That's all well and good but that discovery (invention?) was a great deal further away then the imposed limit of 100 years. It's off by more than an order of magnitude. Probably even two orders. I'm guessing we'd discovered and used fire back then. I've seen a few documentaries but I don't recall the dates given.
I do all three. I grow and hunt (or fish for) my own food or know where it came from. Almost all of it, actually. Well, except when I'm on the road and then I find that other food tastes a bit different than I'm used to. I still eat it - it's not like I'm picky. I do it because I enjoy it, not any health or ethical reasons. Of course, freezing and refrigeration are also involved. I've learned to do all of these things and how to butcher my own meat from a neighbor and his wife. I usually buy a pig and a half a cow at a time and now I can do most of the cuts on my own and have learned a whole bunch of tasty preservation methods.
I don't really grow my own grains. I have the land but not the equipment to harvest efficiently. I've given it some thought but I just don't think I'll ever do it unless I'm forced to and that seems rather unlikely.
I got lucky and was on the cusp of a 'new' technology (we modeled traffic - pedestrian and vehicular) and sold my business so I have been retired for eight years now. I am really pretty physically healthy and go out and work in the garden, cut down trees, lug my own firewood, or whatnot. I usually pay someone and then just end up helping them but I stay pretty active.
I'm currently engaging in wanderlust - I'm sort of stuck in Buffalo due to an interesting female which was kind of, sort of, my reasoning for my travels. So, I'm out and about but I'm not that active at the moment. I should try something like doing more exercise. I've got the equipment but I don't use it. Maybe the scheduling will help too. Thanks for the idea.
I don't think pacification *with/by force* is possible with a determined insurgency. You need to be lucky every time, they only need to be lucky once in a while. The involvement of the US just sped it up or, rather, made their attempted control or usurpation more difficult but they'd not have succeeded regardless. Look at Iraq for an example of what a determined insurgency group can accomplish against a well trained military. They need only be ready and willing to die for their cause.
I'd like to take a moment to tell some of you, "I told you so." I was called a racist and a Republican. I was told I was an old white dude and that I'd be dead soon. That they loved drinking my tears (though I was not crying). I'm not white, probably not racist - I don't think I am, I'm sure as fuck not a Republican, but I am old. They got that right. The also told me that I loved Bush - though I'd been bashing him for years.
Me, "He's a liar." They, "You're a racist." Me, "He is unqualified." They, "You're old, white, and Republican." Me, "Oh, you are so fucked." They, "We won! I'm drinking your tears!" Me, "Umm, I give up - I'll see you at the end to tell you that I told you so." They, "You'll be dead by then. Go away, troll."
Today, "Ha ha... I told you so. I'm in a position to weather the storm. I've accumulated some wealth. Maybe y'all should have voted third party. Let's see how much you guys can fuck it up this time. I'll remember this post at the end of the next election, maybe. I bet I get to say that I told you so, again."
I'll give ya a hint, and this is just my opinion, Sanders is probably your best shot. Yes, yes I will pay more in taxes. You know what? I'm okay with that. Sadly, my party is in shambles and being led by conservatives who are just too ashamed of their own party affiliation and happen to have read the first three chapters of Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand was an idiot and Rand Paul is not a Libertarian.
This message has been brought to you by a sane Classic Libertarian. Vote Bernie Sanders - it's your only real hope unless Biden runs and he may not actually be a good choice. Sanders doesn't quite match my ideals but that's okay - he's better for you and my ideals aren't the most important thing when it comes to society as a whole.
Strangely, I am reminded of the mashup of pedobear and some rap/hip hop song. (No, I didn't go there for a good reason - I was curious.) Anyhow, it's got pedobear tooling along in a pimped (that is the correct word, no?) out car with spinners(?) and he's tooling down the road looking for, presumably, children. The background music is the song about 'they see me riding, riding dirty.' I'm not sure what happens at the end of the video or anything but that's what your comment reminded me of.
No, no I don't actually have a point. I just find this world strange at times. It's also a pretty strange space inside my skull. Well, I presume it to be strange. It's normal to me.
Up-thread I proposed a more defined solution for others to build on. This seems like it would be an area that has looming market growth and finding VC interested in it is not surprising. Though I do some VC work (through a separate company), I've not yet heard of anyone proposing to them, at least, anything directly related to this. It's not trivial or anything but it could be done and will help quite a few who either acclimate early or aren't yet beyond the point of help. There are varied degrees of memory loss - I, myself, suffer from some but mine's likely drug and alcohol induced and seems to be improving now that I no longer drink. It's just not improving as rapidly or as much as I'd hope.
As I mentioned below - I'd forget the proposed low-tech method, I'd simply forget to carry a highlighter in their instance. I do leave texts sent to myself on my phone. I don't even have to read the texts. I just have to send them. The act of typing them out is what seems to trigger my memory and so I remember them that way. I've literally driven to the store in the village, when home - I'm not home now, and forgotten why I went there. I asked the clerk, she didn't know either. We had a good laugh. I'm about 25 miles from the store so it was quite a trip to take and I'd simply forgotten why I went. This has happened more than once. I usually remember just about the time I get back home. Yes, yes I have turned around and driven back.
So, I write notes to myself via text messaging or a note-taking app. I'm not sure why the writing part helps but it does. Sometimes, I'm forced to pat myself down to find something. Strangely, I may need to do so multiple times. That part isn't new though, I've had this problem for years.
Absolutely. It's very much worth a shot - if not for this one person than for others. My memory is a bit shot so I do rely on tech quite a bit to remember what to do. I'm forever leaving myself notes just to make sure I remember. In my case, I don't often actually need to read the notes - just the act of having made them is enough.
Sure, it's all fun and games until they end up in a closet where they can't find a light switch. They'll probably be eaten by a grue! It's pretty likely, after all. I bet the laundry room will be as complicated as the dam. What if they hit the maze on the way to the dining room? Hmm?
While I've been working my way down the thread, asking and advocating tech, I think a brain implant that *compels* somebody to do something might actually be a little bit of a stretch at this point. I'm not entirely sure that we'd be able to get anyone to go along with that idea. I'd personally love some brain mods but I don't think I'd like them forced on me when I lack the ability to consent. I dare say that a bunch of old people would be rather displeased with the idea.
That's a piss poor reason to not do it. It may well not benefit this person but that doesn't mean that it won't help lots of other people (with varied stages of memory loss) in the future and even more people as it moves towards being ubiquitous. I say run with it. Give it a shot. There's a bunch of examples of things that might work, right here in this thread. They may not work for everyone but that's okay - they may work for others and help others to remain independent even longer.
Why is it too late? I don't get this attitude. It may not be of immediate benefit to some - this is true. I don't benefit from new designs in sports bras. That doesn't mean it doesn't benefit others. That doesn't mean it's too late to start now. If we use the excuse that the peak time to do something has already passed then we'd get nowhere. "Nah, some folk can't learn to drive a car, they won't benefit at all. Better just not do it."
Actually, I might get some benefit from new sports bra designs. Probably not the intended benefit but, you know... I'm old, not blind. Also, let's not forget that it is the elderly that first created the tools you're using to leave your comment. Some of them may be more tech savvy than you anticipate - perhaps having a greater understanding than even you or I.
I think there are different levels. Not everyone is going to be like your relative. Should we not help those who don't have quite the same level of debilitation? Should we not seek solutions for others just because your relative was on the extreme level of the scale? Should we not prolong their ability to be as independent as possible just because you had some unfortunate relative?
That doesn't make much sense. Not everyone has Alzheimer's disease or full blown dementia. It's on a scale and degrades over time in some cases. If you can get it wired in (so to speak) before the memory loss is too bad - it might just stick with some people.
Finally, while I'm sure you are, as an individual, an intelligent person. I suspect that you're misleading yourself by claiming to have tried everything. I doubt you had the resources to fund your own assisted living center, staff, and then create an infrastructure that uses an RFID setup and the likes. You are probably not an authority on the subject and, while you have experience, you seem quite biased.
If anything, I think you'd be sharing what you tried, why you think it failed, and how you might like to try again if you had the resources rather than naysaying. "We've tried everything. Give it up." That's been used before and was wrong. Be open minded, if you want, and let's see what people come up with and be willing to test it if it sounds reasonable.
I may have a vested interest in this - I'm old and my memory is a bit fuzzy but probably for different reasons than your relative. I used to drink a whole lot and I've done more drugs than Keith Richards. Well, maybe not him but close.
Seriously, we could put it in their bracelets that they often wear at these types of facilities. They're already scanned at the assisted living center I went to visit not long ago. They use a bar code and not RFID chips in them. They're not quite the cheap plasticine/paper things you see at hospitals but they're in place, as I understood it, for things like med handouts, certain procedures, and living wills which may have a DNR associated with them. That sort of thing.
They could do this with an RFID and a button panel on the walls. The old dude can have a button panel on his wall that says chow hall, visiting room, day room, nurse's station, etc... Then a color, matching his bracelet color, can light up and the RFID can track him as he goes. As some of them are prone to wandering away, this could even be tied into an alarm system. The panel of buttons can be just a few, standardized, and all over the place so that they're easy to spot - they need only to remember to look for the panel and push the big button.
Then the arrows you mention can light up and follow them as they go. Using different LED lights for each one means less chance of a 'collision' with someone else. It'd take some work and some custom programming but it could be done and, once done and trialled, the system could be sold to other facilities. They could even open source it with no risk of anyone really taking over the business unless they wanted to do the installs and stuff. There'd be consumables associated with it as the bracelets are sure to be damaged and people will pass away - re-use is probably not an option no matter what logic is used, emotions and fears and whatnot.
Someone should do this. It might be lucrative. Build on the idea and run with it. There are a lot of people moving into the age where they may need to be placed in an assisted living center. With this is going to come a huge increase in dementia and other memory inhibiting issues. They probably should have done this ten years ago and be mature by now but it may not be too late.
Remember that a non-tech-savvy person is going to need to be able to set this up so it should be pretty tight code and have a decent UI. I can imagine it would have an API for customization. The panel shouldn't really need more than a half dozen buttons and would be cheap. The lights would be cheap. The sensors and readers are cheap. They can even use it for patient tracking. The bits and pieces just need to be put together properly.
I'm sure someone can go even further with your idea than I did.
I didn't touch a computer, really, until I was well into adulthood (and I thought it was useless and I was absolutely clueless). This was in the early 1980s. I've since adapted but I know many, many people who've never once touched a personal computer even to play a game. The closest they've come to the internet is *maybe* downloading a ringtone on their dumb phone. I doubt many of them have sent a text message.
I lack the time or initiative but I'd love to invite them all over once a week and let them access a number of devices in my home. I've got enough computers set up. I have a 'complete' lab (small, very small) in my basement, with tech that spans the ages, as well. I even have a couple of servers here - one is even a blade server that, while rather old now, runs my home network just fine and even hosts a few VMs that I use and access regularly. The house is full of compute devices - there's literally something in every single room - even the guest bathroom has a tablet (and hand sanitizer).
I am not much of a teacher, though. I've done some instruction at the group level but I do better at the individual level. Maybe I could open source my lesson plans? The compute devices don't really have Windows on them any more. I've got two laptops and a desktop that have Windows on them but those aren't up to date or anything. I guess I could put them in a VM but that's going to be more confusing for these types of people as I'm going to have to instruct them from setup to use and security and all that.
I guess I could buy a bunch of desktops from Amazon? It's not like I can't afford it. Computers are cheap and I'd only have to get a half dozen to start with. Then I'd need to make room. I have the house that was originally on the property (now I'm sort of thinking aloud) and that would work, I guess. I have a separate DSL line just for that house but no infrastructure in place. I could probably just say "surprise" and give them the desktops to take home with them - maybe laptops would be better?
I donate a lot of hardware and money to the local elementary school - they've one poor IT staff to cover the entire school, fortunately it is only 56 students. But the district doesn't seem to do a hell of a lot so he runs around like a chicken with his head cut off - even during the summer. I got the kids iPods this year which he was grateful for. I don't really like Apple much but, truth be told, they're great in the educational environment. It was costly but I contacted Apple directly and got a good price on them. I can write them off but I've already donated enough so that I can't reduce my tax burden any further.
Hmm...
Thoughts? Has anyone done this? Practical idea? Any idea how to approach adults in a classroom setting, albeit an informal one? You usually know your shit with tech. So, any clues? Caveats? Experience? I could do an Ask Slashdot but, as you can see, I'm about as articulate as a drunken monkey and verbose is probably not the way to go about it. Also, there are way too many Davids on this site.
I am soon to be 58. I can already sense the degradation. My memory is not what it used to be. I hold a PhD in Applied Mathematics, from MIT even. Yet, I can't remember what I had for dinner last night. (I'm not actually sure that I ate.) My memory loss is actually improving though - when I sold and retired I went on a hell of a bender and stayed on that bender for four years. So, it's improving but slowly and I don't think it will all return. I think I've done permanent damage but I don't complain - I had a hell of a time. That and some of the memory loss seems different than I experienced while drinking/heavily drugging.
Some stuff seems etched in stone. I can recall a conversation, verbatim, from a week ago. I double check to make sure I have my keys even though i picked them up a few minutes ago. I can recall a specific instance from my childhood. I forget what I went to the store for. I can watch a documentary, one involving hard science and actually complex and educational, and you can ask what I'm watching and I'll tell you that I have no idea. I won't remember it tomorrow.
Probably, all thing considered. Add to that the regular access and regular power and a place to set such up - maybe. It's probably not far off. I should have said PC. I suppose they could be using a mobile though. Either way, they're damned privileged compared to a buttload of other people which is really the point.
Also, I've tried using the mobile site. They were probably on a PC.
If you have electricity, regular internet access, a computer to access the internet, and a place to set that computer up - you're in the 1%.
Me? I'm well within the bounds of being in this 1% and I still don't know why I'd be hated by default. I'm pretty damned ethical and do quite a bit to help those who can not help themselves. But, go ahead and hate me if it makes you feel better. I'm not even a Republican.:/
Funny but no. Well, at least not in the post-Stalin years. There's a lot of that sentimentality still lingering about but, no... They kind of tamed a bit once Khrushchev came into power and then got marginally better as time progressed. That sort of sentiment might be a bit more close to the truth with Mao, however. Or Pol Pot, I guess.
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting, thanks. I'll have to remember to ponder it. ;)
That's all well and good but that discovery (invention?) was a great deal further away then the imposed limit of 100 years. It's off by more than an order of magnitude. Probably even two orders. I'm guessing we'd discovered and used fire back then. I've seen a few documentaries but I don't recall the dates given.
I do all three. I grow and hunt (or fish for) my own food or know where it came from. Almost all of it, actually. Well, except when I'm on the road and then I find that other food tastes a bit different than I'm used to. I still eat it - it's not like I'm picky. I do it because I enjoy it, not any health or ethical reasons. Of course, freezing and refrigeration are also involved. I've learned to do all of these things and how to butcher my own meat from a neighbor and his wife. I usually buy a pig and a half a cow at a time and now I can do most of the cuts on my own and have learned a whole bunch of tasty preservation methods.
I don't really grow my own grains. I have the land but not the equipment to harvest efficiently. I've given it some thought but I just don't think I'll ever do it unless I'm forced to and that seems rather unlikely.
I got lucky and was on the cusp of a 'new' technology (we modeled traffic - pedestrian and vehicular) and sold my business so I have been retired for eight years now. I am really pretty physically healthy and go out and work in the garden, cut down trees, lug my own firewood, or whatnot. I usually pay someone and then just end up helping them but I stay pretty active.
I'm currently engaging in wanderlust - I'm sort of stuck in Buffalo due to an interesting female which was kind of, sort of, my reasoning for my travels. So, I'm out and about but I'm not that active at the moment. I should try something like doing more exercise. I've got the equipment but I don't use it. Maybe the scheduling will help too. Thanks for the idea.
That is NOT a haiku! >:(
I don't think pacification *with/by force* is possible with a determined insurgency. You need to be lucky every time, they only need to be lucky once in a while. The involvement of the US just sped it up or, rather, made their attempted control or usurpation more difficult but they'd not have succeeded regardless. Look at Iraq for an example of what a determined insurgency group can accomplish against a well trained military. They need only be ready and willing to die for their cause.
I'd like to take a moment to tell some of you, "I told you so." I was called a racist and a Republican. I was told I was an old white dude and that I'd be dead soon. That they loved drinking my tears (though I was not crying). I'm not white, probably not racist - I don't think I am, I'm sure as fuck not a Republican, but I am old. They got that right. The also told me that I loved Bush - though I'd been bashing him for years.
Me, "He's a liar."
They, "You're a racist."
Me, "He is unqualified."
They, "You're old, white, and Republican."
Me, "Oh, you are so fucked."
They, "We won! I'm drinking your tears!"
Me, "Umm, I give up - I'll see you at the end to tell you that I told you so."
They, "You'll be dead by then. Go away, troll."
Today, "Ha ha... I told you so. I'm in a position to weather the storm. I've accumulated some wealth. Maybe y'all should have voted third party. Let's see how much you guys can fuck it up this time. I'll remember this post at the end of the next election, maybe. I bet I get to say that I told you so, again."
I'll give ya a hint, and this is just my opinion, Sanders is probably your best shot. Yes, yes I will pay more in taxes. You know what? I'm okay with that. Sadly, my party is in shambles and being led by conservatives who are just too ashamed of their own party affiliation and happen to have read the first three chapters of Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand was an idiot and Rand Paul is not a Libertarian.
This message has been brought to you by a sane Classic Libertarian. Vote Bernie Sanders - it's your only real hope unless Biden runs and he may not actually be a good choice. Sanders doesn't quite match my ideals but that's okay - he's better for you and my ideals aren't the most important thing when it comes to society as a whole.
Strangely, I am reminded of the mashup of pedobear and some rap/hip hop song. (No, I didn't go there for a good reason - I was curious.) Anyhow, it's got pedobear tooling along in a pimped (that is the correct word, no?) out car with spinners(?) and he's tooling down the road looking for, presumably, children. The background music is the song about 'they see me riding, riding dirty.' I'm not sure what happens at the end of the video or anything but that's what your comment reminded me of.
No, no I don't actually have a point. I just find this world strange at times. It's also a pretty strange space inside my skull. Well, I presume it to be strange. It's normal to me.
Up-thread I proposed a more defined solution for others to build on. This seems like it would be an area that has looming market growth and finding VC interested in it is not surprising. Though I do some VC work (through a separate company), I've not yet heard of anyone proposing to them, at least, anything directly related to this. It's not trivial or anything but it could be done and will help quite a few who either acclimate early or aren't yet beyond the point of help. There are varied degrees of memory loss - I, myself, suffer from some but mine's likely drug and alcohol induced and seems to be improving now that I no longer drink. It's just not improving as rapidly or as much as I'd hope.
As I mentioned below - I'd forget the proposed low-tech method, I'd simply forget to carry a highlighter in their instance. I do leave texts sent to myself on my phone. I don't even have to read the texts. I just have to send them. The act of typing them out is what seems to trigger my memory and so I remember them that way. I've literally driven to the store in the village, when home - I'm not home now, and forgotten why I went there. I asked the clerk, she didn't know either. We had a good laugh. I'm about 25 miles from the store so it was quite a trip to take and I'd simply forgotten why I went. This has happened more than once. I usually remember just about the time I get back home. Yes, yes I have turned around and driven back.
So, I write notes to myself via text messaging or a note-taking app. I'm not sure why the writing part helps but it does. Sometimes, I'm forced to pat myself down to find something. Strangely, I may need to do so multiple times. That part isn't new though, I've had this problem for years.
Absolutely. It's very much worth a shot - if not for this one person than for others. My memory is a bit shot so I do rely on tech quite a bit to remember what to do. I'm forever leaving myself notes just to make sure I remember. In my case, I don't often actually need to read the notes - just the act of having made them is enough.
I believe the adage goes something like this: "Rules for thee and not for me."
... the Zork game.
Sure, it's all fun and games until they end up in a closet where they can't find a light switch. They'll probably be eaten by a grue! It's pretty likely, after all. I bet the laundry room will be as complicated as the dam. What if they hit the maze on the way to the dining room? Hmm?
While I've been working my way down the thread, asking and advocating tech, I think a brain implant that *compels* somebody to do something might actually be a little bit of a stretch at this point. I'm not entirely sure that we'd be able to get anyone to go along with that idea. I'd personally love some brain mods but I don't think I'd like them forced on me when I lack the ability to consent. I dare say that a bunch of old people would be rather displeased with the idea.
I'm only 58. I'd forget the highlighter. :/ Still, worth a shot.
That's a piss poor reason to not do it. It may well not benefit this person but that doesn't mean that it won't help lots of other people (with varied stages of memory loss) in the future and even more people as it moves towards being ubiquitous. I say run with it. Give it a shot. There's a bunch of examples of things that might work, right here in this thread. They may not work for everyone but that's okay - they may work for others and help others to remain independent even longer.
Why is it too late? I don't get this attitude. It may not be of immediate benefit to some - this is true. I don't benefit from new designs in sports bras. That doesn't mean it doesn't benefit others. That doesn't mean it's too late to start now. If we use the excuse that the peak time to do something has already passed then we'd get nowhere. "Nah, some folk can't learn to drive a car, they won't benefit at all. Better just not do it."
Actually, I might get some benefit from new sports bra designs. Probably not the intended benefit but, you know... I'm old, not blind. Also, let's not forget that it is the elderly that first created the tools you're using to leave your comment. Some of them may be more tech savvy than you anticipate - perhaps having a greater understanding than even you or I.
I think there are different levels. Not everyone is going to be like your relative. Should we not help those who don't have quite the same level of debilitation? Should we not seek solutions for others just because your relative was on the extreme level of the scale? Should we not prolong their ability to be as independent as possible just because you had some unfortunate relative?
That doesn't make much sense. Not everyone has Alzheimer's disease or full blown dementia. It's on a scale and degrades over time in some cases. If you can get it wired in (so to speak) before the memory loss is too bad - it might just stick with some people.
Finally, while I'm sure you are, as an individual, an intelligent person. I suspect that you're misleading yourself by claiming to have tried everything. I doubt you had the resources to fund your own assisted living center, staff, and then create an infrastructure that uses an RFID setup and the likes. You are probably not an authority on the subject and, while you have experience, you seem quite biased.
If anything, I think you'd be sharing what you tried, why you think it failed, and how you might like to try again if you had the resources rather than naysaying. "We've tried everything. Give it up." That's been used before and was wrong. Be open minded, if you want, and let's see what people come up with and be willing to test it if it sounds reasonable.
I may have a vested interest in this - I'm old and my memory is a bit fuzzy but probably for different reasons than your relative. I used to drink a whole lot and I've done more drugs than Keith Richards. Well, maybe not him but close.
It's time to chip grandpa with an RFID tag.
Seriously, we could put it in their bracelets that they often wear at these types of facilities. They're already scanned at the assisted living center I went to visit not long ago. They use a bar code and not RFID chips in them. They're not quite the cheap plasticine/paper things you see at hospitals but they're in place, as I understood it, for things like med handouts, certain procedures, and living wills which may have a DNR associated with them. That sort of thing.
They could do this with an RFID and a button panel on the walls. The old dude can have a button panel on his wall that says chow hall, visiting room, day room, nurse's station, etc... Then a color, matching his bracelet color, can light up and the RFID can track him as he goes. As some of them are prone to wandering away, this could even be tied into an alarm system. The panel of buttons can be just a few, standardized, and all over the place so that they're easy to spot - they need only to remember to look for the panel and push the big button.
Then the arrows you mention can light up and follow them as they go. Using different LED lights for each one means less chance of a 'collision' with someone else. It'd take some work and some custom programming but it could be done and, once done and trialled, the system could be sold to other facilities. They could even open source it with no risk of anyone really taking over the business unless they wanted to do the installs and stuff. There'd be consumables associated with it as the bracelets are sure to be damaged and people will pass away - re-use is probably not an option no matter what logic is used, emotions and fears and whatnot.
Someone should do this. It might be lucrative. Build on the idea and run with it. There are a lot of people moving into the age where they may need to be placed in an assisted living center. With this is going to come a huge increase in dementia and other memory inhibiting issues. They probably should have done this ten years ago and be mature by now but it may not be too late.
Remember that a non-tech-savvy person is going to need to be able to set this up so it should be pretty tight code and have a decent UI. I can imagine it would have an API for customization. The panel shouldn't really need more than a half dozen buttons and would be cheap. The lights would be cheap. The sensors and readers are cheap. They can even use it for patient tracking. The bits and pieces just need to be put together properly.
I'm sure someone can go even further with your idea than I did.
I didn't touch a computer, really, until I was well into adulthood (and I thought it was useless and I was absolutely clueless). This was in the early 1980s. I've since adapted but I know many, many people who've never once touched a personal computer even to play a game. The closest they've come to the internet is *maybe* downloading a ringtone on their dumb phone. I doubt many of them have sent a text message.
I lack the time or initiative but I'd love to invite them all over once a week and let them access a number of devices in my home. I've got enough computers set up. I have a 'complete' lab (small, very small) in my basement, with tech that spans the ages, as well. I even have a couple of servers here - one is even a blade server that, while rather old now, runs my home network just fine and even hosts a few VMs that I use and access regularly. The house is full of compute devices - there's literally something in every single room - even the guest bathroom has a tablet (and hand sanitizer).
I am not much of a teacher, though. I've done some instruction at the group level but I do better at the individual level. Maybe I could open source my lesson plans? The compute devices don't really have Windows on them any more. I've got two laptops and a desktop that have Windows on them but those aren't up to date or anything. I guess I could put them in a VM but that's going to be more confusing for these types of people as I'm going to have to instruct them from setup to use and security and all that.
I guess I could buy a bunch of desktops from Amazon? It's not like I can't afford it. Computers are cheap and I'd only have to get a half dozen to start with. Then I'd need to make room. I have the house that was originally on the property (now I'm sort of thinking aloud) and that would work, I guess. I have a separate DSL line just for that house but no infrastructure in place. I could probably just say "surprise" and give them the desktops to take home with them - maybe laptops would be better?
I donate a lot of hardware and money to the local elementary school - they've one poor IT staff to cover the entire school, fortunately it is only 56 students. But the district doesn't seem to do a hell of a lot so he runs around like a chicken with his head cut off - even during the summer. I got the kids iPods this year which he was grateful for. I don't really like Apple much but, truth be told, they're great in the educational environment. It was costly but I contacted Apple directly and got a good price on them. I can write them off but I've already donated enough so that I can't reduce my tax burden any further.
Hmm...
Thoughts? Has anyone done this? Practical idea? Any idea how to approach adults in a classroom setting, albeit an informal one? You usually know your shit with tech. So, any clues? Caveats? Experience? I could do an Ask Slashdot but, as you can see, I'm about as articulate as a drunken monkey and verbose is probably not the way to go about it. Also, there are way too many Davids on this site.
I am soon to be 58. I can already sense the degradation. My memory is not what it used to be. I hold a PhD in Applied Mathematics, from MIT even. Yet, I can't remember what I had for dinner last night. (I'm not actually sure that I ate.) My memory loss is actually improving though - when I sold and retired I went on a hell of a bender and stayed on that bender for four years. So, it's improving but slowly and I don't think it will all return. I think I've done permanent damage but I don't complain - I had a hell of a time. That and some of the memory loss seems different than I experienced while drinking/heavily drugging.
Some stuff seems etched in stone. I can recall a conversation, verbatim, from a week ago. I double check to make sure I have my keys even though i picked them up a few minutes ago. I can recall a specific instance from my childhood. I forget what I went to the store for. I can watch a documentary, one involving hard science and actually complex and educational, and you can ask what I'm watching and I'll tell you that I have no idea. I won't remember it tomorrow.
Probably, all thing considered. Add to that the regular access and regular power and a place to set such up - maybe. It's probably not far off. I should have said PC. I suppose they could be using a mobile though. Either way, they're damned privileged compared to a buttload of other people which is really the point.
Also, I've tried using the mobile site. They were probably on a PC.
If you have electricity, regular internet access, a computer to access the internet, and a place to set that computer up - you're in the 1%.
Me? I'm well within the bounds of being in this 1% and I still don't know why I'd be hated by default. I'm pretty damned ethical and do quite a bit to help those who can not help themselves. But, go ahead and hate me if it makes you feel better. I'm not even a Republican. :/
*raises hand slowly*
Your guess is correct. It's not my strong suit either.
Funny but no. Well, at least not in the post-Stalin years. There's a lot of that sentimentality still lingering about but, no... They kind of tamed a bit once Khrushchev came into power and then got marginally better as time progressed. That sort of sentiment might be a bit more close to the truth with Mao, however. Or Pol Pot, I guess.