A Small Argument in Abortion
DraftYourBill.gov
I have the ultimate Web 2.0 idea. It is a website named DraftYourBill.gov or something similar. Thus the name of this post.
DraftYourBill.gov would let you create a legal bill with everybody else on the web (even the Iranian President if he signed up!). There would be three main areas for the bill.
The first area is the properties area. In it, you set up the basic properties of the law, where you place things like jurisdiction of the law (If state or town, specify), area it effects, name [takes a vote to change], and other properties that are important, but not part of the bill itself.
The second area is the bill page. It would work similar to Wikipedia in that it will save a record of what everybody changes. It will have sections, comments [that wouldn't make it into the bill], and more. You could edit/add/delete sections and every change that you make would be recorded also like Wikipedia.
The third, and final section, for each law would be the talk page. Yes, that is Wikipedia's name for them also. Only they'll act more like threads similar to Reddits' talk pages.
The site will be coded properly and won't have anything flashy. It would be free to visit, and would be in PHP for server side and Javascript for client side. It would be built securely, and there would be daily backups. It would be ad free. You would have to sign up to make changes, but like the sign up/log in at Kongregate, it wouldn't take you off the page you are on.
The site would have forums. It would be PHPBB forums that use the same username database as the sign in for the site so that if you are signed in on the site, you don't have to sign up for the forums. The forums would contain guides to help people out, a suggestions/bug forum, and a set of forums for discussing the issues themselves.
DraftYourBill.gov would be open source, and be adaptable for other countries if they wanted them (Maybe even adding a way for multiple countries to use DraftYourBill.gov itself) and even adaptable for it to be in games.
Areas that it HAS to be able to make law in would have to be Federal, State, and City. The rest would be expanded to the site.
I can't get the site off the ground for two reasons. One, I don't yet know how to code and need to figure that out. Two, I need to get support from the government and change the infrastructure to be online for bill making. I'm only a teenager, so I doubt I would persuade them right now. If it was created, I have the basic layout.
Please leave a comment. Even if it is to say you read the article.
Freedom of Thought
It is my opinion that the first amendment of the US constitution needs to be changed. Remove the "Freedom of Religion", and replace it with "Freedom of Thought".
Religion is a type of thought, FYI.
Education In America: Classes by Age?
What might just be the single worst flaw in our current school system is how children are given their classes. In Kindergarten through sixth grade (roughly half an American's non-college education) parents and children get no say into what classes they want. They are forced to go through classes of similar difficulty. If a child is behind in one class, they either are held back in ALL their classes or they are going to be behind in that subject until seventh grade, when they get a little extra choice in their classes.
Instead of putting all kids in the same class by age group, why not let teachers teach a 'grade' and a 'subject' and let the parents decide which grade of the subject their child will take that year. If a child is doing exceptionally well in a subject, such as writing (or English), let them skip over the grade for that class and develop excellent writing skills if they want to. Let the people decide what they want to be best at and let people specialize. If somebody wants to stop taking English after getting to a fifth grade standard, let them. Don't force anything on children, and you'll see that they are much more eager to learn.
If a child doesn't want to take PE and you force three semesters down their throats, you stop that child from taking other classes that would improve things the child wants to improve.
Giving everybody the same education based on age is a failure of an idea. Giving people choice on which classes they want to take would be better. Yes it means fundamentally changing the school system, but it is better than keeping the old one.
One more problem of classes by age is that you have created a place where age means power. Age should never mean power. Seniors shouldn't be any more respected then freshmen and vice versa. It should be based on skill level in different areas.
I also suggest expanding the amount of classes devoted to non-academic learning like PE and Music because that leads to a better quality of education.
In America, What is Wrong With Education?
Read the internet for awhile and you'll find many articles showing the wrong things with school. Instead of writing a blog post, I'll just link to them and comment on them. Also, I'll be using some StumbleUpon comments in my personal comments.
1. Kilometer Longer Than Mile - Snopes isn't sure if this is real or not. Whether or not this is a true letter, it should bring back some memories, and stumble-upon comments say that some of their teachers would have done that or even have.
2. Kid Suspended for Wearing Pirate Garb - Forget the Pastafarian comments. The main problem is freedom of expression for children. The idea that children should obey by giving a very limited dress code is very annoying.
3. Suspended for Drawing 'Laser Gun' - This shows two problems in the school system. The first one is the zero-tolerance weapon policy that started with the Columbine school shootings. I found it odd that if you bring a plastic knife to school, you can be suspended even if you have no responsibility for it.
The other problem is authority. School is NOT the place where you say you have unlimited authority over others. It is a place where you teach how to learn and after that, a few subjects that are helpful. Don't force a handbook with 25 pages of rules down their throats for something that authority already forces on children.
4. Failing Standardized Test leads to Summer School - This article is for Chicago, but it shows two problems also. The first one is Summer School. Why do we have it, and why is it a punishment? Why not just have a year round schedule that lets everybody participate. I know I would be smarter with it.
The other problem is Standardize Testing. They fail because they are full of bias. Plain and simple.
These aren't all the problems in the school system, and my next post will show the next one in full view. This was just a practice post for the real problem, and a good way to do some research. Yes, one of the articles (the one with plastic knives) is from 2k5. It is the only one I didn't have to do a random search for because I remember seeing it on television two years ago. Stay Tuned.
Web 1.0 To Web 2.0
Note: I wrote this out on paper on Dec. 16th.
You ever hear the buzzword "Web 2.0"? You ever try to understand what it means? Well, today, I have! In this blog entry I hope to show you what the four 'versions' of the web are.
First off, let's start with Web 1.0. You have to start at the beginning right? Web 1.0 is alive and well to this day. They are static HTML pages. The only interactive feature is the links and whatever your browser can do to a webpage. Web 1.0 does not have forms and is usually boring to look at. Basically, you can print the page, and still have all the functionality, minus the ability to click links.
Web 1.0 also contains things like videos, pictures, basic text blocks, and flash elements. Putting them together creates a web 1.0 page.
So, what is the next step? How about Web 1.1? Web 1.1 makes use of CGI or functionality similar to CGI. Forms are used for a few reasons like signing on to website or singing a guestbook. Functionality was limited, and it isn't something you see much of today.
After simple log in scripts and guestbooks, the web evolved again, this time to Web 1.5. This version is a blur between web 1.0 and 2.0. It allows site owners to direct the conversation, but they aren't in full control anymore. They only put a limited amount, and users expand on it.
Two great examples of this are forums and blogs. In blogs, like this one, I start all conversations, and users hopefully continue in conversation. In forums, I lose that power, as users can start threads if they like. I still control the overall conversation though which forums I allow you to have.
If you look at the page source for each of these types of pages, you'll notice that they get progressively more complex. It, along with functionality seem to grow exponentially.
Then comes Web 2.0. It follows the exponential growth curve, and is hard to make. Web 2.0 is basically a framework for users to add discussions and content. Wikipedia is a good example. It allows anybody to create an encyclopedia article and post information they know. Then, people can look at the information when needed, or edit the page for additions and corrections. The owner of Wikipedia doesn't say what you have to make the articles about, only that they have some notoriety. Other examples include Social Networking done right and sites like digg.
Updates
Pornography Laws
Anybody who knows anything about porn on the internet knows that almost every page says "You must be 18 or older to enter this page. If you are not, please exit." or something similar to that.
The politicians have made it illegal for people under the age of eighteen to look at pornography a long time ago. I see this law and think, WTF? The government should not be make looking at something illegal for one set of people while making it perfectly legal for others. I want that law changed. Let parents decide if they want their children looking at pornography.
I have a solution to my problem though. Instead of having that page be a 18 & older check, make the law say you may not show pornography to a person without their consent.
What would be the consequences? Every active porn site would change that eighteen or older page to a "Warning, the page(s) you are about to see contain pornography. Do you wish to continue?" page. This gets rid of one exception in the law, and lets parents be the ultimate judge on pornography for children. Still, children are going to visit without their parent's consent. The law isn't suppose to stop people who want to. Only those who don't.
Mozilla [Firefox] and the Participatory Culture Foundation [Miro] -- V.1.0
My first blog post ever. Here goes. I'm going straight to content. Made on Nov. 26. Only post, changed blogging services.
Mozilla and the PCF (Participatory Culture Foundation) have many similarities. They are both open source. They both deal with providing people ways of going through media. They are also different. Mozilla, is a place for many open source projects to be at the same place, and use the same tools to get the job done. They provide an online platform for developing the code and have well known programs such as Firefox. Firefox is a web-browser if you didn't know. On the other hand, the PCF have only one program they work on, Miro. It is a video-browser, made to play videos on your hard drive, and videos on the web, granted they have an RSS feed linking to them.
Both the PCF and Mozilla had the same starting goals. They wanted people to leave the walled gardens. [thanks to Mozilla for that buzzword]
Mozilla, I believe, started with Firefox, which was originally NetScape. NetScape was the first browser to use open standards to browse the web with HTTP, FTP, TCP/IP, and a few others. If they created the protocols, they didn't keep it to themselves. If they got it from some other group (W3C perhaps?), then they were one of the first to try and use it. Either way, it was open for anybody to use, and it didn't use a walled garden like other clients who all built up their own similar technology. They broke down the walls, and it led to a better, more open web.
The PCF is trying to do the same thing for videos. Currently, you have all these places you can upload videos to such as YouTube or blip.tv. Most of these services have search done by RSS, and people can figure out how to make constant RSS lists for their favorite videos. The PCF noticed this, and created a program called Democracy Player, which they renamed Miro. They allow you to search many of those video sites though a search bar you see in many programs these days, like Firefox, IE7, Songbird, and others. There is currently a liability in which you only see the top 10 results, but it isn't the only way of seeing videos. Some people can package a bunch of videos together, and make it a channel. You can add and delete videos from a channel. These videos might be hosted on the owner's servers, but it could also be on YouTube or blip.tv. They are breaking down walls for developers by allowing many people to see videos without being on one specific site. It breaks down a wall, and increases efficiency.
Thinking on what I wrote, I'm gonna revise this. This is version 1.0
If anybody wants to use this blog post, feel free to. You can modify it and everything. You don't even have to credit me. Just take out the top paragraph, and this paragraph. Any modification is of your own copywrite. I'll post later on why I named this blog Flatism, and it has to do something with this post.