Thready

I feel like I should reach out and post about a point Linus and Luke made on Wan show about education. This is not an argument or rebuttal. I just want to say my piece and ask for any constructive input from the community since this is a forum. I have a master's in educational psychology and a master's in educational technology. I dropped out of high school at 17, only to come back and finish a year late. I spent 6 years in college getting a 4 year degree after suffering setbacks from undiagnosed mental illness. I worked in special education for a few months, but became disillusioned with the American school system for some of the same reasons Linus and Luke talked about. I also have serious reservations about American schooling to the point where I decided not to pursue a PhD in school psychology, but instead a PhD in science education. I'll just get into it: Linus and Luke talked about streamlined learning, specifically how to maximize learning in a student's interests and eliminate learning in areas that they believe will never be relevant to a student's future. They both brought up an interesting point. Learning needs to be interesting, relevant, and relatable. Students need to know that what they learn actually matters, and they need to be able to know the real-world application of what they are learning. In many US schools, learning is done in a vacuum, in isolation from reality. There's a joke that goes, "I didn't learn how to do my taxes, but I know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell." That reflects how schools don't actually help children understand the broader applications and implications of what they learn. The problem with that joke is this, and this is where I would like Linus's and Luke's opinion: Learning that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell is necessary for us to have a basic understanding of our biology. Learning about molar mass early is how we bring a kid from complete ignorance about physics to possibly becoming interested in it. Kids don't need to dive into the details, but they need an exposure to these subjects. Without children learning about biology, we won't have adequate doctors. If you never learned about biology in middle school and high school, chances are you won't be interested in medical school. There are actually studies of doctors who say that their interest in biology started in middle school and high school. If they weren't "forced" to study biology in school, they might have never gone into medicine. I don't think children in school should be learning how to do taxes. That sentiment is brought up a lot online and it bothers me because learning how to do taxes, in my opinion, will put kids to sleep so fast. If you want to turn a mind off to the wonders of the universe, then you eliminate the arts and sciences and replace them with... taxes. Sure, there should be a class in high school, but taxes should not be core curriculum, IMO. I think we should learn civics, and thus the reason why we pay taxes, rather than the mechanics of paying taxes. Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, and Albert Einstein are three of my heroes and I always think of them when it comes to pedagogic education. According to them, children should learn about how the universe functions in a way that can relate to their lives. But what is relatable is the question. Yes, taxes are relatable, but so is how the human body and the universe work. How do we judge which topic is more relevant to growing minds? If we leave it up to non-experts (school boards which are the bane of my existence) to guide what children learn, that's not ok with me personally because non-experts don't have the perspective of these topics. Someone with a law degree shouldn't be in charge of the science curriculum, but that's how things function partly in the USA. It's not that learning physics doesn't matter, it's that it's taught in such a way that children will never understand its relevance to their lives. Does anyone have any thoughts? I feel like someone is going to attack me for this since this is the internet after all and I'm somewhat agreeing/disagreeing at the same time with something Linus talked about. EDIT: Also, aptitude tests in middle school and high school are horribly flawed, to the point where their validity has been questioned on the same level that IQ tests have been questioned. I scored low on all aptitude tests in school because I was undiagnosed autistic and ADHD. I'm now about to enter a PhD program AND an MFA in creative writing.

I'm autistic and I hate things on my wrist

Is there any good front-end UI to make my retropie games list look less homebrew? Like on the Switch's NES and SNES apps it has a nice UI, info about the games and their history, grid layout, etc. I saw a video about some front-end UI for ROMs but I can't find anything. I have my retropie in a Raspberry pi 3 on a USB stick. I'm giving this to my 10 year old nephew and I'd like to impress him with it.

It's only $11 so I might as well see if it works

Thanks. I might just cut some bed sheets to fit it. I mean, I wash, but I plan on using this chair for at least 3 years, so I don't want any accumulation.

I use Quest 2 with and without cable. I've seen the Rift in action. I choose Quest 2 because it's the mainline one that will have more support, and it's basically as good as the Rift. I wouldn't spend the extra on the Rift because it's not $100 BETTER than Quest. They're basically 90% the same thing. The reason why Quest is cheaper is because Facebook is trying to get these into as many hands as possible to get you into their ecosystem. It's why you can buy thousand dollar phone technology for $500, Samsung wants you to use their stuff. Same story with Quest. They're willing to take the hardware price hit to sell you their software. Quest 2 will serve you just as well as Rift.

I just dropped $350 on a big and tall office chair for my basement and I would like to keep it from smelling like... me. Do they make covers to protect office chairs from body stuff like sweat? EDIT: I do look this stuff up but I don't know if the stuff I'm looking at is for my chair. Like they make water repellent covers for furniture but I don't know if those fit on office chairs.

I'm actually interested in this question as well because I hate compressed air too. How much would you guys suggest spending on one? They go from $20 to $160 online. I assume the $160 is the best, but is the best necessary just for a normal use desktop in a dry basement?

I should add that I only connect my PC (with a 650W PSU), 2 monitors, and internet modem and router to the (surge + battery) outlets. The demand is relatively low. We don't have long blackouts where I live. I live in tornado alley but in a 30 year old home with a modern circuit breaker, built in 1990, and our power lines run below ground. We've only had 1 surge to the home that I remember. The vast majority of our power outages are about a second long, so I'm not worried about the performance decreasing, I'm just concerned if the battery actually kicks in when it's supposed to and about the fluctuation going from full power, to zero, back to full in a second, but multiple times a night in a storm. If the power outage lasts more than a second, which is maybe once a year in a bad storm, it's usually less than 10 minutes. If it completely shuts things down for the night that's ok with me. It's just the fluctuation from off-on-off-on multiple times a night I'm concerned about. So I guess I'm trying to say I don't need a perfect battery, just one that will kick in for a few seconds at a time.

Accidental reply. Please delete.

I kept an APC Pro 1000 S in storage for a year, and tonight I decided to get it out and replace my surge protector. It showed up as full battery and it's working fine. What did that year of no activity do to the battery? It's a lead acid battery, I guess like a car battery?

It's mostly blended but it has a few chunks in it, like the potatoes

That's what I didn't do. I bought already cooked pieces from the grocery store in one of their soup ingredient packs in the produce aisle and then I just simmered them in the soup for 30 minutes. I didn't boil them beyond that. Next round I'll actually boil them for 10 minutes before putting them in the soup to simmer for 30.

I used a lot of broccoli because I tripled everything to cook 3x the recipe. But I also chopped the broccoli down into tiny pieces

good ideas!

This is a real question because I'm cooking for people on Christmas. I put boiled potato pieces in broccoli cheese soup, hoping to make an epic once-in-a-lifetime Star Trek meets Star Wars crossover of potato soup and broccoli cheese soup. It was awfully executed. I mean, it tasted like normal broccoli cheese soup, but I had to take the potatoes out because they added absolutely nothing to the soup. I'm wondering if I need to boil the potatoes and partly mash them a tiny bit to get the starches exposed before putting them in the soup, maybe exposing the starches will help. My question is, should I give up on the potatoes and just focus on the broccoli cheese or keep trying with this hybrid abomination? What crossover soup would you be willing to try, if any?

I got Half Life Alyx on the Steam Sale because people said that's a must own game so I just hurried and bought it. I'm usually into narrative games. big cinematics always get me excited, so maybe Flight Sim would be worth a try. I have Xbox Game Pass ultimate which comes with Flight Sim and No Mans Sky so I won't be buying those, but if they're good then I'll download them. I heard Flight Sim needs a beefy PC and I have an RTX 2070

I've never had VR, I never followed it, I was never interested in it. I got an Oculus Quest 2 from someone and now I have seen the light. Only problem is, I don't know what games are compatible with it on Steam's Fall Sale. I don't want to get a game that doesn't work with it. I just got Half Life Alyx because everyone says that's the best VR game and it says it's compatible with Oculus Quest 2 through the link cable. I don't know what other games to get that are on sale. I'm not getting Beat Saber because I have shoulder problems with sword-like movements. That's why I can't get a Star Wars game. I played Half Life Alyx a bit and it's easy on my shoulder. I just can't swing my shoulder. I can aim a gun with no problem. Thanks all! Happy Goble Gobble day to my USA friends!

I'm getting a Dolby Atmos soundbar and it needs the HDMI 3 that has ARC. The problem is that I use all HDMI connections for a PS4, Roku, Blu Ray player, and cable box. What do I do? EDIT: I meant the TV's HDMI outputs are all used, but you guys mentioned an HDMI "switcher" which I just looked up. I can put the cable box and PS4 on it since they don't need 4k. Sorry for the confusion guys.

Ok. I just did that and it seems to have fixed it. I don't know why they don't default to that.

I have a XBR55X950H and I put my Roku Ultra on the HDMI 2 input and it said it wasn't 4k60 Dolby Vision compatible in the little display set up on the Roku. So I switched it to HDMI 3 where it came back saying it is compatible. But the documentation of the TV says all the HDMI inputs are the same, except 3 has added ARC. I tried looking online to see if the other HDMI ports are also 4k60 HDR but the web says they all are, which evidently isn't true. Can someone help me figure out which HDMI inputs are Dolby Vision 4k60? I have a Roku and a Dolby Vision compatible blu ray player which I want both to display Dolby Vision since most of my collection is physical discs. I use 2.1 HDMI cables even though my devices are 2.0. I figure the overkill cables do no harm but IDK anymore. Thanks for any help UPDATE: Do I have to select Enhanced Format instead of Standard format?

Thanks everyone. I know this forum is mainly gamers so I'm grateful for some productivity people to help me a bit.

Sorry for the long post. It was supposed to be short but turned into a long post because I have a lot of issues. I'm a photographer and a struggling writer/educator. My main use for my PC is Adobe and Office. I game, but gaming is my lowest priority. My PC is custom and it meets all the requirements for W11. I can't find anything about W11's performance in Adobe. Also I can't find info on how it handles 2 different resolution monitors. I use my 2nd monitor for Internet while I work on my primary monitor. I like to maximize and snap windows side by side like I have shown here in the pic, and this is actually really important for my workflow to have multiple tabs open next to each other. I actually can't do my work efficiently without this ability because I drag and drop from window to window. I have all my work backed up locally and online, and I'm going to run all my backups again before I upgrade. But if W11 somehow fails and I have to reinstall 10, it's going to be a few days until I get all my stuff back on there. What I'm most worried about is W11 not working for my productivity. If I upgrade, I was thinking of doing it over the Holidays so if anything goes wrong I have some breathing room with time. Thanks all

Dangit! I guess! But I don't consider LTT "the internet" I consider people here more trustworthy.

Please only answer if you're credentialed. I've tried asking real professionals but I always get non-professionals answering. So what do actual professionals think about this? I have not seen many actual EXPERT opinions regarding this unless they were in a tech article. I would like to ask you all directly, because the whole internet seems up in arms and I never listen to the internet, I listen to the people who actually know things. I've been thinking about switching to IT from psychology. I would like to know how professionals think. I would like to understand the professional IT mindset.