The "what's On Your Mind?" Thread -2018

[Willowy]

Has anyone ever known a family like this?

That's very common among religious homeschoolers. I mean seriously at least half of them. There were even families like that in our homeschool group, even though were were overseas military and therefore they couldn't get away with some things (vaccines were required, Family Advocacy kept an eye on corporal punishment, etc.). But yeah, if you hang around the religious homeschooling types you'll meet a ton of them.

I think my dad had the anthrax vaccine while he was in the Navy. They tend to use military members as guinea pigs for new vaccines, so sometimes there are weird side effects that haven't been figured out yet. But usually it works out.

My mom was iffy about vaccines. I got all of them as a baby (she hadn't heard whatever made her iffy about vaccines yet), my second brother got most of his, my youngest brother wasn't vaccinated at all until the Navy MADE her get him vaccinated, he was about 18 months old when they finally cracked down. Guess who has been diagnosed as on the spectrum? And was showing signs of it before her was vaccinated? Not that I'm saying the rest of us are neurotypical, lol, he's probably the smartest for pursuing diagnosis. But it definitely wasn't caused by vaccines.

 

[arouetta]

I didn't know you were military.
THANK YOU!!!

I served during peace time. I'm not the one who should be thanked.

 

[kashmir64]

I served during peace time. I'm not the one who should be thanked.

Doesn't matter. You served and that's what counts.

 

[Margret]

Have you ever heard of linguistic purism? There's a very small movement that believes English-speakers should only use words of Anglo-Saxon origin.

I prefer English the way it is. I love that there are so many words to choose from. It's so much more interesting this way.

That said, I do like the Anglo-Saxon word for caterpillar, leafwyrm.

The history of English is fascinating.

That almost sounds like a joke (though I'm sure it isn't). The hallmark of English is that any time we hear a word we like from some other language we "borrow" it. The latest that springs to mind is "schadenfreude." This is the reason most of our poetry depends on rhyme and meter: you can do that when almost every word has numerous synonyms. In other languages, poetry depends on syllable count (Haiku) or metaphor.

And then you get into the question of how far back you want to go. Why stop at Old English? Why not go back to German? The Anglo-Saxons were, after all, descended from Germanic tribes. Anglo-Saxons - Wikipedia. Cultures evolve and change, and languages evolve with them. It's essential for communication.

Margret

 

[Willowy]

I've heard that Anglo-Saxon English, and it sounds really odd to the modern ear. Like that Star Trek Enterprise episode where there was a disaster that killed all the adults so the children grew up with no adults to listen to so they retained their childish simplistic understanding of English (Terra Nova is the name of the episode).

Jewish tradition holds that Adam and Eve spoke Hebrew, though linguistic scholars call the language of that time Adamic, and the next evolution of language Chaldaic. So, hey, if people want to be language purists I'm sure we can find something "purer" than Anglo-Saxon!

 

[kashmir64]

I just got off the phone with the HS. They said that even though she was owner surrendered (they moved and couldn't take her) she was originally from a feral colony. She has an attitude (of course she does, she's tortie) and she doesn't like to be held or petted except on her terms. (sounds a lot like Samai). She's in the cat room, so she get along with other cats, but they don't know about dogs. Fortunately my dogs were practically raised by cats and they do fine. I thought I heard my dog purr the other day. lol

I'm going to get dressed and drive the hour to go visit her. I won't make a decision today, but I do want to meet her.
And yes, she's been tested Felv negative.

 

[Margret]

I have a friend whose mother was a Christian Scientist and didn't believe in any medical treatments, including vaccination. Then my friend came down with polio, and came very close to dying (she didn't get polio because of her mother; this was before the polio vaccine had been developed, which means before she could have been protected by herd immunity - but her mother's religious beliefs kept the mother from taking my friend to a hospital for treatment). She only survived because her father insisted on taking her to the hospital; and it destroyed her relationship with her mother for many years. She finally managed to forgive her mother before the mother died, but it was a very near thing.

Margret

 

[Margret]

I'm going to get dressed and drive the hour to go visit her. I won't make a decision today, but I do want to meet her.
And yes, she's been tested Felv negative.

Good luck! I hope it works out, both for you and for her.

Margret

 

[Willowy]

Well, the thing is, among the fundamentalist homeschooling Christians, anti-vaxxing is not at all a religious thing. It's just become part of that culture for some reason.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

They also took the "spare the rod, spoil the child" thing literally.

They invited my mom and I and some family/friends over one night for an anniversary party of something. I can't remember now but their older daughter pushed her cousin or a friend's kid... Don't remember who the little girl belonged to but their daughter did something to her. I was sitting close so I saw everything. My neighbor asked me what happened, what her daughter had done. Because the little girl was now balling her eyes out. The room fell dead silent and all eyes were on me. I told her mother what she did and her mother said, "Go with papa". Her father immediately got up and dragged her out of the living room. He took her to the bottom of the stairs, removed his belt and beat her until she screamed for him to stop. She was crying so hard. We all heard it, I tried so hard not to cry because it was so difficult to listen to the poor girl crying out for help. We all sat there so silent. Once he finished beating her and yelling at her, he dragged her to her room, everyone went back to what they were doing like nothing had happened. And you could hear her crying in her room even after he came back. God have mercy on that sick family.

Whenever they went on fasting, they would take food from the kids as well. I remember one time, the little boy didn't like oatmeal, he refused to eat it so they starved him and he fainted. Now that I think about it, children's aid should have been to that house. But I was too young to understand.

I'm a Christian too but my God, this is a disgusting way to raise a child. They weren't allowed to be outspoken or express their feelings or emotions.

 

[Willowy]

Yes, being harsh to the children is a part of the fundamentalist Christian homeschooler culture too :/. They call it love. It is not love. I guess they think it's the only way their kids will stick to their religion, although in my experience it only keeps the timid ones around. Any of them with an ounce of gumption will leave as soon as they can. And then the parents will lament that their child was brainwashed by the evil world and seduced by the devil. . .um no. They chased them away by treating them so badly.

One blogger I follow who was raised that way says that her younger sibling once almost starved to death. Because: at one point the baby said please. So the parents decided that, like the rest of the children, she (I don't remember if the baby was a boy or girl but I'll say girl) should be required to say please for every meal. But the baby was confused as to what they wanted and didn't say please all the time. They decided this was "rebellion" and wouldn't give her any food unless she said please. She got very weak and lethargic but the parents wouldn't give in because that would be "spoiling" the child. Until the mother "had a vision from God" telling her that that the baby would die and the rest of the children would be taken away and raised by Godless heathens so He said it would be OK to give in just this once (she thinks her mother made up that story so their friends and family wouldn't criticize her for giving in, or maybe she really did have a dream like that because she felt bad). Anyway, yes, it's very toxic.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Wow. You have just opened my eyes because I had no idea what it was called. My parents were raised in a similar way. Many of the churches in my province also follow this fundamentalist Christian lifestyle. It's poisonous really. I haven't been to my regular church since last July because of multiple incidents. Every church I've gone to after have been the same or worse so I've paused attending a church all together. It's quite devastating... I feel lost.

 

[arouetta]

I can't say I truly hate a lot of things. I dislike a lot of things and wished they never existed or would spontaneously disappear, but actual hate is another matter. I hate fundamentalists. I hate them because they hurt others on purpose. Whether it be the above examples of institutionalized abuse of children, whether it be the things they try to force in with the purpose of hurting those not like them, whether it be the whole women are to submit so the husbands abuse their wives, all they want to do is hurt. To them god is a violent punisher who demands and forces obedience and who destroys those not like him, and they want to reflect that image.

 

[Alicia88]

I don't know if I said this already but I had a neighbor that is a hardcore Christian (she moved to another country years ago). She was against vaccines and was very passionate about that. I'm talking like... extreme. It made visiting her house super CRINGY. Her first daughter had some vaccines but all the children that followed didn't get anything at all and they were sick all the time. I'm talking at least 10 times or more a year. And it wasn't your regular cold and flu, they would vomit, have headaches, diarrhea, etc. My mom and I would always talk at home about how crazy she and her husband was because they seemed like they came from another era in time... Or a completely different dimensional plain all together. She didn't send them to school, they weren't allowed to watch tv or play with other children. They couldn't read books unless the parents approved. Everything about their lifestyle was odd. Not just the vaccine part. Has anyone ever known a family like this?

I have recieved every single vaccine required for a female in Ontario and I'm perfectly fine. I do get sick from time to time but nothing serious and I'm usually over it within 24 - 72 hours.

Not sure what I was getting at... I had a point coming but I lost it.

I'm a Christian, but those people are nutjobs.

Doesn't matter. You served and that's what counts.

I agree. Thank you.

I have a friend whose mother was a Christian Scientist and didn't believe in any medical treatments, including vaccination. Then my friend came down with polio, and came very close to dying (she didn't get polio because of her mother; this was before the polio vaccine had been developed, which means before she could have been protected by herd immunity - but her mother's religious beliefs kept the mother from taking my friend to a hospital for treatment). She only survived because her father insisted on taking her to the hospital; and it destroyed her relationship with her mother for many years. She finally managed to forgive her mother before the mother died, but it was a very near thing.

Margret

This is where I get frustrated. I believe in religious freedom, but I think that should stop when it infringes on the rights of children - namely their right to life and medical care. I don't think it should be legal for parents to use prayer as their only medical intervention. God helps those who help themselves.
These so-called fundamentalist Christians sound like a cult. Starving and beating children? That's horrible! I feel so bad for those poor kids, I want to cry. And give Aedan extra snuggles cuz I could never imagine doing anything so horrible to him. But it seems difficult to give extra snuggles when you're already giving all the snuggles.

 

[kashmir64]

Well that didn't go too well. She would make a good working cat or even a house cat for someone without other pets. Yes, she was in the cat room, but she did not get along with any of the other cats. She did let me pet her, even around her head, but then hissed and ran. I just don't feel I should put my two in a position to get hurt. And I wouldn't want to put her into a forced situation either. Onsa just can't leave things alone and Samai would take her down. It wouldn't be fair to any of them.
Mystic on the other hand. OMG! She is an 8 month old longhair black cat. She is at least 1/2 size bigger and a few pounds heavier than Samai (and 2 months younger). She is loving and absolutely gorgeous. I'm having to talk myself out of her.

 

[Margret]

But it seems difficult to give extra snuggles when you're already giving all the snuggles.

Mystic on the other hand. OMG! She is an 8 month old longhair black cat. She is at least 1/2 size bigger and a few pounds heavier than Samai (and 2 months younger). She is loving and absolutely gorgeous. I'm having to talk myself out of her.

Well, I'm sorry there was nothing you could do for the first one, but it feels to me like you're actually looking for reasons why you should get Mystic.

Margret

 

[Blakeney Green]

It's been awhile since I checked in with this thread, so - I have a second kitten. I hadn't planned on going above four cats, but for various reasons it seemed to be the right time, and unfortunately it is not looking like Maisie is going to be with us for much longer so it probably won't be five for long.

On a more positive note: The new kitten is named Lacey. She's a month older than Toad, so Toad now has a playmate her own age. Lacey wasn't doing well emotionally at the shelter and wasn't really warming up very well, so I assumed I would just be releasing a semi-feral into my house that I might see occasionally when she came out for food. When I brought her home, though, she hid for a few days and then made a pretty abrupt turnaround into a housecat. She's still skittish but I can pet and hold her - on her own terms, of course - and she sits with me and the rest of the cats in the evenings. It seems like she just needed to get out of the shelter environment so she could really shine.

Right now Lacey is technically a foster (so is Toad) but I plan to adopt them next month.

 

[arouetta]

Anyone going to be watching the Puppy Bowl?

 

[Margret]

Anyone going to be watching the Puppy Bowl?

Probably not; Roger will be wanting to watch the football pre-game show, and we only have the one television. I may catch it online.

* * * * * *​

In 1986 when we came back to Denver after spending a year in Bend, Oregon, the first night we were here we called my favorite pizza parlor and ordered a pizza. It was still the same phone number that I knew by heart, but when I went to pick up the pizza the parlor was no longer there; they'd moved. I had to find a pay phone (1986 - pre-cell phone) to call and ask where they'd moved to.

A couple of days later I went to my favorite bookstore, The Tattered Cover. At least, I tried to go to The Tattered Cover. It turned out that they'ed moved, too! It seemed as if the entire city had changed around just for my "benefit" in the year I'd been gone.

In 2002 (as far as we can tell) a benign tumor began growing in my brain, which wasn't discovered and removed until 2012 (and I'm very fortunate that it could be removed, and that it wasn't cancer). I remember almost nothing between 2002 and June of 2012; I refer to it as "my lost decade." And when I'd recovered from my surgery I discovered that a lot had changed. The Tattered Cover had moved yet again, to a smaller building; it's never been the same since they lost their lease on their original quarters, I'm very sorry to say. But some smaller things have changed as well.

I recently went to Office Depot looking for a good .5 mm mechanical pencil, one with a proper sliding metal sleeve around the lead, the way they always used to have, as well as an eraser, of course, and I couldn't find one! There were plenty of expensive .5 mm mechanical pencils, with excellent erasers, but every one of them had a fixed sleeve, like the really cheap plastic pencils I could buy at The Dollar Store. In other words, the lead breaks as soon as you start writing with them, or else you have to keep it so short that you have to advance it every other word.

Apparently people have noticed this problem, though, because I saw several pencils that had various innovations to try to reduce lead breakage. One said that it had a marvelous new variety of lead, with diamond dust incorporated in the lead to make it harder! Another said that the tip rotated to reduce lead breakage (I've no idea how that's supposed to help), and several said that the tip was cushioned to reduce lead breakage. But not one pencil had a sliding metal sleeve around the lead. More, when I asked the clerk she had never seen or heard of such a thing! I went home without a pencil and began looking online, where I found some pencils listed that said they had erasers and sliding metal sleeves, available online only through Office Depot. Whew! They actually do still exist!

However, my debit card, that I use for all online purchases, was seriously depleted, so I decided to go to the store and pay cash for a 6-pack (~$15) and ask them to order it for me, but this time I went to the nearby OfficeMax (yet another change - OfficeMax has been taken over by Office Depot) and asked them to order these for me, but when the clerk asked if I wanted to order anything else at the same time I said, "Yes, let's get some replacement erasers while we're at it." It turned out that replacement erasers were not available. Well, obviously I wasn't going to get those. So this clerk said, "Let me see whether I can find some pencils that meet your criterion here in the store." I didn't expect him to have much luck, because I thought that the stock would be identical to what the Office Depot had, but I certainly wasn't going to stop him from looking, and, to my great surprise, he found some! They're made by Pentel (which always used to be the big name in mechanical pencils), and the Model (is that the correct term?) is named Energize. A 2-pack runs $8.49 and comes with a spare pack of lead and 4 replacement erasers. So my quest for new pencils has had a happy conclusion, and since I need to visit Office Depot for another reason tomorrow anyway I plan to take the 2-pack along to show the clerk there what they look like and how they work.

Margret

 

[segelkatt]

Have you ever heard of linguistic purism? There's a very small movement that believes English-speakers should only use words of Anglo-Saxon origin.

I prefer English the way it is. I love that there are so many words to choose from. It's so much more interesting this way.

That said, I do like the Anglo-Saxon word for caterpillar, leafwyrm.

The history of English is fascinating.

A very long time ago in Germany there was such a movement also to rid the German language of "foreign" words, mostly French, English and Latin/Greek derivatives. Up to a certain degree that was quite possible as there were perfectly good German words for certain things but some new words from other languages were starting to be used also. So these purists were really pushing to use "all-German" words but it started to become ridiculous as some words had no equivalent in German, mostly because they had been integrated hundreds of years ago so that nobody remembered that they had a foreign root. So the purists started to invent German words. I do remember one which was really ridiculous: the word for "nose" (Nase). They came up with "Gesichts-erker" which translates to "face oriel" (an oriel is also known as a bay, like in bay window). Needless to say this did not take, too many syllables. On the other hand a telephone became "Fernsprecher" (far-speaker), same number of syllables and says exactly what it is and would not be confused with a telegraph (Fern-schreiber = far-writer) or television (Fern-seher = far-seer). These days both the German and the foreign word are used interchangeably.
Of course all during history people have adopted words from other languages, usually because the item or term was not known in their own language. Who would think these days that a peach is not an anglo-saxon word but came from Persia and thus used to be called a Persian apple? Or that kindergarten is not English but German where it means a "children's garden" (a place where children could be fenced in so they could be supervised and not get lost when someone besides their parents had to care for them) and has nothing to do with being kind? Or that potato comes from French "pomme de terre" (apple from the earth)? Many countries call potatoes the apples of the earth, I have no idea what the native South American word was. In some parts of Germany potatoes are still called "Erd-aepfel" which means earth-apples although most Germans call them "Kartoffeln" which is from Italian "tartufulo" which came from Latin "terrae tuber" = earth bulb.
Yes, I too find lingustics fascinating and I did a lot of research outside of the classroom when I took it in college. We should get together and compare notes.