StrangeSox

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 15, 2013 -> 04:16 PM) Well no, obviously not. I just thought that it had been determined to be a Hollywood invention, not something that was actually possible. I don't know if they could randomly trigger a bomb, but a cell phone can be used to intentionally trigger a bomb. It's a common technique for IED's.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-22160978#TWEET724546

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 15, 2013 -> 03:17 PM) The negative part of the internet at times like this. So many people just throw info out there without confirming anything. That's going to be true for professional media outlets too; just the nature of stories like this. edit: there's going to be fluctuating injury/fatality counts, reports of multiple bombers, reports of other bombs going off, etc. as information comes in and gets reported. I'm going to be taking anything beyond "bombs went off, many injured and some killed" with a grain of salt for now.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 15, 2013 -> 03:14 PM) NY Post claiming it's 12 dead. Like any breaking event, there's likely to be a lot of false reports and incorrect information over the next several hours.

:( :(

My work requires that I travel occasionally, which means that I get to see many different parts of the country as well as build up points/miles for personal use. Last week I had to fly into Baltimore for a day, so I took the opportunity to head to the Sox-Nats game and meet up with lostfan.

Well you need to separate out what your testing and measuring: individual students, individual schools or individual teachers. Standardized tests are fine for diagnostic measurements of students, but I don't know that there's much evidence or support behind them being at all useful for evaluating schools or teachers. You don't need to have a replacement data-gathering method to abandon one that you know doesn't actually give you meaningful results.

Some follow-up thoughts on the cheating/reform scandals: Well, first of all, the Rhee scandal seems directly relevant to the claims of the “reform” movement given that the alleged gains in student achievement under her tenure were often cited in defense of “reform,” and Rhee herself remains a highly influential figure in “reform” circles. The fact that the alleged gains in achievement under her tenure were almost certainly the product of cheating seems highly relevant to whether her “reforms” are effective to me. This also seems like missing the point: Although perhaps some people have made this argument, I don’t think it’s the central issue. Since it’s possible for national tests to have high degree of integrity, I’m not sure why it’s impossible for local ones to. The point of the Rhee scandal is that the lack of testing oversight wasn’t just incidental incompetence. Rhee 1)used high-stakes tests as the sole criteria for bonuses for ongoing employment for many teachers and administrators, and perhaps even more importantly 2)rather than using high-stakes testing to measure progress towards incremental improvements over time used them to demand ludicrously implausible immediate improvements in student performance. So of course there was going to be widespread cheating. Not only did educators and administrators need it to save their jobs, Rhee needed the cheating because without it she couldn’t have claimed the phony massive immediate improvements that made her a star. There’s no reason that it’s impossible to have fair, well-monitored testing in a large school system. There is good reason to doubt whether extremely high-stakes tests will be applied with integrity, but since Rheeism is largely based on extremely high-stakes tests meant to show flashy immediate gains in some cases and results that can justify mass firings in other cases, this seems relevant to whether Rheeism is a good idea. And finally, a classic fallacy of the excluded middle: I concede the point: the Rhee cheating scandal cannot prove that there should be no attempt at all to evaluate the performance of teachers beyond showing that they’re competent enough to get tenure. What I do certainly dispute is whether the only alternatives are “evaluating teachers using high-stakes testing as the sole criterion” or using a “pure seniority system.” Using standardized testing as part of a fair, well-constructed comprehensive system of evaluating teachers is a perfectly good idea. But that’s not what Rhee-style “reform” generally consists of. This is pretty much where I stand as well.

I don't get what bitcoins were ever supposed to do or be.

well let's not pretend like the DPRK's got the market cornered on dumb military headwear

NHL, players join with You Can Play to fight homophobia in hockey

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 03:45 PM) And it is a way of totally avoiding any sort of responsibility and/or reform of the public schools. The privatization testing regime? Or the rejection of it? I'm not sure what you're referring to here.

NHL, players join with You Can Play to fight homophobia in hockey

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 03:39 PM) This is the kind of thing you say when you troll conservative Facebook pages to see what kind of stupid people are going to agree with you and see how far you can go with it before they realize you're mocking them. Seriously couldn't believe it was legit, had to make sure it wasn't that fake Rep. account.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 03:37 PM) Please show me where the "no background checks" clause is in the Constitution? Someone? Anyone? I wish stupidity was physically painful. But it could conceivably lead to a national registry some day maybe! And those would be clearly unconstitutional, just like we don't have voter registries for an even more important right!

They didn't even vote in favor of a bill, they were just voting to stop someone from invoking an arcane parliamentary procedural roadblock to allow debate on a bill. legislative debate is TREASON!!!!!!!!!!! Also another good time to say "f*** you, Harry Reid" for not actually doing something to reform the filibuster.

republican texas railroad commissions tweeted this lovely image: Just the idea that we would even allow our legislative bodies to debate any form of gun control legislation is now TREASON

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 03:06 PM) If cheating signifies that a system isn't working, you have a ton of articles on cheating by regular schools to improve scores on standardized testing articles to post. Absolutely. But that's part of the same privatization push and overall terrible School Reform movement. The testing data is used to push for more privatization and to weaken public schools, plus the tests are usually developed and sold by private companies.

This is not a joke, this is a legitimate Republican politician's campaign sticker:

The Nationals have a very nice stadium; this team probably won't be above 81 wins.

Memo warns of rampant cheating in D.C. Public Schools If it wasn't already clear that Rhee and the whole "school privatization reform" movement behind her were frauds, here's some more evidence. Their means and methods don't actually improve education, don't make for better teachers, and don't make for better schools, but they make for great profits!

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 11:04 AM) They'll probably draft a burner to replace Knox - Hester was supposed to be that guy and was an unmitigated disaster. Someone to put in the slot. Marshall can play in the slot, but as a gimmick, they need somewhere to play full-time. Right now they have all possession guys and nobody who really stretches the field, or draws the safety out of the box. Marshall does his best work underneath. Jeffery is like a mini-Marshall who's slightly less physical and slightly better at getting separation, although Marshall doesn't even really need separation. That was the one thing Knox was really good at, running those 9 routes. And then dropping the ball or falling down and letting the other team intercept

Agreed, good listen. Thanks for the recommendation.

QUOTE (Cali @ Apr 11, 2013 -> 05:17 PM) New Iron & Wine is fantastic. when did he decide to turn into a smooth jazz/R&B singer?