Just Saying -- the soapbox thread

[somnif]

*Big SIGH*

I come on here to get away from the political rantings on other forums (as well as stompbox stuff of course)

I REALLY hope this isn't the beginning of yet another political uprising 

I was just posting info on the big news story, and that the dude had an "interesting" van, i prefer to not discuss politics (and religion) with people I'm not willing to punch in the nose.

Of course, I wake up this morning to see reports of an on going church shooting , so wheeeee  .

[madbean]

It's cool to discuss current events but I will ask to keep away from any tribal type politics or talking about specific political parties. General statements and discussion are fine so long as it is approached with some detachment.

Good touch:  I think healthcare is a right and should be guaranteed to every US citizen.
Good touch 2: I'm upset about these recent attempted political assassinations and worried about the political discord in the US.

Bad touch: OMFG> LIBS TRIGGERED> LOLZ.
Bad touch 2: Stoopid Rethuglican NatC.

If people feel even this is too much that's fine. I can iron fist it TGP style...although I'd rather not waste my time on that.

[EBK]

I've been guilty twice (by my count) of being too political in my postings to this thread.  If I do it again, you have my permission to edit my post to make it look like I wrote, "I'd really like to mate with a hagfish."  That should keep me in check, at least. 

For the record, I'd prefer to make a wallet out of a hagfish.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Why does this make me laugh so much? 

[somnif]

Some more "interesting" cars:







edit: Ok, I thought there was a study published showing a correlation between mental health state and number of stickers one ones car, but I can't find a link now, so my brain may have made it up. In exchange, here is a silly cat:

[Aleph Null]

Why does this make me laugh so much? 

There three kinds of funny:

1. Funny because it's ridiculous
2. Funny because it's true
3. Funny because it's ridiculous and true

Thia is clearly option three.

[bamslam69]

Someone has figured a way to get every single Toyota Camry (& Corolla) driver in the area to instantly pull in front of me and do 10-20kph below the speed limit.
There's a conspiracy afoot, I tells you.

[lars]

It's cool to discuss current events but I will ask to keep away from any tribal type politics or talking about specific political parties. General statements and discussion are fine so long as it is approached with some detachment.

Sorry that my comments crossed over into the more political realm. I have self-moderated them.

[alanp]

The Daily Mail's Halloween coverage always feels very odd, to me.

Halloween has never, ever been a thing in my town (and as far as I'm aware, the rest of NZ.) The only people I've ever seen get worked up about it are the shops (who will take any excuse to try and sell tatt you don't want), and religious groups who feel that it glorifies satanism.

Last night, I got a pair of kids in normal street clothes, and later on one brave little chap on his own, also in his civvies, trick or treating. They didn't get anything from me -- I don't normally have lollies in the house, they tend to get eaten -- but I did wonder how they got on. There's a houseful of nuns around the corner and down the block from me -- I wonder if they got an earful from them! (I did, once, when I was helping Mum with charity collection. You can't really get away with saying "no" to Mum for something like that. I got an earful about how they did good work for the community already, and how dare I knock and ask for money, etc etc...)

I think they were the first three kids I've had knock on my door for Halloween since I moved into this house, roughly four years ago, perhaps.

[EBK]

Took my kids (3 and 6) trick-or-treating this evening.  At one house, there was a nice young couple who spoke with French accents.  They were handing out unwrapped candy from a big bowl.  Unwrapped candy is so out of place that it made us think/guess that this couple must be very new to the US traditions of Halloween (I didn't really know if there were US-specific traditions for this day....) but still wanted to take part and share.  Made us smile. 

(Occasionally, bulk candy repackaged in small bags is given out, but that is basically as close as you typically get to unwrapped candy.)

[thesmokingman]

long ways from when I was a kid and you'd get baked goods, popcorn balls, etc from the elderly (clearly a generational issue) but even then I don't recall getting anything unwrapped. bearing in mind this was in very small town, very rural Kansas so there's no required anonymity available to hide behind should you intend to harm children with Halloween treats. Eventually you grew up, quit chasing candy, and moved into pranks and shenanigans.

[EBK]

The unwrapped candy saved my kids a step in eating it, so they were smiling as well.   

I think my kids collected half their own weight in candy.  They were more into the activity than the candy itself, so they're happy to donate most of it.  There are charities that put candy in care packages for overseas military personnel and disaster relief -- or something like that, anyway.  A local restaurant/market collects candy in a "candy jail" and pays money to the bounty hunters who bring it in. 

[alanp]

long ways from when I was a kid and you'd get baked goods, popcorn balls, etc from the elderly (clearly a generational issue) but even then I don't recall getting anything unwrapped. bearing in mind this was in very

Now I'm wondering. It's nearly always cheaper to bake a big batch of something, than it is to buy the same thing from the shops, depending on what you make (and what you can get from friends for either free, or at cost). So maybe the elderly did baked goods, etc, because it was easier on their retirement wallets?

[thesmokingman]

that and the nearest store that would have carried bagged Halloween candy back then was 10 miles or more away. In thinking on this more, I got a lot more small individual hard candies back then too ... root beer barrels, butterscotch discs, those peanut butter taffy abortions, because the local store carried those in bulk. As for the pocketbook aspect, I suppose so in some cases and in others it was definitely tradition for them to make something.   

[EBK]

In thinking on this more, I got a lot more small individual hard candies back then too ... root beer barrels, butterscotch discs, those peanut butter taffy abortions, because the local store carried those in bulk.

Yep, I remember getting tons of that stuff as a kid.  I also remember occasionally getting candy cigarettes and bubblegum cigarettes in little boxes meant to look kind of like the real thing.  If you blew a puff of air through the bubblegum cigarettes, a little cloud of cornstarch would come out, mimicking smoke.   


So wrong.


Didn't see any bulk wrapped candy this year at all.  Also didn't see a single roll of Smarties.  But, my observations may be skewed by my kids being allowed to choose their candy at almost every house.