sundries

[rm]

Every once in a while I meet someone through friends of friends and wind up seeing an apartment like this at more or less random. It's one of the great pleasures of living in New York City. I remember once, leaving a club at two in the morning because a group of us were annoyed and someone's flat was near by, so we decided to go there for drinks and it was like this 1930s, film noir, science fiction paradise. It was a whole 'nother world that felt as if the sun never penetrated it, so complete was the illusion of its existence outside of time.

Chatroulette sounds like the fabulously wild west dark ages of the Internet, just now with video.

For women in America, equality remains an illusion.

Looks like it's going to be Lieberman who introduces the bill to repeal DADT. Yay bill. But seriously? We have to start respecting Lieberman or something again? Meanwhile, a study shows that, duh, gay soldiers not disruptive.

Pediatricians want warning labels on foods that pose a choking risk to children. While I get that this is a serious issue, to me, this sounds a little bit like the warning labels on cups that tell us coffee is hot.

Andrew Koenig is missing.

Tonight I really, really need to take inventory on what needs to happen last minute for Gally. Which is to say, figure out where all the relevant clothing items are, figure out what needs to be replaced last minute because I can't find it, figure out what needs to go to the dry cleaners etc. Also, I've got to get my hair trimmed like woah. I mean, it looks cute enough, but it's not _right_.

Also? I am super tense about whether there will be flight delays on Thursday.

Comments

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

The hot dog thing is not a serious issue. Really. As any parent of a child old enough to eat things on their own will tell you, all you have to do is cut their food up for them and they'll be fine. On the gay soldier front, to be completely honest there are a lot of lower ranking soldiers knowingly serving with homosexuals who help them keep the secret. Really, we play the beard for the brass with no qualms because most younger soldiers just don't give a damn about the issue. This lie they keep telling about needing to prepare the troops is utter bullshit.

[rm.livejournal.com]

And I just phrased it that way so as not to get wank from parents. Since I don't have a kid and all. But seriously, how are they going to put warning labels on grapes?

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Also? I am super tense about whether there will be flight delays on Thursday.

Me too. I mean, *probably* not, but you never can tell...

[rm.livejournal.com]

There is a bit of weather on the menu, but I'mhoping it's nothing major.

[laura47.livejournal.com]

I just want to give you a big hug for all your Gally stress. I hope it is really awesome and not stressy!

[alterjess.livejournal.com]

Any parent who doesn't already know that toddlers can choke on grapes is not the kind of parent who reads warning labels. (And, reading the whole article - 14 and under??? There are high-school freshmen out there who don't know how to chew and swallow a hot dog? Really?)

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

Maybe they'll redesign them too.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

this sounds a little bit like the warning labels on cups that tell us coffee is hot.

*nods* Or, for the Douglas Adams fans, like the character in one of the H2G2 books who decides that the Earth must have gone mad when he discovers that there are now instructions for use on a packet of toothpicks. (And that was in the 1980s.)

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

I could sort of go for apple size grapes.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

On Lieberman: Argh this reminds me of Jan Moir supporting the defunding of homeopathy by the NHS. I hate it when people I dislike so are reasonable - you end up having to agree with them and feeling unclean


Ugh, FOOOD is a choking hazard. All of it. If you put it in your mouth you can choke on it (hurr hurr)

(though, as a lawyer, I have to protest the "too hot" on coffee label. Yes, we expect coffee to be hot and you don't need a warning label to say what should be bloody obvious, but the coffee in that case was Molten-lead-will-dissolve-your-skin hot. Which IS unexpected, out of the ordinary and probably due a warning. I don't expect a warning if coffee is hot, I do if they're trying to make a caffein supernova)

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

There used to be a sign at the bottom of the stairs at Birmingham Moor St station saying "Please take care when using the stairs." Every time I went up there it made me WTF because seriously, who is walking up these stairs who doesn't know about stairs?

It's not there any more, but I still honour its memory with a retrospective WTF whenever pass by. And wonder if incidents of stair misuse have risen significantly since it was taken down.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

As a mom, I had to read that article about choking children--drawn-to-watch-the-train-wreck syndrom! Sorry, folks, I know it is a pain in the ass, but one has to be attentive to toddlers while they are eating. Every grape should not require a sticker.

Smith said he has treated many children who have died from choking on hot dogs and grapes.

That sentence made me laugh. There are so many things wrong with it. Don't know if we should blame the pediatrician or the reporter.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I suppose it would offend Lieberman to be represented by something treyf, but Blind Pig, Acorn.

[moizissimo.livejournal.com]

They'd certainly be easier to peel...

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

Wait. People peel their grapes? Huh. How is it that I'm just now hearing about this? It's always amazing to me the things we find out later in life that most people have apparently known forever.

[moizissimo.livejournal.com]

I think it's more of a fairy tale status thing. Peeled grapes fed to you while you lounge in the shade. :)

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

Oh. Well, that sounds lovely. Who doesn't like to be fed peeled fruits while lounging in the shade? :-)

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

My sister (when she was two) would squeal at her grapes until my mom peeled them. Then when I once commented on that (more like complained because I was tried of my baby sister piercing my eardrums with her squeals) that I also had to have my grapes peeled when I was baby. I also liked to have my peas peeled. (Which was apparently very annoying to my mom at the time.) Some of my cousins do this as well.

Not sure what is repulsive to a two year old concerning grape skins. Or maybe it's some sort of weird association; apples and oranges and other fruit get peeled, yet here is mom/dad/whomever handing them unpeeled grapes!

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

Yes, that does. Especially if you can choose who feeds you the peeled grapes! (Now, Ianto Jones or Don Eppes?)

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about Andrew Koenig. Never watched anything he was in, but I hope he's okay. I feel for the Koenigs; it has to be difficult time for them right now.

I have read on the

[newwaytowrite.livejournal.com]

CBC website that the search for Andrew Koenig is impaired by the Olypmics...likely just the sheer volume of people in the city for the event.

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

My favorite "I can't believe you put this on here" label that I've ever seen?

"Warning, after heating, contents will be hot."

[heron61.livejournal.com]

The article on equality was mostly good, but contained a fairly bad attempt at the same sort of nonsense that I've seen in a number of places in the past few years.

"Even the government underestimates the crisis American women are in. Last year the Justice Department reported that there were 182,000 sexual assaults committed against women in 2008, which would mean that the rate had decreased by 70 percent since 1993. But a study by the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center showed that the Justice Department's methodology was flawed. Instead of behaviorally based questions, such as "Has anyone ever forced you to have sex?", women were asked if they had been subject to "rape, attempted or other type of sexual attack." Victims often don't label their experience as "rape," especially when someone they know attacked them. The center says the actual number of U.S. women raped in 2008 was more than 1 million."

Despite misleading wording in the article, the fact that the Justice Department's stats underestimate rape in no way means denies the fact that the rate of all violent crime, including rape has drastically declined since the early 90s. The Justice Department used that same definition in 1993 that it uses now, so while the underestimating remains, the numbers are still down by 70%.

We live in a culture that is far safer than it was 15 or 20 years ago. Lots of people, from reactionary gun nuts to people angry about violence against women either don't believe this decline or want to deny it, and our wretched excuse for mass media does it's best to play up the level of violence in our culture because crime boosts viewership, but none of this makes any of these claims true.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

As a side-note, one exciting idea about ending DADT is that repealing it is a great way to kill of DOMA within a year or two. Suddenly, there will be lots more people who want their marriages recognized or their unmarried partners to get military healthcare, pension, & commissary privileges (IIRC, all of which would be denied by DOMA). Appeals from soldiers in combat carry a fair amount of moral weight in the US, and they'll start very shortly after DADT ends.

[jendaby.livejournal.com]

Nah - there are high school freshmen who are trying to show off to their peers and choke while doing ridiculous things like throwing food in the air and trying to swallow it in flight. ;)

[missdeanna.livejournal.com]

I read about the food warning label thing. Isn't most food a choking hazard?

Speaking of interesting warnings, though: the bakery section of a store I go to has a display cake with a sign warning people not to eat it. It bothers me to think that someone might actually go out of their way to climb on top of the bakery case and try to eat a cake that might not even be real. But after working in retail, I can kind of believe it.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

the coffee in that case was Molten-lead-will-dissolve-your-skin hot. Which IS unexpected, out of the ordinary and probably due a warning.

Thank you. It's a point I try to make to people. Learning the details of that case was an eye-opener. I was able to cite it as the one good contribution I made to a mock jury some years ago. As I said, "The coffee was 50 degrees hotter than it was supposed to be. You'd notice the difference between a 40-degree day and a 90-degree day."

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Exactly - I mean you spill coffee on yourself? You get scalded. We all know and expect that

We don't expect to get severe 3rd degree burns requiring skin grafts. And when faced with the dangerously unexpected, a warning is appreciated :)

[virginhuntress.livejournal.com]

I won't lie, whenever anyone mentions the US as "the example for progression around the world" I can't help but laugh my ASS off. Third world countries have had female Presidents and PMs for AGES. France had voting for women in the 1700's, and gay marriage in other countries doesn't happen district by district but BY COUNTRY.

I'm just so fucking sick and tired of us looking at ourselves and NOT CHANGING. I really hope DADT is repealed VERY soon.

Good luck on getting your flight!

[virginhuntress.livejournal.com]

I had to butt in because I've seen this one and I laughed so hard coffee had come out of my nose.

OH AMERICA.

[natf.livejournal.com]

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