COMPUTER TALK, ANYONE?

SIGNS OF THE TIMES BACK HOME Comment from: longwaybye "I was awed, and Im still continuing to be awed by the power of the computer and its off-shoot, the Internet. Maybe its because we havent it in our time, when our cerebrums were still able to expand with new undertakings. Kids now take it for granted. Walk thru the many Internet and computer shops in Manila, and the wonder what they can do with computers. And I thought the USA was the numero uno! Hell, any AMA or STI graduate will tell you they know more stuff than the average American. I said hhhmmmmm..... but the I love you virus came to mind... Even the remotest barrio can converse computerspeak. And for sure at least one barrio mate has taken some course or another with computers. Maybe Im just late for the times. The other day, I was browsing in the UP library, and I tried to use their computer. A computer with no windows? I thought windows was the OS? Oh they say theyre using Linux. Whats that? Its more powerful and simpler than windows and its free! I said to the young working student, tell me young lady, how many OS are really out there in the world? Sir, you can make your own. Its too much for me, I thought its windows and nothing more, and to be faced with the fact that there is really much to know about computers... I still have that long pile of books I bought but havent read since teenager, I guess I have to doubletime before this hypertension of mine blows me into a paralyzed infirm. And please, can anybody stop this information explosion? I need badly to catch up!"

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I am adding a week end experience to your posting which would really explain further how much the computer have affected our lives..Last week end, Mia my 13 year old grand daughter came to our house to work on a school project. "What is your school project?" "I am making a video re: earth day," she said. " I took the shots with a video camera and I want to edit it.." I shook my head, editing a video on PC is one of the most time consuming things to do. Anyway, we opened my PC. One of the free programs that came in with the machine is the Windows Movie maker. I explained to her the procedure..Download all your shots into the PC, I said..Our PC have 120 Gigs Hard Drive,..It was her first time to use the software, it was my nth time to use it..After 30 minutes, she was able to master how to remove the bad shots fromt he good ones using the software..It took her only 30 minutes to learn what took me 2years to "master.." Actually, in humility, I am still learning the advanced features of the software..She was able to jumble her diffrent video shots ( called clips ) like a pile of blocks and in an hour, she showed me her work: a decent documentary with her and her classmates as the stars..She is still in the Elementary grades..Hell, I said to myself, I wish I had this software when I was in the Dupac Elementary school.. Then I showed her how to finalize her work into a DVD-R..With an IEEE cable, we transfered the edited work back into the Video Camera, ( using a blank tape of course so the original shots wont be erased )..Then we transferred the taped final film into a DVD-R thru the DVD-Recorder's various inputs..Filipino kids here abroad have these opportunites to learn new things. Our Filipino kids back home are as just as intelligent as their counterparts here are..They need just the right environment, schools, computers, softwares, TEACHERS and projects to give them hands on in learning this new technology.Too bad this Computer expansion won't stop anymore---#