@doctor-phibes said in Don't Feel Guilty: @rainman said in Don't Feel Guilty: Mik: We give a fair amount of money... I was just talking (ranting) about this again, after getting our mail. If you give to anything or anywhere, it pisses me off that I get on some sort of list, or lists, or listss, and then get flooded with hardcopy junk in the daily mail, or the tons of unmeasurable spam. And, they think that their tricks get by me, with their personal correspondences as if I am a friend. How can a friend turn down another friend pleading for money? Or, a friend of a friend. Or, a friend of a friends friend. How can I be so cold, when the personal letter or email addresses me in such a warm, likable manner. I'm an awful person. All they want is money, what's the big deal. Thanks, Friends!! Aqua would send them something unspeakable in the little envelope they so kindly provide for donations. I'm not recommending, just saying. Hah. Never thought of that. And, it wouldn't need to be anything disgusting, necessarily. Just questionable, to get people to gather around and ask, "what IS that?"

NO PLAN! NO PLAN! Jesus.

Enjoyed both of those videos. Thank you!

A little over 100 years from the first 12 second flight to unmanned flight on Mars! In the meantime Congress and he media has regressed to middle school lying and name calling.

Transvestite! Er...I mean...troglodyte!

Back in the day the Chinese provided the stinger missiles to the mujahadeen via the CIA as the US did not want the USSR know that we were intent on shooting down their helicopters.

A couple of interesting things... In the 1880s, the US had a smaller military than places like Portugal. Even in the Spanish American War, we had less than 40,000 soldiers. In 1949 (yes, 1949), Japan had the largest army in the world as in 3x the size of the US Army.

@mik said in From one Bee to another.: The article, I mean.... Must have read the mistress thread...

MFR sold to the grocery industry for Conagra when we met. Yep, it is cutthroat as it could be, with the grocers being the most ruthless of all. Pay to play doesn't begin to describe it.

@axtremus said in HomePods: You can’t customize the HomePod’s equalizer settings? Bad Apple! Not only is there an equalizer, you can have presets for the equalizer for individual songs. Good Apple! I spent about 4 hours with these playing in the background. For what they are, they're very nice. More than adequate.

@george-k Nice. I like how she turned it into classism as opposed to racism. Helps her goal of making it about her.

I find it fascinating how F-D's intonation changes with and emphasises the mood and individual words of the text. I wonder how significant fluency in a language and, for a wider perspective, knowledge about language use and historical context of the composition is for the interpretation of a piece. I guess these kinds of things are what distinguishes the good from the best interpretations. I always cringe a little when I hear Schubert lieder performed with foreign accent. I don't hear much difference between native and foreign speakers in Opera, but for Schubert Lieder it's somehow different.

@axtremus said in How to get your books onto the Best Seller lists: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/gop-book-deals/2021/04/15/154f3820-9ca5-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s memoir and social critique, “Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage,” soared to the top of the bestseller lists when it was published last year. ... . The National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP candidates to Congress, spent nearly $400,000 on bulk purchases of the book. The organization acquired 25,500 copies through two online booksellers, enough to fuel “Fortitude’s” ascent up the bestseller lists. ... There is also a complain filed against Sen. Cruz for using his campaign’s money to buy his books and advertise his books. The complain’s argument is that it’s illegal to use campaign funds to burnish the candidate’s royalty earnings. More examples in the article: ... Republican organizations have made large bulk purchases of books by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Donald Trump Jr. And for the folks like to say “both sides do it,” the article has this to say: This appears to be a largely Republican phenomenon. While at least seven Democratic senators published books during the past election cycle, neither the Democratic National Committee nor the party’s two congressional arms reported buying any of them in bulk quantities. ... Even when they did it for Hunter Biden's book, they still couldn't move the needle on that pile of literary crap.

@mik said in Record Low Refugee Intake Forecasted for FY 2021 ...: No matter.... he's changed it now, walking it back and saying he's going to increase it. Good thing he is a man of high principles.

@george-k said in Huawei: Link to Tweet [image: 1618783498679-screen-shot-2021-04-18-at-5.04.47-pm.png] [image: 1618783558074-screen-shot-2021-04-18-at-5.05.43-pm.png]

I wonder if WHO magazine will get an interview with Keef to help balance things out.

I love having cats, but they don't usually travel well, and that matters at this point in life. Hubby has also made it clear he doesn't want a cat right now, maybe not ever again. Frogs have made their way into our family, despite his anti-pet position. They've won him over, perhaps only because they are the lesser of the other pets he can imagine me raising. They travel easily, too. They're not as cuddley as the kitties, but they have their charms. Lately, they call for attention by trilling. They like to trill to hubby's voice, too. It must be a guy thing, because it's the male frogs that trill. It amuses me when hubby's on a call for work and the frogs decide to talk, too. We sometimes have four or five of them that trill together.

@mainermikebrown That's excellent, Mike. I agree that volunteer work can be some of our best experiences. True story. As part of a high school class, I participated in a music group that performed weekly (and weakly) at what was called the State Hospital in the city where I then lived. Lo and behold, my own great-grandfather was there. Some sort of family rift had occurred long before I was even born, and I had never gotten to know him. I would stay to visit with him, then ride home on my motorcycle. Even after the class ended, I'd go see him every week. The only thing I regret is not rolling my cycle into the facility for him to see it. He was so amused by the idea that I had my own, and that I rode it to come visit him. I did that until just a few days before he died. I had no idea what the family rift was about, nor did I care. We were separate from that mess, and enjoyed seeing each other. He was quite a character.

@doctor-phibes said in Puzzle time - Narratives at a crossroad: It seems to me that what she did would be akin to a surgeon making a blunder and killing a patient. What happens in this situation? I would suspect that manslaughter is out of the equation. But then, we don't have media stories 24/7 about how surgeons hate black people. What if sturgeons hated black people? Probably no better way to get back at them than presenting their eggs as supposedly "fine fare". Ridiculous.