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fuggled

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Everything posted by fuggled

  1. Am I reading this proclamation correctly? Abbott isn't saying that state law prohibits multiple drop boxes and he's not saying there is a risk of election security. He is only citing his authority under the COVID-19 disaster declaration to suspend the election code in order to ensure safety during the disaster. The stated rationale is that he's banning the drop boxes to protect public health? What a load of shit.
  2. Thanks for the suggestions. On the river road trip, is that drive equally scenic in both directions? On the day we're travelling from Alpine to Terlingua, I'm thinking we could take the day and go Alpine->Marfa->Presidio->Terlingua.
  3. Good call out, thanks. I saw that the stores are open and assumed that meant the visitor centers. I see that now. And I don't know how I missed the Boquillas crossing, dang.
  4. Well, our family has decided to take advantage of the pandemic and relocate to Big Bend for a couple weeks while we're working/learning remotely. The plan is to spend about a week in Alpine and then another week in Terlingua around Halloween. We already have places lined up to stay. Looking for some advice on things to do with a 6 year old and a 9 year old. Balmorhea State Park is closed and the McDonald Observatory is all booked up, so those are off the list We'll probably make trips to Ft. Davis, Monahans and Big Bend State Park During the week the kids will have Zoom calls 8-10 AM and 1-3 PM; Trying to find stuff we can schedule around that or find stuff that's worth ditching a few calls for; I'll probably try to plan something where we do Zoom in the morning, head into BBNP and have lunch, take a break at a visitor center for more Zoom and then chill the rest of the afternoon. What else is worth checking out in the area besides the National Park? Anyone ever been to the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute? In the park it looks like the hot springs are closed, so that's off also. We're planning to visit Boquillas and thinking about doing a rafting trip. I need to figure out how well those are setup for young-ish kids. Any suggestions are appreciated!
  5. Yeah, I know. Without getting into specifics, this isn't our first rodeo with this particular teacher and there are several capabilities lacking. I'm not taking a shot at all teachers. But in this instance, I'd like my odds in a first grade cage match.
  6. Here in Richardson kids optionally went back to in-person classes 2 weeks ago (my kids are still virtual). As of this week, our school has had to quarantine one kindergarten class and one first grade class. This is at a small school where there are only 3 classes per grade. They haven't given much detail on why or what the protocol is for those classes to return. On a positive note, I've discovered that I actually like teaching my first grader (when I have time) and I'm 100% confident that I'm doing a better job than his teacher would.
  7. You're a "cusper" like me, also 1981. There was no major event between Gen X and Millennials like there was for other generations (Vietnam, 9/11), so there are a blurry few years between the generations. I remember watching the whole first season of the Real World, didn't have internet until junior high and didn't have a phone until after college. I also thought of myself as more Gen X, but it's not black and white. If you can remember the Challenger disaster, you're definitely Gen X. If you can't remember time before internet, you're definitely Millenial. We're in between.
  8. Just started virtual school in Richardson this morning. Made it ten minutes before a first grader asked to use the bathroom.
  9. You didn't link the story, but it's pretty clear the modelers think the model could be wrong. https://www.kxan.com/news/coronavirus/ut-model-predicts-sharp-climb-in-texas-covid-19-deaths-by-end-of-august/
  10. It's pretty clear from the story that the modelers suspect the model is wrong.
  11. How much of this determination will be dictated by the driver's intent vs the perception of the crowd? Even if the driver had no ill intent and had made the turn without realizing how close the crowd was, it would be easy to understand how pedestrians might feel threatened. Vehicles seem much bigger, faster and more dangerous when you're standing in the road.
  12. Dude, that kid was 21 years old. Your anecdotes don't mean shit unless you find a 20 year old.
  13. Yeah, we're looking at that as an option for our 1st grader. Also, just heard a rumor from a principal up here that Richardson is planning to announce that the first 3 weeks of school will be 100% online.
  14. One other thing I didn't mention before, but I'm really not stressing too much about my 1st grader from a purely educational perspective. I think a lot of people worry about kids getting a solid head start on learning when they're 4 or 5 years old, but I don't think it matters that much in the long run. If you're reading to your kid, talking to them and helping them explore the world around them, they'll be ok. A number of countries (Sweden, Singapore, Finland) don't even have compulsory education until kids are 7, and they do just fine. Obviously the calculus is different for parents who can't afford to to spend that time with their 4/5/6 year olds, so I don't want to paint with too broad a brush. Point is, it's easy to worry as a parent, but the chances of screwing up your kid's education in the first year or two of school seem pretty low.
  15. Believe me, I've been checking and can't find any local textile factories that will hire my kids.
  16. Ha, yeah, meant to do that...that's what it is. This is why I obviously can't rely on myself to figure this out.
  17. Maybe this belongs in with the AISD thread, if so, feel free to merge. But I wanted to keep this less focused on what policies the districts are about and more focused on what individual options/choice parents are finding. My kids will be going into 1st and 4th grades. Our district (Richardson) is offering the option of in-person or remote. We've already decided we're not sending them in-person this fall, but we haven't figured out what the best at home experience will be. Here's what we're thinking about so far. Supplement the district's remote learning: This could be with online tutors or maybe even an in-person private tutor, but I think that would be harder to source. Initial research online found a couple possibilities. Care.com - They mostly focus on nanny type roles, but you can find tutors. Presumably you could find a remote or in-person tutor. Looks like there are a lot of people in my area. Wyzant.com - Exclusively focused on online tutoring. Seems to be really easy to see tutors and their rates and contact them directly. etutorworld.com - Much cheaper options with pre-paid bundles of lessons ($20 or less per hour). Looks like most of their tutors are in India, which explains the low cost. That could present lots of challenges. It also seems going this route would make it hard to keep one consistent tutor. Switch to an online public school: I didn't realize this was a thing but there are apparently at least 2 online public elementary schools for Texas. Both seem open to all Texas residents. What's not clear to me is how much teaching these schools do, as opposed to just providing content and relying on the parents to really be the teachers. But, even if they require a lot of parent involvement, is that really so different from what will happen with our district anyway? I am wondering if going with one of these would at least offer a) some better content and b) an established process they've used before. Texas Virtual Academy - tvah.k12.com (According to their site, parents need to be involved 70-80% of the school day) Texas Online Preparatory School - tops.k12.com Switch to an online private school: Similar questions to the online public options. How much will they be teaching vs relying on parents. Tuition on these options look to be around $3-5K, so much lower than in person private school (which I don't think would be an option for us). www.k12privateacademy.com www.keystoneschoolonline.com I'd love to hear if anyone has experience with any of these services or if anyone is coming up with other options I haven't thought of.
  18. I'm in Richardson and the superintendent shared the results of surveys they did back in June. Basically, 2/3rds of parents want in-person school. Richardson covers a broad range of socio-economic groups and I'm sure the percentage of lower income or single parents families in the district is much higher than places like Frisco, McKinney, etc. I have to think that lack of childcare options is driving a lot of this. The district will be offering the option of in-person or remote learning. For our part, our 2 elementary ages kids will stay remote and/or home school for the fall. Even if they open schools, it seems inevitable that they will have to close them again at some point. I can't even imagine how they're going to deal with this when cold & flu season rolls around and half of the kids are sneezing, coughing, etc. I'd rather just plan for remote learning from the jump as opposed to getting forced into it in November.
  19. Not a ton in the comments so far, but did see one reaction from a student group that is encouraging.
  20. For those who may not have seen the email from Hartzell today: https://president.utexas.edu/messages-speeches-2020/a-more-diverse-and-welcoming-campus?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=UTAustinSocial I wish he would have offered some more specifics on this. How exactly are they planning to do this? Who from the student body have they engaged with and are they supportive of this path forward? I agree with Hartzell's sentiment and I hope this if the right approach, but it's hard to tell without more detail.
  21. No, the cheese is there because my roll was a bit stale so I zapped it for 15 seconds and figured I might as well throw shredded cheese on while I did that.
  22. Fried bologna on a roll with Boscoli olive salad and Sriracha mayo (and cheese underneath)
  23. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/10/889848834/nations-pediatricians-walk-back-support-for-in-person-school?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=nprblogscoronavirusliveupdates
  24. Just curious, how did the tracing work? Did you get a call from a hospital? From the county? And was it because a confirmed patient had provided your name and info? Or was it some less direct method of identifying you. e.g. "You shopped at this store where a confirmed case was identified."
  25. There's a lot to unpack in here, so apologies for what might be a lengthy post. I do appreciate the passion you bring to your position but I don't get the sense you're making a good faith effort to listen to what others are saying. First, yes, I am generalizing the issue. I'm doing so because that's the best way to achieve effective long-term change. You are falling into the trap of taking this specific issue and trying to remove it from any broader context. You see it as a problem that can be solved, fixed and removed. But it's not. It's one of many competing concerns and priorities that need to be considered and balanced. If you're not already familiar, I'd suggest taking a look at the Cynefin framework (https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making) which describes different domains of problems and offers guidance on how to respond. In Cynefin, Complicated problems are those that have one or more correct solutions that can be proven to be true, but which require a high degree of expertise to diagnose and fix. Think of a fine Swiss watch. It takes tremendous expertise to figure out a repair, but we can tell if it's fixed or not. Complex problems, on the other hand, don't have a correct solution and can't be controlled/fixed the way a Complicated problem can be. Think of a garden. Nobody fixes a garden. You tend your garden, balancing it's needs in perpetuity and trying to grow it towards your purpose/goal. There's no right answer, so you experiment, look for patterns and continuously evolve what works. You, BT, have fallen into the trap of approaching this issue as a Complicated problem. You believe you have the expertise to prescribe a solution which everyone else is too ignorant or racist to see. By removing this issue from the Complex context in which it exists, you are ignoring the decisions, values and structures that brought us to this situation. Only by considering these can anyone hope to achieve systemic change. Yes, it takes more time to reflect on the broader context and history. It can be difficult to sustain a dialog that considers competing views. It is much easier to look for tactical, moment-in-time "solutions", but as you said: To offer another angle, within systems thinking there is a distinction between Helping and Meddling. Here's an illustration: https://thesystemsthinker.com/leading-ethically-through-foresight/ In this (clearly simplified) experiment, trying to compensate for every miss results in getting farther and farther away from the target. The same occurs in human systems, where repeatedly shifting our aim leads to more problems. Instead, we should stop focusing on individual actions and instead look at the broader system. What goals are we trying to achieve? Why are these our goals, what are the value underlying them? How do we measure success or failure? Who is involved in pursuing these goals and why? Shifting gears, you've used a interesting choice of words (more than once) when describing "singing The Eyes at players." Why "at"? I don't know that I've ever heard someone use the phrase "sing at." I've sung to someone. I've sung with someone. I've performed a song for someone. But I don't think I could say I've ever sung "at" someone. I don't know if this phrasing comes from the athletes or if it's your creation. Personally, I've always thought of singing The Eyes as if I'm singing with my classmates, family, friends and community. We stay to the end of the game to "sing with the team." Or even singing/performing for the team to show gratitude and respect. If you're starting from the point of reference that The Eyes is something inflicted upon players, I think you should examine what led you to that framing of the situation. It seems counter to how the world generally views singing and it's very likely your own biases have crafted a non-standard interpretation. Regarding governance, you may not realize that you're talking about a model of governance, but that doesn't change the fact that you are . Governance is how a group reaches a decision. It's the roles, rules and practices we put in place to help ourselves make good decisions. Lack of formalized roles and practices is still a governance model, it's just one that's based on something else. Popularity? Who screams loudest? First opinion wins? So, we're in a situation where you can't or won't articulate the governance model behind the decision you'd like enforced, but you still believe it's the right decision. You also seem to imply that whatever governance model is underlying the decision may not be relevant, important or repeatable beyond the question of The Eyes. If you've reached a decision via a model that you don't believe is reliable beyond this specific instance, you should really question whether you have any reason to be confident that you've reached a good decision. Lastly, regarding your question, "Would you seriously stand and sing The Eyes at a player you knew thought it was racist?" I'll answer by saying that I'm not so arrogant to presume I can predict how the best solution will present itself. So I won't comment on the outcome, and instead focus on the approach. Before making any decision for myself (or for others), I would start by seeking to understand, ideally by talking directly with that player. Why does that player think it's racist? What intent, if any, does he assume when I sing the song? Is he open to hearing what the song means to me? What does he want from a school song? What's his goal in protesting the song (is it just the song, or is there a broader objective)? What other ways can I be an ally? I know you think that because I'm a) white and b) not an athlete that this isn't my issue and I'm just inserting my "personal feelings" where they don't belong. But, this is how adults solve problems. We seek to understand. We listen with empathy and compassion. We approach problems with good intentions and hope others will do the same. We challenge our underlying assumptions and ask difficult questions or ourselves and others. I may be naive, but I truly believe when people come together in this spirit of growth and partnership, we can overcome seemingly insurmountable differences. #intellectualcoward
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