These were both sent to me this week. I probably shouldn’t blow my wad by using them in the same post! That’s okay, I’m sure I’ll use them both again.
Off to look for nyms to credit. done!
My niece sent me this one!
This one is from Leslie. I may just post this one in the comments every time the pedants rear their heads in the comments!
Open thread.
Baud
Your niece knows you well.
jeffreyw
Mona Lisa
Anonymous At Work
Both are being relayed through the interwebs as I type. The latter is going to a few *ahem* ‘grammar authoritarians’ I know who believe that the English language must be safeguarded against any changes since 1900 to common usage. The former, well, I know people who have Australian Shepherds. What gets me is the look in the cats’ eyes. “WTF just happened?!?”
trollhattan
Patti Smith, on Tom Verlaine. One national treasure remembers another.
NotMax
Smile time.
trollhattan
The Aussies managed to find that lost cesium gizmo, misplaced by Rio Tinto, who continue thriving as one of the planet’s most horrid corporations, mate.
Baud
@trollhattan:
Heh. I thought you meant a dog found it.
Amir Khalid
On some deep level, I identify with the second cartoon.
WaterGirl
@Baud: ha!
jackmac
Love the cartoon. She’s no doubt an Aussie. They have that kind of command!
WaterGirl
@Anonymous At Work: And the dogs are just hangin’ out.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: Well, speaking of levels, I don’t think you are in the same pedantry ring as NotMax.
WaterGirl
For some reason, the word pedants reminded me of a funny little thing that happened around a “where are we going to go to lunch today” conversation at work a million moons ago.
So maybe 9 or 10 of us are standing outside the building where we work, discussing where to go to eat lunch. We decide on a place, but we don’t all fit in a van. So one fellow says “that’s okay, Ross and I can walk, we’re pedophiles.”
Much teasing and abuse ensued.
trollhattan
Confess I’m eternally bugged by “Ten items or less” signage at supermarket express checkout lines. That said, I’m more bugged by self-checkout, the corporate attempt to put checkers out of jerbs everywhere and I’ll stubbornly queue up to do my part keeping them employed. Home Despot seems hellbent on it–often having one harried checker and a dozen self-checkouts, store depending. (My “secret”: check out through gardening.)
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
Pout.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
::blushes:: Aw, shucks. Blue pencils are our friends.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Even more annoying is encountering a bank of self-service checkout machines, only one of which accepts cash.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan:
I do that, too! I put myself through college working at a grocery store and I refuse to use the self-checkout on principle.
Alison Rose
@trollhattan: One of my pedantry grammar issues is people saying/writing “try and” instead of “try to”. Whenever I’m reading a novel and I see it, I want to email the publisher and be like YOUR EDITOR SUCKS.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: That was a compliment!
Nothing against NotMax, but I don’t see you insisting on a version of a word that isn’t even listed in the dictionary anymore :-)
I did think that was a bridge too far last week.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
What is…”cash”? :-)
[Our last trip to Portland–the Oregon one–we were stymied trying to use the stuff at 2/3 of the places we went.]
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: And they would silently say “what editor?”
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
My teacher aunt used to tell of a boy in one of her classes who was talking about the execution of King Charles I. “And then,” said the lad, dramatically slicing his forefinger across his throat, “he was circumcised!”
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
Oh. Okay, then.
NotMax
@Alison Rose
Every time anyone writes lightening instead of lightning an angel’s wings molder.
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne: Oy vey!
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
Ouch.
dmsilev
A study in human nature, as presented by a headline writer at the Post:
Calif. sinkhole swallows third car as drivers ignore ‘ROAD CLOSED’ sign
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: True, sadly.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: hahahahaha
Alison Rose
@NotMax: Indeed. They should of known better.
(I shuddered even typing that as a joke.)
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: So now I’m out of the doghouse with you, but likely in the doghouse with NotMax. :-)
Soprano2
@NotMax: I think some big stores are trying to get people to quit using cash.
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
Given that, around here, I can generally walk right up to a self-checkout, but would almost always have to wait behind a few people for a person to do it for me, I can’t say I’m concerned about that.
I’ve come to prefer self-bagging anyway, since I know what’s in with what. Except at the Weis chain which has a genuinely grating “please place your item in the bagging area!” message when you’re a fraction of a second slow in doing that.
Alison Rose
@SiubhanDuinne: Well, he was a dickhead, so…
Geoduck
@trollhattan: One thrift store in my town has done away with checkers altogether, there’s only a bunch of self-scan stations. It’s all very depressing.
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: You’re not concerned about the cashiers who are out of jobs because of self-checkout?
I do always bag my own, though, at the regular checkout.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Come on in. We’ve got kibble!
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Yay?
Soprano2
@dmsilev: Oh man, I am totally unsurprised by this. The sewer dept once closed part of a road in order to do some repairs; the road was a narrow two lane road and they needed to have some manholes open. A woman went around the sign and cones and drove her car straight into an open manhole, then tried to file a damage claim against us! What part of orange cones and “road closed” signs did she not understand? Some people cannot stand to be inconvenienced for even half a day.
trollhattan
@dmsilev: Am reminded of the famous
“CAUTION
THIS SIGN HAS SHARP EDGES
DO NOT TOUCH THE EDGES OF THIS SIGN”
And in tiny letters:
“Also, the bridge is out ahead”
Betsy
@NotMax: Although … the word used to BE lightening, as in the verb “to lighten” which meant not only “to get lighter” but also “to light up or flash.”
As in “when the sky lightens, thunder follows” or “the lightening of the sky during last night’s storm was impressive”.
And from the verb “to lighten” in its sense of “to light up,” we get the name for “lightning bugs.”
Not meaning bugs that have anything to do with electrical storm lightning, but bugs that LIGHT UP. Bugs that lighten = lightening bugs = lightning bugs.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
And bits!
Jackie
O/T Just saw a clip on tv of Jamie Raskin wearing a baseball hat while addressing the House. He’s going through radiation and chemotherapy. I wish him all the best in battling his cancer.
Amir Khalid
I try not to get annoyed when I see “wait on line” instead of “wait in line”, because I know it’s a thing in certain parts of the US.
FastEdD
I have spent the last ten years with an Australian Shepherd who has attached himself to me, despite my best efforts. The lady who is kind enough to provide boarding for him and who knows him better than anyone else, describes him as, “He’s not a bad dog. Just opinionated.”
eclare
@Jackie: That poor family.
trollhattan
Today is California’s second Sierra snow survey of the year. If automated measurements are found to be accurate, we might have the biggest snowpack for the date since 1995. ‘Round these parts this is considered a “good thing” and it sure beats measuring snow on bare ground. (Suppose I could type bear ground just for y’all, technically accurate.)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m seeing a lot tweets about whatever the hell the New McCarthyites are trying to pass in the House– this is one of the best excerpts/exchanges from the debate I’ve seen
eclare
@Amir Khalid: Never seen that, and I live in the south where there are plenty of colloquialisms.
C Stars
You are now officially my favorite commenter.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@eclare: I thought “on line” instead of “in line” was a NYC (and environs) thing
RedDirtGirl
@Jackie: There has been all this outrage flying around that McCarthy was saying he couldn’t wear a hat or other head covering (bandana) in the chamber. Maybe he relented
ETA: Or maybe it was ginned up outrage over nothing…
C Stars
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: McCarthyism all over again, I guess.
eclare
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thanks!
Alison Rose
@trollhattan: Now the trouble will be convincing dipshits that this doesn’t mean the drought is over and no they should not start watering the concrete for an hour every day again.
lowtechcyclist
@WaterGirl:
Not when we’ve got the lowest unemployment rates of my lifetime, and employers are clearly having a much greater challenge finding workers than workers are having in finding a job that requires only basic skills.
WaterGirl
@RedDirtGirl: wow, if Squeaker tried to prevent raskin from wearing a hat, which is surely not just an ego thing, but also a trying to stay warm thing, he’s an even bigger dick than I know.
That in itself defies the laws of physics.
lowtechcyclist
@trollhattan:
We’d just bear with you.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sweet Jeebus, that was entertaining! Waters should hold a trolling symposium to pass her skills along to less adept colleagues.
Anonymous At Work
@WaterGirl: Two ways to read that. First, no Australian Shepherd or similar breed ever just “hangs out”. Second, this is how such breeds would “hang out” if capable of relaxing like other dogs.
Rileys Enabler
Open thread? Story time, with a trigger warning for wtf. My partner has started attending a Grief program at a local church. Last night was his second visit, and on his way in a disheveled man approached and told him he needed help, because people were trying to kill him. His family, in particular. Partner, who is kind and calm ushered the man into the church and tried to grab the attention of the Pastor. Before the Pastor could join them, the man told Partner that he needed to tell him that he HAD A GUN. Partner was able to not lose his shit immediately (that came later), and asked the now agitated man to allow him to keep the gun safe. Man allowed. Pastor came over and when the agitated man started seriously agitating about his family trying to kill him because they are all part of the Pedo Democrats and the police are in on it and someone call the Feds….partner quietly walked away and hid the (loaded, he checked) gun. Sheriff was called, came and talked to the guy but didn’t arrest (???!). Guy left on foot, sheriff left. Pastor was told where to find gun. Partner left and called, spiraling with worry and adrenaline. He checked the web today and no surprise, disheveled guy has some priors including a dropped “deadly force” charge. No idea why the sheriff didn’t arrest last night.
He was absolutely convinced to the point of carrying a loaded gun to a church that pedophiles/democrats were out to kill him. I have no words anymore.
Note: we live in Texas.
WaterGirl
@Anonymous At Work: I was referring to the gaggle of dogs that appear to be just hangin’ next to the gaggle of cats.
The overachiever was most definitely not just hangin’.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Yeah, I was gonna say, as someone who dealt with severe hair loss due to illness, you get COLD very easily and wearing a cap or hood over your head makes a huge difference.
Sister Golden Bear
In today’s ethnic
transcleansing news:– Targets adult trans care, prohibits funds “directly or indirectly” used for all trans care
– Explicitly legalizes conversion therapy
– Makes all agents of the state report “gender dysphoria” or “gender nonconformity” of minors to parents
promising to get rid of trans people and jail any of their supporter.Republicans are going out of their way to erase trans people from America. But instead seeing this is an emergency and it should be treated as such, we are seeing a replay of 2016, where media and largely white Christian male pundits are making this into a “debate.”
A bit of good news: Amazing potential victory in Virginia. All three anti-trans healthcare bans appear to have been killed in the subcommittee. The full committee decision will be Thursday, but this will be a nice breath of fresh air for trans Virginians.
WaterGirl
@Rileys Enabler: Wow. Not only could that have gone a bunch of different ways, but wow that they didn’t arrest him, and wow that the guy is so off his rocker the he believes that shit.
May I ask why your partner didn’t tell the police about the gun when they started to let the guy go?
Rileys Enabler
@WaterGirl: he was so shocked by the entire event that he didn’t think until he was leaving, so he told the Pastor and then got out of there. Apparently the guy lives in walking distance from the church and Partner wanted to be away ASAP.
To correct the charges:
The guy with a gun does have two active cases in *** county. Possession of a controlled substance and possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle without a license. He also had a dismissed charge for deadly conduct in 2011.
Alison Rose
@Sister Golden Bear:
WHAT IN THE GOD DAMN FUCK?????? I just…….I cannot even make a coherent response to this.
WaterGirl
@Rileys Enabler: It’s amazing that your partner held it all together like he did.
I hope the police were notified about the gun later. What the hell do you do with a gun like that but give it to the police?
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: I would yank my kids out of those schools faster than heads could spin.
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
If the chemo is making Jamie Raskin’s hair fall out in a way that doesn’t look presentable (and I doubt he would ever wear a cap in the House otherwise) it would be very petty to demand he go bareheaded. But I understand that Kevin the Speaker’s family jewels are in hock to the MAGA caucus, who just want to pwn the libs any way they can.
StringOnAStick
@jeffreyw: As someone who plays some covers, I feel seen.
different-church-lady
@trollhattan: I am no longer shy about walking out of places that don’t take cash.
trollhattan
@C Stars: Aw shucks, thanks! [gazes at shoe-tops]
different-church-lady
@Jackie: We really really really need to go on a campaign to remind men that hats come in other forms.
raven
@trollhattan: fewer
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker: That’s not trolling; that’s owning.
geg6
@Alison Rose:
I know Betty hates to see people say this, but I cannot understand how anyone who loves their children would live in that hellhole of a state. Hell, I don’t have kids because I don’t really like them, but if I had anyone I cared about who had kids and lived there, I’d drive down and take their kids away to somewhere safe. And no fucking way should any parent give a school or state agency such personal information about their child. If they do, they are terrible parents and should have their parental rights terminated immediately.
Cameron
@NotMax: Hey, lightn up, yo.
different-church-lady
@WaterGirl:
Those are squirrels, are they not?
Soprano2
@lowtechcyclist: I was told by a checker at WalMart that no employees were laid off because of self-check lines, instead they were slotted into other jobs where they didn’t have to deal with the public (this was considered a plus!). Considering how much trouble they’ve had finding help, I totally believe this. Unfortunately, guys, if stores can’t find enough cashiers they’ll put in self-checks instead. I remember my econ professor telling me how thrilled his friend who owned a fast food franchise store was when he got those drink stations where you push the button and it automatically fills the cups to the right amount, because it meant he needed one fewer (not less, dammit!) employee per shift. This has been happening forever in various ways.
scav
@Alison Rose: It’s a two-fer. They can also keep track of all the young sluts and make sure their birth all their products of sin for the adoption market.
StringOnAStick
@WaterGirl: Um, I think the gaggle to the right of the herd of cats is a herd of squirrels.
I had a friend with two border collies; the need to work never ends so she keeps them in agility competition constantly. She also has them doing special exercises to strengthen their core muscles to protect their backs because her last one went so hard she ended up with back injuries.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Soprano2: my preferred grocery store has been closing its deli at six for a while now. It’s not unusual to walk in and find the fish/meat counter hasn’t opened for the day. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard, “I’m sorry, we’re really short-staffed today” in restaurants over the last year or so
Betty Cracker
@geg6: Yeah, when someone implies all parents in Florida must not love their kids, that will elicit a big ole FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE from me, every single time.
JPL
@Rileys Enabler: Is your partner returning to the church? It could have ended in tragedy.
Anonymous At Work
@WaterGirl: Those are squirrels. It went beyond herding cats to taming squirrels for herding.
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not to mention that Russia isn’t remotely a socialist country.
StringOnAStick
@Rileys Enabler: The crazy guy believes that stuff about D’s because their MSM, Fox and the rest tell them it’s true. This is an example of stochastic terrorism that didn’t get to the logical end point, at least not this time.
I’d throw away the gun because if you give it to police, this being Texas, they’ll likely give it back to him when he asks for it’s return.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: Has anyone filed a suit yet? Some judges don’t believe in the right to privacy, but I wonder if they would take it this far.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@Alison Rose: That can depend, though. As far as books, I make a distinction between dialogue and narration.
People do implement improper grammar and word choice. In a novel, it can help contribute to the verisimilitude.
Betty Cracker
@Rileys Enabler: Kudos to your partner for bravery and quick thinking. Wow. So glad it ended without violence.
TheOtherHank
@Alison Rose: What’s to stop athletes on girls teams from reporting that they’re on their period every single day? Or saying that they haven’t gone through puberty yet?
Digression, my wife in an earlier life was an anthropologist. One of the fundamental truths of first contact with the Europeans was the people being contacted lied about _everything_. Think about it, some dumb-ass shows up, knows nothing about anything and starts asking stupid questions. Why would you tell this person the truth? It’s more fun to make shit up.
This whole “when are you menstruating?” thing seems right up there. The school authoritarians don’t deserve the truth.
Rileys Enabler
@WaterGirl: he will see the Pastor next week for the counseling- if he goes back. He’s kind of worried about the guy showing up again, but he wants to know if there have been any updates too.
JoyceH
@Amir Khalid:
That’s their entire agenda these days. David Frum has a new article in the Atlantic about why the GOP keeps losing elections recently. The title says it all: “The GOP is just obnoxious”. That’s really all they are anymore.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: There are so many lawsuits filed by parents (who allegedly don’t love their kids) that DeSantis is making his cronies’ law firms rich defending his unconstitutional policies and legislation.
Rileys Enabler
@JPL: he’s debating. He’s felt that the grief counseling was good but he knows the guy lives in walking distance. He doesn’t want to be the “guy who hid the gun” if the crazy man shows up again.
NotMax
Damn birds cavorting in a flash mob on the metal roof of the cottage.
There are times I wish for an air horn.
Ohio Mom
@Sister Golden Bear: I don’t know quite what to make of the fact that Florida does not seem to care about the menstrual cycles of any trans boys participating in sports. I guess thank god for small favors.
My cousin the nurse who lives in Montana does trans healthcare as part of her job at Planned Parenthood. Apparently, not for much longer.
As for everyone commentating, “I would take my kids out of that school,” please remember that a long-standing Republican goal is to dismantle the public school system. You may not want to inadvertently play into that, though it’s easy for me to say that, no one in our families on any of the sides is remotely athletic.
The Thin Black Duke
It’s gonna be hard to sell the Both Sides Are The Same bullshit to this generation. From what these kids have experienced in their lives, “moderate Republicans” don’t exist in the real world.
JPL
@Rileys Enabler: Do you think the pastor would return the gun if he was asked?
JPL
@Ohio Mom: All they would have to do is boycott high school sports, and that might stop the nonsense.
Brachiator
Absolutely loved the Pedants’ Revolt cartoon!
Geminid
@LauraRozen informs me that Salman Rushdie has published a new novel, written before last August’s terrible attack in Chautauqua, New York. It is titled Victory City. From the Washington Post review Rozen links to:
Vijayanagar- “Victory City” in Sanskrit- was an actual city that was once capital of a Hindu empire in southern India.
C Stars
@Rileys Enabler: Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry this happened to your partner, especially as he was trying to attend a GRIEF workshop! Also my first instinct reading this:
is that the guy is probably a pedophile himself. That kind of fear and projection…
Soprano2
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: We used to go to Village Inn for free pie night on Wednesday night. No more, now they’re open from 6 a.m – 3 p.m. M-F, and till 8 p.m on Saturday and Sunday. No restaurant except Waffle House is open 24 hrs anymore, and most restaurants seem to close earlier than they used to – 9 p.m instead of 10 p.m. during the week, 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. on the weekends. I’m not sure they’ll ever be able to go back to their pre-Covid hours. It’s mostly because of not having enough employees. At the bar we still close at 11 p.m instead of 1 a.m Sunday thru Thursday; people’s habits have changed, by 10 p.m. most people are gone.
FelonyGovt
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Definitely a NYC thing. After 40+ years in California I still talk about waiting “on” line.
My personal pedant irritation is the misuse of “around”- usages like: “We’re going to explore solutions around homelessness”
Sister Golden Bear
@The Thin Black Duke: Mostly good, but for the remaining 27% of Gen Z…
lowtechcyclist
@different-church-lady:
I don’t see how that’s even legal. (Their refusing to accept cash, that is, not your walking out.) All of my U.S. paper money says “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE” so I don’t see how they can refuse payment in U.S. cash.
I almost never pay cash anymore, but I still damn sure want the option.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
JPL
@lowtechcyclist: Well you wouldn’t think that asking females to provide personal information about their menstrual cycle was legal, but here we are.
C Stars
@Ohio Mom: Here’s the thing. I don’t think many families are going to leave because of this bullshit, although some will. I think it’s more that families won’t move there. the Stars Spouse has been offered some interesting positions in states where, after some research we’ve found there are anti-trans movements that pose a credible threat to our child, and it’s just not something we’d ever consider, given that our kid is now in a place where they are accepted, supported, and can access the medical care that they need. Not all families will have trans kids, but they might have trans or LGBTQ+ relatives and just not feel comfortable going to a place that is not safe for their loved ones. Or people might have kids who they suspect might not be straight or gender normative, and not move to those states for those reasons. I mean, the wingnuts don’t WANT LGBTQ+ folks in their states anyway, but at some point these creepy policies will start to be a brain/population drain for them.
Geminid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I wonder if anyone will ever write an article about things Santos has claimed that are actually true. It might be a very short story.
C Stars
@FelonyGovt: Oh lord I HATE the “around” trend. People are saying it every other word now. Please stop!!
C Stars
@JPL: How deep will they dig? Obviously a trans girl who was in this position would just make up dates, right? Or are they going to actually go all the way back to golden oldies like requesting bloody sheets as evidence?
catclub
But the editor might say: “the stupid author insisted on it. ….. idiot”
lowtechcyclist
@Alison Rose:
My sentiments exactly. Damn, if I were a girl in high school, organized team sports would have to be extremely important to me before I so much as considered sharing that sort of private info, and even then it would probably be a deal-breaker.
Not to mention that athletic departments aren’t generally outfits that think much about the security of their records. You want to share your menstrual history with the world?? Yecch.
Maybe their real goal is ending girls’ sports.
Amir Khalid
@FelonyGovt:
Does it bug you too when people use the imperfect tense instead of the past participle, e.g. “I had went” instead of “I had gone”?
Nelle
@WaterGirl: Walmart replaced all but one checkout clerk with self checks. Then, apparently, had the gall to complain about losses from people developing tricks to not scan everything.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@JPL: Hey, if you don’t want to report those dates, just don’t participate in sports. Easy peasy. We have expanded the availability of Home Economics classes to accommodate the shifts in schedules.
This will have a chilling effect on all female sports.
BC in Illinois
In regard to self checkout, my latest beef is with self check-in.
At the local St Louis Bread Company [Panera to those of you at a distance], they no longer have someone waiting to take your order. Kiosks for entering your order have been available for a while, but the last time we went there, the kiosk was the only way to place your order. They had a sign, apologizing for being “short handed,” which in the past would have been known as being “understaffed.”
I’m not sure whether this is only the case at certain times (we were there on a Friday or Saturday at about 7pm), but it is an annoyance.
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ran across a story that said that some Walmarts and other stores were closing early because of staff shortages.
A fast food restaurant near me where older people and families would hang out after light meals, shuts down indoor dining at 8 pm because of staff shortages.
The recovery from the pandemic has been uneven, with the service and restaurant industry not recovering well. Remote work may have helped kill a couple of dry cleaners in my community.
WaterGirl
@different-church-lady: @StringOnAStick:
Now I’m sad. The faces say dog to me, but you’re right, the tails say squirrel. sigh.
Raven
@lowtechcyclist: My credit’s so bad they won’t take my cash!!
WaterGirl
@Soprano2: Self-Checkout became a big thing long before Covid and the inability to find workers.
Point two, they may or may not have moved existing cashiers into other jobs, but they absolutely need fewer employees when they add self-checkouts.
lowtechcyclist
@JoyceH:
And that’s being extremely generous. They’re intentionally cruel and hateful fascist assholes.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lowtechcyclist: This is particularly chilling info to give out in a state that forbids abortion, and possibly reward people who report a suspected one
WaterGirl
@Rileys Enabler: Yeah, unless I had really strong ties there, I think I would find another church. But we’re all different!
Sometimes the “what ifs” afterwards can be as scary as the event itself. Best to your partner, and respect for handling himself so well in the moment.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: In the good parts.
Qrop Non Sequitur
Personally, I’ve avoided carrying cash for years. If I have any, I’m probably up to no good. Gambling is the best-case scenario.
Alison Rose
@JPL: What I’d like to see is every one of the girls forced to do this write it on a piece of paper, wrap that paper around a used tampon, and send it on in.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’m amazed that they claimed him as a relative!
Baud
@WaterGirl: Maybe they were lying about being a relative. Lying could run in the family.
Steeplejack
@eclare:
They wait on line in New York City.
Brachiator
@Soprano2:
@different-church-lady:
I am very happy not using cash. I carry a small amount with me, but no big deal.
A recent podcast noted a possible scam. A guy ordered a slice of pizza at this sad looking place in NY. The guy at the counter said “Cash only,” even though there were no signs saying this.
The customer had to use an ATM machine in the store which tacked on a high processing fee.
ETA: Even people who work in the informal economy are adjusting to a cashless society.
FelonyGovt
@Amir Khalid: “I had went” is like fingernails on a blackboard to me.
lowtechcyclist
@Raven:
You got cash, but your credit’s no good, you flipped the script, you shot the plot
-Houndmouth, “Sedona“
WaterGirl
@Nelle: Sounds like Walmart got what they deserved!
eclare
@FelonyGovt: “Have got” is like that for me.
BigJimSlade
@trollhattan: You mean like this? (from a trip in summer of 2020):
MisterDancer
BETTY’S NOT THE ONLY ONE.
What a horrific and blind-as-hell take. Are you gonna pony up the money to move literally millions out of the state of FL? Do you know what it cost my ancestors who did move out of the South, to the North, last century? The struggles in a new state, the chaos of missing family and friends and the ties that support in times of trouble?
I’m thoughtful, too, right now, about the GoFundMe various folx I’ve seen post/repost, trying to move out of states like Texas for Trans people, among many others being targeted for political power and posturing.
I’m just….what the hell made you think this was a kind or wise thing to say to people who are hurting?
If you feels so strongly about it, crank up a GoFundMe to move people yourself.
lowtechcyclist
@Alison Rose:
Sounds like an appropriate protest would be for a bunch of women and girls to collect as many used tampons as they could manage, and dump them in the offices of the Florida High School Athletics Association. “You wanna know about our periods? Here ya go!!”
WaterGirl
@eclare: I’m not sure anything is as bad as “have went” – awful, awful, awful.
Sister Golden Bear
@C Stars: Actually the anti-LGBTQ+ shit going down in Florida has caused half of LGBTQ+ parents to consider moving, according to a recent survey, and a quarter have already taken steps to do so.
As Betty and MisterDancer have noted, this may mean leaving other family, and friends, and communities where they’ve lived for years, behind
That’s a big part of these laws and bills, to make it life so unbearable that LGBTQ+ people leave the state. LGB, and especially T, cleansing.
trollhattan
@BigJimSlade: Yep. That there’s a plus-size bear!
p.a.
“Cleek” hasn’t posted on his website since sedition day. Hope everything’s ok.
Sister Golden Bear
@BigJimSlade: At least the bear wasn’t on cocaine.
trollhattan
Trying, and trying to think where I might have heard this, before. Where, oh where…?
Can I presume the Texas electricity grid remains carefully and intentionally not connected to any other?
C Stars
@Sister Golden Bear: Sure…those who can swing the finances and logistics will likely move (or consider it). But of course not everyone can.
What I wonder about, though, is the fact that when trans or LGBTQ+ people are pushed out, so are their families and friends to some extent–whole networks of folks who may be “job creators” or have some integral professional talent that is lacking in that state. At some point I would think it would just be bad economic policy.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
I get why you feel that way and will take the fuck you with grace. Doesn’t change my opinion about FL though. It’s a dangerous place to bring up children, as is TX, MO, etc., etc., etc. Thankfully, I don’t have to make the choice and never would have even in my childbearing years. I knew I didn’t belong below the Mason Dixon line even as a child visiting my cousins in Virginia and North Carolina every summer way back in the late 60s/early 70s. I think I’m allergic to the South (with a few blue dot exceptions).
trollhattan
@trollhattan:
Results are in from today’s snow survey. 👍👍 Two awarded, for >200%.
skerry
@trollhattan: Thanks for sharing this. It is beautiful.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@geg6: Im just hoping the Republicans don’t take the DeSantis show national. Trump strained many of my familial relationships. After all this shit DeSantis is pulling in Florida, I don’t know if I could even face anyone who votes for him.
eclare
@BigJimSlade: Some bear!
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Gonna be a really interesting Santos (/Devolder) family reunion this year!
BigJimSlade
@trollhattan: Yes, I was glad this was taken with a zoom lens and not a wide angle.
BigJimSlade
@Sister Golden Bear: At least!
Though you never know what people have in their pic-a-nic baskets.
Qrop Non Sequitur
Why was I expecting this to be a response regarding the menstruation tracking?
skerry
@WaterGirl: My daughter would be told to lie.
geg6
@MisterDancer:
I have ponied up for people who are seeking help in exactly this way. I said what I said and I don’t regret it. Do whatever you can to get your kids to safer places. Those who do not remember the past are bound to repeat it. These are eliminationist steps they are taking. If you don’t want your kids eliminated, get them out.
Qrop Non Sequitur
I wonder if Disney still does gay day. I wonder how attendance is.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
She goes on to claim that “an elementary school” in Illinois got $5.1B in emergency Covid funding to teach equity and diversity.
That’s $5,100,000,000. I think. I’m not in the habit of using that many zeros.
(Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of these United States, seems more than a little confused by this whole interaction, understandably)
Kent
It is perfectly legal. You haven’t incurred any debt if they refuse to sell to you in the first place. And it isn’t discrimination if they apply the same policy to everyone.
Amazon doesn’t take cash, for example. And it is the biggest retail vender on the planet.
cain
@The Thin Black Duke: It’s mostly a media thing anyways. Only the media likes to write both sides – for whatever reason. I don’t know why they have these takes as it isn’t some kind of conventional wisdom.
Then again, the media still believes that all farms are run by farmers and that it is still 1950.
UncleEbeneezer
@MisterDancer: “Why Don’t They Move?” is damn close to “Slavery Was A Choice” as far as being tone-deaf, victim-blaming BS.
Qrop Non Sequitur
They’ve been at this two years. How are they still getting away with this sickening claim?
Geminid
@trollhattan: I don’t know if they are connected now. But I think Texas power companies may have taken steps to reduce the many vulnerabilities to freezing weather that were exposed in February, 2021.
These power outages might be the kind that happen all over when there’s freezing rain.
Kent
News flash. The GOP lies about everything and doesn’t get called on it.
Alison Rose
@geg6: Implying that people — some of whom cannot move for various reasons, not all of which come down to money — don’t love their kids if they don’t leave the state is a bridge too far. If you’re gonna keep digging your heels in on this, maybe it’s best for you to just leave it be.
different-church-lady
@Brachiator:
Small amounts are what I’m talking about — would edit my comment if I could. Coffee shop for an espresso and you won’t take my three dollars? Screw you. $300 purchase? That’s a whole different story.
But in my carefully cultivated curmudgeonly opinion, a cashless society just makes everything more expensive for everyone. It makes the money transparent, and people are less careful about it, and the money corps love it because they get a cut. They’re leeches, and they are getting far too good at manipulating human psychology.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@Kent: They’ve been called on it. Then the professionals charged with informing us say “mumble mumble it’s a controversy who knows?”
These claims are so ridiculous even right on the surface level. If you believe this shit, you want to believe this shit.
different-church-lady
@Anonymous At Work:
To the right of the squirrels, just out of frame, is the Freedom Caucus.
eclare
People said the same about victims of Katrina. Why didn’t they just gas up the Range Rover and leave?
ETA that was supposed to be a comment for UncleEbeneezer at 165.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@Alison Rose: I wonder what it would take to relocate 15 percent of Florida residents.
Just did the first step, that’s 3.3 million people.
Gin & Tonic
@different-church-lady: Funny you mention espresso. The largest coffee chain in Sweden has a strict no-cash policy.
different-church-lady
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, well screw them.
Alison Rose
@Qrop Non Sequitur: I’d rather focus on what it would take to fight back against Ron “Store Brand Dictator” DeSantis and make Florida a state where families don’t have to think about fleeing for their safety.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
“And are you the proof of that theory?”
Baud
@different-church-lady:
Are you Erdogan?
Qrop Non Sequitur
@Alison Rose: Fair. And I agree. Still, I figured the thought experiment may prove edifying.
Other considerations. Housing is too expensive in too many places. How do we not strain the regions taking Floridian refugees? Job markets will need to adjust. What about elderly family dependent on people who also have child dependents and can’t be moved as easily?
different-church-lady
@different-church-lady:
In fact — and this is the kind of day I have every day nowadays — screw every single last little thing.
Alison Rose
@Qrop Non Sequitur: I mean, we do have plenty of space here in California…just that most of it is in the, let’s say, less progressive portions of the state.
Alison Rose
@different-church-lady: and thus was coined a new rotating tag
Qrop Non Sequitur
@Alison Rose: 3.3 million people fleeing right-wing political persecution in Florida could change that quickly.
If those regions were prepared to take them.
sab
@jackmac: But they don’t have tails, do they?
ian
@WaterGirl:
It is hardly unique to self-check outs. The Luddites smashed looms that they thought (correctly) were putting weavers out of work. Assembly line workers get replaced by automated systems. Kitchen workers are being replaced by robots. Part of improving overall efficiency is finding ways for technology to replace labor. If we wanted to stop this trend, we would need to regulate technological innovation in a way that stops new technology.
In an ‘ideal’ world, each person would be given a good enough education that they could adapt to this kind of job loss with new skills. In the real world, it means those without high school diplomas, those who may have disabilities, and those who are unable to adapt become unemployed or underemployed. Solving this conundrum won’t be easy, but the automated check outs and their equivalents in the rest of our workplaces are like Pandora’s box. They aren’t going to un-open themselves.
different-church-lady
@Qrop Non Sequitur: I swear we’re going to have to recreate the Underground Railroad the way things are going.
different-church-lady
@ian:
Self checkout does not replace cashiers with technology — it replaces cashiers with you.
sab
@eclare: On line is a NYC thing,
lowtechcyclist
@Kent:
So I get to the register with my intended purchases. They won’t take cash, so I hand them a piece of paper saying “I owe you $_____ (with the amount filled in). Attached is U.S. currency sufficient to cover this debt” with the appropriate greenbacks stapled to the paper. And then I walk out with my purchases.
What then? I have acknowledged that I have created a debt to them, and at that point the currency must be accepted. What can they do? They can’t accuse me of theft, I’ve paid them the value of my purchases.
They could ban me from the store in perpetuity, I’m sure, for refusing to abide by their policy. Fine with me.
sab
@ian: Beware of self-checkouts. If you forget or mis-scan an item they will prosecute you for sho0lifting.
Matt McIrvin
@different-church-lady: To Canada, yes.
Qrop Non Sequitur
There has to be a way to retitle this using the word closet that has, so far, eluded me.
glc
@WaterGirl: bol
(In such cases, it comes out more as a short bark than a laugh.)
Brachiator
@different-church-lady:
I carry a 20 and maybe a few bills. But if I never have to use them, I am a happy camper. I love paying for stuff with my smartphone. Just love it.
Doesn’t seem to be the case. And some communities in developing countries have prospered greatly by being able to use phones and other devices for transactions, even loans.
Sweden and Norway went big with going cashless. Some of the super positive news stories have been revisited, but the experience still has been largely positive.
I am not sure whether people are better able to send money to family overseas with apps and phone transactions. And I don’t see as many payday loan stores in certain areas.
However, I have noted that some younger people who work counters do not know how to make change.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
King Charles I was a big dick?
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: I know of multiple mom-and-pop burger and ice-cream stands around there that are cash-only businesses with a fairly pricey ATM on site. It seems to be a done thing. Was once, I think, more the rule than the exception for that type of business. Others have started using Square or something to do credit-card transactions, though of course that costs them significant money.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Asking idiots like Greene to explain their objections to whatever issue they’re screaming about is a great way to expose them as the blithering morons they are. Greene’s base is as dumb and crazy as she is, but hopefully exposure to her gibberish will stick to the GOP brand in normie minds. She’s not a fringe figure anymore — she whipped votes for McCarthy.
Qrop Non Sequitur
Not difficult to imagine she took the task a tad too literally.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: If I recall correctly (I am not a lawyer), the relevant law says that most advertisements and store listings are not, technically, offers, but “invitations to treat”: they do not contractually obligate the seller to sell you anything. So they can refuse to sell for basically any reason whatsoever aside from a short list of protected-class reasons forbidden by civil-rights law. (And I suppose there are some consumer-protection regulations that restrict them from various kinds of false advertising, but, again, it’s a short list.) There’s no debt incurred until they accept your offer to buy the product for the stated price.
geg6
@UncleEbeneezer:
If you see it that way, I guess. I just want kids to be safe. I really don’t give a damn if it’s politically incorrect to state as much.
Jesus, the one person here who doesn’t like kids and doesn’t really want to be around them, and I’m getting slammed for thinking their parents should do all they can to keep them safe? So when they start rounding them up and putting them in camps or making they wear a pink star, I’ll still be the bigot for thinking they should have left?
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
Seconded. WTF?
Mai Naem mobile
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/colleague-supreme-court-chief-justices-wife-makes-ethics/story?id=96804182
Anybody see this? It may just be the guy using Jane Roberts’ husband’s position to highlight a professional issue between Jane Roberts but it still another black mark for the USSC.
eclare
@Brachiator: My elders complain about how the yoots are unable to “count back” change.
FelonyGovt
@Kent: The interesting thing in our perfectly legal in California (at least as far as the state is concerned) marijuana dispensaries, is that you HAVE to use cash since they can’t take credit cards. Of course, they generally have an ATM on site or at least nearby.
geg6
@Alison Rose:
Fine. I’m done. Just call me Cassandra.
Kent
You don’t have a purchase agreement with the merchant until they agree to take your payment in exchange for the merchandise. What you are describing is shoplifting and you haven’t actually purchased anything until they agree to accept your payment.
I’m just describing how the law works. The “all debts public and private” phrase on the currency doesn’t actually apply in this situation. Since there is no agreed to debt.
Martin
California released their plan for the Colorado River. It’s something.
So here’s the thing: existing federal law protects water rights in various ways. Rights to the water in the river are structured in specific ways. Again, federal law.
The plan the other 6 states put out without California breaks those federal laws. And they’re asking California to volunteer to lose legal rights. California looked at that as a political, not practical plan. California could agree to voluntarily take those cuts, but California land owners have their own federal rights which California would be violating. That just kicks the problem into a court case where CA is a defendant over a law that California is powerless to change. California in the negotiation for the last few months has been saying they won’t sign on to a plan that breaks federal law.
This sounds noble by California, and to some degree it is, but the real motivation is to force Congress to act. California wants those laws to change, because the state needs more authority over water rights to stabilize the situation in-state, and it needs the Feds to change those laws.
The main issue is surprise between AZ and CA. AZ made a bargain back in the 70s. They would get federal funding to build the Central Arizona Project in exchange for more junior water rights. To California, that was Arizona taking responsibility at the state level to managing CAP communities and water allocation, and making the infrastructure investments to conserve and protect those junior rights knowing full well that water cuts would come first to CAP. Problem was a whole lot of GOP rule in Arizona that didn’t make any of those investments, and Arizona putting taxpayer dollars out to attract water-intensive businesses like semiconductor foundries which they gave guaranteed water rights to (better rights than residents have) and the ongoing shitshow which is the Saudi Arabian alfalfa farms that also have unlimited water rights, which the Arizona government green lit for decades. In the last 20 years, California has invested aggressively in water conservation. Numerous ballot initiatives supporting that. The state has voluntarily cut its water draw from the Colorado River by about ⅓ over the last 20 years, investing billions in anticipation of future water cuts, and now those cuts are coming.
The other 6 states want to stick all of the cuts on California, because California draws water last from the river (ignoring the guarantees to Mexico that are protected by treaty) despite California having the most senior rights, which means they should get cut last. And understand that the state’s rights are just a proxy for the land owner federal rights within the state.
Two things dropped today:
The 6 state plan just kicks the can down the road. It’s a short term deal to avoid the cuts that Bureau of Reclamation will be forced to make under federal law. But the plan has be unanimous – because it’s a contract. California has to agree to sign its rights away. But California can’t sign away the federal rights that its landowners have. So the state isn’t agreeing.
Understand there are a few other issues involved. There’s the matter of how to account for evaporation – losses outside of the measured volumes. These would be borne entirely by the three lower basin states – Nevada, Arizona, CA and Nevada, AZ agreed to this because they still come out ahead relative to what applying federal law would result in. They aren’t borne by the 4 upper basin states *because nobody measures it*. There is no evaporation north of Glen Canyon because nobody measures any. Worse, there’s no measure of water utilization in those 4 state either, and California is pretty sure that those states are taking way more than they have rights to, but the lack of measurement means nobody can prove it.
See, you can measure what comes through Glenn Canyon Dam, and you can measure what goes through Imperial Dam. Imperial Dam guarantees Mexicos allocation. Everything between those two dams is pretty accurately measured and distributed among the 3 lower states. If someone is cheating – you’ll spot it when you measure Imperial Dam discharge. But no such mechanism exists north of Glenn Canyon. This is why CA is pushing against the evaporation math that is being introduced – because it’s biased in favor of the 4 upper states. CA says ‘don’t worry about evaporation – we don’t account for which states produce the inflows to the river, that’s shared among all 7, so do the same for natural outflows – evaporation’. The upper 4 don’t want to pay that, and AZ/NV don’t either, but the 6 state deal is better than the alternative.
CA is saying ‘none of this matters if federal laws doesn’t change’. In the end, CA wants the feds to weaken land water rights – even if that only happens in these 7 states. CA needs to be able to tell farmers how much water they can use. AZ needs that as well to kick the Saudis out of town. They can’t do that now in most cases. This whole exercise is for naught if that doesn’t happen, and only Congress can do this. California is saying it’s time to do the hard part, no more ducking the problem.
The scale of the conservation is pretty large. I live in a city of about 300,000 people. Not small. Top 100 city in population in the US. We have invested in recycled water pipelines in the city for landscape irrigation, we have aquifer recharging infrastructure at the city level, etc. My city uses 40% as much water per capita as Arizona residents. That doesn’t include agriculture – it’s just residential water use. Kudos to most of Arizona that have forgone lawns and the like. But the state hasn’t kept up with water reduction/reclamation/reuse in as broad of a way as California has. It’s expensive. Time to spend some state taxpayer dollars. The state knew what it signed up for with CAP, but it didn’t follow through. CA was a GOP state for over half that period as well, so no excuses there.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Agree. It behooves us not to act like we think their worldview is attractive to most people (even if we are afraid that it is).
FelonyGovt
@Baud: Reminds me of when Martina Navratilova was asked by a male reporter “Are you still a lesbian?” and she replied “Are you still the alternative?”
Martin
@Kent: Believe it or not, Walmart is more than twice as big as Amazon. But point taken.
trollhattan
@Brachiator: I straight up do not want my every nickel spent collected as data and monetized. Huge privacy issue, huge.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@geg6: I don’t think too many here disagree these parents should be working to keep their children safe or that moving is a viable option for some.
The concern here seems to be a failure to acknowledge the limitations of this solution and making broad claims about parents based on whether they do as you advise from an obscure corner of the internet.
Moving is expensive. Furthermore, there are many, many queer youth. Even if we could guarantee housing and jobs and other necessary infrastructure for a huge migration like this, there are other considerations like extended family, caretaker responsibilities, adapting to changes in local culture.
What you propose would be a huge undertaking with consequences for the entire nation. I’m not ready to settle on that as a universally applicable solution.
lowtechcyclist
@Brachiator:
I’ve had a number of businesses charge me extra for credit. Hell, freakin’ EXXON charges an extra 15¢ per gallon on credit transactions around here.
My WAG is that Sweden and Norway have much more in the way of consumer-friendly financial regulation than we do, so that whatever money is being taken out of each transaction by anyone from Exxon to Visa to PayPal (they were taking three bucks and change from my HOA’s annual $85 dues payment) is a very minuscule amount. Unfortunately, we’re not them.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: Surcharges for credit are another thing that used to be more the rule than the exception at a lot of small businesses.
When we were in London, I noticed that most transactions seemed to be cashless most of the time, except that taxis preferred cash, and while they had card readers they had a substantial surcharge for using them. That apparently had to do with the cost of mobile verification.
lowtechcyclist
@Brachiator:
What, their register doesn’t tell them the amount of change due?
Kent
Thanks for the very informative water law post Martin. Far better than anything I have read recently in the WP or NYT.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@lowtechcyclist: I always make a point to state the change before entering the cash transaction into the register, just in case someone claims to have paid using a different bill.
Ruckus
@C Stars:
a brain/population drain for them.
That brain drain happened a long time ago, it’s just taken the brain dead folks a long time to catch up to their hate.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
Maybe so, but all the movement I’ve experienced has been in the other direction, from no surcharges for decades until the past 2-3 years, but surcharges proliferating since.
Except Exxon. They’ve been doing this for awhile now.
WaterGirl
@glc: He obviously meant pedestrians, as in they walk a lot. oops. Guessing he didn’t make that mistake again.
Martin
@Brachiator:
Sweden and Norway have guaranteed banking access. The US doesn’t. Let the USPS operate as a bank – as it used to do – and problem solved – guaranteed banking access. All it needs to be able to do is savings, debit, check cashing. Make it illegal to charge ATM fees for USPS bankers.
lowtechcyclist
@Qrop Non Sequitur: That’s a good idea. And when they say something like “that’ll be eight seventy-two” I generally remember to say “out of ten” or “out of twenty” when I hand over the cash.
Kent
@lowtechcyclist: Cash is actually dangerous to handle for some small businesses with limited security. Around here pot businesses frequently get targeted by armed robbers who know they are forced to use cash. It is a big hassle to keep secure and you end up forced to make delivery drops to banks which are not prevalent in many neighborhoods. It essentially makes you a target.
I think was on the Sopranos late in the series where some mob thugs who were used to extorting protection payments from local merchants tried to do the same to a Starbucks (or Starbucks clone) and the mobsters were stymied because the clerks just shrugged and said “we don’t have any cash here, you’ll have to talk to corporate. There is nothing we can do, we never have cash here.
evodevo
@Amir Khalid:
Or my favorite Nineties thing : “ON accident” instead of “BY accident”
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
That is brutal. Seems it might actually be effective but still….
And they are asking for it…..
Qrop Non Sequitur
Helps for sure, though I still always perform a visual check. 🧐
buggrit
@geg6: For me the problem is that you were “shoulding” on people who have the desire but not the ability to get the hell out of Dodge.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: So when I was in college, I needed surgery to remove a branchial cleft cyst in my neck. It was no big deal, but there was a visible lump near my collarbone until it was removed. I had to tell my boss at my part-time job that I needed a few days off the schedule, and I pointed out the lump. He asked, “Is that your prostate?”.
This was overheard by the assistant manager, a woman, who laughed so hard that she cried.
Qrop Non Sequitur
How does that person have fruitful interactions with his doctor?
I have a friend who frequently states, when something confuses him, that he’s mind-bottled. Or that this confusing thing behoofed him.
Martin
@Suzanne: [chefs kiss]
I’d be crying too.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
Oh sure, but in the scenario I described, I have the goods, they’ve rung up the transaction, and are waiting for me to hand over my credit card or pay with my phone or whatever, only I give them the piece of paper I’ve described, acknowledging that I owe them the sum they’ve just rung up (at this point, is it still just an ‘invitation to treat’? ISTM like at that point it’s a sale, and they’re waiting on payment) and providing the cash to close out the debt. And walk out.
It still seems to me that at that point, all I’ve done is broken their rule.
different-church-lady
@Qrop Non Sequitur: For years and years I was saying “u-TAL-itarian” instead of “u-TIL-itarian”. Until someone finally called me on it just a few months ago! My brain had somehow munged “utilitarian” with “totalitarian”.
Suzanne
@Qrop Non Sequitur: @Martin: Yeah, so that smart guy was my “superior”.
different-church-lady
Also: have I mentioned screw every last little thing?
Qrop Non Sequitur
Often not so far apart as one might first guess.
Kent
@lowtechcyclist: Good luck explaining all that to the cops when you get arrested for shoplifting.
pat
Thanks for the laughs (two of them!!!))
Just got home from a trying day and I needed that! (Those, actually.)
Brachiator
@Martin:
Sweden and Norway are just two examples. USPS is getting too old and creaky to handle extra services. Also, for a time they were reducing USPS branches, making it less convenient for people to get to them.
Of course, a larger problem is that even traditional banks are reducing branches.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
A little early for BJ After Dark.
Qrop Non Sequitur
@Suzanne: The meritocracy inaction..
ETA: That moment when you like the typo better than what you intended to write originally
different-church-lady
@Kent:
I imagine it goes something like lowtechcyclist gets about 45 seconds into the explanation and then the cop screams, “WILL YOU PLEASE JUST TAKE THIS CRANK’S CASH??”
different-church-lady
@Baud:
I’m looking out my window and it’s deep gloaming, so don’t be a hard-ass here…
Qrop Non Sequitur
@different-church-lady: Violating store policy to keep someone happy is supposed to be the manager’s job.
@different-church-lady: Thanks for teaching me a new word. East coast, then?
Steve in the ATL
@lowtechcyclist: yes, but when your change is forty cents they give you four dimes instead the quarter, dime and nickel that you want.
Martin
@lowtechcyclist: All you’ve done is broken their rule until you walk out. Then you’ve broken the law. If you accidentally drop a $20 in the store, it’s still your $20. The store can hold your $20, even taking custody of it, without taking possession of it.
You’re demanding that the store take possession of your cash. That’s your rule. Understand it was also a rule that you could hand over a roll of stamps of equal face value, and many stores would take it. Government issued with dollar value attached – how is a $1 stamp different from a $1 bill? You could hand them Canadian currency, or gold bullion.
There are also stores that take scrip, and only scrip. Not as many as there used to be, but you probably have as many transactions at Starbucks in their scrip as you have in cash. There are a lot of rules out there. But the law says you can’t walk out the door unless both parties agree. You need to meet their rules and they need to meet yours. Everyone has veto power in a transaction.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: There’s no sale until they take your money. Until then the items don’t belong to you.
Martin
@Steve in the ATL: The 4 dimes are lighter, btw. 9g vs 13g, roughly.
Baud
@Martin:
Did you just use metric weights to describe American money?
Steve in the ATL
@Martin: AND YET I WANT THE QUARTER!
/different-church-lady
Alison Rose
@geg6: I don’t like kids and have never enjoyed spending much time in their presence, but I also will do whatever I am able to try to protect trans kids and others from bigots. But that does not include shaming parents who — and I don’t know how many times this has to be said to you — MAY NOT BE ABLE TO MOVE. For many reasons. Have you heard of poor people? Disabled people? People caring for elderly relatives? People with slim job prospects? And so on. Why don’t you tell us what YOU are doing, tangibly, to help these kids? To help defeat Republicans in Florida? To help educate voters about the dangers of harmful bills?
Stop acting like you’re the only person here with sense and the rest of us are gleefully flinging children into the lion’s den. JFC.
different-church-lady
@Baud:
NARRATOR: “And that was the moment the thread went critical…”
Martin
And in fairness, that’s exactly how it should go.
Cashless business legality should be a subset of guaranteed banking access. If you don’t have the latter, the former should be illegal. Easy problem for the government to solve. No reason to put that burden on the voters. It’s in their best interest to have an efficient economy.
Alison Rose
@geg6: Good God. Tell me — do you have to take a running leap to make it up onto that high horse? You’re not even using the term Cassandra correctly, for Pete’s sake.
pat
OK, probably a dead thread, but really bothers me is that no one knows the difference between “it’s” and “its.” Including some BJers. If you can’t replace it with IT IS, do not use IT’S.Now back to the comments.
Oh, and many thanks to my 10th grade English teacher!! Do they still teach English in high school?”
eta: not so dead after all. And WHAT bothers me…. (long day)
different-church-lady
@Steve in the ATL:
Your mockery is appropriate — there actually have been times I’ve conspired my tender in order to get the parking meter quarter I need in return, and they don’t have any quarters in the drawer!
different-church-lady
@pat:
I just wanna know why ‘weird’ violates i before e except after c. ‘Weird’ is weird!
different-church-lady
@pat:
School… like they still have even that.
different-church-lady
@pat:
The thread isn’t dead until I comment on it tomorrow morning.
Martin
@Baud: Yep. Fuck Imperialism! You’re an imperialist! Go conquer Africa if you love ounces so much!
So, I was so bad at imperial measurements and got so good at conversion in chemistry class that to this day I still generally convert imperial measurements to metric, do my math, and convert back. Honest to god it’s usually faster for me. I also usually think in metric – I’m more likely to think that something weighs about half a kilo than a pound. Not always – it’s weirdly situational. Studying physics just reinforced all of that.
pat
@different-church-lady:
Weird is weird. That’s your answer.
Brachiator
@lowtechcyclist:
RE: However, I have noted that some younger people who work counters do not know how to make change.
Cash registers are getting smarter. But I was at some store where I gave the clerk an amount that would return 50 cents, because I wanted two quarters. The clerk just froze and didn’t understand the transaction.
It was almost as funny as the situation where I realized that the person behind the counter could not tell time using regular (non digital) clocks.
As an aside, the local public radio station has a segment asking if we should still teach kids to write cursive.
The times, they are a changing.
Cameron
These retailers who won’t take cash – would they dare refuse the trillion-dollar platinum coin?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The trick is getting through to the people would no more vote for Marge Greene than they would trump, but don’t get that a vote for Brian Fitzpatrick or Mike Lawler is as good as. If I could figure that out, I’d be making Axelrod money.
different-church-lady
@Brachiator:
The kids have to learn at some point. Be patient, and take satisfaction you are a small part of improving their ability to move skillfully through a confusing world.
I am having increasing experiences where the youngs see me writing in my journal and marvel in a positive way over my cursive. Sometimes it’s the only good thing about my day.
Timill
@Cameron: They’d take it, but they couldn’t make change…
trollhattan
OneThe only way to get FBI Biden home document search off the top of the fold: find nuttin’.cain
@Martin:
Grown up problems need grown up solutions – we are not going to be seeing anything here because you have 20 hard liners who don’t give a shit about all of that – they’ll see CA as a ‘blue state’ and act accordingly.
ETA sorry this was not a useful comment :/ My point though is that this requires hard work and debate and understanding the situation so that everyone can benefit. But it just frustrating that we cannot even invest in a debate because that’s not where we are right now.
eclare
@pat: People who type quickly may know the difference but spell mis-check adds the apostrophe. My phone adds an apostrophe pretty much every time I type a word that ends in “s”, it is very annoying. I wish I knew how to turn it off.
pat
OK, looks like we are in Kids These Days territory. I drove home this late afternoon, passed a high school, stopped for a kid in a dark coat with his furry hood up, walking across the street (in the pedestrian crossing) not paying a bit of attention to me, thumbing his phone all the way. Just trusting that a car would see him and know that it was a pedestrian crossing, I guess.
Actually I often see even college kids do exactly the same. Thumbing the phone on the way across the street.
Cameron
@Timill: They might have to install crypto ATMs.
UncleEbeneezer
@Alison Rose: THIS! It takes a lot of privilege to be able to pick up and move to another state. We can applaud/support those who can, without shaming those who can’t. And most can’t, for a whole host of reasons.
trollhattan
@Cameron: Is said clerk named “Andray Aulpay?”
different-church-lady
Here, let me dump some water on this magnesium fire:
trollhattan
A little hand reaches out and grabs your wallet, tells you to wait there for the authorities.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Boris Johnson, who is, for some reason, doing a Netanyahu-ish tour of Republican legislators’ offices and parties, is amazed and appalled to learn that so many people are afraid of a person called Tucker Carlson.
different-church-lady
@pat:
There truly is no age categorization for that. Youngs, olds, middles… not even hours ago my brain did a, “Sir I have no idea how you lived so long” moment as a gray-haired gentleman performed the very same action you have described. Self-centered and unaware is forever.
CaseyL
@Martin:
Do you read Terry Pratchett*? His novel Making Money talks about that…quite a bit. (Brief bg: Story takes place in Ankh-Morpork, the biggest city-state on Discworld. The guy put in charge of the Mint was previously in charge of the Postal Service, which is the story of the novel Going Postal..and before that, he was a con man. Which the Patriarch – i.e., ruler – of Ankh-Morpork was totally aware of when he gave him the Postal Service job, and the Mint position.).
*If not,
why the hell notyou should.Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That is indeed the trick. I don’t think it’s necessarily something Dems can do with messaging except on the margins, but maybe Republicans can fuck their own brand by elevating braying numpties like Greene, Gaetz, etc. I wish them godspeed!
Geminid
@Baud: Nickels weigh 5 grams each, and are a handy way to check the accuracy of scales.
Don’t ask me how I know.
Suzanne
@pat: I see grown-ass adults wearing dark clothes, at night, and in poor weather with low visibility….running across the street. I don’t fucken get it. WTF.
different-church-lady
@Geminid:
Every A-frame had your number on the wall?
Jackie
@eclare: “These ones” do the same.
Betty Cracker
@Alison Rose: & @UncleEbeneezer: IMO, people who theoretically have the means to move and choose to stay and fight for their home instead shouldn’t be accused of not loving their children, FFS. It’s an unhinged accusation.
different-church-lady
@Suzanne: It really does seem like every day I drive a vehicle I encounter at least one person who would be dead if hadn’t been paying attention.
different-church-lady
@Jackie:
Ah yes, the ever-popular plural singular!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@different-church-lady: Well played!
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ha!
Did you happen to see the Russian TV show clip in the last week, where they were threatening America and Americans in general, then took the time to say “Except Tucker Carlson” while showing his picture?
It’s all just so….
Martin
@cain: Which is why CA is pushing the way they are. Taking Vegas off of the excursion map gets everyone’s attention in a way that rising broccoli prices hasn’t.
I wish I wasn’t rewarded so often for being an accelerationist, but the nation has insisted on it. The fastest way to solving the CO river problem is to make the problem bigger. That’s what CA is doing. Understand that CA doesn’t want to see Vegas residents suffer, but there are two ways to prevent that – one requires Congress and the other requires making the long term problem worse.
CA isn’t trying to make Vegas residents suffer, Congress is – it’s their laws. It’s not California’s job to be the only responsible party here.
Mo MacArbie
I ran a register at the grocery store many years ago, so many years ago that we would look at price tags and type the numbers in. For hours. It’s a pretty mind-deadening shift.
Every now and then, someone would want to give me a certain amount of cash to get their change in the desired form, but they wouldn’t think of it until they had already given me enough money, and I had then typed it in. “Oh, here’s $2.63 more.” So, after the long, stupefying hours, I was being asked to think.
Let met tell you, it can take a little while to raise a spark up there in those circumstances.
And I never counted change back. That shit’s been dead for decades.
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: LOL
Steve in the ATL
@Timill:@Cameron: think of all the quarters you’d get back!!!!
Steve in the ATL
@pat: good thing you weren’t driving a Tesla!
munira
@Amir Khalid: So do I. Pedants unite.
schrodingers_cat
@MisterDancer: As someone who has moved across continents and several states, moving is not easy. It is painful and gut wrenching. Every time you move you leave a piece of yourself behind.
* I have moved 8 times.
Alison Rose
@Betty Cracker: Agree 100%
Suzanne
@different-church-lady: In Phoenix, lots of the arterial roads have medians and “suicide lanes”. At least once a week, I would see someone in a wheelchair or with a mobility device (crutches, knee walker, etc) jaywalking and stuck on the median or lane, having gotten halfway across.
WTF.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: Is the WTF for the people who are stuck? Or for the roads allowing for that?
sab
@schrodingers_cat: Not having done that, I would think moving between states as an immigrant would be especially wrenching. You work so hard to establish ties, and then you cut them and start over.
I have moved a lot with my family as a child, but all in the US. When I was young it was wrenching. So many new friends lost. Always a new accent to learn. When I was a young adult it was interesting. Sort of long term tourism. But I had a home town with 4th or 5th generation roots to hopefully return to. Which I did, twenty years later.
But I had ties and a prosperous family. I cannot imagine moving elsewhere with no connections and little money. I have friends who did it and I am in awe. They mostly succeeded, but I am sure I wouldn’t have.
different-church-lady
@Suzanne: Well, being older and having many body parts starting to make squeaking noises, I can understand the desire to shave off every step possible. Because my job requires me to be on my feet a lot, I’ve had frequent periods this year when just waking anywhere is been painful, so the idea of going all the way to the corner is pretty unappealing.
But on the flip-side, I jaywalk a lot. (It’s Boston, we’re just kamikazes on shoes.) But for me it’s always been with the understanding that (a) I have to pay attention and (b) I can bolt if I’ve misjudged things.Well… about (b)… there’s so much bad shit going on in my lower extremities lately that more than twice in the past few months I’ve gotten about halfway across a street and been given a serious reminder that my parts aren’t aligning correctly. I’m left thinking, “Wait, I can’t do this any more. My hip is going to pop and I’ll be in a heap in front of an oncoming vehicle. I have to adjust.”
And it’s like, “Yeah… that’s what old age is. Thinking about every last little physical movement ahead of time. Great.”
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
The times, they are a changing.
As they always have been and will be.
Also.
I’ve moved over half way across the country to a different state, and then back a bit over a decade later but about 400 miles away from where I grew up and once again live. And no it isn’t cheap nor always easy. I moved east for a job and back west because of that same job. And I understand both sides in the move argument going on in this thread. It isn’t cheap to up end your life and move a couple thousand miles. But at the same time it isn’t always easy to just pick up and move, especially depending on what you do for a living and how much money you have or can spare. And it almost always requires a job for most people on the other end, unless they have an extremely good reason for leaving. Leaving for kids would be a pretty good reason in my mind, but. Would the family want to go? Can we afford it? (Can we afford not to?) Do I have a job on the other end? Do I/we have a place to live? Do I/we know anyone where we move to or is it starting all over? Etc, Etc. And it’s going to be different for everyone. Wanting to move is the easy part, and having done this, twice, I know how difficult it was. That said, if I lived in a rethuglican state that was fucking with my kids lives, I’d really want to move and would at the very least consider it long and hard.
schrodingers_cat
@sab: All my moves except the first one have been in the US except for the one when I came to the US. The last two were within MA. And all the moves within the US were in the northeast and the mid-Atlantic region
jackmac
@sab: It can go both ways. I’ve had one Aussie with a tail and my current good boy does not.
sab
@different-church-lady: I feel like I am a fairly healthy older adult, but my hands hurt all the time, so I may have to cut back on cast iron, and my knees hurt up and down stairs, and my shoulder hurts on nights I have to wrestle the pitbull for the blanket.
For us lucky ones the pain creeps in. For others it hits earlier. For my husband after his back surgery is in agony on many days just walking around the block. He pretends it’s okay but I hear his breath hissing with every step. And the back surgery helped a lot
ETA My grandmother used to say she loved to jaywalk until her knees declined.
Geminid
I just heard some interesting news concerning George Santos, on WTOP out of DC. One especially appalling Santos story was how he raised money through a Go FundMe account to help a veteran get an operation for his cancer-afflicted dog, and then kept the $3,000 raised. Tonight’s report was that the veteran says that FBI agents interviewed him about the matter recently.
Ruckus
@different-church-lady:
Don’t have any idea how old you are, AND I AM NOT ASKING, but as a geezer I fully understand. And I live in a seniors apt complex, one has to be over 55 to live here. I’m a
tadlarge bit above that. The oldest person I know is 96, there aren’t many under 60-65.No matter how hard one tries, everything gets a bit harder the older you get, never easier. But actually the hardest part is still giving a shit, because that’s a human trait that varies a lot from person to person. Oh well. And from October 2017 till October 2019, 14 people I know, passed away. Only one of them was older than me and that by only 1 yr. Life isn’t fair, often isn’t easy, but it’s better than the alternative.
CaseyL
I was a nomad in my late teens through mid-20s, when it’s considerably easier: everything I owned fit into a couple of suitcases, and my emotional attachment to places (and, for that matter, people) was similarly scant.
I kind of still have a nomad’s soul. Anyplace I travel to, I think about moving there, what it would be like. As much as I love and appreciate where I’m at, I still kind of feel a tug toward Terra-Incognito-to-me.
But I realize that is an uncommon personality trait. Just about anyone is better at rootedness than me.
delphinium
@CaseyL: Yeah, have moved over 30 times and have always felt restless, even when I am enjoying where I am.
whatsleft
@Betty Cracker:
as a Florida elementary media specialist (with now grown kids who were raised in Florida public schools), I am alertly awaiting the opportunity to file a wrongful termination lawsuit, just like I got a hate-filled high school teacher who was persecuting my youngest to retire with a blemished record. I stand for the kids – ALL of them, and will never let the bullies win.
WaterGirl
@whatsleft: That’s inspiring. I hope Betty Cracker sees your comment.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
Very true. I would not breezily advise someone to move. I also am partially retired from the “giving advice” business, altogether.
One thing I’ve learned. Just because something seems easy to me does not mean that someone else sees it that way, even if we both have similar understanding of an issue.
lowtechcyclist
@Martin:
The stamp doesn’t say that it’s legal tender for all debts, public and private. People can agree on other media besides U.S. currency to pay each other what they owe each other. The Federal currency has a special legal status: if someone owes you money and tries to pay it in dollars and cents, and you refuse, that’s your problem, not theirs.
So do I owe them money at that point, or not? If not, cool. If so, they’ve got to take my money as payment of the debt. That’s what the money itself says.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl:
A bit of both.
Phoenix’s roads are deadly. (Literally — a friend on mine was killed on her bike last year.) They are wide and flat and straight, with long vistas, and there are very few traffic-calming strategies. It is car culture, all the way. 100%. For a while, the deadliest stretch of freeway in the country was there… I have driven that stretch of highway many times, and I remember realizing that I was going 90mph, and it absolutely did not feel like it. It is like that almost everywhere there. I remember my MIL visiting once, and she said, “The speed limit here is just a suggestion, isn’t it?”
Those arterial streets (usually at least 6 lanes) are not safe to jaywalk if you can’t run. It is 100% unwise to attempt it.
Suzanne
@different-church-lady:
Most of Boston’s streets are much safer to jaywalk than the big arterials I’m talking about.
lowtechcyclist
@Martin:
This makes total sense to me. I’m pretty good at ounces and pounds and quarts and all that crap, but it’s always been obvious that metric measurements make more sense.
Never really bothered me that much, though, until I tried explaining our weird systems of measurement to my son when he was little. Just thinking about explaining them to him drove me nuts. It’s a crazy system, and it’s too bad we can’t just raise the next generation on liters and kilograms and so forth. With metric, all the arithmetic is simple, and all the pieces fit together.
Juju
@Alison Rose: my personal pedant is when whenever is used when when should be used. 😜
glc
@WaterGirl: Or people who like walking, which is not necessarily the same thing. Or possibly, I suppose, people who like pedants.
WaterGirl
@glc: Ha! These two people walked a lot because they were happy to walk.
J R in WV
@lowtechcyclist:
Late to this post,, but WTF, i’m allways last… Took the SUV to get an oil change the other day. Was driving home on the 4-lane after, noticed I was going 117 — amazeballs !!! But it was KPH, so only 12 kph over the limit. Car displays both your current land speed an?d the local speed limit, There is a button/rod on the dash that turns up and down the dash lighting. Who knew that if you push it you switch from mph to kph
Paul in KY
@Rileys Enabler: Your partner is a cool customer. So glad they and anyone else was unhurt!
Kayla Rudbek
Paul in KY
@Ruckus: He wanted to rule like a French monarch, with no pesky Parliament, etc.
Paul in KY
@geg6: Your solution is flippant to those who are entangled in FL.
Paul in KY
@different-church-lady: Assuming lowtechcyclist is white. Unfortunately it might go the other way if he’s dusky, sad to say.
Paul in KY
@J R in WV: I think I’m more laster than you :-)