Quote:
1. If hard-line Muslims believe that all Muslims who don’t want to kill Christians, Jews and other heathen are no-good, pussy backsliders who aren’t really following the true teachings of the Muslim faith, will they forever undermine peace efforts/agreements with non-Muslim enemies because going along would be tantamount to rejecting Allah?
Yep.
Quote:
2. Does desperation or fear of rejection derail more relationships?
Desperation. Trust me on this....
Quote:
3. Should medical researchers be held liable for their published findings if someone is harmed who follows their recommendations? What if the researcher publishes deliberately false results?
Not in the first case...as there can always be error in research. If the deliberately publish false results, though....yeah they definitely should be held liable.
Quote:
4. Is corporal punishment abusive or effective discipline?
For what, children? I think it all depends on the situation/severity of the punishment. I was spanked as a child, but not abused. I turned out fine. When I have children, I will most likely spank them. However, corporal punishment should be a last resort, and it should be clear before, and after, why it was done. If you give the kid a timeout, if you tell them to stop...warn them that corporal punishment is imminent, and they still continue to act out, then yes...corporal punishment is appropriate. Always explain afterward "you were spanked because of X. Don't do X and you won't be spanked"
Other forms of punishment -- using objects, hot sauce, cold showers...that stuff is abusive in my opinion. A good ole-fashioned smack on the behind for a child that is acting like a little shit, though, is effective.
Quote:
5. Will the influx of foreign business, jobs and money into India strengthen or destabilize the country in the long term?
Strengthen. Currently my business employees many people in India, and helps raise their standard of living.
Quote:
6. Presuppositions: Mankind has discovered an Earth twin with everything currently on our planet except human beings, has produced the technology to reach the twin on self-sustaining transport ships (think the Enterprise) that can comfortably carry 1,000 people each, but has limited storage of 3x3x3 containers for each person for items needed after arrival. The trip will take 200 years but current life spans will not change meaning a few generations will have to be produced. Would you volunteer to be in the initial group? Who should get to go? Do you think anyone would be alive on the ships when they arrived?
Fuck that. How are people going to reproduce while traveling in 3x3x3 containers? We need to wait until technology catches up and we can arrive in a time shorter than someone's lifespan, or we learn how to extend lifespans so that it only takes 1 generation to make it there and start populating.
Quote:
7. Are honors bestowed on people in order to inspire others; sort of a “See how we esteem those who do “X”? If someone is motivated to achieve because they want the honors, does this diminish their achievements? Which honors, if any, would you like to gain?
I have no desire for honors other than personal one's. Honor's can serve to motivate sure, and I don't think it diminishes anyone's achievement if they did it solely for the honor.
Quote:
8. Have you ever been in a class where a huge portion of the class missed a specific question on an exam? Discounting poorly written questions, if a professor gives his class (any class size over 25) a short answer examination, what percentage of incorrect answers on a particular question indicates that the professor has done a poor job of instruction?
This highlights another problem I have with education. In college, many classes I was in had to have curves because everyone was failing the exams. If the average grade is failing, I think that falls on the professor. Either you aren't teaching the material well enough, or you are designing exams poorly so that students are studying the wrong information.
My senior year I had an economics class. I took notes, attended every lecture (I may have skipped 1), went to the reviews, and when it came time for the final, I studied my ass off. When I took the final, there were questions I had never encountered before. Ideas that I simply hadn't seen. I failed. So did a majority of the class. The professor had to bump everyone's grade up at the end because so many people would have failed the class.
To me, that's a poorly designed test...or a failure to point students in the right direction on what they should be studying. I don't ask for the answers, but please tell me "I may ask you about this. Review this concept. This equation might show up on the exam." I'll learn it, and spit it back to you...but if you apply concept in ways I have never encountered before, and give me equations that are like nothing I have ever encountered...how can you expect me to be successful?
Make things challenging...but not so much so that everyone just fails...that's retarded and how can anyone learn anything that way.