"Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" (Mark Twain)

Slashdot's biggest problem is that at "news for nerds", we're now vastly outnumbered by normals who think they're nerds because they have an iPad. I don't know of another, better nerd message board.

It isn't dead yet, but K5 died after Rusty started neglecting it; it was a pretty big deal in its time, now it's a ghost town. I see it happening here since Taco left.

An interesting lie in your link: He called the spate of revenge-driven killings Dorner is suspected of unleashing "an act of domestic terrorism,"

Terrorism is political violence against CIVILIANS. He's not targeting civilians, he's targeting those he sees as traitors to his country. That one sentence from Reuters highlights the propaganda the MSM spews.

1. Exactly.
2. When I was in the service, I asked a close friend who was black why blacks were so offended by the word. After all, it's just a word. He explained to me that when blacks were slaves, they were no more than farm animals. So when you call a black person "nigger" you're saying (s)he is subhuman. I see young blacks throwing around the word "nigga" as a good thing.

What most blacks don't understand is that most whites don't associate "nigger" with skin color, but lifestyle.

The farther back in history slavery gets, the better race relations will get.

It just struck me that this is happening in Black History Month.

the purpose is to emphasize that web forums, like slashdot, are more like chatting than they are like formal writing

So is a snail mail letter to Grandma. I don't see why the fact that it's a web forum needs emphasis; everyone knows they're on a forum.

I write in print on the board because my colleagues and I have been informed by students that they cannot read cursive. In so many words, students have told me that they were never taught.

Wow, sad and amazing. I think my twentysomething daughters can read and write cursive. I'll have to ask the youngest.

That's one of many things that annoys me about Windows. This notebook runs W7 because I just haven't gotten around to installing Linux yet. Linux would already be on it if it wouldn't hibernate. Ironically, the Linux tower gets shut down when I'm not using it, because when I boot it, all the apps and docs that were open when I shut it down reopen, and it enters its password for me. Hit the switch, pour a cup of coffee and it's good to go, as if it hadn't been shut down at all.

I wonder if Windows will ever catch up with Linux featurewise? I know of no features Windows has that Linux lacks, but Windows lacks quite a few features I consider absolutely necessary.

Since I don't use Word (Oo instead) I guess I don't have to worry about the Flash exploit so much. I'll update Flash when the Patch Tuesday forces a reboot (another feature Windows lacks -- Linux updates need no reboots).

It's amazing that people actually pay for an OS that is less capable than a free one! "You get what you pay for", my ass!

I started to make a comment and it got a bit long, so posted it as a JE. Folks need to see the manifesto.

Capitalization improves readability, as does good penmanship when you're writing by hand. Why did you make that conscious decision? Are you sure it was a conscious decision? What is the purpose of eschewing capitalization?

I post this in the hope that you're logged in and clicked "post anonymously" rather than not having an account. This is a very good comment and again, thank you. An edit will be forthcoming.

I'm typing this on a Win 7 notebook w Firefox. KSHE's playing right now (using Flash, of course) and no notification came to me, although some virus defs came through this morning.

Windows users are targeted with Microsoft Word documents delivered as an email attachments which contain malicious Flash content

Why? They could as easily infect you with a macro. Who in their right mind opens a Word doc from and unknown source, especially when Windows warns you when you start to open a word doc in Outlook (we use Outlook at work).

I just wish Flash would stop crashing every single time I have it hibernate when I'm listening to the radio.

There's always a risk of zoning out since you know you can go listen again later

I guess everybody's different, but humans aren't as good at multitasking as they think they are. I want to have my full attention on what the lecturer is saying. Of course, you have to copy anything that's written on the blackboard (now whiteboard).

I know by allowing this half of the class will be tooling about on Facebook.

Well, if they're doing that, 40 years ago they would have been passing notes to each other and still missing the lecture. There are a lot more distractions these days, though.

Those instances are where I walk about the office, hand a test to colleagues, and have them hand the test back to me declaring that they, too, can't read the response.

Ah, ok, I was under the impression that penmanship was part of the grade, but if it isn't legible it's the same as if they turned in a blank piece of paper.

How is it a bad assumption that their lack of instruction was a disservice?

The assumption is that they lacked instruction rather than that their skills had deteriorated. Of course, if it's a high school class your assumption would probably be valid.

What it often misses is that there is more to being free and finding success than having a degree.

Very true. In my case, the actual knowledge is worth more than the degree; I've always loved learning. That was unfortunately a detriment before I went to college, after about the third grade it's all rote memorization and no learning. And I was always terrible at memorization.

Students who speak and write like people do where I'm from will, unfortunately, be looked down upon when they go out into the real world.

Well, that's grammar. It's also sad but true. Some even look down on certain accents.

"The tyrant fears the laugh more than the assassin's bullet."
HA HA!

No woosh there, it was a humorous story about police corruption and a sentient whirlwind.

Wow, some people have bad penmanship even with a keyboard!

I love people like you, I'm 60 and you make me think I should get off your lawn. I wish laptops had existed when I was in college; I can type faster than I could ever write longhand, but even then, rather than taking notes I'd just record the lecture with the laptop. Actually, that's what I did, only I used a cassette recorder.

That they did not receive instruction earlier in life on quick, efficient, and legible handwriting was a disservice to them.

That's an assumption on your part, and a bad one at that. When I was in school, computers were multimillion dollar building sized-pocket calculators, and they taught penmanship in grade school. But by the time I was in college my handwriting was terrible, mostly from taking notes in class during high school. The essays are timed and you expect good penmanship?? That's insane!

You're quite right that we're moving away from handwriting, but we're not there yet.

Thanks to people like you!

Incidentally, I think the batteries must be dead in your vibrating keyboard. I read your sig and the spelling is a mess.

Woosh to you, ma'am.