It looks like we all should be wearing masks for a while, which isn’t anyone’s idea of a rollicking good time, so here’s my thinking about how to make them as unobjectionable as possible.
Category: Random advice
Random bits of advice I feel compelled to share with the world
An idealistic plan for elementary schools
So here is my idealistic plan for elementary schools: Forget exact grades, for the moment (it’s always seemed weird to me to stick kids together just because they’re the same
This world is ruining my reading
I’m so tired lately. A lot of people have been saying they’re tired. It’s hard to get up every day and read about what horrible new thing has made “normal”
On touring high schools
Because my child is rather unbelievably already in grade 8, in the past couple of months we’ve seen, I think, twelve high schools, both public and private. The tours (and
Cargo bike, 8 months on
So back in March we bought a cargo bike. We’d set out intending to buy a tandem, but on the test ride it turned out that I hated the tandem
2012
And so — 2012. As usual Neil Gaiman has the best wish, which has managed to condense thoughts that took me three pages to write for my niece into a
Libations, election, for the watching of, 2011 version
(H/t to the lovely Melle for finding the photo) Again we ponder the eternal question of what to drink while awaiting election results. Last time around we went with Irish
‘Tis the season for Expert Curmudgeons again
In previous years we’ve had warnings about Santa’s fatness setting a bad example and how we should all abjure cookies and eggnog and subsist on carrot sticks and water at
It Gets Better
I’ve long had a lot of time for Dan Savage, low-bullshit un-shockable sex columnist and general sensible guy, but his latest project is really something I’d like everyone under the
An encouragement: bike commuting
In honour of Bike Month, here’s how to die on a bicycle: Fall under the rear wheels of a large vehicle (bus, dump truck, transport truck, etc.) which is turning
Choose Privacy Week
(h/t to BoingBoing) Lovely video from the American Library Association about privacy, what it means to people, why we should worry about it, various (mostly American) legal issues, and why
Facebook and information control
In the past week or so there’s been much fuss about several privacy-reducing changes to Facebook and how they are causing people to lose control of their information. The changes
Some updated H1N1 math
The CDC in the US have come out with some interesting new numbers on H1N1. They now estimate that 22,000,000 US residents have contracted H1N1. Of those, 98,000 have been
Lest we forget
(User Friendly)
Some H1N1 math
In which I play with some conservative estimates and conclude GET THE SHOT.
Desperately sad. Easily avoided.
I have to say something about this desperately sad story, in which two children, non-swimmers both, drowned and died along with their mother, also a non-swimmer, who had been supervising
Swine flu — officially a pandemic
I posted about swine flu a while back, before we really knew anything. Since the WHO just moved to stage 6 and declared it a pandemic, causing my RSS feeds
On the flu and the choice to panic (or not)
I’ve been doing my best to restrain my usual cynicism about the hysterical media coverage of health issues in the case of the swine flu, as until quite recently there
Advice for idle parenting
The Idle Parent Children actually have an inbuilt self-protective sense that we destroy by over-cosseting. They become independent not so much by careful training but in part simply as a
Wisdom
Today I have been playing with my new toy, which is a birthday present from D & M: one of the teeny-weeny little iPod Shuffles. It is perfect for solving