was annoyed by their suits and thick sparc station laptops.
Indeed. You see someone in Silicon Valley wearing a suit, and there is a good chance he is an Oracle salesman.
Don't ever talk to them. If they get your business card, they will start "going up the chain" by calling the company's receptionist and asking for the name of your manager, then doing the same to get the name of your manager's manager. They keep going until they reach a tech-no-incompetent who is unaware of their reputation, or, even worse, has seen their idiotic ads on the back cover of the Economist magazine.
Pro-tip: If you like hookers and blackjack, then buy a nice tailored suit and convince one of them that YOU are the "decision maker". You will have a great time, but you will never get off their mailing list.
I didn't think Amazon would be using the evil corp products aka Oracle.
Most companies get sucked into the maelstrom by adopting an ERP system that requires Oracle DB as a backend. Then they figure "Hey, we have this DB, so we can use it for everything!" Big mistake.
Whenever I meet someone that uses Oracle ERP, I always ask them if they are happy with it, and would they still make the same decision if they could do it over again. So far, this many people have said yes: 0.
China does this. Every student has to spend a few months working in a factory, or on a farm, or doing military training. My wife is Chinese, and she spent 3 months after her junior year in high school working in a car factory installing door handles. She was paid the same as other factory workers, and was happy to earn some spending money. Her brother trained as a soldier for China's equivalent of our National Guard.
This system made the news in America a few years ago when it was reported that high school students were assembling iPhones in a Foxconn factory. The thought of teenagers doing actual work was shocking to Americans, but is normal in China.
if you're born with Down's, you're not going to be financially successful.
You are moving the goalpost. First you claimed that "No one is born elite", which is obviously false. Now you arguing that "Not everyone is born elite", which is obviously true, but not at all the same statement.
Education reform is an extremely politicized issue in America. The teachers unions are staunch supporters of the Democratic Party, providing donations and staffing for campaigns. 20% of delegates to the Democratic Party Convention belonged to a teachers union. So Democratic politicians will do anything to help the unions, and Republicans will do anything to oppose them, and neither is much concerned about educating the kids.
When the rich move out of the city, it is called "White flight", which is bad. When the rich move into the city, it is called "Gentrification", which is bad.
The problem with TFA is that is conflating many unrelated issues into one made up number.
Are we cutting down too many trees? Yes. We shouldn't cut them down faster than they regrow.
Are we mining too much coal? Yes, but there is NO sustainable level, since no new coal is being made.
Are we using too much iron ore? No, not really. Dig deep enough, and there is an essentially infinite source of iron, and most other metals.
So are stories like this helpful in "raising awareness"? NO, they are not. Stupid alarmism with no specific practical steps just make people roll their eyes, and leads to empathy fatigue.
Also, I have a hard time believing that people in Luxembourg are really as horrible as they claim. I have been there, and there are plenty of thriving forests, efficient vehicles, and recycling bins by every home. If Luxembourg is the "worst of the worst", then I think there is something seriously wrong with their methodology.
Many will be failing due to the situation at home...
Hence the longer hours. Low income students often don't learn much outside school, so keeping them in school longer may help.
If you want low-income students to excel, put one or two in classes with mid to high income students so they get inundated with a better culture and attitude instead, that will do far more good.
... until the high income parents realize that their kids are being used by the system in dumbed down classes, and not being appropriately educated for their own sake, and then they will pack up and move to the suburbs.
A few countries have free or reduced prices for public transportation.
In many countries it is common to see unaccompanied kindergarten kids riding the public bus or train to school. If that happened in America, the parents would be arrested for child endangerment.
If you look at Milwaukee before and after vouchers, and compare similar students in public and private schools, they did about the same... but this is because the public schools improved. They were forced to do so by competition. They trimmed administrative costs, and found a way to fire bad teachers.
... and little improvement
Is that your best argument? That we should stick with the status quo because it is worse than the alternative, but not by much?
Vouchers are not a magical solution that dramatically transform education. But they do seem to marginally improve schools, and they do so by increasing freedom and choice, which is a laudable goal in itself.
Baloney. Who your parents are is the primary determinant of financial success.
Science is clear on this.
What???
Approximately 90% of people who get rich lose it all within three generations.
This factoid refers to people like the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, and Mellons, born into filthy stinking rich families, and then regressing to being "only" filthy rich... and you just made up the "90%" quantification. For "normal" rich people born into the top quintile, they tend to stay there.
Eliminate them entirely for a voucher system that covers everyone.
Vouchers do not eliminate public schools. Where education vouchers have been implemented, 80-90% of students stay in the public schools. The threat of losing students (and revenue) causes the public schools to rapidly improve, and since they have the advantage of pre-existing infrastructure (buildings, teachers, curriculum, etc.) they usually end up keeping most of the students.
It is not going to be $10. MoviePass has already proved that price point is way too low. It is going to be maybe $30.
or $10 per movie
$10 per movie * Zero movies = $0
Which one is better *FOR THE THEATER*? We already know the answer to that.
We don't know the answer. MoviePass has shown that there is a market for a flat fee theater pass. It isn't yet clear if it can be priced to be a net win for theaters.
Netflix can have customers all over the world. Location is irrelevant.
AMC has theaters in over a dozen countries. There is nothing stopping them from expanding and/or cross licensing.
Also, I can't use my American Netflix account to watch movies in Shanghai. I tried. Location is relevant.
Their business model *DEPENDS* on people paying a monthly subscription and then not using it.
Their CURRENT business model depends on that. But that is not the only possible business model.
If people go see movies that they otherwise would not have seen, because the marginal cost is $0, then more money is on the table. With their current business model, the theaters capture this extra money, not MoviePass. But it may make sense for a theater chain, or consortium of chains, to buy them out and use MoviePass to make movie theaters more like Netflix: All you can watch for one flat price.
Slashdot Mirror
was annoyed by their suits and thick sparc station laptops.
Indeed. You see someone in Silicon Valley wearing a suit, and there is a good chance he is an Oracle salesman.
Don't ever talk to them. If they get your business card, they will start "going up the chain" by calling the company's receptionist and asking for the name of your manager, then doing the same to get the name of your manager's manager. They keep going until they reach a tech-no-incompetent who is unaware of their reputation, or, even worse, has seen their idiotic ads on the back cover of the Economist magazine.
Pro-tip: If you like hookers and blackjack, then buy a nice tailored suit and convince one of them that YOU are the "decision maker". You will have a great time, but you will never get off their mailing list.
I didn't think Amazon would be using the evil corp products aka Oracle.
Most companies get sucked into the maelstrom by adopting an ERP system that requires Oracle DB as a backend. Then they figure "Hey, we have this DB, so we can use it for everything!" Big mistake.
Whenever I meet someone that uses Oracle ERP, I always ask them if they are happy with it, and would they still make the same decision if they could do it over again. So far, this many people have said yes: 0.
Oracle can keep circling the drain.
Oracle's profits are at record highs. Never underestimate the power of the dark side.
China does this. Every student has to spend a few months working in a factory, or on a farm, or doing military training. My wife is Chinese, and she spent 3 months after her junior year in high school working in a car factory installing door handles. She was paid the same as other factory workers, and was happy to earn some spending money. Her brother trained as a soldier for China's equivalent of our National Guard.
This system made the news in America a few years ago when it was reported that high school students were assembling iPhones in a Foxconn factory. The thought of teenagers doing actual work was shocking to Americans, but is normal in China.
if you're born with Down's, you're not going to be financially successful.
You are moving the goalpost. First you claimed that "No one is born elite", which is obviously false. Now you arguing that "Not everyone is born elite", which is obviously true, but not at all the same statement.
Try reading these Wiki pages, and see if you can understand the difference:
Existential Quantification
Universal Quantification
The reasoning is that if they teach at one school yet live in a different school district then they can choose which school their kids attend.
Why should teachers be allowed to choose, when "normal" citizens can not?
Giving special privileges to insiders, thus shielding them from their own system's problems, doesn't seem like a good way to get those problems fixed.
So, what would be a way to fix that?
That depends on whom you ask.
Education reform is an extremely politicized issue in America. The teachers unions are staunch supporters of the Democratic Party, providing donations and staffing for campaigns. 20% of delegates to the Democratic Party Convention belonged to a teachers union. So Democratic politicians will do anything to help the unions, and Republicans will do anything to oppose them, and neither is much concerned about educating the kids.
When the rich move out of the city, it is called "White flight", which is bad.
When the rich move into the city, it is called "Gentrification", which is bad.
The problem with TFA is that is conflating many unrelated issues into one made up number.
Are we cutting down too many trees? Yes. We shouldn't cut them down faster than they regrow.
Are we mining too much coal? Yes, but there is NO sustainable level, since no new coal is being made.
Are we using too much iron ore? No, not really. Dig deep enough, and there is an essentially infinite source of iron, and most other metals.
So are stories like this helpful in "raising awareness"? NO, they are not. Stupid alarmism with no specific practical steps just make people roll their eyes, and leads to empathy fatigue.
Also, I have a hard time believing that people in Luxembourg are really as horrible as they claim. I have been there, and there are plenty of thriving forests, efficient vehicles, and recycling bins by every home. If Luxembourg is the "worst of the worst", then I think there is something seriously wrong with their methodology.
Many will be failing due to the situation at home ...
Hence the longer hours. Low income students often don't learn much outside school, so keeping them in school longer may help.
If you want low-income students to excel, put one or two in classes with mid to high income students so they get inundated with a better culture and attitude instead, that will do far more good.
... until the high income parents realize that their kids are being used by the system in dumbed down classes, and not being appropriately educated for their own sake, and then they will pack up and move to the suburbs.
The teachers are payed by the ministry of education, you have something like this in the US, right?
No. We have a Department of Education, but they do not pay teachers. They mostly focus on who uses which toilet.
The teachers are payed by the state.
No. Teachers are not paid by the state. They are paid by local school districts.
If the teachers suck, you fire them and hire better ones
No. In most American states, public school teachers can't be fired for incompetence.
Is your country really such retarded?
Yes.
The city I live in already does it for teacher's kids ...
Why should the children of teachers get special treatment?
A few countries have free or reduced prices for public transportation.
In many countries it is common to see unaccompanied kindergarten kids riding the public bus or train to school. If that happened in America, the parents would be arrested for child endangerment.
Really? Look at Milwaukee
If you look at Milwaukee before and after vouchers, and compare similar students in public and private schools, they did about the same ... but this is because the public schools improved. They were forced to do so by competition. They trimmed administrative costs, and found a way to fire bad teachers.
... and little improvement
Is that your best argument? That we should stick with the status quo because it is worse than the alternative, but not by much?
Vouchers are not a magical solution that dramatically transform education. But they do seem to marginally improve schools, and they do so by increasing freedom and choice, which is a laudable goal in itself.
With public schools already tightly strapped for cash ...
Public schools have one administrator for every two teachers.
Private schools have one administrator for every five teachers.
No one is born elite.
Baloney. Who your parents are is the primary determinant of financial success.
Science is clear on this.
What???
Approximately 90% of people who get rich lose it all within three generations.
This factoid refers to people like the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, and Mellons, born into filthy stinking rich families, and then regressing to being "only" filthy rich ... and you just made up the "90%" quantification. For "normal" rich people born into the top quintile, they tend to stay there.
On a side note, doesn't this show that our systems are inherently weak ?
Duh. Any system based on the same information being both secret and widely shared is inherently weak.
The solution is to implement the fixes that the rest of the world has already done.
Note that the Ukrainians only stole American CC #s.
Why buy out MoviePass? They just had a concept that can be easily duplicated.
Because it can't be easily duplicated. Everyone knows about MoviePass. It has enormous name recognition. "JlvPass" has none.
Netflix is also "just a concept". Do you really think you can create a new Netflix?
And it already has been: AMC added it's own one price per month subscription service.
How many subscribers do they have? Two?
Eliminate them entirely for a voucher system that covers everyone.
Vouchers do not eliminate public schools. Where education vouchers have been implemented, 80-90% of students stay in the public schools. The threat of losing students (and revenue) causes the public schools to rapidly improve, and since they have the advantage of pre-existing infrastructure (buildings, teachers, curriculum, etc.) they usually end up keeping most of the students.
10 movies a month for $10
It is not going to be $10. MoviePass has already proved that price point is way too low. It is going to be maybe $30.
or $10 per movie
$10 per movie * Zero movies = $0
Which one is better *FOR THE THEATER*? We already know the answer to that.
We don't know the answer. MoviePass has shown that there is a market for a flat fee theater pass. It isn't yet clear if it can be priced to be a net win for theaters.
Netflix can have customers all over the world. Location is irrelevant.
AMC has theaters in over a dozen countries. There is nothing stopping them from expanding and/or cross licensing.
Also, I can't use my American Netflix account to watch movies in Shanghai. I tried. Location is relevant.
Replying to an argument rooted in science with an argument rooted in ideology.
Saying "I read it in a paper somewhere" does not make an argument "rooted in science".
Science is about evidence. The "evidence" that coercion and central planning delivers good results is non-existent.
if you're destined for the upper classes, you should learn empathy for the lower classes.
Citation needed. Most evidence says that success is negatively correlated with empathy ...
Something utterly absent in elites on both political left and right today,
... and there you go. Ergo, if you want to be one of the elites, empathy isn't going to help you get there.
Their business model *DEPENDS* on people paying a monthly subscription and then not using it.
Their CURRENT business model depends on that. But that is not the only possible business model.
If people go see movies that they otherwise would not have seen, because the marginal cost is $0, then more money is on the table. With their current business model, the theaters capture this extra money, not MoviePass. But it may make sense for a theater chain, or consortium of chains, to buy them out and use MoviePass to make movie theaters more like Netflix: All you can watch for one flat price.
The question is, how do they get there from here.
Making the schools mandatory would lessen their incentive to improve even more.
If removing freedom of choice actually created better results, capitalism would be dead, and all our cities would have statues of Karl Marx.
We should be trying to broaden choices in education, rather than reducing them.
Sorry, I didn't realize you guys were talking about building only the receiver. Sure, a skilled machinist could do that in 2 hours.