This was NEVER about fighting plagurizm...it was about the Uni's plan to track student work. Otherwise you wouldn't be reading this! The prof would have checked [but not submitted..get the difference, it's very important] the student's work privately by his own means and been done with it. This whole thing was about making an example out of a student that didn't want their work controlled by the Unis pet company of the day. We've discussed these companies before...and they've gone so far to refuse rights to the student AUTHOR to their own submitted papers for use in mulitple systems or their own online websites! Like you mentioned, the Unis can't simply submit the papers themselves...because the companies involved are just as dishonest in dealing with IP as the student's they're "protecting". The Uni doesn't want to be sued...so they're holding student's grade's hostage unless they comply...
The whole situation is just like all the invasive scanning at the airports nowdays...it's not enough to pass the dector because it's ramped so high you must explain your passing to security, or partially disrobe if you didn't plan ahead...That's something that they warned us about East Germany in the cold war...and when does it stop?
Explain to go to work...criminal charges if you play hookie instead? After all not working efficently is a crime of "stealing" from your employer, right...that's a problem too. Give in now and it will never end! This is another symptom of the social disease of corpratism [autocratic dictatorship] that's plaguing the country right now. It's exactly the same scheme that existed in communist russia...they didn't "require" people to be communist...but they used the schools to get their way. The only way student's could advance in their studies and eventually careers was to sign up early and show up often to "communist" [really Stalinist] gatherings, turning in "offenders" didn't hurt either...[Many of them did it because they were told to, just like you're recommending here! not because they loved communism, they needed the promise of good jobs out of school too!]...they weren't required to be communist...of course the party couldn't see they were employed or not either...get the idea. How is this system instituted by the Govt, Uni any DIFFERENT than that?
That's why I'm comming off so vicious about this! The whole situation right now is like the waves eating at a shoreline...it won't happen on one day, or 2, or 10, but many years later the shoreline looks nothing like it did before and your beachhouse falls in the water!
Great, you've changed you point! So now it's not about cheating at all, but about the school's ability to "register" assisgments to prevent future students from cheating. By sponsoring a private for-profit company not less...Funny thing is that you are probably 100% correct with that statement! But that's even more wrong than the first argument...so you're saying a student should not just have there work checked, but be compelled [by pain of failed assignments no less!] to "support" a private company that collects and sells access to their work for other purposes beyond assignment checking because of university [corperate] say-so. That the author of the paper doesn't have rights to control their own work after getting a grade? That getting an assignment graded is contingent on supporting a corperte system? A corp forcing a person to support an agency they dissent against..no way! Is the student recieving compensation from this company for their work other than getting a grade which is already paid for? It's a nice racket to be in huh.
So from a slashdotters perspective, you made MY case more airtight! The school management is holding grades "hostage" to suport their new system somebody sold them...welcome to the Beast baby! Thanks! It's a fundamental problem not just with schools, but society in general...insurance companies, PATRIOT? ACT, homeland security, drug testing, dna testing, etc...the thing in common is that they all take away basic human rights like honor, intgetety, self-determination, in the name of saftey...while handing the benifits of those "rights" to private corporations for free with no strings attached...in 20 years even talk like this will be "obscene political speech" because it will be so common to exchange "rights" for "safetys". It's not just enough to have the system as a necessary "evil"...the students have to be made to "love" and support the system..just like Big Brother! Dissent is strictly forbiden...that's my problem with University policies being dictated nowdays...the absolute demand by schools to do what corperate masters tell them to...and faculty and staff that willingly enforce it is beyond abomination...considering most of the civil rights improvements in the last 50 years came directly from actions of the very same generation of college students that are the "management" now!
I think part of the "underage" 14 year-old thing is that in japan, High School and college is like 24/7 cramming for SAT's here in the states. They are much more socially/economically/professionally demanding at a much younger age over there. Japaneese 15+ year olds don't seem like "teenagers" in the american sense...they're corprate-cubeified already...and 14 seems to be the "magic" age between childhood and adulthood over there.
But too, their ages are highly important in subtle ways to the story! They are the product of the "First Impact" world...All conceived and born AFTER first impact...but not "offically" part of the adult world yet [see above] There's subtle undercurrents they they may have been "bred" to pilot the EVAS...as the children of the original project...
Frankly, I think an NGE live-action movie is silly..it can't be done properly without seriously offending people. Heck, It would already offend the loudest group...but it's "under the radar" so to speak. Frankly, a CGI [like Final Fantasy] movie might be cool, because it could get away with more...Now Gundam Wing...that you could get away with...much less controversial...at least in the normal american "prude" sense [you can show crass violence..just not boobies you see...]
For starters, plagerism while "cheating" is not a crime, nor does it affect other people's saftey. Any I happen to feel the same way about drug testing...the problem [with lots of things now] being that those who are requiring such searches have convienently exempted themselves from them...while siting "saftey" of grades, integrety, persons...it never seems to end!
Again, you entirely miss the point...everybody seems to! The school would not accept his assignment...at all...unless he gave "proof" that it was "checked". It was entirely possible for them to do it privately themselves, but they chose NOT TO..they demanded he prove his own innocence and submit proof because they were too lazy to do it themselves...There's far too much of that going on nowdays...
But you ALL miss the point...the student's paper was refused by the professor because it wasn't checked by the student BEFORE turning it in!!!! If the student was honest they should consider it to be an insult....Guilty until proven innocent!!!! Sure profs should check...but it's not the STUDENT'S JOB to PROVE they checked their work....that's deplorable behavior on the part of the professor. Note that the student was fighting because he recieved "zeros" on the papers because they were not accepted! The prof could have done this himself...if he deemed it neccessary, but humilliated the students by demanding THEY do it! That's the difference...not about "allowing" cheaters, It's just like Father^b^b^bHomeland security...forcing people to prove their innocent...instead of working to catch the guilty!!!
Let's turn this around...How would you feel if YOU had to get a certified Drug test or background check BEFORE being allowed to submit a job application..at your own expense... That's what this is equivenant to!
Again, turn this around...the professor refused to accept the assignments until after they were checked...It's not about the professor's right to check the accuracy of the work...but the student's right to be assumed to be honest when submitting their assignments. If the guy was cheating, he'd just check the assignment and edit it until it passed like the other cheaters...instead, he's standing by his word of honor that his work is honestly completed!
This is a great stand to make...espically for a collage student! It's a fundamental part of America [yep, even the canadians!] to be innocent until proven guilty...this files in the face of that fundamental "doctrine". It's deplorable for a professor at any university to not understand this....he[or she] should be fired with extreme prejudice, his degree revoked, and blacklisted from work in any educational capacity! he could of course apply at the department of homeland security....and be Mr. Ashcroft's "boy"..because that's where his kind belong!!!
After all, the European legal systems are much less suceptable to SCO's type of tactics they are using here. I could see the legality of this offer challanged within a week. In most European judicial models, the judge and jury have much more power of investigation...to get the answers they want and need, not just the "white-lies" the lawyers are pimping.
Right now they're selling "licenses" so something they are not proven to own. That's a much bigger deal in the EU than in the US. They lost their tolerance for that kind of lawyering long ago...and bitterly punish it. Look at the German case against SCOs news releases. Good news is that SCO now stands a good chance of being banned from business in europe altogether for such a stunt! Or they'll have to cough up what their "ownership" rights really are.
Bingo! It's not a matter of the student contesting the check, but the professor not accepting the students work UNTIL the STUDENT certified it as checked...that's just wrong. It's too bad there's no way for the students to go after the tenure [isn't that the ultimate irony...tenured profs accusing students of being lazy!] of profs like this!
But you are right, once everybody starts submitting silly reports to services, the system will flood and EVERYBODY WILL BE PLAGIRIZING! A good student response would be to collect older papers [like the professor's school papers!] and submit them to services as well...let's see if any of the "pushers" of the system are guilty too! For a matter of fact that should be a new requirement to keep tenure...all profs entire body of work [pre-K to PHD] should be submitted to these services...and if they can't pass....
It's the new fashion! Tell your customers/students/employees you don't trust them....AND...make them do the work of "proving" that they're not breaking the rules in some humilliating way.
After all, it's not like the students are paying customers of the University or something. Universities in general are actually WORSE than the *IAAs in terms of pre-emptively accusing people of wrongdoing...inspite of having a "mission" to educate and improve society, all they do anymore is integrate people into the pettiness of corperate culture!
Exactly! And management is all about getting somebody else to do the work so YOU get the credit. Too bad most/.rs are into science and technology...the last bastions [at least still pretend] of "honor and integrity" left...
We've already been "there and back" too. just not with people. It's not a matter of technological ability, but cost...I mean come on...we're supposed to build a rocket that can survive a martian landing, take off and come home, build a bigger rocket to get it to mars here on earth, plus enough food and resources for the crew, and launch the whole giant contraption and expect it to come back!? remember, to get a crew off mars isn't like the moon, you'd need to carry at least a Mercury sized rocket just to get into orbit with a crew capsule!
of course when the "Martians" find out that all their IP is earned by Earth corporations they'll revolt. They'll be up their whining that "martians" should rule mars when in Bushes 6th term the corperate lobbiests are taxing them to death.
Hopefully by then we'll have giant robots...so the colonies can attack earth!...as long as we're going to repeat history [and live in a sci-fi world!]
You are correct...but the system right now certifies that YOU send marked docuement....and it can be verified for tapmering. Wether the other party gets is another story. But the first important part is that Your identity is verified...for things like business contracts, order forms, tax returns, and the like...there's tons of petty paperwork that's part of multi-step processes getting mailed and faxed simply because they need "offical signatures".
As far as mail, you are legally obligated to notices served by regular mail...of course not everything! But if somebody says they sent you something [and are sworn to a court or something] they are considered to have done so by law. I've seen family get offical court documents thru normal mail...there's even a spot for the clerk to sign that they gave offical notice by mail...for a matter of fact govt in general refuses to use certified mail in most cases...so yes, mail is a legal matter.
I was getting at an escrow service that you emailed your code [or other IP] to. With something like this one could start a company accepting and archiving the "certified" emails... It could be a plug-in service to just do a "save to archive" function. The server company would simply host the "mailbox" and you would use normal email to send the contents...very slick and trouble free. You'd have your personal archive of emails, and the hosting company would have a copy...verified by post. The point I'm making is that it would require NO human interaction after the initial setup! It would be cheap enough for you or I normal people use it...heck, even sourceforge could add that as a feature!
Great idea! Because you could "mail" the code directly to a a third party secure server and have some legal backup. Best of all, with a service like this it's finally possible to have an fully automated system, just like a nightly tape backup.
OK...can I mail this post so this can't be patented out from under us?
A notary is Govt sponsored too....just so you know. Actually, it makes lots of sense to have a certified email...If it registered and verified delivery to the server then it would be just like mail...remember meatspace mail is legal even if you don't take it from your mailbox...You're legally obligated to take it out and read it.
That's what UPS or FedEX is for! Everybody knows you don't trust "fragile" stuff to the Post...they're too busy. Sure UPS costs a bit more, but you get what you pay for!!!
...how about not evil "enough". Vader is an anti-hero. Don't most people root for Vader to be the bad guy and win anyway..just a little bit? I'm looking for an Aeon Flux type story line [short series?] where the good little jedi go up against Darth Vader and... die... Lucas even points out in the movies that Vader normally doesnt' "talk" so much, or make mistakes...he's a bit out-of-character running around "I am your Father"-ing. Vader isn't a "superweapon" kind of guy...but he's not against whipping out the lightsaber and personally destroying a whole city full of people to catch 1 jedi...I want to see THAT vader on screen!
When Darth Vader rounds up all the remaining Jedi and goes on a hack-n-slash lightsaber fest!
Actually Speilerg could do a really good job with an evil "Darth Vader" as a "villian hero". I've always wanted to see a movie where Darth gets to be "big, bad, and evil"...just so we can hate him more...he's not really evil enough in the lucas version.
I gotta agree with you about poor Luke...they guy's had only had like 6 months off in a row once since he left tatooine as a kid! I'm surprised we don't have "Luke Skywalker Vacations" to fill in the only gaps in his life.
At least Star Wars has resisted "time travel" stories!!! Of course having the force takes care of some of those issues by allowing "old ghosts" to return. It is really sad that more wasn't done with "Tales of the Jedi". That series rocked. it was set before even "Kights" so there are no "rules" set yet...and lots more wildly "alien" Jedi's than even in Ep2.
As for planet-moving that's a fundamental "prop" of the story [like time travel in ST!]...it started with the "Death star" and was even present some of the very first novels..all the way back to "splinter" and "Stars End". I could name at least a dozen other places it's mentioned, "death stars", "planetships", moving planets, and "built" star systems.... sorry, you'll just have to live with it.
Roughly 1 per quarter since about ep1 came out. Actually it's kinda cool since they were doing about 1 per 6 months before ep1 came out. I particulary like some of the new characters. Jacen and Jaina are really cool. They were created completely in novels and it's cool that the "history" is so complete...considering their in close to 40 books!
That said, Zahn has a special place in SW hearts. He and Cam Kennedy were some of the few people to keep SW alive in the years prior to Ep1. First out of the "new" Star Wars was Dark Empire though...Very very cool.. it's a must read. the only problem is that These guys set the Star Wars bar so high that Lucas simply can't follow that up! Certian book writers should be WRITING the scripts with george's input...then the fans MIGHT come back!
While I completely understand your point...taking notes in a meeting is a great way to pay attention...
Stuff like that is expressly forbidden in most gradeschools! Especially in K & 1 grades, writing anything that the teacher doesn't tell you to is a terrible crime. You must write, play, work, etc. in the allotted time then stop and move to the next activity Going longer is not allowed, it's dissruptive...Typically in grade school that's about 10-15 miuntes per activity. For most kids with "ADD" that's about when they're getting into what's going on...and now it's time to stop?
As an adult, you have more flexibility, but being as this is/. how do people deal with being interrupted 5-6 times an hour by co-workers? I always found that to be most damaging right when I was getting into a project. The other thing I've noticed is that the ADD diagnosis can be the underlying problem instead of things like depressing or bipolar that seem to inflict "geeks". I'd venture many of the esteeme and awakward issues that many geeks have are a result of not "slowing down" from doing 10 dozen things at once...so you say stupid, incoherant stuff to girls and such! But leaning to cope for most "geeks" means alienation from everybody else...doing things differently to stay focused, taking notes while everyone else is laughing at jokes...because if you take time to laugh too you'll get behind. In particular school is a social thing, not purly academic...that's why the "normal" kids aren't getting the As...and settle for Bs or Cs... In a lot of ways ADD is a feature not a bug! It's the focus and attention to detail beyond what "normal" people can do...but we have to exist in a normal world where "B" is OK!
Slashdot Mirror
The whole situation is just like all the invasive scanning at the airports nowdays...it's not enough to pass the dector because it's ramped so high you must explain your passing to security, or partially disrobe if you didn't plan ahead...That's something that they warned us about East Germany in the cold war...and when does it stop?
Explain to go to work...criminal charges if you play hookie instead? After all not working efficently is a crime of "stealing" from your employer, right...that's a problem too. Give in now and it will never end! This is another symptom of the social disease of corpratism [autocratic dictatorship] that's plaguing the country right now. It's exactly the same scheme that existed in communist russia...they didn't "require" people to be communist...but they used the schools to get their way. The only way student's could advance in their studies and eventually careers was to sign up early and show up often to "communist" [really Stalinist] gatherings, turning in "offenders" didn't hurt either...[Many of them did it because they were told to, just like you're recommending here! not because they loved communism, they needed the promise of good jobs out of school too!]...they weren't required to be communist...of course the party couldn't see they were employed or not either...get the idea. How is this system instituted by the Govt, Uni any DIFFERENT than that?
That's why I'm comming off so vicious about this! The whole situation right now is like the waves eating at a shoreline...it won't happen on one day, or 2, or 10, but many years later the shoreline looks nothing like it did before and your beachhouse falls in the water!
So from a slashdotters perspective, you made MY case more airtight! The school management is holding grades "hostage" to suport their new system somebody sold them...welcome to the Beast baby! Thanks! It's a fundamental problem not just with schools, but society in general...insurance companies, PATRIOT? ACT, homeland security, drug testing, dna testing, etc...the thing in common is that they all take away basic human rights like honor, intgetety, self-determination, in the name of saftey...while handing the benifits of those "rights" to private corporations for free with no strings attached...in 20 years even talk like this will be "obscene political speech" because it will be so common to exchange "rights" for "safetys". It's not just enough to have the system as a necessary "evil"...the students have to be made to "love" and support the system..just like Big Brother! Dissent is strictly forbiden...that's my problem with University policies being dictated nowdays...the absolute demand by schools to do what corperate masters tell them to...and faculty and staff that willingly enforce it is beyond abomination...considering most of the civil rights improvements in the last 50 years came directly from actions of the very same generation of college students that are the "management" now!
But too, their ages are highly important in subtle ways to the story! They are the product of the "First Impact" world...All conceived and born AFTER first impact...but not "offically" part of the adult world yet [see above] There's subtle undercurrents they they may have been "bred" to pilot the EVAS...as the children of the original project...
Frankly, I think an NGE live-action movie is silly..it can't be done properly without seriously offending people. Heck, It would already offend the loudest group...but it's "under the radar" so to speak. Frankly, a CGI [like Final Fantasy] movie might be cool, because it could get away with more...Now Gundam Wing...that you could get away with ...much less controversial...at least in the normal american "prude" sense [you can show crass violence..just not boobies you see...]
Again, you entirely miss the point...everybody seems to! The school would not accept his assignment...at all...unless he gave "proof" that it was "checked". It was entirely possible for them to do it privately themselves, but they chose NOT TO..they demanded he prove his own innocence and submit proof because they were too lazy to do it themselves...There's far too much of that going on nowdays...
But you ALL miss the point...the student's paper was refused by the professor because it wasn't checked by the student BEFORE turning it in!!!! If the student was honest they should consider it to be an insult....Guilty until proven innocent!!!! Sure profs should check...but it's not the STUDENT'S JOB to PROVE they checked their work....that's deplorable behavior on the part of the professor. Note that the student was fighting because he recieved "zeros" on the papers because they were not accepted! The prof could have done this himself...if he deemed it neccessary, but humilliated the students by demanding THEY do it! That's the difference...not about "allowing" cheaters, It's just like Father^b^b^bHomeland security...forcing people to prove their innocent...instead of working to catch the guilty!!!
Again, turn this around...the professor refused to accept the assignments until after they were checked...It's not about the professor's right to check the accuracy of the work...but the student's right to be assumed to be honest when submitting their assignments. If the guy was cheating, he'd just check the assignment and edit it until it passed like the other cheaters...instead, he's standing by his word of honor that his work is honestly completed!
This is a great stand to make...espically for a collage student! It's a fundamental part of America [yep, even the canadians!] to be innocent until proven guilty...this files in the face of that fundamental "doctrine". It's deplorable for a professor at any university to not understand this....he[or she] should be fired with extreme prejudice, his degree revoked, and blacklisted from work in any educational capacity! he could of course apply at the department of homeland security....and be Mr. Ashcroft's "boy" ..because that's where his kind belong!!!
Right now they're selling "licenses" so something they are not proven to own. That's a much bigger deal in the EU than in the US. They lost their tolerance for that kind of lawyering long ago...and bitterly punish it. Look at the German case against SCOs news releases. Good news is that SCO now stands a good chance of being banned from business in europe altogether for such a stunt! Or they'll have to cough up what their "ownership" rights really are.
But you are right, once everybody starts submitting silly reports to services, the system will flood and EVERYBODY WILL BE PLAGIRIZING! A good student response would be to collect older papers [like the professor's school papers!] and submit them to services as well...let's see if any of the "pushers" of the system are guilty too! For a matter of fact that should be a new requirement to keep tenure...all profs entire body of work [pre-K to PHD] should be submitted to these services...and if they can't pass....
After all, it's not like the students are paying customers of the University or something. Universities in general are actually WORSE than the *IAAs in terms of pre-emptively accusing people of wrongdoing...inspite of having a "mission" to educate and improve society, all they do anymore is integrate people into the pettiness of corperate culture!
Exactly! And management is all about getting somebody else to do the work so YOU get the credit. Too bad most /.rs are into science and technology...the last bastions [at least still pretend] of "honor and integrity" left...
We've already been "there and back" too. just not with people. It's not a matter of technological ability, but cost...I mean come on...we're supposed to build a rocket that can survive a martian landing, take off and come home, build a bigger rocket to get it to mars here on earth, plus enough food and resources for the crew, and launch the whole giant contraption and expect it to come back!? remember, to get a crew off mars isn't like the moon, you'd need to carry at least a Mercury sized rocket just to get into orbit with a crew capsule!
of course when the "Martians" find out that all their IP is earned by Earth corporations they'll revolt. They'll be up their whining that "martians" should rule mars when in Bushes 6th term the corperate lobbiests are taxing them to death.
Hopefully by then we'll have giant robots...so the colonies can attack earth! ...as long as we're going to repeat history [and live in a sci-fi world!]
As far as mail, you are legally obligated to notices served by regular mail...of course not everything! But if somebody says they sent you something [and are sworn to a court or something] they are considered to have done so by law. I've seen family get offical court documents thru normal mail...there's even a spot for the clerk to sign that they gave offical notice by mail...for a matter of fact govt in general refuses to use certified mail in most cases...so yes, mail is a legal matter.
I was getting at an escrow service that you emailed your code [or other IP] to. With something like this one could start a company accepting and archiving the "certified" emails... It could be a plug-in service to just do a "save to archive" function. The server company would simply host the "mailbox" and you would use normal email to send the contents...very slick and trouble free. You'd have your personal archive of emails, and the hosting company would have a copy...verified by post. The point I'm making is that it would require NO human interaction after the initial setup! It would be cheap enough for you or I normal people use it...heck, even sourceforge could add that as a feature!
OK...can I mail this post so this can't be patented out from under us?
A notary is Govt sponsored too....just so you know. Actually, it makes lots of sense to have a certified email...If it registered and verified delivery to the server then it would be just like mail...remember meatspace mail is legal even if you don't take it from your mailbox...You're legally obligated to take it out and read it.
That's what UPS or FedEX is for! Everybody knows you don't trust "fragile" stuff to the Post...they're too busy. Sure UPS costs a bit more, but you get what you pay for!!!
...how about not evil "enough". Vader is an anti-hero. Don't most people root for Vader to be the bad guy and win anyway..just a little bit? I'm looking for an Aeon Flux type story line [short series?] where the good little jedi go up against Darth Vader and... die... Lucas even points out in the movies that Vader normally doesnt' "talk" so much, or make mistakes...he's a bit out-of-character running around "I am your Father"-ing. Vader isn't a "superweapon" kind of guy...but he's not against whipping out the lightsaber and personally destroying a whole city full of people to catch 1 jedi...I want to see THAT vader on screen!
Actually Speilerg could do a really good job with an evil "Darth Vader" as a "villian hero". I've always wanted to see a movie where Darth gets to be "big, bad, and evil"...just so we can hate him more...he's not really evil enough in the lucas version.
At least Star Wars has resisted "time travel" stories!!! Of course having the force takes care of some of those issues by allowing "old ghosts" to return. It is really sad that more wasn't done with "Tales of the Jedi". That series rocked. it was set before even "Kights" so there are no "rules" set yet...and lots more wildly "alien" Jedi's than even in Ep2.
As for planet-moving that's a fundamental "prop" of the story [like time travel in ST!]...it started with the "Death star" and was even present some of the very first novels..all the way back to "splinter" and "Stars End". I could name at least a dozen other places it's mentioned, "death stars", "planetships", moving planets, and "built" star systems.... sorry, you'll just have to live with it.
That said, Zahn has a special place in SW hearts. He and Cam Kennedy were some of the few people to keep SW alive in the years prior to Ep1. First out of the "new" Star Wars was Dark Empire though...Very very cool.. it's a must read. the only problem is that These guys set the Star Wars bar so high that Lucas simply can't follow that up! Certian book writers should be WRITING the scripts with george's input...then the fans MIGHT come back!
And young Anakin Solo too! Ouch! I haven't read the last book yet to see who else they kill off.
no, the pasiley-side of the force has kept JarJar alive for 500 years!
Stuff like that is expressly forbidden in most gradeschools! Especially in K & 1 grades, writing anything that the teacher doesn't tell you to is a terrible crime. You must write, play, work, etc. in the allotted time then stop and move to the next activity Going longer is not allowed, it's dissruptive...Typically in grade school that's about 10-15 miuntes per activity. For most kids with "ADD" that's about when they're getting into what's going on...and now it's time to stop?
As an adult, you have more flexibility, but being as this is /. how do people deal with being interrupted 5-6 times an hour by co-workers? I always found that to be most damaging right when I was getting into a project. The other thing I've noticed is that the ADD diagnosis can be the underlying problem instead of things like depressing or bipolar that seem to inflict "geeks". I'd venture many of the esteeme and awakward issues that many geeks have are a result of not "slowing down" from doing 10 dozen things at once ...so you say stupid, incoherant stuff to girls and such! But leaning to cope for most "geeks" means alienation from everybody else...doing things differently to stay focused, taking notes while everyone else is laughing at jokes...because if you take time to laugh too you'll get behind. In particular school is a social thing, not purly academic...that's why the "normal" kids aren't getting the As...and settle for Bs or Cs... In a lot of ways ADD is a feature not a bug! It's the focus and attention to detail beyond what "normal" people can do...but we have to exist in a normal world where "B" is OK!
They should be a good evil company and stop selling windows, cashout all their money to the stockholders and die!!!