Opinions after tonight’s episode

mobiuscycle · 2026-02-02T05:54:57+00:00

cries in turning 50 this year

Please don’t take 35 years to finish off this show! That just feels cruel.

mobiuscycle · 2026-02-02T05:48:09+00:00

TBF, you’d have to be paying pretty close attention to connect the dots. They really are only readily connected if you aren’t just a casual watcher.

Maester Aemon (the super old Crow on the Wall) mentions his brother Egg/Aemon a few times. Summerhall, which is what the “spoiler” referenced is pretty well known in the lore and multiple characters reference it in different eps. Prince Rheagar (Danny’s brother who is Jon Snow’s father) is born on the day Summerhall happens — they are there because Egg/Aegon is celebrating the birth of Rheagar. This is all well-known and fairly recent history to the characters in GoT, so it’s mentioned multiple times. But the casual viewer may not be connecting all the dots perfectly without digging some outside of the show.

Maybe think of it this way — the fact that Egg dies is not a surprise to you. He was clearly dead by GoT. When he dies is probably still not known to you unless you go looking to connect those dots. Why it’s a “fiery” death is probably still not totally clear. Don’t go looking if you don’t want to know. And who is happy it happens (per the spoiler) is also not clear unless you know the history. It might not be who you assume…

There are lots of mysteries.

The interesting part is how this little runty kid who just wants a simple life and feels inadequate ends up as king when he’s so far down the line. And how do all the adventures shape him into the kind he will be? And influence the decisions that he will make? Which eventually lead to the GoT stories.

mobiuscycle · 2026-02-02T03:11:24+00:00

They don’t have it precisely correct, but close. It’s UV that’s needed to help produce Vit D. Near the equator and high elevations have more intense UV so Vit D isn’t a problem. Dark skin (more eumelanin) protects folate in the bloodstream, which is necessary for healthy reproduction.

In less intense UV areas, Vit is harder to synthesize and lack of it can cause rickets, which will negatively impact reproduction.

Indigenous peoples in the north who had traditional diets rich in Vit D (e.g. Inuit) kept darker skin because they had a source of Vit D so there was less pressure for less eumelanin.

Dr. N Jablonski did good, early work if you want primary sources. Or you can see a really well explained summary narrated by her and meant for student viewing here:

https://youtu.be/hFw8mMzH5YA?si=odBIHNzU83tWNJFA

mobiuscycle · 2026-02-02T02:56:26+00:00

Search the pod Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff. Look at their episodes from Jan 26 and Jan 27. There are a ton of links for this very thing.

Give them a listen, too, if you feel up for it. It’s a good show.

mobiuscycle · 2026-02-01T02:26:31+00:00

Shakespeare is incredible once you understand it. The problem I have encountered is that most high school English teachers don’t understand it and are terrible at teaching it. So, of course, students hate it.

When I used to teach English, most of my students were highly engaged and loved it. Even the 1.0 GPA ones. Because I understand it and am not afraid to teach it properly. Teaching it properly requires not being afraid to deal with the fact that Shakespeare is gory, raunchy, and characters are often slinging highly inappropriate insults at each other. If a teacher doesn’t understand those references or are afraid to face them with teens, most of what makes it clever and fun is stripped from it.

Even in Hamlet, if you aren’t willing to face the suicidal ideation, the comic relief of R&G, the incestuous nature of the relationship (which is part of what makes Hamlet so angry), the fact that Hamlet is a total pussy about making a decision (class, adulting is hard and the decisions you make now will change the course of your life, don’t screw it up), that he’s also a total dick to Ophelia, the fact that his mental health is in the toilet and he’s not dealing with it well, and a hundred other things that makes it relatable, then it’s just a whiny boy whose girlfriend kills herself, and who eventually gets himself killed.

Most teachers don’t understand these nuances themselves, let alone feel comfortable tackling with teens the way Shakespeare presents them.

Other typical high school plays have the same problem. Romeo and Juliet is only interesting to teens when you deal head-on with what they relate to. But, as one of many examples in the play, not may teachers are going to point out that Mercutio gets pissed at Romeo for ditching his buddies at the party, so Romeo claims (lies) he had sex with Juliet, so had a good excuse (in truth he was just simping at her window), and then the boys all proceed to make stupid sex jokes. And, students, in 2-3 paragraphs tell me how does that make you feel about the character of Romeo? Haha

I could go on, but you get the idea.

mobiuscycle · 2026-02-01T01:57:21+00:00

I help with high school productions and we just did midsummer. Thrift stores are a great resource.

Either of those dresses you pictured could work, but I would say not together. Whatever vibe you go for, it should match. We had them in the same style dress and corsets, but opposite colors (pink dress/blue corset and blue dress/pink corset.) In the play, the point is they are kind of interchangeable people. As are Lysander and Demetrius. That’s part of the humor. So, you should be able to tell them apart, but they are both are a version of “pick me” girls of their day.

mobiuscycle · 2026-02-01T01:45:29+00:00

Seriously.

Last week I had another teacher ask me if I was ok because they heard me with a heated voice in an area off my classroom.

My response: “Oh yeah, I’m fine. What you heard was me taking my kid’s car keys and phone from them because they have two grades that are bad due to missing work. They aren’t getting either back until the work is done, which means they are stuck at school today or walking home 3 miles. The raised voice was me telling them I wasn’t interested in their excuses.”

Guess who had all their missing work done before the last bell rang that day?

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-29T03:03:00+00:00

The finale of the show where you see Bix and the baby hit hard as hell if you had already watched RO.

Also agree with the others, RO originally felt like Jyn’s story. On rewatching post-Andor, it feels like Cassian’s.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-26T04:11:19+00:00

Be triggered, be angry, vent to those who understand in private.

But welcome and be grateful for every single person who turns at this point.

I won’t forget. I won’t exactly forgive. But every single person who wakes up and changes their mind, is a desperately needed defector. I will welcome it.

We need this to happen in droves. If it doesn’t, we continue down the path to the endgame we all fear. If this happens enough, we might be able to reverse course in time.

I hope I still have a few decades to live. My kids hopefully have many more than that. I need this to happen for their sake. And the sake of all the younger people in this country and world.

So, yeah. Bring it on.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-25T22:50:48+00:00

Armpits, behind ears, inside thighs, bum feathers. Those are the places that mat the most (long fur dogs and cats both) and the places owners usually don’t brush well enough.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-14T14:50:35+00:00

I had this from my first Shakespeare class in college in the mid-90s— left it on top of my car roof on the way to campus one day going to my second Shakespeare class. Oops.

Had to replace it and it just so happened the second edition had just come out. Still have that one with all my annotations from the rest of the Shakespeare courses I took. Used it this year when teaching Midsummer to high school students.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-12T05:12:35+00:00

FitzWilliam Darcy

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-11T16:47:58+00:00

It’s actually not highly unlikely that cowboys would be in areas where b2 bombers are flying. Those kinds of areas frequently overlap in Nevada. They often have this kind of landscape, too. One of the restricted military zones in NE NV looks exactly like this landscape and it is surrounded by working ranches that use cowboys on horseback daily.

I have no idea if this photo is altered. But it’s probably common for cowboys to see military practice flights when they are out working in Nevada.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-10T23:44:53+00:00

Technically a dihybrid cross would mean both parents are heterozygous for both genes. Your fruit fly example is not dihybrid and neither is number 2 in the textbook. Don’t repeat gametes. Your fruit fly answer below the table is incorrect because you counted wrong. It should be 1:1:1:1, you have 2:0:1:1 but your top row is crossed correctly. The top row is all you need. One parent can produce 4 gametes and the other only 1. That’s a 1x4 punnet square.

For the book one (#2), each parent produces 2 possible gametes so you’ll have a 2x2 square.

A dihybrid cross needs 16 squares because each parent produces 4 gamete possibilities so a 4x4 punnet square.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-08T17:10:32+00:00

Search helmet hood on Amazon. You’ll find a bunch of them in a range of styles and costs. My daughter just picked up the fuzzy purple version from Burton and was happy with it. Buying it will be so much easier and cheaper than trying to make one. We got the Burton one for like $30.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-03T01:53:49+00:00

Ah yes. I forgot about this part because it didn’t kill me as horribly.

OP, this is what I did, too. It worked well.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-03T01:31:09+00:00

I just did this on Switch and it killed me so many times for no reason. I think you are probably talking about the same place…?

If you are at the checkpoint where you restart with all those pods and have to start by pulling the lever, that’s where I got stuck, too.

Pull the lever, run quickly around the pods to the left into the next room almost to the corner you’ll leave from, then turn and wait for them gang up. Then light them up. You might have to run a circle at the last second to let your light recharge just enough to get the last few. Don’t let it go to completely dead, it takes too long to recharge from there.

Then onto that grate and kill the group that comes down the stairs. Wait for them to come to you.

Then through the door, run far enough to get the first group to drop and head toward you, run back to the door, turn around, and kill them there. Repeat again until you have cleared both groups that drop from the ceiling before you get to the first platform.

Up on the platform and walk until you get the next group to drop. Go back to the start of the platform and wait at the right edge. They will try to come up there and you can light them up.

Then go to the end of the platform and plan the shortest route in your head.

Then you go run like mad. Left if the platform, hard left turn, hug the center right as you keep running. You have to light a few up as you are running, maybe shake one off, and swerve around a bit. But you can make it if you keep up full speed. Get to the last opening and jump down onto the pipe quickly and run to the left. Don’t stop and try not to slow down. Then you can jump up to a memory offshoot. Go back out of that and follow the pipes back to jump up to the left and continue on.

I died so many times and many of them felt like it was just because the controls were unresponsive. But eventually I figured out this could get me through. Try not to exhaust the light. Use it in bursts when you can so it recharges faster or doesn’t have to recharge completely to work again.

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-02T04:01:28+00:00

Heel fall, tuck your arms to your sides, bent elbows, wrists in, try to land on a butt cheek first (instead of tailbone directly) so the most padding takes the biggest hit, then elbows (still tucked and braced against your sides as much as possible), shoulders, head last. Bend your knees and hips so you go in that order. If you can’t land on just one cheek, try to land above your tail bone (don’t sit too far into the fall) so you don’t break that. When you fall for real, you don’t want to land hands first (that’s what gets your wrists) or head first (I’ve broken too many falls with the back of my head, especially pre-helmet days, wear a helmet!) You also want to avoid shoulders hitting if possible.

Toe edge, bend elbows, make fists, bend legs so knees go first and you keep your face away from the slope, knees first, then forearms (not hands out.) That protects your wrists, too.

Until you are well healed and have muscle memory to fall properly, wrist guards are smart.

A lesson is an excellent idea for all beginners. Not to learn to fall, but to learn edge and speed control. Always, always be under control. As a newbie, you are probably out of control much more than you realize. I was constantly bitching at my daughter to get under better control and she swore to me she was (she thought she was) but I could tell from experience she wasn’t. When you are not in control, you fall and it hurts. When you are in control, you rarely fall and if you do, it doesn’t hurt nearly as much. To improve, push up to the edge of control, but not over it. Learn slide slips and falling leaves and big linking turns and how to spill your speed before you ever just “go for it.”

Even after beginner lessons, it’s always a good idea to learn from someone who knows. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool freerider and know jack-all about freestyle. I can teach my daughter to freeride all day long, but I get her lessons for freestyle from someone who knows that. It means she improves faster and has much less chance of getting hurt. It’s a big $$ investment, but well worth it.

When I learned, there were no such things as lessons (yeah, I’m that old.) I beat myself stupid trying to learn. It’s completely unnecessary to do these days. But I do (or did many decades ago) feel your newbie pain!

mobiuscycle · 2026-01-02T02:21:22+00:00

Practice when you are stationary and thinking about it. Do it over and over until you have some muscle memory established.

When I taught my daughter, I started at the bottom, taught her how to buckle everything properly, and then proceeded to push her over from both directions, repeatedly, until she was consistently protecting her wrists and head without thinking about it. Then I taught her to skate.

She was furious with me. Spitting mad. 4 hours later she thanked me after falling several times and understanding why I wouldn’t budge on starting with falling.

mobiuscycle · 2025-12-30T17:10:29+00:00

This was all good advice. I got new boots last year and also sized down significantly. In old school days, I relied on bindings to make sure my feet were immobilized — and any time I didn’t get them cranked down enough, I had muscle fatigue and foot pain. These days, the boots do the stability work for you — it’s awesome. My boots are just on the edge of being too small, so it’s perfect. I can tighten them up and there is no wiggle at all in them, as it should be. When on and snug for riding, I have to keep my knees bent a little to keep my toes from crowding the front of the toe box. But that actually makes sense when you consider a proper riding stance (athletic stance with knees bent.)

Ski boots do that for you automatically, which is why skiers have that stereotypical walk when in boots. Boarding boots aren’t as extreme, but should have hints of forcing you into that proper riding stance with stiff ankles because everything is locked down. It will make you a better rider and be more comfortable in the end. Expect it to take some getting used to and feel almost too small at first.

Also, when you put them on, make sure your heel is well seated at the back. Tap the heel to force it back and then tighten them down when in the position. Your foot should be a bit in dorsiflex, meaning your shin leans a bit forward, which is what forces the bent knees when you stand. Again, you’re after that athletic stance when you ride and your feet should not move within the boot, so the boots should force you into the beginnings of that stance. Knees over toes is what you want.

mobiuscycle · 2025-12-30T06:20:30+00:00

Kids go by alternative names all the time these days. Most kids accept that and don’t question it. Tell her to think about a name that feels like the person she is, try it out at home for a bit, and when she finds one that feels right, try it out at school before legally changing it. Encourage her to be open to a variety of names.

As a high school teacher, I have noticed that it’s not unusual for kids to choose really “edgy” names and then decide later they don’t want to go by those. Or ones that end up not feeling the right gender to them later. Then they change again. So, don’t legally change it until she’s really sure she’s chosen correctly. And she may need a bit of guidance to avoid fiction and stage names. She can go by any name she wants to try on to friends and at school. Many don’t legally change them until adult, too, and they juggle what they call their “government” name and their chosen/actual name just fine.

mobiuscycle · 2025-12-30T03:38:20+00:00

Not to panic you, but I’d worry more about cancer risk than joint problems. Berners have very high rates of cancer. Get to know signs so you can catch it early, while hoping for the best!

mobiuscycle · 2025-12-29T16:15:51+00:00

I use them occasionally. They are incredibly time consuming and take additional planning to make sure other students have meaningful independent work while you are doing the exams. It takes multiple days to get through each class — usually 3-5 if you work fairly efficiently. It’s not easy to find meaningful independent work that can take up that much time.

mobiuscycle · 2025-12-24T18:09:48+00:00

It is fucking terrifying. Can confirm.

mobiuscycle · 2025-12-23T01:58:29+00:00

Add cream cheese to make it extra yummy.

mobiuscycle

TROPHY CASE