[Paleopsych] So Long, Elevator Friends

Tue Jul 27 20:24:05 UTC 2004

I'm a frustrated college professor, really. Dissertation politics 
prevented my getting one accepted, which I was too naive at the time to 
understand and probably too naive today. (Long story here.) So I took a 
"temporary" job with the feds and am still here today. This was in 1969. I 
was able to get a dissertation accepted, under James M. Buchanan, under 
whom I would have written it at U.Va., this time at George Mason in 1985. 
But I had a family to support and did not want to start out all over again 
as an untenured assistant professor, even if I could have found a job.

ED programs can't work, for a simple metaphysical reason: learning comes 
from within, not from without. Also, the lower education programs (those 
for higher ed are for student aid) are premised upon egalitarian genetic 
assumptions that are unsupported by data-driven arguments. But even if I 
did have a way to make them work, I am not important enough to be paid 
attention to (Howard will have many explanations for this.)

On 2004-07-27, Steve opined [message unchanged below]:

> If it's that bad, how can you continue to work for
> them?  Aren't you wasting the time of your life?
> Or is there something you can do to make ED
> programs produce results?
>
> Steve Hovland
> www.stevehovland.net
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Premise Checker [SMTP:checker at panix.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, July 27, 2004 11:21 AM
> To:	The new improved paleopsych list
> Subject:	RE: [Paleopsych] So Long, Elevator Friends
>
> As it happens, the bureaucracy I work for, namely the U.S. Department of
> Education, does nothing useful at all, except give jobs to educrats. I've
> been working the section that evaluates E.D. programs for 19 years, and
> not a single evaluation study has shown that an E.D. program has improved
> learning. And that from trying very hard to find evidence, bypassing
> the usual scruples of data analysis that would get pass peer review in
> a social science journal. But Congress keeps appropriating the money.
>
> There are useful bureaucracies, to be sure, but one is totally
> disconnected from reality, the clinical definition of psychosis, to
> believe in E.D. in the teeth of evidence to the contrary.
>
> We are not at all in disagreement, unless of course you have information
> that shows the efficacy of E.D. programs. The fact stands as of now that
> those with the means and the greatest interest of showing such efficacy
> have failed to do so.
>
> Frank
>
> On 2004-07-27, Steve opined [message unchanged below]:
>
>> A bureaucracy brings you safe drinking water,
>> your electric lights, the roads you drive on,
>> the chair you sit on...  on and on  :-)
>>
>> Without bureaucracies you are dead.  Literally.
>>
>> That is not to say that all bureaucracies are good
>> or efficient.  But the world runs on them, and
>> cannot run without them.  Private companies
>> are bureaucracies too.
>>
>> Steve Hovland
>> www.stevehovland.net
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From:	Premise Checker [SMTP:checker at panix.com]
>> Sent:	Tuesday, July 27, 2004 10:37 AM
>> To:	paleopsych at paleopsych.org; World Transhumanist Ass.; Individual Sovereignty; Psychology at WTL
>> Subject:	[Paleopsych] So Long, Elevator Friends
>>
>> Scroll down to "elevator music." There are a great many people where I
>> work that are so psychotic (i.e., detached from reality) that they believe
>> the bureaucracy accomplishes useful things. And these people are so urgent
>> about their work that they continue charging past you as you try to talk
>> to them and shout their answers at you, the way Teddy Kennedy makes
>> reporters chase after him.
>>
>> They will, however, talk to you while waiting for the elevator (until
>> someone who shares their psychosis turns up). I call them my "elevator
>> friends." The news item suggests that they will be my friends no more, for
>> they will be able to read elevator news instead of talking.
>>
>> -----------------
>>
>> Wired News: Handheld Computer-Phone Is Here
>> http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64345,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7
>>    08:40 AM Jul. 26, 2004 PT
>>
>>    T-Mobile USA and Hewlett-Packard will introduce the first-ever
>>    handheld computer that also works as a cell phone and can tap into the
>>    Internet using high-speed wireless hot spots next month, the companies
>>    said.
>>
>>    T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom, said it expects the
>>    HP iPAQ Pocket PC h6315 to boost use of its mobile phone service and
>>    its high-speed short-range networks known as Wi-Fi hot spots in cafes
>>    and book stores.
>>
>>    As well as carrying phone calls, the device, only available from
>>    T-Mobile USA, also has links for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, another
>>    short-range wireless standard used to connect items such as handsets
>>    and headphones. It goes on sale in August, the companies said, and
>>    will cost $500.
>>
>>    - - -
>>
>>    Beyond DVD: The Japanese unit of Microsoft said the company's
>>    next-generation operating system, Longhorn, would be compatible with
>>    HD DVD, an advanced form of DVD technology.
>>
>>    The show of support from Microsoft is considered a boost
>>    for the next-generation, blue-laser DVD technology, which is promoted
>>    by Japanese conglomerates NEC and Toshiba.
>>
>>    Blue light, with a shorter wavelength than the red laser used in
>>    conventional DVD recorders, can read and store data at the higher
>>    densities needed for high-definition recordings.
>>
>>    - - -
>>
>>    Elevator music is out: Gannett and a young company the media giant
>>    bought in April are teaming up to cash in on those awkward moments of
>>    avoiding eye contact that can make an elevator a place of silent
>>    suffering.
>>
>>    Enter elevator video. Gannett and Captivate Network, along
>>    with a handful of smaller foreign and domestic rivals, see the
>>    elevator as a sort of upwardly mobile theater where viewers can digest
>>    news headlines, sports scores, weather updates and -- of course --
>>    advertisements.
>>
>>    For better or worse, the companies are persuading skyscraper building
>>    managers to pay to install the flat screens in their elevators. The
>>    screens provide a silent, video-only stream of media content. Part of
>>    the screen is devoted to text and graphics supplied by media partners
>>    such as CNN, The Weather Channel and The Wall Street Journal, with a
>>    smaller section featuring ads.
>>
>>    - - -
>>
>>    Wearable music: A new jacket from Rosner, a German clothing firm,
>>    incorporates a 128-MB MP3 player that is controlled through cloth
>>    buttons on the left sleeve. Headphones are built into the collar.
>>
>>    The jacket also has a hands-free cell phone microphone tucked into the
>>    collar, which works with phones on the Bluetooth short-range wireless
>>    standard. A tiny electronic module containing the music player and the
>>    battery, which the company says is good for up to eight hours per
>>    charge, can be slipped out so the jacket can be washed.
>>
>>    Rosner and its electronics partner, German computer chipmaker Infineon
>>    Technologies, said the limited-edition garment is "geared toward
>>    technologically progressive, fashion-conscious men." Priced at $725,
>>    it will be available through the Rosner website starting in August
>>    for delivery in February.
>>
>>    - - -
>>
>>    Sun on sale: Sun Microsystems has rolled out new servers and
>>    workstations based on industry-standard components and cut the price
>>    for an entry-level product.
>>
>>    The new Sun Fire V40z server uses four Advanced Micro Devices Opteron
>>    microprocessors per box, twice the number of its previous Sun Fire
>>    servers. Sun also announced the Sun Java W1100z and Sun
>>    Java W2100z workstations, which also use AMD's Opteron processors. All
>>    three are available immediately.
>>
>>    Sun, which has faced criticism in recent years for selling only
>>    high-end, high-priced servers using proprietary technology, has pushed
>>    aggressively to offer cheaper servers in a bid to boost market share
>>    that has eroded since the dot-com bust in late 2000.
>>
>>    - - -
>>
>>    Compiled by Laila Weir. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
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