George Zimmerman claims "stand your ground" as a defense
No, he did not. Zimmerman's defense was based on a claim of pure self-defense. It was NOT based on "stand-your-ground". The preponderance of the evidence is that he was walking away when Martin assaulted him.
Personally, I think stand-your-ground laws are stupid. If you have a clear choice between killing someone and safely backing down and walking away, you should be legally obligated to refrain from killing.
But the Zimmerman-Martin incident is irrelevant to that, since it was not a SYG situation.
In public companies, the power the average shareholder has over a board election is about zero.
But collectively they have a lot of power. They can force out board members, and they can initiate a shareholder lawsuit. The Fed is forcing out some board members, but I doubt if that will be the end of it. The shareholders' lawyers will be squeezing those directors for everything they can get.
Shareholders can also chose to not buy shares in companies with ethically questionable policies, or even from companies that shield their board from shareholder influence. Corporations with transparent and accountable governance tend to perform better. Warren Buffett figured this out many decades ago, and investing in "clean" companies is a big reason why he is the 3rd richest man in the world.
That's like saying that if the President breaks a law, we should punish voters because they can just elect a new one.
Dumb analogy. Selling your shares is a lot easier than renouncing your citizenship.
That implies "Alexa," is not the only sound the Echo would be listening for.
Amazon has never claimed that "Alexa" is the the only sound they listen for. But they have said it is the only sound that triggers recording and transmitting. You can change "Alexa" to a different keyword, but few people do.
8000 is also "about" 10,000. So will you give me 10,000 for my 8000 bitcoin?
Different precision is used for different purposes. If you are doing an actual transaction, then exact precision is used. If we are just having a casual conversation about whether the btc bubble has burst, then it doesn't matter much if it is at 8000 or 8001 or even 8100.
I am also an Aspie, and I am sometimes irrationally pedantic myself, so I empathize with your affliction.
Did everyone just suddenly get stupid, lazy and unmotivated for some reason?
Yes. Obesity rates have tripled over the last generation. People eat more and do less.
We have no idea why this is happening. Most explanations are either wrong, or just restatements of the problem.
Examples of wrong explanations: 1. It is because of HFCS 2. It is because people watch more TV 3. It is because of computers and machines doing all the work. 4. Food is cheaper. 5. Portions are bigger.
1. is wrong because obesity rates have soared worldwide, and only Americans consume massive amounts of HFCS.
2. is wrong because TV became very widespread long before obesity rates soared.
3. Computer use is negatively correlated with obesity. The fattest use them the least.
4. Food prices fell long before obesity rates soared, and the poorest people, that can afford to eat the least, are the fattest.
5. Portions sizes increased after the obesity epidemic was well underway. It was a response to demand, not a cause.
Examples of restatements: 1. People are fatter because they eat more. 2. People are fatter because they are less active.
These are "duh" answers. Of course people eat more and are less active, but WHY did their behavior change so profoundly as to TRIPLE obesity rates?
We don't know why people are becoming fatter and lazier. It may be like violent anti-social behavior, where for decades there were many theories for why it was rising. Then we figure out that it was mostly because of environmental lead. Obesity and laziness may also be caused by some environmental pollutant, or it may be something unexpected.
I think it's amazing that more people think hard skills (i.e., things computers are good at) are essential rather than soft skills (i.e., things computers aren't good at) are necessary for humans.
Perhaps they are using evidenced based reasoning. So far, hard skills are way more useful in the job market. Engineers earn a lot more than sociologists. Also, so far, AI has been mostly replacing jobs that require soft skills: telephone interactions, face recognition, voice recognition.
Soft jobs such as driving are forecast to be replaced in the next decade. Hard skill based jobs such as programming are not.
Teachers like him are trying to teach the concepts
No they aren't. They are trying to force everyone into a "standard" dumbed down method of arithmetic, because it is easier to teach. People that can rapidly (and correctly) do arithmetic in their head are not adding up columns of digits and then carrying to the next column. That is stupid and slow... but easy to teach.
If the teachers are too lazy to teach faster methods, they certainly shouldn't be punishing the kids that figure it out on their own.
Yeah but how many write cycles on the flash memory?
Plenty. Even if the phone originally belonged to a teenager who filled the flash up everyday with photos, that wouldn't even be 10% of the flash lifecycle.
If you get a new battery, a screen with no marks or scratches, and all the boogers are wiped off, your refurb will be as good as new. ICs don't "wear out".
"Show your work" also gives you partial marks if you had the correct reasoning but made a mistake somewhere along the way.
NO!!! This is NOT what happens in America's schools. If this was all that happened, that would be fine. The problem is that that if a kid gets the correct answer, points are TAKEN AWAY for not "showing your work".
If a kid is confident in his ability, and doesn't want to fall back on the crutch of "partial credit", there should be no requirement to "show work". That is just punishing smart kids by forcing them to do it "the stupid way". Schools should not be in the business of making kids dumber.
No it isn't. You give 10 problems, and then give partial credit for carefully writing down every carry and borrow. Meanwhile, the Chinese kids can do 100 problems in the same amount of time, and they don't need any stinkin' partial credit because each problem is only worth 1% of the test score.
"Trying hard" is no excuse for wrong answers.
Teachers like you are why America is falling behind.
The correct answer is: Méiyou zúgòu de xìnxi. (There is not enough information).
I used to live in Shanghai, and my (American) kids attended public schools there for several years. I was appalled at how much the math classes were based on drill, drill, drill with very little actual thinking. I am glad to see some "fuzzy" problems included.
There are some good things about Chinese math. For instance, in America teachers say "Show your work". In China, the teachers say "Do the math in your head, and only write down the answer". The teacher will call on kids to solve a problem written on the whiteboard, and make them do it with their hands behind their back. My kids can easily add up a column of numbers in their head, so when we eat at a restaurant, I always ask them to check the bill.
Yes, the Sahara is a desert and no there isn't much life there -- but there is native life. Turning it into planted forest would seriously disturb that life.
Letting global warming continue unabated, increasing both the temperature and dryness of the Sahara, would ALSO seriously disturb that life, and likely do so even more severely.
How about a compromise: You agree to let us irrigate half the Sahara, and we agree to leave the other half undisturbed. Deal?
To expand, we don't have a food production problem we have a food distribution problem.
The area with the worst food problem is the Sahel, which is right next to the Sahara. If the Sahara could be profitably farmed, someone would be doing it now.
I am very pro-geoengineering, but irrigating the Sahara by pumping thousands of cubic miles of seawater uphill to grow salt-tolerant GMO crops that don't exist yet is not the place to start.
We should start with better ideas like iron fertilization of the oceans, and space based mylar reflectors.
Another cool idea would be to dig a ditch from the Mediterranean Sea to the Qattara Depression, which would mitigate ocean level rise by 2000 cubic km, create a new fishery, and increase rainfall over the Nile Delta and Maghreb.
Slashdot Mirror
George Zimmerman claims "stand your ground" as a defense
No, he did not. Zimmerman's defense was based on a claim of pure self-defense. It was NOT based on "stand-your-ground". The preponderance of the evidence is that he was walking away when Martin assaulted him.
Personally, I think stand-your-ground laws are stupid. If you have a clear choice between killing someone and safely backing down and walking away, you should be legally obligated to refrain from killing.
But the Zimmerman-Martin incident is irrelevant to that, since it was not a SYG situation.
In public companies, the power the average shareholder has over a board election is about zero.
But collectively they have a lot of power. They can force out board members, and they can initiate a shareholder lawsuit. The Fed is forcing out some board members, but I doubt if that will be the end of it. The shareholders' lawyers will be squeezing those directors for everything they can get.
Shareholders can also chose to not buy shares in companies with ethically questionable policies, or even from companies that shield their board from shareholder influence. Corporations with transparent and accountable governance tend to perform better. Warren Buffett figured this out many decades ago, and investing in "clean" companies is a big reason why he is the 3rd richest man in the world.
That's like saying that if the President breaks a law, we should punish voters because they can just elect a new one.
Dumb analogy. Selling your shares is a lot easier than renouncing your citizenship.
Slowing down the economy
How does making government employees late to work "slow down the economy"?
It seems to me it would have the opposite effect.
seriously.tv, not Seriously.TV
Domain names are case insensitive. It is the same domain either way.
We move less. all the little movements that used to be required.
This is not supported by evidence. Cars, elevators, and escalators were common in the 1950s and 1960s, and did not lead to obesity.
Obesity has risen the most in rural areas where motion reducing conveniences have had the least impact.
2. Not if you need some sort of proficiency in using the English language without an accent
You can't find that in Mumbai, but you can find it in Manila, and in Mexico, especially now that Donald is deporting the dreamers.
I need some intellectual human interaction on a pretty regular basis.
Isn't that what Slashdot is for?
That implies "Alexa," is not the only sound the Echo would be listening for.
Amazon has never claimed that "Alexa" is the the only sound they listen for. But they have said it is the only sound that triggers recording and transmitting. You can change "Alexa" to a different keyword, but few people do.
I hope so!
Be careful what you wish for. Work that can be done from Montana can also be done from Mumbai.
8000 is also "about" 10,000. So will you give me 10,000 for my 8000 bitcoin?
Different precision is used for different purposes. If you are doing an actual transaction, then exact precision is used. If we are just having a casual conversation about whether the btc bubble has burst, then it doesn't matter much if it is at 8000 or 8001 or even 8100.
I am also an Aspie, and I am sometimes irrationally pedantic myself, so I empathize with your affliction.
Did everyone just suddenly get stupid, lazy and unmotivated for some reason?
Yes. Obesity rates have tripled over the last generation. People eat more and do less.
We have no idea why this is happening. Most explanations are either wrong, or just restatements of the problem.
Examples of wrong explanations:
1. It is because of HFCS
2. It is because people watch more TV
3. It is because of computers and machines doing all the work.
4. Food is cheaper.
5. Portions are bigger.
1. is wrong because obesity rates have soared worldwide, and only Americans consume massive amounts of HFCS.
2. is wrong because TV became very widespread long before obesity rates soared.
3. Computer use is negatively correlated with obesity. The fattest use them the least.
4. Food prices fell long before obesity rates soared, and the poorest people, that can afford to eat the least, are the fattest.
5. Portions sizes increased after the obesity epidemic was well underway. It was a response to demand, not a cause.
Examples of restatements:
1. People are fatter because they eat more.
2. People are fatter because they are less active.
These are "duh" answers. Of course people eat more and are less active, but WHY did their behavior change so profoundly as to TRIPLE obesity rates?
We don't know why people are becoming fatter and lazier. It may be like violent anti-social behavior, where for decades there were many theories for why it was rising. Then we figure out that it was mostly because of environmental lead. Obesity and laziness may also be caused by some environmental pollutant, or it may be something unexpected.
I think it's amazing that more people think hard skills (i.e., things computers are good at) are essential rather than soft skills (i.e., things computers aren't good at) are necessary for humans.
Perhaps they are using evidenced based reasoning. So far, hard skills are way more useful in the job market. Engineers earn a lot more than sociologists. Also, so far, AI has been mostly replacing jobs that require soft skills: telephone interactions, face recognition, voice recognition.
Soft jobs such as driving are forecast to be replaced in the next decade. Hard skill based jobs such as programming are not.
You would be retrained by your new employer, not the employer replacing you.
How would your old employer possibly know what skills you new employer needs?
we need to start taxing companies who use AI/robots that take away jobs
Exactly. We need to start by taxing everyone that uses a washing machine or dishwasher rather than employing a laundress and scullery maid.
CPU life exectency is around 3 years in normal conditions. Ask Intel or AMD, neither will sell you any warranty for longer periods
Warranty period != Life expectancy
And why is it good to teach your kid something that can easily be done by a machine?
1. The machine isn't always available.
2. The machine is not faster if you include the time to type in the numbers.
A machine can easily do 2+2. Do you think that shouldn't be taught?
Teachers like him are trying to teach the concepts
No they aren't. They are trying to force everyone into a "standard" dumbed down method of arithmetic, because it is easier to teach. People that can rapidly (and correctly) do arithmetic in their head are not adding up columns of digits and then carrying to the next column. That is stupid and slow ... but easy to teach.
If the teachers are too lazy to teach faster methods, they certainly shouldn't be punishing the kids that figure it out on their own.
No wonder the jobs are going overseas.
Yeah but how many write cycles on the flash memory?
Plenty. Even if the phone originally belonged to a teenager who filled the flash up everyday with photos, that wouldn't even be 10% of the flash lifecycle.
If you get a new battery, a screen with no marks or scratches, and all the boogers are wiped off, your refurb will be as good as new. ICs don't "wear out".
"Show your work" also gives you partial marks if you had the correct reasoning but made a mistake somewhere along the way.
NO!!! This is NOT what happens in America's schools. If this was all that happened, that would be fine. The problem is that that if a kid gets the correct answer, points are TAKEN AWAY for not "showing your work".
If a kid is confident in his ability, and doesn't want to fall back on the crutch of "partial credit", there should be no requirement to "show work". That is just punishing smart kids by forcing them to do it "the stupid way". Schools should not be in the business of making kids dumber.
This is the only fair way to do it.
No it isn't. You give 10 problems, and then give partial credit for carefully writing down every carry and borrow. Meanwhile, the Chinese kids can do 100 problems in the same amount of time, and they don't need any stinkin' partial credit because each problem is only worth 1% of the test score.
"Trying hard" is no excuse for wrong answers.
Teachers like you are why America is falling behind.
The correct answer is: Méiyou zúgòu de xìnxi. (There is not enough information).
I used to live in Shanghai, and my (American) kids attended public schools there for several years. I was appalled at how much the math classes were based on drill, drill, drill with very little actual thinking. I am glad to see some "fuzzy" problems included.
There are some good things about Chinese math. For instance, in America teachers say "Show your work". In China, the teachers say "Do the math in your head, and only write down the answer". The teacher will call on kids to solve a problem written on the whiteboard, and make them do it with their hands behind their back. My kids can easily add up a column of numbers in their head, so when we eat at a restaurant, I always ask them to check the bill.
Her was awful.
That is your opinion, but most critics liked it, and it is at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. The script author won an Oscar.
Most importantly, it grossed $48 million with a production budget of $23 million. In Hollywood, being profitable is more important than being good.
There is an entire sub-plot based off of getting married and sex.
Indeed. All of Heinlein's books have a sub-plot based on sex.
Yes, the Sahara is a desert and no there isn't much life there -- but there is native life. Turning it into planted forest would seriously disturb that life.
Letting global warming continue unabated, increasing both the temperature and dryness of the Sahara, would ALSO seriously disturb that life, and likely do so even more severely.
How about a compromise: You agree to let us irrigate half the Sahara, and we agree to leave the other half undisturbed. Deal?
To expand, we don't have a food production problem we have a food distribution problem.
The area with the worst food problem is the Sahel, which is right next to the Sahara. If the Sahara could be profitably farmed, someone would be doing it now.
I am very pro-geoengineering, but irrigating the Sahara by pumping thousands of cubic miles of seawater uphill to grow salt-tolerant GMO crops that don't exist yet is not the place to start.
We should start with better ideas like iron fertilization of the oceans, and space based mylar reflectors.
Another cool idea would be to dig a ditch from the Mediterranean Sea to the Qattara Depression, which would mitigate ocean level rise by 2000 cubic km, create a new fishery, and increase rainfall over the Nile Delta and Maghreb.