Catholic layman, student, teacher, and citizen of the USA "Psychopathic reader" Quid Est Veritas, Deus Vult, et Incepto ne Desistam
US Midwest
Joined April 2023
- Tweets25.1K
- Following3.1K
- Followers191
- Likes292K
Joseph Rigdon retweeted
If you’ve ever drank a Jägerbomb, thereby disarming it, you may be entitled to an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Badge.
Joseph Rigdon retweeted
Starting tonight at 1 AM, we’ll be sharing the real radio transmissions from the night the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was lost on Lake Superior, 50 years ago.
These posts will follow the timeline as it happened, from the first reports of rough seas to the ship’s final transmission.
We share them in remembrance of the 29 men who were lost, and in respect for all who work the Great Lakes.
Transmissions from: ssedmundfitzgerald.org/fitz-…
Plus the history teacher is a ghost who died awhile ago. He has probably not been keeping up on his Continuing Education Credits for recent events.
Came to appreciate a part of Harry Potter I used to think was faulty.
Just a few thoughts about a story that has accompanied me since I was nine years old (for the last 22 years).
I first read Harry Potter when it was published in my country and have reread it several times throughout my life. Every time, I discover new details or look at things differently. But there's one thing I've always found a little unnerving, especially since rereading it as an adult: how little the characters seem to know about the world around them.
For example, Harry knows about Voldemort and his parents from the first book, yet he learns some very basic facts about the whole Voldemort episode in wizarding history surprisingly late. In book four, he first learns what Death Eaters are. In book five, he discovers that his parents were part of an organisation called the Order of the Phoenix. And so on.
I always thought, "Come on, he's 13, 14 or 15 by now. He should know at least this much about history, especially when it's such an important part of his own life. Surely he would have researched it or asked someone?" The same goes for other basic aspects of the wizarding world that only get explained much later.
Of course, the explanation is that these things simply weren't important to the plot until Rowling needed them, so there was no reason to introduce them earlier. Still, it always felt unnatural to me that a 12, 13, 14, 15 or 16-year-old would know so little about the world he lives in. I always thought there had to be a better way to introduce these facts than having Harry, or even Ron, who grew up in a wizarding family, ask seemingly basic questions about history, the Ministry and so on.
Then last year, I started teaching at a school instead of a university, and I realised something: that's exactly how most kids are.
They might have heard certain terms, but they're often clueless about history (unless they've specifically studied it at school), how the economy works, or the political systems they live under. I've taught children who came from war zones as babies or toddlers but still had very little understanding of what happened there or who the parties involved were. They might recognise certain terms, but ask them to explain the details and they struggle. Even children born and raised here often have a very limited understanding of how the world around them works.
I think my adult perspective had made me forget that completely.
So when I reread Harry Potter this year, after starting to teach, I found that this aspect of the story felt much less unnatural than it used to. In fact, it struck me as a pretty solid depiction of how some preteen and teenage boys actually think and interact with the world.
Just wanted to share because I enjoy discovering a new perspective on a story I've read so many times.
2
244
Joseph Rigdon retweeted
Když tvůj sen bylo navrhovat podvozky pro Boeing, ale v IKEA ti svěří pant na rohovou skříň. 😄
Joseph Rigdon retweeted
In 1994, my uncle opened an eleven-seat sushi counter in Little Rock, Arkansas, and hung ten rules on the wall.
The rules of a proper Tokyo sushi counter. Where you speak softly. Where the chef is a priest and the fish is the sermon.
Arkansas has broken every single one.
He never took the list down. He just crossed out each rule, by hand, and wrote underneath what Arkansas taught him instead.
Here it is.
1. Eat each piece in one bite.
Crossed out. Underneath:
"Arkansas eats it in three bites and reviews each one out loud. 'Oh, that's good. Oh, that's GOOD. Tets, what did you DO.'"
(His name is Tetsuo. He has been "Tets" since 1994. He did not agree to this.)
2. Never mix wasabi into the soy sauce.
Crossed out:
"They stir it into a gray paste and call it 'the slurry.' I watched for ten years. Then I stopped watching. I am a calmer man."
3. No tipping. This is the Japanese way.
Crossed out:
"When I refuse their money, they hide it. Under the plate. Inside the soy sauce bottle. Once, in my shoe. I still do not know when they got to my shoe."
4. The counter is a place of quiet focus.
Crossed out:
"The counter is where I learn the name of everyone's dog. I know 212 dogs. I have met four."
5. Trust the chef.
Crossed out:
"They trust me completely. Then they ask if I can add cream cheese. I can. It is called the Little Rock Roll. It outsells everything I learned in Tokyo."
6. No substitutions.
Crossed out:
"Mrs. Hollister is allergic to fish. She has come every Friday for nineteen years. Cucumber roll. Miso soup. She tells me I need a haircut. I stopped asking why she comes. I know why she comes."
7. The chef does not shake hands.
Crossed out:
"Every man in Arkansas shakes my hand on the way out. I wash my hands 140 times a night. Worth it."
8. Do not ask the chef personal questions.
Crossed out:
"Big Jim has asked me if I'm happy every Friday since 1998. In Japan, nobody had ever asked me that. The first time, I didn't know the answer. Now I say yes. It's true now."
9. The chef works alone.
Crossed out:
"In 2011, I had back surgery. I was gone six weeks. When I came back, the restaurant was spotless, the floors were waxed, and there were fresh flowers on the counter. The regulars had a key. Nobody will tell me who made the key."
10. Never let a customer behind the counter.
He crossed this one out last. He needed a whole paragraph.
"On my 70th birthday, eleven regulars walked behind my counter, put on my aprons, and made me sushi.
It was the worst sushi ever made in the state of Arkansas.
Big Jim's roll had a Slim Jim in it. Mrs. Hollister's was mostly cucumber and prayer. Somebody used a cheese grater. Nobody will tell me on what.
They served it on my plates. With my soy sauce. And they stood behind my counter and watched me eat, the way I have watched them for thirty years.
I ate every piece. One bite each.
Then I bowed to them. Eleven people in my aprons bowed back, at eleven different angles."
My uncle is 71. He is still there, six nights a week.
The list is still on the wall. All ten rules, crossed out.
Last year, someone added an eleventh at the bottom, in black marker.
Nobody will say who wrote it. It is Big Jim's handwriting.
11. Tets stays.
Joseph Rigdon retweeted
i've seen SO many teachers say that their students, some as young as *second grade*, are sexually moaning in the classroom. and making gagging noises. of course no one is addressing that these children are being exposed to pornography and have unlimited internet access and smartphones earlier and earlier, which is entirely POS parents' fault. just horrifying on so many levels.
Joseph Rigdon retweeted
Wanna see an anti-rape device that doesn't have this problem?
