Cricket
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Posts posted by Cricket
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the incubation period is as long as 21 days. a 3-5 day quarantine isn't remotely long enough.
the guy appeared healthy when he got on the plane. he was sick when he got off. they quarentined everyone else.
the biggest problem in that part of the world is the distrust of modern medicine. they are taking ill family members to tradition medicine men. over the weekend, there was one family who forcibly removed their loved one from the hospital. some "nurse" told people they doctors were using their loved ones for cannibalism - and the hospital had to deal with everyone descending upon them and protesting.
family members are handling and rubbing the dead bodies which is part of traditional funeral rites. when a person shows symptoms they are even more contageous - even after they have died.
I read how groups of people are greeting doctors and healthcare workers by throwing rocks at them when they come into their towns.
Has any read the WHO page about this? There is plenty there to keep you awake at night. "People are infectious as long as their blood and secretions contain the virus. Ebola virus was isolated from semen 61 days after onset of illness in a man who was infected in a laboratory." So you can recover from the virus and still give it to someone else as far out as 61 days later. Fatality percentage rates are staggering.
Viruses are simultaneously fascinating and terrifying.
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I read this book when it came out. I was a teen and was fascinated by Marburg and Ebola. I entertained the idea of becoming a virologist for a few years.
I admire people who can read all about these horrifying viruses and want to actually work with them to combat them. I couldn't do that!
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My oldest is reading The Hot Zone right now. We've been following the outbreak. Scary how this one is spreading.
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Just out of curiosity, I tried to find statistics on why the stereotype for a video gamer is a male and not female. I found this: http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/141/videogames.asp
My boys are drawn to the typical masculine quest in video games. Even with options to make the main character in the video game female, my girls just aren't as interested. My oldest dd is highly competitive, highly adventurous and very athletic in real life. She'd love to climb a mountain or be the first person on Mars, but she also loves to play dolls and dreams of getting married and having lots of babies. (My boys dream big too but they usually stop before the wife and babies part!) She likes stories about friendship and typical "feminine" things whereas my boys, given a choice, don't seem to care much about "boring" stories like that. We are a consumer-driven society. Is there a lack of female characters taking the masculine journey because there isn't much market for it? If a girl prefers the typical feminine journey, why is there an underlying assumption that it is only because of societal influence? I just hesitate to see a statistic about male v. female characters in books and jump to the conclusion that society is sending the message to girls that they matter less than boys or can't have adventures like boys.
(Earlier I said that I would not change a pronoun in a book, but if some parent out there thinks it would help their dd, then go for it.)
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The book exists in reality - I have a copy of it. It's real. In reality, Tolkien wrote Bilbo Baggins as a male. Therefore, in reality, the fictional character in a fictional book, Bilbo Baggins is a male.
I asked my kids what they would think of me reading The Lord of the Rings to them but making Frodo a girl. Everything would stay the same but I'd just say 'she' instead of 'he'. My one boy who wants everything to be "right" was highly disturbed by that. He kept saying to call him a girl was wrong because he was a boy! One of my dds loved the idea of the main character being a girl but we'd definitely have to change the name because Frodo isn't a girl. My younger dd couldn't figure out why anyone would call a girl Frodo when it's so obviously a boys name. Lol--characters in books are most definitely real to my kids!
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We also use Catherine Vos' The Child's Story Bible (Reformed bent). Then we follow Penny Gardner's list. http://www.pennygardner.com/bible.html
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The fact that it's harder for girls to find books with girls in them, especially at the very young ages with animal characters, clearly sends a message that girls aren't as important or as interesting as boys. To me the link is so clear that I have trouble why other don't see it as a big deal. I think it's a very big deal.
I think it isn't a big deal because of the vast number of books out there available to us. If there were only 10 books in the world, maybe. But even using the numbers in the linked article (6000 children's books), that leaves 1860 books with girls as the central character. Is it really hard to find books to read when you have 1860 to choose from? I think it is a manufactured issue. Who would know there are more books in the world with boy central characters unless we were told? Who here has read all 6000 books available? A more useful statistic would be what is the ratio of boy to girl central characters in books at your library or in your own personal library. Those are the books your kids are reading.
As a girl, I can say that some girls don't care if the central character is a girl or boy, depending on the story. Girls and boys both can connect to a story where the central character is the opposite gender than the reader. I never felt deprived when going to the library and choosing books as a kid. I wasn't comparing how many boy characters to how many girl characters. I was looking for interesting stories.
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If my dd insisted a character in a book was a different gender, I'd discuss with her why she thought that. If my dd asked me to change the character's gender, I wouldn't do it or I'd find a different book that suited her better. After reading the book, she'd be free to play around with the story any way she wanted but while reading it--the first time--I'd want her to read it the way the author wrote it. I guess I'm weird like that. If Tolkien wanted Bilbo to be a girl, he would have written it like that. It feels wrong to change the story--the first time anyway. I'm one of those goofy people who get attached to characters as actual people. It would be unsettling to me to change their gender. It's not like changing their hair color.
One of my oldest boy's favorite books in the younger school years (he never read for pleasure) was Understood Betsy. My girls have never had problems relating to books where the main character was a boy.
As far as comparing the number of books that have boy v. girl central characters, it kind of made me laugh a little. Who reads all the books out there? You can pick and choose what you or your children read, so if you really want your dds reading only books with female central characters there is still plenty to choose from. Skew your kids' reading the way you want. Make it 90% female leads and only 10% male leads if you want.
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I had that issue along with a bunch of tests that showed nothing. Turned out to be a gluten- intolerance. That was over 20 years ago though. I would think at least one doctor would have that thought of that by now.
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My guess would be a terrible mistake--someone on either side of the conflict thinking it was related to the other side.
That was my first thought but who knows what someone was thinking. :(
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So none of you, whose future husband asked for a blessing or permission, felt the need to ask the parents of your fiancee for a blessing?
Are the parents of the male partner in a heterosexual marriage left out in the cold? Does no one want our blessing or support? Do we not matter?
Dh talked with my parents with me there but it was more of a "you don't have to worry, I can support her" type of thing. I was never fully on my own before getting married. I had graduated college but was still living with my aunt and uncle (paying minimal rent) at the time I met dh. We got engaged two weeks after meeting so I think dh was anxious to be respectful and considerate of my family since my family is very close. He didn't want them to worry about this strange guy their daughter just met. My parents have never been overly protective or controlling so there was no weirdness at all in him feeling like he'd like to have their blessing. I know as parents we have to let our kids go but I don't think when they turn 18 I'll magically stop worrying about them. Dh, on the other hand, left home at 16 and hadn't lived at home for 20 years. It would have been very weird to ask for their blessing considering many of those years he had no contact with them. If dh's home life had been like mine and they were close, I would appreciate knowing we had his parents' blessing as well. I don't see it as a negative. It's much nicer if we get along with the in-laws too.
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I'm interested in a meet up. will someone PM the time and place?
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How awful! Praying for recovery
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Thankfully in this part of the world that is your right and privilege. You have a voice. Not so for most of the rest of world's female population.
All the more reason for men to be part of the conversation I think.
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I like that. I've been thinking lately about the mixed messages society send girls. My girls and I are supposed to be attractive so we have value and yet if males find us attractive, we are sluts. If males find us unattractive, we have let ourselves go, don't care about our appearance and are valueless. Modest clothing is "immodest" if the female is still attractive. Makes no sense whatsoever. Girls are in such an unwinnable situation.
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My cousin spent some time traveling through Mexico and Central and South America. His parents got a phone call from someone claiming to know him and saying that he was in prison. I don't remember which country he said but the caller knew names and details. What made it worse is that she couldn't get in touch with my cousin. She ended up calling an international prison ministry to see if they could help her verify if he was actually in prison. Obviously, they couldn't find anything about him. I think he checked in with her a day or so later so she knew he was okay. It's crazy how much of our personal information is out there. ETA: My cousin was making blog posts through his trip so I'm sure some of the information was there but his last name wasn't on the blog.
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Okay, this made me laugh! I am thrilled that your friends found spouses, but it seems a bit un-reformed to go looking online!LOL
Just a joke, folks--I lean in the reformed direction myself.
My DH feels the same way. :001_smile:
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I know four people who have found spouses on this site: http://www.sovereigngracesingles.com/
If you are of the Reformed variety, that is!
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So JO doesn't love his money ? I guess if he doesn't love it he can give it away...write another book...amass another fortune...give it away...maybe he does. And if he does - good for him!
It's a lot easier to be humble without money than it is with $40 million in the bank. IMO.
As I said posts and posts back, why couldn't he just pay himself a median American wage ? Around $30 000 ? Maybe he does. That would be nice.
I wasn't necessarily talking about JO because it seems that this conversation had morphed into "all pastors should be poor because being poor is morally superior to being rich." I'm saying there isn't a moral value attached to the size of a person's bank account. There is moral consideration to how to money got into the bank account and what it is being used for. People don't have to give everything away in order to prove they don't love money. You can still be greedy in your heart and love money without having any. Having money (or not having it) doesn't prove anything about a person's character.
As far as JO is concerned, I'm not willing to name a dollar amount that "good" people can't go over. That's completely subjective to whoever is judging I guess. I dislike him for other reasons besides his money. :001_smile:
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I'm not sure why pastors being poor is automatically a noble thing or a moral good. The Bible speaks of the love of money being the root of all evil, not money itself. My dad was a pastor for years. We barely scraped by as he was paid next to nothing. We were dependent upon government aid in order to eat. My mom worked her butt off in a full time job in order to help pay the bills. My parents have no retirement and my mom, who is old enough to be retired, still works full time in order for them to get by. My dad is bedridden and can't work. They aren't "better" Christians because of their financial situation but they are still generous to those in need despite their lack of money. That is the character issue and the moral good, not the size of their bank account. People can be poor and still be selfish and greedy. You can still have a love for money and not have any.
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Although I see a lot of this everyday being in SoCal (undocumented immigrants), I have stayed away from this conversation as many points have been rehashed here, but a thought came to me last night...
If these children (and their families) are running from cartel wars, etc, are they then considered refugees? If so, has anyone read anything as to the UN getting involved? Either in their home countries or in the countries that they end up "running" to?? Or is it all about they want a piece of the "American Apple Pie" and they just happen to be close enough to here to make it versus the people on other continents who can not get here so easily?
I just base this on my experience in other countries with the UN and refugees (my DH is a refugee, so his family is well familiar with it). They kept the family intact, provided housing, education, medical care, etc for millions. So they have the experience to handle something of this scope. I just wonder if because it is not a typical "war" (is there such a thing?), that perhaps that is why the UN has not offered help to these families? Or have they offered and the countries don't want it?
Just my ponderings last night...
According to the US Immigration Services, to qualify as a refugee people have to have been "persecuted or fear they will be persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, and/or membership in a particular social group or political opinion." It doesn't look like rampant crime and general perilous conditions would apply.
http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum
I think getting the UN involved would create an uproar here like we haven't seen yet.
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I'm having to change things up for my rising sophomore. I do know some people that have used AO through high school and some that are using it now. Science is being done through a co-op so I don't know if they are also reading the AO science suggestions as well. The ones who graduated are doing very well in competitive colleges and the ones in high school now are also doing very well.
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I live in Dubai, where the malls have ski hills and dinosaur fossils and things in general are done OTT. So while I am looking forward to seeing the hotels and the decor, I don't know that it would take up more than a couple hours.
With malls like that, you might be underwhelmed by the casinos. :-) but it will definitely take more than a couple of hours. The Strip was much bigger than I expected, especially when walking. Dh and I were there for four days and didn't see all the casinos. Each casino is outrageously huge.
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People are saying that these men are leading people away from the truth. Can you or anyone expound on what is meant by that. I have already said that I heard Joel Osteen give the gospel. What truth are they leading people away from?
What is meant by tickling people's ears and not giving sound teaching?
There is a video on this site that sums up some of the problem pretty well.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pastor-rick-henderson/osteen-meyer-prosperity-gospel_b_3790384.html
Love this: sex positive parenting
in The Chat Board
Posted
I'm chuckling a little bit here because wasn't Matt Walsh raked across the coals in a recent thread for blogging about parenting while only having one (or is it two?) small children? Maybe he just doesn't have the right opinions? :001_smile:
I was raised in a conservative Christian home and my parents treated conversations about sex in much the same way as the author. We weren't told sex was scary or that we'd only want to have sex with our spouses and never be sexually attracted to anyone else. We didn't sign abstinence pledges. Sex wasn't a taboo subject. My parents were realistic but also had clear boundaries and expectations. At the same time, we knew as kids that if we crossed those boundaries, we were still loved.