I think the consensus logic of/. posters has led to an inescapable conclusion..
If the children of La are now doomed because they MIGHT not be taught the ToE as absolute fact in a government run school, then it follows that people like Newton, Hume, Hobbes, Voltaire, Galileo, Descartes, Plato, etc must have been retards, because they weren't taught the ToE either. Worse, some of them may have been taught Creationism instead.
So I guess we need to go ahead and throw out their works and go back to drawing board now that we have solid proof by consensus that their education was fatally flawed
As a life-long resident of Louisiana, I can tell you that I won't be wringing my hands over this. 20 years ago, public school sucked, and it sucks just as bad today if not worse... it's more like an Orwellian prison than it used to be. Send your kids to private school or home school them if you care about their education.
At the time the 2nd Amendment was written, "Militia" referred to those guys that overthrew their own government because it was deemed tyrannical.
The purpose of the second amendment was to keep the U.S. Government from gaining too much power by disarming its own citizens. If King George had accomplished that, the militias that fought and won our independence from England may have had to do so with pitchforks.
I just read the Act word-for-word and to me it's very vague. It's not clear to me that the intention is to knock down global warming, evolution, and cloning. Of course, given the vagueness of the article it is a possibility.
The key words used are "critique" and "critical thinking". So it depends on which definition you use for these words.
Critique could mean anything from "evaluate something critically" or simply to "evaluate and review".
I understand the knee-jerk reaction to immediately be on the defensive and bash the Act, but it could be a stepping stone to officially include the discussion and topic of global warming, cloning, and evolution into the classroom. Then, once introduced the kids will be exposed to the subjects and be able make their own decisions.
Yes, at the worst the subjects will be painted in the worse possible light, but kids aren't idiots and they will discuss the topics amongst themselves and hopefully will be aware that there are two sides to the topics.
We've all been through public schools and I'd like to think that the entire community (including us/.ers) are not brainwashed monkeys believing whatever we read just because it's in print.
Thank you. I grew up in Louisiana and went through public school 24+ years ago. In those days, if you questioned what was written in the textbook, or came up with questions the textbook had not addressed, or solved a math problem by a method not outlined in the textbook, you went straight to detention or the Principal's office, depending on how subversive your contra-textbook thought crimes were.
I have one son in the 11th grade @ a private school - he is allowed and encouraged to think critically. I have a stepson in the 5th grade (public school) who is a Mensan, and every time I go to his school it reminds me of Orwell's Oceania. We are fixing to get him out of that hellhole.
It's already illegal to arbitrarily shoot people. So the problem is that people are too willing to break a law? And the solution is to pass another law? You could face the death penalty for murder, so what will the penalty for illegal gun ownership be? Will they execute you two different ways at one or what?
Me too - before the web, and even before anyone I knew had an ATM card, I used to travel all over the US to rodeos. Hardly ever stayed in hotels. If we didn't know someone who lived in the area already, we would try to log in to the CWGA network and find a place to crash.
What's the CWGA network? College Girls With Apartments. Log in at the local bar. I remember going places that were way out of the way, and we would be hustling to get back to the nearest college town before the bars closed so we wouldn't have to sleep in the car. Didn't work all the time, but I had some pretty charming friends, so lots of times we were couch surfing in style. CWGA's often travel in packs - which was also fun.
Having lived through the mess that was Hurricane Katrina, all I can say is thank God for radio. I sure didn't see people around here tuning into the news on their i-pods. Radio was the only thing there was... period. And one station at that.
Caterpillar & Cummins are the two main sources for diesel generator engines. Caterpillar is a favorite of the US Government and the gov is busy lighting up most of the middle east right now. Both Cummins & Caterpillar are also busy lighting up China.
Possible reason why they can't convert used engines... Cummins K series engines, which are popular in gensets... you can't find any used ones right now, because China is sucking up every one on earth. Cat 3516s - KBR is sucking them up to use them for Government projects in Africa & the middle east. Takes a lot of electricity to catch terrorists I guess.
Interestingly, since Y2K, the diesel powered generator business has been pretty good. Datacenters all use a lot of electricity and have diesel power backup systems.
But nobody, and I mean nobody uses up fuel like good old Uncle Sam. Since the US has been in Iraq, our gov. has installed enough diesel generators in Djibouti, Africa to light up the east coast of the US. Uncle Sam is very fond of burning diesel to produce electricity.
Actually, New Orleans was founded in 1718 on a desirable expanse of high ground - not very close to the coast at all.
It was flattened by a hurricane in 1722 I think... but... still there, nonetheless. So that would make it 60+ years older than the US Constitution.
Change your email and/. sigs to include phrases like "Overthrow the Government" or "Terrorize the President."
A few million participants, and soon they would be awash in false alarms.
Let's see... I'm about 40 and I have a Shakespeare and a Chaucer that my Grandmother (who had a PHD in Linguistics) used in college. Wonder how long these sony ebooks would hang around someone's house?
Also, you might try tossing a hardcover copy of Paradise Lost out of a second story window, vs. tossing the Sony reader containing the eParadise Lost out the same window and see which one turns into Paradise Reclaimed.
Slashdot Mirror
I think the consensus logic of /. posters has led to an inescapable conclusion..
If the children of La are now doomed because they MIGHT not be taught the ToE as absolute fact in a government run school, then it follows that people like Newton, Hume, Hobbes, Voltaire, Galileo, Descartes, Plato, etc must have been retards, because they weren't taught the ToE either. Worse, some of them may have been taught Creationism instead.
So I guess we need to go ahead and throw out their works and go back to drawing board now that we have solid proof by consensus that their education was fatally flawed
As a life-long resident of Louisiana, I can tell you that I won't be wringing my hands over this. 20 years ago, public school sucked, and it sucks just as bad today if not worse... it's more like an Orwellian prison than it used to be. Send your kids to private school or home school them if you care about their education.
At the time the 2nd Amendment was written, "Militia" referred to those guys that overthrew their own government because it was deemed tyrannical. The purpose of the second amendment was to keep the U.S. Government from gaining too much power by disarming its own citizens. If King George had accomplished that, the militias that fought and won our independence from England may have had to do so with pitchforks.
I just read the Act word-for-word and to me it's very vague. It's not clear to me that the intention is to knock down global warming, evolution, and cloning. Of course, given the vagueness of the article it is a possibility.
The key words used are "critique" and "critical thinking". So it depends on which definition you use for these words.
Critique could mean anything from "evaluate something critically" or simply to "evaluate and review".
I understand the knee-jerk reaction to immediately be on the defensive and bash the Act, but it could be a stepping stone to officially include the discussion and topic of global warming, cloning, and evolution into the classroom. Then, once introduced the kids will be exposed to the subjects and be able make their own decisions.
Yes, at the worst the subjects will be painted in the worse possible light, but kids aren't idiots and they will discuss the topics amongst themselves and hopefully will be aware that there are two sides to the topics.
We've all been through public schools and I'd like to think that the entire community (including us /.ers) are not brainwashed monkeys believing whatever we read just because it's in print.
Thank you. I grew up in Louisiana and went through public school 24+ years ago. In those days, if you questioned what was written in the textbook, or came up with questions the textbook had not addressed, or solved a math problem by a method not outlined in the textbook, you went straight to detention or the Principal's office, depending on how subversive your contra-textbook thought crimes were.
I have one son in the 11th grade @ a private school - he is allowed and encouraged to think critically. I have a stepson in the 5th grade (public school) who is a Mensan, and every time I go to his school it reminds me of Orwell's Oceania. We are fixing to get him out of that hellhole.
Utilitarianism - a la Peter Singer - wherein you can manufacture moral justification for anything
It's already illegal to arbitrarily shoot people. So the problem is that people are too willing to break a law? And the solution is to pass another law? You could face the death penalty for murder, so what will the penalty for illegal gun ownership be? Will they execute you two different ways at one or what?
Me too - before the web, and even before anyone I knew had an ATM card, I used to travel all over the US to rodeos. Hardly ever stayed in hotels. If we didn't know someone who lived in the area already, we would try to log in to the CWGA network and find a place to crash.
What's the CWGA network? College Girls With Apartments. Log in at the local bar. I remember going places that were way out of the way, and we would be hustling to get back to the nearest college town before the bars closed so we wouldn't have to sleep in the car. Didn't work all the time, but I had some pretty charming friends, so lots of times we were couch surfing in style. CWGA's often travel in packs - which was also fun.
Having lived through the mess that was Hurricane Katrina, all I can say is thank God for radio. I sure didn't see people around here tuning into the news on their i-pods. Radio was the only thing there was... period. And one station at that.
What can be done about it?
Out with Parliament, in with... Parliament Funkadelic!
Caterpillar & Cummins are the two main sources for diesel generator engines. Caterpillar is a favorite of the US Government and the gov is busy lighting up most of the middle east right now. Both Cummins & Caterpillar are also busy lighting up China. Possible reason why they can't convert used engines... Cummins K series engines, which are popular in gensets... you can't find any used ones right now, because China is sucking up every one on earth. Cat 3516s - KBR is sucking them up to use them for Government projects in Africa & the middle east. Takes a lot of electricity to catch terrorists I guess.
My yard forgets me in 2 weeks. It's a matter of scale. If I disappeared, the wistaria, roaches and termites would be overjoyed.
I already vote with my dollars. In the meat market at the grocery store I see some packages that are just labeled "meat"
And I don't buy them.
Interestingly, since Y2K, the diesel powered generator business has been pretty good. Datacenters all use a lot of electricity and have diesel power backup systems. But nobody, and I mean nobody uses up fuel like good old Uncle Sam. Since the US has been in Iraq, our gov. has installed enough diesel generators in Djibouti, Africa to light up the east coast of the US. Uncle Sam is very fond of burning diesel to produce electricity.
but what about SNAKES on a plane, ever thought of that?
Yes - it's odd that these /. discussions about evolution never seem to... umm.. evolve. Remind me to check back in a few million years...
Actually, New Orleans was founded in 1718 on a desirable expanse of high ground - not very close to the coast at all. It was flattened by a hurricane in 1722 I think... but... still there, nonetheless. So that would make it 60+ years older than the US Constitution.
Change your email and /. sigs to include phrases like "Overthrow the Government" or "Terrorize the President."
A few million participants, and soon they would be awash in false alarms.
Let's see... I'm about 40 and I have a Shakespeare and a Chaucer that my Grandmother (who had a PHD in Linguistics) used in college. Wonder how long these sony ebooks would hang around someone's house? Also, you might try tossing a hardcover copy of Paradise Lost out of a second story window, vs. tossing the Sony reader containing the eParadise Lost out the same window and see which one turns into Paradise Reclaimed.
Walker Percy wrote on this subject a quite a lot, and also Hofstader's Godel Escher Bach on the general subject of machine intelligence.