No, they don't. They have doctrinal statements for faculty and staff, and may have stricter conduct codes, but they are generally willing to enroll students of any faith/non-faith who are will to abide by the conduct codes
I attended Brigham Young University (owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Tithing from the faithful subsidize students' education, so members of the faith pay a lower tuition (like how residents pay less at state universities). Faculty and students must sign the Honor Code and receive an Ecclesiastic Endorsement on a yearly basis. In essence, you promise to live up to dress and grooming standards, live the Word of Wisdom (no alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco, or illicit drugs), follow moral rules (no extra-marital sex, no men in the ladies dorms [or vice verse] after midnight), etc. This does not exclude students from other religions - or even atheists - but most students are LdS.
Which is a Republican lie. Rmoney, the manlike object that hates us, ruled that Olympics so you just know all of the numbers surrounding it are lies. He is Moron, err Mormon, and they hate the truth. Hate the truth.
Ad hominem upon ad hominem. How clever to switch a couple letters to turn "Romney" to "Rmoney". However, Republicans believe in spending their own money, while it's Socialists (such as Obama) who spend others' money, so "Rmoney" (our money) doesn't quite fit. Then you ad hominem Romney calling him a manlike object, followed by saying that all Republicans "hate us" (who is us anyways? those who are quick to spend others' money?). You are not the first try to be funny by omitting a letter from "Mormon" to create "Moron". As for Mormons hating the truth, that's patently false. Mormons believe that "the glory of God is intelligence" and that all truth comes from God.
Can you give a single verifiable case of the numbers being fudged in the SLC Olympics? We keep such good records that it was in that Olympic that the scandal over the Olympic Committee requiring bribes was brought to light (those bribes were included in reports on the cost of the games).
Getting the Olympics is a winning proposition less than 50% of the time. It costs more to put on the olympics than the revenues from them. It only financially works if the facilities are used after the Olympics are over, which means that the facilities have to be built well enough to stand for decades, which means that they cost even more to build. There are lot more Sarajevos than there are Lake Placids.
If you want to look at a money-making Olympics, look to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, which made 101 million dollars despite additional costs for security after 9/11.
96 km/h is fast enough for the highway. Here in the Netherlands the vehicle must be capable of 60 km/h to be allowed on the highway. Typical highway speed (maximum speed) for trucks is 80 km/h, so any vehicle that can go faster than that is not a problem.
Here in Utah, the minimum speed on our highways is 45 mph (72km/h), with the posted speed limit on most at 70 mph (112 km/h). Typical speed outside rush hour is 80 mph (128 km/h). This prototype would be an annoyance to other motorists, but wouldn't break any traffic laws due to speed.
Chinese law doesn't apply in HK. HK has its own border, passport, security, police, pplitics, driving, language, educatiin system. HK has uncensored internetz freedom of speech, free elections, freedom of religion, freedom of travel (no Hukou bullshit, and the passport isn't worthless), freedom of the press, right to protest, right to criticize the government, fsir trials when charged with a crime, no black jails or anything of that matter, must I go on?
It may "officially" be China's in name, but calling it China and treating it like every other part of the corrupt communist shithole is wrong. And that's what China tells its peoole, censoring heavily tbings like the Umbrella Revolution because shit will go down if people know that kind of protest could happen in "China".
My brother has lived in Hong Kong since before it was returned to China. Mainland China is slow to make changes in HK because they don't want a revolt. If you look up a few posts, Hong Kong was placed in the same list as Taiwan, Tibet, and the islands in the South Sea. Of these, Hong Kong officially belongs to China; the others are disputed. If you go to the Wikipedia article I referenced, there is a nice table of what's changed and what remained the same since 1 July 1997.
In Maryland, our gas is down to $1.65, this is lower than when I started driving, if your prices haven't dropped below $2 a gallon, then I would look at why if I were you. At the height of the gas prices in the last 5 years, MD gas was $5, so it isn't like ours is somehow artificially low in some way.
Utah's average for 85 octane gasoline is $1.80 / gallon right now. There is no reason for it to be so expensive, especially considering we have 5 refineries in state, and gasoline refined in Utah costs LESS in Idaho. Admittedly, a 5 cent tax increase went into effect January 1.
Keep in mind this is China's news, the same ones who tell us Taiwan/Hong Kong/Tibet/South sea islands is belonged to China.
I hate to burst your bubble, but Hong Kong does belong to China since 1 July 1997. One could argue that at least the New Territories always belonged to China and were just leased to the UK.
I wonder if the content on Wired is worth $1 / week to browse sans advertisements. I normally read the headline and quick summary in the email they send; rarely is it interesting enough to actually go to their site.
Why do people feel the need to whine about other people giving the government a free loan? Most of us don't really give two sh*ts about it and I have more things to do with my time over the year than worry about whether or not the Feds get a 0% from me.
So they get a 0% from me.. WGAS. You know what is nice? That nice little bonus to me, from me, in March each year.
Most people don't whine about other people giving the government an interest-free loan. Most people who whine do so because the government gets any interest on any tax they overpaid. We also make fun of people who think that a tax refund is a bonus or free money. Shoot, my state taxes tax refunds as income!
The calorie works great. Weight is calories in vs calories out. It's simple, effective, and efficient.
Weight is calories absorbed vs calories spent. It is deceptively simple if worded like this, but in practice it's anything but simple. Based on genetics and gut fauna (and other factors), you may absorb a different number of calories than someone else despite eating an identical diet. WOW chips and the like can claim to be zero calorie because 99% of the population isn't able to absorb their calories. Likewise, your metabolism, weight, body composition, etc, affect how many calories you use to do different activities.
Health, otoh, is complicated. Eating balanced meals, exercise, etc. People keep confusing the two.
Have a look at the sizes of servings in restaurants in different countries and you might see correlation with obesity in the population. I'm not having a go at Americans, but *everyone* I know who visits the USA notices that all restaurant servings are huge. Imagine if those sizes are seen as normal from an early age, how can people not adjust their expectations (and feelings of satiety) to regularly eating enough food to obtain 3000 or 4000kcals per day?
I don't eat out often, but when I do I take home roughly half my meal in a doggy bag for the next day. I know my body type and where my ancestors came from, so I eat accordingly. I am engineered to crave sweets to keep me alive during those dark, harsh winters. To undo thousands of years of evolution, I don't keep sugary snacks at home or near my desk. Every time I get a craving, I have to decide if it's worth running to the store.
And yet that definition is inherently unfair to those couples who WANT to be married AND have an open relationship. Most of the "successful" open relationships I know of (success being defined as everyone is aware, it doesn't cause drama / jealousy, etc) is within the boundaries of a legal marriage. The marriage actually adds quite a bit of stability to their lives, keeps the partners from totally going off the rails, and gives them a foundation to return to. This isn't cheating; they don't hide anything from each other. They have various reasons for it...but for it to be a felony is ridiculous. As for breaking a contract, if the two married people choose to make their own vows and PURPOSELY leave out "forsaking all others" etc, should they still face the legal ramifications of a court system that legislates what morality behind closed doors is supposed to be like?
As marriage is a contract, the partners should be free to apply any clauses which are Constitutional and don't violate any local, state, or federal laws. This viewpoint does not preclude individuals or organizations from calling such unions "sinful" or "bad for society". My sect will excommunicate members who engage in extramarital (or premarital) sex. My sect has no other legal recurse (nor should it).
On a side note, anyone who calls themselves a Libertarian and yet is still pushing for governmental intrusion into bedroom activities is a hypocrite on the highest level.
On a side note, I have never called myself a Libertarian. I am wary of applying any of the existing political parties to myself because they all have tenets with which I disagree. I consider myself a Conservative on many issues, including financial responsibility and personal accountability.
Putting aside the underlying puritanical bullshit, who broke the law here? Yes, that's right, the hackers and the extortionists. Wah wah wah, people have affairs and they'e evil people.. such moralizing bullshit. Neither Ashley Madison nor the people using the site broke any laws.
That isn't true, depending on what state you live in! Adultery is absolutely a crime in Virgina and probably other states.
Utah is another such state. Because of its polygamous past, the US Congress forced the state constitution to legally define marriage as being between one man and one woman (though part of that got thrown out with same-sex marriage now legal nation-wide). The state constitution also makes any extra-marital affairs illegal (though this is rarely enforced).
It should be a crime everywhere. If you are committing adultery and you are violating your marriage contract. At least if you spouse is ignorant of this its likely they are investing in the partnership in ways that would be against their interest if the marriage isn't sustainable. If they were aware of your misbehavior and would stop doing that in light of it you have induced them to act against their own interest by misrepresentation. That is basically the text book definition of FRAUD.
We don't tolerate legally or societal fraud elsewhere there is no justifiable reason it should be tolerated with regard to marriage. The reason it is tolerated is because progressives hate the idea of the family unit. Its a little to autonomous and independent for them so they do what they can break it down including stacking the legal framework against it.
That's a good view; marriage is a contract. If you violate the contract, your partner can void the contract without prejudice (meaning, in part, that prenuptial agrees are no longer in effect).
People prefer locally grown food to limit the carbon footprint of transporting the food half way around the world. Lower cost of transportation should also lower the price consumers pay.
"Organic" crops cost more because they are more expensive to produce. A significant portion of the crops is lost to insects, etc, because we can't use efficient chemicals and still apply the "organic" label. It also means raising (chickens, cattle, etc) for longer times because we can't inject them with hormones. Unfortunately, stores inflate the price of "organic" food beyond actual cost increases over non-"organic" food.
Bible translators routinely enforce copyright in their translations. This is why the World English Bible (WEB) project exists, to produce a revision of the pre-1923 ASV into contemporary English and license it under CC0.
I am not a lawyer, but have done some research into the matter. Each translation of the Bible (or other ancient manuscripts) can be copyrighted by the translator. Additionally, each new edition can copyright certain non-textual changes (such as headers, footers, page layout, etc) as well as textual changes (correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation). The 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon is in the public domain, but the LdS Church (under the name Intellectual Reserves, if I remember correctly) has a copyright of the current (2013) edition.
Being anti GMO is every bit as nonsensical as being an anti-vaxer. There's all of about zero credible scientific data against it.
I am not against GMOs in general, but any time you do manipulate the genes in a way that can't happen in nature you have to do due diligence. It takes a while to discover all the side effects of activation a gene.
Furthermore, the efforts to label it are purely for the purpose of stigmatizing it and shouldn't be taken seriously. The reason ingredients are labeled is to help people with dietary concerns (such as allergies) however there's no dietary or other concerns with GMO food, hence labeling serves no useful (other than perhaps religious) purpose.
One such "religious" objection involves crops genetically modified to be immune to herbicides, then the company which created this GMO goes after any neighboring farm where these GMO seeds might have been carried by the wind (or where non-GMO crops pick up this same trait through cross pollination).
The media only exists to rile people up these days.
In the Harry Potter books, Ms. Skeeter (a reporter) says that "The Daily Prophet exists to sell The Daily Prophet." The media exists to make money. This is accomplished by selling its content (or getting enough clicks). Sensational content gets more attention.
Given that HPV is primarily a sexually transmitted disease Gardasil really doesn't fit under this public health justification of the likely form of disease transmission in a school setting. HPV isn't transmitted in the air or on surfaces even, so this vaccine doesn't fit the justification for other vaccines. Making Gardasil mandatory really does get into the territory of forcing medical treatment on people because we think it is good for them. Whatever you think of vaccines, as a society we are better off with public health policies that only intrude on medical decisions when absolutely necessary.
BINGO! Vaccines for serious diseases which would spread easily in a school setting should be mandatory for attending public school (barring valid medical reasons, such as allergy to the vaccine). This group of vaccines includes MMR. Vaccines against diseases which require more intimate contact than one would expect at school should be optional. There could even be different standards for students, teachers, and cafeteria workers. Any school which does not require vaccines should make it known so parents can make an informed decision before enlisted their children.
(Or less sarcastically, what would lead you to suggest even a possible link between vaccines and IQ? If anything, fewer lifetime flu infections may be linked to less brain swelling and lower risk for dimentia)
I don't believe that vaccines affect IQ, but some people may think so based on mercury used as a preservative in them.
Chicken pox itched like crazy, but wasn't life threatening and its spread is easy to prevent.
Chicken pox wasn't easy enough to eliminate before vaccines. And perhaps it wasn't life threatening for you but one of our sons had a classmate who had to have a liver transplant at age 3. (I'm sure poor lifestyle choices led to that...) Chicken pox could easily kill that child. Every time anyone in his school came down with any of several common illnesses, he had to stay home for several days. Vaccination is more than a personal issue.
Please don't lump me into the nutcases who believe that all misfortune in one's life is caused by sin.
I'm not arguing against vaccines, just that maybe not all vaccines should be mandatory. One of the reasons chicken pox wasn't eliminated was those "chicken pox parties" that our parents and grandparents used to throw. Chicken pox is generally more mild for children than adults (obvious exception for the very young), ergo neighbors would ask to expose their children when there was a case. As a parent, I made an informed decision to vaccinate my oldest at 15 months. My other child is too young.
Reye Syndrome. Reye syndrome, a disorder that causes sudden and dangerous liver and brain damage, is a side effect of aspirin therapy in children who have chickenpox or influenza. The disease can lead to coma and is life threatening. Symptoms include rash, vomiting, and confusion beginning about a week after the onset of the disease. Because of the strong warnings against children taking aspirin, this condition is, fortunately, very rare. Children should never be given aspirin when they have a viral infection or fever. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is the preferred drug for fever or pain in patients younger than age 18 years.
VZV hepatitis with acute liver failure appears to be an uncommon, yet frequently fatal condition. We searched MED-LINE (1966 – 1996) with the key words varicella and liver for additional cases.
Most of the patients described were immunocompromised for one or several reasons such as splenectomy, renal transplantation , bone-marrow transplantation, use of corticosteroids, and AIDS....
Slashdot Mirror
No, they don't. They have doctrinal statements for faculty and staff, and may have stricter conduct codes, but they are generally willing to enroll students of any faith/non-faith who are will to abide by the conduct codes
I attended Brigham Young University (owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Tithing from the faithful subsidize students' education, so members of the faith pay a lower tuition (like how residents pay less at state universities). Faculty and students must sign the Honor Code and receive an Ecclesiastic Endorsement on a yearly basis. In essence, you promise to live up to dress and grooming standards, live the Word of Wisdom (no alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco, or illicit drugs), follow moral rules (no extra-marital sex, no men in the ladies dorms [or vice verse] after midnight), etc. This does not exclude students from other religions - or even atheists - but most students are LdS.
If it only covers things which are 'informational and thoughtful nature', most companies should be fine :D
Not to mention slashdot comments!
Color me surprised! I was trying to get +5 funny, but ended up +5 insightful. I really just wanted to be the first to publish the obvious joke.
Which is a Republican lie. Rmoney, the manlike object that hates us, ruled that Olympics so you just know all of the numbers surrounding it are lies. He is Moron, err Mormon, and they hate the truth. Hate the truth.
Ad hominem upon ad hominem. How clever to switch a couple letters to turn "Romney" to "Rmoney". However, Republicans believe in spending their own money, while it's Socialists (such as Obama) who spend others' money, so "Rmoney" (our money) doesn't quite fit. Then you ad hominem Romney calling him a manlike object, followed by saying that all Republicans "hate us" (who is us anyways? those who are quick to spend others' money?). You are not the first try to be funny by omitting a letter from "Mormon" to create "Moron". As for Mormons hating the truth, that's patently false. Mormons believe that "the glory of God is intelligence" and that all truth comes from God.
Can you give a single verifiable case of the numbers being fudged in the SLC Olympics? We keep such good records that it was in that Olympic that the scandal over the Olympic Committee requiring bribes was brought to light (those bribes were included in reports on the cost of the games).
Stupid, no. The got the Olympics
Getting the Olympics is a winning proposition less than 50% of the time. It costs more to put on the olympics than the revenues from them. It only financially works if the facilities are used after the Olympics are over, which means that the facilities have to be built well enough to stand for decades, which means that they cost even more to build. There are lot more Sarajevos than there are Lake Placids.
If you want to look at a money-making Olympics, look to the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, which made 101 million dollars despite additional costs for security after 9/11.
I was born in 1976, and my parents took me to see it in the theaters.
As per the PG rating, remember that back then it went G, PG, R, X; PG-13 wasn't introduced until 1984.
If it only covers things which are 'informational and thoughtful nature', most companies should be fine :D
96 km/h is fast enough for the highway. Here in the Netherlands the vehicle must be capable of 60 km/h to be allowed on the highway. Typical highway speed (maximum speed) for trucks is 80 km/h, so any vehicle that can go faster than that is not a problem.
Here in Utah, the minimum speed on our highways is 45 mph (72km/h), with the posted speed limit on most at 70 mph (112 km/h). Typical speed outside rush hour is 80 mph (128 km/h). This prototype would be an annoyance to other motorists, but wouldn't break any traffic laws due to speed.
More so: the englisch word human derives directly from the latin word homo.
homo means same in Greek (homonym = same name; homophone=same sound, etc). The English word human derives from the Latin humanus by way of French.
Chinese law doesn't apply in HK. HK has its own border, passport, security, police, pplitics, driving, language, educatiin system. HK has uncensored internetz freedom of speech, free elections, freedom of religion, freedom of travel (no Hukou bullshit, and the passport isn't worthless), freedom of the press, right to protest, right to criticize the government, fsir trials when charged with a crime, no black jails or anything of that matter, must I go on?
It may "officially" be China's in name, but calling it China and treating it like every other part of the corrupt communist shithole is wrong. And that's what China tells its peoole, censoring heavily tbings like the Umbrella Revolution because shit will go down if people know that kind of protest could happen in "China".
My brother has lived in Hong Kong since before it was returned to China. Mainland China is slow to make changes in HK because they don't want a revolt. If you look up a few posts, Hong Kong was placed in the same list as Taiwan, Tibet, and the islands in the South Sea. Of these, Hong Kong officially belongs to China; the others are disputed. If you go to the Wikipedia article I referenced, there is a nice table of what's changed and what remained the same since 1 July 1997.
In Maryland, our gas is down to $1.65, this is lower than when I started driving, if your prices haven't dropped below $2 a gallon, then I would look at why if I were you. At the height of the gas prices in the last 5 years, MD gas was $5, so it isn't like ours is somehow artificially low in some way.
Utah's average for 85 octane gasoline is $1.80 / gallon right now. There is no reason for it to be so expensive, especially considering we have 5 refineries in state, and gasoline refined in Utah costs LESS in Idaho. Admittedly, a 5 cent tax increase went into effect January 1.
Well... gas prices ARE down significantly from what they were a year or two ago.
I live in Utah where our gas prices are down about 5-7 cents per gallon from a year ago, not what I would call SIGNIFICANT.
Keep in mind this is China's news, the same ones who tell us Taiwan/Hong Kong/Tibet/South sea islands is belonged to China.
I hate to burst your bubble, but Hong Kong does belong to China since 1 July 1997. One could argue that at least the New Territories always belonged to China and were just leased to the UK.
I wonder if the content on Wired is worth $1 / week to browse sans advertisements. I normally read the headline and quick summary in the email they send; rarely is it interesting enough to actually go to their site.
Why do people feel the need to whine about other people giving the government a free loan? Most of us don't really give two sh*ts about it and I have more things to do with my time over the year than worry about whether or not the Feds get a 0% from me.
So they get a 0% from me.. WGAS. You know what is nice? That nice little bonus to me, from me, in March each year.
Most people don't whine about other people giving the government an interest-free loan. Most people who whine do so because the government gets any interest on any tax they overpaid. We also make fun of people who think that a tax refund is a bonus or free money. Shoot, my state taxes tax refunds as income!
The calorie works great. Weight is calories in vs calories out. It's simple, effective, and efficient.
Weight is calories absorbed vs calories spent. It is deceptively simple if worded like this, but in practice it's anything but simple. Based on genetics and gut fauna (and other factors), you may absorb a different number of calories than someone else despite eating an identical diet. WOW chips and the like can claim to be zero calorie because 99% of the population isn't able to absorb their calories. Likewise, your metabolism, weight, body composition, etc, affect how many calories you use to do different activities.
Health, otoh, is complicated. Eating balanced meals, exercise, etc. People keep confusing the two.
Have a look at the sizes of servings in restaurants in different countries and you might see correlation with obesity in the population. I'm not having a go at Americans, but *everyone* I know who visits the USA notices that all restaurant servings are huge. Imagine if those sizes are seen as normal from an early age, how can people not adjust their expectations (and feelings of satiety) to regularly eating enough food to obtain 3000 or 4000kcals per day?
I don't eat out often, but when I do I take home roughly half my meal in a doggy bag for the next day. I know my body type and where my ancestors came from, so I eat accordingly. I am engineered to crave sweets to keep me alive during those dark, harsh winters. To undo thousands of years of evolution, I don't keep sugary snacks at home or near my desk. Every time I get a craving, I have to decide if it's worth running to the store.
And yet that definition is inherently unfair to those couples who WANT to be married AND have an open relationship. Most of the "successful" open relationships I know of (success being defined as everyone is aware, it doesn't cause drama / jealousy, etc) is within the boundaries of a legal marriage. The marriage actually adds quite a bit of stability to their lives, keeps the partners from totally going off the rails, and gives them a foundation to return to. This isn't cheating; they don't hide anything from each other. They have various reasons for it...but for it to be a felony is ridiculous. As for breaking a contract, if the two married people choose to make their own vows and PURPOSELY leave out "forsaking all others" etc, should they still face the legal ramifications of a court system that legislates what morality behind closed doors is supposed to be like?
As marriage is a contract, the partners should be free to apply any clauses which are Constitutional and don't violate any local, state, or federal laws. This viewpoint does not preclude individuals or organizations from calling such unions "sinful" or "bad for society". My sect will excommunicate members who engage in extramarital (or premarital) sex. My sect has no other legal recurse (nor should it).
On a side note, anyone who calls themselves a Libertarian and yet is still pushing for governmental intrusion into bedroom activities is a hypocrite on the highest level.
On a side note, I have never called myself a Libertarian. I am wary of applying any of the existing political parties to myself because they all have tenets with which I disagree. I consider myself a Conservative on many issues, including financial responsibility and personal accountability.
Putting aside the underlying puritanical bullshit, who broke the law here? Yes, that's right, the hackers and the extortionists. Wah wah wah, people have affairs and they'e evil people .. such moralizing bullshit. Neither Ashley Madison nor the people using the site broke any laws.
That isn't true, depending on what state you live in! Adultery is absolutely a crime in Virgina and probably other states.
Utah is another such state. Because of its polygamous past, the US Congress forced the state constitution to legally define marriage as being between one man and one woman (though part of that got thrown out with same-sex marriage now legal nation-wide). The state constitution also makes any extra-marital affairs illegal (though this is rarely enforced).
It should be a crime everywhere. If you are committing adultery and you are violating your marriage contract. At least if you spouse is ignorant of this its likely they are investing in the partnership in ways that would be against their interest if the marriage isn't sustainable. If they were aware of your misbehavior and would stop doing that in light of it you have induced them to act against their own interest by misrepresentation. That is basically the text book definition of FRAUD.
We don't tolerate legally or societal fraud elsewhere there is no justifiable reason it should be tolerated with regard to marriage. The reason it is tolerated is because progressives hate the idea of the family unit. Its a little to autonomous and independent for them so they do what they can break it down including stacking the legal framework against it.
That's a good view; marriage is a contract. If you violate the contract, your partner can void the contract without prejudice (meaning, in part, that prenuptial agrees are no longer in effect).
People prefer locally grown food to limit the carbon footprint of transporting the food half way around the world. Lower cost of transportation should also lower the price consumers pay.
"Organic" crops cost more because they are more expensive to produce. A significant portion of the crops is lost to insects, etc, because we can't use efficient chemicals and still apply the "organic" label. It also means raising (chickens, cattle, etc) for longer times because we can't inject them with hormones. Unfortunately, stores inflate the price of "organic" food beyond actual cost increases over non-"organic" food.
Bible translators routinely enforce copyright in their translations. This is why the World English Bible (WEB) project exists, to produce a revision of the pre-1923 ASV into contemporary English and license it under CC0.
I am not a lawyer, but have done some research into the matter. Each translation of the Bible (or other ancient manuscripts) can be copyrighted by the translator. Additionally, each new edition can copyright certain non-textual changes (such as headers, footers, page layout, etc) as well as textual changes (correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation). The 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon is in the public domain, but the LdS Church (under the name Intellectual Reserves, if I remember correctly) has a copyright of the current (2013) edition.
Probably the later.
Being anti GMO is every bit as nonsensical as being an anti-vaxer. There's all of about zero credible scientific data against it.
I am not against GMOs in general, but any time you do manipulate the genes in a way that can't happen in nature you have to do due diligence. It takes a while to discover all the side effects of activation a gene.
Furthermore, the efforts to label it are purely for the purpose of stigmatizing it and shouldn't be taken seriously. The reason ingredients are labeled is to help people with dietary concerns (such as allergies) however there's no dietary or other concerns with GMO food, hence labeling serves no useful (other than perhaps religious) purpose.
One such "religious" objection involves crops genetically modified to be immune to herbicides, then the company which created this GMO goes after any neighboring farm where these GMO seeds might have been carried by the wind (or where non-GMO crops pick up this same trait through cross pollination).
The media only exists to rile people up these days.
In the Harry Potter books, Ms. Skeeter (a reporter) says that "The Daily Prophet exists to sell The Daily Prophet." The media exists to make money. This is accomplished by selling its content (or getting enough clicks). Sensational content gets more attention.
Given that HPV is primarily a sexually transmitted disease Gardasil really doesn't fit under this public health justification of the likely form of disease transmission in a school setting. HPV isn't transmitted in the air or on surfaces even, so this vaccine doesn't fit the justification for other vaccines. Making Gardasil mandatory really does get into the territory of forcing medical treatment on people because we think it is good for them. Whatever you think of vaccines, as a society we are better off with public health policies that only intrude on medical decisions when absolutely necessary.
BINGO! Vaccines for serious diseases which would spread easily in a school setting should be mandatory for attending public school (barring valid medical reasons, such as allergy to the vaccine). This group of vaccines includes MMR. Vaccines against diseases which require more intimate contact than one would expect at school should be optional. There could even be different standards for students, teachers, and cafeteria workers. Any school which does not require vaccines should make it known so parents can make an informed decision before enlisted their children.
(Or less sarcastically, what would lead you to suggest even a possible link between vaccines and IQ? If anything, fewer lifetime flu infections may be linked to less brain swelling and lower risk for dimentia)
I don't believe that vaccines affect IQ, but some people may think so based on mercury used as a preservative in them.
You wrote:
Chicken pox wasn't easy enough to eliminate before vaccines. And perhaps it wasn't life threatening for you but one of our sons had a classmate who had to have a liver transplant at age 3. (I'm sure poor lifestyle choices led to that...) Chicken pox could easily kill that child. Every time anyone in his school came down with any of several common illnesses, he had to stay home for several days. Vaccination is more than a personal issue.
Please don't lump me into the nutcases who believe that all misfortune in one's life is caused by sin.
I'm not arguing against vaccines, just that maybe not all vaccines should be mandatory. One of the reasons chicken pox wasn't eliminated was those "chicken pox parties" that our parents and grandparents used to throw. Chicken pox is generally more mild for children than adults (obvious exception for the very young), ergo neighbors would ask to expose their children when there was a case. As a parent, I made an informed decision to vaccinate my oldest at 15 months. My other child is too young.