Don't blame the students for not having used a library prior to university. Highschools aren't demanding it. Nor are they demanding anything more than the most cursory of reference lists -- usually a list of untitled URLs, or even better, "References: Google search term '$terms'". Footnotes or in-line citations are not to be spoken of. It's silly. What the hell are they teaching in English these days? I've TA'd the 100-level course in the undergraduate program for the past 3 years while completing my graduate degree; the first two weeks of lab hours is literally hand-holding the buggers showing them how to find stuff in a library (it's so amusing how difficult they find the LoC indexing system) and how to properly cite things to avoid academic plagarism. Damage control. If it weren't so bloody necessary, it'd be a total waste of time.
I propose we all check out the principality of Sealand. Hell, you can even get a Lordship for ~£80. We can all thank the sovereign Prince Roy for his hospitality:-)
i bet most x-megapixel-canons perform at least as good as a cheap x+1-megapixel-model does.
Better. I bought a Canon ElPH S400 (4MPix) a few years back; rightfully bragged about it back then (near top of the line of consumer-level digis at the time). Pops comes home a few months back ago with a new 6.something MPix Sony Cybershot, and then spends 3hrs trying to figure out why, at its best setting, it can't produce an image as clear as my "measly" 4MP ElPH at a mid-setting -- Sony cameras ALWAYS produce an image that's far too cool in temperature.
Lord knows why he bought a Sony after the TV he hates.
So, if you have III, it's 1+1+1=3. If you have LXVI, it's 50+10+5+1=66.
Where it gets mildly confusing is when you have a lower-value numeral preceding a higher-value one, as in the case of IV or XL. In these cases, you read it literally as "1 before 5 (4)" and "10 before 50 (40)".
For practice figuring these things out, all television shows have a production date at the end (usually following the credit rolls). Present shows are easy (MMV -- 1000+1000+5=2005), but try those from the 80s or 90s. For example, MCMXCVII = 1000 + 100-before-1000 (900) + 10-before-100 (90) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 1997.
Stop doing voiceover completely, and get back to having people READ. Those talk-to-everyone-in-town quests in $rpg got me speed-reading boy -- even if most phrases were, "I do not have any information for you," or its equivalent.
I prefer captioning anyhow and usually turn the voice-over volume to minimum so that I can pump up ambient volume.
I love the trackpoint on my laptop (aka "the nipple"). I find it more precise than a trackball -- prolly due simply to more practice with it -- and my wrist doesn't move.
Fido, I know, at least is #DJ. Can't remember the rest. Rogers has it with their MuchMusic phone package. I think it was standard text messaging rates for a while too.
Friend bought a copy of starcraft; logs onto b.net and gets a "CD Key in Use by..." message. Being a new purchase, he emailed Blizz, stating that he must be that rare instance where a legit CD Key was generated by one of those zillion keygens out there. They issued him a new key after some hmmmm- and hahhh-ing.
Has anyone ever thought of writing a whole bunch of insane software licenses, copyrighting them, and then refusing anyone from infringing on their copyright by using said licenses? Is that even possible?
<Bitter Canadian Hockey Fan Rant> Any word yet as to whether or not Bettman has sold out or is looking to sell out the NHL yet to these asshats at EA? It's only a matter of time I suppose; the commish fscks over everything else with his league. <Bitter Canadian Hockey Fan Rant>
There is a very simple explanation to why the US and Canada is like this: Copper. We have a lot of it, and our land-line phone system is highly developed in most areas. The telcos (who operate both cellular and land-lard services) simply dragged their feet, unwilling to put up new cell towers when the old landline towers already cost them a bundle. In contrast to this, in much of Europe, the number of poles weren't as high. so the companies decided to put up cellular towers. Infrastricture.
Anyone remember Wordperfect Shell? That thing got me hooked on computers -- or rather, the fact it didn't work.
Pops installed King's Quest I (in all its CGA goodness!) and put a link to it on what I affectionately called "the blue thing" (referring to the colour of the shell), and assigned it to "K". "Press 'K'," I was told, "and you can play this game where you're some knight or something."
"Cool," I thought as I hit 'K', "DAD!!! What does 'C-triangle-Bad command or file name' mean?"
I watched intently as he dumped into DOS to open the program, and he told me to just call him when I wanted to play the game. Alas, I didn't listen and decided to try to replicate his steps. From there, I taught myself how to get around DOS, wiped the drive with overuse of the 'erase' command, and watched again as pops fixed the thing.
As for programming, I actually got into it via BATCH FILES of all things. I discovered that you could get the computer to run several things at a time if you put commands into one file and run it. I started playing with the 'echo' command and drew little ASCII stickmen attached to 'stickman.bat'. Eventually, I wanted to be able to do more, and pops showed me the BASIC manual. Rest is pretty much history.
As for starting a kid off with programming nowadays: I think the best way to get a kid hooked is to show the kid, "YES, YOU CAN GET THE COMPUTER TO DO SOMETHING ALL BY YOURSELF". Start `em off in HTML (Yes, I KNOW it's a markup language, not a programming language). Like batch files, it's a way of getting the kid to feel like "hey, I got the computer to do something cool, with my 'code'." HTML, while simple, does teach that there is a structure of some sort when you want a computer to do something, and syntax matters (IE in quirks-mode notwithstanding). From there, either throw them into something BASIC (pun intended) or even Turing, which is what they use in our school district. Hell, you could even teach them some stuff using JavaScript and stay web-themed, whatever.
The whole point, IMO anyhow, is to first show the kid that YES, s/he can get the computer to do something, it's not rocket science (my apologies to rocket scientists in the audience for again using this cliché), and go from there. YMMV.
There is really no difference between this, and a Blockbuster video account.
At the local Blockbuster, you have to show your membership card to rent a movie/game. If you're the primary card holder, they HAVE your ID on file, if you're not (e.g. it's your mom's), and you look like a minor, they'll ask you for ID before you can rent an R-Rated movie (happens this way at all the Blockbusters I've been to in Ontario, anyhow).
This initiative, which, IMO, is a good idea, just extends this principle to purchasing the games as well as renting them. It gives some power to the rating systems -- which most parents don't know exist. Now, parents will at least think that "oh, little Johnny needs an ID to buy this? Wonder why... oh, it's rated M, hmmmmmm." Mind you, just like movies, parents can choose to ignore the rating and buy the game for their kids anyhow.
Seems fair, power still lies with the parents to make the final call.
I'm considering getting one of these J-Pack's for my g/f, but was wondering how heavy/big it is? She's about 5'6" and if it looks gargantuan on her, or feels heavy, she won't use it. Debating between it, and the LL Bean "Little Easy" as recommended by another poster.
The question of my mind is who is going to take over from John Candy in the role of Barf? You can't easily replace such a comic genius -- assuming you can at all.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't blame the students for not having used a library prior to university. Highschools aren't demanding it. Nor are they demanding anything more than the most cursory of reference lists -- usually a list of untitled URLs, or even better, "References: Google search term '$terms'". Footnotes or in-line citations are not to be spoken of. It's silly. What the hell are they teaching in English these days? I've TA'd the 100-level course in the undergraduate program for the past 3 years while completing my graduate degree; the first two weeks of lab hours is literally hand-holding the buggers showing them how to find stuff in a library (it's so amusing how difficult they find the LoC indexing system) and how to properly cite things to avoid academic plagarism. Damage control. If it weren't so bloody necessary, it'd be a total waste of time.
Speak outwards against DHMO before it KILLS OUR PLANET!
I propose we all check out the principality of Sealand. Hell, you can even get a Lordship for ~£80. We can all thank the sovereign Prince Roy for his hospitality :-)
See what we as a country can achieve with laxed pot laws :) ?
Didn't DVD Jon crack that a few days ago... could've SWORN I read a story onthisverysite about it. Here's TFA it linked to
Better. I bought a Canon ElPH S400 (4MPix) a few years back; rightfully bragged about it back then (near top of the line of consumer-level digis at the time). Pops comes home a few months back ago with a new 6.something MPix Sony Cybershot, and then spends 3hrs trying to figure out why, at its best setting, it can't produce an image as clear as my "measly" 4MP ElPH at a mid-setting -- Sony cameras ALWAYS produce an image that's far too cool in temperature.
Lord knows why he bought a Sony after the TV he hates.
...It'll be disabled via the Modchip that'll be released 2 weeks after the console's debut. Guaranteed(TM).
It's still on verse 7:15. No mention of the great bird of fire begetting the sacred Fox of flames at all!
I think those cowardly followers of Mammon have some control over publication of the good book. Say it ain't so!
As it's not mentioned in the summary, and nobody here with any "street cred." RTFAs, I thought I might throw you all the following link.
They're actually quite easy.
So, if you have III, it's 1+1+1=3. If you have LXVI, it's 50+10+5+1=66.
Where it gets mildly confusing is when you have a lower-value numeral preceding a higher-value one, as in the case of IV or XL. In these cases, you read it literally as "1 before 5 (4)" and "10 before 50 (40)".
For practice figuring these things out, all television shows have a production date at the end (usually following the credit rolls). Present shows are easy (MMV -- 1000+1000+5=2005), but try those from the 80s or 90s. For example, MCMXCVII = 1000 + 100-before-1000 (900) + 10-before-100 (90) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 1997.
Hope I haven't confused you further.
Stop doing voiceover completely, and get back to having people READ. Those talk-to-everyone-in-town quests in $rpg got me speed-reading boy -- even if most phrases were, "I do not have any information for you," or its equivalent. I prefer captioning anyhow and usually turn the voice-over volume to minimum so that I can pump up ambient volume.
I love the trackpoint on my laptop (aka "the nipple"). I find it more precise than a trackball -- prolly due simply to more practice with it -- and my wrist doesn't move.
Fido, I know, at least is #DJ. Can't remember the rest. Rogers has it with their MuchMusic phone package. I think it was standard text messaging rates for a while too.
Aha! This will finally allow us to "read" the previously indecipherable actions of women. Now all we need is one to talk to us in the first place.
Baby steps... baby steps...
Friend bought a copy of starcraft; logs onto b.net and gets a "CD Key in Use by..." message. Being a new purchase, he emailed Blizz, stating that he must be that rare instance where a legit CD Key was generated by one of those zillion keygens out there. They issued him a new key after some hmmmm- and hahhh-ing.
Has anyone ever thought of writing a whole bunch of insane software licenses, copyrighting them, and then refusing anyone from infringing on their copyright by using said licenses? Is that even possible?
<Bitter Canadian Hockey Fan Rant>
Any word yet as to whether or not Bettman has sold out or is looking to sell out the NHL yet to these asshats at EA? It's only a matter of time I suppose; the commish fscks over everything else with his league.
<Bitter Canadian Hockey Fan Rant>
There is a very simple explanation to why the US and Canada is like this: Copper. We have a lot of it, and our land-line phone system is highly developed in most areas. The telcos (who operate both cellular and land-lard services) simply dragged their feet, unwilling to put up new cell towers when the old landline towers already cost them a bundle. In contrast to this, in much of Europe, the number of poles weren't as high. so the companies decided to put up cellular towers. Infrastricture.
Anyone remember Wordperfect Shell? That thing got me hooked on computers -- or rather, the fact it didn't work.
Pops installed King's Quest I (in all its CGA goodness!) and put a link to it on what I affectionately called "the blue thing" (referring to the colour of the shell), and assigned it to "K". "Press 'K'," I was told, "and you can play this game where you're some knight or something."
"Cool," I thought as I hit 'K', "DAD!!! What does 'C-triangle-Bad command or file name' mean?"
I watched intently as he dumped into DOS to open the program, and he told me to just call him when I wanted to play the game. Alas, I didn't listen and decided to try to replicate his steps. From there, I taught myself how to get around DOS, wiped the drive with overuse of the 'erase' command, and watched again as pops fixed the thing.
As for programming, I actually got into it via BATCH FILES of all things. I discovered that you could get the computer to run several things at a time if you put commands into one file and run it. I started playing with the 'echo' command and drew little ASCII stickmen attached to 'stickman.bat'. Eventually, I wanted to be able to do more, and pops showed me the BASIC manual. Rest is pretty much history.
As for starting a kid off with programming nowadays: I think the best way to get a kid hooked is to show the kid, "YES, YOU CAN GET THE COMPUTER TO DO SOMETHING ALL BY YOURSELF". Start `em off in HTML (Yes, I KNOW it's a markup language, not a programming language). Like batch files, it's a way of getting the kid to feel like "hey, I got the computer to do something cool, with my 'code'." HTML, while simple, does teach that there is a structure of some sort when you want a computer to do something, and syntax matters (IE in quirks-mode notwithstanding). From there, either throw them into something BASIC (pun intended) or even Turing, which is what they use in our school district. Hell, you could even teach them some stuff using JavaScript and stay web-themed, whatever.
The whole point, IMO anyhow, is to first show the kid that YES, s/he can get the computer to do something, it's not rocket science (my apologies to rocket scientists in the audience for again using this cliché), and go from there. YMMV.
Its not in the Canadian channels yet.
Yes it is.
Nice Find. Fixed Link. CappuccinoPC did indeed make this thing.
Anyone else think the case's name, SPresso, is a dig at the old Cappucino PC??
There is really no difference between this, and a Blockbuster video account.
At the local Blockbuster, you have to show your membership card to rent a movie/game. If you're the primary card holder, they HAVE your ID on file, if you're not (e.g. it's your mom's), and you look like a minor, they'll ask you for ID before you can rent an R-Rated movie (happens this way at all the Blockbusters I've been to in Ontario, anyhow).
This initiative, which, IMO, is a good idea, just extends this principle to purchasing the games as well as renting them. It gives some power to the rating systems -- which most parents don't know exist. Now, parents will at least think that "oh, little Johnny needs an ID to buy this? Wonder why... oh, it's rated M, hmmmmmm." Mind you, just like movies, parents can choose to ignore the rating and buy the game for their kids anyhow.
Seems fair, power still lies with the parents to make the final call.
I'm considering getting one of these J-Pack's for my g/f, but was wondering how heavy/big it is? She's about 5'6" and if it looks gargantuan on her, or feels heavy, she won't use it. Debating between it, and the LL Bean "Little Easy" as recommended by another poster.
The question of my mind is who is going to take over from John Candy in the role of Barf? You can't easily replace such a comic genius -- assuming you can at all.