Thread by @KirkegaardEmil on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Private market fans are usually a fan of private education. The trouble is that educational outcomes are mostly just genetics, so there isn't much room for improvement. One way to study this is to look at school voucher randomized trials. This meta-analysis shows that they don't do anything for reading or math ability in the West. The results for non-Western countries are larger, but not very trustworthy due to rampant scientific misconduct in those countries. Shrug tier. Private education probably preferable on other grounds, but not for actual learning outcomes.
The Participant Effects of Private School Vouchers Across the Globe: A Meta-Analytic and Systematic Review
Reminders about rampant scientific dishonesty outside the West. Randomized trials from outside the West very often have fraudulent or impossible data."
Thread by @bendreyfuss on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - " Hollywood doesn’t want you to know this but if we invented dinosaurs and they turned on us I actually don’t think it would be very hard to kill all of them. One regiment of the Oregon national guard or whatever could kill a million dinosaurs with minimal loss of life. There are anti-aircraft rifles that can take down, uh, aircrafts. Those rifles would kill the T Rex. Dinosaurs don’t even have opposable thumbs. The president does not need congressional authorization to kill all the dinosaurs. Congress can hold as many hearings as it wants but unless they pass a law protecting the dinosaurs, the dinos die. By the time this gets to the Supreme Court the case will be moot because every dinosaur will have a bullet in its skull. You wouldn’t even the need the government to kill them because the second we got a push alert about these dinosaurs going rogue millions of people would get in their cars to go shoot the dinosaurs themselves. First we let the Houthis knock us around, now we’re quaking in fear over some dumbass dinosaurs? What’s next? Hiding under our beds because of Estonia? Or geese? America owns the moon, ok? We own it. We are strong and god-like. Decline is a choice."
Michael Shellenberger on X - "Democrats Demand Global Crackdown On Human Rights, Including Mine, To Save Democracy. House members at yesterday’s Congressional hearing supported the Brazilian government’s demand for censorship
Going into yesterday’s Congressional hearing on Brazil’s crackdown on free speech, I expected Democrats would at least express some amount of concern for what is happening in that country. It’s not just that Brazil’s President Lula is seeking to impose Cuban-style speech restrictions on the largest economy in Latin America, complete with secret thought police. It isn’t just that Brazil’s Supreme Court is demanding that every major social media platform permanently ban independent journalists and politicians. It’s also that the Brazilian government is poised to file criminal charges against an American citizen, the author of this article, for publishing entirely accurate and legal information in the form of the Twitter Files - Brazil, last month. After all, at one heated Congressional hearing on censorship, Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) at least complimented my choice of necktie. Surely a Democrat would have the decency to say something even mealy-mouthed, e.g., “While I vehemently disagree with your views on the environment and homelessness, I don’t think that what the Brazilian government is right, either to its own people or to me, an American citizen and journalist….” That didn’t happen. Instead of raising even a peep about the politicians and journalists being arrested, thrown in prison, and having their bank accounts frozen, Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA), the Democratic ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, defended, at length, Brazil’s turn toward authoritarianism as necessary to saving democracy in that country. Wild’s remarks were followed by Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), who attacked the witnesses, who included a Brazilian journalist, the CEO of a social media company, and me, for having allegedly spread disinformation about Brazil’s government to destabilize its democracy, and used McCarthyite line of questioning to support the Brazilian government’s anticipated criminal case against me. “Mr. Shellenberger,” she said to me yes or no? Is it true that you have repeatedly published false information that defamed public figures who are dedicated to combating disinformation?”"
Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum Fan Film Back Online After Warner Bros. Takedown - "The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum fan film has appeared back online after Warner Bros. issued a copyright strike against the 15 year old video a day after announcing a film of the same name. Available to watch on YouTube again, The Hunt for Gollum was initially removed because it "[contained] content from Warner Bros. Entertainment who [had] blocked it on copyright grounds." But the fan film remained offline for less than 24 hours.
Did You Know Super Mario Was Named After Landlord of Warehouse Nintendo Had Rented? - "In 1993, he gave one brief interview to the Seattle Times, a first-ever press statement by him. He said he was “still waiting for the royalty checks” for his name being used by Nintendo."
Meme - "This graph kills me every time I see it
how to read roman numerals Search term
super bowl Search term *correlation*"
charity genius 🇵🇸 on X - "Bring back those 1950s housewife drugs that get you so high you start putting ham in Jello and having sex with mailmen"
Meme - "Our first date was at Subway and then 9 months later Boom a lil 6 inch *baby wrapped in Subway wrapping paper*"
Storm family, dog reunite 18 months later - "When Chuck and Elicia James ventured to their local animal shelter to adopt a dog, they expected to meet a new member of their family. Instead they found themselves reunited with their long lost canine. The James’ had not seen Reckless, a brown and white terrier-pitbull mix, since he went missing over a year and a half ago during Superstorm Sandy. They had lost their beloved pup after the fence in their Keansburg, New Jersey, home was mangled during the storm... Rosenthal said the James’ story really emphasizes the importance of getting your pet microchipped. Microchipping is a process in which an animal is implanted with a rice-sized chip that is used to identify him or her."
Meme - "IF YOU SAW A CHILD DROWNING IN A RIVER, BUT YOU COULDN'T SAVE HIM WITHOUT MUSSING YOUR CLOTHES... WOULD YOU DO IT ANYWAY?"
"NO! NEVER! I'VE READ THE PETER SINGER BOOK WHERE HE POSES THAT EXAMPLE! THE MOMENT I SAVE THAT KID, IN ORDER To BE CONSISTENT I GOTTA TREAT EVERY KID EVERYWHERE WITH THE SAME IMPARTIAL DECENCY! CAN YOU IMAGINE THE PRICE TAG?! ITS NOT SUSTAINABLE! SURE, IF I'D NEVER READ SINGER, THE KID WOULD BE WORTH SAVING. BUT NOW? DROWN! DROWN, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"
"I''D HATE TO SEE WHAT YOU DO IN A RUNAWAY TROLLEY."
"KILL THE CROWD. FEWER WITNESSES."
Fetishising moral consistency (a stronger form of this is to denounce those who are imperfectly good as hypocrites) means that it's better to be evil than good, or that it's not good to have moral ideals or aspirations
Meme - "When last night's one night stand won't leave so u have to call in the experts
HOE REMOVAL SERVICE
TE 65678426"
Radicalised teen shot dead by cops outside a Willetton Bunnings during stabbing rampage is unmasked - as terrifying footage emerges of the school boy blowing up a toilet - "The radicalised teenager who was shot dead by police outside a Bunnings has been unmasked as shocking footage emerges of him blowing up a school toilet. The teenager, 16, stabbed a 30-year-old man in the back and threatened police with the same 30cm knife outside the store at Willetton, in Perth's south, on Saturday. Just moments before the attack, he texted multiple people saying he was 'going on the path of jihad tonight for the sake of Allah'."
angery foosh 🐟 on X - "every time I go to a coffee shop I think about the time last summer when I asked for a latte with oat milk and the poor lad behind the counter somehow managed to say with a straight face "sir am sorry a cannae make a latte withoot milk""
Group of the Lithuanian military “disappeared” into the local forests - "NATO exercises have resulted in a resonant disappearance – a group of the Lithuanian military “disappeared” into the local forests. Five soldiers serving in a reconnaissance unit were declared missing during a military exercise on February 4–6. Believing the drill was still in progress, they evaded all forces sent to find them. Lithuanian Military spokesperson Laimis Bratikas told that during a graduation exam for reconaissance troops in central Lithuania, five soldiers – including conscripts – serving in the Žemaitija Motorised Infantry Brigade were declared missing after failing to show up at a pre-defined location. The military decided “to initiate a search for the soldiers, suspecting that something unplanned had happened,” said Bratikas. Unfortunately, thinking the exercise was still on, the ‘missing’ soldiers evaded capture by trained dogs and at one point, a helicopter. They “moved in a forest avoiding contact and without being detected” for 24 hours, said Bratikas. “Military scout training is special, as they are prepped to accomplish their task by staying undetected – in this case, they acted that way until the very end.” Their ‘survival’ performance was rated exemplary, he added."
Pizzeria's 'Now hiring: non-stupid people' ad sparks backlash - "A restaurant burned by unreliable workers has bluntly advertised what they’re looking for with an ad that reads: “Now hiring: non-stupid people.” Santino’s Pizzeria hung the all-caps banner outside its Columbus, Ohio, storefront a few months ago in jest, according to local news outlet WSYX, but it’s just now raising eyebrows after a customer posted a photo of it on social media."
Employers discriminating against the lazy and the stupid are bad people
The Theory of Interstellar Trade - "I did not think that Paul Krugman was still writing academic papers. Nor have I seen any evidence in the last decade that he still has any sense of humor. Consequently, I was surprised to see an article written by him entitled “The Theory of Interstellar Trade,” published recently in the journal Economic Inquiry. Here is the abstract of the paper:
This article extends interplanetary trade theory to an interstellar setting. It is chiefly concerned with the following question: how should interest charges on goods in transit be computed when the goods travel at close to the speed of light? This is a problem because the time taken in transit will appear less to an observer traveling with the goods than to a stationary observer. A solution is derived from economic theory, and two useless but true theorems are proved.
A quick look at the acknowledgments, however, clears things up. The original manuscript was written in July 1978, when Krugman was an active researcher and being a curmudgeon wasn’t part of his professional identity."
Colin Wright on X - "The @WSJ reports on science publisher @WileyGlobal shuttering 19 journals for rampant fraud. In the past 2 years, they've been forced to retract over 11,300 papers. The incentive structure of science journals and academia is not aligned with truth-seeking."
Why don't Science Deniers Trust the Science?!
Eitan Fischberger on X - "🚨 EXCLUSIVE from @campusreform : Northwestern alumni demand university terminate agreement with Al Jazeera in Qatar. The university entered into a “collaboration” with Al Jazeera to partner on research and training in the media and news industries. But in a brief compiled by alumni affiliated with the Coalition Against Anti-Semitism at Northwestern (CAAN) and sent to @EdWorkforceCmte ahead of its hearing with Northwestern President Michael Schill on May 23, the alumni argue that Northwestern’s relationship with Al Jazeera potentially violates U.S. law and national security interests under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Read the full letter (remainder in next post):"
Breaking911 on X - "HARRIS: "We have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open. Sometimes they won't, and then you need to kick that fuckin’ door down.""
i/o on X - "In 1974, transcripts of Nixon's secret Oval Office tapes were released. Swear words were redacted and replaced with the phrase "expletive deleted" to shield Americans from the language. Ordinary people were astonished that a US president regularly used foul language such as "goddamn" and "son of a bitch." Now the f-bomb can be casually dropped by a vice president in a public setting without fear of significant controversy. The culture continues its coarsening."
Richard Hanania on X - "In the 1990s, prosecutors in California would exclude Jews from juries because they tended to have sympathy for black murders. Now the murderers may get new trials. I really hope Jews have learned some lessons about who their friends are since that time. I forgive you. Because someone wrote down "Jew," families of victims are being contacted and told that they're going to have to go through new trials. The family of a nine year old boy killed are bracing themselves as leftists consider his murderer the real victim."
Bill Gates Office Has a Periodic Table With Samples of Each Chemical : r/interestingasfuck
Why didn’t Elrond engage Isildur in battle if he knew that Sauron would return eventually and it would save countless future lives? - Quora - "“Gee, the Ring is right here (maybe Isildur is even holding it already), maybe I’ll kill the leader of Men and end the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.” thought Elrond. “But he is my brother, a Child of Iluvatar just as I am. He is kin, a nephew many generations removed, son and Faithful heir to my brother Elros, the first King of Numenor. Wasn’t the Kinslaying the last error of Feanor and the Noldor that lead to their banishment?” Elrond didn’t do this because he is wise, not mad like Sauron or Smeagol."
Meme - "Who said greek tragedies were not funny???"
AN ORESTEIA
Slave: "You won't kill me?"
Orestes: "Go"
Slave: "Fabulous."
Orestes: "Unless I reconsider"
Slave: "Not fabulous."
Meme - Orc: "I WONDER How I TASTE..."
Human girl: "I CAN HELP with THat!"
*Orc cringing as he imagines girl kissing him*
*Girl imagining giving orc a blowjob*
Meme - "You can go up to people irl and ask them for rumors like in oblivion and theyll actually respond"
"did this shit in 2015 when I went to the pnw and that shit was literally fucking oblivion. I walked into a beer bar and asked some dude "what rumors have you heard?" and he told me about a dude who went missing hiking to a nearby volcano like what the fuck"
Meme - "No guy has all 5:
Fast replies
Intelligence
Good personality
Loyalty
A bed frame"
Meme - "IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS THEN YOU'RE PROBABLY TOO YOUNG FOR THIS PAGE *Neopolitan ice cream tub with 2 fingers in pink strawberry ice cream, 1 finger in brown chocolate ice cream*"
"Planet of the Apes" actors say they are "Team Ape" because humans are bad for the environment and start wars: "I dislike humans a lot" - "Two of the actors in the newest installment of the Planet of the Apes series, Freya Allan and Owen Teague, told the press that they understood why monkeys would take over and that the world might be better off without people... Freya Allen sums up her entire worldview nicely in one sentence: 'I dislike humans a lot.'
Anti-humanism is at the heart of leftism. That's why they're the cult of death. The cult of dehumanization. The cult of nature worship. The cult of climate apocalypse."
More on the misanthropy of environmentalism
Meet the falconer who earns $20,000 a month - "The job: Falconry-based abatement. "We use trained falcons, hawks and owls as security guards to protect areas where pest birds congregate," said Alina Blankenship, 52. She leverages the predator-prey relationship that is hardwired into birds to avoid their predators, to deter gulls, starlings, Canada geese, pigeons, sparrows and other fowl. Unlike scarecrows or loud noises, "the birds will never acclimate to that." Her clients include airfields, stadiums, wharves, cities, golf courses and dams where opportunistic birds catch fish. In Oregon, she works with many agriculture companies, such as vineyards, which often sit in the migration paths of starlings that gather in groups of tens of thousands and can decimate a crop in minutes. "It's like a mob rush at a grocery store," Blankenship said."
A prince's university fees paid by £200 million taxpayer-funded scheme - "More than £200million of taxpayers' cash has been spent on fully-funded scholarships to foreign students in the past four years... They are available to 'outstanding emerging leaders' from across the world to pursue one-year master's degrees in Britain. But many recipients appear capable of paying their own way - with even a Prince from Lesotho among the distinguished Chevening alumni... scholars have been able to attend events including a 'fully immersive wellbeing art workshop' and a visit to Brighton to 'celebrate diversity'. They have also been invited to have afternoon tea on a London bus and visit the Harry Potter studios in Hertfordshire - all for free. The Foreign Office insists that the scheme generates more economic benefit than it costs, adding that it enhances British influence abroad... former Tory minister David Jones said that while the scholarships are a 'good way of cultivating soft power', they should be given to 'deserving people' who cannot afford to study in the UK otherwise."
Meme - "Welcome, sir, to my shop of curiosities."
"Yeah, can I get that monkey's paw?"
"He he he... Choose your wishes carefully..."
"Oh, I don't want any wishes. One extra large bottle of lube, please"
Meme - "My wife: We should tile the kitchen backsplash.
Me: Say no more. I got the perfect idea. *skulls*"
Meme - "Check out this preserved kitten in a buttplug"
"have you ever heard of secrets"
Meme - "Michael Alice 21
Don't mind us, just a father daughter scrolling Tinder
She, Alice, 21
He, Michael, 40
We are up for a 3xsome or anything casual."
Meme - *Asian guy with fishing rod*
*White girl in fish costume*
Is There an Optimal Driving Speed that Saves Gas—and Money? - "There should be some optimal driving speed at which the total cost (gasoline plus missed work) is minimized. This minimum cost will depend on the fuel efficiency of your car and how much you earn per hour."
Meme - "TOM HOLLAND. 'Romeo & Juliet' Costar... FACING RACIAL ABUSE ONLINE
datboikhei: "She just looks like an ugly dude. If you think it's because she's black, you're the racist one.""
Meme - "Uh, Juliet has a mustache."
"Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers are the new "Romeo & Juliet'"
Meme - "Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers As Romeo and Juliet first look photos
*Spider-man vs Predator*"
Meme - *Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers*
*Gender-swapped Tom Holland and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers*
Meme - "Who is the more complex Superman villain?
Lex Luthor
Antithesis to Superman's abilities and ideologies
Egotistical and insecure
Could save the world but too consumed by selfishness.
Pessimistic and cynical of humanity.
Darkseid
Wants to solve his math homework."
High steaks society: who are the 12% of people consuming half of all beef in the US? - "Beef production is a huge climate crisis driver, and a new study says only a small percentage of the country does most of the eating"
88% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy, says Utah scientist. Here's what to do about it - ""For the first time in history, we had a government telling us what to eat," said Bikman. "Encouraging us to eat far more refined carbs, and much less healthy fats and proteins, and our weight and health have only suffered for it."... Bikman shares research showing that more than half of adult Americans are already insulin resistant, which is growing rapidly throughout the world."
Meme - *sex toys dumped in open outside dumpster*
Meme - "I don't live with my parents
I have sex 2-3 times a day
I have lots of free time so I read books and go to the gym daily
I don't need a job to live
Can't wait to get out of jail"
Meme - Meghan McCain @MeghanMcCain: "sexism and attacks. I refuse to be a part of this type of hate and bullying and I am honored to now have this platform to help change things"
Meghan McCain @MeghanMcCain: "NO PEACE, BITCH"
Kari Lake @KariLake: "Hi Meghan, As mothers, (both with two kiddos) I'm know we both agree that our children's future is too important to let it slip away over pas..."
Teenager explains why he chose to pay $6,300 a year to live permanently on trains - "Lasse Stolley, from Germany, decided to up sticks and move onboard the country's national trains nearly two years ago... However, off the teenager went, armed with just a rucksack, to live onboard trains while also carrying out his job of programming smartphones. Well, Stolley is able to travel on so many trains as a result of joining a discount subscription programme called the BahnCard 100 - offered by Germany's national railway company Deutsche Bahn. When he first started living onboard trains, Stolley purchased the annual second-class youth ticket which cost $2,800... The teenager reflects he 'could rent an apartment' but questions 'why' he would do that when he has 'so many friends everywhere' to go and visit and isn't 'lonely'."