101 karma · joined July 19, 2009
(Regardless of how many are...)
EDIT: What's with the boom of posts demonstrating how stupid non-computer people are? It's rather elitist...
e.g. Some say the set of natural numbers contain 0, some say it doesn't.
Granted, the kind of math being discussed here isn't open to much interpretation, but I thought I'd note it.
The NYT should focus more on investigative reporting and analysis, and Twitter should stick to being about getting information out there as fast as people can type. To each it's own, right?
EDIT: To those who downvote, I'm curious as to why you did; this makes a lot of sense to me, and I'd like to hear contrasting opinions.
EDIT2: I think I must not have been clear at all: I agree with the OP. Completely. I'm just saying that no, the NYT doesn't care about getting out information as soon as possible. BNO does, that's why they're slightly better than the NYT at it. Twitter delivers a little bit of news in small bites – for some, that isn't sufficient (and it isn't for me either, though Twitter is a nice heads-up for when I'm not watching the news). But bites of news can be transmitted in 140 characters, or at the very least they can contain links to news (such as, again, BNO's links.) I don't see the controversy here, but I suppose that must be the Twitter kool-aid.
Right now, it's not clear what those conditions were; my comment was meant to address the only clear-cut part of this vague article: that 15 year-olds were working in a factory.
I'm not justifying poor working conditions, nor am I justifying overwork (though I find it interesting that we don't see it as criminal when professionals spend around 130 hours a week working.) I was simply astonished at the knee-jerk reaction so many have when children... gasp... work!
Substantiated claims that the working conditions of these children were poor can be addressed separately.
But, by all means, protect these children from feeding their families.
The title is is misleading, as well: Apple contracts these oversea factories; they don't hire or force children to work for them. It's all a bit inflammatory.
EDIT: Added "pixel on the screen".
But I'm certainly ready and interested in moving toward a more functional language -- I've always been interested in the Lisps, and have always tended to write code in the functional style, where possible (even though my first language was Java...)
Discovery is the most rewarding part of learning to program, and having fast payoffs is always nice to keep a kid interested. Worked for me (I started with Logo around his age, but Python/Ruby is way better.)
It astonishes me when people think this should be free. KNowledge should be free, yes, but news that costs money and much, much time to acquire and then disseminate _does_ cost money and I'm glad to pay for it.
This is high quality journalism from hard working people: asking them to do it for less and less is ridiculous. Content is tangible, to me at least, and worth money, just as a few lines of code "anybody" could write is also worth quite a bit.
This is an old article, but there are new ones a-comin'; the implications of Dan's work are just starting to be realized.
Thanks for that – it gets overwhelming to consider all the project at once.
Thanks for the advice! It sounds as though I need to just get a version 1 out there, ASAP.
A problem with my idea is that it requires some pretty intense sysadmin knowledge, and my big stumbling block is either learning more about all that, or bringing in a partner.
Another issue, perhaps you've got suggestions regarding it, is security. How do I go about handling that? Passwords, information, etc?
Thanks again!
I probably should have mentioned that I am a programmer, mostly Python, but have work experience in Java and am capable with JS/HTML/CSS (and have knowledge of or am somewhat capable in Scheme and C).
Problematic is the fact that I don't have a grasp on database software or security and I dislike the idea of using Django, partially because I don't want to think in Django. I'd almost like to write in Scheme, if Python didn't (a) come more naturally, having written much more code in it (b) seem to have more libraries etc... (c) I have formal education in Python, and I still don't have a solid grasp on where call/cc would be used in a program, which signals to me that I'm not ready to use Scheme.
I'm also decent with sysadmin tools, by no means an expert, but I can use bash and I can script a bit.
So yes and no?
I'm all for the agile approach. I'd like to open with a bang, though. I'm thinking a designer?
2. I suppose I do just need to step into the game. Now. The advice I hear but selectively ignore is "just do it."
1. ?
Thanks!
If anyone's got any resources that might give me an idea of the file progression – from OS to OS with teeth – I'd be extremely obliged. I'd like to grok *nix.
My secret to a good roast is http://www.stumptowncoffee.com/ - you can't go wrong with a good roast there. Not only that, but you can order the specific coarseness you'd like the coffee ground at, and they roast it and grind it after you order and send it to you with priority mail. It's nearly as fresh as it gets, anywhere in the US.
At it's heart, Google is an advertising company which creates products that use data to place other companies in the eyes of those who use them.
TomTom and Garmin may offer an equivalent (or better) experience for a price, but Google offers an excellent experience for free, the only cost being a little inadvertent exposure to advertisements.
It wouldn't be inconceivable for another company to more efficiently display data and create a better experience for consumers, but profit through advertisements as Google does. Companies do this already. There simply wasn't another model in the mapping industry that could compete. Yet.
They're clearly not fads, they're clearly useful, and the kind of knowledge and education that doing such an exercise would require is exactly something that proponents "world-class western liberal arts education" would laud.
It can work, it seems to me.