Who you gunna call? GOATS BUTTER. (March 2020 Scapegoat blame thread.)

@halfling how tf did I miss this.

@halfling @riskybryzness I guess halfling gets to do next months thread?

@halfling @RiotDemon Starting to look like it.

@halfling @RiotDemon @riskybryzness UNblame…I’m only accepting pizza responsibility for that which I may have delivered and eaten too…and I’m pretty sure that the statute of limitations has run out on that one…

@amehzinggrace @halfling @RiotDemon @riskybryzness Yeah - still waiting…

/giphy waiting for pizza

@halfling @RiotDemon @riskybryzness @ybmuG past blame on the goat responsible at the time…but keep looking out your window…I may totally be on my way eventually…the pizza may be gone by then though…

@amehzinggrace @halfling @RiotDemon @riskybryzness
/giphy looking

@amehzinggrace @RiotDemon @riskybryzness
I hold no power in this domain - I must obey the laws of the land. unblamed

@tinamarie1974
/giphy ear plugs

@Barney @tinamarie1974 I can think of a couple explanations and neither is something I want to hear.

@Barney @sammydog01 @tinamarie1974 why didn’t you holler out: “ARE YOU OK…I’M SENDING PEOPLE IN…DON’T WORRY…I CALLED 911”

@amehzinggrace @Barney @sammydog01 I did not like any of the explanations I came up with either! My mom was in there too, but I didn’t really want to ask her what she thought and have that whole discussion.

Wish I would have thought of the 911 idea or flag down an employer that there was someone possibly in distress

@tinamarie1974 I mean, if it was a Wal-mart employee, how else would you deal with that job…?

@tinamarie1974 @zinimusprime

if it was a Wal-mart employee, how else would you deal with that job…?

Somehow, the thought of trying to rub one off while at a job I hated seems like it would take a lot of the (necessary) joy out of the experience… just sayin’

@chienfou @tinamarie1974 Good call. I stand corrected.

@chienfou Oh just you wait…

@amehzinggrace @chienfou
/just you just you wait

@chienfou @Kidsandliz That’s always been one of my favorites!!

@amehzinggrace @Kidsandliz …can I buy an “H”

@amehzinggrace @chienfou
/buzzer
no H
Try again the next round month
Can I suggest buying a G?

@Kidsandliz

Can I suggest buying a G

Who is Genry Giggins??

/giphy shrug

@chienfou
/giphy snort

@chienfou @Kidsandliz

/youtube “why don’t the English teach their children how to speak”

@zinimusprime
/youtube by george, I think she’s got it

@zinimusprime unblame…I’m questioning your choice of shoes and hygiene choices…and if I must accept responsibility…then the clock runs out for me on 3/31…at midnight…just sayin’…but here’s some words:

Let your feet breathe…weather is a bit warmer now…at least here in the south…get a pedicure…cut off and scrub the dead skin off…clip the nails…nail polish is good for anti-fungal things…but use some athletes foot spray if you need to…not sure what to say on the powder sitc…gonna need more info there on how it maintains your current effective hygiene…

@amehzinggrace I didn’t know I could be challenged?!?!?!
/giphy mind blown

@zinimusprime my goatdom…my rules…

@amehzinggrace @zinimusprime

my goatdom…my rules…

Oh boy, here we go again…

@amehzinggrace I have an office job and can’t take off my shoes = blame
my foot powder is anti-fungal and it works because my feet sweat and that’s why I have el stinky-o feet-o = not blame, just fact

…and lastly…

You made me spend time writing this out = blame.

P.S. your username is clever = blame (in a good way)

@amehzinggrace @ybmuG absolutely! Goat not only rules, Goat gets to make the rules! You tell ‘em!

@zinimusprime I believe in a thing called “personal responsibility”…so I accept blame for my name…that is all…

@amehzinggrace I feel like I’m getting jobbed and I’m not even the goat… Lol

@zinimusprime its the price you pay for playing the game…

@amehzinggrace Ok so I took personal responsibility and did all the things. My feet still smell. So, blame.

Also, Happy Monday!
/giphy Happy Monday!

@amehzinggrace @zinimusprime

Now I blame you for thinking about disgusting yellow toenails.

@OnionSoup is definitely to blame.

@stolicat Just use the extra one you got last October.

@stolicat What the fuck? Is it time change again? Why can’t we get a goat to fix this?

@stolicat Holy Crap. Sunday is the second Sunday in March already? I wasn’t paying attention.

@mike808 that one from October wasn’t extra, it was repayment for the one stolen in March last year.
And just as the time it was getting light and getting dark seemed just about right …

@mike808 @stolicat yeah…I’m not on board w/ this…getting up early is already a struggle…losing sleep is just stupid…

@RiotDemon That is terrible! Glad you aren’t trapped in a cast though. I hope when it heals you have no residual problems. How’d you break it?

@Kidsandliz roller skating. After I fell, I continued to skate for another two hours, lol.

@RiotDemon Oh my good grief! You are seriously lucky you didn’t fall again on it. At least I hope you had fun skating!

@RiotDemon Sorry…I’ve never broken anything so I’m not sure of the pain scale…inconvenience must be the worst bit…just a note…if your’e an Austen fan…go see the new Emma movie…thumbs up…

@amehzinggrace depending on how bad the break is depends on the pain. I’ve broken a couple of bones where it hurt, but I wasn’t 100% sure they were broken. My worst break was when I snapped my ulna into three pieces. That was ridiculously painful.

Broken bones usually stop hurting within a couple of weeks. Way before they are actually healed.

I was lucky with this break. It’s not so bad.

@amehzinggrace @RiotDemon Just one bone I would guess, and possibly a “greenstick” fracture of that one. They are pretty stable since the ‘good’ bone will self splint the one with the break, which is in itself not broken all the way thru.
I guess I don’t need to ask if you still have your Derby wrist guards…

@amehzinggrace @RiotDemon

Sorry about the wrist. That really sux.

But glad it’s not too bad, and glad you are the resilient sort.

@f00l thanks. Luckily only a few more weeks.

Really frustrating right now because it’s super tough to wash my hands. Every day after work I have to take my cast off to wash it. Then I have to be careful since it’s annoying to wear when wet.

@CaptAmehrican That is excellent! And saves you money since you don’t have to buy your own for work for your own protection.

@CaptAmehrican @Kidsandliz
Thankfully, Trump has been getting rid of those useless regulations that are just a drag on corporate profits. Go 'Murica!

@CaptAmehrican @Kidsandliz @mike808
/giphy sigh

@CaptAmehrican definitely the fault of the goat and all goats past and future - we have a couple dozen cases now, one death, an infected cruise ship sitting off of San Francisco, a shortage of test kits and an official state of emergency.
I am staying home as much as possible with my big spray bottle of isopropyl 70.

@CaptAmehrican Big goat blame! Florida just announced two COVID-19 deaths. Neither was at Mar-a-Lago.

@CaptAmehrican but were they in your county in MD? Next door to me in Montgomery

@f00l That is so true. I bribe give mine home made cookies on occasion. It is a family business and they are really helpful with folks. I also do that with my oncologist and his team although in that case I bring strawberries and blueberries (which he loves) along with brownies or cookies which are homemade. When he culled 600/900 of his patients (he got a big grant so only does clinical one day a week instead of three) he kept me. Perhaps bribery works? LOL

@sammydog01 THANK YOU

@sammydog01 @tinamarie1974

Which left is the right one?

/giphy right left

@f00l As I often had to tell students when they were rock climbing and there was a foot hold on their left, “No your OTHER left”.

@mike808

@mike808 @therealjrn all the while I am casually shopping and wondering why I cannot find cleaning supplies and bottled water.

People are crazy

@mike808 @tinamarie1974 I don’t understand the paper goods thing. Isn’t toilet paper made in the USA?

But people scarf up water prior to hurricanes and such…

I wonder if we need to stockpile flashlights, batteries and gennys? Mehbe I need to get some iodine tablets.

@therealjrn Make sure your bomb tornado shelter has been cleaned and there are nice mattresses, bedding and weapons in there too. And that you can lock it from the inside to stay safe. You know. The covid-19 apocalypse. It might cause zombies too. You never know.

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn

CORONAGEDDON

@mike808 maybe it is IN the Costco water?!?!?!?!?

/giphy panic

@OldCatLady Well that’s not good!! Hope it isn’t broken.

@OldCatLady oh no! Lots of ice cream!!!

I stubbed mine badly last week and when I went to get a pedi yesterday I discovered that I damaged the nail bed. Super yuck!!

@OldCatLady Is it broken?

@Kidsandliz I’ll know tomorrow. Ice cream and CBD help.

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady glad you are getting some relief

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 It’s broken, so I’m getting pins and stuff. General anesthetic. Schedule tbd. Well, it’ll be easy to avoid people if I have to stay home anyway.

@OldCatLady @tinamarie1974 Well that truly sucks big time!!! I am so sorry. And you have been walking around with a broken toe for 2 days. I hope that didn’t make it a ton worse. How long did they say it would take to heal?

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady oh I am so sorry, that is horrible!!

@tinamarie1974 @Kidsandliz
Partly choice, b/c hammertoes had to get fixed sooner or later. This way I won’t have to heal twice. Five weeks in a shoe, but my neighbor is a cook, and his wife works at Publix. And another neighbor drives Uber sometimes.

@OldCatLady
@tinamarie1974 @Kidsandliz
Maybe you can get an intern to check in on you.

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady sounds like you will be in good hands

@OldCatLady @tinamarie1974 Well that is good at least that you are avoiding a second surgery for your hammer toes.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 I’ve cancelled the toe surgery. I figure in about four weeks the hospital will need all their capacity for COVID patients. They’re still scheduling business as usual, so I’m smarter than they are.

@OldCatLady @tinamarie1974 What the heck are you going to do then about having your toe heal properly with no pins in it??? That could cause of a life long problem and pain. Also those patients aren’t going to be on a surgical floor.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 The podiatrist strapped it, and it’s walkable. I just wanted to get all the toes pinned at the same time, rather than starting all over next year. I’ll live. Besides, hospitals are too full of people, and I’m being a hermit for awhile. My county is loaded with bikers from Daytona right now.

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady @tinamarie1974

I am so toe-tally sorry to hear.

Hope it heals ok.

I broke my little toe once, when I tripped.

I tripped on a nasty evil LEGO!!!

/giphy evil LEGO

Gad, really hurt. But this was before Obamacare and I was self-employed, so I just taped it to the neighbor toe.

I know that’s dumb, but this time it worked out ok.
The toe healed and is as non-functional as ever.
Or else that toe shriveled up and fell off, and then I forgot how to count; because I still think I have five toes on that foot.

SYMPATOES!!!

/giphy toe-tally

@tinamarie1974 That’s too bad… I hope they will eventually reschedule so you can see it later.

@Kidsandliz they are suppose to reschedule, which is good because I was taking my mom and sister for their birthday presents

@tinamarie1974 You’d think they’d finally give up and take at least some money rather than none.

@tinamarie1974 well, you do have that Brett swizzle stick to keep you company…

@JnKL true stuff! Who gave that to me? Must have been a nice person!

@therealjrn

/youtube “blame Canada”

@amehzinggrace
/blame

LONGEST MONTH EVAR

@amehzinggrace You’ve been an awesome goat in a most challenging month. Thanks.

LEGOS! EGGOS! STRATEGO! AWESOME!

@Kidsandliz That sucks…is there a way to report them anonymously? I mean besides here…

@Kidsandliz Why don’t you sue? You seem to have experience doing that.

@Barney @Kidsandliz It sounds like they’re doing inspections to prevent fire and pest problems. And cutting down on loitering. And going after fake service animals. And expecting rent be paid on time. Is that unreasonable?

@Kidsandliz @sammydog01 I agree, it looks like they are attempting to clean up the place. I’m sure that some people probably have too many pets in their apartment.

@Barney @Kidsandliz @sammydog01 In all fairness…there does need to be better communication rather than just a posted sign, plus more notice given…they might be betting that no one can afford legal representation so…

@sammydog01 Actually the law is very clear on service and emotional support animals. They are allowed to check that the letter they got is the one that was written so that should cut down on fake service animals since they can confirm the letter is actually authentic (and of course that makes sense). They are explicitly not allowed to require release of medical information/permission to discuss someone with their physician which is what they are doing.

@amehzinggrace If the goal is to have people follow what they want, rather than a goal of getting rid of all the current residents by blind siding them, then better communication would be the way to go.

Reviews of other buildings they own indicate that finding ways to get rid of anyone they didn’t lease to under their watch is, apparently, their M.O. And people live here because they don’t have money. Free legal aid is overloaded. Also likely they are also banking that folks won’t even know the actual rules.

I’d hesitate report them because if they found out who did it they’d likely find a way to get rid of you. It isn’t like you can just move into another one. There are waiting lists. I don’t think the owner quite gets (although he should by now) that there are far more laws governing hud than regular apartment buildings. Of course he is very wealthy and may figure he can do what he wants because of his wealth and buy his way out of trouble? Who knows.

I have had a few landlords from hell over the years and some great ones. I have been fortunate though. Even with the landlords from hell I have left the places in as perfect condition as possible and have always gotten all my deposit back. Of course I don’t trash a place either.

It is what it is I guess.

@amehzinggrace @Kidsandliz Well that clearly sux. Unfortunately the issue of not being able to afford (economically or emotionally) to do something to correct someone in power it all to real. If you plan to pursue that make sure you have an ‘exit plan’ in place so you can survive the ordeal.
/giphy good luck!

@amehzinggrace @chienfou Unfortunately I can’t pursue it because if I did they’d try to find a way to evict me. A lot of people are leaving, which is what they want. I can’t afford to. So I just get to deal with it unfortunately.

@Barney @sammydog01 Actually I only have two now. Which is what I am allowed under the new management. The old management had given me permission to keep the rescues until a home was found. Because all three are special needs and not kittens that makes it harder. Much harder. A friend of mine took them in.

@sammydog01 Pest control comes through separately. By law they can’t change the number of days late until late fees, etc. unless they do a lease amendment and 30 days written notice - they haven’t done either. For me it isn’t an issue as I have never been late with rent but what bothers me is that they aren’t following the law. And as for loitering - not sure how you can loiter if you live there and it is a common area. The only people sitting there live there. Mostly in the evening they are the ones doing laundry. Some wait until the evening as there are some old folks who have helpers come in during the day and that is the only time they can get their laundry done (4 small machines). As a result a handful of us, including me, never do laundry during the day because of that.

@amehzinggrace @chienfou @Kidsandliz 2 Words - LAWYER UP! You have a gold mine of a lawsuit if you live in the United States. Remember, a lease is a legally binding contract. It can’t be changed unless all parties agree. Additionally if you live in Florida like I do, “Stand Your Ground Law” allows you to SHOOT and KILL anyone entering your apartment without permission. If my signature is not on a contract giving someone permission to enter my space, they are dead meat. And the law protects me from prosecution.

@larye1
Welcome to the Meh forums! Glad you’re here because what this place really needs is a homicidal asshole.

@larye1 Takes money, that I don’t have, for an attorney (free legal aid currently is only taking evictions). Plus until I can vote with my feet I have to live with it. I do plan to turn them in once I have another place to live. I don’t own a gun and don’t plan to. If they enter without permission (although the lease does give them some rights to enter) that is trespassing and I could call the police and have them charged with that. The legal system would then handle it. But again, until I get to the top of the waiting list elsewhere I can’t really do anything since if they even just refused to renew my lease (rather than actively try to find a way to get rid of me) I may or may not be at the top of the list elsewhere. Don’t really want to be without a place to live.

@sammydog01 Homicidal yes, yet still have some foggy notion that there might be a difference between offense and defense.
Seriously though, the point, however extreme, was that she (or he) has options. A lease is still a contract, and parties who breach contracts, open themselves up to lawsuits. And juries like single mothers with children, slumlords not so much.
I don’t have a lot of people mess with me. I’m not rich. I’m not powerful. I’m most certainly not famous. I might think I’m good looking, but we all know that’s a lie. But I call bullshit when people wanna fuck with me. And I lawyer up if needed.
Acting as if you are powerless and that the obstacles are insurmountable is a losing strategy. The response I got was another obstacle, not having money for a lawyer. There are plenty of lawyers in every state who are happy to work for free and take a big fat percentage at the end of the day, I’d like to think everyone knows that. We may not be responsible for the problems that life deals us, but we owe it to ourselves to take responsibility to solve them. Happiness lies not in getting what we want, but in our wholehearted pursuit of it.

@sammydog01 Did you ever wander into the wrong place and mistakenly open up your mouth and find yourself unable to shut up? Maybe I can lay blame for that???

@larye1 I can’t shake this feeling I’ve read your posts before.

It’s just so unusual that a person such as yourself would show up in this little nonsense thread on a little deal-a-day site just to give such specific guidance. So sue me.

@therealjrn Yeah, a brand new account bumping a thread that has died out. If I was a skeptic I might suspect someone made up a new user name to keep all eyes on this topic.

@larye1 Violence is the last resort of the ignorant. There are better ways to solve problems. Murder is not one of them. Threatening with guns (or other weapons or fighting) is not one of them. And the better part of prudence is to lie low when you have none of the power until you have alternatives that are acceptable and can afford to piss off a landlord.

@Kidsandliz
YAY!!! DOWN WITH FOOD STAMPS!! EVERYBODY SHOULD BE AGAINST FOOD STAMPS!!!

@therealjrn
Hey even the state is against this county’s food stamp office. They fired all the administrative folks and even 7 or so mo later are still trying to clean up the mess. Me winning my battle with them will benefit everyone with circumstances the same as mine since they are/were not following policy.

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn Sounds like they have job openings. Ask for an application?

@sammydog01 I have already applied to every job they have open that I can. They’ve already hired the new administration (of course those jobs required experience with SNAP as an employee so I wasn’t qualified for those) but I have applied for the worker ones. They pay minimum wage, but that is better than my situation right now. Hopefully they will overlook the over educated part of my resume. That can be problem. Been running up against that for multiple junk jobs I have applied for - some people telling me that to my face. Not to mention hiring around here can be nepotism at its finest.

@Kidsandliz @sammydog01 That’s not a crazy idea. You have intimate experience with the county dole KaL. You would bring to the table more experience than most, yes?

@sammydog01 @therealjrn My experience is limited to less than 3 years of my entire life despite your nasty comment - ALL of it cancer related. Had I never had 3 cancers - one by the way has no cure - I’d never have had any need at all to access it.

And yes I am glad we have a safety net in this country. While I would have hoped never to have had to use it, I have no problem paying into it my entire life (eg via taxes) even if I never used it. I have been working for companies since I was 16 and old enough to get a work permit, and doing other work since I was even younger than that. One never knows what will happen in their lives such that one then needs to access a safety net. And yes I know some people abuse the system, but study after study has documented that fraud in SNAP is lower than fraud in any other government (state or federal) program.

I run an NGO in a least developed nation (started it in grad school, and while I don’t get paid to run it, it is, at least, self supporting) and the kind of help that it gives out is for things we take for granted here in the USA. Or that we have safety nets for here in the USA.

Also being a customer somewhere doesn’t give you the experience or knowledge you need to get a job with that company as you well know. Heck if it did google here I come. They pay very, very well. A cousin’s kid has a job with them straight from college and is thrilled (well other than than about the cost of housing there).

I know you get your jollies being nasty to folks but you might want to stop and think about whether or not you’d like people to treat you the way you treat some of the people on this forum; to have people kick you when life is not going well for you.

@Kidsandliz @sammydog01 I was trying to be supportive. Casting hexes or something on my life or whatever you’re implying IS a nasty way to treat people who are trying to be supportive.

I have my own share of serious health issues, but I don’t recount them to internet strangers every chance I get.

Trying to talk to you is far from jolly, I promise you that KaL.

@therealjrn Simple solution. Don’t talk to me then. Don’t read my comments. Skip over them. Problem solved.

I don’t call comments like, for example, ‘intimate experience with the dole’ as experience that qualifies me for a job, in the way you said it, as being supportive. It’s a put down.

@Kidsandliz Sometimes you can be reasonable, so maybe I might post again. But being on the dole is very common parlance, I’m sorry it upset you.

I really think being a customer gives you unique insight, if you think about it.

@therealjrn I am not on the dole - that is a word generally used only in the pejorative. I receive only food stamps aka SNAP. The percent of people who get SNAP and/or TANF is pretty small. I wouldn’t call it a pretty common experience. Sure in really poor parts of town the % might be higher, but over all it is not.

And yes being a customer somewhere can give you some insight, although that would depend on how self reflective that someone is for starters. Generally speaking though (as we both know I am sure) that is not used by companies, organizations, or agencies in leu of formal job requirements necessary to be hired.

I appreciate your apology. Thank you.

@Kidsandliz You receive both food stamps and “affordable” housing. That is called “being on the dole” and it’s a pretty sizable chunk for tax payers to have to foot the bill.

@therealjrn should not have to apologize for saying something that is true.

And you have a pretty big chip on your shoulder, don’t you.

@Barney @therealjrn No that is called receiving SNAP and living in HUD. The word dole does not appear in any of those programs’s names and that word is usually used in a pejorative way against people who get that kind of assistance.

All my life except for just under 3 years I have been one of those taxpayers who have helped foot the bill for others in need. In fact I donated to programs, when I could that helped those who fell between the cracks and are, for example, in that gap between too much money for food stamps but not enough money to eat or have a job interview but no job interview clothes… I am sure there are plenty of people on this forum who have done the same thing. Lots of caring people post here.

That you folks have decided to make a big, mostly negative, deal about this is telling. I hope you both are never in the situation I find myself in right now. In my wildest dreams I never imagined this would have happened to me. Hopefully it isn’t permanent.

@Barney @Kidsandliz @therealjrn Interesting things about social safety nets. First off they originate in the late 1800s in Germany. Secondly if you don’t need them great. 3rd they are no different than student loan forgiveness. 4th are we really a society if we cannot make sure that people in our country do not have the basic necessities? Food, roof, health care? Can we really keep quoting Winthrop and referring to America as a city on a hill? 5th one of the parts of a society is giving up some rights, one of those is keeping all your money, ie you pay taxes. Once that tax money is paid it’s not yours any more, it belongs to the government. If you don’t like how they spend it vote them out.
Lastly if and when you or a friend need a safety net hopefully you never do need it.

Now

/giphy flame on

@bleedmichigan @Kidsandliz @therealjrn I don’t believe in student loan forgiveness either. You sign the contract – you make the payments. There is no crying in baseball.

Lots of people have hard times, but they are able to get through them without needing gov’t. handouts, never ending GoFundMe’s, and coming up with “the calamity of the month” to sucker in kind hearted internet forum people for money or goods.

@Barney @Kidsandliz @therealjrn ok so you don’t believe in student loan forgiveness great. How then do some of the low paid jobs that require extensive education get filled? From teachers to social workers and a lot of other under paid professions student loan forgiveness gets some highly educated people filling jobs that society needs. Why does a CEO make 500 times that of the lowest level employee? Capitalism? That’s not a great explanation and most CEO would argue social safety nets are needed. Heck Walmart does just think how many employees Walmart would have if it were for social safety nets.

@Barney @Kidsandliz @therealjrn without social safety nets I know my mother wouldn’t be here because the cost of chemo and radiation and treatment for stage four breast cancer is high. With out Medicaid she would be dead as the doctors wanted payment up front if you didn’t have insurance. Mind you this was before the ACA/Obamacare. At some point we as a country have to realize that 1 you have to spend money to make money and two everyone needs enough money to not have to dumpster dive out of necessities. Oh yeah and what has my mom added to society, not much she is religious, she has a small farm and keeps mostly to herself. So social safety nets aren’t that bad.

Really if we can offer social safety nets in the form of bank bailouts, auto bailouts, farm bailouts, etc then why not bailout the little guy as well?

@Barney you also speak from the luxury of owning 2 houses and you don’t even have to rent one of them. You inherited wealth. I have no clue about the rest of your finances and it is none of my business but you have indicated that your mother’s house is not rented, you don’t live in it, her car not used… If hard times hit you then you could sell a house, its contents and a car. I know several people, myself included, who went through all their savings (in my case it took almost 2 years due to how much I saved and how frugal I was), sold all their “toys” (myself included) due to medical expenses. 49% of bankruptcies are due to that. Not everyone is as lucky as you are in that respect. Heck not everyone is as lucky as I was as a huge percentage of people don’t even have enough money to survive one relatively small (several hundred dollar) unexpected expense.

In the hud I live in people are here for, it would appear, 4 broad reasons - they have worked hard their entire lives, many earn minimum wage or close to it but can’t seem to get ahead. Based on what I am observing it isn’t due to over spending with most of them. People who worked hard their entire lives and something really bad happened that wiped them out financially. Several of them are doing exactly what I have had to do 3 times - work as full time as they can through chemo because they had no choice. People who are disabled, can’t work, and their SSD amount is below the poverty line. Then there are the people who won’t or can’t seem to hold jobs their entire lives and mostly haven’t worked or if they have it has been only very occasionally. Which of these people should be homeless?

@bleedmichigan I am sorry your mom (and by extension) your family is dealing with stage 4 breast cancer. That is tough and is an ongoing emotional earthquake. I wish her and your family strength as she struggles with that disease.

And what has your mom added to society? She raised at least one (no idea how many siblings you have) compassionate human being. That is worth a lot. Lack of compassion, selfishness, etc. in people takes away from society and contributes to its decline.

@Barney @Kidsandliz most Americans are a few paychecks away from being in your position. Loose your job and have trouble finding a comparable paying position and boom assistance of some sort could be needed.

We pay into these programs hoping to never need them, but if you do you should use them.

@Barney @tinamarie1974 Yeah it is, in many ways, like insurance. You hope never, ever to have to use it because life would suck if you had to use it. But when you need it you are so thankful it is there even if it means other aspects of life are still really hard.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 You are correct, you have no clue as to my financial condition, but I will tell you a couple of things and I then will not talk about it over and over and over again as some people do on this forum. Maybe we need a count as to the number of times people mention their health conditions and financial standings like we do a fuck count. That could be interesting.

First of all, I was also almost wiped out, financially, by a health crisis. The only thing that saved me is that I have always paid for private health insurance, so I did not lose everything. There were times that I had to cut back to maintain my insurance premiums, but I did keep paying them and I’m glad I did. But even with the insurance it took me a long time to pay off my hospital and doctor bills.

Secondly, I did not inherit wealth. My mother’s nursing home and medical bills prior to entering the nursing home, wiped out all of her savings. She did have some nursing home insurance (no life insurance), but nursing home costs escalated in the 30 years plus since she purchased it, and very little of this covered her costs. So, I am still paying off some of her nursing home and medical bills. They could probably have been written off, after her death, but services were given, and services shall be paid. That’s the way things should be.

As for her house, it is not saleable in the condition it is in. While trying to take care of Mom when she was ill, her sump pump stopped working and completely flooded her basement. I did not discover this until some time afterwards. It was a mess and parts of it still is. Even cleaned up, there is very little value left in her little house.

As for her car, I am driving it. It is a 1996 Dodge Caravan, TWO WHOLE YEARS newer than my broken down Saturn.

Yes, I own my own house. I paid for it by working two jobs. So what?

@Barney @tinamarie1974 Aren’t those old cars great? My grand caravan (aka the ghetto van according to my daughter) lasted 25 years and nearly 4 months. Threw an engine bearing. Kind of a pain to repair due to having to get some parts from a junk yard, but for the most part the amount of money you save driving them is worth it. Not to mention if someone scratches it or a kid learning how to drive in it backs into a light post in a parking lot it is irrelevant.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 I love my mom’s Caravan. Plus, there’s a little bit of her with me when I am driving it.

@Barney @Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 wouldn’t it be nice if medical bills didn’t set us back financially for years?

@Barney @bleedmichigan @Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974

Maybe we need a count as to the number of times people mention their health conditions and financial standings like we do a fuck count. That could be interesting.

What do we call it? A bleat count might be workable.

I’ll start, I have no less that 7 serious medical conditions that either could have previously or currently take me out. Does that count as 7 or just 1? I’m going to count it as one instance, since I’m just mentioning it here and probably won’t again…

As I don’t live in or off my past, I’m not going to delve into prior ways God has tried to kill me. Well…he did have help.

@Barney @bleedmichigan @Kidsandliz @therealjrn um…attempted murder???

@Barney @bleedmichigan @Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
Not successful killing. But enough about me.

@JnKL oh no. Were you socially distanced? Will you be tested?

@JnKL Well that sucks big time!

@tinamarie1974 of course I’m distanced, I’m his supervisor! Actually I worked with him on a problem the day before. And no, I won’t be tested. State of Iowa is holding tests for critical personnel, not factory workers. Which is why he is ‘unconfirmed’. He has all the flu symptoms, fever, but negative for influenza A, so he is presumed to have it.

@JnKL @tinamarie1974 Well there is a flu B not covered by the flu shot that some people are getting. Hopefully that is what he has.

@JnKL fingers crossed you stay healthy!

@therealjrn Is there ANY way to disable that thing??

@Tadlem43 @therealjrn

Disable windows?

@Tadlem43
If your question is serious, it disables itself if you have another anti-virus program installed. The last few years, Windows Security aka Defender is actually decent, and on a par with the other AV programs. So it’s not something to worry about if you have some other AV program installed. If it isn’t turned on and you recently removed your AV, then check your AV support for a removal tool.

In the past, Avast got called out for collecting more than anonymous data with their browser plugin, but I don’t think that’s as clear as it was made out to be. There is also history of bad blood and mistakes made between all of these AV companies, in one form or another, even the big name ones.

Check the independent review sites, they’re all pretty decent these days, and understand your threats. Don’t hang out in cheezy warez or cracked game or porn sites (just the quality ones, ) and use a good adblocker is free. I like Ghostery, others like Adblock Origin.

Note that an adblocker, especially the crowdsourced ones, necessarily have to see your URL, and to do that, they have to intercept your TLS/SSL, and send it in so they can check it against the latest reports of where bad actors are hosting nasty stuff to block you from loading it.

Which means they (whichever on you’re using) see every website you visit, much like Microsoft, Google, Apple and your ISPs do. Although, the DNS-over-TLS/HTTPS is cramping the ISPs style now and forcing your security protection into your browser and bypassing the security in your router or ISP.

And I won’t call you Shirley.

@mike808 Yes, it was a very serious question! And thank you for a great answer.
I don’t like not having control over what my AV program scans, scans for, deletes, or quarantines. AND Defender uses SO much resources. I don’t do porn, I don’t visit questionable sites, I don’t download things unless I know it’s from a reputable site, etc. I’m very cautious, and I run my AV regularly. I had an ad blocker, but it wasn’t worth the problems it caused.
I hate Google, don’t visit MS, hate Apple and don’t go there, etc. I usually just use my computer for research, reading, some game play, etc.
Anyway, there are quite a few programs on W10 that run no matter what you do to try to stop them (Cortana is another) and if I could remove them, I would, so thank you, again, for info on Defender!
And thank you for not calling me Shirley.

@Tadlem43 Right now, I like the IOBit family of apps - their ASC and Malware Fighter don’t seem too intrusive or consume resources. The MF also works with Bitdefender if you have that.

In all likelihood, your biggest threat is from browsing FB/IG, YT clickbait videos, and the linked to hyper-monetized ad-supported websites off FB/IG/YT (“influencers”) that use shady ads (not really the website’s fault - the ad network is), and not from downloading and installing shinyware.

@f00l still wearing the cast. Got a couple more weeks.

@OldCatLady Ooohhhhhhh BLACKBERRY COBBLER!!! Can I come over to play? I’ll bring the vanilla ice cream!

@OldCatLady

Sounds amazing.

Invite me over. I’ll help you deal with this particular problem. And any similar future probs.

@f00l @Kidsandliz Sure, come on over. I’m making another batch of calamondin marmalade tomorrow, plus brownies.

@f00l @OldCatLady Thanks! I need directions though. I think I turn left at the coronavirus. Right? Then what?

@f00l @Kidsandliz @amehzinggrace Then straight on till morning. Bring some French bread, fruit, and brie, would you? Ending this month with a picnic sounds like a really good idea, so unblame the goat!

@amehzinggrace @f00l @OldCatLady Yummm. I’ll bring the bread and some fruit. Oh and enough ice cream for the brownies as well. Whole Foods workers are going on a one day walk out, I think it is today, to try to get personal safety stuff so not sure where I’d be able to buy brie cheese by dinner. Doubt walmart would have it and Krogers I don’t know. The other places in town (well and one really, really expensive place that doesn’t accept food stamps so they are out) have a lot in common with the family dollar or whatever that place is called.

@amehzinggrace @f00l @Kidsandliz @OldCatLady
I wish I could afford to shop Whole Foods.

I am, however intimately familiar with Dollar Tree, Dollar General and Family Dollar.

Aldi is about as fancy as I can afford. I think they have brie sometimes as a seasonal special.

@therealjrn

I wish I could afford to shop Whole Foods.

I guess you need to be on food stamps.

@Barney You get up on the wrong side of bed today Ms. Troll? I don’t shop there either because they are way too expensive. I doubt anyone on food stamps could afford their prices.

@therealjrn They have a bunch of openings I just applied for (presuming a pile of people quit - not had openings all the other times I have checked - rather than go to work and be exposed and apparently they are doing a walk out on either this Tuesday or next over lack of personal protection from exposure to the virus ). They have, along with Kroger, highway signs saying they are hiring too so I am hoping they are desperate enough to hire someone “over educated” for the job. Looking at benefits they give a discount to employees with the food (I think I read somewhere or other that Amazon prime members get a discount too. Don’t know that for sure though as I am not a prime member). Maybe the employee discount would bring the prices down to normal prices?

We don’t have an aldi’s here. I stopped at one when I was in Houston for an apt to try their chocolate at Christmas since someone said it was really, really good. Prices seem sort of high to me and not much choice of stuff but the store was packed so clearly popular. And their chocolate was good.

@Kidsandliz Where do you get off calling me names? I wasn’t even talking to you. You seem to revert to name calling a lot around here. If you are as fucking smart, as you seem to imply, you should be able to come up with another way to express yourself other than name calling.

@Kidsandliz @therealjrn I just got a job at Chick-fil-A and I’ve probably got more degrees than you. I don’t think places are as particular as you think.

@therealjrn Aldi often has brie and Trader Joe’s has it pretty cheap too. Plus all my grocery stores I think. I’m sure they have really expensive brie but a lot of it isn’t that bad.

@sammydog01 @therealjrn Well I’ve applied enough places. Been told to my face I’m over educated (had walked in as they had a sign on the door, started to fill out the form there, manager came over, talked to me, told me to finish the application then came back out and told me I was over qualified and she wouldn’t hire me as I’d just quit when a better job came along). I have applications in for a bunch of them, in advance of this city’s big time lock down for many of them too (almost everything is shut). Of course at this point a lot of the folks who were laid off have applications in as well so I’d suspect that there is now a lot of competition for the few jobs now open.

@sammydog01 Congrats on the job, Sammy. Chick-Fil-A turns down a lot of applicants. I can think of a few people on this forum that they wouldn’t hire.

@Barney You have trolled me on a number of threads, some of your comments have been deleted by moderators. Here we were talking about grocery stores, I mentioned food stamps. And then you make that comment. You have also put down, in general, anyone on food stamps or otherwise receives government help, even temporarily. It is abundantly clear you hate me. It is very easy to ignore people you don’t like on forums. Just sayin’. /shrug.

@OldCatLady I only eat ramen for a decade now. Sometimes with these little green flakes for extra nutritional value

@mike808
?

@chienfou @mike808 goats cutter? Gutter? That sounds sad. Jutter? Goats can be skittish. Nutter? Plenty of those around. Putter? I’d like to see a goat golf. Rutter? Well if you have a male goat.

@chienfou @mike808 @unksol Or could be goat buster

@tinamarie1974 Um, blame?
/giphy snicker

@mike808 I assumed that was understood at this point

@tinamarie1974 For $999 they are never going to sell it. I wonder when they will finally give up.

@Kidsandliz agree, that is why I just keep bidding. The first listing went for just under $80 and the winning price has decreased every time, with the latest auction tonight at $19.50.

You think they would figure out that the market clearly will not bear what they want and either sell it to the highest bidder or just take it down permanently. Who knows, I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go round

@tinamarie1974 Eventually they will spend more on listing fees than they’d get from the winning bid.

@Kidsandliz I kinda wondered how that worked, if someone paid for a listing whether or not the reserve was met.

@tinamarie1974 I think they do.

@Kidsandliz is it bad, that the thought of this person paying to relist over and over makes me happy?

@tinamarie1974 Nah… it is just returns for them.

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 soooooo you didn’t win?..that’s not blame…that’s a scam…I proclaim a curse on them to never sell it for any higher than the last “winning” bid…stop being selfish people…karma…

@amehzinggrace @Kidsandliz and I won-lost again. I have to keep bidding out of principal at this point.

@amehzinggrace @tinamarie1974

@mike808 Is there a url for this photo? For reasons unknown my computer won’t open .webp photos

@mike808 please tell me that is not real!!

@Kidsandliz as jpg

@mike808 Thanks for the jpeg. Now I am not sure I wanted to see that. LOL. I can’t imagine how this would taste good. Gross!!!

@tinamarie1974
Just because I tell you something doesn’t make it true.
“That was the last time I cheated on you, I swear!”

@Kidsandliz Hence the “blame” part of “blame”.

@mike808 uh-huh, she says as she rolls her eyes. Men, phuf

@mike808 @tinamarie1974 I’m mildly intrigued…I wonder if it’d be similar to the trifle Rachel ended up making on Friends…

@mike808 for 2 dollars I’d try it once

@amehzinggrace @mike808 @tinamarie1974 I thought of when Netflix “I am not okay with this” younger brother makes dinner. But still betting this weird thing does not taste good.

@amehzinggrace @mike808 @mollama just watched that series, pretty good.

@OldCatLady Ask your church/synagogue/etc. if you go to one, for help with that? I know there are services for house cleaning for folks with cancer (primarily breast cancer), but don’t know if they’d make an exception and help you out. Worth a call if there is that in your area.

@Kidsandliz My church has a large and zealous group to visit, cook, drive, clean etc. I’m on the roster, and I’m thinking about not telling them at all.- I’d have to clean before letting any of them in. I was thinking of a pro cleaning service, and a beefy physical therapist. Maybe a meal delivery service, too.

@OldCatLady If you are old enough maybe you’d qualify for meals on wheels?

@OldCatLady You want a beefy physical therapist?

Meet Hilga!

@Kidsandliz My wonderful neighbor, however, cooks spectacularly, and brings me lots of food. He’s even careful to avoid gluten, which gives me a rash. I guess that’s an unblamed for the goat.

@OldCatLady Maybe you should break a toe more often to get him to cook for you more often? Oh wait probably not worth it (grin).

@Barney Not what I had in mind at all. Besides, I’ll probably get Tele-PT. if they’ve got it…

@OldCatLady Well, I tried.

@OldCatLady
Here’s some PT prep work to get you started.

@Kidsandliz I’d been thinking the same, myself. @f00l Come out, come out, wherever you are.

We’re worried, just a bit (at least I am).

@Kidsandliz @Shrdlu

Just noticed I had been pinged. My bad. : (

My apologies! I feel a little embarrassed over being absent for so long. No catastrophes. No illness. Just busy-ness.

And, a bunch of personal obstreperousness; and an assault of rest-of-world obstresperousness:
And those two combine to make a whole lotta obstreperousness.

More later when I get time. I’m sure I have much to catch up with here.

Thx for thinking of me!

Hey there everyone. Hope y’all are all doing well!

@f00l YOU’RE ALIVE, YOU’RE ALIVE! HEY LOOK EVERYBODY SHE’S ALIVE!
/define obstreperousness

No exact matches found for the specified word.

@therealjrn

YOU’RE ALIVE, YOU’RE ALIVE! HEY LOOK EVERYBODY SHE’S ALIVE!

Technically, “aliveness” is not fully proven.

I might be a widget. Or a digital-sparkly-vampire. Or an AI construct. Or a talkative typing zombie. Or a keyboard-and-computer possessed by evil spirits.

Or an infectious digital virus trying to kill everyone and everything!!!

Or a Texan.

/giphy Jus’ sayin’.

@f00l You can’t even get the name right. It’s a blame session, not a bitch session.

@mike808

I briefly re-porpoised the topic.

But you are actually correct. In that I am getting the porpoise of the topic about as “right” as everything else.
; )

@f00l Could you re-porpoise Venice while you’re at it?

@f00l @mike808 I believe I read it has already been re-porpoised since the boats are no longer churning up the mud from the bottom of the canals, deer.

@f00l I dug into my TBR stack. I meant to do that, and nobody can say I didn’t.

@Kidsandliz

Put your phone and charger in a cat-proof cage against a wall/socket setup?
(Move this setup in case of building owner inspection of course.)

Spray cat w water every cat goes anywhere near phone and charger?

Become a total Luddite?

Have cell phone implanted into destructive cat?

Give up? The cat is boss here?

/giphy cat

@f00l Either the phone or the cat needs to be in a cage for sure!!

@Kidsandliz Maybe get rid of the optional pet and apply the extremely limited resources that you were putting towards cat care, phone cord replacement, and other cat-responsible destruction in your life towards things that actually help you improve your living situation.

Tough choices, but the choice to maintain a pet isnt a primary, necessary expense in life. Get rid of the cats until you can afford them. You can’t save the world, so save yourself first. The cat species will survive.

Lesson: Don’t choose to take care of things you cant afford and then lay blame expecting the world to feel sorry for your suffering when it is entirely of your own choices and making.

@mike808 As for the phone cord, I found a cordura zipper pouch I had with my camping gear and will be keeping the cord in there. I can zip it shut enough that pulling on it, even if the cat dislodges the cord from the phone, it won’t be pulled out of the pouch and the zipper is really hard to zip and unzip. The cat seems to limit the chewing to just the head of it. For ages it was safe from destruction when not in use if I kept it in the drawer. Who knew that would change.

While it isn’t really any of your business Mr. Judgmental, I did find homes, as I posted before, for all but my 19 year old who is very near the end of her life. I have had her since she was 10 days old and I kept the next oldest one. The person in charge of adoption there found them good homes, although that takes a while when they aren’t kittens and have special needs. The no kill shelter is giving (as they do to most of their steady volunteers and employees presuming they need it) cat food, litter, shots, many meds and on occasion vet care. As a result my cats cost me nearly nothing.

Cats are one big reason why I have managed to survive all the unfortunate things that have happened in my life. They are emotional support animals (and yes have been formally documented as such - I didn’t even know such thing existed before my doctor brought that up). Having had 2 family members commit suicide (although about 10 years later we found out my brother was murder by his wife) my cats were the one thing that helped me stop thinking about that as an option when I get/got overwhelmed. Having a family member commit suicide, as I know some members of this forum know first hand in their family or with a close friend, changes forever how you think about it. In my family all of us agree that now we have to now reject that as a choice, just like any other choice because a barrier has been removed. Research after research has documented the very important mental health benefits of having pets. Especially for people who live alone as I do. Some research has found that people with pets live longer too. My cats are very much a part of my family. I realize some people don’t view animals that way, but many do, including me.

As you don’t know me in real life and so don’t see how I live my life - you are just making judgmental assumptions… FYI I already don’t eat out, do any recreation that costs money, haven’t been on a vacation since 2008, buy much of anything unless it falls under a need and not a want (and then it has to be on sale and/or used but in either case cheap), try to drive so little that a tank of gas would last me a month (around here mostly there is no public transportation and a tank of gas is cheaper than urber), haven’t had my hair cut in months (I get it cut free at MD Anderson Cancer center when I am there) and it desperately needs it, am sewing up holes in socks… And I am sure there are others here who do that too. Even if I was rich I’d still live fairly frugally. I’d guess so would many others on this forum.

Don’t know why you (and several others) tend to be nasty, judgmental, cruel, troll people - maybe you are incredibly unhappy, lonely, just born nasty - who knows, but I would appreciate it if you would choose not to be nasty to me any longer (and you are nasty to some others for that matter too - you have been called out on this before by others, including recently by one of the other trolls no less). There is no need to respond everyone who posts on forums. If you don’t like someone just ignore them. It’s pretty easy to do on forums.

@Kidsandliz $15 Problem solved.
metal braided iPhone cable. It is only 3ft (1 meter).
Or a 2-pack of 6.6ft (2 meters) SS iPhone charger cables.

@mike808 Thanks for finding that. I appreciate you going to look. The cat, unfortunately just chews on the iphone end that plugs into the phone. That wrecks those little metal strips on that. Leaves alone the actual cord and any other style of cord end. When this older iphone dies likely it would be worth switching to a cheap android so I don’t have to worry about cords anymore.

@Kidsandliz Wipe some urine on your iPhone where the cat chews and let it dry. Urine is sterile. The cat won’t put it in its mouth any more.

Wipe off in the morning, if you’re queasy about it.
It will work and stop the cat from doing that.

Desperate problems require desperate solutions.

@mike808 It’s worth trying. Better than my current solution. Not sure it will charge with that on the end of the cord but if it doesn’t I can always rinse it off.

@Kidsandliz @mike808 Dab a little dish soap on it, and on any cords that look tasty. Bleagh!

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady
Um, yeah. Way better idea than mine.
Go with the dish soap!

@mike808 @OldCatLady But won’t soap mess up the inside of my phone even if it is dried?

@Kidsandliz @OldCatLady Wipe your phone with it, not submerge and soak it. Its not a Palmolive commercial. And yeah, this old.
/image palmolive soak

@Kidsandliz The squeaky wheel gets the grease. They just greased you, big time.

@Barney You make an awful lot of nasty assumptions about some people you don’t know don’t you and then feel it necessary to troll them or be nasty to them even when they aren’t doing the same to you. I feel sorry for you that you feel the need to be so nasty. What you don’t seem to get is that doing this doesn’t push my buttons. Your behavior/posts are a statement about your character, not mine.

And nope I wasn’t singled out. Not to mention I have never even talked with them except saying hi and once asking a couple of questions. And it was corporate that did the inspection, not them. They were consistent with everyone about nothing in front of doors/having stuff potentially keeping them from shutting, not keeping stuff on the stove or in the oven… not just me. Folks were talking about that today. They got people for lots more things than they got me for. I got off easy.

@Kidsandliz Pussywillows!

@Kyeh You are right!

@sammydog01 Riiiiiiight…you were just…typing.

@therealjrn It was not intended for my demographic.

@sammydog01 Keep looking! I know you can find some!