I'm an agnostic when it comes to faith (chemist by training), but discovering humanoid aliens would be one of the few things that would convince me of the existence of intelligent design / God.
But you're right, what I believe now biologically points to the "close to zero" scenario.
That's true, but the problem is, the people modding their systems are also the ones able to copy and burn game images.
Not saying that all modders are pirates, but if only 5% of systems are modded, and say only 50% of the owners actually want the game, and only 20% of them are willing to pay for it... pretty slim pickings.
You horrible person.... you got to it before I did.
He will really be missed, if I ever have my own children they will certainly see the Mr. Wizard's World DVDs.
Ironically I'm an educational technologist too. I got my teaching license last year but took a job in Instructional Technology Development instead... and "blubbering infants" is a good description of most teachers w/technology.
I'm still working campus tech support part-time nights and weekends to finish up other obligations, and calls from Education undergraduates are often... disheartening.
Older teachers, yeah, but 21 and 22 year old "teachers of the future" who have to call in to find the Print button in Office 2007? Yeah, Office 2007 looks different, but damn, there is Google. Or 2 minutes of searching.
"who in the right mind still installs or recommends Symantec/Norton when great products like Kaspersky now exist?"
Unfortunately many universities still have Symantec as the "free" antivirus for students (academic license).
Here's how to really ruin a tech support department's semester (speaking from experience):
1. Have Dell, HP, and Compaq ship 100s of laptops with WinXP to our students just before Christmas. 2. Have the IT support department recommend Symantec to students. 3. Watch said students get their free "upgrade" to Vista CD in the mail... and royally **** over their machine.
"...along with a long-time Linux sys admin role puts me in a great position to assess Ubuntu"
I find sys admins often don't make the best user-friendly assessments of desktop software and OSs, especially from average Joe's point of view. No offense to the author, who makes many valid points, but I'd rather see a comparison of Ubuntu, Vista, and OS X from a school teacher or small business owner.
I finally came to my senses and left my PhD program after 2 years... but didn't even get a Master's. Your advisor really has you on the curb with a foot on your throat in grad school.
I switched schools and got my Master's in one more year though, so it's all about finding the right place.
Mod parent up, this guy knows where to go to be informed and make your own decisions. The recent aspartame articles on PubMed are a bag of mixed reviews, nothing concrete yet.
As a chemistry teacher, I agree with most of your comments. But we use models for a reason -- they're all we have. We still don't understand how chemistry "really" is, because our models are still under revision and always will be. In fact, there are many competing models to explain the concepts of bonding. Or, if not competing, then different computational models that make different simplifying assumptions for the sake of reasonable computation time.
I don't tend to think of building chemistry knowledge as a foundation that's progressively built upon, but more like an overall image that starts out fuzzy and is iteratively sharpened. The circular energy levels, for example, are a valid model that works perfectly well for the Bohr hydrogen atom (including accurately predicting the energies of emitted photons from an excited atom). But the molecular orbitals of which we make so many pretty 3D renderings are just as imaginary as the "rings."
A physics professor once told me, "Most people think physics is the study of the way the world works, but that's bullshit -- it's the study of what we can say about it."
Anyway, the structure of high school chemistry is completely wrong anyway. There's so much bullshit in No Child Left Behind and all these standardized tests, it's no wonder kids aren't interested in science anymore. The solution to our lack of scientists in the US is not forcing students to take boring, standardized classes they hate and stifling the freedom of teachers to do anything genuinely interesting.
Good point, I've often thought that the best way we could possibly live is the way our ancestors did. That's how our bodies were tuned, after all.
I'm sure if we spent time outdoors, in the sun, chasing high-speed animals around for our food, that would make for a healthier population. For those who don't know, Vitamin D is produced naturally when our skin is exposed to sunlight.
"1) fear of getting fired - if a terrorist does something exactly the same way and succeeds a second time then you look grossly incompetent, and will get fired, and 2) security does not attract the brightest sparks."
Being able to download and burn DVD's at Walgreen's would be great for all the Moms and Pops who aren't computer-savvy and still have a 5-year-old E-machine as their PC. Without the DVD packaging, shipping, and cost of shelf space, they could be offered a lot cheaper too... as long as the price is right and inane DRM restrictions don't ruin it.
Now where will I get driver bits that open NES and SNES carts to replace the batteries? Not to mention their many controller-to-USB adapters. So many cool legal products... just gone now.
This goes with my theory that about 25 mega companies (Disney, Sony, Coke, Time-Warner-AOL, RJ Reynolds, Haliburton, etc.) basically control the whole world. Maybe 50.
From article: "Ever encounter a PC snob in the wild? They're those elitist types whose forum signatures read like a Newegg shopping receipt."
That's the God-honest truth, I hate that.
Interesting that the "PCs crash, consoles don't" argument came up again in these discussions. That used to be true a few years ago, unfortunately if the XBox 360 is any indication there will be comparable crash rates for consoles and PCs.
If you really want games that don't crash, buy Nintendo products.
Slashdot Mirror
Super Mario 64, Metroid Prime, and Mega Man 2 are all in my top 10. You win my approval! *golf clap*
I'm an agnostic when it comes to faith (chemist by training), but discovering humanoid aliens would be one of the few things that would convince me of the existence of intelligent design / God.
But you're right, what I believe now biologically points to the "close to zero" scenario.
That's true, but the problem is, the people modding their systems are also the ones able to copy and burn game images.
Not saying that all modders are pirates, but if only 5% of systems are modded, and say only 50% of the owners actually want the game, and only 20% of them are willing to pay for it... pretty slim pickings.
You horrible person.... you got to it before I did. He will really be missed, if I ever have my own children they will certainly see the Mr. Wizard's World DVDs.
I'm glad you put that out there so the conspiracy theorists can read it!!
;). I actually studied virology for 2 years in grad school.
That said, I was being facetious
Ironically I'm an educational technologist too. I got my teaching license last year but took a job in Instructional Technology Development instead... and "blubbering infants" is a good description of most teachers w/technology.
I'm still working campus tech support part-time nights and weekends to finish up other obligations, and calls from Education undergraduates are often... disheartening.
Older teachers, yeah, but 21 and 22 year old "teachers of the future" who have to call in to find the Print button in Office 2007? Yeah, Office 2007 looks different, but damn, there is Google. Or 2 minutes of searching.
"who in the right mind still installs or recommends Symantec/Norton when great products like Kaspersky now exist?"
Unfortunately many universities still have Symantec as the "free" antivirus for students (academic license).
Here's how to really ruin a tech support department's semester (speaking from experience):
1. Have Dell, HP, and Compaq ship 100s of laptops with WinXP to our students just before Christmas.
2. Have the IT support department recommend Symantec to students.
3. Watch said students get their free "upgrade" to Vista CD in the mail... and royally **** over their machine.
We're staying pretty busy reformatting laptops.
"...along with a long-time Linux sys admin role puts me in a great position to assess Ubuntu"
I find sys admins often don't make the best user-friendly assessments of desktop software and OSs, especially from average Joe's point of view. No offense to the author, who makes many valid points, but I'd rather see a comparison of Ubuntu, Vista, and OS X from a school teacher or small business owner.
Yeah, well I heard "they" already have a cure for cancer, they're just milking us for billions of dollars in stone-age medical care.
Trickses flopses... precious...
"BFD"
Black Fathom Deeps?
I finally came to my senses and left my PhD program after 2 years... but didn't even get a Master's. Your advisor really has you on the curb with a foot on your throat in grad school. I switched schools and got my Master's in one more year though, so it's all about finding the right place.
Mod parent up, this guy knows where to go to be informed and make your own decisions. The recent aspartame articles on PubMed are a bag of mixed reviews, nothing concrete yet.
As a chemistry teacher, I agree with most of your comments. But we use models for a reason -- they're all we have. We still don't understand how chemistry "really" is, because our models are still under revision and always will be. In fact, there are many competing models to explain the concepts of bonding. Or, if not competing, then different computational models that make different simplifying assumptions for the sake of reasonable computation time.
I don't tend to think of building chemistry knowledge as a foundation that's progressively built upon, but more like an overall image that starts out fuzzy and is iteratively sharpened. The circular energy levels, for example, are a valid model that works perfectly well for the Bohr hydrogen atom (including accurately predicting the energies of emitted photons from an excited atom). But the molecular orbitals of which we make so many pretty 3D renderings are just as imaginary as the "rings."
A physics professor once told me, "Most people think physics is the study of the way the world works, but that's bullshit -- it's the study of what we can say about it."
Anyway, the structure of high school chemistry is completely wrong anyway. There's so much bullshit in No Child Left Behind and all these standardized tests, it's no wonder kids aren't interested in science anymore. The solution to our lack of scientists in the US is not forcing students to take boring, standardized classes they hate and stifling the freedom of teachers to do anything genuinely interesting.
Enduro still rocks.... I still have involuntary tics caused by the damn fog level.
Good point, I've often thought that the best way we could possibly live is the way our ancestors did. That's how our bodies were tuned, after all. I'm sure if we spent time outdoors, in the sun, chasing high-speed animals around for our food, that would make for a healthier population. For those who don't know, Vitamin D is produced naturally when our skin is exposed to sunlight.
"Oh, come on!
Why do you even ask this question?
The difference is clear."
I don't normally flame, but man, you come across as a total jackass with that attitude.
"1) fear of getting fired - if a terrorist does something exactly the same way and succeeds a second time then you look grossly incompetent, and will get fired, and 2) security does not attract the brightest sparks."
Ding ding ding!!
Any way I can mod this up to 6?
Being able to download and burn DVD's at Walgreen's would be great for all the Moms and Pops who aren't computer-savvy and still have a 5-year-old E-machine as their PC. Without the DVD packaging, shipping, and cost of shelf space, they could be offered a lot cheaper too... as long as the price is right and inane DRM restrictions don't ruin it.
Simplicity is always the key to mass market.
Summary execution for the officers of Interlink. Jesus Herbert Walker Christ we need a way to quickly dismiss frivolous shit like this.
"The DualShock 2 is arguably one of the best game controllers of all time." And that's where I stopped reading. Arguably indeed.
This goes with my theory that about 25 mega companies (Disney, Sony, Coke, Time-Warner-AOL, RJ Reynolds, Haliburton, etc.) basically control the whole world. Maybe 50.
"Don't use notifications for feature advertisements!"
Clippit, anyone?
I approve of this little internet thing of theirs too (sorry Al).
From article: "Ever encounter a PC snob in the wild? They're those elitist types whose forum signatures read like a Newegg shopping receipt."
That's the God-honest truth, I hate that.
Interesting that the "PCs crash, consoles don't" argument came up again in these discussions. That used to be true a few years ago, unfortunately if the XBox 360 is any indication there will be comparable crash rates for consoles and PCs.
If you really want games that don't crash, buy Nintendo products.