https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelepiped

My parents gave us their "substandard" turntable at almost exactly the same time as the in-laws gave us their record collection. We kept the Beatles and the Mamas and the Papas and gave away a lot of musical soundtracks. I'm afraid to say I collect records, but when I find interesting OOP children's records at thrift shops, I can't resist. I particularly like the folk singers of the '60s: Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, etc. You can buy a brand-new turntable on Amazon for <$100.

dbl post.

Ugh. People are dumb. So sorry you have to listen that kind of BS.

Add us to the list. Met on Internet dating site circa 2002, married 10 years.

I'd like to say I never encounter it here in wildly multicultural SoCal, but if I dig a little deeper, some stuff bubbles up. Overall, the lived experiences of my Middle Eastern (and South Asian) friends remind me of how my grandmother's parents stopped speaking German in public during WWI and never again used it outside the home (they were third-generation Upper Midwesterners with established communities and livelihoods, but they still used German widely in their business and educational lives). Americans of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent (of whatever religious affilitation) are basically expected to be flawlessly assimilated because they are presumed guilty otherwise; they are fighting a cultural presumption: Everyone Knows THOSE People Are Dangerous. They live under a cloud of suspicion. * I have many (native-born American) friends of South Asian descent (India, Sri Lanka, et al), and they universally describe being racially profiled and selected for special inspection at the airport and elsewhere. This was not the case before 9/11. * There is a lot of fearful talk about the multiple unprovoked violent attacks on Sikhs: Could it happen to us? Could it happen to our kids? * Multiple friends of either full or half-Arab descent (Syrian Christian, Egyptian, et al.) feel obliged to either subtly change their names to de-Arabize them or to otherwise minimize their Arabness for business or social reasons. * When I personally hear about how Iran is an Enemy! of! America!, I have a terrifically hard time reconciling that with my many friends and acquaintances of Persian descent. (One of the neighborhoods in the area is known as Little Tehran.) I see lots of Internet people with a lot of generalized Islamic/Arab hate, but to me it's obvious that the generalization is foolish. Individual people and circumstances must all be taken on their own terms.

BTW, if the situation in Venezuela makes anyone anxious, a pragmatic and non-alarmist book on personal food security is Independence Days by Sharon Astyk.

Bloomberg reporter in Venezuela journaled her experience procuring food for her family over 30 days. http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-venezuela-diary/

Sometimes I forget to eat third breakfast. Or second dinner.

In case anyone cares, Ann Likes Red was originally published as part of a series called Early Start Pre-school Readers, which had limited vocabulary and were marketed as helping your child "learn to read before school." There were ~25 in the whole series. Now and again lots come up on eBay, etc.

FWIW, my six-year-old sounds just like your five-year-old. I am almost certain he is completely neurotypical, but there's something in him where he really enjoys see what happens when he pours something out or mixes two unlike things. His preferred art form is what I call "assembly art." He wants nothing more than to staple together the toilet paper roll to the bedsheet to the cabbage and then see what results. I've given up trying to convey the financial cost of stuff, but I have found some success in "restorative justice" and "broken windows theory." Restorative justice: If he breaks it, he helps me fix it. This has involved painting walls, push-brooming the mud back into the hole, etc. He really enjoys the activities and the together time, and he responds better to "show" than to "tell." If I tell him he's wasting our time and our money destroying stuff, it kind of just washes over him. But if I show him how much time and expense and research is involved in Fixing the Thing, he internalizes it and we usually don't have THAT problem again (although he'll certainly make new ones!). Broken windows theory: I am nobody's idea of a good housekeeper, but I have noticed that the places in our house that are the most structured and clean stay the most structured and clean. If I let their room go an inch, they take a mile, as per that urban design theory that if unhappy citizens see a broken window, within a few weeks there will be 12 broken windows, so you have to get that repair done ASAP. Try to streamline and simplify and beautify as much as you can. It may inspire him as much as it inspires you. Last but not least, I just wanted to extend my sympathies. There's an old book about families called Please Don't Eat the Daisies and I always think of that when encountering a new catastrophe: How much stuff do I have to explicitly tell you not to do? I couldn't even imagine advising him not to do some of this stuff because I don't see the world the way he does. I really share your frustration. I can't tell you how many times I have walked into a room and just gaped, "How?! Why? I mean, where did you even get the idea to do that?!" I think we'll all survive this phase, but it is trying.

I think we stayed in the Holiday Inn Express in Carlsbad because there weren't many places that seemed decent between there and Cloudcroft.

IMHO, all the houses in Nancy Meyers movies are the perfect illustration of the standard lifestyle of the American upper middle class.

Universal suffrage. Universal jury pool. Universal draft pool. It's only fair.

If you can find a PG or HG class or group for him, please don't assume that they will effect him through "negative" peer pressure. He might really appreciate encountering same age kids who process the world in the same way and at the same speed as him. For that matter, teachers trained in gifted issues can be a magnificent resource for both him and you. Imagine being a Martian among Earthlings and then one day discovering "OMG ANOTHER MARTIAN COLONY! I thought I was the last of my tribe but I am not alone on this planet after all." Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just proud of myself because watching a lot of YouTube videos to self-educate plus investing in a Wahl clipper means I can now confidently cut my boys' hair at home! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"Americans use and throw away 100 billion plastic bags every year, which requires 12 million barrels of oil per year to manufacture." Source: http://www.reuseit.com/facts-and-myths/learn-more-facts-about-the-plastic-bag-pandemic.htm Invest in some nice cloth bags that make you feel good when you use them. Keep them in your car. I've had the same set since 2008 and I love mine. I receive a credit of .05 or .10 when I use them at local hippie stores (Sprouts, Whole Foods). I almost always remember them for groceries, but forget when going to the drugstore, the hardware store or the superstore. Still, buying reusable grocery bags--and later reusable produce bags--has been one of the best and simplest ways we've reduced our landfill trash. There is a whole subculture developing around the principles espoused in Bea Johnson's book. You can see more about how people are changing there lifestyles by poking around the #zerowastehome #zerowaste or #zerodechet tags on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/zerowastehome/ Another terrific resource for reducing kitchen waste specifically is Anne-Marie Bonneau's https://zerowastechef.com/ blog. And a good quick general intro is here: http://www.paris-to-go.com/2014/11/10-easy-time-saving-steps-to-zero-waste.html GOOD LUCK!

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown

If this woman's letter struck a chord, you may also be interested in the CNN documentary The Hunting Ground, about sexual assault on campus and dereliction of duty by campus administrators in both preventing and responding to the rapes of students. It is available on Netflix streaming.

For anyone in the Southern California area, I just saw an email about "Ramadan in LA: A Date with Islam" at Barnsdall Park on Sunday. Details here: http://www.lacommons.org/event/ramadan-in-la-a-date-with-islam/ We can't make it this year because we are already overscheduled but I hope they do something like this again in the future!

They might very well be bumblebees, which are bigger than honeybees and build ground nests. If she can start another compost pile for the time being, I think the bumbles will simmer down or move on come winter and then she can clear out the nest and reclaim her old compost pile. Just a friendly reminder: Many different kinds of bees, wasps and flies contribute to the overall pollination system, so if you can afford to have mercy on them, your local ecology will thank you.

seconding Gerald Durrell (my family and other animals has two sequels and he wrote umpteen other books) and in re Roald Dahl, his autobiography Boy and the sequel (forgot the title) are great reads for slightly older kids. Beverly Cleary's autobiographies are also great. A perennial rec from me are the adult books of Betty MacDonald (piggle-wiggle). Am esp fond of Onions in the Stew, but they are all hilarious and smart and enriching. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (prob contains swear words) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk