Im from a very white, rural town. In 2005 I was a Junior and a kid got suspended for bringing a 3 foot section of 2x4 to school. He was white. We live in a zero tolerance time, Ahmed brought a bundle of electronics and a ticking clock. It wasn't a good idea. Should it have been handled better? Yes, of course. But we live in a shitty time where two yahoos can learn to make a bomb online and cause mass destruction (see Boston Marathon Bombing).
A kid can cut out the pages from a book and hide a circuitboard in a book. Should we ban books from schools? No. A kid can put a piece of benign electronics in a backpack and just leave it in a crowded area without telling anyone.should we ban backpacks from schools? No.
The answer to stupid overreaction isn't to say that benign educational activities are stupid; It is to stop overreaction.
Im sorry, was I approving the overreaction? No. Im saying I don't think its truly race motivated and that a High schooler should be knowledgable enough to know how it may appear. Maybe he could have left it with his shop teacher or gotten a note from the teacher. The teacher would have saved the kid some trouble since the teacher obviously thought it wouldn't be great if another teacher saw it.
Imagine if it was a bomb how the media would be damning the school for not acting.
Imagine? Shoes can be a bomb. Any backpack could contain a bomb. An electronic thing with lights and a battery is no more likely to be a bomb. This whole manufactured issue is simply Idiocracy at work.
To be fair, banning backpacks might have other purposes beyond "security"; for example, carrying around a bunch of books on your back can contribute to spinal stress, cause or worsen scoliosis, etc.
When I was in middle school I found a note on the ground while walking to my next class with writings about how this person hated the school and wanted to blow it up. I was 12, I didnt think much of it and handed it off to a nosy friend who wanted to read it too. Well she turned it in and said I found it, I was interrogated (at the school to be fair) for an hour and half by the principle and a police office without once having called my parents. Zero tolerance man.
On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.
Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.
Downvoted but you have a point. Why is there no moderation with regards to topical content on HN? Why should HN be a place for pop-sci articles and repostings from the likes of the Economist, LA Times, BBC, etc. r/startups has more content pertaining to - you know - actually starting a technology business than HN does. HN lately reads like newsclippings sent to me by my grandma.
You should understand that "my mom" and "my grandmother" are commonly used to denote technical illiteracy/incompetence and inability to keep up with the latest technological advances. This usage remans an unchallenged bastion of both sexism AND ageism -- a double whammy!
Proper usage:
* This app is so easy, my mom could use it!
* This article is easy to follow and avoids too much jargon -- my grandma would even understand most of it!
Why is there no moderation with regards to topical content on HN?
As per the posted policy when I joined HN, this would have been topical. (It has changed since.) "Anything that would be interesting to hackers." I don't mind at all if the occasional pop-sci article comes by, so long as they don't all do so unfiltered.
Ironically, this comment and the one it replies to are distinctly against the moderation policy, as per my understanding.
Once upon a time, we weren't supposed to downvote to disagree. Then there was a capitulation, IIRC, and that became kosher. Now, I think things may be back to where we started. I don't keep miniscule track of changes to the moderation policy. (Maybe I should?)
What you call "off topic" has been very much on topic for HN for a long time. The guidelines clearly say what is on topic, and it's more than "start up stuff".
> On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.
That sentence has been in their since, well, ages.
Its a similar story to the industrial revolution in America, a countries people will go through hardship to reach prosperity. Hardships and a revolution or two...
I worked at a comic shop for 4 years, we pride ourselves on having a good "Kids/all ages" section of stuff that was more in line with what kids saw on TV; Justice League, The Avengers, Young Justice, Batman Brave and the Bold, avatar the last Airbender, adventure time, etc. That shop sounds like they need to stock better.
