Rights are not something that exist in nature. They exist only because a large number of people believe they should, and are willing to assert their belief strongly enough to ensure the continued existence of those rights.
In the USA and some other countries, rights are spelled out in a constitutional document, which makes many people believe that they are permanent and unenfringeable. But even in countries with the most democratic political systems, a strong body of people in power are able to erode those rights.
In countries that do not have democratic political systems or constitutional guarantees of equality, people do not have any rights other than what the government decides to give them. In many countries, for example, we support gender equality. In an Islamic theocracy like Iran, however, women are not given equal rights. We may believe they should have these rights, but they do not actually have them.
Whether we like it or not, might is right, whether that might comes from an authoritarian system with a small number of people deciding everything, or a democratic system that is influenced by a larger number of people.
When I took my teacher training (around 1990), a course called "Contemporary Math" was introduced as compulsory for all Education students. Why?
The year before, an elementary school teacher in that city (who was 'educated' at my university) was teaching division to her students. As a response to some number divided by zero, one student wrote [phi], the symbol for an empty set. The teacher informed the student that she didn't need to put a stroke through the zero, and the answer was simply zero. The student unsuccessfully argued with the teacher, then went home and told her parents - who were both mathematicians.
The pair of them had a few choice words for the faculty that produced a math teacher who didn't understand fundamental math concepts. The result was Contemporary Math.
The year after, I took a course called "Grammar for Teachers". The marking scheme for that course showed the appallingly low expectations the faculty had of the English skills of the students. Fully half the mark was based on the difference between pre-test and post-test scores. Fortunately, that half of the mark was waived for a couple of us who didn't "get the memo" and scored over 95% on the pre-test.
You start by having someone like the gentleman who wrote that paper create a new textbook and teachers' manual to go along with it (or, really, a 'series' of textbooks that go through the different grades) that implements the different way of teaching mathematics which he is espousing. It then dies in state and local education department when there is resistance from comittees on doing things differently than they've been done before, and anyhow there is no funding for new textbooks anyhow.
And you get around the economic obstacles by subverting the system: Crowdsource the textbook to a group of interested mathematicians. Publish it online for free, with printed copies available for a price far below what a crooked textbook publisher would charge. Add value by posting demonstrations by mathematicians, math historians, and math professors on YouTube, linked to the relevant chapter of this comprehensive, global mathematics resource.
A lot of the rest, IMO, can be traced to schools not teaching children how to think critically, just to memorize stuff.
Even worse is the move away from competitiveness in many areas. I was a teacher for a while, and much of my teacher training was tainted by what was mislabeled "child-centered education" - basically don't do anything that might hurt the feelings of the most sensitive child you could imagine. Don't use a red pen to mark their work because that's an angry color; don't correct their spelling because that stifles their creativity; don't hold academic competitions because the kids who don't win (don't dare call them losers!) will be upset.
This trend continued despite the fact that high schools started graduating functionally illiterate and innumerate kids, even though they had passed the courses that should have given them reasonable skills in those subjects. Colleges and universities expended their gradual entry programs (basically high school subjects aimed at those who came from a disadvantaged background) until first-year studies were assumed to be nothing more than a high school refresher.
I left teaching mainly because the schools where I taught were basically big-kid daycare centers where there was very little learning to interfere with the political agendas of the administration and the school boards, but not before I subversively gave a few students the motivation to question what they were taught and learn on their own.
Come back when you splash land a rover into a giant pool of water which is then eaten by Mars sharks
The Mars sharks eat the pool of water? Then I suppose they tell the probe "Take us with you, man, 'cause we ain't got no water left! And besides, we'll shoot you with our frickin' laser beams if you don't!"
I worked on an airport, years ago. At various places around the graded area, we had propane-powered noisemakers that would let off a gunshot-like sound every few minutes. Unfortunately, the birds became accustomed to the sound. The seagulls would still scatter, but only for half a minute. The ravens would merely flutter their feathers and continue doing what they were doing.
Other bird hazard tools included a starter pistol, a pickup truck (to scare them a little more directly), and a rifle.
Then again, this was a very small airport, so the more direct measures were only needed on the occasion that a plane was actually taking off or landing. And, of course, these measures would not have done anything for the Hudson incident, which happened far from the airport.
The US Army predator drones are able to land on their own with no operator input and as such definitely count as robots.
In that respect, every large airliner manufactured since the 767 qualifies as a robot. On an average flight, the human pilot serves two purposes: Taxi driver to drive the plane from the terminal to the runway, and second redundant backup system. The autopilot does everything else.
Of course, in non-average circumstances, the pilot is called on to make decisions too complex for the 'robot' to handle.
The military would love to have Google as their contractor. Every project would remain in indefinite beta, but the public would inexplicably still trust them.
Weird Al does his best to get permission from the artists he parodies, and their labels. Sometimes communication gets screwed up though.
For example, the lead song on Straight Outta Lynwood was supposed to be You're Pitiful, his parody on James Blunt's You're Beautiful. Blunt gave permission for the parody, but after Al had recorded the song, Atlantic Records rescinded that permission.
Now Al was left with a mostly full album and no lead song, so he went back into the studio and recorded White & Nerdy (which Chamillionaire loved so much, he put it on his MySpace profile before Al did, and even credited the popularity of the parody for his Grammy win).
So in that case, Atlasshole Records actually did him a favour!
The Wikipedia article on Weird Al has a lot of great information on parodies and permission throughout his career.
Firefox surpasses IE in marketshare, causing Steve Ballmer to lose his mind and launch Microsoft's nuclear missiles.
Everyone will find out about this seconds before impact when their TV screens (and computer monitors) go briefly snowy before a sinister super villain calling himself The ChairMan appears and says "I'M GOING TO F**KING KILL YOU!!", laughs maniacally interspersed with chants of "DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!", then throws his chair at the camera a second before impact.
Actually, I wasn't aware of that, but after 16 posts by knowledgeable Trekkies (some quite irate that I'd impugn the quality of their series), I stand corrected. I've only ever seen TOS on TV, so I've only seen it at TV quality.
But really, I was going for a joke, not an insult.
Slashdot Mirror
Mod up. Unfortunately, school boards are often more poorly educated than teachers or students.
By that logic, would the East be morally justified in destroying American nuclear weapons facilities?
Rights are not something that exist in nature. They exist only because a large number of people believe they should, and are willing to assert their belief strongly enough to ensure the continued existence of those rights.
In the USA and some other countries, rights are spelled out in a constitutional document, which makes many people believe that they are permanent and unenfringeable. But even in countries with the most democratic political systems, a strong body of people in power are able to erode those rights.
In countries that do not have democratic political systems or constitutional guarantees of equality, people do not have any rights other than what the government decides to give them. In many countries, for example, we support gender equality. In an Islamic theocracy like Iran, however, women are not given equal rights. We may believe they should have these rights, but they do not actually have them.
Whether we like it or not, might is right, whether that might comes from an authoritarian system with a small number of people deciding everything, or a democratic system that is influenced by a larger number of people.
Worse: I gave up the crazy mad teacher holidays. How am I supposed to do anything with only three weeks a year?!
When I took my teacher training (around 1990), a course called "Contemporary Math" was introduced as compulsory for all Education students. Why?
The year before, an elementary school teacher in that city (who was 'educated' at my university) was teaching division to her students. As a response to some number divided by zero, one student wrote [phi], the symbol for an empty set. The teacher informed the student that she didn't need to put a stroke through the zero, and the answer was simply zero. The student unsuccessfully argued with the teacher, then went home and told her parents - who were both mathematicians.
The pair of them had a few choice words for the faculty that produced a math teacher who didn't understand fundamental math concepts. The result was Contemporary Math.
The year after, I took a course called "Grammar for Teachers". The marking scheme for that course showed the appallingly low expectations the faculty had of the English skills of the students. Fully half the mark was based on the difference between pre-test and post-test scores. Fortunately, that half of the mark was waived for a couple of us who didn't "get the memo" and scored over 95% on the pre-test.
And you get around the economic obstacles by subverting the system: Crowdsource the textbook to a group of interested mathematicians. Publish it online for free, with printed copies available for a price far below what a crooked textbook publisher would charge. Add value by posting demonstrations by mathematicians, math historians, and math professors on YouTube, linked to the relevant chapter of this comprehensive, global mathematics resource.
Even worse is the move away from competitiveness in many areas. I was a teacher for a while, and much of my teacher training was tainted by what was mislabeled "child-centered education" - basically don't do anything that might hurt the feelings of the most sensitive child you could imagine. Don't use a red pen to mark their work because that's an angry color; don't correct their spelling because that stifles their creativity; don't hold academic competitions because the kids who don't win (don't dare call them losers!) will be upset.
This trend continued despite the fact that high schools started graduating functionally illiterate and innumerate kids, even though they had passed the courses that should have given them reasonable skills in those subjects. Colleges and universities expended their gradual entry programs (basically high school subjects aimed at those who came from a disadvantaged background) until first-year studies were assumed to be nothing more than a high school refresher.
I left teaching mainly because the schools where I taught were basically big-kid daycare centers where there was very little learning to interfere with the political agendas of the administration and the school boards, but not before I subversively gave a few students the motivation to question what they were taught and learn on their own.
The Mars sharks eat the pool of water? Then I suppose they tell the probe "Take us with you, man, 'cause we ain't got no water left! And besides, we'll shoot you with our frickin' laser beams if you don't!"
I worked on an airport, years ago. At various places around the graded area, we had propane-powered noisemakers that would let off a gunshot-like sound every few minutes. Unfortunately, the birds became accustomed to the sound. The seagulls would still scatter, but only for half a minute. The ravens would merely flutter their feathers and continue doing what they were doing.
Other bird hazard tools included a starter pistol, a pickup truck (to scare them a little more directly), and a rifle.
Then again, this was a very small airport, so the more direct measures were only needed on the occasion that a plane was actually taking off or landing. And, of course, these measures would not have done anything for the Hudson incident, which happened far from the airport.
Forgets what?
Unfortunately, it only takes one nutjob to turn a peaceful demonstration into a 'dangerous mob'.
Except that to get a first down, you have to make some progress downfield, not just run in circles behind the line of scrimmage.
I think the new acronym for RIAA stories should be IANANYCL. :D
If Steve-o was the one naming it, it would be called the "FuckingKill" search engine.
Well, the search action would be a lot more catchy than "Make sure you bing that company before buying anything from them."
In that respect, every large airliner manufactured since the 767 qualifies as a robot. On an average flight, the human pilot serves two purposes: Taxi driver to drive the plane from the terminal to the runway, and second redundant backup system. The autopilot does everything else.
Of course, in non-average circumstances, the pilot is called on to make decisions too complex for the 'robot' to handle.
The military would love to have Google as their contractor. Every project would remain in indefinite beta, but the public would inexplicably still trust them.
Okay, G-bots, go out there and Do No Evil.
They see me roll on
My Google Trike
And I know in my heart
They think I'm ridin' nerdy
Oh great. Sharks with frickin' Google cams.
Weird Al does his best to get permission from the artists he parodies, and their labels. Sometimes communication gets screwed up though.
For example, the lead song on Straight Outta Lynwood was supposed to be You're Pitiful, his parody on James Blunt's You're Beautiful. Blunt gave permission for the parody, but after Al had recorded the song, Atlantic Records rescinded that permission.
Now Al was left with a mostly full album and no lead song, so he went back into the studio and recorded White & Nerdy (which Chamillionaire loved so much, he put it on his MySpace profile before Al did, and even credited the popularity of the parody for his Grammy win).
So in that case, Atlasshole Records actually did him a favour!
The Wikipedia article on Weird Al has a lot of great information on parodies and permission throughout his career.
Didn't RTFS
"You don't need a cybersecurity czar... This isn't the issue you're looking for... They can go about their business... Move along."
I dunno, this whole thing smells like bantha poodoo to me.
Everyone will find out about this seconds before impact when their TV screens (and computer monitors) go briefly snowy before a sinister super villain calling himself The ChairMan appears and says "I'M GOING TO F**KING KILL YOU!!", laughs maniacally interspersed with chants of "DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!", then throws his chair at the camera a second before impact.
Why yes, I am bored. How can you tell?
Actually, I wasn't aware of that, but after 16 posts by knowledgeable Trekkies (some quite irate that I'd impugn the quality of their series), I stand corrected. I've only ever seen TOS on TV, so I've only seen it at TV quality.
But really, I was going for a joke, not an insult.
Citation needed?
I'm sure there's an anatomical comment in there, but I'm not gonna go there...
Actually, after escaping from ten years of purgatory, I guess I already did. ;)