Hobbes

Nice pillows.  I can sleep on rocks if I have a decent pillow.   I just bought two of these pillows. 

14 hours ago, Destiny Skywalker said:

Is she going to continue to rail about this or will it be a one time chew out? (Guess it depends on if he gets caught again.)

We just got done with spring break, Q seemed relaxed. And then I got a call from the principal. One of the mean girls filed another bullying report. I'm considering legal action because the accusations are now stooping to defamation, and they certainly seem to be retaliation. I wrote to the deputy superintendent and the school board (her therapist recommended looping them in because of how this has been handled so far). If they find her guilty this time I am homeschooling her until the end of the year. 

She has her own set of issues.

What legal action are you considering? 

About a month ago a 7th grader was caught masturbating in the bathroom by other students.  To my absolute shock, no one really made fun of him for it (we have some pretty decent middle students).  I had to have a very awkward conversation with him and with his mom.  This morning, he was caught again, this time by his younger brother (6th grade) and he started making fun of him non-stop. 

I just got chewed out by the mom because I am letting  another student (his brother) make fun of him for masturbating AND she was mad at me for making the younger brother miss recess for making fun of his brother and not the other kids that were making fun of him the brother told his mom he was the only one that got in trouble...but there were no other kids making fun of him).

17 hours ago, Darth Krawlie said:

Yeah it should’ve been Austin in that spot

Taker wrestled Reigns so I guess it made more sense from that perspective.  Regardless, I thought the surprise drop-in spots were lame.  I wanted to see a bit more wrestling from everyone than just a spot. 

Speaking of spots, Cena needs to tend to that bald spot.  He kept combing his hair back with his hand so I know he is self-conscience.  

I don't get the whole Cody appeal and I was pulling for Reigns.

R Truth getting his was my favorite part of the two nights. 

1 hour ago, Tank said:

It got a little dim here for 10 minutes.

I bookmarked soooo many idiot IG reels by conspiracy theorists saying this was going to be some big world-ending event and now I get to spend my day going back and making fun of them like it's nightly in 2002.

I liked it.  I liked the main event, but I just don't get why Cody is so popular.  I hope Roman retains. 

On 4/2/2024 at 5:50 PM, Tank said:

1.  How do so many gay males use the gay male speech dialect when they are from areas that the dialect is rare or even heavily prejudiced against?

Its roots come from young boys feeling drawn to feminine role models and subconsciously effecting their voices. Once you get past the 50s, it started to show up in pop culture. It was always played as a joke in the 50s/60s, but there were icons in the 70s like Paul Lynn or JM J Bullock who were never straight out called gay, but coded as fuck. Once it hits pop culture it becomes an echo chamber. In straight spaces, where it may not be safe  to be out, it could also be a form of signaling.

2.  What is to stop men from taking advantage of trans-women competing in female sports? 

I hate this argument. I know YOU just posing it as a question, and not making the trans-phone argument, but this is a thing TERFs cling to as it is the only semi-legit way to attack trans people without coming off as an obvious transphobe. As a not-sports person my primary response is-- who cares? We're arguing about people's human rights and safety and a huge chunk of people can only respond by saying BUT SPORTS!

There's less than a dozen cases of trans athletes facing adversity out there, across all sports on the planet. Maybe the answer is an open division, but we're decades away from that having any strength. Compare the dollar amount between the NBA and the WNBA and it's not even close.

As for the LatinX thing-- if there's one thing I've learned living in LA, it's that minorities are often considered to be liberal democrats because traditionally, that's who fights for equal rights. But in reality, Hispanic and African American cultures are super conservative when you go as near back as baby boomers. They both have a heavy history of religion as it one of the few ways they could have a sense of community outside everyday (racist) life.

I think Boomer hispanics, and any Gen-Xers that are not liberal, will resist new fangled terminology associated with woke folk. It's the younger generations that champion it, so the reactions you're talking about make total sense to me.

1.  Interesting take.  If it is subconsciousness, wouldn't more straight males raised under those circumstances also have the accent (like me). 

2.  LOL-I was thinking what you said while I typed it "I hope no one thinks I am trans-phobic for asking this"...but that is why I am afraid to ask.  There is a parent at my school that has his Trump and Don't tread on me bumper stickers and wears a hat everyday that says "protect women's sports".  I am all for trans-rights, so maybe this small, insignificant issue is the only thing I wonder, "well how are they gonna do that?"  I know it is just a few trans-athletes now, but when scholarships get involved, and that may be the only way a student gets to go to college, it will be a bigger issue.

3.  Does anyone know why so many Indian males go to the gym in business casual clothes?

4.  I have always wondered why conservatives don't embrace Hispanic people.   Maybe it is also a regional thing, but almost all Hispanics I know, regardless of age hate Latinx.  They feel it is once again, white people telling them what is and is not their culture.  

8 hours ago, Odine said:

I reckon so. Or there needs to be an open division in sports where if women want to compete against men and trans women it's all good. Like a free for all category.

But women shouldn't have their competitive sports careers jepordized by what is in essence biological men who identify as women coming into their category and dominating the field. It's super unfair. 

Traditionally I think the only sport that doesn't have age/gender restrictions is certain equestrian events. (I think maybe jumping and cross country).  Its the only sport where a teenaged girl can out perform an adult man because its down to riding skill not strength, muscle, lung capacity etc. Also it's one of the few sports where being smaller and lighter is an advantage 

As far as I know, all the major leagues here in America (NBA, NFL, NHL, etc) annd the NCAA are open to everyone.   Manon Rheaume played in an exhibition game in the NHL. and I remember a woman tried out for the NFL in 2013.  I think teams were also interested in Carli Lloyd a few years back.  Olivia Pichardo played NCAA D1 baseball and plays in the minors.

On 3/29/2024 at 2:43 PM, Odine said:

Number 2 does and has been happening. Hear of Lia Thomas? Average male swimmer who became a woman and absolutely decimated the women and won several titles.  

And there are two trans women currently competing in MMA (Fallon Fox and Alana McLaughlin) who have obvious physical advantages over their biologically female competitors. Needless to say they've had some controversial knock outs and bouts.

So the sport thing is absolutely an issue

Interesting.

Should trans athletes have their own division?

1 hour ago, Destiny Skywalker said:

Is Latinx just supposed to be a gender-inclusive term? Quite frankly, I think the community gets to decide what they want to be called, not someone outside of it. It's like the autistic vs "has autism" debate. It seems like many in the autism community have embraced being called autistic instead of using people first language that many in the disability advocacy community are trying to push. (On a related note, now it feels like I can't say disability or disabled anymore. "Differently abled" feels kind of pedantic to me.) Many autistic people have embraced it has part of their identity, as opposed to the advocacy community that says you shouldn't let a disability define someone.

Yeah, I have heard this before.  I was always taught people first language.  For example, students in special education vs special education (sped students). 

I think a lot of the hyper-acceptance language come from higher ed--not the communities.  My dad has MS and is in a wheelchair and hates differently abled with a passion.  He's like..."I am UNABLE to fucking walk--I need to know if places have ramps".

Looks good, but I like to think of Aliens as Tank said--sci fi with horror elements.  This looks like a horror film with sci fi elements. 

Am I the only person that enjoyed Prometheus?

Regarding it being Ripley's daughter, if it serves a logical purpose, sure.  But I am so tired of franchises being so desperate to make as many connections between movies as possible--this character is so and so's best friends college roommate or that dude was in the background of the Cantina giving Greedo a handy or whatever. 

Regardless, as a pretty big fan of this franchise, I will see it in theaters.

What are the questions you are afraid to get judged for afraid they may be taken the wrong way?  Feel free to answer.

1.  How do so many gay males use the gay male speech dialect when they are from areas that the dialect is rare or even heavily prejudiced against?

2.  What is to stop men from taking advantage of trans-women competing in female sports? 

Right now, I don't think this is happening, but what if there becomes a huge financial gain to do so? For example, a college male going for the women's team to get a scholarship he may not have qualified for on the men's team.

3.  Why do some Indian men wear business casual clothes to the gym?

4.  How do you navigate different in-groups perceptions of bias? 

I worked in a school that was predominantly Hispanic.  In trying to be inclusive in my communication, I used the term Latinx.  The overwhelming majority of the Hispanic families hated the term.  When I switched my communication to Latina and Latino, which was appreciated by the community, I brought this back to my grad school professors and higher ups in the district (most had higher degrees) I was accused of not being inclusive. 

50 minutes ago, Darth Krawlie said:

Two episodes in and it’s interesting. I tried reading the book but I think I’m too dumb for it. I’m getting dumber the older I get.

I struggled due to all of the characters kinda being the same and, to make it more challenging, most of the characters in the book have Chinese names.  It got easier as it went on. 

Try to stay with it.  I read the episode descriptions so I have a general idea of where this season ends so I don't think they will get very far in the main plot past the first book...but the series does not go in the direction you think it does.  There is a quick one minute scene that I think was in episode 2 that has the smallest scene of foreshadowing.  This is by far, the most creative and insane alien invasion story and absolutely does not go like you think it will and includes the coolest weapon I have ever heard of (and it isn't just more death stars).

In TPM, wasn't there a line from ObiWan about being sitting ducks and all of a sudden people were arguing if ducks were in the SW universe.

Anywho, this is the movie/ series I have been the most excited for since Disney took over.  My hope is that I have been so disappointed recently, hopefully it will temper my expectations. 

I binge read this trilogy two years ago and was totally obsessed for a year.  I even bought the author approved fan fiction novel. 

I was super skeptical when I  found out Netflix was picking it up, but hearing the GoT guys were doing it (they did well with ASoIaF when they had the source material and weren't rushing to do a SW series) made me feel better.

I saw the reviews were excellent and the series is pretty much the first book (and my least favorite of the trilogy) so I decided to try it last night.  I was up till three.

Since it is less than a week old--non-spoiler thoughts:

My biggest gripe of books is there aren't any characters who are in all three books even when the characters story lines were happening in similar timelines.  I like that these characters are starting their story now.  Similarly, almost all of the characters in the book lack depth (I want to say it is because it is lost in translation--but I hear similar criticisms from readers whom read it in Mandarin) but the script and actors give these characters so much more depth.  There were book characters I didn't really like, but I love in the series. 

I really don't have any criticisms (four episodes in) , but I agree with what some of the critics are saying--that after the first few episodes it becomes difficult to follow.  I didn't have this problem, but I agree that if you never read the books, a lot of plot lines are difficult to follow.

New students signed up for next year...I swear to god...

I was just invited to my first cat birthday party.  The lady is like 45.  Like, do I bring a gift?

On 2/14/2024 at 10:00 AM, Destiny Skywalker said:

There's only a couple cat tracks (service run roads) and they are narrow and steep. It feels like going down a kid's slide standing up. Mildly terrifying. I've told Q how much I hate it. If someone goes down on it, you are going to run them over. It's also not well lit. But it is how we get across at the end of the night to go to the parking lot.

I think they might groom the beginners area regularly and that's it. They used to groom some of the blacks and it was glorious. Now they think everyone wants the back country experience on the front side. No thanks. I haven't skied my favorite run in 3 years because it's straight dangerous. It's like a literal cliff face.

I have thought about practicing on some of the easier blue runs, but the lift lines make me avoid them.

What do you ski on at Purg? Do they groom pretty well?

https://www.purgatory.ski/mountain/purgatory-mountain/trail-maps/

I ski mainly on the Legends Lift (far right) runs.  They are super fast, steep, and two or three are (usually) groomed nightly.  There is a small black run right before the Legends lift that isn't even named.  It is wicked steep and super short so you can pretty much get as much speed as you can handle.  My favorite run is Upper and Lower Hades off the main lift.  It is groomed daily and it is where all the races are and is probably the longest/ steepest run.  I love Purg, but I do miss the longer runs at the larger ski resorts. 

That is a shame about your favorite run.  My favorite run at Copper is called Bouncer and they did the same thing...one year they stopped grooming it and the next it was the terrain park. 

On 3/1/2024 at 11:48 PM, Destiny Skywalker said:

Took Q to Alpental tonight for the first time and it was glorious. No lift line longer than a 5 minute wait and much better conditions than Central lately. They got 3 feet of snow since last weekend and while it's not pristine corduroy, there were some glorious steep sections without moguls. We only skied 2 different runs because only the bottom half of the mountain was open for night skiing, next time I am going to try to get her to take Cascade Traverse so we can drop in on a few runs that are some really fun black diamond runs that are usually pretty powdery.

That is awesome!  My boys are close to transitioning to do blues and I am so excited to take them!   I wish they had night skiing at Purg though.  But when I did night skiing at Keystone, I struggled on black slopes bacause I couldn't judge the steepness.  Maybe I needed different lenses.

55 minutes ago, Darth Krawlie said:

Sitting in the doctor’s office for a MRI because they asked me to come in early. They are, of course, late.

i need some daytime beers after this

Just drink out of glass bottle using a straw and you should be fine during,

Like, if I was a bachelor...Christmas lights year round...everywhere.  Not like the LED light strips with app...I mean old school Christmas lights that flash and have midi versions of Christmas songs.

11 hours ago, Destiny Skywalker said:

Woooooo, bullet dodged. Our school board tonight miraculously voted to not move 6th grade into middle school. This is such a relief to me. E has made so much progress but there's still so much ground to cover. It is my hope that he will not need paraeducator support in middle school. If we don't have to worry until 7th, I think that might be achievable.

If Q does well at the new school, they sounded open to accepting E if he no longer needs the writing support. I think that small environment would be much better for him, as well. When I brought it up, they said they had a few kids with ASD and they seem like they offer more 504/IEP support than other private schools in our area. I think if Q does well, we will have a good idea of whether they will be able to support E.

That is awesome.

If I were to redesign schools, I would have K-6 (divided into K-3 and 4-6), 7-9, and 9-12. 

Looks like HBO renewed it Issas vision.

As I mentioned, I loved the direction Issa took.  Hopefully she will be given a bigger budget and can properly flesh out the story a bit more.

Odds on Matt or Woody returning?  

3 hours ago, Odine said:

I only watched S01 and it was (and still is) one of the greatest bits of television ever. Its better than the Wire. 

Watched an episode of S02 and saw they done fucked it up. Never watched another till this Night Country season. I liked the first episode, and the atmosphere of the whole season. But I felt like the plot was just treading water the whole time and literally nothing happend until the final episode where everything happens and they shat the bed so to speak. 

Watch S3.  It is legit really good.   From what you have said, I think you would like it. 

2 hours ago, Tank said:

S1, for me, set the tone by saying this was a show about three things:

1. Police who have been broken by their jobs, forced to reconcile how what's RIGHT isn't always what is LEGAL, and vice versa.

2. A strange and horrific murder case that seems to edge into the occult

3. A present tense frame story that looks back at a previous time as the case is re-examined.

As an anthology, I knew it was going to be a different case and cast each season, but it seemed like those were the core ideas everything would be built around. And that wasn't just my assumption, I have a copy of Pizzilato's pitch and it says future seasons would always be about a pair of investigators that are set against each other, but have to work together on a case that spans over a long time period.

So when the second season came out and was just a very by the numbers corrupt cop in LA storyline, I was disappointed. I wanted it to be rural, I wanted a hit of the occult. I wanted more of the things I liked. Aside the shoot out episode and the one where Rachel McAdams goes undercover at the sex party, the tension was flat as hell.

Season three seemed to return to the form of season one, but it was so boring I never finished it. And I watched it during lockdown when I had nothing to do BUT watch TV shows.

Season four is a return on all fronts, though I suppose the present-day investigation looking back only comes into play in the last episode. I don't think it was flat at all, I think each episode advanced the case in interesting ways, and the ending-- which still hints at something supernatural but also gives a logical conclusion, worked great.

I do think they left one too many thing unanswered for (the tongue) and it did feel rushed that both Annie as well as Danvers/Navarro could spend five minutes in the under-ice lab and instantly have all the answers, but beyond that, I was very happy and did not think the bed was shattededed.

It is interesting you said that about S2, because Nic said it was supposed to be occulty and have more interesting dynamics between the detectives, but HBO wanted a script so he didn't have time to flesh out what he needed. 

I agree with you about the return to S1 form.  I thought it did a nice job.  But I agree with Odine that nothing really happened and then everything was rushed.  I think the last episode could have actually been 2-3 episodes on its own.  You say the tongue, but I assumed Hank put it there so the detectives would automatically assume the same person was connected with both crimes and taking focus off the mine. 

But you say it is a return to form, I know I just said I agreed and they did a nice job, but I am kind of changing my mind.  They pushed it too much--wtf is the connection to the spiral and what is the connection to Twist and Shout?

9 hours ago, Tank said:

I loved this season. Best since the first. It’s been hilarious to watch the pretentious as hell douche bag who created it melt down over the ratings this season has pulled in.

I agree about watching Nic's meltdown.  Did he forget he also wrote S2?

I liked the premose and setting more than S3, but S3 had better writing and conclusion.  Both had excellent acting.  So to me they are pretty equivalent.

I don't think S2 is as bad as most people think, but it's bad when you have to look up episodes to figure out what you just watched. 

Season 1 is one of my favorite shows ever.  I have seen it probably a dozen times.  I actually rewatched it twice while watching this season.    I was so pumped for this show.  Jodie Foster is one of my favorite actresses of all time and I love love love the setting. 

As far as this season, I thought it was okay.  It seems like we are in pretty much agreement.

Pros: I thought the acting was great across the board.  I love Jodie Foster and it was also nice seeing Sol Star (John Hawkes) from Deadwood--another one of my favorite shows ever.  I loved the setting and mood.  I thought the old woman that dated Travis was super fun.  Great cinematography.  I was skeptical of Kali Reis but I thought she was amazing!  I thought the premise was great!

Cons:  The plot.  I thought it was an interesting premise and  E 1 and 2 were both fairly strong.  But E3-5 nothing happened.  I hated the ending.  They stumble on a secret lab and somehow can look at the paperwork just laying around and from that figured out what was going on?  You would think that by prosecuting the killers they would blow the lid off the whole mine operation.  Now it will still be hidden.

I am 100% fine with non-closure.  I don't think every little thing has to be tied up in a nice little box at the end.  However, there were too many things that were brought up that didn't advance the plot...Liz's Tinder (why lie and say it was ff--we got that she slept around already), all of the futile connections to S1 (why repeat that spiral--what connection did Clark have to it)?  What did Kayla throw our Peter--when he is working a mass murder??  A killer is on the loose in a small town and you are going after the only person that is actually doing detective work?   I get she doesn't like his and Danvers relationship--but now is the time you are picking to throw him out?Why did those townspeople go crazy in the hospital?   It's not like he was abusive or manipulative.  Honestly, I think it would have been better if they just called it Night Country and didn't try to shoehorn in True Detective.  Finally, my biggest irk was the whole Twist and Shout thing.  I watch with subtitles and that song was played in most of the episodes. 

Anyhow--my prediction for the entire show was the town was having mass hallucinations due to the mine's pollution.  The scientists discovered this and were going to  expose the mine.