Enemy of Entropy
Miscellany
I lost track of who originally linked to what, so I can’t credit them properly. But thank you to whoever they all were, anyway!
Filed under “another reason I’m proud to be a homeschooler”: California court rules that private school can oust lesbian students. I do understand that it’s a private religious school, and that their denomination doesn’t approve of homosexuality. On the other hand, the girls’ parents chose to send them to that school, not the girls themselves. And demanding that everybody in the school be heterosexual makes every bit as much sense as demanding that they all be right-handed! (It also sounds like the school went WAY the hell overboard in interpreting the “evidence.”)
Can I get an “Amen”?! Ending Weight Bias: The Easiest Way to Tackle Obesity in America
This is news? Readers build vivid mental simulations of narrative situations, brain scans suggest
Not Good News: Mercury found in kids’ foods — and in pretty much anything else that contains HFCS. I’m confident of my ability to kick the soda habit, but totally avoiding HFCS pretty much means avoiding all processed foods. GAH!
This is so cool! Implants Tap the Thinking Brain
No surprise to me, at least: Watch out. The Internet will cut you
Reality check: Sorry, you don’t have a 200 IQ
Another no-brainer: Video Games May Hinder Relationships
sore9 Comments »
I do not see how a school could kick someone out for that. How exactly do they prove the case and does it really even matter anyway?
Re: Another no-brainer: Video Games May Hinder Relationships
The inverse might be true. Relationships cause video games. I haven’t spoken to my mother in years. When I was younger, we had a rocky relationship and she insisted that we live way out in the middle of nowhere (My nearest friend lived almost 30 miles away at one point). I couldn’t stand my family, and getting to see my friends regularly was out of the question, so I bought video games.
Or a less negative example, when I’m hanging out with my friends, our usual entertainment is a video game of some sort.
Re: Not Good News: Mercury found in kids’ foods
You can have my sodas when you pry them from my cold dead fingers.
I don’t think they “proved” the case at all, Tracy – and if they were actually there primarily to educate anyone, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Travis, I can certainly understand turning to ANY kind of pursuit to avoid interaction with certain people. When I was in high school, I participated in everything except sports and art, largely to avoid being home. When I was at home, I spent as much time in my own room as possible reading or whatever (I’m old, so personal computers weren’t very common then).
Playing games together is one thing. Playing them alone when there are other people around who want to interact with you, and with whom you presumably want to interact, is different. My partner and our kids spent many hours playing computer games together on our home network at one time, but they also spent hours together doing other things, including tabletop RPGs.
That depends on perspective, my mother still thinks video games are the reason we don’t speak. Nevermind that she ran up TEN THOUSAND dollars in credit card debt in my name before I could even have a credit card… among other things.
My little sister thought video games were why I didn’t talk to her either, but the actual reason was tied to her taking sides with my mother anytime we got into it. I babysat her kid the other day because about a month ago my mother threw her out, and my sister started seeing things from my point of veiw.
Hey, I saw you talk about math phobia on a forum. Ever heard of dyscalculia? It’s “math dyslexia”. Google it!
I’m glad you’ve reconnected with your sister, at least, Travis. It sounds like you might be better off without being in touch with your mother!
Thanks, Mette. I have heard of dyscalculia – as a homeschooling mother, I’ve done a fair amount of research on learning differences/disabilities.
My phobia is wholly irrational, as phobias are want to be. I certainly don’t have dyscalculia – I performed fairly well on the math team in high school and had an even 700⁄700 math/verbal split on the SAT (back when there were only 1600 points to be had, total).
*giggles* Well, that’s funny. I kept getting annoyed because I kept getting scores like 138 and 142 on those online IQ tests. I will shut up now and take my smart self as it is.
Also, I’ve been watching the way we learn to deal with these new Internet rages and strange ways words start hurting. It’s fascinating.