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Comment Re:Repeat after me... (Score 5, Interesting) 534

Fuck security guards.

We were going to go to NASA Space Center, and they have a "security checkpoint" before you enter. You know what they're looking for? Food! I couldn't bring in a sandwich so my son with food allergies (yes the real, anaphylaxis kind) could eat lunch with us. All so they could make an extra buck at the snack counter. I guess they got enough complaints, because they allow bottled water now. I raised a big enough stink about it that they finally let me in, but what the fuck? If it's a goddam security check, look for guns and knives and forget the rest. If a little ham is going to cause the Mars exhibit to implode, why don't they have another checkpoint as you leave the food court?!

Anyway, I would have left, but my wife had already bought the tickets and was pissed at me for raising such a fuss. I was offended that she was not outraged. I mean this is complete bullshit, and she wants to raise our kids to just roll over and take it. More people need to get pissed at these "security" checks. I see it happening at more and more venues: football games, art museums, etc... At least the metal detectors in the courthouse came as a response to actual shootings. But come on, who is going to bother with a terrorist attack on the Duct Tape Museum of Greater Bumfuck? At some point the security measures cost more than what you're actually preventing.

Comment Bad actors (Score 1) 248

I'll probably get modded down for this, but it looks like this is a case of a judge stretching the law as far as possible to try to enforce an order against some really crappy people. If the plaintiff is correct (AFAIK they are), then the defendants absolutely deserve to get struck from Google's search results. Hell, if they're really bait-and-switching customers, you'd think Google would be pleased as punch to give these guys the finger.

Look, it's nice to talk in absolute terms about freedom of speech, sovereignty, judicial activism, or what have you. But this is part of an ongoing trial, and the judge is trying to do what's fair while the underlying trade secret case plays through. I wouldn't want to be in her position. If the plaintiff goes under because all the Google results for their equipment point to these other asshats, then the judge will be blamed for not doing enough.

If one of my engineers started up a company in Canada using my technology, I would love for a judge to be able to enjoin Google to remove their search results. This is a feature, not a bug.

Comment Re:Reading what now? (Score 1) 164

First of all, if you follow the Kickstarter link, I think you could figure it out. Second, this is Slashdot. It has a lot of topics that not everybody knows about. If you can't figure out Ctrl+T, Ctrl+L, Tab, "Reading Rainbow", Enter, you're going to have a hard time making it through just about any article. On the front right now are several topics people might not know about that do not have a Wikipedia link: hydraulic power steering, trademark infringement, sleep, Donald Sterling. I daresay more /. readers are familiar with LeVar Burton than with Donald Sterling (and if they're not, they need to turn in their geek card to the nearest person with a penguin or light saber on their desk).

Comment Re:Two Problems (Score 1) 164

As an active member of my son's school's PTO, I find it infuriating how many of the really good programs are funded 100% through PTO fundraisers. Every field trip, First in Math, Accelerated Reader, the entire science lab, most of the computers, even a portion of the substitute teaching budget. And of course the money raised in the fundraisers come from primarily the parents and businesses in the area. If I were in a less affluent part of the school district, that would mean my child would probably not have access to these programs. In fact, in the district we are down to only two or three of the schools participating in First in Math, and all of the schools have dropped AR.

I don't know what the answer is. I suppose higher property tax would go a long way to leveling some of the disparity, but unfortunately a lot of the money would get wasted at the district level [citation needed]. At least with the PTO taking care of this stuff, we know where all the money goes. But it's not like our PTO is going to turn around and hand over 20% of our budget to some underperforming school where we don't know the principal or teachers.

It's a conundrum. If you don't give underperforming schools more money, how can they improve? If you do, how do you keep schools from gaming the system? How do you make sure the money goes to improving the education of the children?

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