Apparently, the writer at recombu.com is one of those annoying people who fail to recognize that, whether or not you make any sound, opening your phone in a movie theater is extremely disturbing to everyone sitting in the rows behind you. The glowing screen is like a beacon inside the darkened room.
Did you spell those name correctly? Dr. Manley's first name is Geoffrey, and Google doesn't find anything at all for Dr. Yoesh. I'm sure I'm not the only slashdotter who would be interested in more information about tinnitus - my local audiologists are helpless. If you can supply more detailed directions, it would be greatly appreciated.
Look, I understand that the situation with Social Security and Medicare is messy, and that you are concerned about how this will affect your future, but resenting the elderly - or accusing them of stealing - is just stupid. People who paid into the system over the 40 or 50 years of their working lives quite reasonably expect to receive the benefits they earned and were promised. Do you want your parents and grandparents to die, homeless and destitute, because the government failed them?
I'm astonished at the amount of uninformed speculation about acehole's "dominant eye" comment (and no, I am not new here). The condition is called amblyopia, and it affects a small percentage of the population, myself included. My left eye is functionally normal, but for some reason the information reaching my brain comes overwhelmingly from my right eye. In my case, the problem has moderated as I have aged, but it caused a lot of trouble when I was young - I had to wear a patch over my dominant eye in elementary school. (Which didn't work, but was, unsurprisingly, fertile ground for taunts and insults.)
I am sorry you don't believe me, but that doesn't change the facts. I did display and sell DAT recorders, mostly from Sony (e.g. DTC-75ES), at a couple of different high-end shops in the Bay Area. I'm not particularly surprised you didn't find them at Sears or Radio Shack. They were moderately expensive, they were never very popular, they were not a success in the market, but they emphatically were available.
As I type this, I have in front of me a couple of pre-recorded DATs, released in 1988, which I dug out after reading your post. I keep around them as conversation pieces (along with related oddities, such as pre-recorded CD-3s and MiniDiscs), although this is the first time in many years the topic has arisen.
Right now, today, both Amazon and eBay list used DAT recorders for sale, and several new ones show up under a quick Google search. Or you could check Wikipedia, which will corroborate what I am saying. Or of course you can remain misinformed - whatever you prefer.
Sorry, but your facts are wrong. I sold many DAT recorders to retail consumers in the late 80s and early 90s. There was strong opposition from the RIAA (surprise!) but they were not successful at blocking the technology. Total sales numbers never approached what Sony had hoped for, but that was largely due to market forces. The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 effectively levied royalties on DAT recorders and blank tapes, which further discouraged sales.
Let's see - you describe this girl as "ass" the first you see her, and after helping her on her way, you wonder whether you should have asked for a blow job. I don't want to be cruel, but this is deeply fucked up, and it is now at least partly apparent why you are still a virgin.
No, you should not have asked for a BJ, and no, it would not have been "the normal male thing to do." Thinking about it, sure; asking, absolutely not.
BTW, being a virgin at 30 is not, in itself, a bad thing, but still being a virgin many years after reaching the decision that you are ready for sex - that is unfortunate.
Seriously, though, there are some really important things that you obviously don't get, at all, and you need more help than you are going to find on Slashdot. Please talk to someone. Best of luck.
I'm not a Windows user, so I don't recall the exact details, but I remember reading, when SP3 was first released, that a good many Slashdot readers didn't want anything to do with it. Has something changed, or is it just that enough time has passed that people don't much care anymore?
I haven't RTFA (and I'm not about to), but if the summary is correct then the average GPA of all college students must be well above 3.0. Is this true nowdays, or am I missing something here? I know things have changed since my day, when a "B" grade meant "well above average," but this is ridiculous!
anything that needs judges is not a sport, due to it being subjectively instead of objectively scored
Where does this idea come from? It is completely unfamiliar to me (not that I am much of a sportsman), and does not appear in any definition of "sport" that I have been able to find, yet it seems to be widely held by slashdotters.
Unfortunately, I don't think you would learn very much from your survey. One of the things the less competent are less competent at, is self-evaluation. I am sure many of us have observed this, and there have been studies which support the same conclusion with some rigor. The biggest screw-up in the company always believes he is indispensable. On the other hand, highly capable people tend to have a much more accurate understanding of both their strengths and their weaknesses.
What an odd post, coming from someone who claims to like precise language. "Rip-off' has always been used in precisely this sense; the most common usage, "What a rip-off," simply means that something costs more than you think it should, or more than you think it's worth. The implied outrage is largely metaphorical, and active hoodwinking is not necessarily involved.
Furthermore, "rip-off" is still quite common in colloquial speech--"part of our jargon"--as evidenced by its appearance in the summary. No-one needs a lecture on the subtleties of it usage.
The heart of the problem seems to be that NCLB and similar programs do not distinguish between children who underperform because they are socially disadvantaged, and those who underperform because they are less intelligent. It would be a fine thing if we could ensure that every student had the opportunity to reach his full potential, regardless of his skin color or how much money his parents make, and ostensibly that is the goal of NCLB.
Unfortunately, in the current educational climate, it is no longer even acceptable to suggest that some kids are less capable. I have seen people raked over the coals simply for asking questions about this. We should probably avoid calling anyone 'dumb,' because that is and always has been hurtful, but (as other posters have noted), there will always be a normal curve. There are children who are not 'special needs' but who still fall to the left of the curve, and that is just a fact.
Of course, the real purpose of NCLB is to bring education into the sphere of federal control, where it should properly be a state/local issue . . . .
OK, I laughed - but your comment ignores this crucial distinction: where Shakespeare's writing is (mostly) brilliant, The Children of Hurin is frankly dull, even pedantic. I recognize that not everyone enjoys Tolkien's prose, and he is arguably not a great stylist, but a great many of us have found much to enjoy in his language, expecially his descriptions and his dialog. The Children of Hurin reads as if it was written by an editor rather than a talented writer - because, of course, it was.
Your first post made me feel really bad, but as I read further (specifically, when you mentioned your Ds in English), it became apparent that this is a political stance you have chosen to adopt. You can write well-structured sentences and paragraphs, and you can reason coherently, so you have everything you needed to easily pass high school and introductory college English courses. As others have already stated, there is no one correct answer to a question of interpretation. Your teachers were just looking for a thoughtful and well-written response to the material presented, and given the amount of semi-literate crap they have to wade through, your writing skills would have given you a huge advantage. Hell, you could even have argued this exact point of view, as long as it was in response to the specific work under consideration, and received decent grades.
Apparently, when you felt that literature was being 'forced down your throat' (as many high school students feel about most of their classes), your response was to reject it so adamantly that, even years later, you still refuse to acknowledge that pretty much everone else in the world might be onto something. Everybody enjoys a good story, and while you can analyze anything to death, you don't have to; it can be just a good story.
I'm not even going to start on the things artists try to express that cannot be reduced to a logical argument or summarized in an essay.
If you had no imagination, if you lacked the ability to speculate and anticipate, you would be seriously broken and that would be tragic - but you're not. You loved "Alice in Wonderland" (Although, I have to say, if you took it at face value, you missed most of it!), so you already understand the joy of reading. Maybe, just maybe, there is another book out there that you will enjoy even more . . .
I had a true Slashdot moment when I read your post and realized who the poster was, so I spent some time on your blog. (I hope your server survives!) It does my heart good to know that someone has lived life as you have. Bravo, sir! (I do find it surprising that you seem to understand math and physics and life all at once. How did that happen?)
Anyway, it's an honor to be in your (virtual) company.
Slashdot Mirror
No offense intended - I guess I figured that someone who loved the word would naturally want to know how to spell it.
Of course you mean "sphygmomanometer."
Apparently, the writer at recombu.com is one of those annoying people who fail to recognize that, whether or not you make any sound, opening your phone in a movie theater is extremely disturbing to everyone sitting in the rows behind you. The glowing screen is like a beacon inside the darkened room.
Except that laser discs are analog!
Did you spell those name correctly? Dr. Manley's first name is Geoffrey, and Google doesn't find anything at all for Dr. Yoesh. I'm sure I'm not the only slashdotter who would be interested in more information about tinnitus - my local audiologists are helpless. If you can supply more detailed directions, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the link - that is a very interesting paper.
Look, I understand that the situation with Social Security and Medicare is messy, and that you are concerned about how this will affect your future, but resenting the elderly - or accusing them of stealing - is just stupid. People who paid into the system over the 40 or 50 years of their working lives quite reasonably expect to receive the benefits they earned and were promised. Do you want your parents and grandparents to die, homeless and destitute, because the government failed them?
You posted way to late to get any attention from the modders - but thanks for an excellent comment.
Speak for yourself!
"The Color Out of Space" is a 1927 short story by H.P. Lovecraft. Well worth reading, if you like that sort of thing.
I'm astonished at the amount of uninformed speculation about acehole's "dominant eye" comment (and no, I am not new here). The condition is called amblyopia, and it affects a small percentage of the population, myself included. My left eye is functionally normal, but for some reason the information reaching my brain comes overwhelmingly from my right eye. In my case, the problem has moderated as I have aged, but it caused a lot of trouble when I was young - I had to wear a patch over my dominant eye in elementary school. (Which didn't work, but was, unsurprisingly, fertile ground for taunts and insults.)
I am sorry you don't believe me, but that doesn't change the facts. I did display and sell DAT recorders, mostly from Sony (e.g. DTC-75ES), at a couple of different high-end shops in the Bay Area. I'm not particularly surprised you didn't find them at Sears or Radio Shack. They were moderately expensive, they were never very popular, they were not a success in the market, but they emphatically were available.
As I type this, I have in front of me a couple of pre-recorded DATs, released in 1988, which I dug out after reading your post. I keep around them as conversation pieces (along with related oddities, such as pre-recorded CD-3s and MiniDiscs), although this is the first time in many years the topic has arisen.
Right now, today, both Amazon and eBay list used DAT recorders for sale, and several new ones show up under a quick Google search. Or you could check Wikipedia, which will corroborate what I am saying. Or of course you can remain misinformed - whatever you prefer.
Sorry, but your facts are wrong. I sold many DAT recorders to retail consumers in the late 80s and early 90s. There was strong opposition from the RIAA (surprise!) but they were not successful at blocking the technology. Total sales numbers never approached what Sony had hoped for, but that was largely due to market forces. The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 effectively levied royalties on DAT recorders and blank tapes, which further discouraged sales.
Let's see - you describe this girl as "ass" the first you see her, and after helping her on her way, you wonder whether you should have asked for a blow job. I don't want to be cruel, but this is deeply fucked up, and it is now at least partly apparent why you are still a virgin.
No, you should not have asked for a BJ, and no, it would not have been "the normal male thing to do." Thinking about it, sure; asking, absolutely not.
BTW, being a virgin at 30 is not, in itself, a bad thing, but still being a virgin many years after reaching the decision that you are ready for sex - that is unfortunate.
Seriously, though, there are some really important things that you obviously don't get, at all, and you need more help than you are going to find on Slashdot. Please talk to someone. Best of luck.
I'm not a Windows user, so I don't recall the exact details, but I remember reading, when SP3 was first released, that a good many Slashdot readers didn't want anything to do with it. Has something changed, or is it just that enough time has passed that people don't much care anymore?
I haven't RTFA (and I'm not about to), but if the summary is correct then the average GPA of all college students must be well above 3.0. Is this true nowdays, or am I missing something here? I know things have changed since my day, when a "B" grade meant "well above average," but this is ridiculous!
Where does this idea come from? It is completely unfamiliar to me (not that I am much of a sportsman), and does not appear in any definition of "sport" that I have been able to find, yet it seems to be widely held by slashdotters.
One of the best posts I've read on /. in a long time. Thanks.
Unfortunately, I don't think you would learn very much from your survey. One of the things the less competent are less competent at, is self-evaluation. I am sure many of us have observed this, and there have been studies which support the same conclusion with some rigor. The biggest screw-up in the company always believes he is indispensable. On the other hand, highly capable people tend to have a much more accurate understanding of both their strengths and their weaknesses.
What an odd post, coming from someone who claims to like precise language. "Rip-off' has always been used in precisely this sense; the most common usage, "What a rip-off," simply means that something costs more than you think it should, or more than you think it's worth. The implied outrage is largely metaphorical, and active hoodwinking is not necessarily involved.
Furthermore, "rip-off" is still quite common in colloquial speech--"part of our jargon"--as evidenced by its appearance in the summary. No-one needs a lecture on the subtleties of it usage.
The heart of the problem seems to be that NCLB and similar programs do not distinguish between children who underperform because they are socially disadvantaged, and those who underperform because they are less intelligent. It would be a fine thing if we could ensure that every student had the opportunity to reach his full potential, regardless of his skin color or how much money his parents make, and ostensibly that is the goal of NCLB.
Unfortunately, in the current educational climate, it is no longer even acceptable to suggest that some kids are less capable. I have seen people raked over the coals simply for asking questions about this. We should probably avoid calling anyone 'dumb,' because that is and always has been hurtful, but (as other posters have noted), there will always be a normal curve. There are children who are not 'special needs' but who still fall to the left of the curve, and that is just a fact.
Of course, the real purpose of NCLB is to bring education into the sphere of federal control, where it should properly be a state/local issue . . . .
So we've got one yes and one no. Best out of three, anyone?
OK, I laughed - but your comment ignores this crucial distinction: where Shakespeare's writing is (mostly) brilliant, The Children of Hurin is frankly dull, even pedantic. I recognize that not everyone enjoys Tolkien's prose, and he is arguably not a great stylist, but a great many of us have found much to enjoy in his language, expecially his descriptions and his dialog. The Children of Hurin reads as if it was written by an editor rather than a talented writer - because, of course, it was.
Your first post made me feel really bad, but as I read further (specifically, when you mentioned your Ds in English), it became apparent that this is a political stance you have chosen to adopt. You can write well-structured sentences and paragraphs, and you can reason coherently, so you have everything you needed to easily pass high school and introductory college English courses. As others have already stated, there is no one correct answer to a question of interpretation. Your teachers were just looking for a thoughtful and well-written response to the material presented, and given the amount of semi-literate crap they have to wade through, your writing skills would have given you a huge advantage. Hell, you could even have argued this exact point of view, as long as it was in response to the specific work under consideration, and received decent grades.
Apparently, when you felt that literature was being 'forced down your throat' (as many high school students feel about most of their classes), your response was to reject it so adamantly that, even years later, you still refuse to acknowledge that pretty much everone else in the world might be onto something. Everybody enjoys a good story, and while you can analyze anything to death, you don't have to; it can be just a good story.
I'm not even going to start on the things artists try to express that cannot be reduced to a logical argument or summarized in an essay.
If you had no imagination, if you lacked the ability to speculate and anticipate, you would be seriously broken and that would be tragic - but you're not. You loved "Alice in Wonderland" (Although, I have to say, if you took it at face value, you missed most of it!), so you already understand the joy of reading. Maybe, just maybe, there is another book out there that you will enjoy even more . . .
I had a true Slashdot moment when I read your post and realized who the poster was, so I spent some time on your blog. (I hope your server survives!) It does my heart good to know that someone has lived life as you have. Bravo, sir! (I do find it surprising that you seem to understand math and physics and life all at once. How did that happen?)
Anyway, it's an honor to be in your (virtual) company.