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Comment: Re:Why all the fuss about Common Core? (Score 1) 247

by Jason Levine (#46477319) Attached to: Is the New "Common Core SAT" Bill Gates' Doing?

In our school district, we fell into the Common Core trap. We got some federal money but then the unfunded mandates meant we had to spend much, MUCH more. And we get told we can't back out without repaying that federal money... which is, of course, gone now.

So now we're making drastic cuts to pay for the Common Core stuff and our kids' education is taking a nose dive. But at least Pearson will get paid for their tests!

Comment: Re:The danger of commonality (Score 2) 247

by Jason Levine (#46477229) Attached to: Is the New "Common Core SAT" Bill Gates' Doing?

As a parent of a kid who's doing "Common Core math", I can tell you that "Common Core math" is horrible. They're not being taught to work with numbers but to estimate answers (652 X 7? Well, that's kind of like 650 x 10 which is 6,500. Problem solved!) and to draw diagrams (1.8 - 0.5 => [OOOOO] OOOOOOOO => 13 O's => 1.3!). Working with numbers is now the "wrong way" and gets marked incorrect even if you get the answer right with that method.

This is purely politicians and corporations working together to "improve" education without any educators having input whatsoever. It would be like having a group of PHB's designing a program without any programmers having input and then having them claim it's so much better because programmers were the source of all of the previous versions' bugs.

Comment: Re:The danger of commonality (Score 1) 247

by Jason Levine (#46477147) Attached to: Is the New "Common Core SAT" Bill Gates' Doing?

The standardized tests are being used to rank teachers and can be used against them in job performance reviews. This means that teachers will do what they can to improve their kids' standardized test scores. This, in turn, means not teaching anything that isn't on the test. Teaching non-test materials means risking your job.

Right now, my son (5th grade) is doing a ton of test preparation materials because the teachers are told to do that to increase the test scores. (We're actually refusing the tests, but he still falls victim to "teach to the test.")

Comment: Re:The danger of commonality (Score 1) 247

by Jason Levine (#46477117) Attached to: Is the New "Common Core SAT" Bill Gates' Doing?

Not in New York State, they aren't. In New York, teachers are told to use the EngageNY materials and ONLY those. Though, when pressured, the Department of Education weasels out and claims it's up to the local school districts to decide. Then the local school districts say they were told by Department of Ed that they NEED to use these.

For those who don't know, EngageNY is literally a script. They tell the teacher what to say (exact words), when to say it, in what manner (excited, happy, etc) and how long to spend on each item, down to a 10-15 minute interval. Does one kid learn differently than another kid who learns differently than a third? Too bad. They all need to be taught the same materials in the same way and that's that.

Furthermore, EngageNY is horrible when it comes to math. They aren't teaching the kids to work with numbers anymore, but to draw pictures. For example, if you tell a kid to subtract 0.5 from 1.8, EngageNY says to draw a series of boxes like this: (Using O's to avoid /.'s "junk filter.")


Now you circle 5 of these boxes and count the ones left. There are 13 left so your answer is 1.3.

If you actually do 1.8 - 0.5 = 1.3, then you've done the problem the wrong way and are counted as if you have the wrong answer. In addition, this method doesn't scale at all. Try doing it with 1,034.56 - 52.31. Your hands will cramp before you've drawn and circled all of the boxes!

My wife and I have been fighting this all year. My kids have gone from loving school to dreading it and everything has refocused onto the standardized tests instead of actually teaching the kids. We're refusing the tests. Every parent can, though sometimes the school will try to bully you out of it. Common Core wasn't designed with educators, it was designed by a group of politicians and big business folks the latter of which seem to get dollar signs in their eyes when they look at schools/students.

Comment: There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. (Score 1) 165

by Immerman (#46475455) Attached to: Power Cables' UV Flashes Apparently Frighten Animals

>and require zero power to use

Not quite. How does the noise get generated? Air gets pushed through the whistle as the car pushes through the air. And in doing so it increases the air resistance of the car, requiring the engine to put out slightly more power to maintain a constant speed. So those whistles are fairly directly engine-powered, and probably horribly inefficient - vortices which form around the around the whistles will increase drag, and well as disrupt the laminar flow of air over the car body, increasing the required power output of the engine by far more than the small amount of sonic energy generated. An electric sound machine under the hood could probably do the same jop far more efficiently

Comment: Re:Who's behind that back-door ? (Score 2) 78

by Andy Dodd (#46475269) Attached to: Replicant Hackers Find and Close Samsung Galaxy Back-door








Comment: Re:IF I understand this correctly (Score 1) 108

by Immerman (#46471449) Attached to: How Engineers Are Building a Power Station At the South Pole

Why would you have a field of broken turbines? The point of having a field is so that some of them can break without problems. And looking at the photo in the article it seems quite possible the whole tower could be laid down for servicing. And what does a sea-bound wind turbine have to do with anything? It's constantly subjected to corrosive saltwater and swaying of the base. Meanwhile the south pole is one of the drier deserts on the planet - humidity is near zero, and precipitation is miniscule - it just never melts.

Comment: Re:whose lawn, now? (Score 1) 218

by Jason Levine (#46470079) Attached to: Silicon Valley's Youth Problem

Back when my grandmother was alive, every time I spoke with her, she would ask if I got a promotion. In my company, being "promoted" would have meant working as a manager. However, being a manager would mean having to handle - well, managing people. I'd need to deal with company politics and firing people and lots of other things that I have no interest in. Coding (specifically, web development), though, is something I love doing. Why should I stop coding just because I'm 38? I should stop doing what I love doing and do something I don't like simply because of my age?

Comment: Re: Skynet? (Score 1) 227

by Jason Levine (#46470009) Attached to: How the NSA Plans To Infect 'Millions' of Computers With Malware

Of course, for every Rob Ford, there's a dozen other politicians whose scandals destroy their political career. If you're a politician and know you have something that's best not divulged (a partner on the side, drug use, visiting prostitutes, etc), you aren't going to want to take the chance that you can survive the scandal. Especially if the scandal involves something you've declared evil in the past. (Insert any of the very conservative Republicans who railed about how "the gays" were destroying America only to be found cheating on their spouses with someone of the same-sex.) If you were able to know exactly what shady things each of these politicians was up to (even if it wasn't illegal, but just embarrassing given past political stances), you might be able to control how they vote on some issues.

Comment: Re: Skynet? (Score 1) 227

by Jason Levine (#46467957) Attached to: How the NSA Plans To Infect 'Millions' of Computers With Malware

True, but what Rob Ford only admitted to it because a video was obtained of him doing it. Before that, he denied everything. I'm not an expert on Canadian politics, but depending on the political climate, he might weather the storm and keep his job. Or not. Still, I'm sure he'd much rather this all stayed quiet. An NSA that listens to everyone all the time (even if not actively but storing data for future possible analysis) can - either for the purposes of the NSA retaining their power or for other political purposes - look up information on anyone and leak or threaten to leak information on people who don't sit down and keep quiet. The mere threat of doing this will be enough to silence some critics who would have something to lose (wives, children, family, jobs, etc.).

Comment: Re:hahaha... (Score 1) 130

by Shakrai (#46467663) Attached to: US Court Freezes Assets of Mt. Gox CEO

You may want to familiarize yourself with the concept of rubber hose cryptography.

Granted, the United States Federal Government won't literally beat you with a hose, but they will take away your freedom until you comply with the lawful orders of the courts. The Government will go over your finances with a fine toothed comb, accounting for any and all assets you currently or previously owned, including bitcoin. If you obtained any of those assets via fraud you're going to be on the hook for repayment, plus criminal and civil penalties on top of the fraudulent earnings.

Want to play the "I lost them" card? You can try, but you're still going to be on the hook for the full amount Uncle Sam thinks you owe your victims, plus the aforementioned penalties, and you're not wiping any of that away with a bankruptcy. It will follow you until the day you die.

Bitcoin doesn't spend at the prison commissary, nor am I aware of any reputable criminal defense attorneys that accept payment in bitcoin.

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