"Director's Intent?" Who cares? Capitalizing the phrase won't make it seem any more important. Why is there this reverence for the supposed genius of the auteur/artist, anyway? I'd say that "Director's Intent" is about as important as "Viewer's Critical Faculty." No, probably less important.
Now go to a bookstore or library and read "Death of the Author."
LOL, I didn't mean to come off sounding like a Microsoft cheerleader. I meant to imply that the CS department still seems to do what it wants despite the IT maneuverings of the university in general (with, uh, a single piece of evidence to back me up:).
Believe me, no one here likes increased fees, and though I can't remember how the Microsoft deal worked for students in that regard, they're nothing compared to the fees that the university foists on students as a matter of course. When I first came to UT, in-state tuition and fees for a full course load was about $1200. I dropped out for a while and came back last fall. Now I'm looking at $880 just for a single class! Ugh.
My univerity (University of Texas at Austin) offers Microsoft software for dirt-cheap prices. For example, Windows XP can be had for $5, and Visual Studio 6 for $15 or $20. (As an aside, the University was once one of the largest purchasers of Apple computers; now the campus is dotted with labs brimming with Dell PCs, some donated by Microsoft.)
Meanwhile, the CS department offers a "laboratory" course intended for students who want to learn by hacking the Linux kernel (sorry, but I couldn't find a link). Not bad!
Yes, I read the review. Yes, I realize that the reviewer can't read Chinese. I'm sorry if this was only implicit, but obviously this review of a Chinese Linux distro needed a reviewer who reads Chinese.
I agree. Installing in Chinese really doesn't seem like too much to ask for in a review of a Chinese distro of Linux. Not to be a bastard, but frankly that review seemed pretty half-assed. He installs it in English in a VMware window, barely uses it, then dismisses it.
no, by my logic, moderators should make honest attempts to distinguish between constructive criticism and well-reasoned opinion versus pointless flamebait. differences in opinions and attitudes are inevitable, but "everything is an opinion" is a cop-out.
when i moderate, if i encounter a post that upsets me, i back off, and either think about it for a while, or i leave it alone. "concentrate on promoting, not demoting."
Moderators, the parent post is not flamebait. I'm tired of seeing perfectly valid criticism getting modded down. Do not mod down something just because you don't agree with it or it upsets you personally.
The Audiogalaxy windows client installs a piece of software called "Bonzi Buddy" without telling you, certainly not giving you the chance to opt out. How does this jive with their opt-in philosophy?
mind you, i am by and large a fan of pragmatism, if not utilitarianism, especially when it suits me, and i'm certainly neither a radical skeptic nor an idealist (in some absolute philosophical sense, at any rate). but i can't help but suspect those that always by sheer coincidence, i'm sure, trumpet the culture/civilization/ideology that they happen to belong to, to be the best.
these are my rules, and according to my rules, YOU LOSE!
dunno. and what of those in the center on to the far right who slept soundly every night, mindless of the executions that had already occurred?
speaking as a vietnamese-american, this hits a nerve. millions of vietnamese were f*cked as soon as the unification elections were swept under the carpet and the country plunged back into the war during the fifties, if not earlier. those that wept for the departure of the americans later had already spent years making a living eating french shit. the truth of the matter is, and we all know it, is that there never was going to be a happy outcome for the country.
score one for the "count your blessings" brand of american patriot.
".. some moral systems are based on logic, reason, and the common good and some are based on arbitrary systems of faith that do not promote maximal Utility by any sort of reality-based perception."
This is blatant flamebait, not to mention philosophically questionable -- as if there were some consensus in western thought that Utility prevails over all else. Back up your statement and provide examples if you disagree.
This is not directed specifically at the parent post.
I am sick and tired of all of the whining about Jon Katz that appears (and gets modded up) every time Katz posts a story. It's obvious that all of the posters who hate him and complain about everything he posts derive some perverse pleasure from their moaning, otherwise they would exclude Katz's stories in their preferences and shut up about it. So, i have a feature request: I would like two new toggles in the preferences. One should be labeled "I hate Katz" and the other "Ignore Katz haters." That alone should double the amount of constructive, thoughtful posts that I read.
Sorry, everyone's welcome to their own opinions, but this anti-Katz rhetoric is beyond old.
Sounds like a good topic for an "Ask Slashdot" article.
Gee, perhaps it's already been asked?
Gee, I don't know; has it already been asked? Let's see, was it asked in "Can URL Transaction Tests Be Patented?" Or "Affordable Home Backups for 10-100G Systems?" Or "X.10 and Home Security?" Maybe "Neural Networks In The Home?" Urrgh...;)
Look, I have searched for this sort of thing on my own, but I didn't think it would hurt to see if anyone had any helpful input while we were more or less on the topic. Peace...:)
If you really want a whiz-bang system with home networking and other features built in, the way to get that NOW is to roll your own PC based system. There's plenty of software available.
I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I'm a little hesitant. Can anyone point me and others to good resources on the web for doing so? I wonder if anyone can relate some good experiences setting up a Linux box to record television. My understanding is that Hauppage TV cards are well supported by Linux hackers; I'm not familiar with the frontends that might be available, though.
I could do this under Windows as well, but hardware manufacturers often can't keep up with drivers for new Windows versions as they are released, so that's a big concern.
Yes, I read the article; nothing in my post contradicts the information presented in the article. I simply don't share your interpretation.
You may be right -- maybe Steve Ballmer loped up and down the corridors, jumping like a monkey and screaming "PLEASE STOP AND VOTE FOR.NET OR LOSE YOUR JOBS!" I may be right -- maybe some employees read the "PLEASE STOP AND VOTE FOR.NET" e-mail, and, having nothing better to do, went a little overboard.
Either way, it's just an online poll, which should never be taken seriously, and there's little harm done. Peace.:)
Disclaimer: I'm not a Microsoft fan, but every now and then I pretend to be reasonable.
The headline seems a bit misleading. Was any evidence presented that Microsoft the company, and not a handful of Microsoft employees, deliberately chose to rig the poll? It seems more likely that some developer in the web services group with a little too much team spirit saw the poll and sent a mail to other developers asking them to vote. Big deal. Then some jerk hacked up a form submission script to tilt the poll results in Microsoft's favor. Pretty sad, but again, big deal. As the editor said, you can't trust an online poll to represent anything approaching reality. (At least that's what I tell myself every time I view CNN quick poll results)
>with the ever-tightening restrictions imposed by
>Affirmative Action (raising dropout rates to 25%
>in some fields) it's no wonder that schools are
>starting to find ways to make money any way
>they can.
Please provide a citation for this claim. I don't think it's fair to post what at least appears to be off-the-cuff flamebait like this without any supporting details.
I'm not doubting you or trying to be confrontational, I'm sincerely interested in reading some more about this. I knew that IE was based on Spyglass Mosaic, but had never heard the specifics of the deal.
That's really too bad, and you have my sincere sympathy. I've always assumed that because of the finite number of hardware configurations sold by Apple, that they would provide solid support in the OS.
(rant follows...)
Somebody mentioned that your G3 is too old to reasonably expect support from OS X. I strongly disagree. As a PC user, I don't doubt at all that I could take a machine that I built three years ago, say, a K6-2 machine with a Super 7 motherboard or a Pentium 2 machine with a BX motherboard, and install Windows XP or Linux on it, with driver support for most if not all components. I do not doubt that I could do this, and frankly, that's amazing because the number of possible PC hardware permutations from just the past few years is staggering. Apple should stand by the hardware it produces and support it for a reasonable number of years, especially when dealing with components that were standard at the time they were sold.
As an aside, I like to tinker with hardware and upgrade my PC frequently, but I'm getting tired of the assumption that a personal computer is obsolete and must be upgraded every few years. I think most folks have better ways to spend their money.
Exactly what statistical possibility of infiltration are you referring to? And why would foreigners on a work visa be more statistically likely to commit acts of espionage or terror than American citizens? I'm ready and waiting to see the logic behind that claim.
I think that the poster was playing on the recent claim that the Al Qaeda had planted malicious code in Windows XP, and to the average American's fear of Muslims and Arabs, and yes, I think that his post was a manifestation of the latent American racism and xenophobia that bubbled back to the surface following the September 11 attacks. Or perhaps you think that he was alluding to the fifth column of white Canadian programmer-terrorists in the software industry? Seriously, who are you kidding?
Talk of racism, whether overt or not, makes me uncomfortable too (after all, it should), but it's better to discuss the topic openly and candidly rather than blowing smoke and making excuses.
"They hire lots of foreign programmers, (see their support for H1B visas) making them pathetically easy to infitrate"
Oh you're so right. After the events of September 11th, my company, like many other individuals and institutions, came to the realization that foreigners (especially the swarthy ones) are inherently evil, and instituted a policy of hiring only white male Christians, plus providing each white male Christian employee with a free Holy Bible and framed copies of the second and tenth amendments. In the following months, we've found that the amount of terrorist code in our software has decreased dramatically! The exciting side effect of all this is that our code is also now 100% Made in the USA!
Here's to hoping that companies all over the globe follow our practices so that we can make this a better world for good, peace-loving people everywhere. Let's roll!
Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste...:) but for what it's worth, I think GNOME looks quite nice, especially the default look of the Ximian GNOME distribution. It's very clean and minimal, with beautiful icons. Personally, I think KDE is pretty ugly, but I haven't used it much, so take that for what it's worth. In any case, GNOME (and presumably KDE) is very customizable in the look & feel department, so if the default look doesn't suit you, you can probably tweak it until you're happy.
I use Windows XP at work, and I have to say that I think that the Windows XP GUI looks not bad at all, especially after turning off the Luna skin. The font smoothing is beautiful, and makes me pine for Mac OS much less...
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"Director's Intent?" Who cares? Capitalizing the phrase won't make it seem any more important. Why is there this reverence for the supposed genius of the auteur/artist, anyway? I'd say that "Director's Intent" is about as important as "Viewer's Critical Faculty." No, probably less important.
Now go to a bookstore or library and read "Death of the Author."
LOL, I didn't mean to come off sounding like a Microsoft cheerleader. I meant to imply that the CS department still seems to do what it wants despite the IT maneuverings of the university in general (with, uh, a single piece of evidence to back me up :).
Believe me, no one here likes increased fees, and though I can't remember how the Microsoft deal worked for students in that regard, they're nothing compared to the fees that the university foists on students as a matter of course. When I first came to UT, in-state tuition and fees for a full course load was about $1200. I dropped out for a while and came back last fall. Now I'm looking at $880 just for a single class! Ugh.
My univerity (University of Texas at Austin) offers Microsoft software for dirt-cheap prices. For example, Windows XP can be had for $5, and Visual Studio 6 for $15 or $20. (As an aside, the University was once one of the largest purchasers of Apple computers; now the campus is dotted with labs brimming with Dell PCs, some donated by Microsoft.)
Meanwhile, the CS department offers a "laboratory" course intended for students who want to learn by hacking the Linux kernel (sorry, but I couldn't find a link). Not bad!
Yes, I read the review. Yes, I realize that the reviewer can't read Chinese. I'm sorry if this was only implicit, but obviously this review of a Chinese Linux distro needed a reviewer who reads Chinese.
I agree. Installing in Chinese really doesn't seem like too much to ask for in a review of a Chinese distro of Linux. Not to be a bastard, but frankly that review seemed pretty half-assed. He installs it in English in a VMware window, barely uses it, then dismisses it.
Just my dumb opinion.
no, by my logic, moderators should make honest attempts to distinguish between constructive criticism and well-reasoned opinion versus pointless flamebait. differences in opinions and attitudes are inevitable, but "everything is an opinion" is a cop-out.
when i moderate, if i encounter a post that upsets me, i back off, and either think about it for a while, or i leave it alone. "concentrate on promoting, not demoting."
respectfully,
jacob
Moderators, the parent post is not flamebait. I'm tired of seeing perfectly valid criticism getting modded down. Do not mod down something just because you don't agree with it or it upsets you personally.
Yes. I stand corrected. Believe me, this makes me happy. I quite prefer audiogalaxy to other music-sharing tools.
The Audiogalaxy windows client installs a piece of software called "Bonzi Buddy" without telling you, certainly not giving you the chance to opt out. How does this jive with their opt-in philosophy?
good point, and somehow even poetic.
mind you, i am by and large a fan of pragmatism, if not utilitarianism, especially when it suits me, and i'm certainly neither a radical skeptic nor an idealist (in some absolute philosophical sense, at any rate). but i can't help but suspect those that always by sheer coincidence, i'm sure, trumpet the culture/civilization/ideology that they happen to belong to, to be the best.
these are my rules, and according to my rules, YOU LOSE!
dunno. and what of those in the center on to the far right who slept soundly every night, mindless of the executions that had already occurred?
speaking as a vietnamese-american, this hits a nerve. millions of vietnamese were f*cked as soon as the unification elections were swept under the carpet and the country plunged back into the war during the fifties, if not earlier. those that wept for the departure of the americans later had already spent years making a living eating french shit. the truth of the matter is, and we all know it, is that there never was going to be a happy outcome for the country.
score one for the "count your blessings" brand of american patriot.
Uh... actually, you need to read it again, because what he's saying is quite plain, and my reading of it is not incorrect.
This is blatant flamebait, not to mention philosophically questionable -- as if there were some consensus in western thought that Utility prevails over all else. Back up your statement and provide examples if you disagree.
This is not directed specifically at the parent post.
I am sick and tired of all of the whining about Jon Katz that appears (and gets modded up) every time Katz posts a story. It's obvious that all of the posters who hate him and complain about everything he posts derive some perverse pleasure from their moaning, otherwise they would exclude Katz's stories in their preferences and shut up about it. So, i have a feature request: I would like two new toggles in the preferences. One should be labeled "I hate Katz" and the other "Ignore Katz haters." That alone should double the amount of constructive, thoughtful posts that I read.
Sorry, everyone's welcome to their own opinions, but this anti-Katz rhetoric is beyond old.
Look, I have searched for this sort of thing on my own, but I didn't think it would hurt to see if anyone had any helpful input while we were more or less on the topic. Peace... :)
Thanks for the link! I'll check that out...
I could do this under Windows as well, but hardware manufacturers often can't keep up with drivers for new Windows versions as they are released, so that's a big concern.
Yes, I read the article; nothing in my post contradicts the information presented in the article. I simply don't share your interpretation.
.NET OR LOSE YOUR JOBS!" I may be right -- maybe some employees read the "PLEASE STOP AND VOTE FOR .NET" e-mail, and, having nothing better to do, went a little overboard.
:)
You may be right -- maybe Steve Ballmer loped up and down the corridors, jumping like a monkey and screaming "PLEASE STOP AND VOTE FOR
Either way, it's just an online poll, which should never be taken seriously, and there's little harm done. Peace.
Disclaimer: I'm not a Microsoft fan, but every now and then I pretend to be reasonable.
The headline seems a bit misleading. Was any evidence presented that Microsoft the company, and not a handful of Microsoft employees, deliberately chose to rig the poll? It seems more likely that some developer in the web services group with a little too much team spirit saw the poll and sent a mail to other developers asking them to vote. Big deal. Then some jerk hacked up a form submission script to tilt the poll results in Microsoft's favor. Pretty sad, but again, big deal. As the editor said, you can't trust an online poll to represent anything approaching reality. (At least that's what I tell myself every time I view CNN quick poll results)
>with the ever-tightening restrictions imposed by
>Affirmative Action (raising dropout rates to 25%
>in some fields) it's no wonder that schools are
>starting to find ways to make money any way
>they can.
Please provide a citation for this claim. I don't think it's fair to post what at least appears to be off-the-cuff flamebait like this without any supporting details.
Respectfully,
jacob
Do you have a cite for this?
I'm not doubting you or trying to be confrontational, I'm sincerely interested in reading some more about this. I knew that IE was based on Spyglass Mosaic, but had never heard the specifics of the deal.
That's really too bad, and you have my sincere sympathy. I've always assumed that because of the finite number of hardware configurations sold by Apple, that they would provide solid support in the OS.
(rant follows...)
Somebody mentioned that your G3 is too old to reasonably expect support from OS X. I strongly disagree. As a PC user, I don't doubt at all that I could take a machine that I built three years ago, say, a K6-2 machine with a Super 7 motherboard or a Pentium 2 machine with a BX motherboard, and install Windows XP or Linux on it, with driver support for most if not all components. I do not doubt that I could do this, and frankly, that's amazing because the number of possible PC hardware permutations from just the past few years is staggering. Apple should stand by the hardware it produces and support it for a reasonable number of years, especially when dealing with components that were standard at the time they were sold.
As an aside, I like to tinker with hardware and upgrade my PC frequently, but I'm getting tired of the assumption that a personal computer is obsolete and must be upgraded every few years. I think most folks have better ways to spend their money.
Exactly what statistical possibility of infiltration are you referring to? And why would foreigners on a work visa be more statistically likely to commit acts of espionage or terror than American citizens? I'm ready and waiting to see the logic behind that claim.
I think that the poster was playing on the recent claim that the Al Qaeda had planted malicious code in Windows XP, and to the average American's fear of Muslims and Arabs, and yes, I think that his post was a manifestation of the latent American racism and xenophobia that bubbled back to the surface following the September 11 attacks. Or perhaps you think that he was alluding to the fifth column of white Canadian programmer-terrorists in the software industry? Seriously, who are you kidding?
Talk of racism, whether overt or not, makes me uncomfortable too (after all, it should), but it's better to discuss the topic openly and candidly rather than blowing smoke and making excuses.
Oh you're so right. After the events of September 11th, my company, like many other individuals and institutions, came to the realization that foreigners (especially the swarthy ones) are inherently evil, and instituted a policy of hiring only white male Christians, plus providing each white male Christian employee with a free Holy Bible and framed copies of the second and tenth amendments. In the following months, we've found that the amount of terrorist code in our software has decreased dramatically! The exciting side effect of all this is that our code is also now 100% Made in the USA!
Here's to hoping that companies all over the globe follow our practices so that we can make this a better world for good, peace-loving people everywhere. Let's roll!
Well, I guess there's no accounting for taste... :) but for what it's worth, I think GNOME looks quite nice, especially the default look of the Ximian GNOME distribution. It's very clean and minimal, with beautiful icons. Personally, I think KDE is pretty ugly, but I haven't used it much, so take that for what it's worth. In any case, GNOME (and presumably KDE) is very customizable in the look & feel department, so if the default look doesn't suit you, you can probably tweak it until you're happy.
I use Windows XP at work, and I have to say that I think that the Windows XP GUI looks not bad at all, especially after turning off the Luna skin. The font smoothing is beautiful, and makes me pine for Mac OS much less...