Have you ever read "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power? I don't feel that America's response to genocide today differs all that much from our typical response in the past. I mull over the problem of genocide a lot, and as it continues to occur fairly often, generally unimpeded, I've grown quite cynical about attempts to stop one in progress. Condemnations, resolutions, peace talks, cease fires, embargoes all have limited value, especially when the offending country has no intention to honor its promises. Force (war) has better potential to stop a genocide, but how does one avoid perpetual war to stop genocides from occurring all over this planet? I hate to entertain the thought that genocide may be some cyclical tendency of human nature, but it sure is hard to avoid coming to that conclusion sometimes. This list is sobering (and it is not even current) https://www.genocidewatch.com/genocide-and-politicide Possibly too political... but in the situation I believe you are alluding to with the theoretical U.S. president, the government of the other country has already been committing genocide with impunity since at least 2014, despite many overtures by other countries to restrain it.

From an old T-shirt, I sewed a little garment for my stuffed Alien Facehugger. I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the Halloween thread. This wasn't for Halloween but for a local PopCon. Naked: Clothed:

Helen Keller: The Story of My Life (1-2 passing mentions of deaths of people she knew) Everyday Fashions of the Twenties/Thirties/Forties/Fifties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs (Dover series) -- She might also like the Dover Fashion & Costume coloring books or paper dolls.

Yes, this, although drugs/alcohol were not prevalent in my experiences. Some HS sleepovers were sold to my parents as girls-only when they were co-ed with sex involved. Some of the truth-or-dare dares at the younger sleepovers were actually pretty dangerous. It's a wonder that no one was hurt. No adults anywhere... Starting about 4th grade, sleepovers had much more heavily occult games than "light-as-a-feather." After being taught by others, I learned to lead the games myself. I don't want to get into specifics because it's going to be treated with skepticism, but enough very bad experiences have led me to believe that such games are physically, mentally, and spiritually dangerous. My oldest watched/played very graphic rated-M video games at 8 or 9 years old, at the aforementioned relative's house. He'd be the first to admit that it made a negative impact on him. All of these things could happen in any unsupervised environment. Sleepovers seem/seemed to be the best opportunity for my kids (or young me) to have many hours of completely unsupervised time with peers.

Privacy or lack thereof. I used to get so angry at my mom, because she would randomly clean my room while I was gone during the school day. Family members would burst into bedrooms without knocking. I felt like I couldn't keep any secrets. Social restrictions. I have a no-sleepover rule because of all the trouble I got into or witnessed at sleepovers when I was growing up. The kids resented me for it when they were younger. I once thought that sleepovers would be ok at a close relative's house which was supposedly well-supervised, but in time, bits and pieces of what went down have come out, and I kick myself for letting them go. In my childhood, my mom used to be very reluctant to let neighborhood kids into our house because it wasn't clean enough for company, which made me feel limited socially.

Channel thy inner Yosemite Sam. "Ratsom, fratsom, bratsom, patsom, ratten, picken, frippallitten!"

I don't know if DS5 is AL or not, but here's a funny story from today... DS: Today we watched another Ms. Frizzle video (Magic School Bus). It was about the food chain. A fish eats little lobsters, then that fish is eaten by another fish, then that fish is eaten by another fish... Me: ...then a person eats the fish? DS: No, Mom. People are in the middle of the food chain. A fish ate the whole school bus!

Oh yes, I love singing a half-***ed parody I just conjured up to poke fun at the absurdity of the situation -- they act like they hate it, but they're stifling big smiles! I'm surprised no one has said, "Go to bed." That's much worse than "wake up." "You poor thing..." "You need to shower." "If I look busy, it means I am." "You need to wait. Around here everyone waits."

I had a lot of trouble with polyethelene glycol for my first colonoscopy many years ago. The second procedure (a couple of years ago) was with Prepopik (I refused to try the PEG experience again) -- and it worked the way it was supposed to. Anesthesia was fine both times. My biggest problem with the more recent colonoscopy was getting moderately dehydrated due to the prep and the no-liquids-for-x-hours rules.

We are always low on tables. DH uses sawhorses with a sturdy broken-down (flat) appliance box on top which I'll cover with a plastic tablecloth or large beach towels. A sheet of plywood would work just as well. We have put the flat boxes on top of our bigger rubbermaid bins, too. You can lay a clean tarp on the grass and stage stuff there, though it's hard for folks who have trouble bending down. Instead of pricing every little thing, I prefer to group items and make one price for all of one category, like all the books together with one sign: paperbacks 50c, hard covers 1.00. Nicer stuff that's probably worth more gets bunched with not-as-nice stuff, but that little bit of lost money is worth the convenience for me. When there are a lot of these categories, I'll keep a list of all of them at the "checkout table" to help keep me from getting confused. Have plastic bags or boxes for customers' convenience if they buy too much to easily carry. I like to keep a notebook with a running total of the sales, to match against the cash at the end. I always keep a calculator nearby, just in case. Decide beforehand which items are absolutely firm on price and make sure your DH knows. Writing "FIRM" on the item price helps, but not always...

What Wondrous Love Is This Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) Jesus Christ is Risen Today Unless a Grain of Wheat (Hurd) Shepherd Me, O God (Haugen) The Cry of the Poor (Foley) Give Me Jesus How Great Thou Art Ave Maria (Schubert) Tantum Ergo Sacramentum O Come O Come Emmanuel Coventry Carol Wir Christenleut (Bach) https://web.archive.org/web/20081221183220/http://christmassongbook.net/s2055f-deutsch.asp What Child is This Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming O Holy Night Requiem (Mozart) especially Kyrie eleison and Lacrimosa Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus (Messiaen)

Play parachute (if siblings like to play along - not so fun alone!) Insect net + cage, or one of those Butterfly Garden rear-your-own-butterflies kits

...do you let people come to your home, or do you always meet in a public place? I'm gearing up to sell through Facebook for the first time. Trying to weigh the safety risks in having strangers come to the door vs. the time and gas-wastage of meeting elsewhere. It's 4 miles (one-way) to the closest meeting spot I would call open, public, and safe.

I usually use a wooden spoon or a wooden spatula for cooking meat. I leave it sitting in the pan as the meat cooks, so I figure that the heat is cooking the contaminated end of the spoon enough to make it safe to serve with. Utensils that haven't been left in the pan get replaced with clean ones.

I really like this salad, but I usually replace the pine nuts with sliced almonds, shred the kale in a food processer, and use common raisins. If there's time, I soak the raisins in hot water so that they plump up first. https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/our-favorite-simple-kale-salad

Looks like yellow slime mold to me.

There's a PBS Frontline documentary on "Being Mortal" that I believe is still available for streaming to anyone. (Note: I can't watch it without tissues ready) https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/being-mortal/

Kohl's has been great for us, too, and worth playing the "game." I like this time of year for Kohl's Cash because they want the in-store fall clearance to move, and it's starting to get marked down to 80-90% off. I pretty much exclusively use KC on clearance items or brands that aren't eligible for coupons (Columbia, Under Armour, Nike). Last weekend I stretched $25 in KC/rewards (plus an extra $1.xx) to buy a skirt for me, 2 pairs of jeans for ds15, a pair of long thermal underwear for ds12, a 4 pack of briefs for ds12, a 6 pack of socks for ds5, and a tie for dh -- most at 90% off. That said, it helps that I have a lot of people to shop for and generally enjoy treasure-hunting.

I have no idea what's available or unavailable through Alexa, but here are some classical suggestions: Bizet: Carmen Suite #2 - Habañera Gounod: Funeral March Of A Marionette Dvorak: Humoresque No. 7 Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1: Morning Mood Saint-Saëns: Carnival Of The Animals - Aquarium, Fossils Strauss: Blue Danube, Radetzky March, Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka Berlioz: La Damnation De Faust Op. 24: Hungarian March Mozart: Sonata No. 16 in C Major for Piano, K. 545, "Sonata facile": I. Allegro Mozart: Serenade No.13 in G Major, K. 525, "Eine kleine Nachtmusik": IV. Rondo Allegro Pachelbel: Canon in D Bach: Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring Greaves: Fantasia on Greensleeves Handel: Water Music Suite #1 In F, HWV 348 - Hornpipe Prokofiev: Peter & The Wolf - all of it Smetana: The Bartered Bride - Dance Of The Comedians (since you listed Flight of the Bumblebee) Here are some suggestions from my movie score collection: Black Beauty Main Titles, End Titles (Danny Elfman, Black Beauty) Introduction (Titles), Storytime, Ice Dance (Danny Elfman, Edward Scissorhands) Concerning Hobbits, Many Meetings (Howard Shore, Fellowship of the Ring) Casper's Lullaby (James Horner, Casper) The Cleaner (Randy Newman, Toy Story 2) Main Title (Jerry Goldsmith, Rudy) Willow's Theme (Jerry Goldsmith, Willow) Wreck-It-Ralph (Henry Jackman, Wreck-It-Ralph) Hachi: A Dog's Tale (Kaczmarek) - most/all of the album Prologue (John Williams, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) Wall Rat, End Creditouilles (Michael Giacchino, Ratatouille) The Dance, End Titles (Rachel Portman, Emma) I Am the Doctor (Murray Gold, Doctor Who: Series 5)

Ha! The cravings are a real challenge, aren't they? I'm better at avoiding sugar, because I know I have trouble with self-regulation (Who am I kidding? Addiction!) and it consistently makes my body feel "off" when I eat dessert. Eggs, cheese, and heavy cream... avoiding these is killing me. To eat eggs again with abandon would give me so. much. joy. I'm taking it one day at a time and trying not to think about "maybe forever!" The prospect of adding nuts and seeds to the no-list makes me want to go hide somewhere. On the flip side, I've actually learned to enjoy mushrooms, avocados, and seaweed to a point, and liver is no longer disgusting when prepared in certain ways. It's not all bad news. I read the whole book, but it was just on loan from the library. I should probably buy myself a copy for daily reference. I also read/listened to online interviews with Dr. Wahls, and some of them included a bit more useful rabbit-trail information than the book. What you're talking about with the protein only applies to Paleo Plus, though, right? You were adding in vegetables before you started the keto diet? Often, I find myself wondering what people on this diet would do if the global food supply lines were interrupted. Then I get the urge to start hoarding cases of coconut oil (this is the part where I say "How do I love thee, Aldi, let me count the ways... One, for carrying affordable organic coconut oil that tastes good...") I don't know. Level 3 is the coconut 4-evah direction, and AIP is the clean slate direction. If nuts, black pepper, and coffee are really inflammatory foods, maybe I should try 30+ days without them. Maybe I should try 30 days without coconut meat/milk, since it kinda hurts my stomach! Dh suffers from food allergies which have only increased in number over the years, and watching his daily struggles doesn't help with these anxieties. Under the surface, I really fear cutting out a beloved food that seemed ok in my former life, and then reintroducing it only to discover that I'm intolerant. It makes me think about how people with pet allergies can seem fine with their own family cat/dog so long as they have constant exposure, but after moving out for a while and then exposing themselves again, an allergic reaction presents itself (happened to dh!). Likewise, can cutting out a food provoke an intolerance?

I mostly lurk and don't write much, but I want you to know that I think of you often, and you are in my prayers. Reading your good news makes me happy! Do you think you will stick with Wahls? I've been trying it since the beginning of May, but loosely between levels 1 and 2. Keto sticks show mild ketosis most days despite my propensity to consume fruit at dinner. I sure feel like I'm eating a LOT of protein, though, floating in seas of vegetables! If only it were more clear as to why some things are banned on one autoimmune diet but allowed on another (nuts, alcohol), or whether a ham containing less than 2% sugar is compliant enough, or why sodium nitrate is anathema when celery nitrate is perfectly fine. Plus I'm not sure that coconut meat/milk agrees with me, and it really seems to be a lynchpin in the protocol. Did the diet make you feel better before you started feeling worse? I have more energy these days and some of my digestive issues have improved, but there doesn't seem to be much impact on whatever mystery condition I have. The next step would be AIP, I guess, but I'm continuing Wahls at least until my appt. with a new dr. in July.

So all the dwarf black-eyed-susans were just showing their baby leaves when I sent the kids out to weed (a completely separate flower bed). SMH because they're gone...! All I can do is laugh and try to convince myself that it's a good opportunity to switch up the landscaping...

I would probably have anxiety in a high-pressure or loud environment. I'm introverted and prefer working alone or with a small group, but I've also done fine working in retail with oodles of customers. Well, my earlier biology jobs were in field work, insect curation, and scientific nomenclature, so the options above wouldn't be drawing from that experience. I might have some personal objections to working for pharmaceutical companies... but otherwise, I'm pretty open to trying new things. I'm not sure what my end goal is, beyond getting a foot in the door somewhere. I'd work for $10 an hour if there was good reason to hope for advancement. I don't think I would make a very successful tutor, though... I could teach math and science, but I don't have that natural positive kid-magnet charisma. Brushing up on Excel seems like a good place to start.

The idea of "marketable skills" has always been a little nebulous to me. The term is sometimes used to mean specific, concrete skills such as small motor repair. At other times, it seems to mean an attribute (strong leadership, hard-working). I have an eye toward eventually getting some kind of regular part-time employment away from home. However, I'll be here caring for young one(s) during the day for another 1-2 years, and dh usually has inconsistent/long hours, so life just isn't flexible enough for me to commit to a job without paying for childcare. I have a bachelor's degree in biology. Without a career plan (truly, it's like starting with a blank slate), I'm not interested in investing in another degree for something unrelated. I'm actually afraid of pigeon-holing myself into one particular career path instead of being open for any opportunity. Perhaps I can start teaching myself marketable skills that can be useful in many different jobs, especially over the summer months. What highly/broadly valued skills do you think are most conducive to being self-taught in a home environment? Low-cost is a plus.