I see where you're coming from, no doubt about that.
However, I don't quite understand this sentiment that (for example) if you give your kids spell-check, they're never going to learn to spell correctly.
Maybe that's because I've been using computers for as long as I can remember (Ah, the days when the 486 was pretty snappy, and having a CD-ROM drive was soooo cool, and the new PCI bus!) and have always had spell check at my fingertips. Didn't stop me from being the spelling bee champion at my middle school. It never held me back from having a college-level reading ability in 4th grade, either. It certainly didn't keep me from having the thrid highest score in my division/category at this year's California State Academic Decathlon, where my team earned overall 1st place.
Personally, I think having a computer helped out quite a bit. Perhaps it's because how I view it and make use of it. See, most of my friends label me as a "smart kid", sometimes even "genius", thohg I don't think I'm nearly that high up in the ranks. Why, though? It's because when they come to me with a question of sorts, 9 times out of 10 I can give them a solid answer. Many times, it's something I just know off the top of my head. However, just as likely, it's something I don't know about. But I know where to find the answer. A computer, or perhaps more specifically, a computer connected to the internet, is a great place to find information. It is not a magical object that spits out answers perfectly or corrects my work, no more than a dictionary or an encyclopedia at any rate. It's a tool, and a very powerful one at that. So next time a friend comes around asking me about this or that, I know where to look to tell them what they need. Better yet, I know what to do in order to show them how to find what they want.
So perhaps it is an issue of perspective. No one would hold off on giving their children a dictionary or an encyclopedia, justifying it by saying they should learn all those things for themselves first, that having those things would make the children lazy. No one views a dictionary or an encyclopedia like that. They're viewed as tools, research aides, invaluable resources.
If one learns to view and use a computer in the same way, I don't think there'd be any issue holding one back from great achievement.
Again, I'm not saying you're wrong in waiting to give your children their own computer. I just hope they ultimately learn how to make use of one properly.
The problem with that Hybrid vs. Taurus comparison is that.. Well, it's too good.
Yes, Insights and Priuses are forward-thinking vehicles designed for a beter future and all that jazz. Yes, Tauruses are traditionals sedans built on the concepts of the past and whatnot.
The fact is, though, that the Taurus still massively outsells the Prius and the Insight.
Take that same concept and apply it to Microsoft vs. "The New Guys" (or whatever you want to call all the various hot new things MicroSoft must defeat to stay relevant) and... You get a very realistic comparison. So a good deal of people are using FireFox and OpenOffice, and Google is THE search engine. People ae still doing all these things from a Windows desktop, and a vast majority stick to the standard MicroSoft offering anyhow.
I'd most definitely love to see the Prius and thew Insight trounce the Taurus. It ain't happenin' soon.
I'd most definitely love to se "The New Guys" trounce MicroSoft. It ain't happenin' soon.
Why do we need laptops and Bluetooth just to figure out what the heck is wrong with a car these days?
On my '85 Camaro, I could do it with a paperclip and a Chiltons manual...
I think so.
C'mon, think about it. This guy has ben doing Morse code since before you were born. What gives you the slightest hint that you could punch out a message faster with your thumbs? Have you ever seen these guys work?
Suffice it to say... Yes, I am telling you he could code faster than you with your thumb keyboard.
[Be Free.]
I don't understand why people feel like pointing this out. Sure, yes, it's a zipped file. It's compressed but.. It's still the format. It's akin to someone shooting down FLAC, even though it's about half the size of WAV, just because, well, it's compressed. Open Office.org's format results in smaller files than Word's. And there you have it.
Or heck, maybe I'm totally off, in which case feel free to alert me to that fact. However, that's how it seems to me.
"Or been to a Google-plex movie theatre recently..."
Ah, thankfully, there is at least one chain that doesn't show the stupid ads. Century Theatres. Makes me kinda feel warm and fuzzy inside for working for them.
Actually, these kinds of applications can be greatly interesting to musicians. It may seem a funny concept to use a computer to play an organ, but one of the best applications me and my dad found for his old 450mhz system was installing a VST Organ synth on it so he can bring it along on gigs, and it sounds better than any hardware he ever bought. If I could've set that system up using Linux, I would've done it in an instant. It's these things I'd like to see implemented in Linux to make it usable for yet another great selection of potential users.
My computer has been connected to my stereo for... Well, ever since I had a stereo to hook it up to. Granted, I'm only 16, but still... I can spend a buck on a mini plug-to-RCA cable at Radio Shack and have everything playing through the stereo no problem. And why must it even be hooked up to the stereo? Nowadays with soundcards getting better and better and people going out and buy Klipsch (sp?) 5.1 audio systems just for their PCs, the PC becomes the Hi-Fi. Don't tell me the RIAA is going to go after mini plug-to-RCA cables now...
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I see where you're coming from, no doubt about that.
However, I don't quite understand this sentiment that (for example) if you give your kids spell-check, they're never going to learn to spell correctly.
Maybe that's because I've been using computers for as long as I can remember (Ah, the days when the 486 was pretty snappy, and having a CD-ROM drive was soooo cool, and the new PCI bus!) and have always had spell check at my fingertips. Didn't stop me from being the spelling bee champion at my middle school. It never held me back from having a college-level reading ability in 4th grade, either. It certainly didn't keep me from having the thrid highest score in my division/category at this year's California State Academic Decathlon, where my team earned overall 1st place.
Personally, I think having a computer helped out quite a bit. Perhaps it's because how I view it and make use of it. See, most of my friends label me as a "smart kid", sometimes even "genius", thohg I don't think I'm nearly that high up in the ranks. Why, though? It's because when they come to me with a question of sorts, 9 times out of 10 I can give them a solid answer. Many times, it's something I just know off the top of my head. However, just as likely, it's something I don't know about. But I know where to find the answer. A computer, or perhaps more specifically, a computer connected to the internet, is a great place to find information. It is not a magical object that spits out answers perfectly or corrects my work, no more than a dictionary or an encyclopedia at any rate. It's a tool, and a very powerful one at that. So next time a friend comes around asking me about this or that, I know where to look to tell them what they need. Better yet, I know what to do in order to show them how to find what they want.
So perhaps it is an issue of perspective. No one would hold off on giving their children a dictionary or an encyclopedia, justifying it by saying they should learn all those things for themselves first, that having those things would make the children lazy. No one views a dictionary or an encyclopedia like that. They're viewed as tools, research aides, invaluable resources.
If one learns to view and use a computer in the same way, I don't think there'd be any issue holding one back from great achievement.
Again, I'm not saying you're wrong in waiting to give your children their own computer. I just hope they ultimately learn how to make use of one properly.
The problem with that Hybrid vs. Taurus comparison is that.. Well, it's too good.
i dsize-cars/ford/taurus/2004/ )
Yes, Insights and Priuses are forward-thinking vehicles designed for a beter future and all that jazz. Yes, Tauruses are traditionals sedans built on the concepts of the past and whatnot.
The fact is, though, that the Taurus still massively outsells the Prius and the Insight.
The Taurus averages about 350,000 sold per year since 1985. ( http://www.internetautoguide.com/reviews/45-int/m
The Prius sold all of 24,000 in '03. ( http://slate.msn.com/id/2096191/ )
From 1999 to 2002, the Insight sold just under 11,000 units. ( http://www.insightcentral.net/KB/sales.html )
Take that same concept and apply it to Microsoft vs. "The New Guys" (or whatever you want to call all the various hot new things MicroSoft must defeat to stay relevant) and... You get a very realistic comparison. So a good deal of people are using FireFox and OpenOffice, and Google is THE search engine. People ae still doing all these things from a Windows desktop, and a vast majority stick to the standard MicroSoft offering anyhow.
I'd most definitely love to see the Prius and thew Insight trounce the Taurus. It ain't happenin' soon.
I'd most definitely love to se "The New Guys" trounce MicroSoft. It ain't happenin' soon.
[Be Free.]
Why do we need laptops and Bluetooth just to figure out what the heck is wrong with a car these days? On my '85 Camaro, I could do it with a paperclip and a Chiltons manual...
I think so. C'mon, think about it. This guy has ben doing Morse code since before you were born. What gives you the slightest hint that you could punch out a message faster with your thumbs? Have you ever seen these guys work? Suffice it to say... Yes, I am telling you he could code faster than you with your thumb keyboard. [Be Free.]
I don't understand why people feel like pointing this out. Sure, yes, it's a zipped file. It's compressed but.. It's still the format. It's akin to someone shooting down FLAC, even though it's about half the size of WAV, just because, well, it's compressed. Open Office.org's format results in smaller files than Word's. And there you have it.
Or heck, maybe I'm totally off, in which case feel free to alert me to that fact. However, that's how it seems to me.
0.1 or 1.0... Isn't it all still Firefox?
So soon as the troops in Iraq find one, we'll know.
[Be Free.]
"...Eno had used "sampling" via tape loops in the early 70s..." Sounds like a Mellotron to me.
"Or been to a Google-plex movie theatre recently..." Ah, thankfully, there is at least one chain that doesn't show the stupid ads. Century Theatres. Makes me kinda feel warm and fuzzy inside for working for them.
Actually, these kinds of applications can be greatly interesting to musicians. It may seem a funny concept to use a computer to play an organ, but one of the best applications me and my dad found for his old 450mhz system was installing a VST Organ synth on it so he can bring it along on gigs, and it sounds better than any hardware he ever bought. If I could've set that system up using Linux, I would've done it in an instant. It's these things I'd like to see implemented in Linux to make it usable for yet another great selection of potential users.
You complain of these cars smelling of donuts... You mean to tell me you prefer the smell of a pickup running on standard diesel?
My computer has been connected to my stereo for... Well, ever since I had a stereo to hook it up to. Granted, I'm only 16, but still... I can spend a buck on a mini plug-to-RCA cable at Radio Shack and have everything playing through the stereo no problem. And why must it even be hooked up to the stereo? Nowadays with soundcards getting better and better and people going out and buy Klipsch (sp?) 5.1 audio systems just for their PCs, the PC becomes the Hi-Fi. Don't tell me the RIAA is going to go after mini plug-to-RCA cables now...