[QUOTE=Mr Buttons]
One customer I know said, in all seriousness, that he was considering moving to China because he heard that’s where all the jobs were going. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Nevermind they pay about $.05/hour for the type of work he does here in the US (washing dishes).
[/QUOTE]
Now that’s fucking funny. I’m getting images of shipping boxes full of dishes being sent to China just to be washed and sent back clean. 
[QUOTE=Hello Again]
Baby is more than 4 weeks over due. They won’t go to a hospital because (paraphrased) “hospitals don’t respect women and will hurt my baby.” Gentle suggestions from other parents that mom & baby-to-be should get checked out medically are met with defensiveness and hostility. They are so sure they are in control of the process and know better than anyone. It’ll be 5 weeks overdue on friday.
[/QUOTE]
Former friends I’ve pitted for this at least once before;
11:10pm and their 2.5 year old son is throwing a temper tantrum. Slugs his father in the leg, throws a toy at the piano, slugs me in the leg. I say “He seems really tired, maybe you should put him to bed”. Mother says, in the most irritated tone possible “Pffft. He’ll just cry!” Innocently, I say “So?”
Mother pulls herself up to her full height, draws in a huge breath with eyes wide, then goes on a huge screaming rant. “I’m the mother of a small child. Therefore, I know everything I need to know about how to raise my child. You’re a single man with no kids. Therefore you don’t know anything about kids. Don’t you EVER tell me how to raise my child again!”
I kept my mouth shut, but this kind of thing and worse eventually destroyed our friendship.
That was Friday night. Monday morning, the father called me at 10am at my desk and interrupted an in-cube meeting I was having. The first words out of his mouth were to complain about how he’d just gotten to work, three hours late, because his son refused to go to bed the night before. I shocked my co-workers by screaming into the phone “You know, on friday night you guys had the nerve to tell me that I didn’t know anything about kids and you didn’t want me telling you how to raise your son. Well I don’t feel like hearing YOU complain about how you’re too goddamned STUPID to put a two and a half year old to bed!” and I slammed the phone down.
The next week the kid had a bed time. But it was over a year before they made any effort to actually keep the kid in bed if he didn’t want to go.
They refused to allow anyone to babysit for them. Her sister? Nope. The local kids who babysat for other parents? Nope. Because NO ONE knew enough to be with their child. :rolleyes:
Been seven years since I knew them. Their oldest should be 12 now. I wonder what kind of holy terror he is at school and in other people’s houses, since his mother refused to allow others to control her child even outside their house. And merely using the word “discipline” let to violent screaming about how they were not going to hit their children and didn’t want to hear others telling them to do it. Never mind any explanations to the contrary, you were a monster for suggesting it via that horrible word!
[QUOTE=Chimera]
John refused to cross the city line into Minneapolis for fear of being shot. Drive-by, stray bullet, mugging. Just total paranoia that this would be the natural outcome of him setting foot within the city limits. He would be shot, period. Had no fear of any of the suburbs, just Minneapolis proper.
[/QUOTE]
That’s just stupid. Minneapolis has always been the altar boy twin. It’s St. Paul he has to worry about.
I don’t mind people who have legitimate opinions about not wanting to vote for Barack Obama (policies, experience, party lines, etc.),
but when I see people quoted as saying “I just don’t trust him. Obama is just too close to Osama. And his middle name is Hussein!” I just want to shake the shit out of them. I feel sorry for campaign managers who’s job it is to sway these type voters.
[QUOTE=elucidator]
How very odd. Most men marry women who are smarter than they are.
[/QUOTE]
Then who do all the stupid women marry? Or are there really men out there who are more stupid than my SIL? Her husband has a PhD–I dunno in what, but he insists we call him “doctor”.
Anyway, my SIL qualifies. She refuses to take a stand on evolution vs Creationism because we just don’t know for sure and to “know” she’d have to go back to school and get her PhD in biology so that she could check all the other scientists facts to her own satisfaction. This was said to me in perfect seriousness at Easter dinner this year.
We talk about the weather a lot.
[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
Then who do all the stupid women marry? Or are there really men out there who are more stupid than my SIL? Her husband has a PhD–I dunno in what, but he insists we call him “doctor”.
Anyway, my SIL qualifies. She refuses to take a stand on evolution vs Creationism because we just don’t know for sure and to “know” she’d have to go back to school and get her PhD in biology so that she could check all the other scientists facts to her own satisfaction. This was said to me in perfect seriousness at Easter dinner this year.
We talk about the weather a lot.
[/QUOTE]
How 'bout them Cubs, huh?
[QUOTE=Hampshire]
I don’t mind people who have legitimate opinions about not wanting to vote for Barack Obama (policies, experience, party lines, etc.),
but when I see people quoted as saying “I just don’t trust him. Obama is just too close to Osama. And his middle name is Hussein!”
[/QUOTE]
I wonder if these are the same people who would vote for a recovering alcoholic because they can picture themselves getting drunk with him.
Can I include all the NYS politicians and voters who seem to think that enacting a state-wide property tax cap will actually lead to controlling property tax rates?
First off they are all using the Prop 2 1/2 model from Mass. Ignoring that for most of the past 28 years inflation has been measured as being higher than 2.5%.
Even if all other expenditures were to remain constant, pension and medical expenses have been going up all over the US at rates far in excess of the nominal inflation rate. Part of this is simply a reflection that treatment is possible for a number of conditions that used to be endured. Part of it is a reflection that pension funds have often been raided in the past to make up budget shortfalls. This condition will not be affected by any kind of state-wide cap on the property tax burden.
Finally, since the model being used is the Prop 2 1/2 model, there will be provision for localities to enact overrides. In effect this will mean, rather than actually having the local governments actually try to reduce spending to stay within the limits of the bill, they will budget as they always have, and count on getting an override passed. In those areas where the override does not pass, instead of having a careful, and reasoned look at where the budget can be trimmed to fit within this standard, the cutting will be haphazard, and full of penny-wise pound-foolish measure, like cutting out maintenance on school buildings.
Which will eventually lead to massive, and unavoidable, budget overruns in future years. Which will be paid for with absolutely necessary property tax overrides.
If the politicians and voters of NYS want to reduce property tax rates it is imperative that this begin on the local level, with much interaction and oversight from the populace. Otherwise business as usual will continue. And continue to drive out businesses and people.
But really, the magic band-aid will work.
(Oh, yeah, the cherry about Patterson’s property tax cap: He promises to talk about capping various state mandated expenditures passed on to the local governments after the tax cap is in place. Does no one else see this huge fucking dildo pointed at everyone in the state?)
Gonna have a neighbor. :sigh:. He’s a nice guy and a local. Lives in the valley, he’s just moving to a lot near me.
Hey, no prob if you want to have a hot dog cook out where your new house is going.
BUT PUT OUT THE FUCKING FIRE WHEN YOU LEAVE.
I found it smoldering the next day about noon. My Wife and I carried 15 gallons of water down to it to put it out.
Wildfires are the biggest enemy where we live.
I left him a very cordial message, reminding him of this.
[QUOTE=enipla]
Wildfires are the biggest enemy where we live.
I left him a very cordial message, reminding him of this.
[/QUOTE]
Step 1: Wait for the inevitable response, “Next time, I’m calling the cops!”
Step 2: Do it again.
Step 3: Let him call the cops.
Step 4: Let them hear about the repeated untended fires and deal with it.
Or
Step 1: “Stay the fuck off my property”
Step 2: Do as he says.
Step 3: Watch your entire neighborhood burn to the ground.
Step 4: Sue the shit out of him. Spend years in court and tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees. Watch him probably weasel out of it somehow.
Which seems more reasonable?
[QUOTE=BMalion]
How 'bout them Cubs, huh?
[/QUOTE]
Yep–that’s about it around here… 
:rolleyes:
I used to have a friend, well, acquaintance really, with whom I would occasionally hang out. One night we were out having some drinks, and she (a woman with an engineering job, who from all appearances was stable, normal, and functional) all of a sudden unloaded this gem.
She believes that the dinosaurs were wiped out by aliens. Because “what’s the first thing you do when you’re starting a new experiment in a lab? You sterilize the lab, right, to make sure there are no contaminants in your results!” So, the aliens wiped out the dinosaurs to decontaminate Earth for their big experiment.
Us.
We are an alien experiment, and every so often the aliens come back to take samples. That’s why people are abducted and probed and whatnot. It’s the aliens checking their work.
This explanation of humanity came to her in a dream when she was about 12.
She then proceeded to show me all the little scars on her arms that were indications that she was one of the ones that was constantly being abducted, and the scars were from the probes and machines they used.
There were no visible scars on her arms.
I slammed the rest of my drink, got out of there tout suite, and haven’t spoken to her since. It was…bizarre, to say the least, to hear utter and complete insanity come out of the mouth of someone I’d always thought was a bit different but perfectly functional.
Subject A: Male, mid 50’s, college educated, successful, nice guy. Believes Obama’s real intention is to institute sharia law in the USA. Including killing all the men who will not convert and “you don’t want to know about the women”.
Subject B: Female, late 40’s. Really nice, but completely unable to fight off the dumb. Cannot figure out credit cards, loans, or money management in general. Has a good office job, spends all her money before she gets it, consequently always in debt. Has nothing saved for retirement. Flies to other states on weekend shopping trips.
Subject C: Male, 50’s, owns his own business. Loans money to and otherwise helps out his son and daughter-in-law to start their own business. Which is the exact same business he is in. In the same town. Bidding on the same jobs. Hilarity ensues.
Subject D: Female, late 40’s, nice, also utterly in debt. Is having a tubal ligation which is not covered by her employer’s otherwise generous health insurance. Is not sexually active. Will probably be menopausal in a few years. Bonus points: Would not see a doctor of any kind, even though it was covered by insurance, when she received a strong blow to the head and exhibited many symptoms of a concussion or other intracranial trauma.
Subject E: Male, mid 30’s, nice, college degree, smart. Believes that “the government” owns everything-all the money, real estate, buildings, the whole shebang. The citizens are just borrowing it and we should have to give it all back when we die.
Subject F: Male, late 20’s, evil martinet. Insisted that “the US is a democracy, not a republic”. Clearly reciting an old saw from American Civics classes, but he must have written it down backwards. Could not be swayed by dictionary citations. Bonus Points: Truly believed the strippers were totally into him.
Subject G: Male, late 20’s, dumb, dumb, dumb, quite religious. Despised gay people because, he swore that one of his friends (a man) had been forced into a van “somewhere downtown” by 3 gay men who then sexually assaulted him in a most heinous fashion. His revulsion for homosexuals was not strong enough for him to quit the crappy, dime-a-dozen job we both held, even though about a quarter of our coworkers were openly gay.
So whose bids are successful–dad’s or the son’s?
That is hilarious. My MIL thinks Rush Limbaugh speaks truth–but so do most of his listeners.
Hell, Newsweek ran an article about Laura Day, the “intutionist” who is helping corporate America (and Jennifer Aniston and Demi Moore) make business decisions based on her visions. She charges $10, 000 a pop–and uses her psychic “power” to spy on her 16 year old son (who is out with girls at 2 am). I do wish I were making this up, but I’m not. I so want to ask her if she foresaw the need for condoms for her son…
[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
So whose bids are successful–dad’s or the son’s?
[/QUOTE]
It goes back and forth, with hurt feelings all around. They are amateurs at at emotional turmoil, though. The whole field side of this industry is full of big, bad, hard-drinking tough guys who have the emotional lives of 13 year old girls.
[QUOTE=tdn]
I wonder if these are the same people who would vote for a recovering alcoholic because they can picture themselves getting drunk with him.
[/QUOTE]
Mmm, tdn, Slice-N-Dice! Can’t believe I’ve never seen that put so well. Muy kudos.
[QUOTE=enipla]
BUT PUT OUT THE FUCKING FIRE WHEN YOU LEAVE.
I found it smoldering the next day about noon. My Wife and I carried 15 gallons of water down to it to put it out.
Wildfires are the biggest enemy where we live.
I left him a very cordial message, reminding him of this.
[/QUOTE]
You were cordial? Good Lord, we had a huge-ass wildfire come within two miles of us last year, and if the wind hadn’t decided to shift one afternoon a couple of towns would probably have gone up. I can’t imagine being cordial about this. You must be a better person than I. We’ve got locals who are nervous because we’ve been getting a bit of haze which turned out to be from fires in California, for crying out loud.
Unless you were being sarcastic about being cordial, of course. It’s just that you don’t fuck around with fire.
[QUOTE=Chimera]
Criminals would be banished from the village. Simple and direct. If they caused problems for other villages, then they could be banished from them as well!
[/QUOTE]
You would create criminals. :smack: Criminal villages..
[QUOTE=An Gadaí]
I love this, I hope 'tis true.
[/QUOTE]
'tis.
In his defence, he was somewhat mentally challenged and not employed by the company, but on some outreach internship.
[QUOTE=Hello Again]
Friend-of-a-friend’s wife is pregnant. (2nd child). They are planning a home birth, which of itself is fine. They have a midwife but based on comments I am not certain she is in actual attendance (wife said disdainfully, “we don’t need her.”)
Baby is more than 4 weeks over due. They won’t go to a hospital because (paraphrased) “hospitals don’t respect women and will hurt my baby.” Gentle suggestions from other parents that mom & baby-to-be should get checked out medically are met with defensiveness and hostility. They are so sure they are in control of the process and know better than anyone. It’ll be 5 weeks overdue on friday.
None of my business but 
[/QUOTE]
This is sad.
One of the biggest disservices the pro-natural birth hippie mommas (and some of my best friends are hippie mommas) is to breed distrust of the medical establishment. One of my friends has a disabled child because “c-sections are only done for the convenience of the doctor” and “woman who have midwives have much better outcomes” and “women did this without doctors for thousands of years.” This was despite having a high risk pregnancy (diabetes, overweight, previous c-section, advanced maternal age, high blood pressure - a walking catalog of "scheduled c.)
Midwives are cool, but at least have your baby in a hospital - if something goes wrong, you have pre-birth in a hospital maternal and infant mortality.