In other words perhaps having a "stiff upper lip" isn't such a bad thing after all.
Not to mention the fabled "BBC accent", although as I understand it, it's not nearly as extreme as it used to be. Besides, as an American accents mean much less to me in terms of class and such rubbish. The BBC is a great news source though. They even do investigative journalism in the US - I wish US news sources would do as much.
I strongly believe that parents should be able to home school their kids if they choose, but I also think that the public schools, for which we pay so much (especially around here), shouldn't push people to home schooling just because they're needlessly playing Orwellian games.
Right, because teachers control how this information is used and even whether they have to use this system. The only correct input to this system is the digitus impudicus.
it's easy to argue both sides of this Gate's Foundation initiative to track student progress
Then go ahead and argue the pro side, because I seem to lack the imagination (or ability to lie without laughing at the idea tht anyone would believe me). Students have been tracked for many years - they're called school records. Part of them was kept confidential, and there is no reason to share them beyond a student's parents, teachers, and maybe a few school officials. Let's keep it out of the "cloud". Woz was right - the "cloud" is dangerous and downright un-American. People should own their own data.
isn't this the promise of the Network Society
What the hell is a "network society", and where do I go to opt out (and opt out on my children's behalf)? Sounds a lot to me like the old society, except with information needlessly given to certain parties with a vested interest.
There is a wealth of history behind the concept of the "power of the purse" and it was deliberately vested in the House of Representatives by the Constitution.
Better re-read the Constitution. Bills generating revenue must originate in the House. The Constitution gives it no special responsibility w/ regard to spending.
The United States was very explicitly NOT created as a Democracy.
News flash: it's the 21st century, not the 18th. Sorry about the continuing evolution of the English language, but the meaning of words change. In the 18th century "democracy" more or less meant direct democracy. In the 21st century (and the 20th) it's a more general term that is often (and correctly) used to refer to a republic.
Elsewhere in the news: pantalones have largely replaced the previously fashionable breeches and hose, powdered wigs are out, and we've had an industrial revolution.
The "United States is not a democracy" line has been regurgitated so often than it's little more than code phrase for a certain faction. Nobody else takes it seriously, and I don't bother to read the rest of any comment that starts that way.
You know people were talking about jet engines in the 1920's, right? You realize the first working prototypes appeared in the 1930's, right? We're talking what, over 80 years ago?
You realize that today's jet engines are just a tad better than Frank Whittle's prototype, right? And that that's involved just a tad of development work, right?
You'd think that in 80 years or so a country with almost 2 billion people might be able to produce a few individuals smart enough to work out and advance on these concepts.
You might think so, but they haven't.
BTW, when did 1.3B become "almost 2 billion"? I must be using old math.
I won't reveal my ID because I wouldn't want to have known for which company I work.
Of course - Slashdot pseudonyms are so revealing.
True - what industry doesn't like cheap labor? That doesn't mean other Americans necessarily benefit from it.
Last I heard no university was turning away qualified American citizens in favor of foreigners for STEM doctoral programs.
Nor did I even suggest they were, so your rebuttal makes no sense.
No one pays extravagant amounts to doctoral students.
Again, I didn't even suggest they did. What are you rebutting?
If an Indian/Chinese/whatever PhD student can get by with x amount of dollars a month, why can't an American?
The question is not whether they can, but whether it's worth it. An average American engineer who chooses to go for his Ph.D. will reach a payback point after he's retired! There is an economic disincentive for Americans. By contrast foreign Ph.D. students have the incentive of getting a US work visa. If they come from a poor country, that may mean a vast increase in standard of living. The situations are hardly comparable, and biased against Americans in that there is not nearly as much economic incentive for them.
I do think that $40K is a lot of money, when it is compared to $0K.
Oh dear, I do hope not all of your financial reasoning is of this caliber. Hint: you should consider total costs of approach A vs. B.
By capable I mean exactly what that English word means.
Surely your rhetoric can be better than that. "Capable" is an adjective. You applied it to the noun "thing". Perhaps some precision is in order.
And of course there was an adequate supply before the flood of student visas, but the demand was low too. If you think that the World of the 1960s needed as many engineers and scientists as the World of 2013, then oh dear, we have a problem.
Oh dear, we have a problem with fanciful notions that the rate of technological advance is much greater now that we have iPods, whereas it was slower when we were doing trivial things like going to the moon. There hasn't been much change in the proportion of engineers in the US workforce in 40 years.
American students have stopped preferring to study the hard sciences
Yes, and the currently fashionable "explanation" is that they aren't willing to invest hard work for a better future. American students are frivolous, while foreign students are diligent and hard working. Yet oddly there is no shortage of Americans willing to invest hard work for a better future in law or medical school. There's an old rule for any investigation - follow the money.
Yup, modded down for expressing an opinion and an argument that some "moderator" didn't like. When I have mod points, I never do such a thing. Why, I don't know though. I stubbornly cling to the idea that mods shouldn't be censors.
weve [sic] embraced this schitzophrenic [sic] notion that theyre [sic] both an ally as well as an enemy.
Who ever said China was an ally? At best, they're a trade partner. They've taken a provocative stance towards our true long term allies in the Western Pacific.
our Frienemy manufacture entire lifestyles for americans, from phones to computers and even the next great bridge to replace the golden gate
Well God bless them. They are ever so nice to us, aren't they? Oddly though, we had phones, computers and bridges before Billy Clinton decided to push for premature and unwarranted PNTR and WTO membership for China. We also had less of a trade imbalance, more engineering and manufacturing jobs, and weren't quite so busy giving away know-how on everything, including such strategically important technologies as jet engines.
BTW, the Oakland Bay Bridge is not the Golden Gate.
to insist somehow they might glean some kernel of knowledge from NASA that they would not otherwise discover as a nation that manufactures supercomputers, high speed maglev transportation, and the worlds largest power plant... is laughable.
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously. I hate maple trees
Seriously, I love maple trees. If you don't like them, go live in a place that isn't naturally forested.
In other words perhaps having a "stiff upper lip" isn't such a bad thing after all.
Not to mention the fabled "BBC accent", although as I understand it, it's not nearly as extreme as it used to be. Besides, as an American accents mean much less to me in terms of class and such rubbish. The BBC is a great news source though. They even do investigative journalism in the US - I wish US news sources would do as much.
That justifies the NSA's actions.
A proper Grammar Nazi ... Perosnally ...
Ever seen somebody who's been up for three days?
TLDR: they're building a supercomputer to model the human brain, not building a computer modeled on the human brain to be super.
I have seen the human brain in action. The only valid reason for modeling it is to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
So?
I strongly believe that parents should be able to home school their kids if they choose, but I also think that the public schools, for which we pay so much (especially around here), shouldn't push people to home schooling just because they're needlessly playing Orwellian games.
Hey, Picard managed to disconnect (with a little help from his friends).
Oops, didn't even read down to the satire part. Now I'm guilty of what I criticize others for (I did it as an exercise).
teachers invade students' privacy
Right, because teachers control how this information is used and even whether they have to use this system. The only correct input to this system is the digitus impudicus.
What's sad thing here is that Gates is probably well-meaning.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
at least the state is so incompetent that the data is useless to them
Useless doesn't necessarily mean safe.
it's easy to argue both sides of this Gate's Foundation initiative to track student progress
Then go ahead and argue the pro side, because I seem to lack the imagination (or ability to lie without laughing at the idea tht anyone would believe me). Students have been tracked for many years - they're called school records. Part of them was kept confidential, and there is no reason to share them beyond a student's parents, teachers, and maybe a few school officials. Let's keep it out of the "cloud". Woz was right - the "cloud" is dangerous and downright un-American. People should own their own data.
isn't this the promise of the Network Society
What the hell is a "network society", and where do I go to opt out (and opt out on my children's behalf)? Sounds a lot to me like the old society, except with information needlessly given to certain parties with a vested interest.
Which statement of the GP's is "just plain wrong", and what is your proof of that?
There is a wealth of history behind the concept of the "power of the purse" and it was deliberately vested in the House of Representatives by the Constitution.
Better re-read the Constitution. Bills generating revenue must originate in the House. The Constitution gives it no special responsibility w/ regard to spending.
The United States was very explicitly NOT created as a Democracy.
News flash: it's the 21st century, not the 18th. Sorry about the continuing evolution of the English language, but the meaning of words change. In the 18th century "democracy" more or less meant direct democracy. In the 21st century (and the 20th) it's a more general term that is often (and correctly) used to refer to a republic.
Elsewhere in the news: pantalones have largely replaced the previously fashionable breeches and hose, powdered wigs are out, and we've had an industrial revolution.
The "United States is not a democracy" line has been regurgitated so often than it's little more than code phrase for a certain faction. Nobody else takes it seriously, and I don't bother to read the rest of any comment that starts that way.
I completely disagree w/ the PP, but it's not a troll or flamebait. It's an opinion. Don't mod it down just because you disagree w/ it.
Whatever you do, don't blame the politicos for cutting off his salary. I'm sure they're not suffering.
One turd, four turds, what's the difference?
It looks like biased mods are acting as censors again. Why was the PP rated down? Some mod didn't like his opinion? What else could explain it.
You know people were talking about jet engines in the 1920's, right? You realize the first working prototypes appeared in the 1930's, right? We're talking what, over 80 years ago?
You realize that today's jet engines are just a tad better than Frank Whittle's prototype, right? And that that's involved just a tad of development work, right?
You'd think that in 80 years or so a country with almost 2 billion people might be able to produce a few individuals smart enough to work out and advance on these concepts.
You might think so, but they haven't.
BTW, when did 1.3B become "almost 2 billion"? I must be using old math.
I won't reveal my ID because I wouldn't want to have known for which company I work.
Of course - Slashdot pseudonyms are so revealing.
True - what industry doesn't like cheap labor? That doesn't mean other Americans necessarily benefit from it.
Last I heard no university was turning away qualified American citizens in favor of foreigners for STEM doctoral programs.
Nor did I even suggest they were, so your rebuttal makes no sense.
No one pays extravagant amounts to doctoral students.
Again, I didn't even suggest they did. What are you rebutting?
If an Indian/Chinese/whatever PhD student can get by with x amount of dollars a month, why can't an American?
The question is not whether they can, but whether it's worth it. An average American engineer who chooses to go for his Ph.D. will reach a payback point after he's retired! There is an economic disincentive for Americans. By contrast foreign Ph.D. students have the incentive of getting a US work visa. If they come from a poor country, that may mean a vast increase in standard of living. The situations are hardly comparable, and biased against Americans in that there is not nearly as much economic incentive for them.
I do think that $40K is a lot of money, when it is compared to $0K.
Oh dear, I do hope not all of your financial reasoning is of this caliber. Hint: you should consider total costs of approach A vs. B.
By capable I mean exactly what that English word means.
Surely your rhetoric can be better than that. "Capable" is an adjective. You applied it to the noun "thing". Perhaps some precision is in order.
And of course there was an adequate supply before the flood of student visas, but the demand was low too. If you think that the World of the 1960s needed as many engineers and scientists as the World of 2013, then oh dear, we have a problem.
Oh dear, we have a problem with fanciful notions that the rate of technological advance is much greater now that we have iPods, whereas it was slower when we were doing trivial things like going to the moon. There hasn't been much change in the proportion of engineers in the US workforce in 40 years.
American students have stopped preferring to study the hard sciences
Yes, and the currently fashionable "explanation" is that they aren't willing to invest hard work for a better future. American students are frivolous, while foreign students are diligent and hard working. Yet oddly there is no shortage of Americans willing to invest hard work for a better future in law or medical school. There's an old rule for any investigation - follow the money.
Yup, modded down for expressing an opinion and an argument that some "moderator" didn't like. When I have mod points, I never do such a thing. Why, I don't know though. I stubbornly cling to the idea that mods shouldn't be censors.
weve [sic] embraced this schitzophrenic [sic] notion that theyre [sic] both an ally as well as an enemy.
Who ever said China was an ally? At best, they're a trade partner. They've taken a provocative stance towards our true long term allies in the Western Pacific.
our Frienemy manufacture entire lifestyles for americans, from phones to computers and even the next great bridge to replace the golden gate
Well God bless them. They are ever so nice to us, aren't they? Oddly though, we had phones, computers and bridges before Billy Clinton decided to push for premature and unwarranted PNTR and WTO membership for China. We also had less of a trade imbalance, more engineering and manufacturing jobs, and weren't quite so busy giving away know-how on everything, including such strategically important technologies as jet engines.
BTW, the Oakland Bay Bridge is not the Golden Gate.
to insist somehow they might glean some kernel of knowledge from NASA that they would not otherwise discover as a nation that manufactures supercomputers, high speed maglev transportation, and the worlds largest power plant ... is laughable.
Then they won't be missing much, will they?