Gizmodo, Magic, and the Bitter Taste of the Internet

http://gizmodo.com/5833787/my-brief-okcupid-affair-with-a-world-champion-magic-the-gathering-player

Yesterday evening, I was doing my typical internet scavenger hunt.  This usually takes place after homework, but before dinner.  The perfect transition that should realistically take 10 minutes, but typically takes an hour.  I came across the above mentioned link.  If you're too lazy to check it out (which you should), here's a brief synopsis.

A female Gizmodo writer posted a short article about her experience on an OK Cupid date.  To her surprise, her date ended up being a world-champion Magic: The Gathering player.  Upon this realization, she subsequently stopped seeing him and then proceeded to write a scathing article.  Particularly, she was angry that this MTG information was not included in his profile.  The article hits its high point with this passage:

Mothers, warn your daughters! This could happen to you. You'll think you've found a normal bearded guy with a job, only to end up sharing goat cheese with a guy who takes you to a one-man show based on Jeffrey Dahmer's life story.

My initial feelings about this were muted at best, slightly disgusted at worst.  My impression was confusion as to why a person would go on a date, find out something they didn't like about the person, and then complain about it afterward.  I mean, that is the essence of dating after all.  No reason to be upset about not liking a person.  Stop dating the person and move on.  Moreover, I hardly consider it appropriate for a site such as Gizmodo to be the forum for bad date stories.  More so when the author identifies the name of her date and proceeds to insult him.

I walked away, made my depressing dinner of bread and oil, and moved on.  But the issue came back.

I have a Twitter app on my phone where I follow a number of technology journalists, and this story was being mentioned.  I was a bit surprised by this, as who cares about a single article by a journalist.  Yet, the Tweets were a stream of "This is why Gizmodo sucks" and so on.

Then, I came across this:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/the-10-best-reactions-to-gizmodos-terrible-ok

Here's a little snippet of something written about the Gizmodo blogger:
"[She] Reminded us that Women can be Predators Online Too"

In what likely is not the end of this saga, the hailstorm of the internet has come down on the Gizmodo author, which makes me wonder if the criticizer is receiving worse than she gave out.

In a way, something feels good about the wrongdoer receiving a taste of her own medicine, but I honestly don't like to subscribe to that approach.  The internet is an amazing tool that I respect and love.  It's not only brought the accessibility of information to an unprecedented level, but more importantly has made the communication of ideas extremely easy.  If I have an idea, I can send that to the world with very few barriers.  Two Wheel Observer is living proof of that.

However, I find it disappointing when people decide to use this awesome communicative power to harass and abuse.  That's not what I want from the internet.  Unfortunately, it seems that expecting otherwise is naive, even from professionals.

Do you understand?
- Yes
- Not at all

That's 1 for you, 19 for me

Cause I'm the tax man.  Yeah, I'm the tax man.

This drawing is the culmination of me going to a coffee shop and really wanting to do something more fun than tax.  It turns out that literally anything is more fun.  So, I drew this little comic for the cover of my tax binder and scanned it into my computer.  The saddest part is that scanning it took far longer than thinking of the joke and actually drawing all of this.

Two Wheel Cooking: Wine

Wine is the best meal for any person.  Not only is it useful for the romantic, but also the sleaze who is just looking to get laid by getting a girl drunk.  Wine is really what brings us all together.

Ingredients


-  Wine: 1 or more bottle(s)
-  Opener:  A good one

Procedure:


1.  Open the Wine

Put your opener in the soft corky thing and pull it out.  If you don't have an opener, you can use a knife or just smash it open, provided you don't cut yourself.

I know.  I'm rich, so I have an opener.

While opening, I nearly lost my monocle, I did!

I sleep on a pile of $100 bills, as you can tell by my opener.

In the mega alternative, just buy a twist off.  In fact, ignore the above paragraph and all the jazz about needing an opener.  Twist for FTW!

2.  Drink Wine

I'm not too concerned about how this gets accomplished.  I put mine in a small glass.  But some wine is too good for a glass, and the only choice you have it to drink straight from the bottle.

Why is there cleaning solution in the background?

Really, I just hope you listen to Crazy Train by Ozzy during this time.

Wrap Up:

Ingredients

-  Wine: 1 or more bottle(s)

-  Opener:  A good one

Procedure

 1.  Open wine
2.  Drink wine

Two Wheel Cooking: Summer Jam-balaya

Well,  Law school starts tomorrow, to some's dismay and to other's joy.  And yeah, I'm the joyous one.  So... what better way to kick this off than cooking and listening to some of my summer jamz.  With a z.

I want to state that this recipe is one of the most delicious meals I've ever had.  Not only is the recipe simple, but feeds you for a few days.  You too can eat like a champ.  Just follow my simple steps and summer jamz.  With a z.

We begin with "Time to Pretend" by MGMT.  Here's what you need to cook:

Ingredients:


Onion:  2 Red
Garlic:  4-6 Cloves
Tomatoes:  2
Green Bell Pepper: 1
Serrano Pepper: 1
Green Onion: 4 (just buy a bundle)
Creole Seasoning/ Cajun Seasoning: 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp)
Oregano: 1/2 Teaspoon (Tsp)
Cayenne/ Red Pepper: 1/2 Tsp
Tomato Paste: 2 Tbsp
Canned, Diced Tomatoes: 1 - 12oz to 16oz can
Chicken/Vegetable Broth: About 30 oz (give or take a few oz)
Butter:  1/2 Cup or 1 Stick
Rice:  3 Cups
Meat:  I did 1/2 pound shrimp and a pound of veggie sausage.  You can do shrimp, sausage, ham, or chicken.  It will all work!

Now we're hitting "Surf Wax America" by Weezer.

Honestly, wine is not one of the ingredients.  But to be even more honest, wine is the most important ingredient of all.

Procedure:


Let's hear it for "Georgia" by Yuck.

1.  Chop Some Veggies Man...

This meal is 90% prep, 10% actually cooking.  The recipe calls for the onion, garlic, green onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, and serrano pepper to be chopped, thrown in a bowl, and eventually cooked together.  As usual, there's no trick to chopping.  Just make them a size that you feel comfortable with.  Here's what I did while listening to "Learning the Ropes" by Ludique.

Red Onion!

The wine glass helped.

I tried laying the knife in the middle of the veggies as a change of pace.  C-.

Green Onion.

Chopped Green Onion!

Don't forget to peel it!

Someday I will be married in a church of garlic.

Serrano pepper.  I put in the seeds and all.

Just shove it all in the bowl.

2.  Other Prep

Okay.  So that should have taken you a pretty long time.  I hope you listened to more than just the song I apparently listened to.  Perhaps the "Civilization IV Medley" by Video Games Live.  The first song from a video game to ever get a Grammy nomination.

Next, You need to cut up your tomatoes have them on deck with your canned tomatoes.  It also doesn't hurt to open your tomato paste either.  I mixed them together in a single bowl, but it's no big deal if you keep them separate.  Check it:

Chopped tomatoes, plus the canned stuff.

You'll also need to prepare your meat at this stage (and hopefully your life with the cutting board will be over at this point).  The thing you'll have to decide is if you want to precook your meat.  If it's frozen, then do it.  If not, it's up to you.  I didn't precook my shrimp or veggie sausage.  As a heads up, you cook this meal in a pot for about an hour.  So, unless you're really paranoid, you'll probably be fine.  Now listen to "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending" by the New Radicals.

Finally, while this isn't mandated, I recommend getting your spices ready.  Just get out your measuring spoons and have them on deck.

PS.  I despise measuring...

3.  Finally, We Cook

We save the best songs for the best part.  Please turn on "Do You Realize" by the Flaming Lips.

Begin my melting your butter in a pot.  Hopefully, you have a big pot because this recipe makes a lot of food.  Once the butter is melted, add all your veggies with the exception of the tomatoes/ tomato paste.  Then add your spices.  Mix and let that cook for about 15 minutes.  At this stage, you want sizzle, but not burn.  At what level your stove does that, your guess is as good as mine.  Test!  Here's what it should look like:

Yep.  That's vegetably.

Next, you'll be adding... well... basically everything else.  I did it in this order:  Meat, tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, rice.  I actually didn't, but my foibles are your benefit.  Putting the broth in first invites every subsequent ingredient to splash salty broth all over you. So, pro tip, put the broth in last.  Just log that away for your own personal use.  Listen to "Manchester" by Kishi Bashi.  Here's where you should be:

Damn shadows.

Putting all of this in is going to take a lot of the heat out of your pot, so I turned my burner up for a minute or two.  However, after that, I turned it way down.  The reason is that I put a cover on the top of my pot and that kept the heat in really well.  You're going to let this cook for about an hour.  This is another scenario where depending on your stove, you'll have to stir as often as every 5 to 7 minutes or every 10 to 15.  I was doing every 7, but you'll just have to check.

Finish off your evening with "The Bleeding Heart Show" by the New Pornographers.  

4.  The Aftermath

And wallah!  You should have your finished product.

I feel as if this picture is misleading.  It really is delicious.

And this recipe will make enough that you'll be able to eat lunch for days!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.  Mine turned out pretty spicy (not a problem for me).  I attribute that to the serrano pepper.  To tone this down, leave out the seeds (as much of the heat comes from there).  

On the music, "summer jamz" is just a funny phrase that I picked up this summer.  I listened to a podcast where the hosts were trying to determine what can qualify for a summer jam.  Many of my songs didn't undergo such scrutiny.  In the alternative, all of these songs made it on today's post because they earned some kind of emotional place with me this summer.  Maybe they will for you too, so I encourage you to give them a listen.

Wrap Up:

Ingredients:

Onion:  2 Red

Garlic:  4-6 Cloves

Tomatoes:  2

Green Bell Pepper: 1

Serrano Pepper: 1

Green Onion: 4 (just buy a bundle)

Creole Seasoning/ Cajun Seasoning: 1 Tablespoon (Tbsp)

Oregano: 1/2 Teaspoon (Tsp)

Cayenne/ Red Pepper: 1/2 Tsp

Tomato Paste: 2 Tbsp

Canned, Diced Tomatoes: 1 - 12oz to 16oz can

Chicken/Vegetable Broth: About 30 oz (give or take a few oz)

Butter:  1/2 Cup or 1 Stick

Rice:  3 Cups

Meat:  I did 1/2 pound shrimp and a pound of veggie sausage.  You can do shrimp, sausage, ham, or chicken.  It will all work!

Procedure:

1.  Cut Vegetables
2.  Prep work:  Open cans, measure spices, cook meat (if necessary)
3.  Cook: 1. vegetables and spices, 2. tomatoes, meat, rice
4.  Let it sit for an hour, but watch it closely
5.  EAT!

Enjoy!

Yuki's Corner: Don't "hello" me. Where are the damn treats?

You've been gone, and I'm mad.

It's 4:30 PM, and while you've been on an 8 hour sabbatical, somebody has been holding down the fort.  Was it your roommate.  No.  It was fucking Yuki.  It's always fucking Yuki.  So when you finally do decide to end your all-day spa retreat, don't walk in this house and give me a "hello."  Get out the treats, get me to the dogpark, and let me have some fun.  No bullshit.  No excuses.  Just do it.

Now, you may think my life is a damn pleasure cruise.  Sure, while you're gone I lay on the bed, the couch, in the chair, and on the floor.  But you don't realize the stress of being the ONLY ONE in the house, protecting it from squirrels, bugs, and the sort.  One time, a rabbit was like, really close to the window.  And what did you do about it?  Not a single fucking thing.  I, on the other hand, watched patiently.  I watched and watched.  In fact, I watched for so long that the hours slipped away from me until you finally got home.  A constant detente-like state.  A perfect balance between good and evil.  And you sat by the sidelines and watched as the very fabric of our entire home nearly came unraveled.  Humans...

So, I don't think it's so much to ask that I get a little more than a, "Yuki! Hi! How are you?"  Just get the treats out and lay them on the floor.  That is what I need at this point.  Shit is stressful, and you think I want your attention?  Don't make me laugh.  Or make me do whatever it is dogs do when something is funny.

In sum:  1. Treats on the floor; 2. Me, dog park; 3. Eric, shut up.

Remember the 90s?

Those years were amazing.

I'm also a very sad frog...

This kind of post only comes after an entire bottle of wine and some Starcraft 2.  Not something many of you can relate to, but shut up.  Shut up forever.

In the 1991 years, I really wanted an NES (the one with Duck Hunt).  I had played it over at a cousin's house and was in love with Super Mario Bros. 3.  That's right. 3.  My parents brought home a SNES (the one with Chrono Trigger.  Yes.  Chrono Trigger.  I was pissed.  I threw a fit.  First world problems, right?  Anyway, welcome to the 90s.  A time of colored bars on the TV at 5 AM on Saturdays and bike rides on the sidewalk.  Now it's time for bed.

PS.  Totally bought the domain:  www.twowheelobserver.com

Congratulations.  I'm now the proud owner of like twenty-some letters.  Yay.

Two Wheel Cooking: Pizza Sauce Party

Pizza Sauce Party!

Hey Mikey! Pass me a ninja slice!

If you're not eating at least one pizza a week, you are prone to suffer from the following conditions:

Being a fucking grump.

Also, whenever I watch Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze, I crave pizza.

Ingredients:

-  Onion:  1/2 of it will be fine

-  Garlic:  2 cloves minimum, I used 6

-  Tomatoes:  2 small ones

-  Serrano Pepper: 1 (but optional)

-  Tomato Paste:  6 oz. can

-  Dried Basil:  1/2 Tbsp

-  Dried Oregano: 1/2 Tbsp

-  Dried Rosemary: 1/2 Tsp

-  Olive Oil: Enough to cover a pan

-  Water:  Faucet...

-  Pizza Crust

-  Toppings:  Cheese for sure, anything else you want

The tomatoes are Raphael.  The remaining colors don't really go with any of the turtles.

Procedure:

1.  Chop Some Shit

As I've already stated, cutting stuff is generally the most laborious part of cooking.  There's really no trick to this step.  I tried to cut my veggies as small as possible since they'll be part of a sauce.  However, if you're cool with big chunks of onion in your sauce, by all means cut larger pieces.  In the end, I recommend putting your onion, garlic, and optional pepper in one bowl and the tomatoes in another bowl, but I highly doubt it would be the end of the world if you put it all together.  One last thing, make sure you put on some music during this.  It makes for a pleasant experience, which is important when one is holding a knife.  Pictures!

Onion!

Garlic!

Do you see any tomatoes?  No.

Here they are.  In their own bowl.

2.  Cook Some Shit

This part is generally fun, but a little uncomfortable in the summer.  Yet, I have a solution:

And this is how we cook.

Pour some oil in the pan, let it heat up, and then dump your garlic, onion, and optional pepper in the pan.  You can't really screw this up unless you start burning stuff.  Let that cook for about five minutes and you're good to go (generally looking for the onions to become translucent).  If you're a pro like me, you can go mess with your Rdio playlist.  After that, pour in the tomatoes and again, let that heat up for about 5 minutes.  Then mix in your spices (basil, oregano, rosemary).  Here's what it should look like:

It doesn't look like pizza sauce... yet...

Finally, wrap up the sauce by pouring your can of tomato paste into the mixture.  You'll notice that tomato paste is pretty thick, so that's why you'll be adding water to the pan.  There is no right or wrong amount of water.  Rather, just add it until the sauce is either as thick or as runny as you want it.  Personally, I like my sauce thick so I didn't add much.  Just enough to let me stir the tomato paste into the vegetables.  Again, here's visual representation:

Much better.

3.  The Epilogue

We have reached the delicious end of our journey.  I like this part the best because it's a chance for you to: A.)  run wild with ideas (tempeh sausage and tomatoes anyone?) and B.) use the leftovers in your fridge (tempeh sausage and tomatoes anyone?).  If you really need help with this, I advise putting the sauce on first and then dumping toppings on from there.  Here's the sexy adventure my pizza took:

Sauce on crust.  Check.

If this was me and a girlfriend, I would be the grater and she would be the cheese.  Tall.  Short.

And then I guess something terrible happens.  Analogy ruined.

I'm not an ogre.  Of course I gave her some cheese.

Cowabunga dudes!

The Aftermath:

Deep down, we all know you can't go wrong with pizza.  It was delicious.  I would especially recommend this recipe if you're a fan of a thick, filling sauce.  The addition of extra tomato and onion (beyond just tomato paste) makes the sauce as substantive as the rest of the pizza.  Best of all, this recipe is about as run of the mill as you can get as far as pizza sauce goes.  If you want a more garlicky sauce, add some more garlic.  If you want a spicier sauce, add my suggested serrano pepper and more peppers after that.  Just use your judgment and chances are you'll end up with something delicious.

Wrap Up:

Copy and paste me!

Ingredients:

-  Onion:  1/2 of it will be fine

-  Garlic:  2 cloves minimum, I used 6

-  Tomatoes:  2 small ones

-  Serrano Pepper: 1 (but optional)

-  Tomato Paste:  6 oz. can

-  Dried Basil:  1/2 Tbsp

-  Dried Oregano: 1/2 Tbsp

-  Dried Rosemary: 1/2 Tsp

-  Olive Oil: Enough to cover a pan

-  Water:  Faucet...

-  Pizza Crust

-  Toppings:  Cheese for sure, anything else you want

Procedure:

1.  Cut your vegetables.  Garlic, onion, and pepper together.  Tomatoes on their own.

2.  Cook your vegetables in this order: (garlic, onion, pepper), (tomatoes, spices), (tomato paste and water)

3.  Sauce and toppings on pizza crust.  Bake.  Eat.  Yum.

The CJS: A SSO, Part II

If you're confused about the title, go here.  It will explain the title and set the stage for the following post.

If I had to explain our criminal justice system in a phrase, it would be "punishment by isolation."  Isolation from family, friends, work... life (a bit of a generalization, but pretty accurate for the purposes of this post).

I don't want to reiterate everything in my previous post, but the crux of my criticism is that isolation recreates the factors that created the criminal to begin with.  In contrast, the system should seek out those factors and address them.  More importantly, rather than isolation, we should be concerned with reintegration.

Now, there are some reintegration plans out there, and I love that they exist.  For instance, the Hennepin County Workhouse, while not the place you want to be, does offer opportunities to earn money, learn to cook, take the GED, and receive treatment for drug or mental health problems.  Contrast this with most prisons where a person is incarcerated, released after his or her sentence is complete, and then expected to just go back to life as normal.  It's difficult to get a job if you're not a felon, let alone a person freshly out of the system.

Yet, I still find a bit of fault with even the most generous reintegration programs (like the one mentioned above).  Our system does not assign punishment based on the person, but on the crime.  So a person convicted of assault gets the same sentence (for the most part), regardless of the circumstances.  This immediately limits our ability to reintegrate because the factors that created one assault won't be the same factors that create another.  A person with an anger problem doesn't need the same help as a person with a drinking problem.  That person doesn't need the same services as a twenty-something caught up in a gang.  Different solutions for different circumstances.

The strength of this approach is that it is a pushback against the notion that punishment deters crime.  I don't think it does.  I'm not a law abiding citizen because I'm afraid of some abstract punishment written in a MN statute.  Rather, I'm afraid of the fallout going that a conviction would cause.  I'm in school, have friends, family, and a career ahead of me.  I'm invested in my life and community as a whole.  That is the real deterrent.  If I didn't have those things, I would be far less concerned about the punishment itself.

While this sounds glib (a rather easy dismissal of the serious punishments out there), I wouldn't say it if I hadn't seen clients act this way.  Some would tell us that they simply don't care if they go to prison.  They can, "do the time," as they say.  What causes a person to act this way?  Well, I assure you that not all of our clients acted that way, and it was clear when a person had a job and family on their mind in our discussions about their case.

This proposition is without a factual basis.  However, it is a logical one.  There is a connection between our investment in society and our propensity to commit a crime.  Fear of punishment is a factor, but not as much as we give it credit for.  It loses its sting without all the other losses that go with it.  So when a person has nothing to lose outside of the crime's punishment, it's easy for that person to not only offend a first time, but a second and third.

I understand that most people probably don't think criminals deserve this kind of treatment.  However, criminals are people.  They're people who made a bad decision and we should never forget that.  We should never forget that a bad decision can be made in seconds and affect us for years.  Moreover, we should never forget that we're all able to make bad decisions.  I want people to stop and think before they make those decisions.  Or better yet, have the means and lifestyle that would prevent them from being in the situation providing the means for a bad decision.  Ultimately, our goal should be to reduce crime by making people more invested in society as opposed to severing people from society though punishment.

The Criminal Justice System: A Single Summer's Opinion

Most people have no idea what happens in our criminal justice system.  Now, as the title of this article suggests, I have a single summer's worth of experience, which hardly makes me an expert, but it has given me enough to form an opinion and an unfavorable one at that.  No surprise though.

I want to start with a relatively simple inquiry: what is the purpose of our criminal justice system?  I think many of us envision the purpose to be punishment, at least to some degree.  Others may see reintegration as the primary purpose of the system.  In the current state (at least in MN), I feel that we are halfway between these two scenarios.  At one end we may provide work release, education, and drug treatment for convicts, but on the other we imprison them for 5 years, severing them from their jobs, family, and friends.

Now, I lack concrete evidence to back this up, but frankly I find hundreds of years of rising incarceration rates to be all the evidence I need.  Treating the criminal justice system as a punishment mechanism is moronic and here's why:

First, in our current system, sending people to prison is expensive.  People may not like the fact that convicts are clothed, fed, housed, and given medical services (actually that sounds better than what some Americans have outside of prison... kidding), but providing all of that is mandated in the Constitution (cruel and unusual punishment anyone?).  We're not going to stop doing those things, so an increasing amount of prisoners will create an increasing cost to society to provide for the basic needs of those people.

Second (and more importantly), punishment is a manner of isolation.  Not just isolation for the purpose of making the public safe (I have no problem with isolation from society under the right circumstances), but isolation of the prisoner from everything that gives their life meaning.  This past summer, I found that many defendants were people who had made really stupid decisions, but were hardly criminal masterminds.  Yet, some would certainly find themselves going to prison for a year or longer.  Every time, I had to ask myself, "what do we expect these people to do once they get out?"

People are motivated to be law abiding when they are invested in something, rather than by a fear of punishment.  Again, no hard evidence, but think of the incarceration rate of those in poverty versus the upper classes.  A person with a lot to lose is less likely to risk their investments than those with nothing to lose.  A very simple risk/reward situation.  If I have a house and family, I am less inclined to risk that.  Where if you live paycheck to paycheck, scraping by, well... you get the picture.

Yet, imagine how we set up those who are sent to prison.  If we send an 18 year old male away for ten years, what do we expect him to do once he is released?  His chances of employment are low.  It's unlikely that he has many friends/connections after a decade.  At best, he has some family waiting for him, but there's no guarantee of that either.

So, if my premise is correct, we put a person away for ten years for a crime he committed in large part due to the fact that he had nothing to lose and release him with even less than he had prior to entering the system.  Should we be surprised if he reoffends?  No.  Should we be surprised that he can't acquire the very things that would make him less inclined to reoffend?  No.

Treating the criminal justice system as a means of punishment isolates people and encourages further offenses.  Worse yet, treating the system as a means of punishment hurts society through cost and further crime.

I don't have all the answers for the system, but I think we as a society should be considering this issue carefully.  Many of us are complacent about this, as we see defendants and convicts as nothing more than criminals.  Not people, but unruly animals that deserve our disdain and disrespect.  All the while, forgetting that these are people, and we are also a mere stupid decision away from being in their position.  I'm not an expert, but one summer has been a illumination of the dark corner of society inhabited by the criminal justice system.

Two Wheel Observer is..... on hold

My own experience with cover letters.

I usually love writing, but this week I need to hunker down on some cover letters.  Boo.

Teachers, Tests, and Broken Logic

To be completely honest, I love teachers.  I wanted to be a teacher.  I still want to be a teacher.  I've had bad and good teachers.  Just note that these statements likely motivate the following post. However, that doesn't make me wrong.  Rather, just honest. 

This week, a video of Matt Damon hit the internet.  He, in a strained way, defended teachers.  I won't go too deep into it because you can watch the clip and probably already have.  His comments have motivated me to defendant teachers in hopefully a more coherent and fleshed out way than his one-minute video.  

As long as I can remember, teachers have been under flak.  Not just the normal flak, but the kind of flak that lays the blame of all society upon them.  Budget problems?  Well, it must be the teachers' union's fault.  Achievement gap?  Yeah, that's the teachers too.  High unemployment?  Damn it, teachers.

The basic assumption seems to be that when students perform badly, the teacher must be ineffective.  Well, this is a logical fallacy.  It sounds good, but it doesn't make sense.  So, for your education, I want to hash this logical misstep out for you.  Let's begin.

Take these two premises as the base for the situation.

A:  An effective teacher instructs a student.

B:  The student does well.

If an effective teacher instructs a student, then that student will do well.

If A, then B.

The logical fallacy is:  If not B, then not A.  Or, If the student does not do well, then the teacher was not effective.

However, reality actually looks like this: A is necessary for B to occur, but not sufficient for B to occur.  You follow?

Explanation:  We need teachers to teach a subject well.  We NEED A for B to occur.  However, even if a teacher does teach a subject well, that is not enough.  Having a good teacher is not SUFFICIENT for a student to  do well.  Or, If A occurs, B does not necessarily occur.  (If you're confused, read it again and again.  That's how I got through my first year of law school.)

This is important because currently our teachers are judged via tests.  Tests taken by students who either do well or don't do well.  And, as I tried to explain earlier, while we need effective teachers for students to do well, an effective teacher isn't necessarily enough.  Therefore, judging teachers solely by student performance only gives us a small piece of data regarding whether a teacher is effective or not.  In other words, the tests tell us something, that something may be that a teacher is ineffective, but that something could very well be a different factor entirely.  The tests are not designed to tell us that.  They only tell us about the student.  Nothing about the teacher.

In a more practical sense, maybe our country should look and see if there are any other red flags out there guiding student performance.  Like poverty perhaps?  Is it mere coincidence that students on free or reduced-cost lunch do worse than their peers?  Is it mere coincidence that there is an achievement gap between white students and students of color WHEN there is also a wealth gap between whites and people of color?  The answer is hell no.  It's not a coincidence.  We've known that for a while, but I don't hear any politicians seeking education reform on those grounds.  Of course, it must be the teachers' fault.

I have a lot to say about teachers, but this was by far the most unflattering defense I could have made.  That being said, this was a flat out rejection of the way we judge teachers.  Student performance is hardly made or broken by teachers.  An amalgamation of home, school, friends, family involvement, community support, and teachers dictate our students' performance.  If a student isn't doing well, maybe he or she has a bad teacher.  However, in the alternative it could be any of the other aforementioned factors.  Ideally we'd find which, but tests aren't informing us of that.

Music FTW!

Yo Readers,

Just wanted to let you know that some cool shit will hopefully be hitting Two Wheel Observer in the next few days.  First, the Trek 1.2 review is on its way, as well as s little update about my life with Rdio.  Finally, I was finally accepted into Turntable.fm, which if you haven't heard of, you should check out.  Also, the debt ceiling was taken care of, so I guess that's a good thing.

The economy.

Two Wheel Cooking: Tomato Potato Basil Soup

Tomato Potato Basil Soup

If your soup ends up red, that's a good sign!

One of my passions is cooking, so I figured I would periodically post some of my favorite recipes with tips and tricks.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-  Onion: 1 medium sized

-  Garlic:  3 Cloves

-  Potatoes:  6 Small Red/Brown

-  Basil:  A handful

-  Tomatoes:  4 Cans, diced

-  Sea Salt:  1 Tablespoon

-  Oregano:  1 Tablespoon
-  Water:  2-4 cups

-  Olive Oil (just always assume you need that)

Procedure:

1.  Cut those damn vegetables

By far the most annoying part of any procedure, but don't get too caught up in this step.  I spent a lot of time worrying over how to cut, dice, or chop vegetables when I was a cooking newb, but you really don't have to.  You cannot screw up this step.  If you're simply concerned with a delicious meal and not about presentation, no worries.  Just remember to peel the garlic and you'll be fine.  Here are my chopped veggies:

2.  Other Prep

Open the cans of tomatoes, measure your salt and oregano, and get all your ingredients on hand.  You'll be cooking your onion and garlic together, so they can share a bowl, but the rest of the ingredients should be separated from each other.  Get out a pot big enough for soup.  I used a stock pot, but you certainly don't need anything that large.  Just get the biggest pot you have.

Have all your ingredients nearby, take a final tally to make sure everything is accounted for, and your cooking life will be smooth.

3.  The Cooking

Start by cooking the onion and garlic in the pot.  Pour some olive oil in the pot and turn the burner to a medium or high heat.  You can really play with the burner at this point to see where it should be.  You're shooting for a nice sizzle, but less than burning the vegetables  (a good measure is if anything is sticking, the burner is too hot).  If it is sticking, an easy way to help prevent sticking/burning is to just stir the veggies a little bit.  If this is your first time doing this type of cooking, then I recommend attending to the onion and garlic very closely.  Once you've done it a few times, you can be like me and make an Rdio playlist while this stuff cooks.  Cook until the onion becomes translucent.

The onion and garlic gettin' it on.

Next you will add the potatoes.  You may need to turn up the heat a little when you add the potatoes since the sheer amount is going to eat up most of the heat.  I cooked the potatoes for maybe 5 minutes, but it really isn't set in stone.

Next you literally add everything else.  I like to do the tomatoes first, but to each his own.  The amount of water you add is going to dictate how soupy or stewy your soup ends up.  More water for thin, less water for thick.  I kept my burner in the middle to high heat range again, turning it up or down to make sure it kept simmering.  Cook it for 30 minutes and you have your soup!

WARNING:  The only thing you can really do to screw up this recipe is under cooking the potatoes.  Before you take the soup off the burner, taste a piece of potato.  It should be soft!

4.  The Aftermath

Personally, I love bread so I bought a bagette, stuck it in the oven, and then dipped it in the soup.  Extremely delicious and easy.  I turned the oven to 250 and put the bread in for about 5 minutes (really I just put my hand on it and decided it was warm enough for me).

I also added ground black pepper and red pepper flakes to my soup.  If I had it, I probably would have considered cheese or sour cream as well.  Feel free to try anything that sounds good.  The soup recipe is pretty simple, so customization is easy.  If it sounds like it will taste good, it probably will.

Wrap Up:


For your copy and pasting convenience:

Ingredients

Onion: 1 medium sized

-  Garlic:  3 Cloves

-  Potatoes:  6 Small Red/Brown

-  Basil:  A handful

-  Tomatoes:  4 Cans, diced

-  Sea Salt:  1 Tablespoon

-  Oregano:  1 Tablespoon

-  Water:  2-4 cups

-  Olive Oil (just always assume you need that)

Procedure

1.  Cut Vegetables

2.  Cook onion and garlic till onion is translucent (watch for burning)

3.  Add potatoes and cook for 5 minutes

4.  Add all other ingredients, simmer for 30 minutes

5.  EAT!

Enjoy!