I'm from AL too, the Mobile/Fairhope area. I was born there, lived 20+ years there, and have been back often. And I think you're mostly wrong. For varying lengths of time, I've also lived in NJ, MA, and VA (my current home).
1. The public schools in AL are still extremely segregated (by income and race), and the vast majority have abysmal standards. (Besides attending the schools growing up, I also worked for a company supplying software to schools, and my wife taught at some of the lowest-income schools. I speak from experience in this front.) The public education system is among the worst is the nation.
2. The people in AL are not all racists, and those jokes do get old. However, I knew many, many racists in AL. Is the racism in AL worse than any other mostly rural part of the country? Probably not, but we do have a long history of racism and hate to overcome. So, I personally don't get offended by that stereotype.
3. The people in AL are not among the most open-minded and accepting people. You're just wrong about that. Try being homosexual, politically liberal, or non-Christian in Alabama. Try answering, "Actually, I'm an agnostic/atheist" when somebody asks you which church you attend. You'll quickly see just how hateful and hypocritical many Alabamians are. Is this bigotry worse than any other rural part of the country? Yes, from my experience, it is.
Some of the most loving, accepting, and brilliantly intelligent people I've ever known are from Alabama. And the AL river delta has an unbelievable diversity of wildlife and variety of outdoor activities. From the foothills in the north to the Gulf beaches in the south, Alabama is a beautiful state. However, the people of the state are generally inadequately educated and dogmatically Christian.
So yeah, the stereotype of the barefoot, illiterate Alabamian is just that: an exaggerated archetype. But every culture/region has its stereotype. Guess what, not everybody from NJ is a fu##ing douchebag....just most of them. I keed, I keed. Seriously, don't be so defensive; change the stereotype by being a great person. And when somebody says, "Wow, you're from Alabama? You don't seem like it," respond, "Yeah, Alabama is still playing catch-up, but it has actually come a long way since the '60s."
Most of you seem to be missing the point of this system. This is basically a bulletin board system with a special emphasis on deleting all traces of a message as soon as it is read by the recipient.
This is not a DRM system.
This system assumes that the sender and the recipient both want to keep the message a secret. Of course somebody can take a screenshot. Or they could just photograph the screen. Or use their brain to remember the message and then their mouth to repeat it. If your big criticsm is that this system doesn't prevent the recipient from reproducing the message, well, please just stop typing.
The point of this system is that the message itself leave no trail, unlike email or instant messaging. After the message is read, there's no ability to trace the message from the sender to the recipient, and there's very little ability to intercept the message. Sure it can be done, but the right combination of SSL and other precautionary measures should make this a fairly secure experience.
As I said, this seems to be just a suped-up BBS system. Unless I'm missing something, the technology is really nothing new or exciting. The only new thing here seems to be the marketing package, but they seem to be doing a pretty good job of providing a new service using existing technology.
Impatience and incompetence are not the only issues. How valuable is your time?
If you buy a $140 hard drive with two $30 mail-in rebates (a common scenario), how much time will you spend filling out the paperwork, making backup copies, and hassling the two rebate programs? Is $60 (actually more like $54 after taxes and stamps) worth one hour of your time, two hours, three hours? At some point, the rebate is not worth the effort.
Personally, I just ignore any mail-in rebates less than $40 now, because I assume I'm not going to follow through. Maybe I'm lazy, or maybe I'd just rather spend that time doing almost any other thing, including working an extra hour or whatever to make up the difference.
Honestly, being a regular on slashdot will keep you pretty current on the latest fads in the industry. For a specific technology, I recommend finding a few experts or "thought leaders" in that field who have blogs and reading whatever they're reading.
Also, as others will say ad infinitum, focusing on the basics is much more important than trying new fads or styles.
In my experience, most developers are nothing like artists and more closely resemble petulant, undisciplined children. Often they ignore the most basic principles of good software development (like version control, automated build and test suites, documentation, etc.) because "those are boring".
I see that you don't understand most corporate development shops. First, most development teams uses version control. If you're talking about one person working on a pet project, well, maybe you have a point, but most developers still use a local version control strategy.
It's not that good build practices, test suites, and documentation are boring to developers. Most developers I know would love to spend down-time documenting their code and fleshing out their test harnesses.
It's that clients don't care about or understand those basic principles, and managers often don't see the ROI for such activities. Documentation and test suites are going to take significantly more time for initial development of the product. Yes, if the project is even remotely complicated, these efforts will reduce long-term development time of the product through fewer downstream bugs, easier integration of new features or other products, and less ramp-up time for new team members.
However, it's an arduous proccess to change a corporate culture. It often comes down to either you do it the way the higher-ups say, or you do the "extra" work on your own time and hope your example will slowly show people the light.
Enjoying a spouse openly, comfortably, and even vulnerably is certainly a trait of a successful relationship. However, a successful marriage is not built on enjoying each other and "being who you really are." Those are effects, not causes of a happy relationship, IMO.
Most couple don't truly realize marriage is (in theory) a lifetime commitment. Here's the big secret nobody tells young couples: people change. You and your spouse are going to change dramatically over the course of your marriage, and there's a likelihood that unless you are careful, you will end up disliking each other in 30 years. The best you can hope for is that as each of you changes, the other will adapt to your new personality or have ability to tell you calmly that you are changing for the worse. I won't go into a long tangent about the requisites for changing together successfully, but I basically think deep mutual respect and completely honest communication are the biggest ingredients.
Here's the other part of your sentiment that is slightly flawed. Perhaps you really need to change. Maybe you are an inconsiderate, arrogant asshole, and the only person who would date you is a meek little insecure person who will let you walk all over him/her. Maybe a partner is trying to change you for the better.
But yes, I absolutely agree with you: being comfortable and open with your partner is absolutely essential. If you don't have that, it seems that you're missing the fundamental point of dating and marriage (at least for secular humanists). The most you can hope for in this life is to understand yourself and this world around you. By loving, trusting, living with and focusing all of your powers of observation and appreciation on this one person, maybe -- just maybe -- you will understand humanity, yourself, and this whole absurd universe a tiny bit better.
That's my current theory at least. It will probably change next year.
There are many disservices much worse than failing to fully stimulate a child's brain, but most of those acts are not as socially acceptable or institutionalized. I characterize the problem from a different angle. Nobody forces precocious children NOT to go to the library and learn more outside of school; I certainly spent much of my early years reading non-school books. To me, the great educational disservice is that we do not expect enough from children; we do not challenge them to excel. This is a problem that goes way beyond school or even parents. This is a cultural issue that has evolved over the last 60 years. People conflate absolute and relatives expectations, and they end up having no expectations for their children. Yes, it is very bad to have a prenatal expectation that your child will be smart, heterosexual, a doctor, or on the varsity football team. However, it is not bad to expect your child to strive for excellence. It is not bad to expect your child to do the very best that he can do.
Orson Scott Card is a skilled craftsman. That is a fact. You may find his plots boring and his ideas banal, but he possesses some undeniable talents as a writer. His greatest skill, in my opinion, is to create realistic voices for his characters and to understand that a character's voice should change, if only subtly, in different social contexts with different actors. This is an important facet of reality that many "great" writers fail to remember.
Also, Ender's Game is wonderfully fun and original novel. Rereading it as an adult who has read the works of Herbert, Tolkien, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nabokov, Kafka, Robert Anton Wilson, etc., does make the novel seem less awesome than it seemed to me as a twelve-year-old, having only read mediocre mainstream literature. I had no delusions of greatness or vicarious revenge fulfillment; it was just really great to read a novel that respected children while still somewhat admitting their faults. I still think it is a well-crafted, fast-paced, immersive and absolutely enjoyable read.
In my opinion, Ender's Game is the most shallow, ham-fisted and purely fun novel he has written.
Well, it's actually titled "The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies," which is slightly different from "The Invasion of the Chinese."
Anyhow, I absolutely agree with your implied point: this article is mainly just FUD-based fearmongering, which happens to sell but also works as an effective tool to keep the U.S. populace in a the proper state of anxiety.
My post was primarily in response to several earlier posts by people who seemed to be surprised that foreign governments might be trying (and able) to access some of our medium-security networks.
While the article was written to be dramatic and exciting, this scenario is assuredly based on truth.
Does anyone seriously doubt that China, India, Russia, and Israel have teams of computer scientists probing U.S. government and corporate networks?
Does anyone doubt the U.S. has many, many teams (NSA, CIA, DIA - especially AirForce Intelligence) probing foreign networks and eavesdropping on practically ALL digital communication?
Would you be surprised if a CIA field op were found in China? Digital espionage is the future. Expect it.
I don't understand all of these negative posts. This equipment is obviously still in the very early stages of development and impractical for most people.
This is an extremely common pattern in technology. A new product comes out and is only useful in a few niche markets, often analysing the very important (medicine), very small (molecules), or the very large (climate). Eventually the product matures and becomes useful to the larger society.
I am delighted that people are working on 3D displays; I certainly don't want to working on a freakin plasma or LCD screen in 30 years.
I imagine how many of these posters would have reacted to inventions in the past. "WOOOW, a device that adds numbers? Why would anyone spend $20000 on this 'computer' when you can just add the numbers in your head? These machines are lame."
I don't think the split keyboards were meant to "revolutionize" the human interface with computers. They were introduced as a means to reduce stress on wrists.
I love my split keyboard, and the majority of my MS-oriented professional developer friends all use the split keyboard as well. I was having some my wrist fatigue a couple years ago, but it has disappeared since switching to the more ergonomic keyboard. I'm sure they're not good for everyone, but I am extremely grateful that somebody produces them.
Regarding your main point, slightly improved keyboards and mouses are never going to revolutionize anything. For a revolution, an entirely new input device will be needed.
I know anecdotal evidence is pretty much crap, but I think you're being a somewhat captious here.
I have an autistic cousin and uncle through marriage, and it should be noted that both have severe forms of autism. My uncle-in-law can make some affirmative and negative sounds but is completely nonverbal, and my cousin-in-law makes no communicative noises, except for the occasional shriek in anger or confusion. Both of them are completely dysfunctional and must live in skilled care group homes.
When strangers come in contact with my relatives, they always ask about the situation, and they hear autism as an explanation. When somebody meets you (or some other highly functional autistic person), they probably never even suspect that you have autism.
Extremes are always remembered more clearly. Most people, when they think of autism, remember meeting somebody like my uncle. This is merely the nature of a malady that exists on such a wide spectrum.
Life is too short to be obsessed with victimhood. Everybody who belongs to a larger group is sick of being spoken of in stereotypes.
The problem is that the companies do see people like the poster as valuable, but the companies always want them to do something else. They want these experienced developers to be one of three things: an architect, an HR-style cat herder, or a project manager/program manager.
All of the software shops I've worked at or been involved with NEED a person in the role you seek, but none of them wants to pay the salary requisite to get a skilled veteran.
I know you're joking, and I do appreciate the humor of Gore's choice of words.
However, it should be noted that Gore's words in a CNN interview, as quoted by Wired News, were as follows:
"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the
initiative in creating the Internet."
Gore's meaning was fairly obvious: that he was one of the critical political supporters of the Internet. This is absolutely true. Without his support in the Congress, the Internet would have matured less quickly.
He never claimed to have "invented" anything. His efforts did help "create" the Internet though. And it is an accomplishment to be lauded...not mocked.
I wish people would stop misrepresenting this fact.
I guess their recognition of Mozilla makes them stand out, but it's not bad for Google, as every version of Mozilla I've used has had a Google search extension built into it.
Also, it only takes about 15 minutes to write a search extension. Tons of them exist; just Google for one.
Hatta, I understand your sentiment; I really do. As I became more politically astute and more aware of U.S. history, I grew disillusioned. However, lately I pulled out that cynicism. There are some realities in this election that affect me and my family.
Kerry is far from perfect, but let me ask you a few questions. Consider your answers.
Are you concerned about the environment? Should the U.S. sign international clean air accords? Should we be more concerned about water pollution, arsenic levels in municipal water, mercury in our seafood?
Do you think homosexual couples should have the same rights afforded to heterosexal couples? Should they have spousal healthcare, child custody rights, home-maker rights in divorces, untaxed transfer of money to spouses?
Are you in favor of a woman's ability to have an abortion? Do you want the Christian Coalition to impose their rights on every single person in the United States?
Do you care that health care coverage has been reduced/removed for millions of people? Does it matter that more families are struggling to pay for their medical expenses? Who cares about the unlucky people in the world that need help? Is it right to give a tax-break to millionaires when the average middle class citizen has over $3000 in high-interest debt?
I think Kerry is probably just as corrupt as Bush. Nader seems to be the best of the bunch. However, the truth is that Bush is in the pocket of big business, the pharmaceutical, oil/energy, military/industrial complex. Kerry seems to be in the pocket of unions and trial lawyers, among others.
There might be no real differences on campaign finance reform, criminal justice (esp. drug war) reform, investing in alternative energies, hawkish rhetoric on this "war on terror", or even effective concern for problems in the rest of world (esp. HIV). However, there are some real differences that will affect real people, people that need help.
Voting matters. If that ~50% of eligible voters,who don't vote, started taking an interest in politics and trying to make a difference, maybe we could actually effect some real changes. Those who are powerful love it when the dissenters remain quiet.
That's my opinion. I don't hate Nader for running; in fact I respect him more for it. If you're not going to follow your beliefs when it's an "inconvenient" time to do so, then what good are beliefs. However, I do think Nader should maybe start with slightly lower ambitions. Maybe he should run for a position in the House first. Then I would be much more willing to vote for him as the PRESIDENT.
Hmm. Sucktastic is not exactly accurate, and neither is the parent.
Sager does not make laptops for Alienware. The truth is that both Sager and Alienware obtain their laptops from the same Asian supplier, Clevo Computer Co. of Taiwan.
And speaking as an owner of a Sager8886, I think that the Clevo products have their niche. They are not designed to be ultra-portable notebooks for business roadwarriors. They are supposed to be fairly mobile workhorses. They make some sense for power gamers who frequent W/LAN parties and for developers who need every last scrap of processing power. I bought mine originally, because I work with large client-server apps. I used every bit of CPU. The performance was very good, and the only problem I encountered in 18 months of 10+ hours of hard use was a shoddy backlight for the LCD. This problem happened twice though and was pretty goddam annoying.
However, I have recently shifted my thinking. My workplace purchased a stacked IBM ThinkPad T40P for me. It's light and wonderful. My Sager8886 is now becoming a heavy (8.5 lbs) computer that I don't want to use. If it were lighter, I'd lend it to my girlfriend, or it could be my Linux road companion. If it were a desktop, I'd upgrade it and use as a file server or testbed. But it fits in some middle-ground.
From now on, I'm going to buy the lightest, slimmest laptop that will accomplish what I need it to do. In 30 months, when that laptop is no longer able to play the fastest game and might not be a good development environment, it WILL still be a useful, convenient laptop for word processing or web browsing.
I have no great love for MS, but there is way too much hypocritical criticism of them.
People constantly complain that MS forces artificial upgrades on their users to increase revenue. More upgrades, with new "must-have" and not backwards compatible features, means more money in their greedy little pockets.
However, recently MS has been delaying products to allow for more time to make sure the software is solid. Meanwhile they are releasing free service packs to help fix security problems.
I'm not saying that MS deserves a humanitarian award. I'm just saying that we shouldn't be criticizing MS because they have pushed back LongHorn. Allowing sufficient time for good development is a GOOD thing.
And on a self-interested note, it gives Linux solutions more time to get a foothold.
Uhh, yeah that's important, because you are really going to care about that tape when you're DEAD.
Yes, it would suck for your loved ones, but at least they would know your circumstance.
In D.C., you might get jumped, slowly beaten to death and then hidden from the authorities. Your loved ones might never know if you purposefully left or were abducted, if you're alive or dead. That sounds equally shitty.
Also, I don't know what types of heinous torture the abductors inflict on their victims, but beheading has always been considered a merciful death, if done correctly. You die quickly, with no painful lingering. It's supposed to be much better than being disembowelled, burned, or flogged.
And your loved ones probably get a nice chunk of change from the company that sent you over there.
The point is that it is ridiculous to compare different generalizations about death.
For less than $50, you should be able to solve most of your problems.
Window treatments can be made from inexpensive, thick cotton fabric. If you have existing curtains, you should be able to hang another set fairly easily. You can at least afford a set for your bedroom. This simple fabric should cost no more than $3 per yard, and you should be able to find instructions for making simple curtains on Google. Needle and thread (or staples if you're really lazy) shouldn't cost more than $4. Let's pretend you need four yards, enough for two average apartment windows. That means you can tastefully block out all light in your bedroom for under $16 and about 1-2 hours of your life.
Good, whisper-quiet fans can be purchased for under $20. I even found one with a remote and off-timer for $20. Of course, it was made in Asia, most likely under horrible work conditions, but I like to deny that my purchases have any connection to the suffering in other countries. So, I have a wonderful, quiet breeze whenever I desire.
If the air quality is really a problem, buy a HEPA filter. You can get fairly inexpensive models that still work well.
And lastly, if you aren't making enough money in a city to pay for these small life-enhancing trinkets, then you should consider moving elsewhere, because the truth is that urban environments are loud and polluted. If you want calm and quiet, you have chosen poorly.
As I see it, there are three reasons to live in a big city. 1) You were born there and have a huge network of friends and family that you cannot leave. 2) You love the excitement and raw beauty of the urban sprawl. 3) You are making boatloads of money, of which you are saving a large portion.
I don't want to start a big thread about Bush, but your comment strikes me as humorous.
"For an administration to contain a cabinet as diverse in opinion as his does, yet to not consider diverse viewpoints would be rather self-defeating, wouldn't it?"
Just for fun, imagine that you are the President and want to take the country in a specific direction. However, you know your decision will be controversial. What would you do to give the appearance that many different opinions are all agreeing that your direction is the best?
Would you surround yourself with people who are very similar to yourself? Or would you surround yourself with a diverse group of people who appear to represent many different voices of the country?
I am certainly NOT stating that Bush has Colin Powell in his cabinet merely for good public relations. I am merely saying that your point about unused diversity being self-defeating is not well-reasoned from a political perspective.
Yeah, this is a lesson that takes a long time for most people to learn and one that I like to deny.
I respect humans, regardless of how thoughtlessly they may behave, and therefore I don't enjoy being the asshole guy.
However, in college I did have one acquaintance who became one of those guys when he drank excessively. By observing him, I learned that unfortunately the jerks have a strange advantage. On the average night, he might orally accost 30 women, and 29 would walk past him or otherwise reject him. However, one would usually be drunk or especially horny that night and stop to talk to him. And I realized that he only had to be successful once to accomplish his goal.
Of course, he lost a little of my respect every time he made a cat-call, and after a while, I dropped him as a friend. I guess my point is that if you make your goals similar to the goals of the jerks, then you will often be disappointed, because jerks get what they want. If you have morals or whatever and cannot be an arrogant ass, then you should probably not try to compete on the same field with them. Look for qualities in women that the typical "jerky chauvinist" wouldn't be able to appreciate, such as individuality or intelligence.
Plus you have to remember that the asshole might have sex, sometimes with really physically beautiful women, and that can be frustrating. However, the girls that are falling prey to them are not the type of girls that are fun for more than a night anyway. At least, that's my opinion. Hang out with smart chicks, keep yourself in decent physical shape, and you will find a cool, decently attractive female.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm from AL too, the Mobile/Fairhope area. I was born there, lived 20+ years there, and have been back often. And I think you're mostly wrong. For varying lengths of time, I've also lived in NJ, MA, and VA (my current home).
1. The public schools in AL are still extremely segregated (by income and race), and the vast majority have abysmal standards. (Besides attending the schools growing up, I also worked for a company supplying software to schools, and my wife taught at some of the lowest-income schools. I speak from experience in this front.) The public education system is among the worst is the nation.
2. The people in AL are not all racists, and those jokes do get old. However, I knew many, many racists in AL. Is the racism in AL worse than any other mostly rural part of the country? Probably not, but we do have a long history of racism and hate to overcome. So, I personally don't get offended by that stereotype.
3. The people in AL are not among the most open-minded and accepting people. You're just wrong about that. Try being homosexual, politically liberal, or non-Christian in Alabama. Try answering, "Actually, I'm an agnostic/atheist" when somebody asks you which church you attend. You'll quickly see just how hateful and hypocritical many Alabamians are. Is this bigotry worse than any other rural part of the country? Yes, from my experience, it is.
Some of the most loving, accepting, and brilliantly intelligent people I've ever known are from Alabama. And the AL river delta has an unbelievable diversity of wildlife and variety of outdoor activities. From the foothills in the north to the Gulf beaches in the south, Alabama is a beautiful state. However, the people of the state are generally inadequately educated and dogmatically Christian.
So yeah, the stereotype of the barefoot, illiterate Alabamian is just that: an exaggerated archetype. But every culture/region has its stereotype. Guess what, not everybody from NJ is a fu##ing douchebag....just most of them. I keed, I keed. Seriously, don't be so defensive; change the stereotype by being a great person. And when somebody says, "Wow, you're from Alabama? You don't seem like it," respond, "Yeah, Alabama is still playing catch-up, but it has actually come a long way since the '60s."
Most of you seem to be missing the point of this system. This is basically a bulletin board system with a special emphasis on deleting all traces of a message as soon as it is read by the recipient.
This is not a DRM system.
This system assumes that the sender and the recipient both want to keep the message a secret. Of course somebody can take a screenshot. Or they could just photograph the screen. Or use their brain to remember the message and then their mouth to repeat it. If your big criticsm is that this system doesn't prevent the recipient from reproducing the message, well, please just stop typing.
The point of this system is that the message itself leave no trail, unlike email or instant messaging. After the message is read, there's no ability to trace the message from the sender to the recipient, and there's very little ability to intercept the message. Sure it can be done, but the right combination of SSL and other precautionary measures should make this a fairly secure experience.
As I said, this seems to be just a suped-up BBS system. Unless I'm missing something, the technology is really nothing new or exciting. The only new thing here seems to be the marketing package, but they seem to be doing a pretty good job of providing a new service using existing technology.
Impatience and incompetence are not the only issues. How valuable is your time?
If you buy a $140 hard drive with two $30 mail-in rebates (a common scenario), how much time will you spend filling out the paperwork, making backup copies, and hassling the two rebate programs? Is $60 (actually more like $54 after taxes and stamps) worth one hour of your time, two hours, three hours? At some point, the rebate is not worth the effort.
Personally, I just ignore any mail-in rebates less than $40 now, because I assume I'm not going to follow through. Maybe I'm lazy, or maybe I'd just rather spend that time doing almost any other thing, including working an extra hour or whatever to make up the difference.
Honestly, being a regular on slashdot will keep you pretty current on the latest fads in the industry. For a specific technology, I recommend finding a few experts or "thought leaders" in that field who have blogs and reading whatever they're reading.
Also, as others will say ad infinitum, focusing on the basics is much more important than trying new fads or styles.
In my experience, most developers are nothing like artists and more closely resemble petulant, undisciplined children. Often they ignore the most basic principles of good software development (like version control, automated build and test suites, documentation, etc.) because "those are boring".
I see that you don't understand most corporate development shops. First, most development teams uses version control. If you're talking about one person working on a pet project, well, maybe you have a point, but most developers still use a local version control strategy.
It's not that good build practices, test suites, and documentation are boring to developers. Most developers I know would love to spend down-time documenting their code and fleshing out their test harnesses.
It's that clients don't care about or understand those basic principles, and managers often don't see the ROI for such activities. Documentation and test suites are going to take significantly more time for initial development of the product. Yes, if the project is even remotely complicated, these efforts will reduce long-term development time of the product through fewer downstream bugs, easier integration of new features or other products, and less ramp-up time for new team members.
However, it's an arduous proccess to change a corporate culture. It often comes down to either you do it the way the higher-ups say, or you do the "extra" work on your own time and hope your example will slowly show people the light.
This advice is fine but not necessarily true.
Enjoying a spouse openly, comfortably, and even vulnerably is certainly a trait of a successful relationship. However, a successful marriage is not built on enjoying each other and "being who you really are." Those are effects, not causes of a happy relationship, IMO.
Most couple don't truly realize marriage is (in theory) a lifetime commitment. Here's the big secret nobody tells young couples: people change. You and your spouse are going to change dramatically over the course of your marriage, and there's a likelihood that unless you are careful, you will end up disliking each other in 30 years. The best you can hope for is that as each of you changes, the other will adapt to your new personality or have ability to tell you calmly that you are changing for the worse. I won't go into a long tangent about the requisites for changing together successfully, but I basically think deep mutual respect and completely honest communication are the biggest ingredients.
Here's the other part of your sentiment that is slightly flawed. Perhaps you really need to change. Maybe you are an inconsiderate, arrogant asshole, and the only person who would date you is a meek little insecure person who will let you walk all over him/her. Maybe a partner is trying to change you for the better.
But yes, I absolutely agree with you: being comfortable and open with your partner is absolutely essential. If you don't have that, it seems that you're missing the fundamental point of dating and marriage (at least for secular humanists). The most you can hope for in this life is to understand yourself and this world around you. By loving, trusting, living with and focusing all of your powers of observation and appreciation on this one person, maybe -- just maybe -- you will understand humanity, yourself, and this whole absurd universe a tiny bit better.
That's my current theory at least. It will probably change next year.
At least, that's how I see it.
Orson Scott Card is a skilled craftsman. That is a fact. You may find his plots boring and his ideas banal, but he possesses some undeniable talents as a writer. His greatest skill, in my opinion, is to create realistic voices for his characters and to understand that a character's voice should change, if only subtly, in different social contexts with different actors. This is an important facet of reality that many "great" writers fail to remember.
Also, Ender's Game is wonderfully fun and original novel. Rereading it as an adult who has read the works of Herbert, Tolkien, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Nabokov, Kafka, Robert Anton Wilson, etc., does make the novel seem less awesome than it seemed to me as a twelve-year-old, having only read mediocre mainstream literature. I had no delusions of greatness or vicarious revenge fulfillment; it was just really great to read a novel that respected children while still somewhat admitting their faults. I still think it is a well-crafted, fast-paced, immersive and absolutely enjoyable read.
In my opinion, Ender's Game is the most shallow, ham-fisted and purely fun novel he has written.
Well, it's actually titled "The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies," which is slightly different from "The Invasion of the Chinese."
Anyhow, I absolutely agree with your implied point: this article is mainly just FUD-based fearmongering, which happens to sell but also works as an effective tool to keep the U.S. populace in a the proper state of anxiety.
My post was primarily in response to several earlier posts by people who seemed to be surprised that foreign governments might be trying (and able) to access some of our medium-security networks.
While the article was written to be dramatic and exciting, this scenario is assuredly based on truth.
Does anyone seriously doubt that China, India, Russia, and Israel have teams of computer scientists probing U.S. government and corporate networks?
Does anyone doubt the U.S. has many, many teams (NSA, CIA, DIA - especially AirForce Intelligence) probing foreign networks and eavesdropping on practically ALL digital communication?
Would you be surprised if a CIA field op were found in China? Digital espionage is the future. Expect it.
hahahahahahahaha, indeed
I don't understand all of these negative posts. This equipment is obviously still in the very early stages of development and impractical for most people.
This is an extremely common pattern in technology. A new product comes out and is only useful in a few niche markets, often analysing the very important (medicine), very small (molecules), or the very large (climate). Eventually the product matures and becomes useful to the larger society.
I am delighted that people are working on 3D displays; I certainly don't want to working on a freakin plasma or LCD screen in 30 years.
I imagine how many of these posters would have reacted to inventions in the past. "WOOOW, a device that adds numbers? Why would anyone spend $20000 on this 'computer' when you can just add the numbers in your head? These machines are lame."
I don't think the split keyboards were meant to "revolutionize" the human interface with computers. They were introduced as a means to reduce stress on wrists.
I love my split keyboard, and the majority of my MS-oriented professional developer friends all use the split keyboard as well. I was having some my wrist fatigue a couple years ago, but it has disappeared since switching to the more ergonomic keyboard. I'm sure they're not good for everyone, but I am extremely grateful that somebody produces them.
Regarding your main point, slightly improved keyboards and mouses are never going to revolutionize anything. For a revolution, an entirely new input device will be needed.
I know anecdotal evidence is pretty much crap, but I think you're being a somewhat captious here.
I have an autistic cousin and uncle through marriage, and it should be noted that both have severe forms of autism. My uncle-in-law can make some affirmative and negative sounds but is completely nonverbal, and my cousin-in-law makes no communicative noises, except for the occasional shriek in anger or confusion. Both of them are completely dysfunctional and must live in skilled care group homes.
When strangers come in contact with my relatives, they always ask about the situation, and they hear autism as an explanation. When somebody meets you (or some other highly functional autistic person), they probably never even suspect that you have autism.
Extremes are always remembered more clearly. Most people, when they think of autism, remember meeting somebody like my uncle. This is merely the nature of a malady that exists on such a wide spectrum.
Life is too short to be obsessed with victimhood. Everybody who belongs to a larger group is sick of being spoken of in stereotypes.
The problem is that the companies do see people like the poster as valuable, but the companies always want them to do something else. They want these experienced developers to be one of three things: an architect, an HR-style cat herder, or a project manager/program manager.
I completely agree on the relocation point.
All of the software shops I've worked at or been involved with NEED a person in the role you seek, but none of them wants to pay the salary requisite to get a skilled veteran.
I wish you luck.
I know you're joking, and I do appreciate the humor of Gore's choice of words.
However, it should be noted that Gore's words in a CNN interview, as quoted by Wired News, were as
follows:
"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the
initiative in creating the Internet."
Gore's meaning was fairly obvious: that he was one of the critical political supporters of the Internet. This is absolutely true. Without his support in the Congress, the Internet would have matured less quickly.
He never claimed to have "invented" anything. His efforts did help "create" the Internet though. And it is an accomplishment to be lauded...not mocked.
I wish people would stop misrepresenting this fact.
I guess their recognition of Mozilla makes them stand out, but it's not bad for Google, as every version of Mozilla I've used has had a Google search extension built into it.
Also, it only takes about 15 minutes to write a search extension. Tons of them exist; just Google for one.
Hatta, I understand your sentiment; I really do. As I became more politically astute and more aware of U.S. history, I grew disillusioned. However, lately I pulled out that cynicism. There are some realities in this election that affect me and my family.
/industrial complex. Kerry seems to be in the pocket of unions and trial lawyers, among others.
,who don't vote, started taking an interest in politics and trying to make a difference, maybe we could actually effect some real changes. Those who are powerful love it when the dissenters remain quiet.
Kerry is far from perfect, but let me ask you a few questions. Consider your answers.
Are you concerned about the environment? Should the U.S. sign international clean air accords? Should we be more concerned about water pollution, arsenic levels in municipal water, mercury in our seafood?
Do you think homosexual couples should have the same rights afforded to heterosexal couples? Should they have spousal healthcare, child custody rights, home-maker rights in divorces, untaxed transfer of money to spouses?
Are you in favor of a woman's ability to have an abortion? Do you want the Christian Coalition to impose their rights on every single person in the United States?
Do you care that health care coverage has been reduced/removed for millions of people? Does it matter that more families are struggling to pay for their medical expenses? Who cares about the unlucky people in the world that need help? Is it right to give a tax-break to millionaires when the average middle class citizen has over $3000 in high-interest debt?
I think Kerry is probably just as corrupt as Bush. Nader seems to be the best of the bunch. However, the truth is that Bush is in the pocket of big business, the pharmaceutical, oil/energy, military
There might be no real differences on campaign finance reform, criminal justice (esp. drug war) reform, investing in alternative energies, hawkish rhetoric on this "war on terror", or even effective concern for problems in the rest of world (esp. HIV). However, there are some real differences that will affect real people, people that need help.
Voting matters. If that ~50% of eligible voters
That's my opinion. I don't hate Nader for running; in fact I respect him more for it. If you're not going to follow your beliefs when it's an "inconvenient" time to do so, then what good are beliefs. However, I do think Nader should maybe start with slightly lower ambitions. Maybe he should run for a position in the House first. Then I would be much more willing to vote for him as the PRESIDENT.
Hmm. Sucktastic is not exactly accurate, and neither is the parent.
Sager does not make laptops for Alienware. The truth is that both Sager and Alienware obtain their laptops from the same Asian supplier, Clevo Computer Co. of Taiwan.
And speaking as an owner of a Sager8886, I think that the Clevo products have their niche. They are not designed to be ultra-portable notebooks for business roadwarriors. They are supposed to be fairly mobile workhorses. They make some sense for power gamers who frequent W/LAN parties and for developers who need every last scrap of processing power. I bought mine originally, because I work with large client-server apps. I used every bit of CPU. The performance was very good, and the only problem I encountered in 18 months of 10+ hours of hard use was a shoddy backlight for the LCD. This problem happened twice though and was pretty goddam annoying.
However, I have recently shifted my thinking. My workplace purchased a stacked IBM ThinkPad T40P for me. It's light and wonderful. My Sager8886 is now becoming a heavy (8.5 lbs) computer that I don't want to use. If it were lighter, I'd lend it to my girlfriend, or it could be my Linux road companion. If it were a desktop, I'd upgrade it and use as a file server or testbed. But it fits in some middle-ground.
From now on, I'm going to buy the lightest, slimmest laptop that will accomplish what I need it to do. In 30 months, when that laptop is no longer able to play the fastest game and might not be a good development environment, it WILL still be a useful, convenient laptop for word processing or web browsing.
That's my opinion.
I have no great love for MS, but there is way too much hypocritical criticism of them.
People constantly complain that MS forces artificial upgrades on their users to increase revenue. More upgrades, with new "must-have" and not backwards compatible features, means more money in their greedy little pockets.
However, recently MS has been delaying products to allow for more time to make sure the software is solid. Meanwhile they are releasing free service packs to help fix security problems.
I'm not saying that MS deserves a humanitarian award. I'm just saying that we shouldn't be criticizing MS because they have pushed back LongHorn. Allowing sufficient time for good development is a GOOD thing.
And on a self-interested note, it gives Linux solutions more time to get a foothold.
Uhh, yeah that's important, because you are really going to care about that tape when you're DEAD.
Yes, it would suck for your loved ones, but at least they would know your circumstance.
In D.C., you might get jumped, slowly beaten to death and then hidden from the authorities. Your loved ones might never know if you purposefully left or were abducted, if you're alive or dead. That sounds equally shitty.
Also, I don't know what types of heinous torture the abductors inflict on their victims, but beheading has always been considered a merciful death, if done correctly. You die quickly, with no painful lingering. It's supposed to be much better than being disembowelled, burned, or flogged.
And your loved ones probably get a nice chunk of change from the company that sent you over there.
The point is that it is ridiculous to compare different generalizations about death.
For less than $50, you should be able to solve most of your problems.
Window treatments can be made from inexpensive, thick cotton fabric. If you have existing curtains, you should be able to hang another set fairly easily. You can at least afford a set for your bedroom. This simple fabric should cost no more than $3 per yard, and you should be able to find instructions for making simple curtains on Google. Needle and thread (or staples if you're really lazy) shouldn't cost more than $4. Let's pretend you need four yards, enough for two average apartment windows. That means you can tastefully block out all light in your bedroom for under $16 and about 1-2 hours of your life.
Good, whisper-quiet fans can be purchased for under $20. I even found one with a remote and off-timer for $20. Of course, it was made in Asia, most likely under horrible work conditions, but I like to deny that my purchases have any connection to the suffering in other countries. So, I have a wonderful, quiet breeze whenever I desire.
If the air quality is really a problem, buy a HEPA filter. You can get fairly inexpensive models that still work well.
And lastly, if you aren't making enough money in a city to pay for these small life-enhancing trinkets, then you should consider moving elsewhere, because the truth is that urban environments are loud and polluted. If you want calm and quiet, you have chosen poorly.
As I see it, there are three reasons to live in a big city. 1) You were born there and have a huge network of friends and family that you cannot leave. 2) You love the excitement and raw beauty of the urban sprawl. 3) You are making boatloads of money, of which you are saving a large portion.
I don't want to start a big thread about Bush, but your comment strikes me as humorous.
"For an administration to contain a cabinet as diverse in opinion as his does, yet to not consider diverse viewpoints would be rather self-defeating, wouldn't it?"
Just for fun, imagine that you are the President and want to take the country in a specific direction. However, you know your decision will be controversial. What would you do to give the appearance that many different opinions are all agreeing that your direction is the best?
Would you surround yourself with people who are very similar to yourself? Or would you surround yourself with a diverse group of people who appear to represent many different voices of the country?
I am certainly NOT stating that Bush has Colin Powell in his cabinet merely for good public relations. I am merely saying that your point about unused diversity being self-defeating is not well-reasoned from a political perspective.
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Yeah, this is a lesson that takes a long time for most people to learn and one that I like to deny.
I respect humans, regardless of how thoughtlessly they may behave, and therefore I don't enjoy being the asshole guy.
However, in college I did have one acquaintance who became one of those guys when he drank excessively. By observing him, I learned that unfortunately the jerks have a strange advantage. On the average night, he might orally accost 30 women, and 29 would walk past him or otherwise reject him. However, one would usually be drunk or especially horny that night and stop to talk to him. And I realized that he only had to be successful once to accomplish his goal.
Of course, he lost a little of my respect every time he made a cat-call, and after a while, I dropped him as a friend. I guess my point is that if you make your goals similar to the goals of the jerks, then you will often be disappointed, because jerks get what they want. If you have morals or whatever and cannot be an arrogant ass, then you should probably not try to compete on the same field with them. Look for qualities in women that the typical "jerky chauvinist" wouldn't be able to appreciate, such as individuality or intelligence.
Plus you have to remember that the asshole might have sex, sometimes with really physically beautiful women, and that can be frustrating. However, the girls that are falling prey to them are not the type of girls that are fun for more than a night anyway. At least, that's my opinion. Hang out with smart chicks, keep yourself in decent physical shape, and you will find a cool, decently attractive female.
Peace.