Random Thoughts

[Undertoad]

But she would have remembered what day you met

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I'm sympathetic to Gravdigr here; 2019 and early 2020 was a rough year for my own health -- major surgery and appreciable period of rehab. Way more X-rays the last sixty-eighty days than the whole rest of my life put together, along with the odd ultrasound, angiogram, and MRIs of everything short of my head. Whee. Followup appointment with my heart surgeon tomorrow a.m. That end of things actually looks pretty good from here, I hope.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Where The HELL Is Carmen Sandiego?

Who can limn the leopards' God?

[monster]

I would love America to be great. I just think maybe I have a different definition of my great. In my great, America would be a country where you didn't need to be rich to get good healthcare and good education or afford healthy food, a country where those who are "differently talented" can still work an honest 40 hours in one job and make enough to live on. I'm fine with people being rich. I'm fine with wealth buying fancy houses, vacations, fast cars, meals in restaurants, luxury private rooms in hospitals, golden unicorns to piss on you to realign your chakras..... These are not life necessities, I'm ok with poorer people going without them. But when those who need help with their mental health are homeless and hungry and families have two parents working 2 or 3 part time jobs each to try and keep their family afloat but end up with no time to cook healthy meals even if they could afford the ingredients or eat together as a family ...the country they are in is not great. I'm not ok with that.

I know this is kind of political, but I'm not meaning/wanting to start a debate about it. I know it's naively stated and idealistic. I just wanted to say it because it's bugging the fuck out of me.

[fargon]

^^^What Monster Said^^^

[BigV]

Originally Posted by monster

I would love America to be great. I just think maybe I have a different definition of my great. In my great, America would be a country where you didn't need to be rich to get good healthcare and good education or afford healthy food, a country where those who are "differently talented" can still work an honest 40 hours in one job and make enough to live on. I'm fine with people being rich. I'm fine with wealth buying fancy houses, vacations, fast cars, meals in restaurants, luxury private rooms in hospitals, golden unicorns to piss on you to realign your chakras..... These are not life necessities, I'm ok with poorer people going without them. But when those who need help with their mental health are homeless and hungry and families have two parents working 2 or 3 part time jobs each to try and keep their family afloat but end up with no time to cook healthy meals even if they could afford the ingredients or eat together as a family ...the country they are in is not great. I'm not ok with that.

I know this is kind of political, but I'm not meaning/wanting to start a debate about it. I know it's naively stated and idealistic. I just wanted to say it because it's bugging the fuck out of me.

Originally Posted by fargon

^^^What Monster Said^^^

fargon said it first, but I'm saying it again.

When we have more than we need, we shouldn't build a higher wall, we should build a bigger table. #postercaptionindiningroom

[xoxoxoBruce]

Sounds like a good goal to me. Everyone has a home to go to at night where they can sleep safely without hunger or sickness. A first world country.

Of course in a free country there will always be some who won't want that and if forced it's no longer a free country, but it sure would be nice if they were offered the choice.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Some things are free, but nothing is free of consequences.

[monster]

Nothing in life is free.

[monster]

therefore....

[xoxoxoBruce]

Semantics. I feel you're limiting the word.

Definition of free (Entry 1 of 3)
1: not costing or charging anything
2a: having the legal and political rights of a citizen- setting the slave free
b: enjoying civil and political liberty- free citizens
c: enjoying political independence or freedom from outside domination - This is a free country.
d: enjoying personal freedom : not subject to the control or domination of another
You are free to do whatever you want.
3a: not determined by anything beyond its own nature or being : choosing or capable of choosing for itself
b: determined by the choice of the actor or performer- free actions
c: made, done, or given voluntarily or spontaneously gave his free consent
4a: relieved from or lacking something and especially something unpleasant or burdensome- free from pain
a speech free of political rhetoric—often used in combination- error-free
b: not bound, confined, or detained by force-The prisoner is now free.
5a: having no trade restrictions- duty-free imports
b: not subject to government regulation- free competition
c: of foreign exchange : not subject to restriction or official control
6a: having no obligations (as to work) or commitments- I'll be free this evening
b: not taken up with commitments or obligations- a free evening
7: having a scope not restricted by qualification- a free variable
8a: not obstructed, restricted, or impeded- free to leave
b: not being used or occupied- waved with his free hand
c: not hampered or restricted in its normal operation
9a: not fastened -the free end of the rope
b: not confined to a particular position or place- in twelve-tone music, no note is wholly free for it must hold its place in the series— J. L. Stewart
c: capable of moving or turning in any direction-a free particle
d: performed without apparatus- free tumbling
e: done with artificial aids (such as pitons) used only for protection against falling and not for support- a free climb
10a: not parsimonious- free spending
b: OUTSPOKEN- is free in his criticism
c: availing oneself of something without stint- she's very free with her money
d: FRANK, OPEN
e: overly familiar or forward in action or attitude- a young man who had been much too free with the ladies of the town— Harvey Graham
f: LICENTIOUS- inexcusably free talk before the ladies
11a(1): not united with, attached to, combined with, or mixed with something else : SEPARATE - free ores
a free surface of a bodily part
(2): FREESTANDING
a free column
b: chemically uncombined- free oxygen- free acids
c: not permanently attached but able to move about- a free electron in a metal
d: capable of being used alone as a meaningful linguistic form- the word hats is a free form— compare BOUND entry 1 sense 7
12a: not literal or exact- free translation
b: not restricted by or conforming to conventional forms- free skating
13: FAVORABLE —used of a wind blowing from a direction more than six points from dead ahead
14: not allowing slavery- was admitted to the Union as a free state
15: open to all comers- that most pleasurable of Anglo-Saxon pastimes, a free fight— Winston Churchill

for free: without charge

[Gravdigr]

Dreamed last night, by yours truly:

Sell your moose, sell your moose,
And buy a van, Django.

[sexobon]

I remember when people said that 2019 sucked and they were glad 2020 was here.

Turns out, comparatively speaking, those were the good old days.

[Griff]

hmmm... death spiral?

[fargon]

I had a thought (amazing ain't it) what would you do with $1,200.00? If it just fell from the sky. Like so many of my otherwise intelligent, thoughtful neighbors think is going to happen.

I would spend it on The Lady Keryx, Aunt Mary. And Meat, Charcoal, Wood, and Spices. Because Barbeque.