Would he be willing to get an antibody test? Then you can both know what's happening with his immunity / be able to make informed decisions? The Dr's Lawyer (Aaron Siri from Siri Gilmstad) posted this on his substack today so lots of people posting it on twitter: https://aaronsiri.substack.com/p/whistleblower-fda-and-cdc-ignore?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxODkxMDIxOSwicG9zdF9pZCI6NDI0OTkxODcsIl8iOiJqd0hxaiIsImlhdCI6MTYzNDA4MjgwNywiZXhwIjoxNjM0MDg2NDA3LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNTE2MzYwIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.25BIiWtC5KliCzSMFYZT26jfZa-1oS80eLoWzsDOhpk

Coffee, Pirate's Booty, chips and salsa, cilantro lime rice, and cookie dough.

Granny does sound old, but I think plain 'ole Grandma is a bit of a badge of honor - You're now the GRAND one, not just the regular Ma Implies that you've grown to an additional role in the family. The mom to the mom. Other things too. I guess, do you want to be seen as the matriarch of the family or as more of a friend/peer, or some other image? That probably matters in what you'd like to be called and somewhat depends on existing family dynamics. You need the word that fits with the role you have and/or want 🙂

I know this is a bit of an older thread, but since we have AOPS and Elements of Mathematics experience I'll post my two cents just in case it's useful to anyone. I think the Elements of Mathematics program is really great. It is *very* wonderful for my child that loves the mathematical world from a conceptual level, would be considered mathematically gifted, doesn't like to do a lot of writing, and would rather ponder infinity than do competition math problems. It is also great for my logical, honors level but not gifted in math kid, but in different ways. They both love doing it but I can see that they "get it" in different ways. If you're looking for something that more or less resembles a public school scope and sequence then this program really isn't what you're looking for. The topic headings won't be apples to apples what they would see, though all the concepts are covered. For example, multiplying two binomials is presented in the context of studying Rings in an Abstract Algebra unit and students are led through constructing a proof rather than being directly instructed to use the FOIL method. I would almost say that I think EMF *is* the expansion. We don't have experience with math tutors, but my son takes lessons with a person who has achieved the highest level of the thing they work on together (being vague for privacy reasons). Even though there are plenty of topics that could be studied in the area their time together never outwardly appears geared toward one of these topics. It is very wholistic and involves a lot of thinking like a person who does that thing at a professional level. My son practices the component skills of the thing outside of his time with this person to be ready to work on the bigger picture with this person. If I were looking for someone to help more with the component skills of the topic I'd look for someone who was going to provide direct instruction in those specific skills with a specific competence goal in mind. All depends on what one needs at the time.... and what one's long term goals are. If the goal is becoming a mathematician I would find the best personal fit with a mathematician that I could afford (sometimes the best fit is different than the "best teacher"). If the goal is to be able to perform well on a test or to get an A in a school class/subject I would find the best fit with a tutor who understood those goals and focused on helping do it.

OP, I hope you'll post how it all goes and his thoughts on the competition next spring. I'd be particularly interested in knowing how much he feels that preparing moves him along in his Chemistry knowledge and abilities. Hope he enjoys and gets a lot out of the experience!

I just learned this morning that there is a T-Cell Antibody test called T-Cell Direct that is available at LabCorp, I was told cost is around $200. I don't know much about it yet but wanted to share so that anyone interested/needing it can look into it.

Cannabis isn't legal in our current state, but when we lived in California our town changed their zoning laws so that no stores could go in. I wasn't actively against it at the time, but I tend to always first think of zoning as an infringement on property rights. Seeing how some places have been negatively impacted are making me question what I think about it.

We could go round and round and round about who has to do what for other people and try to figure out who has to bear which burdens and we'll never get anywhere. This is why a more simple principle, take precautions to protect yourself, is the equal solution.

I have long term concerns too, but have long term concerns about the vaccine for the same reasons as the wild virus. I've been reading papers out there about the spike protein every chance I get. At this point in time, because the vaccines are non-neutralizing, I see the risk of everyone eventually getting Covid as highly probable no matter what. Natural infection seems to confer robust immunity so I take solace in that. Maybe not if they can come up with a better vaccine - I know there are some in the works, but only time will tell on that front. It's also been really tough to sort out what's truly happening with some of the potential early treatments (for all sorts of reasons and with all involved) but I really hope some great early treatments become available soon. I try to focus on what I can do for our family (diet, exercise, daily sunshine/Vit D, positive social life) that will help mitigate all kinds of risk. Grappling with what I do have control over does two things - 1. improves our chances of not having bad outcomes for covid and other disease, 2. reduces the amount of time I stew over things I can't control.

I might agree if there was really no cost to everyone that was asked to wear a mask. I've suffered several anxiety attacks wearing a mask (that has a real, negative, health outcome to me). It needs to always be my choice to put that mask on.

It is entirely possible that both the expert who supplied the testimony that pointed out PCR problems *and* Wakefield have at times acted improperly at times. No need for the, "Oh ya, well look what he did." deflection technique. I think that the PCR science was faulty in Wakefield's work and I think it's faulty now. That's called consistency. Your use of language like "malarkey", and "disinformation", won't persuade me from examining what is out there to the best of my ability. It's a very shallow attempt at influencing people through emotion. Really bottom of the barrel type behavior. I feel bad for the people who let you have any power over their views.

Here's my rule of thumb: If someone has a need to be/feel protected (like the event organizer I mentioned who had a transplant), then our family does what is requested and/or clarifies their needs or simply passes on the interaction. We do need to see human faces. Grocery stores, etc. are the wild west anyway. I've always assumed I'm taking an illness risk going grocery shopping, at least during the months of the year that respiratory illnesses are going around. There is always someone with a coughing, snotty, kid - and sometimes several adults. People who really need protection need to apply what is available to protect themselves in those situations because taking care of oneself will always be the more reliable route.

I see relevance not only with the science but, interestingly, some of the same people that pointed out Wakefield's deficits (and it's good that they did) are now ignoring the same issues with current PCR use. As a society we should want to sort out what's really going on, not just searching for "messaging" that gets others to bend to our will. I happen to think that there is some level of spreading before people admit/fully realize they're sick. It's a big problem though when faulty research is used as a justification to impose restrictions on people and that's why I take a hardline stance on it. At the very least, the narratives spun with faulty research are fueling "otherizing" and other negative behavior and they're doing so because, "the science is settled." Well, maybe we'd all get along better and come up with more creative solutions that could balance all aspects of life, including the mental health of young people who are at little risk from the disease anyway, with ways to protect those at high risk if so many people weren't caught up in the "let's use the force of government" to make everyone else do what we want game (and it happens on both sides). I still hold firm that individuals who are at a high risk of Covid have options to protect themselves: masks, like Kn95s, and vaccines.

I'm talking about the key testimony in the '08 court case

You do realize that the issue with "anti-vaxxer" Andrew Wakefield's research was the his use of PCR?

I have a couple of this type of collapsible crates: https://www.clevermade.com/collections/collapsible-crates They work well for some shopping but not all. In general I like using them much better than bags. Easy to load/unload from the car. Things don't shift around or come out of bags in the car. Easy to clean. Don't take up much space when not in use.

Exactly, this was based on PCR testing, rather than a culture. Only a culture can determine how much viable virus a person has. PCR tests only detect the presence/absence of particles. from the CDC site https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/faqs.html#Interpreting-Results-of-Diagnostic-Tests: Additionally, drawing conclusions from a SNF about community spread in a broader population has it's own challenges. I'm having trouble with quoting/formatting but I'm going to post imperfectly anyway. I'm going to skim each link first and if I don't notice any deal breakers for me I'll read more thoroughly later. If I notice something sketchy I'll comment on the first thing I notice and move on. From this one https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/4/20-4576_article: Serial interval is the time from the start of symptoms in the virus transmitter until symptom onset in the virus receiver. Incubation is the time from infection to the development of symptoms. Their estimates for these drive their model. While interesting, models don't *prove* the amount of presymptomatic spread. There can be problems here. Also, unless I misread, the presymptomatic spreader in this case attended several carnival events. Call me cynical, but someone who is excited about carnival might not be the most honest about the symptoms they were experiencing. In this one: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0869-5 they base their "viral load" on PCR tests which is an improper use of the test. Also, none of the data here are from the presymptomatic portion all of that is modeled. There is nothing here that proves presymptomatic infectiousness rather than symptomatic infectiousness. This (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02259-2 ) one also seems to be based off improper PCR assumptions, not going to read or comment further on it.

We tried Fable with the DVDs at some point and after a few lessons it just started to feel like torture. We moved on and I have no regrets 🙂

If she doesn't yet have any programming experience I'd get her on Scratch and ditto on the suggestions for snap circuits. Academically, if she is already strong in math I would look for a good a good Logic curriculum to start her in. The Macaulay books are really great and might provide some topics of interest to look for projects/kits to do. Our recycle yard has a lean-to where people can leave small appliances for others to take. If there's something like that available near you maybe you can find some interesting things for her to take apart 🙂

We tried a few books from Real Science for Kids because I saw so many recommendations for them. I tried twice, once with a book for elementary about Geology and a couple years later a middle school-ish Chemistry one. I'm sorry I don't recall the exact product names. None of us really liked either one. I ended up letting the kids read them but not do any of the work. One set of textbooks my kids did end up liking was the book series from Holt that included these books: Microorganisms, Fungi, and Plants Animals Cells, Heredity, and Classification Environmental Science

I wonder if he would like one of the solitaire games that Think Fun puts out. There's Gravity Maze, Laser Maze, Solitaire Chess, maybe some others. My son had a lot of fun doing those independently in the 1st/2nd grade timeframe.

Today my children had dentist appointments and I had a bit of a disaster that caused us to be a half hour late. I'm never late. We're 15 minutes early for everything, all the time. I was so embarrassed and must have looked so foolish with my rambling apology. But they were kind to me and they and still saw the kids for their x-rays and cleanings. I'm not a hugger but I just wanted to hug them (but didn't) all for their kindness toward me.

If you have a study that is based on data not models I'll take a look at it. I've read some case studies as well as some of the models and I remain unconvinced by the models.

I'll have to go look up Fearless Ontario, I don't know anything about them (I'm not Canadian). It's just a video of Anthony Fauci speaking about respiratory disease spread at a press conference and you're acting like it's nuclear waste. Or, are you implying that Anthony Fauci is in cahoots with a Canadian anti-vax activist group? I don't know.

I'll save this to read later. In the studies I have read the community spread of asymptomatics was very low. Higher among close contacts. Always highest transmission by symptomatics.