I feel your pain. I like my veterinarian, but he harped on me about my cat's weight at his one year check up. He is a Siberian, which I have read grow until they are five years old, and have a typical weight of 16 - 20 pounds. My cat is 14.5 pounds. I'm not looking forward to getting bitched at by the vet for the next 15 years or so. Makes owning a pet not fun.

Wow, I remember using this.

They sure are expensive! I will consider your advice. I have a good sewing machine, and possibly enough skills, but finding the time is a problem.

Thanks for the input!

I'm interested in trying a weighted blanket for my teen son. Do you have any brand that you would recommend? What are your positive and negative experiences? Any thoughts on what weight to try? He's 150 lbs, so I was thinking 20 or 25 lbs.

It's not easy to get to Burns, Oregon and we are having a dusting of snow in Portland which shuts the city down. Driving from Portland to Burns normally takes 5 hours and you have to cross the Cascades. Portland has the only big airport, journalists could fly from Portland to Bend, anyway it's not easy.

Why are you shouting at me? I served jury duty and there were two college girls who sat near me and I overheard some of their conversation. Believe me, they were annoyed at not being excused from serving.

Hmmm...it varies by location, where I live it is registered voters. First Step: Random SelectionJury selection happens in two parts. The first part is, essentially, random selection. The state or federal district will randomly pull names off of lists that the state keeps in the regular course of business. These lists could include a list of registered voters, a list of people who hold driver's licenses, or a list of people receiving unemployment benefits.

How frustrating! My daughter doesn't want to register to vote when she turns 18 because of the possibility of jury duty. I will try to convince her, but I have to wonder how many people are discouraged from voting because of jury duty. As a parent paying for college I would raise holy heck if my kid was forced to do jury duty at an inconvenient time.

Fantastic!

I agree with Cat. Tell her exactly what you just told us. Life is short.

I guess Portland!

Started in 2002. Changed my name once and lost my post count. Still I will never be a prolific poster. I homeschooled until this year, when the youngest started with an at home charter.

No, but I find it very interesting.

God created evil, how could God be good?

Good article. Thanks for posting.

No. Homeschoolers that are old enough to be left home alone legally can be left home alone to work on homework. Female, 51

Thanks for posting.

To paraphrase from JenniferB's link - In brief, transhumanism is the belief that technology can allow us to improve, enhance and overcome the limits of our biology. Man and machine will merge. we will be smarter, stronger, emotionally more stable and long lived. This will fundamentally change us. Some call this posthumanism. Technology is already making these changes and the group does not seem to have a problem with small improvements like good eyesight. I got glasses when I was four, so the lenses I have in my eyes now give me vision beyond anything nature ever intended. What about giving a person other physical abilities beyond what they were given by nature but within the parameters of humankind, should that be allowed? Is it morally allowable for us all to become Olympics capable swimmers, runners, gymnasts? Where would you put the line in the sand? Would you elaborate on your thoughts about transhumanism being an organizing principle, etc? Any links? I really like to read opposing views. So far though most of our advances in biotechnology seem like a good thing to me.

Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312, envisions a future where we hollow out asteroids to create biomes. The asteroids have gravity due to their rotation. The female protagonist uses these habitats to preserve endangered species. These beautiful habitats are used for work and vacations. See the very brief but well written synopisis of this aspect of the book on this page: http://www.tor.com/2015/10/29/five-books-about-asteroids-and-their-uses/

So having the vision of an eagle is transhumanism. How about having good vision in old age? Presbyopia, for those who are blissfully young and haven't experienced this yet, is what we all get when we are older that requires us to have 20 pairs of "reading" glasses scattered about the house. This is being cured now, http://ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=25526, should it not be because there is nothing "natural" about having clear near vision past a certain age. If it's okay to fix this problem of aging, then is aging itself a disease that should/could be "fixed?" I like your idea of a Jubilee. See smart people coming up with solutions, example right there!

I have read a lot of science fiction! I love a good dystopia :) To me, thinking about the ways that we could go wrong will help us avoid those paths. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is probably far more readable than most SF. It is a chilling reminder of how effortlessly women could be returned to second class citizens. Atwood provides us with such a visceral example of the true evil of patriarchy. One aspect of what is called "hard" SF (as opposed to fantasy) is often the multitude of futurist ideas that will be presented in a single novel, some good, some bad. I can't remember the book, but one lovely plot line had characters who were growing their home from a seed. Yes a House seed. As it grew, they pruned and trained it to grow to fit their needs, How cool would that be!

Re: needing to leave the planet. We will have an asteroid hit the planet or super volcanoes may explode which may leave Earth uninhabitable, at least for most of us. (I know this is just stating the obvious and y'all know this, not trying to lecture.) I suppose it is possible that small clusters of humanity will survive and we will have cycles of dark ages and prosperous times, but that doesn't seem like the most optimistic future. But more importantly, I think humankind needs the intellectual challenge of learning to survive in and create other habitats in order to progress to our potential. Some of us are want to be explorers, adventurers, and pioneers, we are running out of room to do that. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy is a good read ​that explores this topic.

Longer lifespans aren't interesting to me unless they come with vastly improved physical and mental health. This will likely include a boost in our overall intelligence. Smart people will find smart solutions. Eventually, people will have to choose that they have had enough of this world, we are already starting this now with our advanced medical directives. To continue as a species, we will have to find other homes besides planet Earth. That's inevitable regardless of whether we extend lifespans or not. Evil will persist and the future will be messy. But in my experience, the people I have known who are the kindest and the most ethical are those who are the most intelligent and best educated. Be optimists! The future's so bright we have to wear shades! All of this change is inevitable anyway. I will continue to consider the other ideas you have raised.

The negative reactions are fascinating! I am 51 and have been ready to be plugged into the machine since I was 18. I could be considered part machine now as I have lenses in my eyes due to cataract surgery. I would be blind without this futurist tool. I want to run arms wide open and embrace the future. My father would have been dead long ago without multiple medical interventions. Society will have to be restructured when/if we have longer lives. We will unhesitatingly "divorce" ourselves from negative family. Maybe we will celebrate Christmas only once every four years to keep things interesting. We will reinvent ourselves and move to different social groups. We may take long hiatuses. We will need to colonize space my hollowing out asteroids and creating artificial habitats. The possibilities are endless! And you know scientists will conquer this obesity thing in the future, that right there is enough to get me excited.