So much of the news that has mattered to me over the last 13 years has come first from slashdot. Stuff relevant to my career, to my health, to my views on public policy. I am very grateful for the virtual space you and your friends carved out that has made this discussion forum possible.
All the best wishes on whatever is next for you!
It's tempting to frame this as a student freedom issue only, but I certainly find myself inadvertently distracted when others around me surf during meetings. I've gone so far as to move, as discreetly as possible (like during a break), when faced with this situation. It's not like a whole class of students could do that. Perhaps they could establish a row of seats at the back for laptop users?
Zuckerberg made it clear that this service is the result of product research. He said that young people consistently told him email was "too slow." When he dug into their answer they didn't mean slow as in "it takes too long to get to you", they meant they didn't want to have to log into yet another application to read their emails. Among that demographic, a sizable number don't even use a separate email account. They just use SMS on phones and Facebook (either chat or messaging) to communicate. So the main benefits he and "Bozz", his Director of Engineering touted was the reduced friction involved in being able to quickly message through the app you're probably already logged into with the knowledge that your message will get through to the recipient whether or not they use Facebook.
...boy are those cobalt atoms gonna be pissed off once they realize they've been tricked. I wouldn't want to be someone's data around them when that happens.
Boo Hoo Hoo, We made some great software and nobody will help us!
Why does an open source developer write software? Riches? Fame? To get laid?
The best open source software out there is created by people who need to solve problems they themselves have. There is no "should". Nobody "should" do anything. Put your code out there for the love of it or go home.
"daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away"
You seem to not be in on the secret that we're all in this thing (life) together. We have all played the fool, every last one of us, and each of us has his moments of triumph and insight.
Power is never finally "given" to anyone. Occasionally, however, it is taken back by its rightful owners.
Who are we to say that the app is useless? People buy things to remind themselves of their status all the time. According to another report (in the same newspaper):
'...Heinrich said there seemed to be a market for the program. "I am sure a lot more people would like to buy it -- but currently can't do so," Heinrich said. "The App is a work of Art and included a 'secret mantra' -- that's all."'
It matters whether mathematics is discovered or invented when considering how to teach mathematics.
In the socratic dialogue Meno, Socrates publicly gives an uneducated boy a math puzzle involving 2-dimensional area. This demonstration serves to show that the boy
1) can be sure he knows something when he doesn't know it (because he first comes to an erroneous conclusion)
2) yet has the knowledge in himself of the answer correctly, which needs only to be uncovered by asking non-leading questions.
That part of the dialogue is summed up with the following exchange:
Socrates: And now these opinions [how to solve the problem] have been stirred up in him as in a dream; and if someone will keep asking him these same questions often and in various forms, you can be sure that in the end he will know them as accurately as anybody.
Menon: It seems so.
Socrates: And no one, having taught him, only asked questions, yet he will know, having got the knowledge out of himself?
Menon: Yes.
I've experienced (roughly) two different kinds of teachers in my life, those who acted like they were pouring knowledge into my mind and those who acted like they were leading me on a journey of discovery. Invariably the latter kind proved more interesting and helpful to me.
Can you remember back to when you learned the "multiplication tables"? I was initially taught them by rote from 1x1 to 12x12. Then we'd be given speed tests with random two-number problems in that domain. But the rote method didn't work well for me. I can still remember the glorious moment when it dawned on me that multiplication was just a shorthand version of addition and a whole world of beautiful, numeric patterns opened up for me.
(Somehow I managed not to fall off of John Nash's deep end, but I digress)
A recent feature article by Dan Olmstead revisits the research from the first 11 diagnosed cases of autistic children. (diagnosed by Dr. Leo Kanner or Johns Hopkins in 1943, the man who coined the term "autism")
It's a long article, but worth a read, IMHO, because it links in a very diverse sample of opinions on the topic of chemical/environmental links to autism. (mercury in particular)
Of interest to me are these anecdotes (direct quotes from the article):
It is remarkable, in retrospect, that none of the children were seen in Kanner's first 12 years of practice [at Hopkins], and all 11 were born after 1930, when, as it happens, mercury-containing vaccines were first used in this country.
In 1972 thousands of people in Iraq ate bread made from grain treated with methyl mercury fungicide that was intended for planting, not human consumption. Hundreds died. A follow-up study on children whose mothers ate contaminated bread after giving birth and who were exposed only through their mothers' breast milk showed problems including language delay that led one parent to describe the children as "needles blunted by the poison."
Thought-provoking to say the least. Makes me wonder if there may be a complex genetic propensity that causes only some children to develop autism in response to mercury.
Me: Ok, move the mouse to the top of the screen until it is over the "My Computer" icon. User: Hmm that's wierd.. Me: What happened? User: I can't see the "My computer" icon anymore. Me: What? Um, ok, move the mouse down to the "Start" button. User: Oh! There it is! The "My Computer" icon reappeared!...
Finally I understood. She was moving the physical mouse across the surface of the monitor screen.
I was 10 years old. We had no school for (it seemed like) forever. On other winters we would build snow forts but in '78 each kid on the block had his own personal snow palace, thanks to the plowing. We didn't see our curbside mailbox for a couple of weeks.
There were t-shirts, "I survived the blizzard of '78."
Slashdot Mirror
So much of the news that has mattered to me over the last 13 years has come first from slashdot. Stuff relevant to my career, to my health, to my views on public policy. I am very grateful for the virtual space you and your friends carved out that has made this discussion forum possible. All the best wishes on whatever is next for you!
You must be new here.
[BZZZZzzzzzzzt!] GAaaaaaaaaaAAaAaaAAh!
Inexplicably, no witty comment comes to mind.
Could they be any less specific?
It's tempting to frame this as a student freedom issue only, but I certainly find myself inadvertently distracted when others around me surf during meetings. I've gone so far as to move, as discreetly as possible (like during a break), when faced with this situation. It's not like a whole class of students could do that. Perhaps they could establish a row of seats at the back for laptop users?
Zuckerberg made it clear that this service is the result of product research. He said that young people consistently told him email was "too slow." When he dug into their answer they didn't mean slow as in "it takes too long to get to you", they meant they didn't want to have to log into yet another application to read their emails. Among that demographic, a sizable number don't even use a separate email account. They just use SMS on phones and Facebook (either chat or messaging) to communicate. So the main benefits he and "Bozz", his Director of Engineering touted was the reduced friction involved in being able to quickly message through the app you're probably already logged into with the knowledge that your message will get through to the recipient whether or not they use Facebook.
Formerly "Mars", I dub thee "New Australia"!
Please don't do that. Those are the best condoms I've ever tried!
...boy are those cobalt atoms gonna be pissed off once they realize they've been tricked. I wouldn't want to be someone's data around them when that happens.
Why does an open source developer write software? Riches? Fame? To get laid?
The best open source software out there is created by people who need to solve problems they themselves have. There is no "should". Nobody "should" do anything. Put your code out there for the love of it or go home.
Oh, wait...
"daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where Paradise lay Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away"
Power is never finally "given" to anyone. Occasionally, however, it is taken back by its rightful owners.
I'm dumber for having read it.
That's ok. You couldn't help reading it anyway.
Who are we to say that the app is useless? People buy things to remind themselves of their status all the time. According to another report (in the same newspaper):
'...Heinrich said there seemed to be a market for the program. "I am sure a lot more people would like to buy it -- but currently can't do so," Heinrich said. "The App is a work of Art and included a 'secret mantra' -- that's all."'
I meant, "knowledge in himself of how to answer correctly"
In the socratic dialogue Meno, Socrates publicly gives an uneducated boy a math puzzle involving 2-dimensional area. This demonstration serves to show that the boy
That part of the dialogue is summed up with the following exchange:
I've experienced (roughly) two different kinds of teachers in my life, those who acted like they were pouring knowledge into my mind and those who acted like they were leading me on a journey of discovery. Invariably the latter kind proved more interesting and helpful to me.
Can you remember back to when you learned the "multiplication tables"? I was initially taught them by rote from 1x1 to 12x12. Then we'd be given speed tests with random two-number problems in that domain. But the rote method didn't work well for me. I can still remember the glorious moment when it dawned on me that multiplication was just a shorthand version of addition and a whole world of beautiful, numeric patterns opened up for me.
(Somehow I managed not to fall off of John Nash's deep end, but I digress)
Team America captive: "Hiroshima times 26,000.. why that's... I don't even know what that is." Kim Jong Il: "NO ONE DOES!!!"
It's a long article, but worth a read, IMHO, because it links in a very diverse sample of opinions on the topic of chemical/environmental links to autism. (mercury in particular)
Of interest to me are these anecdotes (direct quotes from the article):
Thought-provoking to say the least. Makes me wonder if there may be a complex genetic propensity that causes only some children to develop autism in response to mercury.
"Oh no you don't! Not until you've studied up for your advanced color identification exam!"
Me: Ok, move the mouse to the top of the screen until it is over the "My Computer" icon. ...
User: Hmm that's wierd..
Me: What happened?
User: I can't see the "My computer" icon anymore.
Me: What? Um, ok, move the mouse down to the "Start" button.
User: Oh! There it is! The "My Computer" icon reappeared!
Finally I understood. She was moving the physical mouse across the surface of the monitor screen.
I was 10 years old. We had no school for (it seemed like) forever. On other winters we would build snow forts but in '78 each kid on the block had his own personal snow palace, thanks to the plowing. We didn't see our curbside mailbox for a couple of weeks.
There were t-shirts, "I survived the blizzard of '78."
That's what I recall.
Ezekiel68