There are a LOT of geekisms that simply HAVE to be weeded out of Linux if it's going to be more widely popular. I know, every open-source programmer LOVES to give their project a cute acronym for a name. But they are often completely non-descriptive and even confusing for a user.
You make a good point. What Gnome? Who's the Konqueror and is he the one with the GIMP? If I need to create a text file should I ask Joe, Jed, or Kate about that? If there's a big Mozilla on my desktop should I trash it, click it, or call the military? Should I see a psychiatrist or a medium after if I use Ghost? Should I worry about getting scratched when I pet a Sylpheed that hasn't been de-Clawed?
Let us not be too harsh, though. I did a search for "win" on a Windows shareware directory site and this is the kind of mess I got:
WinAmp
WinZip
WinRAR
WinImage
Win-Spy
WinBoost
WinRescue
WinKeySim
WinBatch
WinSSHD
WinCleaner
WinPatrol
Win Monitor
WinCopy
Win Ghost
BM-Win Plus
I think bad program names are a general problem that can apply equally to all platforms. Not all of the above are that mysterious, but I wouldn't ask Grandma what she thinks WinBatch does.
There is a big difference between observing children and teens professionally for 10 years and saying, "I was a kid or teen for 10 years, so I know everything about it."
Please don't put quotes around that sentence as if that is literally what I said.:)
I don't question that you know a great deal about kids and I respect your knowledge and experience. Neither do I claim to know more than you about this subject; that's just silly. I just don't think your experience automatically makes you right on this particular issue.
You claim to have repeatedly observed a causal relationship between violent video games and violent kids. I find such a claim to be extraordinary given the large body of inconclusive research in that area.
If you have evidence that helps cut through the complexity of this issue, than please share it. If you have knowledge that makes clear what all of these studies (performed by people specifically focused on the issue of violent media and its effects on children) could not, I want to hear it.
Merely mentioning that you have a lot of experience with children is not enough to convince me.
I've said, in many posts, that there are problems with violent video games and that my experience, when I used to work in social work, is that, no matter what proponents claim, they lead to violent behavior.
Okay so I've read through the posts you mentioned, hoping that perhaps you bothered to include some information backing up your claim. Here is the most substantial thing you've offered from what I have read:
I worked with kids of all ages, usually in rough situations. I found, over and over, that the more kids watched violent videos and played violent games, the more they acted out and looked for violent solutions to their problems. It wasn't always the case of only the violent kids playing violent games. I saw well mannered kids get involved in violent videos or games and their behavior would change within weeks.
More disappointing generalizations. Throughout the rest of your posts you don't bother to provide even the hint of evidence. Instead you rely on your intimidating "decade of experience working with kids" trump card, which consistently shuts your opponents up.
Well, guess what? I've spend well over a decade being a kid consuming violent media, including video games. I was crazy for this stuff, and my friends all had the same ravenous appetite for it. I've never been in a fight in my life. I've never noticed any kind of unusual levels of violence in myself or my other videogame-brainwashed cohorts.
I don't, however, consider any of the above to be evidence either for or against the notion that violent video games spur kids into committing real world violence. Why? Because, like you, all I have is anecdotal evidence.
We could eliminate every violent medium on this planet, and it would not eliminate violence, because the violence starts with *us*. We're the ones who put the violence in there in the first place, so we're where the solutions have to start.
I agree completely.
This suggests, however, that the solution to the problem of violent children isn't as simple as replacing guns with walkie talkies. What you're suggesting is that the solution is downright elusive. To find it, one may even need patience, and not just the kind of patience required to wait through a long line at the supermarket.
Personally I believe there is no solution to the problem. What we are facing when we examine violence in children is part of the foundation supporting human nature itself. If there were a solution, the path to finding it would lead us to places where someone who actually thinks our entertainment industry invented violence would be totally unwilling to go.
"His son had become withdrawn after his mother's death"
"Often had to defend his younger brother, who has undergone 13 operations for a cleft palate."
"They didn't get along well with their peers."
"Ronald Lovett had focused most of his attention on his younger son, James, because of his disability."
"The boys also had to endure the death of an older half sister."
"The classmates said he had been mocked for his bow-legged and stooped gait and his clothes."
"Matt was an easy target, but he never lashed out. He just took it."
"Everybody picked on him"
The only reasonable explanation for a kid to lash out under these circumstances is the evil influence of games like Mech Commando. I just can't see it any other way.
I certainly wouldn't put any of the responsibility for these crimes on the people who made up these kids' world. There is no way that people are to blame for this sort of thing.
It has to be video games. Or rock music. Or D&D. (D&D!? That's sooo 80's.) Or marijuana. Or the devil. Or a malevelont, super-intelligent giant chicken from the center of the Earth. Anything, as long as people don't have to come face to face with their role in the lives of these kids.
Oops! I accidently bought my CPU from this artist gallery instead of from a computer parts manufacturer, like I originally intended. Hey!!! Wait a minute! "Artists Inside"? Those deceptive, malicious bastards! *shakes angry fist*
Financial support. Yes, I know that CIA financed Mujaheddin. But socialist countries (openly admired by many on the left) have supported/created almost every other terrorist organization out there, and i'm not even mentioning that most of those organizations are officially "marxist", or "socialist", or otherwise left-wing.
This caught my attention. I would like to know what information you base that statement on.
What countries are you speaking of, specifically? What criteria would you consider while determining those countries' levels of "Marxism/Socialism"? Which terrorist organizations were funded by these countries? In what form did the funding come in? Are there any dates or locations you can associate with these supposed collaborative efforts between the forces of communism and terrorism?
Dear Global Network Incorporated. I have found an error in your recent press release about your newly awarded patent. The paragraph on the Patent Office's criteria should read like this:
The U.S. Patent Office requires that an invention meet specific criteria before a patent can be granted including:
the invention must be as old as dirt and in use everywhere;
the invention is completely obvious at the time of invention to a person skilled in the art to which it pertains.
anyone with at least the intelligence required to prepare and consume a bowl of cereal should be able to independently reproduce the invention;
Visit this Corel trial page and click on the "Try Online" link next to CorelDraw 10 or Corel Photo-Paint 10.
Wait until the demo applet loads.
Click New Graphic from the intro window.
Open a few dockers from the Window -> Dockers menu.
Drag one of the tabs for these dockers into the main work area of the app, so that it acts like a palette.
Now drag the other tabs still attached to the right side of the window over this palette.
You've just constructed a tabbed palette using non-Adobe software.
Now why would Adobe sue Macromedia and not Corel? Is it because Corel's take on the tabbed palette isn't as blatantly derivative as Macromedia's? Or is it because Corel isn't as much of a threat to Adobe's business as Macromedia? Yes, this is a trick question.
Everyone here seems to claim that Flash deserves to be purged from the Earth because it is often used to create annoying ads and intro animations. I say plain old HTML can be just as annoying, when used badly.
I hate those full page ads as much as you, but I also recognize some of the incredible creativity that Flash can facilitate. Take a look at the Remedi Project for some examples of what I'm talking about. Let us not forget little gems like Shinji-san, or Joe Paradise.
At least take a look at what's being done with the medium before you condemn it.
Even if Macromedia was prohibited from selling the Flash authoring tool this would not necessarily have any affect on the browser plugin itself. I don't see what would keep Macromedia from developing a new version of its authoring application with an interface that doesn't employ tabbed palettes.
I wonder how this would affect Flash MX. It doesn't feature the UI elements that Adobe claims to have invented. (And thank the gods for that, I hate tabbed palettes as much as most of you Slashdotters hate the Flash plugin itself.) Would Macromedia only have to pull Flash versions 5 and earlier off the shelves?
What a waste of resources such lawsuits are. Companies squabbling like children, running complaining to mommy and daddy every time one of them has any kind of problem. Grow up or go to bed without any supper, I say!
I personally hate the palette UI metaphor (what is so great about windows floating over your workspace getting in your way all the time anyway?) and was very happy when Macromedia moved Flash MX to their panel model. Still not as cool as Corel's dockers, IMHO, but a great improvement nonetheless.
Slashdot Mirror
You make a good point. What Gnome? Who's the Konqueror and is he the one with the GIMP? If I need to create a text file should I ask Joe, Jed, or Kate about that? If there's a big Mozilla on my desktop should I trash it, click it, or call the military? Should I see a psychiatrist or a medium after if I use Ghost? Should I worry about getting scratched when I pet a Sylpheed that hasn't been de-Clawed?
Let us not be too harsh, though. I did a search for "win" on a Windows shareware directory site and this is the kind of mess I got:
I think bad program names are a general problem that can apply equally to all platforms. Not all of the above are that mysterious, but I wouldn't ask Grandma what she thinks WinBatch does.
Please don't put quotes around that sentence as if that is literally what I said. :)
I don't question that you know a great deal about kids and I respect your knowledge and experience. Neither do I claim to know more than you about this subject; that's just silly. I just don't think your experience automatically makes you right on this particular issue.
You claim to have repeatedly observed a causal relationship between violent video games and violent kids. I find such a claim to be extraordinary given the large body of inconclusive research in that area.
If you have evidence that helps cut through the complexity of this issue, than please share it. If you have knowledge that makes clear what all of these studies (performed by people specifically focused on the issue of violent media and its effects on children) could not, I want to hear it.
Merely mentioning that you have a lot of experience with children is not enough to convince me.
Okay so I've read through the posts you mentioned, hoping that perhaps you bothered to include some information backing up your claim. Here is the most substantial thing you've offered from what I have read:
More disappointing generalizations. Throughout the rest of your posts you don't bother to provide even the hint of evidence. Instead you rely on your intimidating "decade of experience working with kids" trump card, which consistently shuts your opponents up.
Well, guess what? I've spend well over a decade being a kid consuming violent media, including video games. I was crazy for this stuff, and my friends all had the same ravenous appetite for it. I've never been in a fight in my life. I've never noticed any kind of unusual levels of violence in myself or my other videogame-brainwashed cohorts.
I don't, however, consider any of the above to be evidence either for or against the notion that violent video games spur kids into committing real world violence. Why? Because, like you, all I have is anecdotal evidence.
I agree completely.
This suggests, however, that the solution to the problem of violent children isn't as simple as replacing guns with walkie talkies. What you're suggesting is that the solution is downright elusive. To find it, one may even need patience, and not just the kind of patience required to wait through a long line at the supermarket.
Personally I believe there is no solution to the problem. What we are facing when we examine violence in children is part of the foundation supporting human nature itself. If there were a solution, the path to finding it would lead us to places where someone who actually thinks our entertainment industry invented violence would be totally unwilling to go.
Codename: Gordon is a wacky Jump 'n Run Game inspired by Half Life 2 and created using Flash and Photoshop for the graphics.
The only reasonable explanation for a kid to lash out under these circumstances is the evil influence of games like Mech Commando. I just can't see it any other way.
I certainly wouldn't put any of the responsibility for these crimes on the people who made up these kids' world. There is no way that people are to blame for this sort of thing.
It has to be video games. Or rock music. Or D&D. (D&D!? That's sooo 80's.) Or marijuana. Or the devil. Or a malevelont, super-intelligent giant chicken from the center of the Earth. Anything, as long as people don't have to come face to face with their role in the lives of these kids.
Oops! I accidently bought my CPU from this artist gallery instead of from a computer parts manufacturer, like I originally intended. Hey!!! Wait a minute! "Artists Inside"? Those deceptive, malicious bastards! *shakes angry fist*
This caught my attention. I would like to know what information you base that statement on.
What countries are you speaking of, specifically? What criteria would you consider while determining those countries' levels of "Marxism/Socialism"? Which terrorist organizations were funded by these countries? In what form did the funding come in? Are there any dates or locations you can associate with these supposed collaborative efforts between the forces of communism and terrorism?
Just curious.
Visit this Corel trial page and click on the "Try Online" link next to CorelDraw 10 or Corel Photo-Paint 10.
Wait until the demo applet loads.
Click New Graphic from the intro window.
Open a few dockers from the Window -> Dockers menu.
Drag one of the tabs for these dockers into the main work area of the app, so that it acts like a palette.
Now drag the other tabs still attached to the right side of the window over this palette.
You've just constructed a tabbed palette using non-Adobe software.
Now why would Adobe sue Macromedia and not Corel? Is it because Corel's take on the tabbed palette isn't as blatantly derivative as Macromedia's? Or is it because Corel isn't as much of a threat to Adobe's business as Macromedia? Yes, this is a trick question.
I hate those full page ads as much as you, but I also recognize some of the incredible creativity that Flash can facilitate. Take a look at the Remedi Project for some examples of what I'm talking about. Let us not forget little gems like Shinji-san, or Joe Paradise.
At least take a look at what's being done with the medium before you condemn it.
Oops, they've already done just that.
I wonder how this would affect Flash MX. It doesn't feature the UI elements that Adobe claims to have invented. (And thank the gods for that, I hate tabbed palettes as much as most of you Slashdotters hate the Flash plugin itself.) Would Macromedia only have to pull Flash versions 5 and earlier off the shelves?
What a waste of resources such lawsuits are. Companies squabbling like children, running complaining to mommy and daddy every time one of them has any kind of problem. Grow up or go to bed without any supper, I say!
I personally hate the palette UI metaphor (what is so great about windows floating over your workspace getting in your way all the time anyway?) and was very happy when Macromedia moved Flash MX to their panel model. Still not as cool as Corel's dockers, IMHO, but a great improvement nonetheless.