Hil, it sounds like you and this guy are arguing two different things. Because I think it could be argued that good manners -- as the term would have been defined 50 years ago -- have declined. "Four-letter words" that were unthinkable 50 years ago are now commonplace. People don't dress up for events that they used to dress up for. (Note: I only argue that such things exist, not whether they're good or bad.)

At the same time, you're absolutely right that bigotry and discrimination have decreased significantly in that time. Members of certain groups now get treated with the common courtesy that they wouldn't have received 50 years ago.

For what it's worth, I think there's an intersection between the two arguments because a certain amount of "good manners" arose from the idea that a woman should be treated like a lady. At least some (and I'll defer to others whether it's some, a lot, or all) of that idea is based on the sexist idea that women should be sheltered and protected. Case in point from my experience -- when I was a child, I was taught that, when walking on the street with a lady, a gentleman always walks closest to the curb so if a car drives through a puddle nearby, he (and his clothes) get messed up. I now know women who do not like it when I try to take the curb side.

Oh no, shir, but glad you get to take it again!!

I took an "exotic fruit tour" this morning, which was lots of fun. Met up with the guide and fellow tour folks at the market and he cut up various fruits for us and it was tasty. AND I managed to get myself back to the hotel on public transit! Though I did have to get a cop to go buy me a second ticket—the first ticket lady didn't tell me I needed two, but then I'd have had to exit and buy a THIRD ticket, if the cop hadn't been able to take my money out and buy another. I don't understand their system—very swank metro and bus, but only human ticket people, no machines? And also nobody inside the station/turnstiles, only out, so you have to exit to get assistance.

He was arguing that respect has declined because of "snowflakes," and that's the reason there are school shootings now. He was specifically defining "respect" as "respect for authority."

So frustrating, Hil.

(And thanks for the sympathy, all. I... seriously can't believe I have to take it again, but I'd be damned if I let it stand between the MPA program and me).

Shir, if you ever need any remote math help, just let me know.

Thank you, Hil! I'm trying to get by on my own, but I'll let you know if I need further assistance.

Shana tova!

I have fallen down the rabbit hole of ancestry.com. Just the free version but the library has access to the documents but you can't make family trees.

My aunt in Florida has done a lot of this so we spent some time talking about it. The big thing is one branch of the family ends rather oddly. We have traced one person but his father is listed with the same name as the first and last name. Also under his mother her children list his name born in 1780 and then another child listed with the same (unusual) name born 1805 and then 3 boys all born different years with the same first name (I'm thinking maybe they aren't the same family). It doesnt' seem a case of where they died and subsequent children were named for them.

I was trying to looking at records but there isn't much and some people in the library using the computers were having a rather loud, heated "discussion" so I left. I'll go back one day after work and relax by looking up records.

We have traced one person but his father is listed with the same name as the first and last name. Also under his mother her children list his name born in 1780 and then another child listed with the same (unusual) name born 1805 and then 3 boys all born different years with the same first name (I'm thinking maybe they aren't the same family). It doesnt' seem a case of where they died and subsequent children were named for them.

Stuff like this from that time period is often an issue where things got copied wrong. Like, maybe this started out as a list of baptisms that the local minister kept, and then he hand-wrote a copy and submitted it to the county, where someone else hand-wrote a copy into the county book. Then sometime later that book was crumbling, so someone rewrote it. Then maybe the old records all got copied again into state records. And so on. By the time you see it, it could be the tenth copy, with a bunch of errors introduced along the way. Best thing to try to do is trace that process backwards -- see if you can figure out where the information that you're looking at came from, and then where that information came from, and so on. You'll often be able to untangle things that way.

Hil, I think on his marriage certificate it's listed as the same name first and last and then on some kind of military record for the War of 1812 but I'll have to wait until I can get to the library and look at those.

I studied with someone yesterday. Turns out that for the last two months I understood one sentence in an instruction wrong because I took it literally. For two months. And not one person - not the teacher, nor the other people I studied with caught it. And that, mostly, caused me to fail.

I'm glad I found out that I'm really not that out of touch with math before my last chance to prove myself, but: two months? With all that stress? Over one poor phrasing? Sheesh.