Hurlshort

I watched that Dresden interview, and I had no idea that Spike wasn't British. Wow.

Outer Worlds struck me as a game that I will probably go back to waaay down the line. I need enough time to really forget the storylines. It was a fairly linear game. I think a lot of that comes down to the scope of it, as it was a pretty small universe. The DLC will help whenever I do go back, but I'd rather have them all be done, so another reason to wait. But I also don't think every game needs to be constantly replayable. I think a lot of games sacrifice narrative strength to cater to replayability.

Grounded is basically a sequel to Alpha Protocol. You are clearly in Heck's backyard.

Picked up Stoneshard for sale, which is a good Halloween type game for the weekend. I only died once during the tutorial, so that felt good. It's a turn based RPG that is a little bit of Battle Brothers with a bad save system, but well worth the $15.

We have to claify it here because none of the politicians seems capable of it. Seriously, our banter on this forum is absolutely tame compared to the massive overstatements that our politicians are prone to today.

All of that sounds very vague and hyperbolic. I watched the 60 Minutes segment today and learned that both Trump and Biden are unlikeable and creepy. Pence came across alright and Harris just seemed happy to be there. https://www.yahoo.com/news/bar-rescue-host-jon-taffer-223220477.html This is probably the closest thing I've seen to a rationale endorsement of the Trump administration. You've got a hospitality expert focused solely on policy in respect to his industry. I'd love to see more of that instead of all this stupid hyperbole and bluster. None of these people are great saviors or flesh golems. They're just politicians with agendas. My interests are better represented by Biden at this point. Betsy Davos is a poor representative for public education and I can hold Trump responsible for that. End of story, that is my main interest.

Ah yes, I do tend to cook all my salmon on the grill, usually with a good brown sugar and mustard marinade. We get about 5 pounds of salmon a month from a local processing facility. Basically they cut off the ends and send the big pretty part to Costco. We get the ends for a great price from an employee. This stuff is so much fresher than what you get in the stores. My son survives off mahi mahi patties from Trader Joes, so that tends to be what ends up in the all-clad. Shrimp is the other staple, and I can see where shrimp would be pretty awesome on a skillet. I've only done the cedar plank once and it was a weird experience. I ended up with a pretty charred piece of wood.

I use my All-Clad for fish.

This seems kind of like a flimsy way of explaining our existence. Dust may do all sorts of crazy things in an explosion, but it doesn't really change the nature of the dust.

I also thought season 2 of Umbrella Academy was a big step up in terms of fun. They embraced the dysfunctional family aspect and it was less drama-y. Plus the alt history stuff was great.

I harvested about a pound of hops this year from my hop vines, but I have no way to dry them, and all the brewing equipment is in storage, so they will simply be decorative for the time being. Still, it was nice to see them getting more productive. Next year maybe I will have a plan in place to use them.

Decided to give Start Trek Online another whirl. This time I'm playing the Enterprise timeline, because I've been watching that show recently. It seems like a good place to start since it is a bit simpler in terms of story, and my memory of Next Generation is super fuzzy.

Students are tested on Social Science in 8th grade, and the test breakdown was pretty much 4 questions on 6th grade content, 3 questions on 7th, and 4 questions on 8th grade content. It has actually shifted quite a bit in the last few years and is no longer the silly multiple guess format. I also teach in an area with a lot of parent involvement and it is predominately Asian, so I am spoiled by not having to really worry about the test scores. I have taught in lower socio-economic schools and it matches that clip from The Wire to a tee.

Yep, that's basically it. We have certain educational standards we have to cover. We have a textbook that covers those standards. How we teach it is going to vary greatly, and is why we all go to school for 5+ years, student teach, take credentialing tests, attend professional development, etc. New teachers lean heavily on the textbook. You have to figure a new teacher relies on it for about 80% of the year's content and instruction. As you get further along in teaching, it becomes easier to streamline the boring textbook content and introduce more varied sources and lessons to students. I'd say I was down to about 30% with the previous textbooks while still covering the standards. We just adopted new books, and I have less teaching time in digital learning, so I'm probably back up to about 60% on the textbook this year. I am sure some states, districts, and administrations are way more heavy handed in forcing lessons on teachers. I know it is a lot more stifling to do math and ELA in my district. But Social Science is a pretty magical subject. 😉

I am the expert, asshat.

I'm mostly trying to figure out how to cover that story without sounding like a preacher, but also in a timely manner. Trying to find good material for it is a huge minefield. Are you trying to make my job more difficult?

Right now I'm trying to put together a lesson plan on journalism, censorship, satire, social media, and education. It started out as a lesson about the 1st Amendment and section 230. But then the Charlie Hebdo situation escalated. I'd love to chunk it up, but I only see these kids twice a week right now and the way the news is moving, I'll have some other massive stories to cover next week. Oh and of course I need to cover the curriculum as well.

I've never actually stood in a line to vote. I imagine it depends on what time you show up, but most of the polling stations around me move pretty smoothly. Granted I don't live in a dense urban center. I'm usually in and out in about 10 minutes.

Is avoiding jury duty the main reason you do not vote?

Every jurisdiction can be different, but not voting does not excuse you from jury duty. You would also probably need to forgo a driver’s license or ID card, filing tax returns, seeking unemployment, owning real estate, participating in the census, or getting your name on any of a number of government databases. So good luck.

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that we have a couple folks here who don't vote, given that 40% of the country does not. It just seems strange that they would deign to spend hours here bantering back and forth over politics but not take 5-10 minutes to be involved in the decisions that are being made. I get not caring about all the federal election stuff, but the local measures have a real and significant impact on your lives.

I wouldnt compare it to Rust, but it isnt a typical Obsidian RPG. I think Subnautica in your backyard is a good comparison. The writing is top-notch, world building is fun, and in that respect it fits the Obsidian mold.

Uh, it is an homage to an old pace picante sauce commercial.

Yeah, that always cracks me up. I am sure someone on his team is to blame for plagiarism, but this guy has a team of people preparing all of this for him. Of course, this is the same reason the Alleppo incident was overblown for Gary Johnson. Gary Johnson was the governor of New Mexico. The only reason he would be well-versed on the situation in Syria is if he had a team telling him about it. Which he should have, given his bid for President. It is a failure of him not having a good enough team. Trump stays out of this plagiarism stuff because he doesn't seem capable to stick to a script. Yay. Of course, people also drank bleach when he went off script back in March so...

TB mode made the gameplay way more engaging for me. I had finished PoE1, but kept stalling out on the starter island in PoE2 until TB mode was introduced.