How about we compare them to the US military instead?
Diffcult to do because a lot of the deaths attributed to the US military - see for eaxmple here turn out out to have been carried out in practice by the Islamists. Bad US policy caused by an inability to let go of the Russians as an an enemy is responsible for both.
We are self critical about these matters? Since when?
Since the comment I was replying to!
I think you misunderstand the "we".
Mainstream media may not be very upfront but there are plenty of critical voices to be heard in the west - and they tend not to get murdered quite as often as happens in some places.
Burning civilians alive with missles out of nowwhere, torturing prisoners and treating them like dogs imho it isn't that sure anymore who the terrorists are. My best guess is that it depends on where you live.
We in the West are (rightly) self critical in these matters - but please don't be under any illusions about the way other countries view these things. Unlike the West they aren't the least bit embarassed or apologetic.
If the test properly covers what was supposed to be taught, wouldn't "teaching to the test" and "teaching the required curriculum" be the same thing?
True - Google "constructive alignment" and you will find out that this is part of educational theory. Sadly it rrarely gets applied properly.
The problem is that people set tests that are too similar year by year - and so it becomes possible to teach to the answers rather than teaching to the problems.
When the test setters and the teachers are measured by the exam results then this kind of corruption is inevitable.
Proper education is too risky when your job is on the line!
Re: It is all about what you are brought up to want.
High school teachers are greedy and incompetent and sacred = can not be fired for being bad.
Actually what is wrong with the system in the UK is precisely the threat of being fired for being bad. If that is not yet the case in the US then that is the one good thing left in the system
The trouble is that no one knows what "bad" actually is - let alone how to measure it reliably enough to make any use of the results.
In the UK we have used exam results - but the problem here is that when the teacher's job depends on the students' results then the students' results can no longer be allowed to depend on the students. Since the exam boards are now also "commercial" operations then they are motivated to collude with the schools to corrupt the system. As a University Lecturer I have seen the sorry results of this year by year as the exam scores get better yet the students' ability to actually understand anything gets progressively worse.
A teacher's job should be made more difficult to get in the first place, and well enough paid to attract the best. After that however you have to take the risk of trusting those people you have employed to remain professional.
There will always be a few who will take advantage of this - but the alternative is infinitely worse.
The irony is that the concept of a software licence was originally invented to give the purchaser MORE rights than copyright itself allowed.
Thus the licence typically allowed you to make the ephemeral copies necessary to run the program, to install it onto your hard drive and to make a backup. All of this would have been technically illegal under copyright law as understood in the 50s and 60s.
Thus the licence was always IN ADDITION to the rights that you automatically acquired on purchase.
Now however they seem to want to make the licence into something that takes away rights that you had. This may not be legally sound - but since when has that stopped them?
The real problem is the scientific illiteracy of lawyers, judges etc. In fact even many scientists are not very good with statistical evidence hen it is to be used in court rather than the lab.
Probably the best people to employ to see through these lies would be magicians. I'd employ Penn Jillette on my defence team any day!
Re: Re: Re: Yet again claiming that success of copyright proves it isn't needed.
without copyright upheld and the moral imperative that creators own their products, Hollywood would get little.
Hollywood is a monopolistic cartel. As such it is the creation of copyright - which encourages monopolistic behaviour by middlemen. So you are right in a sense. Without copyright the Hollywood cartel would not exist. However many believe that the world would be a better place for consumers AND the original creators without the cartel.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Yet again claiming that success of copyright proves it isn't needed.
It's like arguing religion with fundamentalists.
I think you are being unfair to the fundamentalists here. They usually have a book that provides a basis for their arguments. You know where you are with them. These copyright people just keep shifting their ground.
Do you really think other governments are on our side?
This confirms that encryption is no panacea, but is certainly worth deploying. The fact that it can make China's Great Cannon attacks harder, if not impossible, should also give pause to government officials around the world as they try to demonize encryption and call for it to be weakened or even banned.
Most officials of most governments are cheering China on under their breath. It is only in pubklic that China is condemned. In private they have the same agenda. It is just the remaining barriers of free speech and democracy that stop them saying so publicly.
Re: Re: I find it fascinating that those who protest against...
" No True Muslim, No True Christian"
Actually he is NOT falling into the "no true Scotsman" fallacy here. He is simply quoting the accepted religious texts.
Consider the classic example of the "No true Scotsman" fallacy"
Person A: "No Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge." Person B: "But my uncle Angus likes sugar with his porridge." Person A: "Ah yes, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge."
Of course this assumes that no "manual of Scottish behaviour" exists containing a prohibition on putting sugar on porridge.
eg if I were to say "No true Jew would eat pork" then I would not fall into the fallacy simply because I used the phrase.
On the post: The CIA Will Keep Killing Civilians With Drone Strikes Because The 'Rules' For Drone Strikes Aren't Actually Rules
Re: Re: Re: Re: Check out the Sobieski room...
Diffcult to do because a lot of the deaths attributed to the US military - see for eaxmple here
turn out out to have been carried out in practice by the Islamists. Bad US policy caused by an inability to let go of the Russians as an an enemy is responsible for both.
On the post: The CIA Will Keep Killing Civilians With Drone Strikes Because The 'Rules' For Drone Strikes Aren't Actually Rules
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Since the comment I was replying to!
I think you misunderstand the "we".
Mainstream media may not be very upfront but there are plenty of critical voices to be heard in the west - and they tend not to get murdered quite as often as happens in some places.
On the post: The CIA Will Keep Killing Civilians With Drone Strikes Because The 'Rules' For Drone Strikes Aren't Actually Rules
Re: Re:
We in the West are (rightly) self critical in these matters - but please don't be under any illusions about the way other countries view these things. Unlike the West they aren't the least bit embarassed or apologetic.
On the post: DailyDirt: No More Teaching To The Test?
Re: Re: Teaching to the test
Which way is the easiest will vary from person to person.
A good teacher will reward a student whose method of solution displays a greater degree of understanding.
On the post: DailyDirt: No More Teaching To The Test?
Re:
True - Google "constructive alignment" and you will find out that this is part of educational theory. Sadly it rrarely gets applied properly.
The problem is that people set tests that are too similar year by year - and so it becomes possible to teach to the answers rather than teaching to the problems.
When the test setters and the teachers are measured by the exam results then this kind of corruption is inevitable.
Proper education is too risky when your job is on the line!
On the post: DailyDirt: No More Teaching To The Test?
Re: It is all about what you are brought up to want.
Actually what is wrong with the system in the UK is precisely the threat of being fired for being bad. If that is not yet the case in the US then that is the one good thing left in the system
The trouble is that no one knows what "bad" actually is - let alone how to measure it reliably enough to make any use of the results.
In the UK we have used exam results - but the problem here is that when the teacher's job depends on the students' results then the students' results can no longer be allowed to depend on the students.
Since the exam boards are now also "commercial" operations then they are motivated to collude with the schools to corrupt the system. As a University Lecturer I have seen the sorry results of this year by year as the exam scores get better yet the students' ability to actually understand anything gets progressively worse.
A teacher's job should be made more difficult to get in the first place, and well enough paid to attract the best. After that however you have to take the risk of trusting those people you have employed to remain professional.
There will always be a few who will take advantage of this - but the alternative is infinitely worse.
On the post: DVD Makers Say That You Don't Really Own The DVDs You Bought... Thanks To Copyright
"Own it on DVD"
Let's hold them to it.
On the post: GM Says That While You May Own Your Car, It Owns The Software In It, Thanks To Copyright
Irony
Thus the licence typically allowed you to make the ephemeral copies necessary to run the program, to install it onto your hard drive and to make a backup. All of this would have been technically illegal under copyright law as understood in the 50s and 60s.
Thus the licence was always IN ADDITION to the rights that you automatically acquired on purchase.
Now however they seem to want to make the licence into something that takes away rights that you had. This may not be legally sound - but since when has that stopped them?
On the post: Report: 'Nearly Every' FBI Forensics Expert Gave Flawed Testimony In 'Almost All Trials' Over A 20-Year Period
The real problem
Probably the best people to employ to see through these lies would be magicians. I'd employ Penn Jillette on my defence team any day!
On the post: This Week In Techdirt History: April 12th - 18th
Re: Re: Re: Yet again claiming that success of copyright proves it isn't needed.
Hollywood is a monopolistic cartel. As such it is the creation of copyright - which encourages monopolistic behaviour by middlemen. So you are right in a sense. Without copyright the Hollywood cartel would not exist. However many believe that the world would be a better place for consumers AND the original creators without the cartel.
On the post: This Week In Techdirt History: April 12th - 18th
Re: Re: Re: Re: Yet again claiming that success of copyright proves it isn't needed.
I think you are being unfair to the fundamentalists here. They usually have a book that provides a basis for their arguments. You know where you are with them. These copyright people just keep shifting their ground.
On the post: Chess Grandmaster Exposed As App-Using Cheat
Re: Game
That would be Go not Chess.
On the post: Chess Grandmaster Exposed As App-Using Cheat
Game
On the post: TSA Agents Outwitted By Cory Doctorow's Unlocked, 'TSA-Safe' Suitcase
BUT
But this bag was NOT required to be opened by force (it was already open and they had a passkey - and therefore they ARE liable after all.
Take them to court!
On the post: Another Reason To Deploy Encryption Widely: Spiking China's 'Great Cannon' Attack
Do you really think other governments are on our side?
Most officials of most governments are cheering China on under their breath. It is only in pubklic that China is condemned. In private they have the same agenda. It is just the remaining barriers of free speech and democracy that stop them saying so publicly.
On the post: Hecklers Try To Veto University Screening Of 'American Sniper;' May Find Themselves Watching 'Paddington Bear' Instead
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I find it fascinating that those who protest against...
For example in the wikipedia entry on Atheism in the middle ages we find the following:
In the European Middle Ages, no clear expression of atheism is known
hence modern European Atheism developed afterwards - inevitably in a Christian context.
On the post: Hecklers Try To Veto University Screening Of 'American Sniper;' May Find Themselves Watching 'Paddington Bear' Instead
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I find it fascinating that those who protest against...
Where is your documentary evidence for this concversation?
And you accuse ME of making things up!
On the post: Hecklers Try To Veto University Screening Of 'American Sniper;' May Find Themselves Watching 'Paddington Bear' Instead
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I find it fascinating that those who protest against...
No it doesn't. There was atheistic/agnostic thought before Christianity - but themodern version developed in a Christian context.
On the post: Hecklers Try To Veto University Screening Of 'American Sniper;' May Find Themselves Watching 'Paddington Bear' Instead
Re: Re: I find it fascinating that those who protest against...
Actually he is NOT falling into the "no true Scotsman" fallacy here. He is simply quoting the accepted religious texts.
Consider the classic example of the "No true Scotsman" fallacy"
Person A: "No Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge."
Person B: "But my uncle Angus likes sugar with his porridge."
Person A: "Ah yes, but no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge."
Of course this assumes that no "manual of Scottish behaviour" exists containing a prohibition on putting sugar on porridge.
eg if I were to say "No true Jew would eat pork" then I would not fall into the fallacy simply because I used the phrase.
On the post: Hecklers Try To Veto University Screening Of 'American Sniper;' May Find Themselves Watching 'Paddington Bear' Instead
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hmm. Maybe Techdirt likes films in which Muslims are murdered.
and the rest of the time it perpetuates injustice against minorities.
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