...i just sited the sports i played as a kid as an example from my life...i didn't mean to say that sports is the only option to video games...
this may seem blasphemous (sp?) to say here...don't get me wrong...i'm 22 and i personally love my PS2 & my PC...but when i was a kid growing up, i never had a console, and i think i was better off for it...sure i eventually had a game boy for a period of time, and i had the old apple IIc, but they weren't a nintendo, genesis, etc...and i think i turned out better off because of it...instead of being constantly inside trying to figure out how to get to world 8-1 of mario brothers, i was outside playing sports, riding my bike, building tree forts...kids today spend to much time playing video games, and not enough time experiencing interactions with real people...at a summer camp that i went to, they used to have enough kids interested in baseball, basketball, soccer, that they could field leagues with 10+ teams...now they're lucky if they get a half dozen kids interested in playing those sports....instead, everyone wants to spend their beautiful summer day inside playing on computers or something of that nature (i.e. Magic card games...)...kids need to be more active, and i know that when i eventually have kids, i am planning on strongly regulated the amount of time that they spend laying video games...it makes me upset to see the state of today's kids...it's leading to the "wussification" of our youth...when i head stories such as this one that talk about banning dodge ball, i think it's upsurd...
so, in conclusion, to those of you with kids, and those of you who plan to have them...don't let your them spend 24/7 trying to beat that the latest version of final fantasy...have them go outside...have them use their imagination...have them interact with others...
oh well...that was just my rant....
Next thing you know Al Gore is gonna start defending a patent that he invented the Internet....
What do I want??? how bout her phone number...
there's nothing wrong with Galactic Battle Grounds, in fact I enjoy the game...i was never into AOE2, but since i'm a star wars fan, GBG appeals to me...
i wouldn't excatly call it exactly a rip-off...in fact it actually uses the AOE2 game engine...it's like when they take Monopoly, and then give it a NFL theme to make it appeal to a different market...that's what GBG is....
in any case, i personally find it more interesting to control units and such in GBG because they are units in a universe that we've seen and grown up with (through movies, books, etc...) our whole lives.... well, just my opinion...