Another News Dump
Back in elementary school, I loved playing "tag" (more like chasing the girls around). In out litigious society, simple kids games such as tag are seen as dangerous. At Willet Elementary School in Massachusetts, school administrators have banned the playing of tag or any other chase game because they’re scared that they will get sued if a kid gets hurt while playing. How long will it be before the kids aren’t allowed to move a muscle (including talking) because they’re scared of being sued? I think that instead of banning tag, we should start fining parents who sue schools because their kid got hurt playing a child’s game at school. We need to do something to stop these stupid lawsuits. Do you think the recess supervisors (probably the kid’s teachers) aren’t hurt enough just knowing that a kid got hurt on their watch? If my parents were like parents these days, the Heath Public Schools system in Ohio would have become bankrupt years ago. Kids are going to get hurt. It’s part of being a kid. You need to learn how to pick yourself up and walk it off. We’re just going to end up raising a generation of pussies who sue every time the smallest thing happens to them. (Crap! It’s too late. Hence, this story.)
This just in: Kids who are confident in their math ability are worse at math that those who are not. Seems counterintuitive, but a worldwide study has confirmed it. Guess what? American students are confident in their math abilities. Of course, we are most definitely not the best nation in the world when it comes to cranking out good math students.
The Boy Scouts of America have held high standards throughout their history. Some scout troops in Los Angeles however, are lowering theirs’ now, thanks to the MPAA. The MPAA is pushing a patch (not a merit badge) about copyright law in America. While this might not sound bad initially, you have to keep in mind that the MPAA is sponsoring this patch. The patch emphasizes what you cannot do with copyright material. It never mentions fair use, public domain works, or the fact that copyright expires. These are the rights that we, as consumers, need to protect. Industry, however, would like nothing more than for these rights to go away. Then, they can always charge for works for all eternity, and doing something like making a backup copy of a copyright material (like copying a music CD) will become illegal. Of course, these important rights are never mentioned in the materials for the patch, because, if you don’t know you have the rights, you put up less resistance when they are taken away.