Seems like everyone's got a tale to tell.

Mal ,'Safe'


Spike's Bitches 45: That sure as hell wasn't in the brochure.  

[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.


sj - Nov 21, 2009 10:09:40 am PST #1236 of 30000
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

sj: gift card or like, zoo membership.

I can't think of any gift card that she can use when she is back in the UK. Most of them are restricted to within US borders even if it is a chain with locations overseas.


Zenkitty - Nov 21, 2009 10:19:41 am PST #1237 of 30000
Every now and then, I think I might actually be a little odd.

Connie, lots of ~ma and best wishes for your sister.


Glamcookie - Nov 21, 2009 10:32:10 am PST #1238 of 30000
I know my own heart and understand my fellow man. But I am made unlike anyone I have ever met. I dare to say I am like no one in the whole world. - Anne Lister

Sending the ~ma to your sister, Connie.

sj, a book for the plane ride home?


Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - Nov 21, 2009 10:43:44 am PST #1239 of 30000
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"

I can't possibly see how 'intelligence' is a disablist term. Any more than phrases like 'going for a walk' (use it all the time, regardless of whether I'm going in the wheelchair), or references to 'sight/seeing' or similar might be disablist. They're just not. We know there's diversity in ability - that's what it is to be human, and diversity is great.

As I worked through it in my discussion with smonster I think it's counterproductive to follow every logical parallel to an offensive phrase to its conclusion. I think that curbing the language use needs to be in response to specific instances of objection, and shouldn't be a broadly generalized principle.

This. And what erika said. (I'm both 'gifted' and 'LD' too. I have dyspraxia, a totally random thing where - among other things - I get a 70 score on some parts of the IQ scale, and a 150 on other parts. And I love that.)


Hil R. - Nov 21, 2009 10:46:38 am PST #1240 of 30000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l

I'm also gifted and LD. I once took an informal poll of the grad students in my department, and of the 20 people I asked, all of whom are studying for a Ph. D. in math, 3 of us had been either identified as or suspected of having a math disability in elementary school. (And it's entirely possible that there were a few more where the teachers discussed it with their parents but the kid never found out.)


Rick - Nov 21, 2009 10:48:48 am PST #1241 of 30000

Binet was researching in order to help identify students who might need extra help because he believed intelligence was fluid. It was the good ol' USA that took the test and said, "Hey, this would be a nifty way to categorize people in order to stratify them and match them up with the hierarchical job system we've formed post industrial revolution!"

Yes, the person who wrote that original post doesn't know anything about the history of intelligence testing. Binet didn't even believe in intelligence in the American sense. He was measuring children's current skills. It was the Americans who divided current skills by age to create the intelligence quotient (IQ). That made it into a trait that could be permanently assigned to a person.

Random Binet fact. His probably the first person in history who wanted to go to medical school, then decided against it because he was sqeamish about cutting up a cadaver, and went into psychology instead. He was not the last.


Hil R. - Nov 21, 2009 10:51:08 am PST #1242 of 30000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l

There's actually been a bunch of research lately in gifted education about gifted+LD kids. If you google "twice-exceptional" (I hate that phrase, but it's the one that's caught on) there's a lot of information.

My physical therapist wants me to use arch supports rather than the ankle brace, on the theory that keeping my feet in the right position will force my ankle into the right position. I'm skeptical, but I just put them in my shoes and I am going to attempt to go to the library and CVS.


DavidS - Nov 21, 2009 10:52:27 am PST #1243 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Random Binet fact. His probably the first person in history who wanted to go to medical school, then decided against it because he was sqeamish about cutting up a cadaver, and went into psychology instead. He was not the last.

In contrast to J.G. Ballard who kind of fell in love with his anatomy cadaver. (But not in a sexual, necrophiliac way.)


amych - Nov 21, 2009 10:53:40 am PST #1244 of 30000
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

gifted and LD

t raises hand


sj - Nov 21, 2009 10:54:34 am PST #1245 of 30000
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

sj, a book for the plane ride home?

Glam for the win! Thanks, that is a great idea.