The Obligatory Epic Randomness Thread

[NFFrog]

Speaking of friendly walruses...

I had with no perhaps remotely anywhere in there the most horrifying personal experience of my entire life bar none noon today. I was in the hydro pool doing some jets on my bad shoulder when in walk two morbidly obese 60s-ish women from their side. They get in the pool which doesn't quite overflow everywhere. Well den dey gets to talkin' [...think shrill fishwives which they may well have been...] about dair bodily functions. One of them has a bone spur that dats stickin up right dair thru the muscle and oh duckey you don't know how dat hurts. Here...[sticks out foot]...feel dat. Last night with me diabeetees i had to make me pee 2 times and de first went all right but on the second oh my that bone spur hurt and my husband woke up...hee sleeps in the other room on account uh he snores so loud I can't gets no sleep...well he calls out and he asks how I is and i said well I made me first pee but Dis time it hurt so bad i peed all over the new parquet floors we laid down...

At which point I pulled myself bodily out of the pool (bad shoulder and all), screamed "FuckingA" and went--nearly vomiting--into the male sauna. Men have their bad points from time to time, sure. But they are not just downright disgusting! I think I am now a confirmed misogynist.

[pcf]

The NF patois was incomprehensible to me, but maybe that was a blessing.

[Friskyfrog]

Smooth thinks it’s a bad idea for me to drink a bunch and then go axe throwing on Friday the 13th, but I say what could go wrong and pass the margaritas.

[NFFrog]

My father once gave me a nasty scalp cut with a double-bladed axe. Stopped the bleeding with good old -20F Minnesota snow.

[Lyle Lanley III]

Mrs. Lanley and I welcomed a baby girl earlier this week. Our son, who turned 9 earlier this spring, is a very proud (and very overwhelmed) big brother. All are happy, healthy, and exhausted.

[Friskyfrog]

Oh my goodness! Time to order one of those little girl TCU cheer outfits!

[Zebra Frog]

Congratulations. Girls are terrific.

[NFFrog]

till they hit middle school or so, anyway.

[NFFrog]

Chuckie and Cammie are coming to visit the province tomorrow for the next 3 days. I'm so, uh, not, pumped.

[NFFrog]

Texas powerplants can't handle heat either, it appears, according to the news.

Hopefully it never gets too hot or too cold in Texas in the future for the free market to work its magic!

[MercenaryLibrarian]

Texas powerplants can't handle heat either, it appears, according to the news.

Hopefully it never gets too hot or too cold in Texas in the future for the free market to work its magic!

Yup. We have a terribly failing infrastructure here in Texas with awful schools, undrivable and overcrowded roads, an energy grid that increasingly can't support the demand, a housing bubble with ridiculous property taxes, and a complete lack of empathy for almost everyone. But our idiot leaders keep gloating about how everyone wants to move to Texas, especially businesses that they give nice tax breaks to. And these same idiots feel that rather than update our infrastructure to better take care of existing residents and allow for all this exciting growth, the priority issues are bounty hunting anyone involved in an abortion, investigating families with trans children, allowing people to sue social media companies, making sure every nutjob that wants to walk around with an assault rifle can do so, and build a wall to keep out people who generally just want to try and provide for their families.

I can't really move somewhere else, but I'm fed up with this craphole state.

[Friskyfrog]

TRUTH

[Zebra Frog]

And Abbott, Patrick, and Paxton will be re-elected. It’s very sad.

[Duquesne Frog]

.

I can't really move somewhere else, but I'm fed up with this craphole state.

+1 on the post, but on the moving part, I was listening to a show discussing this very topic, from a very left wing direction, and the speaker chided all the companies in Texas who are providing abortion services to their employees rather than moving to another state

Which is a super privileged take ... it's not as though the average Amazon worker can easily pick up and move to Colorado or wherever. Do that and you've left people not only without access to abortion but possibly without an income ...

[MercenaryLibrarian]

Right. I theoretically COULD afford to move somewhere else, but that's just me. It doesn't account for all my friends and family that can't, my girlfriend who has three adult offspring here, my ex-wife with whom I co-parent a 10-year-old boy, her boyfriend and his 3 kids that have a psycho mother that is making even living in a different county difficult.
But most importantly, I'm not leaving without my kid.

[pcf]

Yup. We have a terribly failing infrastructure here in Texas with awful schools, undrivable and overcrowded roads, an energy grid that increasingly can't support the demand, a housing bubble with ridiculous property taxes, and a complete lack of empathy for almost everyone. But our idiot leaders keep gloating about how everyone wants to move to Texas, especially businesses that they give nice tax breaks to. And these same idiots feel that rather than update our infrastructure to better take care of existing residents and allow for all this exciting growth, the priority issues are bounty hunting anyone involved in an abortion, investigating families with trans children, allowing people to sue social media companies, making sure every nutjob that wants to walk around with an assault rifle can do so, and build a wall to keep out people who generally just want to try and provide for their families.

I can't really move somewhere else, but I'm fed up with this craphole state.

We're stuck in a "what color does this dress look like to you?" world. If it looks a certain color to someone, it just does. The problem is not recognizing the other side who sees it differently is just as sincere and worthy of something less than total disregard.

That's where Texas and a lot of society is failing right now. The focus is not on how to save as many babies as possible. There's probably strange allies to be had in that pursuit if that was the aim. The focus isn't on freedom or fairness. It is all twisted and cynical. That's why Texas is going to see change and see it much more rapidly than anyone thinks. There's a tyrannical grab for power that will soon enough be too much for even the cynical who think everything is left/right, Dem/Rep politics.

I think very soon that the point won't be comparison or policies but whether the current party running the state deserves to rule. First it will be an internal party struggle (happening now) then an outer collapse.

[Duquesne Frog]

It is indicative of the topsy-turvy world we find ourselves in that you are the voice of optimism and hope.

[Friskyfrog]

We're stuck in a "what color does this dress look like to you?" world. If it looks a certain color to someone, it just does.

I’ve been pondering the dress metaphor for awhile. As someone who has voted both Republican and Democrat and is pretty open to policy discussion, I have just been stumped by the Trump following. I just don’t get how I can see a man who is an objectively unhealthy, unintelligent, unethical, predatory grifter, who lies as easily as he breathes, and who seems incapable of compassion or empathy, and people that I used to respect see some god-like genius destined to save our country from something.

[NFFrog]

I honestly think that his shit-disturbing nature and behavior is what draws many, sadly not very thinking, people.

[pcf]

It is bigger than Trump. Trump just happens to be aligned with some deeply held beliefs and he paid off before.

[Duquesne Frog]

I’ve been pondering the dress metaphor for awhile. As someone who has voted both Republican and Democrat and is pretty open to policy discussion, I have just been stumped by the Trump following. I just don’t get how I can see a man who is an objectively unhealthy, unintelligent, unethical, predatory grifter, who lies as easily as he breathes, and who seems incapable of compassion or empathy, and people that I used to respect see some god-like genius destined to save our country from something.

+ eleventy. There are aspects of the more general right wing populism bent I can at least intellectually understand. I get the appeal of "the system is broken, blow up the system." Sometimes I feel that way. I get the appeal of Good Ol Days syndrome and the notion that the country and culture is changing in ways that are unfamiliar and disorienting. I don't personally put much of any stock in that one, but I get it.

But Trump. Good God Trump. Til the day I die, I will never understand his appeal. There is not a single positive characteristic I could ascribe to him.

[SFAFrog]

I’ve horrified my oldest wanna be commie son. I told him I’d be open to voting for moderate republicans or whoever can actually do something beneficial for the position they service that is for something instead of just against everything.

[pcf]

Living in a red area, I have done that in the past. Seems useless now. They hate moderate Republicans too much to let them sniff office

[pcf]

+ eleventy. There are aspects of the more general right wing populism bent I can at least intellectually understand. I get the appeal of "the system is broken, blow up the system." Sometimes I feel that way. I get the appeal of Good Ol Days syndrome and the notion that the country and culture is changing in ways that are unfamiliar and disorienting. I don't personally put much of any stock in that one, but I get it.

But Trump. Good God Trump. Til the day I die, I will never understand his appeal. There is not a single positive characteristic I could ascribe to him.

That's how Republicans have faith they've made a deal with the devil and he will deliver for the Christian cause. Just like King Whatchamacallit did in the Bible.

[Duquesne Frog]

A deal with the devil to put the single least Christ-like man on the planet in the White House to deliver for Christians ...

[Friskyfrog]

That's how Republicans have faith they've made a deal with the devil and he will deliver for the Christian cause. Just like King Whatchamacallit did in the Bible.

Some do speak of the flawed characters in the Bible who God works through anyway, but usually that’s specifically in reference to infidelity (Stormy story) and not everything else that is wrong with the guy. I can kinda see where the rationalization people are coming from, but they seem different to me than the people who really don’t seem to see it (like the blue/gold dress).

I have true cult followers in my family (my oldest sister opened an online Trump merchandise store), but honestly I have more who don’t worship Trump, but he’s on their team. There is no way they’re not voting for the Republican guy, so they make up reasons in their head (My mother-in-law switched her vote in the booth because she just couldn’t get past that somebody at church knew somebody who knew somebody who once worked for Hillary who said she was rude to her staff. Trump literally mocked a handicapped reporter to his face during a public campaign event, but ok). They actively work to not hear him speak or see his tweets so they don’t have to wrestle with it (but also Fox News told them Biden has dementia so no matter what you try to point out they are comfortably assured that Biden is the more dangerous of the two).

[NFFrog]

As others have mentioned, I simply don't understand all this in any other terms than a conscious--or at least not consciously unwilling--headlong stampede to nihilism that seems to be taking over the culture.* Part is certainly driven by algorithms in SM that specifically amplify and feed back fear, arousal, anger, worry, etc. But as for the rest, maybe it's just one of those swings that seem ubiquitous throughout history where a society self destructs/reconstructs along different lines.

Some scenes out of Ayn Rand come to mind...except it is her heroes who are the Wesley Mouch's this time around.

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*I mean I just binge-watched a season of Domino Masters (domino topple reality show). Really...If that doesn't mean I'm part of the meaningless end of our society, I don't know what does!

[Boston Frog]

In other news, Mavericks-Celtics NBA finals incoming?

[NFFrog]

And in possibly the most "dog bites man" story of the day: The Leafs lose out on the Stanley Cup.

[Duquesne Frog]

Penguins and Stars both go out in soul crushing Game 7s. This may truly be it for the Crosby-Malkin-Letang era in Pittsburgh.

[Boston Frog]

Same for Patrice Bergeron here in Boston. Brutal loss in game 7.