I’m watching the PBS Thomas Jefferson bio-documentary on netflix watchnow (click here if you have netflix). I’d just like to point out one part of the film that I sincerely enjoy. The historians keep referring to how Jefferson was not obssessed with liberty per se. He was obssessed with founding a country that allowed people to prosper. I love it. A democratic republic was just the means. The trend now is for politicians to praise democracy constantly. Democracy is not inherently wonderful.  Mob rule is not awesome. Get it?

Tags:   democracy republic history DVDNo Comments.

Problems with public systems.

Over at Ars Technica, they report that some “Parents are up arms over Australian student database.” Over 1,200 public schools are being forced to participate (whether the parents like it or not) in a new program called OneSchool.  The database would house “photos [of students], career aspirations, off-campus activities, contact information, behavior records, attendance, and performance records.”

I’m going to ignore for a moment the idea that this data eventually will be hacked or used in an unintended manner. To me, this is another example of why publicly run systems don’t work. If you were a parent at a private school, would you want the teachers and principle to be able to track behavior, performance, career activities and a photo of who the child was? Of course, how can you assure progress without feedback and checks and encouragement?

However, say something went wrong. You disagreed with how the school categorized your child’s behavior. Maybe they were more of a loner and you, as a parent, thought that was okay, but the school thought your child needed to be more sociable. Well, in this scenario, you’re lucky. Your child goes to a private school. You drop the child from that school and put them in a different school.

Change the scenario. The school is state-run. Of course, government has the monopoly on force. You have no choice. It is necessary to meet to these disagreeable standards or else. Government standards for performance (defined by what?), attendance (defined by what?) and behavior (defined by what?) are mandated. Its not an individual’s decision to teach their kids in the best way they see fit. Its based on what the government thinks and at the very least, that probably means popular opinion. if 99% of people want want 1% of kids to be taught a certain way. Then that’s the last laugh.

Tags:   public schools governmentNo Comments.

” Universal and Gore Verbinski are going into “Bioshock.”

Studio has signed a deal to turn last year’s hit videogame, which won numerous awards and sold more than 2 million units worldwide, into a film.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” helmer is attached to direct and produce. “Aviator” scribe John Logan is in talks to pen the screenplay.”
http://www.variety.com/VR1117985365.html

Tags:   objectivism · technology · video gamesNo Comments.

In honor of earth day, I link you to an article discussing all the proposed new nuclear power plants in the US.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/583502.html

As humans, ours limits follow the path that our minds create. Nuclear power is just another way in which we must exploit the earth as we survive.

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In the University Daily Kansan, I was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday to find a letter to the editor that I actually enjoyed.  This is such a rare thing that I had to share even though it’s topic is old and well covered.

Here are a few excerpts:

“Hamas is not dedicated to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state that lives in peace alongside the State of Israel; rather, its charter calls for the destruction and elimination of Israel.”

“Israel is a democracy that represents the myriad views of its citizens. Some are liberal, cosmopolitan and secular. Others are conservative and religious. Some are nationalistic and some Zionistic. Some are Arab. But all have a voice within the Knesset.”

“It is precisely this imbalance that Anderson fails to report. He claims that Israel treats every Palestinian as a terrorist, yet he treats every Israeli as a monster complicit in the supposed extermination of the Palestinians.”

“The cessation of funds from America to one of its staunchest allies is not going to solve the plight of the Palestinians.”

Your Electric Vehicle Is Too Quiet; Congress May Force It To Be Louder

In another paternalistic move, congress is discussing the forcing of a safety feature to electric cars: noise.  The idea is that now pedestrians are used to hearing the noise of a car coming and if a car was silent, like an electric car essentially is, then there would be more pedestrians accidents. While the logic is pretty reasonable, it isn’t definite. They haven’t established that its congress’ job to force this feature (they just assume they can and people let them). If electric/when electric cars start to be the norm, I think people might be smart enough to start relying on their eyes more than their ears. We don’t need congress protecting ourselves from learning to use our eyes a little bit more than our ears.

Tags:   politics middle-east technologyNo Comments.