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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 20 (2025)

jumbach said:
Fun fact: the local Elks lodge charges a $1 "seat wear and tear" fee if you get up out of your seat during an event. That's a bit over the top, but at least it goes to a good cause. (We aren't members, but go there sometimes for comedy night or other events.)

Jim
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This sounds like something we would have done in the Marines during a Mess Night/Dining In event but then the money collected would have gone towards the final bar tab or fundraising for an open bar at a future event.
 
Emo Phillips said:
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!”
He said, “Nobody loves me.”
I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?”
He said, “A Christian.”
I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?”
He said, “Protestant.”
I said, “Me, too! What franchise?”
He said, “Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.”
I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”
I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.
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bureaucrat#3 said:
I feel I need to write a sad letter to my parents describing my day in the trenches of the Planning office. My hope that tomorrow City Hall will provide reinforcements, but knowing that we stand forsaken.
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Thanks to AI, here is a letter on your behalf....

My Dearest Mother and Father,​
​
I write to you from the front lines of the city planning wars, where the relentless NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) oppose any development near their homes. Their ceaseless cries pierce the air, casting a shadow over our efforts to create a harmonious city.​
​
Though our resolve remains steadfast, the weight of our struggles grows heavier each day. We press on with our vision of orderly streets and splendid public spaces, but the challenges seem insurmountable at times. Reinforcements from City Hall are anticipated, yet the uncertainty of their arrival adds to our despair.​
​
With a heavy heart, I persevere, driven by the hope that our efforts will one day bear fruit.​
​
With love,​
​
Bureaucrat#3​
 
We were woken up to my wife's phone ringing around 5:00 AM to let us know there was no school at the high school (and a couple other facilities) today because our little corner of the city and most of the neighboring village had no power this morning. The outage started about a block or two from our house, so thankfully we were unaffected. Since she wasn't going to have school, we let our oldest just sleep uninterrupted and then I left to go to the gym and office. My wife just texted me to tell me that our daughter slept until around 11:00 AM and then ran through the house screaming and yelling thinking we forgot to wake her up for school and she missed the day.


I'm sure my wife immediately stopped her and then told her there was no school. If I had been home instead I would have played into it and been like, "Oh sh!t! Get dressed! Let's go!" and started running around with her. :rofl:
 
On this is fun...
ChatGTP said:
Camp of Public Good, This 11th Day of February, Anno Domini 2025

Dearest Friend and Esteemed Colleague,

I write to thee from the very trenches of our besieged township, where the foe advances under cover of night, planting its standard upon our well-tended fields ere we can mount a proper defense. The banners of Dollar General, that most relentless of mercenaries, now dot the countryside like a pox upon the land. No hamlet is too small, no crossroads too humble, that it may escape their grasping dominion. These invaders move with ruthless efficiency, their agents descending upon us armed with dubious traffic studies and half-hearted promises of “economic development,” though we know well that they bring naught but blight, cheap wares, and an emptying of the civic soul.

Yet even as we mount our defenses against this relentless foe, a far fouler scourge festers in our midst—the Community Facebook Groups, that anarchic rabble of armchair town-criers and self-proclaimed sages. There, amidst the unchecked chaos of that cursed forum, truth and reason are daily cut down by rumor, hysteria, and the ceaseless wailing of the aggrieved. They take up the cry of war against developments they do not understand, against roads they themselves clog, against growth that might ease their burdens—all whilst demanding more of the very conveniences they protest.

This is a foe most insidious, for it has no single banner nor leader, but fights as a guerrilla force—striking from the shadows with half-truths and conspiracies, retreating into silence when called to account, only to emerge anew with fresh grievances ere the ink be dry on our last proclamation. A single post from a discontented soul may summon a horde, armed not with pitchforks but with angry reacts and misspelled proclamations of doom.

Despite these tribulations, we do not waver. We hold fast to the knowledge that true stewardship of a town requires both vision and fortitude. We fight not for fleeting favor but for the prosperity of those yet unborn, who shall one day tread these streets and reap the harvest of our labors.

Pray, send word from your own front, that I may know whether these adversaries harass your quarter as they do mine. And if you too find yourself besieged, take heart, dear friend, for we are bound by a common struggle, and history shall remember those who stood firm in the face of folly.

I remain, with unshaken resolve,
Your Most Humble & Obedient Servant,
Michaelskis, City Planner, Guardian of Order, and Unyielding Foe of the Strip Mall Menace
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michaelskis said:
On this is fun...
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here's the response via AI....

My Dear Friend,

Your letter reached me amidst our own beleaguered defenses, where the creeping advance of Dollar General plagues us like a relentless winter frost. I feel your pain and frustration as if it were my own, for our hamlet, too, is besieged by these mercenary forces, bringing their hollow promises and leaving desolation in their wake.

The insidious presence of Community Facebook Groups here mirrors the chaos you describe. It is indeed a battlefield of misinformation and hysteria, where reason is a rare and fleeting commodity. The cry against progress is loud and incessant, and the demands for conveniences are as hypocritical as they are unending.

Despite the shadows cast by this guerrilla force of half-truths and conspiracies, we must remain steadfast. Our fight for a well-planned, prosperous future is a noble endeavor, though it feels Sisyphean at times.

Take solace in knowing that we share this struggle, and our combined efforts will surely bear fruit. History shall remember those who stood firm, who fought not for themselves, but for future generations yet to tread these streets.

Hold fast, dear friend. Our resolve will see us through.

Yours in solidarity and determination,

Your Comrade in Planning
 
Maister said:
Show of hands...who wishes they had this little gem on their desk at work?

www.rockler.com

Pathfinders Battering Ram Kit

Overcome barriers with this ''break-through'' mechanical model—all pieces are pre-cut and ready to go!
www.rockler.com www.rockler.com

or perhaps this

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I stalk that site and I have never seen those. Granted mine was all tool related.

btrage said:
In my 13 years of employment here I've worked for 6 CMs or interim CMs.
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It changes that frequently there? What's going on with the organization?
 
Planit said:
Place 1: 5 years, 2 CMs
Place 2: 13 years, 1 CM
Place 3: 7 years 5 CMs
Place 4: 10 years, 3 CMs
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Stressful job with high turnover. Don't think I'd ever want such a job.
Place 1: 8 months, 1 CM
Place 2: 2 years, 1 CM
Place 3: 2 years, don't remember
Place 4: 15 years, 3 CMs and 2 interim CMs
Place 5: 5 years, 1 CM
Place 6: 3 years, 2 CM and 1 interim CM
 
Last edited:
What / Who is this CM that you speak of ?

the city & county I worked for did not have a CM.
 
Planit said:
That would be great for our mayor and comments-from-the-public
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When we were involved in an Assemblies of God church decades ago, we joked that the pastor would have to say, “I’ll close with this” at least three times before actual closing, each such utterance at least twenty minutes after the last one.

I don’t miss services ending at 1 a.m. and needing to be at work at 8.

Churches here in Reno wrap up their evening events by 8 to 8:30, at the latest.
 
We are getting a new furnace installed at our home tomorrow, so I’ll be working from home.

Not a fan of WFH for myself, but sometimes you need to. In this case, our furnace is original to the house (1987) so it’s time. My plan is to crank up the heat as far as tolerable first thing in the morning (maybe to 82?) since we won’t have heat all day. The heat will have to fall down from “hot” rather than our usual 65 winter baseline.

I may pull out the space heater for the birds though.
 
ursus said:
I'm sure you meant to say 'blanket fort' because as you know, the use of blankets allows for more rapid expansion. Will you pillow-purists never learn!? Must we fight again!?
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The Blanket Fort will rise again.

Damn you...pillow-baggers.


























1789
donald glover troy barnes GIF
 
Well, at least I don't have to spend lots of time today rewinding all the VHS tapes I rented from Blockbuster before returning them.

1739372682546.png
 
mendelman said:
Best way to have money is not to spend it unnecessarily.
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There is a difference between being frugal and being downright cheap. But from what I understand about Mr. Buffett and his operation, his attitude is, "If it still works, why update/fix it?"

Jim
 
DVD said:
It's all those people not rewinding that cost Blockbuster their business.
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Well, let's see. Suppose it takes two minutes to rewind a tape. An employee makes $10 an hour. He rewinds 50 tapes a day.

That costs the store $16.67 a day, or $4,334.20 a year. (Assuming he works five days a week, 52 weeks a year. He loves his job, so he doesn't take vacation or get sick.)

(Math isn't my strongest subject*, so feel free to double check my work.)

Jim

* But there is a remarkable amount of math in planning, and I am good at it in that case.
 
Planit said:
a red SUV is going down the one way street in the wrong direction
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A man calls his wife and says, "Hey, just thought I'd let you know that the news says there is a wrong-way driver on the road you are driving on, so be careful!"

Wife responds, "Not just one!! Hundreds of them!!"
 
Paper just wrote up a not so great article about fees. The cost of housing will go up! People won't be able to afford housing. We won't mention that the housing being built is nowhere near something a regular person can afford anyway. We bury the part that the fees are targeted toward the growth areas with no infrastructure, hence the reason for the high fees. The rest of the city is fine, but way to scare everyone. It could raise the mortgage $175. Let's not mention that the $175 gets roads, bridges, water, sewer, fire and police services, parks, libraries, and the list goes on. :mad::mad::mad:
 
jumbach said:
There is a difference between being frugal and being downright cheap. But from what I understand about Mr. Buffett and his operation, his attitude is, "If it still works, why update/fix it?"

Jim
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Not sure if it's still the case but I remember hearing years ago that he still lived in the same house he bought when he was just starting out, something like a 1500-2000 sq foot subdivision house.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that's no longer the case, but probably only because of security concerns.
 
DVD said:
It's all those people not rewinding that cost Blockbuster their business.
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Oh the contrary, Blockbuster's profits were inflated by outrageous late and rewind fees. Their demise was due to the Snuggie entering the scene. The wearable blanket turned the public into movie watching burritos that couldn't be bothered with venturing into a brick and mortar store to obtain their movie fix; and Netflix & Redbox offered conveinence which reduced the time away from the couch.
 
Big Owl said:
Oh the contrary, Blockbuster's profits were inflated by outrageous late and rewind fees. Their demise was due to the Snuggie entering the scene. The wearable blanket turned the public into movie watching burritos that couldn't be bothered with venturing into a brick and mortar store to obtain their movie fix; and Netflix & Redbox offered conveinence which reduced the time away from the couch.
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Blockbuster had a chance to buy Netflix, but, at the time, they didn't see DVD's by mail as a threat to their business, so they didn't buy it.

I do remember Blockbuster having a similar service for a while in the late 00's. WIfe and I actually preferred them to Netflix.

Jim
 
Big Owl said:
Oh the contrary, Blockbuster's profits were inflated by outrageous late and rewind fees. Their demise was due to the Snuggie entering the scene. The wearable blanket turned the public into movie watching burritos that couldn't be bothered with venturing into a brick and mortar store to obtain their movie fix; and Netflix & Redbox offered conveinence which reduced the time away from the couch.
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Blockbuster could have bought Netflix in 2000 but declined.

We could have been "Blockbuster and Chill".
 
Doohickie said:
Not sure if it's still the case but I remember hearing years ago that he still lived in the same house he bought when he was just starting out, something like a 1500-2000 sq foot subdivision house.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that's no longer the case, but probably only because of security concerns.
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Its a nice house, but obviously he could afford much more.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Looking at movie titles on a screen via streaming is just not the same as walking the aisles of a rental store.
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True dat. There was an art form to picking out a movie based on looking at the movie case covers. Maybe you can't judge a book by the cover but that doesn't necessarily hold true for movies, does it.
Like the reviews on the back that would have little two word review quips told you how bad the movie was without ever having to watch it. phrases like "a visual spectacle" or "a laff-riot' meant it sucked beans.
 
btrage said:
Blockbuster could have bought Netflix in 2000 but declined.

We could have been "Blockbuster and Chill".
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I once used the phrase "Netflix and Chill" with someone, not knowing that it had, uh, other connotations.

Luckily, she saw the humor in it and informed me what it meant. (Kids these days.)
 
jumbach said:
I once used the phrase "Netflix and Chill" with someone, not knowing that it had, uh, other connotations.

Luckily, she saw the humor in it and informed me what it meant. (Kids these days.)
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It can actually mean just what it says too. It doesn't necessarily have to have, um, other connotations.
 
btrage said:
My daughter and I went here for dinner last night. https://www.thepitapeddler.com/

As indicated by WSU, establishments like this are plentiful in Metro Detroit.

While we didn't get "pockets", we definitely got some pita bread and garlic dip.

Long live the pocket! Hail!
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If you're ever over on the west side or down along the Warren/Detroit border check out My Big Fat Shawarma.

I went to Hallmark at lunch to buy a Valentine's Card for my wife and as soon as I opened the door of my Jeep I was hit by the delicious smell of garlic and lemon and and saw a new shawarma place right next to the Hallmark store. I was planning to just go back to my office and eat peanut butter cups for lunch but the smell of Middle Eastern food was beckoning me so I went there instead. The serving was huge and the food was delicious. I'll definitely be headed back.
 
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