That is a legitimate CraigsList page. It's just warning you about scams. It tells how to avoid them, gives examples of scams, explains how to report attempted scams, etc. It's nothing that you need to respond to; it's just for your information.

The only thing really new that we're doing so far is Dolciani Pre-algebra; it is going very well. We got off to a late start, though, so we still have a few new things that we haven't even started yet.

Thanks for posting this. I had heard that song before, but I didn't even recognize it with all the quotation marks. LOL As for age, I believe this man is only 41 (I'm 45, and I think he's four years younger than I am). I don't know what's up, but he always posts in all caps with random quotation marks.

I don't use oven cleaners at all, but at least they don't usually directly touch the surfaces that your food is directly cooked in. I wouldn't use an oven cleaner in the pot. The harshest thing I would use would be Bar Keepers Friend.

No, he is not my pastor. He just lives in the area where I grew up, and we have a ton of mutual friends. It's a "small town" area, so I usually accept such friend requests even if I only know of the person. I'm now debating how I should handle it. I don't generally defriend people, but I will be defriending this one. He has posted offensive stuff in the past that I've overlooked, but this one goes too far for me. I think I'm going to send him a message before defriending him; I'm just trying to decide what to write.

I don't really know what's allowed here, so I won't post the picture, but a "friend" of mine on Facebook posted a picture of a Crusader with armor on and a big cross on his chest. The caption said, "I'LL SEE YOUR JIHAD AND I'LL RAISE YOU ONE CRUSADE." This was someone else's picture that he reshared (the other guy has some very hateful pictures besides this one on his Facebook page). Then the pastor added the following: Thoughts?

The public schools here do that.

We are required to test every three years, but we don't have to give the results to anyone. Our school system as a whole failed to meet AYP (all the middle schools, all the high schools, and most of the elementary schools in our county failed), so if my child tested poorly, school officials would have a pretty difficult time telling me I had to put my child into the system. (My son has always tested well anyway, though.) Having said all that, I think we're about to see some changes with all this testing anyway.

Years ago on Ebay it was the buyer's responsibility to request insurance. Now, however, if the buyer doesn't receive a package, it falls back on the seller. Therefore, in order to be covered, the seller now has to add insurance to the cost of shipping, which increases the shipping too much to make it even worth selling low-priced items.

Ds is now a 7th grader, but he memorized the poem when he was in 4th grade.

I'm so sorry, Peela. :(

I'm immunosuppressed (I wasn't diagnosed as such at the time), and the only time I ever got the flu shot, it kicked my butt. I got sicker from the shot than I've ever gotten from the flu itself. (FWIW, I also reacted poorly to allergy shots, probably because of extreme chemical sensitivities.) Ds had a severe reaction to vaccines when he was 15 months old (he had had less severe reactions prior to the one that landed him in the hospital), so we'd never consider having him get a flu shot. Also, most flu vaxes contain mercury, so we wouldn't get it for that reason even if ds didn't have a history of vaccine reactions. Dh has never had the flu and hasn't had a flu shot since he was in the navy in the 80s.

Love it!

But what if the person is mostly native and identifies as such? You can have a couple relatives from way back that were from Africa, be mostly native and still look "black". Then when you move to America suddenly you are African-American, yet you have no cultural ties there at all. I think it would be annoying. It's kind of like how everyone asks what the Asian part of my son is, but never what the European part of him is. It's weird to me. He's just as much European as he is Asian. Why the focus on only one side? I really don't mind questions. He loves the attention. It just makes me wonder when these discussions come up. Of course, in Mexico he'll always be "Chino" even though there is not a drop of Chinese in him at all. Why does everyone always focus on the darker parts? Are they more interesting? I think you misunderstood me. I understand why the person wouldn't want to be called African just as I don't refer to myself as European. I'm American. A person who comes from a Caribbean island where the people do not have US citizenship is not American (unless he/she obtains citizenship after being in the US), so for a lot of reasons "African-American" is incorrect terminology. My ancestry makes me a big ol' mutt (Irish, Scottish, English, French, Norwegian, Welsh, Italian, Cherokee Indian, Creek Indian, and much more). Dh is hispanic, but in reality, he, too, can list a whole bunch of countries from which his ancestors originated. Neither of us see the need for using hyphens. To each his own.

You've been given great advice already, so I'll add just one thing for now: Is it possible that you have sleep apnea?

This is a great answer, though I'd add "absolutely" between "antibiotic when" and "needed." Too many conventional doctors are too quick to prescribe antibiotics, which ultimately leads to more health problems. I often use Mercola as a starting point for research. In general, I don't trust organizations, but I research for studies. I'm not even saying that studies are perfect because they are often funded by people who stand to benefit from the "right" results, but that's about the best we have. I have also found that talking to people who have "been there, done that" regardless of the "medical proof" available (for example, gluten-free diets for autism) are often more worthwhile than the claims made by conventional medicine. Someone earlier posted a link to "Quackwatch" as proof that Mercola is a quack. In my opinion, the makers of that site are far scummier than Mercola could ever be. If something isn't absolutely accepted by conventional medicine, Quackwatch considers it to be quackery. A lot of people can be hurt by dismissing helpful things because of that site.

I agree with the others. Good luck. :)

I agree that it could be the nuts from yesterday still causing problems. Also, as a previous poster mentioned, you could be reacting to something else in some of the gluten-free products. My son has a big problem with many "bought" gluten-free products because he reacts to the various gums (guar, Arabic, locust bean, etc.). He also reacts to annatto, which is found in a lot of Amy's products and other organic and "natural" products. It doesn't help that he's allergic to most legumes, too, and many GF products are cross-contaminated with legumes.

I was on antibiotics for acne for several years, and my acne came back when I quit taking them. Taking antibiotics for acne is one of my greatest regrets. I now have a lot of health problems with a likely contributor being that I took a lot of antibiotics over time. If I could only go back and have a redo, I would never take antibiotics for acne; I would change my diet instead.

I don't agree with this. Many grammar books and dictionaries say that prepositions usually come before the object. I understand what you're saying about breaking down the word "preposition" into its parts, but that was more fitting when the rule about ending a sentence with a preposition was followed more strictly. I'll give you an example of why I say that you can't simply say that such a word at the end of a sentence is an adverb. Take the sentence discussed earlier: "What are you training for?" The word "for" cannot be an adverb. Even if it could, what would the function of "what" be in the sentence? In such a sentence, "for" is a preposition at the end of the sentence.

I understand this guy's position. It would be like someone referring to you as European when you are American. However, just as white people aren't native to the US, black people (as we define black people today) are not native to the islands of the Caribbean.

My 12-year-old son really enjoyed both Portal and Portal 2. He beat both games and has tried to get me to play!

This thread makes me sad. Life is too short to change for others so that you can fit in. Would you teach your children to conform so that they can be friends with certain people? I know that you mentioned that your kids were being affected by this; I honestly think that's all the more reason you need to steer clear of these people. Is this really the type of lesson you want to teach your kids? This may sound extreme, but think about it: Hitler was able to gain the power that he did because of "followers." Being a follower can lead to scary things. It's okay to be you. Really it is. If these people can't accept you for who you are (as others said, as long as you aren't doing anything harmful or illegal), then they aren't worthy of being your friends.

Yep. Also, articles are diagrammed in the same way as other adjectives are diagrammed.

This is what I was going to suggest, as well as the second book in the series, The Throne of Fire.