MsKreed

These are all spot-on.....but sadly, barely scrape the surface. This could be an ongoing series - or a Topic where we can all contribute examples for a "Verbicide Collection".

George Carlin would be proud that you're continuing his crusade against distorting the English language.

Thank you!

@Elizabeth Whitehouse: While I wouldn’t necessarily think “this kind of comment” should get you expelled from a site, I do wonder what purpose you intended for it to accomplish.

Long before Social Media facilitated “instant reaction” to written material, we all managed to be exposed to ideas that may or maynot fit our own beliefs....through radio, TV,  magazines, newspapers and books et al. 

And, since the invention of Guttenburg’s printing press, there has never been (and still is not) any imperitive to challenge the author(s) directly.  We are fortunate in some nations (like the US) to have the choice of what media we want to consume (or choose not to). It seems like a tragic waste of ones time to seek out content we disagree with for the sole purpose of offering an antagonistic response.

I’m curious how you felt that your reply was beneficial to anyone.  It’s doubtful you will gain any understanding of Linda’s perspective by replying as you did. Nor is it likely that your curt and disparaging remark will sway Linda or any of her readers to your perspective. 

On 10/1/2022 at 4:59 PM, Chris said:

If Jada shaved her head intentionally, that’s one thing. But if it was from alopecia, cancer, or whatever, it’s off the table in my book.

If the person making reference to the shaved head knows it's due to a medical condition. and pokes fun about it, it should be off the table. 

For Will Smith to assume Chris (or anyone else) must be so infatuated with his wife to track her personal details, and reflexively "react" under that assumption....seems a bit egotistical to me.

But I tend to subscribe to Hanlon's Law and try to give people the benefit of the doubt when possible. 

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“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by ignorance.”

Not being one who obsessively follows celebrities' personal lives on Twitter or self-promotional podcasts..... like millions of others, I was completely unaware of the reason(s) why Jayda (or any other public figure) may be bald. 

I wouldn't conclude that Hochul is any worse than Cuomo.  There's nothing to miss about him.

@Senator Tom O'Mara can correct me if I'm mistaken, but my recollection is that The "Wage Board" who came to this decision was hand picked and appointed by Cuomo himself after  he signed the 2019 law.

When he created the committee, it was all but destined that it would deliver the ruling that Cuomo, Carl Heastie and Andrea Stewart Cousins supported. It seems like he appointed a number of boards to create some perception of a fair process that examined all sides, but ultimately expected to support his stance (like this Wage Board, or his "board" that studied fracking) or they'd be shut down at Cuomo's order (like his "ethics" committee).

Cuomo was pushing for progressive changes like this before he stepped down, and she's just been following his footsteps since taking over.  

A thought occurred to me the other day as I drove past an "Adopt a Highway" sign that proudly proclaimed the local organization "sponsoring" a stretch of road strewn with litter. 

While it is not their "duty" to clean up....these businesses and organizations supposedly made a pledge to do so, and asked teh DOT to advertise for them.

I'd love to see photos of the trash and those signs publicized....on their FB pages, in the local media....anyplace that might embarrass them into holding up their pledge.

45 minutes ago, Chris said:

But yeah, not so sure about Dolly. 

Not before Pat Benatar (or Phish)!

1 hour ago, Chris said:

It's baffling to me how you can have someone like Eminem be nominated yet Pat Benetar hasn't even been inducted.

It's baffling to me that they haven't inducted Pat Benatar, but Dolly made the cut. 

I love Dolly, she's made great contributions to the music world. But not so much the "Rock & Roll" world. 

A lot of people like cake. Cake is awesome. Cake deserves a place in the "Dessert Hall of Fame"....but not the "Pizza Hall of Fame".

Thanks....columns like this make the Rockin' World Go 'Round

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I wish I could remember back to me carefree highchair days. (Hell, I wish I could remember what I did yesterday). What fun I must have had, because mealtimes for toddlers are some of the greatest times of their lives.

The good news is.....you might get to experience such carefree meals again later in life. The grandkids can take you dining in your geriatric years and these will mostly apply. 

The bad news is...you probably still won't remember how fun it was.

I may not have it stuck in my hair, but this title seems to be 'sticking' in my brain 

Well, this has been enlightening. “Pie-fer”?

In all the years I saw the byline, I assumed it was a silent "P" instead a silent "F".

Having grown up in the Corn Belt.....I've been acutely aware of how scary and dangerous it can be (especially for young children) to actually be lost in a plain old corn field with straight parallel rows. 

There used to be news stories every couple of years toddlers being lost for days, sometimes with tragic outcomes. Fortunately, the use of thermal imaging from above now results in most being found safe within 6-8 hours. 

This concept is known as the "Shadow Economy" (sometimes "underground economy" or "grey market"). 

It is also long been a concern for the powerful entities that control the "official" economy....

The IRS:

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The best way to locate an undergrounder is through cash invoices found in related examinations. When the examiner encounters payments for goods or services made in cash and verified by questionable,  possibly handwritten, invoices, it is very likely the taxpayer paid an undergrounder to do the work.  further questions should be asked to determine how the taxpayer located the underground worker, and if the worker is known to work for other local businesses, or if they worked on personal jobs for the taxpayer.

If the examiner follows up and determines the undergrounder’s home is not extravagant, do not be dissuaded. Even a small economic lifestyle will cost money to maintain, and it may be deceptive because cash expenditures and cash accumulation are not immediately evident. The undergrounder’s lifestyle will still require more income than what is reported.

The Federal Reserve :

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The informal economy, also known as the underground economy or black market, is very hard to measure. A good example is the produce vendor on the street who sells the same vegetables you find in the supermarket but handles only cash and pays little or no taxes

The International Monetary Fund: 

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A factory worker has a second job driving an unlicensed taxi at night; a plumber fixes a broken water pipe for a client, gets paid in cash but doesn't declare his earnings to the tax collector; a drug dealer brokers a sale with a prospective customer on a street corner. These are all examples of the underground or shadow economy—activities, both legal and illegal, that add up to trillions of dollars a year that take place "off the books," out of the gaze of taxmen and government statisticians.

Investopedia  :

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All such under-the-table transactions, in which participants fail to report their income to the IRS or the state, are technically considered to be underground economic activities. This status can even apply to babysitters who don't report the cash that they pocket after watching Junior down the street.

And commercial interests like MasterCard :

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Action is needed and it should come in the form of education and awareness raising activities for consumers on (1) how greatly the shadow economy affects economic growth and spending on public services and (2) on how we as consumers can take steps to counter it. Simply asking for a receipt makes a difference but often we don’t do it. By combining this type of behavioural change with a move to a cashless society we can effectively counter undeclared transactions.

To enable this shift, investment and development of payment infrastructure is needed at both private and public level. It can facilitate not only the registering of transactions but also speed, reliability and security of payments and collection. Whether it be paying utility bills or tax online or buying groceries at the supermarket, consumers have shown willingness towards this type of cashless transaction. Nearly 80% of respondents across the CEE region are eager to pay electronically more often and 86% would take receipts for each transaction

 

Sadly, reliance on technology and increased scrutiny of cashflow (by the forces mentioned above, et al) are making it more difficult for today's generations to participate in the porch-to-porch relationships that our grandparents were free to engage in.

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Let’s not forget the reaction of New York’s farm community on the day in the summer of 2019 when Cuomo officially signed the new law. Remember that he didn’t hold the signing ceremony at an upstate New York family farm. Instead, he went to Manhattan to the offices of the New York Daily News, a liberal big city daily newspaper that had long advocated for the law.

Over the years, Cuomo often touted that The Great New York State Fair held a "special" place in his heart. 

He celebrated the long "tradition". He bragged about the "food". He praised the "entertainment". And he emphasized that it was an "investment" that would grow revenue.

What got under my skin was that he rarely (IF EVER) spoke of the fact that the whole concept of Fairs was built on the goal of fostering and promoting agriculture.

Let's hope the new governor is less tone deaf.

I might add that we could perhaps be more discerning when using the word "tragedy".  That word suggests an event that was inescapable or inevitable....as an unforeseen accident or natural disaster.

On the other hand, when an event is the result of someone’s conscious and deliberate actions...then “atrocity” may be a more accurate description.

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One of my acquaintances was visibly upset and angry to learn I refused to be vaccinated, which I don’t quite understand. If you’ve been vaccinated and I’ve rebuffed it, and if these vaccines work, then why would my refusal anger you? You’re safe, and I’m the one at risk.

This. 

Even before Covid, the conniptions I've seen for a few years about flu shots and the debate over removing religious exemptions for other vaccines. The more riled up and emphatic someone is about the "dangers" that unvaccinated pose, the more I recoil from their idiocy.

And the pseudo-intellectual argument that others need vaccinations to keep the vulnerable immune-suppressed "safe" is utterly absurd. Any person with suppressed immunities (whether from chemo or disease) needs to be constantly vigilant and take precautions to protect themselves. Period. 

Millions of different viruses may exist, but researchers have only identified about 5,000 types to date. Of that 5,000, only a tiny handful have vaccines available....and most are relatively harmless to otherwise healthy individuals, but many are potentially deadly to immune-suppressed individuals.

It is reckless (nicest word I can think of) to imply that being surrounded by people vaccinated for flu or measles or Covid-19 offers them "safety". 

I loved reading this. There's so much of this great state outside the crowded urban areas that we don't read about enough!

Thats what I'm reading. The mRNA in the vaccine causes YOUR "muscle cell factory" to prodeuce the emblem or spiked protein that the immune system perceives as corona infection. Then YOUR immune system produces antibodies to attack said emblem spiked protein etc....and those antibodies provide protection against that protein if it is introduced again (by an actual infection). 

I get that part...even without a medical degree I can understand it.

Whether or not this unique spiked protein is produced isnt what I find contradictory about the scientists' explanation. It's the argument that the antibodies YOUR immune system creates (after a natural exposure to the real virus) arent likely to provide long term protection.

They (this author et al) go into great detail to relay how this vaccine convinces your body to do its natural thing and produce protective antibodies. Then warn us that the protective antibodies our bodies produce aren't lasting. 

I understand that many people are satisfied that these "Schrodinger  antibodies" produced by our immune systems both work and simultaneously don't work because the experts are confident in the R & D that the charitable organizations like Pfizer and Moderna have altruistically conducted. 

Haven't some people (even expert scientific authorities) also trusted the R & D that was presented by manufacturers of asbestos fire retardant prooducts, Deet, thalidomide, Round Up....and VW diesel emissions?

This is hilarious!

And all 100% true……🤣

Luckily I’m OK with suspending disbelief for animated stories…especially Holiday Classics. All disbelief.

From the fantastical premise that reindeers fly, talk and have organized sports with coaching staff…. to even winged lions and overnight obesity.