Snowflake's Forum

  P reeeeee--senting!    The one!  The only!  The true and beloved Emperor Joshua Abraham Norton! No, seriously. Who is this guy?  Joshua Norton was born in England, educated in south Africa, and immigrated to San Francisco.  He was ungodly rich.  A brilliant investor.  Until he tried to corner the rice market right before a price collapse and was reduced to penury. Nine years later, in 1859, after people had largely forgotten him, he re-emerged with the following notice in a San Francisco paper: At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last 9 years and 10 months past of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these United States; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Mu...

  "This "they/them" business is a no-go. I think it's perfectly easy to accept that Caitlin Jenner is no longer "Bruce," and Chazz Bono isn't "Chastity" anymore. But fitting gender-non-bindaries into our picture 📸 of what the human race is will take some doing, even for many open-minded Millennials. I wonder if some of us could try a less common pronoun, "thon," which was used in Ireland in the '60's. "But defensiveness on the part of aging cisgender heteros will not provoke gracious conduct from the young non-bindary, no matter how good that would be for those family relations." So I wrote on Miss Manners on uexpress, on May 9th. Does anyone have any ideas on how to solve this pronoun issue? Posted by Jennifer A. Nolan

No, not your specific street address.  Just your state or country, if outside the U.S.  It seems most of us on this forum are Californians.  Do you want to represent your state here?  Speak up! Me, I'm in "Ohio, Ohio, Ohio," a la Drew Carey. (Below are some IDs/Locs I've saved in my Blog Dossier.  Yes, big sister is watching!) Any updates? (by PrimalSoup)

  "Something occurred to me... You don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about... you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine.  And you ripped my f**kin' life apart. You're an orphan, right?  Do you think I'd  know how hard your life has been  because I read Oliver Twist ?" We white people react to accusations of racial discrimination a lot like Will to Sean's efforts at therapeutic inquiry: by being defensive, closed off, and just a little abusive.  We throw the self-protective tactics of minority communities back at them as signs of moral failure, much the way a few British Conservatives still do to Northern Irish Catholics.  But minority B.S. is just reacting to white abuse and humiliation, and, although they can clean up their act as much as they want... they can't clean up ours. Only we can do that.  And for this to happen, just like Will in the movie, we will have to open our minds up to our own bad...

 Is it grey or gray? I could be talking about the matter on top of my head which is definitely turning grey or gray. Where as my beard is less grey or gray but closer to white.  We don't question whether something is gay or gey. So why is there two spellings of grey or gray? Could it may be or maybe because of the country using the word? Or a demographic? It may be, or maybe so. So what say you?  Oh say can you see My eyes if you can Then my hair's too short While we are at it, is it okey, okay or ok?  Okey sounds, at least to me, like someone from Muskogee.  I won't even bother getting into color vs colour. 

 Apparently, despite ALL the nauseating press over the last few months, few Americans really care, OR another way of looking at it - they didn't mind sticking it to the bigots by taking their kiddies to see the new Mermaid movie despite her color: ‘The Little Mermaid’ Dominates Memorial Day Box Office With $118 Million Debut https://www.aol.com/entertainment/little-mermaid-dominates-memorial-day-160104519.html Yet........................ SURPRISE!!!!! POLL REVEALS THAT MOST WHO ARE AGAINST HALLE BAILEY BEING CAST AS ARIEL IN ‘THE LITTLE MERMAID’ ARE REPUBLICANS (Actually, no, that is NOT a surprise) https://thesource.com/2019/07/15/poll-halle-bailey-republicans/ All this controversy made me wonder, what's the fuss? A mermaid likely isn't black or white. So what color should a Mermaid be? Curious minds. 

Here’s something quick and simple for your busy Memorial Day festivities (here in the U.S), aka your daily “blog-hit” 😮 Thunder asks:      What things do you always bring with you when you go out?      As an example answer      Wallet      Phone      Pocket knife      Keys   Okay, let's have it!  What are your essentials? (Posted for Thunder by PrimalSoup)

Atoms smashing in an atom smasher The ATLAS Experiment reports about a possible decay route that is predicted for the Higgs boson in the Standard Model of the universe. It had not yet observed in huge atom smashers. Observation of the Higgs subatomic particle was first publicly announced on July 4, 2012. Higgs is the particle that gives almost all other particles their mass. Its discovery and verification cements the theoretical foundation of matter that forms us and everything we see around us in the universe. ATLAS writes : Evidence for the Higgs boson decay to a 𝒁 boson  and  a photon at the LHC The first evidence is presented for the Higgs boson decay to a 𝑍 boson and a photon, with a statistical significance of 3.4 standard deviations. The result is derived from a combined analysis of the searches performed by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations with proton-proton collision data sets collected at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) from 2015 to 2018.  Wikipedia comme...

KipSmithers wants you to: "Plug a food you like." Food it great.  And to "spice this up" (pun intended), I’ll also add, - Is there any other commodity/product that you are also a big fan of, or that it’s something not very well known and you want to promote it?  Include a picture if you can. - If so, where can we get it (grocery shelf, “Something Something Something.com," other)? - What’s so great about your product?   Talk it up! 😍 (Posted for KipSmithers by PrimalSoup)

 First: On Monday, May 29, 2023, Memorial Day will be observed in the United States. While many will enjoy the day off with BBQs and pool parties, some may also be curious to learn about the history and significance of this solemn occasion. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made by those who have served and honor their memory. But: How much of Memorial Day has become about BBQs and pool parties vs reflecting on the sacrifices? Sort of like Christmas being about time off work, presents, and turkey rather than about Christ. Next: Many historians agree that  Memorial Day originated during or shortly after the Civil War . Although it is unclear which specific location first began celebrating, the tradition was established as a means of honoring fallen soldiers.   Today three states, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina, celebrate Confederate Memorial Day as a public holiday. Other states, including  Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and Tenness...

 On February 25th, 2011, on the Red Letter Christians blog, Tony Campolo wrote a critique of well-intentioned missionaries who disrupt local economies in poor countries, ruining families, businesses, and community institutions.  " Henry Thoreau once said , 'When people come and say, "I want to help you", I flee.'  I think that what Thoreau was trying to tell us is that sometimes those who, with good intentions, try to help can do a great deal of damage.  No where is this more evident than in Haiti today." D-Dawg, a conservative commenter, questioned the Rev's entire premise: that charity to people in poor communities should be well-thought-out, in order to make genuine improvements in the conditions under which the "beneficiaries" work and live.  I made a few retorts of my own.  Here are a couple of them: "Yeah, that sounds nice; it also sounds too abstract and high-flown. This response to my complaint, and the actual AUTHOR'S, about ...

                            Buddy Poppy Before Memorial Day in 1922, we conducted our first poppy distribution, becoming the first veterans' organization to organize a nationwide distribution. The poppy soon was adopted as the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, as it remains today.  During our 1923 encampment, we decided that VFW  "Buddy"® Poppies  would be assembled by disabled and needy veterans who would be paid for their work to provide them with financial assistance. The next year, disabled veterans at the Buddy Poppy factory in Pittsburgh assembled VFW Buddy Poppies. The designation "Buddy Poppy" was adopted at that time. In February 1924, we registered the name Buddy Poppy with the U.S. Patent Office. A certificate was issued on May 20, 1924, granting our organization all trademark rights in the name of Buddy under the classification of artificial flowe...

AlextheKay wants to know: What's the ugliest part of your body?   Okay, fess up, you freaks, you weirdos! (Posted for AlextheKay by PrimalSoup)

 Whether you like the man or don't, I am curious what you think of this message from him.

  Closet Cases – Republicans secretly love what they publicly hate So far in 2022, more than  300 anti-LGBT bills  have been proposed across 36 states – at least one third of which are directed at trans youth. This surge, especially in anti-trans legislation from Republicans, stands in stark contrast to a startling fact. Republicans love transgender porn,  A LOT . With more than 4.7 Million transgender porn related Google searches each month (per Ahrefs.com), do Republicans represent those searching most? The answer seems to be a clear YES. Search Popularity by metro area for the keyword “Femboy” Top 20 Most Transgender Porn Obsessed States and Metro Areas Texas Georgia Kentucky Missouri Kansas Virginia North Carolina Illinois Mississippi Tennessee Ohio Indiana Arkansas Iowa Louisiana Michigan Oklahoma Alabama Florida Pennsylvania The rest of the juicy details: https://lawsuit.org/general-law/republicans-have-an-obsession-with-transgender-pornography/ Wichita Falls T...

Sophia Sadek’s question: Let's talk about historical "revision" or deeper historical understanding. Tsuyoshi Hasegawa gave us a deeper understanding of Japan's surrender at the end of WW II with his amazing "Racing the Enemy." He uncovered the limited effect that strategic bombing played in the endgame, and the way that the Soviet Invasion of Manchukuo precipitated a loss of face for the Japanese army. He also detailed various Japanese attempts to negotiate a surrender through the Soviet Union and the reasons they fell on deaf ears. A review can be seen here:  Link.   Question: Do you have any recommendations for improved historical analysis to share? So, what do you think?   Thanks for posting and favoriting. (Posted for Sophia Sadek by PrimalSoup)

Today's Google Doodle celebrates an Indigenous LGBT poet and photographer whose legacy deserves more exposure than it has ever had.  To wit: this is my first time ever learning that she even existed.  Luckily, Google has blessed us with a large number of links to her story and her legacy.  Here are just a few: Indigenous Goddess Gang. Ms. Magazine, March, 2022 The Los Angeles Blade And from the UK:  The Independent I hope this will help put her on the map among older white "Progressives."  We keep forgetting how urgent all these intersectional issues are.

Since there is no topic to this OP, everything will be off-topic. 😁 Yes, it’s a smorgasbord of good, bad, and ugly, where you can have/say whatever you want. So let it all hang out...   Chip on your shoulder about something?   Earworm torturing the crap out of you?   In-laws coming for a visit?   Found $20 bucks on the street?   Got to sleep in today?   Scale says you lost 2 lbs this week? Complain/Rejoice about whatever you want!   Enjoy!! (by Primal “your sounding board” Soup) Note: Disqus seems to be on the fritz again. 😭 Just do what you can.

... so suck it up. Fellow blogger StrontiDog wants to know: Do you fear death? (Not the dying part, just the epilogue.) I’ll add a part 2: While we’re on the subject of morbid, do you believe in an afterlife?   If yes, give us any details you might have. 😉 (Posted for StrontiDog by PrimalSoup)

 I t's the merry month of May!  Have you chosen your holiday yet?  No?  My gosh, you've already blown through over half of them!  You missed National Grump Day!  You slept through Lost Sock Remembrance Day!   Check out the list and pick one for what's left of the month.  Or just tell us what your favorite Weird Holiday might be. AlextheKay could probably use a vacation

  From Saint Andrew, Andrewism on YouTube, “The Psychology of Authoritarianism,” August 4 th , 2021: 'But it only takes one person to start the opposition.   And that domino effect can influence even the high RWA’s, because it’s clear that they want to be “normal.”   In these bubbles and echo chambers, they don’t realize how extreme they are.   Mutual aid and other organizing efforts can show them the humanity of other people, finding common ground in common cause. 'Ultimately, in my view, the best long-term solutions require youth liberation and pre-figuration.   We need Youth Liberation!   Both at home and at school!   As long as we continue to teach children to blindly submit to authorities, as long as we refuse to grant them humanity and autonomy , we will continue to be without humanity and autonomy .   We will continue to have adults, generation after generation, who do not know how to resist authority.   We must pre-fi...

  Fred Clark writes  many posts of this type on his Patheos Progressive Christian blog.  At least once or twice a month, some Evangelical or other conservative Christian grandee is caught with a sexual abuse, embezzlement, or cover-up charge.  Other bloggers write about ecclesial gaslighting and emotional abuse.  On NetGrace,  Boz Tchividjian writes, based on an interview with the late Rachel Held Evans, that " Child sexual abuse is not merely a personal offense. It is a serious crime. Child sexual abuse does not even fit into the paradigm of which Jesus was speaking about in this passage.  Jesus never intended these statements to be twisted into the required method for handling murder, rape, torture, kidnapping, or genocide. Child sexual abuse is not a private matter, but rather a public offense against the victim, society and humanity as a whole. It is not a matter which can be handled quietly between two persons or between two families, as is wrongl...