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Comment Re:Assuming this is correct, how'd she die? (Score 4, Informative) 365

I've seen some videos of this groups work on this little island. It is no tropical paradise. I don't believe there is any fresh water - so they would need to capture evaporating water somehow. And the island is infested with spider crabs from the size of golf balls to the size of soccer balls. And these crabs are looking for something to eat. You could survive a short time there - long term would be a slice of hell.

Plus we all take modern medicine for granted -- stranded on an island a cut or injury could become infected and that is pretty much game over .... then the crabs eat your body and scatter your bones.

Comment I got out while I could (Score 1) 286

My dear mom was a devout Catholic and tried to raise me and my sibs that way. I was kicked out of a Catholic school in the first grade. Many bumpy years later at age 13 I was declared a lost cause when I questioned the whole "He has risen" thing at an Easter Catechism Class. All I was there for was the chocolate eggs.

I'm a "civilian" now and glad to have nothing to do with these manipulative crackpots in the Vatican.

Comment The tech sector was not bailed out nor ... (Score 1) 328

directly involved with the financial disaster of 2007 - 2008. Its that easy. OWS is a reaction to those sectors and players directly involved with the real estate bubble and the sub-prime mortgage mis-deeds of big banks - and Wall St. Technology served to make all that possible but it was greed - corruption - and politics that made the disaster. Those are the areas that OWS has (or will) focus on along with the business as usual (no CEOs or senior management go to jail -- but rather get bonuses) environment in DC and Wall St.

People are fed up - and I am one of them.

Comment The man - the myth - the legend (Score 1) 1613

No matter your technology religion Steve Jobs had an impact - a huge impact. The word iPod is a part of our lexicon. The iPhone has spawned the whole sector called smart phones, The iPad is doing the same. And as another poster noted he took UNIX to the mainstream with OS X. That may have been one of his most gutsy moves. The man had vision. The first computer I ever touched - ever used was an Apple II in college in 1981. Can't believe he is dead at 56 --- hell I'm only 55.

RIP Steve Jobs

Comment It ain't easy (Score 1) 92

Another example that starting AND maintaining a music / media service is not a simple task. First you have to deal with the nuts in Hollywood on DRM and music catalogs etc. --- Then you have to have a coherent vision for your service and superb software --- Oh, and it would be good if you had either a cool device for consumers ... or a seamless way for consumers to get their media to any number of other devices. Lastly you have to have staying power to go on and on and on and on

Love it - hate it - or just use it ---- iTunes has been there for 10yrs (an eon in tech time) ..... surrender, it just works .....

Comment Losing control by choice (Score 1) 227

This is what happens when you turn over manufacturing to a 3rd party that you have no real control over.

Yeah - good luck with that. Oh and those fake Apple stores .... they were going to build those anyway. Apple just helped things along by sending China all its design info.

I hope this happens to many "American" companies who outsource manufacturing.

Comment We are already doing this at our high school (Score 1) 169

Our tech teacher designed this type of approach 3yrs ago and its a popular class. Using Gamemaker software gets kids into the class who might not go for straight up programming. The path is: Game Design 1, Game Design 2, then Java. At that point students can continue on to advanced Java projects that they define themselves. The other neat thing we do is in the Game Design 2 class there is is 1 large project - students form into teams of 3 and then they are matched to 1 or 2 Art students. They learn to work as a team with the art students doing sprite and background design.

You grouchy old timers need to remember that back in the day '70s-'80s computers were still an uncommon and exotic thing. And I can recall being thrilled to pound out BASIC or Pascal or C programs. These days kids are surrounded by computers (and flashy programs) from birth. So naturally I don't think they would be drawn to a pure code environment immediately, but after a couple of terms of learning programing basics creating games --- they can see the possibilities.

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