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Samson's Wig

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Posts posted by Samson's Wig

  1. 3 minutes ago, smoky said:

    I think Denmark and Finland (?) opened up schools, but only for elementary kids

    Middle and highschool kids stayed home, which makes sense for two reasons. Those kids can conceivably do distance learning well and they spread the virus.

    I just don't get the sense that we're looking at all options, including those that other countries have tried and I supposed have been successful at.

    I think Israel opened up schools and failed, so let's not do what they did.

    I agree.  All options should be explored and there are valuable lessons to be learned from those who have already gone through this.  I'm not aware of any nation opening schools with numbers like we're dealing with in Texas, but would love to be pointed in that direction if it has happened.   From the top down, we've been handed a decree based on politics alone.  Land of the free indeed. 

  2. Glad to see some folks like the RR superintendent have the balls to stand up for what's right rather than pander to political decision making.  I don't have much faith that Cruz will do the same in Austin, as he's already out the door and likely doesn't want to rock any boats that might impact his future plans at UT and beyond.  Will be interesting to see.

    I think just about everyone agrees that traditional face to face instruction is the best way to educate kids.  Anyone who thinks that is what's going to happen in schools forced to have kids on campus in August is living in la-la land.  It will be a shit-show of epic proportions resulting in kids getting very little of the value we hope out of it.  Consistency is key with kids.  The current plan will see kids bouncing back and forth between remote and on campus learning for at least the first semester.  That's just nuts.   Remote learning sucks, it sucks bad, and I was very much in the camp of getting them all back to school this fall a month or so ago.  Now that we're in a huge upswing of the spread of this virus, sending kids into a situation that endangers everyone involved, but perhaps more importantly can't possibly be a stable situation, is nothing short of politically driven madness. 

    The results of this gamble may well be the implosion of public schools in Texas.  Parents who can do so will be disenrolling their kids in droves to home-school them, or if they're well enough off send them to private school with less political influence, and public schools will suffer.  Even a 5-10% disenrollment would cripple most districts.  And then the kids that some of you profess to care about (those with no options) will be left with an even more disastrous education system.  The rest of us will be left with an even more poorly educated populace to contend with in the future.

    I agree that there are no good solutions to this mess.  My post from upthread was merely bemoaning the fact that politics has any place at all in what should be a reasoned decision making process starting first with a priority on the safety of all involved.  Instead, the November election has taken priority as the number one driving force for this decision - and that means everybody loses no matter what.

    • Like 2
  3. On 7/8/2020 at 9:52 PM, atomheartbevo said:

     

    On 7/8/2020 at 9:50 PM, atomheartbevo said:

    The guy currently running for a State Board of Education seat?  Who made it into a runoff in the Republican primary that's currently going on?

    I'm actually surprised he hasn't endorsed the subject of this thread.  Maybe he did, but twitter banned him, so who knows.

     

    Holy shit.  Republican voters on this board, please for fucks sake, do your duty here.  He has no shot of actually winning District 5 in the general, does he?

  4. It's amazing that STRs have managed to survive being legislated away.   They drive residents nuts, typically enrich someone who lives nowhere near (i.e. the money flows out of the area), and many of them manage to dodge local taxes.   The worst part is foreign investors laundering their ill gotten cash (ahemshanghaistockmarketahem) into real property in another nation where they may never step foot.  We're selling out our major cities' real estate for monopoly money.  It's insane, and will have long term negative consequences.

    As for this particular case, have you considered just buying the property yourself so you have more control over the behavior of the short term renters?   Presuming that clamping down on noise/partying will eventually make this a less attractive STR, you can always sell it and include a deed restriction preventing this from happening again.  Or just burn the fucker down.

     

  5. 2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Also raises the question, how did you capture them and what did you put them in in order to relocate?

    I have to confess that I would probably be a bit reluctant to grab a good-sized, pissed off copperhead.  They quick.

    We get so many snakes up here that most of us have snake handling tools (the ones with the grabber arm on a four foot pole).  I'm not as tough as Swayze and wouldn't reach down and grab them with my hands.    We had a "death bucket" that we put them all in, just a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a lid.  They all calmed down quickly after going in.  I didn't go on the journey for the release (it wasn't really at River Place in case anyone took that seriously earlier).  Lots of undeveloped land in this are so I assume somewhere in the woods out there.

    • Like 1
  6. 9 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:


    Awesome that y’all did catch and release. Especially after a bite. So it is appropriate you said “men”.

    I imagine the coral snakes are eating lizards and frogs.

    That makes sense.  We have a ton of lizards up here.    

    We have one guy on the block that will kill any venomous snake he sees, but as the rest of us don't agree with that approach he stayed inside while we dealt with it.   For those who live up in the River Place area outside of Austin, don't worry we dumped the entire bucket of death right next to your 'hood.

    • Like 2
  7. 5 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Must be a good-sized yard.  Kudos on the catch and release.

    I was of the impression that a coral snake had trouble injecting venom on a human bite, where they tend to get knocked off pretty quick.  Also understand that it doesn't take much.

    That was in a combined 7 yards along that side of the block.   We went ahead and searched them all.  Probably missed a few, but they all back up to large forested area.

    I think, based on the amount of antivenin and how long he was in ICU, that it must have been a relatively small dose of venom.  His mom showed my a pic of the marks on his leg and the venom made it about halfway up his thigh from his foot, so that caused a lot of concern.  In the end they didn't have to cut him open to drain anything so it could have been much worse.  He's also a teenager, so his insistence that it was a coral snake could be wrong (hell anyone at any age might see ghosts in that scenario I suppose) and it could have been a copperhead.  There were plenty of both around, and we did nab one rather large and uncharacteristically aggressive copperhead.

  8. 13 hours ago, 3shot said:

    Do you know how the kid is doing?  

    He's recovering well, thank goodness.  Was only in ICU for a couple of days, back home now.  Won't be walking anywhere anytime soon, but he's still got his leg. 

    The following morning we gathered the men on the block and had a snake hunt (all catch and release) in their yard and the yards along their side of the street which back up to a large green belt.  We rounded up 8 copperheads, 5 corals, 0 rattlers.  A couple of big ass rat snakes watched our work from the trees, laughing to themselves I'm sure. 

    I wish there was a way to get rid of cicadas, which would send the copperheads elsewhere most likely.  I don't know what the corals are feeding on.  The ratters are after birds eggs and I guess squirrels.  Happy to have them around, especially if they eliminate the squirrels.  

    • Like 3
  9. They really need to do a new survey, as the last one went out when things were still looking fairly rosy.  Since that last survey, everything has gone to shit again.  There's no way they get the same response if they do it again now.  I believe in AISD it was roughly 50/50 on stay home and go to school (although their survey included "Go to school but with conditions" as a yes).  I'll bet the would only get around 25% responding that they want their kids in school if they polled again now.   And that would go a long way towards planning.  I believe they are planning to survey again a couple of weeks before school starts, which makes sense, but given how much has changed on the ground since the original survey it makes sense to retake the pulse of parents again now, in my opinion. 

    The state, and those unnamed federal forces influencing their decision making, can eat a bag of dicks.  Morath, et al, have shown that money and politics are at the forefront of their decision making rather than what's best for the kids, teachers, and parents.  Holding districts to arbitrary online attendance standards by way of holding funding hostage should be criminal in a crisis like this.  And the STAAR test insistence is nothing more than ensuring the money keeps flowing to ETS so that bureaucrats and politicians get their cut.   The whole thing is disgusting, and if a sizable amount of teachers quit before school starts (or even at winter break), you could see Texas public education crumble from being one of the worst in the country to being the absolute worst really quickly and for a long time.  Inexperienced emergency certified teachers trying to make things work in this environment would be a disaster, especially if it's in large numbers.  If those in charge disagree with the pressure being put on them from above (I doubt this and think they're happily in lockstep), then then they need to stand up for what's right and publicly disagree.  The long term consequences of missteps here are huge.  

    • Like 7
  10. 1 minute ago, Lobo said:

    Not moving, an 11-week extended vacation.  Big difference.  I can visit any place with a monarchy, or commonwealth-adjacent relationship...I could just never LIVE there.  As in residence.  Not that difficult a concept to grasp.  I stayed in Spain for about 75 days once, but would never live there as a resident.  

    Fair enough. 

  11. 1 hour ago, Lobo said:

    There are still several dozen active monarchies in the world, which just blows my fucking mind.  I don't think I could ever live in any of them, even though several of them are places where I'd be able to speak either Spanish or English.  But I can't live in a place, that even in a celebratory fashion, looks up to people simply because they were born.  That'd be hard to do.  

    Ideologically though, there are other places that fit more of a libertarian bent-New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, et. al.  But very expensive to live.  

    But I guess now that we're going through this thread, I'm just wholly opposed to living somewhere that still pays credence, however symbolic, to people who were born in a particular place and time.  It annoys the living shit out of me when somebody introduces themselves at a meeting, "Uh, Bob Smith here.  7th generation Texan."  Super job Bob, let me know precisely what you did to earn that title.  Gaped your mom's vagina?  Well, alright...you wanna be Vice Chair?

    Didn't you post upthread that you're considering a move to Canada?  lol

  12. Those of you thinking Zoom is the answer must have older kids or the rare kid who just takes to it.  For most elementary aged kids, 180 minutes per day (TEA's requirement for attendance) on a Zoom call will never fucking happen.  It's a complete shit show for the most part, regardless of duration, with kids barely paying attention, some kids causing perpetual distractions, and the teachers just kind of holding on and hoping for the best.  There is no way to functionally convey a lesson to 20+ young kids on a zoom call.  I can see where it might work for middle and high school.  

    Expecting elementary kids to sit in front of that crap for 3+ hours a day is not going to work.  And what are the schools going to do if they're not present for those three hours?  Send truancy officers to your house?  My daughter with visual disabilities and dyslexia can barely handle a half hour on zoom before she loses her shit.   I won't force her to do so.  My son is clever (too clever for his own good) enough to recognize it for the waste of time it is, so he won't be on zoom calls for three hours a day unless my wife or I are sitting right there making him do it.  I don't want to force him to waste his time on something that he derives zero benefit from either.   It's an insane way to approach this for younger kids. 

     

    • Like 6
  13. 1 hour ago, Fuck Tim Beck said:

    Imagine the worst case scenario for public education in Texas for the upcoming year, then double it. 

    And it still will be worse than that with morath. I say this only because I noticed a Baylor diploma on his wall during an interview yesterday 

    Oh shit.

  14. 10 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

    We're leaning toward 100% virtual with supplementary home schooling.  At least for the initial 9 week period until the first phase of this little epidemiological experiment plays out. 

    Something interesting i heard wrt home schooling.  In LTISD they have implemented a rule that transfers into the district who were previously home schooled or in private school are ONLY eligible for the 100% face to face option, and are not eligible for virtual education.  Basically they are trying to prevent an influx of people taking advantage of the virtual option to supplement their prior decision to home school, or pulling back from private school and bouncing off the virtual public system until this is clear. I get the reasoning, and don't necessarily disagree with the restriction.  Probably sucks for a few parents who were going to make that move regardless of COVID, but it is what it is. 

    Good info, thanks.    If we pull the trigger to disenroll and homeschool it would be for the entirety of their third grade year.  I don't think it would be a good idea to bounce back and forth, mostly because there would be no way to ensure you're not doubling up on some curriculum while missing out on other curriculum.  If we had to decide today it would be the exact same plan you've got, distance learning through AISD for the first 9 weeks, then reassess. 

    If the district is truly going to become more hardass about online attendance and assignments, I don't see my kids having much gas left in the tank for additional schooling (not to mention I will have to miss work as it is to monitor their attendance and assignments).  So the larger concern is that they waste another nine weeks of school.  Then you factor in that this may be a yo-yo situation all school year as viral waves come and go, and kids/staff test positive forcing quarantines, etc., and homeschooling all year starts to look more attractive.  I do want them in public school when it's working.

    • Like 1
  15. 9 hours ago, CDAK said:

    No one is dead and the guy is getting life for crimes committed when 16 years old. That's crazy and depressing. Give him 10 years, shit even 20 years. He doesn't need to die in prison.

    He won't, if he survives prison anyway.  He'll be paroled if he's acts right.

    Still an insanely tough sentence for a 16 year old who didn't physically harm anyone.

  16. The closer we get to the start of school, the closer we're moving to pulling our kids out of AISD and just homeschooling for this year.  If we're going to have to teach them at home, it may as well be in a way that they actually get something out it.  180 minutes of zoom calls a day for third graders is the biggest fucking joke of an idea I've ever heard.  Has anyone at TEA met and/or taught kids before?  That combined with Morath the moron insisting that STAAR testing will happen (because, you know, money) - sticking with AISD for the year is starting to look like nothing but a completely wasted year of learning.

    I know we're not alone in this sentiment, and I do worry about the financial impact to AISD should even 5-10% of students disenroll.  But at this stage all I'm seeing is complete failure to lead from the state and the school district.  No functional plan is in place, and it sounds more and more like a typical day of distance learning is going to look exactly like it did in the spring.  And my kids, at least, got absolutely nothing out of that shit show. 

    • Like 2
  17. Kid (around 14) on the block was bitten on the foot by a coral snake last night.  Ambulance hauled him off around 9:30.  Was given antivenin and last word from his mom he's on his way to ICU for intubation and ventilator. Tons of kiddos on this block.  Also tons of copperheads and corals.  Scary shit.

  18. 22 hours ago, HoffaJimmy said:

     

    The middle hasn't gone anywhere and in fact is probably much bigger than it has ever been before. We just don't see or hear from "the middle" because they don't post 1M times a day on social media, aren't outraged by every fucking thing,  and the biggest reason- they don't drive clicks, views, and ratings like the fringe on either side. 

    Oh, and the "middle" are more worried about their family and dealing with everyday shit then they are about some Karen getting pissed she has to wear a mask at HEB, or someone that got their feelings hurt by someone that used the wrong fucking pronoun.

     

    Completely agree.  Unfortunately, the middle also doesn't vote that often and when they do (national elections) they're given two options presented by political parties dominated by the most tribal, i.e. idiotic, among eligible voters.  So "the middle" (which encompasses many different sets of values) is rendered completely pointless when facing a two party system with more and more divergent viewpoints between the parties.  This kind of worked for much of the 20th century when there wasn't really too much significant difference between Republicans and Democrats, but it sure doesn't work anymore.  And the squishy middle no longer has any power and rather than do something about it, is just sitting back watching the crazies on both sides burn this fucker down.

    • Like 2
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