Comment Re:how about more people? (Score 1) 274
People are the ultimate invasive species. Even Antarctica can't get rid of em.
Comment Complete Fallacy analysis (Score 1) 1367
A text analysis shows the article consists of over 90% fallacy.
Check out this color-coded annotation complete with in-context links to definitions of the fallacies employed:
http://rationalrants.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/wall-street-journal-sinks-to-a-new-low/
Comment Re:WRONG (Score 1) 270
Sigh...
The 'small group' are not politicians.
They are wealthy businessmen.
See late 19th century US history.
Comment Re:Drinking the Waldorf Cool-aid (Score 1) 333
Where's the damn 'Like' button?
Comment Re:Luddite High. (Score 1) 333
Their computer science curriculum starts in high school and they do damn well.
I didn't go to a Waldorf school but I never touched a computer until I was 14 and I do just fine thank you (outperforming even in my old age the vast majority of software developers and or systems designers born after computers were available to everyone in the US from birth).
How many surgeons started cutting up animals in 4th grade? Starting earlier is not necessarily helpful for every kind of skill.
People have some very important things to learn prior to HS and moving HS curriculum down into the lower grades displaces some of that important learning.
Comment Re:Can't teach your kids arithmetic? (Score 2) 333
It has been absolutely proven beyond a doubt that people learn
faster and more deeply when taking methamphetamine.
I don't see anybody advocating for handing out the meth in schools.
Why not?
Because, along with the enhanced learning rate comes some rather unpleasant side effects.
It's pretty much the same thing with computer use.
The next time you see your older relatives using their iPhones notice how much time they spend ignoring people around them to stare at their phone screen during social functions.
Scary.
I'm singling out the older folks here because presumably they should know better but still they can't resist......
Comment Re:Not all schools are equal (Score 2) 333
I somehow doubt you have any experimental evidence for this.
From what I have seen, computers do a reasonable job of "training" which
is not "education".
Spending even more time with screens rather than people can only be
harmful to the development of critically important social skills. If you just
read many of the posts in this thread, I think you may get an idea of
just how much our school system has been failing as of late at
developing social skills.
Submission + - Climate Change Driving War? (sciencemag.org)
Stirling Newberry writes: "You may have heard of The Great Moderation which argues that business cycles are less steep, and the Green Revolution. These, it has been argued have lead to "winning the war on war". But not so fast says a study in Science, it may well be that the periods of war, past and present, can be linked to climate change:
"As the Thirty Years' War between Europe's ruling dynasties dragged on during the 17th century, soldiers suffered through the coldest few decades Europe had experienced for some time. Far to the east, armies from Manchuria (present day northern China) swept down from the snowy north and breeched the Great Wall of China. Not long after, a plague swept Europe. Why so much tumult? A controversial new study suggests that most of humankind's maladies—from wars to epidemics to economic downturns—can be traced to climate fluctuations.
Submission + - SAIC has data theft effecting 4.9 Million people (informationweek.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Government contractor SAIC just can't seem to get a break. Still fresh off of the Citytime scandal (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/06/30/2025206/nyc-mayor-demands-600m-refund-on-software-project) they have now had a data breech where backup tapes of 4.9 Million personnel health records were stolen out of an employees car overnight. To add insult to injury, evidently the tapes were not encrypted either: "Tricare did not indicate whether SAIC encrypted the information on the stolen tapes, but Raley said, "It's very hard to encrypt a backup tape.""
Submission + - NY Senators Want To Make Free Speech A Privilege N (techdirt.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: A group of four NY state senators have written a paper suggesting that free speech should be looked upon as a government granted privilege rather than a right. They're specifically concerned about cyberstalking and cyberbullying, and are introducing legislation to make both of those against the law. Among other troubling concepts, they argue that merely "excluding" someone from a group is a form of cyberbullying.
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