9 ms·

For my high school senior theology project, we were instructed to select a modern news event, categorize it into one (or more) of the seven deadly sins, and the

For my high school senior theology project, we were instructed to select a modern news event, categorize it into one (or more) of the seven deadly sins, and then give a class presentation. I miraculously convinced my group to choose the Microsoft antitrust case since I had just read the Wired cover story on it. Throughout the year, I sat in the back of the room and had a fake bible cover over my Flash 5 Bible and was reading about actionscript instead of paying attention to a topic I had no interest in. For the project, I made a fully interactive Windows 2000 desktop and functioning start menu that would launch “programs” that were the visual components of the presentation. We had the teacher move class to the computer lab where I loaded the flash executable onto each computer so the students could play with it while we gave the oral presentation. It was pretty awesome and we ended up with the only A in the entire grade!

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
currymj 8y ago
which sin was it?? greed would be the obvious, but one could make a case for pride and sloth as well.
- covercash 8y ago
  Primarily greed but I think one of my group members also mentioned pride and gluttony. This was 18 years ago so details are fuzzy. I probably have the project on an old hard drive or CD-R somewhere...
  - hrayr 8y ago
    CD-R: there's a word I hadn't heard for a long time. It's amazing how technology marches forward and you only notice it when you look back.
    - covercash 8y ago
      There’s a chance it’s also on a Zip disk somewhere in my basement!
      - Gene_Parmesan 8y ago
        Oh wow, Zip disks! I entirely forgot those existed. Which is now bringing back memories of just how many different disk drives those late 90s computers would have. The desktops in my middle school would have floppy, zip, sometimes another floppy, and an optical/cd drive. Towers are now almost flat in front, with even optical CD/DVD drives disappearing in many corners, but back in the day there were disk bays everywhere. I can still feel the satisfying click as a floppy was seated home and hear the buzz as the drive spun up. There was something wonderfully concrete about those storage media. You just don't get the same satisfaction at all from plugging in a USB stick. And the hours spent pulling back the metal cover and letting it go while bored in class... Although I do think they stuck around a little longer than many remember. I was still using 3.5s to bring papers to home and back around 1998-2000.
        nickpsecurity 8y ago
        I'll add MO discs. They were supposedly more durable, longer-lasting, and (at one point) GB than CD's and DVD's. I discovered them playing Resident Evil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_drive I also had a drive for 100MB, Zip disks. Only ever owned one since I couldn't justify the expense. Hardly anyone else had them. What's point of a tech for moving data if you can't use it to share the data with friends and local businesses? ;)
        yowlingcat 8y ago
        Anyone for Jaz drives? Oh man, I remember my mom having 100MB Zip drives and 1GB Jaz drives for a while in the 90s. Always wanted an excuse to play around with them but didn't have much useful data to put on them at that point.
- masonic 8y ago
  Using GOTOs.
d-sc 8y ago
... and this is the reason we can’t have nice things. Source: In 8th grade our class had to do a book report ‘project’. I selected an ebook on intro to processing (it’s an environment build on Java that lets you create graphics applications easily). I wrote an application that drove a (self built) 6-wheel drive robot wirelessly around our school for the project. Needless to say, there’s was little literary analysis done, but the class enjoyed the wireless video stream. Future me came to get annoyed by overachievers that raised the bar for ‘A’ grades.
- covercash 8y ago
  To be fair, I needed an A on that project in order to get a B in the class for the year because my grades on tests/quizzes weren’t great due to my focus on computers.
- jmts 8y ago
  Overachievers should not be able to raise the bar. If they can, then the system is broken. Grades should be relative to the course content, not the abilities of the students. When I started university, it was clear that I had much more experience programming than the other students, but I had to do certain introductory classes anyway because there was no way to receive credit for half a decade of self learning. On one assignment my lecturer went looking for things to mark me down on that were outside the scope of the assignment because "it would look suspicious if you got a perfect grade". Some people are just capable of more than is expected of that class for whatever reason, not because they intend to demoralise everyone else and break the system.
  - noir_lord 8y ago
    Similar story when I was at college (UK meaning) (late 90s). Final project was an inventory system for a company. Mine was a RDBMS backed system that implemented proper stock control with parent/child SKU handling etc (I went to the library and checked out books on inventory control) and was fully documented (180 pages of documentation) and a full user manual with a FAQ. I thought that was what professional programmers did...man was I in for a shock when I hit industry.
  - 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

currymj 8y ago

which sin was it?? greed would be the obvious, but one could make a case for pride and sloth as well.

covercash 8y ago
Primarily greed but I think one of my group members also mentioned pride and gluttony. This was 18 years ago so details are fuzzy. I probably have the project on an old hard drive or CD-R somewhere...
- hrayr 8y ago
  CD-R: there's a word I hadn't heard for a long time. It's amazing how technology marches forward and you only notice it when you look back.
  - covercash 8y ago
    There’s a chance it’s also on a Zip disk somewhere in my basement!
    - Gene_Parmesan 8y ago
      Oh wow, Zip disks! I entirely forgot those existed. Which is now bringing back memories of just how many different disk drives those late 90s computers would have. The desktops in my middle school would have floppy, zip, sometimes another floppy, and an optical/cd drive. Towers are now almost flat in front, with even optical CD/DVD drives disappearing in many corners, but back in the day there were disk bays everywhere. I can still feel the satisfying click as a floppy was seated home and hear the buzz as the drive spun up. There was something wonderfully concrete about those storage media. You just don't get the same satisfaction at all from plugging in a USB stick. And the hours spent pulling back the metal cover and letting it go while bored in class... Although I do think they stuck around a little longer than many remember. I was still using 3.5s to bring papers to home and back around 1998-2000.
      - nickpsecurity 8y ago
        I'll add MO discs. They were supposedly more durable, longer-lasting, and (at one point) GB than CD's and DVD's. I discovered them playing Resident Evil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_drive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magneto-optical_drive I also had a drive for 100MB, Zip disks. Only ever owned one since I couldn't justify the expense. Hardly anyone else had them. What's point of a tech for moving data if you can't use it to share the data with friends and local businesses? ;)
        yowlingcat 8y ago
        Anyone for Jaz drives? Oh man, I remember my mom having 100MB Zip drives and 1GB Jaz drives for a while in the 90s. Always wanted an excuse to play around with them but didn't have much useful data to put on them at that point.
masonic 8y ago
Using GOTOs.

d-sc 8y ago

... and this is the reason we can’t have nice things. Source: In 8th grade our class had to do a book report ‘project’. I selected an ebook on intro to processing (it’s an environment build on Java that lets you create graphics applications easily). I wrote an application that drove a (self built) 6-wheel drive robot wirelessly around our school for the project. Needless to say, there’s was little literary analysis done, but the class enjoyed the wireless video stream. Future me came to get annoyed by overachievers that raised the bar for ‘A’ grades.

covercash 8y ago
To be fair, I needed an A on that project in order to get a B in the class for the year because my grades on tests/quizzes weren’t great due to my focus on computers.
jmts 8y ago
Overachievers should not be able to raise the bar. If they can, then the system is broken. Grades should be relative to the course content, not the abilities of the students. When I started university, it was clear that I had much more experience programming than the other students, but I had to do certain introductory classes anyway because there was no way to receive credit for half a decade of self learning. On one assignment my lecturer went looking for things to mark me down on that were outside the scope of the assignment because "it would look suspicious if you got a perfect grade". Some people are just capable of more than is expected of that class for whatever reason, not because they intend to demoralise everyone else and break the system.
- noir_lord 8y ago
  Similar story when I was at college (UK meaning) (late 90s). Final project was an inventory system for a company. Mine was a RDBMS backed system that implemented proper stock control with parent/child SKU handling etc (I went to the library and checked out books on inventory control) and was fully documented (180 pages of documentation) and a full user manual with a FAQ. I thought that was what professional programmers did...man was I in for a shock when I hit industry.
- 8y ago