What? You mean leveraging off our core competencies and synergize in a cross functional team environment on a go forward basis isn't a crystal clear way to communicate our new strategy? I'm shocked, just shocked.

This site. Became a left wing echo chamber long ago. Remember all the complaining about politics infecting our technology discussions? We were rudely told off that the personal is the political and there can be no neutrality in the age of King George W., the president who was literally Hitler. Remember when we used to have actual NASA scientists comment on space articles? Drove them all off, with the rest of the dotcom era crowd. And I've been reading this site since it was a web log called Chips N Bits. I've been nodded into the dirt by a behind the scenes cabal who silence anyone to the right of Mao. If you wonder why there aren't 500 comments, a decade of far left politics replacing tech topics is the reason. I think I'm about done, too. I eventually left EFnet IRC and I'll leave Slashdot too. A relic of a bygone age. This entire comment thread is the hard Left whining they don't get their way. Politics instead of tech.You killed Charlie Kirk and it's OVER. Americans are sick of your shit. Go find another country, you can't stay here with us, that much is clear. Go now and lick the hand that feeds ye, and may history forget ye were oura countrymen.

I, for one, am glad SOMEONE has stepped in to defend the evil megabillion dollar corporation and tell off the little guy. But you go! Speak truth to the powerless!

Irrelevant. Notice how you deflected from the main point?

- deliberately exposing other people’s children to extremely adult material is not adult thinking - especially without consent of the parents
- feel absolutely free to have your own children read those books (we know and hope you won’t)
- you have no right to slip them to other folks’ children

Judging by your constant deflection, it’s obviously EXTREMELY doubtful that you would walk up and hand another parent’s child the books in question, let alone quote them in public in situations where children are present.

My most recent frig is from 2013 and it's ... 12 cubic feet i think. The 9 cubic foot uses about the same amount of electricity. I say 'about the same amount' because they're in different buildings, both climate controlled but obviously there can be variations. My goal is to have everything either frozen (I have a couple of freezers; when you live as far from a grocery as I do, you don't go often) keeping just a day of leftovers and fresh veg in the refrigerator. And any beef, pork, or chicken that is being defrosted. So I don't really need enormous refrigerators.

Exactly. I mean, I have no problems buying new things - but they DO have a cost. Yeah I have 2 friges in use right now -- one bought in 2013 and one bought in 2006. I'm done with buying new appliances when I look at the decline in reliability. Is your microwave an Amana Radarrange? I had the fortune of getting one from 1981 -- it has a touchpad, I wanted a dial - but the price was right at $20 and it's a great microwave.

“what makes you think you get to decide what other people's children are allowed to read”

Exactly. Great point! You’re finally getting it! I am a mature adult that knows exposing other people’s children to extremely adult material is not adult thinking - especially without consent of the parents. Feel absolutely free to have your own children read those books (we know and hope you won’t), but you have no right to slip them to other folks’ children.

Who’s actually lying here? Here’s a challenge: print out the quotes from that Newsweek article and scatter them in places you know children gather.

Do you think your neighbors will then be impressed by your “truthfulness”? Really?

I strongly doubt it.

How do you not see this for the obvious publicity stunt that it is? You must have voted Trump.

But it worked, you got enraged and engaged with the content.

Congratulations, you're the problem with the internet today.

Oh, and I am aware of the irony of posting a reply in order to condemn it, so you needn't bother pointing that out.

Huh. It seems you rather agree with the ”bible thumpers” that these books are questionable in school libraries, otherwise you wouldn’t deflect so vigorously without addressing the contents.

Those books are found in many school districts throughout the nation. Even Wikipedia acknowledges the controversy and popularity, yet, tellingly, “forgets” to quote the controversial excerpts that the Newsweek article includes (https://www.newsweek.com/do-these-books-belong-public-school-libraries-you-judge-opinion-1802689). For example, see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

> you are likely to get a set of bible thumpers setting the curriculum

Most folks don’t live in a Deep South evangelical area. Pick a random student in the U.S. and it’s FAR more likely he’s exposed to curriculums based on these books:

https://www.newsweek.com/do-th...

Good news! The most common NYC charters - Success Academies - are required by law to accept students blindly, are free, and make do with a significantly lower stipend than their public school counterparts. The Harvard and Stanford studies I cited account for this. Their success is mainly attributed to quality teachers (by far the biggest correlating factor with student success in most credible pedagogy research), quality discipline, and extended school hours.

For a nationally recognized spectacularly successful example on the other side of the pond, see the Michaela Community School in London. It’s free, but, to be honest, it looks like it spends maybe ten or so percent more per student than neighboring public schools - this is mostly because it has a higher percentage of students living in poverty, so the government increases its funding accordingly.

Sigh.

I posted this deeper in the thread, bringing it up to the top for reference:

Here’s the ENTIRE “proof” from one of jack’s two articles: “A report by Sweden’s biggest teachers’ union, Sveriges Lärare, warned in June of the negative consequences of having become one of the world’s most marketised school systems, including the viewing of pupils and students as customers and a lack of resources resulting in increased dissatisfaction.”

Notice something? It does ZERO to focus on actual outcomes, and just emotes discontent from a teacher’s union!

My far more rigorous NYC research stands, which not only posts research from two top universities, it not coincidentally includes this point made by Harvard’s research:

“School choice divides the Democratic Party along racial and ethnic lines. African American Democrats support targeted school vouchers, universal vouchers, and charter schools at 70%, 60%, and 55%, respectively. Among Hispanic Democrats, support for the three policies is at 67%, 60%, and 47%. On the other hand, just 40% of non-Hispanic White Democrats support targeted vouchers, 46% support universal vouchers, and 33% support charters.”

And includes these points made by the NYT:
- Charters “typically outperform district schools in math and reading on state standardized tests,”
- “the vast majority of students in charters are Black and Latino”
- “families in New York have clamored for more access to charters.”
- “Most Democratic lawmakers remain firmly opposed to allowing any expansion of the schools,”
- teachers’ unions, as “major political players,” are a key stumbling block

Clear as mud.