On the other hand, there are those of us that believe that all source code should be publically available, and that looking at someone else's code does not constitute "theft" in any way.
Not only should employees use nice, ear covering headphones, these should be provided by the company, as an expense of having one's employees work in cubicles. It's a relatively minor expense, and the good will it creates is astounding. One employer I worked for gave everyone a headphone budget, which they could use part or all of, or even suplement with their own funds if they wanted a really nice pair. It worked out rather well, and kept the bickering about music to a minimum.
Actually, what you you wrote _is_ flamebait, at least in my mind. If you read the link you yourself gave more carefully, you would have noticed it said:
Abusing this stimulant causes effects similar to those associated with cocaine and amphetamines.
(emphasis is mine)
But at the same time, the link you quoted should have been a bit more explicit, and explained exactly what "abusing" Ritalin usually means. Ritalin in it's standard, most basic form, is a small pill, with a dosage of usually 5 or 10 mg of drug, with a lot more inert filler to make it easier to handle. A normal does might be 5 or 10mg every 3 hours, for the duration of the day (I took 10 mg every 3 hours when I was on it).
When most people abuse ritalin, they chop it up into a fine powder, and snort it up the nose, very similar to cocaine. This was very much not how it was intended to be taken. It hits the blood stream very quickly and in high concentration, and being a stimulant, has some of the same affects of other stimulants.
A lot of drugs people get perscribed regularly have side effects when taken in too high of dosages. This is nothing new. Ritalin has been used for a quite a few years, without any major longterm side effects. There are some things the doctors that prescribe Ritalin watch for, such as insomnia, or weight loss, but if any of these are present, it's an indication the dosage is wrong, or another drug needs to be chosen.
Most of the people I meet that don't believe in ADD, don't know much about it. It is real. It is not a media invention, or purely a scapegoat for bad parenting/failed school systems, though I don't deny it does fill these roles at times.
I was going to write more, but I wandered away, and now I'm back 6 hours later, and it's 2am, and time for bed. But I'm not ADD or anything...
I guess I don't fully understand the nay-sayers. I do see the points people are trying to make: they don't trust bamboo, they don't use an aluminum bicycle so why should they want a bamboo bicycle, it's not stylish enough(?), it has no brakes, etc.
None of these are the real point at hand. I think the real potential is in third world countries, where many people don't own any sort of bicycle. I just returned from 16 months abroad this spring. Some of that time was spent in Laos and Cambodia, riding a bicycle through relatively untravelled parts of the country (yes, mine was aluminum, but locally bought).
Bicycles are not only a major form of transport there, but also veritable industrial machines, used to carry everything from giant sacks of rice to building materials to children. Often a family will only own a single bicycle, if that, which often the children must use to get to school, as school can be quite a distance from the home.
The ability to have a cheap bicycle, made from sustainable materials is an incredible thing for these people. Think about it. They all have bamboo groves in the villages for building materials. The ability to completely rebuild your own bicycle from materials you have on hand is a great thing.
Then, think about how many bicycles are produced every year to meet the demands of not only first world users (how many people do you know own one bicycle for every member of their family), let alone third world users. To be able to use a renewable, cheap resource, even for part of the bicycle's construction, is incredible.
When I was in north east cambodia, I talked to some travellers who had visited a remote village where several of the children had some pedalless bicycles built entirely out of bamboo. Aparrently they were pushing up the hill, and coasting back down, but still I thought it was very impressive, and would have loved to have seen it.
Not to sound fanatical, but I would love to own one of these bamboo bicycles. I currently don't own a car, and bicycle everwhere, and owning a bamboo bicycle, if for nothing else the pure novelty of it would be really cool.
Slashdot Mirror
On the other hand, there are those of us that believe that all source code should be publically available, and that looking at someone else's code does not constitute "theft" in any way.
Not only should employees use nice, ear covering headphones, these should be provided by the company, as an expense of having one's employees work in cubicles. It's a relatively minor expense, and the good will it creates is astounding. One employer I worked for gave everyone a headphone budget, which they could use part or all of, or even suplement with their own funds if they wanted a really nice pair. It worked out rather well, and kept the bickering about music to a minimum.
Actually, what you you wrote _is_ flamebait, at least in my mind. If you read the link you yourself gave more carefully, you would have noticed it said:
(emphasis is mine)
But at the same time, the link you quoted should have been a bit more explicit, and explained exactly what "abusing" Ritalin usually means. Ritalin in it's standard, most basic form, is a small pill, with a dosage of usually 5 or 10 mg of drug, with a lot more inert filler to make it easier to handle. A normal does might be 5 or 10mg every 3 hours, for the duration of the day (I took 10 mg every 3 hours when I was on it).
When most people abuse ritalin, they chop it up into a fine powder, and snort it up the nose, very similar to cocaine. This was very much not how it was intended to be taken. It hits the blood stream very quickly and in high concentration, and being a stimulant, has some of the same affects of other stimulants.
A lot of drugs people get perscribed regularly have side effects when taken in too high of dosages. This is nothing new. Ritalin has been used for a quite a few years, without any major longterm side effects. There are some things the doctors that prescribe Ritalin watch for, such as insomnia, or weight loss, but if any of these are present, it's an indication the dosage is wrong, or another drug needs to be chosen.
Most of the people I meet that don't believe in ADD, don't know much about it. It is real. It is not a media invention, or purely a scapegoat for bad parenting/failed school systems, though I don't deny it does fill these roles at times.
I was going to write more, but I wandered away, and now I'm back 6 hours later, and it's 2am, and time for bed. But I'm not ADD or anything...
-Scotty
I guess I don't fully understand the nay-sayers. I do see the points people are trying to make: they don't trust bamboo, they don't use an aluminum bicycle so why should they want a bamboo bicycle, it's not stylish enough(?), it has no brakes, etc. None of these are the real point at hand. I think the real potential is in third world countries, where many people don't own any sort of bicycle. I just returned from 16 months abroad this spring. Some of that time was spent in Laos and Cambodia, riding a bicycle through relatively untravelled parts of the country (yes, mine was aluminum, but locally bought). Bicycles are not only a major form of transport there, but also veritable industrial machines, used to carry everything from giant sacks of rice to building materials to children. Often a family will only own a single bicycle, if that, which often the children must use to get to school, as school can be quite a distance from the home. The ability to have a cheap bicycle, made from sustainable materials is an incredible thing for these people. Think about it. They all have bamboo groves in the villages for building materials. The ability to completely rebuild your own bicycle from materials you have on hand is a great thing. Then, think about how many bicycles are produced every year to meet the demands of not only first world users (how many people do you know own one bicycle for every member of their family), let alone third world users. To be able to use a renewable, cheap resource, even for part of the bicycle's construction, is incredible. When I was in north east cambodia, I talked to some travellers who had visited a remote village where several of the children had some pedalless bicycles built entirely out of bamboo. Aparrently they were pushing up the hill, and coasting back down, but still I thought it was very impressive, and would have loved to have seen it. Not to sound fanatical, but I would love to own one of these bamboo bicycles. I currently don't own a car, and bicycle everwhere, and owning a bamboo bicycle, if for nothing else the pure novelty of it would be really cool.