Tooth extraction went OK. There was no drilling this time.

I learned at a young age that the civil war was about slavery. I don't remember if we learned that in school or if I just read about it, possibly in our World Book Encyclopedia.

Out of curiosity, when you first were taught about the Civil War in school were you taught that it wasn't really about slavery? I recall from third grade that I was taught that and it really wasn't until in college when watching a documentary that I realized that it really was all about slavery.

I had a bit of the opposite- in NYS it was always all about slavery and also a bit about how great we are in the North and how great it was that Rochester had Frederick Douglass and Susan B. ANthony and other great abolitionists.

In college is when I first heard that it was not "all about slavery", but I think it was presented more as an antidote to the "Aren't the North and Lincoln the great saviors of all slaves who are wonderful good people unlike those horrible confederates" than a real argument that states rights were the only reason.

So I broke my toe Monday night. And now I'm waiting to get a wisdom tooth extraction.

Ouch. I hope you are getting the good drugs. I got a Valium IV. It was gooooooood.

Nope. Just ibuprofen. Which is adequate for the toe. Once the anesthetic wears off in my mouth we'll see how ibuprofen works for that. It was ok the last time I had wisdom teeth removed.

Just spent three minutes helpless with laughter as co-worker described coping with a kidney stone. He got to the part of having to strain his pee and the difficulty of coordinating the little cup with fluid trajectories. "This is not a thing for the novice male, this is some serious hand-eye coordination."

Out of curiosity, when you first were taught about the Civil War in school were you taught that it wasn't really about slavery?

Probably. I don't remember being taught about the Civil War specifically until middle school. My history teacher challenged some ideas...like the South were better soldiers. (Something i grew up hearing...i think blockades were blamed for the South losing).

I don't remember covering it at all in high school but my high school experience was a patch work.

Another co-worker: "I'm going to eat this because it's delici--I have Nutella! I can dip this in Nutella! Oh, I love life when you realize you have this delicious spready stuff!"

It's being a more punchdrunk day than usual around here.

I grew up in the south and they tended to focus more on, "Battles were fought right here in X-town!" Slavery was not a focus.

Out of curiosity, when you first were taught about the Civil War in school were you taught that it wasn't really about slavery? I recall from third grade that I was taught that and it really wasn't until in college when watching a documentary that I realized that it really was all about slavery.

It was about slavery as far as the people in charge were concerned. I think the soldiers, most of whom owned no slaves, were primarily fighting because there were armies of Union soldiers marching into the South and shooting at people. But much of the economy of the southern states was built around slavery, and pretty much everyone with real power was heavily invested in that system continuing.

I think the soldiers, most of whom owned no slaves, were primarily fighting because there were armies of Union soldiers marching into the South and shooting at people.

According to Encyclopedia.com and the National Park Service sites, at the outset of the Civil War, the south had more volunteers than they could equip, and had to turn away 200,000 men. The Union didn't march into Virginia until a month and a half after the war started, and didn't get past southern ports to actually march into any other southern states until well into the next year. By 1862 the Confederacy had to turn to conscription due to a lack of volunteers.

So I think the Confederate rank and file were pretty invested in the goals of the Confederacy at the outset, and those goals were centered around keeping a slave-owning economy and culture.