RShack
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Posts posted by RShack
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1) Don't make it personal. I am opinionated too, but I don't attack the messenger.
To borrow the words of many, many people, "No comment".
In other words, howsabout if we at least leave *this* thread open...
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So you're 6'8"? Damn.
Yeah. "Damn" is what I say too, every time I bump my head on something. Usually a door jamb. I'm the exact same height as your standard residential door. Unfortunately, doors have a little strip of molding that sticks down from that, and the door closes up against it. Damn. Whenever I finish going bald, the top of my head is gonna look somebody wrote the Chinese alphabet on it, from the little scrapes and scars.
I don't see how 7-foot basketball players survive in this world.
On the other hand, it's no big deal to change a lightbulb. Sometimes my wife will say, "Can you come here a sec, I need ladder". Or, "Please come here, I need a truck".
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I hate it when stuff happens that makes a good, interesting thread get closed.
Especially if maybe it's partially my fault.
Which I'm not sure if it is or not. Maybe, I don't know.
Regardless, I hate it either way.
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short...
Short!
SHORT!!!!
ps: I'm 5' 20"
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That stupid 9 foot lead thing off first base that TBS is doing on the playoff broadcasts.
Stupid and not necessary. If they're really so concerned about how far the runner is leading, the broadcaster can say "Tulowitzki is out to a huuuuge lead....he might be looking to steal here."
It's worked for several decades, no need to poop all over convention now.
Plus... is the dang thing BIG ENOUGH?
I wouldn't mind if they just had something that wasn't so huge and gaudy.
When I first saw it, I thought it was a new way to sneak advertising in to the picture. ("What are they selling now? Do they have some new show called "9"?)
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For example, knowing that I would get college credits for them, and also knowing that it would help me get into colleges, I took 16 AP tests and received the equivalent of 13 courses worth of credit before stepping foot on campus. I and everybody else knows that AP tests are all about making the College Board money and do not necessarily reflect the difficulty or curriculum of a college course, but if they are going to hand me credit for $80 a test, you'd better believe I'm going to take it, even if I have to work a little harder in high school than I otherwise would have. Did I take a more rigorous schedule because I wanted to learn more? Not really, most of my motivation was more pragmatic. But I think it is better if the incentive to work hard at least exists, even if that incentive is more about things like money and is not necessarily pure from an academic standpoint.
That makes sense. I did a year's worth of college on a few Saturdays by taking CLEP tests. I don't know what they're like these days, but when I took them they were cheap and easier than I would have expected. For example, I got a year's worth of U.S. History on one Saturday morning. The night before, I just read the World Book section on U.S. history. I read it "hard", with a study mentality, but that's all I did. Same thing with a few other subjects. All together, it saved me a year's worth of Loyola tuition.
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I think that's fair to say. There is probably a lot more grade inflation now. And I do think there is more of an emphasis on grades than learning, likely more so than before. And yes, people seek out easy classes or lenient professors (which I don't think is different now than it was before). However, I'm not sure any of this means that the average student is learning less than 30 years ago. People that want to learn because of intellectual curiosity are and always have been very rare, and I think those few people have the resources to learn just as much or mroe than they did 30 years ago.
I agree that most students are not super-motivated to learn based on intellectual curiosity. I agree that this is not new. However, I think that people, including young people, are hugely influenced by their environment. I think one of the biggest changes in the environment is that it used to be expected that people would actually learn stuff even if they didn't particularly want to. I don't think that's nearly as true now. I think that the environment today now emphasizes gpa, not learning. So, that's what a lot of students focus on.
So, we've got a zillion college students (now, just like before). And most of those zillion students sorta go with what's expected of them (now, just like before). I think the diff lies in what's expected of them. In many cases, 30 years ago, college students had parents who hadn't gone to college, and those students were expected to exceed what their parents did. So they did. In the context of their family, going to college was a much bigger deal. Now, I think most college students (not all, but most) have parents who went to college, and are expected to "do about as well, or maybe a little bit better". I think there is much more emphasis on "college as career prep", whereas 30 years ago the emphasis was on "getting an education". Maybe it's because the parents back then who hadn't been to college just didn't know about college, and therefore romanticized it because they didn't know. Regardless, it used to be much more "about the education", and much less "about the career". I think this has the consequence that students now see the education part as just a stepping stone, something to get past, not something worthwhile unto itself.
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Do you think kids used to be more prepared in math when they got to college?
I think a higher percentage of students who had successfully completed their algebra class could actually do algebra.
I think a higher percentage of students who aced their English courses could actually write a decent essay.
I think there now is a much greater focus on getting good grades, and a much lesser focus on actually learning stuff.
I think there is a much looser coupling between grades and learning. It never was especially great, but I think it's a lot worse now.
These days, many many people want the *symbols* of learning, but don't care very much about learning.
Many people want to be *perceived* as a "good student" but they don't especially want to be one.
Many people just want the gpa, not the learning it's supposed to represent.
Many people today would prefer to not learn if they could get a decent gpa without it.
In many cases, they can and they do.
Do you disagree?
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Mostly what I base my opinion on is talking to my parents about what they did in high school and college. They said my curriculum was much more rigorous through high school than theirs were, especially in science and math. In those days, they said most kids had not taken calculus when they reached college. In contrast, I and a few other people my year took calculus starting in sophomore year. About 85-90% of my school overall had at least one year of calculus by senior year. Also based on what I have heard, competition to get into the top schools is much more cutthroat now than it used to be, which I think causes a lot more focus on high achievement in high school.
Your experience is very atypical. As a general theme, students show up ill-prepared in math, and unmotivated to purse the disciplines that require the greatest discipline. For example, we're just not producing nearly enough engineers and computer science people. A high percentage of students choose disciplines based on where they think the best trade-off is between career-$ and least-study. Often, it's not "How much can I learn in 4 years?" but instead is, "How can I get out of here with a degree via minimum work and hassle?"
I agree that things are more cut-throat re: getting in to top schools. However, this does not mean that students are either better-prepared or more dedicated to a field, it means that students have become more adept at reading the system and doing what the system requires. You could call this hard work and you could call it better gaming the system. Increased concern for the prestige of the school one is going to reflects an increased emphasis on prestige... but is that good or bad?
I don't blame students for this. I think it's how they're raised. But maybe that's just me. Regardless, there are always many good students. My concern is the more typical student.
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I would say things are much more competitive now, though. I mean, I wasn't alive back then, but it seems that statistically the caliber of students is increasing across the country.
I wish you were right. Sadly, it's just the opposite. College is the new high school.
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I'd give up a KID to see that.
Yeah, you can probably spare one for the cause.
Not a biggie... he can make another one who looks just like that one...
Um... no, wait...
On second thought, maybe that is a big deal!
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Not figuring out the easy solution to a CS midterm question (approximately 1/20 questions overall), then writing a long, grotesque, convoluted solution that is still correct but takes over 1/4 of the exam time for me to think through. That is sorta makin me mad.
But what is really makin me mad is not getting credit for my long, grotesque, convoluted solution that is still correct!
For many students, it's one of the more frustrating things about CS: a correct solution can be a bad solution, while a slightly-incorrect solution can be basically sound and readily fixable. It's one of the things that makes CS hard.
I know it's no comfort to you, but still...
ps: IMO, the important part is to help students get their mind right about this *before* you let them near a compiler. However, I am in the tiny minority on this point. Everybody else seems to think that the proper intro is to just code, code, code. I think that's nuts.
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Um, as someone who was out tonight......uh what happened?????
What? Out tonight? You have a life or something?
Mathis reached way into the stands... and over something (tarp? something) for a foul pop-up... reached *way* in... and would've had it... except some teenage kid caught the ball with his bare hands just as it was about to plop into the C mitt... Mathis was PO'd and glared at the kid, but them's the breaks...
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But this is the playoffs.
And the O's aren't in them.
And I'm not OPACY.
Now, that's a rant I can get behind... I'm opening this-here can of Guinness just for you ;-)
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Anyone else want to smack the holy hell out of that kid that took the foul pop away from Jeff Mathis?
Well, as much as I might hate to admit it, he simply did his job.
If it was a game at OPACY, and the other team's C was reaching into the stands right in front of you, what would you do? Would you say, "Oh, excuse me, Mr. Bad Guy, let me be sure to get out of your way, so you can get one of Ours Guys out"?
Rules is rules, and it was anybody's ball... it's not like the MFY brat at all... him, I'd like to smack... and his parents, for pimping him and his crime...
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I hate Boston College and Georgia Tech football with a passion...both are average football programs that get TONS of love from the media.
I think GT has the proper attitude about athletics. They don't expect a top-5 team. What they expect is a top-20 team that's clean as a whistle with guys who go to class and graduate. I'm biased, since I both went there (to grad school, not undergrad, which I did at Loyola) and taught there... but still...
ps: I first took a class at GT in '82. My first day on campus, I saw a 30-something guy leading a student-wearing-a-tie across campus... the 30-something guy was holding the student's tie and leading him as if the tie was a leash... I stopped somebody and said, "what the hell is that about?". The person I stopped said, "oh, that's just an assistant coach taking a football player to class... whenever you see that, it means the guy cut Calculus yesterday... he won't do it again..." I thought to myself, "Holy cow, these people are serious!"
pps: I taught huge freshman-and-sophomore CS classes, and had plenty of athletes, since it was a required course... and those courses were a lot of work and pretty hard... I found that the athletes didn't whine and complain like many of the regular students did... I think athletes know what it's like to be tired and frustrated and still have work to do... I used to think that student-athletes had a free ride, academically... but my experience at GT raised my opinion of what most student-athletes actually do... at least at GT, anyway...
ppps: Ever notice that the awards for top college player, top college coach, and top AD are all named after GT guys? Plus, their song is one of the best...
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Totally unrelated rant #2 - This thread has been used a fair number of times for grammar policing so I'm going to continue it. Worse is a word you use to compare one thing to another. Worst means that something is the most bad of all possibilities.
When the number of possibilities is greater than two...
The only time you should say he is "the worse" is if you're saying something along the lines of, "between Cabrera and Bedard, Cabrera is definitely the worse of the two," but that's kind of an awkward construction.
I believe the correct term there is "the worser" ;-)
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I'm back in town because my Dad broke his hip and needs moral support. I can't believe that I can't find an O's game on AM radio in the old Buick I borrowed from a childhood friend. When I found them on FM, I couldn't believe endless barrage of "the Ripken Years" hot dog commercials. Hello? Most of the Ripken Years were pretty bad for the O's. This reminds me of Bama fans endlessly pining for Bear Bryant. At least Bear Bryant won games. In less than a week, I already can't stand the Ripken Years theme song. It's time to move on people...
Also, I can't believe what a moron Dave Johnson is in the postgame radio show. We should listen to his alleged-expertise why?
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Yeah, I probably should have moved over...
No. You definitely should have moved over. There is no "probably" about it.
but what right did he have to apparently try to run me off the road?
None.
No offense intended, but this sounds like a case of your failure to behave properly getting him riled, at which point he failed to behave properly. Every adult should do better than that, especially a cop.
The best rule of the road is quite simple: never do anything that requires somebody else to do something because of you.
'Sounds like both you and the cop failed this test.
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People riding side by side on two lane highways!! HELLOO, MCFLY!??!?!??! THE LEFT LANE IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOING FASTER!!! Do you NOT realize that you're riding next to the person in the right lane? Do you NOT realize that you're holding up the people that like to ride in the left lane because THEY WANT TO GO FASTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE.
In Germany, Belgium, and France, you get tickets for being in the fast lane on uncongested highways unless you are actively passing someone. (Maybe other places too, I don't know.)
In Germany, if somebody runs into the back of you, it's their fault, just like here... unless somebody runs into the back of you while you're in the fast lane on an autobahn, in which case it's your fault for being in the way. That's a law I like.
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I know, stop yelling at me.
We're your friends. You stop driving drunk and we'll stop yelling at you.
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The only thing he has to do now is cut down on the number of line drives he allows (13 to 89 batters).
How does one actually *do* that? (I assume it's about movement on the pitch, thus making it hard to hit squarely, but everybody wants that anyway, right?)
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I agree, way too much bullying from both sides of this discussion for me to even think of giving an opinion on this subject. And that's sad way to feel...
Exactly. I think disagreeing is fine. I even think being pushy is OK. It's the bullying that makes me sad.
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I don't know why you're yelling just because I disagreed with you. I didn't say anything even remotely like "no one should have an opinion". You're putting words in my mouth that I never even *thought*, much less *said*. Read what I *actually* said, especially the bolded part: All I did was present some additional facts, and then said that my opinion is that we should trust Leo on this one.
We have a guy who has more talent than demonstrated performance, and his main shortcoming is that he can't make it thru 7. I don't see how the BP is gonna help that.
But, please excuse me for having an opinion different than yours.
Great, Tony. I have a different opinion, which I supported with evidence, just like you did for your opinion. So you dinged me for 15 points. For what?
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Short rants.
in Rants
Posted
I used to give a little money to guys, as long as they were decent about it. But then, for a couple years, I lived in a loft in downtown Atlanta... which was fine... but I couldn't step outside without somebody hitting on me... 'happened every single time... after a while, it just got old... so I quit doing it.
The best tactic I found was, when I saw some guy coming up to me, I'd head straight for him, look him right in the eye, and ask him if he could help me out any... "Hey, man, can you gimme a buck?" That worked great. Sometimes, the guy would start digging through his pockets, and be all apologetic when he didn't have anything... sometimes, he'd say, "I know you, you live around here... try me to tomorrow... maybe I'll have something then".
Some of those guys were a pain... but some of them were nice guys who were in hard times... and some of them were just in their own little world... some were like hobo's used to be, they didn't really want to live someplace... I didn't understand it, but then I prolly wouldn't have understood hobo's either...