I'm no majestic mathematician, but consider the resources that would be required to run the US gamer population's horde of Battlefield 2 "Redux" gaming systems.
Broken out in terms of natural resources, rather than mere watts, that's an unimaginable lot of coal, trees and recycled veggie oil. But then, who's counting?
Perhaps hydrogen power will first see take-up not as a form of household energy, but instead a form of power to supply the generation-next with adequate MHZ speed for their immersive 3D thriller =>
Wow, it's great to hear that the BBS Docu's have been released. If there's one thing missing from the early years of Cyberia, it's a comprehensive look at the beginnings of what it meant to be online, and digital - especially with respect to the manufacture of digital personalities.
Now, it's all too common to read about "life online" - so much so, in fact, that where many of us have come from is often forgotten. Life in the digital - life that we all share - is not just life, but more a shared heritage & it's great that a glimpse of that heritage has been released... -d!
And more importantly, with 9M posts, what percentage of them have any real value, and how do busy people find that x%
Well, the significant percent is probably much larger than you might think. For example, if you aren't a chef, chances are you won't desire to read anything that relates to cooking. So, knock off X% of all blogs. You might not be interested in knitting, so deduct another X%.
In actuality, my guess is that there are few blogs you might decide to visit, and of those you do, several may have content you find worthwhile. Remember, worthwhile is all in the perception of the reader - there is no real definition for quality or value. Perhaps through trial and error - in essence digital tinkering - you find and derive your own value.
... but it's still funny! And besides, some of us don't remember/. stories three years old => So, I for one welcome our three-year-old Linux supervillian overlords. But only when used appropriately.
Wow, first comment! If MacOSX overtakes Linux, well, at least a platform that adopts some open standards will overtake Windows eventually. It's better than Windows/MS dominating the market place, and might force innovation. In the end, innovation benefits the end user....
Perhaps, but the purpose is not to compare MS Office and Open Office, but instead to learn how kids use the OO system, and where they encounter difficulty. There's no reason to ask "How much do you like this software, as compared to MSO?" but instead, it would be important to ask, "Where did you encounter difficulty?" or "What would you like to do, but couldn't find out how to?"
This way, it would be simpler to develop any training that would accompany the OO installations. With the money saved on MSO licences, I think training could certainly be an option...
-dc
The best way to determine if it's going to work for you is to set up 5-10 machines running OO and have a handful of students work with the program for a bit.
Have each student complete a short survey, and you'll quickly identify who uses it best, and where the difficulties lie. Otherwise, many of our comments are heresay.
Be sure to take into account all the normal uses students might want, for example: dropping images from the web into a document, printing small charts and graphs, and spellchecking. I'm sure you can think of others.
Best of luck...
Actually, this does have an impact. A significant proportion of parents do mediate - to some degree - their child's consumption of media content. However, this often relates more strongly to television viewing, in which parental co-viewing may be higher than parental co-viewing of kids' video game use.
Nonetheless, what passes for control is not a government standard, as the ESRB is an industry group and lacks oversight. At the moment, it's a bit like the wild west...
If desensitization and trigger time are results of gaming, it would be unfair for me to conlude. Instead, we might think of gaming as offering a potential for gamers to engage in dangerious simulations while in the (relative) safety of a computer room, or at a desk.
In addition, it's not precisely known what or how gaming transfers into real-world application. Some research suggests that the spatial experience is readily transferable; that mapping and navigation can be learned. Reaction time, however, I would see as being much harder to prove. The interface of a computer is much different than a weapon; the physicality of sitting in front of a screen is a far cry from running with a weapon.
FYI, studies do control for substance abuse etc...
--dave
Despite the contentious issue of violent game playing on player health, I concur with James Gee of UWisc. I'll paraphrase one of his arguments, as I can't recollect which precise article it's in:
While game playing might contain violent aspects, the cognitive engagement is far different than, say, bullying or beating up some poor kid. How the player thinks about their experience - entertainment and fun, for example, rather than punishment or retribution - is important.
Furthermore, some of my own research asks, despite violence in videogames, what do players learn through their playing? The results have, so far, been a surprise. Younger players use the medium for socialization with older players; groups of players focus on teamwork skills (nothing amazing there) and the game environment requires active thinking about strategy for success. My own next step is to explore "gaming clans," and clan players' motivations.
Nonetheless, the question we should all be asking is, given that violence is inherant to our humanistic being, in what modes is it possible a constructive experience, and in what modes is it destructive?
Bandura's social cognititve theory might suggest that the illustration of violence begets further violent behavior. But that we haven't all killed each other, and that we don't punch random stranges on the street, despite having watched violent television programming, indicates a compromise.
But that's only because we emphasize military spending, and military might. Personally, I'm of the belief that education and educational applications - such as invention, or innovative teaching and learning - in addition to practical humanitarian applications should drive technological innovation.
If we maintain the mindset that military applications drive innovation, then that's all we'll receive. On the other hand, if we start applying for grants, and applying our funding in new directions, it's forseeable that the locus of innocation could change. I, for one, strive for such.
"For soldiers operating in the field, especially in desert areas that receive lots of sunlight, the new "solar tube" cells could provide an alternate power source for the growing number of electronic devices they use. Without the need for trucking in fuel, compact PV cells could directly power certain applications or be used to recharge batteries in soldiers' equipment..."
But, no word about innovative residential or consumer uses for the material? What about powering mobile computing systems for rural schools in India, or for use in purifying water in Africa? Sigh.
Hrm. Probably the phonetics of "turer," which usually turns out more like "gerer," in almost the same way that "till" so frequently replaces "until" that it even ends up in academic papers!
3-6kW / sqare meter? The more frequent measurement is ~ 1kw / m^2, on a sunny summer day at noon. The same sunny winter day would only provide ~ 500watts/m^2...
I'm designing a solar vehicle as we speak (actually, my multimeter is measuring a mere.3mA @ 3.4v on a small 2' x 4' solar cell, in sunny Cambrdige, MA) and one caveat is that the measurements of different solar cells vary WIDELY, despite what the MFGR says.
My question is, has anyone done some outside comparison research on the efficiency of solar cells, beyond what the MFGRs claim to generate?
Slashdot Mirror
armchair philosopher? nah. I was reclining on a sofa, anyhow...
I'm no majestic mathematician, but consider the resources that would be required to run the US gamer population's horde of Battlefield 2 "Redux" gaming systems.
Broken out in terms of natural resources, rather than mere watts, that's an unimaginable lot of coal, trees and recycled veggie oil. But then, who's counting?
Perhaps hydrogen power will first see take-up not as a form of household energy, but instead a form of power to supply the generation-next with adequate MHZ speed for their immersive 3D thriller =>
Wow, it's great to hear that the BBS Docu's have been released. If there's one thing missing from the early years of Cyberia, it's a comprehensive look at the beginnings of what it meant to be online, and digital - especially with respect to the manufacture of digital personalities.
Now, it's all too common to read about "life online" - so much so, in fact, that where many of us have come from is often forgotten. Life in the digital - life that we all share - is not just life, but more a shared heritage & it's great that a glimpse of that heritage has been released... -d!
In actuality, my guess is that there are few blogs you might decide to visit, and of those you do, several may have content you find worthwhile. Remember, worthwhile is all in the perception of the reader - there is no real definition for quality or value. Perhaps through trial and error - in essence digital tinkering - you find and derive your own value.
cheers, --dave
... but it's still funny! And besides, some of us don't remember /. stories three years old => So, I for one welcome our three-year-old Linux supervillian overlords. But only when used appropriately.
Tell him it might not be easy now, but were you to be in Soviet Russia, YOUR old e-mail would come looking for YOU!
Hey, you're a chnese jet pilot? Wow, cool!
Wow, first comment! If MacOSX overtakes Linux, well, at least a platform that adopts some open standards will overtake Windows eventually. It's better than Windows/MS dominating the market place, and might force innovation. In the end, innovation benefits the end user....
Wow, I'm honored to be such a futuristic personality! Er... caruso... argh...
Long live the original home of ThinkQuest! (And everything else cool that came from the shared genious of Advanced)
Perhaps, but the purpose is not to compare MS Office and Open Office, but instead to learn how kids use the OO system, and where they encounter difficulty. There's no reason to ask "How much do you like this software, as compared to MSO?" but instead, it would be important to ask, "Where did you encounter difficulty?" or "What would you like to do, but couldn't find out how to?"
This way, it would be simpler to develop any training that would accompany the OO installations. With the money saved on MSO licences, I think training could certainly be an option... -dc
The best way to determine if it's going to work for you is to set up 5-10 machines running OO and have a handful of students work with the program for a bit. Have each student complete a short survey, and you'll quickly identify who uses it best, and where the difficulties lie. Otherwise, many of our comments are heresay. Be sure to take into account all the normal uses students might want, for example: dropping images from the web into a document, printing small charts and graphs, and spellchecking. I'm sure you can think of others. Best of luck...
We're working on this as a vehicle for education... see website below. No recent updates, but we're drafting grant proposal. --dave
Yay for Asterix and Obelix puns!
Actually, this does have an impact. A significant proportion of parents do mediate - to some degree - their child's consumption of media content. However, this often relates more strongly to television viewing, in which parental co-viewing may be higher than parental co-viewing of kids' video game use.
Nonetheless, what passes for control is not a government standard, as the ESRB is an industry group and lacks oversight. At the moment, it's a bit like the wild west...
If desensitization and trigger time are results of gaming, it would be unfair for me to conlude. Instead, we might think of gaming as offering a potential for gamers to engage in dangerious simulations while in the (relative) safety of a computer room, or at a desk.
In addition, it's not precisely known what or how gaming transfers into real-world application. Some research suggests that the spatial experience is readily transferable; that mapping and navigation can be learned. Reaction time, however, I would see as being much harder to prove. The interface of a computer is much different than a weapon; the physicality of sitting in front of a screen is a far cry from running with a weapon.
FYI, studies do control for substance abuse etc... --dave
Despite the contentious issue of violent game playing on player health, I concur with James Gee of UWisc. I'll paraphrase one of his arguments, as I can't recollect which precise article it's in:
While game playing might contain violent aspects, the cognitive engagement is far different than, say, bullying or beating up some poor kid. How the player thinks about their experience - entertainment and fun, for example, rather than punishment or retribution - is important.
Furthermore, some of my own research asks, despite violence in videogames, what do players learn through their playing? The results have, so far, been a surprise. Younger players use the medium for socialization with older players; groups of players focus on teamwork skills (nothing amazing there) and the game environment requires active thinking about strategy for success. My own next step is to explore "gaming clans," and clan players' motivations.
Nonetheless, the question we should all be asking is, given that violence is inherant to our humanistic being, in what modes is it possible a constructive experience, and in what modes is it destructive?
Bandura's social cognititve theory might suggest that the illustration of violence begets further violent behavior. But that we haven't all killed each other, and that we don't punch random stranges on the street, despite having watched violent television programming, indicates a compromise.
More later, this is a wonderful subject! --dave
But that's only because we emphasize military spending, and military might. Personally, I'm of the belief that education and educational applications - such as invention, or innovative teaching and learning - in addition to practical humanitarian applications should drive technological innovation.
If we maintain the mindset that military applications drive innovation, then that's all we'll receive. On the other hand, if we start applying for grants, and applying our funding in new directions, it's forseeable that the locus of innocation could change. I, for one, strive for such.
"For soldiers operating in the field, especially in desert areas that receive lots of sunlight, the new "solar tube" cells could provide an alternate power source for the growing number of electronic devices they use. Without the need for trucking in fuel, compact PV cells could directly power certain applications or be used to recharge batteries in soldiers' equipment..." But, no word about innovative residential or consumer uses for the material? What about powering mobile computing systems for rural schools in India, or for use in purifying water in Africa? Sigh.
Hrm. Probably the phonetics of "turer," which usually turns out more like "gerer," in almost the same way that "till" so frequently replaces "until" that it even ends up in academic papers!
3-6kW / sqare meter? The more frequent measurement is ~ 1kw / m^2, on a sunny summer day at noon. The same sunny winter day would only provide ~ 500watts/m^2 ...
I'm designing a solar vehicle as we speak (actually, my multimeter is measuring a mere .3mA @ 3.4v on a small 2' x 4' solar cell, in sunny Cambrdige, MA) and one caveat is that the measurements of different solar cells vary WIDELY, despite what the MFGR says.
My question is, has anyone done some outside comparison research on the efficiency of solar cells, beyond what the MFGRs claim to generate?
With luck, antispyware software plugins will simply mark all .gov sites as "spyware," and return the user to /.