Cheating on standardized tests: NY Times

Another of Geronimo's comments picked by the NY Times editors as a highlight:

HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)

Geronimo

California

December 28th, 2010

9:36 am

I believe the only reason for cheating is to acquire something you haven't earned. It's the same as stealing.

The post facto analysis is a great idea. It's far more practical than some overburdening attempt to confiscate cell phones, a nightmare in the making. Any police officer will tell you that for sting operations, the crime has to be consummated--if the perp doesn't go through all the steps, there's no case. So, when a student who's "too cool for school," cheats to get ahead, and gets tripped up, it benefits the society into which s/he will matriculate.

Well do I remember a tenth-grade classmate who was very irritated that I wouldn't allow him to copy answers on an algebra test. He became a two-term mayor of our hometown, second largest city in our state, and appointed a crony small-time tax preparer as controller, dealing with the city's hundreds of millions with no prior experience or any demonstrated competence.

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NY Times likes Geronimo on mosque issue

HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)

Geronimo

California

August 22nd, 2010

2:48 am

Mr Kristof misses or avoids the tactical deftness of radical Islam, artificially pinning them down to a single position that enables him to make the point he so desperately wants to sell us. How about this, Mr Kristof:

1) If the mosque is built, radical Islamists will mine its presence for all the triumphalism an craftiness-credit that they possibly can. They love our tolerance, work it for all it's worth, and consider us fools for leaving ourselves so exposed. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said upon his arrest, "I want to be tried in New York, with a New York lawyer." Could the point possibly be any clearer? Radical Islamists love our ethic of multicultural tolerance, and use it consistently as one jaw of the vise.

However, if the mosque doesn't go up, then: 2) radical Islam can sell their recruits the evidence that our claims of tolerance are meaningless, because we wouldn't allow a simple house of worship to be built.

They have their rhetorical engines all revved up, waiting for us to move. Whichever way we go, their arguments are already staked out, and they've got us coming or going.

So, why don't we just do what WE feel best about; trust moderate Muslims to search their souls and see that they'd do the same if the facts were reversed; and let the radical Islamists do what they always do--start with the conclusion that America and Israel must be destroyed, and work backward from there to condemn anything and everything we do anyway.

Apple + Consumer Reports + duct tape = ?

166.

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Geronimo

California

July 12th, 2010

6:18 pm

Apple is a high-handed, narcissistic company in the image of its brilliant founder's personality. This will be a test of their corporate versatility--can they actually respond to their own serious mistake, or will they continue to believe that they are the pied piper, whose followers will go anywhere, put up with any annoyance, and swear they're having a great time, because they have purchased "coolness," and don't want to look uncool by admitting it's really a mess.

Perfect, that the adversary here is Consumer Reports, the publication with the most un-cool image in the world, after Model Railroader Monthly. Consumer Reports happens to have the truth on their side--let's see what that is worth in the battle for millennial hearts and minds.

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Obama's speech: Geronimo hit NY Times dean's list again

The tiny following of this blog knows that Geronimo and Larned Jetmore like to see if they can smuggle politically incorrect observations into the NY Times commments section, and still get the editors to make it an Editor's Choice, by brute force of making sense.

This time, Geronimo swung for the fence, and offered a favorable comment about the widely reviled Sarah Palin. You may have heard of her.

You guessed it--the NY Times highlighted the comment. It was way down the list, #733, but they still read it and chose it. Coincidentally, same day, I met a screenwriter who'd worked on Gunsmoke, and wrote The Witness.

You want to know how English majors entertain themselves? That was a pretty good day in the land of serendipity.

733.

HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)

Geronimo

California

June 16th, 2010

12:12 pm

Very surprising to see the contrast in direct-experience depth and credibility between Pres Obama's highly crafted performance, vs Sarah' Palin's fire-breathing rant on O'Reilly, where she talked about her fights with Big Oil, conveyed a lot of understanding about how their organizations drift off-pattern, fail in their management chain of command, and have so many layers that the execs may even think they're telling the truth, while the reality is the sum of a lot of corner-cutting. She was very conversant with the simultaneous and contradictory demands of 1) not trusting what Big Oil execs tell you, but confirming and pushing back on everything they assert, while 2) never letting that make you believe that you, as the government, are better qualified to do the job than they are.

Let's not forget that for decades, Todd Palin has been earning his living on a rig pretty darn close to what blew up. Thirty years or so of real=time stories from different crews, combined with the governor's meetings with the senior management of the companies where Todd was a peon, gave her a 360-degree perspective on oil company corporate culture that came across dramatically more credible than the president.

Never expected it, not a fan of Palin, wouldn't want her as president. But, I spent 40 years in technology R&D, where grand ideas are abundant, yet someone with a command of the facts always trumps the grand idea. It was simple tonight: Palin was more credible than the president. Never, ever thought I'd say that.

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/us/politics/16obama.html?permid=733#comment733

Provocatourism: If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own

Provocatourism--the activist option that makes Habitat for Humanity look about as exciting as a free orange apron from Home Depot. Sign up soon for a blockade-breaking vacation. You may get to tell your grandkids about it, or not. But, that's all part of the adventure!

You'll feel superior to the people you're helping, because--well, if you weren't, why would they need your help?

You'll feel superior to the people setting the blockade, because you are a true humanitarian, and they're just jamming up your noble intentions.

You'll feel superior to the United States government, because they're just talking on the phone.

Souvenirs!

• Your ticket
• A shiv from one of the guys who took over the boat to make sure there wasn't any non-violence
• A shoelace from one of the Israeli soldiers

It's the next big thing. The sooner you sign up, the better your bragging rights!

No happy quarterbacks--a Zen riddle?

Now that the national champions are identified:

• Tim Tebow isn't happy, because he didn't get to play in the national championship
  
• Colt McCoy isn't happy, because after spending his college career getting his team there, he didn't get to play in the national championship
• Greg McElroy isn't happy, because he played in the national championship under circumstances where anything but a decisive victory would have been an embarrassment that would dog him the rest of his life
• Garrett Gilbert isn't happy, because he was forced to play in the national championship without a season of play to sharpen his game, and had to make his rookie mistakes in front of the whole world, for the highest possible stakes
  

If each quarterback's job is to thwart his competitors, then no one's happy because they all succeeded.

Hmmm...

Geronimo