I'm not entirely sure that specifically raising children to be 'smart' is such a good thing. I was 'above average'(IMHO) or 'Very Bright'(Teachers) as a child, but in comparison to the dullards I was placed with in Australian public education system, I would shine with minimal effort. As a person, I think I can accomplish anything I want, short of bio limits like winning Tour De France I think the world is open to me.
When I attempt a new task I almost always without fail pull it off successfully from building a house, to becoming a triathlete to designing a multi platform, multi api 3d game. I'm now programming automated FX trading systems. I don't however think that most of these things were possible because I'm smart, rather it's just because I believe that I'm not limited by anything except myself. Having the personal resolve to believe that no problem or challenge can stand in your way permanently is far more important that being smart though IMHO.
Despite all of this, I think the real winners in life are those ignorant and contented dullards who accept their 'limitations' without question and are often genuinely happy. I known many of these people and they have become my best friends.
So for me personally, as recent parent of a boy and girl I question whether pushing my children to achieve academically is a good plan. I'm putting them in an Elite school but with only the expectation that they won't completely waste their time there. The most important thing I was never taught was solid financial management. Having that negates the requirement for having a to be smarter to get paid more freeing you up to have fun and be happier or perhaps not even 'have' to work at all.
I once calculate that if you are young and just started life by placing the equivalent of a health insurance premium in to the equity markets\high interest investments and let it grow, that over time there is probably almost no possibility that you could ever draw all that money back out.
Like gambling, the whole thing is a scam. The total cost of the system is far higher that the value it provides as the system has to pay for administration, shareholder profits and inefficiency.
I did for a while myself and found that when I had some wisdom teeth removed that the cost charge to me was -half- that they would change to an insurance company. I would still be doing it too if it wasn't for the Australian Federal Government introducing an extra tax on people who do not contribute to medial funds that happens to be more than the fund costs.
On the whole, your policy sounds unfair and, with the realities of our society, clearly gender-biased toward men (who are less likely to be single parents or, indeed, be expected to take care of the kids). Statistically, you need a roughly equal number of males and females to be parents and the majority of children ARE living in families with married parents. I think the policy IS fair, and I'm a father who has NEGATIVE seven sick days, primarily because I have taken a bunch of time off to look after my sick child. If my company would not allow for negative sick days, then I would simply offer to subtract it from my annual leave or worst case drop my pay. I expect no special favors, neither does my wife.
If you expect special treatment there will be a bias against hiring people from that demographic. Parents have sick children and expect special treatment, and after a while employers will start casually asking if you have kids during the interview.
Then they would have a grand total of two days a month to take care of their sick children. Here is Australia, we get 8 sick days generally, so between my wife ans I we have 16 sick days and days of annual leave. The only 'special treatment' I ask for is to use Annual leave and sick leave interchangeably which of course costs the company nothing but a small amount of staffing flexibility.
Worst case, most of us can even work from home over VPN provided we're trusted. If you aren't trusted you've got bigger problems...
I completely disagree. Think of fear as an emotion. Fear is all about judging the unknown as bad and inhibits you from moving forwards in situations.
In the soldier example, think of the perfect soldier. Is he an fearful and emotional, or is he hardened and controlled. The militaries are always trying to train people out of these states in to ones where the solider can get the job done. Causality for a commander is about numbers and efficiency. If I were on the battlefield I'd personally LOVE the idea of a little neck or wrist sticker I could scratch to dispel fear and return me to a cold, calculating state where I could work objectively.
Obviously overuse of this ability would destroy the persons humanity and excitement but I see this as a great thing. As someone who has done a reasonable amount of risky mountain biking I can say that much of the satisfaction of doing it was in overcoming my fears naturally, but sometimes you don't get to slowly learn a new task.
What will Gun control do? Have a look at this list. Compare with Australia who has Gun Control AND watching your TV shows 70% of the time AND plays video games just as much as you do. We are probably more multicultural than you so you can't really blame minority groups either. What's left to blame? No Really? Are you all nut cases or is having a ranged weapon that can kill multiple people in seconds without thought before you calm down a better thing to blame.
Many people state that criminals will always find guns. This is true. But the guy stealing you Xbox won't be carrying one. Nor will the muggers on the street. It's more likely that organized crime will hold guns. If it costs $5k on the black market to get a gun how many psychopathic kids or crazed ex lovers will have the connections and cash on hand to get themselves in trouble.
As a side point look at the countries above and below the United States on that list. Doesn't really look like company I would like to be keeping if I called myself 'Leader of the free world'.
Gun Control in the short term will have almost no effect. In the long term however... well you just need to see the results are are obtained in other countries. Personally I don't think US citizens will seriously start to question the morality of carrying guns until your society resembles a war zone.
As an Australian where gun control is in effect a gun -being fired- makes the state, possibly national news. THAT is what happens when you have gun control its not exactly mysterious guys.
"And to this day, US citizens generally understand that if the government ever becomes tyrannical and repressive, "we the people" have the right (and must have the means) to overthrow it."
I seriously doubt that mate. A random armed rabble will not overthrow your government by force. You have invented the most powerful Military on the planet. Each time I see something like this happen over there it just reinforces the fact that we have made the correct decision. I don't in the slightest fear my government to the point that I'm willing to support the decay of my community in order to support what someone a few hundred years ago called 'inalienable rights'. It probably sounded like a good idea at the time given recent events that had occurred, but today it's a burden that costs you. You and your families safety.
The argument that 'bad guys have gun' is fairly ineffective too, because from what I observe over here, if they have them, they don't use them as anything but a threat. In fact, right here in Sydney I have ONLY ever seen guns holstered on the belts of police and security guards. In fact, the though that someone might be carrying a gun doesn't even occur to me any more.
Its unfortunate, but I suspect that the only way Americans will ever view the preservation of their society as more important that the ineffectual feeling of safety that arises from owning a weapon is when they start becoming too afraid to travel their own streets. Even then I doubt it. Before you shoot me down in flames, ask yourself why this always happens in the US. Why is this even news over there? From memory it seems to have every single year, or at least seems that way. Without gun control you will just have to get used to it.
Personally I loved playing soldiers when I was a kid. I lived on a military base and got to use the ranges all the time. I grew out of it though and am glad that our government listen to the people and not the lobbyists. Now we have a homicide by gun rate of 0.3073 per 100,000 vs. the US with 3.6000 according to <URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence>.
Apple to Apples you Americans die more than 10 times more often than us from guns. We however lack your 'inalienable rights' to bear arms.
I have a d810 and a d620. Both have given me shocks since I got them. Funny thing was, the whole time this was happening I was assuming I had a flinch in my left fore arm. It felt like a needle poking in to my wrist. then my wife starting complaining about it to and knew it wasn't me. I'm relieved this article has come to light.
This isn't as isolated as you might think. I checked a few laptops around here at work and they do it too, though most of the users have docking stations and separate keyboards so are never exposed. I suspect this is a bigger problem than you expect every single dell laptop I have tested around here has the issue.
New Scientist were running a article on the Glaciers on Greenland that were melting. The speed was accelerating far faster than they though. Apparently the meltwater was running under the glacier and providing lubrication sppeding up it;s marh in to the ocean. The meltwater was also taking warm(er) water beneath the ice and causing erosion of the sub surface ice down there opening up huge caverns.
I don't think linear mathematics apply to this situation. Also don't forget all the other knock on effects. Each year it gets hotter, the oceans warm up. The ice shelves are warming from above and below. I suspect we will see more scientific studies showing these accelerative effects accumulating.
As an Australian I would also like to note that we would be happy to commit to Kyoto. I'm not sure of the exact details (hey this IS Slashdot) but I would expect that being a modern western style nation -without- atomic power might have something to do with us being borderline on Kyoto. Add that to our leader living in George Bush's left pants pocket and you can imagine which way we might sway.
Energy is getting a lot of attention here politically. Our issue is that energy use is growing faster than alternative sources are being created(reasons aside). The main factor for our use is Air Con. Yesterday in the Melbourne Cup temperatures reaching 50deg c(122deg f) were recorded. Thats in one of our coldest cities....
It all started with the movie Wargames. The concepts of modems, AI, war-dialing that movie had it all. For me it started with my puny 16k Funvision (aka Dick Smith Wizard) computer and basic cartridge. I of course moved on to Amiga, then PC and am now a Systems Engineer.
The hook for me was knowing something that others didn't. Friends had ColecoVisions and C64's playing these awesome games like Elite... I had thousand line text adventure games coded by me, all stored on the B side of my Pseudo Echo Cassette. Today one's a pharmacist and the other welds trains back together, I'm still writing games...
You do it because you want to, you can't force it.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not entirely sure that specifically raising children to be 'smart' is such a good thing. I was 'above average'(IMHO) or 'Very Bright'(Teachers) as a child, but in comparison to the dullards I was placed with in Australian public education system, I would shine with minimal effort. As a person, I think I can accomplish anything I want, short of bio limits like winning Tour De France I think the world is open to me. When I attempt a new task I almost always without fail pull it off successfully from building a house, to becoming a triathlete to designing a multi platform, multi api 3d game. I'm now programming automated FX trading systems. I don't however think that most of these things were possible because I'm smart, rather it's just because I believe that I'm not limited by anything except myself. Having the personal resolve to believe that no problem or challenge can stand in your way permanently is far more important that being smart though IMHO. Despite all of this, I think the real winners in life are those ignorant and contented dullards who accept their 'limitations' without question and are often genuinely happy. I known many of these people and they have become my best friends. So for me personally, as recent parent of a boy and girl I question whether pushing my children to achieve academically is a good plan. I'm putting them in an Elite school but with only the expectation that they won't completely waste their time there. The most important thing I was never taught was solid financial management. Having that negates the requirement for having a to be smarter to get paid more freeing you up to have fun and be happier or perhaps not even 'have' to work at all.
Yes, and here at universities... we MAKE our own lawyers.
Like gambling, the whole thing is a scam. The total cost of the system is far higher that the value it provides as the system has to pay for administration, shareholder profits and inefficiency.
I did for a while myself and found that when I had some wisdom teeth removed that the cost charge to me was -half- that they would change to an insurance company. I would still be doing it too if it wasn't for the Australian Federal Government introducing an extra tax on people who do not contribute to medial funds that happens to be more than the fund costs.
If you expect special treatment there will be a bias against hiring people from that demographic. Parents have sick children and expect special treatment, and after a while employers will start casually asking if you have kids during the interview.
Then they would have a grand total of two days a month to take care of their sick children. Here is Australia, we get 8 sick days generally, so between my wife ans I we have 16 sick days and days of annual leave. The only 'special treatment' I ask for is to use Annual leave and sick leave interchangeably which of course costs the company nothing but a small amount of staffing flexibility.Worst case, most of us can even work from home over VPN provided we're trusted. If you aren't trusted you've got bigger problems...
I completely disagree. Think of fear as an emotion. Fear is all about judging the unknown as bad and inhibits you from moving forwards in situations.
In the soldier example, think of the perfect soldier. Is he an fearful and emotional, or is he hardened and controlled. The militaries are always trying to train people out of these states in to ones where the solider can get the job done. Causality for a commander is about numbers and efficiency. If I were on the battlefield I'd personally LOVE the idea of a little neck or wrist sticker I could scratch to dispel fear and return me to a cold, calculating state where I could work objectively.
Obviously overuse of this ability would destroy the persons humanity and excitement but I see this as a great thing. As someone who has done a reasonable amount of risky mountain biking I can say that much of the satisfaction of doing it was in overcoming my fears naturally, but sometimes you don't get to slowly learn a new task.
"Almost every technology we have today would get you burned for witchcraft in 1857." Why don't we find out and take a Cell Phone to Kansas?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence
What will Gun control do? Have a look at this list. Compare with Australia who has Gun Control AND watching your TV shows 70% of the time AND plays video games just as much as you do. We are probably more multicultural than you so you can't really blame minority groups either. What's left to blame? No Really? Are you all nut cases or is having a ranged weapon that can kill multiple people in seconds without thought before you calm down a better thing to blame.
Many people state that criminals will always find guns. This is true. But the guy stealing you Xbox won't be carrying one. Nor will the muggers on the street. It's more likely that organized crime will hold guns. If it costs $5k on the black market to get a gun how many psychopathic kids or crazed ex lovers will have the connections and cash on hand to get themselves in trouble.
As a side point look at the countries above and below the United States on that list. Doesn't really look like company I would like to be keeping if I called myself 'Leader of the free world'.
Gun Control in the short term will have almost no effect. In the long term however... well you just need to see the results are are obtained in other countries. Personally I don't think US citizens will seriously start to question the morality of carrying guns until your society resembles a war zone.
As an Australian where gun control is in effect a gun -being fired- makes the state, possibly national news. THAT is what happens when you have gun control its not exactly mysterious guys.
"And to this day, US citizens generally understand that if the government ever becomes tyrannical and repressive, "we the people" have the right (and must have the means) to overthrow it."
I seriously doubt that mate. A random armed rabble will not overthrow your government by force. You have invented the most powerful Military on the planet. Each time I see something like this happen over there it just reinforces the fact that we have made the correct decision. I don't in the slightest fear my government to the point that I'm willing to support the decay of my community in order to support what someone a few hundred years ago called 'inalienable rights'. It probably sounded like a good idea at the time given recent events that had occurred, but today it's a burden that costs you. You and your families safety.
The argument that 'bad guys have gun' is fairly ineffective too, because from what I observe over here, if they have them, they don't use them as anything but a threat. In fact, right here in Sydney I have ONLY ever seen guns holstered on the belts of police and security guards. In fact, the though that someone might be carrying a gun doesn't even occur to me any more.
Its unfortunate, but I suspect that the only way Americans will ever view the preservation of their society as more important that the ineffectual feeling of safety that arises from owning a weapon is when they start becoming too afraid to travel their own streets. Even then I doubt it. Before you shoot me down in flames, ask yourself why this always happens in the US. Why is this even news over there? From memory it seems to have every single year, or at least seems that way. Without gun control you will just have to get used to it.
Personally I loved playing soldiers when I was a kid. I lived on a military base and got to use the ranges all the time. I grew out of it though and am glad that our government listen to the people and not the lobbyists. Now we have a homicide by gun rate of 0.3073 per 100,000 vs. the US with 3.6000 according to <URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence>.
Apple to Apples you Americans die more than 10 times more often than us from guns. We however lack your 'inalienable rights' to bear arms.
I have a d810 and a d620. Both have given me shocks since I got them. Funny thing was, the whole time this was happening I was assuming I had a flinch in my left fore arm. It felt like a needle poking in to my wrist. then my wife starting complaining about it to and knew it wasn't me. I'm relieved this article has come to light. This isn't as isolated as you might think. I checked a few laptops around here at work and they do it too, though most of the users have docking stations and separate keyboards so are never exposed. I suspect this is a bigger problem than you expect every single dell laptop I have tested around here has the issue.
New Scientist were running a article on the Glaciers on Greenland that were melting. The speed was accelerating far faster than they though. Apparently the meltwater was running under the glacier and providing lubrication sppeding up it;s marh in to the ocean. The meltwater was also taking warm(er) water beneath the ice and causing erosion of the sub surface ice down there opening up huge caverns. I don't think linear mathematics apply to this situation. Also don't forget all the other knock on effects. Each year it gets hotter, the oceans warm up. The ice shelves are warming from above and below. I suspect we will see more scientific studies showing these accelerative effects accumulating.
As an Australian I would also like to note that we would be happy to commit to Kyoto. I'm not sure of the exact details (hey this IS Slashdot) but I would expect that being a modern western style nation -without- atomic power might have something to do with us being borderline on Kyoto. Add that to our leader living in George Bush's left pants pocket and you can imagine which way we might sway. Energy is getting a lot of attention here politically. Our issue is that energy use is growing faster than alternative sources are being created(reasons aside). The main factor for our use is Air Con. Yesterday in the Melbourne Cup temperatures reaching 50deg c(122deg f) were recorded. Thats in one of our coldest cities....
It all started with the movie Wargames. The concepts of modems, AI, war-dialing that movie had it all. For me it started with my puny 16k Funvision (aka Dick Smith Wizard) computer and basic cartridge. I of course moved on to Amiga, then PC and am now a Systems Engineer.
The hook for me was knowing something that others didn't. Friends had ColecoVisions and C64's playing these awesome games like Elite... I had thousand line text adventure games coded by me, all stored on the B side of my Pseudo Echo Cassette. Today one's a pharmacist and the other welds trains back together, I'm still writing games...
You do it because you want to, you can't force it.