Summery for those who can't choose a link
on
The Paradox of Choice
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Q: Choice is bad?
A: Yes
Q: Can anyone understand the issues?
A: Think of how many letters there are in one word. Now multiply that by how many words are in a page, and then the book. Then by how many books there are. That's so much information! You shouldn't even try.
Q: I like choice
A: No you don't. You'd be happier if you didn't have them.
Q: No, really, I like choice
A: Well, here's some proof for you. People with cancer like having doctors treat them instead of creating their own chemo routines. Do you think you're better than people with cancer or something!
THE END
I hate when Microsoft uses the term crossplatform. It should be a given that something one writes for windows should work accross different versions of it, but somehow this usually gets touted as a sparkly new feature. A little toy app I wrote last week works on both Debian Unstable and Mandrake - ohhh, it's crossplatform now too!
I guess he spend all the money on research, and not on matching eye's.:)
It actually surprised me a bit to find out he didn't have mismatched eyes as well. My eyes have a slight variation in pigment, and I usually put some asymetry into the eyes of anything I draw just as a kind of signiture.
Linux doesn't really have development environments as someone used to using Visual Studio would understand them, with Kylix being the one possible exception.
Off the top of my head, I can also think of Boa. It has the usual IDE code editing, as well as a form designer and drag n' drop code components.
Installing.Net entails going to www.windowsupdate.com, ticking a checkbox and clicking "download" - and *that's* assuming whatever piece of software you have that requires it doesn't install it for you.
And installing SDL or wxpython entails firing up rpmdrake or synaptic, clicking a box, and hitting enter. Assuming that the package manager isn't automatically installing it for the person along with the program- which it should be anyway.
Eh, it might just be what one's used to. I use Linux at home and don't usually have to look up how to do anything in linux applications, but the design of most of the stuff from Microsoft confounds me. My opinion is the exact opposite of yours, I find most of what I use in windows to be very counter intuitive.
making it impossible to let EVERY ONE running Linux run your application without serious changes to either your program, or their system configuration.
Wouldn't having to install the.net runtime on windows qualify for that as well? I certainly don't consider having to install, say, the latest version of sdl to be any more significant.
I agree, for me that's one of the most annoying things about most distros. While legalities and shortages of people to make new packages are understanable, I still hated either installing from source on an rpm based system or trying to make updated packages based on how mandrake did it. That's why eventually I settled on Debian Unstable. What it lacks in configuration utilities it more than makes up for in available packages. I use the command line for it since I've usually got it open anyway for working on my own code, but had I wanted to everything I've installed could have been done through synaptic's gui. Well, excepting comercial releases.
While I agree with the parent that for high end multimedia work linux might not be great, I have to agree with you about multimedia for the end user. For the most part I've found the current state actually better in Linux than in Windows. On sites I often see little notes about people needing to update to new codec versions, or needing one kind or another due to incompatibilities in rendering - it's really nice to have all that upgrading and installing taken care of by the package manager.
The only downside for me is that I wish I could find a way to play video streams intended for winamp5.
How about taking these bored kids, giving them decent books that
I both agree and disagree. I think you make very valid points, and that this is the way it should be. The unfourtuante thing though is that at least in my old school anyone trying it is in for a pretty brutal fight against both parents and the schoolboard. It was against policy at my elementary school to allow kids to skip grades, but it was clear to some of the teachers that many of us really needed to. So, during certain lessons some of us were allowed to go though the lessons at our own pace, with the help of one of the teachers from another class - whose own students would join up with their corosponding group in our class. The two teachers basically split up on a couple subjects like that. And, amazingly, there wasn't even any real social conflict because of it. Certainly none of us in the advanced group were ever held apart from the rest of the kids socially, or at least not for any reasons related to it. In fact, it actually motivated many kids to work harder in order to get themselves in it for some particular subject. The practice came to an end though because many parents felt sure that their own kids deserved to be in the advanced classes soley by nature of having such great parents as themselves, other parents complained that having the two groups was damaging to the self-confidence of those not in the advanced groups, and those with slower kids complained because they felt their kids weren't being given enough attention for their own special needs. The school board caved in pretty quickly on the issue.
In short, I agree the system sucks. But I also think the only way it could possibly change is if parents were to take an objective look at their childs strengths and weaknesses in order to work with the school system to figure out how needs can best be met. And I don't think that's going to happen in large enough number for things to ever change.
How about the disparities between social classes and ethnic groups?
That's one of the things I found most interesting about the method presented here. The usual Gattica scenario points to only the upper class being able to have access to the technology to produce modified offspring, but in this case most anyone in the western world could afford to take a chance with it. Choline's pretty cheap, to the point where even someone on minimum wage could manage to use it for nine months with a little planning. Something I'd find interesting, is if in fact human use took off more in lower class enviroments with parents grasping for anything to increase their kids chance of getting out.
The plain english translation, feed your children a naturally healthy and balanced diet, and it will automatically include the required items.
Possibly. As a rule, lab mice tend to be nutritionally very well off. I think the question is whether one could get enough choline from a normal diet to have any actual effect.
Interestingly, this always seems the most apparent on tv sci-fi like star trek or the second outer limits series. Self-improvement above the level of normal humaity always seemed to be shown as, at best misguided and leading to bad things, or at worst just plain evil. The only time I can think of it being shown in a good light is when the finger of God magically comes down to "evolve" a race for no reason other than they've been around a long time. I've always wondered if these shows were imparting the idea that altering humanity is evil, or came about as a result of it.
One thing that's kind of cool about this is that the grosser aspects are cheap enough that anyone suffieciently motivated could set themselves up to test this themselves. It actually sounds like it could make a pretty cool experiment for high school science fairs.
I used higher than recomended doses of ephedra for colds as well, if I absolutly had to make it to school. My heart is, and was in great condition, so I wasn't too scared about side effects. The end result was great - most of the cold symptoms would be masked, and the ephedra gave enough of a mood and energy boost that I wouldn't mind being sick at school at all. As far as I know, no one ever even realised I was sick during the times I used it. I wouldn't go as far as to suggest anyone else try that method (and in the US you don't legally have the right to decide for yourself anymore), but I loved it.
I will have to vote for a candidate who will try to keep us out of any major wars that would require a draft.
That sounds great in theory, but the big problem is how to know who really would try to keep us out of a war. Even Bush seemed pretty anti-war before he got into office. So it might be better to vote for a canidate who's actually against the draft, but again, I don't think either canidate would dare to take a stance on that issue.
I remember a while back a scientist bred a mouse strain with altered NMDA receptors, which gave a pretty hefty increase in memory and apparently reasoning. It'd be interesting to find what additional effects this method might have on them.
I can say that on my system at least, it had some significant gains in speed from KDE 3.1.x, aside from speed gains from the new kernel. I'm using Debian and didn't bother updating the kernel to 2.6 for a while, but in the meantime did do the kde 3.2 and experienced a pretty good speed increase. Though there was even more when I finally did update the kernel - in fact I did it after playing with a test release of Mandrake 10. 3.2 plus 2.6 had such a great effect together I had to have it on my main system.
I thought that was pretty neat. On seeing the story I imediatly thought "Wonder when this will make it into Debian", then checked Konqueror's about. Turns out I'd allready upgraded to it without noticing.
Slashdot Mirror
Q: Choice is bad? A: Yes Q: Can anyone understand the issues? A: Think of how many letters there are in one word. Now multiply that by how many words are in a page, and then the book. Then by how many books there are. That's so much information! You shouldn't even try. Q: I like choice A: No you don't. You'd be happier if you didn't have them. Q: No, really, I like choice A: Well, here's some proof for you. People with cancer like having doctors treat them instead of creating their own chemo routines. Do you think you're better than people with cancer or something! THE END
Called feet. If the traffic's bad enough, sometimes driving can actually take longer.
I hate when Microsoft uses the term crossplatform. It should be a given that something one writes for windows should work accross different versions of it, but somehow this usually gets touted as a sparkly new feature. A little toy app I wrote last week works on both Debian Unstable and Mandrake - ohhh, it's crossplatform now too!
They do reverse engineer a lot of codecs, but real's isn't one of them. Or at least versions of their codecs made within the last five years.
I think we're going to be hearing quite a bit of hilarious whining from the four people that actually use and enjoy OGG.....
I'll take that over the anonymous whining of someone trying to tell me what I am or am not allowed to use any day.
I guess he spend all the money on research, and not on matching eye's.:)
It actually surprised me a bit to find out he didn't have mismatched eyes as well. My eyes have a slight variation in pigment, and I usually put some asymetry into the eyes of anything I draw just as a kind of signiture.
Linux doesn't really have development environments as someone used to using Visual Studio would understand them, with Kylix being the one possible exception.
Off the top of my head, I can also think of Boa. It has the usual IDE code editing, as well as a form designer and drag n' drop code components.
Installing .Net entails going to www.windowsupdate.com, ticking a checkbox and clicking "download" - and *that's* assuming whatever piece of software you have that requires it doesn't install it for you.
And installing SDL or wxpython entails firing up rpmdrake or synaptic, clicking a box, and hitting enter. Assuming that the package manager isn't automatically installing it for the person along with the program- which it should be anyway.
Eh, it might just be what one's used to. I use Linux at home and don't usually have to look up how to do anything in linux applications, but the design of most of the stuff from Microsoft confounds me. My opinion is the exact opposite of yours, I find most of what I use in windows to be very counter intuitive.
making it impossible to let EVERY ONE running Linux run your application without serious changes to either your program, or their system configuration.
.net runtime on windows qualify for that as well? I certainly don't consider having to install, say, the latest version of sdl to be any more significant.
Wouldn't having to install the
Given the current Tuberculosis crisis in russia, it's also insightful.
But above all installing programs is a pain.
I agree, for me that's one of the most annoying things about most distros. While legalities and shortages of people to make new packages are understanable, I still hated either installing from source on an rpm based system or trying to make updated packages based on how mandrake did it. That's why eventually I settled on Debian Unstable. What it lacks in configuration utilities it more than makes up for in available packages. I use the command line for it since I've usually got it open anyway for working on my own code, but had I wanted to everything I've installed could have been done through synaptic's gui. Well, excepting comercial releases.
While I agree with the parent that for high end multimedia work linux might not be great, I have to agree with you about multimedia for the end user. For the most part I've found the current state actually better in Linux than in Windows. On sites I often see little notes about people needing to update to new codec versions, or needing one kind or another due to incompatibilities in rendering - it's really nice to have all that upgrading and installing taken care of by the package manager.
The only downside for me is that I wish I could find a way to play video streams intended for winamp5.
How about taking these bored kids, giving them decent books that
I both agree and disagree. I think you make very valid points, and that this is the way it should be. The unfourtuante thing though is that at least in my old school anyone trying it is in for a pretty brutal fight against both parents and the schoolboard. It was against policy at my elementary school to allow kids to skip grades, but it was clear to some of the teachers that many of us really needed to. So, during certain lessons some of us were allowed to go though the lessons at our own pace, with the help of one of the teachers from another class - whose own students would join up with their corosponding group in our class. The two teachers basically split up on a couple subjects like that. And, amazingly, there wasn't even any real social conflict because of it. Certainly none of us in the advanced group were ever held apart from the rest of the kids socially, or at least not for any reasons related to it. In fact, it actually motivated many kids to work harder in order to get themselves in it for some particular subject. The practice came to an end though because many parents felt sure that their own kids deserved to be in the advanced classes soley by nature of having such great parents as themselves, other parents complained that having the two groups was damaging to the self-confidence of those not in the advanced groups, and those with slower kids complained because they felt their kids weren't being given enough attention for their own special needs. The school board caved in pretty quickly on the issue.
In short, I agree the system sucks. But I also think the only way it could possibly change is if parents were to take an objective look at their childs strengths and weaknesses in order to work with the school system to figure out how needs can best be met. And I don't think that's going to happen in large enough number for things to ever change.
How about the disparities between social classes and ethnic groups?
That's one of the things I found most interesting about the method presented here. The usual Gattica scenario points to only the upper class being able to have access to the technology to produce modified offspring, but in this case most anyone in the western world could afford to take a chance with it. Choline's pretty cheap, to the point where even someone on minimum wage could manage to use it for nine months with a little planning. Something I'd find interesting, is if in fact human use took off more in lower class enviroments with parents grasping for anything to increase their kids chance of getting out.
The plain english translation, feed your children a naturally healthy and balanced diet, and it will automatically include the required items.
Possibly. As a rule, lab mice tend to be nutritionally very well off. I think the question is whether one could get enough choline from a normal diet to have any actual effect.
Interestingly, this always seems the most apparent on tv sci-fi like star trek or the second outer limits series. Self-improvement above the level of normal humaity always seemed to be shown as, at best misguided and leading to bad things, or at worst just plain evil. The only time I can think of it being shown in a good light is when the finger of God magically comes down to "evolve" a race for no reason other than they've been around a long time. I've always wondered if these shows were imparting the idea that altering humanity is evil, or came about as a result of it.
One thing that's kind of cool about this is that the grosser aspects are cheap enough that anyone suffieciently motivated could set themselves up to test this themselves. It actually sounds like it could make a pretty cool experiment for high school science fairs.
I used higher than recomended doses of ephedra for colds as well, if I absolutly had to make it to school. My heart is, and was in great condition, so I wasn't too scared about side effects. The end result was great - most of the cold symptoms would be masked, and the ephedra gave enough of a mood and energy boost that I wouldn't mind being sick at school at all. As far as I know, no one ever even realised I was sick during the times I used it. I wouldn't go as far as to suggest anyone else try that method (and in the US you don't legally have the right to decide for yourself anymore), but I loved it.
I will have to vote for a candidate who will try to keep us out of any major wars that would require a draft.
That sounds great in theory, but the big problem is how to know who really would try to keep us out of a war. Even Bush seemed pretty anti-war before he got into office. So it might be better to vote for a canidate who's actually against the draft, but again, I don't think either canidate would dare to take a stance on that issue.
And, after death, for his violent ways he gets reincarnated into SimAnt.
I remember a while back a scientist bred a mouse strain with altered NMDA receptors, which gave a pretty hefty increase in memory and apparently reasoning. It'd be interesting to find what additional effects this method might have on them.
This might be because of the pre-emptible kernel
I can say that on my system at least, it had some significant gains in speed from KDE 3.1.x, aside from speed gains from the new kernel. I'm using Debian and didn't bother updating the kernel to 2.6 for a while, but in the meantime did do the kde 3.2 and experienced a pretty good speed increase. Though there was even more when I finally did update the kernel - in fact I did it after playing with a test release of Mandrake 10. 3.2 plus 2.6 had such a great effect together I had to have it on my main system.
I thought that was pretty neat. On seeing the story I imediatly thought "Wonder when this will make it into Debian", then checked Konqueror's about. Turns out I'd allready upgraded to it without noticing.
Because it runs Microsoft office?
So does Linux with crossover.