I used to be very gung-ho about holding teachers accountable for the performance of their students.
Until I talked with a teacher.
Then I came to realize this simple truth: Kids need to be motivated in order to learn. If they are not motivated to learn, it does not matter how good the teacher is, the child will not learn. You could cross Albert Einstein with Mother Theresa and it would not matter - the child will not learn.
And while teachers can be a source of motivation for students, for most children the NUMBER ONE source of motivation comes from their PARENTS. And if the parents do not motivate the child to learn, the teacher is all but helpless. The threat of lawsuits has effectively neutered the teacher, and there is very little they can do TO a child to motivate them. Daddy can whoop your ass, but Mr. Teacher can't do a thing.
And the problem is most parents "send" their kids to school "to be taught". They do not want to be involved in the processes - they just want to send their child off to be educated. Unfortunately unless they get involved and motivate their child to DO THE WORK, most of them, except the rare few who are self-motivated, won't do the work. You can't blame the teacher for this.
So it is not as simple as saying, "Hold the teacher accountable for student performance", because the teacher cannot force the student to put forth the effort to learn.
I think it's a cool idea. Maybe after the structures are inflated, and later when appropriate manufacturing facilities are set up, perhaps a moon-soil-based rigid "foam" or "cement" can be sprayed or otherwise applied to the outside of the structures, making them semi-permanent?
>Researchers have found that depressed people performed poorly on the video game compared, >suggesting that their hippocampi (where spatial memory is based) were not working properly."
I think it suggests they were so depressed they didn't give a shit about playing the game.:)
This is what the anti-copyright folks have been proclaiming for some time here on Slashdot - that all future work will be live concerts or commissioned works. It looks like this is just the route that EMI is trying to take. They'll sell you the song for distribution, but you are going to have to pay more for it up front, so that when it is copied freely on the back end, they will still have gotten their cut.
Maybe we really are reaching the point where before a label will cut loose a song they will demand a paid-in-advance comission first.
It's not so much images, but text. I put entire chapters of reference data in my calculator. It is quite easy to transfer text files from my PC to the calculator, but they are difficult to view once there, due to the limited resolution of the screen.
I love my HP calculators. I started using them with the 32S, then the 48GX, and now I have the new 50G, which is basically the 48GX a bit faster.
I also owned a TI-series graphing calculator at one time as a class I was taking required it.
In my opinion, compared to state-of-the art in display technology, used in most modern cell phones and PDAs, even the best, cutting-edge calculators suck graphics-wise in comparison.
There is no reason why my top-of-the-line HP50G calculator should have such a clunky monochrome display.
The primary reason why development of calculators has not kept pace with the development of PDAs and cell phones is simple: If they make them too good they will be banned from academic use, and thus the market is instantly gone.
So I'm curious, then, having not "played" Second Life. If anyone can make anything in the game, what prevents people from copying other people's things? If the answer is "nothing", why are people able to sell things they make?
I have sometimes thought of nano-sized cameras like this that, instead of having a million mirrors to allow a single pixel to take a full picture, instead, only took a pixel's worth of a picture. But each device is like a grain of sand. You could sprinkle the devices where someone is known to be passing through, or sprinkle them on the person, and thousands of these one-pixel devices, working in concert, could generate images.
It would be like "dusting" someone with micro-bugs.
I don't know what these new "ribbon" menus are or what they look like, but this just prompted me to speak of my biggest pet peeve of Windows menus that came on the scene a few years back: Dynamic menus. What I mean by this is how the drop-down menus off of the toolbar change to reflect the most recently-selected options. Thus every time you pull down a drop-down menu it looks different, and you must seek out the option you need, ususally by clicking on "more options" to see the "full" menu.
Whatever menus look like, they need to be consistent. Menus that change every time you look at them suck.
As globalization proceeds, 1st World wages are going to fall as 3rd World wages rise.
The only way the 1st World can take this is by having their cost of living decrease. For many things, like consumer electronics, and soon, automobiles, these costs are already decreasing as they are being manufactured in developing countries.
What 1st World people need now to decrease in cost is housing.
After that, 1st World people can afford 50% cuts in wages so as to remain competitive with the rest of the world.
I think pluggable cars are awesome. I envision a future where everyone commutes in pluggable cars, and saves their petroleum-burning car for weekend outtings or commercial work.
However, my commute is about 40 miles each way. I need a pluggable that goes 100 miles at full performance between charges.
I didn't say it was. My point is, let's not try and say that the poor are enjoying a nice slice of American prosperity by owning $1400 worth of cheap electronics and a beat-up car.
>The facts are rather simple: the poor have these things. It really doesn't matter if a car costs them $1 or $12345678; what matters is that they can afford the car.
Wealth equity DOES matter. As was pointed out in another thread just yesterday here on Slashdot, perceived wealth equity matters. It matters because when the disparity in wealth becomes great enough, and those at the bottom come to believe that the socioeconomic ladder is broken and there is no way to advance in life, they come to believe that life is unfair. When this happens, the author pointed out they resort to random crimes of opportunity, as they feel that since life is unfair they, too, can resort to unscrupulous means of aquiring wealth.
I would point out to the original author, though, that the thrust of their frustration is not always unfocused or random - sometimes, als the French Revolution or 9/11, it becomes quite focused.
When the poor realize that their $1400 worth of chinese-made electronics are just table scraps and all they are going to get, the fabric of society begins to unravel.
Slashdot Mirror
So where does one go to learn about this kind of security work?
I used to be very gung-ho about holding teachers accountable for the performance of their students.
Until I talked with a teacher.
Then I came to realize this simple truth: Kids need to be motivated in order to learn. If they are not motivated to learn, it does not matter how good the teacher is, the child will not learn. You could cross Albert Einstein with Mother Theresa and it would not matter - the child will not learn.
And while teachers can be a source of motivation for students, for most children the NUMBER ONE source of motivation comes from their PARENTS. And if the parents do not motivate the child to learn, the teacher is all but helpless. The threat of lawsuits has effectively neutered the teacher, and there is very little they can do TO a child to motivate them. Daddy can whoop your ass, but Mr. Teacher can't do a thing.
And the problem is most parents "send" their kids to school "to be taught". They do not want to be involved in the processes - they just want to send their child off to be educated. Unfortunately unless they get involved and motivate their child to DO THE WORK, most of them, except the rare few who are self-motivated, won't do the work. You can't blame the teacher for this.
So it is not as simple as saying, "Hold the teacher accountable for student performance", because the teacher cannot force the student to put forth the effort to learn.
Steve
I think it's a cool idea. Maybe after the structures are inflated, and later when appropriate manufacturing facilities are set up, perhaps a moon-soil-based rigid "foam" or "cement" can be sprayed or otherwise applied to the outside of the structures, making them semi-permanent?
Steve
>Researchers have found that depressed people performed poorly on the video game compared,
:)
>suggesting that their hippocampi (where spatial memory is based) were not working properly."
I think it suggests they were so depressed they didn't give a shit about playing the game.
Steve
This is what the anti-copyright folks have been proclaiming for some time here on Slashdot - that all future work will be live concerts or commissioned works. It looks like this is just the route that EMI is trying to take. They'll sell you the song for distribution, but you are going to have to pay more for it up front, so that when it is copied freely on the back end, they will still have gotten their cut.
Maybe we really are reaching the point where before a label will cut loose a song they will demand a paid-in-advance comission first.
>The iPod is a great device, but it is limited to only what you brought from home.
What happens when you have every song ever released digitally on your iPod?
They don't let you use PDAs on exams.
Just like firearms - now you go to www.gunbroker.com for your firearm auctions instead.
STeve
It's not so much images, but text. I put entire chapters of reference data in my calculator. It is quite easy to transfer text files from my PC to the calculator, but they are difficult to view once there, due to the limited resolution of the screen.
Steve
>Is there any good reason that a calculator should have a nicer screen?
Yes - so that I don't have to pan the screen from left-to-right or top-to-bottom to see more text or graphics.
Color aside, they need to be much higher resolution than they presently are.
I love my HP calculators. I started using them with the 32S, then the 48GX, and now I have the new 50G, which is basically the 48GX a bit faster.
I also owned a TI-series graphing calculator at one time as a class I was taking required it.
In my opinion, compared to state-of-the art in display technology, used in most modern cell phones and PDAs, even the best, cutting-edge calculators suck graphics-wise in comparison.
There is no reason why my top-of-the-line HP50G calculator should have such a clunky monochrome display.
The primary reason why development of calculators has not kept pace with the development of PDAs and cell phones is simple: If they make them too good they will be banned from academic use, and thus the market is instantly gone.
That's a damn shame.
This is yet another classic example of why content creators want DRM so badly. No one wants to go to the effort to create the content for free.
DRM works.
By hiding the "code" that drives the objects, making them, in essence, uncopyable, there is scarcity that can be capitlized upon.
As soon as duplication becomes effortless, the motivation to spend $10 for the item goes away.
So I'm curious, then, having not "played" Second Life. If anyone can make anything in the game, what prevents people from copying other people's things? If the answer is "nothing", why are people able to sell things they make?
I can't remember the last time I had $1000 in my bank account, let alone $31,000.
This is why alternative energy won't be mainstream for a long, long, long, long time.
Steve
I have sometimes thought of nano-sized cameras like this that, instead of having a million mirrors to allow a single pixel to take a full picture, instead, only took a pixel's worth of a picture. But each device is like a grain of sand. You could sprinkle the devices where someone is known to be passing through, or sprinkle them on the person, and thousands of these one-pixel devices, working in concert, could generate images.
It would be like "dusting" someone with micro-bugs.
If your job can be done from home, it can be done from India.
Hey, that's great news! How does one turn off dynamic menus in Windows?
Thanks.
I thought Front Page was part of the Office package. Oh well.
I don't know what these new "ribbon" menus are or what they look like, but this just prompted me to speak of my biggest pet peeve of Windows menus that came on the scene a few years back: Dynamic menus. What I mean by this is how the drop-down menus off of the toolbar change to reflect the most recently-selected options. Thus every time you pull down a drop-down menu it looks different, and you must seek out the option you need, ususally by clicking on "more options" to see the "full" menu.
Whatever menus look like, they need to be consistent. Menus that change every time you look at them suck.
Is there a WYSIWYG web page authoring tool like Front Page for Linux?
Thanks.
As globalization proceeds, 1st World wages are going to fall as 3rd World wages rise.
The only way the 1st World can take this is by having their cost of living decrease. For many things, like consumer electronics, and soon, automobiles, these costs are already decreasing as they are being manufactured in developing countries.
What 1st World people need now to decrease in cost is housing.
After that, 1st World people can afford 50% cuts in wages so as to remain competitive with the rest of the world.
I think pluggable cars are awesome. I envision a future where everyone commutes in pluggable cars, and saves their petroleum-burning car for weekend outtings or commercial work.
However, my commute is about 40 miles each way. I need a pluggable that goes 100 miles at full performance between charges.
My TV was given to me as a gift back in 1998, and so was my dishwasher just this Christmas.
>Is something better if you pay more for it???
I didn't say it was. My point is, let's not try and say that the poor are enjoying a nice slice of American prosperity by owning $1400 worth of cheap electronics and a beat-up car.
>The facts are rather simple: the poor have these things. It really doesn't matter if a car costs them $1 or $12345678; what matters is that they can afford the car.
Wealth equity DOES matter. As was pointed out in another thread just yesterday here on Slashdot, perceived wealth equity matters. It matters because when the disparity in wealth becomes great enough, and those at the bottom come to believe that the socioeconomic ladder is broken and there is no way to advance in life, they come to believe that life is unfair. When this happens, the author pointed out they resort to random crimes of opportunity, as they feel that since life is unfair they, too, can resort to unscrupulous means of aquiring wealth.
I would point out to the original author, though, that the thrust of their frustration is not always unfocused or random - sometimes, als the French Revolution or 9/11, it becomes quite focused.
When the poor realize that their $1400 worth of chinese-made electronics are just table scraps and all they are going to get, the fabric of society begins to unravel.