ATI Wisdom Booklets: The Evils of Evolution - Part Two

I know this is out of the normal weekly rotation - but my son was insanely cranky yesterday and skipped most of two naps because he was teething and had a bit of a stomach bug.  (I dreamed of dropping him off at the zoo to be raised by lemurs until he's a bit older.)   I can't bring myself to read "Maidens of Virtue" or any of the CP/QF books into my transcription software in front of him.  As much as I know he's way too young to understand it, I just don't want him to hear this crap.

 The Wisdom Booklet crap is equally harmful - but it's all screenshots so he doesn't hear anything while he's playing.  And - thankfully - he's back to his usual self today except he's taking long naps.

In the first post, I gave a rough outline of what the theory of evolution states.  This post will cover their third and fourth objections to evolution - which make me amazingly happy.

Most of the information in the first section is correct - if weirdly absent of terminology. 

Mutations are changes in the DNA of a cell that is not caught by any of the cellular repair mechanisms AND causes a change in the amino acid that the DNA codes for.  To oversimplify, DNA is used to make RNA.  RNA is used to make a string of amino acids.  Those amino acid strings become building materials, hormones and all sorts of really important things in cells.

Here's the mind-blowing factoid that ATI's authors missed: most mutations are silent or benign.  The whole DNA-->RNA--> amino acid process works in chunks of three chemicals.  Of those three chemicals, the third place is the most likely to mutate due to some quirks in biochemistry.  If you look at the chart below - stolen from Khan Academy - the translation between RNA and amino acids often is the same regardless of what the third letter is:



Obviously, it's not a perfect system.  If an RNA strand that is supposed to be GAU = aspartic acid is translated as GAA = glutamic acid, that could be a serious problem - or the chemical switch could be silent if aspartic acid and glutamic acid act enough alike in the protein - or the new protein might work a bit better.

Oh, and we can't forget that for all non-sex chromosomes, people have two working copies.  The most common outcome of a harmful mutation is that the new protein sucks - but the other non-mutated copy works well enough that the organism survives without major problems.

The basic rule of thumb I learned was that silent mutations were the most common followed by harmful mutations and finally a few mutations turn out to be helpful.





The first paragraph of this section is rather disjointed.   All cells are under mutation pressure - but mutations are only passed on to the next generation if they occur in germ-line cells e.g., cells that become sperm and eggs.   Those cells are under additional levels of protection like the fact that egg cells in girls' ovaries are kept in a non-dividing state from prior to birth until puberty.    It's also posited that the reason so many mammals keep testicles in an external scrotum is to reduce the damage that body temperature does to DNA. 

Next, the paragraph shifts into a glancing mention of an academic disagreement between different evolutionary scientists' beliefs of what time scale evolution happen on - known as "punctuated equilibrium" not punctuated evolution. (Thumps head softly)   It's an arcane argument that theorists on both sides enjoy blasting each other about - but both sides agree that evolution happens.  I'm certain that neither side would appreciate being used as a sign evolution was flawed......

The second paragraph is a hoot!

• The second law of thermodynamics is that within an isolated or closed system, transfers of energy lose a small amount of energy each time AND that disordered states are more stable than ordered states.  The problem with attempting to shoe-horn the second law of thermodynamics into biology is that living organisms actively bring energy from outside their body system into the system.  IOW, living organisms use energy to prevent their bodies from becoming disordered - and are NOT isolated or closed systems.
• The author implies that cells are completely helpless in the face of mutations - but that's not true at all!  Cells have many mechanisms to prevent the loss of information from mutations.  The ones I can remember from my college classes years ago include (but are not limited to)
• Having at least two copies of each gene to compare against each other for mistakes
• Cellular mechanisms to repair common issues like C-C dimers or replacement of missing nucleotide
• The redundancy within the genetic code discussed above
• The ability to destroy non-functioning proteins
• The ability to sacrifice a cell that is showing abnormal proteins in multi-cellular organisms
• There is one more "trick" - although it is a painful trick now that we can diagnose pregnancies very early.  Catastrophic abnormalities are extremely common in human reproduction - that's why roughly 20% of known first-trimester pregnancies end in a miscarriage. 

This next bit is where it gets so funny.  The ATI position on mutations is "MUTATIONS ARE BAD, BAD, BAD!"    Too bad the person who wrote the next section missed that memo.....

Ignore the double-speak about "exalts its own rights"  - that's some ham-handed ATI speak for "ignore your own needs, peon!"  Outside of that, the basic outline of natural selection is solid enough.  I'd add, though, that the survivors need to survive AND reproduce for evolution to occur.




I don't want to go berserk on this - so replace the word "gene" with the word "allele" in that entire paragraph.  All humans have two copies of the gene that produces hemoglobin.  Each of those copies is called an allele.   A person cannot be missing the entire gene for hemoglobin and survive past the first-trimester.  People can have copies of the hemoglobin allele that produce slightly different types of hemoglobin.  (People make this mistake ALL_THE_TIME and it drives me batty.  99% of the time that people say "gene" they mean "allele")

Hmmm.  I wonder what caused the allele that causes sickle-cell anemia in people who have two copies of it......

Oh, wait.  IT'S A MUTATION!  A mutation caused a change that has a benefit!  OMG!

Hmmm.  Why would a mutated allele that causes severe pain and organ damage in offspring with two copies of that allele stay in the gene pool?

Oh, wait.  IT'S EVOLUTION!  IN PEOPLE!

The real story is so much more fascinating than ATI gives credit for. 

In areas with endemic malaria, having one standard hemoglobin allele and one sickle-cell allele reduces the risk of contracting malaria greatly because half of the red blood cells in the body essentially collapse and entomb malaria parasites if infected.  This group of people will survive to adulthood to reproduce. People with two standard hemoglobin alleles have a high risk of dying of malaria especially before age 5.  People with two sickle-cell alleles are nearly immune to malaria - but untreated sickle-cell anemia generally kills people very young (and makes pregnancy very dangerous).   This means that populations in areas where malaria is endemic are most stable with a fairly high number of people carrying one copy of the sickle-cell trait.

In areas where malaria is not endemic, the selection pressure changes.  The reproductive advantage moves to people who have two standard copies since none of their children will die of sickle-cell anemia - even if they have children with someone who has a single-copy of the sickle-cell allele.  The next best option is a single copy - but prior to genetic testing, this ran the risk of having babies with someone else who also carried the sickle-cell trait.  For those couples, there is a 25% chance with each pregnancy that the baby will have sickle-cell anemia - and sickle-cell is no joke even with modern medicine.

This lead to a really cool study that looked at the changes in the frequency of the sickle-cell allele in people in Sub-Saharan Africa compared to African-Americans descended from slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa.  Prior to ~1900, malaria was endemic in the Deep South so sickle-cell allele rates were assumed to have remained constant in African-American populations.  In the early 1900's, the US underwent a massive public health campaign to control mosquitoes in hopes of eradicating yellow fever. 

It worked - and wiped out malaria as a side-effect.  When the pressure from malaria was removed, the frequency of the allele for sickle-cell anemia began to drop among African-Americans.  Now, the frequency is much, much lower in African-Americans than it is in people from Sub-Saharan Africa.

One more post on evolution to come :-)

Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit: Help at Home from Husband

In the two previous posts on "Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit" by Terri Maxwell, she's outlined how feeling overwhelmed by doing all the cleaning, cooking, laundry and homeschooling is the fault of your mother for not teaching you how to keep a home while leading you to expecting free time. 

Personally, my solution to this problem is two-fold.  First, I'm planning to let paid educational professional educate my kids - while I educate other people's kids.  I get the irony - but I do best with secondary and post-secondary students learning science so my son will get a much more enjoyable and well rounded education from men and women who want to teach kids.  Second, my husband helps out with our son before he goes to work and in the evenings when he is home along with helping out with home chores.

I can't even pretend I've created a revolutionary solution here; I'm modeling what my parents did when we were young.  Alas, I've apparently been lead horribly astray in expecting that my husband would be an active participant in our family life.

I wonder how the scenario causes you to feel. You've been busy all day homeschooling, getting some laundry done, had an hour of cleaning, made all the meals, and now dinner is over. Your husband heads for his easy chair in the living room and kicks back with the newspaper, while you head to the kitchen to clean up after dinner.(pg. 90)

ATI Wisdom Booklets: The Evils of Evolution - Part One

Oh, boy!  I've been waiting for this one!  *rubs hands together gleefully*

I love evolution.  That's not a strong enough statement.  I adore evolution.  *dances around the room*

ATI does not love or adore evolution.  Like most evolution-haters, they have cobbled together a counter-argument based on misleading statements about the theory of evolution, mangling (or ignoring) basic facts, and a deep hope that no one asks them any follow up questions.

In science, the term "theory" means an over-arching process that explains many different phenomena.  Evolution is a theory because it explains why:

•  Humans and chimpanzees have similar DNA
• Antibiotic resistance spreads between bacteria
• The frequency of the gene that causes sickle-cell anemia is different in African-Americans than populations in Western Africa
• Pepper moth coloration has shifted from whitish to grey to whitish within 200 years
• Human babies generally weigh between 5-9 pounds at birth
• A million other facts in biology

The term "theory" does not mean unproven, experimental or controversial.

Evolution will never become a law because the term "law" describes a single process.  For example, the ideal gas law describes how temperature, pressure and volume in a gas interact.

The basic idea of evolution is very straight forward.

• Genes comes in different forms that are known as alleles that control traits that form in organisms.  
• An example in humans would be the gene that controls making lactase - a protein that breaks down lactose.  Some people have an allele that causes lactase to be produced their entire life; others stop producing lactase in early childhood.  
• Environmental pressures affect which genes are most beneficial to organisms surviving until reproductive age.
• Continuing the previous example - people who live in communities who domesticated milk-producing animals benefit from lactase-production as an adult since milk is a good source of protein and fat.   On the other hand, communities without animal milk benefit from shutting off lactase production since that energy can be used for other purposes.
• Over time, the frequency of alleles that are beneficial to the average conditions in an area increases while the frequency of harmful alleles drops.
• This explains why many (but not all) people of European ancestry can drink milk as adults without discomfort while most (but not all) people of Japanese and Native American descent cannot drink milk without gastrointestinal distress. 
• Over longer time scales, a single species exposed to different environments can become so adapted to those environments that members of the species who breed only with members from the same environment produce more offspring than those that interbreed.  This leads to two new species forming due to behavioral changes, mating preferences, and genetic changes that prevent interbreeding.
• This hasn't happened in modern humans- but it happens in ducks frequently.  Many species of ducks can interbreed to produce living offspring - but those offspring look so different than the parent species that they cannot attract a mate.  The species stay separate because of mating preferences rather than genetic changes.  On the other hand, donkeys and horses can interbreed but their offspring is sterile.  This is an example of species formed by genetic incompatibility.

Alright.  Now we can start looking at the ATI version of evolution.  

Maidens of Virtue: Chapter Two

The second chapter of "Maidens of Virtue: A Study of Feminine Loveliness for Mothers and Daughters" by Stacy McDonald is titled "Modern Day Maidens".  It is a brief five pages and can be paraphrased as "Life was so much better during the olden days when women and girls had life really easy.  I want to go back to that life."

My response can be summarized as "That time never existed - and you'd not like being during those times as much as you think you would.

I have a different feeling of regret in reading this book compared to previous CP/QF works by women.  Debi Pearl has a piquant ability to rip apart her neighbors - but her writing skills are marginal.  Sarah Mally had similarly weak writing skill - but lacked the life experience to make her writings interesting.  One of the Botkin Sisters seemed to have some severe written language deficiencies - but the other sister could occasionally put together an interesting argument.  Mrs. McDonald is different;  her writing style is surprisingly solid - as long as the reader avoids thinking about what she's written.

Antique books are much like old friends. Neither one may be as new or as strong as they once were, but as the years pass their pages soften, their character develops, and their uniqueness is made evident to a new generation. Mysteriously, they grow more precious and even more beautiful as they age.

One day I was browsing the shelves of an antique book store and found a real jewel - a forgotten leather - bound treasure. After blowing the dust off of its cover, I observed a tender scene of children playing in a pasture. Like a solitary white rose positioned carefully on the deep velvet lining of a bejeweled box, the charm of the simple painting was curiously enhanced by its gilded, ornate border.

Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit: Free Time? What Free Time?

Today, homeschooling mom Teri Maxwell lets us in on a rarely spoken of secret in homeschooling: moms who want to home school well have to trade off ever having free time for themselves again.

Personally, I couldn't never figure out how moms managed to do it all - keep a semi-clean house, prepare three meals a day,  teach 3-5 subjects for multiple children and run their own home-based business.

Well, we've found some answers to that so far: Have your kids do more chores than schooling, count those chores as schooling, and be ready to blame your mom for not teaching you how to keep a house.

Now, Mrs. Maxwell begins the process of shaming young moms for needing any time alone.

I remember speaking to a lovely young mother after giving a workshop at a homeschooling conference. She had four children, ages 6 and under. She came up wondering how she could get more time in her day to herself. I suggested she rise early enough in the morning that she would have time alone with the Lord before the children were awake. I also encouraged her to have an hour or more each afternoon when all the children napped or did quiet activities. That would be another hour of quiet time for her to use as the Lord directed. This mom assured me that she already had those times worked into her schedule, but she needed more time to herself. (pg. 86)

ATI Wisdom Booklets: How Not to Farm In Temperate Areas....

ATI Wisdom Booklet #18 tackles the rules involving farming and animal husbandry covered in the Old Testament. 

These rules are fascinating from historical and scientific perspectives.  These rules reflected pieces of hard-won wisdom about farming in an arid climate and methods of preventing loss of crops.  They are a great jumping off point for discussions of farming traditions in a variety of cultures and climates.

Since the booklet was produced by ATI, all of that subtlety and nuance is lost.  The rules are assumed to be universal and unchanging so facts are twisted, omitted or entirely falsified to force that conclusion. 

The first page is a jumble of verses from Deuteronomy that state that God will bless His people if they follow the laws of farming.  That's true enough  - but God spends most of Leviticus and Deuteronomy holding out a carrot for good behavior and a threat of absolute destruction for any disobedience - so a grain of salt should be used.

The first law discussed is the Jubilee Year in which no crops are to be harvested.  This happens every seventh year.  The booklet states that fallowing the land allows macro-nutrients to be replenished and erosion to be limited.  Both of those statements are true - but rather misleading.  Fallowing the land is the slowest way to regenerate macro-nutrients I can think of.  Faster ways include applying inorganic fertilizers, applying organic fertilizers like manure or compost, or rotating crops that fix nitrogen like beans.  Likewise, fallowing the land is better at controlling erosion than plowing a field before rain, but modern techniques like no-till planting are even more effective.  If farmers are using outdated and damaging farming methods like deep tillage before rain or stripping nutrients with no return, skipping one year out of every seven isn't going to save their soil.

The last reason is that "Moisture needs to be restored".

Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit: It's Your Mom's Fault

This posts links with the next two posts to discuss Teri Maxwell's idea of why so many homeschooling mothers feel overwhelmed, overworked and underappreciated.  A quick paraphrase is "It's your mother's fault you feel like chores are never ending while never having any free time and expecting help from your husband."

This post covers how previous generations of mothers failed to teach their daughters how to keep a home.  There is also a hidden agenda to justify why children - especially daughters - should shoulder lots of domestic responsibilities without their mother feeling guilty.

The first group of guilty mothers stayed home - but sent their kids to school! *gasps in mock horror*

Many homeschooling moms were raised in homes where their mothers were home all day while the children went away to school. If our moms wanted to, they had six or more hours in a day to devote to house cleaning, laundry, and organizing. Perhaps because they stayed home, having time to do lots of housework, they were of the "children are only children once" philosophy. This often meant they didn't require very much of us as far as chores and responsibilities were concerned. (pg. 87)

Maidens of Virtue: Introduction and Chapter One

After a short break from emotional purity (Emo-Pure) books,  I'm moving into books on how to raise children to be Emo-Pure.

The first book that I am reviewing is "Raising Maidens of Virtue: A Study of Feminine Loveliness For Mothers and Daughters" by Stacy McDonald.

I discovered this book thanks to Amazon's "Recommended for You" feature.  Yes, I've bought enough CP/QF books that Amazon now finds me new ones to read on my own.  *sighs*   The one redeeming feature is that Amazon's big data has rather confusing data point now; I also enjoy biographies of spunky "feminist" women and every non-fiction analysis of natural disasters or shipwrecks I can find.

Stacy McDonald writes at the blog "Your Sacred Calling" which hasn't been maintained much in the last few years - but she does have an active Facebook feed.  She has 10 kids and has managed to marry off 5 of the 10 - which is pretty good for a CP/QF family with a lot of daughters.

The hardest part about starting this book is trying to figure out how to describe it.  Amazon and Mrs. McDonald describe it as a Bible study; I disagree.  Snippets and dabs of the Bible are included throughout - but the book is not about the Bible really.  The closest I can come is a collection of essays or an anthology that has been poorly edited.   A good anthology - or Bible study for that matter - arranges the works by connecting themes.  This gives a smooth transition between items. This collection has no transition between items and only a rough idea of themes across chapters.

The chapters are kind of arranged by topic - but the topic changes are jarring.  The first chunk of chapters are on how feminism has ruined chastity, how un-modest the Western world is and how much prettier the world was a long time ago (presumably in a galaxy far away as well....).

The middle chunk is by far my favorite because the reader is thrown between the evils of blue jeans - an entire chapter! - to how being dowdy is as bad as being impure to why God expects women to smell good all the time.  (These chapters caused me to laugh so hard while I was reading in bed that I woke my husband up - and he's a deep sleeper.)

The last chunk is a mish-mash of Emo-Pure hype, glorifying homemaking/farming and promoting unquestioning obedience in women of all ages.

The minor problem with this book is that Stacy McDonald and I are very, very different women.  She enjoys warmth, enclosed spaces, houses decorated with lots of tasteful odds and ends, and talking quietly with your girlfriends while drinking tea.   I wear sandals until the danger of frostbite requires shoes and am routinely upbraided by little old ladies for wearing too few layers of clothes during Michigan winters. (One little old lady recently told me to start dressing myself in as many layers as I put on my son.  That made me laugh.)   I believe in functional beauty which means I pick colorful objects that I use frequently so I don't have to deal with decorative junk.  I'm notoriously bad at picking the right vocal volume for talks - and it's not because I'm quiet.

The book starts with a foreword by Jennie Chancey who coauthored another book with Mrs. McDonald, Mrs. McDonald's acknowledgements, and a detailed description of how to use the book before reaching Chapter One.  In a 200(ish) page book, the introductory material takes up 13% of the book - and adds nearly nothing to the material.

The first chapter is a three-page humble-brag by Mrs. McDonald over how excited she is to review her work after 10 years and find that's it's still pretty darn accurate.  Most of the writing is about how moms need to focus to make sure that their daughter's inner heart is as pure as the outer Emo-Pure image that the rest of the book cultivates.

For me, the first few paragraphs of the chapter are a glimpse into a common issue in CP/QF life - pride.

When I was a young, twenty - something, pregnant mom without varicose veins, without morning sickness, and free of any back pain or fatigue, I arrogantly wondered what all the fuss was about. Pregnancy was fun! When I heard older women talk about the difficulties of pregnancy, I presumed that perhaps I was simply stronger than other women or maybe I just loved motherhood more than they did. I hardly even felt pregnant... until I went into labor.

However, each of my successive pregnancies became increasingly difficult. (Yes, I know, I deserved it!) Finally, I had to admit that maybe the women who struggled during pregnancy weren't whiny or discontent; they simply had a little more experience. They hadn't been speaking from the fresh zeal and vigor of youth, as I had been; they had simply lived through a few more days of harsh reality.

In my arrogance, I hadn't yet discovered that, although motherhood is deeply satisfying and children are indeed a blessing, some days, pregnancy is painful, and weariness is almost always inevitable. Even after they're born, children are hard work! (pg. 21)

I suppose "arrogant" is one description of Mrs. McDonald's attitude during her first pregnancy - but I see it as an expression of too much pride.  My understanding of pride is when a person gives themselves too much credit for a situation that ended well because of outside forces. 

In this example, Mrs. McDonald mentions that even as a young woman she knew on some level she was having an easy pregnancy.  She had no morning sickness, no fatigue (which boggles my mind), no back pain and no varicose veins.  That pregnancy sounds like fun - or even magical!  Instead of being grateful for the luck of the draw that gave her an easy pregnancy, she ascribes the easy pregnancy to "being stronger" than other women.

Look, even when I was in my early-twenties, I knew the difference between strength and luck.  Strength is what those older women who survived rough pregnancies had.  Luck is what Mrs. McDonald had with her first pregnancy.

I don't know if Mrs. McDonald was into CP/QF when she was first pregnant - but she describes a mind-set that makes her very susceptible to high-demand groups.  She believed that her good pregnancy might be a sign that she "loves motherhood more" than the other women.  That's a strange belief from objective standards - but the statement demonstrates a belief that the correct mental state directly affects the world.  That's a great sign for someone who is recruiting for a high-demand group; the high-demand group is offering a newly discovered set of methods that will allow her to control her life through correct thought! 

Welcome to "Maidens of Virtue"!  I hope you enjoy the wild and crazy ride.

Completely off-topic: My son is old enough that he's starting to be able to pincer-grip objects.  This means he finds paper fascinating.  Rather than waste good scrap paper, I've been ripping apart my copy of Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Botkin's "It's (Not That) Complicated" and giving him a few pages to play with at a time.  Watching him crumple and gnaw on the pages has been deeply satisfying for both of us!

Preparing to Be A Help Meet: Background Information

I've been learning about the Pearls for the last two years as I've learned more about the Christian Patriarchy movement.    I have found Michael and Debi's books to be laughably bad - at best- and horribly abusive at worst.

Honestly, the first time I read this book, I tried to write some blog posts on the topic, but her writing was so absurd that I had a hard time.  I mean, no one would really believe the weird and contradictory crap she spews out.....right?  I'm a 30-odd year-old woman who was educated in a fairly liberal Catholic school system, earned a science degree with a teaching certificate,  and taught in inner city schools.  I met my amazing husband online through a dating website.  We've been married about two years and I can say that precious little of the advice given in this book would have been helpful at all during our dating, engagement or married life.  Since the advice was so clearly stupid, why bother writing about it?

Over time, though, I realized that there were women, young and old, reading this book.  Young women who had had a sheltered life who would not have the life experience to see the toxic messages.  Mothers coming from tough lives who wanted a better "Godly" life for for their daughters do not realize that they are giving their daughters a new form of hell to protect them from a different set of problems.

I write this as an outside critique both from a practical stand-point and an occasional theological standpoint.  I'm a Roman Catholic so my critique is slanted towards the religion I know best.  I have bounced a lot of the ideas of my husband who is a member of the Reformed Church of America.

And here we go:

Preparing to Be A Help Meet is an instructional self-help book aimed at unmarried young women and newly married women.  Debi Pearl's purpose in this book is to help women learn the skills needed to be the wife GOD wants you to be.

Just in case you don't believe her alone, the book is peppered with side comments by four men.  Debi divides all men into three categories - Steady/Priests, Visionary/Prophets, and Command/King.  Apparently, the Visionary man is 27-year-old single artist while the Steady is a Web designer aged 26 who is unmarried. The Command Man is actually two men who edited this book.  One is married, the other is unmarried.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the married Command Man is her husband Michael Pearl.....

She starts each chapter with a title page involving a MORAL and a CAUTION.  I will include these bizarre tidbits in the portion of the chapter that actually supports those ideas.

I am not including the whole book - simply the choicest bits that shed insight into Debi Pearl's mind and the extra-biblical lifestyle she espouses.

Homeschooling with A Meek and Quiet Spirit: Reasonable Expectations, Consequences, and Emotional Boundaries

I've reviewed several books on this blog - and the theme connecting the books is absolutely terrible advice. 

We've heard Debi Pearl's idea that girls should learn to make cheese because they might marry a dairy farmer who needs a wife who can make cheese.  (I've still not found an real-life situation where a woman who married in saved a dairy farm because of her cheese-making skills.)  The Botkin Sisters' advice to never show interest in a guy prior to his asking permission to court from your father is pretty atrocious.  Sarah Mally's worst advice was holding the Princess' life as being a shining example of Christian living when a better description would be nearly-terminal-ennui.

From that background,  I had a nice surprise in "Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit" by Teri Maxwell.  She has some good advice in the chapter on "Anger" that could save parents and children a lot of strife:

Consider for a moment a sin or habit that you have been praying about and would like to see changed. Here is a simple example from my life. A few years ago, Steve said he would like me to put a cookie sheet under the electric fry pan so that the heat from the fry pan would it damage the kitchen counter. High goal for Mom, but shouldn't be too tough, since she likes to please her husband and surely doesn't want to burn her countertop. However, Mom has never put the cookie sheet under the fry pan in all her life! She is usually preoccupied when working in the kitchen and finds herself forgetting, time after time, to put that cookie sheet in place. I did not want to forget. I did not purpose to ignore my husband's request. I just didn't think about it!