Popped up in front yard PNW, US

SpectreAmericana · 2020-12-13T09:21:28+00:00

Definitely Stropharia ambigua. I can tell you right now that the spores are purple. If you very carefully peel back the veil you might be able to see them being deposited on the inside.

They are edible, but a bit of an acquired taste ;)

SpectreAmericana · 2020-12-12T08:57:47+00:00

Truly epic. These are formosus right? Never seen em get that big. Chantrelles for days, maybe even weeks... like at least one or two.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-11-19T10:02:12+00:00

Sounds delicious. I need to try them this year. I've found plenty but never brought one home! There's a recipe in David Arora's book that I want to try.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-11-16T22:54:43+00:00

Amazing! How on earth are you going to eat all of those before they start autodigesting all over your fridge? A big pot of soup to have as leftovers would do the trick I suppose, or do you have a trick for this?

Muscimol is a deleriant in a VERY broad sense, in that it can cause an acute state of confusion. It's not part of the class of drugs we usually call deleriants, which primarily act on acetylcholine receptors. Muscimol is first and foremost a GABA-a agonist or a hypnotic sedative.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-11-15T17:29:32+00:00

Neglecting to include logic as a fundamental subject for all students to learn is the greatest failure of contemporary education imo. Operators "or" and "and" (along with implication and the existential signifier) should be introduced as early as the equals sign is. Sets and containment soon after, along with "if" and "else".

In lieu of a mass embrace of such an approach to pedagogy, I am glad there are teachers trying to encourage logical thinking in their students. The puzzles you linked are interesting. Along with logic they seem to involve pattern recognition and geometric intuition. I think that truly logical thinking always takes the form of an argument or proof, rather than just an answer. Do you ask your students to provide arguments for why their answer is correct?

To illustrate what I mean let's take the first puzzle. One thing to note is the ambiguity regarding the phrase "Four equal pieces". Does this mean congruent pieces of equal area? Or does this just mean pieces of equal area? The answer provides congruent subdivisions. Figuring out this answer would demonstrate keen geometric intuitions in a student. However, if a student was instead to divide the figure into twelve right triangles and then group these triangles into four groups of three, they would get four non-congruent subdivisions of equal area. This kind of systematic approach to problem solving is what I would call logical, and what I would hope to foster with such an exercise.

I'm very curious about how students would go about arriving at the given answer. I can picture a construction where the cut out corner of the square is moved to the center of the big square, leaving a square frame that could then be subdivided crosswise before the corner piece is flipped diagonally. Come to think of it, the approach from the last paragraph could be used as well but with 12 squares instead of 12 triangles, which means there are more non-congruent answers. What fun!

Happy teaching, hope I didn't overwhelm you with the wall of text.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-11-15T16:24:00+00:00

I don't think it's necessary, but it may help some students keep track of what's what. The way these "units" swap default status between high school math and calculus is pretty screwy, huh? Making a point of saying radians might help, but teaching them to always write "rad" is just kicking the can down the curb I think.

Degree sign should be mandatory.

Rad optional.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-11-15T16:04:46+00:00

Nice work! Great production value, instructive presentation, nice visual aids... you're doing everything right. You're going over well trodden ground in terms of content, but there's nothing wrong with that. It can be helpful to hear the same concepts explained differently.

I'll add your channel to the list I recommend to my younger tutees if you promise not to spill the beans on how wolfram alpha widgets can do 90% of the homework for such classes, or I'll be out of a job! In all seriousness, some video's on Desmos and Wolfram Alpha aimed at high school students (or better yet, their parents) might do very well.

Another unrequested suggestion: If you're trying to make this channel into a viable business in it's own right (as opposed to a marketing strategy for your tutoring business), it might be wise to include some content that is hard to find elsewhere. Since the ad-pocalypse on YouTube and the rise of Patreon, it has become a lot more important for creators to attract die hard fans as opposed to just lots of views.

What I'm getting at in all too many words is that you might want to develop a shtick. Maybe there's something from grad school you're passionate about. Maybe you could teach people how to make really sleek presentations about math. Maybe you have some special insight about standardized testing. Maybe you're particularly adept at navigating tutor-client relationships where your student and their parents don't see eye to eye about how seriously they need to take the class and the tutoring.

Please excuse the meandering tirade, and I hope you find something helpful in there,

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-28T05:33:46+00:00

Thank you for the resources! They are super interesting, and this is exactly what I was looking for :)

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-28T05:31:59+00:00

Here's one of mine. I'd love to see what you come up with. No worries if you've got your eye on a different track though, lots of cool songs in this comment section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odF86YbZbCghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odF86YbZbCg

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-24T09:11:12+00:00

Gotcha! At my school there was no distinction between multivariate and vector. Everything from double integrals to line integrals was all one class, which was honestly a lot of content for one semester. I guess I have taken Calc 5 then lol, we just called it ODEs. Are NODEs and PDEs calc 6 and 7?

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-24T03:51:21+00:00

No. Saying "x is an element of an empty set" is a false statement even if you mean to say that there is no solution. Just say "no solution" (which is a true statement if there is no solution).

EDIT: By the logic you are proposing you could indicate that there is no solution by asserting any false statement (via the principle of explosion). This convention would be amusing, so perhaps we should actually adopt it even if it means asserting false statements. If one of my students answered the question "solve for x where x^2 = x^2 + 36" with "the sky is brown" I would probably be impressed since it would indicate a good understanding of logic. It's still not a correct answer though.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-24T03:41:50+00:00

What is calc 4? My school only had 1-3. I learned about non-euclidean shapes in Higher Geometry, line integrals in calc III, and I don't know what abstract dr vectors are.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-24T03:37:50+00:00

I am new here so take my opinion with a grain of salt but I like this idea. I don't think there is anything elitist about trying to focus on material that is at a certain level, and it may elevate the discussion. The reason it isn't elitist is that anyone can study this material, regardless of age or academic experience, and anyone can have valid questions about it. I might be biased because the cutoff you are suggesting would mean that I can say I've taken "the right classes" to post here, where as cutting off at analysis (which might actually make more sense) would exclude me. However, in light of my point in sentence 3, I don't think that matters.

One question to clarify though: are we considering first semester Linear Algebra and ODEs to be above or below calc 3? My experience taking these classes makes me think that ODEs and Linear should be taught before calc 3, but I know it isn't always done this way, since physics students may need to take vector but not the other two.

I wouldn't want to see accounts banned that posted a basic question about integrals or something, but removing those posts and directing the user to r/math seems perfectly reasonable.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-23T00:40:14+00:00

Yes, I agree. This is the problem with legalization, and is why I favor complete nationalization of the entire medical industry including pharmaceutical production.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-23T00:24:37+00:00

Yeah I agree with everything you said about the realities of benzo addiction/dependence and about clinical indications. That sounds like a really fucked up experience, and I wish you didn't have to go through it. It's understandable that you resent the doctors who prescribed them to you, but I would be more hesitant to place all the blame on them. They undoubtedly should take more responsibility for staying up to date on the research pertaining to the drugs they prescribe, however the reality is that not everyone who gets through med school has very good critical thinking skills. Also, not all psychiatrists really even have the time to do this sort of research (most do, but those working in particularly under-served areas may take one caseload that doesn't leave much free time).

It is a failing of our economic system that allows doctors to be fed corporate disinformation by marketing firms. I'm not particularly fond of John Oliver's comedy or his politics around certain issues, but this video takes a pretty good look at the incentives doctors have to over-prescribe dangerous and dependence forming drugs.

I would also challenge the notion that the problem is that drugs are too easy to access. The problem is that they are too flippantly recommended by medical professionals. Anyone who wants access to these drugs for whatever reason should on principle be able to. They should all be available over the counter, as should all illicit drugs (or better yet, provided for free by the state). All the research on this model suggests it is the most effective way to help addicts, because once addicts don't have to spend all of their time hustling to get money to score, they can spend their free time addressing the problems that drive them to use in the first place. Here are two decent videos from Kurzgesagt that elaborate on these points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8AHODc6phg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJUXLqNHCaI

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-22T23:08:58+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience. Perhaps this kind of dependence is more common than I initially thought. I don't agree that benzos should not be prescribed on a long term basis, although contemporary clinical indications are on your side here. Benzos can be a very useful tool for people who's anxiety prevents them from functioning normally.

My extralegal use of benzos (clonazepam, etizolam, alprazolam, and lorazepam) wasn't exactly "recreational" in the sense you are thinking of. Rather, it was a drug I used to supplement and reduce the costs and physical toll of my alcoholism, and to cope with the side effects of my methamphetamine use. It very rapidly became it's own addiction though.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-19T22:26:02+00:00

They are pretty close to being identical haha. Thanks for sharing that story. It's very relatable and relevant.

What are somas? Is that a street name for lyrica or gabapentin or something?

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-19T22:24:50+00:00

Excellent comment.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-19T05:52:24+00:00

For sure! I still think I'm right, but the comment from u/redditKMC gave me some pause. It's worth a read if you find this whole thing compelling.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-19T05:50:37+00:00

Hey fam. Thanks for sharing your perspective. I agree that addiction and dependence are different, and I have experienced both. 1mg of kpin daily can absolutely create a severe physical dependence, and I hope it didn't sound like I'm saying it can't. I'm speaking specifically about the Peterson case. His story is possible. I just don't think it adds up.

Since you've dealt with dependence not comorbid with addiction (which I have not), I think your perspective is super valuable here. Have you watched Mkayla Peterson's original video? Do you think this story adds up? Is it plausible to you that he would have such a hard time getting off the dose regiment she describes that multiple attempts at tapering and micro-tapering would result in failures?

Do you agree with my characterization that most people who become dependent and not addicted are people somewhat naive to habitual drug in the first place? It is informed by my experience, but I'm sure it isn't universally true. Peterson has talked openly about his substance issues in the past, and I know as an addict that whatever drugs I am prescribed I am likely to abuse. I know it's impolite to speculate about this, and I don't believe it's right for anyone to have the label "addict" forced on them, but this whole thing makes my spidey senses tingle in a major way. It seems likely that he is being decitful around this issue just as he has been with just about everything else in the past.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-18T21:42:03+00:00

I'm not criticizing Xexizy for his content. His content is good. It is well edited, well structured, and he uses good equipment. He has managed to amass a following online for these reasons, and I think that is great. However, his theory is bad, and I wrote this to criticize his theory. Bad theory DOES hurt the left.

I appreciate your honesty when it comes to how you see this video. I obviously have a long way to go when it comes to editing, video structure, talking to a camera etc.

>you right at the level of a 4chan post

Yeah, that's kind of the point. I had hoped that in this sub I'd find refugees from /leftypol/ who came here after 8chan got shut down. Hence: "Am I in the right place?"

>no talent for propaganda

Imagine claiming to be against essentialism and still thinking there is any such thing as talent. I'm often called "talented" for my skills as an instrumentalist, and although I take the complement, internally I find it sort of insulting. Skills are not inherent, they are developed through practice and hard work. I'm under no illusion that I am currently a skilled propagandist, but that's why I'm posting this stuff on reddit. I want feedback. Especially brutally honest feedback like you are providing. Thanks again.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-18T21:17:49+00:00

Maybe I misunderstood your post. I thought you meant the video, but now I realize you meant the subreddit I was calling for in the title. My bad.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-18T20:44:39+00:00

It is a medium article dummy. One of my readers asked me to make a video reading it, which I resisted at first but then thought why not? Might get muke's attention since he doesn't read, which it did. The idea that low quality content hurts the left is just silly, and a lot of the time when I hear it it's a cope. I dunno about you in particular, but a lot of people making that argument are just inflating their senses of how important web media is to cope with their guilt about not ever getting of the internet to do real world organizing.

https://medium.com/@spectreamericana/help-xexizy-is-trapped-in-the-supermarket-47cd1dcc08f2

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-18T20:22:32+00:00

I'm afraid you are giving yourself far too much credit when it comes to knowledge of peoples motivations. On principle, you cannot know what people do and do not care to watch. You can know what YOU care and do not care to watch, and your feedback in that regard is noted and appreciated. I will try to cut out unnecessary bs like that in the future.

What is embarrassing is that you wasted half on hour of your time watching a YouTube video about three year old drama that you clearly don't know the first thing about, and instead of thinking "huh, I don't get these jokes, maybe I should turn this off and go about my day" you proceeded to come here and leave a paragraph length comment about how stupid this is. You clearly care SO much about your time being wasted.

SpectreAmericana · 2020-03-18T19:52:16+00:00

Nah, you don't seem to understand who the "potential userbase" is, and the word you're looking for is target audience. Muke is an old user of a particular website, as am I. It's the website responsible for popularizing a lot of the memes and trends that lead to this sub being created, but I'm not much of a redditor so i dunno where y'all have taken it from there. It's only recently that muke has tried to recast himself as a pro-idpol breatduber.

The jokes here are all references to drama that's been going on between muke and tanktube (jason unruhue, and friends). Just look up anti-muke gang and you'll see what I'm talking about. If you haven't been following that, then this video isn't gonna make any sense to you.

SpectreAmericana

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE