Yippee-IA, Motherf***ers! IRRATIONALLY ANGRY PT. 2: Irrationally Angrier

We only got up to WW2 in my American history class but my friends on the AP course got closer to the present day (and got assigned Zinn). But we had tons of electives (European history, USSR, Political Behaviour, World Religions) to take up the slack.

my high school ap american history teacher somehow finagled the school into allowing him to teach an elective that was entirely focused on the history of the vietnam war. i only realized how cool that was after graduating. he wasn't the aged hippie type you would expect that from though. he was a sensitive soul from the deep south and was somehow still a true believer in the US, so he was very disturbed by what he saw as its failings. he once admitted to our class that he felt guilty that he still notices when he sees an interracial couple and hoped that one day it wouldn't register. he would show glory every semester and cry

The equivalent of my AP US history teacher in high school basically covered the same ground as 8th grade, but in a lot more detail and with a lot more foaming at the mouth progressivism. What I remember most is reading primary sources about the Great Migration, and his lecture on all the Black cities and towns that had been destroyed in the South— we learned about the Tulsa massacre!

At first, I'm thinking that maybe it is more important to dig deeper into the Missouri Compromise than, say, 9/11. Everyone knows what the latter is about, while the anniversary of the former isn't observed year after year.

Plus, with a relatively recent event like that, there's going to be much arguing by state education boards about things such as "Was Bush a dimwit who completely ignored all warnings," versus "Bush was a hero who stood on top of a pile of rubble with a bullhorn."

But all that said, I'd be very interested in taking a class that went backwards. "Here's the fucked-up situation we're in today. How did it happen? Well, let's look at the last ten years. Then, let's look at the Invasion of Iraq. 9/11. Hanging chads. The impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton..."

You'll eventually get to a point where the instructor could ask, "Now, how come the U.S. didn't colonize Mexico after winning that war? Stay tuned next week for 'The Missouri Compromise'..."

Everyone knows what the latter is about

You have not met any college or high school students recently, have you.

They know what happened, but maybe not what led up to it.

Which also accurately describes a lot of folks who were alive during it.

True enough.

I’ve been exploring Keto/Sugar-free/Diabetic baking recipes - the authors drive me crazy.

Handwavey instructions like “mix until uniform” (ok…?)
PLUS these types of super-hyperspecific micro-instructions like bake for x minutes “until an inserted toothpick comes out almost clean with just a little batter on it that balls up between your fingers (DO NOT wait for it to be totally clean)”

I appreciate detail but sometimes I really wonder about the ppl who write these things.

fold in the cheese!

In the US school system, do you get lessons on history around the world? Like WW2, ancient civilizations, French Revolution, Russian Revolution? In Brazil, we'd always have 2 different teachers, one for 'World History' and the other for just Brazil. Sometimes it was hard to tie the 2 togethers...

Also, BR history we did try to get as close to the end of the 1960s/1970s Military Dictatorship (we had others, that's why I have the year there), and some political reform things (like the 1988 Constitutional reform), but I feel we do lose a bit in looking at other details, like trying to explain our external debt, or our economical situation in the 80s with hyper inflation. It also had nothing on the strikes done by the steel workers in SP (where Lula rose to prominence)

My kid took AP Euro last year

We barely learn American history

I sneeze once a day. Always have done, presumably always will do. No idea why, it doesn't impact my life at all really. All I want is for people to completely ignore me sneezing, but no. Polite, friendly fuckers kindly say "bless you" and turn this into a social situation which I now suddenly have to navigate.

dude they're literally driving out the demons that entered your soul during the sneeze

have they considered maybe I like the demons being in there?

In the US school system, do you get lessons on history around the world? Like WW2, ancient civilizations, French Revolution, Russian Revolution? In Brazil, we'd always have 2 different teachers, one for 'World History' and the other for just Brazil. Sometimes it was hard to tie the 2 togethers...

Also, BR history we did try to get as close to the end of the 1960s/1970s Military Dictatorship (we had others, that's why I have the year there), and some political reform things (like the 1988 Constitutional reform), but I feel we do lose a bit in looking at other details, like trying to explain our external debt, or our economical situation in the 80s with hyper inflation. It also had nothing on the strikes done by the steel workers in SP (where Lula rose to prominence)

― fpsa, Monday, March 18, 2024 12:18 PM (forty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

We learned some pretty basic world history, certainly ancient civilizations, world religions, medieval europe, crusades, industrial revolution, wwi and wwii, etc. A massive amount was left out and there was definitely a failure to tie US and world history together well. I don't recall covering the Russian Revolution at all. My US history experience wasn't terrible but it kind of stopped at the Vietnam War even though it was already the late 90s.

I recently discovered this little fast casual italian place by my office (run by an actual Italian dude from Italy) with surprisingly good food, but it has all these weird quirks that irritate me. First, there isn't enough light inside so it always looks closed even when it's open. Second, the menu is behind you when you're facing the ordering counter, which is very awkward. And there's just something awkward and off about the place, the staff, the ordering process.

Today was my third time and I ordered "Vegetables Parmigiana" off the pasta menu, which I know isn't like a traditional Italian dish but it sounded pretty good. When I went to pick it up, I asked if the pasta was ready, and the woman said "It's not pasta, it's just grilled vegetables." The dish is literally on the pasta menu, and every single other item on the pasta menu is, you know, pasta, and there is no indication that it doesn't have pasta (nor does every other pasta dish expressly state that it includes pasta, because, you know, it's the pasta menu).

To be fair to them, I raised this and they offered to add some penne pasta without any argument about it. Still weird.

that is weird

Every so often you run into these places where they really know how to cook food and are somewhat confused about running a food business. I keep wondering if maybe the concept is more along the lines of something that works in Italy (notwithstanding pasta-less pasta) and not as well in a small US city, because it tends to be kind of empty in spite of the high quality of the food and lack of options around here. For example the atmosphere is closer to a Chipotle or a Chopt than a restaurant, but they sell beer and wine, but they close at 5pm so there's no dinner crowd. I don't think US office workers tend to have a drink at lunch unless they go to a proper restaurant.

I know the type— there used to be a pretty good taco place here in Philly, which still has a dearth of good Mexican restaurants. Their hours were wonky and like the place you mention, they closed quite early but sold beer and wine. It could have been a perfect late-night bar/taco joint, but they couldn't figure it out. Meanwhile, the place was empty most days from 2-5p. They closed during the pandemic.

I have been a canvasser, and know how difficult and shitty it is, but don’t fucking wave at me enthusiastically like I know you— this just makes me upset when I realize you are a stranger trying to sell me a cause

Ugh, I have canvassed too, and I generally hate any false or disingenuous familiarity. Just be up front with me - you are asking for donations or signatures or trying to sell me something. It's your job. Don't tell me you were just chatting with my neighbor John to gain my trust or use some canned line that tries to hide the fact that you're doing what you're doing.

Also, canvassers for charity who want money but can't actually accept money, only take your bank details to charge you every month forever. Fuck off with that bullshit.

Exactly.

if i see one more person do that phony comparison thing on facebook when they want to talk about better ways to do things and how stupid everything is here...and yes everything is stupid here i get that - but when they say "well you know in finland they do your taxes for you and give you chocolates and you don't have to lift a finger and here its a draconian police state nightmare owned by H&R Block..." "oh in finland every child gets straight As and goes on to become a doctor and nobody pays for anything and here all your children are murdered and..." just fucking stop it. there are 330 million people in this fucking world-sized country that includes islands thousands of miles away. there are 5 million people in finland! there are more people in brooklyn + queens then all of finland. if all this country had to worry about was brooklyn + queens i'll bet the recycling pickups would be on time and the post office would get the letter from your brother in queens to your cousin in brooklyn. just shut your fucking finland hole. also, everyone in finland is the same. mostly. do you know how much easier it is to do stuff when everyone is from the same place and speaks the same language? they don't want your tired and poor there. it fucks with the numbers that idiots on facebook beat people over the head with. don't get me started.....

Not saying you're wrong exactly, but this is basically the argument conservatives offer up for "why socialism can't work in America"

Going to start using “just shut your fucking Finland hole!!!”

i'm all for better solutions but adjusting for scale and degree of difficulty is something people never do. this country is just too fucking big. which is why i appreciate the land of Taxxachusetts that i live in. i've had free health care for 20 years!

thank you again, Mitt...

of course i had to have kids and a marginal business to get that free health care...which is stressful and has its own costs. but it was worth it in the end.

it is so much easier to do things when everybody in your country is born in the same place. like, way easier. homogeneousness also pretty big with conservatives. i'm sure most conservatives would love Finland!

I understand that homogeneity may be a barrier to getting things done. But not sure why the things that can't get done are the socialist things, and the things that can get done are capitalist things.

things can get done. things do get done. like i said, i get free healthcare in a state with a much larger population than that of Finland. but on a national scale, its harder to get things done. because there are 50 countries in this country. if we were a tiny country with a tiny population, like....Finland, it would be much easier to get things done. every single state has different laws and statutes and regulations for businesses too. speaking of capitalism.

the ACA has helped a lot of people across the country. there is that at least.

but look we are getting off-topic. the IA is the blithe nature of a stupid FB post like "you know in Sweden...why can't we just do that.." without any mention of what the government is like here. i mean, have you seen them? it ain't ever gonna be sweden. i am totally moving to sweden....

I was in a long queue yesterday, the local onestop is also the post office now and if someone wants postal services then there is only one person on the shop tills. This guy in front was extremely fucking about and taking a long time to pay for a few items. Then he hands a lottery ticket and says can you just check this for me, there is probably nothing on it because I never have any luck.

I was fuming. This young slacker can't even check his own lottery tickets and now after making extra work for the stressed retail worker, now he's trying to give them his life story.

If that was me behind the counter I'd fake-tap the lottery machine and say nah there is nothing on it m8, every time. Save them all up for quite periods and see if I'd made any lazy bastard tax bonuses for myself.

I really don’t like it when people talk loudly in public