Childish

One of my friends posted a funny, fictional, video about a child who called the police on his mom for spanking him. Long story short, the cop ended up opening a can of good old fashioned discipline to back up the mother. It was hilarious, and like with most controversial topics I could not resist being sucked into the black hole of the comment section.  It is a guilty pleasure of mine and most of the time it doesn't disappoint. While I rarely contribute, it still doesn't stop me from laughing at many of the stupid comments. I clicked on a comment of a woman that reminisced her own similar story, with a feel good happy ending about her son growing up to be a good man. Nothing out of the ordinary or really that funny, but it had a lot of comments, which generally hints to an argument.

The one that started the argument told her story, one of being spanked and being traumatized by it. It is one I have heard before by people who flat out think spanking, as a form of discipline, is abuse. One person brought up a question, a valid one, if what she experienced was aversion to her father, because she knew she could not get away with things when she told him the truth, and favored her mother because she never disciplined her. This is actually a very common issue with parents. One will discipline the child, and the other won't. The end result will be a child, obviously disliking one parent and favoring the other. No one likes getting in trouble, and if not brought up with a consistent set of standards, one will avoid the truth when it comes to authority figures or people who have a set standard that the individual doesn't like. Another possibility, which I did not see addressed, was that she was actually abused and what she associates with spanking is not true discipline. While some vehemently deny that there is a difference between physical discipline and abuse, there is. Well her response was typical. She cursed out the person asking the question and then claimed she took child development classes. So what is the big deal about telling a person to fuck off? Well nothing really. Some people need to be told to fuck off, but this person just posed a question, and not in a mean way. The fun started there, more people questioned her, one being why she thinks she is so knowledgeable about childhood development from taking a course. I wondered that too because she stated that those kids, who stay with parents who spank, have Stockholm syndrome. To clarify, Stockholm syndrome is used to describe a feeling of trust or affection towards a kidnapper or captor. Which is not applicable here. She continues to rant about how shitty parents are just creating more shitty parents by spanking

There was one poor woman who typed up a story in response to this woman's attacks and hysteria. It talked about her mother spanking her and her siblings as kids. Her example was a perfect example of the difference, yet this woman refused to read her comment and proceeded to attack her. She even stated in her response she didn't read it and continued to puff out her chest, claiming she knew better than everyone else. The woman's story was how her grandmother was raised without being spanked, or disciplined at all really, yet beat the shit out of this woman's mother. Despite being beating and abused, she didn't do the same to her children. She only spanked when needed and it was never hard or aggressive. The ironic part was that she even stated, at the end, that she wanted to use other methods of discipline with her children and spanking as a last resort. So despite her wonderful example, she essentially agreed with this woman that no spanking is ideal, in her opinion. So because of this woman's lack of reading skills, she completely missed the fact that someone actually agreed with her. Which to me, was absolutely hilarious. The argument, or lack thereof, took it's natural path of people mocking the woman's appearance and such, because she could not keep calm and just answer respectfully.

Now where is the wtf? While the above is funny, it didn't make me go wtf. What made me go wtf was after reading all of this, I decided to take a peek at who this woman was. I had already come to the conclusion that her tirades were childish and starting to get petty, but this made everything even more hilarious. People have bad days and go off the deep end it happens, so I wanted to see if this was normal, or a bad day. I have attached a little-cropped screen shot, to protect her identity, well somewhat, this isn't private, so she can be easily found. What really made me go wtf was how she thinks she is more adult because she plays Assassin's Creed. It seems she can't quite comprehend what fictional history is. You learn jack and shit from it considering the plot only takes place located in the past. Aka the story isn't real, the place or event might be, but it isn't real! At all! The only historical accuracy in the first game is that it took place during the Crusades and that there was a Guild to intimidate people, that is it. There are mentions of real things, but considering the plot, it is not an actual historical event. So you are still playing a game, like a child. If you play these games, thinking you learn shit, you won't be able to discern fact from fiction.



BTW, I love games, I play them and watch my husband play them. Nothing wrong with it until you think you are superior. In the end, considering her posts, I am not too surprised she posted this as a status. It is hilarious none the less though.

Safe space and trigger warnings

I listened to a podcast about college campus safe spaces and trigger warnings today. While the podcast was funny and cheeky, it really didn't fully address these two. It more attacked them because of people abusing the system instead of explaining why they are there. I'm sure everyone hates those who abuse systems in place, well except the abusers.

Let's delve into trigger warnings first. These are actually a very good thing. I can almost guarantee everyone wants to be warned before they see or hear something that they feel uncomfortable with. Some might just avoid it, others, like myself, will still proceed despite the warning. Things that make myself uncomfortable doesn't necessarily make my husband, mother, friends etc uncomfortable and vice versa. Just because they are not triggered by said thing, doesn't make it right for them to force me to go through that experience. No one really knows the feelings or emotional stress of others, even if they experience the same event. People handle different events and stressors differently and discrediting someone's emotional pain, because you were not affected the same way, is a douche move. Am I a bitch sometimes? Absolutely! There are times where I just cannot comprehend another person's reasoning or feelings and I will reflect internally, or verbally with my husband, pulling from my own experience. It happens, but there is a difference between not understanding and flat out saying that the person is attention seeking or lazy. Triggers are very real and can cause a lot of harm to certain individuals. A trigger isn't just an uncomfortable feeling. It is something that causes a lot of stress, anxiety and can even cause the person to physically harm themselves. It is really nothing to make light of, especially when an affected person is around. Are some abuse cases obvious, yes, one example is taking out a book like Pride and Prejudice out of required reading curriculum because someone finds it sexist. While sexism is still alive and relevant today, it is a fucking 200+ year old book. I certainly am not that old, but I do know that things were way different back then, and the romance of the book reflected the times. Sexism is a part of history, and it will awlays be a part of it. Hell, that would be a good paper topic after reading the book, an over used topic, but a good one none the less. Now, I cannot remember the book that much, so I cannot create a good trigger warning from that book, but there was a book called Brothers, that I do remember. It is a very good book written by Yu Hua. It isn't without it's disturbing parts though, especially those towards women. This book does require a trigger warning because a rape victim could be very easily triggered by some of the contents. This is exactly what trigger warnings are good for and why they should be kept around. My teacher in college was understanding and did warn the class. I can't think of anyone who didn't read it, but if someone had trouble reading the book, he had an alternative for them. I have seen so many people saying trigger warnings are censorship, or a way of getting out of class work. No, it is there to avoid a flash-back, regressing back to the state when the trauma happened, etc. Teachers who are prepared have alternatives for those who cannot read or listen to what is being taught at the time. Brothers, while a fantastic book, wasn't necessary when it came to Chinese literature about the 20th century. There are more books, this was just the teacher's preference.

Safe spaces also have their places on college campuses. A reoccurring thought process I see is to grow up. Let me compare this to smoking. I know there are still assholes that will say, oh just move away from me, but smoking use to be a real issue on college campuses. Where I went had designated smokings areas, which is great, because it allows for non-smokers to go around them. So how does smoking compare? Well, people have different senses of humor, some very inappropriate. I find things that are inappropriate funny, does that mean I should push that on someone else, no. Safe spaces are for people of any race, sexuality, gender identity, etc, to go in order to remove themselves from things they feel uncomfortable with. While not all uncomfortable things should be avoided, like talking about sex with your kids, avoiding racist jokes should be made available to those who are uncomfortable by them. It is a place where they won't hear the word faggot, retarded, or jokes about their sexuality, race etc. Some people don't want to hear that crap and having a place to go to get away from that is a good thing, because sometimes walking away doesn't work. Especially when it is something that is widely accepted and they can't go anywhere without hearing it.

Now what about my blog? It could be offensive to some, yes, that is very true. I addressed my language use and such in my first blog....I can see if I can post a warning elsewhere. I haven't really fiddled with this thing much. The fun thing about the internet though is that you can get away from the crap you find offensive, for the most part. If you find my blog offensive, you can easily not click on the link. It isn't being read to you, you have to click it to read it. It takes action on your part, an action that can be avoided. If blogger offends you, hell you can easily block websites. There are ways to do that. Your safe space would be other parts of the internet and well, reread my first post for the warning.  As far as emotional triggers go, I would like to think my blog is not a trigger, but I might in the future touch on sensitive topics and those for sure will have a warning in the title itself. This is why I like trigger warnings/safe spaces and will continue to support them.

WTF Rice

If anyone keeps up with nutrition studies and the like, you should know by now that rice contains higher amounts of Inorganic Arsenic, you know the stuff that is actually toxic. This is due to many factors, but biggest seems to be our shitty farming practices in the past, and somewhat now a days, depending on growing locations and their regulations, or lack there of. Sadly this does not only effect rice, so I still eat rice. For me, it is just something to keep in mind. For others, they freak out and avoid the stuff. The same people seem to not know that many fruits and veggies, because you know, the whole agricultural practices issue, contain it as well. Not in the same quantity, but still, if you consume a lot of fruits and veggies, you aren't avoiding Inorganic Arsenic. Same with ground water, if you aren't filtering the shit out of your water, you are still consuming it, so either way you are fucked. So yay! The wtf comes from a post I saw today on reasons why not to give your child rice cereal. It completely ignored the actual issue and instead went with pseudoscience nonsense.

First point it made was that rice cereal is nutritionally void. For simplicity sake I went with white rice Gerber nutritional values. The info can be found here.
https://medical.gerber.com/products/cereal

Let's start from the top shall we? Besides calories, which is 60 per serving, it contains 0.5 grams of fat. While this seems like a small amount, lets remember this is for at least 4 months of age or older. Not for adults, unless you are into that, which I won't judge if you are. Generally you start a little older than 4 months, unless directed by a pediatrician, but 4-6 is the general age range. The fat is good for absorbing fat vitamins and minerals. They are vitamin A, E, D and K. The most common fat soluble minerals are iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium and potassium. There is more, but that is what most people should be able to identify. So, that is one nutrient that is in the rice cereal that helps your baby.

Since we are on fat soluble minerals and vitamins, rice cereal has A, E, Calcium, Iron and zinc. So what do these do in the body? To keep it simple, A helps with the immune system, your eyes, skin and reproduction. If there isn't enough in the diet then it should be obvious what the end result is. Crappy immune system, trouble with vision, skin issues and reproductive issues. Vitamin E is actually very rare to be deficient in, but it plays a role in maintaining red blood cells. A very important role actually, so having it in your diet is a good idea, even if it is rare to be lacking it. Next in line is Calcium. Every one has heard about calcium and strong bones, but that isn't all it is good for. If you don't have enough calcium it can actually increase your LDL levels, cause insomnia, because we all know a cranky baby at 1 in the morning is so wonderful, irregular heart beats and more. Iron is well known for the condition Anemia. When you lack iron you develop anemia, which I can assure you, is no fun. It is a very important mineral since it aids in the transport of oxygen. Along with anemia, low iron levels contribute to digestive issues, which also includes intestinal bleeding. Seeing blood in your own stool is scary, seeing it in your babies is even more scary. Zinc is the last on the nutrition list, but it still plays an important role in the body. It also plays a role in the immune system, as well as cell division, growth and wound healing. Lack means poor wound healing, delayed growth and symptoms include diarrhea and skin issues. Rice cereal has more vitamins, minerals and other nutrients for the body, however, just from the fat soluble examples, it should be apparent that rice cereal is not nutritionally void.

Speaking of which, the post contradicts itself stating that rice cereal contains artificial iron which blocks the iron from breast milk from being absorbed.....So if rice cereal is nutritionally void, it would not be fortified with iron. I can not emphasize the face palm with this contradiction. Another relevant 'fact' *cough*, bull shit point, is that the added vitamins is harder for baby to absorb.  Now if you don't understand the different types of iron this could be confusing because the body does absorb a certain type more readily. Heme iron is absorbed by the body more quickly, but a supplemental iron won't block the absorption of heme. That is just stupid. Let me elaborate. The body will use what is easier to absorb, aka what is in breast milk, and the fat soluble vitamins and minerals not used will be stored in the body for later when it is needed. So again, no it won't be blocked. While there are better sources that our body can absorb more easily, that doesn't mean that it can't absorb the nutrients. It just means that if there is an easier absorbed source in the body, it will use that before the other.

Another point of the post was that the baby doesn't produce amylase, which is needed for grain digestion. So let's address amylase first. It is for carbohydrate digestion. So if you don't produce enough, you are fucked with vegetables and fruits too, not just grains. So, now comes babies. While yes, babies don't produce a lot of amylase, until about one year of age, like adults do, it is present in their saliva in enough quantity to break down less complex carbs. Aka white rice. Another source that babies get to help with carb digestion, is from mamas milk. So yet again, the whole 'blocks nutrient absorption in breast milk' is debunked. So while they aren't as good as as adults are at digesting complex carbohydrates, they can still digest them. It is why pediatricians suggest certain foods to start off with, and not say barley.

'Rice cereal fills the babies belly and the baby misses out on much needed nutrients' is another absurd claim, which given the above, it has now become painfully obvious how stupid this thought process is. Now if that is all you are feeding baby, that isn't healthy, because stated above it is higher in inorganic arsenic. The fun thing about the human body though is that it can get rid of arsenic, pretty easily actually. It can be stored in nails and hair when exposed for a long period of time, which most of us are, but that isn't harmful and as long as baby, or parents, are not eating only rice in high quantities every day, aka at breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is really no concern that has been studied, so far, when it comes to inorganic arsenic consumption in a balanced diet, which does include rice.

When it comes to sleep, some babies have a hard time with it. One cause is GERD. It is actually a very common cause and the number one recommended food for it is rice. Yet this post claims that rice cereal won't help a baby sleep. It really doesn't give a reason why, well most of the post doesn't give any reasoning, it just states things without giving the reasoning behind the statement. Rice is bland, heavy, and it stays in the stomach easier since it is so easy to digest. When acid comes back up into the esophagus when you lay down, what babies do when they sleep, it causes a very unpleasant feeling that the baby doesn't understand nor wants to ignore, hence the crying at 1 am. So when you feed something that is more bland and doesn't aggravate GERD symptoms, you have a happy baby that will sleep better.

 While I enjoy facebook posts as much as the next person, some of the things posted really make me go wtf, and this was one of them. It isn't a stressful wtf, but more of a humerus one due to lack of actual understanding or even research. A simple google search could have debunked the post right off the bat.

Idiot Driver

After many wtf moments that lead to obvious frustration and stress I have decided to blog about it to relieve said stress. So onward to today's wtf moment/moments. Oh, warning, like my daily life, this contains offensive language to some, though the title alone should give that away. 

Today's adventure led me to PetSmart. The drive over was uneventful, oh and many wtf moments comes from driving, not all, but many. I found a cute dog shirt, that I didn't buy, it is too freaken hot here in Florida to justify getting my dogs clothes. The dog food was purchased and my next stop, for cleaning supplies was Target. I am not a fan of Target, mostly due to the companies lack of personal information security, but I went anyways because the other stores were out of the way. On the way to Target people were not wanting to let a big Ram truck over so it could turn onto the street it needed to go down. Funny how that is. You speed up to pass and they don't let you over, you slow down to get behind them and the asshat behind them does the same thing, and won't let you over. Annoying as it is, no biggie, I went to the next light, turned around and made my way to Target. Inside Target was decent, selection sucked as usual. I don't understand why you need a whole aisle for Lysol and right next to it a tiny selection of Windex, which none were ammonia free. So I went with Seventh Generation disinfecting cleaner, because with three dogs things need disinfecting, and I am tired of my lungs burning after using the crap with ammonia. Which if my lungs burn, it probably does the same to them. There was one strange individual there that had a huge bag and one hand was in his pocket. I left it alone though because I didn't really want to deal with people and so far he had not caused any commotion, he was just an odd one. However, after exiting Target was where the issue arose. I got to the light okay, when it turned green I made my normal turn, but for some reason, while speeding up to the speed limit, some idiot thought it was a good idea to barely put an inch between his bumper and mine, aka cutting me off, and then put on his breaks. I'm not sure if he just ignored the fact that I was twice his size and could easily just make a nice pancake out of him, but none the less, he made his stupid move. He seemed bewildered that I honked at him, then proceeded to yell at him at the light before I made my other turn. I really was not in the mood for paying for his dumb ass to go to the hospital and my car to be fixed, because judging from that crap you called a car, I presume you were not insured. So driving with some common sense and caution would behoove you. While yelling at him was not the best option, and I could have gone on my way, he almost caused a wreck that could have easily hurt him and probably that person on the sidewalk in front of us. You know, because when you hit someone in a car that is accelerating forwards, you don't really go backwards, despite your dumb ass breaking an inch from my bumper. Which that point I made clear, so hopefully he actually thinks about his surroundings next time, if not, I hope that he takes out only a tree when he finally wreaks. 

Since moving to Florida I have noticed the drivers are worse, but the beauty of the state makes up for it. All in all I like living here. It definitely isn't without it's wtf moments, both frustrating and funny. I will be blogging funny wtf moments as well, because an all negative blog is not healthy. My hopes in this is to one, relieve stress, like stated above, which so far it has accomplished. Secondly, I hope that anyone who happens to read this blog it will bring some giggles or smirks. I am no comedian, but I would like to think my sense of humor is not only amusing to myself. 

One last random wtf moment, when I first entered the area I am living in, which is not a country town, I saw a horse crossing sign. I have yet to see a horse and rider on the sidewalk, but the signs do exist, which is really amusing to me.