Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:How about something more useful? (Score 1) 140

Because the real world is not as neatly compartmentalised as you would like it to be, and these are high school kids, not grad students?

If you're teaching high school auto shop, does their class need to include the social and economic impact of the automobile? Hint: The answer is no. It's a course on a specific subject. It's supposed to be compartmentalized.

They can and will hear all about social issues in all the classes that don't actually prepare them for real jobs. No, they're not grad students, but they're old enough to complete a course that focuses purely on the technical. Previous generations somehow managed it.

Comment How about teaching computer science? (Score 1) 140

The kiddies these days already get enough social engineering in all their other classes. Why not actually teach computer science in a computer science course?

I realize it's an introductory class, but surely you could actually teach them something useful where they end the course with some accomplishment, like enough html to make a simple hand-coded web page, or some other language that will end with a finished program of some sort. Even the old Commodore Basic I was taught gave me a foundation in the structure of programming.

Keep a technical course technical.

Comment Cover your ass... (Score 1) 332

...and make sure that if higher ups start to ask about these mistakes, you're not made a scapegoat.

Said with 10+ years in a supervisory position, with my own superiors to deal with too, I know it's a careful path you have to walk when documenting someone in a senior position screwing up. And it's got to be stuff that's actually going to affect the bottom line, like missed deadlines or quality control that loses customers. Otherwise, you'll have to just put up and shut up.

If those feature requests and bug reports are encouraged within your company, keep doing them with a degree of discresion (ie - skip the trivial stuff), and keep copies somewhere safe in a CYA file.

Comment Re:Here's the point... (Score 1) 268

This is CAPITALISM?

No. But feel free to bandy the term about until it becomes meaningless.

As better explained above, the higher price we pay is not solely due to monopolistic practices.

I just bought a Yamaha receiver, RX-V673, on Amazon that has 4K upscaling AND 4K pass-through for.... $399. If Yamaha were an American monopoly what would it have cost me? There is NO free Market Capitalism in Amaerica.... never has been... Just BIG monopolies and trusts.

And yet Yamaha isn't an American monopoly, so your point you were trying to make there falls a little flat.

Comment Re:So then... (Score 1) 260

The important part here is reported. Who is going to admit that they damaged their vision after staring into a laser for 4 hours?

A lot of this stuff comes out in medical reports when the injured person goes to a hospital.

No one would admit to sticking a Barbie doll or beer bottle up their jacksie, either, but the reports - and x-rays - are online for our enjoyment.

Privacy

Illegal To Take a Photo In a Shopping Center? 544

New submitter Kyrall writes "A man was questioned by security guards and then police after taking a photo of his own child in a UK shopping center. The center apparently has a 'no photography' policy 'to protect the privacy of staff and shoppers and to have a legitimate opportunity to challenge suspicious behavior.' He was told by a security guard that taking a photo was illegal. He also said that a police officer claimed, 'he was within in his rights to confiscate the mobile phone on which the photos were taken.'"
Announcements

Help Shape the Future of Slashdot 763

Long-time readers will know that we try not to clutter the front page of Slashdot with much stuff about the site itself; this is a rare exception, but we hope you'll like the reason: we want your opinions. You should see above a link to take a survey about Slashdot, and (just to be heavy handed) here's the direct link. The questions there are simple, but we're going to read the answers carefully. The reminder bar up there will remain active for some time, but this story will scroll down the page like all Slashdot stories. Comments are welcome below; surveys have their limitations, after all, but please don't comment without also giving the survey a visit — if it makes sense, feel free to cut-and-paste any answers from there as comments, too. The engineers who build this site (and the editors, too!) are counting on your honest opinions and hoping for some great ideas; ideas outnumber the hours we have to do things, so we hope you'll make a case for the ways that Slashdot should change (and the ways it shouldn't!).
Biotech

Microsoft Seeks Do-Let-The-Bed-Bugs-Bite Patent 176

theodp writes "In its just-published patent application for Adapting Parasites to Combat Disease, Microsoft lays out plans to unleash 'altered parasitic organisms' on humans, including mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, bed bugs, leeches, pinworms, tapeworms, hookworms, heart worms, roundworms, lice (head, body, and pubic), and the like. 'Irradiated mosquitoes can be used to deliver damaged Plasmodium to individuals,' explains Microsoft. 'Instead of contracting malaria, an individual receiving the damaged Plasmodium develops an immune response that renders the individual resistant to contracting malaria.' Don't worry about runaway breeding, advises Microsoft — 'a termination feature [that] can include programmed death' makes this impossible. As David Spade might say, I liked this movie the first time I saw it — when it was called Jurassic Park."
Security

4chan Has Been DDOSed 710

An anonymous reader writes "According to the 4chan status page all of the 4chan boards have been DDOSed and are down."
Businesses

GM Loses Money On Every Volt Built 471

thecarchik writes "Doug Parks, vehicle line executive for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, GM's range-extended electric vehicle, confirmed Tuesday that the company loses money on every Volt it sells. The expensive 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which likely costs GM somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000, is clearly too expensive to let the company build hundreds of thousands of Volts right away. Just 10,000 Volts will be built in 2011, though GM is working to increase that number. GM plans to chip away incrementally to lower the costs of the specialized components in the Volt, especially the power electronics. The price of consumer lithium-ion cells has fallen 6 to 8 percent annually since their 1989 launch; the large-format cells in automotive packs seem likely to follow the same curve and as costs are lowered the Volt may stop being a loss for the company."
Businesses

Obama Says Offshoring Fears Are Unwarranted 763

alphadogg writes "The perception that Indian call centers and back office operations cost US jobs is an old stereotype that ignores today's reality that two-way trade between the US and India is helping create jobs and raise the standard of living in both countries, US President Barack Obama told a gathering of business executives in Mumbai on Saturday. President Obama's remarks come after some moves in the US that had Indian outsourcers worried that the US may get protectionist in the wake of job losses in the country. The state of Ohio, for example, banned earlier this year the expenditure of public funds for offshore purposes. US exports to India have quadrupled in recent years, and currently support tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the US, he said in a speech that was also streamed live. In addition, there are jobs supported by exports to India of agriculture products, travel and education services. President Obama, who is in India on a three-day visit, said that more than 20 deals worth about $10 billion were announced on the first day of his visit."

Slashdot Top Deals

If you aren't rich you should always look useful. -- Louis-Ferdinand Celine

Working...