Randomness XVI: Brains versus Bleach - an Epic Rap Battle in Iambic Pentameter.

[SparrowMarie]

I think someone bought the empty lot next to us. It seems they might be building a house there. I've heard nothing but the backhoe backing up beeping sound all day.

[Kangaroorex]

Hey we're all just flowing with the current!

 

 

[kay13]

Good Morning all!

 

Microwave shopping today!  (microwave discovered last night it couldn't heat milk for hot chocolate).

 

Hope your weekend is going well!

 

 

[Unruly]

My female cat is finally getting more cuddly. I've only had her for like 3 years now, and she's finally getting to the point where she chases me down looking for attention. She let's me hold her for more than a few seconds at a time, and she actually sits on me now! She also sort of lays down, but it doesn't seem relaxed. Unlike my male cat, who just flops down however he feels like, she basically lays down like the sphinx when she lays on top of me. And the slightest twitch from me causes her to stand back up most of the time.

 

But at least she's coming around. Maybe eventually she'll be more like Ed and just be a floppy cat. But I doubt it.

[SparrowMarie]

They are now burning a pile of logs (that were large trees previously) near our fence. 

[Mad Jack]

On 10/18/2019 at 6:14 PM, Marvin said:

You know, nobody likes to think they'd ever be a fascist, we all love talking about muh democracy, but then you start looking around and realizing how much better off your sister or your cousin or the creepy guy selling his dying mom's household goods off at the pawn shop would be if you were making their decisions for them, and, hell, I don't know, man.

 

tl;dr Takhisis 2020, I guess.

 

 At the risk of getting buzzy, the Forefathers knew what they were doing when they wanted to limit the 'democracy" to just educated people, who'd been taught to think with their Classical educations... Defaulting to 'average" decision-making ability as a way of running a country doesn't particularly inspire me to visions of a bright future. People are dumb.

 

 In other news, Jack lost an auction Thursday night for the TSR 5307 Official GenCon RPGA box set - he was trying to be reasonable and keep his max bid to around $100, but the auction ended at 10pm that night and Jack was asleep when the box finally sold for $135. 

Jack was so tired last night that he laid down for a nap around 6pm intending to get up at 7pm. He ended up sleeping until 10:30, sleeping right through the end of three other auctions for the TSR box sets - the 5305 AD&D Monster Tribes, 5306 D&D Basic Figure Set and 5308 AD&D Heroes... 

Tonight, Jack just lost an auction for another copy of the GenCon RPGA box set - his last-second bid of $200 was topped at $224.

 

Jack is disgruntled.

 

 

[Green Eyed Monster]

35 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

 

 At the risk of getting buzzy, the Forefathers knew what they were doing when they wanted to limit the 'democracy" to just educated people, who'd been taught to think with their Classical educations... Defaulting to 'average" decision-making ability as a way of running a country doesn't particularly inspire me to visions of a bright future. People are dumb.

 

 In other news, Jack lost an auction Thursday night for the TSR 5307 Official GenCon RPGA box set - he was trying to be reasonable and keep his max bid to around $100, but the auction ended at 10pm that night and Jack was asleep when the box finally sold for $135. 

Jack was so tired last night that he laid down for a nap around 6pm intending to get up at 7pm. He ended up sleeping until 10:30, sleeping right through the end of three other auctions for the TSR box sets - the 5305 AD&D Monster Tribes, 5306 D&D Basic Figure Set and 5308 AD&D Heroes... 

Tonight, Jack just lost an auction for another copy of the GenCon RPGA box set - his last-second bid of $200 was topped at $224.

 

Jack is disgruntled.

 

 

Jack needs to look into automated bidding software.

On Democracy, consider this:

HALF of the voting population is at or below average on the IQ Graph, regardless of hw many years they have spent in school.

GEM

[Corsair]

Nice day today, we headed down to Arkansas to visit Nephew and his family. Kids were swimming and showing us the new puppies. Golden-doodles are awfully cute.

[TheAuldGrump]

26 minutes ago, Green Eyed Monster said:

Jack needs to look into automated bidding software.

On Democracy, consider this:

HALF of the voting population is at or below average on the IQ Graph, regardless of how many years they have spent in school.

GEM

That last is nonsense - half the voting population is of average intelligence - it is an average, not a mean.

 

A quarter are below. A quarter are above - but the undistinguished middle is the plurality.

 

Think bell curve, not linear progression.

 

A greater deciding factor in US elections is education, rather than intelligence. Location and origin, likewise, is of greater import than intelligence.

 

***

Finished the opening of the final battle in the Regency Space game - the PCs have just finished defeating the lesser opponents that tried to prevent them from interrupting the wedding ceremony between the King in Yellow and the Red Queen.

 

No PCs are dead, yet, and none are uninjured.

 

About a half to a third of their spells have been used.

 

Someone will have to make a Knowledge [Religion] check to find how far the wedding ceremony has to go. Otherwise they will have no clue how much time they might have left.

 

Will the King or Queen interrupt the ceremony to deal with the interlopers?

 

And who is this robed and cowled priest that officiates at this sacrament of marriage - whose voice seems to come from everywhere, and nowhere at all?

 

The Auld Grump

[Green Eyed Monster]

18 minutes ago, TheAuldGrump said:

That last is nonsense - half the voting population is of average intelligence - it is an average, not a mean.

 

A quarter are below. A quarter are above - but the undistinguished middle is the plurality.

 

Think bell curve, not linear progression.

 

A greater deciding factor in US elections is education, rather than intelligence. Location and origin, likewise, is of greater import than intelligence.

 

***

Finished the opening of the final battle in the Regency Space game - the PCs have just finished defeating the lesser opponents that tried to prevent them from interrupting the wedding ceremony between the King in Yellow and the Red Queen.

 

No PCs are dead, yet, and none are uninjured.

 

About a half to a third of their spells have been used.

 

Someone will have to make a Knowledge [Religion] check to find how far the wedding ceremony has to go. Otherwise they will have no clue how much time they might have left.

 

Will the King or Queen interrupt the ceremony to deal with the interlopers?

 

And who is this robed and cowled priest that officiates at this sacrament of marriage - whose voice seems to come from everywhere, and nowhere at all?

 

The Auld Grump

Read carefully exactly what I said.

For reference:

"HALF of the voting population is at or below average on the IQ Graph, regardless of how many years they have spent in school. "

If expressed in terms of standard deviations to put the entire "average" range in, then the verbal statement makes the status quo look even more grim.

GEM

Edited October 20, 2019 by Green Eyed Monster

[TheAuldGrump]

9 minutes ago, Green Eyed Monster said:

Read carefully exactly what I said.

For reference:

"HALF of the voting population is at or below average on the IQ Graph, regardless of how many years they have spent in school. "

GEN

Read carefully exactly what I wrote.

 

For reference:

'

That last is nonsense - half the voting population is of average intelligence - it is an average, not a mean.

 

A quarter are below. A quarter are above - but the undistinguished middle is the plurality.

 

Think bell curve, not linear progression.'

 

Half plus a quarter is three quarters, not half.

 

If half is of average intelligence then that is in addition to the quarter that is below.

 

Again - average is a range on the bell curve - not the middle of the bell curve.

 

The Auld Grump - yes, I am being snarky. Lazy math bothers me.

 

*EDIT* To be specific, the half that is of average intelligence is the most significant portion of the curve.

Edited October 20, 2019 by TheAuldGrump

[Green Eyed Monster]

1 minute ago, TheAuldGrump said:

Read carefully exactly what I wrote.

 

For reference:

'

That last is nonsense - half the voting population is of average intelligence - it is an average, not a mean.

 

A quarter are below. A quarter are above - but the undistinguished middle is the plurality.

 

Think bell curve, not linear progression.'

 

Half plus a quarter is three quarters, not half.

 

If half is of average intelligence then that is in addition to the quarter that is below.

 

Again - average is a range on the bell curve - not the middle of the bell curve.

 

The Auld Grump - yes, I am being snarky. Lazy math bothers me.

While I respect your opinion, we are going to have to agree to disagree on our perspectives.

GEM

[TheAuldGrump]

Just now, Green Eyed Monster said:

While I respect your opinion, we are going to have to agree to disagree on our perspectives.

GEM

It is not a perspective, nor is it an opinion - it is math.

 

It can be researched, it can be confirmed, and has nothing to do with any point of view.

 

It simply is what it is.

 

Disagreeing with it does not make it go away.

 

Had you said that half the voting population was of average intelligence or higher, I would have had the exact same argument.

 

The average person is average - and deflects from the average an average number of ways - it is a range, not a single number.

 

Oddly, I had this self same argument involving rolling ability scores on 3d6.... Again, the average is a more significant portion of the curve than either of the extremes.

 

Had you said that half the voting population has an IQ of 100 or below you would have been more nearly correct. But most of that half would have been clustered right around that 100 IQ.

 

The Auld Grump

[Doug Sundseth]

The average (in this case both the mean and the median) of 3d6 is 10.5. Half of the rolls will be above that and half below.

 

By definition, the average IQ, again both mean and median, is 100. Neglecting the very small number who are at precisely 100, half of the population will be below 100 and half will be above. In other words, half will be above average and half will be below. For reference, here is a typical definition of "average":

 

Quote

a number expressing the central or typical value in a set of data, in particular the mode, median, or (most commonly) the mean, which is calculated by dividing the sum of the values in the set by their number.

 

There are other definitions, of course, for instance:

 

Quote

 not out of the ordinary : COMMON

 

Each of you is using a different sense of the word. Communication works better when people use the same words in the same way.

[Green Eyed Monster]

Micro-Mark seems to be havinga pretty good sale going on right now.

If you decide to check it out keep this Promo Code in mind:

19WS090

-

GEM

Edited October 20, 2019 by Green Eyed Monster
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