My sister wanted to discuss the issue of when it makes sense to give a child a cell phone. I passed on the question to N.

“Not before he learns to talk,” N said reasonably. “It wouldn’t make sense to give it to him before.”

Scientists are special.

I often get comments from very weird individuals who write things like:

I have never read anything feminist’s has written that I would consider wise, logical, pertinent, reasonable, or scientific. Its statement that it is known for its sound judgment, unerring foresight, and sagacious adaptation of means to ends is no exception. What’s more, it makes a lot of exaggerated claims. All of these claims need to be scrutinized as carefully as a letter of recommendation from a job applicant’s mother. Consider, for example, feminist’s’s claim that everything is happy and fine and good.

These comments are very long, very convoluted, and very unhealthy. Should I let some of them through? Will they entertain? Or am I right in discarding them as garbage? Usually, I simply delete them but things like “feminist’s’s“ seem like something that should be preserved for posterity.

This is how it always ends up being, people:

And Ted had kind of had it. Here he was, he said while coming and going from the kitchen where he was making French toast for the Mattox’s youngest child, earning the household income, helping drive the kids around, pitching in on laundry, housekeeping and cooking, while Kuae, in his eyes, was blithely giving her time away — free — to a volunteer organization. He’s a numbers guy, he said. From his perspective, the numbers pertaining to what he called her at-home “journey of self-discovery” just didn’t add up to be a very good deal for him or any husband whose nonearning wife still expects to split household drudgery 50-50.

At first, you think, “So he isn’t making any money, that’s OK, I make enough, so why force a person to be miserable in a workplace he hates? At least, the house will be clean and there will always be a good meal. It isn’t like I have any time to do this stuff.”

And then a very short time later you discover that you get stuck with the household duties while the person who isn’t making a dime is constantly exhausted from doing absolutely nothing, constantly depressed and feeling underappreciated, and constantly demanding your attention as you skip between work duties, the laundry, and grocery shopping.

A person who doesn’t contribute any money to the family budget yet refuses to do 100% of household work is an exploitative jerk who needs to be sent packing immediately. “Ted” in the linked story is a total tool who needs to wake up and stop letting “Kuae” treating him like garbage. I was just like Ted when I was 20 but at least I clocked on to how idiotic I was being early enough.