1. Pay teachers very well so they are in say the top 5% of all wage earners. This will attract the highly skilled and educated back into teaching.
2. Send teachers to school during school holidays to further their own knowledge. Pay them for this. This ensures teachers are constantly updating their knowledge instead of driving taxi's during the school breaks.
3. Don't let your local community decide what should be taught in schools. Curriculum should be decided by a national panel made up of leaders in each field of study. Education should be a national issue, not one decided based on local beliefs no matter how "intelligent" those beliefs are.
4. Provide options for traineeships in traditional trades (e.g. electrical, plumbing etc) for the non-academic students. This will help remove disruptive elements from classes allowing those who want to study or have the aptitude to study to do so in peace. (not that you don't need to study to become a plumber and such, but I'm sure you all know what I mean)
5. Properly fund the schools and get rid of the Coke/Chip machines. I know the sugary drinks and food taste great, but they don't help you sit still and concentrate. (A new slogan perhaps?:)
6. Ban the teaching of religion on any and all school grounds. AND ENFORCE IT!!! Religion has it's place in society, but not in schools!
Just a few thoughts anyway. I know it won't solve all the problems, but I'm sure it would make things a damn sight better than they are right now.
...even though Texas and Houston have gone completely out of their way to assist in any way possible.
Out of their way?!? What the Fuck?!? You make it sound like the displaced should be grateful that their countrymen came to their aid. Isn't that what being part of a country is all about? All working together for the common good and to overcome tragedy?
I guess a lot of people can and do look a gift horse in the mouth
People like you make me sick. Where is your compassion for your fellow man? Oh, I forgot, compassion is some crazy left wing ideology that has no place in modern corporate America. Fuck You! I just hope that you are never in need of the kind of help that these victims are.
FEMA are planning to set up their own radio station to service these people. Based on recent FEMA performance it's scheduled to go live some time around 2025.
"We have bought the rights to all of Michael Bolton's music so we can play it all we want without having to pay royalties. Michael is such an inspiration entertainer. Much more wholesome than those dirty black rappers." A FEMA spokesman recently claimed.
I'm also QUITE SURE that FEMA and the Military did not want one voice of resistance telling the people in the dome anything that would be off-message
What, like how to enrol your kids at school? How to apply for aid? What's happening to their homes etc? Or maybe the officials are worried that the people will find out that the leaders of their nation let them down at their most desperate time of need?
Can't have anyone questioning the nations leadership. Everyone repeat after me, "The leader is good, the leader is great, the leader is good, the leader is great."
the very first words the judge will tell everyone is this. "if you plead not guilty, i will send you back to your seat. i will hear all other cases first. your case will be last. we will then have the officer give his testimony, which i will consider truthful and accurate. if i convict you in a trial, then i will not give you any lenancy. if you plead guilty, and you don't have a criminal history, i will most likely give you supervision, which means your conviction is sealed and after 1 year it is removed. if you are found guilty, i will not give you supervision".
The store certainly did initially intend to sell the product to the buyer. It was only later on that they decided they didn't really want to sell the product and tried to get them back.
Barring things like legislated cooling off periods, once goods and money have changed hands, the sale is completed.
I would say that whoever bought the books, legally own them. As such, they are well within their rights to on-sell the book second hand, or "as new".
When you have to take functionality into account, it often kills the artistic side of the creation.
That would mean that architecture, furniture design, etc lacks in the artistic side? I dont think this is the case at all - giving something functionality doesnt remove the artistic side, they complement each other and are not mutualy exclusive.
Well, if I take a piece of wood, place it on 4 other pieces of wood and call it a table, is that art? However if I select a nice big tree and carve an ornate table out of it, yes I can see that as art.
Similarly, if I design a block of square flats without much care for aesthetic appeal, I don't consider that art. But I would class the design of the Sydney Opera House as art.
Art is very subjective. Someone (can't remember who) placed a toilet behind one way mirrors in the middle of a European city and called that art. Not my cup of tea, but again, it's all subjective.
I personally believe that art is an attempt to convey a personal feeling and/or message (no, not email or popup errors:-) to others. If you set out to do this with any project I believe it can be considered art.
I am the PABX Administrator for a medium-large (over 1500 staff) organisation. I work in the Comms section under a Comms Manager who only has a Data background, not voice.
My manager is constantly telling me that our traditional PABX will be replaced by IP Telephony, and soon.
We had one of our core data switches fail the other week. Our network has redundancy built in, but everything slowed to a crawl. I asked my Manager how Staff would have felt about not being able to use their phones if they were using IP Telephony. His response was that when IP Telephony is introduced, it will be connected to a physically separate network to our traditional data network. This is required because phones are an essential part of our business. There is no way that duplicating our data network to service IP telephony is going to save money vs. a TDM PABX.
Our PABX has NEVER had any down time (apart from scheduled after hours maintenance or changes) in over 15 years. None. How many of you can say the same about your Data network at work?
I see huge benefits with using VOIP, but in the right situations. Got a small office at a remote location that doesn't critically rely on phones? IP Telephony is the solution for you.
Large organisation where phone services are critical to day to day operation, why risk it with IP telephony?
Where I have used VOIP is for voice trunking over our data network to remote sites. Works great and can save a fair bit on phone calls, depending on the distance and your call rates of course.
By the way, I also help to support our data network as well so if we do finally go IP Telephony I won't be out of a job.
Amazing. You're so fucking stupid you reinforce his point and don't even fucking realize it... English is a horrible language. You simply can't argue otherwise.
Why is it then that for centuries, countless people have had no problem with the nuances of the English language? Sure, it is a difficult language to learn in later life, but it is an extremely flexible and powerful communication tool.
How long did it take you all to learn Cobol, or C++ or other programming languages? Now, how long did it take to you master those same programming languages? An 8 to 10 year old child will (should?) know the difference between to, two, and too, but you wouldn't expect them to be able to write a paper worthy of publication. Similarly, just because I can write a "hello world" application doesn't mean I can call myself a programmer and not have to study the programming language any more.
Mastering the English language is something most people will never achieve in their lifetime. And by mastering the language, I mean knowing the spelling and use of every single word in the English language plus all grammar conventions. Like all languages (including programming languages) you are constantly learning new things. New words, new operations, new conventions.
Ever needed to refer to a dictionary? Ever needed to refer to a technical reference document?
So what's my point in all this? Well, if you've chosen to give up on the English language and decided that it's not worth your time to improve your language skills, don't blame the language itself. Your skills will only be as good as you make them.
English is a horrible language. You simply can't argue otherwise.
We should throw out the old spelling. Knight is spelled the way it is because it used to be pronounced kuh-nig-it (yes, just like monty python). All it does is confuse everyone.
Because it is just so difficult to differentiate between Knight and night isn't it. If that one's hard, how about to, two, and too?
Seriously, is it any harder to remember which night/knight to use than deciding to use a char or an int?
If the large music labels want to make more money, perhaps they could start by cutting some costs. The Foo Fighters built a bloody recording studio to record their latest album!
Couldn't they find a decent enough studio that was, oh, I don't know.... BUILT!!! There's a couple hundred grand savings right there.
What the hell am I writing about work for?!? I've just started 5 days holidays. I'm getting in trouble from the wife for not being ready for our trip yet, and I'm still posting!!!
I am currently working on this exact project at work. We are setting up a dedicated Video Conferencing Room with a total budget of about AU$120K. This included building the room from scratch and buying all the equipment. The tech component has a budget of AU$35K.
We've gone for 2 x 50" XGA Plasmas with a Logitech all in one video conferencing solution. Buying a seperate DVD/VHS, installing a PC permanenantly in a locked cupboard with wireless mouse and keyboard. We also have XGA and audio inputs on the conference table for connection of a laptop. Don't forget a network connection on the conference table too.
For data lines, we are going for 4 x OnRamp2 (or BRI's), the logitech VC system can handle up to 4 BRI's or a PRI. We also decided to use a Video Conferencing hosting company to host multi-party conferences.
Finally, connected an analogue phone line to the logitech VC equipment so it can be used as an old fashioned conference phone if you need to.
My task for next week is to write a complete idiots guide to using all this equipment. There will be lots of big pictures and non-technical terms. I expect the VC hosting company will help with many of the basic user problems when setting up conferences.
Our setup is a bit expensive (I wasn't allowed to shop around for best price), but I'm sure you could get all the VC equipment for around AU$20K or less.
Actually, according to the link below, the Telephone book is copyrightable in Australia and the UK. In Australia the White Pages is for alphabetical residential and business listings, the Yellow Pages lists businesses by type e.g. mechanic, plumber.
A government entity should never be allowed to patent its own tech, that tech was paid for by the people and should be available freely to all in every scenario I can possibly think of.
Profits from CSIRO patents are reinvested into research. This in turn lowers the required government funding thus saving Aussie taxpayers quite a bit of money.
By the way, the CSIRO is highly respected by a lot of Australians.
I wonder how the organisations that advertise on nytimes.com feel about the decline in page views that will obviously occur once this plan is implemented. I for one won't be paying US$50 bucks a year (AU$66 for me).
Will the revenue from paid subscriptions be higher than add revenue?
Hmmm, if review or study is an acceptable fair use of copyrighted music, can I as a musician copy any and all the music I like for the purpose of studying how to be a more successful professional musician?
It's not the search for truth that people find dangerous. It's when truth conflicts with personal belief that there's a problems.
When this happens a person can either accept that they were wrong in the past and believe what has been proven, or they can refuse to accept the real truth and blindly continue on their way. Unfortunately all too often people choose the latter.
Why do people find it so difficult to admit that they were wrong?
Slashdot Mirror
"How we get there, I have no idea."
:)
1. Pay teachers very well so they are in say the top 5% of all wage earners. This will attract the highly skilled and educated back into teaching.
2. Send teachers to school during school holidays to further their own knowledge. Pay them for this. This ensures teachers are constantly updating their knowledge instead of driving taxi's during the school breaks.
3. Don't let your local community decide what should be taught in schools. Curriculum should be decided by a national panel made up of leaders in each field of study. Education should be a national issue, not one decided based on local beliefs no matter how "intelligent" those beliefs are.
4. Provide options for traineeships in traditional trades (e.g. electrical, plumbing etc) for the non-academic students. This will help remove disruptive elements from classes allowing those who want to study or have the aptitude to study to do so in peace. (not that you don't need to study to become a plumber and such, but I'm sure you all know what I mean)
5. Properly fund the schools and get rid of the Coke/Chip machines. I know the sugary drinks and food taste great, but they don't help you sit still and concentrate. (A new slogan perhaps?
6. Ban the teaching of religion on any and all school grounds. AND ENFORCE IT!!! Religion has it's place in society, but not in schools!
Just a few thoughts anyway. I know it won't solve all the problems, but I'm sure it would make things a damn sight better than they are right now.
Shitdrummer.
Troll?!?!?
Man, moderators seem to have lost their sense of humour. Perhaps FEMA staff have all the mod points at the moment. Or maybe Michael Bolton's fan does.
Shitdrummer.
...even though Texas and Houston have gone completely out of their way to assist in any way possible.
Out of their way?!? What the Fuck?!? You make it sound like the displaced should be grateful that their countrymen came to their aid. Isn't that what being part of a country is all about? All working together for the common good and to overcome tragedy?
I guess a lot of people can and do look a gift horse in the mouth
People like you make me sick. Where is your compassion for your fellow man? Oh, I forgot, compassion is some crazy left wing ideology that has no place in modern corporate America. Fuck You! I just hope that you are never in need of the kind of help that these victims are.
Shitdrummer.
FEMA are planning to set up their own radio station to service these people. Based on recent FEMA performance it's scheduled to go live some time around 2025.
"We have bought the rights to all of Michael Bolton's music so we can play it all we want without having to pay royalties. Michael is such an inspiration entertainer. Much more wholesome than those dirty black rappers." A FEMA spokesman recently claimed.
Shitdrummer
I'm also QUITE SURE that FEMA and the Military did not want one voice of resistance telling the people in the dome anything that would be off-message
What, like how to enrol your kids at school? How to apply for aid? What's happening to their homes etc? Or maybe the officials are worried that the people will find out that the leaders of their nation let them down at their most desperate time of need?
Can't have anyone questioning the nations leadership. Everyone repeat after me, "The leader is good, the leader is great, the leader is good, the leader is great."
Shitdrummer
the very first words the judge will tell everyone is this. "if you plead not guilty, i will send you back to your seat. i will hear all other cases first. your case will be last. we will then have the officer give his testimony, which i will consider truthful and accurate. if i convict you in a trial, then i will not give you any lenancy. if you plead guilty, and you don't have a criminal history, i will most likely give you supervision, which means your conviction is sealed and after 1 year it is removed. if you are found guilty, i will not give you supervision".
...And the home of the brave.
The store certainly did initially intend to sell the product to the buyer. It was only later on that they decided they didn't really want to sell the product and tried to get them back.
Barring things like legislated cooling off periods, once goods and money have changed hands, the sale is completed.
I would say that whoever bought the books, legally own them. As such, they are well within their rights to on-sell the book second hand, or "as new".
Is this not the case?
Shitdrummer.
I don't think there is any excuse for making single-platform software anymore.
Since when have the Tax Office had to make excuses for anything?
Shitdrummer
When you have to take functionality into account, it often kills the artistic side of the creation.
:-) to others. If you set out to do this with any project I believe it can be considered art.
That would mean that architecture, furniture design, etc lacks in the artistic side? I dont think this is the case at all - giving something functionality doesnt remove the artistic side, they complement each other and are not mutualy exclusive.
Well, if I take a piece of wood, place it on 4 other pieces of wood and call it a table, is that art? However if I select a nice big tree and carve an ornate table out of it, yes I can see that as art.
Similarly, if I design a block of square flats without much care for aesthetic appeal, I don't consider that art. But I would class the design of the Sydney Opera House as art.
Art is very subjective. Someone (can't remember who) placed a toilet behind one way mirrors in the middle of a European city and called that art. Not my cup of tea, but again, it's all subjective.
I personally believe that art is an attempt to convey a personal feeling and/or message (no, not email or popup errors
Shitdrummer.
I am the PABX Administrator for a medium-large (over 1500 staff) organisation. I work in the Comms section under a Comms Manager who only has a Data background, not voice.
My manager is constantly telling me that our traditional PABX will be replaced by IP Telephony, and soon.
We had one of our core data switches fail the other week. Our network has redundancy built in, but everything slowed to a crawl. I asked my Manager how Staff would have felt about not being able to use their phones if they were using IP Telephony. His response was that when IP Telephony is introduced, it will be connected to a physically separate network to our traditional data network. This is required because phones are an essential part of our business. There is no way that duplicating our data network to service IP telephony is going to save money vs. a TDM PABX.
Our PABX has NEVER had any down time (apart from scheduled after hours maintenance or changes) in over 15 years. None. How many of you can say the same about your Data network at work?
I see huge benefits with using VOIP, but in the right situations. Got a small office at a remote location that doesn't critically rely on phones? IP Telephony is the solution for you.
Large organisation where phone services are critical to day to day operation, why risk it with IP telephony?
Where I have used VOIP is for voice trunking over our data network to remote sites. Works great and can save a fair bit on phone calls, depending on the distance and your call rates of course.
By the way, I also help to support our data network as well so if we do finally go IP Telephony I won't be out of a job.
Shitdrummer.
Amazing. You're so fucking stupid you reinforce his point and don't even fucking realize it... English is a horrible language. You simply can't argue otherwise.
Why is it then that for centuries, countless people have had no problem with the nuances of the English language? Sure, it is a difficult language to learn in later life, but it is an extremely flexible and powerful communication tool.
How long did it take you all to learn Cobol, or C++ or other programming languages? Now, how long did it take to you master those same programming languages? An 8 to 10 year old child will (should?) know the difference between to, two, and too, but you wouldn't expect them to be able to write a paper worthy of publication. Similarly, just because I can write a "hello world" application doesn't mean I can call myself a programmer and not have to study the programming language any more.
Mastering the English language is something most people will never achieve in their lifetime. And by mastering the language, I mean knowing the spelling and use of every single word in the English language plus all grammar conventions. Like all languages (including programming languages) you are constantly learning new things. New words, new operations, new conventions.
Ever needed to refer to a dictionary? Ever needed to refer to a technical reference document?
So what's my point in all this? Well, if you've chosen to give up on the English language and decided that it's not worth your time to improve your language skills, don't blame the language itself. Your skills will only be as good as you make them.
English is a horrible language. You simply can't argue otherwise.
It seems I can.
Shitdrummer.
We should throw out the old spelling. Knight is spelled the way it is because it used to be pronounced kuh-nig-it (yes, just like monty python). All it does is confuse everyone.
Because it is just so difficult to differentiate between Knight and night isn't it. If that one's hard, how about to, two, and too?
Seriously, is it any harder to remember which night/knight to use than deciding to use a char or an int?
Laziness, pure laziness.
Shitdrummer
If this goes into force, anything you hear today is unlikely to be returned to the public domain within the lifetime of your GRANDCHILDREN.
More and more of the songs I'm hearing today are the same songs I heard as a kid! They're recycling songs after less than 15 years!
Fuck, who gives a shit anyway. Man, a fucking mobile phone ring tone is top of the UK music single charts. A FUCKING RING TONE!!!!
As a musician, that really fucking hurts man.
Shitdrummer.
If the large music labels want to make more money, perhaps they could start by cutting some costs. The Foo Fighters built a bloody recording studio to record their latest album!
Couldn't they find a decent enough studio that was, oh, I don't know.... BUILT!!! There's a couple hundred grand savings right there.
Shitdrummer.
Oops. It's a Polycom VC system. Not a Logitech.
What the hell am I writing about work for?!? I've just started 5 days holidays. I'm getting in trouble from the wife for not being ready for our trip yet, and I'm still posting!!!
Shitdrmmer
I am currently working on this exact project at work. We are setting up a dedicated Video Conferencing Room with a total budget of about AU$120K. This included building the room from scratch and buying all the equipment. The tech component has a budget of AU$35K.
We've gone for 2 x 50" XGA Plasmas with a Logitech all in one video conferencing solution. Buying a seperate DVD/VHS, installing a PC permanenantly in a locked cupboard with wireless mouse and keyboard. We also have XGA and audio inputs on the conference table for connection of a laptop. Don't forget a network connection on the conference table too.
For data lines, we are going for 4 x OnRamp2 (or BRI's), the logitech VC system can handle up to 4 BRI's or a PRI. We also decided to use a Video Conferencing hosting company to host multi-party conferences.
Finally, connected an analogue phone line to the logitech VC equipment so it can be used as an old fashioned conference phone if you need to.
My task for next week is to write a complete idiots guide to using all this equipment. There will be lots of big pictures and non-technical terms. I expect the VC hosting company will help with many of the basic user problems when setting up conferences.
Our setup is a bit expensive (I wasn't allowed to shop around for best price), but I'm sure you could get all the VC equipment for around AU$20K or less.
Enjoy.
Shitdrummer
Actually, according to the link below, the Telephone book is copyrightable in Australia and the UK. In Australia the White Pages is for alphabetical residential and business listings, the Yellow Pages lists businesses by type e.g. mechanic, plumber.
:)
http://www.wptn.com/crt_001_sep01.htm
Shitdrummer
By the way, the CSIRO is highly respected by a lot of Australians.
That wouldn't explain why it's funding is being cut so drastically
**** NEWSFLASH **** NEWSFLASH **** NEWSFLASH ***
The Earth revolves around the sun...
Pigs don't fly...
and...
THE AUSTRALIAN HOWARD GOVERNMENT IS FUCKED!
More in the late news.
Shitdrummer
I feel obligated to point out that if the government didn't get involved at all it would save even more money in taxes
d Control
Then all the IP would be owned by large multi-national corporations that would take the profits out of Australia and their R&D dollars as well.
How many multi-nationals do you think would give a shit about Australia's unique problems, such as the Cane Toad? http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=faq&id=CaneToa
Shitdrummer
A government entity should never be allowed to patent its own tech, that tech was paid for by the people and should be available freely to all in every scenario I can possibly think of.
Profits from CSIRO patents are reinvested into research. This in turn lowers the required government funding thus saving Aussie taxpayers quite a bit of money.
By the way, the CSIRO is highly respected by a lot of Australians.
Shitdrummer
I wonder how the organisations that advertise on nytimes.com feel about the decline in page views that will obviously occur once this plan is implemented. I for one won't be paying US$50 bucks a year (AU$66 for me).
Will the revenue from paid subscriptions be higher than add revenue?
Shitdrummer.
Hmmm, if review or study is an acceptable fair use of copyrighted music, can I as a musician copy any and all the music I like for the purpose of studying how to be a more successful professional musician?
Shitdrummer.
just like every atheist isn't going to shove their moral's down your throat through legislation
What, that every citizen deserves equal rights under the law... including homosexuals?
No, you must be talking about the athiest support of stem cell research that could help ease the suffering of millions.
Those bloody athiests.... only ever thinking of themselves. Where are their moral values?
Shitdrummer
Christian fundamentalism will be the death of America.
Amen Brother!
Providing, of course, the rest of the world doesn't follow down their own religious fundamentalisist path.
I wonder what happens when the Scientologists decide to get in on the action too?
Shitdrummer
It's not the search for truth that people find dangerous. It's when truth conflicts with personal belief that there's a problems.
When this happens a person can either accept that they were wrong in the past and believe what has been proven, or they can refuse to accept the real truth and blindly continue on their way. Unfortunately all too often people choose the latter.
Why do people find it so difficult to admit that they were wrong?
Shitdrummer