As a practicing structural engineer for 30 years who also writes structural engineering design software, let me answer this for you. When an engineer signs/stamps a design, they are not certifying that it is perfect. In fact, it is generally recognized that no set of plans is ever error free. What you are asserting by your signature is that 1) You were in charge of and supervised all the work going into the design and 2) The design was performed in accordance with the standard of care for the work being performed. Standard of care is NOT a standard of perfection, by rather "that degree of care and skill ordinarily exercised under similar conditions by reputable members of our profession practicing in the same or similar locality."
TL/DR; An engineer cannot sign/stamp shoddy work, but is not expected to perform perfection.
These are the counties that ran fiber optics lines hundreds of miles through deserted scrub land to serve 15-20 isolated ranches in the Gila National Forest. They spent over $1M per site so the ranch hands can read Fark. They obviously have WAYYYYY to much money in this area.
My wife worked full time (admittedly defined as 36 hours per week) and went to school full time for two years while she got a masters degree at Boston College. She did not borrow a penny during this time period (she took out just in case loans that were never spent and paid back the month she graduated). It is not too hard to believe this model could be extended to four years for a bachelors degree. OTOH, this meant she had to actually devote her life mostly to school and work, and live a poverty lifestyle during this time period. Oh the horror for the precious snowflakes!
Additionally, anyone who borrows money to got to a private school is an idiot, unless you are getting a degree that pays the bills (engineering, etc.).
Given all the talk that I hear on this thread about people having a "right" to first-world food, shelter and medical care, I wonder how many of these people would be willing to pay taxes to help the people in Asia and Africa who have none of this? I mean, if it is a human right, then they deserve it also, right? And if you are willing to have me pay for yours, why shouldn't you be willing to pay for theirs?
OK, I do not get this. If I live longer, then I have a longer time to invest and earn compounding returns. What you really mean, is that peoples' longer life span has led them to believe that they deserve the same length of working life, but a longer retirement. Why should this be?
Amazingly, there is already a perfect model for a privatized SS system, and the participants love it. It is called Thrift Saving Plan or TSP (http://www.tsp.gov/index.html). It is amazingly efficient, and I would love to be able to participate. Unfortunately, only the people who can participate are federal employees.
This got modded insightful? How does the the fact that the US is a debtor nation prevent you as an individual from investing in overseas investments?
Anyone on the US who wants to is free to invest however much they want in overseas companies. This can be done cheaply and easily by investing is index funds for developed and developing nations.
Personally, I keep about 35% of my investments in overseas companies, about 80% of that in developed countries and 20% in developing.
BTW, higher SS tax is bad policy, and I can demonstrate why. If limits are removed from FICA, my marginal rates will be 33% for federal taxes, and 15% for self-employment taxes. That is 48%. Add in sales taxes (8% in Texas) and the rate is 56% of anything I spend. Why in the hell would I work to give more than half my earnings to someone else? I have not problem paying taxes, and have no problem with progressive tax rates, but this is silly. I do not have to work, and at some point I won't. 33% of X is much more than 50% of zero.
I believe that marginal tax rates should be capped at somewhere in the range of 33-40% (including all taxes of all types). I think two for me and one for you is more than enough.
I was a principle in the firm from which recently resigned to start my own company, which would be a competitor to my previous eomployer. Because of my position I had access to literally everything in the MIS system except payroll.
I gave 4 weeks notice since I was a key employee. Not only was my access to the network continued, it was extended a week after I officially quit in order to finish a few project I agreed to complete but ran our of time during my 4 week notice period.
My point is I guess how you are treated varies compay to company and person to person.
Obviously, this varies from child to child. However, my son was playing online quakeworld/team fortress at age 4 (remember quake, it was the game that George Washington played). He wanted to play because he saw me play. He was typically listed in the bottom 10% on the score, but completely understood what was going on. I guess it is kind a scary that he was not always on the bottom of the score list.
He is now a completely normally 14 year old, and now is playing Battlefield 2 online. The only difference is he now is always one of the top two positions on the score table. OTOH, if I saw any negatives from playing (excessive time consumption, etc), I would have pulled him off. I did have to disable team-talk to avoid the language I did not want him to hear/read, but once he hit 13 I figured he already had heard everything and turned it back on. I still enable adult language filters in games that have them, however.
I can't image any negatives from his experience. Well, he is fascinated by guns, but given I hunt and shoot regularly, I figure that just makes him a normal Texan male. YMMV with your child.
1) Tell Israel to pull out of the West Bank or lose all US support. If they agreed, I would then sign a NATO-like agreement with them that would assure total war with anyone that bothered them from that point forward.
2) Get serious about our overseas oil dependence. I would introduce an 0.5-1 mpg/year increase in fleet mileage requirements, tax on low mileage vehicles and a phased-in tax on gasoline (say 0.25 gal/year). I would champion Nuclear energy and implement a long-term storage solution for waste (Yucca Mountain or similiar). I would create a Manhattan-project for alternative energy (of course this might not pay off, but I think it is needed).
3) Phase in a total elimination of farm subsidies over the next 5 years.
4) I would quit supporting directorships, whether they be anti- or pro-USA, and support fairly elected governments, whether they be anti- or pro-USA.
5) I would stop illegal immigration if it took building a 100 foot high wall with land mines and automatic machine gun towers. I would then greatly increase visas (perhaps to 200-500k/year), and distribute them so that immigrants were representative of the world.
6) I would stop the war on drug users and war on terror. I would then return anti-terrorism duties to law enforcement.
7) I would ensure a balanced budget with whatever across-the-boards budget cut was required.
8) I would institute a progressive income tax with no deductions of any type.
9) I would eliminate tax abatements for businesses.
10) I would make prisons self supporting, and not allow anyone out who has not demonstrated an ability to support themselves and interact with society.
OK, I would have to actually be king to get this stuff done, but it is what I would push.
I am a state licensed professional (in a different field), have testified as an expert witness over 60 times (about 30/70 plaintiff/defense in civil cases), and have been sued myself for Errors & Omissions several times. While I sympathize with your point, you and I know that if we were judged by our peers, we would get WWWAAYYY too much benefit of the doubt. My experience is the the jury is generally pretty reasonable, and my field of structural engineering is no more understandable to the layperson than yours.
You are the type of person whom I respect, as I discussed. However, keep in mind that I have met, and you probably have also, people of all religious stripes who "know" they are correct, the same way that you do.
You have several valid points here but ignore the big picture. While a specific religion cannot be proven "true" or "false," what we can say is that at a minimum, all but one are wrong. This is obviously true because they are mutually exclusive. Thus, we can safely say that when laughing at a specific individual religion you are probably 99% safe from being stuck down by the FSM or local equivalent.
Additionally, we can state that those who do believe, believe without proof (i.e. through faith). I know some will argue that they have a "personal revelation" but I am talking about the kind of proof on which science relies. Thus, I think that we can safely laugh at those who claim they are certain or "know" that their religion is right, and all else are wrong and you should follow them because they know this (that you are wrong and they are right). These people are stupid (or willfully ignorant). OTOH, I respect those who admit their believe is based solely on faith and cannot prove the superiority of their god over someone else's. These people are, in my opinion, rational enough to function in the real world (for the most part, exceptions exist for every rule).
... that the rocks slide because the lateral forces exerted on the rocks exceed the static and dynamic frictional force cause by the gravity induced weight of the rock acting across the mud-rock interface. I guess I could be wrong and there are worm-holes involved.
I would agree with you but for the fact the average rural small town resident really pissed me off. These towns are heavily subsidized by the government, including agricultural property tax breaks, direct agricultural subsidies and direct subsidies for schools, roads, phone, electricity and mail. However, this does not stop these idiots from complaining about "evil" government and how it is imposing on their life via taxes and regulations. They then vote republican. I say it is time to give the cretins what they want. No subsidies, direct or indirect, for those who want to live in the county.
Obviously, this does not describe everyone living in rural areas, but from personal experience it does describe about 80% living in the rural west and south. I cannot speak to the rest of the country (such as the Midwest and Northeast).
How are they to change? The regions these people live in are too cold to support enough land based agriculture to survive, and shipping food up from warmer climates is terribly expensive. Without a local export economy, the people there can't AFFORD food grown elsewhere. No company is going to relocate its manufacturing base north of the Arctic Circle, so these people either have to exist as hunters, or exist as welfare recipients. They choose to maintain some dignity and keep their native culture operating.
I might agree with you if these people were living a traditional lifestyle. With rare exceptions, they aren't, and I would not be either. No one can afford a modern lifestyle in these areas whether they hunt whales or not. If stopped from hunting whales, they will survive the same way they do now, on government welfare. Don't believe me? Do a little research into government expenditures in the north for both Canada and the US. I can assure you that whale hunts and tourism are not paying for all that imported food, power, and snow machines.
Whether or not they are owed this by the white invaders is for another column, but I would argue that the handouts are killing the culture regardless. BTW, my ancestors were also killed and displaced by the invaders. Fortunately, I am off the reservation and moving on with my life.
I got a rely from the chief. In the interest of privacy (mine and his), I am excerpting the important part of the e-mail here:
"Paul Hwang voluntarily deleted the website without any duress from officers. I have visited with the officers involved and reviewed the case file again. It appears the statement of ordering/directing the student to delete the program has been taken out of context. It was the overall consensus of not only the parents but the officers as well that the student delete the program. All felt this would relieve a lot of anxiety of concerned students at CHS. This recommendation was made to try and protect him from being put under scrutiny similar to this in the future. "
Agree or disagree, here is one public servant who took time out of his day to at least try and answer my questions. Kudos to Chief Campbell. Contrast the six school boards members, superintendent and principal, from whom I have heard nothing.
I assume that you do not have a problem with me counterfeiting Australian dollars while I am here in the US and selling them at 0.10 per dollar over the internet? I see a raise in my future.
I sent the following letter to all board members and the superintendent. I will include any response here.
Dear XXXXXX
As a voter, taxpayer and parent of a Ft. Bend student, I am writing to appraise you of how disappointed that I am that the school district chose to place a Clements High School senior who recently was found to have developed a counterstrike map of Clements into an alternative education program.
I understand the need to the school to investigate this issue when it was raised. However, based on the facts as presented in the media, I think that it is absurd that the student was even considered for alternative school. I think that the school district employees that are responsible for this decision need a lesson in the basic scientific principle that correlation does not equal causation. For example, I would hate to find that my son is sent to alternative school simply because I happened to take him to the gun range to shoot a pistol, because he was playing paintball, or, god forbid, participating in a truly violent activity like football (in which he does, in fact, participate).
Ironically, the student in question, who was smart enough and motivated enough to develop this map, will probably end up as one of the more successful graduates in his class, especially given the technology infused environment that we live in today.
I hope that there are some unreported facts in this case that justified the nuclear option that was used in this situation. I would appreciate being informed of any such factors if in fact they exist. Otherwise, I hope you get this student back where he belongs, with an apology, in the near future. Thanks for your time and I look forward to your reply.
I sent the following letter to the FBISD PD. I received a reply from Chief Campbell that he would look into things and reply to me. I will post any reply here.
Dear Chief Campbell,
As a Ft. Bend county resident and parent of a FBISD student, I have recently been reviewing your departments actions in case #200700971 involving the Clements High School student who created a counterstrike map of Clements High School.
I understand that in today's environment, an investigation of the situation was inevitable, and it appears that situation was handled reasonably by your department. I understand that it was eventually determined that "no criminal offense.. had occurred." However, in reviewing the the investigation report, I noted that the student involved was directed by FBISD PD officers to "delete the program completely" and "never again produce a map of any school, or even any public building or area." While I can sympathize with the officers, it appears to me that this significantly overstepped the officers' authority and infringed on the First Amendment rights of the student.
I would like to know if you agree with my analysis of the situation, and if so, what instructions will be given to officers for similar situations in the future. If you disagree, I would like to understand the basis on which the officers authority is derived.
I would like you to know that I am a great supporter of the FBISD police department, personally know one of your officers who I greatly admire and appreciate the work that your department performs. However, I also believe that we, as citizens, have an obligation to uphold the "constitutional restrictions" that are quoted in the FBISD PD mission statement.
I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.
As a Ft. Bend ISD parent (Yes, a/.'er can have a wife and sex), taxpayer and voter, I hit them all up with a nice long e-mail and directive that I want a response. I will post here if I get anything.
Slashdot Mirror
As a practicing structural engineer for 30 years who also writes structural engineering design software, let me answer this for you. When an engineer signs/stamps a design, they are not certifying that it is perfect. In fact, it is generally recognized that no set of plans is ever error free. What you are asserting by your signature is that 1) You were in charge of and supervised all the work going into the design and 2) The design was performed in accordance with the standard of care for the work being performed. Standard of care is NOT a standard of perfection, by rather "that degree of care and skill ordinarily exercised under similar conditions by reputable members of our profession practicing in the same or similar locality." TL/DR; An engineer cannot sign/stamp shoddy work, but is not expected to perform perfection.
These are the counties that ran fiber optics lines hundreds of miles through deserted scrub land to serve 15-20 isolated ranches in the Gila National Forest. They spent over $1M per site so the ranch hands can read Fark. They obviously have WAYYYYY to much money in this area.
A motie? Get a grip!
My wife worked full time (admittedly defined as 36 hours per week) and went to school full time for two years while she got a masters degree at Boston College. She did not borrow a penny during this time period (she took out just in case loans that were never spent and paid back the month she graduated). It is not too hard to believe this model could be extended to four years for a bachelors degree. OTOH, this meant she had to actually devote her life mostly to school and work, and live a poverty lifestyle during this time period. Oh the horror for the precious snowflakes! Additionally, anyone who borrows money to got to a private school is an idiot, unless you are getting a degree that pays the bills (engineering, etc.).
Given all the talk that I hear on this thread about people having a "right" to first-world food, shelter and medical care, I wonder how many of these people would be willing to pay taxes to help the people in Asia and Africa who have none of this? I mean, if it is a human right, then they deserve it also, right? And if you are willing to have me pay for yours, why shouldn't you be willing to pay for theirs?
OK, I do not get this. If I live longer, then I have a longer time to invest and earn compounding returns. What you really mean, is that peoples' longer life span has led them to believe that they deserve the same length of working life, but a longer retirement. Why should this be?
Amazingly, there is already a perfect model for a privatized SS system, and the participants love it. It is called Thrift Saving Plan or TSP (http://www.tsp.gov/index.html). It is amazingly efficient, and I would love to be able to participate. Unfortunately, only the people who can participate are federal employees.
This got modded insightful? How does the the fact that the US is a debtor nation prevent you as an individual from investing in overseas investments? Anyone on the US who wants to is free to invest however much they want in overseas companies. This can be done cheaply and easily by investing is index funds for developed and developing nations. Personally, I keep about 35% of my investments in overseas companies, about 80% of that in developed countries and 20% in developing. BTW, higher SS tax is bad policy, and I can demonstrate why. If limits are removed from FICA, my marginal rates will be 33% for federal taxes, and 15% for self-employment taxes. That is 48%. Add in sales taxes (8% in Texas) and the rate is 56% of anything I spend. Why in the hell would I work to give more than half my earnings to someone else? I have not problem paying taxes, and have no problem with progressive tax rates, but this is silly. I do not have to work, and at some point I won't. 33% of X is much more than 50% of zero. I believe that marginal tax rates should be capped at somewhere in the range of 33-40% (including all taxes of all types). I think two for me and one for you is more than enough.
I gave 4 weeks notice since I was a key employee. Not only was my access to the network continued, it was extended a week after I officially quit in order to finish a few project I agreed to complete but ran our of time during my 4 week notice period.
My point is I guess how you are treated varies compay to company and person to person.
Obviously, this varies from child to child. However, my son was playing online quakeworld/team fortress at age 4 (remember quake, it was the game that George Washington played). He wanted to play because he saw me play. He was typically listed in the bottom 10% on the score, but completely understood what was going on. I guess it is kind a scary that he was not always on the bottom of the score list. He is now a completely normally 14 year old, and now is playing Battlefield 2 online. The only difference is he now is always one of the top two positions on the score table. OTOH, if I saw any negatives from playing (excessive time consumption, etc), I would have pulled him off. I did have to disable team-talk to avoid the language I did not want him to hear/read, but once he hit 13 I figured he already had heard everything and turned it back on. I still enable adult language filters in games that have them, however. I can't image any negatives from his experience. Well, he is fascinated by guns, but given I hunt and shoot regularly, I figure that just makes him a normal Texan male. YMMV with your child.
1) Tell Israel to pull out of the West Bank or lose all US support. If they agreed, I would then sign a NATO-like agreement with them that would assure total war with anyone that bothered them from that point forward. 2) Get serious about our overseas oil dependence. I would introduce an 0.5-1 mpg/year increase in fleet mileage requirements, tax on low mileage vehicles and a phased-in tax on gasoline (say 0.25 gal/year). I would champion Nuclear energy and implement a long-term storage solution for waste (Yucca Mountain or similiar). I would create a Manhattan-project for alternative energy (of course this might not pay off, but I think it is needed). 3) Phase in a total elimination of farm subsidies over the next 5 years. 4) I would quit supporting directorships, whether they be anti- or pro-USA, and support fairly elected governments, whether they be anti- or pro-USA. 5) I would stop illegal immigration if it took building a 100 foot high wall with land mines and automatic machine gun towers. I would then greatly increase visas (perhaps to 200-500k/year), and distribute them so that immigrants were representative of the world. 6) I would stop the war on drug users and war on terror. I would then return anti-terrorism duties to law enforcement. 7) I would ensure a balanced budget with whatever across-the-boards budget cut was required. 8) I would institute a progressive income tax with no deductions of any type. 9) I would eliminate tax abatements for businesses. 10) I would make prisons self supporting, and not allow anyone out who has not demonstrated an ability to support themselves and interact with society. OK, I would have to actually be king to get this stuff done, but it is what I would push.
I am a state licensed professional (in a different field), have testified as an expert witness over 60 times (about 30/70 plaintiff/defense in civil cases), and have been sued myself for Errors & Omissions several times. While I sympathize with your point, you and I know that if we were judged by our peers, we would get WWWAAYYY too much benefit of the doubt. My experience is the the jury is generally pretty reasonable, and my field of structural engineering is no more understandable to the layperson than yours.
You are the type of person whom I respect, as I discussed. However, keep in mind that I have met, and you probably have also, people of all religious stripes who "know" they are correct, the same way that you do.
You have several valid points here but ignore the big picture. While a specific religion cannot be proven "true" or "false," what we can say is that at a minimum, all but one are wrong. This is obviously true because they are mutually exclusive. Thus, we can safely say that when laughing at a specific individual religion you are probably 99% safe from being stuck down by the FSM or local equivalent. Additionally, we can state that those who do believe, believe without proof (i.e. through faith). I know some will argue that they have a "personal revelation" but I am talking about the kind of proof on which science relies. Thus, I think that we can safely laugh at those who claim they are certain or "know" that their religion is right, and all else are wrong and you should follow them because they know this (that you are wrong and they are right). These people are stupid (or willfully ignorant). OTOH, I respect those who admit their believe is based solely on faith and cannot prove the superiority of their god over someone else's. These people are, in my opinion, rational enough to function in the real world (for the most part, exceptions exist for every rule).
Dude, if you explain these things in simple terms that everyone can understand they will never pay you the big bucks!
... that the rocks slide because the lateral forces exerted on the rocks exceed the static and dynamic frictional force cause by the gravity induced weight of the rock acting across the mud-rock interface. I guess I could be wrong and there are worm-holes involved.
Fixed that for you. Architect design the look, structural engineers make it stand up.
I would agree with you but for the fact the average rural small town resident really pissed me off. These towns are heavily subsidized by the government, including agricultural property tax breaks, direct agricultural subsidies and direct subsidies for schools, roads, phone, electricity and mail. However, this does not stop these idiots from complaining about "evil" government and how it is imposing on their life via taxes and regulations. They then vote republican. I say it is time to give the cretins what they want. No subsidies, direct or indirect, for those who want to live in the county. Obviously, this does not describe everyone living in rural areas, but from personal experience it does describe about 80% living in the rural west and south. I cannot speak to the rest of the country (such as the Midwest and Northeast).
I might agree with you if these people were living a traditional lifestyle. With rare exceptions, they aren't, and I would not be either. No one can afford a modern lifestyle in these areas whether they hunt whales or not. If stopped from hunting whales, they will survive the same way they do now, on government welfare. Don't believe me? Do a little research into government expenditures in the north for both Canada and the US. I can assure you that whale hunts and tourism are not paying for all that imported food, power, and snow machines.
Whether or not they are owed this by the white invaders is for another column, but I would argue that the handouts are killing the culture regardless. BTW, my ancestors were also killed and displaced by the invaders. Fortunately, I am off the reservation and moving on with my life.
So the rich guy should also pay more for big macs, software, electronics and other consumer goods? It's only fair, correct (/sarcasm)
Agree or disagree, here is one public servant who took time out of his day to at least try and answer my questions. Kudos to Chief Campbell. Contrast the six school boards members, superintendent and principal, from whom I have heard nothing.
I assume that you do not have a problem with me counterfeiting Australian dollars while I am here in the US and selling them at 0.10 per dollar over the internet? I see a raise in my future.
Dear XXXXXX
As a voter, taxpayer and parent of a Ft. Bend student, I am writing to appraise you of how disappointed that I am that the school district chose to place a Clements High School senior who recently was found to have developed a counterstrike map of Clements into an alternative education program.
I understand the need to the school to investigate this issue when it was raised. However, based on the facts as presented in the media, I think that it is absurd that the student was even considered for alternative school. I think that the school district employees that are responsible for this decision need a lesson in the basic scientific principle that correlation does not equal causation. For example, I would hate to find that my son is sent to alternative school simply because I happened to take him to the gun range to shoot a pistol, because he was playing paintball, or, god forbid, participating in a truly violent activity like football (in which he does, in fact, participate).
Ironically, the student in question, who was smart enough and motivated enough to develop this map, will probably end up as one of the more successful graduates in his class, especially given the technology infused environment that we live in today.
I hope that there are some unreported facts in this case that justified the nuclear option that was used in this situation. I would appreciate being informed of any such factors if in fact they exist. Otherwise, I hope you get this student back where he belongs, with an apology, in the near future. Thanks for your time and I look forward to your reply.
Dear Chief Campbell,
As a Ft. Bend county resident and parent of a FBISD student, I have recently been reviewing your departments actions in case #200700971 involving the Clements High School student who created a counterstrike map of Clements High School.
I understand that in today's environment, an investigation of the situation was inevitable, and it appears that situation was handled reasonably by your department. I understand that it was eventually determined that "no criminal offense .. had occurred." However, in reviewing the the investigation report, I noted that the student involved was directed by FBISD PD officers to "delete the program completely" and "never again produce a map of any school, or even any public building or area." While I can sympathize with the officers, it appears to me that this significantly overstepped the officers' authority and infringed on the First Amendment rights of the student.
I would like to know if you agree with my analysis of the situation, and if so, what instructions will be given to officers for similar situations in the future. If you disagree, I would like to understand the basis on which the officers authority is derived.
I would like you to know that I am a great supporter of the FBISD police department, personally know one of your officers who I greatly admire and appreciate the work that your department performs. However, I also believe that we, as citizens, have an obligation to uphold the "constitutional restrictions" that are quoted in the FBISD PD mission statement.
I thank you for your time and look forward to your response.
As a Ft. Bend ISD parent (Yes, a /.'er can have a wife and sex), taxpayer and voter, I hit them all up with a nice long e-mail and directive that I want a response. I will post here if I get anything.