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Sparkling Adventures in Child Neglect: Whee! Polyamory


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I did too and I still sometimes screw them up. I forget to put them in alphabetical order or I forget to insert the edition or something. It's kind of frustrating to get back an essay and there's no concrit on the essay itself, just the damn bibliography because they only write extended comments on the worst facet of your work. Even after all this time at uni I still have run through the guide every single time to check I haven't screwed up. They're tricky! I'm kind of glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks they're hard.

When I went back to school I was amazed how much more detailed the bibliographies had to be and that now there were different formats. One thing that did help was that the word processing program I was using but even then you have to pick which type of format to use and still edit. But it helped!

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According to the last four dentists my children have seen, including one specialized oral surgeon, you can remineralize teeth with daily fluoride applications, even those with holes in them.

My children see the dentist twice a year and despite now being on non-fluoridated well water, the biannual fluoride treatments are sufficient to prevent tooth decay for them. OTOH, insurance will not pay for fluoride treatments for me. Thus, after two years of well water, my teeth are showing concerning weaknesses. I am now regulated to using ACT fluoride mouthwash 1-2 times per day under orders to strengthen my enamel before these spots turn into cavities.

So yes, a little fluoride goes a long way. She used to check in with the dental clinic once or twice a year. I guess since she was forced to register in a different area as homeschoolers because Queensland refused to sanction her "unschooling" she is also no longer bothering to care for their teeth. Lovely, they will thank her profusely when they find how judgmental the world can be for someone with a mouth full of rotting teeth!

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hah, I saw that too. was tempted to post "brushing teeth, a well-balanced diet and fluoride help", but didn't. Bone broth? is that even a thing against tooth decay?

THIS :clap: :clap:

I'd laugh, but I'm guess it's her daughter's teeth that are decaying and that's just horrific (shows the major weakness in parenting when you don't make the kids do stuff they don't want to do doesn't it). I only hope it's their baby teeth.

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Is there such a thing as reversing tooth decay at all? I mean, you can get rid of the teeth or fill them, I imagine you could even slow down decay, but outright reversal? I don't think that's scientifically possible.

Super crazy high fluoride toothpaste can remineralise decay that's not yet into the pulp.

I just love and adore that she's trying to reconcile meat-worshipping WAP with veganism. It's so beautifully crazy that I almost don't have words. Look, two extremes! Must combine them! Oh, wait, they're on the opposite ends of the spectrum? Oh.

WAP is all about vitamins A and D which are only found in animal products. Beta carotene doesn't cut it, he wants retinol. IIRC you're supposed to take cod liver oil daily and liberally douse all foods in grassfed butter (yes, our dairy cows don't eat grass). Stock which has been simmered long enough to gel is touted as a source of minerals.

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Is there such a thing as reversing tooth decay at all? I mean, you can get rid of the teeth or fill them, I imagine you could even slow down decay, but outright reversal? I don't think that's scientifically possible.

Yes there is, but it depends on whether the word decay here is being used as real decay or a soft spot. I had what my dentist called a soft spot and with fluoride gel, within 3 months the soft spot was hard - the tooth does have some regenerating ability, but not from actual decay, obviously. And I remember seeing a doco on some mountain people in Swisse who never brushed their teeth and they all had gleaming white teeth through eating wholemeal rye so heavily in their diet and drinking stream water that was infused with natural magnesium. I have heard a lot of hippies talk about these mountain people as some kind of justification of not brushing their teeth - but it only works in very specific environments and conditions and I'm not even going to discuss the EVILS of fluoride. It's like religion or vaccination with fucking hippies. Fluoride is out to get us us us us.....spooky music.....

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hah, I saw that too. was tempted to post "brushing teeth, a well-balanced diet and fluoride help", but didn't. Bone broth? is that even a thing against tooth decay?

I'm sure there is something in it, but whether the girls are too far gone to save their teeth, it might not make a difference. Certainly many cultures have eaten bone and marrow broths to repair cartilage and there is a theory gaining ground now that the increase in joint problems across the developed world correlates with reduction in eating gelatinous animal derived foods. I know that when I was a vegetarian for 12 years I had chronic inflammation in my knees in the last year and I saw specialist after specialist and had my knees strapped. Finally an old polish doctor told me I could reverse my knee weakness and inflammation and I did it through diet. I don't actually like meat but if you are asking if it is possible - yes it is. So the inherent qualities of repair are animal extracts and so no vegetable can substitute that process...even if Lauren wants it to be possible, its not.

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I used to wonder how long unschoolers can go on convincing themselves that all those wonderful activities unschoolers list as educational triumphs (you know, learning how to save money to buy something, minecraft, looking up leaves in nature books..) were enough. But I don't really have to wonder as I've known a lot of homeschoolers who burned out and essentially became unschoolers. While the outcomes were all different there was no university and in most cases no completion of apprenticeships either.

It is possible. I was homeschooled-turned-lazy-unschooled and will be graduating with a BA in December. Having said that, it's been crazy hard work and is only possible for me in my field (I doubt I could have finished a BSc or LLB), and probably wouldn't have been possible without a handful of lecturers who knew my background and took the time to explain things I should have learned in high school. It is probably telling that none of them had ever heard of unschooling before, too. I'm pretty sure my parents are claiming this as a home/unschool success (I don't know as I have no contact with them currently), but it's definitely despite and not because of their brand of 'education' that I've come even this far.

As to bibliographies: :pull-hair:

It wasn't assumed that we'd know how to do them right off. We were expected to do them from the start, but there would usually be a tutorial session or two dedicated to the topic in first year.

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The article stated that "A's and B's still account for about 80 percent of the grades at Stanford," while at Princeton "83 percent of the grades given between 1992 and 1997 fell between A+ and B-, compared with 69 percent between 1973 and 1977."

I can't say I'm shocked that two of the top 10 universities in the WORLD have 63-83% of students getting between 80-100% right on their tests. You wouldn't expect that selective a population of students to be getting mostly Cs. Yes, their has been grade inflation, but their status as once again, two of the top ten universities in the world was scored in 2010. In that context, are Stanford and Princeton performing below the University of Melbourne (or another AUS "ivy league") as you seemed to originally imply in your original post to Vex about grade inflation?

I see the study, but it doesn't tell me if all the universities grades in all courses were tallied. I want to see a study of STEM grades only, because as I said, my experience with STEM classes did not conform to anywhere near 60-83% of the class getting between an A and B- in General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Multivariable Calculus and Human Anatomy. They were called "weed out" courses for a reason. As to being able to transfer to Harvard from community college, yes it is possible in theory, and I know of one person who transferred from community college to the University of Pennsylvania to go on to a PhD, but in practice that is not how it works. The particular example I knew is genius level brilliant but was a complete fuck up in high school. He did however, have a 1560 on his SAT without ever studying for them. So he spent 2 years in community college AND non matriculated university courses of which he passed with all As, reapplied and was let in the first year on probation. A LOT of his credits from community college simply did not transfer. So I'm not worried about anyone getting an Anatomy A at community college and then going to Harvard Medical School, because you are not going to survive Harvard Medical School if all you can handle is community college level Anatomy. If all it took to get into a good university (not necessarily Ivy) was taking prereqs at a CC and getting a B or better, everyone would do it that way.

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According to the last four dentists my children have seen, including one specialized oral surgeon, you can remineralize teeth with daily fluoride applications, even those with holes in them.

My children see the dentist twice a year and despite now being on non-fluoridated well water, the biannual fluoride treatments are sufficient to prevent tooth decay for them. OTOH, insurance will not pay for fluoride treatments for me. Thus, after two years of well water, my teeth are showing concerning weaknesses. I am now regulated to using ACT fluoride mouthwash 1-2 times per day under orders to strengthen my enamel before these spots turn into cavities.

So yes, a little fluoride goes a long way. She used to check in with the dental clinic once or twice a year. I guess since she was forced to register in a different area as homeschoolers because Queensland refused to sanction her "unschooling" she is also no longer bothering to care for their teeth. Lovely, they will thank her profusely when they find how judgmental the world can be for someone with a mouth full of rotting teeth!

I had a soft spot (starting to decay) in one of my wisdom teeth (yes, I still have them). It would have turned into a cavity without treatment. My dentist had me put a fluoride gel on it and use a higher strength fluoride toothpaste for a year. The soft spot is gone.

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I had a soft spot (starting to decay) in one of my wisdom teeth (yes, I still have them). It would have turned into a cavity without treatment. My dentist had me put a fluoride gel on it and use a higher strength fluoride toothpaste for a year. The soft spot is gone.

I was a preemie and had messed-up enamel. My baby teeth were greyish. My pediatric dentist prescribed some kind of (delicious) fluoride gel which I used for years. I also had regular fluoride treatments at the dentist. My teeth are fine now - I've had a couple of cavities in my molars, but nothing serious, and I usually get compliments on my oral care at checkups. I'm a religious flosser and brush with a Sonicare (free from my dentist, heyooo) now. I keep a toothbrush, paste, and floss in my desk at work to brush after lunch.

I just hope the kids' teeth don't hurt. Dental pain is THE WORST and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, especially not little kids. It kind of makes me sick to think of them riding around in a bus with rotting teeth and no medical intervention. Those poor girls.

Few "alternative medicine" things piss me off as much as the anti-fluoride movement. I currently reside in a city that does not fluoridate water because fluoride is teh ebil and I worry about my teeth all the damn time. My mom has terrible teeth and it's not only painful and inconvenient, it's embarrassing for her. Honestly, I can think of few other examples of such clear benefits from a given treatment so it annoys me that a fringe lobby is able to exert such influence over an entire city.

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Supermarkets in Australia have NeutraFluor 220 which is high fluoride mouthwash. About $12 a bottle. Proven to reverse minor decay and to prevent other decay from getting worse.

Unlikely that Lauren would buy it though.

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I was a preemie and had messed-up enamel. My baby teeth were greyish. My pediatric dentist prescribed some kind of (delicious) fluoride gel which I used for years. I also had regular fluoride treatments at the dentist. My teeth are fine now - I've had a couple of cavities in my molars, but nothing serious, and I usually get compliments on my oral care at checkups. I'm a religious flosser and brush with a Sonicare (free from my dentist, heyooo) now. I keep a toothbrush, paste, and floss in my desk at work to brush after lunch.

I just hope the kids' teeth don't hurt. Dental pain is THE WORST and I wouldn't wish it on anyone, especially not little kids. It kind of makes me sick to think of them riding around in a bus with rotting teeth and no medical intervention. Those poor girls.

Few "alternative medicine" things piss me off as much as the anti-fluoride movement. I currently reside in a city that does not fluoridate water because fluoride is teh ebil and I worry about my teeth all the damn time. My mom has terrible teeth and it's not only painful and inconvenient, it's embarrassing for her. Honestly, I can think of few other examples of such clear benefits from a given treatment so it annoys me that a fringe lobby is able to exert such influence over an entire city.

Even in Australia, there is a rising rate of cavities amongst children who drink bottled water daily. In Australia, they are on a HUGE bottled water craze. I lived there for 5 years and I can tell you that EVERYONE carries bottled water around with them like they're going into combat or something. It's ridiculous. Anyway, this means that children aren't getting fluoride in their water and this has resulted in an increase in cavities. I'd be suprised if lauren doesnt know this already - but she appears to belong to the Wishful Hippies - if you wish it so, it is so.

Hmmm. Tooth cavities don't care if you're a hippy or not. Your kids don't brush their teeth lauren :disgust:

There is a movement for not fluoridating water but those cities will switch back because the public health implications are so clearly correlated.

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Supermarkets in Australia have NeutraFluor 220 which is high fluoride mouthwash. About $12 a bottle. Proven to reverse minor decay and to prevent other decay from getting worse.

Unlikely that Lauren would buy it though.

I'm pretty sure I used the gel version of that, for $7 ish dollars, and I purchased it over the counter ffs, it couldn't be any easier! And yes, it cured my soft spot. No fillings.

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A couple of years ago I had a dentist prescribe this really delicious stuff called 'tooth mousse' to remineralise my teeth since they had spots. It's only available through dentists as far as I could tell. I assume it has a whole lot of fluoride in it. It did help with the spots on my teeth so I guess it works.

I never really thought about Australians carrying around bottled water but it's true. In hot weather I don't generally leave the house without a bottle of water, though I often refill them with tap water a couple of times before I throw the bottles in the recycling.

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Even in Australia, there is a rising rate of cavities amongst children who drink bottled water daily. In Australia, they are on a HUGE bottled water craze. I lived there for 5 years and I can tell you that EVERYONE carries bottled water around with them like they're going into combat or something. It's ridiculous. Anyway, this means that children aren't getting fluoride in their water and this has resulted in an increase in cavities. I'd be suprised if lauren doesnt know this already - but she appears to belong to the Wishful Hippies - if you wish it so, it is so.

Hmmm. Tooth cavities don't care if you're a hippy or not. Your kids don't brush their teeth lauren :disgust:

There is a movement for not fluoridating water but those cities will switch back because the public health implications are so clearly correlated.

Its not so much of a 'craze' as a better tasting alternative to bore or river water, also a good way to cool down.

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A couple of years ago I had a dentist prescribe this really delicious stuff called 'tooth mousse' to remineralise my teeth since they had spots. It's only available through dentists as far as I could tell. I assume it has a whole lot of fluoride in it. It did help with the spots on my teeth so I guess it works.

I never really thought about Australians carrying around bottled water but it's true. In hot weather I don't generally leave the house without a bottle of water, though I often refill them with tap water a couple of times before I throw the bottles in the recycling.

I got a tube of that once because my dentist said if i'm going to use the super strong crest white strips I need to use tooth mousse afterwards. Its 'recaldent', which is a calcium proven to rebuild enamel.

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Oh, that makes sense. The discolouration on my teeth was from calcium deficiency rather than fluoride.

I will never understand people who think they can get away with neglecting their kids' teeth. Those kids would get free yearly dental check ups if they were in school. I know we've discussed the free dental check ups before but I can't remember if they are eligible for any free dental care or if it's just for kids enrolled in school.

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Its not so much of a 'craze' as a better tasting alternative to bore or river water, also a good way to cool down.

I'm talking about Australian culture and the sudden rise in consuming bottled (filtered tap water) in the last 10 years. As a foreigner, it was striking. Personally I never drink tap water, I live in Vienna and I consume mineral water almost exclusively, however I am aware of this and take fluoride measures to make sure I get enough. As for craze, there's no reason for Australian children to drink water from bottles on mass - its having a serious effect on dental health and its not good for the mouth in developing children either, but thats another issue.

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Nope, dental care isn't provided federally, and, at least here in NSW, the state government doesn't subsidise it either.

I have awful dental issues that have been costing me a fortune for years, due to no fluoride in water or toothpaste as a child and mineral deficiencies from a vegetarian diet from birth and five years of stupid, non thought out,veganism as a teen. Almost exactly the same conditions as Lauren's kids are in, although hopefully they are at least drinking fluoridated water when in towns.

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I live in Adelaide and our tap water tastes notoriously horrible but it is tolerable if super chilled. Every night I freeze half a bottle of tap water each and top it up with tap water in the morning. Stays icy cold for most of the day and the kids can top it up themselve if necessary. Our school encourages tap water and the kids' water bottles stay on their desks all day (yes even in winter) to encourage them to stay hydrated because that assists their learning as well as their general health.

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I can't say I'm shocked that two of the top 10 universities in the WORLD have 63-83% of students getting between 80-100% right on their tests. You wouldn't expect that selective a population of students to be getting mostly Cs. Yes, their has been grade inflation, but their status as once again, two of the top ten universities in the world was scored in 2010. In that context, are Stanford and Princeton performing below the University of Melbourne (or another AUS "ivy league") as you seemed to originally imply in your original post to Vex about grade inflation?

It's not about "performing below" though, AreteJo - it's about comparing apples with apples. (At least, let me redefine the conversation! ha. sorry :) ) Are students at Princeton consistently performing better than they were 30 years ago? because that's the comparison. No whether the marks are accurate (there is nothing less arbitrary than grading) but if they are comparable.

The crux of it really comes down to the marking policy. is the intention to grade students against each other, or to grade students work against an external standard? One of the arguments for curve grading at the school with the below curve is that it allows comparison over time, as well as within any given cohort. Incremental inflation reduces the cachet of the grades of those students who attended the university in years gone by. Again - it's not whether students deserve or don't deserve the grades, it's what those grades purport to be representing. And grades purport to be representing a standard against which students can be judged.

And on comparable.. (and a total side rant)

the good schools in Australia (and here i'm pegging anu and umelb, none of the others) are likely to mark on a very severe curve. the law program at one of those schools structures it as thus:

HD (80% +): 2-5%of candidates

Distinction (70-79%): 10-20% of candidates

Credit (60-69&): 30-50% of candidates.

usually, the bands trend heavily to the lower end. there are usually be about 6-7 HD grades given out in the 300 student compulsory subjects. You can have (and often do have) only 35-40% of the students getting over 60/a C or higher in any given major course.

When you take those grades to US schools to apply for further study, they all say a HD is the equivalent of an A. Ha.

Yes, Stanford and Princeton have extraordinary students, but it's not these are Australia's slouch schools. (Sure, Stanford and Princeton are better. I'm not disputing that. But in terms of overall status of the unis? these aren't miles off). how can you possibly compare the performance of students in these institutions?

Are stanford and princeton performing below Umelb? no. but they sure are handing out high grades like candy.

Also: re science and math marking. The dominant criteria for post grad scholarships in AU are grades (not letters of recommendations, no standardised tests, none of it. grades. going back to the standardised high school exams you take at the end of school. Even when you're 50 and have done 4 or 5 degrees, they count your school marks. absurd). Anyway.

Having known people sitting in at the university level of scholarships committee, when it comes to the "central pool" of awards (ie: those that aren't given to the colleges to give out themselves) there is a strong argument (always) to give them to math and sci kids. When comparing the high performers across various disciples, math and science students tend to have higher grades. This is because it's more possible to will get an "entirely correct" answer to a math problem, then you can write an "entirely correct" essay on marxist dialecticism (for example). But there is a threshhold to STEM disciplines that's missing with the humanities. just as it's easier to be "entirely correct" in math, it's also easier to be "entirely wrong" --> that's your weeding out. Once you've cut away the dead wood, if students are disciplined and can do the work, STEM grades *should* be higher than in the humanities.

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Aretejo, did you look in the next post down, the pretty chart? It shows that over ALL colleges more than 40% of grades are As. And 35% are Bs. Lake Wobegon indeed.

Jaelh, another national difference, in the US it's easy and common to get 100% for an essay on Marxist dialecticism. Also, in the US 70% is a fail. The ceiling is in the "extra credit" range, which is why everyone gets an A.

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Jaelh, another national difference, in the US it's easy and common to get 100% for an essay on Marxist dialecticism. Also, in the US 70% is a fail. The ceiling is in the "extra credit" range, which is why everyone gets an A.

I cannot even pretend to understand this.

70% is a fail? Sheesh.

Also, extra credit? Bah. Humbug.

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Aretejo, did you look in the next post down, the pretty chart? It shows that over ALL colleges more than 40% of grades are As. And 35% are Bs. Lake Wobegon indeed.

Jaelh, another national difference, in the US it's easy and common to get 100% for an essay on Marxist dialecticism. Also, in the US 70% is a fail. The ceiling is in the "extra credit" range, which is why everyone gets an A.

I looked at the graph, and my comment is still the same ALL US colleges and ALL grades from those colleges? No controlling for disciplines (A Calculus exam where your answer is either objectively right or not, vs. an essay on women and Marxism where there is more room for interpretation). Methodology of gathering the data, it is not spelled out in the pretty graph.

Yes, you cannot pass a course with less than a C. Another thing I don't find outrageous. You have not business with a BS in Mathematics if you can only pull Ds or less in your classes. Or any degree for that matter. Extra credit did not exist in my major classes. Quizes, Midterms, Finals, Labs. The end.

jaelh, I wasn't trying to compare, I was addressing a comment that implied that AUS schools are betterthan US schools. Once again, that is something you could only compare by sorting out each country's schools by level as in US Ivy League vs UMel/ANU and then go down to the second tier schools in each country, and on down. I'm sure if we are comparing Ivy to Ivy in both countries, there isn't going to be a huge gap. I doubt there is any gap in the second tier. What I objected to in the OP throwing in what happens in American community colleges vs a first or second tier AUS school and calling that a comparison.

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Aretejo, there is no way to compare because there is no differentiation in the top 40% of American students. And without going over both the curriculum and all assessments in a huge range of subjects you can't tell what is actually learned. And I don't know why I so carefully MLA formatted my works cited if you can't even be bothered to read it.

Jael, well, remember 70% isn't 70% of the total available marks. You have to add on all the silly marks for attendance and extra credit and neatness. It's really 70/120, not 70/100.

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