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GTA V - I had originally thought about starting a new game of Cyberpunk, since they had patched it recently. But then I started thinking about games that have done a better job of fully realizing a city, and realized I never finished GTA V. So now I'm rolling around Los Santos.

I like to think he was promoted to a forum with more than a dozen members.

It is good to see Eagly getting more work, but after Peacemaker and this, I am worried he is being typecast as a superhero flick animal actor.

Mortal Kombat 2021 was actually pretty fun, so there is another one in the win column. It had the campiness of the original with updated visuals.

I kind of feel like the video game movie curse has faded a bit. We've had a number of solid movies based around games in recent years. Sonic, Pikachu and Wreck-it Ralph (albeit a fictional game) were all charming. Plus The Witcher is an excellent adaptation.

There is a playable game being tested and worked on, so it isnt exactly vaporware. Whether they will ever deliver on the expectations is another thing entirely.

Hah, good catch!

Here is a local source on Bruce's dumb story: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/What-conservatives-are-getting-wrong-about-the-16924985.php

It does seem like the lack of biome diversity will be an issue. I've read pretty much every Robert Howard story, so bringing his vision of the world to life was a big deal for me. I'm not nearly as well versed in Dune and all the houses, so I have no clue what it might look like. It just doesn't seem like there is enough info to even make a judgement at this point.

It cracks me up that people still worry about poor folks taking advantage of welfare, the dole, or whatever you want to call it, when the wealth disparity is insane. The middle class isn't struggling because someone is getting too many food stamps.

It doesn't seem like there is much info on it, but considering Conan Exiles is the greatest game I have ever played, I'm willing to give Funcom some benefit of the doubt.

Picked up Far Cry 5 and I'm enjoying it. It is an interesting documentary on life in Montana.

PE is a requirement in every school in the US, so I'm not sure why you think obese people can't perform physical exercises. But as a Social Science teacher, I'm more likely to assign research projects based on the problem that the student is having in my class. Of course, this only works if I have parents that are willing to support that type of discipline. Corporal punishment is whack, yo. I'm surprised I even need to say that. I'm not in the habit of completely destroying student's trust in me as an educator.

This is an interesting argument, much like learning the stove is hot by getting burned. But in terms of discipline, couldn't you get the same pain inducement by making a student run a lap or do push-ups?

I've enjoyed a fair amount of the Amazon content. The Boys and Goliath are two of the better series in my watch list. I enjoyed Carnival Row. They saved The Expanse. Jack Ryan had a decent first season. The Man in High Castle had some good moments. Honestly I'd say it is a pretty good deal considering I also get free shipping out of it.

I'm hoping this is not the death of public education in certain states: https://www.yahoo.com/news/culture-wars-envelop-schools-north-140100682.html

None of this is wrong, and yet it is also why I enjoyed it. It reminds me of the string of fun USA comedy/drama shows we were getting awhile back like Burn Notice, Psych, and Monk. Everything ties up neatly with a bow at the end of it all and there are some good laughs. The books are campy and I'd say the new show is as well.

Are schools going to start suing parents for being stupid? Probably not, I don't think there are enough lawyers to handle such a case load. Here is a real newspaper story, if you are interested: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/15/false-gop-claim-that-doj-is-spying-parents-school-board-meetings/

The school board denies it and there is no statements from adminstrators, teachers, students, etc. It is bad journalism.

The facts do not check out.

Hah, Reacher is the hobo version of Jack Ryan. Tom Clancy and Lee Child are definitely different types of writers.

Ok, finished Reacher. The books are pretty silly pulp fiction, and I think the Amazon Prime show captured that aspect. It veered away from the book in the 2nd half quite a bit, but the Reacher character was still spot on. The show also makes him seem like he is on the spectrum, which makes sense. It wasn't like the book really said he was, but thinking back, it fits the character. Actually it kind of veered away from that in the last episode and I thought it was a misstep. But still a very fun series.

I don't really understand the tone of that article. I don't know any history teachers that teach about historical figures as some sort angelic icons. They are interesting because they kept fantastic notes and maps on their epic journey, and that makes it easy for us to study and look back on. Their character isn't the reason we study them. I mean, it makes for a good critical thinking question to compare their character to others of their time. But, just like Columbus, the idea that we 'cancel' bad characters in history is silly. History is simple cause and effect. Morality arguments are a different subject.

I am binge watching Reacher with my wife. It is pretty great. It fits the books much better than the Tom Cruise movies. I enjoyed the movies as well, but this new guy has the physicality aspect. They follow the first book closely.

Public school teacher salaries are a matter of public record, so they are pretty easy to pull up. I attached a salary schedule for San Jose Unified. It looks pretty good when you get to year 30, I suppose, but the starting salary of 60k is not going to get you very far in the Bay Area. When I started close to 20 years ago, I believe it was around 45k. I decided to look up the Chicago teacher's salary, and they've got some pretty decent increases in there, so maybe that is why @Gfted1 is so salty towards fatcat teachers. It was like a 10-page spreadsheet though, but the 30-year teachers were making a pretty penny. @BruceVC Yes, my wife and I applied for our home together. Individually we were not going to qualify for a $350,000 loan on a $45k teacher's salary. I'm not sure we really should have even qualified when we combined, but we were young and dumb and did what everyone told us to do, which was to get in on property. Honestly it sounds pretty old fashioned to assume just the husband is signing on the loan and providing pay stubs, financials, etc. The majority of people in the US are dual income households. 2021.08.01 Teacher Salary Schedule.pdf