adsii1970
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Status Updates posted by adsii1970
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You know you really don't want to grade student assignments when:
- You fold the clothes in the dryer which your wife said she would fold when she gets home from work.
- You decide to go through the stack of paperwork which has been sitting on the corner of the desk for a week.
- Repot three plants.
- Wash the pots the plants came out of (don't want to store dirty pots).
- Think of a new craft for KSP.
- Consider keeping a vanilla copy of KSP just so you can play without mods.
- Spend thirty minutes playing the piano...
Yeah, one of those days...
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Well, Monday starts the last week of my summer courses for both the college and the university I teach at. But here's the good news - I think I can have all the stuff graded and final grades posted as long as I have a four-day grading binge. I've already started doing some of the grading of the smaller assignments already submitted before the due date, which will help.
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Spaceflight in the news:
Boeing CST-100 Starliner: Next-Generation Spaceship
First paragraph excerpt:
The Boeing Co. is one of two companies funded by NASA to develop spacecraft for the International Space Station. Its CST-100 Starliner is expected to fly with an astronaut on board in August 2018.
The firm is best known for its large passenger jets. In space, it has performed work on the space shuttle and the ISS, among other projects.
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-min.thumb.png.fb3c949e2ce1e6759480129a01c87551.png)
Quotesomething other than the continual line of capsules...
From an engineering perspective, it's better to go with capsules, which is why they're used. Developing new spaceflight hardware takes an extraordinary amount of time if you want to make it safe, which is why you see such a reliance on older designs. What's known to work is much cheaper than designing new stuff, and even the shape- such as a capsule- has to take into consideration Gs, aerodynamics, controllability, weight, etc.
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Talk about completely cool and Kerbal at the same time...
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Just one of those days...
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Just one of those songs which is one of my go-to songs when I get a little down...
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Oh, now this is good...
Just had a phone call from a student who thought that I was giving exams this week...
Ok, before I blast the student, for the past three years, I have been experimenting with exams. I no longer give in-class exams. Exams this semester, as was the last few, done at home with the student emailing the exams in a Word document. And because of this, there's really no need to use exam week. So for my classes, the last exam of the courses were due last night at 11:59 p.m. EDT/10:59 p.m. CST...
So, here's the conversation:
The Student: So what gave you the right not to do the final exam during exam week?
Me: Because my exam is technically not a final. I do not like final comprehensive exams. So, since the fourth exam for the class is technically not a final, I don't have to give it during exam week.
The Student: When did you start doing this? I must have missed the announcement in class.
Me: I've been doing this for three years. And yes, you missed every class in this course during the semester except three --
The Student: I didn't call you up for you to be a smart ass...
Me: I'm glad you didn't. But I'm not being a smart ass. I am explaining how you could have missed hearing it. But then again, it was also listed in Black Board and in the syllabus. Guess you didn't read those either --
The Student: Now you're just being mean. I didn't ask to fail your course -
Me: Yes, you're right. You demanded to fail my course -
The Student: How did I demand to fail your course?
Me: Not only did you not show up, but you didn't do any other work... at all...
The Student: So, what can I do to pass your class?
Me: Take it again next semester...
I can't understand why the student hung up on me!
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Life is almost back to normal. Last night, the final exams were due. I can normally grade about 20 an hour. Out of 179 students, only 137 bothered to submit them.
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From the astronomy and planetary sciences news today...
I found this article about Mercury in my news feed this morning. It's humbling to realize that as much knowledge as we think we have about our own Solar System, there is still so much we simply do not know.
Mercury's thin, dense crust
Excerpt from the article:
A planetary scientist has used careful mathematical calculations to determine the density of Mercury's crust, which is thinner than anyone thought. After the probe's mission ended in 2015, planetary scientists estimated Mercury's crust was roughly 22 miles thick. One University of Arizona scientist disagrees.
Link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180427100306.htm
Michael M. Sori. A thin, dense crust for Mercury. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2018; 489: 92 DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.02.033
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Helpful advice when you need your professor's help...
Never make the decision to call your professor at 3:30 a.m. to discuss your grade. There is a good chance if you weren't failing before the phone call, you've guaranteed a lower grade in the course. Why? Because it's hard to be impartial or unbiased in grading knowing your paper was already a week late and you woke your professor up to discuss your need to pass the class.
And it does not help to call your professor back at 10:30 a.m. to ask them if they've graded said late paper...
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Whaaaaaallleeeessssss
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Going to ignore @Dman979's comment. Those were my observations about an informal survey.
But you know, I could turn it into an official survey and see what happens...
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Ok, comments?
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'It's simply not possible!' Is a common answer, but not a good one. If something doesn't seem possible to me, i scavenge the interwebs for answers, this is what i found:
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But here's the thing, even that website presents the "this is what we believe happened" thing. There are simply too many variables to say for certain.
In this article, What do we really know about Dino DNA?, there are some interesting statements made. Now I am not arguing the young Earth theory, but what I am saying is what if? What if there were dinosaurs or some sort of dinosaur descendant that lived around the same time as humans?
There are too many times we, as a species, have said "this must be the explanation" that we are not only wrong, but blinded by our own belief in ourselves.
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This week is the last week of course instruction for all my classes except one. That one still has another two weeks left. I've almost finished grading all the paper drafts. Next week, after Wednesday, I will be grading final exams. I decided to do something new this semester. I played around with my grade book and with the help of Excel, took an average of every students' last three exams. I then used that to set an expected grade for the final. Any student who would fail the course even if they made an A on the final, I've notified them it would be in their best interests to drop the class.
Students who would remain unchanged and are going to earn an A in the course anyway, I am going to exempt them from the final. No need to beat a dead horse, right?
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Quote
You'll definitely make the students who do have to take the final upset by exempting others.
How so? If an "A" student has a grade that will essentially be unaffected by their final exam grade, how is it favoritism? I honestly do not choose who makes As or who fails the course. The students do that as individuals - and on their own.
QuoteIt gives a distinct perception of unfairness and favoritism.
Again, how? How is it unfair? It requires a lower performing student to take it? The way my class is, the last exam is technically not a final and I use a point system which builds points, not take them away. A student with a B will be able to move up because they earn extra points. A student who already has an A has nowhere else to go. There's no grade higher than an A...
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How so? If an "A" student has a grade that will essentially be unaffected by their final exam grade, how is it favoritism? I honestly do not choose who makes As or who fails the course. The students do that as individuals - and on their own.
I know it is not favoritism; you're not that kind of person. I never meant to imply you picked favorites.
But it is very easy to perceive as favoritism. Put yourself in a student's shoes when they learn that their classmate is exempted from the final they have to take. It smacks of unfairness and subjectivity.
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But it is very easy to perceive as favoritism. Put yourself in a student's shoes when they learn that their classmate is exempted from the final they have to take. It smacks of unfairness and subjectivity.
Not if they are honest in the comparison of their grade to their classmate's. And you know students talk...
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Excessive use of filler in the project and it stinks really bad. Loss of 25 points. You may correct your errors and submit another draft.
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Illegal comment in a term paper. Loss of a passing grade. You cannot say "I hate this class" 97 times (yes, I counted) on a page and expect it to count as a part of the minimum page requirement for your project paper.
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I've seen several comments today asking for some sort of "defined" objectives for KSP. Do you folks think it could deserve a thread or should I just throw some mission ideas in a profile status post? I'm curious and would like to know.
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I agree. I love free-play. But what I was asking is should we create a thread of mission objectives for folks? But in my personal opinion, I love setting my own goals. Besides the Kerny game, I have three others going right now. And one has been a source of continual laughter for both my daughter and me. It involves doing the most wildest contraptions and watching the outcomes.
How outrageous are these contraptions? Well, one is the cockpit must be totally ejectable and start off detached from all fuel tanks except it's emergency evacuation engine. Man, I wish I had taken a few screen shots now. Some of them flew well, but for others, let's say we have about 15 Kerbals stuck in Kerbin orbit and a few who have been flung out and are orbiting (in only their emergency craft) around Kerbol.Next flight we have, I will do a screen shot.
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Continuing to grade, I came across this gem in a student's term paper. The course is World Civilization to 1500:
QuotePeople from various religions would and still to this day travel to teach others about there religion. They are never forcing others to believe in what they tell them they are just telling their beliefs and practices to others in hopes people see the importance they see.
There is so much wrong with this statement. So much wrong...
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@Daveroski, while the subject is history, there is a language proficiency component. It is this way across disciplines. It does not do any good to have knowledge about a subject but no way to communicate that knowledge in a standard language format.
I've been teaching at the university level since 2004. In each of the universities I have worked at, each has had the requirement in every disciplinary field that students must demonstrate proficiency in English. This is one of the reasons why, as in the case of the major research assignment in my course, a student's use of English is a part of the grading matrix. In fact, here's what I look for in a project paper:
- The student's ability to state a thesis (argument or theory) and then prove it with data.
- The student's ability to use historical data as that proof to support their thesis.
- The student's ability to cite that data. I view history as a pseudo-science. It does not do anyone any good to do research and not allow others to verify the data on which you base your conclusions.
- The student's ability to use standard American (or in some cases, British) English.
In this small excerpt, there were two major problems - the use of the English language and the "history". Do each of the major world religions (and I am only referring to the top ten) have some sort of missionary? Yes, this cannot be disputed. Do missionaries force conversions? Yes, they have in the past. There's the Moorish invasions which led to the Crusades, there's the Spanish exploration of South and Central America, the Spanish Inquisition, nearly 1,000 years of forced conversions at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church.
Then there is the long history of wars fought over religion. The Second War of Kappel (1531) had armies of Catholics and Protestants fighting one another, leaving somewhere around 700 casualties. The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) saw the death of over 150,000 people and was fought between Sunni and Shi'ites. The Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005) witnessed the death of over 2,000,000 and was fought between Muslims and Christians, much like the First Sudanese Civil War. And I've not even mentioned the Crusades, The German Peasant's War, The French Wars of Religion, the numerous wars in England, and the 30 Years' War.
The opinion was fine but only if she had some sort of historical fact to back up her claims. The part of the research project I quoted was actually one of the better written sentences of the paper. But where it might make a good philosophy paper, it is not a good historical paper. And one of the comments even stated " Only knowledge of the subject being taught should be considered" bears witness that the student does not understand history.
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All correct, rational and logical and the place she is talking about clearly doesn't exist.
Just imagine though how different and wonderful that world would be.
The facts are unfortunately much colder.
Back in the day, we feared and respected our teachers. The thought of rising up and doing a teach physical harm... that was a line that none of us crossed. Even raising your voice or speaking in anger was a no-no.
Some teachers were just awful teachers and should have been vetted more fully and the teachers should have policed themselves much better than they did.
When one was caned at school for instance, it wasn't even so much the caning that students were afraid of. It was more the humiliation of being punished in front of your peers. Feeling all their eyes on you as you made your way to the stage in assembly where the cane would be administered. Everyone knew that you had reached the ceiling of tolerance and were now going to be 'put in your place'.Now students have no fear of their teachers and when the fear left, so did the respect. As a species, humans have put themselves on a pedestal and believe their young have qualities that they simply do not possess. They are teased constantly on TV with commodities that neither they nor their parents can afford.
They can go to school in expensive clothing, setting themselves apart from their peers and even their teachers. They are allowed to use and carry technology that takes the individual thought out of their studies. In many cases around the world, exams have been simplified to raise the number of students who pass.Students are taught that degree level jobs ensure wealth and respect.
' One simply must have a degree to be anything in this world...'
You have degrees. How are things on the Wealth and respect front for you?
How many people do you know with degrees? How many of them do you respect?
I went to school for several more years than many of my peers.I don't feel that I am more respected than anyone else. I'm certainly not incredibly wealthy either.I don't envy you your job and I have the utmost respect that you are doing it. I feel somewhat amazed that you can get up each day and get on with such a monumental undertaking. Knowing that most of your efforts will be futile and yet you continue to try. My hat is off to you sir.
So here I am giving you an opinion that you are not really allowed to agree with, even if you do.
History is a vital subject, possibly one of the most vital. Because as you well know, if we do not learn from our past mistakes...Any spelling or grammatical errors in this post are for entertainment purposes only. (covered!)
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@Daveroski: So many things to comment on! But here we go...
QuoteAll correct, rational and logical and the place she is talking about clearly doesn't exist.
Just imagine though how different and wonderful that world would be.
The facts are unfortunately much colder.
Yeah, I do understand this. But the world is a cruel place and not just for humans. Yesterday, during office hours, a student and I were talking about the whole global warming debate. And as I told him, the Earth has been around billions of years before us. Human existence, human industrial existence, would be the equivalent of a drop of water in an olympic-sized swimming pool. In the big scheme of things, we are nothing. And what really blew his mind is when I made a comment along the lines of "we are not essential to life on Earth. None of us is irreplaceable. Even within our own lifespan, once we die, the world continues around us..."
Your comments about the youth in the world, or at least the Western world, is pretty close to what I observe. It is natural for a young person to be driven by emotion. And that's where the West has messed up is the silencing of the voice of reason which comes from the older generations. Reason without passion is hopeless. Emotions without reason are dangerous. The two work together to bring balance.
QuoteStudents are taught that degree level jobs ensure wealth and respect.
' One simply must have a degree to be anything in this world...'
You have degrees. How are things on the Wealth and respect front for you?
How many people do you know with degrees? How many of them do you respect?
I went to school for several more years than many of my peers.I don't feel that I am more respected than anyone else. I'm certainly not incredibly wealthy either.In truth, one can make a very comfortable living and gain wealth in a trade based job.
And the lie about "one must have a degree..." yeah, it's true, if you intend to keep universities financially solvent on the backs of the student. I often get both official and unofficial warnings from the university administration because of the way I advise students. I am honest with them - if they are not doing well in their classes, I ask what they are interested in. Some are more hands-on, and I do my best to match them with a career path which will fit what they enjoy doing. In my mind, if you enjoy your job, you get paid to play. And that's important.
Yeah, the Ph.D. wasn't cheap and while it does impress some, it does not buy much more than did my high school diploma. And you're right about the respect. I have a few former students who keep in touch; one had me when I first started teaching at the university level in 2004. But it is for more than the degree they respect me. It is because of who I am. The degree may open the door, but if I am a horse's rear end, there's no respect.
I hear you, I think the local plumber I use is more financially well-off than I am. But hey, I do enjoy, most days, what I do.
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The level of conspiracy theories and nuts never seem to know no end at all.
On an exam for an on-line class I teach about the U.S. in World War II, a short essay question simply asked what were some of the factors for U.S. involvement in World War II... and unfortunately I am not teasing you.
I had a student actually submit this response:
QuoteRoosevelt and the Republicans in Congress saw the war for a way for the United States to steal more land and resources from both Europe and Asia. So Roosevelt ordered an attack on Pearl Harbor, very similar to the Japanese Mukden incident in 1931 to gain support for his and the Republican war effort. This class may teach the fake facts that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, but the intelligent should be able to see through the lies. It was Republican propaganda put in place by a republican congress, and at the order of a republican president.
Yeah, um, ok...
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@Dman979, It's so obvious from what he said.
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Yeah, I agree. But here's the problem... my job and the forum rules puts me in dangerous territory to begin with. So that's why I tried to be "forum friendly" by using the term, "well balanced" which is more user-friendly and unfortunately, less accurate.
I am literally caught between a rock and a hard place... I'd like to be able to finish that last sentence, but am sure the moderators would assign me penalty points if I were to.
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Folks, I am here, on-line, but am grading papers...
Today's tools of choice:
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Lingua Latina mortua est
Mortuus est esse.
Primo Romanos interfecit
Num occidere me, et nunc est. -
An helpful suggestion from your friendly forum professor:
The email client used by our campus' on-line portal (Black Board) allows those who are designated as "instructor users" in the system to set a delivery time for emails. Because of the way I chose to set up my courses, I always send bulk emails at 11:59 p.m. This way, the very first thing a student gets in the morning, as they check (or do not check) their email is the bulk email from me.
It is that time of the semester where it is about to get a little crazy in my life. Final projects and final exams will begin to be due over the next 14 day period. And every semester, I have had at least 15% of all students for that semester decide to turn in various assignments, some which were due the third week of the semester. So... with that said, two years ago, I noticed a trend - it now was closer to 25% waiting to the last minute to do everything.
This past fall, in ONE class of 45 students, I had 23 (that's 51%) who decided to wait to the last minute to submit a semester's worth of work. And that totally changed the way I do business in the classroom forever. So, this semester, I have become a major obstacle for the student who has decided to make procrastination their lifestyle.
Here's the email I sent out at 11:59 p.m. last night:
SpoilerAs stated in the course syllabus:
PROJECT PAPER (300 points) 25% of course grade: There is one major writing project in this course, consisting of a five to seven-page response paper. The paper will be completed in stages and each stage must be completed before a final project paper can be accepted. Please see the course’s calendar for due dates and the project paper writing guide for more information about the requirements of the paper.
Late papers are strongly discouraged and will lose 10% of its total point value per day late (if your final project paper is 3 days late, and your paper has earned 124 points, your adjusted point total for the project would be 87 points).
The project paper is to be completed in stages and must be completed in sequence order. A final draft of the project paper cannot be submitted for credit if the previous stages, as defined in the paper writing guide, are not completed and submitted by the respective due date.
If you have not completed both Part 2 and Part 3 of the paper project, you not only lose 80 possible points for the entire project, but I will not accept your rough draft. Parts 2 and 3 were due, at the end of March. At this point, two weeks after Part 3 was due and an entire month after part 2 was due, I am no longer accepting the outlines for a grade. Please see the grading policy in the course syllabus for late assignments.
If you do not submit a rough draft, I will not grade the draft you send as a final draft. It will be graded as a rough draft, providing you've submitted parts 2 and 3, and will be worth 60 points, not 150 (which is the value of the final draft).
If you have already discussed your paper with me regarding late assignments and I gave you an extension, then this does not apply to you.
AS
This morning, when I began working through the new round of emails which began around 6:30 this morning, I came across this gem:
QuoteI read you're email this morning and think you are being unfare. I have more than just you're class in my life. It isn't like this is an important class - its' HISTERY!!!!!
I have talked to some of my friends. There professors don't mind late work. There professors are understanding that there are things more important than class. I don't have time to do the work from you're class, algebra, English, and my nursing clases. There's too much work I have to do in the real classes besides you're's.
I don't have time to do everything you want. I will do the final project and you will grade it. I am going to see my adviser today and complain about you're unrealistic expectations.
I will need to take you're final exam early. I will be leaving on a cruise on May 2.
Ok, folks... here's the deal. When you send an email to a professor and you immediately begin accusing them of ruining your life, your chance to remain in college, or any other "student" travesty, you are inviting that professor to not work with you. You're almost begging for them to become the coldest person in the room to you. In fact, I would go as far as saying you've demanded them not to work with you.
Secondly, when you cannot even spell or use the right form of a word, you are highlighting how much of a moron you really are. You are showing the professor a complete lack of professionalism. And again, you are highlighting how little you value education.
And then there's the "my other friend's professors aren't as uncooperative as you are..." garbage, you are trying to cause the professor to second-guess their actions. It does nothing but make us even more mad at you. First, you made the decision to not do the assignment on time. Then you claim we are the ones ruining your life because of the lack of effort you've put into the class. And then you frost that cake with the false comparison to other professors. Professors talk; we may not like each other, but we talk. Sure, your friend's professor that accepts late work probably is a volleyball instructor. But in most real academic fields, late work over a week is normally not tolerated. Ever.
Go to your advisor. Please. In fact, I beg you to. Go to your advisor and complain about my course. Your advisor stuck you in the course for a reason, and part of that is the reputation of the professor teaching the course. For every one student who complains about a professor, you'll normally find seven to ten who will praise the same professor. Besides, your advisor has NO SAY on how your professor runs their course. None.
And then, there's the demand made to accommodate another poor decision. You've booked a cruise that happens during finals week and after blasting your professor, you want to ask for an early exam date? Yeah, hell no. You can take it with everyone else OR you can go ahead on your cruise. But I'm under no obligation to help you at all, especially with your bad attitude towards the course. Nada... no compassion given... In fact, this movie clip reminds me exactly of how I feel about this kind of garbage:
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That's great, and all, but have you ever taken an engineering course with a Russian professor who talks in a whisper so low you can only hear him from three seats in the front, takes 15 minute breaks in the middle of class to smoke a cigar, and changes assignments around so frequently your planner looks like a graveyard for Wite-Out bottles?
(Nothing against Russian professors who talk in whispers, take smoke breaks, and change assignments around, of course.)
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@Dman979: No, but then again, I am not taking an engineering course with a Russian professor...
Sorry!
But I will confess. Until two years ago, I had a serious Diet Coke addiction. I would drink two 20 ounce bottles (that's roughly .6 liters per bottle) per class. And on campus, I teach classes two days a week, three classes each day. So, yeah, the smart podium looked like a bottle cap graveyard!
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An helpful suggestion from your friendly forum professor:
Just because you live in the same apartment complex as your professor, do not think that when you see them outside it is an invitation to come and see what they are doing.
Also, do not think it is okay to go over to your professor's dwelling with a family member to discuss your grade. Within the United States, we have a law (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) which prevents your professors from disclosing information to any third party - and in the case of my university - without written consent. It never ends well for the student.
So, can a student go to their professor's house? Yes, but only when an invitation by the professor has been extended. Since 2004, I have held five student events at my abode. Why, you ask? Three were because I had students who had earned service learning awards AND I was their advisor. The other two were to celebrate certain milestones (when I was awarded my Ph.D., I invited the students from my three courses who were in Phi Alpha Theta) and when I was asked to chair a senior history conference on the Cold War.
SpoilerIn today's adventure, the student verbally told me, in front of his father, he did not want me to discuss his grade. According to FERPA, even IF the parents are paying for the student's university education, I cannot legally disclose any information about their course performance - to include attendance. So, when this kid told me not to discuss it, I legally cannot.
Dad wasn't too happy, either.
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i do not know how many will remember, but today is the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission...
Apollo 13's harrowing week in space began 48 years ago
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Apollo-13-s-harrowing-week-began-45-years-ago-6196402.php
Extract:
This week marks 48 years since the lunar-bound crew of Apollo 13 ran into mechanical trouble on their way to the Moon, necessitating a life-and-death operation at the Manned Spacecraft Center -- now known as Johnson Space Center -- in order to engineer a way for the three-man team to return home alive.
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Ok, so this weekend will be spent grading lots of assignments. But I am actually stoked. I am nearing the end of the semester and already have a few things I am looking forward to getting done. So, for those of you who are interested in knowing, here's my list of April and May's list:
- Another chapter of Kerny (I am hoping by next week).
- Finish the 1.4 bug hunter images.
- Update InFlightFlagSwitcher to 1.4.2
- Chapter navigation on the entire Kerny's Journal thread. If you look at the at the end of the chapter, this is what each chapter will have.
- Nohochacyum's light curves will be finished. I will begin work on the inner three rocky worlds and anticipate having the first serious update in a while by the end of May. this update will include all the inner rocky worlds and the new light curves. If I can figure it out, I also plan to add asteriods into an orbit between the rocky worlds and Nohochacyum.
- Update Kerny and the gang to 1.4.2 (this is already a work in progress).
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Just looked at your link to the Transport Tycoon forum page. Was one of my favorite games until it quit working with my version of Windows...
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Have you tried OpenTTD ?
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I spend more time on this forum than I do the other social media places I belong. Sure, I have a Facebook account and I'm also on another forum called Simtropolis, but by far, my on-line home is here. I've not been as active on here for the last month for a couple of reasons - and just so everyone knows, I'm not going anywhere. I had to take a step back to keep my violations on the forum low.
With the new DLC and the new version of KSP, there has been a subtle shift in the forum. The division between the PC players and the console players have always been there. But it seems, from my perspective, the DLC and ongoing issues with the console version have made the division worse. Then there's the influx of new forum members striving to make their mark on the forum. But this is where we all need to remember the "golden rule of Internet decorum": on the forum, treat others the way you'd want others to treat your grandmother. This unofficial rule has seemingly either been forgotten or simply ignored.
This forum has been my escape from the real world. And I have made a lot of good friends here. But because of the shift in the forum's general attitude (in many threads, there is almost non-stop insults and personal attacks from folk), I took a step back. I teach at the university level and endure this attitude in real life on the campus. I have never been about silencing people, but about having open dialogue. But on the campus, there are those, as I am beginning to see here, who attempt to silence folks they disagree with through profanity and personal attacks. They also expect others to do their will, and if not, belittle and again, use personal attacks.
Recently, there was a situation arise where I felt I had no alternative to report a post. Believe it or not, being the free speech and individual rights person I am, I don't like reporting posts. But this forum has been, since the very beginning, designed to where your grandmother can read over your shoulder and not be embarrassed over what she is reading. And for this, I commend @SQUAD and the entire moderator team.
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You are absolutely right. It's a shame that a person who is only trying to express their opinion is often labeled as being "racist" or "intolerant" when in fact they are neither. In fact, it is the person committing the attack that is intolerant of the person he is attacking. To the attacker, the only opinion he can tolerate is the opinion that agrees with him. Personal attacks have no place in this forum. Maybe it's time for another positive forum movement.
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