Something cheerful for a Friday afternoon. Paul Ford at NYMag, “For the New Occupy, Size Is Everything“:
… I know a guy named Dan Phiffer, who is helping the Rolling Jubilee people with their web server. When we talked Monday night, he was worried that as the news got out, the site would crash. He and I ran down the technologies in use. There were weaknesses and vulnerabilities, precarious linkages to outside services. If a throng arrived, RollingJubilee.org might get swamped under the load. Then money couldn’t come in (bad) and the message wouldn’t go out (worse).
Scaling is everything. A site that works perfectly for a hundred people fails catastrophically with a hundred thousand. If you expect traffic you can’t just hope for the best. There are dials to turn, files to configure, variables to tweak…
After talking to Dan, I took a Q train from Union Square and, by the time it reached the Manhattan Bridge, he emailed to say he had shored up RollingJubilee.org. The easiest solution was to use Amazon’s S3 service, a giant cloud drive that can send the same file over the wires a zillion times without melting. Now, he thought, the site was ready for the masses….
On weekends the streets of Red Hook have been jammed with New Yorkers desperate to help, but there are not always enough tasks to go around—the challenges of scaling reasserting themselves again. The makeshift food and clothing distribution centers at churches and community centers are thronged with so many volunteers that the network seizes up. If Rolling Jubilee catches on it may also find an upper limit to the help it can provide. Increased demand could drive up the price of distressed debt from pennies on the dollar to nickels and dimes and quarters. The IRS may change its position and come calling.
There is this sudden understanding that there will be more storms. There is the awareness that for those hurt most by the financial crisis, relief may never come. These are the new tools of response: apartments stacked with rice bags, a Kickstarter for debt-retirement, a self-organizing civic immune system. Occupy, which didn’t seem to reach critical mass as a protest movement, is becoming a welfare provider. It seems so simple: Make meals for hungry people. Donate money to get people out of debt. The network is coming together, access points and nodes and hubs and the lines of communication between them. The big question remains: Will it scale?
So… what’s on the agenda for the weekend before (American) Thanksgiving?
arguingwithsignposts
ahem.
Culture of Truth
Obama’s Favorability Reaches 3-year High
The results are based on a Nov. 9-12 USA Today/Gallup poll
BEEENNNNGHAAAZZIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Corner Stone
A weekend of quiet reflection, and meditation.
Hillary Rettig
I’m always in awe of how much sheer quality — cleverness, commitment, resourcefulness, and maturity, etc. — so many of the people on our side display, versus the sheer mediocrity and banality of those on their side.
See, also, the Atlantic article on Obama tech John cited. (Looks like they chose the hairiest geeks they could find for that picture!)
rlrr
@Culture of Truth:
Too little, too late to stop Romney’s momentum.
j
Hostess announced they already have buyers for some of their brands (Fruit pies, Twinkies,) so the cannibalism should go smoothly.
In other Hostess news, nepotism pays (to the tune of 100 Grand a year).
And the CEO lives in a 17,500 sqft. house. I wonder if he has a moat and a 22 limo car turntable like that Papa John’s guy?
http://xnerg.blogspot.com/2012/11/let-them-eat-hostess-cake.html
These vulture capitalists have been sucking the place dry since the day they showed up.
General Stuck
Give me Twinkies
Or give me death!!
Culture of Truth
@rlrr:
surely, hindsight’s always 20/20 isn’t it. True, but don’t call him surely.
Surreal American
@General Stuck:
The two aren’t mutually exclusive, you know.
Raven
Headed for the Emerald Coast of Florida before we completely destroy it!
Schlemizel
normal liberal
promised to provide this recipe to me in the next open thread but I didn’t want to wait so I googled – it was not easy to find but I think this may be it & I bet you $10 you cant guess where I found the recipe!
– – – F I R E D O G L A K E !
Molasses Jewel Box Cookies – from now on they will be known as firebagger cookies 8-{D
1 cup butter or margarine (1)
1 cup light molasses
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
teaspoon cinnamon (or a touch more)
3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, grated (2) finely (3)
(Optional) icing and decorations to your preferences
Cream shortening (4), add molasses and brown sugar. Mix/beat until light. Sift flour with baking soda and cinnamon; mix into creamed mixture and blend (5). Add chocolate and mix (6). Chill for at least four hours, or overnight.
Roll dough thinly (7) on lightly floured board. Cut (8) and place cookies on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Yield (according to the original recipe) is 14 dozen 2-inch cookies (9).
Corner Stone
Plan to look for this bar:
“This place is a freakin’ taco fest.”
General Stuck
@Surreal American:
Typical Obambi soshulist union stooge talk. We are doomed.
Look, here I’m already being asked, “Are you gonna talk about Hostess?” Yeah, I’m gonna talk about Hostess. You know what, 18,500 people gone, Hostess Twinkies, Ding Dongs, shut down. Some people might think it’s a buy opportunity if you want to get in the Ding Dong business. But folks, if you need an indication that the Democrats will never compromise on anything, look at this. Hostess is going out of business because of unions. Now, that’s 18,500 jobs. You would think in this economy that somebody might want to show the ability to compromise if only to fool people. They won’t even compromise on this. Rush Limbaugh
General Motors, Wall Street …. Why no Twinky bailout?
I’LL TELL YOU WEYE. One word. Benghazi
Suck on that libtards.
Suffern ACE
@General Stuck: Jesus Rush, we have other bakers. And if the president said “I’m the head of the unions so I’m calling off the strike”, I’d think there’d be a lot more people than the RWNM heading to the fainting couches.
Ryan S.
Get ready to sqee.
Feudalism Now!
UNLIMITED CORPORATE CHOCODILES!
Union busting at its finest. Buy in, load it up with more debt, and liquidate all while collecting consulting fees and negotiating in bad faith with the union on a contract. Legal burning and pillaging.
burnspbesq
Emailing my idiot Congresscritter about the ridiculous standoff between the House and Senate over reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/16/15221839-the-violence-against-women-acts-uncertain-fate?lite
Jeez fucking Louise.
drc
NGO’s to the rescue. America the wealthiest third world nation.
Mandalay
“From a Pashtun point of view, Petraeus should be shot by relatives from his mistress’s family,” the Taliban official explained helpfully.
“From a sharia point of view, he should be stoned to death.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9680569/David-Petraeus-gleeful-Taliban-ponder-correct-way-to-execute-adulterer.html
This presents a real dilemma for our president. Should he show his undoubted loyalty to the Pashtuns, and allow poor Paula’s mom to shoot Petraeus, or adhere to his beloved Sharia law and have the philandering general stoned to death?
It is a difficult choice, but I trust my president to select the best option.
The Golux
@General Stuck:
Not exactly an either/or situation.
Suffern ACE
@Mandalay: Bah. Better than our approach. Since the New Mrs. Jack Welch and the New Mrs. Newt Gingrich (with book shilling hubby in tow) have all been invited on the TV to provide depth of perspective on this case, I think the Taliban might be on to something. We don’t punish them-we allow them to guide us through our nightmares and lead the national conversation on these serious matter. The Taliban punish the sinners; we allow them to afflict us with special insights.
NonyNony
@Mandalay:
From the article:
Wait, let me tweak that a bit:
Holy crap! Just a phrase change and we have something that might have spewed out of the mouths of one of our own Fundamentalist idiots.
And to think – they say that we can never have anything in common with Islamic Fundamentalists! Pat Robertson and this guy should chat – I bet they’d hit it off.
some guy
Anonymous versus Evildoers.
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/15/anonymous_retaliates_to_israels_gaza_internet_threat/
dr. bloor
@Corner Stone:
Gin or Scotch?
Mandalay
@Suffern ACE:
Holy shit….who better than Mrs. Newt to provide an authoritative analysis of the situation?
Perhaps our odious media at least has a sense of humor.
Ruckus
@General Stuck:
At LBNS when I was stationed there in the early 70s we used to get a mid-rats box with a hard boiled egg, a white bread cheese sandwich, an apple and a twinkie. A great dinner that was. This of course would kill me in about 20 minutes if I ate it now.
normal liberal
@Schlemizel: Yes, yes, I used to very occasionally post at FDL – perhaps a total of a half-dozen times in five years, nearly always on Christy Hardin Smith’s Saturday morning PUAC threads. Take me out and have me flogged, for heaven’s sake.
As to the cookies, they are quite good, and I’ve noted at the end of the Thursday cookie thread that the meaning of the mystery parenthetical numbers may be found in that same antediluvian FDL thread.
Culture of Truth
What with all the free stuff and free sex it’s a wonder we’ve got time for the bombing and whatnot.
Mnemosyne
@General Stuck:
To be fair, Hostess going belly-up is much more personally distressing for Rush than Chrysler. I’m sure he hasn’t bought an American car in decades, but who is going to supply his Twinkie habit now?
Mnemosyne
Also, too, I need to start getting my craft supplies in order this weekend and decide what I’m going to make for the company craft fair, which was finally announced this week. I don’t think I’m going to ramp production up until next weekend, but this weekend is a good time to pull out the stuff I want to use and put it all in one place so I can easily find it.
General Stuck
@The Golux:
Think of it more as a metaphor for galtian angst.
Violet
Discovered the ham bone from last Christmas’s ham is still in my freezer. Is it okay to use at this point or has it been there too long? Any suggestions for using it? Some kind of soup, I’d guess.
normal liberal
@Violet: Was the bone well wrapped? If so, and if it smells okay and isn’t freezer burned, I would probably toss it into a soup pot.
But frankly, you should probably toss it, period. It may not add much flavor after a year in the freezer.
General Stuck
@Mnemosyne:
The matter of twinkie Americana runs deeper than Limbaugh’s bmi.
What are we gonna tell the alien visitors when they ask for a twinkie? Personally, I can’t stand twinkies, but am a hard core addict for Little Debbie fudge brownies, of which I hope to take the high road of healthy substitutes when the last LB udge brownie slips into oblivion.
Chris
@Mandalay:
“And what would actually end up happening is we’d all agree that everyone needs to calm the fuck down because it’s all the woman’s fault and the issue can be settled to all our satisfactions by blaming and killing her. She can be shot and stoned, for maximum Fairness and Balance.”
Chris
@NonyNony:
Dinesh D’Souza actually came out and said pretty much this – that they hated us because of our sinful culture and that we could defuse a lot of our problems by showing them red-state America so they’d understand that not all of us were faggots and feminists.
Very oddly, he was not tarred, feathered and accused of preaching surrender and appeasement. Very oddly indeed.
Yutsano
@Violet: Should be fine from a safety standpoint. As far as flavour, that puppy’s probably long gone.
Stroganoff for dinner. Just trying to decide if I want to make a pot of rice for it or use the remnants of the rigatoni box.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us? (formerly MarkJ)
@Violet: If it’s been frozen the whole time it won’t make you sick. If it got badly freezer burned that might effect the flavor. As for what to do with it a ham bone is great in split pea soup.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
I’m off to the hockey game in about a half hour.
Not to be entirely self-centered here, but the problem I have with the Rolling Jubilee is the standard moral hazard one. It rewards only the people who got in trouble after taking on a lot of debt. It does nothing for those of us who are in lots of trouble without the debt. I’ve been unemployed for eight years. I’m running out of money. However, I have no distressed debt that could be bought up because I never took on very much debt in the first place. This could all lead to my losing my home, but it will never produce cheap debt because I never have gone underwater.
The advantage of buying up medical debt is that it greatly reduces the moral hazard. But if they start buying up cheap mortgage and credit card debt and forgiving it, I will be kind of pissed off about the selection of individuals they feel determined to help out.
Felonius Monk
@Violet: If it looks okay, simmer in water for a few hours. If it smells nice and and tastes a little hammy, then add split peas, onions, carrots and celery for a nice pot of split pea soup. Yum!
Southern Beale
I am horrified that Thanksgiving is next week. It’s too fucking soon.
I have a writer’s group meeting tomorrow, so I’ll be polishing my submission. Sunday we may hit a movie or I dunno, wash cars or something. It’s supposed to be mid-60s and sunny.
Nothing exciting.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Ryan S.: Squee!
Southern Beale
Weekends are boring without hockey. We hadn’t planned on anything because we had planned on hockey. And then … sigh … well, you know.
trollhattan
@rlrr:
Which, in turn, is very good news for John McCain, also, too.
Matthew Reid Krell
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
And of course, the BAPCPA means that you can’t even use the normal method of getting protected from your creditors to save your home.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Southern Beale: You could always sign up for Gophers All Access. It includes broadcasts of all home women’s hockey games and whatever away games have a video feed from the hosts.
Redshift
@General Stuck: That’s some pretty amazing word salad there. I guess Democrats=unions, since that’s the only way “Democrats” compromising is in any way related to the situation, and it gives him a hook for telling his audience that the problem in Congress is that the Democrats won’t compromise.
Gadsden Flag Burner
I wish they had Occupied the voting booth instead of Wall Street.
roc
@Hillary Rettig:
bearded geeks for Obama
Redshift
I’m going to an election celebration for my local team this evening, followed by seeing Craig Ferguson, and then on Sunday there’s a celebration for my even-more-local election team, and Sunday night a dinner for my brother’s birthday. Whew!
Bubblegum Tate
@j:
Oh god, Greenwich McMansions. I’m really glad I got out of Fairfield County when I did, because it just makes me feel more and more stabby.
R-Jud
@Southern Beale:
It can’t come soon enough for me. We are flying to PA on Tuesday. After the Bean’s autism diagnosis and various other forms of sturm und drang I really want my Mom.
I need to find a group or something. I’ve had one too many rejection letters lately, which all say “this is really strong and amazing, but…”. I am feeling very burned out.
Yutsano
@Southern Beale: Gary Bettman needs to be drawn and quartered. Period.
dr. bloor
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): I think the last thing you need to worry about is Jubilee being so successful they eradicate medical and college debt and move on to mortgage debt. Think “Digging to China.”
Bubblegum Tate
@Chris:
Wasn’t that little D’Souza screed the origin of the phrase “the decadent left”? I believe the term “coastal enclaves” figured prominently in it as well.
JohnK
I will be trying to unremember Betty Crackers last post. The image of that steak circling the toilet rim won’t die. Halpmesweetjebus!
Roger Moore
@Ryan S.:
Squeeeee!
Violet
Thanks to everyone for the thoughts on whether or not the ham bone is still usable and what to do with it.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Southern Beale:
You’re horrified? Just imagine how the turkeys feel about it.
sacrablue
Oh happy day! It’s not yet Thanksgiving, but Dan Lungren conceded. Party on, CA-07 dudes!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Suffern ACE:
I guess that killing irony wasn’t enough; we now seem to have Zombie Irony.
Southern Beale
@R-Jud:
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Autism sucks. But I have friends with autistic kids who tell me there are amazing therapies now. Good luck.
Chris
@Bubblegum Tate:
Here’s the text: http://www.cfnp.org/page.aspx?pid=254.
Can’t imagine that the word “decadent left” wasn’t around for decades before D’Souza, though.
WereBear
@Ryan S.: Thank you! Squeeing has commenced…
Also, anyone with elderly pets, elderly parents, or elderly joints might be interested in my latest article:
My cat and I took gelatin for arthritis
Violet
@R-Jud: Sorry about the autism diagnosis. Wanted to mention that the daughter of some friends was misdiagnosed with autism, only to be later–and correctly–diagnosed with celiac and additional severe food allergies. Changing her diet changed her personality. It was kind of amazing to watch. Don’t know if your little one has been tested for food allergies, but it might be worth looking into just to be sure there isn’t something that might also help, even if the autism diagnosis is correct.
trollhattan
While he doesn’t manage to hate on Blenderella’s Thermomix, this hater’s guide to the Williams-Sonoma catalog is too good to miss.
http://deadspin.com/5959212/the-haters-guide-to-the-williams+sonoma-catalog
BTW, if you google “mcmegan’s blender” the first three results are TBogg and the next four are BJ. Fine company, that.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Sending good thoughts your way. We are still raising an autistic child and we will be until… There are unforeseen gifts in that sea of frustration.
NotMax
Gee, guess I’m a member of a minority group*.
Have never eaten a Twinkie.
Have never been offered a Twinkie.
Have never had the desire for or contemplated purchasing a Twinkie.
Have never even seen a Twinkie in the larder in any housing situation I’ve lived in.
Wouldn’t be able to correctly spot the Twinkie on a platter of mixed baked goods.
*Now where’s my Free Stuff?
R-Jud
@Southern Beale: Thanks. We’re engaging with the practical aspects as much as possible, trying to get her ready for starting school next year. It’s just that she’s at a point where people are starting to notice she’s different– and starting to write her off. It’s tough.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
This is my concern: Future generations watching “Wall-E” will fail to understand in what the cockroach is living. And this makes me sad.
NotMax
So, now that Black Friday has oozed its way back into Thanksgiving day and night, we of course need a new shorthand.
My #1 choice would be Fuligin Thursday, but afraid the reference is too obscure to stick.
Rapacious Thursday?
Ohio Mom
@R-Jud: Another autism parent here. Yes, the Dx is a great shock but things do get better. Improvement comes in jigs and jags but it does come.
The best advice I got as a newbie was to go to support groups because the other parents will be your best resource. We are all paying forward the help we got when we first started out. I also found autism parent memoirs (Susan Senator, Charles Hart and others) very reassuring and inspiring.
Two other bits of advice: Choose your school district carefully (you might have to move) and go see a disability law attorney NOW. You will have to get your and your kid’s finances in order to for your kid to receive any government help he may be eligible for. Maybe your kid will make such great strides that sort of help won’t be needed but it’s best to hedge your bets.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Violet
@NotMax: Greed Thursday: Thanksgreeday.
ruemara
I will probably be checking that Rolling Jubilee out, since I now have a few hundred in shiny medical debt. And I still need an oil change. I’m debating selling my beater that I need for work and just walking if my job goes past the local transit times. I can deal, if I can get well again. Poverty really isn’t for the faint of heart. Throw in chronic stuff and it starts to take on an epic quality usually reserved for long form bad poetry. Speaking of bad poetry, I found the notes and pieces I had written for my book, so it looks like part of the holiday will be writing a new article, illustrating some of the poems and crafting some items that maybe I can sell somehow or give for holiday gifts.
@R-Jud: Maybe the BJers Writing Group, a’la gmail?
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
I did find one really good deal at Williams Sonoma; for the McMegans of the world, they have the cheapest Pink Himalayan Salt I’ve seen anywhere. They sell an 11 pound block for $29, which is dead cheap compared to what I’ve seen even in the bulk bin. They sell it as a plate, but you could just break chunks off it and put them in your salt grinder if you like the stuff.
pseudonymous in nc
Just wanted to say that if you haven’t encountered Paul Ford’s work before — he was the web guy at Harper’s for a while, but he’s been writing at ftrain.com for a long time — you should spend some time there.
fuckwit
This is how you build a movement.
This is how you win hearts and minds.
Protesting corrupt institutions to try to get them to take care of people, not so effective.
Directly helping people, very effective, and, much faster and more efficient too.
If the corporations won’t do it, and the corporate-owned government won’t do it, then we the people can do it.
Occupy definitely changed the national debate over the last year. Look at how many progressives we’ve elected this year! And how much more awareness of, and concern about, income inequality in our politicians. I credit Occupy with that.
Occupy is the most important social movement we’ve seen since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
gogol's wife
@Ryan S.:
Why is it that I could watch that thing for hours when I have two perfectly good live cats right here in the house with me?
General Stuck
@fuckwit:
I think what they did was put a face on the huge disparity of income distribution in this country at present. A lot of rank and file middle class people sense there is something very wrong, and along came a bunch of young people with a simple message of fairness and were willing to put their bodies on the line. It was a big factor and dovetailed into Obama’s launching a populist campaign with the same message.
Joshua
A bunch of hippies in tents deliver a more scalable, reliable infrastructure than the the best consultants the Romney campaign could buy. There’s a lesson in there.
Gwangung
Both, please?
Nutella
I’m glad to see the MSM is now calling in recognized authorities on adultery to give expert commentary. I’m sure they’ll be asking questions about the Welchs’ and Gingrichs’ preferred methods of sneaking around, concealing hanky-panky from coworkers, best no-tell motels, how to hide credit card charges from a suspicious spouse, etc. Judging from the coverage of the Petraeus/Broadwell case these details are things the public really wants and needs to know.
PurpleGirl
@Ryan S.: I have to open that in its own window so I can leave it on for a while. Squee is right….
PurpleGirl
@Mandalay: Compromise. Use both methods: Have Paula’s mom shoot him and then bury him in the ground up to his neck and drop a rock on his head (current stoning method in parts of the ME).
PurpleGirl
@R-Jud: Bean’s problem… {{{Hug}}}
Hope you have good time in PA with your family.
Scuffletuffle
@Ryan S.: sleepy squeebugs iz hidin
muddy
@Scuffletuffle: I wish there were an alarm bell, every time I look they are sleeping. Stupid babies.
WereBear
@muddy: Won’t be long, they are up again (long time baby cat foster parent.)
PurpleGirl
@Scuffletuffle: That’s why I opened it in a separate window.
Downpuppy
Bloomberg did a nice little article today about administrative waste at Purdue (mostly) & I added pictures.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Just finished hanging the flatscreen on an extending, tiltable, more-adjustments-than-you’ll-ever-need wall mount.
The instructions mentioned that two people were needed at various steps in the installation. “Ha,” thought I, “they’ve never seen the like of me!”
It was only slightly more difficult than shoving a wet noodle all the way up a wildcat’s ass.
Being an Old Guy means that you read the instructions before you ignore them.
Mnemosyne
@Violet:
I’ve read before that autism and food sensitivities tend to go together and figuring out which foods the kid has a problem with can really help them behave better.
As someone with lactose intolerance, it made perfect sense to me — I can only imagine how frustrating it would be if you were a kid with autism who was having stomach pains from the food you were eating but couldn’t get that message across to your parents, who could only see that you were misbehaving and wouldn’t stop.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
If you do have to sell your car, seriously consider using some of the cash to get a bicycle with a rack. Depending on where you are, you may be able to get a decent one on Craigslist or try a local bike shop and see if they have any used models. That way, you would be able to haul more cargo and go further distances than you could if you were solely on foot.
(Yes, I’ve become one of those annoying bike evangelist people. I blame Grant Petersen, even though I don’t always agree with him.)
General Stuck
@R-Jud:
My mom, RIP, dedicated her life to teaching special needs kids, mostly autistic, at one of the county grade schools. Sometimes I would stop by to pick her up from work and could see why she adored those children as they were sweet as could be. Just had, special needs.
Ohio Mom
@Mnemosyne: People on the autism spectrum do have a higher than average chance of developing various GI issues. You are correct in assuming that the resulting discomfort often results in “behaviors.” Gotta love that euphanism.
But the the opposite is also sometimes true, some people with autism are very insensitive to pain. My friend’s son had such an awful ear infection that his ear drum broke and he never complained.
Liberty60
@Corner Stone:
Yes, the news of the demise of Twinkies had that affect on me as well.
Ohio Mom
@R-Jud: Your second comment and my first must have crossed in the ether — I was referring to your kid as a “he” and I see from your blog she is a “she” with many good things going for her. My suggestion to choose a school system carefully probably doesn’t apply in Britain the way it does here in the US but I still urge you to find a group of autism parents for support.
Have a good Thanksgiving trip!
Rosie Outlook
@Corner Stone: Me too! I find late autumn conducive to contemplative prayer, though I’m not very good at it.
But then you can always go outside and contemplate shuffling through the leaves.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Tampa radio show has some fun with the media camping out at Jill Kelley’s house.
Violet
@Mnemosyne: In the case of my friends’ daughter, it really was a misdiagnosis and she had been in pain for most of her life. She was a completely different person once she got on the proper diet.
I have read that some people think food allergies are at the root of autism and that if just the right diet is found, the child will miraculously be “better”. I don’t think that’s the case for a lot of kids, but in the case of my friends’ daughter it sure was. But then, she was misdiagnosed.
I didn’t know that food allergies and autism went hand in hand, but since they do, any kid with developmental challenges might benefit from being tested so that if a change in diet is warranted, they can benefit from that as soon as possible.
ruemara
@Mnemosyne: I’m in bike town USA. I cannot ride a bike. Yeah, it’s that kind of life.
Schlemizel
@normal liberal:
Well, that at least explains the coincidence. I have no big problem with FDL – they are like family I can disagree & we can fight but as long as they want the same things I want we’re good. I’m OK with a wide range of liberal sites, unlike too many BJ’ers who seem more angered by the firebaggers and the obots then about goopers or their fellow travelers like Sully
normal liberal
@Schlemizel: I seem to have an affinity with dying threads,so you won’t see this, but with the shining exception of TBogg, I gave up on FDL after Jane demonstrated truly monumental stupidity in the last Lieberman race. Then she doubled down. There are days when the laments about the coastal elites resonate for me, even though their ranks include family and dear friends.
I live in a pretty red section of the happily reliably blue Illinois, and the firebagger whining makes it that much harder to persuade people to take a closer look at liberal policies. And the pool is small enough already, what with the phalanxes of wingnuts brandishing their guns and screaming about Agenda 21 and other nefarious assaults on their liberty.
Sammy
Click image. Too bad it is only a parody:
What if President Obama responded to those requesting the right to secede?
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/526339_433682393359972_1916233664_n.jpg
Bet $100 the the RWNJ will be posting this all over the intertubes as the truth.
bemused senior
@R-Jud: My daughter is a special ed pre-school teacher and has worked as an early interventionist for kids 18 mo. to 3 yrs. Great things come from intervention at this age. I have seen it vicariously in her students/cases. It’s hard on families, but keep optimistic. Sending good wishes and hope into the ether for your family.