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Comment Re:Unfortunate (Score 1) 44

by Wolfrider (#63693010) Attached to: Reddit is Getting Rid of Its Gold Awards System

> But Reddit also kind of screwed up a good thing a couple of years ago by adding so many more awards

Not really. They just made awards into emojis. It was occasionally funny+ to be able to award something like an animated waddling duck to a skating post. Picking out the "right" (or least appropriate) award for a post was sort of fun for me.

Submission + - Tech-Backed Code.org Officially Adopts a No CS, No HS Diploma Stance

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: On Wednesday, tech-backed nonprofit Code.org announced it was excited to "officially launch our 10th policy recommendation for all states to require all students to take computer science to earn a high school diploma."

"Artificial intelligence has increased the urgency to ensure our students are adequately prepared for a rapidly changing world," explained Code.org, whose Board of Directors includes Microsoft President Brad Smith and CTO Kevin Scott, who oversee Microsoft's Responsible AI Council, as well as execs from Amazon, Google, and YouTube. "It is no longer sufficient for students to know how to use technology; they must be creators and thoughtful contributors. [...] Without a graduation policy, we will not be able to ensure all students genuinely have the opportunity to learn computer science. [...] For a state to meet this policy recommendation, the state must have a policy that requires all students to earn a credit named 'computer science' or has a related name that includes 'computer science'."

Code.org's call for a HS CS graduation requirement in response to recent AI breakthroughs comes two months after an Axios report on the launch of TeachAI, a Code.org-led effort supported by a coalition of tech and educational organizations (incl. Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon, Meta, and Bill Gates-backed and ChatGPT-powered Khan Academy) that aims to help educators both use AI in the classroom and explain to their students how the technology works. "TeachAI," the initiative's website explains, "is committing to provide thought leadership to guide governments and educational leaders in aligning education with the needs of an increasingly AI-driven world and connecting the discussion of teaching with AI to teaching about AI and computer science."

Submission + - The Man Who Broke Bowling

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: In The Man Who Broke Bowling, GQ's Eric Wills profiles professional bowler Jason Belmonte, whose two-handed bowling technique made him both an outcast as well as one of bowling's greatest, changing the sport forever. Unlike the rest of us, a 7-year-old Belmonte was unconvinced by the taunts used to prompt kids into switching from bowling two-handed to one-handed ("It was, Come on, you’re a big boy now. It’s time to bowl properly," Belmonte recalls). As a result, Belmonte was able to develop a 600-rpm throw when most pro bowlers averaged 350-400, imparting a spin that "sends the pins into concussion protocol." Wills writes:

"When he first alighted on the professional bowling scene, Belmonte resembled an alien species: one that bowled with two hands. And not some granny shot, to be clear, but a kickass power move in which he uses two fingers (and no thumb) on his right hand, palms the front of the ball with his left, and then, on his approach, which is marked by a distinctive shuffle step, rocks the ball back before launching it with a liquid, athletic whip, his delivery producing an eye-popping hook, his ball striking the pins like a mini mortar explosion. Not everyone welcomed his arrival. He’s been called a cheat, told to go back to his native Australia; a PBA Hall of Famer once called the two-hander a 'cancer to an already diseased sport.'

If you're interested in more on the technical aspects of bowling — Belmonte's installed a tracking system in his parent’s bowling center back in Australia that generates reams of data he can sift through to find areas for improvement — Wikipedia goes into some of the physics of bowling balls.

Comment Reddit has fundamentally changed (Score 1) 36

by mfh (#63627030) Attached to: Reddit Sales Growth Slowdown Preceded Fight Over New API Fees

Reddit used to have principles that aligned with the open source model. Now they are removing mods that protested their API pricing. They have changed and that is how they are killing the goose that lays golden eggs. Everyone was cheering for them to succeed. Not anymore. The good will people had towards reddit is gone. They killed it.

Comment Re:Blackouts have become abuse of power (Score 1) 166

by Wolfrider (#63607998) Attached to: Reddit Says It Won't Force Subreddits Back Open

> I was fine with a day or two of protest to let Reddit know the mods were unhappy. But after a week it turns into mods killing off a resource that thousands, or hundreds of thousands of people found useful.

> At this point I feel like it may be time to find replacements on Reddit for subreddits I use, because I am starting to think the moderators may just permanently kill them out of spite for Reddit, ignoring the terrible loss it is to real people to have that conversation history just vanish forever.

Exactly right. I have no interest in this blackout because it prevents me from accessing useful tech-oriented communities where people are actively trying to engage and help others.

2 days blackout is ok-but-not-happy-about-it, more than that is Please GTFO and reopen the sub so we can regain access to all the useful historical posts and get back to helping others.

There is no gain in keeping a sub dead, all it does is hurt the community. And it obviously won't affect the CEO's opinion. If you're a mod and you don't like the situation, feel free to setup your own self-hosted community and allow others to take over. Those new people aren't "scabs" BTW because no money is involved, THEY'RE VOLUNTEERS.

Comment Re:Yea, and it's the result of whole generations (Score 1) 224

JFC, a mouse is literally an extension of your hand. It should take all of 5 minutes to teach someone left-click, right-click, possibly middle-click and scroll with a 3-button.

Everybody used to have home computers, a phone/tablet is NOT a substitute if you have to write a Word paper or work on a spreadsheet. Or browse the web for more than say 20 minutes. Or respond to a lengthy email. Proper keyboard is needed for that.

Submission + - Thousands of Reddit communities 'go dark' in protest of new developer fees (npr.org) 7

Submitted by koavf
koavf writes: Thousands of sections of the popular online message board Reddit are "going dark" for two days starting Monday to protest controversial new fees the site is charging third-party developers.

Some of the largest communities on Reddit are being set to private for 48 hours, meaning they will not be publicly available. By doing this, Redditers aim to pressure company executives to reverse their decision to charge developers for access to the site, which until now has been free.

In a Reddit post about the boycott, organizers wrote that the charges are "a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit."

Submission + - Slashdot has broken user accounts that contain spaces in the username 6

Submitted by throwaway18
throwaway18 writes: It appears that slashdot user accounts with spaces in the username are currently broken.

The user profiles says "The user you requested does not exist, no matter how much you wish this might be the case."

There are reports that those users can't log in.

Submission + - An Example of a Very Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects (vortex.com) 1

Submitted by Lauren Weinstein
Lauren Weinstein writes: All, I am doing something in this post that I’ve never done before over these many years. I’m going to share with you an example of what Google account recovery failure means to the people involved, and this is by no means the worst such case I’ve seen — not even close, unfortunately.

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