ArtieShaw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Faye_Messner

Some people just like to fuck their shit up.

Holy shit. Warlock must be a thing with trucks? A year or two ago I was travelling to an unfamiliar city and the person at the rental counter couldn’t find my reservation. She asked, “the only vehicle we have available is a truck, is that OK?”

Whatever. Fine. The flight was delayed and I need dinner and a drink. I’m not going to be picky about a 2 day rental on a business trip.

Let’s just say that expectations were exceeded (in a WTF way) when I got out to space B29 in the parking garage and got my first view of The Warlock. It was pretty much this exact truck, but in a different color and with about 100 loose acorns in the bed.

The Warlock did make an impression on our clients when I rolled up to their office the next day. The conference room was close enough to reception that I could overhear the #1 question of the day as employees drifted in or out: “who’s driving The Warlock???”

I’m in southern Ohio and I’m sharing in your 19F pain right now. My husband was wondering why I spent last week weatherstripping our windows and putting up some of that Frost King film on the others. We’re both glad I saw the forecast in advance.

We usually just get one or two cold snaps in January or February. This weather is unusual within the last 10-15 years.

I guess 40cm could have been the city-wide or regional average, but in the neighborhood where I lived it was closer to a meter. I remember the digging that I needed to do to get out of our basement apartment.

And speaking generally, with no suburban style mall parking lots or wide roadway shoulders, there was nowhere to put it.

And just my conspiracy theory here, but I suspect that TO’s shady storm water and sewage system may have also played a role. In the early 20th and late 19th centuries, the answers to sewage management was to bury streams flowing into Lake Ontario. The answer to the problem: “this river is an open sewer” was “cover it over.” That’s part of the reason why there are foul, poo-like odors that linger in certain areas (I’m thinking of Christie Pits and Little Italy, but there are others).

Having moved to Canada as a 23 y-o with a valuable (NAFTA approved) skill set that got me a quick but temporary work visa. Hahahahaha. No.

At the time, the process for landed immigrant status took 2 years and $1,500 in 1996 money (neither of which I had to spare).

My best advice is to look at the official immigration website. If you feel like there’s some special loophole, consult an immigration lawyer from Canada. It will be worth the money, even if they can simply spell out the reasons why you shouldn’t waste your time.

Also - good luck finding housing in Canada. It was bad in 1996 and hasn’t gotten better.

I had a professor whose ice breaker question was some version of, “what book do you want to write/planning to write?” Everyone seems to have one.

Might not be as relevant today after blogs perhaps cleared that out of peoples’ systems.

As for me, I cycle through mostly craft-based hobbies. Embroidery, leather work, candle making, 3D printing. I can make candles much faster than I can burn them, so that’s self-limiting. 3D printing is great to have the materials and skills for, and I’m slowly learning to design in Blender. But at the moment I only use it when I suddenly need to have a thing-a-ma-widget and remember: “hey! I’ve got a 3D printer. Of course I can make a valve stem cover!”

I’ll probably be back to leather crafts as we head into the fall and winter.

My friends in Italy have told me that it’s not normal to change your surname after marriage. They could be messing with me, though. They’re mildly evil.

I went from a “normal” western last name that was ethnically coded (like McCoy) to another ethnically coded name (like Nguyen, or - um - Fink).

My options were to keep a common and dull name that I share with people I don’t like, get a new one (that I’d need to spell to every customer service representative ever), hyphenate (HELL NO), or make up something new (which would involve a shitstorm among relatives on both sides.)

The only real options were A and B. I was undecided until we were leaving the county courthouse after we were married. He asked me “are you going to change your name?” He didn’t care. He thought it was a weird custom and was curious. And I realized - this is an opportunity. It’s a relatively easy and socially acceptable way to shed your old name.

I took it.

The new name honestly messes with quite a few people who are meeting me for the first time, and it’s interesting to see how they react. I’ve had people ask straightforward questions (I prefer that - there’s an easy and straightforward answer), get half-way through a straight-up racist comment before they stutter to a stop (helps me get to know them), get all the way through a racist comment (again - helpful to know where you stand), or just not comment at all (just fine by me).

I’ve found that it’s not the worst way to get a read on someone.

tldr: part spite, part novelty, part legitimately helpful when your profession means you need to meet strangers and get a quick read on their personality/potential biases/willingness to be straightforward when there’s no reason to be weird about it

This is a really nice idea. Which is refreshing, because my go-to is always something mildly disturbing but not too scary or criminal.

If I were going the wholesome route, I’d add a paper note to the USB or other digital storage, though. If I were to find a LaserDisc from 1990, that would be more or less unreadable without expending some significant effort.

But maybe future folk will have magical devices that can read cassettes, 8-tracks, or whatever.

I’m a big fan of concealing doll heads behind drywall. The local hobby shop used to sell half-heads (just the face and neck, including eyes), so that was my go-to.

It was also a hard to fix drywall job, so it looks a little janky. It’s almost guaranteed that the next owner rips out that section and finds her.

Each state has different rules. Some allow “early voting” on selected days prior to the main election day. This allows people who can’t get time off from work on the main day to work it into their schedule.

Absentee or mail-in votes are also done early. Where allowed.

Votes aren’t counted until the main day.

I’ve become attached to this eldritch abomination.

Easy. It’s a dried and shellacked squid that has been posed in an artful, somehow bipedal and menacing position. I call it the creeping horror and keep it in an old wooden box.

Not really my taste, but it was a gift.

Well that’s terrifying.

My old vacuum bags were meant to be tossed, but I just emptied it and put it back because $.

I was just thinking about “quirky” because my sister-in-law recently used it to describe her daughter. Her contrasting word (for her son) was “straightforward.”

Personally, I fit the former even though I’ve learned to “pass for normal.” NOT my words. That was a direct quote and it was meant as a compliment. Weird is definitely meant as an insult in the US Midwest.

a very literal interpretation

This is literally what Christian fundamentalists believe. If any aspect of the bible is not the literal truth, it all falls apart in their eyes. They are very absolutist.

And it’s not just Genesis.

“But translations…” Hahaha no. It varies by sect but it usually falls under either “our religious founder was guided by God to the true translation” or “The King James version was a work of revelation and it undid all the false translations introduced by the Romans and Greeks.”

“But it contradicts itself on key points.” No it doesn’t.

“Hey, maybe Lazarus was just in a coma” Get behind me, Satan.

There is no argument that hasn’t been heard and rejected. Disagreement is an attack.

I will reply not with my own view, but of the person who is most likely the author if this tract: Jack Chick. “Catholics are not Christians.”

Absurd, you say? Of course, and I agree that it’s absurd.

In the US there are two broad categories of people who would disagree.

1. Old school bigots, many of whom came from immigrant families and wanted to align with the ruling class in America: WASPs. These were generally families who came from northwestern Europe and Scandinavia. (This describes the oldest members of my own family, who are still scandalized that my uncle married a woman from an Italian family in the 1960s).
2. Fundamentalist Protestants. There are a thousand different flavors, so it’s hard to give them a single name. They agree that the bible is the literal word of God and that Catholicism is fundamentally flawed - as is any religion that stresses the need to “do unto others” in any significant fashion. “The only way to heaven is through me,” said Jesus. In other words, if you’re a serial killer but you truly believe in Jesus Christ and have pledged your soul to him - well, Jesus must have a good reason for all that serial killing you did. (This describes my in-laws, so yes - my entire family is fucked up).

The serial killing thing is a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly - these people are almost shockingly mean to each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract

This was extremely well said. My in-laws adhere to one of these high control (fundie) sects, so I have an enlightening and disquieting inside look at it.

One of my nephews dreamed of becoming a marine biologist from an early age. And even as he got older he never wavered. We privately wondered what was going to happen when he got old enough to realize that he would need to attend a school that taught actual math and science for that to become a reality.

He’s currently studying to become a nurse at a Christian College. He’s safe from forbidden ideas, but he’ll blend well into the alternate parallel economy favored by the people at his church. In addition to social isolation from non-believers, they prefer to do business with companies run by people from their own or an affiliated church.

The parallel economy still unnerves me for some reason. Learning about Christian Health Insurance was an eye-opener.

It looks like a Chick Tract, and these panels would be part of a larger work. They’re dumb, but completely serious. Popular with fundies, and if you’re not careful you might find one on your desk at work. (I have, lol).

There is definitely an anti-Catholic sentiment in some of them, so that’s probably what the frame in the first clip is getting at.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract

In the US they were definitely out of fashion in the '80s and '90s. They were fashion statement that said “I’m a gross hippie” or worse, a BeeGee.

I was a teen at the time and the consensus among teen girls was that a beard was the ultimate dealbreaker of a physical attribute. Makes sense, really, because most guys our age couldn’t grow a nice one if they wanted to. (And also - hippies are gross). I always respectfully disagreed, and would point to our classmate, Murad. He had pretty well grown facial hair by junior year and he looked fiiiinne.

The exception that proved the rule? Luckily (for Murad) my classmates generally agreed, but refused to back down from their opinion in general.

That attitude persisted, with the occasional appearance of a goatee or soul patch in the late '90s, both of which proved to be a gateway drug that led to the appearance of proper beards. I think a lot of guys would have liked to have beards, but realized that they were driving away potential partners. But they were pretty normal by 2010.

I’ll drop this line from wikipedia, which should illustrate just how boringly mainstream beards have become in the US.

Since 2015 a growing number of male political figures have worn beards in office, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton.

Damn hippies.