Many things ruins lives. Cheating on your spouse can ruin your life. Doing poorly in your job can ruin your life. Becoming an alcoholic can ruin your life.
Whether or not your life gets ruined is completely dependent upon your actions and personal choices, not whether or not a drug is legal.
Just because something has the potential to ruin your life doesn't mean it should be illegal. That kind of nannying is extremely scary to me. I don't need the government looking after my life for me. I'm confident that I can make fine personal choices on my own, thank you.
And, just because it is possibly linked to the onset of paranoid schizophrenia, does not mean everyone who smokes weed will get it. Out of the many, many people I know that smoke marijuana on a regular basis, only one has ever had any sort of psychological problems, and that was due to all the other various (illegal, I might add. The issue of them being illegal didn't protect him from them) drugs that he had done, as well as a number of other influences.
There's nothing wrong with smoking weed occasionally and responsibly, just as one would do with alcohol. It's essentially harmless if used responsibly.
Let me start this with a thesis statement: I go to school to learn, not to do work.
The main problem I see these days with the US educational system is the fact that students are graded upon how much work they do, rather than how much they know, or how much effort they put forth to learn.
All too often I've come close to failing in my classes because I didn't do some useless assignment, and yet, still I have a perfect grasp of the concepts that were "taught". That's not right. Theoretically, if I failed, I shouldn't know the material, right? Wrong.
Also, assignments should only be given as necessary. I have one particular math teacher who, even after every person in the class has shown that they get the material, still gives out work on it. If they've shown they can do it, then what's the point in giving out more work, and wasting time that could be spent on teaching the next concept?
Now let me move on to incompetent teachers. Any teacher who needs to rely on a book as a primary source of teaching, need not be teaching. If you can't teach the concept yourself, with minimal help from a book, then you need to go back and learn it some more yourself.
Can you truly blame MS, though, for making their search engine the default one in THEIR browser? It's the same as Windows only coming with IE, WMP, and the assortment of other M$-made products.
It's simply smart business practice to do this. Would you openly give your users a reason not to use your product? No, I'd think not. That'd be like Windows coming with a folder on the desktop, full of links to various Linux distributions.
Everyone knows that it's easy to change the default search plugin, but it's the fact that M$ made the choice to make their search engine the default, purely for business and promotional reasons. Not that I blame them though.
Now, the difference with Google is that they did not directly make the decision to have their search engine be the default in Firefox. In the beginning, the developers simply made it default because it was the biggest search engine at the time. Now, fast forward a few years, and Google is still the default search engine, albeit with a bit of persuasion, I'm sure. (I.e: Mozilla gets a kickback for each time someone searches Google using their search plugin) The fact still stands though that Google was not and still isn't the main contributing factor in Google being the default search engine in Firefox.
You're not quite right in saying that Firefox isn't sponsored by Google. Google does in some form sponsor Firefox, because every time someone uses the Google search box in Firefox, Mozilla gets a kickback. Now, imagine how many people use that box per day, and how many times they use it. That'd be in the millions. And, even if it were just a penny for every search, that'd still be in the hundred thousands of dollars. Which, IMHO, is substantial enough to be called a sponsor.
FYI, I'm 14, and I've begun to see an inherent tendency towards ignorance in computers in schools. Not only that, but they've been taught apparently, to shy away from knowledge.
At the slightest mention of a technical sounding term, a torrent of insults, "Shut up", and "What the hell is he talking about?" comes at me. The point is that it's not that these kids haven't been exposed enough to computers, it's just that they're not willing to accept teaching. A kid will gladly spend 4 hours playing piddly flash games and browsing MTV.com, but if you ask that same student to take 15 minutes to read a tutorial on HTML, they'll blatantly refuse, and say how that's too geeky.
Now, I'm not going to deny that computers haven't been made boring in schools, because they have. This is due to the fact that the computer teachers and network admins at the schools are ignorant dumbasses. I once asked the admin at my school why they didn't use Linux on the school's servers, to which she replied "What is Linux?". At that point I almost lost all hope for humanity.
And, don't even get me started on so called "Computer" class. All you do in there is either a) do math games, or b) play childish typing games. No where in that class do you learn anything about actually making use of a computer.
Not only dot he students refuse to make use of any technical knowledge, the teachers won't let them. I once had a project I had done, and I had no blank CDs, so, I did the smart thing and emailed it to myself, only to find out the next day that you're not allowed to download any files, at all. So, that was fine, I went home the next day, went out and bought some CD-Rs, only to find out the next day, that you aren't allowed to put any discs into the school computers.
So, in a nutsheel, kids these days are ignorant,and resist learning, the computer classes in schools are only acceptable for "special" children, and teachers refuse to let students exhibit their technical ability.
Apparently, you can install Linux on a dead badger. I tried it, but it was total pain in the neck to get the keyboard drivers. I ended up having to modify the keyboard drivers that I found in the gopher repository.
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20040405/badge r.shtml
I carry one on a keychain, not only as it looks cool, and makes a nice conversation piece, but, it makes a great box cutter. It also could be used to shank someone. And the teachers can't say anything, as it's technically not a weapon. Hmm, maybe the "S" in SDRAM stands for shiv...
I suggest this (it's what my brother does):
Get a PocketPC with a phone (Toshiba has some nice ones). Then get the PocketPC version of PuTTY. Then buy one of the folding keyboards. It works perfectly. Technically, I guess you could use SSH, too, but I've found PuTTY to be easier to use. It's a great "happy medium". The full qwerty keyboard (including ESC key), but you don't have to carry around a clunky laptop, and it does everything you could need. Stick the keyboard in one pocket, the PDA in the other, and you're ready to go. Another advantage of doing this, is that the PDA will most likely come with Bluetooth and integrated Wi-Fi.
Rather than researching the beginning of the universe, shouldn't we be more interested in the [i]end[/i] of the universe? I would rather know how we're all going to be sucked into a singularity.
Slashdot Mirror
The only thing disturbing admission in your post is the admission that you own anything on laserdisc.
The Dutch Scientific American? Wouldn't that just be the Scientific Dutchman?
Like what?
Many things ruins lives. Cheating on your spouse can ruin your life. Doing poorly in your job can ruin your life. Becoming an alcoholic can ruin your life. Whether or not your life gets ruined is completely dependent upon your actions and personal choices, not whether or not a drug is legal. Just because something has the potential to ruin your life doesn't mean it should be illegal. That kind of nannying is extremely scary to me. I don't need the government looking after my life for me. I'm confident that I can make fine personal choices on my own, thank you. And, just because it is possibly linked to the onset of paranoid schizophrenia, does not mean everyone who smokes weed will get it. Out of the many, many people I know that smoke marijuana on a regular basis, only one has ever had any sort of psychological problems, and that was due to all the other various (illegal, I might add. The issue of them being illegal didn't protect him from them) drugs that he had done, as well as a number of other influences. There's nothing wrong with smoking weed occasionally and responsibly, just as one would do with alcohol. It's essentially harmless if used responsibly.
Anyone else find it ironic that they all sued for 69,000 euros?
LEAVE AOL ALONE!
I... think I love you.
Funny, same thing happens to me every time I install Windows.
Let me start this with a thesis statement: I go to school to learn, not to do work.
The main problem I see these days with the US educational system is the fact that students are graded upon how much work they do, rather than how much they know, or how much effort they put forth to learn.
All too often I've come close to failing in my classes because I didn't do some useless assignment, and yet, still I have a perfect grasp of the concepts that were "taught". That's not right. Theoretically, if I failed, I shouldn't know the material, right? Wrong.
Also, assignments should only be given as necessary. I have one particular math teacher who, even after every person in the class has shown that they get the material, still gives out work on it. If they've shown they can do it, then what's the point in giving out more work, and wasting time that could be spent on teaching the next concept?
Now let me move on to incompetent teachers. Any teacher who needs to rely on a book as a primary source of teaching, need not be teaching. If you can't teach the concept yourself, with minimal help from a book, then you need to go back and learn it some more yourself.
Hate to go offtopic here, but what site might that be? I need come cash.
But, I'm assuming that Google originally played no part in their being the default search engine in Firefox.
Can you truly blame MS, though, for making their search engine the default one in THEIR browser? It's the same as Windows only coming with IE, WMP, and the assortment of other M$-made products.
It's simply smart business practice to do this. Would you openly give your users a reason not to use your product? No, I'd think not. That'd be like Windows coming with a folder on the desktop, full of links to various Linux distributions.
Everyone knows that it's easy to change the default search plugin, but it's the fact that M$ made the choice to make their search engine the default, purely for business and promotional reasons. Not that I blame them though.
Now, the difference with Google is that they did not directly make the decision to have their search engine be the default in Firefox. In the beginning, the developers simply made it default because it was the biggest search engine at the time. Now, fast forward a few years, and Google is still the default search engine, albeit with a bit of persuasion, I'm sure. (I.e: Mozilla gets a kickback for each time someone searches Google using their search plugin) The fact still stands though that Google was not and still isn't the main contributing factor in Google being the default search engine in Firefox.
You're not quite right in saying that Firefox isn't sponsored by Google. Google does in some form sponsor Firefox, because every time someone uses the Google search box in Firefox, Mozilla gets a kickback. Now, imagine how many people use that box per day, and how many times they use it. That'd be in the millions. And, even if it were just a penny for every search, that'd still be in the hundred thousands of dollars. Which, IMHO, is substantial enough to be called a sponsor.
I also find it very very interesting that the latest few Google articles have also mentioned M$ and their minions in them.
FYI, I'm 14, and I've begun to see an inherent tendency towards ignorance in computers in schools. Not only that, but they've been taught apparently, to shy away from knowledge.
At the slightest mention of a technical sounding term, a torrent of insults, "Shut up", and "What the hell is he talking about?" comes at me. The point is that it's not that these kids haven't been exposed enough to computers, it's just that they're not willing to accept teaching. A kid will gladly spend 4 hours playing piddly flash games and browsing MTV.com, but if you ask that same student to take 15 minutes to read a tutorial on HTML, they'll blatantly refuse, and say how that's too geeky.
Now, I'm not going to deny that computers haven't been made boring in schools, because they have. This is due to the fact that the computer teachers and network admins at the schools are ignorant dumbasses. I once asked the admin at my school why they didn't use Linux on the school's servers, to which she replied "What is Linux?". At that point I almost lost all hope for humanity.
And, don't even get me started on so called "Computer" class. All you do in there is either a) do math games, or b) play childish typing games. No where in that class do you learn anything about actually making use of a computer.
Not only dot he students refuse to make use of any technical knowledge, the teachers won't let them. I once had a project I had done, and I had no blank CDs, so, I did the smart thing and emailed it to myself, only to find out the next day that you're not allowed to download any files, at all. So, that was fine, I went home the next day, went out and bought some CD-Rs, only to find out the next day, that you aren't allowed to put any discs into the school computers.
So, in a nutsheel, kids these days are ignorant,and resist learning, the computer classes in schools are only acceptable for "special" children, and teachers refuse to let students exhibit their technical ability.
Apparently, you can install Linux on a dead badger. I tried it, but it was total pain in the neck to get the keyboard drivers. I ended up having to modify the keyboard drivers that I found in the gopher repository. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20040405/badge r.shtml
I carry one on a keychain, not only as it looks cool, and makes a nice conversation piece, but, it makes a great box cutter. It also could be used to shank someone. And the teachers can't say anything, as it's technically not a weapon. Hmm, maybe the "S" in SDRAM stands for shiv...
I suggest this (it's what my brother does):
Get a PocketPC with a phone (Toshiba has some nice ones). Then get the PocketPC version of PuTTY. Then buy one of the folding keyboards. It works perfectly. Technically, I guess you could use SSH, too, but I've found PuTTY to be easier to use. It's a great "happy medium". The full qwerty keyboard (including ESC key), but you don't have to carry around a clunky laptop, and it does everything you could need. Stick the keyboard in one pocket, the PDA in the other, and you're ready to go. Another advantage of doing this, is that the PDA will most likely come with Bluetooth and integrated Wi-Fi.
We aren't trying to figure out how to create a new universe. I like the apple pie metaphor, though.
Rather than researching the beginning of the universe, shouldn't we be more interested in the [i]end[/i] of the universe? I would rather know how we're all going to be sucked into a singularity.