I’m starting to think maybe faces are delicious? Feels like the wrong takeaway

I’ve done a little work with mistral. Useful when I’m writing unimportant several-page summary emails that I’m nearly certain nobody reads.

This isn’t a professional context, so 👍

This level of childishness in a professional context is such a red flag.

Doesn’t even appear to exist for me in the UK. Yay?

The way it was explained to me is, equality is giving everyone equal support. Equity is allocating support unevenly to those who need it most.

Those who advocate meritocracy in bad faith really don’t like equity.

Nothing like actual young people to make a forty year old want to use the word “callow” like some kind of cane-waving coffin dodger

Fully aware - we’ve tried it before, but it didn’t stick. Probably implementation issues or limitations here. They do this in his school with great success, and I think part of it is that he’s so extroverted that when there are other kids also competing, he finds the process more engaging. At home it’s just him so it falls flat. Maybe if me and mom were also on the chart earning smiley faces it would hit harder. Sounds kinda fun too.

Daddy made it to ten, get ready for an episode of Loudermilk!

Not really. It’s not so useful unless you can dangle it over the right thing. But at the park? Say you send them on a scavenger hunt. You want two pretty leaves, five bits of litter, and one cool rock or stick for £1.

They clean the park, you get to sit on the bench for a few minutes and relax. Now, isn’t that worth a pound?

Okay so, caveat: mine is only six and they’re the stereotypical hyperactive ADHD kid. Your mileage will likely vary.

Kids who are like him are constantly in need of something to be doing, some achievable task just within their grasp. Also, they’re quite blind when it comes to the perception of time, so any amount of time spent “bored” (which means not rocketing towards the next moment in which they can shout in triumph) feels like an eternity. He can go from the throes of bliss to collapsing on the floor within ten seconds flat.

He damn near broke my brain with this shitshow, but I’ve finally figured out the foregoing. Knowing this puts the constant struggle at least into a coherent frame of reference.

All this to say, any and all tangible, immediate rewards are what serves him in place of a functional endogenous dopamine system. He can’t just internally think “I need to get dressed for school” and begin to do it, it has to be “I’m not allowed to ____* until I get dressed”. A coin isn’t a coin, it’s a physical embodiment of the dopamine spike used by the brain to initiate a task.

Once they’re on a task, they just go until something breaks the spell. Small immediate rewards, or the promise of getting them easily can work magic.

That’s all highly subjective, biased, likely flawed etc but it’s kept me… If not sane, at least faking it enough that people don’t comment. If your kiddo has other struggles I probably haven’t said anything of use to you.

*In our case, unhappily, it is phone time, which is also highly regulated.

If you’re a parent to a small child, the power of a £1 coin can be hilarious to behold

Science grants like this are such a cornerstone of human progress. Great stuff

I hate almost everything that I see, and I just wanna disappear

Viagra Boys, “Man Made of Meat”

Gender is now an anti-social construct

Depth here just means thinking more about their inner life and choosing a compliment based on your intimate knowledge about how they feel. That kind of compliment demonstrates the connection in a way that feels profound, rather than mere flattery.

About fifteen years ago I told my partner, rather artlessly I thought, that I love them not in spite of their flaws but because of them, too. It wasn’t what you’d call genius material but the words were intended to quell a deep fear of conditional love, and they still haven’t forgotten the compliment. Despite not being anywhere near poetry or a grand gesture, the fact that I realized this could not be left implicit was an important moment in our relationship.

Not a perfect example, but it’s the best I’ve got.

“Crows walk, ravens hop, and rooks go in a flock.”

I always get it mixed up in my head.

… You’re on what list?

I’m not into Tesla stock. I’m not just here to whine about a single stock not doing what I want, it’s that I think price action in general is too irrational. I’ve got an axe to grind here and it goes beyond which stocks to pick.

Huge ETFs and algorithmic trading makes too many tickers move all the same way. This harms price discovery. And don’t get me started on off-exchange trading; This month, off-exchange volume exceeded that of lit markets.

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