I'm especially concerned about the fact that their CEO is making about 6% of the organization's total income.
I don't doubt the possibility that they are doing something very different or revolutionary (which I could see as justification), but honestly, why the high program expenses to teach sustainable, low-input farming? I'm a big fan of this method, but it appears to be run inefficiently.
Downside: when bus service improves through a far improved ride and reasonable trip times the busses fill up.
True, but busses filling up is what you want--it's optimal use of a resource that needs to be government subsidized to be feasible. I've found that my local mass transit service is even better since they've added GPS bus tracking and accurate-to-the-minute timers available on the web and through WAP browsers.
One note about the subsidies: the traffic in my city is already starting to get quite bad, and our mass transit system is one valuable way to ease traffic burdens on our limited roads. It's a fair trade.
Cuts happen, a fare increase, and people are right back on the roads.
Fares have increased steadily here in Portland, but to be honest, I think it depends on HOW MUCH they increase. It's definately become more expensive, but the rates are still laughable compared to the cost of gas and parking.
Even at their all-time high ($1.80 for an all zone ticket), it's a screaming good deal for one (weekday) or two (weekend) hours of riding. And, it's $3.75 for a pass that can be used all day, on the streetcar, the light rail and the busses.
That, and there's an apparent fetish for Growth-Growth-Growth! It's sad that when the stock market doesn't see 15% returns annually in a company, it's automatically assumed that they aren't successful.
It's not just about growth--it's also about quality of product and longevity. If Firefox maintains a steady percentage of the market, growth is implicit, as more people begin to use the Internet. I'd say the numbers they have now could be construed as adequate success, especially considering that Mozilla doesn't have the marketing buxxx that Micro$oft does.
The numbers (and growth in adoption of Linux in government and the enterprise) tell me that Firefox is here to stay.
A couple of years back, I was severely unemployed and having a difficult time making basic things like covering rent and food bills. As a result, I took a job as a "cold-caller" for mortgage refinancing.
From what I recall, the really good words to say were "Please put me on your 'do not call, do not rent' list," as that would assure that they would not call you future OR 'rent' your name to other parties.
I think the National DNC registry pretty much took care of a lot of these issues, so it's moot.
While all of those objects can be used to assist in killing people, that is not their primary purpose; guns, however, are designed for only one purpose, and there is therefore a qualitative difference.
While the design of certain types of guns are intended for efficient elimination of human life (e.g., assault rifles), I think it's incorrect to say that killing people is their sole purpose. What about the hunting of game animals? What about target-shooting (during the Olympics, for instance)?
Clearly most people want to prevent other people killing--so the most obvious thing to do is to outlaw things that have no other purpose than to help people kill.
The problem here is where to draw the line. There are groups of people that believe that swords are beautiful. Others like the aesthetic aspects of assault weapons. That noted, as the primary purpose of the sword is to kill people, should we outlaw those? Believe you me, you'll be hunted down by a pack of SCA followers quicker than I can say "Ni!"
The correllation between higher gun possession/ownership in a population and gun crimes is difficult to defend, at the very least. Michael Moore in "Bowling for Columbine" argued that point quite deftly.
Clearly most people want to prevent other people killing--so the most obvious thing to do is to outlaw things that have no other purpose than to help people kill.
In my opinion, this statement is a hurried conclusion, and not obvious. Michael Moore and I don't see eye-to-eye on a number of issues, but I agree with him here: the obvious step that needs to be taken is to sit down and figure out why groups of people have a need for aggression against one another. The answer is better studied under the lens of anthropology and sociology.
Unless America wants to become a heavily policed state (a highly improbable proposition, and nearly un-implementable), I believe that it's futile to apply stricter gun laws. Just as the death penalty is highly questionable in its ability to "deter" violent crime, laws against private gun ownership are questionable in their ability to "deter" the same violent crimes.
In my previous acquisition of firearms and Oregon's Concealed Handgun Permit, I was run through safety courses, discussions on law and responsible use of force for self-defense, and answered questions and be fingerprinted for a (Federal) NCIC background check. If my intentions were criminal, I highly doubt that I would have permitted myself to suffer such inconveniences.
As a younger-ish (32) Technician class operator, I'd say you're not far off the mark. I don't often listen to hams in my area, but find it extremely useful with my friends (also hams) when we're out and about in an area without cellular coverage.
Let's also not forget about the excellent emergency autopatch: our Mt. Hood repeater (7000 ft. elevation) has one, and there are times this is absolutely invaluable when cell coverage becomes non-existent in the woods.
Definately not a show stopper! I think a good quality 2 meter handheld (handy-talkie, aka "HT") radio is a great and inexpensive start. I am personally a Yaesu fan, although excellent radios are also made by Icom and others. Add to this a good quality antenna (my favorite is the Larsen Kulduckie Exactune and the collapsible chrome 1/2 wave VHF antennas) and you're ready to go!
The power is really in the repeater, and Oregon has several which are installed at high altitude which provide excellent coverage.
If you want to geek out even further, get into packet radio, functionality which you can easily play with in conjunction with your new HT.
For emergency use, try rigging up an expensive solution by wiring up some gel cell batteries, and check out the dry cell "battery cases" which permit the use of regular alkaline AA batteries with your radio.
Here's what I'd recommend, especially for a "bug-out" pack to grab from the house, or leave in the car: The Ten Essentials--and four more http://www.backpacking.net/ten-essl.html
For home, it would be wise to calculate 1.5 gallons of bottled water per person/day.
* For the knife mentioned in the Ten Essentials, I recommend a NON-FOLDING knife (sturdier, can be used to split wood), a Leatherman and (depending on space available or preference) either a Gerber Gator (stiff blade) type wood saw or their line of lightweight handled axes (get the biggest one possible)
* Dermabond (2-octylcyanoacrylate) or Vetbond (available at your tack & feed/farm supply store may also be an OK option) are good for small gashes.
Worthless gadgets: * Space blanket. I have yet to figure out any use for this other than as a blanket of last resort. (The joke: Why is it called that? Because it only works in space.) The better deal is to get the "Space All Weather Blanket"
As an engineer, I'm more disposed to agree. However, I think there is a difference between "leadership" and "engineering ability" that needs to be demarcated.
Bill Gates, from all the evidence I've seen, is, at best, a mediocre engineer. So is Steve Jobs and Ross Perot. However, they are arguably talented leaders, and their successes are clear.
There have been too many examples of companies who developed a killer product because they were led by individuals who were technologically savvy. That said, having leadership with engineering experience does not guarantee success.
Having leadership that understands the market around them, empathizes with the customers, and can plot a course of evolution or revolution (as necessary), and knows how to attract and retain leadership for technical and marketing development is the one that will win.
I wouldn't be so quick to characterize it that way. Infosys is a company that appears to be based out of Bangalore, and likely based most of their initial capital development from outsourcing from US companies.
Infosys builds cube farms, hires engineers, and buys equipment. Where, exactly, is the direction and leadership for software development coming from? The infrastructure you mentioned?
It's not as important to "get something done" as it is to do it right. Doing things right takes vision and leadership.
A few things I'd note from my Burning Man experience in 2003:
* Lanceland: the "power nexus" of Burning Man, where many a kW of power is being generated and shipped out on 1.25 mile long legs to other power distribution boxes. One semi-trailer mounted generator after another.
* Fire/EMS: One of the best organized event emergency medical teams I've seen. 24 hour computer aided dispatching (CAD) was used, and teams were coordinated on multiple channels, with repeater support from towers around the city (some permanent). This is in addition to the REMSA "Life Flight" helicopter, (paid) ER docs/nurses, and professional wildland firefighter companies staged AT Burning Man. This is, in part, the reason for the price of the ticket NOT being free.
* Sol System: They were present this year with the following system: http://www.solsystem.org/solarium In 2003, I stood in the middle of their setup and was blown away by how clear and authentic their spatializing technology sounded. Apparently, two of the camp's principals were heavily involved with acoustic research funded during the dot-com boom.
* Satellite Internet uplink: courtesy of the folks (hippies) at Oregon Country Fair. Attached to the related 802.11b network.
* Feats of Nifty Mechanical Engineering: Go to Google and do an image search for the following words (not phrase): Burning Man Temple Of Gravity
One of many neat things I've seen out there.
For a different take on Burning Man that has little to do with drugs or hippies, see the piece I wrote on my ten days out there...
I'm well aware of the fact that Slashdot is read by an international audience. Yes, I am an American (one born of immigrant Asian parents, no less.) I also should note that I am, relative to other Americans, an avid traveller: I have been to Europe in the past few years twice, each for a month, and know enough Czech, Spanish, German, and Italian to get by without using any English. I've spent a considerable amount of personal time learning about other cultures and their traditions.
What's funny is that I intentionally used "Americans." The reason was simple: I have very little experience or knowledge to gauge the severity of "hasty generalization" by people outside of the US. I did this because I felt that I didn't know enough about the severity of this issue elsewhere. Most of my reading and study in this area covers the US nearly exclusively, including the Sociology course I took in regards to American educational issues.
No offense was meant, folks; if anything, my intentions were to avoid generalizing groups of people I haven't observed on a longitudinal basis.
Perhaps, but I think it depends on where you are in the US. In Portland, the biggest gripe I have heard from several teacher friends of mine is the fact that the union actively protects bad teachers. By bad, I mean incompetent, uncaring, and sometimes even openly racist or sexist. The whole circumstance is very demoralizing.
The other big issue my teacher friends have is the impressive amount of money devoted to standardized testing and bloated administration in Portland schools. It's not that they're opposed to testing, per se, but they're troubled by the policies that are attached to it, as well as the questionable quality of the NCLB. (see http://petelee.blogspot.com/2005/02/no-child-left- behind-or-so-wed-like-to.html)
The pay, ironically enough, has never really been that big of a concern. It's not great, but one can live decently in Portland on it (see http://www.all4ed.org/publications/NationalEducati onSummitOnHighSchools/Oregon.pdf) . My friends got into teaching because they felt a strong call to teach kids, not because they aspired to ride teh hype, take a company public and Profit!!!
While I applaud IBM's desire to support education, more needs to be done to change the intrinsic cultural problems in how schools are managed. No sense training new teachers if they're not going to stay: 3 out of the 5 friends of mine who got involved with teaching left because they became disillusioned and demoralized.
Often the people who go into K-12 teaching are liberal arts majors who were mediocre students in college, and decided relatively late in the game to become teachers, because they weren't really qualified to do much else.
According to the all4ed.org site I included above, that is not appear to be the case for high school teachers. And, my anecdotal experience with teachers indicates that they were high achievers in college. It's difficult to find teaching jobs in Portland, even with attrition, so it's almost a requirement to have a Master's degree. Also, after being accepted to Carnegie-Mellon University, a friend of mine shocked his parents by informing them that he planned to become a teacher. Not for the money, but an opportunity to pass a love of math on to future generations.
As an aside, I'd note that most of my instructors at Portland Community College (also not notable for good pay), were frequently Masters-level instructors and Ph.D's with extensive professional (pre-teaching) experience. One excellent Pre-Calculus teacher I had was formerly a mathematician for NASA).
The effective government monopoly on education is preventing math and science teachers from being paid anything more in line with what they could get in a free market, and it also turns schools into assembly lines that produce students who pretend to have learned math and science
I don't know if the government monopoly, per se, is the issue here. On several long trips to Europe, I was impressed with the math, verbal, and political science skills of the majority of people I encountered. I believe that restructuring how schools are managed and changing certain negative cultural contributions teacher's unions have made would be a good start. I agree with your point that schools shouldn't be assembly lines: students aren't "commodities." It may be that very view that's the crux of the problem...
That said, I'm not sure what you consider "whining"; but I think it's perfectly valid for people to be apprehensive about this.
I completely agree--I'm 100% behind protecting the valuable resources that amateur radio operators (encouraging interest in science, ARES, etc.).
At the same time, I wish hams would pay a bit more attention to developments in the field of BPL, instead of repeating the same old gripes. That article I originally included was from August of this year.
Remember that DHS blocked the red cross for a while from getting into NOLA.
I think there was a practical reason for that: no relief organization (excepting, perhaps, Doctors Without Borders) will knowingly send relief workers into areas that either actively or potentially dangerous.
If DHS had blocked the Red Cross from coming in after the area was secured, well, not so good.
Welcome to Disaster Relief. The one thing I've learned is that, to be an effective volunteer, you have to shelve your ego frequently, smile and nod when the politicos and the power hungry come by, and then get back to doing the business of helping people.
I was at a meeting yesterday for an organization interested in providing some housing options for evacuees, and I recall one idealistic young woman who spoke up who insisted that her idea (not a very practical one, to be honest) be used, because she really "wanted to help people."
Disasters are a really bad time to play any sort of ideological card (although people will anyways). Ultimately, people need to shelve any grandiose notions of being a "hero" and remember the fact that volunteers are "servants"--to those in need.
I hate to harsh anyone's mellow, and I probably would have let the girl go off and do her thing: she'll quickly find out that her idea won't work, and hopefully she'll learn. As a stubborn person myself, I'd rather see idealism tempered into reasonable action, rather than cynicism. Sometimes, you just gotta do it to learn...
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I've posted things on Slashdot which were contrarian in nature.
That said, I find your comment recycling quite amusing--nice job.
...but I'm a little concerned about their rankings in CharityNavigator:
r ch.summary/orgid/9654.htm
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/sea
I'm especially concerned about the fact that their CEO is making about 6% of the organization's total income.
I don't doubt the possibility that they are doing something very different or revolutionary (which I could see as justification), but honestly, why the high program expenses to teach sustainable, low-input farming? I'm a big fan of this method, but it appears to be run inefficiently.
Downside: when bus service improves through a far improved ride and reasonable trip times the busses fill up.
True, but busses filling up is what you want--it's optimal use of a resource that needs to be government subsidized to be feasible. I've found that my local mass transit service is even better since they've added GPS bus tracking and accurate-to-the-minute timers available on the web and through WAP browsers.
One note about the subsidies: the traffic in my city is already starting to get quite bad, and our mass transit system is one valuable way to ease traffic burdens on our limited roads. It's a fair trade.
Cuts happen, a fare increase, and people are right back on the roads.
Fares have increased steadily here in Portland, but to be honest, I think it depends on HOW MUCH they increase. It's definately become more expensive, but the rates are still laughable compared to the cost of gas and parking.
http://www.trimet.org/news/pdf/factsheet.pdf
Even at their all-time high ($1.80 for an all zone ticket), it's a screaming good deal for one (weekday) or two (weekend) hours of riding. And, it's $3.75 for a pass that can be used all day, on the streetcar, the light rail and the busses.
So what if it slows.
That, and there's an apparent fetish for Growth-Growth-Growth! It's sad that when the stock market doesn't see 15% returns annually in a company, it's automatically assumed that they aren't successful.
It's not just about growth--it's also about quality of product and longevity. If Firefox maintains a steady percentage of the market, growth is implicit, as more people begin to use the Internet. I'd say the numbers they have now could be construed as adequate success, especially considering that Mozilla doesn't have the marketing buxxx that Micro$oft does.
The numbers (and growth in adoption of Linux in government and the enterprise) tell me that Firefox is here to stay.
From the "counting our chickens before they hatch department," mod parent up, please.
"Could you take me off the call list?"
A couple of years back, I was severely unemployed and having a difficult time making basic things like covering rent and food bills. As a result, I took a job as a "cold-caller" for mortgage refinancing.
From what I recall, the really good words to say were "Please put me on your 'do not call, do not rent' list," as that would assure that they would not call you future OR 'rent' your name to other parties.
I think the National DNC registry pretty much took care of a lot of these issues, so it's moot.
Morpheus: Welcome to the real world.
I should note: the country (with relatively high gun ownership rates, like the US) that Michael Moore was referring to was Canada.
t he_United_States_Constitution#Historical_examples_ of_disarmament
And one other point, as well: the Second Amendment to the US Constitution was likely added, in part, because of these circumstances:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_
While all of those objects can be used to assist in killing people, that is not their primary purpose; guns, however, are designed for only one purpose, and there is therefore a qualitative difference.
While the design of certain types of guns are intended for efficient elimination of human life (e.g., assault rifles), I think it's incorrect to say that killing people is their sole purpose. What about the hunting of game animals? What about target-shooting (during the Olympics, for instance)?
Clearly most people want to prevent other people killing--so the most obvious thing to do is to outlaw things that have no other purpose than to help people kill.
The problem here is where to draw the line. There are groups of people that believe that swords are beautiful. Others like the aesthetic aspects of assault weapons. That noted, as the primary purpose of the sword is to kill people, should we outlaw those? Believe you me, you'll be hunted down by a pack of SCA followers quicker than I can say "Ni!"
The correllation between higher gun possession/ownership in a population and gun crimes is difficult to defend, at the very least. Michael Moore in "Bowling for Columbine" argued that point quite deftly.
Clearly most people want to prevent other people killing--so the most obvious thing to do is to outlaw things that have no other purpose than to help people kill.
In my opinion, this statement is a hurried conclusion, and not obvious. Michael Moore and I don't see eye-to-eye on a number of issues, but I agree with him here: the obvious step that needs to be taken is to sit down and figure out why groups of people have a need for aggression against one another. The answer is better studied under the lens of anthropology and sociology.
Unless America wants to become a heavily policed state (a highly improbable proposition, and nearly un-implementable), I believe that it's futile to apply stricter gun laws. Just as the death penalty is highly questionable in its ability to "deter" violent crime, laws against private gun ownership are questionable in their ability to "deter" the same violent crimes.
In my previous acquisition of firearms and Oregon's Concealed Handgun Permit, I was run through safety courses, discussions on law and responsible use of force for self-defense, and answered questions and be fingerprinted for a (Federal) NCIC background check. If my intentions were criminal, I highly doubt that I would have permitted myself to suffer such inconveniences.
As a younger-ish (32) Technician class operator, I'd say you're not far off the mark. I don't often listen to hams in my area, but find it extremely useful with my friends (also hams) when we're out and about in an area without cellular coverage.
Let's also not forget about the excellent emergency autopatch: our Mt. Hood repeater (7000 ft. elevation) has one, and there are times this is absolutely invaluable when cell coverage becomes non-existent in the woods.
Definately not a show stopper! I think a good quality 2 meter handheld (handy-talkie, aka "HT") radio is a great and inexpensive start. I am personally a Yaesu fan, although excellent radios are also made by Icom and others. Add to this a good quality antenna (my favorite is the Larsen Kulduckie Exactune and the collapsible chrome 1/2 wave VHF antennas) and you're ready to go!
The power is really in the repeater, and Oregon has several which are installed at high altitude which provide excellent coverage.
If you want to geek out even further, get into packet radio, functionality which you can easily play with in conjunction with your new HT.
For emergency use, try rigging up an expensive solution by wiring up some gel cell batteries, and check out the dry cell "battery cases" which permit the use of regular alkaline AA batteries with your radio.
37337 73's!
-Pete K7LEE
...are still the simplest ones.
o reId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=47792759 &parent_category_rn=4500462&vcat=REI_SEARCH
Here's what I'd recommend, especially for a "bug-out" pack to grab from the house, or leave in the car: The Ten Essentials--and four more
http://www.backpacking.net/ten-essl.html
For home, it would be wise to calculate 1.5 gallons of bottled water per person/day.
Good gadgets:
* MSR MIOX Water Purifier
http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?st
* For the knife mentioned in the Ten Essentials, I recommend a NON-FOLDING knife (sturdier, can be used to split wood), a Leatherman and (depending on space available or preference) either a Gerber Gator (stiff blade) type wood saw or their line of lightweight handled axes (get the biggest one possible)
* Dermabond (2-octylcyanoacrylate) or Vetbond (available at your tack & feed/farm supply store may also be an OK option) are good for small gashes.
Worthless gadgets:
* Space blanket. I have yet to figure out any use for this other than as a blanket of last resort. (The joke: Why is it called that? Because it only works in space.) The better deal is to get the "Space All Weather Blanket"
to point fingers and laugh
Indeed. I found humor in the fact that SpecOps Labs' acronym is S.O.L.?
As an engineer, I'm more disposed to agree. However, I think there is a difference between "leadership" and "engineering ability" that needs to be demarcated.
Bill Gates, from all the evidence I've seen, is, at best, a mediocre engineer. So is Steve Jobs and Ross Perot. However, they are arguably talented leaders, and their successes are clear.
There have been too many examples of companies who developed a killer product because they were led by individuals who were technologically savvy. That said, having leadership with engineering experience does not guarantee success.
Having leadership that understands the market around them, empathizes with the customers, and can plot a course of evolution or revolution (as necessary), and knows how to attract and retain leadership for technical and marketing development is the one that will win.
I wouldn't be so quick to characterize it that way. Infosys is a company that appears to be based out of Bangalore, and likely based most of their initial capital development from outsourcing from US companies.
Infosys builds cube farms, hires engineers, and buys equipment. Where, exactly, is the direction and leadership for software development coming from? The infrastructure you mentioned?
It's not as important to "get something done" as it is to do it right. Doing things right takes vision and leadership.
A few things I'd note from my Burning Man experience in 2003:
* Lanceland: the "power nexus" of Burning Man, where many a kW of power is being generated and shipped out on 1.25 mile long legs to other power distribution boxes. One semi-trailer mounted generator after another.
* Fire/EMS: One of the best organized event emergency medical teams I've seen. 24 hour computer aided dispatching (CAD) was used, and teams were coordinated on multiple channels, with repeater support from towers around the city (some permanent). This is in addition to the REMSA "Life Flight" helicopter, (paid) ER docs/nurses, and professional wildland firefighter companies staged AT Burning Man. This is, in part, the reason for the price of the ticket NOT being free.
* Sol System: They were present this year with the following system:
http://www.solsystem.org/solarium
In 2003, I stood in the middle of their setup and was blown away by how clear and authentic their spatializing technology sounded. Apparently, two of the camp's principals were heavily involved with acoustic research funded during the dot-com boom.
* Satellite Internet uplink: courtesy of the folks (hippies) at Oregon Country Fair. Attached to the related 802.11b network.
* Feats of Nifty Mechanical Engineering: Go to Google and do an image search for the following words (not phrase):
Burning Man Temple Of Gravity
One of many neat things I've seen out there.
For a different take on Burning Man that has little to do with drugs or hippies, see the piece I wrote on my ten days out there...
http://petelee.blogspot.com/ look for "The Man Has No Hands" under Pete's Favorite Links
"Many Americans" because he is an American
I'm well aware of the fact that Slashdot is read by an international audience. Yes, I am an American (one born of immigrant Asian parents, no less.) I also should note that I am, relative to other Americans, an avid traveller: I have been to Europe in the past few years twice, each for a month, and know enough Czech, Spanish, German, and Italian to get by without using any English. I've spent a considerable amount of personal time learning about other cultures and their traditions.
What's funny is that I intentionally used "Americans." The reason was simple: I have very little experience or knowledge to gauge the severity of "hasty generalization" by people outside of the US. I did this because I felt that I didn't know enough about the severity of this issue elsewhere. Most of my reading and study in this area covers the US nearly exclusively, including the Sociology course I took in regards to American educational issues.
No offense was meant, folks; if anything, my intentions were to avoid generalizing groups of people I haven't observed on a longitudinal basis.
The biggest issue is pay.
- behind-or-so-wed-like-to.html)
i onSummitOnHighSchools/Oregon.pdf) . My friends got into teaching because they felt a strong call to teach kids, not because they aspired to ride teh hype, take a company public and Profit!!!
Perhaps, but I think it depends on where you are in the US. In Portland, the biggest gripe I have heard from several teacher friends of mine is the fact that the union actively protects bad teachers. By bad, I mean incompetent, uncaring, and sometimes even openly racist or sexist. The whole circumstance is very demoralizing.
The other big issue my teacher friends have is the impressive amount of money devoted to standardized testing and bloated administration in Portland schools. It's not that they're opposed to testing, per se, but they're troubled by the policies that are attached to it, as well as the questionable quality of the NCLB. (see http://petelee.blogspot.com/2005/02/no-child-left
The pay, ironically enough, has never really been that big of a concern. It's not great, but one can live decently in Portland on it (see http://www.all4ed.org/publications/NationalEducat
While I applaud IBM's desire to support education, more needs to be done to change the intrinsic cultural problems in how schools are managed. No sense training new teachers if they're not going to stay: 3 out of the 5 friends of mine who got involved with teaching left because they became disillusioned and demoralized.
Often the people who go into K-12 teaching are liberal arts majors who were mediocre students in college, and decided relatively late in the game to become teachers, because they weren't really qualified to do much else.
According to the all4ed.org site I included above, that is not appear to be the case for high school teachers. And, my anecdotal experience with teachers indicates that they were high achievers in college. It's difficult to find teaching jobs in Portland, even with attrition, so it's almost a requirement to have a Master's degree. Also, after being accepted to Carnegie-Mellon University, a friend of mine shocked his parents by informing them that he planned to become a teacher. Not for the money, but an opportunity to pass a love of math on to future generations.
As an aside, I'd note that most of my instructors at Portland Community College (also not notable for good pay), were frequently Masters-level instructors and Ph.D's with extensive professional (pre-teaching) experience. One excellent Pre-Calculus teacher I had was formerly a mathematician for NASA).
The effective government monopoly on education is preventing math and science teachers from being paid anything more in line with what they could get in a free market, and it also turns schools into assembly lines that produce students who pretend to have learned math and science
I don't know if the government monopoly, per se, is the issue here. On several long trips to Europe, I was impressed with the math, verbal, and political science skills of the majority of people I encountered. I believe that restructuring how schools are managed and changing certain negative cultural contributions teacher's unions have made would be a good start. I agree with your point that schools shouldn't be assembly lines: students aren't "commodities." It may be that very view that's the crux of the problem...
What I'm try to say is that this guy is quoting useless statistics and this is a great example of bad science/tech reporting in the media.
0 219783
AMEN! Your pickles example is a good reminder of the confusion many Americans have over causality vs. correlation.
Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best is an excellent primer in the dangers of poorly used and cited statistics. It's a must read:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/052
That said, I'm not sure what you consider "whining"; but I think it's perfectly valid for people to be apprehensive about this.
I completely agree--I'm 100% behind protecting the valuable resources that amateur radio operators (encouraging interest in science, ARES, etc.).
At the same time, I wish hams would pay a bit more attention to developments in the field of BPL, instead of repeating the same old gripes. That article I originally included was from August of this year.
It's kind of sad that these companies have so little respect for the Ham Radio operators.
= 1
This is an article from the ARRL webpage discussing some work with Motorola at W1AW:
BPL at HQ: ARRL Cooperating in BPL System Experiment
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/29/1/?nc
I don't know what the other BPL developers are doing, btw.
Please cut the whining folks, and read up. I thought that hams were a bit more resiliant than this.
-Pete Lee
K7LEE
So why the fuck weren't you put in charge of FEMA? I mean what's your problem, man? Not incompetent enough or something :-)
I think I got passed over because I don't have any experience in Arabian horse racing.
Remember that DHS blocked the red cross for a while from getting into NOLA.
I think there was a practical reason for that: no relief organization (excepting, perhaps, Doctors Without Borders) will knowingly send relief workers into areas that either actively or potentially dangerous.
If DHS had blocked the Red Cross from coming in after the area was secured, well, not so good.
Welcome to Disaster Relief. The one thing I've learned is that, to be an effective volunteer, you have to shelve your ego frequently, smile and nod when the politicos and the power hungry come by, and then get back to doing the business of helping people.
I was at a meeting yesterday for an organization interested in providing some housing options for evacuees, and I recall one idealistic young woman who spoke up who insisted that her idea (not a very practical one, to be honest) be used, because she really "wanted to help people."
Disasters are a really bad time to play any sort of ideological card (although people will anyways). Ultimately, people need to shelve any grandiose notions of being a "hero" and remember the fact that volunteers are "servants"--to those in need.
I hate to harsh anyone's mellow, and I probably would have let the girl go off and do her thing: she'll quickly find out that her idea won't work, and hopefully she'll learn. As a stubborn person myself, I'd rather see idealism tempered into reasonable action, rather than cynicism. Sometimes, you just gotta do it to learn...
I'm sorry--who the heck modded this Troll? I was making a reference to another Slashdot article.