CuriousRefugee

Thanks so much for your work!

I think they're saying that an increase in school funding doesn't necessarily lead to an increase or decrease in quality of education. Like maybe it's essentially uncorrelated above a minimum amount to fund basics (lights, desks, teachers, etc.). There's a lot more factors than money at play here. In other words, a poorly-run school with bad policies, teachers, etc. is crap whether it has X million dollars or 2X million, and a well-run school is good even with a small budget.

There's a lot more perpendicular universes, though

I think it's one of the flaws with representative democracy. When faced with a choice between what's good for the country/state vs. what's popular (or just good for their district), what should an elected official pick? If they go with the former, they will eventually be replaced by someone who votes the other way, and we'll end up with a government of elected officials who only vote selfishly (to get reelected by supporting public opinion, I mean).

Maybe proportional voting would help with legislatures to avoid that, but I don't see a great fix for executives. And proportional voting can also have its own flaws by making parties more influential. The best is trying to elect people who can convince the public/their constituents that what's good for the country (or state) is also good for the people, and change public opinion on the topic. Obama (preceded by VP Biden) coming out in favor of gay marriage worked pretty well on that front. So I guess we're just back to trying to elect the best people, or at least the most influential. But that's also why Trump has been successful politically and that sucks, so I don't know.

The right of the people to bare arms shall not be infringed! *Flexes

Oh my god, they were ROOMMATES!

It would suck for the Atlantic and Jeff Goldberg, but I almost hope that they charge him with distributing classified info for posting the plans. The courts would absolutely WRECK the government in that case

I did just hunt through my old CDs, and I've still got it! Along with Diablo 1 and some weird burned copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 that has a black bottom, like it's a PlayStation CD. Anyway, I'll try to check it out; thanks for the recommendation!

I remember being very frustrated in that game, but I was also probably like 12 and dumb. So I can take your word for it. I'll count it!

But only when there was a full moon and the Weregentinians transformed!

Has there even been a Civ release that was great at the start? I had the old Civ 2 "Multiplayer Gold Edition," which my friend, who had the original, said had a much better AI. Give it a little while and see what they can do to make Civ 7 better, then it'll sell well.

Mark Twain was a writer in the late 1800s in America who wrote some real novels, but also is mainly known for his humorous and satirical writing. He's exaggerating here for comedic effect, not trying to be serious. So it's probably a combination of the older language and the fact that he's trying to be funny.