NeuroTypical

I figure this is more companies recognizing and following trends, than it is trying to change anything. Another way to look at it - if you're upset about this one, you are about 10 years late to the party. That's when the "pink and blue" toy aisles in toy stores started to go away. With the ever-increasing number of nontraditional/part/divorced/etc families since the turn of the century, toy companies have refreshed things so they stay relevant to their target audiences. Anyone wanting justification in their worry can look through the comments on the tweet. Anyone watching Star Trek Discovery? The big news is a nonbinary actor playing a nonbinary character who uses they/them pronouns, carrying on a relationship with a transgender ghost.

I'm not smart, and I haven't really read much on the topic, and what I do read is full of economists disagreeing with each other. That said: Isn't relying on inflation a big part of the reasoning behind debt and deficits? Meaning, as long as we've got 2-3% inflation and an economy that slightly outperforms it, then the eternally growing pile of debt is losing value. In the '80's, we agonized and forecasted doom over our billions, and the first trillion-dollar budget was passed. In the decades that followed, nobody cares about millions any more, a billion here and a billion there doesn't raise eyebrows, the trillions are worrying folks now. So, as long as we keep inflation going AND the economy outpacing it, today's trillions of debt get smaller and smaller in real-world value. You have to look at federal debt as a % of GDP, not gasp at the word "trillions". That paints a different picture - still concerning, but not without precident: One would also think a good 2020 chart showing debt in inflation-adjusted numbers would be useful, but I can't find one that isn't 5+ years old.

Some anecdotes: - My buddy owns a landscaping business. He was telling me he got paycheck protection loans last year. The deal was those loans would be forgiven as long as there were no layoffs/firings. As the sole employee of his business, he didn't fire himself, and his loans were forgiven. - My ward had people just funnel their stimulus money straight to the church. One little old lady was quite upset she got one in the first place, and didn't even want to touch the thing out of fear that the govt would consider that income, and take away her social security. Another person wanted to make a big political statement about what they were doing with the government "funny money". - My family is hardly rich, but we didn't want the stimulus and don't need it. The first round funded one kid's high school graduation celebrations. The second round is sitting in the bank waiting for someone to come up with something to spend it on. If we get the third round currently being negotiated, we'll probably do home improvements. We'll take a little and spread it around some local small businesses.

It's been a while since my college macroeconomics class, there seemed to be two schools of thought on the impacts and wisdom of increasing the money supply. I figure the battle hasn't been won yet, because I'm hardly alone in being scared silly at stuff like this:

This event really brings home the importance of stuff like this: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/all-is-safely-gathered-in-family-home-storage/family-home-storage?lang=eng

Sorry, I get the confused and sad emojis mixed up. Sorry to hear about your water damage, glad you're doing ok.

In 3 Sundays, I am expecting to hear at least one testimony given that mentions Rush Limbaugh by name. Anyone else, or is that just something to expect from my ward of retired former military quite-right folks?

I didn't have to work that hard.

I keep hearing that criticism (among others being heaped on him right now), but I'm not sure it's true. I've listened to him off and on since the late '80's, and what I heard, was him downplaying the notion that "we have to give up things we want in order to be as healthy and long-lived as possible". He loathed government intrusion into our lives, and pointed out how this or that study on 2ndhand smoke or sugar intake would be used by folks to justify legislation over our lives. And demonize people who thought differently.

Glad you're doing ok - thanks for checking in. I hate to ask how your garden is doing...

Glad you folks are ok - stay safe! When the US weather map looks like a 7-11 microwaved burrito, you know something's up.

I can relate. My wife and I both come from upbringings that had no small amount of toxic dysfunction in it. Between our two families, we've got stuff like suicide, PTSD, drug abuse ending lives early, child neglect, a convicted felon, and multigenerational child abuse. We both bear scars, and there are broken parts of us both that simply won't be fixed during our mortal probation. I came up with the name "Broken Cycle Ranch" for our home, and both of us have bent over backwards to ensure that our kids aren't touched by the nonsense that touched us. I think we're doing ok - a few months ago my teenager accused us of abuse because we turned off her internet until she did her homework. 🤣 Yes indeed, when I hear stories about the "lost and the least" of us, it's pretty easy to think "there but for the grace of God go I". Charity without judgment is easier for me than the next person over. (And now y'all know why my username is a hard won title.)

I've been a ward finance clerk for three bishops now. I've seen endless blessings flow through the fast offerings program. There are handfuls of stories where a bishop has acted as broker, someone wanted to donate a car, bishop knows someone who needs a car, stuff like that. It is great to watch the blessings of service reach both sides of the equasion. I also have a small handful of experiences where, oh, let's say, people have struggled with behaviors and attitudes that have prevented them from experiencing the full load of blessings. Or perhaps they're upset at a perceived lack of earned blessings. Sometimes they get ticked off because the bishop and ward doesn't jump to do them the service they feel they deserve. I've seen one example of fraudulent abuse of fast offerings, by a family of professional bilkers who are experts in appearing poor and needy and desperate. The bishop found them out, and let them know that while the invitation to partake in the church's spiritual blessings was still open to them, they would no longer be able to avail themselves of the temporal ones. @Backroads, don't give up on humanity, just because you've found a place where scammers congregate. The scriptures seem pretty firm on things, talking about how if you judge the beggar and use that judgment to not help, then you are sinning. Just keep in mind on what helps people, and what doesn't. Letting scammers scam, isn't charity and doesn't help. We're supposed to be more than harmless as doves, we're also supposed to be wise as serpents. And serpents don't buy sob stories from grifters who are lying to get gain. If there's ever any doubt, you can offer to take someone to church, and talk to them about our fast offerings program, and what they need to do to get help from the bishop. And should they disappear right in front of your eyes and move on to more lucrative pastures, try to genuinely love them enough to be sad for their choice.

In other news, I got a shingles shot and flu shot last week. That night, I got the chills. And the next day, I had the sweats. Normal mild reactions to a vaccine. Since I'm part of a phase 3 research program, I have to report all changes in my health periodically. I notified the app last week, and I'll notify the clinic gathering the research in the next week or two when they call me for the routine questions. And since there are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of us in various studies, reporting data across the country, I'm sure my story is hardly unique. Our data will be entered in various databases, probably into the VAERS database too. Where people who lack some critical understandings of how things work, will be able to look through VAERS and claim "People who get the COVID vaccine, can get spontaneous chills and sweats 6 months after their injection!" (See, I got the COVID shot in August, and now it's Feb, so that's around 6 months.) Because they don't understand how things work. That's why they'll be able to make a claim like that. They will go to VAERS, filter on people who have been vaccinated for COVID, and note the symptoms and timeframe. And because they're ignorant in some basic understanding on how the data works, they'll assume my chills and sweats from the shingles shot, actually came from my COVID shot. They will be wrong, but there you go.

Indeed. You can find some of them here: https://www.fairmormon.org/testimonies/scholars More than a few Ph.D's in that list.