When I was a kid, children's car seats did not exist, nor was it mandatory to wear a seatbelt. I never got hurled through a windscreen, but my kids don't go anywhere without being properly buckled in.

At the same time my children get to use chef's knives in the kitchen and will get their own penknives when they are 8 or 9 and air-rifles when they are 12. It is important to teach children responsibility and not wrap them in cotton wool.

[Octillus]

What's interesting is that these anxieties are transcribed down to the children. They pick up on the parents paranoia and make it into their own.

Now Ppinkham, I'm sorry to hear about what happened, and by all accounts I've heard that Santa Cruz from about 1970 til the earthquake was a weird place with a lot of perverts that holed up in the area (along with murderers! YAY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD IN THE 70s!), that said, I was getting myself to and from school from about 9 and I ended up only slightly maladjusted for reasons nothing to do with being independent.

That said, my youngest brother is 11, and is only just now capable of being home alone, and not when it's dark. He's a smart kid, healthy, well-behaved, incredibly creative, and even a bit of a daredevil, but he's just not put together to not feel some underlying anxiety about certain things, mostly to do with irrational parental fears.

Let's not forget, car accidents, household accidents, and illness are more likely to happen.

I'm not the hugest fan of when South Park gets preachy, but the episode where the children are sent out because no one could be trusted not to touch them, and they go live with the Mongolians is pretty spot on.

That said, my youngest brother is 11, and is only just now capable of being home alone, and not when it's dark.

I'm a parent and can't think why anyone would leave a child of 11 years or younger home alone after dark.

[Octillus]

Yeah, I guess my childhood was strange then.

And now for something completely different:

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Its funny cause if you read what interpretations are in the comments section, it actually changes to say it o.O.

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maybe y'awl saw this already but fuck it, its dev and ihsahn <3

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Is it wrong for me to laugh at this?

[youtube]4j3NoLeJiRU[/youtube]

Is it wrong for me to laugh at this?

[youtube]4j3NoLeJiRU[/youtube]

Don't think so. Even I couldn't help but chuckle . Although I'm still under the impression of whether I should be taking this seriously or not.

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[youtube]agV1QDxJQEA[/youtube]

[youtube]EFjEp79zaNw[/youtube]

A combination of the songs "Viginti Tres", "Wings For Marie" and "10 000 Days (Wings For Marie Pt 2)".

Incredible. I don't really care if they did this intentionally or not, but just the fact that something like this can happen in an album is awesome.

[youtube]50v3FmXXuE8[/youtube]

I have a bottle of this stuff, but have yet to open it as I'm waiting to finish some of my other insane sauces (I don't like having them open all at once), but I imagine my reaction will be about the same.

See, I love hot sauce, but I'll take flavor over heat any day. I'm a big fan of Mike & Diane's Ring of Fire sauces, just because they have really great flavor. Some are fairly hot, but not so much that all you get is the heat without the flavor.