...at parties he would often play several games of chess simultaneously, with his back to the boards and while maintaining lively conversation with his other guests.
So what, I've done that lots of times. It was easy. Hell, I might have even won one of them, maybe. I was really drunk those times, so I can't be all that sure. Or something.
There's no law against talking on a cellphone in a theater, just a request.
The threadparent said "rule" not "law". Theaters have rules, break them and they have the right to remove you. They can't take you to court, but they can force you to leave.
I have a cell phone but I have never had it ring anywhere inappropriate because I turn off the damn ringer and put it on vibration mode.
Same here. The normal mode of operation for mine is vibrate mode. I only ever tap it over to audio rings when I put it down, like at home. In theaters and the like, if I think about it, I usually turn the ringer off, but worst case, my pocket buzzes and the radius of annoyance is just a couple feet.
I suppose some people can't use vibrate because the phone is in a purse or something. I suggest they get smaller phones and/or clothing with useful pockets.
If their phone annoys me, I often make a point to annoy/rebuke them.
For a long while, I was into making Freeze class ships too. If you had more than one stasis field on a ship, you had to add each one separately so that you could freeze more than one ship.
They didn't work against planets though, so my transition from "defend the empire" to "enlarge the empire" was marked by adding several dedicated Bomber ships to each armada.
Re:Bring a graduate assistant to class ...
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Professors vs. WiFi
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· Score: 1
For me, and I think most people, the computer with a 'net connection is more engrossing than doodling, reading assignments for other classes, etc. That means it's harder for me to "snap back" my full attention on the class when necessary.
All the more reason to be sure that there are class related things that can be done with the computers. If it is going to draw the attention of some students anyway, then make it at least possible that the distraction is relevant.
... and have them answer the questions as they pop up on the class wiki/blog. Forward harder ones and ones that pop up a lot to the prof's screen, he/she can then work it into the lecture. Give bonus points if a student answers the questions better/quicker than the grad assistant. That would give those bored by the pace of the class (top 10%) something helpful and educational to do (teaching a subject is one of the best ways to really really learn it well, you learn your own ignorance quite well).
Profs should get in the game...
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Professors vs. WiFi
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· Score: 4, Interesting
... they could run something like Driftnet and possibly shame kids away from more blatant wastes of class time... or into getting some practical know-how with security.
Give the kids a class-topic wiki/blog and let the computers become a tool for student-student, student-grad.assistant, and student-prof communication. The prof could bring a grad.assistant to each class and have him/her answer questions that students have about the lecture in near-realtime as they appear on the wiki/blog. Give shy students a way to ask questions. Bonus points for students that answer each other's questions before the grad.assistant.
The profs are lagging behind the students. The students have rushed forward in a somewhat haphazzard fashion, but think of it as a case of spitballs and doodles. One doesn't end spitballs by taking away all paper or doodles by taking away all writing impliments. The best thing to do is to give the students something better to do with the tools. Some virtues that will draw their attention better than the available vices.
Usually the set of a person is one person. While the set of a person's friends is between 5 and 10 people. Add to that the set of friends of friends, which can loosely be called friends in casual conversation, and there are a good 50 people from which each person learns about life experiences of note. Thus it is more probable that a random good or bad thing in a person's "experience pool" was put there not by them, but by a friend.
I think you may be overlooking the possiblity that most other cell phone owners don't feel like they are a prisoner to it. I might feel that way, if I thought that I had to answer every call, or something super-silly like that. But as it is, my cell phone is a marvelous device which certainly liberates me more than it annoys or shackles me.
But on the flip side, sites like this do not generally fall under constitutionally protected free speech in the US.
I disagree. The way I read it, that site does not fail the Miller test. Here are the conditions, all of which must be met for something to be considered obscene according to the Miller test:
1) the proscribed material must depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, according to contemporary community standards,
2) the work must, taken as a whole, lack serious value and must appeal to a prurient interest in sex.
3) laws made to censor such material must specifically describe the conduct or behavior being censored (so there are no huge, sweeping laws. like, say, the ones currently being argued.)
...that a rich, highly vocal minority are imposing their religious moral standards upon the rest of the country...
I'm not so sure it is a minority. It might very well be the majority. However, that does not matter. The majority has no more right to censor than a minority does.
Yeah, nano is cool. After seeing it via Gentoo, I've started using it on cygwin (for this MSwin box here at work). Had to alias it to always include -w, since otherwise I would start to forget and it would bite some script at just the wrong time. Otherwise, it is tiny and sweet.
If you think that qwerty is an illogical layout, I don't see why dvorak is any better on a handheld. Neither were designed for typing with one's thumbs.
But didn't that system have a flaw: I could prove I have the CDs, then send 'em to you so that you prove you have 'em, then you send 'em... If the system allows such a simple bait and switch, then it doesn't live up to the thread parent's idea. Now, if it was able to see that the same CD has already been used in a proof-of-ownership, and it then only allowed one-at-a-time listening to all of the people that use it as proof-of-ownership, that might just live up the idea. Then there would be something of an incentive for each person, P, to only let a few people use CDs that P has paid for, since the more people, the more likely it will be checked out when P wants to hear it.
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I suppose some people can't use vibrate because the phone is in a purse or something. I suggest they get smaller phones and/or clothing with useful pockets.
If their phone annoys me, I often make a point to annoy/rebuke them.
They didn't work against planets though, so my transition from "defend the empire" to "enlarge the empire" was marked by adding several dedicated Bomber ships to each armada.
Give the kids a class-topic wiki/blog and let the computers become a tool for student-student, student-grad.assistant, and student-prof communication. The prof could bring a grad.assistant to each class and have him/her answer questions that students have about the lecture in near-realtime as they appear on the wiki/blog. Give shy students a way to ask questions. Bonus points for students that answer each other's questions before the grad.assistant.
The profs are lagging behind the students. The students have rushed forward in a somewhat haphazzard fashion, but think of it as a case of spitballs and doodles. One doesn't end spitballs by taking away all paper or doodles by taking away all writing impliments. The best thing to do is to give the students something better to do with the tools. Some virtues that will draw their attention better than the available vices.
- 1) the proscribed material must depict or describe sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, according to contemporary community standards,
- 2) the work must, taken as a whole, lack serious value and must appeal to a prurient interest in sex.
- 3) laws made to censor such material must specifically describe the conduct or behavior being censored (so there are no huge, sweeping laws. like, say, the ones currently being argued.)
[Oh, I snatched those from a post by some AC.]I agree, this line which many try to draw called pronography is not so clear as they would like listeners to believe.
Yeah, nano is cool. After seeing it via Gentoo, I've started using it on cygwin (for this MSwin box here at work). Had to alias it to always include -w, since otherwise I would start to forget and it would bite some script at just the wrong time. Otherwise, it is tiny and sweet.
If you think that qwerty is an illogical layout, I don't see why dvorak is any better on a handheld. Neither were designed for typing with one's thumbs.