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pistle commented on Homeschooling as a right, and a needed practical alternative   quantblog.wordpress.com/2... · Posted by u/jgord
justinlaster · 9 years ago
Personally, I've never seen a well adjusted person who was home schooled -- or admittedly one that I knew. I say this as someone who had multiple friends who were home schooled. There's always something a little bit "off" about them socially. And it's not in a terribly detrimental way, there just seems to be a noticeable latency between them picking up social cues and appropriately reacting to those cues (if they do at all!)

There's also the issue, at least in the U.S., where homeschooling is really kind of a code word for "religious, non-secular" schooling. Anything from evolution to certain history is skimped over and treated in a "just learn this for the test, but don't believe it" kind of fashion, which is extremely unfair and unfortunate for the child in those situations.

The biggest issue I really have with homeschooling, tied into the previous paragraph, is that you end up getting absurdly unqualified people teaching their kids (and sometimes other people kids!) subjects they have absolutely no clue about! For a group of people that tends to be extremely vocal about teaching "organically" and not by the book I've never seen any other population so reliant on textbooks when it comes to a variety of subjects. The kids basically lose out on what would be a "pseudo-professional" in what ever subject they're studying, who would able to guide them through certain areas of the subject the text book may not gracefully cover or maybe even not cover at all! Instead you get a stay at home mom, dad, or some kind of combination thereof that didn't bother to study the subject they're trying to teach _and_ went to a public school themselves on top of it all.

All these posts seem to be far fetched rationalizations when it comes to homeschooling. There's nothing stopping you from teaching your kids things you want them to learn, beyond what schooling will give them. But it's been plainly obvious to me personally that homeschooling doesn't really give you anything extra, or circumvent problems with the education system, it just takes away from what you would have gotten while claiming it's doing the exact opposite.

pistle · 9 years ago
You haven't met enough people who are alternatively schooled and/or home-schooled. Plenty of outstanding, high-performers who probably aren't wearing their Homeschooled! arm bands that day.

Most everyone, given enough time away from homogenizing environments like public schools, becomes increasingly differentiated from the norm. They find their tribe and grow into that niche instead. Then, when tribe members cross paths outside their tribe, people sense something "off" about the other.

pistle commented on Show HN: TB-303 Synth, Drum Machine and Sequencer in Web Audio   errozero.co.uk/acid-machi... · Posted by u/errozero
pistle · 9 years ago
This is very good work in this space. Rebirth 338 was the bees knees tipping point for virtual analog on a PC. We have been seeing numerous things that hint at the direction of where things can end up and this is a good way to establish cred for browser-based audio generation.

Generally good piano roll implementation, controls. It'd be nice to have a master fader and possibly a compressor amongst the effects implmemented.

I'd also love a swing parameter.

Something I've noticed is that knobs with a touch screen can be rough since your digit is covering the visual feedback. Maybe a single vertical line indicator next to the knob could mean you would know where you are and how far you can go when tweaking one?

pistle commented on Building Win16 GUI Applications in C (2014)   transmissionzero.co.uk/co... · Posted by u/networked
pistle · 9 years ago
Ahhh... the days... I remember fumbling through something very similar to this and the time I spent in MainWndProc once the application became significantly complex could be awfully frightening for a noob like me.
pistle commented on Nvidia on new self-driving system: “basically 5 years ahead and coming in 2017”   electrek.co/2016/11/11/te... · Posted by u/stesch
pistle · 9 years ago
First, I'm all for AI-based transportation solutions, but why does it seem like there aren't nearly enough redundancies being considered? There are just going to be competing proprietary solutions?

In the US, the NHSTA should get ahead of things and push for open standards and potentially for some level of development of standard safety features like being able to set some form of material or device on objects to mark them in ways that can transmit specific information about objects like other cars, fixed structures, etc.

I could make 10's of millions selling stickers or paint additives that would mark a human-driven car's edges to help "protect" it from automated vehicles' AI.

pistle commented on Microsoft is now a braver, more innovative company than Apple   mashable.com/2016/10/27/m... · Posted by u/ssuda
pistle · 9 years ago
Two things. "Brave" = risk and cost/benefited to death decisions that a bunch of people don't understand

Generally speaking... Apple sells iPhones, Microsoft sells software

The overlap of their profit centers is minimal. Comparing perceived corporate personalities is your click-bait for the day.

pistle commented on FBI Reopens Clinton E-Mail Probe Less Than Two Weeks Before Vote   bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/uptown
iLoch · 9 years ago
Impeachment in all likelihood.
pistle · 9 years ago
If you can garner the votes in the legislature. If a majority of the house files charges, 2/3 of the senate has to vote in favor. The house seems likely, but it will be the drama of the century to get through the senate going ahead with it, etc.

In the current climate, unless a big group of Democrats in the house side with the Republicans on the charges, it can sloughed off as partisan BS.

We'd also probably need some pretty crazy info in those emails to warrant the sharpness of public invective necessary to have a clear political mandate to go through impeachment. It would have to include some of: large scale impact to national interests, beyond-the-pale vile political conspiracy, dick pics of Bill Clinton, or a clear statement of explicit, willfully avoiding public disclosure of the topic of discussion (of particular national interest).

I see the narrative being around "sour grapes losers" and "can't win, can't govern Republicans."

pistle commented on The Best Way to Not Get Tenure   blue.cse.buffalo.edu/post... · Posted by u/panic
pistle · 9 years ago
Well, that's his side of the story. Burning bridges publicly while signalling that you are difficult to work with is a twofer. Classy. Subtle. There are 8 people who have any second thoughts answered, and likely two others who might not abstain if given a second chance.

Life goes on. Pick up your pieces and build a new dream. Don't stand on the bridge you are burning.

pistle commented on Why American Elections are Flawed, and How to Fix Them   research.hks.harvard.edu/... · Posted by u/Dowwie
rschuetzler · 9 years ago
The clips are edited together, though. That was my first thought when watching the video. There are a lot of cuts. I get that it might just be for time, to show only the most relevant stuff. But it may also be to make it look worse than it is. Without the full conversation, we can't know.
pistle · 9 years ago
If PV wanted their stuff taken seriously at this point, they would always offer full videos for actual journalists to review and edit. They could license the content and amplify the impact of their work. Instead, they do a hack job to fit their purpose.
pistle commented on Why American Elections are Flawed, and How to Fix Them   research.hks.harvard.edu/... · Posted by u/Dowwie
3princip · 9 years ago
As a European I don't understand how requiring an ID to vote is disenfranchising voters? It just stinks of voter fraud, and in light of the latest Project Veritas videos I can only conclude that the establishment parties and democrats in this case are engaged in massive electoral fraud and fight these initiatives not on principle but to maintain mechanisms by which they can influence the result.

It's just weird, especially since the US has been very vocal in judging others with regards to their electoral processes. Pot calling the kettle black it seems.

pistle · 9 years ago
I'm not going to get into parsing the video you watched, but the source raises monumental red flags when it comes to any sort of journalistic integrity. Project Veritas is the same folks who did the widely discredited hack-editing to swat at Planned Parenthood and ACORN. They are partisan hacks well-understood to be either the pot or the kettle.

To your point on American, entrenched parties controlling and applying many of the levers of power, that is mostly a forgone conclusion. The only way out is for one party to splinter cleanly and then the other could as well. The parties seed, raise, and harvest grist for the mills to feed the party itself.

I would suggest massive voter fraud is not feasible. There are many quality checks that limit the potential. There are disconnects in how many Americans think about the registration and voting process which, when played out, inspire suspicions or contempt. Busing voters, encouraging political engagement from the religious pulpit, etc. We have or can get the data. Between census, voter roles, etc. Fraud can be detected and surfaced - but it rarely is.

Also, all sober reviews of voting has supported the argument that the ID issue follows the narrative that one tribe is trying to apply ID laws to disenfranchise to their benefit and the other is trying to enfranchise to their benefit. Nobody stakes a purer claim to virtue on the matter. But, in a democracy enfranchisement > disenfranchisement, so in this case, Democrats are in closer alignment with the spirit of democracy.

In terms of how and why voter ID is being used in recent US cycles, review North Carolina where they collected and applied data on voter access to certain types of valid ID (there are multiple) and then applied that data for max political effect. It's a turf war. You won't find Republicans arguing to hand out voter ID's or making it trivial to get them. Just picking certain forms of ID to make it more cumbersome for certain people to vote.

pistle commented on Google Reveals It Received Secret FBI Subpoena   theintercept.com/2016/10/... · Posted by u/aestetix
jacquesm · 9 years ago
20 to 30k / year times the number of years they are in use would easily get you there.
pistle · 9 years ago
The author says "hundreds of thousands of letters issued each year"

u/pistle

KarmaCake day676October 29, 2013View Original