When a Feller Needs a Friend: The Hotel Life

Clare Briggs
Contributor

Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930.

Grand and Glorious: The Boss

Guiltiest Feeling: The Hatless Fiend

Days of Real Sport: Instructions Unheard

← Yes, Virginia, We Can Block the Sun (Maybe). No, We Shouldn’t.

Tech Tuesday for 12/4 →

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State of the Discussion

2 mins ago

to atomickristin

Michael Cain

+ ...paramount importance of friends... My kids were old enough that as we got into the later books, I was encouraging them to consider that Dumbledore wasn't [. . .]

...paramount importance of friends...

My kids were old enough that as we got into the later books, I was encouraging them to consider that Dumbledore wasn't the kindly old man he seemed, but was, rather, running an ongoing war and grooming Harry and his friends to be weapons without telling them. Given Dumbledore's strength as a sorcerer, what were the chances that he didn't know everything that was going on in the castle or on the grounds? How often did they receive special or lenient treatment? Didn't many things make more sense as live-fire exercises than accidents?

One of these days I'll have to sort through the fanfic and see if anyone has rewritten the story from that perspective.

DensityDuck

+ so, uh, what exact atittudes did the kids show in that video? And what would you have expected them to do? (Keep in [. . .]

so, uh, what exact atittudes did the kids show in that video? And what would you have expected them to do? (Keep in mind that we see in the discourse--and you support--the idea that "standing there and smiling without reacting" is an act of racist harassment.)

[View in thread] -

Ordinary World for Monday 21 January

7 mins ago

to atomickristin

bookdragon

+ I never had a lot of friends, but I find real friendship a goal worth aspiring to and pursuing. The fake quasi-obsession romances however are [. . .]

I never had a lot of friends, but I find real friendship a goal worth aspiring to and pursuing. The fake quasi-obsession romances however are not only not worth it, but something I'd actively avoid. (I did not read 50 Shades of Grey. Just the premise made me cringe).

But as I said above, I see friendship as essential to real romance. My husband is at the top of the list of my best friends.

I do think there may be something to the idea of romances being psychological 'sandboxes'. My personality seems to be more hunter than prey, and in non-explicitly-romance novels with a traditional romance component, I notice that I identify more with the male protagonist. The women are kind of poorly fleshed out in most of those though, so that might not mean much. I do know there was something about women in bad relationships, particularly those that were abusive either physically or psychologically, tended to read the sort of romance novels where the nice girl falls for the bad boy and somehow her love is what redeems/reforms him. The question about why came to chicken or the egg: where they attracted to bad guys because that was the sort of romance they consumed or did they consume that sort of romance because it gave them hope he'd change or let them cast themselves as something other than a victim.

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The Twilight Zone

7 mins ago

DensityDuck

+ [OW6] it's sort of like how we can be aware of the large number of straight-out racists (and 'alt-right adjacent persons') who vote Republican but [. . .]

[OW6] it's sort of like how we can be aware of the large number of straight-out racists (and 'alt-right adjacent persons') who vote Republican but still keep in mind the movement's larger goals of self-sufficiency and national security.

[View in thread] -

Ordinary World for Monday 21 January

9 mins ago

to Mike Schilling

Aaron David

Meh, Obama assassinated what, four? US citizens because they looked like foreigners. These guys are pikers...

Video: President Trump Speaks on Shutdown, Border

10 mins ago

to Richard Hershberger

Saul Degraw

+ I think procrastination is probably a part of it. There are cultural components though. I've heard and read that Americans like the appearance of long [. . .]

I think procrastination is probably a part of it. There are cultural components though. I've heard and read that Americans like the appearance of long hours at the desk, office, library but a lot of it is slack time. OTOH, Europeans do shorter hours but when you are at work, you are working. Much less joshing around the water cooler or going to get a cup of coffee.

I also think there are a lot of people who prove their self-worth through having other people notice how overextended they are and asking them to sit down and take a break. They can't do this for themselves so they go from project to project, meeting to meeting during the day and then eventually someone says "you need to sit down and eat something."

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What’s with America’s Adderall Problem?

18 mins ago

to bookdragon

Michael Cain

+ Probably the simplest proposal that has been put forward is an automatic continuing resolution. If an appropriation expires, then it is automatically extended for some [. . .]

Probably the simplest proposal that has been put forward is an automatic continuing resolution. If an appropriation expires, then it is automatically extended for some amount of time, say a month. Can't do that for the Department of Defense (Article 1 Section 8) but the rest of it could continue on auto-pilot.

Myself, when I was on a state legislative budget staff, I always argued against permanent appropriations with the exception of programs that carried large federal penalties for interrupted service. OTOH, with the exception of the handful of (big) programs that are permanently appropriated, our budget is constitutionally required to be all or nothing. The legislature is allowed to pass only the one budget bill (the "Long Bill", because it is) each year. They've never failed to pass one.

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Getting Through The Wall

24 mins ago

to LeeEsq

bookdragon

+ Very much so. There is a difference - a very important difference - between love and obsession, but so many of these stories, as [. . .]

Very much so. There is a difference - a very important difference - between love and obsession, but so many of these stories, as well as general tv/movie romance plots, routinely blur it.

Maybe I'm more sensitive than most because I know someone who had to escape from an abusive relationship, particularly from an abuser who couldn't give up a woman who was 'meant' to be 'his'. I mean, I find the common framing of 'winning' the girl (or guy) like some sort of trophy for the most having points in a competition off-putting (not to mention referring to sex as 'scoring').

Obviously I don't read a lot of books labeled as 'romance'. But romance is a subplot in quite a lot of other genres so the tropes and plotlines are unavoidable. The only ones that appeal to me really are the kind where two people with common interests and/or goals meet, become friends, and eventually discover a romantic attraction. They can come to admire each other for talents they share or for each having talents the other lacks, but I need a basis of respect and friendship there to find the romance part worth reading.

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The Twilight Zone

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Off the Cuff

When Editors hear the Word 'Culture'...

Todd VanDerWerff, a cultural critic and journalist, says (somewhat unsurprisingly) that we need cultural critics and journalists, a group of writers that have been let go from numerous media outlets over the past few years as all media coverage is gradually sucked into the Trump Singularity. — Rufus F. (5)

Duty To Protect (Update)

Lawyers for Scot Peterson (one of the Deputies on-site during the Parkland shooting) are arguing that Scot Peterson had no Duty to stop the school shooting — Jaybird (68)

NY AG files lawsuit against Trump Foundation

Nothingburger? Somethingburger? — Jaybird (6)

The IG Report has been released.

Nothingburger? Somethingburger? — Jaybird (8)

The orgastic future recedes before us

Matthew Stewart's piece on "the 9.9 percent" in the Atlantic is more interesting (and probably easier to remember) than jeremiads about the "one percent". — Rufus F. (91)

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