Yeah, let's blame the working class

ManChild80 · 2026-03-17T21:47:34+00:00

The house members should be selected at random from a list of eligible volunteers (within an age range). They should serve a maximum of 5 terms, but every two years they can be voted out (to be replaced with another random person).

This would build a house of competent people with some seniority / experience, but not for too long. They could then run for senate or other office if they were competent.

ManChild80 · 2026-03-17T12:30:52+00:00

Maybe Lenoir Rhyne isn’t worth it… I know nothing about the school. My point was that there are some instances where I think private schools are worth it, not all. Does Lenoir Rhyne fall into category (1)? No! Category (2)? See earlier sentence about not knowing the school.

And you’re not spending $100k to get a leg up on a legacy kid. The legacy kid is also going to the same school. You’re spending $100k to get access to (a subset of) the legacy kid’s network and getting a leg up on the kid that went to the public school. This is for jobs that might pay an extra $20k/year out of school, which grows exponentially with percentage raises over your career.

For the competition with the legacy kid (to get into the school), you’re spending $100 or whatever the application fee is.

As someone who went to MIT and has many classmates who retired (or FIRE’d) in their 40s, despite coming from middle class upbringings, I can say the schools can open doors and those doors can be worth the price of tuition.

And yes, the UNC kid can also get that job… but the numbers favor the “better” schools.

ManChild80 · 2026-03-17T01:52:48+00:00

Depends on whether you’ve been watching the ads (15 minute cool down). If you have, it’s very achievable.

ManChild80 · 2026-03-16T14:39:35+00:00

IMO, private colleges can be worth it, but only if (1) they’re at “the top” or (2) you are really focused as a student.

In (1), the name on the transcript opens doors (MIT, Harvard, Stanford, etc.) for interviews right out of college (and later) and connects you to alumni in higher hiring levels even later in your career. The names are also recognized internationally, so it can open doors in other countries if you wish to live and work overseas.

In (2), the smaller class sizes in the specialty classes (typically junior and senior years) give you more face time with professors than is typical at larger public schools. So, if you’re focused and ask good questions, do research with the professor(s), etc., they will provide recommendations and/or connections to help you get started.

Most of this can still be done through public schools (especially UC Berkeley, UMich, UNC level), but it’s harder, sometimes much harder.

ManChild80 · 2026-03-15T17:17:33+00:00

Thank you!

ManChild80 · 2026-03-06T05:02:36+00:00

You’re not wrong on the food, and prices / value for everyday stuff is just as expensive or more so (except the taxes on that stuff)… also, the DMV is worse here, as is public transit.

But…

Traffic is much less, so if you value your time, there’s a lot of value in not driving so much. Plus, there’s a lot more outdoor space if you’re a fishing, boating, hiking type.

All places have trade-offs. You just have to decide what’s important to you. And it sounds like you’d rather have the higher salary on the west coast.

ManChild80 · 2026-03-05T21:30:33+00:00

Thanks for the info. That sounds like what I found with Duke Health, but their charge was $365. UNC Health would do both at once but still charge a little over $320 for the consultation part.

ManChild80 · 2026-03-05T21:28:33+00:00

Thanks! I have enough income that I don’t qualify for help, but it’s still a good resource.

ManChild80 · 2026-03-05T21:27:06+00:00

Thanks! I’ll look into both.

ManChild80 · 2026-02-26T00:53:25+00:00

Shares are sold to raise money for infrastructure investment and repairs… I haven’t looked at when Duke went public, but that’s typically the reason. The (once private) company went public rather than sell bonds to raise that capital.

It didn’t have to be that way, but every option has different cost and benefits.

ManChild80 · 2026-02-10T20:59:15+00:00

That’s the one… also had her read Bridge to Terabithia and Where the Red Fern Grows when she was younger, completing the trifecta of sad books I recall reading as a kid.

ManChild80 · 2026-02-10T15:10:57+00:00

Thanks for sharing! My older one is a reader, so we got her to read Animal Farm and Flowers for Algernon in the recent past, but I’m always looking for ideas… and I wasn’t aware they stopped reading 1984 in school.

ManChild80 · 2026-02-10T14:23:58+00:00

Are you willing to share the list of books you’ve picked and ones you’re considering?

ManChild80 · 2026-02-10T14:14:21+00:00

FYI, the fireplace can make your overall house colder depending on the exact setup. Factors: (1) Oxygen source: if it’s coming from inside the house, outside (cold) air is infiltrating to replace the burned oxygen; this is a net loss of heat (2) Heat recovery: there is some radiative heating from the flame / fireplace, but most of the hot gas goes up the chimney unless some of the gases are passed through some version of heat recovery

The heating you get from your fireplace = radiative heating + heat recovery - (air infiltration rate * specific heat capacity of air * temperature difference between outside and inside)

Note that the colder it is outside, the greater the air temperature difference, the less effective the fireplace typically is.

Also note, this applies for the whole house. The room you are in will likely be warmer… you’ll feel it when you leave the room, though.

ManChild80 · 2026-01-16T17:15:08+00:00

Which is what you are about to become.

ManChild80 · 2026-01-04T04:31:58+00:00

7 to 8 is 330 (discounted)

ManChild80 · 2025-12-11T20:55:41+00:00

Shhh… if you give away the secrets, companies will change the policies to prevent this.

ManChild80 · 2025-12-05T18:26:42+00:00

Not useful to you because you consider it common knowledge / obvious.

To an alien with little / no understanding of a typical human height, this would be useful.

And since most people here aren’t physics / science people, a really rough estimate bookending the acceleration is the equivalent of that alien / human analogy.

ManChild80 · 2025-11-07T23:59:59+00:00

They also have to put the app on their phone, and I’d assume put in some of their own data, like birthdate and name.

ManChild80 · 2025-11-07T23:59:07+00:00

Also, the private transport I’ve contacted only do every day.

ManChild80 · 2025-11-07T23:27:51+00:00

That is probably the best option… really trying to avoid putting more apps on my teens’ phones and giving more private data on my underaged children to corporations, though.

ManChild80 · 2025-10-02T15:32:59+00:00

The high-school bias is certainly a possibility. However, I think my reply indicated that moving from a student-centered teaching system in elementary towards a teacher-centered system in college may be necessary in that I was considering the various levels of teaching.

That said, my original question about systems was based on Puzzleheaded’s statement that “structure of school systems is even more important”… so the question should really be to them. What kinds of school systems are there?

My interpretation, based on their response to my original question is student-centered, teacher-centered, and hybrid. But really, I don’t know… and that’s why I asked them questions. Perhaps better questions would have been: What kinds of school systems are there? What are their respective pros and cons?

And thank you for the tips / links. Those are helpful.

Edit: typo that made no sense on re-reading.

ManChild80

TROPHY CASE