Speaking as a long time sailor, you can average a heading when the seas are rough. Basically I know I want to be on a 20 heading, but waves are tossing me around between 260 and 280, but I keep a general course in mind. Even a GPS system (non-spoofed) will move a bit in rougher seas. Bear in mind this relates to smaller boats. Yachts, large vessels tend to not swing so much so matching compass heading to GPS as a cross check works.
I commented on the other post a similar thought, that spoofing a GPS for a ship is not a danger because the time frame to effect change is too long to have an impact on the high seas. A good navigator will cross check positions (compass or even celestial) to ensure they are on course. Once they get close to land then they can navigate by dead reckoning off land marks and/or navigation buoys. Spoof a GPS near land and most captains will just turn it off and go back to what worked for centuries.
Airplanes could be much mroe effected in short time frames, but I also feel they have redundant systems to cross check. Bottom line, spoofing a GPS may be acool trick, but not a danger to people in general.
I know this seems off topic, but bear with me....This morning I listened to an NPR article on the Zimmerman case. The focus was why all the support groups that seemed connected before the verdict have now splintered. The general feeling was "We need to do something about race and civil rights", and my questions to the radio was "what? Pass another law?" There are times when we, as a Society, need to step back from the emotional response and look at the bigger picture of cause and effect.
Trying to propose a block or censorship of anything means, at a basic level, you begin to infringe of the rights (or desires) of others. Freedom is messy, because it requires a greater personal and societal responsibility. it means that you have to educate your daughters on what's messy in life (which you may do) and that you cannot always protect in the moment, but you can give them the tools to handle what life puts in front of them, Freedom means we may not always like what others do, but we have the ability to choose a good path.
There is nothing good in censorship other then if it harms the society as a whole and even them that is murky thinking.
Touche' However Were there a terrorist bent on effecting my course he/she would need to be pretty damn close to the compass, at which point the captain may become suspicious (one would hope). Yes, I have dealt with the screwdriver effect.
There is this strange device called a...what was it a gain...oh a compass. The cool device that relies on something pretty hard to spoof, Earth's magnetic field as I remember. Ships and airplanes still carry a compass on board (well I know airplanes do) as backup to all that electronic stuff, because every now and then the power goes out and pilots are trained to fly and navigate by compass. They also cross check (or they should) the modern equipment with the analog to validate the primary instruments.
Just because someone says they can do something does not mean its really viable or will work well. Still waiting on flying cars, long lasting batteries, and fusion power plants so this type of drama news is not even close to registering on the danger meter.
Now that is a the foundation for a good movie plot. I'd go see that one. Somehow, even though you're killing off people, you still remain the protagonist with the evils one being the other bot developers. At the end you die (of course, a tragic hero's path), but save the world...for now.
Point taken. Writing at work puts a pressure to publish quickly. However, the intent was not to find ways to pat me on the back, but to encourage others to write directly to Mozzilla instead of bitching about the feature on/. A point lost on you.
I read through the blog and then posted this comment back.
Mozilla may need to explore the question are they a marketing firm or a browser developer group. I see no value in having you, Mozilla, actively assisting marketing and advertising companies by collecting, synthesizing, and regurgitating my browser activity to websites.
I already know my interests. I know my needs, and I do not need to be either "guided" to a targeted set of ads or have my interests displayed on a public device (be it phone or PC) for anyone to see, even it is my interest in unicorns and gnomes. More importantly I do not need my browser taking part in helping companies gather this information. At the least be neutral, at best, as toll keepers to the "information highway" protect my viewing habits by making information gathering an Opt-In, not an Opt-Out experience. You are not beholding to advertisers so why shill for them. They can try to track me, I don't need you to tell them where I go.
In short, a lousy idea and one not worthy of the fine product Firefox has become.
(I would guess your test group was not made up of slashdot members. Not one likes the idea and they are pretty clear bout how they feel.)
In this case 99% of the users of the "Web" don't care about tracking, ads, what is captured or anything other than "does it work". They cannot be bothered turning this or that off or figuring out how to block ads. the 99% run apps on Facebook, click on ad links, and blithely share information to the underworld of marketers.
The 1% are those like yourself (and me to an extent), that don't want or need help finding things on the web. We don't like leaving bread crumbs, we are bothered by the notion of being tracked. I think this feature of Mozilla sucks, but as it will most likely be an opt out, not in approach it is just another "thing" to manage. The 1% have no real power to make these browser folks stop doing this type of crap.
What is sad is that as developers of the browser, they truly have the ability to shape how all this works. They are the toll keepers and can easily set up the access point to be all "opt-in" oriented. An open source product like FireFox does not need advertisements to survive so why do they help marketers troll for our data.
So Mr. 1%, I am with you, but one day it will get too complicated to manage all these tricks to keep my "privacy" and you, I, and the other 1% will be absorbed.
what am I debating? The original comment suggested that teachers get paid to much? I commented back that maybe they get paid based on the cost of living, that NYC (and by extension) Long Island is an expensive place to live. Your reply took issue with property taxes which fuel education and you ended with a less then debatable line of "spare me the sanctimony". In that regard I had not been sanctimonious, but supportive of teachers. I also went on to pull links to back up my thoughts that LI is expensive, that teachers get paid a lot more, but much less then Staff, that property taxes are high, but not well distributed. Okay, I did take a small job, but they were qualified with "If you..." which is a far cry from say "you are.."
So how am I not willing to debate?
You say you've made a point otherwise, but if so, where? Even in this retort "Who says teaching isn't important? So are many other things" the implication is to take away from what teachers do through a comparison of engineers and garbageman, professions that are not in debate here. Let me rephrase...
If you appreciate teachers then you would then support their efforts to ensure they have a good quality of life so they can provide the best possible education to our children.
If you are passionate about the budgetary excess in your location you would support efforts to ensure public dollars got spent wisely in a way that reaped the best ROI for the tax dollar.
Interesting study I read recently, for every dollar spent in after school activities (some which involve educators) there was a $9 to $13 return in either savings to the community or direct return to the tax base. Yet after school activities are typically the first to be cut, because they are viewed as non-essential....wow
Now ebno, I've put case studies out there, I've put links out there, and I've made it clear that I support teachers and education spending when it is done responsibly...and you say I am unwilling or unable to debate the topic honestly?
I have a friend who lives on LI, yeah, you sound like him. btw c) If you'r not typing this on a selectix, thank a programmer.
Interestingly, both the Engineer and the Garbageman needed a teacher to help us out of the dark ages and clean up the place. I've also known folks who've straddled both and they sing a different tune so we're both right and both wrong I guess. However I found this report that cerrtainly reflects your comment about high taxes and education. However I did find this site which lists the school staff salaries, the lowest being (for one school) being @120K. Doing a little more digging I found this article which does indicate that LI teachers are paid well, but then so are the staff. One more note, home prices on Long Island seems to hover around 315K (average, but at one point were upwards of 400K+ so while you do live there (and I have a friend who lives there and we talk) you do realize that it does cost more to live and work in Long Island then in other less costly areas?
Now if you think teachers are just shit, then not much anyone says will change your view. If you think that education is not your problem so why should you pay taxes, not much will change your mind. But on the outside chance you see value in getting an education, that the education is providing ROI, and you do some due dilligence to see what (or if) there is a problem in how property taxes are distributed and then do something to fix it other then complaining that teachers get paid too much...then maybe you can see the difference between sanctimony versus support. in 15 minutes I found out that
1 - NYC and LI have one of the highest COL living in the country 2 - Public School districts pay staff much more then their teachers 3 - Teachers are paid more in Long Island, but it is offset by living costs 4 - There is uneven distribution of cost within the school districts pitting low income districts against wealthy
NYC has one of the highest COL rates in the country. 100K may equate to say 50K in a suburb in Atlanta or 40K in a rural location in West Virginia. It is the they amount of the paycheck, it is the amount paid in relation to the regions COL.
I'm not certain the tone of your comment though it implies that perhaps teachers are over paid for their work. This view I've not understood (if that was the backhanded point). Educators serve an important and vital role in society. While there can be examples of "bad teaching" from a few, most teachers are there because they truly want children to learn. That is a noble effort. Waste, fraud, apathy; they can be found in most walks of life, but for some reason we pull a few bad apples in education and then cry out "see, we pay these loofers to much". We don't pay them enough.
If a child seeks a role model (outside the family) I'd rather it be an educator, not a sports star. In this country we've turned that 180 degrees though valuation of people based on dollars, not sense.
So before you complain about teachers getting to much time off, good benefits, and job security; walk in their shoes, carry their responsibility, live their life. Compare what you do as a teacher to that as a ball player, a banker, a Hedge Fund manager and ponder what is important.
I read through many of the posts, the exchange between "cold fjord" and Aca something was cute with its little drama about paid writers (maybe their both paid writers for the NSA or other government agency). yet in all these posts, not one poster talked about the root of this article. Why would the NSA *need* all this space if is not suppose to be collecting information without specific warrants or in bulk against innocent citizens.
That is the story. It is like y'all have just rolled over and accepted that it is okay for the NSA to even do this, so let's argue about size. My own view is that the NSA does *not* need these data centers for they should not be collecting that much information about everyone in the USA and beyond. I listened to a politician this morning (one who voted to continue funding the NSA's current trawling expedition) tell me that their actions "saved" hundreds of American lives, but if I asked for proof he'd say "I cannot disclose that information". I see, so you can't provide facts on what the program has done to save lives, you can't talk about what the program does though we know it gathers information on people who are not related to any illegal activity, and you ask us to "Trust You"? This is a republican who cries out for spending cuts, but votes to continue funding secret projects.
Please...
The spotlight on the NSA is not what it is building, it is on what it is doing, allegedly breaking the law. We should be asking more questions about that, digging into that, pushing Congress to act on that; not on blueprints. That they want to listen in or gather information on bad guys, fine, but when they expand that same action to include everyone then I have a problem.
I was going to mode this up, but you lacked a link to the story. I'm curious to know what school and too lazy to google it (well okay, I tried Is this the one you're talking about? It is a little old, but a disgusting story nonetheless.
If a child draws a picture of aliens and says "my daddy went on a trip with them", would they be getting a visit from the DoD? We're losing it... quickly.
A Church is a collection of people with similar beliefs, faiths, and actions. Just as one says "The Corporation did this or that" even though clearly it is the people within, the same cane be said regarding the/a Church. You pick out semantics for in this case, the reference to the Church is the same as if I referenced individual people within. There are people who do good works, they are affiliated and represent the Church so the Church does good works. We can take the low route and apply the same for all the crap they do, but that was not my position in this case.
To be clear, I did not say Catholics only prayed to God, I made the point that they do not pray to the Pope. Praying to a Sait may be just a different path to God as a lay Christian praying to Jesus is another path to God. I'm not Catholic so I leave it to them to explain the difference.
You last thought was the most intriguing for there is a nuance in the words I can't quite place. Churches do not exist to just do man's bidding. If you talked to some Christians they might say that Churches exist to do God's bidding, but even that is not accurate. A Church is a community of like minded people, coming together to share their faith and use the power of a community to carry out what they feel is "God's Will". That will defined by the Bible (sticking with Christianity in this case), but shaped by man.
What is the difference between Religion and Faith? If humanity took time to answer that question we would all be in a better place. Religion is about external power and control, Faith is about inner peace and how We fit into the world around us. In today's world we sadly have too much of the former and ridiculing of the latter.
If you put all the cargo of a C-130 in its tail its nose will pop up. If you put to much cargo fore or aft on a ship, the load lines will reflect an imbalance. Another poster commented that the cargo could be top heavy which could contribute to a roll over, maybe not so much a breaking in half. The lines are there, whether humans pay attention to them is another story. It is the captain's responsibility (both air and sea) to ensure cargo is stowed properly. It is, at the end of the day, their jobs and lives. Like other folks, the simplest reason seems the moist likely, metal fatigue and or poor manufacturing. Will any one investigate? That is the deeper issue.
This has been a fasinating discussion. You both have thoughtful, obviously differing points which I wont get to much into, but this exchange got my attention...
I don't believe the word of god needs to be "explained" - one might be lead to believe god wrote it wrong. Or the person that wrote it was not divinely inspired as to write it correctly.
Now you are just being hopelessly naive. The texts of the bible are hundreds to thousands of years old. Languages have changed and died. Few today are familiar with the societies that they were written for, or the historical contexts.
Who wrote what, when, where and why they wrote it, who they were writing it for, who they were, why is it in the bible vs other things that are not. The meanings of various names. Right on down to why a particular english word chosen; and which of the english words several definitions aligns best with the original sense of the original text.
Its just plain silly to seriously argue that a guy with a standard modern American high school education is going to have even half a clue about half of what's going on in there.
I will grant that some Christians feel the Bible is the literal "Word of God" requiring knowledgable teachers to interpret and represent that Word to the masses. However, my anecdotal experience is such that most people see the Bible as written by Man in an attempt to explain Mans relationship with something Greater then themselves. The Old Testament is mainly a historical novel with portions dedicated to showing Man's relationship to God (and back), portions on how to live a safe life, and portions on how to carry ones's self through life. Rather simple reading in fact.
The New Testament, specifically the Gospels (as they are the foundation of Christian belief) are not complex in their messages and it seems that so called "Teachers" tend to not use Christ's words (as written by others) to help understand how to live, but are used to control others. This is why you both are right and wrong. The Bible is a collected works of writings that can be read without all the trappings of Religion and provide guidance for one's soul, or can be presented as an educational aid to understand the greater context of how, when, why, and to whom it was written. I'll add that it is not the only source of Moral living as purportedly coming from "God", just one of the more popular.
Really? Your retort is just a variation of "yo Mama". This is/. for crying out loud, use some part of your brain cell to come back with a more sardonic or rapier response. "Go kill yourself" is just...childish, like your initial comment. You went beyond hyperbole (it has always been corrupt) as if each and every monk, priest, and nun are in on the crime. No fan of the Church here, but it has done good works over the centuries, done by good caring people so how about canning the over generalizations a bit.
Not to nitpick, but even Christianity has somewhat of a "middleman" in the form of Jesus such that "Christians" feel the only way to God is through Christ. Sure, the Holy Trinity can cover up that loop hole, but many of the major beliefs (even Islam) have a middle man, living or dead that represent the way to God. Christianity talks about a personal relationship with Christ (first, not God the Father), a slight but clear difference in semantics. The Church does not declare the Pope God, but God's representative on Earth. Big difference. Catholics do not pray to the Pope, they pray to God, or to God and the supporting characters and while they do have this quirky notion that only a priest (which by extension includes the Pope) can give absolution and entrance to Heaven, many Christians feel that if you do not accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you will burn in hell. Corrupt? How about James Bakker or these types of churches that use Christianity as a drug and they are the pushers. The Catholic Church is not the only Religion with its dark side.
You opened the door to comment with the "everyone knows" and irrelevant statements like "the pope is not in the bible" without really making a valid point. So "Go kill yourself", instead of adding to your machismo, only diluted your initial weak thoughts. Perhaps you'd like to try again.
"Stop your whining, learn how to program and write your own driver n00b. That's why the call it open source"...in response to "How can I get my linksys wireless card to work on my dell 630 laptop".
That's supposed to serve as incentive for the powerful to behave well.
Generally most of what you say has some validity, but when I read the words I feel you leave some gaps in actionable options. Take the quote above, when the Gentry could only depart on stagecoach, fast horse or fleet foot your comment has power. In today's world, not only can the powerful quickly, "as in minutes" depart for locations unknown, they can more likely direct from parts unknown thus saving themselves from bloodshed. We are talking here about those that run the government (yes, I'll include our CEO bosses). So we ride up, we wave torches, we wave pitch forks, we destroy property, we find lackeys or minions to hack to death while the whole time the powerful just wait till the pressure is released then step back into power. Not very effective change.
I'm not quite there yet, where you are idealistically. I still believe People can effect change, but it is becoming just that much harder. I wont be around for this, but I get the feeling within 50 years, the US will explode like countries in the Arab Spring. When it happens the people who lit the match (back to 2000 in my book) will have created their safe zone in a new location. What was the US will be a splintered land of extremist individual or combined states. It wont be Civil war of two sides, but multiple factions vying for grabbing as much power as can be had.
Man, now you got me depressed and this had started off from just a bad joke...(sigh). My one faith is that there is a silent majority of people that upon wakening can be a powerful enough force to stem the tide. Leaders like Al Franken, Elizabeth Warren can get enough of a voice to show the populus there is a better way then chaos.
Was that *your* attempt at humor? We tried getting rid of the neocons in 2008, look at what that got us. Democracy is well and truly broken in the US. You're not going to do anything from the top down. Only when the people rise up will real change happen.
No. I don't joke about Franchise. Democracy will be broken the day the vote is removed. Till then you, I, we need to keep trying to change. So this round failed, figure out how to fix that and try again.
The problem with people "rising up" these days is that it tends to get very bloody, very ugly, and to chaotic to be managed. OWS failed, not for passion, but they could not find a cohesive voice. An angry mob may kill the Gentry, but they are still just an angry mob sloshing around with little guidance. I would prefer the US not look like Syria in a few years, or Egypt; fractured societies using violence to achieve a means to an end while a few feed off the chaos. Want to get out Republic back, vote for a moderate republican, not an extreme liberal. Vote for a reasoned voice then hold them to it.
I agree that what represents a politician (leader) in the US is pretty sad, but there are some notables to (Sen Warren for example) that serve as an example of what we once had in Congress.
It might be because we're humorless drones...or because the joke fell flat. I saw the connection, I didn't find the humor. You could have gone with "I think (well actually your first mistake. Think implies a guess which means you have doubts thus you should not have raised the point) I spot a Fed...No, wait...to reasonable, I'll keep looking".
Now that would be a tip of the hat to the original summary line, but be respectful of the poster's view and a level of "funny" for/.
You took the lazy, grade school route for humor with bad timing...that's how.
Actually, you lose. What you spotted was a reasonable person with a brain.
Sometimes, in rare moments, these ordinary people do extra ordinary things (Mr. Snowden) to help shine a light on a corrupt system; corrupt from the top down, not so much the bottom up. Most times they come to work like most people, processing paper work, managing information, and trying to make it to the end of the day so they can enjoy life. As the GP said, save the vitriol for those that make policy or even better, if you don't like the current batch of policy makers, work to get rid of them in the next round of elections.
Unless the NSA has cracked AC in/., I doubt they know *who* has a true crypt partition, just someone who logged onto/., maybe for one moment and made a comment. they are not yet God.
The base issue is not so much about keep secrets in the ongoing investigations, not telling bad guys we know where you are is understandable. The issue is that agencies like the NSA are usupring the Constitution in order to try and hook bad guys, pontetially invading privacy of US citizens that have no connection with any bad guys. Consider this statement:
"Any inadvertently acquired communication of or concerning a US person must be promptly destroyed if it is neither relevant to the authorized purpose or evidence of a crime."
There is no implied statement there, the NSA is processing general communications in the hopes of find a bad guy, but doing so by digging into private communications without a warrant.
The whole point of a warrant is to ensure that the Authority has reasonable reason to look beyond the public face of an individual. What the NSA did is akin to random checkpoints, searching all people who come by. If one refuses then they labeled suspicious, not that they are asserting their constitutional rights. We are innocent till proven guilty, but the NSA seems to feel that that does not matter. We are all guilty, just ignore the stuff that doesn't matter right now.
Keeping an investigation quiet? Yes. Secret Courts, maybe? But secret Congressional hearings? No for they represent Us and We should demand that agencies be held accountable to the Law.
tldr; I don't want my country to become East Germany
There were so many applications of the Chewbacca Defense, my head was spinning./. disdain wont change a thing about this guy. His ego came shining through quite clearly, "You all are wrong, I am right, get lost". The only way to truly effect folks like this is through changing the rules (laws) that provide for him and his ilk to slip and slide through the cracks, fleecing the public along the way. Sadly, those entrusted with the law are just about as bad. They too walk around with propped up egos, looking for ways to beat the system and justifying each step. The few that truly give a damn about the Public welfare are too few and too far between.
Maybe Karma will catch up to him, but till then, it is either drag him down by voiding his patents or shut him down by changes the laws. Neither a road traveled by you average Joe.
Slashdot Mirror
Speaking as a long time sailor, you can average a heading when the seas are rough. Basically I know I want to be on a 20 heading, but waves are tossing me around between 260 and 280, but I keep a general course in mind. Even a GPS system (non-spoofed) will move a bit in rougher seas. Bear in mind this relates to smaller boats. Yachts, large vessels tend to not swing so much so matching compass heading to GPS as a cross check works.
I commented on the other post a similar thought, that spoofing a GPS for a ship is not a danger because the time frame to effect change is too long to have an impact on the high seas. A good navigator will cross check positions (compass or even celestial) to ensure they are on course. Once they get close to land then they can navigate by dead reckoning off land marks and/or navigation buoys. Spoof a GPS near land and most captains will just turn it off and go back to what worked for centuries.
Airplanes could be much mroe effected in short time frames, but I also feel they have redundant systems to cross check. Bottom line, spoofing a GPS may be acool trick, but not a danger to people in general.
I know this seems off topic, but bear with me....This morning I listened to an NPR article on the Zimmerman case. The focus was why all the support groups that seemed connected before the verdict have now splintered. The general feeling was "We need to do something about race and civil rights", and my questions to the radio was "what? Pass another law?" There are times when we, as a Society, need to step back from the emotional response and look at the bigger picture of cause and effect.
Trying to propose a block or censorship of anything means, at a basic level, you begin to infringe of the rights (or desires) of others. Freedom is messy, because it requires a greater personal and societal responsibility. it means that you have to educate your daughters on what's messy in life (which you may do) and that you cannot always protect in the moment, but you can give them the tools to handle what life puts in front of them, Freedom means we may not always like what others do, but we have the ability to choose a good path.
There is nothing good in censorship other then if it harms the society as a whole and even them that is murky thinking.
Touche' However Were there a terrorist bent on effecting my course he/she would need to be pretty damn close to the compass, at which point the captain may become suspicious (one would hope). Yes, I have dealt with the screwdriver effect.
There is this strange device called a...what was it a gain...oh a compass. The cool device that relies on something pretty hard to spoof, Earth's magnetic field as I remember. Ships and airplanes still carry a compass on board (well I know airplanes do) as backup to all that electronic stuff, because every now and then the power goes out and pilots are trained to fly and navigate by compass. They also cross check (or they should) the modern equipment with the analog to validate the primary instruments.
Just because someone says they can do something does not mean its really viable or will work well. Still waiting on flying cars, long lasting batteries, and fusion power plants so this type of drama news is not even close to registering on the danger meter.
Now that is a the foundation for a good movie plot. I'd go see that one. Somehow, even though you're killing off people, you still remain the protagonist with the evils one being the other bot developers. At the end you die (of course, a tragic hero's path), but save the world...for now.
My first grammar nazi...after all these years.
Point taken. Writing at work puts a pressure to publish quickly. However, the intent was not to find ways to pat me on the back, but to encourage others to write directly to Mozzilla instead of bitching about the feature on /. A point lost on you.
I read through the blog and then posted this comment back.
Oh, if only you were part of the 99%, not the 1%
In this case 99% of the users of the "Web" don't care about tracking, ads, what is captured or anything other than "does it work". They cannot be bothered turning this or that off or figuring out how to block ads. the 99% run apps on Facebook, click on ad links, and blithely share information to the underworld of marketers.
The 1% are those like yourself (and me to an extent), that don't want or need help finding things on the web. We don't like leaving bread crumbs, we are bothered by the notion of being tracked. I think this feature of Mozilla sucks, but as it will most likely be an opt out, not in approach it is just another "thing" to manage. The 1% have no real power to make these browser folks stop doing this type of crap.
What is sad is that as developers of the browser, they truly have the ability to shape how all this works. They are the toll keepers and can easily set up the access point to be all "opt-in" oriented. An open source product like FireFox does not need advertisements to survive so why do they help marketers troll for our data.
So Mr. 1%, I am with you, but one day it will get too complicated to manage all these tricks to keep my "privacy" and you, I, and the other 1% will be absorbed.
what am I debating? The original comment suggested that teachers get paid to much? I commented back that maybe they get paid based on the cost of living, that NYC (and by extension) Long Island is an expensive place to live. Your reply took issue with property taxes which fuel education and you ended with a less then debatable line of "spare me the sanctimony". In that regard I had not been sanctimonious, but supportive of teachers. I also went on to pull links to back up my thoughts that LI is expensive, that teachers get paid a lot more, but much less then Staff, that property taxes are high, but not well distributed. Okay, I did take a small job, but they were qualified with "If you..." which is a far cry from say "you are.."
So how am I not willing to debate?
You say you've made a point otherwise, but if so, where? Even in this retort "Who says teaching isn't important? So are many other things" the implication is to take away from what teachers do through a comparison of engineers and garbageman, professions that are not in debate here. Let me rephrase...
If you appreciate teachers then you would then support their efforts to ensure they have a good quality of life so they can provide the best possible education to our children.
If you are passionate about the budgetary excess in your location you would support efforts to ensure public dollars got spent wisely in a way that reaped the best ROI for the tax dollar.
Interesting study I read recently, for every dollar spent in after school activities (some which involve educators) there was a $9 to $13 return in either savings to the community or direct return to the tax base. Yet after school activities are typically the first to be cut, because they are viewed as non-essential....wow
Now ebno, I've put case studies out there, I've put links out there, and I've made it clear that I support teachers and education spending when it is done responsibly...and you say I am unwilling or unable to debate the topic honestly?
I have a friend who lives on LI, yeah, you sound like him. btw c) If you'r not typing this on a selectix, thank a programmer.
Interestingly, both the Engineer and the Garbageman needed a teacher to help us out of the dark ages and clean up the place. I've also known folks who've straddled both and they sing a different tune so we're both right and both wrong I guess. However I found this report that cerrtainly reflects your comment about high taxes and education. However I did find this site which lists the school staff salaries, the lowest being (for one school) being @120K. Doing a little more digging I found this article which does indicate that LI teachers are paid well, but then so are the staff. One more note, home prices on Long Island seems to hover around 315K (average, but at one point were upwards of 400K+ so while you do live there (and I have a friend who lives there and we talk) you do realize that it does cost more to live and work in Long Island then in other less costly areas?
Now if you think teachers are just shit, then not much anyone says will change your view. If you think that education is not your problem so why should you pay taxes, not much will change your mind. But on the outside chance you see value in getting an education, that the education is providing ROI, and you do some due dilligence to see what (or if) there is a problem in how property taxes are distributed and then do something to fix it other then complaining that teachers get paid too much...then maybe you can see the difference between sanctimony versus support. in 15 minutes I found out that
1 - NYC and LI have one of the highest COL living in the country
2 - Public School districts pay staff much more then their teachers
3 - Teachers are paid more in Long Island, but it is offset by living costs
4 - There is uneven distribution of cost within the school districts pitting low income districts against wealthy
and I don't live there.
NYC has one of the highest COL rates in the country. 100K may equate to say 50K in a suburb in Atlanta or 40K in a rural location in West Virginia. It is the they amount of the paycheck, it is the amount paid in relation to the regions COL.
I'm not certain the tone of your comment though it implies that perhaps teachers are over paid for their work. This view I've not understood (if that was the backhanded point). Educators serve an important and vital role in society. While there can be examples of "bad teaching" from a few, most teachers are there because they truly want children to learn. That is a noble effort. Waste, fraud, apathy; they can be found in most walks of life, but for some reason we pull a few bad apples in education and then cry out "see, we pay these loofers to much". We don't pay them enough.
If a child seeks a role model (outside the family) I'd rather it be an educator, not a sports star. In this country we've turned that 180 degrees though valuation of people based on dollars, not sense.
So before you complain about teachers getting to much time off, good benefits, and job security; walk in their shoes, carry their responsibility, live their life. Compare what you do as a teacher to that as a ball player, a banker, a Hedge Fund manager and ponder what is important.
I read through many of the posts, the exchange between "cold fjord" and Aca something was cute with its little drama about paid writers (maybe their both paid writers for the NSA or other government agency). yet in all these posts, not one poster talked about the root of this article. Why would the NSA *need* all this space if is not suppose to be collecting information without specific warrants or in bulk against innocent citizens.
That is the story. It is like y'all have just rolled over and accepted that it is okay for the NSA to even do this, so let's argue about size. My own view is that the NSA does *not* need these data centers for they should not be collecting that much information about everyone in the USA and beyond. I listened to a politician this morning (one who voted to continue funding the NSA's current trawling expedition) tell me that their actions "saved" hundreds of American lives, but if I asked for proof he'd say "I cannot disclose that information". I see, so you can't provide facts on what the program has done to save lives, you can't talk about what the program does though we know it gathers information on people who are not related to any illegal activity, and you ask us to "Trust You"? This is a republican who cries out for spending cuts, but votes to continue funding secret projects.
Please...
The spotlight on the NSA is not what it is building, it is on what it is doing, allegedly breaking the law. We should be asking more questions about that, digging into that, pushing Congress to act on that; not on blueprints. That they want to listen in or gather information on bad guys, fine, but when they expand that same action to include everyone then I have a problem.
I was going to mode this up, but you lacked a link to the story. I'm curious to know what school and too lazy to google it (well okay, I tried Is this the one you're talking about? It is a little old, but a disgusting story nonetheless.
If a child draws a picture of aliens and says "my daddy went on a trip with them", would they be getting a visit from the DoD? We're losing it ... quickly.
A Church is a collection of people with similar beliefs, faiths, and actions. Just as one says "The Corporation did this or that" even though clearly it is the people within, the same cane be said regarding the/a Church. You pick out semantics for in this case, the reference to the Church is the same as if I referenced individual people within. There are people who do good works, they are affiliated and represent the Church so the Church does good works. We can take the low route and apply the same for all the crap they do, but that was not my position in this case.
To be clear, I did not say Catholics only prayed to God, I made the point that they do not pray to the Pope. Praying to a Sait may be just a different path to God as a lay Christian praying to Jesus is another path to God. I'm not Catholic so I leave it to them to explain the difference.
You last thought was the most intriguing for there is a nuance in the words I can't quite place. Churches do not exist to just do man's bidding. If you talked to some Christians they might say that Churches exist to do God's bidding, but even that is not accurate. A Church is a community of like minded people, coming together to share their faith and use the power of a community to carry out what they feel is "God's Will". That will defined by the Bible (sticking with Christianity in this case), but shaped by man.
What is the difference between Religion and Faith? If humanity took time to answer that question we would all be in a better place. Religion is about external power and control, Faith is about inner peace and how We fit into the world around us. In today's world we sadly have too much of the former and ridiculing of the latter.
If you put all the cargo of a C-130 in its tail its nose will pop up. If you put to much cargo fore or aft on a ship, the load lines will reflect an imbalance. Another poster commented that the cargo could be top heavy which could contribute to a roll over, maybe not so much a breaking in half. The lines are there, whether humans pay attention to them is another story. It is the captain's responsibility (both air and sea) to ensure cargo is stowed properly. It is, at the end of the day, their jobs and lives. Like other folks, the simplest reason seems the moist likely, metal fatigue and or poor manufacturing. Will any one investigate? That is the deeper issue.
This has been a fasinating discussion. You both have thoughtful, obviously differing points which I wont get to much into, but this exchange got my attention...
I don't believe the word of god needs to be "explained" - one might be lead to believe god wrote it wrong. Or the person that wrote it was not divinely inspired as to write it correctly.
Now you are just being hopelessly naive. The texts of the bible are hundreds to thousands of years old. Languages have changed and died. Few today are familiar with the societies that they were written for, or the historical contexts.
Who wrote what, when, where and why they wrote it, who they were writing it for, who they were, why is it in the bible vs other things that are not. The meanings of various names. Right on down to why a particular english word chosen; and which of the english words several definitions aligns best with the original sense of the original text.
Its just plain silly to seriously argue that a guy with a standard modern American high school education is going to have even half a clue about half of what's going on in there.
I will grant that some Christians feel the Bible is the literal "Word of God" requiring knowledgable teachers to interpret and represent that Word to the masses. However, my anecdotal experience is such that most people see the Bible as written by Man in an attempt to explain Mans relationship with something Greater then themselves. The Old Testament is mainly a historical novel with portions dedicated to showing Man's relationship to God (and back), portions on how to live a safe life, and portions on how to carry ones's self through life. Rather simple reading in fact.
The New Testament, specifically the Gospels (as they are the foundation of Christian belief) are not complex in their messages and it seems that so called "Teachers" tend to not use Christ's words (as written by others) to help understand how to live, but are used to control others. This is why you both are right and wrong. The Bible is a collected works of writings that can be read without all the trappings of Religion and provide guidance for one's soul, or can be presented as an educational aid to understand the greater context of how, when, why, and to whom it was written. I'll add that it is not the only source of Moral living as purportedly coming from "God", just one of the more popular.
Really? Your retort is just a variation of "yo Mama". This is /. for crying out loud, use some part of your brain cell to come back with a more sardonic or rapier response. "Go kill yourself" is just...childish, like your initial comment. You went beyond hyperbole (it has always been corrupt) as if each and every monk, priest, and nun are in on the crime. No fan of the Church here, but it has done good works over the centuries, done by good caring people so how about canning the over generalizations a bit.
Not to nitpick, but even Christianity has somewhat of a "middleman" in the form of Jesus such that "Christians" feel the only way to God is through Christ. Sure, the Holy Trinity can cover up that loop hole, but many of the major beliefs (even Islam) have a middle man, living or dead that represent the way to God. Christianity talks about a personal relationship with Christ (first, not God the Father), a slight but clear difference in semantics. The Church does not declare the Pope God, but God's representative on Earth. Big difference. Catholics do not pray to the Pope, they pray to God, or to God and the supporting characters and while they do have this quirky notion that only a priest (which by extension includes the Pope) can give absolution and entrance to Heaven, many Christians feel that if you do not accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you will burn in hell. Corrupt? How about James Bakker or these types of churches that use Christianity as a drug and they are the pushers. The Catholic Church is not the only Religion with its dark side.
You opened the door to comment with the "everyone knows" and irrelevant statements like "the pope is not in the bible" without really making a valid point. So "Go kill yourself", instead of adding to your machismo, only diluted your initial weak thoughts. Perhaps you'd like to try again.
You must be a Linux Tech Support Person.
"Stop your whining, learn how to program and write your own driver n00b. That's why the call it open source" ...in response to "How can I get my linksys wireless card to work on my dell 630 laptop".
That's supposed to serve as incentive for the powerful to behave well.
Generally most of what you say has some validity, but when I read the words I feel you leave some gaps in actionable options. Take the quote above, when the Gentry could only depart on stagecoach, fast horse or fleet foot your comment has power. In today's world, not only can the powerful quickly, "as in minutes" depart for locations unknown, they can more likely direct from parts unknown thus saving themselves from bloodshed. We are talking here about those that run the government (yes, I'll include our CEO bosses). So we ride up, we wave torches, we wave pitch forks, we destroy property, we find lackeys or minions to hack to death while the whole time the powerful just wait till the pressure is released then step back into power. Not very effective change.
I'm not quite there yet, where you are idealistically. I still believe People can effect change, but it is becoming just that much harder. I wont be around for this, but I get the feeling within 50 years, the US will explode like countries in the Arab Spring. When it happens the people who lit the match (back to 2000 in my book) will have created their safe zone in a new location. What was the US will be a splintered land of extremist individual or combined states. It wont be Civil war of two sides, but multiple factions vying for grabbing as much power as can be had.
Man, now you got me depressed and this had started off from just a bad joke...(sigh). My one faith is that there is a silent majority of people that upon wakening can be a powerful enough force to stem the tide. Leaders like Al Franken, Elizabeth Warren can get enough of a voice to show the populus there is a better way then chaos.
We'll see.
Disregarding everything else...
Was that *your* attempt at humor? We tried getting rid of the neocons in 2008, look at what that got us. Democracy is well and truly broken in the US. You're not going to do anything from the top down. Only when the people rise up will real change happen.
No. I don't joke about Franchise. Democracy will be broken the day the vote is removed. Till then you, I, we need to keep trying to change. So this round failed, figure out how to fix that and try again.
The problem with people "rising up" these days is that it tends to get very bloody, very ugly, and to chaotic to be managed. OWS failed, not for passion, but they could not find a cohesive voice. An angry mob may kill the Gentry, but they are still just an angry mob sloshing around with little guidance. I would prefer the US not look like Syria in a few years, or Egypt; fractured societies using violence to achieve a means to an end while a few feed off the chaos. Want to get out Republic back, vote for a moderate republican, not an extreme liberal. Vote for a reasoned voice then hold them to it.
I agree that what represents a politician (leader) in the US is pretty sad, but there are some notables to (Sen Warren for example) that serve as an example of what we once had in Congress.
It might be because we're humorless drones...or because the joke fell flat. I saw the connection, I didn't find the humor. You could have gone with "I think (well actually your first mistake. Think implies a guess which means you have doubts thus you should not have raised the point) I spot a Fed...No, wait...to reasonable, I'll keep looking".
Now that would be a tip of the hat to the original summary line, but be respectful of the poster's view and a level of "funny" for /.
You took the lazy, grade school route for humor with bad timing...that's how.
Actually, you lose. What you spotted was a reasonable person with a brain.
Sometimes, in rare moments, these ordinary people do extra ordinary things (Mr. Snowden) to help shine a light on a corrupt system; corrupt from the top down, not so much the bottom up. Most times they come to work like most people, processing paper work, managing information, and trying to make it to the end of the day so they can enjoy life. As the GP said, save the vitriol for those that make policy or even better, if you don't like the current batch of policy makers, work to get rid of them in the next round of elections.
If that was your attempt at humor...try again.
Unless the NSA has cracked AC in /., I doubt they know *who* has a true crypt partition, just someone who logged onto /., maybe for one moment and made a comment. they are not yet God.
The base issue is not so much about keep secrets in the ongoing investigations, not telling bad guys we know where you are is understandable. The issue is that agencies like the NSA are usupring the Constitution in order to try and hook bad guys, pontetially invading privacy of US citizens that have no connection with any bad guys. Consider this statement:
"Any inadvertently acquired communication of or concerning a US person must be promptly destroyed if it is neither relevant to the authorized purpose or evidence of a crime."
There is no implied statement there, the NSA is processing general communications in the hopes of find a bad guy, but doing so by digging into private communications without a warrant.
The whole point of a warrant is to ensure that the Authority has reasonable reason to look beyond the public face of an individual. What the NSA did is akin to random checkpoints, searching all people who come by. If one refuses then they labeled suspicious, not that they are asserting their constitutional rights. We are innocent till proven guilty, but the NSA seems to feel that that does not matter. We are all guilty, just ignore the stuff that doesn't matter right now.
Keeping an investigation quiet? Yes. Secret Courts, maybe? But secret Congressional hearings? No for they represent Us and We should demand that agencies be held accountable to the Law.
tldr; I don't want my country to become East Germany
There were so many applications of the Chewbacca Defense, my head was spinning. /. disdain wont change a thing about this guy. His ego came shining through quite clearly, "You all are wrong, I am right, get lost". The only way to truly effect folks like this is through changing the rules (laws) that provide for him and his ilk to slip and slide through the cracks, fleecing the public along the way. Sadly, those entrusted with the law are just about as bad. They too walk around with propped up egos, looking for ways to beat the system and justifying each step. The few that truly give a damn about the Public welfare are too few and too far between.
Maybe Karma will catch up to him, but till then, it is either drag him down by voiding his patents or shut him down by changes the laws. Neither a road traveled by you average Joe.