@mgittle (and also indirectly @chilaxe)

I said the scientific method works--in the long term--for coming close to the objective truth about something. In the here and now, though, those doctors used reason and observation to draw a conclusion. And they came to the wrong conclusion. My point being that science sometimes comes to the wrong conclusions--which you agree with, according to your post.

Science is a tool for understanding the world around us. If it leads us to the wrong conclusions, then indeed it has failed. We may as well have cast stones, read the winds, or gazed into a crystal ball for the answers. But in the long term, such failures will be corrected. That's science's strength over superstition. Which is why I stand by the statement that science usually works--or rather it works in the long haul. And it certainly works much better than superstition for understanding the physical world.

@braindonut

Actually, if the climate change debate is any indication, I think technology is leading to data overload that actually makes it harder to form a consensus, rather than easier. I agree with you though that any time religion tries to make pronouncements about the physical world it will be smacked down by science.

Here's the thing--after you watch that video, pay particular attention to the pathos being elicited, as we watch the hopes and dreams of thousands of children riding on a particular bingo ball being selected. So much emotion, designed to make the viewer ANGRY that it's come to this. But research (reported in Freakonomics and other places) has shown that every child in that auditorium is just as likely to succeed in their respective educational career, whether or not their number is called.

Say what? The authors speculate that, like so much in life, who you are is far more important than what you do. They found positive correlations between the number of books in a home and a child's long term educational success, so Blagojevich, governor at the time, ordered books for every home with children under age six. This is exactly the sort of faulty interpretation of research findings that cause so much consternation in educational reform efforts. It wasn't merely the number of books a child could read--it was the total number of books present in the household. The authors mused that such a collection transmitted a clear set of values to the child. Parents who treasured reading had children who treasured reading, and these children did rather well in testing situations. Similarly, merely the desire to improve one's current state through applying for new educational opportunities seems to be the factor in whether or not a child succeeds. I worked at a magnet high school in Chicago, and I have to be clear--the desire must come from both the parents AND the child. Parents who enrolled in the lottery to place their child in a 'safe' school against that child's wishes were sorely disappointed with the result, which usually included 27 other children (and their parents) annoyed at the disruptive element in their midst.

There are a number of reports from the Consortium of Chicago School Research (based out of the University of Chicago) which finds, quite astonishingly, that the best indicator of a student's long term success is NOT a standardized test score (which in CPS is the Prairie State, which is the ACT plus three other tests) but rather GPA. Think about that for a moment. Here you have BAD teachers in FAILING schools. I mean, that's what the movie's talking about, right? The research shows, though, that these 'bad' teachers are actually fairly good at gauging where the student is at. They're not necessarily dumbing down the material, or handing out C's for having a pulse. You would think that if they were so terrible, they'd avoid the stress of report card pick-up by passing everyone, but they don't. They do the right thing. They pass the ones who are passing, and fail the ones who are failing, and somehow this aggregate does a better job of predicting how well that student will do in life than the standardized test. That one conclusion should be studied at every school in the nation, but it seems to be ignored. Why?

Remember that joke about the guy who finds his best friend frantically looking for his wallet in the street late one night, and helps him out, but after an hour, asks, "Are you sure you lost it here?" The friend replies, "Oh, no. I lost it in the alley over there. The light's better here." That, right there, is most of what's wrong with the current fetishization of accountability in education. In order to hold schools accountable, they've chosen something that's easy to count. However, is what it's counting IMPORTANT? Accountability that doesn't count the right thing shouldn't count at all. The alternative is hard, sticky, prone to errors with few moments of identifiable triumph. In short, it makes the bureaucrats work, and Ghod help us all if they have to do THAT.

A quick statement to establish my bona fides. I was selected to participate in Teachers for Chicago, the spiritual predecessor of Teach for America. I was part of the first group of library media specialists put through the program. We were a different breed of teacher, sent to confront a new breed of student. I have worked 14 years in CPS, six in the elementary school setting, eight in high school. I have watched the rise of charter schools, and know why they're so effective--the Freakonomics folks called it. They do better because they WANT to do better, and that desire manifests with the choice to forego the neighborhood school for the charter school. But the students who wanted into the Charter school and did not are still doing well--they're just drowning in a sea of knuckle-heads, and their successes are being diluted when it comes time to rank schools in how well they prepare their students.

I've written quite a bit, because I have a lot to say. I'll see this movie when it comes out (because I'm that kind of librarian), but I'm almost certain that they'll ignore most of the new evidence that's come out indicating that charter schools don't live up to the hype (read The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education by Diane Ravitch for a comprehensive view of this) and that the problems confronting us seem almost insurmountable. They certainly defy easy metrics that would allow standardized testing to be used to establish accountability. The problem, to me, is plain. When A Nation At Risk came out in the 1980s, the US education system entered triage mode. We've never left it. We've pandered to corporate interests, as they sell us 'proven' tests (the creators of those tests have gone on record as saying that it's useless to test the sort of thing that politicians want tested) and curriculum delivery systems that simply do not work. As anyone will tell you, the entire hospital cannot be run like the ER, and yet we do just that. There is a solution, but it is all but unthinkable in the current climate. I've discussed this with other teachers, and they've rebelled against the notion, even though they later admit that perhaps it's the only way.

One last comment. I am currently working at one of the selective enrollment schools featured in the Freakonomics study. Students merely have to apply, and there's a lottery. There are, as a result, a wide variance of student ability levels, but not 100% bell curved--the very top can score well enough to get into Northside College Prep or Walter Payton College Prep. I arrived at the end of March, when the Prairie State push was in overdrive. Metrics were everywhere, and the pie-in-the-sky target of 18 was pretty much unattainable, if the various practice tests were to be believed. When the school's score came back 19, though, there was the usual jubilant celebration, but undermining this was 'the fear'. One administrator said when asked by a teacher what was done differently this year, he replied, "I don't know." They'd tried a lot of things, and clearly one was the winner, but which? Why is this navel gazing important? Why do I call it "the fear"? Because schools all over the area will be sent to this school, to learn from them. They're a success, after all. They did much better than predicted. Will these schools settle for, "We don't know?" I doubt it.

Look at myself in the mirror while masturbating? Heavens no! I have a visage no human should have to gaze upon while climaxing, not even me!

Oy Vey. These people are totally meshuggah. I've felt their crazy gaze before, me being a 'self-hating jew' and all that jazz. Solidarity Max. They're so far beyond reason . . . it's shameful and utterly bizarre.

Oh, why did they spoil that shot by focusing on the parachute when I could have gazed at the wonderful shot of someone's FOOT!

*Promote

Through the naked reality
Past the full-fleshed futility
Below the belly of the beast
Above the angels on high

Yet I still wonder
As I gaze upon the miracle

Why?

Repressed conservative foreplay.

This is what happens to you, kids, when you don't smoke marijuana.

Gaze at it in horror.

I'm really digging their "here's the video of the instruments being played" thing, especially the ones showing "yes, this is a chorus of many Natalies." The superimposed parts in this video worked well for the violin and cello, too.
>> ^mxxcon:
i didn't like this song. their other ones were better.
I wasn't really into this one either until after the first minute or so, but I felt like it really found its form as it picked up. When it started I was thinking, "this doesn't sound very good," and not because of the "retro" filters - something about the singer's normally-charming rasp, I guess.>> ^brain:
There's something about watching the singer's face as she stares off and sings beautifully.
There's also something about watching her stare through you.
If they want people to send goats, they should just loop a video of her staring at the camera with that piercing gaze and overlay a flashing "SEND A GOAT".

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

>> ^dag:
When you know someone is wrong- it never works to point out where the other party is broken. (did I mention I've been married for a while). All you can do is listen, respond and try to plant the seeds of ideas that people might take up as their own.
Of course the other side is, that this openness allows them to plant seeds in you. So far though- I am not willing to reject evolution and accept J.C. as my personal saviour.>> ^ReverendTed:
It frustrates me to no end that the "Us vs Them" mentality is at once an incredibly destructive mindset that breeds needless strife and animosity, while at the same time being an incredibly effective means of getting shit done.
Everyone is a person. Generalizations are effective ways of dealing with policy, dealing with groups, setting things up that work "on average", but every person is an individual. I try to give the individual the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes it comes back to bite me, but more often it fosters productive and meaningful relationships.
I say this because I see it on both sides of this discussion.

As down the glen one Easter morn to a city fair rode I
There Armed lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by
No pipe did hum, no battle drum did sound its loud tattoo
But the Angelus Bell o'er the Liffey's swell rang out through the foggy dew

Right proudly high over Dublin Town they hung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sud-El-Bar
And from the plains of Royal Meath strong men came hurrying through
While Britannia's Huns, with their long range guns sailed in through the foggy dew

'Twas England bade our wild geese go, that "small nations might be free";
Their lonely graves are by Suvla's waves or the fringe of the great North Sea.
Oh, had they died by Pearse's side or fought with Cathal Brugha*
Their graves we'd keep where the Fenians sleep, 'neath the shroud of the foggy dew.

Oh the night fell black, and the rifles' crack made perfidious Albion reel
In the leaden rain, seven tongues of flame did shine o'er the lines of steel
By each shining blade a prayer was said, that to Ireland her sons be true
But when morning broke, still the war flag shook out its folds in the foggy dew

Oh the bravest fell, and the Requiem bell rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide in the spring time of the year
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men, but few,
Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew

As back through the glen I rode again and my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall see more
But to and fro in my dreams I go and I kneel and pray for you,
For slavery fled, O glorious dead, when you fell in the foggy dew.

IT'S DECORATIVE
GOURD SEASON, MOTHERFUCKERS.
BY COLIN NISSAN

- - - -

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to get my hands on some fucking gourds and arrange them in a horn-shaped basket on my dining room table. That shit is going to look so seasonal. I'm about to head up to the attic right now to find that wicker fucker, dust it off, and jam it with an insanely ornate assortment of shellacked vegetables. When my guests come over it's gonna be like, BLAMMO! Check out my shellacked decorative vegetables, assholes. Guess what season it is—fucking fall. There's a nip in the air and my house is full of mutant fucking squash.

I may even throw some multi-colored leaves into the mix, all haphazard like a crisp October breeze just blew through and fucked that shit up. Then I'm going to get to work on making a beautiful fucking gourd necklace for myself. People are going to be like, "Aren't those gourds straining your neck?" And I'm just going to thread another gourd onto my necklace without breaking their gaze and quietly reply, "It's fall, fuckfaces. You're either ready to reap this freaky-assed harvest or you're not."

Carving orange pumpkins sounds like a pretty fitting way to ring in the season. You know what else does? Performing an all-gourd reenactment of an episode of Diff'rent Strokes—specifically the one when Arnold and Dudley experience a disturbing brush with sexual molestation. Well, this shit just got real, didn't it? Felonies and gourds have one very important commonality: they're both extremely fucking real. Sorry if that's upsetting, but I'm not doing you any favors by shielding you from this anymore.

The next thing I'm going to do is carve one of the longer gourds into a perfect replica of the Mayflower as a shout-out to our Pilgrim forefathers. Then I'm going to do lines of blow off its hull with a hooker. Why? Because it's not summer, it's not winter, and it's not spring. Grab a calendar and pull your fucking heads out of your asses; it's fall, fuckers.

Have you ever been in an Italian deli with salamis hanging from their ceiling? Well then you're going to fucking love my house. Just look where you're walking or you'll get KO'd by the gauntlet of misshapen, zucchini-descendant bastards swinging from above. And when you do, you're going to hear a very loud, very stereotypical Italian laugh coming from me. Consider yourself warned.

For now, all I plan to do is to throw on a flannel shirt, some tattered overalls, and a floppy fucking hat and stand in the middle of a cornfield for a few days. The first crow that tries to land on me is going to get his avian ass bitch-slapped all the way back to summer.

Welcome to autumn, fuckheads!

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2009/10/20nissan.html

Looks like she was 'conditioned' by the same people in A Clockwork Orange. A side effect is that permanent bat shit eye-gaze caused by forcing one's eyes open after watching 5000 hours or republican/religious propaganda laced with repeated showings of doomsday/dogma films.

I'd label her a "True God Fearing" American. Just the type we want to have with the keys to an arsenal that could very well bring about a doomsday scenario. How does the saying go? Seek and ye shall find? What it effectively means is... if you want an end of days badly enough, subconsciously you will strive to bring it about.

The fanatically religious aren't known for self preservation. On the contrary. The larger the blaze of glory they go out in, the higher their rank will be in the so-called afterlife. What a joke.

Thank you guys. I feel so pretty with my new diamond. This goes to show you that with tenacity, you too can get a diamond in 2 years and 8 months, only at the cost of life, love and liberty. And who needs that anyway...

I do my best to be a good guy around the sift, I've only ever been friendly to the vast majority of people here and I wish people would do the same all around. I've taken some flak for having black humor, but to that I say fuck that, humor is humor - if one person gets my joke, it's a success. This community has been a boon to me, I enjoy being here and I hope this ride never stops.

I don't make a huge distinction between "real life" and this community, which is why I've got many of you of facebook and like to consider most of you as friends - I'm pleased that some of you do the same back. This means that the way I act here is not far from how I actually am, many people take on a persona, and sure, to a degree I do that too, but I stand by everything I've ever said on this site and I think that's the only right way to do it.

It can be hard to get a reading of people based on comments, because we only get slivers of personality shown through that - this is partly why I spend a lot of time in the sift lounge. In there you get a much fuller picture of people, which I think is invaluable in a good community. So come on in and have a chat.. must I really put a red light on the door, before you lurkers will tip-toe in?

Throbbin, thanks! I agree in your assessment.

blankfist, I'm a heavy drinker, but when I do drink, it's usually heavy. And who don't like the boobies!

dystopianfuturetoday, I'm only a maniac by night. I blame my bat-suit and cloak.

kronosposeidon, swedes have nothing on danish vikings. We used to own them. Still, death by Samson is something I try to avoid.. but the diamond was so shiny and nice, I had to do it!

EndAll, aw shucks, you're not so bad yourself, mate.

campionidelmundo, but.. it's SO shiny! *gaze* Thanks for making the sift all pomp and pretty so I can stand being here for so long at a time.

dotdude, thanks for many good talks in the lounge. I think the two of us are the most avid users of that thing.. we need to find some sort of sifter-bait, so we can get more people in there.

UsesProzac: Well, why don't your reach on in there and figure out...


berticus, if I ever get over 9000 star points the sift will explode all over the place in peoples hair and stuff.. Thanks man, I hope to see you in the lounge more often, even though you've gotten so busy with school.

MikesHL13, indeed, see you in the lounge. Thank you for always being in there and being such a great friendly presence on the sift.

Ornthoron, I think I will. Delicious Belgian beer is delicious.

Sagemind, that clip made me laugh hard, so I couldn't help but sift it: http://www.videosift.com/video/It-s-a-ME-car-The-G-Wiz-on-Top-Gear

drax, are you coming on to me?


Wall-of-Text crits you for over 9000. OVER 9000!!

Launch takes place at 2:00 after a bunch of navel-gazing.

Oh. My. God. They're adapting. Slowly, over the course of who knows how long, house cats have been building an immunity to water. They're breaking the bonds of oppression, and this is their first act of civil disobedience.

Look into the kitty's eyes at 2:01, and try to quell the grip of horror that takes hold of you. It is a gaze that says, "Look! Though it pains me deeply, I will no longer run from this water; from showers, spray bottles, or hoses! What shall I do next? Learn to work the can opener? Pass casually in front of mirrors without concern for who that other cat is? Or shall I stand firmly in place as you approach with the vacuum cleaner, as a lone man before tanks in Tiananmen Square? Our day shall come. It is almost upon us. We shall rise, your kind shall fall, and you will all know the name of Mr. Cuddlesworth!"