My prediction: Dateline August 2027. “OMG, I still haven’t done the will. Must renew for another year.”
House still not up for sale, because for everything that needs to be done to put it up for sale, something else has to be done first. And whatever that thing is, something else has to be done before that.
It’s classical mathematical recursion to infinity. The lifeblood of the procrastinator!
To pick a nit, back in the 700s, the Umayyad Caliphate did manage to conquer the Iberian Peninsular (Spain, Portugal) which were hitherto mostly Christian. The Christian population were ruled by Muslims, but allowed to continue in their religion, up until the Reconquista in about 1614 when the Muslims were eventually kicked out after their rule “balkanised” into smaller weaker kingdoms.
OTOH, the above is not in modern times, and I realise, not what you meant.
Well, for that matter, formerly Roman North Africa was largely Christian before the Muslim conquest.
Yeah, but first they conquer European countries in the 700s, then who knows what might happen next? They must be stopped at all costs!!!
I see this couple at the church dinners. I noticed she was pregnant. One day I see her at the transit center. Smoking.
I’m like, wtf?
Has she not talked to her dr? She looks 30 so not unaware of health risks.
I have read all of Miss Manners books many times over and know its rude to say anything.
Apparently shes due in Oct( her guy told me that, figured it wasn’t a rude question).
I was at a Walgreens for a minor purchase, and two things happened while I was checking out involving diapers that got me thinking.
The first was a couple with a small child who’d just entered. I didn’t look or listen closely to their conversation with the manager, but it sounded like they’d entered with their child wearing nothing on their bottom.
While this was going on, the woman behind me in line, perhaps because of the couple providing a distraction, speed walked out of the store with a package of diapers. The only one who saw this was the clerk checking me out, and she was older, so her voice didn’t carry well, so I don’t think the employees at the entrance heard her.
I have to admit, I instinctively thought negatively of both these situations, especially the shoplifter, but the more I thought about it, the less warranted my reaction seemed. The couple was likely desperate and unable to leave their child alone. The fact that the woman stood behind me in line for a while before making a break for the door, with a single package of diapers, suggests a spur of the moment decision made out of need, rather than scalping or something (though the existence of a secondary market for necessities like diapers and formula actually feeds into my point). For all I know, she had to fight instinct to walk out and save what might have been a precious twenty five or thirty bucks, her heart pounding a mile a minute. In that light, both of these things happening at the same time spoke volumes. And there are plenty of people who will happily assume the worst of both based on their appearance (if you know what I mean) and leave them to suffer and die.
I’m sure that current leadership, while not the sole factor in this demonstration of desperate need, isn’t helping. But damn if I know of a way forward that is politically feasible due to the people mentioned above. One small step at a time, I guess. And taxing billionaires.
TLDR: Was faced with symptoms of the failures of capitalism (or at the least the current American system), but had to get past some old fashioned prejudices first.
There’s a vast excluded middle between “I’m a pro thief supplying the black market” and “I’m a desperate parent where it’s steal to feed & clothe my kid(s) or they do without.”
Plenty of folks buy into the Robin Hood thought that shoplifting hurts nobody, and stretches their budget, and gives a finger to The Man.
No way to know which category these folks belong to. So it’s a rant-worthy situation for sure, but it unclear who ought to be ranted at.
Right? I see weird shit, I’m clapping my hands over my eyes. 
Or that she was waiting for the planned distraction to run out. Shoplifters often work in teams.
Yes, and when an organized mob of shoplifters plans a heist, one of the top items on their list is baby diapers, because they’e so easily fenced for large amounts of cash! 
That’s why diapers now have serial numbers, to help trace them once they hit the black market!
She probably needed them. I think the biggest money getter is cigarettes.
This is good thinking, but don’t wait until a seizure happens to treat hypoglycemia with a fast-acting carbohydrate (honey, maple syrup, or corn syrup, rubbed on the gums if they are lethargic). The risk of raising a blood sugar too high is not a big deal compared to the risk of letting it get too low.
This applies to humans (infants and toddlers, in particular) as well as pets.
mmm
I spent way more time this weekend than I think I should have, trying to buy British rail tickets for our upcoming UK trip next month. Boy is it confusing if you don’t know what you’re doing. Luckily I was able to figure out the system (more or less) before unnecessarily buying 2-3x more expensive tickets than we needed. And then I couldn’t get my credit card payment to go through, so we wound up using one of my wife’s cards which went through easy-peasy.
I’ve been looking forward to this trip but the closer we get, I’m starting to have nightmares about something going horribly wrong.
Uh yes. You are correct. One of the top stolen items sold on the black market are diapers.
No shit!
I thought it was laundry detergent
Detergent, razor blades, baby formula, diapers are some of the most highly lucrative items. Basically consumables people need/want that are sold at a very high markup in stores.
As the eminent philosopher M. Mathers put it, “Man, these goddamn food stamps don’t buy diapers.”
I have a personal flaw wherein my motivation to do a thing of inversely proportional to how important it is. I’m having a real hard time getting stuff done today, because too much stuff = paralysis. I had a meeting where a bunch more stuff got dumped on my plate.
And now some joker is firing guns outside and they had to call the police and we’re not permitted to leave. This is a DV shelter. We’re a little tetchy about such things. The last time this happened the guy claimed to be target shooting.
Our shelter is on a little road situated a ways back from a pretty densely populated area of metro Detroit. So it looks vaguely rural. Across the street there’s a little copse of trees that people seem to think is just perfect for all kinds of activities including target shooting. But it’s not a good area at all. There’s another building across the street full of government employees and we’re in the city so there’s really no safe place to fire a gun here.
Plus you don’t know if they’re lying. Abusers do all kinds of fucked up shit, and firing a gun outside the victims’ window to harass and intimidate is definitely within their repertoire.
… both of which involved small children & poop corralment. One needed it, and the other obtained it.
Could be related. 
And yes, EBT (“food stamps”) don’t cover a lot of necessities. They’ll cover most food items, but not toothpaste or toilet paper. So it pays for “IN” but not “OUT” which is, shall we delicately say, massively ironic.
That is wild to me. Diapers are so expensive.