Laptops seem to be more useful than desktops... a little more fragile in exchange for better portability, adequate performance (I'm assuming you're not buying him/her a computer to allow him/her to play the latest l33t games) and much more flexibility.
But you know your child. How does he/she treat other pieces of expensive equipment in the home? If your kid treats your $xxx stereo system with respect, it's probably appropriate to give him a laptop. Just make sure to either get an iBook, or put some really solid anti-virus / anti-spyware software on the thing.
...for reaching a consensus on changes (if any) that need to be done on stable pages.
The culture at Wikipedia (regarding people that enjoy contributing) has impressed me the deeper I look into it. Even something as "trivial" as deleting unnecessary categories has its own open forum, discussion, and voting -- and anyone with a minority view can still leave their input and rationale. If government ran nearly this efficiently, it'd be quite a sight.
So I'm not too worried about the idea of 'locking' pages that tend to be vandalized.
In the beginning, there was one button. Then there were two. Then there were clickable scroll wheels and programmable toggles and solid-state slides. But nobody made a mouse as easy to use as your Mac.
As the proud owner of a Powerbook, I have to say that the traditional Microsoft optical mouse was pretty damn close, and should have become standard issue on all PCs after it was released.
You bring up a really good point, but when it comes down to it, there are probably other, safer ways to learn these skills without even the slightest risk of, oh, getting paralyzed.
Not the least of which are the same group projects in high school (and college) that nerds like me learned to hate and sports players learned to... hate. Probably because it required memorizing something.
I'm not in a position to judge whether rote memorization or discpline and strategy are better skills. But what can football do that, say, a good game of Risk can't?
I'm of the opinion they should have a floating scale bar somewhere on google maps... I can't tell if they only have part of the moon, if this is the entire moon, or what.
I'm not sure how attached I am to tying in extension security directly to browser security.
Grandma visits the Greasemonkey page. A warning sheet drops down from the tabs indicating that the software will not be installed because it could be a security breach. Grandma leaves.
It takes a little bit of work to install extensions, and I don't really see anyone going through that work without being cognizant enough to recognize that it may open a security hole in exchange for added functionality.
In addition to what's been said, it actually started as a website for promoting independent bands. I've never been in a band myself, but it's immediately obvious from just observing that people in bands like to critique each other's stuff, and to some extent, promote each other. MySpace became the place to go for stuff like that.
It grew a bit from there because someone decided that, hey, maybe people in general would like to have something like this.
The site feels really, really hacked together at times... as if there were phpNuke modules being tacked on every few months... but it stays online and serves its purpose and audience well.
5 tons is a lot of dynamite, if you think about it.:-)
Still, the Chicago Tribune (registration required... google for the AP version) has another comparative paragraph:
Scientists had compared the barrel-shaped probe's journey to standing in the middle of the road and being hit by a semi-truck roaring at 23,000 mph. They expect the crater left behind to be anywhere from the size of a large house to a football stadium and between two and 14 stories deep.
So there's still a great deal of uncertainty, but man, 23,000 mph is a heck of a hit-and-run accident.
It reminds me of Sim City 2000, where you could stick all your power plants in the corners and edges, so you would only deal with 1/4th to 1/2 of the pollution you would normally have to deal with.
Yeah, I tried this argument with my wife. She still hates riding the El (Chicago's light-rail for ~100 years).:-)
I drive. She would rather sit in the car with me for an hour listening to the radio than be claustrophobic in an El car for 60 minutes, wait another 15 for a bus, plus or minus 15 minutes depending on whether or not the transportation is there.
So public transit is messier, smellier, takes more time, and is more expensive (2 gallons of fuel for $4.40 in a Civic and free parking vs. 4 round-trip El passes + transfers for the train for $10.00.)
On another note, this is why carpooling works really well.
Next year, we'll have the Metra versus Interstate 290 debate. The Metra will take an hour and 15 minutes. I-290 will take an hour and 30. And driving will still be cheaper, and I'll get to talk to my wife for 3 hours each day in the car.
'Til the basic economics of driving change substantially, I think this will do for now.
-Create a Duke Nukem Forever development simulator and see which finishes first -- simulated development of Duke Nukem Forever on a supercomputer, or actual development with humans.
-For extra points, release both and see which one sells more copies.
Slashdot Mirror
But you know your child. How does he/she treat other pieces of expensive equipment in the home? If your kid treats your $xxx stereo system with respect, it's probably appropriate to give him a laptop. Just make sure to either get an iBook, or put some really solid anti-virus / anti-spyware software on the thing.
The culture at Wikipedia (regarding people that enjoy contributing) has impressed me the deeper I look into it. Even something as "trivial" as deleting unnecessary categories has its own open forum, discussion, and voting -- and anyone with a minority view can still leave their input and rationale. If government ran nearly this efficiently, it'd be quite a sight.
So I'm not too worried about the idea of 'locking' pages that tend to be vandalized.
As the proud owner of a Powerbook, I have to say that the traditional Microsoft optical mouse was pretty damn close, and should have become standard issue on all PCs after it was released.
Not the least of which are the same group projects in high school (and college) that nerds like me learned to hate and sports players learned to... hate. Probably because it required memorizing something.
I'm not in a position to judge whether rote memorization or discpline and strategy are better skills. But what can football do that, say, a good game of Risk can't?
Walking away from the landing, bonus points.
Intact orbiter upon landing? Extra bonus points. :-)
Would the Chess AI engine be driven by a Bayesian filter?
I'm of the opinion they should have a floating scale bar somewhere on google maps... I can't tell if they only have part of the moon, if this is the entire moon, or what.
Or a shot for every dupe?
Heck, this could become the world's largest drinking game!
Grandma visits the Greasemonkey page. A warning sheet drops down from the tabs indicating that the software will not be installed because it could be a security breach. Grandma leaves.
It takes a little bit of work to install extensions, and I don't really see anyone going through that work without being cognizant enough to recognize that it may open a security hole in exchange for added functionality.
It grew a bit from there because someone decided that, hey, maybe people in general would like to have something like this.
The site feels really, really hacked together at times... as if there were phpNuke modules being tacked on every few months... but it stays online and serves its purpose and audience well.
Reportedly, the force was with it.
If there are any other (relatively) old people that remember "Press Your Luck" or any other classic 80's game shows, please concur. :-)
You have been infected by the *WHAMMY!* virus. You have five more spins...
It looks like something newbies would hold up to their computer screen and try to point to stuff, only to wonder why said mouse doesn't work that way.
A wooden iPod should be sold with one of these!
Still, the Chicago Tribune (registration required... google for the AP version) has another comparative paragraph:
So there's still a great deal of uncertainty, but man, 23,000 mph is a heck of a hit-and-run accident.
It reminds me of Sim City 2000, where you could stick all your power plants in the corners and edges, so you would only deal with 1/4th to 1/2 of the pollution you would normally have to deal with.
Then again, maybe it's just karma (South Chicago, IL)
I drive. She would rather sit in the car with me for an hour listening to the radio than be claustrophobic in an El car for 60 minutes, wait another 15 for a bus, plus or minus 15 minutes depending on whether or not the transportation is there.
So public transit is messier, smellier, takes more time, and is more expensive (2 gallons of fuel for $4.40 in a Civic and free parking vs. 4 round-trip El passes + transfers for the train for $10.00.)
On another note, this is why carpooling works really well.
Next year, we'll have the Metra versus Interstate 290 debate. The Metra will take an hour and 15 minutes. I-290 will take an hour and 30. And driving will still be cheaper, and I'll get to talk to my wife for 3 hours each day in the car.
'Til the basic economics of driving change substantially, I think this will do for now.
-Create a Duke Nukem Forever development simulator and see which finishes first -- simulated development of Duke Nukem Forever on a supercomputer, or actual development with humans.
-For extra points, release both and see which one sells more copies.