Imagine a waterbed with baffles: the baffles prevent the water from sloshing around the moment the mattress bears a new load. Without these baffles, when a person lays down on the bed there will be waves going everywhere, and depending on how full the mattress is the person may even bump on the platform beneath the mattress before the water evens out and the load is supported. On the other hand, if the baffles prevented water from moving at all, there would be limited compensation for any load - the water could only spread out within the limits of each section, and the mattress would probably seem hard and bumpy. The mattress might be too hard in one section and too soft in another.
Baffles work because they allow water to pass from one section to another, but not too quickly. They exist in that sweet spot between the two extremes of too many connections and not enough connections. Air mattresses are similar. So are networks.
Also underwhelmed. About the first three quarters of that junk I could fit inside the front chest pocket of my Massif Inferno jacket, without even starting on the two zippered handwarmer pockets, the two inside pockets, or the sleeve pocket - and my jacket has the added advantage of being a warm, durable, nice-looking jacket, AND fire resistant (Nomex fleece).
I also found that incident very disturbing. People who would boo the Golden Rule can only be sociopaths, cowards or imbeciles, and I suspect they are all three.
I agree. Climate skepticism is not the same as creationism, because climate skepticism (right or wrong) is based on skepticism about the quality of the evidence and analysis of the facts, whereas creationists simply assert that the Bible is 100% correct, that their understanding of the Bible is similarly 100% correct, and that opposing evidence does not count.
Climate skeptics could be convinced if they see compelling evidence. The climate believers are the ones more likely to reject contradictory facts (though many of the actual researchers are more willing to consider contradictory evidence), and are more like creationists in that respect.
In case you hadn't noticed, everything is a felony these days.
But I agree that a second conviction for theft should carry a very long sentence. Many crimes are crimes of passion, committed under circumstances that are unlikely to be repeated - and many more "crimes" are not really crimes at all - but theft has real victims and thieves have a very high recidivism rate. If there is one crime that we should punish with very long vacations from polite society, it should be theft.
Those beliefs are certainly one factor in home schooling, but many of the original pioneers actually were hippies, and there is still a significant non-religious contingent.
Maybe they haven't been around the sort of guys who honestly believe the magical theory of business, by which businessmen make huge profits by buying expensive equipment because the "tax write-off" is greater than the value of the equipment. Coincidentally, of course, this makes it ethical for these same guys to steal/neglect/sabotage this equipment, because the boss will just make more money by paying to replace it.
If you've never actually heard these cretins who believe you must be a sucker to believe otherwise, you wouldn't believe they exist.
I was thinking the same thing. Using "miraculous" in the sense of "extremely unlikely to happen", the miracle is that this piece hit a house at all in an underpopulated region such as Siberia, not that it missed the people living in the house.
That sounds reasonably accurate, though my impression of Australian English is that it is about half-way between British and American, splitting the difference between the two varieties (and adding a few quirks of their own).
However, the English spoken in Canada is virtually the same as that spoken in the United States - certainly the differences are no greater than those which exist regionally in the U.S. - and I've never heard a Canadian say otherwise. Perhaps your friends were trying to say that Canadian English is closer to British English than U.S. English is - which is true, but just barely.
The price of coal does not depend solely on its relative scarcity. It also depends on the wages of the coal miners, the costs of the equipment to mine it and move it, and so on.
I've already seen serious claims that space-based solar could provide electricity at half the cost of coal within a decade, if it was pursued. Those projections are probably optimistic - but still, there are many possibilities and several of the most interesting are almost never even mentioned.
Actually that was one of his complaints: it's almost impossible for any responsible adult to see or evaluate the tests. He had to pull strings to be allowed to take it, and he's a school board member.
I don't know whether he's right about the contents of the test, but he's absolutely correct that that degree of secrecy is not healthy - especially when students are being denied diplomas based on the test.
Yup. In practice, it doesn't matter much if you're off by a quarter inch for most construction - and guys who have been doing the work have a feel for such things that is good enough and a hell of a lot faster than crunching all the numbers. Add in the fact that after you crunch all the numbers and lay everything out perfectly, you probably won't get the saw or drill to go exactly where you marked it, and you might as well have ignored the calculating in the first place and just done it on feel.
You're right that people with degrees in Education tend to be the dumbest of the lot, as revealed by GRE scores (9 of the 10 lowest positions are for people who majored in some form of Education). Even so, after RTFA the guy actually has a point. The whole testing process is secretive, and no one is allowed to find out what questions were marked right and what questions were marked wrong. Only students are allowed to even see the test - the guy had to pull some string to be allowed to take the test. Finally, the overemphasis on testing in education is clearly a problem - and that is his real point. As he notes, if the current rules had been in place when he was in high school, he wouldn't have even graduated high school despite pretty good grades.
Relying on secretive processes to evaluate students and influence their chances in life before they even get a chance to prove themselves in practice is... problematic. I've seen plenty of examples of people who didn't do well on tests doing just as well or better than people who did in practice.
"Absolutely not. Everyone needs to know at least this much math, even if only to be competent at handling money."
Actually, he just said that. "the maths in question is probably as advanced as they need" - and it's true for most people, as the examples - though not difficult at all - do in fact represent all the math that most people need. I take it that you did well on the math, and not so well on the verbal?
The truly sad thing is that many people do not learn this much math - but that is a problem with how it is taught, not with the standards themselves.
Yes, I did it the same way - though I then checked it with 3*40=120 + 3*7=21 to get 141.
Just remember, the sort of people who add 2+2 and get 22 are the same people who are using force to take 1/4th of your paycheck to ensure you have funds and medical care when you are retired.
There are a lot of ignorant comments in this thread. This isn't about oppressing anyone or making people poor - it's about freeing people and letting them be productive.
The fact that so many people find the idea horrifying explains quite well why the idea is necessary. The United States used to be known for innovation and industry, now it appears to be protectionist and stuck in its ways. That's not just a bad thing for the United States, it's a bad thing for humanity.
Slashdot Mirror
"There are 313 million people living in the US as of 2012. Maybe 30 million live in NYC (and that's being generous) so that's what ~1%?"
It looks like the education majors finally found Slashdot.
No, warrants aren't required to weed out flimsy cases. Warrants are required to protect people from official abuse.
Imagine a waterbed with baffles: the baffles prevent the water from sloshing around the moment the mattress bears a new load. Without these baffles, when a person lays down on the bed there will be waves going everywhere, and depending on how full the mattress is the person may even bump on the platform beneath the mattress before the water evens out and the load is supported. On the other hand, if the baffles prevented water from moving at all, there would be limited compensation for any load - the water could only spread out within the limits of each section, and the mattress would probably seem hard and bumpy. The mattress might be too hard in one section and too soft in another.
Baffles work because they allow water to pass from one section to another, but not too quickly. They exist in that sweet spot between the two extremes of too many connections and not enough connections. Air mattresses are similar. So are networks.
Got some mod points, tried to mod this up - accidentally hit "off topic". Hopefully posting in this thread will reverse it.
Also underwhelmed. About the first three quarters of that junk I could fit inside the front chest pocket of my Massif Inferno jacket, without even starting on the two zippered handwarmer pockets, the two inside pockets, or the sleeve pocket - and my jacket has the added advantage of being a warm, durable, nice-looking jacket, AND fire resistant (Nomex fleece).
I also found that incident very disturbing. People who would boo the Golden Rule can only be sociopaths, cowards or imbeciles, and I suspect they are all three.
A little different than the U.S., where it's either jail or Congress.
I agree. Climate skepticism is not the same as creationism, because climate skepticism (right or wrong) is based on skepticism about the quality of the evidence and analysis of the facts, whereas creationists simply assert that the Bible is 100% correct, that their understanding of the Bible is similarly 100% correct, and that opposing evidence does not count. Climate skeptics could be convinced if they see compelling evidence. The climate believers are the ones more likely to reject contradictory facts (though many of the actual researchers are more willing to consider contradictory evidence), and are more like creationists in that respect.
In case you hadn't noticed, everything is a felony these days.
But I agree that a second conviction for theft should carry a very long sentence. Many crimes are crimes of passion, committed under circumstances that are unlikely to be repeated - and many more "crimes" are not really crimes at all - but theft has real victims and thieves have a very high recidivism rate. If there is one crime that we should punish with very long vacations from polite society, it should be theft.
Those beliefs are certainly one factor in home schooling, but many of the original pioneers actually were hippies, and there is still a significant non-religious contingent.
I guess you're saying that Richard Stallman is the modern day Thomas Paine?
Maybe they haven't been around the sort of guys who honestly believe the magical theory of business, by which businessmen make huge profits by buying expensive equipment because the "tax write-off" is greater than the value of the equipment. Coincidentally, of course, this makes it ethical for these same guys to steal/neglect/sabotage this equipment, because the boss will just make more money by paying to replace it.
If you've never actually heard these cretins who believe you must be a sucker to believe otherwise, you wouldn't believe they exist.
I was thinking the same thing. Using "miraculous" in the sense of "extremely unlikely to happen", the miracle is that this piece hit a house at all in an underpopulated region such as Siberia, not that it missed the people living in the house.
Grammatik was also pathetic.
That sounds reasonably accurate, though my impression of Australian English is that it is about half-way between British and American, splitting the difference between the two varieties (and adding a few quirks of their own).
However, the English spoken in Canada is virtually the same as that spoken in the United States - certainly the differences are no greater than those which exist regionally in the U.S. - and I've never heard a Canadian say otherwise. Perhaps your friends were trying to say that Canadian English is closer to British English than U.S. English is - which is true, but just barely.
Noting that the reality in China and India make the Kyoto Treaty pointless is not the same as blaming China and India.
The price of coal does not depend solely on its relative scarcity. It also depends on the wages of the coal miners, the costs of the equipment to mine it and move it, and so on.
I've already seen serious claims that space-based solar could provide electricity at half the cost of coal within a decade, if it was pursued. Those projections are probably optimistic - but still, there are many possibilities and several of the most interesting are almost never even mentioned.
I've heard that verse claimed as a description of a Christmas tree before, but it is also a reasonable description of the making of an idol.
How exactly does a craftsman shape a Christmas tree with a chisel?
Actually that was one of his complaints: it's almost impossible for any responsible adult to see or evaluate the tests. He had to pull strings to be allowed to take it, and he's a school board member.
I don't know whether he's right about the contents of the test, but he's absolutely correct that that degree of secrecy is not healthy - especially when students are being denied diplomas based on the test.
Yup. In practice, it doesn't matter much if you're off by a quarter inch for most construction - and guys who have been doing the work have a feel for such things that is good enough and a hell of a lot faster than crunching all the numbers. Add in the fact that after you crunch all the numbers and lay everything out perfectly, you probably won't get the saw or drill to go exactly where you marked it, and you might as well have ignored the calculating in the first place and just done it on feel.
You're right that people with degrees in Education tend to be the dumbest of the lot, as revealed by GRE scores (9 of the 10 lowest positions are for people who majored in some form of Education). Even so, after RTFA the guy actually has a point. The whole testing process is secretive, and no one is allowed to find out what questions were marked right and what questions were marked wrong. Only students are allowed to even see the test - the guy had to pull some string to be allowed to take the test. Finally, the overemphasis on testing in education is clearly a problem - and that is his real point. As he notes, if the current rules had been in place when he was in high school, he wouldn't have even graduated high school despite pretty good grades.
Relying on secretive processes to evaluate students and influence their chances in life before they even get a chance to prove themselves in practice is ... problematic. I've seen plenty of examples of people who didn't do well on tests doing just as well or better than people who did in practice.
"Absolutely not. Everyone needs to know at least this much math, even if only to be competent at handling money."
Actually, he just said that. "the maths in question is probably as advanced as they need" - and it's true for most people, as the examples - though not difficult at all - do in fact represent all the math that most people need. I take it that you did well on the math, and not so well on the verbal?
The truly sad thing is that many people do not learn this much math - but that is a problem with how it is taught, not with the standards themselves.
Yes, I did it the same way - though I then checked it with 3*40=120 + 3*7=21 to get 141.
Just remember, the sort of people who add 2+2 and get 22 are the same people who are using force to take 1/4th of your paycheck to ensure you have funds and medical care when you are retired.
Finally something factual.
There are a lot of ignorant comments in this thread. This isn't about oppressing anyone or making people poor - it's about freeing people and letting them be productive.
The fact that so many people find the idea horrifying explains quite well why the idea is necessary. The United States used to be known for innovation and industry, now it appears to be protectionist and stuck in its ways. That's not just a bad thing for the United States, it's a bad thing for humanity.
Also see the Seasteading website. http://seasteading.org/
The headline immediately brought phages to my mind, also. We do some stupid things in the USA.