The DTF Old As Mold Club v. 40 IS The New 30! Kids Stay Out!

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Wassup ya young Casanova! 

 

Train me in your ways, ye olde people.

[King Postwhore]

Listen Gene Simmons of DTF, we live vicariously though you.  No teaching needed.

[carl320]

Learn how to walk 10 miles to school, uphill both ways.

Thank you CrimsonSunrise!
So.. does anybody else find it really weird that people who were born after 1995 can already speak and change their own clothes? Cause I find it unbefuckinbelievable, one reason being that I actually remember 1995. For some reason it's hard for me to grasp the fact that people kept getting made after I was made and that they are growing too hehe

Just wait...it get's worse.  Next Spring when I get married I'll have step grandkids.  I mean for fucks sake, I don't have kids!!  How the hell does that work?? 

Maybe having grandkids skips a generation?  Like balding?

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Am I allowed here?

[King Postwhore]

Am I allowed here?

Only with a leash.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Put it on me, Sir. The tighter, the better.

[CrimsonSunrise]

Learn how to walk 10 miles to school, uphill both ways.

Thank you CrimsonSunrise!
So.. does anybody else find it really weird that people who were born after 1995 can already speak and change their own clothes? Cause I find it unbefuckinbelievable, one reason being that I actually remember 1995. For some reason it's hard for me to grasp the fact that people kept getting made after I was made and that they are growing too hehe

In the snow!!!!

yeah....still have all my hair, but it's gray as fuck...

Just wait...it get's worse.  Next Spring when I get married I'll have step grandkids.  I mean for fucks sake, I don't have kids!!  How the hell does that work?? 

Maybe having grandkids skips a generation?  Like balding?

[wkiml]

Any fogies here use Melatonin? My sleep pattern has been F&*ked up for weeks I'm exhausted when I get home toss and turn until 1 or 2 in the morning than finally fall asleep only to get up at 4 am and start it all over again

Considering i'm usually in bed by 10 pm considering my early start will the Melatonin leave me groggy in the morning ?

Any side effects I should watch out for ?

Is it addictive? (I know its naturally produced by the body, but will I become dependant on it)

[carl320]

I've used it for a couple of weeks when I was on the night shift.  It was the only thing that could get me to sleep through the day.  That said, I don't know about the side effects or addictive qualities of it, but I didn't feel groggy when I woke up after taking it.

[Orbert]

I had some kind of sleep disorder last year after my surgery, and my doctor suggested melatonin.  I'm not sure how much it helped, I guess it did, and I didn't feel any worse for it, no side effects to speak of.  And even after popping a couple every night a for a few weeks, I was able to drop them cold when things got back to normal, so I wouldn't say that it's really addictive.  But I tend to not get addicted to stuff at all, when the substance in question is known to be addictive.

[El Barto]

Big fan.  If you take too much you'll get headaches, but that's about it.  I've found that it doesn't really make me sleepy, but it calms the squirrels in your head.  If your problem is just that your mind is racing, that'll do the trick. 

[King Postwhore]

Took it the first 2 weeks of my new job but after working for 2 weeks I didn't need it anymore.  Took two pills a half hour before I went to sleep.  I can tell you since my wife works at a pharmacy,  her boss told her to tell me not to use it for long periods of time.

[wkiml]

Big fan.  If you take too much you'll get headaches, but that's about it.  I've found that it doesn't really make me sleepy, but it calms the squirrels in your head.  If your problem is just that your mind is racing, that'll do the trick.

I'm physically and mentally exhausted when I get home, but get into bed and toss and turn for hours....blame it on the squirrels or whatever else is going on in my head

I'll check with my doctor see if he seems okay with me using it 

[splent]

Will I be in the club next year?  I turn 30 next year

[jingle.boy]

Yes, but for now... (insert Schwarzenegger voice) 

Get.  Out!

[King Postwhore]

Will I be in the club next year?  I turn 30 next year

We will card you then.

[DebraKadabra]

I have a hard time believing he'll be 30, though.  So yeah - once the date arrives we'll need to see some form of ID.

[Dr. DTVT]

I have to vent about this, and I don't want to piss off the kids here so I'm leaving this here.

Kids math skills have eroded so much compared to when I was in school.  As most of you know I teach chemistry at a small liberal arts school, and one of the classes I teach is freshman level general chemistry, which has the pre-requisite of either passing or placing out of math 101.  The most complicated math we do is some basic algebra - 7th grade level stuff - but mostly just simple + - / * stuff.  When asked if I would allow them to use a calculator on a test, I said my inclination was no because it was simple math, and I know that hoards of textual information can be stored on a graphing calculator so I don't want them to have access to them when all they have to do is basic functions.  If you saw their response you would have thought I started world war 3.  One of them even asked me, "How do you expect us to do the math without a calculator?"  WTF kind of question is that?  I had encountered this mentality to some extent teaching organic chemistry at VT, but there is a lot less math on o-chem I really didn't see it.  Is it too much to ask that you can do something as simple as calculating the formula weight of Al2(SO4)3, which would be (27*2)+{[32+(16*4)]*3}, without a calculator?  Another example of how far skills have eroded is that I actually had to explain how 1/(1/x) = x, therefore the calculation of g/(g/mol) = mol.  Since I was in HS before No Child Left Behind, I don't know how teaching math has changed, but it seems like kids have grown overly dependent on the calculator.

If you are a parent, don't let your kids touch a calculator.  You're doing them a terrible disservice.

[obscure]

mmm .. totally with you on that one... math skills is a must have for everyone regardless of what they do...

well it's never been an issue in this country... there is math overload since the first grade... I've never complained... both because I've always loved math and because it's a helped me a great deal with my education and career....

[Cyclopssss]

LOL...you guys. Joined, old fart reporting for duty



Or had I joined already?Can't seem to remember...and I'm fogged if I'm goint to read back forty pages... 

[DebraKadabra]

Hail, Cy!

[King Postwhore]

I always use this as a joke Mason but it has some validity to it.


Math skills have deteriorated because bowling alleys now have a computer generated score on a screen.  No onw has to add simple math anymore.

[TAC]

Is it too much to ask that you can do something as simple as calculating the formula weight of Al2(SO4)3, which would be (27*2)+{[32+(16*4)]*3}, without a calculator?  Another example of how far skills have eroded is that I actually had to explain how 1/(1/x) = x, therefore the calculation of g/(g/mol) = mol. 

What? 

[DebraKadabra]

Yeah, I wasn't gonna say nuthin, but...

[King Postwhore]

Is it too much to ask that you can do something as simple as calculating the formula weight of Al2(SO4)3, which would be (27*2)+{[32+(16*4)]*3}, without a calculator?  Another example of how far skills have eroded is that I actually had to explain how 1/(1/x) = x, therefore the calculation of g/(g/mol) = mol. 

What? 

I can help you.  Replace Al2 with cans of corn and (SO4) with display space.

[El Barto]

It's a genuine miracle that I was able to graduate from high school, and the inability to pass chemistry was a big part of the problem.  Specifically the math was an issue.  If Avogadro was still alive, I'd hunt him down and beat his sorry nerd ass.

And now for a bit of explanation.  In my case, it's just a matter of how my brain's wired.  Give me a sheet of scratch paper and I can figure out either of those two equations.  You'll never be able to discern how I did it, but it'll be correct.  Demand that I solve it in a traditional manner and show all of my work and I'll fuck it up 8 different ways.  Solving an equation in 8 written steps when I can solve it my head doesn't help anybody.  Unfortunately, like everything else in school, instructions are rigid and inflexible.  Part of my issues came from being unable to do the work as they demanded, and a bigger part was that I don't suffer obtuse assholes very well.  The bottom line is that there wasn't a damn thing in high school that I wasn't smart enough to do, but there was plenty I couldn't do in a manner they insisted on, which made HS a really shitty place to try and learn anything for me.  That led me pretty early to the conclusion that I was better off smoking dope and getting laid than jumping through their hoops. 

Is the answer 340?

[Dr. DTVT]

342 actually.  But I can deal with a math error, no one is perfect.  Getting the equation correct (I showed a condensed form) shows me that they understand how a molecular weight is calculated, that would be sufficent for most of the credit since the concept is understood.  It's more their insistance that they NEED a calculator that is frustrating.  Aside from the technology aspect, I'm starting to suspect that SoL (standards of Learning) tests are a huge culprit since they focus solely on getting right answers as apposed to teaching processes and learning how to think. 

[Orbert]

Is it too much to ask that you can do something as simple as calculating the formula weight of Al2(SO4)3, which would be (27*2)+{[32+(16*4)]*3}, without a calculator?  Another example of how far skills have eroded is that I actually had to explain how 1/(1/x) = x, therefore the calculation of g/(g/mol) = mol. 

What? 

I can help you.  Replace Al2 with cans of corn and (SO4) with display space.

There's two Aluminums at 27 each (27*2), and 3 SO₄'s, so 32 for the Sulphur, and the Oxygens are 16 each, so {[32+(16*4)]*3}.  Add them together.  Basically algebra; it's not ever stoichiometry.

And if they don't understand that taking the reciprocal of a reciprocal gets you the original value back again, that's because they don't teach theory anymore, just rote.  Rote is fine, but it's only the first step.  You still have to teach them to think.

But in the U.S., most teachers suck because they don't get paid worth shit.  It's something you "end up" doing when it should be something you aspire to.  But no one will pay teachers more, because everyone knows that most teachers suck.  Classic Catch-22 situation.

[lonestar]

I hear ya, though my math skills have eroded to shit over the years. I could do those equations, though it would take me a while and a lot of searching the dark recesses of my brain. The only math skills I have now are doing percentages and simple calculations, stuff I need for work.

[El Barto]

342 actually.  But I can deal with a math error, no one is perfect.  Getting the equation correct (I showed a condensed form) shows me that they understand how a molecular weight is calculated, that would be sufficent for most of the credit since the concept is understood.  It's more their insistance that they NEED a calculator that is frustrating.  Aside from the technology aspect, I'm starting to suspect that SoL (standards of Learning) tests are a huge culprit since they focus solely on getting right answers as apposed to teaching processes and learning how to think.

I was also really bad about not double checking my work (where I would have caught that). 

The problem is that I did that in my head, so you wouldn't have seen anything but an answer.  I suppose I could have written it out as an equation and then just given the answer, though. However, in high school, where I developed a strong resentment towards math, chemistry, French, English, art, teachers and school in general, that never would have flown. 

[wkiml]

its not just math anymore ....all 3 of my kids (middle school/high school and college) are now required to hand in all homework and other assignments typed (other than math) . There penmanship is terrible they can barely write cursive . When I was in school, you were actually graded on your penmanship and some teachers would require everything be written in cursive (script)

We as a society have become so reliant on technology in one form or another that its down right scary

[SystematicThought]

I don't think I'm allowed to post in this because I'm not over 30, but I just wanted to say in terms of penmanship. Most older people I've met have dreadful handwriting. Worse than some first graders

Carry on

[El Barto]

its not just math anymore ....all 3 of my kids (middle school/high school and college) are now required to hand in all homework and other assignments typed (other than math) . There penmanship is terrible they can barely write cursive . When I was in school, you were actually graded on your penmanship and some teachers would require everything be written in cursive (script)

We as a society have become so reliant on technology in one form or another that its down right scary

That's actually something that doesn't bother me.  Truth is, society is advancing to a point where entering text will be far more useful than writing it.  That's just a function of societal evolution.  While it's obviously not needed, I'd say that teaching T9 would probably be more useful than teaching cursive. 

Personally, my handwriting is atrocious, and I did learn all of that back when it was important.  I like to communicate very fast, and writing legibly isn't conducive to that.  I haven't had to write in cursive for 25 years, and when I used to, it had evolved into a form of shorthand that might as well have been Arabic to anyone other than me.  If I took my time I could probably write pretty well, but the simple truth is that I can type astonishingly fast and it's readable to anybody and everybody, so why bother.

[King Postwhore]

Is it too much to ask that you can do something as simple as calculating the formula weight of Al2(SO4)3, which would be (27*2)+{[32+(16*4)]*3}, without a calculator?  Another example of how far skills have eroded is that I actually had to explain how 1/(1/x) = x, therefore the calculation of g/(g/mol) = mol. 

What? 

I can help you.  Replace Al2 with cans of corn and (SO4) with display space.

There's two Aluminums at 27 each (27*2), and 3 SO₄'s, so 32 for the Sulphur, and the Oxygens are 16 each, so {[32+(16*4)]*3}.  Add them together.  Basically algebra; it's not ever stoichiometry.

And if they don't understand that taking the reciprocal of a reciprocal gets you the original value back again, that's because they don't teach theory anymore, just rote.  Rote is fine, but it's only the first step.  You still have to teach them to think.

But in the U.S., most teachers suck because they don't get paid worth shit.  It's something you "end up" doing when it should be something you aspire to.  But no one will pay teachers more, because everyone knows that most teachers suck.  Classic Catch-22 situation.

Little in joke with TAC Orbert.  he's a grocery store manager.

[Orbert]

Ah, got it.  In that case, you'd want to divide the display space by the volume of cans of corn, not add them together.