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User: fishthegeek

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Comments · 387

  1. Re:And as a white parent who knows the realities . on With NCLB Waiver, Virginia Sorts Kids' Scores By Race · · Score: 1

    Daddy's money? You make a lot of assumptions, and all of them are wrong.

  2. Re:And as a white parent who knows the realities . on With NCLB Waiver, Virginia Sorts Kids' Scores By Race · · Score: 1

    Ford was an anti-semite. It is perfectly acceptable to dislike him on that regard, and I would actually encourage it. That said, he was also right. By the way your economic fate is not set in anything other than your mind and what you're capable of.

  3. Re:And as a white parent who knows the realities . on With NCLB Waiver, Virginia Sorts Kids' Scores By Race · · Score: 1, Insightful

    For most, setting aside luck, regardless of what you do, the class you were born in is the class you die in.

    I can't bear to think about how horrible your world must be to live in. The outcome of ones life is by-and-large a result of the choices one makes. If you want to double your chance of success you have to double your rate of failure. To quote someone who might know about things like this.... "Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right." --Henry Ford

  4. What I want on Watson Goes To Medical School · · Score: 1

    Is a computer psychiatrist .... let's call him Marvin!

  5. Re:Ha, you threaten teacher jobs and see what happ on Are Teachers Headed For Obsolescence? · · Score: 1

    I addressed this above. I'll do it again since I'm already here. A teachers contract is a contract for a number of instructional days plus prof. development etc. Those days are the days that the pay is based on. Anything outside of those contractually obligated days (or hours during a day) is gratis. Think about those teachers manning the football games. Yep.... they have to be there, and no they aren't paid. As for you claim of accuracy you are spot off. Wrong. I taught for ten years before going back into the private sector (I was an award winning teacher by the way). My terms are entirely accurate, and you should probably learn a little about what you're talking about before painting with such a broad brush. There might be some districts that do things a little differently, but by and large you are mind boggingly wrong.

  6. Re:Ha, you threaten teacher jobs and see what happ on Are Teachers Headed For Obsolescence? · · Score: 1

    Nope. Teachers are paid by the school day. No students. No pay. I exclude benefit days such as sick days. A teachers contract calls for a set number of days and pay is based on those contractual teaching days.

  7. Re:Ha, you threaten teacher jobs and see what happ on Are Teachers Headed For Obsolescence? · · Score: 5, Informative

    A three month vacation? Pardon me but uhmmmmm no. What you get as a teacher is a three month layoff without pay. Yes they might receive paychecks but that is money withheld from their "in-session" checks. As for working during the summer, yes teachers do. Even if it's two weeks it's still two weeks without pay.

  8. Re:What obligation is there to allow these observe on Texas Attorney General Warns International Election Observers · · Score: 1
  9. Online works for some on The Problems With Online Math Classes · · Score: 1

    Online courses may work for a few people, but after having tought high school for more than a few years I can promise you they will not work for the majority. Teaching is essentially a controlled feedback loop (*Yes I understand it isn't ONLY a feedback loop) , and it is the back and forth (continuous) feedback that builds critical thinking skills, and enhances the learning for most people. Online videos can not see the face of a lost student, can't detect someone that is Googling an answer for each question, or in any other way rephrase the question.

  10. Huh? on Paying Through Facebook May Become a Reality · · Score: 1

    Paying Through Facebook May Become a Reality

    should read

    Paying Through Facebook May Become Possible

    FTFY... it will never be my reality.

  11. Re:My Take on Immigrants Crucial To Innovation · · Score: 1

    I'd mod you up just for recognizing the sig! It's the C64 btw. I'm actually pro-immigration myself, I probably just critical of the financial math for illegal immigrants.

  12. Re:My Take on Immigrants Crucial To Innovation · · Score: 1

    The property taxes would have been paid regardless of the immigration status of the tenant so I'd be really careful connecting those dots. As for having a ssn to gain employment I would suggest you go to the local "work today & paid today" shop to see how vigilant those folks are with paperwork. Often the immigrants are paid in "cash" with little or no record. Also there is the local construction business. Often the immigrants are found somehow (see work today & paid today) and offered a days employment for cash as roofers and other unskilled laborers. I live in an area where these things happen all the time and I am willing to bet you do too. As for paying their share, in the United States anyone making thirty thousand dollars a year or less consumes more government resources than they contribute in taxes (they pay about 4K/year and the federal government spends on average 19K per taxpayer/year, and that does not include the deficit spending which would add another 4+)

  13. Re:Censorship, much? on Google Reveals "Terrorism Video" Removals · · Score: 1

    Yes and American food aid (to the rest of the world) dwarfs every other nation in the world by a most impressive factor. So what. They will attack regardless of what we do. See Barbary War etc. You have no evidence at all that what your saying is meaningful.

  14. Re:Censorship, much? on Google Reveals "Terrorism Video" Removals · · Score: 1

    They do hate Canada, Switzerland, and everyone else that isn't them. See http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=3697

    When you're the biggest kid on the block (the U.S) you'll get the most fights. Besides.... there are plenty of Canadians who feel threatened. http://www.opencanada.org/features/the-think-tank/just-how-threatening-is-the-terrorist-threat/

  15. Re:Censorship, much? on Google Reveals "Terrorism Video" Removals · · Score: 1

    It's relevant because violent attacks have been a part of the middle east region for thousands of years and will continue to be. It doesn't matter what the United States does (except for adopting Sharia) because as long as we aren't the same as them we, and everyone else, will be targets.

  16. Re:Censorship, much? on Google Reveals "Terrorism Video" Removals · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Bull crap. Thomas Jefferson was a president who had to handle Muslim piracy with warships, which escalated into the First Barbary War. The Europeans didn't have any stake in the middle east when the Moors invaded Europe, which created the sentiment of containment that sparked the crusades. You need to stop drinking the kool-aid. Many other countries have steadfastly supported Israel since it's re-establishment in 1948, and the list of countries that support, and trade with Israel is huge (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Israel) so simply stating that our support of Israel is causal in certain groups hating the United States is nothing more than ill informed nonsense. Some (certainly not all) Muslim states have ALWAYS engaged in violence against non-Muslims, and it will always be that way. I write all of this as a vet of the Persian Gulf War; so I have been there and, I will also say that some of the most hospitable, kind, and wonderful people I have ever met were also Muslims in the middle east. I do not want anyone to get the impression that I have a grudge against Islam because I do not. That said, history isn't kind to the idea that certain Islamic states (or groups if you prefer) hate us for any reason other than because we're not them.

  17. Let's Have Fun on What The DHS Is Looking For In Your Posts · · Score: 3, Funny

    I suggest that it would be extraordinairly fun to ranomly tweet gibberish (e.g. 2k34k34$$8djks-03-28378dk #DidYouDoThis?) on twitter and enjoy the fact that the best crypto people in the employ of 3 letter agencies will be frustrated trying to figure it out.

    Seriously... the best way to confound such a keyword system is to make analysis meaningless.

  18. Simple is better on Ask Slashdot: How Do You Install Ubuntu On 30 Laptops and Keep Them In Sync? · · Score: 1

    I ran a small, 25 seat lab with Ubuntu. I installed Webmin on each workstation and took advantage of the cluster features. Combine that with ClusterSSH for other tasks and the lab was remarkably easy to manage. This isn't suitable for a largish network but worked well for me.

  19. Re:Good Idea on Microsoft Killing Off Zune, Windows Live Brands? · · Score: 1

    I agree with you. In my pre-Android days I actually looked at a Zune, and found myself impressed. In the end I opted for an iPod because Linux support is fairly solid, and there was no indication that the community wanted to support the Zune.

  20. Re:There is never a magic bullet on Three Unexpected Data Points Describe Elementary School Quality · · Score: 1

    I probalby shouldn't have cited the Nigerian study... it does establish my point in the full paper, but you are right, it doesn't belong in an American school discussion. As for your points about salary, can you please point to any industry where practitioners do not try to advance their salary? As for your claims about tenure, can you please point to a study that notes the effect of tenure on both qualification and effectiveness?

  21. Re:There is never a magic bullet on Three Unexpected Data Points Describe Elementary School Quality · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is no correlation between teacher qualification and effectifveness. I truly wish this myth would die.

    http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/policyblog/detail/teacher-qualifications-vs-teacher-effectiveness

    http://medwelljournals.com/abstract/?doi=pjssci.2007.599.604

    http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000002/00000214.asp

  22. Re:Oh, the Horseshit You Will Print! on Predicting Life 100 Years From Now · · Score: 2

    The U.S. does own foreign debt. Mostly third world debt. If I were to guess without the Googles I'd say 60-70 billion. If you count un-reimbursed military expenditures for protectorates you would easily multiply what you find by a factor of 13-15. As for the middle class in the United States? It doesn't matter what the current shape of the middle class is. It has always changed and always will. Some fluctuations are faster and some more pronounced. The middle class in China is less than 1% of the population with incomes at about $12,500 per year. Contrast this with the United States where the median income for a single earner with a high school diploma is earning over $20,000. The middle third of earners in the U.S. make over $30,000. According to Wikipedia and other sources just the top 18% of U.S. earners make more than 100k. The United States will decline, all empires do. China has a massive property problem because they have had a boom nearly identical to the U.S. Political unrest is a massive threat to their current regime. They have no meaningful quantities of natural resources for sustained growth. The United States will have to welcome a new super power as we decline. My best guess is that the next super power will probably not be the China we know now.

  23. Re:Oh, the Horseshit You Will Print! on Predicting Life 100 Years From Now · · Score: 5, Informative

    The key is that "getting along just fine as is" bit. Those days are numbered. China is taking over as world superpower. That's going to have interesting effects on the USA.

    Can we PLEASE stop with the China thing? They own less than 9% of U.S. debt. They do not have any meaningful middle class. They offer nothing in the way influence on the world stage beyond that which they have with a few questionable regimes. China will be a power. Maybe a super power, but they're a long, very long way away from parity with Europe much less United States.

  24. Re:P0WN3D! on German Court Issues Injunction Against iPhone & iPad · · Score: 1

    And Apple copied the Crunchpad. The reason tablets look like the Crunchpad is because that is what tablets fraking look like. http://nikcub.appspot.com/posts/crunchpad-proof-obviousness-in-ipad-design

  25. Re:Tax planning and rich people on White House Proposes "Wealthy Tax" · · Score: 1

    What country are you from? I'm curious.