I agree with everything except the part about graphics. As an IT manager, I have a nice Sony Vaio, with a large screen built in, as my only work machine. Yes, when I sit down at my desk I have a nice large monitor, which becomes my second screen, giving me a useful two screen environment.
However, In terms of video hardware, what I got is what I got, and this is the way with pretty much any laptop. Either you have shared video RAM, which is definitely a generation or more behind in performance compared to a dedicated RAM high speed card, or you have x amount of of Video RAM, which cannot be upgraded. These are almost always less RAM then you can get on the newest cards, and even if you pop for the ultimate primo top of the line king of the hill video setup for your laptop, within six months, you existing on board Video will be blown away by the latest greatest available, with no opportunity to upgrade.
Add to that the fact that you only get ONE adapter on a laptop, and current technology allows you to bridge multiple GPUs for ultra-screaming performance, you are just not going to be able to get top end desktop performance on a top end laptop.
When the fate of human race depends on it, a laptop just isn't going to be top line cutting edge. Only a desktop can insure the ultimate gaming experience.
Now, for spreadsheets, databases, and all things boring, yea, a laptop is as good as a desktop most of the time. Better in some cases, with it's built in UPS...
For those of you who thought aliens would take over by pretending to be human and infiltrating government, I apologize for calling you nasty names. If the Chairmen of the FCC is doing something consumer friendly, there is no other explanation.
Now, I AM hardpressed to figure out who such action forwards the cause of these aliens, unless maybe they too are just sick and tired of crippled phones....
"I am suggesting that testing memorization of multiplication tables is "math" and should not be tested for. Proclaiming that "math is important" and "we should test math" does not mean that a test that measures math ability is useful."
this statement makes no sense to me. Please help me understand.
Short test to measure basic multiplication, division, and single factor Algebraic evaluation, and real world applications.
2545*6464=
5485495*373873=
373848/24=
7824747/13=
8x+5=69 Solve for X
27X=37X +14 Solve for X
In a rectangular room 12 feet by 20, how much carpet is required to cover the floor?
If the ceilings in this room are 9 feet high, and one can of paint covers 100 square feet, how much paint would be required to cover all four walls?
This is a simple example of a test. First thing to note: Not a single one of these can be solved without knowing one's times tables. If a student can not answer these questions, perhaps a lack of knowledge of basic time tables is the problem.
Second thing to note: This test is quite capable of determining whether or not the tested subject understands the principles of Multiplication and division, and basic single factor algebra. If you disagree, please explain.
"Well, more tests wouldn't help. "
It would if action was taken based on those tests. There is no way in hell this student has passed social studies, english. history, geography, none of it. How did he pass through to the twelve grade?
"Also, finding the worst possible student and dragging them up as an example of how the system works is a greater distraction from the problem than a useful critique."
I see it as an extreme example of the problem. If a child this ignorant can be passed through school, how many other children with a little more knowledge, but not enough, have passed through?
"f he wanted to show the system failing, he should be in the intercity schools with drug and discipline problems."
He did. He showed children in classrooms acting like animals. Discipline in one of the big problems in schools, and the fix is to discipline both the student and the parent. He also showed an Oakland Ca charter school working on far less money successfully teaching children. Here is the online version
"They will not be allowed to turn away any applicants, they will not be allowed to expel any students unless approved by the public school board"
Won't need to. Being a private school they can have thier own rules, with no need to "expell" students. Break the rules, violate the contract, no problem.
"hey will be required to transport every student from their homes to school, if the student wishes. "
Perhaps. Some rules need to be waived. As long as the parents are in agreement with the method for transportation, that is no problem for me. Public transit works sometimes.
"The only problem with public schools is that they are politicized. '
Agreed.
"This lead to the requirement that students that do not want to be there are required to be there."
I disagree. I don't really give a crap if the student wants to be there, it is the parents requirement to get them there, and insure they behave. Schools should have enforcement capabilities for insuring this.
"they'd be able to expel the 10% of students that are unteachable, and hold back the people like you mention that need to repeat a grade or learn at a different pace."
NoO student is unteachable, they simply need to be motivated, and Holding students back should be MANDATORY. This would also help with those ten$. Shame will help a 12 year old to learn when 8 yer olds are passing them by.
"That does not address whether "math" (a term that encompasses everything from the most basic algebra to advanced calculus) is something that should be measured"
Are you suggesting that:
Math skills to some level are not important?
Math skills are not important enough measure a potential graduates abilities?
"whether there exists a test that does measure the things that should be tested for.
If it does not exist, can it reasonably be built? That seems to be the important question.
"And you don't see the irony in you calling for saving money by spending more on something you can't even show has ever, in the history of the world, been done successfully?"
First of all, I reject your concept that tests have never determined one's abilities and knowledge. I am sorry, but that statement is flat out wrong. IF the current tests are flawed, (and they are) they can be fixed. Second of all, I am not calling for "saving" money, but insuring that we are getting our money's worth, and that the vital mission of education is being carried out.
"You are saying it can be fixed with tests, but with no evidence that tests can fix it. "
Our education systems is broken. Tests, even good tests, will not fix that system. It WILL show us where it is broken, and allow us to verify that any fixes we come up with are working.
"You only demand proof for the ideas you didn't come up with, not for all ideas that waste money."
You lost me on that one.
"With such intellectual inconsistency, there can never be a test that measures anything. It'll fail before it starts. "
Sorry, but my position is perfectly consistent. We are paying money for a service. That service is not up to par. I want it up to par. Period. I want monitoring to enable us to get it and keep it up to par. As far as I know, effective testing is the only way to do that. If we do not have effective testing, then we need to get it. Unless you have an alternative method to monitor the effectiveness of our education system, in which case I am all ears. SOMETHING needs to be done.
"Wait, so if they fail a test at graduation, it is somehow worth the 14 years? "
No, and I do not want to wait until graduation for it. Regular monitoring of performance, with whatever is needed to get a student who is falling behind up to speed. Where a large number of failure shows a systemic problem, fix that system.
"If you send your kids somewhere for 14 years and don't evaluate it's value after, say, the 12th year of constant exposure,"
REGULAR evaluation, each year. The problem is with the way things are now, an entire class can fail to learn the material, and still be moved on to the next grade. Where is the accountability? Even if a school fails a student early on, there is no consequences. There is nothing that requires a school system to actually succeed in educating our students. They are failing. So we need regular monitoring to keep their performance up.
Let me put it very simple. Jon Stossell has done a couple of stories. In one, he brings an example twelfth grader who has real trouble reading a FIRST grade primer. There is no way that kid has done well in school if he cannot read the textbooks. Yet, here he is in twelfth grade. That kind of failure is disgusting. How would you fix it?
"You have yet to demonstrate that a fixed test can exist. "
Why do you keep avoiding my comments about Math? You appear to be avoiding the point. Is it your position that no math test can accurately determine one's ability to do math?
I could develop a test that would solve the problems. It would probably not be a scantron style test, because as you say, multiple guess is of limited usefulness. The thing to do is to get the burrocraps and the "progressive teachers" out of the loop. Neither have any ability to create such a test, nor anything useful to add to the process. Also, remember, I am quite willing to do away with tests in favor of something else more capable of doing the job.
"wasting lots of time and money on an unknown."
Like we are doing today with public education?
"I think that throwing more money at a government problem is something that a Libertarian should be against, not for."
Well, I don't know about libertarians, but I myself do not believe in throwing money at any problem. A solution might COST money, but my stand is convince me your solution will work and is cost effective, THEN we can talk cash.
"And the same goes for testing."
OK, then we need a third answer. Because sending our children to school for 14 yea4rs of thier life WITHOUT a guarentee that it is not a complete waste of their time is unacceptable.
"This coming form someone that told me that if I thought the test was bad, I should fix it?"
Oh, get Real. You do not have any input to throw out the tests or to fix them. Duh. This is a discussion about a problem. Your solution to the problem of bad tests is NO tests. My solution to bad tests is to Fix the tests. Running for the School board is possible, but unless you are rich, not very likely to lead to a win, and even with a win, unlikely to give you much power to make major changes.
"Achievement. From their grades."
Great theory, does not work in practice. How do I know? Because in order to graduate, one needs certain amounts of credits in various areas, such as math. A passing grade in algebra, under your theory, which is required for graduation, (at least in my area, ) would be the minimum to meet the criteria for graduation. This in turn would suggest that every high school grad would have passed, and therefore reached a certain level of achievement in algebra. Yet, depending on the area, 20 to 45% of high school graduates entering college have to take remedial math, that is PRE-ALGEBRA, before they can take any college level math, which means flat out they did NOT achieve an appreciable level of skills in Algebra.
This is why we need something, whether tests or something else. The evidence is overwhelming that relying on grades does not cut it.
Go look up the numbers for remedial education requirements for yourself. And note something: IF 20% to 45% of students failed to achieve what their grades say they should have, realize that this is a percentage of the population who chose to go on to college. One has to assume that the lesser student, the less motivated students, shown by their lack of interest in higher education, have a much higher rate of failure to achieve.
This is backed up by the number of employers who complain that in hiring high school graduates, they have to train them how to do math and English.
High school Grades and Diplomas currently don't mean crap. They cannot be relied upon to reflect a students capabilities.
"So why spend large amounts of money and time to try to "fix" broken things when simply eliminating them will have a proven positive effect?
What proof is there of this? Without a test, how do you know it has a positive effect? The only positive effect I am interested in is improved learning, learning being the reason for school in the first place. Where is your proof?
"I presume you are looking to only throw money at the problem of broken tests. And, as the detractors of public education chant, throwing money at a problem will not solve it."
The only time money solves a problem is when lack of money is the problem to be solved, which is not the case here. I would throw the problem to the public: Open source the test. Create a test of thousands of good, reasonable questions with specific factors broken out for grading, and any individual test is composed of a directed random selection of those questions. Any "trivia" questions, those considered "racist", or whatever other objections there are, can be weeded out.
"Should we only spend the money on educating them, or waste time and money testing them with tests that do not work?"
We should spend it an whatever results in verifiably good outcomes. Yes, tests can be expensive, although there is no reason for them to be. Ignorance is expensive too. Don't you want to know if the kids are actually learning what they are supposed to be learning? I want to spend money on EFFECTIVE education. My only question how do we insure that it is indeed effective? No tests? OK, then what?
"I've told you why I think the SAT is a failure."
You have pointed to some things which could be changed. I still do not see where the math portion of the SATs are bad. Either you can work the math, or you can't. Right?
"You are claiming that something that has never worked can be fixed."
Are you saying that no test has ever determined the level of proficiency the tested has gained in the subject of the test? Bull.
"Name a single test that you think is a success."
EVERY MATH TEST I ever took was a success, defined as determining whether I knew how to perform the skills required to solve the problem. As a pretest for a programming course, which I claimed to already be proficient in, I was told to write a program to calculate the value of 9^9^9. (nine to the ninth power to the ninth power. I passed, but was dropped a bit for not using the system's built in math functions to calculate the initial nine to the ninth power. It was not as efficient to do it my way.
"you seem to agree that no test is better than a bad test (same effectiveness at a lower cost)."
OK, fine. We still have the problem of having to verify that our educational system is actually doing a good job of educating. How do we do that?
"If the school fails, switch schools,"
Sounds like someone who is rather ignorant of how these things work. Try doing some research and see just how easy it is to change schools. But again, without tests, how do you know if the school is failing?
"The review is the school board looking at the graduates"
The school board looking at the graduates is silly. Besides the conflict on interest, (no-one likes to say they failed the kids) how would you suggest the school board examine all of the students, with an eye towards determining their level of proficiency in the various subjects?
"The review is the student evaluating the worth of their time spent in school."
Besides the fact that this is not a decision that can be left to a minor, as many students are not capable of knowing what is in their own best interests, if they DO decide that it is not worth their time, then what?
"run for the school board, pickett in front of the school."
Again, sounds like someone who is ignorant of the situation. There is far too much for one person to do in the school board, not everyone can afford to run for the school board, and the simple fact that it
"Its test in math correlates higher with tested IQ than college performance."
I am afraid I do not understand this statement. The ability to do math is a skill, wherein you have a problem, which, until you get into some pretty hairy stuff, has one discrete, concrete answer. If you have the skills, you can find the answer. If you do not have the skills, you can't. This is not about IQ, nor is is about college performance. It is about having an ability or not. If you do not understand and cannot accurately solve basic algebra problems, there is no way in hell you will ever understand or solve problems in advanced geometry or calculus.
"Testing vocabulary is a test of English, but it is not a test in the ability to *use* English. "
Agreed. How about tests in reading comprehension? In the ability to infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word by context? How about the ability to write a grammatically correct business letter? These things may not be on a test, but they SHOULD be, and they COULD be, so fix the test.
"Apparently, you claim that testing solely for trivia is a waste of time, yet apparently defend the vocabulary section of the SAT that is solely designed to test trivia."
I never defended anything except the idea that students need to be tested to determine what they have learned. Vocabulary testing is useful to a point. If a student is asked to define the word "iconoclast", that may indeed be trivia, but there are a lot of common words that directly relate to reading ability. Words that someone who has actually read regularly at a 4th grade level would know the meanings of.
"Perhaps you can explain to me how failing to deliver the stated test measure (the test measuring IQ better than college performance for the SAT math section) and testing for trivia (vocabulary) makes the test a "GOOD" test, when you have stated both of those traits are in bad tests."
Perhaps your reading comprehension is problematic? I never suggested those things. Do not take my request for you to be specific to have any implied scorn for your position, or to suggest that those tests are indeed "good." It was made simply and honestly to illicit specifics to discuss, rather that generalities such as "the tests suck." It is hard to discuss a generality.
I believe that education is about knowledge and skills. I believe you can indeed create a test that properly and accurately determines whether a specific knowledge or skill set has been acquired. I do not see any math test as being an "IQ" test, other than the logic section, yet even logic is a skill that can and should be learned.
"And why should we track the effectiveness of schools? "
I am going to assume that is a facetious question. I want my child to learn algebra. PERIOD. If the school I send him to is going to be UNABLE to teach him algebra, after spending 5 days a week, week after week, year after year, then I am NOT going to waste HIS TIME by sending him to that school, and I am going to be quite upset at wasting my tax dollars for BABYSITTING. If a child is not LEARNING in school, than that school is not TEACHING, but BABYSITTING. It is neccessary to track the effectiveness of schools to insure that time and money is not being wasted, and children will grow up to a future beyond that of learning the grammatically correct way of saying "you want fries with that?" We need to track the effectiveness of schools to see that they are doing what they were designed to do.
"Do we need some national body that controls all schools?"
Actually I am quite against that. However, accountability is something that should exist at all levels.
"Should it be up to local school boards to determine and enforce effectiveness?"
Yes, but the facts show that they are not, for the most part, currently doing this.
"Should the national tests be multiple choice-only tests that are easy to score
"Since all the nationwide standardized tests I have ever taken (SAT included) fall under my definition of bad tests,"
What specificly do you find to bad bad about these test, SAT included, in the areas of Science, Math, and English?
GOOD tests do not waste time and money. tell me:
How else would you track the actual effectiveness of our schools, to determine that these students have actually learned the skills they should have?, are actually getting results for the tremendous amount of time they spend, and the tremendous amount of money we pay?
"But what is more important, knowing the year the Civil War started, or the causes?"
Obviously the causes, as dates really only serve as context. It sounds like the potential complaint is not the fact of tests, but the content of tests. Which can be dealt with. To be honest, A basic knowledge of MATH and SCIENCE and ENGLISH is FAR more important, and far more relevant, to the day to HS grad than History. Your complaint does not touch those, and those are where most of the problem is. Go look at any stats for college freshmen taking remedial education.
MATH and ENGLISH are at the top. ENGLISH is relevant to every course and every decent job one will ever take. If you cannot communicate clearly and precisely, cannot comprehend the written word, you are useless as anything but a French fry cooker. It is the same thing with math. We are graduating kids who can not balance a checkbook, can not make change, and cannot function in any remotely useful job. Yet, those who poo-poo the "testing mentality" are just as quick to jump on those tests of clear ability, as those based on knowledge, which may not be well thought out.
"Teaching to the test is a useless waste of time. "
I agree, and teachers who do so should be fired. Those tests should be comprehensive, based on the meat rather than the trivia, in such a way that a student UNDERSTANDING the subject should do well, Jeopardy questions being unimportant. Instead of criticizing THE test, thy criticize ALL testing. Which is flat out wrong.
"...divert to the common denominator of easily tested material. I'd rather have someone that can understand history and apply it to modern life. You'd rather have people that know dates."
Agree that lazy people can create poor tests. and NO, I would not rather have people know dates. It is not necessary to base a test on dates. It should not be accepted. When given a choice between GOOD tests, BAD tests, and NO tests, I vote for GOOD tests. Bad tests and No tests are all just as useless at determining what people know.
I DO want people to know ALGEBRA,I DO want people to know how to read, I DO want people to know how to balance their checkbook, I DO want people to understand the basics of chemistry physics and biology, I, without a college degree, could damn well write a GOOD test to determine whether a student has those abilities and that knowledge.
It should be noted that the biggest comparisons between US education and that in other countries is NOT based on history. I think the Netherlands scores highest. I bet they do not teach much about the American Civil War. They DO teach MATH, ENGLISH and SCIENCE, and score better on all of those than we do, and ENGLISH is not even their primary language. You can test for all of that, quite well.
"not pander to the test mentality which has proven to be ineffective and misleading."
It is a simple fact. If the Student has LEARNED THE MATERIAL, which is after all the goal of education, then that student should be able to perform well on a test of that material. The "test mentality" has not failed. No Child blah blah has improved scores. Simply not enough. People who are afraid of tests have something to hide. I would guess you are a teacher who is unable to get your students to learn, and so abhor the idea of a test that would demonstrate your failure. I might be wrong.
"Even better, why dont we stop comparing our entire populations abilities to the abilities of only the best of other countries."
We are having a problem graduating students who can MAKE CHANGE or FILL OUT A JOB APPLICATION. I don't think those abilities are too much to ask out of EVERY High school grad. As a matter of fact, I do not think having a working knowledge of all highschool courses is asking too much. After all, that IS what they are there for.
"why dont we just accept the fact that a lot of people are just not cut out to being college grads "
Many Highschool grads are not even cut out to be college janitors. If a high school grad enters college, and has to take remedial education, which means high school education, than they never should have graduated.
Why don't YOU just accept that are children are failing to learn, our teachers are failing to teach, and something needs to be done?
We, and by we I mean you, need to answer one question, and act apropriately: Is a high school diploma supposed to be a certificate of achievement, or a certificate of attendance?
"you cannot defend yourself with a gun --- they're purely offensive weapons. You can defend yourself with a sword against another sword, or a knife (if you're good) against another knife, but with a gun your only options are (a) to try to shoot someone (and therefore risk killing them) and (b) to not try to shoot them."
This is a strange way of thinking. I think you have an incomplete understanding of "defense."
You say you can defend yourself with a sword against another sword. Typical of the gun banner mentality, this treats the weapon as a being, and ignores the problem. Yes, when I swing my sword at you, you can swing your blade in such a way as to prevent mine from cleaving you crown to crotch. However, you have not defended yourself against me: I am still here, I still want to kill you, and I am still capable of killing you. I swing again, you block again, rinse lather repeat. At some point, you are going to have to do me bodily harm, disable me to the point where I can no longer swing my sword at you, or you will end up dead, having failed to do more the prolong your life by a few moments. Anything less is not really an option. "Self Defense" is an end, not a means. The end result is to prevent harm that would otherwise be done to you. Ask any police officer who has shot someone who pulled a gun on them, if they thought it was "self defense". If they had not fired, they would have been shot by the bad guy. Since they did fire, they were not. Harm was prevented, "self" was "defended" from bodily harm.
As far as Deterrence:
"You can use a gun as a deterrent, but that's a drastically different thing, and frequently not a very useful one."
IF a man comes at a women with a knife intending to rape her, and she pulls a gun and he runs, one, this is indeed self defense. She prevented harm with her gun, even though she did not have to pull the trigger. "Deterrence" is based on an unknown. A sign in a liquor store that says, I carry a.44 magnum three days a week, you guess which three, is "deterrence." The THREAT of the gun, not the actuality, is deterrence.
You say that it is frequently not very useful. According to the FBI, (who should know,) of all the things you can do when faced with a criminal, the MOST EFFECTIVE way to prevent harm to self, is to resist with a gun. You are more likely to get hurt if you resist with a knife sword, or club. You are more likely to get hurt if you run. You are more likely to get hurt if you cooperate. You are least likely to get hurt if you pull a gun. That is a simple undeniable fact.
Yes, scissors applied in the correct spot will open them, but scissors applied to an incorrect spot may well destroy the product, and with a lot of this packaging, there is no easy way to tell what is a safe place to cut. With cords, manuals, accessories, etc. often hidden between sheets of cardboard...
My solution? As soon as I pay for it, I ask the clerk if they have something to open it with, and generously allow them to do the opening.
If everyone did this, all the time, the problem would go away very quickly. If they complain, ask for a manager. IF they want a reason, here is mine. "You have workman's comp if you get injured opening this thing, and I have been cut by these types of packages. Also, you have a replacement if opening the packages destroys the contents."
"Unless you include a notice requirement of the status of copies to the recipient,"
Big deal. Add a requirement that a copyright notice be distributed along with copies noting their original source. After that, it is their problem to understand the law.
Minor details that are easily worked out, AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THE MUDSUCKING LAWYERS out of it, who don't do ANYTHING easily.
"the prohibition of copying is the core of copyright (hence the name), because as a practical matter the proliferation of copies virtually guarantees that they become dispersed."
BullPucky. I have copies of every CD I own. I have not dispersed them. Selling beer would, under your example, be the same thing as encouraging people to drive drunk since, as a practical matter, give enough people access to beer, SOMEONE will DUI. Copying for personal use is a SEPARATE ISSUE from copying for dispersement, and the LAW can treat them separately.
"your provision wouldn't allow what was being done here, because the initial format-shifted copies were not made to support anyone's "personal use", they were made to add resale value to a commercial product."
Sure it would. You would have a person in a company copying DVDs. They would not be using it for any purpose OTHER than personal use. Then they sell the originals AND the copies, which are sold to someone else for personal use. The goal of a copyright law is to prevent piracy: To ensure that a producer of material gets his price for the material. My proposal accomplishes that, and so does what this company provides. If you want to add a few more words to make this explicitly covered, fine. The bottom line here is:
This is not piracy. The one thing that the MPAA will not be able to prove against this company is DAMAGES. There are none. The DMCA is crap, and goes far beyond any requirements to stop piracy.
Only if you are talking about about a downloaded file. Even then, you could make allowances for the electronic receipt. IF My original DVD is scratched up 'cuz my two year old got hold of it, well, that is what backups are for. I still have the disk, scratched or otherwise, so I still have ownership of my "personal use copyright".
That YOU may not wish to purchase it is your problem and your choice, just like you may not wish to purchase my Ipod becasue the screen is cracked.
Other than that, "good job" for what? This is all common sense. The artist has the right to ensure he gets whatever price he wishes to charge for his work, and the consumer has the right to ensure they can use what they pay for and protect that investment.
"though its difficult to craft without undermining copyright entirely (unless you require destruction of the original before transfer.)"
BULLPUCKY.
"It shall be legal for the LEGAL OWNER of the original distributed copy of a DVD, CD, or other media, including legally purchased or aquired electronic media downloaded from the interent or other distribution meduim, to make AS MANY COPIES, IN AS MANY DIFFERENT FORMATS as the owner wishes, to support their personal use. Ownership of any of these copies is dependent upon ownership of the original distribution copy: IF the DVD, CD or other original distributed copy is sold of given away, ALL copies made from that original or generational copies thereof, regardless of format and storage medium, must accompany the original distribution copy, or be destroyed immediately upon transfer of the original."
Very simple, crafted in plain English, and does not in any way undermine copyright. It is stupid and unreasonable to require possession of only a single copy, which is what destruction of the original would result in. First of all, BACKUP is a primary consideration. Regardless of what the self serving lying bastards first said about CDs and DVDs, they are NOT "virtually indestructible". They have a limited lifetime, even if NRFB, and any child can damage one with very little effort. Second of all, it is stupid and unreasonable to suggest that I can have a CD OR a copy on my MP3 player, but not both, or a DVD OR a copy on my portable multimedia device, but not both. As long as I must own the original to own the copies, and all copies are used merely to support my personal enjoyment, there is no harm to an artist's legitimate copyright.
Period.
Exactly. Well, that would be ALMOST perfect. PERFECT would be if those reports could somehow include the name and address of the bastard's responsible for it.
I do the same thing you do, except my "password" is usually, "getarealjob, jackass."
I never said things were "Dandy", just that it seemed this site was counterproductive. If the site would forward those PAYPAL phishes to PAYPAL, the BOA Phishes to BOA, as soon as they are recieved, and even allow and encourage these companies to be the final expert on the legitimacy of the email, that would be prefect. I don't have a problem with anything they are trying to do here,It just seems to me that it will tend to reduce the likelyhood of a report going to the targeted organization.
Hell, set up a system wherein the Phish site is monitored for uptime from the point a Phish emial is sent to that organizatoin, and create a wall of shame. Let BOFA or PAYPAL explain when the news outlets get hold of the fact that they were notified about an active Phishing site 2 weeks before they actually did something about it.
They woudl make a real difference that way.
When I have checked fishing links, about half the time, they are shut down by the time I check my email and hit the link.
Whenever I have checked previously functional links a few hours after turning them in, about half the time I turn one in, they have almost alway been down. the other hald that I don't check back on? Who knows.
I do know of one possible problem, which is one phisher setting up multiple sights. I usually get the same needless boileplate, but always ask, on the off chance, if they will tell me if they have a shot at getting the ID of the bastard. while i dod not get a response to that question, I did get a personalized response saying that ther already knew about that email, and had already shut down the site. I checked, it was still up. Turns out there were half a dozen sites set up by the same turdeating puke, and they did not get them all.
I think the best service this Phistank could perform would be to ID the organization, send the info on to that organization, along with time it was last up. They are still the best people to drop the site once and for all, and the best to know whether it is in fact, a phishing attempt.
It may not be be black or white to me, and it will be just as grey and iffy to you, Joe, Fred, Wilma or any other everday shmoe who will be asked to evaluate the link on the Phishtank site to determine if it is good or bad. However, I guarentee you it will indeed be black or white to the online fraud department of whatever organization is being hijacked. They WILL know, to a 100% certianty, if it is not legit, and rather than put it on a list of sites to be avoided, they will shut it down. Which is better?
Besides, if I wanted to screw with you, I would build a site that looks like a Phish, add some malware to it, and post my fictitious email. Now, Everyone who goes to vote is exposed to my keylogger, trojan, etc.
It is faster, safer, more accurate, and more effective to send it to the company who is being hijacked.
Oh certainly, but that is not the point. If someone THINKS a site may be a Phish, you can send it to the targeted organization, who will KNOW, instantly, if it is not legit and take immediate steps to shut down the site for all the world, or you can send it to this new site, where a whole bunch of people will weigh in with thier opinion, (how many of THEM will have left thier trifocals at home?, how many might be the Phishermen themselves?) and EVENTUALLY after all of this voting is tallied up, it will be shut down for the small percentage of people who actually subscribe to this blacklist, which really won't make that much difference, since by then, everyone who is going to get the email already has it in thier inbox, and most likely, anyone who is going to play fish already will have been caught?
Which of the two options, this website, or the targeted organization:
Will determine faster and with the most accuracy whether it is or is not a Phishng attempt?
Will work to prevent it's catching the most number of people?
I gotta vote for the bank or other financial institution that will have to deal with all the fallout as having a faster, more effective response.
I get this garbage all the time. I know instantly whether or not it is a Phish. If I get an email from a bank about some security issue, and I do not do business with that bank, it is a Phish. If there is any doubt, I can look at the data behind the link that is given. If it goes to www.bankofamerica.com, it is legit. If it begins with some IP address, it is not. I personally do not need group concensus to know it is a Phish.
Being a good Netizen, I will hit the link to see if it is still active, and if it is, forward it to BOFA, Paypal, or whatever service is being used as bait. They also do not need any goup's concensus to know if it is a Phish, and they will take care of it, quickly.
About half the time, by the time I open the email and check the link, it is already down, presumeably because the team dedicated to online fraud at the organization in question has had it shut down. Once it is shut down, NO-ONE can be duped by it.
If I were to to use this site, I probably would be to lazy to ALSO forward the email on to the organization in question. The result is that, instead of a group who can actually kill it getting it as soon as possible, it is eventually, after a bunch of people have looked at it and made thier own determination, shut down for only those people who actually subscribe to that list, leaving it open for the rest of the Net to be duped.
Now, if the idea was to identify, as in name and address, that bastards RESPONSIBLE for the Phish, I would be all for it. same thing with SPAM. Build something that gives us all names and addresses of the bastards, I will be first in line.
This idea, however, simply delays and extends the useability of the Phish.
Bad Idea
Phil
Why not a longer track? Well, How long is long enough? The idea behind a ring is that it is infinitely long, or as long as you need it to be. You can always send it on another lap. If your payload is heavier than normal, you can just use a few more laps to get it up to speed. The result is a much more flexable setup.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with everything except the part about graphics. As an IT manager, I have a nice Sony Vaio, with a large screen built in, as my only work machine. Yes, when I sit down at my desk I have a nice large monitor, which becomes my second screen, giving me a useful two screen environment. However, In terms of video hardware, what I got is what I got, and this is the way with pretty much any laptop. Either you have shared video RAM, which is definitely a generation or more behind in performance compared to a dedicated RAM high speed card, or you have x amount of of Video RAM, which cannot be upgraded. These are almost always less RAM then you can get on the newest cards, and even if you pop for the ultimate primo top of the line king of the hill video setup for your laptop, within six months, you existing on board Video will be blown away by the latest greatest available, with no opportunity to upgrade. Add to that the fact that you only get ONE adapter on a laptop, and current technology allows you to bridge multiple GPUs for ultra-screaming performance, you are just not going to be able to get top end desktop performance on a top end laptop. When the fate of human race depends on it, a laptop just isn't going to be top line cutting edge. Only a desktop can insure the ultimate gaming experience. Now, for spreadsheets, databases, and all things boring, yea, a laptop is as good as a desktop most of the time. Better in some cases, with it's built in UPS...
For those of you who thought aliens would take over by pretending to be human and infiltrating government, I apologize for calling you nasty names. If the Chairmen of the FCC is doing something consumer friendly, there is no other explanation. Now, I AM hardpressed to figure out who such action forwards the cause of these aliens, unless maybe they too are just sick and tired of crippled phones....
this statement makes no sense to me. Please help me understand.
Short test to measure basic multiplication, division, and single factor Algebraic evaluation, and real world applications.
2545*6464=
5485495*373873=
373848/24=
7824747/13=
8x+5=69 Solve for X
27X=37X +14 Solve for X
In a rectangular room 12 feet by 20, how much carpet is required to cover the floor?
If the ceilings in this room are 9 feet high, and one can of paint covers 100 square feet, how much paint would be required to cover all four walls?
This is a simple example of a test. First thing to note: Not a single one of these can be solved without knowing one's times tables. If a student can not answer these questions, perhaps a lack of knowledge of basic time tables is the problem.
Second thing to note: This test is quite capable of determining whether or not the tested subject understands the principles of Multiplication and division, and basic single factor algebra. If you disagree, please explain.
"Well, more tests wouldn't help. "
It would if action was taken based on those tests. There is no way in hell this student has passed social studies, english. history, geography, none of it. How did he pass through to the twelve grade?
"Also, finding the worst possible student and dragging them up as an example of how the system works is a greater distraction from the problem than a useful critique."
I see it as an extreme example of the problem. If a child this ignorant can be passed through school, how many other children with a little more knowledge, but not enough, have passed through?
"f he wanted to show the system failing, he should be in the intercity schools with drug and discipline problems." He did. He showed children in classrooms acting like animals. Discipline in one of the big problems in schools, and the fix is to discipline both the student and the parent. He also showed an Oakland Ca charter school working on far less money successfully teaching children. Here is the online version
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=150033 8
"here is a simple fix, private school vouchers."
You are preaching to the choir on that one.
"They will not be allowed to turn away any applicants, they will not be allowed to expel any students unless approved by the public school board"
Won't need to. Being a private school they can have thier own rules, with no need to "expell" students. Break the rules, violate the contract, no problem.
"hey will be required to transport every student from their homes to school, if the student wishes. "
Perhaps. Some rules need to be waived. As long as the parents are in agreement with the method for transportation, that is no problem for me. Public transit works sometimes.
"The only problem with public schools is that they are politicized. '
Agreed.
"This lead to the requirement that students that do not want to be there are required to be there."
I disagree. I don't really give a crap if the student wants to be there, it is the parents requirement to get them there, and insure they behave. Schools should have enforcement capabilities for insuring this.
"they'd be able to expel the 10% of students that are unteachable, and hold back the people like you mention that need to repeat a grade or learn at a different pace."
NoO student is unteachable, they simply need to be motivated, and Holding students back should be MANDATORY. This would also help with those ten$. Shame will help a 12 year old to learn when 8 yer olds are passing them by.
"I want monitoring to enabl
Are you suggesting that:
Math skills to some level are not important?
Math skills are not important enough measure a potential graduates abilities?
"whether there exists a test that does measure the things that should be tested for.
If it does not exist, can it reasonably be built? That seems to be the important question.
"And you don't see the irony in you calling for saving money by spending more on something you can't even show has ever, in the history of the world, been done successfully?"
First of all, I reject your concept that tests have never determined one's abilities and knowledge. I am sorry, but that statement is flat out wrong. IF the current tests are flawed, (and they are) they can be fixed. Second of all, I am not calling for "saving" money, but insuring that we are getting our money's worth, and that the vital mission of education is being carried out.
"You are saying it can be fixed with tests, but with no evidence that tests can fix it. "
Our education systems is broken. Tests, even good tests, will not fix that system. It WILL show us where it is broken, and allow us to verify that any fixes we come up with are working.
"You only demand proof for the ideas you didn't come up with, not for all ideas that waste money."
You lost me on that one.
"With such intellectual inconsistency, there can never be a test that measures anything. It'll fail before it starts. "
Sorry, but my position is perfectly consistent. We are paying money for a service. That service is not up to par. I want it up to par. Period. I want monitoring to enable us to get it and keep it up to par. As far as I know, effective testing is the only way to do that. If we do not have effective testing, then we need to get it. Unless you have an alternative method to monitor the effectiveness of our education system, in which case I am all ears. SOMETHING needs to be done.
"Wait, so if they fail a test at graduation, it is somehow worth the 14 years? "
No, and I do not want to wait until graduation for it. Regular monitoring of performance, with whatever is needed to get a student who is falling behind up to speed. Where a large number of failure shows a systemic problem, fix that system.
"If you send your kids somewhere for 14 years and don't evaluate it's value after, say, the 12th year of constant exposure,"
REGULAR evaluation, each year. The problem is with the way things are now, an entire class can fail to learn the material, and still be moved on to the next grade. Where is the accountability? Even if a school fails a student early on, there is no consequences. There is nothing that requires a school system to actually succeed in educating our students. They are failing. So we need regular monitoring to keep their performance up.
Let me put it very simple. Jon Stossell has done a couple of stories. In one, he brings an example twelfth grader who has real trouble reading a FIRST grade primer. There is no way that kid has done well in school if he cannot read the textbooks. Yet, here he is in twelfth grade. That kind of failure is disgusting. How would you fix it?
Why do you keep avoiding my comments about Math? You appear to be avoiding the point. Is it your position that no math test can accurately determine one's ability to do math?
I could develop a test that would solve the problems. It would probably not be a scantron style test, because as you say, multiple guess is of limited usefulness. The thing to do is to get the burrocraps and the "progressive teachers" out of the loop. Neither have any ability to create such a test, nor anything useful to add to the process. Also, remember, I am quite willing to do away with tests in favor of something else more capable of doing the job.
"wasting lots of time and money on an unknown."
Like we are doing today with public education?
"I think that throwing more money at a government problem is something that a Libertarian should be against, not for."
Well, I don't know about libertarians, but I myself do not believe in throwing money at any problem. A solution might COST money, but my stand is convince me your solution will work and is cost effective, THEN we can talk cash.
"And the same goes for testing."
OK, then we need a third answer. Because sending our children to school for 14 yea4rs of thier life WITHOUT a guarentee that it is not a complete waste of their time is unacceptable.
Oh, get Real. You do not have any input to throw out the tests or to fix them. Duh. This is a discussion about a problem. Your solution to the problem of bad tests is NO tests. My solution to bad tests is to Fix the tests. Running for the School board is possible, but unless you are rich, not very likely to lead to a win, and even with a win, unlikely to give you much power to make major changes.
"Achievement. From their grades."
Great theory, does not work in practice. How do I know? Because in order to graduate, one needs certain amounts of credits in various areas, such as math. A passing grade in algebra, under your theory, which is required for graduation, (at least in my area, ) would be the minimum to meet the criteria for graduation. This in turn would suggest that every high school grad would have passed, and therefore reached a certain level of achievement in algebra. Yet, depending on the area, 20 to 45% of high school graduates entering college have to take remedial math, that is PRE-ALGEBRA, before they can take any college level math, which means flat out they did NOT achieve an appreciable level of skills in Algebra.
This is why we need something, whether tests or something else. The evidence is overwhelming that relying on grades does not cut it.
Go look up the numbers for remedial education requirements for yourself. And note something: IF 20% to 45% of students failed to achieve what their grades say they should have, realize that this is a percentage of the population who chose to go on to college. One has to assume that the lesser student, the less motivated students, shown by their lack of interest in higher education, have a much higher rate of failure to achieve.
This is backed up by the number of employers who complain that in hiring high school graduates, they have to train them how to do math and English.
High school Grades and Diplomas currently don't mean crap. They cannot be relied upon to reflect a students capabilities.
What proof is there of this? Without a test, how do you know it has a positive effect? The only positive effect I am interested in is improved learning, learning being the reason for school in the first place. Where is your proof?
"I presume you are looking to only throw money at the problem of broken tests. And, as the detractors of public education chant, throwing money at a problem will not solve it."
The only time money solves a problem is when lack of money is the problem to be solved, which is not the case here. I would throw the problem to the public: Open source the test. Create a test of thousands of good, reasonable questions with specific factors broken out for grading, and any individual test is composed of a directed random selection of those questions. Any "trivia" questions, those considered "racist", or whatever other objections there are, can be weeded out.
"Should we only spend the money on educating them, or waste time and money testing them with tests that do not work?"
We should spend it an whatever results in verifiably good outcomes. Yes, tests can be expensive, although there is no reason for them to be. Ignorance is expensive too. Don't you want to know if the kids are actually learning what they are supposed to be learning? I want to spend money on EFFECTIVE education. My only question how do we insure that it is indeed effective? No tests? OK, then what?
"I've told you why I think the SAT is a failure."
You have pointed to some things which could be changed. I still do not see where the math portion of the SATs are bad. Either you can work the math, or you can't. Right? "You are claiming that something that has never worked can be fixed."
Are you saying that no test has ever determined the level of proficiency the tested has gained in the subject of the test? Bull.
"Name a single test that you think is a success."
EVERY MATH TEST I ever took was a success, defined as determining whether I knew how to perform the skills required to solve the problem. As a pretest for a programming course, which I claimed to already be proficient in, I was told to write a program to calculate the value of 9^9^9. (nine to the ninth power to the ninth power. I passed, but was dropped a bit for not using the system's built in math functions to calculate the initial nine to the ninth power. It was not as efficient to do it my way.
"you seem to agree that no test is better than a bad test (same effectiveness at a lower cost)."
OK, fine. We still have the problem of having to verify that our educational system is actually doing a good job of educating. How do we do that?
"If the school fails, switch schools,"
Sounds like someone who is rather ignorant of how these things work. Try doing some research and see just how easy it is to change schools. But again, without tests, how do you know if the school is failing?
"The review is the school board looking at the graduates"
The school board looking at the graduates is silly. Besides the conflict on interest, (no-one likes to say they failed the kids) how would you suggest the school board examine all of the students, with an eye towards determining their level of proficiency in the various subjects?
"The review is the student evaluating the worth of their time spent in school."
Besides the fact that this is not a decision that can be left to a minor, as many students are not capable of knowing what is in their own best interests, if they DO decide that it is not worth their time, then what?
"run for the school board, pickett in front of the school."
Again, sounds like someone who is ignorant of the situation. There is far too much for one person to do in the school board, not everyone can afford to run for the school board, and the simple fact that it
Then that should be corrected.
"Its test in math correlates higher with tested IQ than college performance."
I am afraid I do not understand this statement. The ability to do math is a skill, wherein you have a problem, which, until you get into some pretty hairy stuff, has one discrete, concrete answer. If you have the skills, you can find the answer. If you do not have the skills, you can't. This is not about IQ, nor is is about college performance. It is about having an ability or not. If you do not understand and cannot accurately solve basic algebra problems, there is no way in hell you will ever understand or solve problems in advanced geometry or calculus.
"Testing vocabulary is a test of English, but it is not a test in the ability to *use* English. "
Agreed. How about tests in reading comprehension? In the ability to infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word by context? How about the ability to write a grammatically correct business letter? These things may not be on a test, but they SHOULD be, and they COULD be, so fix the test.
"Apparently, you claim that testing solely for trivia is a waste of time, yet apparently defend the vocabulary section of the SAT that is solely designed to test trivia."
I never defended anything except the idea that students need to be tested to determine what they have learned. Vocabulary testing is useful to a point. If a student is asked to define the word "iconoclast", that may indeed be trivia, but there are a lot of common words that directly relate to reading ability. Words that someone who has actually read regularly at a 4th grade level would know the meanings of.
"Perhaps you can explain to me how failing to deliver the stated test measure (the test measuring IQ better than college performance for the SAT math section) and testing for trivia (vocabulary) makes the test a "GOOD" test, when you have stated both of those traits are in bad tests."
Perhaps your reading comprehension is problematic? I never suggested those things. Do not take my request for you to be specific to have any implied scorn for your position, or to suggest that those tests are indeed "good." It was made simply and honestly to illicit specifics to discuss, rather that generalities such as "the tests suck." It is hard to discuss a generality.
I believe that education is about knowledge and skills. I believe you can indeed create a test that properly and accurately determines whether a specific knowledge or skill set has been acquired. I do not see any math test as being an "IQ" test, other than the logic section, yet even logic is a skill that can and should be learned.
"And why should we track the effectiveness of schools? "
I am going to assume that is a facetious question. I want my child to learn algebra. PERIOD. If the school I send him to is going to be UNABLE to teach him algebra, after spending 5 days a week, week after week, year after year, then I am NOT going to waste HIS TIME by sending him to that school, and I am going to be quite upset at wasting my tax dollars for BABYSITTING. If a child is not LEARNING in school, than that school is not TEACHING, but BABYSITTING. It is neccessary to track the effectiveness of schools to insure that time and money is not being wasted, and children will grow up to a future beyond that of learning the grammatically correct way of saying "you want fries with that?" We need to track the effectiveness of schools to see that they are doing what they were designed to do.
"Do we need some national body that controls all schools?"
Actually I am quite against that. However, accountability is something that should exist at all levels.
"Should it be up to local school boards to determine and enforce effectiveness?"
Yes, but the facts show that they are not, for the most part, currently doing this.
"Should the national tests be multiple choice-only tests that are easy to score
What specificly do you find to bad bad about these test, SAT included, in the areas of Science, Math, and English?
GOOD tests do not waste time and money. tell me:
How else would you track the actual effectiveness of our schools, to determine that these students have actually learned the skills they should have?, are actually getting results for the tremendous amount of time they spend, and the tremendous amount of money we pay?
Obviously the causes, as dates really only serve as context. It sounds like the potential complaint is not the fact of tests, but the content of tests. Which can be dealt with. To be honest, A basic knowledge of MATH and SCIENCE and ENGLISH is FAR more important, and far more relevant, to the day to HS grad than History. Your complaint does not touch those, and those are where most of the problem is. Go look at any stats for college freshmen taking remedial education.
MATH and ENGLISH are at the top. ENGLISH is relevant to every course and every decent job one will ever take. If you cannot communicate clearly and precisely, cannot comprehend the written word, you are useless as anything but a French fry cooker. It is the same thing with math. We are graduating kids who can not balance a checkbook, can not make change, and cannot function in any remotely useful job. Yet, those who poo-poo the "testing mentality" are just as quick to jump on those tests of clear ability, as those based on knowledge, which may not be well thought out.
"Teaching to the test is a useless waste of time. "
I agree, and teachers who do so should be fired. Those tests should be comprehensive, based on the meat rather than the trivia, in such a way that a student UNDERSTANDING the subject should do well, Jeopardy questions being unimportant. Instead of criticizing THE test, thy criticize ALL testing. Which is flat out wrong.
"...divert to the common denominator of easily tested material. I'd rather have someone that can understand history and apply it to modern life. You'd rather have people that know dates."
Agree that lazy people can create poor tests. and NO, I would not rather have people know dates. It is not necessary to base a test on dates. It should not be accepted. When given a choice between GOOD tests, BAD tests, and NO tests, I vote for GOOD tests. Bad tests and No tests are all just as useless at determining what people know.
I DO want people to know ALGEBRA,I DO want people to know how to read, I DO want people to know how to balance their checkbook, I DO want people to understand the basics of chemistry physics and biology, I, without a college degree, could damn well write a GOOD test to determine whether a student has those abilities and that knowledge.
It should be noted that the biggest comparisons between US education and that in other countries is NOT based on history. I think the Netherlands scores highest. I bet they do not teach much about the American Civil War. They DO teach MATH, ENGLISH and SCIENCE, and score better on all of those than we do, and ENGLISH is not even their primary language. You can test for all of that, quite well.
It is a simple fact. If the Student has LEARNED THE MATERIAL, which is after all the goal of education, then that student should be able to perform well on a test of that material. The "test mentality" has not failed. No Child blah blah has improved scores. Simply not enough. People who are afraid of tests have something to hide. I would guess you are a teacher who is unable to get your students to learn, and so abhor the idea of a test that would demonstrate your failure. I might be wrong.
"Even better, why dont we stop comparing our entire populations abilities to the abilities of only the best of other countries."
We are having a problem graduating students who can MAKE CHANGE or FILL OUT A JOB APPLICATION. I don't think those abilities are too much to ask out of EVERY High school grad. As a matter of fact, I do not think having a working knowledge of all highschool courses is asking too much. After all, that IS what they are there for.
"why dont we just accept the fact that a lot of people are just not cut out to being college grads " Many Highschool grads are not even cut out to be college janitors. If a high school grad enters college, and has to take remedial education, which means high school education, than they never should have graduated. Why don't YOU just accept that are children are failing to learn, our teachers are failing to teach, and something needs to be done? We, and by we I mean you, need to answer one question, and act apropriately: Is a high school diploma supposed to be a certificate of achievement, or a certificate of attendance?
This is a strange way of thinking. I think you have an incomplete understanding of "defense."
You say you can defend yourself with a sword against another sword. Typical of the gun banner mentality, this treats the weapon as a being, and ignores the problem. Yes, when I swing my sword at you, you can swing your blade in such a way as to prevent mine from cleaving you crown to crotch. However, you have not defended yourself against me: I am still here, I still want to kill you, and I am still capable of killing you. I swing again, you block again, rinse lather repeat. At some point, you are going to have to do me bodily harm, disable me to the point where I can no longer swing my sword at you, or you will end up dead, having failed to do more the prolong your life by a few moments. Anything less is not really an option. "Self Defense" is an end, not a means. The end result is to prevent harm that would otherwise be done to you. Ask any police officer who has shot someone who pulled a gun on them, if they thought it was "self defense". If they had not fired, they would have been shot by the bad guy. Since they did fire, they were not. Harm was prevented, "self" was "defended" from bodily harm.
As far as Deterrence:
"You can use a gun as a deterrent, but that's a drastically different thing, and frequently not a very useful one." IF a man comes at a women with a knife intending to rape her, and she pulls a gun and he runs, one, this is indeed self defense. She prevented harm with her gun, even though she did not have to pull the trigger. "Deterrence" is based on an unknown. A sign in a liquor store that says, I carry a .44 magnum three days a week, you guess which three, is "deterrence." The THREAT of the gun, not the actuality, is deterrence.
You say that it is frequently not very useful. According to the FBI, (who should know,) of all the things you can do when faced with a criminal, the MOST EFFECTIVE way to prevent harm to self, is to resist with a gun. You are more likely to get hurt if you resist with a knife sword, or club. You are more likely to get hurt if you run. You are more likely to get hurt if you cooperate. You are least likely to get hurt if you pull a gun. That is a simple undeniable fact.
My solution? As soon as I pay for it, I ask the clerk if they have something to open it with, and generously allow them to do the opening.
If everyone did this, all the time, the problem would go away very quickly. If they complain, ask for a manager. IF they want a reason, here is mine. "You have workman's comp if you get injured opening this thing, and I have been cut by these types of packages. Also, you have a replacement if opening the packages destroys the contents."
"Unless you include a notice requirement of the status of copies to the recipient," Big deal. Add a requirement that a copyright notice be distributed along with copies noting their original source. After that, it is their problem to understand the law. Minor details that are easily worked out, AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THE MUDSUCKING LAWYERS out of it, who don't do ANYTHING easily. "the prohibition of copying is the core of copyright (hence the name), because as a practical matter the proliferation of copies virtually guarantees that they become dispersed." BullPucky. I have copies of every CD I own. I have not dispersed them. Selling beer would, under your example, be the same thing as encouraging people to drive drunk since, as a practical matter, give enough people access to beer, SOMEONE will DUI. Copying for personal use is a SEPARATE ISSUE from copying for dispersement, and the LAW can treat them separately. "your provision wouldn't allow what was being done here, because the initial format-shifted copies were not made to support anyone's "personal use", they were made to add resale value to a commercial product." Sure it would. You would have a person in a company copying DVDs. They would not be using it for any purpose OTHER than personal use. Then they sell the originals AND the copies, which are sold to someone else for personal use. The goal of a copyright law is to prevent piracy: To ensure that a producer of material gets his price for the material. My proposal accomplishes that, and so does what this company provides. If you want to add a few more words to make this explicitly covered, fine. The bottom line here is: This is not piracy. The one thing that the MPAA will not be able to prove against this company is DAMAGES. There are none. The DMCA is crap, and goes far beyond any requirements to stop piracy.
Only if you are talking about about a downloaded file. Even then, you could make allowances for the electronic receipt. IF My original DVD is scratched up 'cuz my two year old got hold of it, well, that is what backups are for. I still have the disk, scratched or otherwise, so I still have ownership of my "personal use copyright". That YOU may not wish to purchase it is your problem and your choice, just like you may not wish to purchase my Ipod becasue the screen is cracked. Other than that, "good job" for what? This is all common sense. The artist has the right to ensure he gets whatever price he wishes to charge for his work, and the consumer has the right to ensure they can use what they pay for and protect that investment.
"though its difficult to craft without undermining copyright entirely (unless you require destruction of the original before transfer.)" BULLPUCKY. "It shall be legal for the LEGAL OWNER of the original distributed copy of a DVD, CD, or other media, including legally purchased or aquired electronic media downloaded from the interent or other distribution meduim, to make AS MANY COPIES, IN AS MANY DIFFERENT FORMATS as the owner wishes, to support their personal use. Ownership of any of these copies is dependent upon ownership of the original distribution copy: IF the DVD, CD or other original distributed copy is sold of given away, ALL copies made from that original or generational copies thereof, regardless of format and storage medium, must accompany the original distribution copy, or be destroyed immediately upon transfer of the original." Very simple, crafted in plain English, and does not in any way undermine copyright. It is stupid and unreasonable to require possession of only a single copy, which is what destruction of the original would result in. First of all, BACKUP is a primary consideration. Regardless of what the self serving lying bastards first said about CDs and DVDs, they are NOT "virtually indestructible". They have a limited lifetime, even if NRFB, and any child can damage one with very little effort. Second of all, it is stupid and unreasonable to suggest that I can have a CD OR a copy on my MP3 player, but not both, or a DVD OR a copy on my portable multimedia device, but not both. As long as I must own the original to own the copies, and all copies are used merely to support my personal enjoyment, there is no harm to an artist's legitimate copyright. Period.
Exactly. Well, that would be ALMOST perfect. PERFECT would be if those reports could somehow include the name and address of the bastard's responsible for it.
Good Idea. I just did.
I do the same thing you do, except my "password" is usually, "getarealjob, jackass." I never said things were "Dandy", just that it seemed this site was counterproductive. If the site would forward those PAYPAL phishes to PAYPAL, the BOA Phishes to BOA, as soon as they are recieved, and even allow and encourage these companies to be the final expert on the legitimacy of the email, that would be prefect. I don't have a problem with anything they are trying to do here,It just seems to me that it will tend to reduce the likelyhood of a report going to the targeted organization. Hell, set up a system wherein the Phish site is monitored for uptime from the point a Phish emial is sent to that organizatoin, and create a wall of shame. Let BOFA or PAYPAL explain when the news outlets get hold of the fact that they were notified about an active Phishing site 2 weeks before they actually did something about it. They woudl make a real difference that way.
When I have checked fishing links, about half the time, they are shut down by the time I check my email and hit the link. Whenever I have checked previously functional links a few hours after turning them in, about half the time I turn one in, they have almost alway been down. the other hald that I don't check back on? Who knows. I do know of one possible problem, which is one phisher setting up multiple sights. I usually get the same needless boileplate, but always ask, on the off chance, if they will tell me if they have a shot at getting the ID of the bastard. while i dod not get a response to that question, I did get a personalized response saying that ther already knew about that email, and had already shut down the site. I checked, it was still up. Turns out there were half a dozen sites set up by the same turdeating puke, and they did not get them all. I think the best service this Phistank could perform would be to ID the organization, send the info on to that organization, along with time it was last up. They are still the best people to drop the site once and for all, and the best to know whether it is in fact, a phishing attempt.
It may not be be black or white to me, and it will be just as grey and iffy to you, Joe, Fred, Wilma or any other everday shmoe who will be asked to evaluate the link on the Phishtank site to determine if it is good or bad. However, I guarentee you it will indeed be black or white to the online fraud department of whatever organization is being hijacked. They WILL know, to a 100% certianty, if it is not legit, and rather than put it on a list of sites to be avoided, they will shut it down. Which is better? Besides, if I wanted to screw with you, I would build a site that looks like a Phish, add some malware to it, and post my fictitious email. Now, Everyone who goes to vote is exposed to my keylogger, trojan, etc. It is faster, safer, more accurate, and more effective to send it to the company who is being hijacked.
Oh certainly, but that is not the point. If someone THINKS a site may be a Phish, you can send it to the targeted organization, who will KNOW, instantly, if it is not legit and take immediate steps to shut down the site for all the world, or you can send it to this new site, where a whole bunch of people will weigh in with thier opinion, (how many of THEM will have left thier trifocals at home?, how many might be the Phishermen themselves?) and EVENTUALLY after all of this voting is tallied up, it will be shut down for the small percentage of people who actually subscribe to this blacklist, which really won't make that much difference, since by then, everyone who is going to get the email already has it in thier inbox, and most likely, anyone who is going to play fish already will have been caught? Which of the two options, this website, or the targeted organization: Will determine faster and with the most accuracy whether it is or is not a Phishng attempt? Will work to prevent it's catching the most number of people? I gotta vote for the bank or other financial institution that will have to deal with all the fallout as having a faster, more effective response.
I get this garbage all the time. I know instantly whether or not it is a Phish. If I get an email from a bank about some security issue, and I do not do business with that bank, it is a Phish. If there is any doubt, I can look at the data behind the link that is given. If it goes to www.bankofamerica.com, it is legit. If it begins with some IP address, it is not. I personally do not need group concensus to know it is a Phish. Being a good Netizen, I will hit the link to see if it is still active, and if it is, forward it to BOFA, Paypal, or whatever service is being used as bait. They also do not need any goup's concensus to know if it is a Phish, and they will take care of it, quickly. About half the time, by the time I open the email and check the link, it is already down, presumeably because the team dedicated to online fraud at the organization in question has had it shut down. Once it is shut down, NO-ONE can be duped by it. If I were to to use this site, I probably would be to lazy to ALSO forward the email on to the organization in question. The result is that, instead of a group who can actually kill it getting it as soon as possible, it is eventually, after a bunch of people have looked at it and made thier own determination, shut down for only those people who actually subscribe to that list, leaving it open for the rest of the Net to be duped. Now, if the idea was to identify, as in name and address, that bastards RESPONSIBLE for the Phish, I would be all for it. same thing with SPAM. Build something that gives us all names and addresses of the bastards, I will be first in line. This idea, however, simply delays and extends the useability of the Phish. Bad Idea Phil
The Earth already has a belt. The Van Allen Belt. What the Earth NEEDS is a good pair of pants. Not too snug in the Crotch... Phil
Why not a longer track? Well, How long is long enough? The idea behind a ring is that it is infinitely long, or as long as you need it to be. You can always send it on another lap. If your payload is heavier than normal, you can just use a few more laps to get it up to speed. The result is a much more flexable setup.