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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 20:00:31 GMT
Well, this is disturbing for me. Yesterday I sat at a park in my car, remembering that 38 years ago I met the love of my life. He couldn’t be there with me because, well, Covid killed him 3 months before the vax was available. (My mother too) my bitterness toward the former admin can’t be measured. People have said, well at least FEMA reimbursed you for the funeral costs. That was the LEAST they could have done. And adding this new tidbit sure doesn’t make me feel much better. I’m so very sorry.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 19:58:25 GMT
But not all the other types of threads. How am I to know at a glance if someone’s Disney -related thread is going to annoy me? Oh, I’m not. I just close it and move on like an adult. Perhaps the real issue here is that the peas who don’t like political threads feel owed an accommodation the rest of us don’t get. I think at this point you are reaching. When we get closer to the election and threads get political that were not intended to be political or as some peas do and turn posts political, it will be nice for those who are not in a good headspace or just don't want to deal with political stuff to see that the thread contains politics. Do I think the back and forth or flagging and unflagging posts is childish? Yes. Is it enough to get my knickers in a wad? No. If you expect peas to just move on then why can't you do the same? Why can you feel the need to tell others how to pea and read but it can not be flipped? Because I’m not the one insisting on flags for threads I don’t like. And you are not the one having your non-political threads tagged by fools just because it’s a world affairs topic.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 19:42:18 GMT
I have a cousin in the same place. She loves kids and has been an early childhood educator all her life. Never met a man she wanted to have kids with and didn’t want to be a single mom. She’s well into her 50s now.
I’m sorry. Life doesn’t always turn out the way we want or expect, but that doesn’t make it easy to cope with.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 19:37:29 GMT
Why do you feel you can just ignore the game threads but not the political ones? While the game threads don't have a tag - the subject almost always starts with "GAME" so it immediately pops to the eyes and you can quickly tell it's a game thread. It's the closest thing to a tag. But not all the other types of threads. How am I to know at a glance if someone’s Disney -related thread is going to annoy me? Oh, I’m not. I just close it and move on like an adult. Perhaps the real issue here is that the peas who don’t like political threads feel owed an accommodation the rest of us don’t get.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 18:55:31 GMT
For those who point out that the board moves more slowly now - a big part of what moved the old NSBR so quickly was drama and controversy, including politics. Make of that what you will.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 18:53:10 GMT
Personally, I appreciate the threads marked as "Political". Yes, I can read the subject line and figure it out. I'm not a "tender flower" but I like being to quickly see at a glance, the moment I log in as to which threads are political so I can avoid them. As far as the game threads. I don't participate in them, but don't have a problem with them and understand why others enjoy it. I believe if you are not enjoying this board, for whatever reason, maybe it's time to take a little break from it. Why do you feel you can just ignore the game threads but not the political ones? Why do you feel it’s more important for you to be able to see the threads you don’t like at a glance than for the rest of us to be able to do so? Perhaps what we need is a series of tags. Every thread must have a tag - fluff, game, politics, animals, kids, travel, etc.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 16:04:59 GMT
Well, then we don’t get the entertainment of guessing why a thread about tomatoes is labeled political. 🙄😀 (sarcasm ) Someone probably mentioned that a politician’s wife grows tomatoes, and bingo, it is now political. 🙄 Yep. "Michelle Obama had tomatoes in the White House garden during her husband's two terms as part of her push to include more fresh produce in school meals." Bang, political. That's the kind of nonsense I'm talking about.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 16:01:22 GMT
Almost all cattle are born with the ability to grow horns, even the females. Horns are part of their sinus cavity. It's the lack of udder, I believe, that makes it a cow that doesn't produce milk. Could be a heifer. But still, no milk there. To your point, yes, the longhorn cattle here in Texas all have horns regardless of gender, as do highland cows in Scotland (and others, too, I'm sure).
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 15:56:13 GMT
Merge can I interest you in a bit of humor regarding chasing apathetic people? That is funny!
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 15:52:30 GMT
Out on my walk yesterday I was treated to the sight of an "Appeal to Heaven" flag on somebody's house. Might as well post a sign saying "domestic terrorist sympathizer." JFC.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 15:42:30 GMT
Merge I certainly think you're entitled to your thoughts, feelings and opinions. Even this one: I've long since come to terms with the fact that a ridiculous number of people don't give a damn about what happens to others and would rather discuss socks. But we are reading things like this and how are we to interpret? What I'm saying is that my dislike of the tag is not prompted by a desire for more people to care about the issues I care about. I've given up on that. Please interpret the statement that way. ETA: I have a good friend who I've tried to engage more with the fight for public education. He's receptive, but at the end of the day his comment is, "I should know more about these things, but I'd rather drink." He's the CEO of a multi-million dollar corporation, BTW. If I can't engage someone with that kind of clout and brainpower, why would I expect to engage a random group of women here?
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 15:38:10 GMT
I've done vegetarian, WFPB, etc. We currently eat meat and dairy but source as much as possible from local farms with traditionally raised (meaning pre-factory farming) flocks and herds. It's expensive, which means that we eat a lot less meat and dairy than the average American.
I wish more people were educated about the harm of factory farming and willing to reduce their consumption to make traditional farming more viable. Farmers who currently participate in factory farming are generally just trying to make a living, but of course more and more of these operations are owned by corporations rather than individual farmers.
I don't know what the answer is, but something is going to have to change. Our current method of meat and dairy production is harmful to our environment and our health, cruel to animals, and could be the source of the next devastating pandemic. If we don't make a choice to act differently, I believe at some point we will be forced to do so and it won't be pretty.
ETA: I also realize that part of the reason we started mass-producing our animal products was to bring prices down and combat hunger. That's also a big part of why we subsidize farmers. I'm not ignorant of that. We don't want to get to a point where the poor have no meat or milk at all. That's why I don't know what the answer is.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 15:24:40 GMT
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt I'm just going to leave that here. Oh FFS. A truism that doesn't remotely apply here.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 14:50:35 GMT
We, and they, then miss out on their contribution. God forbid anyone discuss current events. Therefore you might be missing out on what really is a non political topic that might interest you and the participants are missing out on your input on the subject. It's ridiculous and has a dampening effect on discourse in some cases. I read the title and the OP early yesterday afternoon and my immediate thought was "what difference does it make?" I mean in the grand scheme of things is this a big deal? I pea on my phone like 95% of the time so I don't see any labels and I sometimes avoid the politics threads (if my brain isn't in that space) and I sometimes read them. So really I have no dog in this fight. I am not buying the second class citizen/poster thing as I think Merge hasn't been treated as anything but a respected member of this board. (I like you too, BTW) But then I just had to read further this morning...these comments. This is the real motive. You want more people to participate and are truly afraid the politics label is keeping them away in general? I mean that's what I'm reading here. So why aren't we putting this argument out in black and white as the #1 priority instead of dancing around like political posters are being relegated to wearing scarlet letters? I mean onelasttime famously leads a number of political posts and lately she's been posting all sorts of various things and no one has shunned her threads. Even morecowbell who people have much stronger feelings about when she posts a thread that is non-political gets interaction. The fact is the board has been slow. All of it has been slow. It is the worst I've seen it in the 20 years I've been a member. But it takes all of us posting things to keep it moving and interesting. Lately I feel like the desire to post here has been falling off for many people and it saddens me, but I can't force people to post. And you can't trick people into reading and posting on a thread that is (debatable, I know)...political or dealing with social issues that unfortunately one side has made political. I'm not sure removing the politics label is going to get you any nearer to your goal...which I am getting from your words above...is more participation. And Merge I am not picking on you at all. I believe wholeheartedly you are a sensitive, kind person. Big, big heart. If I had to guess, I think you really just want people to care about these things. I applaud this goal. On some of these issues, it breaks my heart that people don't seem to have any compassion or see things that are harming other people and their role in perpetuating them. So I think you really want people to come in and read and expose themselves to things like this because you want to change hearts. I admire that. My vote is, I don't care about whether the politics label stays or goes. But my vote is also that people start threads, preferably ones better than "what color socks match most of your clothing?" And I'll try to do the same. IDK, can't I just feel how I feel? I don't like the label and the speed with which people jump to apply it the minute anyone attempts a real discussion. End of story. I am admittedly feeling prickly at the moment and yesterday I had just had enough. I've long since come to terms with the fact that a ridiculous number of people don't give a damn about what happens to others and would rather discuss socks. So be it. But you don't need to label and "other" those who do want to be more aware.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 4:12:14 GMT
Hahahaha no. Obviously wrong for me.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 4:08:55 GMT
Another decision brought to us by the far-right billionaires who take Clarence Thomas on free vacations on their private jet.
I fail to understand their reasoning that a regulatory body doesn't have the right to regulate.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 4:04:47 GMT
We have people here who can't read titles or cope with accidentally opening a political thread, but I'm the tender flower for not wanting to be treated like a leper? Alrighty then. I'm sure "whoever" marked it political (which I predicted in the OP) gets their jollies from getting under people's skin in any case. Seek therapy. I'm just really confused as to why you feel like a leper? I don't think most people who post in political threads are treated as lepers, unless of course they are conservative. (And I say this as a conservative who has learned not to post in contentious threads after being treated in a way that made me feel poorly treated.) In general, I don't view political peas as anything terrible, although there are a few *lovely* posters who are real pieces of work, and I try to avoid those individuals. Because those threads are singled out for a label, and often labeled by someone other than a participant, when no other thread is. There's no point to it. There are threads we'd rather not read and we're expected to just ignore them. I feel those who don't want to read political threads should be able to do the same and not put us in some special category. Something that often comes up is that a poster is afraid to mention a leader or law in a non-political thread for fear it will get the dreaded politics label. It's ridiculous and has a dampening effect on discourse in some cases.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 3:38:31 GMT
The only tender flower here is you, such an insignificant thing to get worked up over. All you had to do was remove the political tag from your first thread and it would have been over instead you start another thread complaining about it. Now whoever marked it political knows they can get under your skin and will continue. You’re both being petty. We have people here who can't read titles or cope with accidentally opening a political thread, but I'm the tender flower for not wanting to be treated like a leper? Alrighty then. I'm sure "whoever" marked it political (which I predicted in the OP) gets their jollies from getting under people's skin in any case. Seek therapy.
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Post by Merge on Jun 15, 2024 3:34:15 GMT
Hehe. Raw milk with a side of horse paste. The best and brightest there.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 21:14:28 GMT
I'm always on my phone and never even see tags. I would ignore them in any case. If it's keeping away people that don't want to discuss politics, how is that bad for you? Who cares? Other than your perception that you're now a second class citizen because of it, I guess I don't see that it has any effect on the pages-long threads that devolve into political rants no matter what the subject was originally. As I said, it unnecessarily stigmatizes the people who post on those threads, as if we’re not quite fit for polite society. And I too am almost always on my phone and don’t see them, which is why when I do use my computer, the labels are really jarring. Anyway, it seems the bullies think it’s a fun little game - which gives me a clue as to their identities - and nothing will change. I think admin deserted us long ago, so there’s no way to remove the ability to tag things that I know of.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 17:16:33 GMT
No, I don't.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 17:06:29 GMT
It reminds me of the election year on the old board when politics was given its own board. Hester Prynne is all of us! ☺️ I don’t get it. I mean, I hate game threads, but I don’t bitch about them. 🤷♀️ Exactly. God forbid anyone discuss current events. And speaking of god, as an atheist, I dislike threads or posts asking for prayers or saying people will pray for someone. I have never made a rude response to any of those or asked for them to be labeled so I don't have to see them.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 17:03:44 GMT
Yes, if he's in an "at will" state he could be fired for any reason or no reason at all. But he would still qualify for unemployment benefits unless he was fired for cause. So I vote that something is fishy.
It's likely that nothing good will come of trying to convince his wife of that, though.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 16:58:18 GMT
I have never understood why political discussions have to be red-flagged here so no tender flower accidentally reads something she doesn't want to. This practice has the effect of rendering those of us who like to discuss world events and their effect on us as second-class members of this board. We have to be marked with a red A to warn others away.
Just stop it. Put on your big girl panties and read the subject lines.
And yes, I've been here long enough to know that someone will now label this thread politics. Whatever. You're just showing that you're too much of a child to manage adult discussions.
For what it's worth, I think the "game" threads are stupid. I've tried to participate once or twice, but overall I find the daily "what's for dinner" thread boring. I find weight loss threads triggering as someone who has worked hard to stop hating my body. But as an adult, I just scroll on by instead of asking people who enjoy those threads to only post under some stupid label. Some others here should look into that.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 16:54:22 GMT
Also not about politics, just our system of voting. God I am so sick of people labeling anything they don't want to think about like we're lepers.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 16:52:24 GMT
This should not be marked politics. Which oh-so-tender flower who can't stand a real discussion marked it as such? Stop being such a baby and go back to your endless game threads.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 16:51:06 GMT
I appreciate the quality of the show from the crazy wigs to the incredible gowns and ballroom sets. I read an article yesterday that said all of the actors have to learn every dance and even Siena from season 1 had to learn to sing opera. Francesca learned to play the piano. All of that definitely takes time. It's just a shame that for 2 years they only do 8 episodes. Back in the network TV days you'd get 20 episode seasons. Then with streaming it was 12-15 and now 8-10 is more common. It would be great if they could go to at least 10-12 episodes per 2 year wait. I think it's more likely that Siena had to learn to convincingly appear to sing opera, and the same for Francesca and piano. You can always tell in a show when someone has no idea what it looks like to play/sing in the style they're acting. But to say that they quickly learned something that takes others years or decades to learn - that seems unlikely.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 13:38:54 GMT
Did anyone else catch Eloise's line to Benedict that she would be back in a year because she couldn't miss her mother's masquerade ball? Clearly that will be the ball where Benedict first sees Sophie.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 13:37:15 GMT
Thank you so much! But damn, no wonder I was confused. This was like, the day after her wedding, and she was already making lovey dovey eyes with somebody new! I totally agree. The only reason I know anything about it is I've read Francesca's book and know that version of the story. Of course, this is all just conjecture at this point but the way they introduced her and the "dramatic beat" it took when he did leads me to think this is the way they're going. I have no problem with the changes they've made to Francesca's eventual love story *except* this - in an earlier episode, after she and John announced their engagement, someone commented that they though she'd choose someone who would "bring her out of her shell a bit more." The new character who will be her eventual love interest clearly is a more assertive and extroverted character. But I don't like the implication that there's something wrong with Francesca and John's introversion and possible neurodivergence.
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Post by Merge on Jun 14, 2024 13:24:38 GMT
The area around Phoenix Arizona is on fire, southern Florida is under water! No climate change... rolling eyes.. DeSantis at his best... Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Wednesday for five counties due to heavy flooding in southern Florida just the day after he cut $205 million in stormwater, wastewater, and sewer projects from the state's budget.Heavy rains caused by a disorganized tropical system have inundated southern and western Florida since Tuesday, bringing more than a foot of rain in places and disrupting road and air travel throughout the area. The Weather Prediction Center (WPC), part of the National Weather Service, put southern Florida under a rare 4 out of 4 high risk of flooding on Thursday as rains were expected to continue there, and warned that it could be "locally catastrophic." The rains "transformed roads into canals and caused water to seep into homes," CNNreported, while a tow truck driver in Fort Lauderdale told The Associated Press that abandoned cars everywhere reminded him of "zombie movie." The extreme weather prompted state Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-37) to criticize DeSantis' budget cut. "As I’m sitting here stuck on a Brightline train because of flooding in my district, all those stormwater projects he cut look pretty stupid right now,” Pizzo told the AP. DeSantis cut the $205 million from the budget amid other cuts that he made Tuesday in finalizing the state budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year that begins on July 1, Tampa Bay Timesreported. In May, DeSantis signed a bill that removes most references to climate change from state law and streamlines fossil fuel development projects—"Don't Say Climate Change," the bill's critics have called it, including a meteorologist who spoke up against it on air. On the day he signed the legislation, Key West was a record-setting 115°F. www.rawstory.com/florida-flooding/How unfortunate that the most severe flooding didn't affect the area near Mar-a-lago.
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