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  1. Re:Unconstitutional on OSI Refers Novell Patent Deal To Authorities · · Score: 1

    The Supreme Court isn't infallible they are only humans and can make wrong decisions. The Supreme Court has made some bad decisions in my opinion. I personally think that many on the Supreme Court let their politics and personal feelings taint their judgment rather than ruling strictly based on the US Constitution. Our court systems have become screwy and, in my opinion, illegal. They are basically getting laws created by what is done in courts, and only the legislative branch is empowered to create new laws. The Supreme Court has done the exact same thing, and in several cases clearly ignored the Constitution and ruled for things that have taken our rights away. The whole process has become far too political and in many ways illegal.

  2. Re:oh yeah on OSI Refers Novell Patent Deal To Authorities · · Score: 1

    We need totally free markets. We need less government regulations which create artificial barriers to new players in the markets. We need less government incentives that prop up companies with bad business models and give unfair advantages to some corporations. We need to keep monopolies under control. We need to allow any business to fail that screws up and makes stupid decisions and not bail them out. We need the government to stop giving monopolies to companies and protecting companies with laws just for the select few.

    We need corporations to completely disclose all risks associated with the their products and clear disclosure of the exact cost of their product. This will allow consumers to make informed decisions about how much risk they are willing to take and at what price.

    We need the government to get the hell out of the way and let companies compete on level playing fields. True free markets have created more wealth and more jobs than any other form of government/society in the past. Is it perfect? Maybe not but its the best system we currently have world wide. What we have now isn't totally free markets, we have serious barriers to entry and corporations pulling all kinds of dirty tricks to knock out competitors or startups that try to compete against them.

    We have a serious case of corporatism in the US, and that is the major problem. Corporations should have be able to have any influence over the laws in this country or be able to write their own bills then try and get someone in Congress to get them passed. We the people have allowed this to go on for too long and we never learn that we aren't voting change in to Congress. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are arms of the same house, both love to spend and do favors for corporations. The only difference is what they love to spend money on. Both grab us much power from the people as they can possibly grab, and they have become drunk on that power. Federal government was never designed to be this big monster. It was to do a few limited things and stay the hell out of the state and people's lives for the most part. The closer a government body is to you the more power it should have. Not some bureaucracy hundreds of miles away telling people what to do.

  3. Re:Wouldn't the Sherman AntiTrust Act apply in the on OSI Refers Novell Patent Deal To Authorities · · Score: 1

    Well I would say that Microsoft would disagree with you to a certain extent. They were convicted of being a monopoly but managed to lobby, buy, campaign contributions their way out of a serious punishment but they were indeed convicted of being a monopoly and illegally leveraging that. So I would say the anti-trust act is still used, but some of the teeth may have been removed by the political process.

  4. Re:Laptop use essential on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    This is absolutely 100% not true. I have seen many people show up to company meetings with laptops to take notes and show things off for the meeting. I have worked for years as a consultant and I definitely used a laptop to take notes with clients, and to be sure that what they needed done was what I was typing. It also allowed the client to make sure they were getting their points across. The most common issue I run into is not a client saying they want something, but listening to everything the list, and then actually figuring out what it is that they really want and what the real problem is that they are trying to solve. Keeping notes is very helpful for this. Learn to do that, know what a client really means and really wants, and you will be a great consultant and make tons of money. Notes about the meeting also helps reduce the issue of contract feature creep. It doesn't complete eliminate it, but it can help.

  5. Re:Try this. on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    If a mere screensaver is distracting to you, then you have far more serious issues that need to be addressed like your ability to focus and concentrate. A silent screensaver should not be able to distract you from a lecture.

  6. Re:I agree - for large lectures on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    I found that most professors actually didn't want to hear from a few select students because they challenged everything, and think way outside the box. I found this to be a serious problem with class discussions in college. I many times read far more information about the class material than just the textbook and would have complex discussions about the truth of the material and how it is applied to the business world. This never went over well especially when I compared how it all actually worked in the business world, and how it could make a company run more effectively. Yes I did go on to become an entrepreneur and was quite successful at it until I got out of the business.

  7. Re:Why not ban mandatory attendence of lectures? on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    The sad thing is...this is so true today from students who graduate from most colleges and universities. I found it to be a real problem when I had to hire people. The greatest skills an employee can have in the business world, at least to me, are logical thinking, critical thinking/reasoning, ability to learn new things quickly and to be able to research information to find the truth and why it is the truth. The other huge skill that is so hard to teach people who have never even tried to develop the skill is effectively managing people of various group sizes.

    These types of skills are absolutely needed for entrepreneurs, and people who work in start-ups especially.

  8. Re:For the most part yeah. on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    You shouldn't be covering the book in class at all. You should be lecturing on applying that information, and teaching critical thinking to the students about the material, and challenging them to find out if the material is true and why that is. The worse problem I had as a business owner was the lack of critical thinking by college graduates and those who could not logically problem solve something if it wasn't clearly laid out how to handle the problem in a business environment.

    Universities and colleges are failing in a dramatic fashion to teach students to think logically, problem solve through critical thinking, and to challenge all information to know if it is correct or not. This only hurts the business world, and creates fewer entrepreneurs which this country desperately needs more of. The business world doesn't need more drones. We need people who can deal with a whole host of issues on their own without someone looking over their shoulder all the time. If I wanted to micro-manage someone in my company I would do the job myself. I needed smart capable people, who can problem solve, challenge information and make sure they know the correct thing and why it is correct, and effectively manage any size group of people. People who can do these things and do them well are worth a lot in the business world. These are the type of people employers hope to find. I am in the computer industry. I didn't need people who just learned from a book and aren't able to go beyond it. I interviewed dozens of these type of people and never hired them. You didn't have to know everything for the position in my business, but you absolutely did need to able to learn on the fly, to adapt, apply critical thinking and be able to effectively deal with all kind of people on a daily basis. I was more than willing to teach a person how we do things and get them up to speed for the company. I was not going to micro-manage someone or deal with someone who can't figure out solutions to problems on their own for a large percentage of things.

  9. Re:Yes, you are right on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    You ever did that to me, and it was clearly on purpose, you would find the police there to ask you questions. That is not being an adult about conflict resolution. That is being childish in your behavior. Sounds like you definitely need to develop better conflict resolution skills. I would also have you up before the school review board for violating the student code of conduct if it was done on purpose. That type of behavior is not acceptable. You are destroying someone's property, which is far different than someone using a laptop which you personally find annoying.

    If it wasn't clear that it was on purpose you and I would been having a discussion about when you are going to replace the laptop because of your carelessness. Small claims court is a great way to get people to deal with their responsibilities.

  10. Re:Yes, you are right on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 0

    You obviously missed when I said I get so focused on the professor's lecture that I have missed calls. So no vibrate doesn't work for me. Not everyone is the same, and hopefully you learn that before to long. I do the exact same thing at conferences and professional business presentations as well. When I ran my own business, I'll be damned if anyone is going to tell me I can't take a call during a conference lecture. I will get up and leave the room, but I absolutely am going to take that call because my office knew not to call me unless it was very important. I am not going to leave it on vibrate because I have missed so many calls doing that. I don't always feel the phone vibrating. That is how it works in the real world and I was not the only one who did this. You will see this type of behavior all the time at conferences, especially when large percentages of those in attendance own their own business. I saw this happen even more when I was doing medical software and medical conferences. Doctors absolutely can not be out of touch from their offices if there is a problem with a patient or whatever the issue might be. Before cellphone doctor's carried pagers and you would hear them go off and see doctors leave the presentation to call their office and see what the issue was. So this type of behavior has been going on for years.

    That is how the real world works, and professors at universities should realize that and adapt.

  11. Re:I don't need no steenkin' permission... on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 2

    Why is that? Because you think that you write well that everyone should have to be able to do that? Guess what in the real world no one writes by hand anymore. They type everything they do in the business world so it is easily readable by everyone. Also some of us can type faster than we can write. I type much faster than I write, of course I grew up on computers from the time I was 8, so have had years of experience sitting in front of keyboard typing that others may not have. That is still no reason to punish me because you can't deal with laptops. I can actually type every word the professor is saying in class. Can you write every word that they say?

  12. Re:I don't need no steenkin' permission... on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 2

    If I ever had a problem with a student I would ask them to be quite or leave the class directly. If they are still a jerk then I get a little louder and say it so the whole class can hear and use peer pressure to make them fall into line. I don't expect someone else to deal with my problems for me. I deal with them directly on my own in a reasonable and peaceful manner. If students haven't learned how to do this then they better learn because it is a skill they absolutely have to have once they leave college. It is need on the job, and needed in dealing with other adults in a responsible manner when there is a conflict.

    Banning laptops is not the answer here. If one student is a problem, address that student directly and respectfully resolve the issue. Don't make capricious rules against everyone because of a few students who are an issue.

    The government and universities are not there to take care of you and create a nanny state. Learn to deal with this problems on your own rather than jumping immediately to creating rules and laws to deal with something you don't like.

  13. Re:Why not ban mandatory attendence of lectures? on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    You should do what I did. Take clep tests for as many of your classes as possible to blaze through all the low level stuff you already know and get to the meat of the courses that teach you new things. You may not need a professor except for the occasional question about the material or to verify your thoughts on the material. There are a lot of students who learn much better on their own at their own speed and professors need to be flexible enough to deal with that. I rarely needed professors until I got to the 400 level classes and then only to answer a few question about the material. The main issue was just the time to read through the class material in a couple of months. If I could have done independent study in college I would have done much better and gotten through at much faster rate than I did. Not every student needs to sit through lectures and professors need to learn not everyone is the same, and they can't treat each student the same.

  14. Re:Why not ban mandatory attendence of lectures? on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    I hated professors who had mandatory attendance policies. I only needed to see a professor if I have a few select questions about the material. Other than that I just showed up for the major tests and always aced them. Used to piss off professors, but I never understood why that would be. They are getting paid/credit for me being in their class even if I don't show up. So why do they care if I don't show up except for tests which I clearly pass. The only exception might possibly be lab work, but seems to me that you could do even that on your own time at your own schedule.

  15. Re:For the most part yeah. on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    How about the fact that most professors don't actually read the book in class and expect you to have already read it. So it shouldn't bother you one bit if they blaze through a power point that is pulled from the book, so they can quickly cover the information and get to the discussion about the material. In the past they wouldn't even go over the book, they would just launch into a lecture about the material you should have already read outside of class. I can't think of a single college class I took that didn't work this way. If you expect them to cover the book then there is a basic misunderstanding that you have with how college works. The lecture is for further developing ideas from the book, and allowing students to ask questions about the material.

  16. Re:Yes, you are right on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    Actually you are 100% wrong. I have asked fellow classmates many times in class to be quite or leave the classroom so I can hear a lecture. Not once did I ever have a problem. Only compete jerks are going to make a huge issue out of such a simple request. In that case you can drag the whole class to a halt and use the peer pressure of the whole class to get them to fall in line. It works every single time. It's called developing conflict resolution skills and taking personal responsibility for my education that I was paying for.

  17. Re:Yes, you are right on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 0

    You have no idea why a student may let their cell phone ring in class. That is being rude and treating them like children. You ever did that to me when I was a student in your class and we would have a major problem and I would being filing a grievance with the president of the college against you. I tend to get very focused on professors lecture and have missed very important calls before. If I have a parent in the hospital or some other serious thing going I am absolutely going to have my ringer on to get my attention then step out in to the hall to take the call. You go touching my property and we are going to have a major problem. You don't do that in public outside a university, why in the world would you suddenly think that it would be acceptable just because you in are an university.

    Sounds like you forget that you work for the students, and the students aren't there to make your life easier. You are there to do whatever it takes to teach them the material. You are not their mother and you are not there to teach them social skills. Ask them to leave if they get a call. Don't go putting your hands on their property. Doing that outside of a university setting is a good way for you to end up in legal trouble. You do the same thing in a movie theater or at a professional conference paper presentation/lecture? I bet not. So it isn't acceptable for you to do it in a class room either. Being the professor doesn't somehow make you free from legal issues or allow you to lord yourself over your students.

  18. Re:Yes, you are right on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 2

    Hey if students can't deal with respectfully dealing with someone that they have a conflict with then they are headed for huge trouble down the road as an adult. This is the perfect place and time to learn how to build these social skills. They want to be adults then treat them like adults and they should act like adults. They should directly and peacefully deal with their problems and not expect someone else to deal with their problems. People need to develop some personal responsibility rather than developing more nanny state to take care of them. When I was in college if someone pissed me off in class I would speak up and tell them to be quite or they can leave. Never had any problem with fellow students after that. I had personal responsibility for myself and my education when I was in college. To say that someone can't deal with it is a cop-out and they better learn that skill because it is absolutely needed in the work place, and out in the real world later in their life. When their bank screws them over, they can't expect someone else to call the bank on it and deal with the issue. Or when anything similar happens. You want to piss of your neighbors around the house you own, call the cops every time you have a problem with a neighbor rather, than trying to work it out with them on your own peacefully. They have to learn how to do conflict resolution and deal with people doing things they don't like. College is the perfect place to learn this, and it's part of growing up and becoming an adult.

  19. Re:I don't need no steenkin' permission... on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    Yes let's develop more nanny state for people who can't deal with issues themselves and make the rest of us suffer. Yea taking away people's rights to choose what they want to do as adults is such great idea. If people don't behave confront them directly, don't make stupid rules just because you are afraid to confront the people who are actually bothering you. That is called being an adult to respectfully resolve conflicts you have with a person instead of freaking out and expecting someone else to deal with your issues. Take some personal responsibility people.

  20. Re:College is a choice.... on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1

    That doesn't work at most colleges because so much of the lecture material is available online at the university's web site. A lot of professors direct people to certain web pages to get information rather than draw diagrams on the chalkboards. This is the Internet age, get with it. Universities sure have.

  21. Re:College is a choice... on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 0

    Actually no it isn't. The students pay his salary by choosing to attend his class. If he had no students in his classes, the university would let him go. So he is directly responsible to the students to do whatever it is on his part to help them learn the material. So many professors have forgotten they are there to help people learn. The students aren't there to make his life easier, nor do they necessarily have to do anything to make his life easier. If it hard to teach this particular class of students compared to others, too bad that's what they get paid for. If they don't like how this works they are free to go get a different job.

  22. Re:College is a choice... on Should Colleges Ban Classroom Laptop Use? · · Score: 1, Insightful

    No actually there isn't. We do not need more nanny state. If students want to waste their college education that is up to them. Most people forget that so many college have everything online for classes so you can see and read about the information the professor is giving in class. Students also take notes with their laptop. So no banning laptops is not a reasonable reaction. Just learn to ignore the typing, which is no worse than someone scribbling like mad on paper. The government or schools are not here to regulate every little bit of your life. Grow up, learn to deal with people's differences and things that annoy you. People need to learn to take responsibility for themselves and not expect someone else to take care of them or deal with their problems.

  23. Re:Stupid is as stupid does. on Real-Life Frogger Ends In Hospital Visit · · Score: 1

    Actually the public doesn't pay for people with no insurance when they go to the ER typically. The reason is most hospitals are private hospitals, so the tax payer never gets involved when the private hospital can't collect a debt. You might want to read up on how private medicine works in this country, since most of it is private medicine, rather than public government hospitals and doctors.

  24. Re:Stupid is as stupid does. on Real-Life Frogger Ends In Hospital Visit · · Score: 1

    Actually that isn't true. You need to reread the law on this. Hospitals can't turn you away if it *LIFE THREATENING*. If you come in with a cold they can turn you away if they want if you don't have insurance. Most private hospitals won't do that because of the possible negative PR, but legally they can. Private hospitals can also stabilize you and transfer you to public hospitals as well if you don't have insurance.

  25. Re:Stupid is as stupid does. on Real-Life Frogger Ends In Hospital Visit · · Score: 1

    Negotiated rates with insurance companies is why cash patients get screwed and the hospitals know this and don't care. This is why when people quote the costs of uninsured ER visits the numbers are hugely inflated compared to what hospitals are paid by insurance companies. So this idea that hospital are losing massive amount of money to the uninsured is complete crap. It's a myth and if you look at public hospital balance sheet you will see this. If you know someone on the board of a private hospital who can get you this information for the private hospital, you will see the exact same thing.