thanks, i found that link really interesting :)

i like when something i had thought in the back of my head while doing school work (way back when) turns out to be something other people have pondered over. it is remarkable to see how much more 'pretty' the maths becomes with this simple change of perspective.

that's good news. i for one refuse to allow that pesky oxygen anywhere near my brain. put me down for a few sets, just in case.

or, if you do the most elementary research, you will find out that clarke, after claiming these 'zappers' will cure everything including cancer and hiv, died of cancer.

all the 'zappers' are are cheap square wave generators. i also for many years did not have to go to a doctor. that doesn't mean my lifestyle is the solution to everyone else's illnesses.

this is a good point. my maths exams and quizzes etc ended up consisting of a hell of a lot of writing (i distinctly remember my single piece of a4 paper question sheet requiring 17 pages of writing to answer) followed by a few seconds on the calculator to evaluate the final result to the question's specifications, along with thinking 'why am i bothering with this bit?'. the only other thing i used the calculator for would be as a checking tool (maybe substitute some values in for the variables at the start and check with the same values of my answer). usually i was too lazy to do this and would just leave for a bite to eat though haha

i think you just said what i tried to say much more succinctly than i :)

generally engineers in the real world have more than high school education.

high school is best used teaching kids *why* the maths works. this gives them the understanding of what they are using.

highER education can then focus on the *how* best to implement this knowledge (as well as obviously building on it) in the 'real world'.

do you focus your time on a preteen-teenage kid teaching them soon-to-be-redundant-technology specific skills, or do you focus on the arguably harder to teach but more beneficial in the long run understanding of what the technology is doing? when i went through high school graphing calculators were forbidden in exams for this exact reason (and discouraged in class as well).

the idea of maths classes at this level is to learn the maths, not churn out solutions at machine like rates (although some maths 'teachers' seem to forget this).

by your 'charcoal shovel' logic, why teach math at all? most people use computers or cash registers to tell them the answers to those number things. they may not use charcoal and shovels, but they *certainly* use the same concepts at that stage. are you suggesting giving graphing calculators to preschool kids? yes, i know you were probably exaggerating, but the point remains.

knowing *WHY* a formula is used is more important than *WHAT* formula at this stage. engineers aren't the only people that need maths.

not many people seem to remember that they originally didn't want you to do that. it was *after* the jailbroken phones started to become more popular with their ability to install 'custom' apps that apple opened it up.

glad i'm not the only one :)

i totally agree. i think a good example is gates - everyone i know now talks of him as this wonderful guy who is changing the world or something. never about the fact that his 'charity' still makes money (openly) off companies abusing others (look at the wikipedia article if you don't know for a start), not to mention the wonderful 'future of education' crap that seems to be still revolving around proprietary lock-in to one company (guess which). if he is *truly* wanting to make things right and not just another rich guy with a guilt complex that just wants to get people to like him without *really* risking his riches, i'd be very surprised. so far i see no evidence at all of it.

yep. my mother uses it now and hates using windows. she is not computer 'savvy'
my girlfriend used it up until recently when her laptop had to go in for repairs. i have lent her one of mine that i haven't yet wiped windows off to install linux and even though it is allowing her to work she hates using it (she wants her 'princess' back). she is more 'savvy' than mum but not an 'expert'.
a few of my friends now use it more and more.
my macbook triple-boots osx, windows 7 and linux. i only boot windows to play a few games and it just decided to stop working. no changes etc. can't get it going again so i'm running steam off the windows partition through wine. works well enough for most games i have.

http://ask.metafilter.com/92964/Is-there-a-quick-way-of-copying-files-up-an-SSH-connection

i've actually been trying to figure this out myself for a while. i'll have to give it a try sometime

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=16664

if you are referring to older versions, they may or may not work on current versions, but it's easy to try.

you obviously don't work in support.

in this case, yeah, your lawyer friends would be wrong. maybe you should let them know that.

wow, they look like fun!!