How hard could it be? You show up and communicate information within your field of expertise. The students take it all in. Job done.

It's not that simple.

You would have a very different perspective if you ever tried teaching yourself.

If you were responsible for educating 200 - 300 students with different learning styles, different motivating factors, different attention levels, different levels of discipline, different levels of comprehension, different types of psychology, different levels of intelligence, different levels of interest, different levels of sanity, different stages of physiological development (AKA puberty), etc. you'd get it.

In addition to 'teaching', an educator also needs to be a leader, a negotiator, a salesman, a disciplinarian, a politician, an administrator, a motivator, a receptionist, an advocate, a librarian, a manager, a public relations agent, a psychologist, an entertainer, an accountant, and for some students, a parent. If you are a music teacher, you get even more hats - arranger, copyist, bus scheduler, event planner, fund raiser, critic, graphic designer, contractor etc. (Running a high school band is like running a business, complete with a board, fundraiser income, expenses, employees, audits, etc.)

The 'teaching' part is the easiest part of the job. If there weren't so many responsibilities outside of the actual 'teaching', you and chilaxe would have a point. And, I haven't even mentioned dealing with administrators and parents, which is an art in and of itself.

I know you grew up in a region of the country that does not have high educational standards (and cruel stereotypes that reinforce these low standards), so I don't doubt that you've had more than your fair share of bad teachers. If anything, I think you have first hand experience of what happens when public education is neglected and underfunded. If you get the cuts you want in education, you will be saddling future generations with the same substandard education you experienced growing up. Is that really what you want?

I grew up in middle class Southern California, with teachers that were paid fairly, schools that were well funded and parents that involved themselves in the academic lives of their children. (3 of the biggest factors in student achievement). Out of the 40+ teachers I had from K-12, I can think of two that were bad (one was a morbidly obese right wing history teacher that spent as much time praising Reagan and Capitalism as he did teaching history, the other was a self-loathing Science teacher who seemed to fear any kind of social interaction). I can think of 14 that were exceptional teachers and human beings - I'm still in touch with a few of them. The rest were competent at their jobs, if not particularly memorable.

I got good grades and received a half scholarship to a prominent west coast university (fight on). Since then I've had the luxury of being able to play music for a living (and occasionally teach or compose). Public education did me a solid.

PS: I like when you share stories from your life with me. I find it much more moving and persuasive than being called a statist idiot.

This is what you get when two stupid teenagers watch to much MMA and listen to to much Gansta Rap. But of course, what else do you expect considering it looks like Florida or Southern California, particularly white well-off suburbia lol.

The guy that did this, Scott Land, does marionette work in southern california. My mom was friends with him when I was young and I had a VHS of a bunch of his work, including this.

He was also the lead puppeteer on Team America

Relevant:

http://videosift.com/video/Sometimes-there-s-a-man-The-Big-Lebowski

>> ^poolcleaner:

>> ^undefined:
For me, the comedy lies in the parody of post-modernist fucktards who are too lazy/stupid to come up with their own train of thought, and discards all your arguments with a condescending "That's just your opinion.", with the subtext "and your opinion is wrong while mine is right, and I don't have to explain why."
Not that The Dude thinks that far, of course. He is just intellectually lazy. But he is a man for his time and place.
>> ^rychan:
I actually never understood the appeal of this scene. Maybe I'm stupid and missing something obvious, but what makes this funny? Is it an anti-comedy type thing? As if he's setting up for some great comeback but has nothing?


Yeah, well, it's also the overuse of filler words, such as "like", "uhh", "yeah", "well", "man", "dude" and "fuck", that makes this (and other similar quotes) funny. Having grown up in Southern California, this line like pretty much sums up, you know, like the faults in, uhh, my own accent, man.
Also, as you pointed out Ornthoron, the borrowing of cliche lines from external sources is an important part of the humor, which becomes even more apparent when the Dude hears Bush Sr. on television say, "This will not stand", then later uses the same line in a conversation with the Big Lebowski.
Great flick. Absurd but also very subtle humor.

>> ^undefined:

For me, the comedy lies in the parody of post-modernist fucktards who are too lazy/stupid to come up with their own train of thought, and discards all your arguments with a condescending "That's just your opinion.", with the subtext "and your opinion is wrong while mine is right, and I don't have to explain why."
Not that The Dude thinks that far, of course. He is just intellectually lazy. But he is a man for his time and place.
>> ^rychan:
I actually never understood the appeal of this scene. Maybe I'm stupid and missing something obvious, but what makes this funny? Is it an anti-comedy type thing? As if he's setting up for some great comeback but has nothing?



Yeah, well, it's also the overuse of filler words, such as "like", "uhh", "yeah", "well", "man", "dude" and "fuck", that makes this (and other similar quotes) funny. Having grown up in Southern California, this line like pretty much sums up, you know, like the faults in, uhh, my own accent, man.

Also, as you pointed out Ornthoron, the borrowing of cliche lines from external sources is an important part of the humor, which becomes even more apparent when the Dude hears Bush Sr. on television say, "This will not stand", then later uses the same line in a conversation with the Big Lebowski.

Great flick. Absurd but also very subtle humor.

"...spotted in Southern California"

Yeah, that was at Comic-Con, or did the giant banner in the background that says "Comic-Con" not clue you in?

I've only ever heard the Felt Mountain album, which is more like a James Bond soundtrack. I'll have to give more of Goldfrapp's stuff a listen. I first heard them on a local (Southern California) indie radio station that had an international hour, but that station has since lost funding and, as is the fate of all indie radio stations in Socal, is yet another Mexican oompa oompa oompa station. (Not that I have anything against Mexicans but their music sucks.)

>> ^Trancecoach:

where does this take place?


Long Beach, southern California, according to the original video on Vimeo (follow the link to live leak),

Best to just move to a low-crime area. There are still a few in Southern California, but consider moving out of the region.

Soft society has been drinking too much of its own kool-aid.

with the string of recent revenge videos against bike thieves in mind, this clearly seems to be a dramatic enactment in vain of such a video. but why? are they opposed or for such retributive acts? anyone find any other sources on this?

I remember seeing the southern california revenge videos where they let the thieves steal broken bikes that would fail in purposeful ways when the thieves rode them away. I don't think it's ok to steal bikes, but it equally doesn't seem ok to try to hurt people intentionally for stealing one either.

ahem, texans are throwing a screaming fit about this right now. one group is texas freedom network and you should give it all your money. seriously, those textbooks are going to effect 46-47 other states. so unless you want idiots running the country when you're old and shitting your pants, cough it up.

texas's local political scene, particularly the state board of education, was quietly, maliciously, slowly and deliberately infiltrated over the last decade by the radical christian right and is now flexing it arms because it has gained the power to do so. it is in constant battle with the state legislature. it's not like we all got together and agreed that god should run our school boards, it was a slow and sneaky process that happened while most people weren't watching. people do not pay enough attention to their local politics. this could have happened anywhere but, they targeted texas for the take over because it is so big and has the greatest influence on the rest of the country. google don mccleroy.

and i posted this a few weeks ago so *dupe

oh and having spent the most time in my life in either texas or southern california, i'd take texas any fucking day. houston is gross. but southern california is the gaping twat of america.

LOL!!! Fortunately our kitties don't have to deal with that here in southern California! Can't wait to see the sequel.

NASA built LLRV (lunar lander research vehicle) and later the LLTV (lunar landar training vehicle). They were not tethered. They used a jet engine, oriented vertically on a gimbal to lift the vehicle so that it would behave as the actual lander would over the moon. (The moon's gravity is about 1/6 of Earth's.)

Neil Armstrong said that the moon landing would not have been possible without these test vehicles. More info here: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-026-DFRC.html

If you want to see one, I know they have one on display at NASA Dryden in Southern California. I think they only do tours ever other Friday, though.

>> ^EndAll:
Ugh, I dunno if I wanna watch this. It's probably going to make me feel really small and insignificant.


I feel your pain. Being emperor of Southern California, this realization hits me the hardest.

What land are you emperor of? Perhaps we can trade servants or swap oil wells and remember how significant we are amongst our own people.

>> ^quantumushroom:
There's no way the failures of California can be blamed on conservatives, since they have no power there and Schwarzy isn't one.
Schwarzy is a Republican in Name Only (RINO) who, with the aid of the decades-old Californian Democratic majority, has run that state straight into the ground. CA has (had?) the sixth largest economy in the world; now it lies in tatters due to high taxation, open borders and bottomless government spending.
CA is 21 billion in debt and awaiting (surprise) a bailout from King Obama, much like Castro awaited money from the USSR every year to keep his failed utopia afloat.
CA liberals, supplicate the King that he might send the money to enable more of the same irresponsibility and insanity.


Your ideas are stupid. The border is just as open as it ever was (especially when we were the 7th largest economy in the world), taxation has just been increased because of our debt, and the government spending? Well, just like your friend George W. Bush, just because Arnold wears the label "Republican" it doesn't make him fiscally responsible.

Besides, why would you be picking on our shortcomings here in California with Arnold being our Governor when you've got your work cut out for you explaining what the fuck Bush did to our entire country.

Oh and another thing, where do you live? If it's not in Southern California, or Southern Texas, you should shut the fuck up about border issues. Everybody knows it's thinly veiled racism. If you're worried about paying for the welfare of others you should head over to the bible belt and punch every welfare receiving southern baptist in her pregnant uterus.