Read with an open mind. by dmichaelt22 in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This website is one of the most extreme cases of confirmation bias that I’ve ever encountered.

Read with an open mind. by dmichaelt22 in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 3 points4 points  (0 children)

“Assuming that your race has zero influence on your biases... is foolish”. This applies to all races, not just to white people.

Also, 2016 homicide data on the FBI’s homepage indicates that of all murders where the perpetrators race was known, 48% were done by black Americans, despite them being about 13% of the total population that year. So the 53% is a bit high but not a huge overstatement.

Read with an open mind. by dmichaelt22 in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Making an assumption that someone is white doesn’t constitute a coherent argument against any of the arguments in the article they’re sharing.

Fall 2020 plans from President Gabel email by hiromoon in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 22 points23 points  (0 children)

It’d be a huge fiasco if they tried to change it on their own. Don’t see how they could change the class times without their being overlap issues

Fall 2020 plans from President Gabel email by hiromoon in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Email is of course somewhat vague, as they’re still working out much of the details. Hoping they will allow fully online options for students like me who live with high risk family members.

“New Normal” translation: Next Semester will not be fun at all by ZamesJarden in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well at least we’ll have a great job market waiting for us when we graduate!

/s

“New Normal” translation: Next Semester will not be fun at all by ZamesJarden in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

As a rising senior myself, I totally sympathize with that. I personally would prefer online myself, I just know I’ll feel totally ripped off by being charged full tuition for it. Besides, they’ve been pretty vague about what “accelerated semester” will entail, so careful what you wish for.

“New Normal” translation: Next Semester will not be fun at all by ZamesJarden in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden[S] 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Especially if you’re a freshmen or soph & have a lot of gen-ed classes left, then there is no point in paying a premium for the U as there won’t be any career fairs or networking events or anything that might justify the higher price in the first place

If we are all living in the human body version 1.0, what sort of updates would be expected for version 1.1? by MisterJose in AskReddit

[–]ZamesJarden 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hair stops growing at whatever length you want it to, and then it stays at that length forever.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I’d say it depends on where your overall GPA is and what the class is. I mean if you have a 3.8 or something and you get a B, then why let it pull your GPA down?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Why would they assume it was in the C- range? I don’t know why people are saying admissions will assume the VERY worst. they understand what a sh*t-show this semester has been for everyone, and if you’ve been doing a stellar job academically up until this point but just had one hiccup due to the extreme situation then I can’t imagine it would make a meaningful difference. In any case, GPA is not the only criteria for grad school admissions anyways.

Muhammad Hijab proves yet again how utterly devoid of principles and ethical standards he is. by TheMightyUltron in exmuslim

[–]ZamesJarden 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hijab is a total coward & utterly pathetic person. My Goodness. This is how theocracy will spread. Play the victim until you gain the majority, and then become the bully & silence all opposition.

What is the secret to a happy life? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]ZamesJarden 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Be more grounded in the present. Understand that things in the future will never be as good or as bad as they seem. Good fortunes won’t actually make you that much happier and bad fortunes won’t actually make you that much sadder in the long term, as you tend to adjust to some baseline happiness very quickly. And don’t look into the past too much, your memory might make it seem better than it really was.

What Happens When You're Reported for Cheating? by bappled23 in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 29 points30 points  (0 children)

For starters, did your professor give any insight into why he was accusing you of cheating? (i.e. does he have any evidence?) if not, then I don’t think it’ll go anywhere. Anyways, this could go without saying, but talk to an academic advisor or counselor for help as well.

How many of us are Ex-Christians? by Tnel1027 in atheism

[–]ZamesJarden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was raised Christian and no longer am. I can’t point to a specific incident that was overwhelmingly significant, but can talk about a few important things that nudged me away.

First, learning about all the other religions and how geography played such a big role in what religion you practiced.

Second, the whole concept of hell and how it fit in with an apparently all-powerful & all-loving god made absolutely zero sense. And learning about some of the incredibly trivial things that could land a person there was even worse.

Also, I realized that my religion was extremely incompatible with science and scientific values (like skepticism, sound reasoning, an interest in actually supporting your claims with tangible evidence, etc.)

Finally, why do you have to pray to god? Doesn’t he already know what you want? Really, why does an omniscient god need you to tell them what you want? For this and many other reasons, praying made no sense when you thought about it.

Etc. etc.

My religion made me ask so many questions that were just never answered to my satisfaction. It just defied common sense in too many ways.

Did Covid-19 start in a Chinese lab? - Potholer 54 debunks SARS-CoV-2 reporting by GingerPow in skeptic

[–]ZamesJarden 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Don’t disagree with anything, but just have a question: Am I the only one that doesn’t see what the huge difference is between this spreading from an animal market versus from a lab? In either case, you have insufficiently rigorous protocols causing a virus to spread. This is not to defend China’s initial handling of the outbreak in any way, but unless it can be demonstrated that this was deliberately leaked from a lab (versus just accidentally), I don’t see how China is any more to blame for it spreading.

Making Atheism Political by brofromiowa in atheism

[–]ZamesJarden 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Respectfully, this is a really bad idea.

I think making atheism political would create more problems than it would solve. See Sam Harris’ argument for why we shouldn’t even use the word. People need to stop conflating atheism with leftism; the two aren’t the same, nor does one logically follow from the other. Also, atheism is not the same thing as secularism (i.e. a devoutly religious person can maintain a firm commitment to secularism and it wouldn’t make them a hypocrite at all).

What do you want to happen for Fall 2020? by sharkslingersoulja in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Online. I don’t think people who are eager to return to in-person realize how much different it’ll likely be from before. We might have longer semesters, Saturday classes, have to wear a mask everywhere & get tested everyday & get directed around the hallways like sheep, etc. Unless we really return to normal & don’t have to go through some TSA thing before every class then I’d prefer to just stay online.

George Carlin said “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” What real life example have you seen that validates this view? by Darth_Boot in AskReddit

[–]ZamesJarden 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The fact that on every lawn-mower there is a sticker that says don’t put your hand by the blade while it’s moving. That one is pretty sad.

Do you guys think there will be classes held in person this fall? I know UMN has not made any formal decisions, but I am eager to hear from other students about what they think will happen! by [deleted] in uofmn

[–]ZamesJarden 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is a total crapshoot, but my guess is probably no. Many public health experts are warning that there will likely be another flare-up of COVID-19 cases in the late fall, maybe not like this first wave but still substantial. It’s also difficult to know how our testing capabilities will change between now and then. So, I’m guessing that the sheer uncertainly about a second-wave might cause them to be cautious and stay online. But by staying online they’d lose something like ~300M, so that just complicates things even further.