starting strength gym
Page 1241 of 3003 FirstFirst ... 2417411141119112311239124012411242124312511291134117412241 ... LastLast
Results 12,401 to 12,410 of 30027

Thread: COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

  1. #12401
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Posts
    660

    Default

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
    • starting strength seminar jume 2024
    • starting strength seminar august 2024
    Quote Originally Posted by zft View Post
    My argument was (or tried to be) about foundations. I think that the mathematical foundation (mathematical maturity, if you want) that a mathematician has is very versatile and powerful (and I think similarly about physicists). I think that people in these fields have an ability to apply their knowledge in all sorts of different areas and learn new things quickly (after all, they're rather fluent in the language that most problems are posed in). They're great technical problem solvers. So, maybe a given mathematician/physicist lacks the expertise the CAD engineer has (whether its about machining feasibility or otherwise). But I'd bet that your average mathematician/physicist can pick up the CAD engineer's skill set a whole lot faster than vice versa. The fact that the mathematicians/physicists skill set is so general in this regard leads me to think they must have an understanding about the world at some sort of deeper/more sophisticated/less applied level and that is the quality that I'm suggesting is so valuable in regards to critical thinking.
    First, don't confuse "math" (which may be versatile and powerful) for "mathematicians". As you know, technical research is usually a group effort by individuals with niche specialities. Eventually, we write code or papers that only a handful of people actually read or understand. Perhaps we’re versatile humans, but this is neither demonstrated nor demanded by our work.

    Second, don't confuse "foundational" (in the sense of logical/type-theoretic/categorical underpinnings) with "having deep and ineluctable importance". In most situations, "foundational" concepts are superficial, abstract, and carry no useful information about the problem.

    Third, math isn't really that versatile or powerful. It is good for analyzing small, isolated components, which can be composed into large, useful systems. But those large systems escape the "critical thinking" you are glorifying. As someone who works on machine learning (IIRC), you are aware of these issues.

    Like you, I don't agree with many opinions/experiences in this thread. But you can't devalue them simply because they're posted by (or about) less technical people.

  2. #12402
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Nevada
    Posts
    3,003

    Default

    This fathers letter to the other parents at his daughter’s school is excellent. He nails it. Hopefully some other parents have the guts to take a stand.

    You Have to Read This Letter - Common Sense with Bari Weiss

  3. #12403
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Jackson, MS
    Posts
    355

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CommanderFun View Post
    I don't think numbers is quite the issue. A couple million driven people with guns could probably bring the government to its knees. I think the real problem is organization.
    If we're gonna talk organization ya'll need to read Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kitsuma View Post
    Listen to Rip's latest podcast if you haven't already.
    I have. It was excellent and right on point.

  4. #12404
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    53,557

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Harlin View Post
    This fathers letter to the other parents at his daughter’s school is excellent. He nails it. Hopefully some other parents have the guts to take a stand.

    You Have to Read This Letter - Common Sense with Bari Weiss
    Just in case something unfortunate happens to this, here is the letter:

    April 13, 2021

    Dear Fellow Brearley Parents,

    Our family recently made the decision not to reenroll our daughter at Brearley for the 2021-22 school year. She has been at Brearley for seven years, beginning in kindergarten. In short, we no longer believe that Brearley’s administration and Board of Trustees have any of our children’s best interests at heart. Moreover, we no longer have confidence that our daughter will receive the quality of education necessary to further her development into a critically thinking, responsible, enlightened, and civic minded adult. I write to you, as a fellow parent, to share our reasons for leaving the Brearley community but also to urge you to act before the damage to the school, to its community, and to your own child's education is irreparable.

    It cannot be stated strongly enough that Brearley’s obsession with race must stop. It should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brearley has completely lost its way. The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob. What follows are my own personal views on Brearley's antiracism initiatives, but these are just a handful of the criticisms that I know other parents have expressed.

    I object to the view that I should be judged by the color of my skin. I cannot tolerate a school that not only judges my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages and instructs her to prejudge others by theirs. By viewing every element of education, every aspect of history, and every facet of society through the lens of skin color and race, we are desecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and utterly violating the movement for which such civil rights leaders believed, fought, and died.

    I object to the charge of systemic racism in this country, and at our school. Systemic racism, properly understood, is segregated schools and separate lunch counters. It is the interning of Japanese and the exterminating of Jews. Systemic racism is unequivocally not a small number of isolated incidences over a period of decades. Ask any girl, of any race, if they have ever experienced insults from friends, have ever felt slighted by teachers or have ever suffered the occasional injustice from a school at which they have spent up to 13 years of their life, and you are bound to hear grievances, some petty, some not. We have not had systemic racism against Blacks in this country since the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, a period of more than 50 years. To state otherwise is a flat-out misrepresentation of our country's history and adds no understanding to any of today's societal issues. If anything, longstanding and widespread policies such as affirmative action, point in precisely the opposite direction.

    I object to a definition of systemic racism, apparently supported by Brearley, that any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence of the aforementioned systemic racism, or of white supremacy and oppression. Facile and unsupported beliefs such as these are the polar opposite to the intellectual and scientific truth for which Brearley claims to stand. Furthermore, I call bullshit on Brearley's oft-stated assertion that the school welcomes and encourages the truly difficult and uncomfortable conversations regarding race and the roots of racial discrepancies.

    I object to the idea that Blacks are unable to succeed in this country without aid from government or from whites. Brearley, by adopting critical race theory, is advocating the abhorrent viewpoint that Blacks should forever be regarded as helpless victims, and are incapable of success regardless of their skills, talents, or hard work. What Brearley is teaching our children is precisely the true and correct definition of racism.

    I object to mandatory anti-racism training for parents, especially when presented by the rent-seeking charlatans of Pollyanna. These sessions, in both their content and delivery, are so sophomoric and simplistic, so unsophisticated and inane, that I would be embarrassed if they were taught to Brearley kindergarteners. They are an insult to parents and unbecoming of any educational institution, let alone one of Brearley's caliber.

    I object to Brearley’s vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” If Brearley’s administration was truly concerned about so-called “equity,” it would be discussing the cessation of admissions preferences for legacies, siblings, and those families with especially deep pockets. If the administration was genuinely serious about “diversity,” it would not insist on the indoctrination of its students, and their families, to a single mindset, most reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Instead, the school would foster an environment of intellectual openness and freedom of thought. And if Brearley really cared about “inclusiveness,” the school would return to the concepts encapsulated in the motto “One Brearley,” instead of teaching the extraordinarily divisive idea that there are only, and always, two groups in this country: victims and oppressors.

    l object to Brearley’s advocacy for groups and movements such as Black Lives Matter, a Marxist, anti family, heterophobic, anti-Asian and anti-Semitic organization that neither speaks for the majority of the Black community in this country, nor in any way, shape or form, represents their best interests.

    I object to, as we have been told time and time again over the past year, that the school’s first priority is the safety of our children. For goodness sake, Brearley is a school, not a hospital! The number one priority of a school has always been, and always will be, education. Brearley’s misguided priorities exemplify both the safety culture and “cover-your-ass” culture that together have proved so toxic to our society and have so damaged the mental health and resiliency of two generations of children, and counting.

    I object to the gutting of the history, civics, and classical literature curriculums. I object to the censorship of books that have been taught for generations because they contain dated language potentially offensive to the thin-skinned and hypersensitive (something that has already happened in my daughter's 4th grade class). I object to the lowering of standards for the admission of students and for the hiring of teachers. I object to the erosion of rigor in classwork and the escalation of grade inflation. Any parent with eyes open can foresee these inevitabilities should antiracism initiatives be allowed to persist.

    We have today in our country, from both political parties, and at all levels of government, the most unwise and unvirtuous leaders in our nation’s history. Schools like Brearley are supposed to be the training grounds for those leaders. Our nation will not survive a generation of leadership even more poorly educated than we have now, nor will we survive a generation of students taught to hate its own country and despise its history.

    Lastly, I object, with as strong a sentiment as possible, that Brearley has begun to teach what to think, instead of how to think. I object that the school is now fostering an environment where our daughters, and our daughters’ teachers, are afraid to speak their minds in class for fear of “consequences.” I object that Brearley is trying to usurp the role of parents in teaching morality, and bullying parents to adopt that false morality at home. I object that Brearley is fostering a divisive community where families of different races, which until recently were part of the same community, are now segregated into two. These are the reasons why we can no longer send our daughter to Brearley.

    Over the past several months, I have personally spoken to many Brearley parents as well as parents of children at peer institutions. It is abundantly clear that the majority of parents believe that Brearley’s antiracism policies are misguided, divisive, counterproductive and cancerous. Many believe, as I do, that these policies will ultimately destroy what was until recently, a wonderful educational institution. But as I am sure will come as no surprise to you, given the insidious cancel culture that has of late permeated our society, most parents are too fearful to speak up.

    But speak up you must. There is strength in numbers and I assure you, the numbers are there. Contact the administration and the Board of Trustees and demand an end to the destructive and anti-intellectual claptrap known as antiracism. And if changes are not forthcoming then demand new leadership. For the sake of our community, our city, our country and most of all, our children, silence is no longer an option.

    Respectfully,

    Andrew Gutmann

  5. #12405
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    53,557

    Default

    The Anglosphere descent into totalitarianism: https://mobile.twitter.com/CanAditud...63526710185985

    The facts: Dr Ryan Cole - YouTube

  6. #12406
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Jackson, MS
    Posts
    355

  7. #12407
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Ozarks
    Posts
    1,283

  8. #12408
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Posts
    1,110

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jenni View Post
    If we're gonna talk organization ya'll need to read Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.
    Downloading the audiobook now. Thanks.

  9. #12409
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Lakeland, FL
    Posts
    3,111

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    The Anglosphere descent into totalitarianism: https://mobile.twitter.com/CanAditud...63526710185985
    But they say it's only temporary.

    And the police will be just doing their jobs, right? Underpaid even.

    Oh, Canada!

  10. #12410
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    North Texas
    Posts
    53,557

    Default

    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by George Christiansen View Post
    But they say it's only temporary.

    And the police will be just doing their jobs, right?
    They will only be following orders.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •