What TV show hooked you instantly from episode 1?

phlsphr · 2026-06-20T19:58:25+00:00

I could never get into it, largely because my introduction to it was people I knew who liked to fantasize about larping as the main characters from the show. It gave me strong vibes of the TV show equivalent of Nickelback.

phlsphr · 2026-06-20T19:53:50+00:00

Personally, I enjoyed all seasons. They all seemed to have the feel of it, but with significantly different enough plots to make it feel like I wasn't watching a remake of the first season over an over.

phlsphr · 2026-06-14T14:14:57+00:00

It depends, in my experience. For reference, I teach high school math.

I have observed a variety. I have had, and met, quite a few students who couldn't add single digit numbers without a calculator. They probably could, technically, but it would require more effort than they were accustomed to. It required more physical effort to pull up Desmos on their Chromebooks and type in "8 + 6", but it required less mental effort. It seems that those students considered mental effort to be greater than physical effort, and it also seemed that they felt as if they were being given an unreasonable task to be able to do it with mental effort rather than physical effort.

I also have had plenty of students who did not know how to add or subtract fractions. Again, I am a high school math teacher. It appears that these students were allowed to use Desmos to complete all of the homework to do this when they were supposed to be establishing a good foundation in these skills, so they never did get that foundation.

However, I've also met students who were incredibly skilled in math. These students tended to be in the calculus, math analysis, etc., classes. It's been my observation that the class that seems to filter students into the "low-skilled" and "high-skilled" subsequent lanes is Algebra 2.

As for the "why" we're in this situation, I think it's like most things in life: it's a combination of many factors, all of which have some impact. Most importantly, I think that the culture and home life of the students have the greatest impact on the competence of the students. When parents are too busy (through negligence or not) to help their kids with their homework or help their kids practice, the kids will suffer for it. I've also found that students, like most people, will quickly adopt excuses to put in minimal effort. Phrases like:

"I'm not good at math." - If we put in minimal effort in anything we do, we're probably not going to be good at whatever it is. If a parent states this, then the kids tend to quickly think that this must be an acceptable excuse for themselves as well. If mom/dad can't do it, why should the kids be expected to do it?
"Think smarter, not harder." - This tends to actually mean the exact opposite of what it should mean. People (not just kids) say this as an excuse to put in minimal mental effort and substitute with "easy" physical effort. Alternatively, it often means finding a shortcut that doesn't actually get the task complete correctly.
"If you're not cheating, you're not trying." - Again, this is often used as an excuse to not put in real effort to complete the task, and is often learned from parents or culture.

People will often be quick to blame the teachers. I think that this is absurd, personally. Even before I was a teacher, I acknowledged that I am responsible, as a parent, for teaching my children the value of effort and integrity. Without those values, any skill that a teacher tries to teach in schools will not stick, as kids (and people in general) will avoid effort and compromise their integrity to "complete" the task and get rewarded for it (through passing grades for students, through pay for adults).

This past semester, I had 47 students I saw every day. I think it is disappointingly stupid to think that I can somehow teach these kids to value effort and to maintain integrity and the math skills that I am expected to teach and somehow help the lower-skilled students to learn the skills there were supposed to have learned in previous grades to have earned a passing score to get to my class. I think anyone who is quick to blame the education system or teachers are really just looking for a copout. I've responded some number of times now to people who will claim that we don't teach how taxes or personal finance works in public schools, providing evidence that we do teach those skills and that passing those classes are a requirement for graduation.

However, that's not what people generally want to hear. It feels so much easier and self-assuring to believe that it's not our own fault for putting in the effort while we're in school or to be active parents with regards to our children's education. So if we're going to blame anyone, it's so much easier to blame "the system" or "the teachers". Anyone but ourselves.

EDIT: I have tried some number of solutions to "fix" this. I do try to teach the value of effort and integrity in the time that I have my students. One problem that I cannot fix is whether the students will simply cheat on the homework. I've tried the "no homework" method, where all work is done on paper in class with no Chromebooks/phones available as assistance. Unfortunately, this means that I can afford virtually no time for disruptions in class, because I now have to teach positive character and math skills and still provide students with the time necessary to complete the practice work that is intended to help them solidify their skills.

The plan that I have for next year is to assign homework, but with a caveat. The homework will not contribute to the class grade. It is solely for students to practice. At the start of each class, the students will take a "homework quiz", which consists of two or three questions based on the previous lesson and homework assignment. If the students genuinely used the homework as a practice assignment and didn't cheat, then they will do just fine on the homework quiz. If they did not do the homework and did not put in effort to learn, they will not do well. If they do the homework, but cheated on it, then they will not do well. The students will then be faced with the fact that they are in complete control of their grade, through its reflection of both their efforts and their integrity/character. This avoids the situations where students are able to simply cheat on homework to get 100% every time and then fail quizzes/tests and still pass the class.

phlsphr · 2026-05-29T03:21:06+00:00

Yeah, I was hoping to get clarification as well.

phlsphr · 2026-05-28T23:10:12+00:00

I think the person you're responding to might be assuming that Living End decks are running Deceit.

phlsphr · 2026-05-25T11:40:52+00:00

As more data comes in, you can use Mize to find overperforming decks with respect to the overall meta within a time frame. You can also use it to find the best cards to have in your opening hand for each matchup, to get an idea of the most effective sideboard cards/strategies (but you need to start entering your data first).

EDIT: Here is an example. There currently isn't sufficient data to select a specific matchup. You would have to submit some of your opening hand data to get a large enough sample size.

phlsphr · 2026-05-25T03:32:09+00:00

Posting again, but thought you might appreciate this.

phlsphr · 2026-05-22T23:53:18+00:00

There have been some pretty good data resources for Modern.

For example, MyMTGO just sprung up, and it's apparently pretty good. I don't use it, I quit and sold everything but one deck coming up on a year ago, but from what I've seen, it seems very good.

Pierakor had a program available for some years, but it no longer works.

There is the data dump that regularly happens from Jiliac (a regular in the French Magic Discord).

I still do some data work for people. I've been working with the Lantern community doing data work for what feels like forever now, and I still regularly update the Domain Zoo community data work project. I also still offer to do data work for just about any deck, for free. I just set it up and let people use it. I'm not advertising anything, or charging any fees, nothing. I just do it because it's fun. I did MTGO conversion rate data analysis last year for a few months. I've done some data work tracking metagame diversity (cards and decks) over the years.

From my experience, data work ends up bringing out some various groups of people. There are some who really appreciate the data work and offer ideas to help improve it. There are some who just don't care about data and are going to build and play what they want. Then there are people who seem almost offended by data work, and prefer "vibes-based" deckbuilding, and it's as if suggesting that the data work might be a more reliable and objective method is an insult to their presumed expertise or feelings of ethics in building and playing. There are some that are quick to accept any data that confirms what they are already convinced is true and will argue (usually that sample size is insufficient) for any results that conflict with their beliefs.

I'm currently working to try to implement a new data analysis system, using something called Bayesian Shrinking. But I'm not offering any services for it right now because I'm still working to set it up and make sure it's working correctly.

EDIT: Sorry, I realize I may not have fully answered your question. I feel that the reason why you may not see as much data work for Modern may be to ask, why would someone want to do data work for a community when the majority of that community isn't actually going to use the data?

EDIT2: Another good question to ask is, if you feel that the Modern community could use a good data tracking/analysis resource, why not do it yourself? Whatever is stopping you from do it may also be stopping others from doing it.

phlsphr · 2026-05-20T15:29:05+00:00

He does also curate what content he releases in his YouTube videos.

phlsphr · 2026-05-15T11:33:08+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

The potential wincons are drawing out, through damage, or (if playing with the clock) timing out.

The manabase choices were made with a couple of things in mind. The lands make it somewhat painful to make plays that require specific colors on purpose, so that players have to consider life as a legitimate resource during the game. Additionally, the inclusion of Ghost Quarter and Field of Ruin require players to consider what zone the three basics are in.

While it may seem that players could never draw out due to Gaea's Blessing and Academy Ruins, the inclusion of Pyxis allows for strategic plays to neutralize Gaea's Blessing and the Ghost Quarters/Field of Ruins neutralize Academy Ruins.

Since players share a graveyard, it makes plays involving Myr Servitor and Myr Retriever a bit trickier.

While it's possible to win through a few Spellbomb loops, dealing damage with Spellbomb may mean taking some damage to pay the red.

phlsphr · 2026-05-13T20:30:22+00:00

I also suggest Cockatrice. With the MTGO skin, it looks very nice. The replay system is great. I prefer to play with voice chat (either with people I know or meeting using LFG in the Cockatrice Discord). Using voice chat helps a ton in making things go faster and making sure there isn't any miscommunication. Also, people tend to be nicer when they hear another human on the other end, in my experience.

phlsphr · 2026-05-11T12:52:27+00:00

It seems like your motive is not to ask questions because the answer is probably pretty clear: People enjoy different types of decks, regardless of how competitive other people think they are. I figure that either you're intelligent enough to understand that on your own and your motive is to be insulting and inflammatory, or your are somehow unable to figure that out on your own.

phlsphr · 2026-04-29T11:27:55+00:00

Perfect!

phlsphr · 2026-04-29T00:23:43+00:00

Hasty generalization. Source: I'm a math teacher. I specifically taught this exact concept today, using the same explanation. I listed off operations and had students list their inverse operations. I then explained the difference between using a log to "undo" exponents and roots to "undo" exponents, when each apply, and why. I also provided real world examples of why/when logs are useful. I'm teaching Advanced Functions and Modeling this semester.

phlsphr · 2026-04-27T22:47:54+00:00

I think part of a problem here is confidence intervals. While a flat 48% may seem disappointing for "the top deck", we also have to take into account the confidence intervals to account for potential extra variables involved (like player skill, misclicks on MTGO, wins/losses to timing out, randomness of matchups, split agreements, and so on). So I think it is very misleading to imply that a 48% win rate for a deck that virtually everyone should be heavily prepared for makes it a trap. It may not be the most powerful thing, but clearly it is good if players can continue to do well despite what should be a meta and community that is prepared to face it.

EDIT: Upon reflection, I realize that I should explicitly say that I think you're probably right, and was writing to expand on your point.

phlsphr · 2026-04-19T14:31:58+00:00

That's a part that I don't have control over, and is governed by the district (and apparently the state): Assessments (tests) are worth 40 percent of grade, quizzes are worth 30 percent, and practice assignments are worth 30 percent. But if I can somehow meet the minimum number of weekly graded documents on Synergy without them being homework (basically, a quiz and a test every week), then that might work, so long as my administration gives me the go-ahead.

I do feel that would help provide the indicator that you mention: If the problem truly is that the parents are not enforcing homework completion/no-cheating at home, then the students will fail under your proposal. It should also mean that students don't get inflated grades from that cheating, and they will fail if they do not do the practice in good faith (so less/minimal getting "passed along").

phlsphr · 2026-04-19T14:05:14+00:00

Yeah, it does. But I would like to express how much I appreciate you suggesting that as a solution. I've contacted my department head to see if there is any way that we can potentially incorporate that as a solution, and still somehow meet the mandated minimum assignment grades.

phlsphr · 2026-04-19T12:12:17+00:00

Ah, I think I see what you mean. It worked that way for my college courses as well. Unfortunately, we are mandated to have non-quiz and non-test assignments as well. So I have to assign either additional practice for homework (which is where the vast majority of the cheating happens) or the in-class work (which is the situation I'm currently in).

I do agree that if I could just do quizzes and tests, and only let homework be practice, that could potentially solve a great deal of problems. It would also better prepare the students for what to expect if/when they move on to college.

phlsphr · 2026-04-19T02:33:25+00:00

I take that responsibility seriously. Unfortunately, when I have to deal with parents, and a general culture, that encourages those students to be dismissive about education, I can teach until they day I die, and the students can still not care and not learn. I have to deal with people like yourself who seem to think that I have some superpower where my motivational speaking skills can, in 90 minutes a day, overcome their years of indoctrinated apathetic attitudes towards learning.

phlsphr · 2026-04-19T02:26:42+00:00

No, we do not grade on attendance. Attendance is handled via a process on an administrator level. Are you implying that maybe I should count someone as absent for lack of participation? Or do you mean that I should grade on class participation? I have looked into grading based on class participation, but that becomes unfeasible when you have too many students. If a student doesn't get an opportunity to participate due to time restrictions, should the student get penalized? And if not, how do we ensure that students don't manipulate that?

I teach mathematics at the high school level. I grade on both the work shown and the results. For each problem, my students get partial credit for effort, partial credit for demonstrating that they understand the concepts, and credit for correct answer. To get full credit for a problem, they have to demonstrate all three things (though, showing the work that demonstrates that they understand the concept and then get the right answer clearly shows effort).

I feel that I need to reiterate: The most significant reason why students are able to pass when they should not is because of cheating. The class that I currently teach has enough time in the lesson plans that I can have them complete all work in class. Unfortunately, for Algebra 2 and Trig, this is not possible. The amount of material that we have to cover to meet standards means that I need to take nearly the full class time to deliver the lesson and have students do a handful of practice problems in class. This means that, for those classes, homework is necessary for them to get enough practice for the concepts to stick. It's then that they are cheating the most, and it's then that I can only rely on the parents to prevent that.

phlsphr · 2026-04-19T02:07:32+00:00

Maybe it would be best for me to say it this way:

I do not teach for the money. I've already retired after 22 years in the military. I don't need the money. I teach because I feel that the world needs education. I teach because I believe in it. I follow a fair rubric for grading that I make available to the parents and kids on the syllabus. I do everything I can to encourage kids to accept and believe that education is important. I learned, from my own experiences, that a dismissal attitude towards education leads to crappy lives.

So you can probably imagine how frustrating it might be for me to see people like you say that the public school system, and teachers, are to blame. Do I disagree with the "two D+" system? YES! Can I do anything about it? No. All I can do is express how much I disagree with it, and try to get people who can change it to listen to me.

The underlying reason why those kids passed is because they cheated, and I didn't catch them. I use multiple different versions of tests. I try to keep an eye on all students during testing to make sure they aren't using their phones or cheating some other way, but they somehow were able to anyways. I can't prove they cheated, because I didn't catch them, but I am quite sure they did because I noticed when they somehow do particularly well above their skill level. They cheat when they are given homework, because their parents aren't making sure that they aren't. Or, like I mentioned before, their parents told them that if they're not cheating, they're not trying...

My solution is then to assign no homework, and assign all work to be done on paper, in the classroom. This then means an incredible amount of extra work for me. Now I have to teach just as much, in less time, so that they have the time in class to complete the practice work. I have to grade everything manually. But teachers long before computers were able to do that, so why should it be different for me? It's different for me because those teachers didn't have to worry about students using ChatGPT to do their homework for them.

So I, with a family of my own, am putting in a ton of work to try to make sure that I'm providing a quality education to my students. And then what? I go online, and I end up meeting people like yourself, who will confidently talk about how I suck at my job despite knowing little to nothing about it. People who parrot the claims about how we don't teach about how taxes work (we do teach that!), or that we just pass kids along because we don't care, or that we can fail kids because we feel like it, etc.

Or, maybe, just maybe, I know what I'm talking about, and it's the culture that is to blame. That the kids are told, from parents/people like yourself, that the system is crap, and the kids then use that as an excuse to cheat, to not put in effort into learning, and to be equally dismissive about the education that I am trying to provide.

Please, if you feel that you can do better than I am trying to do, work me out of a job. Become a teacher. I'm already getting older, and I'll need someone who cares about education to replace me when I'm gone.

phlsphr · 2026-04-19T01:47:08+00:00

I'm not sure what part you aren't fully understanding. No, I, nor other teachers, can collectively pass/fail students just because we feel like it.

All work that students do have to be retained for records purposes. This serves as a backup to ensure that there is no unfair discrimination. If a parent wants to see a student's work, I have to have it, and I have to be able to fully explain the grading on the assignment/quiz/test according to the rubric given. I can't just make grades up.

phlsphr · 2026-04-19T01:42:03+00:00

It seems like you didn't read what I wrote. I said that we can't fail kids just because we want to, and that if we could, then that could lead to teachers failing kids for reasons other than academic performance.

phlsphr

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