Backroads

In 20 years, the shifting global population dynamics, where we have more retired folks and fewer kids, will stick it's polarizingly dire finger into just about every cultural issue we happen to be dealing with at the time.
Time to go watch Children of Men again, for a refresher course of what we'll be approaching. 
I expect this whole Tradwife stuff to become more and more mainstream over the next few decades, basically putting the traditional family structure and nuclear family back into cultural dominance.

My goodness, that stuff is good. 

Just_A_Girl and I toured the Cailler chocolate factory in Switzerland last year.  Apparently, when evaluating hoity-toity chocolate, one of the criteria is supposed to be the sound it makes when it breaks.

True dark chocolate tends to be very hard. I could see some of them being described as plastic-like. This is my personal favorite. Hard, bitter, and kinda chalky. They also have a coffee version that's absolutely fantastic.

I worked for a candy store for 5-6 years.  There are hundreds of types of chocolate, and dozens of "high-end".  Lots of combinations of dark/light, % butterfat, % cacao.  And yes, the final texture can change based on how it's melted/tempered/cooled.

Sincere question. I do not understand this statement. The State of Palestine is recognized by the UN, and has at least functionally been recognized even by Israel since at least 1994, arguably earlier. It comprises the West Bank (northwest shore of the Dead Sea and the land adjacent to it, including half of Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip (on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, between Israel and Egypt). How, then, are Palestinians stateless?

In case anyone wonders what happened in this case of long ago and far away: 30 days.
https://www.ksl.com/article/46611844/teen-to-serve-30-days-in-death-of-homeless-man

The word "tostada" refers to the tortilla that has been fried or "toasted."  It is traditional to call the "dish" after the base (be it corn or wheat).
So, the item above is correctly called a tostada.  But I'll point out that it is Americanized.  Mexicans tend not to deep fry a yellow tortilla like that.  And it never looks like that image above.  But as Mexico moves more toward modernization and factory produced foods, they have been coming to accept this.  But they still interject that it is not a "traditional" tostada.
Compare: When we take bread and turn it into semi-burnt stale bread (aka: toast) we usually refer to the bread product itself.  But we can put whatever we want to on it. And as long as it includes the toast, we still call the finished product "toast."
Similarly, some parts of Latin America will call the dish (pictured above) a tortilla.  No reference to toasting.  Not a taco.  No other modifiers.  The "dish" is called a tortilla.
Tortilla is the diminutive form of "torta" (meaning "cake").  While we have many different types of cakes in English, we also call the dessert used for birthdays and weddings a "cake".  But it includes layering, various additives (think pineapple upside-down cake) toppings, icing, etc.  But it is all cake.

I ran across this YouTube about BYU and thought it was interesting.  I grew up in Provo and personally knew several professors.  In high school I dated sever daughters of professors.  Professors were just other people to me.  I was never afraid to talk to a professor or even offer criticism.  I have also thought that (especially college) is about connections between both the professors and high achieving students.  To be honest, many of my connections over the years have gone off the rails.  And yet many remain.  Because of connections at school – it came naturally to establish connections at work and in some small way here on the forum.
I offer this video for those with a different attitude about education.
 
 
The Traveler

I’ve never had an incident personally but I’ve heard stories about parents being idiots at TKD tournaments.

An instructor told me once that she had a parent charge onto the mat to play tough guy but when all three referees (all in shape second degree or above black belts) banded together and just stood there,  the parent decided now wasn’t the best time to be macho. 

One of these days I should relate to you the saga of Ms. PhD living in government housing with her "this is never how I would allow one of my employees to do a 2nd grade math concept!"

Ooh, I definitely see mob mentality happening. I believe that the minor years are a nice time to, if one must, make all the mistakes without major consequences. But recordings could affect it.

Just once you should barge into their workplace and lecture them on how to do their job. 😉 

Ooh, this is a good question.
Most of the ones I'd be likely to complain and vent about are the ones I view to have chips on their shoulders. Oh, you crazies who expect too much from the opposite camp.
But I also think there's a lot of legitimate philosophical differences in how to approach school where people are determined to get their views heard. People are frustrated.
 

An all-time favorite poster. This should be the official symbol of public education.

I think that's something kids would adjust to.
The question is if we are okay with them being watched Big Brother style.

In fairness, a good number of teachers in my circle (colleagues plus others) tend to blame parents for a lot of youth issues even as parents blame teachers when there's likely destructive forces outside either realm.

In fairness, a good number of teachers in my circle (colleagues plus others) tend to blame parents for a lot of youth issues even as parents blame teachers when there's likely destructive forces outside either realm.

Ooh, I definitely see mob mentality happening. I believe that the minor years are a nice time to, if one must, make all the mistakes without major consequences. But recordings could affect it.

I think that's something kids would adjust to.
The question is if we are okay with them being watched Big Brother style.

These are my biggest takeaways from the bill text.

The IHRA defines antisemitism as follows:

The IHRA goes on to list several examples of antisemitism under this definition. Link

There's also this section in the bill text. 3b in particular seems very relevant.

My gut reactions:
1. I trust MTG's constitutional expertise less than I trust my cat with an unsupervised plate of bacon. And I certainly wouldn't hold her up as a voice against antisemitism
2. The language in the bill doesn't seem to leave any room for prosecuting people who believe that biblical jews were responsible for the death of Christ. It seems pretty clear that the intent of the text is to prevent modern Jews from being blamed, stigmatized, and persecuted for something that happened 2000 years ago, and I see nothing wrong with that. No one blames modern Catholics for the Inquisition, or modern Mongolians for the ancient conquest and general terrorizing of their Asian neighbors, Those are things that we learn about in history class without an expectation that we will hate Catholics and Mongolians for it. I think there's plenty of room to treat the crucifixion of Christ in a similar fashion.

♫ I'll tell you what I'd do: I'd throw away the cars and the bars and the war, and I'd seek to establish normal marital intimacy with you.

I'm okay with this, and even with raising teacher pay significantly, as long as regular principles of meritocracy are practiced. In other words, bad teachers are summarily and unapologetically booted. This will never, ever, ever happen in government-run schools with NEA-unionized teachers.

I realize that people want to encourage people to behave better by having cameras watching their every move.  There is wisdom in this.  But I see an unexpected consequence.
Children even early teens still don't have any idea about life. They're in the learning stages.  And while there need to be consequences for actions, I believe that the mob mentality that is rampant in this era (and, I'm sure many other periods in history) would want their pound of flesh if some stupid kid simply did something that was simply stupid.  And that kid would pay for the rest of his life for doing something stupid that stupid kids do, but often grow out of.

I was introduced to classical music by Saturday morning cartoons (particularly Buggs Bunny).  But really got into them due to sports (olympic theme, etc).
Every time I hear Aaron Copeland’s fanfare for the common man I get excited.  -  Kinda like Pavlov’s dogs.

I'm only 2 years away from starting the first one as a way of coping with the second.