No Child Left Behind doesn't lead to higher teacher salaries -- it leads to increased burdens. My mother is a public school teacher (upper level Spanish).
The only want to make sure that no child is left behind is to make sure that none of the others go anywhere either. Kennedy was all about the best and brightest and putting resources into science and technology, immersion language learning, etc. (when my mother was in elementary school she learned Italian through immersion sessions. She was born in 1955).
Cutting NASA's budget, the DOE, etc to fund NCLB makes no sense. The few students that manage to escape the bullshit and educate themselves will then have bleak prospects for employment and places to leverage their skills.
Good luck funding pure science research on the private market. If astronomy doesn't lead to mining operations, then its not going to happen. Best we're likely to get on that account is some sort of petrochem exploration on Jupiter's moons.
Obama's plan on that one is stupid. Not that McCain's is any better.
If by "developing nation" they mean the nation developing (or at least producing) all of the hardware, with the access to put whatever back doors they want into firmware in nigh untraceable ways, then perhaps he at least has that part right.
I'm not buying it, and not just 'cause of Lou Dobbs.
The majority of the well-known scientists that worked on the bomb for the US were Jews, who understandably wanted to use the bomb on Germany. After the surrender of Germany, they (pretty much) all but Edward Teller signed a letter saying that they didn't approve of it being used on Japan.
Truman told them to stuff it because he was in it to win it for America, not for his own vendetta.
Didn't you get the memo? It's somehow the fault of white colonialist oppressors that people from Japan are -- get this -- Japanese!!
Similarly, opposition to the Chinese government is tantamount to hatred of Chinese people and criticism of the policies of the Israeli government is anti-Semitism. If you feel bad for Palestinians, its clearly because you're a nazithatwantstokillsixmillionjews, just like Jimmy Carter!!
I'm not sure we are disagreeing. I don't think cut-and-paste policy is X's job, and I know why it is that way. When I said I wasn't familiar with how things work, I mean I don't look at the code. I have no reason to. I just use the stuff.
However, I was trying to get into the mind of people that complain about X and make a case for why they might have issues with it.
Yes, you can write generic programs in Obj-C. What are you doing to do with it without the library framework, though?
If you want to actually **DO** anything with it, then you need GNUStep or Cocoa. Sort of like, you can write C programs on any system with libc and the header files available, but without all the fancy extras, like gtk or whatever, you're severely limited in what you can do without having to start from scratch.
I don't program in Obj-C. I don't use Mac. I don't want to do either of those things. Its not FUD as much as an explanation.
If you want to program Mac apps, you pretty much have to use it (or java) from what I can tell. If you want to use it without GNUStep or Cocoa, then you need bindings for your toolkits, same as anything else.
Just because you *CAN* do something, doesn't mean people really do. Yes, there are Obj-C bindings for GTK. I don't know how many people use them, but I would venture to guess its not that many. GNUStep software is written in Obj-C, same as Cocoa-using OS X software is.
That is the point I am trying to make. And I don't "prentend" to use bsd.
I mean that BSD users and developers are more concerned with making a system that works well enough to just plug away and not really be thought about, while the Linux-types seem to want to "defeat" Microsoft and the Stallmanites in particular are on some sort of holy crusade mixed with political program.
I don't hate windows. I'm not obsessed with "free" software. I'm not out to change the world, one desktop at a time. I have projects that I like to do, and FreeBSD has always let me do them.
Linux isn't really playing in my court.
Re:Anything else out there?
on
The State of X.Org
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Xorg is a major advance from XFree86. I dipped out of the 'nix scene for a couple of years because I was doing other things and frankly, I'm surprised by Xorg.
I used to buy XiG XAccel in high school because it was worth $150 to not have to fuck with XFree86 to me.
I like X -- it does exactly what I want. However, for the people who switch to Linux 'cause the hate Windows, but are used to being greated with some smiley little graphical login prompt (yes, I know most distributions of linux have gdm/kdm/xdm set to run automagically), not having to think about the graphical interface really "starting" or as being separate from the os, etc - confusion can arise.
A lot of Mac's success *IS* because its gui framework.
it appears to be managed in frame buffer, with custom rom that makes sure you never see bios info -- just pretty pictures.
the removal of large swaths of abstraction make it load and "talk" faster.
the use of pdf rendering and enforcing policy rather than just providing tools means that things like cut and paste work from app to app, every app.
That is the sort of thing that X fails on for the casual or home user.
different tool kits and object models mean that apps all work differently. choosing between KDE and GNOME means that if you want a "seemless" environment, you're pretty much limited to their set of apps, which normal people are used to on Windows/Mac, but the fact that they can co-exist on a linux system, and often do, can lead to issues.
Then what do I know, I'm using WindowMaker and xterm these days.
Just saying, *I* like X, but if you're one of those who finds it necessary to "convert" people for whatever reason, it leaves a lot to be desired for people who expect "free windows" or "all the flash of leopard without the mac hardware"
Obj-C is often considered what C++ would have been, if C++ were done right. However, for a right while only NeXT really used it. GNUStep, which was trying to copy NeXT Step, started supporting it as well.
When Jobs came back to Apple (he also formed NeXT), Apple acquired NeXT and all their technology. This is when OS X was born and why it uses Obj-C.
So, basically only MacOS X and GNUStep really use Obj-C in any significant way (at least that I'm aware of).
The syntax is a little weird, and the targeted platforms are somewhat limited, so not many people know it or bother to learn (unless they want to develop for Mac or GNUStep).
Its a turn off because people like familiar things and would rather use C++ or Java rather than Obj-C, I suppose -- and Obj-C is sort of the barrier to entry to Cocoa and Carbon.
Re:Anything else out there?
on
The State of X.Org
·
· Score: 3, Informative
oh, sure... blame it on the license... 'cause, you know, all engineers and programmers are more worried about politics than products.
Sheesh.
Admittedly, I know next to nil about the internals of X, however I think that it does its job well for what it was intended. The problem is that home-use of "desktop" linux is NOT what X was intended for.
When it comes to running applications on other, more powerful servers while being able to display the graphics on your workstation, it's tops. I've done it numerous times at school and internships.
In my freshman comp sci class, I'd use PuTTY and a local X server on the windows machine in the lab to access my FreeBSD machines in my dorm room and do my work on them, FROM the lab, in class. (i managed to get the school's admin to pony up static IPs and host names for my machines).
For "desktop linux," I don't see why the system isn't reworked to run off of a frame-buffer and scrap all the X crap -- still keep X for running networked apps.
oh, wait -- that's more or less how OS X is organized, isn't it? Or Windows... you know, the successful "desktop" operating systems -- not the systems that were designed for collaborative efforts in scientific and research environments.
Yes, I am simultaneously defending the UNIX way, and saying that it doesn't really address the problems that "normal" home users have.
It's worked for me, since I was 12 or 13 when FreeBSD 2.2.8 hit my machine, but I never expected anything other than what I was getting and so I got just what I wanted.
I think that the differences in functionality between DVD and VHS were substantially different than the difference between an iPhone and Blackberry or whateverhaveyou.
I don't really see anything that great about the iPhone (or anything else from Apple, really) from where I sit, but I suppose its a matter of personal preference.
Somehow, I think that integrating WOW and the "real world" might not exactly be the best idea. Having to play a character 24/7 because people are constantly calling you "Balkor" instead of "Billy," being part of a "quest" even when you're just going to 7-11, etc, would just serve to further blur the lines between fantasy and reality.
Even if it didn't lead to a new spike in game-related (or game-blamed, at any rate) deaths like the Vampire: The Masquerade stuff back in the day this guy.
Not that I'm anti-game, its just that games are for escaping from reality, not merging with it and driving people insane to the point where they go to WORK for escapism.
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No Child Left Behind doesn't lead to higher teacher salaries -- it leads to increased burdens. My mother is a public school teacher (upper level Spanish).
The only want to make sure that no child is left behind is to make sure that none of the others go anywhere either. Kennedy was all about the best and brightest and putting resources into science and technology, immersion language learning, etc. (when my mother was in elementary school she learned Italian through immersion sessions. She was born in 1955).
Cutting NASA's budget, the DOE, etc to fund NCLB makes no sense. The few students that manage to escape the bullshit and educate themselves will then have bleak prospects for employment and places to leverage their skills.
Good luck funding pure science research on the private market. If astronomy doesn't lead to mining operations, then its not going to happen. Best we're likely to get on that account is some sort of petrochem exploration on Jupiter's moons.
Obama's plan on that one is stupid. Not that McCain's is any better.
If by "developing nation" they mean the nation developing (or at least producing) all of the hardware, with the access to put whatever back doors they want into firmware in nigh untraceable ways, then perhaps he at least has that part right.
I'm not buying it, and not just 'cause of Lou Dobbs.
The majority of the well-known scientists that worked on the bomb for the US were Jews, who understandably wanted to use the bomb on Germany. After the surrender of Germany, they (pretty much) all but Edward Teller signed a letter saying that they didn't approve of it being used on Japan.
Truman told them to stuff it because he was in it to win it for America, not for his own vendetta.
Didn't you get the memo? It's somehow the fault of white colonialist oppressors that people from Japan are -- get this -- Japanese!!
Similarly, opposition to the Chinese government is tantamount to hatred of Chinese people and criticism of the policies of the Israeli government is anti-Semitism. If you feel bad for Palestinians, its clearly because you're a nazithatwantstokillsixmillionjews, just like Jimmy Carter!!
AC must have been a Sociology major.
soo... are you saying that George Bush is the Taliban and Iraq if Afghanistan?
HURD? More like MINIX -- and I think we all know how that debate turned out :-p
Yes, I realized that after I posted and it was too late.
At least I left out the one about Linux users never getting laid, and refrained from posting the daemon-girl vs linus and the fat kids photo site.
:-p
I try to be as fair as possible in my bigotry
I think they meant to use the term "retro" -- it's so old, its new again!
I would imagine most things would be, as I strongly suspect the charts to burn up prior to impact.
I'm not sure we are disagreeing. I don't think cut-and-paste policy is X's job, and I know why it is that way. When I said I wasn't familiar with how things work, I mean I don't look at the code. I have no reason to. I just use the stuff.
However, I was trying to get into the mind of people that complain about X and make a case for why they might have issues with it.
Yes, you can write generic programs in Obj-C. What are you doing to do with it without the library framework, though?
If you want to actually **DO** anything with it, then you need GNUStep or Cocoa. Sort of like, you can write C programs on any system with libc and the header files available, but without all the fancy extras, like gtk or whatever, you're severely limited in what you can do without having to start from scratch.
I don't program in Obj-C. I don't use Mac. I don't want to do either of those things. Its not FUD as much as an explanation.
If you want to program Mac apps, you pretty much have to use it (or java) from what I can tell. If you want to use it without GNUStep or Cocoa, then you need bindings for your toolkits, same as anything else.
Just because you *CAN* do something, doesn't mean people really do. Yes, there are Obj-C bindings for GTK. I don't know how many people use them, but I would venture to guess its not that many. GNUStep software is written in Obj-C, same as Cocoa-using OS X software is.
That is the point I am trying to make. And I don't "prentend" to use bsd.
dick.
I mean that BSD users and developers are more concerned with making a system that works well enough to just plug away and not really be thought about, while the Linux-types seem to want to "defeat" Microsoft and the Stallmanites in particular are on some sort of holy crusade mixed with political program.
I don't hate windows. I'm not obsessed with "free" software. I'm not out to change the world, one desktop at a time. I have projects that I like to do, and FreeBSD has always let me do them.
Linux isn't really playing in my court.
Xorg is a major advance from XFree86. I dipped out of the 'nix scene for a couple of years because I was doing other things and frankly, I'm surprised by Xorg.
I used to buy XiG XAccel in high school because it was worth $150 to not have to fuck with XFree86 to me.
I like X -- it does exactly what I want. However, for the people who switch to Linux 'cause the hate Windows, but are used to being greated with some smiley little graphical login prompt (yes, I know most distributions of linux have gdm/kdm/xdm set to run automagically), not having to think about the graphical interface really "starting" or as being separate from the os, etc - confusion can arise.
A lot of Mac's success *IS* because its gui framework.
it appears to be managed in frame buffer, with custom rom that makes sure you never see bios info -- just pretty pictures.
the removal of large swaths of abstraction make it load and "talk" faster.
the use of pdf rendering and enforcing policy rather than just providing tools means that things like cut and paste work from app to app, every app.
That is the sort of thing that X fails on for the casual or home user.
different tool kits and object models mean that apps all work differently. choosing between KDE and GNOME means that if you want a "seemless" environment, you're pretty much limited to their set of apps, which normal people are used to on Windows/Mac, but the fact that they can co-exist on a linux system, and often do, can lead to issues.
Then what do I know, I'm using WindowMaker and xterm these days.
Just saying, *I* like X, but if you're one of those who finds it necessary to "convert" people for whatever reason, it leaves a lot to be desired for people who expect "free windows" or "all the flash of leopard without the mac hardware"
Obj-C is often considered what C++ would have been, if C++ were done right. However, for a right while only NeXT really used it. GNUStep, which was trying to copy NeXT Step, started supporting it as well.
When Jobs came back to Apple (he also formed NeXT), Apple acquired NeXT and all their technology. This is when OS X was born and why it uses Obj-C.
So, basically only MacOS X and GNUStep really use Obj-C in any significant way (at least that I'm aware of).
The syntax is a little weird, and the targeted platforms are somewhat limited, so not many people know it or bother to learn (unless they want to develop for Mac or GNUStep).
Its a turn off because people like familiar things and would rather use C++ or Java rather than Obj-C, I suppose -- and Obj-C is sort of the barrier to entry to Cocoa and Carbon.
oh, sure... blame it on the license... 'cause, you know, all engineers and programmers are more worried about politics than products.
Sheesh.
Admittedly, I know next to nil about the internals of X, however I think that it does its job well for what it was intended. The problem is that home-use of "desktop" linux is NOT what X was intended for.
When it comes to running applications on other, more powerful servers while being able to display the graphics on your workstation, it's tops. I've done it numerous times at school and internships.
In my freshman comp sci class, I'd use PuTTY and a local X server on the windows machine in the lab to access my FreeBSD machines in my dorm room and do my work on them, FROM the lab, in class. (i managed to get the school's admin to pony up static IPs and host names for my machines).
For "desktop linux," I don't see why the system isn't reworked to run off of a frame-buffer and scrap all the X crap -- still keep X for running networked apps.
oh, wait -- that's more or less how OS X is organized, isn't it? Or Windows... you know, the successful "desktop" operating systems -- not the systems that were designed for collaborative efforts in scientific and research environments.
Yes, I am simultaneously defending the UNIX way, and saying that it doesn't really address the problems that "normal" home users have.
It's worked for me, since I was 12 or 13 when FreeBSD 2.2.8 hit my machine, but I never expected anything other than what I was getting and so I got just what I wanted.
[Free, Net, Open]BSD, Solaris and Darwin aren't exactly competing for the same user base as Linux is.
given what we know about Lewinsky, I think that same joke might involve Buffalo Bill.
Reading articles is too much for most people around here, you think they're going to read a whole book? * end sarcasm *
environmentalists bitch about problems, then don't like any of the solutions that don't involve sitting around in mud huts and digging roots.
Ironically, they use the internet to talk to each other, and drive rickety old vw buses, which pollute horrendously.
I think that the differences in functionality between DVD and VHS were substantially different than the difference between an iPhone and Blackberry or whateverhaveyou.
I don't really see anything that great about the iPhone (or anything else from Apple, really) from where I sit, but I suppose its a matter of personal preference.
If you buy Apple hardware early, you're a sucker. this happens with practically all of their products. They should know better by now.
Of course, I guess there have to be early-adopters for them to bring out the good, cheap 2nd version.
Somehow, I think that integrating WOW and the "real world" might not exactly be the best idea. Having to play a character 24/7 because people are constantly calling you "Balkor" instead of "Billy," being part of a "quest" even when you're just going to 7-11, etc, would just serve to further blur the lines between fantasy and reality.
Even if it didn't lead to a new spike in game-related (or game-blamed, at any rate) deaths like the Vampire: The Masquerade stuff back in the day this guy.
Not that I'm anti-game, its just that games are for escaping from reality, not merging with it and driving people insane to the point where they go to WORK for escapism.
Maybe you should start a blog to blow the lid off this whole thing?