Can we also abolish Esther Dyson while we're at it?
Yes, please! I thought she was a bit off, before, but ever since the new TLDs, I'm come to conclude that she doesn't know shit from shine-ola....
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Let me ask you something: Is it true that everyone involved with the public education system is just a stupid hack who can't make it in the real world?
Or is possible that people who have devoted their lives and careers to making education work may actually know what they're talkiing about? Personally, I beleive the person with the doctorate in education when they say that vouchers are a bad idea.
"Competition" works for businesses. Education is different. Of course, we all know that the evil, satanic, baby-killing homosexual agenda teacher's union is against vouchers, because they're all idiots anyway, just looking for a free ride on the taxpayers back...
Wake up. Public schools need MORE money, not less. If perhaps we offered more competitive salaries (hah-ha! there's a good use for competition in the sphere of public education!), then maybe we'd get some quality teachers out there. As it stands, I know tons of people I went to school with became teachers after college, only to give it up in a few years because the pay is crap, the parents don't want to get involved, and the taxpayers would rather pay for ballparks and prisons instead of a cost-of-living raise for teachers.
The other factor is that this is all supposed to help out poor kids, by letting them get out of failing schools. I got news for you. There isn't enough room for all those kids in private or parochial schools. I know that in CA, where I live, the diocese says that it could possibly handle maybe a hundred more students per locality, and all the private schools in the California Association of Independent Schools have said publicly that they will refuse to accept them, as though the vouchers would even begin to cover the expenses for a non-parochial private school.
Give up on vouchers, and fork over the extra dough for better public schools. Then we won't need the prisons, and kids in poor areas will learn something. So-called "failing schools" fail for a reason: the public at large has given them the collective finger, and rather than kick down for school repairs, new books, and well-trained teachers, they're given these awful solutions like vouchers and standardized tests. ------------------------------------------------ --------- I bent my wookie
Not to mention that when the guy in Massachusetts(?) killed his office mates, the reporter described as using a "semi-automatic revolver". Wow. Who makes those? I was looking for them at my local gun shop, but when I asked the guy about it, he looked at me like I had antennae and I was drooling piss.
Sheesh. They don't make any effort at all to get it right, do they? ------------------------------------------- -------------- I bent my wookie
School choice. The public school and taxation system financially constrains parents to send their children to these schools. Private schools could choose to have less insane policies regarding informants, non-prescription medications, and good samaritans.
Doubtful. Private schools will respond to shrill, paranoid parents even more swiftly than a public school. No school board hearings, no nothing. They can institute what ever policies they choose, when they want, and can implement them tomorrow. "School Choice", a complete misnomer, is about destroying public education for ideological reasons. They make no sense to any rational educator.
Tort reform. The real solution here is to make the boy's parents pay for the lawsuit directed against the girl's parents -- automatically -- to discourage frivolous lawsuits. Note: the lawsuit against the school was not frivolous, but the lawsuit against the girl's parents was.
So-called "tort reform" won't address any of what you just described. In any civil suit, part of the proceeding is about who's gonna foot the bill. Besides, since you're not involved, who are you to say what's "frivolous" and what isn't? "Tort Reform" is really about taking away your average joe's ability to sue people who have wronged him in an actionable way. The people behind it represent moneyed interests that would like very much to be either statutorily immune to lawsuits, or at the very least make it impossible for anyone who doesn't have buckets of money to spend on legal fees to pursue actions against them.
------------------------------------------------ --------- I bent my wookie
Negative. Telling someone that you're going to get them is not assault. It's nothing.
The police cannot and will not do anything just on a threat. Assault is when you attempt to physically injure someone. If you hit them, then it's assault and battery. If you use a weapon, then it's either assault with a dealy weapon or attempted murder, depending on if you get them or not. Of course, if you kill someone, then you're talking murder. ----------------------------------------- ---------------- I bent my wookie
I didn't think Bonnie was into waving guns around, for most of the book, she played with George's gun, though... --------------------------------------- ------------------ I bent my wookie
Well said. I find it sad that most of my fellow Slashdotters tend to convieniently turn a blind eye toward a single chink in the armor:
These so-called "rogue states" (N. Korea, Libya, Iran, anyone who doesn't want to play ball with us) and larger countries like China see themselves as having to defend themselves against us (the U.S.- NATO bloc) with good reason. Witness Cuba, Chile, Panama, Vietnam, Cambodia the list goes on.
My point is, that perhaps these nations wouldn't stand so hard against the US if the US made a committment to cooling it on the democratically elected government shut-down machine that the US Government has been running for the last 60 years. Hardly anyone stops to think that perhaps the US Government's policies are the precise reason why these nations and terrorist groups view us as adversaries?
Perhaps all that is required is a change of outlook, and the US can get back to investing the money they have earmarked for the NMD into something with a broader range of applications. ----------------------------------- ---------------------- I bent my wookie
Indeed, race is a social construct. For example, say you (who is white, or whatever) need a kidney transplant, and there's a white guy and a black guy who are potential donors. It's completely likely that you could have a tissue type match with the black guy and not the white guy. If there were any differences at all, you'd think that you'd match with any white person over a black person, but it just ain't so. Ergo, race is not a biological thing, but a human perception thing. ------------------------------------------ --------------- I bent my wookie
As a matter of fact, one of the people who was at the press conference was indeed in sales. I paraphrase what I remember of his statement:
"After ten years of working in sales, I began to wonder why I was constantly being overlooked for promotions, and why people who were junior and less qualified were getting promoted and I was still stuck in this rut."
Now, the guy sounded very measured, and very smart and articulate. Incidentally, I believe he was in a regional sales office back east. Is it possible that the sales boss was a racist? You bet. Is it M$'s fault? Don't know, not for me to decide. I should think it depends on whether M$ knew that this particular manager was a racist and failed to address it.
The guy also said that it took him a long time to decide to participate in the suit, a lot of soul-searching, before he arrived at the conclusion that he had indeed been discriminated against. ---------------------------------------- ----------------- I bent my wookie
Yep, Tesla did invent a way to broadcast AC through the ether, in fact IIRC, he built one and demonstrated it. It was crushed by Edison and the newspapers claiming that AC was dangerous.
The basis for this was the use of Large Tesla coils to actually transmit electricity through the ground.
That link also has info on Tesla's "Death Ray", which is rumored to have caused the Tunguska event.
------------------------------------------------ --------- I bent my wookie
That's "Wankel", and Mazda is, I believe, putting them in the next iteration of the RX-7. ------------------------------------------- -------------- I bent my wookie
I have an Omega Speedmaster, and it's ratchet-wound. From time to time I can hear the little thing going 'zip zip zip'.... ---------------------------------------- ----------------- I bent my wookie
I just bought an automatic watch last January, and no, it wasn't a Rolex (an Omega), but I saw plenty of manufacturers (Rolex, Breitling, Heuer, Omega, Patek-Philippe) that made automatic watches. They're way sweet, I love having a kinetically-wound watch... ---------------------------------------- ----------------- I bent my wookie
Boy, sure is obvious that you didn't read the article. The author says that advocacy is fine, but not to the extent that you immediately reject out of hand anything that isn't what you're advocating, nor do you make false comparisons between things that may or may not do the same tasks.
The author's right... How many times on/. have I seen posts to the effect "Java sucks, C++ is what real programmers use!" or "Microsoft sucks for everything! The only hope is Unix!!" or "Perl is great, only godlike people can use Perl! Python is for losers!!"
Those people bother me, like they bother the author of the article. They refuse to acknowledge that there can be anything good about a language/OS/whatever that is "perceived" to be in opposition to their favorite little thing.
------------------------------------------------ --------- I bent my wookie
Negative. Win2k doesn't like to shut down. I went through a period where Win2k simply refused to shut down. Why? It wanted me to go through and close all the apps before it would let itself shut down. Very inconvienient. ---------------------------------- ----------------------- I bent my wookie
That sounds like something a Europeeing would say.
Face it, Europe sucks and America (that includes Canada and Mexico) rules!!! ---------------------------------------- ----------------- I bent my wookie
Slashdot Mirror
Can we also abolish Esther Dyson while we're at it?- ---------
Yes, please! I thought she was a bit off, before, but ever since the new TLDs, I'm come to conclude that she doesn't know shit from shine-ola....
-----------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
Let me ask you something: Is it true that everyone involved with the public education system is just a stupid hack who can't make it in the real world?
Or is possible that people who have devoted their lives and careers to making education work may actually know what they're talkiing about? Personally, I beleive the person with the doctorate in education when they say that vouchers are a bad idea.
"Competition" works for businesses. Education is different. Of course, we all know that the evil, satanic, baby-killing homosexual agenda teacher's union is against vouchers, because they're all idiots anyway, just looking for a free ride on the taxpayers back...
Wake up. Public schools need MORE money, not less. If perhaps we offered more competitive salaries (hah-ha! there's a good use for competition in the sphere of public education!), then maybe we'd get some quality teachers out there. As it stands, I know tons of people I went to school with became teachers after college, only to give it up in a few years because the pay is crap, the parents don't want to get involved, and the taxpayers would rather pay for ballparks and prisons instead of a cost-of-living raise for teachers.
The other factor is that this is all supposed to help out poor kids, by letting them get out of failing schools. I got news for you. There isn't enough room for all those kids in private or parochial schools. I know that in CA, where I live, the diocese says that it could possibly handle maybe a hundred more students per locality, and all the private schools in the California Association of Independent Schools have said publicly that they will refuse to accept them, as though the vouchers would even begin to cover the expenses for a non-parochial private school.
Give up on vouchers, and fork over the extra dough for better public schools. Then we won't need the prisons, and kids in poor areas will learn something. So-called "failing schools" fail for a reason: the public at large has given them the collective finger, and rather than kick down for school repairs, new books, and well-trained teachers, they're given these awful solutions like vouchers and standardized tests.- ---------
-----------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
Sheesh. They don't make any effort at all to get it right, do they?- --------------
------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
Doubtful. Private schools will respond to shrill, paranoid parents even more swiftly than a public school. No school board hearings, no nothing. They can institute what ever policies they choose, when they want, and can implement them tomorrow. "School Choice", a complete misnomer, is about destroying public education for ideological reasons. They make no sense to any rational educator.
Tort reform. The real solution here is to make the boy's parents pay for the lawsuit directed against the girl's parents -- automatically -- to discourage frivolous lawsuits. Note: the lawsuit against the school was not frivolous, but the lawsuit against the girl's parents was.
So-called "tort reform" won't address any of what you just described. In any civil suit, part of the proceeding is about who's gonna foot the bill. Besides, since you're not involved, who are you to say what's "frivolous" and what isn't? "Tort Reform" is really about taking away your average joe's ability to sue people who have wronged him in an actionable way. The people behind it represent moneyed interests that would like very much to be either statutorily immune to lawsuits, or at the very least make it impossible for anyone who doesn't have buckets of money to spend on legal fees to pursue actions against them.- ---------
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I bent my wookie
That's cojones, hombre...- ------------------
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I bent my wookie
Can't do that. Beans need to dried and roasted first. You lie.- -------------
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I bent my wookie
Yeah. I'll bet daddy says you french-kiss the best.- --------------
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I bent my wookie
The police cannot and will not do anything just on a threat. Assault is when you attempt to physically injure someone. If you hit them, then it's assault and battery. If you use a weapon, then it's either assault with a dealy weapon or attempted murder, depending on if you get them or not. Of course, if you kill someone, then you're talking murder.- ----------------
----------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
I didn't think Bonnie was into waving guns around, for most of the book, she played with George's gun, though...- ------------------
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I bent my wookie
Yep, Sarajevo, Bosnia.- ---------
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I bent my wookie
Yeah right. Mexican food in Yakima. I hear it's good in Enumclaw, too.
CA rules! You know what they say: If ya can't beat 'em...- ---------
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I bent my wookie
Moneky Wrench Gang 2001- -------------
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I bent my wookie
These so-called "rogue states" (N. Korea, Libya, Iran, anyone who doesn't want to play ball with us) and larger countries like China see themselves as having to defend themselves against us (the U.S.- NATO bloc) with good reason. Witness Cuba, Chile, Panama, Vietnam, Cambodia the list goes on.
My point is, that perhaps these nations wouldn't stand so hard against the US if the US made a committment to cooling it on the democratically elected government shut-down machine that the US Government has been running for the last 60 years. Hardly anyone stops to think that perhaps the US Government's policies are the precise reason why these nations and terrorist groups view us as adversaries?
Perhaps all that is required is a change of outlook, and the US can get back to investing the money they have earmarked for the NMD into something with a broader range of applications.- ----------------------
----------------------------------
I bent my wookie
Yeah, well, someone did take a shot at him..- --------------
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I bent my wookie
Indeed, race is a social construct. For example, say you (who is white, or whatever) need a kidney transplant, and there's a white guy and a black guy who are potential donors. It's completely likely that you could have a tissue type match with the black guy and not the white guy. If there were any differences at all, you'd think that you'd match with any white person over a black person, but it just ain't so. Ergo, race is not a biological thing, but a human perception thing.- ---------------
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I bent my wookie
Get real.- --------------
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I bent my wookie
"After ten years of working in sales, I began to wonder why I was constantly being overlooked for promotions, and why people who were junior and less qualified were getting promoted and I was still stuck in this rut."
Now, the guy sounded very measured, and very smart and articulate. Incidentally, I believe he was in a regional sales office back east. Is it possible that the sales boss was a racist? You bet. Is it M$'s fault? Don't know, not for me to decide. I should think it depends on whether M$ knew that this particular manager was a racist and failed to address it.
The guy also said that it took him a long time to decide to participate in the suit, a lot of soul-searching, before he arrived at the conclusion that he had indeed been discriminated against.- -----------------
---------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
The basis for this was the use of Large Tesla coils to actually transmit electricity through the ground.
That link also has info on Tesla's "Death Ray", which is rumored to have caused the Tunguska event.
-----------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
That's "Wankel", and Mazda is, I believe, putting them in the next iteration of the RX-7.- --------------
------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
I have an Omega Speedmaster, and it's ratchet-wound. From time to time I can hear the little thing going 'zip zip zip'....- -----------------
---------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
I just bought an automatic watch last January, and no, it wasn't a Rolex (an Omega), but I saw plenty of manufacturers (Rolex, Breitling, Heuer, Omega, Patek-Philippe) that made automatic watches. They're way sweet, I love having a kinetically-wound watch...- -----------------
---------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
The author's right... How many times on /. have I seen posts to the effect "Java sucks, C++ is what real programmers use!" or "Microsoft sucks for everything! The only hope is Unix!!" or "Perl is great, only godlike people can use Perl! Python is for losers!!"
Those people bother me, like they bother the author of the article. They refuse to acknowledge that there can be anything good about a language/OS/whatever that is "perceived" to be in opposition to their favorite little thing.
-----------------------------------------------
I bent my wookie
Negative. Win2k doesn't like to shut down. I went through a period where Win2k simply refused to shut down. Why? It wanted me to go through and close all the apps before it would let itself shut down. Very inconvienient.- -----------------------
---------------------------------
I bent my wookie
Face it, Europe sucks and America (that includes Canada and Mexico) rules!!!- -----------------
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I bent my wookie
"Two, four, six, eight God is dead and Nietzche's great!"- ---------
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I bent my wookie