The poster didn't say the kids spend all their free time "on the screen". He seems concerned about them, watches what they do, etc. It doesn't seem to me like he's letting his computer babysit.
Computers are a necessary part of the educational process. Not only are they gaining popularity in the classroom, but they're a fantastic research and learning device. They're more interactive than television, and can be a great secondary source to books (reviews, discussions, etc.) and toys (lego programming languages and the like).
I think it's more likely than not that these kids have toys, games and educational materials beyond the computer. Don't let the fact that you weren't 4 or 7 when you started using the box stop other people from teaching their kids early.
Re:Good for them
on
Blogger Hacked
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Oh, I'm sorry. Because someone uses a term you don't like, they deserve to be hacked? That's absurd. I'm sorry you have a personal problem with a certain combination of letters.
It's not like "blog" was created by an ad agency, or by some company to sell it's product. It's a contraction of "Web Log", which is what these types of sites are. Don't like the word? Don't use it. But don't wish an attack on someone because you find time in your day to hate a contraction.
Re:Blogs, who need em?
on
Blogger Hacked
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Web logs are amazingly convenient for people who don't have the skills to edit from the command line. Remember, most people on the internet aren't as savvy as you or I are, and to them, blogs are an easy and efficient means to updating their personal site. Don't put them down simply because they found a way onto the web without your skill level.
That's the rub - there aren't any. And it's a problem for a lot of people. The problem could be that you're in a poorer area, live in a house made of some non-friendly material, or have geographical barriers. Whatever the reason, it makes it tough to say "well, just switch", when it won't do any good.
They won't die as long as my reception sucks - I can't get a signal worth anything at my house, and I'm not alone. Instead of the death of land lines, I predict a subtle murging of systems, you'll pay for "service" which will include landlines and cell.
You could do like me and only listen to bands that make full CDs of good music.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'll change my musical tastes today so I stop liking songs unless I like EVERY song by that artist on that album.
Sometimes, I like a pop song. I don't want the album, but one track may catch my ear. And how exactly do you know beforehand? What happens when a band you like releases a third album with a poor track? Do you throw it away?
Your post just sounds haughty. Not all people only like music that comes as "one full serving".
Already built one, and dry ice issues...
on
Fun with Fog Generators
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Built mine last week - saw the plans last year on http://www.halloween-magazine.com/sfx/index.html, and thought it'd be a good idea if it actually worked. I haven't tried it with a full cooler of ice (used 20 lbs, filled about half), but there was a noticable "low lying" quality to the fog, and I expect even better results when I have a full cooler, or one with dry ice. Well worth the $25-$30 total price tag.
On the subject of dry ice, there are several posts talking about dry ice being "cheap" at $1 a pound. Sure, $1 isn't very expensive, until you realize that in order to have party/stage effects, and fog for the duration of an evening of trick-or-treaters or a party, you're going to need at least 100lbs of the stuff. At that, it's not even a thick/can't see through it amount, it's just the "creepy fog" effect. As ShinmaWa noted, you'd need upwards of hundreds of pounds for a true movie like effect. Sufficently chilled fog through a cooler (while not as think as dry ice fog) will run you less than $20 in fog juice.
I don't know about you, but spending hundreds on one night of fog is expensive for me, and is probably expensive for most people.
A lot of people (myself included) do look forward to Halloween like other people do to Christmas. It gives me more to do, has more community involvement than Christmas does (especially since I'm not a Christian), and it's when I throw my largest party of the year.
You don't have to be a jackass. Some words are obviously known, and some (like virus) have various meanings, depending on context. For the audience of this article, the term might be unknown, and therefore explained.
Perhaps you've never read a news article or looked at other forms of journalism before. Most types of articles are written for the public (no, not all of the public uses computers), and anything that may need explaining is typically explained. There are several reasons for this:
- Some readers don't know what a virus is, and/or don't use computers. - A reader may know, but could use the reminder. - The writer may want to better explain the term, because it's often misused/misundrstood (see other posts in this discussion for talk about that). - The writer may want to define a technical term in case the term/usage changes in the future.
None of this is limited to articles about computers or "technical" things. Most articles about the terrorist attacks in 2001 still give one paragraph of exposition. This isn't necessarly because the reader hasn't heard of it, but perhaps one of the above (or other) reasons. Don't assume, however, that because you know a term that everyone else will also.
I agree with you 100%, but I don't think it'll ever happen. If everyone did as you suggested, and no one cheated, we'd live in a perfect index world - search results would accurately reflect what's on the web. Searches would be easier, and more relevant sites would come up with more specific searches. The number of hits you got coming from Google (or anyone else) would likely depend on the "real" content of your site.
Then, one day, someone would rediscover that by putting "Anna Kournikova Blowjob" on their site, they'd get some hits they wouldn't have otherwise. No harm, they think, it's a few bytes and it's not hurting anyone. Webmaster tells his friends, they tell their coworkers, and this continues until the search engines have to begin working around the issue.
Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, people aren't always honest, especially when it's something they perceive as benefiting them without hurting anyone else, especially if the benefit is financial. They don't care about the integrity of some other website's engine, they care about profits. Realize also that even personal sites do this; people like other people to see what they've made. While your idea is a great fantasy, near-perfect search results will only come from human-edited sites, or a better algorithm than we have now.
If I want to provide access to anyone passing by my home, I should be allowed to. The way I'd do this would be to broadcast my SSID and let anyone in range know that there was a network available. I could advertise in papers, online (newsgroups, local chat spaces, etc), but the best way to let people know would be letting the access point tell them.
Now, I'm an individual doing this, but there are ISPs, corperations and small businesses who have decided to share their bandwidth. If connecting to their networks is made illegal (that seems to be the way it's going), how will users know which networks are there to be used, and which aren't?
To me, it seems an open network, broadcasting it's SSID, and having no security isn't just an "open door", it's a "come in, have a drink, put your feet up" sign - I don't want to be breaking the law by connecting to a network that finds me. WEP is simpliest - not super secure, but it tells me, right off, "sorry, you're not welcomed here". I'm not looking to crack or do anything malicious, I'm just looking for a network connection. And since many nice people let me share, how am I supposed to know, when your network comes knocking, that I shouldn't shake hands and have a drink?
This could be a famous quote, I'm too lazy to research it:
"You don't pay prostitutes for sex, you pay them to go away afterward."
Not to hijack the thread or anything, but is it amazingly silly to anyone else that prostitution is still illegal in almost all of the US? You can give it away for free, but you can't pay for it, and the illegality drives the pimp industry. It's absurd.
Except for number one, they're all No for me...and I suspect it's the same for many people (though I'm sure many who answer 1 also answer 2 with "Yes"). Excluding pot, most people don't use or sell illegal drugs.
I can't tell if this is a troll or not. But I'll bite.
Working long hours is fine in the short term. Deadlines, unexpected problems/projects, etc. all require it, and it's justified. But most people need 2 days off, and need to not be at the job 12+ hours a day, every day. It's bad for you, and your code quality will suffer.
The best option, if you can afford it, is to quit and get a better job working for sane people. Sometimes, you'll need to put in a 15 hour day. It's unfortunate, but deadlines happen. But to be expected to put in 15 hour days EVERYDAY is absurd and insulting. You have a life outside of work, you need sleep, and you have rights under the law.
Back on topic, working 15 hour days WILL affect your code quality, not to mention your quality of life. Different people have different ways in which they work best, and sometimes a long coding session can work wonderfully, but over the long term it will result in frazzled nerves and bad code.
If he's expecting you to work 15 hour days, you need to let him know you should have twice as many people working 8 hour days instead. If he protests, drop that job like a bad habit. You'll only be hurting your health and sanity if you stay.
On the contrary -- when we used to copy blocks of text out the encyclopedia, at least the information briefly passed through our brains. Copying blocks of text, pasting it into your paper and tweaking it to avoid plagiarism charges doesn't even accomplish that.
I'm not refering to copying for the sake of plagiarism. I'm talking about copying for the sake of having all the information you've researched in one place (an html file, text doc, data dump). You read it online, find that it's something you want, and put it away for later. Then you can search for it (either by keywords or a title you give it), and find it easily. All of this is considerably more difficult with an encyclopedia and copy machine....the barrier to entry of book publishing means that there's less garbage.
Absolutely. Research online requires more fact checking, though you should be doing the same with any source, books included.
Reading every Google hit on the Hundred Years War won't give you a tenth as much as reading a single half-decent book on the subject.
Have you read every hit? Perhaps there are books there in online form. There are undoubtedly a good number of papers, both student and professional, as well as class notes, book lists, and bibliographies. I'd wager the information in those links are better than even a single "good" book, much less a sinlge "half decent" one. These types of links are some of the value of the internet. I consider it a very important part of the research process.
I think the problem may be that they're printing everything out. I love books, I love reading them. But if I'm doing research, I want something I can search, copy, paste and link to in my own way. Paper is a chore in that regard.
The biggest obstacle to internet research is the mounds of bad information. But just like with any research, you find multiple sources, other people's papers, reviews (or texts) of books - all in order to determine how credible your facts are. You'd do that in the library, and you do it on the web. In addition to primary sources (books, etc.) that aren't online, the internet is the probably the best research tool around. But just like any other, you need to know how to use it and find/exploit the strengths.
Indeed...I copy/pasted/adjusted this message from another post I made a few weeks back. Some people don't get that/. is a community of individuals, not one voice.
First, the site isn't anti-MPAA. Many of it's users are. The site is a news and discussion forum.
Second, not all Slashdot readers are Anti-MPAA. Some don't give a rat's ass about the issue. Some, like me, realize the issues and have come to an internal compromise. Some users haven't bought a movie ticket or DVD in years. You have to realize that there are many thousands of posters, and not all have the same opinions about issues.
Just remember,/. is a community, but few communities hold a single viewpont on any given issue.
McDonalds has successfully sued all SORTS of companies in non-food businesses, even those owned by people with the last name "McDonald". They tend to claim that with a name a well known as theirs, they're protecting it by not allowing anyone to be called McDonalds but them.
Slashdot Mirror
The poster didn't say the kids spend all their free time "on the screen". He seems concerned about them, watches what they do, etc. It doesn't seem to me like he's letting his computer babysit.
Computers are a necessary part of the educational process. Not only are they gaining popularity in the classroom, but they're a fantastic research and learning device. They're more interactive than television, and can be a great secondary source to books (reviews, discussions, etc.) and toys (lego programming languages and the like).
I think it's more likely than not that these kids have toys, games and educational materials beyond the computer. Don't let the fact that you weren't 4 or 7 when you started using the box stop other people from teaching their kids early.
Oh, I'm sorry. Because someone uses a term you don't like, they deserve to be hacked? That's absurd. I'm sorry you have a personal problem with a certain combination of letters.
It's not like "blog" was created by an ad agency, or by some company to sell it's product. It's a contraction of "Web Log", which is what these types of sites are. Don't like the word? Don't use it. But don't wish an attack on someone because you find time in your day to hate a contraction.
Web logs are amazingly convenient for people who don't have the skills to edit from the command line. Remember, most people on the internet aren't as savvy as you or I are, and to them, blogs are an easy and efficient means to updating their personal site. Don't put them down simply because they found a way onto the web without your skill level.
I worked on a project like this with my last employer - never really got off the ground, but I think it's something a lot of people would really want.
I've thought about that too...it's be ideal.
That's the rub - there aren't any. And it's a problem for a lot of people. The problem could be that you're in a poorer area, live in a house made of some non-friendly material, or have geographical barriers. Whatever the reason, it makes it tough to say "well, just switch", when it won't do any good.
They won't die as long as my reception sucks - I can't get a signal worth anything at my house, and I'm not alone. Instead of the death of land lines, I predict a subtle murging of systems, you'll pay for "service" which will include landlines and cell.
You could do like me and only listen to bands that make full CDs of good music.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'll change my musical tastes today so I stop liking songs unless I like EVERY song by that artist on that album.
Sometimes, I like a pop song. I don't want the album, but one track may catch my ear. And how exactly do you know beforehand? What happens when a band you like releases a third album with a poor track? Do you throw it away?
Your post just sounds haughty. Not all people only like music that comes as "one full serving".
Built mine last week - saw the plans last year on http://www.halloween-magazine.com/sfx/index.html, and thought it'd be a good idea if it actually worked. I haven't tried it with a full cooler of ice (used 20 lbs, filled about half), but there was a noticable "low lying" quality to the fog, and I expect even better results when I have a full cooler, or one with dry ice. Well worth the $25-$30 total price tag.
On the subject of dry ice, there are several posts talking about dry ice being "cheap" at $1 a pound. Sure, $1 isn't very expensive, until you realize that in order to have party/stage effects, and fog for the duration of an evening of trick-or-treaters or a party, you're going to need at least 100lbs of the stuff. At that, it's not even a thick/can't see through it amount, it's just the "creepy fog" effect. As ShinmaWa noted, you'd need upwards of hundreds of pounds for a true movie like effect. Sufficently chilled fog through a cooler (while not as think as dry ice fog) will run you less than $20 in fog juice.
I don't know about you, but spending hundreds on one night of fog is expensive for me, and is probably expensive for most people.
A lot of people (myself included) do look forward to Halloween like other people do to Christmas. It gives me more to do, has more community involvement than Christmas does (especially since I'm not a Christian), and it's when I throw my largest party of the year.
You don't have to be a jackass. Some words are obviously known, and some (like virus) have various meanings, depending on context. For the audience of this article, the term might be unknown, and therefore explained.
Perhaps you've never read a news article or looked at other forms of journalism before. Most types of articles are written for the public (no, not all of the public uses computers), and anything that may need explaining is typically explained. There are several reasons for this:
- Some readers don't know what a virus is, and/or don't use computers.
- A reader may know, but could use the reminder.
- The writer may want to better explain the term, because it's often misused/misundrstood (see other posts in this discussion for talk about that).
- The writer may want to define a technical term in case the term/usage changes in the future.
None of this is limited to articles about computers or "technical" things. Most articles about the terrorist attacks in 2001 still give one paragraph of exposition. This isn't necessarly because the reader hasn't heard of it, but perhaps one of the above (or other) reasons. Don't assume, however, that because you know a term that everyone else will also.
I agree with you 100%, but I don't think it'll ever happen. If everyone did as you suggested, and no one cheated, we'd live in a perfect index world - search results would accurately reflect what's on the web. Searches would be easier, and more relevant sites would come up with more specific searches. The number of hits you got coming from Google (or anyone else) would likely depend on the "real" content of your site.
Then, one day, someone would rediscover that by putting "Anna Kournikova Blowjob" on their site, they'd get some hits they wouldn't have otherwise. No harm, they think, it's a few bytes and it's not hurting anyone. Webmaster tells his friends, they tell their coworkers, and this continues until the search engines have to begin working around the issue.
Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, people aren't always honest, especially when it's something they perceive as benefiting them without hurting anyone else, especially if the benefit is financial. They don't care about the integrity of some other website's engine, they care about profits. Realize also that even personal sites do this; people like other people to see what they've made. While your idea is a great fantasy, near-perfect search results will only come from human-edited sites, or a better algorithm than we have now.
By "It's started" do you mean the "end times" as you intrepret in the bible, or some new wave of fundamentalist teaching?
Would it interest you as much if the passage you found was from old greek myth, or Native American pagan stories?
If I want to provide access to anyone passing by my home, I should be allowed to. The way I'd do this would be to broadcast my SSID and let anyone in range know that there was a network available. I could advertise in papers, online (newsgroups, local chat spaces, etc), but the best way to let people know would be letting the access point tell them.
Now, I'm an individual doing this, but there are ISPs, corperations and small businesses who have decided to share their bandwidth. If connecting to their networks is made illegal (that seems to be the way it's going), how will users know which networks are there to be used, and which aren't?
To me, it seems an open network, broadcasting it's SSID, and having no security isn't just an "open door", it's a "come in, have a drink, put your feet up" sign - I don't want to be breaking the law by connecting to a network that finds me. WEP is simpliest - not super secure, but it tells me, right off, "sorry, you're not welcomed here". I'm not looking to crack or do anything malicious, I'm just looking for a network connection. And since many nice people let me share, how am I supposed to know, when your network comes knocking, that I shouldn't shake hands and have a drink?
This could be a famous quote, I'm too lazy to research it:
"You don't pay prostitutes for sex, you pay them to go away afterward."
Not to hijack the thread or anything, but is it amazingly silly to anyone else that prostitution is still illegal in almost all of the US? You can give it away for free, but you can't pay for it, and the illegality drives the pimp industry. It's absurd.
Except for number one, they're all No for me...and I suspect it's the same for many people (though I'm sure many who answer 1 also answer 2 with "Yes"). Excluding pot, most people don't use or sell illegal drugs.
I can't tell if this is a troll or not. But I'll bite.
Working long hours is fine in the short term. Deadlines, unexpected problems/projects, etc. all require it, and it's justified. But most people need 2 days off, and need to not be at the job 12+ hours a day, every day. It's bad for you, and your code quality will suffer.
The best option, if you can afford it, is to quit and get a better job working for sane people. Sometimes, you'll need to put in a 15 hour day. It's unfortunate, but deadlines happen. But to be expected to put in 15 hour days EVERYDAY is absurd and insulting. You have a life outside of work, you need sleep, and you have rights under the law.
Back on topic, working 15 hour days WILL affect your code quality, not to mention your quality of life. Different people have different ways in which they work best, and sometimes a long coding session can work wonderfully, but over the long term it will result in frazzled nerves and bad code.
If he's expecting you to work 15 hour days, you need to let him know you should have twice as many people working 8 hour days instead. If he protests, drop that job like a bad habit. You'll only be hurting your health and sanity if you stay.
On the contrary -- when we used to copy blocks of text out the encyclopedia, at least the information briefly passed through our brains. Copying blocks of text, pasting it into your paper and tweaking it to avoid plagiarism charges doesn't even accomplish that.
...the barrier to entry of book publishing means that there's less garbage.
I'm not refering to copying for the sake of plagiarism. I'm talking about copying for the sake of having all the information you've researched in one place (an html file, text doc, data dump). You read it online, find that it's something you want, and put it away for later. Then you can search for it (either by keywords or a title you give it), and find it easily. All of this is considerably more difficult with an encyclopedia and copy machine.
Absolutely. Research online requires more fact checking, though you should be doing the same with any source, books included.
Reading every Google hit on the Hundred Years War won't give you a tenth as much as reading a single half-decent book on the subject.
Have you read every hit? Perhaps there are books there in online form. There are undoubtedly a good number of papers, both student and professional, as well as class notes, book lists, and bibliographies. I'd wager the information in those links are better than even a single "good" book, much less a sinlge "half decent" one. These types of links are some of the value of the internet. I consider it a very important part of the research process.
I think the problem may be that they're printing everything out. I love books, I love reading them. But if I'm doing research, I want something I can search, copy, paste and link to in my own way. Paper is a chore in that regard.
The biggest obstacle to internet research is the mounds of bad information. But just like with any research, you find multiple sources, other people's papers, reviews (or texts) of books - all in order to determine how credible your facts are. You'd do that in the library, and you do it on the web. In addition to primary sources (books, etc.) that aren't online, the internet is the probably the best research tool around. But just like any other, you need to know how to use it and find/exploit the strengths.
How is having information that you present (your license plate number) recorded an "invasion of privacy"?
Indeed...I copy/pasted/adjusted this message from another post I made a few weeks back. Some people don't get that /. is a community of individuals, not one voice.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
/. is a community, but few communities hold a single viewpont on any given issue.
First, the site isn't anti-MPAA. Many of it's users are. The site is a news and discussion forum.
Second, not all Slashdot readers are Anti-MPAA. Some don't give a rat's ass about the issue. Some, like me, realize the issues and have come to an internal compromise. Some users haven't bought a movie ticket or DVD in years. You have to realize that there are many thousands of posters, and not all have the same opinions about issues.
Just remember,
McDonalds has successfully sued all SORTS of companies in non-food businesses, even those owned by people with the last name "McDonald". They tend to claim that with a name a well known as theirs, they're protecting it by not allowing anyone to be called McDonalds but them.