# Random thoughts **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 24, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234 "2019-10-24T13:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![moes\_lotion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@moes\_lotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moes_lotion)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/121 "2019-11-08T03:53:42Z")
The infant boy in the cart ahead of me today in the grocery store check-out line was inordinately amused by my appearance. I think I was making a good impression on his mom and the cashier with my funny faces up to the point where the child’s enthusiasm caused a pretty impressive burp-up of his most recent meal. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/122 "2019-11-08T11:05:18Z")
There are a lot of young girls in my area named Ivy, after the invasive (but pretty cool-looking) climbing vine that grows all over houses. There are an even bigger number of Jasmines, after the invasive (but rather nice-smelling) climbing vine that grows all over fences. And yet I’ve never met a Wisteria ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/123 "2019-11-08T12:01:59Z")
I’m saving this thread to re-read whenever I get sick to death of all the political bs and whiny people. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/124 "2019-11-08T14:31:49Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > There’s something that’s been bugging me of late, and I wonder if there is a name for it: The attitude by some people that, no matter what, “things always were for the best.” Doesn’t matter if we’re talking about some disaster, or a bad decision, or whatnot, they always insist “I wouldn’t change a thing” because whatever things turned out to be, must have been for the best. [Panglossian](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Panglossian). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/125 "2019-11-08T15:30:10Z")
Nice! Now how I can shoehorn this into conversation and impress the shit out of people? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/126 "2019-11-08T15:37:58Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > This is really an outrageous amount of money. What is so hard? Charlotte is in a huge real estate and construction boom, so supply and demand kicks in. Contractors can pick and choose which jobs they want, and we’re getting the idea that so far the two numbers we’ve gotten back are indications that our job isn’t appealing enough. > [@digs](#): > > We kept shopping til we found someone willing to work with our budget. Which was half the first estimates we’d gotten. We’re already making plans to scale back some of what we have planned for (e.g., plumbing in the garage), but I’m very much hoping that we’ll eventually get bids (2 more contractors yet to be heard from) that are within reason. If not, we’ll go back to the original plan of being our own general contractors, getting a slab poured and putting a pre-fab garage building in the back yard, then saving our money for our forever home. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/127 "2019-11-08T16:13:42Z")
When I was 12 or so, I had a phase where I was into codes. I came up with a type of code - my own invention!! Not too long ago I found out that it was a form of a “Polyalphabetic cipher” which has been around since the 1300s or maybe before. I guess it wasn’t a new type of code. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/128 "2019-11-08T16:19:24Z")
Me too. I invented the book cipher, then found out that some asshole had stolen the idea from me hundreds of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/129 "2019-11-15T04:31:53Z")
My wife and I have been binge watching, “The Mentalist,” and every time someone hollers Simon Baker’s character’s name, I hear George Jetson: Jane? STOP THIS CRAZY THING! ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/130 "2019-11-15T05:43:36Z")
Random thought: Guitars are better than mandolins because they burn longer. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/131 "2019-11-16T05:05:44Z")
I want to put on a uniform, a military dress uniform, and walk down the street without looking or feeling ridiculous, and without inciting comment. I just want to be able to do it, and have it be a normal thing, like immediately following WWII. Things that can never be… ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/132 "2019-11-16T12:58:52Z")
I have never known what a belaying pin is. I know it from an anthology of adventure stories for boys, nearly fifty years ago. What children’s author uses “belaying pin” without explaining what it is? I shall now google it live on the SDMB. > [@](#): > > A belaying pin is a solid metal or wooden device used on traditionally rigged sailing vessels to secure lines of running rigging. Great. There’s a [diagram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belaying_pin) that helps. But really not worth the wait. j ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/133 "2019-11-18T13:12:03Z")
My four year old grandson came to visit me this weekend. We were out looking at the animals and I mentioned that with the weather turning cold, we were planning to get the horse a blanket. “A blanket and something else I can’t remember right now…” He said, “A pillow?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234/134 "2019-11-21T07:51:07Z")
I’m starting in on the final season of _Man in the High Castle_, and that’s a jumping off point for this “random thought”, but it’s not a random thought about it, at least not in so many words. I remember, when I was stationed in Japan (in the Navy, circa 2006), holding the door open for an elderly Japanese man. He stopped, said something stiff in Japanese, and then just stood there, motionless. He wouldn’t walk through. It occurred to me then, and has stuck with me since, that he was certainly alive during the war, and might have even been old enough to have fought in it. It must suck, living to see someone like me (quite obviously an American and in the Navy, just going by skin color and the fact this was outside a major US naval base) standing there holding the door like that. I mean, who the eff invited me into this country? The naval base at Yokosuka used to be a major Japanese naval base, with some of the first dry docks in Japan there dating back to the 19th century, still in use but now used to help maintain US Navy warships. We took it over during the occupation, along with the rest of the country, but it’s one of those parts we never gave back. From the perspective of that older man, this is a reality where Japan lost the war, and now I’m just standing there, trying to be friendly as if I’m not there as the consequence of my country firebombing his into submission (and I’m standing there thinking his country kind of had it coming, completely unapologetic, for what it did during the war). Still, unapologetic as I am for the US’ conduct of the war, I could see how it could really suck to live on the other side of that reality as an older man, to be the guy having to stand there as my sworn enemy smiles politely and holds the door open for me, uncomprehending as I curse him and his people for what they did to mine. I guess that’s kind of where my mind goes when I watch _Man in the High Castle_. It’s the roll reversal. Sobering stuff if you’ve ever stood across from an old man who doesn’t seem to like you very much, possibly because your people burned some of his alive. ETA: I’m really tired right now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-thoughts/842234.md?page=6)