I work with a nonverbal autistic teenager. If he has any interest in sex, I have no evidence of its existence. What he does have an interest in is drawing hundreds of Christmas trees. Given that the only trouble that's resulted in so far involved drawing them in marker on the family couch, I'd say that he's…

Hair metal's pretty polarizing. Either one likes it or one doesn't. I've come around on a bit of it over time (I can get down with some Extreme here and there and I like precisely one Motley Crue song), but it's still never become a preferred thing for me. I think that's part of why it's so fascinating: how was…

I think the detail missed by many critics of the programs is the fact that they aren't as cookie-cutter similar in practice as they appear in theory. You got a good sponsor who simply isn't using the parts that seem unhelpful to you (from the little I know of you through the AVC, I do not see a lot of that stuff…

A friend of mine, who just got his BSW, is an experienced worker in the field of addictions. He's experienced in large part because he was one (he even acted as a collector for dealers for a bit there, as he's built like a fucking linebacker). I talked to him about the programs a while ago and his opinion was,…

Makes sense to me. Discussions about meat are always a little abstract to me because I don't eat it, but I do consume my share of dairy. The main reason they won't stop raising grain-fed animals, I figure, is that there'd be no way to do the same numbers as they do now. The demand for meat is staggering. At its…

The siblings of the teenager with whom I work are of the age wherein advertising is essentially injected into their eyeballs. I try to give them subtle hints about how much of the stuff they watch on YouTube is solely devoted to creating demand (they even watch haul videos), but I don't know as they're getting…

Yep, the attitude is very real. I just suspect that sentence about asking Dan to get her to unblock him. It's just a bit over the top for me.

It's an argument for which I have only general sympathy myself. Your point holds true for grassland, but less so for farmland used to produce animal feed. At that point, one could indeed be growing food for direct human consumption. If you fed your animals only things you couldn't eat and used the manure for…

True. I should say instead that one doesn't get nutritional return from the bones. Gelatin is certainly widely used for other things, so it's far from a waste.

I personally think that PHOTO is one of the latter breed of fake letters, but bear in mind that nobody else posting here seems to agree. It just seems off to me.

All for Silas, all for Silas!

Canadians actually do this sometimes. "A REAL Canadian believes in free healthcare, dammit!" - most of the Boomers that I know

I think the sustainability issue is brought up as a vegan argument at least as often as the environmental argument. Farming meat for food is less efficient than using the land to farm food that you'll eat yourself. There can be benefits to going with the meat option anyway, of course; it's just that efficiency…

She sounds like the same kind of student that I was, (possibly) minus the learning disability. Perfectionism doesn't work out so well when you're a kid and you're excruciatingly aware that you can't make anything good. Acting was probably appealing partially because it's immediate, something you can just do in the…

You take that back or you're not allowed in my carpool. Better hurry; there are only 18 spots left.

I guess I'm just chasing shadows here. The attitude is completely realistic to me for all of the reasons you describe. It's just the style of the letter itself that makes me think it's a put-on. To me, the tone of the letter comes off like he's trying to sound like he doesn't know that he crossed a line, but…

One could argue that it's certainly better while eating the cookies.

Soy burgers and bean sprouts are OK in my book, but bear in mind that there is almost certainly research out there claiming that the former are worse for your health than daily ingestion of cocaine or something.

Yes, the attitude is indeed widespread and this letter isn't making it up. My opinion that the letter is probably fake is due to writing style.

People looking at the bottom row of their keyboards with suspicion?