Hurlshort

Ok, I bought a Toyota Mirai. First new car I have ever owned and it is fancy. There was a ton of incentives to make it affordable, but I still walked out twice, so I think I got them down to a decent price. Actually the haggling is mostly over how much my trade-in is worth.

I'm going to challenge this a bit because I think too many people get hung up on dates when it comes to history. But honestly that is super low on the list of what is needed to understand historical events. What really needs to be focused on is the order of the events and the cause and effect. Sorry, it's just I'm constantly drilling into my students how unimportant it is that they managed to rote memorize a bunch of dates. It means nothing if you don't understand how we got there and what the impact was. So yeah, it's your engineering education.

I am thinking about buying a hydrogen car. The Toyota Mirai looks sweet and has a ton of promotions around it. I have fueling stations somewhat close to me, amd a bunch near my work, so it might be a good deal. It shouldn't explode like the Hindenberg.

Specific dates from history are less important than the intent behind the observation. It's not like Jesus was born on December 25th. I think it is great for people to understand that it was a long process to end slavery with many important steps, and there is still progress to be made. Juneteenth is a good time to acknowledge that.

Hmm, I guess I should be more specific. When I say young people, I mean ages 10-20. Honestly 20-30 year old people should have a clue. That isn't very young.

This is not new. Young people have always had a naivete about what is right and wrong. Distrust of authority and government and thinking critically about society come with age.

Yep, I moved the mattress out into the living room where we have a decent AC unit. We are camping out until it cools down tomorrow.

Pain is just weakness leaving the bidy, boys.

I like this, but glasses are much different than taking medication. I'd be concerned about taking a pill to improve my eyesight for the rest of my life because there is a good chance there could be side effects. Glasses are a simple fix for a disability. They aren't necessarily prefect and they don't really fix the problem. But I do believe we need to focus on more simple fixes in mental health. Do you exercise every day? Do you practice good nutrition? I'm not saying these should be used instead of medication, but they should be the first steps. I've had a lot of students over the years with different levels of ADHD. Some relied on medication. It worked. They'd sit at the front of the class and get their work done quietly. But it also seemed to stifle them. I had one student who dramatically changed his diet. He would also constantly need to move around. I set him up in the back of the class with some standing desks and basically gave him free reign to roam. He still did great at the work and he was able to avoid meds. I still get updates from his family, since I taught a number of their kids, and he has thrived as he has gotten older. This is only one specific scenario, I can't say it is the right solution for every kid. But I think we need to be open to finding the best natural options for every kid before we commit to meds.

Hah, that was what I was thinking. She attended one college and is assuming that they are run exactly the same. It's kind of a big country. Your mileage may vary dramatically. Heck, UC Berkeley is a state school and it is still going to be dramatically different than UCLA.

On the same topic: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-14/california-defies-doom-with-no-1-u-s-economy I know a number of people who moved out of the Bay Area in the last year. As much as I daydream about the idea, the reality is the grass is rarely greener. A bunch of them ended up in Texas right before the Snowpocalypse. It was easy for them to leave because the housing market is on fire. They were able to sell properties and pocket a ton of equity. Which says two things: 1. There is still a tremendous amount of people who want to live and buy houses in the Bay Area. 2. It will be very difficult to move back if they decided to change their minds.

The Bethesda space game trailer told me very little. I will probably still get it, as they've really only had one clunker recently, and hopefully this is nothing like Fallout 76.

It has a fair amount of gaps. The lumber is nothing fancy and created a lot of natural space, since it didn't fit perfectly.

I finished building a deck in the backyard. I spent a couple months trying to harvest pallets for wood, but I finally broke down and bought a couple hundred dollars worth of 8-foot pieces. I blew the budget a bit, but still ended up keeping the project around $350.

Given the month, I think we can all guess what the revelation is in He-Man.

I need 36 8-foot boards to complete my deck. I have been trying to break apart pallets for the wood, and I've completed the foundation and the walkway part, but the large area needs larger pieces and I think I need to bite the bullet and buy them. Also, it is my first day of summer break, so I want to get this project done so I can enjoy the backyard.

Since we are slightly on the subject, this guy got his job back by court order: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/national-international/byron-tanner-cross-reinstated-transgender-pronouns-virginia/2564721/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_BAYBrand&fbclid=IwAR1MDF4wmvUgheZC2o3OywZ0G6AC4AJ0TY3NqICB4F4CHJBMe2K-SgvGOlM You know, I've had about 2 transgender students in 20 years of teaching. It's not a very common situation, and in elementary it would be even more rare. So this guy was basically protesting over something he will almost never actually encounter. Also, I tend to call my students what they want. I've got a ton of kids with hard to pronounce names, and they prefer to be called something else. It would be a **** move to keep butchering their names. So this guy is just a **** using religion as his excuse.

Speaking of Xcom, I've been playing the spiritual successor to the original, or whatever it is we call Phoenix Point. This is my second play through, and they've added a lot to it since I played a little over a year ago. The air combat aspect is new and pretty decent. I don't really like the minigame attached, but the large thing flying in the sky and the need to outfit and manage fighter craft is fun. I've just started building my 3rd squad to help me cover the map and the encroaching mist. It is also much easier recruiting from outposts than the traditional way. They are more expensive, but they come fully kitted out. I think I'll try to side with Synedrion eventually, but unfortunately the cult is the one bugging me for help the most. Also, the newest DLC was free for me on Epic, but my Steam version wanted me to pay for it. I ended up with both since I kickstarted it.

We had an Obsidian Blood Bowl league going for a bit. I think I got destroyed by a couple people here. I never got too into it. I don't think you need to like football, per se, but it plays very much like a tabletop game.

Looks like you've got a new rodent control expert, nice.

That certainly is homophobic. Objecting to someone else's marriage based on religion is bad. You don't have to marry a man, but you don't need to tell two adults what their marriage needs to look like. If someone objects to a bi-racial marriage, would you consider that racist?

Dude, what? That is super hyperbole. What company or person has been taken down because they don't wave the rainbow flag? Chick-fil-a and Hobby Lobby seem to be doing fine despite donating large sums of money to anti-lgbtq legislation. Those are companies with CEO's actively voicing opinions, so I don't know where you get the idea that anyone is getting castigated for not taking a stance. We literally just transitioned from a president who was elected on a very conservative platform. He certainly wasn't waving a rainbow flag. He still managed 75 million votes in the loss. Gay marriage has only been legal for 6 years. We are very much in the thick of things when it comes to the civil rights of the LGBTQ community. My daughter is gay. I don't want her to have to deal with discrimination. I want her to be able to get married and have the same rights as I did. But I know she will still face challenges, and even though it may be totally silly that a missile company is flying a flag that makes her feel accepted in this society, it still makes me feel a bit better about her future.

You really only need to look at the comments of these 'virtue signals' to see why they are important. There is a ton of people that get riled up when a company puts up a rainbow flag. Some of them are just ignorant, some are bigoted. The LGBTQ community is not treated well in our society. When people stop being offended by the symbol, it will no longer be necessary. But yeah, it is funny to see this particular company take part. Looks like bigots will need to shop elsewhere for their missiles!

Bill Maher is not a liberal. He is also not a conservative.

That whole Bill Maher piece on China being better than the US is alright for a comedy bit, but he basically brushes over all the problems in China and then only looks at the silly parts of the US. Going after the University system in particular is ridiculous, since you still have a huge number of Chinese students leaving their country to study abroad. That huge middle class that is growing in China is also super interested in products designed by American companies. I'd say that is a huge difference between the Cold War and the current power dynamic between the US and China. Our economies are completely tied together at this point. We have benefited from their rise. The US government also may be a total mess, but I certainly wouldn't trade it for the one in China. So yeah, Maher had some laughs but it is easy to poke holes in.