Hard News: Brown bigots etc.
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Oh and as if to be as crass as possible, I saw a T-shirt that said "pets are for Barbies not just for Christmas".
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1. Price
2. Simplicity, ease of use
3. Breadth of applications
4. Differing uses
5. Out of the box functionality
6. User base, support
7. Reliability1, 3, 4, 6: *nix. They did it better before the others did it at all, and now they've got GUIs for it too.
2, 7: Playstation, etc. PCs simply aren't in the same class.For an OS, use what you like, it's all functionally identical these days anyway. I don't care what you run your Firefox on, or your Thunderbird.
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Tussock: it's Playstation (or Xbox) no more. Nintendo Wii is the here and now. And easy to use? Good god, is it what!
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I rather liked Dame Barbara Goodman's attitude to the whole prayer thing, when she was an Auckland City Councilor - which, if my memory serves, was that she didn't really think it was that big a deal, but as a Jew she wasn't going to participate either. Which sounds like an entirely sensible one, and dare I say it 'liberal' and 'tolerant' in the best sense.
(deep breath) - I'm gonna disagree. Ignoring for a moment that whole "separation of church and state" idea, there are places where I, as an atheist, tolerate sitting through prayers: funerals, weddings, and all other religious ceremonies I might be at (for example the brilliant midwinter swim held by the Druids in Wellington.
But when the prayer (or chant or ceremonial cutting) has nothing to do with what is about to occur then there is no reason for it and especially no reason for me to have to sit through it.
dare I say it 'liberal' and 'tolerant' in the best sense.
I heard a speaker at a stats conference (of all places) talking about tolerance. She said (something to the effect of): There is a difference between understanding and tolerance; I understand that my teenage daughter wants to go out drinking with her friends, but I won't tollerate it!
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1, 3, 4, 6: *nix. They did it better before the others did it at all, and now they've got GUIs for it too.
2, 7: Playstation, etc. PCs simply aren't in the same class.That may all be true but my point was that the Windows XP PC is probably the only one that does all of the family/hack/productivity/design/games thing all within the same OS, on the same box, at a very cost-effective price.
For all the rubbishing of Windows, and the somewhat justified criticism of MS licensing, until another company can replicate this, MS will own the market.
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very cost-effective price.
Well getting closer to the original topic, that price maybe around $200 per school PC for a three year licence, whether or not they use MSOffice. The Min of Ed so only 40% of these school PCs actually use MS Office.
Not such a great deal for the tax payer in those terms and no great advantage to the pupil either. At the moment the Ministry of Ed is doing the heavy lifting for the schools so the latter think it is cheap.
However, I the figure $100 million ever three years spent on MS licences would pay for about 600 teachers in the same period and leave some over to train them in this horribly new fangled software.
BTW the $100 million figure is one plucked from the Nine to Noon National Radio segment yesterday.
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Ben, I think there would be a market for a car that hadn't been developed properly but looked cool and went really fast.
Problem being that when Vista crashes, it doesn't take out the family of four in the oncoming lane.
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Ben, I think there would be a market for a car that hadn't been developed properly but looked cool and went really fast.
Problem being that when Vista crashes, it doesn't take out the family of four in the oncoming lane.Yeah and ain’t this the rub - As software systems find their way into situations where there are similarly dire consequences attached to failure. M$ is not the obvious choice.
However, I the figure $100 million ever three years spent on MS licences would pay for about 600 teachers in the same period and leave some over to train them in this horribly new fangled software.
Note: At risk of belabouring this point this is only the on box cost. When a kid leaves school and expects to use one expensive platform this is the gift that keeps taking - Industry is put under pressure to invest in an expensive platform for employees that in the majority of cases it just does not need. Furthermore this situation fails to promote the real skills that NZ needs.
I’m with Hadyn on the prayer thing - I have grown somewhat intolerant of people praying for guidance at meetings etc. I would much prefer the guidance of intellect, consensus and with it a degree of personal responsibility.
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Ben, I think there would be a market for a car that hadn't been developed properly but looked cool and went really fast.
Indeed, many of the popular facets of religion seem to me to be outsourcing personal responsibility to an invisible 'higher power'. One of the prime assumptions of many louder religious types is that lack of religion = lack of ethics/morals/responsibility.
"Religion is man's attempt to communicate with the weather" - Robert Heinlein.
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Neat
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I'd like to know how the hundreds of years of non-Christian human existance in New Zealand prior to Europeans showing up factors in to this claim that it's a Christian nation. Surely in terms of years spent worshipping something, paganism would win hands down?
As an atheist I too am becoming increasingly intolerant of prayer at meetings and conferences and other non-religious activities. And yet for some reason I find myself cowed by it, sit meekly by while someone rabbits on about their beliefs, not wanting to insult anyone and with a desire to look tolerant. Why doesn't anyone ever worry about insulting atheists? Help help, I'm being repressed! I suppose the problem here in NZ is that we are all (generally) so quiet about our particular beliefs that you never know what you can speak out about lest you insult the person standing next to you. At least in the States you generally know a person's religious affiliations within 5 minutes and which directions the conversation can safely go.
So which three categories do I get to check here? Woman - check. God-botherer - check (not sure if the post bothered God, I'll have to deal with that at the pearly gates). Techno-geek - ummm...using Mac, posting via Safari? Does that count? No, I've got Word running in the background so I don't think it does. :)
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Jer
The evil that men do is often passed on to 'higher powers' ..." I was just doing my job" is but the most recent to appear in the media.Lets not look into the hearts of man & I’d get slapped if I tried to do this to women anyway. Every excuse must be able to have the suffix "... your honour" added to it to stand up.
Jacqui
As an atheist can not prayer be considered something of a verbal floral tribute - pretty and meaningless to yourselves and valuable to others?If we examine floral tributes aren't they a latter day sacrifice, in lieu of blood? Should we protest the murderous heathen sacrifice of flowers for the sake ... But I go far too far.
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As an atheist I too am becoming increasingly intolerant of prayer at meetings and conferences and other non-religious activities.
Jacqui - who needs to be an atheist to be in the amen corner on that one? I take my religion seriously enough to think there's a place and a time for everything, and you don't genuinely 'respect' anyone by treating prayer as a 'verbal floral tribute'. IMO, it is insulting to everyone involved.
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Oh, and thanks for the thoughtful and reasonable response Hadyn. What I liked about Dame Barbara's attitude was, IMO, that she could make her point without turning the issue into another apocalyptic front in the culture wars. I think folks like her, and dare I say it the thoughtful and mututally respect discussion here, need to be heard more often - and the shrill likes of Brian The Bish and Richard Dawkins a lot less.
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on the off chance that anyone is interested, i wrote a strongly worded letter of complaint to the "religious intelligence" people, regarding their misreporting on the hindu conference. well, here is the reply i got:
Dear Mr Rahman, thank you for your e-mail about our story, which was taken from agency reports. I have taken your comments into account and made some alterations to the story.
With many thanks for your vigilance,
Colin Blakely
Editorso there you go. outrage does help sometimes.
(and note, he assumed i was male!! #@*%...)
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I have to say that I laughed out loud ("LOLed", if you will) when i read "Dear Mr Rahman".
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