Today I learned

Hm.
I tell my kids that I learn something new every single day. It's true. I don't always keep track of the things I've learned, especially when school's out and I'm not having discussions with my kids.

But I do learn every day. A lot of that learning happens here, while I am sitting in front of my computer. Some of it is interesting stuff that I can't believe I didn't know already. Some is stuff I'd never think of in a million years.
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For example, five years ago NASA launched Juno... and today (July 4th) it arrived in orbit around Jupiter. Now as far as I know, man will never walk on Jupiter. Too much gravity, we'd turn to jelly long before reaching the surface. And it would take a hell of a long time for a manned craft to get there anyway. I don't plan to volunteer.

But I've always been fascinated by space exploration. Science fiction has always been my favorite genre, although I've made forays into just about every other type of story and book. So the idea of men in space, or of us sending crafts out to explore always gets my attention. It's just cool.
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I learned today that the rumors about black dye are true, too. It's a pain in the ass to dye something with black dye, and I'm not sure the things I made are going to turn out black. But if they don't, well, that will be a learning experience, too. I'm hoping for at least dark gray.
I already knew that dyeing is hell on my hands. I try to keep my gloves on, but sometimes I don't have the dexterity I need to shift a band or take the cap off a bottle of dye and have to ditch one or both gloves. Then it takes a week or two for all the dye to wear off. Except the dye that got into my cuticles. That takes up to a month, because the nail has to grow enough for me to be able to either scrape or cut off the offending part.
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There was a recall on fireworks this year. The headline? "14,000 cone fireworks recalled for fire hazard." Um, isn't that the point? Fire?
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I read an article about a private school in New York. The curriculum includes telling white children that they were 'born racist' and should feel guilty for what they've done to black people. I will find you the link in a minute.

Ah, here it is.

Born racist? No. Racism is learned. And with all the divisiveness from all sides of the issue, kids are learning it younger and younger.

Now I realize that slavery here in the US was a horrendous thing. Any student of history knows there were several factors that led to the enslavement of not only African people, but others. Not all slaves had brown skin.

All of them were treated badly... even those who had 'good' masters, because of course no one should be a master or a slave.

But I utterly refuse to feel guilty about it. I did not enslave anyone. The slaves are dead. The people who enslaved them are dead, too. I think it's sick to tell a child that they need to feel bad for what happened during that time. I believe it's important for people to know what happened and how it happened, but I'm sick of the idea that I should somehow pay for it or that I should feel guilty.

The thing that really got me about the article (aside from the utter craziness of blaming some children for being white...as if they have a choice) is that their parents don't like this. They're being vocal about it. But they are afraid to put their names out there because their children are still in the school. What the fuck? If your child is in that environment and you don't like it but you're not doing anything about it, you're definitely part of the reason that shit like this is going on. These social justice warriors are getting rich because they're selling discord, divisiveness and hate. And school administrators are lapping it up.

Fucking crazy people.

Get your kids out of there!
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So I learned a few things today.
I do every day.

What did you learn?