Teacup Café XLII

[Acalewia]

Originally Posted by Midge

The Green Dragon would be for a forum for Hobbits. We're Ents here. That's why there are 2-year breaks between our posts.

Originally Posted by Midge

We don't talk about anything that isn't worth taking a long time to talk about.

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Well, it's like the Green Dragon, as in we've got all the food and drinks you'd want and plenty of people to talk to about pretty much very thing. We're just -hoom- a little slower, generally.

Well, that explains a lot lol

[Mari]

Originally Posted by Midge

I thought you were going to teach a gifted class. I always loved mine. It was more directed-learning, and when we were younger it encouraged more creativity. You know, give students a general topic and have them do something with it (we got to choose what we did). The class was always much smaller too, so that was nice. There were eight of us in my grade.

We don't really do those here. Classes consist of 32 (though the government swears it's 24 to 28 on average ) and teachers are supposed to differentiate in their classes so everyone gets material at their own level. Kind of hard to do with so many kids, while more and more kids have (learning) disorders like AD(H)D, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc. Special Ed is being trimmed down because every kid should have the right to go to a normal school and learn to get along with normal kids... or so our government has decided.
Though the idea isn't wrong per se, you can't just stick kids with for example autism or high sensitivitiy in classes of 32 and expect them to do well and be happy.

By the by, though my students don't get to decide our curriculum, I do often give them practical assignment where they can do pretty much whatever they want within a certain learning frame.

[Mari]

In other news:

to Earn! *sets out cake*
I hope you have a great birthday!

[tolkienfan]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

So some of you are runners? I run 10K to 8mi every morning with wind sprints on Sunday. My last marathon was last November

I am training for my first marathon in October! Tips appreciated

Your running schedule sounds awesome and intense Question: what do you do if there is no wind on a given Sunday?

I did sprints Wednesday evening and am still sore

I may need to start a running thread...

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by tolkienfan

I am training for my first marathon in October! Tips appreciated

1. Your shoes are the most important item of kit you will ever own. 2. Having a running partner is very important, it keeps you from burrowing back under the covers on cold, dark, rainy days. Mine is a German Shepherd named Neeshka who barks and pulls my covers off if I don't get up on time. 3. The hardest thing about running is getting your shoes on and out the front door. 4. Tempt yourself with rewards: "If I hit 40 miles this week, I'll get that skirt I have been hemming and hawing about." 4a. "Getting back into that pair of jeans" doesn't work

Your running schedule sounds awesome and intense Question: what do you do if there is no wind on a given Sunday?

Thanks, it is intense but rarely cool. The "wind" in wind sprints is mine. I sprint till I run out of it. That is why Neeshka isn't allowed to accompany me on Sunday. When I am bent over trying to catch my breath, she runs around in circles and barks. This is not a popular rule with the hound.

I did sprints Wednesday evening and am still sore

Then you are doing it right

I may need to start a running thread...

Looks like you did

Susie

[Noble Elf Lord]

Looks like it's summer again. ... ...Damn it
Gotta think of new, ingenious ways to keep my dear flesh in the shade... Sun is evil. Tan is bad.

Oh, and welcome to the new sapling, Nerwen!
Don't mind me, I'm the broods-in-the-corner- antisocial meddler of the place

.

Hasn't anyone here gotten a Twitter account yet btw?

[Mari]

No, I ain't touching that, for sure.

[Acalewia]

Originally Posted by Mari

Though the idea isn't wrong per se, you can't just stick kids with for example autism or high sensitivitiy in classes of 32 and expect them to do well and be happy.

Ain't that the truth! I have ADD and for some reason none of the meds for ADD at the time (keep in mind this was the 90s) absolutely did not work for me, so I had to learn to control it on my own. OMG is that an Oliphaunt!

Originally Posted by Noble Elf Lord

Looks like it's summer again. ... ...Damn it
Gotta think of new, ingenious ways to keep my dear flesh in the shade... Sun is evil. Tan is bad.

What's a tan? I do not know this thing of which you speak. Is that when your freckles merge or something?

Don't mind me, I'm the broods-in-the-corner- antisocial meddler of the place

I'm pretty sure there are others who can claim that title

Hasn't anyone here gotten a Twitter account yet btw?

Yes. Mine is so full of random crap... Originally got it and told myself that I would only use it for writing....

Yep, that totally happened

[Mari]

And that's why I stay far from that.
Speaking of "I ain't touching that"

[Noble Elf Lord]

Originally Posted by Acalewia

What's a tan? I do not know this thing of which you speak. Is that when your freckles merge or something?


I'm pretty sure there are others who can claim that title


Yes. Mine is so full of random crap... Originally got it and told myself that I would only use it for writing....

Yep, that totally happened

...Aye, lass... ...they... start migrating along my body and end up ruining my fair complexion...

Such as?

Haha Mine's been very useful really, gotten a couple of nice contacts, and it's also been interesting (news/science/life hacks) and humorous. 67 follows, and 48 followers now.
I recommend you follow @Letha_Hughes, @LiveScience and @funnyjoke (Jenna Marbles), to name a few. Also, if you're into punkus, follow @DemiNewell

[Nerwen]

Luckies, i used to gt a little spray of freckles across the bridge of my nose in the sumertime and I was enchanted by them, I thought they made me look cute. Now they are gone, they never call, they never write...

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Mari

In other news:

to Earn! *sets out cake*
I hope you have a great birthday!

Aww, thanks, that really looks delicious! I had a great day!

Originally Posted by Noble Elf Lord

Hasn't anyone here gotten a Twitter account yet btw?

Ain't joining that site until they get a grip on their trolls.

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Mari

...Earn! ... I hope you have a great birthday!

O! Chocolate cake! Mari, Eärniel, please cut the cake!! Happy birthday, Eärniel.

[Noble Elf Lord]

"Ain't joining that site until they get a grip on their trolls."

I haven't suffered from those?

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

O! Chocolate cake! Mari, Eärniel, please cut the cake!! Happy birthday, Eärniel.

Thank you, and no worries, I'll be sharing this one.

*cuts cake for everyone*

Originally Posted by Noble Elf Lord

"Ain't joining that site until they get a grip on their trolls."

I haven't suffered from those?

Good for you! But I am a woman and then things are different.

But otherwise, I'm perfectly happy to be off twitter. I can still read tweets of people I like, and for science I tend to prefer blogs anyway.

[Noble Elf Lord]

"Good for you! But I am a woman and then things are different."
Oh, right. What's it like then? No need to tell if you don't wanna of course...

Ah, and do excuse me - Happy birthday

[Acalewia]

Originally Posted by Noble Elf Lord

Such as?

Sane for one lol

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Luckies, i used to gt a little spray of freckles across the bridge of my nose in the sumertime and I was enchanted by them, I thought they made me look cute. Now they are gone, they never call, they never write...

I get a ton on my shoulders and arms during the summer. I'm also a redhead (my hair is starting to darken though ) so it goes with the territory

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Ain't joining that site until they get a grip on their trolls.

That's why you don't feed them. They always come back for more food.

But those stupid "buy followers" accounts drive me up the freaking wall. They get blocked as soon as the follow me

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Noble Elf Lord

Oh, right. What's it like then? No need to tell if you don't wanna of course...

I don't mind telling, but I am a bit surprised you have to ask, is misogyny on the internet completely new to you?

Women on the internet, especially women with an opinion, or women engaging in fields which are regarded as male-dominated fields, run a far higher risk of being harrassed online.

You may have heard of last year's 'gamergate' debacle, which started with a jealous ex-boyfriend, pretended to be people concerned about ethics in game-journalism, and ended in several women being harrassed online; threatened with rape, physical harm and death; being doxxed (having your personal information, often including home address, exposed in public) which led to some people having to leave their house in fear of their own safety; and -if I remember correctly- even one instance of attempted swatting (in which somebody calls in a fake report and gets a SWAT-team to come and bust down your door.) And gamergate isn't just a one-time occurence, just the last big sordid, public display of misogyny online.

Twitter is notoriously bad in dealing with this sort of abuse. It has been a laborous process to get accounts that send threats or abuse suspended, and the abusers can make new twitter handles even faster than all that. As recent as just earlier this year(!) Twitter had to admit that they suck at moderating their users to stop abuse and finally made some attempts to combat it.

That all is not to say that men don't get abused online, or that every troll is male, the opposite does occur. But as it stands, women face a higher risk of online harrassment. So yes, things are different for women. We have to think twice if we want a female handle on a multiplayer game and what reactions that will give. We have to think twice about expressing any opinion on any platform. We have to think twice what we share online and how it can be used against us.

Ah, and do excuse me - Happy birthday

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Acalewia

That's why you don't feed them. They always come back for more food.

If only it was as easy but it's not always about feeding them, unless you consider the act of merely existing as food for trolls. Sometimes just that is enough to have them come running.

Is campaigning to have for once a woman to grace a bank note feeding the trolls and meritable with rape threats? What on earth did a historian like Mary Beard ever do to be sent sexual slurs? (I do like the bit where she actually managed to identify the troll and threatened to sent copies of his messages to his mother. Sadly, those pay-backs are few and far in between.)

[Noble Elf Lord]

Eärn,
As a phenomenon, no it's not; but Gamergate and all the "after-shocks" are nothing but distant thunder, at most, in my practical everyday some. Then again, being male, and not participating much in the convos in Twitter (mostly trying to show religious people the flaws in their "logic", and so far I have only thrown in a remark in a few already on-going debates, and withdrawn) I'm not that familiar with the war. I also try not to assume too much in life...

Most welcome dear

.

Anyhoo. Reading The Blind Watchmaker by Dawkins, also borrowed Climbing Mount Impropable.

[Acalewia]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

I don't mind telling, but I am a bit surprised you have to ask, is misogyny on the internet completely new to you?

Women on the internet, especially women with an opinion, or women engaging in fields which are regarded as male-dominated fields, run a far higher risk of being harrassed online.

You may have heard of last year's 'gamergate' debacle, which started with a jealous ex-boyfriend, pretended to be people concerned about ethics in game-journalism, and ended in several women being harrassed online; threatened with rape, physical harm and death; being doxxed (having your personal information, often including home address, exposed in public) which led to some people having to leave their house in fear of their own safety; and -if I remember correctly- even one instance of attempted swatting (in which somebody calls in a fake report and gets a SWAT-team to come and bust down your door.) And gamergate isn't just a one-time occurence, just the last big sordid, public display of misogyny online.

Twitter is notoriously bad in dealing with this sort of abuse. It has been a laborous process to get accounts that send threats or abuse suspended, and the abusers can make new twitter handles even faster than all that. As recent as just earlier this year(!) Twitter had to admit that they suck at moderating their users to stop abuse and finally made some attempts to combat it.

That all is not to say that men don't get abused online, or that every troll is male, the opposite does occur. But as it stands, women face a higher risk of online harrassment. So yes, things are different for women. We have to think twice if we want a female handle on a multiplayer game and what reactions that will give. We have to think twice about expressing any opinion on any platform. We have to think twice what we share online and how it can be used against us.

This is still going on. I've had to block an anti female gamer troll myself for harassing me because I've been live tweeting a game I've been playing. I believe the comment that ended up getting him blocked (which was his first and only tweet to me) "Girls shouldn't play games. Get your ass in the kitchen and make your man a sandwich" Paraphrased of course



[QUOTE]If only it was as easy but it's not always about feeding them, unless you consider the act of merely existing as food for trolls. Sometimes just that is enough to have them come running.[QUOTE]

Good point

Is campaigning to have for once a woman to grace a bank note feeding the trolls and meritable with rape threats? What on earth did a historian like Mary Beard ever do to be sent sexual slurs? (I do like the bit where she actually managed to identify the troll and threatened to sent copies of his messages to his mother. Sadly, those pay-backs are few and far in between.)

Is that happening to you?

That lady is awesome