I had a handful of short sentences, seeds of a Random Thought write-up. But given the content maw, I’ve succumbed to article shrink-flation and broke it up into 2 mediocre sets. Enjoy!
Item the 1st – Prostitution Memes. “My favorite part in Pretty Woman is her joy when he agrees to pay $3000 for 6 days effectively lowering her rate from 100/hr to 21/hr.” One of those things that seems ‘clever’ on the surface, but is actually dumb. Like democratic socialism. Actually, that doesn’t even seem clever, never-mind. But that calculation assumes that her hourly rate could be sustained continuously for 144 hours. Now maybe that’s achievable for Winston’s mom, but not your average call girl. If we give the guy credit for 3 times a day, each lasting 1 hour – which is reasonable for me, but not your average guy – that’s still only 18 hours for nearly $200/hr. That doesn’t even account for meals, shopping etc. To make $3000 in 6 days at $100/hr, she’d have to work 30 hours. Six days of hanging out, wine and dine, presents, luxury digs, and the occasional fling – I can’t see that a call girl (or hooker if she’s dead) might prefer that to 30 hours of random dudes. Except of course Winston’s mom. Dumb meme.
Item the 2nd – Fuck with your Dr. There was some discussion a bit ago about social engineering questions you might encounter at a Dr’s office, in this case about guns in the home. Someone said something along the lines “I just say a simple NO. Ain’t their business and they deserve a lie for asking.” While that is true, I’m more a fan of push back/confrontation, especially in a case were there is minimal/no cost to you. Sometimes, when I feel like casting my ass-holishness as noble and principled, I think of it as not letting the lie into the world. By simply saying “no”, you avoid a perhaps uncomfortable situation, but you re-enforce the cultural norm that is based on the lie. The Dr., if anti-gun, has his biases strengthened, doesn’t have to confront a different position and maybe have one more brick removed from his wall. You are lying to the Dr. and, more importantly, lying to yourself in a small way, acquiescing to the notion that gun ownership is bad and strengthening that proposition in the wider culture, in however inconsequential a manner it seems at the moment. Obviously, it’s an individual choice and trade off, but I think uncountable such acts integrated over time are a part of the reason we end up in a society that doesn’t acknowledge, let alone value, individual liberty.
Item the 3rd – Traffic lights and the urge to control. Yeah, yeah, it’s traffic lights again. And people don’t like it when you don’t follow ‘the rules’ blindly. The local municipality decided that they’d make it so the lights are red in both directions for 3-5 seconds. I suppose there’s some logic to it, e.g. allow someone to enter the light legally under a yellow and still be clear before it’s green in the other direction. What it’s really done is train people to run the lights even deeper into the red. Neither here nor there. Anyway. If I’m at the red and it goes red in the other direction and there’s no one at the intersection or everyone is stopped, depending on time of day, I’ll just go. The other day (around 5am), guy in the truck next to me caught up 2 blocks later and, as he passed me, gunned it up to 30 over the speed limit to demonstrate… I don’t what. Policing my lawlessness? Displeasure with my willingness to ignore what a sign tells me, even though it added no danger? Understanding that it’s meaningless to sit there for 5 seconds staring at an empty intersection, but not being willing to ignore what he was told to do and so is upset at someone who was willing? Sheer coincidence? I don’t – I think it’s just that people really don’t like it if you act outside of what they see as the established rules and will be willing to see you suffer immensely if you don’t live within their constraints.
Around here, stop signs are suggestions. Most of the locals are really aware, because they’ve got a lot of bicycles and pedestrians in this stupid ass beach area I live in. Generally speaking,if it takes too long and it’s clear run that red, no big deal.
Ah, XIV! The gender-neutral auto-immune disease! It can get under your skin, but you can block it before puberty.
“3 times a day, each lasting 1 hour”
Back when I could go 3 times in a day, they definitely wouldn’t have taken an hour.
I think we are talking to a 14 year old boy, one who cannot tell time.
You’re making me wistful.
I actually have a lot of favorite parts from Pretty Woman.
Here’s one:
Vivian: People put you down enough, you start to believe it.
Edward Lewis: I think you are a very bright, very special woman.
Vivian: The bad stuff is easier to believe. You ever notice that?
And this one:
Vivian: You’re late.
Edward Lewis: You’re stunning.
Vivian: You’re forgiven
Solid. Partly at Mom’s request after I told her I enjoyed 10 Things I Hate About You, I watched Clueless, as it was on yesterday. I’ve heard very good things, similar to the other flick. It was clever, and while I’ve never read “Emma,” I did a quick plot check. Alicia Silverstone is SUPPOSED to be flitty and mostly annoying. (Well done, her. Took me a bit to ‘get’ it.)
I didn’t watch the whole thing, cuz ‘ditzy girl playing matchmaker’ wasn’t quite written for me, but I see the appeal. For what it was trying to do, it did it well. I like when movies know what they are. It’s so much easier, that way. (It isn’t.) For such a long while, no one can be ‘honest’ cuz that would assuredly offend someone, and we simply can’t have that.
Participation Trophies: Let’s put off any actual ‘hardship’ or learning about anything socially difficult, cuz we’re all winners in our own ways! Eeeee! –> Bring your parents to your job interview cuz you’ve never experienced the reality that you *won’t* just get what you want.
Predictable consequences were intended. Such supple, compliant children my generation is raising. Bastards, all of ’em!
One more favorite:
Edward Lewis: [while driving the Lotus, she told him how much the going rate is] You gotta be joking.
Vivian: I never joke about money.
Vivian: Neither do I.
Edward Lewis: A hundred dollars an hour. Pretty stiff.
Vivian: [with her free hand, reaches down towards his crotch] Well, no, but it’s got potential
You see, I’ve never seen the movie. I have no idea who Edward and Vivian are. I can infer the two main characters obviously, but… My only knowledge of the movie (most really, except the princess bride, spinal tap, south park, the only 3 star wars movies, and LotR) comes from the culture/memes. I live a sheltered life here in my mom’s basement, I guess.
I saw the movie with a little red headed girl.
I saw the movie with a little red headed girl.
Is that you, Charlie Brown?!?!
She kept pulling his deflated pigskin away and away, but he never came ’round.
So?
Not Jewish?
Not sure how to tell you, but Anne of Behind the Green Door is a completely different film genre.
“…he agrees to pay $3000 for 6 days effectively lowering her rate from 100/hr to 21/hr.”
I’m guessing Julia Roberts, whom I don’t *really* get the fawny-eyed, sexual love for back when, could ‘easily pull in customers, but I think you’re being quite silly here. First, ‘guaranteed’ money and no need to hustle. Then, Richard Gere, whom I also don’t get any appeal for, is rich in the flick, I think, and isn’t a dirty ug-mo. A really nice place to stay, luxury food and ‘dates,’ pretty much getting paid to get entertained as you do your job.
Getting to the Sugar Daddy zone, were I to whore, I’d put out my A+ personality and Talent out for those six days. I’m lookin’ to hook that gerbilly salt ‘n pepper.
Note: I’ve never seen the flick. He *may* be trying to kill her, and after 30+ years, people are *really* serious about not spoiling that shit. Well done, y’all. My shit spoils after fermentation. Which does remind me, time to flush.
“Gerbilly salt ‘n pepper” LOL
Sleeping With the Enemy needed one more bullet.
Your flagrant disregard for strict obedience to red lights will give UCS a coniption fit.
Not wearing the appropriately elegant driving gloves will also give UCS a conniption fit.
I’m trying to figure out the logic. First he says that the system is training people to cross deeper into the start of the red, then says he runs the end of the red when that opposite light has just turned red – putting him squarely in the crosshairs of the people trained to run the start of the red.
Suicidal ideation?
I guess you missed the part where ‘every one is stopped’ or ‘no-one at the intersection’. The good visibility to cross traffic is implied in those statements. In that situation, you’re just doing what you’re told to do – by an inanimate object – for no reason other than your were told to. There’s not even a Chesterton’s fence argument to made, you’re just obeying for the sake of obedience.
You seem to miss the part where he says everyone else is stopped. He isn’t pulling out blindly into the intersection, he’s using his own observations to decide if it’s safe to go, not relying on an inanimate object hanging above the road to tell him what to do.
😁😂🤣
Wait, you’re serious?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Have someone let us know when the funeral is.
Fuck sake, I take far to long to crystalize my thoughts into coherent missives.
All of the worst accidents happen when “No one is coming”. I just don’t want to give my insurance company cause not to pay on my policy by being found in violation or possibly at fault.
Have someone let us know when the funeral is.
Look, if you are worried about people barreling through a red, 5 seconds at the end of a green ain’t going to help you. If I observe the situation, and deem it safe, I’m not waiting for a light to allow me to proceed.
My other favorite one is intersections with a left turn arrow. When straight through traffic gets the green, the arrow stays red for 5 seconds before turning blinking yellow. Now the particular intersection I’m thinking of has 4 blocks straight unobstructed visibility to oncoming traffic. In the early morning (generally when I’m on my way to work 4:30 to 6-ish), traffic from that direction is extremely light, usually with no traffic at all visible over the full 4+ blocks. I see the vast majority of people sit there for the full 5+ seconds and not moving until the light starts blinking. Nothing has changed in the situation. LITERALLY NOTHING. The road is as empty as it was 5 seconds ago. You are no more safe now, nor is anyone else, than you were 5 seconds ago. It is purely blind obedience. I get it, it’s evolutionarily ingrained as a useful response, but don’t pretend that that’s exactly what it is. Blind obedience. Not a death wish. Not a certain funeral. Not suicidal ideation. Just application of common sense where most have substituted deference to an inanimate object.
You’ve really got a bee in you bonnet.
If you’re in such a hurry that you think those five seconds are going to make or break you – you’re the person I’m worried about on the road.
All of the worst accidents happen when “No one is coming”.
Sure, agree 100%. My point, to the degree I have one, is that traffic lights, and using them for social engineering don’t fix that. They make travel more safe and more efficient in many (most) situations. But that doesn’t make it universally so and substituting them for your rational abilities in ALL situations is, IMNSHO, a bad idea vis-a-vis what it reflects about the larger culture, especially if it’s seen as a priori the ‘right thing to do’. Not, yes I see the point, makes sense, but it’s just generally better for me to just offload that part of life onto them, but “you must always do what you’re told” for the mere fact of it’s what you are told to do.
Did I mention the oppositional defiance disorder?
Yes, your blind disobedience and accusations made that clear.
In truth, I just make the drive itself somewhere I’m okay with being. Sitting in a comfortable seat at a comfortable temperature with an audiobook on, I can go for hours, which is how I’ve gone coast to coast. I just don’t find the wait worth the worry, unless I’m getting too low on gas or need to find a rest stop.
If you’re in such a hurry that you think those five seconds are going to make or break you
You completely miss the point. It’s not about those 5 seconds (but if you integrate those 5 seconds along with a thousand other things that cost us 5 seconds here or there for compliance, it’s not inconsiderable over a lifetime), it’s about applying your brain when you are in control of 3000 pounds with a v^2 of kinetic energy. Always be paying attention to your surroundings. Always be aware of where other people are. Never be distracted from the task at hand. Bad drivers are not necessarily those who disobey the rules in the right situation, they are those that blindly follow them thinking that saves them from the task of paying attention to what they are doing. They might “follow the rules” but I assure you, they are 1000 times more dangerous than I on the road.
You are making assumptions and stealing bases there, champ. You’re presumption that waiting out the light means not paying attention assumes a shitton of facts not in evidence.
On top of all the physics problems, Going on green avoids those red and blues wasting fifteen minutes and a few hundred dollars that could be put to better use. You may decide that saving up those few seconds each time is worth the periodic long delay, but that’s your right to risk. But it just comes off as impatience and petulence the more you rant about how much better you are for your petty pointlessness.
When you do get pulled over, do you comport yourself as defiantly?
Of course now you’ll go “you blindly obey out of fear, you just confessed” or something along that line.
And the least safe drivers are the ones who think they’re the safe ones.
And the least safe drivers are the ones who think they’re the safe ones.
And the ones who always obey the rules are also the least safe ones.
But I doubt I’ll convince you, so have a good night and enjoy dinner – even if it is 22:00 east coast time!
The left turn arrow that goes from green to red back to flashing green is an Obama era federal thing.
It’s awful.
It most light timing is controlled by the municipality.
My town had a guy who was the Traffic Signal Supervisor. He was basically the shop lead for the shop that dealt with all the signage and maintaining the lights.
If you have an issue with bad light timing, find him. Often they change things based on what works and local feedback. If they don’t get feedback they will leave it as it came out of the box. Don’t go to a politician. Find the guy that operates the equipment.
And the ones who always obey the rules are also the least safe ones.
Sure, and the people who use proper English are the least literate, as the ones who get the most math problems right are the least numerate.🙄
I’m all for a bit of common sense. I’ve run my share of red lights when there wasn’t anybody around for a mile. But the idea that you’re somehow the safe driver by running a red at an occupied intersection? That some special kind of stupid.
The point of traffic laws is predictability. You see a turn signal and you know with a level of certainty that the car is turning. You see a red light and you know with a level of certainty that the car is going to stop. You see a yellow line and you know with a level of certainty that the oncoming traffic is staying on the other side.
When you become unpredictable, you are dangerous. Whether that is stopping in moving traffic to be courteous and let somebody in, or whether that’s running a red light because you don’t like how it’s programmed. Be predictable and you’ll be a safe driver.
The least safe drivers aren’t the ones unthinkingly following the rules. They’re the ones who think the rules are for the little people, who think it’s all a game of get what you can get and avoid the cops. Those people are unpredictable, and thus dangerous.
I narrowly missed being in a potentially serious accident because of some idiot doing this. I was in the left southbound lane on a surface street, saw a tallish vehicle stopped ahead in the right southbound land, and thought, “I wonder why he’s stopped” right before I had to swerve hard to miss the previously-obscured vehicle making a left turn in front of me from the side street on the right.
Sure, and the people who use proper English are the least literate, as the ones who get the most math problems right are the least numerate.
Totally the same thing (insert eye-roll emoji). There’s an unstated, and incorrect, assumption in equating your examples to the situation I outlined.
That some special kind of stupid.
If you ignore all the other stipulations I… stipulated to… and substitute your preferred framing of ‘occupied intersection’ absent any additional information sure. Or I’ll just cop to being a special kind of stupid. (wipes drool from side of mouth and tries to recall how to go potty. Because I’m special. And stupid).
They’re the ones who think the rules are for the little people, who think it’s all a game of get what you can get and avoid the cops.
Right, because that’s exactly what I said. At least avoid arguing with a straw man of your own creation.
Never mind – I’m violating my own rule of calmly and respectfully, so I’m off to bed.
(goes back are erases last bit of snark and follows through with threat – I’m off to bed.)
Putrid – To expound upon my credulity of the totally unoccupied intersection – I have rarely, if ever – come across an intersection which had a controlling light where there was not other traffic, even at the wee hours of the morning.
Being in a built up long occuped area where you really can’t see reliably down the other roads, and where there is always someone sharing the road, a deserted red light with clear lines of sight is like a white rhino. I know logically they’re not extinct, but they don’t live ’round here, and there aren’t many left. (originally I’d written unicorn, but changed by mind because they’re not mythical)
GT. Stopping and waving people to move. Drives me nuts. If they knew the rules of the road they wouldn’t do it. I suspect stoppers in traffic to led peds j walk leads to a lot of pedestrian fatalities.
The people that back up at intersections drive
Me up the wall. They pull out a little over the stop line or crosswalk and back up. Nope im not letting you do that, you can hit me. The only time im backing up in traffic is if there is no one behind me and some big trucks turning across my front and has misjudged the turn and how long his trailer is.
That might be the one too-personal question I have NOT been asked on any of the many forms I have had to fill out lately.
My idea of too personal being things like which sex I sleep with and when. Or when did I quit hard drugs.
“Look, I’m fourscore, how the hell would I know?”
I don’t have any guns at home. My wife sure does though.
I’ve been to the dr. exactly twice in the last… 40-ish years. The most recent maybe 7 years ago to get permission from one Dr. to go see another one who wanted to stick stuff up my ass. No gun questions. The other one, something like 25 years ago, was a physical from a ‘company’ Dr. so I’d be allowed to use the gym facility at work. I didn’t really follow my own advice there, but it was 25 years ago. I basically said “non ya bidness” – she responded that “oh no, it’s not that, we’re going to test you hearing and want to know if there’s anything we should aware of”; Well then why did you ask me about guns in the house? and why not wait until you do the hearing test and are trying to diagnose an issue (there wasn’t)? So my response was then “well, let’s just say that were I to engage in such activity as shooting guns, I would be very careful to employ only the finest in hearing protection.” And no more was said.
Can you give me a value of “hard drugs”? Cause Im really struggling with this one…
Go away, Fed.
Find some square grouper did you?
Item the 2nd
Correct answer for any intrusive question
“Is this a quiz? What do I get for getting it right?”
Except at a border crossing
One of the very few things that NYC does right is that every traffic light is exactly the same. Red, yellow, green – and that’s it. No fancy timing, no special lanes or arrows or flashing lights. Everyone whether driving or walking knows exactly what is coming and it’s all very predictable.
Where I am now is much more typical. The corner by my house is a ridiculous complication of every variation under the sun. I have no idea what’s coming and I’ve lived here three years. So I just look around carefully, hope for the best, and go.
Traffic lights? In Podunkville? C’mon, man, it’s Podunkville.
Idaho had the last stoplight on I90.
They gave it a funeral when Wallace got bypassed. https://apps.itd.idaho.gov/apps/mediamanagermvc/transporter/2005/090205_Trans/090205_Stoplight2.html
lol That pic looks like something out of the 1890’s.
We all dressed like that in the late 80s and 90s here Rhy
There’s a traffic circle not far from here. Open prairie, used to have a 4 way stop that no one ever stopped at because of the lack of traffic and great visibility. Replaced with a circle a couple years ago. May have had some Somali appeasements involved, I dunno
Now you’re just joshing. They haven’t made it up your way.
Up there it’s just a crop circle.
There must be a contractor that specializes in circles. Goes from community to community, explaining to the political horsepower that the next township over is getting a circle and “You should think about one, too. You wouldn’t want folks to think you’re against modernization”
“With your own traffic circle you’ll have clean modern businesses, great schools, high paying jobs and a way into the future for your kids and grandkids”
Well, we had to put our other dog to sleep today. Second in 6 weeks. After 15 years his ticker was failing (pulmonary hypertension), and there just weren’t any more good days in view.
He was the best boy.
Sorry man. Dogs is good people and you never quite stop missing them.
Shit, RC. That sucks green donkey dick.
So sorry RC. Remember the good days he gave you.
That’s terrible to hear. Sorry, R C.
Many condolences
Sorry to hear that.
Our last dog was our best dog ever. Still miss that stray. I doubt I’ll get another unless a really really good stray shows up.
Sorry
Sorry to hear about the dog.
Genuine condolences.
I’ve been through it 8X now and it never gets easy. Now we have 3 young-ish ones, and I dread they day their time comes.
Deepest, deepest condolences.
That’s a tough one.
Dammit, that sucks.
Moving into a new place is supposed to leave good memories, not “Gee, the house is awfully quiet… shit.”
So sorry to hear that m
@PM: I didn’t know you were in a similar living situation as me. Don’t wanna pry so I won’t ask (now?), but I hope it’s going as well as it can.
I’m astoundingly lucky with M&D.
If in reference to “mom’s basement”, that was a joke. Sorry!
HA! *looks overhead for whizzing 😂😂😂s overhead*
No worries, at all.
*”as well as it can” includes all the madness and sadness /understanding that comes with it
“I just say a simple NO. Ain’t their business and they deserve a lie for asking.”
That was me, and I stand by it. Yes, your line of thought has a lot of merit, but I think that if everyone did that, just lied to them about things they have no business asking about, it would put a quick stop to the whole thing. See, when they have no idea if you do or don’t, because everyone would answer the same, then there is no information to be gained, no person to feel morally superior to (which is a huge chunk of it), but they know that there are still 400 million guns in civilian hands in the USofA, you have shown them just how little you, or anyone for that matter, thinks of their social engineering.
They aren’t worth talking to about anything than their actual job.
Now old people are asked if they want an interview with a social worker, before they see a doctor. The gun question is there, suicidal thoughts, depression, that sort of thing.
I sat through one, without knowing what it was but no more. I guess the Social Worker lobby is strengthening. There may be a need for those folks but it would be hard to see much demand in Glibs Gulch.
Never been asked about guns, but the rest yes. I shrug it off because the answers are always Nope ad finitem.
The army always asked my wife, “has someone close to you harmed or threatened to harm you?” Before any appointment.
They asked me if I had thoughts of hurting myself.
“Suicide? Hell no! Murder? Every damn day.” Every last one of them chuckled at that but it was the truth.
One reason I’m not following this tournament is that ESPN pre-empts it with kid’s basketball every goddamn night. 😡
I sometimes cross the street when the walk sign isn’t on, but the way is clear. In NYC, you cross whenever the herd you’re in starts to move regardless of the signal. At least that was my experience.
They legalized jaywalking last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GACzoK5dNxc
I think die Deutschen have a good cultural agreement on this. For adults, ya can cross pretty much whenever, but if *kids* are present, they all follow the lights and will scold those who don’t.
Yep, kinda ‘force kids to obey their overlords,’ but, uh, that’s what parents are. A good social agreement (among *Germans*) that actually does help kids learn to check for traffic. Now, there are plenty of OTHER ways for ’em to ‘learn’ that one, but I like it’s more community culture and less Top-Down.
Idaho has a stop sign/light running rule for cyclists.
I’ve done it more than a few times back when I was poor and two wheels were the only transportation I could afford.
@Slumbrew- from the dedthread:
“Deserved”? No.
But fighting with law enforcement while you’re armed is a bad idea and with getting shot a not-unexpected outcome.
And it was a P320 they were fighting over.
“I’m more a fan of push back/confrontation” ← Yep. We’re totally different people. I never start confrontations. I mediate ways out of ‘em. I’m not sure I’ve had too many important confrontations, to be honest.
Once people know me, once I let them in, I’m a chatty motherfucker, formerly playfully nicknamed “The Boy Who Talks Too Much,” but out in public and with strangers? I’m an introverted, tremendously socially anxious young man, most keen on getting in and out without being noticed, blending in unless I choose to reveal myself. (I rarely do.)
I found shirts that actually fit me and I just have a drawer of maybe ten t-shirts w no images or writing on them. (They fit me so well! That’s really hard to find!) But it’s much more anonymous. I don’t want anything to make me stand out. One of a few reasons why I don’t have any ink. I don’t want it to be easier for people to be able to describe me to the police, or really anyone. (Unless they’re cute, natch.)
I never start confrontations.
You see, thing is, I’m not, by nature a confrontational person. I’m much more comfortable avoiding them. However, and this is something Jordan Peterson has articulated for me; something I’ve been aware of from well before I ever heard his name, but never had the words to adequately describe it. I’m much more afraid of what results from always avoiding the confrontation than I fear/am dicomforted by the confrontation.
You say “mediate ways out of them” – that’s not avoiding a confrontation. That’s engaging it and solving it in a way that hopefully works out for you. “Fan of push back/confrontation” doesn’t mean I’m gonna cut some mf’ers, it just means don’t back down from your conviction. Be open to being wrong and correcting your perception, but defend it and engage with people who have a different POV, respectfully and calmly if appropriate.
suggested t-shirt:
***
I’m not arguing; I’m explaining why I’m right.
***
“mediate” was a poor choice, on my part. I mostly just go along, to my credit and discredit. I don’t complain about being assigned shitty tasks (or ever, really); I just kinda accept it. Life goes on and I don’t get ruffled. I’m a good utility player. This changes with money and Serious Talks, though I’ve not been in many that’ve ‘escalated.’
It’s happened so infrequently that I don’t have instances, references I can call upon. I don’t talk politics with my family cuz it’s known to cause internal strife amongst us. (Them. It does not bother me at all and if in such a conversation with others, I can and will defend my ideas, arguments and principles with clarity and can reference supporting citations to back ’em up.
This is a good example: If I get pulled over by a cop, you can bet I’m driving dirty. (Not drunk. Weed.) I know how to hide everything, not to talk about anything, though am polite and have my legal shit ready. I don’t want to spark any attention or idea that I’m doing what I’m doing. (This hasn’t happened in over a decade, and even then, pulled over maybe 3 times?)
However, when I got pulled over in Martinsville, KY in ’05, the cops were all over me. I got my passenger to keep his mouth shut before they came, and he did, and when cops started getting pushy, I absolutely refused to let them search my car. They brought plenty more cop cars and even a damn K9 pup. Cop ‘searched’ my car “in plain-sight” and got REAL excited! He pulled out a baggy from my seat… and it was a plastic straw wrapper. Idiot.
I got a speeding ticket and that’s it. It got hit *real* hard by a tornado a few years back, IIRC. Bad Evan felt the town deserved it.
I suppose, when it comes *down* to it, I put up pretty hard. (Not been in a really hard situation, obv.) Certainly with my ideas unless I’m muzzled. *GRRRRRG* Otherwise, I just wanna skate on through with as little fuss/muss as possible.
My issue with confrontations is that I have to keep dealing with people.
Now, I have to break for dinner.
Supper.
Dinner is lunch.
/change my mind
Supper.
What are you, some sort of mid-westerner?
You’re out of warranty. Changing your mind will cost Time and Materials, with a minimum labor charge of $2,000. Replacement minds will be refurbished, as new OEM minds for your model are out of production.
If you agree to these terms, a minimum retainer deposit of $10,000 will be required. If the final invoice is less than the retainer, the remainder will be refunded.
How Euro.
Yeah, it was always supper in my house.
“Dinner” was reserved for like fancy restaurants and shit.
Supper is to meal time as cursive is to writing.
It’s for old people who haven’t realized that the pencil and ball point pen have been around for generations now.
I just want to know if you can still reasonably call it “brunch” at 2:30 in the afternoon. 🤔
That’s almost Tea Time.
You forget eleveses. What you have before tea.
You have Elevenses at 11am.
It’s right there in the name
*elevenses
/thats worse than Tedses’s
Now do you mean High Tea or a Proper Tea?
They seem to both have different times.
Watching a movie from 2009 called Shooter.
It is a spy/action thriller about a sniper framed for an assassination.
Secret government actors kill all the loose ends. Fake forensics
Here is the big part:
As a part of the conspiracy they provide a video package to CNN immediately after the assassination with all the angles and faked reactions they need to ensure the right story is told. They deliver it so fast it had to be preplanned. This is how others figure out the plot and become targets.
All the way back in 2009, from far left Hollywood, in the aftermath of Iraq, they knew that the government goes to CNN to broadcast their contrived story.
Shooter is fun; got me reading the source material:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_Impact_(Stephen_Hunter_novel)
I enjoyed it as well.
Had a good zero-stakes argument, some “philly cheesesteak” “pizza” (it qualifies as neither) and distracted myself from my problems for a bit.
I still have some aches from shovelling, but it’s the exertion ache rather than old age.
If I get something written I shall declare it a good night.
Good thinking on the “move the snow so they cant plow me in”.
I moved a lot of snow Sunday, and my aged body is reminding me.
I will say, of states, Indiana really isn’t too poorly run, though some say it’s “toothless,” which is both predictable and likely true:
“A Republican-backed immigration enforcement bill that expands local cooperation with federal authorities and penalizes noncompliance cleared the Indiana Senate on Monday along party lines.
Senate Bill 76 passed 37–7, with all “no” votes coming from Democrats…’This state has always been on the side of law enforcement, and we’ve had our own policies — such as banning sanctuary city policies — to ensure that law enforcement can do their job.”’ State Sen. Brown (R-Fort Wayne…
—
The latest draft of Brown’s bill requires governmental bodies that have custody of an individual subject to an immigration detainer request — such as county jails or local law enforcement agencies holding someone after an arrest — to notify the judge overseeing bail decisions that the individual is subject to an ICE detainer request.”
https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2026/01/27/immigration-enforcement-bill-clears-indiana-senate-amid-national-ice-controversy/
It’s almost like lax enforcement of immigration laws is an advantage to one of the parties. Nah, that’s crazy talk.
Part 2: Senate passes ‘most extreme anti-LGBTQ+ bill’ in more than a decade
“Schools could be penalized for failing to stop transgender students from using restrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identity under a bill that passed the Indiana Senate on Jan. 27, the latest in a flurry of legislation targeting transgender Hoosiers in recent years.
Senate Bill 182 would enshrine a definition of sex and gender in Indiana law, similar to one established by President Donald Trump, and use that definition to determine what restroom transgender students should use and which jails and prisons transgender inmates should be placed in. It would also allow people to bring a civil action against schools who allow students to violate the rule or fail to “take reasonable steps” to prevent students from breaking the rule.”
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/27/indiana-general-assembly-transgender-bathroom-ban-trump-gender-sex/88367425007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z115505p116550c116550d00—-v115505d–49–b–49–&gca-ft=120&gca-ds=sophi