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Reflections

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    Broken leg and bored. Help with entertainment ideas.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Okay, I didn't read all the posts, BUT when I first saw your title I thought it was YOUR leg that was broken and my first thought was: WHAT??? This forum isn't enough to keep you occupied.  Pffffft. You're not even trying!!!!

     

    But now that I know it's an artsy 9 year old... I found this site the other day and I thought how fun! You can create your own art masterpieces - it's from the National Gallery of Art

     

    http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/education/kids/kids-jungle.html

     

     

    And, I found this one:  http://engineering-games.net/ Who doesn't love engineering games??

     

    And, I can't say enough about ABCya.com.  Scroll through all of the learning stuff and you'll find fun games.  Including building bridges.

     

    Is there a way to get the shampoo smell out of my hair?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    You could stop by a pet store and pick up something for dogs who've been skunked.  Or I think there's a home-made recipe you could find online. ;)

     

    Or some Nature's Miracle.

     

    (I'm kinda kidding, but really . . . it would probably work.)

     

    Borrowing on this idea:  if using a product for an animal that's been skunked might work, you could try tomato sauce.  Pour it in your hair and rub, let sit. Rinse. Shampoo.

     

    Or, you could try a beer rinse.  Take two bottles of beer.  Pour one on your hair.  Let sit for 10minutes.  Drink the other bottle while waiting to shampoo out the first bottle.

     

    Or try the wine cure.  Take two bottles of wine.  Drink both. Sleep until the smell is gone

    • Like 16

    WARNING: Don't hand your phone to a stranger

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    In some states, like in Virginia, they have different levels of sex offenders.  Some are put on a registry and can't come within so and so many feet of a school and some have zero restrictions put on them.  I can't find the code right now.  I knew it a few years ago when a friend's dh was paroled and he could attend school functions and such.  Here is an article about a similar case:  http://www.richmond.com/news/local/crime/article_936ee3b4-2884-11e4-8dd4-001a4bcf6878.html

    8 Logical Fallacies That Fuel Anti-Science Sentiments

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    No.  I want science to continue and therefore I want exploration and pseudoscience to continue.  Many, many, many breakthroughs in science (medical and otherwise) got their start from the curiosity and thoughts of one person, then went on to become alternative/pseudo ("dissed" by the powers that be), then got the interest of "real" science, then became standard protocol.  Quite honestly, it only takes a little bit of study of the history of science to see this.  If we stop the alternative/pseudo stage we will miss out on way too much for my interest.

     

    There are definitely many dead ends (both figuratively and literally) along the way, but without those who pioneer washing hands, vaccs, differing theories, differing treatments, MRIs, etc, (while being dissed by those knowledgeable about the standards of their day) we'd be back in the stone ages.

     

    No thank you.

     

    Using reason to look at ALL options proposed, pros and cons of each, and knowing where the research currently is with any of them is a good idea.  Looking at any one sales pitch and making a decision off that isn't.

     

     

    That was an awesome trip.  Grand Bahama was incredibly relaxing and refreshing.  It'd be a terrific prize, though next time we're hoping to try Eleuthera to compare beaches and get further away from civilization.

     

    All expenses paid?  I'd guess on numbers of pages - and even post my thoughts to incite more pages!

     

    This. The bolded.  

     

    If I were betting (or maybe baiting) and I wanted to see this thread really explode, I might call Homeschooling a pseudoscience.  

    • Like 3

    8 Logical Fallacies That Fuel Anti-Science Sentiments

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    It doesn't depend on my definition of alternative medicine, but the standard definition of medicine, and insurance is hardly the standard by which science and pseudoscience can be separated. One logical fallacy through which pseudoscience is accepted as science is the idea that definitions can reflect one's own desired meaning. This relativist fallacy is corrected for when using the scientific method. By eliminating as many superfluous variables as possible, one detail can be explored without as much interference of bias. The peer review is also an integral part of the method for this very reason. One reason peer review is so important is because we don't always know what biases we have! We're naturally blind to some of the biases and logical fallacies we take for granted as being accurate representations of reality.

     

    One way to find out if a claim has been supported with the scientific method, as opposed to a pseudoscientific belief, is to ask what the claim is, specifically, ask about objectively obtained data. Acupuncture claims to effect the physiology of the body by channeling the Qi. Straight up we have a problem because there is no evidence to support this Qi theory of health. If we assume it works anyway, and these ancient claims were simply the best guess explanations surrounding details they didn't understand, then we should see consistent results in clinical research.

     

    Peer review is not without problems.  IMO, it's a broken system that, ah-hem, needs peer review.

     

    https://www.genomeweb.com/peer-review-broken

     

    http://time.com/81388/is-the-peer-review-process-for-scientific-papers-broken/

     

    http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/23672/title/Is-Peer-Review-Broken-/

    • Like 2

    Ignoring certain rules--am I wrong?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    You are NOT wrong. Break that asinine rule. Ask for forgiveness later, it's easier. 

     

    IMO, some rules just scream to be broken.  And if my child wants to call me you can be damned sure I'm not going to rely on Susy Rulemaker to deign to allow my child to call home.  AND I really really really get the idea that if I waited for perfect my kids would be stereotypical UNsocialized homeschoolers.  Ask me how I know.

     

    I get that we all (older ones, maybe) have all survived without cell phones.  Yay us!  BUT cell phones are a great invention, that have brought about great convenience and a greater sense of security.  I also survived high school and college without the internet or this message board.  Yay me!  But WOW is my life ever more enriched by this shared experience.  My grandparents survived without antibiotics - Yay them!  But BOY are they ever the lifesaver now.

     

    Just because something is new and someone did fine without it once upon a time, doesn't make the new item worthless and without merit today.

    • Like 11

    Have you ever been a whistle blower?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Something else.... I was wholly unprepared for people - who had no stake in the events - to ostracize me and my kids.  And in one case, to be absolutely, unequivocally rude and mean to my child.  And, I was mad for a long time - still am sometimes - towards the people that knew better, but didn't speak up.  I, in a way, lost them too.

    • Like 1

    Have you ever been a whistle blower?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

     I did have to be a whistle blower in a church situation, and I lost a lot of friends. It was awful, but at the end of the day I am glad  I did it or I would not be able to live with myself.

     

    ETA: I still remember the horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and the way  I felt.  I felt bad over losing my friends for almost a year. Then I gained perspective that friends who couldn't stand behind doing the right thing were not good friends anyway. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

     

    This. 

    • Like 1

    Recently vaccinated individuals can spread diseases

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    On an individual level this is generally true. Most people don't get tested after a vaccine. However the rates of immunity are carefully tested when the vaccine is developed, and immunity in the population is tracked after the vaccine. This is how they come up with numbers to show percent effectiveness of vaccines.

     

    Like this?:

     

    http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199503233321201

     

    http://homepage.math.uiowa.edu/~hethcote/PDFs/2004VaccineUSA.pdf

     

    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/whooping-cough-outbreak-cdc-answers-your-questions/

     

    And there are always outliers....

    Recently vaccinated individuals can spread diseases

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I'm sorry, I don't usually respond on these threads. Not trying to attack anyone personally. However, my sister is a doctor, and works with pediatric cardiology patients. She, and everyone in the office, including the infants who were too young to be vaccinated, was exposed to pertussis when a baby who was old enough to be vaccinated but whose parents chose not to vaccinate came into the office sick with pertussis. They all, including the tiny month-old infant and those children who were desperately sick with heart conditions, had to be treated prophlactically (I think that's correct) for pertussis. I can only imagine the absolute horror of parents whose children were exposed. Non-vaxxing DOES hurt the vulnerable. It also hurts the vaxxed if they have to take a round of antibiotics and be subjected to worry about whether or not they are protected by their vaccine if they are exposed.

    She's also had people come in whose children need, say, heart transplants, but they don't want to have their children to be vaxxed because it's ?? not natural, side effects, I don't know. Having a heart transplant is certainly natural??! They refuse to allow non-vaxxed kids on the heart transplant list because, as she says, they aren't going to give a child a heart to have him die from pertussis or something else later. As for recently vaccinated individuals spreading disease, all I can say is that vaccines are the best thing we have to fight these diseases. Are they perfect? Of course not. But at least a recently vaccinated individual is only contagious for a brief period of time, whereas a person who is not vaxxed is always potentially contagious.

     

    Gently, I disagree with the general premise of your post.  Non-vaxxers are not the only risk.  Waning Immunity in adult populations is a risk as well.  

     

    And, gently, I also disagree with pertussis and measles being the only thing to worry about in a pediatricians office... my son was terribly sick with RSV at 3 weeks. We all weathered it but it put him in the hospital. And the immunity to RSV does not last. 

     

    http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/respiratory-syncytial-virus/understanding-rsv.html

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