Reddit --- what is it good for?

[chimak111]

Wall Street Elites DESTROYED, Beaten By Redditors At Their Own RIGGED Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ToOGrUQ7ME

[jglen490]

GOOD! There was a kind of related story a few days ago about Robert McNamara, former Defense Secretary, businessman, etc. And the story was about "hyper-rational" business people/practices and their complete reliance on data. Which failed them. Business is far more than numbers; it's primarily people, their subjective interactions, and preferences.

Wall Street always forgets the more important part of business, and that is the often irrational components of human relationships. CRM won't even fix that!

[TWPonKubuntu]

The answer to the OP topic: Cat Videos.

[chimak111]

The answer to the OP topic: Cat Videos.

Like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1lbTS43A1U ?

[TWPonKubuntu]

Yeah, like that.

[Bings]

I'm not sure these people's intentions are any more honourable than the people they are going for. When the stock value corrects, a load of these people are going to lose money so I hope they went in informed. If they're collectively willing to lose some money each to drag down some short sellers and highlight dodgy practice then more power to them but if they are doing the same thing in reverse, getting a load of uninformed memers to inflate a stock and then cashing out at the top then not so good.

Encouraging private investing is a great thing though, it's very accessible now.

[woodsmoke]

Robert McNamara, former Defense Secretary, businessman, etc. And the story was about "hyper-rational"

I was in the navy when he, very logically, mandated that all of the military would go to the "pink punch card" system for all of the inventory for all of the military

It really was a great idea but the whole thing about "mulitiplier" punch holes in the cards was quite beyond the average E-4 out in the fleet.

That was, if you wanted 150 "units" of say, frozen porkchops, the kid had to get a pink card, punch the several holes that designated,
'meat" "pork" "chop" "frozen" "bulk" "100 per unit"
and then holes for
100
then plus
100
then
50 percent

which, using the RPN notation from HP was actually logical but...naaah...

Our guy, newly heloed on board in the middle of the Gulf of Tonkin, mistakenly ordered 1,500 units which were heloed by dropline winch in the middle of all three mounts firing in the middle of the night in the middle of a rainstorm of "biblical" proportions as can be often found in the "Gulf".

Well, we were eating pork chops for four meal a day, including "midnight rations" until we trade for frozen Pinapple Papaya in those little plastic cups to a submarine that had experienced a similar SNAFU.

So, hey, thank you for reminding me of MacNamara and a very fun time in the middle of the Gulf!

woodsmoke

[GreyGeek]

@Woody!
The Gulf of Tonkin. I remember it well. In 1964 I voted in my first presidential election. The campaign culminated in a last minute attack ad implying that a vote for Goldwater would start a war. It was also the occasion for the first major news media hit job. I voted for Goldwater and they were right. There was war. Pres Johnson claimed that unprovoked North Vietnam torpedo boats attacked our fleet in that gulf. Four months after his victory President Johnson committed US combat troops to Vietnam. We learned decades later, in 2005 and 2006, that he lied. Too late. The damage had been done, both to Goldwater and to our country. We are retaking that lesson now.

[woodsmoke]

Hi GG

Yep, the whole thing was a mess and I will not risk upsetting my friends on the forum by commenting, which, as you well know I was wont to do a few years ago.

But, yes, it seems that people in general, and maybe people in the U.S. in particular have a very short memory.

And I really do, sincerely, think that at least part of the problem is the U.S. Educationist group.

When I was in secondary school I had several history classes, as have we all, and noticed my Junior year that, in NOT ONE of them had we actually gotten "to" the Korean War, and that WWII, which was in everybody's "mind" at least was given short shrift but... we spent a LOT of time on history from centuries ago.

I have thought about that long and hard and have not really formed a cogent opinion as to why that happens even today.

I actually ASKED about it in my Junior class and the teacher basically dismissed it with some kind of statement such as "we don't have time at the end of the year like this".

a) the above statement may very well be true but why could the teacher not better plan ahead, I thought to myself sitting in the classroom chair.
Later
b) was it because of not wanting to "bring up old wounds" of parents whoever, in the war?
c) was / is it because of not wanting to actually discuss the various sides of "this or that no matter what it may be".

I dunno... but yeah...
thanks for the comment!

woodthanksyouforthecommentsmoke

[TWPonKubuntu]

@Woody, I recall something similar from my "secondary" and "post secondary" school years. Particularly around the Vietnam era. Since the "approved" text books did not address much from WWII and forward, I think my "teachers" were simply not willing to state their personal recollections of events. There may have been some intimidation from school administration behind that also.

Fast forward to today. What will be "taught/indoctrinated" about this era? Who will be doing that job in public schools? Will public schools even be allowed to exist?

With the advent of the Internet, textbooks simply cannot keep up. Textbook publishers and writers will not be encouraged to put out a version of "history" that has not been "approved" by TPTB. Education is waiting while history is re-written by the winners...

Thoughts which keep me up at night... Reason to build my own libraries, both digital and hardcopy, for future generations. I hope they don't get burnt by TPTB...

For technology, how many of us have copies of manuals for our older/newer software/hardware systems? I find it hard to keep up with the pace of new system releases. Looking ahead, quantum computing is just raising its head out of the crockpot... Will it replace our current computing systems and practices?

I wonder if those generations younger than I are asking the same questions that I have posed, above? Are they even taught how to ask these questions? Do they even care?

[GreyGeek]

I taught in HS during the 70's and in college during the late 60's and the middle 80's to the early 90's.
I taught science and math for 10 years K-12 school in a village of 480 people. My family and I lived out in the country 5 miles from the village. I loved it there. I've always enjoyed teaching, even it it was an economic drain to continue in the profession. About 9 out of 10 kids at that HS said they were going to college and prepared for it. The other kid had dreams of being a farmer or self-employed. During the later years of my tenure there I began my PC consulting business on the side. I also began teaching BASIC and other computer languages for college credits to teachers in the public school system.

In 1995 I thought I'd return to HS teaching and renew the fire. I subbed in every HS in the city I currently live in and the surrounding county. That turned out to be a big mistake. The numbers had flipped. 9 out of 10 kids weren't going to college and didn't even care about school. Assign home work? They'd scrawl their name on a blank sheet and hand it in with a grin on their face. Flunk them? They couldn't care less. Many dropped out during their junior or senior year. They thought they were so smart you couldn't teach them anything. You couldn't teach anything because the principle, super and board had already succumbed to PC, and the kids knew it. I maintained discipline because I was 6'6", weighed 245 lbs, my eyes glowed red, and I knew where they lived. It was obvious that the public HS system was hosed. I returned to my PC consulting business.

My oldest grandson went to UNL for three years majoring in music with a focus on teaching. He planned to get a PhD and teach music in college, but he had to teach in HS first. After one semester teaching music in HS he dropped out of college, tossed his nearly 4.0 GPA into the trash and began producing music for local musicians. Then he moved to Nashville to be a producer there (He's a computer whiz with digital composing software and autotune. His latest creation is the Tennessee Titan's Fight Song. In this video he is playing the keyboard, his partner the guitar. They co-wrote both the music and lyrics. Their spots are around 1 minute and 2 minutes. Warner Chapel signed him as a writer and performer.

https://www.tennesseetitans.com/video/get-loud-titan-up

My younger grandson is a freshman in HS. He has lost two semesters due to insane lockdown restrictions and he hates school. I'm suggesting that he avoid the over priced college scene and pick up a licensed trade so he has a skill to barter with when TSHTF.

[woodsmoke]

@Woody, I recall something similar from my "secondary" and "post secondary" school years. Particularly around the Vietnam era.

Well... I am kind of astounded, I thought that you were a really young person!!!!

Will public schools even be allowed to exist

You sir exactly mirror my thoughts only from a different perspective :

SPEAKING ONLY FOR GENERAL EDUCATION, WHAT USED TO BE CALLED INTRODUCTORY / EXPLORATORY CLASSES... not the specialist or "major" classes...

In my personal opinion, the "willing suspension of disbelief" that a student must be in a seated class of a certain number of sessions, for a certain amount of time and take a certain number of tests and do a lot of homework assignments( IN COLLEGE ? ! ? ! is broken.

It is just my opinion but I think that the students, as a whole, have had it shoved in their face that there really are those "geekheads" that just LOVE to sit in front of a computer and bury their noses in a book and that "U.S. lecture / teaching" really has always been pointed toward them and the rest of the students are those consigned to less than an A grade...

BUT... that also... they have seen that truely creative teachers who actually care about students instead of "lecturing" actually can get "most of the students on board and actually get them to pass classes.

AND THAT LEADS TO... a general rejection of the large number of introductory or general education classes...

why not just take online, because it is all about reading the book and doing interminable assignments and regurgitating answers in a multiple choice format...

sleep a lot, work a lot, go out with the significant other , travel, party...

and then knuckle down for the specialist or major classes...

When THE MOST IMPORTANT THING...in the classroom itself is NOT a willingness to come up with new and innovative ways to "deal with masking and gloves" but to keep pounding them with "if you do not mask and glove YOU WILL CERTAINLY DIE...

It kind of changes the students perspective about what is important.

I really do thing that the pandemic and lockdowns have broken the willing suspension of disbelief in the classical model of education in the U.S.

and what will replace it?

dunno... I really...dunno...

With the advent of the Internet, textbooks simply cannot keep up.

and one can see it easily at the college level when listening to students visiting about their digital books. EVEN THEY... have figured something out...

that the most important thing to the textbook company is not to "provide information" they ALL do that...but that the students AND teachers are TIED almost physically to a particular format that is almost perniciously "grabbing people to their chest'...

i just very simply cannot describe the incredible complexity of the "usability" of our provided biology texts.

The theory of the textbook companies is that if we can make it incredibly easy for a teacher to just click "make a test for chapters 1 thruough 5 then we can get whole departments to purchase the text and never mind how bad it is for the students...

REALLY...

Reason to build my own libraries, both digital and hardcopy, for future generations.

I have well into 720 feet of library shelving in my 1100 square foot apartment...but... sadly, my kinds only want the books they read as children and the textbooks... nobody wants them I do have a few science books from back in the 1800s and a few influential plant ecology books from the 1930's but... who wants them when they can be contaminated by a library borrower sneezing on a page... yeah data shows that after a month or so on paper the virii are "deactivated" but...who cares...

For technology, how many of us have copies of manuals for our older/newer software/hardware systems?

lol... I still have a self made live cd from my absolute favourite CrunchBang ( #! ) install ... sigh... lol.. and I also have my very first custom assembled computer an Xinfinity, the silver one. and a few "down and dirty" builds ... in fact my landlord said that I was a hoarder a few years ago but then also commented that it was all very organized and has not said anything since... sigh... too old...



I wonder if those generations younger than I are asking the same questions that I have posed, above?

Methinks that there really never were very many "young people" who really asked "questions" ... in my generation we were never really used as political pawns by politicians and so we generally went to the "ice cream place" and listened to radio and records and made out in the back seat of a car...

nowadays they are inundated by so much stuff that still... I do not think that they think about great questions very much...

But, I try... I have a bunch of links to .pdfs of great scientific and philosiphical literature in my Canvas (tm) site but do not have a way to determine how many people have accessed them.

I try to put up a "great painting" on at least every other one of of my presentations, and I play some great music and also popular music before class starts and also play a famous speech or famous poem while I am taking role and have at least one "constructed response" question on my first two exams that asks them to "think about" the meaning of a certain sentence from a philosopher or scientist and I always give the full credit but also make a comment or two that encourages them to ...just...maybe... take a "whack" at something uplifting... or enlightening...

you pose a very good question.

Are they even taught how to ask these questions?


After teaching all of the sciences at secondary for my whole life I have been at a major university in physics and now a biotech college and I can actually tell you my observations.

a) All of the "subject matter" teachers say, categorically "it is not my job to do that it is my job to teach my field".
b) What is substitued for teaching "thinking" is throw away questions about "what do you feel about this" ... and the teachers know that anybody can "feel" anything and it cannot be counted wrong so they get an A on that assignment or test which pulls the grade average up and the teacher gets a better review.
c) There are a lot of "forms" on the college websites about how the college teaches "critical thinking" and all that foll de roll but ... literally... on a multiple choice question format exam...

asking a student "which of these four items does NOT fit in the group" is considered a "critical thinking skill.

asking a student "which of these cell organelles holds DNA " is considered a "lower order thinking skill".

I have very seldom seen a NEW YOUNGER instructor who actually wants to "grade essays" because i ) it is work, ii) the teacher might insult the studnet iii) administrators do not like them because they are not quantifiable statistically to prove to an "inspection person from the state" that the teachers are actually "teaching"

It is all a self-fullfilling syndrome... sad...



Do they even care?

I think that they do but they also know that if they "raise their head" it can get beaten down.

The most important thing is to "get a grade average that is good enough to get a job while doing minimal work".

MOST STUDENTS are NOT my students... they are in a "liberal arts" situation which, as we all know, can mean anything...

They are stuck in a situation over which they have no control...

I am lucky though, and so are my particular students and ...

I think that FOR THE STUDENTS... that "word is getting around"... we have an incredible array of students from across the country and of many ethnic groups.

I had one woman who was literally "guided here" by the U.N. as she and her family literally bussed, walked, rode in trains, from Afghanistan to Paris... where her mother promptly divorced her husband by saying "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you" three times ...women can do that in a non-Muslim country and then the daughter was ...

" encouraged to go" to Austin TX and then to our dear little campus and for some reason into all of my classes, I think mainly because I am perceived as not being prejudiced in any way...she is now in New York finishing a degree in "politics" if you can figure that out all at the expense of the U.N. ...woah! to "work with empowering young women"...

at a high tech biology campus! ?

Why"? I think because of the "rigor" of our intro classes. She took two years and then transferred.

That is why I was invited to teach at the college whereat I am now allowed to act like I am teaching and actually get a paycheck.

I'm not bragging here I am addressing your question in a round about way...

The students are mostly in a "professional" "certification" program of some kind and so even the introductory classes wherein I teach are very FOCUSED on actually getting the students to learn some real, useable, information.

But, I am almost a loner in that I teach professional grade information in a format that is "introductory for the uninitiated" as opposed to "going through the book".

And WHY am I able to do that?

In part because I am a real believer in several things.

a) Marshal McLuhan... the medium is the massage... when I finally figured that out, back in the Navy in the listies / seventies I had an "a-hah" moment about how to teach.
b) before that i had read a very thin tome by R. Buckminster Fuller called "Education Automation" in which he did NOT advocate the present obsession by educationists on TECHNOLOGY ( computers to them) but on how to ... "arrange / package" information in a way that is "cross ----- platform" as it were...
c) the Navy figured out a secret that was even acknowldedge by the Massachusets Institute of Technology"... I know because I heard the professor say the words...

" The Navy figured out, somehow, a long time ago, that for a sailor to actually learn something, the information the student must INTERACT in FOUR DIFFERENT WAYS... with the information'.

Sadly educationists have never heard what the man said..;.

and instead shout..."hands on"... which is "read the book, either on paper or digitally" and do "manipulatives"... which...

and I cannot believe that i am actually typing this...

We had a required powerpoint session where a teacher was advocating that "students swiping their fingers" on a tablet to slide "squares with numbers" on them to add or subtract or whatever and the program displayed another square with the answer...

is a "manipulative"... in our brave new world of everything TECHNOLOGY( computer )... sigh...

So...yes... I think that they do "care" but they are not "allowed" to care and probably have not been allowed to care for may decades...the whole hippie protest thing of the sixties not withstanding.

I just hope that the college is allowed to survive this next few years because the government mandates have been pouring in like out of a water hose for the last few weeks..

I will not start a fight in these hallowed halls by mentioning just what "kind" of "government mandated program" "dean" was hired this week. But this is such a bogus hire that it is laughable.

But it will look very good on paper and on the Twit and on the Linkedyinn thingy.,...and on the quarterly report to the community...and we will have to take at least several hours out of our week each and every week to fill out the mandated reporting on how we are providing "equity" in each and everything that we do...

The first thing issued by the new dean is that we will all ... this is the truth... sign all of our official messages by including our preferred "gender pronouns"...

like mine will be "he, him, himself" an other such which will soon be suggested by the dean...

I was considering including "racontour" and "loosejawer" but decided it was not in my best interest in terms of being re-employed next semester.

but, really, my official mesages must now include "he, him, himself".

And the students SEE this...so when they see that...just what do they think that the government think is important?

sigh

Again, you raise some excellent points!
and I apologize for my huge response

woodsmoke

[TWPonKubuntu]

Me? Young? I wish...

I'm not the author of your entire quote above, but I agree with much of it.-

[jglen490]

Reddit, Kubuntu, Twitter, Facebook. And the list goes on. Each is only as good as the content being served up by individuals. And "good" in the context, IS purely in the eye of the beholder.

[TWPonKubuntu]

That's why I appreciate having "The Water Cooler" forum.