Posts tagged ‘definitions’
On Good And Evil
The article was on spam (and suchlike; more focussed, to my undiscerning eye, on annoyances than on “actual” crime). I think my comment (assuming it’s left) is germane: it was third. The judgement of good and evil is a bit more chancy than the determination of cause. “It’s all in the eye”, so to speak.
–Glenn
Changing Responses to the Environment
The first note I want to make–again–is that using an absolute, linear system (the order of which is self-contained, rather an important note) to describe a relative, non-linear one is at best risky. This article is about changing fuel prices impacting the definitions of livability in the suburbs, from heating to paying for transportation to where one’s job is.
There is no social norm, even in the given instant. To attempt to derive causation from statistics isn’t dangerous, it’s fatal. I’ll expound on this further, I’m sure, since I occasionally already have, just not here.
The single point I want to make here is this; modern writers of news stories (for a variety of reasons) tend to pursue a single explanation. That’s about as reasonable as saying that the only reason for what you ate last night is that you’re (for instance) a “single white American”. Define single, white and American in the first place. Then start about motivational impact points during the day, from realizations (basically, looking at something from another perspective; this is generally caused by someone else’s observation) to ads to things seen as preserving one’s identity. It’s really rare that there’s a single cause.
A single point that the writer ignores or misses entirely is the inflation of prices in the suburbs. Inflation based on desirability is subject to major fluctuations. Services, then, based on desirability are extremely vulnerable.
–Glenn
Computers and users; definitions
Dealing with my wife’s old computer has made me realize again that there are points at which most people are relatively ignorant, most especially including (dare I say it) programmers. Specifically, the average “end-user” is pretty well ignorant of most of the issues involved with computing except for the current catchwords. The concepts that are associated with these cool words are generally relatively vague. The programmer is entirely ignorant of the average home user, mostly because of insulation. Most start out with some understanding.
“OEM” has come to mean one thing in the computer world, basically. It’s an Operating System (OS) which only works on the computer it came with. Dells, HPs and the like have OEMs. There are also often OEM copies of things like Adobe=”trialware”=”shareware”=crapware, or something that’s limited in some way. Usually it’s limited as to how many times you can use it, so you have to remove it from your system, and it leaves little bits and fragments along the way, from uninstall.exe programs to text files to dll’s/dynamic linked libraries. The dll’s just contain various kinds of information. …Libraries.
This means that if the motherboard or CPU in your Dell fail, you can’t just use your old copy of Windows. It won’t work. There’s a piece of hardware in there that has to stick up its little hand at the right time and say it’s Dell, or it just won’t work. More or less.
Now if it’s just the hard drive, and you still have your copy of Windows, because it’s on cd, you get a cd and install Windows. If it’s a Northgate and the OS was on a partition of the hard drive (call a partition a virtual hard drive and you’ll more or less get the picture) things aren’t perfect. I was just reflecting on the fact that I don’t actually know that the motherboard hasn’t eaten it, either. But much less likely than the hard drive in the first place.
Most motherboards take up the functions of things like graphics cards and such that used to be separate entities in the old days five years ago. You’ll generally have Ethernet; if you do get a separate graphics or audio card you actually bypass the existent functions on the motherboard (you also substantially improve performance by the nature of things, because you’re paring down CPU functions a bit). Generally you can’t use the old Dell or whatever box (the thing the actual computer goes into) because a standard motherboard won’t fit somehow. It also may be tricky figuring out actual wattages and things of the sort, important considerations when laying out a power supply for the interior functions.
Building your own computer is much easier than you’d think. This is where I want to go into user types briefly and then just stop. This should be a bit different take than you’ve generally seen on this kind of stuff, so maybe it’s a little less intimidating. Overdoing it isn’t particularly cool, either, though.
With users you have generally the standard user and the power user, with the latter being almost exclusively gamers. Graphics uses a lot of computing power, but only when done in realtime. Fractals are maybe the best demonstration. Naturally, editing of videos and the like will eat a lot of resources and is entirely out of the realm of this discussion, because you’ve actually gone right to programs-for-pay with the price tag for “decent” starting at a couple of grand. The ordinary user outside a company isn’t going to touch a computer’s capabilities–remember, watching a DVD is watching a DVD, no matter whether a computer or a “DVD player”.
The point is that there isn’t any great merit in being a “power user” or a “gamer”. A few things won’t run on standard equipment, and that’s all. As far as word processors, editing photos, and that sort of thing standard equipment does just fine or the equipment is flawed.
The ordinary business user uses…about a tenth of what the ordinary home user does. It’s inexecusable to have unnecessary input ports on a machine whose sole function is formatted data entry. There should be communication with an authorized gateway, and nothing else. For that matter, entry into the box should be physically keyed and there are several methods of doing it. Keep in mind that physical, keyed connection to the gateway somehow can also prevent someone just unplugging the computer and walking away, which has been done. (Random memory of actual places I’ve worked. If you ask the obvious question, I actually don’t know why I never did. Risk factor was somewhere near zero.)
Enough for now.
–Glenn
About Modal Philosophy
According to it itself, those who master its precepts are likely to become wealthy. My question is concerning motivations.
Why do I write?
–so that I can I appreciate the following silence better.
–to become more entwined in definitions.
–to outline the structures and separations I’ve unknowingly accepted, the ones that transform or even govern my every perception. It is thus some of these mysterious definitions are founded. What can be said it seems is quite certainly at least partially a lie. How sad to think that: I hope I’m wrong. I hope that one does equal one, that the cracked egg is the same thing as the whole egg in the carton–because if it doesn’t then the whole edifice of Reality may come toppling down at any moment. But I fear. I fear greatly; for one sign of great danger is when the people see the images made of things rather than the things themselves, and that time has come.
Truth, that is, isn’t something we seek modernly. We run from it.
–Glenn
