Sure, it’s a subjective number that certainly does not solve all the problems with our education system. But it specifically addresses the problem highlighted in the post. On a 100-point scale under the 10-point grade bin convention, 60% of the grading scale is assigned to a failing grade; under the 7-point grade bin convention, 70% of the grading scale is reserved for failure. Thus schools/districts have created rules that teachers can’t assign less than 50 (or whatever number they decide on) to minimize the heavy weighting of failing grades. But this creates a situation where someone who did the assignment but did poorly receives the same grade as someone who didn’t even show up. Under the 4-point scale, all grades (A, B, C, D, and F) are weighted equally, which reduces the urge admin might have to set a minimum grade and minimizes the habit teachers may have to assign failing grades to students who may actually be slightly better than failing.

Viewing school as indoctrination is a societal choice - it doesn’t have to be that way. Are there other ways to learn? Absolutely. And we should value those just as much as we value a traditional school-based education. I’m all for that, and all for alternative evaluation systems that don’t involve assigning a number to everyone, but in my experience most people – and especially students – don’t want to put in the time or effort it takes to really evaluate people or themselves beyond a GPA-type number.

A good argument for the 4-point grading scale.

We have vastly increased our ability to produce food.

And it has been largely the (petro)chemical industry responsible for this. The Haber-Bosch process transformed agriculture, but accounts for percent-level quantities of global energy consumption and carbon emissions. And it requires raw materials that are typically produced from hydrocarbons (although admittedly there are renewable options). And other nutrients typically come from mining (even organic options) - which displaces many species of all sorts. And this does not account for pesticides, etc., that others have mentioned.

Prior to the development of modern chemistry, our best sources of fertilizer were often animal manures - which require breeding, raising, and ultimately usually killing animals.

Sure, there is a lot we can do to minimize harm, and generally we should, and I try to myself as much as possible. But I’m not fooling myself into thinking that eating vegan or growing my food organically means nothing or no one suffered. Until we all go back to pre-agrarian societies, we will continue to cause large-scale destruction in some way. But of course this in itself would cause massive population decline and resultant suffering in humans.

The question does not state that anyone is guilty, it merely asks, “Is there evidence that could prove this person guilty that maybe we should consider?” Presumption of innocence does not mean you can’t investigated or accused, it means you can’t be convicted.

I honestly don’t know the full extent of the accusations against Gates. But more generally, even if the people involved were adults, how do we know it wasn’t criminal? How do we know the women were involved consensually? And for those that did “consent”, how do we know it wasn’t due to coercion and the enormous wealth and power imbalances at play? The pictures of Gates released with one of the previous dumps sure don’t make it look like everyone was happy to be there with him… obviously a lot of this is speculation, but I’m weary of using the logic of adult = not criminal activity.

For me, it was buying CA glue from hobby or woodworking shops instead of those tiny packs of “superglue”. Comes in all different thicknesses and with activator usually for a lower cost per gram, and in bottles designed to last until the glue is gone.

This graph makes the SAT drop look worse than it is

Yes, an example of why dual y-axis plots are problematic (when the variables are not direct mathematical transformations of each other).

And notably, many changes have been introduced to the SAT and SAT scoring over that time. It’s unclear to me from the information here how those have been accounted for in the data.

To add to this, the Phillips screw was designed to be self centering for use with motorized screw drivers on assembly lines, with an added benefit of easy cam out that prevented over tightening by said screw drivers. All that is kinda obsolete now and actually disadvantageous, so Phillips is probably the most entrenched and enduring corporate propaganda screw.

I would consider them a type of dumpling.

The rest of the band isn’t a whole lot better:

Then, Balzary and Smith jumped into the crowd. Balzary picked up the woman and began to spin her around on his shoulders, while Smith pulled her bathing suit to one side and began to slap her bottom, Grasso said. Officials said Balzary got on top of the woman, asked her to perform a sex act, then began to simulate the act.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/03/17/Two-members-of-Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-arrested/7434637650000/

Although it may not be ideal for a large document, I have used the Coblis for individual figures that I’m worried about. I usually find small tweaks to the colors can make them much more readily differentiable in the simulator.

You don’t need to do this. If properly pruned, crape myrtles will form a canopy over the sidewalk that doesn’t interfere with pedestrians and actually provides shade; if topped like the picture, they will form an unruly mass of growth right at head height.

I agree with the other comment – looks like maybe insect damage or (fungal?) infection, but I’m really not sure. You might try looking through Sue Bottom’s Orchid Disease Guide (PDF), if you haven’t already.

I agree, looks like a mulberry. Leaves on small trees and new branches are particularly likely to be lobed in mulberry, while older branches tend to produce leaves without lobes.

Most of my garden is devoted to native/natural gardens. My challenge is always figuring out how to have clean aesthetics and a welcoming, usable outdoor space while also creating authentic-looking, functional plant communities. One book that has changed how I think about this is Planting in a Post-Wild World by Rainer and West.

My thought would be to get flat PVC end caps. These could be attached to the wood with screws, and the pipe attached to the caps with PVC cement.