t sigh So Comcast was supposed to send a technician out between 8 and 12 and call me at work when he arrived so I could run over and let him in. Have not recieved a call. Called Comcast, said they will contact the local dispatcher and have them contact me with an explanation. It's fifteen minutes later and I'm still waiting. I have feeling they're trying to call my home number, despite my telling them three times (when I logged the original ticket, when I called to verify last night and just now when I called to complain) to call my work number (and simultaneously gave it to them.)

Have food allergies become epidemic in the past 20 years?

It's not so much that they're epidemic as that the downside of being wrong may well be a kid dying. All you need is one kid in a school who's anaphylactically allergic to nuts, and visions of multimillion-dollar lawsuits dance in administrator's heads.

There are more peanut-allergic kids, yes, but they're also more likely to die horribly.

are there THAT many children so allergic to peanuts that having peanut butter in the building is a risk?

Peanut allergies can be VERY severe. My brother will break out in hives if there is an open jar of peanut butter in the room. If he accidentally ate some, he would most likely be dead before anyone could get to his Epipen.

(We worry less now that he's in college and knows how to look out for himself, but elementary school was scary.)

Only pre-packaged food is allowed, because it comes from an inspected and Health-Board-certified kitchen AND has an ingredient list.

We just learned that this is policy in our new school district. I was amazed -- we came from an elementary school in PA where home-baked snacks were totally the Thing To Do for parties and birthday treats.

We can't send in cupcakes for the class etc., any more either, although as far as I know, that move grew out of our town's change in its food allergy policy.

Huh. I can still take cupcakes into Emmett's class and Northern California usually leads the nation in food dictatorship.

Happy Birthday, Nutty! I, for one, am very glad that you were born.

Happy Birthday, Nutley!!!

MSNBC says Michael Brown has *finally* been removed from FEMA. (It's the "Breaking News" banner across the top.

There are more peanut-allergic kids

Have there been any studies explaining the increase? (I'm a geek for medical studies.)

Oh, and in political stuff, let's play The Blame Game (tm)!

Object of The Game: To get other players to accept all your BlameTM!

Players: The Blame GameTM can be played by any number of people, from 1 to 1 million! Play starts with the player sitting furthest to the right. The player sitting closest to the middle is usually supposed to be the referee, but any player can volunteer.

Equipment: All you need to play is one (1) BlameTM pointer and enough BlameTM for everyone! ...

The Blame GameTM was known in 20th century America as “Accountability!TM”. Back then, “bluffing” was called “lying” and referees were actually supposed to reveal when they saw a player holding a blame card!

Yahoo article on Brownie's removal. (Edit: Removal from Katrina, not from FEMA.)

[link]

Huh. This is the first time the Bush administration has ever held anyone accountable:

FEMA chief relieved of Katrina duties

But he's not being fired, I guess.

[link]

eta: Brownie x-posty