Speaking of reclaiming one’s right to remain unharassed in public spaces…
Diwali is a festival of light, celebrated with sweets, firecrackers, family parties, and shopping sprees. (As the world descends into the period of shortest days and longest nights, the urge to set lights against the darkness seems to be a widespread impulse.) It’s a lunar festival, floating in the calendar between mid-October and mid-November, honoring the goddess Lakshmi, “bestower of power, wealth and sovereignty“ per Quartz India:
… Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, luxury, beauty, fertility, and auspiciousness. She holds the promise of material fulfilment and contentment. She is described as restless, whimsical yet maternal, with her arms raised to bless and to grant…
The popularity of Lakshmi can be gauged by the fact that her sacred name—Shri. Shri is written atop most documents and spoken before addressing a god, a teacher, a holy man or any revered individual. The word evokes amongst other things: grace, affluence, abundance, auspiciousness, authority…
In the Lakshmi Tantra, the goddess says: “I am inherent in existence. I am the inciter, the potential that takes shape. I manifest myself. I occupy myself with activity and finally dissolve myself. I pervade all creations with vitality, will and consciousness. Like ghee that keeps a lamp burning, I lubricate the senses of living beings with the sap of my consciousness.”
Lakshmi is the divine power that transforms dreams into reality. She is prakriti, the perfect creation: self-sustaining, self-contained Nature. She is maya, the delightful delusion, the dream-like expression of divinity that makes life comprehensible, hence worth living. She is shakti, energy, boundless and bountiful.
To realise her is to rejoice in the wonders of life.
***********
There are, of course, other commemorations associated with this day. But perhaps it will be helpful to remember that it’s also a festival affirming the unquenchable light within the vastness of the dark.
Night Owls Open Thread
OzarkHillbilly
But I prefer the darkness.
raven
Uh, yea. Well, the state of Georgia doesn’t recognize it either.
Keith G
But will it affirm that I have a right to a safe space?
Elmo
I wanted to drop a note here to thank everyone for their kind thoughts yesterday. Rude of me to post and run, but I ended up getting drunk and going to bed early. Seemed like the thing to do.
So to everyone who offered condolences, expressed here or only in their thoughts- thank you. They really do help.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: You gotta be kidding me…
mai naem mobile
Happy Diwali!
They’re discouraging firecrackers this year because the resulting pollution has taken New Delhi pollution to dangerous for your health. Also too, President Obama likes musleems more than Hindus because he didn’t have a Diwali greeting this year like he did for Eid. Okay,thats snark but I guarantee some.BJPr will point that out of the WH doesn’t put out a Diwali greeting.
Elizabelle
@Elmo: You and Mrs. Elmo are in my thoughts.
Great to hear about Diwali.
It is Veteran’s Day, though, and that should get a nod. Thinking of straggling over to Arlington National to see President Obama’s speech. Weather to be nice today, in between rain yesterday and tomorrow.
NotMax
For you vets, a list of today’s freebies.
On the more somber side of history (and because haven’t seen it mentioned), shall slightly belatedly note that Kristallnacht occurred 77 years ago this week.
NotMax
And here I always thought Diwali was the older brother of Dibeaver.
(*ducks*)
Keith G
@Elmo: T’was not a bother. I certainly understood your need to vent off after such an emotional set of events.
Baud
Coincidentally, that is also what it says in the About Baud section of my campaign website.
Happy Diwali boys and girls!
Schlemazel
I have an Indian work friend and I buy him come gold wrapped candy for the local Indian market as it is a thing I guess for the season. One year I thought I’d buy some for myself – UGH! some of the worst flavors I have ever eaten! But I wish a joyous Diwali on those who swing that way.
OTOH, this is further evident that you libs do not honor vets!
NotMax
@Schlemazel
Happy Holidays.
/TWOV, /TWOD, /TWOWW1A
gene108
Diwali or Deepavali (depending on where you are from) comes shortly after Maha Navaratri, so basically the past month becomes a very festive time of the year.
Mustang Bobby
I missed the debate, but I’m being philosophical about it, Marco, you little putz.
I honor the veterans in my family including my dad, two uncles, a great uncle (all WW2), a cousin (Navy in the ’70’s and 80’s), and a lot of friends. Having been a CO (Conscientious Objector), I am mindful of the service they did.
Zinsky
I dream of the day when there will be no military veterans. That should be the type of world we are striving for.
RaflW
Not to be difficult, but as I am in Brazil right now I can say that the world is not getting darker, only the northern half of it.
Bit of hemispheric privilege goin’ on there, Anne (says the guy with vacation privilege).
Jeffro
Probably should save this for another thread, buuuuttt:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/11/10/marco_rubio_ted_cruz_won_the_fox_business_debate.html
The next debate’s criteria will no doubt shift upwards a bit, just enough to ensure that Kaisch and Paul aren’t up there (maybe Fiorina too).
raven
@Mustang Bobby: And me of your stance, well done.
p.a.
Dark-skinned people with explosives!? Has Oklahoma banned this holiday yet?
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s funny, my wife is off but I’m not.
MeDrewNotYou
In recognition of Veteran’s Day, let me bitch a little about the whole ‘Supporting the Troops’ thing.
The whole thing annoys and infuriates me. This country (as a whole) doesn’t give a damn about the troops. I was just talking with my mom who thinks her little Facebook message thanking soldiers is important. If we as a country really supported the troops, there wouldn’t be all those charities focusing on wounded soldiers; those folks would be taken care of for life. If we really cared, we wouldn’t send them to wars except as an absolute last resort (and we’d sure as hell make sure they have body armor (that didn’t have to be paid for by friends/family/charity)). If the country really cared, the party that sends them to war and cuts their benefits and care would be unelectable, no matter how much they say they care.
We as a country don’t really care. The whole yellow ribbon ‘Yay Troops!’ thing is just a way for people to give themselves a warm fuzzy feeling without doing anything. You really want to do something for soldiers? Give a soldier oral sex or offer to mow their yard. Just don’t enable the part that does their best to screw them over.
(I know I’m preaching to the choir, but I needed to vent a bit. Seeing all the commercials for charities just pisses me the hell off. Iraq cost me one good friend dead and an even closer one has never been the same after coming back, but pretty much nothing has changed.)
Betty
@Elmo: Your story was truly heartbreaking. We lost our German Shepherd suddenly, and it hurt for a long time. There is lots of understanding of your pain with this gang.
raven
@MeDrewNotYou: I was trying to explain the over-the-top Vets day stuff at the Georgia football game to 6 visiting Italian profs last Saturday. They want to know if it was always like this??
MeDrewNotYou
I don’t mean that to demean folks like @Mustang Bobby: btw. Being thankful is great. And as a CO, I’m sure you’re trying to eliminate the whole need for this stuff. It’s the mindless folk who just want to absolve themselves that are the problem.
MeDrewNotYou
@raven: Just hearing Brits talk about the London NFL games is the same way. “Do you guys always do the national anthem and the whole shebang pre-game?” Drives home the point how weird it is.
Mustang Bobby
@MeDrewNotYou: No offense taken. This whole rah-rah vets stuff for one day a year (usually tied in with a mattress sale) is false and cynical. My friend Bob (Vietnam ’65-67) says if you really want to honor him, make sure the VA works and the people who need the help get it.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone:)
Baud
@MeDrewNotYou:
If I had to choose between the national anthem at sporting events and putting the current head of state on our currency, I would choose the former.
Baud
GMA has a segment on right now about today’s sales!
MeDrewNotYou
@Baud: Huh. Without a figurehead King/Queen, I’d rather have the anthem. Do you really want to carry around a fiver with Dubya on it?
Baud
@MeDrewNotYou:
Yes. That’s what I said. No W. on my greenbacks.
I might reconsider if I win next year, but I still think the risk is too big.
MeDrewNotYou
@Baud: My bad, misread. I blame giving the dog a belly rub while trying to comment. I don’t multi-task well and Sophie won’t take no for an answer.
Another Holocene Human
@Zinsky: Hear, hear.
Another Holocene Human
@raven: Gatorville finally deigned to provide bus service on Veteran’s Day. All those retail workers still gotta get to work.
What they’re providing for Black Friday imo is still inadequate (but I wasn’t involved in the activism so meh). Prior to the recession they provided normal weekday service (given all the early start times/long shifts), but during the recession they AXED it. Now it’s back as limited service although they compromised and start at 730A instead of 930A. Much too late for Black Friday workers, I think. Oh well, always next year.
(In this town, the retail giants are a LoooooooooNG walk from most of the low rent apartments and inexpensive houses. The bicycle is the chariot of the minimum wage worker here.)
Jeffro
@MeDrewNotYou:
Same with the national anthem before last night’s R debate?!? That was really weird too.
raven
@Another Holocene Human: It’s a mashup for sure!
BruceFromOhio
She is also my general practitioner, and simply the most marvelous physician I’ve encountered. When she changed practice and moved way the hell across town, MrsFromOhio and I both still made appointments with her office and made the trek in spite of the distance and hassle. Her office admin revealed that we were just some of many who did the same thing. May Gaia bless you always, Lakshmi.
@Mustang Bobby: This times sixteen jillion.
Baud
@Jeffro:
They did that before the D debate also. Can’t afford to be out-flagpinned.
BruceFromOhio
Good morning, rikyrah! Happy Diwali, and may you rejoice in the wonders of life.
RaflW
@MeDrewNotYou: I totally agree. I am an avid This Old House fan, so when they did a 4 episode set on volunteer/charity built houses for wounded vets I appreciated the show but felt really angry that we as a country resort to this to care for our women and men in uniform and their families.
I think the group has built abt. 100 homes in a decade, which is an amazing accomplishment but the government should be funding this and it should be 100 houses each quarter of the year till all the demand is met.
So, yeah, support our troops is crap. And when the GOP talks about wanting moar budget cuts! think vets getting moar screwed, too
debbie
@Mustang Bobby:
I know! I just listened to Rubio detail his 15-year path to citizenship and am still trying to figure out how Obama’s 13-year plan was considered such a travesty and blatant amnesty. There doesn’t seem to be anything magical about adding 2 years to the wait between getting a green card and applying for citizenship.
Another Holocene Human
@MeDrewNotYou: Maybe I’m a naturally suspicious person, but there was some event recently benefiting USO and Wounded Warrior Project. USO is a great “do something” charity because it was supposed to be for fluff (comfort! distraction!) while the Army was only going to provide necessities and then force you to do terrible things. They did a fluff piece on Wounded Warrior Project that made it seem like the perfect vehicle for lots of grifting on multiple levels because who could argue with giving wounded vets a fun day off doing (fill in the blank) and eating carcinogenic grilled meats, like an American? I thought the VA was the Wounded Warrior Project. And the GI bill. Why are they underfunded and why does our self-annointed “patriotic party” make sure to fund silly maglev projects so they can commute out of DC easily on the weekend and fly BWI but doesn’t give a shit that vets have to be suicidal before they can get some damn psychiatric care?
Why are all these homefront institutions so hostile to returning vets and so slow to do anything to help them integrate? Colleges. Employers. Housing. It seems like our treatment of vets has reverted to the pre-WWII paradigm of treating them like second-class citizens.
I’m disgusted by the over the top vet ball-washing I’ve seen by conservative types (my in-laws got a kick out of goyim falling all over themselves so they encouraged it when Grandpa was alive, and trust me, he got a kick out of it too). Seems like the same people all too eager to vote to send soldiers to die. Maybe it’s guilt. But I still don’t get why they can’t look ’em in the eye when they come home. Maybe one of those twisted masculinity loser/winner things. They loved Chris Kyle. He was a winner.
Baud
@RaflW:
Earlier this year
Another Holocene Human
@Jeffro: Maybe so they can work up their confidence by imagining they’re being inaugurated.
Baud
Just last month
Another Holocene Human
@RaflW: When they pour more and more money into “defense” the stream of gold always misses that burlap “VA” bag.
raven
@Another Holocene Human: And just what makes you thing that about colleges? If nothing else the generous GI Bill bennies paid through vets and to institutions have made vets popular.
Another Holocene Human
@debbie: Maybe he is trying to appeal to Latin voters who have a history of voting for both parties. “Hey, I’m for this too, and I’m Latino, and young, and I believe in lotaxes.”
Another Holocene Human
@Baud: How do these fucks never catch on that the GOP is working night and day to cut their benefits?
Then again, my grandmother didn’t catch on even after Reagan slashed hers. (Not the Irish one, the other one.)
MattF
@Baud: Don’t have any idea if it’s still true (and I think it’s very doubtful) but the Brits used to play ‘God Save the Queen’ before shows in movie theaters. Or if you like, in cinema theatres
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Holocene Human:
He’s also dead, another victim of PTSD.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Unless, of course, you are that head of state.
Another Holocene Human
@raven: They’re very popular with for-profit online ripoff collidges, yes. They have sucked down those GI dollars like nobody’s business.
I’ve seen a lot of reporting on the problems vets have had at traditional college institutions. Some have–slowly–stepped up and started programs for vets so they have a social network and don’t drop out. But those are institution to institution so what remains is a crapshoot.
MeDrewNotYou
@Jeffro:”I love America more!” “No I do!” Who was it that said the GOP doesn’t love America, but that they’re more like stalking America? (I’ve always been partial to (Senator!) Al Franken’s description. Democrats loves the country like an adult, recognizing the good and working to change the bad. The right loves America like a small child loves their parent. Mommy is perfect and never wrong and anyone criticizing her is bad and stupid.)
@RaflW: And remember that it’s never budget cuts to the military-industrial complex. It’s always the ‘butter’ half of ‘guns and butter.’
They’ll do anything to keep the machines of war running (Well, the makers of them at least.). Taking care of the people who use them and risk their lives and are maimed? Meh. Replaceable cogs. (And people ask me why I’m a socialist…)
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: Even better, a martyr.
MattF
@Another Holocene Human: Also, some fraction of the veteran’s charities are almost-scams. And, as you suggest, the whole notion that veterans should be supported by charities is peculiar and smells of systematized conscience-easing.
Another Holocene Human
@MeDrewNotYou: I know what you mean by that aside, but it illustrates why I hate these sort of blanket political brands. The history of the world has shown that socialist governments are just as liable to turn tank-building into a jawbs program and pursue expansionist aims when feasible as any other.
Me, I’m a democratic socialist, but I only explain that to people who understand the history of socialism.
People always forget about hippy commune socialism (I grew up hard by the burned ashes of Brooke Farm so it was hard to forget).
Amir Khalid
I’ve been on a Beatles thing lately. When I re-read this, from the post
I thought of this
And when the night is cloudy
there is still a light that shines on me
Shine on till tomorrow
Let it be
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Holocene Human: Just like Pat Tillman.
raven
@Another Holocene Human: Life is a crapshoot. Proprietaries suck and always have. My experience is that traditional institutions are making progress. It is the case that the negative situations are newsworthy.
ruemara
@Another Holocene Human: was she white? That seems to dull the faculties of reason in politics.
Morning all. The body woke me up at an ungodly time. Happy Diwali to all who wish it.
We’re nearly at the all important weekend. I’m shooting in Monterey Friday, so my weekend is working too but it still counts. Bigger news, I’m competing in the project greenlight web series contest. Not sure when voting will be public, though. And my cast would willingly work with me again! Which really makes all the research I did on their families, unnecessary. Not bad.
OzarkHillbilly
Paul Campos over at LGM asks What are the odds of a right-wing freakout over Google’s Veteran’s Day doodle?
Satby
@Baud: shared that on the book of face, which is already getting littered with hollow, “thank a vet” messages from people who continuously vote for the guys who screw vets out of benefits.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I thought that the second I saw it.
Jparente
@MeDrewNotYou: Absolutely. My Brother, a Vietnam Vet, says the same thing in nearly the exact same words.
MeDrewNotYou
@Another Holocene Human: To be honest, I’m really a democratic socialist too. I’ve just gotten in to the possibly bad habit of telling others that I’m a plain Jane socialist and then offering more explanation if they don’t immediately freak out. (The shock value with older relatives is kinda fun!) And to be honest some more, I just don’t think real pure socialism is possible due to human nature and dem socialism is probably the best we can hope for/achieve. (ETA- That’s usually too much to get into, hence the abbreviated label.) We’re just a shitty species too much of the time.
But yeah, unless we had a peaceful one world government that would ensure no wars and was a good system that no one would violently revolt against and a lot of other unrealistic daydreams any government is liable to do that. (My totally unrealistic dream is the government and economy of the Federation of Star Trek, especially as portrayed in the TNG era. And hell, if you don’t like how things are being run, there are tons of uninhabited planets you can run off to.)
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
If only one of those vets in the Doodle had been holding a red Starbuck’s cup!
Another Holocene Human
@MattF: I wonder if the yellow ribbon was a similar thing. In New England some people had opposed the first Iraq war bitterly (“no blood for oil” was graffitied under a bridge and stayed up for years). When the war started, a good number of my neighbors put yellow ribbons on their cars.
Huh.
Another Holocene Human
@MeDrewNotYou: I think if countries were more evenly matched economically and militarily there would be less empire building because it would become less possible. Of course, wealth, like military might, tends to gravitate into a few hands over time.
Another Holocene Human
@Jparente: Which bit, the VA part or the oral sex part? ;^DD
raven
@MattF: Most of the are. Wounded Warriors is the worst. If someone wants to give Charity Navigator is a good place to start.
raven
@Another Holocene Human: Surrender Monkey! :)
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Here’s my squad in Korea, fairly diverse if you count the KATUSA”s
Another Holocene Human
@Satby: BEST example of that, local BBQ join (Sonny’s–their bbq is weak, okay) had a sign up yesterday:
TREAT A VET TO SONNY’S
Not hosting a benefit, not sponsoring a fundraiser. No, make Sonny’s heirs richer in a douchebro ritual to use a vet to make yourself feel better about your sins.
Nasty.
Matt McIrvin
@MeDrewNotYou:
Except that they somehow simultaneously believe that America is tragically morally decayed, and under the complete control of evil people who want to persecute them.
MeDrewNotYou
@Another Holocene Human: I dunno. I’m such a misanthropist that I think any time there’s another group to compete against you’ll eventually get arms races and/or war. In the long run, we’re just too good at making our group the biggest/strongest/etc and hating the ‘Other’ to cooperate peacefully when a conflict inevitably arises.
Germy Shoemangler
@Amir Khalid:
Best place for Beatle discussions and info
MeDrewNotYou
@Matt McIrvin: To stretch the analogy even further: Dems are the step-dads that are coming in like they own the place defiling their mommy and destroying their perfect relationship.
Germy Shoemangler
From today’s Onion:
Another Holocene Human
@raven: Why was public radio giving them a tongue bath two weeks ago? I thought I had heard that they sucked.
Welp, classical radio is back and so is smooth jazz. No more soul crushing NPR for me. Fuck all y’all–Terri Gross, Diane Rheem? Reim? Reihm? Steve Innskeep, Gwen Eiffel/Infill/Igiveup, Dave Ashbrook, Eleanor Beardsley (wtf accent is that, and do you use a translator to communicate with French people?), and all the other shills and suckups, Planet Money, Snooze Hour, On Point, TED Radio Hour, all those ads for those fucking Midwestern weekend quiz shows I never liked then or now, and let’s not forget guests so frequent they might as well be on the payroll: David Brooks, Mark Shields, and EJ Dionne, you suck too, abortion, abortion, abortion. I probably left some horrible people off, name the horrible person, fuck them also.
I’m tuning into Bach, Beethoven, and Bartok. Well, I hope there’s Bartok where I’m going. If not, there’s always youtube.
Another Holocene Human
@MeDrewNotYou: Hating the “other” seems to correlate to times of economic deprivation. Almost as if different hormonal and brain activity cycles light up in different sets of environmental conditions.
In other words, I think Hoover was right* about Europe (and wrong about the US).
*-right for the wrong reasons
Germy Shoemangler
@Another Holocene Human: I have to agree. “Marketplace” makes me want to throw my radio out the window. I can’t stomach Steve Inskeep. I can’t stomach any of them. The weekend quiz shows. My wife likes to have it on as “background” and it just turns into so much jibber jabber.
Another Holocene Human
@ruemara: You called it. German American and thought when Reagan was going on and on about “waste, fraud, and abuse” he meant somebody other than her, living off social security widow’s benefits.
MattF
@Germy Shoemangler: Also, via TPM:
I just gaped at that.
Another Holocene Human
@Germy Shoemangler: That’s right. Marketplace is way worse than Planet Money, though I wouldn’t really listen to the latter willingly.
debbie
@MattF:
As they say, it takes one to know one.
Germy Shoemangler
@MattF: Didn’t Carly lie about her meeting with Putin? She scoffed at Trump meeting him in a “green room” but that’s where she met him as well? I was half-listening to the news this morning, and was startled that someone on CBS morning would bother to fact check her.
Another Holocene Human
NPR’s straight reporting is hard to listen to since they make the female reporters narrate everything, no matter how serious/a downer/difficult as if it’s amusing or they’re enjoying the best chocolate ganache they’ve ever had. It is FUCKING irritating. I know I have a slightly paranoid mindset, but it comes off like mocking the poor/downtrodden/sick/disadvantaged. “Behold, this rural/urban type with his/her strange customs and funny accent.”
But if you strip away my paranoia it DOES convey an utter detachment to what is going on in the story. How much more upper middle class eastern urban enclave privileged can we get here? Journalists shouldn’t lose their objectivity, but is it too much to ask for them to be human? If they’re so many layers separated from the lives of ordinary Americans, how can they understand them well enough to engage in good reporting? And if it’s all an act–why?
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: Pat Tillman and his family kind of made the whole masturbatory thing hard for them. Plus the inconvenient detail about how he died. That’s why Chris Kyle is their lord and savior.
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Holocene Human: While at Wallyworld the other day, we had a cashier push us to “support our troops” by putting a green bulb in our porch light because then “everyone would see we support our troops”. I was only half listening and thought it was part of a fund drive for the DAV, and said “Sure, but we don’t want the bulb, just keep it.” She got kind of upset and said “Don’t you want people to see your support for our troops?” I told her our house isn’t visible from the road so it didn’t matter. She then asked, “So you don’t want the bulb?” My wife said “No” and she took the charge off at which point I finally caught on.
It was just another corporate scam to profit off “supporting our troops/vets”. The more I thought about it, the more sickened by it I got, and the more pissed off I got.
Germy Shoemangler
@Another Holocene Human: I must be paranoid, too, because I get the same vibe from their delivery. Maybe they’ve been coached to be “perky” for the radio because some beancounter somewhere decided if you don’t smile in front of your mic, people will tune off.
The men adopt the same tone.
Cervantes
@MeDrewNotYou:
Thanks.
Gin & Tonic
@Germy Shoemangler: “Says You!” is a national treasure.
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Holocene Human: I know. That’s why I brought him up.
Germy Shoemangler
@Gin & Tonic: Never heard it.
Another Holocene Human
@ruemara:
I’ll vote for you. Totally shameless as there is no way I’m watching everyone’s videos.
Great news, and thanks for making me smile this morning.
Satby
@Another Holocene Human: Not even offering a vet a free meal, like lots of places do today. Scummy.
Gin & Tonic
@Germy Shoemangler: You should. I hesitate to try posting a URL, but if you just enter those two words in Google and hit Enter, the first result should be their website. It’s a quiz show, but it’s funny.
Betty Cracker
@Another Holocene Human: Gawd, I hope you’re just mocking the signage and not actually eating at the Mickey D’s of BBQ. There is far, far better ‘cue to be found in Gatorville!
beltane
@Another Holocene Human:The infuriating thing about the rich-kid attitude of NPR’s reporting team is their lack of self-consciousness about. They seem to assume that everyone listening lives in their world, that their world is the only one which matters, and that we all think they are oh-so-cute and wonderful with their “best ganache I ever had” delivery. Not having been born into that state of economic and social privilege, I finally just stopped tuning in as it was bad for my self-esteem.
debbie
@Satby:
I’m listening to Glenn Beck explain to a young vet that the answer is to close the VA and privatize services and benefits. And sadly, the vet is buying into it.
Germy Shoemangler
@beltane:
I get that feeling listening to most of them. They can banter amusingly about the horserace, but their own lives would not be affected if Ted Cruz or even Tom Cotton were elected president. They almost… welcome it, because it would give them more entertaining stuff to discuss. That’s the impression they convey to me, anyway.
Germy Shoemangler
@debbie:
The old “government bad – bizness good” logic.
All well and good until you try calling your cable provider. Or your cell phone provider. Or enjoy the experience of dealing with a used-car dealership.
debbie
@beltane:
I listen to NPR and I can’t disagree with this statement. Sometimes I roll my eyes, but I’ll still take their reporting over other sources available to me.
I think part of this developed out of their need to appeal to a younger demographic. The same kind of thing has happened over at the BBC. If you listen overnight, which I do when I can’t sleep, there’s a surprising amount of giggling and goofing around. No more the plummy accents of Johnny Diamond and Owen Bennet-Jones to lull me back to sleep.
debbie
@Germy Shoemangler:
Lately, Beck’s been bemoaning that tolerance and diversity are destroying the Constitution. The truth is that privatization is destroying this country. And the most infuriating thing about conservatives is that they keep pushing for it!
cain
Happy Diwali,folks!
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: “I’m wasting natural resources to show my support for the cannon fodder who die for control of natural resources.”
Like a libation to the gods.
Another Holocene Human
@debbie: They make the hosts on NPR talk to each other now like it’s a sportsball broadcast but that isn’t one tenth as annoying as the smile into the mic about sad/angry/bad things.
Another Holocene Human
@debbie: They must have privatized that vet’s school before he ever went into the military, because he can’t do math.
Another Holocene Human
@Betty Cracker: Sonny’s has a nice all you can eat salad bar? One thing that keeps me out of there is I can’t remember which meat doesn’t totally suck, you know, to go with my salad.
Please share the location of good barbeque in GNV. I hate Dave’s. I don’t know if 4Rivers is good because I am not darkening their doorstep again, not negotiable. BubbaQue’s puts, I shit you not, flour-containing rubs on every protein, including chicken. Kay’s is closed.
I have yet to try that guy in Waldo. I heard he’s good.
Also you can get garlic crabs or just sausage and taters boiled in oil from the stand on Waldo Rd on the weekends and I’ve heard Ricardo George is good on the weekend as well but I never have time off plus wad of cash to find out.
Southern Charm Kitchen has good food but when I went the shrimp were terrible and I’m scared to go back. (Didn’t get sick, but they were objectively terrible.)
ps: Bono’s, which is a Jax chain, is not bad, imo. I’ve never really had BBQ in GNV that made me want to change my religion, though.
MeDrewNotYou
@debbie: Yes, because the VA-as-run-by-Comcast would be the best. But would the phone number have an option for Spanish? ‘Cuz that’ll piss off the Real Americans. Get shot up in service to our country but feel more comfortable speaking Spanish? Go back to Mexico you (insert epithet).
It makes me wonder how much thinking these people do. It seems awful on its face to me, but I can imagine someone not thinking so without being stupid/crazy. But peel back just one layer and think about how corporations treat you and the idea obviously atrocious. There are too many people who just flat out don’t think about their beliefs/positions/etc beyond the most superficial level. It’s as if deeper thoughts are totally alien.
debbie
@Another Holocene Human:
Agreed. I hate that whole smiling while talking thing. It’s a big deal in business too, like if you smile while telling an account they won’t get their order on time will make it all better.
PurpleGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: My response to that green light thing is “that’ll just cost me and others in higher electricity charges. Is Wallyworld in league with public utilities to make them more money?”
I’d prefer to pay higher taxes and properly take care of veterans, than to give to charities. The other day I got a phone call from some unknown wounded vets charity and after telling the guy “I’ve been unemployed since 2008 and have NO money for charity,” I hung up on him.
Germy Shoemangler
Question of the day:
Why are cats startled by cucumbers?
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human:
What do you make of Adam’s Rib?
Another Holocene Human
@Cervantes: Good when Adam makes it. Very uneven when other managers are working. He had two locations but I see he’s decided to go back to having one. I have had some horrible experiences there during the two location debacle. Maybe I will venture back. Sides are good, service is good, but when ribs are wrong, they are R0NG.
Another Holocene Human
@debbie: It’s not just an ad–the call center really is staffed with yellow smiley faced pod people wearing party hats! Nuuooooooooo!!!
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human:
Which location is shuttered? I was in Gainesville a few months ago and I noticed both were open.
Another Holocene Human
@Cervantes: Um, I thought it was SW 13th, it’s been closed every time I drive by. Maybe it’s open limited hours. Kinda weird though. I’ve been by weekends, days, nights.
eta: I’m not the only one who’s been disappointed. My coworkers mostly stopped picking up plates there as well.
Another Holocene Human
Reggae Shack isn’t BBQ, but it’s good. Never had a bad experience (unless someone in your party messes up and asks the chef to make their meal the hottest ever … dude uses ghost peppers, do not taunt happy fun chef).
Cervantes
@Another Holocene Human:
I just phoned in a huge order in your name; you’ll have to pay for it at pick-up.
(They’re open, normal hours.)
Gin & Tonic
@Another Holocene Human: Good when Adam makes it
That so reminds me of this old post on Chowhound (link rot to the original)
Cervantes
@gene108:
The latter name is more in the vein of the Dravidian languages?
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Pretty funny.
schrodinger's cat
Happy Diwali!
I am finally feeling somewhat normal.
schrodinger's cat
@Cervantes: Deepavali is a more Sanskritized form of Diwali, that’s all.
ETA: Literal translation of Deepavali is a row of lights
Timurid
I was just waiting for Linda Carter in the first video to bust out the Wonder Woman costume as she laid the smack down on those creeps…
Happy Diwali
Denali
I was reminded this morning that Veterans’ Day originally commemorated the signing of the Armistice of World War I on 11:00 on the 11th day of the 11th month. This War was supposed to be the war to end all wars.
What we have ended up with is endless wars coupled with mattress sales and shameful care of our veterans.
Cervantes
@schrodinger’s cat:
Taking the two listed forms of the name, have you looked at a geographical distribution of usage?
Paul in KY
A Happy Diwali to all!