In PA you literally get working papers at your high school. And, as I vaguely remember it, it was in part an exercise in learning the rules, so if your employer violated them you knew. But now in AR there will be no moment when either employer or employee or employee’s parent is reminded of the rules. That’s not going to end well.

Another vote for a second hand Subaru. Love my Subie!

Just to be clear, the school mentioned in the article is a private religious school.

Chances are that Friends Central's curriculum is way, way less creepy than the article implies. And if your kids are little, obviously much of what the article described is of course not age-appropriate for them. I understand why you would have that gut reaction.

But by the time your kids are teenagers, it really is best for them to get an accurate understanding of how their body works, and how the bodies of the opposite sex work - not necessairily in the detail the article implies, but the basic topics should be covered.

Even if your kids opt not to be sexually active until marriage, perhaps some years after high school, they still need to know the basics as teens. And learning the basics in high school will prepare them for later in life when they do become sexually active.

The parents at Friends Central are paying $43,900 a year for their high schoolers to attend. If they don't like the sex ed curriculum, they can opt their kids out. Or they can withdraw their kids and have them attend any one of the many private schools in the Main Line area where Friends Central is located, or they can choose to home educate their kids, or hire a private tutor to educate them, or enroll them in one of the many public cyber-charter schools in Pennsylvania, or they can enroll them in the local public school (and save $43,900 a year!)

Private schools can only survive when they are very responsive to the concerns of parents. At $43,900 a year, they know the parents can take their money elsewhere. If the curriculum is out of line, or actually creepy, you can bet that the parents will let the admin know and the admin will take appropriate steps to keep the parents happy.

Assuming that things are as the article describes (which I feel is unlikely, as the article is written rather poorly and seems designed to incite outrage rather than objectively report the facts), this is an issue best addressed by the school admin and the parents of children at the school. The parents pay a lot of money (a LOT of money - $25K a year for nursery, going up to $43,900 for the last two years of high school) for their kids to attend this school, and you can be sure that if the actual instruction is out of line with the parents' values, it will be shut down ASAP.

If, on the other hand, the article is distorting the facts, and the parents are happy with the content of the instruction, it really isn't somethat that you or I have any say in. For better or for worse, PA allows private schools, private tutors, and home educators a lot of leeway in curriculum content, so long as certain basic subjects are taught. And that's the way it should be.

Selective Seconds is around the corner from PBX. They mostly do furniture and nice dishes, but upstairs they usually have one small shelf of cookbooks. See also the small but nice Center Square down the street for clothes and housewares.

If you have a GA license you just need to take the vision test. You don’t need to pass any driving info or driving tests. The relevant info is here.. It is a pain of course but no studying necessary!

Touched the Liberty Bell. Also climbed around on the smaller stones at Stonehenge.

Do they have an option to view your bill online and pay online, rather than calling to pay? (I have a different provider so I don’t know about PPL.). I can also pay online thru my bank, if I know the amount.

See if the power company will do an energy audit to help you figure out which improvements give the most bang for our buck. Plus those kits where you put plastic over your windows really do make a difference. Also, thermal curtains help. We have kind of gotten away from the old ways, and with an older house and colder weather, they are worth rediscovering. (And I’m with you on the attic insulation, if there isn’t a decent amount already.)

Yes.

I loved those photos! I mean, “how the heck did this thing get here” is a pretty reasonable question once you see the train, and the photos really gave you an understanding of how much of a monumental undertaking it was. I also miss the math exhibit room that was n one of the upper floors. It was quietly interesting, which was rather nice.

> What exactly was fettermans winning strategy?

He campaigned in every county in the state, knowing that he wouldn’t have more votes than his opponent in the red counties, but if he picked up enough dem votes there, then with those combined with the blue city votes, he could win. Which is exactly what happened. Because he put in the actual work to talk to (and listen to) Pennsylvanians all across the state.

Oh she looks like a very special kitty. A couple of ours over the years have gone missing, and then been found days or weeks later, safe and sound. Have hope.

But wouldn’t those people have to have requested an absentee or no-reason-needed mail-in ballot in the first place? Thus showing some interest in the election, and a high likelihood of voting even without door to door help?

Fetterman is a federal senator, not a state senator. He can work on federal legality, but doesn’t have a vote on state law.

(In contrast, Mastriano, who ran for governor is still a state senator. He has a vote on state-level bills. I’m guessing he is anti-homegrow.)

I’ve always gotten blessed by the thrifting gods at the west coast Out of the Closet locations. I will be pleased to add this to my center city shopping destination list. And goodness knows there are a whole lot of decent second hand clothes out there, and a whole lot of people like me who seek them out, so it will be nice to have this as another place to shop for them.

Membership to Longwood Gardens (if they like gardens) or Winterthur (if they like history, nature walks, or Stately Homes as the Brits call them). They can go to various events, exhibitions, and so forth, or just go for a lovely walk, any time during the year. Personally I prefer Winterthur. I believe they have reciprocal membership with several Philly gardens, but double check that as there are usually distance restrictions.

Alternately, a membership to the museum or garden or nature center of their choice, keeping in mind that they are more likely to go to places nearby their home. Consider also Hagley, anything near you that you could go to together, the art museum, and so on.

I’m so sorry. That sounds frustrating and awful. It’s gonna take a while to process the whole experience. Please be good to yourself as you work through the bazillion thoughts and feelings that must be going through your mind. And thank you for trying to help.

Could you explain the risks you are referring to? Lots of things come to mind, but none of them seem college-specific to me.

I liked that the messages changed frequently - they were fresh enough and clever enough that I read them, so if there was an amber alert etc I would be in the habit of looking. But I take in information well via text/reading. I can see it might be different for folks who don’t (because of different learning styles).

> Just because they count early doesn’t mean they have to release a running total.

Oh they should absolutely NOT release a running total. Under no circumstances. But there will be people who know the total, or who have access to it. And there’s where the issue lies. Those people might illegally use their knowledge to help their party. Or they might be accused of doing so by folks in the opposite party, even if they didn’t. It just creates a whole lot of drama, along with the possibility of an unfair election (or the perception thereof).

We have always had tight elections that take a few days to resolve. It really isnt a problem, if the candidates understand how the voting & counting works and behave like sensible, honest, professional adults. It wasn’t the counting that was the issue in the recent past, it was the adulting, or rather the lack thereof.

I think there are good reasons to not count early. Eliminates concerns about someone in on the process finding out their party's votes are low, and pushing for greater turnout. If people don't understand that it takes time to count votes, that can be addressed with more public education. If they can't understand it, there's not a lot we can do, and they will be the first to create a conspiracy theory about insiders knowing the count early if we change the process - there's no satisfying those folks.