1153 Comments

..because children accidentally tune in to opera on NPR and listen intently. Sure, Jan.

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I am very disappointed that the NYTimes is publishing more dreck from christofacist Matthew Walther , noted Covid denier and anti-vaxer, this time on why he hates Banned Book Week. If you thought Douthat was bad, check how far they have gone with this creep.

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It's some hardcore ban on ban action!

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You must be so proud of that headline, take a bow.

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The Bitter Southerner site has some good “Read Banned Books” merch.

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Ta, Robyn. I used to have a campaign-style button that said, "I read Banned Books." I'll have to find another.

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I have a banned books mug.

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“The reality is, we have too many retail pharmacy locations in the United States,” Adam Fein, CEO of Drug Channels Institute, which studies the economics of the pharmaceutical industry, told WHYY when the Rite Aid and CVS closures were announced. Fein later wrote a long blog post detailing the “10 Industry Trends Driving the Retail Shakeout.” Neither shoplifting nor any other kind of theft made the list. Hassan says the same, adding that companies are scrambling to restructure in response to industry pressures that have been nagging them for years—not because of shoplifting. With high levels of remote work likely to continue, he says, these financial difficulties are not temporary. “I think this is only the beginning,” he says, “of a restructuring of the entire outlet industry for retail stores.” He thinks a big merger attempt is likely coming again, and noted that Walgreens already bought nearly 2,000 stores from Rite Aid in 2018. “I’m sure most of [the pharmacies] are not closing because of shoplifting,” says Christopher Herrmann, a criminologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

...

“This restructuring of the business is not from shoplifting. This is economic,” Hassan says firmly, adding that most stores are insured, which allows them to recoup a sizable chunk of any product losses. Shoplifting “gives them a good excuse,” he says, “so they don’t have to say, ‘Hey, my profit is down.’” Yes, there’s some pilfering going on. But the real thief is probably Amazon."

https://www.curbed.com/2022/02/shoplifters-arent-why-nycs-chain-pharmacies-are-closing.html

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10001110101

"The way your prophet breaks his bread does not speak the future."

Coincidence, or not?

I say not...

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I haz question. Didn't we already have a spending bill pass the House and Senate? WTF happened to it?

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Passed the Senate at 9PM, got to Biden's desk about at the spooky midnight. Dark Brandon just avoided us all turning into pumpkins.

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I can no longer keep up with the fake, manufactured crises. Wake me when the asteroid is gonna hit... THAT, I want to see!

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The movie is over if you'd like to join us there for OT.

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I feel like tomorrow will be a chili day.

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Grilled cheeses. I got a loaf of dry bread in need of using. Or maybe French Toast. Or why not both.gif?

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Chicken veggie stir-fry here.

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Swedish meatballs here.

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Chowder here.

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The large north bedroom now has shampooed carpets. The king bed is gone. have so far donated 26 grocery bags of books and 6 garbage bags of usable clothing and bedding. Not to mention the 4 garbage bags of junk that I threw away.

Moving sucks. But the north bedroom should be Milburn ready tomorrow. I'm a bit tired.

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We're preparing to move, and have thus brought stuff down out of the attic. OMG, we have SO MANY BOOKS!!!11!! Even I, me, a confirmed biblioholic, am shocked at how many books we have. And I focus on certain areas, publishers, etc. I have Arkham House, I have books on books, I have vintage paperbacks (LOVE the artwork), etc. We're doomed.....

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What I find startling is how many books I still have. What I find encouraging is that curating them is not as difficult as I feared. I'm keeping the ones I love. Not the ones that I kept just to feel like I was smart for having them. Right now, I'm estimating that I have half of the books I used to. And I don't miss a single one I donated/sold.

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PS - I also collect teapots. Oy....

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Moving sucks. But it's also a new chapter.

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Gee, your carpet smells terrific!

Kick back and exalt in your achomplishment :-)

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That's the plan. Just poured a glass of wine. I'm taking the day off from work tomorrow, so we can do the bedroom swticheroo at a less frenetic pace.

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Don't forget to use conditioner on your carpets.

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I always sprayed Scotch Guard for carpets after a carpet cleaning. Keeps it clean longer.

We have all tile now. Very happy with an all tile house.

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That Scotch Guard shit scares all of the humours out of me.

I also too have tile.

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I hate the carpets. Some vandal many years ago put this awful wall to wall over the original hardwood floors. I simply don't have the time or money to fix that. Tile sounds nice in the right house.

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We are looking at a house for sale that seems really nice BUT.... the previous owners REALLY like shag rugs. CRINGY!

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Shag carpets are the devil's lawn.

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But what if you don't want alfalfa for you meals?

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Then you have a choice between Buckwheat and Spankie.

:)

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Eh, the movie is totally not my thing, so I guess I'm saying goodnight for the day.

Random, if you're around, extra hugs.

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I just hang out here for the movie with the rest of the uncool rejects. There's no shame in it.

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Thanks, budski. Hugs gratefully accepted.

You're a true friend, ICC. <3

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I know how hard it is. Sincerely. Just remember the best times.

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I'll do my best.

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I want tum yum soup. And I want to make my own. The broth has to be very good.

Where do I start?

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Red tum yum soup or white tum yum soup.

Flame war ensues...

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I did this for my sort-of-sis-in-law for her birthday once. It was more a Tom Kha, but same difference.

The first part was building the broth, so this'll be applicable. It's about lemongrass and galangal a little bit of onion, some garlic and I used vegetable stock.

You simmer that fuck and add some jalapeno and boost with coconut oil if you want.

That is your base. Add fish sauce. Then you start making the soup.

Now, when I did it, this took about four hours, but I was going slow.

Mine was vegetarian (you could make it vegan by using a different glutamate source than the fish sauce), so I used all kinds of different mushrooms, a bunch of coconut milk, and you finish with fresh lime juice and some scallions. Use red curry paste if you want early on.

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Thanks. I'm going to get the stuff and give it a go.

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Google it up, but that's how I did it, and it was very very well received.

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This sounds delish, but I can’t help giggle a bit at the amount of work. I have a Laotian friend who never ever makes this or pho because it’s too much work in her words. She says that’s why they invented restaurants, lol.

Laotians have a day between the old year and the new year where it’s like this liminal day in between the two years, and on that day you go out for food, drink a shit ton of brown liquor, wear new clothes and go out to parades and beauty pageants. People splash one another with water and they party. Ever since she told me about that I wanted to go for New Years.

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My guess would be to start with some quality yummy tums.

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