Transmission of energy is a regulated monopoly almost everywhere in the US. Transmission lines are usually owned by one company for any specific region, and the government regulates that company to make sure everyone has access to those transmission lines.
Actually, though there may be an external option (specialized pre-college school) for some, most kids pursuing a masters or doctorate would probably stay in high school and move into a College Prep or Advanced Placement track like they do today.
This really benefits the intelligent and motivated youngsters who are gunning for a skilled trade and shooting for job training at a community college. Jobs like plumbers, mechanics, welders, and technicians.
They don't need calculus or advanced college prep English, and putting them through it just wastes their time and frustrates them, and causes them to be a disruption in class until in some cases they drop out and get GEDs, and in others they just allow their grades to slip and aren't as prepared for their careers as they could have been if they had been cut loose earlier with honors.
I believe this is the basic system Maine is trying to pilot based on. Most places in the US already have the AP/Gymnasium track for University bound students. I think they want to add a fast track for those who want to do a skilled trade.
My only concern is, are kids at 15-16 really able to make that kind of decision that will affect them for the rest of their life? Sure, some are... but I hope they have adequate resources in place to help kids and their parents make that decision.
AP/College Prep is not the only path to a Bachelors or Masters.
Those kids who have the smarts and ambition to graduate early and get a couple of years of decent grades at an accredited trade school would be welcomed with open arms at many 4-year schools, and in a lot of cases those credits are transferrable. Heck, there are probably a bunch of 4-year universities who would love to have the early graduates as soon as they graduate (though they'd have to take some more remedial classes in things like calculus).
At least they have a choice. Today, kids who desperately want to graduate early have very limited options, and it usually involves dropping out and getting a GED or being stuck in school bored out of their skulls and watching their grades drop as they stop caring.
I think we do them a great disservice if we force them, but giving them the option? Hell, yes we're doing them a favor.
If you're ready to graduate, high school is a demoralizing place to be stuck. And keeping everyone in high school based on a timetable rather than an achievement scale just ensures that the slow kids will graduate too early and the fast kids will be bored out of their skulls (or have them bashed in by the bullies) anyway, so it's not like you're assuring them an additional two years of fun.
Cost cutting is a factor, but AP classes will still be there. As it was explained on the local radio news here (in Maine), there will be three tracks.
- "Advanced Placement" - 4-year track for kids going on to 4+ year degrees. Pretty much the same as it is today.
- "Fast Graduation" - 2-year track for kids going on to community college or directly to a job.
- "Regular" - 4-year track for average kids. Again, pretty much the same as it is today, except class sizes get smaller after 10th grade since the "Fast Graduation" kids who would have been bored completely out of their skulls anyway have graduated and aren't disrupting the class.
Once you filter out all the really bright and motivated kids who have passed the board exam, and the kids who have already worked their way into the Advanced Placement track, the 11th and 12th graders will be the ones who need additional help.
Since they've taken the boards, the school will know where they need help.
Since the brightest and most motivated kids are out of the way, class sizes go down and that help will now be available.
You'll never graduate everyone, but you'll have better tools to reach more kids.
Right, so now anyone who wants to go to community college or start a career early will be able to test out and get a high school diploma (even with honors) and no stigma. This will encourage those kids who want to move into the trades rather than academia to work harder and graduate early, rather than knowing they'll be stuck in school for the full 12 or face the stigma of dropping out.
Academic achievers (kids who want to do a 4+ year college and enter a profession) will stay in high school and take AP classes like they do today.
Career achievers (kids who want to get what they need out of high school quickly and move on to career-specific education) get a new benefit. They don't have to sit in classes irrelevant to them for two additional years.
And all those career achievers who would otherwise be bored shitless in class and potentially cause trouble are out of the way, class sizes go down, and the teachers can focus on the kids who they are now failing on - those who aren't as bright and/or motivated.
So, yeah, this is like a GED program, only the kids who take advantage of it have a better chance of succeeding - they don't have the icky sticky "failure" tag of holding a GED.
Frankly, the whole stigma surrounding GEDs is unfair - anyone who can work up the motivation to go and get one deserves some credit. But it is what it is.
The brightest kids who are the most motivated are going to test out early and move on to careers or trade schools. The brightest kids who are motivated for 4-year college are going to stick around for AP classes.
What does that leave in the non-AP class?
An 11th and 12th grade made made up of students who are not the brightest, and/or not the most motivated.
But there will be fewer of them, so class sizes will go down. And they'll have taken the boards at 10th grade and failed, so the specific areas they are failing in will be known. So, for those kids, the school has more opportunity for one-on-one education and more information on where each of the kids in class is failing.
In 11th grade, the non-AP class takes the boards again, some of them pass and graduate. Now what you have left is the kids who really need help, but you also have even LOWER class sizes and trending information on their grades (did Jimmy's extra math class bring his math scores up last year? How can we serve him better as an individual student?).
You'll never graduate every student, but this at least gives kids more opportunity to succeed.
I live in Maine, so this has received some extra coverage here. According to what I'm seeing, this is really targeting the kid who has no interest in going on to a 4-year college, but instead wants to jumpstart their career in a skilled or semi-skilled trade (auto mechanic, plumber, etc).
There's also an additional benefit - it identifies weaknesses in those kids that fail the boards, and part of the plan is to focus on subject areas that specific kids are weak on. So if you did well in English on the boards but flunked Math, they might give you more Math classes in 11th grade and back off on the English classes. The target being a student who is well-rounded enough to pass all segments of the board exam.
In some ways, it divides the kids between those who want to continue on with education, and those who want to get education over with as quickly as possible (for one of many reasons) and get on with a career. It almost turns high school into a 2-year or 4-year option, much like college is today.
Those who want a 4-year+ degree will stay in high school and go on the Advanced Placement track like they do today.
Those who do not can take the board exams in 10th grade and, if they pass, they can go to community college or start their careers, with a valid high school diploma. They can continue on to the 11th and 12th grades if they wish, or if they fail the board exam the areas they failed in can be focused on.
Yes, to a point, this is "teaching to the test", and there are some valid concerns surrounding that. But I'm not entirely convinced it's any worse than "teaching to a grade", and at least those kids that want out and are willing to work hard can get out with a diploma.
Actually, I was going for a +5 funny. No one was more surprised than myself at it being a +5 insightful.
However, having thought about it a bit more...
I haven't read my policy, but it actually may be analogous to theft on auto insurance policies. My mother's car was stolen once and totalled, and the people who did it could not be prosecuted (and my mother was denied her insurance claim) because she had left the keys in it while she went inside the back door of the family business to grab some paperwork. The insurance company and police only considered it "theft" when forced entry takes place.
So, in insurance and prosecution terms, leaving your keys in your car turns the car into a freely-available resource. Leaving it unlocked means that anything in it can be freely taken. It may still technically be illegal, but it's not prosecutable.
Top tip: If your car is stolen and you recover it with significant damage, it's probably prudent to take a crowbar and smash a window, then rip out the keyhole and hotwire it. Just so there are signs of forced entry. If my insurance agent is reading this, I'm joking of course!
This may or may not translate to an insurance company being able to say "you share liability because you told people your house was an easy target." I very much doubt it would hold up, as long as your house was locked at least.
Re:End of twitter? not likely...
on
Two Scoops of Buzz
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
And all Google has to do is create a unique Buzz email address to send updates to (like Facebook has recently done), and you get instant support on any platform capable of sending email.
When Facebook came out with the unique email address to upload images and update status, I dumped my Blackberry Facebook app and I just use email now. So at this point, switching to Buzz would be a matter of changing the email address my pictures and updates go to.
This would make new Buzz apps for platforms trivial to implement.
Students in the 12th grade often suffer from senioritis and gain nothing from their experience.
So if we make the senior year optional, those students who decide early on that they are going to opt out just have "junioritis" instead. The key is people giving up on school. I agree with the rest of your post, we need to make school interesting and compelling all the way through the educational process. But there really is no logic in dropping a year simply to avoid last-year apathy, because the apathy will simply move to whatever the last year is for those students who have given up.
I heard on NPR this morning there are a few states (mine among them) who are looking at experimenting with a "board exam" graduation method similar to what is used in India and other countries.
Based on what I heard, board exams would start at the 10th grade. Once you pass the boards you can graduate immediately with a valid high school diploma that allows you to go to trade school or community college, or just start working at a trade. If you don't pass the boards, the state will keep you in high school for up to two more years, and readminister the boards in the 11th and 12th grades. Pass = graduate immediately with a high school diploma.
Then the focus (for those not intending to go on to 4-year school) is "if you want to get out of school early, work hard and pass the boards" - those who are eager to go on to community college or a trade school (or just start working) can do so early, but they'll be leaving with a diploma and demonstrated knowledge rather than dropping out.
Anyone who passes the boards also has the option of staying in school and taking advanced placement classes for a shot at 4-year college if they choose to.
So the kids who pass the boards and don't want to go off to a 4-year school get a 2-year head start and save the school money. In most schools, this probably means that 1/3 to 1/2 the student body graduates 2 years early.
Those remaining in school follow one of two tracks:
1. The kids who pass and want to go to college continue on in AP classes. These can be standardized AP curriculum classes like we have today, so there's no additional expense involved.
2. The kids who don't pass continue on a path toward passing. Since a good number of kids have left the school, this can be more focused class time with fewer kids per class. Many will pass in 11th grade, meaning the kids left in 12th are the ones who really need help, but there aren't as many of them left so the teachers can really have the time to focus on them and get most of them passing the boards.
True, but that's been Google's policy since they noticed that people where using Google ads on cybersquatting pages. And it's still not benevolence, though it is goodwill. There's no sense getting business owners (potential future adspace purchasers) getting all bent out of shape. Smashing a few cybersquatters is just good business.
PS: Oh the irony... captcha is "converse"... I wonder what the legality of using trademarks as captchas is...
While "Converse" (the sneakers) may be a trademark, "converse" is also a perfectly valid English word. They could even use the word "windows" without involving trademark issues. Of course, they could also use the trademarked name "microsoft", since it's not a use that would infringe on the trademark in any way. Captcha is not a business competitor, and use as a captcha word doesn't cause brand confusion or dilution.
Sure it is. Most of these people are going to be surfing the Web at the same time. Especially once they see all their Torrents go to zero, they'll want to log in and see if their tracker is down. Start up their web browser, go to their torrent site, and get rickrolled.
The important part is that the torrents are dropped. If the (ab)user also gets rickrolled, it's considered a bonus.
No. As I understand it, those who are rickrolled basically get a customized DNS response that points all page requests to a local server with one web page and a blind redirect to that web page. That single web page has an embedded rickroll video.
Somewhat similar to how airports on a pay-for connection, or hotel connections work. Try to go to any website, and you get redirected to a login or purchase page.
Presumably any other connections not on port 80 (torrent, FTP, etc) are dropped.
So if you're surfing the web while torrenting, you'll get the rickroll video on the next page you load after you are detected, and you'll find that all of your torrents suddenly stop connecting.
This already IS a configuration option with a default "no". If a CA does not appear on the list (Options / Advanced / Encryption / View Certificates / Authorities) you will be asked when you first encounter a certificate registered with that CA. You can then choose to "Trust this once", "Trust always", or "Do not trust" (the actual text of the options may vary).
Firefox is debating whether to add it as an entry in a user-configurable list. Obviously, your answer is "no, don't".:)
Personally, I think the Chinese CAs should be unlisted in Firefox by default, and those users that want to trust them can simply say "always trust this CA" when Firefox asks. Then again, I think every CA should be treated that way. Why does Firefox automatically trust TurkTrust, Dell, the Japanese government, and the Netherlands (to randomly pick four out of the hundreds of trusted CAs in the default list)?
Actually, that has a simple answer. A nontechnical segment of the population is simply going to do exactly what they do every time you ask a security question - answer YES, ALLOW, or whatever button is stopping them from seeing the cute video of the cat puking up noodles or the boobage behind the prompt box. Bombarding them with more security questions isn't really going to increase security, it's just going to increase frustration. So you add the (hopefully!) truly trustworthy CAs to the default list, then if a user ever encounters a CA warning box it'll be unusual enough that they might pause a few seconds before pressing ALLOW, and maybe even call a neighborhood 12-year-old to check to see if it's a really good idea.
The "hopefully!" part is important. If you're making decisions for your users in the form of shipped defaults, they'd better be well-thought-out.
Slashdot Mirror
Transmission of energy is a regulated monopoly almost everywhere in the US. Transmission lines are usually owned by one company for any specific region, and the government regulates that company to make sure everyone has access to those transmission lines.
"In Google Porn, the boobs look at YOU!"
Actually, though there may be an external option (specialized pre-college school) for some, most kids pursuing a masters or doctorate would probably stay in high school and move into a College Prep or Advanced Placement track like they do today.
This really benefits the intelligent and motivated youngsters who are gunning for a skilled trade and shooting for job training at a community college. Jobs like plumbers, mechanics, welders, and technicians.
They don't need calculus or advanced college prep English, and putting them through it just wastes their time and frustrates them, and causes them to be a disruption in class until in some cases they drop out and get GEDs, and in others they just allow their grades to slip and aren't as prepared for their careers as they could have been if they had been cut loose earlier with honors.
"loosers"? What are "loosers"? The opposite of "tighters"?
Only losers use the word "loosers". :)
I believe this is the basic system Maine is trying to pilot based on. Most places in the US already have the AP/Gymnasium track for University bound students. I think they want to add a fast track for those who want to do a skilled trade.
My only concern is, are kids at 15-16 really able to make that kind of decision that will affect them for the rest of their life? Sure, some are... but I hope they have adequate resources in place to help kids and their parents make that decision.
AP/College Prep is not the only path to a Bachelors or Masters.
Those kids who have the smarts and ambition to graduate early and get a couple of years of decent grades at an accredited trade school would be welcomed with open arms at many 4-year schools, and in a lot of cases those credits are transferrable. Heck, there are probably a bunch of 4-year universities who would love to have the early graduates as soon as they graduate (though they'd have to take some more remedial classes in things like calculus).
At least they have a choice. Today, kids who desperately want to graduate early have very limited options, and it usually involves dropping out and getting a GED or being stuck in school bored out of their skulls and watching their grades drop as they stop caring.
I think we do them a great disservice if we force them, but giving them the option? Hell, yes we're doing them a favor.
If you're ready to graduate, high school is a demoralizing place to be stuck. And keeping everyone in high school based on a timetable rather than an achievement scale just ensures that the slow kids will graduate too early and the fast kids will be bored out of their skulls (or have them bashed in by the bullies) anyway, so it's not like you're assuring them an additional two years of fun.
Cost cutting is a factor, but AP classes will still be there. As it was explained on the local radio news here (in Maine), there will be three tracks.
- "Advanced Placement" - 4-year track for kids going on to 4+ year degrees. Pretty much the same as it is today.
- "Fast Graduation" - 2-year track for kids going on to community college or directly to a job.
- "Regular" - 4-year track for average kids. Again, pretty much the same as it is today, except class sizes get smaller after 10th grade since the "Fast Graduation" kids who would have been bored completely out of their skulls anyway have graduated and aren't disrupting the class.
Once you filter out all the really bright and motivated kids who have passed the board exam, and the kids who have already worked their way into the Advanced Placement track, the 11th and 12th graders will be the ones who need additional help.
Since they've taken the boards, the school will know where they need help.
Since the brightest and most motivated kids are out of the way, class sizes go down and that help will now be available.
You'll never graduate everyone, but you'll have better tools to reach more kids.
Right, so now anyone who wants to go to community college or start a career early will be able to test out and get a high school diploma (even with honors) and no stigma. This will encourage those kids who want to move into the trades rather than academia to work harder and graduate early, rather than knowing they'll be stuck in school for the full 12 or face the stigma of dropping out.
Academic achievers (kids who want to do a 4+ year college and enter a profession) will stay in high school and take AP classes like they do today.
Career achievers (kids who want to get what they need out of high school quickly and move on to career-specific education) get a new benefit. They don't have to sit in classes irrelevant to them for two additional years.
And all those career achievers who would otherwise be bored shitless in class and potentially cause trouble are out of the way, class sizes go down, and the teachers can focus on the kids who they are now failing on - those who aren't as bright and/or motivated.
So, yeah, this is like a GED program, only the kids who take advantage of it have a better chance of succeeding - they don't have the icky sticky "failure" tag of holding a GED.
Frankly, the whole stigma surrounding GEDs is unfair - anyone who can work up the motivation to go and get one deserves some credit. But it is what it is.
Good point, but with a caveat.
The brightest kids who are the most motivated are going to test out early and move on to careers or trade schools. The brightest kids who are motivated for 4-year college are going to stick around for AP classes.
What does that leave in the non-AP class?
An 11th and 12th grade made made up of students who are not the brightest, and/or not the most motivated.
But there will be fewer of them, so class sizes will go down. And they'll have taken the boards at 10th grade and failed, so the specific areas they are failing in will be known. So, for those kids, the school has more opportunity for one-on-one education and more information on where each of the kids in class is failing.
In 11th grade, the non-AP class takes the boards again, some of them pass and graduate. Now what you have left is the kids who really need help, but you also have even LOWER class sizes and trending information on their grades (did Jimmy's extra math class bring his math scores up last year? How can we serve him better as an individual student?).
You'll never graduate every student, but this at least gives kids more opportunity to succeed.
I've posted, so I can't use mod points on this.
If I did, I'd have to decide.. insightful or funny?
Dammit, I'm glad I can't use my mod points on that, because my head would explode trying to decide.
I live in Maine, so this has received some extra coverage here. According to what I'm seeing, this is really targeting the kid who has no interest in going on to a 4-year college, but instead wants to jumpstart their career in a skilled or semi-skilled trade (auto mechanic, plumber, etc).
There's also an additional benefit - it identifies weaknesses in those kids that fail the boards, and part of the plan is to focus on subject areas that specific kids are weak on. So if you did well in English on the boards but flunked Math, they might give you more Math classes in 11th grade and back off on the English classes. The target being a student who is well-rounded enough to pass all segments of the board exam.
In some ways, it divides the kids between those who want to continue on with education, and those who want to get education over with as quickly as possible (for one of many reasons) and get on with a career. It almost turns high school into a 2-year or 4-year option, much like college is today.
Those who want a 4-year+ degree will stay in high school and go on the Advanced Placement track like they do today.
Those who do not can take the board exams in 10th grade and, if they pass, they can go to community college or start their careers, with a valid high school diploma. They can continue on to the 11th and 12th grades if they wish, or if they fail the board exam the areas they failed in can be focused on.
Yes, to a point, this is "teaching to the test", and there are some valid concerns surrounding that. But I'm not entirely convinced it's any worse than "teaching to a grade", and at least those kids that want out and are willing to work hard can get out with a diploma.
Hmm, that's a start, anyway. Thanks.
Actually, I was going for a +5 funny. No one was more surprised than myself at it being a +5 insightful.
However, having thought about it a bit more...
I haven't read my policy, but it actually may be analogous to theft on auto insurance policies. My mother's car was stolen once and totalled, and the people who did it could not be prosecuted (and my mother was denied her insurance claim) because she had left the keys in it while she went inside the back door of the family business to grab some paperwork. The insurance company and police only considered it "theft" when forced entry takes place.
So, in insurance and prosecution terms, leaving your keys in your car turns the car into a freely-available resource. Leaving it unlocked means that anything in it can be freely taken. It may still technically be illegal, but it's not prosecutable.
Top tip: If your car is stolen and you recover it with significant damage, it's probably prudent to take a crowbar and smash a window, then rip out the keyhole and hotwire it. Just so there are signs of forced entry. If my insurance agent is reading this, I'm joking of course!
This may or may not translate to an insurance company being able to say "you share liability because you told people your house was an easy target." I very much doubt it would hold up, as long as your house was locked at least.
And all Google has to do is create a unique Buzz email address to send updates to (like Facebook has recently done), and you get instant support on any platform capable of sending email.
When Facebook came out with the unique email address to upload images and update status, I dumped my Blackberry Facebook app and I just use email now. So at this point, switching to Buzz would be a matter of changing the email address my pictures and updates go to.
This would make new Buzz apps for platforms trivial to implement.
Students in the 12th grade often suffer from senioritis and gain nothing from their experience.
So if we make the senior year optional, those students who decide early on that they are going to opt out just have "junioritis" instead. The key is people giving up on school. I agree with the rest of your post, we need to make school interesting and compelling all the way through the educational process. But there really is no logic in dropping a year simply to avoid last-year apathy, because the apathy will simply move to whatever the last year is for those students who have given up.
I heard on NPR this morning there are a few states (mine among them) who are looking at experimenting with a "board exam" graduation method similar to what is used in India and other countries.
Based on what I heard, board exams would start at the 10th grade. Once you pass the boards you can graduate immediately with a valid high school diploma that allows you to go to trade school or community college, or just start working at a trade. If you don't pass the boards, the state will keep you in high school for up to two more years, and readminister the boards in the 11th and 12th grades. Pass = graduate immediately with a high school diploma.
Then the focus (for those not intending to go on to 4-year school) is "if you want to get out of school early, work hard and pass the boards" - those who are eager to go on to community college or a trade school (or just start working) can do so early, but they'll be leaving with a diploma and demonstrated knowledge rather than dropping out.
Anyone who passes the boards also has the option of staying in school and taking advanced placement classes for a shot at 4-year college if they choose to.
So the kids who pass the boards and don't want to go off to a 4-year school get a 2-year head start and save the school money. In most schools, this probably means that 1/3 to 1/2 the student body graduates 2 years early.
Those remaining in school follow one of two tracks:
1. The kids who pass and want to go to college continue on in AP classes. These can be standardized AP curriculum classes like we have today, so there's no additional expense involved.
2. The kids who don't pass continue on a path toward passing. Since a good number of kids have left the school, this can be more focused class time with fewer kids per class. Many will pass in 11th grade, meaning the kids left in 12th are the ones who really need help, but there aren't as many of them left so the teachers can really have the time to focus on them and get most of them passing the boards.
I hear insurance companies quietly whispering about new schemes to monitor their customer's twitterfeeds and deny claims based on homeowner liability.
True, but that's been Google's policy since they noticed that people where using Google ads on cybersquatting pages. And it's still not benevolence, though it is goodwill. There's no sense getting business owners (potential future adspace purchasers) getting all bent out of shape. Smashing a few cybersquatters is just good business.
PS: Oh the irony ... captcha is "converse" ... I wonder what the legality of using trademarks as captchas is ...
While "Converse" (the sneakers) may be a trademark, "converse" is also a perfectly valid English word. They could even use the word "windows" without involving trademark issues. Of course, they could also use the trademarked name "microsoft", since it's not a use that would infringe on the trademark in any way. Captcha is not a business competitor, and use as a captcha word doesn't cause brand confusion or dilution.
Sure it is. Most of these people are going to be surfing the Web at the same time. Especially once they see all their Torrents go to zero, they'll want to log in and see if their tracker is down. Start up their web browser, go to their torrent site, and get rickrolled.
The important part is that the torrents are dropped. If the (ab)user also gets rickrolled, it's considered a bonus.
No. As I understand it, those who are rickrolled basically get a customized DNS response that points all page requests to a local server with one web page and a blind redirect to that web page. That single web page has an embedded rickroll video.
Somewhat similar to how airports on a pay-for connection, or hotel connections work. Try to go to any website, and you get redirected to a login or purchase page.
Presumably any other connections not on port 80 (torrent, FTP, etc) are dropped.
So if you're surfing the web while torrenting, you'll get the rickroll video on the next page you load after you are detected, and you'll find that all of your torrents suddenly stop connecting.
This already IS a configuration option with a default "no". If a CA does not appear on the list (Options / Advanced / Encryption / View Certificates / Authorities) you will be asked when you first encounter a certificate registered with that CA. You can then choose to "Trust this once", "Trust always", or "Do not trust" (the actual text of the options may vary).
Firefox is debating whether to add it as an entry in a user-configurable list. Obviously, your answer is "no, don't". :)
All you have to do is click your heels together three times, and repeat after me.
There's no place like Options / Advanced / Encryption / View Certificates / Authorities / (use mouse to select all) / DELETE. ...
There's no place like Options / Advanced / Encryption / View Certificates / Authorities / (use mouse to select all) / DELETE.
There's no place like Options / Advanced / Encryption / View Certificates / Authorities / (use mouse to select all) / DELETE.
Buttercup: Westley, what about the E.O.U.S.'s?
Westley: Emails Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.
[Immediately, an E.O.U.S. attacks him]
Actually, this debate is about the default option. You can add and delete trusted certificate authorities all you want once you install Firefox.
Options / Encryption / Advanced / View Certificates / Authorities.
Personally, I think the Chinese CAs should be unlisted in Firefox by default, and those users that want to trust them can simply say "always trust this CA" when Firefox asks. Then again, I think every CA should be treated that way. Why does Firefox automatically trust TurkTrust, Dell, the Japanese government, and the Netherlands (to randomly pick four out of the hundreds of trusted CAs in the default list)?
Actually, that has a simple answer. A nontechnical segment of the population is simply going to do exactly what they do every time you ask a security question - answer YES, ALLOW, or whatever button is stopping them from seeing the cute video of the cat puking up noodles or the boobage behind the prompt box. Bombarding them with more security questions isn't really going to increase security, it's just going to increase frustration. So you add the (hopefully!) truly trustworthy CAs to the default list, then if a user ever encounters a CA warning box it'll be unusual enough that they might pause a few seconds before pressing ALLOW, and maybe even call a neighborhood 12-year-old to check to see if it's a really good idea.
The "hopefully!" part is important. If you're making decisions for your users in the form of shipped defaults, they'd better be well-thought-out.