Maedhros

Recently got a new job. Now I can walk 15 minutes to my new workplace, as opposed to a one hour drive with the bus. I wish I was asked what my favorite pasta was though. I detest generic job interviews, and feel like they (often) say something about the person interviewing you. I rejected a job offer recently because I got a bad feeling on the boss lady, it felt like she had just googled "job interview questions", and asked the ten first ones she found. She came across as really dull, and in my experience places with dull/bad leaders also have similar work environments.

This is probably only interesting to me, but I found an old map of where descendants of Norwegians are situated in the US. There is a saying here about there being more Norwegians in the US than in Norway, and apparently it's true. It's a bit amusing that so many decided they liked the cold, that they again went for the North. However that's apparently where you could find cheap land at the time. Norway was very poor in those times, had a huge percentage of its population move there. This also lead to Norwegian workers in their homecountry getting reasonable wages again due to now having a smaller work force. My own great-grandfather went to New York, and one of his sons stayed there, whereas my own grandfather returned to Norway. So there's a seperate branch of my family living in New York. I was invited to visit them when I was in New York ten years ago, but I chickened out, being of course Norwegian and thus socially awkward.

So now it looks like Bernie might be winning after all? According to NYtimes' live estimations anyway. What a mess. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/04/us/elections/results-iowa-caucus.html

Re-watching Wolf Hall these days. I still think it's one of the most criminally overlooked shows of the last decade.

The PISA tests are near meaningless. I don't think you'll find many educators who value them. Each country has different practises, and the countries that "teach to the test" will always score better. I know parts of my country even send away the "weak students" to look better when the results come in. Wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if practises like this are common in other countries as well. http://theconversation.com/pisa-global-education-rankings-are-the-road-to-ruin-heres-why-70291 (Also: I really, really hate multiple choice tests). Smaller classes is the way to go. It's the same in kindergartens. The quality of the days when we are 14-15 kids as opposed to 22 of them is worlds apart. The kids have it better, and so do the teachers. More time to build good relations with your pupils/students, and more time to actually teach, is the key here. You gotta have the guts to throw money at the sector for this to happen though. A county in Norway did an experiment where increased the ratio of grownups to kids by hiring in more people in every kindergarten. Instead of losing money due to increased wage payouts, the county actually saved millions due to the sick leave percentage being halfed, and them not having to call in temporary staff anymore. Sometimes you gotta spend money to save money. I'll never not disagree with someone who thinks cutting costs in the Education sector is a good idea. From buildings, school materials, people....it's something actually worth spending a lot of money on (as long as it isn't thrown blindly which has a tendency to happen).

Isn't Falcon just a normal, trained guy? Won't him throwing the shield basically just be a guy throwing a...shield? Not the most effective weapon? It seems like it has an engine of its own though, based on the trailer.

It spans 154 countries. Small countries in high-income democracies (Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg) are exceptions, but the general trend in the west seems to be a lack of trust to the possibility of good democratic governance. From the conclusion in the study: Of course, the times of today are being compared with the 90s, where the west came out of the Cold War with renewed optimism. Too bad climate change is such a divisive foe! If everyone believed climate change it was real, that's actually something the world could unite behind. Instead, you're gonna have half of the population be mad at the government no matter which path they choose. Conclusion: The world needs a new common foe to focus on. I nominate Sweden!

Dissatisfaction with democracy at record high (since tracking started in 1995). https://www.bbc.com/news/education-51281722

Read the other stories there, that's some insane stuff. Surely it's also a case of really bad decisionmaking, taking loans with companies that are known to be hawks? Or? Over here people take student loans even if they don't need them since it's provided by the government, and guaranteed to always have the lowest possible interest rate (based on the market). You get to delete up to 40% of your debt if you pass all exams. I studied for 6 years, taking a full loan each year, and the downpayment is barely noticeable at around $150 a month.

I have a stupid question @Zoraptor or @ComradeMaster I'm gonna sell my old computer except my graphics card (GTX 970), which I'll keep for a bit longer until I can afford a 2070 or 2070 super. Do I need to retrieve the power cables that goes into the GPU, or do those cables come with every PSU? I can't remember whether they came with the GTX970 or with the PSU itself.

Microsoft aiming to be carbon negative by 2030 https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/01/16/microsoft-will-be-carbon-negative-by-2030/

A guy from Nordland, in the northern parts of Norway, finds roman coin from the time of Marcus Aurelius. It's the northernmost finding of roman coin in Norway. He also found a 1000 year old viking sword. Apparently metal detecting has become a big thing here lately. https://www.nrk.no/nordland/nordligste-funn-av-2000-ar-gammel-romersk-mynt-pa-donna-1.14862482 (google translate needed)

I dislike Tucker Carlson as much as the next guy, and I'll never not enjoy watching that crossfire clip of Jon Stewart and him, but to be fair he seems to be vehemently against his country being involved in foreign wars, so that's very un-nazilike. Progressives, liberalists and the alt-right seem to find common ground in being opposed to US warfare abroad. The new alliance?!

Hypocrisy can be very annoying, and the "houlier-than-thou" attitude can be annoyingly prominent on the left side of the political spectrum. However, in this "internet detective age" I think many need to remember that just because someone's a hypocrite doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong. It's fully possible to be the biggest hypocrite in the room, but at the same time the one with the best ideas. Personally I dislike the politicians who disregard science and research the most. Be it in regards to climate change, education or whatnot. I don't know what I'd call that personality flaw though? Idiocy?

No political candidate will make Bernie Sanders' wealth suffer more than Bernie Sanders (if he wins). Bernie's so called hypocrisy is if anything a stronger argument for higher taxes on the rich.

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2943/study-confirms-climate-models-are-getting-future-warming-projections-right/

Cheers guys. I should've specified I'm building a new PC, so the rest of it won't be on 2013-components (@ComradeMaster). Gonna pair it with a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU (heard 3600x wasn't worth the extra cash, performs very similarly on 1080p apparently). I could go for something more expensive if I manage to sell my old computer. The only thing I'm sure about, is that I want a Geforce Nvidia card (habit), and a Ryzen processor (apparently most bang for buck?). Just hope it's gonna be able to play Cyberpunk 2077 on high graphics at least. Seems like that's going to be one hell of a demanding game.

I have a 1080p / 144 mhz screen, is Geforce 2060 a decent purchase then? From what I gather, there's no point in "wasting" money on the most expensive cards as the fps difference will be so little when gaming on a 1080p screen anyway? Though I guess a more expensive card will be more viable in 5-6 years, and if I decide to get a 1440p screen at some point. I tend not to upgrade to often, my current PC is from 2013 (with a GTX 970 bought a year or two later).

Why have I delayed watching Succession until now? Great show

How about actually demanding reasonable actions from state leaders rather than "pick sides"? It's not a tolkienesque fantasy land of good/bad guys as you yourself say.

Bill Gates wants to overhaul US tax system: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/bill-gates-calls-tax-hike-wealthy-new-years-eve-blog-2020-1-1028791394

They should've cut the Brokilon section. Didn't serve much purpose, and if you can't do it properly, don't do it at all. Dryads as black elves with dreads? Come on!

I understand the need for comic relief, I just don't agree that you need to dumb down characters to do it. The humor in the books work fine. It's the same with the Lotr adaption, where PJ felt the need to reduce characters like Merry, Pippin and Gimli for cheap laughs.

I don't really agree with people saying Jaskier is perfect (which I see all over the place). In the books he has a more insightful, serious side, and is a good verbal sparring partner for Geralt. In the show he's rather simple, and is usually just reduced to comic relief.