I don’t think it’s fair to characterize parents of special needs kids that way. I guarantee they are not happy as they meet every challenge, and I worry that claiming that they are could discourage people from looking for ways to help. I know you’re sharing a story about personal friends, and I absolutely believe that they are wonderful people. At the same time I’m reminded of when people referred to retail employees as “heroes” during Covid. Many people seemed to hide behind that sentiment so they could stomach forcing those employees to work in unsafe conditions. Most of those employees would absolutely not have been there if they could afford not to.

I’m not trying to judge you. It’s important to acknowledge and respect the strength that people bring to tough situations. I also think it’s important to spend the bulk of our effort on helping and preventing tough situations where we can. We just be very careful about implying that those people have some innate, uncommon strength. In reality many of them are in a tough spot and barely getting by, but putting on a brave face. Treating them as fundamentally better people can make them feel like failures when they eventually need help or are at their limit.

I’m realizing now that I’m probably projecting some personal baggage here, but I hope my intended message is in that rant somewhere.

I suppose by “all factors” I mean all factors aside from exploitation and xenophobia, but I hope we could at least move the Overton window back that far.

I predict that a feature like this would probably chase off some undesirable community members, while genuinely helping some people improve their ability to engage in good-faith discussion and debate. And if it eases the burden on moderators and the community at large who currently police these things, it seems like a clear win. I’m sure it could be mis-calibrated to tone policing, but I’m not one to let perfect be the enemy of good.

I’ve been bringing in bins of my own Technic parts and some of Yoshihito Isogawa’s idea books[0]. I try to explain basic mechanical concepts like gears, levers, differentials, and rack and pinion steering. Then the kids explore and create a second project of their own. At the festival (non-competitive at the k-5 level in our area) we present both our projects side-by-side (usually trying to integrate them and stick within the overall theme). We’re the only team that does it that way, but I would much rather focus on inspiring the kids than coloring inside the lines.

My only concern is that making the final challenge more actively competitive will force us back into that limited situation. If the builds are too simple and the challenges too basic (which I expect, because the program leans toward expecting all teams to hit the mark) I doubt we would have the same freedom to expand on the program. Side by side competition is going to have more restrictions than a private presentation to a panel of judges.

On the whole, if this helps more kids stay engaged and having fun overall, I’m happy to figure out new ways to let the kids express themselves. This sounds like a positive change. Now I really hope our program leader lets me buy some of the old Spike kits.

[0] https://archive.org/details/legotechnicideab00isog

Please correct me if I misunderstood the point you were trying to make.

> Where did you acquire cheap ancient coins? ebay? May be cool to get some for my dnd group

I bought most of mine on VCoins. The few I bought weren’t certified or anything, but they have lots of very well established sellers. I got a few bronze and silver coins from the Middle East and India. They were in good shape at about $10-20 US (plus international shipping). I also got some nicer Byzantine and Roman coins in the $50 US price range. I tried to group my orders from each seller to save on shipping. So far everything I’ve gotten is exactly as pictured, and the transactions have been very smooth. I got a couple more from a local dealer. The prices were a bit higher, but he was a lot of fun to talk to, which more than makes up for the price difference.

I think you lose this battle as soon as you start providing residences to people. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that once people are living and sleeping somewhere you’re subject to zoning laws and fire codes and stuff.

With that said, the current housing situation in the US is a mess, so I’m all for reform. I’d like to hear ideas too. I personally can’t think of a solution that sidesteps regulation without becoming a slum full of desperate people, though.

I also recently learned that you can get ancient coins for very little money if you don’t care about resale value or need them to be in pristine condition. I bought some coins from kingdoms that I’d never heard of. Many are thousands of years old! It’s fun holding a piece of history like that.

And that’s how it dug its claws in, because almost all of those go away after binge drinking for a while. Then you’re just left with the addiction. And getting sober means having to learn to want whatever is left of your life.