Catch up on the earlier Chapters: 1, 2, 3
(click to enlarge images)
Day 5
The next morning I discovered the last indignity from the motel. There was no hot water. Not even a drop. I had to settle for washing my pits and crotch and using clean clothes to face decent society.
Having seen the results of the dinner buffet, I wasn’t expecting much for the breakfast buffet and my pessimism was correct. Same bored guy behind the counter took my breakfast order. I took the opportunity to re-check the board for the cavern tours and was pleased to discover that I had mis-read it; the $50 tour was for another area and the standard tour was only $20, and I even got a discount for AAA when I bought the ticket. The cavern tour made up for all of the hassles that I had endured with the motel and restaurant. It was simply magnificent.
I was almost solo with my attractive tour guide but at the last minute a family from somewhere in Eastern Europe joined us. I can usually pick out a language (even though I cannot speak it) from its sounds and a few vocabulary words that I can recognize. I never knew for sure but they sounded Slavic to me.
Like Carlsbad Caverns the entrance to the cave was not the original entrance. An elevator took us down (and back up), followed by a walk of a mile or so. It is a “dry” cave (unlike Carlsbad) and therefore has a different sort of cave formations. The walk also took us by the old Civil Defense fallout shelter and a hotel room located 250 feet below the surface. Our guide said that she had spent her honeymoon there and the total darkness and total silence was actually too much to take! They had to turn on a nightlight in order to remain the night!
I finished the tour around mid-morning and resumed my trip on US-66. Someone, I’m guessing the Tourist Bureau from the Seligman area, has sponsored a series of signs along the road, similar to the Burma Shave signs of the past. I thought that this was a clever way to promote the historic road. There is a lot of interest nowadays for the promotion of US-66 of bygone days, as my trip was discovering. I think that Americans are missing a lot of their heritage by blasting by on the limited-access Interstate Highway. A forgotten America still exists on the back roads that is not part of the Interstate Exit conglomeration of chain motels and fast food restaurants.
At Seligman I climbed back on the freeway to deal with the truck traffic.
I took the exit to drive through Ash Fork, as the road had diverted in the past. I had not remembered the Ash Fork was famous for its stone quarries, particularly shale and flagstone. Most of the houses in town were made of stone and many of them looked to be quite old.
I wanted to see the statue that Winslow had erected of the guy “standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona” and missed it on the westbound trip so I exited the freeway and drove through the town in the other direction
I recall hearing the refrain, “Spend the night in a wigwam!” ever since I was a child. One of the few remaining authentic Wigwam Motel ™ franchises was located in Holbrook Arizona and, since I was committed to doing the “tourist thing,” I reserved a wigwam. I am so glad that I did.
The original design was from the 1930’s and the park in Holbrook is one of three remaining in the country. The layout is quite clever with a surprisingly large bedroom and a bathroom with shower at the rear. The park has numerous old cars parked at nearly every room, adding to the nostalgic flavor of the place.
As I sat in the lengthening shadows of my last night on the road I used my cell phone to call my buddies who were gathered for our weekly poker game. A bit later I was finally got to visit with some neighbors who were having a little party in the parking lot. We chatted for a few minutes, then they moved on to a party downtown and I moved on to my bed in the wigwam.
Day 6
I had breakfast where the locals eat, Joe & Aggie’s Place. All that one could ask for, large helpings of terrific food and a bottomless pot of coffee.
In the parking lot there was a family of foreign tourists apparently taken by my motorcycle. When I walked up in my leather chaps and vest they were enthralled. The husband asked if I would pose with their children and I suggested putting the son on my bike for the photo. It looked like the daughter wanted her picture taken, too, (and I would have been glad to oblige) but I think that the parents felt that they were putting me out by the photo op. Hell, I didn’t care, it was fun being thought of as “an American biker.” I got an extra internal kick from knowing that my Harley-riding friends would be in distress by the foreigners being impressed with a biker on a Japanese bike.
After my encounter with Stogie I looked for other motorcyclists to ride with. On the way back I caught up with a fellow on a Honda 350. I held with him for a few miles, but he was traveling much slower than I wanted to so I said, “See ya” and went on. At Continental Divide I stopped at the Stuckeys for fuel and, upon leaving, encountered my friend on the Honda. We stopped for a few minutes to chat and then I went on.
To avoid the truck traffic on I-40 and to bypass Albuquerque I planned my trip across the reservation from Gallup through Crownpoint to Cuba. Again, wonderful scenery on a two-lane blacktop with no traffic. The road meanders from small town to town as it winds toward Cuba.
I was only a few miles away and had the lunch from El Bruno’s on my mind as I followed the Rio Puerco into town. Suddenly my reverie was interrupted by the impact of an insect on my exposed neck and the instant application of pain. I had run into the business end of a bee and the sting was rapidly swelling. I’m pretty sure that I’m not allergic to bee stings but I was still worried that the swelling might cause my windpipe to close. Fortunately the pain and swelling subsided in a bit and I was able to enjoy my lunch.
After spending the night again with Bruce I headed east toward home. The trip back was uneventful until I arrived back on my home turf in Albuquerque. I hit the freeway at the peak of rush hour. I had heard horror stories about the horrible traffic jams in Los Angeles, yet the worst traffic that I encountered was right in my home town!
I pulled into home right at dinner time. The family came out to greet me and hugs were liberally spread around. As I had been riding the hard saddle of the dirtbike almost non-stop my first words upon arrival were, “My butt hurts!”
I was home.
The last leg of the trip was in sight. A while back my uncle sent me a copy of a column from a motorcycle magazine where the author gave tips about road trips. One of the tips was a reminder that the last day of the trip is still part of the trip and one should not hurry the finish. A suggestion was to stop at the local bar on the way home and savor the trip just before it is over. I stopped at Los Ojos for a beer and found some folks to listen to my tales before heading up the hill for the last 20 miles.
I was home.
We’re notorious for failing at this step. By the time my wife and I are on the last day of the trip we’re already mentally napping on our couch in flannel pajamas waiting for the luggage to unpack itself. Inevitably, we’ve sped straight past four or five places that we passed at the beginning and said, “Hey, we should stop there on the way back!”
When I walk up on a small child with leather chaps on, parents call the police.
I should probably wear pants as well when I do that. And take off the gimp mask.
Great story, man. I’ve loved every chapter.
Great stuff, Hobbit. A good story, well told.
A suggestion was to stop at the local bar on the way home and savor the trip just before it is over.
What an excellent idea. We don’t really do road trips, per se, but I like this idea for any trip. Before you get sucked back into the mundane routine, take a moment to reflect.
Road trips are great. Especially living in a country as large as the US, where there’s a whole crapton of things you’re never going to see without wandering off the beaten trail of airport hopping.
We just don’t travel much. We’ve put a lot of money, time, and energy into making our home a place we don’t want to leave.
*shrug* Whatever suits you. I don’t want to do that, because my eventual goal is to leave New York.
I also find I have an easier time talking to people on the road. It may be that if I screw up, I’m unlikely to see that person again, so the mistake won’t come back to haunt me.
I’m mostly the same way, but doing so here in NoVa means shelling out millions.
I enjoy road trips, but I’m quite the homebody. Getting over the hump and motivating myself to plan the trip is the hard part.
I read it as Ojos Locos, not Los Ojos. Plenty to reflect on there.
OT: Pussy privilege.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-news-woman-hangs-toddler-avoids-prison-20180717-story.html
If she’s out of prison, that means the kid’s father can get to her. Just sayin’.
Not only attempted murder, but traumatic injury to a cyclist and striking two other vehicles in her getaway, one driven by a pregnant woman. Even if you can somehow wrap your head around hanging a toddler almost to death, how do you rationalize the rest of it?
Oh, abused. Victims have no autonomy, they’re skinpuppet people driven by their neuroses.
You, as a penile-American, try doing this and make her argument. Have fun in the poky for the next 25 years.
I’m okay with this decision. On the condition Judge Quam volunteers his kids or grandkids to be be placed under Ms. Karia’s daycare.
Bad threading fail!
The Late wdalasio?
OT: If this driver had simply refused to give them service, I’d be fine with it. People should be free to decide who they want to do business with. But, that isn’t what happened. He agreed to do business with them and then left them out at some random gas station. Frankly, I would not cry too hard if Uber was left on the hook providing each of them free fare for a year. On Lyft. If they’re not willing to discipline the driver, one can only assume his behavior was consistent with company policy,.
From the sidebar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_sWLGAKVmo&t=5s
Funny, though I suspect it was edited.
He agreed to do business with them
Break a deal, face the wheel.
“left them out at some random gas station”
Law Glibs: aside from the civil lawsuit that’s almost certainly going to come out of this, is this potentially criminal?
The Law Glibs are busy quoting Tina Turner.
Couldn’t really say. Shouldn’t be (absent something extraordinary), but damn near everything is a crime these days, so who knows?
I’ve heard of kidnapping being applied when somebody is intentionally driven to the wrong place, but that seems a bit extreme.
OT: I mean, this sucks and all, but if he had been found with booze in his system (also legal) it would result in the same thing. The argument that pot remains in your system for days or weeks seems specious to me since I would think you accept that risk when you smoke it in the first place.
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/investigations/crushed-loveland-ski-workers-legal-marijuana-use-costing-widow-thousands-in-benefits
That would only be true if the tests for alcohol could tell that I was drinking sometime in the past 30 days, instead of the past 12 hours or so.
I don’t think its entirely specious. What should matter is intoxication or impairment at the time the accident happens. Maybe the legal test isn’t really that, but is presence of certain compounds in your blood. That’s not a bad proxy for impairment when you’re talking alcohol, but its a terrible proxy for pot. Why should she be penalized because there is a terrible proxy for impairment, and not good evidence he was actually impaired at the time? Yeah, he took the risk that he would get fucked by a bad law, but I have hard time shrugging off an apparent/possible injustice because the law sucks.
I used to work with a guy who got pretty well screwed on a workman’s comp claim. He’d been passenger in a rollover accident in a delivery truck. The hospital tested him afterward and he came up clean. He didn’t want to take the opiates they gave him for the broken, so he smoked instead. The next day the company insisted on another test and nailed him for pissing dirty.
^broken bones
The article says that they found THC in his blood; assuming that’s accurate, he was high when he died. While metabolites of marijuana can be detected long after consumption, THC specifically is broken down pretty quickly, with negligible amounts being present in the blood after 3 hours. Again, aiming the reporting is accurate and they found large amounts of THC in his blood he had been smoking shortly before he died, and while he was on the clock.
If it really was THC and not just metabolites, that changes things.
Without the actual details of the test used along with the specific results of it I’m inclined to believe that the reporter just used THC because that’s the one chemical everyone knows is in marijuana. However, lacking hard evidence either way I’ll side with the court.
I dunno.
Colorado law allows state workers’ comp companies to cut benefits by 50-percent if tests return positive for marijuana or any other controlled substance.
“As it stands now, with a positive test result, an employer has the right to reduce those benefits,” said John Sandberg, an administrative law judge with Colorado’s Department of Labor.
Still looks like it could be bad law, if metabolites are treated as a positive test for marijuana (as they are in many, many other settings). The judge most likely properly applied the law as written, though.
“he had been smoking shortly before he died, and while he was on the clock”
Not implausible for a ski area worker.
I hadn’t visited the site for my local paper in a while.
I should not have gone back. It was full of frothing stupid over the Janus decision (Yes, still. Albany is a Company Town for the State Government).
What about our fuckwit of a governor trying call a special session of the Senate to grandstand on abortion?
As if New York is going to criminalize abortion if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned.
A lot of times, laws overturned by courts are just left on the statute books. They have to be repealed by the legislature to be taken off the books. A lot of times, that doesn’t happen because why bother if the law is already inactive. So its possible that some states still have abortion laws on the books that would “snap back” into action if Roe were overturned.
New York legalized abortion in 1970.
Karla Marx is eager to tell you that she has a bachelor’s degree in economics, and here she uses that knowledge to explain why unemployment is low.
Is Karla Marx the one we agreed on? I don’t want RC mad at me!
Commie Barbie is proof that degrees don’t mean shit.
I don’t care that she isn’t blonde. “Math is hard” barbie is an adequate representation of her skill set.
“Math is hard, let’s start the worker’s revolution”?
In true libertarian fashion, we declined to agree.
Degreed economists often disagree, so the degree can’t be the vital element. Indeed: it’s not part of the argument at all.
You’re getting bogged down in details, Don. My only point was that it’s funny that this rather dim bulb touts her fucking bachelor’s degree while showing an inability to grasp very simple concepts.
Sure….wasn’t gunning for you. I’m amused, not bogged: haven’t followed her at all. I’m merely agreeing that it’s not relevant.
Except the crap she’s spouting is stuff even left-of-center economists would be embarrassed to offer up. She’s either a complete moron or a class-A con artist.
Based on her floundering during the interview on Israel, I’m leaning toward “complete moron”. A class A con artist can bluff their way out of that kind of thing.
Yep. A callow, not particularly bright woman who can’t do much more than spout Marxist slogans.
Relax, she has years of Democrat back-bencher status ahead of her to develop the skill set. She’ll be another Auntie Maxie before you know it.
This is funny especially since Glenn Greenwald offered up this exact argument in total seriousness earlier today.
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1019185978324512768
“She’s definitely an idiot, but we should be patient and supportive with her until she matures into a useful idiot.”
Glenn has a huge blindspot when it comes to socialism, like Godzilla huge.
“Yep. A callow, not particularly bright woman who can’t do much more than spout Marxist slogans.”
Turns out that when you get a bachelors by spewing back what a 26 year old TA thinks is true, then you don’t know how to do anything but spew back what a 26 year old TA thinks is true.
I took a class once. Professor had a PhD from Georgetown in International Relations. She somehow managed to obtain particular sheepskin that without ever learning what the Monroe Doctrine is.
“Professor had a PhD from Georgetown in International Relations. She somehow managed to obtain particular sheepskin that without ever learning what the Monroe Doctrine is”
That is downright embarrassing.
Must have learned history from Dave Barry:
“That is downright embarrassing.”
It was a surreal movement. Like, it’s one thing if you’re in a medieval history class with some guy who doesn’t know anything that happened after The Battle of Lepanto, or if you’re in a STEM class. Specialization is a thing.
But I think anybody with a PhD in International Relations from anywhere should be able to give a description of the Monroe Doctrine to at least the same level as a kid who got an A in AP US History. Let alone from Georgetown. It’s not exactly an obscure bit of trivia. It’s kind of a big driver and shaper of political and military events on two whole continents for 200 years.
I was always partial to She Guevara.
Her crazy eyes are a dealbreaker for me.
The attractive ones are often crazy.
It just doesn’t really work though unless you pronounce it “shay”.
Is she the new “MOST QUALIFIED CANDIDATE EVAH!!!!”?
Not yet. The old one hasn’t died.
*checks watch, drums fingers on desk*
Not too soon, one hopes. There’s still another bitter primary to look forward to.
So I think PBS decided to actually interview/question her seriously is that they’re desperate to try and prevent her from becoming the face of the New Dem Party. Party leaders and the DemOpMedia Complex realize that an overt Communist who’s as stupid as she is paints a big, juicy hammer and sickle shaped target on Dems across the country; something that doesn’t exactly play well in Deploraland where they have to try and defend vulnerable Senate seats.
Only if the Repubs are smart enough to start asking their opponents if they support their party putting a communist on the ballot. The press won’t do it, so I think the Repubs are going to have to.
Only if the Repubs are smart enough
Aw, christ, we’re fucked.
See this is something the Democrats do very well and the Repulicans have always failed at: make the Other Teams biggest nutjobs the face of the party. Yes, the media being on their side is a huge huge factor (the media is always asking Republican candidates gotcha questions on wedge issues), but they have excellent message discipline and understand the importance of defining your opponent on your terms. As soon as Todd Akin offered his opinions about rape, every Democrat candidate was running against Todd Akin, all across the nation.
Mao Zecunt
I like that one, Mao ZE Cunt
+a bunch
That’s not a terrible answer. It certainly does explain that everyone is working…Rufus.
Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs
I did not know they calculated the unemployment rate by dividing the total number of people by the total number of jobs.
As the NBC PSA says – “The more you know”
I calculate employment at 120% because at least 30% of the people I meet in the workforce are too dumb to breathe.
Didn’t run this one by the focus groups, did you, Mandalay?
Well now….that seems a bit obtuse.
My wife deals with corporate lawyers as part of her job. Some are good. Some are fucking morons. And a tiny handful are at cytotoxic levels of imbecility. These are the guys who fuck up major filings because case histories are too confusing and are convinced that any assertion made by an executive who has participated in fifty lawsuits and regularly reads every trade publication and thus who knows the law cold has to be wrong because the executive hasn’t attended law school let alone passed the bar.
These are the guys that my wife will make stay late so that she can read the law to them. And then whine when she refuses to pay for the time she made them stay out of her project budget (“Their cluelessness doesn’t give them a right to more of my money”)
And so, this level of obtuseness and stupidity does not surprise me.
I rely on non-lawyers to know their stuff, when they have shown me they do. We have all kinds of stuff with its own specific rules, and the directors often know their licensing or other requirements (our birth certificate staff are absolute masters of their game), I give them a lot of deference.
Доверяй, но проверяй.
The episode I am thinking of was pretty infuriating.
It was the night I proposed to my wife. She was two hours late getting home because of the fiasco. Guess what that did to my dinner reservations?*
Please don’t take what I wrote as a blanket condemnation of all in-house counsel. Most attorneys who spend ten years in-house of insurance companies know their jobs and the wisdom of listening. She had the misfortune to encounter two guys who didn’t.
*She said yes, and told her family that my proposal – the product of a hastily-improvised last-minute complete revision of my plans – was “incredibly romantic”… so it wasn’t the end of the world. But it still pissed me off.
It throws some more fuel on the weirdness fire, though. If the shooting and particularly the response to the shooting was kind of a nexus of complimentary fuck-ups of which the hotel is responsible for most, then trying to get ahead of possible lawsuits might be a least worst strategy type of thing.
If I was a casino, i’d have offered survivors $200k in chips and a free weekend stay. You’d probably get more than half of it back.
For 1000 people? you may need to knock a zero off, even with the odds on the strip.
$2B? What do you think their lawyers are going to ask for?
Took a look at that Mandalay article. Looks like there could be some forum shopping by Mandalay, and definitely an attempt to only litigate two lawsuits rather than hundreds or thousands. Bad PR, but not a bad legal strategy. And bad PR ain’t what it used to be; the frantic pace of the news cycle now and the ever-expanding memory hole mean that today’s horrible PR is tomorrow’s “who?”.
i have a good ‘cavern tour’ story.
i probably told it before.
what makes it funny is that we had no idea what we were in for, because it was 1992 and the place was basically some shitty rathole shack in the middle of nowhere in a country we didn’t really even care about being in, but then we were shoved underground via mining-elevator, and a scooby-doo episode ensued.
of course, it happened to be one of the ‘wonders of the world
‘ and we fortunately had plenty of hash, but no water and no warm-clothes.One of those places I keep thinking I might want to visit.
Then I remember it’s in Poland, a country whose primary language leads me to just keep thinking of the refrain “Fuck you, Poland” when trying to figure out how to pronounce anything.
It’s pronounced “D O Y O U S P E A K E N G L I S H?” You put the accent on everything.
Nah, it’s easier to hire a German Guide. Germans all speak English, and have a working knoweldge of how to navigate at least Western Poland.
a working knoweldge of how to navigate at least Western Poland.
And have for quite some time, I gather.
Pioneers in Polish Navigation
I was 18, no one spoke english, and i didn’t really have any problems
just wave your hands and point. it tends to work. i can still say, “Thank you” in polish, because i said it a lot then. Jencooyeah.
“HOW MUCH FOR SUCKY FUCKY?”
a 55-57 buick roadmaster convertible is somewhere on my bucket-list. i’d be satisfied with just a shell that i could restore.
That’s a late ’80s – early ’90 911 Turbo for me. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever have the coin to throw away on something like that.
OT: Time for deconstruction of vapid progressive yard signs!
“Love is love” – wut
“Science is real” – Define whatever the fuck you mean by “science” and how it could be “unreal”. I can only assume this refers to “climate change” the nature of and proper response to are still very much unclear. Is it really happening? If so, is it caused by human activity? If so, which activities and are they under our control? If so, can we accomplish the stated goals of the “climate movement” by changing these activities? If so, what are the costs associated with changing it? etc. etc. etc. before we get anywhere near a policy recommendation. Bonus points: “science” is a method of inquiry, not an object the reality of which is open to debate like, say, your social life.
“No human being is illegal” – Technically true, but a human being can commit actions that are illegal, such as improperly entering a country. The funny thing about laws is that there are methods and procedures to changing them. But if you’re unable to do that, it’s *just* as effective to spout meaningless bullshit slogans.
“Black lives matter” – I don’t believe there was ever an argument that they don’t, however your likely response to the phrase “all lives matter” shows that you are a brainwashed sociopath.
“Women’s rights are human rights” – again, wut
“Kindness is everything” – Chalk that right up there with “all you need is love” and “imagine” as completely useless, immature pablum that comes from childish wishful thinking rather than frank, critical thought about reality.
“Women’s rights are human rights” – again, wut
Only if you are truly asking only for equal treatment for women, and not for special privileges. Since what I see labelled as “women’s rights” are mostly special privileges, I think this is intentional obfuscation.
Alright, if kindness is everything and science is real, does that mean science is kind? “Everything” includes all things that are real, right?
i need to see pictures to believe people are so vapid as to put these signs in their yards.
I don’t.
I know two people people like that.
Wow, I screwed that up.
*I know too many people like that.
Two too many.
My mother was apparently on Facebook the other day commenting on Melania’s dress, along with a bunch of other idiot progs, all of whom are fat old women. Shockingly, they were calling Melania a slut, a tramp, and a whore.
#WeGoHigh
http://d317hpe4h9vlt8.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/A-sign-by-Kristin-Joiner-480×270.jpg
But what if you only believe some of the proggie shibboleths?
Then you are a heretic and will be burned just as the unbelievers are.
Yard sign? No.
Bumper stickers? I’ve seen some variant off all the above.
They are everywhere here in Proglandia, OR. I’m tempted to get some MAGA stickers made up and slap them on every one I see. But that might get expensive.
I had a great time in Portland. I was good to meet you.
Same here. Glad you enjoyed the trip.
There is a good supply of amusing MAGA stickers already out there, including Trump 2020 stuff.
I might have to get one of those “No Snowflakes” stickers.
The “Trump: Keep America Great 2020” sticker would be the trolliest, but the “45.2” marathon style sticker has a nice subtlety to it.
Chalk that right up there with “all you need is love” and “imagine” as completely useless, immature pablum that comes from childish wishful thinking rather than frank, critical thought about reality.
That’s just it. The overwhelming majority of the people putting up these signs were the “participation trophy kids” or their intellectual predecessors. They’ve never had to meet up to standards of genuine intellectual rigor and been told that their defecation, in fact, stinks. They’ve been able to coast through life spouting bumper sticker slogans and having what appeals to them be considered an acceptable answer.
It’s why, in a way, I can’t fault them their outrage. All their life they’ve been told that their feels are the gospel truth. Now, they want to see those feels translated to policy decisions and they can’t understand why anyone is saying “no” to them. And, after all, why would you say “no” to the gospel truth.
Somewhere along the line it went from “Democrats call Republicans racists because it helps them win elections, they didn’t actually believe it” to “Holy shit these people really do believe that the Flat Tax is simply slavery by another name”
Especially as the cities have become straight up progtopias…..like I don’t know exactly who is to blame for the Baltimore PD being out of control and murdering Freddy Gray, but I know that the six white Republicans who still live in Baltimore are not secretly running the show. But it is an article of faith among a pretty significant chunk of the country that the Ku Klux Klan is actually a thing that still wields power and not just in the backwoods, but like…..actually in real life. They think a lifelong New Yorker who’s spent 3 decades as a household name who nobody called a racist before 2015 is Bull Connor come again.
I know that the six white Republicans who still live in Baltimore are not secretly running the show
That’s what they want you to believe, shitlord.
IMO, it’s religious thinking. Their inner lives are so empty and so unmoored from any kind of spiritual underpinning that they replaced religion with politics. The answer to the age old question of how to live a virtuous life is filled with the stupidly simple answer of “whatever the party tells you”. To that end, anyone not towing the party lion is evil. I think most people know at least one kid growing up who was the product of a hardcore, unreformed, fanatically religious home. That kid goes around asking the other kids what church they go to and if it’s not the right one, they’re going to Hell. Think that but all grown up with politics taking the place of the church.
Here’s how it works. Putting a sign up that says “Black Lives Matter” shows people that you recognize the special challenges that people of color (or the spiritual inhabitants of black or brown bodies, presumably) face without your
having to translate that feeling into actionable policy that results in effective solutions to identified problemsdenying their lived experience by involving law or policy discussions, which are really just artifacts of privilege.“Love is love”
I take it that they are becoming more efficient at their circular reasoning by cutting out all the fluff in the middle.
“Kindness is everything”
Except, of course, government. Even a necessary and just government is unkind, such is the nature of the beast. This does not improve when a government becomes unnecessary or unjust.
“Love is love” – wut
I’ve mentioned it before, but when “Love wins” became a thing after Obergfell, I told people I was glad to see they were supporting plural marriage. After the expected huffiness, I went on to point out that gay marriage is now a thing because society thankfully no longer sees gay people as icky. Plural marriage, however, is believed in by those creepy fundy Christian types, and society still sees it as acceptable to hate on them. That argument really didn’t go down well.
No woman could ever want to marry a man except under duress, and that goes doubly (or triply, or quadruply…) for multiple women.
/fourth-wave feminist
“I wanted to see the statue that Winslow had erected of the guy ‘standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona'”. Well, was it a fine site to see?
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flat bed Ford.
I had a rough night and I hate the fucking Eagles, man.
Take it easy.
Sadly, looking for pictures of girls in flatbed Fords was rather disappointing.
Seriously, you all need to get yourself a Tequila Sunrise and embrace the peaceful, easy feeling.
Well, I know I’m already standing on the ground.
Everybody hates the Eagles.
Especially Ben Mcadoo
not everybody
My girlfriend wanted to see the Mr. Rogers bio pic so we went. And I spent the entire 90 minutes thinking; I wonder if he was a pedo? I think maybe he was a pedo or something. Cause who else wants to spend that much time with kids that aren’t his own. OTOH, he was married forever and had two kids. He was definitely a deeply damaged person; that much was clear. Interesting movie though.
My sense has always been perv. See also Norman Rockwell…
I’m trying to stop being such a cynic, so I’m working under the assumption that he was just a really nice guy who wanted to help children. I’ve met people like that, so I know they exist. Also, I don’t want to live in a world where everyone who does good or nice things is doing so to manipulate people or because of some perverse or diabolical motivation.
I agree with your sentiments and am not looking to diminish the contributions of either Rockwell or Mr. Rogers. I always become incensed when Charles Dodgson is mentioned, followed shortly by pedo. That said, if I had been Alice Liddell’s mother, no way she would have been allowed near that guy.
“He was definitely a deeply damaged person; that much was clear”
Yeah I’m sure Hollywood did a straight truth telling about a wholesome family man, devout Christian, and lifelong Republican.
It was actually an extremely positive portrayal of him. But he had some serious issues as well, in the sense that he clearly had an unhappy childhood and that impacted him to the end of his life. Even after all his accomplishments he dealt with a great deal of self-doubt.
A guy I knew in college actually grew up in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. His take was that he was just a genuinely really nice guy. My understanding is that he saw his work as sort of as childrens’ ministry (He was a Presbyterian minister. ), Sometimes good people are just that.
they got into all that. I think maybe I simply found him creepy and a bit detached from reality even in a positive portrayal. I’m having a hard time articulating why he got my dander up a bit.
People are wired differently: there are a great many people who genuinely enjoy children, without any hint of malevolence. That pedos are found in greater number among child services than in the general populace should not unduly color one’s opinion of the whole bunch.
Yeah I’m a guy who worked with kids for about a decade, and there’s an awful lot of people who look at you funny or even outright say weird shit or make accusations.
That’s fair. And I wasn’t trying to throw shade on anyone who works with kids. I’d never actually seen the show. I knew who Mr. Rogers is from general cultural knowledge, so the film was a bit of a weird experience for me.
Thanks to a band I hate (Weezer) covering a song that didn’t need to be covered, and SirusXM playing it on my way to work this morning. This Song is now stuck in my head.
Is it still in my head? No, because this freaking guy breaks it down so much, I never want to hear it again.
My first Call today, I’m replacing a Cap and checking the charge when up pulls Mr. Homeowner, ah Cool I think to myself, here’s the brains/cash of the house.
BERNIE 2016 Bumper Sticker on the Back of his car, now it matters not who I work for and he was a pleasant enough chap.
After I finished up and was leaving, I mentioned the Bernie sticker, and how it’s a shame the DNC screwed him over. He agreed and then went off on a genuine TDS rant,
I had never seen this in the Wild, Vile, Scum, Pox on the World!, truly unhinged. Then he calmed down and parted on good terms.
I never mentioned anything more than I was a Libertarian, The End
I know plenty of otherwise normal people who come mentally undone at the mention of Trump.
I also know plenty who keep their mouth shut and will be voting for him in 2020.
I was thinking about this on my way home yesterday. We do a pretty good job at my workplace of not talking about politics. But I can easily imagine it coming up, and somebody asking me what I thought (they have a pretty good idea I’m not on the squishy Dem plantation, unlike many others here).
If it happened, I think my reply would be that, in the current climate, I will not discuss politics because a lot of people are losing their jobs because of their political views, and I want to keep my job.
I was training a new guy at work and telling him some of the FCC rules we have to follow and how stupid they are. This guy then goes of on a tangent about Pai and NN. I just said ”It’s all a bunch of stupid rules, net neutrality was a bad plan to put the government in charge of the internet and the internet is doing fine without anyone in control.” And just kept working, he didn’t respond, so I don’t know if he was triggered or not.
Anybody who has worked in telecom (particularly anyone who has ever worked on the POTs system) should have realized from the start that net neutrality was a regulatory power grab from the start. The youth, not having experienced Ma Bell, have some excuse, no one else has any.
From the start I should have mentioned from the start. Did I say from the start?
Not at the beginning, no.
Or anyone who works with networking, or VOIP, or cloud services, or streaming, or…
I miss the old days before SlashDot went down the proggy hole.
I have found that a non-response or an indifferent one is triggering to some.
Sister “You know these charter schools don’t even have to comply with the state’s standardized testing?”
Me: “So?”
Sister: “…. …. …. SO!?”
i’m no HR guru but you obviously sexually harassed him.
The first time this happened was during Bush II’s reelection campaign (who I did not support nor vote for) when guys in the grad student lounge were talking politics. When I was asked who I was voting for my response was “My political beliefs are my own and I don’t share them.” I was not asked again.
i discuss neither politics nor religion at work.
I never mentioned anything more than I was a Libertarian
You mean you voted for Gary Johnson? You didn’t vote for Hillary? Not voting for Hillary is LITERALLY voting for TRUMP. WHY DID YOU VOTE FOR TRUMP YOU TREASONOUS PIECE OF SHIT?!
John Wick 3. I is happy.
I found 2 to be a bit of a letdown from 1, although still entertaining.
Probably going to see Equalizer II this weekend. I like Denzel in just about everything he’s done, and his killer-on-the-spectrum character in Equalizer was fun.
I found 2 to be a bit of a letdown from 1
Sequels generally suck. But 2 was worth watching even if not as good as the first. If 3 turns out anywhere between 1 and 2, I will be happy.
The first Equalizer was a pleasant surprise (I recorded it on some cable channel). Denzel is always worth a watch.
This made my chuckle.
John Stossel got much better looking.
https://hotair.com/archives/2018/07/17/developing-trump-speak-helsinki-2-pm/
Trump the weathervane…
Oops dead thread…
I’m glad you all enjoyed my story. I mentioned in Chapter 1 that I’m trying to develop my writing skills and doing this travelogue-style helps to hone it. Thank you all for your comments.
And many thanks to the Glibertarian staff for publishing and for all of the encouragement.
… Hobbit (and Mrs. Hobbit: 46 year anniversary next month)
Great story! Thanks!
And congratulations on you and your wife’s anniversary!