"Thirty Things that Need to Stage a Comeback"

[LizzieMaine]

Ever see a mother cat defend her kittens from a predator? There is nothing more capable of violence than a woman fighting to protect her home -- it's as much a part of our instincts as breathing. We might pretend it isn't for the sake of appearances, but when the chips are down, even the most delicate flower of springtime is fully capable of spitting on her hands and splitting the enemy's head wide open. History is full of examples of this, from the Bible (look up the stories of Deborah and Jael sometime) right up to yesterday's newspaper.

 

[Fletch]

That is, if you believe in essential psychology anyway, natural. Defending something so abstract as a vast military-industrial nation requires you to cultivate those instincts in less natural ways - such as replacing threat with command.

 

[LizzieMaine]

All it takes for me is for the snowplow driver to fill me in again. Where's my blackjack?

 

[Widebrim]

Just to clarify I'm not debating there are no differences (physical and/or otherwise) between men and woman. Nor do I fail to recognize double standards that exist. But complaining about very recent double standards when the deck has been stacked in your favor for some many years comes off as petty.

A double standard does not need to exist a certain amount of time, Feraud, before one can expose and attempt to end it, and I believe that you recognize that. And I don't know if your reference is to the military, but if it is, there has been a physical double standard within it for many years now. -Lee

 

[skyvue]

The truth is, women have played de facto combat roles for years, but have gone unrecognized. It's time that was rectified.


From a story in today's New York Times:

But because of outmoded Pentagon bureaucratic regulations, the military failed to reform its personnel assignment policies, even as more and more women came into the line of fire, with the emergence of “asymmetrical warfare.” Consequently, military women have been denied formal recognition for their combat experience, even though they have served as medics and intelligence officers, participated in convoys, accompanied infantry troops and searched civilians. These are just a few examples of the varied roles that have exposed women soldiers to hostile forces and armed combat, despite the official policies that insisted that women be assigned exclusively to noncombat jobs.

Making matters worse, a structural military “brass ceiling” has frozen women’s leadership potential, because female officers with real but unacknowledged combat experience were effectively denied career advancement and training.​

I'm disappointed and disheartened by some of what I've read in this thread, but Feraud is doing a great job of responding to it, so I'll leave it in his able and civil hands, adding only a simple "Amen, my friend."

 

[Fletch]

"Outmoded Pentagon bureaucratic regulations" my eye. The male brass weren't about to recognize women's experience or fitness to lead, because the way they (and a lot of younger men) were brought up, trained, and educated, war and manhood are so tightly bound up together that nothing can pull them apart.

 

[Feraud]

Joseph Heller must be giggling over this..

 

[vitanola]

Not that the subject could bear changing, but what of the "Paper Rex" man? He served a useful function indeed, returning to usefulness much of the rubbish of city life, and offering pittances to the odd child or housewife who had an odd excess object.

Whilst in Victorian times these workers were consigned to lives of utter squalor and penury, in the post-war era many if not most were able to make a modest living, collecting and segregating bits of odd metal, rags for paper making, old clothes for resale, bottles for either deposit or glass scrap, food scraps for hog slop, fats for processing, and bone for burning. These days recyclable plastics would be a good addition to the mix, I think. We spend so much on the collection and disposal of our detritus in landfills, yet we have not a sou for those who might save the waste.

 

[Dan Allen]

Originally Posted by Steveb1 View Post
Personal Integrity
Appropriate Dress
Family Meals
Respect

add to that discipline and personal accountability (as apposed to society the blame for your actions).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Not that the subject could bear changing, but what of the "Paper Rex" man? He served a useful function indeed, returning to usefulness much of the rubbish of city life, and offering pittances to the odd child or housewife who had an odd excess object.

Whilst in Victorian times these workers were consigned to lives of utter squalor and penury, in the post-war era many if not most were able to make a modest living, collecting and segregating bits of odd metal, rags for paper making, old clothes for resale, bottles for either deposit or glass scrap, food scraps for hog slop, fats for processing, and bone for burning. These days recyclable plastics would be a good addition to the mix, I think. We spend so much on the collection and disposal of our detritus in landfills, yet we have not a sou for those who might save the waste.

We have a number of "bottle boys" who circulate thru town with grocery carriages, pull-carts, red wagons, and such collecting empty soda, beer, and water bottles -- they get into fights over territory sometimes, but in general they've got the town staked out pretty well. And then there's the "scrappers," who roam around looking for people with piles of scrap metal behind their garages -- only problem with them is they don't wait for permission to carry away the materials.

 

[GHT]

Sadly, this thread really dates me. What do I miss? That which others have said, like fuelling your car, when it was always done for you, along with a wipe of your windscreen and an oil check. I miss old landline telephones that you had to dial with your finger. I miss imperial measurements since metrification was imposed on the UK. Kitchen scales that were counter-balanced and had a stack of small weights. Conductors, not the musical ones, but the ones that made public transport run much faster. Real waiters, the flunky who wore white gloves, called you sir and would brown nose for a gererous tip. Imperial typewriters, broad nibbed, italic script fountain pens, the ones with a bladder for the ink, and a lever for refilling. Polite teenagers, who would always surrender their public transport seat for an older person. The days when the victim of a crime had precedent over the perpetrator. Broadsheet newspapers, I hate tabloids. The days when local roundsmen would deliver your milk/newspaper/ bread et al, to your door, long before you got up. And I really miss old fashioned refuse collectors, who would collect the weeks waste, in one bin, without sorting it, and leave your empty bin, at your premises. (That may be lost on non-Brits.) Bank Managers, and other real people, not call centres on the otherside of the world. Someone call me a taxi.
Americans, about manual transmission, buy yourself a european car, we have manual because we have stop start technology. Can you use google to explain that, I'm not techno-minded but I do know it saves a lot of fuel and it's neighbour friendly, in that it cuts engine noise whilst stationery.

 

[Fletch]

add to that discipline and personal accountability (as apposed to society the blame for your actions).

Sadly, those concepts, too, have been turned into buzz words by powerful interests.

 

[GoldenEraFan]

1. Sincerity
2. Affordable rent/housing
3. Shop and Home Economics classes
4. Stores/shops that aren't a chain
5. Full service gas stations
6. No radio/CD music in restaurants/bars
7. Apprenticeships
8. Affordable food
9. Analog recording
10. Dress codes
11. Etiquette
12. U.S.A. made products
13. Creator controlled animation
14. Non-toilet humor comedies
15. Originality

 

[Feraud]

Hobbies need to make a comeback. It's rare to encounter someone who engages in a hobby with their free time.
Watching sports and online social networking sites do not count.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Attractive, dignified coin designs need to make a comeback. The various new designs, with the exception of the Sacawega dollar (since abandoned), are uniformly hideous. That new nickel, with Jefferson looking right at you, is just awful -- he looks like a beady-eyed extra in a cheap costume drama. And the state quarters are worse than awful -- they're embarassingly bad. At least they had the sense to go back to the original 1932 engraving of Washington.

 

[tonyb]

Hobbies need to make a comeback. It's rare to encounter someone who engages in a hobby with their free time.
Watching sports and online social networking sites do not count.

Indeed. Immersing oneself in a creative activity engages and exercises the thinking muscles in ways that often find application in other aspects of that person's life.

It might also give that person some insight into just how hard it is to become truly skilled at most any creative endeavor, even for those "naturally gifted" at such things. And no, I'm not limiting this to just the fine arts. My experience as a hobbyist car painter has me appreciating just how much there is to know about it, and how much of that I'll never know.

 

[jamespowers]

Hobbies need to make a comeback. It's rare to encounter someone who engages in a hobby with their free time.
Watching sports and online social networking sites do not count.

I think you are preaching to the choir here. I am sure there are many here how have more hobbies than they know what to do with.

 

[Feraud]

Indeed. Immersing oneself in a creative activity engages and exercises the thinking muscles in ways that often find application in other aspects of that person's life.

It might also give that person some insight into just how hard it is to become truly skilled at most any creative endeavor, even for those "naturally gifted" at such things. And no, I'm not limiting this to just the fine arts. My experience as a hobbyist car painter has me appreciating just how much there is to know about it, and how much of that I'll never know.

Agreed. The deeper I delve in certain hobbies shows just how much more I need to learn!

I think you are preaching to the choir here. I am sure there are many here how have more hobbies than they know what to do with.

Oh I know I'm preaching to the choir around here. The Lounge has a lot of talented and interesting members. I also tend to get interested in more hobbies than I have time for!

There are plenty of online sites where people engage in hobbies and share information.
Out in the real world I encounter very few people who have hobbies. Unless they don't 'fess up to it.. [huh]

 

[jamespowers]

Agreed. The deeper I delve in certain hobbies shows just how much more I need to learn!



Oh I know I'm preaching to the choir around here. The Lounge has a lot of talented and interesting members. I also tend to get interested in more hobbies than I have time for!

There are plenty of online sites where people engage in hobbies and share information.
Out in the real world I encounter very few people who have hobbies. Unless they don't 'fess up to it.. [huh]

I think some people don't talk about their hobbies because they think they will be thought of as wierd. Then again, some hobbies would qualify. Collecting torture devices might be one of those. I am pretty sure I would keep that to myself if that were my hobby.

 

[Feraud]

I've thought about that and have tried breaking the ice with comments about my own hobbies but get blank stares from neighbors and co-workers. At least we have message boards for bonding with like-minded people!