Just Saying -- the soapbox thread

[matmosphere]

I like the idea of a female doctor who. The show has been around since the early sixties why not shake it up a bit. Missy was the best master since Delgado. A female Doctor could be a breath of fresh air.

Don't see the point with Bond though. I feel like it could be good, but I don't know how it could remain true to the source material. I think Alan nailed it, it doesn't fit with the lore of the series.

[alanp]

Waved an open jar of Vegemite under a visiting Canadian's nose. He didn't even taste it, but he threatened to punch me if I did that again.

Don't know why. It's wonderful stuff.

[alanp]

A radio station here has been pimping Black Friday for all it's worth. I strongly get the impression that the shops here, as with Halloween, would dearly love for New Zealand to take this holiday and love it.

There's just one problem.

The average New Zealander regards the USA-ian Thanksgiving with  about as much thought as the Londoner of the 1800's regarded Ramadan. What for the love of Bacon is that? Oh well, who gives a shit...

And, therefore... Black friday?!?! Oh, I heard there are some specials this weekend...

[Rockhorst]

@AlanP: same thing in the Netherlands...Black Friday sales everywhere, which is just an empty shell to host another sale...It's quite ludicrous and I'd love it to disappear again.

[EBK]

Here, in the US, "Black Friday" is my reminder to stay away from all stores.  Crazy people (mostly, the same breed of people who believe everything they hear in political ads) everywhere make it hard to even go on a beer run.

[stringsthings]

Yeah, I pretty much avoid any store that's having a black friday sale.   I buy enough stuff as it is.
Don't need another reason to buy stuff.  The commercialization of xmas here in the U.S. is pretty awful, IMO.

[bsoncini]

unfortunately black friday is starting to get big here in France.  Except the stores dont open really early and people dont fight over stuff in the store

[warriorpoet]

Yeah, I pretty much avoid any store that's having a black friday sale.   I buy enough stuff as it is.
Don't need another reason to buy stuff.  The commercialization of xmas here in the U.S. is pretty awful, IMO.

I agree, although I do have a Black Friday sale going on on my site, more an excuse to do special edition stuff than anything else

[raulduke]

Black Friday has caught on in the UK.

As is typical, we are behind our friends over the pond, but we are steadily working our way towards in store stabbings and stampedes over cheap crap nobody needs 

[midwayfair]

Everyone knows the real shopping holiday worth celebrating is the week after Christmas anyway, when everyone's returning all their junk and the stores have to liquidate all the things they stocked up on.

[stringsthings]

I agree, although I do have a Black Friday sale going on on my site, more an excuse to do special edition stuff than anything else

Black Friday sales online I don't mind at all.  More reason to avoid the brick-n-mortar stuff.

[culturejam]

Everyone knows the real shopping holiday worth celebrating is the week after Christmas anyway, when everyone's returning all their junk and the stores have to liquidate all the things they stocked up on.

Totally.

[thesmokingman]

pawn shops in January/February after those x-mas bills come due ...

[alanp]

In my family, I tend to be the "on time" one. If I give a time, I do my damndest to turn up at that time. I'll usually worry about it for a few hours before hand, and give myself at least a quarter hour of slack time to allow for unforeseen events.

My brother and sister are a bit less worried about this. It's nice if they turn up on time, but whether this happens is generally linked to how much of an earbashing they're likely to get from Mum about it.

Mum and Dad... if they are organising the event, then Mum will have spent the last couple days beforehand setting up. (Mum LOVES entertaining people. Dad has made some wooden cases to hold glasses, etc, in storage for these.) If they're invited, and it isn't time sensitive (ie, a movie theatre who is NOT going to wait for them), they're probably going to be a little bit late.

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180220-how-i-learned-to-go-in-circles-in-kathmandu

This is all background for that link. I get what the article is saying and all, but my overarching thought was, "How not to be late? Try planning, and turning up on time."

[Muadzin]

I find that being on time depends on distance. If I have to go far I always tend to arrive ahead of time, as I factor in uncertainties and other possibilities. If I have to be somewhere close I often arrive to late because familiarity breeds contempt. Oh, I can do this, no problem, it's close, damn is it that late already?