"The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. "
Then how do you explain the current trend towards "Intelligent Design",
It's not a "trend", it's just an example the pitfaills of people failing to pay attention to local elections. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to get a whacko elected to a local school board, since the voter turnout for such elections tends to be very low. Kansas had this happen once before, they got soundly ridiculed for it, and the clowns were bounced out of there the next time the voters had a chance. The trouble is, the bible-thumpers are persistent, and the voters of Kansas became complacent again.
The lesson of Kansas is, find out who the candidates are for every office, or you might find yourself facing a scientologist school board one of these days.
They used family money, mostly from their successful bicyle shop. As it happens, the very well-connected (and taxpayer-funded) Samuel Pierpont Langley failed to get a manned aircraft aloft.
If the US government wanted an airplane, they should have just posted a prize. The fifty grand they gave Langley could have easily resulted in ten or more viable contestants.
Two days later, she was called into the Presidents office because someone had reported (ratted) her for being with people who were consuming alcohol.
Did the contract say she couldn't be with anyone who drank alcohol?
I used to date a woman who went to BYU for a year. She and her boyfriend were having sex, and many, many other couples she knew were doing likewise, and everybody was lying about it. She left because got fed up with the hypocrisy.
The question at hand is, does the school enjoy the prerogative of expelling a student for publishing a weblog?
It's not a constitutional issue, it's a question of the terms of the agreement between the school and its customers. The school had better tread lightly here, since it's not likely to prevail in court if it expels bloggers and they decide to sue for breach of contract.
Sovereignty doesn't prevent a local record company from making a deal, instead of foot-dragging for months and months, as happened in Japan and Australia.
Slashdot Mirror
How is that a straw man? It's an example of anti-intellectualism elsewhere. How many other examples would you like?
-jcr
Let's face it, there's always been an anti-intellectual streak in the US
This is by no means confined to the USA. Pol Pot made a point of killing anyone who wore glasses on the assumption that they were intellectuals.
-jcr
Scopes Monkey Trial.
In the words of H. L. Mencken:
"The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. "
-jcr
Then how do you explain the current trend towards "Intelligent Design",
It's not a "trend", it's just an example the pitfaills of people failing to pay attention to local elections. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort to get a whacko elected to a local school board, since the voter turnout for such elections tends to be very low. Kansas had this happen once before, they got soundly ridiculed for it, and the clowns were bounced out of there the next time the voters had a chance. The trouble is, the bible-thumpers are persistent, and the voters of Kansas became complacent again.
The lesson of Kansas is, find out who the candidates are for every office, or you might find yourself facing a scientologist school board one of these days.
-jcr
Microsoft should be declaring bankruptcy any moment
Only if there was justice in the world, my friend..
-jcr
Oh, Stevie B.. You're so funny when you're seeting with jealousy.
-jcr
Did the Wright brothers have funding?
They used family money, mostly from their successful bicyle shop. As it happens, the very well-connected (and taxpayer-funded) Samuel Pierpont Langley failed to get a manned aircraft aloft.
If the US government wanted an airplane, they should have just posted a prize. The fifty grand they gave Langley could have easily resulted in ten or more viable contestants.
-jcr
why doesn't he have enough money to make Windows stable?
Funding isn't the issue. Windows is crap, because MS's management isn't willing to do what it takes to fix it.
-jcr
The answer very often is: "Sorry, Windows is broken. Live with it, or buy a Mac."
-jcr
I think it's very telling that he wants MS to be "Bigger", not "Better".
-jcr
I'm the lead dev on an ASP.NET project
Sucks to be you, dude...
-jcr
You may drool once you find the Fix & Continue (ZeroLink) feature. :-)
???
Can't Visual Studio do that?
-jcr
It's not necessary to trade implementation speed for code quality, and Smalltalk and Cocoa have demonstrated this for many years.
-jcr
Sure, but the sisters don't come to your house and override your parents' decisions, do they?
-jcr
Two days later, she was called into the Presidents office because someone had reported (ratted) her for being with people who were consuming alcohol.
Did the contract say she couldn't be with anyone who drank alcohol?
I used to date a woman who went to BYU for a year. She and her boyfriend were having sex, and many, many other couples she knew were doing likewise, and everybody was lying about it. She left because got fed up with the hypocrisy.
-jcr
Why is it no-one ever calls Catholics "christians",
Excuse me? I hear Catholics called Christians all the time, and not just by Catholics, either.
-jcr
I have an uncle who went to Catholic school. I don't think he's an atheist, but he sure doesn't hold organized religion in any kind of esteem.
-jcr
A School acting in loco parentis doesn't trump the actual parents. When the kid's not at school, he's the parent's responsibility, not the school's.
-jcr
There is no "school" right to free speech.
The question at hand is, does the school enjoy the prerogative of expelling a student for publishing a weblog?
It's not a constitutional issue, it's a question of the terms of the agreement between the school and its customers. The school had better tread lightly here, since it's not likely to prevail in court if it expels bloggers and they decide to sue for breach of contract.
-jcr
Monster and Dice? Stanford recruiting booth? Local job fairs?
Well, that's mystifying. Is there something you're leaving out? Are we talking about a Windows shop here?
-jcr
No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft.
Fired? No, they just lost their job when the company went belly-up.
-jcr
Ben Franklin would have agreed.
Umm.. Franklin advocated the wild turkey as a national symbol, not the domesticated variety. Wild turkeys are very smart, as birds go.
-jcr
So really, the problem is sovereignty.
Sovereignty doesn't prevent a local record company from making a deal, instead of foot-dragging for months and months, as happened in Japan and Australia.
(Fucking idiot.)
Yes you are, and abrasive to boot.
-jcr
I don't have the resources to buy the amount of stock it would take to make Sony responsive to my concerns.
In the USA, owning a single share entitles you to attend the shareholder's meeting. Is that not the case in Japan?
-jcr
Sounds like you need to advertise the position more widely, then..
-jcr