But if I were to point fingers, I'd start with the moron that had that extra-flammable material installed on the ceiling, followed by the manager that decided that indoor flames in a windowless underground venue are an aesthetic promotional choice.

 

I'd start with the moron that had that extra-flammable material installed on the ceiling

Sounds like the local Fire Inspector kinda slacked off on his inspection duties to me. They are supposed to catch those kinds of slip ups. But it's a bit too late after the fire. If they even have that in Sweden...

 

Sounds like the local Fire Inspector kinda slacked off on his inspection duties to me. They are supposed to catch those kinds of slip ups. But it's a bit too late after the fire. If they even have that in Sweden...

It was Switzerland. Which I think makes things worse. That country's culture stands out for its affinity to order and neatness. Which makes the tragedy the harder to comprehend.

 

From what I heard, most of them were kids ... their lack of experience and situational awareness were a big factor in the outcome, IMHO

Perhaps another sign of what happens when we wrap our kids in bubble wrap to keep them "safe" and then somehow expect them to exercise good judgement once the bubble wrap comes off.

When I was a kid, fireworks were the norm and there was no age limit on who could purchase them. I remember buying them with my allowance before I was eight years old. We played with them all the time. Yet neither me or any of my friends ever thought that lighting anything indoors was cool -- and I don't remember anyone telling use that, it was just rather obvious. But that's because we grew up in a time when kids got to learn by exploring and, yes, getting hurt (and, yes, occasionally killed). We learned risk assessment early on. Despite this, I only had one person that I knew growing up that got killed or permanently injured (he was killed riding a motorbike at the age of 14 or so). This is not to say that I didn't come pretty close to being a statistic a few times myself -- falling through the ice in a pond (that we shouldn't have been on) in about fifth grade probably came the closest, though there were plenty of honorable mentions. Most of my later instances were calculated risks, such as rock climbing. Though I did some really stupid Dukes of Hazzard stuff in my car when I was 16 and 17, none of which ever came close to coming out bad but the potential was certainly there.

 

I

Perhaps another sign of what happens when we wrap our kids in bubble wrap to keep them "safe" and then somehow expect them to exercise good judgement once the bubble wrap comes off.

When I was a kid, fireworks were the norm and there was no age limit on who could purchase them. I remember buying them with my allowance before I was eight years old. We played with them all the time. Yet neither me or any of my friends ever thought that lighting anything indoors was cool -- and I don't remember anyone telling use that, it was just rather obvious. But that's because we grew up in a time when kids got to learn by exploring and, yes, getting hurt (and, yes, occasionally killed). We learned risk assessment early on. Despite this, I only had one person that I knew growing up that got killed or permanently injured (he was killed riding a motorbike at the age of 14 or so). This is not to say that I didn't come pretty close to being a statistic a few times myself -- falling through the ice in a pond (that we shouldn't have been on) in about fifth grade probably came the closest, though there were plenty of honorable mentions. Most of my later instances were calculated risks, such as rock climbing. Though I did some really stupid Dukes of Hazzard stuff in my car when I was 16 and 17, none of which ever came close to coming out bad but the potential was certainly there.

I've always thought that the unfairest thing about life is that it corners you into making life-changing decisions when one least understands their consequences.

 

I've always thought that the unfairest thing about life is that it corners you into making life-changing decisions when one least understands their consequences.

Follow your instincts.



https://packaged-media.redd.it/aid6...00&s=112aba0c28bf2f5ca3568c719c9ea34b13f49c83

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/education.../the-college-backlash-is-a-mirage/ar-AA1TBfay

For the overwhelming majority of graduates, the returns on going to college more than offset the cost of tuition. The college wage premium—the difference in earnings between people with only a high-school diploma and people with a four-year college degree—surged in the 1980s and ’90s and has remained close to those historic highs for the past two decades. One recent analysis found that the average person with a bachelor’s degree earns about 70 percent more than a high-school graduate with a similar amount of work experience. Researchers at the Cleveland Fed recently estimated that the college wage premium will stand at 76 percent in 2042. Even though plenty of young people struggle in the job market right after graduation, a college degree tends to unlock more lucrative career paths with greater long-term opportunities for advancement.
...
And despite the proliferation of headlines about the skyrocketing cost of attending college, most American students are paying less in tuition than they were a decade ago. After factoring in financial aid, the cost of attending a public four-year college has fallen by more than 20 percent since 2015, even before adjusting for inflation. Prices at private universities have modestly increased over the same time period, but are down by 12 percent after adjusting for inflation. Even after accounting for student-debt payments, the average college graduate nets about $8,000 more a year than someone with only a high-school diploma.

“Oftentimes, people say that not everybody should go to college, and that these two-year programs, these trade schools, are really good,” Strohl said. “Ask them where they’re sending their kids.”

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/education.../the-college-backlash-is-a-mirage/ar-AA1TBfay

College costs have come DOWN in the last decades?!?!

What are they smoking!

A semester's tuition at an instate college now is more than my entire college tuition cost. I just checked at my alma mater and to take 21 semester hours (which I did for several semesters) would now cost $12.6k (that's the "students portion"). My first semester there it cost $806. The per-semester fees are now right was a full year's tuition cost.

Plus, "financial aid" includes student loans, so according to these guys, if someone were to borrow $100,000 a year for college, their college is free!

 

College costs have come DOWN in the last decades?!?!

What are they smoking!

A semester's tuition at an instate college now is more than my entire college tuition cost. I just checked at my alma mater and to take 21 semester hours (which I did for several semesters) would now cost $12.6k (that's the "students portion"). My first semester there it cost $806. The per-semester fees are now right was a full year's tuition cost.

Plus, "financial aid" includes student loans, so according to these guys, if someone were to borrow $100,000 a year for college, their college is free!

And yet, IMO it's still a good investment. My girl can complete her degree (CS and physics) this year at PSU for about 10K total out of pocket. She's also getting paid by PSU to help manage online classes as her first job.

 

And yet, IMO it's still a good investment. My girl can complete her degree (CS and physics) this year at PSU for about 10K total out of pocket. She's also getting paid by PSU to help manage online classes as her first job.

I don't say that it can't be a good investment, but I also don't buy any claim that it's an across-the-board good investment.

Majoring in in-demand fields, such as most engineering fields, is highly likely to provide a very good return on investment. But majors in many areas are in fields with early-career (about five years after graduation) median salaries under $40k/yr -- and keep in mind that that means that half of those folks are making less than that. That's barely above minimum wage in many places (Washington state's minimum wage is $35.6k/yr for full-time).

Sadly, my daughter is in that category. She is majoring in music performance, which is pretty much at the bottom. Fortunately, she wants to double major in psychology, so she at least has a couple strings to her bow. But I fully expect that she will spent a lot of her professional career giving music lessons on the side (unless her (future?) husband makes enough to support them both, which is a very distinct possibility given his intentions to pursue medicine). When she first started shifting from science (wanting to pursue something in biology and as a student that took the hard math/science courses and has nothing other than As on her transcript) to music performance, I cringed and told her that she was likely to discover the true meaning of the label, "starving artist", but given the level she is already playing at, including international recognition, I can't help but hope that she pursues that dream as hard as she can. But college will be unaffordable for her unless she gets serious financial aid (and not talking loans here).

But I was able to largely cash-flow my college working part time at fast-food restaurants and doing tutoring on the side, followed later by working as a lab assistant.

 

FAFO People lost power for hours. So sad.

Looks like mainly aluminum wire.

 

No signs of it winding down yet.

 

The more tyrannies that fall this year, the better ...

 

"3 NYC Icons: the rat, the bagel, and the subway"

 

​

 

"3 NYC Icons: the rat, the bagel, and the subway"

The "NY Rat Race". Every rat for himself.

 

​

 

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." It is based on the assumption that if the publishers were confident that the answer was yes, they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, they are not accountable for whether it is correct or not.

 

It's dead now.

 

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." It is based on the assumption that if the publishers were confident that the answer was yes, they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, they are not accountable for whether it is correct or not.

The problem with that is that it ignores the fact that most questions can be asked in two ways.

For instance, "Will new convention center bring more revenue to neighboring businesses?" vs "Will new convention center rob neighboring businesses of revenue?"

Or "Will senate bid survive infidelity allegations?" vs "Will infidelity allegations doom senate bid?"