I know that this is going to be an unpopular statement, and I'm sure to be moderated into oblivion for saying this, but Slashdot doesn't need a bunch of advertisements for a free micky-mouse level class from a University that is pandering for some free publicity. Those of us with experience that have been in this business long enough know what it means when someone says, "Stop. Just stop."
If you want to look at advertisements in disguise for micky-mouse schools, and cheap DIY-hacks, there are sites and social networks for that, but it is unwelcome here, and we aren't prepared to lurk back into the corners of the Internet on IRC.
This is a place where a lot of professionals reside, and we are better than being lured into junk, overpriced four-year under graduate programs that leave the participants both unemployed and in-debt. It is the duty of the users of this site to mark this garbage move as what it is, a sham.
So, I was going to mod this down, as you suggested, but I couldn't resist commenting instead...
I'm not sure what you mean by "micky-mouse" (sic) and I have no idea how Stanford falls into that category. Stanford is currently rated as the #6 university in the US, is widely considered one of the best STEM schools in the country, and the two professors who are leading this particular class have pretty intense resumes. Sure, tuition at the school is a little pricey, but that doesn't affect the value of free courses like this.
There is a lot of interest in the broader "open education" topic on Slashdot, and this looks like a pretty cool course. Most IT and engineering professionals that I have come across in my career could use a course like this, as their understanding of foundational network concepts is pretty anemic.
To clarify for US readers, Canada uses the Westminister System of government. The prime minister is head of the executive branch for Canada in practice, though the Queen is actually head of the executive branch (as well as the judicial and legislative branches??) and theoretically works through her cabinet and viceroy (in practice appointed by...the prime minister??) to actually govern. In practice the Queen doesn't actually perform any governmental functions personally, due to the tenets of responsible government requiring duly-elected leadership of the country.
I think he was using the Tea Party as an example that he was personally familiar with, and one which many readers identify with since "those crazy tea-partiers" is a common meme on slashdot (and well, everywhere really).
I personally have met no "Nutcase A's" among Obama supporters, though I am acquainted with (and have close friends among) several in the opposite camp. However, this is likely due to the fact that I live in the heart of tea-party land (which unfortunately correlates to the heart of "racism land") and meet very few Obama supporters in general.
I also think that our sheer population size and diversity are problems for these types of models.
Which is why you apply them on a more local level. I'm more and more wishing that the confederates won. The feds have way too much power and applying moral opinions to areas as different as rural Arkansas and Colorado leads to people in both places not being happy.
This is a great thought (except for the confederacy part lol) and we are already seeing states enact socialized medicine and other programs.
There has been somemovement toward this already.
There are issues with states really implementing this stuff though, since they often do not have enough actual power and/or directfunding. I think these problems can be solved at least in some states and I believe these initiatives will continue.
So, people have been working on electric cars for approaching 200 years, but they have just now developed a technology that hasn't yet been deployed, but is going to make them the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel?
Well, I think that statement is obviously incorrect, but it's not what I was implying.
We already use "electric cars" for some things (golfcarts etc.) where we only need to carry small loads short distances, so it's not like this is something we've just discovered. I'm not sure if electric cars will ever be able to replace ICE cars as economical/effective commuter or moderate-to-long distance vehicles, but I agree with the AC that the technology needs some more time to mature before we write it off as a failure. Serious development at a commercial level has only been going on for a couple of decades, and they are competing with arguably one of the most successful technologies in human history.
I often wonder if the nordic methods could ever be applied in the US, despite, as you say, our cultural inhibitions. I also think that our sheer population size and diversity are problems for these types of models.
25% on a 12 hour drive is an additional 3 hours. At 60mph average speed that's the equivalent of driving in circles for 180 miles.
On a religious note this explains how Moses and the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years looking for their holy land when the distance from Egypt to Palestine is only about 750km (470 miles).
I would have modded this funny if I had points, but (for the sake of pedantry) they didn't wander for 40 years searching for the holy land, they went back into the desert and wandered for 40 years after they had already arrived, due to being whiny (more-or-less). 40 years was the time that the whiny generation supposedly took to die.
There is a way to get a degree from real world experience. It is called a Regent's Degree. Most if not all universities offer them.
Most universities do not offer Regent's Degrees...
I had never heard the term "Regent's Degree" until now, though I am familiar with the 'experience for credits' degree model (rarely offered by legitimate institutions) so I did some quick poking around...
Wikipedia doesn't seem to have any information on the term.
It does seem that the US state of West Virginia has an initiative called "RBA Today" where several universities (Marshall, WVU, Western Liberty, Shepard's, etc.) there are offering RBA (Regents Bachelor of Arts) degrees that do give some credits for experience. This program seems to be primarily limited to West Virginia.
Also, some traditional colleges seem to offer what is called a "Regent's Bachelor of Arts" degree. However, some of these seem to be more like custom degrees, where the student has to hit a certain number of credits but they have more (perhaps complete?) flexibility in which classes they actually take. The student is still required to take classes and accrue a certain number of credit hours in order to obtain the degree. These degrees seem to be offered for students whose degree of choice is not offered at the institution.
There are also some legitimate, accredited institutions that offer bachelors and masters degrees through various unconventional models. For example, Western Governors University has a peculiar credit system and allows students to complete courses at their own pace. Students who are already experienced in their field can complete courses very quickly, by just taking the required assessments to pass the classes. They also accept certain third-party industry certifications in lieu of certain courses (since obtaining the certification is actually part of the course). This particular institution is regionally accredited.
I advise anyone looking for a degree to be very careful with "non-traditional" schools and programs. Do your research, and remember if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
The best explanation I have heard yet for this is the "scope" phenomena. Simply put, the alternate parties platform scopes are almost always very narrow, (IE: Single issue platforms or focused around a particular segment of interest such as the economy, to the exclusion of other interests such as foreign policy or social issues.) whereas the major party platforms are very broad.
Also, if the alternate party platform is enough "in line" with the major party, they may "absorb" that issue into their own platform, thus rendering the alternate party irrelevant.
I believe scope issues are contributing factors, but there are certainly other factors at work that keep the two-party system in place. Even in state and local politics, where narrow-scope platforms should be (and often are) effective, third/fourth parties are severely underrepresented. This is probably because state and local politicians can't afford (or don't want) to surrender votes they gain through being attached to one of the big parties, both due to party notoriety ('free advertising') and party money.
I believe the consensus is that the two-party system is an artifact of our voting system. FPTP gives a huge advantage to the largest parties. The UK has a similar problem though not has bad as here (they have 3 parties with significant representation in their legislature and several parties with a handful of representatives).
I think part of the division here between you and most of the other posters is the definition of 'programmer' you are using. Certainly anyone with a minimal intelligence, without an actual mental disability could learn to write some functional code given enough time and the proper instruction. This should be obvious to anyone.
There is a clear gap, however, between those who have the potential to learn to write some code, and those who have the potential to do it professionally. Even this gap could probably be overcome with enough time and determination, but if it required too much time it certainly wouldn't be worth pursuing. You are arguing from the view of "anything is possible!" which is not a very useful point to make.
Yes, well, "assumed" was probably the wrong terminology there.:)
Those details certainly support my conclusion that people are not being "jailed indefinitely until they can pay their debts". This guy was jailed for refusing to pay a judgement that the court believed (evidently with good reason) that he had the means to pay.
That would be an interesting case, and it sounds on the surface that it was a weird circumstance where the court thought he was lying to avoid the judgement, hence the contempt ruling. I would deem that ruling to be questionable, as he's basically being punished due to assumption of guilt by the court. This is not really the same situation as a debtors prison, however, as the 'debt' is not really the reason he's being jailed. The court determined (however correctly/incorrectly) that he had the money, and was willfully withholding payment.
While disconcerting, and possibly abuse-of-power by the court, that is still an anecdotal case, and not evidence of a systemic issue or that "An increasing number of jurisdictions have laws in place saying you can't get out of jail until you repay any legally owed debts". I can find no evidence of such laws.
An increasing number of jurisdictions have laws in place saying you can't get out of jail until you repay any legally owed debts -- statutes originally intended to repay victims of actual crime, not civil cases. So you do forced labor, at minimum wage, in jail.
I'm going with citation needed here...a quick googling only picked up one anecdotal instance of a judge sentencing someone to indefinite incarceration until he could raise a payment. This is obviously a questionable ruling but so was the source, which provided very little detail of the case.
I can't find evidence of laws such as you describe in any US jurisdiction.
From what I can tell (IANAL, and am particularly unfamiliar with French law) this 3-strikes thing is not a 'per-song' deal. It's just a somewhat flat fine for failing to sufficiently police your internet connection. Pretty interesting concept, actually.
This appears to be an actual fine, not damages awarded in a civil trial. I'm not familiar with the French legal system, but this seems to be similar to a speeding ticket or other semi-trivial fine.
Slashdot Mirror
If the summary is correct I would assume he has already excluded Bilbo from the data. He probably only used hobbits whose lifespan was known.
I know that this is going to be an unpopular statement, and I'm sure to be moderated into oblivion for saying this, but Slashdot doesn't need a bunch of advertisements for a free micky-mouse level class from a University that is pandering for some free publicity. Those of us with experience that have been in this business long enough know what it means when someone says, "Stop. Just stop."
If you want to look at advertisements in disguise for micky-mouse schools, and cheap DIY-hacks, there are sites and social networks for that, but it is unwelcome here, and we aren't prepared to lurk back into the corners of the Internet on IRC.
This is a place where a lot of professionals reside, and we are better than being lured into junk, overpriced four-year under graduate programs that leave the participants both unemployed and in-debt. It is the duty of the users of this site to mark this garbage move as what it is, a sham.
So, I was going to mod this down, as you suggested, but I couldn't resist commenting instead...
I'm not sure what you mean by "micky-mouse" (sic) and I have no idea how Stanford falls into that category. Stanford is currently rated as the #6 university in the US, is widely considered one of the best STEM schools in the country, and the two professors who are leading this particular class have pretty intense resumes. Sure, tuition at the school is a little pricey, but that doesn't affect the value of free courses like this.
There is a lot of interest in the broader "open education" topic on Slashdot, and this looks like a pretty cool course. Most IT and engineering professionals that I have come across in my career could use a course like this, as their understanding of foundational network concepts is pretty anemic.
To clarify for US readers, Canada uses the Westminister System of government. The prime minister is head of the executive branch for Canada in practice, though the Queen is actually head of the executive branch (as well as the judicial and legislative branches??) and theoretically works through her cabinet and viceroy (in practice appointed by...the prime minister??) to actually govern. In practice the Queen doesn't actually perform any governmental functions personally, due to the tenets of responsible government requiring duly-elected leadership of the country.
Did I get all that right?
Hugh Howey (the Wool guy) has a novelette called Half Way Home that follows this premise. It's a great read, highly recommended.
I think he was using the Tea Party as an example that he was personally familiar with, and one which many readers identify with since "those crazy tea-partiers" is a common meme on slashdot (and well, everywhere really).
I personally have met no "Nutcase A's" among Obama supporters, though I am acquainted with (and have close friends among) several in the opposite camp. However, this is likely due to the fact that I live in the heart of tea-party land (which unfortunately correlates to the heart of "racism land") and meet very few Obama supporters in general.
exactly
I also think that our sheer population size and diversity are problems for these types of models.
Which is why you apply them on a more local level. I'm more and more wishing that the confederates won. The feds have way too much power and applying moral opinions to areas as different as rural Arkansas and Colorado leads to people in both places not being happy.
This is a great thought (except for the confederacy part lol) and we are already seeing states enact socialized medicine and other programs. There has been some movement toward this already.
There are issues with states really implementing this stuff though, since they often do not have enough actual power and/or directfunding. I think these problems can be solved at least in some states and I believe these initiatives will continue.
So, people have been working on electric cars for approaching 200 years, but they have just now developed a technology that hasn't yet been deployed, but is going to make them the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel?
Well, I think that statement is obviously incorrect, but it's not what I was implying.
We already use "electric cars" for some things (golfcarts etc.) where we only need to carry small loads short distances, so it's not like this is something we've just discovered. I'm not sure if electric cars will ever be able to replace ICE cars as economical/effective commuter or moderate-to-long distance vehicles, but I agree with the AC that the technology needs some more time to mature before we write it off as a failure. Serious development at a commercial level has only been going on for a couple of decades, and they are competing with arguably one of the most successful technologies in human history.
I often wonder if the nordic methods could ever be applied in the US, despite, as you say, our cultural inhibitions. I also think that our sheer population size and diversity are problems for these types of models.
25% on a 12 hour drive is an additional 3 hours. At 60mph average speed that's the equivalent of driving in circles for 180 miles.
On a religious note this explains how Moses and the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years looking for their holy land when the distance from Egypt to Palestine is only about 750km (470 miles).
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+from+egypt+to+palestine
I would have modded this funny if I had points, but (for the sake of pedantry) they didn't wander for 40 years searching for the holy land, they went back into the desert and wandered for 40 years after they had already arrived, due to being whiny (more-or-less). 40 years was the time that the whiny generation supposedly took to die.
Effective, and efficient, (compared to ICE cars) electric cars use young technology. Considering they've been around since, well, never.
I think the Nordic model countries are somewhat close (depending on your definition of "close").
I think electric scooters already fill that niche.
There is a way to get a degree from real world experience. It is called a Regent's Degree. Most if not all universities offer them.
Most universities do not offer Regent's Degrees...
I had never heard the term "Regent's Degree" until now, though I am familiar with the 'experience for credits' degree model (rarely offered by legitimate institutions) so I did some quick poking around...
Wikipedia doesn't seem to have any information on the term.
It does seem that the US state of West Virginia has an initiative called "RBA Today" where several universities (Marshall, WVU, Western Liberty, Shepard's, etc.) there are offering RBA (Regents Bachelor of Arts) degrees that do give some credits for experience. This program seems to be primarily limited to West Virginia.
Also, some traditional colleges seem to offer what is called a "Regent's Bachelor of Arts" degree. However, some of these seem to be more like custom degrees, where the student has to hit a certain number of credits but they have more (perhaps complete?) flexibility in which classes they actually take. The student is still required to take classes and accrue a certain number of credit hours in order to obtain the degree. These degrees seem to be offered for students whose degree of choice is not offered at the institution.
There are also some legitimate, accredited institutions that offer bachelors and masters degrees through various unconventional models. For example, Western Governors University has a peculiar credit system and allows students to complete courses at their own pace. Students who are already experienced in their field can complete courses very quickly, by just taking the required assessments to pass the classes. They also accept certain third-party industry certifications in lieu of certain courses (since obtaining the certification is actually part of the course). This particular institution is regionally accredited.
I advise anyone looking for a degree to be very careful with "non-traditional" schools and programs. Do your research, and remember if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
I wish there was a "-1 defied Chuck Norris" mod option :(
The best explanation I have heard yet for this is the "scope" phenomena. Simply put, the alternate parties platform scopes are almost always very narrow, (IE: Single issue platforms or focused around a particular segment of interest such as the economy, to the exclusion of other interests such as foreign policy or social issues.) whereas the major party platforms are very broad.
Also, if the alternate party platform is enough "in line" with the major party, they may "absorb" that issue into their own platform, thus rendering the alternate party irrelevant.
I believe scope issues are contributing factors, but there are certainly other factors at work that keep the two-party system in place. Even in state and local politics, where narrow-scope platforms should be (and often are) effective, third/fourth parties are severely underrepresented. This is probably because state and local politicians can't afford (or don't want) to surrender votes they gain through being attached to one of the big parties, both due to party notoriety ('free advertising') and party money.
I believe the consensus is that the two-party system is an artifact of our voting system. FPTP gives a huge advantage to the largest parties. The UK has a similar problem though not has bad as here (they have 3 parties with significant representation in their legislature and several parties with a handful of representatives).
According to Wikipedia graphite in an 8.5 mile radius of the impact was turned into diamond due to impact pressure.
I think part of the division here between you and most of the other posters is the definition of 'programmer' you are using. Certainly anyone with a minimal intelligence, without an actual mental disability could learn to write some functional code given enough time and the proper instruction. This should be obvious to anyone.
There is a clear gap, however, between those who have the potential to learn to write some code, and those who have the potential to do it professionally. Even this gap could probably be overcome with enough time and determination, but if it required too much time it certainly wouldn't be worth pursuing. You are arguing from the view of "anything is possible!" which is not a very useful point to make.
Yes, well, "assumed" was probably the wrong terminology there. :)
Those details certainly support my conclusion that people are not being "jailed indefinitely until they can pay their debts". This guy was jailed for refusing to pay a judgement that the court believed (evidently with good reason) that he had the means to pay.
That would be an interesting case, and it sounds on the surface that it was a weird circumstance where the court thought he was lying to avoid the judgement, hence the contempt ruling. I would deem that ruling to be questionable, as he's basically being punished due to assumption of guilt by the court. This is not really the same situation as a debtors prison, however, as the 'debt' is not really the reason he's being jailed. The court determined (however correctly/incorrectly) that he had the money, and was willfully withholding payment.
While disconcerting, and possibly abuse-of-power by the court, that is still an anecdotal case, and not evidence of a systemic issue or that "An increasing number of jurisdictions have laws in place saying you can't get out of jail until you repay any legally owed debts". I can find no evidence of such laws.
An increasing number of jurisdictions have laws in place saying you can't get out of jail until you repay any legally owed debts -- statutes originally intended to repay victims of actual crime, not civil cases. So you do forced labor, at minimum wage, in jail.
I'm going with citation needed here...a quick googling only picked up one anecdotal instance of a judge sentencing someone to indefinite incarceration until he could raise a payment. This is obviously a questionable ruling but so was the source, which provided very little detail of the case.
I can't find evidence of laws such as you describe in any US jurisdiction.
From what I can tell (IANAL, and am particularly unfamiliar with French law) this 3-strikes thing is not a 'per-song' deal. It's just a somewhat flat fine for failing to sufficiently police your internet connection. Pretty interesting concept, actually.
This appears to be an actual fine, not damages awarded in a civil trial. I'm not familiar with the French legal system, but this seems to be similar to a speeding ticket or other semi-trivial fine.
In cases of fraud (such as you describe) the courts can employ a legal mechanism called piercing the corporate veil.
all government workers are welfare recipients by definition.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.