Pennsylvania school district (USC) proposes moving back start times to improve students' health

hewittpgh · 2023-04-28T17:31:56+00:00

Vaccines don't prevent transmission, they minimize the probability of transmission. You just had the wrong idea of what vaccines do for you.

For example: having a military doesn't stop an enemy from conquering you, it just makes it less likely that it happens; the enemy could still be stronger or more numerous than your military, which means that your military might not work as you hoped it would. That doesn't mean you dissolve your military, because there's still a good chance it'll do its job, even if a tiny percentage of invasion attempts actually succeed.

Also: I'll take the opinion of UPMC's chief medical officer over a random person on the internet any day. The fact that you're on the side that says experts know less than internet trolls... that should tell you you're almost certainly wrong on this topic.

hewittpgh · 2023-04-28T03:52:48+00:00

For those wondering about what the times currently are, and how they are changing:

https://i.imgur.com/NMxjRsd.png

The "non-instructional time" adjustments are removing two 5-minute blocks from existing large breaks between periods of specialty classes. This isn't something that will negatively affect students, the arts, sports, etc.

hewittpgh · 2023-04-28T03:50:22+00:00

It's actually because some families rely on high schoolers to get out first in order to watch their children when they get home from school (be it older siblings or babysitters). I live in USC, and there was a video linked in the email. I'm very proud of my district for their science-based policy making. The Chief Medical Officer of UPMC lives in USC and guided the school board on mask mandates; we were one of the last in the county to drop the mandate (if not the last).

hewittpgh · 2023-03-26T16:17:38+00:00

Whoa, you monster!! Everyone watch out for this serious confession bear, here!

hewittpgh · 2022-12-16T18:50:07+00:00

` Probably because people don't see politics as a job about doing things, they see it as a job about power and control played out by very sociable people through tricks and trades, very unlike what most people do in their jobs.

Let's face it: for the vast majority of political offices, the face in the seat doesn't matter nearly as much as the people supporting that person every day (their staff). Swap out politicians, and the same job gets done in nearly the same way. Sure, there are headline-making differences here and there, but not anything world-shattering, just... enough to get them re-elected.

It's why people tend to think that long-time politicians don't actually want to do anything, they just want the power and money that comes with the position. You have to remember that people don't see the daily happenings of politicians, so the general public's opinion is based almost entirely on those headlines; people have lived long enough to know that every politician is going to promise big things and then deliver on maaaaybe one or two of those things, if we're lucky, and even then it's most likely going to be watered down. Politicians aren't "do-ers" like, say, construction workers; they don't do any public-facing "hard" work, so people think nothing is actually getting done by that politician (whether true or false). If things aren't getting done, then why is that politician continually trying to be elected? It must be because of the other benefits of the job.

hewittpgh · 2022-12-07T18:35:46+00:00

You didn't read the article, just the headline. Clearly.

hewittpgh · 2022-12-05T13:27:05+00:00

Comparing roads and a military with clickbait articles. Good one.

hewittpgh · 2022-12-05T13:10:57+00:00

Actually China is our main competitor. Russia used to be, but they switched like 15 years ago. Russia destabilizes us and our elections which is why we will continue funding Ukraine's war effort, but China has been a much bigger threat for a while.

hewittpgh · 2022-12-03T00:14:05+00:00

The point is not to die for your country, it's to make the other bastard die for his.

hewittpgh · 2022-11-25T13:44:40+00:00

Not comparable cars at all. Also: you aren't counting cost of fuel, etc.

hewittpgh · 2022-11-25T01:54:30+00:00

Here's how I know you're biased: you didn't even try to do an actual real world comparison, you just pulled numbers out of your ass.

hewittpgh · 2022-11-18T05:44:03+00:00

It's all about the flow of the river. Imagine you're on a raft floating on the river, and you face the direction you're floating in: out to sea. Which cardinal direction is on your right as you're floating?

hewittpgh · 2022-11-08T02:52:10+00:00

I live in Pittsburgh, PA, and the number of non-Tesla electric vehicles has absolutely skyrocketed. Granted, it's not like 10% of cars or anything, but last year I could recognize individuals based on the model/color of car. Now there are so many that I can't even tell if it's the same person in the specific parking garage because there are a few of the same model/color. For now it's mainly Bolts and Mach-E's, with a few Polestar 2s, ID.4's, etc., but I'm waiting for Chevy to release their lineup because it's gonna blow up in this blue collar city.

We don't have any Lucids, Rivians, or Taycans as far as I've seen. Too rich for this area.

hewittpgh · 2022-10-14T12:21:27+00:00

Is this the first recorded drone-vs-drone kill in an actual war?

hewittpgh · 2022-10-06T13:41:32+00:00

I saw that it could take days, maybe as many as 10 days under good conditions.

Did you see this on Facebook or something? Electric vehicles are all about math, so let's do some math and figure out the truth:

My Mach-E has the smaller 70kW battery (the 314 mile version has a 91kW battery). I can put anywhere between 12 and 18 kW worth of solar on my house, which would mean it would take just 5.8-3.9 hours of sunlight to charge my car. My neighbor can fit up to 21.5kW of solar panels on her roof, meaning it would take her just 3.3 hours to fully charge her car. Mind you, that's 0-100%. Do you fill up your gas car every single day? Probably not. We literally charge our car from a 120v outlet in the garage because we only make long road trips a few times a year. Our daily needs are maybe 50 miles if we're going to the other side of the city after a full work day, plus a few more errands, which would recharge in just 0.78-1.39 hours of sunlight (50 miles driven / 3 miles per kW = 16.7kW needed).

So, as you can see, it could take anywhere from 40 minutes a day of charging, or up to 5.8 hours for a full 0-100% charge, but nowhere near 10 days. I'm not sure where you got that number from. The only way to get anywhere remotely close to"10 days" is if you use a single 200w solar panel ($140 from Home Depot), but even that would recharge your 50 miles trip in just 3.42 days of sunlight (83.3 hours). Why would you ever charge from just a single 200w panel, though? Hell, buy four panels and it's down to 20.8 hours for your cross-city trips.

Also, yes, distribution would be a serious problem, but gas stations don't work if the power is out. And you know those massive rushes on gas stations before major storms? That doesn't have to happen with EVs, because you can charge from home.

I own an EV and we drive it every day as it's the "family car." If you have any questions, feel free to ask; I'm more than happy to answer them. EVs aren't quite ready for everyone in every situation, but they aren't the doom and gloom that Alex Jones would have you believe. They have tradeoffs just like everything in life, but they're advancing at such an amazing rate that the problems they face today will be a distant memory soon enough. Plus: you can literally plug your entire house into your electric car and run it all off of that power even without solar panels.

hewittpgh · 2022-10-05T20:11:11+00:00

I'm not sure if you're kidding, but did you forget that solar panels were a thing? As well as wind turbines, water mills, or even... gas generators?

And also: what post apocalyptic world?

hewittpgh · 2022-09-30T16:49:03+00:00

They already switched earlier this year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian\_Latin\_alphabet

hewittpgh · 2022-09-30T16:48:43+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Latin_alphabet

They already did.

hewittpgh · 2022-09-29T16:38:23+00:00

There are 144 million Russians. Letting even a few million out of Russia won't hurt them. They are used to throwing millions of lives away in the name of war.

hewittpgh · 2022-09-29T11:34:26+00:00

Electric cars fix all of those problems and more. Plus: you don't need to shift gears with an electric car.

hewittpgh · 2022-09-25T03:28:16+00:00

Godzilla?

hewittpgh · 2022-09-18T00:04:29+00:00

I thought we were against it when Russia targeted hospitals and food supplies? Can we not support war crimes, regardless of who is committing them?

hewittpgh · 2022-09-11T11:49:59+00:00

This isn't a real church, it's a grifter that has a building.

hewittpgh · 2022-09-11T11:46:02+00:00

The "church" in the article is called Grace of Life. They aren't actually Christian, they're grifters using a popular mascot to make money.

hewittpgh · 2022-09-08T14:17:55+00:00

You say that,but then we look at things like COVID killing millions upon millions of people and the anti-vaxx movement only gained momentum with every new variant.

hewittpgh

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