So many of the courses required of freshmen are fundamental things a student should have learned in high school or even well before that.
The way I see it is that the freshman year courses are designed to clean up gaps in knowledge left by the previous education system when the student leaves it. That is needed more and more due to our failing primary education system.
If a student actually needs one of those freshmen courses then they have no business being in college.
Sorry to be rude here but - bullshit.
I've known quite a few professionals in the world today who did horrible in the generic, churned-out, cookie cutter classrooms of standard schooling only to soar completely once left on their own to study freely.
ED BOTT (http://www.edbott.com/weblog/) LAYS DOWN THE TRUTH: "IF YOU BUY A NEW COMPUTER FROM ONE OF THESE 'MAJOR VENDORS,' YOU DON'T HAVE TO ACTIVATE IT. THE SYSTEM MANUFACTURER ACTIVATES YOUR COPY OF WINDOWS WHEN THE COMPUTER IS BUILT
The first thing that comes to mind is how big a computer manufacturer do you have to be to do these pre-activated installs? I'm sure Microsoft charges a pretty penny for that.
And in a related thought this will beat the hell out of small OEM system providers because they can't pay said pre-activation fee and must now include the cost of "activation time" in their system build quotes. Customers hate extra charges.
Wind turbines are already pretty darn efficient, somehow I doubt putting a bunch of smaller turbines on the leding edge of a larger turbine would be any more efficient or cost effective...
I was pretty sure of that but I had to ask the question just in case somebody else knew more than I did.;-)
What this tells me that the manufacturers are idiots and we can improve it.
If we're not even close to producing one that is 59% efficient why wouldn't something like this help improve it. From my thinking it would help in several ways:
1) These turbines are designed for everyday use which means that they have to be cheap and replaceable as they die. 2) They produce 3 - 4 watts per device. This is not insignificant in larger numbers. How many rivets do you see on large buildings? 3) By breaking up the wind collection into smaller pieces it's possible - at least I think it is - to help increase the efficiency of the energy production due to more even losses due to friction, faster initial generation time, etc. 4) These things are small enough that they can be placed almost anywhere. I can easily see these being placed on the outside of the tops of large buildings to suppliment power.
I think these things are more important as devices per-se than just cell-phone rechargers.
Tell me why if this model produces 3 - 4 watts of energy why they can't cover the blades of larger windmills with these things or better yet design the blades so they have edge holes with these things inside.
The wind blows the large blades which causes air to flow through the smaller fans.
Of course you could probably put up walls of these things in windy areas and get the same results.
And the security center is constantly nagging me over trivilaities with those childish little word balloons.
The thing that gets me is that many of those damn security updates turn Automatic Update back on after I went through all the trouble to disable it on all the machines. Microsoft Automatic Update is as insidious and annoying as any commercial adware - and just as hard to get rid of!
Sorry for sounding like a n00b but why wouldn't you want SP2? I mean it adds pop up and active x control to IE, plugs some security holes, and adds the security center.
Because it has some serious program incompatabilities in it. Heck I've even had to back it out of a couple of machines due to simple things like printer drivers not working. Look over the other posts as I'm sure someone else has posted the Microsoft Knowledge Base article link. Those of us running XP in something like engineering environments can't afford downtime or the risk that installing SP2 might put the CAD software out of commission.
Above and beyond all this it should be noted that there have been multiple serious security updates after SP2 came out and was installed. This pokes big holes in Microsoft's security model because SP2 was supposed to be well tested and fairly hole free. What has actually happened is the usual - Microsoft released a patch that broke as many things as it fixed.
You have to physically put the tag within a foot or so of a reader for it to work, it's not like a little homing beacon where "they" sit up in a control room somewhere and plot out the movements of every student on campus.
The difference my friend is only in the size and placement of the antennas in question...
I showed her how to use Spybot S&D (fwiw, I hear there's some adware that disables Spybot S&D!).
I can confirm from experience that not only is there software that disables Spybot - (I can't recall which of the millions of pieces of ad/spyware it was) - but there is also several things out there tha disable AdAware as well.
Symptoms for Spybot include lockups of Spybot and my favorite - the "Disappearing Spybot" where Spybot just goes away when it starts repairing.
Symptoms for AdAware often are lockups when cleaning. Only once did I see AdAware pull the same vanishing trick.
Okay, let's say you have some opinion "x" regarding something in your list there. So you're arguuing that one of the following is true:
1) "I wish I could say "x" but I will get censored for being politically incorrect."
2) "I wish I could say "x" but I won't because I'll be critized for being politically incorrect."
I don't buy either one.
Many pundits, commentators, comedians, politicians, clergy and other public opinion leaders express a lot "politically incorrect" opinions as a matter of doing business. Hell, some of them make their whole living being politically incorrect on purpose.
I think the key here is "public opinion leaders". If you have some sort of defense against attack that's fine - many of the people you pointed out do. Comedians are defended by their job, politicians are defended by their friends in and out of office, clergy is defended by the church even if the church denounces what they say, etc. The average man does not have those defenses.
And if you're worried that people will label you sexist, racist, or whatever-ist for expressing a given opinion, I would ask, "Why do you have reason to worry?" Point being, if you're conscious that people will interpret you that way, but you don't think you should be interpreted that way, then you should say it, and be prepared to defend it logically, respectfully and honestly. If you can do that, then the "politically incorrect" label is meaningless. If your defense is illogical, disrespectful, or dishonest, then hey, the shoe fits and you should wear it.
So if a child pornographer, sex offender, nazi, or bigot can defend himself/herself logically they should be able to speak without fear even though they are defending an unpopular opinion? I agree with you but try and find lives not ruined in real life when people speak of such things. You'll be hard pressed to find examples where these people or people of similar thoughts had their freedom of speech upheld.
It takes courage to express yourself publicly. Even if you do it respectfully and honestly, there is a chance people will criticize you. That comes with the territory.
I agree with this. But the point of having freedom of speech is to be able to express your opinions without fear of serious attack. That's that whole point here. I'm arguing that we no longer have that protection as citizens of the US.
Who is preventing unpopular opinions from being expressed?
If you have to ask this question you have not been paying attention to current events. Period. Umm...let's see - Free Speech Zones is one of the first that comes to mind. A lady that got removed from a political rally for wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt is another. Just look around and you'll find examples a plenty.
What is it that you would like to say, but you don't feel you can and still be politically correct?
Blah! Mis-read the question!
Things like opinions about peoples habits, the way they look, the way they act. All of it.
The ability to criticize anybody about anything gets pushed to the wayside due to not being "Politically Correct" because anything that is not "Politically Correct" is an "unpopular opinion" by definition.
I defy any law that goes against what it really means to be an American. No licenses for drivers, it's an infringement on our right to travel anonymously. No licenses for owning a gun, the Constitution puts no restriction on the ownership of firearms. No telling people whom they can and cannot (or how many they can) marry, only the Queen and the Church can do that (and neither one leads this country). I will also gladly go to jail in protest of these laws as I defy them if it ever comes to that. Civil disobediance against unjust laws is exactly what it means to be free.
Unfortunately most of us living in the United States of Amerika seem to no longer have those options unless we choose to fight for them.
I currently have a wife and daughter. Do I want to fight openly for those rights for her? Yes. Do I have a way of doing that without endangering her future? No. It all comes down to what dice I want to roll and is the payoff worth taking the chance.
My heart says yes but my mind sees my daughter starving because my wife can't support her because I've been killed or yanked off to Gitmo.
I don't think it was Dr Zhivago, but something like that. A mad scientist movie where he moves to a deserted island to do just this? Rejected by his peers and society he creates animal people and the whole thing blows up in his face?
The Island of Doctor Moreau is the movie you're thinking of.
- As you said, Gagarin was the first man in space. It's not like the US space program, even decades after this, doesn't still have it's share of carnage and destruction.
Actually they don't talk about it but Gagarin wasn't the first man in space - he was just the first to return. I can't find the exact article but it was on www.astronautix.com .
Because we're lazy sheep who are more interested in Reality TV than possible life on mars or the scientific discoveries we could gain by going out there.
You seem to be decribing one-upmanship, which IMHO is just a waste of taxpayer's money. If there were real reasons for going in to space then surely it would justify itself without the need to have a pissing competition.
It got us to the moon didn't it? And besides - anything that makes the government not think about war and oil is a good thing in my opinion.
Slashdot Mirror
So many of the courses required of freshmen are fundamental things a student should have learned in high school or even well before that.
The way I see it is that the freshman year courses are designed to clean up gaps in knowledge left by the previous education system when the student leaves it. That is needed more and more due to our failing primary education system.
If a student actually needs one of those freshmen courses then they have no business being in college.
Sorry to be rude here but - bullshit.
I've known quite a few professionals in the world today who did horrible in the generic, churned-out, cookie cutter classrooms of standard schooling only to soar completely once left on their own to study freely.
ED BOTT (http://www.edbott.com/weblog/) LAYS DOWN THE TRUTH: "IF YOU BUY A NEW COMPUTER FROM ONE OF THESE 'MAJOR VENDORS,' YOU DON'T HAVE TO ACTIVATE IT. THE SYSTEM MANUFACTURER ACTIVATES YOUR COPY OF WINDOWS WHEN THE COMPUTER IS BUILT
The first thing that comes to mind is how big a computer manufacturer do you have to be to do these pre-activated installs? I'm sure Microsoft charges a pretty penny for that.
And in a related thought this will beat the hell out of small OEM system providers because they can't pay said pre-activation fee and must now include the cost of "activation time" in their system build quotes. Customers hate extra charges.
1. What did you do to your computer to make Microsoft's World Class OS stop working?
I bought a Mac.
2. Where did you steal your computer from?
You.
3. How do you pronounce Linux?
"I pronounce Linux as Linux."
4. What's the Capitol of Finland?
Rejavick. Wait! That's Iceland! Umm...
5. Do you own an iPod?
*takes off white headphones* What did you say?
6. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
WTF? First penguins now woodchucks? What? Do you have some sort of animal fetish?!
7. If a train left Redmond traveling at 60MPH, and another left Cupertino traveling at 40MPH, when would they arrive in Kansas?
Nowhere - they would not be able to pay the Microsoft Transport Fee(tm) to leave their respective stations.
8. Who's your Daddy?
Harvey Birdman but don't tell anybody!
9. How much Vaseline is currently on your keyboard?
Only what I used to protect myself from this activation plan...
10. When did you stop beating your wife?
About the same time I stopped using Windows...
That was the most succinct and clear presentation so far. I thank you for helping me understand this better.
Wind turbines are already pretty darn efficient, somehow I doubt putting a bunch of smaller turbines on the leding edge of a larger turbine would be any more efficient or cost effective...
;-)
I was pretty sure of that but I had to ask the question just in case somebody else knew more than I did.
check out this
What this tells me that the manufacturers are idiots and we can improve it.
If we're not even close to producing one that is 59% efficient why wouldn't something like this help improve it. From my thinking it would help in several ways:
1) These turbines are designed for everyday use which means that they have to be cheap and replaceable as they die.
2) They produce 3 - 4 watts per device. This is not insignificant in larger numbers. How many rivets do you see on large buildings?
3) By breaking up the wind collection into smaller pieces it's possible - at least I think it is - to help increase the efficiency of the energy production due to more even losses due to friction, faster initial generation time, etc.
4) These things are small enough that they can be placed almost anywhere . I can easily see these being placed on the outside of the tops of large buildings to suppliment power.
I think these things are more important as devices per-se than just cell-phone rechargers.
Tell me why if this model produces 3 - 4 watts of energy why they can't cover the blades of larger windmills with these things or better yet design the blades so they have edge holes with these things inside.
The wind blows the large blades which causes air to flow through the smaller fans.
Of course you could probably put up walls of these things in windy areas and get the same results.
Any thoughts on this?
And the security center is constantly nagging me over trivilaities with those childish little word balloons.
The thing that gets me is that many of those damn security updates turn Automatic Update back on after I went through all the trouble to disable it on all the machines. Microsoft Automatic Update is as insidious and annoying as any commercial adware - and just as hard to get rid of!
Sorry for sounding like a n00b but why wouldn't you want SP2? I mean it adds pop up and active x control to IE, plugs some security holes, and adds the security center.
Because it has some serious program incompatabilities in it. Heck I've even had to back it out of a couple of machines due to simple things like printer drivers not working. Look over the other posts as I'm sure someone else has posted the Microsoft Knowledge Base article link. Those of us running XP in something like engineering environments can't afford downtime or the risk that installing SP2 might put the CAD software out of commission.
Above and beyond all this it should be noted that there have been multiple serious security updates after SP2 came out and was installed. This pokes big holes in Microsoft's security model because SP2 was supposed to be well tested and fairly hole free. What has actually happened is the usual - Microsoft released a patch that broke as many things as it fixed.
A full binary feed is about 1.2TB per day...
;-)
Wow! It's grown quite a bit in the last few years!
It's beyond my capabilities and I have a 19" rack in my closet. Or at least in my laundry room.
Well, how about running your own local server... And collect only what you are intrested in?
Only if you have a really fast connection or don't want binaries. The program you should Google for is Leafnode.
The binaries groups are at least 200gig per day pushed from the main news server feeds.
Your children will have to learn the harsh realities of life sooner or later. Why not start with a cute, shiny ball?
Do not taunt happy fun ball!
;-)
I know most of you don't use them but the news groups have everything you want.
RIAA/MPAA: They're next!
You have to physically put the tag within a foot or so of a reader for it to work, it's not like a little homing beacon where "they" sit up in a control room somewhere and plot out the movements of every student on campus.
The difference my friend is only in the size and placement of the antennas in question...
I showed her how to use Spybot S&D (fwiw, I hear there's some adware that disables Spybot S&D!).
I can confirm from experience that not only is there software that disables Spybot - (I can't recall which of the millions of pieces of ad/spyware it was) - but there is also several things out there tha disable AdAware as well.
Symptoms for Spybot include lockups of Spybot and my favorite - the "Disappearing Spybot" where Spybot just goes away when it starts repairing.
Symptoms for AdAware often are lockups when cleaning. Only once did I see AdAware pull the same vanishing trick.
Okay, let's say you have some opinion "x" regarding something in your list there. So you're arguuing that one of the following is true:
1) "I wish I could say "x" but I will get censored for being politically incorrect."
2) "I wish I could say "x" but I won't because I'll be critized for being politically incorrect."
I don't buy either one.
Many pundits, commentators, comedians, politicians, clergy and other public opinion leaders express a lot "politically incorrect" opinions as a matter of doing business. Hell, some of them make their whole living being politically incorrect on purpose.
I think the key here is "public opinion leaders". If you have some sort of defense against attack that's fine - many of the people you pointed out do. Comedians are defended by their job, politicians are defended by their friends in and out of office, clergy is defended by the church even if the church denounces what they say, etc. The average man does not have those defenses.
And if you're worried that people will label you sexist, racist, or whatever-ist for expressing a given opinion, I would ask, "Why do you have reason to worry?" Point being, if you're conscious that people will interpret you that way, but you don't think you should be interpreted that way, then you should say it, and be prepared to defend it logically, respectfully and honestly. If you can do that, then the "politically incorrect" label is meaningless. If your defense is illogical, disrespectful, or dishonest, then hey, the shoe fits and you should wear it.
So if a child pornographer, sex offender, nazi, or bigot can defend himself/herself logically they should be able to speak without fear even though they are defending an unpopular opinion? I agree with you but try and find lives not ruined in real life when people speak of such things. You'll be hard pressed to find examples where these people or people of similar thoughts had their freedom of speech upheld.
It takes courage to express yourself publicly. Even if you do it respectfully and honestly, there is a chance people will criticize you. That comes with the territory.
I agree with this. But the point of having freedom of speech is to be able to express your opinions without fear of serious attack. That's that whole point here. I'm arguing that we no longer have that protection as citizens of the US.
Who is preventing unpopular opinions from being expressed?
If you have to ask this question you have not been paying attention to current events. Period. Umm...let's see - Free Speech Zones is one of the first that comes to mind. A lady that got removed from a political rally for wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt is another. Just look around and you'll find examples a plenty.
What is it that you would like to say, but you don't feel you can and still be politically correct?
Blah! Mis-read the question!
Things like opinions about peoples habits, the way they look, the way they act. All of it.
The ability to criticize anybody about anything gets pushed to the wayside due to not being "Politically Correct" because anything that is not "Politically Correct" is an "unpopular opinion" by definition.
I've never understood this argument. What is it that you would like to say, but you don't feel you can and still be politically correct?
No because by definition Political Correctness is a rally against unpopular opinions. Thus freedom of speech gets trampled so as to "not offend".
I defy any law that goes against what it really means to be an American. No licenses for drivers, it's an infringement on our right to travel anonymously. No licenses for owning a gun, the Constitution puts no restriction on the ownership of firearms. No telling people whom they can and cannot (or how many they can) marry, only the Queen and the Church can do that (and neither one leads this country). I will also gladly go to jail in protest of these laws as I defy them if it ever comes to that. Civil disobediance against unjust laws is exactly what it means to be free.
Unfortunately most of us living in the United States of Amerika seem to no longer have those options unless we choose to fight for them.
I currently have a wife and daughter. Do I want to fight openly for those rights for her? Yes. Do I have a way of doing that without endangering her future? No. It all comes down to what dice I want to roll and is the payoff worth taking the chance.
My heart says yes but my mind sees my daughter starving because my wife can't support her because I've been killed or yanked off to Gitmo.
I'm honestly just not sure what to do...
I don't think it was Dr Zhivago, but something like that. A mad scientist movie where he moves to a deserted island to do just this? Rejected by his peers and society he creates animal people and the whole thing blows up in his face?
The Island of Doctor Moreau is the movie you're thinking of.
...a shrubbery!
- As you said, Gagarin was the first man in space. It's not like the US space program, even decades after this, doesn't still have it's share of carnage and destruction.
Actually they don't talk about it but Gagarin wasn't the first man in space - he was just the first to return. I can't find the exact article but it was on www.astronautix.com .
Why do we need more mtivation to go in to space?
Because we're lazy sheep who are more interested in Reality TV than possible life on mars or the scientific discoveries we could gain by going out there.
You seem to be decribing one-upmanship, which IMHO is just a waste of taxpayer's money. If there were real reasons for going in to space then surely it would justify itself without the need to have a pissing competition.
It got us to the moon didn't it? And besides - anything that makes the government not think about war and oil is a good thing in my opinion.
Now watch me pull a -12 Troll from people...
Infringing releases of an online-only game usually don't work on the official servers. What other servers are there?
Since Vivendi sued bnetd out of existence - none.
So if I spray that on my tinfoil hat and run a couple of leads to my laptop I could have unlimited power!
Nope. The spray is a quantum tracking dye that allows them to focus their mind control rays more closely on people like you comrade!
Please stay calm while a Homeland Security team comes to your aid to show you the greatness of Amerika!