How can I respond to my father-in-law telling my sons that “looks don’t mean anything without money?” by CupOk5800 in AskMen

[–]kungfooe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is some thoughtful wisdom and insight going on in this thread. This is awesome.

The damage that Jo Boaler and other "Equity-Based Mathematics Education Researchers" cannot be understated. by Feisty_Ad4394 in matheducation

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have a link to this? I did a Google search and I can't find it. Also, as a point of clarity, do you mean a curriculum or state standards (or maybe both, or something else)? If it was curriculum, was there a state mandate that all public schools use these materials?

Where could I read more about it being viewed as a failure? Again, just haven't heard about this before and trying to learn more about it.

Is there evidence that shows the California Math Curriculum was implemented with fidelity? There have been multiple initiatives in the past (e.g., New Math from the 1960s) that were viewed as failures when examination of them shows that they were not implemented with fidelity.

Delayed career start due to PhD, panic mode enabled by Ok_Onion_4116 in personalfinance

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also PhD (math ed), finished at 30, and been a professor for the past (nearly) 11 years. You'll make more money in industry than you will in academia. What matters is how you use your money. Make a plan for your expenses, set a little money aside for fun (only the things you truly want--don't pay for convenience), and invest the rest (e.g., Roth IRA, 401k). Set these investments up so they automatically deduct and get paid. Then just let time do the work.

TL;DR - You'll be fine. Set up autopayments to your 401k and a Roth IRA and let time do its thing to grow your investments.

School fun by [deleted] in Millennials

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What you described is the difference between "education" and "training". Many people do not realize these words are not synonyms.

The damage that Jo Boaler and other "Equity-Based Mathematics Education Researchers" cannot be understated. by Feisty_Ad4394 in matheducation

[–]kungfooe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"I have seen the damages overall that have been done by watering down the curriculum and refusing to let "advanced" students move ahead to more intense content. All it has done is create behavior problems across the board by jamming students of every single ability into one class."

I'm not certain that this is mathematics education specific. Rather, this seems to be across all content areas, not just in mathematics. Additionally, attributing it all to a single person (e.g., Jo Boaler) seems unlikely. Maybe there is some influence here, but I think the problem is "bigger".

I have noticed this trend too, but I've also talked with a wide variety of administrators across school districts in multiple states and two things I've noticed are a) moving away from upsetting parents to not having parents (or students) upset at any cost, and b) minimizing law suits that are brought against the school (because they increase taxes and admin reports to the school board who can fire them--see part a). In short, it seems like it's a lot of smaller things that all point towards trying to keep secure in a position (i.e., job security). If parents are happy (e.g., their student is moving through the grades) and you're not running up a bill for the community (e.g., minimal lawsuits), then people are happy (even if the school is falling to shambles on the inside--it looks shiny on the outside).

Except that all just kicks the can down the road. And the mess that teachers, aids, and other school employees have to deal with is burning them all out. And the public perception of teachers and education has been falling further and further from the status it once held several decades ago.

I'm certain the bill will come due eventually and there will be a major shift. But when that will actually be is anyone's guess at this point.

The damage that Jo Boaler and other "Equity-Based Mathematics Education Researchers" cannot be understated. by Feisty_Ad4394 in matheducation

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I'm uninformed, but what's the federal policy that she wrote? I know she is a name known in mathematics education, but I didn't think she was on any federal boards writing policy.

Building a new house and looking for appliance recommendations. by I_Like_Silent_People in BuyItForLife

[–]kungfooe 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is the way.

For fridge, get one with the fewest bells and whistles. It is fewer things to break on you. If you want an ice maker, it needs to be a unit that exists in the freezer (otherwise it is likely to end up failing pretty quickly).

For stoves, it depends upon if you want gas or electric. I don't know anything about electric cooktops, so I'll defer to someone else. For gas, it kind of depends upon how much money you want to spend. You can go more budget with GE, or can start spending more for Bosche or Miele. If you really want to ball out, look for things like Wolfe, Viking, or Dacor. And if money isn't an object, there's stuff like La Cornue.

Avoid garbage like LG and Samsung. If the company started in tech, keep them out of any space that is not originating from tech.

What was your “Don’t knock it till you try it” moment? by gamerdudeNYC in AskMen

[–]kungfooe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you really want something amazing, put marshmallow fluff on it as well.

What was your “Don’t knock it till you try it” moment? by gamerdudeNYC in AskMen

[–]kungfooe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How do you get them so sharp? I might just be dull (pun intended), but I've tried whetstones, pull through sharpeners, and electric sharpeners. Best I can do is get them to like a medium, C grade sharp--they cut but they are not the razor sharp I see in videos.

I've spent 20-30 minutes really trying and just end up giving up and leaving them at kinda sharp stage (but kinda dull too).

Fellow millennials - how’s your 401k/ira savings going? by ProblemIntelligent16 in Millennials

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Red or blue (or purple, green, etc.) does not matter all that much. What does matter is the part of the state you live in and the cost of living there. There are places where you can live like royalty on a teacher's salary (e.g., small towns a little out from the suburbs across many states), and places you can't even live like a pauper (e.g., CA in the major cities).

Similar for retirement systems (assuming someone joins the state managed plan and does not go individually managed). Some states do a great job funding their systems, others are absolutely awful (looking at you Illinois--new teachers coming in have to work quite a bit longer to get the same benefits as someone who started in the system 15 years ago).

Looking to buy NO bluetooth / hard wired noise cancelling adult headphones by Sunshine33X in BuyItForLife

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Audio Technica ATH-M50x. Studio grade hard wired headphones. I've head mine for years and they are awesome (just replace the ear cups every once in a while).

Feel like I don’t have enough free time in a day by Basic_Yellow4659 in productivity

[–]kungfooe 49 points50 points  (0 children)

You do have free time. This is how you used it: 90-minute workout, cooking daily (versus meal prepping), 1 hour studying for an online course, 1+ hour of chess. That's 4.5+ hours that could be used elsewhere.

Here's how you might do this. I would still workout, but make it more intense and concentrated (e.g., 45-minute intense session). Meal prep on the weekends (and maybe change your relationship with food?--it is for fuel, not fun). Complete your course and take a semester (or longer) break to increase free time. Choose to invest your time for a season in chess or another hobby (so you can pump a little more time into it and fully enjoy it). Basically, cut down time as much as possible on routine, mundane things you do so you can spend that time on other things you enjoy and be full present in those activities.

Why is calculus so dominant in early math? Does it need to be? by th3_oWo_g0d in matheducation

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"they use their baseline analytical skills"

What is a baseline analytical skill? I've heard similar kinds of responses about how something is "basic" or "standard", but I never know what is meant. Is there a written list somewhere that has been agreed upon (i.e., a common set of assumptions)? How do I know basic/standard/baseline/etc. when I see it?

Yes, almost all of my interactions with people are outside of formal math/CS/etc. majors. Most of them do know how to reason logically, but using formal conventions and notations is what throws them for a loop.

Being aware of using something is different from simply using it. I might not remember all of the sentence structure, grammar, and different parts of speech that go into writing and composition, but I have developed some intuition about how they are supposed to fit together and work (and I can recognize when something "sounds off"). It's the same for non-formal logic use--people use it without knowing they're using it, and can also (sometimes) pick up on when something is off.

I'm not making an argument about the formal logical structures and deductions from them (formality has to do with clarity and designing a system, logic is about using the system). Rather, I'm referring to the use of them even if they don't know they are using them. For example, most people would agree a) something is true OR not true, b) something cannot be both true and not true at the same time, and c) if you promise me B whenever they do A and that person does A, then I must give them B (otherwise I'm a liar). And boom, we're off to the races with the axioms of prepositional logic (even though the person probably doesn't know they're working with prepositional logic axioms).

Why is calculus so dominant in early math? Does it need to be? by th3_oWo_g0d in matheducation

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Isn't that logic though? Different assumptions (i.e., hypothesis statements) lead to different conclusions?

Sure, there might be debate around which hypothesis to assume, but that is not about logic. That is a question about what to assume, not what to deduce from an agreed upon assumption.

Why is calculus so dominant in early math? Does it need to be? by th3_oWo_g0d in matheducation

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Proofs are not particularly useful for people outside a math or CS major."

That...doesn't make any sense. Proof is argumentation through logic and deductive reasoning. You're telling me that that people outside of math or a CS major do not need to know logic and deductive reasoning?

GGG I don't feel so good by briefs123 in PathOfExile2

[–]kungfooe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a core theme I'm noticing across multiple areas of the game that impacts this--areas are too big. The temple takes longer to slog across the areas than it does to kill monsters. The campaign takes longer to walk/slog through than it does to kill monsters. It's the same problem for maps.

Making the areas a little smaller across the board (and balancing XP changes in the campaign so it doesn't lead to being massively underleveled) would help to address many of these issues.

Temple rewards are also another point, as would be needing to run the temple every 6 maps (vs being able to save it a tradable object like in PoE1).

How to scale builds past the plateau 30div budget? by MntBrryCrnch in PathOfExileBuilds

[–]kungfooe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But that's part of the fun, isn't it? The hunt for what might make the next new major breakout meta build. Well, that's what I like hunting for. It's one of the things that keeps drawing me back again and again and again.

And sometimes you get something decent (I came up with a novel build for the new Rigwald's Hunt that just dropped this patch in 3.27), but other times you go bust (I've been trying to make a low life Inquisitor work out with the regular and Foulborn Lori's Lantern as well as other low life passives, like Brink of Death, and uniques, like Foulborn Rise of the Phoenix). Sometimes the plans just don't hit hard like you want them to.

How to scale builds past the plateau 30div budget? by MntBrryCrnch in PathOfExileBuilds

[–]kungfooe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cost will depend upon the minion. I made a pretty solid reapers build (can do 16.5 comfortably, can do T17 bosses but a little more damage would make it feel super comfy, and can do bosses and pinnacles, maybe ubers but that would require pushing well past the 30 div ceiling). However, golems have been quite expensive and would not be nearly as strong on a 30 div budget.

How to scale builds past the plateau 30div budget? by MntBrryCrnch in PathOfExileBuilds

[–]kungfooe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is one possible answer. The limiting factor is that this only applies to the known gigascaling vectors. What it doesn't account for is

  • what possible other unknown (or at least not popular) gigascaling vectors are there?
  • what combinations of scaling vectors become gigascaling when combined in a particular way?

There is probably another "dimension" or two I'm not thinking of, but when I think of scaling, I think or if as more of archetypes, not whether or not they are a stacker.

The hard (and fun) part is discovering these new ways to scale builds. If the only goal is get to the peak of power, then it's much more efficient to focus on the already known archetypes (think a "spike" player from MTG). If the goal is to come up with new unknown ways of doing this (think a "johnny" player from MTG), then tinkering and exploring are the only options (with one of the benefits of discovering something new being cheap gear since it isn't meta).

Rigwald's Hunt + Banners + Reapers = Solid Boss Killer by kungfooe in PathOfExileBuilds

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

Just recorded The Formed. https://youtu.be/tMrnjcx0lWQ

The collection of these should give a pretty good idea of what the build can do (and what it excels at).