Wish I could mod this up. An excellent response to the baffling attitudes towards email I've seen at a number of university IT departments (similar to grandparent).
"I figure that there should be mandatory classes, at the mid to upper high school level, in basic epistemology and metaphysics (i.e. meta-level topics such as): -How to think carefully, logically. -How to search. -How to formulate good questions..."
People don't learn from abstract principles first like that. All the modern cognitive research is that people need "deep content", that is, they need to learn details about a lot of specific subject matter, before they can make the connections between different fields for themselves. Which is rather common sense that, after all, we need do specific different subjects taught in school systems, just as it's always been done. Radical abstract switches from that, not a good idea.
(1) I (teaching college) have never been so angry in class as last semester when half of my computer literacy class cheated on freaking fill-Excel homeworks. Apparently I scared the crap out of them the next day, because some of the girls started crying (not that I'm proud of that). I'm hoping I never teach CS anything again... the mindset of students in introductory classes is just too often droolingly stupid.
(2) Prior college, probably the craziest interaction I ever had. I think I gave an assignment to command-line FTP into the RFC archive for a particular article and summarize one's findings. Of course, one student just copied the text, so I gave her an F. I had a 20 minute argument with her: "S: I didn't copy it, I re-typed it. All my English teachers allow that. T: That's the same thing. S: No it's not. T: Yes it is... etc. etc."
(3) I worked at a small game company where the two principal engineers gladly admitted that as a pair they'd cheated all their way through their college CS programs. The company was fairly successful, too (sold for some millions while I was there). That said, the one guy's code was semi-unmaintainable by anyone else (completely Lovecraftian mangled naming that even he couldn't remember, etc.)
"This is university, they are paying to learn. Yet they are unwilling to work at it. I wonder what they are looking at getting out it?"
I think this is a common misconception. For example, the majority of my college students are getting financial aid, and are therefore not paying to learn (for now, I suppose). In fact, they get health benefits and can even pocket excess cash above the low tuition. Rather dramatically changed my perception once I realized that.
"He shouldn't have resigned, I think he has the makings of a great politician..."
Disagree, the resignation is actually a sign of how capable a young politician he is. Protocol is (1) resign and go through rehabilitation period, (2) get press on your personal situation, (3) in the future claim this as a learning experience. I'm actually impressed by this guy's proficiency. He will have other far more high-profile positions in the future.
"These days 'Much darker than its predecessor' has become Hollywood doublespeak. It means nothing."
Agreed. My guess is that where Ep. I had Jar-Jar "step in the poopy" for no good effect, this stuff will see one person awkwardly killed for no good plot reason.
Now, you and I would probably agree with such a statement. But others do not. How that debate gets resolved is a political question, and the "morality" camp tends to be distinctly more motivated in their efforts.
Allow me to vent a bit at my hippie pot-smoking "can't we all get along" good-hearted brothers and sisters who don't know how to identify an enemy and fight them. And, at the moment, Obama.
"A game can fall into either category. If the game requires new technology, especially something hard, (advanced AI, a new physics engine, a very large seamless world, etc.) a very front-end design-driven approach may be necessary. On the other hand, if most of the game consists of developing content for different areas of the game world, an "agile" methodology could work fine. Second Life is probably the most extreme example of this."
In my experience as a game developer (now 10 years ago), the situation would be exactly reversed. New technology requires rapid iteration from a lot of stakeholders, in a search to find something that is workable, balanced, fun, expandable, etc., which sounds "agile" to me. Established technology seems more like something you can give marching orders to the art department and have a fixed production schedule.
Examples: Two projects with new game engines being designed or evolved, programmer/designers were continually advancing or identifying features as unworkable, while some poor guy was trying to update a 100-page "design document", trying to record our feature set, being always hopelessly out-of-date, and to which none of the programmers paid any attention. Meanwhile, an intermediate add-on project adding no new programming (just new levels and art) became celebrated for having a well-established schedule up front, the tightest timeline, least expense, and best-looking art of any project at the company.
This is semi-offtopic, but it's something I wish I'd realized sooner. After getting two bachelor's degrees, near the end of my graduate program in math the following occurred to me: I didn't really have to take class notes in the first place. In my last year or so, I just put everything away, kept my desk clear, and just listened to the professor. Anything I needed later was already in a book somwhere I could look up, so what the hey. Relaxing comfortably and watching the professor fully all the time kept my train of thought on-topic and focussed, freed me from up-and-down context switching, and left me better prepared later on.
I know it's a hard habit to shake with everyone in schools everywhere taking notes all the time. But truthfully I would have been better off never doing that in the first place, and just listening carefully.
Maybe I'm (a) different, or (b) mistaken, or (c) on to something that one or two other people might find useful. Wish I'd known it sooner.
"There is something supremely retarded about you kids. You see government fail miserably at almost everything it does, yet you somehow believe the solution is more government control."
"The article fails to address other factors like: What about the bully kid? Why does he/she does that? How some bullies are able to form mobs? Why not all kids behave like bullies when in contact with such child?"
But, that would involve surveying and talking to the bullies, and come on, those guys are scary. Our researchers have been found to much prefer doing studies on the submissive compliant kids, for some reason.
I agree with this. I was somewhat bullied in junior high school. I rather regret that I didn't take some martial arts classes and punch the motherfucker in the neck.
"Phonics is a widely used method of teaching to read and decode words" (per Wikipedia); it's not intrinsically about writing. In other words, phonics is a bootstrap mechanism for getting into the world of the written word, emphasizing reading first. You still have to dedicate yourself to proper spelling instruction during writing, as a separate issue, at a slightly later time. IMO the theory and results are much stronger than the inherently nonsensical "whole word" reading approach.
"Blame the parents who's precious little snowflakes just absolutely can't be doing anything wrong."
The parent post wins the award of "most painful to read in a thread on grammar issues".
"In French canadian schools... we here in Canada keeped using... just keeps rising in French Canada... no all kids absorb knowledge the same way... the local french news... How can you educate when you don't know what your teaching?... pretty high in english schools as well... I wish we could stop this blame the students mentality for all failures... Teachers have they're part in this too... The problem I see here is that as the language degrades, so will corporations' abilities to hire people with such skills and eventually it will end up in upper management."
"In a December 6, 2004 letter to Singer, Muraski informed Singer that 'inmates are not allowed to engage in or possess written material that details rules, codes, dogma of games/activities such as 'Dungeons and Dragons' because it promotes fantasy role playing, competitive hostility, violence, addictive escape behaviors, and possible gambling.'"
This is such horseshit. I found my time in college to be uniformly exciting and mind-expanding. I can't even imagine what kind of personality it takes to have never found a single college class be educational. It's like the whole "mentor/student" concept has a been a hideous gaffe for what, 4000 years?
Slashdot Mirror
Counterpoint: Altria (Phillip Morris)
"We have questions! We have questions! We have unanswered questions!"
This side always loses in any political fight against the side with plans and actions.
Wish I could mod this up. An excellent response to the baffling attitudes towards email I've seen at a number of university IT departments (similar to grandparent).
"I figure that there should be mandatory classes, at the mid to upper high school level,
in basic epistemology and metaphysics (i.e. meta-level topics such as): -How to think carefully, logically. -How to search. -How to formulate good questions..."
People don't learn from abstract principles first like that. All the modern cognitive research is that people need "deep content", that is, they need to learn details about a lot of specific subject matter, before they can make the connections between different fields for themselves. Which is rather common sense that, after all, we need do specific different subjects taught in school systems, just as it's always been done. Radical abstract switches from that, not a good idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiP-ijdxqEc&feature=player_embedded
Bullshit, start to finish. Citation needed for any of this garbage.
Random personal story time:
(1) I (teaching college) have never been so angry in class as last semester when half of my computer literacy class cheated on freaking fill-Excel homeworks. Apparently I scared the crap out of them the next day, because some of the girls started crying (not that I'm proud of that). I'm hoping I never teach CS anything again... the mindset of students in introductory classes is just too often droolingly stupid.
(2) Prior college, probably the craziest interaction I ever had. I think I gave an assignment to command-line FTP into the RFC archive for a particular article and summarize one's findings. Of course, one student just copied the text, so I gave her an F. I had a 20 minute argument with her: "S: I didn't copy it, I re-typed it. All my English teachers allow that. T: That's the same thing. S: No it's not. T: Yes it is... etc. etc."
(3) I worked at a small game company where the two principal engineers gladly admitted that as a pair they'd cheated all their way through their college CS programs. The company was fairly successful, too (sold for some millions while I was there). That said, the one guy's code was semi-unmaintainable by anyone else (completely Lovecraftian mangled naming that even he couldn't remember, etc.)
"This is university, they are paying to learn. Yet they are unwilling to work at it. I wonder what they are looking at getting out it?"
I think this is a common misconception. For example, the majority of my college students are getting financial aid, and are therefore not paying to learn (for now, I suppose). In fact, they get health benefits and can even pocket excess cash above the low tuition. Rather dramatically changed my perception once I realized that.
"He shouldn't have resigned, I think he has the makings of a great politician..."
Disagree, the resignation is actually a sign of how capable a young politician he is. Protocol is (1) resign and go through rehabilitation period, (2) get press on your personal situation, (3) in the future claim this as a learning experience. I'm actually impressed by this guy's proficiency. He will have other far more high-profile positions in the future.
"These days 'Much darker than its predecessor' has become Hollywood doublespeak. It means nothing."
Agreed. My guess is that where Ep. I had Jar-Jar "step in the poopy" for no good effect, this stuff will see one person awkwardly killed for no good plot reason.
"The 'first' film was the best because you were 12 years old at the time."
No, the first film was among the best because at the time, Han shot first. And many similar things of which the elder Lucas was no longer capable.
I "advocate conducting the government of the United States". So I guess that qualifies.
Advantages: Easy to find in the sky. Viewable during daytime hours.
"You can't legislate morality."
Now, you and I would probably agree with such a statement. But others do not. How that debate gets resolved is a political question, and the "morality" camp tends to be distinctly more motivated in their efforts.
Allow me to vent a bit at my hippie pot-smoking "can't we all get along" good-hearted brothers and sisters who don't know how to identify an enemy and fight them. And, at the moment, Obama.
"A game can fall into either category. If the game requires new technology, especially something hard, (advanced AI, a new physics engine, a very large seamless world, etc.) a very front-end design-driven approach may be necessary. On the other hand, if most of the game consists of developing content for different areas of the game world, an "agile" methodology could work fine. Second Life is probably the most extreme example of this."
In my experience as a game developer (now 10 years ago), the situation would be exactly reversed. New technology requires rapid iteration from a lot of stakeholders, in a search to find something that is workable, balanced, fun, expandable, etc., which sounds "agile" to me. Established technology seems more like something you can give marching orders to the art department and have a fixed production schedule.
Examples: Two projects with new game engines being designed or evolved, programmer/designers were continually advancing or identifying features as unworkable, while some poor guy was trying to update a 100-page "design document", trying to record our feature set, being always hopelessly out-of-date, and to which none of the programmers paid any attention. Meanwhile, an intermediate add-on project adding no new programming (just new levels and art) became celebrated for having a well-established schedule up front, the tightest timeline, least expense, and best-looking art of any project at the company.
This is semi-offtopic, but it's something I wish I'd realized sooner. After getting two bachelor's degrees, near the end of my graduate program in math the following occurred to me: I didn't really have to take class notes in the first place. In my last year or so, I just put everything away, kept my desk clear, and just listened to the professor. Anything I needed later was already in a book somwhere I could look up, so what the hey. Relaxing comfortably and watching the professor fully all the time kept my train of thought on-topic and focussed, freed me from up-and-down context switching, and left me better prepared later on.
I know it's a hard habit to shake with everyone in schools everywhere taking notes all the time. But truthfully I would have been better off never doing that in the first place, and just listening carefully.
Maybe I'm (a) different, or (b) mistaken, or (c) on to something that one or two other people might find useful. Wish I'd known it sooner.
"There is something supremely retarded about you kids. You see government fail miserably at almost everything it does, yet you somehow believe the solution is more government control."
Ooh, you'll have Sarah Palin to answer for that!
So DARPA's just licensing stuff from Monsanto these days?
"The article fails to address other factors like: What about the bully kid? Why does he/she does that? How some bullies are able to form mobs? Why not all kids behave like bullies when in contact with such child?"
But, that would involve surveying and talking to the bullies, and come on, those guys are scary. Our researchers have been found to much prefer doing studies on the submissive compliant kids, for some reason.
I agree with this. I was somewhat bullied in junior high school. I rather regret that I didn't take some martial arts classes and punch the motherfucker in the neck.
"Am I happy with these scanners? No, but they've been in use for many years in other countries (like Russia)..."
I literally snorted at that.
Also:
http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/
"Phonics is a widely used method of teaching to read and decode words" (per Wikipedia); it's not intrinsically about writing. In other words, phonics is a bootstrap mechanism for getting into the world of the written word, emphasizing reading first. You still have to dedicate yourself to proper spelling instruction during writing, as a separate issue, at a slightly later time. IMO the theory and results are much stronger than the inherently nonsensical "whole word" reading approach.
"Blame the parents who's precious little snowflakes just absolutely can't be doing anything wrong."
You don't say.
The parent post wins the award of "most painful to read in a thread on grammar issues".
"In French canadian schools... we here in Canada keeped using... just keeps rising in French Canada... no all kids absorb knowledge the same way... the local french news... How can you educate when you don't know what your teaching?... pretty high in english schools as well... I wish we could stop this blame the students mentality for all failures... Teachers have they're part in this too... The problem I see here is that as the language degrades, so will corporations' abilities to hire people with such skills and eventually it will end up in upper management."
"What if they played any other sort of RPG?"
No. The policy that was upheld in the ruling was:
"In a December 6, 2004 letter to Singer, Muraski informed Singer that 'inmates are not allowed to engage in or possess written material that details rules, codes, dogma of games/activities such as 'Dungeons and Dragons' because it promotes fantasy role playing, competitive hostility, violence, addictive escape behaviors, and possible gambling.'"
http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/UP0VO8EC.pdf
This is such horseshit. I found my time in college to be uniformly exciting and mind-expanding. I can't even imagine what kind of personality it takes to have never found a single college class be educational. It's like the whole "mentor/student" concept has a been a hideous gaffe for what, 4000 years?