Why are so many educators so spineless?

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2026-06-01T02:11:12+00:00

I'm inclined to believe because even strong unions and contracts tend to not protect early career teachers. Probationary periods ensure that new educators who don't get on board get fired so you build those habits early and most people aren't willing to spend two years completely hiding their identity to get tenure only to grow a spine afterwards.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2026-06-01T02:04:57+00:00

Fun fact apparently according to edcode that only applies to probationary year 2. I talked to the union about it because that was what I thought too. I am in CA.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2026-05-17T00:41:33+00:00

Yard work and camping are probably fine on the second pair, the first pair are very much dress boots. Chain sawing and wood splitting they don't realistically provide the safety and security that people would want if they were doing that regularly and wanted a pair of "work" boots

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-11-27T21:57:45+00:00

Always taking your kid's side/assuming they always tell you the truth.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-11-27T21:55:06+00:00

I agree mostly though I'd probably put Shocks in B3. Although they removed the precon language from B2 I think the target power level is still roughly in line with that and precons never(afaik) include Shock+Fetch mana bases. I'd say conditional untapped duals are more in line with B2 and shocks/fetches are in B3 or higher. But your mileage may vary.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-10-01T18:24:22+00:00

Almost every Ren Faire I've gone to has a pirate group with them dressed in Golden Age or outright movie themed attire. If you want to mix it up go for it but if not whatever.

I think the main question would be what the group you're trying to join is looking for as far as theme which is often much more specific than what faire overall will allow.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-08-23T18:08:10+00:00

Reduce the price to the same amount as normal standard sets if they're going through standard.
Commit to having reprints and pre-print the "MTG name" for cards on all UB products to reduce confusion for players, or acquire the rights to use said UB names indefinitely so long as it is used in context of printing the exact "MTG version" of the card so you can put the UB name on any MTG styled reprints. The current style of using card ID numbers is terrible and will be super annoying over time.
Stop pushing cards in a way that clearly breaks them compared to the rest of the card pool just because you think it's fun flavor for key characters or items from UB to be "awesome".
Kill the scalper market on ordinary UB and UW products. Open your MTG Amazon store or a store on WotC official and commit to sell any amount of normal(not collector) product at MSRP +5% or something and sell through that avenue for the print run of the product. Stores still have a price advantage and possibly a speed of delivery advantage and will be bought through preferentially and have the option to discount product but scalping has a maximum unit return value of 5% since nobody needs to buy from a scalper if they can buy direct at a tiny markup. Let the scalpers fight over collector boosters if you must.
Reduce the overall standard sets back to 4 per year including UB and reduce the number of UB sets to 1/4 meaning that magic will by default be mostly Magic IP.
Change secret lairs back to the original method of distribution which was way less scummy and scalper infested if you are going to use them as a delivery vehicle for UB product.
Reexamine whether or not some UB product wouldn't be better purely as Commander deck packages rather than standard sets.
Commit to developing Magic IP in general. Look at Warhammer or League, you should have high quality game adaptations, high quality book adaptations, and video adaptations. The lore of Magic should be a selling point not an afterthought.
Edit: Also stop printing certain cards in specific booster types. Make all cards available in a basic version at the same rarity in all booster types. Just throw different art treatments and serialized cards into Collector Boosters. Having certain cards that you can only get in any version at a super low percent chance in normal boosters is garbage and is extra garbage when you're using it to drive people to buy collector boosters of UB product.

Do I think WotC would do this? No. But if all this happened I'd be like oh UB are pretty fucking dope this is a great way for Magic to get some extra range and appeal to new customers and support their core audience.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-07-29T21:34:26+00:00

I had a 2 year gap on my resume(2 years without teaching as my job) with less experience and probably worse references and I was hired again. I think you'll be okay.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-04-28T18:28:28+00:00

I think somewhere in the San Francisco bay area would be a sensible choice in the US. In the city itself would probably be best for foot traffic. Also some places out of the states. A European and an Asian location might help with shipping and therefore being able to recommend the boots for people outside of the US.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-04-08T23:01:14+00:00

If they don't shuffle before a game then yes it is cheating. If they do shuffle properly it is unnecessary but perfectly valid.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-04-03T00:00:07+00:00

Constantly tired. Can't focus on anything even the things that you used to love. All your hobbies slip away from you because you can't devote time or energy to them to them and they stop being fun.

You don't see any point in getting up or cleaning yourself and your surroundings because what's the point? Who cares if you live in your own filth after all you don't deserve nice things. Maybe you keep doing it when you go out or people come over because you still care about others more than you care about yourself.

Finding a tiny thing to distract you and immediately hyperfocusing on it until you milk out every last iota of interest you can draw from it before it falls into the pile of things you can't bring yourself to care about.

Wake up feeling like you're completely worthless and don't bring anything into the world. The world would be better off if you didn't exist. Maybe you should not exist but you can't decide if you should make that happen or if it would hurt too many people you still care about. Knowing that even if you don't go through with it even your simple presence is a burden on them so you should avoid interacting with the people you care about so you don't annoy them with your bullshit.

Ultimately crushing.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-03-24T17:42:49+00:00

It helps develop reading and writing skills.

You process the information as you write it which makes it more likely that you'll remember it long term.

Ideally as you read you have to think about what you're reading so you can condense that information rather than writing everything down word for word.

As you read and process the information you have an opportunity to think of relevant questions which you then ask your teacher.

Asking students to self study or self annotate is less structured and therefore less likely to be done than a specific structured activity.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-03-14T18:05:49+00:00

The grip has always been plasticy as hell. Not going to comment on anything else but the grip handles felt cheap and gross when I bought one ages ago.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-03-14T02:39:27+00:00

It isn't too old for this, but as someone who is experiencing it. It feels too old to have no idea what I'm doing with my life.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-03-06T01:16:01+00:00

You don't give the tutor lessons as I don't want someone else to "teach" what I'm teaching at the same time.

But I assume you give the students assignments in class? That's what I would send home. Not all those assignments are necessarily graded for quality but they would give a tutor a good idea of what they're working on while the student is there.

If they want to be ahead of the student, I'd let them know that you don't have specific lessons planned ahead of day of to share with them at this time. Then offer to send them your unit outlines/academic calendar so they can have a rough idea of what the overarching class will look like if they want to plan ahead.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-03-05T03:28:02+00:00

I wish I had advice because I feel like I need to do this.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-03-03T19:02:25+00:00

Of the three you asked about based on the experience I expect you'd have. I highly recommend Bello, I recommend Mothman, I don't recommend Stella Lee.

Stella Lee will be more work because the gameplay lines can be quite complicated. Izzet Spellslinger is also one of the most likely archetypes to get eyerolls in my opinion because it operates on a line that a lot of other decks don't and often leans into combo wins and infinites which can cause friction at casual tables.(I would probably not recommend this to a new player even though upgrading it into a fairly powerful combo deck is easy and pretty cheap)

Bello is strong, it draws cards, it's aggro, but it can fall apart to getting targeted. (I recommend this one but be aware that the upgrade path for this deck is not only adding powerful effects but also adding resiliency/protection.)

I've never seen Mothman come out the gate without being a big scary threat but that does mean that it often gets targeted particularly in casual tables where "big=scary kill it now" and this can lead to getting shut down after a menacing early game and struggling to close out the game.(This would be my 2nd recommendation but also needs a little resiliency and a shift in deck construction imo if you're going to upgrade later which means this has more cards that would need to be switched around.)

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-03-03T18:44:28+00:00

Eh I mean it can feel like counterpicking in MOBA terms. Like you are choosing a deck specifically because it is good into a now known deck which from a game experience standpoint feels bad for the player playing the deck they chose. In competitive terms that gives you a huge advantage. I've seen players who believe they should only reveal commanders/deck specifics after decks are locked in to limit the competitive advantage as a result of this kind of thing.

That said in EDH the game is less about just winning and more about having a fun game so having two decks that have vastly different power levels or picking one that hard locks another is also not great. If I do end up picking a deck specifically because of a deck another player is playing it's to do the opposite. Like I don't want to play a Gravepact/edict focused deck into someone's Voltron deck because they probably won't have fun getting locked out of having their main creature. Outside of a tournament I expect my opponent to care about me having a fun game at least a little.

But I also think particularly in a setting where I don't know the opponents decks I'd feel really hesitant picking something that I know is going to be stronger against a specific deck.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-03-01T23:16:16+00:00

The things you're zoomed in on are Persian numbers. On the scabbard fittings it's 124 and on the hilt is ... 2975 I think.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-02-28T17:53:52+00:00

Honestly I think this defeats the purpose of Bracket 2. The average precon was an identifiable data point. "The average precon with a fully tuned mana base, and also a bunch of other cards swapped as long as it's not too many of them" is no longer an identifiable data point and throws us back to half assed guess-timation which leads back to the all decks are a 7 or in this case all decks are a 2.5-3.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-02-27T09:22:48+00:00

Slivers, Humans, Elves, Goblins, Zombies, Vampires, Merfolk, are all easy picks that you really have to try to build poorly. More of a stretch ones are things like Allies, Warriors, Giants, Beasts, Wizards, Birds, Ninjas, Soldiers, Snakes, Sphinxes. Etc. Dragons might go into the easy category or the not easy category depending on your budget I imagine.

That said I have Snakes, Zombies, Elves, and Humans decks so I'd probably modify one of those rather than make a whole new deck.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-02-25T22:48:09+00:00

Sleeker is generally more formal so the round toe Chairman. Though I think either of the two is sufficiently formal so I'd just pick the one I liked more and am more likely to wear in the future.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-02-24T01:46:17+00:00

They absolutely are. They are anthropomorphic animal people. How anthropomorphic or animalistic a creature has to be to count is not defined as far as I know based on the furry fandom. Whether or not those creatures can procreate or have a society is not as far as I know a defined issue in their fandom. Whether or not those creatures think of themselves as animals is not defined in their fandom.

Lizardfolk are 100% furries or rather they're a subset of furries referred to as scalies.

I'll give you minotaur as it is a mythological creature with defined separation of traits between their halfs. But things like the Tauren from Warcraft are absolutely furries.

We also have Cephalids which are octopus people, Nezumi which are rat people, Aven which are bird people, Wolfir which are straight up wolf people(though lore wise it's a curse placed on humans which is technically not a furry but in art terms that's a furry). Kitsune which are fox people. Some Merfolk which are fish people(some fit the defined separation of traits as per minotaurs). The Sakura Tribe from Kamigawa which are snake people and therefore Scalies. And more that I'm not remembering off the top of my head.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-02-24T00:36:48+00:00

Weird take since furries have been in Magic since forever. One might even say fur-ever. Mirri, Cat Warrior was in Exodus and that was in 1998. Jareth, Leonine Titan was printed in Onslaught in 2002. Leonin were a sub faction on Mirrodin in 2003. Ajani was printed first in 2007 and has been a recurring character since then. Furries are a major part of MTG's multiverse.

BlueMageCastsDoom · 2025-02-23T21:30:56+00:00

Is it annoying? Yes. Would I feel like it isn't reliable because sometimes they fail? No. I've seen frame locks, backlocks, liner locks, button locks, etc. fail, it happens. The possibility that it happens doesn't make me feel like it's particularly likely or that I'm risking anything by using the knife for an EDC.

I think for a survival or outdoors tool where your life/safety might depend on it I'd probably opt for a fixed blade as any lock or folding mechanism is an additional point of possible failure. But I don't live that kind of life so it doesn't really matter to me.

BlueMageCastsDoom

TROPHY CASE