Oh, so we should not trust the usual scientific press in this case? Instead we should trust "America's premiere conservative website"?
I'm not suggesting that at all; what I am suggesting is that the press (e.g. the New York Times, CNN, etc.) underreport studies like this because it goes against their support of embryonic stem cell research. While have been a number of promising studies on adult stem cells published in the scientific press, the general public doesn't hear about them from traditional media outlets.
There have been a number of studies on alternative sources of stem cells, like those in umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, that have shown more promising results than tests with embryonic cells. Unfortunately, they have been underreported by the mainstream press, who for the most part politically favors ebryonic stem cell research (ESCR). This summer and fall there were a series of insightful articles on the topic on the National Review's web site. One such article is here: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-smit h012802.shtml For others, go to nationalreview.com and search for "stem cell."
It seems to me that the Web today is primarily used for topical, newspaper-like content, and that finding that content has gotten more centralized. Instead of "surfing" the web for new sites, I find myself going to the same frequently updated portals-- Slashdot, ESPN, NationalReview.com, and CNN. I hardly need Bookmarks anymore at all. This is very different from a few years ago, when I would, say, go search Yahoo! for politics, go to one of the more popular sites, then follow their links to similar sites, follow their links, etc. This earlier method led me to lots of interesting static content, though the new method is more useful for daily/weekly stuff.
In the good ol' days of the web I could chew up hours looking around for what I wanted ("web browser" is an apt name for that style of searching). Today, I just go to portals that usually link to content I'm interested in, and spend more time reading content instead of looking for it.
I think a better parallel might be the early days of Netscape, where it was free to home users but corporations (supposedly) had to pay for it. "Open Office" seems to do the former, while Sun is wagering that the quality of Star Office gains corporate market share.
The article says that it will take a long time to develop a Jedi as compared to other character types (obviously). Mmmmm.... repeated button pressing. Developing a character's stats in MMORPGs reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer "works" from home on his computer, getting the bobbing bird toy to press the "Y" key every few seconds so he could go do other things. It's like in Ultima Online, where it took a lot of repeated mouse clicking on training dummies to develop your combat skills. Of course, I soon figured out that my character could attack a pig/dog/sheep; the animal took a looooong time for me to kill and couldn't do much damage to me, either, so there were thirty minute "epic" battles during which my character could improve his attack skills while I could go do other things.
The article says that the Windows version of the Aquapad boots off a built-in microdrive. I couldn't find how large/whether it was configured to be user-writable, though.
This might help educate average users about the programs that run in the Windows System Tray (tm). Whenever I use my sister's computer, I notice that the 'Net seems really slow for a 56k modem connection. Then I look in the system tray and find that Bearshare (and before that, Napster) is happily running in the background, set by default to share all her mp3's to ten different unique users at a time. I then have fuss around with its preferences to limit the number of shares to something more reasonable (like two). (It also seems that it reinstalls itself to run as a service whenever the program is used, so disabling it is only a temporary solution).
I can imagine what gruesome results this can have on the bandwidth of an "alway on" connection-- especially to a cable modem pool. And that's not to speak of the costs to the provider, who has to pay quite a bit for their n T1's or whatever. But if my sis got a call from the cable company syaying that she's exceeding her allocated bandwidth for the month and will be billed extra, she'd have an incentive to actually learn the basic principle of P2P file sharing programs (i.e. listen to me).
It seems to me that the PS2-to-monitor adapter is a worthless throw-in. The primary advantage to running Linux on the PS2 is the ability to use your n inch big screen TV for DVDs, life-sized Quake and 'Net pr0n, etc. I have tried various adapters to use my comp on my TV and they all fellate fuzzy hamster testes, more or less (in addition to a few Nvidia cards with video out, my dad let me borrow a relatively expensive scan convertor he uses for Power Point presentations (he's a professor)). While DVDs are definitely sharper on my monitor than on my TV, I'd rather take a slight loss of quality lying comfortably on the couch over sitting bolt upright in a desk chair squinting at my monitor from ten centimeters away. Ditto for games that use a joypad instead of a keyboard.
How many ISPs are supported in Linux, anyway? Maybe it's different in Canada, but most of the big US providers use executables that run on Windows or Mac, not standard ppp stuff. I'm especially thinking about (1) AOL, "so easy to use, no wonder I cannot find the button to go to usenet feeds," and (2) Prodigy, which the phone company here (Ameritech) pimps as their dial-up service for consolidated billing.
I almost immediately added Star Office 6 (beta) to mine, just as a person who buys a new Mac or Windows box might add Microsoft Office... This was no big deal -- if you're used to command line-based Linux software installations. OEone people say they will soon have lots more software available, along with utilities to automatically add customer-loaded programs to the desktop.
This would never fly with my mother. First off, how would she install it? Not nearly as easy as inserting a CD, program autoruns, and you clicking. Even if I were able to go to her house to add the software (or hack the remote administration tools they mention), I cannot imagine her going to a command line and typing the (probably esoteric) name of the program she wants to use.
Until I can see more of this "simplified" GUI that they talk about but don't really show, I think she'd be better off with Windows, or even a stripped down Linux with a wharf bar.
They should made a system centered on low noise or one that has good look or something
Exactly. That's why I ditched my full tower case for this three-foot cube (the black and blue version which is a spank ass queen in person). It cost $200, but I'm the only one on my block that has one. And when I bring women home with me and they cry out "Good God, what is that jet-engine sounding ottoman-sized monolith sitting next to your desk!?!," it's worth every penny.
Good point. I recently hacked together an e-mail box for my mom out of old parts I had (hdd, cd-rom, monitor, processor-- everything but a new motherboard and case, which cost $100).
I was right up against my budget for the project, and it just didn't seem right that I had to spend an additional $40-$50 for floppy, keyboard, and mouse. IIRC, the cheapest floppy drives on the 'Net were nine bucks plus seven shipping (and those were out of stock; most were in the $16 range), keyboards were four plus six, mice about the same. As homebuilding becomes more popular, these incidental charges become a big advantage for system builders, who can get them for next to nothing by buying in bulk from their suppliers; surprisingly, my friend buys prebuilt systems from a local mom n' pop for about the same as what it costs me to put my machines together for this very reason.
In such a geek hovel, you need to make sure that you have adequate power, not just in terms of outlets but at the fuse box as well. In my old one room apartment, I'd blow a fuse if I tried microwaving some food while had both my 486 router machine and my desktop on: really convenient when I had 92% of a 600 meg ISO downloaded and got a sudden hankering for ramen.
We're primates, for Chrissakes.. have you ever seen primates in a zoo? "Wasting time" is all they do!
Yup, if they were just a bit more motivated, they'd be able to build a great civilization and put Chuck Heston in a cage. As it is, they sleep all day and have shotput contests with their own poo. Damn slackers.
When I was in college, we had a number of aging Windows machines all over campus (in the cafeteria, in the Student Union, etc) that were web/e-mail stations. You could browse the web, launch an e-mail client (Mulberry?), and telnet/ssh, but not write a paper or whatnot. This could easily be done as a Linux solution with minimum fallout, since the main reasons non-geeks shy from Linux/BSD are (1) logging in (create a user that's always logged onto the web station), (2)configuration: "how do I install program x? Can I do it without becoming root? And I first need the widgets from such-and-such toolkit, and then when I run the installation script it gives me error y..." and (3) no Microsoft Office (Sorry, kid, you have to go to the licensed Windows machines in the main computer lab for that).
Since these web stations won't allow these activities, and web browsers are fairly standard, you run less of a risk of confusing the average student than with a computer lab full of Slackware machines. This is a good way of introducing students to the web, and would require less administrative overhead since users can't do anything but execute programs ("I deleted all those 'dot' files in my directory. Is that bad?").
They should have a news crawler on the bottom like on CNN or FoxNews. Only instead of "FDA Approves New Anthrax Drug... More Pro-Taliban Casualties in Afghanistan..." etc., they could carry a list of active warez FTP sites.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not suggesting that at all; what I am suggesting is that the press (e.g. the New York Times, CNN, etc.) underreport studies like this because it goes against their support of embryonic stem cell research. While have been a number of promising studies on adult stem cells published in the scientific press, the general public doesn't hear about them from traditional media outlets.
There have been a number of studies on alternative sources of stem cells, like those in umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, that have shown more promising results than tests with embryonic cells. Unfortunately, they have been underreported by the mainstream press, who for the most part politically favors ebryonic stem cell research (ESCR). This summer and fall there were a series of insightful articles on the topic on the National Review's web site. One such article is here: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-smit h012802.shtml For others, go to nationalreview.com and search for "stem cell."
In the good ol' days of the web I could chew up hours looking around for what I wanted ("web browser" is an apt name for that style of searching). Today, I just go to portals that usually link to content I'm interested in, and spend more time reading content instead of looking for it.
I think a better parallel might be the early days of Netscape, where it was free to home users but corporations (supposedly) had to pay for it. "Open Office" seems to do the former, while Sun is wagering that the quality of Star Office gains corporate market share.
Errr... A well-crafted troll is almost indistinguishable from a strongly held opinion (+5, Insightful).
The article says that it will take a long time to develop a Jedi as compared to other character types (obviously). Mmmmm.... repeated button pressing. Developing a character's stats in MMORPGs reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer "works" from home on his computer, getting the bobbing bird toy to press the "Y" key every few seconds so he could go do other things. It's like in Ultima Online, where it took a lot of repeated mouse clicking on training dummies to develop your combat skills. Of course, I soon figured out that my character could attack a pig/dog/sheep; the animal took a looooong time for me to kill and couldn't do much damage to me, either, so there were thirty minute "epic" battles during which my character could improve his attack skills while I could go do other things.
The article says that the Windows version of the Aquapad boots off a built-in microdrive. I couldn't find how large/whether it was configured to be user-writable, though.
I can imagine what gruesome results this can have on the bandwidth of an "alway on" connection-- especially to a cable modem pool. And that's not to speak of the costs to the provider, who has to pay quite a bit for their n T1's or whatever. But if my sis got a call from the cable company syaying that she's exceeding her allocated bandwidth for the month and will be billed extra, she'd have an incentive to actually learn the basic principle of P2P file sharing programs (i.e. listen to me).
It seems to me that the PS2-to-monitor adapter is a worthless throw-in. The primary advantage to running Linux on the PS2 is the ability to use your n inch big screen TV for DVDs, life-sized Quake and 'Net pr0n, etc. I have tried various adapters to use my comp on my TV and they all fellate fuzzy hamster testes, more or less (in addition to a few Nvidia cards with video out, my dad let me borrow a relatively expensive scan convertor he uses for Power Point presentations (he's a professor)). While DVDs are definitely sharper on my monitor than on my TV, I'd rather take a slight loss of quality lying comfortably on the couch over sitting bolt upright in a desk chair squinting at my monitor from ten centimeters away. Ditto for games that use a joypad instead of a keyboard.
How many ISPs are supported in Linux, anyway? Maybe it's different in Canada, but most of the big US providers use executables that run on Windows or Mac, not standard ppp stuff. I'm especially thinking about (1) AOL, "so easy to use, no wonder I cannot find the button to go to usenet feeds," and (2) Prodigy, which the phone company here (Ameritech) pimps as their dial-up service for consolidated billing.
I almost immediately added Star Office 6 (beta) to mine, just as a person who buys a new Mac or Windows box might add Microsoft Office... This was no big deal -- if you're used to command line-based Linux software installations. OEone people say they will soon have lots more software available, along with utilities to automatically add customer-loaded programs to the desktop.
This would never fly with my mother. First off, how would she install it? Not nearly as easy as inserting a CD, program autoruns, and you clicking. Even if I were able to go to her house to add the software (or hack the remote administration tools they mention), I cannot imagine her going to a command line and typing the (probably esoteric) name of the program she wants to use.
Until I can see more of this "simplified" GUI that they talk about but don't really show, I think she'd be better off with Windows, or even a stripped down Linux with a wharf bar.
Exactly. That's why I ditched my full tower case for this three-foot cube (the black and blue version which is a spank ass queen in person). It cost $200, but I'm the only one on my block that has one. And when I bring women home with me and they cry out "Good God, what is that jet-engine sounding ottoman-sized monolith sitting next to your desk!?!," it's worth every penny.
I was right up against my budget for the project, and it just didn't seem right that I had to spend an additional $40-$50 for floppy, keyboard, and mouse. IIRC, the cheapest floppy drives on the 'Net were nine bucks plus seven shipping (and those were out of stock; most were in the $16 range), keyboards were four plus six, mice about the same. As homebuilding becomes more popular, these incidental charges become a big advantage for system builders, who can get them for next to nothing by buying in bulk from their suppliers; surprisingly, my friend buys prebuilt systems from a local mom n' pop for about the same as what it costs me to put my machines together for this very reason.
Sweet! Now I can play MMORPGs and Quake on my LAN with/against my toaster! Who needs broadband when I can frag the washing machine?
In such a geek hovel, you need to make sure that you have adequate power, not just in terms of outlets but at the fuse box as well. In my old one room apartment, I'd blow a fuse if I tried microwaving some food while had both my 486 router machine and my desktop on: really convenient when I had 92% of a 600 meg ISO downloaded and got a sudden hankering for ramen.
'Cause you haven't lived until you've played Diablo 2 on a big screen in surround sound while furiously pedaling an ExerCycle.
Yup, if they were just a bit more motivated, they'd be able to build a great civilization and put Chuck Heston in a cage. As it is, they sleep all day and have shotput contests with their own poo. Damn slackers.
Since these web stations won't allow these activities, and web browsers are fairly standard, you run less of a risk of confusing the average student than with a computer lab full of Slackware machines. This is a good way of introducing students to the web, and would require less administrative overhead since users can't do anything but execute programs ("I deleted all those 'dot' files in my directory. Is that bad?").
They should have a news crawler on the bottom like on CNN or FoxNews. Only instead of "FDA Approves New Anthrax Drug... More Pro-Taliban Casualties in Afghanistan..." etc., they could carry a list of active warez FTP sites.