I love Dokken and I know I’m not alone. George Lynch is an amazing guitarist, and Don Dokken has a perfect hair metal voice. They really are the musician’s hair metal band. But even I have to admit that Dokken was not the most original band in the world. For years, it bugged me that their song “Tooth and Nail” ripped off Foreigner’s “Tooth and Nail”. And just recently I realized that many of their songs share titles with other big eighties (or late seventies) songs. In a few cases, Dokken came first, but with most, Dokken looks more like the inspired party than the inspiration. I thought it would be fun to explore when Dokken’s song was better (or worse) with a little head-to-head competition.

B is really into robots lately, and I thought it would be fun to share her favorite books that feature robots or have exciting robot-related scenes.

• The Robot and the Bluebird (written and illustrated by David Lucas) This is a sweet story that takes on some heavy topics: love, sacrifice and even death. Spoiler alert: The bird comes out ok at the end, the robot not so much. The quirky drawings are wonderful, and honestly I think David Lucas is physically incapable of creating a book that’s not great.

I recently made a quick return visit to Philadelphia and rediscovered one of my favorite Philly institutions. It wasn’t the Liberty Bell, the Love sculpture, or even the giant tetris tower. It was Wawa: the world’s greatest convenience store. What makes it so much better than 7-Eleven, ampm, or even the recently departed White Hen? Two things:

I am very happy to announce the birth of this blog’s first child!

Teach Better is the new home for everything I have to say about teaching and education in general. High Variance will remain high variance, and you can continue to come here for regular rants about 80’s music, heartwarming kid stories and book reviews, original Christmas carols, and the occasional ridiculous theory.

Every new programming project involves choosing a language early in the process. This choice can be exciting and daunting at the same time, as it always involves weighing several conflicting factors. Based on many years of varied programming experience, here is my advice:

I grew up outside Boston surrounded by Irish-American kids named Sully and Patrick. Even though my last name was McKee, I was different. I was told that my ancestors were MacKays from Scotland who migrated to Ireland and changed their name to McKee to avoid discrimination. I read Scottish folk tales, fantasized about competing in the Highland Games, and seriously considered getting a kilt. I tracked down my tartan, and as a young adult toured Scottish castles and got lost in the moors on my mountain bike. I know this sounds ridiculous coming from a suburban American kid, but Scotland felt like home.

This post has moved to Teach Better.

Late at night, as I putter around the house folding laundry or washing dishes or putting away toys, I often listen to podcasts. Most are mainstream. For sports, I listen to the BS Report and Grantland NFL; for tech stuff, I listen to Accidental Tech Podcast and Mac Power Users; and for real life, I like This American Life and Dads Being Dads.

My current favorite podcast, however, is not mainstream. The Requiem Metal Podcast features two guys (Mark Rudolph and Jason Hundey) playing and talking about their favorite extreme metal. They started broadcasting in 2008 and have since produced 170 episodes. Every one stands on its own and I’ve had great fun digging into their back catalog to learn more about bands like Immortal, Emperor, and Bolt Thrower.

In their lead up to episode 100, they profiled what they considered the 10 most “crucial” years in metal. These are years that had not just great album releases, but albums that had a big impact on the future of the whole heavy metal genre. Even though Mark and Jason were little kids in the 80’s, they definitely appreciate them in hindsight, and their top 10 includes 4 years from the decade: 1984 (#5), 1985 (#10), 1988 (#9), and 1989 (#1).

I attended high school from 1982 to 1986 and listened to a tremendous amount of metal during that time. I started with hard rock, moved into glam/hair, expanded into classic metal, and loved exploring thrash and the beginnings of extreme metal. My friend Mike and I used to hang out at our local independent record store (Rockin’ Mania) and flip through whatever new (not Nü) metal came in each week. If the cover looked interesting one of us (usually Mike) would buy it. That’s how we discovered Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, Mercyful Fate’s Don’t Break the Oath, and the amazing Best of Metal Blade compilation albums.

I know I’m biased because 1983 was a particularly crucial year in metal for me, but three very important albums in the history of metal did come out that year:

1. Kill em all (Metallica). This was the first album by the biggest metal band of all time. It’s not as good as their next two, but it’s one of the first pure thrash records and it rocks.

2. Shout at the Devil (Motley Crüe) I still remember seeing the album cover in a mall with my mom and being simultaneously scared, repulsed and intrigued. The first song on the album is a weird Satanic-ish sermon (that I can still quote verbatim) and the music is surprisingly heavy for people who think of the Crüe as that band who sang “Girls Girls Girls” and “Home Sweet Home”. For tons of kids like me, this album was a powerful gateway into the world of real metal.

3. Melissa (Mercyful Fate) Many people have written about how influential this band was on the development of the black metal genre, and extreme metal in general, but on the podcast, Mark often disparages Mercyful Fate by calling them “goofy” or “circus metal”. I’m here to tell you it didn’t come off that way at all back in the day. When my friend Mike bought their second album (Don’t Break the Oath) on a whim, we were completely creeped out the first time he played it. We just didn’t know what to do with the blasphemous lyrics, shreiking vocals, and unbelievably catchy guitar work. I had a copy on cassette which I ended up listening to a few times and then throwing in the trash. Mike did the same thing with his album–it’s like we thought we were destined to burn in hell if we kept them. Now, a little older and wiser we can appreciate the music and laugh at the lyrics. Melissa, their first album, isn’t as good as Don’t Break the Oath, but you can’t have a second without a first.

After high school, I moved away from home and away from metal. When hair metal disappeared from the radio, I thought metal itself had died. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s I knew Nü Metal was a thing, but only dabbled a bit with bands like Korn, Disturbed, and even Linkin Park. Later in the 2000’s I learned that music called black metal and death metal existed, but extreme metal can be an acquired taste and I just wasn’t ready. Now, with Mark and Jason’s help, I’m really enjoying filling in the huge gaps in my metal education.

This post has moved to Teach Better.

This post has moved to Teach Better.