"He suggested paying teachers a $5,000 bonus for teaching Advanced Placement courses, as well as giving the top third of teachers a $5,000 bonus."
How does paying specific teachers more really solve the problem? I could be wrong here, but doesn't it just say that better paid people are happier?
Besides, if you think about it, don't teachers already want to teach AP classes as is? I mean, they usually have the smarter kids, that are more worried about their futures. Therefore, on average, the students that are most likely be hard working and willing to learn, not just to goof off and get a diploma.
From this logic, teaching AP sounds easier and more rewarding...
I don't know if digg already has this, but from what you said it sounds like digg needs is an amazon-like "people who liked this story also liked..." function.
IANAL, but wouldn't there be a problem concerning the definition of what is ridiculous or not?
I say this, because wouldn't any court consider a patent office the highest authority of the land on patents? Therefore, from the court's perspective, if the patent office believes that the patent is fair, who are you to argue?
Just me wondering, how well do patents work in general?
FT...A...C[ommentary]: "And even if algorithms A and B are covered by patents in a pool, there may be a patent C that covers your particular combination of A and B, and that patent C may not be in the pool."
1) Wouldn't prior art mean that C isn't legal unless the person/company holds patents A and B (in other words, couldn't patent holders A (inclusive) or B go after patent holder C for infringment?)
2) In closed source, how can it be determined (legally) that someone is infringing on another's patented algorithm?
If the later can only be determined in free software, then doesn't that mean that a strict patent enforcement system wouldn't benefit anyone but closed source programmers?
That being said, I don't know a thing about patents, and they kinda scare me (I picture a patent-boogeyman when I think about it) or is that what they are supposed to do?
"Software Engineering is making leaps and bounds" "However, more than ever, there are a very large number of incompetent developers out there."
Do you think that these statements are related in any way? I mean, using software evaluation / developmentation method X seems to be the equivilant of having a safety net. And there's definately a lot of developers out there that need one.
"Is there really a browser war, or is this the megalomaniac in we geeks that says any open source project just has to kill, crush and conquer? Isn't this what makes Microsoft evil?"
I don't know, I'd like to visit relatives without having to "fix" their computer.
Despite all those features, as long as technical people can recommend firefox as a means to prevent spy/ad-ware to non-technical people it'll continue to spread.
Innovation is great, but adding features for the sake of adding features is what caused a lot of trouble for IE in the first place.
Assumption, most people are not wise, meaning they are foolish. (self-included) Assumption, it is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
Desired, software that spreads wisdom.
Therefore, the software desired is to remove foolishness. The best design I can think of is a tool to hack blogs and personal websites, then give it to whomever is determined to be wise and willing to irradicate foolishness. Or something similar.
Oh, and shut down all forums, like this one. Open communication allows people to speak (see above assumptions for reasoning)
When I was younger I was a patient at one of the hospitals that is on the list. At the time, I found it odd that they had a gameboy for me to play just before surgery. It's one of the few memories I have of the day (other than waking up while I was still bleeding heavily, but that sticks with a person).
Now to determine how much money to donate to it...
As a side note, anyone know anything about get well gamers? They seem to be asking for non-monitary donations, but as I recall, last year Gabe said they weren't allowed to give already used stuff (I could be wrong on this).
What is the current % of mac users out there? (were there, say, 90 million copies of windows sold? (that sad thing is that I don't even know how rediculous this question is)) Meaning that nothing much has changed (give or take).
Furthermore, isn't purchasing a bad way of determining number of users? For example, wouldn't x86s assembled from parts would be difficult to measure how many computers are currently in use?
He was a mathematician (by interest, and personal beliefs), a physicist (by degree), and a computer scientist (by accomplishments).
The context I used it in isn't even towards kids, it's towards CS students (so I could relate it to another CS prof who didn't think technology was the answer for everything).
I don't think the issue of getting kids interested in technology is relevant anymore, because most realize the benefits for themselves and adapt towards it anyway. I think the real challenge of the 21st century will be to make sure kids can cope WITHOUT technology.
(If I took the average high school student's calculator from them and made them calculate the root of any number that cannot be stated as n^2 where n is not an integer, do you think they could do it?)
It's a dying city, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Just to note, I didn't have to take an exam to get into university. In fact, I didn't have to do very much at all.
Claiming higher moral ground is one of the hardest things a person can do. It's near impossible for a company.
Why? Because every company wants money. To get money they have to have some appealing quality.
Dell, creates cheap computers, sells a lot of cheap computers, and when many customers* get what they pay for they call tech support which, due to the cost of computers, does not have the funding to properly support the number of incoming calls. Have you ever had to tell someone that their brand new laptop needs to be replaced? I can tell you that it's not pretty.
Apple* on the other hand is no saint either, they will justify any action in the name of high quality. To better service their customers, they'll open up an apple store, shutting the local apple store out of business.
*I own both products from both companies (this is being typed on an iBook, for instance), and have worked tech support for dells.
I'm not sure, the teacher that told me just said that they consider basic knowledge a higher priority but it might also be due to a lack of resources in certain districts. He said all this with a little disgust and a lot of disappointment in his voice, no less. (he has a CS degree btw)
I know that the province hasn't standardized any computer curriculum as is. This might be an effort to do so (think of a floor function)
It bothers me because we prepare math, physics, chemistry, english, music, sociology, economics/accounting, history, biology, geology, students for university. Hell, we even prepare law students (don't they need a degree before they can enter law school). But we don't prepare CS students for entering a degree as is. I remember in my first year, I had met students that knew how to do many simple tasks with computers (many claimed to learn it by themselves), but the closest the majority came to being prepared was knowing html, which of course, is nothing.
Dijkstra didn't use a computer for anything more than email in his later career, he thought giving them to CS students would only impede them. But I guess he was another dumb CS prof.
As for what you said:
Assume that people do fear what they do not know.
Assume that high school students can choose what courses they can take.
Assume that computer classes are not neccessary to graduate.
Given these assumptions, there will be people who don't encounter computers until they need to. But I contend that the majority of people (under the age of 30) do not fear computers, and realize the benefits that you speak of. Therefore, people encounter computers when they want to, at least in the western world.
I don't feel that I'm capable of commenting on international development in the third world, because I know nothing about it. So I don't know what the money could be spent on, and why something else is more important.
Not really, I live in one of the poorest areas of the country and it's been a long time since I met someone my age who didn't use a computer. Does everyone own one? No, but everyone has used one.
My local school board is forbidding all forms of programming (this even includes stuff like flash) to be taught to high school students.
So I don't think anyone will get any real educational value out of them now (they will be teaching word processing, spreadsheets, typing, etc. You know stuff that any 13 year old can figure out).
Semi-off topic: If the admins can't even secure their own software, why should they think that those not in "the know" can.
My advice, get written statements about the reasons for no external computers. If the internal computers continue to get infected after this policy is put in place, anonymously email the people in charge (the admins' bosses) reminding them of the reason for the "fix".
As for getting infected, I agree with the other posters, and add that it's hard enough to keep a windows PC uninfected when just one careful person is on it. But once you start giving easily-infected PCs to people who aren't careful, the thing becomes a hive of filth.
"3. Kansas Biology Teacher On the front lines of science's devolution
*snort* This has initiated so many flame-wars on USENET lately, yeah, that's gotta suck having to face extremists and dum-dum board members. The irony is 'Intelligent Design' is an Evolution of Creationism:)"
What ever happened to the good ol' days when a teacher was apethic towards their job? They just went in, did whatever the board told 'em to, and used the Nuremberg defence to ease any ethical issues. Or was that prozac?
I want to return to the time when this noble profession was all about the money.
Yeesh, if people can democratically decide what the facts are, then I move for a petition to strike down gravity, because it just keeps bringing people down.
Slashdot Mirror
"He suggested paying teachers a $5,000 bonus for teaching Advanced Placement courses, as well as giving the top third of teachers a $5,000 bonus."
How does paying specific teachers more really solve the problem? I could be wrong here, but doesn't it just say that better paid people are happier?
Besides, if you think about it, don't teachers already want to teach AP classes as is? I mean, they usually have the smarter kids, that are more worried about their futures. Therefore, on average, the students that are most likely be hard working and willing to learn, not just to goof off and get a diploma.
From this logic, teaching AP sounds easier and more rewarding...
I don't know if digg already has this, but from what you said it sounds like digg needs is an amazon-like "people who liked this story also liked..." function.
"Most IT guys would rather it take longer to set up, but run smoothly with low maintenance, than to have an easy setup and lots of maintenance."
Nah, most IT people would rather have jobs. Windows will keep the administrators going for years to come. Thanks windows, keep up the bad work!
"Where is the part about the high hopes for this operating system?"
Well, I'm kinda excited about the thought of having more computers crash faster. Providing more in less time should surely be desirable by the public.
As a side note I wonder if there is a "Quickest computer crash" Guiness World Record? (well, for a system not in development)
I'm all in favour of letting the average person know the truth behind what content distributors are willing to do to protect "their" property.
Let us hope that people find out about DRMs before they saturate the market any further.
IANAL, but wouldn't there be a problem concerning the definition of what is ridiculous or not?
I say this, because wouldn't any court consider a patent office the highest authority of the land on patents? Therefore, from the court's perspective, if the patent office believes that the patent is fair, who are you to argue?
Just me wondering, how well do patents work in general?
FT...A...C[ommentary]: "And even if algorithms A and B are covered by patents in a pool, there may be a patent C that covers your particular combination of A and B, and that patent C may not be in the pool."
1) Wouldn't prior art mean that C isn't legal unless the person/company holds patents A and B (in other words, couldn't patent holders A (inclusive) or B go after patent holder C for infringment?)
2) In closed source, how can it be determined (legally) that someone is infringing on another's patented algorithm?
If the later can only be determined in free software, then doesn't that mean that a strict patent enforcement system wouldn't benefit anyone but closed source programmers?
That being said, I don't know a thing about patents, and they kinda scare me (I picture a patent-boogeyman when I think about it) or is that what they are supposed to do?
"Software Engineering is making leaps and bounds"
"However, more than ever, there are a very large number of incompetent developers out there."
Do you think that these statements are related in any way? I mean, using software evaluation / developmentation method X seems to be the equivilant of having a safety net. And there's definately a lot of developers out there that need one.
"Is there really a browser war, or is this the megalomaniac in we geeks that says any open source project just has to kill, crush and conquer? Isn't this what makes Microsoft evil?" I don't know, I'd like to visit relatives without having to "fix" their computer.
Despite all those features, as long as technical people can recommend firefox as a means to prevent spy/ad-ware to non-technical people it'll continue to spread.
Innovation is great, but adding features for the sake of adding features is what caused a lot of trouble for IE in the first place.
Assumption, most people are not wise, meaning they are foolish. (self-included)
Assumption, it is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
Desired, software that spreads wisdom.
Therefore, the software desired is to remove foolishness. The best design I can think of is a tool to hack blogs and personal websites, then give it to whomever is determined to be wise and willing to irradicate foolishness. Or something similar.
Oh, and shut down all forums, like this one. Open communication allows people to speak (see above assumptions for reasoning)
Now to determine how much money to donate to it...
As a side note, anyone know anything about get well gamers? They seem to be asking for non-monitary donations, but as I recall, last year Gabe said they weren't allowed to give already used stuff (I could be wrong on this).
What is the current % of mac users out there? (were there, say, 90 million copies of windows sold? (that sad thing is that I don't even know how rediculous this question is)) Meaning that nothing much has changed (give or take).
Furthermore, isn't purchasing a bad way of determining number of users? For example, wouldn't x86s assembled from parts would be difficult to measure how many computers are currently in use?
I think this question has been posed so /.ers* that say information can be sold will have their emails entered into a spam list.
*/.ers that have posted their email in any way publically.
That sounds more like a company than a country.
He was a mathematician (by interest, and personal beliefs), a physicist (by degree), and a computer scientist (by accomplishments). The context I used it in isn't even towards kids, it's towards CS students (so I could relate it to another CS prof who didn't think technology was the answer for everything). I don't think the issue of getting kids interested in technology is relevant anymore, because most realize the benefits for themselves and adapt towards it anyway. I think the real challenge of the 21st century will be to make sure kids can cope WITHOUT technology. (If I took the average high school student's calculator from them and made them calculate the root of any number that cannot be stated as n^2 where n is not an integer, do you think they could do it?)
It's a dying city, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Just to note, I didn't have to take an exam to get into university. In fact, I didn't have to do very much at all.
Why? Because every company wants money. To get money they have to have some appealing quality.
Dell, creates cheap computers, sells a lot of cheap computers, and when many customers* get what they pay for they call tech support which, due to the cost of computers, does not have the funding to properly support the number of incoming calls. Have you ever had to tell someone that their brand new laptop needs to be replaced? I can tell you that it's not pretty.
Apple* on the other hand is no saint either, they will justify any action in the name of high quality. To better service their customers, they'll open up an apple store, shutting the local apple store out of business.
*I own both products from both companies (this is being typed on an iBook, for instance), and have worked tech support for dells.
I'm not sure, the teacher that told me just said that they consider basic knowledge a higher priority but it might also be due to a lack of resources in certain districts. He said all this with a little disgust and a lot of disappointment in his voice, no less. (he has a CS degree btw)
I know that the province hasn't standardized any computer curriculum as is. This might be an effort to do so (think of a floor function)
It bothers me because we prepare math, physics, chemistry, english, music, sociology, economics/accounting, history, biology, geology, students for university. Hell, we even prepare law students (don't they need a degree before they can enter law school). But we don't prepare CS students for entering a degree as is. I remember in my first year, I had met students that knew how to do many simple tasks with computers (many claimed to learn it by themselves), but the closest the majority came to being prepared was knowing html, which of course, is nothing.
It's a sad state to be in.
Dijkstra didn't use a computer for anything more than email in his later career, he thought giving them to CS students would only impede them. But I guess he was another dumb CS prof. As for what you said: Assume that people do fear what they do not know. Assume that high school students can choose what courses they can take. Assume that computer classes are not neccessary to graduate. Given these assumptions, there will be people who don't encounter computers until they need to. But I contend that the majority of people (under the age of 30) do not fear computers, and realize the benefits that you speak of. Therefore, people encounter computers when they want to, at least in the western world. I don't feel that I'm capable of commenting on international development in the third world, because I know nothing about it. So I don't know what the money could be spent on, and why something else is more important.
Not really, I live in one of the poorest areas of the country and it's been a long time since I met someone my age who didn't use a computer. Does everyone own one? No, but everyone has used one.
My local school board is forbidding all forms of programming (this even includes stuff like flash) to be taught to high school students.
So I don't think anyone will get any real educational value out of them now (they will be teaching word processing, spreadsheets, typing, etc. You know stuff that any 13 year old can figure out).
Semi-off topic:
If the admins can't even secure their own software, why should they think that those not in "the know" can.
My advice, get written statements about the reasons for no external computers. If the internal computers continue to get infected after this policy is put in place, anonymously email the people in charge (the admins' bosses) reminding them of the reason for the "fix".
As for getting infected, I agree with the other posters, and add that it's hard enough to keep a windows PC uninfected when just one careful person is on it. But once you start giving easily-infected PCs to people who aren't careful, the thing becomes a hive of filth.
"Hey, The Road Ahead is a great book. I use it to keep my window propped up on those warm summer nights."
Considering the producer of the book, I wouldn't trust it to keep my windows from crashing.
"3. Kansas Biology Teacher On the front lines of science's devolution
:)"
*snort* This has initiated so many flame-wars on USENET lately, yeah, that's gotta suck having to face extremists and dum-dum board members. The irony is 'Intelligent Design' is an Evolution of Creationism
What ever happened to the good ol' days when a teacher was apethic towards their job? They just went in, did whatever the board told 'em to, and used the Nuremberg defence to ease any ethical issues. Or was that prozac?
I want to return to the time when this noble profession was all about the money.
Yeesh, if people can democratically decide what the facts are, then I move for a petition to strike down gravity, because it just keeps bringing people down.