I remember singing "God Save the Queen" in grade school. The Union Jack had been replaced the red and white maple leaf flag, of course, but the Queen's image was still on our currency and no one but ornithologists gave much thought to loons.
So, yeah, you could say we like it that way.
Pomp, circumstance, and the trappings of culture may not hold the appeal they did in other times, but every time I watch televised coverage of a US president giving a speech and I hear "Hail to the Chief" being played by a military band, or attend an even where the national anthem is played and see people struggling to remember the less-than-inspiring words ("the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air") and/or hit all the notes (1-1/2 octaves), I think back to how things were in Canada.
As for the sovereignty argument, I'd suggest that's overblown. The US opted for armed insurrection, so I suppose it's natural for there to be a focus on such things as "rights" or "freedom and liberty" to the exclusion of everything else that's just as important. I find that approach naive and simplistic (something you'd expect from an adolescent, perhaps), but who am I to judge?
A Canadian writer once wrote something to the effect that Canadians defer to authority, while Americans bow to power. I suspect that's a distinction too subtle for most Americans to understand. Or appreciate.
The goal isn't to prevent kids from browsing porn anywhere, the goal is to prevent them from doing so using an internet connection provided by government funds.
Your characterisation is apt, but it's not entirely accurate as using such an internet connection, the school still has both an ethical and legal obligation to prevent the kids from browsing porn.
There's plenty of recent enough cases for a casual Google search to turn up incidents where school districts, school administrators, teachers and even school employees are involved in legal proceedings brought by, for example, an overzealous parent, or are otherwise are forced to defend themselves (using official school policy) against criminal charges.
So yeah, porn is definitely part of it, irrespective of what the overarching principles may be.
Not sure what problem that's meant to solve, but the more standard (and IMHO, manageable) approach to using a shell script that's called by different names would be to use a construct like the following:
#!/bin/sh # # ~/bin/myscript - call a script by multiple names #
scriptname=${0##*/}
case $scriptname in
foo) echo "You called $scriptname as foo";;
bar) echo "You called $scriptname as bar";;
baz) echo "You called $scriptname as baz";; esac
Link scriptname to foo, bar and baz, and Bob's yer uncle. And if relying on bash, no aliases or functions to clutter up bash's cluttered namespace. Then again, the above is probably similar to what Google's Python script does, so I'm not really sure WTF either of us are talking about.;-)
A note to the OP: before commenting on how Real Unixy Tools work, have a look at the manpage for openssl(1).
I must be the only person on the whole internet who didn't really care about this. Why bother visiting the Google homepage anyway? I just search from Firefox's search box.
I hope you meant to say "from the Firefox address bar".
Other than that, no, there's, well, at least two of us.;-) I just read these articles for fun, but I gotta admit I'm dumbfounded at the some of the comments. Like those from the folks who make google.com their home page. This is Slashdot. You don't know enough HTML markup to make your own homepage... with hookers and blackjack?
I'm not sure what the purpose is of elaborating on what I wrote (interest for the general reader, I'm guessing), but my point was that you're wrong in attributing any of it to Turkey. Nothing you wrote or cited contradicts that. Again, Turkey is a relatively new nation state that grew out of the aftermath of WW I.
On the other hand, if this is some misplaced yearning for a fictional past, you'll find your counterpart in the Kossovo Serbs who, in their centuries-old antipathy to All Things Islam, still mutter "Beware the Turks!". Given recent history, you could say that warning is still prescient after all these years (all 500 of them). Oh, the ironies. Either way, one thing seems certain, and that's their grasp of history exceeds yours.
Hell, attributing any of the accomplishments of that time period to modern Turkey is like suggesting Frank Gehry is a product of the Persian Empire, or that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait to uphold and protect the noble traditions of English Common Law.
Turkey was a world leading country by 15th century in mathematics, medicine, architecture, etc.
A young Turk?;-)
Turkey is a product of the first world war.
Your description of that part of the world in the 15th century is generally correct, but it would also be valid for the centuries before when it was the center of Christendom.
Dunno about the HP printers used in large firms, but for the networked ones I've used, I can typically just telnet in to change the config, and jobs are magickally printed, without or without CUPS, but certainly without installing a boatload of management software. The one I use at home (an old 4090N) is easier to use and far less trouble than those ubiqitous plastic blue boxes with a Linksys logo that everyone uses. And certainly more reliable.
Visuals are fine, and certainly useful for teaching generally, and illustrating broad concepts specifically.
I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that you don't underestimate the value of physical objects. There's something to be said for physical wires and connections. It's a truism to say that "hands on experience" is often the best method for learning: a user plugging in a network cable and configuring things by typing in a terminal before using it to view or analyse network traffic is about as hands-on as you can get. Bonus points for plugging the cable into the wrong jack or accidentally disconnecting it.
If it were me, I'd use old PCs with multiple NICs, install one of the BSDs, and devote your visuals to network diagrams and the explanation of higher level concepts. That's not to say that setting up a "virtual lab" won't work; just that most would prefer a "real" one (with similarly "real" blinky lights). Seems to me a certain amount of hands-on experience in a real world environment is almost a prerequisite to dealing with or making productive use of abstractions like virtualisation software.
You're in Kenya, so the idea of acquiring used Cisco gear, for example, off eBay probably probably isn't feasible. But if some extra PCs are available and can be put to use, I'd go that route.
I think it comes more from the fact that a large slice of the public doesn't realize that non-Microsoft operating systems exist.
Now that they have a chance to learn just that.
It's entirely possible that the rate of Linux adoption will be faster than elsewhere; not having to grapple with distinctions involving beer metaphors should make things easier.;-)
Wow. An informed Slashdot reader. You dare post something meaningful in a discussion about newspapers in the midst of a mob of teenagers (along with a few right-wing idealogues) chanting "Death to Print Journalism"?;-)
You're right, of course, about the underlying problem. You did, however, neglect to throw in the bit about how most all newspapers are finding it impossible to reconcile their viability with the pitiful revenues from online advertising. That problem has no easy solution.
There are success stories out there, of course, consisting of a few local on-line-only newspapers, specialty sites, Rupert's subscription-only WSJ, the Huffington Post, etc., but those business models represent a dramatic departure from how newspapers are current run, and those models certainly won't accomodate the public's need for a wide array of news, or the currently employed editors, reporters, etc. required to produce it.
Maybe the idea of an "enlightened benefactor" will come back in style? Deregulation has gone out of vogue, so why not the public offerings and buyouts in the print world?
Personally, I'm holding out for a magic Kindle-type device to save the industry. No secret the publishers are too. If that happens, I suspect everything will be available only by subscription only (or mostlY), and the end product will cost more (and suck in new and different ways), but it will afford a chance for the big papers to continue. Most of the smaller ones deserve to die anyway.
You probably grew up in a culture where correctness was regarded as a virtue and/or a mark of good education, and then, were probably taught grammar and spelling in school. Here in the US, the culture is such that ignoring or otherwise breaking rules is viewed as something to be proud of; teaching proper English, if done, is done poorly. It's been my experience that foreigners (i.e., those whose who speak more than one language, and whose first language is not English) typically speak and write better English than even highly educated Americans (the Germans and the Dutch regularly outdoing their counterparts).
I suspect if more Americans travelled abroad (few do), studied a second language in school (or otherwise learned some basic Latin or Greek), things would be very different.
A note for any would-be stone-throwers: typos are not spelling or grammatical mistakes.
I'd suggest that's a sloppy use of words in the context of a subject where words are regularly abused. From a random source:
molest -verb (used with object) 1. to bother, interfere with, or annoy. 2. to make indecent sexual advances to. 3. to assault sexually.
Origin: 1325-75; ME molesten - L molestare to irk, deriv. of molestus irksome; cf. moles mass, burden, trouble
--Synonyms 1. harass, harry, trouble, plague, hector, torment. See attack.
Is a "sexual offender" someone who was convicted of forcible rape, convicted of urinating in public, a teenager caught making out, or someone with unsavoury content in his browser's cache? Similarly ambiguous is "child pornography". In rare cases it involve scenes of actual sex, but most of what's found on the intarwebs is cheese-cake photography.
Words should mean something, yes? If not, then you'll have to report my dog to the authorities. He regularly performs sex acts on my knee, and I've seen him do the same to children. And because everyone knows that dogs are predators by nature, you'd have to have to call him a "sexual predator", too.
If you're looking for true artistry and creativity, there's better sites. That said, looking at your link reminds me of what, many years ago, I was hoping what GUIs would evolve into: a seamless blend of form and function. And no frigging white backgrounds.
I live in an area surrounded by forests that are planted and cleared for use by lumber companies and paper mills. We fear the closing of lumber companies because it will mean our forests will start shrinking... The really sad part about it, is the huge number of enviro-nutbags that want lumber companies out of business in a completely backwards effort to "save the forests."
I'd suggest every time you feel an urge to assert an absolute of some sort, you take a few seconds and reconsider.
The "forests" your favourite lumber company has planted (so full of form and colour from afar), is a forest only in the loosest definition of one. I'd suggest "a collection of trees". The enviro-nutbags have a point, one that's easily recognised by someone who's been in a forest, or otherwise knows what the term "monoculture" means and what its implications are.
I go to a college with a biometrics program and know several people working on what is called "liveness detection" or measures in the systems to prevent fake fingers that would easily foil the fakes that this guy made... temperature sensor apply a charge across the finger... detecting for perspiration... 3d structure of the fingerprint... and many others.
Interesting reading. I'm wondering, though, instead of pursing such complex approaches, why not simply expand on the "charge across the finger" idea. A sufficiently strong charge applied "to" the finger in combination with a timer would allow you to determine whether there is indeed a live person attached to that finger, yes?
Or are screams not part of Best Practices in the biometric industry?
[I]f you buy a $700 computer at Staples for your home business which you will claim as a deduction, you will now have to get Staples' taxpayer ID and fill in the paperwork. If you buy the same computer for your kids to do their schoolwork, you don't have to.
I've got a better idea:
1. Buy a computer for the kids. 2. Have them do your work. 3. Deduct the kids.
Hmm. You think there's a Profit in there somewhere?
Dude, chill out. Last I checked, derivatives aren't traded or sold on Craigslist or eBay, and profits on those are already taxed by the IRS. And China, they buy US treasury bonds direct. If you're angry about world+dog, try to form a coherent thought before you start typing, or find something else to do.
This is why American beer sucks: because there is no history, not as much trial-and-error time to get it right as everyone else had.And we haven't even broached the subject of Canadian beer, either, so STFU.
I agree with all of your comments, but I'm not entirely sure that a lack of history, at least with respect to technique, has that much to do with it.
First, American beer makers were (and are) free to import both the people and skills necessary to replicate what was developed over countless years in Europe, and if needed, improve on those practices. In some areas of the food and beverage industries, that was done, and to great success, but beer makers, like many others, chose not to. Whether that's the product of pride, cultural bias/discrimination, or foolishness is anyone's guess.
Second, there's the ingredients. That's a bit more complicated, but suffice it to say that in regards to what we eat and drink, the whole is never better than the sum of its parts. Inferior quality ingredients always yield an inferior product.
Third, there's the issue of taste. If beer makers have no sense of what's really good or bad, and their customers similarly don't, where is the obligation or impetus to pursue efforts to replicate something no one cares about, or more accurately, isn't able to discern? The operative phrase here for American success stories is "time and money". If you can save on both, you're a success, and your customers are happy to buy what you sell them.
Wisconsin, I'm told, makes a lot of cheese. I've certainly never tasted anything I would call cheese. Lots of cheesy or cheese-like products, but let's be serious: something wrapped in a label adorned with an Italian flag and aged for 6 months isn't Parmesan. And as for the endless varieties of bland and uninteresting domestic cheeses well, they're bland and uninteresting.
A "lack of history" with respect to inculcated tastes, certainly. The US has made progress, but it's still rooted in the white Wonder bread diets and products that became popular and widely distributed in the fifties, and which Julia Child, among others, devoted her career to changing.
Shitty beer? Most Americans prefer it. Budweiser advertising dollars will ensure that never changes.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a US-based, and US-centric site. Surely you can understand this.
No need to shout. You could have said "It's all about us".
Or something like that. ;-)
[W]e LIKE the Queen. She's a classy dame
I remember singing "God Save the Queen" in grade school. The Union Jack had been replaced the red and white maple leaf flag, of course, but the Queen's image was still on our currency and no one but ornithologists gave much thought to loons.
So, yeah, you could say we like it that way.
Pomp, circumstance, and the trappings of culture may not hold the appeal they did in other times, but every time I watch televised coverage of a US president giving a speech and I hear "Hail to the Chief" being played by a military band, or attend an even where the national anthem is played and see people struggling to remember the less-than-inspiring words ("the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air") and/or hit all the notes (1-1/2 octaves), I think back to how things were in Canada.
As for the sovereignty argument, I'd suggest that's overblown. The US opted for armed insurrection, so I suppose it's natural for there to be a focus on such things as "rights" or "freedom and liberty" to the exclusion of everything else that's just as important. I find that approach naive and simplistic (something you'd expect from an adolescent, perhaps), but who am I to judge?
A Canadian writer once wrote something to the effect that Canadians defer to authority, while Americans bow to power. I suspect that's a distinction too subtle for most Americans to understand. Or appreciate.
The goal isn't to prevent kids from browsing porn anywhere, the goal is to prevent them from doing so using an internet connection provided by government funds.
Your characterisation is apt, but it's not entirely accurate as using such an internet connection, the school still has both an ethical and legal obligation to prevent the kids from browsing porn.
There's plenty of recent enough cases for a casual Google search to turn up incidents where school districts, school administrators, teachers and even school employees are involved in legal proceedings brought by, for example, an overzealous parent, or are otherwise are forced to defend themselves (using official school policy) against criminal charges.
So yeah, porn is definitely part of it, irrespective of what the overarching principles may be.
And you wonder why you don't have a girlfriend when you call her a "named buffer".
Fucking hell. I made the original joke, it's far wittier than your follow-up retort, but you get modded up? ;-)
Ok, I'll come in again.
Finally, freedom from a clipboard!
Viva la raza!
Oh, wait ... is using a clipboard like yanking into a named buffer?
Yep... 1.6 billion people are going to boil potatoes and place them between sheets of copper and zinc in order to light an LED
No, but I'd suggest that a few routinely go to similar lengths to do something better.
Cheers. ;-)
Not sure what problem that's meant to solve, but the more standard (and IMHO, manageable) approach to using a shell script that's called by different names would be to use a construct like the following:
Link scriptname to foo, bar and baz, and Bob's yer uncle. And if relying on bash, no aliases or functions to clutter up bash's cluttered namespace. Then again, the above is probably similar to what Google's Python script does, so I'm not really sure WTF either of us are talking about. ;-)
A note to the OP: before commenting on how Real Unixy Tools work, have a look at the manpage for openssl(1).
I must be the only person on the whole internet who didn't really care about this. Why bother visiting the Google homepage anyway? I just search from Firefox's search box.
I hope you meant to say "from the Firefox address bar".
Other than that, no, there's, well, at least two of us. ;-) I just read these articles for fun, but I gotta admit I'm dumbfounded at the some of the comments. Like those from the folks who make google.com their home page. This is Slashdot. You don't know enough HTML markup to make your own homepage... with hookers and blackjack?
WTF?
I'm not sure what the purpose is of elaborating on what I wrote (interest for the general reader, I'm guessing), but my point was that you're wrong in attributing any of it to Turkey. Nothing you wrote or cited contradicts that. Again, Turkey is a relatively new nation state that grew out of the aftermath of WW I.
On the other hand, if this is some misplaced yearning for a fictional past, you'll find your counterpart in the Kossovo Serbs who, in their centuries-old antipathy to All Things Islam, still mutter "Beware the Turks!". Given recent history, you could say that warning is still prescient after all these years (all 500 of them). Oh, the ironies. Either way, one thing seems certain, and that's their grasp of history exceeds yours.
Hell, attributing any of the accomplishments of that time period to modern Turkey is like suggesting Frank Gehry is a product of the Persian Empire, or that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait to uphold and protect the noble traditions of English Common Law.
Turkey was a world leading country by 15th century in mathematics, medicine, architecture, etc.
A young Turk? ;-)
Turkey is a product of the first world war.
Your description of that part of the world in the 15th century is generally correct, but it would also be valid for the centuries before when it was the center of Christendom.
Not a fan of CUPS, eh?
CUPS is fine. Just unneeded. Isn't that was Mac OS X uses?
You're talking about Windows, yes?
Dunno about the HP printers used in large firms, but for the networked ones I've used, I can typically just telnet in to change the config, and jobs are magickally printed, without or without CUPS, but certainly without installing a boatload of management software. The one I use at home (an old 4090N) is easier to use and far less trouble than those ubiqitous plastic blue boxes with a Linksys logo that everyone uses. And certainly more reliable.
Visuals are fine, and certainly useful for teaching generally, and illustrating broad concepts specifically.
I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that you don't underestimate the value of physical objects. There's something to be said for physical wires and connections. It's a truism to say that "hands on experience" is often the best method for learning: a user plugging in a network cable and configuring things by typing in a terminal before using it to view or analyse network traffic is about as hands-on as you can get. Bonus points for plugging the cable into the wrong jack or accidentally disconnecting it.
If it were me, I'd use old PCs with multiple NICs, install one of the BSDs, and devote your visuals to network diagrams and the explanation of higher level concepts. That's not to say that setting up a "virtual lab" won't work; just that most would prefer a "real" one (with similarly "real" blinky lights). Seems to me a certain amount of hands-on experience in a real world environment is almost a prerequisite to dealing with or making productive use of abstractions like virtualisation software.
You're in Kenya, so the idea of acquiring used Cisco gear, for example, off eBay probably probably isn't feasible. But if some extra PCs are available and can be put to use, I'd go that route.
I think it comes more from the fact that a large slice of the public doesn't realize that non-Microsoft operating systems exist.
Now that they have a chance to learn just that.
It's entirely possible that the rate of Linux adoption will be faster than elsewhere; not having to grapple with distinctions involving beer metaphors should make things easier. ;-)
Wow. An informed Slashdot reader. You dare post something meaningful in a discussion about newspapers in the midst of a mob of teenagers (along with a few right-wing idealogues) chanting "Death to Print Journalism"? ;-)
You're right, of course, about the underlying problem. You did, however, neglect to throw in the bit about how most all newspapers are finding it impossible to reconcile their viability with the pitiful revenues from online advertising. That problem has no easy solution.
There are success stories out there, of course, consisting of a few local on-line-only newspapers, specialty sites, Rupert's subscription-only WSJ, the Huffington Post, etc., but those business models represent a dramatic departure from how newspapers are current run, and those models certainly won't accomodate the public's need for a wide array of news, or the currently employed editors, reporters, etc. required to produce it.
Maybe the idea of an "enlightened benefactor" will come back in style? Deregulation has gone out of vogue, so why not the public offerings and buyouts in the print world?
Personally, I'm holding out for a magic Kindle-type device to save the industry. No secret the publishers are too. If that happens, I suspect everything will be available only by subscription only (or mostlY), and the end product will cost more (and suck in new and different ways), but it will afford a chance for the big papers to continue. Most of the smaller ones deserve to die anyway.
As a European ...
You probably grew up in a culture where correctness was regarded as a virtue and/or a mark of good education, and then, were probably taught grammar and spelling in school. Here in the US, the culture is such that ignoring or otherwise breaking rules is viewed as something to be proud of; teaching proper English, if done, is done poorly. It's been my experience that foreigners (i.e., those whose who speak more than one language, and whose first language is not English) typically speak and write better English than even highly educated Americans (the Germans and the Dutch regularly outdoing their counterparts).
I suspect if more Americans travelled abroad (few do), studied a second language in school (or otherwise learned some basic Latin or Greek), things would be very different.
A note for any would-be stone-throwers: typos are not spelling or grammatical mistakes.
I had no problem with folks wanting to marry a sheep, cat, goat, or whatever - what they do behind closed doesn't affect me or my liberties.
Reminds me of a choice quote from Ronald Reagan when he was asked about some gay issue looming at the time:
Regrettably, that brand of American conservatism died with the ascendency of the Christian Right.
Child molestation is a sex act.
I'd suggest that's a sloppy use of words in the context of a subject where words are regularly abused. From a random source:
Is a "sexual offender" someone who was convicted of forcible rape, convicted of urinating in public, a teenager caught making out, or someone with unsavoury content in his browser's cache? Similarly ambiguous is "child pornography". In rare cases it involve scenes of actual sex, but most of what's found on the intarwebs is cheese-cake photography.
Words should mean something, yes? If not, then you'll have to report my dog to the authorities. He regularly performs sex acts on my knee, and I've seen him do the same to children. And because everyone knows that dogs are predators by nature, you'd have to have to call him a "sexual predator", too.
Down boy!
See 2Advanced Studios for examples ...
If you're looking for true artistry and creativity, there's better sites. That said, looking at your link reminds me of what, many years ago, I was hoping what GUIs would evolve into: a seamless blend of form and function. And no frigging white backgrounds.
I live in an area surrounded by forests that are planted and cleared for use by lumber companies and paper mills. We fear the closing of lumber companies because it will mean our forests will start shrinking... The really sad part about it, is the huge number of enviro-nutbags that want lumber companies out of business in a completely backwards effort to "save the forests."
I'd suggest every time you feel an urge to assert an absolute of some sort, you take a few seconds and reconsider.
The "forests" your favourite lumber company has planted (so full of form and colour from afar), is a forest only in the loosest definition of one. I'd suggest "a collection of trees". The enviro-nutbags have a point, one that's easily recognised by someone who's been in a forest, or otherwise knows what the term "monoculture" means and what its implications are.
I go to a college with a biometrics program and know several people working on what is called "liveness detection" or measures in the systems to prevent fake fingers that would easily foil the fakes that this guy made ... temperature sensor apply a charge across the finger ... detecting for perspiration ... 3d structure of the fingerprint ... and many others.
Interesting reading. I'm wondering, though, instead of pursing such complex approaches, why not simply expand on the "charge across the finger" idea. A sufficiently strong charge applied "to" the finger in combination with a timer would allow you to determine whether there is indeed a live person attached to that finger, yes?
Or are screams not part of Best Practices in the biometric industry?
[I]f you buy a $700 computer at Staples for your home business which you will claim as a deduction, you will now have to get Staples' taxpayer ID and fill in the paperwork. If you buy the same computer for your kids to do their schoolwork, you don't have to.
I've got a better idea:
1. Buy a computer for the kids.
2. Have them do your work.
3. Deduct the kids.
Hmm. You think there's a Profit in there somewhere?
Dude, chill out. Last I checked, derivatives aren't traded or sold on Craigslist or eBay, and profits on those are already taxed by the IRS. And China, they buy US treasury bonds direct. If you're angry about world+dog, try to form a coherent thought before you start typing, or find something else to do.
Wait, I heard about this. It's called Reaganomics. But maybe the kids have a new name for it these days, what do I know?
LOL. The mere mention of Reagan is the equivalent of viagra for Conservatives.
This is why American beer sucks: because there is no history, not as much trial-and-error time to get it right as everyone else had.And we haven't even broached the subject of Canadian beer, either, so STFU.
I agree with all of your comments, but I'm not entirely sure that a lack of history, at least with respect to technique, has that much to do with it.
First, American beer makers were (and are) free to import both the people and skills necessary to replicate what was developed over countless years in Europe, and if needed, improve on those practices. In some areas of the food and beverage industries, that was done, and to great success, but beer makers, like many others, chose not to. Whether that's the product of pride, cultural bias/discrimination, or foolishness is anyone's guess.
Second, there's the ingredients. That's a bit more complicated, but suffice it to say that in regards to what we eat and drink, the whole is never better than the sum of its parts. Inferior quality ingredients always yield an inferior product.
Third, there's the issue of taste. If beer makers have no sense of what's really good or bad, and their customers similarly don't, where is the obligation or impetus to pursue efforts to replicate something no one cares about, or more accurately, isn't able to discern? The operative phrase here for American success stories is "time and money". If you can save on both, you're a success, and your customers are happy to buy what you sell them.
Wisconsin, I'm told, makes a lot of cheese. I've certainly never tasted anything I would call cheese. Lots of cheesy or cheese-like products, but let's be serious: something wrapped in a label adorned with an Italian flag and aged for 6 months isn't Parmesan. And as for the endless varieties of bland and uninteresting domestic cheeses well, they're bland and uninteresting.
A "lack of history" with respect to inculcated tastes, certainly. The US has made progress, but it's still rooted in the white Wonder bread diets and products that became popular and widely distributed in the fifties, and which Julia Child, among others, devoted her career to changing.
Shitty beer? Most Americans prefer it. Budweiser advertising dollars will ensure that never changes.