CS should be an elective, so it should be up to each student to chose it in place of another elective.
Some programming should be integrated into math and science classes. For instance, calculus class should include a section on numerical integration using Simpson's method, and numerical solution of polynomials using Newton-Raphson, etc.
you'd need to outfit and maintain a CS lab of some sort.
There are plenty of web based interpreters that can run on any device with a browser. No "lab" is needed.
Most fast food doesn't require utensils. Burgers, fried chicken, and pizza are all "finger food". Chinese takeout uses wood or bamboo chopsticks, which are biodegradable.
When I get plastic utensils or straws with my order, 90% of the time I throw them out without even using them. I for one welcome the ban. Good riddance.
Or if lots of kids aren't paying attention, they could be dismissed and allowed to roam the streets freely
If most of the kids are not paying attention, that is the teacher's fault. Any subject can be interesting if presented in the right way. I once took an evening course on "Introduction to Bookkeeping" at my local community college. The 80 year old geezer teaching the course kept us on the edge of our seats with stories of how he uncovered fraud, embezzling and lapping. Did you ever see the movie The Accountant? I think it was about him.
Not everywhere. Some rural inland provinces are very poor. But TFA is about Hangzhou, one of the most prosperous cities in China, with a per capita GDP higher than some EU countries.
Hangzhou is about two hours south of Shanghai by train, and well worth visiting. It is a beautiful city, built around a lake, with a lot of old architecture. It is a great place to spend a quiet weekend away from the bustle of Shanghai.
The electrical costs of most manufacturing is less than the labor cost,
That depends on what you are manufacturing. If you are making iPhones, the labor will cost more. If you are making aluminum ingots, the electricity will cost more. So Apple manufactures in Shenzhen, China, while Alcoa manufactures in Wenatchee, Washington.
Scientific Advertising was published in 1923, and most successful advertising has been run by the "math men" ever since. I remember Darren on "Bewitched", who was an ad exec who came up with a cute slogan to impress the client in nearly every episode. But even in the 1960s advertising didn't really work that way. Instead of nodding and saying "I like it", the client would actually say "Show me the data".
What Google and Facebook change is that they make scientific advertising MUCH easier. Back in the 90s, my company used to run A-vs-B ads collated in card decks to test prospective ads before running them in magazines. It would take months to get results. Today, you can test dozens of ads, and see the results in days or even hours. It is also much easier to segment the target audience, and either give different messages to different groups, or just exclude groups unlikely to respond.
Kids are denied the freedom that used to be normal.
Can you cite any actual real evidence that this is true? Both parents are more likely to work today than in the past, so kids are often left home alone. This means less supervision, the opposite of what you claim.
Usually when people talk about how the world is going to hell, and things aren't like "the good ole days", it is just a load of bullcrap unsupported by data.
Baby boomers: The transistor. The laser. The internet. Manned moon landings. Manufacturer to the world.
None of these things were done by Boomers. Boomers were the generation born from 1944 to 1964. The oldest were in grade school when the transistor and laser were invented. They were in high school when the space program was launched.
will this popping bubble take down profitable tech companies with it?
Unlikely. Back in the 90s, tech companies invested a lot in each other. Equipment, hosting, and services were often exchanged for equity. That isn't happening much this time. If/when Uber finally implodes the only losers will be VCs, who already have a high loss rate built into their business model.
The problem is that power generation and distribution is a natural monopoly.
No. Distribution is a natural monopoly. Generation is not. There is no reason that the same company should do both, and in many jurisdictions they do not.
Indeed. I subscribe to The Economist, and consider it the best news magazine available. I learn new things every week.
"1843" is fluff. They sent me several free issues trying to get me to subscribe, but I didn't see a single article that I wanted to read. TFA confirms that I am not missing anything.
It surprises me that the two publications can be so different in quality, yet come from the same organization.
1. Some of the school shootings DID have armed guards, and the guards (obviously) didn't prevent the shooting. At Parkland, the guard didn't intervene at all.
2. Most the the kids killed are shot within the first few seconds. Nearly all are shot with two minutes of the shooter opening fire. So a guard is likely to intervene too late to do much good.
3. Putting armed guards and metal detectors may make school violence WORSE, by creating a siege mentality, and sucking kids into the criminal justice system for petty offenses that would have otherwise been handled administratively. There is some evidence that cops-in-schools not only create more crime in the school, but in the surrounding community as well.
4. It is an extremely expensive solution targeted at a very small problem. School shootings account for less than 0.1% of gun deaths in America. Even for children, they account for less than 2% of gun deaths. A kid is FAR more likely to be shot at home. Spending on things like mental health instead would address school shootings as well as the other 99.9%.
5. The ONLY thing that has had a proven and dramatic effect on gun violence in America is a reduction in environmental lead. Removing lead from gasoline caused the homicide (but not the suicide rate) to fall by 50%. There is PLENTY more we could do: black kids have twice the blood lead levels of white kids. Prison inmates have three times the blood lead levels of the population average. Spending billions of dollars on "armed guards for schools" when we can't even give them all clean water is an absurd misallocation of resources.
That would be the no willpower to actually do anything problem.
The people complaining about this game, and the people opposed to further restrictions on guns are mostly DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
Polls in the US show a majority of voters favour increased gun control.
Politics doesn't work that way. How many people favoring more restrictions are willing to change their vote because of that single issue? Historically, it has been very few. How many people opposed to further restrictions are willing to change their vote? Historically, it was enough for Republican landslide victories in 1994, and 2010.
What about the complete disparity between people getting angry about a game involving school shootings, while also having absolutely no willpower to actually do anything about real school shootings?
What do you propose they do about "real school shootings"? They can't ban or restrict guns because there is insufficient political support for that. They can't increase spending on mental health because there is no political support for that either. Armed guards in every school is a stupid idea for many reasons. So what do you propose?
Bugs are only eaten in cultures which have no other dietary options.
I am not so sure about that. I have mostly seen insects eaten as a delicacy or a special treat. Like honeypot ants for dessert, or a bowl of delicious fried crickets as an after dinner snack.
(B) I guess Germany is paying a lot more for electricity than they realize.
Electricity in Germany is hecka expensive. They are a shining example of what NOT to do: Don't let politicians make technical decisions, and don't do massive roll-outs of immature technology.
Shutting down their nukes was insane. Building new nukes may not make sense, but the main reason is the enormous capital expense in the construction and startup, and the costs of the shutdown and cleanup. But for Germany, those were all sunk costs. They had stable, operating nukes, generating clean reliable power. They threw all of that away to go back to burning filthy brown coal.
Also, salt spray drops off very quickly with altitude. Typical offshore turbines are more than 100 meters above sea level, and the biggest are over 200 meters ASL. Up that high, the amount of salt in the air is negligible.
Slashdot Mirror
Fair enough. What would you replace?
CS should be an elective, so it should be up to each student to chose it in place of another elective.
Some programming should be integrated into math and science classes. For instance, calculus class should include a section on numerical integration using Simpson's method, and numerical solution of polynomials using Newton-Raphson, etc.
you'd need to outfit and maintain a CS lab of some sort.
There are plenty of web based interpreters that can run on any device with a browser. No "lab" is needed.
This will hurt fast food
Most fast food doesn't require utensils. Burgers, fried chicken, and pizza are all "finger food". Chinese takeout uses wood or bamboo chopsticks, which are biodegradable.
When I get plastic utensils or straws with my order, 90% of the time I throw them out without even using them. I for one welcome the ban. Good riddance.
Or build desalinization plants.
Patching leaky pipes is WAY more cost effective than building energy-hungry desalination plants.
Obvious solution: Raise the price of water.
Higher prices will incentivize consumers to conserve, producers to produce, and distributers to fix the leaks in their pipes.
Or if lots of kids aren't paying attention, they could be dismissed and allowed to roam the streets freely
If most of the kids are not paying attention, that is the teacher's fault. Any subject can be interesting if presented in the right way. I once took an evening course on "Introduction to Bookkeeping" at my local community college. The 80 year old geezer teaching the course kept us on the edge of our seats with stories of how he uncovered fraud, embezzling and lapping. Did you ever see the movie The Accountant? I think it was about him.
Does China even have indoor plumbing?
Not everywhere. Some rural inland provinces are very poor. But TFA is about Hangzhou, one of the most prosperous cities in China, with a per capita GDP higher than some EU countries.
Hangzhou is about two hours south of Shanghai by train, and well worth visiting. It is a beautiful city, built around a lake, with a lot of old architecture. It is a great place to spend a quiet weekend away from the bustle of Shanghai.
Or if lots of kids are not paying attention, they can fire the teacher and hire a new teacher able to make the lessons more interesting.
The electrical costs of most manufacturing is less than the labor cost,
That depends on what you are manufacturing. If you are making iPhones, the labor will cost more. If you are making aluminum ingots, the electricity will cost more. So Apple manufactures in Shenzhen, China, while Alcoa manufactures in Wenatchee, Washington.
The invisible hand of the market should fix this
You are proposing abuse of monopoly pricing power. That is not "the invisible hand of the market".
0-50kWh/day at 10c (or whatever it is now)
50+ at $1
No worries.
That would put a lot of local companies out of business.
How about this instead: Charge enough to cover costs, and don't worry about what customer is doing with it. They paid for it, so it is theirs.
Scientific Advertising was published in 1923, and most successful advertising has been run by the "math men" ever since. I remember Darren on "Bewitched", who was an ad exec who came up with a cute slogan to impress the client in nearly every episode. But even in the 1960s advertising didn't really work that way. Instead of nodding and saying "I like it", the client would actually say "Show me the data".
What Google and Facebook change is that they make scientific advertising MUCH easier. Back in the 90s, my company used to run A-vs-B ads collated in card decks to test prospective ads before running them in magazines. It would take months to get results. Today, you can test dozens of ads, and see the results in days or even hours. It is also much easier to segment the target audience, and either give different messages to different groups, or just exclude groups unlikely to respond.
Kids are denied the freedom that used to be normal.
Can you cite any actual real evidence that this is true? Both parents are more likely to work today than in the past, so kids are often left home alone. This means less supervision, the opposite of what you claim.
Usually when people talk about how the world is going to hell, and things aren't like "the good ole days", it is just a load of bullcrap unsupported by data.
Baby boomers: The transistor. The laser. The internet. Manned moon landings. Manufacturer to the world.
None of these things were done by Boomers. Boomers were the generation born from 1944 to 1964. The oldest were in grade school when the transistor and laser were invented. They were in high school when the space program was launched.
will this popping bubble take down profitable tech companies with it?
Unlikely. Back in the 90s, tech companies invested a lot in each other. Equipment, hosting, and services were often exchanged for equity. That isn't happening much this time. If/when Uber finally implodes the only losers will be VCs, who already have a high loss rate built into their business model.
The problem is that power generation and distribution is a natural monopoly.
No. Distribution is a natural monopoly. Generation is not. There is no reason that the same company should do both, and in many jurisdictions they do not.
The Economist magazine has useful articles.
Indeed. I subscribe to The Economist, and consider it the best news magazine available. I learn new things every week.
"1843" is fluff. They sent me several free issues trying to get me to subscribe, but I didn't see a single article that I wanted to read. TFA confirms that I am not missing anything.
It surprises me that the two publications can be so different in quality, yet come from the same organization.
How about you list a few of those "many"?
Sure:
1. Some of the school shootings DID have armed guards, and the guards (obviously) didn't prevent the shooting. At Parkland, the guard didn't intervene at all.
2. Most the the kids killed are shot within the first few seconds. Nearly all are shot with two minutes of the shooter opening fire. So a guard is likely to intervene too late to do much good.
3. Putting armed guards and metal detectors may make school violence WORSE, by creating a siege mentality, and sucking kids into the criminal justice system for petty offenses that would have otherwise been handled administratively. There is some evidence that cops-in-schools not only create more crime in the school, but in the surrounding community as well.
4. It is an extremely expensive solution targeted at a very small problem. School shootings account for less than 0.1% of gun deaths in America. Even for children, they account for less than 2% of gun deaths. A kid is FAR more likely to be shot at home. Spending on things like mental health instead would address school shootings as well as the other 99.9%.
5. The ONLY thing that has had a proven and dramatic effect on gun violence in America is a reduction in environmental lead. Removing lead from gasoline caused the homicide (but not the suicide rate) to fall by 50%. There is PLENTY more we could do: black kids have twice the blood lead levels of white kids. Prison inmates have three times the blood lead levels of the population average. Spending billions of dollars on "armed guards for schools" when we can't even give them all clean water is an absurd misallocation of resources.
That would be the no willpower to actually do anything problem.
The people complaining about this game, and the people opposed to further restrictions on guns are mostly DIFFERENT PEOPLE.
Polls in the US show a majority of voters favour increased gun control.
Politics doesn't work that way. How many people favoring more restrictions are willing to change their vote because of that single issue? Historically, it has been very few. How many people opposed to further restrictions are willing to change their vote? Historically, it was enough for Republican landslide victories in 1994, and 2010.
What about the complete disparity between people getting angry about a game involving school shootings, while also having absolutely no willpower to actually do anything about real school shootings?
What do you propose they do about "real school shootings"? They can't ban or restrict guns because there is insufficient political support for that. They can't increase spending on mental health because there is no political support for that either. Armed guards in every school is a stupid idea for many reasons. So what do you propose?
Bugs are only eaten in cultures which have no other dietary options.
I am not so sure about that. I have mostly seen insects eaten as a delicacy or a special treat. Like honeypot ants for dessert, or a bowl of delicious fried crickets as an after dinner snack.
Also, this has a massive freaking stigma to overcome.
Perhaps in America, but in many other countries insects are commonly eaten. Eating a grub is no different than eating a shrimp.
(B) I guess Germany is paying a lot more for electricity than they realize.
Electricity in Germany is hecka expensive. They are a shining example of what NOT to do: Don't let politicians make technical decisions, and don't do massive roll-outs of immature technology.
Shutting down their nukes was insane. Building new nukes may not make sense, but the main reason is the enormous capital expense in the construction and startup, and the costs of the shutdown and cleanup. But for Germany, those were all sunk costs. They had stable, operating nukes, generating clean reliable power. They threw all of that away to go back to burning filthy brown coal.
Also, salt spray drops off very quickly with altitude. Typical offshore turbines are more than 100 meters above sea level, and the biggest are over 200 meters ASL. Up that high, the amount of salt in the air is negligible.
I guess I should have been explicit. I want a 32" OLED TV.
You could buy a 65" and cover half the screen with black duct tape.
Er, not a phone. On a VR headset. My bad.
There are several OLED phones available. Also, tablets, laptops, etc.
They have brighter colors, and darker blacks. They are also thinner and lighter. The main drawback is shorter lifetime.
Except that the 1st Amendment doesn't use the phrase "the people" except in reference to the right of peaceful assembly.
So foreigners can speak freely, but can't join groups?