# What were you THINKING? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532 "2023-10-13T19:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 371
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7791 "2026-08-01T14:23:39Z")
It’s really _really_ not as simple as you think. You’re angry about the US trying to change the rules, fair enough, but that doesn’t mean the US solutions are solutions to a different problem. There are major conflicts between legal systems and Roma culture. They’re a persecuted minority, yup, but it’s a really complex situation, and many avoid all contact with outside authorities. It’s an insular community, with regular conflict between what’s accepted within the group and what’s legal. Roma tradition basically gives the ‘head of the household’ the final say on what happens within his house- if he considers violence against his wife and children acceptable, no-one else has a right to interfere. If outsiders, say, police, try to intervene, the whole community may turn against them. An estimated 1/3 of Roma women have been abused, few report it. There’s even been instances of the fire brigade being attacked responding to a fire in traveller encampments. There are barriers to education from some schools discriminating, yep, but there’s also major pressure from within the community; kids are often pulled out from school at 11 or 12, especially girls, even if they want to go. I had a friend working with Roma kids for an inclusion project in England, she was often told by the kids that they really missed going to school, but their family didn’t want them to have friends outside the community- or worse, a boyfriend. They were told they don’t need educating as it’s a man’s job to provide. Traditionally, Roma girls were given in marriages arranged by their father as children, and unofficial child marriage is still widely reported. Some groups of Roma accept local laws that override tradition, some don’t, but there is reason for some of the conflict. Balancing rights of vulnerable people within the culture with rights of a culture is not simple when they conflict. Lots of Roma are still at least partially nomadic, which can mean they don’t live consistently in one country- within Europe, you can often just drive down a road and be in a different country, no checks, no record, especially within Schengen, but it’s not too hard to cross some of the other borders either. Within Schengen, if you move from one country to another with intent to stay, you are supposed to register, which may need evidence of sufficient savings and registration for health care schemes to officially move. Some people- not all Roma- don’t. For someone planning on living in a caravan who’s not working ‘on the books’, it’s not too hard to live under the radar, but of course not being officially resident comes with not being registered with local healthcare. On the flip side, once you go on the records, it’s a lot harder to move freely and you open yourself up to scrutiny from the authorities. There’s also no obvious country which should be granting citizenship to someone who’s lived in multiple countries over the last few years, but can’t actually prove any of it. Any of the actual reports of kids being denied birth certificates on the basis of parents having no documents that I can find have been followed by reports of lawsuits by anti-discrimination groups resulting in the certificate being issued and mostly by new guidance being sent out, because kids born to stateless parents _do_ qualify for citizenship. The normal legal limit to register a birth is 30 days. Of course it raises all kinds of red flags if you show up with a 3 year old and try register them, that probably shouldn’t be a rule with exemptions. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of new refugees entering Europe who _also_ often have no documentation, trying to leave no records of them entering the country. They are often doing so by extremely unsafe routes that literally no-one (except the people traffickers who are making money risking other people’s lives) wants to encourage. Do European countries want a system where anyone showing up with no documentation and no record of entry automatically grants citizenship, or does that get granted only to one- not very well defined- ethnic group? The belief that having identification helps refugees get permission to stay is already common, and already leads to people destroying passports or other evidence of existing citizenship, and incredibly risky attempts to enter Europe. There was literally a mass death event yesterday of refugees when about 50,000 people tried to enter a Spanish enclave in Africa, following a -false- rumour that anyone who made it there couldn’t be returned, and dozens of people are thought to have drowned. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7792 "2026-08-04T20:10:48Z")
> [@Why doesn’t Stalin’s version of communism work? “From each according to their abilities, to each according to their labor?”](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesn-t-stalin-s-version-of-communism-work-from-each-according-to-their-abilities-to-each-according-to-their-labor/1032137/44): > > …The reason we don’t have such a system is that the system we do have was imposed on people by force and violence, starting with the separation of peasants and workers from the land and control over production. 400 years later, we have all become habituated to believe it is the only possible, viable system, just as earlier societies believed in the divine right of kings. And force and violence are still used to maintain the system and to disrupt and destroy alternatives when they spring up… Username and avatar checks out. > **[Peter Kropotkin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin)** > > Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin\[a\] (9 December \[O.S. 27 November\] 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist political philosopher and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later served as an officer in Siberia, where he participated in several geological expeditions. He was imprisoned for his activism in 1874 and managed to escape two years later. He spent the next 41 years in exile in Switze... ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7793 "2026-08-04T20:17:07Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Username and avatar checks out. > > [Peter Kropotkin - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin) Damn straight! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7794 "2026-08-04T20:49:57Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > That just doesn’t make any logical sense. How in the world do you expect to amass a large supply of back-up cords that you’ll probably never use? [![](https://preview.redd.it/one-day-son-all-this-will-be-yours-v0-ccir2z4tfrs61.jpg?auto=webp&s=3087bfca5907670d200a439d236e4d7d45ea172f) ](https://preview.redd.it/one-day-son-all-this-will-be-yours-v0-ccir2z4tfrs61.jpg?auto=webp&s=3087bfca5907670d200a439d236e4d7d45ea172f) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7795 "2026-08-04T21:40:12Z")
There was a time when that made sense, because a lot of those adapters were standardized, and if you had a stash, you could maybe find a replacement 8 volt, 0.5 amp wall wart with a plug that fit, if you lost the original one that came with a device. In a sense, it makes even more sense now, except that you only need to store, like, 4 max, because almost everything is USB-C, aside from a few USB-mini, -micro, or -B on older devices. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7796 "2026-08-04T21:53:02Z")
Holy shit, that comic strip looks like it was lifted right out of my childhood. My dad once had a large shed that was devoted solely to the computer shit he hoarded. I am so glad that gene skipped me. I get a rush out of getting rid of things. At one of my first IT jobs, I worked with my dad, and had to team up with another IT guy to have an intervention and get rid of most of the garbage my dad would hang onto “just in case”. My dad had stacks of old Macintosh computer user magazines going back to the 80s. His 3rd wife made him get rid of that shit. (Sadly, it was my **mom** who had the real hoarding issue, and literally made her house unlivable from it.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7797 "2026-08-04T21:56:02Z")
My cable pile is very small. I only keep what I have any real possibility of using and don’t keep any cheapie cables that maybe came for free with some devices. They are all sturdy and have nylon jackets. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7798 "2026-08-04T22:00:59Z")
Just to clarify, I’m an IT professional, I do hang onto old cords. It comes with the territory. But only if I have devices that still might use them, and I try to keep them stashed in containers easily accessible and kept tucked away. And every now and then I will check to see if there’s anything in there that I know I’ll never use, and if so, it’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7799 "2026-08-04T23:31:31Z")
I ought to thin out my drawer of cables. I think i got rid of the SCSI cables and their ilk about a decade ago. But i still have a lot of random cables. Of course, i recently _bought_ a cable with a set of noses, to fit an old device whose charger died. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7800 "2026-08-04T23:33:51Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Of course, i recently _bought_ a cable with a set of noses, to fit an old device whose charger died. If you use that old device then that is perfectly cromulent. And if that device dies, or you decide you don’t need it and get rid of it, then using the Atamasama System you would then also dispose of that new cable. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7801 "2026-08-05T00:09:06Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I think i got rid of the SCSI cables and their ilk about a decade ago. Are you saying I’m unlikely to use that SCSI-2 to SCSI-3 adapter I spotted in the garage the other day? (double checks to see if he has any SCSI drives left) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7802 "2026-08-05T00:30:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There was a time when that made sense, because a lot of those adapters were standardized, and if you had a stash, you could maybe find a replacement 8 volt, 0.5 amp wall wart with a plug that fit, if you lost the original one that came with a device. I’ll still hang on to old power cords because they sometimes come in handy for some of my hobby projects. But a good reason to not keep them these days is because, whatever you need, you can probably order from Amazon and have it within 24 hours. The right voltage, enough amps, and the correct connector. Back in the day, it meant making a trip to Radio Shack and hoping one of the universal multi-voltage wall warts had enough amps and one of the 10 connectors it came with worked for your device. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7803 "2026-08-05T00:59:50Z")
I actually had quite a lot of trouble buying a cable that fit. It was an unusual combination of voltage and amps, and the connector has a non-standard color for its size. I bought a lot of cables before i found one that worked. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7804 "2026-08-05T01:01:55Z")
This thread has gotten way calm. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7805 "2026-08-05T02:39:27Z")
More like, way hijacked. I’ll check back in a month or two and see if y’all are still talking about fucking cables. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7806 "2026-08-05T02:59:09Z")
This thread is usually pretty mellow between incidents. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7807 "2026-08-05T09:00:50Z")
Everyone’s stopped thinking. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7808 "2026-08-05T10:53:31Z")
Sorry, what is this doing in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7809 "2026-08-05T12:11:47Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > My cable pile is very small. I only keep what I have any real possibility of using Me too, but I admit to still having a LAN “cross over” cable in my very small collection. (For the less nerdy, a “cross-over” LAN cable is one in which the wiring in one of the end-point plugs is altered from normal to allow direct PC to PC communication, without any other hardware. It was an absolutely niche requirement and had to be hand made, although that is not at all hard) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/7810 "2026-08-05T12:25:42Z")
I thought the quoted comment was over the top, but it completely goes along with the poster’s name and avatar, so I made a cute comment and/or wry observation about that (depending on how you look at it). The quoted comment was in GD, so it seemed more appropriate to comment on it here than to clutter up a GD thread. It certainly didn’t warrant its own pit thread. The poster took it graciously, which was nice. I was trying to be cute, not be a jerk. In any event, I’ll let everyone get back to the cable discussion. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=370) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=372)