Current Chaos Manor mail (original) (raw)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Latin Immigrants and Education
Jerry,
I think that characterizing Latin Immigrants as uninterested in education does not jibe with the facts. My observation is that the immigrants, both legal and illegal, value education for their children at least as highly as the native born. True, they are not seeking an education for themselves, they are too busy making a living.
Bob Holmes
Some do, some don't, I suppose, but my gardener hardly speaks English; his son (10 I'd guess) reads very well, and I saw some kind of book in his back pocket when he was helping out here the other day, so what little I know seems confirming. On the other hand, the numbers I have seen don't look good.
This question needs more data rather than casual observations; I do know that both black and Latino cultures seem to have anti-intellectual elements that punish those who work at intellectual tasks too hard; this can be quite serious. The Washington Post had a series on this with one article about a secret graduation ceremony because kids would be beaten up for winning academic honors.
The economy is weird. I think an economy based on building each other's houses is about as stable as an economy based on taking in each other's washing, or banking each other's money...
As to immigration, I think we may be over-filling the Melting Pot and the madness for diversity makes that worse. It might be a good idea to step back and let the Melting Pot do some melting....
==
Education
"The intellectual class thinks it knows what is best for everyone; and parents are clearly not qualified to decide for their children. This attitude is spreading. After all, we're the smartest people around, aren't we? Why shouldn't we decide these things? So we do."
I saw on a blog somewhere within the last week, a comment attributed to a European diplomat which said (paraphrased) " Americans think they live in a class-less society, but they are wrong. The lower classes are Democrat, the middle classes are Republicans, the intellectual upper class are communist."
That would apply to the 'educational industry'...
Geoff
-- Please let me know if anything I say offends you. I may wish to offend you again in the future.
Tux says: "Be regular. Eat cron flakes."
==
Over The Top
This one was pointed out by someone on another list I read.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/
warner-todd-huston/2008/10/14/
obama-pushed-our-kids-lit-textbook
Would you believe Barack Obama's book touted as "literature" in an 8th grade textbook?
That town needs a new school board, right now. I don't know if that state has centralized textbook approval, like Texas has: if they do, they need a new State Board of Education, right now.
John
I have seen this elsewhere. This sort of thing is less usual now than when I grew up. In Tennessee in the 30's it was flat assumed that (1) the Republic would collapse without Roosevelt, and (2) no one in Shelby County voted Republican. I also learned Bonnie Blue Flag and Good Old Rebel in 6th grade at school...
===============
Glory Road on a Monday. . .
http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/
2008/10/what-to-do-on-holiday.html
"What to do on a holiday? I could mow the yard. Or there WAS this ad in the paper. . ."
It appears to be a little out of my way, and I'm not too happy with the pay on return clause.
Graves
==========
ACORN in Lake County, Indiana: All 2,100 of First 2,100 ACORN Registrations Fraudulent
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/275523.php
"Remember, ACORN got Indianapolis up to 105% registration."
Why would a Republic care about accurate voter registration? Oh wait, a Republic would...
M
Apparently Acorn registers anything that moves, and some that don't.
And we get to pay for it. Isn't ACORN in the fiscal recovery bill as an earmark?
==========
Monkey Business
Once upon a time, in a place overrun with monkeys, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.
The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them.
The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, they became harder to catch, so the villagers stopped their effort.
The man then announced that he would now pay $20 for each one.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.
But soon the supply diminished even further and they were ever harder to catch, so people started going back to their farms and forgot about monkey catching.
The man increased his price to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so sparse that it was an effort to even see a monkey, much less catch one.
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys for $50!
However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on his behalf.
While the man was away the assistant told the villagers, "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has bought. I will sell them to you at 35eachandwhenthemanreturnsfromthecity,youcansellthemtohimfor35 each and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for 35eachandwhenthemanreturnsfromthecity,youcansellthemtohimfor50 each."
The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys.
They never saw the man nor his assistant again, and once again there were monkeys everywhere.
Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works.
Tracy Walters
Which is why until recently stock brokerages didn't gamble with their own money.
At least things are settling in again. One does wonder who trusts whom...
Actually, the stock market operates with pretty good information, most of the time; and when things go bust there aren't many winners. Just lots of losers....
==========
Subject: Obama's Tax Increase
Hello, Dr Pournelle,
It is, as always, a pleasure to read your day book. I notice that one of your correspondents has claimed that Senator Obama will lift the Social Security cap. This was his original plan, but he backed off of it when it was pointed out that it violated his pledge not to raise taxes for those making under 250K.Hiscurrentplanistokeepthetaxthesameforthosemakingunder250K. His current plan is to keep the tax the same for those making under 250K.Hiscurrentplanistokeepthetaxthesameforthosemakingunder250K, and lift the cap for those making more. From his website:
"Obama does not support uncapping the full payroll tax of 12.4 percent rate. Instead, he and Joe Biden are considering plans that would ask those making over $250,000 to pay in the range of 2 to 4 percent more in total (combined employer and employee)."
This sort of "doughnut hole" approach -- everything up to the current cap, and above 250K,butnothinginbetween−−isalittlebizarre,butdoespreventataxincreaseonthosemakingunder250K, but nothing in between -- is a little bizarre, but does prevent a tax increase on those making under 250K,butnothinginbetween−−isalittlebizarre,butdoespreventataxincreaseonthosemakingunder250K. See more about his social security plan at:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/seniors/
There are a few other sources for this:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Economic/
Barack_Obama_Social_Security.htm
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/
local_news/stories/2008/02/25/obama.html
I'm glad to see you have recovered, and wish you many years of good health.
Jeremy Manson
I do not trust the Democrats once they have majorities in both houses and the White House. That's unfortunate, but the Party has changed a great deal since Kennedy. Johnson's Great Society was a fundamental change from which we have never recovered.
===========
Subj: New Nukes: Locations of projected new power reactors
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/
new-reactors/col/new-reactor-map.html
Rod Montgomery==monty@starfief.com
=============
From Alex Pournelle:
Evac lifted, I'm home, house ok
The quick bits: The Marek Fire chased us out about 6A yesterday, but about 9A today they lifted the order. Dana went to work this AM, I had to wrangle the dogs and cats into the ark/Saturn VUE and get them home. The closures in our nabe are gone; the majority of the official attention has shifted to the Sesnon Fire, though there is a rehab crew working on the denuded hillside E of the KB Homes E of us.
Unlike most refugees, we knew almost exactly what we would find (and that we could come back). Channel 7 was broadcasting not 100' W from our house yesterday, and so we knew that any damage would be minor. I know there's a fire line cut in our gully, and the cover is off the hydrant, without venturing outside. (You may not get this level of coverage.)
There is a homemade "thank you" sign at the E end of the block, counterpoint to the burnt out horse barn and rental unit opposite. My neighbors are slowly trickling in, and life will resume for us. There are 35 destroyed single-wides not 3/4 mile from here, people on the bottom rung who will have a hard time of it. One homeless man, and his dog, burnt to death.
The house smells a little like smoke, though the outdoor air is sparkling blue and smells not at all. Assuming no outrageous fortune, the Marek Fire will no longer be our constant concern.
BEFORE: 5:30AM came early, and there was smoke coming up the ridge E of us, clear in the full moon. Within minutes it was clear we were next. By 6 there was active fire E and N of us, it having jumped the lines and hopscotched around on our hills. Dana was packing, I pounded on doors where no lights showed yelling "GET PACKED!" and making sure people were up. ("What?" said one sleep-sullen resident. "That!" I said, and pointed at the .25 mile line of flame rolling downhill. He packed.) Ten minutes more, the smoke started swirling, five more a County cop drove by with the sirens to add an official prod to the urgency. Then, by bullhorn, we knew it was time.
People were bugging out S and that road (McClay) was jammed. Panic was in the wings by this point, with stupid driving on display. We got the 2 cars stuffed with pets, pet food, and a few clothes and left W bound.
The sky--I have seen all of the tv footage of midnight at Noon from smoke, but it's even eerier when the pre-dawn sky is blue on one side and black a degree away. The bleary-eyed refugees, now semi-calmly convoying out, the packed cars, USFS brush trucks looking (we knew from later tv) for where to make a stand, the plume growing, and still no coffee.
We knew the fire had overrun the 210/118 near our house (in the event, it had jumped the entire freeway, yikes), so we stayed on streets the whole way to my parents'. With the wind so steady in direction (if not speed) I knew just how wide the front was, suddenly emerging again to cheery blue sky a few miles on. From there, it was just watch and wait for the all-clear.
THE LESSON: be prepared. It's not just for Boy Scouts anymore. If you're anywhere on the lee side of a fire, if you can see it, get the cars out of the garage and pointed out. The worse that happens is you find out what supplies you lack. Get your neighbors up. They really can sleep through Terminator-level helo onslaughts and two Type 1 strike teams (that's 10 engines) rolling Code 3 a quarter-mile away. If told to, or before, run like a deer. It's not worth it to stay.
Oh, and assume people will panic. Assume you will be at risk from cars when crossing the smallest street. Assume YOU might panic, unless you've been shot at, taken the Bar, or done something similarly stressful. We were ok, I'm glad to say, but I didn't know how much panic/stress/worry I'd packed away til I got home. You sure you'll be calm? Give it a think.
THE OTHER LESSON: California has the best wildland/urban interface firefighters in the world. We have to. We built in places that should never have had houses. The newest homes, the ones with the mandatory greenbelt, did ok, though if there had been about double the exposure, twice as much active fire, we would be counting burned houses by the dozens. That hasn't happened yet. Instead, they are planning, executing on plans, adapting. They just moved the Sesnon Command Post cuz it's bad when you can't see between the buildings. Strike teams are racing to knock down one spot fire, then buggin' out for the next. All--and this is the big part--under central planning/command. The Incident Command System, invented here, now practiced nationwide.
HELO PILOTS ARE INSANE: yesterday, over the Sesnon (Porter Ranch) fire, I watched one LA Firehawk down on the deck, maybe 200' up. There was another one maybe another 300' up, 10' behind him. The lower one was almost fully in the smoke, dropped water, and kept going straight. The upper one must have been guiding. How do you calmly train for that?
There were a thousand such moments, most not aired. Be glad for these men and women, for they make civilization possible, make it harder to kill, make us all safer.
Time to make sure I have the right supplies for the next one. You, too.
Alex
For a PDF copy of A Step Farther Out:
