Mennonite Measles in Texas

[Judas Maccabeus]

That was depressing… although I’m a little confused, the video I watched from the anti-vaccine group had the parents talking in English is there another video where there’s a different set of parents talking?
I mean, I was thinking that they didn’t look exactly like what I envisioned from old order…
Our school does teach science, although perhaps not as in-depth as I’d like. Although it would be a little bit like the blind leading the blind.

4 Pig hearts just arrived, and we will take them apart and show how the valves, major vessels, and coronary arteries are located, and how they work. I chose "pig" because I have never done an animal heart other than a cat, and a pig is broadly similar to a human. One of my students suggested we dissect a fully grown pig! Only in a Mennonite school.

Seriously, have you ever considered teaching a part-time science course? For you, it would certainly not be the "blind leading the blind."

[Ken]

That was depressing… although I’m a little confused, the video I watched from the anti-vaccine group had the parents talking in English is there another video where there’s a different set of parents talking?
I mean, I was thinking that they didn’t look exactly like what I envisioned from old order…
Our school does teach science, although perhaps not as in-depth as I’d like. Although it would be a little bit like the blind leading the blind.

4 Pig hearts just arrived, and we will take them apart and show how the valves, major vessels, and coronary arteries are located, and how they work. I chose "pig" because I have never done an animal heart other than a cat, and a pig is broadly similar to a human. One of my students suggested we dissect a fully grown pig! Only in a Mennonite school.

Seriously, have you ever considered teaching a part-time science course? For you, it would certainly not be the "blind leading the blind."

Sheep brains are another fun dissection. They are relatively cheap (about $17 give or take from biological supply companies) and there are lots of online resources and instruction guides on how to dissect them.

[Judas Maccabeus]

That was depressing… although I’m a little confused, the video I watched from the anti-vaccine group had the parents talking in English is there another video where there’s a different set of parents talking?
I mean, I was thinking that they didn’t look exactly like what I envisioned from old order…
Our school does teach science, although perhaps not as in-depth as I’d like. Although it would be a little bit like the blind leading the blind.

4 Pig hearts just arrived, and we will take them apart and show how the valves, major vessels, and coronary arteries are located, and how they work. I chose "pig" because I have never done an animal heart other than a cat, and a pig is broadly similar to a human. One of my students suggested we dissect a fully grown pig! Only in a Mennonite school.

Seriously, have you ever considered teaching a part-time science course? For you, it would certainly not be the "blind leading the blind."

Sheep brains are another fun dissection. They are relatively cheap (about $17 give or take from biological supply companies) and there are lots of online resources and instruction guides on how to dissect them.

I was considering a kidney, with triple latex injection. Only if I have time and money.

[Ken]

4 Pig hearts just arrived, and we will take them apart and show how the valves, major vessels, and coronary arteries are located, and how they work. I chose "pig" because I have never done an animal heart other than a cat, and a pig is broadly similar to a human. One of my students suggested we dissect a fully grown pig! Only in a Mennonite school.

Seriously, have you ever considered teaching a part-time science course? For you, it would certainly not be the "blind leading the blind."

Sheep brains are another fun dissection. They are relatively cheap (about $17 give or take from biological supply companies) and there are lots of online resources and instruction guides on how to dissect them.

I was considering a kidney, with triple latex injection. Only if I have time and money.

I don't do dissections anymore in general biology classes because anatomy isn't really part of the main biology curriculum. I did the sheep brain dissection as part of a dual-credit UW in the classroom senior class called Addiction and the Brain so obviously the focus was on brain anatomy and function.

A super cheap dissection you can do is squid. You can buy blocks of whole frozen squid at any seafood store and find it in many supermarkets so super cheap. And you can do it with just some newspaper on the tables and scissors. It is fun for the kids because you can pull out the quill and ink sack and they can write with squid ink. There are lots of squid dissection tutorials and videos online.

Then if you have an electric frying pan you can cook up some calamari when you are done.

[Soloist]

Sheep brains are another fun dissection. They are relatively cheap (about $17 give or take from biological supply companies) and there are lots of online resources and instruction guides on how to dissect them.

I was considering a kidney, with triple latex injection. Only if I have time and money.

I don't do dissections anymore in general biology classes because anatomy isn't really part of the main biology curriculum. I did the sheep brain dissection as part of a dual-credit UW in the classroom senior class called Addiction and the Brain so obviously the focus was on brain anatomy and function.

A super cheap dissection you can do is squid. You can buy blocks of whole frozen squid at any seafood store and find it in many supermarkets so super cheap. And you can do it with just some newspaper on the tables and scissors. It is fun for the kids because you can pull out the quill and ink sack and they can write with squid ink. There are lots of squid dissection tutorials and videos online.

Then if you have an electric frying pan you can cook up some calamari when you are done.

Wife: that’s a brilliant idea with the squid. Especially the calamari at the end. I decided to ask the children what all they do, and one of the younger children thought that the upper grades did squid last year, and my now upper grader has done several different things like fish, frogs, maybe pigs, and a few others. He’s still middle school age, but the whole upper grade does it together.
They have the second edition of rod and staff science, which is painfully outdated (maybe 70s?), but I guess one of their more educated leaders rewrote some of the curriculum for that, which they use for homework tests. The Rod and staff questions looked more like a philosophy test than science.
I think ninth and 10th grade use a Beka which is a lot better.

I was trained to believe science was stupid and dissection was gross when I went to public school, but when I actually went to college, I enjoyed it, and the cadaver experience helped me to visualize organs like the appendix that I would’ve never actually had clear the location etc. before that

[Southerner]

I was considering a kidney, with triple latex injection. Only if I have time and money.

I don't do dissections anymore in general biology classes because anatomy isn't really part of the main biology curriculum. I did the sheep brain dissection as part of a dual-credit UW in the classroom senior class called Addiction and the Brain so obviously the focus was on brain anatomy and function.

A super cheap dissection you can do is squid. You can buy blocks of whole frozen squid at any seafood store and find it in many supermarkets so super cheap. And you can do it with just some newspaper on the tables and scissors. It is fun for the kids because you can pull out the quill and ink sack and they can write with squid ink. There are lots of squid dissection tutorials and videos online.

Then if you have an electric frying pan you can cook up some calamari when you are done.

Wife: that’s a brilliant idea with the squid. Especially the calamari at the end. I decided to ask the children what all they do, and one of the younger children thought that the upper grades did squid last year, and my now upper grader has done several different things like fish, frogs, maybe pigs, and a few others. He’s still middle school age, but the whole upper grade does it together.
They have the second edition of rod and staff science, which is painfully outdated (maybe 70s?), but I guess one of their more educated leaders rewrote some of the curriculum for that, which they use for homework tests. The Rod and staff questions looked more like a philosophy test than science.
I think ninth and 10th grade use a Beka which is a lot better.

Abeka Biology???

[Ken]

Another Mennonite girl dies of measles in Texas. Same old story....https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/heal ... =url-share

A Second Child Dies of Measles in Texas

The 8-year-old girl died early Thursday morning of “measles pulmonary failure” at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, according to records obtained by The New York Times. It is the second confirmed measles death in a decade in the United States.

The hospital, UMC Health System, said on Sunday that the girl was unvaccinated and had no underlying health conditions.

. . . .

Robert F. Kennedy, the nation’s health secretary, has faced intense criticism for his handling of the outbreak. A prominent vaccine skeptic, he has offered muted support for vaccination and has emphasized untested treatments for measles, like cod liver oil.

According to doctors in Texas, Mr. Kennedy’s endorsement of alternative treatments has contributed to patients delaying critical care and ingesting toxic levels of vitamin A.

Experts also fear that the Trump administration’s recent decisions to dismantle international public health safeguards and pull funding from local health departments have made large, multistate outbreaks more likely.

Measles is one of the most contagious pathogens. The virus can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left the room and spreads when a sick person breathes, coughs or sneezes.

Within a week or two of being exposed, those who are infected may develop a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. Within a few days, a telltale rash breaks out as flat, red spots on the face and then spreads down the neck and torso to the rest of the body.

In most cases, these symptoms resolve in a few weeks. But in rare cases, the virus causes pneumonia, making it difficult for patients, but especially children, to get oxygen into their lungs.

It may also cause brain swelling, which can leave lasting problems, like blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities.

For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus also harms the body’s immune defenses, leaving it vulnerable to other pathogens.

Note: Other reporting indicates that this girl was also from the same Mennonite group as the first: https://www.axios.com/2025/04/06/rfk-jr ... texas-trip

[JohnH]

The stats in UK are 1 in 5,000 or 1 in 10,000 (depending in whom you ask). Perhaps infectious disease hospital staff should get on the next flight to Heathrow and find out what they’re doing wrong.

[Ken]

The stats in UK are 1 in 5,000 or 1 in 10,000 (depending in whom you ask). Perhaps infectious disease hospital staff should get on the next flight to Heathrow and find out what they’re doing wrong.

No need for that. It is already blindingly obvious what they are doing wrong in Texas. They are negligently failing to vaccinate their children. And then negligently failing to get them to the hospital in time when their kids predictably get sick. After they discover that cod liver oil isn't actually a treatment for measles.

[Judas Maccabeus]

The stats in UK are 1 in 5,000 or 1 in 10,000 (depending in whom you ask). Perhaps infectious disease hospital staff should get on the next flight to Heathrow and find out what they’re doing wrong.

The big diffference is that the economic barriers to seeking prompt primary care at the first sign of trouble are simply not there. People can and do go in at the first sign of trouble. The care is already paid for by the NHS>

Wherever are you getting these stats anyway? I can't seem to find anything like this. Oh, yes, they had the common sense to "strike off" that quack Wakefield. He cannot present himself as a physician there as he is no longer such. Wish we had such common sense.