>Millions of children are being raised on prejudice and disinformation. Educated in schools that teach a skewed ideology, they are exposed to a dogma that runs counter to core beliefs shared by many other Western countries.
Doesn't this statement apply equally well to American schools, from a European point of view?
It would be possible to write an interesting, informative article contrasting the values taught in Europe and the US without being so inflammatory. And I expect it would be more constructive. Scorn is cheap and easy.
>The news of the death of the suburbs has been greatly exaggerated ... The simple fact is that not everyone likes nor wants to live in more densely populated areas.
The article addresses this issue head-on with actual data, did you see that?
Joel starts out by telling you that Microsoft's file formats are not the product of a demented Borg mind and are not impossible to read or create correctly.
And then he spends the rest of the article explaining why the file formats are so demented and impossible to read or create correctly.
Which isn't the same thing at all. Just because there is a rich history of it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time decisions doesn't mean the end result is any good.
There is a serious, deep, and interesting problem of scaling and complexity management that could be discussed here. But Microsoft's approach seems to have been one of embracing complexity. And Joel's role, today, is just defending that approach.
Who says there is any clear line between experience and talent?
Research into the workings of the brain has actually been pointing the other way: people who are described as "talented" in a particular area have put tremendous effort into becoming so -- that is to say, they have experience.
I mean, that's great for him personally and all, but "Step 1: Use Emacs" pretty much makes this a non-starter for something like 95% of the people in the world who might run a blog or personal website.
I have read some LCD manuals that specifically warn against cleaners that contain ammonia -- i.e., window cleaner.
I've have good luck with a big micro-fiber lens-cleaning cloth dampened with a squirt of eyeglasses-cleaner. I've also heard that diluted isopropyl alcohol is a good choice. There are also cleaning fluids specifically intended for use on LCD screens.
Doesn't this statement apply equally well to American schools, from a European point of view?
It would be possible to write an interesting, informative article contrasting the values taught in Europe and the US without being so inflammatory. And I expect it would be more constructive. Scorn is cheap and easy.