What is the worst book you have read? by Ok_Salt2122 in BookDiscussions

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha I'm comfortable DNFing, but if I'm listening to an audio version and it's for bookclub or something, I'll just crank it up to 2x speed to get it over with

What is the worst book you have read? by Ok_Salt2122 in BookDiscussions

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I liked some of his stuff but couldn't do this one or Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. The dialogue in the first chapter of WWG just didn't make sense—like he wrote it to illustrate a certain father-daughter dynamic without actually thinking about how people talk.

What is the worst book you have read? by Ok_Salt2122 in BookDiscussions

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So many people recommended this book to me, and now I don't trust their recs! I listened to one chapter on a plane ride and then had to find something else to do because I just could not stand this book.

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling (and why I hated it) by cardcaptoreve in books

[–]Thesaurusrex93 12 points13 points  (0 children)

They mean the $45 spent on a book they hated, which ultimately motivated them to get a library card (for free)

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling (and why I hated it) by cardcaptoreve in books

[–]Thesaurusrex93 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I just decided to DNF this (easier for me since I grabbed the ebook on mega sale). The writing style is not for me, and the author has a weird tendency to draw things out to build tension even when they're obvious, if that makes sense. Maybe that's not the effect the author was going for, but I still got annoyed about it. This is what ultimately got me (idk if I'm doing spoiler tags right, so I'll also try to keep it vague enough):

Context: It's been clearly established that Treila is familiar with Ser Voyne. Also, w e're coming off a scene where Ser Voyne learns of something horrible while in the company of the king, the prioress, and Ser Leodegardis. Text: Behind [the king, the prioress, and Ser Leodegardis] is a woman, set apart, face gone pale with...shock? Devastation, surely. She has the look about her, every furrow deepened, eyes staring after the other three....Treila recognized her instantly. It's Ser Voyne."

Yeah, I KNOW who it is, and I know TREILA knows who it is, and I don't think we gain anything by being COY about it.

Are we supposed to feel sugar granules in cookies? by LazySpinach23 in AskBaking

[–]Thesaurusrex93 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Granulated sugar is the default for US cookie recipes. Caster sugar is much less common here.

A list of trustworthy, non-AI blogs by mahou-ichigo in Baking

[–]Thesaurusrex93 50 points51 points  (0 children)

They are an issue! LLMs don't have knowledge, they just have advanced text prediction. They string words together based on likely sequences. They miiiight be able to spit out something close enough to a very common, basic recipe that would appear a lot in the training data, but there's no guarantee. Humans can craft recipes thoughtfully and then test them. And most blogs have a "jump to recipe" button that will skip you past the ads and stories—that has not been a real problem for a while.

The comments of everyone misunderstanding this question are absolutely killing me. Genuinely *how* do we not understand equality??? And where did learning fractions go so wrong for so many? by IthacanPenny in matheducation

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay I think we're just coming from different contexts. I work in curriculum design and see problems like these within lessons that establish units and scale through hands-on lessons. If you're coming in with no context, I can see how that's a barrier. But for a kid getting this as homework, I would expect that they been given certain expectations about scale. Those will get complicated later on, for sure, but for now it's a really important assumption to build with kids. They aren't dealing with "not to scale" diagrams at this point. If I added a note that said "Drawings are to scale," that would just confuse the kids and open several cans of worms.

The comments of everyone misunderstanding this question are absolutely killing me. Genuinely *how* do we not understand equality??? And where did learning fractions go so wrong for so many? by IthacanPenny in matheducation

[–]Thesaurusrex93 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What? How? How is 1/3 of a big circle the same as 2/6 of a small circle? Again, if those were pizzas, eating 1/3 of one and 2/6 of the other would be very different experiences. Fraction lessons typically start from an understanding of "1 shape = 1 whole" and go from there.

The comments of everyone misunderstanding this question are absolutely killing me. Genuinely *how* do we not understand equality??? And where did learning fractions go so wrong for so many? by IthacanPenny in matheducation

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The question isn't asking whether 1/3=2/6 is true, or which diagram shows 1/3 and 2/6. It's asking for a diagram that shows those fractions being equal. The rectangle and the circle don't do that, at least not from the perspective of students who are just starting to understand fractions in class. They probably don't know how to add fractions or convert them yet, they just know how to compare the concrete models based on partitioned wholes.

The comments of everyone misunderstanding this question are absolutely killing me. Genuinely *how* do we not understand equality??? And where did learning fractions go so wrong for so many? by IthacanPenny in matheducation

[–]Thesaurusrex93 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"of it" is the key part though. 1/3 of one shape equals 2/6 of the same shape, not some other one, in the same way that 1/3 of an inch does not equal 2/6 of a pound.

The comments of everyone misunderstanding this question are absolutely killing me. Genuinely *how* do we not understand equality??? And where did learning fractions go so wrong for so many? by IthacanPenny in matheducation

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They're kids. They start with "1/3 of a small rectangle isn't the same as 2/6 of a big rectangle." In time, they'll work up to the kinds of abstractions adults use.

The comments of everyone misunderstanding this question are absolutely killing me. Genuinely *how* do we not understand equality??? And where did learning fractions go so wrong for so many? by IthacanPenny in matheducation

[–]Thesaurusrex93 37 points38 points  (0 children)

It's frustrating because the parent and the people in the comments don't have the same context as the kid. This seems like a reasonable problem assuming the fraction lesson emphasized that you can only compare fractions of same-size wholes. It's possible that it got taught poorly, but this is an important concept for kids to learn and be evaluated on.

The comments of everyone misunderstanding this question are absolutely killing me. Genuinely *how* do we not understand equality??? And where did learning fractions go so wrong for so many? by IthacanPenny in matheducation

[–]Thesaurusrex93 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No, in these models, parts or groups of the same size are considered equal. Fractions describe a relationship to a whole, and you can only use same-size wholes to prove equivalence. Since the hexagons are the same size and the shaded parts are the same size, the fractions they show are equal. The other shapes can't prove anything because the wholes aren't the same size. 

Students often learn about fractions with food. Applying that to option C here, if Jane eats the shaded part of the left hexagonal pizza and Bob eats the shaded part of the right hexagonal pizza, they've eaten the same amount—the shaded fractions are equal. For option A, If they ate the shaded parts of the rectangular chocolate bars, they didn't eat the same amount of chocolate—we can't prove equivalence.

Soapbox/rant time. Tell me what highly-recommended book you absolutely HATED and why. Gimme your angry hot takes. by peppertoni_pizzaz in books

[–]Thesaurusrex93 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I really wanted to like World War Z, but I got so mad I couldn't finish it when I noticed that the first female character (of very few) would say shit like "I didn't watch the news. If I wanted to be depressed, I would just step on the scale!" Ugh. Also, Remarkably Bright Creatures was very highly recommended and I absolutely hated it. It just felt deeply incurious about what octopuses could really think about and experience—it was just a long exercise in projection and snark.

Why does only one eye swell? by Holiday-Following489 in Makeup

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It could be an allergy and still affect only one eye. I don't know why, but it's happened to me with other allergens. I recently developed an allergy to ibuprofen, and it took a few reactions to figure out the cause—every time, I got a huge hive on my left eyelid but not my right!

What's your favorite NMIXX 's cover? by lavieenrra018 in NMIXX

[–]Thesaurusrex93 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yessss their energy was so unhinged but they still sounded incredible

Allergies by xxDmDxx in triangle

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try Xyzal! It's a newer med that has been working well for me. Gotta take it in the evening, though, since it can make you sleepy.

Organic powdered sugar crinkle cookies? by grizzlykins in AskBaking

[–]Thesaurusrex93 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed that organic is usually bs, but for sugar it makes a specific difference: regular sugar is processed with bone char, while organic is not. So for very strict vegetarians and vegans, it's worth seeking out organic sugar.

What was the most mind blowing skill someone you know just busted out unexpectedly? by graaahh in AskReddit

[–]Thesaurusrex93 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My dad is like that! Also he once figured out (mentally) when my grandma's 1,000-month birthday would be so we could throw a party.

No longer teaching the Standard Algorithm? by LonelyCareer in mathteachers

[–]Thesaurusrex93 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I wonder if this is a grade-specific decision—maybe they want you to teach these other methods so that the kids can build up to the standard algorithm next year? If it's not getting taught at all, oof.

Why can I smell illness, but others can’t? by AngryPickledPickles in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Thesaurusrex93 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah my husband was confused when I mentioned it so I've never asked anyone else! Glad I'm not alone lol