So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Lean'n'mean]

What ticks me off? The fact that the city has just finished spending hundreds of thousands of dollars installing ultra-bright LED streetlights downtown, to the point where people have to shield their eyes coming out of the theatre after a show. But not one slick nickel have they spent improving street lighting in the North End, where this incident took place. There are old, dim, yellow sodium lamps from the seventies, and damn few of those. But that's OK, because tourists don't go to the North End. Nobody lives in the North End with a big wallet to swing around and nobody in the North End can afford to buy off the city council. It's ok for Those (or Us) People who live there to walk home in the dark at night and maybe get abducted or worse, but hey, priorities are priorities.

If there are enough concerned citizens, create a lobby, bombard the city council with emails & letters, criticize the council's attitude online where ever you can, regarding it's failure to provide adequate street lighting & the ensuing safety risks particularly for lone women & invite the local press down...........................then stand back & watch those street lamps being planted.

 

[Edward]

How to give a cat a pill ... and a dog, too
How to give a cat a pill:
1.Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

2.Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

3.Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

4.Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

5.Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.

6.Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.

7.Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

8.Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil, and blow down drinking straw.

9.Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1 beer to take taste away. Apply Band-Aid to spouse's forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

10.Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door onto neck, to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

11.Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of Scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw T-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

12.Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from tree across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil-wrap.

13.Tie the little @!!@#@#$%'s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of steak filet. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

14.Consume remainder of Scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and remove pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way home to order new table.

15.Arrange for SPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

How to give a dog a pill:

1.Wrap it in bacon, toss it in the air.

Funny thing is this is so true. My little Marlene, God rest her soul, was the exception that proved the rule: after the first two weeks of me gently easing the pill into her mouth and her swallowing it, she actually took to eating them right out of my hand. I guess she associated it with feeling better, and/or she trusted her Big Cat not to give her a tablet for no reason. I dread to think of the carnage should her sister ever need the same!

 

[2jakes]

You probably already know this, but things are no different here on the west coast. We have zero street lights on our block because the city doesn't want to pay the price for installing them, even though every surrounding block has them. A number of "middle of the night" car break-ins have occurred in the last year, but I believe someone will have to be killed before The Suits are forced to admit a dark street in "their" city might not be safe.

Sad but true.
At the airport, I could walk all the way to the boarding ramp with no security check.

If there are enough concerned citizens, create a lobby, bombard the city council with emails & letters, criticize the council's attitude online where ever you can, regarding it's failure to provide adequate street lighting & the ensuing safety risks particularly for lone women & invite the local press down...........................then stand back & watch those street lamps being planted.

On Thursdays, the media goes to the city council open forum.
Concerned citizens will bring issues which are addressed to the city
as to what are the reasons nothing is being done.
We of the media are there with our cameras to cover the responses
or excuses.

 

[Edward]

Absolutely true! I have two cats, and their personalities are polar opposites. Bianca is curious and outgoing, while Patches is shy but also vey affectionate. Any time we have visitors, Bianca will come to see what is going on, while Patches will hide under the bed. Bianca is the calico-tabby:

View attachment 57440

Beautiful girls. My two were/ are very differnet prsonalities. Marlene was the one who was more obviously outgoing and would pose and preen for visitors. Greta still comes over apparently shy - she'll hide for the first half hour, but more and more it seems to be an excuse just to make her grand entrance.

Lulu's such a diva. Her mantra is simple. Cat's rule, dogs drool.
View attachment 57452
Ruby is much more loving and friendly, eager to please.
View attachment 57453
Khandi, is the most confident cat that we have ever had, and the most curious. She's simply got to have a look.
View attachment 57454

Gorgeous! Ragdolls?

 

[Fading Fast]

If there are enough concerned citizens, create a lobby, bombard the city council with emails & letters, criticize the council's attitude online where ever you can, regarding it's failure to provide adequate street lighting & the ensuing safety risks particularly for lone women & invite the local press down...........................then stand back & watch those street lamps being planted.

This is how it's done in raucous NYC. If the poorer areas didn't scream loudly, they'd be ignored, but they have perfected the scream and certainly claim a meaningful share of the pie. Of course, there are still ugly examples of neglect (and parts of the city that have such insane disfunction that they couldn't organize anything), but overall, the model outline by LnM works in many low-income parts of NYC.

But as 2Jakes said, please be careful Lizzie - as I tell my girlfriend every time she leads a question with a "would it be safe if I...," my standard answer is, is it worth being dead or lying in the hospital with tubes coming out of you and God knows what life you'll have going forward? While the risk of something happening is usually very small, the downside if it does is insanely large - normally, she opts for the safe route.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I teach the kids to (1) never to walk home or even to their cars alone, and (2) when going to their cars, to always carry their keys in their fists with a sharp one poking out. If anyone grabs them, swing that fist hard for the eyes, throat, or groin.

As for the city council, I expect there are going to be some severe changes made there in November given the incompetence and corruption of the last few years, and after that, we'll see what happens.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ make sure you follow your own advice (I know you will on the keys part, but don't walk alone either). Without you, who's going to answer every question I have about, well, everything and who's going to remind me that true reds still walk amongst us?

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^^
Ditto ---> NYC.

Without you, who else will provide us with an image of what a good slice of pizza
should look like.

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^^^^
Ditto ---> NYC.

Without you, who else will provide us with an image of what a good slice of pizza
should look like.

Thank you. It's funny, the city is dramatically safer than it was in the '70s and '80s, so much so, that my girlfriend and I talk about the risk of getting careless because there are still some very dangerous places, and times when you need to be very alert, in NYC.

We regularly try to remind each other of that. Also it's a cliche but true, you really do see the risks and worry about the risks in the world so much more as you get older. You realize that one stupid thing, one lapsed moment of judgement can horribly alter your life. Hence, we try to be vigilant, but on the other hand, a bus can always jump the curb and kill you on the sidewalk. Life is risk.

I'll mention to my girlfriend that if I go to the great beyond soon, to email you my avatar so you'll always have the best thing I offer FL - one darn handsome looking pizza slice.

 

[LizzieMaine]

⇧ make sure you follow your own advice (I know you will on the keys part, but don't walk alone either). Without you, who's going to answer every question I have about, well, everything and who's going to remind me that true reds still walk amongst us?

I'm extremely careful to do just that. I used to ride my bike to and from work, but with the increase in druggie-related street crime I've stopped doing that. And I have a very heavy, thick ring of keys with one in particular that's extremely sharp and pointy. Be Prepared, as the saying goes.

We use the raised-fist salute as a greeting among workers at the theatre -- a bit of an in-joke -- and I'm thinking of amending it to a raised fist with keys sticking out.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

"Be prepared" is the scout motto & only a priest or scoutleader can successfully creep up behind a boy scout.

 

[Trenchfriend]

That's a thing, which interests me!:

Were the US so much negative influenced after the new "Scarface" with Al Pacino, like history said. Or was it just an extraordinary cinematic warning of already happening dark changes in the society, there?

 

[Trenchfriend]

German time-change, this night.

Tomorrow, the darkness will come an hour earlier.

 

[Fading Fast]

That's a thing, which interests me!:

Were the US so much negative influenced after the new "Scarface" with Al Pacino, like history said. Or was it just an extraordinary cinematic warning of already happening dark changes in the society, there?

IMHO, very much the latter. I remember when the movie came out and, while a bit more violent and the scenes of drug use where a bit more graphic than the usual movie fare at the time, I don't remember the public being shocked that the drug world and culture existed - there was plenty of evidence of that already - it was just a more in-your-face-than-usual movie that highlighted something most knew was already going on.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

German time-change, this night.

Tomorrow, the darkness will come an hour earlier.

Clocks go back on the 30th october, no ?

 

[Fading Fast]

German time-change, this night.

Tomorrow, the darkness will come an hour earlier.

Truly one of the stupidest things our society does is this clock dance. I am completely convinced that all the arguments for and against are nonsense and simply justify what one wants to do. In my lifetime, the for-changing argument has morphed through 1. the farmers need the early light, to, 2. it saves the lives of commuters (safer to drive during daylight hours) to, now, 3. it saves energy and will help fight climate change.

I am one-hundred percent convinced that hard scientists and social scientists can come up with models, numbers, studies, what have you to justify whatever position they want to on this squishy issue. Since they are all smarter than I am, here's my take: changing clocks twice a year cost real money to our economy as it is disruptive, time consuming and confusing - that is a real cost. Any savings is amorphous, shifting, supported by theories or facts that leave out other theories or facts. Hence, stop doing it as we can identify the cost and only argue about the savings.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Clocks go back on the 30th october, no ?

Right, I was wrong.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The original Scarface, from 1932, was far more controversial, within the context of its time, than the remake. It spurred a very strong counterreaction against gangster films which was the first big push that led to the full enforcement of the Production Code.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

A bit of movie trivia: Paul Muni shooting up his boss's office in sheer elation over the firepower of his new Tommy gun was replicated in 1969 by Sam Peckinpah with General Mapache (Emilio Fernandez) shooting up the town square with his new Browning machinegun. The enthusiasm of these child-men drunk with the sheer power of their unprecedentedly powerful weapons was both funny and scary.

 

[EngProf]

The original Scarface, from 1932, was far more controversial, within the context of its time, than the remake. It spurred a very strong counterreaction against gangster films which was the first big push that led to the full enforcement of the Production Code.

It wasn't just movie Codes that were affected by the first "Scarface". Notice that there is some outright lobbying in the movie for Congress to "do something" about the gangsters and their new weapons. This led almost directly to the passage of the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934, which regulated machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and other such firearms.
Prior to the passage of that Act you could buy machine guns legally in local hardware stores with no restrictions.

Lizzie probably knows that among the first purchasers of Tommy guns were steel companies, coal mines, and other such entities who had uncooperative employees who needed shooting (or at least intimidating).