Snowflake's Forum

 OK, pile on if you will.  The scumbag grifter former guy has finally been issued his first indictment. Share your thoughts. Will he be convicted? Will we soon see Georgia and federal indictments? Any memes?  BTW I love that this deepfake has Trump wearing a holster. Let loose, folks! This thread courtesy of Dan. T.

 L et's talk about songs without words!  Instrumentals!  Those great songs that are forever embedded in your head but remain lyricless.  For example: O r how about this? L et's build a list!  You're up!             AlextheKay likes to listen!          

 Well well, Dear Abby is still at it. Who woulda thunk it? I haven't heard that name in ......... well........... quite some time.  Seems people still need her advice: DEAR ABBY: Husband has nickel-and-dime approach to family finances https://torontosun.com/life/relationships/dear-abby-husband-has-nickel-and-dime-approach-to-family-finances Ah well, a Toronto newspaper, what do ya expect? Not so fast, apparently she is still giving out advice south of the border as well: Dear Abby | Woman’s frank sexual talk creates doubt for engaged man https://www.inquirer.com/life/dear-abby-womans-frank-sexual-talk-creates-doubt-engaged-man-20230329.html I remember, back in the day, women particularly, always had to read Dear Abby's advice. I always thought it was silly. But hey, I find Dr. Phil to be a total phony, yet look how well he does. Would YOU accept advice from a TV psychologist or a newspaper Advice columnist? Have you ever? As for Dear Abby, I figured she would be like 100 yrs o...

A decades long pet peeve Humans have a thing for fantasy health products, treatments and whatnot.  The market size of the vitamin & supplement industry alone is projected to be $39.8 billion in 2023. Vitamins are real, but grossly overused and oversold. Vitamin products like Airborne and Emergen-C are nonsense, but people buy the stuff anyway. Most nutritional supplements are also mostly fantasy unsupported by controlled, blinded clinical trial data.  Vaporware More vaporware Probiotics One class of untested and unproven fantasy health products that is carpet bombing society on TV is probiotics. These mirages are claimed to be designed by experts with decades of experience and/or other nonsense claims. Probiotics are live bacteria and/or yeast that people eat in the form of pills, gummies, yogurt-type goo and so on. A WaPo article comments :  Probiotic supplements may do the opposite of boosting your gut health Taking gummies, powders and capsules of live microorgani...

“Once you pass its borders, you can ne’er return again.”   Or can you? AlextheKay wants to know: What’s the best toy you ever had and what happened to it? Okay, let’s have it.  Favorite toys as a child.   Or, have your toys now graduated to the adult versions (fast cars, flashy jewelry, other shiny objects that captivate us)? Do tell. ( Posted by PrimalSoup for AlextheKay )

It’s been a while, so I’m gonna ask this question again now:   Q: How would you feel about two years of paid mandatory community service (work intended to be of social use) for U.S. kids right out of high school?   Not necessarily military service but that would count toward community service too.   The work would be done in the U.S. for the benefit of the U.S.   Would it be a good or a bad thing?   Make your case, pro or con. (by PrimalSoup) _________________________ Here is how I described such service to milo, when addressing his concerns:   Original Link. Well, it IS true that any endeavor is only as strong as its weakest links. I'm sure there would be such people who would be damned before they would willingly give up their first two years out of high school. And they would do whatever they could to get out of it. But right out of high school does seem to be the "right place" to put that kind of program in effect; before life and future f...

 Colour (correct spelling) me shocked!!  No, not really. 😏 A new study suggests Canadians take more pride in their country than their American neighbours do. A recent Angus Reid poll looked into how Canadians and Americans view themselves and each other. The numbers show that 78 per cent of Canadians believe they live in a caring country, compared to just  36 per cent  of people in the United States. “Canadians have grown to be much more positive about Canada in the last year than Americans have on America,” says Jon Roe, a research associate with the Angus Reid Institute Research. When it comes to safety, the poll shows that 89 per cent of Canadians feel the country is safe, while only 43 per cent of Americans feel the United States is a safe nation. Conversely, 64 per cent of Americans view Canada as a safe place and 56 per cent say Canada is a caring country. More to contemplate: https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/new-poll-suggests-canadians-take-more-pride-in-their-co...

As we all know, radical Republicans are well into a spasm of book banning. They ban inconvenient history, books about race and gender and books deemed sexually naughty. I was waiting for the other side of that sword of self-righteousness to cut in the other direction. That day has come. LGBQT Nation writes : Book ban lawmaker “very sad” that a parent is using his law to ban the “sex-ridden” Bible The parent said that if lesser books have been banned, then the Bible, which discusses infanticide, rape, and bestiality, is not appropriate for kids A Utah parent has challenged the Bible under a state law banning “pornographic or indecent” material in schools. The law has been used to remove books by mostly LGBTQ+ and Black authors from shelves. In a book challenge submitted to Davis School District last December, the unnamed parent called the Bible “one of the most sex-ridden books around,” according to The Salt Lake Tribune , and asked that it be removed from school shelves for review....

 I am sure I did a thread on this story a while back, so consider this an update.  Arguments over a waggish dog toy had some justices questioning their sense of humor.  WASHINGTON (CN) — The normally sedate Supreme Court broke into fits of laughter on Wednesday while reviewing a toymaker’s spoof on Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey.  Advertised as “The Old No.2 on your Tennessee carpet,” Bad Spaniels Silly Squeaker dog toy advertises “43% Poo by Vol.” and that it is “100% Smelly.” For Jack Daniel's, even the whiff of association to its Old No. 7 Brand was enough to begin litigation that landed on the high court steps this morning. It appeared likely the court might decide the case on narrow grounds, but Justice Neil Gorsuch seemed to endorse another option. The Trump appointee said the  Rogers  test wasn’t ideal because it forced judges to evaluate art.  “Judges make for pretty lousy art critics,” Gorsuch said.  The suit originated in 2014 when Jack...

We’ve all seen it: Products that say “New and Improved!”  “Tastes even Better!”  “Two Scoops of Raisins!”, etc. First, what do they mean by “new” and who says it’s “improved”?   Isn’t improving on something a subjective thing, in the eye of the beholder (or consumer, in this case)?   Tastes even better?   Says who?   Two scoops of raisins?   But I was fine with just one!   Too much of something doesn’t necessarily improve it. Turns out there is a legal term for all that puffing up!   You guessed it, it’s called “Puffery”*. According to several websites, “Puffery in advertising is not illegal; all companies do it, and there is no way to prove any company has lied when making such statements.” So here is fellow blogger, Germaine’s question : What do you think about deceptive product packaging?    How often have you encountered it?  Does it perturb you?  Tell us about your experiences with deceptive product packagin...

Here are a couple of good questions from our fellow bloggers:       No-Name asks...      "Here's a thought for discussion I've had in my mind for a very long while... How to love a country that doesn't love you back?"      Roxanna’s follow up question...      "And by extension,  how to be a proud American  when your fellow Americans do not accept that you are, indeed, American?" Q: What do you think?  Do you have any good answers, or answers period, about this phenomenon?   Is it real?  Is it rare?  Is it just a news attention-getter for higher ratings?  Does this kind of thing happen, not just in the U.S., but globally?  Let’s get to the bottom of this.  What gives??  Explain it as best you can. (Posted by PrimalSoup for No-Name and Roxanna)

  After three days in jail with only Aleve as treatment, she has received surgery Karen McGee , a deaf, 71-year-old Florida resident, is considering a lawsuit against the city of Austin after what was supposed to be a three-hour layover at  Austin-Berg­strom International Airport  turned into an arrest, a weekend in the Travis County Jail, and an arm broken by a jailer and left untreated for three days. McGee's ordeal began on the afternoon of Sept. 13, 2022, as she waited for a connecting flight from Austin to Seattle. She was flying alone for the first time in her life and nervous because her hearing aids weren't working well, so she sat within sight of the ticket desk to see when her plane would begin boarding. After noticing that it hadn't boarded on time she spoke with a ticket agent and was distressed to learn that she had missed an announcement that her gate had changed. With her plane already gone, she was issued a ticket for a flight leaving that evening. While M...

larrymotuz, one of our Canadian bloggers, posted this concern: I've been moved today by an article I read about qualified architects not being able to practice in Canada, but this problem of 'foreign' professional qualifications and experience not being recognized by licensing bodies (Canadian Professional Associations) has been around for a long time (Artificial 'shortages' of licensed professionals have upset me since at least the early 1970s when I began working as an economist); and  is  worth writing about in the United States as it's hardly unique to Canadian immigrants or temporary residents. The article which moved me is at:  Link here. larry’s question: What do you think about qualified architects not being able to practice in other countries? ________ ________ This caused me, PrimalSoup, to wonder about the opposite situation the U.S. faces, where we must pull in talent from other countries in order to “advance technology.”   Theoreti...

 P ets come into our lives via various circuitous paths.  For example, my younger daughter's giant cat. Noot was a doomed.  He was a gigantic Maine Coon, weighing around 17 pounds.  And his owner didn't want him anymore.  She was my older daughter's roommate at an art school up in Boston, and she'd decided to move back to Florida to live with her mother.  Who was allergic to cats.  She was going to haul Noot back to the local "shelter."  Which meant exactly what you're thinking.   My daughter, aghast, called to ask if I could take on another cat "for a little while."  I said yes, and Noot made a voyage to the midwest.   My own cats were freaked out.  They were ordinary-sized cats.  Noot terrified them.  No, that orange one is not a kitten.  She's full-grown.  Then my younger daughter finished her schooling at Carnegie-Mellon and was off to Seattle to seek her fortune.  And, coming home, ...

District responds to student's Pledge of Allegiance lawsuit Sat, March 18, 2023, 10:18 AM PDT Marissa Barnwell, a River Bluff High School student, her parents and their lawyer, Tyler Bailey, hold a news conference in Columbia, S.C., on Thursday, March 9, 2023, regarding a lawsuit filed against Lexington School District One. Marissa said she was walking quietly to class and decided not to stop for the pledge or a moment of silence that followed. A teacher yelled at her, confronted her and pushed her against a wall. (Alexa Jurado/The State via AP)  (ASSOCIATED PRESS) COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina school district said a ninth grader walking in a hallway was stopped during a moment of silence and not the Pledge of Allegiance, as the student had said  in a lawsuit  filed last month. Marissa Barnwell said she was pushed against the wall by a teacher at River Bluff High School when she didn't stop to recite the pledge as she walked to class in November, according to her...

I’m talking about when your food isn’t quite right.   It still needs… something. Enter condiments! We love our condiments.  What would life be, but bland, without them?  So here’s the question: What do you put on what?  How "freaky" do you get?? In particular, Meepestos and Roxanna want to know, do you put maple syrup on anything other than pancakes? Do tell! (by PrimalSoup, Meepestos and Roxanna)

 One that takes careful consideration. So think carefully before you answer! What would YOU do with a million bucks? For any of you outside of North America, the equivalent of a million bucks. Now to make this MORE interesting, you were granted this million bucks with the understanding that you have to spend it. On self? Sure. On others? Sure. For the benefit of mankind? Sure, why not. BUT..... be specific. WE want details!! SO.........

   Inside the meteoric rise and fall of the shiny disc that changed music The compact disc gave us our first taste of digital music – and we liked it. Upon its arrival in the U.S. in March 1983, the sleek 4.7-inch plastic and aluminum disc – about the size of a drink coaster – promised crisp, clean digital music reproduction without the pops heard on vinyl LPs or the hiss from tapes. The CD did have some drawbacks. Vinyl's coffee table-sized artwork and text were lost because of the new format's size. And, initially, CDs were sold in not-so-eco-friendly cardboard long boxes to prevent theft. The plastic cases also had pesky little metallic tape seals called dog bones, which required a razor-edged tool to slice through. But CDs let us listen to more than an hour's worth of music just by pushing play. We could skip tracks and shuffle, too. CDs propelled recorded music revenues to new heights in the late 1990s and early 2000s – and remained...

A classic riddle of my youth: A father and son were in a car accident where the father was killed. The ambulance brought the son to the hospital. He needed immediate surgery.  In the operating room, a doctor came in and looked at the little boy and said, "I can't operate on him! He's my son!"  Who is the doctor? When I was a kid, this was considered quite the brain-teaser, because, well, women weren't doctors.   Women weren't lawyers, either.  Or scientists.  Or engineers.  Or college professors.  But they were permitted to be secretaries or teach public school.  And  all nurses were women.  Those who never had children were "old maids." These days, folks talk of a glass ceiling.  But back then, the ceiling wasn't glass.  It was solid stone.  Women were second class citizens, and they were told they were being kept on a pedestal.  And that they should be grateful for it.  "We don't want you doing anythin...

 Let's talk sex. On Saturday Susan asked us to come up with topics for discussion. One of the ones I thought of was: Sex, how important is it, or isn't it, to building a successful and loving relationship? She suggested that I take care of that one and so I started to compose a thread in my mind. Problem I ran into though was - who wants to talk about sex? The answer to my question should be obvious - very important. What more is there to say without getting personal? That brought a different topic, still concerning sex, to mind. Before I moved to Canada I met weekly (before and after the 2nd year of Covid) with a group of buddies to shoot the breeze. We talked politics, we talked sports, we talked social issues, we bragged a lot and yup, we gossiped! What we did not talk about was sex. So, how's the sex with your wife these days? Like, who wants to answer THAT question? BUT why is THAT question such taboo? How's the job? Still going to vote Republican? Still going to c...

We had no winners in yesterday’s “What is it?” contest.   Something related to pizza seemed to be the going theory.   Nope.   Here’s the answer: It’s a silica gel pellet; a drying (or desiccant) agent used to protect from moisture in the air.   No one seemed to notice that I zoomed in on the little bugger with my phone magnifier.   That should have given you a major hint that it was something smallish.   And who among us hasn’t been perturbed by that thing getting in the way of your pill access?   Pesky little thing, but it seems it has many recycle uses: Link. (by PrimalSoup)