My earth is relatively flat. Nothing in my personal experience shows me otherwise. I've heard some great stories that the earth is round. It is probably true, but I personally have no way of verifying that information. Only an idiot takes thinks as true on faith. Now the practical reality is that a lot of science has a practical truth. Engineering science is a good way to build stuff that works, but to suddenly go off into believing 'ex officio' everything science says is silly. I can't wait to show myself the earth is round, as soon as I can get up the money for the flight.:)
I totally agree that it is silly to accept *anything* based on faith alone, but there are far easier ways to prove the Earth is round.
Suggestion: head to the beach, and watch a ship sail out towards the horizon. Note that it will "sink" as it disappears from view. Repeat as necessary.
Suggestion 2: stand still, and check the duration of a sunset. Then compare this time to the duration of a sunset while driving East, and then, compare this to the duration of a sunset while heading West. Sunset will last longer when heading West, and not as long while headed East. The greater your speed, the
more noticeable this change in duration will be.
If socialism is so evil, I'm sure you'd like to do away with socialized armed forces , police, fire departments, roads, sewers, electric companies...
These are nothing compared to the most socialist element of the American economy: our central bank.
Until the psudeo-Republicans wake up to the reality of our banking system, Ron Paul will remain the only Republican I support. Until then, I'm pinching my nose and voting Obama.
If Iraq is any indicator, invading Iran would result in HIGHER prices, as China and Russia bid on the remaining supply.
I would argue that the higher the cost of oil, the less economic sense invasion makes.
Also, as an American Jew, I would simply like to remind readers that Israel has nukes. My family in Israel is quite capable of self-defense, thank you very much.
So what you end up with is a tag cloud, which shows related tags once selected.
I'm imagining a menu based on many, many unique organic tags, with only a few top level options, as to be readable.
If you are going to limit user input, so that some keyword combinations are prohibited, you are essentially back to using a rigid set of cats & sub-cats.
My solution has always been to list related tags. Ex: when browsing "credit" show related tag "visa", "bank", or use a recursive function to go back X relationships to show the entire tag family (i.e. bank => visa => credit). Problem with this, sooner or later every tag is used in conjunction with almost every other, and the feature looses its purpose.
Another solution: abstract tags to allow multiple keywords. [bank] (key, visa, credit). Whenever any of these keywords are used, the group tag (bank) is used instead. This avoids the "election2008" v. "2008 Election" issue pointed out above. However, in practice, you must still define a rigid structure in order for this to work, or trust a comparison algorithm to join similar keywords.
If anyone has an example of a working model of this, I'm all ears. I would LOVE to see a drill-down menu of some sort of tag hierarchy based on organic user tagging, but I've yet to see anything reliable enough to use in a "real" project.
I am torn.
On the one hand, I agree with your comment.
On the other hand, I've spent many awkward moments leering at an attractive girl, and then wondering if she is legal. I'm no pedophile, but let's face facts: some 16 year olds look like 25 year olds. Some 12 year olds look like prostitutes.
I have come across some images that made me wonder. My gut reaction was to click "back" and move on. I can understand why the gp might want to wash his hands of it, and pass the responsibility upwards, rather than catching heat later.
However, there are some people in this world who enjoy looking at little kids. Pre-pubescent. Stuff that leaves *nothing* to the imagination. That sort of material is illegal, and one of the few examples where I accept the "protect the children" stream of logic. If I came across anything like that, I *would* report it, and I hate proto-fascism more than most.
That sounds like a bigot to me. I thought cultural diversity meant exactly that: accepting different beliefs and customs, and learning to coexist peacefully.
Perhaps your friend can enjoy "XMAS" instead, and sing some pleasant secular anthems, like "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" or "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". Perhaps you can explain that Christmas is actually an ancient pagan tradition, in celebration of the winter solstice, not the birth of the messiah. As a matter of fact, 18th century Christians outlawed Christmas in America as being "unwholesome"; too much gluttony and dancing, I suppose.
Perhaps I am a pragmatist. Even racists and bigots enjoy a day off from work on MLK Jr's birthday. I figure agnostics and atheists deserve a day off too, even if they think the entire Christian ethos is hogwash, or simply aren't sure.
Also, I'm not sure I deserve the title "cultural Jew" because I don't really like Jewish food, can't speak fluent Hebrew, and support a two-state Israel/Palestine solution. According to my orthodox cousins, I'm not a "real" Jew.
I say: God bless us, every one. Even if God is dead, or a flying spaghetti monster.
Does anyone get offended by the phrase "Merry Christmas"? I'm an agnostic psuedo-Jew, and I *love* Christmas. I think both sides of the "War on Christmas" are insane.
function logout() {// kill cookie / session
}
(yes I know Jscript is a poor choice of language here, I am simply proving a point)
In the time it has taken me to read this thread, this issue could have been fixed. As a mac user, I am very disappointed in such a simple, yet potentially deadly flaw. I am even more disappointed in the forum admin deleting the thread. I am even more disappointed in the posters on/. who are defending this, simply because it happened to "our side".
This should have been fixed within an hour of being reported. My clients are much, much smaller than Apple, and they have far better web security than this. Simply unacceptable.
Bad timing too. I was considering upgrading to Leopard, and paying for a.mac to use remote backup. Now I wonder how secure my data would be. More damaging: I don't trust this company to tell me if a problem appears.
Hello my Canadian friend. I agree with your overall argument, but feel the need to correct you on one point.
The "cold war" turned hot during the Korean War, and then the Vietnam War. In both cases, the U.S.S.R., supported by China, fought a "proxy-war" against the USA. Neither Vietnam nor Korea nor even Cuba presented any threat to us- however -once you add a few million Chinese ground troops, some soviet tanks, and a serious nuclear capability, the threat becomes very real.
In many ways, Iraq 2 is a repeat of the 'ole proxy war m.o. from the last century. Iraq presented no serious threat to the USA, having been clobbered following the '91 invasion of Kuwait. However, if we are to believe this current administration, Iraq (under Saddam), Iran, Syria, Lebanon, etc. have been fighting us via proxy, using terrorism, rather than a direct soviet-style invasion.
However, herein lies the fallacy: we are apparently ready for war against Iran because they *might* have a nuclear capability within the next 10 years. Meanwhile, Pakistan, a majority-muslim state, already has nukes, a history of disagreement with our Indian allies, and more importantly, a de-facto junta who has just declared martial law. Beyond Pakistan, we have Turkey ready to step-in and occupy Iraq's northern territories. Furthermore, following the collapse of the U.S.S.R., we have seen far reaching nuclear proliferation, not only throughout the former soviet block, but to several radical/revolutionary groups located in Latin America and the Middle East.
It would seem to me as though the USA has two options:
#1: Continue to play a bad game of RISK, forced to forever occupy 70% of the world in hopes of keeping allies and removing potential threats.
#2: Centralize our military force here in North America, take on a completely defensive role, and begin developing superior SDI technologies so that one day the threat of an ICBM is moot.
Of course, SDI does not address suitcase nukes, or the plethora of other methods a terrorist might use against us. For these, we need superior law enforcement, coupled with a foreign policy that does not force the rest of the world to either accept our ideologies as fiat, or, to attack us by any means possible in hopes of ending our occupation of foreign lands.
Yes, in a fair fight, the U.S.M.C. would single-handedly destroy every single terrorist on the planet. However, a terrorist is a terrorist because they cannot win a fair fight. Immoral? You bet. Horrific? No doubt. Effective? Depends who you ask. Twenty years ago, Bin Laden was a psudeo-ally, using terrorist tactics to end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. From "their" point of view, I can certainly understand why they do what they do- it has worked before, and assuming public opposition to the war results in a new direction in '08, it will have worked again.
I'd suggest that certain people be allowed to willingly give up privacy in return for fast track at the airport through the TSA.
This is a poor solution, and I have a recent real-life example.
I do not fly very often. I prefer road trips. I was recently on a road trip, and found myself in Dallas, TX while a personal emergency struck at home. I was at a hotel in a city I've never been in, forced to return home immediately. I bought a ticket online, and boarded my plane less than 6 hours later.
Had I been forced to take car, bus or rail, I would have take more than 30 hours to return home. When someone is in the hospital after an accident, 30 hours is an unacceptable length of time.
Furthermore, please note that before boarding the plane, I was herded through security like a calf en route to slaughter. I removed my laptop from my case. I threw away a nearly full bottle of Mountain Dew to avoid a fight. I removed my shoes, belt, and walked through a metal detector twice before getting a "pat down" by TSA agents. I was cleared by security, boarded the plane, and went home without incident.
After arriving home, I needed a cigarette to calm my nerves. I reached into my laptop bag, and pulled out a lighter- only then realizing that I had taken a lighter along with my carry-on baggage; baggage that was x-rayed and screened by TSA agents while I was busy standing barefoot in a foreign airport while being patted down by a disinterested looking elderly man.
This has become commonplace, so allow me to repeat myself: in the interest of security, I threw away a bottle of soda pop. I was then allowed to bring a lighter into a sealed, oxygen-rich atmosphere. If so inclined, I might have excused myself to the bathroom, grabbed a handful of toilet paper, and started a bonfire. Assuming they have fire extinguishers on board, I may have used said tissue as kindling, and lit the seats.
Let us assume then that the answer is to disallow lighters. The problem then becomes my ability to bludgen a stewartess with my laptop. Take that away also, I am still left with my hands, and a knowledge of fight tactics. Perhaps the only fair solution is to then strap passengers into their seats, and only release them after arrival. But wait- what if I were to soil myself mid-flight? Might I break free of my bonds long enough to hurl dung at the zookeeper?
To end my ill-prepared rant; we have already sacrificed far too much liberty to justify the illusion of safety the government has provided us in return. I, for one, am not willing to accept another cent of "political capital" for some ill-fated scheme to turn America into either a police state, or more likely, a slaughterhouse- a slaughterhouse where the hard-working, law-abiding middle class are reduced into nothing more than an inexpensive source of energy for those who would rule us as kings.
I spend a lot of my time bouncing data between laptops and low-quality web servers. Every day of my life is filled with anxiety attacks and extended periods of denial. I burn through laptops like a hooker and underpants. Long story short: my data is in peril.
What is the single best product I can buy and configure at my home office to hold a "safety copy" of my data? Should I simply RAID a few drives in an old *NIX box? Is there a pre-configured-in-a-shiny-box product worth the price? Educate me, please educate me. I still hear the clicking of a crashed MacBook HD, even as I type this.
Down in the Florida keys you can grab a decent sized island for about 7 mil. About 6 hours via boat to Guadaloupe, a French territory w/o extradition to the US. Not that I've looked into it, mind you...
Here's an even *more* terrible thing to say: I think you're right, and what's more, I hope it happens. I would be honored to lay down my life for this country, but I'll be damned if I'm going to participate in an illegal war of occupation in the Middle East.
Recently my next door neighbor, a sweet, elderly woman, said something simply amazing: "I don't trust the police." Think about that for a minute. Sweet lady, lived here her whole life, worst crime ever committed was a speeding ticket- doesn't trust the police.
You can label *me* a wacko-conspiracy-theorist all day long, and I won't even bother to dispute this. So go on, and completely disregard me and my opinion. Even still, the "silent majority" has a lot to tell you; if you'll listen, that is.
As an avid book/Google-learner, I loathe to admit you are correct. In my experience, usually there are a few small "tricks of the trade" that get overlooked without a good mentor nearby, and these "tricks" are the difference between amateur and professional. I learned how to code myself, but I am *still* discovering certain theory or known issues that would have saved me hundreds of hours, had I learned from a person, rather than a search engine. For example: it's easy to learn how to handle a MySQL query, a lot harder to understand why MySQL is better or worse than another SQL program. In a classroom, I'd hope to see a technical evaluation of the pros-and-cons; on the web all I find is op-ed and cheerleading.
The other paradox of learning is profound: until I have some mastery of the material, I can't spot the bullshit from the rare gems of good info. This is especially troubling when venturing into a new subject for the first time. For example: a friend of mine is a history buff, and simply by following his reading recommendations I found I had condition myself to agree with his politics- but had never seriously considered an opposing point of view because I had no idea which views were considered serious, and which were "conspiracy theory" or "revisionist history". Now, after reading a few hundred books on American history, I am better able to spot serious work from less serious work- but only because I've already learned a certain amount. Had my first book on history been a Revisionist view of the Holocaust, I fear what I might have become...
Most troubling to me is the view that shop class or auto shop should be the lone domain of "bad kids". I've always liked working with my hands, and even though I make a living on the web, I get great pleasure (and save a lot of money) by doing minor car repairs and home improvements myself. However, I was "too smart" for the shop classes back in HS, and my white-collar dad was very labor-adverse, so I had one hell of a learning curve, even with some profoundly simple tasks; like replacing an electrical outlet, or drywalling. In retrospect, I would have saved untold amounts of time, money and injury, and probably done a far better job on most of my early projects, had I enjoyed some basic training (i.e. turn off the breaker first- trust me! bzzzap.). Thankfully, I befriended a guy who had learned from his dad, who learned from his dad (etc, etc). This guy was a true craftsman, and I was truly jealous that despite a plethora of lawyers and doctors, no one in my family could replace a doorknob without calling a repairman. Meanwhile, most members of his family helped build each other houses that were simply superior to the standard tack-housing most of us live in.
While I am rambling on about HS, I also find it scary that after 4 years of geometry, trig and calculus, I had never learned any basic finance. I left HS with more knowledge about triangles than my credit score. 10 years later, I've had no practical use for Trig since (except a college refresher course), but I deal with mortgages and credit cards every month. No wonder about 50% of Americans are in foreclosure right now! Finding the obtuse angle is fun and all, but balancing a checkbook seems to have become a lost art!
For these reasons, and so many more, I believe public education has failed. Furthermore, I believe it has failed profoundly with those who needed it the most.
Slashdot Mirror
What the-?!?! Someone is offering a rational opinion here on /.
Let's get 'im, fellas!
I totally agree that it is silly to accept *anything* based on faith alone, but there are far easier ways to prove the Earth is round.
Suggestion: head to the beach, and watch a ship sail out towards the horizon. Note that it will "sink" as it disappears from view. Repeat as necessary.
Suggestion 2: stand still, and check the duration of a sunset. Then compare this time to the duration of a sunset while driving East, and then, compare this to the duration of a sunset while heading West. Sunset will last longer when heading West, and not as long while headed East. The greater your speed, the more noticeable this change in duration will be.
If socialism is so evil, I'm sure you'd like to do away with socialized armed forces , police, fire departments, roads, sewers, electric companies...
These are nothing compared to the most socialist element of the American economy: our central bank.
Until the psudeo-Republicans wake up to the reality of our banking system, Ron Paul will remain the only Republican I support. Until then, I'm pinching my nose and voting Obama.
You mention China is drilling for oil off the coast of Florida. I would like more information about this. Do you have any source on this?
If Iraq is any indicator, invading Iran would result in HIGHER prices, as China and Russia bid on the remaining supply. I would argue that the higher the cost of oil, the less economic sense invasion makes. Also, as an American Jew, I would simply like to remind readers that Israel has nukes. My family in Israel is quite capable of self-defense, thank you very much.
So what you end up with is a tag cloud, which shows related tags once selected. I'm imagining a menu based on many, many unique organic tags, with only a few top level options, as to be readable.
I'm not sure that would work.
Msg 1 tags: bank, credit
Msg 2 tags: credit, visa
Msg 3 tags: bank, visa
Define the drill-down structure.
If you are going to limit user input, so that some keyword combinations are prohibited, you are essentially back to using a rigid set of cats & sub-cats.
My solution has always been to list related tags. Ex: when browsing "credit" show related tag "visa", "bank", or use a recursive function to go back X relationships to show the entire tag family (i.e. bank => visa => credit). Problem with this, sooner or later every tag is used in conjunction with almost every other, and the feature looses its purpose.
Another solution: abstract tags to allow multiple keywords. [bank] (key, visa, credit). Whenever any of these keywords are used, the group tag (bank) is used instead. This avoids the "election2008" v. "2008 Election" issue pointed out above. However, in practice, you must still define a rigid structure in order for this to work, or trust a comparison algorithm to join similar keywords.
If anyone has an example of a working model of this, I'm all ears. I would LOVE to see a drill-down menu of some sort of tag hierarchy based on organic user tagging, but I've yet to see anything reliable enough to use in a "real" project.
This is actually a brilliant idea. I think I'm going to try this myself for a week and see what happens.
// req vars // conditionals // logic
$color = get_skin_pigment($victims);
$sector = get_sectors_affected($disaster);
$cost_per_minute = current_price_of_advertising();
$bling = $db->get_var("SELECT (SUM donated AS bling) FROM data WHERE (in_array($sector))");
$replair_cost = $num_dead * $cost_per_minute;
If ($color == #ff0000) {$pr = FALSE;} else {$pr = TRUE;}
If($repair_cost > $bling && $pr) {fix_the_problem();}
else {call_larry_king();}
We need a +5 Outrageous mod option.
Don't be such an @$$.
*crickets*
I am torn. On the one hand, I agree with your comment. On the other hand, I've spent many awkward moments leering at an attractive girl, and then wondering if she is legal. I'm no pedophile, but let's face facts: some 16 year olds look like 25 year olds. Some 12 year olds look like prostitutes. I have come across some images that made me wonder. My gut reaction was to click "back" and move on. I can understand why the gp might want to wash his hands of it, and pass the responsibility upwards, rather than catching heat later. However, there are some people in this world who enjoy looking at little kids. Pre-pubescent. Stuff that leaves *nothing* to the imagination. That sort of material is illegal, and one of the few examples where I accept the "protect the children" stream of logic. If I came across anything like that, I *would* report it, and I hate proto-fascism more than most.
That sounds like a bigot to me. I thought cultural diversity meant exactly that: accepting different beliefs and customs, and learning to coexist peacefully.
Perhaps your friend can enjoy "XMAS" instead, and sing some pleasant secular anthems, like "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" or "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". Perhaps you can explain that Christmas is actually an ancient pagan tradition, in celebration of the winter solstice, not the birth of the messiah. As a matter of fact, 18th century Christians outlawed Christmas in America as being "unwholesome"; too much gluttony and dancing, I suppose.
Perhaps I am a pragmatist. Even racists and bigots enjoy a day off from work on MLK Jr's birthday. I figure agnostics and atheists deserve a day off too, even if they think the entire Christian ethos is hogwash, or simply aren't sure.
Also, I'm not sure I deserve the title "cultural Jew" because I don't really like Jewish food, can't speak fluent Hebrew, and support a two-state Israel/Palestine solution. According to my orthodox cousins, I'm not a "real" Jew.
I say: God bless us, every one. Even if God is dead, or a flying spaghetti monster.
Does anyone get offended by the phrase "Merry Christmas"? I'm an agnostic psuedo-Jew, and I *love* Christmas. I think both sides of the "War on Christmas" are insane.
function logout() { // kill cookie / session
}
(yes I know Jscript is a poor choice of language here, I am simply proving a point)
In the time it has taken me to read this thread, this issue could have been fixed. As a mac user, I am very disappointed in such a simple, yet potentially deadly flaw. I am even more disappointed in the forum admin deleting the thread. I am even more disappointed in the posters on /. who are defending this, simply because it happened to "our side".
This should have been fixed within an hour of being reported. My clients are much, much smaller than Apple, and they have far better web security than this. Simply unacceptable.
Bad timing too. I was considering upgrading to Leopard, and paying for a .mac to use remote backup. Now I wonder how secure my data would be. More damaging: I don't trust this company to tell me if a problem appears.
Bought via amazon.com on release day, got it Thursday afternoon. No delay, no hassles.
Another vote for: hate the U.N., hate tasers more.
Together we can stop this madness.
Hello my Canadian friend. I agree with your overall argument, but feel the need to correct you on one point.
The "cold war" turned hot during the Korean War, and then the Vietnam War. In both cases, the U.S.S.R., supported by China, fought a "proxy-war" against the USA. Neither Vietnam nor Korea nor even Cuba presented any threat to us- however -once you add a few million Chinese ground troops, some soviet tanks, and a serious nuclear capability, the threat becomes very real.
In many ways, Iraq 2 is a repeat of the 'ole proxy war m.o. from the last century. Iraq presented no serious threat to the USA, having been clobbered following the '91 invasion of Kuwait. However, if we are to believe this current administration, Iraq (under Saddam), Iran, Syria, Lebanon, etc. have been fighting us via proxy, using terrorism, rather than a direct soviet-style invasion.
However, herein lies the fallacy: we are apparently ready for war against Iran because they *might* have a nuclear capability within the next 10 years. Meanwhile, Pakistan, a majority-muslim state, already has nukes, a history of disagreement with our Indian allies, and more importantly, a de-facto junta who has just declared martial law. Beyond Pakistan, we have Turkey ready to step-in and occupy Iraq's northern territories. Furthermore, following the collapse of the U.S.S.R., we have seen far reaching nuclear proliferation, not only throughout the former soviet block, but to several radical/revolutionary groups located in Latin America and the Middle East.
It would seem to me as though the USA has two options:
#1: Continue to play a bad game of RISK, forced to forever occupy 70% of the world in hopes of keeping allies and removing potential threats.
#2: Centralize our military force here in North America, take on a completely defensive role, and begin developing superior SDI technologies so that one day the threat of an ICBM is moot.
Of course, SDI does not address suitcase nukes, or the plethora of other methods a terrorist might use against us. For these, we need superior law enforcement, coupled with a foreign policy that does not force the rest of the world to either accept our ideologies as fiat, or, to attack us by any means possible in hopes of ending our occupation of foreign lands.
Yes, in a fair fight, the U.S.M.C. would single-handedly destroy every single terrorist on the planet. However, a terrorist is a terrorist because they cannot win a fair fight. Immoral? You bet. Horrific? No doubt. Effective? Depends who you ask. Twenty years ago, Bin Laden was a psudeo-ally, using terrorist tactics to end the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. From "their" point of view, I can certainly understand why they do what they do- it has worked before, and assuming public opposition to the war results in a new direction in '08, it will have worked again.
I'd suggest that certain people be allowed to willingly give up privacy in return for fast track at the airport through the TSA.
This is a poor solution, and I have a recent real-life example.
I do not fly very often. I prefer road trips. I was recently on a road trip, and found myself in Dallas, TX while a personal emergency struck at home. I was at a hotel in a city I've never been in, forced to return home immediately. I bought a ticket online, and boarded my plane less than 6 hours later.
Had I been forced to take car, bus or rail, I would have take more than 30 hours to return home. When someone is in the hospital after an accident, 30 hours is an unacceptable length of time.
Furthermore, please note that before boarding the plane, I was herded through security like a calf en route to slaughter. I removed my laptop from my case. I threw away a nearly full bottle of Mountain Dew to avoid a fight. I removed my shoes, belt, and walked through a metal detector twice before getting a "pat down" by TSA agents. I was cleared by security, boarded the plane, and went home without incident.
After arriving home, I needed a cigarette to calm my nerves. I reached into my laptop bag, and pulled out a lighter- only then realizing that I had taken a lighter along with my carry-on baggage; baggage that was x-rayed and screened by TSA agents while I was busy standing barefoot in a foreign airport while being patted down by a disinterested looking elderly man.
This has become commonplace, so allow me to repeat myself: in the interest of security, I threw away a bottle of soda pop. I was then allowed to bring a lighter into a sealed, oxygen-rich atmosphere. If so inclined, I might have excused myself to the bathroom, grabbed a handful of toilet paper, and started a bonfire. Assuming they have fire extinguishers on board, I may have used said tissue as kindling, and lit the seats.
Let us assume then that the answer is to disallow lighters. The problem then becomes my ability to bludgen a stewartess with my laptop. Take that away also, I am still left with my hands, and a knowledge of fight tactics. Perhaps the only fair solution is to then strap passengers into their seats, and only release them after arrival. But wait- what if I were to soil myself mid-flight? Might I break free of my bonds long enough to hurl dung at the zookeeper?
To end my ill-prepared rant; we have already sacrificed far too much liberty to justify the illusion of safety the government has provided us in return. I, for one, am not willing to accept another cent of "political capital" for some ill-fated scheme to turn America into either a police state, or more likely, a slaughterhouse- a slaughterhouse where the hard-working, law-abiding middle class are reduced into nothing more than an inexpensive source of energy for those who would rule us as kings.
Right on!
I spend a lot of my time bouncing data between laptops and low-quality web servers. Every day of my life is filled with anxiety attacks and extended periods of denial. I burn through laptops like a hooker and underpants. Long story short: my data is in peril.
What is the single best product I can buy and configure at my home office to hold a "safety copy" of my data? Should I simply RAID a few drives in an old *NIX box? Is there a pre-configured-in-a-shiny-box product worth the price? Educate me, please educate me. I still hear the clicking of a crashed MacBook HD, even as I type this.
Down in the Florida keys you can grab a decent sized island for about 7 mil. About 6 hours via boat to Guadaloupe, a French territory w/o extradition to the US. Not that I've looked into it, mind you...
Here's an even *more* terrible thing to say: I think you're right, and what's more, I hope it happens. I would be honored to lay down my life for this country, but I'll be damned if I'm going to participate in an illegal war of occupation in the Middle East.
Recently my next door neighbor, a sweet, elderly woman, said something simply amazing: "I don't trust the police." Think about that for a minute. Sweet lady, lived here her whole life, worst crime ever committed was a speeding ticket- doesn't trust the police.
You can label *me* a wacko-conspiracy-theorist all day long, and I won't even bother to dispute this. So go on, and completely disregard me and my opinion. Even still, the "silent majority" has a lot to tell you; if you'll listen, that is.
As an avid book/Google-learner, I loathe to admit you are correct. In my experience, usually there are a few small "tricks of the trade" that get overlooked without a good mentor nearby, and these "tricks" are the difference between amateur and professional. I learned how to code myself, but I am *still* discovering certain theory or known issues that would have saved me hundreds of hours, had I learned from a person, rather than a search engine. For example: it's easy to learn how to handle a MySQL query, a lot harder to understand why MySQL is better or worse than another SQL program. In a classroom, I'd hope to see a technical evaluation of the pros-and-cons; on the web all I find is op-ed and cheerleading. The other paradox of learning is profound: until I have some mastery of the material, I can't spot the bullshit from the rare gems of good info. This is especially troubling when venturing into a new subject for the first time. For example: a friend of mine is a history buff, and simply by following his reading recommendations I found I had condition myself to agree with his politics- but had never seriously considered an opposing point of view because I had no idea which views were considered serious, and which were "conspiracy theory" or "revisionist history". Now, after reading a few hundred books on American history, I am better able to spot serious work from less serious work- but only because I've already learned a certain amount. Had my first book on history been a Revisionist view of the Holocaust, I fear what I might have become... Most troubling to me is the view that shop class or auto shop should be the lone domain of "bad kids". I've always liked working with my hands, and even though I make a living on the web, I get great pleasure (and save a lot of money) by doing minor car repairs and home improvements myself. However, I was "too smart" for the shop classes back in HS, and my white-collar dad was very labor-adverse, so I had one hell of a learning curve, even with some profoundly simple tasks; like replacing an electrical outlet, or drywalling. In retrospect, I would have saved untold amounts of time, money and injury, and probably done a far better job on most of my early projects, had I enjoyed some basic training (i.e. turn off the breaker first- trust me! bzzzap.). Thankfully, I befriended a guy who had learned from his dad, who learned from his dad (etc, etc). This guy was a true craftsman, and I was truly jealous that despite a plethora of lawyers and doctors, no one in my family could replace a doorknob without calling a repairman. Meanwhile, most members of his family helped build each other houses that were simply superior to the standard tack-housing most of us live in. While I am rambling on about HS, I also find it scary that after 4 years of geometry, trig and calculus, I had never learned any basic finance. I left HS with more knowledge about triangles than my credit score. 10 years later, I've had no practical use for Trig since (except a college refresher course), but I deal with mortgages and credit cards every month. No wonder about 50% of Americans are in foreclosure right now! Finding the obtuse angle is fun and all, but balancing a checkbook seems to have become a lost art! For these reasons, and so many more, I believe public education has failed. Furthermore, I believe it has failed profoundly with those who needed it the most.