First of all, amych, I'm really sorry. That totally sucks, and when I look for IT stuff for Dan, I'll pass anything I find to you, if it looks up your alley.

Second, kids on the internet. Micah is almost 13 and had been on Instagram for about a year and a half. We have his password, and I'm friends with him on Instagram, so if I see anything hinky, I'd be on him like stink on shit.

Wattpad -- hmm. I think I've told y'all the story about how I was reading a heaving bosoms bodice ripper in 6th grade after all my work was done, and my teacher marched me to the office to call my parents about my "inappropriate reading material" and got my dad on one of his every-5-years sick days.

He listened, asked if I was done with my work, was told I was. Asked if I was causing any trouble or disturbance, was told I wasn't. Asked how my grades were, was told I had straight A's.

And then he told the teacher that he and my mom were the parents and unless there was some kind of written school policy about books, that I could read whatever the hell I wanted during free time and politely said good-bye.

When I got home, he had been looking over my mom's collection of romances and had picked out the one with the most lurid cover and told me to take that one to school tomorrow, and it I had any free time, to take it out and read it.

BUT -- I was a freaky mature reader. I was reading really adult books at about six -- I asked my parents what "rape" was when I read a historical novel about Sacajawea 1500 pages long when I was 6, and that's when my parent's understood how freaky my reading brain was. They got me a dictionary, and asked me to ask them to explain anything I didn't understand to them. They got me a 10 volume set of human sexuality books aimed at teenagers when I was about 8 (I think so they wouldn't have to explain cunnilingus or fellatio EVER.)

So...I think the advice you've gotten is pretty spot-on. I'd say have a joint account with her, and make sure you check the history (and if she ever erase the queue, he privileges are gone.) It depends on her level of mental development.

I was a socially awkward kid and teen because I lived in books so much that I was kind of alien to other kids, BUT I grew up to have a genuine love of knowledge and an empathy and tolerance for all kinds of cultures and mores. I think if I'd had the internet as a kid, I would have connected with more kids like me and not felt like such an anomaly.

But, hey, when Micah gets a phone and/or social media sites, I have great comfort in knowing my husband is a mad hacker and we'll be keeping a mad eye on his interactions. And yo, thanks to my parents, he's had a great book on human sexuality I bought him on his shelf for two years. He was totally grossed out by it when I bought, so I have no idea if he's read it...but then, that 10 volume set on human sexuality? I read it in private, too.

Colon, Allyson

Thank ye!

I was also very precocious child who devoured books: historical romances, John Jakes, Herman Wouk,V.C. Andrews, and a few other authors that escape me at the moment. Oh, and I managed to get my hands on a copy of Fanny Hill, not knowing what kind of book it was initially.

I applaud the parents raising children in the here and now. I can't imagine dealing with email, cell phones, internet access, and social media on top of the already-tough stuff.

Nicky Brendon is not having a good six months. Alcohol and hotels again. [link]

Ah, dammit, NB. I like you too much on BTVS and Criminal Minds.

hat 10 volume set on human sexuality? I read it in private, too.

We had a paperback Home Medical Guide on our bookshelves, and I don't think anybody really looked at it. Then I discovered the fairly exhaustive sexuality chapters in the middle: what are those things and how do they get used. I'd read it on the living room couch, and my mother just figured I was just channeling my "read the encyclopedia" tastes.

Once in high school (a Church-based school) I was reading a SF/F book with the requisite half-naked barbarian woman on the cover in math class after the work was done, and the teacher looked at the cover and raised his eyebrows at me. I said, "I'm not responsible for what they put on the cover," and he just shook his head and walked away. I think no one knew quite what to do with me.

I never read anything explicit about sex until I was in college. As a result I was somewhat clueless. For example, I of course knew that PIV sex involved putting the penis in the vagina, but I did not know that the penis slides in and out of the vagina during sex--I thought it just stayed in place. I didn't learn anything to the contrary until the first time I had sex.

I had the opposite of TOmmy- I was a really late bloomer in real life, but I read so much explicit stuff when I was young, I knew about lots of things (except Toy Boats...)

I have lots of disparate things to talk about-

1. Has anyone purchased SLate Plus? I listen to podcasts ALL DAY, and I need more! I also pretty much prefer the format of something like Culture Gabfest or Pop Culture Happy Hour-- I like discussions. Is there enough extra podcast content?

2. I shared on facebook, but I thought we might have a good discussion here about the hottest US Presidents [link]

hottest US Presidents

I am really bored and annoyed at work. Enough to rate the relative hotness of men who are really not all that hot. Except for Pierce and Obama. Pierce can stay at #1, but Obama should be #2. They should have used a picture of Lincoln where he was younger; he'd be higher on the list. And switch Polk and Grant.