Blergh

OK, I've been thinking about this for some time but I think this needs to be said. For those who have loved ones struggling with addiction genuinely trying to get clean and seek help, I apologize in advance if the following upsets you. However, I have to say that I do not consider President Biden's surviving son Hunter to have been a pure victim or a total scapegoat of #45 and his minions. From his onetime wife's account as well as his dubious interactions with his brother's bereft widow,etc., it appears to me that Hunter Biden had been using his status as a survivor of the tragic car crash that took the lives of his mother and sister as a means to tug on his father's heartstrings to manipulate his father. While overall, I have supported President Biden's policies and believe that he DID do a great deal of good despite unwarranted criticism and flak in very trying circumstances, I think he truly has had a blind spot re his son in never wanting to see him as anything but that little boy who survived that horrific crash and as such treated Hunter as though he could do no wrong. Alas, as most folks who are treated that way (as I've seen re extended family and others), it appears that Hunter used that as a license to DO wrong not just to his bereaved father but his wife, bereaved sister-in-law and many others down the decades. Oh, and even when knowing that #45 and his minions were watching him like buzzards, he STILL kept doing foolish and selfish things (e.g. evidently trying to smuggle cocaine into Camp David of all places) COUNTING on his father to bail him out! IMO, he was guilty as charged and deserved the initial sentence - and that's putting aside what he seemed to put every single one of his loved ones through! However, inasmuch as #45 seemed bound and determined to wound Hunter JUST to crush President Biden somewhat like shooting cannons to swat at a flea, I [reluctantly] understand WHY President Biden pardoned Hunter even though on a strictly legal level, IMO he didn't deserve it. Also, via doing so, this may deflect that focus of #45 and his minions to go after WORTHY folks that President Biden pardoned [up to and including the January 6th Committee who weren't just doing their jobs but were doing their DUTY to our nation and all it stands for- regardless of how others failed to support them to say the least]. Maybe. Alas, even WITH President Biden going the extra hundred miles to spare the [IMO] undeserving Hunter from facing the [IMO] needlessly vindictiveness of #45,etc., I'm not entirely confident that Hunter will use this chance to truly make a fresh, clean start despite his claims to want to do so. Folks can change for the better but only if they truly want to and its foolish to count on them having done so as though they HAVE changed for the better without actual proof via actions regardless of words.

I would agree but, thankfully, he missed the entire Japanese Occupation by two years (which the Singaporeans by and large still recall with angst).

I know! It's not unlike when someone tells me a racist 'joke' then gets upset when I don't 'get' it and coolly let them know that just because I share their pigmentation doesn't mean I automatically share their views about those with differing pigmentation. Thankfully, it hasn't happened to me in some time but still ..

Let's remember that not all South African whites are like Musk nor are all US American whites are like (or like) Trump-regardless of what they'd each want to believe and/or have others believe!

OK, that makes sense! If your father was born before 1935, I'll bet he could remember a LOT of change from childhood on. Thanks for clearing that up and I hope things go well for you all!

Curious, is your family background more Mandarin [northern] than Cantonese [southern]? IIRC, Mandarin is somewhat considered to be 'proper' Chinese while Cantonese is more . .slangy (at least that was my impression from the Chinese community when I was in Singapore)?

I urge everyone to take some deep breaths, say a few [hundred] prayers/affirmations and do one's best to keep calm instead of throwing up one's hands and believing the worst case scenario is happening/has happened. Unbridled panic and paranoia just plays into manipulators' hands! I'm not pretending that there's not reason to be concerned (and one should keep close tabs on one's holdings regardless) but we need to focus on what we know actually has transpired so we can deal with and help others to deal with it rather than presume the worst! I say all the above due to having been a natural worry-wort for a good part of my life but having clear,sober heads is VITAL in times like these when we may be on our own having to deal with setbacks,etc.

Let me say that as a Christian, AFIAC, the ones waging war against us are those who bastardize Scriptures, ignore Gospels (and Commandments) to elevate false prophets while behaving as Pharisees to treat one cruel, false witness bearing, unrepentant, profane individual as someone to venerate if not outrightly worship while being oblivious to those innocents suffering due to being needlessly and unjustly persecuted (all of which flies directly in the faces of what we Christians are supposed to believe)!

Well, the War IS what the vets, their human families, friends, clients- and even their animal patients had to deal with during that time (and none of the above didn't have to contend with things beyond their control that had only transpired due to said War).

One thing that I've never seen discussed is whether the RL Almanzo Wilder considered his very unusual given name to have been a burden to him even considering how it somehow supposedly hearkened back to his family's medieval past. I mean, I had an African-American friend whose sister had been named for an Inuit character in a children's book- and the poor sister wound up having to explain her name origins for the zillionth time at my friend's funeral to a somewhat nosy congregant. Yes, imagine having to explain one's name origins virtually every time one would be introduced, etc. (and why this congregant felt the need to pester that poor sister at the funeral on top of having to deal with her grief,etc., is beyond me). Then again, my own mother has a rather unusual given name that's a family surname but is tricky to spell (even though it's easy to pronounce). FWIW, Mr. Wilder's middle name was James so I suppose he could have opted to ask others outside his immediate family to have called him that had he wanted.

And being willfully ignorant does require quite a bit of effort to keep the blinders on to maintain one's delusions that one feels is a comfort to them despite how counterproductive they may be!

I'm not sure Her Late Majesty sincerely believed her 3rd born child was honest but just wagoncircled. Let's also not forget that the late Mr. Epstein and Miss Maxwell attended his elder daughter's Princess Beatrice's 18th birthday party- and didn't get thrown out on their ears by the Duke of York. BTW, if Princess Beatrice or any other member of the York nuclear family ever called out the Duke for having at the very least allowed these two (who had a record of badly exploiting underage girls) to have attended her party, I've never heard of it.

Yes, in the countryside they could grow produce in victory gardens and have beef, pork, lamb,chicken,etc. 'hit by a car' more readily than in the city. However, such things as sugar,coffee, tea and flour were hard to come by- and often homemakers would have had to have gotten together with their friends and family to pool their rations for such treats as cakes. Many times even wedding cakes were tiny fruitcake deals but they'd camouflage them under painted boxes in traditional wedding cake shapes for the photo shoot- often times they'd take pictures with the gigantic fake cake- then take other pictures of them lifting it to reveal the tiny real cake beneath! Then, too, even wealthy and connected folks like Mrs. Pumphrey would have at least tried to make the appearance of sticking to their fellow citizens' tiny official rations even if they COULD still eat high on the hog (literally and figuratively) since ostentation in times of sacrifice and frugality for the common good was somewhat frowned upon [e.g. even the Royals at Buckingham Palace scrupulously stuck to having baths no more than 5 inches deep with a taped line to show the maximum depth and the bathtub ring belong BELOW it as proof]. I just wish this show would attempt to depict how the characters would have had to have dealt with the realities of rationing and fave foods in short supply if not altogether unavailable. Still, even though rations got rather lean and unpalatable towards the end of the War (and so many commodities were dependent on being imported across hostile seas), British subjects DID fare better than so many other citizens on the Continent as well as in many parts of Africa and Asia during the War where rations were sparse if nonexistent and there was widespread starvation.

I don't get folks who say things they know will upset most if not all other people in their presence then claim to be hurt at these other folks' unhappy and/or hostile reactions. I mean, if one truly dislikes others' objections to what they say, how tough can it be just to avoid saying these things they know will upset the others? That makes as much sense is claiming to hate hearing cats snarling and hissing yet continually stepping on their tails!

Among the more intriguing tidbits in the above mentioned Podcast: 1. As per Mr. Butler, it appears that he and Miss Flippen just randomly pronounced his character's name 'Al-MOHN-zoh' at the spur of the moment and no one challenged it (and it wouldn't be until many years later that it would be known that the RL Mr. Wilder and his circle had always pronounced it 'Al-MAHN-zoh' which made more sense re 'Manley'). 2. Both he and AA agreed how over the top Miss MacGregor's delivery was re showing off that stove to have Harriet attempt to spur the sullen Nellie to gain enthusiasm for her gift. 3.Oddly ML had attempted to have Harriet garble Almanzo as Del-MAHN-zoh but Miss MacGregor preferred, held out and eventually prevailed with Zaldamo! Yeah, Miss MacGregor's rendering WAS funnier than ML's so no surprise that he let her win that contest. 4. Mr. Butler STILL regrets having eaten an apple with his mouth open instead of closing it while chewing -on camera during his first episode. I can't help but think that he likely never heard the end of it from his own RL mother(e.g. ' How dare you eat like that on television and let viewers think *I* raised you to eat like a pig in a trough!' 5. Yes, I agree that Mr. Butler's and AA's acting while Almanzo's and Nellie's mouths were on fire was spot on! Not only did they realistically race to the sink pump but they did look as though they were ready to have their eyes water and their noses get stuffed. I was glad to see the three of them back again (Miss Bob included) and relieved that they and their respective loved ones are safe but it was sad to learn the Matthew Labyorteaux home and all his belongings were lost in the conflagration. Oddly enough, I don't recall his elder brother Patrick mentioning that in his own podcasts but maybe they were taped before all those disasters.

Yeah, in too many sitcoms, characters have parents, sibs and other relatives visiting for one-shot episodes- yet somehow NONE of these folks bother to attend the said characters' weddings. .but natch all the shows' regulars do!

I got one too at my Southeast US hospital. My area doesn't directly deal with patients themselves. However, we take patient privacy VERY seriously to the degree that if we need any help getting a patient's medical record to cross over to our system, we have to send a message to the techs via encrypted email with only the patient's initials and internal medical record. Essentially, what the memo I got said was that if ICE shows up and demands patient records [regardless of whether or not they themselves convey this politely or professionally], we are expected to contact the hospital's legal department and politely convey to ICE that we would be unable to release ANY patient records to them without the legal department's approval due to HIPAA regulations. Now whether HIPAA regulations will endure is not something I'd be willing to bet at this time. However, I don't envy those who DO have direct patient interaction. .or even those area that store patient hard copy records (e.g. billing) as it seems they would be the more likely places where ICE would show up. Yet, it's possible they could show up at any part of the hospital,laboratory or research areas. BTW, I've noticed far fewer Latin American maintenance and cleaning workers in our department's neck of the woods over the last few weeks.

Given Ivana's final resting place (in an untended, unmarked spot on her 1st ex's golf course), I wonder if she'd have considered her children (who each individually if not collectively could have afforded to have her her interred in a real cemetery with an actual marker) to have been 'respectful of their elders'- to say the least?

True but these were relatives of the living/present parental Bradys. The point @Raja made was that no one from the deceased/absent 1st spouse's side on many of the sitcoms ever showed up to even check up on their late kids' offspring. Also, no one from the late Mr. Partridge's side nor Opie's late Ma's side ever showed up to see how those kids were faring. Oddly enough, My Three Sons somewhat bucked the trend with having Barbara's late 1st husband's [presumably widowed] father Professor Harper hang around their neighborhood for two whole days before finally knocking on the door to ensure that both his son's widow as well as his granddaughter Dodie were being taken care of by Barbara's 2nd husband Steve Douglas. Despite that odd reunion, the very next episode had Dodie get officially adopted by Steve (with her surname being changed to Douglas).

Good point! Food rationing started a few months BEFORE the official declaration of WWII yet by this point was going into full force with many regular food items discontinued. Ironically, because the British government wanted to guarantee ALL citizens a steady if not palatable diet, many struggling folks wound up eating BETTER than they had before at any other time of the lives!

Someone on another thread claiming to like a restaurant but not all the menu items got me to thinking of a story I once heard about a famous food critic in the mid-20th century who regularly would eat that the Eiffel Tower's top floor restaurant- yet every time would endlessly complain about the food quality, the service, the prices,etc. Anyway, after the critic complained one too many times, the manager asked him WHY he kept coming back to this eating establishment despite loathing the food, the atmosphere,etc. to which the critic supposedly replied, 'Because it is the ONLY restaurant in all Paris where one is guaranteed not to see any part of the Eiffel Tower!'

To say nothing of Gomez and Morticia themselves both having affection for Grandmama- and inviting her Uncle Fester to move in with them (despite both these two initially having opposed their marriage)! Gomez even went so far as to once tell Fester than 'But you ARE an Addams!' even though Fester wasn't Gomez's actual blood relative . Moreover, they'd always welcome Grandma Hester Frump to visit. However, Gomez never entirely felt comfortable around his sister-in-law and onetime betrothed Ophelia but he accepted her as part of their family!

I knew that Tricki would be the one to find the snake! Dogs (and cats) have incredibly powerful senses of smell and other means to detect hidden critters! No, I wasn't surprised that Tristan and Carmody would have initially clashed like chalk-and-cheese - especially having to share a room with a single bed ( before Mrs. Hall was able to pull incredible strings to get a fairly decent new mattress- and it should be noted that during the War furnishings of any kind were very hard to find- even very used junk ). However, with the two of them getting locked in that hidden room in Pumphrey Manor, it was either learn civility or destroy each other! I knew that Carmody meant no harm but I agree with Tristan that he shouldn't have asked that wounded solder about how he'd gotten injured (or at the very least should have prefaced it with a 'may I ask you how. ..?'). I can't say I imagined that James would have had the PTSD - nor so hostilely responded to the relatively small dog barking. However, I think Helen letting him know that he COULD tell her about his wartime angst was a big help even if he's not quite ready to fully spill his guts (and it may be he's afraid that if he gets started doing so, he won't so easily be able to put said guts back inside). Yes, I felt sorry for Mrs. Pumphrey somewhat being made to feel less than welcome in her OWN home but OTOH during the War, she and others HAD opened their homes,etc. to help out soldiers and others in need and she did have her unseen cottage to chill in. IOW, it was considered the right thing to do to endure a few inconveniences to be able to help out others (especially soldiers) back them. And it was good to see that she and the Nurse Matron were working out a more mutually palatable understanding. It also needs to be said that the Matron was trying her best to keep her patients as comfortable as possible in a building that hadn't been intended as a hospital ward. Mrs. Pumphrey definitely seems far less flighty these days than when she started but her affection for Tricki remains strong as ever! Look forward to more!

I like the fact that, until Gomez wed Morticia he was an ailing sickly heir totally overwhelmed by [the future] Grandmama Eudora. However, after they wed, he got transformed into a hale hearty squire limber enough to twist himself into a pretzel via yoga a good half decade before the audience would consider it to be trendy! And that he and Morticia jointly ruled their domain!

As @Mindthinkr pointed out that this was a regular practice for centuries in Europe. Consider how right before Hamlet does his 'alas poor Yorick' lament, there had been a bit of gallows humor (to attempt to give pause to the play's angst) with the two gravediggers and Hamlet was holding up his childhood jester's very skull that had just been dug up when making that lament. Shakespeare himself wound up only being 'temporarily' buried in the Stratford-Upon-Avon church- before his remains were dug and and disposed X number of years later (although they DID keep his memorial stone in the church floor). Yes, it's somewhat sad but if there's only a finite amount of space in a graveyard, cemetery or memorial chapel while there's a constant demand for the usage, it's not entirely surprising that this has happened (although hopefully the loved ones were/are appraised of the limited time for internment from the start).