The Random Crap Thread 2: It Hits the Fan.

Denbrought

Denbrought

bhamv3 said:
Word that means active during the day.

There's a person I know here in Taiwan who knows it, and I'm impressed they know it, and they're confused because they figure it should be fairly common knowledge. I, however, only ever learned "nocturnal" in school, and learned its opposite when I was much older and during my own independent reading. So I'm trying to determine exactly how impressed I should be.
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I would consider the word common knowledge, if only because it's used in both nature documentaries and my elementary/middle school natural sciences classes.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

See I have this discussion with my wife all the time. Educated people have great difficulty imagining how stupid the rest of the world actually is.

Informal poll of my lunchroom right now, nobody knew what diurnal means, most think it is a swear word, probably Spanish.

The discussion has now moved on to how smart the short guy is for not hunting drunk.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
I wonder if it's a word that people in certain parts of the country/world are more likely to know than others. I've known diurnal vs nocturnal since I was a kid, but when I was a kid, we lived in the desert, and there were a lot of examples to be described as such right outside my backyard.
 
Denbrought

Denbrought

GasBandit said:
I wonder if it's a word that people in certain parts of the country/world are more likely to know than others. I've known diurnal vs nocturnal since I was a kid, but when I was a kid, we lived in the desert, and there were a lot of examples to be described as such right outside my backyard.
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I wonder if there's been studies like that on urban vs. rural vocabulary (without ignoring buying power, race, etc), I'm sure it'd make for interesting reads. Will look into it tonight.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Denbrought said:
I wonder if there's been studies like that on urban vs. rural vocabulary (without ignoring buying power, race, etc), I'm sure it'd make for interesting reads. Will look into it tonight.
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Well, I can tell you this, the city folk I play Overwatch with are CONSTANTLY giving me shit for my vernacular :p
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

I actually had a serious thought that any proposed proportional representation electoral reform would be undemocratic as the bulk of the people affected by its changes would not be smart enough to understand it. Thus any reform would benefit only a small segment of the population.
 
strawman

strawman

HCGLNS said:
I actually had a serious thought that any proposed proportional representation electoral reform would be undemocratic as the bulk of the people affected by its changes would not be smart enough to understand it. Thus any reform would benefit only a small segment of the population.
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That's a reasonable thought. But then the question is - do we assume the worst of the citizens and keep it simple, or do we raise our expectations and try to help them meet those expectations?

Do we continue doing the same thing we've always done, or do we elevate the next generation - giving them more power, but expecting more in return?
 
MindDetective

MindDetective

stienman said:
That's a reasonable thought. But then the question is - do we assume the worst of the citizens and keep it simple, or do we raise our expectations and try to help them meet those expectations?

Do we continue doing the same thing we've always done, or do we elevate the next generation - giving them more power, but expecting more in return?
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I'm in favor of raising expectations, but I think you have to build into the system a failsafe that protects the population from a situation where education about the system collapses at a later date. I think if raise up the populace to handle a complex system for a generation and then it falls apart, it is worse than doing nothing in the long run.
 
strawman

strawman

MindDetective said:
I'm in favor of raising expectations, but I think you have to build into the system a failsafe that protects the population from a situation where education about the system collapses at a later date. I think if raise up the populace to handle a complex system for a generation and then it falls apart, it is worse than doing nothing in the long run.
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But some versions of the ranked voting are backwards compatible. If the voter only marks one candidate and doesn't rank them or mark any others as backup, then their full vote goes only to that person, just as it does in today's system.

So if we designed the system carefully then we should be able to maintain backwards compatibility to a degree, allowing those who don't understand ranking to continue to vote for a single candidate.

It would then be up to the third parties to explain and educate if they want a seat at the table, and thus the system would be partially self supporting.
 
Null

Null

That moment when you have an exchange with a student that leaves you shaking your head and wanting to tell them, "Look, just drop all your classes, get a refund, and leave school, because you're just wasting both your own and your professor's time."
 
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