I agree. The number of adults who are still concerned about being “cool” and not liking “nerdy” things makes me wonder why we bother with high school graduation, so many never seem to leave that world.

We will from now on, after one of my kids suddenly didn’t do well this year after doing just fine the 2 years prior. 😒 We prep for the SAT/ACT because it’s important but I haven’t been worried about the state tests.

That’s a good point too. When my kids were in school they spent weeks prepping for those tests. At least one full week per grading period, plus intermittent stuff. When my kid takes a standardized test I’m just like…”here, do this dumb thing, then we’ll get donuts”.

I do wonder how much of the poor stats have to do with an over representation in homeschooling of kids that the public school was failing in some way, either because of bullying creating a crisis homeschooler or special needs being poorly met in public school. Since we’re a smaller sample size those could skew the results and make us look worse, when really we just have an over representation of dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalcula and autism. That’s the full extent of analysis my 1 stats class and a lot of the 538 podcast can muster. I know some of the problem in math is that so many homeschool moms are terrified of it. Of course most of the moms were once public school students who graduate unable to confidently teach first grade math, so I don’t think “we” should get all the blame for that. I’ll split that blame halfsies with the public school system, 🤪.

Myself and many people I know and the RCC still has the same view of all those things as possibly grave sins. Doesn’t mean we don’t help and love them. In fact, we help them all a lot. I was thinking more in terms of turning away, not letting them come to parties or be in the home. How many people refuse to go to a child’s first birthday if the child was born out of wedlock, for fear of participating in that sin, the way they might refuse a gay anniversary party. Or go to dinner with a couple where one was married before. No one feels that “accepting” their divorced child is re-writing a moral code, but accepting a gay child is. I’ve heard the same line about celibacy post divorce as I hear here about gay people. It’s ok to get divorced as long as you are celibate until that first spouse dies. But most people would find that absurd today. But many thinks it’s fine to say or think that of gay people. It’s a strange dichotomy.

I stand corrected. Ty. I think I broadly lump gay and trans rights together when I’m thinking about them, but you’re right, they are different.

I do wonder if there is anything besides homosexuality that still engenders this particular response? It used be a myriad of things all in the same general category, premarital sex, illegitimate children, inter racial marriage, living together before marriage. Now the only one left is homosexuality. ETA divorce. Forgot that one.

The phrase “only a mother could love” exists for a reason. I don’t think anybody can know until we are in it though. I’d like to think in Michelle Duggar’s position I would still love my child, and get him a lawyer, then visit him in prison and make sure he was modestly comfortable in prison (basics like soap, toothpaste, Tylenol, ramen, books that prisoners are often denied unless they can buy them themselves) while also wanting to see him stay in prison for his own good, to prevent him from harming others. I would also take all steps to prevent him from hurting my other children or other children in general. A mother visiting a jailed child is one thing, bringing siblings to visit is another.

Our system is imperfect for sure, I could go on and on. I don’t necessarily want to sacrifice my kid to some ideal of how it ought to be though. If it comes to that we have to play the game the way it’s written. Trying to fix it is for a different time.

For better or worse we have an adversarial court system where everyone is entitled to representation. A good lawyer is important and public defenders are just too overworked to do much good. I don’t see how it could be wrong to get a loved one good representation. Tiresome with a repeat offender, sure. I don’t think it would be wrong to say no, I’m tapped out, I spent all the money I could spare on your last 3 burglary charges, I can’t this time. But I would help to the extent that I could for as long as I could manage. I also don’t necessarily think it’s a moral imperative to do so, since public defenders do exist and are considered adequate. I’m also not wealthy enough to be able to just make charges “go away” with a donation or phone call, which would probably be the wrong thing to do, but not something I’m capable of anyway. Darn it. 🤪

I don’t know how it reconciled with homosexuality exactly, but I’d have no problem loving my child if they robbed a bank. Or murdered someone. I wouldn't help them go on the lam or lie for them. I would cry and be angry, then buck up, get them the best lawyer possible, visit in prison, put money on the prison account. Is there another option? My babies can do wrong. They are still mine. Does God do any different for us? I wouldn’t really care if my kids were/are gay. My extended family has had a suicide we suspect was due to homosexuality. I think that changes things, puts them in perspective. *My* reactions will NOT be the reasons my children feel that kind of despair. Just no.

Just a jumping off point, not picking at you specifically. I’m curious how does this play out with divorce and remarriage? Divorce is specially laid out as a sin in the Bible. I’m my husband’s 2nd wife, would you allow us to share a room in your home? Expect us not to be affectionate in your home? Would you celebrate our anniversary with us? Im also reminded that mixed race marriages were also considered to be sinful at one time. Most people and the church have evolved on that.

To be fair, the vaccine was found really quickly. Most of the time has been spent doing trials to show safety and efficacy. That all takes time and I don’t know how to get around that. I suppose if COVID had been more like Ebola with a 50% death rate we might have been willing to skip the safety trials and just take our chances with the vaccine. Which it turns out would have been ok in this situation, but that’s not guaranteed to be the case. I agree with you though, I had expected better of us in the face of a pandemic. I think COVID was just low level enough that it was able to be politicized instead. It could be denied away in the minds of many people. It might have been different if people were literally dropping dead in the streets like a horror movie.

Is that for concealed carry? My husband only needed to wait 10 min for a background check to come back and we took home a hand gun. He only needs to get a permit if he wants to carry concealed.

How long does the MMR have a risk of shedding?

Interesting though that an NRA membership card will count as voter ID in many places, but not a photo student ID issued by a college or university. Tribal IDs were excluded in some places until recently. Boggles the mind.

If the vaccines somehow turn out to make vaccinated people dangerous to *others* I think we would have to accept that at this point the majority of the population has gotten the vaccine and permanently restricting the majority of the population wouldn’t make sense. Especially once you consider that the vaccinated population would presumably be immune from damaging each other. Even in this hypothetical it stretches the imagination to think a vaccinated person would be in danger from the shedding vaccine of other vaccinated individuals. The unvaccinated would then either need to follow the adage of “if you can’t beat em, join em” and get vaccinated to protect themselves from the vaccine shedding, if not the virus itself. Or they would just have to accept the risks and protect themselves as best as they can or create their own enclaves where they figure out how to avoid contact with the vaccinated. The idea of setting up a state where the unvaccinated minority would restrict and isolate the vaccinated majority is…well, something. Interesting thought experiment.

The position of global pandemic has been filled. Please try again at a later time.

Walmart has cake balls in the section with Hostess and Little Debbies. They are called Bakery Petites. I buy a couple of bags of those and arrange nicely on a plate. Voila.

I just checked and Boston’s 7 day average is only 45 cases per day. New England also has the highest vaccination rates in the country, over 70% of Massachusetts is vaccinated. I can’t think of a safer place to play unmasked outdoors. The anxiety is real though! I get it. You’ll get through it.

There are definitely some people pushing Insta Pots and Speed Queens.....interesting. 🙂

Other than a few mommy bloggers I don't follow many "influencers", that's why I added the caveat. It is a good reminder to think critically about who we're getting our info from. How credible are these people? Where is there information coming from? Sure the Kardashians might have relevant ideas about lipstick, but maybe not medical info? Separating out opinion from fact, and thinking about just where that opinion is coming from. I did find this interesting though, as far as influencers go. Almost all of the COVID misinformation can be traced back to the same 12 influencers on social media. Talk about an echo chamber. https://www.npr.org/2021/05/13/996570855/disinformation-dozen-test-facebooks-twitters-ability-to-curb-vaccine-hoaxes

I said your numbers needed context. You should read this from Wathe, especially the bolded. You're numbers aren't incorrect, they lack context and don't mean what you think they mean. You know that saying "I know just enough to be dangerous", that's what your numbers are. A tiny bit of truth, taken fully out of context, shaded a bit, and made to look like something else entirely. I know you didn't create them of course, I'm not blaming you. You're just getting info from a shyster. This guy is a TV producer, not a doctor. He has no idea what he is talking about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Bigtree

A lot of the numbers you are tossing out are not correctly construed in that video. This might help give you some context. https://factcheck.afp.com/flawed-experiments-exaggerate-risk-co2-concentration-masks -"Bigtree is the founder of an anti-vaccine organization, but does not mention any medical or scientific credentials on his website." -"“They are using the wrong device and they are trying to compare the wrong numbers,” explained Hyo-Jick Choi, a researcher at the University of Alberta, who designed surgical masks and respirator filters that deactivate certain viral strains." -"There is no doubt that wearing a face mask will increase carbon dioxide levels,” Choi conceded. However, the researcher warned that Bigtree’s video misleads by presenting the 5,000 ppm mark as a definite marker of toxicity. Five thousand ppm is the highest recommended exposure for people working eight-hour days every day, particularly in closed spaces. The experiments further mislead by truncating the chart, making 5,000 ppm look like the highest mark, when in fact the real chart shows that 40,000 ppm and above is the level considered dangerous, even for short periods of time."

They are a standard part of advertising, but all of the ones that I'm aware of tell you that they were paid for such and such product, or given it free in exchange for a review, or that they are using affiliate links. NPR makes a disclosure statement every time they cover Facebook or Bill Gates, among others. Transparency is important.