Does anyone else remember having the Which Witch? board game? That was one of my favorites in my pre-teen years, although it took forever to set up.

I'll bet, given the heated Rules discussions on BGG.

I'm trying to think what the controversy could possibly be, but maybe I'm just not remembering the game very well.

Ooh, Harry Potter Clue! That sounds fun. I don't think the boy has gotten into Harry Potter yet. That might be something to read together this summer.

Do you think it's too scary for an 8 yo? The movie version, I mean.

Can a person who thinks that there should have been another solution/physical place for creating the state of Israel think that way without being an anti-semite?

I think Israel should not have have been created, or at least not as a Jewish rather than secular state. But that ship has sailed so to speak. Peace between Israelis and Palestinians has to be based on the understanding that Israel exists and has a right to continue existing. But it also needs be based on the understanding that Israel's creation, at least in the form it was created, was a crime. And that many of the actions Israel took over the years to preserve and expand its state were crimes. And also that much of the resistance to the the crimes of Israel over the years also took the forms of crimes. There is no "just" resolution to this conflict. We need a resolution everyone can live with. That lease the (increasingly slim) chance of a two state solution.

As to Helen Thomas. That was definitely an anti-semitic remark. Don't know if relects something that was festering all these years, or if she has a brain tumor or something. (Derailment: Sometime serious brain disease can create racism or anti-semitism as a symptom. The interaction between social causes and biological causes is interesting. Presumably in a Hindu nation, the symptom would be a hatred of untouchables or Muslims or something. Not always racism. No joke, one of Heinlein's worst novels turned out to be due to brain disease - not tumor but something along those lines. The one where a guy's brain was transplanted into the body of his sexy secretary. )

I propped the dogs legs up in the wheelbarrow so that it looked like the dog was pushing the wheelbarrow. I am awesome like that.

I love Liese SO MUCH.

A friend was just talking about playing Apples to Apples this weekend with friends. They had an epiphany and decided the Adolph Hitler card could work with any other card, because you can play it straight: "evil" or ironically: "fluffy" and it would always be a stronger match than anything else. She wanted to rename the game Apples to Adolphs.

I liked Apples to Apples playing at parties where I knew almost no one, but the subjectivity makes it a no go in this house - mac would have a FIT!

I'm trying to think what the controversy could possibly be, but maybe I'm just not remembering the game very well.

There are various cards whose rules aren't clear enough (do cards that trigger when they're "collected" trigger when you "collect" them from someone else's pile?) and there's controversy over how to rearrange the line "randomly" and...some other stuff.

mac would have a FIT!

Please, so would you and your brother.

My 6 and 3 year old watched Harry Potter 2 on Saturday. The 6 year old was scared in places (she said, "it's scarier in the movie than in the book!"). But not traumatized or anything. the 3 year old is too little to be scared.

We read the first 3 HP books when Casper was 5. We stopped there because they were getting so mature and ahead of her.

But we never played with house rules like "Free Parking", so I don't think we would have played that way if it hadn't been in the rules.

Neither did we, though. I may have to call my mom tonight; this is gonna be one of those dumb things that bug me.