Go ahead and write return to sender on the junk mail you get. The post office will just throw it away. Bulk mail does not usually include 'return to sender' or 'forwarding' service.
Anyone know if this bill has a name yet? The article doesn't mention it, just that they've drafted the bill. I want to write my congresscritter and complain but I'd rather have a specific bill to refer to rather than "that one bill those three stupid guys came up with" since that doesn't narrow it down much.
There's quite a bit of book trading going on at BookCrossing. He seems to have the impression that BC is just about finding random books or leaving them for other people. There is a lot of trading and giving away going on through the forums there. I've found it to be a pretty good way to get books I want and to pass mine on to other interested readers. If he's looking for a more formalized system, I haven't used it, but might want to check out Swappingtons.
In one of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, all known civilizations produced something known as a gin and tonic (or similar name, jinnantonix, etc...) except these were completely different drinks.
The Witnesses were generally hired to observe certain things. In the book, these people were only in "record mode" (I don't remember what it was called) when they were robed and on duty. When they were off duty, they were just like anybody else. They didn't go around recording everything they saw, just those specific things that they were hired to observe. I said that I thought it would be a good thing, but I should explain that. I meant that in the case that a Fair Witness had been hired to observe the events that a trial was over, someone like a Witness could be counted on to relate exactly what they had observed. Unfortunately, this wouldn't solve the expert witness problem. The Witnesses were more like having an unalterable, totally reliant recording of a specific event rather than someone who was very knowledgeable on a subject. Unless, of course, that subject was whatever they had observed in official duty.
If you're looking to start reading Heinlein, you might want to start with SiaSL, or else _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. I thought both of those were pretty good, although after reading more of his stuff it all starts to sound the same.
The book you are thinking of is Robert A. Heinlein's _Stranger In a Strange Land_
Those people, iirc, were called "witnesses." If, for example, they saw a white house from a distance and only saw one side, they would only confirm that at the time that they saw it, that particular side of the house was white. They would make no claims that it was still white or venture an opinion as to the color of the other side of the house.
If we had people trained like this who could testify then this would be a good thing. However, in most cases where an expert witness is called in this may not be practical. Also, since which ever side has called the expert witness wants to find someone who will support their opinion, they wouldn't call upon one of these specially trained "witnesses" unless said witness would support their case.
Would it even be possible to establish something like this or would it be too difficult to obtain the necessary credibility for these people?
Given the total global population today (~6billion), and the total number of people that have ever lived
(~10billion by some estemates), its clear to me that the mortality rate is 60%.
Wouldn't that be a mortality rate of 40%? i.e. (10billion-6billion)/10billion.
That's even better! I also plan on living forever, and so far, it's working.
It's not the right to assemble- it's the right to peaceably assemble. So if you're flipping dumpsters or blocking traffic, you're disturbing the peace, which is a crime. They only have the right to assemble so long as it doesn't violate any other laws or other people's rights. When will people learn that if you go out of the way to interfere with other people's rights, YOU DON'T HAVE THAT RIGHT!
Look here for some info on the regulations relating to education expenses and roth IRAs. Also, you can establish an education IRA for yourself because contributions can only be made until the person whose name it is in turns 18. After that, no more contributions can be made, and all the money has to be used or transferred to someone else by the time the account holder is 30.
Since the education IRA probably wouldn't be the way for you to go, have you looked into a roth IRA? Granted, you have to use after-tax dollars, but there is no tax when you withdraw. You can withdraw your contributions after five years, but you have to leave the earnings in the account until retirement age, OR (If I'm remembering correctly) you can take out up to $10,000 in earnings without penalty if it's for the purchase of your first house or for college expenses. I'm not sure if the "college expenses" clause applies to graduate study or only undergrad. But it's something to check out. If you meet all the gov't requirements, you can put in $2,000 a year, as opposed to only $500 with the education IRA.
I don't know about everyone else, but I don't buy singles anyway. If I don't like the band enough to buy a whole cd, I'm not going to buy the single since it'll probably just end up being a nice shiney coaster when the song's popularity fades. If I feel that way about buying the song I'm usually too lazy to go look for the mp3 of the song since I'll listen a couple of times and then toss it.
As for the MEAP, it's a joke. I suppose you've heard the stories about people who got a 5 in AP English and who failed the writing portion of the HSPT MEAP (although, with the AP tests, that's just more standardized testing) or the instance when supposedly, two identical essays were set in for the writing portion and one was failed and one passed as excellent. It's not just the writing portion that has problems.
The problem with standardized testing (in my experience) is that schools teach to the test. I remember in middle school my English and science teachers abruptly stopped what we were studying in class and taught only what the test was going to cover. Did this help us? Maybe we did a bit better on the tests, but we also lost several weeks out of our education.
As for these "alternative" tests with legos and such, it seems that you must work well as a leader of a group in order to do well. Leadership abilities count for something, but in college most profs aren't going to say "Okay everyone, get in groups for your exam." You have to have some sort of competence in something to contribute to a group effort and merely being able to tell people what to do doesn't always cut it in the long run.
I seem to have lost track of my point here. Basically, standardized tests- bad, lego alternative tests- also bad. But, until we come up with a magic wand that we could wave over the applicant's head and use to predict how they'll do in college or life (success in college doesn't always mean success in life) I don't see that it matters which type of testing is used. Some people are going to be denied admission because they don't test well and others who bubble test will be admitted.
The MEAP is just like most other standardized tests, useful perhaps in some situations, but with way too much importance placed on it.
I can't vote, as I'm not yet 18, but I will bitch about any and all stupid things the seriously warped American government does. When I can vote, you can bet it won't be for any politicians. I'll be writing in people I know and trust. Don't vote for the people who present themselves as candidates. Vote for the people you WANT to represent you.
Slashdot Mirror
You mean minutes of horror, hours of therapy.
I really don't want to see anyone I work with naked.
Go ahead and write return to sender on the junk mail you get. The post office will just throw it away. Bulk mail does not usually include 'return to sender' or 'forwarding' service.
Anyone know if this bill has a name yet? The article doesn't mention it, just that they've drafted the bill. I want to write my congresscritter and complain but I'd rather have a specific bill to refer to rather than "that one bill those three stupid guys came up with" since that doesn't narrow it down much.
No, that site does not say that Weird Al did a version of it. It's just on that guy's list of songs with lyrics he misunderstood.
There's quite a bit of book trading going on at BookCrossing. He seems to have the impression that BC is just about finding random books or leaving them for other people. There is a lot of trading and giving away going on through the forums there. I've found it to be a pretty good way to get books I want and to pass mine on to other interested readers. If he's looking for a more formalized system, I haven't used it, but might want to check out Swappingtons.
If you're looking to start reading Heinlein, you might want to start with SiaSL, or else _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. I thought both of those were pretty good, although after reading more of his stuff it all starts to sound the same.
Those people, iirc, were called "witnesses." If, for example, they saw a white house from a distance and only saw one side, they would only confirm that at the time that they saw it, that particular side of the house was white. They would make no claims that it was still white or venture an opinion as to the color of the other side of the house.
If we had people trained like this who could testify then this would be a good thing. However, in most cases where an expert witness is called in this may not be practical. Also, since which ever side has called the expert witness wants to find someone who will support their opinion, they wouldn't call upon one of these specially trained "witnesses" unless said witness would support their case.
Would it even be possible to establish something like this or would it be too difficult to obtain the necessary credibility for these people?
Wouldn't that be a mortality rate of 40%? i.e. (10billion-6billion)/10billion.
That's even better! I also plan on living forever, and so far, it's working.
(Lesson for today-Don't post on /. while writing history papers)
"He who gives up his freedom for safety deserves neither freedom, nor safety." -Thomas Jefferson
I don't know about everyone else, but I don't buy singles anyway. If I don't like the band enough to buy a whole cd, I'm not going to buy the single since it'll probably just end up being a nice shiney coaster when the song's popularity fades. If I feel that way about buying the song I'm usually too lazy to go look for the mp3 of the song since I'll listen a couple of times and then toss it.
The problem with standardized testing (in my experience) is that schools teach to the test. I remember in middle school my English and science teachers abruptly stopped what we were studying in class and taught only what the test was going to cover. Did this help us? Maybe we did a bit better on the tests, but we also lost several weeks out of our education.
As for these "alternative" tests with legos and such, it seems that you must work well as a leader of a group in order to do well. Leadership abilities count for something, but in college most profs aren't going to say "Okay everyone, get in groups for your exam." You have to have some sort of competence in something to contribute to a group effort and merely being able to tell people what to do doesn't always cut it in the long run.
I seem to have lost track of my point here. Basically, standardized tests- bad, lego alternative tests- also bad. But, until we come up with a magic wand that we could wave over the applicant's head and use to predict how they'll do in college or life (success in college doesn't always mean success in life) I don't see that it matters which type of testing is used. Some people are going to be denied admission because they don't test well and others who bubble test will be admitted.
The MEAP is just like most other standardized tests, useful perhaps in some situations, but with way too much importance placed on it.
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I can't vote, as I'm not yet 18, but I will bitch about any and all stupid things the seriously warped American government does. When I can vote, you can bet it won't be for any politicians. I'll be writing in people I know and trust. Don't vote for the people who present themselves as candidates. Vote for the people you WANT to represent you.