The problem with this thinking is that the computer DOES WORK! It works exactly as it's meant to and does exactly what you tell it to. Just like a car.
If someone parks their car in the front window of a store they can't say, "The car doesn't work! It allowed me to push that gas pedal and go over the curb into the wall!"
A computer is a tool, damnit. If you don't know how to use a tool, you either don't use it, or you learn how to use it. Somewhere along the lines, people have forgotten this. I've been in tech support for so long now, and seen so many people who A: Don't know how to use their computers and B: Have no desire to learn how. How does this make sense??
If you have a job welding, I'm pretty certain you know how to turn on the welder. Turn it off. The safety precautions needed when using it. What it means when the needles on the display do certain things. If you don't know these things, YOU SHOULDN'T BE WELDING!!!
A huge chunk of AOL's revenue stream is coming from their "partner" advertisement deals. This is why they are going to a free model for broadband subscribers. They no longer need the monthly fees, they make a decent chunk on ads.
*If it's legal for me to do something, why would it be illegal for me to pay someone to do something for me?*
I have to chime in on this one, sorry. It's legal to masturbate (well, in most states), but it's illegal to pay someone else to masturbate you. I know, not the same thing at all, but I thought it was funny.
And am whole-heartedly offended by a lot of these comments. This program is yet another level of abstraction between parenting and the children.
I have raised my kids, taught them right from wrong. I am also smart enough to realize that my kids are not idiots. They are not stupid and will find ways around things they don't understand or agree with... Just like I did as a child. When that happens, all you can do as a parent is hope you instilled the proper morals into the child.
I'm sorry, it is NOT up to the lunch lady to determine what my kids eat. If I am that concerned about what my children eat at school, I'll make it myself! At one school they attended, this is exactly what I did. "Some parents don't have time for that!", you might say... Bullshit. If you have the time to screw around and have kids, you MAKE THE DAMN TIME to raise them. It's called parenting.
This shit ranks right up there with Net-Nanny type things. If you mistrust your children to these kinds of extents, then you have failed as a parent and nothing can fix this. More and more the definition of "children" is getting pushed further up the age curve. This lunch program is in High-Schools for crying out loud. Kids who have their driver's licenses and are nearly the age of majority, yet they can't pick their own lunches? Um, yeah. That makes sense.
A CS junior and not a clue about coding to the metal... Doesn't leave much hope for the future now does it?
Abstraction is fine, and very useful for general applications. But you reach a point in abstraction where the code becomes so bloated and there are so many layers to sort through that it just becomes a nightmare to deal with.
I'd lay odds that your classes have completely revolved around java, and that would explain why you don't understand lower level coding. Abstraction doesn't work all that well when you are dealing with real-time applications like multimedia, and to a lesser extent, gaming.
**Fortunately, Microsoft's new DRM implementations in Vista will blank one's monitor when using pirated media and help police such abuse.**
That is until the new DRM in Vista makes a or decides it doesn't like your home movie and blanks your monitor. Or even better, decides that your legit backup copy isn't legal and won't play it.
Or hell, simply decides that it's time to send a complete list of all your viewing history to it's makers/partners in order to provide you with "specials, discounts and promotionals targetted to your demographic"
The thing that you may have missed when comparing Second Life to WoW is that the geometry in WoW is static. In Second Life the geometry is dynamic. You could be standing on the patio of someone's house and they could delete that patio from underneath you. No warning, no predefined hidden surface removals, etc.
THAT is why it seems to run slowly. But heck, I've got a 5200FX running with a P4-3ghz with 1g RAM and I get pretty decent framerates. So it doesn't take massive horsepower.
I bought a pre-fab system against my better judgement. It has Windows on it. It also has a legit OEM license key. I didn't want the crap that was preloaded on the system, wiped the drive, re-installed windows.
Guess what? That key that is 100% legal, legit and paid for, WON'T WORK ON A CLEAN COPY INSTALL.
So guess what? Yep, installed anyways with a pirate patch/key. Now I'm technically illegal on that machine even though I've got myself a sparkly hologram sticker with a windows key plastered on the side of the box for the EXACT SAME DAMN VERSION that is installed on the box.
My response was to the parent and was made in anger at the amazingly poor logical leap that was made. It has as much to do with computers as the parent trying to say that the infected party is not responsible at all and trying to compare a blatent and obvious electronic hijack to an act of violence.
While it's true that a rape victim is in no way responsible for the crime, it is ALSO true that this infection being discussed, and indeed a majority of infections, are the users fault. Sure, the creator of the infection is also at fault no doubt, but most infections are pretty easily avoidable. Amazingly like real life, an ounce of precaution is worth a pound of cure. ESPECIALLY when it pops a box and says, "Would you like to install?"
If you want to attempt to put this into that type of scenario, this is akin to the "rape" victim walking down the street completely nude with a sign on their neck that says, "Willing Victim" and when approached by someone that asks, "Would you like to be raped? " They respond emphatically, "Yes please!"
In that situation, it IS INDEED the fault of the "victim". Granted it is still the perpetrator's fault as well.
Except that the "Western Wiki" as you put it was able to be modified by West, East, North, South or even outer space green men that had internet access. So I fail to see how it only presented the western view.
Frankly, I'd love to see this Self Censoring wiki smashed repeatedly by whatever hacking forces are within China.
From the clip: *paraphrased*
At it's worst it's a collection of trivia and facts, much of it untrue and sensationalized.
Umm, how is this much different from the biased, sensationalized garbage that so many people inundate themselves with nightly on things like FOXnews?
Most jobs will allow 8 days a year off for vacation, minimum, plus holidays, plus sick days, plus religious holidays, plus special leave. If you plan it out ahead of time, its possible to compound a number of these days into two or even three weeks straight. (Call in sick before Christmas, take Christmas off, spend vacation days on after Christmas, make up excuse as to why you won't be back until after New Years Day. With weekends off, thats very easy to set up. Your boss and co-workers will be riding your ass for it when you get back but it works.)
??? Wow, I'm 31, and have NEVER had a job where you wouldn't get fired for doing this. Ever.
Most jobs anymore do not give holidays off. Special leave? WTF is that referring to? Sick days? You're kidding right? And as far as actual vacation time, you'll be lucky to be allowed one week AFTER working for the company for a year.
Um, except that "a ladder in the freeway" is in no way an emergency. And you sir, just contributed to someone with a REAL emergency getting put on hold.
gg
Re:We need a real life game like this!
on
Playing The Escape
·
· Score: 1
Um... The "gun" he "wakes up" with has a freakin CO2 tank on it and a big white "Flash Suppresor" on the end. A guy would have to be a freakin moron to think it was a real gun.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with this thinking is that the computer DOES WORK! It works exactly as it's meant to and does exactly what you tell it to. Just like a car.
If someone parks their car in the front window of a store they can't say, "The car doesn't work! It allowed me to push that gas pedal and go over the curb into the wall!"
A computer is a tool, damnit. If you don't know how to use a tool, you either don't use it, or you learn how to use it. Somewhere along the lines, people have forgotten this. I've been in tech support for so long now, and seen so many people who A: Don't know how to use their computers and B: Have no desire to learn how. How does this make sense??
If you have a job welding, I'm pretty certain you know how to turn on the welder. Turn it off. The safety precautions needed when using it. What it means when the needles on the display do certain things. If you don't know these things, YOU SHOULDN'T BE WELDING!!!
The exact same thing goes for computers.
Not quite.
A huge chunk of AOL's revenue stream is coming from their "partner" advertisement deals. This is why they are going to a free model for broadband subscribers. They no longer need the monthly fees, they make a decent chunk on ads.
*If it's legal for me to do something, why would it be illegal for me to pay someone to do something for me?*
I have to chime in on this one, sorry. It's legal to masturbate (well, in most states), but it's illegal to pay someone else to masturbate you. I know, not the same thing at all, but I thought it was funny.
And am whole-heartedly offended by a lot of these comments. This program is yet another level of abstraction between parenting and the children.
I have raised my kids, taught them right from wrong. I am also smart enough to realize that my kids are not idiots. They are not stupid and will find ways around things they don't understand or agree with... Just like I did as a child. When that happens, all you can do as a parent is hope you instilled the proper morals into the child.
I'm sorry, it is NOT up to the lunch lady to determine what my kids eat. If I am that concerned about what my children eat at school, I'll make it myself! At one school they attended, this is exactly what I did. "Some parents don't have time for that!", you might say... Bullshit. If you have the time to screw around and have kids, you MAKE THE DAMN TIME to raise them. It's called parenting.
This shit ranks right up there with Net-Nanny type things. If you mistrust your children to these kinds of extents, then you have failed as a parent and nothing can fix this. More and more the definition of "children" is getting pushed further up the age curve. This lunch program is in High-Schools for crying out loud. Kids who have their driver's licenses and are nearly the age of majority, yet they can't pick their own lunches? Um, yeah. That makes sense.
I could rant on, but I'm tired. Night.
A CS junior and not a clue about coding to the metal... Doesn't leave much hope for the future now does it? Abstraction is fine, and very useful for general applications. But you reach a point in abstraction where the code becomes so bloated and there are so many layers to sort through that it just becomes a nightmare to deal with. I'd lay odds that your classes have completely revolved around java, and that would explain why you don't understand lower level coding. Abstraction doesn't work all that well when you are dealing with real-time applications like multimedia, and to a lesser extent, gaming.
Jury? I'm pretty certain that civil suits don't have juries... I might be wrong though.
**if you in your country have such a concept as fair use (we don't, though, in the UK)**
Don't feel bad, in the USA we have a "Fair Use" in theory. In practice fair use has been trumped by things like the DMCA and similar laws.
**Fortunately, Microsoft's new DRM implementations in Vista will blank one's monitor when using pirated media and help police such abuse.**
That is until the new DRM in Vista makes a or decides it doesn't like your home movie and blanks your monitor. Or even better, decides that your legit backup copy isn't legal and won't play it.
Or hell, simply decides that it's time to send a complete list of all your viewing history to it's makers/partners in order to provide you with "specials, discounts and promotionals targetted to your demographic"
The thing that you may have missed when comparing Second Life to WoW is that the geometry in WoW is static. In Second Life the geometry is dynamic. You could be standing on the patio of someone's house and they could delete that patio from underneath you. No warning, no predefined hidden surface removals, etc. THAT is why it seems to run slowly. But heck, I've got a 5200FX running with a P4-3ghz with 1g RAM and I get pretty decent framerates. So it doesn't take massive horsepower.
You mean like this one?
http://www.gamerevolution.com/oldsite/articles/vi
Except that this doesn't work sometimes.
I bought a pre-fab system against my better judgement. It has Windows on it. It also has a legit OEM license key. I didn't want the crap that was preloaded on the system, wiped the drive, re-installed windows.
Guess what? That key that is 100% legal, legit and paid for, WON'T WORK ON A CLEAN COPY INSTALL.
So guess what? Yep, installed anyways with a pirate patch/key. Now I'm technically illegal on that machine even though I've got myself a sparkly hologram sticker with a windows key plastered on the side of the box for the EXACT SAME DAMN VERSION that is installed on the box.
My response was to the parent and was made in anger at the amazingly poor logical leap that was made. It has as much to do with computers as the parent trying to say that the infected party is not responsible at all and trying to compare a blatent and obvious electronic hijack to an act of violence. While it's true that a rape victim is in no way responsible for the crime, it is ALSO true that this infection being discussed, and indeed a majority of infections, are the users fault. Sure, the creator of the infection is also at fault no doubt, but most infections are pretty easily avoidable. Amazingly like real life, an ounce of precaution is worth a pound of cure. ESPECIALLY when it pops a box and says, "Would you like to install?"
Rape Culture? I think not.
If you want to attempt to put this into that type of scenario, this is akin to the "rape" victim walking down the street completely nude with a sign on their neck that says, "Willing Victim" and when approached by someone that asks, "Would you like to be raped? " They respond emphatically, "Yes please!"
In that situation, it IS INDEED the fault of the "victim". Granted it is still the perpetrator's fault as well.
Except that the "Western Wiki" as you put it was able to be modified by West, East, North, South or even outer space green men that had internet access. So I fail to see how it only presented the western view. Frankly, I'd love to see this Self Censoring wiki smashed repeatedly by whatever hacking forces are within China.
From the clip: *paraphrased* At it's worst it's a collection of trivia and facts, much of it untrue and sensationalized. Umm, how is this much different from the biased, sensationalized garbage that so many people inundate themselves with nightly on things like FOXnews?
Most jobs anymore do not give holidays off. Special leave? WTF is that referring to? Sick days? You're kidding right? And as far as actual vacation time, you'll be lucky to be allowed one week AFTER working for the company for a year.
Um, except that "a ladder in the freeway" is in no way an emergency. And you sir, just contributed to someone with a REAL emergency getting put on hold. gg
Um... The "gun" he "wakes up" with has a freakin CO2 tank on it and a big white "Flash Suppresor" on the end. A guy would have to be a freakin moron to think it was a real gun.