I'll second that, and recommend getting the apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse, they are definitely low form factor and high quality.
Used to use a logitech mouse, but the new apple mouse has fewer parts to break and works well from the sofa.
I've added a harmony remote which pairs to the mac for all the infrared functions (pause, play, ff, rewind, etc), so if you get one of those you can also use it to turn the TV set on and off.
Basically it boils down to finding someone who knows something you are interested in and asking them questions. Find a way to earn their trust if necessary and most people are more than glad to spend a little while letting you know how something works or point you in a direction they found helpful.
The first time I recall doing this I was probably about 8. I wanted to know more about how bridges worked, and had exhausted the resources at my father's disposal, so he arranged a conversation with a civil engineer he knew who actually designed them. Suffice to say I've never learned how to design a bridge, but I learned a lot more than I expected to, and that conversation lead to many more and probably ignited my interest in calculus.
I am an example of an individual who grew up with under this exact educational philosophy and I beg to differ on the outcome most of the above commentators anticipate.
Unschooling is a set of principals and ideas about learning in general which emphasizes the individual's instinctual intellectual desire and capability over institutional time based curricula. It's in no way a new concept, with people like John Holt and Ivan Illich establishing most of the modern ideas in this educational arena several decades ago.
Though purely anecdotal, my own case is evidence that the method does indeed work, at least in my example, and I would argue it works quite well indeed.
I grew up without school until the 12th grade, and decided to enroll as a senior in an area High School mostly out of a desire to test my knowledge and socialization prior to venturing out to the greater world the following year. I was presented with a series of intensive placement tests and tested into the top levels of the senior class, where I completed the year and graduated at the statistical top of my small class without much trouble at all.
Since graduating a dozen years ago, I attained a roll as a senior software engineer at a major financial firm where I continue to design and implement technical solutions to complex problems which interest me. I'm also considered by some a bit of an expert in political strategy and consult a number of elected officials.
All this while declining to pursue higher education and instead learning from the experts in the fields which interest me.
I find that learning from those who do is much preferable to learning from those who decide to teach instead.
Additionally, the most crucial ability a critical thinker can have is the desire for and access to written knowledge and history.
The sad state of affairs which our educational system finds itself in is one which can obviously be improved. I would think that an open system with 100% subsidy which is open to the learner to take desired courses when they see fit would benefit society immensity.
Cost of such a system would indeed be high, but quite a bit less than dealing with the problems which a lack of self-motivated education hoist upon the systems of our limited resources. In a light improvements in our system to produce better learners could be viewed as the most cost-effective move we could make.
Not to be a dick, but I use a wrt54g with tomato firmware and it's about the most stable and powerful (QOS is great on it) router anywhere close to the consumer price range.
I never have to restart my DSL router or Vonage router either, and I've kept all this stuff up 24/7 often with heavy use for years at a time.
If you're restarting networking stuff all the time, perhaps you've misconfigured it...
the circuit board had some fault, so they just replaced the board (or maybe just some component) and were able to do a full recovery.
This is about as complicated as drive recovery typically is. In fact, you can save your $750 and some time by just ordering a new PCB from the drive manufacturer themselves in most cases where temperature variation doesn't do the trick.
No, he said the earth was not the center of the universe. Buy a history book. The ancient Greeks accurately measured the circumference of the earth about a millennia before that.
We use precincts to divide these large numbers into manageable units, like the 600 person town cited above.
There are very simple manual fixes to the system, but that largely ignores the other problems with the American voting system, namely the lack of run-off features which encourage voting for a likable candidate rather than a perceived front-runner.
What I rather like as a fix however is a system like the British have used for a long time where the party in the majority elects a representative to lead them. Much more democratic and less subject to manipulation in general.
Unfortunately this kind of change will require a rather substantial constitutional amendment, not likely to happen unless you do start voting and actually demand a change.
/begin oblig Tom Lehrer lyric/ Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize...
Only be sure always to call it please, "research".
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks, wish I had points to mod this up!
I'll second that, and recommend getting the apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse, they are definitely low form factor and high quality.
Used to use a logitech mouse, but the new apple mouse has fewer parts to break and works well from the sofa.
I've added a harmony remote which pairs to the mac for all the infrared functions (pause, play, ff, rewind, etc), so if you get one of those you can also use it to turn the TV set on and off.
Hmm, seems to work fine for me. Guess my Atom proc is special or something.
It probably had more to do with the ultra-cheap SSD that came with it than the CPU, something you can remedy for ~$40.
Basically it boils down to finding someone who knows something you are interested in and asking them questions. Find a way to earn their trust if necessary and most people are more than glad to spend a little while letting you know how something works or point you in a direction they found helpful.
The first time I recall doing this I was probably about 8. I wanted to know more about how bridges worked, and had exhausted the resources at my father's disposal, so he arranged a conversation with a civil engineer he knew who actually designed them. Suffice to say I've never learned how to design a bridge, but I learned a lot more than I expected to, and that conversation lead to many more and probably ignited my interest in calculus.
Because you asked...
I am an example of an individual who grew up with under this exact educational philosophy and I beg to differ on the outcome most of the above commentators anticipate.
Unschooling is a set of principals and ideas about learning in general which emphasizes the individual's instinctual intellectual desire and capability over institutional time based curricula. It's in no way a new concept, with people like John Holt and Ivan Illich establishing most of the modern ideas in this educational arena several decades ago.
Though purely anecdotal, my own case is evidence that the method does indeed work, at least in my example, and I would argue it works quite well indeed.
I grew up without school until the 12th grade, and decided to enroll as a senior in an area High School mostly out of a desire to test my knowledge and socialization prior to venturing out to the greater world the following year. I was presented with a series of intensive placement tests and tested into the top levels of the senior class, where I completed the year and graduated at the statistical top of my small class without much trouble at all.
Since graduating a dozen years ago, I attained a roll as a senior software engineer at a major financial firm where I continue to design and implement technical solutions to complex problems which interest me. I'm also considered by some a bit of an expert in political strategy and consult a number of elected officials.
All this while declining to pursue higher education and instead learning from the experts in the fields which interest me.
I find that learning from those who do is much preferable to learning from those who decide to teach instead.
Additionally, the most crucial ability a critical thinker can have is the desire for and access to written knowledge and history.
The sad state of affairs which our educational system finds itself in is one which can obviously be improved. I would think that an open system with 100% subsidy which is open to the learner to take desired courses when they see fit would benefit society immensity.
Cost of such a system would indeed be high, but quite a bit less than dealing with the problems which a lack of self-motivated education hoist upon the systems of our limited resources. In a light improvements in our system to produce better learners could be viewed as the most cost-effective move we could make.
Don't discuss the attack, that's just playing into the hand they gave you.
What I would point out is the monthly patch cycle you buy into with MS.
Any vendor worth using releases patches as vulnerabilities are discovered, keeping software safe. MS doesn't do this, and claims it as a feature.
The rest of the world releases patches as soon as someone with eyes sees a flaw. This is a clear advantage and negates all the FUD you are seeing.
If you're not willing to sell them, well, Microsoft has yet to announce a dividend.
False. Microsoft increased their dividend last quarter.
False.
Bears are always better.
As stated above no harm no foul. If this is a crime so is alerting your neighbor that their door is unlocked while they were gone.
Most modern servers have facilities to do just that.
I do a day from home each week and use remote tools for everything from power resets to OS installs remotely.
The times you have to touch a server itself in a modern environment is infrequent enough you can work from anywhere most of the time.
There are a lot of others, but Chumby does that and a lot more.
It's really easy enough that your grandma could do it. :)
Seriously, Tomato has a very clean interface that just does what you would expect. I'd toy with it a bit if I were you.
Best place to get a feel for the QOS settings is probably a screenshot of the interface.
Not to be a dick, but I use a wrt54g with tomato firmware and it's about the most stable and powerful (QOS is great on it) router anywhere close to the consumer price range.
I never have to restart my DSL router or Vonage router either, and I've kept all this stuff up 24/7 often with heavy use for years at a time.
If you're restarting networking stuff all the time, perhaps you've misconfigured it...
Nope it gets better. PHP sucks!
See National "security" letters for a start.
More here
We use precincts to divide these large numbers into manageable units, like the 600 person town cited above.
There are very simple manual fixes to the system, but that largely ignores the other problems with the American voting system, namely the lack of run-off features which encourage voting for a likable candidate rather than a perceived front-runner.
What I rather like as a fix however is a system like the British have used for a long time where the party in the majority elects a representative to lead them. Much more democratic and less subject to manipulation in general.
Unfortunately this kind of change will require a rather substantial constitutional amendment, not likely to happen unless you do start voting and actually demand a change.
Google it then.
The I'm feeling lucky search for Indium Shortage has some very insightful ideas on the subject.
If Indium is as common as silver, we're not running out any time soon.
That should at least say in French Canada...
Ahem. It's called "Research".
/begin oblig Tom Lehrer lyric/
Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize...
Only be sure always to call it please, "research".
Question: What kind of bear is best?
woos
fascist.