Brian Marick2d ago

I’m bemused that the Vice President of the United States now says “I don’t think [UFOs are] aliens. I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion.”

That is *exactly* what the teacher of AP Chemistry told us when I was in high school somewhere around 1975. (I went to “the bad high school”.)

I am not kidding, or exaggerating. He specifically said that UFOs are piloted by demons. (He was a fundamentalist before fundamentalists were cool.)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance-aliens-demons-devil_n_69c93d9de4b0a014076f69bb

JD Vance Believes UFO Sightings Are 1 Of The 'Devil’s Great Tricks'

The vice president shared a spiritual explanation for supposed alien encounters during an interview released on Saturday.

HuffPost
Show threadBrian Marick2d ago
It never occurred to me to blame that high school teacher for my getting an F in freshman chemistry at CalTech. Just as well, I guess.
Show threadBrian Marick2d ago

I also had a high school English teacher who’d been a Catholic nun. When talking about the Greek myths, she told us that the classical Greeks didn’t *really* believe in polytheism. Of course they knew there was one God.

The mid-70s were a time of “let your freak flag fly” for public school teachers. And others.

Show threadBrian Marick
I should note that the devil-may-care attitude toward public education had some benefits.
– The New Math *rocked*. https://www.si.edu/object/uicsm-high-school-mathematics-experimental-programed-edition%3Anmah_1302593 Great preparation for being a computer programmer. Number bases! Sets!
– One particular whole-class exercise taught me that I could – in a rational way – organize groups with shared information toward a common goal. Also that they would be really mad at me for being bossy.
Mar 29 at 11:24pmWeb
Show threadarclight2d ago

@marick From just a few hours ago https://oldbytes.space/@arclight/116314547525898163

The New Math was great! Plus it eventually introduced you to Tom Lehrer :)

arclight (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image Sometimes you see a book and a song just pops into your head

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