Disqus - Latest Comments for davidasposted

Re: Debt Protesters Disrupt Student-Aid Group’s Parade

davidasposted — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 08:42:20 -0000

From the article: '... shouting, "Go to college, get in debt!" and "Student debt IS a crisis!" (a response to a debate earlier in the day in which conference attendees voted in favor of the side arguing it was not).'

I can understand why protestors would be angry when NASFAA makes an official declaration that student debt is not a crisis, when for so many of them (and other observers) it obviously is.

Re: A Basic Truth of John Tory

davidasposted — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 10:06:50 -0000

Amalgamation may be here to stay, but it's also worth noting from time to time that the main reason why Toronto cannot get its act together on various issues is because of how amalgamation changed the political landscape.

Re: Social Networks for Academics Proliferate, Despite Some Scholars' Doubts

davidasposted — Tue, 19 May 2015 14:52:38 -0000

Counterpoint:

Academia.edu has much better SEO capabilities than, say, a web site that I design and publish myself. This includes improving the likelihood that papers I publish on my academia.edu will appear early in search results.

I published a paper in an edited collection two years ago that uses archival material virtually unavailable to people from the country that it originates. That paper has averaged one read per day for the past two years, many of whom are from that country. The size and strength of academia.edu has allowed me to reach people who can make genuine use of my research and ensure that it becomes more than yet another paper in yet another $150 edited collection that few people can afford.

That is something we should genuinely feel good about, I think.

Re: Toronto Zoo’s Giraffes Have a New Place to Call Home

davidasposted — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 20:04:31 -0000

You appear to be knowledgeable on this subject. Why don't you tell us what the typical roaming area (in acres) of a giraffe in its natural sub-Saharan habitat? How many acres of space do giraffes have to roam at the Toronto Zoo?

Re: Newsstand: December 12, 2014

davidasposted — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 15:14:24 -0000

My question was rhetorical. Maybe I should have phrased it differently: "Mr Universe, your obvious partisanship is clear." I refer you to the much more comprehensive reply by Chris in this same thread.

Re: Newsstand: December 12, 2014

davidasposted — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:18:23 -0000

If Harper is allowed to take credit for the vagaries of the global economy when they benefit Canadians why is he protected from taking responsibility for its failures?

Re: John Tory Sworn In as Toronto’s 65th Mayor

davidasposted — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 14:14:05 -0000

Aren't you the same commenter who recently implied that folks in Ward 7 York West are too dumb to know what they're voting for?

Re: The Uncertain Future of the Finch LRT

davidasposted — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 15:57:07 -0000

It's not an artificial threshold, it's a legal threshold that determines the representative for that word. It signals the political will of a majority of voters in the area.

I want to treat the voters in every ward like adults. The voters of Ward 7 are not stupid, misguided, or ambiguous about their desires. Neither has Mammoliti been vague about his positions. $1b has been set aside for transit on Finch in the form of LRT. Mammoliti is willing to bargain that away in exchange for more buses and a promise that sometime in the future there will be a subway in the ward. That's what they voted for by a wide margin.

If they wanted meaningful improvements to public transit in their ward, clearly they would have voted for one of the other candidates who offered such proposals.

Re: The Uncertain Future of the Finch LRT

davidasposted — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:45:43 -0000

Excellent. So this map demonstrates that between 50-55% of the electorate in Ward 7 voted; the percentage would be higher, of course, if you restricted the sample to registered voters. So while it may be true in a vague sense that "many of the don't vote," it's also clear that "a majority do vote."

So... fuck 'em if they don't like the consequences of their vote.

Re: The Uncertain Future of the Finch LRT

davidasposted — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 13:54:21 -0000

Do you know this is true? I spent the past 20 minutes looking for stats on the total number of eligible voters in Ward 7 to compare with the 2014 election results. I had no luck. I did find that in 2011 there were roughly 51,000 residents of that ward. So... [ citation needed ]

Re: Lessons from Rob Ford’s City Hall

davidasposted — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 15:44:28 -0000

Unless he lies under oath, of course.

Re: Lessons from Rob Ford’s City Hall

davidasposted — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 15:43:40 -0000

It is amazing. But contrary to the tone of a lot of anti-Ford rhetoric on these forums, the people of Ward 2 are adults. If a majority of residents wanted meaningful representation on city council they could have voted
for LaRocque or Domise. They wanted something else, so they've got it.

This outcome is good in at least a few respects. Rob Ford gets to play the don for his ward again, handing out favors in exchange for loyalty. The city gets to move on from his antics as mayor.

Ford will be a totally marginal presence in city council, which means that once again Ford Nation gets to pretend that they are victims of the 'downtown elite' and that they are 'anti-establishment' outsiders. If that is more important to them than reducing unemployment, or building affordable housing, or cleaning up the Humber River, then they got the results they wanted. Good for them!

Re: Lessons from Rob Ford’s City Hall

davidasposted — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 14:29:56 -0000

Good question, Slava.

* Rob Ford may be a racist, but that is not in itself illegal.

* Rob Ford may be a habitual liar, but that is not in itself illegal.

* Rob Ford may have pleaded no contest in Florida for drunk driving (and had a drugs possession dropped), but you cannot charge him twice for the same criminal incident.

* Rob Ford may have been recorded smoking crack cocaine, which he later
admitted, as well as confessing to other incidents of drug abuse, but
additional evidence is required for a conviction on this sort of matter.

*
Rob Ford may have been recorded threatening physical violence toward an
unknown victim, but because the threats were not specific he cannot be
charged.

* Rob Ford may have been found wandering the city on numerous occasions while drunk (and/or stoned), but he was not booked by a police officer during those incidents, so he cannot be charged.

* Rob Ford may have been identified on numerous occasions driving while
talking on his cell phone, but he was not booked by a police officer
during those incidents, so he cannot be charged.

Rob Ford may be under investigation for various crimes as part of the Project Traveler and Project Brazen 2 operations, but he has not YET been charged with a crime.

etc.

Re: Extra, Extra: Doug Ford Loves Art, Home Mail Delivery Battles, and Remembering Yusuf Ali

davidasposted — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 11:31:02 -0000

Whoever wins, I doubt that we will see you posting here on Torontoist after the election. Unless you plan to visit on your free time, of course.

Re: Public Works: Lowering Speeds to Save Lives

davidasposted — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 11:31:28 -0000

The three studies that are referenced in this article (Grundy et. al. 2009, RoSPA 2011, and Tovar and Kilbane-Dawe 2013) all indicate that reduced speed limits are only effective insofar as they are paired with "road engineering interventions," i.e. speed bumps. Unfortunately, because they are so commonly paired together, it is probably difficult to test whether the speed bumps alone would have the same effect on traffic fatalities and pedestrian safety. But no matter--there is plenty of anecdotal evidence here in Toronto that many drivers ignore the posted speed limits. You can add a new number to the sign, but if the sign is ignored... Put in speed bumps and you will force changes in driver behavior.

Re: Clearinghouse report identifies 31 million who attended college but didn't complete

davidasposted — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 23:06:15 -0000

Because while many positions do not officially require a degree, those folks who possess one are not only viewed as more attractive candidates, but they also, on average, earn a higher wage. For better or worse, the college degree has replaced the high school diploma as an entry requirement in much of the workforce.

Re: A Foreigner Teaching in America

davidasposted — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 14:24:50 -0000

Your claim about student demographics is demonstrably false, at every educational level. The closest your claim gets to reality is if you were to 1.) combine pre-k, primary, and secondary schools, 2.) remove private school data entirely, and 3.) combine all non-white races (including students who identify or are categorized as two or more races) into a single category for comparison. Even then, white students still constitute 52% of all students in 2011. Add private school data? University enrollment figures? The difference grows even further.

Source: U.S. Department of Education; Digest of Education Statistics 2013, table 203.50

Re: Verizon made an enemy tonight

davidasposted — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 22:35:11 -0000

"Unless it has some major advantage in the Porter's 5 forces that allows them to leverage more profit margin then normal."

You mean, for example, unless they maintain regional monopolies through collusion with ostensible competitors? If you are suggesting that customers who are unhappy with expensive, inefficient service from Comcast, AT&T, or Verizon can simply take their business elsewhere, you are willfully ignoring the state of competition as it truly exists in the ISP marketplace (and not in the hypothetical scenarios of the MBA classroom).

Re: Verizon made an enemy tonight

davidasposted — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 19:18:47 -0000

You mean like what Verizon is doing re: Netflix customers?

Re: Verizon made an enemy tonight

davidasposted — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 19:17:14 -0000

My current employer is a multinational corporation that posted an operating profit of $840 million last year. You could substitute the name of my employer for 'government' in your post and it would read just as accurately. Many governments are inefficient, fail to reward good employees and promote others to their level of incompetency, and the citizen suffers. Many corporations are inefficient, fail to reward good employees and promote others to their level of incompetency, and the customer suffers.

Re: The Moral Panic in Literary Studies

davidasposted — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 15:30:46 -0000

Anecdote: several years ago the English Department I attended revised its undergraduate curriculum. I asked the chair his plans were for teaching comp. He replied that the faculty were in agreement: if they offered 'pure' comp classes they would soon be expected to teach students from other programs as well. They were very worried and responded with the worst of both worlds to preserve what they had at the time: incorporate token comp instruction into the mandatory introductory genre courses. Students were very poorly served, no matter how talented the adjuncts asked to do both.

Re: Union Efforts on Behalf of Adjuncts Meet Resistance Within Faculties’ Ranks

davidasposted — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 09:23:14 -0000

In the corporate world, temp agency employees are in some respects
equivalent to adjuncts. Temps nearly always receive a slightly higher
paycheck, but lack benefits like paid leave, health care, etc.and, of
course, job security.

Re: Open Courses From America Find Eager Audiences in China

davidasposted — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 12:07:34 -0000

+1 for replying to a reply made in October 2012. Where did you unearth this fossil?

If there is no intellectual property protection in China -- and I agree with you on this point -- then what does it matter if your content is "protected" by traditional copyright measures or a CC license? Those rascally pirates will still get your content as long as you make it available.

This problem is not limited to China of course. To use analogous content, right now from anywhere in the world you get any of the copyrighted TTC lecture series (audio plus book) for free by pirating it, if you know where to look. TTC is not being compensated, the professors who created the content are not being compensated. Similarly, you can download numerous academic works published in the U.S. with traditional copyright "protections" just as easily. The pirates win.

Most academics receive very little compensation for their work under traditional publishing regime to begin with. I am sure you are familiar with the arguments for and against publishing in academic journals without compensation, etc.

I suppose I *DO* understand the intent of your original post (looking back on it a year later, heh): whether you give the videos a CC license or do not, if you put them on Chinese sites they will be pirated. I agree with you, but that is also the case here in the U.S. and all other countries as well.

Pirates will do what they do. That ship has sailed, matey!

Re: Giving Employers What They Don't Really Want

davidasposted — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 13:33:24 -0000

Remember the days when you could walk into a place of business and walk out with a job? I don't, I'm under 40.

Re: Lawmakers introduce bills requiring Obama to explain his secret interpretation of the spying laws

davidasposted — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 12:07:21 -0000

You may not agree with his sentiment, but surely you can understand Frank's exasperation. I no longer have any peers who are interested in political participation at any level (volunteering, voting, or even talking about the subject), whereas they were once informed and engaged. The past few years have done incalculable damage to our perception of how the U.S. government works and whether any change within that system is possible.

In other words, your reply no longer resonates with many idealists as it once would.

Disqus - Latest Comments for davidasposted

Re: Debt Protesters Disrupt Student-Aid Group’s Parade

Re: A Basic Truth of John Tory

Re: Social Networks for Academics Proliferate, Despite Some Scholars' Doubts

Re: Toronto Zoo’s Giraffes Have a New Place to Call Home

Re: Newsstand: December 12, 2014

Re: Newsstand: December 12, 2014

Re: John Tory Sworn In as Toronto’s 65th Mayor

Re: The Uncertain Future of the Finch LRT

Re: The Uncertain Future of the Finch LRT

Re: The Uncertain Future of the Finch LRT

Re: Lessons from Rob Ford’s City Hall

Re: Lessons from Rob Ford’s City Hall

Re: Lessons from Rob Ford’s City Hall

Re: Extra, Extra: Doug Ford Loves Art, Home Mail Delivery Battles, and Remembering Yusuf Ali

Re: Public Works: Lowering Speeds to Save Lives

Re: Clearinghouse report identifies 31 million who attended college but didn't complete

Re: A Foreigner Teaching in America

Re: Verizon made an enemy tonight

Re: Verizon made an enemy tonight

Re: Verizon made an enemy tonight

Re: The Moral Panic in Literary Studies

Re: Union Efforts on Behalf of Adjuncts Meet Resistance Within Faculties’ Ranks

Re: Open Courses From America Find Ea­ger Au­di­ences in Chi­na

Re: Giving Employers What They Don't Really Want

Re: Lawmakers introduce bills requiring Obama to explain his secret interpretation of the spying laws

Re: Open Courses From America Find Eager Audiences in China