@revrend
Dentist in a small Oregon town. Probably thinking about fly fishing. Former social scientist for defense clients. Some of you may remember me from such places as Uzbekistan, Leavenworth, or MacDill. Go Ducks!
I'm a dentist and get this with fluoride and root canals. I've seen kids in pain. They feed their kids energy drinks and sugary foods. They would rather subject their children to pain and tooth loss than admit they made a mistake. I think we can pass judgment.
I think a coercive environment where we are comfortable not hurting feelings about this is good though. The evidence is overwhelming. These people are doing harm and we should just say it.
As a matter of public health, I get wanting to approach these people with compassion. That presupposes we are in an environment where different kind of information has to compete to convince people.
Thinking about this more, I want to add that I do have parents who ask my advice because they've heard conflicting information. They're hesitant. They're good faith. The anti people are bad faith and help maintain the misinformation environment.
I agree there is a lot of misinformation. I strongly disagree with the idea that people ingest information, process it, and come to a conclusion. They typically start with a conclusion for social reasons then (mis)shape information to justify it.
Hard disagree. Anti and hesitant are very distinct. Anti are bad parents and should be treated as bad. They backfill beliefs they've usually reached for social reasons with bullshit and will wear their children's suffering as a medal signaling their commitment to the cause.
The vast majority of people understand there are experts in certain domains. The ones with good faith questions talk to and listen to doctors. The anti crowd Dunning-Krugers their way into thinking doctors are making shit up for money.
They aren't drowning in misinformation and mis-reasoning their way to these conclusions. They're backfilling their beliefs with bullshit.
Not my experience with these parents. "Anti-" and "hesitant" are two very distinct groups. Anti are bad parents who eagerly use their children to signal their commitment to a social group. Their children's pain is a medal signaling their commitment.
I hope it's still fixable!
Lately I've been encouraging patients not to put off important treatment by asking them to avoid putting me in the position of saying "I told you so."
I'm a dentist, and I am almost certain we have some of those in the office candy bucket. Definitely normal Nerds.
I'm sure that Jim Mattis is real sad he's not there for all of this.
I got so much mileage out of the underwear gnomes when I worked for the US Army.
The fact that Rick Scott draws air outside the confines of a prison cell for defrauding the government and causing hospitals to close is proof of this.
In dentistry, the best uses are as a second set of eyes and as patient education. Can also help with insurance claims.
My grandfather was shot down in Europe and escaped with local help. This one chokes me up a bit.
Dude... Yลsuke Matsuoka, the MFA at the beginning of the war went to law school at my alma mater, which had strong ties to Waseda University. He spent a big chunk of his youth here.
This is as True Wagner as they come.
Yeah, go after them to break their ability to be power centers independent of state and society. They need to be brought to heel because they warp the fabric of society.
The demon is really distracting from the weird pillow box in front of the sink.
My cats LOVE this thing.
A copy of Tenkara Angler magazine sits on a messy tying desk.
The 2026 Tenkara Angler magazine showed up today! Looks great @tenkaraangler.bsky.social!
I have only been fishing this river since late fall, but never had a fish, stocked or wild, want a single bit of flash in my flies other than one I failed to land that ate a Duracell.
A rainbow trout with a size 12 or 24 bwo soft hackle in its mouth.
A rainbow trout with a size 16 or 18 bwo soft hackle in its mouth.
A rainbow trout in a net
Several of today's players.
First one has the cutthroat slash seen in some hatchery strain rainbows. I have read it's a McCloud River Rainbow trait.
A blue winged olive mayfly on the surface of a stream. It's body is reflected in the water.
This is the kind of thing that gets me excited nowadays.
Did I catch any on a dry fly? No.
Did I catch any on a soft hackle blue winged olive trailing off a dry just under the surface? Yes. A good number for an hour or so in February.
I'm doing that now with my kids and younger employees, who are pretty much the people you're talking about.
Once again broke a good rod I love right after buying it.
About 650 winters have come up the ladder. I'm sure that will pick up once the rain finally comes.
Got a call while in the middle of the river and had to leave early, so didn't even see the trout rising today.
A sculpzilla fly
A black white and purple Klamath intruder
The north Umpqua river, low and clear in the sun.
Was pretty stoked on how that sculpzilla turned out. Way less stocked to have lost it. Anyway, short session seeing how far I could get out into the extremely low river swinging some flies.
