Josh's Crosstime Salute

Brought to you by the fine folks at MSNBC:

Social networks more powerful than thought?

Okay, now THIS is ridiculous even for the idiotic superdelegate system:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23954369/
Superdelegates with super powers?
Some prominent superdelegates can name additional superdelegates

Largely overlooked in the arcane process, though, is the power of a select few to complete the superdelegate ranks by naming 76 newbies...

Consider Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party. He remains uncommitted, yet he could be the most powerful superdelegate of all. Torres gets to name five additional superdelegates, giving him control over six votes at the national convention this summer.

"I am the super of supers!" Torres proclaims with a laugh.

This is not enough to make me leave the party. It is more than enough to prompt me to make noise at my party leaders.

(cross-posted)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22347088/

This story actually happened last August. It took this long to make the news because of how oversight of this school (and others of its type) work.

The school has been in the papers before and we had a poster on Sheroes a couple years ago who was very unhappy with them and others that practice 'aversive' training by shocking the students.

But this story is not just about aversive training - it is also about social psychology and what people will do in the name of an authority figure without verifying it or sufficiently questioning the actions required. This is merely the latest and not the most egregious example of such reaction to ostensible authority.

Thurs., Dec. 20, 2007

BOSTON - Seven people have been fired over electrical shocks given to two emotionally disturbed teenagers at the direction of what turned out to be a prank caller, the operator of the group home where the incident occurred said Thursday.

A state agency concluded that six staffers at a residence run by the Judge Rotenberg Education Center had ample reason to doubt the orders to administer the shocks. The staffers and a video surveillance worker on duty the night of the incident have been fired, school spokesman Ernest Corrigan said.

On Aug. 26, a caller posed as a supervisor and said he was ordering the punishments for the two teens, ages 16 and 19, because they had misbehaved earlier in the evening. But none of the staffers had witnessed any problems, and other boys said the two teens had done nothing wrong. One boy suggested the call was a hoax.

The teens were awakened in the middle of the night and given the shock treatments, at times while their legs and arms were bound. One teen received 77 shocks and the other received 29. One boy was treated for two first-degree burns.

A report released to state lawmakers Wednesday by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care said the caller was a former resident of the center with intimate knowledge of the staff, residents and layout of the home.

No motive was given, and the caller's identity was not disclosed. Police are looking into filing criminal charges.

Unorthodox procedures
The center is believed to be the only school in the United States that uses two-second skin-shock punishments to change destructive behavior. The center says the treatments are used in a minority of cases and only with parental, medical, psychiatric and court approval.

The center has survived two attempts by the state to close it over allegations that its unorthodox methods amount to abuse.

At the time of the call, five of the six staffers had worked double or triple shifts, and most had been on the job less than three months. The staffers were described as concerned and reluctant about the orders, but they failed to verify them with the central office or check treatment plans to make sure the teens could receive that level of shock therapy, the report said. Staffers also did not know who the shift supervisor was that night.

Today, in an abrupt turn around, the favorite, President Bush, was upset by a late entry in the Understatement of the Year Award. WNBC, the television affiliate of NBC in New York City, eager to scoop the field on the Mitchell Report and the list of steroid users, put a list up on their website that purported to be "the names expected to be on the list." Below is a more recent post from WNBC, with their entry statement bolded and in color:

"This morning, prior to the time in which the Mitchell report was made public, WNBC.com published a list of ballplayer names that we expected to appear in the report. There were a number of discrepancies between our list and the Mitchell report, and we mistakenly listed several players that did not appear in the report.

WNBC.com regrets the error and sincerely apologizes for providing the incorrect information. The official Mitchell report can be found at the following link:"(link cut)

There were 78 names on the WNBC list. 26 of them were on the official list. 52 names or 67% of the list should never have been there. "A number of discrepancies," indeed!

We turned the furnace on for the first time this season.

It ran for about 30 minutes and then stopped and did not restart.

The folks from our plumbing/heating service company, RF, came two mornings later to check it out. After about 45 minutes, the man working on the furnace reported that the fan motor for the exhaust system had died.

After a brief period of morning, I asked what replacement would be. As he did not have the part, he had to call it in. $545.

That struck me as a bit high, so I took the part number they gave me and looked for information. After about 30 minutes, I saw a part that looked close to the right one. I called up the company with the part and talked with one of their staff members about it.

I read the part number I had been given - which Jay told me was not a Fasco part number, but one for the furnace manufacturer itself. He then gave me what he thought was the real part number, urged me to check it with the number on the actual motor - which he predicted, accurately. The part was on line for $185.

He explained that it was an entire unit, not just a motor, would need an additional part ($2.08), would be $7.95 for 3 day shipping, what the warranty and return policies were, and then checked to make sure that it was in stock in the appropriate warehouse.

I called RF and spoke to the man who set the $545 price. "Well, are you sure you have the right piece? That's a big price difference," he noted. "Our distributor has it at $300 - and that is just the price [i]we[/i] pay."

Josh: I'm sure. I have looked at the specs and a picture and compared them and talked with the folks over the phone.

RF: Well, you know, you don't just want the motor, you want the whole assembly.

Josh: I know. He told me.

RF: We don't just buy parts off Ebay or used.

Josh: This is not used or Ebay. This is a national distributor.

RF: Oh. There may be additional parts, too. Have you considered that?

Josh: Yes. The agent at the distributor told me about that, too.

RF: There's shipping to consider, as well.

Josh: $7.95.

RF: If we acquire and install it, there will be a one or two year warranty, as well. And if our distributor sends the wrong part, we can send it back to them without a problem. But we can't guarantee it if you buy it. And if we have to return to install a different one, there will be a service call charge.

Josh: That's reasonable. They have a no-fault return policy, too, and the one year warranty is from the manufacturer, I gather.

RF: Well, you do what you have to do. I've been in this business 20 years, and our distributor is good. They spent several hours finding this part and I am sure their price is reasonable.

Josh: It took me about 30 minutes. You might want to check with your distributor, because they may be gouging [i]you[/i]!
********

Since then, I have found two more companies with the same part for the same furnace with prices within $5 either way of the price from Jay. There was one more with a price about $250. Nobody had a price of $300.

And there is no way I am letting RF install this thing!

Person A: "You're willfully ignorant."

Person B: "You're a dickhead."

Person A: "When i said you're being "willfully ignorant" that is NOT AT INSULT. Thats how people who disagree talk to each other."

Person B: "when you talking to your wife/boss/subordinate and you disagree with them and you say "you are wilfully ignorant" what response do you think you might get?

If I said that to my wife, it might be a cold day in hell before...

in any case, I might go with 'I disgree" or I'd yes her to death.

to a subordinate, I might say, "you might want to rethink it and get back to me""

Person C: "Calling someone "willfully ignorant" is no reason for you to turn around and call that person a "dickhead."
**********

"Ignore" is your friend.

[Syrus] Please give me 2 minutes while I check my resources. Thank you. (8:37pm)
[Syrus] May I know which printer model are you using? (8:38pm)
[Syrus] Sorry Josh, that was not for you. (8:38pm)
[Josh] ok. (8:39pm)
[Josh] Yes, checking resources a a good thing. (8:39pm)
[Syrus] Thank you for waiting. I appreciate your patience. (8:49pm)
[Josh] I hope the other problem got resolved. (8:49pm)

"WASHINGTON: The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well."

Thankfully, U.S. District Judge James Robertson said the government lacked the authority to restrict the company from testing, and threw the bums out of court.

- From Countdown

Idiots who think that my street address, phone number, and email address constitute security drive me up the wall.

When they are at my mortgage company, I worry all the more.

a student at the new flagship school of Tony Blair's Academies Project.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1752289.ece
From The Sunday Times (that's the London Times, for those keeping score at home)

All work, no play at Blair flagship school

Geraldine Hackett

Britain’s most expensive state school is being built without a playground because those running it believe that pupils should be treated like company employees and do not need unstructured play time.

The authorities at the £46.4m Thomas Deacon city academy in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, due to open this autumn, also believe that the absence of a playground will avoid the risk of “uncontrollable” numbers of children running around in breaks at the 2,200-pupil school.

“We are not intending to have any play time,” said Alan McMurdo, the head teacher. “Pupils won’t need to let off steam because they will not be bored.”

The absence of play time has angered some parents whose children will attend the school, designed by Lord Foster, architect of the “gherkin” office tower in London. But staff insist that it will have the added benefit of avoiding pupils falling victim to playground bullies.

Miles Delap, project manager at the academy, said: “For a school of this size, a playground would have had to be huge. That would have been almost uncontrollable. We have taken away an uncontrollable space to prevent bullying and truancy.”

Anne Kerrison, who has three children, said her 14-year-old son Matthew was devastated when he discovered that he would not be able to kick a football around at lunchtime.

“All children need fresh air and a chance to exercise during the school day. Break times are the only unstructured time they get,” she said.

Another city academy, Unity in Middlesbrough, opened in 2002 without a playground, prompting criticism from government inspectors about poor design. The school later built a playground.

Thomas Deacon, nicknamed “the blancmange” because of its rounded shape, will be one of the biggest schools in Europe. Its features will include a “wetland eco-pool” designed “for rain-water collection” planted with wild flowers. It will replace three schools in Peterborough and is one of the showcases of Tony Blair’s academies programme.

Academy schools remain in the state sector but are independent of local councils. They are sponsored by private sector firms which have some say in the management.

The academy’s timetable will be tightly structured and exercise for pupils will take place in PE classes and organised games on adjacent playing fields. There will be a 30-minute lunch period when pupils will be taken to the dining room by their teacher, ensuring they do not sneak away to run around.

McMurdo said refreshments, often taken in break periods at other schools, could be drunk during the school day. “[Pupils] will be able to hydrate during the learning experience,” he said.

Other head teachers questioned the wisdom of the playground ban. Ian Andain, head at a comprehensive in Liverpool, said: “There has to be bit of open space to play football. It is important that pupils can have a run around and expend energy.”

However, Delap, who has run the academy project on behalf of its sponsor, Perkins Engines, and the Deacon school trust, said that playgrounds did not fit into the concept.
*****

This has to be one of the dumber ideas floated in the name of pedagogy. Their notion of not having a playground because the size would be unmanageable either tells one that replacing three schools with one is not clever, or it tells one that there need to be multiple playgrounds so the numbers on each are smaller - not that there needs, therefore, to be no playground at all!

with thanks to camlina for the article.