Sounds like you will love your new home, but some advice from an old guy. If you don't like the clutter, then resist accumulating crap or you will be cluttered again in a couple of years. I have lived in 800 sq feet up to 4000 sq feet with 5 acres. It seems to be human nature to fill in space. My wife minds clutter less than I do, so we compromise. But I donate or destroy (very rarely sell) most things that I haven't used or touched in a year. Rarely do I regret it.
"The university I teach at has an acceptance rate of 85% and just sent out a message about how we will come together to discuss how this decision will impact us and "the work that we do." Had to laugh -- not at all is the answer! Wish there could be some honesty in the discussion of this topic. "
I meant to comment on this in the original post, but since you highlighted it, here goes:
As long as we're talking honesty, let's acknowledge that all the blacks and most of the Hispanics capable of doing what was previously considered college level work are at the schools that practice affirmative action. Any school with an acceptance rate of 85% will have a common data set showing that they accept 3-8% of students with SAT scores in the 400s.
Wilfred Reilly, who is always making this point, is a professor at Kentucky State University, which no longer publishes sections c-8 and c-9 of its common data set, but when it did, 50% of their accepted students had SAT Math or Verbal scores below 500 (in each section). 8% had English scores below 400 and 15% had Math scores below 400.
Cal State Dominguez Hills accepts 70% of its students below 1000 SAT, and 25% of its students below 800.
These are students who, if they get a college degree at all, have less ability than a moderately high achieving 8th grader.
All these schools you talk about that "aren't competitive" are also accepting blacks and Hispanics that are wildly incapable of doing college level work. This has two major impacts. First, it lowers the standard of achievement for all students at the school because the professors are not allowed to flunk students who can't achieve without facing tremendous pressure. Next, by the huge number of schools doing this, we are utterly degrading the value of a college degree.
So yes, it's true that most schools don't commit affirmative action. It's also true that overwhelmingly in those schools, the blacks and Hispanics are accepted with insanely low scores that whites in particular would never bother attending college with (there's a report documenting this I'll look up but don't have at hand right now). That accepting students with low achievement means that those schools are turning out *everyone* with lower education because they can't hold higher standards.
And they're doing this because all the blacks and Hispanics with scores of, say, 1000 or above are being sucked up by the affirmative action demand in the selective schools. About 60,000 black kids get a score of 1000 or higher. Top 20 schools need about 200 blacks each, and the number goes up from there. NYU admits about 500. They're going to run through those 60,000 pretty quickly. And remember that's blacks getting math scores of 500. Not even remotely competitive for whites and Asians.
So all those people saying yeah, affirmative action isn't relevant at most colleges, just remember: all those schools are accepting blacks and Hispanics with scores that demonstrate middle school ability level. Because all the blacks and Hispanics with barely acceptable college scores are at the elite schools.
What does God's love have to do with any of this for God's sake?!
As an aside, Christianity's primary value/message/lesson is that of forgiveness. More than another other major religion, it is that component that I think sets it apart and provides such value to the human condition. Because much of what holds people back is the inability forgive themselves for the bad choices and mistakes they have made (despite their reasons), and for the cruel and harming actions of others. People that cannot get over that stuff tend to suffer more in the present and harm their future prospects. The love of God and Jesus our savior is the stuff of human capability transcendence not a point of weakness.
Hey, my chance to recommend Haruki Murakami’s (yes, that guy) book about the subway gas attack, “Underground” ... one of the best “literary nonfiction” books of its decade.
Congrats on the move, hope the new space brings much joy!
👍
Sounds like you will love your new home, but some advice from an old guy. If you don't like the clutter, then resist accumulating crap or you will be cluttered again in a couple of years. I have lived in 800 sq feet up to 4000 sq feet with 5 acres. It seems to be human nature to fill in space. My wife minds clutter less than I do, so we compromise. But I donate or destroy (very rarely sell) most things that I haven't used or touched in a year. Rarely do I regret it.
Congrats Freddie! Happy for you.
Congrats Freddie! Enjoy the pizza oven!
You crack me up! Blessings and delicious pizza to you and your lady in your new home :)
You produce more content than anyone else I subscribe to. Both quantity and quality are excellent. Ideas often expressed, not so much.
Congrats on the move and the pizza oven!
"The university I teach at has an acceptance rate of 85% and just sent out a message about how we will come together to discuss how this decision will impact us and "the work that we do." Had to laugh -- not at all is the answer! Wish there could be some honesty in the discussion of this topic. "
I meant to comment on this in the original post, but since you highlighted it, here goes:
As long as we're talking honesty, let's acknowledge that all the blacks and most of the Hispanics capable of doing what was previously considered college level work are at the schools that practice affirmative action. Any school with an acceptance rate of 85% will have a common data set showing that they accept 3-8% of students with SAT scores in the 400s.
Wilfred Reilly, who is always making this point, is a professor at Kentucky State University, which no longer publishes sections c-8 and c-9 of its common data set, but when it did, 50% of their accepted students had SAT Math or Verbal scores below 500 (in each section). 8% had English scores below 400 and 15% had Math scores below 400.
Cal State Dominguez Hills accepts 70% of its students below 1000 SAT, and 25% of its students below 800.
These are students who, if they get a college degree at all, have less ability than a moderately high achieving 8th grader.
All these schools you talk about that "aren't competitive" are also accepting blacks and Hispanics that are wildly incapable of doing college level work. This has two major impacts. First, it lowers the standard of achievement for all students at the school because the professors are not allowed to flunk students who can't achieve without facing tremendous pressure. Next, by the huge number of schools doing this, we are utterly degrading the value of a college degree.
So yes, it's true that most schools don't commit affirmative action. It's also true that overwhelmingly in those schools, the blacks and Hispanics are accepted with insanely low scores that whites in particular would never bother attending college with (there's a report documenting this I'll look up but don't have at hand right now). That accepting students with low achievement means that those schools are turning out *everyone* with lower education because they can't hold higher standards.
And they're doing this because all the blacks and Hispanics with scores of, say, 1000 or above are being sucked up by the affirmative action demand in the selective schools. About 60,000 black kids get a score of 1000 or higher. Top 20 schools need about 200 blacks each, and the number goes up from there. NYU admits about 500. They're going to run through those 60,000 pretty quickly. And remember that's blacks getting math scores of 500. Not even remotely competitive for whites and Asians.
So all those people saying yeah, affirmative action isn't relevant at most colleges, just remember: all those schools are accepting blacks and Hispanics with scores that demonstrate middle school ability level. Because all the blacks and Hispanics with barely acceptable college scores are at the elite schools.
What does God's love have to do with any of this for God's sake?!
As an aside, Christianity's primary value/message/lesson is that of forgiveness. More than another other major religion, it is that component that I think sets it apart and provides such value to the human condition. Because much of what holds people back is the inability forgive themselves for the bad choices and mistakes they have made (despite their reasons), and for the cruel and harming actions of others. People that cannot get over that stuff tend to suffer more in the present and harm their future prospects. The love of God and Jesus our savior is the stuff of human capability transcendence not a point of weakness.
Hey, my chance to recommend Haruki Murakami’s (yes, that guy) book about the subway gas attack, “Underground” ... one of the best “literary nonfiction” books of its decade.