Everything posted by Hurlshort
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Weird - Random - Interesting
It is and it isn't. In the real world, you don't really take quizzes where you are expected to memorize a bunch of facts on literature. Stakes are higher, of course, but the fous in the real world tends to be on how you process and problem solve then how much information you've retained.
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Weird - Random - Interesting
Can you re-take the bar exam as many times as you need to pass?
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Weird - Random - Interesting
Ideally, the doctor doesn't get out of medical school until they demonstrates the ability to perform the surgeey successful. They can probably spend as many years and as much money trying to pass as they want.
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Coronavirus: Triple Edition
Enforcement is always the issue here. You can rely on the majority of people to realize the guy fishing doesn't need a mask out on hos boat on the lake. You can rely on most people wearing the masks in stores. But there are dumbasses on both sides.
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Weird - Random - Interesting
Ideally every student is given enough room to learn at their own pace and no one is getting left behind or waiting on others. As for holding students back, it is a strange consequence of the No Child Left Behind Act that retentions have been cut in half. Technically NCLB was supposed to give measurable data to support retention, but really standardized testing only measures how good a kid is at taking tests and ignores all the social and emotional factors that play into it. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/12/12/370057298/big-drop-in-students-being-held-back-but-why
- Politics - wait for it... wait for it... 2020 isn't over yet
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Remembering games suck
I usually just follow my mood when it comes to games in my backlog. Maybe I'm watching a documentary on the mob and decide I want a mob game, so I look through my library to find one I haven't played. I've also been noticing certain games on the store that look good, and instead of buying it, I'll look for something similar in my library. But like Wormerine, I'm still terrible at it. Lately Steam has added a news page to my library that tells me what games are recently updated, and that has helped me choose a couple games that were sitting in my library unplayed.
- Politics - wait for it... wait for it... 2020 isn't over yet
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Weird - Random - Interesting
The difference in the tweet Raithe posted is if you fail, you go back and redo it until you show you know the material. Which sounds like the right way to do things, but in education teachers are usually trying to push through a ton of content, and so they rush, and they lose focus on getting it right because they are trying to get it all in. Plus some teachers are just unmerciful bastards.
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Coronavirus: Triple Edition
Yep, I'm alright with the entire healthcare industry collapsing, so hopefully we can rebuild it properly. Let the insurance companies burn to the ground. I've got about 16 years before I want to retire, so hopefully it happens before then. Because the number 1 question everyone who wants to retire today has to ask is if they have enough to cover their medical expenses. That is a ridiculous question to have to ask. You have worked your entire life, and rather than enjoy your twilight in this country, we make senior citizens stress about their healthcare.
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Politics - wait for it... wait for it... 2020 isn't over yet
I'm not sure how booze is worse socially. There is an entire culture built around sharing a drink with a friend. It is simple to package liquid in shareable sizes. It is easy to walk up to a bar and order a drink. Bars themselves are typically very social places. a couple drinks almost universally loosens people up and allows them to interact more easily. We've also had a tremendous amount of history behind drinking in most countries that there are very clear social norms behind the use of alcohol. People know how much is a reasonable amount to drink, they know how much a beer, a glass of wine, or a shot is going to affect a person. Of course, knowing a good limit doesn't mean people follow that limit. Alcohol makes people do stupid things, but it typically takes more than a drink or two to get to that point. Weed, on the other hand, doesn't have that history. We might get there through education, but there still seems to be obstacles for weed to be as socially embraced as alcohol. It affects people differently. I know a bunch of people that get sleepy. That doesn't really work from party perspective. It also still seems like smoking it is the most common way to consume it. Smoking has become way less culturally acceptable in the last couple decades, so that seems like a tough obstacle to overcome. Everybody knows how to consume liquids, but not everyone wants to breathe crap into their lungs. Booze can be smelly, but it isn't nearly as overwhelming as clouds of smoke. So edibles would seems to be the best area for growth. Sitting around a pot bar sharing brownies with friends seems like a good social time. But how much is too much? How potent is it? Is it going to affect everyone the same? Again, maybe education will catch up, but right now it seems like it has a long way to go.
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Funny Stuff: The Funny Strikes Back
Skeletons don't eat brains, so are they really a threat? They seem to play the jester role in the undead hierarchy.
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Politics - wait for it... wait for it... 2020 isn't over yet
I should probably note that the first lecture I give in class at the beginning of the year is about trusting sources. Basically I tell them not to trust any source. Do not trust the internet, do not trust the textbook, and do not trust the teacher. Even be wary of the many primary sources that I throw at them over the course of the year. Instead, weigh as much evidence as you can find and think critically about them all. Identify bias and come to your own conclusions. It's not my job to tell you what is right or wrong, it is my job to help you develop the skills to make your own judgements. Of course, after watching that video, I'm re-thinking my Mansa Musa activity I do where the students choose a persona to go on the Hajj and journal about it. I'm not saying I am going to remove the slave option, but maybe have a bigger discussion about what that might mean. edit: Also I couldn't imagine teaching the 'worst day in America is better than the best day in other countries' when a good chunk of my kids are from other countries.
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Politics - wait for it... wait for it... 2020 isn't over yet
Weird, that's already a part of curriculum standards in California. In general, history textbooks and standardized curriculum for children is watered down and whitewashed (trigger word! ) You are talking about the most basic of tools in a teacher's tool chest. We didn't go to college for 4 years, then another year of credentialing, then a year of student teaching, and years of professional development afterwards to mindlessly teach from a textbook. Then again, K-5 education often ignores history as an important subject. I get it, K-5 educators are usually teaching ELA, Math, Science, etc. and it gets shoved to the back. But it's still a shame in my eyes. History and Social Science is one of the best vehicles for pushing and developing critical thinking skills is students.
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Weird - Random - Interesting
Don't be an ageist, those people look great!
- Politics - wait for it... wait for it... 2020 isn't over yet
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What Are You Playing Now: The New Beginning Thread
It is also good to remember that you could kill Gault originally, but people complained about thier actions having consequences, so Bioware took the decisions out of players hands.
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Politics XXXVIII (A Nontotient)
Speaking of the NRA, there was a local case they were fighting in my home town. I guess the city council wanted to make it so you had to report stolen firearms within 48 hours instead of the state's rule of 5 days. The NRA fought it. Which I just don't get. I mean, I'm not entirely sure why our city needs to have a different requirement than the state, but I don't get what the NRA gains from fighting this. In my perfect world, the NRA should be the ones pushing responsible gun ownership. When your guns get stolen, it would seem to be the responsible thing to do to report that immediately. Who is the NRA defending by fighting this? https://morganhilltimes.com/judge-rules-in-favor-of-morgan-hill-gun-law/
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nfl 2020-2021
Those minor league teams know what they are though. You don't really see any of them on TV. They tend to market themselves as a local product. It's a good bang for your buck versus the big leagues. Colleges rely on alumni and the local community as well. There is a whole school pride element, and college football thrives in areas where there is not a pro competitor. XFL doesn't seems to know what it is. They are in markets that already have pro teams. They are playing in stadiums that they can't fill and they want national TV viewers. I just don't see it. But then again, The Rock turns everything he touches into gold (Rampage made $428 million?!?) so who knows?
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What Are You Playing Now: The New Beginning Thread
Well I'm not really defending it, but I left that guy on the ship for the rest of the story and barely noticed him. It was a pretty boring story after that though. It lost any real momentum after the Great Hunt.
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Politics XXXVIII (A Nontotient)
I'm ok with traffic enforcement. I mean that is really the primary job of the highway patrol. I don't know if it is like this everywhere, but city police and sheriffs will rarely pull you over unless it is something blatant where I live. CHP, on the other hand, are looking to give out tickets. But yeah, we should invest in a more robust social worker program.
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What Are You Playing Now: The New Beginning Thread
The trooper story line was a bit of silly fun. My soldier was delightfully arrogant about his special forces squad. That, the bounty hunter, and the Jedi Knight are the ones I played through all the way.
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Politics XXXVIII (A Nontotient)
So a cartoonist was dropped from about 120 newspapers for a BLM comic because it generated a ton of complaints. At first I'm thinking, alright, I get that the comic page is not really the place for major political statements. But then I saw the comic and I was like, that's it? That's all it takes to get a bunch of complaints? So weird. The people complaining about this comic are probably the same complaining about the cancel culture.
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What Are You Playing Now: The New Beginning Thread
Well, you could always pay the $10-15 a month to make that xp bonus permanent.
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What Are You Playing Now: The New Beginning Thread
Yeah, you can be a goody two-shoes sith or a jerkface jedi.