Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:01:07 +0100 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: clicky driver Message-ID: <20091226130107.a9819212.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20091225235048.GB66009@thought.org> References: <20091225204746.GA60638@thought.org> <20091225220131.96fa1f9d.freebsd@edvax.de> <20091225213713.GA66009@thought.org> <20091225225343.a97f8b43.freebsd@edvax.de> <20091225235048.GB66009@thought.org>
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//* OFFLIST On Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:50:48 -0800, Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> wrote: > On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 10:53:43PM +0100, Polytropon wrote: > > On Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:37:13 -0800, Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> wrote: > > > There are a few who actually *do* have text-only pages. > > > > And fewer do have alt= and longdesc= for included images. > > Being suitable for blind users doesn't mean to completely > > look boring to viewing users. Careful HTML coding is the key. > > But sadly, it's not considered "modern"... :-( > > Right on the money there! I suppose it's easier to slap up some > pix. maybe I do things with fewer photos because I hand-code html. > In any case, I'm very conscious of my markup; I always check it via > lynx . I work the same way, but I even apply the step of validating the HTML code through W3C validator. I would appreciate an urge to web developers to code valid HTML. And web browsers should implement it. Then all the scary non-HTML pages could not be viewable anymore, the browser shows nothing, or gives an error message: "The page you're intending to view does not contain valid HTML and cannot be displayed. Contact the author to request a valid version of the document." :-) > > > Education is the only solution, even tho it will take generations. > > > That's why I think the XO is a win++ > > > > It can help, if properly used. Wrong use can lead into the > > opposite. I can only tell you from Germany where school and > > education are epically failing since 1990, even though they > > employ "modern means of education"... a joke from an educational > > (scientifical) point of view. > > Are there regional differences, still? East/west? whatever? Of course. First off all, basic education in the eastern part (GDR) is still a bit better due to better teachers who are still on duty. In the western part (FRG), education is worse, basically. Then, there are differences between the federal countries. There's no common educational concept. Schools are organized differently (different layers, different names, different degrees), "horizontally" and "vertically". Degrees are not comparable inside Germany, so for example when you leave Gymnasium (high school) in Hamburg, you can join a university in Hamburg, but you cannot join a university in Munich because it doesn't recognize your degree from Hamburg. There are no common teaching plans. If you move from Leipzig to Hannover, you're doomed. The GDR didn't have those problems. Teaching plans were the same in every school. Same plans, same books, same "speed". Results were comparable. Sweden has adopted the unified GDR educational system, with success. In the FRG, education selects the future of the children by the income of their parents. If you have rich parents, you can affort to go to Gymnasium (high school, 13 years) and go to university later on. If your parents are poor, e. g. unemployed, you have to go to Hauptschule (main school, 8 years), and maybe Realschule (real school, 10 years), but you cannot go to university with such a degree. You will even have major problems finding a professional education in order to get a job. The levels of "how good" schools are considered in society have lowered through the years. In approx. 1995, Gymnasium was "over-qualified", Realschule was "ideal for a very good job" and Hauptschule was "good for a normal job". 10 years later, in approx. 2005, everything was shifted <<, with Hauptschule now "just for a helper job", e. g. carrying sand bags on a building site. Today, this is what Real- schule was, again shifted <<, and Hauptschule is the direct way to unemployment after school. > And how does GErmany stack up compared to the rest of the EU? Quite bad. The reason is simple: Basal knowledge isn't taught in schools anymore. After 8 or 10 years, there are still massive deficites in reading and basic calculating. Other copuntries in the EU are already recognizing the development and are investigating about how to improve the educational system. The FRG, of course, can't do that. Today's educational system is the same as of Kaiser's and Hitler's time. So it CANNOT BE CHANGED. Period. A good comparison is Japan or China. The first stages of education are quite "frontal". Basic things are repeated until you can rely on them. Later on, there's no repeatition anymore. And why? Because it isn't needed. Pupils and teachers can rely on their presence. The GDR had the concept of the Kindergarten, which prepared children for school, equipping them with basic knowledge and some handcrafting skills. > And the States. I always considered the States to have not a very good educational system (this is due to how Americans are precepted here, especially on TV), but it has one advantage which I consider very modern: It gives you the right NOT to send your kids to a public school (where they have to wear weapons and are slapped into the face by classmates if they don't hand over their money or mobile phone), but you can actually teach them at home. This is strictly forbidden in Germany. The state has a monopoly on education. And it uses it, just the same way Marx described it 100 years ago: Education is an investition just as high as the final result justifies. For example, if you just want dull workers, why teach them physics, chemistry, history? Just the basics, some writing (not as good as they could express their thoughts in a written way), some reading (so they are able to read the newspaper that tells them they are fine), and some calculating (so they don't recognize they work for a joke). Allthouh the USA are a quite young country with "few" history, this history is well known. And it should, so children can learn from the past and not have to repeat it. Germany has failed here, too. The past isn't well known, so ideas like "we need a new Fuhrer" can grow, or that the "final solution" didn't happen at all. Even the relatively young history about the GDR is completely lost or altered to display it as a "communist dictature", which it wasn't. But as always: The winner rewrites the history of the loser. > Public school or university? Here it seems that > lots of our grade schools are losing; grades 6-9 same. 9-12, > same. That's very sad. One of the results is that grown-up men with responsibility talk like children, think like children (and not the positive way), act like children. Especially dangerous in war situations. "Barrack Obama? This sounds like Osama! No, I won't want a terrorist in the White House!" Real quote. Famous jokes include "the world map of America". :-) But it's not better in Germany. Knowledge of federal countries and geography of Europe and the world is quite bad. > Hey, the West is already losing to South and East Asia. Because they got it right. It's a known fact that communist and socialist contries often use education for indoctrination with their "facts". I've had this in my schooltime in the GDR, too, but it was so unbelievable stupidly done that the exact opposite has been achieved: Children leared to "read between the lines" and to "continue thinking ahead". Such abilities aren't taught by school anymore. Moral, ethics, human rights and other goods of a modern society are lost, too. > I'm not > entirely sorry. I say: let them muck around with global problems; > see how they faire. Blah * 3. I'm often poking fun about those "modern young long-legged dynamical group-oriented program managers" who pretend to run a business, but can't read or write properly. They are frightened of global warming, but driving a fat BMW. :-) > PS: any idea how I can get/fetch the kdbio modules from of 2.2 to of 3.1? I'd sayx via CVS, or from the ftp-archive where the sources are still present. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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