VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
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User ID: 64
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
14hr ago
"person being pulled over keeps their hands on the wheel until the officer comes over and can see what they're doing"
I seem to recall being literally taught this in my drivers ed class, although admittedly that was a while ago now. In particular, do not go digging in your glove box for proof of insurance.
Although the "don't talk to police" lecture is related, and also worth teaching.
But it would make sense to explicitly teach expectations in schools.
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1d ago
Bluey somewhat famously uses an anonymous pair of actual kids as voice actors for at least the two main child characters. Perhaps that's a reasonable balance?
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
1d ago
On one hand, I disagree with nothing you've written: child actors have it uniquely rough in some ways, and we really should do better by them.
On the other, I feel like the (legal/ethical/practical) difficulty in working with them makes it difficult to tell stories that include children, which I feel are a bit lacking these days. The modern Western canon just isn't very kid friendly, nor are characters even shown playing good parent role models: how many of The Avengers have kids? Even those that do seem to play parents as an afterthought.
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
2d ago
I agree with you here, but I can only imagine if they introduced a default-off setting, maybe a dozen total users would go out of their way to enable it. And 8 of those would be cats or toddlers pressing random buttons.
And in this case, I think their expectation of access for that purpose was unreasonable.
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4d ago
I suspect it aligns pretty well with opinions on license plate scanners. And probably both align with making occasional (federally, at least) illicit recreational purchases.
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4d ago
As opposed to Andrew Jackson, who is presumably spinning continually in his grave at being featured on the most-used bill issued by an institution he vehemently hated (a federal Bank of the United States).
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4d ago
and nobody is saying to get rid of cats!
This part isn't even completely true: several island jurisdictions ban them (either completely or just outdoors), and New Zealand at least is planning to eradicate feral cats.
I like cats, but I can at least see the arguments there. But the original claim feels like a bait-and-switch: I don't trust then not to consider it in the future regardless of current public stances.
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4d ago
I do see those, but I think I've seen "no cash" more frequently within the last few years. For better or worse, IMO, a new $250 and the obsolescence of the penny and nickel seem to be in a race with the functional end of cash as a medium of exchange. Credit cards, Venmo, et al are just too convenient, and one less thing to carry.
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4d ago
Gotta say, even the existence of such statistics (ie. there being more than one per decade) already sounds bizarre to me. Cultural differences and all that.
How big are your high schools? It varies a lot across the US, but OP might be describing a school with over a thousand students per grade level, and you might be able to get meaningful statistics over a few years.
VoxelVexillologist
🇺🇸 Multidimensional Radical Centrist
4d ago
I'm curious how many folks here were nothing special in elementary and high school but went on to achieve something substantial academically?
I feel like this describes me pretty well: my parents put me in the normal public school track through third grade, and none of my grades were particularly outstanding. None of the work was hard, but it was darn boring: who wants to sit there practicing adding multi-digit numbers together or "silent reading" for 30 minutes while the teacher focuses on the couple students having trouble with the concepts. I didn't do a good job doing the work and only got mediocre grades and messed around more than I should have, and nothing looked too unusual until I finally took a standardized test (the Stanford series) from the district and I scored remarkably well.
At that point, some combination of the teacher and my parents decided that maybe I'd do better in an advanced program, so I transferred to a different elementary school with such a program, and I immediately did a lot better academically because I found the work more challenging (although getting dropped into a new school always has its challenges), and I continued in advanced programs through high school and went to a rather well-ranked university, got a graduate degree, and now I do IMO complex engineering stuff for work. At each point in there, I'm rather proud I was (generally) able to rise to the challenge and perform well, although I'm certainly no von Neumann or Shannon, and I have a sense of the limit of my abilities.
I'm a firm believer in magnet programs, though.
It is telling that many voices that advocate for not incarcerating for non-violent crimes also declare white-collar crime (which is almost definitionally non-violent) something that needs more prosecution and jail time.
"You may not like it, but Bernie Madoff and Ken Lay are what these non-violent criminals look like" isn't exactly wrong. Although I don't know if it's really a modal example of such: perhaps our attorney members could weigh in.
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