America -- all too willing to tell other countries how to run themselves *EXCEPT* when the atrocities work in the US's favour.
Stop shipping garbage that''s loaded with heavy metals and poisons to the second-most unethical country in the world? Hell, no! WTF would any American care about the deformed babies that will result?
Only thing less ethical than a country that would allow a business to accept that shit and scatter it into the rivers, is the country that allows a business to send that shit there in the first place.
Canadian accents may be innocuous enough to the ear: the real challenge is slowing us down enough to actually understand us.
I'm a BCer. Was over in Europe along with a Nova Scotian. Had difficulty understanding him because he talked so damn fast. Found out that many Europeans figure we all talk too damn fast.:-)
IMO, the important thing to remember is that for a lot of people, instability is exciting and thus desirable.
When those sort of people get ahold of a company, look out! Planned growth, planned direction, heck planning at all -- it all goes out the window, because that shit's just "boring."
Thank goodness they're giving up on the open-source/Linux market!
The primary characteristic of the open-source/Linux companies seems to be cash flow... out of their pockets. Open/Linux companies that operate in the black are few and far between in comparison to the number that are in the red.
Corel is a business, and it's been around for a good number of years. Now that that flakey Cowpland is gone (and good riddance!), and they've got a sensible, tech-savvy guy at the helm, there's a good chance that they're going to do quite well.
Eliminating the parts of their operation that show no promise of ever becoming revenue-generating is a great first step.
What's especially cool about Corel right now is that Derek Burney, new CEO, comes from the rank-and-file techies. He understands the challenges of programming and of working in programming teams. And he also understands the importance of finding out what customers need. And he's smart enough to realize he doesn't know everything, and seeks out people who have the knowledge he needs to make good decisions.
I've always been impressed with the functionality and design of Corel products. I think things are looking pretty damn rosey for Corel... and, ultimately, for us consumers.
Ah, if only we mere mortals could get George's ear for a few hours, and explain how he could actually profit by supporting open music distribution.
To wit:
- users must open an account at the music distribution site.
- users must keep a balance of >$50 in their account in order to continue purchasing music.
- music costs $0.50 per track.
- artists are paid when they collect $1000 in payments or once a month, whichever is less frequent, no interest paid on the account (rather, the distribution site keeps any interest the money earns).
- the distribution site skims 5% of the transaction.
- for an additional percentage, the site will support automatic payment distribution, such that everyone the musician owes money to gets a percentage of the take (rather than the musician having to do that accounting him/herself.)
I think this would be a moderately profitable business. The key to success is to not be greedy: the only thing keeping micropayments from working is greed.
And George has the bucks to fund the startup. He wouldn't make a shitload of profit, but it wouldn't be unprofitable. He'd have to do it out of a desire for legacy, not to increase his fortunes.
Er, no, dumbass, no one's saying that tools should be removed: rather, that toys should be removed.
The computer as a toy does little to nothing to help children learn. The computer as a tool is very useful.
Of course I'll have to make a disclaimer, because sure as god made little green apples, some other dumbass is going to say something stupid like "You can't remove toys from kindergarten! Children learn through play!" Yes, bub, you'll be correct: but in that situation, the toy is a learning tool from the perspective of the educator.
The key, of course, is whether the computer is used as a tool, with a clear and purposeful goal in mind, or as a toy, as a way to avoid having to work as a teacher.
I've worked as a teacher. I've worked in school computer labs. I've worked in many, *many* classrooms.
And except for the computer lab I ran, on decrepit Apple ][s using mostly Broderbund educational software, for which I wrote lesson plans and objectives, I've yet to see any teacher really put a computer to good use.
The fundamental problem being, of course, that most teachers don't understand computers at all well, and aren't trained to use them as a learning tool.
All that you said can be true... but in the vast majority of cases, it isn't. There might be one teacher in a hundred that can use the computer as an effective learning tool.
And so I stick to my conclusions: the most appropriate use for computers in the schools is as a glorified typewriter. If a teacher can do better, by all means they should -- but we should quit forcing teachers into computer labs. The greatest majority of them are better off staying in their classrooms with kids doing pencilwork.
Kids these days are now thinking within terms of Power Point... "Oh cool, i can use the sliding fade here into the next scene." They are no longer thinking outside of the box.
Worse, the time they spend thinking about sliding fades is time they do not spend thinking about the content of their work.
The most useful application of the computer in a school setting is as a word processor, and only when the students are trained to type 40wpm or faster. Yes, that's right: the best use of the computer is as a glorified typewriter.
Why? Because that properly relegates it to "tool" status, instead of "toy" status. Screwing around with PowerPoint does not add quality, detail, nor depth of thought to the content. Fast typing, however, gives the student more time for research and learning.
I would dearly love to say that there are two superb uses for the computer in school, with the other use being as an encyclopedia (ie. Google). However, I don't think the quality of information that is generally available on the Internet is typically better than that of the school library... and much of the information on the Internet is either dead wrong, or carries an agenda that isn't discernable to your average student.
(Wait, there is one other good use: computers make excellent flashcards. They can take rote learning and make it more interesting -- times tables, etcetera.)
You just know that the airport security droids would impound the Slinky. Knitting needles, well, you can get those through without any hassles at all... but you can bet that Slinky would weird them out enough that they'd ban it.
Look, go do the research yourself, then. The equipment isn't any more expensive than with copper: that's why the article says the costs are on-par. And fiber isn't touchy to deal with: all the splicing issues were resolved eons ago, and a trained monkey could now do the work.
In British Columbia, the local telco monopoly (Telus) has been laying parallel fiber to new homes for at least five years. In the USA, I'd be surprised if a single telco has had that amount of foresight: American telephony is always a good decade behind Canadian telephony.
Slashdot Mirror
America's problem is ethics based entirely on the dollar.
America -- all too willing to tell other countries how to run themselves *EXCEPT* when the atrocities work in the US's favour.
Stop shipping garbage that''s loaded with heavy metals and poisons to the second-most unethical country in the world? Hell, no! WTF would any American care about the deformed babies that will result?
Only thing less ethical than a country that would allow a business to accept that shit and scatter it into the rivers, is the country that allows a business to send that shit there in the first place.
Thank-you for providing a near-perfect illustration of how the USA has come to be despised by nations around the world.
Yah, but isn't Blade Runner all about *replicants*? Isn't its challenge one of "Which is the real Deckard... the human, or the android?"
:*)
And now you endlessly debate "Which BladeRunner is the *real* BladeRunner?"
I used to say "Fuck RIAA," but I think I'll be changing my motto.
Fuck ICANN.
Canadian accents may be innocuous enough to the ear: the real challenge is slowing us down enough to actually understand us.
:-)
I'm a BCer. Was over in Europe along with a Nova Scotian. Had difficulty understanding him because he talked so damn fast. Found out that many Europeans figure we all talk too damn fast.
IMO, the important thing to remember is that for a lot of people, instability is exciting and thus desirable.
When those sort of people get ahold of a company, look out! Planned growth, planned direction, heck planning at all -- it all goes out the window, because that shit's just "boring."
It's a very exciting environment.
And almost assuredly doomed to failure!
Pah. Back later, indeed. Either you'll be dead from exhaustion, or distracted by product testing. We'll never hear from you again.
Thank goodness they're giving up on the open-source/Linux market!
The primary characteristic of the open-source/Linux companies seems to be cash flow... out of their pockets. Open/Linux companies that operate in the black are few and far between in comparison to the number that are in the red.
Corel is a business, and it's been around for a good number of years. Now that that flakey Cowpland is gone (and good riddance!), and they've got a sensible, tech-savvy guy at the helm, there's a good chance that they're going to do quite well.
Eliminating the parts of their operation that show no promise of ever becoming revenue-generating is a great first step.
What's especially cool about Corel right now is that Derek Burney, new CEO, comes from the rank-and-file techies. He understands the challenges of programming and of working in programming teams. And he also understands the importance of finding out what customers need. And he's smart enough to realize he doesn't know everything, and seeks out people who have the knowledge he needs to make good decisions.
I've always been impressed with the functionality and design of Corel products. I think things are looking pretty damn rosey for Corel... and, ultimately, for us consumers.
"Fallacies"?!?
pray, do explain!
News for Nerds. Stuff that matters. Donchaknow.
Ah, if only we mere mortals could get George's ear for a few hours, and explain how he could actually profit by supporting open music distribution.
To wit:
- users must open an account at the music distribution site.
- users must keep a balance of >$50 in their account in order to continue purchasing music.
- music costs $0.50 per track.
- artists are paid when they collect $1000 in payments or once a month, whichever is less frequent, no interest paid on the account (rather, the distribution site keeps any interest the money earns).
- the distribution site skims 5% of the transaction.
- for an additional percentage, the site will support automatic payment distribution, such that everyone the musician owes money to gets a percentage of the take (rather than the musician having to do that accounting him/herself.)
I think this would be a moderately profitable business. The key to success is to not be greedy: the only thing keeping micropayments from working is greed.
And George has the bucks to fund the startup. He wouldn't make a shitload of profit, but it wouldn't be unprofitable. He'd have to do it out of a desire for legacy, not to increase his fortunes.
Er, no, dumbass, no one's saying that tools should be removed: rather, that toys should be removed.
The computer as a toy does little to nothing to help children learn. The computer as a tool is very useful.
Of course I'll have to make a disclaimer, because sure as god made little green apples, some other dumbass is going to say something stupid like "You can't remove toys from kindergarten! Children learn through play!" Yes, bub, you'll be correct: but in that situation, the toy is a learning tool from the perspective of the educator.
The key, of course, is whether the computer is used as a tool, with a clear and purposeful goal in mind, or as a toy, as a way to avoid having to work as a teacher.
I've worked as a teacher. I've worked in school computer labs. I've worked in many, *many* classrooms.
And except for the computer lab I ran, on decrepit Apple ][s using mostly Broderbund educational software, for which I wrote lesson plans and objectives, I've yet to see any teacher really put a computer to good use.
The fundamental problem being, of course, that most teachers don't understand computers at all well, and aren't trained to use them as a learning tool.
All that you said can be true... but in the vast majority of cases, it isn't. There might be one teacher in a hundred that can use the computer as an effective learning tool.
And so I stick to my conclusions: the most appropriate use for computers in the schools is as a glorified typewriter. If a teacher can do better, by all means they should -- but we should quit forcing teachers into computer labs. The greatest majority of them are better off staying in their classrooms with kids doing pencilwork.
Kids these days are now thinking within terms of Power Point... "Oh cool, i can use the sliding fade here into the next scene." They are no longer thinking outside of the box.
Worse, the time they spend thinking about sliding fades is time they do not spend thinking about the content of their work.
The most useful application of the computer in a school setting is as a word processor, and only when the students are trained to type 40wpm or faster. Yes, that's right: the best use of the computer is as a glorified typewriter.
Why? Because that properly relegates it to "tool" status, instead of "toy" status. Screwing around with PowerPoint does not add quality, detail, nor depth of thought to the content. Fast typing, however, gives the student more time for research and learning.
I would dearly love to say that there are two superb uses for the computer in school, with the other use being as an encyclopedia (ie. Google). However, I don't think the quality of information that is generally available on the Internet is typically better than that of the school library... and much of the information on the Internet is either dead wrong, or carries an agenda that isn't discernable to your average student.
(Wait, there is one other good use: computers make excellent flashcards. They can take rote learning and make it more interesting -- times tables, etcetera.)
LOL. Thx for going along with this. I wonder if we'll see a 1000 UID. 100? :)
20000 is a low UID? Pshaw!
hopefully, it'll introduce some.
The vendors would be nuts to do otherwise!
You just know that the airport security droids would impound the Slinky. Knitting needles, well, you can get those through without any hassles at all... but you can bet that Slinky would weird them out enough that they'd ban it.
There are cultures where nodding your head means no, and shaking your head means yes. So much for that idea.
Many years in the future, a bunch of religionists try to contact God.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Reality says. "There ain't no God."
Oh, damn. So much for that story.
You're probably the only person who looks at ads! Can't say as I've clicked an ad in, ohh, years.
...I can't imagine a single TV show that I'd want to archive, let alone have a friend mail me.
152 channels of shit, and nothing to watch.
Look, go do the research yourself, then. The equipment isn't any more expensive than with copper: that's why the article says the costs are on-par. And fiber isn't touchy to deal with: all the splicing issues were resolved eons ago, and a trained monkey could now do the work.
In British Columbia, the local telco monopoly (Telus) has been laying parallel fiber to new homes for at least five years. In the USA, I'd be surprised if a single telco has had that amount of foresight: American telephony is always a good decade behind Canadian telephony.