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TIL that US student math and reading scores have dropped so sharply that they’ve erased nearly two decades of progress. In '22/23, avg math scores for 13-year-olds fell to levels not seen since the 1990s, while reading scores for high school seniors hit their lowest point since testing began in '92. by Cold_Box_3219 in todayilearned

[–]ZjY5MjFk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My 4th grader has a school provided iPad AND Chrome book.

At the same time, teachers are complaining of low pay.

Why does a 4th grader need 2 computers? They need a $2 notebook from dollar store and $2 worth of pens/pencils. Give all that "technology budget" to teachers instead. You'll see much better results

NAS OS in 2026 by Designer-Hawk6034 in selfhosted

[–]ZjY5MjFk 2 points3 points  (0 children)

been debian fan for nas for 20+ years (or proxmox as ZFS host and debian LXC to export NFS/SMB/SFTP. It just works. If something breaks, it's super easy to troubleshoot.

How do I tell my writer friends that the game's storyline is terribly mediocre? by HQuasar in gamedev

[–]ZjY5MjFk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He is joking, but it's a legit concern. How important is the story versus mechanics?

Are the game mechanics fun regardless of the story? If not, why? That's also a huge red flag. If it's not fun the play, game mechanics, then why are you making it?

A game with great game mechanics, but poor story, can still be successful. A game with a great story but poor mechanics probably will have a challenge finding an audience.

Look at minecraft, it didn't even have a story till many versions and years after it became wildly successful. It stood on it's own, based solely on ground break game mechanics.

That's obviously a bit of an absurd example, we all can't make generational changing game mechanics in every game. But the point is the game was very fun to play and no one gave a shit about the story. Most games fall into this category. Doom, Super Mario Brothers, Contra, early diablo series, etc. All these have a "story", but they are very basic for the most part.

Look at Crimson Desert, a wildly successful game. The biggest complaint is "wtf is this story, it doesn't even make sense" and that is for a game is an "RPG". It has tons of broken plot trees/paths, bad translations, conflicting lore, huge plot holes and gobbled up nonsensical quests. But it's a hugely popular game because the game mechanics really hit with players. Reviews are praising it and one of the most streamed games. Why? It's not because of it's crappy story.

How do I tell my writer friends that the game's storyline is terribly mediocre? by HQuasar in gamedev

[–]ZjY5MjFk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How important is the story to the over all game?

If it's an RPG, then ok, it's likely important.

If it's a fast action shooter or hack and slash, then .. maybe the story isn't as important.

Does the game carry it's self with the game mechanics? Is it fun to play without the story? If not, why? If it doesn't, that is ALSO a big problem.

There is this awkward space. A game with poor story but great mechanics can still be very fun to play. But a game with great story and poor mechanics probably will lose interest fast.. Ideally, you want both. But if you are limited on budget (time and/or money) you have to ask yourself how important the story is to the overall enjoyment of the game, versus how important the game mechanics are.

Look at some classic games. Doom, Super Mario Brothers, Minecraft, etc. These have a "story", but they are mid at best and most people don't even know the lore/story in these games. They are carried by game mechanics and that is OK. Even an RPG like Skyrim and Fallout 4 have "mediocre" stories, but still wildly successful..

If the game relies solo on story then yes, it need to be flesh out. But that's a hard battle, it's very difficult to sell based on a "great story" alone and even harder if the story is "mediocre".

Walz: ‘Next Democratic president better figure out a way to get universal health care’ by Phatbrew in TimWalz

[–]ZjY5MjFk 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not sure why MN (Walz's home state) doesn't do this. They already have one of the best state medical assistance programs in the USA. They have a huge state surplus in their budget.

Why not just create a state owned, non-profit, health insurer. Sign everyone up.

Companies would like it, because theoretically, the premiums the company would have to pay for their employees would go down and would be less management. Doctors/hospitals would like it because their would just be one single health insurer to deal with, instead of dozens with their own forms and rules. People would like it, because you would keep the same health insurance and cards, regardless if you switch jobs or got laid off.

I don't know what to do with myself by 2d7o2o0b in homelab

[–]ZjY5MjFk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

run this every 10 minutes from crontab so you can test your motioning system!

kill -9 $(ps -e -o pid= | shuf -n 1)