If I could figure out the hug emoticon I would post it. Hugs to you.

I wasn't doubting your facts and hope you didn't take it like that. I just didn't want to rush to make a comment without thinking though them. I appreciate the discussion. *shakes hands* Ugh it's so hard to type these things and miss all the nuances of language. I find myself typing and deleting because I can't get my thoughts to come out right.

Because from her perspective she was just chatting with some moms about kids who don't listen to authority and you made it about race. She wasnt even thinking race. I also see your point. The good old days where Scarlett was flouncing around and slavery flourished or while there were separate counters, etc were not such good old days. I think you are right to let her know that what she said was thoughtless and hurtful. I bet she is at home replaying this over and over in her mind too and probably feeling terrible about hurting you.

I can see that and I think there is value to opening people's eyes to phrases that are hurtful. And I'm sure it was cathartic for you. On the other hand, that may have also turned a possible advocate into a person who will write off calls of racism as people just being hypersensitive. I wonder if you couldn't have related to her feelings as a fellow mom who gets frustrated with wild kids but then in private let her know that her choice of words was hurtful to you. I just read Sneezyones comment about how inadvertent comments cause her so much stress that it is literally shaving years off her life. We were posting at the same time. I still need to think over her post but I do see how coming right after that mine sounds dismissive and I don't mean it to

Do you think that calling her out like that will help? Do you think she will be more or less likely to take cries of racism as real or will she use this as another example of someone seeing racism where none is intended?

Do you think the woman who made the comment was meaning to say anything about race relations with her comment? Do you think she was really expressing a desire to go back to everything that happened in the "good old days" - including no microwaves, cellphones or Starbucks? Does the expression the good old days always encompass every part of yesteryear or can it just mean, "sheesh my kids are driving me nuts and darn it I never woudl dream of doing that to my parents or grandparents. I wish we could go back to the good old days when kids minded." (not that all kids minded then or that none do now and leaving aside the fact that there wasn't Magic "listen to your parents" dust flying around back then that made kids listen) Honest questions. The only snark is in parenthesis.

And if you get your wish and get tolls on existing roads, then those who are less well off financially than you will be disproportionately affected. They might prefer to not have tolls but rather to be able to pay their grocery bills.Yet another example of why there are rarely quick and easy solutions. Most have unintended consequences.

Actually the person's intent does matter to me in that situation. And I do question their intent. If someone accidentally whacks me with an umbrella, I am hurt and possibly wet. My first instinct will be to assume it was an accident. If it's an accident, I'm not going to accuse the person of secretly wanting to hurt me and being a horrible person. I'm going to assume that that person is a fallible human just like I am and that they did not intend harm. If it looks like that person was deliberately trying to hit me, I'm gonna move and possibly do something else. (I do hope that never happens as at this point, without a crazed umbrella weildkng fiend in front of me my mind is a blank. I can't imagine I'll fare much better with that added stress. 😄)

I completely agree. However, I wonder how much of that feeling is because I am American where we have a different idea of personal space. I lived in other countries where that would not be seen as rude. So when people from other cultures do that to me or my kids, I try to be very understanding and remember that I certainly made all sorts of cultural faux pas when I lived overseas. I tried very hard to do that when I was pregnant and people would touch my belly - cringe. And my understanding only extended to foreigners and sweet old ladies at my church.

Isnt he breaking anti-stalking laws? I mean I would be uncomfortable with anyone following me like that-with a gun, a knife, a bottle, anything. That's freaking wrong https://www.victimsofcrime.org/our-programs/stalking-resource-center/stalking-laws/federal-stalking-laws

Isnt he breaking anti-stalking laws? I mean I would be uncomfortable with anyone following me like that-with a gun, a knife, a bottle, anything. That's freaking wrong https://www.victimsofcrime.org/our-programs/stalking-resource-center/stalking-laws/federal-stalking-laws

Dead Mans Folly The Man in the Brown Suit - not necesarily family setting but one of my favorites so I threw it in.

Little more info for anyone else interested. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34889144

Little more info for anyone else interested. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34889144

It is awful but your post made me actually laugh out loud. Quite an amusing typo in it. But back to your point, what is going on is terrible. I used to live in Paris. Thankfully my friends there are fine but obviously freaked out.

I do believe in miracles. I think I agreed with and (tried to though I may have missed some) liked every single post Bill made. Don't think that has ever happened. ;) Bill you are giving me hope for a possibly peaceful holiday dinner. Happy Thanksgiving indeed!

I'll be the dissenting opinion. I know a lot of people love stitch fix. I tried it a few months ago. The first box came - loved the clothes but all of them were too big, despite the fact that I had sent my sizing. (And I am a fairly average size. I wear stuff off the rack all the time, no tailoring, etc.). Ok, I tried again with specific measurements - bust, waist,hips, inseam and shoulders. Again, all of the clothes looked like maternity clothes for someone twice my size. I emailed them and said I was frustrated that I got yet another box of clothes that I couldn't wear despite being very clear about sizing. They wouldn't refund my money but they did give me one more fix for free. No joke- same problem although this time they put in more jewelry. So I have not signed up for another one.

As I said, lots of variables. I dont consider giving to colleges or public policy advocacy groups charity either even though that gets lumped into charitable giving. And I'm not sure you can say that the politicians assumptions are "apparently faulty" based on one study. They could be wrong for all sorts of reasons but I'm not sure why you are giving full credence to one study and doubting the others. Unless I misunderstood you and you were simply saying that we don't know. Im not really sure which policies you are referring to.

Thanks for the snark. That is so helpful in discussions. A published summary of a study should be very clear. After all the researchers have time to edit until it is perfect. The fact that they failed to leads me to question if their instructions to the kids might have been unclear too. I agree that the study can lead to interesting discussion. What if we look at a different studies that show that religious adults give more to charity than atheists? If the sticker study is correct that religion causes kids to be mean sticker hoarders I wonder what changes and causes religious adults to give more of their money and time away? "Last summer, Statistics Canada released a survey on Canadians and their charitable habits. While less than one in five attend church regularly, those who do are far more likely to give to charities, and are substantially more liberal in the size of their gifts to both religious and non-religious organizations. The average annual donation from a churchgoer is $1,038. For the rest of the population, $295. With respect to volunteer effort, two-thirds of churchgoers give their time to non-profit causes while only 43 per cent of non-attendees do likewise. And churchgoers put in twice as many hours volunteering." http://grisham.newsvine.com/_news/2011/11/08/8691971-are-religious-people-more-charitable-than-atheists https://philanthropy.com/article/Religious-Americans-Give-More/153973 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10885180/Religion-makes-people-more-generous.html My guess is that most of us and especially athiests can immediately see problems in those studies. Making sweeping generalizations about groups of people is tricky. Oner study isn't enough to make me decide that religion makes kids mean. Nor are a few studies enough to make me think that athiesm makes people grow up to be stingy.

"5- to 12-year-old children (n = 1,151, mean (M) age = 8.29 years, SD = 2.17 years, n = 559 females) were recruited from local schools in six countries around the world: Chicago (USA), Toronto (Canada), Cape Town (South Africa), Istan- bul and Izmir (Turkey), Amman (Jordan), and Guangzhou (China) (Table S1)." This study attempts to extrapolate behaviors of children worldwide. They have chosen only 6 cities in the entire world and have completely left out entire continents. It also used a huge age range for the children. The study is interesting but I would like to see them narrow their research in both areas to make the results more credible. "In this task, children were shown a set of 30 stickers and were told to choose their ten favorite [6]. They were then told ‘‘these stickers are yours to keep.’’ Children were instructed that the experimenter did not have the time to play this game with all of the children in their school, so not everyone would be able to receive stickers." I can only hope that the activity was described to the kids better than it was summarized. The summary is confusing. It sounds like only a few kids are going to get to play the game and get the stickers. Its not clear that if the child chose to refuse stickers that other kids would get to play and get stickers. It said the experimenter didn't have time, not that there was a limited number of stickers. Also, no where does it say if the students took their stickers and shared them with kids once they left. I also think this study would be better if they set it up in groups of kids rather than putting a kid in front of a computer with an examiner

Do you follow politics? 😜 Seriously, though, look at how many politicians get caught in stupid lies about stupid things and yet continue lying.

Biased and poorly designed study would be my name for it. ;). Wikipedia actually has a good list of problems with stats. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse_of_statistics

My son is offensive tackle and defensive end. He's on a very competitive team that plays up against older boys that look sooooo big. And my son is already 6 feet in middle school - so not tiny. I tend to go to all the practices and very few games. That way he knows I'm supporting him but I don't get an ulcer.

Clothes make the girl blog and Well Fed cookbook. (Same author) Elenas pantry

Am I the only one thinking, "Mulva?"