If you watched Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet - they just posted the quarantine episode - and honestly the last five minutes is the best tv content I've seen in 2020.
If you haven't watched Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet - it's pretty good. Especially the middle/pivot episode which falls entirely outside the main story line. It's a workplace comedy about a WoW like multiplayer online game from Rob (who stars) and Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
I love the story about Ricardo Montalban showing up to play khan. The folks preparing the movie hadn't seen him and expected that a 65 yr old actor might not be in fabulous shape, so had created a costume that would hide that fact. He shows up looking fresh from a beach body contest, and they just put him in the leather vest, and oiled up his chest.
Used to watch the old Original Trek episodes as a kid - they were in syndication. Then I enjoyed TNG during my high school years. Didn't watch Voyager or Deep Space Nine. My favorite trek scene is Spock and Kirk in San Francisco where Kirk says "don't worry, he's from Berkeley" with regard to Spock's odd garb and manner.
Kirk : [Explaining Spock's odd behavior] Oh, him? He's harmless. Back in the sixties, he was part of the free speech movement at Berkeley. I think he did a little too much LDS.
Oh I didn't know Paul Reiser was in the movie. I first remember him as the slimy corporate guy from Aliens. And I loved Mad About You. I need to get the revival episodes to watch.
It's a slow step but Arlington today announced that county parks will be open for limited use starting Sunday. Playgrounds, tracks, restrooms etc. still off limits/closed but you can hang out in the open areas with mask, distancing in force.
I was thinking of someone from that team that the youngins would have heard of but may not have been mentioned recently. Maybe Russell White or Sean Dawkins.
No offense to Richard Midgley, who did hit a NCAA tourney buzzer beater to beat NC State, but the other two guys are Cal Athletics Hall of Fame guys. Just a little bit weird to see these three lumped together.
I use eleme (饿了吗） and Meituan （美团） but not taobao waimai. Occasionally I'll use Sherpa's but their additional charge is so much more than the Chinese apps. If possible - mainly for McDonald's and Deli NYC - I call the restaurant directly for delivery.
have not used, don't intend to. The take from the apps from restaurants is terrible, and most steal all the in app tips from the workers. I'd rather go pick up stuff.
I've never done it. Partially because I don't mine going out to pickup, and partially because I don't live in a dense city. No 2 uses it sometimes at Vandy since he doesn't have a car when he wants something different that what he can get around campus. They're allowed to use meal swipes at some of the restaurants around campus.
I use Uber Eats once a month to use up my monthly Amex credit, but otherwise avoid because the margins are so terrible for the restaurants. If I'm going to do takeout, I will call to order and go pick it up 9 times out of 10.
This is how I feel about so many apps--I'd rather support the entity directly. I get the convenience for couples to register on Zola, for instance, but if possible, I'd rather just send them a check so there aren't extra fees that go to Zola.
Agreed. I used to run a restaurant when Grub-Hub was just getting started and they were awful from a customer service perspective. Nothing's changed. Support local business & call the restaurant direct.
including looking up the phone number somewhere other than yelp, as they have a deal with grub-hub that spoofs the phone number so they can charge the restaurant their fee.
The main appeal of these apps for me is that generally speaking the folks manning phones at restaurants speak English as a second language and struggle to understand my accent. The shorter the description, the better the odds I’ll get what I wanted.
This is a fair point. In Taipei, I avoided using Uber because Taipei cab drivers know what they're doing, and the price wasn't usually better through Uber. But then, a friend mentioned that she uses Uber when she's in Taipei because she's still learning Mandarin, and sometimes there can be confusion when you hand a slip of paper with the address to a cab driver that can't be cleared up using only gestures. So after that, I relaxed my stance on Uber :P
There used to be a dominant taxi company in our county and I think part of the reason they got hammered by Uber and Lyft was that they would not give drivers GPS systems, so passengers were basically giving directions the whole time.
I’ve used grub hub to order pickup and delivery from a couple of local places in the past, but I’m leery of them all because they’re such rentier assholes.
1) TOS has to be here, because without it, there wouldn't any other shows or movies. Sure the quality of the individual episodes vary wildly, and there's a noticeable drop off in the third season, but there are truly stellar episodes and a bunch of solid ones in with the clunkers.
2) DS9 In my mind, actually the best series overall. To me, the show benefited from being set on a space station rather than a ship, and easily had the best world-building concepts. Also you could compare the politics of the various factions/species to the good seasons of GoT with Littlefinger et. al. exemplified by the episode "In the Pale Moonlight".
3) TNG when I heard a new Star Trek was being made, I was excited, but when that first crud-tastic season rolled out, I was firmly in the WTF? mode. Still I watched, and it did get better, and had a few really great episodes, but the average quality was much lower. The main problem was it was way too talky, and I think Roddenberry over corrected from what he thought were the flaws of TOS - people watch TV shows for good stories, and good stories revolve around conflict, and there wasn't enough of it. Every single holodeck episode was a cheat.
?) Discovery - mainly for the 2nd season which cleverly pretended the first never existed.
?) Voyager - stranded in the delta quadrant? So who cares...
?) Enterprise - I wanted this to be good, but it wasn't until the final season when they knew they were cancelled, and then they let her rip. What it should have been all along.
At some point I want to go back through DS9. I kind of stopped watching Star Trek when it was still early in its run, but lots of people say it gets really good by the end.
So CBS All Access just announced a 3rd Star Trek show, which will feature Pike, Spock, etc. about 10 years before Kirk after these characters were introduced in Discovery Season 2. I am not sure how I feel about this news since Enterprise and the newer Star Trek movies and even Discovery all suffered from existing in the past (or just rethreading old Original Series plotlines). As much as I like Benedict Cumberbatch in his other works, his Khan was not as remarkable as Ricardo Montalban.
I grew up with TNG, so that's my thing. I acknowledge that the first two seasons mostly aren't very good, but when you're just watching in syndication it all gets mixed in. I'm starting to make my way through all the Original Series episodes, slowly.
I have also seen every movie. For the original cast, the stereotype is mostly right, that the even numbered ones are the better ones. TNG only had one good movie (First Contact).
I’ve watched various episodes of the original series, a couple of the early films, and the more recent ones with Chris Pine. Basically the dumb fun ones?
i am a big fan. needless to say, Khan is one of the best movie villains ever.
TNG first came out where we were in high school. we were in AP English Lit and were about to watch some Hamlet movie for a few days. our teacher, asked who in the class watched Star Trek. my hand shot up, but then i quickly realized i was the only one in class.
she went on to tell us that Patrick Stewart was previously a Shakespearean actor and he would be starring (as Claudius() in the version of Hamlet that we were about to watch.
I am in no way a Trekkie, but I grew up during the release-era of the Shatner/Nimoy movies. For the longest time, Wrath of Khan held the title of “most stomach turning” scene IMO (poor Chekhov & Paul Winfield...)! Recently, however, the torch was passed, as a scene from The Bone Tomahawk (starring Kurt Russell) rocketed quickly to the top of the ‘most disturbing’ list. I only know of two other people that have even seen this horror/western, but it’s definitely cringe-worthy....
Any other horrific scenes from film jump out to anyone?
I should add I’ve disliked Rolling Thunder as a general matter for years. Having them in town was an irritant but part of the living in the DC area is having lots of our fellow citizens arrive all at once.
There is some irony in the fact that the first time that stops for years, there’s nothing much to enjoy in place of thousands of old people on loud motorcycles
There’s been a kerfuffle because Biden said that if you’re African American and vote for Trump you “ain’t black.” So of course Trumpistas are calling Biden a racist, leading McCain’s campaign manager to tweet:
So high school students in the future need to do well for all 4 (or just the first 3.5) yeas rather than have mediocre grades but significantly boost their college chances with a great result in some standardized test (due to a few months of test prep)? That's how Zack Morris got into Yale on Saved by the Bell (of course, due to the college year show, he ended up going to "UCAL").
Okay, my more serious take is how soon will there be a new SAT/ACT to take over this void?
I'm good at standardized testing (well, I used to be; it's not something I've done in awhile) and benefitted from this system, but I understand that the system (and College Board) is problematic and this may be a good idea.
This may be whataboutism, and I do realize there are many problems to tackle, but the personal statement can also be problematic. You have people who need to spill their personal trauma to get a spot in a school. You have people whose families can afford/access exciting extracurriculars.
So yeah...answering "who is a good student?" "who would be a good fit at our school?" "who would enhance our school?" is difficult, and there doesn't seem to be a perfect set of metrics.
I guess this is good. But how to reconcile GPA's amongst applicants who went to high schools of vastly different quality/resources? I only had a 3.8 GPA in high school but did very well on the SAT, which got me accepted into a number of excellent schools. Chose Cal though. Perhaps I'm an old (over 40) curmudgeon.
I get that they're trying to eliminate cultural bias in the testing and I'm for that.
However, I am concerned about over compensation for it.
I got admitted to Cal at the time of affirmative action. There were students who were admitted from some school districts that prepared their students less. Despite their enthusiasm, they got destroyed at Cal. These were valedictorians and were unaccustomed to coming in close to last on harder tests - which meant an F in forced curve classes.
I saw dreams of being doctors downgraded to easier majors. Easier majors were downgraded to trying not to flunk out. And some flunked out. And Cal did not have a robust support system for those who struggled. It is a shame to see people without a degree, but burdened with student loans and damaged confidence.
What you are describing are several additional problems that had/have to be addressed.
The challenge with affirmative action is that being disadvantaged often contributes or outright causes diminished capability, but it doesn't change the fact that the person has diminished capability. So just admitting/hiring/etc them doesn't do any good; in fact it compounds the problem. Something still has to be done to address the deficiency, and has and is sometimes not done adequately or at all.
You also note the use of forced curve grading, which is sheer lunacy. There is nothing wrong with everyone passing, even with a good grade if that's an accurate representation of the students ability (and probably how good a job the instruction did). Either you demonstrated competency, or you didn't. Whether others did or didn't is not relevant to your competency.
And "destroying" any student is unacceptable. There is a reason for placement tools (which can include some of the traditional tests, as well as relative performance to other class members), to better determine the what the current/next needs of the student are, and steer them and/or the curriculum accordingly. The elite or out mentality doesn't serve the overall community, indeed it leaves behind the very people who most need education.
It takes time to overcome any institutionalized cultural problem, and more to deal with one heaped onto another, etc. Fortunately, some steps to address these issues are occurring, but it tends to be very slow going.
The Oregon State beaver looks good in green & gold. Kinda like the back side of the state flag. Besides Cal's, the one that hurts the most is SC. Nobody looks good in baby blue.
That's the problem with having only one color, other than white. Stanford has incorporated green, mostly as trim, in some cases since the inception of the tree, largely for this reason.
If you watched Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet - they just posted the quarantine episode - and honestly the last five minutes is the best tv content I've seen in 2020.
If you haven't watched Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet - it's pretty good. Especially the middle/pivot episode which falls entirely outside the main story line. It's a workplace comedy about a WoW like multiplayer online game from Rob (who stars) and Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
It's on Apple + TV
KKKHHHHHkAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN
I love the story about Ricardo Montalban showing up to play khan. The folks preparing the movie hadn't seen him and expected that a 65 yr old actor might not be in fabulous shape, so had created a costume that would hide that fact. He shows up looking fresh from a beach body contest, and they just put him in the leather vest, and oiled up his chest.
Maybe he was skinnier the first time he played khan.
fine Corinthian leather
Used to watch the old Original Trek episodes as a kid - they were in syndication. Then I enjoyed TNG during my high school years. Didn't watch Voyager or Deep Space Nine. My favorite trek scene is Spock and Kirk in San Francisco where Kirk says "don't worry, he's from Berkeley" with regard to Spock's odd garb and manner.
According to IMDB, this was the actual line:
Kirk : [Explaining Spock's odd behavior] Oh, him? He's harmless. Back in the sixties, he was part of the free speech movement at Berkeley. I think he did a little too much LDS.
Dr. Gillian Taylor : LDS?
Here is the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHxFNFWlZc
Facts are better than my memory...
Create a slogan for a real company if it was being brutally honest about itself.
I like the one from the 80's movie where old people made honest ads (or something like that).
Volvo: We're boxy but we're good. (this was back when Volvo 740's were basically two boxes stacked on top of each other)
Crazy People! Those fake ads were inspired.
"Come to New York! There were fewer murders last year."
The Freak - "This movie won't just scare you...it will EFF you up for life..."
When I woke up, I didn't expect to hear a 1990 Dudley Moore reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTJZEK4JP0k
Oh I didn't know Paul Reiser was in the movie. I first remember him as the slimy corporate guy from Aliens. And I loved Mad About You. I need to get the revival episodes to watch.
EHarmony: when you’re tired of doing anal to keep “Christian” men around while maintaining your V card
My Mom met her husband on eHarmony. 🤦🏻♀️
But not your father one presumes.
Well, no. They met in 1958.
Oh god
Target: You want cheap shit, but have too much dignity for Walmart
Costco:Sam's Club :: Target:Walmart
Today in CV19
Patrick Ewing tested positive and is hospitalized.
My state (governor: DEM) goes into Phase 2 of ReOpen today at 5pm.
Restaurants open for dine-in at 50%
Personal care at 50% capacity and cleaning requirements
Pools at 50%
Childcare open
Pools and movie theaters are still closed in Shanghai. And that's really about it.
Maryland is apparently reopening but my county is not quite. I’m hard pressed to see how it will make much of a difference for me
It's a slow step but Arlington today announced that county parks will be open for limited use starting Sunday. Playgrounds, tracks, restrooms etc. still off limits/closed but you can hang out in the open areas with mask, distancing in force.
Seems like a smart first step. People need to get out.
UK government trying to reopen schools sooner than their advisers have suggested
https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1263847686001876997?s=21
Even the most generic CDC guidance is going to be hard to achieve - the bus advice would reduce capacity by 75% I think
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html
Name a Cal player that the DBD will recognize, but not thought of in a looong time
I finally remembered one to contribute to this discussion: Charles Lol Pringle!!!!!
Rich Branham
Hartmutt Ortmann
Natu Tuatagaloa.....
Mawuko Tugbenyoh
Marc Hicks. Chris Washington. Syd'Quan Thompson.
I went to high school with Marc Hicks. He and former Wazzu coach Paul Wulff were both two years ahead of me.
My sister in law boned him on the 50. 🤷🏽♀️
holt_bone.gif
I can only hope that was when there was natural grass.
I assume you mean Marc Hicks...
Paul Wulff can GET IT
Iheanyi Uwaezuoke
I sat next to him in my PS 2 section
Troy Taylor
Hardy Nickerson
Gale Gilbert
Anyone who's been following recently would have thought about Nickerson either through his son or through Weaver breaking his record.
Anyone here from CGB would definitely have thought of Troy Taylor recently as we've all endlessly heard about how he should be our OC.
Maybe if we create a wiki page it'll happen.
Who is Troy Taylor?
Richard Midgley
Lamond Murray
Mike Pawlawski
Paws is someone we've thought of recently due to his broadcast work and staying close to the program.
I was thinking of someone from that team that the youngins would have heard of but may not have been mentioned recently. Maybe Russell White or Sean Dawkins.
No offense to Richard Midgley, who did hit a NCAA tourney buzzer beater to beat NC State, but the other two guys are Cal Athletics Hall of Fame guys. Just a little bit weird to see these three lumped together.
I guess I was thinking about the buzzer beater he hit as a freshman. Though you're right, the youngins probably don't know who he is.
Tom Schneider
Monty Buckley
I think about Monty Buckley daily.
Grub Hub, Door Dash, Uber Eats, Postmates
I use eleme (饿了吗） and Meituan （美团） but not taobao waimai. Occasionally I'll use Sherpa's but their additional charge is so much more than the Chinese apps. If possible - mainly for McDonald's and Deli NYC - I call the restaurant directly for delivery.
I used Door Dash because my wife' staff gave her $200 after my father passed.
I am unlikely to use them again because they had limited choices and because my dad is not very likely to pass away again.
For East Bay people, Berkeleyside has a list of which places are doing their own deliveries: https://www.berkeleyside.com/nosh-guide
Thanks! Helpful!
I use 'em all the time. With young kids in the house it's not so easy to just pop out and pick up food.
I've never used them, but I think my daughter has.
have not used, don't intend to. The take from the apps from restaurants is terrible, and most steal all the in app tips from the workers. I'd rather go pick up stuff.
I've never done it. Partially because I don't mine going out to pickup, and partially because I don't live in a dense city. No 2 uses it sometimes at Vandy since he doesn't have a car when he wants something different that what he can get around campus. They're allowed to use meal swipes at some of the restaurants around campus.
I use Uber Eats once a month to use up my monthly Amex credit, but otherwise avoid because the margins are so terrible for the restaurants. If I'm going to do takeout, I will call to order and go pick it up 9 times out of 10.
This is how I feel about so many apps--I'd rather support the entity directly. I get the convenience for couples to register on Zola, for instance, but if possible, I'd rather just send them a check so there aren't extra fees that go to Zola.
Agreed. I used to run a restaurant when Grub-Hub was just getting started and they were awful from a customer service perspective. Nothing's changed. Support local business & call the restaurant direct.
including looking up the phone number somewhere other than yelp, as they have a deal with grub-hub that spoofs the phone number so they can charge the restaurant their fee.
The main appeal of these apps for me is that generally speaking the folks manning phones at restaurants speak English as a second language and struggle to understand my accent. The shorter the description, the better the odds I’ll get what I wanted.
This is a fair point. In Taipei, I avoided using Uber because Taipei cab drivers know what they're doing, and the price wasn't usually better through Uber. But then, a friend mentioned that she uses Uber when she's in Taipei because she's still learning Mandarin, and sometimes there can be confusion when you hand a slip of paper with the address to a cab driver that can't be cleared up using only gestures. So after that, I relaxed my stance on Uber :P
There used to be a dominant taxi company in our county and I think part of the reason they got hammered by Uber and Lyft was that they would not give drivers GPS systems, so passengers were basically giving directions the whole time.
I’ve used grub hub to order pickup and delivery from a couple of local places in the past, but I’m leery of them all because they’re such rentier assholes.
Star Trek
The definitive Guide:
1) TOS has to be here, because without it, there wouldn't any other shows or movies. Sure the quality of the individual episodes vary wildly, and there's a noticeable drop off in the third season, but there are truly stellar episodes and a bunch of solid ones in with the clunkers.
2) DS9 In my mind, actually the best series overall. To me, the show benefited from being set on a space station rather than a ship, and easily had the best world-building concepts. Also you could compare the politics of the various factions/species to the good seasons of GoT with Littlefinger et. al. exemplified by the episode "In the Pale Moonlight".
3) TNG when I heard a new Star Trek was being made, I was excited, but when that first crud-tastic season rolled out, I was firmly in the WTF? mode. Still I watched, and it did get better, and had a few really great episodes, but the average quality was much lower. The main problem was it was way too talky, and I think Roddenberry over corrected from what he thought were the flaws of TOS - people watch TV shows for good stories, and good stories revolve around conflict, and there wasn't enough of it. Every single holodeck episode was a cheat.
?) Discovery - mainly for the 2nd season which cleverly pretended the first never existed.
?) Voyager - stranded in the delta quadrant? So who cares...
?) Enterprise - I wanted this to be good, but it wasn't until the final season when they knew they were cancelled, and then they let her rip. What it should have been all along.
Where is Picard in this ranking? I have a grad school friend who totally hated it, but he's also a huge TNG fan.
I didn't know where to put it, it sort of seemed like TNG part II
I liked DS9 for its cold-war vibe and gritty characters like Quark and Odo.
At some point I want to go back through DS9. I kind of stopped watching Star Trek when it was still early in its run, but lots of people say it gets really good by the end.
Garrick was a fave of mine.
So CBS All Access just announced a 3rd Star Trek show, which will feature Pike, Spock, etc. about 10 years before Kirk after these characters were introduced in Discovery Season 2. I am not sure how I feel about this news since Enterprise and the newer Star Trek movies and even Discovery all suffered from existing in the past (or just rethreading old Original Series plotlines). As much as I like Benedict Cumberbatch in his other works, his Khan was not as remarkable as Ricardo Montalban.
I grew up with TNG, so that's my thing. I acknowledge that the first two seasons mostly aren't very good, but when you're just watching in syndication it all gets mixed in. I'm starting to make my way through all the Original Series episodes, slowly.
I have also seen every movie. For the original cast, the stereotype is mostly right, that the even numbered ones are the better ones. TNG only had one good movie (First Contact).
I have seen most of TOS series - every one that is on syndication and marathons I've seen multiple times.
Not very good? That first season was absolute dreck.
It's pretty rough.
In news that will shock nobody, never seen it.
enjoyed most all of it. each series seems to take about 15 to 25 episodes to find their groove, however.
I’ve watched various episodes of the original series, a couple of the early films, and the more recent ones with Chris Pine. Basically the dumb fun ones?
I wish they hadn't been so blatant on the KAAAHHHNNNNN call backs, but otherwise very fun.
Chris Pine the Cal alum!
i have a friend who calls the new stuff "sexy Star Trek"
What? TOS had so many attractive guest stars in outrageously sexy costumes plus Uhura on the bridge. Orion slave girls ring any bells?
Same with me. I like the current movie series better than the rest.
i am a big fan. needless to say, Khan is one of the best movie villains ever.
TNG first came out where we were in high school. we were in AP English Lit and were about to watch some Hamlet movie for a few days. our teacher, asked who in the class watched Star Trek. my hand shot up, but then i quickly realized i was the only one in class.
she went on to tell us that Patrick Stewart was previously a Shakespearean actor and he would be starring (as Claudius() in the version of Hamlet that we were about to watch.
Hamlet is better in the original Klingon.
Patrick Stewart is currently reading one sonnet a day on his Instagram feed. he is up to #63 today
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAecWMkhmS7/
I am in no way a Trekkie, but I grew up during the release-era of the Shatner/Nimoy movies. For the longest time, Wrath of Khan held the title of “most stomach turning” scene IMO (poor Chekhov & Paul Winfield...)! Recently, however, the torch was passed, as a scene from The Bone Tomahawk (starring Kurt Russell) rocketed quickly to the top of the ‘most disturbing’ list. I only know of two other people that have even seen this horror/western, but it’s definitely cringe-worthy....
Any other horrific scenes from film jump out to anyone?
Ruin a band name by changing one letter
The Beetles
Queef
Clush
Deep Nurple
To summarize my efforts from Twitter:
The Dours
The Jim
Super Curry Animals
Minor Thread
Bo Piddley
Roundgarden
Revolting Cucks
Prance
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
per capita
morbid/obese
confabulate
hydroxychloroquine
inadequate
I think Merriam-Webster is try to tell me something
What the, and I can’t emphasize this enough, actual fuck
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1263863958009569284?s=21
https://twitter.com/jeffmason1/status/1263862843985756160?s=21
Can't say I will miss Rolling Thunder and all the motorcycle noise in my neighborhood this year.
I should add I’ve disliked Rolling Thunder as a general matter for years. Having them in town was an irritant but part of the living in the DC area is having lots of our fellow citizens arrive all at once.
There is some irony in the fact that the first time that stops for years, there’s nothing much to enjoy in place of thousands of old people on loud motorcycles
I was expecting one of the motorcycles to have a confederate flag.
Don’t wonder, just click through and be amazed
I can't even listen, I don't need my blood pressure any higher.
There’s been a kerfuffle because Biden said that if you’re African American and vote for Trump you “ain’t black.” So of course Trumpistas are calling Biden a racist, leading McCain’s campaign manager to tweet:
https://twitter.com/jwgop/status/1263862679413895169?s=21
good heavens.
PRO
CAL
UC System drops SAT/ACT requirement
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/05/21/university-of-california-system-will-drop-sat-act-requirement-for-admission/#d2a22a11928e
So high school students in the future need to do well for all 4 (or just the first 3.5) yeas rather than have mediocre grades but significantly boost their college chances with a great result in some standardized test (due to a few months of test prep)? That's how Zack Morris got into Yale on Saved by the Bell (of course, due to the college year show, he ended up going to "UCAL").
Okay, my more serious take is how soon will there be a new SAT/ACT to take over this void?
I'm good at standardized testing (well, I used to be; it's not something I've done in awhile) and benefitted from this system, but I understand that the system (and College Board) is problematic and this may be a good idea.
This may be whataboutism, and I do realize there are many problems to tackle, but the personal statement can also be problematic. You have people who need to spill their personal trauma to get a spot in a school. You have people whose families can afford/access exciting extracurriculars.
So yeah...answering "who is a good student?" "who would be a good fit at our school?" "who would enhance our school?" is difficult, and there doesn't seem to be a perfect set of metrics.
"there doesn't seem to be a perfect set of metrics"
Desean Jackson ran a 4.29, TBB.
I guess this is good. But how to reconcile GPA's amongst applicants who went to high schools of vastly different quality/resources? I only had a 3.8 GPA in high school but did very well on the SAT, which got me accepted into a number of excellent schools. Chose Cal though. Perhaps I'm an old (over 40) curmudgeon.
I get that they're trying to eliminate cultural bias in the testing and I'm for that.
However, I am concerned about over compensation for it.
I got admitted to Cal at the time of affirmative action. There were students who were admitted from some school districts that prepared their students less. Despite their enthusiasm, they got destroyed at Cal. These were valedictorians and were unaccustomed to coming in close to last on harder tests - which meant an F in forced curve classes.
I saw dreams of being doctors downgraded to easier majors. Easier majors were downgraded to trying not to flunk out. And some flunked out. And Cal did not have a robust support system for those who struggled. It is a shame to see people without a degree, but burdened with student loans and damaged confidence.
But this can happen independent of affirmative action or standardized testing. This happened to me when I got to Berkeley.
What you are describing are several additional problems that had/have to be addressed.
The challenge with affirmative action is that being disadvantaged often contributes or outright causes diminished capability, but it doesn't change the fact that the person has diminished capability. So just admitting/hiring/etc them doesn't do any good; in fact it compounds the problem. Something still has to be done to address the deficiency, and has and is sometimes not done adequately or at all.
You also note the use of forced curve grading, which is sheer lunacy. There is nothing wrong with everyone passing, even with a good grade if that's an accurate representation of the students ability (and probably how good a job the instruction did). Either you demonstrated competency, or you didn't. Whether others did or didn't is not relevant to your competency.
And "destroying" any student is unacceptable. There is a reason for placement tools (which can include some of the traditional tests, as well as relative performance to other class members), to better determine the what the current/next needs of the student are, and steer them and/or the curriculum accordingly. The elite or out mentality doesn't serve the overall community, indeed it leaves behind the very people who most need education.
It takes time to overcome any institutionalized cultural problem, and more to deal with one heaped onto another, etc. Fortunately, some steps to address these issues are occurring, but it tends to be very slow going.
Fox Sports: Pac-12 logos in rival colors. Which one hurts the most?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYj3qxXVAAA_cfM?format=jpg&name=large
Generically I like BYU's color scheme better than Utah's (blue > red), but the Utah logo just doesn't pop in blue and white.
The Arizona one is weird because it reduced three colors to two.
The Oregon State beaver looks good in green & gold. Kinda like the back side of the state flag. Besides Cal's, the one that hurts the most is SC. Nobody looks good in baby blue.
They didn't do Cal right, it should be white with a red outline - green is not a stanfurd color.
That's my initial thought on this as well. Also, nothing looks good with the red/green mashup.
That's the problem with having only one color, other than white. Stanford has incorporated green, mostly as trim, in some cases since the inception of the tree, largely for this reason.
Which Furd teams use green? Seems like black is more the extra color for them these days.
Furdies like green because money be green
Furd's looks like a Hat or shirt Twist has.