Skip to content

General Discussion

A place to talk about whatever you want

38.0k Topics 343.4k Posts
  • Designed Mediocrity

    7
    7 Posts
    57 Views
    HoraceH
    Next came the “curving” practice, which dictated that I convert a raw score on a test by multiplying the square root of it by ten. Hence, a score of forty-nine, an F, would be “curved” to seventy, a C minus. When I refused to curve grades, the principal had my department chair make the changes covertly. When I found out, I objected once again, and the principal rebuked me for “denying these children the opportunities all of us had.” The phrase "grading on a curve" was meant to refer to a normal distribution, your classic bell curve, where the top x % got one grade, the next top y % got another, and so on, so each class had the same "curve" of grades, if plotted on a chart where the x axis was the grade and the y axis was % of students with that grade. The sort of "curve" this teacher describes is a log transform of the original grades, which flattens, but retains shape. Everybody can still get an A in this method.
  • I wonder if Home Depot will learn its lesson

    31
    31 Posts
    433 Views
    JollyJ
    A bit cooler today. Make use of the weather. Summer in Houston is coming...
  • $150B a year

    9
    9 Posts
    123 Views
    George KG
    @jon-nyc said in $150B a year: I’ve heard the next generation of drugs will be even better. Ghrelin inhibitors? Leptin simulators?
  • Bank goes bust

    3
    3 Posts
    44 Views
    89th8
    Hahahaha great reference, Doc
  • Turley - "Democracy is on the ballot"

    2
    2 Posts
    23 Views
    jon-nycJ
    I don’t know the scope of their law, we have something similar here for property taxes that Cuomo enacted. If they are raised more than, I think, 2% in a year, it requires 2/3 voter approval Or maybe 60%. Can’t remember.
  • Texas to follow Florida's lead?

    2
    2 Posts
    27 Views
    jon-nycJ
    This is interesting: Abbott ultimately failed to break through, with the death knell coming last fall when a bloc of 21 House Republicans — mostly from rural districts — joined with Democrats to strip vouchers from a broader education funding bill. It makes sense. In a city with lots of public schools, if funds are siphoned away the district can close a couple and still operate. In a district with one school, budget cuts are probably a lot harder to deal with.
  • Not on the ballot in Ohio?

    54
    54 Posts
    706 Views
    jon-nycJ
    Honestly I’m not sure what the technicalities would be. For example, if one of the candidates dies in October. There would be two separate questions. What the party process would be to choose a successor, (though surely the VP would be the lead by far) and then getting Biden or Trump electors to agree, since the ballots wouldn’t be changed at that late date. One complication is that some states have laws that require electors to cast their vote for the person who won the popular vote in their state. IOW, some could be forced to vote for a dead guy.
  • Party Convention with Fighting and Obsenities

    37
    37 Posts
    657 Views
    taiwan_girlT
    PResident Trump comments: "The reason I didn’t file paperwork for the Libertarian Nomination, which I would have absolutely gotten if I wanted it (as everyone could tell by the enthusiasm of the Crowd last night!), ....
  • Tapping the Strategic Reserve

    16
    16 Posts
    258 Views
    taiwan_girlT
    https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/topic/31454/strategic-reserve-again/5?_=1716972192066 Had to release the 1MM barrels. That section of the strategic reserve is closing.
  • Bye Bye Buzzfeed News

    7
    7 Posts
    70 Views
    taiwan_girlT
    I am not reading anytihng that is that much different from what is already exist. Obviously, what they have now does not work, but I dont think he gives anything that is really different from what is out there. (But, i dont have any better suggestions. 555) ...creator led audio and video Why would people switch or why would this be better than Youtube, Tik Tok, Reels, etc?
  • Expecting war or trying to prevent it?

    2
    2 Posts
    45 Views
    taiwan_girlT
    Good question in your title. Hopefully, trying to prevent.
  • Free Steinway B

    3
    1
    3 Posts
    52 Views
    LuFins DadL
    I can’t tell you how many calls we get about those.
  • Crazy sale if you need an instrument

    3
    3 Posts
    77 Views
    jon-nycJ
    Yep. We got the boy a pedal for his guitar Saturday. At a Sam Ash store.
  • Hey George

    2
    2 Posts
    27 Views
    George KG
    [image: ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.tenor.com%2Fimages%2Fee22ed511f2d903caab5298cd34fd89d%2Ftenor.gif%3Fitemid%3D4885183&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=82981b75237594d2efa67400c6a097413ccaf243c0ec233b268dcd528eb7634d&ipo=images]
  • Graduation ceremony

    15
    15 Posts
    212 Views
    Doctor PhibesD
    @LuFins-Dad said in Graduation ceremony: @Doctor-Phibes said in Graduation ceremony: If you'll forgive the boasting, he really knocked it out of the park after a slightly shaky start. He had a dismal year in 2020 doing Mechanical Engineering at Wentworth in Boston, which he absolutely hated, and also got derailed by Covid. Since then he worked for a while, then went back to do a non-engineering course at community college, and finished in the top 5% of the school despite having to drive a 50 mile commute three times a week. That’s really great! What is he thinking of studying for his bachelor’s? Criminal Justice. Not something I would have ever considered, but there we are…
  • For 60s and 70s kids.

    5
    5 Posts
    69 Views
    LuFins DadL
    @George-K said in For 60s and 70s kids.: The "Indian Guy" was Italian. In 1996, a journalist with The New Orleans Times-Picayune ventured to Gueydan, Louisiana, the small town Iron Eyes had allegedly grown up in, and sought out his heritage. Here, it was revealed that “America’s favorite Indian” was actually a second-generation Italian. “He just left,” recalled his sister, Mae Abshire Duhon, “and the next thing we heard was that he had turned Indian.” At first, residents of Gueydan were reticent to reveal Iron Eyes’ true story — simply because they were proud he’d hailed from there, and didn’t want his image tarnished. Hollywood, along with the ad agencies that had profited from his image, was wary to accept the man’s tale as fabricated. The story didn’t hit the newswires and was slow to gain steam, but The Crying Indian’s cover was eventually blown. Iron Eyes Cody, or “Espera Oscar de Corti,” was born in a rural southwestern Louisiana town on April 3, 1904, the second of four children. His parents, Antonio de Corti and Francesca Salpietra had both emigrated from Sicily, Italy just a few years prior. Mamma Mia! Dat’s a sadda development!
  • The Fives

    1
    1 Posts
    21 Views
    No one has replied
  • Hey Phibes!

    4
    4 Posts
    70 Views
    Doctor PhibesD
    @jon-nyc said in Hey Phibes!: Does he play his dads old stuff?? He has done, but he's quite different in style from John Coltrane. I believe he has played his dad's saxophones, although I'm not sure whether he still does. It would be worth going just to see those. There's a funny story along those lines. Charlie Parker's wife Chan married another alto sax player Phil Woods after Parker died, and she still had Parker's main alto sax, which was a very distinctive custom-made instrument. For one gig, Woods' sax was either out being repaired, or for some reason unavailable, so he decided the only thing he could do was borrow Parker's old horn. He was playing in a small club, and in walked Charles Mingus, who had played with Parker a lot. He took one look at the horn and gave Phil Woods the dirtiest look imaginable.
  • Today in Chicago

    2
    2 Posts
    31 Views
    jon-nycJ
    lol (LSD = Lake Shore Drive for those who don’t know)
  • Revolution comes to PW

    5
    5 Posts
    89 Views
    LuFins DadL
    I just went to check out a Seiler review, but it took 35 seconds to load because of the ads.