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Mole

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Everything posted by Mole

  1. Of all the threads on the many versions of this site, I can’t think of any that better live up to their title.
  2. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/17/us/lets-go-brandon-brundidge-nascar-book-good-news-cec/index.html
  3. Our kid is young, so that’s a few years off. Our educational backgrounds are varied enough that we have pretty good coverage. The options may be wildly different if/when that time comes, but right now the plan is to put him in college courses once he’s ready. The data for homeschooling is shaky, but there does seem to be a math gap — their reading/verbal scores are well above their peers but their math scores are average or even slightly behind their regularly-schooled peers. It’s something to keep an eye on, but not really a concern at his current level.
  4. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn't as well clothed…
  5. We homeschool our kid because: 1. The homeschooled kids I teach in college are far better prepared due to attitudes about learning/education and skills in self-teaching. This is even when their content knowledge is inferior coming in. The homeschoolers that I see in college engage with the material in ways that public school students don’t and simply learn better. 2. I don’t trust my community to take my child’s education seriously. That’s kind of the crux of this thread. I get the desire to stand and fight, but I’m not willing to make my child fight that fight. 3. Teachers are awesome, but the system teaches things that are contrary to a healthy approach to education. Some of these problems would take a radical reordering of our society and values to fix. 4. We both love hanging out with our kid and learning together. It’s really fun and rewarding. 5. The earth is actually a concave bowl and we intend to teach our child the truth. Regarding the data concerning homeschoolers, it’s seems like homeschooling correctly done can do at least as well or better than public schooling, but there’s a likely big sample bias in the test scores. I suspect that homeschoolers taking college entrance exams are self-selecting for higher achievement vs. public schoolers.
  6. Walker is the choice for conservative Christians, not that pastor guy. I’ve been in plenty of services where I’ve heard stories like that gun story. In evangelical-speak, it’s their “testimony.” There are two broad categories that they fall into: 1. A rock bottom and shameful moment that ultimately leads to a transformed life. In these stories, the teller doesn’t revel in their badness and they aren’t the hero of the story but rather the villain getting rescued. These people often will persist in their transformed life and remain productive members of society. 2. A pretext and justification for whatever the teller believes in the moment. In these stories, the teller often exaggerates their crimes, emphasizes team alignment, and is on some level, the hero of the story. These people often persist in their old life, now with a Jesusy window dressing, and spread their craziness through their communities. These people often have very exciting “testimonies.”
  7. I don’t know man, I just think space is super gay.
  8. I had no idea there were so many passionate women’s basketball fans on this board. This is awesome; I never missed a Lady Longhorns game while on campus. Is there a WNBA thread somewhere on secret squirrel? I can’t seem to find an active one on the basketball board.
  9. I finally read the op-ed: 1. It’s generally not all that well written. Nothing is outright bad or poorly written; it’s just not compelling or engaging at all, a little like Mitt. 2. His description of MAGA is absolutely correct. Maybe this will bring out one more centrist voter to vote against MAGA. 3. He’s trying to find a middle way, but ends up coming across as mealy-mouthed. Even if you grant his premises about immigration and inflation, the central thesis — MAGA’s imminent danger — is lost in the noise. 4. I’m not sure who his audience is — “sane” republicans and centrist democrats? Perhaps facile analysis and writing like a doped up 4th grade social studies teacher is the best way to extinguish the MAGA flame. Who knows? 5. I half expected him to announce his candidacy for president at the end, but maybe he should understands that he’s too old. Is this a move to get behind Liz?
  10. My wife and I homeschool our kid. Our curriculum is reading the state and national standards, a high tolerance for library fines, and buying occasional books and supplies that genuinely seem helpful. The idea of farming out the education of your child to some company that makes sloppy workbooks seems to defeat the point of homeschooling. Homeschooling families love to talk about their curriculum. One family we know shared their curriculum with us one night, and it made me sick to my stomach. The thought of my kid being “educated” with that trash is too much. I saw a science workbook that was entirely Bible verses (beautiful and challenging verses on important questions, but not science). I saw a math workbook that was pure trash. It was heartbreaking. Their kids are wonderful though, so maybe they don’t really use that garbage very much. We chose to homeschool due to philosophical and institutional reasons (I disagree with some details, but largely agree with the gist of Gatto’s assessment of the hidden curriculum of public schools) and a distrust that our community will treat our child’s education with the seriousness it deserves. The idea of subjecting my kid to the culture war garbage or active shooter drills instead of a real education seems insane. If our state suddenly decided to give us some cash for homeschooling, we’d probably spend it on banned books and tacos for our beleaguered public school teacher friends. I’d rather that money just go to the schools though.
  11. Modalism: “And some of these assent to the heresy of the Noetians, and affirm that the Father himself is the Son, and that this (one) came under generation, and suffering, and death.”
  12. Bumping this to recommend Gombrich, A Little History of the World. The book is a broad overview of world history written for children. It’s been my kid’s bedtime reading/story time — one chapter a night. The writing is accessible for young kids but engaging for me and everyone learns something.
  13. I spent years volunteering with an addiction recovery ministry. The hurt back/prescribed pain meds/shopping doctors/lost family/life out of control progression was very common. You start out following doctor’s orders and the next thing you know, you’ve lost everything. Sometimes, the only difference between me and a junkie is circumstances.
  14. Setting aside any concerns for the homeless and only thinking about the librarians, which scenario is a worse day for a beleaguered librarian: 1. a homeless person OD’d and died in the romance section and interrupted the childrens craft day. 2. a homeless person OD’d and was saved by a heroic librarian during the now interrupted reptile demonstration. Given a choice between someone dying at my work or me saving them, I’m anti body bag.
  15. Not if we drop another 6 runs before the next storm comes through and ends the night.
  16. I didn’t watch last night because it was father-son time and I don’t want to subject him to that kind of conservative degeneracy yet. How much footage of Trump speaking is there? I’ve actively avoided hearing that demonically possessed evangelical whisperer since that day and life is better for it. Maybe vid-angel has a trump filter.
  17. January 6th was a dark and sobering day. No sane person saw those events and reveled in the ability to dunk on a political opponent. If a conservative politician were to be killed — even one of the most odious ones — that would be a dark day, not one for dunking on political opponents. Rising violence is bad and made worse by easy access to guns; the nihilism that permeates the OP poses a different sort of risk, but it’s still bad. If your news sources are turning your brain to mush so that every event becomes another chance to dunk on the other side, fix your news sources and fix your brain.
  18. The only reason I clicked on the thread was to find out if Boosie is a now ex-father or ex-grandfather. I’m not clicking a TMZ link out of Kardashian phobia, so I guess it will remain a mystery.
  19. Charlie Brown satirized the boomer mentality when Sally said: All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share. Boomers grew up telling themselves tall tales about how special their generation was and they never stopped telling themselves this. They never grew up. Now faced with death and the smallness of their self-proclaimed special generation, there is a real conflict with the narcissism that is inherent to their identity. And now they rage. Some of what we see in Texas and around the country looks like this rage. Our representatives are terrible because we’re terrible and value being terrible.
  20. Not surprising to me. Them Duke boys weren’t allowed to possess guns, but they always seemed to have plenty of arrows and dynamite at the ready.
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