Can I get that chip in maple, or does it only come in oak?

Well, the Japanese school year runs 243 days. The South Korean school year lasts 220 days. Why can’t the U.S. expand its 180-day school year to match the Asian tigers? Because American schools are run by the government

OMG NOT TEH GOVERNMENT

In the late 1960s the government abolished entrance examinations

enrollments were strictly controlled by the Ministry of Education

government-supervised day-care centers

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is responsible for educational administration.

LA LA LA FREE MARKET FREE MARKET LA LA LA

Those 19th century titans also didn’t have their hands tied by pesky regulations against monopolies, kickbacks, etc. Also, TownHall is certainly MY go-to source to learn about winners.

When Bill Gates invented the whatchamacallit there were no laws, roads, phones, schools or NOTHING.

Also, American uniform designers can’t do fashion for shit.

three-hundred-thousand computations per second? MAN THAT’S FAST!

Then he lists the 75 richest people in human history, and adds that almost a fifth come from “a single generation in a single country,” all born in the United States in the 1830s.

These men came of age “when all the rules by which the traditional economy had functioned were broken and remade,” Gladwell writes. And that’s true. But they were also the last generation to come of age when they were allowed to keep all the money they earned.

I love how they use the term ‘earned’ without a fucking clue what it means.

The “20% of the Richest men Ever come from one generation”. The generation that, wonder of wonders, coincides with the Great American Land Giveaways.

Earned? Fuck you, ‘earned’…

and Trust fund Fucks ever since.

I notice we’re still NUMBER ONE!!1! though, but of course Obama has only been in office a few moths.

Tucker’s just kindly shittng the usual wingnut dose of fear into the media sewer to earn his pay.

You know, I haven’t even read the damn thing yet but GOD all those adds. I can’t even read the thing there’s so much crap on my screen… which is probably for the best.

“Then he lists the 75 richest people in human history, and adds that almost a fifth come from “a single generation in a single country,” all born in the United States in the 1830s.

These men came of age “when all the rules by which the traditional economy had functioned were broken and remade,” Gladwell writes. And that’s true. But they were also the last generation to come of age when they were allowed to keep all the money they earned. Congress passed an income tax in the 1890s, and an amendment to the Constitution in 1913 made income taxes a permanent feature of the landscape.”

Yes, those poor people born after the 1830s. Why, men born in the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s would have only lived into their 50s, 40s, and 30s by the time there was an oppressive income tax! Not nearly enough time to succeed!

er, ads. Whatever

The idea of Bill Gates as an innovator is to laff. It’s like seeing a person operate a xerox machine and calling him an author.

This Tucker chap–usually I think these people can’t really be as stupid as they appear, but in his case even I am persuaded.

“Well, the Japanese school year runs 243 days. The South Korean school year lasts 220 days. Why can’t the U.S. expand its 180-day school year to match the Asian tigers? Because American schools are run by the government, ”

The Koreans and Japanese school systems are better because they’re not run by “the government”??

Sadly, Noh.

Oy. It’s like they just let out some bats from the attic and give them typewriters.

I mean, the Japanese government is so oppressive it even outlawed THIS:

http://www.inquisitr.com/10689/japanese-government-banning-used-school-girl-pantie-vending-machines/

Don’t you love how he seems to be praising a book that cuts the legs out from under the conservative narrative that everyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps? Or how he ignores the elephant in the room that money politics isn’t the result of government intervention but the inevitable conclusion of deregulation and greed?

Seriously, I’ve never honestly understood how, in a deregulated economy, you wouldn’t get people buying out large chunks of the government to legally further their own interests. But you’ll never see a free marketeer addressing this.

Tucker clearly explains how Somalia became the innovative economic powerhouse it is today.

But you’ll never see a free marketeer addressing this.

For those who believe the laissez-fairy tales, rich fucks co-opting public resources (including governmental power) for selfish ends isn’t something to be addressed, its the whole fucking point.

Why can’t the U.S. expand its 180-day school year to match the Asian tigers? Because American schools are run by the government…

In America, the government can’t expand the school year because the schools are run by the government. Our government cannot control our schools because our government controls our schools. In Japan their government does control their schools because their government controls their schools. We can only attain the sort of control Japan has by not having the sort of control Japan has and we can only achieve what Japan has achieved by doing the opposite of what Japan did to achieve what they achieved by doing the same as what we’re doing except in a completely different way that is exactly the same.

I say it is the other things the Koreans and Japanese have in common. We should switch to chopstick in the School lunchroom. It is a lot harder to fling mushy peas wihout a spoon and thus would stimulate School Children to work harder.

Why can’t the U.S. expand its 180-day school year to match the Asian tigers? Because American schools are run by the government…

Well, for one thing, it would probably put summer camps out of business.

I didn’t realize that Charo was leading the Birther effort.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/node/29744

I wondered what happened to her.

Oh, and OT.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? No, but it would have been if the army was controlled by the government.

And OT: I just came from the Brooklyn Flea.

Will some X’er please explain to your cohort that there’s a definable difference between “ironic” and “assholish.”

Coochie HUSSEIN!!! coochie!

Will some X’er please explain to your cohort that there’s a definable difference between “ironic” and “assholish.”

If it happens again you could just tell the person he’s “a dick”. Using air quotes I mean.

If it happens again you could just tell the person he’s “a dick”. Using air quotes I mean.

Hmmm. Perhaps my neglect of air quotes when I called him asswipe confused him.

completely OT but saw Built to Spill last night and it was good. real good.

When Bill Gates invented the whatchamacallit

I didn’t know he invented candy bars.

N_B, some people are just assholes, and unfortunately informing them of the fact usually won’t change it. I suppose if it could they wouldn’t be assholes.

N_B, some people are just assholes, and unfortunately informing them of the fact usually won’t change it.

That bursts my balloon. But it still makes me feel better, ranting, right?

A good rant is healthy and wholesome, a salad for your psyche.

Asian tigers? What decade is this?

What if American innovation had a lot to do with our long summer vacations? Disruptive change usually comes from people who were bored as shit at school. (Bill Gates was a dropout, after all.)

But hey, maybe making kids spend 60 days more a year studying for some bullshit standardized test or doing rote memorization will make them more creative.

In the past our federal government mostly stayed out of the way, allowing the Rockefellers, Carnegies and Gateses to build huge companies and deliver products and services that benefit all of us.

Ahhhh, huge companies. My life would be an empty shell if not for Standard Oil. And just thinking about IG Farben makes me all tingly.

Asian tigers? What decade is this?

Perhaps he’s worried about the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere eating his lunch.

So what do the 75 richest people in human history have to with a desirable system of government? How is the fact that mid 19th century America produced 12-15 individuals who achieved an incredible concentration of wealth have anything to do with the relative welfare of the other 100 million people in the country? Why is the acquisition of fabulous wealth by a dozen people in a society of millions an indication of any virtue or even a desirable outcome?

If the company store was good enough for Tennessee Ernie Ford it’s good enough for me.

The whole point of Japanese and Korean kids going to cram schools and committing suicide if they don’t get accepted into the right college is that WE GET TO FEEL SUPERIOR BECAUSE WE’RE MORE “BALANCED” THAN THAT IN AMERICA.

Good one RB.

Why is the acquisition of fabulous wealth by a dozen people in a society of millions an indication of any virtue or even a desirable outcome?

Ah, c’mon… it’s perfectly obvious!

We we all benefit when a small, powerful ruling elite acquires tremendous wealth since this ensures a steady cash flow to ultra-conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation who fund hacks like Rich Tucker who in turn continually provide hapless citizens like ourselves with opinion pieces telling us that we we all benefit when a small, powerful ruling elite acquires tremendous wealth.

In the past our federal government mostly stayed out of the way, allowing the Rockefellers, Carnegies and Gateses to build huge companies and deliver products and services that benefit all of us crush competitors through predatory pricing, bribes and/or market manipulation.

Fixed.

Via Crooks and Liars here’s one for you scienticians:

OMG “perpeturated”. Still listening.

Why is the acquisition of fabulous wealth by a dozen people in a society of millions an indication of any virtue or even a desirable outcome?

Commie.

Holy fuck, that voice is like a trillion fingernails on a gargantuan blackboard.

But hey, maybe making kids spend 60 days more a year studying for some bullshit standardized test or doing rote memorization will make them more creative.

Most of Outliers was pretty good, but there was one chapter about this private middle school in the Bronx that was kinda neutrally written but profoundly depressing to me. It went through the kids’ schedule of getting up very early in the morning, going to sleep at something like 10 at night after doing a fuckload of homework, going to school on Saturdays, etc. Yeah okay, it produces decent students of disadvantaged kids (but really only bringing them on par with their middle-classish peers in normal schools), but it’s a damn shitty way of doing it.

Bonus Tuckerism: Did you know the United Kingdom has broken up? If you thought it still existed, you were probably ‘educated’ in one of those lazy public schools that haven’t kept up with the latest developments in geography. Or you try to live in a confusing competitive marketplace, rather than letting a monopoly determine what is good for you, and what you should know.

“appreciate the idea that the values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are.”

Sounds like an essay question for an 11th grade Creative writing class.

Barney said,

July 18, 2009 at 23:08

Bonus Tuckerism: Did you know the United Kingdom has broken up?

Holy fuck! When did that happen? During my afternoon nap?

Info please, I’m too scared to click on the link.

And just thinking about IG Farben makes me all tingly.
That’s the first symptoms of the nerve gas.

But unions exist to limit the amount their members are forced to work, and teacher’s unions would never approve of adding weeks to the school year.

Well, that’s not true at all. Most of my colleagues would be fine with a longer school year, and the union would only object if you tried to lengthen the year without increasing our pay. But that’s the way the Last Great Generation of Tycoons and Profiteers would have dealt with it, isn’t it?

PENIS?

For whenever you’re feeling down about thread quality. Count your blessings.

The other great thing about that generation born in 1830 is they got into a civil war that killed what, 5% of the country? And 10 or 15 of them got richer than anybody else in history, after the government exterminated the Native Americans and gave them ten miles of land on either side of any railroad they would build. And that’s a validation of anti-government Randian conservatism how?

Why is the acquisition of fabulous wealth by a dozen people in a society of millions an indication of any virtue or even a desirable outcome?

Aw, come on, the pundit class have spent the last twenty years making knee jerk pbeisance ot blind, stupid greed one of the undisputed corners of American culture, and you want to treat it as UNDESIRABLE??

You’re gonna make these guys feel like all their work is worthless. Well, it is, but if they weren’t blathering on the internet, they’d be screwing up a real job somewhere, and possibly hurting people.

Just a quick question here- does Tucker also advocate a 33% increase in education funding if the school year is lengthened by 60 days? if so, I’m with him.

I think more of our global warming studies should be led by Southern-accented preacher types. This makes it a lot more scientifickal.

Rich people were richer when they didn’t have to pay taxes.

I did not know that.

Just a quick question here- does Tucker also advocate a 33% increase in education funding if the school year is lengthened by 60 days?

Does he advocate a 33% increase in the number of high-school football games? A 33% decrease in cheerleaders’ skirt length? Increasing the pre-kick score for a touchdown to 9 points?

Inquiring – and dopey, just-up-from-nap – minds want to know.

pbeisance ot blind

I don’t speak zombie.

Looking over the list I winced.

Me too.

Would the administration have this much of a sense of humor?

“This much?” Dude, you’d better hope they’ve got no sense at all.

Anyway, obviously it should be called “Black Satan’s Pahoehoe Abortion Sauce.”

That’s re RB’s craptacular link, btw.

#

I don’t speak zombie.

not YET.

pedant. sheesh.

not YET.

Bad news for zombie-proselytizers: I intend to have my ashes scattered over the white house from a low-altitude airplane. The resulting ack-ack fire and crash landing into neighboring buildings will be my memorial.

N-B, I wathced Return Of The Living Dead last night. Scattering ashes is a very effective way of spreading zombie infections.

I approve.

I think they oughtta have Peter Jackson do a big budget trilogy remake of Three’s Company, only it would take place in a medieval space village.

I think more of our global warming studies should be led by Southern-accented preacher types. This makes it a lot more scientifickal.

No way, daddy-o! Leave it to the teabagging genius from South Dakota linked to at 22:49.

I was so impressed by her command of the scientifimological fine points of globular worming that I felt a need to accurately transcribe her comments so I could admire them in written form:

They say that there are some invisible gases that rise – CO2, by the way – that rise in the earth’s atmospheric pressure levels and then it stays there. It doesn’t do anything, it just stays there. And because it’s accumulated so much because of all the industry and productivity that we have and even actually cow. We got any people that knows anything about cows? Anyway… Thorn, you know anything about cows? I know to stay away from ’em. And and then… But these cows… Did you know that they were… They took it outta the bill which was really a smart thing because I think we all would have had a revolution on our hands. THEY WERE GONNA TAX COWS!

(etc, etc, including remarks about flatulence at family gatherings)

There is no such thing global warming because CO2 is heavier than air and also the Sun is hot and sometimes has sunspots and also there is magma deep under the Earth and also sometimes the storms change on Jupiter and there was this old text one time which made it sound like they was growing some grapes or something for wine or something in Scandinavia a couple hundred years ago and Al Gore is fat and has a big house.

Wait. So Malcolm Gladblart says that we need a level playing field so that everyone gets a break, allowing the truly meritorious to rise, and Tucker understands that to mean that healthcare for all would prevent progress because it would, erm, level the playing field. Jeezus, I wouldn’t pay this clown to write a shopping list if I only needed sugar, let alone a “thinkpiece”. It’s a continuing marvel of this age that someone does.

OT, but another slogan for the repigs (from the previous thread). Inspired by that insane nut on the anti-scienceglobal-warming video:

“We’re all Forrest Gump except for the parts where he showed competence at something”

And the shorter version is actually more logical and sensible than the article. I think the satirist may be hampered by actually having to understand what the article is trying to say – a problem apparently not encountered by the original article’s author.

Dammit! Less schoolin’ is whut’s needed. All that book learnin’ pushes they common sense out your brain.

YO!!! 10PM Eastern Daylight Time, Ghosty of WFDU will be interviewing Roger Miller.

Snorghagen said,
July 18, 2009 at 20:56

Snorghagen wins.

I think the satirist may be hampered by actually having to understand what the article is trying to say – a problem apparently not encountered by the original article’s author.

I got the impression that Tucker wrote the piece because he had to fulfill some kind of quota in order to get his monthly Heritage Foundation check. The man wasn’t even trying to make sense.

But that’s okay with me. I’m a big fan of incoherent wingnuts.

Man, that place has ads like an Indy 500 racer, though the only way that analogy works for Beck is if anyone ever entered a Yugo in the Indy 500.

When Tucker suddenly sprung “the negative effects of government” on me as a factor – nay, the BIGGEST factor – in the success of the über-rich I waited for some sort of reason why (as an anodyne?) … & waited … & waited … then, many centuries later, I got to the bottom of Page 1, came down with a chronic case of Who Gives A Fuck Fever, clicked on the “X” – & they all lived happily ever after, Teh Endz0rz.

They say that there are some invisible gases that rise – CO2, by the way – that rise in the earth’s atmospheric pressure levels and then it stays there. It doesn’t do anything, it just stays there. And because it’s accumulated so much because of all the industry and productivity that we have and even actually cow. We got any people that knows anything about cows? Anyway… Thorn, you know anything about cows? I know to stay away from ‘em.

Why do I get the feeling that she was chosen to be the speaker because she’s “The Smart One” of the family?

Ray in Kansas clearly has the answer:

Tucker, your main point, that this is no
longer a free country which allows people to reach their full potential, is certainly true. But your example about the number of school days is off the mark. Several studies have been done showing american children at the top internationally at the age of 6. They then slide steadily down the list. The more years in the socialist schools, the less competitive they are. Why should they be better off by spending more days each year? More days being filled with PC diversity crap? Watching movies? Being bored out of their skulls more days isn’t going to help.

It’s all downhill from the age of 6 – put ’em in the mills where they belong.

On a personal note, may I just say that Euripedes’ “PENIS?” link–the name of it, not the item itself–made me laff so hard 2 of our 3 dogs looked at me with sincere concern.

That crooks and liars clip of that deeply moronic woman regaling the crowd about how carbon dioxide was a natural part of life: No matter how many times you think, “I know these people are not only stupid, but enthusiastic about it, and I will not be shocked,” you’re still shocked.

Because “they’re stupid” is (however true), an abstraction. To see it in action is always a different experience.

Speaking of scientifickal…

I love the way Tucker equates success with monetary gains. Yeah, in the 19th Century, we had individuals who inherited the wealth of their slave-holding forebears, could engage in hefty war-profiteering, extirpation of the aboriginal population (kill them, take their stuff!), exploit the hapless newly-freed and the immigrant peons who were brought into the country to make up for the loss of the slaves…

In Tucker’s world, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg was more successful than Jonas Salk.

Maurice “Hank” Greenberg was more successful than Jonas Salk.

Salk never hit 58 homer runs in one season.

Of course, JAG (California) offers:

Teacher unions using government monopoly of education have effectively made the US second rate in education by demanding and getting paid for 52 weeks while working 36 weeks. CA being run by the public employee unions for decades is a prime example of the lunacy of having the legislature on the payroll of said unions.

If no Blacks passed the fireman’s test it must be set aside and promotions must be based on the color of ones skin not his knowledge of firefighting.

…blacks and teachers to the mills along with the kids… (I feel better already)

That was Henry “Hank” Greenberg!

I read this article about IQ distribution the other day and was absolutely horrified. As Glen Blecchh says, “we surround you.”

Also. I never knew there were actual IQ value ranges assigned for morons, imbeciles, and idiots.

BTW, that link I posted in the first comment? Very entertaining.

B^4 – Just kidding.

Also. I never knew there were actual IQ value ranges assigned for morons, imbeciles, and idiots.

RNC, Young Republicans, and Meet the Press?

Also. I never knew there were actual IQ value ranges assigned for morons, imbeciles, and idiots.

Originally, the term “mentally retarded” was a softening of the harsher terminology, a “PC” term.

I’m always suspicious of anyone talking about IQ. How the hell does one define “intelligence”? What societal factors come into play? What sort of prejudices may the testers have? Put tersely, how “intelligent” would the president of MENSA be if thrown into the forests of Papua New Guinea, given a dagger and a loincloth, and told, “survive for a week”?

Put tersely, how “intelligent” would the president of MENSA be if thrown into the forests of Papua New Guinea, given a dagger and a loincloth, and told, “survive for a week”?

The intelligent response to that would be to stab the guy telling you “survive for a week” and steal his chopper.

CA being run by the public employee unions for decades is a prime example of the lunacy of having the legislature on the payroll of said unions.

Mmm-hmm. Prior to Prop 13, CA had strong teachers’ unions and consistently rated in the top 10 in the nation in education. After Prop 13, CA made a beeline for the bottom 10 and has consistently stated there. Clearly it was the unions’ fault.

Put tersely, how “intelligent” would the president of MENSA be if thrown into the forests of Papua New Guinea, given a dagger and a loincloth, and told, “survive for a week”?

casual loincloth, or business loincloth?

casual loincloth, or business loincloth?

PENIS gourd!

a conical gourd on their johnsons

Conical? [looks down, unzips, rezips] Conical?

maybe he meant comical

maybe he meant comical

Comical? [looks down, unzips, rezips] Yeah, comical.

Conical?

Thai Poux. Should read “Comical”. The Comical PENIS Gourds is the natural enemy of the Humourless Dildo.

The intelligent response to that would be to stab the guy telling you “survive for a week” and steal his chopper.

What good would a motorcycle do in the rainforest?

casual loincloth, or business loincloth?

Scratch the loincloth, make it full on Yanomami:

Yanomami clothing is largely symbolic and decorative. The furthest that Yanomami men go to cover their modesty is to wear little more than string around their waist, to which they tie the stretched out foreskins of their penises. Within Yanomami society it is a clear indication that a boy has come of age when he begins to practice the custom of tying his PENIS to his waist string.

What good would a motorcycle do in the rainforest?

It’s a source of both iron and roughage.

…I pass…

Beautiful comeback, N__B!

Hey, the Times ran a magazine article on Jack Vance! This almost makes up for their Douhatian craptitude.

…further nuggets from Clownhall comments:

P (NC)

…, by the way the internet was started by the government, but which sector made the most significant improvements? Hint: would you rather shop at government.com or amazon.com?

…government.com never has what I want!

Wow, that is so stupid, it’s “not even wrong”.

government.com never has what I want!

I know, you go there looking for “Plasticine Friends for Dummies” and come out with a F-16 Fighting Falcon. Which you have to explain to the plasticine wife and go complain about at it Flopping Aces. It sucks.

…government.com never has what I want!

Well, if I could get into the same boutique as Goldman Sachs, we’d be talking. Apparently, it all depends on who is doing the shopping.

by the way the internet was started by the government, but which sector made the most significant improvements?

I didn’t know “pr0n” was a sector now.

Wouldn’t that be “government.gov” anyway?

Actually, government.gov takes you to USA.gov, which is actually a pretty cool site.

Obviously it’d be government.gov/government.

B4 – I agree that IQ as a concept is a slippery bastard to pin down, at least when it comes to evaluation of the individual. What I found interesting about that first page linked is that it’s not really talking about indivduals but about overall distribution in the population at large…but more than that the extrapolation of how the different cohorts correlate to the wonderful world of work.

FWIW, I went looking at the stuff because of that thing I say all the time about how most things can be explained by the fact that, the mathematical reality is that half of all people are of below-average intelligence (half minus one, for the pedants among you) which is kind of an ironic-funny truism, because what exactly is “average”? Which I believe brings us back around to what you wuz sayin’.

a concerned citizen
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, not high school. He proves the old dictum “Better to flunk out of Harvard than graduate summa cum laude from Wabash.”

Oh, and could anyone tell me if Turner says anything about one thing that I believe could really improve American education–namely, the uncoupling of organized sports from the educational system. Interscholastic sports are a budgetary drain and create all sorts of unhealthy situations.

namely, the uncoupling of organized sports from the educational system. Interscholastic sports are a budgetary drain and create all sorts of unhealthy situations.

Although I refuse to read the actual articles on basic sanity-saving principles, I would wager “no”. Organized sports is the only reason half these meatheads even allow schools to remain open instead of turning children over to the factories.

To them, all this “learnin'” and “education” is a budgetary drain on seeing some sixteen-year old have his neck snapped by a ‘roided-up peer from the “rival school”.

…organized sports

It is, as they say, to laugh. Tucker doesn’t really care about education (in fact, he probably considers it a sport).

I intend to have my ashes scattered over the white house from a low-altitude airplane.

I inquired about having mine scattered through the aisles of Archie McPhee’s, but the management were less than fully encouraging.
Also, COCK.

Attention: Joe the Plumber is a dumbass.

In other news, Madrid turns out to grow the world’s largest broccoli.

Snails here have evolved paddle-wheels.

And the streets are full of statues of people fucking crocodiles</A?.

Try again: people fucking crocodiles.

I don’t know that I’d fuck a puking crocodile. The healthy ones are poor lovers as it is.

Trouble with lions is teaching them to overcome the gag reflex.

jeezuz where wuz yiz cunts we wuz alone out dere in de wildneresseE me and shysty we wuz

jeezuz where wuz yiz cunts we wuz alone out dere in de wildneresseE me and shysty we wuz

This little piggie tested a humorless dildo
This little piggie fucked a crockodile
This little piggie stayed on topic
This little piggie was Tuckered out
And this little piggie went “whee whee whee”…well, you saw “Deliverance.”

I got sidetracked being a humorless dildo elsewhere until about 9. I figured by that point you’d be gone or having way more fun than I’d be capable of.

Scuse mah abSENCE.

How was?

Or dinosaurs fucking robots.

Asian tigers? What decade is this?

Maybe he meant Asian PUMAs.

Are there Asian PUMAs?

“It’s a lot easier for nations (the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom) to break up than for them to remain united and succeed. ”

What the Hell? They kept that bloody quiet, and I live here…

What the Hell? They kept that bloody quiet, and I live here…

You need to watch the news more. The various components of the UK held referenda last month on whether to secede. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland voted to stay in, but England voted to leave. They’ll hold a conference to work out the details after the next Bank Holiday.

“Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland voted to stay in, but England voted to leave.”

Excellent, that should be fun. Except, hang on, we’ve got a Scottish leader who isn’t going to give up power. That means that England is now under foreign occupation, doesn’t it?

I’d shout WOLVERINES! at this point, but our native predators are so pathetic, I think I’m going to have to go with

VIXENS!!1!

Not that there’s a point, but Human Layer Cake.

DIM WITTED BADGERS!1!!

people fucking crocodiles.

Could be worse. They could be dancing with them. That kind of shit attracts hordes of belligerent Nazis.

Took me a minute to recognize that picture –

Stalingrad

*strained* Not much fun in Stalingrad… no!

people fucking crocodiles.

Stalingrad

In Soviet Union, crocodiles fuck you.

Took me a minute to recognize that picture –

Stalingrad

Yep.

Any Ubuntu users? My husband just installed it in dual-boot mode. It boots up and seems to run fine but the default user has no write access, even though the user is listed as an administrator. Can sudo and write a file fine, any idea why the account can’t write? Ubuntu desktop 9.04.

tig, maybe this helps?

Thanks kingubu, but it’s not the Windows partition he can’t write to, he can’t write to his home directory on the ubuntu partition except as root; he can’t even bookmark a website or use the back arrow, as it’s not logging! When he checks the permissions, they all seem to be set properly.

Interscholastic sports are a budgetary drain and create all sorts of unhealthy situations.

Hey now – high school football may accomplish little more than crippling kids for the enjoyment of others, but that doesn’t mean all high school sports are a bad idea. Easily-accessible, no-additional-cost athletics get kids exercise and are a basis for a lifetime of physical activity – something we Americans need more of.

Years ago, running track and cross-country turned me from an introverted nerd with bad grades to an extroverted nerd with pretty good grades.

St. Trotsky, Pope-in-Avignon
I actually lived in a town where the old school building was condemned. The town passed a bond issue raising $1,000,000 dollars for a new building. They spent $400,000 of that on the new gym and a school board member bitched that they didn’t spend enough, so I’d say you’re spot on.

shabadoo
Couldn’t track and cross-country have been run on a club basis? That’s how many schools are forced to do it now, since football and basketball are such budgetary leeches. I would also observe that most interscholastic sports cannot be practiced for a lifetime, even in a condensed form. Besides, shouldn’t gym (or PE) be a real class teaching lifetime fitness? Just because most phys ed classes now are a way to let a coach have an uninterrupted hour of cell phone time doesn’t mean it has to be that way.

I’m not in favor of eliminating sports, just uncoupling their interscholastic incarnation from the school. If a kid wants to play football, let the parents fund it as a club sport, same with basketball. Stop hiding those costs in the school budget.

sorry to be on topic, but

Meanwhile, in Japan:

TOKYO —

Without mentioning numerical targets, the plan states, ‘‘It is necessary to enrich Japan’s education in order to secure a level that is in no way inferior to major European countries and the United States.’’

I was just in the high school marching band and forced to play at varsity games, so I’m just the right sort of cynical to take on decoupling sports from scholastics.

The misery of it still festers a bit, honestly.

I was just in the high school marching band and forced to play at varsity games, so I’m just the right sort of cynical to take on decoupling sports from scholastics.

The misery of it still festers a bit, honestly.

And yet band funding continues to be cut, despite evidence that participation in band is a much more reliable predictor of long-term achievement than participation in interscholastic sports.

Could be worse. They could be dancing with them. That kind of shit attracts hordes of belligerent Nazis.

Worst ‘Fantasia’ re-enactment EVAH.

As a college freshman I spent a summer internship writing the fullscreen editor (ASCII graphics ftw!) for the Z80 single-board port of an OS implementation developed by a small startup. When the hardware locked up, I would often be able to get it going again by removing the daughter boards and using a pencil eraser to clean teh oxidation from the contacts. Ah, good times…

Jennifer, one of those pages you link to quotes Arthur fucking Jensen. Take it with a pillar of salt. And if you haven’t read Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man, do so.

“Hey, the Times ran a magazine article on Jack Vance! This almost makes up for their Douhatian craptitude.”

I have a copy of Dying Earth signed by Vance two years ago. The poor guy is almost blind, but it was a real thrill to see him.

However, I’ll still have the Times and the WaPo if they sink Healthcare reform by fellating the Blue Dogs and the GOP.

Only a wingnut could advocate for privatizing education by comparing our current system to other public education systems. Somebody must have forgotten to tell Rich that in Japan, they don’t teach creationism either.

“…decoupling sports from scholastics…”

Oh man. When I was a junior/senior high school student (back when dinosaurs walked the earth), our town failed six school levies in a row. The school board finally had to cut the sports program to save the academic programs, such as they were.

Within six months, the “town fathers” had passed a special levy to fund high school sports.

Fuckers. I played football and ran track in school but that crap just pissed me off.

On the other hand, my son just graduated high school and the marching band program was one of the greatest highlights of his school career, and that includes playing three times at Lincoln Center in NYC (jazz twice, classical once).

One of his college selection criteria included whether or not they had a marching band.

So high school sports has some benefits beyond the immediate participants.

The link I saw said “1 comment”. Lies.

I hope the punch card system has a really small display with a really large magnifying lens in front of it. Better to see Casablanca with.

Thanks kingubu, but it’s not the Windows partition he can’t write to, he can’t write to his home directory on the ubuntu partition except as root; he can’t even bookmark a website or use the back arrow, as it’s not logging! When he checks the permissions, they all seem to be set properly.

bring up terminal (or tui login) sudo su
chown -r username:username /home/username

This ensures files in /home/username are owned by user username & group username. You should be good to go.. unless the system is booting in single user mode.. Make sure to be careful when running programs as root.. for instance sudo firefox will change ownership of .mozilla/… not good, eh?

oops, forgot to quote.. also, chown wants a ‘-R’ (uc), not ‘-r’ (lc).. as in
sudo chown -R username:username /home/username.. wish unix could have got it’s UC/lc switches straight! 😉

enjoy