Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[stewedsquash]

@BlueSkies I understood what you meant. Ivory Tower phenomenon is a specific real thing and you bringing it up does not mean that you (specifically you not general you) are against education. Your post got taken in another direction than you intended I think. I hope you do find some sort of support from your coworkers in regards to feelings you have about the coworker having cancer.

Edited October 30, 2023 by stewedsquash

[theredhead77]

1 hour ago, JustHereForFood said:

Everyone is different and some people can thrive in academic environment, some in manual work like carpentry or agriculture.

To reinforce your point: Even blue color jobs require education. Many of them need higher level math to calculate cuts, or mixes, or estimates, etc... 

Society does better when everyone has a solid educational background with a mix of topics during their formative years. Trade schools are just as valuable as university / higher education.

[peacheslatour]

I think, in the bigger picture, intellectual curiosity is more important than rote performance. And thank you @BlueSkies for starting us on this topic.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/28/2023 at 10:14 PM, Gramto6 said:

I only have one site I unblock briefly. It is the Diabetes forum I moderate.  We have an Amazon link that if we purchase through that, the forum gets a small % of the purchase. I unblock to purchase and then block after.

Amazon Smile?  They discontinued that program earlier this year.  Are you still getting donations from it?

On 10/28/2023 at 11:20 PM, shapeshifter said:

the very large lettered warning on it to not use the hot tub if you have heart conditions etc. was impossible not to see.

I have a friend who drowned in his bathtub.  He was mid-30s and very athletic (i.e., younger and in better shape than Matthew Perry).  He snow skied every day and one day came home and poured a glass of wine (which I assume Perry didn't do) and got into a hot bath and passed out and drowned.

On 10/29/2023 at 10:49 AM, annzeepark914 said:

How do some little boys grow up to be rapists? What happened to Ted Bundy, a bright, young man on his way to becoming a lawyer? And then there are the monstrous dictators. They were all once little boys. 

And Aileen Wuornos was once a little girl.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

And Aileen Wuornos was once a little girl.

She wasn't a rapist. She claimed to kill them.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

I think, in the bigger picture, intellectual curiosity is more important than rote performance. And thank you @BlueSkies for starting us on this topic.

Yes, but I am also feeling like I may have sidetracked us regarding:

20 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

I was witness at work to someone in their 50's dying of cancer.  

,-*'^'~*-.,_,.-*~ 𝒮𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'*-,

@BlueSkies, feel free to check out the newly formed thread titled: 
Grief, bereavement, mourning, loss…

 

[oliviabenson]

I think Matthew Perry had a heart attack or fell asleep in his tub. Or drug interaction or something. Who knows. 
 

I am not familiar with him much and don’t watch friends.

It’s crazy that his parents outlived him. 

From the media he had a life full of drug addiction… 

Waitttt his stepdad is THE Keith Morrison?! That’s awesome! I love Keith.

[PRgal]

On education:  Our current education system no longer allows for open debate.  People are automatically "cancelled" or shamed for having some belief that doesn't adhere to the current narrative.  I've experienced this myself and let me tell you that it's no fun.  This usually comes from people who have at least high school, and for the most part, an undergraduate degree of some sort.  Just look at what's currently going on on social.  

[Laura Holt]

I don't see this in the education system, I see this with people who have decided that Dr.  Google or that guy with a blog is better informed than someone who has achieved a degree and professional experience in whatever field is under discussion.

[shapeshifter]

I've seen and read about people in higher education being "cancelled."

There was a recent Limited Series TV show that had one of its main plots dealing with this issue: The Chair (2021) starring Sandra Oh

• https://forums.primetimer.com/forum/4815-the-chair-2021/
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11834150/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chair_(2021_TV_series)

But, yes, discussions can get heated over minor infractions, for example, over using a word that has only recently been coopted by those using the term to refer negatively to an out group. I was in a campus-wide sensitivity seminar session around 2017 when the term in question brought up by the session leader was "urban."
Thank goodness it was an in-person session so things didn't get crazy.
In the end, I think those professors who would still use "urban" in reference to a style of art or an ecology etc., would at least be aware that some of their students might come to class with a different connotation, which the teacher would want to dispel for purposes of the content of the course.

[JustHereForFood]

21 minutes ago, PRgal said:

On education:  Our current education system no longer allows for open debate.  People are automatically "cancelled" or shamed for having some belief that doesn't adhere to the current narrative.  I've experienced this myself and let me tell you that it's no fun.  This usually comes from people who have at least high school, and for the most part, an undergraduate degree of some sort.  Just look at what's currently going on on social.  

I agree but I blame it on social media, not education system. We have different education system but the same problem with misinformation and most of it is on Facebook and Xitter these days, even though some "alternative media" websites are still going strong as well.

[PRgal]

7 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

I agree but I blame it on social media, not education system. We have different education system but the same problem with misinformation and most of it is on Facebook and Xitter these days, even though some "alternative media" websites are still going strong as well.

But this is happening AT schools.  And was, to a certain extent being used long before social media was a "thing."  I remember being shamed 20-25 years ago when I was in university and graduate school.  Internet was there, but not social.

[Laura Holt]

8 minutes ago, PRgal said:

I remember being shamed 20-25 years ago when I was in university and graduate school.  Internet was there, but not social.

Do you mean students shaming other students?  I misunderstood in that case.  And yes, that was certainly alive and well when I was going through school too.  But annoying though this is it's also understandable.  Kids have not yet learned the difference between holding an opinion and stating a fact.  The sad thing I see is this kind of thing is no longer (if it ever really was) limited to kids.

[Anela]

And with some spray snow or glitter, they can be Christmas decorations.

[StatisticalOutlier]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

She wasn't a rapist. She claimed to kill them.

I figured serial killers were includable when talking about rapists and monstrous dictators.  But now that you mention it, I believe raping and monstrously dictating are the province of men, so maybe there was an effort to exclude crimes and behavior that women commit that I didn't pick up on.  Apologies.

17 hours ago, Mondrianyone said:

So it's good to be moderately stupid?

There are plenty of people I wish could rise to being moderately stupid.

Then again, how do you define "good"?  Will they be happier if they're not so stupid?  Probably not, actually. 

[Quof]

Stupid people are generally very happy.  They're certainly carefree.

[PRgal]

47 minutes ago, Laura Holt said:

Do you mean students shaming other students?  I misunderstood in that case.  And yes, that was certainly alive and well when I was going through school too.  But annoying though this is it's also understandable.  Kids have not yet learned the difference between holding an opinion and stating a fact.  The sad thing I see is this kind of thing is no longer (if it ever really was) limited to kids.

I was actually shamed by a teaching assistant in my first year (this was a Women’s Studies class).  She was talking about colonialism and how it was the Europeans who brought in sexism/patriarchy.  This was before I really focused on East Asian history, but I knew my heritage enough to know that it’s not just a European thing.  I mentioned that and she went all over me.  I suppose you can still consider a student since she was a PhD candidate, but still.  

[theredhead77]

36 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Will they be happier if they're not so stupid?  Probably not, actually. 

Once they process their anger about being misled and lied to about so many critical things they'll be angry about different things.

3 minutes ago, Quof said:

Stupid people are generally very happy.  They're certainly carefree.

The ones I know of are super angry all the time about whatever it is people are telling them to be outraged about.

[Laura Holt]

50 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Then again, how do you define "good"?  Will they be happier if they're not so stupid?  Probably not, actually. 

Bouncing off this to ask what people mean when they use the word stupid.  

I still remember my little niece running into the room one day to tell us her brother "used the S word".   By which she meant he had called her stupid.  In her family that was considered a bad word and not one the kids were allowed to use.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Laura Holt

[shapeshifter]

26 minutes ago, Laura Holt said:

Bouncing off this to ask what people mean when they use the word stupid.  

I still remember my little niece running into the room one day to tell us her brother "used the S word".   By which she meant he had called her stupid.  In her family that was considered a bad word and not one the kids were allowed to use.

When I was married in the 80s, my ex knew I was mad if I used “stupid” several times in one sentence.

[peacheslatour]

44 minutes ago, Laura Holt said:

Bouncing off this to ask what people mean when they use the word stupid.  

I still remember my little niece running into the room one day to tell us her brother "used the S word".   By which she meant he had called her stupid.  In her family that was considered a bad word and not one the kids were allowed to use.

In second grade, my son wanted to take his favorite book to school for show and tell. He brought but was forced to put away. "We don't use that word here." He accepted it philosophically, as was his wont but it rubbed me a bit the wrong way. It's just a very funny book with fantastic illustrations.

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by peacheslatour

[Anela]

1 hour ago, Quof said:

Stupid people are generally very happy.  They're certainly carefree.

I would like to be carefree. 

I'm currently looking at silly things, so I don't get into a political argument with someone. I can't talk about why, but it's a dead-end with this person, and we are not friends. We share an online space, and he owns that space, so I'm not looking to get banned. 

I'm also looking at dogs I can't adopt, our local pound is absolutely full, but I can't. Emotionally, or financially. Not yet. I just saw this puppy who reminded me of one I lost eight years ago, when he was almost seventeen. 

[Anela]

Oh well, it didn't work. I responded to him. I'm going to make tea, and snuggle with my dog. 

[JustHereForFood]

 

4 hours ago, PRgal said:

But this is happening AT schools.  And was, to a certain extent being used long before social media was a "thing."  I remember being shamed 20-25 years ago when I was in university and graduate school.  Internet was there, but not social.

OK, get it, I thought it was related to the more recent polarization in several topics where I think social media shares a lot of blame.

3 hours ago, PRgal said:

I was actually shamed by a teaching assistant in my first year (this was a Women’s Studies class).  She was talking about colonialism and how it was the Europeans who brought in sexism/patriarchy.  This was before I really focused on East Asian history, but I knew my heritage enough to know that it’s not just a European thing.  I mentioned that and she went all over me.  I suppose you can still consider a student since she was a PhD candidate, but still.  

I don't know much about the history of sexism in that part of the World, but I do get frustrated a lot when people get too self-blaming over things like colonialism and imperialism of the West that is largely gone and not the fault of current generation and at the same time ignore imperialism of several undemocratic countries that is still very much present, especially if it's because they want to trash their own democratic countries that are definitely not ideal but still much better than the alternatives. I probably won't elaborate further because this is linked to several current topics that can get very heated, but I think I know what you mean in general.

 

[Gramto6]

9 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Amazon Smile?  They discontinued that program earlier this year.  Are you still getting donations from it?

No, not Amazon Smile, it is called Amazon Associate. The founder of our forum gets the credits and he uses them for yearly fees, needed upgrades/fixes from the developer, and any other forum needed expenses.

He has to have a disclaimer under the box to click that says:

"As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases."

That is so people know the $$ goes to him, but he uses it all for the forum, he is a great guy!

We are a pretty small group but excellent Amazon shoppers and have managed to cover all forum expenses through our "shopping" since 2016!

[shapeshifter]

Since there’s been some chatting here about intrusive ads on PrimeTimer, I am sharing this recent, informative, Mod post here for those who might not see it otherwise:

In a nutshell, this👆is an invitation to give feedback about the site’s functionality (or lack of functionality) by means of email to: feedback@primetimer.com

</end-of-shapeshifter’s-PSA>

Edited October 31, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Laura Holt]

Happy Halloween!  First one for us with my husband newly retired and I think he's more excited than the toddlers who live down the street!  I feel bad for the kiddies though as we had absolutely gorgeous weather last week (almost had to put on the AC at one point) but we had some snow yesterday and today the temp by this evening is supposed to be -2c with a chance of flurries.  Oh well if Canadians let a little snow or cold stop us we'd never do anything!

[theredhead77]

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Since there’s been some chatting here about intrusive ads on PrimeTimer, I am sharing this recent, informative, Mod post here for those who might not see it otherwise:

In a nutshell, this👆is an invitation to give feedback about the site’s functionality (or lack of functionality) by means of email to: feedback@primetimer.com

</end-of-shapeshifter’s-PSA>

I submitted two feedback forms when the intrusive ads went live via a feedback form that was supposedly going to the site owners and no one bothered to respond. 

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, Laura Holt said:

Happy Halloween!  First one for us with my husband newly retired and I think he's more excited than the toddlers who live down the street!  I feel bad for the kiddies though as we had absolutely gorgeous weather last week (almost had to put on the AC at one point) but we had some snow yesterday and today the temp by this evening is supposed to be -2c with a chance of flurries.  Oh well if Canadians let a little snow or cold stop us we'd never do anything!

While I don't ever recall a Snomageddon Halloween in Toronto, heavy winter coat is definitely a thing.  Here's a picture of me, around 1985 about to go out trick or treating!

[Laura Holt]

18 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Here's a picture of me, around 1985 about to go out trick or treating!

Yep.  My kids had more than one Halloween wearing a snowsuit under their costumes.  The worst weather related ones aren't because of the cold it's sleet or rain.  My kids were troupers though, nothing was going to stop them from hitting every house in the neighbourhood!

[Mondrianyone]

Okay, who wants to help me solve a puzzle?

A couple hours ago, my husband got an email from his friend who lives in Paris (I don't think that's relevant) challenging us to figure out what he's going as to a Halloween party tonight. He says he came up with the idea when he was living in Moscow (he's a foreign correspondent), and that might be relevant. This was a fairly long while ago, so it's definitely not something very current. It consists of a blue bodysuit, hands and face painted blue, and--get this--ten tampons stained red glued onto the suit. He says I'm the more likely one to figure it out, and it will probably enrage me. Everything enrages me, so I don't know how significant that is.

All I can come up with so far is Picasso's blue period, but that seems ridiculous.

Any ideas? I hate to get stumped. In fact, it enrages me.  🤬

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, theredhead77 said:

I submitted two feedback forms when the intrusive ads went live via a feedback form that was supposedly going to the site owners and no one bothered to respond. 

I don't know about the forms, but this is a new call for emails, so maybe try again? 
Plus, just because they don't reply doesn't mean they aren't noting that yet another user is having a problem
— although I don't think that is an effective way to get feedback. 

+++++++++++++++

2 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

Okay, who wants to help me solve a puzzle?

A couple hours ago, my husband got an email from his friend who lives in Paris (I don't think that's relevant) challenging us to figure out what he's going as to a Halloween party tonight. He says he came up with the idea when he was living in Moscow (he's a foreign correspondent), and that might be relevant. This was a fairly long while ago, so it's definitely not something very current. It consists of a blue bodysuit, hands and face painted blue, and--get this--ten tampons stained red glued onto the suit. He says I'm the more likely one to figure it out, and it will probably enrage me. Everything enrages me, so I don't know how significant that is.

All I can come up with so far is Picasso's blue period, but that seems ridiculous.

Any ideas? I hate to get stumped. In fact, it enrages me.  🤬

I thought Blue Man Group member until I got to the "ten tampons stained red glued onto the suit," which also cancels out Picasso's blue period works.

"Enrage" makes me think of a Corona virus, but "10" doesn't seem representative of the spikes.🤷🏻‍♀️

[Mondrianyone]

Nuh-uh on coronavirus--that's way too current for something he first came up with a longish time ago. And I'm not sure why you say the tampons rule out blue period. More thought needed . . .

[peacheslatour]

2 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

Nuh-uh on coronavirus--that's way too current for something he first came up with a longish time ago. And I'm not sure why you say the tampons rule out blue period. More thought needed . . .

I think you had it. Picasso's Blue Period makes perfect sense.

[Mondrianyone]

It does make sense, but I can't help but think the ten tampons must mean something. I just don't know what.

[peacheslatour]

34 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

It does make sense, but I can't help but think the ten tampons must mean something. I just don't know what.

Hmm, he did more than ten Blue paintings and it lasted less than ten years. Okay, this is going to drive me nuts.

[annzeepark914]

5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Since there’s been some chatting here about intrusive ads on PrimeTimer, I am sharing this recent, informative, Mod post here for those who might not see it otherwise:

In a nutshell, this👆is an invitation to give feedback about the site’s functionality (or lack of functionality) by means of email to: feedback@primetimer.com

</end-of-shapeshifter’s-PSA>

Thanks. I need to write down the ads that are PITA-intrusive (2 that I can think of, one of which darkened my screen for a while). Then I'll send an email.

Picasso's Blue "Period". A bit of a mean shot at females, IMO & gross (the bloody tampons). 

[Mondrianyone]

2 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Hmm, he did more than ten Blue paintings and it lasted less than ten years. Okay, this is going to drive me nuts.

Put it out of your mind. My husband wrote back giving him my lame guess and saying uncle. He might already have left for the party, given the time difference, and if he doesn't check his mail while he's there, it could be a while before we get an answer. And it might very well be as lame as my guess.

I don't think my husband gave this more than a minute's thought. We sure are wired differently.

[PRgal]

Some older gentleman side eyed me earlier.  I'm not sure if it's because of my lame excuse of a "costume" (witch's hat/hair(head) band) or because I'm an adult in a costume.  I didn't see too many adults who dressed up for work, but I DID see one woman in cat ears and Wednesday Addams. 

[shapeshifter]

36 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

Put it out of your mind.

Okay, but I just *have* to admit that I did *not* get the play on words (duh!).
Picasso's Blue Period just always conjures this for me:

— probably because (as I just noticed) it hangs in the Chicago Art Institute, where I've been many times, but also:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Picasso's_Blue_Period
Oh, and it was only 1901 — 1904.

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by shapeshifter

[Mondrianyone]

A much more cultivated association than mine. You have zero to be ashamed of.

52 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

Picasso's Blue "Period". A bit of a mean shot at females, IMO & gross (the bloody tampons).

You need to remember that was my guess. And I'm a female. So blame me if you're offended.

[shapeshifter]

50 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

You need to remember that was my guess. And I'm a female. So blame me if you're offended.

But was your guess totally ruled out?

Regardless, good point that the offensiveness of a Picasso Blue🔹Period🩸 costume would pretty much depend upon whether the creator was born female or not.
But if it was created by, say, a Dad who reared girls alone, and especially if the daughters encouraged (or even came up with) the concept, that would be acceptable too.

But I don't like bloody 🩸 costumes of any sort.
I'm okay with ghosts, since they are bloodless. 
But no vampires or werewolves or killers for me. 
And a mummy is only okay if there's zero blood.

I'm fine with clowns🤡, but, again, no bloody clowns.

👻

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by shapeshifter

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Mondrianyone said:

A much more cultivated association than mine. You have zero to be ashamed of.

You need to remember that was my guess. And I'm a female. So blame me if you're offended.

Maybe he's going as deconstructed purple.

[Mondrianyone]

43 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm fine with clowns🤡, but, again, no bloody clowns.

You might not be fine with clowns if you had the experience I had. I was driving along a typical desolate two-lane blacktop when I found myself behind a van that was going really slow and wouldn't pull over to let me pass. So finally, on a straightaway with no one coming in the opposite direction, I started to go around him. I looked in his window as I drew up next to him, and a full-on clown turned his head and grinned at me. I want to say grinned malevolently, but I won't. You have to remember this is Maine, though. So it could've been Stephen King.

14 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Maybe he's going as deconstructed purple.

Maybe he killed Barney the dinosaur and used him for parts!

[Bastet]

59 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm fine with clowns🤡, but, again, no bloody clowns.

I would rather see just about anything absolutely covered in blood than behold a clown.  I'm not scared of them (well, that one in Poltergeist was a very effective jump scare!), but I find them quite creepy and really wonder about the people under the paint.

[peacheslatour]

41 minutes ago, Mondrianyone said:

You might not be fine with clowns if you had the experience I had. I was driving along a typical desolate two-lane blacktop when I found myself behind a van that was going really slow and wouldn't pull over to let me pass. So finally, on a straightaway with no one coming in the opposite direction, I started to go around him. I looked in his window as I drew up next to him, and a full-on clown turned his head and grinned at me. I want to say grinned malevolently, but I won't. You have to remember this is Maine, though. So it could've been Stephen King.

Maybe he killed Barney the dinosaur and used him for parts!

[JustHereForFood]

 

[Browncoat]

It is 7:45, and there have been zero trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood.  How long do I have to keep my light on?

 

ETA: One kid just came!  (at 7:50)

Edited October 31, 2023 by Browncoat

[ABay]

My outside light doesn't go on until you're almost at the door...I can't figure out how to extend the motion sensor or get the light to stay on. But there aren't any trick or treaters anyway. Since I've lived here, I think there have only been 2 or 3 years when there were any, and even then it was maybe 1 or 2 visits each year. It's a sacrifice to eat all the Kit Kats or Twixes or whatever, but one must be prepared to celebrate the holiday.

[Browncoat]

I'm turning off the light now -- it's after 8.  And this is why I buy good candy that I like.  

Even in 2020, I had more than one trick-or-treater.  I don't know where they go these days, but it isn't my neighborhood!