that is a big AMEN! I even ranted on the website about it when I "threw the book" at around 2:00am one morning. Given he is an objectivist, I mentioned the exact same thing on the site, the speeches are largely a waste of time and are not continuous with the rest of the storyline. I don't mind the philosophy discussed here and there but dozens of pages? I have been reading the books for long enough that I move into super skim mode when I foresee the rant coming, saves me a good 2 hours of reading time:)
I was waiting for the series to finish before starting it but would T. Goodkind be able to finish the series? Are their writing styles similar? I was assuming so since Goodkind has been dragging on his storyline in a similar fashion to what my Jordan fan friends have been complaining about.
I dont know about other slashdotters but I was rather unimpressed with the 7 wonders of the IT world. Not much on there in the way of impressive other than my boy blue. What about impressive symbolic marvels like The Teapot which were the icons of modern Graphics shaping science and technology. Or code that drives technology like C++ or Perl, or dare I even say it, BASIC. These current wonders are very temporary whereas the original wonders are a bit more timeless, more representative of human innovation than just something that looks cool.
Having grown up in an agricultural town I can tell you that the problem isn't shrinking food supply, the problem is getting the food to the people that need it. The overabundance of farm grain and produce in the US is astounding. Wish I could find the stats to back this up right now but I am just too lazy at the moment.
This is great news, I have been peeking into ways to centralize information from third world countries mission projects. Our church here currently has a medical team that they send to haiti but there is an issue with creating a database to track individuals. Initially I was hoping to hook them up with access via a cell card in a laptop to a website running mySQL so that they could track prescriptions and individuals when they are back in the states.
This solution seems a bit more elegant with PDAs. Has anyone else worked on a project like this?
Exactly, I am not a business guru, but the only positive I can see with that company is padding the executive's pockets. If I were an engineer or dev at SCO I would be fleeing.
There is NO WAY a settlement could possibly pay for the cost of this legal fiasco. SCO's dignity was shot a long time ago, even if they do prove their case they will still look like an ass and their ship will sink.
obg quote references: (Thanks for most of them goes to www.av8n.com)
We will never make a 32-bit operating system, but I'll always love IBM. -Gates
What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense. - Napoleon
I watched his countenance closely, to see if he was not deranged... and I was assured by other senators after he left the room that they had no confidence in it. - U.S. Senator Smith of Indiana, after witnessing a demonstration of Samuel Morses's telegraph
Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value.
Boston Post
Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.Pierre Pachet, professor of physiology at Toulouse
Radio has no future. - Lord Kelvin
The ordinary "horseless carriage" is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.
Literary Digest
I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year.
The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall.
We don't like their sound. We don't think they will do anything in their market. Guitar groups are on their way out. Decca Recording Co., declining to sign the Beatles
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." Ken Olson
There are several other fun ones that I am sure people will post but the idea of saying never is a hard prophecy to live up to. It is also very hard to verify quotes without use of a wiki or a network. But I will include this excerpt to refute your "claims to be" remark Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, says he wants to get the message out to college students that they shouldn't use it for class projects or serious research. -http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1328/wik ipedia-founder-discourages-academic-use-of-his-cre ation
Ya gotta love grammar natzi people. Alwayse given me a good laugh. Try using rally bad grammer to spite them. I do not know why or what compels people to respond on/. regarding grammar. You are in a forum where most of the people write multiple syntaxes, are posting on a whim, and generally just conversing. I think there should be a mod category for such people, grammar natzi -2.:)
Well put! Lutheran here (scientifically minded as well). I am increasingly upset by the religious folk you speak of that give faith a bad name. I was actually one of the individuals in favor of bringing in people of other faiths to teach kids about the faithin private school, eg a buddhist to teach buddhism. But on Slashdot people tend to immediately take a potshot at organized religion so I just potshot back;)
What you are talking about is known as the NCLB in the US. And it is turning out to be called by some teachers "every child left behind" On paper it looks good because the numbers are skewed and dont show the actual product. You have administrators bumping up test grades to keep funding going. At the College level this results in a mentality of students thinking that they can move a failing grade to a passing grade because "it wont really matter anyway". So yes, it is shaping up to be quite a disappointment because we need little johnny slacker to pass so we get funding and in college little johnny slacker feels jipped unless the Administration bumps his grade too. I have actually witnessed this at several colleges and wondered where it came from, and it comes from the HS mentality of lets pass everyone.
But that is the great part about private schools, they can close. Public schools just keep a going no matter what. Capitalism will have its effects, people will put their kids in schools they like and as long as those schools do well then the general masses support them. All public schools have to do is have a winning sports team and fudge GPAs so they can keep their funding.
I have never heard of a school like the one you describe, sounds like a brainwashing institution, don't know how they are accredited of course some states are more corrupt than others. Many of the religious schools in my area are top notch even if I don't agree with their religious practices and tend to be more tolerant than public schools. Of course it is a mix and match, some public schools do offer good programs and some private schools are sub par.
Of course your post leans to being an anti religion bigot but I digress.
Yes thus the reason I said I would take into account the kinds of students that come out of the institution. If I could find a public school that would offer challenging education then I would definitely take it into consideration. Private schools can definitely be just as bad.
I agree with you wholeheartedly that is why I said a good teacher can help both but unfortunately even the best teacher can be beat down by bureaucracy.
It isnt the teaches that are broke, it is the system.
You would think they would learn from the US educational system (Wait put your stones down people and let me finish). I have known a lot of teachers, son of a teacher here and graduated from a college of primarily education grads.
So what I hear a lot about is NOT teaching better but increasing grades and look where that has gotten the US. A generation of spoon fed kids who get pissed when they realize the college they are in tries to challenge them. I graduated HS back in '98 and the shift was well under way then, more benefits for the 'slow' kids, less for the gifted. If you are 'slow' (don't read handicapped here), you get special teachers and special dummed down classes for you, study hall breaks and whatnot, then you are rewarded for having a 3.5+ GPA. Then there are other people (not saying we are gifted) but worked our asses off taking advanced math and physics in high school. We get 3.5+ or higher but it doesn't matter because the curve is killed and weighted classes didn't exist. Luckily we have ACT and SAT to even things out just a little but because the classes were dummed down we are unprepared for the ACT/SAT. A good bright student can teach themselves how to take the entrance exams but then why did they go to HS in the first place?
As far as I can tell with our recent programs initiated, this has only gotten worse since I graduated and students have gotten lazier. I remember a prof of mine explaining comprehensive exams at the undergrad level. Piece of paper, write down what you learned in this class. I didn't take any test like that but you see the point. We teach kids now how to cram and get good grades, we don't teach them to have a passion for the material and explore their world. Personally my kids will go to private school, of my choosing where I can look and see what teaching methods are used and the kind of student that makes it through the system. You should learn something, not just feel good about yourself, a good teacher can help both but unfortunately even the best teacher can be beat down by bureaucracy. Perhaps if enough of us support private schools the State will figure out what a sucessful program is and start enforcing educational standards than Kansas idiocracy.
but of course I was quite a bit older than 8, and my ADD was in full force by the time of win95 so the innovation of the concept to make people go through extraordinary lengths to get something they don't need or really want was impressive.
the proof that you could make a 8 year old sit for 4 hours with 3.5 diskettes in hand just to see a pretty blue screen:) Sure xerox did it first but I didn't spend hours with corrupt diskettes trying to install their OS.
But notice my follow up statement Even there it had been done before. The just took something interesting and made it appealing to the masses.
Oh come on this is Microsoft we are talking about, we dont expect innovation. MS hasnt been all that innovative since win 95 and maybe NT.
Even there it had been done before. But to ward off the flame modders I have to put this stipulation in. What MS is really good at is taking existing proven technologies and putting them into an attractive package. I am a mostly M$ shop with about 1/5 being Mac and some linux servers splashed around here and there. If you want innovation you are looking at the wrong company, innovation comes from companies like Nintendo, Apple, Sony, Toshiba and the like who get burned here and there but keep the industry moving forward due to taking risks.
Personally I think MS has the opportunity to combine a lot of tech they control in this patent and make a pretty damn good product. Although I would expect someone like Magellan to come out with a much more innovative product.
In that case you are much better equipped to offer advice on this than I am:)
Of course my state (NE) is one of the most inefficient in the nation, Lowest paid employees, Highest Taxes, yet we still have a pretty decent educational program, I would attribute it more to the lack of large cities than anything though. Things are much more complex where you are:)
First of all, thanks for your contribution to Radio.
Second, in the GP defense, most of the time on slashdot we just get naysayers, flamers, and run of the mill wanabees regurgitating the latest pop culture magazine or what their buddy who "is a real IT guy" says. So it is very easy to get experienced people mixed up with the junk that is in these forums.
I am a Computer Science BS graduate and while my degree has compelled me to avoid certs I am getting to the point that I fear the hysteria that comes with companies looking for MCSE kiddies. So I look at the "real world" questions they have and having worked in this field for 8 years, 5 of which were in a 1000 node network spanning 500 miles, I can honestly say that I cannot figure out when in the past or future, I will come across any of the situations in the MCSE program. Good thing they are killing the program with the server 2008 certs. The CCNA has been a little better but the test exams are cake and outside the questions regarding "which cisco router would you use in this situation?" the test can be passed by any CS student having just taken a networking class. You wouldnt even break a sweat.
Slashdot Mirror
that is a big AMEN! I even ranted on the website about it when I "threw the book" at around 2:00am one morning. Given he is an objectivist, I mentioned the exact same thing on the site, the speeches are largely a waste of time and are not continuous with the rest of the storyline. I don't mind the philosophy discussed here and there but dozens of pages? I have been reading the books for long enough that I move into super skim mode when I foresee the rant coming, saves me a good 2 hours of reading time :)
I was waiting for the series to finish before starting it but would T. Goodkind be able to finish the series? Are their writing styles similar? I was assuming so since Goodkind has been dragging on his storyline in a similar fashion to what my Jordan fan friends have been complaining about.
I dont know about other slashdotters but I was rather unimpressed with the 7 wonders of the IT world. Not much on there in the way of impressive other than my boy blue. What about impressive symbolic marvels like The Teapot which were the icons of modern Graphics shaping science and technology. Or code that drives technology like C++ or Perl, or dare I even say it, BASIC. These current wonders are very temporary whereas the original wonders are a bit more timeless, more representative of human innovation than just something that looks cool.
Having grown up in an agricultural town I can tell you that the problem isn't shrinking food supply, the problem is getting the food to the people that need it. The overabundance of farm grain and produce in the US is astounding. Wish I could find the stats to back this up right now but I am just too lazy at the moment.
This solution seems a bit more elegant with PDAs. Has anyone else worked on a project like this?
Exactly, I am not a business guru, but the only positive I can see with that company is padding the executive's pockets. If I were an engineer or dev at SCO I would be fleeing.
Thats ok, I just used my technical reference.
wouldn't that make it a simile then?
There is NO WAY a settlement could possibly pay for the cost of this legal fiasco. SCO's dignity was shot a long time ago, even if they do prove their case they will still look like an ass and their ship will sink.
We will never make a 32-bit operating system, but I'll always love IBM. -Gates
What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense. - Napoleon
I watched his countenance closely, to see if he was not deranged ... and I was assured by other senators after he left the room that they had no confidence in it. - U.S. Senator Smith of Indiana, after witnessing a demonstration of Samuel Morses's telegraph
Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value. Boston Post
Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.Pierre Pachet, professor of physiology at Toulouse
Radio has no future. - Lord Kelvin
The ordinary "horseless carriage" is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle. Literary Digest
I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year. The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall.
We don't like their sound. We don't think they will do anything in their market. Guitar groups are on their way out. Decca Recording Co., declining to sign the Beatles
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." Ken Olson
There are several other fun ones that I am sure people will post but the idea of saying never is a hard prophecy to live up to. It is also very hard to verify quotes without use of a wiki or a network. But I will include this excerpt to refute your "claims to be" remark Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, says he wants to get the message out to college students that they shouldn't use it for class projects or serious research. -http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/1328/wik ipedia-founder-discourages-academic-use-of-his-cre ation
Ya gotta love grammar natzi people. Alwayse given me a good laugh. Try using rally bad grammer to spite them. I do not know why or what compels people to respond on /. regarding grammar. You are in a forum where most of the people write multiple syntaxes, are posting on a whim, and generally just conversing. I think there should be a mod category for such people, grammar natzi -2. :)
I apologize for the misunderstanding.
What you are talking about is known as the NCLB in the US. And it is turning out to be called by some teachers "every child left behind" On paper it looks good because the numbers are skewed and dont show the actual product. You have administrators bumping up test grades to keep funding going. At the College level this results in a mentality of students thinking that they can move a failing grade to a passing grade because "it wont really matter anyway". So yes, it is shaping up to be quite a disappointment because we need little johnny slacker to pass so we get funding and in college little johnny slacker feels jipped unless the Administration bumps his grade too. I have actually witnessed this at several colleges and wondered where it came from, and it comes from the HS mentality of lets pass everyone.
But that is the great part about private schools, they can close. Public schools just keep a going no matter what. Capitalism will have its effects, people will put their kids in schools they like and as long as those schools do well then the general masses support them. All public schools have to do is have a winning sports team and fudge GPAs so they can keep their funding.
Of course your post leans to being an anti religion bigot but I digress.
Yes thus the reason I said I would take into account the kinds of students that come out of the institution. If I could find a public school that would offer challenging education then I would definitely take it into consideration. Private schools can definitely be just as bad.
The US and the English system can be just as good but there is this "feel good" postmodern mentality that seems to prevail in our society.
It isnt the teaches that are broke, it is the system.
So what I hear a lot about is NOT teaching better but increasing grades and look where that has gotten the US. A generation of spoon fed kids who get pissed when they realize the college they are in tries to challenge them. I graduated HS back in '98 and the shift was well under way then, more benefits for the 'slow' kids, less for the gifted. If you are 'slow' (don't read handicapped here), you get special teachers and special dummed down classes for you, study hall breaks and whatnot, then you are rewarded for having a 3.5+ GPA. Then there are other people (not saying we are gifted) but worked our asses off taking advanced math and physics in high school. We get 3.5+ or higher but it doesn't matter because the curve is killed and weighted classes didn't exist. Luckily we have ACT and SAT to even things out just a little but because the classes were dummed down we are unprepared for the ACT/SAT. A good bright student can teach themselves how to take the entrance exams but then why did they go to HS in the first place?
As far as I can tell with our recent programs initiated, this has only gotten worse since I graduated and students have gotten lazier. I remember a prof of mine explaining comprehensive exams at the undergrad level. Piece of paper, write down what you learned in this class. I didn't take any test like that but you see the point. We teach kids now how to cram and get good grades, we don't teach them to have a passion for the material and explore their world. Personally my kids will go to private school, of my choosing where I can look and see what teaching methods are used and the kind of student that makes it through the system. You should learn something, not just feel good about yourself, a good teacher can help both but unfortunately even the best teacher can be beat down by bureaucracy. Perhaps if enough of us support private schools the State will figure out what a sucessful program is and start enforcing educational standards than Kansas idiocracy.
but of course I was quite a bit older than 8, and my ADD was in full force by the time of win95 so the innovation of the concept to make people go through extraordinary lengths to get something they don't need or really want was impressive.
But notice my follow up statement Even there it had been done before. The just took something interesting and made it appealing to the masses.
Oh come on this is Microsoft we are talking about, we dont expect innovation. MS hasnt been all that innovative since win 95 and maybe NT.
Even there it had been done before. But to ward off the flame modders I have to put this stipulation in. What MS is really good at is taking existing proven technologies and putting them into an attractive package. I am a mostly M$ shop with about 1/5 being Mac and some linux servers splashed around here and there. If you want innovation you are looking at the wrong company, innovation comes from companies like Nintendo, Apple, Sony, Toshiba and the like who get burned here and there but keep the industry moving forward due to taking risks.
Personally I think MS has the opportunity to combine a lot of tech they control in this patent and make a pretty damn good product. Although I would expect someone like Magellan to come out with a much more innovative product.
In that case you are much better equipped to offer advice on this than I am :)
Of course my state (NE) is one of the most inefficient in the nation, Lowest paid employees, Highest Taxes, yet we still have a pretty decent educational program, I would attribute it more to the lack of large cities than anything though. Things are much more complex where you are :)
Second, in the GP defense, most of the time on slashdot we just get naysayers, flamers, and run of the mill wanabees regurgitating the latest pop culture magazine or what their buddy who "is a real IT guy" says. So it is very easy to get experienced people mixed up with the junk that is in these forums.
I am a Computer Science BS graduate and while my degree has compelled me to avoid certs I am getting to the point that I fear the hysteria that comes with companies looking for MCSE kiddies. So I look at the "real world" questions they have and having worked in this field for 8 years, 5 of which were in a 1000 node network spanning 500 miles, I can honestly say that I cannot figure out when in the past or future, I will come across any of the situations in the MCSE program. Good thing they are killing the program with the server 2008 certs. The CCNA has been a little better but the test exams are cake and outside the questions regarding "which cisco router would you use in this situation?" the test can be passed by any CS student having just taken a networking class. You wouldnt even break a sweat.