But there are good domestics that cost about the same as Miller/Bud/Coors but are much better. Ever try Yuengling? (that's one of my budget-price staple beers, < $6.50 for a 6-pack) No cans, though.
It's just unfortunate that the typical North American still prefers the crap the big breweries produce.
It's not really about preference, it's just that most of them don't know any better. Their tastes never matured past their beer-swilling college days. I went through my macrobrew phase during my early college years, but by junior year I was drinking better stuff exclusively even though it cost more.
Although Linux is better than most systems out there and is resistant to the various drive-by attack methods, nothing is completely impervious to malware. Linux can still get hit with a trojan if the user can be tricked into installing a tainted package as root.
The students retain every IP right, but Turnitin is not doing anything wrong under copyright law - they never distribute the work.
Are students able to take their work down if they want to? Can they do so with a DMCA notice? (I'm not sure if that would be applicable since students have to personally submit their own work, often under coercion) I also checked the turnitin student manual... it goes into detail about how to submit work, but nothing about taking it down. Another problem is that turnitin is able to hold onto (and therefore profit from) a paper indefinitely.
I think it does. There should be no reason to assume plagarism unless something about a specific paper calls it into suspicion. Certainly no disciplinary action should be taken unless plagarism can be proven. There should normally be an assumed level of trust between an instructor and his/her students. My point is, if a student feels that the instructor doesn't trust him/her to be honest on an assignment, how can he/she in turn trust that instructor to be fair in other things?
It's not so much laziness that I'm concerned about. Students who plagarize deserve to be punished. The real issue is that if Turnitin can make a profit of of other people's work under fair use, then that basically means that students have no IP right and that students are guilty until proven innocent. Back when I was a student, I saw the use of turnitin as a major lack of respect towards me, and I refused to submit my work to it on principle. Since I had never done anything wrong in regards to plagarism, most of my instructors understood and didn't hold it against me.
A degree isn't everything. All it does is prove you took a certain number of units at some university, but it is no guarantee that you actually learned anything other than how to pass the exams. I feel as though anyone who has the skills for a job should at least get an interview whether they have a degree or not. The longer you have been out of college, the less important the degree becomes anyway. (past experience takes precedent over everything else)
Any serious writer should know at least a little bit about TeX/LaTeX. Managing huge documents with a word processor is torture; there is no real structuring and no easy way to get around the document. With LaTeX frontends like LyX, there is no excuse for not using LaTeX--- the learning curve is about an hour if you read the LyX documentation. For me, it has been a godsend for my latest book project... All I have to worry about is getting the thing written and LaTeX does the grunt work of making it look good. Quite often, the results are better than what I originally wanted.
If you had substituted "labels" for "artists", I might have agreed with you. Most artists are lucky if they make any real money on CD sales anyway with the contracts they have to sign, so this ultimately comes down to a Big Content vs. everyone else situation.
Linux's desktop is pretty good. The problem is, it's unfamiliar.
This is definitely true.
At the risk of coming across as self-endorsing, I'm currently writing a book that thoroughly covers the process of migrating from Windows to Linux for new users. I plan to cover at least 5 distros in detail, (Ubuntu, Mandriva, Arch, OpenSUSE, Fedora, and maybe CentOS as a server-oriented bonus) in addition to the basic fundamental concepts and the various desktop environments. I'm going out of my way to address how each aspect of Linux compares to Windows (similarities and differences) and I'm doing my best to make everything as easy to understand as possible without being patronizing or overly technical. I've also planned an introduction-to-the-terminal chapter in addition to a comprehensive troubleshooting chapter for most problems I can think of. Basically, I'm writing the guide I wish I had back when I first got into Linux.
My job consisted of manually logging into a server every two hours and manually running a command to gather log files, and then another to send those files to a second server. I honestly have no idea what kind of system I was logging into, I just know that I was told they were unable to automate the process, so there needed to be a warm body to run the commands.
hmmm.... It seems like cron and a simple shell script (or the Windows equivalent of those tools) could do those things very easily.
It appears that the tactic of attacking the messenger and not the message is the most common form of "debate" in a lot of places at the moment. I can't solely blame the poor standards of US education for that problem.
I can see where you're coming from, and it is a concern. However, we can only hope that most rational people will be able to see ad hominem attacks for what they are and filter them out from any real differing points of view.
I'm disturbed that an American would feel that they should have to be anonymous to post political speech. There should be no threat of reprisal whatsoever; in fact the politicians should be the ones who are worried about what the electorate thinks of them.
Now wait, it's this sort of misconception that makes people start to think protectionism is a good idea. Do you realize that there are more jobs in the US than there were 20 years ago? Despite advances like robots and computers making us more efficient, and things like outsourcing, there are still more jobs. This is the way humans are: when it appears we have nothing left to do, we find something new and more interesting to do. I sure don't lament the loss of all the farming jobs from the invention of the tractor. It was kind of lame for my grandpa, who had to get trained in a non-farming skill, but he got paid more working for the phone company than he ever would have farming.
But how does that work in a bad economy? I know lots of people who have lost jobs in the past six months, and only one who has been hired during that time. (and he was out of work for over a year) What you describe sounds like it could only work effectively in good times.
You will always lose from protectionism in the long term, and often in the short term. The best strategy is to help these countries improve their standard of living, until there is no point in outsourcing because it costs just as much there. Then they can take care of their own programming needs, and we can take care of our own programming needs.
How long will that take, and what are people supposed to do in the meantime? Conditions won't equalize like you suggest until there are no poor countries left. Even if India and China develop a standard of living equal to the US, there would still be plenty of poor countries left, including most of Africa. It will take decades (if not centuries) to spread everything around equally, and by then some formerly rich countries may have become poor. Where does it end?
As they say, there is no reason to prop up the buggy whip makers. If there are not enough jobs to go around, find a different industry, it happens. You'll probably end up happier anyway.
Like I said, that can only happen so much, and the pie gets smaller and smaller each time. It's not like there is an infinite amount of jobs and they merely get shuffled around between industries. Besides, not everyone has the flexibility to jump into a new industry at any given time. (when you're young and single, it's not too difficult, but try doing it when you have a family to support)
Protectionism has been shown over and over again to be a bad idea. The best thing to do is help these developing countries raise their standard of living, then there will be no point to outsource to them. They can have their own industry serving their own, and we can have our industry serving us.
I'm not saying that protectionism is an ideal strategy, but it's better than giving away our standard of living while getting nothing in return. (unless you're a company exec) If jobs flow out of a country, it's a parasitic drain on that country's citizens. If a country wants to improve its situation, then it should have to build it from the bottom up, no matter how long it takes.
There are jobs left in America. And there will be for some time.
But there may not be enough jobs to go around in a few years in some industries. (that time may already have come) Competition is going to be terrible, and quite a few people are inevitably going to be cut out. If there are lots of people offering a service, then the value of that service must go down as a result, leading to lower wages. (It's like fighting for a sandwich that already has a big bite taken out of it) The problem may be delayed for awhile by having some people switch industries, but eventually those markets will become over-saturated with new people and the same problem will begin again.
Outsourcing should be a criminal offense in this economy, and I would also love to see a moratorium on new H1-B visas for a few years.
While what you say is technically true, (no OS is completely immune to malware) Linux simply has more hurdles that malware must jump over before a system can be infected. (people typically not running as root, fewer ports open, most software coming from "sterile" sources like official repositories, etc.) At least one of these obstacles is usually enough to stop most infection attempts before any damage is done. However, when users get lazy or careless and bypass these lines of defense, infection is possible if there is a type of malware able to exploit the opportunity at that exact moment.
You could always install it as a RAW printer in CUPS and print over Samba. Raw printers use the drivers on the machines they are physically hooked up to, so that should work most of the time.
I would love if we could get a higher income tax on the wealthy (of which I am one)
Do you really think that most wealthy people are going to stick around for that? The legilation for that idea would probably be called the "Evacuate California Act".
Full disclosure: I'm a former Californian who left when things started to go downhill in that state.
I DESPISE tinted windows. Many intersections are still unprotected (no left turn arrow) so I have to wait for a gap to turn. if there's a car that is in the opposite turn lane from me with tinted windows, I can't see through that vehicle and turn safely, so I have to wait for the light to turn red. It's just ridiculous.
I love my Model M. The durability of these keyboards is something to behold; it makes the One Ring look like nothing. Mount Doom would have to use up every BTU of its heat to destroy one of these, and even then a Model M would probably only get a little bit warm and still remain fully functional.
Seriously though, every other keyboard I use just feels downright uncomfortable after I've gotten used to typing on spring-loaded keys.
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But there are good domestics that cost about the same as Miller/Bud/Coors but are much better. Ever try Yuengling? (that's one of my budget-price staple beers, < $6.50 for a 6-pack) No cans, though.
It's not really about preference, it's just that most of them don't know any better. Their tastes never matured past their beer-swilling college days. I went through my macrobrew phase during my early college years, but by junior year I was drinking better stuff exclusively even though it cost more.
Although Linux is better than most systems out there and is resistant to the various drive-by attack methods, nothing is completely impervious to malware. Linux can still get hit with a trojan if the user can be tricked into installing a tainted package as root.
Are students able to take their work down if they want to? Can they do so with a DMCA notice? (I'm not sure if that would be applicable since students have to personally submit their own work, often under coercion) I also checked the turnitin student manual... it goes into detail about how to submit work, but nothing about taking it down. Another problem is that turnitin is able to hold onto (and therefore profit from) a paper indefinitely.
I think it does. There should be no reason to assume plagarism unless something about a specific paper calls it into suspicion. Certainly no disciplinary action should be taken unless plagarism can be proven. There should normally be an assumed level of trust between an instructor and his/her students. My point is, if a student feels that the instructor doesn't trust him/her to be honest on an assignment, how can he/she in turn trust that instructor to be fair in other things?
It's not so much laziness that I'm concerned about. Students who plagarize deserve to be punished. The real issue is that if Turnitin can make a profit of of other people's work under fair use, then that basically means that students have no IP right and that students are guilty until proven innocent. Back when I was a student, I saw the use of turnitin as a major lack of respect towards me, and I refused to submit my work to it on principle. Since I had never done anything wrong in regards to plagarism, most of my instructors understood and didn't hold it against me.
A degree isn't everything. All it does is prove you took a certain number of units at some university, but it is no guarantee that you actually learned anything other than how to pass the exams. I feel as though anyone who has the skills for a job should at least get an interview whether they have a degree or not. The longer you have been out of college, the less important the degree becomes anyway. (past experience takes precedent over everything else)
Any serious writer should know at least a little bit about TeX/LaTeX. Managing huge documents with a word processor is torture; there is no real structuring and no easy way to get around the document. With LaTeX frontends like LyX, there is no excuse for not using LaTeX--- the learning curve is about an hour if you read the LyX documentation. For me, it has been a godsend for my latest book project... All I have to worry about is getting the thing written and LaTeX does the grunt work of making it look good. Quite often, the results are better than what I originally wanted.
If you had substituted "labels" for "artists", I might have agreed with you. Most artists are lucky if they make any real money on CD sales anyway with the contracts they have to sign, so this ultimately comes down to a Big Content vs. everyone else situation.
That's very strange, especially for Europe. I would have though that good beer (like Chimay or Budvar) would be just as classy as most good wine.
So you gave up on Linux after trying only one distro several years ago? You should give it another try, Linux has gotten a lot better since then.
This is definitely true.
At the risk of coming across as self-endorsing, I'm currently writing a book that thoroughly covers the process of migrating from Windows to Linux for new users. I plan to cover at least 5 distros in detail, (Ubuntu, Mandriva, Arch, OpenSUSE, Fedora, and maybe CentOS as a server-oriented bonus) in addition to the basic fundamental concepts and the various desktop environments. I'm going out of my way to address how each aspect of Linux compares to Windows (similarities and differences) and I'm doing my best to make everything as easy to understand as possible without being patronizing or overly technical. I've also planned an introduction-to-the-terminal chapter in addition to a comprehensive troubleshooting chapter for most problems I can think of. Basically, I'm writing the guide I wish I had back when I first got into Linux.
hmmm.... It seems like cron and a simple shell script (or the Windows equivalent of those tools) could do those things very easily.
I can see where you're coming from, and it is a concern. However, we can only hope that most rational people will be able to see ad hominem attacks for what they are and filter them out from any real differing points of view.
I'm disturbed that an American would feel that they should have to be anonymous to post political speech. There should be no threat of reprisal whatsoever; in fact the politicians should be the ones who are worried about what the electorate thinks of them.
But how does that work in a bad economy? I know lots of people who have lost jobs in the past six months, and only one who has been hired during that time. (and he was out of work for over a year) What you describe sounds like it could only work effectively in good times.
How long will that take, and what are people supposed to do in the meantime? Conditions won't equalize like you suggest until there are no poor countries left. Even if India and China develop a standard of living equal to the US, there would still be plenty of poor countries left, including most of Africa. It will take decades (if not centuries) to spread everything around equally, and by then some formerly rich countries may have become poor. Where does it end?
Like I said, that can only happen so much, and the pie gets smaller and smaller each time. It's not like there is an infinite amount of jobs and they merely get shuffled around between industries. Besides, not everyone has the flexibility to jump into a new industry at any given time. (when you're young and single, it's not too difficult, but try doing it when you have a family to support)
I'm not saying that protectionism is an ideal strategy, but it's better than giving away our standard of living while getting nothing in return. (unless you're a company exec) If jobs flow out of a country, it's a parasitic drain on that country's citizens. If a country wants to improve its situation, then it should have to build it from the bottom up, no matter how long it takes.
But there may not be enough jobs to go around in a few years in some industries. (that time may already have come) Competition is going to be terrible, and quite a few people are inevitably going to be cut out. If there are lots of people offering a service, then the value of that service must go down as a result, leading to lower wages. (It's like fighting for a sandwich that already has a big bite taken out of it) The problem may be delayed for awhile by having some people switch industries, but eventually those markets will become over-saturated with new people and the same problem will begin again.
Outsourcing should be a criminal offense in this economy, and I would also love to see a moratorium on new H1-B visas for a few years.
While what you say is technically true, (no OS is completely immune to malware) Linux simply has more hurdles that malware must jump over before a system can be infected. (people typically not running as root, fewer ports open, most software coming from "sterile" sources like official repositories, etc.) At least one of these obstacles is usually enough to stop most infection attempts before any damage is done. However, when users get lazy or careless and bypass these lines of defense, infection is possible if there is a type of malware able to exploit the opportunity at that exact moment.
You could always install it as a RAW printer in CUPS and print over Samba. Raw printers use the drivers on the machines they are physically hooked up to, so that should work most of the time.
MAC addresses can be easily changed at a moment's notice, so that hardly seems like a deterrent. Did it work?
Do you really think that most wealthy people are going to stick around for that? The legilation for that idea would probably be called the "Evacuate California Act".
Full disclosure: I'm a former Californian who left when things started to go downhill in that state.
I DESPISE tinted windows. Many intersections are still unprotected (no left turn arrow) so I have to wait for a gap to turn. if there's a car that is in the opposite turn lane from me with tinted windows, I can't see through that vehicle and turn safely, so I have to wait for the light to turn red. It's just ridiculous.
I love my Model M. The durability of these keyboards is something to behold; it makes the One Ring look like nothing. Mount Doom would have to use up every BTU of its heat to destroy one of these, and even then a Model M would probably only get a little bit warm and still remain fully functional.
Seriously though, every other keyboard I use just feels downright uncomfortable after I've gotten used to typing on spring-loaded keys.
That would only work if the worm doesn't get its time checks from an external source. (there are plenty of time servers on the internet)