There was nothing scientific about eugenics any more than phrenology (the study of bumps on the head, and how they can tell you a person's intelligence and personality).
Eugenics was based on assumptions, predjuce, and wishful thinking, not scientific studies or evidence.
That there ARE differences between the races is made plain by diseases like cycle-cell sickle-cell-anaemia, and inherited traits.
That the differences between people are greater than the differences between the races also seems plain, but until scientific research is done on the question, it is merely anecdotal.
BTW, white people didn't become white from interbreeding with Neanderthals for the simple reason that not all white people have Neanderthal gene's. White people developed the white mutation after millions of years of being vitamin D deficient in the upper latitudes, or so the theory goes.
You'd think a CIA super-spy would have some neat tracking tricks in a guaranteed-to-be-leaked memo, but a visual inspection of the code shows nada, and as for hidden Unicode characters: nope.
Being ex-CIA doesn't make you a computer nerd. And being IN intelligence, apparently, does not guarantee any actual intelligence. (I mean, is this an example of the kind of slick intelligence work that won us the cold war? I mean, geeze! Who mass emails something he wants kept secret? It's really a no-brainer. Pun intended.)
It just means that you're an ex-spy......who, admittedly, should be able to get his hands on a top-notch electronic forensic expert. (That's VP territory too, so no excuses if he doesn't.)
I mean, all the WhistleBlower has to do is resist the urge to leak any other emails, and hope that the blogger was intelligent enough to destroy all traces of the original email he received, specifically it's headers. (I would not recommend making any additional contact with the blogger, seeing how basically any system can be penetrated by an intelligent enough, persistent enough, talented enough, and informed enough group people.)
My advice to the whistleblower is: Stay pat. Hopefully you've already cleaned up any tracks you may have laid. Don't change your routine, if you have any frowned-upon, but not fire-worthy things that you do, keep doing them. A small guilt may do well at diverting attention from a larger one. Most importantly, don't appear scared or nervous. The name of this game is to play it cool. Don't accuse anyone else, or try to appear too squeaky-clean, both can actually make you look suspicious. Quit if you really want to, but know that will peg you as the whistleblower. And whistleblowing is NOT a sought-after skill in this (or any) job market, and count-on every potential employer on finding out about the whistleblowing. Even alleged whistlebowing will kill your career because they won't take that chance.
My advice to the blogger is: If you care about your source at all, delete every trace of the original email that contains a copy of it's headers. Forward it to yourself, after removing all identifying information. Then, after you've deleted it, if you use Outlook, compress your PST file. Your IT department will know how to do it. That will guarantee that the original email gets overwritten. Then buy or download a program like Eraser, that can do a military grade wipe of the free space on your hard-drive. Lastly, shrink your swap-file as small as you can make it, and wipe the drive again. Paranoid? Geh-Yah! Overkill? Possibly. Necessary? Well, how would you feel if he came under retaliation like being sued into the poor house, never getting another non-food-service job again, or even criminal prosecution? And MORE importantly, how would your fans feel about it? I mean, this guy Quinn may look and sound like a joke, but many a LOL-worthy individual does take themselves very seriously (just another part of their LOL-worthyness), and can become no joke to deal with. ESPECIALLY when people are laughing at them.
My advice to Mr. Quinn (who, BTW, looks extra-scary in his chubby-cheeked photo in TFA), would be to implement some illegal program, let the workers get used to it, and then send out what looks like a mass, company wide, email that not just implicates himself, but actually lay's out the instrumental role he himself played in it's conception, planning, and implementation. That seems to me to be something the whistle-blower just couldn't resist. But instead of sending ONE email to the entire company, use Outlook's (you DO use Outlook, don't you?) programmability to send ONE email to each individual employee, whilst placing an extra period (or some other character) in a different spot in each email, allowing anyone who reads the email, and has the key, to identify it's intended recipient.
If you've provided a juicy enough bait he'll fall right into your trap, and leak it again! Guaranteed!
Pundits were creating the illusion of close races to drive up viewing.
Which is hilarious, because with myself and a few others I know, it backfired!
I just watched a couple movies, and kept my tablet on a webpage that that showed the election results and automatically updated every minute or so.
Whenever I got curious, which happened every hour or so, I'd just glance at my tablet. No fuss, no muss, no waiting for a half-hour for babbling "newscasters", er... news presenters to get around to what I was interested in.
No, I think his point is more "why the hell spend money on cutting edge hardware when that money goes further on traditional materials".
For the longest time I always built my computers with an eye to upgradability (You know, like the introduction of a separate ZIF socket back in the day, for some as-then unknown CPU upgrade from the 80386) yet I never found it cheaper or better to upgrade my computer rather than buy new equipment.
Similarly I never found it cheaper to buy a used computer and upgrade that, though I scanned the classifieds for years.
What I found was that it was always cheaper and provided longer usability to buy new equipment (I tended to use it for about 4 or 5 years and then move on.). You could upgrade and get decent performance (usually approximating the performance of some then-current low to midrange computer), for about the cost of building a new (low high-end) computer, but the extended (useful) life span the upgrades bought would be extremely shorter than that of the new computer. I'd also always planned to make a big network out of my old computers, but even when using them for single-use application, but the cost of simply running the older, more power hungry (and so less efficient) hardware was in practice, unreasonable.
Keeping older hardware up to current standards is, in my opinion, always a loosing proposition, and almost always costs more while at the same time, providing less punch-per-dollar.
And, though the user experience of Word and Excel might-not change that much from generation to generation, using newer, more state-of-the-art education software usually requires better computers than 'upgrades' to work. Part of the appeal of a computer is that it is a general-purpose machine, and ignoring it's ability to run all sorts of very specific software aimed at very different uses, is to ignore one of the computers greatest strengths.
I'm not American, but keeping the internet under the control of the US is far better than the alternative.
I am an American, and a liberal, and I think giving the U.N. control of the internet is a horrifying idea.
Yes, I also believe censorship would become rampant. Not that I agree with all forms of speech, and I might not fight to the death to allow them to be used. But free-speech is an integral part of our society, and I do believe that it's worth fighting for. (Have you noticed the Republicans have rejected the old canard, "I don't agree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death to defend your right to say it.")
An open mind may be mislead, but can also learn of and correct its mistakes. A closed mind can't even learn that there might be a different way.
Unless [and until] we change our societal attitudes about the value of learning, we'll always be fighting an uphill battle.
You make me think of my favorite Carl Sagan quote (and my email tagline):
"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." - Carl Sagan
I know Slashdot loves to pull up these kinds of articles every time they're available. TED is susceptible similar lectures as well, so we who have actually worked in education have to keep our eyes open before the "computers will solve all our complex problems"
What? Don't you remember how computers gave us the "Paperless Office"? How dare you doubt technology?
Give kids a tablet and they will indeed use it... [t]o look up dirty words and hitting other kids with.
You forget the main use of the internet: Viewing copious amounts of Porn!
Even before those little ankle-biters start growing hair in unmentionable places, they'll be getting curious about the opposite sex (speaking from personal experience here). And for the curious, the Internet has more "answers" than you can shake a router at.
Are you calling/. posters Journalists? Don't you think that's (more than) a bit of a stretch? I expect more from a journalist than I do some random/.er. (I'm often disappointed, but that's hardly the point.) Expecting a sophisticated grasp of journalistic styles and ethics is asking too much of people who just saw something neat, interesting, important, or outrageous and shared it with others who might be interested in it.
Follow-up: "The reason why journalists* use that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bollocks, and don't actually have the sources and facts to back it up, but still want to run it."
Mmmm. As the subject is about school, teaching and learning, in general, and the potential obsolescence of human teachers specifically, I've gotta give say that his post is basically no more on or off-topic than yours.
Both posts simply point out a fictional work that may or may not contain specific (but unspecified, since neither of you mentioned any) ideas that pertain to the subject.
I'm sure that I've read both, but as that would have been 30+ years ago, I don't recall.
He will ask a normally happy kid that all of sudden is all down, what's wrong. So no, you can not replace a good teacher. A good teacher is a source of inspiration and a safe haven.
Yes you can. In case you're wondering with what, they're called "good parents". The main problems with US society was when teachers started to be viewed as a substitute for good parents.
In other words what you really mean is that America's problem is an overabundance of "Bad Parents".
Even "good-parents" can be overwhelmed, and not have enough time to do a decent job teaching after they fulfill their main obligation. Feeding, housing, and clothing their children. That is why the rich have nannies and the poor have... public school.
Slashdot Mirror
There was nothing scientific about eugenics any more than phrenology (the study of bumps on the head, and how they can tell you a person's intelligence and personality).
Eugenics was based on assumptions, predjuce, and wishful thinking, not scientific studies or evidence.
That there ARE differences between the races is made plain by diseases like cycle-cell sickle-cell-anaemia, and inherited traits.
That the differences between people are greater than the differences between the races also seems plain, but until scientific research is done on the question, it is merely anecdotal.
BTW, white people didn't become white from interbreeding with Neanderthals for the simple reason that not all white people have Neanderthal gene's. White people developed the white mutation after millions of years of being vitamin D deficient in the upper latitudes, or so the theory goes.
Besides, who says Neanderthals were white?
Cheeky monkey!
Aren't unguided rockets also ballistic missiles? How are they different?
No, not really.
A ballistic missile is initially powered, but then falls to it's target only under the power of gravity, so it's total path is always an arc.
Rockets (surface-to-air, air-to-air, air-to-surface and surface-to-surface AFAIK) use powered flight from launch to impact.
So mortors, RPGs, even the shells fired from ships, tanks and cannon all fall into the classification of "ballistic missiles".
Rockets, AFAIK, are powered from start to finish, and so are not ballistic.
it would be called crushing an uprising
Nope. "Internal Police Action".
Sounds like grounds for a "hostile work environment" lawsuit.
Class-Action?
What'd you say? Gotta catch 'em all?
because the lack of evidence was a dead giveaway
Which, of course, is exactly why he'll turn up in a ditch somewhere, with CAT-5 shoved down his throat.
this idiot at Cisco pretending to be a gangster.
*Ahem*...
GangSTA.
Film at 11.
*shudder*
Nooooo thanks!
I'd pay NOT to see that!
You'd think a CIA super-spy would have some neat tracking tricks in a guaranteed-to-be-leaked memo, but a visual inspection of the code shows nada, and as for hidden Unicode characters: nope.
Being ex-CIA doesn't make you a computer nerd. And being IN intelligence, apparently, does not guarantee any actual intelligence. (I mean, is this an example of the kind of slick intelligence work that won us the cold war? I mean, geeze! Who mass emails something he wants kept secret? It's really a no-brainer. Pun intended.)
It just means that you're an ex-spy... ...who, admittedly, should be able to get his hands on a top-notch electronic forensic expert. (That's VP territory too, so no excuses if he doesn't.)
I mean, all the WhistleBlower has to do is resist the urge to leak any other emails, and hope that the blogger was intelligent enough to destroy all traces of the original email he received, specifically it's headers. (I would not recommend making any additional contact with the blogger, seeing how basically any system can be penetrated by an intelligent enough, persistent enough, talented enough, and informed enough group people.)
My advice to the whistleblower is: Stay pat. Hopefully you've already cleaned up any tracks you may have laid. Don't change your routine, if you have any frowned-upon, but not fire-worthy things that you do, keep doing them. A small guilt may do well at diverting attention from a larger one. Most importantly, don't appear scared or nervous. The name of this game is to play it cool. Don't accuse anyone else, or try to appear too squeaky-clean, both can actually make you look suspicious. Quit if you really want to, but know that will peg you as the whistleblower. And whistleblowing is NOT a sought-after skill in this (or any) job market, and count-on every potential employer on finding out about the whistleblowing. Even alleged whistlebowing will kill your career because they won't take that chance.
My advice to the blogger is: If you care about your source at all, delete every trace of the original email that contains a copy of it's headers. Forward it to yourself, after removing all identifying information. Then, after you've deleted it, if you use Outlook, compress your PST file. Your IT department will know how to do it. That will guarantee that the original email gets overwritten. Then buy or download a program like Eraser, that can do a military grade wipe of the free space on your hard-drive. Lastly, shrink your swap-file as small as you can make it, and wipe the drive again. Paranoid? Geh-Yah! Overkill? Possibly. Necessary? Well, how would you feel if he came under retaliation like being sued into the poor house, never getting another non-food-service job again, or even criminal prosecution? And MORE importantly, how would your fans feel about it? I mean, this guy Quinn may look and sound like a joke, but many a LOL-worthy individual does take themselves very seriously (just another part of their LOL-worthyness), and can become no joke to deal with. ESPECIALLY when people are laughing at them.
My advice to Mr. Quinn (who, BTW, looks extra-scary in his chubby-cheeked photo in TFA), would be to implement some illegal program, let the workers get used to it, and then send out what looks like a mass, company wide, email that not just implicates himself, but actually lay's out the instrumental role he himself played in it's conception, planning, and implementation. That seems to me to be something the whistle-blower just couldn't resist. But instead of sending ONE email to the entire company, use Outlook's (you DO use Outlook, don't you?) programmability to send ONE email to each individual employee, whilst placing an extra period (or some other character) in a different spot in each email, allowing anyone who reads the email, and has the key, to identify it's intended recipient.
If you've provided a juicy enough bait he'll fall right into your trap, and leak it again! Guaranteed!
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition"
Dun-dun-DUN!
Next time I see Vanderhoth I'm going to kick him in the nuts!
Sounds like a plan, Bob!
Pundits were creating the illusion of close races to drive up viewing.
Which is hilarious, because with myself and a few others I know, it backfired!
I just watched a couple movies, and kept my tablet on a webpage that that showed the election results and automatically updated every minute or so.
Whenever I got curious, which happened every hour or so, I'd just glance at my tablet. No fuss, no muss, no waiting for a half-hour for babbling "newscasters", er... news presenters to get around to what I was interested in.
No, I think his point is more "why the hell spend money on cutting edge hardware when that money goes further on traditional materials".
For the longest time I always built my computers with an eye to upgradability (You know, like the introduction of a separate ZIF socket back in the day, for some as-then unknown CPU upgrade from the 80386) yet I never found it cheaper or better to upgrade my computer rather than buy new equipment.
Similarly I never found it cheaper to buy a used computer and upgrade that, though I scanned the classifieds for years.
What I found was that it was always cheaper and provided longer usability to buy new equipment (I tended to use it for about 4 or 5 years and then move on.). You could upgrade and get decent performance (usually approximating the performance of some then-current low to midrange computer), for about the cost of building a new (low high-end) computer, but the extended (useful) life span the upgrades bought would be extremely shorter than that of the new computer. I'd also always planned to make a big network out of my old computers, but even when using them for single-use application, but the cost of simply running the older, more power hungry (and so less efficient) hardware was in practice, unreasonable.
Keeping older hardware up to current standards is, in my opinion, always a loosing proposition, and almost always costs more while at the same time, providing less punch-per-dollar.
And, though the user experience of Word and Excel might-not change that much from generation to generation, using newer, more state-of-the-art education software usually requires better computers than 'upgrades' to work. Part of the appeal of a computer is that it is a general-purpose machine, and ignoring it's ability to run all sorts of very specific software aimed at very different uses, is to ignore one of the computers greatest strengths.
I'm not American, but keeping the internet under the control of the US is far better than the alternative.
I am an American, and a liberal, and I think giving the U.N. control of the internet is a horrifying idea.
Yes, I also believe censorship would become rampant. Not that I agree with all forms of speech, and I might not fight to the death to allow them to be used. But free-speech is an integral part of our society, and I do believe that it's worth fighting for. (Have you noticed the Republicans have rejected the old canard, "I don't agree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death to defend your right to say it.")
An open mind may be mislead, but can also learn of and correct its mistakes. A closed mind can't even learn that there might be a different way.
Unless [and until] we change our societal attitudes about the value of learning, we'll always be fighting an uphill battle.
You make me think of my favorite Carl Sagan quote (and my email tagline):
"We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology." - Carl Sagan
Still (unfortunately) very true.
I know Slashdot loves to pull up these kinds of articles every time they're available. TED is susceptible similar lectures as well, so we who have actually worked in education have to keep our eyes open before the "computers will solve all our complex problems"
What? Don't you remember how computers gave us the "Paperless Office"? How dare you doubt technology?
Philistine!
Give kids a tablet and they will indeed use it... [t]o look up dirty words and hitting other kids with.
You forget the main use of the internet: Viewing copious amounts of Porn!
Even before those little ankle-biters start growing hair in unmentionable places, they'll be getting curious about the opposite sex (speaking from personal experience here). And for the curious, the Internet has more "answers" than you can shake a router at.
More jobs taken away from us Americans by cheap, smart labor in Ethiopia...
Yeah, but only until the batteries run out!
are teachers going the way of the Dodo?
1. See Betteridge's law of headlines.
Are you calling /. posters Journalists? Don't you think that's (more than) a bit of a stretch? I expect more from a journalist than I do some random /.er. (I'm often disappointed, but that's hardly the point.) Expecting a sophisticated grasp of journalistic styles and ethics is asking too much of people who just saw something neat, interesting, important, or outrageous and shared it with others who might be interested in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines Summery: "[A]ny headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'no'."
Follow-up: "The reason why journalists* use that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bollocks, and don't actually have the sources and facts to back it up, but still want to run it."
*My emphasis.
That's another good story, but hardly on topic.
Mmmm. As the subject is about school, teaching and learning, in general, and the potential obsolescence of human teachers specifically, I've gotta give say that his post is basically no more on or off-topic than yours.
Both posts simply point out a fictional work that may or may not contain specific (but unspecified, since neither of you mentioned any) ideas that pertain to the subject.
I'm sure that I've read both, but as that would have been 30+ years ago, I don't recall.
He will ask a normally happy kid that all of sudden is all down, what's wrong. So no, you can not replace a good teacher. A good teacher is a source of inspiration and a safe haven.
Yes you can. In case you're wondering with what, they're called "good parents".
The main problems with US society was when teachers started to be viewed as a substitute for good parents.
In other words what you really mean is that America's problem is an overabundance of "Bad Parents".
Even "good-parents" can be overwhelmed, and not have enough time to do a decent job teaching after they fulfill their main obligation. Feeding, housing, and clothing their children. That is why the rich have nannies and the poor have... public school.
you won't even dare call me a liar.
Liar!
Liar!
Wearing plasma engulfed leggings!
In Soviet Russia YOU teach the teachers!
In Soviet Russia, Future teaches You!
In Soviet... nevermind.