nickiwest
@nickiwest@lemmy.world
- Comment on Edible Wood 6 minutes ago:
Be careful with that advice. Yew is highly toxic.
- Comment on 3-bean soup 5 days ago:
- Comment on Don't fix the problem just change the parameters 1 week ago:
Not currently teaching in a “US hole.” I’ve been teaching in South America for 5 years and I have never noticed an analog clock in a public place here.
- Comment on Don't fix the problem just change the parameters 1 week ago:
I’m from the US, but I’m currently a teacher in South America. Kids here are even worse at reading analog clocks than my students in the US were.
- Comment on Don't fix the problem just change the parameters 1 week ago:
Teacher here.
I’m pretty certain that the only place where my students ever encounter an analog clock is at school. But teaching how to read analog clocks is required in our math education standards, so I have one and I use it, even though I think there are other, more relevant places to put our academic focus.
I’m 45 years old. I’m pretty sure we only ever had one analog clock in our house when I was growing up in the '80s, and that was my grandpa’s alarm clock. The only places I’ve been where only analog clocks were available have been schools. Even our local bank in my small town changed to a digital clock on its sign outside.
Unfortunately, education systems are dictated by legislators, who are often old and out-of-touch. So I doubt we’ll see a change in the education requirements any time soon. But, just like how keyboarding has replaced cursive in the classrooms, it will eventually come.
- Comment on Did it really used to be common for guys to go to a bar every night like in Cheers or The Simpsons? 1 week ago:
My uncle was a factory worker and a daily regular at his favorite local bar for more than 30 years.
My mom wouldn’t allow me to go inside the bar (because drinking alcohol is a sin, you know). But in the '80s and '90s, before cell phones, I knew exactly where to find him after school if I needed anything.
Unfortunately, 30+ years of excessive drinking caused a lot of really serious health problems that caught up to him when he was in his 50s. The owners and staff sent a huge flower arrangement and all came to his funeral.
- Comment on Does anyone else notice an up tick in hostility on Lemmy lately? 2 weeks ago:
I also always access .world through my VPN.
- Comment on Does anyone else notice an up tick in hostility on Lemmy lately? 3 weeks ago:
I’m still here at .world because every time I think I’ve identified a better instance to go to where people seem to like it, I see someone else who recommends blocking it.
I definitely see the appeal of (and need for) blocking individuals, but I think that instances are too big and varied to neatly paint everyone with the same brush.
- Comment on Republican? Democrat? There is a third option: 3 weeks ago:
This is the most reasonable course of action. Some things can’t be unseen.
- Comment on Autism has been announced! 1 month ago:
If MAGA is going to insist that late-night comedy hosts be 100% factually accurate, then I think the least the next Democratic government should do is require partisan propaganda to be labeled as such.
This goes for both sides. MSNBC, NewsMax, HuffPost, Fox News, all need disclaimers for opinion and partisan content.
- Comment on Dinner is ready! 1 month ago:
Mine, too! (Also Korean and Lebanese.) What an excellent range of options.
I would miss Mexican food, but I’d make do.
- Comment on Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week? 1 month ago:
I remember having to steal magic spells from enemies. It really turned me off from the game.
I was glad to see FFIX go back to a more traditional system.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
This is basically what I got too.
- Comment on Practical Magic 1 month ago:
I have to assume that any witch selling curses on Etsy doesn’t believe in the Rule of Three.
I wonder how many really identify as witches and actually cast the spells people pay them for.
- Comment on don't trust cowboys or people doing cowboy voices 2 months ago:
You’ll have to add a couple of instances of “dang ol’” on your own to make that work.
- Comment on It Turns Out, Steam’s Adult Content Ban Has Been Plotted For A Year And Is Spearheaded By One Of Project 2025’s Leading Voices 2 months ago:
This. Times 1000.
Kids aren’t born with internet-connected devices in their hands. Adults give devices to them and then walk out of the room.
Would you let the average internet poster or YouTuber babysit your kid? Because that’s literally what you’re doing.
I grew up in the '80s and '90s. My mom did her best to pay attention to the shows/movies I was watching, the books I was reading, the music I was listening to. And up until I was about 13, it was all very tightly controlled. It’s still possible to have that kind of oversight, but it’s more work than a lot of parents are willing to do.
I live outside the US now, and most of my elementary-school students have parents who very tightly control their screen time and actively monitor their usage. The kids have sports training, dance classes, and other activities that get them out in the world. It’s very, very different from the kids I used to teach in the US.
- Comment on It Turns Out, Steam’s Adult Content Ban Has Been Plotted For A Year And Is Spearheaded By One Of Project 2025’s Leading Voices 2 months ago:
Donald Trump: I’ve never heard of Project 2025. I don’t know what it is. I’m not a part of it.
Also Donald Trump: Appoints Project 2025 authors to high positions in his administration, signs a ton of Project 2025 policies as EOs on Day 1.
- Comment on If you turn the Chicago Bulls logo upside down, it looks like a robot is doing a crab. 3 months ago:
That was my first thought as well.
- Comment on Jell-OH MY GOD! 3 months ago:
That was my immediate thought.
(Anyone reading this who doesn’t understand, please trust me when I say that you don’t want to. You can’t unsee that, even 25+ years later.)
- Comment on Him and Elon were cybering, calling it now... 3 months ago:
I assume they were trash-talking el presidente together, which could be political suicide for a Republican in Texas.
- Comment on Anon describes experience 3 months ago:
The bajillion stories in the comments about horrible experiences with math just reinforce the fact that I’ve made the right career choice.
I became an elementary teacher as a second career specifically because so many elementary teachers are absolutely terrible at teaching math. (Mostly because they don’t actually understand the math that they’re teaching. In my university cohort, almost 50% of my classmates failed the math entrance exam the first time. There was nothing more complex than 5th grade math on that test.)
Students should be allowed to use the strategies that work for them, and they should definitely never be punished for knowing math from higher grade levels.
If a student in my class knows something more advanced, I will challenge them to use grade-level-appropriate strategies to prove that their answers are correct. And if they demonstrate that they can do both, I’ll give them more advanced work to help them grow.
- Comment on That's a good question 4 months ago:
It was a bad three-day weekend.
- Comment on Liquid Trees 5 months ago:
A cursory search for “liquid trees micro algae” led me here: liquidtrees.org/urban-solutions
- Comment on Liquid Trees 5 months ago:
Even with ideal light conditions, there’s still more to consider.
I lived in Louisville for many years. It’s fairly green as cities go. In older parts of the city, trees had been planted between the streets and sidewalks … definitely a long time ago, maybe 30 to 50 years? Maybe longer?
Every spring, we lost a number of those trees to thunderstorms. Enough rain, followed by strong winds, would topple multiple trees. Every single one that I saw had a root ball that was exactly the size of the opening where it had been planted, so maybe two square meters and maybe a meter or two deep. (For those keeping score at home, that’s not enough root volume to support a full-sized tree.)
So we’d lose those lovely trees and on a good day, we’d lose the use of the street for a while. On a bad day, someone would lose a car or a chunk of their house.
“Just plant more trees in the middle of the city” is not the brilliant fix that many people seem to think it is.
- Comment on To whom it may concern 6 months ago:
If you’re concerned about your anonymity, keep in mind that companies frequently put ID numbers on their return envelopes to help match the returned mail piece with your record in their database. Sometimes the number is invisible (UV ink) so it doesn’t look “mass produced” to the recipient.
- Comment on Anon studies Buddhism 6 months ago:
There are definitely elements of Christianity that mimic Greco-Roman (and other, older) mystery religions. Down to celebrating their deity’s birth at the same time and commemorating his death and rebirth by having followers share bread and wine.
My favorite theory of the origin of Christianity is that it was a Jewish attempt to mimic the mystery religions that were popular at the beginning of the Common Era.
- Comment on Anon studies Buddhism 6 months ago:
My childhood bestie’s dad was one of the only bald men in our church. He pulled out this story every time anyone in our youth group mentioned it.
- Comment on Clean butt 7 months ago:
Do you also think that saying “Happy Holidays” somehow excludes Christians?
Increasing the size of your umbrella doesn’t discriminate against the people who are already under it. It simply invites more people to join them.
- Comment on Inching closer to the grave every day 7 months ago:
I feel like GenX said, The fucking old people caused this mess and are standing in the way of fixing it. We need them to die off so someone else can turn it around, but there aren’t enough of us so it’s probably up to the younger generations."
We never had a lot of collective ambition, which I guess is good because our parents still won’t let go of power.
- Comment on No beans, only dogs 8 months ago:
The Colombian one is pretty accurate, but it should probably have bacon on it, too.
