The methodology sounds great until you go their web site. First glance it looks great, but when you look closer and run it through this you get this.
Want to impress me with the programming skills of your company? Don't EVER try to show me a sloppy website and tell me what great code you produce. Web Design isn't that tough, and the idea of closing your body and html tags twice is rather sloppy.
Someone should fix that IMMEDIATELY, like you say they do.
Two things: they don't state COMPLETELY safe--nothing is that. What if your steering goes out tomorrow while your driving? What if your gas tank leaks and you blow up? What if...?
Second, the chances of it blowing up in the air a la Challenger are slim. Granted it only takes once, but hey, there's no guarantee we'll all wake up tomorrow without some idiot gassing the planet.
The fact is that there are myriad possibilities for disaster in any big project, and the only thing any one person can do is to try to prepare for eventualities. Don't shoot down a project like this simply because it's nuclear. We all hear that word and think of Cherynobl (spelling?), Hiroshima and similar incedents. But just because it is nuclear powered doesn't mean that it's going to end like K-19: Widowmaker.
Think abou this: if we can do this it will forward research about our solar system by a long shot, which is something we must have if we ever hope to explore further out.
Before you laugh or snort or mod me down as flamebait, LISTEN!
Getting a kid started with a language like Javascript and then PHP is very useful. First, they contain all of the major constructs (for, while, do while, switch, etc). Second, they are immediately useful, which is absolutely necessary. You can't have a kid take 3 months to get their first working program. They have to be able to see results quickly.
The last thing is that they need to then move on to something better, like C++, and learn how to code for a GUI. There are immense advantages, however, to learning to code for the internet first.
I can understand the idea of "because I can", that's part of being a geek. But really? I have never understood the whole masochism bent that some people have.
When I play a game, I want to have a fun, I want to enjoy the game and I don't want distractions. A device that causes pain would in all likely hood decrease one's playing ability, and therefore make the game less enjoyable since you aren't doing as well.
So unless you are a master of the game, and a handicap is the only way it challenges you, then I don't see the point. Pain in the name of realism is simply a thin veil for masochistic tendencies.
But on the other hand, if it makes you happy, go ahead. Just be prepared to answer some rather interesting questions about twitching and or burns because you built it wrong.
I don't see what the big deal with taking notes is. As a student I only take notes in the following instances:
The material is not in the text
The material is not in the syllabus.
The professor makes an anouncement of some type that I NEED to remember.
I have a special flash of insight into the problem at hand, or gain a new understanding of something in the text.
Other wise I try to leave even a paper and pencil out of my hand so that I don't dink around with it and lose focus.
It has been shown that taking notes actually can reduce retention of information, since it distracts you from what the teacher is currently saying (since few people write as fast as anyone talks).
Just in case you want to know, I graduated with the second highest GPA in my program (BA Psychology) from a highly respected liberal arts college. I will be going back to school this fall for an MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, so I find these types of debates highly interesting.
Note taking is so commonly hailed as all important, but I really think that the art of listening to what a teacher wants you to know is equally important. The type of class and your memory is also very important.
Final thought: I also frequently take notes in my textbook. There is no better place--the nice wide margins provide a wonderful place to write aforementioned insights.
You can get the linux version here.
You may have to wait to download the file, as they only allow 30 concurrent downloads, but I am getting 211Kb/sec down, so that's okay.
16 minutes into the download I am 80% done.
The assumption that because someone loves computers they will excel in working with them is false--somewhat like the idea that someone who loves poetry will excel in writing it is also false
The truth is that most people who have an aptitude for a field will at least dabble in it. But that doesn't mean they will care much for it.
An example of this is simple: In high school I was very good at Biology. It came naturally to me, and I made excellent grades in my Bio class. None of that changed the fact that I hated it. To me, Bio is not very interesting or even especially challenging. So I avoid it, even though when I have taken courses, I have always gotten an A in the class.
How does this apply to Computer Science? Well just the opposite is true. I love it, but that doesn't mean that I am particularly skilled. Sure I can do some limited web deisgn, and I understand hardware and software concepts fairly well, but I know that many of the people on this site are much better at all of that than I ever will be. Why? Because I am not really a much at calculus, which is necessary if you want to be really good at Computer Science.
This is why career counseling is so important. People need to get a grip on what they are both good at and enjoy, and concentrate there. This is one of the major failings of American Education--we focus so much on the idea of going to school to get a better job that we miss the point that if you are doing what you enjoy and are good at, you can almost always find a way to make money--if you put forth the effort to be the best.
That said, I would definitely see people that are going into a field because they enjoy it, not because they think it will make them money. Any field.
you can pick up a new Geforce FX 5200 made by Asus for between US 80 to 100 here.
The actual price depends on what other features you want, such as tv out, but my experience is that I never use tv out. I use an older card (geforce 2 mx 400), and get barely playable speeds from Unreal Tournament 2003 at low resolution. The 5200 should handle it just fine at lower res.
I personally feel that it is not worth buying a really nice card unless you have a lot of money, and even 30 fps is playable for most of us.
I would also reccomend staying away from Jaton and some other brands that are cheaper. Their downsides are not worth the 10 - 20 dollars you might save.
For me, Jaton cards don't work under linux. I don't know about anyone else's experience with them, however.
You obviously haven't been to their site recently. The new script will auto-update your drivers from the command line with: nvidia-installer --update. This is after you run the shell script that auto installs and updates the information. The downside is that they no longer distribute tar or rpm files. The upside is that if you don't have a standard distro, the script downloads the source and compiles it for you. Unfortunately you still need to hand edit you XF86Config files.
I love the new installer though, and it's got me hooked.
That's strange, because it runs about the same on windows and linux on my athlon t-bird 1ghz with a geforce 2 mx 400. Yeah, its a lowend system, but I still do fairly well.
Hey, what about linux? does epic plan to support linux with this game too? If they want to maintain the image they are culivating of being linux friendly (see UT2003), they need to release this for us linux ppl. I don't like windows, and I am doing everything I can to get rid of that sorry OS (this is not a flame). I find windows to be buggy, bloated and full of BS.
I personally am looking at WineX for the very reason: I can't get my WindozeXP machine to install a lot of my favorite games, especially Diablo II. Does this bother me? Oh yeah! I want to play certain games, and if it means using emulation to do it, then FINE, I will.
As for the old debate about emulation vs. native, well let me say this. Native is great when done right, but most linux programs are harder to install than they should be. The best of the best are the new Nvidia drivers, UT2K3, and OpenOffice. These all use shell scripts in a wonderful way, and I love it.
i for one don't see either yahoo or msn being real competitors with google for the simple reason that they take them selves too seriously. Really. Imagine anyone that could be considered a founder at msn being photographed for the nyt on a segway (that is what he's on isn't it?) with a red and yellow background. The culture there insures that people like their job, which means that the talent will stay. You will have a hard time competing with that.
Now if anyone from msn or yahoo can give proof that your corporate culture can compete, please do, but I don't imagine that will actually happen.
BTW, if you want another reason, think about this: almost every linux browser defaults to a google search. Kazaalite now gives an option to search google directly, and there are a lot of similar examples I could give. There are links to google almost everywhere, and they have a very liberal linking policy. That helps too.
Yeah, but the 3k for the engine is somewhat cost prohibitive. I'd rather buy a new PC and with an AMD chip, it will probably run just as hot!
OTOH, the RPMs on my fan won't be high enough.
Re:Heres the really intresting stuff
on
Opencroquet
·
· Score: 1
Seeing this manual is interesting. I think that it has more than a little potential to be my next desktop. I like the concept, and here's why:
Unique. It breaks away from the simple old and ugly methods currently in use. This is by far the most revolutionary desktop I've seen.
Elegant. It is clean, simple, and tasteful, unlike certain others out there. KDE 3, WinXP, and Gnome are all kludges by comparison. Obviously there are certain things that still look beta, like the font renders, but it's not production yet. Only MAC OS X looks competitive and as modern.
Simple. The instructions make it appear fairly easy to use, once the mind makes a slight shift in paradigm.
Seriously, though, the question in my mind is about how it would affect system performance while playing UT2003. My current computer doesn't need anything to slow it down.
I hope it makes it.
Yes it loads faster, even with Moz using quicklaunch. I base some of my decision to use phoenix largely on that premise--mozilla seems kludgy and slow by comparison (at least on winxp).
However, on Linux, moz loads almost instantly, and in about 10% of the time it takes on windows.
This is all just my own experience, though, your mileage may vary.
As a web developer, I am more interested in seeing all browser being 100% compliant with the w3c standards than anything else.
As a surfer, though, I want my browser to be fast on loading, handle bookmarks properly, and to start quickly. That is why I almost exclusively use Phoenix, despite it being only version 0.5 (at least, that's the one I am using). It starts up on my windows machine much faster than IE, Mozilla or Opera. I don't use Netscape itself, because the difference between that and Mozilla is negligible (yep, I know it's blasphemy to say it, but there it is.)
But to me, the most important part of the whole equation is this: give me WEBSITES that comply to standards as set by w3c. No, you don't HAVE to use CSS, or even a particular scripting method (php vs asp? who cares. If you know one, design with it, but be ready to learn the other if a company wants it).
Part of the problem is that a lot of people making websites are not programmers, or even really that informed about standards. A lot of sites are done by graphic designers, who only want it to be pretty.
Thats great, but pretty doesn't mean a thing to the people surfing with an alternate browser that doesn't display pictures. People who are blind come to mind. But if you come from an art background, its hard to think about that. It's worse than you think, though. I know a man who teaches at a University here locally. He teaches graphic design, holds a Ph.D. from a presitigious university (I think Texas A&M), and regularly requires his students to create web pages as part of the course. He uses almost nothing but Adobe products (GoLive in particular), and Macs. He doesn't worry about accessibility that much though, and he is COLOR BLIND! Standards don't seem to matter, as long as it looks good.
With that kind of situation being common, it is going to take a long time to make the community aware of the need for standard compliance.
Now that I am off my soap box, any one who needs it is free to borrow it.
I have a friend that stress tests computers for a living. The lab gets test models from Dell and HP, and drops them off roofs, sets them on fire and simulates earthquakes. They also drop the things in water. He tells me that its kinda hard to drop a $2000 machine off the roof of a building, when you have a 5 year old POS computer at home...
Slashdot Mirror
The methodology sounds great until you go their web site. First glance it looks great, but when you look closer and run it through this you get this.
Want to impress me with the programming skills of your company? Don't EVER try to show me a sloppy website and tell me what great code you produce. Web Design isn't that tough, and the idea of closing your body and html tags twice is rather sloppy.
Someone should fix that IMMEDIATELY, like you say they do.
Two things: they don't state COMPLETELY safe--nothing is that. What if your steering goes out tomorrow while your driving? What if your gas tank leaks and you blow up? What if...?
Second, the chances of it blowing up in the air a la Challenger are slim. Granted it only takes once, but hey, there's no guarantee we'll all wake up tomorrow without some idiot gassing the planet.
The fact is that there are myriad possibilities for disaster in any big project, and the only thing any one person can do is to try to prepare for eventualities. Don't shoot down a project like this simply because it's nuclear. We all hear that word and think of Cherynobl (spelling?), Hiroshima and similar incedents. But just because it is nuclear powered doesn't mean that it's going to end like K-19: Widowmaker.
Think abou this: if we can do this it will forward research about our solar system by a long shot, which is something we must have if we ever hope to explore further out.
Getting a kid started with a language like Javascript and then PHP is very useful. First, they contain all of the major constructs (for, while, do while, switch, etc). Second, they are immediately useful, which is absolutely necessary. You can't have a kid take 3 months to get their first working program. They have to be able to see results quickly.
The last thing is that they need to then move on to something better, like C++, and learn how to code for a GUI. There are immense advantages, however, to learning to code for the internet first.
I can understand the idea of "because I can", that's part of being a geek. But really? I have never understood the whole masochism bent that some people have.
When I play a game, I want to have a fun, I want to enjoy the game and I don't want distractions. A device that causes pain would in all likely hood decrease one's playing ability, and therefore make the game less enjoyable since you aren't doing as well.
So unless you are a master of the game, and a handicap is the only way it challenges you, then I don't see the point. Pain in the name of realism is simply a thin veil for masochistic tendencies.
But on the other hand, if it makes you happy, go ahead. Just be prepared to answer some rather interesting questions about twitching and or burns because you built it wrong.
Other wise I try to leave even a paper and pencil out of my hand so that I don't dink around with it and lose focus.
It has been shown that taking notes actually can reduce retention of information, since it distracts you from what the teacher is currently saying (since few people write as fast as anyone talks).
Just in case you want to know, I graduated with the second highest GPA in my program (BA Psychology) from a highly respected liberal arts college. I will be going back to school this fall for an MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, so I find these types of debates highly interesting.
Note taking is so commonly hailed as all important, but I really think that the art of listening to what a teacher wants you to know is equally important. The type of class and your memory is also very important.
Final thought: I also frequently take notes in my textbook. There is no better place--the nice wide margins provide a wonderful place to write aforementioned insights.
I like that, and I might just have to steal it.
For the answer you need this book, 101 uses for a dead cat...
Enjoy.You can get the linux version here.
You may have to wait to download the file, as they only allow 30 concurrent downloads, but I am getting 211Kb/sec down, so that's okay.
16 minutes into the download I am 80% done.
The assumption that because someone loves computers they will excel in working with them is false--somewhat like the idea that someone who loves poetry will excel in writing it is also false
The truth is that most people who have an aptitude for a field will at least dabble in it. But that doesn't mean they will care much for it.
An example of this is simple: In high school I was very good at Biology. It came naturally to me, and I made excellent grades in my Bio class. None of that changed the fact that I hated it. To me, Bio is not very interesting or even especially challenging. So I avoid it, even though when I have taken courses, I have always gotten an A in the class.
How does this apply to Computer Science? Well just the opposite is true. I love it, but that doesn't mean that I am particularly skilled. Sure I can do some limited web deisgn, and I understand hardware and software concepts fairly well, but I know that many of the people on this site are much better at all of that than I ever will be. Why? Because I am not really a much at calculus, which is necessary if you want to be really good at Computer Science.
This is why career counseling is so important. People need to get a grip on what they are both good at and enjoy, and concentrate there. This is one of the major failings of American Education--we focus so much on the idea of going to school to get a better job that we miss the point that if you are doing what you enjoy and are good at, you can almost always find a way to make money--if you put forth the effort to be the best.
That said, I would definitely see people that are going into a field because they enjoy it, not because they think it will make them money. Any field.
you can pick up a new Geforce FX 5200 made by Asus for between US 80 to 100 here.
The actual price depends on what other features you want, such as tv out, but my experience is that I never use tv out. I use an older card (geforce 2 mx 400), and get barely playable speeds from Unreal Tournament 2003 at low resolution. The 5200 should handle it just fine at lower res.
I personally feel that it is not worth buying a really nice card unless you have a lot of money, and even 30 fps is playable for most of us.
I would also reccomend staying away from Jaton and some other brands that are cheaper. Their downsides are not worth the 10 - 20 dollars you might save.
For me, Jaton cards don't work under linux. I don't know about anyone else's experience with them, however.
You obviously haven't been to their site recently. The new script will auto-update your drivers from the command line with:
nvidia-installer --update.
This is after you run the shell script that auto installs and updates the information. The downside is that they no longer distribute tar or rpm files. The upside is that if you don't have a standard distro, the script downloads the source and compiles it for you.
Unfortunately you still need to hand edit you XF86Config files.
I love the new installer though, and it's got me hooked.
That's strange, because it runs about the same on windows and linux on my athlon t-bird 1ghz with a geforce 2 mx 400. Yeah, its a lowend system, but I still do fairly well.
Hey, what about linux? does epic plan to support linux with this game too? If they want to maintain the image they are culivating of being linux friendly (see UT2003), they need to release this for us linux ppl. I don't like windows, and I am doing everything I can to get rid of that sorry OS (this is not a flame). I find windows to be buggy, bloated and full of BS.
I personally am looking at WineX for the very reason: I can't get my WindozeXP machine to install a lot of my favorite games, especially Diablo II. Does this bother me? Oh yeah! I want to play certain games, and if it means using emulation to do it, then FINE, I will.
As for the old debate about emulation vs. native, well let me say this. Native is great when done right, but most linux programs are harder to install than they should be. The best of the best are the new Nvidia drivers, UT2K3, and OpenOffice. These all use shell scripts in a wonderful way, and I love it.
i for one don't see either yahoo or msn being real competitors with google for the simple reason that they take them selves too seriously. Really. Imagine anyone that could be considered a founder at msn being photographed for the nyt on a segway (that is what he's on isn't it?) with a red and yellow background.
The culture there insures that people like their job, which means that the talent will stay. You will have a hard time competing with that.
Now if anyone from msn or yahoo can give proof that your corporate culture can compete, please do, but I don't imagine that will actually happen.
BTW, if you want another reason, think about this: almost every linux browser defaults to a google search. Kazaalite now gives an option to search google directly, and there are a lot of similar examples I could give. There are links to google almost everywhere, and they have a very liberal linking policy. That helps too.
Yeah, but the 3k for the engine is somewhat cost prohibitive. I'd rather buy a new PC and with an AMD chip, it will probably run just as hot!
OTOH, the RPMs on my fan won't be high enough.
Seriously, though, the question in my mind is about how it would affect system performance while playing UT2003. My current computer doesn't need anything to slow it down.
I hope it makes it.
Yes it loads faster, even with Moz using quicklaunch. I base some of my decision to use phoenix largely on that premise--mozilla seems kludgy and slow by comparison (at least on winxp).
However, on Linux, moz loads almost instantly, and in about 10% of the time it takes on windows.
This is all just my own experience, though, your mileage may vary.
As a web developer, I am more interested in seeing all browser being 100% compliant with the w3c standards than anything else.
As a surfer, though, I want my browser to be fast on loading, handle bookmarks properly, and to start quickly. That is why I almost exclusively use Phoenix, despite it being only version 0.5 (at least, that's the one I am using). It starts up on my windows machine much faster than IE, Mozilla or Opera. I don't use Netscape itself, because the difference between that and Mozilla is negligible (yep, I know it's blasphemy to say it, but there it is.)
But to me, the most important part of the whole equation is this: give me WEBSITES that comply to standards as set by w3c. No, you don't HAVE to use CSS, or even a particular scripting method (php vs asp? who cares. If you know one, design with it, but be ready to learn the other if a company wants it).
Part of the problem is that a lot of people making websites are not programmers, or even really that informed about standards. A lot of sites are done by graphic designers, who only want it to be pretty.
Thats great, but pretty doesn't mean a thing to the people surfing with an alternate browser that doesn't display pictures. People who are blind come to mind. But if you come from an art background, its hard to think about that. It's worse than you think, though. I know a man who teaches at a University here locally. He teaches graphic design, holds a Ph.D. from a presitigious university (I think Texas A&M), and regularly requires his students to create web pages as part of the course. He uses almost nothing but Adobe products (GoLive in particular), and Macs. He doesn't worry about accessibility that much though, and he is COLOR BLIND! Standards don't seem to matter, as long as it looks good.
With that kind of situation being common, it is going to take a long time to make the community aware of the need for standard compliance.
Now that I am off my soap box, any one who needs it is free to borrow it.
I have a friend that stress tests computers for a living. The lab gets test models from Dell and HP, and drops them off roofs, sets them on fire and simulates earthquakes. They also drop the things in water. He tells me that its kinda hard to drop a $2000 machine off the roof of a building, when you have a 5 year old POS computer at home...