wmw999

Not yours, mine... Wendy P.

Yeah. To me, talking WITH someone is kind of like playing catch WITH them. You want to stretch both of you, but if you make it impossible, they lose interest very fast. It takes little kids awhile to learn that (they think it's a riot to throw the ball so it's impossible to catch). Once they figure out that you keep playing with them as long as you can catch most of the balls (and they figure out you could, in fact, make it impossible for them, too), it gets to be a whole lot more fun, and better for both. Wendy P.

Find out if there are organizations that vet candidates, as the League of Women Voters does in the US. It's getting less useful, because some politicians simply don't answer the questions any more, but it's still high on the "beats nothing" list. If there aren't, you have to start reading the slow news; personally I think that newspapers do a better job of running with what's a little more lasting, as opposed to whatever is going to get the most clicks instantly. And The Econonomist is a wonderful source for nationwide elections; conservative but external bent, dispassionate observers. Wendy P.

Speaking of divided by extremism, I just finished watching the Netflix documentary "Join or Die," which is the movie-ization of the book Bowling Alone, about how the reduction in civic engagement (as evidenced by the smaller numbers in all kinds of fraternal organizations, as well as churches) is correlated quite convincingly with a rise in extremism. And how this also played out in a similar fashion during the Gilded Age. And it makes a certain amount of sense; if kids learn how to deal with each other by having siblings and friends, it seems as though adults could learn as much by having friends they kinda-sorta HAVE to deal with, as opposed to virtual "friends" who can be unfriended, ghosted, or simply ignored when they piss you off. Personally, I think the rise in suburbs and "every man is an individual" ethos also contributes, as does, of course, the rise of the internet. So I'll join a club or two. Wendy P.

I hadn't heard... I was just looking for something and this popped up as a place to look. I'm even still green. Wendy P.

Companies hire them because they're cheaper, and because they can get the name credential (STEM degree), and because they come with stated qualifications. They stay because they like it, and often get green cards because they end up marrying co-workers. If more Americans were to get the STEM degrees that are harder, and if they weren't so burdened with educational debt that they can only afford to take top-paying jobs, it might be different. Being a federal contractor, we actively went after graduates from HBCUs as well as the majors, and had about the same percentage of good luck from them. Not every employee works out. When I was working, the nature of the work was such that you had to be a citizen. Another group had a summer intern from Montenegro once, and finding work that she could do was a significant task for her manager. Wendy P.

I think that's what a lot of people in SC do; they provide the rebuttals to the points that they either think or wish their "opponents" were making, rather than considering what's actually said and implied. Kind of like how some people (US baseball analogy here) play catch WITH someone, and others play throw against them. Wendy P.

I'm going to say that H1B visas shouldn't be for someone with potential, they're for someone with proven capacity. That's coming from someone who got that level of score on the SAT, and never became a billionaire tech bro, or sis, or anything else. I was successful, but no more so than any number of people already here. Wendy P.

Maybe the same way that you deal with a screaming child in your car on the way to the emergency room --- you speed like crazy and take the consequences. Wendy P.

Not if you ask college professors. Daughter of one here. Wendy P.

They do call you Bigun Wendy P.

We sold both our bikes a couple years ago. More and more we were just riding them to stay current enough to ride. Locally, I’d rather ride a bicycle (wonderful trails) or just hike. Wendy P.

We no longer have the thin plastic bags available in most of the towns around here; the grocery we use does have both compostable plastic and paper bags, to go along with the salad greens in bulk. We buy our milk in glass bottles from a local dairy, and make our own yogurt. We can get laundry detergent by refilling our containers at the store No styrofoam in most of the local restaurants; and here it’s the local market that drives more sustainable choices. Two recycling centers in town, one of them is for profit even, which is cool (the other is the city) #1 plastic is relatively well recycled; #2 less so but still possible. Most of the others are more wishcycling than recycling, so we really try not to get stuff in them at all.

There are people who are severely reducing their plastic use. It's kind of like the fossil fuel industry (oh wait -- it IS the fossil fuel industry), where so much has been invested in making plastics really hard to get rid of in daily life that most people say fuck it. What have you done to reduce your plastic use? You can't eliminate it entirely with anything remotely resembling a normal lifestyle, but you can reduce it. Wendy P.

Wait until next summer Wendy P.