Posts by blackthorne

Original Post by pgeorgian:

cool, blackthorne!  but surely there must be a good roaster closer to home for you...?

It is sometimes difficult to get Fair Trade + organic + good beans all in one shot. Added to that is the aggravation of living in a city where it takes an hour to drive anywhere, even just the doctor's office. Most of the time I have to special order what I want. Where I live is usually a decade behind everyone else. Just look at my state's voting record, for instance, LOL... (actually, it's not *my* state, I just live here).

I do my best to support local businesses, however, I also do my best to use gasoline sparingly. It can be an interesting juggling act.

Give up coffee? Why?! No way!

I make my coffee with a special mixture that I blend in a small pitcher. It's composed of Silk soy creamer, light soy milk, and a bit of International Delight. Sometimes I'll add a dash of cinnamon and a touch of alcohol-free vanilla extract. I shake it up, and I have a week's worth (for 2 cups a day). It's flavorful enough so that it makes my coffee creamy, but much lower in fat and calories than using half-and-half (which is what I used to use).

Because I can't use Splenda or Nutrasweet, I add a Sweet-n-Low and it keeps me happy.

As for caffeine, I think problems with it can vary with the individual. People with anxiety disorders (meaning me) are supposed to keep their caffeine down. So, I grind up caffeine-laden beans for the a.m. and caffeine-free beans the rest of the day.

From SongFacts:

Petty has not said what this is about, but there are 2 common interpretations. It could be about Petty's divorce from his wife Jane, which happened a year before this was recorded. Another possibility is that it is about marijuana, as "Mary Jane" is slang for pot and the lyrics refer to killing the pain, which the drug is known for. Campbell offered this explanation: "My take on it is it can be whatever you want it to be. A lot of people think it's a drug reference, and if that's what you want to think, it very well could be, but it could also just be a goodbye love song."

Ah, well. The world may never know.

1. What is your favourite part of Christmas? Being Santa Claus: stuffing the stockings and putting presents under the tree!
   
2. Who comes to visit/where do you go for Christmas? Usually my mother and her husband visit, as well as my father-in-law and mother-in-law.
   
3. What is your favourite Christmas dessert? Trifle.
   
4. Who normally carves the turkey? My hubby.
   
5. Are you known for a certain Christmas treat/decoration/tradition? I'm known for making a delicious homemade eggnog.
   
6. What is your favourite Christmas song? O Night Divine
   
7. What are you wishing for this Christmas? I haven't really wished for anything.
   
8. Do you donate to any charity at Christmas? I do before and after, but not on Christmas.
   
9. What is your favourite Christmas memory? When I was 5, me and my brothers in our striped pajamas pretending to be zebras.
   
10. Star, angel, or other on top of your tree? Angel. Brunette.
    

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

Me too. I have since girl scouts. The song gives me a stomach ache every time I hear it.

I'm being serious.

I hated Girl Scouts. I don't know what is was like for you, but all they had us do was come up with recipes and sew things (early 70's). They didn't teach us any wild survival skills. We never "roughed it." I was hoping to see bears, make a tourniquet, and cook roots and tubers on a fire.

I love Christmas a great deal, and I'm not even a Christian. I am just good for goodness' sake. ;-)

To me, Christmas is very heartwarming. I love the trappings of Christmas, trees topped with angels, yule logs, ornaments, the feeling of sharing, loving, and giving. If I could not be the Ghost of Christmas Future, then I'd want to be Santa Claus. The concept of sneaking into people's homes and leaving thoughtful gifts sounds like a blast!

Although my approach to Christmas is secular, I also dislike the crass commercialism, and the call to everyone "spend, spend, spend!" until it hurts.

It's not just the aesthetics... I try to make every day like Christmas. I'm not always successful.

I can't stand country music, but someone has to like it! And I also wholeheartedly supported Obama, too! I'm really glad he's going to be our President (wow, it feels weird to start it with a capital letter after using lowercase for 8 years)!

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

 

any time a vote comes up, ole Joe is going to face the 'vote with us or lose your chairmanship' strong arm tactic

and the republicans have nothing to offer him to persuade him to switch - he's got four more years and then he's screwed

it's the bed he made, and now he will lay/lie? in it

I truly hope the Dems are going to back that turncoat into a tight corner and breathe down his neck like a dragon with halitosis.

Oh, man... now they're really making me angry...

"Wall Street firms will continue to distribute millions of dollars in bonus checks this December, even those that are participating in the Treasury bailout."

When are we going to break out the pitchforks and torches?

Just $60? Good gawd.

My primary care physician costs $120, but I pay a co-pay of $20.

The specialists average around $150 a visit, but I pay a co-pay of $30.

Original Post by divaangelic2:

It just makes me wonder where went the hard work that this nation was founded on - when did we become so focused on making the bottom line better at the expense of making the country better as a whole.

They trashed the common sense that is taught in Economics 101: If you make widgets, and have thousands of employees, these workers will be able to make money, and buy the widgets. If the company goes overseas and the employees are out of work, these people can no longer afford widgets.

They trashed it because they are about "quick money." They are not in it for the long term. They've forgotten that being loyal to employees will make them loyal to you; that if you provide a high quality item or service, do your best, and deal with people ethically, that you will have a loyal customer base.

The thing that annoys me the most is when the media says it is because we're not spending that the economy is a shambles. I contend that it is due to a lot of factors: people living beyond their means, politicians that sleep with corporate lobbyists, and corporations that have no interest in reviving the common sense of Economics 101. This all due to drastic deregulation.

Unfortunately, it appears that these corporations stink at governing themselves.

The man is a pathetic hack.

For starters, it's badly written.

Next, there's nothing in the article that has any value.

Last, I don't know who hired him, but I could do a much better job... and I could use a job.

My opinion? Like the others stated, all three descriptions apply.

Original Post by javagen3:

I won't deny that there is some corruption in big business and greed played out in worst possible ways; I've also experienced it first hand having recently worked for a now defunct bank (at one of the bottom tiers of the business). But how do you feel your particular examples cited above play into the whole job outsourcing problem? Do you think its even possible to regulate those golden parachutes and good old boys' club rules? And again, how would that play into your view of outsourcing US jobs?

Outsourced jobs aren't just technical assistance and customer service representatives. For instance: food. Pineapple from Thailand, canned in cans from India. The corn syrup the pineapple is canned in, is from China (and we know how much China loves melamine & lead!). It doesn't matter that we have the manpower and resources to provide these things ourselves. Our country has the capability to produce/manufacture all these things.  Manufacturing = outsourced. Food production = outsourced. Distribution = outsourced. The marketing can even be outsourced. The accounting can be outsourced.

The outsourced overseas employees do not pay taxes to the U.S., even though they are working for an American corporation. Some may even be imported to this country, and pay no taxes.

"What gets me is how an American engineer can compete with a taxpayer subsidized H1B imported engineer. If I didn't have to pay taxes I could afford to make less, too."

--Dennis Mattingly, Cannelburg, Ind.

Corporations get huge tax breaks for outsourcing. Less Americans employed, less spending, less taxes paid into the system. Our tax dollars are often awarded to corporations to support their R&D. Our infrastructure is crumbling, for heaven's sake, we need the revenue, and they get rewarded?

What we are suffering from now is the result of Reaganomics. Trickle down doesn't trickle down anymore.

My opinion is that we need to take a protectionist stance.  We need to regulate the lousy b******s, eliminate the tax breaks, make sure the government is getting the taxes it would have gotten if it had been American employees...  it can be done.

I know it does not seem as if the two things (parachutes and outsourcing) tie together, but it all boils down to corporate greed.

Anyway, check out the Economic Policy Institute, "corporate welfare," stuff like that. It'll give you a really good idea what is, and has been, going on.

P.S. You might want to check out Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Original Post by cptbunny:

This is an interesting thread, coming from someone who is mentally ill, I'm constantly fighting my negative thoughts every single day and sadly almost every single day they win. I can "choose" not to let them bother me, but I don't know how to do that. I mean, if I could, I'd obviously be free of what I carry and I think my husband would jump for joy. Literally.

My negative feelings derive from fear. How do you not be afraid? I am terrified all the time. I mean if I can somehow choose not to be scared, *snaps fingers* just like that, I so would. I think controlling other emotions are alot easier than fear. Depending on the fear, some are easier to overcome. And no, going towards whatever you're afraid of doesn't always work because it can do just the opposite and it has made me worse, cause I wasn't always like this.

When I'm feeling the terror (yes it's terror), when I enter a store for example, I feel like I have to keep it pushed down, like I'm going to vomit and trying to keep it in but I'm soooo nauseous. Except the vomit and nausea are just examples of the fear I'm trying to keep in so my panic attack doesn't erupt. I don't see how I can control this.

Who do I blame for making me this way? The truth? Other people. I don't blame myself for letting what they did effect me, I blame them for causing an untold amount of emotional and mental damage. I do blame myself for letting it control me now though (I feel like a loser). I think if alot of people went through what I did, they would probably have the same or similar problems. I am only human and the mind can only take so much before it breaks.

In your case, I think it might come down to chemicals... and that's not necessarily something that's easy to control. What you've got, that's hard to control completely. It's another story altogether.

I couldn't leave the house, I was terrified of everything and everybody. I was able to use a lot of cognitive therapy, advanced depth therapy, and behavior modification, which helped a great deal... but I eventually hit a brick wall. I still got headaches. diarrhea, and nausea every time I had to be somewhere. Once I was there, I'd get dizzy and have chest pains.

So, my doctor gave me a prescription, and it worked. Best part is, I'm not a zombie, can still be angry, sad, happy.

And yes, other people did it to me... and yes, I blame them, but it was - unfortunately - a mess that I was left to clean up. Totally unfair, no doubt. It's not easy when someone does crazy stuff to you and leaves you for dead, and then you have the audacity to remain alive and you're the one who has to deal with the repercussions. So, I totally understand.

Original Post by peaches0405:

Blackthorne, you may not agree with the way that jblarghp worded her statement, but I still think it is honorable that she, like so many people voted for Obama despite his race.

True. One thing I have believed, as a sign that we've come so far, is the fact that so many younger people are color-blind. I just don't want them to forget what a long road it was... because it seems whenever we forget history, ugly things we thought were dead rear their heads again (like the Rovian administration using tactics against the people a la McCarthy).

Yes, it's honorable.