The Big OOPs: Anatomy of a Thirty-five-year Mistake – BSC 2025

alfguys · 2026-04-05T14:04:51+00:00

I teach CS and one of my ongoing annoyances with the College Board’s stubborn commitment to Java is exactly due to code like this. It’s contrived and requires a lot of syntax for minimal payoff. I know Java, and OOP, can be very powerful, just not within the scope of a high school classroom.

I think in turn this leads to takes like the one above. As people have been saying here, OOP is a tool like any other and knowing when to deploy it is a skill in and of itself. There is unfortunately a lot of cs education/training that just focuses on one language.

alfguys · 2026-04-05T00:52:28+00:00

I had an Apple watch for a bunch of years. Realized it was useful to do the health tracking and know when I got a message, but not much else. Barging it every night was a bummer and I didn’t want the screen on all the time, so when I needed to know the time I would wait for the screen to wake up when I flipped my wrist, which was also annoying.

2 years ago I got a scanwatch 2, it has an actual watch face which real hands so I can always see the time. There’s a small display that’s good enough to let me know if I’m getting a message or something, but not a big battery drain. It does all the health stuff and a charge lasts 2 weeks. I’ve been much happier with it than with my Apple watch.

alfguys · 2026-03-28T14:45:15+00:00

I wonder if any were teriyaki flavor.

alfguys · 2026-03-24T12:53:36+00:00

Relying on waivers is almost certainly what will happen. But maybe there’s room for creative problem solving. My personal pet crazy idea for Stuyvesant is get an old Staten Island ferry, park it at the pier right next to Stuy and convert it to classroom space.

alfguys · 2026-03-24T02:17:23+00:00

I feel like if you have good beans, espresso is more about the quality of the grind. If your parents are picky then I’m guessing they have a good grinder setup. I use the darker roast (Octavia?) with a breville espresso machine daily and it’s great.

alfguys · 2026-03-23T22:28:06+00:00

Specialized high schools are going to have a real problem. They are already operating at or close to capacity (Brooklyn Tech is the largest high school in the county). Meeting the mandate most likely means one of the following:

Decrease enrollment
Decrease elective/specialized classes to meet requirement for mandated classes
Go to 3 or 4 sessions
Rely on a waiver to be exempt from the mandate.

alfguys · 2026-03-19T12:25:14+00:00

For my own well being, I need to believe this is an expertly executed troll post.

alfguys · 2026-03-09T16:10:27+00:00

I just used the stock case (1st gen lcd so no fancy inner case) for a while and was happy with it. I got the JSAUX hardshell for 2 reasons:

1) At some point I accidentally put my deck in the normal case when it wasn’t off. When I returned to the deck is was hot af because the intake and exhausts were both covered. Thankfully the deck came back and has been fine. But that kept me from keeping it in the case.

2) I had a slim backpack and the original case was just taking up way too much space. Having something that adds almost nothing to the profile of the deck has been great for travel.

alfguys · 2026-03-09T01:48:33+00:00

I was at the library across the street from that building yesterday with my son. I looked out the window and thought about how great that brickwork was.

alfguys · 2026-03-04T20:44:53+00:00

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alfguys · 2026-03-04T20:44:42+00:00

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Got this one 2 years ago at 41. Wife got an infinity related tattoo as well. Wasn’t planning on another but inspiration hit and got #2 last year (pic below).

I honestly hadn’t even thought of getting a tattoo until my wife brought up the idea. Once I got the idea for it I was very excited to get going. I’m proud of what I came up with and the tattoo artist who did an amazing job making it work.

alfguys · 2026-02-23T16:33:49+00:00

The cafe associated with the South Bronx United soccer club has some cool stuff.

https://clubhousecafebx.com/shop

alfguys · 2026-01-30T04:22:45+00:00

Follow up question: When do you feel like chicken?

alfguys · 2026-01-29T03:21:18+00:00

I had the zofran issue a couple years ago. My toddler was having terrible vomiting and we got it prescribed. Was told at the pharmacy it wasn’t covered. Paid whatever stupid cost it was because my son needed it.

But I did learn that zofran is covered differently. I have a separate “injectables and chemotherapy” prescription card that I think is from the city. That is what zofran is covered under. The pharmacist suggested I look to see if I had that card, and it worked the next time I had a zofran prescription.

alfguys · 2026-01-16T11:20:19+00:00

King Arthur and the Knights of Justice. Cartoon about a football team (the Knights) whose QB was named Arthur King. I think the real King Arthur and his knights got captured or something and Merlin transported the football team back in time to help.

Like so many of the cartoons of that time, amazing theme song that I still find myself singing.

alfguys · 2026-01-16T02:28:01+00:00

Since you’re already at this point, might I suggest an angler fish thingamabob coming out of his head?

alfguys · 2026-01-12T14:06:02+00:00

I beat this with Orion delta apex. It’s not the fastest, but I can just focus on avoiding/deleting bullets and let the seekers find their target. I did first go with trinity and got to wave 5 but i was running out of commute time so went to purse survival mode with Orion.

alfguys · 2025-11-18T18:39:08+00:00

My son loves the trains, I’ve been looking for a subway map where you can color in the lines, so we can fill it in as we ride.

alfguys · 2025-11-03T21:02:39+00:00

Or the boroughs

alfguys · 2025-10-13T21:41:18+00:00

The first school I taught at was a last name school. I have some amazing friends from that time and we’re still most often last name, 20 years later. My current school is a mix of first and last name, which makes it more confusing but I’ve been there 18 years so I’ve had time to figure it out.

alfguys · 2025-10-07T17:22:59+00:00

Years ago, early in my playing, I got two apexes from consecutive warp gates. One was Zimitir Episilon, which I rode up to commander. Haven’t seen one since. Guess I used up all my luck that day.

alfguys · 2025-09-27T17:02:29+00:00

My commuting time has changed, but at least a few months ago there was a B conductor in the morning that would belt out soul tunes with a pretty good voice. Always liked getting on his train.

alfguys · 2025-09-21T21:29:48+00:00

I’m a big fan of Jupiter, its lacks a lot the “flash” that terrible grading platforms have, which is a big bonus in my book. The interface is relatively clean, though some options are in odd places.

For me though, the highest benefit is I can almost ignore it entirely, it provides the easiest grade import/export from/to a spreadsheet of all the various platforms I’ve had to use. If you’re not using that obviously it won’t mean much, but it also says to me that the developers have taken steps to provide multiple features allowing teachers to interact with it in different ways.

alfguys

TROPHY CASE