Anonymous wrote:1. The "beastiality" is something that's mentioned in passing, not an actual scene in the book.

2. I'm a bit confused at calling this "banning." Doesn't the mom just want it not to be mandatory for any kid to read it? She isn't suggesting removing it from the library, right?

According to the article, it is already optional: "Currently, students can opt out of books assigned in class that they find uncomfortable to read. But the policy should be stricter for books with mature themes, Murphy said." She has asked for an outright ban on a book in a college-level AP class, when there was already a mechanism in place that would have allowed her child to opt out of reading it. She feels this policy doesn't do enough to "protect" children, although I haven't found anything stating what she would define as a reasonable policy. As for me, it sounds like the current one is just fine.

I wouldn't worry about it. Banks display the information in different ways, and what you are seeing is just the way they choose to format it for the website. My bank would have labeled it as a ($180) ATM transaction in red followed by a $140 ATM transaction in black to indicate that it was actually a credit to the account. The labels are for your benefit, not for the computer, which only cares about the actual amount of the transaction.

The Giant near my house sells singles of many of the craft breweries, so no, there's no VA law that forbids it. Local ordinances might affect it, but I haven't heard of any local areas that have something like that in place. My bet is on the cashier not knowing what they were talking about. Either it was an issue of being confused about a store policy to not break up six packs, or just simple ignorance.

If you are ready to make an offer, go ahead and do it with whatever expiration date you want. There's not really any downside to waiting, and it has a potential of succeeding. It is up to the seller if they want to wait or not, and that will largely depend on how fair they think your offer is. If they decide to wait instead of accepting your offer, then they will at least be comparing others against your offer instead of the other way around.

Anonymous wrote:Here it is:

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/05/in_a_first_oregon_scientific_s.html

The bag was contaminated because it was in the bathroom when the first person with the virus was vomiting. If you read the article, you'll see that they found the contamination on the outside of the bag, and the others were infected simply by the contact with the bag, not because they ate the food contained in it. The same thing would have happened with any type of container that had been exposed to the virus and not cleaned. The scientists have seen similar outbreaks caused by door handles and other common surfaces, but they had never been able to definitively track down a single point of infection before this case. They even state at the end that this isn't a reason to get rid of reusable bags, as it could have happened with a plastic bag just as easily.

As for the general fear of food poisoning, the bags are as safe as the person using them. If you treat them like any other reusable food container, with regular cleanings, it will be just as safe. I tend to separate all my meats into one bag, so I can wash that bag afterwards.(And that's even if the meats are also in plastic bags inside my bags to reduce any leaks) I don't worry much about the bags with boxes or canned goods.

I've had my 2006 Prius for over 6.5 years now, with over 100k miles on it. The only part I've had to replace has been a headlight bulb, and that was around the 95k mark. I plan on driving it until it dies at this point. I'm 6'1", and I sit comfortably in it.(Just an infant car seat in the back for now) The battery warranty is long enough that it covers the expected life of the car, and even after that, the failure rate is low enough that I'm not worried about it.(Odds are that something else will kill the car long before the battery has any issues) To buy a new battery replacement would cost in the $2200-$2600 range, but it would be silly to put that much money into a car at that point. Fortunately, there's a decent market now of used batteries that cost as little as $500 and make more sense for older vehicles.(They are available relatively cheaply because of the surplus of good condition batteries that outlived the rest of the car, which is a good indicator by itself)

As for space, I'm not sure what kind of stroller the PP had that she didn't think would fit, but I routinely fit both a stroller and groceries(Plus whatever other stuff I'm picking up on normal errands) in the back with no problems. I know I can fit the stroller and one Corgi, although I haven't tried putting both Corgis in with with stroller yet. It really comes down to how much space you need, but that's true for any car.

First of all, there's not just a single flu out there. There are certain strains that are more prevalent, and the vaccine is typically formulated to protect against those strains. Those strains can also mutate over the course of time, reducing the immunity, but in those cases, you generally will only contract a milder version of the flu. There are also other, less common strains of flu out there which the vaccine doesn't protect against. Without extensive genetic testing to determine exactly which strain of flu each person contracted, the statistic of whether they had the flu shot or not is meaningless.

Yes, some percentage of people that have had flu shots will likely die from the flu. However, that is not a useful fact, and nothing should be inferred from it outside of a broader context.

I would look at it from the other direction. Can you cover all of your necessary bills on just one income? If so, and you think the odds of losing both incomes are low enough, then you can take that into account when deciding on a comfortable amount for your fund.(This is actually my situation, since my wife and I make similar amounts, but are in entirely different career fields.) That does only cover the case of job loss though, and you also have to take into account unexpected expenses that could be unrelated to work and income. So yes, it can affect the formula, but it shouldn't be the only deciding factor.

As others have said, virtually any of the DSLRs will likely be fine. That being said, after researching them a few months ago, I went with the Nikon D5100 due to a few small features that I liked, so I would recommend that one as well.

I didn't read all of the suggestions, but one I've really thought would be nice to have is a "Premature Babies" section. There are a lot of different issues that comes with having a premature infant, particularly in regards to prolonged NICU stays, and it would be nice to have a separate forum devoted to that. I can state from experience that having to read through healthy baby posts is very frustrating when your child has been in the NICU 30+ days and you still aren't sure when she will get to come home.

I'm not advocating eating them every day or anything, but Twinkies are great as occasional treats to myself. As far as junk food goes, they are far from the worst things out there. In fact, I've gotten a craving for them after reading all of the news articles this morning and may have to try to find some today. In this case, it looks like the Baker's Union did indeed shoot themselves in the foot. The Teamsters accepted the concessions after they realized it was make less or make nothing, and they encouraged the other unions to accept the deal as well. I do think unions have gone far beyond their intended purpose in many cases. I'm all for unions negotiating equal treatment, improved working conditions, and other job factors, but compensation should be driven by market conditions, not union votes. At some point, they will have to learn that the long-term survival of the company is more important than wringing every last possible cent for themselves.

We bought our nursery furniture set from GB also. The best thing about the store is that they have a large selection of furniture on display, so we were able to walk around and get a good look at the various options. After picking out a crib, my wife was trying to decide between two dressers, one that was part of the crib set or another that was around the corner. The salesman offered to push the other dresser next to the crib so my wife could compare them all next to each other and proceeded to do just that. Another bonus is that delivery was fairly cheap, and the delivery men did an excellent job setting everything up exactly where we wanted it. I think the prices were similar to other places we looked, but honestly, the selection and service was what really sold us. We live in Falls Church, and it was worth the trip out there.

Anonymous wrote:Losckheed announced 130k to be laid off. Locheed total # of employee's = 130k Short the stock fast the company is about to dissapear

While you were passing this information on, people with common sense realized that a company isn't likely to lay off its entire work force, did a simple Google search, and found the claim to be false.

I see lots of companies blaming Obama for having to do layoffs. I see little to no evidence that it is anything on than normal market conditions causing the layoffs. I saw one article blaming Obama for RIM laying off workers. Because his politics are the only problem RIM is facing these days, obviously. In every single specific case where the information could be examined, it was either a continuation of other layoffs, restructuring, or some other cause. Yes, the CEO might claim otherwise, but looking at the companies past trends often casts serious doubts to their claims.("CEO: I had to move my production and over 300 jobs overseas because of Obama's policies." "Reality: Didn't you build that overseas factory six years ago and shift over a a thousand jobs there before he was elected?" "CEO: WARGLBARGL! OBAMA!" I don't really pay attention to what people claim is the cause. I prefer to actually look at the details and determine the most likely case myself.

Anonymous wrote:Not the right comparison. The original post stated specifically the requirement for a higher degree which excludes many types of consulting. It's still broad but not as much as you are suggesting. Glad that you are both so easily entertained.

"I want to buy something expensive. How much should I expect to pay for it? Thanks." There, now it isn't as broad, excluding many types of purchases, so it is a more valid comparison. There's still no way the OP can get any useful responses with the information that has been given, which makes both questions equally absurd.