I have the exact opposite experience. I have kids aged 7 and 8. They left kindergarten reading fairly well and started writing stories in first grade. My oldest kid just finished second grade and she had to learn the multiplication tables up to 12 x 12.
I was in kindergarten in 1975 and I think our goal was to learn the colors and the alphabet. We didn't get serious about reading until second and third grade. Didn't do multiplication until fourth grade. My kids have a little homework every night, I never had daily homework until high school.
They have covered things like global warming, but in a more abstract way. Conserve energy, don't pollute, observe bugs, etc... They also spent quite a bit of time on the space program including a 3 month project where they were able to choose one area of study and prepare a report and presentation (my daughter chose Saturn and the Cassini mission). I never had the opportunity to do anything even remotely like this when I was 8.
In a way I agree. The problem as I understand it, is that they weren't selected for the blog due to the content of their report. Rather, they were included because they paid for inclusion. It's a bad precedent to set I think. It harms the reputation of the blog and of the other people published there.
Re:Thank God for standardized testing
on
The Creativity Crisis
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· Score: 2, Insightful
If that's what your school district is like, I would suggest you either get involved and try to make some changes or move.
When we relocated in 2008, the quality of the local public schools is largely why we picked the house we did. Yes, our property taxes are fairly high ($8000+ / year on a $250k house), but we have a public school within walking distance with small classes (20-22 kids), art, music, and theater teachers, a clean new building and a very active parent base.
I don't see anybody trying to change the kids into uncreative conformist machines. Unless you are talking about disruptive kids. That generally isn't tolerated, but then I don't know that it should be. The school seems to be a safe, fun, and nurturing place and discipline and self control is part of it.
Teachers know a lot more about how kids learn than they did when I was a kid (in the '70's). Totally unstructured activities have their place, but so do structured and constrained activities. You don't like how your kids' teacher is balancing the two, talk to them about it.
The thing is, Pepsi has their own website. They can publish whatever they want there and earn their reputation, the same as everybody else. In this case, they were trying to purchase credibility from a site that had a good reputation.
A Pepsi site would have zero credibility - at first. Science is science, doesn't matter who is doing it or why. Publish your results and let others scrutinize and try to replicate the results. Pepsi could indeed build a positive reputation for research, much in the same way that Bell Labs did so many years ago.
The numbers are out there and they are surprising.
I couldn't find recent numbers but this is from two years ago and back then more then 40% of iPhone owners had income > $100,000. Since then, the big growth has been with people earning between $25k and $75k, but the average income of an iPhone owner is still very high. The 50th percentile number is something like $68,000.
I think an iPhone is actually not that extravagant. You can buy the older model for less than $100 and get the bottom tier of service for something like $70 / month. Not cheap, but within reach for a lot of people (less than $3 per day).
The N900 is more of an iPod or iPhone competitor than an iPad competitor, isn't it? Your comment about the iPad being unable to do half the things some other product can do reminds me of CmdrTaco's famous critique of the iPod when it first came out.
I think the iPad is well designed. Deciding what not to include in a product is often a more difficult decision than deciding what to include. Apple is very good at this and I think they have mostly nailed it with the iPad (I don't have one but my wife does). You don't like it and guess what? Thanks to Apple, the slate format is super hot right now and you will likely be able to get what you want from a different manufacturer.
Lookup the iPhone / iPad demographics some day. The people who own these things are mostly quite well off. A $500 purchase for many of these people does not make them "invested heavily".
According to the article, you have enumerated almost half of the possibilities. What if the second boy wasn't born on a Tuesday, then the first one must have been.
From the article:
Now suppose that the older child isn’t a boy born on Tuesday. The younger child then must be, of course. Now we count up the possibilities for the sex and birth day of the older child. If she’s a girl, she might have been born on any day of the week, generating seven more possibilities. If he’s a boy, he could have been born any day except Tuesday. (Otherwise this case would already have been counted in the first scenario: the older child a boy born on Tuesday). This second scenario generates just six, rather than seven, more possibilities.
You're right about consumers will pick the lowest cost product. Cost isn't always measured in money though.
For me, I haven't bought a DVD in many, many years. I simply don't want the plastic disk. Everything I watch comes from either cable TV, RedBox, Netflix or PS3 movie rental. All cost more money than torrenting, but to me are a better value (mostly because it is less hassle).
What I can't figure out is why the movie studios don't set up their own NetFlix. Undercut them and stream at higher quality. There's obviously a market for people who want to watch movies but don't want to pay for expensive DVDs. They have ceded this market entirely to legit companies like NetFlix and the illegal companies the article talks about. It doesn't make any sense. Cut out all the middlemen and keep that money in-house!
The prices are high, but I would be willing to pay it. My problem is the overbearing DRM. Do you really think all of these ereaders are going to survive? No way. None will be around forever. One day, you will lose all the books you have bought. I can't accept that eventuality with books.
Re:Oh good! The trolls are out in full force!
on
iOS 4 Releases Today
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· Score: 3, Insightful
I agree with you 100%. As a software developer I love it that Apple has popularized the slate format computer. More computers being sold equals more opportunities for me as a developer. I don't particularly like Apple's policies and that's why I'm bullish on Android and WebOS tablets.
I've quite shocked that Microsoft is having so much trouble in this space. They were almost there with pen computing but for some reason were never able to make the jump to touch computing.
In a recent blog entry, Russel Beattie did a pretty good job of explaining why WIMP (windows, icons, mouse, and pointer) doesn't work on a tablet.
I doubt it. Windows as a brand is a negative in the mobile space. Microsoft has shown themselves to be pretty much totally incompetent in non-desktop operating systems.
True, the iPhone dev kit is much more accessible. The last time I checked, a PS3 dev kit was about $2,000 (unless you were in academia) and the developer license from Sony made Apple's license look very good indeed.
Re:Oh good! The trolls are out in full force!
on
iOS 4 Releases Today
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· Score: 5, Insightful
they are computers with massively reduced user freedom
I think it's an appliance in the same way that my PS3 is an appliance. There is a computer under the covers and the device is quite general purpose, but in the end its an appliance because I don't have the freedom to tinker.
I think "computer with massively reduced user freedom" could be part of a decent definition of appliance.
I think I agree with you in that it's an extremely risky market. I think investors will continue to spend though because the winners tend to win very big.
Some acquisitions/investments just never make sense though (EBay + Skype), others make sense on some level but don't seem to go anywhere (Yahoo + Flicker), and lots of time I think companies are bought more for their engineering talent than their products (Apple + LaLa).
I'm thinking about it now because I'm starting to have bone loss where the tooth should be.
Other than that, it's mostly a cosmetic issue for me. I don't think about the missing tooth very often, but I smile a lot and every picture I see of myself, I can easily spot the missing tooth.
I'd wager this isn't a push service. I bet there is some 600MB client that has to be installed on a computer on the network. Or perhaps, it uses UPNP and the printer just opens the ports it needs. Most people have all their network gear running with default settings and almost all recent consumer routers have upnp enabled by default.
We have good insurance. My boss is Canadian and the running joke around here is that he is trying to recreate the Canadian system in our office. All of our deductibles and copays are reimbursed and the company funds an FSA for each employee and their family to cover stuff that slips through the cracks.
The big gap in our coverage is dental. Two cleanings per year and only $1000 of other work is covered. That doesn't even cover one crown.
Your health insurance covers the implant procedure? What country do you live in? I'm in the US, have excellent health insurance and I'm almost certain they wouldn't cover the implant procedure. I think their justification is that it's cosmetic.
Have you had an implant? My dentist is telling me to get one (have a missing tooth) and the estimate is between $4000 and $5000. That seems a bit outrageous to me. Just wondering if you (or anybody else) has data to compare.
I told my dentist I'll get an implant in Mexico and he just laughed at me.
Slashdot Mirror
I have the exact opposite experience. I have kids aged 7 and 8. They left kindergarten reading fairly well and started writing stories in first grade. My oldest kid just finished second grade and she had to learn the multiplication tables up to 12 x 12.
I was in kindergarten in 1975 and I think our goal was to learn the colors and the alphabet. We didn't get serious about reading until second and third grade. Didn't do multiplication until fourth grade. My kids have a little homework every night, I never had daily homework until high school.
They have covered things like global warming, but in a more abstract way. Conserve energy, don't pollute, observe bugs, etc... They also spent quite a bit of time on the space program including a 3 month project where they were able to choose one area of study and prepare a report and presentation (my daughter chose Saturn and the Cassini mission). I never had the opportunity to do anything even remotely like this when I was 8.
How old is your kid?
In a way I agree. The problem as I understand it, is that they weren't selected for the blog due to the content of their report. Rather, they were included because they paid for inclusion. It's a bad precedent to set I think. It harms the reputation of the blog and of the other people published there.
If that's what your school district is like, I would suggest you either get involved and try to make some changes or move.
When we relocated in 2008, the quality of the local public schools is largely why we picked the house we did. Yes, our property taxes are fairly high ($8000+ / year on a $250k house), but we have a public school within walking distance with small classes (20-22 kids), art, music, and theater teachers, a clean new building and a very active parent base.
I don't see anybody trying to change the kids into uncreative conformist machines. Unless you are talking about disruptive kids. That generally isn't tolerated, but then I don't know that it should be. The school seems to be a safe, fun, and nurturing place and discipline and self control is part of it.
Teachers know a lot more about how kids learn than they did when I was a kid (in the '70's). Totally unstructured activities have their place, but so do structured and constrained activities. You don't like how your kids' teacher is balancing the two, talk to them about it.
The thing is, Pepsi has their own website. They can publish whatever they want there and earn their reputation, the same as everybody else. In this case, they were trying to purchase credibility from a site that had a good reputation.
A Pepsi site would have zero credibility - at first. Science is science, doesn't matter who is doing it or why. Publish your results and let others scrutinize and try to replicate the results. Pepsi could indeed build a positive reputation for research, much in the same way that Bell Labs did so many years ago.
There's a big difference between being different for a technical reason and being different because you want to make more money selling accessories.
Apples magnetic connector is an interesting example of a technical reason for being different, and I support that.
As much as I hate scalpers, I hate Ticketmaster 10x more.
The numbers are out there and they are surprising.
I couldn't find recent numbers but this is from two years ago and back then more then 40% of iPhone owners had income > $100,000. Since then, the big growth has been with people earning between $25k and $75k, but the average income of an iPhone owner is still very high. The 50th percentile number is something like $68,000.
I think an iPhone is actually not that extravagant. You can buy the older model for less than $100 and get the bottom tier of service for something like $70 / month. Not cheap, but within reach for a lot of people (less than $3 per day).
Don't you find the iPad screen hard to read outside?
The N900 is more of an iPod or iPhone competitor than an iPad competitor, isn't it? Your comment about the iPad being unable to do half the things some other product can do reminds me of CmdrTaco's famous critique of the iPod when it first came out.
I think the iPad is well designed. Deciding what not to include in a product is often a more difficult decision than deciding what to include. Apple is very good at this and I think they have mostly nailed it with the iPad (I don't have one but my wife does). You don't like it and guess what? Thanks to Apple, the slate format is super hot right now and you will likely be able to get what you want from a different manufacturer.
Lookup the iPhone / iPad demographics some day. The people who own these things are mostly quite well off. A $500 purchase for many of these people does not make them "invested heavily".
The order isn't irrelevant for the answer, but it is relevant when enumerating all the possibilities. RTFA, it does a very good job of explaining it.
According to the article, you have enumerated almost half of the possibilities. What if the second boy wasn't born on a Tuesday, then the first one must have been.
From the article:
You're right about consumers will pick the lowest cost product. Cost isn't always measured in money though.
For me, I haven't bought a DVD in many, many years. I simply don't want the plastic disk. Everything I watch comes from either cable TV, RedBox, Netflix or PS3 movie rental. All cost more money than torrenting, but to me are a better value (mostly because it is less hassle).
What I can't figure out is why the movie studios don't set up their own NetFlix. Undercut them and stream at higher quality. There's obviously a market for people who want to watch movies but don't want to pay for expensive DVDs. They have ceded this market entirely to legit companies like NetFlix and the illegal companies the article talks about. It doesn't make any sense. Cut out all the middlemen and keep that money in-house!
Your so-called "so-called piracy" is what other people call theft.
And they are incorrect. Call it copyright infringement.
The prices are high, but I would be willing to pay it. My problem is the overbearing DRM. Do you really think all of these ereaders are going to survive? No way. None will be around forever. One day, you will lose all the books you have bought. I can't accept that eventuality with books.
I agree with you 100%. As a software developer I love it that Apple has popularized the slate format computer. More computers being sold equals more opportunities for me as a developer. I don't particularly like Apple's policies and that's why I'm bullish on Android and WebOS tablets.
I've quite shocked that Microsoft is having so much trouble in this space. They were almost there with pen computing but for some reason were never able to make the jump to touch computing.
In a recent blog entry, Russel Beattie did a pretty good job of explaining why WIMP (windows, icons, mouse, and pointer) doesn't work on a tablet.
that will change when Windows 7 Mobile arrives
I doubt it. Windows as a brand is a negative in the mobile space. Microsoft has shown themselves to be pretty much totally incompetent in non-desktop operating systems.
True, the iPhone dev kit is much more accessible. The last time I checked, a PS3 dev kit was about $2,000 (unless you were in academia) and the developer license from Sony made Apple's license look very good indeed.
they are computers with massively reduced user freedom
I think it's an appliance in the same way that my PS3 is an appliance. There is a computer under the covers and the device is quite general purpose, but in the end its an appliance because I don't have the freedom to tinker.
I think "computer with massively reduced user freedom" could be part of a decent definition of appliance.
I think I agree with you in that it's an extremely risky market. I think investors will continue to spend though because the winners tend to win very big.
Some acquisitions/investments just never make sense though (EBay + Skype), others make sense on some level but don't seem to go anywhere (Yahoo + Flicker), and lots of time I think companies are bought more for their engineering talent than their products (Apple + LaLa).
I'm thinking about it now because I'm starting to have bone loss where the tooth should be.
Other than that, it's mostly a cosmetic issue for me. I don't think about the missing tooth very often, but I smile a lot and every picture I see of myself, I can easily spot the missing tooth.
I'd wager this isn't a push service. I bet there is some 600MB client that has to be installed on a computer on the network. Or perhaps, it uses UPNP and the printer just opens the ports it needs. Most people have all their network gear running with default settings and almost all recent consumer routers have upnp enabled by default.
We have good insurance. My boss is Canadian and the running joke around here is that he is trying to recreate the Canadian system in our office. All of our deductibles and copays are reimbursed and the company funds an FSA for each employee and their family to cover stuff that slips through the cracks.
The big gap in our coverage is dental. Two cleanings per year and only $1000 of other work is covered. That doesn't even cover one crown.
Your health insurance covers the implant procedure? What country do you live in? I'm in the US, have excellent health insurance and I'm almost certain they wouldn't cover the implant procedure. I think their justification is that it's cosmetic.
Have you had an implant? My dentist is telling me to get one (have a missing tooth) and the estimate is between $4000 and $5000. That seems a bit outrageous to me. Just wondering if you (or anybody else) has data to compare.
I told my dentist I'll get an implant in Mexico and he just laughed at me.