Hurlshort

Risen is an amazing RPG, if you haven't played it, get it. You should all buy Rift now, and join in on the thread we already have here.

Charter schools really only work on a small scale though. A charter school functions much like a private school, you end up with a community of motivated parents because they have to go the extra mile to get their child in that school. I consider them better than private, actually, because the teachers still have to be credentialed, continue their education, and follow curriculum guidelines. Really, each school district can only support a few charter schools, because it would lose the motivated community if every kid could get in one. Teachers that work at Charter schools do so expecting a strong parent community and well-disciplined students. If that is not guaranteed, they have no reason to give up their union rights. Unions protect teachers from bad parents and administrators. Unfortunately it protects bad teachers as well.

I'll never understand how people without children are late anywhere. You live a life of leisure!

No... Don't waste your money on that. Especially when Two Worlds 2 was 70% off just a couple days agao. I hate you. I was getting ready to settle in to Drakensang and now you guys are encouraging me to settle into Two Worlds 2. You may not be doing it intentionally, but it's happening! If it makes you feel any better, I am totally lost on what to do after the starter island in Two Worlds 2. I keep running into stuff way above me in level.

Oh man, I want that!

That's a good point. There are plenty of other avenues as well, test scores really don't improve me as a teacher. Professional development with my peers, new classroom strategies, and interesting new technology are what keep me from becoming stuck in a rut.

Been splitting time between Rift and Just Cause 2. I'm an artifact king in Rift, I've been selling my duplicates for a decent bit of coin.

No... Don't waste your money on that. Especially when Two Worlds 2 was 70% off just a couple days agao.

What is this pressure you refer to? Accountability? Doing ones job? The program sprung into place do to unacceptably high percentages of US children doing poorly. What entity is directly responsible for educating our children? Teachers. So if the teachers are asleep at the wheel dont you feel they should be held accountable in some way? Shouldnt there be some metric for grading individual teachers capabilities in how they perform their jobs? It just grades schools, it doesn't actually show which teachers aren't teaching to the test well enough. As for accountability, that is BS. I've told you that I teach in a high performing school. Our test scores are always at the top. Does that make me a better teacher than my wife, who teaches at a school in downtown that gets significantly worse test scores? Not at all! I'm pretty sure she works harder than me. As I said, my kids are already motivated, they show up on day 1 ready to learn. The parents and the entire community push for education, and the students respond to it. I can just focus on teaching. My wife deals with all sorts of crap on a daily basis. Gang problems, pregnancies, kids on drugs. Does that make her a bad teacher? Standardized testing does nothing to account for all this. If I was greedy and wanted a bigger payday, I would be pushing merit pay and standardized testing accountability. It would be great for me. But it's a stupid system that doesn't work in the least. I believe in teacher accountability, but our current system is nowhere near the answer.

Bleh Krookie, I remember the days of cheap beer from college. I would always tart with a couple shots so I could handle the pisswater like Keystone and Milwaukee's Best. I like a good wheat based beer, particularly in the summer. I'm actually planning a trip to Bend, Oregon this summer, and there is a microbrewery tour I plan on doing. They have like 7 breweries in a small area so you can stumble around to them all.

If they want to learn, sure. My wife teaches PE, and she can't even get a good chunk of the kids to dress out or walk a mile in 20 minutes. It's all based on communities and how they prioritize education.

Standardized testing is a waste of time and money. We have a bunch of politicians who have no experience or understanding of education pushing the weakest type of assessment as the ultimate indicator of student learning. I'm lucky I teach in a district where the parents do all the pushing for studying on standardized testing. That way I can focus on real things like critical thinking skills and writing a frickin' thesis sentence.

Does anyone in this forum doesn't have a mail order bride? I was planning to go the old fashioned way and meet someone but I don't want to stand out so count me too Edit:Wals did you receive yours yet? we all pinched in together and got you one. We were a little short, so we chose ground for shipping and handling. So if you get any large packages, open them quickly!

Don't Forget Project Zomboid! I think it would fit in adventure. http://projectzomboid.com/blog/

It's a fact! Check the box office numbers! This whole courtroom is out of order!

It's a holiday weekend, so I wouldn't expect anything until Tuesday.

I am a fan of Heatley, he played hard the two seasons he was in San Jose, and I realize he was injured during the playoffs. But the one thing the Sharks lack now that they shored up the defense is speed, and Havlat gives them that. They have a fair amount of shooters to fill in for Heatley. Plus, it frees up 2.5 million in cap space, which lets them pick up some decent 3rd and 4th line guys.

FACT: Independence Day was more successful than Star Wars and it also was more recent. It's indisputable.

Once the tree branch has grown over the power line, they just leave it like that. They will cut back the bulk of branch to keep the weight off and avoid problems with heavy winds, but those lines can support the weight of that wood chunk for a long time. There really isn't any safe way to remove it.

I picked up Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword for a few bucks.

America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, so it might be more of an Italian thing. Naming a land after a person isn't the same thing as naming a guy his own nationality. That's why I hate people named Chad! When asked about his name, he says his mom was a hippy, which I can relate to. I have a sister named Sunshine

America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, so it might be more of an Italian thing.

The Sharks traded Heatley to the Wild for Havlat. It's a pretty shocking trade, I didn't think anyone would take Heatley considering his contract. After the shock wore off, I'd say it is a good trade for both sides. The Wild get a guy who can still score a lot of goals, paired with Koivu and Setoguchi they've got a very dangerous top line, which is not something they've always had in the past. San Jose frees up a bit of cap room, adds a guy with good speed, and Havlat has done well in the playoffs. I don't expect him to threaten for 40 goals like I would from Heatley, but the Sharks lacked speed up front, particularly when they traded Setoguchi. It's going to be an interesting season, to say the least. Last year I had trouble getting into the games, but now I've got some fresh faces to follow.

GD, you should get a PS3 and buy MLB 11 The Show. I think you might love it. I know it's a bit pricey to buy a whole system for one game, but the series has proven well worth it for me.

That would make a lot of sense. RTS games have the same issue, they just don't seem to do well on the console, even when they are implemented decently. Halo Wars was reviewed well, based on a blockbuster IP, and it still only managed a million sales. aRPG's seem like they would be easier to make work on the console, but there isn't much history of success there. The big dog Blizzard is strictly PC. The only games I can think of that have done decently in this generation are those Xmen games.