why is it wrong to clean with vinegar? It might be a bit smelly, but it disipates pretty quickly, kills germs ,, and doesn't set off allergic reactions.

Ha! DH just asked me why we go through so much vinegar. (I brought a half gallon bottle home from the store.) I explained that that is what I clean with. I stock up on vinegar, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide because they take care of most of the messes the kids make.

Possibly. They could hire ninjas. Perhaps they already have. I should do a sweep of the attic.

I want to turn this into a children's book: "Are You My Mother's Ninjas?" (Hint: if you have time to ask, these are not the ninjas you're looking for.)

Happy Birthday Ginger!

Wonderful news Lisah!

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Amazon seems to be having a massive scifi sale - supernatural seasons 1-4 at 50% off, that sort of thing. [link]

60 Minutes just spent a lot of time showing just what was going on with the vaccine and why people should be vaccinated. They then undercut their credibility as a source with the next segment, in which Leslie Stahl was completely astonished by the existence of BitTorrent.

Happy Birthday Ginger. Congrats Lisah and Fiance. Both lucky.

Oh and separate post. Wired has really good article on vaccine denial (via Boing-Boing)

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

A local law firm has begun running television ads that have kind of left me with my jaw hanging down. Their shtick is that they're a men only firm, that practices exclusively family law and represent only men. They do have a token female paralegal, but that's it.

I'm kind of boggled, really. The commercials seem so... belligerent.

There are some men who believe that family law is biased against men. That women are awarded custody far more often than men. I've hard that send part might be true, but only because men are far less likely to ask for/contest custody than women.

eta: The "men's rights" movement is largely focused on family law.

That is a tricky area. Seeing things like the commercials Barb mentioned just make me want to roll my eyes and start muttering about male privilege. On the other hand, there is/was something called the "tender years doctrine", which is the presumption under the law that generally young children are better off with their mothers, so the burden was on the father to show otherwise. It's not nearly as in favor as it used to be, but I would be willing to bet that it still plays a part in a lot of custody decisions, and that just doesn't seem right either.

I think there has bee, in fairly recent decade, and probably is to this day in places, a default assumption that "kids go to the mom". Not that it never goes the other way, but that that's the "natural order of things". I know when I was growing up--not all that long ago--that there were some excellent fathers who lost custody to substantially more questionable mothers.

eta: or what Perkins said with learning and stuff