Ye Olde Free Threade is here, for inscription of wondrous thoughts
June 26, 2023 3:41 AM Subscribe
Come, fellow MeFites, and obnixely enter texts into this fiendish and ancient device. Of anecdotes and tales, baboonery lived, stories told and untold. Of travels to the underworld, of delicacies enjoyed, of a Yule of past or a Yule to come. Be not an agelast on reading, but be wakerife and stub not thy hallux on reaching for keyboard or quill, for this threade be free...
Was there some sort of change made in how the site displays?
On my iPad, I’ve been using Classic for ages. Late last week, it suddenly changed to the mobile version, and there was no way to change it back. I can’t tell you how huge the mobile site looks on an iPad. I switched Modern Dark, and it’s fine and is the desktop version I want (though there doesn’t seem to be any control for font size. Didn’t there used to be one?). Flipping back to Classic, I still get the mobile version.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:23 AM on June 26, 2023
On my iPad, I’ve been using Classic for ages. Late last week, it suddenly changed to the mobile version, and there was no way to change it back. I can’t tell you how huge the mobile site looks on an iPad. I switched Modern Dark, and it’s fine and is the desktop version I want (though there doesn’t seem to be any control for font size. Didn’t there used to be one?). Flipping back to Classic, I still get the mobile version.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:23 AM on June 26, 2023
I haven't had any display issues, but it sounds like you're not the only one experiencing weirdness - although possibly the opposite problem?
It is muggy and thunderstormy today, but I have a friend visiting from the opposite coast for a night before she helps another friend move to Tucson, so it's going to be a good Monday.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:41 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
It is muggy and thunderstormy today, but I have a friend visiting from the opposite coast for a night before she helps another friend move to Tucson, so it's going to be a good Monday.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:41 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Nice! I just learned four new words!
In unrelated news, you know you're in professional hands when the dentist allows their new assisstant to watch, but warns them to sit down when starting to feel woozy.
Good thing I'm already seated then and can't see anything anyway.
But things went well; I would shop again.
posted by flamewise at 5:21 AM on June 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
In unrelated news, you know you're in professional hands when the dentist allows their new assisstant to watch, but warns them to sit down when starting to feel woozy.
Good thing I'm already seated then and can't see anything anyway.
But things went well; I would shop again.
posted by flamewise at 5:21 AM on June 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
i broke a bot and ask.mefi fell out
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 5:29 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 5:29 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
...but it sounds like you're not the only one experiencing weirdness - although possibly the opposite problem?
It's a regular pot pourri of je ne sais quoi...
posted by y2karl at 5:33 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's a regular pot pourri of je ne sais quoi...
posted by y2karl at 5:33 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
On words: 'counterclockwise' is such a bullshit word. Similar to the complaint that a mathematician saying they study non-linear equations is like a biologist saying they study non-elephant animals.
Anyway, I've been teaching my kid to use 'widdershins', because it seems to help avoid confusion. Right and left are hard enough, who wants to tech a kid about right and not-right? We all agree that 'left' is better, but for some reason 'counterclockwise' persists.
But the other reasons it's just fun to use weird old words and I can't wait to see more adults' eyes go wide when they hear it casually dropped by a small child.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:34 AM on June 26, 2023 [8 favorites]
Anyway, I've been teaching my kid to use 'widdershins', because it seems to help avoid confusion. Right and left are hard enough, who wants to tech a kid about right and not-right? We all agree that 'left' is better, but for some reason 'counterclockwise' persists.
But the other reasons it's just fun to use weird old words and I can't wait to see more adults' eyes go wide when they hear it casually dropped by a small child.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:34 AM on June 26, 2023 [8 favorites]
it's just fun to use weird old words
I am hoping that 'overmorrow' will make a comeback.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:40 AM on June 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
I am hoping that 'overmorrow' will make a comeback.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:40 AM on June 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
On that note, one of these days I'll start answering the phone with 'ahoy hoy'
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:19 AM on June 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:19 AM on June 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
We played Scrabble this weekend and I was very disappointed to learn that shart is not in the Scrabble dictionary.
posted by COD at 6:28 AM on June 26, 2023 [22 favorites]
posted by COD at 6:28 AM on June 26, 2023 [22 favorites]
My family is still recovering from the big storm in Tulsa last week. 100 mph winds. Trees and power lines were down all over the place. Luckily my mom and my dad's neighborhoods were mostly spared but my aunt has been staying with my mom for the past week and they've been taking care of my baby nephew since his parents lost power at their place. Thankfully things have mostly been restored but there was a lot of damage and it's going to take a while before things are back to normal. It really serves to reiterate how important it is to have a community and support system around you when times get hard. We all have to have people around us to help out from time to time.
As for myself things finally came to a head between me and my roommate and I'll be looking to move into a new place soon. Things had been tense for quite a while but at the end of the day our lives were just on different paths and we couldn't maintain it any longer. And I'm excited to get a fresh start and be able to lead the life I want to lead on my own terms. It's honestly the happiest I've felt in a long time and it's great to get started.
posted by downtohisturtles at 6:35 AM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
As for myself things finally came to a head between me and my roommate and I'll be looking to move into a new place soon. Things had been tense for quite a while but at the end of the day our lives were just on different paths and we couldn't maintain it any longer. And I'm excited to get a fresh start and be able to lead the life I want to lead on my own terms. It's honestly the happiest I've felt in a long time and it's great to get started.
posted by downtohisturtles at 6:35 AM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
I decided to quit my nightly wine and I'm actually pretty pumped up! I feel so ALERT in the morning.
posted by kiwi-epitome at 6:46 AM on June 26, 2023 [16 favorites]
posted by kiwi-epitome at 6:46 AM on June 26, 2023 [16 favorites]
> On that note, one of these days I'll start answering the phone with 'ahoy hoy'
here's what i think: the social norm for telephone calls should be for the person who called to speak first. this might encourage people to actually pick up the phone. when the person who answers speaks second it works as a pretty effective spam filter, since telemarketing calls are only connected to the actual telemarketer after the target speaks. if you pick up the phone and don't say anything, spam calls get disconnected after about five seconds, whereas real callers say "hello?" in a confused tone after about three seconds. establishing the norm of callers saying "hello" (or "ahoy hoy" or whatever) first would give the spam-filtering benefits of callee-talks-first with less social awkwardness.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 7:00 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
here's what i think: the social norm for telephone calls should be for the person who called to speak first. this might encourage people to actually pick up the phone. when the person who answers speaks second it works as a pretty effective spam filter, since telemarketing calls are only connected to the actual telemarketer after the target speaks. if you pick up the phone and don't say anything, spam calls get disconnected after about five seconds, whereas real callers say "hello?" in a confused tone after about three seconds. establishing the norm of callers saying "hello" (or "ahoy hoy" or whatever) first would give the spam-filtering benefits of callee-talks-first with less social awkwardness.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 7:00 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
It was my birthday on Saturday, so we did a small road trip:
- stayed over in Bayfield and watched the sun set over Lake Huron. Seems to be a thing for the locals to gather of an evening and watch the sunset from the beach or the park above the cliff;
- essential visit to K-W Surplus on the way, which seems to have been rearranged and sadly is much less about weird tat than it used to be;
- went to see the huge wind farm I designed over a decade ago, but for complex reasons (including getting shitcanned by them while on vacation so they could announce prudent cost control at an investors' meeting) I'd never been to see. It's good to see it working, but my old life was weird.
- was overjoyed to see that Culbert's of Goderich were still open. I had my first Culbert's apple fritter for over a decade (see reasons above) and they are still transcendent.
this reminds me of the "Solar Opposites" episode where the alien expresses frustration that people don't say "EXCUSE ME" before farting, I still enjoy that bit
edit: in response to buntastic et. al.
posted by elkevelvet at 7:02 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
edit: in response to buntastic et. al.
posted by elkevelvet at 7:02 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
* caller-speaks-first, I mean
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 7:07 AM on June 26, 2023
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 7:07 AM on June 26, 2023
I'm continuing to enjoy Bluesky, noticing a gradually increasing trickle of people from Twitter (especially) and Facebook, plus some more MeFites in the last week. It's still almost hilariously basic compared to other social media - no Direct Messages, you can only see your past 'likes' through a feed, no way to embed videos, no consensus on whether a post is a post or a skeet or a toot or whatevs, and a bundle of other things currently missing. But the positive vibes, lack of sealioning, of nazis and of people who defend everything the owner of the bird site says, is refreshing. Will it last? Haven't a clue.
I'm also continuing to enjoy being back in rural Worcestershire, albeit in a different slice of my life and with different objectives to previous times. When not out and about, time seems to be triangulated between the pub, the cricket match, and the public library (Worcester is pretty good at all three). Though the out and about part is taking up a lot of time as it is the peak season for school and village shows, fairs, fayres and carnivals. Last Friday the local school had a big evening fair, which was fine if you were okay with several hundred young and screaming children, high on sugar from cheap candy floss (cotton), running around. The barbeque was run by two dads who took it extremely seriously ("You'll have to wait approximately one and three quarter minutes for your cheeseburger delux") but somehow created a smoke stack large enough to (possibly) be seen from space. There was also a coconut shy (no winners), pin the tail on the donkey, cake stands, face painting, a bouncy castle (unfortunately only for children) and gossipy parents getting hammered on prosecco.
And, of course, a tombola. It would not be a proper event without a tombola. My long run of good luck continued - six tickets totalling two pounds sterling won me two prizes (one eaten, the other gifted away).
It's also the peak of the Morris Dancing season, but more on that another time.
posted by Wordshore at 7:18 AM on June 26, 2023 [15 favorites]
I'm also continuing to enjoy being back in rural Worcestershire, albeit in a different slice of my life and with different objectives to previous times. When not out and about, time seems to be triangulated between the pub, the cricket match, and the public library (Worcester is pretty good at all three). Though the out and about part is taking up a lot of time as it is the peak season for school and village shows, fairs, fayres and carnivals. Last Friday the local school had a big evening fair, which was fine if you were okay with several hundred young and screaming children, high on sugar from cheap candy floss (cotton), running around. The barbeque was run by two dads who took it extremely seriously ("You'll have to wait approximately one and three quarter minutes for your cheeseburger delux") but somehow created a smoke stack large enough to (possibly) be seen from space. There was also a coconut shy (no winners), pin the tail on the donkey, cake stands, face painting, a bouncy castle (unfortunately only for children) and gossipy parents getting hammered on prosecco.
And, of course, a tombola. It would not be a proper event without a tombola. My long run of good luck continued - six tickets totalling two pounds sterling won me two prizes (one eaten, the other gifted away).
It's also the peak of the Morris Dancing season, but more on that another time.
posted by Wordshore at 7:18 AM on June 26, 2023 [15 favorites]
scuss — I am in Lucan so whenever I drive up towards Exeter or Grand Bend, I see all those windmills in the distance.
I also visited Goderich last summer to check it out — the beach was packed so we avoided it but we did visit the agricultural museum. I have a two-headed stuffed cow toy I bought from the gift shop there.
posted by grmpyprogrammer at 7:27 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I also visited Goderich last summer to check it out — the beach was packed so we avoided it but we did visit the agricultural museum. I have a two-headed stuffed cow toy I bought from the gift shop there.
posted by grmpyprogrammer at 7:27 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
> no consensus on whether a post is a post or a skeet or a toot or whatevs
what if as a compromise we combined all of these and called bluesky messages “post skeet toots.”
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 7:43 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
what if as a compromise we combined all of these and called bluesky messages “post skeet toots.”
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 7:43 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
As a returning-to-film-school-late-in-life student, I'm in the throes of my digital film editing class final project; we were given essentially six options for what to produce; I picked one of the allowed projects, reediting the raw video from a short film into the completed form.
What I neglected to note is that the instructor marked this option as "expert level".
So, for some background: I learned video editing on linear tape systems in the early nineties; I got a consumer-grade copy of Avid with a capture card in the early 2000s that I used to make some videos, and I've used VirtualDub, FFMPEG, and HitFilm in recent years for personal stuff like pulling things off home video VHS tapes. So, while I'm not new to this, I'm definitely not an expert.
I think it's actually going pretty well, I showed my wife what I've got so far (essentially edited and color graded, but without sound effects) and she didn't point out any glaring issues as an average film viewer, but did offer some helpful comments I can work with.
I have come up with a bunch of rules for returning to college, based on what I did wrong the first time around, and "asking the teacher for help" is one of them -- I never did this back in the day, but in retrospect that's kinda their job and they've got incentive to help students do well. It seems obvious, but doesn't come naturally to me.
So, on my to-do list this week is to put some things together I think I could do better, if I had some help. The video is due on the 5th, so I have a week to get in touch with my instructor, and then a weekend and a holiday to devote time if I really need to buckle down and redo things, but the first step is to just do the hard part and ask for help.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:44 AM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
What I neglected to note is that the instructor marked this option as "expert level".
So, for some background: I learned video editing on linear tape systems in the early nineties; I got a consumer-grade copy of Avid with a capture card in the early 2000s that I used to make some videos, and I've used VirtualDub, FFMPEG, and HitFilm in recent years for personal stuff like pulling things off home video VHS tapes. So, while I'm not new to this, I'm definitely not an expert.
I think it's actually going pretty well, I showed my wife what I've got so far (essentially edited and color graded, but without sound effects) and she didn't point out any glaring issues as an average film viewer, but did offer some helpful comments I can work with.
I have come up with a bunch of rules for returning to college, based on what I did wrong the first time around, and "asking the teacher for help" is one of them -- I never did this back in the day, but in retrospect that's kinda their job and they've got incentive to help students do well. It seems obvious, but doesn't come naturally to me.
So, on my to-do list this week is to put some things together I think I could do better, if I had some help. The video is due on the 5th, so I have a week to get in touch with my instructor, and then a weekend and a holiday to devote time if I really need to buckle down and redo things, but the first step is to just do the hard part and ask for help.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:44 AM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
A few months back I logged out of Twitter (jeeeeeeeee, I wonder why). Yesterday I went off on a guy in the Slack group that is the majority of my social interactions these days, and it was over a relatively innocuous jab between friends, so I decided to log out for a week. I logged out of Facebook as well, thinking, "Yeah, after a clusterfuck of a few months I need a break from things."
Meanwhile I have had a MeFi account for close to nineteen years and when I was going through all my internet things and logging out I got to MeFi and went.... "Nah. No way. MeFi is my comfort blankee." You folks are great.
Keep up the good work, you dorks.
posted by brundlefly at 7:55 AM on June 26, 2023 [34 favorites]
Meanwhile I have had a MeFi account for close to nineteen years and when I was going through all my internet things and logging out I got to MeFi and went.... "Nah. No way. MeFi is my comfort blankee." You folks are great.
Keep up the good work, you dorks.
posted by brundlefly at 7:55 AM on June 26, 2023 [34 favorites]
We filed our first lawsuit on Friday. Now we play the waiting game, as various things have to happen or not, before we can take the next step. Chances are good that they're going to ignore it, we get a default judgement, and can go on our way. Chances are low that they'll respond, screw things up, and piss off the judge. Chances are next to none that they'll do what we want, get the suit dismissed, and everyone go on with their lives.
Sigh.
posted by Spike Glee at 8:11 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Sigh.
posted by Spike Glee at 8:11 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
I made a mix from a list by The Whelk* from this post on Mefi:
Summer-1999
Enjoy!
*I notice The Whelk's account is "disabled". Hope everything's okay...
posted by mmrtnt at 8:12 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
Summer-1999
Enjoy!
*I notice The Whelk's account is "disabled". Hope everything's okay...
posted by mmrtnt at 8:12 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
grmpyprogrammer
In my university days I had a friend who thought it would be a good idea to go to Lucan and research the Black Donellys..
Not a good idea.
He dropped that pretty quickly. Seems people could get pretty upset.
posted by yyz at 8:12 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
In my university days I had a friend who thought it would be a good idea to go to Lucan and research the Black Donellys..
Not a good idea.
He dropped that pretty quickly. Seems people could get pretty upset.
posted by yyz at 8:12 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Happy birthday, scruss! It was my birthday on Saturday, too. Had a lovely day, finished up my drug regimen from recent dental frolics so I was able to enjoy a glass of very good champagne, and then very good off-dry sake with very good sushi that I was able to chew as needed. Yay for somewhat functional cuspids n molars n such.
It's been hot and muggy and rainy all weekend, but today is lovely cool overcast. We're taking the day off to do some smoking: bacon, peppers, cheese, chicken, tofu. Plus I get to mess about with my ceramic yakitori grill and charcoal, whooo!
posted by winesong at 8:23 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's been hot and muggy and rainy all weekend, but today is lovely cool overcast. We're taking the day off to do some smoking: bacon, peppers, cheese, chicken, tofu. Plus I get to mess about with my ceramic yakitori grill and charcoal, whooo!
posted by winesong at 8:23 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm in the middle of a multi-week slightly-too-spicy time. Since the 12th of June I've had an all-week work event with evening activities almost every day, given two conference talks, facilitated a strategy day for my entire 70-person department, attended the engagement party of two dear friends who wouldn't have met if not for both also having met me, attended a bruce springsteen concert, got into a minor car accident driving back to the hotel after the springsteen concert (not my fault, but annoying to have to deal with all the admin & repairs stuff nonetheless), had a big ongoing source of work stress blow up again at the end of last week, and now I'm sick as a dog with some kind of gross virus that caused me to pass out in the hallway last night and bust up my worse knee even further as well as giving me a wicked cough and general respiratory grot. Oh, and all of that while barely being two months out from top surgery and still recovering on some level.
Getting flattened by this gross disease is probably a blessing because it's given me no choice but to rest. A very boring couple of weeks working from home and mostly avoiding socialising will be very welcome as soon as I've recovered. Grateful to my partner for half-catching me as I went down last night, else the knee might be in even worse shape. Also grateful I guess to my body for passing out, which convinced me I was actually sick enough to mostly not work today, instead of some version of fine/malingering/making it up.
posted by terretu at 8:25 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Getting flattened by this gross disease is probably a blessing because it's given me no choice but to rest. A very boring couple of weeks working from home and mostly avoiding socialising will be very welcome as soon as I've recovered. Grateful to my partner for half-catching me as I went down last night, else the knee might be in even worse shape. Also grateful I guess to my body for passing out, which convinced me I was actually sick enough to mostly not work today, instead of some version of fine/malingering/making it up.
posted by terretu at 8:25 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Post Skeet Toots are part of a nutritious breakfast.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:29 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:29 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
yyz — we are newer residents (will be six years in August) and, yeah, it is a touchy subject around here. Our youngest went to school with descendants of the mob that attacked them and their grave used to be in the church graveyard right across from her school.
posted by grmpyprogrammer at 8:29 AM on June 26, 2023
posted by grmpyprogrammer at 8:29 AM on June 26, 2023
Had to change medication and it took me a few weeks to get stable. I feel calm, relaxed, and focused now. I laugh more. But apparently my calm and relaxed looks like I am annoyed or angry.
I keep having to reassure people I am not angry all the time, it gets tiring but I refuse to go back to forcing a friendly expression on my face.
Maybe all the years of exercising my friendly face muscles atrophied the neutral face muscles and the balance point when I relax is the annoyed face.
Any tips on face exercises to achieve a pleasant resting face? Like bodybuilding but for the face. Does anyone know a good face building gym?
posted by Dr. Curare at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I keep having to reassure people I am not angry all the time, it gets tiring but I refuse to go back to forcing a friendly expression on my face.
Maybe all the years of exercising my friendly face muscles atrophied the neutral face muscles and the balance point when I relax is the annoyed face.
Any tips on face exercises to achieve a pleasant resting face? Like bodybuilding but for the face. Does anyone know a good face building gym?
posted by Dr. Curare at 8:39 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
My university days were a long time ago ( slide rule era ).
But my friend said very touchy subject. He hadn't realized.
Just seemed an easy local history project to him.
posted by yyz at 8:41 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
But my friend said very touchy subject. He hadn't realized.
Just seemed an easy local history project to him.
posted by yyz at 8:41 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's so funny. Not being on those internet social thingies is throwing me off because the stuff that I would normally post are making me go to those sites before remembering that I'm taking a break. And then I want to make a post about how I want to keep posting things, then I go "d'oh!"
The internet was a mistake.
posted by brundlefly at 8:50 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
The internet was a mistake.
posted by brundlefly at 8:50 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
My Christmas tree was still up till Wednesday. The thing was, I left the farm rather quickly on the first of January, expecting to be back a week or perhaps two later. That didn't happen. Now I am really happy that I almost emptied the fridge (there were some containers with goose fat that I sadly had to give up, because there have been several power-outages while I was away and I'm not sure how bad they were).
Then last week I went, because I had work in the region, but except for Wednesday, it was 12 hour/day work, so I lived with the sad tree and all the cobwebs for three days. Also, nature is taking over the house, there is literally ivy growing in through the doors and windows and self-sown maple covering several windows so it is dark inside. The fig tree is almost dead, and I have no clue why, but perhaps it has been strangled by the out of control wisteria. Right now I am in Copenhagen for some other work, but I'm going back Wednesday for deep cleaning, and radical garden maintenance.
On the other hand, walking through my own little one-acre wood is like walking through a jungle: the sounds of birds, and critters scurrying throw the undergrowth are intense. Even in the middle of a drought, the atmosphere is humid. There are vines of honeysuckle crawling across the forest floor and up into the crowns of trees. And the ferns, I love ferns, and there are tons of them, several species, too. Sometimes you notice the red-brown ears of a roe deer surreally perking out of a thicket.
posted by mumimor at 8:56 AM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
Then last week I went, because I had work in the region, but except for Wednesday, it was 12 hour/day work, so I lived with the sad tree and all the cobwebs for three days. Also, nature is taking over the house, there is literally ivy growing in through the doors and windows and self-sown maple covering several windows so it is dark inside. The fig tree is almost dead, and I have no clue why, but perhaps it has been strangled by the out of control wisteria. Right now I am in Copenhagen for some other work, but I'm going back Wednesday for deep cleaning, and radical garden maintenance.
On the other hand, walking through my own little one-acre wood is like walking through a jungle: the sounds of birds, and critters scurrying throw the undergrowth are intense. Even in the middle of a drought, the atmosphere is humid. There are vines of honeysuckle crawling across the forest floor and up into the crowns of trees. And the ferns, I love ferns, and there are tons of them, several species, too. Sometimes you notice the red-brown ears of a roe deer surreally perking out of a thicket.
posted by mumimor at 8:56 AM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
Elkevelvet: Is "buntastic" supposed to be "bombastic"? Great typo/autocorrect/freudian slip!
posted by mpark at 8:58 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by mpark at 8:58 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
@mpark, you got it
@brundlefly re: "Nah. No way. MeFi is my comfort blankee." just.. step carefully through the MetaTalk.. I think grobstein and a few others kind of redeemed things after 600-some comments but what a ride
posted by elkevelvet at 9:06 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
@brundlefly re: "Nah. No way. MeFi is my comfort blankee." just.. step carefully through the MetaTalk.. I think grobstein and a few others kind of redeemed things after 600-some comments but what a ride
posted by elkevelvet at 9:06 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was in NYC, a trip that involved a) reading Victorian correspondence in terrible handwriting at the NYPL, b) reading a depressing religious memoir at Columbia U, c) watching both of the Goes Wrong shows to counteract the effects of a) and b), and d) eating blintzes.
posted by thomas j wise at 9:13 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by thomas j wise at 9:13 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
Feeling a little irritation at an IG account owner I follow (well, soon to unfollow) talking about the Toronto mayoral race and the account owner's decision to vote for Anthony Furey. Okay, yuck vote for him I guess but leave the comment about "I used to be a leftist social justice warrior and now I've turned into a normal Canadian conservative" out of it. Yes, I guess you're better than all of us because you're the only capable one of critical thinking, ma'am. I guess everyone in leftist spaces is A Problem. Or maybe you. Maybe you are the problem.
/end rant against person
posted by Kitteh at 9:17 AM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
/end rant against person
posted by Kitteh at 9:17 AM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
>Is "buntastic" supposed to be "bombastic"?
i’ll accept it, but only because my ass really is fantastic
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 9:39 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
i’ll accept it, but only because my ass really is fantastic
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 9:39 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
My Christmas tree was still up till Wednesday
If you put it back up again next Thursday, it will be up for an equal stretch after and before Christmas.
talking about the Toronto mayoral race and the account owner's decision to vote for Anthony Furey
Yeah, there is some weird stuff going on. Longtime city councillor and subsequently member of parliament Olivia Chow is heavily favoured to win. Former police chief Mark Saunders is using “Saunders is the only way to stop Chow” as his branding.
It’s like that time that GE light bulbs were marketed with the slogan, “We hear Westinghouse bulbs give off some kind of gas.(TM)”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:47 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you put it back up again next Thursday, it will be up for an equal stretch after and before Christmas.
talking about the Toronto mayoral race and the account owner's decision to vote for Anthony Furey
Yeah, there is some weird stuff going on. Longtime city councillor and subsequently member of parliament Olivia Chow is heavily favoured to win. Former police chief Mark Saunders is using “Saunders is the only way to stop Chow” as his branding.
It’s like that time that GE light bulbs were marketed with the slogan, “We hear Westinghouse bulbs give off some kind of gas.(TM)”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:47 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
what if as a compromise we combined all of these and called bluesky messages “post skeet toots.”
Or mush them together a bit more and call them "poskoots".
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:54 AM on June 26, 2023
Or mush them together a bit more and call them "poskoots".
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:54 AM on June 26, 2023
there have been several power-outages while I was away and I'm not sure how bad they were
Not ideal. but a small trick is to place a small container of water in the freezer. Once it is frozen place a small coin on the surface.
When you come back ,you check to see if the coin is still on the surface.
If it's not on the surface then there's been a problem.
posted by yyz at 9:56 AM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
Not ideal. but a small trick is to place a small container of water in the freezer. Once it is frozen place a small coin on the surface.
When you come back ,you check to see if the coin is still on the surface.
If it's not on the surface then there's been a problem.
posted by yyz at 9:56 AM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
Like bodybuilding but for the face.
I've heard "nose-lifts" are quite popular, but not sure if that applies here...
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:03 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've heard "nose-lifts" are quite popular, but not sure if that applies here...
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:03 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Update on the visitors in the backyard (flickr) (owls).
posted by Horkus at 10:03 AM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by Horkus at 10:03 AM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those peepers?
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?
Gosh all git up, how'd they get that size?
posted by yyz at 10:09 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?
Gosh all git up, how'd they get that size?
posted by yyz at 10:09 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
baboonery lived
My Romance, doesn't need a blue baboon standing by
(probably about 3 people, tops, will get this reference)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:17 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
My Romance, doesn't need a blue baboon standing by
(probably about 3 people, tops, will get this reference)
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:17 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Wish I had owls in my backyard...
Just Bunrabs and crows though.
I was going to the Fred Meyer the other day, and there was a big ziploc bag of Cheese-Its and other crackers sitting on the sidewalk, which a crow was trying to beak open. I helped, and unzipped it to help them out.
When I came back out, they did not seem to remember that I had helped them out. Fucking Corvids
posted by Windopaene at 10:25 AM on June 26, 2023 [8 favorites]
Just Bunrabs and crows though.
I was going to the Fred Meyer the other day, and there was a big ziploc bag of Cheese-Its and other crackers sitting on the sidewalk, which a crow was trying to beak open. I helped, and unzipped it to help them out.
When I came back out, they did not seem to remember that I had helped them out. Fucking Corvids
posted by Windopaene at 10:25 AM on June 26, 2023 [8 favorites]
We're about 3 months out now from our big trip to Italy in October, so we're starting to get down to brass tacks about tours, activities, and such. Several different sets of friends have recently been, so we took one couple out to lunch yesterday to pick their brains a bit. You have to strike while the iron's hot with that sort of thing, because people forget all the details very quickly. "We ate at this one great place, but I don't remember the name, or where it was, or what I ate, but it was FABULOUS!" Luckily, someone wrote it all down, so they've emailed me their notes.
posted by briank at 10:26 AM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by briank at 10:26 AM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
'obnixely'
posted by clavdivs at 10:28 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I HAD TO LOOK THIS WORD UP AND THAT'S A WONDERFUL THING
posted by clavdivs at 10:28 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I tripped at the beginning of my run on Friday (do not walk up an incline while looking at your phone!), took a hard fall, and apparently fractured my thumb at the knuckle. I got an x-ray but by the time the results were in all the orthopedic folks had gone home for the weekend. So I ordered a thumb splint off Amazon while walking back to my car.
This morning I get a message saying I've been referred to ortho and should go in to get my splint. My question is: will I get anything different than the splint I ordered off Amazon? Are they actually going to put a cast on my thumb? Questions abound. I shall report back...
posted by suelac at 10:31 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
This morning I get a message saying I've been referred to ortho and should go in to get my splint. My question is: will I get anything different than the splint I ordered off Amazon? Are they actually going to put a cast on my thumb? Questions abound. I shall report back...
posted by suelac at 10:31 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
I'm sooo tired, and wish I could just go to bed right away. But I know if I walk the dog too early, he'll just want to go back down again later. So I'm aiming for bedtime at ten.
Tea was a childhood comfort food: fried potatoes with a fried egg and ketchup. Man, that is good. I learnt to make the fried potatoes from my cousin when he was nine and I was ten. The tricks are patience and pepper. But my egg game is better than his to this day. When we were children, a tin of baked beans would have been part of that tea, but I've grown out of it, there's enough sugar in the ketchup.
You might not think it, but this is a seasonal dish. It works much better with new potatoes and eggs from free range hens that are outdoors eating bugs. Even the butter for frying can be better if it comes from pastured cows, but today it was just normal factory farm butter. For health benefits I might also fry a tomato, and serve it all on a slice of whole rye bread, but not today.
All of this because I believe we should enjoy the small joys of life, including the leftover boiled potatoes.
posted by mumimor at 10:45 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
Tea was a childhood comfort food: fried potatoes with a fried egg and ketchup. Man, that is good. I learnt to make the fried potatoes from my cousin when he was nine and I was ten. The tricks are patience and pepper. But my egg game is better than his to this day. When we were children, a tin of baked beans would have been part of that tea, but I've grown out of it, there's enough sugar in the ketchup.
You might not think it, but this is a seasonal dish. It works much better with new potatoes and eggs from free range hens that are outdoors eating bugs. Even the butter for frying can be better if it comes from pastured cows, but today it was just normal factory farm butter. For health benefits I might also fry a tomato, and serve it all on a slice of whole rye bread, but not today.
All of this because I believe we should enjoy the small joys of life, including the leftover boiled potatoes.
posted by mumimor at 10:45 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
Covid left me with chest pains that got worse with exercise/exertion and chronic fatigue. Given my age, 72, family history and gender, unsurprisingly, our doctor worries that it suggests cardiovascular disease, showed little interest in my lingering covid symptoms theory and signed me up for a 'stress test.' That was 5 weeks ago. Such was the waiting list that I only get to be stress tested tomorrow. I confess I'm nervous for all that my health has improved greatly - chest pains gone pretty much, energy levels close to normal again. I've done a few dummy runs at home on the exercise bike and can hammer the thing without triggering pains. Even so I will be mightily relieved when the test is over and I am the happy recipient of good news - I hope!
posted by dutchrick at 10:47 AM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by dutchrick at 10:47 AM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
mumimor: I'd like to subscribe to your post-apocalyptic autobiographic eco blog
posted by flamewise at 11:01 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by flamewise at 11:01 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
I am going back to Sweden tomorrow from Berlin. I got here on Friday and I’ve had so much fun! Content warning for sex talk! I came to see a kinky friend, who is here on business. He took me to a woman-owned BDSM-oriented sex shop called McHurt. I am now the happy owner of two dildos and a pink-edged leather harness because I want to try out pegging. Thanks to a MeFite’s recommendation, I have had some fabulous ice cream in this town. Also had an excellent eclair. Lots of really tasty Asian fusion, vegan food, and some Israeli cuisine that was also recommended here on MetaFilter. Thanks for helping make this a great visit. It’s the second time I’ve been here, but I hope to visit many more times in the future. Ideally not during a loud, scary thunderstorm like the one we had here a few hours ago. Mumimor, I am a wee bit jealous of your cabin. It sounds wonderful.
On the health front, sending good vibes to all who are dealing with health issues at the moment. Thanks for this thread, Wordshore. Your summer activities sound lovely.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:10 AM on June 26, 2023 [10 favorites]
On the health front, sending good vibes to all who are dealing with health issues at the moment. Thanks for this thread, Wordshore. Your summer activities sound lovely.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:10 AM on June 26, 2023 [10 favorites]
In the last open thread I said I thought I had recently turned the corner on Long Covid after about 7 months of mild to medium symptoms and that I hoped it would last. So far it has. Huzzah! I'm running and cycling regularly again for the first time since infection. My resting heart rate is dropping and my sleep is much better. I have energy that I am not sure what to do with having gone so long without it. Restlessness is a welcome old annoying friend that has made its return to my internal social circle.
posted by srboisvert at 11:16 AM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 11:16 AM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
I auditioned for another show that rehearses (but does not overlap in performances) with a month+ overlap with my current show's rehearsals. I note that Home Theater #2 may very well permit this sort of thing--i.e. me going to Show 1 3x/week and me going to Show 2 2x/week--and so far the director said "just write down the conflicts," and god knows I wouldn't have an actual part anyway, so does it really matter? I'll have like 3 or so weeks to be there daily and I've seen people join shows with around that or less time, including myself once :P So we'll see. It's a fake Shakespeare show (Something Rotten) as opposed to my real one, so that amuses me to do a summer of Shakespeare. I said I'd do lights again if that doesn't work. They won't be short on people....well, women anyway, it's a show with 9 dudes and 2 ladies and only 4 men were there last night, so we'll see.
It actually had like an hour of tap dance audition, which I was not expecting since they rarely bother with a dance audition here. Oh well, I can certainly dance in whatever I'm wearing and I'd say most people had no idea this was going to happen anyway, so deal with it. It was fun, actually.
We are still short on people for my current play, but at this point I think the director has to give up and do it himself since the last possible prospect predictably flaked and bailed. Oh well, at least he's only doing the minor parts, I guess.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:51 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
It actually had like an hour of tap dance audition, which I was not expecting since they rarely bother with a dance audition here. Oh well, I can certainly dance in whatever I'm wearing and I'd say most people had no idea this was going to happen anyway, so deal with it. It was fun, actually.
We are still short on people for my current play, but at this point I think the director has to give up and do it himself since the last possible prospect predictably flaked and bailed. Oh well, at least he's only doing the minor parts, I guess.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:51 AM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
+1 for the visit to K-W Surplus. Hopefully you also bought some weird snacks while you were there.
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:58 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:58 AM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
it's a show with 9 dudes and 2 ladies and only 4 men were there last night, so we'll see.
I'm wondering that since all Shakespeare's women were actually men, if one could turn that around today, and play with an all-women cast? After all, there is a tradition for female Hamlets.
I know it isn't for you to decide, the idea just came to me.
posted by mumimor at 12:04 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm wondering that since all Shakespeare's women were actually men, if one could turn that around today, and play with an all-women cast? After all, there is a tradition for female Hamlets.
I know it isn't for you to decide, the idea just came to me.
posted by mumimor at 12:04 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
patience and pepper
Isn't that the title of a Jane Austen novel?
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:10 PM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
Isn't that the title of a Jane Austen novel?
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:10 PM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
When I came back out, they did not seem to remember that I had helped them out. Fucking Corvids
Your experience with crows is very different than mine. Sure they will take treats that you toss them -- but put your bag thereof down and turn your back, the bag ls gone with them. They don't wait for a beat. They are thieves by nature and, as a matter of honor and mastery, prefer robbery to beggary every time. Gratitude is by no means in that nature. They revel in theft.
posted by y2karl at 12:13 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Your experience with crows is very different than mine. Sure they will take treats that you toss them -- but put your bag thereof down and turn your back, the bag ls gone with them. They don't wait for a beat. They are thieves by nature and, as a matter of honor and mastery, prefer robbery to beggary every time. Gratitude is by no means in that nature. They revel in theft.
posted by y2karl at 12:13 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
My work got covered in my hometown newspaper (that I used to write for!) and it feels like an important milestone. Very pleased.
posted by dhruva at 12:13 PM on June 26, 2023 [16 favorites]
posted by dhruva at 12:13 PM on June 26, 2023 [16 favorites]
I continue to be delighted by everything the band Sub-Radio does, including their new parody of My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade," Welcome to the Pride Parade. (The first minute or so is kind of corny, though elevated by their excellent vocals and musicianship, but when I hit the chorus I couldn't help laughing.)
posted by Jeanne at 12:48 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 12:48 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
→
I do not wish to attempt the food there. I wish to live to see 55.
posted by scruss at 12:56 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
K-W Surplus. Hopefully you also bought some weird snacks while you were there.
I do not wish to attempt the food there. I wish to live to see 55.
posted by scruss at 12:56 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Well I did it, as of tomorrow (but actually today) I am out on 3 weeks of medical leave for stress and anxiety. I love my doctor. I’m kind of freaking out & figuring out how to handle this. I guess I need to go by the office and drop off my doctor’s letter with HR and get my plants, which is a panicky thought. Now I have 3 weeks to find another job while hoping something breaks at my old job and I can go back (unlikely.)
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:13 PM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:13 PM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
I suggested an all-female cast, but he said no. A good chunk of the cast is women, but he wants certain parts to be men.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:16 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:16 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
dhruva, that is so fascinating!
posted by mumimor at 1:24 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by mumimor at 1:24 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
AzraelBrown - props for going back to film school. One of my retirement goals is(was) to get back into film sound for indie/hobby films and field recording. I've acquired/fixed/modified some gear, but all i've done with it so far is some field recording. I haven't yet felt ready to try to find and join some projects.
We voted today for Toronto mayor. That philandering milquetoast Tory mounted a last-ditch endorsement of Ana B (who I do respect), but this "anyone but Chow" 11th hour panic has driven me to vote with my heart for a change. ...cos we need a change.
Last week week's weather was divine. Perfect summer. 4 afternoons of sailing. More, please.
Yay for K-W Surplus. Forest City Surplus (London) is pretty good. I haven't checked out Steel City Surplus for a while.
posted by Artful Codger at 1:27 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
We voted today for Toronto mayor. That philandering milquetoast Tory mounted a last-ditch endorsement of Ana B (who I do respect), but this "anyone but Chow" 11th hour panic has driven me to vote with my heart for a change. ...cos we need a change.
Last week week's weather was divine. Perfect summer. 4 afternoons of sailing. More, please.
Yay for K-W Surplus. Forest City Surplus (London) is pretty good. I haven't checked out Steel City Surplus for a while.
posted by Artful Codger at 1:27 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
With some trepidation, but extremely Done with hot flashes, I started hormone therapy. And they said, hey you also need thyroid help too. Fine. Flashes are gone but also I am suddenly falling asleep at night like dropping off a cliff and dreaming a lot. Don't know which med does that, or perhaps it's a magic combo, but it's an odd experience. Not bad, just different.
My job is not going well and I'm dying to quit and feeling utterly baffled about what to do instead. Nothing sounds appealing.
posted by emjaybee at 1:29 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
My job is not going well and I'm dying to quit and feeling utterly baffled about what to do instead. Nothing sounds appealing.
posted by emjaybee at 1:29 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
My job is not going well and I'm dying to quit and feeling utterly baffled about what to do instead. Nothing sounds appealing.
Looking at the job ads might inspire something. Also, a job hunt is a long process so start looking today and maybe find the right thing many weeks from now.
I cannot encourage you enough to quit a job that is going poorly. I stuck with a job for several years after I should have quit and I'm quite a bit damaged at this point. I think I could have made a better choice much earlier and not ended up like this.
posted by hippybear at 1:32 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
Looking at the job ads might inspire something. Also, a job hunt is a long process so start looking today and maybe find the right thing many weeks from now.
I cannot encourage you enough to quit a job that is going poorly. I stuck with a job for several years after I should have quit and I'm quite a bit damaged at this point. I think I could have made a better choice much earlier and not ended up like this.
posted by hippybear at 1:32 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
AzraelBrown - props for going back to film school.
Thank you, Artful Codger! It's one of those things where I've been thinking about it for a long time, then finally decided to do it, and in the end it'll probably be cheaper and easier than I worried it would be. One big advantage is all my kids are grown and I have a stable job now, two things that hampered a previous attempt to finish my degree. Maybe I'll be able to pivot into a full career, but for now my main goal is just to have the accomplishment of hanging the sheepskin on my wall in a couple years.
I hope your audio adventures go well -- it's surprising how many indie video projects are looking for help, if you know where to look.
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:43 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Thank you, Artful Codger! It's one of those things where I've been thinking about it for a long time, then finally decided to do it, and in the end it'll probably be cheaper and easier than I worried it would be. One big advantage is all my kids are grown and I have a stable job now, two things that hampered a previous attempt to finish my degree. Maybe I'll be able to pivot into a full career, but for now my main goal is just to have the accomplishment of hanging the sheepskin on my wall in a couple years.
I hope your audio adventures go well -- it's surprising how many indie video projects are looking for help, if you know where to look.
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:43 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Ahhhhhhhh welp it's summer in the desert again. Fortunately we actually got a nice long delay before the blast furnace came on - we usually get solar oven-baked in the last week of May or first week of June - but now it's survival mode. I rode 30 miles yesterday and I had to start before 6am to do so (and the sun had already been up for a half hour.) Two hours in and despite insulated bottles, my cold water was now warm. Not just not-cold, but warm and getting warmer by the minute. Send ice. 96 days until October, the best month in the desert.
I took a while to break back into normal riding after Covid, following the "return to sport" guidelines found here. Now that I'm back at it, I've found my cardio health is right about where I left it before I caught that stupid virus. But my legs... yeah, my legs are nowhere near where they were. I can't believe how much I lost in four weeks. My heart rate is good and I'm usually not huffing and puffing so hard that I have to stop, but I'm just not as strong as I was. Oh well. I'll find the mornings that I can manage to drag myself out of bed at zero-dark-thirty to avoid the heat and work on getting that back.
posted by azpenguin at 2:07 PM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
I took a while to break back into normal riding after Covid, following the "return to sport" guidelines found here. Now that I'm back at it, I've found my cardio health is right about where I left it before I caught that stupid virus. But my legs... yeah, my legs are nowhere near where they were. I can't believe how much I lost in four weeks. My heart rate is good and I'm usually not huffing and puffing so hard that I have to stop, but I'm just not as strong as I was. Oh well. I'll find the mornings that I can manage to drag myself out of bed at zero-dark-thirty to avoid the heat and work on getting that back.
posted by azpenguin at 2:07 PM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
I had a comment here that I converted to an AskMe. I'm proud that I recognized the proper venue for what I was typing.
posted by hippybear at 2:10 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 2:10 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Re: Corvids.
I've always heard they are so smart, recognize people and such. I don't "help" the one's in my backyard that torment my dogs, but...
"I GAVE YOU EASY ACCESS TO THE FOODS. DON'T GET PISSY AT ME WHEN I COME BACK TO MY CAR!!!"
And are not Crows just the cockiest MFs ever? Just watching them walk around, they are so full of themselves.
posted by Windopaene at 2:35 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
I've always heard they are so smart, recognize people and such. I don't "help" the one's in my backyard that torment my dogs, but...
"I GAVE YOU EASY ACCESS TO THE FOODS. DON'T GET PISSY AT ME WHEN I COME BACK TO MY CAR!!!"
And are not Crows just the cockiest MFs ever? Just watching them walk around, they are so full of themselves.
posted by Windopaene at 2:35 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
I still suffer under the crow/grackel/raven confusion.
posted by hippybear at 2:37 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 2:37 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Don't forget starlings.
posted by y2karl at 2:41 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 2:41 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I wish I had something more positive to say, but, like emjaybee, I feel that I am struggling at my job, and I really don't want to start looking again.
The weather on the weekend was lovely, and we had a spectacular thunderstorm on Saturday.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:43 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
The weather on the weekend was lovely, and we had a spectacular thunderstorm on Saturday.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:43 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
@Windopaene, just today I was letting the dog out on the back patio and we found three crows assembled on the edge of the firepit looking for all the world like they were deliberating on something. It all looked so.. symmetrical, the circle of the firepit divided into perfect thirds and I swear they'd have summoned Lord Crow or whatever but the dog was having none of it
they are super active around the house, there must be at least 2-3 nests in the immediate area and they swoop past windows in the evening and call out to one another constantly
posted by elkevelvet at 2:43 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
they are super active around the house, there must be at least 2-3 nests in the immediate area and they swoop past windows in the evening and call out to one another constantly
posted by elkevelvet at 2:43 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Okay, fuck Starlings...
We don't have them here, but they are just failed crows.
But I see all the posts about how folks have befriended their crows, but my dogs think they can get them, (they can fly, you can't), so that's a thing. And I never fuck with crows. Nesting season though, they will totally fuck with me. Protip: pick up a stick, and wave it over your head. Crows do not like "crowsticks".
As I said, they are just such cocky motherfuckers.
posted by Windopaene at 3:13 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
We don't have them here, but they are just failed crows.
But I see all the posts about how folks have befriended their crows, but my dogs think they can get them, (they can fly, you can't), so that's a thing. And I never fuck with crows. Nesting season though, they will totally fuck with me. Protip: pick up a stick, and wave it over your head. Crows do not like "crowsticks".
As I said, they are just such cocky motherfuckers.
posted by Windopaene at 3:13 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
I have a 6 foot bamboo pole for just that thing.
posted by y2karl at 3:32 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 3:32 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Job hunting makes me want to throw up at this point. I despise every single possible job I look at and all of them just sound boring/low pay at best, or have too much front counter/phone service involved or too much math/money involved for me to be able to do them. This is why I stick with my hell job, because when I look at the plethora of options out there, mine is literally the best possible fit for me and my lack of useful skills. I am massively, horrifyingly, cripplingly damaged from this job, but it's still as good as I can do.
I'm so tired of having very, very lopsided intelligence in art and writing and I'm only smart at things with no financial value that nobody cares about and are easily expendable. I'd like to punch the next person who claims I can make a living selling clothes out of yarn because some famous person in New York can do it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:35 PM on June 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
I'm so tired of having very, very lopsided intelligence in art and writing and I'm only smart at things with no financial value that nobody cares about and are easily expendable. I'd like to punch the next person who claims I can make a living selling clothes out of yarn because some famous person in New York can do it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:35 PM on June 26, 2023 [9 favorites]
I still suffer under the crow/grackel/raven confusion.
Grackles are much smaller and slimmer and have a keeled tail when they fly. Ravens are big huge beaks that have a head, crows are normal heads that have a proportionate beak.
I had crow friends for 6 months that used to swoop down on me for peanuts and walnuts every morning when I walked to the nearby bird sanctuary. They eventually brought their mates in the spring. The first was Swoops who would swoop right by my head on the lakefront path (much to the dismay of nearby joggers and such). When he brought his mate I named her Cheryl (WNBA reference). The other friend was Barry because that is the street he started greeting me on. When he brought his mate I named her Michelle and I gave them the family name Crowbama.
Then one day about a month ago there was a dead crow my street and the my two crow friends have never swooped down since. I've fed a few random crows since but it is hard to befriend crows in the summer because the parks are too crowded and there are too many dogs.
I miss my crow friends.
posted by srboisvert at 3:40 PM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
Grackles are much smaller and slimmer and have a keeled tail when they fly. Ravens are big huge beaks that have a head, crows are normal heads that have a proportionate beak.
I had crow friends for 6 months that used to swoop down on me for peanuts and walnuts every morning when I walked to the nearby bird sanctuary. They eventually brought their mates in the spring. The first was Swoops who would swoop right by my head on the lakefront path (much to the dismay of nearby joggers and such). When he brought his mate I named her Cheryl (WNBA reference). The other friend was Barry because that is the street he started greeting me on. When he brought his mate I named her Michelle and I gave them the family name Crowbama.
Then one day about a month ago there was a dead crow my street and the my two crow friends have never swooped down since. I've fed a few random crows since but it is hard to befriend crows in the summer because the parks are too crowded and there are too many dogs.
I miss my crow friends.
posted by srboisvert at 3:40 PM on June 26, 2023 [14 favorites]
I have grown to appreciate corvids. Up until very recently I had no idea that blue jays are part of the corvid grouping.
I sure enjoyed your post, srboivert. For me it's watching the ravens play in the thermals at the edge of a steep bluff overlooking the river. They catch the winds and swoop and whirl about, looks like fun. I think they enjoy taunting the dog to chase them.
When I lived in Edmonton they told me it's magpie central, of all the cities. I've never verified, but they do love Edmonton.. an older fellow would feed them raw hamburger from a bench, about 6 blocks from where I used to live. The juveniles are possibly the boldest assholes of any birds I've witnessed, they gang up and harass man and beast.
posted by elkevelvet at 3:49 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
I sure enjoyed your post, srboivert. For me it's watching the ravens play in the thermals at the edge of a steep bluff overlooking the river. They catch the winds and swoop and whirl about, looks like fun. I think they enjoy taunting the dog to chase them.
When I lived in Edmonton they told me it's magpie central, of all the cities. I've never verified, but they do love Edmonton.. an older fellow would feed them raw hamburger from a bench, about 6 blocks from where I used to live. The juveniles are possibly the boldest assholes of any birds I've witnessed, they gang up and harass man and beast.
posted by elkevelvet at 3:49 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Grackles are also iridescent, particularly the males. Crows and ravens can look shiny, but they don't show the purple/blue iridescence that grackles do.
posted by mollweide at 4:08 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 4:08 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
When he brought his mate I named her Cheryl (WNBA reference)
You named a crow Cheryl, and that's your reference? Tell me you grew up without listening to 90's music without telling me you grew up without listening to 90's music.
posted by notoriety public at 4:31 PM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
You named a crow Cheryl, and that's your reference? Tell me you grew up without listening to 90's music without telling me you grew up without listening to 90's music.
posted by notoriety public at 4:31 PM on June 26, 2023 [13 favorites]
To be fair, that would be Sheryl. But yes, I personally wouldn't have spelled it correctly or gotten the WNBA reference if I were told that crow's name.
posted by hippybear at 4:47 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 4:47 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
> Job hunting makes me want to throw up at this point. I despise every single possible job I look at and all of them just sound boring/low pay at best,
the only way i've ever managed to tolerate any job1 is by consciously thinking of myself as a spy infiltrating the group that has hired me. which i think might not be a bad thing to do. i find the "tell perky debasing nonsense lies about yourself and your aspirations" aspect of job applications much more tolerable when i think of it as something i need to do to get into a position where i could gather information for the organization, rather than just me engaging in ritual humiliation in exchange for the money i need to pay someone to let me live indoors.
and then once i'm there it helps me maintain the proper caginess when dealing with other people at work: they may be counteragents, so observe them carefully and reveal nothing, but also never let them catch on to how you're revealing nothing.
1: other than teaching jobs, but the only way i've ever managed to tolerate teaching jobs is by riling up angry mobs of students and then pointing them at the administration.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 5:08 PM on June 26, 2023 [8 favorites]
the only way i've ever managed to tolerate any job1 is by consciously thinking of myself as a spy infiltrating the group that has hired me. which i think might not be a bad thing to do. i find the "tell perky debasing nonsense lies about yourself and your aspirations" aspect of job applications much more tolerable when i think of it as something i need to do to get into a position where i could gather information for the organization, rather than just me engaging in ritual humiliation in exchange for the money i need to pay someone to let me live indoors.
and then once i'm there it helps me maintain the proper caginess when dealing with other people at work: they may be counteragents, so observe them carefully and reveal nothing, but also never let them catch on to how you're revealing nothing.
1: other than teaching jobs, but the only way i've ever managed to tolerate teaching jobs is by riling up angry mobs of students and then pointing them at the administration.
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 5:08 PM on June 26, 2023 [8 favorites]
One thing I learned recently is that all the crows in North Seattle go to the same place to roost. If you look up in the evening you'll see them all heading north.
posted by rouftop at 6:10 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by rouftop at 6:10 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
... but also never let them catch on to how you're revealing nothing.
I may have overplayed my hand once - during a team meeting the host suggested going around and having everyone talk about their hobbies/interests outside of work. I kept my mouth shut, hoping to escape notice, but when the host did notice and asked me about it I panicked and said "I do...non-work stuff." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The moral is, plan ahead so you have innocuous info on tap when the time comes.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:24 PM on June 26, 2023 [6 favorites]
I may have overplayed my hand once - during a team meeting the host suggested going around and having everyone talk about their hobbies/interests outside of work. I kept my mouth shut, hoping to escape notice, but when the host did notice and asked me about it I panicked and said "I do...non-work stuff." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The moral is, plan ahead so you have innocuous info on tap when the time comes.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:24 PM on June 26, 2023 [6 favorites]
I've been playing around with learning how to make a trade order. Did a rollover of husband's 401k last week, transfer completed, so I went to buy stocks & bonds. Did Vanguard's VT, VTI, and their US & International bond funds, doing a 30/30/15/15 split. I'll adjust as needed.
The fun part will be for me to do a rollover IRA for my 401k from Walmart. Husband's was easier as it was already with Fidelity, so I could start a new account, and with some PDF reading and a few clicks, it was done (and waiting 3 business days to complete). Mine is at a different investment bank, so getting letters and a check to move funds will be fun. (ADD terror about this part.)
posted by tlwright at 6:26 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
The fun part will be for me to do a rollover IRA for my 401k from Walmart. Husband's was easier as it was already with Fidelity, so I could start a new account, and with some PDF reading and a few clicks, it was done (and waiting 3 business days to complete). Mine is at a different investment bank, so getting letters and a check to move funds will be fun. (ADD terror about this part.)
posted by tlwright at 6:26 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
when the host did notice and asked me about it I panicked and said "I do...non-work stuff."
I'd expect to see this sentiment on my twitter with accompanying anthropomorphic animal drawings. And you don't even do things to be embarrassed about!
[For the record, I don't find doing furry stuff to be embarrassing, but a lot of the furry community does, for some reason.]
posted by hippybear at 6:29 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'd expect to see this sentiment on my twitter with accompanying anthropomorphic animal drawings. And you don't even do things to be embarrassed about!
[For the record, I don't find doing furry stuff to be embarrassing, but a lot of the furry community does, for some reason.]
posted by hippybear at 6:29 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I just got word that Olivia Chow won the byelection for Mayor of Toronto.
[I always think of the word 'byelection' with a Newfoundland accent... "We needs t' elect a b'y, so we're going to hold a b'y election. Lord t'underin'. "]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:36 PM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
[I always think of the word 'byelection' with a Newfoundland accent... "We needs t' elect a b'y, so we're going to hold a b'y election. Lord t'underin'. "]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:36 PM on June 26, 2023 [7 favorites]
Awesome news!
I have been in Toronto several times in the last few weeks and I did enjoy the vigorous Raccoon for Mayor campaign with its extensive postering. I’m not sure a nocturnal, indiscriminately omnivorous procyonid would have wisely steered the city, but I’d trust him over Mark Saunders.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:45 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
I have been in Toronto several times in the last few weeks and I did enjoy the vigorous Raccoon for Mayor campaign with its extensive postering. I’m not sure a nocturnal, indiscriminately omnivorous procyonid would have wisely steered the city, but I’d trust him over Mark Saunders.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:45 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Yup, it'll be great to have Olivia as mayor.
posted by scruss at 6:45 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by scruss at 6:45 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
And you don't even do things to be embarrassed about!
As far as you know.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:14 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
As far as you know.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:14 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
(actually I don't, but coworkers have zero need to know my personal business no matter how unobjectionable it is)
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:17 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:17 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
You could have just said "I mess around with my instrument in private" and left at that!
posted by hippybear at 7:25 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 7:25 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
Speaking of job hunting my contract is about to end in a couple more weeks (a contract that has been giving me so much anxiety since it started that I've just been waiting for it to end) and it looks like I will be taking a contract that is much more in line with my skillset... but with a pay rate that is barely enough to pay my bare-bones expenses. Still, there's an absolute drought of work in my field so I have to take what I can get, and it's working with some great people and I am probably going to try to use the job to move up to a different position in the same company if I can so I'm just going to try to make the best of the situation and hope things turn around in my field soon.
posted by matcha action at 7:30 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by matcha action at 7:30 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
You could have just said "I mess around with my instrument in private" and left at that!
No-one must know of...The Instrument!! I may have already said too much...
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:00 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
No-one must know of...The Instrument!! I may have already said too much...
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:00 PM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
I just wish my body held onto iron with the enthusiasm that it holds onto fat - two iron infusions last month and I still feel like shit that's been stepped in, alongside brain fog that has made my processing speed veer between "speeding glacier" and "arthritic sloth".
However, my contact at the local Rotary club seems interesting in taking a second minivans-worth of yarn, and I have someone at a local smash room lined up to take a small truck load of old crap so, progress!!??!
posted by ninazer0 at 9:22 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
However, my contact at the local Rotary club seems interesting in taking a second minivans-worth of yarn, and I have someone at a local smash room lined up to take a small truck load of old crap so, progress!!??!
posted by ninazer0 at 9:22 PM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]
I organized another gathering of cousins tonight at my brother's house, and Wordshore's offer to record outgoing phone messages (from several years ago) came up.
It was an eclectic group. I love them.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:30 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
It was an eclectic group. I love them.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:30 PM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I am hoping that 'overmorrow' will make a comeback.
In the Danish language, it has never gone away: "Overmorgen".
posted by WalkingAround at 11:31 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
In the Danish language, it has never gone away: "Overmorgen".
posted by WalkingAround at 11:31 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
...and Wordshore's offer to record outgoing phone messages (from several years ago) came up...
The audio files, resulting from that 2018 bout of silliness, are still online in soundcloud.
posted by Wordshore at 12:16 AM on June 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
The audio files, resulting from that 2018 bout of silliness, are still online in soundcloud.
posted by Wordshore at 12:16 AM on June 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yesterday, I was at a reception at a place where I once interned for a month, to see if I could manage a completely different job situation. I could, it was fun. But I returned to my horrible job. The manager at the place I interned was completely confused: why would I stay on in a hostile environment, when I was doing well in a good place? I could answer but it would be long. The short answer is that finally I got fired from the bad place and found a new job, and during this last week, I have come to understand how much better off I am.
I'm still economically precarious, for reasons similar to what hippybear described: for the first several years after getting fired from bad job, I couldn't really handle a full time job. I was that broken. I used my savings and some of my mum's. So my advice is: get out while you can, before your job has broken you.
posted by mumimor at 12:19 AM on June 27, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'm still economically precarious, for reasons similar to what hippybear described: for the first several years after getting fired from bad job, I couldn't really handle a full time job. I was that broken. I used my savings and some of my mum's. So my advice is: get out while you can, before your job has broken you.
posted by mumimor at 12:19 AM on June 27, 2023 [6 favorites]
Having a live music renaissance. Sat in with a jazz trio last weekend. Got hired to play at the staff party of one of the capital city's big museums ... so I look forward to playing in some sort of ancient sculpture courtyard or some shit. Discovered from an Adam Neely video there's a video game jazz scene in NYC, and they have real books whoooooo boy. My fingers are sort of hungover from when I couldn't stop playing thru them late last night.
I have had some adult students recently who came into a lesson sad or even angry, but left in a happy mood. It's not that I do anything per se to cheer them up: it's the music making what does it. It's making me think of Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Dancing in the streets" (about the absolute necessity of .. celebration-induced.. joy for humans to keep going).Unfortunate, really that I, also, have other jobs.
posted by yoHighness at 1:05 AM on June 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
I have had some adult students recently who came into a lesson sad or even angry, but left in a happy mood. It's not that I do anything per se to cheer them up: it's the music making what does it. It's making me think of Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Dancing in the streets" (about the absolute necessity of .. celebration-induced.. joy for humans to keep going).Unfortunate, really that I, also, have other jobs.
posted by yoHighness at 1:05 AM on June 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
Confusingly, my Twitter account seems to have been restricted for 3 days because I'm in violation of their spam policy. But only on the mobile app.
I made three tweets yesterday, two about doing research for a novel and one about being impatient for some news about the release of Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I have nothing to promote or sell on Twitter. I can't imagine anything that I have done that would be in violation of their spam policy.
I've got to get off Twitter.
posted by Jeanne at 4:43 AM on June 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
I made three tweets yesterday, two about doing research for a novel and one about being impatient for some news about the release of Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I have nothing to promote or sell on Twitter. I can't imagine anything that I have done that would be in violation of their spam policy.
I've got to get off Twitter.
posted by Jeanne at 4:43 AM on June 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
I’ve finally made the jump to Bluesky, thanks to fellow Icelandic MeFite svenni. If you’re there, you can find me as kattullus.
It’s fairly quiet there still, more quiet than Mastodon, but there’s very little friction to anything. They’re mostly not trying to reinvent the wheel over there, at least in terms of the user interface, which is nice.
posted by Kattullus at 5:43 AM on June 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
It’s fairly quiet there still, more quiet than Mastodon, but there’s very little friction to anything. They’re mostly not trying to reinvent the wheel over there, at least in terms of the user interface, which is nice.
posted by Kattullus at 5:43 AM on June 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
I signed up for the waitlist on bluesky a while back but so far nothing. Everyone I’ve seen who has gone there likes it, so hopefully soon it’ll let me in or I’ll catch one of those “hey, I have invites” posts in time. I follow a lot of good people on Twitter and avoid the “for you” or recommended BS and you can still see the place getting more toxic, with the ads (many of which I had already blocked but they’re baaaack) and with trolls in the replies. Unfortunately, it’s still a major communication tool, but I can’t wait until there’s a mass migration away. There’s already a lot less engagement, at least on my timeline. Fewer people I follow are using it and many are posting less.
posted by azpenguin at 6:12 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by azpenguin at 6:12 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
[I always think of the word 'byelection' with a Newfoundland accent... "We needs t' elect a b'y, so we're going to hold a b'y election. Lord t'underin'. "]
and this is why I keep coming back
(edit to add: if you have never encountered the merb'ys of Newfoundland you'd best be gettin to it: https://gem.cbc.ca/merbys/s01e01?autoplay=1)
posted by elkevelvet at 6:36 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
and this is why I keep coming back
(edit to add: if you have never encountered the merb'ys of Newfoundland you'd best be gettin to it: https://gem.cbc.ca/merbys/s01e01?autoplay=1)
posted by elkevelvet at 6:36 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've made an FPP before about him but today I am delighted by Damien Robitaille's one man-banding "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor.
posted by Kitteh at 6:37 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitteh at 6:37 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
Confusingly, my Twitter account seems to have been restricted for 3 days because I'm in violation of their spam policy.
A whole bunch of people who most certainly aren't spamming got that. Part of the death throes, I guess. I know that a lot of good people are still using the service, but I find myself only occasionally checking it now, more out of a sense of habit than out of getting anything particularly worthwhile out of it.
Fairly interesting weekend for me; on Saturday, I set out on a ride intending to do a bit over sixty miles, and only did forty; the heat got to me. Trying not to project doom onto doing RAGBRAI, since I did that last year and it turned out fine. Sunday, I drove up to Chicago to meet some people for dinner, and didn't check to see if there was anything else going on in town that might alter traffic... you know, like Pride. Whoops! Well, the people-watching was spectacular, I was only very slightly late for dinner, and on the way out of town, I saw a rainbow over Lake Shore Drive. I'm calling it a net win.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:48 AM on June 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
A whole bunch of people who most certainly aren't spamming got that. Part of the death throes, I guess. I know that a lot of good people are still using the service, but I find myself only occasionally checking it now, more out of a sense of habit than out of getting anything particularly worthwhile out of it.
Fairly interesting weekend for me; on Saturday, I set out on a ride intending to do a bit over sixty miles, and only did forty; the heat got to me. Trying not to project doom onto doing RAGBRAI, since I did that last year and it turned out fine. Sunday, I drove up to Chicago to meet some people for dinner, and didn't check to see if there was anything else going on in town that might alter traffic... you know, like Pride. Whoops! Well, the people-watching was spectacular, I was only very slightly late for dinner, and on the way out of town, I saw a rainbow over Lake Shore Drive. I'm calling it a net win.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:48 AM on June 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
> The audio files, resulting from that 2018 bout of silliness, are still online in soundcloud.
til my favorite reading of the phrase “all power to the soviets!” does in fact still exist
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 7:31 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
til my favorite reading of the phrase “all power to the soviets!” does in fact still exist
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 7:31 AM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh, a funny thing happened yesterday.
I’m with my family in a small village in Iceland for a few days. Yesterday my four-year-old daughter started to play with another girl her age at a playground. At some point they vanished into a nearby house and I went over to knock on the door, to tell them to send the strange girl over to ours when it was time. The man who opened the door was familiar-looking, and he clearly had the same reaction. To cut a long story short, we’d met once in 2010, to play kickball together in a one-day tournament in Brooklyn.
posted by Kattullus at 8:05 AM on June 27, 2023 [14 favorites]
I’m with my family in a small village in Iceland for a few days. Yesterday my four-year-old daughter started to play with another girl her age at a playground. At some point they vanished into a nearby house and I went over to knock on the door, to tell them to send the strange girl over to ours when it was time. The man who opened the door was familiar-looking, and he clearly had the same reaction. To cut a long story short, we’d met once in 2010, to play kickball together in a one-day tournament in Brooklyn.
posted by Kattullus at 8:05 AM on June 27, 2023 [14 favorites]
I started doing karaoke in 2019, when a friend of mine would take us after rehearsal to the karaoke bar around the corner. I had a great time and I still wish I could go back in time and live in 2019 in perpetuity, as it was my best year. I miss seeing my friends on a regular basis there, as almost all of them did not return or only came back a few times. Karaoke returned to this bar in May 2021 and had an excellent run outdoors which everyone except certain neighbors loved. Once the outdoor karaoke was shut down + change in management, I'm told things were not so good. I didn't really experience the "not so good" when I was in there, I still enjoyed it even though my attendance was intermittent/I only went when I could get any friend to come along.
Well, last night the DJ messaged the manager a question midafternoon and found out that he was fired, "going in another direction." His daughter told me what had happened and I ran down there before my rehearsal to go one last time (I note it ran 6-9 and my rehearsals are 7-9 and I hadn't been in since my last show ended since people don't really want to join me for just an hour). I tried to talk him out of rage quitting and having one nice farewell night for the group, but the bartenders were completely ignoring his requests to turn down the music and switch the TV over to karaoke, and he just...snapped and turned everything off and walked out, getting some applause from a few random guys who didn't know what was going on. I had to break the news to our old gang and say my farewells. I note the DJ does other gigs (he still has the Tuesday gig a few blocks away as far as I know) and he makes enough in his day job so this isn't a financial hit, but it really broke his heart to get treated like that. I kinda wish he hadn't snapped, but certainly understand why. I left before I could see if it got any worse.
Anyway. It's the end of an era for me, and I'm sad. I enjoyed hanging out in that bar with those people.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:59 AM on June 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
Well, last night the DJ messaged the manager a question midafternoon and found out that he was fired, "going in another direction." His daughter told me what had happened and I ran down there before my rehearsal to go one last time (I note it ran 6-9 and my rehearsals are 7-9 and I hadn't been in since my last show ended since people don't really want to join me for just an hour). I tried to talk him out of rage quitting and having one nice farewell night for the group, but the bartenders were completely ignoring his requests to turn down the music and switch the TV over to karaoke, and he just...snapped and turned everything off and walked out, getting some applause from a few random guys who didn't know what was going on. I had to break the news to our old gang and say my farewells. I note the DJ does other gigs (he still has the Tuesday gig a few blocks away as far as I know) and he makes enough in his day job so this isn't a financial hit, but it really broke his heart to get treated like that. I kinda wish he hadn't snapped, but certainly understand why. I left before I could see if it got any worse.
Anyway. It's the end of an era for me, and I'm sad. I enjoyed hanging out in that bar with those people.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:59 AM on June 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
One thing I learned recently is that all the crows in North Seattle go to the same place to roost. If you look up in the evening you'll see them all heading north.
I've been hunting for the communal roosts in my area but nobody seems to know where they are (you'd think people would in such a dense part of the city!). I do know where there is a chimney swift colony though which is cool to see at dusk. I'm also within walking distance of a colony of several hundred black-capped night herons (above Lincoln Park Zoo's wolf exhibit, visible from outside the zoo on Stockton drive, for those in Chicago).
posted by srboisvert at 10:50 AM on June 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've been hunting for the communal roosts in my area but nobody seems to know where they are (you'd think people would in such a dense part of the city!). I do know where there is a chimney swift colony though which is cool to see at dusk. I'm also within walking distance of a colony of several hundred black-capped night herons (above Lincoln Park Zoo's wolf exhibit, visible from outside the zoo on Stockton drive, for those in Chicago).
posted by srboisvert at 10:50 AM on June 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
One thing I learned recently is that all the crows in North Seattle go to the same place to roost. If you look up in the evening you'll see them all heading north.
Not exactly yet: when they are nesting, as they are still doing now, they spend the night in the neighborhood in which they are raising their young. Because I once was a reliable food source, I am currently being besieged by crows bringing their babies to meet me -- despite my crow stick leaning by my side when I sit in our western courtyard. I actually have to get up and wave it at them before they very reluctantly disperse with chicks in tow. Oh, the mixed signals we are sending each other now.
posted by y2karl at 12:25 PM on June 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
Not exactly yet: when they are nesting, as they are still doing now, they spend the night in the neighborhood in which they are raising their young. Because I once was a reliable food source, I am currently being besieged by crows bringing their babies to meet me -- despite my crow stick leaning by my side when I sit in our western courtyard. I actually have to get up and wave it at them before they very reluctantly disperse with chicks in tow. Oh, the mixed signals we are sending each other now.
posted by y2karl at 12:25 PM on June 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
Well shit.
I can't believe (well, of course I can from the hedge-fund-bro point of view) that The Toronto Star and the National Post are planning to merge. That doesn't make a lick of sense. The Star is left-leaning and is supposed to follow the Atkinson Principles. The Post is right-wing with a business focus (The Financial Post) and with a more rabid-right (The Toronto Sun) readership.
This isn't good for journalism. It's not good for readers. It's not good for competition (the Competition Bureau had better step in here). It's not good for the few remaining local papers (many of which are owned by Torstar).
This is not good.
posted by sardonyx at 3:16 PM on June 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
I can't believe (well, of course I can from the hedge-fund-bro point of view) that The Toronto Star and the National Post are planning to merge. That doesn't make a lick of sense. The Star is left-leaning and is supposed to follow the Atkinson Principles. The Post is right-wing with a business focus (The Financial Post) and with a more rabid-right (The Toronto Sun) readership.
This isn't good for journalism. It's not good for readers. It's not good for competition (the Competition Bureau had better step in here). It's not good for the few remaining local papers (many of which are owned by Torstar).
This is not good.
posted by sardonyx at 3:16 PM on June 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
WTH?! I like the TO Star - wth?!
posted by porpoise at 3:28 PM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by porpoise at 3:28 PM on June 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
I try to be observant in general, and especially when I am out walking in my neighborhood. There are flood-control features (more than ditches, follow natural water flow paths, but with human concrete intervention here and there that intermittent streams do not have). Trees around them, and plenty of undergrowth. I was out with my dog, and heard an unusual and repeated call that I thought might be a crow. I looked into the woods where the sound was coming from, but saw nothing. The single crow(?) kept sounding off. I wondered if it had found an owl and was calling to others to come and mob it. About the time I pulled out my phone to get some video and audio of the sound, a bunch more calls, definitely crows, started up, and I saw something large and mostly brown fly quickly and silently away. I was surprised the crows did not immediately follow. Probably more than one thing of interest to the crows there in woods.
posted by coppertop at 7:27 PM on June 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by coppertop at 7:27 PM on June 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
I have a paid subscription to Texas Monthly because I like Skip Hollandsworth’s writing.
posted by bendy at 12:46 AM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by bendy at 12:46 AM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also I have an audio cassette from my answering machine in the very early 1990s. It’s a series of overlapping recordings that includes most of the people I knew back then and is full of memories . It’s one of the main reasons “digitizing cassettes” is on my unending TODO list.
posted by bendy at 12:53 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by bendy at 12:53 AM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
*snort*
I woke up at 5 am to get out of the house early enough for a 7 am dental cleaning. While at the dentist I learned that there's a small cavity they need to fill - and a partial crown someone else did that's started to go wonky, and they need to replace it with another crown. That will be another 7 am appointment in 2 weeks.
I got to work and then started dealing with a vendor who's been a month late in sending us a thing we needed 3 and a half weeks ago.
If we mixed in a little rectal surgery it'd be my best day ever!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:59 AM on June 28, 2023 [6 favorites]
I woke up at 5 am to get out of the house early enough for a 7 am dental cleaning. While at the dentist I learned that there's a small cavity they need to fill - and a partial crown someone else did that's started to go wonky, and they need to replace it with another crown. That will be another 7 am appointment in 2 weeks.
I got to work and then started dealing with a vendor who's been a month late in sending us a thing we needed 3 and a half weeks ago.
If we mixed in a little rectal surgery it'd be my best day ever!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:59 AM on June 28, 2023 [6 favorites]
Today, I had a massive anxiety attack. This is the first since I have gone through a couple of years of treatment for PTSD, and it sounds stupid, but at first I thought I was dealing with some form of somatic illness. When I had googled my way though tons of diseases and finally figured out what was going on, the next thing was to figure out what had triggered it. And when I figured that out, I felt a bit dumb. I should have known and taken my precautions.
Anyways, I'm OK now. My plans are delayed by 12 hours but everything will be OK.
Now I just need to walk the dog and sleep a lot.
I guess what I want to say is: there is treatment for PTSD and CPTSD, and it is good, and you can get on with life. But it will never entirely disappear and my therapy team told me as much.
And on the positive side, since my senses are at full gear right now, the world looks and sounds like a Wes Andersson movie, and while that was stressful earlier today, it is kinda fun now.
posted by mumimor at 12:24 PM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
Anyways, I'm OK now. My plans are delayed by 12 hours but everything will be OK.
Now I just need to walk the dog and sleep a lot.
I guess what I want to say is: there is treatment for PTSD and CPTSD, and it is good, and you can get on with life. But it will never entirely disappear and my therapy team told me as much.
And on the positive side, since my senses are at full gear right now, the world looks and sounds like a Wes Andersson movie, and while that was stressful earlier today, it is kinda fun now.
posted by mumimor at 12:24 PM on June 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
“Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump’s breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her, remarks that once led John Kelly to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter,”
HAD TO BE REMINDED THAT IVANKA WAS HIS DAUGHTER.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:55 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
HAD TO BE REMINDED THAT IVANKA WAS HIS DAUGHTER.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:55 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
I could have put this is the Orca thread, but now it is here: Turn
Today I have been thinking a lot of my granddad, for reasons I can't know. But this always reminds me of him.
posted by mumimor at 1:28 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Today I have been thinking a lot of my granddad, for reasons I can't know. But this always reminds me of him.
posted by mumimor at 1:28 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
I walked down to the Broadway Market QFC @ 7:30 PM only to find all of Broadway between Harrison and Republican behind yellow police tape with 30 odd police cruisers and one dented red compact what got knocked 3 car lengths south by an SPD SUV in a hurry. Cause of excitement: active shooter upstairs by Gold's gym. Domestic dispute w/ performance art gunshots in air I was told. Ended up getting fish 'n chips to go at the Deluxe Tavern and came home.
posted by y2karl at 9:02 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 9:02 PM on June 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
I went through and removed all my social contacts from my Twitter account. I'm still following some bands I like and a couple of corporations, but otherwise it's not a social interaction place for me anymore. I'm very happy about having done this.
posted by hippybear at 6:52 AM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 6:52 AM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I have a special note for New York Mefites who remember the glories of Guy Fieri's Times Square Flavortown, and for those in the Las Vegas area who wished they could partake -
Flavortown has Risen Again, in Las Vegas. The menu is here - and try as I might, I can't get as much detail on what exactly makes the "Do-Nut Try This At Home" a "donut burger". Is the BUN a donut? Is there just a big hole in the burger? The menu is distressingly vague on this point.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:13 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Flavortown has Risen Again, in Las Vegas. The menu is here - and try as I might, I can't get as much detail on what exactly makes the "Do-Nut Try This At Home" a "donut burger". Is the BUN a donut? Is there just a big hole in the burger? The menu is distressingly vague on this point.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:13 AM on June 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
80/20 beef burger*
Why is there an asterisk there?
Was fun to read all those threads. Flavortown lives on!
posted by Windopaene at 1:44 PM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Why is there an asterisk there?
Was fun to read all those threads. Flavortown lives on!
posted by Windopaene at 1:44 PM on June 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Why is there an asterisk there?
In most restaurant menus it refers to a consumer advisory at the bottom about eating undercooked meat, shellfish, eggs, etc. Then again, this is Guy Fieri we're talking about...
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:56 PM on June 30, 2023
In most restaurant menus it refers to a consumer advisory at the bottom about eating undercooked meat, shellfish, eggs, etc. Then again, this is Guy Fieri we're talking about...
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:56 PM on June 30, 2023
Yes, but there is nothing on that pdf that says what the asterisk means...
And what is the 20? Soylent Green? What is the 80? Pink slime? So many issues...
posted by Windopaene at 7:47 PM on June 30, 2023
And what is the 20? Soylent Green? What is the 80? Pink slime? So many issues...
posted by Windopaene at 7:47 PM on June 30, 2023
There was no active shooter at QFC -- which is what several cops on the scene told me. Nor was a flash bang grenade detonated as suggested in the link. There was one man waving a gun at his boyfriend at boyfriend at the fitness. The SWAT team negotiator asked him to hand it over and he did. Sounds like a job for Audit the Audit.
posted by y2karl at 8:18 PM on June 30, 2023
posted by y2karl at 8:18 PM on June 30, 2023
Finally saw Sweeney Todd tonight and I kept thinking of Trump. And Grover Cleaveland.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:49 AM on July 1, 2023
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:49 AM on July 1, 2023
Dominion Day holiday here in the Great White North.
But this year due to air quality and fire hazard, fireworks have been cancelled most places.
posted by yyz at 5:51 AM on July 1, 2023
But this year due to air quality and fire hazard, fireworks have been cancelled most places.
posted by yyz at 5:51 AM on July 1, 2023
Was there some sort of change made in how the site displays?
What is annoying to me is that the toolbar of buttons below the comment box is so teeny tiny that it is so hard, nay, impossible to read on my Samsung, let alone use. Now the text size in my comments is nearly large enough to read but everything else is useless.
Here's a concept: USER FRIENDLY.
Please try it sometime.
posted by y2karl at 7:10 AM on July 1, 2023
What is annoying to me is that the toolbar of buttons below the comment box is so teeny tiny that it is so hard, nay, impossible to read on my Samsung, let alone use. Now the text size in my comments is nearly large enough to read but everything else is useless.
Here's a concept: USER FRIENDLY.
Please try it sometime.
posted by y2karl at 7:10 AM on July 1, 2023
Some friends of ours are moving out of the country. We've been in contact with them about maybe seeing them before they leave. The last email we exchanged included the phrase "we'd hate to have to drive all the way to see you", and so I assumed they were just not going to bother.
They contacts us yesterday and told us they'd arrive today.
So i've been doing a low-level "get the house ready for company" cleaning for a while, but now it's suddenly in VERY HIGH GEAR.
Feels good to get it done, but was planning on not doing it all at once.
posted by hippybear at 8:58 AM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
They contacts us yesterday and told us they'd arrive today.
So i've been doing a low-level "get the house ready for company" cleaning for a while, but now it's suddenly in VERY HIGH GEAR.
Feels good to get it done, but was planning on not doing it all at once.
posted by hippybear at 8:58 AM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
Last year, after the Dobbs ruling, I bought a black t-shirt and black shorts with the plan that I would wear them on July 4th as a sort of protest; I got Covid and ended up staying inside all day. And unfortunately I have a chance to wear them again this year....hmpfh.
Although, i'm probably going to be inside most of the July 4th festivities anyway, doing some therapeutic nesting. My roommate has a very early flight to California that morning and will be gone through until next Sunday; he is either going to stay up Monday night (his flight is so early it doesn't make sense to go to sleep), or he is going to stay near the airport (I suggested that).
This means that for five whole days I can get up as early as I want and make as much noise as I want, take over the kitchen, and do a crapton of deep cleaning projects.
AND - we are BOTH also doing some "get the house ready for company" cleaning this weekend - a few days after he comes back next weekend, his long distance sorta-girlfriend will come to stay with us for a few weeks. He said he was doing all his cleaning this weekend, and I have offered to help; we still have smokey conditions today, and tomorrow it's going to be all rainy and icky.
But I also have this big huge list of What I'm Going To Do While He's Gone....
* A massive purge of my yarn stash. 3 people in my Buy Nothing group have asked for yarn, and I've realized I'm REALLY, REALLY not going to get around to using some of the shit I've got so I'm going to go through it all, and whatever I do not know exactly what I will do with it, it's going to the woman who wants to make Christmas presents for her nieces or the woman teaching a crochet after-school program.
* Re-organizing the cookbook/pantry bookshelf. I added some extra storage shelves onto this tall thing we've got for kitchen storage, but didn't really sort things logically enough; the mixing bowls are too high, and some of the cookbooks down low don't get used often enough. There's definitely a better way to sort things.
* ALL FREAKIN' KINDS OF COOKING. The CSA haul was today, and I also have all those dried beans - and, I also have a gorgeous cookbook about Italian bean cuisine and a gorgeous book about French baking; and I also have a glut of raspberries and cucumbers, and I've been hitting up our garden's plum tree because there's one branch that has been dropping plums onto my plot and I've been picking in self-defense.
And so after some minimal grocery shopping I will be able to make garbanzo-pasta dinners and hummus and tabouleh and white bean and radish salad and a raspberry sour cream cake and chocolate-raspberry financiers and tagliatelle with lentils and a lemon pesto salad with summer squash and cold somen noodles and cucumber lemonade and hibiscus iced tea and....and so most of July 4th I will be inside stocking the fridge up so that for the rest of the week I may not even need to cook because my refrigerator will be a sort of DIY Horn and Hardart.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:12 AM on July 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
Although, i'm probably going to be inside most of the July 4th festivities anyway, doing some therapeutic nesting. My roommate has a very early flight to California that morning and will be gone through until next Sunday; he is either going to stay up Monday night (his flight is so early it doesn't make sense to go to sleep), or he is going to stay near the airport (I suggested that).
This means that for five whole days I can get up as early as I want and make as much noise as I want, take over the kitchen, and do a crapton of deep cleaning projects.
AND - we are BOTH also doing some "get the house ready for company" cleaning this weekend - a few days after he comes back next weekend, his long distance sorta-girlfriend will come to stay with us for a few weeks. He said he was doing all his cleaning this weekend, and I have offered to help; we still have smokey conditions today, and tomorrow it's going to be all rainy and icky.
But I also have this big huge list of What I'm Going To Do While He's Gone....
* A massive purge of my yarn stash. 3 people in my Buy Nothing group have asked for yarn, and I've realized I'm REALLY, REALLY not going to get around to using some of the shit I've got so I'm going to go through it all, and whatever I do not know exactly what I will do with it, it's going to the woman who wants to make Christmas presents for her nieces or the woman teaching a crochet after-school program.
* Re-organizing the cookbook/pantry bookshelf. I added some extra storage shelves onto this tall thing we've got for kitchen storage, but didn't really sort things logically enough; the mixing bowls are too high, and some of the cookbooks down low don't get used often enough. There's definitely a better way to sort things.
* ALL FREAKIN' KINDS OF COOKING. The CSA haul was today, and I also have all those dried beans - and, I also have a gorgeous cookbook about Italian bean cuisine and a gorgeous book about French baking; and I also have a glut of raspberries and cucumbers, and I've been hitting up our garden's plum tree because there's one branch that has been dropping plums onto my plot and I've been picking in self-defense.
And so after some minimal grocery shopping I will be able to make garbanzo-pasta dinners and hummus and tabouleh and white bean and radish salad and a raspberry sour cream cake and chocolate-raspberry financiers and tagliatelle with lentils and a lemon pesto salad with summer squash and cold somen noodles and cucumber lemonade and hibiscus iced tea and....and so most of July 4th I will be inside stocking the fridge up so that for the rest of the week I may not even need to cook because my refrigerator will be a sort of DIY Horn and Hardart.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:12 AM on July 1, 2023 [4 favorites]
OH - and I can also make a little mini sour cherry galette, too, I forgot! (I didn't get enough cherries to make a full-size pie, so we're going for the personal size.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:16 AM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:16 AM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]
do we get a #freethread this week, or are the mods/tptb too hopped up on whatever one gets hopped up on the night before July 4th?
posted by scruss at 5:22 PM on July 3, 2023
posted by scruss at 5:22 PM on July 3, 2023
Mods are no longer posting them, it's a user-created post now (as are the MetaTalkTail posts). Which means we all sit around waiting for someone else to do it, and it sometimes doesn't happen.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:12 PM on July 3, 2023
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:12 PM on July 3, 2023
Which, by the way, I predicted; and I doubt I was the only one.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:14 PM on July 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:14 PM on July 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
Interesting that the person who predicted it didn't just make the post to keep the prediction from coming true.
Or is that somehow a violation of the Prophesy Code? You can't undo the thing you foresaw coming?
posted by hippybear at 6:35 PM on July 3, 2023
Or is that somehow a violation of the Prophesy Code? You can't undo the thing you foresaw coming?
posted by hippybear at 6:35 PM on July 3, 2023
Welp, while all y'all were figuring out who would do it I just done did it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:01 PM on July 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:01 PM on July 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
Interesting that the person who predicted it didn't just make the post to keep the prediction from coming true.
Predicting was more fun than putting in the work, obvs!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:06 PM on July 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
Predicting was more fun than putting in the work, obvs!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:06 PM on July 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
In the very earliest days of railway mania, some entrepreneurs surveyed and built a 6 mile = 10 km branch railway line in SE England from the city of Canterbury to the seaside resort of Whitstable. Opened in 1826, C&WR [soon to be nicknamed the Crab & Winkle Line] was initially operated by horses and pulleys because the gradients were too steep for the feeble steam locomotives of the time. One of the insuperable gradients was Tyler Hill, but the 19thC engineers solved this problem by driving a tunnel through the hill that was nearly half a mile = 700 m long. The railway chuntered along for 100 years until passenger service was closed in 1931, while freights ceased to be economic in 1953.
Without traffic the line lapsed into dereliction. In ~1969, I was 15 and at school in Canterbury. I heard about this railway tunnel and one afternoon decided to walk through it. The thought being the deed when you are an impulsive teenager, I set off forthwith without telling anyone. The South end of the tunnel (nearest town) had been fenced off and boarded up but a recent assault by vandals had prised open part of the barrier; so I slipped down the embankment and started off along the darkness. The North end was revealed as a single pixel of light and I walked briskly along until I stumbled over a pile of loose bricks. After a few minutes of more circumspect progression, I was out in the fresh air again.
Five years later, the tunnel collapsed, more or less where I had tripped over the pile of bricks, and part of the Cornwallis Building of the University of Kent at Canterbury was destroyed in a dramatic subsidence event. When I grew some sense (it comes with imagining your own children coming to harm) I reflected on what a dip-shit I was as a teenager. If I'd tonked my head tripping in the tunnel, it would have been a long time before any people found my recumbent body .
posted by BobTheScientist at 4:05 AM on June 26, 2023 [25 favorites]