NAIS

[draggonlaady]

For those of you who don't know, NAIS is the National Animal Identification Service, the basic idea of which is that if a central database of who keeps what type of livestock where and who sells what into the food chain exists, then disease control and trace-backs of food chain contamination will be easier.

Of course, tons of people immediately threw a fit, because this obviously means that the gub'nment wants to be able to confinscate your aminals. (Please see the rant about the monkey smuggler, as she's fanatically anti-animal identification.)

Anyway, I signed myself up, being the good commie girl that I am. Cost me all of about 5 minutes and a stamp. I've been signed up for over a year now, and am happy to say that the government has not come to take my horses (yet).

However, they did very nicely send me a letter today, warning me that several horses in the state have potentially been exposed to a highly-contagious disease, and explaining what horses are most at risk, what signs to watch for, and what to do if I notice said signs. You know, this is suspiciously like what they said I was signing up for....

Comments

[brainweevil.livejournal.com]

Right, yet.

Sure, this seems helpful, but they could have accomplished the same thing by just having you sign up for a newsletter. You know, rather than putting the mark of the beast upon your... uh... beasts.

Also, why the hell are you receiving letters from a seriously in debt agency I fund with my tax dollars? Couldn't they have used the computer they typed it on to email the notice? That would have been faster. Or they could have used the chip they implanted to beam the message directly to your horses so they know what to look for. Which would have saved you the trouble of caring, since your geldings don't need to worry about cervical cancer.

If you registered with them, shouldn't the gubment know that you don't have mares? This sort of useless bureaucracy is why you probably don't have to worry about them coming to get your horses... unless they are trying to collect horses from a man two counties over and get lost, of course.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

They haven't put any marks on my beasts. Neither of my horses are microchipped. (Mostly because I haven't bothered yet. I intend to chip at least the young one.)

The message wasn't about cervical cancer--where'd that come from?

And this way, I get to know info that it's useful to know as a vet too. Since there's nobody who's sent the clinic this information.

The gubment doesn't know I don't have mares, because they don't care about individual idents of animals unless they enter the food chain. And then only to the extent necessary to trace them back to the farm of origin if they need to do so (trying to avoid a repeat of the recall of millions of pounds of beef and weeks of scrambling they went through with the BSE scare). They just asked what sort of livestock I have.

[neogrammarian.livejournal.com]

*cough*

hun, you know we love u.

I think brainweevil was bringing the funny. by spoofing 19 different gen-u-ine Fundie, GOP omg!Xses that've hit the news or the pundits in the last few years.

I, um, think none of it was directed At you in any way more than a funny Hallmark card would be mailed To you.

Remember we love you. *pet pet*

*backs away slowly*

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

I love that you're defending him.

We were sitting next to each other, reading over each other's shoulders and making comments about my post and his comment and my response during the whole exchange. We both were being intentionally over-stereotypical out of smart-assery.

He's allowed to be a bit of a smart ass, since he also cooked and handed me dinner while I was posting that.

*Throws chocolate after you as you back away*

[neogrammarian.livejournal.com]

sigh. sorry. not a good day. shoulda steered clear.

continue having fun.

Oh, but pursuant to our grade-conversation of the other day (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?_r=3).

whee.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

“If you put in all the effort you have and get a C, what is the point?” he added. “If someone goes to every class and reads every chapter in the book and does everything the teacher asks of them and more, then they should be getting an A like their effort deserves. If your maximum effort can only be average in a teacher’s mind, then something is wrong.”

Yeah, something's wrong. YOU are wrong, you whiny bitch-student. If you do average quality work, you get an average grade. You get an A if you not only do "everything the teacher asks", but do it CORRECTLY. I can write an essay, but if it's on the wrong topic, or plagerized, or poorly done, then it doesn't matter one bit if I spent 3 weeks working on it as hard as I could, IT IS NOT AN A GRADE. Stupid, stupid people. I am SO glad I went to a H.S. where I was expected to work my ass off, and had parents that trained me to be responsible for my own results.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Speaking of poorly written, perhaps I was unclear there. Amount of effort does not equal grade. Quality of work equals grade. Just because I go to lecture and read the chapters, that doesn't mean jack when I only get 70% of the questions on the exam correct.

Do they think that when they graduate, they're going to get paid extra for staying late and spending hours laboring over something that turns out to be of only mediocre quality and that someone else can do better and faster? They need to be smacked upside the head with a clue stick. And it sucks butt that you can't do that until you have a more solid footing with the tenure thing, because letting them slide doesn't help them in the long run.

[brainweevil.livejournal.com]

Uh, that's how a lot of industry "works", Dr. Laady.

Also, most college does not seem to be about the long run. It seems to be about the very short run of getting one's foot in the door. Not a single engineer I work with is doing anything that directly relates to his <---(non-gender specific usage)degree on a daily basis.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

That may be. Doesn't change the fact that it's stupid.

[brainweevil.livejournal.com]

What? That employers require a degree from people that is completely irrelevant to the position for which they are to be considered?

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Yes. That's a good example of stupid.

Also is that universities/degrees don't actually train students for the jobs they are supposedly preparing for.

Also also stupid is that Neo there is not allowed to give students a failing grade when they show up and give a 2 minute presentation, when the assignment was a 30 minute presentation. My view on that is that they did approximately 7% of the work, therefore they should get a grade of 7%. Apparently, the university says that because they dragged their slacker-asses to the classroom on the assigned day, they pass.

[brainweevil.livejournal.com]

No child (or learner) shall be left behind, you heartless beast.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Them what falls behind, gets left behind. Or they learn to keep up. Rewarding them for not doing the assignment will never result in them completing future assignments. Nor does it result in them learning anything except how to better get away with slacking.

And you just now realized that I'm a heartless beast? Have you paid no attention to me at all?

[brainweevil.livejournal.com]

Your socialist cred is crumbling.

and three words: Snap crackle pop.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Wait. WAIT. Did you... did you just imply that BUSH is more socialist than I am? Oh, baby, your mother would keel over dead.

Ah, right. Yes, I guess you pay attention to some aspects of me. Thank you for that.

[brainweevil.livejournal.com]

No, you did that, by leaving all of those East Coast learners behind. Even Bush (Satan to many of your friends) was less evil than that.

SOME aspects? Really? I guess I'll have to be more creative and far ranging in my attentions in the future.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Hmmph. I never claimed to be a socialist, you dubbed me that. I don't actually want to leave the kids in the dust; I want teachers to be allowed (nay, encouraged) to teach. Decreeing that they have to pass all students who don't out-right cheat and skip exams doesn't lead to teaching.

Yeah; some aspects. I have more than just physical aspects, darlin'. I thought you loved me for my mind, not just my breasts. *sob*

[brainweevil.livejournal.com]

Anyone who loves big government enough to voluntarily have her possessions cataloged by them so she can receive letters not pertinent to said items nearly has to be a socialist, right? Am I missing a big piece of the definition of socialism, here?

Where on earth did you get the idea that I love you for your breasts? It's your ass, silly. Oh, and maybe a little for your personality.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Yep. That's EXACTLY why I signed up. Freak.

[neogrammarian.livejournal.com]

but I've heard it. Everything the students say in that article- you hear it all the time. The trouble comes down to places like MFI that hard hardline student evaluation cutoffs for tenure. Your eval scores are below a certain number, and your teaching is considered not up to par. So I end up w/low eval scores b/c I don't hand out grades like candy.

I can't win.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

so you wait until you get tenure, and then you don't give a shit about evals anymore, right?

[brainweevil.livejournal.com]

She's new to me... I still see her and get a little excited.