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Coveny

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About Coveny

  • Birthday 02/29/1972

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  • Location
    Jacksonville FL
  • Favorite Area of Science
    Renewables
  • Occupation
    Windows and Cisco IT Consultant

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  1. If you aren’t familiar with gamification it is where you turn learning into a game. This can anything from leveling up as you pass courses to the content being in the form of a game. You may have seen some of the children’s games where balloons fall that have math problems and when the child gets the math correct it pops the balloon. Gamifying learning can get much more complex though, and it has shown many superior qualities to regular learning systems. Gamification help with motivation: “Some of the best examples of gamification are exergames that encourage exercise by turning physical activity into a game.” http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0141076813480996 Fortune 500 companies use games to engage employees: “The list is practically endless. Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Deloitte, Sun Microsystems, IBM, L’Oreal, Canon, Lexus, FedEx, UPS, Wells Fargo and countless others have embraced games to make workers more satisfied, better-trained and focused on their jobs, as well as to improve products and services. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2013/10/07/adam-penenberg-how-gamification-is-going-to-change-the-workplace/#535459032f3f Gamification has proven its ability to motivate and engage and our education system in America really needs the help. When you look at USA ranking in comparison with the other developed countries of the world we continue to fall further and further behind: “One of the biggest cross-national tests is the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which every three years measures reading ability, math and science literacy and other key skills among 15-year-olds in dozens of developed and developing countries. The most recent PISA results, from 2015, placed the U.S. an unimpressive 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science. Among the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which sponsors the PISA initiative, the U.S. ranked 30th in math and 19th in science.” http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/ From a very good article which gives several examples of gamification as well as some of the drawbacks and roadblocks gamification can meet: “The combination of an increased focus on student engagement and the possibilities provided by digital learning make gamification a powerful tool for educators.” and “The principles of gamification have been fully embraced by a school in two cases, at Quest to Learn (Q2L) in New York City and CICS ChicagoQuest.” https://www.worldgovernmentsummit.org/api/publications/document?id=2b0d6ac4-e97c-6578-b2f8-ff0000a7ddb6 If we want to reverse our negative trend of falling further and further behind on the global educational comparison charts we need a radical overhaul of our education system here in America. Digital is the obvious answer because not only does it low costs to update material and provide customized education it also increases motivation and engagement with the students. If America wants to take back the lead we need to start now.
  2. Then you would just be giving them money to attempt to convince them to be rational. I don't expect them to be rational in the least...
  3. I agree solar accounts for a small portion of energy productions in the US, but the growth of both residential and commercial solar power installation will be slowed because of this. (and it was booming) I will gladly give up the penance of subsides that renewables get so long as the massive subsidies that fossil fuels are removed as well. These subsidies are the ONLY reason why renewables have not reached grid parity in the majority of the US. It seems like that is the point to me, and I feel like it's going to work as planned. I don't think it's the president's understanding of economics that is in charge here, I think it's the the fossil fuel industries understand of economics. (and I feel like they understand economics just fine) I'm not a fan of tariffs in general, they stop trade and that means we sell less because we buy less. In a consumer driven capitalist economy like the US, the less money is moving the worse off we'll be. (which is why I have such an issue with the 1% hoarding the money and not spending it)
  4. The solar panel tariff. It's a forums, and there are several things discussion worthy in there if you are interested in discussing one of them I'm open to it. Nope. I'm making my case to remove/repeal the tariff, and I think it has to do with both science and politics.
  5. For the Solar panel tariff: The solar panel tariff started with solar panel-maker Suniva (who filed bankruptcy) filed the complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission. And the trade commission sided with them. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/trade-commission-decision-finds-solar-manufacturers-harmed-by-imports/ “On behalf of the entire solar cell and panel manufacturing industry, we welcome this important step toward securing relief from a surge of imports that has idled and shuttered dozens of factories, leaving thousands of workers without jobs.” -Juergen Stein, CEO and president of SolarWorld Americas https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2017/09/industry-reaction-solar-panel-tariff-ruling/ Against the Solar panel tariff Those in the solar industry installation business however are very unhappy about the tariff siting previous failed attempts. (six years ago) “The first time the United States tried to protect solar industry manufacturing jobs from foreign competition, things did not go exactly as planned. Chinese solar panel makers evaded U.S. tariffs by relocating to Taiwan, and the Chinese government retaliated with its own duties on U.S. exports of the raw material used in making the panels — leading U.S. manufacturers to lay off more than 1,000 workers and scrap a new $1.2 billion factory.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-tariffs-will-save-some-solar-jobs-and-destroy-others/2018/01/22/756feb60-fca2-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html?utm_term=.49156f9d7313 The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) estimates that the tariff “will cause the loss of roughly 23,000 American jobs this year” https://www.seia.org/news/presidents-decision-solar-tariffs-loss-america Corruption The oil, gas and coal companies stand the most to gain from sluggish growth in the renewable energy market. The raised $107 million for Trump’s inauguration, and have spent 36.1 million on federal lobbying efforts from Jan. 1 through March 31. And the money seems to be paying off: 1) Rescinding ban dumping toxic heavy metals into waterways 2) Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline 3) Rolling back the Clean Power Plan 4) Opening up protected lands to drilling and mining interests https://www.publicintegrity.org/2017/05/02/20848/oil-gas-and-coal-interests-filling-donald-trump-s-swamp-cash Going so far as to nominate them to his cabinet 1) ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State 2) Rick Perry for Secretary of Energy https://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/trump-cabinet-positions-fill-oil-gas-advocates-1453571 Closing All this in the face of climate change disasters we’re seeing in places like fires in California, flooding in Houston, and Puerto Rico four months later still has 450k people without power, and “Power may not be fully restored until May”. https://weather.com/news/news/2018-01-26-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-power-outages-restoration
  6. I got a bit of a discussion from Arte but otherwise this the last page or two of response just feels like you guys are trolling me so I'm going to stop responding now. I'll try again in a bit with a different discuss topic and see how it goes. /unfollow
  7. Please improve your reading comprehension. If something is still in a lab or in the ice somewhere... then it is on the planet. Please improve your reading comprehension. And I quote from the CDC article AGAIN "Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles". Just because YOU believe it's 100% doesn't mean it is, and the article YOU linked contradicts you... (I love when people are condescending and accusatory about the exact thing they did) You would have to find me, you would have to shoot first, and you would have to hit me in the brain, and unless you got all of it, my brain function would continue thinking. Even in your passive aggressive example you still attempt to bypass reality. Again not being able to fly is NOT a loss of freedom. Sure man. Start a poll to see if " the most wrong" is correct grammar, knock yourself out. Smoking does not "kill" or everyone who smokes would die. If someone who was really good at hitting small target blew all the brains out of your skull that would prove bullets kill. (that passive aggressive stuff is fun!) There is a correlation, and it increases the risks, but cancer kills you not smoke. Sure just look at how I respond to the people who have put forth reasonable discussion points. I've had plenty of civil conversations in this topic. You can of course quit talk about this if you prefer...
  8. On the point of climate change effecting eradication - http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up I tend to lead toward keeping it for research, which means it's not really eradicated it's just not currently in circulation, but could come back. I also agree with the point of bio-diversity allowing for better research, and therefore better cures. Didn't say you "would get cancer" that's a strawman fallacy. I said their smoke would get in your body which infringes on your freedom. The article you linked to the CDC does list "protection is complete" (or 100%) it lists "Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles". Please don't spread misinformation. Although I agree 90+% should be considered effective it is NOT "complete" protection. I wasn't trying to discuss the evolution of illness or the various misfires that some of the less scientifical community accepted vaccines have had.
  9. #1 Understand that with global warming we have many diseases that have long since been "eradicated" possibly coming back into circulation. If we plan for that and keep cultures there is always the chance that the disease could be released again by a malicious agent. So I would be interest in your thoughts on the feasibility of eradicating a disease. I like the direction though, it's a respectable one. I don't see a way to make it happen, but maybe you do, so my view is that vaccines must be indefinite. #2 And then we are back to something that isn't analogous. When you smoke you put it in the air, and it WILL get in others lungs, it's not a "risk" it's an inevitability. This is a case of your freedoms infringing on my freedoms. Vaccination isn't that way in that it may or may not matter, and it's not 100% effective so vaccinated people can still "smoke" as you put it, and in both vaccinated and unvaccinated the "smoking" is against the individuals will. (if they infected themself on purpose that would remove them from the group I'm referring too) In the context of the response it is personal use by yourself not public use, in that context they are the same thing.
  10. That's a slippery slope fallacy. Not to mention the laws could be tailor written deal with percentage of coverage that would allow for some percentage of the population to opt out, and still applying pressure to vaccinate. I'm not really sure how to deal with it though, as that's why I started this thread. (wasn't as helpful as I would have liked) Why can't you make a law exactly that way? It sure seems like to me that it could work that way. Salt thing doesn't apply as there isn't a coverage requirement and it only applies to yourself. Same is true with smoking. You don't target the people, you target the percentage. Align laws to apply pressure on those who aren't vaccinate if the percentage falls below a certain point. You may not be familiar with it but there are laws in place that prevent group homes residence levels within an area. It doesn't matter who builds the group home but there is a ratio max residence that area can support. This is very similar if opposite to what I'm talking about. It's cool and the government doesn't care if the coverage is 86%, but at 85% warnings or citations start going out to everyone who isn't vaccinated. Now I don't know that it should be everyone, or if it should be a fine or whatever, but that's what I'd like to discuss. How and where to criminalize not vaccinating from a moral standpoint. To me if the coverage requirement has been met there shouldn't be a requirement to be vaccinated as the chance of spread does NOT increase that much from 92% to 91% so the threat to society (greater good) isn't morally justified to overrule individual freedom in my opinion. If you comply with the law... why argue against it? Are you trolling me? You know that the holocaust was legal right? Legal does not equate to moral. This isn't about CAN we force vaccination, it's about SHOULD we force vaccination. There are some VERY stupid laws on the books. Why argue against laws? Really? You're trolling me now aren't you?
  11. I vaccine so this isn't a scenario that would happen. Also this discussion isn't about anecdotal evidence. As I have stated several times I personally support vaccinations, so my personal use of vaccines is in line with most of what has been post here. What I would like to discuss is the moral aspect of criminalizing anti-vaxxers when we have high levels of coverage. If the requirement is 86% and we are at 92% how do you morally send someone to jail for not making it 93%? The differences AT THAT POINT are negligible, yet everyone here wants to exaggerate and say that not vaccinating at that point equals death. I don't believe in fear mongering to get my point across. So true, but maybe some day you'll get past regurgitating talking points, and we can have that rational debate I desire. Strawman. Didn't say that it "doesn't matter". Said that the effect on society is minimal between 92% and 91%. (although there is more too it) Only "sounds a lot like" those if you haven't been listening.
  12. Because you are the most wrong. hehe It's not a freedom to prevent others from doing something, anymore than it's a freedom to be able to fly. You keep confusing your inability to alter reality with a freedom. No I haven't been presented any evidence that I'm wrong, why would I realize I'm wrong when I'm not wrong? We know no such thing. Smoking increases the chance of lung cancer, but like my grandmother who smoked her whole life and died of an aneurysm doesn't "kill" you, it's just more likely to kill you. (a concept you seem to be struggling with) Not any more than the person I was responding to. The idea that not vaccinating = death is absurd. If you guys want to go down the absurd road I'll follow ya, but I'd much rather have a rational debate about the topic at hand rather than an emotional one where the supposed "proof" is NOT VACCINATING MEANS YOU ARE KILLING PEOPLE!!!! I would tell my wife that our son is 25 I respected his decision not to wear a seatbelt, and that decision may have gotten him killed in a car crash. (not sure how my leg is going to crush his skull in the back seat but these type of scenarios aren't really about logic are they?)
  13. Ignoring the "most wrong" grammar thing. Please show me someone who has died because they didn't get a vaccine. Not someone who died from a disease, someone who died because they did NOT get a vaccine. Lets use cars because they seem to be the go to analogy. While you can still be in a car accident, you aren't automatically in a car accident because you drive a car even though it does increase the risk/likelihood. My point is hopping in a car isn't what kills you, and you can't prove otherwise when it comes to vaccines. Freedom to think about whatever you wish is unbeatable but the freedom to dance in your house, the freedom to go in the woods, be alone and enjoy nature, etc also work.
  14. He misdirects instead. It's like interviewing Kellyanne.
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