If it is reasonably priced, people may actually like it. Does anybody still use a cd player anyway?
Only millions of people with OEM CD players in their cars. Millions of people with after market CD players in their cars (like me). Millions more people with those "shelf" stereo systems you can get for under $200. People who (like me) have a CD/MP3 player (I never use mine any longer now that I have XM).
Other than those millions of people, no one uses CD's any longer, that I know about...
Finally! Why does everyone else on/. insist that DS9 just kept getting better as it went along? I watched it faithfully for a while, starting with the pilot, then lost the time to do so, then went back to it about 2 seasons later only to find that it totally sucked! What happened?
What happened was that you missed two seasons of what happened that would have explained what you saw when you "came back".
You're kidding, right? You seriously think it's feasible for the average parent to spend their entire day, from waking in the morning to going to sleep at night, watching over their kids, for eighteen years? And the kid won't grow up to be a complete raving lunatic?
Like I said. No one forced said parents to have children. If they can't keep an eye on what their children are doing, they should not have had them.
Suffer? That's hilarious! If you think having to ask your parents to buy a game for you constitutes suffering, then you need to switch off the console, go outside in the fresh air, and try to get some perspective.
Yes. SUFFER. It's when "won't SOMEONE PLEASE think of the CHILDREN" laws are written and (in some cases) passed that the rest of us end up suffering in some way because a bunch of lazy fucks can't be bothered to keep an eye on their children. Pefect example is the mandatory use of filtering in libraries. Yes, I shouldn't be surfing porn in a library (and no, I haven't. In fact, I have never touched a library computer other than to fix it once having been called to do so.), but there are plenty news stories/articles/etc that show filtering to be quite ineffective (often blocking information that has no reason to be blocked).
As for your assertion that I'm some teen that needs to ask permission to buy (insert stupid, current, "hot" game title here), you are WAY off. I'm a 30 year old male, living on my own, making my OWN way through life (not relying on any assistance from *anyone*, government included). Looks like *you* are the one lacking in perspective. The entire point of the US is to be free. If we have some group of lazy jackasses attempting to impose their beliefs/morals/etc upon the rest of the unwilling public, well, something is wrong and it needs to be fixed.
You're forgetting that because this law has been struck down, the kid can buy it himself without his mother's knowledge. The whole point of this legislation was to try to give parents more control over whether their kids play these games without banning them from having their own money or watching them every second of the day.
You are the kind of fucktard the Judge is protecting us against.
You don't want to have to watch your kid every second of the day? Don't have children. No one forced you into it and I'll be damned if I'm going to suffer because you couldn't be bothered to make sure your children are living the way you want them to.
I'm not alone in this thinking either. There are plenty of people (single, married/childless, etc) that will agree with me. Seems the judge in the case thought so, too.
Also, you've got to fasten the liner somehow, which would mean holes in the tiles.
You missed the parents point.
Google for "LineX" or "Rhino Lining".
You are most likely correct, though, about the lining burning away and possibly causing more damage, though.
Re:Not even funny anymore
on
The Hybrid Scooter
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· Score: 2, Informative
To take an example, I had a job interview last week. It was about 40 miles away from my house, on the other side of the city (technically it was outside of the city, but in the greater metropolitan area, and only a couple of miles outside of the city proper). The round trip in my car (a relatively small car by US standards) would have cost me about $20 with the current gas prices (40 miles each way, 80 miles total, and it would have taken probably about 1/2 a tank of gas). Assuming I were to get that job, until I could find a place to live closer to where I would be working, I would have to spend $100/week in gas. That would end up being about 15% of my paycheck before taxes, or about 20% after taxes, just to get back and forth to work.
No small car, that I am aware of, would get that poor gas mileage. I have an '86 Olds Cutlass Cierra and had (until very recently) a '96 Ford Contour. BOTH of those, on an 80 mile trip, would have used just less than a quarter tank of gas. Both of those are 4 door sedans. Now, with the same two cars, I could have made it from my home in La Plata, MO to Omaha, NE (299 miles by the trip counter) and still had 1/4 a tank of gas left (and have done so on multiple occasions).
The only things I can think of for your car to only be able to go 80 miles on 1/2(!!!!) a tank of gas is that your car is in a rather bad state of disrepair, it has a huge fuel-hungry motor in it, you have a huge truck/suv (goes along with the huge motor suggestion) or you are grossly exaggerating your situation.
Yes, you were modded +5 insightful, and some of what you said might have been (specifically the parts about how the US is laid out), however if I had any points I'd have posted this as anon and THEN modded you overrated.
So, you don't like him treating you like a kid in a public school, eh?
While I was in school, I was very rarely treated this way. When I was, I ignored these people. This is the way (in my opinion) to deal with these people. The more you respond, the more you lower yourself to their level.
You take away the responses, they become irrelevant.
My, I must have hit a nerve, what with your potty mouth and all. Is that your only defense? You can't come up with anything against my points so you cuss at me?
Whine, whine, whine. You expect US to 'fix' the public school system for YOU. I suggest that you get off your fat, lazy, ass and do the job yourself. We don't think it's fixable, and even if it were we'd STILL homeschool our child. Again, you just need to 'suck it up and deal with it' because it isn't our job to conform to what you think we should do, just to make you happy. And to beat a dead horse, you even get to do it with our property taxes!
Uhhh.. I hate to burst your bubble, however, home schooled kids most certainly use tax payers money (YOUR taxes -- you know, the ones you JUST complained about having to pay?). What do you think pays for the testing your child(ren) go through? Where do you think the money comes from for administration to keep your child(ren) are being taught properly by you? Where do you think the money comes from for any books the kids might need?
In my state, it's the school district the child would NORMALLY attend that provides all of this. You don't use the taxes, indeed. You must think I (and everyone else reading this) am quite stupid to try to pull that on me.
What is really sad in all of this is that the kids missing out on the wide variety of interactions they'd have with other kids their own age isn't my biggest grip with home schooling. It's letting people who are totally and completely unqualified to instruct their children. As I have stated in the past (you can view my comment history if you are a subscriber -- it was some time ago), there are exceptions to this, but I wouldn't trust the vast majority of kids parents to flip my burger at (insert fast food chain here), let alone teach their children. Public/private school teachers don't have to go through years of training and certification just because they want to rack up huge loans and soak years from their lives just to teach. The same (or *very* similar) should have to happen for with at least one of the parents before their children are allowed to be home schooled (in my opinion).
From what I saw in the Antelope Valley School District (when I lived in SoCal), I don't believe home schooling is as effective as whatever reports you may point at would say, anyway. Much of the testing my friend (and his entire class) went through were "rigged", in my eyes. The kids had to meet three times a week for a few hours, in separate classrooms from the "public" kids, for testing and homework assignments (there goes your "I don't use the taxes!" diatribe). While the kids were taking their tests, once the instructor graded them, he'd send them back *to correct their answers* until the tests were perfect!
If this is happening in one district (which is rather large), I bet you it's happening elsewhere.
Even home schooling didn't help him, anyway. He dropped out of public school while he was a sophomore (but only had the credits of a freshman -- I'll never figure *that* one out). His parents forced him into the home school program where he lasted less than a year before dropping out again. This goes back to my argument that home schooling isn't the answer, either.
I guess what my entire argument boils down to is this: If you think the public school system is so "fucked up", and you believe you know how to fix it, why not spend that time and energy you are putting into your child for the betterment of society as a whole? If you, and all the other "I'm better than you because MY child is home schooled" parents did the same, I firmly believe other parents would join in and society as a whole would be bettered.
But that's just me -- thinking that, since we're all sucking up space together on this planet, we should all be *helping each other* make this a better place to live instead of segregating ourselves. What a fool I am, eh?
What a refreshing thing to read. I'm damned sick of people complaining that the schools are failing their kids, but leaving them there to have every last bit of creativity, independence and imagination ground out of them.
You have a very lucky little girl.
I am not even going to bother to reply to the parent as he is more interested in belittling me, and telling me to "sit down and shut the fuck up", than to actually have a civil debate, etc. That, to me, just shows how weak his position really is.
I will, however, tell you what I'm damned sick of. I'm damned sick of these parents who think the public schools are shit, however, beyond complaining about it (and pulling their child out), do absolutely NOTHING to fix the problem at all.
You don't like the public school system? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Quit your job and run for a position on the board. Can't be bothered to quit your job to help fix the school? Find someone who you believe will do so and VOTE THEM IN.
It really is that simple to fix things. No, it won't get fixed over night. For the last 13 years I've been a computer technician, going into peoples homes (which is where I get the bulk of my observations on home schooled kids -- There are a TON of families in this area that take this route. Too bad the parent to your post and other posters to my first post didn't bother to try to find out how I came to my conclusions). I've also done work in multiple school districts. I know very well how screwed up some of them can be. Only YOU, the voter, can fix it. The longer you sit on your (very possibly) fat, lazy, asses, the more the public school systems will remain in the condition they are in now.
As I said, nothing personal, I was picking up on society's bias that school, or the whole of life up to the age of 18 is not *real life*.
School kids commit suicide because they are bullied. It happens. A lot.
Missing out on school can ruin your life, having everyone in a schoool pick on you can ruin your life, or as I said, end it.
And as I said, school isn't "real life". It prepares you for it. School kids commit suicide because they are either in a home environment that isn't nurturing enough for them to feel they can come to their parents with problems, have the same environment at school (I was in this camp for a while), or both. In the latter example, the parents aren't involved enough in what is going on in the kids life. My mother had her nose in every place she could stick it when I was going through school, which was what saved me. Unfortunately, especially lately, parents don't seem to give a shit what their kids are doing, or what they are going through while at school, which leads to your exaggerated example of suicide. I'd like to bet you $100 it doesn't happen as often as you are trying to make it sound.
I was simply making an off-optic comment, picking up on one sentance, it seems I hit a nerve, and that you are as short-shighted as the gross generalisation I was picking apart. That was not intentional
You were simply making an off-topic comment, taking one sentence out of context, in a hope to gain karma, which failed. You even grossly generalized in trying to make whatever point you thought you had. Nice try, though. It's too bad facts get in the way of your "comment".
I don't mean to get at you personally, it is more a societal thing, but I am reminded on of the story last week, which diverted into a thread about "good Dads", all of which seem to have one thing in common: NOT treating children like sub-humans.
Way to misread what I said. I don't equate school to 'real life' because there is less at stake for an individual than when they get into the 'real world'. If they miss a few days, they get to make it up. They don't have to worry about where money will come from to keep them fed (if their parents can't do it, the state will). They don't have to buy their own clothing, school related materials, keep a car/house, etc. They can't be 'fired' and loose out on the education ('less, of course, they do something utterly stupid, and end up getting kicked out; this, however, is quite rare).
Before kids get to the "real world", they have no idea how to interact with people. Most parents, from what I've seen as of late, that keep their kids home schooled, do a POOR job of helping them in this respect. Going to a public/private school teaches the kids about schedules, dealing with other people (as mentioned previously), completing assignments (directly translates to your "real" job later in life), etc.
I don't look at school as "real life", I look at it as practice.
I noticed my first message in this thread was moderated "overrated". Looks like SOMEONE was home schooled...
The problem is that you also learn negative solical interactions; i.e. getting picked on, bullied, etc. So it is a crap shoot as far as helping kids be social. I learned to be not very social and it was years before I became more outgoing after my experiences in school.
I don't see those as negatives. Getting picked on, bullied, etc, teach the kid early on how to deal with these jerks in real life.
I understand your complaints about the 360 (although everyone I know that has one is happy with it), and I agree that the Wii is pretty much promised to sell, but what makes you so sure about the PS3 before release? It could have just as many defects as the 360, and the price tag is high enough to ensure that most of the non-working kids (the ones that rely on their parents to buy stuff) won't be able to get it-- I mean, as a parent, how do you justify spending $600 on a console when another (of the same generation) costs $400 (which you thought was high enough to begin with)?
How do you justify it? Well, if you are like my idiotic ex-best friend and his wife, you let your kids run your life to the point that you live in poverty so that you can give your kids whatever trinket they whine their fool heads off over this week. You justify it by wanting to be the kids "best friend" so much that you forgo everything else (discipline, etc). You end up in this situation by "bribing" your kids to do whatever you are wanting, instead of TELLING them to do whatever. After you bribe your kids, they whine/cry/scream/yell so much that, instead of sending them to their room, spanking, "time out", or whatever other discipline, you cave in and give them what you bribed them with anyway.
No, I'm not bitter. I do feel really sorry for those kids. However, this will happen all across the US, and very likely other parts of the world. No, this type of situation alone will not keep the PS3 sales up, but I'd bet it'd be a larger part of the sales than anyone here would think...
I'm one of those evil "right-wingers" that are so often lambasted here on teh intarweb.
Your comment was highly moderated so I saw it before the its parent post. I apologize if these points were raised by someone else.
I don't have a problem at all with gay partners being able to do things like inherit property, make medical decisions, visit a sick or dying partner in the hospital, adopt and live lives of peace and tranquility.
What I do have a problem with is equating a same sex union with a traditional heterosexual marriage. Namely the tax benefit & health insurance. I don't like the possibility of a state like MA or CA being able to force a state like TX or UT to recognize as a "marriage" a homosexual union.
LK
To this, I say, "Tough Shit". It isn't my problem that you don't like it. My problem is that you would exert your will upon me, and for doing so, you are in the wrong.
What's worse, you haven't even given any sort of reason as to WHY you think we shouldn't have this mystical tax "benefit" or be on our partners health insurance.
Not one person has come up with a good reason to either point (let alone any others that have come up), and I doubt anyone will.
Speaking as a homosexual, it has more to do with spousal rights (right to visit your spouse in the hospital, getting on your spouses health insurance if you have none/job does not offer any/job has insurance that sucks and/or is more expensive than your spouses, right to say what happens upon death, etc)...
Right now we have no control over any of this unless whatever state we are in specifically grants such rights outside of marriage.
We want to be treated equally. We don't want any "extra' benefits that heterosexual people wouldn't have. Hell, if the religious don't want us having "religious" marriage, I (and many others) would be perfectly happy with a state official conducting the ceremony.
There is no "agenda" here, despite what the religious right-wingers would have you belive.
I'm sure the issue is a bit more indepth than I've stated here, but you could look at hrc.org to read up on it.
And I want global peace, everyone to be a millionaire, and every child to have a pony. Michrech, let me be the first to tell you that you have to make some choices in this world. You can't have it all.
That's just it, though. I *do* have it all. I have my email (all web based), I have my game, I have my messenger(s), I have my CD-Burning. All without emulating anything, virtualizing anything, or rebooting (well, unless there is a security update, but those are few and far between as I keep my system up to date).
Oh, I dunno... maybe to avoid viruses, spyware, adware, hackers, and gain ease of use, more control, real security, better user experience, included high-quality development tools, a real OS built on Mach Unix where you can drop to a terminal and get real work done, etc.? That's up for you to decide. Like I said, it's about choices.
I avoid viruses, spyware, adware, hackers, and gain ease of use, control, security that works fine in my envrionment, a user experience that is just fine, don't need "high-quality development tools" (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean in this context), and my OS certainly seems real enough to me. Hell, I'm typing this message, playing my game, and interacting with people online through it's interface!
Ohh.. I must be imagining it... That's it. As for "getting real work done". I do that, you know, at work. Funny, though.. it's all done with MS software in Windows XP. Without viruses, with the security of an AD/domain, McAfee with EPO, "high-quality development tools" (Office, Outlook/Exchange, and a bunch of other in-house written stuff).
But hey, it's pretty clear from your attitude that no answer is going to be acceptable. You want a Windows box and nothing but Windows is acceptable. That's okay... just say so. (Though I suppose that would make you a fanboy, wouldn't it?) Nobody's forcing you to switch. You asked if something was possible without emulation, I told you it was and now that answer's not good enough. Just as I predicted.
What is clear from MY attitude is that you are a "mac" fanboy who isn't going to accept that anyone can get "real work" done in anything not unix/apple. Your answer was to emulate (and virtualization != native). You set out, knowing my requirements, and ignored them in favor of pushing your favored envrionment upon someone when you knew, from the start, it was unacceptable.
This is the last time I am going to say this. If I cannot do everything I want to do in one envrionment (like I'm doing right this second, WITHOUT emulation coming into play), then no, whatever you come up with is not going to be acceptable.
Do yourself a favor. If you can't further this concept without belittling me, don't reply. You'd only be wasting your time.
Plus, your offer of being able to play WoW and Starcraft is irrelevent to what I said. WoW/Starcraft != CoV/CoH or DDO. I refuse to switch to another MMORPG from those I play simply because another "is the most popular game in history". What does it matter if I loath the game?
Your comment is completely irrelevant. I didn't ask about WoW/Starcraft. I asked about CoV/CoH and DDO.
Yes, it is nice that WoW/Starcraft have native "mac" versions. I don't care. Lots of the population in the world don't care.
I really don't know how much more simple I can make this without gaining more troll mods (I still can't believe the message you replied to was marked troll. Probably the part about my not caring about WoW.)
You just don't get it -- just like all the rest of you "mac" 'fanbois'. I don't want to reboot. Why should I have to? I don't want to pay for Windows AND OSX. Why should I have to? I don't want to partition off my HDD to have two OS's. Why should I have to? I don't want to have two HDD's; one for each OS. Why should I have to?
Why?
you can run most WinXP software full-speed alongside Mac OS X by using a virtualizer such as Parallels Desktop ($50 - www.parallels.com) However, Parallels Desktop doesn't (yet?) offer 3D acceleration,
Nice product plug, however, it kinda fits into my NO VIRTUALIZATION SOFTWARE requirement, now doesn't it? Or did you think that because I didn't specifically mention it that it was somehow exempted?
The short answer in this whole "just switch to mac!" crap is that, untill EVERYTHING works (PROPERLY, not "it works, but this part will be quirky/broken")(or has ports), it simply WILL NOT HAPPEN. I'm not the first person to say this, and I certainly will not be the last.
Oh I don't know, but I'm with most of the millions of others who would rather play World of Warcraft and Starcraft... (the most popular games in history) lo and behold they work just fine on my Mac, even with the same discs from the PC version! Imagine that!
Perhaps, then, you failed to see the "not in other emulation software" part? Here, let me paste it in for you:
What do you mean "surely not"? Can I run City of Heroes/Villains or DDO natively on an Apple machine IN OS/X (NOT in Windows dual-booted, and NOT in VirtualPC/VMWare/Other Emulation Software)?
See that, there? The bolded part?
Yes, that means playing your games in Wine (or whatever OSX is using to play WoW/Starcraft) doesn't count.
Plus, your offer of being able to play WoW and Starcraft is irrelevent to what I said. WoW/Starcraft != CoV/CoH or DDO. I refuse to switch to another MMORPG from those I play simply because another "is the most popular game in history". What does it matter if I loath the game?
I wonder what goes through the mind of the average person, when thinking about buying there next computer. Do they buy PCs because that is what they always have had, and it is what everyone they know has? Or is it a certain love for applications that aren't on macs. (surely not) Is it the salesmen in the stores, pushing pcs?
What do you mean "surely not"? Can I run City of Heroes/Villains or DDO natively on an Apple machine IN OS/X (NOT in Windows dual-booted, and NOT in VirtualPC/VMWare/Other Emulation Software)?
Yes, these are games however there are MANY other people out there with OTHER requirements for which there simply isn't another option as far as the OS goes.
If things have continued in the computer retail space (from the time I was involved in it), the salesmen push whatever they have the most 'training' on. When I worked for Best Buy in the late '90's, that training was limited, and I don't recall it ever involving anything Apple related. Those machines sat on the shelf and sold only when a customer came in that already knew they wanted said hardware. I have a feeling that was one of the reasons the space was eventually re-purposed.
Slashdot Mirror
If it is reasonably priced, people may actually like it. Does anybody still use a cd player anyway?
Only millions of people with OEM CD players in their cars. Millions of people with after market CD players in their cars (like me). Millions more people with those "shelf" stereo systems you can get for under $200. People who (like me) have a CD/MP3 player (I never use mine any longer now that I have XM).
Other than those millions of people, no one uses CD's any longer, that I know about...
Throw Braga down the well!
To poison the well for the rest of us?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!
Finally! Why does everyone else on /. insist that DS9 just kept getting better as it went along? I watched it faithfully for a while, starting with the pilot, then lost the time to do so, then went back to it about 2 seasons later only to find that it totally sucked! What happened?
What happened was that you missed two seasons of what happened that would have explained what you saw when you "came back".
You're kidding, right? You seriously think it's feasible for the average parent to spend their entire day, from waking in the morning to going to sleep at night, watching over their kids, for eighteen years? And the kid won't grow up to be a complete raving lunatic?
Like I said. No one forced said parents to have children. If they can't keep an eye on what their children are doing, they should not have had them.
Suffer? That's hilarious! If you think having to ask your parents to buy a game for you constitutes suffering, then you need to switch off the console, go outside in the fresh air, and try to get some perspective.
Yes. SUFFER. It's when "won't SOMEONE PLEASE think of the CHILDREN" laws are written and (in some cases) passed that the rest of us end up suffering in some way because a bunch of lazy fucks can't be bothered to keep an eye on their children. Pefect example is the mandatory use of filtering in libraries. Yes, I shouldn't be surfing porn in a library (and no, I haven't. In fact, I have never touched a library computer other than to fix it once having been called to do so.), but there are plenty news stories/articles/etc that show filtering to be quite ineffective (often blocking information that has no reason to be blocked).
As for your assertion that I'm some teen that needs to ask permission to buy (insert stupid, current, "hot" game title here), you are WAY off. I'm a 30 year old male, living on my own, making my OWN way through life (not relying on any assistance from *anyone*, government included). Looks like *you* are the one lacking in perspective. The entire point of the US is to be free. If we have some group of lazy jackasses attempting to impose their beliefs/morals/etc upon the rest of the unwilling public, well, something is wrong and it needs to be fixed.
You're forgetting that because this law has been struck down, the kid can buy it himself without his mother's knowledge. The whole point of this legislation was to try to give parents more control over whether their kids play these games without banning them from having their own money or watching them every second of the day.
You are the kind of fucktard the Judge is protecting us against.
You don't want to have to watch your kid every second of the day? Don't have children. No one forced you into it and I'll be damned if I'm going to suffer because you couldn't be bothered to make sure your children are living the way you want them to.
I'm not alone in this thinking either. There are plenty of people (single, married/childless, etc) that will agree with me. Seems the judge in the case thought so, too.
Also, you've got to fasten the liner somehow, which would mean holes in the tiles.
You missed the parents point.
Google for "LineX" or "Rhino Lining".
You are most likely correct, though, about the lining burning away and possibly causing more damage, though.
To take an example, I had a job interview last week. It was about 40 miles away from my house, on the other side of the city (technically it was outside of the city, but in the greater metropolitan area, and only a couple of miles outside of the city proper). The round trip in my car (a relatively small car by US standards) would have cost me about $20 with the current gas prices (40 miles each way, 80 miles total, and it would have taken probably about 1/2 a tank of gas). Assuming I were to get that job, until I could find a place to live closer to where I would be working, I would have to spend $100/week in gas. That would end up being about 15% of my paycheck before taxes, or about 20% after taxes, just to get back and forth to work.
No small car, that I am aware of, would get that poor gas mileage. I have an '86 Olds Cutlass Cierra and had (until very recently) a '96 Ford Contour. BOTH of those, on an 80 mile trip, would have used just less than a quarter tank of gas. Both of those are 4 door sedans. Now, with the same two cars, I could have made it from my home in La Plata, MO to Omaha, NE (299 miles by the trip counter) and still had 1/4 a tank of gas left (and have done so on multiple occasions).
The only things I can think of for your car to only be able to go 80 miles on 1/2(!!!!) a tank of gas is that your car is in a rather bad state of disrepair, it has a huge fuel-hungry motor in it, you have a huge truck/suv (goes along with the huge motor suggestion) or you are grossly exaggerating your situation.
Yes, you were modded +5 insightful, and some of what you said might have been (specifically the parts about how the US is laid out), however if I had any points I'd have posted this as anon and THEN modded you overrated.
I don't understand how someone can rationalize using IE 6 at all.
Sungard Higher Education does it's timesheets online. It only works in IE. It's quite simple. If I want to be paid, I *must* use IE.
So, you don't like him treating you like a kid in a public school, eh?
While I was in school, I was very rarely treated this way. When I was, I ignored these people. This is the way (in my opinion) to deal with these people. The more you respond, the more you lower yourself to their level.
You take away the responses, they become irrelevant.
My, I must have hit a nerve, what with your potty mouth and all. Is that your only defense? You can't come up with anything against my points so you cuss at me?
Whine, whine, whine. You expect US to 'fix' the public school system for YOU. I suggest that you get off your fat, lazy, ass and do the job yourself. We don't think it's fixable, and even if it were we'd STILL homeschool our child. Again, you just need to 'suck it up and deal with it' because it isn't our job to conform to what you think we should do, just to make you happy. And to beat a dead horse, you even get to do it with our property taxes!
Uhhh.. I hate to burst your bubble, however, home schooled kids most certainly use tax payers money (YOUR taxes -- you know, the ones you JUST complained about having to pay?). What do you think pays for the testing your child(ren) go through? Where do you think the money comes from for administration to keep your child(ren) are being taught properly by you? Where do you think the money comes from for any books the kids might need?
In my state, it's the school district the child would NORMALLY attend that provides all of this. You don't use the taxes, indeed. You must think I (and everyone else reading this) am quite stupid to try to pull that on me.
What is really sad in all of this is that the kids missing out on the wide variety of interactions they'd have with other kids their own age isn't my biggest grip with home schooling. It's letting people who are totally and completely unqualified to instruct their children. As I have stated in the past (you can view my comment history if you are a subscriber -- it was some time ago), there are exceptions to this, but I wouldn't trust the vast majority of kids parents to flip my burger at (insert fast food chain here), let alone teach their children. Public/private school teachers don't have to go through years of training and certification just because they want to rack up huge loans and soak years from their lives just to teach. The same (or *very* similar) should have to happen for with at least one of the parents before their children are allowed to be home schooled (in my opinion).
From what I saw in the Antelope Valley School District (when I lived in SoCal), I don't believe home schooling is as effective as whatever reports you may point at would say, anyway. Much of the testing my friend (and his entire class) went through were "rigged", in my eyes. The kids had to meet three times a week for a few hours, in separate classrooms from the "public" kids, for testing and homework assignments (there goes your "I don't use the taxes!" diatribe). While the kids were taking their tests, once the instructor graded them, he'd send them back *to correct their answers* until the tests were perfect!
If this is happening in one district (which is rather large), I bet you it's happening elsewhere.
Even home schooling didn't help him, anyway. He dropped out of public school while he was a sophomore (but only had the credits of a freshman -- I'll never figure *that* one out). His parents forced him into the home school program where he lasted less than a year before dropping out again. This goes back to my argument that home schooling isn't the answer, either.
I guess what my entire argument boils down to is this: If you think the public school system is so "fucked up", and you believe you know how to fix it, why not spend that time and energy you are putting into your child for the betterment of society as a whole? If you, and all the other "I'm better than you because MY child is home schooled" parents did the same, I firmly believe other parents would join in and society as a whole would be bettered.
But that's just me -- thinking that, since we're all sucking up space together on this planet, we should all be *helping each other* make this a better place to live instead of segregating ourselves. What a fool I am, eh?
What a refreshing thing to read. I'm damned sick of people complaining that the schools are failing their kids, but leaving them there to have every last bit of creativity, independence and imagination ground out of them.
You have a very lucky little girl.
I am not even going to bother to reply to the parent as he is more interested in belittling me, and telling me to "sit down and shut the fuck up", than to actually have a civil debate, etc. That, to me, just shows how weak his position really is.
I will, however, tell you what I'm damned sick of. I'm damned sick of these parents who think the public schools are shit, however, beyond complaining about it (and pulling their child out), do absolutely NOTHING to fix the problem at all.
You don't like the public school system? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Quit your job and run for a position on the board. Can't be bothered to quit your job to help fix the school? Find someone who you believe will do so and VOTE THEM IN.
It really is that simple to fix things. No, it won't get fixed over night. For the last 13 years I've been a computer technician, going into peoples homes (which is where I get the bulk of my observations on home schooled kids -- There are a TON of families in this area that take this route. Too bad the parent to your post and other posters to my first post didn't bother to try to find out how I came to my conclusions). I've also done work in multiple school districts. I know very well how screwed up some of them can be. Only YOU, the voter, can fix it. The longer you sit on your (very possibly) fat, lazy, asses, the more the public school systems will remain in the condition they are in now.
As I said, nothing personal, I was picking up on society's bias that school, or the whole of life up to the age of 18 is not *real life*.
School kids commit suicide because they are bullied. It happens. A lot.
Missing out on school can ruin your life, having everyone in a schoool pick on you can ruin your life, or as I said, end it.
And as I said, school isn't "real life". It prepares you for it. School kids commit suicide because they are either in a home environment that isn't nurturing enough for them to feel they can come to their parents with problems, have the same environment at school (I was in this camp for a while), or both. In the latter example, the parents aren't involved enough in what is going on in the kids life. My mother had her nose in every place she could stick it when I was going through school, which was what saved me. Unfortunately, especially lately, parents don't seem to give a shit what their kids are doing, or what they are going through while at school, which leads to your exaggerated example of suicide. I'd like to bet you $100 it doesn't happen as often as you are trying to make it sound.
I was simply making an off-optic comment, picking up on one sentance, it seems I hit a nerve, and that you are as short-shighted as the gross generalisation I was picking apart. That was not intentional
You were simply making an off-topic comment, taking one sentence out of context, in a hope to gain karma, which failed. You even grossly generalized in trying to make whatever point you thought you had. Nice try, though. It's too bad facts get in the way of your "comment".
I love when people say things like this.
Why, pray tell, is school not "real life".
I don't mean to get at you personally, it is more a societal thing, but I am reminded on of the story last week, which diverted into a thread about "good Dads", all of which seem to have one thing in common: NOT treating children like sub-humans.
Way to misread what I said. I don't equate school to 'real life' because there is less at stake for an individual than when they get into the 'real world'. If they miss a few days, they get to make it up. They don't have to worry about where money will come from to keep them fed (if their parents can't do it, the state will). They don't have to buy their own clothing, school related materials, keep a car/house, etc. They can't be 'fired' and loose out on the education ('less, of course, they do something utterly stupid, and end up getting kicked out; this, however, is quite rare).
Before kids get to the "real world", they have no idea how to interact with people. Most parents, from what I've seen as of late, that keep their kids home schooled, do a POOR job of helping them in this respect. Going to a public/private school teaches the kids about schedules, dealing with other people (as mentioned previously), completing assignments (directly translates to your "real" job later in life), etc.
I don't look at school as "real life", I look at it as practice.
I noticed my first message in this thread was moderated "overrated". Looks like SOMEONE was home schooled...
The problem is that you also learn negative solical interactions; i.e. getting picked on, bullied, etc. So it is a crap shoot as far as helping kids be social. I learned to be not very social and it was years before I became more outgoing after my experiences in school.
I don't see those as negatives. Getting picked on, bullied, etc, teach the kid early on how to deal with these jerks in real life.
I understand your complaints about the 360 (although everyone I know that has one is happy with it), and I agree that the Wii is pretty much promised to sell, but what makes you so sure about the PS3 before release? It could have just as many defects as the 360, and the price tag is high enough to ensure that most of the non-working kids (the ones that rely on their parents to buy stuff) won't be able to get it-- I mean, as a parent, how do you justify spending $600 on a console when another (of the same generation) costs $400 (which you thought was high enough to begin with)?
How do you justify it? Well, if you are like my idiotic ex-best friend and his wife, you let your kids run your life to the point that you live in poverty so that you can give your kids whatever trinket they whine their fool heads off over this week. You justify it by wanting to be the kids "best friend" so much that you forgo everything else (discipline, etc). You end up in this situation by "bribing" your kids to do whatever you are wanting, instead of TELLING them to do whatever. After you bribe your kids, they whine/cry/scream/yell so much that, instead of sending them to their room, spanking, "time out", or whatever other discipline, you cave in and give them what you bribed them with anyway.
No, I'm not bitter. I do feel really sorry for those kids. However, this will happen all across the US, and very likely other parts of the world. No, this type of situation alone will not keep the PS3 sales up, but I'd bet it'd be a larger part of the sales than anyone here would think...
More, quite predictable, homophobic babble. "Shitpackers"? Have to resort to name calling because you don't really have any point to make?
I'd feel sad for you, however, one of these days you'll probably do something stupid and end up dead. Chlorine in the gene pool, and all that.
I'm one of those evil "right-wingers" that are so often lambasted here on teh intarweb.
Your comment was highly moderated so I saw it before the its parent post. I apologize if these points were raised by someone else.
I don't have a problem at all with gay partners being able to do things like inherit property, make medical decisions, visit a sick or dying partner in the hospital, adopt and live lives of peace and tranquility.
What I do have a problem with is equating a same sex union with a traditional heterosexual marriage. Namely the tax benefit & health insurance. I don't like the possibility of a state like MA or CA being able to force a state like TX or UT to recognize as a "marriage" a homosexual union.
LK
To this, I say, "Tough Shit". It isn't my problem that you don't like it. My problem is that you would exert your will upon me, and for doing so, you are in the wrong.
What's worse, you haven't even given any sort of reason as to WHY you think we shouldn't have this mystical tax "benefit" or be on our partners health insurance.
Not one person has come up with a good reason to either point (let alone any others that have come up), and I doubt anyone will.
Pardon me? You just outlined all the things you want changed. How is that not an agenda?
I was thinking about that after I had posted. It seems those who saw fit to mod me up understood what I meant.
What I meant to type was that there was no "hidden" agenda, as has been mentioned in many "news" articles I've read WRT this subject.
there are two reasons to oppose gay marriage: bigotry and political pandering to bigots
Those are not "reasons", those are excuses, and should be treated as such.
Speaking as a homosexual, it has more to do with spousal rights (right to visit your spouse in the hospital, getting on your spouses health insurance if you have none/job does not offer any/job has insurance that sucks and/or is more expensive than your spouses, right to say what happens upon death, etc)...
Right now we have no control over any of this unless whatever state we are in specifically grants such rights outside of marriage.
We want to be treated equally. We don't want any "extra' benefits that heterosexual people wouldn't have. Hell, if the religious don't want us having "religious" marriage, I (and many others) would be perfectly happy with a state official conducting the ceremony.
There is no "agenda" here, despite what the religious right-wingers would have you belive.
I'm sure the issue is a bit more indepth than I've stated here, but you could look at hrc.org to read up on it.
And I want global peace, everyone to be a millionaire, and every child to have a pony. Michrech, let me be the first to tell you that you have to make some choices in this world. You can't have it all.
That's just it, though. I *do* have it all. I have my email (all web based), I have my game, I have my messenger(s), I have my CD-Burning. All without emulating anything, virtualizing anything, or rebooting (well, unless there is a security update, but those are few and far between as I keep my system up to date).
Oh, I dunno... maybe to avoid viruses, spyware, adware, hackers, and gain ease of use, more control, real security, better user experience, included high-quality development tools, a real OS built on Mach Unix where you can drop to a terminal and get real work done, etc.? That's up for you to decide. Like I said, it's about choices.
I avoid viruses, spyware, adware, hackers, and gain ease of use, control, security that works fine in my envrionment, a user experience that is just fine, don't need "high-quality development tools" (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean in this context), and my OS certainly seems real enough to me. Hell, I'm typing this message, playing my game, and interacting with people online through it's interface!
Ohh.. I must be imagining it... That's it. As for "getting real work done". I do that, you know, at work. Funny, though.. it's all done with MS software in Windows XP. Without viruses, with the security of an AD/domain, McAfee with EPO, "high-quality development tools" (Office, Outlook/Exchange, and a bunch of other in-house written stuff).
But hey, it's pretty clear from your attitude that no answer is going to be acceptable. You want a Windows box and nothing but Windows is acceptable. That's okay... just say so. (Though I suppose that would make you a fanboy, wouldn't it?) Nobody's forcing you to switch. You asked if something was possible without emulation, I told you it was and now that answer's not good enough. Just as I predicted.
What is clear from MY attitude is that you are a "mac" fanboy who isn't going to accept that anyone can get "real work" done in anything not unix/apple. Your answer was to emulate (and virtualization != native). You set out, knowing my requirements, and ignored them in favor of pushing your favored envrionment upon someone when you knew, from the start, it was unacceptable.
This is the last time I am going to say this. If I cannot do everything I want to do in one envrionment (like I'm doing right this second, WITHOUT emulation coming into play), then no, whatever you come up with is not going to be acceptable.
Do yourself a favor. If you can't further this concept without belittling me, don't reply. You'd only be wasting your time.
You fail it, too.
Again:
Plus, your offer of being able to play WoW and Starcraft is irrelevent to what I said. WoW/Starcraft != CoV/CoH or DDO. I refuse to switch to another MMORPG from those I play simply because another "is the most popular game in history". What does it matter if I loath the game?
Your comment is completely irrelevant. I didn't ask about WoW/Starcraft. I asked about CoV/CoH and DDO.
Yes, it is nice that WoW/Starcraft have native "mac" versions. I don't care. Lots of the population in the world don't care.
I really don't know how much more simple I can make this without gaining more troll mods (I still can't believe the message you replied to was marked troll. Probably the part about my not caring about WoW.)
Or maybe I just don't get it.
You just don't get it -- just like all the rest of you "mac" 'fanbois'. I don't want to reboot. Why should I have to? I don't want to pay for Windows AND OSX. Why should I have to? I don't want to partition off my HDD to have two OS's. Why should I have to? I don't want to have two HDD's; one for each OS. Why should I have to?
Why?
you can run most WinXP software full-speed alongside Mac OS X by using a virtualizer such as Parallels Desktop ($50 - www.parallels.com) However, Parallels Desktop doesn't (yet?) offer 3D acceleration,
Nice product plug, however, it kinda fits into my NO VIRTUALIZATION SOFTWARE requirement, now doesn't it? Or did you think that because I didn't specifically mention it that it was somehow exempted?
The short answer in this whole "just switch to mac!" crap is that, untill EVERYTHING works (PROPERLY, not "it works, but this part will be quirky/broken")(or has ports), it simply WILL NOT HAPPEN. I'm not the first person to say this, and I certainly will not be the last.
Oh I don't know, but I'm with most of the millions of others who would rather play World of Warcraft and Starcraft... (the most popular games in history) lo and behold they work just fine on my Mac, even with the same discs from the PC version! Imagine that!
Perhaps, then, you failed to see the "not in other emulation software" part? Here, let me paste it in for you:
What do you mean "surely not"? Can I run City of Heroes/Villains or DDO natively on an Apple machine IN OS/X (NOT in Windows dual-booted, and NOT in VirtualPC/VMWare/Other Emulation Software)?
See that, there? The bolded part?
Yes, that means playing your games in Wine (or whatever OSX is using to play WoW/Starcraft) doesn't count.
Plus, your offer of being able to play WoW and Starcraft is irrelevent to what I said. WoW/Starcraft != CoV/CoH or DDO. I refuse to switch to another MMORPG from those I play simply because another "is the most popular game in history". What does it matter if I loath the game?
I wonder what goes through the mind of the average person, when thinking about buying there next computer. Do they buy PCs because that is what they always have had, and it is what everyone they know has? Or is it a certain love for applications that aren't on macs. (surely not) Is it the salesmen in the stores, pushing pcs?
What do you mean "surely not"? Can I run City of Heroes/Villains or DDO natively on an Apple machine IN OS/X (NOT in Windows dual-booted, and NOT in VirtualPC/VMWare/Other Emulation Software)?
Yes, these are games however there are MANY other people out there with OTHER requirements for which there simply isn't another option as far as the OS goes.
If things have continued in the computer retail space (from the time I was involved in it), the salesmen push whatever they have the most 'training' on. When I worked for Best Buy in the late '90's, that training was limited, and I don't recall it ever involving anything Apple related. Those machines sat on the shelf and sold only when a customer came in that already knew they wanted said hardware. I have a feeling that was one of the reasons the space was eventually re-purposed.