America!

Then wouldn't printing be MORE conducive to learning/retention?

How does "linking letters to create words" necessarily follow from "removing spaces makes it harder to understand things" other than the fact that "kerning is important!" I'm not saying it's not TRUE that it's hard to read when you remove the spaces between words, but I am saying that the fact that it is true does…

Yeah, I just don't think it's cursive-specific. I don't disagree that writing out by hand seems to help retain knowledge better than typing, but I wonder if it's not because it takes longer, not because there's anything different about holding a pencil and writing and touching a keyboard and writing.

I think you're just making this up.

But how is writing by hand in cursive different than writing by hand in print? That's the key - no one is saying to burn all the pencils....

Latin is 100x more useful than cursive, in terms of vocabulary, etc.

Ah! My rib!

Have you read the memoir by Greg Sestero about making The Room? I just finishing it - it's pretty hilarious.

No. The reason why I don't think kids should have a TV in their bedroom is because it's empirically bad for children. The fact that I still haven't had a TV in my bedroom is the reason why I think it is ESPECIALLY ridiculous and unnecessary.

I def hear you about needing to listen to a soft voice to fall asleep - I listen to old NPR podcasts - those put me right to sleep :)

I know we're not supposed to judge other people's parenting decisions and all, but I cannot handle the fact that kids between 3 and 6 have televisions in their bedrooms. I'm in my 30s and STILL have never had a TV in my bedroom.

If people want to work on holidays, that's fine. But you really think WalMart and Target are staffing their stores on a volunteer-only basis? You can't be serious.

The point is that by choosing to go shopping "with their families" they are making other people not spend time with their families. My family has managed to never (a) watch football or (b) go shopping on Thanksgiving. It's like we hang out and talk or something!?

No, I didn't say anything about overeating. They should spend it with their families, not at a Walmart.

Sure. But I will harshly judge people who celebrate Thanksgiving by shopping!

How could they possibly count on something that has only been policy this year (I'm talking about Macy's/Walmart/etc. only deciding to be open Thanksgiving Day this year).

It's because this is new, honestly. Like you said, movie theaters have been open on holidays for decades. But it just seems like this is a very concrete example of the growing consumerism of the holiday season.

No, but we should keep even MORE stuff open on Thanksgiving.

That's a good question - I've never actually gone to the movies on Thanksgiving/Christmas, and maybe it's simply because of the long-standing tradition that I'm a little less acutely upset by it - like I can accept a certain amount of materialism creeping in on the holidays, but we have to draw the line somewhere.