My son saw this on Wikipedia and said “That looks like the future, there’s flying cars”.
How will we depict the future once we have them?
And I’m on lunch hour so I’ll only add my abbreviated version:
I was spanked, beaten with a belt, shoes, fists, the leg of a table, hangers, wooden spoons, spatulas and basically whatever else my mother had handy, well into my teens. I love my mother very much but I won’t say those beatings did not have an impact on me. Because of that, I have never, ever, ever struck my kids. Not even a small spanking. There are several reasons. 1) I don’t think any of those beatings I got ever fixed the problem, solved anything or made me rethink what I did wrong; 2) I just don’t believe that violence helps any situation and 3) There were many times in my children’s lives were I feared that if I started hitting them I would never stop. So I never started.
I honestly think the way I was raised had a direct impact on the choices I made as far as relationships later on in life, and had a very direct impact on my self esteem and the way I deal with certain situations.
My kids are 19 and 16. They are mentally healthy in those respects. And good kids who very rarely gave me any trouble.
Make of that what you will. I don’t have time to write out the correlations.
What she said.
Oh, the most beautiful, graceful, undulating, peaceful wave. I could look at this for hours. Stress, I can take it.
The picture attached is used to test the level of stress a person can handle.
The slower the picture moves, the better your ability of handling stress.
Criminals that were tested see it spinning around madly; however senior citizens and kids see it standing still. This image is not animated - it is perfectly still.
This proves I’m gay! That was the point of the test right?
This is what my lazy hounds do after I make them walk 4.5 miles in one go. I doubt they’ll move all day now.
Is there a Flickr group for dogs that look like their owner?
Thank you for the Turing tribute via PM Gordon Brown. I cried not just for Turing but that it took so long for this moment.
I couldn’t agree more; I’ll even risk a link to my real blog for Alan. We owe him so much and treated him so badly. His treatment is the reason I won’t do computing for the governement, well that and the fact they have never asked me.
I can recommend The Enigma to anyone who is interested in Alan and the work at Bletchley Park.
theme taken from the write one leaf tumbr
I didn’t so much answer this question incorrectly as not answer it in the correct manner, given the gravity of the question. This happened about eight years ago. We’ll call it The Absolutely Wrong Way to Discuss Sex With Your Small Child.
The day eventually comes when your child asks you THE question. How are babies made, mommy? It’s natural curiousity and, depending on the age of the child, you either sit down and have a frank discussion with them or you tell them that babies grow in the garden and the baby fairy picks them when they are ripe.
But when your child phrases the question in a different way, it throws you off and sends you on a trajectory path to that odd world of a kid’s brain.
My son - he was nine at the time - had just gotten out of the shower when he said he had a Very Important Question for me. At that age his Very Important Questions revolved around Derek Jeter’s batting stance or how CatDog goes to the bathroom. Not this time.
“Mom, what are my balls for? I’m not trying to be disgusting or anything, but what are they for?”
I normally phrase my responses to Very Important Questions carefully, but he threw me for a loop with this one. I didn’t have time to think of something that would answer his question in vague terms and put an end to the conversation at the same time.
I explained, in child like terms, about seeds and fertilization and babies.
My son is a realist. He stopped believing in Santa because no one could explain to him in scientific facts how reindeer could fly. He thinks along straight lines, and he needs proof and written explanations of how everything works. So there is no lying to him. Not even fibbing.
“So, how does the stuff a guy has down there get into the woman?”
“Ummm, the guy puts it in there.”
You have to understand, it was morning. We were trying to get out of the house to our respective schools and jobs. Morning mayhem plus Very Important Questions equals mommy getting into areas she didn’t intend to. And giving really bad answers.
The boy contemplated my answer for a minute. He tried to figure out in his own way what my answer meant. I recognized the look he gets when something clicks in his head. Then his face scrunched up in a look of appalled horror.
“IN HER MOUTH?? HE PUTS IT IN HER MOUTH??” The color drained from his face.
I stuttered. I stammered. I did not laugh. I forgot that my son, at 9, knew basically nothing about the human anatomy that did not involve his own little area that he was so fond of well, fondling.
I did my best to explain to him how the sperm gets into the woman.
His jaw dropped. His mouth hung open. He sat in stunned silence for a moment.
“No, really. Don’t make up stuff to me. Tell me the truth.”
“Really, DJ.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“It would have been better if you just said God made babies. I would have believed you.”I figured I scarred him for life. But I’m glad I cleared up the mouth issue. That could have caused problems for him later on in life.
Related question: What word to use with boys (4 and 7) for female genitalia? We tend to use willy and nuggets for the male parts, but my boys are curious creatures and we have yet to find something suitable. I feel “front bottom” may lead to issues in the future, and there is just something wrong about a four year old saying “vagina”.
Does putting a question mark at the end turn this into a question post?
I notice many of you Tumbl-peeps send each other postcards. Whilst I am far to lazy busy to do something like that, I thought you would be interested to know you are continuing a telecommunications tradition that stretches back nearly a century: QSL Cards.
“Amateur radio operators exchange QSL cards to confirm two-way radio contact between stations. Each card contains details about one or more contacts, the station and its operator.”
There are Flickr groups with some good examples.
The World Freerun Championships are live on BBC3 starting this Saturday. I assume they are broadcast internationally, but I can’t find any details.
There’s an announcement video, which is 7 minutes long, but has amazing clips of the competitors.
I’m having to sit this one out due to a bad neck and a complete absence of talent.
