Comment Intense gamma ray source? (Score 2) 41
Didn't Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno show us why this is a bad idea?
Submission + - Neil deGrasse Tyson on September 11 Attacks (haydenplanetarium.org)
rtobyr writes: "Astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson witnessed in horror the attacks on September 11, 2001.
"I will never be the same after yesterday, in ways that I cannot foresee. I suppose that my generation now joins the ranks of those who lived through unspeakable horrors and survived to tell about it. How naive I was to believe that the world is fundamentally different from that of our ancestors, whose lives were changed by bearing witness to the 20th century's vilest acts of war.
Submission + - MacFarlane, Tyson to Revive Sagan's Cosmos (nytimes.com)
rtobyr writes: "On Friday the Fox network is to announce that it has ordered a 13-episode series, “Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey,” expected to be broadcast in 2013. As part of a creative team that includes Ann Druyan, Sagan’s widow and a collaborator on the original “Cosmos,” one of the executive producers is Seth MacFarlane, the creator, producer, co-star and animating spirit of “Family Guy,” the bawdy and irreverent Fox cartoon sitcom...Unlike Mr. MacFarlane’s cartoon shows, the new “Cosmos” will not feature non-sequitur pop-culture jokes, and will be hosted by Dr. Tyson."
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: FOSS Upgrade Paths
rtobyr writes: "I've got about 50 servers to manage. I do very much appreciate the technology that has come from FOSS operating systems projects, yet it seems to me that most *free* operating systems do not fully support an upgrade path. Ubuntu is the only exception that I'm aware of. I cannot seamlessly upgrade from Free/PC-BSD 8.x to 9.x. Instead I must re-install from scrach. The same goes for CentOS/RHEL 5.x to 6.x, and for every version of Mint Linux.
The two major commercial operating systems (considered to be evil by the FOSS community) easily upgrade from one version to the next. That's important in a real-life production environment. In 2001, I upgraded 200 workstations and 7 servers from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 without incident. I've had similar experience with all subsequent MicroEvil systems. I do hate MicroEvil, but I can make only limited conclusions regarding the upgrade paths of other operating systems:
1) The distributions exist only for the sake of doing the project, and for the technologies that it produces (such as OpenBSD's OpenSSH).
2) Folks are expected to install a version of FOSS operating systems, but not upgrade because there's no reason to fix something that isn't broken.
3) FOSS operating systems are only for organizations who have so few servers or so many IT folks that re-installing everything from scratch is not inviably cumbersome.
4) I am oblivious to some upgrade path technique for FOSS operating systems.
5) I am a lame poser too unskilled to understand how to properly manage FOSS servers.
Please enlighten me."
The two major commercial operating systems (considered to be evil by the FOSS community) easily upgrade from one version to the next. That's important in a real-life production environment. In 2001, I upgraded 200 workstations and 7 servers from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 without incident. I've had similar experience with all subsequent MicroEvil systems. I do hate MicroEvil, but I can make only limited conclusions regarding the upgrade paths of other operating systems:
1) The distributions exist only for the sake of doing the project, and for the technologies that it produces (such as OpenBSD's OpenSSH).
2) Folks are expected to install a version of FOSS operating systems, but not upgrade because there's no reason to fix something that isn't broken.
3) FOSS operating systems are only for organizations who have so few servers or so many IT folks that re-installing everything from scratch is not inviably cumbersome.
4) I am oblivious to some upgrade path technique for FOSS operating systems.
5) I am a lame poser too unskilled to understand how to properly manage FOSS servers.
Please enlighten me."
Comment Really? (Score 1) 5
There's a particle with a name so close to "marijuana" that at first glance you think it is that word?
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Conflicts of Interest in the FOSS Community?
An anonymous reader writes: Linus Torvalds has caused waves about KDE vice GNOME more than once. My question is this: Should he be bound by morality (not law--I'm not proposing censorship--morality only) to refrain from announcing his preferences about other FOSS products? Isn't Linus Torvalds saying, "I prefer KDE over GNOME" just like a judge endorsing one particular defense lawyer? I think it's wrong. What do you think?
Comment Re:For this you want a professional product (Score 1) 387
This is why I disagree with Richard Stallman, and prefer BSD over GPL. Commercial software is a reality, and it will remain a reality.
Comment Re:Not that common - or uncommon (Score 1) 568
With a sample size of ONE
You are assuming that I don't know other parents in other school districts and even other states. In addition to local friends and colleagues, I have family in California, Alaska, Oklahoma, Illinois, South Carolina, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Hawaii.
Comment Re:Equal Access (Score 1) 568
The alternative might save money (might not), but would require teachers either having to figure out each parent's preference independently, or to do all of their work twice for each student
No no no. If you compose something in Word and print it or compose it on Wordpress and print it, there's no extra work. Then both mediums are available for all parents.
Comment Re:Poor people exist (Score 1) 568
Imagine the "social stigma" if a teacher sent email notices to most parents, but had to give Billy and Marcia printed notices because their families are too poor to have the Internet
It isn't like only the poor kids would get paper. All opportunities for communication would be available to all parents. Every kid would also get paper homework. That way, the parents can use whatever medium works best for them.
That, and if it is a notice that requires a signature of a parent (field trip authorization, etc.) it will have to be paper anyway.
S/MIME
Comment Re:Poor people exist (Score 1) 568
I'm not saying to use technology EXCLUSIVELY. Use it IN ADDITION to current processes.
Submission + - Why aren't schools connected?
rtobyr writes: "We use the Internet--E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to communicate with colleagues, friends, and family. When I was in Iraq with the Marine Corps, we used e-mail (secured with encryption and stuff, but e-mail nonetheless) to communicate the commanding officer's order that a combat mission should be carried out. My third grade daughter produces her own YouTube videos, and can create public servers for her games with virtual private network (VPN) technology.
Yet here I am trusting a third grade girl to deliver memos to me about her educational requirements in an age in which I can't remember the last time I used paper.
Teachers could have distribution lists of the parents. The kids' homework is printed. Therefore, it must have started as a computer file (I hope they're not still using mimeograph machines). Teachers could e-mail a summary of what's going on, and attach the homework files along with other notices about field trips or conferences that parents should be aware of.
Teachers could have an easy way to post all these files to the Internet on blogs. With RSS, parents could subscribe to receive everything that teachers put online. If teachers want to add to the blog their own personal comments about how the school year is going, then all the parents would see that also, and perhaps have the opportunity to comment on the blog.
It seems to me that with the right processes, the cost and additional workload would be insignificant. For example, instead of developing a syllabus in MS Word, use Wordpress. Have schools simply not paid attention to the past decade of technology, or is there a reason that these things aren't in place?"
Yet here I am trusting a third grade girl to deliver memos to me about her educational requirements in an age in which I can't remember the last time I used paper.
Teachers could have distribution lists of the parents. The kids' homework is printed. Therefore, it must have started as a computer file (I hope they're not still using mimeograph machines). Teachers could e-mail a summary of what's going on, and attach the homework files along with other notices about field trips or conferences that parents should be aware of.
Teachers could have an easy way to post all these files to the Internet on blogs. With RSS, parents could subscribe to receive everything that teachers put online. If teachers want to add to the blog their own personal comments about how the school year is going, then all the parents would see that also, and perhaps have the opportunity to comment on the blog.
It seems to me that with the right processes, the cost and additional workload would be insignificant. For example, instead of developing a syllabus in MS Word, use Wordpress. Have schools simply not paid attention to the past decade of technology, or is there a reason that these things aren't in place?"
Submission + - Google Consumer Surveys Steal, Sell User Data (internetevolution.com)
hapworth writes: Google has just released a service for publishers called Consumer Surveys, which it's marketing as a way for users to avoid content paywalls. In reality, writes one reporter today, while publishers are getting "a modest five cents" per consumer, Google is using this effort to sell data about consumers to the survey sponsors. Naturally, this information isn't disclosed to users who take the surveys.
Submission + - South Pole Telescope Hones in on Dark Energy, Neutrinos (scienceworldreport.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Analysis of data from the 10-meter South Pole Telescope is providing new support for the most widely accepted explanation of dark energy — the source of the mysterious force that is responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe.
Comment Does the new toilet involve three seashells? (Score 1) 167
I have always wanted to know how to use the three shells.
