What’ve persimmons got to do with it though?

As someone with a background in linguistics, my jimmies are indeed rustled.

As a teacher, I’m not going to write a student up for disagreeing with me. I’m sure that there are some who do (and it would be warranted if the kid started name calling, yelling, refusing to let it go if the teacher said they wanted to look into it more after class to double-check etc), but in the years I’ve been working in schools, I have yet to see it happen. Here’s an example of what I mean:

A few weeks ago, I was talking with the class about how I study Spanish on Duolingo to help do a job of teaching my kids. One of my students spoke up and said that Duolingo sucks and won’t help you learn language. He actually said it sucks, not exaggerating there. I chose to ignore the wording and just talked about how it wouldn’t be good to use it in isolation, but I also study with a flash card app for vocab, read in Spanish, listen to podcasts in Spanish, and talk with native speakers in Spanish all the time. He still disagreed with me and said so, I told him it is my specific area of professional expertise to know how language learning works, he still disagreed but we moved on.

When a student disagrees with me and I’m not sure I’m right, I try to look it up then and there or consult with a colleague if it’s possible to. If not I make a note (like literally write out a note then and there, I keep sticky notes around at all times) to check on it, and I’m pretty good about getting back to them. Being able to admit you were wrong is extremely important as a teacher, and it can actually help your kids grow as people because you’re modeling how you want them to behave as an adult–owning up and admitting it when you make mistakes. Seeing authority figures do it is powerful!

The rapid-fire memes and acknowledgment of them being memes made it cringe, IMO. If they’d just dialed it back and said something like this I think it would have been fine:

“Here’s our beautiful thicc girl, Abby! She loves to eat fish and swim with her friends. Come see her at our aquarium any time!”

Anybody can learn to grow plants. It just takes practice and learning. There’s a gazillion YouTube videos on gardening and I’m sure there’s tons on how to grow weed specifically.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGtYLiV_xP0Q9lkp5AsnnprB5VJaM5Q0q&si=ancwEKW0XvmxRW9B

I count roughly 15 cars in line, which could be as few as 15 people. All that space taken up for such few people…

My last Ford was a Focus with the dual clutch transmission, it was a complete fucking lemon (to the point where they were successfully sued over it and have done multiple recalls to fix it). I can excuse an automaker for the occasional shit car if their overall lineup is good and they’re honest with customers, but they knew the transmission was majorly flawed and continued to manufacturer vehicles that used it anyway. I’ve had it refuse to shift while I was driving on the highway before, which left me redlining at maybe 45 MPH. Dangerous and it could have gotten someone killed. I will never buy another Ford.

https://www.freep.com/in-depth/money/cars/ford/2019/07/11/ford-focus-fiesta-transmission-defect/1671198001/

Black Lagoon

Yeah, I’m vegan and still recognize the need for deer hunting in the US (and anywhere else where all their natural predators have been eliminated). I don’t know of any other effective method for controlling their population when no other species exists to do it. I would be totally open to reintroducing wolves, bears, big cats etc to areas where they existed historically, but I just don’t see enough popular support growing for that that it seems likely to happen anytime soon. People like their meat too much and wild predators kill free ranging livestock, plus I suspect most people are not going to want to worry about encounters while they’re out in nature (see my link below for how things have been going with the red wolf re-introduction to North Carolina, US). I mean I’m an animal lover and it still makes me a tiny bit nervous when I go out into bear country in the wild parts of my state (not that that would stop me from supporting re-introduction). Lots of people are ignorant and don’t give a shit about harming ecology if it benefits them in some way.

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2023/09/04/endangered-red-wolves-need-space-to-stay-wild--but-there-s-another-predator-in-the-way---humans

I’m a teacher and not only do I not make my kids do it (it’s illegal to make a student say the pledge if you didn’t know), I don’t do it myself because I think it’s fucking weird and inappropriate. My only rule is to remain quiet if you’re not saying the pledge, out of respect to people who do want to observe it.

I wish sauna culture was more of a thing in the US. I’ve lived in places where they are common and it’s such a nice, healthy way to relax after work or on the weekend.

Something I’ve learned as a vegan is that it’s pretty socially acceptable to kick vegans (and I guess vegetarians?) even among leftists. To the point where it’s almost a meme in some vegan social media circles I used to frequent.

I don’t expect shit from anyone. That said, when I’m at one I’m still going to ask if there are options, because why wouldn’t I?

Try iNaturalist, it works pretty well. Also, learn plant morphology, makes it easier to narrow things down when you get a couple suggestions within the same genus or family.

Socialism!!! 🤮🤮🤮🤯🤯🤯🤢🤢😷🤒

Think of the shareholders!!!

Yeah early-mid summer is about the worst time to plant. I’ve put plants in the ground during the summer but I’m out there watering them nearly every day when it’s this hot, at least for the first few weeks.

“But they drop leaves in the yard and that’s messy!”

Ok?

“And then I have to rake the leaves up!!”

Why?

“Because that’s what you’re supposed to do!”

Why?

Brain has BSOD

Or at least don’t waste it all drinking… I spent so much of my early 20s drinking and playing video games with my friends. While I made some great memories, it was excessive and I could have done a lot more with my time.

Probably not a popular view here but I’ve found my hobbies more fulfilling since I started doing stuff other than gaming. Native plant/food gardening, reading books, working out… all of this stuff can be affected by capitalism too of course but I’m less beholden to it. I still game a bit now and then but much less than I used to.