2020/10/19 - The Perfect And More Importantly Cheap Plan

[D-Rock]

[2020/10/19 - The Perfect And More Importantly Cheap Plan]
Title Text: The Perfect And More Importantly Cheap Plan

Proper budgeting is really important, you know. Sometimes you have to know where to cut costs.

[Gbr23]

Ah yeah Keene, that plan is known in the industry as a “Ratatouille”

[dr_eirik]

I love the expressions in panel 3. Keene with the big idea, Marion deeply suspicious. Its just perfect.

Marion should just do the community College route and hope its all worked out in the next couple years.

[GameCobra]

Interesting. Keene is running out of bribe money. This is one of the first big steps into showing the Miltons are in serious trouble. LEt's see where this goes.

[CuriousCnidarian]

Keene running out of money? Perhaps Steward's plan is working better than he thinks.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Plotting with the boss of bosses;
Marion finds him cutting losses;
going for plans that are extreme;
when the answer fit’s the theme..
In Britain we have an Open way
that takes any one, any way;
a ‘University on air’.
What race you are? They just don’t care.
“I think this way is just no good,”
says the Squirrel in the hood.
Is Steward’s plan starting to work?
Are funds low because of that jerk?

(Seriously. We call it 'The Open University' )

[Obbl]

I love that Marion is just slightly shorter than Keene, so they can actually interact as if they're normal-sized (Specist? Moi? =P )

[Dragon Furry]

Keene running out of money? Perhaps Steward's plan is working better than he thinks.

I don't think the ferrets will go bankrupt the next long time. I remember it was stated that a lot of their money was tied in firms and investment. I think that is more the cash founds for bribing that is running low. That he is not allowed to use more.

[NHWestoN]

So ... Brunson IS coming back! I knew the lad had a future in higher education, just didn't suspect it would be in squirrel smuggling. Secret Squirrel rides again! (In a backpack....)

[SeanWolf]

Keene running out of money? Perhaps Steward's plan is working better than he thinks.

I don't think the ferrets will go bankrupt the next long time. I remember it was stated that a lot of their money was tied in firms and investment. I think that is more the cash founds for bribing that is running low. That he is not allowed to use more.

Sounds logical, though it does make me wonder just how much money he did use just for bribing.

[Amazee Dayzee]

So should we all be worried that the Miltons are running out of money now? I knew it would happen sooner or later especially because in the early years they all threw their money around and used it on stupid things just to show that they did have money.

[Argent]

Interesting. Keene is running out of bribe money.

Lana's in charge. Bribe money is now a line item on the budget and if he goes over budget he gets a talking-to.

Oh Keene, you doofus. If you're going to be making grants to colleges for new buildings why don't make make accepting animals a condition of the grant?

[VeryAngryDeer]

Like I said last time, build your own university, with blackjack and...

... well, perhaps not that far.

Point is, rather than giving out single-use bribes that can be reneged on, why not do some i n v e s t m e n t and get something that could both last a while, and potentially generate profit in the future?

[NHWestoN]

Or ... maybe ... Marion needs to find a college willing to accept his lack of academic qualifications.

Lana, adult guidance please.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Or ... maybe ... Marion needs to find a college willing to accept his lack of academic qualifications.

Lana, adult guidance please.

He wouldn't be applying without the qualifications.

Like I say, the Open Uni (Or U.S. equivalent) may take them on.

[GameCobra]

Interesting. Keene is running out of bribe money.

Lana's in charge. Bribe money is now a line item on the budget and if he goes over budget he gets a talking-to.

You could be right, but something tells me Lana and the others would only stop the bribing. Just how much of their budget went towards bribing?

[NHWestoN]

Or ... maybe ... Marion needs to find a college willing to accept his lack of academic qualifications.

Lana, adult guidance please.

He wouldn't be applying without the qualifications.

Like I say, the Open Uni (Or U.S. equivalent) may take them on.

What's "Open Uni", Welsh? That's a new one to me. Now you've piqued my curiosity.

U.S. Colleges and Universities turn down lots of applicants, partly because of hyper-competitiveness at some schools, partly because of problems with some qualifications (ex. grades weren't high enough), or partly because the admission process of each school is opaque and contradictory. That said, One should always "shoot for the moon" (aim high) with a couple of applications, "shoot for your shoes" (aim not-so-high), and somewhere in between. We have so many schools-of-higher-learning, that pretty nearly anybody can get admitted somewhere. Once in the door, you can transfer.

The real trick, the challenge, is once you get in, can you manage to meet all the learning and life challenges to stay in.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Or ... maybe ... Marion needs to find a college willing to accept his lack of academic qualifications.

Lana, adult guidance please.

He wouldn't be applying without the qualifications.

Like I say, the Open Uni (Or U.S. equivalent) may take them on.

What's "Open Uni", Welsh? That's a new one to me. Now you've piqued my curiosity.

U.S. Colleges and Universities turn down lots of applicants, partly because of hyper-competitiveness at some schools, partly because of problems with some qualifications (ex. grades weren't high enough), or partly because the admission process of each school is opaque and contradictory. That said, One should always "shoot for the moon" (aim high) with a couple of applications, "shoot for your shoes" (aim not-so-high), and somewhere in between. We have so many schools-of-higher-learning, that pretty nearly anybody can get admitted somewhere. Once in the door, you can transfer.

The real trick, the challenge, is once you get in, can you manage to meet all the learning and life challenges to stay in.

This is the Open University. It's accredited by the United States education systems and it specialises in distance learning. It used to focus on late night education programs but is now online.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_University

[NHWestoN]

Ah, memory returns. Thanks, Welsh.

[Frank]

Oh Keene, you doofus. If you're going to be making grants to colleges for new buildings why don't make make accepting animals a condition of the grant?

Or, you know, say "this money is to build the little squirrel doors" instead if "this is for the 17th Henry Milton Memorial building"

[Cesco]

Marion still had to give that bad news to Keene. Oh, so you buy (and corrupt) also universities, Keene... Uhm, that sounds an ambitious plan, but Marion's wouldn't last long: sooner or later, he would be discovered inside one of those backpacks. Keene is running out of money? It was about time!

[Ash Greytree]

I'm very interested in seeing what happens here. As mentioned in the first page of this arc, in just a few days' time, all animals in the River Ridge County who are qualified as Officially Domesticated are going to be equal to citizens. This means that, in all likelihood, Marion could go to a university somewhere in the county, just like Itsuki, who, as a tanuki, under the law of the Japanese government in the HP! universe has equal rights as a Japanese citizen.

I talked to D-Rock about this on the Discord, and he mentioned that this runs into the issue of whether or not River Ridge University has the degree that Marion wants, as mentioned on a prior page. I also pointed out that maybe he wants that degree he needs, but Marion may also want to get that degree from a university with a good name to it.

Either way, I'm rooting for Marion here, but also hoping that he decides to settle for an equivalent degree at RRU so that he stays in the same area as the rest of the cast so that he can be a recurring character alongside Lois.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Ah, memory returns. Thanks, Welsh.

Oh, for...

I just remembered the other reason the OU would be perfect for Babylon Gardens.

It's based in the Bedfordshire town of...

Milton Keynes.

[Ninkurou]

First we need to stop seeing Marion as a squirrel, and see him instead as someone with disability. He is very small, and he has problems with a lot of things: From opening doors, to using his phone, to using the bathroom. Everything is a chore. Even if he walks around, there is the risk of someone stepping on him. Any adaptation necessary for maintaining a squirrel will be very expensive. And if the universities don't adapt they fear that lawsuits can come.

For example, an Ohio University had a lawsuit in 2018 because it did not make the modifications for a blind student.
A university in New Jersey had a lawsuit in 2019 due to not having everything that a blind student need.
Against Atlantic Cape Community College had a lawsuit in 2015 by blind students.
Arizona State University had a lawsuit in 2010 made by blind students.
Dallas-based BarBri had a lawsuit by blind law students in 2016
Jason Camacho is suing 50 different colleges over the accessibility of their websites in 2018.
In 2015, MIT and Harvard University were sued for discrimination by the National Association of the Deaf.
On January 10, 2014, Aleeha Dudley, who is blind, filed a complaint against Miami University.
Lesley University was sued in 2009 for not taking the steps for students with food allergies
Duke University was sued by a blind person in 2020.
And so on...

Theconversation.com made an article in 2018 about how a student with down syndrome"Ann Catherine" had her application turned down in the college because of her disability. According to the site the universities believe that implementing things for persons with mental disability is both too difficult and too hardly, and try to resist the law. (Not all universities)

Now lets go to the fact, that even today the oldest buildings in many universities are not adapted to students with disability. Even less buildings would be adapted to squirrels. Basically Marion is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

With that out of the way, it's also necessary to say that university is not necessary in order to have success. Many universities offer courses that don't actually help the persons get jobs while others offer course for areas that already have a lot of competition... For example, according to whattobecome.com around 53% of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed. Some of the worst graduations are Psychology 49.7% end not working on what they graduated. And criminal justice 73.2% end not working in their graduation.

Heck, Abraham Lincoln, the founder of the bank of america, Benjamin Franklin, the BitTorrent developer, the CEO of coca cola, the founder of Wendys, the founder of JetBlue airlines are among the multiple persons who had a success without having a college decree. The problem of today education system is that school is tailored to make persons into workers, not into employers. Our entire system is designed to make persons obey orders and to simple absorb information like a sponge. Not to create their own business.

Well, that's all that I have to say for now...

[D-Rock]

As soon as animals can be recognized as people, you can get to the demands. Marion and other turned humans just got hit real hard with terrible luck.

[VeryAngryDeer]

It's based in the Bedfordshire town of...

Milton Keynes.

Milton Keynes delenda est

Why are there so many roundabouts? Who designed that city's road plan? Why does every single side street need to connect to the main dual carriageways? I swear, that awful place's existence added like half an hour and at least £10 worth of diesel to one of my van deliveries. And there's no ring-road to let you avoid it!

[Amazee Dayzee]

You just got to love it when streets and highways are made just so complicated for no reason at all and just to annoy people.

[CuriousCnidarian]

It's based in the Bedfordshire town of...

Milton Keynes.

Milton Keynes delenda est

Why are there so many roundabouts? Who designed that city's road plan? Why does every single side street need to connect to the main dual carriageways? I swear, that awful place's existence added like half an hour and at least £10 worth of diesel to one of my van deliveries. And there's no ring-road to let you avoid it!

I can actually answer that! My dad spent several of his younger years in England; the Brits use roundabouts like us Yanks use stop signs. The Mythbusters actually did part of an episode on stop signs vs. roundabouts, and found the roundabouts to be more efficient. From what I could gather from a quick Google-fu, Milton Keynes was founded in 1967, which would explain the prevalence of roundabouts compared to older towns/cities. Blame it on modern urban planning!

[VeryAngryDeer]

It's based in the Bedfordshire town of...

Milton Keynes.

Milton Keynes delenda est

Why are there so many roundabouts? Who designed that city's road plan? Why does every single side street need to connect to the main dual carriageways? I swear, that awful place's existence added like half an hour and at least £10 worth of diesel to one of my van deliveries. And there's no ring-road to let you avoid it!

I can actually answer that! My dad spent several of his younger years in England; the Brits use roundabouts like us Yanks use stop signs. The Mythbusters actually did part of an episode on stop signs vs. roundabouts, and found the roundabouts to be more efficient. From what I could gather from a quick Google-fu, Milton Keynes was founded in 1967, which would explain the prevalence of roundabouts compared to older towns/cities. Blame it on modern urban planning!

Re-reading my comment, it looks like I didn't explain my point very well - it's not the roundabouts themselves that are the problem (traffic-light interchanges would be no better), but the fact that they interrupt the dual carriageway. Most intersections on dual carriageways involve slip-roads leading to a roundabout or intersection either above or below the main road. This allows traffic to continue freely, or leave and change routes.

Milton Keynes decides that it's going to reduce the speed limit to 50mph, force all traffic to slow down and stop, go around a roundabout, then accelerate back up to speed... every half a mile... for seven miles!

[NHWestoN]

Man, this forum is SOOOOOOOOOO educational !!

[VeryAngryDeer]

... this discussion reminded me of an old Channel 4 flash game called SuperCity Planner, where you get £10,000,000 to spend developing a city over 10 years. Found a mirrored version and played it. Seems I've figured out how budgets work. I didn't understand the concept of waiting for revenue to be generated back when the game was first released, so I'd always end up being sacked for going over budget.

[CuriousCnidarian]

Milton Keynes delenda est

Why are there so many roundabouts? Who designed that city's road plan? Why does every single side street need to connect to the main dual carriageways? I swear, that awful place's existence added like half an hour and at least £10 worth of diesel to one of my van deliveries. And there's no ring-road to let you avoid it!

I can actually answer that! My dad spent several of his younger years in England; the Brits use roundabouts like us Yanks use stop signs. The Mythbusters actually did part of an episode on stop signs vs. roundabouts, and found the roundabouts to be more efficient. From what I could gather from a quick Google-fu, Milton Keynes was founded in 1967, which would explain the prevalence of roundabouts compared to older towns/cities. Blame it on modern urban planning!

Re-reading my comment, it looks like I didn't explain my point very well - it's not the roundabouts themselves that are the problem (traffic-light interchanges would be no better), but the fact that they interrupt the dual carriageway. Most intersections on dual carriageways involve slip-roads leading to a roundabout or intersection either above or below the main road. This allows traffic to continue freely, or leave and change routes.

Milton Keynes decides that it's going to reduce the speed limit to 50mph, force all traffic to slow down and stop, go around a roundabout, then accelerate back up to speed... every half a mile... for seven miles!

hmm... well, ya got me there.

[LunarFox]

Marion can't get into school,
But Keene wants to play it cool,
Why else would he give them dough?
(To bribe them, it's not for show.)

But mam, this plan is a little whack-
Marion in a backpack?
Spring a surprise and graduate?
Yeah, that plan's not great...

The ECP's running dry,
Keene's stuck, no plans to try,
Empty are the coffers,
And they can't pay the chauffeurs.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I think that Keene would have a full-scale freakout if he couldn't pay the chauffeurs and weren't able to be driven around Babylon Gardens.