Yes, I would feel safe and wouldn't change my plans at all. I was in Israel when Sharon visited the Dome of the Rock and again the day after the Sbarro bombing. I went to London the day after the 2005 bombing. I've also spent a fair amount of time in other hotspots of civil unrest/curfews/military in the streets types situations. I'm not trying to sound callous, but it really is about the numbers. That's how terrorism works. Small scale attacks scare a larger number of people, but the chances of it happening to any particular individual are extremely small.

FYI, if you want to visit a site without giving them traffic, you can use donotlink. Or right-click (Ctrl-click on Mac), save the URL, paste it into the Google search window, and look at Google's cache. The latter doesn't always work because Google doesn't have a cache of every page.

We go to the outlet store every year for holiday gifts. If you go during the factory sale there's a line but it's kind of a blast because everyone is happy and they have carolers and hot cocoa. (In case you live in the SF area.) At least he's not calling them "Yorkies." That sounds even worse if you substitute it into the above sentences.

Turkey milkshake. Done and done. :ack2:

Well it could range from them being a real jerks (my guess) to someone having promised her something different to dealing with genuine grief and loss. There are also some cultural aspects I don't want to get into in this thread but you can PM me if you wish. There's no way to tell from a short clip, but I am suspicious that they were selected for interview over probably so many grateful people.

Yes.

Oh, I remember doing this and trying everything. It was soon frustrating! I finally decided to skip it, and when Singapore came back to the topic the following year at an even higher level, DS just breezed through it like it was nothing. It was truly my first experience with trying to teach something my child was not developmentally ready for. I really wish I had stopped sooner and just waited, but I was new to this and didn't realize. Lesson learned!

I would eat it, esp. as beef stew because you're going to heat it all the way through.

OP, thank you so much for helping that little one. I shudder to think about what could have happened. I agree. I'm wondering if there's still a McDonalds parking lot in the U.S. without cameras on it. Or any parking lot where there are lots of stores. :)

I can't imagine you're checking here, but there's a information number for tourists in Paris: +33 (0) 1 45 55 80 00.

New reddit live update link

Jen, I hope you and your family are okay. :grouphug:

Any WTM folks in Paris?

It could be, but it seems like a lot of planning went into it so at the very least they would have had to have everything ready and standing by for some kind of trigger. And the terrorist was as you said from London and the Americans are the ones who killed him so Paris seems an odd target. There's a cycle in which terrorists provoke attacks and the the resulting crackdowns are used to recruit more angry and disconnected people to the cause. Perhaps they were concerned about losing numbers/momentum after yesterday's killing of the ISIS terrorist?

Schools are closed tomorrow, the military is moving in, the borders are shut down, and there's a nationwide curfew for the first time in decades. Some of the metro lines are closed but taxi drivers are giving rides for free tonight.

This is terrible, just terrible. I read it's the highest loss of life in France since WWII. Our family has cancelled our evening plans and will be lighting candles in solidarity. ETA: reddit live link, updates automatically

I walked by Starbucks yesterday and was drawn in by the lure of seeing the cups. I love the shade of red and the ombre. They were having a buy on get one sale on holiday drinks but they all looked too sugary so I didn't get anything. I'm not a Starbucks person; is there a way to get the holiday drinks without sugar?

I read the book, watched the movie, and then re-read the book. I like the movie quite a bit and agree with the awards it won. I know this will sounds strange, but the movie actually has some parts in it that are a bit comedic, but it works. Some of the giggling is intentional, but other times I realized I was just so uncomfortable I didn't know what to do but smile. Bardem's performance is amazing, as Jones's sheriff. Tommy Lee Jones was born and raised in West Texas and I remember an interview in which he talked about bringing that background to the role, understanding what made the sheriff tick. The movie is graphically violent, not any more than the book, but seeing is different than reading.

There's not really a theme that I love in that they're all depressing. I meant it more obliquely, that the book is one of my favorites more for the writing and the theme than the actual plot. In other words, if someone asked me to tell them what the book was about and I recounted the plot only, that wouldn't capture what I love about it. That said, I agree that 'the world is declining into a nightmare and we are powerless to stop it' is the main theme. But the themes which touch my heart are more about the individual finding himself in a world he doesn't recognize and realizing his time is over. His confession at the end of the book is part of that, I think. (Part of it is personal; I have a family member who went though something similar when he gave up his long career after things changed around him and he couldn't keep up. His vast stores of knowledge were basically de-commissioned from the world because he was struggling with things like PowerPoint.) Oh dear, I keep writing and then deleting my thoughts on the matter because they don't adequately capture what I want to say. I need better vocabulary to capture a mix of sadness, poignancy, and bewilderment experienced when one feels capable of still performing some good in the world but is being left behind by forces beyond his control. Something about the brash confidence of the young to grasp the world and then the realization of the old that while they are in the world, they no longer recognize it. And spending your life in a small town and understanding and caring about your citizens, only to be invaded by an evil you didn't know existed, in the sunset of your life. So, the title. :o I shouldn't start on themes re: the drug wars and the militaristic state of modern policing. :lol:

DH and I have read all the books. DS has read (and re-read) all the ones at two different libraries but I think there must still be a couple outstanding from the list. DD enjoys them as well but not as much as DS.

I think you made the right decision. 6 years old is an age in which many kids will claim they are good swimmers because they are too young to realize what that means. A friend's daughter almost drowned at that age when she told people she could swim but really she could just float a bit. She didn't mean to lie or anything, she just had no concept.

Is there not significant overlap between people complaining about the cups and people who defend the rights of businesses to have whatever religious values they choose?