There's is, and there's going to be more here, historical revisionism. Suffice to say there were several reasons:
1) marianas, iwo jima and okinawa. a friend's dad served on iwo and saipan. hell would be a gentle term. plus, i've read volumes. the fighting was unlike anything in the history of warfare. we'd have had 100X worse on japanese mainland. we expected 1 million allied casualties, and probably 10-20 million japanese. so it's lincoln's "terrible arithmetic" multiplied by 100.
2) russia. sure, we were their ally, but we all knew what they were, what they were going to do, and we wanted to send a message. if the rosenbergs (yes they were soviet spies) not given up the bomb, we'd have been in a totally different situation. we had to let them know they were well behind the curve. and yes we allowed many nazi scientists off the hook, that's not the point.
3) japan didn't surrender after bomb #1. and in fact, didn't after bomb #2. remember, the bombs were aug. 6 and aug. 9, they surrendered after the soviets invaded sakhalin and not until aug. 15. in fact, if you check, we actually had a bomber raid on aug. 10, and i believe aug. 12. ironic is that the communications were severed between the emperor (who wanted to surrender) and the military (who didn't). the militray was actualyl coming to the palace to arrest the emp and hold him so he couldn;t surrender. we didn't know this until much later. however, two nukes, two more B29 raids, and still no surrender.
4) politics. we were getting really tired of the war. europe was well over, domestic life was returning to normal, and yet 10,000 were dying on okinawa. how many more thousands were the public going to send? truman knew the war must end. and soon.
most of the second guessing has come from succeeding generations that had the luxury of self-relection that on;y peace can bring. like the greeks, it is our freedom that allows to us to be hyper-critical of ourselves (like a sophocles or aristophanes). we did much that we view as oppressive (japanese internement) yet at the time was wholly palatable by the large body of people. times change and so do cultures. but i think it is poor history and a worse morality play to go back and make assumptions about the bomb. look at japan today. not that 2 nukes are a tradeoff for a peaceful and free society (ah moral equivalency), but consider this:
40 years after the sedan the french were screaming revanche and we got ypres and verdun. 40 years after hiroshima, the japanese were not and we got toyotas.
who do these moderators think they are that they can try to silence people who present unpopular facts?
how long have you been around here? this is slashdot. the left is seething with hatred. ever read kos? the people there are freaking lunatics. there's no sense of sanity or mental stability. period. wilson is a liar and a fraud. he lied about his report, who sent him, and what he found. he did so to score political points. rememebr, he was the hero of the kerry campaing until he was discovered as a fraud and a hack. remember his website restorehonesty.com? yeah, it was hosted on kerry's site, until the senate testimony, then it was hosed and redirected to kerry's site. click on the link and see where it takes you. surprise surprise. it takes you to johnkerry.com.
netcraft lookup
restorehonesty.com: ip address 69.20.74.244
reverse DNS johnkerry.com
johnkerry.com: ip address 69.20.74.244
reverse DNS johnkerry.com
apple probably was a small volume but high profile buyer. they bought a few million units every year but the cache of apple and PowerPC, yada yada, carried more weight than the dollars from Steve and the boys. are PPC chips in the iPod? I don't know, but I'd gather that that's at least as vital a chip demand.
whoa, where did you get the idea I focus on memorization. perhaps the bit about reading and writing and constructing a cogent argument should have given you a little clue. I specifically don't favor memorization, and in fact, let the students use their notes on tests. They need to understand the material. I never said I didn't have an answer, just that if it can't make them a buck, they don't give a shit. that's all.
Actually, I do. In fact, I relate current events to the past all the time. But what they're really asking is "how much money is this going to make me..." And that is the problem. Go through the classifieds, not a single job offer says BA in history. In fact, you can teach history without even majoring in it, or even taking more than a class or two. It's shameful. This is because history gets lumped into "social studies" (how that term disgusts me!!) and include psych, econ, geography, etc. It's like never getting beyond college algebra yet being credentialed to teach HS calc. And yes, I've met plenty of history teachers who knew very little history.
you're right, it did and could hapen again. however, the problem is that schools and teachers by and large are way out of the political mainstream. so, most parents (myself included) cringe at some of the things being taught. take for instance the ubiquitous sex ed. if parents thought that schools were educating not indoctrinating, then yes, real debates could take place. but until then...
True, and by high school, I should be able to assign them more difficult reading than their texts. What just kills me is that I'll assign a source document and yes, I know it's hard. But I do expect them to read it, and even reread it, perhaps ghave a dictionary and use it. They will go a paragraph or so, find a hard word, then stop. I hear "it's too hard" all the time. Yes, earlier in grade school they need to develop the reading skills and they will gt it by reading what they enjoy. But in the higher grades, they need to be able to read more than the sports page of gossip column.
You are 110% correct. I am a high school history teacher and if there's one thing that I would change it's reading. Kids don't read, period. They need to read books, litereature, histroy, etc. The nonsense that they need to read what interests them is ruining kids. They don't like it, hah, they don't read it, and we give them the perfect excuse.
Second, stop treating them like helpless, esteem-craving babies. We are more concerned if they "feel good about themselves" than if they actually learn something. Demand high performance and if they don't meet it, than they need to work harder. Period. School is where you get an education, not job training. The dereanged idea that it has to have meaning, relevance, etc., or it is worthless is ruining schools. I get kids ask all the time "when are we gonna use this...". It's like they have no understanding of why history matters, and then, educrats and the morons running teacher schools give them perfect out. Oh, we didn't make it meaningful enough, we didn't relate it better, we didn't culturally norm it.
I assume most, many, at least some,/. readers are taxpayers. You have a right to demand that your schools don't cave to the latest trends, fads, and edu-babble. Authentic assessment, alternative learning styles, etc., are ruining basic instruction.
as for technology, you're right. get computers out of schools completely. (by the way, I have an MA in Ed. Technology) They don't help kids learn and in fact they hinder the writing process. Plus teachers see lab days or weeks as a vacation. I use Keynote to present notes, maps, etc., on the overhead big screen, but that's entirely different than having a kid do a powerpoint on WW2. We need to focus on fundamentlas, reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. They need to read more and write more, and be able to construct cogent arguments and analyses in both written and oral form. They need classes in rhetoric and philosophy. Lastly, I would add this: stop diminishing school. We allow seniors (and some juniors) to leave at lunch. What are we telling them? Hey, hurry up and get outta here, there's nothing important going on. I could scream. In fact, I have.
liberals Wilson, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson were all "war mongers" while the conservatives at the time were isolationists. I don't think that typical ideological labels apply as "conservatives" like Pat Buchanan are opposed to the war, and liberals like Christpoher Hitchens are very supportive. the anti-war, anti-military strain is far more leftist which I don't think is representative of liberalism in general. would a true liberal ever support groups that favor imposition of religious law, killing of homosexuals, no legal status for women, persecution of non-believers, and complete intolerance? hardly. yet that is exactly what the moores, galloways, et al., are doing. so, i think it is grossly unfair to liberals to lump them in with leftists.
some people don't like metal. fine. but there's a raw energy that i never heard in any subsequent metallica album. in fact, the onyl metallica on my ipod is master. and i've seen them play it in concert many times. it's pure energy. now i was also refferring the entire album. every single song rips your head off. there are few albums that have ever matched it.
the first thing i noticed is it can't do tremolos. the things just push down on the frets. big deal. but a machine can never impart emotion into the notes. think things like palm muting, slides, bends, etc. (okay, i'm not the most technically knowledgable player.) I can play the notes to stairway to heaven. i'm not jimmy page. what makes master of puppets so powerful? is it the notes or hetfield/hammet?
most *nix based routers will work great, howeevr, it is essential to properly configure iptables. the other thing is that any default install, especially linux, will have all kinds of other things installed. i don't even install ssh onto the router. it has basically a kernel, and the bare minimum of applications. nothing to compromise.
that is typical leftist groupthink. some fuck for brains says it on a website, and viola', it's true. you idiots will believe anything. i feel sorry for dimbshits like you that will fall for anything. we did not give him WMD's. in fact, who was building his nuke reactor? the frogs. who built his underground bunker? the krauts. who was doing secret deals with him for 12 years during sanctions? the frogs, krauts, and ruskies. get a clue. when we lose this war becasue of fuckheads like you, when achmed and his bearded buddies come and chop yor head off, he's not going to care that you opposed the "illegal war". he laugh, cut your head off, and shhout alihu akbar. as much as it would be cosmic justice, i'll still rather you keep your head, even though it serves as little more than a hatrack.
OO.org is quite a bit better on PC (linux, windows) than macs. for whtaever reasons, it just is. there are alot of decent options, like abiword/gnumeric or KOffice (if you can like X11 and fink...) but in the whole industry there's just not much of a market for office suites. it's office or office. usually 97 versus 2000 versus XP. hopefully OO.org 2.0 will do for it what moz has done for the browser wars.
i installed office X on my ibook because I had to for grad school. damn profs always wanting.doc's. anyways, i rarely use it in my classroom. honestly. i use keynote and abiword, as my WP needs are small. also, for alot of things I just go the html route. but that's me. anyways, office is by far the best bet on the mac. since OO.org has kinda dropped OSX from its priority OS's, don't expect much improvement in the mac situation. apple could, i imagine, have put money into OO.org, or some other suite, or developed one in house, but they really need a top tier MSOFfice, and pissing off ms ain't gonna be helpful. really, apple sales are probably 1% of microsoft's business. it isn't gonna cause billy g to lose sleep the way linux does.
cruel, unusual and unconstitutional but still considered the law.
how exactly? if you read the constitution, the "times, manners, and places" are to be determined by the states.
here's part of the 14th ammendment:
Section 2....But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
15th ammendment
Section. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
it is entirely legal and constitutional to deny voting to felons. in fact, there are many disqualifying factors. now, if you think that we've felonized damn near every crime imaginable, then I agree. that's a bigger issue, but not related to voting.
the principal's secretary at my old school had such a machine. of course, it was ten years ago, she was pretty much the only one in the office with a computer, and she wouldn't/couldn't use "PC's" so she used a Mac withe PC card. it was damn funny to see her boot into windows 3.1 to work on some software we had the was windows only.
when i was in grad school (MA Education), I had to take copious notes and since my handwriting is awful, I ended up using my ibook (plus the wifi was nice to surf in boring classes!!). I tried appleworks but it is really bad. I don't like word and OO.org is too large, so I ended up using abiword (abisource.com). It runs on os x, linux, and windows, has great file compatibility, is small and runs fast, plus exports to html nicely. plus, the outline features are nice. it is open source too.
I am a high school teacher. If I have one thing about kids today that infuriates me, it's that they don't read. I wonder half the time if they even can at all. I teach history (I'm a geek by avocation!!) and am shocked at the absolute refusal of so many to read. Not "I don't get it", but "f*** it, I'm not going to read it". If they don't even touch a computer, they'll be fine. Really. What is a computer but a simple tool really. I code for fun. Some do for profit. Fine. For most, it's a tool. Type a paper, check email, etc. Things like an OS, browser, email client, etc., mean nothing. (Which is why microsoft is really scared. Once people actually figure it out...)
Anyways, take them fishing, hunting, skiing, etc. Have them play sports, read books, write poetry. Whatever. Teach them to cook. The technology we need is an MRI in a hospital not an Xbox in the living room. My dad is 67 or something. He never touched a computer until he reitred a few years ago. Now, he uses the computer like a pro.
And since this is father's day (btw, I have three myself), the best you thing you can do is be their father. Whatever you have to do is not more important than them. I'm 36 and still fish with my old man. There's a reason. Buy him a hundred books, read a hundred books to him, take him to a hundred ball games, take him fishing a hundred times, play a hundred games of candyland (or whtever game), do a hundred other things a hndred times before you buy him a computer.
hold on there big fella. don't you know that the economy is horrible and it's all bush's fault. despite the fact the europe has had no growth for the last several years, while we've been growing at 3-4% annually means that we're in horrible shape. despite the fact that unemployment is low, and has been for a long time still means the economy is horrible. despite the fact the recession started in march 2001, ended two quarters later, was one of the shortest and mildest on record means that the economy is horrible. and it's all bush fault. he's stealing all our money and giving it to halliburton. even though my house has more than doubled in value the last five years means bush is horrible. any good news mike him less horrible. don't you know that. weren't you told in advance? didn't you get the memo? so listen here buddy. next time you try to confuse us with a little sense, just take your wise ass self and go somewhere else. leave us to our little corner of cuckoo lala land. got that.
we want the government to do everything. heatlh care. oh, it's a right. retirement. gimme gimme gimme. education. federal takeover. we want prescription drugs, everything paid fo rby the governemnt. we want to use lawsuits to get rich quick, sue anyone for anything. we live in a welfare mentality. fuck if people care about freedom anymore. and freedom means freedom to fail. you want to make it rich, fine. but people want their desert without getting fat. it's sick.
that these fuckers won't get into? okay, video game comsoles. lotsa money there. P2P? how are they going to make a dime? competition is great, but they seem to do things just to do them, when other established technologies, protocols, or systems are in place. and it isn't to enter a market, it's to destroy a market. yeah, i know why they do it, but it is amazing really.
cutting budgets. are you insane. children will starve, old people will die, schools will close, evil I tell you, pure evil. we can't cut any spending, it's all necessary. don't you rememebr when, a few years back, there were literally thousands of people dying daily, just wasting away right there in front of our eyes, on the streets. and we did nothing until, mirable dictu, a government program saved them. except those greedy bastards won't pay ever higher taxes and now we have deficits.
you have no sympathy for us californians. you greedy evil right wing religious extremists, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, hate-monger. what do you have for breakfast? flesh of the downtrodden. you actaully expect us to reduce our spending? how can you be so cruel. have you no humanity?
Slashdot Mirror
There's is, and there's going to be more here, historical revisionism. Suffice to say there were several reasons:
1) marianas, iwo jima and okinawa. a friend's dad served on iwo and saipan. hell would be a gentle term. plus, i've read volumes. the fighting was unlike anything in the history of warfare. we'd have had 100X worse on japanese mainland. we expected 1 million allied casualties, and probably 10-20 million japanese. so it's lincoln's "terrible arithmetic" multiplied by 100.
2) russia. sure, we were their ally, but we all knew what they were, what they were going to do, and we wanted to send a message. if the rosenbergs (yes they were soviet spies) not given up the bomb, we'd have been in a totally different situation. we had to let them know they were well behind the curve. and yes we allowed many nazi scientists off the hook, that's not the point.
3) japan didn't surrender after bomb #1. and in fact, didn't after bomb #2. remember, the bombs were aug. 6 and aug. 9, they surrendered after the soviets invaded sakhalin and not until aug. 15. in fact, if you check, we actually had a bomber raid on aug. 10, and i believe aug. 12. ironic is that the communications were severed between the emperor (who wanted to surrender) and the military (who didn't). the militray was actualyl coming to the palace to arrest the emp and hold him so he couldn;t surrender. we didn't know this until much later. however, two nukes, two more B29 raids, and still no surrender.
4) politics. we were getting really tired of the war. europe was well over, domestic life was returning to normal, and yet 10,000 were dying on okinawa. how many more thousands were the public going to send? truman knew the war must end. and soon.
most of the second guessing has come from succeeding generations that had the luxury of self-relection that on;y peace can bring. like the greeks, it is our freedom that allows to us to be hyper-critical of ourselves (like a sophocles or aristophanes). we did much that we view as oppressive (japanese internement) yet at the time was wholly palatable by the large body of people. times change and so do cultures. but i think it is poor history and a worse morality play to go back and make assumptions about the bomb. look at japan today. not that 2 nukes are a tradeoff for a peaceful and free society (ah moral equivalency), but consider this:
40 years after the sedan the french were screaming revanche and we got ypres and verdun. 40 years after hiroshima, the japanese were not and we got toyotas.
who do these moderators think they are that they can try to silence people who present unpopular facts?
how long have you been around here? this is slashdot. the left is seething with hatred. ever read kos? the people there are freaking lunatics. there's no sense of sanity or mental stability. period. wilson is a liar and a fraud. he lied about his report, who sent him, and what he found. he did so to score political points. rememebr, he was the hero of the kerry campaing until he was discovered as a fraud and a hack. remember his website restorehonesty.com? yeah, it was hosted on kerry's site, until the senate testimony, then it was hosed and redirected to kerry's site. click on the link and see where it takes you. surprise surprise. it takes you to johnkerry.com.
netcraft lookup
restorehonesty.com:
ip address 69.20.74.244
reverse DNS johnkerry.com johnkerry.com: ip address 69.20.74.244
reverse DNS johnkerry.com
it doesn't lie.
apple probably was a small volume but high profile buyer. they bought a few million units every year but the cache of apple and PowerPC, yada yada, carried more weight than the dollars from Steve and the boys. are PPC chips in the iPod? I don't know, but I'd gather that that's at least as vital a chip demand.
whoa, where did you get the idea I focus on memorization. perhaps the bit about reading and writing and constructing a cogent argument should have given you a little clue. I specifically don't favor memorization, and in fact, let the students use their notes on tests. They need to understand the material. I never said I didn't have an answer, just that if it can't make them a buck, they don't give a shit. that's all.
Actually, I do. In fact, I relate current events to the past all the time. But what they're really asking is "how much money is this going to make me..." And that is the problem. Go through the classifieds, not a single job offer says BA in history. In fact, you can teach history without even majoring in it, or even taking more than a class or two. It's shameful. This is because history gets lumped into "social studies" (how that term disgusts me!!) and include psych, econ, geography, etc. It's like never getting beyond college algebra yet being credentialed to teach HS calc. And yes, I've met plenty of history teachers who knew very little history.
you're right, it did and could hapen again. however, the problem is that schools and teachers by and large are way out of the political mainstream. so, most parents (myself included) cringe at some of the things being taught. take for instance the ubiquitous sex ed. if parents thought that schools were educating not indoctrinating, then yes, real debates could take place. but until then...
True, and by high school, I should be able to assign them more difficult reading than their texts. What just kills me is that I'll assign a source document and yes, I know it's hard. But I do expect them to read it, and even reread it, perhaps ghave a dictionary and use it. They will go a paragraph or so, find a hard word, then stop. I hear "it's too hard" all the time. Yes, earlier in grade school they need to develop the reading skills and they will gt it by reading what they enjoy. But in the higher grades, they need to be able to read more than the sports page of gossip column.
You are 110% correct. I am a high school history teacher and if there's one thing that I would change it's reading. Kids don't read, period. They need to read books, litereature, histroy, etc. The nonsense that they need to read what interests them is ruining kids. They don't like it, hah, they don't read it, and we give them the perfect excuse.
/. readers are taxpayers. You have a right to demand that your schools don't cave to the latest trends, fads, and edu-babble. Authentic assessment, alternative learning styles, etc., are ruining basic instruction.
Second, stop treating them like helpless, esteem-craving babies. We are more concerned if they "feel good about themselves" than if they actually learn something. Demand high performance and if they don't meet it, than they need to work harder. Period. School is where you get an education, not job training. The dereanged idea that it has to have meaning, relevance, etc., or it is worthless is ruining schools. I get kids ask all the time "when are we gonna use this...". It's like they have no understanding of why history matters, and then, educrats and the morons running teacher schools give them perfect out. Oh, we didn't make it meaningful enough, we didn't relate it better, we didn't culturally norm it.
I assume most, many, at least some,
as for technology, you're right. get computers out of schools completely. (by the way, I have an MA in Ed. Technology) They don't help kids learn and in fact they hinder the writing process. Plus teachers see lab days or weeks as a vacation. I use Keynote to present notes, maps, etc., on the overhead big screen, but that's entirely different than having a kid do a powerpoint on WW2. We need to focus on fundamentlas, reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. They need to read more and write more, and be able to construct cogent arguments and analyses in both written and oral form. They need classes in rhetoric and philosophy. Lastly, I would add this: stop diminishing school. We allow seniors (and some juniors) to leave at lunch. What are we telling them? Hey, hurry up and get outta here, there's nothing important going on. I could scream. In fact, I have.
liberals Wilson, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson were all "war mongers" while the conservatives at the time were isolationists. I don't think that typical ideological labels apply as "conservatives" like Pat Buchanan are opposed to the war, and liberals like Christpoher Hitchens are very supportive. the anti-war, anti-military strain is far more leftist which I don't think is representative of liberalism in general. would a true liberal ever support groups that favor imposition of religious law, killing of homosexuals, no legal status for women, persecution of non-believers, and complete intolerance? hardly. yet that is exactly what the moores, galloways, et al., are doing. so, i think it is grossly unfair to liberals to lump them in with leftists.
some people don't like metal. fine. but there's a raw energy that i never heard in any subsequent metallica album. in fact, the onyl metallica on my ipod is master. and i've seen them play it in concert many times. it's pure energy. now i was also refferring the entire album. every single song rips your head off. there are few albums that have ever matched it.
the first thing i noticed is it can't do tremolos. the things just push down on the frets. big deal. but a machine can never impart emotion into the notes. think things like palm muting, slides, bends, etc. (okay, i'm not the most technically knowledgable player.) I can play the notes to stairway to heaven. i'm not jimmy page. what makes master of puppets so powerful? is it the notes or hetfield/hammet?
most *nix based routers will work great, howeevr, it is essential to properly configure iptables. the other thing is that any default install, especially linux, will have all kinds of other things installed. i don't even install ssh onto the router. it has basically a kernel, and the bare minimum of applications. nothing to compromise.
that is typical leftist groupthink. some fuck for brains says it on a website, and viola', it's true. you idiots will believe anything. i feel sorry for dimbshits like you that will fall for anything. we did not give him WMD's. in fact, who was building his nuke reactor? the frogs. who built his underground bunker? the krauts. who was doing secret deals with him for 12 years during sanctions? the frogs, krauts, and ruskies. get a clue. when we lose this war becasue of fuckheads like you, when achmed and his bearded buddies come and chop yor head off, he's not going to care that you opposed the "illegal war". he laugh, cut your head off, and shhout alihu akbar. as much as it would be cosmic justice, i'll still rather you keep your head, even though it serves as little more than a hatrack.
OO.org is quite a bit better on PC (linux, windows) than macs. for whtaever reasons, it just is. there are alot of decent options, like abiword/gnumeric or KOffice (if you can like X11 and fink...) but in the whole industry there's just not much of a market for office suites. it's office or office. usually 97 versus 2000 versus XP. hopefully OO.org 2.0 will do for it what moz has done for the browser wars.
.doc's. anyways, i rarely use it in my classroom. honestly. i use keynote and abiword, as my WP needs are small. also, for alot of things I just go the html route. but that's me. anyways, office is by far the best bet on the mac. since OO.org has kinda dropped OSX from its priority OS's, don't expect much improvement in the mac situation. apple could, i imagine, have put money into OO.org, or some other suite, or developed one in house, but they really need a top tier MSOFfice, and pissing off ms ain't gonna be helpful. really, apple sales are probably 1% of microsoft's business. it isn't gonna cause billy g to lose sleep the way linux does.
i installed office X on my ibook because I had to for grad school. damn profs always wanting
apple needs office more than MS needs apple.
how exactly? if you read the constitution, the "times, manners, and places" are to be determined by the states.
here's part of the 14th ammendment:
15th ammendment it is entirely legal and constitutional to deny voting to felons. in fact, there are many disqualifying factors. now, if you think that we've felonized damn near every crime imaginable, then I agree. that's a bigger issue, but not related to voting.
the principal's secretary at my old school had such a machine. of course, it was ten years ago, she was pretty much the only one in the office with a computer, and she wouldn't/couldn't use "PC's" so she used a Mac withe PC card. it was damn funny to see her boot into windows 3.1 to work on some software we had the was windows only.
when i was in grad school (MA Education), I had to take copious notes and since my handwriting is awful, I ended up using my ibook (plus the wifi was nice to surf in boring classes!!). I tried appleworks but it is really bad. I don't like word and OO.org is too large, so I ended up using abiword (abisource.com). It runs on os x, linux, and windows, has great file compatibility, is small and runs fast, plus exports to html nicely. plus, the outline features are nice. it is open source too.
I am a high school teacher. If I have one thing about kids today that infuriates me, it's that they don't read. I wonder half the time if they even can at all. I teach history (I'm a geek by avocation!!) and am shocked at the absolute refusal of so many to read. Not "I don't get it", but "f*** it, I'm not going to read it". If they don't even touch a computer, they'll be fine. Really. What is a computer but a simple tool really. I code for fun. Some do for profit. Fine. For most, it's a tool. Type a paper, check email, etc. Things like an OS, browser, email client, etc., mean nothing. (Which is why microsoft is really scared. Once people actually figure it out...)
Anyways, take them fishing, hunting, skiing, etc. Have them play sports, read books, write poetry. Whatever. Teach them to cook. The technology we need is an MRI in a hospital not an Xbox in the living room. My dad is 67 or something. He never touched a computer until he reitred a few years ago. Now, he uses the computer like a pro.
And since this is father's day (btw, I have three myself), the best you thing you can do is be their father. Whatever you have to do is not more important than them. I'm 36 and still fish with my old man. There's a reason. Buy him a hundred books, read a hundred books to him, take him to a hundred ball games, take him fishing a hundred times, play a hundred games of candyland (or whtever game), do a hundred other things a hndred times before you buy him a computer.
hold on there big fella. don't you know that the economy is horrible and it's all bush's fault. despite the fact the europe has had no growth for the last several years, while we've been growing at 3-4% annually means that we're in horrible shape. despite the fact that unemployment is low, and has been for a long time still means the economy is horrible. despite the fact the recession started in march 2001, ended two quarters later, was one of the shortest and mildest on record means that the economy is horrible. and it's all bush fault. he's stealing all our money and giving it to halliburton. even though my house has more than doubled in value the last five years means bush is horrible. any good news mike him less horrible. don't you know that. weren't you told in advance? didn't you get the memo? so listen here buddy. next time you try to confuse us with a little sense, just take your wise ass self and go somewhere else. leave us to our little corner of cuckoo lala land. got that.
so, how's the weather in Calcutta?
we want the government to do everything. heatlh care. oh, it's a right. retirement. gimme gimme gimme. education. federal takeover. we want prescription drugs, everything paid fo rby the governemnt. we want to use lawsuits to get rich quick, sue anyone for anything. we live in a welfare mentality. fuck if people care about freedom anymore. and freedom means freedom to fail. you want to make it rich, fine. but people want their desert without getting fat. it's sick.
that these fuckers won't get into? okay, video game comsoles. lotsa money there. P2P? how are they going to make a dime? competition is great, but they seem to do things just to do them, when other established technologies, protocols, or systems are in place. and it isn't to enter a market, it's to destroy a market. yeah, i know why they do it, but it is amazing really.
cutting budgets. are you insane. children will starve, old people will die, schools will close, evil I tell you, pure evil. we can't cut any spending, it's all necessary. don't you rememebr when, a few years back, there were literally thousands of people dying daily, just wasting away right there in front of our eyes, on the streets. and we did nothing until, mirable dictu, a government program saved them. except those greedy bastards won't pay ever higher taxes and now we have deficits.
you have no sympathy for us californians. you greedy evil right wing religious extremists, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, hate-monger. what do you have for breakfast? flesh of the downtrodden. you actaully expect us to reduce our spending? how can you be so cruel. have you no humanity?
floppy disks? walmart? you'd actually post that on /. ?
i meant "right wing hate".