A Glimpse In Passing

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

First, let me reassure you I am indeed MUCH better. My ears are still utterly stopped, so everything seems to be very far away, but that will either fix itself or I’ll get used to being deaf. I can now go several hours without cough syrup, and my wakeness periods are up to half an hour or more.

Now the big danger is my pushing too hard, as the things undone are bothering me. But for today I’m limiting myself to “washing clothes from trip” which might seem mild but isn’t, because while there we had resort to a laundromat, which …. you couldn’t choose your soap, and something is very itchy. So, two weeks of clothing for each of us, which is almost all my clothing.

Anyway, one of the scariest things about the trip to Portugal was talking to people and realizing they’re living in an alternate reality.

You know, all the things that the Junta has tried to sell, and push? From “We’re in a booming economy” to “Biden is a patriot who stepped down to save the nation” to “Trump is a criminal” to “The refugee crisis is the result of global warming” ALL OF IT is being bought wholesale in Europe.

Now as a caveat to this, actually two of them: My family is now very much what would be considered “laptop class”. I.e. they are all credentialed professionals of some description, who therefore pride themselves on being “well informed” a lot of which consists of following our MSM (NYT, CNN, etc) and the Portuguese translations thereof. And I was mostly associating with them, save for listening in when we were in public, as I pretty much do all the time out of habit and because I like to know what people “really” think.

However, as far as I can tell even if not uniform, Portugal — which probably means most of Europe — at least as far as its educated classes go, is taking the pap our MSM spews as the gospel truth. You literally can’t tell them the truth without their thinking you’re a complete lunatic. I.e. the reality on the ground here in the US seems to them like something out of the left field that we’re just saying for shock value.

Keep that in mind when you hear of all the European love for Kamala-rama-lama-ding-dong.

It is quite literally a case of sh*t in, sh*t out.

And weirdly I found my non political, laid back husband was the best counter to this. Mostly because he doesn’t immediately go to white hot, or start blurting out the truth in social occasions. Instead, he very calmly said “Yes, but” and presented counter evidence. Like when someone said that Trump had instigated a revolt when he legitimately lost the election, husband brought up the absolute unlikelihood of the turn around in results. He also pointed out that people we personally knew got kicked out of poll watching just before that turn around. Or point out that the “great job numbers” are routinely downgraded out of view. Or calmly explain in real life terms why EVs won’t work in our huge country. Or talk about “is it even needed” and glaze their eyes with math.

Weirdly, they both flocked to him, because I’m a “known radical” and took him seriously with his “Yes, but.”

Will they reset now he’s gone? Almost for sure. It’s the social pressure, the one source of acceptable news (many brands, but all from one perspective) and the fact that — bizarrely — they still have no political blogs, no indie book publishing, no…. well, no sources of counterculture that sprang up here in the last 20 years.

Once more, my look at their sf/f shelves in translation, reveals no Baen books, nothing that isn’t “Hugo and Nebula winner.” People acclaimed as giants of the field are barely known here. This too helps distort their view or reality.

Would we be like that if we hadn’t had the blogging revolution after 9/11? If we hadn’t had the ability to publish indie? If we didn’t have places like this to hang out in online?

I don’t know. And you don’t know either. I’d like to think we’re always a little more refractory than Europeans. After all, we’re the ones that got away, right?

But–

But I remember the seventies and the eighties, and how blurting out something that went against the accepted wisdom of the MSM was the equivalent of donning a propeller hat with a duck on top in the middle of a formal affair. Even if it was something you’d personally lived through.

So, come what may in two weeks and change, remember it could be worse. We could be stuck in a “reality” molded entirely by the fever dreams of the intelligentsia, a reality in which stating the truth brands not only as dangerous but as insane.

Let’s hear it for the craziest timeline. The one in which we can say “The king goes naked” and have people actually look and go “D*mn right. I too can see his willy.”

Because it could be much worse.

156 thoughts on “A Glimpse In Passing”

  1. Perhaps we need t-shirts that say “I too can see his willy!” Just so we can recognize each other. (As if the duck propeller hat were not enough…)

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I’ve often thought that we ought to have something like that – a Masonic-type secret handshake, an identifiable but discrete bit of bling, or a password signifying allyship with a chance-met person…

      Liked by 1 person

          1. To me, the problem with using a flag pin other than the Stars and Stripes for the purpose of identification is looking for trouble. But Sarah is correct, the left does not react well to the Stars and Stripes, either, so in most cases they won’t be wearing them anyway.

            I hedge only because my wife proudly wears the Stars and Stripes despite being a lifelong Democrat and (this time around) Kamala voter. I figure the WuVax has broken her brain, so I just take care of her as I am bound to do as her husband…

            Also be careful of those wearing such pins as protective coloring. I have in mind Members of Congress and other professional politicians.

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            1. “To me, the problem with using a flag pin other than the Stars and Stripes for the purpose of identification is looking for trouble.”

              “Also be careful of those wearing such pins as protective coloring.”

              This.

              ♫ “Your flag decal won’t get you into heaven anymore…”

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              1. Best back-window decal…

                “We the People

                Have Had Enough”

                …over an image of the Preamble.

                “I Will Not Comply” ain’t bad, either. :twisted:

                Both should be pretty good ID…

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                  1. I have that flag; I wore it as a cape on our walks during the plandemic. :twisted:

                    Got some approving looks; no negative ones. 😉

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                    1. I suspect you’re correct.😉

                      But of all the countries in Europe I can think of offhand, Finland is the one I’d vote “Most Likely to Share Political Sentiments With the U.S.”

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          1. I’ve seen that one!

            Tempted to use it in a future story, where people think they’ve got a visiting embassy confined to a certain area ’cause every vehicle is stick shift.

            Historian: “Oh, the joke is so on you guys….”

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            1. Heee.

              I’m sure your stuff will be Very Cool TM.

              I’ve just had a mad vision of Jason, a couple years in, telling the Callers that one of the customary coming of age rituals for an American is learning to drive an automobile, and getting Chae to Rube Goldberg up something for Mary that works like a manual transmission.

              One unexpected guy driving stick is a surprise. Half a dozen, mostly trained on a simulator/emulator with some significant differences, is a comedy of errors.

              (Which I think is not where you are going with this, but, I’m apparently having one of my easily amused days.)

              Liked by 1 person

      3. Shades of ‘…If This Goes On…’ :-P

        Only in this case, instead of a takeover by right-wing fundies we’ve got left-wing loonies. Same with ‘V For Vendetta’ — why all the warning stories about ‘conservative’ dystopias and so few about ‘liberal’ Marxist dystopias? Historically the left-wingers have been by far the most destructive.

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        1. :pushes glasses up:

          Gosh. Media from when there was an ongoing formalized march through the institutions only warned about a take-over from the opposite direction.

          Weird, that.

          ;)

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          1. The movie of V for Vendetta was … OK. The “just like Abu Ghraib, reeee” visual stuff though, yawn. It got old really quickly, and I don’t think it will age well. (But then, I was also critiquing a lot of other culture-they-got-wrong, too, which is why I watched it on DVD at home, so I could grumble and toss popcorn in peace.) In the end, I managed to tune out the politics and watch it as a “bring down tyrants” story.

            Liked by 2 people

            1. Thankfully, “bring down tyrants” is a pretty good basic story, no matter what flags they paint on the side of their stories.

              Like how how Handmaid’s Tale is labeled America and Christian, but lines up really dang well with a completely different existing culture.

              Liked by 1 person

    2. The flip side is that they insist the emperor is naked when we can see he’s wearing cloth-of-gold robes of state and a crown of sapphire.

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              1. People have too little appreciation of how hard it is to be successfully sarcastic in print. In fact, people have too little appreciation of the difference between writing and speech. People think their I’m-being-sarcastic tone of voice is part of what they write.

                Writing is not Transcribed Talking. Writing has no semantic intonation; punctuation, italics, caps, and careful word choice are the the only way to bridge the gap between Writer and Reader. It’s harder than it looks.

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                1. Which is why even when the writer, even those who have proven to master the written word and are good at it, thinks the proper wording, punctuation, italics, etc., comes across as the emotion wanted, especially sarcasm, the sarcasm tag is required … even if applied after much distance line spacing. Just my 2 cents worth. (Which isn’t worth 2 cents, but whatever.)

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                  1. Ah, but it is a dialog-tag that conveys information, just like emojis or action-tags.

                    :nods very earnestly:

                    They add a lot more information– though, of course, they can be read differently than they’re written.

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  2. I see a few folks over yonder who see things here and get “Yes. But …”, or “Ha! aint no feckin’ way” in comments from folks they’ve learned to trust. Just not enough to turn the impression yet.
    Also, folks here get the Headlines and miss the “oh, yeah, revise those numbers down . . . way down” so I’d expect it to be worse over there.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The inevitable revisions in the wrong direction are never “news” like the initial announcements. Sure if you are camped on business cable and they don’t have anything else to fill the time they will do a panel and explain how this was the locusts or cosmic rays or some other excuse instead of “the bastids knew they were lying in the first place”, but mainstream never highlights the “corrections”.

      Liked by 2 people

          2. Along these lines: the Internet Archive is still down. And I can’t make myself believe that the Ministry of Truth wants it to come back up.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. I’m a donor to Internet Archive, and got an e-mail yesterday saying it was back up for searches, but new sites couldn’t be added.

              the Wayback Machine is now back online in a read-only view, and our blog and Mastodon have returned. 

              I just checked for myself, and that appears to be true.

              https://web.archive.org/

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              2. The Wayback is back–“Read-Only” meaning we can’t save any new pages, only look at what’s already there. The Library is still gone, even the stuff that is unquestionably out of copyright.

                I’ll be overjoyed to be wrong about this, but I expect that, if it comes back at all, it will be in some pry-walled form that “needs to” “Check Your Connection” with some deep-diving javascript. Or, Lord forbid, “app-only” access. “To Protect The Children,” dontcha know, from ancient racism and pornographic woodcuts and Problematic Content written in Oldspeak.

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  3. I noticed that the TV isn’t plugged in.

    That’s good because you only get Idiocy from the Idiot Box and I can’t stand much idiocy. [Crazy Grin]

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    1. Given the look of that TV I doubt it would even get anything over the air. It looks old enough that it is using the old VHF/UHF frequencies. Would mostly be static, far preferable to 99% + live TV, and more truthful and entertaining to boot.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. So it’s still on the same frequencies just in a different encoding. I’d thought the original plan was to wedge it all in part of the UHF spectrum and get back the other bandwidth to be leased out for other purposes. Certainly the digital stations seem to carry less well. A simple antenna used to work well but I can’t even get the major stations that are in Needham MA about 25 miles away even with a powered antenna.

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          1. While realizing the two folks in here probably already know this, I think it’s nifty/funny/should Mean Something Deep-

            The digital signal works better. You get a clear image over a much longer distance than an analog signal, and it uses way less area.

            However.

            It has to be working nearly perfectly to get an image at all.
            The encoding (I think that’s the right term?) means that very little damage is needed to take out pretty much the whole thing.

            Vs with analog signal, where you’re getting interference from the start, just it takes a while for it to become bad enough for humans to even notice. And when like 90% of the signal is gone a human can still figure out what the video is showing and saying.

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            1. Your phrasing is inadvertently self contradictory. The reason digital stays clear for a longer distance is that it keeps working until the signal is almost perfectly bad.

              That is the opposite of needing to work nearly perfectly for it to have an image.

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              1. They’re two different definitions of “working.”

                There’s “transmission is very high quality” and there’s “human can understand transmission.”

                Thus, contradictory results, depending on which one is in use.

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            2. Right digital compressed encodings do not tend to degrade slowly. There are three types of frames sent in a digital stream

              I-frames : are essentially a whole freestanding frame with all the data compressed with whatever method you are using

              P-Frames: are basically only the changes from the previous frame compressed with whatever means you can. You apply it to your current frame NOT the most recent I-Frame.

              B-frames ar like P-Frames but use forward and backward references so you have to buffer more frames BUT with the crosschecks they’re more resilient to noise.

              I-frames are sent on a regular basis (once every 30 frames or so?). If you can’t get a valid I-frame you’re out of luck until it comes around again on the guitar. The encodings I’m used to (DTV satellite or similar) tended NOT to use B-frames they are simpler I believe than the modern OTA digital regime. if there is significant noise in the signal each subsequent I=frame makes the picture more and more incorrect (because each depends on your previous generated frame being right).

              If you can’t get I-frames intact the receiver just throws its hands up. That mode tends to be like a wall at some signal level N DB down you’re out of luck no picture for you.

              The old analog interlace was far more tolerant of noise to start with and as you noted we could sort of make out parts of it. My experience was that the VHF channels carried better at the low end of the band for example CH 2 WCBS out of NYC was far better than channel 13 WNET even though both had similar power and were on the tower on the Empire State (Later Two Towers). We got those 85 miles away (though it helped we were atop a 110′ hill with a 15′ mast) although you’d lose them at sunset some parts of the year. UHF was pure line of sight about 30 miles range. I don’t think it “bounced” at all more like FM radio.

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  4. Over the last 400 years, the misfits, non-conformists, rebels, and questioners of Europe largely moved here. And the euro-warrior class has reputedly slaughtered itself wholesale, while leaving breeding mostly to the sheeple and conformists. The genes for self-thought and new-thought are thus greatly diluted there. No wonder those folks are so sheeplike.

    You are an example. You have the misfit genes. You didn’t fit there. You moved here. Our gain. We built a highly functional culture around misfit. We even have a whole military subculture of “Island of Misfit Toys”. Note how few places even attempt to duplicate that particular group, in anything but name. And how fewer in actual practice.

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  5. I’m remaining hopeful that we provide a proper shock to the system with a Trump win this election-and big enough that nobody can claim that it was by fraud.

    Why? Because we need it, especially considering how insane the rest of the world is becoming.

    When your own father sends you a “all these Trump supporters saying they’d leave when Biden was elected, why are they still here?” meme, you get really worried…

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Because the number of Trump supporters who said they’d leave is vanishingly small.

      Leftists threaten to leave if they lose and election. Rightist say they’ll go Galt. Neither mean it much, although I’ve see “go Galt” types follow through more than leave types.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. “Leave types”

        To be fair to them they can’t leave, no matter how much money they have. Other countries won’t take them. Heck even some of them who are citizens of other countries, or have dual citizenship (a few Canadians) won’t leave. The ones who can leave, and do, slink back within a year or two.

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        1. I asked one such why he didn’t leave when Trump was elected the first time. He was going to Canada. He said their entry requirements were too strict. He needed to have a way to support himself, primarily.

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          1. Yep, I think a lot of them think leaving the US to be a resident much less citizen elsewhere is as easy as it is for the US.

            I wonder if that informs their open border rhetoric.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Interestingly enough cousin-in-law has been offered a job based in Europe. To take the position they have to post $10k/person, to a medical account, moving to the country they will be living in; $20k (guess the company who is recruiting him could post it). They are 60-ish (she’s 6 or 7 years younger than I am, I don’t know his age, but guessing same or older. He’ll never retire. He is a phd specialist dealing with space technology. Does. Not a professor.)

              Liked by 1 person

                1. All this and more. I would think that cousin-in-law (I do not know him beyond “we’ve met”, once or twice) has that all figured out. His profession is one that has him changing employers when the job he is hired for finishes up, ever 3 to 10 years, or so, then new employer, and they are moving. Valuable enough that between employers he took an 18 month sabbatical to ride a bicycle around Europe. Guessing he and cousin (who I also don’t know that well for reasons) will figure it out, or have (been awhile since I’ve heard about the possible move. OTOH family gossip hasn’t said they’ve moved either.)

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                  1. Tastes differ. There are any number of activities whose attractions I can only deduce from the willingness of others to engage in them.

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                3. I quite like America. My main issues are that I dislike environmental laws, employment laws, the jew haters burning down poor neighborhoods, and the people who run the universities and how they run them. (Apparently with the possible exceptions of Liberty U, Sonoran Desert Institute, etc. )

                  I understand that in Europe, they like the arsonists, and do not want to let the subjects shoot any of the arsonists.

                  I might find the environmental and employment laws a touch less to my liking.

                  I understand that where universities are concerned, by international standards I am a fussy little bitch. So while the UK, France, Germany and Japan have distinctly their own university traditions, I expect if I was over there, and wanted something to be more my own preference, “Pound sand” might be on the politer side of their reaction.

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              2. One of my nephews took a job at [redacted] U to work on their [mumble]. He was sent to Europe to do similar to their [can’t say], and fit in so well, he’s now considering citizenship in that particular country.

                So far, it’s “safe” where he lives (half-Jewish ancestry, decidedly non-Jewish name). Haven’t seen a pic in a few decades, but he should be able to fit in. Said area hasn’t made the news for Diverse Individuals with Stabby Habits. Yet. (Side benefit; it’s several thousand miles away from his mother. We Have Opinions about that person…)

                Until/unless [Can’t Say] goes under (nonzero, but currently a slim chance), he’s probably going to stay there. He’s in his 40s, so we’ll see.

                Liked by 1 person

            2. ”I wonder if that informs their open border rhetoric.”

              Real world contradictory evidence altering near-religious mundane beliefs? Nah. That’s crazy talk.

              Their experience just proves there are empirically no jobs Canadians won’t do.

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        1. “Right…where do we go if we wanted to leave?”

          Space? Where did Europe go when word that the ocean didn’t end at the end of the world.

          Granted space is a tad harder. Ocean they just had to pack food and water, and hope the wind blew. Space there are those pesky things like lift and motion fuel, packing breathable air, simulating gravity, etc. At some point we, maybe not us, but our grandchildren, and great-grands, will see colonization of the stars.

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    2. If Trump wins, when the lefty Dem-Socs start screaming, don’t take it lying down. Point out their own fraud, laugh at their discomfort, yell back at them. And when they take a swing at us, either individually, or via BLM/Antifa/Whatever, smack them down so hard that they take out their prosecutor and judge tools as they go flying by.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. We use a pod laundry detergent at home. This allows me to take enough pods to use them in laundry mats. There also laundry soap sheets that can be taken (so don’t count against liquid max on air travel). I too dislike using commercial laundry facilities. We don’t own enough clothing to go two weeks without doing laundry.

    I like how Vance has been correcting the lies and half truths. “Wait a minute! Do you hear yourself? What constitutes ‘not that bad’? Shouldn’t it be none?” With the gangs taking over one or two apartment complexes in Colorado. Not calling them outright liars but result is calling them outright liars. What is good is Trump is starting to call them out the same way. So is some of the “more truthful” media outlets.

    Not helping Harris’s stooges (Obama, Clinton, Biden, etc.) can’t keep their lies straight and slip in truth. Of coarse Biden is pissed, and I think Obama and Clinton have gotten that message loud and clear (and they call women groups vicious). Interestingly enough, Hilary isn’t to be seen anywhere. Almost like Harris was smart enough to go “Oh, do not associate me with her!” Can’t speak for others, but for me? That comes under “too late!”

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    1. Both my wife and elder daughter are sensitive to fragrances (like break out in hives sensitive). We tended to use scent detergents. Daughter since moced away and uses Washer sheets (Poesy) which seem to work well. And oh no dryer sheets. This whole “I want my wash to smell like a field of <blah> baffles us totally. We believe the whole point of doing the laundry is so it DOESN’T smell :-) .

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      1. When son proved to be sensitive to laundry soap we were told to use Snowy. Can’t. I can’t handle how Snowy leaves laundry. No scent? Um. Yes there is. Do not know what it is called, but it is migraine inducing. Back then Cheer Free & Clear came out. Used that for decades.

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        1. The last I looked, Costco didn’t have any Kirkland Free & Clear (though $SPOUSE has a goodly quantity in the pantry). There’s a large container of All F&C, but it won’t get used for a long time. She says Costco seems to advertise the Kirkland F&C occasionally. Not sure when they ran out. I go in December and will look then.

          We started the F&C detergent for the doggie bedding, and were using Oxiclean detergent. The liquid went away, and the powder is a bad idea with our machine combined with what we have as water. So now, everything is Free & Clear, with occasional hits of Oxiclean White Revive for human bedding.

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          1. We are using the Kirkland pods. Son & I can tolerate it. Newer machine so sheets and my clothing (*don’t wash hubby’s or son’s they do their own) get deep wash/rinse + extra rinse.

            (* Haven’t washed son’s since he did the Family merit badge, when he was 12 – new chore for 90 days … and counting. Hubby started doing his own when he retired and I didn’t for another 5 years – never took it back. Still do both our laundry when we travel, but otherwise we do our own.)

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            1. My eldest still had to have help when he did that merit badge because he wasn’t tall enough to swap the stuff over. (Top-loading washer.) Now he is.

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              1. We still had the older top loader. By the time mine was 12 he was almost as tall as I am (I’m only 5’4″). This newer washer, also top loader, but smidgen taller, a deeper bigger basket (I barely can reach the bottom standing on my toes), he might not have been able to reach. Although the look on his face after the 90 days, was priceless; however no more tracking. When he went to college he already knew how to wash his clothing (not that he didn’t bring it home every couple of weeks, but he did the washing). He did have to have someone teach him how to iron, I don’t iron (know how, I don’t need to). Even had to buy him an iron and ironing board. Yes, he had reasons why he had to learn.

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                1. When I was about 8, Dad got transferred and we moved to a 1903 vintage house. The basement laundry and Mom’s lungs did not get along, so Dad did the washing and drying. At first, I was too little, but after a couple of years, I started to do the ironing. (Those were the days before permanent press anything was around, or good enough to work.) Got fairly good at ironing shirts.

                  When I went to college, a steam iron came along. Didn’t use it much (blue jeans below the waist, Army jacket (or Air Force coat) as outerwear, and “who cares” for a shirt.

                  By graduation, permanent press was Good Enough, and I was developing a fondness for polo shirts and other pullover tops. Pretty much all of my shirts are pullovers, with a large number Carhartt.

                  $SPOUSE does the ironing; usually pillow cases. As memory serves, Grandma Pete ironed sheets, but she had an iron (a variation of the classic Mangle*, but with a single roller and a wide, curved platen. It was great for wide, flat things. Don’t know if she did shirts. I left it alone.)

                  ((*)) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangle_(machine) Hers resembled the Simplex that shows up in the DDG pics.

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                  1. I too learned to iron at mom’s side. Pillowcases, etc. Once I left for college didn’t touch an iron unless I was sewing (even then didn’t unless really really had to). Son was doing Air Force ROTC so while he sent clothing to the cleaners, he still had to iron in an emergency. (Son did not contract. Program across the country got cut severely under Obama. One person out of his class contracted. None of the top 10. He could have gone army, he chose not to.)

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      2. There is a detergent called Tide Free that we have used since the previous century. As far as I can tell it has no color (well, the liquid is sort of a pale translucent yellow) and no scene. C complains when a machine we use has been used previously by someone who favors scented products. . . .

        Liked by 1 person

          2. There’s a poem I’m rather fond of that begins, “Moving from Cheer to Joy, from Joy to All . . .” A clever play on words!

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          3. All Free & Clear is pretty good; I’ve used it at my daughter’s house. The best, over 30 years of using it, is the Amway SA8. Don’t care what people say about the company or their distributing practices, it’s just a really good product. None of their other cleaning products cause me a problem.

            And, I’m one that broke out in hives with pretty much everything on the market since I was a few months old. REALLY sensitive skin.

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          4. I have issues with the scents they add to most things laundry. Well, most things in general. Walking through the perfume section in the local Macys gives me a headache instantly if I don’t hold my breath. I had to stop using dryer sheets when they added some goshawful scent to the “unscented” big brand sheets. Makes me wonder what nasty chemical smell they had to mask that was not there before.

            In any case I have happily used All Free and Clear laundry detergent for a while. The issue of that potentially in pods was a search item before my last big trip right before lockdowns in 2020, but I did not then find anything in pods equivalently unscented. We ended up using the dispenser unbranded powder in the hotel at DisneyWorld with no issues, but if someone locates a truly unscented laundry pod I would like to know.

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        2. I’ve been using Tide Free for about that long, and while it isn’t no-scent, it is very low scent. When I need no-scent, I use a special laundry detergent formulated for hunting clothes – no scent, no uv brighteners.

          And one other thing that the Marxoids keep pushing: “Who needs eleventy seven different kinds of laundry detergent? If Government Almighty (Blessed Be Its Holy Name!) were to mandate just one laundry detergent, it would be soooo much more efficient and people would be soooo much happier for being relieved of having to make difficult, stupidly unnecessary choice.”

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          1. I wonder if you could put paid to that idea by asking a group of them “Okay, which one?”

            I bet they have the exactly discussion about each of them not being able to stand someone else’s favorite.

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          2. They would choose the most highly scented, chemical ridden version possible, likely because someone owned stock in the company.

            They never seem to think about pesky things like allergies, since they, being the controllers, would of necessity have the full range if choices.

            “You are the carbon they want to reduce.”

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        4. We’ve used that and several others (I think All has one too). The sheets we discovered for traveling as they are dry and compact. you can throw a few in a ziploc and you can use them at a AirBnB or similar that has laundry.

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          1. I’ll also note Grocery stores (Market Basket, Stop and Shop, Star and Big Y being the main local stores) can be very variable in what they carry. Walmart has poor availability in Eastern Massachusetts (locals hate the big box stores), Target also has stuff but most of ours are again limited due to bias against that around here. And they wonder why the heck we have “Food Deserts” in the cities when between opposition to construction and “shrinkage” if they do manage to build a store it is nearly impossible to make a profit with a small to mid sized grocery store.

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    2. “I like how Vance has been correcting the lies and half truths.”

      This is why I was (and still am) so mad at Trump for that 2020 debate, and again for the recent one: His inert failure to call out the lies inherent in those stupidly predictable, twisted gotcha-questions. “What about the time you said Mexicans are rapists? …that Nazis are Fine People? …to drink bleach to cure COVID?” I was surprised to get such pushback on this blog, the consensus of which was “It wouldn’t have done any good.” Sounds like learned helplessness.

      There are lies whose purpose is not to deceive, but to demonstrate to everyone in range that the person being lied to, and lied about, won’t call the liar out. Such lies are a schoolyard dominance game, told only to set up the bully’s next line: “Are you calling me a liar?”

      Instead of taking those “moderators” apart for showing their (justified) contempt for their audience’s intelligence with those charges, stupid friggin’ Trump just let them lie there.

      When Martha Raddatz made the same kind of contemptuous play, JD Vance punched her out. Metaphorically speaking.

      I did, and will, vote for Trump, because he’s THE candidate who has NOT obviously internalized the idea that the USA is a terrible country–deserving of punishment; needing to be Fundamentally Transformed™ into Marxism. It’s a shame that so few politicians can be trusted to Make America Great Again, rather than just mouth those words.

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      1. Because responding directly to the Gotchas lets them control the terms of the discussion. Taking a different tack gets inside their OODA loop and leaves them sputtering.

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        1. I didn’t think he’d respond defensively to the specific Gotcha; like you say, that would surrender the initiative. I expected him to jump up a level and attack them for the tactic itself, for so mal-characterizing what he’d actually said; for thinking the American People are so stupid that a Mean Girls move like that would work on them; how the media spits on its sacred calling; how they sabotage Democracy by misinforming the electorate…

          …and on and on, a gush of righteous wrath that he would deliver for laughs. “Do you hear yourselves? Twisting the truth into lies right in front of God and America? In front of America, anyway, you people don’t want God around, everybody knows it…” THAT would have gotten inside their OODA loop, and damaged their weapon.

          I expected him to knock their big, fat, predictable slow-pitch softball Gotcha out of the Solar system, and the Mighty Casey didn’t even swing at ’em. They didn’t sputter at all; they smirked while he struck out, and went on to whip up the “He wants a BLOODBATH!!!!!” BS-bomb.

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  7. I don’t know. And you don’t know either. I’d like to think we’re always a little more refractory than Europeans. After all, we’re the ones that got away, right?

    Yes, we are.

    But I remember the seventies and the eighties, and how blurting out something that went against the accepted wisdom of the MSM was the equivalent of donning a propeller hat with a duck on top in the middle of a formal affair.

    “An Author in Charge” and I have been talking subcultures in another thread and, to my observation of the ones I’m in, subcultures aren’t as common or deep in Europe and often ride on one created in America. Even goth, arguably born in the UK, is an offshoot of punk which was born in the NY City of the 70s, whose myth is large (1).

    I don’t think it is an accident that most healthy US subcultures, at least non-sexual ones, are born out of that same time period and the 60s that preceded them. They were the safe places to say things like that.

    And that is why in the 90s the Left started to try and colonize them.

    Think of SF of the 70s. Were there liberal? Sure, there always had been including outright socialists among the big names (although many got better), but the culture of SF fandom was very libertarian. Sure, a lot of that was the libertine side of libertarian (which was the leftist entry point) but the culture was, it was a safe place to be.

    As was the SCA in the 80s with more conservativism (except maybe around gays but the Blue Feathers were still new when I went to my first event in 1985)(2).

    Also, Rush hit in the late 80s and opened a lot of space.

    So, yes, I think we would be in a different place. Our outside culture wouldn’t be as large and a lot of the people do did the “Rescue the Republic” rally wouldn’t be the voices they are but either stayed quiet and employed or been silenced in general, but we’d still have some spaces Europe doesn’t.

    (1) When artsy types miss the 70s and its crime that made NYC interesting what they really miss is it made it cheap for artists to congregate. Laurie Anderson has had the temerity to state it outright and others, such as Patti Smith, have admitted it obliquely.

    (2) One thing the SCA compared to younger, more GenX driven groups like Amtgard and Belegarth has shown me is the entryism doesn’t work as well on GenX institutions. Sure, we had the inclusivity report for Belegarth and people are pronoun conscious to a degree.

    Yet the questions about inclusion that got the most talk was “Smaller fighters in my local realm|events can feel discouraged because larger fighters will not take their hits”. Sure, there were all the others but the recommendations were basically answers GenX was taught in school about being polite and helping others. Similarly, the people who will correct pronouns are generally nice about it but you start sloughing shots and they are all over you.

    I think the GenX inability to give too many damns about silly things is saving said groups.

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    1. That stupid effing RhinoHide cuture is why I walked away from anything to do with the SCA. (Plus some f-head behavior towards my then spouse.)

      If the so-called “chivalry” won’t shame each other into honorable behavior, if Honor isnt more valuable than Life, it ain’t Chivalry you effing frauds.

      Had family in SCA. Enjoyed Pennsic 33, assisting mom to get around and meeting Sis’ many friends. Previously fenced 4 years varsity “olympic” style, and was quite capable of refereeing bouts in competitions. Was a member and referee in another midieval-flavor org.

      Would have ejected about a third of the SCA white-belts I saw fight in various list combats. And I just flat reject the “peers” who said they mustn’t rock the boat for “reasons” and not call out clear rhinos.

      I was made aware of one particular dud that steadfastly refused to accept blows from a very adept but small woman. “No little woman could hit hard enough to breach armor, so ‘light -no hit'”. Predictably, she got annoyed, powered up full and proceeded to rattan-bash-damage his helmet, both sides, with two blows, knocking him down.

      “light” the effer called as he lunched to his feet. The Marshall then cautioned -her- for “excessive” blows. That were “light”.

      Fraud.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Just to clarify, since I’m not in the SCA—you’re saying that the person taking the blows calls out the severity of the blows, and there are some people who will consider anything from a smaller fighter “light” even when the blows would have done real damage if the weapons were real?

        “RhinoHide culture” is a great term, too.

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        1. Yup. And the SCA uses “rhino”. So they are aware.

          It’s not as bad in some places. Perhaps it has improved. But late 90s, early 2000s? Gah.

          If one is going to fetishize “Chivalry”, would be cool to, you know, actually be Chivalrous.

          And some good friends are SCA, and say it has improved, and remind me I am a magnet for shitheads that need adjusted.

          It’s a gift.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. It may also be self-correcting in the long run. I don’t know if the knight who said he never accepted a blow unless he threw up in his helmet still has brain cells or not.

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            1. -She- got sanctioned for hitting -too hard- for the sport. And without fail, every single “marshal” (qualified referee) to whom I have told this story immediately dings -her- for powering up enough to knock him off his feet and/or damaging armor for real. When I point out the stated reason, the fraud’s -publicly stated- reason, they still say “up to him to call light. On her to accept defeat.”.

              I call it “cheat”.

              If you do not sanction a cheater, at least pointing it out as improper, you are also cheating. And some folks resent the heck out of me saying so,

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              1. I don’t know details, but heard some years ago (pre-COVID) that a middle-school bully assaulted a Friend-Of-A-Friend’s kid on campus. FOAF’s kid–small, but apparently competent (and/or lucky)–landed an instant bull’s-eye on the bully’s solar plexus. No Ender’s Game scene, just a humiliating one-and-done strike, bully on the ground.

                The story as I heard it was that FOAF’s kid was declared to be the greater villain. The bully, you see, “had issues” (as evidenced by his bullying?) while FOAF’s kid “had taken the law into his own hands,” and was “vengeful,” et cetera, ad nauseam–cartoonish wokespeak from a mid-level middle-school martinet.

                Wokies REALLY hate it when anybody fights back.

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    2. The subcultures I’m familiar with in Europe also seem to have a class element (England certainly does). There are far fewer crosses into serious Punk or Goth from other groups. Politics plays a role as well, at least in Germany. I couldn’t get a sense in Poland, since we were all oogling the band list for the festival rather than talking about the scene. (Posters had just been put up, at same time as web-site updated.)

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  8. It’s the totalitarian Globalist 100 that are controlling the MSM, and sitting behind their government puppets in most countries, including our own. A bunch of them own controlling (or influencing) interest in various companies in our own military industrial complex. Eisenhower saw it and warned against it. I don’t know if it’s good or bad that they are not the Illuminati that so many writers like to use, but they’re not that organized (unless more goes on behind closed doors at Davos. But they do seem to hold a common set of goals of domination and control.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Good to hear that you’re much better! Now please rest until you’re ready to take up the fight again; no need for a “too soon” relapse.

    And FWIW, your hearing problem should clear up; that’s happened to me with really bad colds a couple of times.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I’m not exactly sure, just a sense. Different from Rome, where they were rude and uninterested, or from Istanbul, where they were welcoming – even solicitous. We were in Porto, Fatima and Lisbon, and nobody was rude but neither did they seem welcoming – almost like we weren’t there (we were in a mixed ethnicity group of Latin Americans, Philippine Americans, and Anglo-Americans.)

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  12. I’m glad you’re feeling better Sarah.

    When I was stationed in Germany, and even visiting Israel I experienced the same thing. They believed every single bit of bs the NYT et al spewed. Everything. Without question. And didn’t necessarily appreciate me laughing and laughing. They were too mad to believe me.

    I used to think Europeans were smarter/wiser than Americans because their cultures had been around so long.

    LOL. Nope. Not after living over there and traveling.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Much the same clueless rhetoric can be observed in Japan. Not all, but the idea that Trump is a moron (or similar) seems widespread.

    Japan also has a lot more sympathy for the poor widdle victims of nasty Israel than I expected and that definitely seems to be media driven because the media credulously reports HamAss or Hez(no)ballah propaganda about Israeli atrocities without any context whatsoever let alone any verification.

    They also credulously believe that the UN is a force for good and hence the fact that the UN has been covering for HamAss and Hez(no)ballah for years is just something they can’t get even if you show them the evidence

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m shocked–shocked!–that Japan would have sympathy for people who launch surprise attacks and get their asses kicked for it…

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      2. I think we had a much better class of foe in the Empire of Japan than in the s(HONK!)ds that torment Israel. I can respect the Imperial Japanese forces, although being appalled by some of their dining habits.

        But personally, would prefer drinking with the Samauri cannibals than with the ‘ass/h’ole’ types.

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        1. Same here. I like civilization. If we have to have wars, I prefer wars that end. Wars don’t end until one side taps out and stops trying to win. Unconditional surrender is one way to tap out. There’s really only one other way.

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          1. The issue is when the people running things (like Hamas and Hezbollah) won’t “tap out” because

            1. if they did they know they’re dead
            2. Their Eschatologic viewpoint (Islam particuarly the Iranian Shia flavor) tells them they WILL and MUST win

            To some degree the Japanese pf WWII had similar issues. The military leaders in some level believed that because they had NEVER lost and been saved (i.e. the Divine Wind typhoon that drives off the mongol fleet) by circumstance they would be saved again. That with a “face” culture where surrendering was worse than death gave us things like Iwo Jima. The combination of a near total blockade (Japan was VERY dependent for natural resources on the Greater Asian Prosperity sphere) combined with the atomic weapons convinced some (in particular the Emperor) that it was time to give up. And even that nearly failed due to coups from the military.

            Sadly I see no such limiting agent in the Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran group. I fear the only other way out (total destruction of one party ) is the only way out. Richard Fernandez reasoned this out well in his ” Three Conjectures” (https://belmontclub.blogspot.com/2003/09/three-conjectures-pew-poll-finds-40-of.html). To be honest Israel has been more than patient with Hamas in Gaza. My thought would have been to ask for the return of all of those who took part in the 10/7 attack and all hostages in 72 hours. After that just start using Arclight like strikes from the north to the south until the either the conditions were met or there was no longer any resistance.

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            1. The Palestinians have always had someone rescue them from their idiocy and so their leaders continue to believe they can get away with anything. I’m not sure the arclight strikes is the right solution, but I absolutely agree that Israel needs to show far less tolerance for collateral damage and what the west thinks and, while making it very clear what the acceptable surrender terms are, continue to take the place to bits and not allow resupply

              Liked by 1 person

              1. US Department of State apparently wants a Nuclear power Iran to be the top dog in the Mideast. And they are working very hard to achieve that goal. So if it is not their goal, even weirder.

                And -achieving- that goal guarantees a bloodbath, not “peace”.

                Liked by 1 person

            2. Perhaps use the American solution. Take all the children and put them in boarding schools with a civilized religion. Keep doing this for at least thirty years. It worked with the Indians after all.

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            3. Yes. The mindset is that victory is a Win; martyrdom in the attempt is also a Win: and the only Loss is failure to achieve one of those two Wins. They can’t honorably surrender. That leaves only that other way.

              I nominate “memocide” as the term for the eradication of a culture while preserving some of the people. Save all the toddlers they can, and raise them as civilized people. The older ones have hydrophobia. There’s only one treatment.

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            4. Shinto has managed to explain that the defeat was punishment for imperialism.

              Islam would have to resort to corruption of some kind, and that might be worse.

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              1. But I think that view is far more in retrospect than at the time of the defeat. From what I’ve read it was a close run thing, we nearly got to see how Olympic and Coronet would have worked out (possibly with nuclear augmentation).

                For Islam the only way out is some kind of revolution in how the eschatology/interpretation of Quran and hadith is handled. Both the Sunni and Shia flavors view the end times as a last battle between Islam and the non Islamic world (with the Jewish people getting the crappy end of the stick in particular). It is also viewed as something that Islam initiates and then the other heavenly events (e.g. Isha, Jesus returning) happen. Maybe a horrible loss will cause something like the Shinto interpretation of WWII to occur but without some massive cataclysm I can’t see this happening.

                The other option is most of the worlds Islamic followers going to a cultural Islam more like the Christmas and Easter Christians ( Ramadan and Friday prayer Muslims?). To some degree, much of the Islamic world was headed that way before Ayatollah Khomeni and the Sunni equivalents relit the more traditional flavors of Islam with their successes. Yet another thing we have to thank Mr. Carter for.

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                  1. Yeah I don’t see how we get that Djinn back in the bottle. The more aggressive version of Islam spread like some ebola like meme wrecking up to a billion minds or so over the last 90 years or so.

                    Liked by 1 person

            5. Cut off the ‘ass/h’ol’ funds, and they wither.

              If they can’t pay the families of “martyrs”, they have few willing martyrs.

              Thus the emphasis on “aid” getting to “civilians”. Because idiot.

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      3. Heh.

        As I recall, Japan tried to declare war before attacking Pearl Harbor (but just half an hour before so that it would still catch the American forces completely off-guard) but the diplomats didn’t deliver the message on time so America ended up receiving the declaration of war after the attack.

        I suspect that much of the American rage kindled by Pearl Harbor was due to the perceived treachery of the Japanese, and that if the declaration of war had been delivered on time, the sleeping giant would not have been filled with quite so terrible a resolve.

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        1. Well, sorta. You can find the document online that the US codebreakers decoded faster than the Japanese Embassy could, and it’s more of a diplomatic “or else” than a formal declaration of war.

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          1. Here’s the last sentence from that “14 Part message”:

            The Japanese Government regrets to have to notify hereby the American Government that in view of the attitude of the American Government it cannot but consider that it is impossible to reach an agreement through further negotiations.

            https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/Dip/Fourteen.html

            So implied that absent talking, kinetic means would be used, but break8ng off negotiations is not the same as actively starting hostilities or declaring a state of war.

            What FDR asked Congress for the day afterward was clearer:

            I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941 a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire

            The actual Joint Resolution passed was also explicit:

            JOINT RESOLUTION Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same.

            Whereas the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it:

            Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Government of Japan which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on was against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.

            Approved, December 8, 1941, 4:10 p.m. E.S.T.

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        2. I just watched a docu about Pearl and they said that the Japanese had a custom that you did not kill someone in there sleep, you kick the pillow out from under them first. Giving them essentially a heartbeat to react. In accordance with this custom, the Japanese embassy was told the attack time and to write a letter and hand deliver it one hour before the attack. The morning of the attack the embassy staff worked on the letter, but they only had one professional typist (an American woman) who they did not use. It took them too long to compose and type the message on the newfangled typewriter and it was not delivered.

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        3. Officially, the Emperor required notice.

          The subordinates -knew- they needed surprise for max effect, so they complied in an oh so sorry very Japanese way.

          Long message, so a double handful to type/decode/proof.

          Multipurpose message:

          Long, with the important bit last to control timing.

            Prohibited any subordinates from involvement, so only the senior ambassador could see, thus no professional typist, nor cryptographer.

            Ambassador known to be snail typist and snail crypto.

            So deliberate. Sorry. Pages 1-13 were fatigue inducing. Page 14 was sent with knowledge the ambassador would fail. Obeyed Emperor, but obeyed the Junta more.

            Added bonus, the ambassador would be genuinely apologetic, and take any blame.

            . ..

            Now, the bad news. The Emperor was quite correct.

            The “sneak attack” played to all sorts of prejudice and American honor code. And Hirohito knew it.

            Any number of wargames proved a “Battle of Hawaii” would have almost certainly been catastrophic for the USA. We were simply not ready. We were still wildly overconfident, and ignorant of their capabilites. Our pilots were not ready. Our torpedoes were near useless junk.

            Anything of ours sunk would have been in deep water, thus unsalvageable and the crews mostly lost. Not settled on a sift shallow harbor where crews could easily swim ashore or get plucked by numerous light craft, then the hulks salvaged an repaired for service.

            The carriers would have joined in, and even one of them sunk changes history later. Most versions of the game sink 2-3 carriers and most of the battleships.

            -Then- the IJN smashes Pearl Harbor, and this time unafraid of counterstrike, and with no big ships to target, they wreck the fuel dumps, repair shops, and drydocks.

            They can occupy the place if they want, and even if not it’s useless to us for six months to a year.

            We then fight back from San Francisco. Maybe. Because not a dirty trick but a stand up bait and ambush.

            Oops. So sorry.

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            1. Thank you; that gives me a MUCH deeper understanding of the situation.

              So the Imperial Japan’s version of the Deep State was responsible for the failure to deliver the notification. And their actions probably ended up harming their own country in the long run. Yep, checks out.

              (Well, let’s call that in the medium run, i.e. causing Japan to lose the war. In the truly long run, modern Japan is probably better off for 1940’s-era Japan having been defeated.)

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              1. Maybe the level of civilization a culture has reached can be deduced by seeing how they respond to a well-earned ass-kicking.

                By that standard, the Hammies and the Hezbos don’t look good.

                Thanks, 11B-Mailclerk, for an excellent summary. Though I wonder how much difference it would have made if that message had been delivered on time. A sucker punch is still a sucker punch, even if somebody says “I’ma punch you!” a tenth of a second ahead of it.

                What’s your take on the theory that FDR–seeing the need to oppose Hitler and knowing the American public wasn’t eager to get into yet another war with Germany–saw Pearl Harbor coming and let it happen?

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                1. I’ve always discounted that one because frankly, Hitler deciding NOT to throw Japan under the bus was apparently unexpected.

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    2. My wife and I just got back from a cruise form Greece to Turkey and back, islands, Istanbul, and such involved. I read the street graffiti a lot. One writing, in block letters, ‘downtown’ Athens, stood out:

      NO BORDER NO NATION

      In Greece. Huh. Any local I engaged railed on about their local or national politics, horrible and oppressive, except for Erdoğan, he got respect. Just not a lot of agreement. But the Greeks are proud of being a people resisting rule. Something about being overrun so often, who cares what rulers are in power now, eh? But fiercely proud of their cities, land, nation, people, families, and futures.

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    3. I love visiting Europe, or did until after 2015. There is no way I’d live there, aside perhaps from one town way up in the back of beyond in Austria, and maaaaayyyyybe part of Poland. Maybe. Very very maybe. I’m too American to do well there full time. And I’d fall afoul of the speech laws so fast … Nope.

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    4. In the news today, on the same page: Walgreens is closing 1,200 stores and True Value Hardware has gone bankrupt. The Democrats won’t say it’s the result of what passes for their economic policies, but why didn’t any of this happen when Trump was President?

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      1. The small regional club store (Bi-Mart) had a pharmacy, but was getting screwed over and bailed.

        Two parts of the bail-deal. Where a nearby Walgreens existed, medical records/prescriptions would go there. In the flyover parts, the in-store pharmacy would be run by Walgreens. Neat idea until the Bi-Mart pharmacy people said “hell no” and quit. Most went to the in-county medical complex, that was just getting into retail pharmacies. I gather it wasn’t only Flyover Falls.

        Considering that Walgreens was occasionally doing Covid non-Vaxx shots “by mistake”, I suspect there is a large legal sword hanging over their heads. OTOH, they’re still promoting flu/Covid shots in tandem. My late BIL can no longer attest to the issues related to that…

        Only one dedicated chain pharmacy in Flyover Falls, a Rite Aid. As long as it lasts. Fred Meyer, Albertsons and Walmart have theirs, but beyond that it’s the medical complex. OTOH, said complex does a good job, and I’ve been able to take advantage of the tie-in to the rest of my medical records. At least, as long as they don’t get cyber-slammed. Once, so far.

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        1. We use Costco (nearest is too far away for you). Son and mom use Fred Meyers. Be interesting to see if nearby Walgreens goes out. Or all all of them shutting down? Do know by rumor the pharmacy is down more than it is staffed. I don’t think anyone that got forced from BiMart to Walgreens locally is happy. Do know it is rare that any pharmacy does not have a line, every single day. Also Costco is a “next day” filled at best. But even Fred Meyer has an early daily close time so they might as well be.

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          1. The first non-hospital pharmacy set up by the complex was in downtown Flyover Falls. Pretty busy at first (especially when people were playing Fauci-Roulette). Then, they built a pharmacy further south, on one of the main downtown roads, where they already had a lab and other presence. I moved there, and at worst, I’ve had a couple of people ahead of me, and the rule is zero to one.

            Hours aren’t too bad: 9AM to 7PM, Mon-Sat, though I think they close for lunch sometime on Saturday. I don’t know if any pharmacy is open on Sunday; I’m in town on Sunday so seldom it’s crazy. (Though, I did last Sunday. Needed more bags-o-sand for the 2-years delayed patio project.)

            I started to use Costco pharmacy when we moved here. At that time, we’d do it every 6 weeks, and I was on Metformin and (as memory serves) Humabid. Stopped Metformin when diet was getting blood sugar under control, and Humabid was deleted when it became OTC Mucinex. Then, there were several glorious years when I had zero prescription medications. Now, not so much. Once I started with meds, we used Bi-Mart. It was popular, especially among the older crowd.

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          2. Do know by rumor the pharmacy is down more than it is staffed.

            Not quite that bad in CG, but at least every two weeks or so we get a surprise closure of our Walgreens pharmacy. And they do seem to run short of meds; I get partial refills (for complete co-pays, thank you) and then the computer gripes I am ordering too soon when I run out, instead of providing the rest of the refill.

            I may shift over to Safeway. I liked mail order through Optum, once we got through the teething problems, but I am a bit concerned over USPS reliability, too.

            I like this small town, but sometimes we’re on the back-end of nowhere.

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            1. “concerned over USPS reliability”

              No better here. I’m in Eugene, north of Beltline. It is less than 4 miles to the post office off Beltline!

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            2. When I was with HP, there was a mailorder prescription service optionally part of the medical coverage. I tried it briefly, but getting the package from the front lobby the 50 feet to my desk was a difficult challenge. We use a mail drop in Flyover Falls, and USPS is more-or-less OK for packages. (I think it’s a collateral benefit of the Amazon business.) Only one medication is mail order (Mark Cuban’s* Cost Plus pharmacy. Somewhat unusual medication, and my doctor recommended I try that route. Haven’t checked the local pharmacy.)

              I’ve never been shorted for meds at any of the pharmacies, though on rare occasions, I’ll get two bottles where they ran out of one supplier’s and had to finish with another. As memory serves, that was more common with Bi-Mart.

              ((*)) Not my favorite person, but the pharmacy works.

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      1. Shag, Lime Green or Burnt Orange.

        …

        House I and some friends rented in college had shag carpet from the 60s, badly worn. Lime Green, Burnt Orange, and Watermelon (red/white-flecks). Some yukky brown in hallways. Plus partially furnished with 60s “Danish Modern” chairs and couches.

        Cheap to rent.

        One lady I dated took one look and quipped “Proof positive you are straight. A gay would run screaming.” Oddly, the gay acquaintance took one look, doubletaked, and shrieked “Gah! My eyes!”

        Cheap to rent.

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    6. Pingback: The Other Side MIA – Splendid Isolation

    7. Looking at what’s washing over my “news” today, I can only conclude that I’m like a prospector panning for gold. I’m not going to get much, and the little flecks will be very small.

      Europe has been propagandized to death for -centuries-. Before socialism it was Blood-and-Soil. Before that it was Divine Right. Every time the old BS gets overturned there is some new BS to take its place. Same pile, different day.

      Additionally, well educated Europeans know the USA the same way I know Portugal. I can find it on a map, I know they speak Portuguese (which sounds the same as Spanish to my tin ear) and that’s pretty much it.

      Therefore I must assume anything else I “know” about Portugal is most likely some guy’s sales job or propaganda. Like, what do I know for sure about Russia and Russians? Nothing! Absolutely nothing.

      My favorite thing about Europeans who come to Canada for the first time is their utter shock at how BIG and how EMPTY this place is. There’s friggin’ nobody here, right? They think Canada is like home, but then they find out there’s no internet connections or cell service between towns because its a hundred miles of bush between towns. They think American cars and trucks are stupid and wasteful, until you drive them to your place from the airport and it takes two hours, no traffic. Because its 100 miles away as the crow flies, and driving that in a SmartCar would be hellish.

      You can drive anywhere in Holland from anywhere else in 3-4 hours or so, ignoring traffic. Four hours won’t even get you to Ottawa from Toronto, and you’ll still be in Ontario. Amsterdam and suburbs is maybe ten miles across, going by Google Maps. The built-up part of Toronto is 30+ miles if you don’t include Burlington and Pickering. Three times the size.

      They come here, and they can’t believe it. Watching Europeans trying to cope with Tombstone Arizona, absolutely hilarious. The Germans, with their mouths open.

      We go there and feel like we’re in a sardine can. We say “why is everything so f-ing SMALL here?!” and they look at us like we are crazy.

      Europeans do not get North America. They can’t, its way too different.

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