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steve2470

steve2470's Journal
steve2470's Journal
October 1, 2013

What was your happiest moment so far today ?

That you can mention in public ?

Mine had to be seeing our beautiful sunny early fall day here in Florida.

October 1, 2013

poll for IT people about performance of healthcare.gov

Being a computer nerd, I get into this stuff

October 1, 2013

Good thoughts and vibes to those DU'ers being harmed by the shutdown !

to you all !

Let's hope this is all over later today with no loss in pay or business !

Steve
September 30, 2013

a question about the pro-choice position, if I may

Please forgive me and bear with me here, because I'm a somewhat ignorant male.

The big thread in GD has some discussion of viability. I know that a woman's right to autonomy is the paramount consideration. I am very very pro-choice.

What is the thinking about viability ? I know the Catholic Church position is the "pro-life" extreme. I'm simply here to be educated, via a paragraph or a link. Thank you for your time.

Steve

September 30, 2013

100 question application to work at McDonald's ? wtf

I feel pretty "get off my yard" as I type this, but my son told me that, at at least two places (McDonald's, Olive Garden), he had to answer 100 questions online for entry level positions. Granted, he might have been exaggerating a tad about the 100 questions.

WTF. When I applied for entry level jobs back in the 1970's, I only had to answer basic questions that made sense, such as previous experience, education, when are you available for work, that kind of thing.

Is this correct ? Is this common ? If it's correct and common, this just blows my mind.

September 30, 2013

Senator Susan Collins, R from Maine: "a strategy that cannot possibly work" (about shutdown tactics)

Senator Susan Collins of Maine became the latest Republican to criticize her House colleagues, saying on Sunday that an effort to link the health care amendments to the budget was “a strategy that cannot possibly work.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/us/politics/time-short-but-gop-leaders-say-shutdown-can-be-avoided.html

Good for Senator Collins.
September 30, 2013

Delerium Feat Jael - After All (Svenson And Gielen Remix)



Love Jael's voice !
September 29, 2013

something that puzzles me about the Teahadists versus the rest of the R party re: shutdown crisis

I would think that the big business interests would be adamantly opposed to a shutdown, because it will hurt profits. Maybe I'm wrong about that, I'm not an economist.

Are the Teahadists that immune to the influence of the Big Business R types ? I would think they are getting angry phone calls to knock off the BS.

September 29, 2013

Anthony Bourdain: My family values

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/sep/27/anthony-bourdain-parts-unknown-family-values



I grew up in the Mad Men era. I watched my family, my neighbours and my parents' friends live a similar story arc – struggling with rapidly changing social mores, the Vietnam war. I was born in New York City but grew up in New Jersey. My dad worked two jobs as a salesman in Willoughby's camera store in New York and as a floor manager at a record store. Later, he scored a nice gig at Columbia Records. We were a pretty typical suburban family in most ways. I was a reader. I lived in a house filled with good books. Both parents loved good movies – this was important.

I was rebellious and bitter that I wasn't old enough to be in San Francisco, dropping acid and having sex with hippie chicks. I had impeccable taste in rock'n'roll for a 10-year-old, yet was too young to live that life. It made me angry. Most of my friends had rich absentee parents or came from broken homes, so they were free to do whatever they wanted. I deeply resented the relative stability at my house. I started taking drugs as soon as I encountered them. I wanted to be an underground cartoonist like Robert Crumb, but I was too lazy, undisciplined and stoned to apply myself to anything in particular. Back then I was a miserable, self-destructive lout.

My mom was a housewife until she returned to copy editing (for the New York Times) when I was a teenager. My dad was a record executive for most of my teens, which meant free records. I'm grateful for the fact that my parents were open to all kinds of music. He'd take me to [concerts] at the Fillmore East and introduced me to Dylan, the Stones, Janis Joplin. Both my parents loved foreign films, my dad adored Kubrick, the Goon Show, Ealing comedies, Truffaut, Monte Python, Mel Brooks, John Huston, Orson Welles. And I benefited from that enthusiasm.

My father was never afraid to appear ridiculous or silly for my entertainment. He was incapable of restraining himself from sharing his passions, whether I was old enough to see Dr Strangelove, for instance, or not. He was never a snob about anything. He was sentimental, but spoke to me as an adult. He enjoyed simple things, and made me understand the joy of a simple, good thing. He had a keen sense of the pleasures of doing something a bit subversive. He applauded cleverness, wit. I aspire to be much the same, though with perhaps a better work ethic. I was shucking oysters at a raw bar in the Village when he died. He was 57, the age I am now. I see his face in my own more and more with the passing of the years.

*more at the link*

I can so relate to Bourdain, close to my age.

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