Maedhros
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Posts posted by Maedhros
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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
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Re-watching Wolf Hall these days. I still think it's one of the most criminally overlooked shows of the last decade.
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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).
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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.
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18 hours ago, Guard Dog said:
Can't be that. The poll was in Great Britain. They are already hip deep in political parties.
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:
Quoteit is not because citizens’ expectations are excessive or unrealistic, but because democratic institutions are falling short of the outcomes that matter most for their legitimacy, including probity in office, upholding the rule of law, responsiveness to public concerns, ensuring economic and financial security, and raising living standards for the larger majority of society.
[....]If confidence in democracy has been slipping, then the most likely explanation is that democratically elected governments have not been seen to succeed in addressing some of the major challenges of our era, including economic coordination in the eurozone, the management of refugee flows, and providing a credible response to the threat of global climate change. The best means of restoring democratic legitimacy would be for this to change.
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!
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Dissatisfaction with democracy at record high (since tracking started in 1995).
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On 1/26/2020 at 12:30 AM, Raithe said:
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.
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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.
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Microsoft aiming to be carbon negative by 2030
https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/01/16/microsoft-will-be-carbon-negative-by-2030/
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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)
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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?!
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1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:
Out of all the flaws of the people who seek political office over their fellow citizens I think hypocrisy galls me the most. More than dishonesty and megalomania to tell you the truth. the latter two are just to be expected. but with hypocrisy they are just mocking you right to your face.
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?
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3 hours ago, Guard Dog said:
Obama's former campaign guru warns against Bernie: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/11/bernie-sanders-trump-jim-messina-097578
Bernie Sanders would be a f-----g joke except he isn't funny. He is a multi-millionaire who says it's immoral to be a millionaire. But he's not giving up his money or any of his luxury homes. In both of his Senate terms he ran as a Democrat until after the primary elections and THEN switched to independent so he would not have to face a challenge from the left. Then looks down his nose at the Democrats and piously exalts himself over them. He checks off all the boxes of the caricature of a politician. A rich old white man from the political aristocracy so far removed from "the people" he might as well be from another planet. But he has legions of idiots eating out of his hand actually believing his sales pitch. Personally I hope he gets nominated. An election between one dangerous idiot and another is better than we deserve
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.
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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.
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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).
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Why have I delayed watching Succession until now? Great show
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15 minutes ago, Skarpen said:
Well since we are adult's we know there is no "good guys"/"bad guys" in real world. It's not a tolkienesque fantasy land. But anyone with a gram of brain knows which side is the right one to choose between USA and Iran.
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.
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Bill Gates wants to overhaul US tax system:
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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!
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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.
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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.
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Weird - Random - Interesting
in Way Off-Topic
Posted
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.