petef

Yeah, I got that and that's why I said I was amused, but at the same time those comments reimded me of my school days when 2 classmates might have a minor dispute between them and suddenly a few kids gather around and start taunting them to fight. Remember those days? Hhehehe. ---pete---

Same here Bonnie. :) I used to enjoy debating political topics via Email with my friend Dan, a guy I used to work with many years ago. We'd refer to it as mental jousting as we'd challenge each other on facts and opinions and each would comeback after doing more research online and we'd present our facts to each other and continue the debate. We'd stick to the facts and not make personal attacks unless we were kidding each other. Unfortunately, Dan passed away a couple of years ago and I'm so pissed at him for dieing because we had lots more to debate and folllow up on. We both made various predictions of future events based upon the facts and knowledge gained through our debates and when one of our predictions comes relevant I want to talk to him about it. See, we'd always press each other to make predictions because if one came true, we'd have our archive of Email debates to look back on to determine what facts a particular prediction was based upon and it would validate the facts. It was our way of finding the truth over the long term and determining who's theories were correct. I'm more about finding the truth and not so much about winning an argument. I gather facts, and gain knowledge by participating in debates, make predictions and I archive as much as possible as a means of finding the truth at sometime in the future. In memory of my friend Dan Napolitan, let the debates continue! Just remember not to make personal attacks and stick to debating the the facts. :) ---pete---

I think you are right that we can't compare based upon national standards. In my mind, I was thinking more of each nation having a set of standards when I said that. But actualy, I hate the thought of some group making a global standard but that's what would be required. About national standards in the USA, I was not aware of any standard other than the SATs that high school kids take for evaluating their skills before entering college. If we already have national standards, where can we go to see the results? In any case, it would be very interesting to have a series of computer generated tests that followed a certain set of rules for difficulty for various grade levels and generated a unique test for each individual, so that people could not cheat by having answers for the test. I'd like to see how Americans compared to other countires in areas like math or science where language is not a factor. ---pete---

Hhahahaa, I'm amused at all the comments about some kind of fight because I don't see it like that at all. I thought we were having a friendly conversation with some contraversial topics. No fight. I never once attacked anyone and no one ever attcked me. See this is the difference between actng professional discussing and debating an issue versus acting bad, flaming and arguing and attacking the character of the other person. Anyway, I usually steer clear of political and religious topics on tech forums because it's a sure way to create hard feelings between the members. I'm really here for the tech stuff. ---pete---

It all ties into having some national standards and tests for each grade level for such basics as math, reading, spelling, writing, english grammar, etc.. Once you have those national standards you could compare our standards against the standards of any other nation to see how we compare. ---pete---

Well, as it is now in the USA, the federal government is the source of a great deal of funding and they abuse the power by witholding funds if your school does not comply with their demands. That is one way to control things that can be very destructive to an entire nation and most likely a contributing factor to the degradation of the American schools which are now sub-standard in comparison to many schools in other countries that are less prosperous. The federal government has too much to say about what goes on in the schools because they control the funding. This has to change if we desire the schools to be less prone to interference and more free to improve as each school sees fit. Funding should come from the local governments if the school systems are to have freedom and conrol over themselves. The federal government at most, should be there to serve the nation by monitoring the performance of the schools so we know which are doing well and which are not. We'd have to lower federal income taxes and raise local municipal taxes to acomplish this. However, since the federal government is not likley to go along with such a plan because it means giving up power and control, there's not much chance of it happening. So guess where we are headed? ---pete---

It's hard for me to judge due to the age of the kids, but I'm thinking the teachers should be able to use whatever methods they feel works best, within reason. But to complete that concept there has to be some kind of testing to evaluate the students to see if the teacher's methods are working. If you had such proof that your methods work, you would have some power over your superiors to teach the way you want to. I'm thinking that you'd have to consider the parents' opinions on this issue and how important they feel their kids need to know Spanish. Would you feel comfortable asking that question? If you would not, or if you anticipate a negative reaction by the parents, then I think you have your answer. After all, this is America and English is the primary language. Personally, I feel that the student should be the one to choose the second language they'd like to learn and that might not be practical until a later age. In any case, I do agree that the ability to learn a second language is there, even at such a young age of 5 years old. ---pete---

Bonnie, I studied the topic of Goals 2000 back around 1999 when I came across the article on Outcome Based Education & Higher Order Thinking Skills. Back then, there was much controversy about the hidden agenda of these programs and how government should not be allowed to control what is being taught in the schools because history has shown that Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia could never have happened if the state had not been in control of the education of the youth. The article I read back in 1999 on the above topic is at the link below... http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Ed/Gls2000b.htm So my idea of national testing standards can be a dangerous thing if combined with other government programs and agencies. This is why I feel that most centralized control over the education systems must be abolished, but I still feel it would be beneficial to have a way to objectively measure the quality of education that each school is providing. ---pete---

Very simple, you devise tests based upon the level of abilities of the average student of the top rated schools and raise the bar just a bit to encourage further improvements in the future. In other words, no one should be expected to get a perfect score. This solves the dumbing down issue. Instead of having tests that are dumbed down, the bar has potential to be raised in subsequent years as the schools improve year after year. Create tests that measure the abilty to perform specific tasks where there are definitive answers if the standard rules of math, spelling, grammar, etc., are followed. All it takes is common sense. ---pete---

I'm assuming that Seth and Help5me are basing their opinions on real life experience and it agrees with my knowledge gained from researching this topic back around 1999. It's been a while since I read the document at the link below, but as I recall, it explains what's happening in the schools as related to what you two are saying. I became interested in this topic many years ago after hearing that the schools were purposely designed and used as a tool of social change and control for political purposes. From other research and experience, I think it's much more complicated than that because I feel that the curiculum in schools are also being influenced by large corporations who need obedient employees that will conform to their systems and not so strong as independent free thinking individuals. Anyway, give this article a read and see how it relates to your experience in the schools. I'd like to here your thoughts. As I recall there is a lot to absorb here and I had to read it a couple of times to get it all. OUTCOME BASED EDUCATION AND HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS (Long article, about 17 screens) http://www.htworkshop.com/public/OBE001.TXT ---pete---

I'm operating my own computer services business for years now doing mostly software solutions on desktop PCs so I've had very little need to deal directly with HP or DELL or GATEWAY. I'm now getting more into hardware & laptop repairs which often require that I contact HP or DELL or GATEWAY for replacement parts or computers under warranty issues. I typically have to spend an 30 to 60 minutes or more dealing with tech support via online chat or telephone to get their approval on warrany relacement parts and to order the parts. I'm wondering if there is a faster way for a computer service business to deal with HP or DELL or Gateway because it seems rediculous to spent 60 minutes just to order a replacement part or a part under warranty. ---pete---

I'm trying to choose a FREE web authoring software and have already experimented a bit with Nvu v1.0 but I'm also considering WebDwarf v2.0. So far I like Nvu becasue it's user interface is similar to Frontpage and I intend to do a good amount of manual HTML coding, so I want to be able to quickly switch between a HTML code view and a Website view. I plan to use Filezilla for publishing, so I'm not concerned about any FTP features in my web authoring software. Ok with all that said, I heard that Nvu is a bit buggy and the last release was v1.0 in 2005. So can someone tell me what kinds of bugs can I expect when using Nvu? If I plan to do a good amount of manual HTML coding, is Nuv better than WebDwarf? How do WebDwarf and Nvu compare? ---pete---

Hey Ron, glad you could make it! ---pete---

This sounds familiar. I think I had a computer with the same problem and the fix was to replace the battery on the motherboard and also set the proper CPU clock frequencyin the BIOS. That fixed it. ---pete---

Yeah, I found the link in my message to be broken, which is probably a good thing. After doing some initial research on this screenclean.swf topic, I came across a site that had a video to watch on this screen cleaning issue. Since it was just an online player, I attempted to view it wich resulted in a dialog box indicating I needed to download and install a codec in order to view the presentation. I tried to "x" out of that dialog but it kept repeating, so I ended up using CTRL+ALT+DEL and ending task on my browser in order to get off that site. Ok, so that's all I needed to know. It's most likely a trick to get you download and install some kind of malware. The codec is probably a trojan. This must be a brand new one because I was not able to find much info on it, related to malware. If anyone has any other info please, post it. Thanks. ---pete---

What is this?.. screenclean.swf I recently came across the message & link below in an Email from a known source. My first impression is that this is surely a hoax, however, after doing some research I'm not finding any info related to malware on this "screenclean.swf" topic. I know of no technical theory that would support the concept of cleaning your screen from the inside. What's up with this? (see message below but I don't recommend clicking the link) ---pete--- > Happy New Year! > > For those to whom I owe e-mail responses; I've fallen behind, due to a > difficulty in reading the computer screen. Truth be known, I thought I might > have a cataract problem. A friend recently wrote, saying that with older > monitors especially, a deposit gradually accumulates on the inside of the > screen. Taking a monitor apart for cleaning is not recommended for the average > user. Fortunately, there is a new downloadable tool that will reverse this > process, should that be the cause of gradual loss of clarity. I tried it and > couldn't believe the difference! You can download and try it for yourself, by > going to: > http://www.roberthein.dk/screenclean.swf Edit/Delete Message

TIP: AVOID HAVING TO "SAFELY REMOVE" YOUR USB FLASH DRIVE Overview ~~~~~~~~ Normally by default, Write Caching is enabled when you use your USB FLASH drive on a Windows XP computer. With Write Caching ENABLED you need to safely remove the flash drive to avoid corrupting or losing data on the flash drive. However, if you set the properties in Windows to DISABLE Write Caching for the drive letter that is always assigned to your flash drive, then you can remove the flash drive without having to go through the safely remove process. Once you set the properties to DISABLE write caching on a specific drive letter in Windows XP, it holds that setting and you can avoid having to safely remove any flash drive on that computer that uses that particular drive letter. How to Disable Write Caching for a specific drive letter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.) Plug in your USB flash drive and note which drive letter is assigned by viewing it in My Computer. 2.) In My Computer, right-click the flash drive and select.. Properties -> Hardware -> Properties -> Policies, and then uncheck "Enable write caching on the disk" to disable write caching. Now any USB flash drive that you use on this computer that comes up as this same drive letter does not need to be "safely removed". Just make sure there is no data being written at the moment you remove it.

Unfortunately, it will probably never happen because it makes too much sense. :) In the past, I've read some very interesting articles about why the public schools are the way they are and not really teaching correctly. Memorizing useless facts has it's advantages because it develops the mind a certain way to just accept things and not analyze the information. This can be advantagous if you are training people for a workforce where they need to take orders and follow procedures without questioning. It's been said that the purpose of schools in America are intended for social change over learning development. Anyway, this is getting way off topic, so i'll just end here. Bottom line, there will always be uneducated or gullable people that will fall for Email scams as you posted. Best we can do is educate the people we come in contact with and hope the knowledge with spread. ---pete---