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Education

Submission + - My Child Will One Day Be Your Child's Leader (cbsnews.com) 1

Vulcan195 writes: "Would you let your 3-yr play with a real saw? You would if you were a parent in Switzerland. Suzanne Lucas (a US mom residing in Switzerland) writes about the contrasts between the US and Swiss ways of instilling wisdom. She writes: "Every Friday, whether rain, shine, snow, or heat, my 3-yr old goes into the forest for four hours with 10 other school children. In addition to playing with saws and files, they roast their own hot dogs over an open fire. If a child drops a hot dog, the teacher picks it up, brushes the dirt off, and hands it back." She suggests that such kids grow up and lead the ones who were coddled (e.g. US kids) during their early years."

Comment Lots of misinformation (Score 4, Informative) 267

This article is definitely worth a read if you want to get past the controversy. The bottom line is that the science is still out, but fracking is at least theoretically not nearly as dangerous as movies like Gasland would have you believe, barring the sort of human error which always ends up causing problems. The shale which is being broken up is far below the waterline, often seperated from the water supply by thick layes of solid rock. Still, I can't say I would want it being done anywhere close to where I live.

Comment Re:No, they aren't (Score 1) 585

You admit climate science is on the defensive, but say there is only "hearsay" that detractors may have behaved in a way that put them there? What about, say, multiple mass email hackings? Does that not count as supporting evidence that detractors are taking pot-shots at climate scientists? Your professional opinion, evaluating the way these academic-specialists (read: "nerds") handle their private interpersonal communications, seems to be predicated on the notion that climate scientists should know how to deal with constant criticism (presumably of the non-factual, science kind, because otherwise it would be handled!).

You are judging the way the institution is functioning while completely denying the realities of the environment in which it is functioning. Of course there will be internal dysfunction when all your experts have been personally and professionally attacked for months by parties who are hurt by this science. I'd imagine that their conduct is unprofessional because it's the only way to keep even climbing out of bed and going to work. Their output, as science, necessarily stands on it's own because that's what science does. My point (as you so well paraphrased in your first sentence) stands.

How is decarbonisation of the economy inevitable if the time to act never comes? Does the concept of "too late" not exist for you? Should we just keep waiting until it actually is too late? I think the moral panic and press to act quickly is essential to anything getting done, and it should never have taken this long.

Comment Re:No, they aren't (Score 5, Insightful) 585

Doesn't matter how these adults were acting. Do the emails show that their science was flawed? Or does their science hold up under scrutiny?

That you are trying to disparage their work by highlighting their character makes me thing it their science is good. Otherwise we'd all be arguing the merit of their science and public discussion of their character on /. would amount to secondary gossip. Email etiquette is not something nerds get riled up over.

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