Aren't they always saying that PC gaming is dying too--and have been saying that for a couple of decades now? For something that's dying, it sure still seems to keep kicking. It's got a longer death scene than Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs, I guess.
Yeah, they are. Here is an article on the subject. But this are the key quotes:
Among non-Hispanic white Americans, the average [PISA] score was 525 - not very different from Canada's 524, New Zealand's 521 or Australia's 515. All these countries are heavily white, and all ranked in the top 10 of the 65 participating school systems. The story is the same for Asian Americans. Their average score was 541 - somewhat below Shanghai, about even with South Korea and ahead of Hong Kong (533) and Japan. Again, all these other systems were in the top 10
. . . . . But the most glaring gap is well-known: the stubbornly low test scores of blacks and Hispanics. In the PISA study, their reading scores were 441 (blacks) and 466 (Hispanics).
So, yeah, the affluent white kids out in the suburbs and decent neighborhoods are apparently learning just fine.
No, more like there are two types of school in America: the good schools out in the suburbs where the kids are doing just fine compared with the rest of the world, and the shithole schools in the inner city that have to spend all their energy dealing with discipline problems and can't keep decent teachers. I bet Switzerland has plenty of the former, but does it have to deal with the latter dragging down their average?
No, you just find clever ways to eliminate all the poor people from your numbers--like defining Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Macau as separate countries so you don't have to count all the illiterate poor people out in the Chinese countryside.
Also, the countries at the top don't have to deal with the inner-city Gangbanger Central High Schools dragging down their average. Let's see how they compare to U.S. white suburbs!
Agreed, the whole reason the Obamacare website failed is because it was built by a big evil corporation on proprietary software instead of by a group of plucky college students building it on OSS out of a coffee shop. Global warming probably also played a role.
My company prides itself on an office environment that follows a modern design aesthetic: open floor plan, bold colors on the walls, cool lamps in the corners.
My lame company only prides itself on stupid shit like making good products and pleasing its customers.
Zombie movies are fantasy, and most of them (with the exception of 28 Days Later) strike me as very silly fiction at that. The zombies shown in most movies are way too slow and stupid to be any real threat in the real world. Sure, they would get some initial success at the very beginning, when people didn't realize what they were or the threat they posed--but the second word started getting out about their nature and how to kill them, they would be toast. They would be essentially eradicated pretty quickly. In the movies, they overcome their shortcomings by massing in ridiculous numbers, but there is no way in the real world they would ever get to those kinds of numbers.
My personal favorite for general silliness is "The Walking Dead," where they drive through small towns and suddenly encounter hordes of zombies larger than the whole population of any small town. And how have all these masses of zombies even survived for several years anyway? Their food source is pretty limited. Unless they're magic, they have to get energy from somewhere for all that shuffling.
The problem is that this makes it a huge pain in the ass for smaller online retailers. Brick and mortar retailers only have to deal with the taxes on the particular state and local region in which their store is physically located. Any online retailer potentially has to deal with the taxes in every state and region in the world (anywhere a customer could order from).
This means that only the larger online retailers will have the infrastructure to stay in business. If I'm starting a mom-and-pop online service, I'm either going to have to pay a 3rd-party to deal with all the states' and cities' tax laws or go out of business. Because there is no way some little operation is going to be able to handle collecting all the taxes from Nowhereville, Iowa (including know what they are and where to remit them).
Actually, I was also referring to Dominique Strauss Kahn (seems to be a common tactic these days). Poor boy made the mistake of challenging the supremacy of the U.S. dollar as IMF chief. Within a few months he was in handcuffs, with the prosecutor announcing a "rock solid" rape case--forcing him to resign. Three days after his successor was sworn in as the new IMF chief, the prosecutor dropped all charges and announced the case had no merit.
I guess the lesson here is, don't fuck with the U.S. government.
It's an age-old adage, if you give someone power they ARE going to use it. And agencies, like people, will usually push for as much power as they can get. The NSA and CIA (and to a lesser extent, the FBI) were basically given blank checks after 9-11. Anyone who ever believed they were going to voluntarily restrict their use of that kind of power to Muslim terrorists was a fool.
Slashdot Mirror
"They" are always predicting the death of PC gaming too.
Aren't they always saying that PC gaming is dying too--and have been saying that for a couple of decades now? For something that's dying, it sure still seems to keep kicking. It's got a longer death scene than Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs, I guess.
Yeah, they are. Here is an article on the subject. But this are the key quotes:
Among non-Hispanic white Americans, the average [PISA] score was 525 - not very different from Canada's 524, New Zealand's 521 or Australia's 515. All these countries are heavily white, and all ranked in the top 10 of the 65 participating school systems. The story is the same for Asian Americans. Their average score was 541 - somewhat below Shanghai, about even with South Korea and ahead of Hong Kong (533) and Japan. Again, all these other systems were in the top 10
. . . . . But the most glaring gap is well-known: the stubbornly low test scores of blacks and Hispanics. In the PISA study, their reading scores were 441 (blacks) and 466 (Hispanics).
So, yeah, the affluent white kids out in the suburbs and decent neighborhoods are apparently learning just fine.
No, more like there are two types of school in America: the good schools out in the suburbs where the kids are doing just fine compared with the rest of the world, and the shithole schools in the inner city that have to spend all their energy dealing with discipline problems and can't keep decent teachers. I bet Switzerland has plenty of the former, but does it have to deal with the latter dragging down their average?
No, you just find clever ways to eliminate all the poor people from your numbers--like defining Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Macau as separate countries so you don't have to count all the illiterate poor people out in the Chinese countryside.
Also, the countries at the top don't have to deal with the inner-city Gangbanger Central High Schools dragging down their average. Let's see how they compare to U.S. white suburbs!
No, even worse...regular old-fashioned offices with four walls, a window, and a door. It's hell.
Oh man, I saw one of those at a yard sale one time and wondered wtf it was. I thought it was maybe some kind of prayer bench.
How do you sit on it?
Makes me wonder if someone at MS is over at some designer message board right now asking for advice on software engineering. ;-)
Yeah, they could run the server farms out of their dorm room! And put Josh in charge of securing all Americans' personal healthcare files!
Agreed, the whole reason the Obamacare website failed is because it was built by a big evil corporation on proprietary software instead of by a group of plucky college students building it on OSS out of a coffee shop. Global warming probably also played a role.
The dogs should be rescues also. Store bought dogs are so last century.
It would be more practical to hire a basket weaver... ooh... woven trays...
Or, even better, a NATIVE AMERICAN basket weaver! Very hip. Very chic.
My company prides itself on an office environment that follows a modern design aesthetic: open floor plan, bold colors on the walls, cool lamps in the corners.
My lame company only prides itself on stupid shit like making good products and pleasing its customers.
I hope not.
And also angry at the Departments in the Australian Public service that has been caught spying.
This isn't some Volvo sedan we're talking about here. I'm pretty sure Paul and his buddy knew that they were buying a 600 HP racing car.
I would call this a case of driver error, not car. If you slap a bear, don't act all surprised if it mauls you.
But then again, he was a cop with a lot of driving experience.
Don't worry, PC gaming and desktop Linux will save the PC!!
I blame global warming.
Zombie movies are fantasy, and most of them (with the exception of 28 Days Later) strike me as very silly fiction at that. The zombies shown in most movies are way too slow and stupid to be any real threat in the real world. Sure, they would get some initial success at the very beginning, when people didn't realize what they were or the threat they posed--but the second word started getting out about their nature and how to kill them, they would be toast. They would be essentially eradicated pretty quickly. In the movies, they overcome their shortcomings by massing in ridiculous numbers, but there is no way in the real world they would ever get to those kinds of numbers.
My personal favorite for general silliness is "The Walking Dead," where they drive through small towns and suddenly encounter hordes of zombies larger than the whole population of any small town. And how have all these masses of zombies even survived for several years anyway? Their food source is pretty limited. Unless they're magic, they have to get energy from somewhere for all that shuffling.
The problem is that this makes it a huge pain in the ass for smaller online retailers. Brick and mortar retailers only have to deal with the taxes on the particular state and local region in which their store is physically located. Any online retailer potentially has to deal with the taxes in every state and region in the world (anywhere a customer could order from).
This means that only the larger online retailers will have the infrastructure to stay in business. If I'm starting a mom-and-pop online service, I'm either going to have to pay a 3rd-party to deal with all the states' and cities' tax laws or go out of business. Because there is no way some little operation is going to be able to handle collecting all the taxes from Nowhereville, Iowa (including know what they are and where to remit them).
Actually, I was also referring to Dominique Strauss Kahn (seems to be a common tactic these days). Poor boy made the mistake of challenging the supremacy of the U.S. dollar as IMF chief. Within a few months he was in handcuffs, with the prosecutor announcing a "rock solid" rape case--forcing him to resign. Three days after his successor was sworn in as the new IMF chief, the prosecutor dropped all charges and announced the case had no merit.
I guess the lesson here is, don't fuck with the U.S. government.
It's an age-old adage, if you give someone power they ARE going to use it. And agencies, like people, will usually push for as much power as they can get. The NSA and CIA (and to a lesser extent, the FBI) were basically given blank checks after 9-11. Anyone who ever believed they were going to voluntarily restrict their use of that kind of power to Muslim terrorists was a fool.