Our early programming experiences are dictated by the tech when we first start.

For me it was basic on apple ][+ in K-6 and then logo.

The real learning began in Jr. High when I wanted to do more than draw on the screen, and had to figure out how to get user input, and how to use procedures/functions.

Later in college I nearly quit programming due to a bullshit pascal course that was way to heavy on computer history, with the repeat I got lucky with a professor who didn't spoon feed us, but gave us enough so we could figure things out.

Those lucky enough to have gifted teachers/professors and/or who have the fortitude to put in the work will definitely benefit.

Unimpressed with the nearby Three Star planet, the gentleman Astronomer holds out for a Five Star Planet.

My school district provided early exposure via apple II computers. They showed up one summer with an extracurricular summer workshop and then one to two per classroom, and a computer lab in Jr. High. And while there was an Atari computer at home, I basically had all of my meaningful early exposure to programming via the school district, and the teachers who were willing to spend extra time learning about and then sharing how to use them. Starting at probably age 8 or 9, I used basic and then later logo. The logo continuing off and on until 8th grade when I was using functions/procedures, getting user input, redrawing the screen, etc. By 8th grade my programming was beyond the scope of the curriculum or programming knowledge of the teacher. These skills then lay dormant for 4-5 years resurfacing in college with the first two years of CS course work. Which then led to computer support employment and then high end systems/networking employment.

It is impossible to attribute my skills to nature v. nurture, but I believe that any meaningful early exposure to computer languages, problem solving, or independent exploration of programming to solve a problem or provide something new is a worthwhile investment.

Hate to be the one to point out the obvious... but the solution is not in changing the meat it is in reducing and/or eliminating the meat. A very large part of world has done very well for a very long time on limited or no meat, eating beans and rice, lentils and rice, and tofu and rice. Meat requires vast quantities of water, creates vast quantities of waste, and is a huge caloric loss if you are feeding the animal grains or other foodstuffs that humans can eat directly. Beef being the worst offender for water use, and pollution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...

mod parent up

Re: the three partners...I think Walt was with the girl, and then the other guy and the girl hooked up and that's why Walt bailed.

Actually I think their claimed 'prototypical inventor' was just involved in patent litigation, not specifically involved in litigation with intellectual ventures.

There is nothing natural about interacting with flying robots...

In soviet linux the keyboard is the mouse:

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/movecursor.html

...of the asteroids that we know about...

If you do anything to correct the situation, you are reinforcing the bad behavior, and it will continue to happen with greater frequency.

You actually get punished more for trying to do the right thing.

You should just delete them, mark as spam, etc.

From a behavior stand point you would want to avoid reinforcing the behavior, and possibly also identify a way to punish the behavior -- one could do the wrong thing and publish them online, which might be a punishment (while probably technically legal, this behavior could increase the frequency with which you interact with lawyers).

In my case, someone has the same name modulo middle name, and his gmail is one character more than mine, so I get a few of their emails a month, at first I tried to respond to the sender, or forward them along, but it just kept happening so I now I delete them or mark them as spam.

A patent dies everytime you mentaly masterbate on slashdot. Oh the horror.