Desipio Message Board

Quote from: CBStew on December 13, 2018, 10:07:27 AM

Quote from: Wheezer on December 13, 2018, 12:00:01 AM

Quote from: Brownie on December 11, 2018, 01:08:59 PM
Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes are readily available at Bess Hardware, and if anyone is eligible to receive a lump of coal, it's our 8-year-old-sleuth.

The name comes from the original product made by Henry Ford, just by the by.

I can picture that miserable old anti-Semite squeezing them out.

Ah, Henry Ford's racism and anti-semitism; the anger that fuelled the invention of the assembly line. And also, country music!

Quote from: Brownie on December 11, 2018, 01:08:59 PM
My 8 year old (pictured below) is gathering information and evidence regarding Santa Claus' existence.



Our elf's hat is no longer attached, so every time I place him, I have to put the hat on his head. A couple of times it fell off, and while my 3 year old daughter is in awe, my son is eyeing it, noting the inside rim of the hat seems to have dried glue on it.

He asked for one gift from Santa this year: a book that isn't set to be released until mid-2019. He has asked for nothing else. Santa is not getting out of this easily. Or so he thinks.

Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes are readily available at Bess Hardware, and if anyone is eligible to receive a lump of coal, it's our 8-year-old-sleuth.

This is awesome.

Quote from: Bort on December 10, 2018, 08:10:35 PM
My kids get their presents from Annual Gift Man. Who lives on the moon

I'd love to overhear that conversation at school.

We generally tell our son that the big ticket items are from us. Some kids just aren't going to get a lot of presents, and it's kind of messed up if one kids gets like a PS4 from Santa while another receives a lego set and some books. I think that can upset a kid.

Quote from: thehawk on December 10, 2018, 11:41:54 AM

Quote from: Canadouche on December 09, 2018, 05:45:50 PM

Quote from: Tonker on December 09, 2018, 02:22:38 PM

Quote from: CBStew on December 09, 2018, 01:29:47 PM

Quote from: Canadouche on December 09, 2018, 08:55:14 AM

Quote from: Wheezer on December 09, 2018, 01:28:12 AM
Well, the graph of the grades hasn't been presented yet.

I teach the 7th and 8th grades (I did mention they ranged from ages 12 to 14).

QuotePhilosophy? Morality? I swear to G-d, I thought I had seen the dumbest fucking comment possible (elsewhere), but now this. "Well done"? The whole point is that it backfired. Twice. And then there's the "Fuck those parents, Kurt. They are doing their daughter no favors. That's genuinely fucking horrible." and "borders on child abuse" crap.

It backfired twice and I'll be doing the same activity next year, if I'm teaching the same grade. (Which I probably will be.) Next week I'm going to be talking about the Decemberists' tune 12-17-12 which is about the Sandy Hook massacre. I'll remind my students that nobody is promised a long life and that we can lose loved ones at any time. In my class is a student whose father was murdered two Augusts ago, and another student whose mother was murdered last May. A third student in my class is losing her mother to breast cancer. I know these kids pretty well, and they know they can take a break/go for a walk if the subject matter hits too close to home, but there's always the risk that the conversation might make someone in the class upset. So, should I not talk about something important because it might "backfire" for one of my students?

In a room of 30 kids, there's always going to be someone who doesn't want to hear it/participate. There's always the risk, as unlikely as it may be, that a 12 year old still believes in Santa. I don't think it's child abuse to perpetuate that, but I don't think the parents are doing their kids any favors by ensuring that they are the very last ones to learn the truth. Kids can be pretty cruel and excluding even without an excuse to do so.

It may not be child abuse to encourage a 12 year old to believe in fairy tales, but these parents don't want their children to become rational adults.  That is bad parenting.  A parent's function is to help the child to become a self sustaining adult.

Our ten-year-old still fervently believes in Father Christmas.  I guess this is the last year, but if it's not, then I'm certainly not going to spoil it for her next year, or indeed the year after.  She's well on the way to becoming a self-sustaining adult regardless of whether she continues to believe in fairy tales for an arbitrary number of days more.

That said, should somebody choose to disabuse her tomorrow, then at this point I'm certainly not going to get bent out of shape about it.  We had a good run.

Pretty sure I believed until I was around 10. I might have even made it to 11, for what it's worth.

Wait a minute, are you guys saying that Santa isn't real?

Bro, Santa crashed his sleigh into a tree in 1983 and he fuckin' died, bro.

Quote from: Tonker on December 09, 2018, 02:22:38 PM

Quote from: CBStew on December 09, 2018, 01:29:47 PM

Quote from: Canadouche on December 09, 2018, 08:55:14 AM

Quote from: Wheezer on December 09, 2018, 01:28:12 AM
Well, the graph of the grades hasn't been presented yet.

I teach the 7th and 8th grades (I did mention they ranged from ages 12 to 14).

QuotePhilosophy? Morality? I swear to G-d, I thought I had seen the dumbest fucking comment possible (elsewhere), but now this. "Well done"? The whole point is that it backfired. Twice. And then there's the "Fuck those parents, Kurt. They are doing their daughter no favors. That's genuinely fucking horrible." and "borders on child abuse" crap.

It backfired twice and I'll be doing the same activity next year, if I'm teaching the same grade. (Which I probably will be.) Next week I'm going to be talking about the Decemberists' tune 12-17-12 which is about the Sandy Hook massacre. I'll remind my students that nobody is promised a long life and that we can lose loved ones at any time. In my class is a student whose father was murdered two Augusts ago, and another student whose mother was murdered last May. A third student in my class is losing her mother to breast cancer. I know these kids pretty well, and they know they can take a break/go for a walk if the subject matter hits too close to home, but there's always the risk that the conversation might make someone in the class upset. So, should I not talk about something important because it might "backfire" for one of my students?

In a room of 30 kids, there's always going to be someone who doesn't want to hear it/participate. There's always the risk, as unlikely as it may be, that a 12 year old still believes in Santa. I don't think it's child abuse to perpetuate that, but I don't think the parents are doing their kids any favors by ensuring that they are the very last ones to learn the truth. Kids can be pretty cruel and excluding even without an excuse to do so.

It may not be child abuse to encourage a 12 year old to believe in fairy tales, but these parents don't want their children to become rational adults.  That is bad parenting.  A parent's function is to help the child to become a self sustaining adult.

Our ten-year-old still fervently believes in Father Christmas.  I guess this is the last year, but if it's not, then I'm certainly not going to spoil it for her next year, or indeed the year after.  She's well on the way to becoming a self-sustaining adult regardless of whether she continues to believe in fairy tales for an arbitrary number of days more.

That said, should somebody choose to disabuse her tomorrow, then at this point I'm certainly not going to get bent out of shape about it.  We had a good run.

Pretty sure I believed until I was around 10. I might have even made it to 11, for what it's worth.

Quote from: Wheezer on December 09, 2018, 01:28:12 AM
Well, the graph of the grades hasn't been presented yet.

I teach the 7th and 8th grades (I did mention they ranged from ages 12 to 14).

QuotePhilosophy? Morality? I swear to G-d, I thought I had seen the dumbest fucking comment possible (elsewhere), but now this. "Well done"? The whole point is that it backfired. Twice. And then there's the "Fuck those parents, Kurt. They are doing their daughter no favors. That's genuinely fucking horrible." and "borders on child abuse" crap.

It backfired twice and I'll be doing the same activity next year, if I'm teaching the same grade. (Which I probably will be.) Next week I'm going to be talking about the Decemberists' tune 12-17-12 which is about the Sandy Hook massacre. I'll remind my students that nobody is promised a long life and that we can lose loved ones at any time. In my class is a student whose father was murdered two Augusts ago, and another student whose mother was murdered last May. A third student in my class is losing her mother to breast cancer. I know these kids pretty well, and they know they can take a break/go for a walk if the subject matter hits too close to home, but there's always the risk that the conversation might make someone in the class upset. So, should I not talk about something important because it might "backfire" for one of my students?

In a room of 30 kids, there's always going to be someone who doesn't want to hear it/participate. There's always the risk, as unlikely as it may be, that a 12 year old still believes in Santa. I don't think it's child abuse to perpetuate that, but I don't think the parents are doing their kids any favors by ensuring that they are the very last ones to learn the truth. Kids can be pretty cruel and excluding even without an excuse to do so.

Quote from: Saul Goodman on December 08, 2018, 09:40:00 PM

Quote from: Canadouche on December 08, 2018, 03:52:02 PM

Quote from: Wheezer on December 08, 2018, 12:52:54 AM

Quote from: World's #1 Astros Fan on December 07, 2018, 02:37:27 PM

Quote from: Canadouche on December 07, 2018, 02:30:23 PM
I ruined Christmas for a family at my school yesterday. I'm teaching 7th and 8th graders; assigned them to write an essay: should we tell children that Santa Claus is real?

Turns out one of my 7th graders still believed. So, as the day was ending, her mother approached me with her little brother, who is in 2nd grade, and said "did you tell my daughter that Santa isn't real?!" I was more than a little surprised that she'd ask me that with her younger son in tow, so I just said I didn't really think it was appropriate to talk about just now.

Still, having overhead that, their son now also is distraught, as well as my student, and I have two very vocal parents who are pissed at me.

My daughter is in 7th grade and told me that she has a classmate who still believes in Santa Claus.  She said her parents are still doing the Elf on the Shelf.  Personally, I honestly feel that this borders on child abuse.

Fuck those parents, Kurt.  They are doing their daughter no favors.  That's genuinely fucking horrible.

Oh, for G-d's sake. It was a poor choice for a topic. Jesus, it's intellectually condescending. How this even sprang up in Knut's mind is baffling to me. "Was Jesus Actually Born on Christmas?" Perhaps "Is the Exodus Story a Crock of Shit?" would be a possibility for Easter.

They're 12-14 years old. At a school with kids as young as 3. On top of being only a few years removed from when their own belief in Santa was shook, they're around literally hundreds of kids who still believe -- and some of them have no qualms with shaking the beliefs of little kids whose parents wouldn't be happy with them for having done so. Asking them to actively think about their feelings on the subject is a good thing, because it not only invites them to process those thoughts, but it also provides them with an opportunity to constructively build an argument to justify the way they feel. Who could have a problem with that?

As to your other points -- I have already taught them that Jesus wouldn't have been born in December. I have already taught them that Exodus - not to mention most of the Bible - is not to be taken literally. Not sure why that should be the focus of religious discussion at Christmas time anyway.

I thought it was an interesting topic to give them and a good idea by Krut. Kids probably had a lot of opinions on it. Makes them reflect on topics like their own experiences, on childhood, on parenting, on philosophy, on morality, on argumentation and persuasion. Well done. Is this a public school?

Catholic.

Quote from: Wheezer on December 08, 2018, 12:52:54 AM

Quote from: World's #1 Astros Fan on December 07, 2018, 02:37:27 PM

Quote from: Canadouche on December 07, 2018, 02:30:23 PM
I ruined Christmas for a family at my school yesterday. I'm teaching 7th and 8th graders; assigned them to write an essay: should we tell children that Santa Claus is real?

Turns out one of my 7th graders still believed. So, as the day was ending, her mother approached me with her little brother, who is in 2nd grade, and said "did you tell my daughter that Santa isn't real?!" I was more than a little surprised that she'd ask me that with her younger son in tow, so I just said I didn't really think it was appropriate to talk about just now.

Still, having overhead that, their son now also is distraught, as well as my student, and I have two very vocal parents who are pissed at me.

My daughter is in 7th grade and told me that she has a classmate who still believes in Santa Claus.  She said her parents are still doing the Elf on the Shelf.  Personally, I honestly feel that this borders on child abuse.

Fuck those parents, Kurt.  They are doing their daughter no favors.  That's genuinely fucking horrible.

Oh, for G-d's sake. It was a poor choice for a topic. Jesus, it's intellectually condescending. How this even sprang up in Knut's mind is baffling to me. "Was Jesus Actually Born on Christmas?" Perhaps "Is the Exodus Story a Crock of Shit?" would be a possibility for Easter.

They're 12-14 years old. At a school with kids as young as 3. On top of being only a few years removed from when their own belief in Santa was shook, they're around literally hundreds of kids who still believe -- and some of them have no qualms with shaking the beliefs of little kids whose parents wouldn't be happy with them for having done so. Asking them to actively think about their feelings on the subject is a good thing, because it not only invites them to process those thoughts, but it also provides them with an opportunity to constructively build an argument to justify the way they feel. Who could have a problem with that?

As to your other points -- I have already taught them that Jesus wouldn't have been born in December. I have already taught them that Exodus - not to mention most of the Bible - is not to be taken literally. Not sure why that should be the focus of religious discussion at Christmas time anyway.

Quote from: Saul Goodman on December 07, 2018, 03:30:35 PM

Quote from: Quality Start Machine on December 07, 2018, 08:31:43 AM
Looks like he re-upped with the Angels.

Hmm.

Quote from: @desipiodotcom
They also refused to use my suggested headline: "Valbuena re-signs with the angels"

5:52 AM (PST) - 7 Dec 2018

I mean, it's a pretty obvious joke.

Quote from: World's #1 Astros Fan on December 07, 2018, 02:37:27 PM

Quote from: Canadouche on December 07, 2018, 02:30:23 PM
I ruined Christmas for a family at my school yesterday. I'm teaching 7th and 8th graders; assigned them to write an essay: should we tell children that Santa Claus is real?

Turns out one of my 7th graders still believed. So, as the day was ending, her mother approached me with her little brother, who is in 2nd grade, and said "did you tell my daughter that Santa isn't real?!" I was more than a little surprised that she'd ask me that with her younger son in tow, so I just said I didn't really think it was appropriate to talk about just now.

Still, having overhead that, their son now also is distraught, as well as my student, and I have two very vocal parents who are pissed at me.

My daughter is in 7th grade and told me that she has a classmate who still believes in Santa Claus.  She said her parents are still doing the Elf on the Shelf.  Personally, I honestly feel that this borders on child abuse.

Fuck those parents, Kurt.  They are doing their daughter no favors.  That's genuinely fucking horrible.

I'll never criticize the parents because they clearly love their kids and will do their own thing regardless of the pressures of middle school, and, besides, I generally try to operate under the impression that a parent could discover my online postings at any given time. That said, I was genuinely shocked.

Then again, I have coworkers with kids who played along with the notion long after their belief had faded, because they thought it'd get them more presents. Some kids are just working the system, as all good kids should do.

I ruined Christmas for a family at my school yesterday. I'm teaching 7th and 8th graders; assigned them to write an essay: should we tell children that Santa Claus is real?

Turns out one of my 7th graders still believed. So, as the day was ending, her mother approached me with her little brother, who is in 2nd grade, and said "did you tell my daughter that Santa isn't real?!" I was more than a little surprised that she'd ask me that with her younger son in tow, so I just said I didn't really think it was appropriate to talk about just now.

Still, having overhead that, their son now also is distraught, as well as my student, and I have two very vocal parents who are pissed at me.

Quote from: Tonker on December 06, 2018, 05:36:16 AM

Quote from: CBStew on December 05, 2018, 01:30:03 PM

Quote from: Tonker on December 05, 2018, 02:07:15 AM
... I can't get enough of the colourblind glasses/cochlear implant videos.  They make me blub.

There are several words in that post that I don't understand.  Are they Australian words?

Too right mate!  Bonzer!  That's not a knife!

Throw a dingo on the barbie?

The least worst republican president of my lifetime.

Quote from: Wheezer on November 15, 2018, 01:18:55 AM

Quote from: Canadouche on November 12, 2018, 07:02:19 AM

Quote from: CBStew on November 05, 2018, 09:37:47 AM
I had that dream again last night.  You know.  The one where I am back in school and on my way to take a final exam in a course where I never attended a class and never opened the text book, but it didn't matter because I couldn't find the room where the test was being given.  This was a variation.  It was a Wednesday and I was booked to perform a guitar concert on the following Monday.  However, I don't know how to play the guitar and didn't own one.  To make it worse, I had picked out my wardrobe for the event.  Leather bell bottom jeans, a shiny, pointy lapeled, print, polyester shirt, a phony leather vest, and a leather cap that a pimp wore in the 1970s.  What a nightmare!

Relevant xkcd. As far as I can recall, I think I've only had one university dream since I graduated. Maybe I'm less likely to have school dreams, since I'm still in schools every day. I have had a few stress dreams about not being prepared to teach.

One of us (tinu) is an outlier. I have university dreams, work dreams, recurrent dreams where I already know the paths through the weird buildings, and wandering-around-lavatory dreams, which have a pretty obvious meaning but are nonetheless baroque. The less REM sleep the better, in my case. And then there's the issue of trying not to try to forget trying to forget this mental garbage-collection.

Screw the peribracial area and the horse it rode in on.

When I was a kid, my recurring stress dream was that I'd try to cross the street, trip, fall, and be paralyzed as oncoming traffic moved toward me.