Just my being finnicky and maybe a bit old fashioned, but the link for the Dragon Book leads to Amazon.
Unless they've renounced their one-click shopping patent, I'm still boycotting them, and I remember that slashdot encouraged this not too long ago.
For those of you who still feel this way, you might try looking at the Dragon Book at Barnes and Noble, who
also happen to offer a cheaper price by $7.
It's not the first time that I've heard
this program mentioned in a negative
light, and I've decided to stick up for
my experience with DARE.
I attended the DARE program in fifth
grade, at a private school I was then
attending. I don't remember the name
of the officer who administered it, but
I do remember her bright red hair and
cheerful smile.
I learned alot from DARE. I learned
about the harm that some drugs can cause,
and I learned what addiction looks like.
I learned the signs and the dangers of
intoxication. I learned about the laws
regarding drugs, alcohol, and other
easily abused substances.
Not all of these were negative amendments
to my knowledge, however. I learned that
my mother could legally give me alcoholic
beverages in our home or at a table in a
restaurant while I was underage.
I think that the officer was a very good
teacher. She had worked in narcotics and
talked about the things she had experienced,
the people she had met, and the lives she
had seen ruined because of abuse.
The most important thing I took from DARE,
however, was a very real, thorough lesson
in dealing with peer pressure. I learned
different ways to say no, and I learned
how to affirm my own decisions for myself.
These lessons are very important for
adolescents. For me, they were taught in
an open environment which focused on the
dangers of abusing drugs and alcohol, and
not on the dangers of using these
substances.
Perhaps I was just lucky in my experiences.
I am now an adult who has a very open
opinion of marijuana and alcohol use.
Maybe it was just the area that I lived in,
of which half the population are pot-smoking,
liberal spiritualists and the other half
are hard-core Baptist rednecks.
Regardless, I learned some important lessons
from the DARE program and I wanted you to
know that, for some people, it's not an evil
brainwashing monster.
For the record, since it seems important to this conversation, I'm a woman.
I am also a geek. I'm one of the few I know, despite the fact that I am attending a university in the computer science department. Most of the women I meet there are much more interested in making money. They look at computers, even when they're the ones at the keyboard, and gawk. They make comments like, "Isn't it neat what computers can do these days?" while referring to the transitions in PowerPoint.
I love User Friendly and GPF. And I would undoubtedly be interested in anyone who thought that Ki would make a good date. On the other hand, User Friendly has been dissapointing me as far as gender balance.
Miranda is portrayed as an intelligent woman who's up to snuff in all technology issues. But she's also portrayed as very different from the men at Colombia Internet. Take the recent camping trip. Miranda, interested in a "get to know each other" session, takes all the techs out to the wilderness. The techs complain, and show an amazement about the outside world they rarely visit. On the other hand, Miranda is perfectly comfortable and doesn't understand the faux pas she has made.
Miranda also considers herself above the geeks, as in this cartoon (http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20000607 ) when she refers to them in terms of children with her as a parental figure.
These examples made me very sad. When it comes does to it, I get outside just as rarely as most of my fellow geeks. I can spend hours vegging on a game and not be ashamed. I can sleep till noon and eat Doritos for breakfast like the best of them. It makes me very sad that User Friendly, one of my favorite comics, draws an arbitrary line between the genders in the same way the much of the media does.
I understand very well your want to evade stupid laws and have your life and the life of your site remain hassle free. Unfortunately, however, this thread itself suggests that there are very few places left to run to for the kind of freedom we want.
If we continue running to the fewer and fewer places on this planet, we are reneging our rights as citizens of "free" countries. This is wrong and we should not allow it. We should stand up for our rights now, while we have the background and the gumption to do so. Running will only insure that our respective governments can continue to limit our options until we have none left.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, it would help if I got the correct URL.
Let's try this again:
The Dragon Book at Barnes and Noble.-Marcella
Just my being finnicky and maybe a bit old fashioned, but the link for the Dragon Book leads to Amazon.
Unless they've renounced their one-click shopping patent, I'm still boycotting them, and I remember that slashdot encouraged this not too long ago.
For those of you who still feel this way, you might try looking at the Dragon Book at Barnes and Noble, who also happen to offer a cheaper price by $7.
-Marcella
It's not the first time that I've heard this program mentioned in a negative light, and I've decided to stick up for my experience with DARE.
I attended the DARE program in fifth grade, at a private school I was then attending. I don't remember the name of the officer who administered it, but I do remember her bright red hair and cheerful smile.
I learned alot from DARE. I learned about the harm that some drugs can cause, and I learned what addiction looks like. I learned the signs and the dangers of intoxication. I learned about the laws regarding drugs, alcohol, and other easily abused substances.
Not all of these were negative amendments to my knowledge, however. I learned that my mother could legally give me alcoholic beverages in our home or at a table in a restaurant while I was underage.
I think that the officer was a very good teacher. She had worked in narcotics and talked about the things she had experienced, the people she had met, and the lives she had seen ruined because of abuse.
The most important thing I took from DARE, however, was a very real, thorough lesson in dealing with peer pressure. I learned different ways to say no, and I learned how to affirm my own decisions for myself.
These lessons are very important for adolescents. For me, they were taught in an open environment which focused on the dangers of abusing drugs and alcohol, and not on the dangers of using these substances.
Perhaps I was just lucky in my experiences. I am now an adult who has a very open opinion of marijuana and alcohol use. Maybe it was just the area that I lived in, of which half the population are pot-smoking, liberal spiritualists and the other half are hard-core Baptist rednecks.
Regardless, I learned some important lessons from the DARE program and I wanted you to know that, for some people, it's not an evil brainwashing monster.
For the record, since it seems important to this conversation, I'm a woman.
7 ) when she refers to them in terms of children with her as a parental figure.
I am also a geek. I'm one of the few I know, despite the fact that I am attending a university in the computer science department. Most of the women I meet there are much more interested in making money. They look at computers, even when they're the ones at the keyboard, and gawk. They make comments like, "Isn't it neat what computers can do these days?" while referring to the transitions in PowerPoint.
I love User Friendly and GPF. And I would undoubtedly be interested in anyone who thought that Ki would make a good date. On the other hand, User Friendly has been dissapointing me as far as gender balance.
Miranda is portrayed as an intelligent woman who's up to snuff in all technology issues. But she's also portrayed as very different from the men at Colombia Internet. Take the recent camping trip. Miranda, interested in a "get to know each other" session, takes all the techs out to the wilderness. The techs complain, and show an amazement about the outside world they rarely visit. On the other hand, Miranda is perfectly comfortable and doesn't understand the faux pas she has made.
Miranda also considers herself above the geeks, as in this cartoon (http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=2000060
These examples made me very sad. When it comes does to it, I get outside just as rarely as most of my fellow geeks. I can spend hours vegging on a game and not be ashamed. I can sleep till noon and eat Doritos for breakfast like the best of them. It makes me very sad that User Friendly, one of my favorite comics, draws an arbitrary line between the genders in the same way the much of the media does.
-Marcella
dragonmlf@earthlink.net
I understand very well your want to evade stupid laws and have your life and the life of your site remain hassle free. Unfortunately, however, this thread itself suggests that there are very few places left to run to for the kind of freedom we want.
If we continue running to the fewer and fewer places on this planet, we are reneging our rights as citizens of "free" countries. This is wrong and we should not allow it. We should stand up for our rights now, while we have the background and the gumption to do so. Running will only insure that our respective governments can continue to limit our options until we have none left.
-Marcella