Pardon me for coming in late. Love Penn and Teller, how with humor and bombast they skewer bad ideas. Watching them is an education in itself. (I've met Teller at a Gathering for Gardner; he actually talks.)

About "diversity"-- The concept represents a midpoint between polar extremes. It's the two-edged sword wielded by those who want their own ideas accepted when competing against others more firmly established. So in the name of diversity, under the protective umbrella of tolerance, they want to get a foothold in the culture... until, that is, they are established and feel their creeds threatened by opposing ideas. Then they'll be first to decry giving equal weight to other beliefs--in effect an antitrust maneuver. Here's an example:

The Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania runs an annual educational convention. Heaven help me, once I actually attended one of those to sell my (mathematics-based) puzzles. Their current prospectus includes these guidelines:

"CHAP asks our vendors to review their materials for items which are restricted by CHAP or which might be offensive to our primarily Christian attendees. Please eliminate such items from your display. Examples of such items would include: stories or art work containing immodesty or occult material; New Age or overtly humanistic material: "Values Clarification" curriculum; "Multi-Cultural" curriculum (material which treats all cultures and religions as equal with Biblical values); fantasy role-playing games or curriculum; or any material that portrays the Bible as merely mythological, or Christianity as untrue or as one among many equal religions. Display and sales of vitamins, herbal supplements, essential oils, and other medically oriented products or services, or down-line or multi-level marketing ventures are prohibited."

So these Christians are against humanism and against multi-culturalism. Hah! They see humanism as the camel's nose of atheism; they see multi-culturalism as giving equal recognition to other religions. Here, nakedly, we can see how ideas have a life of their own and hijack human emotions to grow their control. I find this a fascinating example of Darwinism in the realm of human software. Extrapolate to what philosophies teachers promote and what knowledge humans preserve. Then observe which belief systems have humans by the throat and drive humans to murder and mayhem in their defense.

Under these dynamics, objectivity is a rare and beautiful thing, and itself in grave danger of being subverted with rationalizations. We do have one safeguard: Check the premises.

suggestion, sir -- recordings for those whom you love,
done in private, stashed away, just 'cuz. I treasure
a tape from my dad, recorded in ~1990, before he
died in '91....... -- j

I know that Alzheimer's is no fun. What is scary is that my dad is exhibiting exactly the same symptoms his dad did 30 years ago - and to think I am next.

Hang In, Dr. Jim;;; we are with you. my wife and I
lost her father a few years ago to Alzheimer's and
complications from a stroke, and it is no fun. -- j

You got me, kh. i can’t provide facts about the accidents that occurred that summer without digging into the Washington Post archives for a fee, (a bit too lazy and broke for that one), and my comments on uppers was based on past personal experience with truckers. So that comment can be written off as anecdotal fallacy or something.

Want to play soccer?

now mimi, you'd be the first one to ask for some factual stats on your assertion. drinking lots of coffee is an upper which can impair . I've looked up before accident stats as a whole and there is no correlation between giving out more traffic tickets and reduction in accidents. The ICC regulated railroads almost out of existence, which is why we had all these truckers on the road. Then in the 80s Reagan de-regulated somewhat and the trucking industry did better, but if you look at the total sum of all this regulation, what it's done has been to make us less safe and stifled inventions that would have made us even more safe.

I don’t know about being forced to sleep-in rigs with sleepers...being behind the wheel too long makes everyone loopy.
I remember in the late-seventies before mandatory drug-testing truck drivers were often on uppers.
It is very tempting to lie, because the money can be very good, but we don’t have the type of crashes that we use to get a few decades ago. I remember one summer the beltway around Washington was shutdown like every other day for some serious trucking accident.

That is what the university is supposed to be about, winterwind. Good hearing from you.

jbrenner- I have a friend who refers to "teaching them to think" and its corollaries as "the life of the mind". I like the phrase because it, also, makes one think.

Yep. And I'm more and more convinced that it is planned and being executed brilliantly....

it's nanny BS

Driver’s hours. That’s what I was asking about. Drivers of all kinds(taxi, tour buses, gas trucks, etc.) have to keep a daily record of every hour they are on the road. The idea is they have to schedule ‘rest’ somewhere in their schedule. if they are driving too many back-to-back schedules, or driving twelve and fourteen hour days, when they hit a certain number of hours they have to take a day or two off just to comply with the laws of how many hours driven within a certain time period.. It’s a safety thing.

Absolutely agreed. Speaking of danger, didn't really want to get into our divisive politicians, but mixing victimhood, blame, entitlement, ideology and boredom is a dangerous entropy brew IMHO.

So sorry about your folks.
Been there, done that.
Hopefully your family is "functional" and there aren't any created wars for you to battle through as well.

Freaking hilarious!
I related (sadly and somewhat personally) to the misappropriation of the thought: "If you are different then you are a child and hence unable to handle your own life."

thanks, I think I understand it all now. stupid government nannies trying to tell an industry how to run itself with no damned clue

Individual success is the antithesis of the collective. Makes the losers look like losers and mobs of losers can be dangrrous (as well as entertaining)

I appreciate the well wishes and the acknowledgement of the value that I give. I don't need such acknowledgement, but rewards are nice.

Thanks, Robbie. They are appreciated.

I know I will need it, too.

Thanks for your clear and compelling story! I think your conclusion is correct for ALL public education btw. Notice how business and entrepreneurs are the evil villains in almost every academic story.. critical thinking and independence are the antithesis of the collective.