You might have had bad teachers and bad admin, true - but more likely, the school can't do anything.

I'm a teacher, and I cannot tell you how incredibly frustrated I am at how tied my hands are. The admin can't do much, either.

My options: talk sternly to the student. Talk sternly to the parent/guardians. And... that's it.

Send them to the office? Sure. The principal also has those two options, for the most part. Suspending students is something we only do in very rare circumstances, but they really, really try to avoid it, because so often, kids are acting out because of stuff at home, so suspending them only makes the behaviour worse.

We can't do detentions after school or on weekends - we can't force parents to bring their kids in then. Lunch hour detentions, we can't afford dedicated staff to run them, especially since we'd also need them to chase the students down, because it's not like they'll go just because they were told to. We can't fail students any more.

Our district has also even gotten rid of prizes for achievements - no more honor roll, no awards, nothing. Apparently this makes the low performers feel bad, and we couldn't have that.

And talking to the parents? Most parents are honestly great, but also, I never talk to them, because the kids with the great parents, I never need to call home. The asshole kids? Their parents are almost always a nightmare. And it's a waste of time to talk to them.

One kid last year, went after another kid's field trip paperwork with a pair of scissors. Ripped into her like no one's business. Sent an email home describing the situation. I was pretty sure, based on her history, she wasn't really going to destroy his stuff, she was trying to get a rise out of him, so I said something like, "while I believe she was only intending to annoy him, not actually destroy property, it is critical for her to understand that this is absolutely unacceptable behaviour" or something like that.

So rather than telling her kid off, mom goes to the principal to try to get me in trouble for calling her kid annoying.

In application? Doesn't matter what the teachers or even admin want to do. The district, province/state, and country have taken away practically every carrot and stick, when it comes to students with extreme behavior.

It's a huge mess.

Even if Jellico was right about it being a superior system, he was still being a shit leader.

You don't come into a management position and instantly change everything up. You start by learning how things have been going with your staff and setting up a series of changes, with adequate forewarning, for them to adjust to reasonably.

You sure as hell don't come into a situation that's tense with time pressures, emotional pressures, legitimate causes to fear for their lives, etc, and then force a wide array of changes onto your staff.

Even if the 4-shift thing is unquestionably superior (and let's assume it is, ignoring the Bajor comments people are making) - it's still a stupid as fuck thing to do, under the circumstances.

Especially considering all the other changes and pressures he was adding on, all at the last minute, before a major battle.

Engine overhaul, protocol changes, shift changes, multi-day extreme overtime, on a staff that's emotionally distressed right before their lives will be put at severe risk?

He's an absolutely terrible captain and a disgrace to Starfleet. His bullshit would have endangered everyone's lives for no good reason, had he not been damned lucky that the battle never came.

You think that the statement "what LGBTQ+ says about x" is a comment that is possible to make sense?

"LGBTQ+" is not an organization. It's not a religion or a creed. It doesn't "say" anything - and, in fact, isn't even an "it" in the context you're using!

It's a term for a group of people that have nothing to do with each other, other than some shared traits. In your comment, replace "LGBTQ+" with another word for a group of unrelated humans. "Blondes," maybe, or "women," "men," "dark skinned folk," "humans," etc. You can't put something like "Americans" or "Christians" in that sentence, because those are too specific.

Can you see the problem now?

Is it fair to post a video of some random dude saying something stupid, and then say, "I have proof that men believe X"?

No, because "men" don't share a creed.

LGBTQ folk also don't share a creed. We're just people.

And I absolutely believe you'd hear some folks joking around about "coming for their children." A friend of mine jokes about the gay agenda all the time. Her gay agenda is "going to the grocery store to get milk." But someone could get a clip of her saying that she's got a gay agenda, easily.

And thing is, even if that video happened to be about some folks who weren't joking - it doesn't mean anything! Just because someone found some random assholes at pride doesn't mean that everyone who's LGBTQ+ has an agenda.

I'm probably wasting my time, I know, but I figured I'd put it out there just in case you are honestly misunderstanding the situation. Here's hoping.

In that case, yeah, you've got an admin problem. I'm sorry - that really sucks. The entire system desperately needs an overhaul. The education system in Canada is a dumpster fire, and the US is even worse. Dealing with behavioral issues is one of many major problems...

Because in^2 is generally said "square inches."

So it's "pounds per square inch."

Sometimes "per" will get its own letter, like in PPM - parts per million - and sometimes it's left off, as in PSI.

Mushroom, mushroom

The TumblrBot's response to the "do you want to be human" question made me crack up.

It's fantastic. A bit insulting, playful, charming - man, that's amazing. I'm going to be randomly giggling about that answer. Coming from an AI... haha!

I've explicitly taught this concept in my English classes, actually.

A run on sentence, for example, is a fantastic tool for expressing overly excited rambling from a character.

It only works for that purpose if the rest of the writing isn't full of run on sentences.

You have to know the rules and follow them well in order to break them for effect. I told my kids that if they obviously broke a rule for effect in their writing, I wouldn't hold it against them, but it'd only work if they were otherwise near perfect with that rule.

I had one take me up on it! It was cool. She also wrote a postscript explaining what she did and why, which was hilarious, because it was pretty obvious. She'd used sentence fragments to show incredulity. It was great.

I'm now envisioning a car wrecking its way into a house, and then trying to make cat sounds with its engine and stuff (the meows would be kinda hard, but whining would be easy enough) at the door of the restroom, and then the tires just squeal as it zooms away as the person opens the restroom door. I'm envisioning the sheer, overwhelming perplexity on their face.

I'm completely cracking up over this image. It's amazing.

I used to love physical books, but I just can't do them anymore. It's eBooks all the way - on my phone, namely.

I love to read so much and the ability to have my book on me at all times is irresistible. Going to the bathroom? Waiting at the doctor's office? A few minutes break at work? Snuggling in bed at night and I don't want to turn on a light and disturb my partner?

I've tried a few times to read physical books in the last few years, and having gotten addicted to the pleasure of reading whenever the hell I want, I just can't anymore.

Audiobooks are great for long car drives, but I rarely do those, so they're a very occasional treat for me.

This is so wholesome, especially in contrast. I love it!

We once did something really amazing along these lines. Only once, it was a crap ton of work.

We were fighting this giant demon wall thing. We made it out of Graham crackers and chocolate decorations, which we attached with melted chocolate as glue, basically. It was super creepy - I made demon eyes, oozing blood stuff, it's was great.

As we damaged the wall, we would rip parts of and eat it. It was like a solid 2-3 freaking pounds of chocolate and other assorted things. It was glorious to devour the enemy like that!

It’s annoying when monogamous people act like we’re all lying about experiencing compersion.

Man, do I feel this. Why is it so hard to believe that people can feel differently about things?

No, I'm not jealous and afraid my wife is going to leave me if she has sex with someone else. She isn't when I do that, either.

We'll eagerly discuss all the juicy details. She loves hearing about my adventures. She's more shy, so I hear more about who she'd like to be with rather than actual adventures. We both giggle and discuss people we'd totally bang and there really actually isn't an undercurrent of anxiety about it.

If I found someone that I started to fall in love with, isn't that an awesome thing? Love is wonderful! And the sort of person that I could love would be someone that my wife would, at the very least, like. How does this not sound like a wonderful situation to people?

Monogamy doesn't make sense to me, though I respect people's right to feel the way they do. If they feel jealousy, that's allowed. If they think it's better to have jealousy, then I'm confused, but whatever.

It's just weird that feeling differently gets such negative reactions and accusations of lying.

This was really cool and honestly fascinating, but I am deeply confused by the music choice.

Why are they using this gentle music (His Theme / Memory) from the game Undertale as background for cutting apart a Lego fish?

This is so cute and weirdly wholesome

I get where you're coming from and why, I really do, but I think saying stuff like that is really unhelpful.

I'm about as left wing as they come, but I grew up in rural Florida. All the bullshit you see about the place? That's my family. None of them specifically have shown up on the news, but still, it's them - their beliefs, attitudes, etc.

The issue isn't deception or manipulation from regular conservatives. When my grandparents / cousins spit out that sort of bullshit, that's not what's going on.

The issue, rather, is a complex one that is, among other things, a thing of trust.

They believe, honestly and truly, in Fox News. They believe in their preachers. They believe that homosexuality is a demon that possesses people, and by interacting with "the gays," you "open the door" to demonic influence in your life.

That last bit is an example of something I was outright taught.

When my grandparents talk about how it'd be good for America to round up all the gays and put them in concentration camps, what they're feeling is protectiveness. They want to protect people from Satan's influence, and if someone has accepted the enemy to the point of being proudly gay, then why should people be sympathetic to them? Get rid of them all, obviously.

Yes, it's insane and hurtful and stupid and so frustrating that I haven't spoken to my extended family in a few years.

But they're not trying to trick people. They don't need to think about what they believed before, they don't need to second guess what's right, they know what's right. What's right is believing in the authority figures they've been trained to believe in. What is right is to listen, to obey, to fight as they are directed to fight, for the good of all.

It's horrifying from the outside, but from the inside, it's a safe little bubble where you don't have to wonder and worry about what is the right thing to do. It's easy - the only hard part is acting on it. Do what's right, and everything else will fall into place. It's simple and feels good.

To challenge that way of thinking, to suggest that they have to figure it out themselves - that's a huge ask. Going against what they've been taught their whole lives, and for what? To have to deal with moral uncertainty and unsolvable moral dilemmas? That's hardly a reason to change.

I didn't see this as him saying that people know better than doctors.

I saw this as him saying that self diagnosis, especially with multiple tests from reasonably reliable sources, is a valuable tool in a wide variety of circumstances, and with autism in particular, has very few ill effects and is a net positive.

Including as a first step in the official diagnosis process.

There may be a number of reasons not to get an official diagnosis. When I self diagnosed for autism about... maybe 15 years ago, there was a three year wait list for the only psychiatric diagnosis thing I could afford. (I can't remember the details, it's been a while, but it was some government funded program.)

I have since gotten an official diagnosis, but getting the unofficial one first was extremely helpful for me in narrowing down where I should focus my efforts.

The guy, towards the end, was even encouraging people to get the official diagnosis - if they're able to, financially, etc. But starting with self diagnosis makes a great deal of sense.

The whole thing was about cutting down the myths and attacks around self diagnosis and saying people should be allowed to start there without getting attacked for it. That's all it is.

I, incidentally, am not anti vax or anti science. I'm a science teacher, as it happens, and science is totally my jam. I love how he included study information on accuracy rates of self diagnosis, and misdiagnosis rates for mental health issues with the medical field. I love how he encouraged people to get official diagnoses, and how his suggestions for the medical field were to increase access and affordability for people. This video did not strike me as anti science or anti psychiatry at all.

I think it's absolutely intentional. It feels like it's written by and targetted towards people who are viscerally repulsed by pedophilia.

It's creating a situation that feels like absolute horror, and using that revulsion to help sell the horror. This centuries old mind, trapped in a child's body, unable to properly experience things like sexually and romance, continually on the outside of everything, treated like a child despite her age and abilities...

If I remember correctly, she ends up being this extremely bitter murdering monstrosity, out of rage and spite over her existence. Despite her angelic, innocent face, she's the most evil of the lot. Partly because she doesn't even have the option of interacting with humans properly, and even most vampires treat her poorly.

And all because a character had a moment of moral panic, of pity for a poor child. A desire to do the right thing.

It's awful. And it's supposed to be.

It really is a matter of perspective.

You're saying that 10% of the population being awful means that a "huge number" are deeply broken.

So then 90% are being good! Mind, it doesn't take too many assholes to wreck things for everyone, but it is nice that the majority of folks really are trying to do their best. A sizeable majority, even!

It's complicated. Short version, over a small amount of time.

In the case of water, how it kills you is by diluting your blood, basically. Your kidneys will be working extremely hard (and quickly) to empty out the excess water, so for the most part, you've got to drink much faster than your kidneys can work.

That said, it's not just speed - other stuff gets cleaned out with your urine, like certain vitamins and such. Drinking excess water over a long time, but significantly more than what's on the chart, will drain you of certain nutrients / electrolytes, and that'll screw you, too.

Drinking sports drinks in that quantity could actually sidestep that particular problem, drastically raising the amount of water you can take in.

One way or another, though, while it's possible to hurt or kill yourself from drinking too much water, you have to bring it to some serious extremes and your body should be vehemently complaining during this process.

If ever you think you're doing something extreme and might possibly be slightly risky in this regard, just drink some electrolyte heavy stuff instead for a while - Gatorade, Powerade, etc. Then your only risk is basically outrunning your kidneys and your stomach should really be making you throw up if you try that.