Fucking idiot ultra Orthodox Jews.
Modesty is fine in the workforce and for seventeen year olds . . . but FOUR YEAR OLDS? Are you fucking morons kidding me? It’s summer. My little girls walk around in shorts and bathing suits. Any man who has a problem with that should not be allowed near little girls or grown women.
I decided to skip the battery models and go with a good corded one that should last as long as I will care about grooming my own face.
It’s not like I ever went strolling around the house trimming my mustache anyway.
Minor thing, but for some reason, it’s made me irate today.
People who come here asking for advice, and when the overwhelming majority of the posts tell them what they don’t want to hear, and so they either attempt to “explain the situation better” or just ignore the advice because the board doesn’t understand. They aren’t looking for advice, they are looking for validation.
It’s like beating one’s head against the wall, reading some of these threads, but it’s frustratingly entertaining.
To be fair. I posted a relationship advice thread ONE TIME in my entire tenure on the Straight Dope, and the way people spun the situation back at me was absolutely fascinating. (In that case, however, there were multiple viewpoints being thrown out there, not unanimous agreement on the best course of action.) Suggestions ranged from divorcing my husband to quitting graduate school and becoming a stay at home mother.
People give relationship advice based on their own relationships. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be. If their relationships are shitty, they will give shitty relationship advice. I guess my only point is that sometimes the peanut gallery really does choose to see what they want to rather than what has been presented to them. And sometimes we the thread posters really do a lousy job of explaining the situation because our emotions are all in the way.
That said, I’m right there with ya.
Okay, now to my rant. I found out today that a former volunteer at the nonprofit where I used to work was murdered. A 23 year old woman deeply committed to her community was beaten and strangled to death, then her body was stuffed in a duffel bag and thrown into a dumpster just a couple blocks down from where I worked. This is in a very dangerous part of Philly. It has always been a dangerous neighborhood but this is the first time this particular organization has been impacted by violent crime.
Anyway, I’m furious. I feel like I should be sad, but I’m just pissed off. And what pisses me off is that I see this event as a symptom of a larger problem, these kids in urban communities are living in a fucking hellhole. This woman was trying to get out, she actually had all of her belongings in her car because she was trying to find a new apartment. And apparently the guy who killed her lived in that apartment and tried to rob her but she came home too soon.
This is how our children are growing up. Even the best and brightest don’t have a chance in hell and nobody in this country seems to give a shit that children have to live in these conditions. And I don’t get it. I just don’t understand the apathy. I want to punch people until they care.
I think Al’s last vet visit may be imminent.
Major {{{hugs}}} to Dung Beetle + family, and to Spice Weasel + former colleagues. I’m sorry for both of you, for what you’re going through right now. Hoping each of you stays strong.
Ugh, sorry you’re going through this.
We should hang. I am, you know, also in Gainesville.
While I appreciate the sympathy it cannot compare to what you’ve been through. Sending you all the hugs.
Just a lot of small but crappy things all happening on the same day. None of them involve pregnancy.
None of the ones I’ve known, including one extreme case where the child was raised by the maternal grandparents, the mother went away to college and later moved to another country, and the father (not having gone to college or anywhere else) was the child’s usual babysitter.
If they move together, it’s shotgun wedding and to their own house. Living in the in-laws house is many people’s definition of Hell on Earth*; add “no official legal bonds” and “a too-early baby” and that’s extra circles.
Shopping in a chain drug store, asked to donate $5 for “poor kids” and school supplies.
Umm, I’m standing there with umpteen notebooks, gluesticks, rulers, etc, since I make a goody bag for each of my students for the first day of class - everyone gets 2 notebooks, glue, a ruler, pencils, crayons, cute erasers, and so on. I teach in a very poor area, and I know my families can’t always afford these supplies.
I smiled a bit, and explained to the cashier that I was buying supplies for “poor kids” - she just snorted, and mumbled, “yeah, sure” under her breath.
I’m tired of buying supplies for my kids and classroom when I know the school has a budgeted amount for us. I’m tired of supplying crayons, glue, notebooks, reading books, manipulatives, cleaning supplies, even toilet paper! It’s ever so fashionable to bash teachers, but damn, this is getting so tiring…
You might be familiar with the pathetic state of our schools here in North Carolina…as one of my teachers from high school posted on Facebook recently, “teaching is the only profession where you steal supplies from home and take them to work”. It’s especially scary how little regard some politicians have for public education…it’s almost as if they want the kids to be uneducated and ignorant.
Thanks for the hug, purple! Right back atcha.
I’m honored by the invitation! 
Unfortunately, free time is something I just don’t have. I hope you’re liking it here so far.
Spoke too soon…this morning my stepdaughter asked if she and her baby could move back in with us if she can’t work things out with her boyfriend.
:eek:
In that case, I don’t have anyone to recommend. There are a few I can disrecommend if you want a second opinion on your husband’s source. 
Good luck to you and yours!
And who are these people? I can’t quite figure out the thought process where someone who has never been on the board before will create an account and bare their souls, at length, to complete strangers, about their deeply screwed up romantic and/or domestic entanglements.
I get that someone who has been on the board for years might say “Hey, you guys know me … am I being out of line here?” But MPSIMS has been seeing a continuous influx of people who seem to think that we’re a collective agony column.
General nastiness directed at the eBay seller who sold me a tablet for my wife’s birthday and sent me a box filled with crumpled newspapers and three packages of Sour Patch Kids.
Happily, eBay looks as though they are resolving in my favor. The shipping weight on the box’s mailing label is 1.3 lbs which is far too low to have contained the tablet (1.24 lbs) plus the weight of the manufacturer’s packaging, charger, packing materials, shipping box, etc. Despite the seller’s protests that they really, honestly did send it their case doesn’t stand up. Still, big pain in the ass to have to go through the claim hoops now.
On the plus side, I bought the same item for the same price (albeit plus tax) from an online retailer. And the shipping weight per FedEx’s tracking is 4lbs.
Dear guy who was sitting with his friends in the restaurant today,
It was nice of you to sit with your back to the window like that. Or should I say, with your crack to the window. Your asscrack is very, umm, nice and hairy. I appreciated it that you were positioned so that no matter where I looked, I could see you pretty well. I really quite enjoyed trying to eat my lunch without vomiting at the same time.
Anti-rant: Other than that, though, my vacation in Toronto has been nice. I met a fellow Doper today!! 
Though I will be glad to get back home today.
I feel your pain, but that’s pretty funny.
You know, EmilyG, you complain frequently about what other people at other tables are doing or looking like while you’re at lunch. Maybe you should try doing something else at the same time, to occupy your attention? If you don’t even notice them, they won’t bother you.
Eating with a companion or two would be ideal, though often times/locations just don’t synch. So… maybe bring a book or newspaper? Or a notebook and create the Great American Novel or foment a plan to take over the world? Crosswords? Sudokus? Or for that matter, a smartphone so you can browse the SD between bites.
I just think you’d enjoy your meal a lot more without getting irritated all the time.
I smirked, but then I went back to being angry. Everyone else has liked that touch in the story as well though.
To add insult to injury, I haven’t opened the packages but they feel stale.
Possible scenario: seller has laptop packed, but not sealed. Teenager* in house steals laptop, substitutes other items to provide some (but not enough, because it’s a stupid teenager) weight. Seller comes back to package that looks the same as when he left it, seals it without checking inside or noticing the weight difference, and sends it. Teenager sells laptop somewhere else to buy beer or drugs or something.
This is the first thing that occurred to me, because what ebay seller would think he could get away with that? It sounds just like the sort of thing someone not the seller would do (*like a teenager who wanted money).
Of course, no excuse, and you deserve your money back and no hassle, but that seller might be thinking right now that you are the tricksy dishonest one.