I won't argue that our efforts there haven't been an enormous waste of resources.
I was just replying to your specific charge that this particular event was our fault, when it's pretty obvious that such human rights abuses probably occurred on a regular basis under the Taliban.
"...we could've ensured Afghanistan did not slide back into fundamentalist totalitarian theocracy."
In other words, exactly the way it was before the invasion. Unless you'd argue that such abuses of human rights did not take place under the Taliban, I believe my point still stands. The only difference now is that the media gives a shit about Afghanistan.
No it was probably modded offtopic because, among many other reasons, this probably would have happened regardless of whether or not we invaded Afghanistan or Iraq.
If anything, the increased media presence in Afghanistan brought about by our invasion is probably the only reason we even know about this case.
On behalf of the Ministry of Truth and the entire loyal Ultima fan base, Ultima IX never happened. It is an un-game. Please update your records accordingly.
I think it's safe to say that U2 has a larger-than-average following amongst the kind of people against whom Mr. McGuinness has leveled this diatribe.
I hope this becomes a case study in how to destroy a loyal fan base. Since I'm not a fan of U2 or their pretentious personalities, I would not be sad to see this happen to them.
Whenever a third-party Windows app turns up with a security hole, it's somehow because of Microsoft's inherantly insecure platform. On any other OS, it's the user's fault for not adequately researching/testing the app.
Not like this is a new phenomenon here on/. Is it some form of OS congnitive dissonance?
Microsoft faces heated competition from companies supporting the open-source OS Linux and associated software in developing countries.
Microsoft isn't confronting competition in these targeted regions, they're confronting rampant piracy of their OS. They figure it's better to get $3.00 per copy than nothing.
VMWare will automatically move virtual servers off of failing hardware; you need your servers to be clustered to get similar functionality from Microsoft.
Until Microsoft's virtualization offering has the hardware independence that VMWare has, many businesses will (correctly) consider it a weak product.
So while "one-size-fits-all" is a problem, I think it is more likely the widespread perception that those who don't perform well (which, in the US, is more strongly linked to socioeconomic conditions than is the case across the OECD) are "dumb, unmotivated kids" rather than people with different needs that need to be addressed differently is the source of poor overall performance than is any failure to accept that "dumb, unmotivate kids" exist.
That's a valid point, but the factors that contribute to the "dumb kids" perception are completely out of a school's control. The question of what a school can/should do with these kids remains. Perhaps we should focus (for now) on recognizing the limits of their potential, given the factors you mention, and making the most of it. Setting unrealistic expections for students only results in further failure and disappointment.
A lot of what you describe is happening here as well. More and more schools don't recognize a valedictorian, because spotlighting achievement, it is presumed, hurts other students' self esteem. Failure is regarded with indifference, as kids move on to the next grade level whether or not they have completed the "required" coursework.
Our educational policies reward failure and ignore success, and we wonder why kids aren't motivated to succeed.
First of all, to the people who blame this trend on I.D., give it a rest. Our education system has far greater problems to confront, such as:
1. Parents - more an dmore parents don't take an active role in their kids' education, and blame the schools for their kids' failure.
2. Basic literacy - more and more kids cannot even read at grade-level. And we expect them to understand concepts like evolution??
3. Critical thinking - thanks ot NCLB, kids are taught to take a test, not think for themselves.
4. Qualified/dedicated teachers - thanks to unions, teachers have little motivation to actually give a shit about whether or not their students are actually learning anything.
5. No Child Left Behind - the great unfunded mandate that promotes the fantasy that there is no such thing as a dumb, unmotivated kid. One-size-fits-all education only harms good students, and it sure as hell doesn't make the bad ones any better.
Contrary to what popular intertubes culture suggests, there are very few religious institutions that actively attack established scientific theories. Certainly, they have their own points of view. But to say that the headline-grabbing fundy nutcases represents the prevailing attitude of all Christians is specious at best.
The fundies speculated that cloning would eventually lead to human-animal hybrids. They were right. How long do you think it will take before these scientists "accidentally" allows these embryos to develop beyond 14 days?
This is of course a direct result of them cutting off federal funding from stem cell research.
This is happening in the UK, not the US. You did RTFA, right?
Remember how everyone said "Aww shucks! We're just going to use cloning for stem cell research! We'd NEVER do anything funky like crossing humans and animals!" in response to cloning critics?
Well now those critics have been validated, and the Religious Right has more ammunition with which they can stall actual valid medical research.
This is what unrestrained morbid curiosity gets you. Too bad productive science as a whole has to suffer.
There are a few major shortcomings (IMHO) that kept me trying, but leaving Guild Wars:
1. Like you said, lack of persistent world. 2. Lack of gear diversity. 3. Lack of solo play options. 4. Steep learning curve. 5. No auction/market system whatsoever.
I found the single player game to be little more than a one-dimensional grind for skills. And without skills, what chance do you have to succeed in PvP?
I'd like to find a reason to play it again, as visually it is a very impressive game. It will take a lot of convincing, though, to get me to purchase the expansions and give it another shot.
Slashdot Mirror
1. Parent addressed recourse for people wrongly accused of infringement.
2. Your speculative "enabling" argument could be applied to the entire telco industry, but we don't see that actually happening.
I won't argue that our efforts there haven't been an enormous waste of resources.
I was just replying to your specific charge that this particular event was our fault, when it's pretty obvious that such human rights abuses probably occurred on a regular basis under the Taliban.
"...we could've ensured Afghanistan did not slide back into fundamentalist totalitarian theocracy."
In other words, exactly the way it was before the invasion. Unless you'd argue that such abuses of human rights did not take place under the Taliban, I believe my point still stands. The only difference now is that the media gives a shit about Afghanistan.
No it was probably modded offtopic because, among many other reasons, this probably would have happened regardless of whether or not we invaded Afghanistan or Iraq.
If anything, the increased media presence in Afghanistan brought about by our invasion is probably the only reason we even know about this case.
Right, because it seems almost every day, these days, that someone is executed for challenging Christian dogma.
Just goes to show you that Democracy and Liberty do not necessarily come hand-in-hand.
On behalf of the Ministry of Truth and the entire loyal Ultima fan base, Ultima IX never happened. It is an un-game. Please update your records accordingly.
I think it's safe to say that U2 has a larger-than-average following amongst the kind of people against whom Mr. McGuinness has leveled this diatribe.
I hope this becomes a case study in how to destroy a loyal fan base. Since I'm not a fan of U2 or their pretentious personalities, I would not be sad to see this happen to them.
I actually play WoW too. I just thought it was an interesting corner into which OP had painted himself :)
You had competition from the kind of people who play World of Warcraft?
Isn't that the truth!
/. Is it some form of OS congnitive dissonance?
Whenever a third-party Windows app turns up with a security hole, it's somehow because of Microsoft's inherantly insecure platform. On any other OS, it's the user's fault for not adequately researching/testing the app.
Not like this is a new phenomenon here on
Microsoft faces heated competition from companies supporting the open-source OS Linux and associated software in developing countries.
Microsoft isn't confronting competition in these targeted regions, they're confronting rampant piracy of their OS. They figure it's better to get $3.00 per copy than nothing.
VMWare will automatically move virtual servers off of failing hardware; you need your servers to be clustered to get similar functionality from Microsoft.
Until Microsoft's virtualization offering has the hardware independence that VMWare has, many businesses will (correctly) consider it a weak product.
Abusive? Please. It's the cost of doing business with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart isn't forcing anyone to do business with them.
So while "one-size-fits-all" is a problem, I think it is more likely the widespread perception that those who don't perform well (which, in the US, is more strongly linked to socioeconomic conditions than is the case across the OECD) are "dumb, unmotivated kids" rather than people with different needs that need to be addressed differently is the source of poor overall performance than is any failure to accept that "dumb, unmotivate kids" exist.
That's a valid point, but the factors that contribute to the "dumb kids" perception are completely out of a school's control. The question of what a school can/should do with these kids remains. Perhaps we should focus (for now) on recognizing the limits of their potential, given the factors you mention, and making the most of it. Setting unrealistic expections for students only results in further failure and disappointment.
Informative?
Make something valuable to someone with lots of money and they'll pay lots of money for it.
Doesn't that require one to quantify "value"? And isn't that determination the whole point of TFA??
I imagine such simplistic cliches aren't of much use to real accountants.
A lot of what you describe is happening here as well. More and more schools don't recognize a valedictorian, because spotlighting achievement, it is presumed, hurts other students' self esteem. Failure is regarded with indifference, as kids move on to the next grade level whether or not they have completed the "required" coursework.
Our educational policies reward failure and ignore success, and we wonder why kids aren't motivated to succeed.
stagnant wages, offshoring, age discrimination, long hours. It's a shitty way to waste $100k on an education.
So is blaming others for one's own lack of motivation.
It's high time that college students start waking up to the fact that the perfect job probably isn't waiting for them to graduate.
Like it or not, most of the modern conveniences you enjoy today began as a product of military research and development.
Like the Internet.
...not just science and math.
First of all, to the people who blame this trend on I.D., give it a rest. Our education system has far greater problems to confront, such as:
1. Parents - more an dmore parents don't take an active role in their kids' education, and blame the schools for their kids' failure.
2. Basic literacy - more and more kids cannot even read at grade-level. And we expect them to understand concepts like evolution??
3. Critical thinking - thanks ot NCLB, kids are taught to take a test, not think for themselves.
4. Qualified/dedicated teachers - thanks to unions, teachers have little motivation to actually give a shit about whether or not their students are actually learning anything.
5. No Child Left Behind - the great unfunded mandate that promotes the fantasy that there is no such thing as a dumb, unmotivated kid. One-size-fits-all education only harms good students, and it sure as hell doesn't make the bad ones any better.
Contrary to what popular intertubes culture suggests, there are very few religious institutions that actively attack established scientific theories. Certainly, they have their own points of view. But to say that the headline-grabbing fundy nutcases represents the prevailing attitude of all Christians is specious at best.
What it could someday turn into has no relevance to its status at that developmental level.
Until somebody INEVITABLY allows such an embryo to develop. What then?
no, who said that?
The fundies speculated that cloning would eventually lead to human-animal hybrids. They were right. How long do you think it will take before these scientists "accidentally" allows these embryos to develop beyond 14 days?
This is of course a direct result of them cutting off federal funding from stem cell research.
This is happening in the UK, not the US. You did RTFA, right?
Remember how everyone said "Aww shucks! We're just going to use cloning for stem cell research! We'd NEVER do anything funky like crossing humans and animals!" in response to cloning critics?
Well now those critics have been validated, and the Religious Right has more ammunition with which they can stall actual valid medical research.
This is what unrestrained morbid curiosity gets you. Too bad productive science as a whole has to suffer.
There are a few major shortcomings (IMHO) that kept me trying, but leaving Guild Wars:
1. Like you said, lack of persistent world.
2. Lack of gear diversity.
3. Lack of solo play options.
4. Steep learning curve.
5. No auction/market system whatsoever.
I found the single player game to be little more than a one-dimensional grind for skills. And without skills, what chance do you have to succeed in PvP?
I'd like to find a reason to play it again, as visually it is a very impressive game. It will take a lot of convincing, though, to get me to purchase the expansions and give it another shot.