The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

[caseydog]

Don't go there, we are still arguing about our carpet, wife decided and we are still not 100% settled.

Russ

When the ex an I built our house, she wanted cream-colored carpet -- almost white. She really wanted it -- she thought it looked "classy." I had to veto that one. Almost white carpet would not work with two people with two dogs, and plans for children. We settled on a taupe color that she and I both liked.

CD

 

[caseydog]

Our argument was my wife doesn't know the difference between cut pile and loop pile, or wool vs nylon. And to go deeper. Warp and weft weave. I know all sorts of strange sh&t, she doesn't.

Russ

I have a wool blend Berber carpet in my current house. It is 20 years old, and still in great shape. It is due for a good professional cleaning, but it will look like new afterwards.

CD

 

[rascal]

This is so true. I've been very lucky with my male partners. They did as much housework as I did and looked after the kids as much. In fact my current partner stayed home to look after the kids (when they were little) whilst I went to work. It made sense. I earned four times more than he did. He did all the cooking and most of the cleaning as I worked long hours.

I was a feminist back in the 60's (still am) and well aware of the inequalities between genders. I'm really quite shocked by the fact that the stereotypical roles still hold true some 40 years later. We are talking about Western culture here. In many cultures, these stereotypes have never changed and women face unspeakable penalties if they challenge them. Its so upsetting and sad.

Our Indian neighbours occasionally have one sided arguments, twice I've decided against calling police. Purely by accident while going outside to get in my vehicle and heard yelling. My wife was there both times and convinced me to stay out of it.

Russ

 

[rascal]

I have a wool blend Berber carpet in my current house. It is 20 years old, and still in great shape. It is due for a good professional cleaning, but it will look like new afterwards.

CD

My choice was wool (fire thing) and loop pile. Between her and I we got nylon cut pile. I let her order as she knows the guy through her work. Being a salesman I work on weaknesses of people. ( I know, I'm a bastar$) and he the salesman worked on my wife's weakness and lack of knowledge. Our carpet was 26 years old and put in by a Dutchman who used inferior ( to say the least) underlay. The sun broke down the worst parts. Bedrooms were pretty much still good. We still have downstairs lounge to go but that's because I'm waiting on a builder to look at extending an opening.

Russ

 

[JAS_OH1]

We may choose to take on gender stereotypes, or not. Personally, I can cook, I can iron creases in things like you wouldn't believe (not in jeans, obviously, that would be stupid). I can polish up most things so you can see your face in them. I don't have much patience with people of any gender who declare an inability to do pretty basic stuff, male or female oriented.

We do in our house for the most part. I absolutely hate taking out garbage and doing yard work, so I gave those jobs to hubby. My husband isn't fond of cleaning toilets or tubs, or vacuuming and mopping, so that's women's work in our house. And I gave up years ago on him doing dishes properly. He still tries on occasion but I still usually end up rewashing them (I try not to let him see me doing that). I would also rather do all the cooking because he makes too big of a mess and I usually end up having to clean it up. He does laundry nicely and if I needed something ironed, he would be the guy. He used to wear suits and dress shirts regularly so he knows how to iron beautifully. Oh, and he can sew on buttons and hem freehand quite nicely. Gotta love that (I am not so good at sewing). Also, if we go somewhere, I always drive. His friends find that odd. But, I know my way around and can remember directions easily, even if I haven't visited a city/state for years, I can find my way around without a GPS. And I have lived in Akron for over 20 years now and I know my way around town waaaaay better than my husband does, even though he has lived here most of his life.

 

[caseydog]

CNN -- A reward is being offered for information that helps authorities find and prosecute whomever wrote "Trump" on a manatee's back.
The manatee was discovered Sunday in Florida's Homosassa River with the President's name in capital letters on its back, according to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity.

It's not clear what was used to mark the animal.

The center announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction of the person responsible, according to a news release.
"Manatees aren't billboards, and people shouldn't be messing with these sensitive and imperiled animals for any reason," said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

"However this political graffiti was put on this manatee, it's a crime to interfere with these creatures, which are protected under multiple federal laws."

Officials with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are investigating. Anyone with information can call the commission hotline at (888) 404-3922.

Florida manatees are slow-moving plant eaters also known as "sea cows." The manatee is a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The animals are protected by the Endangered Species Act; harassing a manatee is a federal crime.

CD

 

[caseydog]

We do in our house for the most part. I absolutely hate taking out garbage and doing yard work, so I gave those jobs to hubby. My husband isn't fond of cleaning toilets or tubs, or vacuuming and mopping, so that's women's work in our house. And I gave up years ago on him doing dishes properly. He still tries on occasion but I still usually end up rewashing them (I try not to let him see me doing that). I would also rather do all the cooking because he makes too big of a mess and I usually end up having to clean it up. He does laundry nicely and if I needed something ironed, he would be the guy. He used to wear suits and dress shirts regularly so he knows how to iron beautifully. Oh, and he can sew on buttons and hem freehand quite nicely. Gotta love that (I am not so good at sewing). Also, if we go somewhere, I always drive. His friends find that odd. But, I know my way around and can remember directions easily, even if I haven't visited a city/state for years, I can find my way around without a GPS. And I have lived in Akron for over 20 years now and I know my way around town waaaaay better than my husband does, even though he has lived here most of his life.

My ex an I were similar, with me doing all the outdoor work, and her doing kitchen and bath cleaning. We both did dusting and vacuuming as needed. I was the one with the internal GPS, so I did all the driving when we were together. She needed step-by-step instructions -- could NOT read a map to save her life. We shared with the laundry, too. But, she had to be away from the house while I did laundry, or she would micro-manage me. If she was out, and came home to finished laundry, she had no issues with it. Go figure.

CD

 

[Yorky]

My ex an I were similar, with me doing all the outdoor work, and her doing kitchen and bath cleaning. We both did dusting and vacuuming as needed. I was the one with the internal GPS, so I did all the driving when we were together. She needed step-by-step instructions -- could NOT read a map to save her life. We shared with the laundry, too. But, she had to be away from the house while I did laundry, or she would micro-manage me. If she was out, and came home to finished laundry, she had no issues with it. Go figure.

CD

I do the majority of the cooking and anything that requires a screwdriver or a hammer. My wife does everything else.

 

[medtran49]

CNN -- A reward is being offered for information that helps authorities find and prosecute whomever wrote "Trump" on a manatee's back.
The manatee was discovered Sunday in Florida's Homosassa River with the President's name in capital letters on its back, according to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity.

It's not clear what was used to mark the animal.

The center announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction of the person responsible, according to a news release.
"Manatees aren't billboards, and people shouldn't be messing with these sensitive and imperiled animals for any reason," said Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

"However this political graffiti was put on this manatee, it's a crime to interfere with these creatures, which are protected under multiple federal laws."

Officials with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are investigating. Anyone with information can call the commission hotline at (888) 404-3922.

Florida manatees are slow-moving plant eaters also known as "sea cows." The manatee is a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The animals are protected by the Endangered Species Act; harassing a manatee is a federal crime.

CD

I am NOT defending whoever did that to the manatee, but to be fair it might not have been harassed or restrained in the doing of it. A long, long time ago, we were launching our boat and tied off at the dock to finish loading up, and for craig to park the truck and trailer in a state park very early 1 morning. We were the only ones there. Next thing I know, the boat is being bumped. It was a manatee that came over to say hello. I reached out to touch it and it pushed back against my hand, so I started being a little more aggressive in rubbing. It kept pushing back against my hand, so I started scratching it like you would your dog. Well, that's what it wanted. It moved around so I scratched its whole back and then it rolled over for me to do its belly and sides. It kept moving around for me to scratch different areas. Craig had come back during the scratching and had petted it some. We finally had to get out of the boat and walk away from the dock, since just ignoring it didn't work, it kept bumping the boat and didn't want to leave, and we didn't want to start the boat with it hanging around, being afraid that it might panic and get hurt, and we did want to get out and start our dives because we had planned on making several that day, which is why we were there so early.

If you look at the picture of the Trumped manatee, it looks like it was scratched into the algae on the manatee's back, so there is a possibility that the poor thing just thought it was getting a nice back scratch, instead of becoming a political billboard.

 

[caseydog]

I am NOT defending whoever did that to the manatee, but to be fair it might not have been harassed or restrained in the doing of it. A long, long time ago, we were launching our boat in a state park very early 1 morning. We were the only ones there. Next thing we know, the boat is being bumped. It was a manatee that came over to say hello. I reached out to touch it and it pushed back against my hand, so I started being a little more aggressive in rubbing. It kept pushing back against my hand, so I started scratching it like you would your dog. Well, that's what it wanted. It moved around so I scratched its whole back and then it rolled over for me to do its belly and sides. It kept moving around for me to scratch different areas. I finally had to get out of the boat and walk away from the dock, since just ignoring it didn't work, because it didn't want to leave and we didn't want to start the boat with it hanging around, being afraid that it might panic and get hurt, and we did want to get out and start our dives because we had planned on making several that day, which is why we were there so early.

If you look at the picture of the Trumped manatee, it looks like it was scratched into the algae on the manatee's back, so there is a possibility that the poor thing just thought it was getting a nice back scratch, instead of becoming a political billboard.

Depends on what did the scratching. It looked to me like it dug into the skin. Either way, it's against the law. Rubbing a manatee's belly seems harmless, but for survival, they need to have a certain healthy fear of humans. In East Texas, there are a lot of deer, and people like to feed them, not realizing that feeding them often leads to unexpected consequences.

CD

 

[rascal]

My ex an I were similar, with me doing all the outdoor work, and her doing kitchen and bath cleaning. We both did dusting and vacuuming as needed. I was the one with the internal GPS, so I did all the driving when we were together. She needed step-by-step instructions -- could NOT read a map to save her life. We shared with the laundry, too. But, she had to be away from the house while I did laundry, or she would micro-manage me. If she was out, and came home to finished laundry, she had no issues with it. Go figure.

CD

Imagine my wife with me driving 7 weeks in the uk, and her reading maps. I even followed the route with felt pen the night before, same result, arguments every day. How simple do you,have to make a map. This was late 90s . Giggle maps is my friend now.
She is incapable of reading maps.
I hired drivers in some countries, I couldn't trust her!!

Russ

 

[rascal]

I am NOT defending whoever did that to the manatee, but to be fair it might not have been harassed or restrained in the doing of it. A long, long time ago, we were launching our boat and tied off at the dock to finish loading up, and for craig to park the truck and trailer in a state park very early 1 morning. We were the only ones there. Next thing I know, the boat is being bumped. It was a manatee that came over to say hello. I reached out to touch it and it pushed back against my hand, so I started being a little more aggressive in rubbing. It kept pushing back against my hand, so I started scratching it like you would your dog. Well, that's what it wanted. It moved around so I scratched its whole back and then it rolled over for me to do its belly and sides. It kept moving around for me to scratch different areas. Craig had come back during the scratching and had petted it some. We finally had to get out of the boat and walk away from the dock, since just ignoring it didn't work, it kept bumping the boat and didn't want to leave, and we didn't want to start the boat with it hanging around, being afraid that it might panic and get hurt, and we did want to get out and start our dives because we had planned on making several that day, which is why we were there so early.

If you look at the picture of the Trumped manatee, it looks like it was scratched into the algae on the manatee's back, so there is a possibility that the poor thing just thought it was getting a nice back scratch, instead of becoming a political billboard.

I read somewhere they get damage from props. Cute animals.

Russ

 

[medtran49]

Depends on what did the scratching. It looked to me like it dug into the skin. Either way, it's against the law. Rubbing a manatee's belly seems harmless, but for survival, they need to have a certain healthy fear of humans. In East Texas, there are a lot of deer, and people like to feed them, not realizing that feeding them often leads to consequences.

CD

I'm just saying it wasn't necessarily harrassed or restrained. And, no, it looks like just the algae/gunk on its back was scratched off, besides the fact that none of the local coverage has indicated that it was harmed, and there was a LOT of that. In fact, it was mentioned in several reports there appeared to be NO skin breaks. Besides that, their skin is pretty tough and it would take a lot to hurt them. Ever touched an elephant's skin or a cow? Their skin is in between the 2.

You'd be surprised at how many people feed the manatees by throwing lettuce heads and other plants they can eat into the canals, drape their hoses over the sides of their docks so the manatees will have a fresh water supply, give them scratches when requested, etc. It's pretty cool watching them swim up to a dock and be smart enough to not only realize the fresh water is coming out of the hose, but put enough of the hose into their mouth to get the fresh water, without a tremendous amount of salt water, but not so much as to choke on the hose.

 

[TastyReuben]

MrsT can read a map fine, just not in the car. She gets sick. She also can't drive more than five minutes or she gets sleepy, so in the old days before GPS, I had to write down turn-by-turn routes for vacations and road trips, then do my best to memorize it the day before, like homework.

 

[Yorky]

I was driving in Paris; my wife was pretending to read the map. I told her whichever way we go, DO NOT go near the Arc de Triumph again. We were on a 5 or 6 lane one way road. "Turn right at the end", she said. I pulled into the right hand lane. "No, not that right; that right" pointing left. Too late; I was committed. And guess where the right turn took us!