I had this happen to a blog / review site I use to run and it just sucked. Created a nice database with products and ratings and otherwise, and some jackass came through, copied them indiscriminately and changed my name.

The worst part was he picked a nickname pretty similar to mine, adopted it for several years in the industry and sold his site to a 'legitimate' company (who was just as sleazy but had industry cred).

Screw what Cory says about intellectual property being a fiction of our imagination -- you created it, it is yours. No one has the right to take something that you created and scrape away at it and keep only the portions they find valuable and then resell it (or even give it away) without your permission. I fully understand the reality of the situation...if I owned a candy store, I can expect people to be pocketing what I sold and walking out without paying (and I'd probably overlook a lot of it), but we don't tell folks that just because they are selling easily pocketable goods, well, it is an imaginary ownership because the world belongs to the popular culture anyways.

Having said that, I do support the idea of things like the GPL, CC, public domain and otherwise -- but it should be up to the author if these are their wishes or not. Doesn't sound like the authors here really wanted this to happen.

Anyhoo....

@404 --

Actually that is such a nothing statement as to almost not deserve answering.

Ok -- quite a few reputable persons that have studied the cases, as well as his followers (both renounced followers and those that still do and were around). He was never tried in a court of law, but we all know that is only for the sake of law much like OJ Simpson both did and did not kill his ex-wife as evidenced by California courts.

Better?

So that would cover every single leader of every single country?...What about every officer in every army?...Agaion your point is not pertinent to the law.

No, wars are considered legal. Officers telling their soldiers to kill can be a legal command. Both can also be illegal as well. Heads of state have been convicted of murder or worse for ordering persons to illegally kill. There are many US officers right now in prison for crimes in Iraq (though light punishment for taking lives).

Oh it's the reason why he is still in jail, he scares the shit out of people, but that is not actually illegal.

That is the real reason ANYONE is in jail...we don't put people in jail for rehabilitation here...the only reasons are punishment and because people are scared (and the punishment is only because it allows us the illusion of power over those that scare us).

On the one hand you say..."I'm not a fan of the death penalty"...And then go on to say that..."So no...he hasn't "fulfilled any reasonable tarrif for the crime" and never will."...So he shouldn't be killed by the state, but has been in prison for getting on for 40 years now but still that wouldn't satisfy you.

So which is it?

Ummm....I don't get what you mean? Just because I don't want someone put to death because of my moral reasoning, I shouldn't want someone to be able to walk free beside me?

I don't believe he should EVER be free...but that doesn't mean I want a bullet between his eyes.

For the record, I do not believe we as humans have the right to take a life. I believe we should lock some people up forever, just the same. And I believe for our own humanity, we should treat those we lock up with the utmost respect and comfort with the exception of ever allowing them to be free again.

Interestingly Linda Kasabian did not participate in any of the murders either, she was however a co-conspirator, but was granted TOTAL immunity from prosecution if she turned states evidence.

So she walked on charges, that had they been brought,would have put her away for the same term as Manson.

She should have been. That doesn't mean that Manson's guilt or need to be punished is any less. Hers was a lessor crime than Manson's and less likely to be repeated outside of his influence. And the US system of laws SUPPOSEDLY lets some guilty off to protect the innocent from being imprisoned (again, in theory)...her testimony was necessary to imprison Manson. Who would I rather see imprisoned if I had to pick? Not a hard choice.

More or less, you really don't know what you are talking about. Sorry.

@5 --

Quite a few people believe he has killed, but the bodies were never recovered and thus harder to prove. All anecdotal so even harder...we might find evidence in the near future.

As for only being a conspirator? That is even worse than actually doing it...being able to convince others to kill for you is far far far worse than ever being able to kill someone...you can lock someone away and stop a murder from killing, there isn't a way to keep a charismatic leader from having his leader kill without actually putting him down. I'm not a fan of the death penalty, but it would be the only way to keep someone like him from hurting others. (Still not going to suggest it for someone like him regardless).

So no...he hasn't "fulfilled any reasonable tarrif for the crime" and never will.

I just wanted to respond as well...running a mailing list for nearly 20 years, as well as a social website for 12...it is damn near impossible to please everyone but yourself. Especially when you have more than a dozen people.

Me? I just 'uninvite' people that get on my nerves...my site was originally a 'by invitation only, but if you found it, well, we'll make an exception' site for pros. I realized out of a little over 50k of folks that have registered and posted, only 25k were still authorized to do so. Almost half were 'asked' to leave.

I'm much better at it now...and have different expectations of my readers...and it is entirely because folks like Teresa have shared their knowledge. Moderation is an art...not everyone has it. And yet, I can still disagree with some of the moderations here...I know on my last post, I poked light fun of one of the correspondents based on another's post and had *HALF* my post disemvowelled! Not the whole thing, just half...that is just damn funny. Probably took a lot more effort than just pressing the DSMVWLL button. I laughed at it because it is more effort than I'd put into it, even while disagreeing...but it ain't my site, so I also understand folks have different expectations.

---

Beyond this, I wonder -- should a community be moderated differently once there is a critical mass? Should there be a different sort of accepting for the sake of freedom of speech? This is a question I've been struggling with now that I realize my own site is the voice of a two specific groups of people and there really isn't another place for them to go. When we were smaller (purposely), it was a much easier question to ask and answer. Just curious...

m th nly n dsppntd by th lck f dscssn bt Xn??? C'mn, tht nm nd th hr -- t s strght p t f n f ths qn 70s flcks...nd 'v sn fw. mn, hv frnds tht hv sn fw. Yh. Nt m...

As for the rest of this thread, living in the midwest for most of my life, I know people are curious. And people who do not encounter others like Calpernia are going to be unintentionally rude.

I went through this jerky phase when I had a friend go through the process and looking back upon it, I was probably one of the biggest assholes around. I *STILL* don't understand a lot of it, never will, but that is alright...it isn't my life and my only duty to my friends is to accept them for who they are.

Bt lts gt bck t wht s mprtnt...th Xn cmmnts.

Ahhh...I miss the days of cheating my way into amusement parks.

In the Midwest we had Kings Island. It was as simple as taking any ID and showing it as you walked through the employee entrance. Later, they got high tech and required to see the official employee ID, and that just meant find a friend that worked there and hold your thumb over the pict nonchalantly as you walked through. Few of friends even got jobs there for a single day so that they could get their official card, and then quit.

With the way prices are going up for these places, I might have to go back to my teen ways. Luckily, Cory's tips might just work!

I'm just curious if the Do-Not-Call list counts towards SMS...I had it blocked on my previous phones because I didn't want to pay for it, but my iPhone doesn't have this option. And now I've taken to actually using it for a few friends...but I've also got spammie messages from companies that claim that they had a prior contact with someone with my number (yeah right...I've had the same number for 15 years).

I took Adderall for a while.

I gotta say, I got a LOT done on it. Was able to do twice as much as I could before.

I've had severe ADHD even before it was called this. in the 70s, I was just called hyperactive by my doctors. Couldn't sit straight for 10 minutes. Heck, I have a hard time driving more than a half hour because the dotted lines on the road start doing something to my head...I've driven off the road before. On the amps? I can drive for 7 hours straight.

But it is weird -- I've learned enough coping strategies that my life is now centered around being able to switch roles every 10 minutes. The only time I need these is if I'm driving or taking a class. If I had tried these earlier, I can't imagine how different my life would have been...

Anyhooo...what was I talking about...already bored.

I'm from a religion that is very similar to Quakers (enough that we share the same meeting halls and sometimes it is easier to tell someone I'm Quaker than to explain that they were an offshoot and at this point it is more or less just a different name for the same thing).

But yes -- the employee was right. We are not forced to swear to anything. In court, we are not even allow to swear on a bible. We can affirm that we will tell the truth, but not on God or the bible...and this has been upheld for a LONG time. I should know this, but I don't know if Nixon was sworn in as President on a Bible or not as he was a Quaker (we don't judge....errr...try not to :-)

Anyhoo...WTF is up with Loyalty Oaths? Are we turning into a nation of brownshirts? Can't it be that we are trusted to do a good job and meritoriously judged accordingly? I wouldn't sign an eff'n loyalty oath for ANY employer...I had one try to get me to sign a morality agreement and I told them if my morality affected my job, come see me and we can work out the arrangements of my departure then.

Eff'n idiots is what they are.

Good going Dan! I knew you were useful for something!

Newspapers seem to hurt themselves more than anything else.

Check out the action the Charlottesville Daily Progress has been doing to Joe Stirt over at the BookOfJoe:

http://www.bookofjoe.com/2008/01/media-general-1.html
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2008/02/the-charlottesv.html

And several more...trying to C&D a guy that is probably the only one that has ever brought in outside links to a po'dunk newspaper.

And they wonder why they are so last century...

At one point there was an audio converter that could rip Audible...if I still used a PC I'd remember what it was. *MUCH* easier than Hijack...something like AudioGold or something...

My big problem was that I couldn't get these dang things to convert to CD for the car...worked *PERFECTLY* on the iPod. Once I got a stereo that worked with my player, I never thought about this again. DRM is annoying, but I knew going in I was going to be tethered to a specific device...

I've talked with several of my friends from Apple over this, and not one has said anything negative about unlocking. They claim that legally, they have to 'visibly' demonstrate they are protecting the investments of the phone companies...all have iPhones and funny, the one I talk to the most I don't get my 'Mobile To Mobile' minutes because he is on another company.

Then again, one of these friends in the iPod division was also the one that told me the dead simple secret for removing the DRM from iTunes purchases and I've never once heard it used elsewhere (maybe those that knew the secret kept their mouth shut...like I'm gonna do...worked on iPods up to he 3rd gen...I kept my original around to do this until the iTunes+ came out and now I only buy DRM-Free stuff anyways).

So I don't think Apple is really hurting over this. More to the point, I think it barely registers anywhere except legal...

GREY --

The biggest problem is that the drug kills your body's natural reaction to things it should be reacting to. This includes things like 'opportunistic infections' -- you might get a cold you just can't shake -- all the way down to cancer. I believe the academic definition of cancer is a mutation that has replicated 4 or more times (I study the mind, not the body, so I'm probably wrong). Generally you have these mutations all the time, but the body does something about them after the first or second mutation...these sorts of drugs tell your immune system to ignore this to some extent and as such, you are about 10X more likely to get certain cancers because of it.

But it is definitely not the disease but the drug...at least from the literature I've read. Not that I can complain...I still keep my old wheelchair in my living room as another chair :-) Without the drug, I'm not walking and most likely sleeping 16 hours a day. I'll gladly take another chance at life and not worry what might happen, because I know what will happen otherwise.

Whoo Hoo!

I may die of cancer because of this fucking drug, but at least I'm going to stay aware the entire time!

Can't wait to see my doctor next time I have to go in for my yearly colonoscopy...I'm certain he is going let me know there might be a positive after all! Well...other than not having to be in a wheelchair :-)

Yeah Matthew,

Because any of us that are commenting clearly have never tried any other open source application, nor had experience where this is the standard operating procedure with the community where any complaint is thrown back a IF IT DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU, FIX IT YOURSELF.

Nope. Never. We all made these comments based on this one project and not after a decade of being let down (though the freetards would turn that around to us letting them down or some other abjuration of responsibility).

This is one of the reasons I've moved away from OS software except for the stuff I am willing to work on myself.

Why is it so hard for the F/OSS community to make something that is actually useful and do it right? I can't even imagine what would make this so complicated...except in the links provided by Silence it appears that this is like 99% of all projects in this community...no direction and when someone just isn't qualified to do their job, there are no actions to remove them. After all, it would be wrong to remove a volunteer (and in this case, a 'paid volunteer').

Honestly, I can't see the Exchange/Outlook benchmark is that high. It is the minimum I will accept for calendaring. I've tried Thunderbird with Lightning...and it is getting there, but until it can communicate with my Exchange server, I can't use it for general use because it leaves off the group aspect. It works well for INVITATIONS, but not for reading pre-existing cals.

The Gmail / GCal thing works pretty damn well for my side projects (not the university where 30k people use Exchange)...but I need the offline aspect hence thunderbird.

Honestly, the more folks consider apps like Chandler to be 'awesome' when it is anything but, the more the F/OSS side will suffer from the rightful perception that it just isn't good enough and F/OSS users just don't care. Makes it more and more clear that it is about the free religion instead of any actual need.

As others have said, it isn't designing for 'MP3' but more for the lifestyle associated with them. Loud mobile places that need the audio (not data) compression.]

That said, the vast majority of musicians I've worked with that weren't complete nerds have embraced MP3s years ago. I can safely say, having sat in on a few highly influential sessions of the last decade, the minute the tape starts rolling back what was played, you've already lost. I've had ear drums nearly burst standing on the side of a stage listening to bands and heard the thing played back as a live concert recording and was disappointed. Even recording 192khz 32bit with the best mics and the best engineers -- the sound pales next to what you hear live.

I sat in with a friend a few nights ago who has a speaker setup worth in the hundred of thousands of dollars (he himself is an up and coming designer in this industry and several pieces were still under construction waiting to replace the last set). Sure it sounded great, but for my money I'm going to rely on imagination because nothing is EVER going to reproduce what I've heard in person.

Beyond that, music isn't the audio that you hear, it is and has always been what is in your head. It isn't the ones and zeros, it is the song writing and the performance. A great performance can be captured on a portastudio and still be relevant 100 years ago. I have audio from old wire recordings that I've digitalized for posterity. A great song writer isn't what is on tape, it sounds good and is just as relevant on paper.

I could care less about MP3s or the loudness wars. Great music doesn't suffer from either. And shitty music will be just as shitty on this medium.

#12 -- that doesn't mean a damn thing. Not sure what you are trying to imply.

I'd assume there would be some meta-data along with the item denoted as the copyrighted master. As I said before, any COMPETENT programmer would expect this.

Lots of public domain works are out there. Lots of CC'd works. Hell, I got tripped up in a class that had a prof running our works through an online plagiarism filter (without the prof knowing I was on a committee that was studying these and it was clearly stated that professors / schools were not to use these until we had a better idea). Not only was my work entered into this system without my permission, it also tripped me up because it claimed that I had plagiarized from an 'online resource' -- the funny thing was, it was an article I had written, was not supposed to be online (I only assigned reprint / non-electronic rights because I had intended to public this myself on the web with a bit more interactivity and wanted to be able to deal with my own versioning control...not allowing someone to keep an outdated version available to others).

Anyhoo...it was a bit embarrassing until I got more information and several accusations. My work was near 100% identical and it wasn't copyright infringement. I had to call the company throwing the accusations (I had briefly met the president because of my committee work) and let him know I needed ALL of my works removed from the system and when he said "FAIR USE" I asked him if he wanted to test this in court...took my lawyer sending over a notice, but it got the message across.

So, no, to answer your question that I have a feeling was supposed to be some lame attempt at a gotcha, no a 100%, byte-for-byte copy is not always copyright infringement.

And again, this is why only an idiot would automate the system without any human intervention.

I think this is a bit overblown.

Unless the folks that programmed this system are complete idiots, there will be safe guards. Back when I was doing research in latent semantic analysis and other types of essay scoring, we were asked to do copyright searches as well.

Lots of companies, like Turn It In and otherwise that are there just for plagiarism -- not just copyright infringement, do it. *MUCH* harder to look for plagiarism because it isn't just looking for HUGE chunks of data, but tiny fragments and seeing if they are properly quoted.

I never dealt with the plagiarism aspect myself because of the complexities (I was focused on a number of other complexities in other areas), but simple copyright checks -- that was *VERY* simple. A competent programmer could set the bar pretty damn low and it would still block out 99.9% of the false positives. Someone that actually cared to do it right would make pretty damn sure that even this was too much (which was why we flagged these for human raters to check personally instead of dealing with anything else).

All in all, I don't think any system, human, computer, automated, verified and validated would be good enough for you Cory. Personally, I like the CC and GPL and love the idea, but damn...some people just don't want THEIR works placed into the public domain. This should be respected at all costs. You and the EFF want nothing more.

If an author is so much of a jackass they want to sue people who love their works, so be it...for those that care, the respect level of the author will be in the community and people will deal with them accordingly. I know I have several authors that are damn fine writers that I will never buy any of their works because of their personality and morality (heh! I know folks in my industries both academic and creative that feel the same about me...I'm just happy that folks know what is expected if they deal with me one way or the other).

So why is it so hard to respect creators rights? I understand someone not respecting your CC licensing is wrong -- but what about all the others that want their works protected.

This story doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

I've worked in the music industry off and on for years...trying to keep it off because I'd rather focus on my job as an educator at a major university but might have to go back to pay the bills that are slowly piling up (it is sad when educating others becomes more of a hobby and writing crappy pop songs is actually more secure...I guess it goes to show you what people find worth while).

The last time I was dealing with the industry came about purely because folks knew I was one of these 'technologists' and understood the internet. Flown to NYC and LA to talk to these guys and you almost think they are getting it. Understanding the culture and what is possible, and then some jackass comes in says exactly the opposite. Yes, we can put software on everyones computer and track each and everything they have on there. And would say so in a way that doesn't sound invasive or immoral.

I gotta say, the people in the big offices are not idiots. Most are former artists themselves (though usually not as known). Most want the same things nerds do...but they have an investment they think they need to keep and this is truly understandable. Not everyone can write a decent song. Not everything can take a good song and put the polish on it that the masses want. Not everyone can publish and promote these songs in a way that pushes their 3 minute piece of fluff infront of millions and have everyone who listens to it feel it is their own song, imparting a sense of uniqueness to all the listeners.

I understand why they want to protect their works because they worked eff'n hard on them.

And guess what? 99% of the public really doesn't understand technology. They will believe anything said to them in a rational way that has the answers they are looking for. I see it in education. I just had to sit through a meeting where a bunch of jackasses that promised everything and claimed it could be done simply and easily couldn't deliver. And then blamed us for unrealistic expectations. And they were...(err...against my advice).

It is nearly impossible to find experts that understand the subject areas and the technology and fashion a reasonable argument. I know in my last dealings with the industry, if I had shown up with polished answers given by a team of experts and presented by a PR Man that had no expertise but could read the cue cards, my job would have been different.

Hucksters are in every field and seem more competent than the ones that actually know what they are doing.

(Ironically, this is one of my bigger arguments against GPL'ing my software...it is easy to say that I could still make money off of support and otherwise, but the bigger issue is that a bigger company with slicker presentations will come in with my own works and both out bid me -- because they don't need an expert on site, just a fast talker who is going to make everyone in your area look bad...ok, that is off the subject, but I know a lot of people on this site care about things like that).

Anyhoo....

From my friends who have used this system in the past, most have said the honor system is there because both a religious edict and the fact that until recently, these countries that used these were little more than loose collections of tribes and thus no law.

Beyond that, there isn't really a honor system any more than a loan shark. You may find this out physically, or your family may have to assume your debts. Lots of bad things could happen. The gov'ts stay out of the way to avoid this system from imploding and impeding their citizens from moving around the regions as they have done for thousands of years.

From the religious aspect of this, I fully support the belief that one should help others in a honor system like this...and I know others that do this from family to family, but money brokers in any religion are only after one thing and they will do whatever it takes to keep that.

You lost 80lb in a single year, from what you said above. That is pretty immediate to me. Unless you went hogwild and reverted back to the same bad diet as before, it would take a while to get back up to this.

The way I have had the Atkins explained to me by friends who are physicians, your metabolism is pretty much set. It takes a LOT to change it. Thus if you change your diet drastically, you won't be able to metabolize the foods you are earing (the high fatty, low carb) for a while...but after a while, it will catch up. And this is why it is only good for short term loss, unless you are willing to change other parts of your life. I gotta say, this helped save my dad's life...at the same time, he takes a dozen cholesterol pills a day to keep his arteries from clogging up.

Me? I need to lose about 20lbs. At the height of my illness, I was at 270. Now down to 220...was even close to 200 for a couple months. But to lose the 50lb, I exercised and changed my diet. And now I've plateau'd. The pounds I lost were pretty immediate and they've stayed off for a couple years now, and I really haven't done anything to change it. I walk more...been taking public transportation because I'm sick of killing the environment (it is amazing how much even a 4 block walk to the bus stop is when you aren't even doing this). I keep a bike in my office, and no longer tempted to get in my car to go across campus for meetings.

All in all, it is the simple changes that will keep the weight off of you, not the drastic ones. And beyond that, our evolution isn't really designed for the sedentary lifestyles we have. So increasing the activity even slightly and consistently will pull off the pounds and help regulate your metabolism to something workable.

Anyhoo...

@kuanes

"-as far as furiously scribbling "NO TIP FOR YOU!!" on a charge slip, i'd think twice before doing something like that. you may have received poor service, but passive-aggressive BS like that only makes you more of a mark the next time you come in. if you have a problem with poor service, go to the manager right then and there."

Hmmm...I'm passive aggressive because I specifically state that the service was bad? No, passive aggressive would be to leave a dollar in pennies, or to spill a glass of water across the table (screwing with the busboys not the waiter), or taking a crap in the fake ficus plant and hoping it takes a couple of days before someone discovers the source of the stench.

Of course, if I wanted to get the person fired or reprimanded, I'd go to the manager. I didn't. I don't know if the waiter had a general bad disposition or if it was just a single day. My gawd, I wouldn't want to be judged by a single day of my life...at the same time, I work with students, I have the occasional bad day, and I can't allow myself to let my personal emotions get in the way. As such, I don't feel bad when someone doesn't perform, therefore I don't feel the need to pay.

Again, not passive aggressive. I wish people who used this term actually knew what it meant.

It use to freak me out when I got home and looked up my bank account because a few restaurants I got to will add 30% to your meal as a precharge, and then later it gets corrected to the appropriate amount a few days later.

If this is at the end of the month, the statement will reflect the old amount as opposed to the corrected one...and maybe the next month you see a few $$$s added to the balance.

But again, with the instant access to the charges, it is a little freaky...and yeah, I have had a few dollars slipped in once or twice where I thought the waiter was lousy (and in one instance kinda hateful) and just didn't tip at all or not much. I actually called the restaurant the one time I found this and notified them that I left nothing at all because the guy was horrible...they went in, found it was scribbled in over NO TIP FOR YOU and comped the meal in its entirety letting me know it was coming out of the waiter's account for my trouble.

Anyhoo...

"the freedom to use the software for any purpose,"

Isn't this branch of the GPL being attacked more and more by RMS in the newest iteration of the GPL?

As far as I can tell, his proposed additions (maybe they are already accepted...I found the whole thing obnoxious and decided to stick with GPL 1 or 2 and NEVER touch anything with 3)...but his additions pretty much takes away the freedom to use it for any purpose.

For instance, if you want to run a webservice, I believe the GPL3 requires that you give the software away along with whatever changes you've made. Why? I can understand if you are distributing this software, but not if you are just running it internally. What is to stop the GPL Ghestopo from coming into a business and stating that they have to prove what they are running and if anything is used to service another client it too needs to be given away.

Personally, I find the idea that forced intellectually property sharing is abhorrent. I love the GPL and it does a lot of good, but more and more I'm liking the BSD guys. Far more mature, and less likely to want to dictate personal morality.

Anyhoo...back to working with my proprietary software...

Teresa -- I think you are wrong on this.

It was a great idea. Standardized testing is greatly needed to equalize the lower end of education and bring everyone up to a minimum.

That is the idea that this was designed from. Beyond that, they told states they needed to come up with the plans themselves. Most states have vastly underfunded assessment and have only ever paid lipservice to it -- and this was a way to make them actually do something about it without the guys at the top demanding they do anything except CREATE THE STANDARD. I'm not a big fan of the 'right', but this was sticking with their belief in states rights. Personally, I would have preferred someone at the top tell everyone exactly what to do and how to do it -- but given the bumbling they do, I'm glad they put it out in the local levels.

States are FINALLY getting the idea of how to do this and funding it at the levels needed. It is no where near perfect, nor is it even at a middling level of acceptability, but the seeds are there. Eventually, when assessment is integrated and not looked at as a way to say kids are stupid (with no means of remediation) or bringing others down (face it, even before NCLB most 'gifted' programs were simply rich kids who got in there because their snotty parents who couldn't understand their average Johnny or Janie wasn't just the brightest kid in the world...NCLB has actually created some standards for the gifted programs) or to punish hard working educators.

I work in the high schools all the time, and I have to say there are a LOT of teacher that just shouldn't be allowed anywhere near kids. Sadly, the teacher's unions are as bad as the police unions -- they are there to protect the tenured and nothing else. Few educators will talk publicly, but almost every gifted educator I talk with HATES the unions. I understand why they are there and I can't argue they do protect teachers from political vendettas and parents looking to shift the blame, but NCLB is never going to work until we get rid of the unions (or reform them severely).

But no, it was never a bad idea. It is an idea in its infancy and there will be missteps.

Honestly, the idea of NCLB isn't a bad one. It is just badly managed at the local levels. Too many states have no clue how to use assessments such as the ones needed by this program and go for a baseline as opposed to using the baseline as the starting point.

Sadly, he way things are done now, until the baselines are established uniformly, there will be a race to the bottom. I completely agree with JimXugle on this -- it negatively impacts gifted students (and generally pretty badly). Slowly, the bottom end -- students coming from learning disabilities or otherwise -- is getting better as the locals are get rid of the One Size Fits All motif. These students are much easier to assess.

Dealing with gifted students are a harder challenge and require vastly different solutions and this will take longer.

I am no fan of the Bush Administration, but this is one area that I think may be a positive legacy -- again, if it isn't screwed up at the local end.

-----

(Way too early in the morning to think and can't sleep, so hopefully there is an edit button so that I can change the obvious errors once I see them later in the day :-) ).

When I was a teenager (sadly, 16 years back since I could claim this), I lent this book to a friend whose step-father was a police officer. I never knew this because he lived with his real father most of the time and the most I knew about his other family was that they were douchebags. One weekend after repeatedly asking for my book back, I'm told the stepfather confiscated it....pissed off, but I figured I'd eventually get it back.

A few weeks later, I'm in class and called to the principle's office over the loud speaker. It is only a few more minutes until class is over so I figured I'd wait...oh no, they weren't having any of this. Two police officers who were actually waiting outside the door when the announcement went off decided to come in, announce I was being arrested and taken in for questioning...to the entire class, and handcuff me right there.

For 6 hours I'm questioned about having the book. The police were actually from a city over -- Richmond Indiana -- and wouldn't even let me call my parents to let them know where I was at, or to ask for a lawyer. My sis had heard I was arrested, but the asshole police from my hometown (actually, a bit grateful that it was the other guys) wouldn't tell my parents anything.

SIX hours until my parents actually thought about calling other police stations and stopped the questioning. The police thought my mom would actually be happy they stopped me from 'making the biggest mistake of my life' (or something to the effect)...'what if he decided to build a bomb', to which my mom replied that if we were going to live in a police state where people are arrested for reading forbidden knowledge, she hoped I did know how to make a bomb. I never realized how subversive she was until then :-) That was the end of the questioning and I ALMOST got my book back (which my mom promptly took and decided I could have back when I turned 18...never saw it again).

Sadly, none of the good explosives recipes really ever panned out. Horrible book from a How-To perspective, but it helped keep the juvenile wannabe anarchist minds active. Actually, I credit books like this for getting that crap out of my system and to foster my belief in pacifism because that and the rest of the paladin press books just felt so nihilistic and the fact that anything you could do to someone else, they could just as easily do to you.

Peterus -- I wonder how much the CC impacts these sales vs. the fact that there is a built in audience of 'copyfighters' that buy the works regardless of the quality of the work?

I can safely say I bought two of Cory's books because of this. At the same time, neither were my cup of tea (of which I'm not commenting on the quality because I've been a firm believer that art should not appeal to everyone or it wouldn't be considered art).

Cory -- thanks for posting the Locus link...it was informative (even if a bit one sided!)