brave and steely-eyed and morally pure and a bit terrifying… /testimonials /evil /leet .ask? .ask_long?
3 months ago · tagged #finland is swastika country #this goddamn continent #motive not proven but really really likely · 6 notes · .permalink
From the latest SCC links post:
Freddie deBoer writes a white paper supporting standardized testing in colleges. His position is that private colleges need to be held accountable and we need proof that online courses don’t work, but American Interest points out that it might break the power of education-industrial complex if people who go to less prestigious institutions have an objective way to prove they’re just as good as people who went to more prestigious ones. And I will add that it might incentivize colleges to admit based on something vaguely resembling merit if they want higher test scores. Overall this would be amazing it it happened.
Um, but… We already have this in the Caribbean? Because we’re halfway civilised? Do you mean to tell me Americans are barbarians who let random colleges do whatever? If you don’t test your colleges, what are they even for? How can you know how a student at one college compares to one at another? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS???
I think I’ve determined the main trade-off between the Caribbean and the US: Sure, we’re poor; but when we design an institution, it isn’t fucking stupid.
I know I’m biased as someone who is, I think, reasonably smart and capable and does v poorly on standardized tests, but the idea that more standardized tests will force institutions to admit based on merit is ridiculous ime. Like with subject GREs, it will give schools an easy but inaccurate metric so they can avoid actually judging merit or potential.
As someone who does well on standardized tests, I also think that they are pointless as actual assessments. IMO the things that may make me successful in academics are exactly the things I had to learn to suppress to pass standardized exams. Logic, analytical skills, creativity. I think @quasitree is just not as good at suppressing her brilliance / perhaps her brilliance surpasses mine (the latter has always been my theory).
…Are your standardised tests really really different to mine? Like, as far as I can tell, logic, analytical skills, creativity, and depth of knowledge of the subject area are what I’ve been tested on?
Like, typical chem question would be something like: “You run a laboratory and have been given samples X, Y, and Z to identify. Their characteristics are [description]. Your budget is limited, so you can only devise one testing regimen to apply to all the samples. You can use some or all of [list of apparatus]. Design and justify an identification process with explanations of the principles behind each stage of chemical testing, cost effectiveness, the trade off between accuracy and efficiency, and the level of confidence you can expect for your identification.”
[cue me furiously writing four pages while cursing several deities]
I mean, if building and justifying your own experiments from scratch isn’t evidence of understanding chemistry, is their literally any observation you could make that would give you information about someone’s chemistry proficiency? If not, I still have to wonder what colleges are for because, for all we know, they aren’t teaching shit and no one can tell.
That’s way way way better than I’d have expected standardized tests to be. Finland is famous for faring well on international evaluations yet nonetheless our standardized tests are way shittier than that; and some countries allegedly even use the “guess the teacher’s password from options A to D, rinse repeat forever” type of standardized testing because it standardizes really well while not testing anything worthwhile at all. Caribbean testing is first-class, and the US really should import the geniuses who run that system and prevent it from crumbling to box-checking because wow.
3 months ago · tagged #bitching about the country of birth · 113 notes · source: sinesalvatorem · .permalink
do you ever just
Personally always
(via rusalkii)
3 months ago · tagged #it me #seriously why this always happens so consistently and predictably #tfw too tired to do anything about the ideas but too stimulated by them to sleep #that's the worst one #nothing to add but tags · 74,779 notes · .permalink
Founder of Glass Bottom Games comments on LEGO Universe’s failure
If kids occasionally seeing a penis or two is enough to get your multiuser environment sued out of existence, then I don’t understand how the city of San Francisco is still a thing.
@endecision But we legit saw a dong lying in the streets of San Fran, tho.
In Finland we have this thing called the sauna, ensuring that by the age of 18 a sufficient majority of the population is conditioned to not be shocked over the possibility of kids seeing penises, by themselves having seen enough penises to consider it a perfectly normal feature of human morphological diversity. Melanin, on the other hand, is what they get quite perturbed by.
3 months ago · tagged #sometimes i need a euro pride tag · 5,267 notes · .permalink
Working at LUSH: the saga
I have had men some into a store I used to work at asking if “this hairspray will work on men” and when I said yes they said “but it’s purple”
My whole life!
A man walks into a store to buy shampoo. He walks down the hair care aisle and spots a pink shampoo bottle that promises to give you luscious locks. The man is determined, for his hair lacks luster. He asks the nearest store clerk, “Will this work for men? It’s pink, so I’m not sure.” The store clerk looks at the man, then at the shampoo. He shrugs his shoulders in ignorance. The man resolves to purchase the shampoo anyway.
After arriving at his humble abode, the man takes a shower with his new shampoo. He opens the bottle and tries to pour the soapy substance into his hand, but alas; the shampoo refuses to fall onto his manly skin.
The man crumples down in utter defeat, sobbing as the shower water softly cascades down his rippling shoulders. The shampoo will never work for him, for he is a man, and the shampoo he bought is unfortunately in a pink bottle. “I should have known,” he cries out in a whimper. “I should have known.”
I originally thought this was the Mentally Infected By Stereotyped Persona Associated With Headwear meme.
Okay but sometimes men’s and women’s products have actual differences that might not be obvious? Like, remember that big post complaining about how men’s razors cost less than women’s? That’s because they perform differently. Women’s shoes are usually designed for people with wider hips. Et cetera. It’s not obvious that there wouldn’t be a difference between men’s and women’s shampoos (is there? I genuinely have no idea and I’m too lazy to google). And of course don’t forget that men might face social punishment for smelling like fruity shampoo, no matter how silly those punishments may be.
do you have link for the thing you said about razors? b/c for the past couple of years, I’ve been intermittently using men’s razors and I have found that they perform better, if anything?
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/really-difference-mens-womens-razors-shaving-creams/
Inch for inch on material, women’s clothing typically costs more than men’s.This is partially because tariffs on men’s and women’s clothing products often differ, with women’s being taxed at higher rates.
This… this…
CRUSH THE GOVERNMENT ANARCHY NOW MAD MAX OR BUST
3 months ago · tagged #shitposting · 249,939 notes · .permalink
(afar.com)
OMG. This is like my dream job. Social interaction! Getting to know a new person! Making shy people happy! Getting paid for what has basically been the best part of being in the Bay! Where do I sign up?
I mean, sure, meeting the average socially awkward person is probably less fun than meting the average rationalist - but it seems so overwhelmingly well suited to my skill and interests that I would almost certainly like it as a job.
If only there was some way for me to contract with such a service. Any start up geeks want to build an Uber for friendship?
I would actually kinda like to make this idea work, but you are the only sufficiently extroverted person i know to do this job. I’m not sure how I would go about finding people to actually do the thing.
Clearly, we need to scout for more extroverted people in their natural habitats.
Like, at parties, or something.
We need someone who would be willing to go to a crowded place and speak to large numbers of people and sell them on a crazy idea.
Oh, whoever would be willing to do such a thing?
Startup geek reporting in. My current skills might best be described as YGM but I’ve got the entrepreneurial spirit and the drive to get. shit. done. and I’ve heard that even failing in a startup is universally considered good experience and a powerful way of learning things.
Also, Troll is so amused by the potential job description “Friendship Pimp”
3 months ago · tagged #future precariat billionaire · 29 notes · source: sinesalvatorem · .permalink
there was a pretty noise
I asked topher where the pretty noise came from; he said it was a wind chime
I asked topher how we make sure that the pretty noise keeps happening; he says the wind has to blow the right way; I am sad because I cannot make the wind blow right, and thus the wind chime will stop chiming
this has been a demonstration of the concept of dukkha
Fans exist, as do stores that sell wind chimes.
this has been a demonstration of the concept of transhumanism
(via sinesalvatorem)
3 months ago · tagged #awwww · 185 notes · source: ozymandias271 · .permalink
"When I hear the phrase “workplace coercion,” the first thing I think of is employee theft, estimated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at over $50 billion a year."
Tyler Cowen, economics professor at the George Mason University
American libertarians scarcely need to be caricatured.
(via multiheaded1793)
seriously????
What the fuck is “employee theft”? Do they mean headhunting, possibly with a Molochy side of getting other companies to do your training for you?
This is like those ur-SJWs who call everything except shooting people “violence”.
(via thathopeyetlives)
Here’s a longer quote:
I am not comfortable with the mood affiliation of the piece. How about a simple mention of the massive magnitude of employee theft in the United States, perhaps in the context of a boss wishing to search an employee?
When I was seventeen, I had a job in the produce department of a grocery store. They made me wear a tie. They did not let me curse. Even if there was no work at the moment, I could not appear to be obviously slacking for fear of setting a bad example. They had the right to search me, including for illegal drugs. I suspect that “contract indeterminacies” gave them other rights too.
The company kept each and every one of its promises to me and they paid me on time every two weeks. The company also taught me a lot. I honor that company to this day. I also did my best to keep each and every promise to them.
What I did observe was massive employee shirking, rampant drug use including what appeared to be on the job, regular rule-breaking, and a significant level of employee theft, sometimes in cahoots with customers.
I understand full well that’s only one anecdote and only one side of the picture, and yes the company did fire vulnerable workers and quite possibly not always with just cause. Still I get uncomfortable when this other side of the story is ignored. When I hear the phrase “workplace coercion,” the first thing I think of is employee theft, estimated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at over $50 billion a year.
Charming, huh? Those dirty fucking proles don’t need any fucking “workplace freedom”, and should in fact be just grateful to their betters, his point is.
I mean, very little fucking surprise here - It Is Known, and my outrage would look positively stupid… but this was in the context of someone asking why more social justice supporting people aren’t embracing a libertarian identity. Because non-left libertarianism looks, sounds and acts like cackling villainy, that’s why. Walmart employees: the real problem with society!
(via multiheaded1793)
If these findings in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are generalizable to the rest of the U.S. low-wage workforce of 30 million, wage theft is costing workers more than $50 billion a year.
Libertarianism seriously needs to stop being rich white men’s identity politics club. They might be correct on many things, but they won’t get anywhere if they always feel the need to point out that “hey, we still hate the poor, or at least don’t care if a lot of people perfectly justifiably interpret us that way”.
1 and 6 are (partially) valid arguments, and the whole issue is caused by the lack of the workers’ bargaining power when the supply of employment is artificially constrained and they have only the theoretical, not the practical, freedom to switch to someone who doesn’t expose them to such indignities.
People are assholes, so it’s not a surprise that those controlling the capital other people’s livelihoods depend on use their power in assholish ways, and the linked article contains a massive number of things that can best be described as “egregious contract violations facilitated by inequal power and material deprivation”. A set of default contracts that can be deviated from with mutual informed consent might help with this, so the employer would have to specify “you’ll work for me, but you’ll also not have freedom of speech or bathroom breaks” explicitly and see how long they last against PR and unions-as-intended, but ultimately the solution needs to involve reducing people’s material dependency on the boss.
And even if not having workplace regulations is a desirable goal, setting priorities doing things in the right order is kind of relevant for the outcome. Abolishing oppressive policing, coercive requirements for welfare, harmful regulations and corporate subsidies are far more important concerns than whether or not people can “freely” contract away their bathroom breaks.
(via multiheaded1793)
3 months ago · tagged #with allies like these #the irony it hurts · 39 notes · source: multiheaded1793 · .permalink
(wsj.com)
Unintentionally, the game is a living example of that world because it is produced by the Polish government. The Institute of National Remembrance, a state body created in 1998 to preserve memories of Poles’ struggles against Nazism and communism, gets money to produce Queue from the national budget. Overwhelming demand hasn’t induced bureaucrats to fund a production increase.
3 months ago · tagged #the irony it hurts #you had one job #or maybe you did it way better than anyone asked for · 13 notes · .permalink
million-dollar idea: therapists specializing in anxiety who give an option to make appointments online
“Doctor, my leg hurts, I can barely walk”
Doctor: “okay but I will need you to run this 15k before I can see you”
This. It has been literally easier to get involved with awesome people from the Bay Area IRL, despite originating from the other side of an entire ocean and having practically no money, than to get a therapist. Judging from the results, probably way more useful too. Guess which one the government would’ve been willing to subsidize.
(via wirehead-wannabe)
3 months ago · 127 notes · source: alexyar · .permalink