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Comment Re:Science... Yah! (Score 1) 958

Bullshit. You need to educate yourself on the real science of obesity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

It's not just about how much you eat, it's about how the specific composition of that food interacts with your body chemistry. Your body makes fat from sugar, not the fat you eat. So if you eat sugar, your body will store the extra calories it doesn't burn. If you eat fat, most of the excess is going to be excreted instead of stored.

Comment Re:Boy toy (Score 1) 786

I used to teach 3D drawing, the sort that uses paper, a pencil, and a ruler. The math was elementary-level. By the 3rd semester I taught this class, it got to where I could predict a student's future performance fairly accurately on the first day. Just by taking their race/sex into account.

The 'levels' of performance were:

1) White Boys (competent in 1, 2, & 3-point perspective)
2) White Girls (competent in 1 & 2-point perspective)
3) Black Boys (competent in 1-point perspective)
4) Black Girls (struggle even with 1-point perspective)

An exceptionally good or bad student might move up or down one level, and I even had a single student jump up 2 levels. But 90% of all my students ranked up in exactly this order. Clearly, this pointed out a difference in each race/sex's ability to handle abstract spacial relationships.

I should point out though that I cherished having black students. Because they were the ones most likely to ask questions and spark meaningful discussions during my lectures/demonstrations. Whenever I was cursed with an all-white class, they'd just sit and stare at me blankly. Taking in all I said without question, when what I wanted was for them to think critically about what I was presenting.

So Every race/sex has its better and worse qualities. We really need to be honest about these, and stop expecting identical outcomes from each. Instead, let’s work to enhance and benefit from everyone’s strengths, and stop beating each other up over (or ignoring) our weaknesses.

Comment Re:Bose is overpriced crap and always has been (Score 1) 328

All of that... made easy to use.

I've set up bootloaders on Win/Linux/BeOS before. But Apple's system doesn't require you to know a damn thing about how it all works to set it up.

Nothing that Apple does is all that original. They just reduce the complexity of it. 'Time Machine' backups being another fine example. Easy to set up, brainless to use, easy to restore.

Comment Re:Not where *I* work. (Score 1) 342

My wife has degrees in Programming and Mathematics, not to mention an MBA.

She discovered, upon graduating, that she really didn't like programming-as-work, and moved into IT systems consultation and management instead – which she rocks at. Beyond one very inappropriate joke by a salesman accepting an award at a company function, she doesn't feel like she's encountered anything like the anti-woman culture that has been trumpeted as the norm in geek-dom lately. In fact, she feels like her peers bend over backwards to make her feel included. From college all the way up to the consultant management position she holds today.

Likewise, I spent a good part of my career in the video games, movies, and other graphics shops. Even in companies that were 100% male and prone to extreme guy-humor without women around, we all cleaned up our act and did everything possible to welcome new female employees and make them feel comfortable. Nobody balked at that one bit, because we loved having women around more than making crude jokes.

So where is all of this misogyny? I'm not saying it doesn't exist anywhere, but it's certainly not as rampant as some would have you believe. I've not seen it in the 8-odd companies I've worked for, and my wife doesn't see it in the 50+ companies that she does work for every year.

Comment Re:Appre (Score 2) 225

Having taught at both a community college, and a couple of for-profit mills, I can absolutely say that the quality of instruction (and of the students themselves) is much higher at the mills.

You pay a high price for that, and it's absolutely true that the sales team is much larger and better treated than faculty. But as a teacher used to the Mills' "get it done" attitude, I constantly found myself stonewalled at the local CC. Even over things as simple as getting copies made or printers/computers repaired.

At the Mills, there's a copier in the teacher's (cramped/shared) work area, and 2 more in other areas that nobody minds you using in a pinch. At the CC, there is one copier for the entire building (identical to the mill copiers). It has a 3-person staff and a 24-hour minimum turnaround for orders.

Comment Re:Thanks for the tip! (Score 1) 448

You've got me wondering... If you shipped a push-button LED device with a random on/off switch inside, such that you never know if it would actually blink when "turned on" by the user's button press... How many suckers would SWEAR it works as advertised? "Because I know she was lying and the light blinked that time!".

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