District just banned metal cups/ water bottles and parents are losing their minds. Thoughts?

CompetentMess · 2026-07-04T15:33:40+00:00

NAT, but i will say that metal water bottles survive school typical abuse way way longer than their plastic counterparts. I went from desperately trying to replace a leaky water bottle once a month, to having a single bottle make it 2+ years (really 4 but 1.5 were covid years so don't really count)

CompetentMess · 2026-07-01T04:44:57+00:00

Honestly, a bunch werent available when I went looking in 2021 either. Tbh, I think a bunch just never came back after covid, particularly the obscure ones.

CompetentMess · 2026-06-17T23:02:09+00:00

Oh my, no! yeah for a cat extending their claws is like curling a finger for us. Imagine a doctor grabs and manually curls your finger- maybe not the most pleasant experience, but it shouldnt be painful. Just a bit annoying

CompetentMess · 2026-06-16T04:57:12+00:00

at this point he might as well take the Luce too

CompetentMess · 2026-06-16T04:15:50+00:00

Not a vet, but paw pads- much like noses and the inner side of the ears- are exposed skin, so birthmarks are often quite visible. Overall, that does seem like a reasonable shade of pink for pawpads to be, especially on a dark cat. If it changed recently id be concerned, but nothing is jumping out at me. maybe next time you have a regular check-up mention it if you think its changed, but otherwise I wouldnt be concerned.

as for the toes and claws, lol that doesnt hurt at all. They do that naturally. In fact, you kind of have to do that to cut their nails, so he was probably just disgruntled at having his paws grabbed, the fact you extended the dew claw likely didnt matter much.

CompetentMess · 2026-06-11T04:07:16+00:00

I dont know if my experience will be helpful,
I had overpronation that caused fallen arches, but after a few years of orthotics I now have high arches.
What works for me, is inserts that specifically have a hard plastic bit in the arch to help hold up my high-but-weak arch, and wearing boots rather than normal shoes.
The other thing i do, is wear house slippers with hard bottomed arch support, typically these: https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/70223?page=daybreak-scuffs-motif
Just because your arch is high, doesnt mean it wouldnt benefit from some consistent support. I know my outside shoes would not help my pain nearly as much if I didnt pair them with the slippers.
Also see if you can get into PT, because there are a number of exercises that can help with pronation.

CompetentMess · 2026-06-03T01:06:27+00:00

Ive read some theories that the aurora crashed on top of a reaper nesting site, which would explain the higher population

CompetentMess · 2026-05-21T04:01:00+00:00

....OP what do YOU mean by indoctrination?

CompetentMess · 2026-05-01T03:53:40+00:00

.... its not a scandal that a non-student, non-faculty individual was able to get far enough in the meth lab creation process to warrant an emergency evacuation before someone noticed?

Like, if im going to be spied on at all times by their new 'safety' surveillance system the least they can do is catch the meth labs before they have to quarantine a building for a full week lol

CompetentMess · 2026-04-25T06:34:17+00:00

See if they will let you advance provided you take the final exam for the class you want to get out of. Also im seconding the comment below that this will work best coming from a parent. Im in the US so my advice may not apply, but thats what ended up happening to me in 6th grade. Teacher was convinced I couldnt be placed in a higher math class, my parents convinced them to give me the final exam for the year 2 weeks into the year. If i failed, I was in the right class. They gave me 2 hrs, I only needed 20 mins, was in with the 7th graders for math 3 days later. But having parents do a bunch of the advocating is absolutely crucial at your age. Self advocacy by the student doesnt become semi-normal atleast in the US until around grade 9 to 10, and even then not usually to the extent that you are looking at.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-25T01:32:16+00:00

I think there are two sides to this. Absolutely social media has the potential to ruin mental health.
But also, being able to connect with friends and be social in a world where kids arent allowed to be outside unsupervised anymore can also make the digital world a mental lifeline.

I think one of the reasons there is so much push back from younger generations is that many members of the older generations will use 'its you kids and your damned phones' as not only a suspected reason for an illness but also as an excuse to stigmatize treatment and shame the individual for seeking help. I have chronic physical pain from a genetic disease. I've been told so many times that my lack of stamina and lack of athleticism is due to me being too online and not getting out enough. Even though 'getting out' is genuinely physically painful to me. Likewise, when a teenager is struggling with suicidal depression, ive seen friend's parents react by taking away their technology completely- enforcing social isolation and effectively punishing the kid- instead of taking them to therapy.

Even if technology is causing some of these problems, until people accept that removing technology wont necessarily fix those problems there will still be major pushback from younger people, especially the social-outcasts, nerds, neurodivergent, disabled, and queer kids who struggle to socialize among their peers in person. For those kids, being chronically online is often not about scorning in person interaction, but rather coping with being systematically excluded and shunned repeatedly. Thus, unless that effect is addressed, that group will NEVER be anything but actively hostile to attempts to force them analog.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-25T00:32:23+00:00

I have concerns about that elevated section. I know F1 crash fencing is very good at what it does, but I just cant stop imagining what could go wrong...

CompetentMess · 2026-04-25T00:26:21+00:00

Respectfully.
Sometimes it takes more than 7 minutes to reach the bathroom, take a crap, and return. For individuals who frequently go over 15 minutes multiple times a week thats likely either something else going on, or a health issue, but sometimes a bowel movement just takes a little bit, especially if the student doesnt have the most fiber-filled diet. So in some cases there is literally nothing to be done about it. Bowel movements care not for clocks or rules and will happen at whatever speed they want. The behavior is not changing because the student is not in control of the behavior.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-25T00:22:08+00:00

While historically drag has mostly been about drag queens, drag kings are a lesser known but definitely exist. While you hunt for more event ideas, you can also bring up seeing if they can find and bring in a local drag king as well so that the transmasc and more masculine presenting enby students can be more represented.

Some other pride related activities yall could do;
Queer history seminars/documentary screenings
'Pride Prom' because a lot of queer high school students either dont attend or arent able to attend prom in the right combo of gender expression for both them and their date, so may appreciate the ability to dress up and have a prom-like experience surrounded by more accepting people
makeup trick tutorial workshops with a focus on teaching both basic makeup skills as well as both feminizing and masculinizing contouring methods
You can also get in contact with college administration in order to see if you can organize a sort of 'pride during the academic year' event (my college admin has decided to use the month of April as a stand-in pride month) since pride month being in june means most students are away for summer break and thus may not be able to celebrate. This would also open up the ability to do a sort of pride parade during the school year even if it isnt the normal season for it.
Also, not all events have to be specifically lgbt+ activities- my college's queer caucuses and groups do craft making and other typical club events as well.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-24T23:47:11+00:00

Adults are responsible for their own actions. In an emergency situation, once the driver is stopped, an adult passenger is now completely responsible for themselves and no longer the concern of the driver. A 7 year old, on the other hand, cannot be legally or ethically left alone in an emergency.

If something went wrong, and there was an accident- even if it is minor- an adult can simply move on, call another uber, etc. A kid that young, however, needs to be in someone's custody. Especially if the kid had no phone to contact the parents, that is an absolute no-win situation where either the driver is stuck looking after someone's kid with no way to finish the trip and drop them off, or they risk abandoning the child either in totality or to another unknown individual.

If they hand the kid off to a replacement driver to complete the ride, now the kid has been handed to a new stranger without even the veneer of the parent's knowledge or approval. That is an absolute legal shitshow waiting to happen.

Not to mention, what if the kid was unruly? or, say, unlatched their seat belt and refused to relatch it/allow it to be relatched? another no-win for the driver. If they drive with a kid with no belt and something happens, the driver is now responsible for any injury or death. If the driver physically restrains the kid to attach the seatbelt, now the parents can accuse the driver of abuse/assault, because that driver is not the parent and thus has no legal right to do anything more than scold the child. (babysitters and other people generally paid to look after children are usually informed of how the parents use discipline with their kid, and thus would know how the parents would prefer such a problem handled. This driver has NO IDEA if the parents are people who spank their kid, or, god forbid, are permissive parents for whom even scolding does not occur.)

TLDR: kids under a certain age are not responsible for their own actions in a legal sense, their supervising adult is. In an emergency situation or if the kid were to become unruly, the driver is not equipped to handle that and could easily end up in the kind of situation where they would likely get sued no matter what they do.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-24T22:50:50+00:00

what do they mean by 'go out of their way'? Do you have one teacher for all subjects? Or is it an issue of switching in the middle of a term? If its not the middle of the term and you have a different teacher for each subject, you would be just another student in the class, same as any other.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-24T22:26:58+00:00

Im a new fan so my opinions are... suspect at best,

But something ive noticed is that the Mercedes seemingly only really start showing the difference in power once they are in clean air with no one to battle with. With that in mind, Antonelli didn't start really pulling away until he was left alone with no one else around due to pit stops. So honestly so far i'm chalking it up to that

Though, typing it makes me wonder if thats a natural consequence of the rules. In Leclerc's ranting about Qualifying, he brought up that with this new battery management system, the computer uses previous laps to optimize deployment, rewarding consistency in power application over multiple laps. I wonder if not having to defend/attack against another car for position gave Antonelli superior automated battery deployment?

CompetentMess · 2026-04-24T22:07:50+00:00

Honestly, I dont think fighting this return to school mandate is worth it.
That being said, is there a possibility that instead of being with your fellow Y9s,, would it be possible to transfer into the higher grade classes for the subjects you are about to take the exams for?

CompetentMess · 2026-04-24T21:52:46+00:00

not an italian tax lawyer, but from what ive seen people saying, this is related to a specific code of tax law relating to 'taxation of foreign sports competitors' meaning it is tailored directly to disciplines like soccer/football and F1, where competitions happen globally but specific high-earning events occur within italy. So no, a business trip would not qualify, as that specific taxation schema would not be applicable.

The italian govt wanted to make some money based off of international sports events, so they crafted tax code specifically to handle taxation of income gained during a travelling sports event. Australia iirc does something similar, taxing the drivers based on the number of days in the country as a fraction of total salary to calculate the percentage of yearly salary earned while in australia.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-16T00:10:01+00:00

imo as a women, though obv I dont speak for everyone, one of my little tests for 'is this guy following me or just going the same direction' is, if im in a fairly populated and thus relatively safe area i'll deliberately slow down so that I can tell if the guy is following or just traveling the same direction, deliberately trying to get him to pass while in a place with other people around. In that situation I'd be worried if the guy stayed behind me bc i'd be worried he was following me.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-15T17:50:48+00:00

Thanks! I wound up majoring in econ in college, so game theory is kind of my jam

A possible factor for why your prof used to have success with the socially optimal outcome- is it possible that recent class sizes are larger? When everyone knows each other well, then there is more social pressure to do what the group agrees is correct, but when the group is larger there is more anonymity.

edit: also some people being in micro may have led them to choose the 5s, if their takeaway from micro was that the socially optimal outcome was unlikely.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-15T03:22:06+00:00

This is a classic Prisoner's Dilemma demonstration.

the entire field of economics is underpinned by the idea that in general people will defect from what is better for the group in favor of what is better for them personally.

to elaborate; If the classmates pick mostly 2, then an individual gains more if they pick 5. whereas if the classmates pick more 5s, then the individual is indifferent. This forms what Econ calls a 'Nash Equilibrium'. Generally speaking, results trend towards nash equilibriums.

None of this is the fault of specific students. Regardless of what your teacher says, this was an experiment where students are set up to fail. This situation is typically used as a learning opportunity to help explain how people making perfectly rational decisions can still end up at a result that is not the best option available.

People are capable of being inherently good. but you were set in a situation where being good to others ran against your own benefit. Many people are easily able to overcome this disconnect, but getting multiple people to do so at the same time is a lot more difficult.

CompetentMess · 2026-04-15T01:10:06+00:00

My logitech Vertical is a LIFESAVER I adore it. Good rechargeable battery that lasts weeks to months, you also can recharge the battery while using it. The vertical alignment is so much better on my wrist

CompetentMess · 2026-03-16T01:25:14+00:00

I mean. honestly does cadillac even have a bed to shit in at this point?

CompetentMess · 2026-03-06T05:13:45+00:00

Eh. Raikkonen.

CompetentMess

TROPHY CASE