42 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  2. Good news: Study confirms that college is pretty much a total waste of time
    You don’t even need to read the article; just follow the link and check out the graph in the left-hand sidebar.
    What’s tuition up to these days at private universities, parents? About $30-35,000?
    Nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don’t make academics a priority, a new report shows.
    http://hotair.com/archives/2011/01/19/good-news-study-confirms-that-college-is-pretty-much-a-total-waste-of-time/

  3. revnant dream – I was just going to post the same link as you. So, here’s a quote from that same article:
    “Many of the students graduated without knowing how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument or objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event, according to New York University sociologist Richard Arum, lead author of the study. The students, for example, couldn’t determine the cause of an increase in neighborhood crime or how best to respond without being swayed by emotional testimony and political spin…
    The study’s authors also found that large numbers of students didn’t enroll in courses requiring substantial work. In a typical semester, a third of students took no courses with more than 40 pages of reading per week. Half didn’t take a single course in which they wrote more than 20 pages over the semester.”
    Think about it. Students can’t differentiate fact from opinion. I assure you, I’ve seen that same phenomenon on so many campuses – and in our blogs and in government. Just listen to some of our leftist politicians – it’s all opinion; no facts. Obama is a master at rhetoric filled with opinions and no facts.
    I’d ask my students – what’s wrong with this sentence: “Over 80% of the people thought that X product was excellent”. Silence in the room. They simply couldn’t get what was wrong.
    And yes, students take the ‘bird courses’, the easy ones that required them to provide only their opinions. No data, no logic, no analysis. Oh, and no reading.
    We have to require more of our young people than our praise for them ‘expressing themselves’.

  4. Hmmm, that’s interesting Chet. Yesterday I saw a report on Ruby Dhalla at the Golden Temple in Amritsar; perhaps she’s trying to stem further defection of Brampton Sikhs.

  5. Speaking of Sikhs, some were barred from entering the Quebec “national” Assembly due to the kirpans that they wore. Tonight I saw a report (gawd I watch to much TV) where the Blocheads want to ban from the House of Commons anyone wearing a kirpan.
    The thing that caught my eye was the Bloc statement that multiculturalism is not a Quebec value – it may be a Canadian value, but certainly isn’t a Quebec value.
    Not new, but dang they are refreshingly honest – and right – some times.

  6. BEER BEER BEER. Thank you. Now, re the TGIF THIS FRIDAY JANUARY 21ST IN CALGARY, we have a couple of suggestions. One poster mentioned Dickens Pub (roughly 9th St on 9th Ave SW), another mentioned The Black Swan (roughly Southland Dr and Macleod Tr). I’ve been to the latter, and know it should be easy to get together and has ample parking, don’t know what Dickens is like.
    email: sdacalgary@gmail.com with comments – and I’ll post tomorrow night what seems the best fit. Thanks all!

  7. mississauga matt – yes, quite correct. Quebec rejects multiculturalism. It focuses on ‘Being a Francophone’…to the extent of trying to hinder Quebec children from learning English.
    Quebec, alone of all provinces in Canada, has full authority over immigration to Quebec. The statistics show the result – it has the lowest ratio of ‘visible minorities’ in all of Canada and almost 95% of them live in Montreal.
    My own view is that Trudeau’s charter, which is primarily not about the rights of Canadians, but is primarily setting up bilingualism as an official policy – also set up multiculturalism within Ontario. This disintegrated the electorate in Ontario into separate identifiable blocs, identified by their immigrant ethnicity. These blocs could be easily bought by the Liberal party as dependent voters.
    The creation of ‘identity blocs’ of isolate zones of immigrants were encouraged by the Liberals to reject integration, not learn English, remain isolate and non-collaborative with other immigrant groups – and – vote Liberal in return for large amounts of Liberal grants.

  9. Revnant & ET:
    That HotAir link is well worth a read. It is somewhat of a continuation of the thread the other day with good ‘ol Bill Stewart who was bragging on about his Ph.D. and how, because of it, he was likely smarter than anyone else on SDA
    Hey, I’m proud of my university degree but never in my life did I think that I was smarter than another person because of it. Furthermore, who doesn’t know a university grad who isn’t a complete dufus when it comes to general intelligence?!
    I’ve long insisted that there are smart people & dumb people with degrees and smart people & dumb people without degrees.
    P.S. Looking on the Sarah Palin 2 thread just now, we have proof positive of “1B” = Dummies with Degrees!!!

  10. Youtube video of Heritage Minister James Moore with Evan Solomon discussing how he’s told the Iranians to stick it where the sun don’t shine and how he’s told Library and Archives Canada to reschedule a screening of the Free Thinking Film Society’s presentation of Iranium.
    This guy’s good.

  14. Robert @ 11:16. Does “some university” count somewhere?
    Anyway, I find it difficult not to say stuff when the anarchist/communists Bill and jay show up. As you probably know already, my family has had plenty of experience with the ideology these two scumbags espouse and my throat just chokes up when these spew their pseudo communism.
    Appreciate it when those who are more articulate engage them. The Black Baron wasn’t able to fix them in 1920, but their ideology eventually collapsed in a manner of speaking in the land of the bear. Now they want to impose it here.

  16. ….and another thing….
    “Climate change study had ‘significant error’: experts”
    A climate change study that projected a 2.4 degree Celsius increase in temperature and massive worldwide food shortages in the next decade was seriously flawed, scientists said….

  18. Ken, you’ve probably accomplished a whole lot more in your life than most of us have!
    Throughout my life I’ve met too many dummies with lots of letters after their names. It proves very little. Furthermore, anyone who feels the need to bring their degree(s) front & centre is clearly awash in a massive amount of insecurity & immaturity.
    I’ve noticed that more than a few Leftists point out their academic pedigree, especially when they’re clearly losing an argument. This very much supports ET’s theory that the Left believes in a 2-tier society: educated elites as the masters and everyone else as their subservient gophers. It truly is beyond pathetic.
    In my business of software development, I truly don’t care what a person’s formal education is. I solely want to see what their code looks like, how they handle new problems presented to them, and how they interact with the other people on the team and the customer. Period.

  19. I could not agree more.
    — Peter O’Donnell, PhD, B.Sc., B.Ull. Sh.itt.er, M.Div., M.Oron, Phunlover, Hon. Doctor of Climate Spin, B.A.loney, B.A.humbug.

  21. Robert, the smartest man I ever knew once told me that any relationship between education and intelligence is purely coincidental.
    This man was a commerically rated pilot, an aircraft mechanic, a master carpenter, a welder, a plumber, an electrician, a sailor and photographer. Those were his hobbies.
    By profession he was a cop for 38 years.
    He had a grade 8 education with a GED he added late in life.
    This man? He was my dad.

  22. AGW Progress Report.
    …-
    “Euro Carbon Market Fraud – trade suspended”
    “From the Telegraph: European carbon market suspended over fraud fears
    The European carbon market has been thrown into turmoil after the scandal-hit scheme was suspended for a week over suspicions of fraud.
    More than €2bn (£1.7bn) of trade is likely to be disrupted after the European Commission said it would prevent transactions until January 26.
    The suspension follows allegations that 475,000 carbon credits worth €7m were stolen in a hacking attack on the Czech carbon register. It appears that the intangible allowances were bounced between eastern European countries before disappearing without a trace.
    …
    “Although such incidents are negligible in terms of actual market impact, they will over time undermine the credibility of carbon trading as a policy measure to reduce emissions in Europe. Immediate actions to improve the security of EU registries are thus needed.””
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/20/euro-carbon-market-fraud-trade-suspended/#more-32014
    …-
    “Dawson, YT”
    ” – 47 °C ”
    http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weathermaps/?ref=canoe_en_p_text_weathermaps

  23. The natural end result of left-liberalism/communism: Death* and Death*.
    This is the left-liberalism/communism of the Separatist Coalition.
    …-
    “*Kermit the Fraud”
    “Philadelphia discovers a “House of Horrors”, an abortion clinic run by Kermit Gosnell.
    NEW YORK — A US abortion doctor was arrested Wednesday and charged with using scissors to murder late-term babies. …
    “He regularly performed abortions beyond the 24-week limit prescribed by law. As a result, viable babies were born. Gosnell killed them by plunging scissors into their spinal cords,” the district attorney said. “He taught his staff to do the same.”
    Among those arrested and charged was the doctor’s wife, Pearl Gosnell.
    Gosnell is being charged with infanticide and murdering his patients. The Philadelphia DA’s office says charges include the illegal distribution of narcotics. Reports say that drug complaints led to Gosnell’s investigation. “The investigation began February 2010 when police received tips that Gosnell was illegally selling thousands of oxycontin prescriptions to ‘patients’ he had never examined.””
    http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2011/01/19/kermit-the-fraud/#comments
    …-
    *Death:
    “Magadan Region – Kommersant Moscow **
    … to the Kolyma gold mines. Prisoners from the GULAG corrective labor camps mined most of the gold here in the 1930s. … As early as 1940, the GULAG files contained information on 8 million people who had been confined …”
    http://www.kommersant.com/p-52/r_396/Magadan_Region/

  24. A little credit to Anderson360 last night on CNN talking about a (D) representative who compared GOP ‘lies’ to the Nazis. He asked a D strategist, if the roles were reversed and a GOP rep had said the same thing, the liberal media would be in an uproar. As it was, they were silent on the issue. So much for civility, eh?

  26. Dual Citizen?
    http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Iraqi+Canadian+arrested+alleged+terror+role/4134671/story.html
    In Edmonton on Wednesday, RCMP officers arrested a 38-year-old Alberta man for his alleged role in the multinational terrorist group that carried out the bombing at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq.
    http://ca.news.yahoo.com/edmonton-man-accused-terror-plot-20110119-162641-255.html
    The U.S. Department of Justice said it is seeking to have Sayfildin Tahir Sharif, 38, also known as Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa or Tahir Sharif Sayfildin, extradited to the United States to face charges in New York state.
    **Note the AKA’s How did this man get into Canada & when

  28. Thanks glasnost – I voted, and was happy to see the results. It’s a bit of a surprise given how the media portrays widespread dislike for nuclear power.

  29. regarding education & degrees
    FYI
    I commented on this earlier, but I’ll repeat
    I’ve found this as a very effective way to articulate what Robert W, ET, Ken and others have been saying. When speaking to such a pompous a$$hole, simply tell them that: formal education is simply a means to an end, it is not an end in itself.

  31. Here’s another excellent VDH, Victor Davis Hanson column.
    http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/257560/bloomberg-syndrome-victor-davis-hanson
    He calls it The Bloomberg Syndrome. That’s a mode of behaviour where the individual moves into focusing on the general, the philosophic, the imaginary…and ignores the real, everyday problems around him.
    VDH writes of “the increasingly common bad habit of local politicians to resort to cosmic sermonizing when more mundane challenges go unaddressed.”
    I’ll point out that the left operates almost exclusively in this mode. The imaginary mode, where they focus on the way ‘things OUGHT to be’ and utterly ignore the way ‘things ARE’.
    Socialism, communism, fascism – these are all utopian and imaginary modes. All similar, all collectivist. The reality of the world is ignored in all three, with disastrous results.

  32. Muslims are suicidal.
    “In impassioned remarks, Amr Moussa told an Arab economic summit in Egypt that “the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession.”
    Quote:
    “the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession.”
    Replace “Arab” with Muslim:
    “the [Muslim] soul is broken…”
    Islam, the ally of the Separatist Coalition/left-liberals/socialism , is suicidal.
    …-
    “Arab League chief says Tunisia is dire warning
    CAIRO (AP) – The secretary general of the Arab League on Wednesday linked the upheaval in Tunisia to deteriorating economic conditions throughout the Arab world, warning Middle East leaders that their people’s anger has reached unprecedented heights.
    In impassioned remarks, Amr Moussa told an Arab economic summit in Egypt that “the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession.”
    “This is in the mind of all of us,” Moussa said in his opening address to the 20 Arab leaders and other representatives of Arab League members gathered in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
    Weeks of protests fueled by joblessness and other economic woes in Tunisia forced its president to flee the country Friday after 23 years of iron-fisted rule.
    The unrest has helped inspire similar protests around the Arab world and calls for political change, though activists face the reality of vast security forces heavily vested in the status quo backing hard-line regimes ready to crack down on dissent.
    “The Tunisian revolution is not far from us,” Moussa warned. “The Arab citizen entered an unprecedented state of anger and frustration.” He called for an Arab renaissance to lift people from their frustration.
    The meeting in Egypt had been intended as a platform to discuss trade, business and investment, but was overshadowed by the events in Tunisia and their reverberation around the region.”
    Link:
    http://www.jacksnewswatch.com/
    http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2011/01/19/on-politicians-behaving-badly/#comment-59185

  33. Ah, very good, Peter @ 4:32!
    I don’t think enough people appreciate your wit. Do you actually chortle as you make this stuff up?

  34. Thanks for the comments regarding education and success. Indiana, exactly. Most successful small business owners I personally know have no formal education beyond grades eight and twelve and hire people with formal education to work for them in specific areas. Some have some technical training that is critical for some occupations. Generally speaking. Generally speaking a formal education prepares a person to work for someone else.
    Some days I wish I had completed the university courses I began, although while they would not have done a lot to make my ultimate career choice more successful, they most likely would improved or honed writing skills. I envy people like Et and others.
    Peter @ 4:32 must had razor blades for an early breakfast. 🙂
    maz2, you keep bringing back bad memories. A great uncle was worked to death in the development of the potash mines near Perm, Russia (Soviet Union). Another worked on the White Sea canal for the better part of ten years, was released, rearrested and shot. They both had some sons and son-in-laws shot. I do not need the likes of jay and Bill telling me how great the Marxist utopia is.

  36. Ken
    For me, going back to school was the best decision I’ve made for my family and I. We made some life choices early on(getting married, having kids and so on) so when I decided to go back, I had to limit my choices based on practicality, and employability. I enjoy my work, and always have the opportunity to learn on the job; but I’m definitely not chasing any dreams. That I will have to do on my own time. My wife now is in the middle of career planning now that our kids are older (15 & 11). I’m advising her to ‘get it right’ as there is no financial pressure for her to finish fast. I hope she does chase her dreams in this respect.
    The very first thing I learned out of school was this; that I didn’t know jack, and the real learning started my first day at work. THIS… is the lesson many academics will never learn unless they leave academia and or the public sector.

  37. When right-wing politicians campaign on spending cuts, the Left will accuse them of ‘grandstanding’ and demand they list specifically the cuts they will make. Well, here’s the LIST.
    I can just imagine the reaction from the Canadian Left if the Conservatives ever dared present such a list.
    Calling on PMSH, I double dare you to present such a list.

  39. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/pms-remarks-rekindle-debate-on-the-death-penalty/article1876507/
    The Liberals may have found the chink in the armour of Stephen Harper,this G&M article says Harper may be contemplating the return of the Death Penalty! Gasp.
    And he’d undoubtedly start with serial killers,but with a majority we ALL know it would soon apply to jaywalking and unpaid parking tickets!
    Maybe the Libs can use some old footage of Pat Hingle as the Judge in “Hang ’em High” and just scare the pants off the Eloi.

  41. “Bastardi: Forecast for the Rest of the Winter”
    “AccuWeather.com Chief Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi is calling for the Plains and East to stay colder than normal through at least mid-February. Wintry events could last into April for many places.”
    http://www.accuweather.com/video/756250400001/bastardi-forecast-for-the-rest-of-the-winter.asp
    …-
    Ken Kulak: Thank you for your words. Having read much re the Bolsheviks and their Red Terror it is information that must be brought forward. Nabokov’s memoirs are a must read along with Solzhenitsyn and Robert Conquest and others.

  42. maz2, I have Vladimir Nabokov’s memoirs as well as one hundred and fourteen other Russian history books in my library.
    I am not sure if this could be considered a tip or not, but in my estimation Richard Pipes, Orlando Figes, Peter Kenez and William Henry Chamberlain between them have the most comprehensive works on the Russian Revolution, Civil War and the Bolshevik/Communist power consolidation during the 1920s.

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