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Post by onlyMark on Feb 16, 2021 13:24:13 GMT
Mick, the route from Paris could take me virtually past my house in Spain, but more relevant is if the journey was done in Autumn so it wasn't too hot in the western Sahara, you could be picked up from where you would be in Spain and go as well. We'd pass along the main road at the back of the village you are in. One way flight to Malaga and a one way back from Dakar. Dead easy. I'm sure your wife wouldn't object to having to fly back home by herself.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 16, 2021 13:42:32 GMT
Great idea Marky!
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 21, 2021 6:47:55 GMT
I am just thrilled by bat sightings right out my window! There is an empty lot behind my house with a large coquito. Pseudobombax ellipticum, which is blooming right now. A few nights ago I looked out the dogs' bedroom window and saw a bat flying around the tree. The neighbors opposite have a porch light that I think they got from a stadium, so it shined right in my eyes as I tried to get a good look at the bat. I've looked out every night since, but saw no bats. Tonight, however, the stupid klieg light was off and I got to see a bunch of the fascinating creatures whizzing around. They are fast! I looked it up and there are 33 species of bats here in the central valleys, with a whopping total of 86 species in the whole state.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 21, 2021 14:16:56 GMT
I read just yesterday that 50% of the mammals in the world are bats.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 21, 2021 15:14:52 GMT
And the other 50% are sensible.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 21, 2021 15:33:40 GMT
Oh har har Mick! Methinks thy wit is too surblime M'Lord.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 21, 2021 17:09:16 GMT
Funny Mick! 50% of the mammals in the world are bats. Really?! If that is correct, it's pretty amazing.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 26, 2021 14:59:19 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Feb 26, 2021 15:36:26 GMT
Oh for fuck sake Kerouac! This is going too far, if too far hasn't already been reached! These are the very people the world needs to get rid of so that the real concerned folk who have the survival of the earth at their very heart, need to work without A-Holes creating stupid ideas about gender. We all know what we are. So leave it there.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 26, 2021 15:44:11 GMT
They're going to have to put one of those warning labels on "Toy Story" to apologise for being gender insensitive.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 26, 2021 15:54:10 GMT
Let me tell you about an incident that happened at least thirty years ago. My young nephew took a real shine to a Barbie Doll in a wedding outfit. My brother ( my his soul R.I.P.), was horrified. Anyway the boy got the doll and I heard no more.' Today, that nephew of mine is a fine young man with a lovely girlfriend. He has no hang-ups as our older folk describe mental issues, and his future is bright and definitely not mixed up with gender and who he is.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 26, 2021 16:36:04 GMT
I think that is the whole point of "gender neutral" but what is unfortunate is pushing it so hard. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I don't think that children have any problems identifying (or not) with their toys. I was really big on plastic toy soldiers when I was little (not at all classic antique types but WW2 fighters). If they had mixed in women combat troops, I don't think that it would have bothered me a bit -- but guess what? -- in 2021 the ground troops on battlefields still seem to be men.
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Post by rikita on Feb 28, 2021 2:12:16 GMT
i don't know or care much about the gender of mister potato head, but toys and gender can be an issue, especially for children that are "untypical" in some way (and who isn't), and in a way, are told by toys that they are not "normal" - it can be quite on the nose or it can be subtle, and i have heard it used to be getting better and now is getting worse (i can't compare well, as i only started paying attention when it became an issue for me).
as an example, when she was about four, she loved "paw patrol". so, when she needed new underwear, she wanted some with paw patrol on it. except, the one i found had two sets: one for girls, in pink and light blue, with pictures of the two girl dogs "skye" and "everest", and one in red and dark blue, with all the other dogs, and with a clear "boy underwear" shape (boxers with an extra space for the genitals, don't know what you call that). i did buy both sets for her, because in the end, she is able to wear boy underwear - but i still see it as problematic in the sense that a lot of parents who don't think about it will only buy the girl underwear for their daughters, and because a lot of girls will see that this is for me, this is for the boys, and the girls are separate from the boys, they are the exception, too, as most of the heroes are boys (paw patrol has seven or eight dogs, altogether) - and a girl who likes marshall better than skye is not quite like she is supposed to be.
of course, it seems like a silly small thing, and if it is only that, it might not matter much - but it is a lot of things, everywhere. and agnes and i talk about this, but quite a few people don't ...
as for your soldiers - of course women soldiers in the troops wouldn't and shouldn't have bothered you, that's exactly the point. and also, while i am not really a fan of anyone becoming a soldier and being in battlefields, i suppose toy soldiers all being man contribute to the fact that being a soldier is seen as a boy thing, and thus the ground troops on battlefields are men. of course, that is oversimplified, by far not the only reason etc. - but i think it is a contributing factor ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 28, 2021 2:27:17 GMT
Rikita, everything you say is altogether true and extremely important. People often think that we are reared by our parents, but the truth is that we are the products of our society. That means that stereotypes, rigid attitudes, and various kinds of intolerance become ingrained because "everybody thinks so" or "everyone knows [insert unquestioned non-truth here]". The distinction between what is right for girls and what is right for boys is all part of that indoctrination. At least the conversation is more out in the open now, and little girls like yours are lucky enough to have parents who will talk to them about this and other things that kids question.
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 28, 2021 7:08:56 GMT
If Mr Potato Head is now just Potato Head, what are they calling Mrs Potato Head? Also Potato Head?
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 28, 2021 8:31:06 GMT
I bet Ms. Pac-Man would have something to say about that, since she wasn't even Ms. Pac-Woman.
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Post by whatagain on Feb 28, 2021 9:37:16 GMT
I saw a documentary showing we all contribute to making nice girls by putting subtle or not subtle clues as to what girls should do... There was an add some months ago by a supermarket for Pampers.it basically said 'you will save time with our new diapers, and women have better things to do with theirtime - like shopping'. The add was withdrawn,thankstoa lot of complaints by women andsome from men...
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 28, 2021 9:53:36 GMT
I'm not surprised. Now that I'm retired my beloved has reverted to treating me like an imbecile half the time, I'm supposed to accept his opinion about everything, which isn't really a problem until he starts pontificating around my particular area of knowledge..then I correct him. I'm then being unfeminine I wonder what happened to the meek, adoring little thing he married I do still adore him btw..
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Post by mossie on Feb 28, 2021 13:24:17 GMT
Steady there Cheery,
We’ll soon be worrying who wears the trousers
Yes, I’m an unrepentant old chauvinist, sorry.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 28, 2021 15:21:37 GMT
And you are loved for the mere fact you probably have old fashioned manners which most woman adore. I can only relate my own circumstances in my own family. Mr.Tod might not have had an Eton education or anything like the South African equivalent, but by jingo he has impeccable manners. The front door of the house is always opened for me while he steps aside and I enter first. At dinner he will wait until I am seated at the table before commencing with his plate of food. This does not only go for when we are the only two at a meal, but the whole family are instructed to wait until I am seated. Now where on earth do you find gentlemen like that? OK, he doesn't rush around and open my car door like Mrs. Bucket has done for her, but he observes the most basic of gentlemen manners. I appreciate that.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 28, 2021 19:59:03 GMT
In the 90s I worked with a chap called Ken from South Africa. He was a real tough guy to look at but he as the sweetest, most polite man I've ever met. He moved with his wife (a university lecturer) and their 2 daughters from SA because where they lived crime was becoming a problem...Ken's wife had family in England .
When we worked together Ken would entertain me with stories of his life in SA where he often worked with a vet, they would be flown by helicopter to treat wild animals like lions and elephants in a huge game reserve. Ken would dart the animals to sedate them so that the vet could treat them.
ANYWAY in Leicester Ken's wife worked as a lecturer in the medical school and Ken got a job in the labs as a biomedical assistant. He always called me Ma'am (I think he called all the scientists either Ma'am or Sir) I'd say 'Ken! Call me Liz...you make me feel like an old lady when you call me Ma'am!' But he just couldn't do it. He used to hold doors open too....lovely man. I think he's still at the hospital, but when we moved to 24/7 shifts he left the lab to work in another department.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 1, 2021 8:00:53 GMT
That is so nice to hear Cheery! From his capabilities he was no slouch for sure. Darting animals from a helicopter takes immense courage and skill. It's not like you poke the dart gun out of a window - you actually sit and lean out of an open door - obviously strapped in, but I've seen those helicopter pilots swing left-right-down-and upwards in seconds. Enough to feel a bit queezy...
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 1, 2021 19:10:01 GMT
Nice manners are all well and good and we should all have them and teach them to children. BUT ~ we all contribute to making nice girls by putting subtle or not subtle clues as to what girls should do... THIS is exactly what Rikita was talking about and which I commented on in a wordier and less succinct way.
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Post by rikita on Mar 3, 2021 19:20:16 GMT
and same for boys, really ... i met a lot of boys who liked things that are considered "for girls" when they were very little, and when they grew a bit older, that stopped, and i think often it is not that their taste really changed, but because they learned that they are not supposed to like that ...
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 3, 2021 19:45:48 GMT
I think lots of boys would have been happy to play with dolls if there were more boy dolls. But I think in many cases it took just one stern glance from a parent to know that they were doing something "wrong" by playing with dolls for girls. I think a lot more boys were able to play "tea party" and such with their sisters or other girl friends because it did not have the same strong connotations... unless it went on too long. Since I just had a brother and we were pretty isolated, we weren't really exposed to girl toys. However, if I am not mistaken, my brother still has his first teddy bear. I had use of it for several years along with my own teddy bears, but when it came time to get rid of most of our stuff before moving out of our childhood home, it didn't bother me to throw my bears onto the fire out back (I was 14 years old by then!), but he rescued his bear. Go figure... it was my least favourite, a scruffy, ragged, charmless thing. It must have known all of his secrets.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 6, 2021 9:29:30 GMT
Todays little smile.....While we are on the subject.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 6, 2021 20:52:40 GMT
Cute!
My little thing will be identified with by many.
I have two computer mice, one for each laptop. One is a nice, fairly expensive rechargeable and the other one is a cheap but cute little pink one that needs batteries. The pink one came with a battery that lasted quite a while. When it died, I dug out a triple-A that was bought new, but had been lying around for years. That gave out fairly quickly (yesterday), so I plugged the dongle from the good mouse into the pink mouse's laptop & used that. I figured I'd better bite the bullet & just buy another nice rechargeable mouse.
Not wanting to keep switching the dongle back and forth, this morning -- with no expectation of success -- I dug in a drawer to see if by some miracle the battery fairy had left me any gifts.
Well! In some moment of forgotten brilliance, I had apparently bought a pack of triple-As! Not only that, I sprang for Energizer Ultimate Lithiums, which promise a shelf life of twenty years.
Happy!
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 6, 2021 21:04:26 GMT
I have a drawer just for batteries and usually buy packages of 24, both AA and AAA.
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Post by whatagain on Mar 13, 2021 9:01:45 GMT
My CT scan shows nothing to my pancreas. Slept better already. Strangely.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 13, 2021 10:24:36 GMT
I am so happy for you !! Worry can be a cruel master.
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