I just discovered that my former BFF is at this moment staying at the same hotel in Punta Cana where I’m going next week. Of all the all-inclusive hotels in the world, we go and choose the same one! Can you believe that?

We might not be in touch more than twice a year but we still think the same.

A brilliant article on how overprotective hysterical parents damage their children: “In addition to denying them rich, meaningful relationships as well as a sense of independence and self-worth among other things, our hysteria and unfounded fears mean we are actually putting our children in harm’s way. Even though children have never been safer, child abduction and pedophilia fear mongering have reached such a state that we are endangering our children precisely because we are being too careful.”

What is there to celebrate on Canada Day?

A historian attempts to explain that the Apartheid wasn’t that bad.

A doctor’s license is taken away for not forcing a 10-year-old girl to have her rapist’s baby. The so-called pro-lifers are the most disgusting, vile creatures ever. They have no heart, no brain, no human entrails.

“To credit sexual violence with the creation of heroes robs them of their agency. And, worse yet, it gives the credit to rapists.” Hear, hear! The “she was raped and that made her turn into a hero” trope is very offensive to victims of sexual violence.

You go, Argentina! “Argentina’s president personally delivered the nation’s first identity cards on Monday to people who legally switched their genders under a law that sets a global precedent. President Cristina Fernandez said she’s proud of setting a new global standard with the gender identity law, which overwhelmingly passed congress, enabling anyone to change their gender without first having to win approval from judges or doctors.”

That’s not the only reason to feel proud of Argentina today. Here is another major one.

A link for my Russian-speaking readers. Schools in Russia teach that Stalin was a great leader and here are the results of that system of teaching history. How fast they forget, eh?

A colleague travels outside of the US and realizes that something is seriously wrong with the American food.

“Researchers examined data from more than 34,000 adults and found that being spanked significantly increased the risk of developing mental health issues as adults. According to their results, corporal punishment is associated with mood disorders, including depression and anxiety, as well as personality disorders and alcohol and drug abuse. They estimate that as much as 7 percent of adult mental illness may be attributable to childhood physical punishment, including slapping, shoving, grabbing, and hitting. The study reports that spanking ups the risk of major depression by 41 percent, alcohol and drug abuse by 59 percent, and mania by 93 percent, among other findings.” I especially like this coy language of “spanking.” Beating is the right term. Beating children who are completely dependent on you and can’t respond. And if you do that for whatever reason, you are a horrible, vile creature.

Roasted red pepper pasta recipe. I haven’t tried it yet but it looks beautiful.

“Every article I’ve read on the student loan debate seems to be missing one very crucial, simple way to completely eliminate student loan debt.  It’s so painfully obvious that it flabbergasts me that no one, I mean no one, has pointed this out. Many ideas are put forward. Lower tuition. Let students discharge their student loans in bankruptcy.  Offer more Pell Grants, don’t cut them. Limit the amount of aid that goes to for-profit colleges. Push for more disclosure of student loans and the cost of college. None of those are the best solution to this problem. The real answer is simple and unpopular. It lies not with Congress, or the president, or the colleges and universities, but with the students. Students have to stop borrowing money to pay for college.”

Traveling makes you smart and not traveling makes you reactionary and stupid: “Lack of experience with the world seems to track pretty closely with strong opinions about how to deal with the rest of the world. It also tracks with socially reactionary views.”

The concept of software training is dead. Yay!

The hypocrisy of Texas Republicans. I know that nobody is surprised but the more we hear about this, the better.

““Oh but men and women are different.” And this is the crux of it. Stereotypes and the belief in differences between men and women. This is the pivot of sexism; and the nut and bolt that holds it all in place.”

“As men who wish to be called men, you have no role in the abortion debate other than to unquestioningly support women in whatever choice they might choose to make. ” That’s all anybody needs to say about abortion. I’d never have any sort of a relationship with a man who took a position different from this one.

“The goal of a parent who homeschools for religious reasons is not simply raising competent, happy adults but rather training children into adults who fit a specific mold and hold a certain set of beliefs. There really is a difference between “raising” children and “training” them. Thus those who homeschool for religious reasons are going for a very specific outcome. That generally means starting by training children to be obedient, quiet, respectful, etc, and that training generally takes place using the threat of punishment for disobedience. And there is also the fact that these parents believe that the Bible commands parents to spank their children.”

The children who are “spanked” (which is a hypocritical term for beating) become mentally damaged, have lower IQs, a higher incidence of mental disorders, etc. Those who refuse to believe this should get beaten, sorry, “spanked” at least once a day by somebody three times bigger than they are.

People in this puritanical culture are so ignorant about sexuality that it’s scary: “Sex is the only one of the basic drives that a person can go without for a whole lifetime and not die.” Erm, how would this unintelligent creature know that since nobody can possible arrange things in such a way as to go through life without sexual release? You can impose celibacy on yourself, yet the body will find sexual release in dreams. The only way to avoid that is never to sleep, and how possible is that? Or does this strange person fail to understand that a sexual release one experiences alone is still sex?

Some people know how to sell their science to the general public. Now we need something like this in Hispanic Studies and we are set for the next few decades, at least.

The WordPress app needs to get with the program. It keeps changing “Google ” to “tootle.” Has anybody even heard such a word?

And it changes “blog ” to “blot. ” What sense does that make in a blogging app?