Well, I know the guy (no, it isn't me), so I'll rule out liar and sociopath, leaving me to question some assumptions made about his character.
Re:hm, after reviewing 'alice'
on
Forty Years of LOGO
·
· Score: 2, Informative
As a high school CS teacher, I am considering creating a class that uses Alice.
I think it may be easy for people in this community to make assumptions about programming languages and their utility. However, relevant questions, to me, include, "How do we get students who may not have sufficient math skills feel success as programmers at a young age? How do we get them hooked on the idea that computing and programming are accessible in their lives?"
Alice, with its drag-and-drop interface, can be frustrating for some professionals. It is a tool for learning programming concepts with an interface that is friendly to young people by producing a product that is of interest to young people.
It's just another piece in an ever-growing educational toolkit.
Granted, the book was richer than the movie in content, but the visuals were incredible. Plus, if you get a chance to watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN, you can imagine Scotty Nguyen in the role of Gollum. Just throw the championship bracelet on the table and wait for him to screech "The Precious! MUST HAVE THE PRECIOUSSS!"
(I know, that will be lost on most of this audience, but if you've seen it, you'll know what I mean.)
If the Star Wars people put even one hundredth of the thought and effort into "Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones"...
eBay has already been mentioned as a reasonable place to get DLT tape drives and tapes.
Another idea might be to engage in so-called "Dot Com auctions" where you may find dime-on-the-dollar bargains. If you use compression, you should be able to get 100GB onto a single AIT-2 tape, and you may be able to get it onto a DLT tape (depends on the type). I mention this because there is no need for the newer technology (LTO, Ultrium, AIT-3, etc.) if the goal is to handle 100GB.
The downsides to the Dot Com auctions are three-fold. First, you get equipment "as is". And that really means "as is". So you should preview what you intend to bid on. Second, it can be boring as hell waiting on the item you want to acquire. Third, there is generally a 10% to 13% auctioneer's fee. Hence, if you purchase something for $1000, you are really paying $1000 PLUS the fee PLUS any applicable taxes.
All that said, you can come across some truly amazing bargains...
I was very happy to see Jon Katz address this. It's kind of hard to imagine the US administering elections in new democracies worldwide after seeing our "festivities" in Florida.
One thing that might be a help in Katz's model would be a standardized voting kiosk that would replace the current polling booths. Big letters, boxes that are very obvious, touch screen technology, etc. When the voter finishes the last page, s/he is presented with a list of the choices s/he made on the ballot. The voter could then review the ballot or click OK. After that, a last chance "Are you sure?" just to get it right, and then the vote is processed.
Processing, I think, should involve a variety of online and offline methods. Prints of the vote should be kept locally at precincts--at least in the near term while the technology gains acceptance--as an integrity check mechanism. Votes or vote stubs would be printed for the voters to take home. The vote would be sent directly to tape as an additional record. And in terms of online storage, copies of the vote could be migrated to multiple locations.
By keeping the same data in many places, I think that would give people who are non-technical some warm fuzzies about their vote being handled well. And I think that perceived assurance is possibly more important than reality right now. People who are already technical may express concerns about security, but they will at least appreciate the concept and can build on it moving forward.
Learning and moving forward. If we can achieve this from the 2000 election, then it will have been worthwhile. Please spare me these same partisan accusations the next time around.
I have not done a cost analysis of this approach, but it sure would be nice to move away from the arcane pencil/pen/stylus and paper/chad/connect-the-dots methods we have now. (That's right--connect-the-dots was the method used at my polling place in Redwood City, CA. On second thought, I might miss that--it was kind of fun...)
I was very impressed with the definitions of terms used by the judge. As a teacher, I felt that the judge's document looked like something that would be helpful to beginning students of technology and/or law.
As for the decision, I'll let the rest of you do the debating.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I know the guy (no, it isn't me), so I'll rule out liar and sociopath, leaving me to question some assumptions made about his character.
As a high school CS teacher, I am considering creating a class that uses Alice.
I think it may be easy for people in this community to make assumptions about programming languages and their utility. However, relevant questions, to me, include, "How do we get students who may not have sufficient math skills feel success as programmers at a young age? How do we get them hooked on the idea that computing and programming are accessible in their lives?"
Alice, with its drag-and-drop interface, can be frustrating for some professionals. It is a tool for learning programming concepts with an interface that is friendly to young people by producing a product that is of interest to young people.
It's just another piece in an ever-growing educational toolkit.
Is it a sign of the times that those who dissent seem to be attacked by those in power, or has that always been the case?
Granted, the book was richer than the movie in content, but the visuals were incredible. Plus, if you get a chance to watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN, you can imagine Scotty Nguyen in the role of Gollum. Just throw the championship bracelet on the table and wait for him to screech "The Precious! MUST HAVE THE PRECIOUSSS!"
(I know, that will be lost on most of this audience, but if you've seen it, you'll know what I mean.)
If the Star Wars people put even one hundredth of the thought and effort into "Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones"...
Another idea might be to engage in so-called "Dot Com auctions" where you may find dime-on-the-dollar bargains. If you use compression, you should be able to get 100GB onto a single AIT-2 tape, and you may be able to get it onto a DLT tape (depends on the type). I mention this because there is no need for the newer technology (LTO, Ultrium, AIT-3, etc.) if the goal is to handle 100GB.
The downsides to the Dot Com auctions are three-fold. First, you get equipment "as is". And that really means "as is". So you should preview what you intend to bid on. Second, it can be boring as hell waiting on the item you want to acquire. Third, there is generally a 10% to 13% auctioneer's fee. Hence, if you purchase something for $1000, you are really paying $1000 PLUS the fee PLUS any applicable taxes.
All that said, you can come across some truly amazing bargains...
One thing that might be a help in Katz's model would be a standardized voting kiosk that would replace the current polling booths. Big letters, boxes that are very obvious, touch screen technology, etc. When the voter finishes the last page, s/he is presented with a list of the choices s/he made on the ballot. The voter could then review the ballot or click OK. After that, a last chance "Are you sure?" just to get it right, and then the vote is processed.
Processing, I think, should involve a variety of online and offline methods. Prints of the vote should be kept locally at precincts--at least in the near term while the technology gains acceptance--as an integrity check mechanism. Votes or vote stubs would be printed for the voters to take home. The vote would be sent directly to tape as an additional record. And in terms of online storage, copies of the vote could be migrated to multiple locations.
By keeping the same data in many places, I think that would give people who are non-technical some warm fuzzies about their vote being handled well. And I think that perceived assurance is possibly more important than reality right now. People who are already technical may express concerns about security, but they will at least appreciate the concept and can build on it moving forward.
Learning and moving forward. If we can achieve this from the 2000 election, then it will have been worthwhile. Please spare me these same partisan accusations the next time around.
I have not done a cost analysis of this approach, but it sure would be nice to move away from the arcane pencil/pen/stylus and paper/chad/connect-the-dots methods we have now. (That's right--connect-the-dots was the method used at my polling place in Redwood City, CA. On second thought, I might miss that--it was kind of fun...)
As for the decision, I'll let the rest of you do the debating. :-)