..is to develop thinking, reasoning, and decision-making skills and the ability to analyze things from different viewpoints. A well-informed population will not be hood-winked by PR FUD put out by sneaky corporations bent on protecting marketshare. For instance, people who have taken a programming class or two would 1)have more respect for programmers' skills who do it for a living, and 2) be much less likely to tolerate M$. When people know nothing, they seem to tolerate shoddy workmanship, but when they are informed, they are more choosey.
Engineering skills in general make life so much more easy to deal with. It's all about not panicking about the presence of a problem long enough to solve it. I'm in a math class right now in which so many of my classmates freak out when they encounter a story problem. They can't seem to let go of that fear long enough to even TRY.
When I was in high school, I didn't know much about computers beyond starting Microsoft Word and typing papers for classes. Computers intimidated me. At some point, though, I got really tired of feeling intimidated and confronted my fears by takings some classes in electronics and computers. I proceeded to find out how cool all that stuff was and now I am an all-around science geek.
My point is, the more we shy away from anything that scares us, the more we lose. Geeks, that means we should confront our fears of politics and getting involved. We have isolated ourselves long enough.
It is possible that the economy we are headed towards is one in which every person must have 2 to 3 apparently unrelated subjects in which they have a degree or the equivalent experience. I read about how successful people become a jack-of-all-trades and a master of all.
There's another possibility, and that is that businesses will be started with the intention of only lasting long enough to satisfy market demand, and then once demand has been satisfied, they break up. It's a scary thought, and yet exciting, because for business to reach that level of efficiency, the systems and management would have to be completely automated and have the ability to be rolled out instantly. The downside would be that you would have to worry more about finding people who could use your services, and saving for the time the job ends and you have to find the next one.
I was just thinking today that it would be really neat to be able to have a 3D monitor that allowed you to view a 3D object from all angles and would rotate it on command, zoom in, zoom out, like a hologram you could interact with. That would be useful for drawing multilevel circuit boards. Also for viewing way tangled flowcharts.
I can't wait for something like that to be made. Think of the computing power you'd have to have just to display that!
It depends on whether companies continue to feel it is important to upgrade their computers every few years. At the present computing seems to be leveling off so that getting those extra megahertz is not so important (if it ever was). If it remains that way for any length of time it may be more cost-effective for companies to buy all their computers instead of leasing them.
Leasing computers makes it a periodic expense that has to be subtracted from the bottom line. I may be wrong, but buying the computers would make it a capital expense - one time only (or for however long they'd want to go without upgrading).
Furthermore, running all the computers in clusters would be a good way to use the nighttime.
If companies find that the cost benefits of renting time on a central supercomputer is worth the time wasted waiting for their turn to use it come around, then this WILL revolutionize computing. I can say right now that time-sharing would add more variables to take into account when determining due dates and release times for products.
Especially if they say on the advertisement exactly how many were made. And anything you'll "cherish for a lifetime", which means that it will break quickly or look so kitch-y that you'll hide it when company comes over.
If you ask me, these guys just want to make a quick buck.
My husband likes to watch Enterprise and I would start watching it with him and each time there was always something that made me mad.
Whiny capt Archer is part of it. Another thing that bothers me is that DePaul the Vulcan is such a point of contention and conflict. She plays a detractory role, rather than a supporting one, which always gives me a headache. It is possilble to illustrate people's differences without this kind of crud. Look at the relationship played out between Spock and Kirk. And even the little tantrums McCoy had at Spock from time to time still had an element of friendship behind them. It was fun to watch the interplay between them. On Enterprise, though, too many people have serious issues.
The plots on Enterprise don't interest me. It just rubs me the wrong way in so many of its aspects I doubt I could articulate them all.
What about what violent video games do to our sensitivities? What do you feel whenever you hear screams of anguish? A properly sensive human heart is tuned to feel sympathy, pity, and compassion for others' suffering. It is a gift to enable us to help each other when we are in distress.
I see video games causing people who play them to be shocked, then fascinated. They play until the soundeffects and gore doesn't affect them anymore. I think it is the same way with violent movies. If we say "Oh, the violence doesn't affect me", we have already become desensitized and callous.
It is still a ways before this lack of compassion to suffering becomes a problem in every level of society, but if we are not VERY careful, it will soon give us fits.
It would make sense that the military would teach something bizarre like this rule. The Internal Revenue Service's computer system has the Error Resolution people jumping through the same kind of hoops. Unfortunately, it is easier and cheaper for most people to modify human behavior to compensate for a computer design failure.
It requires a number of examples of buggy execution to convince the programmers that their beautiful code is flawed, so some significant time people spend "resolving errors" is really tricking the computer into allowing the taxpayers figures, when the computer thinks the taxpayer is wrong. Hard to believe, but true. I've done it for a season.
-SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
When I was looking around for a new laptop to replace my oooold 486 laptop, I looked at a ton of different laptops, and I didn't see any that were very exciting looking. It would be cool to see something dramatic, like an exciting neon green case with a metalic finish or something cool like that. I mean, when you get a new screaming fast computer, shouldn't the case have some extra pizzaz to show for it?
I ended up getting an iBook, because I liked the minimalist chic look it had, but I'm wondering if there is someway I could modify the case to be a different color. Any ideas on how to achieve an individual yet still slick-looking appearance?
I wouldn't be surprised if eventually a group of geeks get together to finance the launching of their very own satellite or something. Advertise unmetered access to internet, no capping, anywhere in the US, and the geeks of the world would probably be content. Until the next bandwidth-intensive application comes along.
I sympathize with the woman, because I'm a female switcher as of May 2002, and I too had problems adjusting to the difference between Mac OS and Windows stuff. Fortunately, my husband has lots of experience on Macs, so he was able to give me pointers on how to page up, page down, end, home, how to use the delete key for deleting text behind the cursor instead of just in front of it, etc. I didn't know that the Apple key is really called the Command key, and you use it alot like the Control key on windows machines.
People who have never used Macs before and who switch from Windows also don't know that on Macs you don't just push the button on a backpack floppy drive and eject the disk, you have to drag the disk icon to the trash. Sounds stupid, but it is basic basic stuff.
It really is a different way of thinking about things, plus the apple help website doesn't necessarily help newnies who need to learn how to perceive things, or need to learn how to do things. ( I learn about most things by messing around and trying stuff , but after a certain amount of messing around, I want to be able to find out QUICKLY from someone how to really do what I want to do. )
As for printing, there are two different programs out there that claim to support any PC printer, but if you want drivers for your BJC-2000 printer for OS X, forget it. If you got the PowerPrint program, PowerPrint people say to go ask Cannon, and the Cannon people say it's not cost-effective. My husband found a hack somewhere, but it still only works in a limited manner after what seems to me to be too much tweaking. So I save data to a floppy and move over to the PC to print it.
I can't use my iBook to write my computer science homework programs using Microsoft Visual C++. Has to be done on a PC obviously. Wish I could do it on my iBook.
Really, I'm an intermediate computer user who wants to do intermediate things on my iBook, but I don't yet know how and even that big thick book about OS X is vague about particulars. Advice and direction are welcome.
My college had mobile projection systems somewhat like what you describe and a bunch of them were stolen last semester. Evidently their compactness and cost makes them a hot item.
(" 'scuse me, young man, could you show me what is making such a large lump under your jacket? ")
Slashdot Mirror
Nightvision infrared goggles.
Engineering skills in general make life so much more easy to deal with. It's all about not panicking about the presence of a problem long enough to solve it. I'm in a math class right now in which so many of my classmates freak out when they encounter a story problem. They can't seem to let go of that fear long enough to even TRY.
When I was in high school, I didn't know much about computers beyond starting Microsoft Word and typing papers for classes. Computers intimidated me. At some point, though, I got really tired of feeling intimidated and confronted my fears by takings some classes in electronics and computers. I proceeded to find out how cool all that stuff was and now I am an all-around science geek.
My point is, the more we shy away from anything that scares us, the more we lose. Geeks, that means we should confront our fears of politics and getting involved. We have isolated ourselves long enough.
SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
There's another possibility, and that is that businesses will be started with the intention of only lasting long enough to satisfy market demand, and then once demand has been satisfied, they break up. It's a scary thought, and yet exciting, because for business to reach that level of efficiency, the systems and management would have to be completely automated and have the ability to be rolled out instantly. The downside would be that you would have to worry more about finding people who could use your services, and saving for the time the job ends and you have to find the next one.
I can't wait for something like that to be made. Think of the computing power you'd have to have just to display that!
Furthermore, running all the computers in clusters would be a good way to use the nighttime.
If companies find that the cost benefits of renting time on a central supercomputer is worth the time wasted waiting for their turn to use it come around, then this WILL revolutionize computing. I can say right now that time-sharing would add more variables to take into account when determining due dates and release times for products.
SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
With THAT kind of attitude, any Linux programmer is just as bad as Microsoft.
SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
-SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
Whiny capt Archer is part of it. Another thing that bothers me is that DePaul the Vulcan is such a point of contention and conflict. She plays a detractory role, rather than a supporting one, which always gives me a headache. It is possilble to illustrate people's differences without this kind of crud. Look at the relationship played out between Spock and Kirk. And even the little tantrums McCoy had at Spock from time to time still had an element of friendship behind them. It was fun to watch the interplay between them. On Enterprise, though, too many people have serious issues.
The plots on Enterprise don't interest me. It just rubs me the wrong way in so many of its aspects I doubt I could articulate them all.
-SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
I see video games causing people who play them to be shocked, then fascinated. They play until the soundeffects and gore doesn't affect them anymore. I think it is the same way with violent movies. If we say "Oh, the violence doesn't affect me", we have already become desensitized and callous.
It is still a ways before this lack of compassion to suffering becomes a problem in every level of society, but if we are not VERY careful, it will soon give us fits.
-SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
It requires a number of examples of buggy execution to convince the programmers that their beautiful code is flawed, so some significant time people spend "resolving errors" is really tricking the computer into allowing the taxpayers figures, when the computer thinks the taxpayer is wrong. Hard to believe, but true. I've done it for a season. -SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
I ended up getting an iBook, because I liked the minimalist chic look it had, but I'm wondering if there is someway I could modify the case to be a different color. Any ideas on how to achieve an individual yet still slick-looking appearance?
-SheWhoWalksWithToesLikeCobras
People who have never used Macs before and who switch from Windows also don't know that on Macs you don't just push the button on a backpack floppy drive and eject the disk, you have to drag the disk icon to the trash. Sounds stupid, but it is basic basic stuff.
It really is a different way of thinking about things, plus the apple help website doesn't necessarily help newnies who need to learn how to perceive things, or need to learn how to do things. ( I learn about most things by messing around and trying stuff , but after a certain amount of messing around, I want to be able to find out QUICKLY from someone how to really do what I want to do. )
As for printing, there are two different programs out there that claim to support any PC printer, but if you want drivers for your BJC-2000 printer for OS X, forget it. If you got the PowerPrint program, PowerPrint people say to go ask Cannon, and the Cannon people say it's not cost-effective. My husband found a hack somewhere, but it still only works in a limited manner after what seems to me to be too much tweaking. So I save data to a floppy and move over to the PC to print it.
I can't use my iBook to write my computer science homework programs using Microsoft Visual C++. Has to be done on a PC obviously. Wish I could do it on my iBook.
Really, I'm an intermediate computer user who wants to do intermediate things on my iBook, but I don't yet know how and even that big thick book about OS X is vague about particulars. Advice and direction are welcome.
My college had mobile projection systems somewhat like what you describe and a bunch of them were stolen last semester. Evidently their compactness and cost makes them a hot item. (" 'scuse me, young man, could you show me what is making such a large lump under your jacket? ")