From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Apr 27 15:49:36 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B1C4F16A402 for ; Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:49:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (mail.web-strider.com [65.75.192.90]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6B99613C4BA for ; Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:49:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from TEDSDESK (nat-rtr.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.197.130]) by mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with SMTP id l3RFnS5T044891; Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:49:28 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" To: "Bart Silverstrim" , "Paul Schmehl" Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:51:03 -0700 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: <770D13E9-D603-4749-A09F-6BC66F0EFFE8@chrononomicon.com> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1896 Importance: Normal X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.192.90]); Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:49:29 -0700 (PDT) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Wikipedia's perfection (was Re: Discussion of therelative advantages/disadvantages of PAE (was Re: Memory>3.5GB not used?)) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:49:36 -0000 > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Bart > Silverstrim > Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 7:06 AM > To: Paul Schmehl > Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > Subject: Re: Wikipedia's perfection (was Re: Discussion of therelative > advantages/disadvantages of PAE (was Re: Memory>3.5GB not used?)) > > > > On Apr 25, 2007, at 3:51 PM, Paul Schmehl wrote: > > > --On Wednesday, April 25, 2007 15:29:04 -0400 Thomas Dickey > > wrote: > > > >> On Wed, Apr 25, 2007 at 01:15:03PM -0600, Chad Perrin wrote: > >>> No kidding. That professor should have his Wikipedia account > >>> banned, > >>> and the head of his department should be informed of his > >>> vandalism. I > >>> don't suppose you know the name of his Wikipedia account, or his > >>> legal > >>> name. . . . > >> > >> yawn. That sort of research has been going on for years. > >> > >> Less interesting is the sort of trash emitted by people who don't > >> like > >> knowing that whatever they've read on a webpage might not be > >> completely > >> accurate, and that they might have to do some of their own thinking. > >> > >> regards. > > > > At one time I had high hopes that the internet would usher in a new > > era of increased knowledge and reduced gullibility. Instead it > > seems to have simply hastened the arrival to the wrong conclusions. > > There are opportunities for increased knowledge. Gullibility, > though, is part of our human nature. > > How many of you delve four levels deep when looking for a quick > reference on something that, in the long run, you care little about? I try to avoid stuff I don't care about. > If you're not a mechanic or car enthusiast, do you look into anything > and everything on how a clutch works, or every variation of four > wheel drive implementations? Probably not. Yes, but if your driving a car you should. There's a lot of stuff people should be doing these days that they aren't doing. I guess people's mothers aren't telling their kids to eat their vegetables anymore. > We don't devote time and > resources into being "renaissance people". Most of us don't. And the reasons why are complex, but what it essentially boils down to is that there's a lot of vested interests out there that don't want the majority of people to be renaissance people and so they have been on a campaign for many years to discourage it, and a lot of people are stupid and have fallen for that. > For me, I look up the > answer, if it sounds reasonable, I go with it unless someone else > points out a deficiency in the answer. I need a quick and dirty > answer to move on to things I *do* care about. > Why do you need a quick and dirty answer for stuff you admittedly don't care about? > The problem is that people will accept an answer whether it makes > sense or not. We had someone once convinced that a "Laser Car Wash" > cleaned cars by shooting small lasers at the car to clean it. It was > something so far left field of what they're interested in and > knowledgeable about that they just accepted the answer, even though > there's no way such a system would be affordable (or safe enough) to > use as a car washing tool. > Damn, there goes those patent plans... > Then again, there are those that do this intentionally, because > spreading misinformation is in their best interest and they profit > from it. Even schools profit, not necessarily monetarily, by keeping > students from questioning what they are taught. Yes, that is true. But it's important to keep in mind that while schools profit from this, many teachers don't - and therefore buck the pressure to churn out unquestioning students. Ted