Why ??!!...The whinging,moaning,complaining,ranting,letting off steam thread !!

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  • edited March 2023 Posts: 1,708
    i only like peanuts or coconut in chocolates......like Snickers , Bounty. Milka is good too.

    Daim very tasty but its just caramel with thin chocolate cover , not really a proper chocolate :P

    Norwegians say Kvikk Lunsj is different than Kit Kat but imo they taste almost the same. Reminds me of the "secret" Jarlsberg cheese receipe , tasted similar in Germany so its not very secret then :D
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,547
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Those of you who know me well, know that I’m a high-school teacher. I like to think of my job as one of the most fulfilling in the world. It is also a challenging and at times frustrating job. And it’s a job that seems to want to reinvent itself every few years. But not all changes are good.

    ‘Digitalization’ is the hip new thing where I live – or rather, digitalization 2.0 (since it’s not like we never used computers before in our classrooms, evidently.) Every Flemish high-schooler has his own laptop now, courtesy of our ministry of education. And so schools are asked to put the machine to good use, understandably so. However, two recent trends, which I am under severe pressure to follow myself, annoy the hell out of me:
    • Printed textbooks are replaced by digital ones. Yes, we save a lot of paperwork that way, but we also impose even more “screen time” on our students, while they are even less encouraged than before to practice their manual writing skills. Also, many students actually prefer to study from (and take notes on) a printed page instead of a screen – so do I – and they print out the digital textbook anyway, often at a much greater cost than when we do it for them.
    • The Internet offers countless classroom tools, fashionably referred to as “apps”, that promise to “make learning fun.” Sadly, many of them have very little to offer in terms of educational value. (Also, learning can be fun all right, but it doesn’t have to be; it should be meaningful and useful first and foremost. The “fun” part can be a pleasant side-effect, but it shouldn’t be a goal on its own, and certainly not in high school or college.) Yet pretty much every week, we are force-fed links to supposedly awesome tools that promise to turn classrooms into playgrounds, which reads like a horror scenario to this teacher. Even worse, many colleagues of mine seem to enjoy putting on the digital party hat. I was under the impression that schools have to turn children into adults, not the other way around.

    I am, for the record, not a technophobe. Digital tools can be very useful indeed. But an overreliance on them can also do a lot of damage. More and more am I getting this awkward feeling that laptops and “apps” are replacing us, teachers. But these things have neither my experience nor my understanding of (and love for) my students. I teach because I bloody know what the hell I’m talking about and because I can make difficult concepts in chemistry and physics more accessible to young people. I didn’t enter this profession with a passion and a vocation simply to shout instructions and then passively watch while my students are playing around with computer programs.

    Again, a little goes a long way. And if given enough freedom to pick the tools I like and dismiss the ones I don't, I wouldn't complain. But today I was told that tests "should be more digitalized from now on", with the added bonus that "the program can check the answers for you." Apart from the fact that that's not true except in the case of multiple-choice questions or questions that demand a precise number, word or name, I primarily object to the notion that it's a good thing to delegate the evaluation of my students to a machine. I want to check their answers! I want to see what progress they are making. I care less about the points than I care about how today's test compares to the previous ones.

    "You're getting old, Dimi! It's called the future so get used to it." Yes, thank you. Again, I have nothing against digital work in school. But I firmly believe that helpful tools are only helpful to those who have already mastered the basics. Think of it this way: a word processor makes life easier for someone who knows how to write; but in the hands of someone who can't even put a few decent sentences together, a word processor is meaningless. School is where you first learn to cover the basics. Let's try to focus on those (again) before we let a program do it for us. Pocket calculators are great, but let's learn some basic arithmetic first. Wikipedia is convenient, but let's memorize some historical and geographical facts first.

    Or have I really become a relic of the pre-Internet age? ;-)

    The internet is a Lovecraftian horror.
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Those of you who know me well, know that I’m a high-school teacher. I like to think of my job as one of the most fulfilling in the world. It is also a challenging and at times frustrating job. And it’s a job that seems to want to reinvent itself every few years. But not all changes are good.

    ‘Digitalization’ is the hip new thing where I live – or rather, digitalization 2.0 (since it’s not like we never used computers before in our classrooms, evidently.) Every Flemish high-schooler has his own laptop now, courtesy of our ministry of education. And so schools are asked to put the machine to good use, understandably so. However, two recent trends, which I am under severe pressure to follow myself, annoy the hell out of me:
    • Printed textbooks are replaced by digital ones. Yes, we save a lot of paperwork that way, but we also impose even more “screen time” on our students, while they are even less encouraged than before to practice their manual writing skills. Also, many students actually prefer to study from (and take notes on) a printed page instead of a screen – so do I – and they print out the digital textbook anyway, often at a much greater cost than when we do it for them.
    • The Internet offers countless classroom tools, fashionably referred to as “apps”, that promise to “make learning fun.” Sadly, many of them have very little to offer in terms of educational value. (Also, learning can be fun all right, but it doesn’t have to be; it should be meaningful and useful first and foremost. The “fun” part can be a pleasant side-effect, but it shouldn’t be a goal on its own, and certainly not in high school or college.) Yet pretty much every week, we are force-fed links to supposedly awesome tools that promise to turn classrooms into playgrounds, which reads like a horror scenario to this teacher. Even worse, many colleagues of mine seem to enjoy putting on the digital party hat. I was under the impression that schools have to turn children into adults, not the other way around.

    I am, for the record, not a technophobe. Digital tools can be very useful indeed. But an overreliance on them can also do a lot of damage. More and more am I getting this awkward feeling that laptops and “apps” are replacing us, teachers. But these things have neither my experience nor my understanding of (and love for) my students. I teach because I bloody know what the hell I’m talking about and because I can make difficult concepts in chemistry and physics more accessible to young people. I didn’t enter this profession with a passion and a vocation simply to shout instructions and then passively watch while my students are playing around with computer programs.

    Again, a little goes a long way. And if given enough freedom to pick the tools I like and dismiss the ones I don't, I wouldn't complain. But today I was told that tests "should be more digitalized from now on", with the added bonus that "the program can check the answers for you." Apart from the fact that that's not true except in the case of multiple-choice questions or questions that demand a precise number, word or name, I primarily object to the notion that it's a good thing to delegate the evaluation of my students to a machine. I want to check their answers! I want to see what progress they are making. I care less about the points than I care about how today's test compares to the previous ones.

    "You're getting old, Dimi! It's called the future so get used to it." Yes, thank you. Again, I have nothing against digital work in school. But I firmly believe that helpful tools are only helpful to those who have already mastered the basics. Think of it this way: a word processor makes life easier for someone who knows how to write; but in the hands of someone who can't even put a few decent sentences together, a word processor is meaningless. School is where you first learn to cover the basics. Let's try to focus on those (again) before we let a program do it for us. Pocket calculators are great, but let's learn some basic arithmetic first. Wikipedia is convenient, but let's memorize some historical and geographical facts first.

    Or have I really become a relic of the pre-Internet age? ;-)

    I work at a place that researches digitalisation and one of our programmes is focussed on educational technology and AI (so not exactly the thing you are talking about, but a subset of it). I’m not a researcher, I’m not part of that team, but from what I gather from their presentations and talking with some of the people in the programme (education is one of those things everyone has an opinion on so their stuff is a regular lunchtime topic) their scientific findings again and again are that people - and especially children and teens - learn best from and with people. There are vast advances to be made in supporting those people and freeing them up to do the actual teaching and learning part, but at the end of the day it has to have a strong human to human connection (again, I hope I am not misrepresenting their findings).

    The problem is, computers are cheaper than people - at first. So if push comes to shove, school administration people would rather buy 40 laptops and an app and have 40 students supervised by one person on minimum wage (not a thing being proposed, but you get my point), rather than create a hybrid learning environment where a small group of students is supervised by an actual teacher who can then pull in digital tools as needed.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    @ImpertinentGoon
    Thank you for that post, sir. Glad I'm not the only one who understands that teaching is still best done by people.
  • Posts: 1,987
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    @ImpertinentGoon
    Thank you for that post, sir. Glad I'm not the only one who understands that teaching is still best done by people.

    I taught English for forty-one years. As a teacher I was fortunate to be trained in the use of computers as part of my job as technology advanced. Many people my age never got that kind of training and are uncomfortable with computers. No question, computers were invaluable in many ways. But what computers never did and still don't do is engage students in great discussions about writing and the wealth of literature one studies in school. Lots of value in listening to the opinions of others, whether one agrees with you or not. Computers have yet to master the art of listening and conversation. I thank everyone who believes teaching is an art best done by human beings with passion and a soul.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
  • Posts: 12,467
    Sadly the comments are equally despicable. Alt right people have overrun certain places like Yahoo and YouTube.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,032
    This is sick and only the latest step of certain organized groups everywhere leading the entire world into a reactionary, backward, pseudo-biblical and ultimately fascist dictatorship. Say I as a definite hetero, because I don't expect all people to share my view as well as my sexual orientation. Good luck to all who identify as LGBTQ+, as much as I admit to privately ridiculing this "denomination". It's not personal for me, I accept them anyway.
  • Posts: 12,467
    https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/en_US/privacyhub/us-porn-id-laws/amp/

    When will it end with the Republicans??? JFC.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited March 2023 Posts: 24,179
    Hahaha, I love Americans and their obsession with sex. Us, Europeans, are so much more relaxed about it. :-D Isn't watching porn, when you're still underaged, part of growing up? It's like sneaking into a movie showing you're not old enough to see.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited March 2023 Posts: 3,789
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Hahaha, I love Americans and their obsession with sex. Us, Europeans, are so much more relaxed about it. :-D Isn't watching porn, when you're still underaged, part of growing up? It's like sneaking into a movie showing you're not old enough to see.

    Which European country do you live?
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    SIS_HQ wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Hahaha, I love Americans and their obsession with sex. Us, Europeans, are so much more relaxed about it. :-D Isn't watching porn, when you're still underaged, part of growing up? It's like sneaking into a movie showing you're not old enough to see.

    Which European country do you live?

    Belgium.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited March 2023 Posts: 3,789
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    SIS_HQ wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Hahaha, I love Americans and their obsession with sex. Us, Europeans, are so much more relaxed about it. :-D Isn't watching porn, when you're still underaged, part of growing up? It's like sneaking into a movie showing you're not old enough to see.

    Which European country do you live?

    Belgium.

    You're a Belgian! Belgium is one of the most beautiful countries in Europe!

    Very lovely, I'd liked to go there someday.

    So you're near to Luxembourg, have you been there?
  • Posts: 9,846
    Well i broke my First Controller to goldeneye I was at the door of the elevator in cavern only to be shot in the back sigh


    As for real Life complaints I lost one job and just jumped on to a “quick” 8 month contract so I habe Money coming in get a message from one of my former coworkers who did no work and he is like yeah I got this great new job 20,000 more (I took a ten thousand dollar pay cut so I would have a job)

    And the US government says I owe them three thousand dollar . my trainer canceled on me this morning cause she is sick and my therapist is booked solid Till May After Monday’s appointment

    Is 10:30 to early to start drinking asking for a friend
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    SIS_HQ wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    SIS_HQ wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Hahaha, I love Americans and their obsession with sex. Us, Europeans, are so much more relaxed about it. :-D Isn't watching porn, when you're still underaged, part of growing up? It's like sneaking into a movie showing you're not old enough to see.

    Which European country do you live?

    Belgium.

    You're a Belgian! Belgium is one of the most beautiful countries in Europe!

    Very lovely, I'd liked to go there someday.

    So you're near to Luxembourg, have you been there?

    I am a Belgian! And I appreciate what you wrote there. Indeed, I like what we have to offer, even if it isn't Italy or Spain. Apparently, American tourists are told to always lock their cars and whatnot. Not my impression of my country, but hey. ;-)

    I have been to Luxembourg, indeed. Went hiking in the woods there on multiple occasions. Anyway, a few pictures of Belgium:

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    s2ufcxj6dytm.jpg

    Donald Trump thought us a "failed state". That's okay, Donald. I think you're a failed president. All water under the bridge now.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,271
    A few things have really cut me up on the road recently. There are temporary traffic lights due to workmen digging up the road to lay water pipes just outside the village closest to where I live. On three occasions now I've witnessed cars jumping the lights when they're still red and driving up the single strip of road. Just today the lights had went green and the car in front of me took off as usual. I followed behind and we were met by a car that had to reverse back because it'd clearly jumped the red light at the other end. I also saw another car had pulled in at an entrance to let us past. I suppose they'd followed suit when the going was "good". It's unbelievably dangerous, stupid and of course illegal to do this but I've seen it happening before and it maddens me. People seem to think it's perfectly fine to jump these lights as they're in some way not as official as the permanent traffic lights. It's very aggravating how impatient people are, they'd literally rather cause at accident than wait a minute on the light changing to green and it being safe to go.
  • LucknFateLucknFate 007 In New York
    Posts: 1,646
    Risico007 wrote: »
    Well i broke my First Controller to goldeneye I was at the door of the elevator in cavern only to be shot in the back sigh


    As for real Life complaints I lost one job and just jumped on to a “quick” 8 month contract so I habe Money coming in get a message from one of my former coworkers who did no work and he is like yeah I got this great new job 20,000 more (I took a ten thousand dollar pay cut so I would have a job)

    And the US government says I owe them three thousand dollar . my trainer canceled on me this morning cause she is sick and my therapist is booked solid Till May After Monday’s appointment

    Is 10:30 to early to start drinking asking for a friend

    Sorry to hear you're in work trouble. Hope it all manages to sort itself out. Money comes and goes.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited March 2023 Posts: 9,032
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Donald Trump thought us a "failed state". That's okay, Donald. I think you're a failed president. All water under the bridge now.
    But then he also thought...well, ok: said!... that Brussels was a beautiful country...or something to that extent. It's about on the "Nairobi, South Africa" level in DAF.

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Donald Trump thought us a "failed state". That's okay, Donald. I think you're a failed president. All water under the bridge now.
    But then he also thought...well, ok: said!... that Brussels was a beautiful country...or something to that extent. It's about on the "Nairobi, South Africa" level in DAF.

    Yeah. Belgium was the capital of Brussels, according to the nice man. I still haven't stopped laughing since. Even more painful is the fact that he said these things in the wake of a terrorist attack which resulted in dozens of dead people. And yet, these dozens pale in comparison to the loss of life Trump's America has had to endure from domestic terrorism, practically financed and supported by Trump's buddies of the NRA. A failed state, Donald? What then do you call a country where people carry automatic weapons to "protect" their families? A loony bin?
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,032
    Uh, oh...I hope you don't get in trouble with the admins for this...oh, wait...!
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Uh, oh...I hope you don't get in trouble with the admins for this...oh, wait...!

    I would never abuse my power, sir. I can take a spanking. In fact, I often do. ;-)
  • Posts: 15,117
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Hahaha, I love Americans and their obsession with sex. Us, Europeans, are so much more relaxed about it. :-D Isn't watching porn, when you're still underaged, part of growing up? It's like sneaking into a movie showing you're not old enough to see.

    And providing an id to a porn website, what could go wrong?
  • Posts: 12,467
    Considering I write lots of porn (softcore, mind you), the prospect of losing everything especially is personal to me. My guess, or hope, is that would be a step too far to be taken. I can’t imagine it’d go any better than prohibition.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited March 2023 Posts: 9,032
    FoxRox wrote: »
    Considering I write lots of porn (softcore, mind you), the prospect of losing everything especially is personal to me. My guess, or hope, is that would be a step too far to be taken. I can’t imagine it’d go any better than prohibition.
    I have a lot of sympathy for your view, and I despise U.S. Republicans as much as anybody, but I guess the impulse to keep minors (not necessarily everyone under 18, but at least much younger ones) from accessing hard-core porn content is not restricted to right-wingers over here in Europe.

    That being said, the subject for me and most others is only hardcore. Fifty years ago, we already had bare breasts on public TV, including some by minors. A famous case was 16-year old Nastassja Kinski, playing a high-school student having a "relationship" with her teacher, in an episode of the popular Sunday-night crime series Tatort - "scene of the crime" - which still exists after 1200+ episodes (and countless other bared breasts, I suppose) until today. (EDIT:) By the way, that Tatort episode was directed by a certain Wolfgang Petersen, who went on to Das Boot fame and quite a Hollywood career.

    Topless women or full nudity don't worry anybody over here. People routinely go to public saunas in hotels or wherever, in which everyone is naked. No one wraps himself in a towel as American films may suggest. There are many nude beaches, and most of the time nobody cares if someone is nude at a non-nude beach as well. Just now several cities have started allowing everyone (and not just men) to swim in public pools without any top, for the sake of equality. Nudity is totally disconnected from sex in those surroundings, since everyone accepts it. And some films rated R or even X in the States are rated "12" or so in Germany, and I suppose in much of Europe.

    I'll also freely admit that just like any other man that doesn't lie, I did of course have my share of interest in porn (soft or hard) when puberty took its toll and afterwards.

    But it is still a different thing when I consider young kids that are clearly not ready to understand what happens in a porn movie (and I reserve that term for hardcore with all its, uhm, variations). I do think that there is a valid case for making it harder or impossible for young children to access those contents. I don't have a solution that fits all. But the mere fact that some 16-year old may circumvent controls by using a VPN or so (which means there is a certain maturity already, by the way) doesn't render the entire concept void. 8-year olds probably can't do it. I compare this to gun control. Just because some perps may still manage to obtain a gun illegally through the Darknet or whatever doesn't mean we have to ease all restrictions.
  • Posts: 1,987
    When extremist conservatives talk about protection, they really mean control. And it's not just about protecting impressionable youth. There's blood in the water and the feeding frenzy is just beginning.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,032
    CrabKey wrote: »
    When extremist conservatives talk about protection, they really mean control. And it's not just about protecting impressionable youth. There's blood in the water and the feeding frenzy is just beginning.
    I'm not so far removed from your opinion here, but still I think not all floodgates must be left open, but there should be a practical solution. Which I understand is hard to obtain when the other side consists of extremist "conservatives". A misnomer in my book, by the way, they should be called "destructives".
  • Posts: 1,987
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    CrabKey wrote: »
    When extremist conservatives talk about protection, they really mean control. And it's not just about protecting impressionable youth. There's blood in the water and the feeding frenzy is just beginning.
    I'm not so far removed from your opinion here, but still I think not all floodgates must be left open, but there should be a practical solution. Which I understand is hard to obtain when the other side consists of extremist "conservatives". A misnomer in my book, by the way, they should be called "destructives".

    I try not to label myself, because my views embrace liberal, moderate, and conservative. I suspect that's where most people are. Extremism right or left is dangerous. To be clear, I do not want the floodgates opened.

    When it comes to floodgates, conservatives are equally guilty, because they're never mollified. There's always more to restrict, ban, discriminate against, and hate. They love to pretend they are victims. Is a grade school kid who a saw a photo Michelangelos's David a victim? Should schoolgirls who mention their periods in school be criminalized?

    The journey ahead for the U.S. is going to be difficult and dangerous, particularly with a former president who would love nothing more than to see destruction and death as validation of his greatness.

  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,032
    CrabKey wrote: »
    When it comes to floodgates, conservatives are equally guilty, because they're never mollified. There's always more to restrict, ban, discriminate against, and hate. They love to pretend they are victims. Is a grade school kid who a saw a photo Michelangelos's David a victim? Should schoolgirls who mention their periods in school be criminalized?

    The journey ahead for the U.S. is going to be difficult and dangerous, particularly with a former president who would love nothing more than to see destruction and death as validation of his greatness.
    I can see your point, and I agree with your conclusion regarding that former president. But I think protecting young children from being confronted with hardcore pornography by some means (to be determined) may still be a worthy goal. And I would like to emphasize that Europe's conservatives parties, generally speaking, are not of the kind that call themselves Conservative in the U.S., not just in regard of this topic, but generally.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    I agree that porn has a dark side to it, especially when it inspires malafide types to lure impressionable and often defenceless kids into doing things that inevitably cause them mental and physical harm. I also think that when one is, indeed, too young, exposure to hardcore material can mess with a person's natural sexual development. Evidently, it's hard to regulate such things. The Internet is notoriously defiant when it comes to regulations of any sort. But @j_w_pepper is certainly correct about this being a worthy pursuit nonetheless.
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