Messages

766

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: September 28, 2011, 06:53:52 PM »

Will the LDL and on screen graphics eventually be framed for the 16:9?

They already are on the HD feed.  I've heard rumors that the SD feed will eventually be letterboxed, so that all programming will be 16:9 no matter what feed is being watched.  How that will affect the SD Intellistar LDL or L-bar, however, I have no idea.

But these are just rumors, so they may or may not be true.

767

Local Forecast / Re: General LF Discussion

« on: September 28, 2011, 03:00:12 AM »

Coverage of hurricanes and other weather emergencies can be forgiven for disrupting the usual schedule - it's more important to get urgent information communicated quickly.

As for the morning shows, I guess this is when they figure the audience is most interested in weather information, and so they're likely to turn to TWC to get it than at any other time of the day, hence the regular use of local forecast segments.

But for the rest of the day... weather reporting takes a backseat, and, sadly, that now also includes the local forecasts.

768

General Discussion / Re: The Pot Belly Stove

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:11:40 AM »

Addendum:

As I mentioned earlier, many of the students I taught were under the age of 18.  While in my class, and, thus, under my care, I had the responsibility to keep them safe from harm, but, under Russian law, that was the extent of my proxy rights and responsibilities in the absence of the students' parents.  As the teacher, I had the right to require students to not use their cell phones, and the most I could do was to deprive them of the right to use it during class by having it put in a box if they absolutely couldn't control themselves, but it was returned immediately at the end of class.  If I had dared held it beyond the end of class or demanded some kind of payment for its return, I would have been arrested and charged with criminal theft of property.

I honestly can't understand how schools in the U.S. are allowed to get away with this.  Is criminal law regarding theft, or the rights of schools as parent in proxy, really that different between Russia and the United States?

769

General Discussion / Re: The Pot Belly Stove

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:06:23 AM »

Or even having to pay the teacher to just get our phone or ipod back? That's ludicrous

I can't imagine how it's not outright illegal.

Yes, schools have the right to act as parent in proxy when the students are in their care, but this has strict, if not always fully defined, limits.  Holding property belonging to or otherwise in the custody of the student until money is paid can not, in my mind, be considered a right of a parent in proxy by any stretch of the imagination.  Holding it until the end of class or until a parent retrieves it - that's reasonable to avoid disruption during class time without the ultimate deprivation of ownership or use of said object.  But forcing the parent to pay any sum of money to retrieve that property - absolutely not.  The school is not a law enforcement agency and has no right of permanent confiscation.  Anything illegal item can be dealt with by calling the police, since the police have the right to confiscate property, but schools... not according to any law I'm aware of.  It's literally holding a cell phone, for example, for ransom.

770

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / Re: IntelliStar 2 Beta Launch

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:02:02 AM »

Given the recent drastic decrease in the amount of time given to local forecast segments, and, thus, the number of flavors used, I don't think increasing the amount of information given is anywhere near the top of TWC's priority list right now.

771

General Discussion / Re: The Pot Belly Stove

« on: September 27, 2011, 12:32:12 PM »

When I taught, it was in private language schools, so I was pretty much on my own as to determining the rules necessary for running the class.  Also, since I had so many different groups of students in different settings, I therefore had to have many different sets of rules.

In classes with children and teenagers, the only electronic devices I allowed were electronic dictionaries/translators, the use of which was more restricted as the language level increased.  (I also allowed e-books, but, these weren't disruptive, so long as the student had the right book displayed!)  Cell phones were strictly verbotten.  If a student couldn't be trusted to not use the phone, it went in a box on my desk and he got it back at the end of class.  It would have been utterly unthinkable (and illegal under Russian law) for me to hold it beyond the end of class or demand some kind of payment (in money or otherwise) for its return.  If the student didn't want to stop using his phone and refused to surrender it, I showed him the door.  (That happened only once.)  I spoke with his parents, explained my rules, and asked them to help with a solution.  (That happened only twice, and the parents were very apologetic.)

I trusted adults a lot more, and also agreed that adults should have the right to suffer their own consequences for not paying attention.  I never once had an adult actually talk on the phone right in the classroom or make excessive noise with a phone.  If they didn't want to pay attention to me, however, that was their own problem.  Granted, it was annoying when an adult in an individual lesson used a cell phone, but I justified it this way - the adult is paying (and at a premium) for this one-on-one lesson of his own free will, and he is talking on the phone during this lesson of his own free will.  Therefore, he realizes that he is paying a lot of money to talk on the phone while I just sit there doing nothing while still earning money.

(The same happened with tardiness, whether adults or children - the meter started running at the scheduled start of class, not when the first student wandered through the door.  There was one morning adult class that started at 7:40, and my students were notorious for not showing up for up to half an hour later.  I explained to my bosses at the language school that I was getting paid for so long for just sitting around and reading the newspaper.  Their philosophy was the same as mine - if the students choose to be late, then it's their choice to pay me for sitting around and reading the newspaper!)

I also had groups of workers at their workplace, and since I was essentially the guest, and since I had no control over what happened in the workplace, I had to tolerate cell phones, tablets, PDAs, and whatever other electronic devices got used.  They were always polite about it, though.

772

Local Forecast / Re: General LF Discussion

« on: September 27, 2011, 12:19:27 PM »

It seems TWC doesn't care about LFs and the legacy STARs these days 

To be fair, legacy support is generally limited across the board.  For example, Windows 3.1, just a couple of years younger than the WeatherStar 4000, hasn't been supported by Microsoft for a full decade, yet TWC does continue to support the 4000.  Because of its technological limitations, it's just impossible for it to implement an L-bar, and an opaque LDL is barely within its abilities, though not exactly matching how TWC uses LDLs now, meaning the 4000 couldn't produce an L-bar leaving the ad space on the left transparent.

But you're right - TWC is caring less and less about reporting the weather.  It really is only a matter of time before TWC turns into another Discovery Channel.  And even that channel's original mission has been distorted and perverted so that every channel is getting to be just like every other channel.

Ideally, competition between channels would make each channel increase the quality of its programming to attract more viewers.  However, that would require a level of intellectualism that generally isn't "attractive."  Instead, competition means that every channel lowers itself closer and closer to the lowest common denominator while making their programming choices blend into those of other channels.  Thus, the more channels there are, the less there is worth watching.

773

Local Forecast / Re: General LF Discussion

« on: September 27, 2011, 12:13:02 PM »

The best thing for satellite viewers is to have the DTV app cue when the L-Bar comes up (dish should have their own app)

You mean it doesn't?  That's such a waste.  Actually, I'd be very disappointed if it wasn't possible to cue the app on demand.

I know Dish Network has their own version of the local forecast, but, since those are so rare now, it would be nice if they'd have an app, too.

774

General Discussion / Re: The Pot Belly Stove

« on: September 26, 2011, 07:27:57 PM »

Last year, one girl kept yacking so we got all of our bathroom privileges taken away.

It's one thing when everyone gets punished because no one knows who the culprit is, but it's an entirely other deal (and completely unfair) when everyone gets punished when the culprit IS known.  Totally unfair and, in my opinion as a former teacher, totally uncalled for.

775

Questions, Comments, Suggestions / Re: Weather conditions

« on: September 26, 2011, 07:26:55 PM »

Yeah... it works about half the time right now.  Anyway, thanks for looking into it! 

776

Questions, Comments, Suggestions / Re: Weather conditions

« on: September 26, 2011, 02:03:44 PM »

Reviving an old topic...

The weather conditions box has lately been showing a broken link rather than the conditions.  Is there anything that can be done about that?

777

General Weather Chat / Re: La Niña is Back

« on: September 26, 2011, 02:02:58 PM »

Knowing my luck, my new presence in central Florida will result in blizzards and -20 degree temperatures. 

The weather's out to haunt you Eric! It won't take the fact that you moved to central Florida and don't want blizzard conditions.

Well, it has been an interesting couple of months so far!  As soon as I moved here, hot as it was in Florida, it was even hotter in Massachusetts for a couple of weeks!  And then Irene, which was originally supposed to make landfall in Florida (at one point, if you remember, the track had it coming right over Daytona Beach) ended up affecting Massachusetts!

Who would have thought that I'd be escaping the heat and hurricanes by moving to Florida? 

778

General Discussion / Re: The Pot Belly Stove

« on: September 26, 2011, 02:01:42 PM »

That's true - the wonderful thing about college is that you're treated as an adult.  If you choose to make stupid decisions, it will affect you in the long run.  Your grades will suffer if you skip classes or don't do your homework.  If you choose to make stupid decisions that are also illegal, you'll have to deal with the police and potentially the courts, not to mention possibly being kicked out of school, losing all that money and time you've already invested.

But... no demerits for this, that, or the other, no one watching your every move... it's all up to you, for better or for worse.

779

General Discussion / Re: The Pot Belly Stove

« on: September 26, 2011, 11:48:48 AM »

It was during study hall and someone had stirred up some dust and I started sneezing like crazy. I hear out of my ear, "AUSTIN! THREE DEMERITS!" 

GEESH!!!  Next thing you know, you'll get a demerit every time you go to the bathroom... but it wouldn't surprise me if that happens already.

Seriously, do your teachers get paid for every demerit they give?

780

General Discussion / Re: The Pot Belly Stove

« on: September 26, 2011, 02:34:19 AM »

I worry that so much is being done on this stuff that it takes away the primary focus of education.  Besides, shouldn't most of these discipline issues be corrected by parents at a young age?  I truly believe that many of the problems in school start at home.

Sadly, the whole concept of "education" has become perverted to the point that I'm not sure it will ever recover.

That said, it's a sad but true fact that there are parents out there who leave the whole idea of child rearing to the schools.  (Of course, if the school teaches the child something objectionable to the parents who thus far have had no interest in what the child learns, the parents will raise holy hell about it, but I digress.)

I got my first real example of how differently children are raised when I started kindergarten.  Before I even entered the school for the first time, I could read and write (at a level several years ahead of my age, but that's beside the point, which is that I could read and write), I knew shapes, colors, how to tell time and use a calendar, and had a basic understanding of simple arithmetic.  So many of my classmates had little to no concept of any of this.  Granted, the kids were obviously well taken care of otherwise - they were happy, clothed, well fed, and looked after, but their parents obviously made little to no attempt to teach them anything "academic."

It disturbed me that there were classmates even into high school that had difficulty reading aloud in class.  It disturbed me that we still had to practice reading aloud in high school!  Reading classes were obligatory through the 8th grade, and oral practice gave so many 13-year-olds such a challenge.  I mean... seriously??  And people still wonder why the U.S. ranks at the bottom of industrial countries when it comes to how well educated our children are???