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Post by mossie on Aug 5, 2014 20:26:32 GMT
I believe in cutting the cackle and getting to the meat of the problem
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2014 12:17:10 GMT
In today's paper, I read that hundreds of people in the United States call 911 when Facebook is down for more than 10 minutes. I mentioned this to my husband and he was not shocked in any way. He told me that he remembered someone calling 911 because McDonalds was out of French fries.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2014 16:54:34 GMT
As the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Paris (19-25 August 1944) which is celebrated on the 25th of August, approaches there have been a number of things in the press and on television about it. One thing that really shocked me (and it was the same for 2 friends with whom I had lunch today who saw the same thing on television) was one of the details about an ultimatum made by the American military command to the French army just before the move on Paris. As we all know, the Americans did not want to liberate Paris yet (because they didn't want to have to feed the people), but the French were sort of impatient and were insisting to go as quickly as possible. That is not at all what is shocking. What is shocking is that the United States demanded that France and Great Britain remove all of the black soldiers from their forces entering Paris so that there would be no photographs of black soldiers liberating Paris.
The English language Wikipedia article devotes only one sentence to this.
The French Wiki says a tiny bit more.
As you can see, the English Wiki claims that the British joined the Americans in this "pressure" but the French Wiki says that the Americans obliged both the French and British to conform to an exclusively white army.
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Post by fumobici on Aug 14, 2014 20:08:39 GMT
Shocking but hardly surprising, in my view. The US was a very racist place indeed then. In fact perhaps the single greatest advance in American society I've seen has been watching the level of racism and homophobia decrease over time. It's still obviously an enormous problem but it's really improved since I was a kid. It has seem to come in discrete generational steps too. My parents generation would accept blacks [gays] in some roles and not in others, my generation accepted blacks [gays] for pretty much anything as long as they acted sort of white [straight] and now the next step is to take minority intellectual and political cultures as equal. Which means accepting minorities more as they want to be or are rather than necessarily conforming to prevailing norms.
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Post by patricklondon on Aug 15, 2014 21:04:50 GMT
I get the impression British attitudes tended to vacillate and vary. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that when black American troops arrived in Britain, local people were quite ostentatiously opposed to the formal segregation the US authorities practised and tried to impose on them too: but equally, plenty had all sorts of patronising misconceptions about them, and could be just as racist in their opinions. Officialdom in particular tried to have it both ways, particularly because they didn't want to cause trouble with the US authorities: and it wouldn't surprise me if they backed up the US on this, even if they wouldn't have volunteered the idea. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by patricklondon on Aug 21, 2014 19:59:10 GMT
Here's a fact that surprised me. In a documentary on Billingsgate Fish Market, it emerged that the UK exports crab to China, by air. Caught in Devon one day, sold at Billingsgate overnight, in Shanghai less than 24 hours later. One trader shown apparently exports 30-50 tons a week. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2014 20:22:26 GMT
That is surprising, Patrick, especially as they have to fly so far. For a long time the seafood on the West Coast here has been declining and it's hard to find anything beyond salmon and mussels in the markets as most of it goes to Asia. We wanted to buy a crab on Whidbey Island one day and were told that only one claw crabs were available, as all the intact ones are exported.
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Post by fumobici on Aug 21, 2014 23:59:55 GMT
Fred Meyer grocery stores often have fresh whole dungeness crab (with all claws), which is easily my favorite. They are also plentiful and easy to catch--if you know where and when to drop the pots. Deception Pass(ish) can be spectacular dungeness crabbing.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 22, 2014 4:03:07 GMT
I adore dungeness crab. Christiana Seafood in New Orleans (now long gone) used to fly them in live, then boil them in Louisiana seafood boil. Heaven! In double-checking the spelling of Christiana on Google, I discovered that Mrs. Christiana, whom Casimira shows waving in her poor boy thread, died this past December. So, "something I learned today". Patrick, re: that volume of crab being caught in Devon -- no fear of over-fishing?
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Post by patricklondon on Aug 22, 2014 6:31:49 GMT
No idea, bixa. They didn't go into that, though if there were, I'm sure it would get into the national media. There are enough services and agencies monitoring these things, I think, and fishermen themselves aren't backward in coming forward when there's a problem. Apparently, there are some predatory invasive shellfish we could do with exporting, though: and one of them is Chinese mitten crab, which has managed to instal itself in the Thames. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
Urban spiders are 3 times fatter and heavier than rural spiders, due to the extra warmth of cities and the fact that insects can be caught even at night due to being excited by the lighting everywhere.
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Post by htmb on Aug 29, 2014 15:40:28 GMT
My rural spiders in this weeks photos looked pretty healthy to me. I'd hate to see their in town relatives. Another reason to have window screens.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2014 22:19:46 GMT
Trying as it was for me today, on every front, screens are probably a good idea.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2014 22:42:40 GMT
In fact, always a good idea, at least, around me anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2014 18:36:43 GMT
People take 15 times more photos now than when cameras used film.
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Post by questa on Oct 11, 2014 22:41:23 GMT
Only 15 times?...my shooting rate would be more like 20-25 times and my culling rate higher again. It is much easier to hit 'del' than throw away a print that is not so good.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 12, 2014 15:37:05 GMT
Yeah, 15 seems low to me, as well. For one thing, I'll bet there are zillions of people running around snapping pictures with their phones (or even with tablets) who never owned, nor will own a plain old camera.
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Post by htmb on Oct 22, 2014 20:26:29 GMT
My African American colleagues eat fried chicken sandwiches with the bones still in the chicken. They put a piece of fried chicken between two slices of bread - breast, thigh, wing, it doesn't matter the cut - bite into their sandwiches and remove the bones from their mouths as they eat.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2014 20:32:58 GMT
I learned today that a fried chicken sandwich exists. Jeez, when you think that McDonald's invented the McRib sandwich even though they removed all of the ribs, they might have had more success with black people by leaving the bones in. Hell, I'm not even black and I was disappointed when I discovered that they were mushy and boneless.
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Post by htmb on Oct 22, 2014 20:58:12 GMT
Tomorrow we dumb white people at my end of the office are supposed to be given a lesson in how to swiftly and effectively maneuver the tongue while removing the bones. Apparently, one of the favorite places for purchased fried chicken is Popeyes. However, they were also talking about how, when they were kids, their mothers used to fry up chicken and serve it between two slices of bread.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2014 21:07:52 GMT
If it is cooked properly, it shouldn't be difficult. With properly cooked chicken wings, I can strip every bit of flesh from the bone with one movement of the tongue. When I took a trip with a French friend to the US, he decided that the only fried chicken place worthy of his attention was Roy Roger's. Luckily we stayed in the northeastern part of the country, so it was possible to stop there in turnpike rest areas and similar dives, but I frankly prefer Popeye's.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2014 21:28:09 GMT
I learned today that a fried chicken sandwich exists. Jeez, when you think that McDonald's invented the McRib sandwich even though they removed all of the ribs, they might have had more success with black people by leaving the bones in. Hell, I'm not even black and I was disappointed when I discovered that they were mushy and boneless. Oh, Kerouac, that wasn't pork ribs with the bones removed, that was nothing more than mechanically harvested and separated scrap pork, ground and formed into something vaguely in the shape of a rack of ribs. Like how they make chicken mcnuggets.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2014 21:56:53 GMT
Many tamales feature bone-in surprises. I first heard about them from a friend on the Texas border, who was horrified to have been served one in Mexico. After moving here, I found out they are quite common.
Back in the Pleistocene, when I was in college, a favorite haunt was Dave's Top-Hat Drive In, in Lafayette, Louisiana. A huge favorite there -- and rightfully so! -- was the breaded cutlet sandwich. It was actually a chop, with the bone in.
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Post by htmb on Oct 23, 2014 14:21:50 GMT
Take heart all you McRib lovers. A sign on the McD's near my work features the words: "The McRib is back!"
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2014 16:25:15 GMT
The McRib never reached France, although I think they have it from time to time in the UK. The temporary weird product of the moment here is the McWrap Chèvre.
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Post by htmb on Oct 23, 2014 22:22:37 GMT
As promised, my friend H brought in a fried chicken breast from Popeyes today, slapped it between two pieces of white bread and showed us how to eat. As he expertly maneuvered around the bones, I did get him to admit care in selecting which part of the chicken to bite into first. H held the sandwich so the breastbone part was farthest away from his mouth and when he bit into the chicken he pulled the meat off and slid the now clean ribs - still attached to the breastbone - back out of his mouth. Too bad I can't post the video.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 28, 2014 4:22:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2014 5:29:33 GMT
We have been told to call the police if we see a clown anywhere.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 28, 2014 6:14:50 GMT
Are you going to do so, or would vigilante action be more satisfying? Here is a wonderful little nugget I just this second came across: The only real-life character depicted in the The Adventures of Tintin series is .................. {Spoiler}Al Capone
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Post by bjd on Oct 28, 2014 7:41:56 GMT
Not sure whether this is where to post this but a few minutes ago, I read in today's International NYTimes a brief in the "People" section about some Australian singer, Sia Furler, who I had never heard of. Anyway, in 2004 she had a song called Breath Me [sic] and has now breathed into a jar -- this will be sold at auction at the Adelaide Film Festival.
The festival's director, Amanda Duthrie, said, "Gorgeously and magnificently she breathed into a jar for us."
I cannot find an emoticon to express my reaction to this. I can only assume that it's a joke, although I'm afraid it isn't.
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