Random Thoughts

[D_Davis]

Sometimes I like to reread this thread for the lulz: http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showth...-Was-President

Remember lulz? Good times.

That's why I was sure he was a Trump/Bannon supporter. Death to the administrative state seemed to be his utopia.

[Watashi]

I'm pretty sure Barty is not a Trump supporter, though I have no idea what his beliefs are now. I haven't spoken to him in ages.

[number8]

Pretty sure I said this in some other thread, but he is not. We talked about it a little when I hung out with him a few months ago. I don't pry the full extent of his beliefs these days so I'm not gonna speak for him, but he's made it clear that he above all hates fascism and he thinks the Trump administration are fascists. Dude likes to dress up as Indiana Jones. He's not gonna join a nazi fan club.

[Dukefrukem]

Man there's so many posts I want to respond to in that thread.

[Sycophant]

The extent to which I'm ready to fight on the Internet about someone's political and economic beliefs has sure changed a lot in the last 8 years.

[Dukefrukem]

This is my favorite post. I think DD read this out of one of his dystopian sci-fi novels.

Teachers would sign on for a certain number of terms/years, and in return, rather than receiving a salary, they would have all of their needs provided for: housing, food, transportation, etc. So long as they taught, and stayed in good standings, these needs would continue to be provided for. They would also have money invested for them in their name so that when they retired from teaching they could withdraw from this fund.

[D_Davis]

The extent to which I'm ready to fight on the Internet about someone's political and economic beliefs has sure changed a lot in the last 8 years.

Same here! I can't believe the time and energy I used to devote to that!

[Winston*]

This is my favorite post. I think DD read this out of one of his dystopian sci-fi novels.

Very keen on being an indentured servant.

[D_Davis]

Not at all. Its about creating a real sense of community in which teachers can actually afford to live in the districts in which they teach, so they can foster relationships with their students, the parents, and the community at large, which is what the public school system used to do. But places like the Bay Area and Seattle, and others have become so expensive that the teachers can no longer live in the school districts in which they teach.

I think we should view teaching like a public service job, something like the peace corp. or the National Guard, or the Military, but not in some fascist way. In the way that military bases provide basic housing, a commissary, and accommodations for military families while the families are working for the government.

There isn't a simple solution to fix our failing public education system, but something needs to be done, and I think it will take more than simply paying teachers more money. But that should also happen.

I think we should do this with doctors and nurses to. Pay for all of their schooling so they enter their profession with zero school debt, but then the doctor/nurse is assigned a certain place to work, and then they live in the community around the hospital. They work at the station for a certain amount of time before they can move on to something else.

There was a similar program in the rural school districts in Central California, and it absolutely changed the landscape of the schools and their communities.

It's super socialist and experimental, but I'd like to see some communities try it, or at least seriously study some similar ideas to address the costs of school, and the crumbling of physical communities.

With all that said, though, I have absolutely no desire to discuss this further. I just don't have the energy any more to type so much. Too much is lost in translation, or not conveyed properly. I would be more fun a beneficial to discuss or a group skype, or in person.

[number8]

I think it's the "instead of a salary" part of your original post that people balked at. I fundamentally don't think it's good for anyone's mental health to only have food and housing. Even people in prison can work for a salary and receive money gifts to spend on commissary. The idea that for the duration of their stint, until they retire, these teachers won't have access to their earnings is cruel as hell. There needs to be spending money for personal purchases that they can't ask the state to "provide" for them. Nobody wants government-issued vibrators, for one thing.

[Winston*]

Yeah. I'm in favour of bonus pay for teaching in expensive areas or hard to staff schools. I also believe teacher training should be free, particularly for minorities under-represented in the profession. But I'd rather not be held ransom to stay in the profession, or be told where to live and how to spend my money. Just pay teachers more.

There's also no reason teachers need to live directly in the community they teach in to foster relationships within those communities. Personally I would rather not be running into my students and their parents all the time outside school hours.

[Winston*]

I recognise I am coming to this from a New Zealand perspective. I would not want to be a teacher in America.

[Grouchy]

simply paying teachers more money. But that should also happen.

It wouldn't hurt to try it at least once.

[Winston*]

I switched careers to become a teacher and now I'm being paid 2/3 of what I was for a much more difficult job.

[MadMan]

Did we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Match Cut without my noticing?

I posted at RT from 2003-2017. I was a member of Icine from 2004 or 2005 to 2012, I think. I was a member of the Axis, too.

[MadMan]

I sent anniversary cakes to all the posters I liked.

[MadMan]

05 is when I joined axis... it turned into two sites (for some weird reason) the annex and MC.
The Annex took on the ambitious task of data-basing all the horror movies we watched. It was fun to contribute to. It died as I recall one of the posters who owned the database faded away.

Rebort abandoned the site and vanished. I have not forgotten.

[MadMan]

Sometimes I like to reread this thread for the lulz: http://matchcut.artboiled.com/showth...-Was-President

Remember lulz? Good times.

I do, now. Most of my posts were mocking his opinions. Now I would actually be less of a dick about it.


Eh...probably not. I think I am friends with Barty on Facebook, though.

[Dukefrukem]

Yeah. I'm in favour of bonus pay for teaching in expensive areas or hard to staff schools.

It's a good thing they already do this.

[Winston*]

It's a good thing they already do this.

Not everywhere.

[number8]

This is a great read. https://twitter.com/goldenerahits_/s...90322170470401

[MadMan]

This is a great read. https://twitter.com/goldenerahits_/s...90322170470401

I just saw that. Hollywood is an awful place.

[bac0n]

On the upside, Fab Morvan seems to be doing good for himself these days. He gave a terrific talk on the Moth Radio Hour a few months back.

https://themoth.org/storytellers/fab-morvan

Spoiler Alert - he's a pretty darned good singer these days, too.

[Irish]

That is a fucked up story. I feel sorry for them. (And I had no idea that dude OD'd.)

But---if you take the money, does that compromise you?

What if you take the money from someone you despise? Does it compromise you more?

[Lazlo]

Listening to their song they did after the controversy, where they sang for real, I can't understand why they weren't allowed to sing in the first place, beyond the producer being an asshole. They were sufficiently talented to sing the Milli Vanilli stuff.