Snowflake's Forum

  Every winter the TV weather people will say “According to the traditional calendar, spring starts today.”  Of course, it is still very cold.  bunny happy.  Bunny angrily tells the TV people that the weather doesn’t care about the calendar.  The warm weather doesn’t follow your schedule.  Grrr. Now, tomorrow will be September.  Bunny will of course get angry that the hot weather hasn’t stopped.  “It’s September.  School has started.  Summer is done.  Where the hell is my cold weather?”  Will yell at the weather people for being wrong. Bunny knows it is damn stupid behaviour, but still does it. What stupid things do you continue to do? J. P. Bunny

  Hobbies.  Most of us have them.  Bunny enjoyed jigsaw puzzles and building models, but with limited space and kitties…. Now, the daily crossword and word puzzle in the paper.  History still a biggie, but less chance to use it. What hobbies do you have, had, or would like to have? J. P. Bunny

Made my husband some Dutch Pancakes (Pannenkoeken) this morning.  He had Smucker’s Sugar Free Breakfast Syrup on them (we’re not diabetic but we just like the taste). He couldn’t eat the last one (had like four, plus the rest of the [cage free] egg I needed to use, and three Morning Star Farms Vegetarian Bacon Strips).  So, I sacrificed myself on that last remaining koek (it was worth it! 😋).  I rather like grape jelly on mine.   (Note: wet paper towel at 1 o’clock (middle pix) for wiping off sticky fingers, for "those" who like the [a-hem] “hands-on” experience. Yes, I try to think of everything; it’s my curse (or blessing, IDK).   I prefer a fork, myself.   So much more civilized. 😁😜 Here's a fun question : What did you have for breakfast?    What is your usual?   ( Everyday can’t be [let’s call it] “special.”) (by PrimalSoup)

 Movies I mean, specifically horror movies. As a follow up to my thread of yesterday about having a visit by my niece, we grabbed some popcorn and drinks, me vodka and coke, she a glass of wine, and we would plant ourselves in the evening to catch us some good ole fashion horror movies. Without watching a single slasher movie. No Halloween or Friday the 13th kind of crap. Movies that were more creepy than simply blood letting.  A couple of disappointments, watched the more recent version of Nosferatu.......... ............ AND all I can say is spare yourself the agony. Also managed to sit through a classic that is more camp than horror............ .................. Don't waste your time, take my word for it. HOWEVER, we did enjoy some of the classics like: The Spiral Staircase, The Haunting, Cat People,  White Zombie, AND the classic Hitchcock movie Rebecca. ANY OTHER fans of classic horror movies among my group here? If so, got any recommendations?

 I am up early and thought I would drop a catch up thread while my niece is still asleep. Later today her father, my brother, is driving up from Minnesota to pick her up. After the Labour (how Canadians spell it) Day weekend, I will be driving to Minnesota to pick up Geri who has been staying with her daughter. Meanwhile, what a week and a half it's been. Talk about a mature adult at 31. Haven't seen her since Covid though we talked often on the phone.  She was always a bit of a tomboy. Jeans and t-shirt type of girl. Tall and slender, but very pretty. She is getting married next year to an American born Vietnamese boy. She works as a forensic pathologist. Makes good money.  Everyone in my orbit knows something about me I never denied, even my son, and that is I had always wanted a daughter. I had a son instead and love him to bits. But my niece and I have always been tight. Talk about a young lady you can do guy things with. Seriously, we averaged about 2 hours a day goi...

  Auto racing.Watching a bunch of cars going around and around the track, again and again.  The driving may be a rush, but sitting and watching cars go around in a circle?   Zzzzz. Of course this is highly subjective and dependent upon person interests, but what sport or activity can’t you see the point of being a spectator to? J. P. Bunny

  The grass is always greener on the other side over the septic tank. (Get it? 😉) IOW, why do we always want what we don’t have? Generally speaking: Blacks…want straight hair. Whites… want curly hair. Fat people… want to be skinnier. Skinny people… want to have more meat on their bones.  People of color… want fairer skin. Fair-skinned people… want a tan. Tall people… want to be shorter. Short people… want to be taller. Good "DNA" luck with that one ('course there’s always high heels and lifts)! And for some reason, everyone wants to be a blond.  Don’t even get me started on that one! Etc. Q: Other than probably money, what do you want that you don’t have? (by PrimalSoup) P.S.  Snowy, did that life-like blowup doll ever arrive? (Payback for yesterday's petulance remark. 😁)

  Have you been told you have one?  Do you ever pre-judge someone because of their accent?  Are there any that you love?  Hate?  Just can’t get the hang of?    J. P. Bunny

Let’s talk about events you remember from early grade school. That might be something pleasant to think back on.   I have lots of those early memory events that have stuck with me throughout my living experience.   Maybe you do too. I remember how my mom would tie 3 pennies into the corner of my handkerchief for our classes' milk break.   It was 3¢ for chocolate milk and 2¢ for white milk.   It always baffled me how, like out of 30 kids, there were only about three of us who opted for chocolate milk.   Was white milk (healthier) something that the parents insisted on?   Was that extra penny hard to come by?   Was it me, in that I didn’t get sweets very often (we couldn't always afford them) and saw that as a treat? IDK. I remember the day I forgot my lunch money (this was in the first grade) and I was so hungry.   When the teacher noticed I didn’t go to the cafeteria to eat, she asked me why.   I said I forgot my lunch money.   She ...

Something a little lighter than business as usual, especially my last three posts. Well, where I come from, fall is fast approaching -- or, at any rate, hurricane season.  We've just gotten some token rain showers out of Hurricane Erin, with a few more apparently on the way.  So, in a few months, we'll be shoveling snow and trying not to slip on ice.  Especially in the dark, which come at about five o'clock at Christmastime.  Can't wait. So, how about everyone else?  Do you like it warm, or cool? Posted by Jennifer A. Nolan

In  his latest Patheos post , Fred Clark, my favorite religious blogger, discusses a sermon topic that, in Christian circles, has been a cliche for many, many years: "We are Christians first, Americans second." "But at the same time, the fact that this bland sentiment is regarded as such — as a bland, unremarkable statement of something obvious and hum-drum — is proof that the Christian nationalists are not entirely wrong when they talk about America being 'a Christian nation.' Christianity does not, and ought not, to enjoy legal establishment or privilege over other religions, but it clearly enjoys a measure of cultural hegemony and dominance. "Stand up in public and say 'We ought to be Christians first, Americans second' and you’ll be greeted with yawns for saying something so boring and tediously obvious. But if you acknowledge the very same blandly obvious thing about any  other  religion, you’ll be met with an angry mob. "It would not be  ...

  Yesterday, in Dear Abby's column,  someone wrote bitterly that people she thought were "friends" failed to show up at her mother's funeral, after many years of going to birthday parties, graduations, and other get-togethers, and giving gifts and donations.  As so often happens in these letters, these self-anointed Good Gals seem to be reward-seekers and scorekeepers, rather then genuinely engaged as friends.  I put the following comment in the thread below: "Unfortunately, persistent social laborers like the OP insist on plowing on with their social efforts without taking time to read the room. We could use a bit less scorekeeping and more Emily Post -- to say nothing of Maya Angelou ("When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.") Unfortunately, we won't believe them if we don't bother to see them, so we find ourselves without many friends, or  any  friends, when things get seriously tough. Always beware the love-bombing....

  Dark Brandon  has posted this 21-minute video describing why men as a whole are in such trouble, and why women, immigrants, minorities, and 2SLGBT's are not the ones to blame for it.  I must say, what he suggests instead of the old blame games will take some doing, especially since most of us, white or not, male or not, are both unorganized and disorganized.  But I hope we give these ideas of his a fighting chance.  Enjoy the show, if you don't find it too long. Posted by Jennifer A. Nolan

  Bunny isn’t getting any younger, and there are things in this world that need to be done before he hops off.  Bunny wants the first emperor of China (Terra Cotta Warriors fame) opened.  Come on.  You know exactly where it is.  If you can send probes to the Moon, you can get in there safely. Also, the Princes in the Tower.  The crown needs to let the bones of the kids be tested properly.  We need to answer this once and for all. What things do you need resolved before you leave? J. P. bunny

  Humans are notoriously bad at governing themselves. More often than not, we let our emotions influence our decisions, instead of basing them on facts and common sense. And judging by our recent history, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. So, if humans can’t be trusted to do what’s best for them, why not pass that responsibility onto someone, or rather something, that could – an AI? The idea of an artificially intelligent ruler has been a staple of science fiction for quite some time. The first thought that comes to most people’s minds when they think about a society governed by machines will probably be that of the Skynet system from the  Terminator  movies. People like Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking have mirrored this grim vision by repeatedly warning about the existential threat artificial intelligence poses to humanity. While that’s certainly one of the possibilities, there’s no reason to believe that an AI ruler would necessarily be hostile towards huma...

 Has your town, county, district, or wherever you live gone.................... woke? Mine has, and.................. I'm lovin' it. Even thought it takes some getting used to. Our local college: ALL the bathrooms have been changed to all-gender bathrooms. That's right, men and women and transgenders can all use the same bathroom. No urinals, only stalls, with new fitted doors that assure privacy, right to the floor, high up, tight fit, so no one can peak under, over or through.  Our local Catholic school, yup, Catholic........... flew the pride flag all of Pride Month. NO protestors.  Local libraries every few months or so have Drag Queen reading. Only ONE of those events had to be cancelled due to a bomb thread. The rest were well attended by kids and parents alike.  Throughout this town I see lawn signs that say "Hate has no home here", and even saw one - believe it or not - that said "Feed the hungry, not your pocket." And worst of all - more n more ...

  Back about 20 years ago, I was on the board of a annual street fair here in Cleveland. Since I was receiving literally thousands of books a year for free in my job as Books Feature Editor for the two largest online systems of the day, I offered books for free at the entrance to the fair. The sign read, "FREE BOOKS! Take all you like!" No one took them. So I put up new signs: "Books -- 25 cents each!" They sold like hotcakes. That's humanity for you. Offer 'em a gift, and the response is "what's wrong with it?" Offer them a deal, and they're unable to resist. What great deals have you turned down in your time? AlextheKay is a bookish sort

  Songs or music you just can’t stand.  You’ll turn off the radio rather than listen to it.  Bunny hates Taylor Swift’s Never Ever Ever Ever Getting Back Together.  Like fingernails on the blackboard for the brain. What does it for you? J. P. Bunny

Other than "How do you like your corn flakes?", give us the silliest subject you can think of to "disqus."  Have fun with this one. 😁 (by PrimalSoup)

 What? Is that really a topic of discussion?  Well, depends, on how you like your corn flakes.

Came across this site and the musings of one individual and I loved what I read and thought I needed to post his blog without further commentary: July 25, 2025 A Word for Young Men Dear young male friends: I’m here to share some insights gained in my 71 years of being a white male heterosexual American, advice that is the product of lessons I’ve learned, in many cases, the hard way.   I am good with being who I am.  I’m here to offer suggestions that might help you be good with who you are, too, in ways that are good for you and for those around you.  Because there’s a lot of toxic rhetoric floating around us these days, messages that uphold your sense of self by tearing down the sense of self of other people.    There’s another way.   A major reason I’m good with who I am is that I feel better when I let other people be good with who they are.  I don’t need to belittle or demean them so that I can have pride in myself.   Neither do you.   Su...

  Classical music.  Many of us grew up with it not knowing what it was.  Saturday morning cartoons, especially Loony Tunes, loaded with it. Setting the mood in many movies.  Beethoven, Mozart, and the rest have stood the test of time.  Even if parodied or stuck into Hooked on the Classics, we recognize and enjoy it. Many years ago, Bunny had a mother and daughter as private students.  Both concert pianists.  Both detested anything other than the pure music, as the composer wrote it.   Got Bunny thinking.  Would Beethoven and friends be pissed off at what their hard work had become, or glad that it lasted so long and still recognized?   Bunny leads toward the latter. J. P. Bunny

  At coffee this morning, we started talking about in-laws, cousins, step-family and such.  And somehow it segued into a discussion of race and ethnicity.  So, just going over it, I realized my background is more than a little unusual. My parents were both Ashkenazy Jews, so thoroughly so that a DNA test gave me and my twin sister 98% Jew, 2% Mongol.  So, wow, talk about purebloods, eh? But my father-in-law was Black (or Negro or African-American, or whatever term we're using this decade). My adopted little brother is half Scot and half American Indian (or Native American or Indigenous American, or whatever term we're using this decade). One of my first cousins is Korean. One of my daughters is married to a transgender man. The other identifies as binary. So what are we, as a family?  Utterly, totally American of every shade and variety, or a bunch of freaks? And how about you? AlextheKay dreads the next census

  Story: Went out for breakfast this morning with some chums and one of them announced that he had finally figured out what women want more than anything else.  He said it was security. How does he know this? Well, he said whenever he approaches a woman, they usually call out "SECURITY!" Meanwhile, I STILL don't know what women want. Has anyone else figured it out yet? 

Has government become more about “the game,” than about the results/outcome?  Meaning, have we thrown out the baby with the bathwater, in the name of “winning” (getting our way)?  There used to be a kind of civility, reason, valuing the objective truth in debate, even a willingness to compromise.   Legislators would make their case and see if it flies with the electorate.   If so, the lawmakers would agree to create a law to enforce what the electorate wants.   Now, truth and results doesn’t seem to matter, other than our beloved subjective truths.   It’s like the focus has turned to “control over the other,” whatever it takes.   Goal:  Winning for winning’s sake.   There is some strange “automatic instinct” to say the opposite of what the “other side” wants.   You say yes, I say no.   You say no, I say yes.   Contrarianism for contrarianism’s sake.   Are there not issues that all humans should agree upon?   Cli...

  Bunny realizes that since anyone can add to the internet, and the world is full of idiots, many stupid things appear on the internet.  But now, with AI running amok, just about anything can appear authentic.  Celebrities with impossibly deforming illnesses, motor homes that are physically impossible… If Bunny needs to look up facts on the internet, be will only use reliable sources, and then double check. Basically, if it hasn’t made the physical newspapers or reliable news stations…not to be believed. What about you? J. P. Bunny

  According to most reliable sources, roughly 2% of all men and about one in 600 or 700 (or fewer) women are seriously colorblind -- at least among people of European descent.  Apparently, people of African and Asian descent are a little less prone to these conditions.  But how about you?  Who sees what scheme of colors: typical, deuteranopic, or protanopic?  And how does it feel to see the flowers in bloom in the spring? Posted by Jennifer A. Nolan

Science Daily reports that an artificial intelligence-driven materials science lab can do research and plan new experiments about 10-fold faster than humans. This is a big deal. By switching from slow, traditional methods to real-time, dynamic chemical experiments, researchers have created a self-driving lab that collects 10 times more data, drastically accelerating progress. This new system not only saves time and resources but also paves the way for faster breakthroughs in clean energy, electronics, and sustainability—bringing us closer to a future where lab discoveries happen in days, not years. Self-driving laboratories are robotic platforms that combine machine learning and automation with chemical and materials sciences to discover materials more quickly. The automated process allows machine-learning algorithms to make use of data from each experiment when predicting which experiment to conduct next to achieve whatever goal was programmed into the system.  "We've now cr...

 The title says it all.  What games did you enjoy when young?  What would you like to play now?  What do you play now? Bunny loves Monopoly, but it just isn’t played here.  Chess not a biggie either.  The Solitaire game on the tablet occupies Bunny.  Really can’t play tag anymore. What about you? J. P. Bunny

 OR............. Do, if you want to make some big bucks. Google Forced to Pay Man After Showing Him Naked on Street View An Argentinian man recently won a legal battle against tech giant Google after being photographed naked in his own yard and then posted on Google Street View for everyone to see. Although the lawsuit filed by the unnamed man only recently ended, the incident goes back to 2017, when a Google Street View car passed through  Bragado, a small Argentinian town about 200 kilometers from Buenos Aires, right when a local man was out completely naked on his property. The photos taken by the car’s advanced camera system caught him from behind, showing his derriere in all its glory, and even though the man’s face wasn’t visible, the very clear street address in the captures made him the laughing stock of the town. Sick of putting up with the mockery, the man took Google to court for violating his privacy. The National Civil Appeals Chamber of Buenos Aires has ordered G...