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Comment Re:Is this a cuteness thing? (Score 1, Offtopic) 628

Dolphins make pigs look like drooling idiots. They're more than just an intelligent animal the same way someone talks about their dog being able to learn tricks. They're the second most intelligent species on the planet, fully capable of empathy, incredible memory, and self awareness.

We're not talking about cattle which can't even remember which patch of grass they were munching on one minute previous. These are creatures that are fully capable of experiencing the psychological trauma being inflicted upon them.

But never mind that. If we're going to justify this to animals, I can only begin to imagine what intelligent aliens might do to us -- or perhaps worse, think of us. And we're so presumptuous to say we come in peace.

Comment Re:Tiger nuts? Not meat? (Score 4, Informative) 318

The paleo movement is frustrating for anthropologists. Humans ate pretty much whatever they could get their grubby little hands on: meat, nuts, edible leaves, roots, fruit, etc. We did eat quite a bit of plants, though. Mostly because they didn't run away.

Vegans who insist we're herbivores are equally frustrating, however.

Comment Re:Well Then (Score 1) 51

Let me be clear on my position.

Open courses which require a tuition to cover costs is acceptable. Professors and faculty have to be paid and so do we have to pay for the server hosting and etc.

Open courses which are created for profit is unacceptable. This is doubly true when all you receive from the course is a piece of paper that's worthless (oh and knowledge that you learned mostly on your own from reading a book!). It's a dirty scheme.

People who think hospitals, schools, etc. should be run like a business should be slapped silly. They're not businesses, they're basic humanitarian services. Cover costs, yes, by all means; but you have got to be kidding me if you honestly support some guy is getting a big fat check from it. Once you put some CEO at the top with a mantra of, "cut costs and increase profits", everything is going to fall to shit. Yes; ugly, terrible shit.

That's why you see things like people being kicked off of healthcare for pre-existing conditions. Could you imagine if schools were run that way? Sorry your kid requires too much extra help, so we're kicking him out of the whole system. And even if they can't get away with that the business is going to find some other way to screw it over for quick buck.

Comment Re:Well Then (Score 3, Insightful) 51

Prestige, mostly. I don't deny it. It's the only reason to go there, really. That and research opportunities. A degree from MIT is worth more than the same degree from my state university. I could know the exact same things, have done the exact same research, and published the exact same papers. All things being equal it still comes out that way.

Cost has nothing to do with it (although going to school for free is a sweet deal). If I truly wish to accomplish something I'll find a way, regardless of cost.

Comment Re:barking up wrong tree (Score 1) 218

Once they're hired into a position the employee can document their illness (they don't have to tell the employer ahead of time) with the employer, then the employer is required to make reasonable concessions. There is an exemption in the case of undue hardship (this is the employer's responsibility to prove to the court) and the employee must still be able to perform his essential duties.

Firing someone because their mental illness is interfering with their ability to perform their essential duties isn't protected under the ADA because it isn't discrimination. If any one employee doesn't do their job, then they would also be fired: the person isn't being terminated because they have a mental illness, but because they can't do their job.

For instance, a stock boy with social anxiety may request reasonable concessions to not perform cashier or clerking duties on the front end. He is still perfectly able to stock the shelves.

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