Re:Finally Kilby gets the recognition he deserves.
on
Nobel Prizes
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· Score: 1
Yes. I share your respect for Kilby not seeking riches and fame, and no offense whatsoever was taken. I just wanted to point out that they both deserved the credit for it, and that if my stupid grandfather hadn't died, I'd have gotten a trip to Sweden out of this. *sigh*
Re:Finally Kilby gets the recognition he deserves.
on
Nobel Prizes
·
· Score: 1
Jack Kilby was the first to invent the intgrated circuit, but his prototype didn't work, and his patent application wasn't granted for some time. Meanwhile, Robert Noyce independently came up with the same idea, and also filed for a patent. His was granted, but there was quite the legal fight over it. Eventually, Noyce did end up with the patent. He eventually went on to found Intel (with Gordon Moore) which is today the best-known (and I think largest, but I'm not sure) manufacturer of computer chips. Noyce, and Intel, are probably more responsible than Kilby for the revolution that resulted in integrated circuits being in absolutely everything we have. Unfortunately, Noyce died in 19990, and Nobel Prizes aren't given posthumously.
(And I'm Noyce's granddaughter, so my history is right, I have an interest in this)
The way the music industry can still make money is to first of all lower CD prices. Your average CD costs what, $3? So sell them for $5 and people will buy more. They're in no danger because CD players are still cheaper and more common than those mini-discs ar mp3 players. And CD's have become such a standard that I think they'll hang around for a while yet. (My folks still have records and a record player that they use...and my dance studio used records until maybe five years ago)
Another idea is to charge more for concert tickets. Let the recordings go around cheap or free and make money off people who want to see it live. The same way you can get prints of, say, the Mona Lisa for under five bucks, but the real thing is under glass and in a room full of security guards at the Louvre. The live performances should be the important thing about a band. Or at least the valuable part. Give more people the opportunity to hear your music easily/cheaply, and you may end up with more rabid fans who'll actually pay for concert tickets.
-------------------------------------------------- They say I'm just an outcast, I shouldn't talk to You, / Still I see Your face and wonder, were You once an outcast too? -Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame
But there weren't child abuse cases that had nationwide attention and fear, the way the Columbine-type shootings have. Parents don't worry so much about child abuse. Either they're good protect-the-children people and don't abuse their kids or they do and couldn't care less.
Columbine, on the other hand, resulted in parents calling the schoola and wanting to know exactly what measures were being taken to keep the school safe. The junior high in our town has outlawed backpacks between classes, forcing kids to go to their lockers every period, in the name of safety. I guess the theory is that this way you aren't carrying your gun arouynd with you.
At the high school, the theater crew, which tends to consist of the young antisocial geeks and outcasts, has just this year been forbidden to carry their knives/leathermen/gerbers (not switchblades, just pocketknives) that we've always been permitted to have. When you're dealing with gaff tape and zip ties, knives are a big help. But it's unsafe for the children.
And this is small-town New hampshire. I shudder to think of cities and larger schools.
Hmm, actually it reminds me more of Lois Lensky's The Giver. A society in which *they* watch you until you grow up and then decree what you will do for the rest of your life. Individuality is a Bad Thing, and results in you being quietly removed and humanely put to sleep. A very thought-provoking book, even if it is written at a kids book level.
And even Swahili was formed as a trading language, so it's a lot closer to Indo-European roots than some languages. Try Australian Aborigine, for example. jadiel
Has anyone out there ever read Lary Niven's A Gift From Earth? It's a fairly good book about a society where the penalty for all sorts of mnor crimes (running red lights, for example) is death, 'cause the executed get put into the organ banks and thus benefit the rest of the poulation. A good look at the topic of whether killing is ethical, and where to draw the line.
AOL has a very good family-friendly reputation. Which is the reason I'm using it now, it's what my mom's willing to pay for, she won't be talked out of it, and I'm to cheap to pay for a better ISP.
Buying a special computer that is 'only for the girls' is acknwledging that girls can not use 'normal computers'. I do not think that is anywhere near a good idea.
And a special computer that is 'only for the boys' is saying what?
Ahh, but the Hot Wheels PC wasn't described as 'only for the boys', it was described as 'for your kids'. The Barbie computer was described as 'for girls'. Why is it that if you advertise something as 'for boys' someone will sue you for being sexist, but if you describe something as 'for girls' nobody minds and the product sells well?
*soapbox mode*
My personal opinion is that females are still considered somewhat lower, smething to guard against being. There's nothing wrong with females doing traditionally male things, from wearing jeans to programming computers, but there are still very strong taboos on what males are not 'supposed' to do, from carrying purses to teaching kindergarten. A (male) friend of mine has a satchel-type bag that he carries his stuff around in. On a school field trip, we went to some museum and of course they made us all check our schoolbags, but they had one of those 'ladies' handbags exempted' policies. So when the security guard asked my friend to please check his bag, he said something along the lines of "If a lady may keep her purse, why can't I?" At which point the guard very quickly walked away. Very funny. But to be serious for a second, I personally think that it's a similar attitude that makes lesbianism much more socially accceptable than male homosexuality.
*/soapbox mode*
Back to what I was saying: There're also differences between the software. One of which being that, other than the 'Let's dress up happy little Barbie' software, the only game was Myst. While, on the other hand, the Hot Wheels box had several games including Oregon Trail. And I'm not going to get onto the rant of why Barbie is such an awful icon for young girls. (Said rant involves giving girls dolls with outrageous proportions and telling them that this is what constiutes being pretty)
Thre are kids out there who are blatantly anti-gender-marketing. For example, I liked Barbies - until about age five. Same for my sister. My other sister liked them longer, but she got all the mainstream-ditz genes in our family and we tend to more or less beat it out of her. My little brother used to collect Matchbox cars, but it was really a whole-family thing that we females were embarassed to admit to having anything to do with. He plays house with my sisters and their American Girl dolls, and helps me build forts in the woods with all the traps and secret spy systems that forts require. Me? I'm fifteen and good at math (taking precalculus in tenth grade, which is as far ahead as I can be given my schools system), took Honors Chem as a freshman, like computers and am starting to play with Linux, usually don't care about what I wear - jeans and a t-shirt - but sometimes get drssed up and enjoy all the fun of trying to look as nice as possible, have stuffed animals that I still play with and love, and spent yesterday afternoon taking apart a broken radio.
(an aside -- that strikes me as odd... they can make more money making two different toys than they can by making one gender-neutral toy and trying to sell twice as many... weird)
The reason they can make more money is that now you can't have one computer and a couple of user accounts if you have two kids, one boy and one girl, 'cause they're never going to agree on which one to get. You'd have to get each kid their own.
I think Ken is lying. If Harvard did such a thing and Ken does not have sexually explicit material, then Harvard is a fool and about to be sued...but I think Harvard is smarter than that.
Here is a copy of a message from Joe Wrinn after I sent a message to him:
------------
We stand by our statement
>Do you have proof of sexually related material? > >Sounds like you are about to get sued if you don't have the proof.
Joe Wrinn Director, Harvard News Office 1350 Massachusetts Ave., Rm. 1060 Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617-495-1585 Fax: 617-495-0754
Slashdot Mirror
Yes. I share your respect for Kilby not seeking riches and fame, and no offense whatsoever was taken. I just wanted to point out that they both deserved the credit for it, and that if my stupid grandfather hadn't died, I'd have gotten a trip to Sweden out of this. *sigh*
Jack Kilby was the first to invent the intgrated circuit, but his prototype didn't work, and his patent application wasn't granted for some time. Meanwhile, Robert Noyce independently came up with the same idea, and also filed for a patent. His was granted, but there was quite the legal fight over it. Eventually, Noyce did end up with the patent. He eventually went on to found Intel (with Gordon Moore) which is today the best-known (and I think largest, but I'm not sure) manufacturer of computer chips. Noyce, and Intel, are probably more responsible than Kilby for the revolution that resulted in integrated circuits being in absolutely everything we have. Unfortunately, Noyce died in 19990, and Nobel Prizes aren't given posthumously. (And I'm Noyce's granddaughter, so my history is right, I have an interest in this)
Another idea is to charge more for concert tickets. Let the recordings go around cheap or free and make money off people who want to see it live. The same way you can get prints of, say, the Mona Lisa for under five bucks, but the real thing is under glass and in a room full of security guards at the Louvre. The live performances should be the important thing about a band. Or at least the valuable part. Give more people the opportunity to hear your music easily/cheaply, and you may end up with more rabid fans who'll actually pay for concert tickets.
--------------------------------------------------
They say I'm just an outcast, I shouldn't talk to You, / Still I see Your face and wonder, were You once an outcast too?
-Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hmm...I personally associate "Digital Village" with Douglas Adams, and the company that put out Starship Titanic.
Columbine, on the other hand, resulted in parents calling the schoola and wanting to know exactly what measures were being taken to keep the school safe. The junior high in our town has outlawed backpacks between classes, forcing kids to go to their lockers every period, in the name of safety. I guess the theory is that this way you aren't carrying your gun arouynd with you.
At the high school, the theater crew, which tends to consist of the young antisocial geeks and outcasts, has just this year been forbidden to carry their knives/leathermen/gerbers (not switchblades, just pocketknives) that we've always been permitted to have. When you're dealing with gaff tape and zip ties, knives are a big help. But it's unsafe for the children.
And this is small-town New hampshire. I shudder to think of cities and larger schools.
And even Swahili was formed as a trading language, so it's a lot closer to Indo-European roots than some languages. Try Australian Aborigine, for example. jadiel
Abby
And a special computer that is 'only for the boys' is saying what?
Ahh, but the Hot Wheels PC wasn't described as 'only for the boys', it was described as 'for your kids'. The Barbie computer was described as 'for girls'. Why is it that if you advertise something as 'for boys' someone will sue you for being sexist, but if you describe something as 'for girls' nobody minds and the product sells well?
*soapbox mode*
My personal opinion is that females are still considered somewhat lower, smething to guard against being. There's nothing wrong with females doing traditionally male things, from wearing jeans to programming computers, but there are still very strong taboos on what males are not 'supposed' to do, from carrying purses to teaching kindergarten. A (male) friend of mine has a satchel-type bag that he carries his stuff around in. On a school field trip, we went to some museum and of course they made us all check our schoolbags, but they had one of those 'ladies' handbags exempted' policies. So when the security guard asked my friend to please check his bag, he said something along the lines of "If a lady may keep her purse, why can't I?" At which point the guard very quickly walked away. Very funny. But to be serious for a second, I personally think that it's a similar attitude that makes lesbianism much more socially accceptable than male homosexuality.
*/soapbox mode*
Back to what I was saying: There're also differences between the software. One of which being that, other than the 'Let's dress up happy little Barbie' software, the only game was Myst. While, on the other hand, the Hot Wheels box had several games including Oregon Trail. And I'm not going to get onto the rant of why Barbie is such an awful icon for young girls. (Said rant involves giving girls dolls with outrageous proportions and telling them that this is what constiutes being pretty)
Thre are kids out there who are blatantly anti-gender-marketing. For example, I liked Barbies - until about age five. Same for my sister. My other sister liked them longer, but she got all the mainstream-ditz genes in our family and we tend to more or less beat it out of her. My little brother used to collect Matchbox cars, but it was really a whole-family thing that we females were embarassed to admit to having anything to do with. He plays house with my sisters and their American Girl dolls, and helps me build forts in the woods with all the traps and secret spy systems that forts require. Me? I'm fifteen and good at math (taking precalculus in tenth grade, which is as far ahead as I can be given my schools system), took Honors Chem as a freshman, like computers and am starting to play with Linux, usually don't care about what I wear - jeans and a t-shirt - but sometimes get drssed up and enjoy all the fun of trying to look as nice as possible, have stuffed animals that I still play with and love, and spent yesterday afternoon taking apart a broken radio.
(an aside -- that strikes me as odd... they can make more money making two different toys than they can by making one gender-neutral toy and trying to sell twice as many... weird)
The reason they can make more money is that now you can't have one computer and a couple of user accounts if you have two kids, one boy and one girl, 'cause they're never going to agree on which one to get. You'd have to get each kid their own.
Abby's $.02
I think Ken is lying. If Harvard did such a thing and Ken does not have sexually explicit material, then Harvard is a fool and about to be sued...but I think Harvard is smarter than that.
Here is a copy of a message from Joe Wrinn after I sent a message to him:
------------
We stand by our statement
>Do you have proof of sexually related material?
>
>Sounds like you are about to get sued if you don't have the proof.
Joe Wrinn
Director, Harvard News Office
1350 Massachusetts Ave., Rm. 1060
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-1585
Fax: 617-495-0754
Add a vase and then it will be just as complex as a Volkswagen.
Jim,
You are a man of Integrity, keep up the good work.