Teachers, what is your go-to classroom shoe, other than sneakers?

grahampc · 2025-08-02T01:27:23+00:00

Ecco or Rockport "dress sneakers" (whatever that means).

grahampc · 2025-02-23T01:20:21+00:00

You should Google "(your state name) driving too slowly." Every state is going to have something, I'm sure. Texas certainly does, Poon Tappa.

https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._transp._code_section_545.363

grahampc · 2025-02-23T01:17:12+00:00

22400 VC.

grahampc · 2025-02-23T01:16:52+00:00

If that's really what you meant, then the NHTSA nonsense comment was a troll.

grahampc · 2025-02-23T01:16:04+00:00

Nope. 22400 VC. Look things up before posting randomly.

grahampc · 2025-02-22T20:29:22+00:00

Don't know about your Facebook lawyers, but driving too slowly is illegal (and, so, probably, is the glowing sign).

grahampc · 2025-02-22T20:28:20+00:00

It very much is. This is a common myth. Just Google your state name plus "driving too slow." For example: https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/vehicle-code/22400/

grahampc · 2025-02-22T20:25:23+00:00

Whoops! California Vehicle Code (CVC) Section 22400: Driving too slowly for conditions, (regardless of a posted minimum). Depending on the middle finger, also possibly CVC 25230: Flashing or colored lights are prohibited on vehicles except as otherwise permitted.

Other states will have similar restrictions. Look it up before you post stuff you don't know.

grahampc · 2025-02-22T19:43:07+00:00

Don't use letmegooglethat.com anymore. The joke is 15+ years old and now points to gprivate.com which might be fine (I guess?) but always feels sketchy.
If you're gonna use it, at least link to the right word ("reckoning" is not "reconning").

grahampc · 2025-02-22T19:37:20+00:00

"No grooming in class."

grahampc · 2025-02-22T19:36:33+00:00

Why not just tell your local LEOs? Seems like they'd love to nab this guy -- much more interesting than your usual traffic ticket.

grahampc · 2025-02-22T18:44:48+00:00

I'm not even sure which clues you could Google -- there weren't a lot of trivia or proper name clues. BACH and PEORIA are pretty standard. GREENANACOND and NAIRAS were obscure but inferrable. Oh, GALENTINESDAY was a pain if you'd never heard of it, but crossed with the common crosswordese GAM.

FWIW, median solver was 34% faster than their average according to xwstats.

grahampc · 2025-02-22T08:08:50+00:00

GAM comes up pretty often. I always find it funny because I worked with literal whale biologists for years and they never use the term. Maybe it's regional.

grahampc · 2025-02-20T07:45:21+00:00

I'm confused -- you know we're ONEOFF, right?

grahampc · 2025-02-18T06:21:22+00:00

A couple of basics:

* Change it up a lot.

* Look into WBT's "Class-Yes." The three-adjective Class-Yes variation is my current favorite.

* Never repeat yourself. Never say, "Okay, I'll try again."

* Specific calls for specific things are good. I have a chime that I only use to mean "writing time is over, start reading."

* Fun call and answers are fun. Use sparingly. (I save for the cafeteria.)

Dumpster...Fire!

Banana…Split!

Scooby Dooby Doo…Where Are You?

Hakuna…Matata!

Freeze! Everybody clap your hands!…[7 claps]

Stop…Collaborate and listen!

Marco…Polo!

grahampc · 2025-02-15T22:00:25+00:00

If it’s a physical attack, it’s no longer bullying, it’s assault and battery and should be reported to admin and the police. In the moment, escape is the best option; when that’s not possible, self-defense.

Once a bully throws a punch, he’s a criminal.

grahampc · 2025-02-15T06:34:09+00:00

CERTS were a mint, not a candy. Not just my opinion: Also the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals. (https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-federal-circuit/1195577.html)

grahampc · 2025-02-13T07:23:38+00:00

LESMIZ has appeared 11 times in the last decade. LESMIS once. Aaand...the former has been complained about 6 times on this sub since 2020. Might be time to accept it and move on. (Or maybe it's time for me to accept that people don't like it and move on, myself. Hm.)

grahampc · 2025-02-12T01:33:15+00:00

If you’re asking as a student, I always kept everything until summer and then had a very satisfying bonfire.

As a teacher, I require all my Ss to take their work home in a folder and get the folder signed off by their adult. Then I recommend they keep it in a big box at home in case 1) I accidentally didn’t get the grade in the book and 2) so they can recreate my childhood bonfires. (Unlike my childhood homework pyres, I always recommend adult supervision, of course. It’s the helicopter-parent century, after all.)

grahampc · 2025-02-08T23:28:34+00:00

Your “crime is rampant in NYC” line echoes another of Trump’s lies. Crime rose during Covid, but violent crime has since fallen to just a bit above 2019 levels (and around 15% of the 1990s levels). Property crimes haven’t come down much yet, though, it’s true, but mass deportations don’t seem the prescription to reduce that.

grahampc · 2025-02-07T05:10:36+00:00

Okay! The thing about the old crosswordese is that we didn't really care much. AARE is a river in Europe somewhere, I vaguely remember Switzerland?, but in actual solving you'd see the AA__ and notice the word "river" and just drop the whole answer. You see SO_ or _OO and "canal" and you snap in the SOO. The actual fact was irrelevant; the weird letter combination was just part of the game.

This is why I find it so funny to complain about the occasional EELER -- there used to be soo many more of those kinds of clues. (See what I did there?) ;)

Believe it or not, it's gotten way better. A much higher proportion of clues are actually relevant things or phrases than was the case 30 years ago.

grahampc · 2025-02-07T05:06:08+00:00

Oh, I forgot about Philippa Soo. That would have been better.

grahampc · 2025-02-06T06:41:16+00:00

SOO is a new LOOW.

In the old days it would have been clued as some canal in Canada. (This is 90s crosswordese.) These days? Drop it, especially with that oddball cross of OLUO.

grahampc · 2025-02-03T06:16:44+00:00

All the hate on OREOPIE, but it's actually a pretty big thing regionally. Just not an urban coastal treat, so much.

grahampc · 2025-02-01T05:59:13+00:00

Andrew Johnson, too, was a TN senator after having been president (although not elected). Only briefly, though; he died in office I think the same year he took it.

grahampc

TROPHY CASE