I do wish that the 14th amendment clearly and explicitly stated that. For example: The phrase "Bill Of Rights" doesn't actually appear in the text anywhere. To the degree that it's supported rulings in that direction, it's been a good thing.
He had no competitors, apparently. This action just put the entire market for this particular product entirely out of business.
Looking at the Wikipedia article right now, these iodine crystals were a low-cost and high-water-volume alternative to dissolving iodine tablets, and Polar Pure is the only product of its class mentioned.
"Freedom of speech doesn't include freedom to shit all over the streets, block the free movement of others, and create a health hazard. I 100% support their right to speak, primarily because so much of their speech is anti-capitalist, and want them to be seen and heard for exactly what they are. But Jebus, the areas where these guys have been have become a health hazard."
This is simply false. I was at OWS in NYC several times and it was not remotely any kind of health hazard. If anything I was a bit irritated at how anal they'd become constantly sweeping with brooms and bagging/emptying garbage receptacles in an attempt to be spotless in their response to these claims. But obviously the reality hasn't got very much to do with the anti-OWS propaganda.
Just reading it now -- that is a stunningly, shockingly prescient article. I'm somewhat terrified in how perfectly it captures my work experience, written a half-century ago. Zowie.
"They'd make more money filtering them on the output stage rather than on the input stage, since that is all that matters to the administrators, I don't understand why they don't do this."
Well, to the extent that faculty still have any sway in the process (they used to run it, after all), they don't want know-nothing students clogging up the later courses and wasting time (bringing down in-class discussions, grading labor, office hours, email, etc.) Reputation-wise, it would be a black mark if your graduates were known as incompetent boobs. But insofar as corporate-style administration is deep in the process of taking over the university system, you are correct, and the pressures are pushing in the direction that you describe.
"The student isn't paid to learn, the teacher is paid to teach. You have it backwards."
There was a time in my life when this could be the punch line to a hilarious joke. That this could be said seriously today probably foreshadows the death-knell of the Western university system.
Teach one class and document if this changes your feelings at all.
For me, the biggest eye-opener of my life was the first time I taught a college class and actually got to witness the standard distribution of work from a normal class (not just the "A" work from myself and my college friends). It switched my position on that issue pretty fast.
This is a very weak critique. College homework (esp. in STEM classes) is supposed to be simply prep-work. The actual "work product" of school is more represented by the tests (demonstration of achieved knowledge). It's the difference between athletic practice and an actual game.
"I fully agree that separating out students is the right thing to do. There are however two problems with this. One is politico-cultural, which is that the American public will not by-and-large accept this idea."
The one thing I'll point out is that this is how we (USA) used to do it just 20 years ago. Up through my high school, there were separate identified tracks for "college prep" courses versus "standard" courses (these in addition to Honors and AP in the last year or two). You could switch between the two tracks, although that was infrequently done. Right after I graduated (circa 1990) a new philosophy swept through and this distinction was eliminated, lumping everyone together ("the smart students can help the laggers", stuff like that). My younger sibling had to deal with it her last few years.
It seems to me like the experiment is fundamentally failing (end result: lots of people unprepared for college, and worse, students not realizing it). Some of this possibly anecdotal, but my understanding is that this "anti-tracking" was a nationwide phenomenon.
"Stuff like wonders and virgin birth are a really small part of what religion is all about. Religions care way more about stuff like values, morals and rituals."
I guess that's debatable. (Personally I call that the "Gould Gambit", and do not ascribe to it).
You speak of professors but leave out college administrators (corporate-like professional management). Question 1: Are there more professors or administrators in U.S. colleges today? Question 2: Was the answer to #1 the same in 1975? Question 3: Whose salaries have increased significantly in recent decades? Question 4: Has faculty control of colleges increased or decreased in recent decades?
Question: Who in the system has the incentive to tell them that? (It may be obvious to you, but to students who are the first in their family to go to college, and have a very hazy image of college as the "American dream", it's a perilous trap.)
One fix that I would implement immediately -- If you need to take remedial college classes, no government funding for anything else until you've passed them.
As it stands, it's totally backwards: For government loans you need to be registered full-time, which incentivizes people in remedial programs to register for classes they're not ready for, so that they fill out their required course load. And I see lots of students go through a whole 2-year community college program and try to pass a remedial algebra class at the very end and fail (national statistics show only 1-in-3 students in such a class will ever get a degree).
"Yeah, government should just take from the people who do that creativity and inventiveness and give it to those who don't bother to in the form of a 'basic income'. Meh."
I'm willing to vote in favor of that. Not all of the income, but a useful part it. Let's negotiate the percentage.
Another major factor is that -- even though faculty and facilities costs have not appreciably gone up -- the number and cost of non-teaching administrators have dramatically bloated (as part of the corporate-management takeover of universities in the last few decades). Today there are more administrators than teachers in colleges, which was not the case in the past. Article on that in the last month: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2011/features/administrators_ate_my_tuition031641.php
"But the prize is so great that I can't help but hope a little."
And that is how a truly great scam works. "They more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie," as it says in Mein Kampf. And likewise how religion benefits from Pascal's Wager.
Slashdot Mirror
I do wish that the 14th amendment clearly and explicitly stated that. For example: The phrase "Bill Of Rights" doesn't actually appear in the text anywhere. To the degree that it's supported rulings in that direction, it's been a good thing.
He had no competitors, apparently. This action just put the entire market for this particular product entirely out of business.
Looking at the Wikipedia article right now, these iodine crystals were a low-cost and high-water-volume alternative to dissolving iodine tablets, and Polar Pure is the only product of its class mentioned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification#Chemical_disinfection
"Freedom of speech doesn't include freedom to shit all over the streets, block the free movement of others, and create a health hazard. I 100% support their right to speak, primarily because so much of their speech is anti-capitalist, and want them to be seen and heard for exactly what they are. But Jebus, the areas where these guys have been have become a health hazard."
This is simply false. I was at OWS in NYC several times and it was not remotely any kind of health hazard. If anything I was a bit irritated at how anal they'd become constantly sweeping with brooms and bagging/emptying garbage receptacles in an attempt to be spotless in their response to these claims. But obviously the reality hasn't got very much to do with the anti-OWS propaganda.
Prediction: You will have one helluva hard time in your divorce. Just sayin'.
Probably a stern "tsk-tsk" and finger-wag from the FTC? Pffffttt...
"So why not go ask for a warrant?"
Well, if the precedent is that no warrant is needed, then why go through the unnecessary work?
Just reading it now -- that is a stunningly, shockingly prescient article. I'm somewhat terrified in how perfectly it captures my work experience, written a half-century ago. Zowie.
Thanks for bringing it up.
"Community colleges don't have selective admissions."
Yes, and for those who need more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_admissions
"They'd make more money filtering them on the output stage rather than on the input stage, since that is all that matters to the administrators, I don't understand why they don't do this."
Well, to the extent that faculty still have any sway in the process (they used to run it, after all), they don't want know-nothing students clogging up the later courses and wasting time (bringing down in-class discussions, grading labor, office hours, email, etc.) Reputation-wise, it would be a black mark if your graduates were known as incompetent boobs. But insofar as corporate-style administration is deep in the process of taking over the university system, you are correct, and the pressures are pushing in the direction that you describe.
"The student isn't paid to learn, the teacher is paid to teach. You have it backwards."
There was a time in my life when this could be the punch line to a hilarious joke. That this could be said seriously today probably foreshadows the death-knell of the Western university system.
"That sounds like a failure to teach."
Teach one class and document if this changes your feelings at all.
For me, the biggest eye-opener of my life was the first time I taught a college class and actually got to witness the standard distribution of work from a normal class (not just the "A" work from myself and my college friends). It switched my position on that issue pretty fast.
This is a very weak critique. College homework (esp. in STEM classes) is supposed to be simply prep-work. The actual "work product" of school is more represented by the tests (demonstration of achieved knowledge). It's the difference between athletic practice and an actual game.
"I fully agree that separating out students is the right thing to do. There are however two problems with this. One is politico-cultural, which is that the American public will not by-and-large accept this idea."
The one thing I'll point out is that this is how we (USA) used to do it just 20 years ago. Up through my high school, there were separate identified tracks for "college prep" courses versus "standard" courses (these in addition to Honors and AP in the last year or two). You could switch between the two tracks, although that was infrequently done. Right after I graduated (circa 1990) a new philosophy swept through and this distinction was eliminated, lumping everyone together ("the smart students can help the laggers", stuff like that). My younger sibling had to deal with it her last few years.
It seems to me like the experiment is fundamentally failing (end result: lots of people unprepared for college, and worse, students not realizing it). Some of this possibly anecdotal, but my understanding is that this "anti-tracking" was a nationwide phenomenon.
"Stuff like wonders and virgin birth are a really small part of what religion is all about. Religions care way more about stuff like values, morals and rituals."
I guess that's debatable. (Personally I call that the "Gould Gambit", and do not ascribe to it).
Wow, and good luck with your remedial English class.
"... tenured professors in plush offices..."
You speak of professors but leave out college administrators (corporate-like professional management).
Question 1: Are there more professors or administrators in U.S. colleges today?
Question 2: Was the answer to #1 the same in 1975?
Question 3: Whose salaries have increased significantly in recent decades?
Question 4: Has faculty control of colleges increased or decreased in recent decades?
Read here: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2011/features/administrators_ate_my_tuition031641.php
Question: Who in the system has the incentive to tell them that? (It may be obvious to you, but to students who are the first in their family to go to college, and have a very hazy image of college as the "American dream", it's a perilous trap.)
One fix that I would implement immediately -- If you need to take remedial college classes, no government funding for anything else until you've passed them.
As it stands, it's totally backwards: For government loans you need to be registered full-time, which incentivizes people in remedial programs to register for classes they're not ready for, so that they fill out their required course load. And I see lots of students go through a whole 2-year community college program and try to pass a remedial algebra class at the very end and fail (national statistics show only 1-in-3 students in such a class will ever get a degree).
"Yeah, government should just take from the people who do that creativity and inventiveness and give it to those who don't bother to in the form of a 'basic income'. Meh."
I'm willing to vote in favor of that. Not all of the income, but a useful part it. Let's negotiate the percentage.
Note: That report was from 2002, and things have gotten much worse since then. Here's a more current story from the last week: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/26/4008283/college-prices-up-again-as-states.html
Another major factor is that -- even though faculty and facilities costs have not appreciably gone up -- the number and cost of non-teaching administrators have dramatically bloated (as part of the corporate-management takeover of universities in the last few decades). Today there are more administrators than teachers in colleges, which was not the case in the past. Article on that in the last month: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2011/features/administrators_ate_my_tuition031641.php
"It's like the war on drugs"
No, it IS the war on drugs. Under a fraudulent name.
I honestly do consider that (betting with believers), but it seems like they're also the types to likely welsh on a bet.
"But the prize is so great that I can't help but hope a little."
And that is how a truly great scam works. "They more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie," as it says in Mein Kampf. And likewise how religion benefits from Pascal's Wager.
"Until some hour ago I felt a strong pressure, now, at the eve of the battle, as usual, I am recovering all my coldness and calm. We are ready."
If that doesn't describe the thought process of a sociopath, then I don't know what does.
GP is the single best and most on-topic modification of the original that I've ever seen. You, sir, can go screw yourself.