I'm not a Linux expert by any means. I'd call myself "Noob+". Before switching to Linux about 7 years ago, I'd been what one might call a "Power User" of Windows since 3.1. XP Pro was my last Windows edition on my home system.
I'm not a coder. I'm not a "business professional". I'm just a guy who spends a lot of time puttering around on whatever strikes my fancy on my computer as a hobby. This last year I worked an office job for a construction company..Much of that time was spent on Windows 7.
I also am the local "computer nerd" who helps a bunch of people with their computer problems, and occasionally build systems for folks.. ranging from basic low end machines to some monster performance hardware.
My reason for switching was I got incredibly frustrated with Microsoft. I resented their "What do we want you to do today" approach to software... I got tired of having to install third party apps to get the basic functionality I wanted out of my system.. I got tired of the never-ending game of "whack the malware", got tired of the email spam.. (which decreased 70% within the first *week* of switching to Linux.. I don't know why exactly.)
So I snagged a copy of Ubuntu and took the plunge. I have not looked back. I've mucked around with a few distros, broken my installs with some ill-informed tinkering around "under the hood".. had problems getting various things to work, had to spend some time digging through forums for answers..
But even with the learning curve and my propensity for ill-informed tinkering... I've had probably 95% less problems with Linux. With Windows, I was having to reboot every time I installed a piece of software. With Linux, I basically reboot only when I wipe the drive and install a new distro to play with, or if we have a power failure. My system has uptime measure in months, whereas my Windows experiences needed a reboot about once a day.
Linux does what I need faster, lighter, and more efficiently than Windows ever has. My needs may not be the same as others.. but at present, there's only 1 reason I'd consider a Windows install.. (and I'd go 7 if I ever took that plunge again..) Games.
Games. That's it. Yes, I still have Linux problems.. audio in particular.. The learning curve is still a bit steep at times, especially when it comes to configuring.. But I run into *NONE* of the problems that all my Windows using friends are always calling me over to their houses to fix for them. I've even talked two of them into trying out Linux, and they're both committed Linux users now and loving it.
When I run Linux, once I get things working the way I like them... they do *just keep working* unless I fiddle with things I don't understand fully. Every once in a while and update breaks something.. 99% of the time it's something I "fiddled" with.. and I have to go re-fiddle to get it working again..
But what I love most.. absolutely most.. is that running Linux my system does what *I* tell it to. It doesn't tell me "you're not allowed to do that".. it doesn't try to set things up on its own, it doesn't phone home to some corporate babysitter.. It properly respects the user-OS relationship, and it just keeps plugging along doing its thing very reliably.
Metro, Much like Unity, fails on the desktop for one, blindingly simple reason..
I bought a desktop pc. I did not buy a tablet. I expect to be able to use my desktop pc like a desktop pc. If I had wanted a f**king tablet, I'd have bought one.
Personally, I consider all broadcast media "news" to be "propaganda" and treat it as such. Doesn't matter the source, it's always one group or another lying to you in such a way as to promote their particular factional interests.
However, your usage of the term "left of center" both intrigues and amuses me. To begin with, I find it kind of absurd that anybody in this country could claim to be able to identify what the position of "Center" actually is. Ostensibly, it would be simply "the middle point between two extremes".. but.. seeing as how opinion variies so widely, and in so many different arenas, across so many different issues, philosophies, paths, etc.. I just don't think it can be judged to any degree of accuracy..
Further.. it reaises the question of delineation.. "center in what area"? If one says "the political spectrum".. then this field is largely *shaped* by Media and the 2 dominant political Parties themselves.. and rendered pretty much usueless by that fact. I mean, how can one measure "Bias" when the criteria for determining "bias" is set by the biased?
Additionally, I know a great many people who self-identify as Liberal or Conservative.. And they do so largely because of what Media they consume. The Fox News junkies can't have a decent discussion about any issue without working down the list of "conservative talking points" that were trotted out the day before by Sean Hannity et al, and the MSNBC addicts are every bit as bad..
Yet, when one makes the effort to chastise these people into actually discussing *issues*, and throwing their media addictions out the window for the purposes of discussion.. You come to find out that they don't actually seem to *agree* with a large majority of the particular "party line" that they habitually tow.
Personally.. I think that the whole "Liberal vs Conservative" conflict in this country is nothing more than a gigantic social engineering experiment to keep average people fighting amongst themselves while a small group of criminal elites in media, politics, and finance keep laughing their way to the bank... but that's just me.
My parents were both teachers for ~30 years at the high school level here in Illinois.. and then my mother went on to be an educational consultant and inservice provider for another 10 years after retiring from active teaching. As such, I grew up looking at both sides of the educational system more than the average person..
This problem you describe is not new. It's not even something that arose with the poorly named "No Child Left Behind" legislation. I remember Illinois started a program of heavier standardized testing during the early 1990's.. the IGAP tests.. 1993 or 1994 was when I first ran into one in high school.
The teachers at the time were stressed out and annoyed by that.. the tests themselves were abysmal.. I basically "failed" the IGAP "reading comprehension" portion despite getting a 35 out of a possible 36 at the time on the ACT. The next year, one of the better teachers was actually fired in a "scandal" because they released the test early to students to study with. I witnessed many teachers changing their curriculum content to teach directly to these idiotic tests.
Decentralized education, as you mention, can *possibloy* have some benefits.. limited experimentation, etc.. But what I've seen in practice is that it doesn't. What I have seen in practice is some of the most nonsensical bs ever to be invoked in the name of "education."
I speak of the "School Board" system. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have a neighborhood popularity contest between a bunch of disinterested status-seekers with no training or experience in education, and then award the winners collectively with pretty much full administrative control over school operations and curriculum... clearly lived in a different era and/or had mental health issues.
I remember school boards comprised of old religious wingnuts, football obsessed yuppies, and "sky is falling, protect the children" soccer moms. What I do not remember is a single member of the body responsible for education policy having any member upon it actually trained in *education*. As such, the "needs of the community" being represented were "regressive religious indoctrination attempts" and "getting a winning football team" and "don't teach anything remotely controversial"..
Which pretty much results in a completely bullsh*t education. It wasn't just my own school. Every single one I've run into in the surrounding 3 states was similarly disposed.
You can see similar idiocy on a nationwide scale after the Columbine tragedy.. where thousands of school administrators banned the wearing of trench coats in highschools. No rational mind can accept the proposition that trench coats cause violence.. simply because Wall Street is not a daily bloodbath. But it is this kind of knee-jerk, non-thinking decision making which arises from a focus on "the needs of the community", when non-educators make up the "community" representation and have executive authority over the school systems.
Further, the way schools are funded here.. by property taxes.. pretty much guarantees that poor areas desperately in need of resources and better educational opportunities will alreays remain poor and in desperate need, while the rich communities will put in their second olympic sized swimming pool on campus and have Mariott cater their lunchrooms.
During the 30+ years I've been observing things around here.. the "best and brightest" have never thought about becoming teachers.. or if they did, they taught for a year or two, became familiarized with the realities of the job, and left to pursue careers where they weren't abused constantly and could actually reap some rewards.
I'm frankly in favor of centralized education. I'm not, however, in favor of standardized testing or rigid frameworks dependant upon it. However, if one is going to centralize control over education.. it needs to be at a curriculum level, and it needs to be accompanied by centralized *funding*. It's not something that can be slapped in place overnight by an act of Congress.. but it is something that needs to be intelligently evolved over time by a concerted act of national will to improve conditions in our schools.
Yeah.. better things to be doing.. like hanging out in donut shops all night, chatting each other up in parking lots behind buildings where a supervisor driving by won't see, and taking 6 cars full of thugs to pull over a 16-year old pimply-faced teenager who weighs 125 lbs soaking wet with boots on.
I spend probably 12 hours a day driving around in the city where I live.. I see all kinds of things.. daylight drug deals..people packing weapons walking down the street, domestic brawls, even the occasional shooting... what I don't see is cops doing a blessed thing even when obvious serious criminal activity is going down.. they just can't be arsed.
I agree.. I drive a 17,000lb dump truck.. an old one that's pretty badly maintained... with another full 16,000l lbs of load on it, I have to stomp the accellerator to the floor to take off at a stoplight, and the thing roars so bad in the cab I can feel my teeth rattle.. and half these bikes out there.. not just Harleys, but also similar styled bikes by other makers... when they take off from a light, I can't even hear my obnoxious truck at full roar because their tiny little bikes are producing ear-bleeding levels of obnoxiousness.
Now, any *car* in this city runs even half that loud, they're pulled over by the police and ticketed. I'm pretty sure that if the guy I work for (who owns the truck) wasn't an ex-cop himself, my truck would be pulled over for violating noise ordinances... So why the hell do all these obnoxious biker pricks get a free pass?
Not to mention that at no other time in the history of Interpol has an arrest warrant been issued internationally for someone not actually being charged with a crime.
Julian is *absolutely* smart to stay the hell away from anything having to do with this "issue".. because it's a total setup by the fascists in the US govt who are really pissed about the egg on their faces.
Many years ago I had a conversation with a lady in her mid 20's who had been the "victim" of incest by her father. This young woman was 9 years old when the "abuse" began, and it persisted up until she was 12 or 13.
At the time of our conversation, she'd only recently come to terms with the whole situation, after having spent probably 10 years receiving various forms of counselling and psychotherapy.
What she told me about her experiences was unexpected, until I really thought about it. She said that nothing was forced on her, and that the whole thing was a very loving and positive sexual experience, until she happened to let slip to one of her friends that it was going on.
The friend said something, the police were callled, her father arrested, and she was inundated by a veritable army of child advocates, social service people, counselors, school officials, police, etc..all *insisting* that something absolutely horrific had happened to her and that she needed all kinds of services to "recover from the trauma."
So imagine this, if you can.. You're a 12-13 year old girl.. you're enjoying (her words) an admittedly non-standard sexual relationship with your father.. everything is as fine as the life of a 12-13 year old can be.. and all of a sudden, one of your "friends" causes your father to be arrested, your family broken up, you dragged through "the system", confronted by dozens upon dozens of people all insisting that something horrible and evil has happened to you, and that you're all f**ked up, you just don't know it...
Your previously happy life has been turned on its head, your father, whom you love and respect, has been imprisoned and turned into some kind of of evil monster at the insistance of a bunch of "child welfare" advocates, your family life and the stability of your environment has been totally shot to hell during a time in your life where you're facing all sorts of uncertainty about your own identity, place in the world, etc, and you are painted to be the victim of this horrible evil man by everybody you come into contact with.
To sum it up, the young lady in question said that she was horribly traumatized by her incest experience and it took her 10 years to recover, because of the actions of *society* in relation to it, not because of the actual sexual conduct itself. To quote her..
"They made me feel like some kind of a freak, because they insisted that this thing I had experienced was so horrible and awful and evil, but I had enjoyed it."
Admittedly, I cannot assert that this is anywhere near a "standard" sort of view.. but it did make me pause and ask the question "Where is the real "abuse" happening here?" While I do not condone incest or the like, I certainly have to wonder about the wisdom of painting with as broad a brush as society does when it comes to sexuality.
Or if they do, they'll only do it once. The minute private citizens can bring criminal charges against other parties, the entire MAFIAA, Congress, the majority of major banking houses, etc get hit with RICO..
.. They just seem to hit low-value targets. I mean, yeah, potentially Anonymous could be very, very strong... but Commander X facing 15 years in prison for a 30 minute virtual sit-in on some county level govt website?
If you're going to risk prison, especially in this police state nation, then I'd say go after something worth the risk. When I see Goldman Sachs actual trading links to the NYSE disrupted.. hell, I don't care if it's just for 15 seconds.. then I'll give them some acknowledgement as being "powerful". But websites? Meh..
I clean parking lots and pick up trash for a living. Occasionally also drive a dump truck. Before taxes I make $19k a year. After taxes and fuel to get to work and back, knock that down to $12k or less, depending on gas prices..
I currently operate on the "Get better on my own or die" health plan. As in, I have none. I recieve no government handouts, no state assistance. Insurance? Ha! Emergency Room? Ha! One visit to the ER, and I'm dealing with harassing phone calls from the collections leg-breakers for the next year trying to insist that their recieving a check from me is more important than putting food on my plate.
This is even after filling out the reams of "assistance program" paperwork at the hospital. No thank you.
Doctor's visit to get a prescription? Sure, if I don't want to eat that week.
From where I sit, the "non-working poor" seem to have better access to services than I do, and I'm actually out *trying* to make a living and contribute something meaningful to society. Maybe they have a better working knowledge of these systems than I do, I dunno. But for me, "medical care" is what is available when something happens to me so bad that I lose consciousness and an ambulance scrapes me off a road somewhere when I'm in no fit state to object.
There is no band-aid or magic bullet to fix education, and all of the political ranting about teachers unions or the like doesn't get anywhere. The problem is the educational system is fundamentally broken at its core, and it's going to need some serious work to fix.
First of all, change the funding. Most school districts I know of are funded through property tax levies, resulting in some horrific disparities in resources between schools in affluent areas and schools in poor areas. Most teachers I know are hideously underpaid as well. As a society, we give a lot of lip service to the importance of education, then cut funding as soon as the political fatcats spend themselves into a budget problem.
Second point. Change the culture. This is the hard one. Todays schools are largely prisons for the young. They are designed to keep young people corralled in a specific location for the majority of the day, and to condition them towards conformity. The presentation of academic information is largely an afterthought.
To actually engage students, you have to show them why what they do is important. Not just some bland and unverified statement about "you'll need this down the road to succeed in life".. but to make their participation in the learning process important right then and there. They need to be engaged in the teaching process, as well as the learning process. Incentive programs that allow for peer recognition work, and they work well.. so do efforts that allow students efforts at learning to result in practical application. Have them make things, real things, to help the community, the school, each other.. and you'll see interest spike. Pointless busywork is the nemesis of any student. They need something to believe in, something that says they have meaning. Give them that, you have their involvement.
Then engage the teachers. Similar methods work. Give them the freedom and the power to get involved within a certain framework of curriculum needs. Most people go into teaching because they love kids, and they want to be involved in shaping young minds. What burns them out is that their creativity and passion is stifled by endless seas of bureaucratic regulation, stupid politicial infighting at the schools, and a total lack of support from administration or the community.
Thirdly.. go back to classical education. I'd actually suggest a return to the latin and greek classics. Yes, that sounds crazy.. but in the process of learning latin and greek, obsolete as that is these days, one gets exposed to the world of philosophy. This itself tends to teach "how to think".. how to engage the mind in the process of learning and discovery, and not just "what to think" which is where emphasis is currently placed.
I've consistantly found, when working with young people, that if you give them something to believe in, and something that gets them into the world of interesting ideas.. that challenges them to come up with their own solutions, their own expressions, and rewards them for their innovation, they take to that whole "uncool" thinking thing like nobody's business and they truly surprise you.
It's only when you stick them in an environment where creativity and "going outside the box" gets smacked down, where conformity is the law, that stupidity and ignorance become heralded as glorious rebellion.
Does anyone know if this could possibly involve prison time, or if this whole trial mess is simply over the issue of finally disbarring this psychopath?
I should think that the whole "perjury" bit, as well as the sheer *scale* of Thompson's abuses of people, ought to qualify him for some time in an 8x10 cell with a guy named "Bubba" who thinks he has a "purty mouth"...
First of all, good luck on the project. Don't get your hopes up on it making too much of a difference though. Most people don't bother to read.
I would start the book out with a brief overview of the hardware, with pictures. Define the terms you're going to be using; basically what the parts are, what they do, and the names that they are properly called. No, a person doesn't need to know the difference between a modem and an Ethernet card, but they should know which one they are using in order to explain it to the tech when something breaks.
Once you have the hardware described, in layman's terms, move a level up from that. If you're feeling ambitious, describe the basic function of a BIOS. Don't get into all the bells and whistles, just what it does, and that its the first step in the control layer atop the hardware.
Then pop into the OS. If you're going for mass market, this will be Windows. Make your statements from that perspective, and bring in similarities between some of the other majors, like OS X and Linux. No need to confuse them endlessly.
On the OS, new users need to understand how it works, especially the file system. They need to grasp the concept that every single program they run operates THROUGH the OS. Something like "You tell the program what to do. The progam tells the OS, the OS tells the hardware." They need to know that, like the old game "Telephone", there is a chance that something, at each level, can fuck up.
On the file system... There have been a LOT of attempts to explain file systems, but the one that works best is the model that the file system is based on, the good old-fashioned filing cabinet.
If you explain that the hard drive is a big filing cabinet, and that each file goes in a folder, which, in turn, can go into related folders, and that those folders can be organized in groups, it tends to be fairly easily grasped. Example: "You're a secretary at a major company and your job involves a lot of correspondence. You send many letters to one other company in particular, so you decide, in order to better organize them, that you put all the letters to this company into one folder of your filing cabinet. This helps you find them.
However, your boss starts doing more business with this company, and does so in a few different areas. So, instead of just dumping all the correspondence into one company folder, you make up 3 other folders for each line of business that is done with that company. Those 3 folders go inside the main company folder, and the correspondence relating to each project goes into its own folder."
Folders and directories aren't hard when you lay that out. Explain how different programs have different "default" folders, but that a user should change these settings to fit their own comfortable system.
Once you've explained the file system, move on to other bits about the OS. Again, it doesn't have to be breathtaking, but in order to change the oil on a car, you have to open the hood, not look under the seat.
Then you should break into software. Explain the difference between "bundled software" and the OS. Now, here I would recommend putting together a sort of "base template" for a general program interface. It's almost universal that various "menus" are located at the top of the screen, starting from the left, like a book. The first is almost invariably called "File"...
If you break down some generalities about these menus, and explain that they ARE generalities, it will give the reader a passing familiarity about where to look for things. Also, I've found that if you can teach the user about those generalities, they are often much less intimidated by a new piece of software. Focus on how things stay the same, regardless of how much changes. There are commonalities between the very latest and greatest software releases and the earliest, crudest examples. Point those out and people tend to be less confused.
I think the best result is explaining the "rules" that exist around a compute
The problem is, there is no way you can teach experience. In a way that's good because if you could, most of us'd be out of a job. But in situations like this, is damn inconvenient.
Although this *might* be a touch off-topic, Experience actually could be taught, but it'd probably be a real pain in the ass. The key would be using a training method that would establish those "junk filters" in a shorter period of time.
The classic Windows "Blue Screen of Death" is a perfect example. Simply expose a person to that screen enough times and challenge their recall on the important bits. They will quickly gain a "BSOD Junk Filter." All you have to do to make reality into a teaching tool is to cut down the time spent between "exposures".
Also, most software has certain commonalities in the UI, including configuration menus and error messages. If one establishes a training method based upon those commonalities, then it should be fairly easily to build a "set" of junk filters in the non-geek individual. Sure, it won't make them any better at FIXING what's broken, but it might give them enough of a clue to make it less painful for the geek in their lives.
For nearly all my computer parts orders, I go to ZipZoomFly.com.
I build custom PC's, so I'm running quite a bit different an operation than the usual corporate IT pro, but I really like ZZF. Their prices are, on the whole, about as cheap as one can get, the product quality excellent, and the service is most adequate.
Plus considering they offer free 2nd day shipping on most of their products, it turns out to be a good bargain. And if you spring for overnight, you get overnight. Excellent company. I do business with them whenever possible.
"without this incentive good TV and movies won't get shown on broadcast television."
Just my opinion, but since when have "Good TV and Movies" EVER been shown on broadcast tv, digital or not?
For that matter, when has "Good TV" ever been produced in the US? Doesn't matter what media its on, 99% of everything I've seen on tv, be it satellite, cable, or broadcast, sucks major ass.
But then again, anything created to be entertaining to somebody with a 3rd grade education and a 30 second attention span is bound to be annoying to someone who actually thinks...
But in 29 years.. I think MAYBE I've seen oh, 3 or 4 things on broadcast TV that I thought was "good tv." Their track record isn't good enough for me to give a yak's ass about their threats.
I've spent the last year trying to break into the IT industry at the bottom level and work my way up..
What really tweaked me out was about 6 months ago I ran across no less than 4 positions for ENTRY LEVEL positions.. paying around 9 bucks an hour... that required *10 Years* experience in 3 to 5 areas each.
Now, I know the job market's been tight and all.. but 10 years experience for an ENTRY LEVEL position? Jeebus.. Have all their "upper level" staff been involved since the invention of computing?
Corporations have *ALWAYS* destroyed this dream. They take your brilliance, your labor, and your love, pay you a pittance, and exploit it for Billions.
The key is simple. Take Open Source models and apply it to new developments. Spend a little time here and there working on good stuff in whatever area of technical specialty you have, and make it free to whoever wants the tech under an open source style license.
Doesn't even have to be software. Hell, could be patents.
Or for those of you with business expertise.. Start not-for-profit tech companies. You can build and sell a product, but only charge what it costs you to make. (salaries and benefits included) Capitalism isn't a problem really until unmitigated greed is what drives it.
Guerilla industry is probably the next great revolution (imho). Take something that is a common, even almost disposable, product. Make a version that will last a rediculously long time. Sell it for not-obscene money. Drive the fat cats adn their suit wearing hordes out of business, pocket money, and give people something useful.
Example. Light bulbs. Even the long life ones burn out after a thousand hours.. Somebody out there come up with a way to make them out of LEDs. 100k hours for a bulb.. hell, even if it costs 5 bucks, it'll outlast your house. Gotta be a way to do it, just requires the right brainpower.
Or even LED Christmas lights. those things are always going to crap.
Work on ways to generate power cleanly, cheaply, and efficiently. I read an article on here (I believe) a couple years ago about some crazy researcher ninjas out in Cali who noted that a block of really tightly packed diodes generated current from the background radiation of the earth.. And nobody to my knowlege has put out a kinemassic generator yet.. so the options are there.
People are brilliant when they want to be. The only trick is, "Never give your best stuff to the suits". They've been exploiting you your whole life. This just evens the exchange.
The problem with fields which are in demand is that the practicioners often don't see anything whatsoever wrong with their primadonna attitudes.
This is most certainly true.. but to lay the statement solely upon the shoulders of techs is misleading. Marketing and Management have also produced a giant portion of primadonna attitudes during the last few decades.
You're just the computer dork. Get over it.
For some reason, in this sentance I smell a primadonna attitude. There is one small FACT that I think needs interjected here. Business in todays world is NOTHING without IT, and IT, in todays world, is NOTHING without business.
Marketing and Management cannot begin to be competative in business environs without computer technology. Period. This means they NEED those "computer dorks". Conversely, those "computer dorks" need somebody to sign their paycheck, buy the hardware, and generate the business that creates the demand for their services.
And before you whine about how twenty minutes could save these people so much this and that and the other, let me remind you that each one of those people almost certainly also has some common skill set that you don't - simple home maintenance, car maintenance, farming, writing, et cetera
Now that the stench of condescension has risen to it's glorious heights.. Time to inject some sanity. First of all, nearly EVERYONE in a corporate environment today is dependant upon computers to do their jobs. Yes, the intricacies of the shadow world of technology are truly only for its denizens, but so are the intricacies of the shadow world of Marketing. Same with the shadow world of Management.
It behooves everyone, however, to take the time to learn at least the basic operations of the tools REQUIRED to do their job. I think anyone would agree that this is a reasonable statement.
I cannot see any sane tech expecting an executive to be able to recompile a kernel, or tweak a protocol stack.. but honestly... It is nowhere near the shadow world of technology to learn to press the "online" button of a printer.. nor is it unreasonable to expect even an exec to learn that the cd-rom is not a cupholder, or to learn that the monitor is not the CPU.
Yes, others have skill sets that techs don't. However, the level of base ignorance, often willful, of the operation of the basic tools required in Marketing or Management is staggering. A computer is one of those tools. It is akin to a carpenter not knowing how to use a drill, a farmer not knowing how to use a tractor, or a mechanic not knowing where to put oil in a car.
Sure, the mechanic may not know how motor oil is refined out of crude oil, a carpenter may not know how to fix the motor on his drill, and a farmer may not be able to repair a blown gasket on his tractor... but they all know how to use those tools in their proper function, or they don't succeed.
Management and Marketing has some degree of contempt for technology, even though it is their lifeblood. They take it for granted, and as such, they treat techs accordingly. Techs look upon those people with derision because they spend SO much time dealing with RTFM cases. Techs are just as overworked as anyone else, and unfortunately, the problem Marketing and Management persons think it is beneath them to learn to use the tools they need.
M&M's need to learn to use computers, so I'm all for training, secret or otherwise. The less stupidity a tech has to deal with on a daily basis, the more sociable the tech will inevitably be. The rediculously arrogant on both sides need to be canned in a hurry, period.
The lack of consideration and social skills is not simply the domain of geeks, friend... They span the board.
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I'm not a Linux expert by any means. I'd call myself "Noob+". Before switching to Linux about 7 years ago, I'd been what one might call a "Power User" of Windows since 3.1. XP Pro was my last Windows edition on my home system.
I'm not a coder. I'm not a "business professional". I'm just a guy who spends a lot of time puttering around on whatever strikes my fancy on my computer as a hobby. This last year I worked an office job for a construction company..Much of that time was spent on Windows 7.
I also am the local "computer nerd" who helps a bunch of people with their computer problems, and occasionally build systems for folks.. ranging from basic low end machines to some monster performance hardware.
My reason for switching was I got incredibly frustrated with Microsoft. I resented their "What do we want you to do today" approach to software... I got tired of having to install third party apps to get the basic functionality I wanted out of my system.. I got tired of the never-ending game of "whack the malware", got tired of the email spam.. (which decreased 70% within the first *week* of switching to Linux.. I don't know why exactly.)
So I snagged a copy of Ubuntu and took the plunge. I have not looked back. I've mucked around with a few distros, broken my installs with some ill-informed tinkering around "under the hood".. had problems getting various things to work, had to spend some time digging through forums for answers..
But even with the learning curve and my propensity for ill-informed tinkering... I've had probably 95% less problems with Linux. With Windows, I was having to reboot every time I installed a piece of software. With Linux, I basically reboot only when I wipe the drive and install a new distro to play with, or if we have a power failure. My system has uptime measure in months, whereas my Windows experiences needed a reboot about once a day.
Linux does what I need faster, lighter, and more efficiently than Windows ever has. My needs may not be the same as others.. but at present, there's only 1 reason I'd consider a Windows install.. (and I'd go 7 if I ever took that plunge again..) Games.
Games. That's it. Yes, I still have Linux problems.. audio in particular.. The learning curve is still a bit steep at times, especially when it comes to configuring.. But I run into *NONE* of the problems that all my Windows using friends are always calling me over to their houses to fix for them. I've even talked two of them into trying out Linux, and they're both committed Linux users now and loving it.
When I run Linux, once I get things working the way I like them... they do *just keep working* unless I fiddle with things I don't understand fully. Every once in a while and update breaks something.. 99% of the time it's something I "fiddled" with.. and I have to go re-fiddle to get it working again..
But what I love most.. absolutely most.. is that running Linux my system does what *I* tell it to. It doesn't tell me "you're not allowed to do that".. it doesn't try to set things up on its own, it doesn't phone home to some corporate babysitter.. It properly respects the user-OS relationship, and it just keeps plugging along doing its thing very reliably.
Metro, Much like Unity, fails on the desktop for one, blindingly simple reason..
I bought a desktop pc. I did not buy a tablet. I expect to be able to use my desktop pc like a desktop pc. If I had wanted a f**king tablet, I'd have bought one.
End of story.
"And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?"
Personally, I consider all broadcast media "news" to be "propaganda" and treat it as such. Doesn't matter the source, it's always one group or another lying to you in such a way as to promote their particular factional interests.
However, your usage of the term "left of center" both intrigues and amuses me. To begin with, I find it kind of absurd that anybody in this country could claim to be able to identify what the position of "Center" actually is. Ostensibly, it would be simply "the middle point between two extremes".. but.. seeing as how opinion variies so widely, and in so many different arenas, across so many different issues, philosophies, paths, etc.. I just don't think it can be judged to any degree of accuracy..
Further.. it reaises the question of delineation.. "center in what area"? If one says "the political spectrum".. then this field is largely *shaped* by Media and the 2 dominant political Parties themselves.. and rendered pretty much usueless by that fact. I mean, how can one measure "Bias" when the criteria for determining "bias" is set by the biased?
Additionally, I know a great many people who self-identify as Liberal or Conservative.. And they do so largely because of what Media they consume. The Fox News junkies can't have a decent discussion about any issue without working down the list of "conservative talking points" that were trotted out the day before by Sean Hannity et al, and the MSNBC addicts are every bit as bad..
Yet, when one makes the effort to chastise these people into actually discussing *issues*, and throwing their media addictions out the window for the purposes of discussion.. You come to find out that they don't actually seem to *agree* with a large majority of the particular "party line" that they habitually tow.
Personally.. I think that the whole "Liberal vs Conservative" conflict in this country is nothing more than a gigantic social engineering experiment to keep average people fighting amongst themselves while a small group of criminal elites in media, politics, and finance keep laughing their way to the bank... but that's just me.
My parents were both teachers for ~30 years at the high school level here in Illinois.. and then my mother went on to be an educational consultant and inservice provider for another 10 years after retiring from active teaching. As such, I grew up looking at both sides of the educational system more than the average person..
This problem you describe is not new. It's not even something that arose with the poorly named "No Child Left Behind" legislation. I remember Illinois started a program of heavier standardized testing during the early 1990's.. the IGAP tests.. 1993 or 1994 was when I first ran into one in high school.
The teachers at the time were stressed out and annoyed by that.. the tests themselves were abysmal.. I basically "failed" the IGAP "reading comprehension" portion despite getting a 35 out of a possible 36 at the time on the ACT. The next year, one of the better teachers was actually fired in a "scandal" because they released the test early to students to study with. I witnessed many teachers changing their curriculum content to teach directly to these idiotic tests.
Decentralized education, as you mention, can *possibloy* have some benefits.. limited experimentation, etc.. But what I've seen in practice is that it doesn't. What I have seen in practice is some of the most nonsensical bs ever to be invoked in the name of "education."
I speak of the "School Board" system. Whoever thought it was a good idea to have a neighborhood popularity contest between a bunch of disinterested status-seekers with no training or experience in education, and then award the winners collectively with pretty much full administrative control over school operations and curriculum... clearly lived in a different era and/or had mental health issues.
I remember school boards comprised of old religious wingnuts, football obsessed yuppies, and "sky is falling, protect the children" soccer moms. What I do not remember is a single member of the body responsible for education policy having any member upon it actually trained in *education*. As such, the "needs of the community" being represented were "regressive religious indoctrination attempts" and "getting a winning football team" and "don't teach anything remotely controversial"..
Which pretty much results in a completely bullsh*t education. It wasn't just my own school. Every single one I've run into in the surrounding 3 states was similarly disposed.
You can see similar idiocy on a nationwide scale after the Columbine tragedy.. where thousands of school administrators banned the wearing of trench coats in highschools. No rational mind can accept the proposition that trench coats cause violence.. simply because Wall Street is not a daily bloodbath. But it is this kind of knee-jerk, non-thinking decision making which arises from a focus on "the needs of the community", when non-educators make up the "community" representation and have executive authority over the school systems.
Further, the way schools are funded here.. by property taxes.. pretty much guarantees that poor areas desperately in need of resources and better educational opportunities will alreays remain poor and in desperate need, while the rich communities will put in their second olympic sized swimming pool on campus and have Mariott cater their lunchrooms.
During the 30+ years I've been observing things around here.. the "best and brightest" have never thought about becoming teachers.. or if they did, they taught for a year or two, became familiarized with the realities of the job, and left to pursue careers where they weren't abused constantly and could actually reap some rewards.
I'm frankly in favor of centralized education. I'm not, however, in favor of standardized testing or rigid frameworks dependant upon it. However, if one is going to centralize control over education.. it needs to be at a curriculum level, and it needs to be accompanied by centralized *funding*. It's not something that can be slapped in place overnight by an act of Congress.. but it is something that needs to be intelligently evolved over time by a concerted act of national will to improve conditions in our schools.
Yeah.. better things to be doing.. like hanging out in donut shops all night, chatting each other up in parking lots behind buildings where a supervisor driving by won't see, and taking 6 cars full of thugs to pull over a 16-year old pimply-faced teenager who weighs 125 lbs soaking wet with boots on.
I spend probably 12 hours a day driving around in the city where I live.. I see all kinds of things.. daylight drug deals..people packing weapons walking down the street, domestic brawls, even the occasional shooting... what I don't see is cops doing a blessed thing even when obvious serious criminal activity is going down.. they just can't be arsed.
I agree.. I drive a 17,000lb dump truck.. an old one that's pretty badly maintained... with another full 16,000l lbs of load on it, I have to stomp the accellerator to the floor to take off at a stoplight, and the thing roars so bad in the cab I can feel my teeth rattle.. and half these bikes out there.. not just Harleys, but also similar styled bikes by other makers... when they take off from a light, I can't even hear my obnoxious truck at full roar because their tiny little bikes are producing ear-bleeding levels of obnoxiousness.
Now, any *car* in this city runs even half that loud, they're pulled over by the police and ticketed. I'm pretty sure that if the guy I work for (who owns the truck) wasn't an ex-cop himself, my truck would be pulled over for violating noise ordinances... So why the hell do all these obnoxious biker pricks get a free pass?
This, AC, is one of the better statements of the truth as I feel it that I have ever had the good fortune to read online. Kudos.
Not to mention that at no other time in the history of Interpol has an arrest warrant been issued internationally for someone not actually being charged with a crime.
Julian is *absolutely* smart to stay the hell away from anything having to do with this "issue".. because it's a total setup by the fascists in the US govt who are really pissed about the egg on their faces.
Many years ago I had a conversation with a lady in her mid 20's who had been the "victim" of incest by her father. This young woman was 9 years old when the "abuse" began, and it persisted up until she was 12 or 13.
At the time of our conversation, she'd only recently come to terms with the whole situation, after having spent probably 10 years receiving various forms of counselling and psychotherapy.
What she told me about her experiences was unexpected, until I really thought about it. She said that nothing was forced on her, and that the whole thing was a very loving and positive sexual experience, until she happened to let slip to one of her friends that it was going on.
The friend said something, the police were callled, her father arrested, and she was inundated by a veritable army of child advocates, social service people, counselors, school officials, police, etc..all *insisting* that something absolutely horrific had happened to her and that she needed all kinds of services to "recover from the trauma."
So imagine this, if you can.. You're a 12-13 year old girl.. you're enjoying (her words) an admittedly non-standard sexual relationship with your father.. everything is as fine as the life of a 12-13 year old can be.. and all of a sudden, one of your "friends" causes your father to be arrested, your family broken up, you dragged through "the system", confronted by dozens upon dozens of people all insisting that something horrible and evil has happened to you, and that you're all f**ked up, you just don't know it...
Your previously happy life has been turned on its head, your father, whom you love and respect, has been imprisoned and turned into some kind of of evil monster at the insistance of a bunch of "child welfare" advocates, your family life and the stability of your environment has been totally shot to hell during a time in your life where you're facing all sorts of uncertainty about your own identity, place in the world, etc, and you are painted to be the victim of this horrible evil man by everybody you come into contact with.
To sum it up, the young lady in question said that she was horribly traumatized by her incest experience and it took her 10 years to recover, because of the actions of *society* in relation to it, not because of the actual sexual conduct itself. To quote her..
"They made me feel like some kind of a freak, because they insisted that this thing I had experienced was so horrible and awful and evil, but I had enjoyed it."
Admittedly, I cannot assert that this is anywhere near a "standard" sort of view.. but it did make me pause and ask the question "Where is the real "abuse" happening here?" While I do not condone incest or the like, I certainly have to wonder about the wisdom of painting with as broad a brush as society does when it comes to sexuality.
Don't worry, they'll never do this in the USA..
Or if they do, they'll only do it once. The minute private citizens can bring criminal charges against other parties, the entire MAFIAA, Congress, the majority of major banking houses, etc get hit with RICO..
.. They just seem to hit low-value targets. I mean, yeah, potentially Anonymous could be very, very strong... but Commander X facing 15 years in prison for a 30 minute virtual sit-in on some county level govt website?
If you're going to risk prison, especially in this police state nation, then I'd say go after something worth the risk. When I see Goldman Sachs actual trading links to the NYSE disrupted.. hell, I don't care if it's just for 15 seconds.. then I'll give them some acknowledgement as being "powerful". But websites? Meh..
I clean parking lots and pick up trash for a living. Occasionally also drive a dump truck. Before taxes I make $19k a year. After taxes and fuel to get to work and back, knock that down to $12k or less, depending on gas prices..
I currently operate on the "Get better on my own or die" health plan. As in, I have none. I recieve no government handouts, no state assistance. Insurance? Ha! Emergency Room? Ha! One visit to the ER, and I'm dealing with harassing phone calls from the collections leg-breakers for the next year trying to insist that their recieving a check from me is more important than putting food on my plate.
This is even after filling out the reams of "assistance program" paperwork at the hospital. No thank you.
Doctor's visit to get a prescription? Sure, if I don't want to eat that week.
From where I sit, the "non-working poor" seem to have better access to services than I do, and I'm actually out *trying* to make a living and contribute something meaningful to society. Maybe they have a better working knowledge of these systems than I do, I dunno. But for me, "medical care" is what is available when something happens to me so bad that I lose consciousness and an ambulance scrapes me off a road somewhere when I'm in no fit state to object.
There is no band-aid or magic bullet to fix education, and all of the political ranting about teachers unions or the like doesn't get anywhere. The problem is the educational system is fundamentally broken at its core, and it's going to need some serious work to fix.
First of all, change the funding. Most school districts I know of are funded through property tax levies, resulting in some horrific disparities in resources between schools in affluent areas and schools in poor areas. Most teachers I know are hideously underpaid as well. As a society, we give a lot of lip service to the importance of education, then cut funding as soon as the political fatcats spend themselves into a budget problem.
Second point. Change the culture. This is the hard one. Todays schools are largely prisons for the young. They are designed to keep young people corralled in a specific location for the majority of the day, and to condition them towards conformity. The presentation of academic information is largely an afterthought.
To actually engage students, you have to show them why what they do is important. Not just some bland and unverified statement about "you'll need this down the road to succeed in life".. but to make their participation in the learning process important right then and there. They need to be engaged in the teaching process, as well as the learning process. Incentive programs that allow for peer recognition work, and they work well.. so do efforts that allow students efforts at learning to result in practical application. Have them make things, real things, to help the community, the school, each other.. and you'll see interest spike. Pointless busywork is the nemesis of any student. They need something to believe in, something that says they have meaning. Give them that, you have their involvement.
Then engage the teachers. Similar methods work. Give them the freedom and the power to get involved within a certain framework of curriculum needs. Most people go into teaching because they love kids, and they want to be involved in shaping young minds. What burns them out is that their creativity and passion is stifled by endless seas of bureaucratic regulation, stupid politicial infighting at the schools, and a total lack of support from administration or the community.
Thirdly.. go back to classical education. I'd actually suggest a return to the latin and greek classics. Yes, that sounds crazy.. but in the process of learning latin and greek, obsolete as that is these days, one gets exposed to the world of philosophy. This itself tends to teach "how to think".. how to engage the mind in the process of learning and discovery, and not just "what to think" which is where emphasis is currently placed.
I've consistantly found, when working with young people, that if you give them something to believe in, and something that gets them into the world of interesting ideas.. that challenges them to come up with their own solutions, their own expressions, and rewards them for their innovation, they take to that whole "uncool" thinking thing like nobody's business and they truly surprise you.
It's only when you stick them in an environment where creativity and "going outside the box" gets smacked down, where conformity is the law, that stupidity and ignorance become heralded as glorious rebellion.
Does anyone know if this could possibly involve prison time, or if this whole trial mess is simply over the issue of finally disbarring this psychopath?
I should think that the whole "perjury" bit, as well as the sheer *scale* of Thompson's abuses of people, ought to qualify him for some time in an 8x10 cell with a guy named "Bubba" who thinks he has a "purty mouth"...
First of all, good luck on the project. Don't get your hopes up on it making too much of a difference though. Most people don't bother to read.
I would start the book out with a brief overview of the hardware, with pictures. Define the terms you're going to be using; basically what the parts are, what they do, and the names that they are properly called. No, a person doesn't need to know the difference between a modem and an Ethernet card, but they should know which one they are using in order to explain it to the tech when something breaks.
Once you have the hardware described, in layman's terms, move a level up from that. If you're feeling ambitious, describe the basic function of a BIOS. Don't get into all the bells and whistles, just what it does, and that its the first step in the control layer atop the hardware.
Then pop into the OS. If you're going for mass market, this will be Windows. Make your statements from that perspective, and bring in similarities between some of the other majors, like OS X and Linux. No need to confuse them endlessly.
On the OS, new users need to understand how it works, especially the file system. They need to grasp the concept that every single program they run operates THROUGH the OS. Something like "You tell the program what to do. The progam tells the OS, the OS tells the hardware." They need to know that, like the old game "Telephone", there is a chance that something, at each level, can fuck up.
On the file system... There have been a LOT of attempts to explain file systems, but the one that works best is the model that the file system is based on, the good old-fashioned filing cabinet.
If you explain that the hard drive is a big filing cabinet, and that each file goes in a folder, which, in turn, can go into related folders, and that those folders can be organized in groups, it tends to be fairly easily grasped. Example: "You're a secretary at a major company and your job involves a lot of correspondence. You send many letters to one other company in particular, so you decide, in order to better organize them, that you put all the letters to this company into one folder of your filing cabinet. This helps you find them.
However, your boss starts doing more business with this company, and does so in a few different areas. So, instead of just dumping all the correspondence into one company folder, you make up 3 other folders for each line of business that is done with that company. Those 3 folders go inside the main company folder, and the correspondence relating to each project goes into its own folder."
Folders and directories aren't hard when you lay that out. Explain how different programs have different "default" folders, but that a user should change these settings to fit their own comfortable system.
Once you've explained the file system, move on to other bits about the OS. Again, it doesn't have to be breathtaking, but in order to change the oil on a car, you have to open the hood, not look under the seat.
Then you should break into software. Explain the difference between "bundled software" and the OS. Now, here I would recommend putting together a sort of "base template" for a general program interface. It's almost universal that various "menus" are located at the top of the screen, starting from the left, like a book. The first is almost invariably called "File"...
If you break down some generalities about these menus, and explain that they ARE generalities, it will give the reader a passing familiarity about where to look for things. Also, I've found that if you can teach the user about those generalities, they are often much less intimidated by a new piece of software. Focus on how things stay the same, regardless of how much changes. There are commonalities between the very latest and greatest software releases and the earliest, crudest examples. Point those out and people tend to be less confused.
I think the best result is explaining the "rules" that exist around a compute
Although this *might* be a touch off-topic, Experience actually could be taught, but it'd probably be a real pain in the ass. The key would be using a training method that would establish those "junk filters" in a shorter period of time.
The classic Windows "Blue Screen of Death" is a perfect example. Simply expose a person to that screen enough times and challenge their recall on the important bits. They will quickly gain a "BSOD Junk Filter." All you have to do to make reality into a teaching tool is to cut down the time spent between "exposures".
Also, most software has certain commonalities in the UI, including configuration menus and error messages. If one establishes a training method based upon those commonalities, then it should be fairly easily to build a "set" of junk filters in the non-geek individual. Sure, it won't make them any better at FIXING what's broken, but it might give them enough of a clue to make it less painful for the geek in their lives.
For nearly all my computer parts orders, I go to ZipZoomFly.com.
I build custom PC's, so I'm running quite a bit different an operation than the usual corporate IT pro, but I really like ZZF. Their prices are, on the whole, about as cheap as one can get, the product quality excellent, and the service is most adequate.
Plus considering they offer free 2nd day shipping on most of their products, it turns out to be a good bargain. And if you spring for overnight, you get overnight. Excellent company. I do business with them whenever possible.
"without this incentive good TV and movies won't get shown on broadcast television."
Just my opinion, but since when have "Good TV and Movies" EVER been shown on broadcast tv, digital or not?
For that matter, when has "Good TV" ever been produced in the US? Doesn't matter what media its on, 99% of everything I've seen on tv, be it satellite, cable, or broadcast, sucks major ass.
But then again, anything created to be entertaining to somebody with a 3rd grade education and a 30 second attention span is bound to be annoying to someone who actually thinks...
But in 29 years.. I think MAYBE I've seen oh, 3 or 4 things on broadcast TV that I thought was "good tv." Their track record isn't good enough for me to give a yak's ass about their threats.
I will be the final arbitrator of what is pr0n.
I will only charge the world $50k US per year for this job.
The standard will be "Do I find some of the content erotic enough to save to my hard disk?"
Oh well...
I can dream, can't I?
I've spent the last year trying to break into the IT industry at the bottom level and work my way up..
What really tweaked me out was about 6 months ago I ran across no less than 4 positions for ENTRY LEVEL positions.. paying around 9 bucks an hour... that required *10 Years* experience in 3 to 5 areas each.
Now, I know the job market's been tight and all.. but 10 years experience for an ENTRY LEVEL position? Jeebus.. Have all their "upper level" staff been involved since the invention of computing?
Corporations have *ALWAYS* destroyed this dream. They take your brilliance, your labor, and your love, pay you a pittance, and exploit it for Billions.
The key is simple. Take Open Source models and apply it to new developments. Spend a little time here and there working on good stuff in whatever area of technical specialty you have, and make it free to whoever wants the tech under an open source style license.
Doesn't even have to be software. Hell, could be patents.
Or for those of you with business expertise.. Start not-for-profit tech companies. You can build and sell a product, but only charge what it costs you to make. (salaries and benefits included) Capitalism isn't a problem really until unmitigated greed is what drives it.
Guerilla industry is probably the next great revolution (imho). Take something that is a common, even almost disposable, product. Make a version that will last a rediculously long time. Sell it for not-obscene money. Drive the fat cats adn their suit wearing hordes out of business, pocket money, and give people something useful.
Example. Light bulbs. Even the long life ones burn out after a thousand hours.. Somebody out there come up with a way to make them out of LEDs. 100k hours for a bulb.. hell, even if it costs 5 bucks, it'll outlast your house. Gotta be a way to do it, just requires the right brainpower.
Or even LED Christmas lights. those things are always going to crap.
Work on ways to generate power cleanly, cheaply, and efficiently. I read an article on here (I believe) a couple years ago about some crazy researcher ninjas out in Cali who noted that a block of really tightly packed diodes generated current from the background radiation of the earth.. And nobody to my knowlege has put out a kinemassic generator yet.. so the options are there.
People are brilliant when they want to be. The only trick is, "Never give your best stuff to the suits". They've been exploiting you your whole life. This just evens the exchange.
It behooves everyone, however, to take the time to learn at least the basic operations of the tools REQUIRED to do their job. I think anyone would agree that this is a reasonable statement.
I cannot see any sane tech expecting an executive to be able to recompile a kernel, or tweak a protocol stack.. but honestly... It is nowhere near the shadow world of technology to learn to press the "online" button of a printer.. nor is it unreasonable to expect even an exec to learn that the cd-rom is not a cupholder, or to learn that the monitor is not the CPU.
Yes, others have skill sets that techs don't. However, the level of base ignorance, often willful, of the operation of the basic tools required in Marketing or Management is staggering. A computer is one of those tools. It is akin to a carpenter not knowing how to use a drill, a farmer not knowing how to use a tractor, or a mechanic not knowing where to put oil in a car.
Sure, the mechanic may not know how motor oil is refined out of crude oil, a carpenter may not know how to fix the motor on his drill, and a farmer may not be able to repair a blown gasket on his tractor... but they all know how to use those tools in their proper function, or they don't succeed.
Management and Marketing has some degree of contempt for technology, even though it is their lifeblood. They take it for granted, and as such, they treat techs accordingly. Techs look upon those people with derision because they spend SO much time dealing with RTFM cases. Techs are just as overworked as anyone else, and unfortunately, the problem Marketing and Management persons think it is beneath them to learn to use the tools they need.
M&M's need to learn to use computers, so I'm all for training, secret or otherwise. The less stupidity a tech has to deal with on a daily basis, the more sociable the tech will inevitably be. The rediculously arrogant on both sides need to be canned in a hurry, period.
The lack of consideration and social skills is not simply the domain of geeks, friend... They span the board.
The plastic will decompose LONG before that Twinkie inside ever will! Let's here it for chemical preservatives!
Druegan
Thanks for the kind words.
Ahh... yes.. I should have included that.. Slipped my mind in my typing frenzy. I may drop an addendum to my letter with that included.
(and yeah, my spelling and grammar arent' the best... I'm a thinker, not a proofreader. hehehe)
Regards,
Druegan