Letters to the Editor
carlton
Published Letters: 15 Editor's Choice: 3
-
Sept 11th is a Republican Holiday
[Read the article: The false path to 9/11]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Bush and his toadies have done everything in their power to turn one of the defining moments of 21st century into a Republican holiday. How can I ever remember any of the real emotions I felt in the days after the event when this event was so throughly used to bolster the Republican Party? Every time I see a flag in this country it makes me feel clausterphobic and reminds me "to watch what I say".
-
Programming is Hard
[Read the article: Why Johnny can't code]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Maybe it is the long day speaking, but programming is a highly advanced intellectual activity dealing with complex, poorly understood and unpredictable inputs and outputs. Depending on your child’s age, can they grasp the level abstraction we are talking about? It takes many us in this career a lifetime of actual working with these concepts to master this skill and it all gets thrown out the door once you add people to the equation.
Modern programming languages were created to abstract the union of dissimilar technologies and allow us to reduce the complexity to something the human mind can comprehend and, most importantly, influence so we can solve real problems. I commend you for trying to encourage your child to learn how to think in this paradigm, but an old-fashioned language like BASIC will not equip your child with relevant skills or knowledge used in modern software development – the most important skills are people skills, not how great a coder you are. It is far more important to know how to communicate your ideas, influence others, build trust, provide useful feedback and listen to your co-workers, peers and customers.
I would consider the software concepts inherent in BASIC, i.e. structured programming, to be nearly 20 to 30 years old and were made mostly obsolete with the object revolution of the early 1990's (which has not been completely accepted be all in our community). IMEO, asking for a tool that is outdated and inappropriate to teach a way of thinking which is not relevant is like asking your child to learn how to use a slide rule and sine-cosine charts to calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle when other children are using electronic calculators. Sure you can do it the old-fashioned way by hand, but do you really gain anything beyond an esoteric notion that this is really a pain in the posterior?
-
Worrisome Events
[Read the article: Keep the Great Writ alive]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am quite troubled that a democratic government can even think it can deny habeas corpus for anyone under its review. This is a fundamental characteristic of a free, democratic society - you have the right to be charged with a crime, confront your accusors and challenge the evidence against you. We fought a revolution (and a civil war) for this right - people literally died for this ideal.
If we deny this to "terrorists", what is to stop the government from denying this fundamental right to another group without representation (or lobbyists)? This is the type of stuff that makes people want to leave the country.
-
Shifting the blame
[Read the article: Scapegoating gay Republicans]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This story is a tempest in a teapot and distraction of the real issue - the Republican leadership knew about Foley's advances on the pages and did nothing. There is absolutely NO evidence any gay elected officials or staffers colluded or "covered-up" for Foley. What we do have evidence is the Republican leadership knew about Foley's actions for many months (may years) and did nothing. All of this non-story does is muddy the waters, so the real snakes can get away and leaving gay and lesbian people gasping for air.
-
Disagree with Cary
[Read the article: Should we go home for Christmas -- even if we can't afford it?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I have to say - don't go. Why do people always toss out their sensibilities when it comes to Christmas? We eat that extra cookie, have that one last drink, buy that extra present or take that trip we cannot afford. The author of this letter has his own family - his girlfriend and new baby. The persons agitating for their return are trying to recapture Christmas Past where the "original" family was the center. Well, times have changed and people have new families, new responsibilities and the ties that bound the "original" family are not as permanent as we all once believed. The family (and the author) need to let go of Christmas Past and embrace Christmas Present.
If the author wants to go, then go. If he doesn't want to go (and it sounds like he does not), then he should not let family obligation and guilt goade him into going. This is Christmas, not a funneral. Do what you want for a change and skip the guilt! If they are family, they will understand since many of them have the same responsibilities and obligations to their own families.
-
Not exactly right
[Read the article: Theater of blood]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As I understand it, the author was incorrect in his understanding of the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi's Code was an early attempt to mitigate revenge stating an agrieved party can take no more than an eye, if they lost one.
-
Communication
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why can't the crew tell us any of this? Why can't they tell us that the plane is 10th in line? Or lift off is in 10 minutes? Instead we just sit there, crammed in, the air is stuffy, maybe we would like a glass of water and mostly waiting...