The biggest nixon fanboys RAN the bush whitehouse! Nixon wouldn't spy in such a primitive fashion if he had today's technology. He would do what they did in a heartbeat.
Perhaps Liberman went for bush on every important issue because they had something on him?
Perhaps the corrupt, perverted, and closet-homosexual republicans HAD to vote the way they did 90+% of the time! (that is, until it leaked out on a few of them-- no, I didn't say all republicans.) This is not unrealistic-- these are lawyers who live by quid pro quo. Spending the USA into the ground is not a very republican thing to do (except the last 8 years...)
They were warned and STILL continued making mistakes. The lost data wasn't quickly recovered but was stalled so they had time to accidentally overwrite it a dozen times. Not to mention the run around they'd give if somebody forced them to hand over the drives... they'd give the wrong ones etc.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. If they didn't know it is no defense; especially when they were made aware of it.
"Mistakes" still gets normal people in trouble-- just imagine how much better the MOB would have done if they could have taken victims for hunting accidents.
The Executive branch is the enforcer of the law; although, its gone way out of bounds since the founding. Its their JOB to enforce the law (which include implementation.)
Are American's so incompetent that they excuse other people's incompetence out of self pity? Golden Rule??
Its hard to say. Mere POSSESSION is a crime but how does one filter out the ones that claim it wasn't their stuff? Its difficult to prove that one. I know somebody who's new boyfriend got her time.
A "dealer" is also defined by amount or even just sharing could do it. The system is unfair to unconstitutional as far as drug law so it punishes the innocent more than most other crimes. The bias naturally is towards the money.
Nobody messes with the banks; which launder billions per year... They wouldn't even dare monitor them blowing our bailout money.
Its all about money and has nothing to do with solving any problems (from corrections to the tobacco lobby.) Take away the money and the problem will solve itself as much as possible (because some people just are born with that glue sniffing gene.)
Too much power undermines democracy; checks and balances need to extend outside government or government will be subverted.
I shouldn't have used the word "rights" in a logical or even ethical context because people think I'm referring to "unalienable rights."
You don't have a logical, intellectually honest, or ethical right to big contradictions such as saying humans couldn't have changed the environment while opposing attempts for humans to purposely change the environment (and over a much shorter span of time than the one your denying to boot!)
I don't want to limit people's "unalienable right" to be stupid.
Its not a simple "belief" and many of us find equating science to religious beliefs to be degrading and ignoring the huge successes of science.
It would have been worse during Bush; maybe the end goals are just as bad but the level of incompetence in the Bush admin made him the worst in history.
NASA was always an indirect arm of the military; they planned together. The top secret stuff tended to be military but other things needing research NASA did.
Organizational merging of the two will undermine NASA because eventually it will change NASA as an organization as well as deter people from joining the organization who's mission has changed.
Most the opposition argues that we didn't contribute to global warming because we are so insignificant - largely because they lost their previous arguments big time.
They have no right to oppose climate engineering on the grounds that it might cause problems when they argue humans couldn't have significantly contributed to the crisis.
Am I the only male that is not turned on by breast feeding?? Are men so perverse that a baby feeding turns them on?
In puritan USA, breasts fall under the "evil anatomy" that has to be obsessed over under any circumstances. Perhaps they should require women cover up with a large vale when nursing?
In a free society nude people could walk down the street.
Why should one worry so much? Line workmen are trained and equip to treat lines as being dangerous and they take precautions. As more people do things like this the more likely the lines are still live. The necessity to work around the problem will become greater; especially as the grid becomes more distributed and upgraded for green power.
Seems to me that they need to adapt and stop making people have to spend extra for line workman protection; when all it'll take is one homemade or defective device on the line to create a problem. The soon to be upgraded grid could include the safety switches at the local transformers where they are more trustworthy...
As Nintendo and others discovered, the serious user of the game is hooked by the game and not happy with just end credits; they want more levels and sequels. Some like collecting, skill challenges such as racing the clock, or high scores etc. and some feel they must master or complete the whole game. A few like storyline in which case they should be reading more books or maybe playing RPGs.
Most Mario Games (a good example because they influence everything:)
Usually setup so that with little planning you can get bye without being able to do everything. It gives a sense of accomplishment and hope that 80s games lacked (many which went on forever until you died.)
They include elements of all the above human desires to motivate people to go beyond the simple path: Star collecting is also a form of score. Coins are a score but have more worth because you get rewarded (in an easy to identify way) plus most the time you collect many of them in the game. Minor Easter eggs are often so easy you wouldn't think of them that way (but to a child it is--even then its still rewarding.) Levels / mini games where you race or have limited time. They've added more "story" to shut up a minority and everybody jokes or bitches about it. Extra levels or areas within levels that are more difficult and likely unseen by beginners.
Mechanics: You press ONE button to jump but as you get better you realize the subtle timing involved... not that you couldn't do the whole game without realizing it. The controls try to limit buttons and cover 90% of what needs to be done; skilled users find better shortcuts. Additionally, context plays a part. Throwing fireballs also has you run; many games tend to think this is limiting and give you separate buttons.
Proper punishment system for death; although, they give too many lives in the modern games... Better players are bothered more by death especially when something is hard and those lives do run out. They know they can beat the game but they know they can do better than a 7 year old and not cut corners.
Like everybody else the nuclear power people have promises that are 5 years away... Unlike most others, building that next gen plant will take a decade and cost a crazy amount of money and not prove itself for likely 10 more years. They've had decades of time and billions in welfare money around the world to maintain, build, dispose and enhance nuclear power. The time is up. Many of us will no longer be suckered.
Nuclear power operates at crazy costs and the risks prevent it from being a private venture; therefore, government has to do it then hand it over to private control then provide free regulation and waste storage etc. It always has been too expensive without government covering the costs (while letting private management walk off with profits from our tax money... Yes, if it was fair, they'd pay us back-- but then they'd not be in business either...)
No need to draw attention by stopping something; flood the infonet with too much bad information and create a bigger haystack. Not to mention all the FUD that can be done much easier now. You could even put out almost true information with slight crazy distortions to make the truth look bad.
The IMPORTANT INFORMATION WAS LARGELY DESTROYED ("mistakenly lost") and whatever might be useful will take forever to dig out and make any sense of.
Criminal neglect never applies to politicians and don't think that they do not know this.
Question a religious person's beliefs and you get a response proportional to the strength of their beliefs.
Rigid science types are no different; it really is similar to religion. As an atheist, I can make this connection from personal observation.
Science is a philosophy and because humans are involved, it has problems with dogmas etc forming around it despite its nature of discouraging all that baggage.
Plenty of things are not tangible; and plenty of of observations are fuzzy and have too many variables that can not be removed. "Soft" sciences must contend with the limitations of science far more than "hard" science; not surprisingly many hard science types shun soft science as if they somehow have a better understanding of science when they are safely within its bounds in their work and never have to venture out into the border areas of science.
Take the human mind. We will never figure it out completely (its a 10**14 node network to begin with.) Exploration of the human mind is not very testable stuff nor is it that tangible either. The complexity results in even correct answers being too broad or being between random and the margin of error - making it near impossible science. Yet, enough of these really really soft science answers have been applied and used on people-- making psychology far more dangerous than physics.
I've seen a leading expert at a convention on primate behavior trying to argue they are conscious like us. Describing how strict science can't provide an answer while half the room got upset. The videos I saw were convincing; one couldn't do anything better than with a human child. It was subjective opinion and science couldn't help the matter.
Science isn't that young; it has a long history of shunning the truth before accepting it.
Ghosts don't exist. But I'm open to seeing if one can find the answer. Could be there is a totally different unknown explanation for why some people experience odd events (even if its just in their mind; thats not a end point but likely an even bigger question.)
Hypnosis is odd stuff. Exploring one's own mind in a totally odd way that provides another perspective. Hard science rejected hypnosis and soft science did as well it even existed for a long time outside of the realm of science; now they've studied it and feel that they know it. (which is another topic... overconfidence.)
Don't bother suggesting things modern science does not understand yet. This is slashdot, home of the rigid narrow minded science types who practice their brand of science like a religious zealot.
One has to experience it to believe anything is going on; its just too "out there" to believe otherwise... but many just dismiss it without testing it; won't even try to explore it. Its a common problem in science; as one can see some of the dismissed and harassed were later vindicated (no, that is not the norm but its far more common that theories are dismissed without serious investigation.)
I've tried a bunch of stuff; just for curiosity. Most was bunk; some was fun even though it was bunk-- like I went on a ghost hunt TV show (cameraman #1) and found it entertaining between long periods of NOTHING. No, there were NO GHOSTS the whole time; but watching them act up over nothing... that was an experience.
Past life regression. interesting stuff. nothing checks out and one is quite creative in that state. (well, 1 lady's story did check out perfectly which was odd...like lottery level odds.) Speaking of which, hypnosis itself had quite a few skeptics...
1) Oregon Trail. Famous government designed video game that taught prioritization and long term planning to kids. (it was sold to private industry where it died a slow death; educational software is not that profitable and provides little benefit when its privately run and designed. I'm merely stating history.)
2) Lemonade Stand. free game on Apple ][. Teaches K-3 level business concepts. I believe it resurfaced about 5 years ago as a turn-based drug dealing business game. I forget the name of it.
Anyhow, stuff existed but failed to get noticed and maintained. Open source research tied games used by public schools would continue past the life of the non-profit (MECC) government funding (MECC) or the platform (Apple ][e)
3) Everybody blames teachers. I think its largely because americans won't take any blame on themselves! Teachers do everything... Teachers can't create the tools that currently do not exist.
MOST teachers are like mechanics; if you need something designed you get an engineer not a mechanic.
They do not NEED technology to teach anything in standard K-12 education-- but I'd say that the technology is largely no good and its not the teachers fault. It is however their fault outside of the technology; I won't say they don't use technology as a scape goat because they sometimes do.
A greater problem is GREAT teachers are not properly promoted or evaluated. My BEST teacher was nationally recognized; but they didn't use her skills to help others after giving the award. She was instead FORCED out by politics when she'd be teaching wonderfully until she dropped dead. She washed her hands of the whole mess and still isn't being used!
Now, she'd not have won the award, because the test scores wouldn't be high. The principal gave her all the disturbed or failing kids; she had the worst of the school and they all made so much progress it was unreal (some more than others; still it was miracle work.)
Missing RANT) Technology and Business are not models for use in education. Just because you have a good hammer doesn't mean you can treat everything like a nail... Education isn't analogous anything else.
Zero tolerance policy and standardized PAPER exams for example fit a square peg into a round hole by making something FUZZY like education RIGID like... technology. If it worked (which it doesn't) then we could replace teachers with computers, robots, and online learning. (I don't mean current online learning where humans are involved in the class...besides those are for adults anyhow.)
I TRY hard to observe students doing some of the work so I can help them; because just turning in homework and getting back a score is something a machine could be doing someday soon.
Rant 6) non experts. Would you like Obama telling you that you MUST run MAC OS on your computer? Sure it would help most the nation (windows users,) but it wouldn't make sense on plenty of computers; and be silly on embedded systems. Education shouldn't be pushed around by people who don't know jack but think they have a clue simply because they went to school. (ex: I've used a computer so therefore I know enough to outlaw everything but windows XP...)
We can find what works out best through experimentation and research; including on how to properly identify different kinds of learners and kids with emotional issues. Application of science; being soft science, its the greatest challenge to the scientific method (soft science is intractably hard.)
Taking advantage of what works for other countries should be a no brainer. Education is not Intellectual Property and should never be!
Allowing 50 states to try stuff we can see what works and what does not. Populations differ around the USA as well. I have READ some standardized elementary exams and they are a perfect example of what is wrong with one-size fits all. I had a hard time with the phrasing of some questions; they also used class-related vocabulary which would harm smart kids with different backgrounds. One size doesn't fit all.
Sure, I'm saying all the kids, teens, and young adults are guinea pigs. They've always have been and will continue to be until we decide we've found the best methods and stop progress or completely understand the human brain.
Last thing I'd want is Sara Palin 2012 with federal power over public schools. At least she can only screw up her own state.
Me too! I did 2-3 finger typing from about pre-school to middle school; where I gave up my 35wpm speed and learned to type properly by my own choice. It didn't take long to switch and only the minor bad habits took a long time to break.
I know many who took typing and they can't type 1 handed or without symbols labeled on the keys. Outside of my long rants, I would be just fine typing the non-ideal way. Learning how to properly type is something anybody can do on their own; there are plenty of resources to help one do this, if not-- there are classes offered everywhere... But to WASTE free education at a critical time in life on typing-- that is... well, wasteful.
Ironically, my school graduated (a couple) kids who could hardly read and write but they could copy things at 60wpm...
Rant 1: Bring MATH up to par with other nations. Its acceptable for me to say "I can't do math" but I dare not admit "I can't read" or "I can't do english." Its cultural as well as systematic.
The US students have mental blocks on math (NEVER mention math,) they don't understand the use of experimentation, and have been shuffling paperwork and jumping thru tutorials for so long they are shocked when I get my hands on them... Their demands for the old-school methods have resulted in the degradation of other courses over the long term (a few like myself hold out against the trend - its not just the natural understanding gap increasing between instructor and student that makes me see a downward trend.)
I've seen inner city schools doing things ONLINE that create disadvantages for poor students without internet or computer access. If you really want to help, get kids access to a safe internet and a computer that facilitates exploration and experimentation.
Philosophy of Science would be widely useful. Actually, Critical Thinking -- one could fit in Science, Logic, and even some Ethics into that class.
Rant 2: The computer is just a tool for teaching things that is completely misunderstood and under utilized while at the same time being thoughtlessly applied to education without any supporting evidence for its educational benefits!
The only real work on computers for actual learning that I've seen was done in the 80s and early 90s with LOGO, MECC, and Carmen Sandiego. These all tried alternative methods to use the computer as a tool to teach or build critical thinking skills... NOT teach CS. (Yes, LOGO did do everything.) More RESEARCH based tools should be encouraged like the brain-research that led to EyeQ or Nintendo's Brain Age. Speed reading would seriously change lives.
I've seen girls learn to type fast on their cell phones. They don't need a cell phone typing course to do that. They shouldn't be required to WASTE time learning typing on a computer when they will eventually figure that out. This is a great example of how misused computers in schools are (not to mention the waste of typing-only computer labs when 100 year old typewriters would suffice.)
Rant 3: Bigger areas are being ignored. they are more important.
Creativity is a whole other area sorely lacking; my mother is an art teacher and the stories she tells sound like we are entering an age of mindless consumer drones. Studies have always shown that right-brained classes like art resulted in better scores in the left-brained classes... Until they wreck these courses (and for 8 years boy they have been trying) those courses will continue exist. I would HATE to see right-brained courses be replaced with more left-brained courses. BTW: Einstein played an instrument.
Promotion of curiosity wouldn't hurt either... Some form of Omnibus course wouldn't be a bad idea; especially, if it helped find interests that could be leveraged in less interesting courses.
How about Business? Accounting? People can't manage their own credit cards and its pathetic. Nobody learns how to do taxes or run a business... and the LAW or even the constitution-- forget it...
Rant 4: Students are institutionalized to memorize and do tutorials. Programming problems without example code is a huge break from the mundane norm of the current educational system; however, instead of jolting students with something new to make up for a degraded system (not that the US system was that much better in the past) why don't we improve the existing subjects to be more engaging? I managed to ace 3 years of spanish without learning any spanish! It was the perfect example of the path of the current system. I DO think learning C++ should count as a foreign language. Would be a better use of time for most students; for all the reasons the ACM states. (If one must learn a language thinking it helps your english then why not learn latin then?)
The bankers conspired to leverage the symbolic POWER of Nobel to promote their economic agenda to the world by creating a FAKE NOBEL for economics. The kind of economics that most benefit themselves (bankers) is their motivation in its creation and that bias remains in their selection of winners.
NOBEL PROMOTES SCIENCE NOT PEOPLE! AWARDS ARE SYMBOLIC PROMOTIONS of industries, careers, and/or ideals.
NOBEL is more important now more than ever; corrupt or not, we live in an age that idolizes karaoke singers, sports people, actors, and war heroes. Science types complain that we need science to be "cool" and well, this is about all we get.
If you want a wider reaching better award you should look at the "Alternative Nobel" http://www.rightlivelihood.org./ This award promotes the important yet unrecognized causes without restriction to a few sciences; which arguably are the least important factor to bringing peace to mankind (ex: "The Apple Orange Award".)
I wonder if children ever learn the purpose of scholastic achievement awards? It seems the same psychology works on adults. Different package, same trick. If that doesn't blow your mind, start applying the aspects of this to academia, political offices, or cultural rituals like marriage.
Doesn't matter if some baseball cheater gets in the hall of fame; outside the fanatics, nobody will remember or care except for the few stand outs on the long list of award winners. The symbolic meaning will be maintained and carried on by continually hyping up the new award winners. Sure, too many bad winners hurt the symbol but it takes a lot and people forget quickly...
Parent misses the all the points including his ad-hom attack on Jimmy Carter.
I highly recommend not eating just anything the FDA allows you to eat. Taking drugs too for that matter.
The shit in the meat is a result of fast slaughtering of the cows and occasional leakage of the bowels of the cow getting into the meat. Its a cost issue. This is besides the facts about the cows and what they feed them etc...
I know a nutritionist who works for a massive corp and she said they figure in the rodent food value even though its a tiny amount. mice get into the food stock and some don't make it out and they do have stats on how many are in there --no they don't attempt to remove them (its not worth the cost of trying to spot a tiny mouse in a large amount of grain.) Food production is NOT what you think it is; nor was it as 'sterile' in the past either...
It also is true that the colors and flavors added are not included in the label (other than a vague reference) and they are hardly regulated (excuse is cost and the small amounts in which they are used; plus the fact that many common ones would make the label a page long.)
McDonalds has its own GRADE of meat that they created because FDA defined grades didn't have the loopholes they wanted. Naturally, the FDA let them do it (approval) - you don't think the FDA wants to waste time/money fighting fast food (and politicians) do you?
I highly recommend reading Fast Food Nation (and AVOID the film.)
Government defines nearly all markets; even the black markets (but in the inverse.) That is central planning to create competition. Same with splitting up monopolies to re-introduce competition is central planning. Its not micromanaging but it is central "planning".
Corporate Welfare has been the NORM in the USA for over a generation! Its not planned in your context nor does it usually promote competition; however, we still have plenty of competition (and not just between lobbyists.)
One way this works is people like politicians that bring in welfare to THEIR state; so while this undermines fair competition-- other groups of people have their politicians trying to get that money brought into their community... They compete for pork; especially the 2004 red states which all took in more federal money than they payed out.) Its the reason the military industry is untouchable.
Slashdot Mirror
The biggest nixon fanboys RAN the bush whitehouse! Nixon wouldn't spy in such a primitive fashion if he had today's technology. He would do what they did in a heartbeat.
Perhaps Liberman went for bush on every important issue because they had something on him?
Perhaps the corrupt, perverted, and closet-homosexual republicans HAD to vote the way they did 90+% of the time! (that is, until it leaked out on a few of them-- no, I didn't say all republicans.) This is not unrealistic-- these are lawyers who live by quid pro quo. Spending the USA into the ground is not a very republican thing to do (except the last 8 years...)
They were warned and STILL continued making mistakes. The lost data wasn't quickly recovered but was stalled so they had time to accidentally overwrite it a dozen times. Not to mention the run around they'd give if somebody forced them to hand over the drives... they'd give the wrong ones etc.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. If they didn't know it is no defense; especially when they were made aware of it.
"Mistakes" still gets normal people in trouble-- just imagine how much better the MOB would have done if they could have taken victims for hunting accidents.
The Executive branch is the enforcer of the law; although, its gone way out of bounds since the founding. Its their JOB to enforce the law (which include implementation.)
Are American's so incompetent that they excuse other people's incompetence out of self pity? Golden Rule??
Its hard to say.
Mere POSSESSION is a crime but how does one filter out the ones that claim it wasn't their stuff? Its difficult to prove that one. I know somebody who's new boyfriend got her time.
A "dealer" is also defined by amount or even just sharing could do it. The system is unfair to unconstitutional as far as drug law so it punishes the innocent more than most other crimes. The bias naturally is towards the money.
Nobody messes with the banks; which launder billions per year... They wouldn't even dare monitor them blowing our bailout money.
Its all about money and has nothing to do with solving any problems (from corrections to the tobacco lobby.) Take away the money and the problem will solve itself as much as possible (because some people just are born with that glue sniffing gene.)
Too much power undermines democracy; checks and balances need to extend outside government or government will be subverted.
Not going to lower myself to the level of sumdumass (711423) only to be beaten at his level.
I shouldn't have used the word "rights" in a logical or even ethical context because people think I'm referring to "unalienable rights."
You don't have a logical, intellectually honest, or ethical right to big contradictions such as saying humans couldn't have changed the environment while opposing attempts for humans to purposely change the environment (and over a much shorter span of time than the one your denying to boot!)
I don't want to limit people's "unalienable right" to be stupid.
Its not a simple "belief" and many of us find equating science to religious beliefs to be degrading and ignoring the huge successes of science.
It would have been worse during Bush; maybe the end goals are just as bad but the level of incompetence in the Bush admin made him the worst in history.
NASA was always an indirect arm of the military; they planned together. The top secret stuff tended to be military but other things needing research NASA did.
Organizational merging of the two will undermine NASA because eventually it will change NASA as an organization as well as deter people from joining the organization who's mission has changed.
Is it wise to give time to people who were WRONG about global warming?
Isn't it like hiring the former head of Goldman Sachs to save USA's banking system??
I'd rather follow the advice of the people who were right from the beginning.
Most the opposition argues that we didn't contribute to global warming because we are so insignificant - largely because they lost their previous arguments big time.
They have no right to oppose climate engineering on the grounds that it might cause problems when they argue humans couldn't have significantly contributed to the crisis.
Am I the only male that is not turned on by breast feeding?? Are men so perverse that a baby feeding turns them on?
In puritan USA, breasts fall under the "evil anatomy" that has to be obsessed over under any circumstances. Perhaps they should require women cover up with a large vale when nursing?
In a free society nude people could walk down the street.
Why should one worry so much? Line workmen are trained and equip to treat lines as being dangerous and they take precautions. As more people do things like this the more likely the lines are still live. The necessity to work around the problem will become greater; especially as the grid becomes more distributed and upgraded for green power.
Seems to me that they need to adapt and stop making people have to spend extra for line workman protection; when all it'll take is one homemade or defective device on the line to create a problem. The soon to be upgraded grid could include the safety switches at the local transformers where they are more trustworthy...
As Nintendo and others discovered, the serious user of the game is hooked by the game and not happy with just end credits; they want more levels and sequels. Some like collecting, skill challenges such as racing the clock, or high scores etc. and some feel they must master or complete the whole game. A few like storyline in which case they should be reading more books or maybe playing RPGs.
Most Mario Games (a good example because they influence everything:)
Usually setup so that with little planning you can get bye without being able to do everything. It gives a sense of accomplishment and hope that 80s games lacked (many which went on forever until you died.)
They include elements of all the above human desires to motivate people to go beyond the simple path:
Star collecting is also a form of score.
Coins are a score but have more worth because you get rewarded (in an easy to identify way) plus most the time you collect many of them in the game.
Minor Easter eggs are often so easy you wouldn't think of them that way (but to a child it is--even then its still rewarding.)
Levels / mini games where you race or have limited time.
They've added more "story" to shut up a minority and everybody jokes or bitches about it.
Extra levels or areas within levels that are more difficult and likely unseen by beginners.
Mechanics:
You press ONE button to jump but as you get better you realize the subtle timing involved... not that you couldn't do the whole game without realizing it. The controls try to limit buttons and cover 90% of what needs to be done; skilled users find better shortcuts. Additionally, context plays a part. Throwing fireballs also has you run; many games tend to think this is limiting and give you separate buttons.
Proper punishment system for death; although, they give too many lives in the modern games... Better players are bothered more by death especially when something is hard and those lives do run out. They know they can beat the game but they know they can do better than a 7 year old and not cut corners.
Like everybody else the nuclear power people have promises that are 5 years away... Unlike most others, building that next gen plant will take a decade and cost a crazy amount of money and not prove itself for likely 10 more years. They've had decades of time and billions in welfare money around the world to maintain, build, dispose and enhance nuclear power. The time is up. Many of us will no longer be suckered.
Nuclear power operates at crazy costs and the risks prevent it from being a private venture; therefore, government has to do it then hand it over to private control then provide free regulation and waste storage etc. It always has been too expensive without government covering the costs (while letting private management walk off with profits from our tax money... Yes, if it was fair, they'd pay us back-- but then they'd not be in business either...)
Hey I'm tired. I know I have typos in there. Hell, why does English need this old junk like the letter C anyhow? K and S fill the void just fine.
No need to draw attention by stopping something; flood the infonet with too much bad information and create a bigger haystack. Not to mention all the FUD that can be done much easier now. You could even put out almost true information with slight crazy distortions to make the truth look bad.
The IMPORTANT INFORMATION WAS LARGELY DESTROYED ("mistakenly lost") and whatever might be useful will take forever to dig out and make any sense of.
Criminal neglect never applies to politicians and don't think that they do not know this.
Question a religious person's beliefs and you get a response proportional to the strength of their beliefs.
Rigid science types are no different; it really is similar to religion. As an atheist, I can make this connection from personal observation.
Science is a philosophy and because humans are involved, it has problems with dogmas etc forming around it despite its nature of discouraging all that baggage.
Plenty of things are not tangible; and plenty of of observations are fuzzy and have too many variables that can not be removed. "Soft" sciences must contend with the limitations of science far more than "hard" science; not surprisingly many hard science types shun soft science as if they somehow have a better understanding of science when they are safely within its bounds in their work and never have to venture out into the border areas of science.
Take the human mind. We will never figure it out completely (its a 10**14 node network to begin with.) Exploration of the human mind is not very testable stuff nor is it that tangible either. The complexity results in even correct answers being too broad or being between random and the margin of error - making it near impossible science. Yet, enough of these really really soft science answers have been applied and used on people-- making psychology far more dangerous than physics.
I've seen a leading expert at a convention on primate behavior trying to argue they are conscious like us. Describing how strict science can't provide an answer while half the room got upset. The videos I saw were convincing; one couldn't do anything better than with a human child. It was subjective opinion and science couldn't help the matter.
Science isn't that young; it has a long history of shunning the truth before accepting it.
Ghosts don't exist. But I'm open to seeing if one can find the answer. Could be there is a totally different unknown explanation for why some people experience odd events (even if its just in their mind; thats not a end point but likely an even bigger question.)
Hypnosis is odd stuff. Exploring one's own mind in a totally odd way that provides another perspective. Hard science rejected hypnosis and soft science did as well it even existed for a long time outside of the realm of science; now they've studied it and feel that they know it. (which is another topic... overconfidence.)
Don't bother suggesting things modern science does not understand yet. This is slashdot, home of the rigid narrow minded science types who practice their brand of science like a religious zealot.
One has to experience it to believe anything is going on; its just too "out there" to believe otherwise... but many just dismiss it without testing it; won't even try to explore it. Its a common problem in science; as one can see some of the dismissed and harassed were later vindicated (no, that is not the norm but its far more common that theories are dismissed without serious investigation.)
I've tried a bunch of stuff; just for curiosity. Most was bunk; some was fun even though it was bunk-- like I went on a ghost hunt TV show (cameraman #1) and found it entertaining between long periods of NOTHING. No, there were NO GHOSTS the whole time; but watching them act up over nothing... that was an experience.
Past life regression. interesting stuff. nothing checks out and one is quite creative in that state. (well, 1 lady's story did check out perfectly which was odd...like lottery level odds.) Speaking of which, hypnosis itself had quite a few skeptics...
1) Oregon Trail. Famous government designed video game that taught prioritization and long term planning to kids. (it was sold to private industry where it died a slow death; educational software is not that profitable and provides little benefit when its privately run and designed. I'm merely stating history.)
2) Lemonade Stand. free game on Apple ][. Teaches K-3 level business concepts. I believe it resurfaced about 5 years ago as a turn-based drug dealing business game. I forget the name of it.
Anyhow, stuff existed but failed to get noticed and maintained. Open source research tied games used by public schools would continue past the life of the non-profit (MECC) government funding (MECC) or the platform (Apple ][e)
3)
Everybody blames teachers. I think its largely because americans won't take any blame on themselves!
Teachers do everything... Teachers can't create the tools that currently do not exist.
MOST teachers are like mechanics; if you need something designed you get an engineer not a mechanic.
They do not NEED technology to teach anything in standard K-12 education-- but I'd say that the technology is largely no good and its not the teachers fault. It is however their fault outside of the technology; I won't say they don't use technology as a scape goat because they sometimes do.
A greater problem is GREAT teachers are not properly promoted or evaluated. My BEST teacher was nationally recognized; but they didn't use her skills to help others after giving the award. She was instead FORCED out by politics when she'd be teaching wonderfully until she dropped dead. She washed her hands of the whole mess and still isn't being used!
Now, she'd not have won the award, because the test scores wouldn't be high. The principal gave her all the disturbed or failing kids; she had the worst of the school and they all made so much progress it was unreal (some more than others; still it was miracle work.)
Missing RANT)
Technology and Business are not models for use in education. Just because you have a good hammer doesn't mean you can treat everything like a nail... Education isn't analogous anything else.
Zero tolerance policy and standardized PAPER exams for example fit a square peg into a round hole by making something FUZZY like education RIGID like... technology. If it worked (which it doesn't) then we could replace teachers with computers, robots, and online learning. (I don't mean current online learning where humans are involved in the class...besides those are for adults anyhow.)
I TRY hard to observe students doing some of the work so I can help them; because just turning in homework and getting back a score is something a machine could be doing someday soon.
Rant 6) non experts. Would you like Obama telling you that you MUST run MAC OS on your computer? Sure it would help most the nation (windows users,) but it wouldn't make sense on plenty of computers; and be silly on embedded systems. Education shouldn't be pushed around by people who don't know jack but think they have a clue simply because they went to school. (ex: I've used a computer so therefore I know enough to outlaw everything but windows XP...)
Beneath us?
We can find what works out best through experimentation and research; including on how to properly identify different kinds of learners and kids with emotional issues. Application of science; being soft science, its the greatest challenge to the scientific method (soft science is intractably hard.)
Taking advantage of what works for other countries should be a no brainer. Education is not Intellectual Property and should never be!
Allowing 50 states to try stuff we can see what works and what does not. Populations differ around the USA as well. I have READ some standardized elementary exams and they are a perfect example of what is wrong with one-size fits all. I had a hard time with the phrasing of some questions; they also used class-related vocabulary which would harm smart kids with different backgrounds. One size doesn't fit all.
Sure, I'm saying all the kids, teens, and young adults are guinea pigs. They've always have been and will continue to be until we decide we've found the best methods and stop progress or completely understand the human brain.
Last thing I'd want is Sara Palin 2012 with federal power over public schools. At least she can only screw up her own state.
Me too! I did 2-3 finger typing from about pre-school to middle school; where I gave up my 35wpm speed and learned to type properly by my own choice. It didn't take long to switch and only the minor bad habits took a long time to break.
I know many who took typing and they can't type 1 handed or without symbols labeled on the keys. Outside of my long rants, I would be just fine typing the non-ideal way. Learning how to properly type is something anybody can do on their own; there are plenty of resources to help one do this, if not-- there are classes offered everywhere... But to WASTE free education at a critical time in life on typing-- that is... well, wasteful.
Ironically, my school graduated (a couple) kids who could hardly read and write but they could copy things at 60wpm...
NO!!! I like the ACM, but this is totally WRONG.
Rant 1:
Bring MATH up to par with other nations. Its acceptable for me to say "I can't do math" but I dare not admit "I can't read" or "I can't do english." Its cultural as well as systematic.
The US students have mental blocks on math (NEVER mention math,) they don't understand the use of experimentation, and have been shuffling paperwork and jumping thru tutorials for so long they are shocked when I get my hands on them... Their demands for the old-school methods have resulted in the degradation of other courses over the long term (a few like myself hold out against the trend - its not just the natural understanding gap increasing between instructor and student that makes me see a downward trend.)
I've seen inner city schools doing things ONLINE that create disadvantages for poor students without internet or computer access. If you really want to help, get kids access to a safe internet and a computer that facilitates exploration and experimentation.
Philosophy of Science would be widely useful. Actually, Critical Thinking -- one could fit in Science, Logic, and even some Ethics into that class.
Rant 2:
The computer is just a tool for teaching things that is completely misunderstood and under utilized while at the same time being thoughtlessly applied to education without any supporting evidence for its educational benefits!
The only real work on computers for actual learning that I've seen was done in the 80s and early 90s with LOGO, MECC, and Carmen Sandiego. These all tried alternative methods to use the computer as a tool to teach or build critical thinking skills... NOT teach CS. (Yes, LOGO did do everything.) More RESEARCH based tools should be encouraged like the brain-research that led to EyeQ or Nintendo's Brain Age. Speed reading would seriously change lives.
I've seen girls learn to type fast on their cell phones. They don't need a cell phone typing course to do that. They shouldn't be required to WASTE time learning typing on a computer when they will eventually figure that out. This is a great example of how misused computers in schools are (not to mention the waste of typing-only computer labs when 100 year old typewriters would suffice.)
Rant 3:
Bigger areas are being ignored. they are more important.
Creativity is a whole other area sorely lacking; my mother is an art teacher and the stories she tells sound like we are entering an age of mindless consumer drones. Studies have always shown that right-brained classes like art resulted in better scores in the left-brained classes... Until they wreck these courses (and for 8 years boy they have been trying) those courses will continue exist. I would HATE to see right-brained courses be replaced with more left-brained courses.
BTW: Einstein played an instrument.
Promotion of curiosity wouldn't hurt either... Some form of Omnibus course wouldn't be a bad idea; especially, if it helped find interests that could be leveraged in less interesting courses.
How about Business? Accounting? People can't manage their own credit cards and its pathetic. Nobody learns how to do taxes or run a business... and the LAW or even the constitution-- forget it...
Rant 4:
Students are institutionalized to memorize and do tutorials. Programming problems without example code is a huge break from the mundane norm of the current educational system; however, instead of jolting students with something new to make up for a degraded system (not that the US system was that much better in the past) why don't we improve the existing subjects to be more engaging? I managed to ace 3 years of spanish without learning any spanish! It was the perfect example of the path of the current system.
I DO think learning C++ should count as a foreign language. Would be a better use of time for most students; for all the reasons the ACM states. (If one must learn a language thinking it helps your english then why not learn latin then?)
Rant 5:
Obam
The bankers conspired to leverage the symbolic POWER of Nobel to promote their economic agenda to the world by creating a FAKE NOBEL for economics. The kind of economics that most benefit themselves (bankers) is their motivation in its creation and that bias remains in their selection of winners.
NOBEL PROMOTES SCIENCE NOT PEOPLE!
AWARDS ARE SYMBOLIC PROMOTIONS of industries, careers, and/or ideals.
NOBEL is more important now more than ever; corrupt or not, we live in an age that idolizes karaoke singers, sports people, actors, and war heroes. Science types complain that we need science to be "cool" and well, this is about all we get.
If you want a wider reaching better award you should look at the "Alternative Nobel" http://www.rightlivelihood.org./ This award promotes the important yet unrecognized causes without restriction to a few sciences; which arguably are the least important factor to bringing peace to mankind (ex: "The Apple Orange Award".)
I wonder if children ever learn the purpose of scholastic achievement awards? It seems the same psychology works on adults. Different package, same trick. If that doesn't blow your mind, start applying the aspects of this to academia, political offices, or cultural rituals like marriage.
Doesn't matter if some baseball cheater gets in the hall of fame; outside the fanatics, nobody will remember or care except for the few stand outs on the long list of award winners. The symbolic meaning will be maintained and carried on by continually hyping up the new award winners. Sure, too many bad winners hurt the symbol but it takes a lot and people forget quickly...
Parent misses the all the points including his ad-hom attack on Jimmy Carter.
I highly recommend not eating just anything the FDA allows you to eat. Taking drugs too for that matter.
The shit in the meat is a result of fast slaughtering of the cows and occasional leakage of the bowels of the cow getting into the meat. Its a cost issue. This is besides the facts about the cows and what they feed them etc...
I know a nutritionist who works for a massive corp and she said they figure in the rodent food value even though its a tiny amount. mice get into the food stock and some don't make it out and they do have stats on how many are in there --no they don't attempt to remove them (its not worth the cost of trying to spot a tiny mouse in a large amount of grain.) Food production is NOT what you think it is; nor was it as 'sterile' in the past either...
It also is true that the colors and flavors added are not included in the label (other than a vague reference) and they are hardly regulated (excuse is cost and the small amounts in which they are used; plus the fact that many common ones would make the label a page long.)
McDonalds has its own GRADE of meat that they created because FDA defined grades didn't have the loopholes they wanted. Naturally, the FDA let them do it (approval) - you don't think the FDA wants to waste time/money fighting fast food (and politicians) do you?
I highly recommend reading Fast Food Nation (and AVOID the film.)
Government defines nearly all markets; even the black markets (but in the inverse.) That is central planning to create competition. Same with splitting up monopolies to re-introduce competition is central planning. Its not micromanaging but it is central "planning".
Corporate Welfare has been the NORM in the USA for over a generation! Its not planned in your context nor does it usually promote competition; however, we still have plenty of competition (and not just between lobbyists.)
One way this works is people like politicians that bring in welfare to THEIR state; so while this undermines fair competition-- other groups of people have their politicians trying to get that money brought into their community... They compete for pork; especially the 2004 red states which all took in more federal money than they payed out.) Its the reason the military industry is untouchable.