Comment Re:Or a parasite (Score 3, Informative) 28
gifts are not necessarily income, you can give someone up to $10k worth of gifts a year without taxes coming into play
Comment Re:Ugh (Score 2) 169
Flipping the classroom and making you work in teams are completely different things.
Ask Slashdot: Dealing With a Fear of Technological Change? 429
An anonymous reader writes "Despite the fact that I am fairly young at twenty-four years old, people see me as rather 'old school.' I regularly use Lynx, IRC, Pine, have many consoles open, and am currently typing this on an older plain black laptop that has a matte 4:3 display and no chiclet keys. As the days progress, I am coming to the realization that the 'old school' computing world that I grew up in is slowly fading away and a new world of Windows 8, Web 3.0, tablets, smart televisions, and social networking is starting to become fairly common. If there is anything I have learned, it is that most humans have a desire to throw out the old and accept the new without any sort of hesitation. Like many Slashdot users (I am sure you know who you are), I do not accept the new as easily as I probably should. How have you learned to adapt and accept things that are new and different in the world of technology and computers? If not, what are some effective strategies to utilize to keep these kids off my lawn?"
Comment Pilot Hi-Tec-C Pens (Score 2) 712
These pens are fantastic. They come in a variety of thicknesses (.25mm and up), are super smooth, don't bleed, and are relatively affordable. Highly recommended.
Pilot Hi-Tec-C Pens
Insects As Weapons 160
An anonymous reader writes "Timothy Paine, an entomologist at the University of California-Riverside, recently 'committed to the scientific record the idea that California's eucalyptus trees may have been biologically sabotaged, publishing an article [in the Journal of Economic Entomology] raising the possibility of bioterrorism.' Specifically, Paine argues that foreign insect pests have been deliberately introduced in the Golden State, in hopes of decimating the state's population of eucalyptus (especially the two species regarded as invasive, which 'are particularly susceptible to the pests.') In California's Bioterror Mystery, Paine (and scientists who are skeptical) make their arguments. What isn't in dispute is that the insect pests have already inflicted hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, making the story a cautionary tale about what might happen if a food or crop were intentionally targeted."
Comment Scifi or Fantasy? (Score 3, Informative) 647
If you're into Scifi or Fantasy check out this link:
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books
Having trouble choosing a book from the list? Try this:
http://www.box.com/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books
Having trouble choosing a book from the list? Try this:
http://www.box.com/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg
Comment Not all schools are equal (Score 4, Interesting) 333
A computer/tablet can't teach as well as a good or great teacher (as the students at Waldorf likely have access to), but in a large percentage of cases around the country, where the teachers are in fact poor, computers and tablets can make a tremendous difference.
Anonymous Hackers Take Down Child Porn Websites 481
chrb writes "According to Security News Daily, Anonymous has taken down more than 40 darknet-based child porn websites over the last week. Details of some of the hacks have been released via pastebin #OpDarknet, including personal details of some users of a site named 'Lolita City,' and DDoS tools that target Hidden Wiki and Freedom Hosting — alleged to be two of the biggest darknet sites hosting child porn."
Mozilla To Remove User-Facing Firefox Version Numbers 683
MrSeb writes "A great collective gasp issued from tuned-in Firefox fans when Mozilla announced that it was switching to a Chrome-like release schedule for its browser. Now Mozilla wants to take things one step further and remove Firefox version numbers entirely — from the user-facing parts of the browser, anyway."
You can see the Bugzilla entry for this change, and keep up on Mozilla's reasoning and discussion through a thread on the mozilla.dev.usability newsgroup. Mozilla's Asa Dotzler explained, "We're moving to a more Web-like convention where it's simply not important what version you're using as long as it's the latest version. ... The most important thing is confidence that they're on the latest release. That's what the About dialog will give them."
Comment Re:Can I pick two options? (Score 1) 469
You are giving Wikileaks way too much benefit of the doubt here. Asange has publicly stated that they are getting so much stuff that they basically have shut down taking submissions. They are not just releasing everything they get, they are picking and choosing. This is obviously driven by a lack of resources but also creates a system which is very vulnerable to subjective decisions (ie. anti-American agendas).
And if you had read the article on slashdot today about the Wikileaks competitor that's in the works (and is being run by former Wikileaks members) you would have read this quote:
A group of former members of WikiLeaks is planning to launch its own whistleblowing platform in mid-December, according to a German newspaper. The activists criticize WikiLeaks for concentrating too much on the US and want to take a broader approach
Comment Re:how would it work (Score 1) 173
Thanks for the explanation anyway though.
Comment Re:how would it work (Score 1) 173
I understand the concept of browsing without being tracked. My question is how to enforce a 'do not track' list. Which is distinctly different from a 'do not track' browser feature.
Comment how would it work (Score 4, Insightful) 173
My brain's a little slow today... how would this work? How would this be enforced? Since when can websites tell exactly who we are (which I am assuming will be required to verify that the user is or is not on the list)?
Sorting Algorithms — Boring Until You Add Sound 118
An anonymous reader writes "Anyone who's ever taken a programming course or tried to learn how to code out of a book will have come across sorting algorithms. Bubble, heap, merge — there's a long list of methods for sorting data. The subject matter is fairly dry. Thankfully, someone has found a way to not only make sorting more interesting, but easier to remember and understand, too."
Best Browser For Using Complex Web Applications? 347
yanyan writes "I'm fairly new to the field of web application development. Currently I'm working on a big online ticketing system for passage and freight for a local shipping company. It's a one-man show and the system is written in Ruby and uses Rails. Aside from the requisite functionality of creating bookings the system must also print reports and tickets, and this is where I've discovered (the hard way) that most, if not all, browsers fall short. I've had to switch from Firefox 3.6.3 to Opera 10.53 because of a major printing bug in Firefox, but the latest stable Opera is also giving me its own share of problems. To complicate things, an earlier version of Opera (10.10) doesn't appear to have 10.53's printing problems, but I'm wary. What browsers and specific versions do you end up deploying for use with big, complex web apps that include printing? Also consider CSS accuracy and consistency."
