If from menhaden, there's a raging debate on the one hand about trout, the Chesapeake Bay (Maryland and Virginia), the ecology and environment more broadly, and the other hand a Canadian company based in a small rural county in Virginia (Omega Protein, which, BTW, does not provide year-round benefits to all of its employees which creates a drain on already super limited services and supports. Omega Protein is not alone in this.).

I don't know enough about any of this to have an informed opinion, but I do understand that menhaden put Reedville, VA on the map.

I've not looked at the research associated with the Friendship Bench [1] or UK Men's Sheds [2] -- evaluations or data associated with the model's development -- but I would be surprised if either relied only on individual action. Meaning, the resource is there but participation relies heavily or solely on an individual taking affirmative action to join.

I agree with others that individual initiative is important for connections to be made, but I struggle with imagining how people find out about what the opportunities are. Certainly, there's been a ton of work on social isolation, community connections, whatever you call it, and at some point I need to dive in.

This space needs a lot of investment as well as evaluation of initiatives. I worked in nonprofit land in the US for years and from my limited view of the landscape, way more work is needed to determine what works and fund that and not fund efforts that take no initiative to show their effectiveness.

[1] https://www.friendship-bench.org/ [2] https://menssheds.org.uk/

If only HN would look at this too.

As the wife of a retired police officer who worked the streets (of DC), this is great news.

Sorry to say that my first reaction was that this is heresy. . . all this talk of science is a hoax.

But then the music calmed me right down and I wended my way through, not understanding 99% of what I saw but in awe of nature and Neal's art nonetheless.

Did you just escape from a religious sect living inside an underwater cavern or something?

Ok, so we are raising a bunch of cheaters and liars. Great.

When the get to the workforce, then what? When I was in a position to hire, I made the decision to not interview anyone who went to Elon. The school did not in the early 2000s use a standard grammar book and at least according to my kid's papers, the profs had little to say about poor grammar, rambling sentences, poor logic, etc. Great.

Since the work was about writing and speaking, grammar and logic were important. Fast forward to today, and I guess I'd have to make a decision about not interviewing kids from top-tier schools.

Olin?

Perhaps if non-poor people start speaking out on a regular basis to elected and appointed officials, the media, and policy wonks, we might make some progress getting a better healthcare system.

I've spent 30 years as a policy and budget analyst and advocate on health and human services issues. If electeds and appointeds were going to make decisions based on the lives of poor people it would have happened already.

Folks need to make some noise.

I wish I could have taken something as a kid. I knew when I was 5 that something was wrong. I felt different from other kids (as least as they said they felt) and that continued through my late 20s when I started taking SSRIs. It was the best decision I've made. Ever.

But back to being a kid and thinking and feeling differently: It negatively impacted me. And the abuse only made it worse. If only I was put on drugs and/or sent to talk therapy.

Love this.

Any way to left justify the text? The full justification is a bear to read.

Not sure how it is in places other than Virginia, but added to the confusion created by the orders (yay, judges for ordering use of the designated funds!) is a question about when the state will decide to implement a temporary food program that is supposed to start Monday.

And, like everywhere else, many food pantry shelves are empty.