There would be deliberate administrative malfeasance dedicated to proving that single-payer doesn't work.
And it does. I've traveled the world and seen it in action, and I've traveled to third-world countries where I had to spend serious $$ to get basic care.....
I agree that the US health insurance system seems to be set up to discourage entrepreneurs. While I have no proof, I postulate that this condition (e.g., health insurance almost impossible to get outside corporate works) exists because it creates a pool of workers who are highly vulnerable to employer coercion - e.g., since loss of job results in loss of health benefits, workers put up with crap they might not otherwise, and certainly don't become entrepreneurs as often as they might due to the risks of going without health insurance.
I guess I'm an exception....I've been using it since edgy on a Dell D610 and it works mostly fine. Sound in karmic isn't great and was a bear to configure, but other than that, it's been good enough for me - it's not black-screened ever, and this is with pretty significant use.
Another vote for reading Feynman - his popular writings are wonderful and his specialist work is difficult but worth the (sometimes considerable) struggle.
The Canadian "eh" is the closest thing to a syllabic representation of a question mark I've ever heard. I *love* it because it's absolutely explicit and yet completely unexplainable. It's almost like the British 'innit?" which serves the same purpose.
Um, not so much. I have taught students (college level) who failed to attend classes, handed in substandard work, and subsequently had parents call and yell at me that they were paying my salary, and consequently that their kid was entitled to pass my class.
In *college.* At a name-brand Eastern school that did OK in basketball.
At one point, I received a rather well-written communication from a parent regarding his child's grade (comp 101). I replied to his letter with a note asking him whether he considered the writing in the enclosures (copies of his child's work) acceptable.
I received an apology and encouragement to fail his child if said child continued to perform work that wouldn't be acceptable in a job setting.
It was far and away the most vindicating moment of my teaching career.
Some parents have common sense and want their kids to be smart. Some want their kids credentialed. The latter drive me crazy, esp after I received an email explaining that their child has to "get his BS at any cause." (e.g., get his degree at any cost).
We should spend the first six years of education mastering these three things for that is the basis of ALL further education.
If you get to University level and can't read, write or do basic math properly, the system has failed you!
Agreed. The value of basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills derives not only from the methodological aspect (e.g., the provision of a common basis for communication and understanding of math) but also from the fact that these skills, mastered, provide the student with a skillset which allows for critical examination of ideas. I suspect that a bit more critical examination would lead to a reduction in public advocacy of harebrained ideas....
I spent a number of years teaching first-year composition at a small university where significantly more than 30% of the incoming first-year students simply couldn't write sufficiently well to merit their attendance in an advanced academic setting. I also worked in the writing lab, where I routinely counseled students in pursuit of advanced degrees....it was astonishing to find the quantity of Ph.D candidates who simply didn't pay attention to basic writing skills.
I suppose I'll be labeled as unduly strict, but in my classes, the first thing I told students was that certain mistakes merited an automatic 0, return of the paper to the student, and a mandated rewrite for a grade - and the error would *not* be pointed out on the returned paper. - misuse of homophones
- it's/its and the inexcusable its'
- here/hear
- lose/loose
- where/we're/were (which aren't homophones but get misused)
- there/they're/their
- effect/affect confusion
- your / you're
- then/than
- could of/would of for could have, would have
- alot for a lot - incorrect possessives
I also graded rather harshly on comma splices and other mispunctuation. The rationale stemmed from a long-held conviction that states that by the time a student is accepted to a college, esp a name-brand school, they need to have mastered basic competency when writing. If they haven't done so prior to the start of their college education, they need to be rudely disabused of the notion that slipshod writing is acceptable. They need to adapt quickly or fail and leave the university to those people who respect the basic precepts of scholarship - the first of which is the ability to express their positions in expository prose that is coherent and concise. Academic prose needn't be perfect (cf Muphry's Law), but when it's so riddled with basic usage errors as to detract from the content, then it fails to serve the purpose, which is (usually) the presentation and exposition of abstract concepts.
note: I do NOT claim that my own writing is perfect. However, at the time I was teaching, my job was to raise the standard for my students' writing to a minimally acceptable level, and (hopefully) better than that.
I've experimented with it on a number of various networks - some professional, some personal - and it's not so bad. THe implementation isn't as complete as IPv4, but given the user base, it's not that surprising....
Here's another idea - find a local chapter of ISOC and contact them. I've done a bit of work in the South Pacific doing this after a cyclone (hurricane in the US) to rebuild infrastructure, and some building from scratch. I've gathered old Linksys/Netgear/whatever routers, both wired and wireless, and set up networks sealed in Pelican cases, for not much money, powered by solar and batteries, that work great.
In general, the areas that need this help aren't dangerous, just poor, and the work you do helping set up infrastructure that makes network access possible provides opportunities for local people to find new markets and broaden their horizons. And I've found that kids living in housing we would consider primitive conditions in the industrial west glom onto computers just as fast as kids in the industrial world, all other things being equal (e.g., they have enough to eat, are reasonably secure in their family and community, etc). Kids are kids - they're information sponges and will soak up tech as fast as they can get it.
What's cool is that as the result of this kind of stuff, there will arise a generation of people who have historically been geographically isolated who will be able to advocate for their own interests on the world stage. So building this stuff is good karma, or however you want to say 'net good.'
One thing not mentioned: a rigorous procedure for handling of decommissioned equipment. Failure to have proper audit mechanisms in place for hw removal is asking for data theft.
It's nice that these folks have figured out a way to grow fuel.
however, it kind of glosses over the fact that we kind of have to rethink burning liquid hydrocarbons as a means of transportation if we want the environment to remain capable of supporting life in the long term....I would rather that the Holocene did not end in a mass extinction event, although we're getting there already.
Try the Brenthaven laptop backpack. I looked at the Kensington, the Targus, the Tumi, the Eagle Creek, and several others before settling on this one. It's big and comfortable. It doesn't have the compartments of the Targus or the file-maintenance space of the Tumi, but it's got lots of pockets and they're well-arranged. Plus, it's big enough to carry everything I need and small enough to fit under the airline seat:-) a space which just keeps getting smaller. Maybe it's time for an open-source aircraft -- we can make our OWN space! I can carry either my big laptop (big dell) or small one (libretto) and all the connectivity stuff I need (and a bunch more with the Libretto). The laptop padded thing is also removable, so I can pull it out and use the space when it's absolutely necessary. It's a good piece of equipment. Of course, for a smaller laptop, the north face laptop briefcase is hard to beat...but it's too small for full-size laptops:-( hope you find a good one.
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There would be deliberate administrative malfeasance dedicated to proving that single-payer doesn't work.
And it does. I've traveled the world and seen it in action, and I've traveled to third-world countries where I had to spend serious $$ to get basic care.....
I agree that the US health insurance system seems to be set up to discourage entrepreneurs. While I have no proof, I postulate that this condition (e.g., health insurance almost impossible to get outside corporate works) exists because it creates a pool of workers who are highly vulnerable to employer coercion - e.g., since loss of job results in loss of health benefits, workers put up with crap they might not otherwise, and certainly don't become entrepreneurs as often as they might due to the risks of going without health insurance.
I guess I'm an exception....I've been using it since edgy on a Dell D610 and it works mostly fine. Sound in karmic isn't great and was a bear to configure, but other than that, it's been good enough for me - it's not black-screened ever, and this is with pretty significant use.
Another vote for reading Feynman - his popular writings are wonderful and his specialist work is difficult but worth the (sometimes considerable) struggle.
I did the same thing, and am now in technology b/c I couldn't afford to live on the salary universities offer to teach people to write.
Fortunately I also have enough math to be useful.....a lot of my classmates didn't have that as a fallback and are starving.
The Canadian "eh" is the closest thing to a syllabic representation of a question mark I've ever heard. I *love* it because it's absolutely explicit and yet completely unexplainable. It's almost like the British 'innit?" which serves the same purpose.
Um, not so much. I have taught students (college level) who failed to attend classes, handed in substandard work, and subsequently had parents call and yell at me that they were paying my salary, and consequently that their kid was entitled to pass my class.
In *college.* At a name-brand Eastern school that did OK in basketball.
At one point, I received a rather well-written communication from a parent regarding his child's grade (comp 101). I replied to his letter with a note asking him whether he considered the writing in the enclosures (copies of his child's work) acceptable.
I received an apology and encouragement to fail his child if said child continued to perform work that wouldn't be acceptable in a job setting.
It was far and away the most vindicating moment of my teaching career.
Some parents have common sense and want their kids to be smart. Some want their kids credentialed. The latter drive me crazy, esp after I received an email explaining that their child has to "get his BS at any cause." (e.g., get his degree at any cost).
We should spend the first six years of education mastering these three things for that is the basis of ALL further education.
If you get to University level and can't read, write or do basic math properly, the system has failed you!
Agreed. The value of basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills derives not only from the methodological aspect (e.g., the provision of a common basis for communication and understanding of math) but also from the fact that these skills, mastered, provide the student with a skillset which allows for critical examination of ideas. I suspect that a bit more critical examination would lead to a reduction in public advocacy of harebrained ideas....
I spent a number of years teaching first-year composition at a small university where significantly more than 30% of the incoming first-year students simply couldn't write sufficiently well to merit their attendance in an advanced academic setting. I also worked in the writing lab, where I routinely counseled students in pursuit of advanced degrees....it was astonishing to find the quantity of Ph.D candidates who simply didn't pay attention to basic writing skills.
I suppose I'll be labeled as unduly strict, but in my classes, the first thing I told students was that certain mistakes merited an automatic 0, return of the paper to the student, and a mandated rewrite for a grade - and the error would *not* be pointed out on the returned paper.
- misuse of homophones
- it's/its and the inexcusable its'
- here/hear
- lose/loose
- where/we're/were (which aren't homophones but get misused)
- there/they're/their
- effect/affect confusion
- your / you're
- then/than
- could of/would of for could have, would have
- alot for a lot
- incorrect possessives
I also graded rather harshly on comma splices and other mispunctuation. The rationale stemmed from a long-held conviction that states that by the time a student is accepted to a college, esp a name-brand school, they need to have mastered basic competency when writing. If they haven't done so prior to the start of their college education, they need to be rudely disabused of the notion that slipshod writing is acceptable. They need to adapt quickly or fail and leave the university to those people who respect the basic precepts of scholarship - the first of which is the ability to express their positions in expository prose that is coherent and concise. Academic prose needn't be perfect (cf Muphry's Law), but when it's so riddled with basic usage errors as to detract from the content, then it fails to serve the purpose, which is (usually) the presentation and exposition of abstract concepts.
note: I do NOT claim that my own writing is perfect. However, at the time I was teaching, my job was to raise the standard for my students' writing to a minimally acceptable level, and (hopefully) better than that.
It'll be dynamic - the protocol doesn't use DHCP as we know it; it uses 'neighbor discovery,' which is described here: http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_TCPIPIPv6NeighborDiscoveryProtocolND.htm
I've experimented with it on a number of various networks - some professional, some personal - and it's not so bad. THe implementation isn't as complete as IPv4, but given the user base, it's not that surprising....
Here's another idea - find a local chapter of ISOC and contact them. I've done a bit of work in the South Pacific doing this after a cyclone (hurricane in the US) to rebuild infrastructure, and some building from scratch. I've gathered old Linksys/Netgear/whatever routers, both wired and wireless, and set up networks sealed in Pelican cases, for not much money, powered by solar and batteries, that work great.
In general, the areas that need this help aren't dangerous, just poor, and the work you do helping set up infrastructure that makes network access possible provides opportunities for local people to find new markets and broaden their horizons. And I've found that kids living in housing we would consider primitive conditions in the industrial west glom onto computers just as fast as kids in the industrial world, all other things being equal (e.g., they have enough to eat, are reasonably secure in their family and community, etc). Kids are kids - they're information sponges and will soak up tech as fast as they can get it.
What's cool is that as the result of this kind of stuff, there will arise a generation of people who have historically been geographically isolated who will be able to advocate for their own interests on the world stage. So building this stuff is good karma, or however you want to say 'net good.'
thanks for reading
One thing not mentioned: a rigorous procedure for handling of decommissioned equipment. Failure to have proper audit mechanisms in place for hw removal is asking for data theft.
It's nice that these folks have figured out a way to grow fuel.
however, it kind of glosses over the fact that we kind of have to rethink burning liquid hydrocarbons as a means of transportation if we want the environment to remain capable of supporting life in the long term....I would rather that the Holocene did not end in a mass extinction event, although we're getting there already.
Try the Brenthaven laptop backpack. I looked at the Kensington, the Targus, the Tumi, the Eagle Creek, and several others before settling on this one. It's big and comfortable. It doesn't have the compartments of the Targus or the file-maintenance space of the Tumi, but it's got lots of pockets and they're well-arranged. Plus, it's big enough to carry everything I need and small enough to fit under the airline seat :-) a space which just keeps getting smaller. Maybe it's time for an open-source aircraft -- we can make our OWN space! I can carry either my big laptop (big dell) or small one (libretto) and all the connectivity stuff I need (and a bunch more with the Libretto). The laptop padded thing is also removable, so I can pull it out and use the space when it's absolutely necessary. It's a good piece of equipment. Of course, for a smaller laptop, the north face laptop briefcase is hard to beat...but it's too small for full-size laptops :-( hope you find a good one.