I'll admit to only skimming the Kos diary, but I read it as pointing out right-wing sources linking the Pope to the anti-Christ. Not the writer on the Kos attempting to link the Pope to anti-Christ. The piece was talking about that "certain type of group" that you mentioned. Or maybe I am misreading your post. Work has fried my brain today, and my children are off the rails. :willy_nilly: And as to the original post, yeah, nothing new here. I know plenty of people who are very adamant that the Pope, or any Catholic, is not Christian, and yes I've heard plenty of insinuation or outright declaration that the Pope is the anti-Christ. Eye-roll worthy, nothing more.

Silent? I wish my cats were silent. O_o Our bengal screams and yowls all the time. He wakes the whole house. If he's hungry at 3 a.m.? That's the saddest, loudest yowl. And he Will. Not. Stop. If he wants in some room, or out of some room, or I've locked a particular cabinet he wants to get into and he hasn't (yet) found a way in? He will literally scream. I imagine the sound is what it would sound like if a mountain lion were being slowly tortured to death. Over. And over. And over again. If my eldest son goes outside? Mournful crying. Until he comes back. And then he growls at the dogs, and sits at the doors and windows and chirps and talks to himself about what's going on out there. Unless he's sleeping, that cat is talking. Loudly.

Oh, but where are the PICTURES?! We must see the source of your conversion to cat person. :D

:lol: I am adamantly a dog person. We've had a cat--a beautiful, crazy smart Bengal cat--for almost 5 years, and he's a jerk. He made me more adamantly a dog person, though I can sometimes appreciate his intelligence, even when it's driving me crazy (like ruining $$$ worth of food in my pantry, running through the house spreading water and mayhem everywhere after dunking in the bath with the kids, etc.). But then I talked myself into a cute young cat from the local shelter, which wasn't hard, because while I might be a "dog person" I'm definitely an animal person--and I looked up the shelter's statistics. They euthanize hundreds of cats every month, so like I said, it wasn't hard for me to decide I was taking home a cat that day. Anyway, this cat is awesome, and she loves me. She snuggles with me, purrs all the time, and she squeaks!! So cute! Every time she sees me. She sleeps right next to me all night. I might be a dog person, but I am that cat's person. My only regret is that I didn't take home her sister with us that day, too. :crying: (Which I think means that, dog person or not, I'm really only one step away from crazy cat lady. There's a very fine line we're walking here. :laugh: )

Yes, and of course a good number of the dogs at our local shelter are bully breeds. They will not adopt those out unless you go through a rescue, though (for the past 20 years all our dogs have been pit bulls--it's why our dogs all came through the rescue groups). Last time I looked there were a couple mixed breeds, a few beagles, a lab or two, and I think some huskies. I try not to look to frequently, though, lest I take them all home and become the crazy dog lady... :crying:

I'm also in the DC Metro area (which of course doesn't mean we are anywhere near each other :laugh: ) and our local shelter is very much not picky about who they send animals home with. Sounds like you may be looking for a specific breed, but if not it could be an option. I know they are at full capacity right now, and it's a kill shelter. We took a cat home about a month ago and it was ridiculously easy. I gave them my basic info, name and number of our vet, and filled out a brief questionnaire. We played with the cats for a half hour, chose one, they microchipped her and off we went. She had been spayed, given flea/tick control, and had all vaccinations just a few days before. $20. No home visit. Like I said, very easy. I don't think dogs are any different except for the fees. ETA: All our dogs were adopted from different local rescues (three different ones in all). It was definitely more involved than the shelter--more in-depth questionnaire, they called our vet and checked that our current animals were up to date on vaccinations, etc. All had us meet the potential new dog with our current dog(s) outside the home. One came to the house for a home visit, which consisted of her meeting our other animals, checking out the yard, and then chatting with us for a little while. I feel that kind of process is reasonable for adopting a dog. I know it's in everyone's best interest to try to the find best match, so I appreciate that. But what you are describing sounds really over the top. There has got to be a balance between finding decent homes and being unreasonable--you know these rescues don't have the resources to keep that many animals. They need homes. Sheesh.

I just make up my own extra problems in a notebook or on the white board. We also do a few problems from Zaccaro Primary Challenge Math a couple times a week. I have some Math Mammoth levels and I've been thinking about using some pages from that as extra practice; I think it would work well. ETA: if it wasn't clear, yes we use BA as our main program.

My understanding from reading articles and looking at the pictures is that he took the parts from one clock and put them back together in the case. Mostly I'm getting that information from the pictures I've seen of the thing. Looks like circuitry and wires put back together in another case. Yeah, a distraction for sure. I don't fault the engineering teacher for telling him to keep it in his bag, or the English teacher for taking it from him when the alarm went off, if all it were was that they thought it a distraction (which we know at least the English teacher said she thought it looked "like a bomb, so I'm going to guess the snowball started there). It's the somewhere along the way when he was led away in handcuffs for something that was obviously neither a bomb nor a hoax bomb. I don't think we disagree on any of that. I have not seen any video of Ahmed explaining what he did to build the clock, either. Like I said, I'm looking at the photo and going, "oh, yeah. There's some clock guts. Look, there's some clock guts wired together in a case." Other than that, from what I have seen and read otherwise, I think Ahmed was just tinkering. He took some parts and made them work like the original again. He was proud of what he had done (I couldn't take a clock together and put it back together again, even in its original case/form. Hell, my toddler put my 8-year old's radio back together when he dropped it this morning--it's one of those very simple kit things, like 6 wires you plug here and there for the speakers and whatnot--and I couldn't. Until eldest pointed out to me that the wires are labeled. :o ). He wanted to show it to his engineering teacher, maybe to start the year off on the right foot? Because he thought he'd think it was cool, too? I don't know exactly why, but I can certainly think of several reasons why a 14-year old into tinkering with electronics would want to bring it to school to show his science teacher. ETA: on the word invention: I think invention is probably overstating what it actually is, but I think that's also really irrelevant. So he used the word invention a couple times. He wouldn't be the first 14-year old to have visions of grandeur. :laugh: I don't see where saying "invention" vice "creation" or "doohickey I reconstructed" or anything else is any indication as to the kid's trustworthiness or general character, especially when it's obvious he wasn't trying to hide anything about it.

Hi Rubber Chicken Girl. Do you actually have a point to make, preferably well-substantiated? We like our arguments meaty around here. Red herrings and ad hominem attacks don't really endear anyone to your point of view.

And...what's your point? They didn't "err on the side of caution" because they knew it wasn't a bomb. No one says, "hey cool, now keep that thing in your backpack," if you think, even one little bit, that that thing is a bomb. No one holds a suspected bomb, with even the teensy-tiniest bit of suspicion! in your desk for a few class periods if you think it's a flippin' bomb. They didn't err on the side of caution over a suspected bomb because it was never a suspected bomb. FFS. Isn't that much obvious?

The thing is it's really not very relevant to the discussion, and so you're left wondering just what the point is? At least, I am. What exactly is your point? The only point I can think of with the "he didn't even make anything on his own" argument is just to attack the kid's character so you can go see! He's just not an honest person to begin with, so he *did* make a hoax bomb! Except there would seem to be no evidence to suggest he made a hoax bomb to begin with, so I really don't see the point. And, even if I did really understand why some people think it matters how complicated his clock was or wasn't, how is taking the parts out of a clock and reassembling them in another case more like tracing than copying? That makes no sense. He did not open up the case, take a look, and then close it back up. He disassembled the parts, then figured out how to wire it all back up in another case and make it work as it was originally intended to work. Sounds a lot more like drawing free hand from an example to me. Still copying, absolutely, but again--that's a great tinkering lesson for a kid his age, and exactly how a kid learns this kind of thing.

Sounds oddly like that there fancy kind of learnin'. Progymnasmata, yeah, that's it. Something to do with...classical types of education?

Lanny. Dude. C'mon man, I know you can get U.S. news from more than one *cough*Fox*cough* source in Colombia. So, firstly. In order for this to be a hoax, you'd have to be able to prove there was intent to pass the clock off as a bomb. Which, according to the information we have, you just can't do. Someone trying to pretend something is a bomb to scare, intimidate, cause chaos, etc., doesn't 1) happily introduce the thing as a clock to their first-period engineering teacher; 2) Bring the thing to their English teacher later in the day when the alarm goes off, and explain that it's a clock; and 3) continue to maintain that it's a clock when interrogated (perhaps illegally so?) after the cops get involved. All without, to the best of our knowledge, a history of troublemaking or disruptive behavior at school. Meaning, at no point did the situation resemble anything like a hoax. Secondly, how the hell else is a 14-year old supposed to build a clock? How the hell else do kids learn by tinkering? They pull stuff apart, and they put it together again, sometimes exactly how it was before they pulled it apart, sometimes slightly different, sometimes radically different. It's already been discussed that "invention" may be the wrong word choice, but he's FOURTEEN. We're really going to skewer the kid because he called his cobbled-together clock an invention a couple times? And how do we know he wasn't trying to build a clock that had, say, a fancier type of alarm than the original clock he pulled apart, or something else interesting? We don't. Maybe he was just trying to show his engineering teacher that he pulled a clock apart and was able to put it back together in a functional way? How is that deceitful? Oh good grief. I've seen (not just here) far too much grasping at straws with this one. Are we really so eager to paint the brown Muslim kid as willing to terrorize that we now must attack the merit of his "invention" or his character in general? Don't answer that. I've seen post after post (again, not just here) about how his project wasn't all that smart or that we don't really know that he wasn't trying to cause some trouble. Really? Who cares how genius his project is or isn't? And there's no indication that this kid wants to cause trouble. None at all. Seems quite the opposite, actually. Seems like a kid trying to fit in somewhere and seeking validation. By all means, though, let's tear him down for that.

I get 4 weeks paid time off plus federal holidays and some (4?) "floating" holidays I can use whenever I want. I think I bump up to 5 or 6 weeks next year? I don't remember. DH gets 3 weeks plus the same deal with holidays. I work from home and have a lot of flexibility, so I don't use leave often (on the other hand, I go through periods of time when I'm working 12-18-hour days, so it's a mutually beneficial arrangement that way). Usually if I'm using leave it's because we are traveling and then, yes, I am probably taking a week at a time.

So what? The issue isn't about whether anyone at the school thought it was a bomb. They knew it wasn't a bomb.

DH and I were just reading these. I laughed so hard!

I'm sorry. No real helpful advice. Just hugs. Your husband sounds very much like...me. My incessant need to control All the Ridiculous Details directly correlates to all the things I *can't* control. And all the things I can't control keep my wheels spinning into the wee hours. I'm a stressed, overworking, over-caffienated, insomniac hot flippin' mess. My husband helps me hash out what's overwhelming me and make plans, listens to me babble and vent and rant and ramble, encourages me to delegate to him what I can, reminds me when I'm being an asshole (neither of us has ever been accused of being subtle ), and brings me alcohol and cupcakes, as necessary. :)

No. I never have any clue. DH buys the shoes around here. And for myself, unless they're riding boots, I just don't care. So DH tends to buy shoes for me, too, usually after I've been complaining that my sneakers are falling apart so badly that my feet get wet or that I don't have any shoes for warm weather that don't have a fuzzy lining or...you get the picture. Actually buying shoes just isn't something I think about doing all that often. DH has a LOT more fashion sense than I do, too. He has a closet full of trendy shoes. I'm perfectly happy to let him be the guy in charge of shoes around here.

Ah, ok, thank you! I can't read this morning! Maybe I should take the day off... :laugh:

One of the projects listed in that article was an actual inert bomb. :huh: Apparently it was ok because the kid had teacher approval. Neither were disciplined at all. (see edit) Uh, ok, I can see not disciplining the kid, but the teacher? Because what adult trusted with the care of children doesn't know it's not ok to teach kids how to mix diesel and fertilizer in a tube and bring it to school?! Edited: I missed the bit in the title that the teacher was actually suspended. I am still, of course, shocked that the teacher thought this was somehow ok in the first place.

That's kind of where I'm at--I would feel a lot differently about the whole thing if the teacher had sincerely thought the clock was a bomb, freaked out, evacuated the school, etc. Still maybe stupid? Sure. But you can forgive a stupid mistake if she truly thought lives were in danger. But she didn't think it was a bomb. She kept the thing for hours. And the kid never gave any indication he was using the clock as a hoax bomb. There's the rub.

Also, this.

Ok, but if you really thought it was a bomb, and safety was really your first priority, would you stash it in your desk for a few hours before doing anything about it? edited for typo.

I highly recommend actually going through the Fitness Blender site vice YouTube and registering for an account (also free) because then you can use your account to keep track of/save videos you like, etc. There is an overwhelming amount of choices on the site; once you've sifted through a ton of videos to find ones you like/actually use, it's nice to be able to neatly bookmark them all in one spot.

I can lose 20 pounds really easy if I track religiously--for me that means using the Weight Watchers app (I don't do meetings or anything) and doing their "points" system. There are certainly plenty of other ways to track, as has already been suggested by previous posters. If you go that route, you just have to find what works for you.