Merry Christmas!

By the by… If anyone knows a link to a truly clear and crisp explanation of what's going on in Tenet, or you've figured it out yourself, drop us a line here.

Let's hear your winter holiday traditions!

https://www.foxnews.com/us/university-of-michigans-it-department-suggests-calls-terms-like-picnic-and-brown-bag-offensive

This quote comes from a little down thread.

After a few moments, the CEO spoke, “Put that mop away, you’re coming with us”

https://twitter.com/ankithharathi/status/1341193051184611331

Here's an example of what I meant when I said, in effect, that the trouble with being a parent with common sense is that even that is vulnerable to erosion, when you're surrounded by parents who DON'T have common sense - and who certainly can't help you after you've lost your compass.

In other words, plenty of people - like this columnist - can now make a living by teaching that which used to be known by any adult who finished high school.

https://www.djournal.com/lifestyle/living/john-rosemond-use-leverage-to-curb-teen-daughters-defiance/article_860ed27d-77cb-51e1-9ceb-775a8b724633.html

Q: Our 14-year-old daughter desperately wants to begin wearing makeup, which all, and I mean all, of her classmates are allowed to do. We have held off not only because of our beliefs but also because of her immaturity. Up until recently, for example, she has continued to throw magnificent tantrums when she doesn’t get her way. We decided to use the makeup issue as a bribe of sorts and told her that if she didn’t throw a tantrum between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day that we would begin letting her wear makeup. She stopped throwing tantrums. Bam! Just like that, after 14 years. Now, however, she has replaced tantrums with defiance. We will ask her to do something and she will tell us, flat out, “No.” What can we do now? We’ve already used makeup as an incentive. Furthermore, none of her friends are allowed to socialize for the duration of the pandemic, so taking away social privileges is a non-starter. We’re in a dilemma.

A: This is easy, so easy in fact that I am typing this answer with both hands tied behind my back...

(snip)

Only a guy would think that parents can stop a girl from wearing make up. She's just gonna buy some and wear it anyhow. It is not good leverage.

Just wait until someone leaks that the creator of Sci-Hub said that there are only two genders. The repository will be blacklisted from every single server in the whole world.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Makeup is fine. Specially these days that everyone's trying to do the I don't need makeup to look pretty look instead of the cyberpunk neon prostitute style of the 1980s.

Those "learning pods" have some downsides ...

Like many families, Ms. Brady of Oakland thought a pod would make her life easier. Instead, she had to create a limited liability company, manage payroll, develop a curriculum and clean up after six children. A few months after the pod got rolling, she began to worry about what and how the children were learning, so the group hired a consultant to help. “It’s kind of exhausting,” Ms. Brady said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/style/learning-pods-pros-and-cons.html

Only a guy would think that parents can stop a girl from wearing make up. She's just gonna buy some and wear it anyhow.
____________________________

Since the pandemic is still on, chances are they can supervise her a lot more closely than they normally could. That's why it's "easy."

If she's not leaving the house at all, then yeah. But if she does...

Well do I remember wearing a slutty outfit under my clothes...

I just think they are setting themselves up for more defiance and the like if they ban makeup, which they won't be able to control if she's out of site.

Better to start teaching her about makeup, what's appropriate for different situations, when to wear a natural look, when to just wear lipgloss, what to wear to grandmas,what to wear to a school dance, and general skin care routine if she's into all that.

If she isn't into all that and wants to go barefaced hippy well great, but 14 is old enough to start learning about it.

As for her defiance issues and tantrums I think it's a bigger problem with communication and the like and the underlying issue is not going to be solved by make-up.

And, if she were just going to defy them anyway, she would have never TALKED to them about it. She would have simply smuggled some to school, kept it in her locker, and counted on her friends not to rat or to post too many online pictures. Hence, his confidence that this is a relatively easy discipline problem.

Even an average four-year-old has figured out, after a year or two of hearing "no" several times a day, that it's "better to ask forgiveness than permission."

(The trouble with using "positive distractions" instead of saying "no" is that those stop working a lot sooner than many modern parents want to admit. Certainly they stop working by the time the kid is ready for kindergarten.)