Search the Truck, but Not the Can

by | Aug 1, 2020 | Beer, Food & Drink | 215 comments

Foreword:  A lot has happened over the last week.  I want to thank everyone that signed my change.org petition, as it appears to have convinced Trader Jose to keep its culturally appropriative name.  I know, typically a petition with fewer than 100 signatories doesn’t have this kind of impact, but this is an odd time to be alive. Thank you.

A couple weeks ago I was walking my dogs through a neighborhood where I rented a small cabin.  Nice neighborhood in the middle of the woods but my dogs decided upon opening the liftgate to sprint through the neighborhood into the woods.  I had to walk them on leash after that to make sure they were able to fulfill their dirty, sinful business.

This is my review of Two Pitchers Nordic Jam Lager

In some Ancap circles the idea of determining one’s ability for self-governance has been floated around as a form of lithmus test.  The test?

The grocery store cart return.

You don’t need to return the cart to the cart return, but you are helping the guy making minimum wage to collect them from time to time.  Its a small gesture you are doing at the request of grocery store.  Not doing it in some cases can be a real pain in the ass for the guy collecting them, even though there is no penalty.  Anybody that ever had to collect shopping carts in an icy parking lot can attest to this.  If you can accomplish such a task, you are capable of self-govenance.

I think a better example is if you can clean up after a pet.  Which was a problem I had in this neighborhood.

The property lines were not well-defined just by looking, and many had a small ravine along the road for drainage.  Since it backed a national forest, many other critters left their mark along the neighborhood and the homeowners didn’t seem to mind.  They didn’t even clear out the brush.  I concluded it was probably fine if my dogs did what they needed to do along the road, nobody would care.  If they walked into the driveway and squatted it was a different issue.  I later packed a grocery bag for the afternoon walk in case it was needed.

The next morning a lady’s dog ran, off leash into the driveway of the house I was renting.  I was sitting on the porch reading while it did exactly that—crap in the dirt driveway.  The owner picked it up when she realized I was watching.  Which means she needs to be governed by people with guns…

Yesterday however, I was walking them again in my neighborhood and one walked into someone’s lawn and let it loose.  I dutifully picked up after my dog and tied off the bag.  The problem?  It was trash day and I found a convenient trash can marked City of Phoenix a few houses down, placed on the street for collection the following day.  Two more houses down a guy that appears to have seen the whole thing, gave me a dirty look but said nothing to me as I passed by.  This reminds me of a Slappy the Squirrel cartoon, where Slappy tosses out a soda can in front of another squirrel’s house.  She tells her not to toss it in her can, and the hilarity ensues.  Now the schtick with Slappy the Squirrel, is Slappy is an absolute cunt.  You shouldn’t be like Slappy right?

Probably not.  It wasn’t my trash can I dropped my dog’s deuce into.  Anybody that’s ever seen The Star Chamber is well aware, the trash in the trash can is YOUR trash and thus would require a warrant if they ever want to look.  Is it wrong to drop a tied-off bag of excrement into somebody else’s trash can?

It occurred to me recently when I watched a truck marked City of Phoenix run into my recycling can while trying to pick it up, spraying my empty beer bottles all over the street, wrecking the can.  Then giving me a new can marked City of Phoenix two weeks later along with a citation for “bagging” my recyclables…They made it clear it is not MY trash can and they wouldn’t collect my empty beer bottles if it didn’t say City of Phoenix on the can—in the manner they require it be disposed.  Its clearly not that guy’s can either.

…or maybe I’m not capable of self-governance.  Whatever, fuck off slaver.

 

This beer is surprisingly good!  Even if it is fruity, it was light, refreshing, and didn’t leave me thinking I just threw away $10 for a six pack.  Highly recommended when it is hot out.  Two Pitchers Nordic Jam Lager:  4/5 

About The Author

mexican sharpshooter

mexican sharpshooter

WARNING: Glibertarians.com contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. https://youtu.be/qiAyX9q4GIQ?t=2m22s

215 Comments

  1. juris imprudent

    Speaking of weird things about trash cans. We were in a park last weekend and one trash can was overflowing, yet, a couple of dozen steps in either direction were cans that seemed to be empty.

    Whether or not people are capable of self governance (or must have it imposed upon them), they are unquestionably weird.

  2. Gender Traitor

    You don’t need to return the cart to the cart return, but you are helping the guy making minimum wage to collect them from time to time. Its a small gesture you are doing at the request of grocery store. Not doing it in some cases can be a real pain in the ass for the guy collecting them, even though there is no penalty. Anybody that ever had to collect shopping carts in an icy parking lot can attest to this. If you can accomplish such a task, you are capable of self-govenance.

    It’s an even bigger pain in the ass when people leave their empty cart in what would otherwise be a convenient parking space.

    I always return my cart to the corral, and now, if the return is divided into “Small Carts” (which I love) and “Large Carts,” I put mine on the appropriate side. If the carts already there aren’t “nested,” I’ll even try to shove them together as best I can. So am I “capable of self-governance” or just OCD?

    • UnCivilServant

      I have been known to sort the carts in the corral to make them neat if they’re not properly nested.

      • UnCivilServant

        In my case, I think it is OCPD.

      • Jarflax

        Dyslexic lung disease?

      • UnCivilServant

        obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        If you go that far, why not take them back inside?

      • UnCivilServant

        Because I don’t have a bungie cord to move a whole line of them.

        Besides, I’ve got stuff to do.

      • DEG

        I’ve moved long lines of carts without a bungie cord. It can be done.

      • UnCivilServant

        I was giving a sarcastic answer to a sarcastic question.

      • DEG

        I will punish my orphan for not keeping fresh batteries in my sarcasm detector.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        I wasn’t being sarcastic.

      • Gustave Lytton

        UCS only brings his sorting gloves, not returning gloves, with him to the store.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        Gotcha

      • Aloysious

        I’m glad someone else understands the situation.

      • Bobarian LMD

        I normally grab a cart from outside and take it into the store on my way in; often from someone who is finishing unloading, or from people in the handicap spots.

    • hayeksplosives

      I taught my stepkids (by example) to bring up 1 or 2 discarded carts with them to the store entrance on our way in.

      I’m happy to see that they still do it 15 years later .

      • Tejicano

        I tend to do this myself (return stray carts as I am making my way to the store) with the knowledge that sometimes people have toddlers or time constraints which can make doing this difficult so somebody without those constraints can/should pitch in when it’s not a big deal. Not so much “paying it forward” as evening out between differing circumstances.

    • Plinker762

      Putting the cart away means they can be returned to the store quicker. The resulting reduction in manpower required allows the store to eliminate a low wage job. Low wage jobs are done by minorities. Why do you hate minorities you dirty racist?

    • Gustave Lytton

      Doesn’t Aldi charge a cart deposit here? If I remember right German groceries do.

      • Gender Traitor

        I admit I don’t do Aldi, even though there’s a fairly new one just beyond my usual grocery. I think I got a bad first impression – we went in to check it out on a hot summer day, and they had the A/C going so hard I was uncomfortably chilly and just wanted to get out of there ASAP.

      • hayeksplosives

        They do have a nice coin return slot on the carts. 25 cents unlocks the cart, you shop.

        If you have the time and inclination, you put your cart back into the rack and get your 25 cents back.

        If you don’t have the time, you leave the cart and someone else returns it for your quarter .

      • Gustave Lytton

        None locally here. Only one I went into was in NC. Felt like the canned food outlet version of Trader Joe’s.

      • I'm Here To Help

        At most of the Aldii around here you have a number of homeless offering to return your cart for you for the quarter. I generally don’t give homeless money (unless they get really creative with their signs), but I’ll let the ones taking the carts gather my quarter. Asked one how much they made, and he didn’t say specifically, but he indicated that it was enough to eat on.

        The ones in Germany actually took Euro coins, but most banks gave out tokens that you could carry on your keychain that were the appropriate size. Carried that token for years as I generally don’t like carrying coins…

    • creech

      Tried doing that at my supermarket one day, and the Downs kid they have collecting carts politely told me “That’s my job, sir.”

    • DEG

      It’s an even bigger pain in the ass when people leave their empty cart in what would otherwise be a convenient parking space.

      That drives me up a wall.

      The best I had when I worked at a grocery store was someone who left a cart in the part of the shopping center farthest from the store.

      If the property management company found our carts anywhere in the shopping center except on our part of the shopping center sidewalk after we closed, the company would bitch to the store management. Then all the guys who had cart-round-up-duty that day would get chewed out.

      • Sean

        One of my earliest jobs involved wrangling carts at a Laneco.

  3. The Late P Brooks

    Two more houses down a guy that appears to have seen the whole thing, gave me a dirty look but said nothing to me as I passed by.

    Next time, set it on fire and leave it on his front porch.

    • creech

      Don’t forget to knock before you run.

      • C. Anacreon

        Ding-Dong before you Ditch.

  4. Q Continuum

    “fulfill their dirty, sinful business”

    The love that dare not speak its name?

    • Plinker762

      As long as no dancing breaks out.

  5. The Late P Brooks

    In some Ancap circles the idea of determining one’s ability for self-governance has been floated around as a form of lithmus test. The test?

    The grocery store cart return.

    Next, you’ll say the Golden Rule is a sound foundation for a free society.

    • Tejicano

      I tend to like the Golden Rule backed up from time to time with the Blued Steel Rule where appropriate.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Golden Rule is a sound foundation for a free society.

      If we’re going to have to be stuck with people lording over us, why not a group they will reciprocate taking a piss as a form of sexual pleasure?

      • DEG

        Because they’ll tell us it is raining.

  6. Raven Nation

    Someone dropped their plastic baggie of dog shit in my trash can one day – AFTER the trash had been picked up. Asshole.

    • Sean

      Yeah. Not cool.

    • Tejicano

      Me after three beers would have walked down and asked “Since you know so much on the subject what did it taste like?”

    • UnCivilServant

      I’m disappointed. There’s a distinct lack of steak and sidearms in seans pictures today,

      • Sean

        That’s usually a Sunday thing.

    • Timeloose

      What road is that? Is it 309?

      • Sean

        Yes. ?

      • Timeloose

        I know that intersection.

      • DEG

        #metoo

    • creech

      “Trump has a tiny penis.”.
      From somebody who would love to lecture you on civil discourse and the need for unity.

    • DEG

      That’s Trainers Corner. Well… it used to be called Trainers Corner.

      • C. Anacreon

        I go down to Trainers Corner and I’m thunderstruck
        They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks
        Two men say they’re Jesus — one of them must be wrong!
        There’s a protest singer, he’s singing a protest song – he says:

        “They want to have a war, to keep us on our knees,
        They want to have a war, to keep their factories,
        They want to have a war, to stop us buying Japanese,
        They want to have a war to stop the Wuhan Flu Disease!”

      • Gender Traitor

        ::golf clap::

  7. LCDR_Fish

    Here in VA, – in cville, I had my choice of two private garbage pickup – each provided their own cans – so half the garbage cans on the block would be one company, half the other…although the pickup schedule appeared about the same.

    In my new place, city provides the pickup (quarterly bill including water and sewer – flat rate(!)) but I can use whatever garbage can I want – got an extra large one slightly used from a buddy.

    • UnCivilServant

      Here, the city provides pickup, from the general fund, but you’re required to use city cans and are limited to two.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      They had private collection in Colorado Springs, $75/quarter and would even come out by request if you forgot to bring it to the street. It was nice.

      Of course I rented the house when I moved back to Phoenix to a couple that didn’t know this. They accumulated trash in the garage for about a year (!) by the time they said they needed to terminate the lease on account of the Army PCS them.

    • Viking1865

      I lived for about a year in a place with no government trash service. They charged a flat fee for a year for the first two cans, and they hauled everything away. Never once had them cite me or charge me for extra bags, or loose objects. They hauled away everything that was inside or was touching the cans, that whole year. Never missed a pickup. No holidays.

      Then I moved to a place with a government monopoly. Costs twice as much, they pick up only one can, and there is no hauling away for oversize objects. A couple years ago they upgraded to trucks with a robot arm, so now they don’t hassle you about unbagged trash, since it all goes up and over the top via robot arm. But of course, they still have two garbagemen: one to drive, one to push the button. No, I shit you not. One guy pulls up next to the can, looking at a screen with a target on it to make sure hes got in the proper position. Then the second guy pushes a button.

    • Tejicano

      30 some-odd years ago I lived out in a part of the desert south of Tucson where I had to take my trash to a landfill with my own pick-up truck. No real biggie, just do it about once a week when I had time. Every so often I’d see Lee Marvin at the land fill doing the same in his old, beat-up Dodge pick-up.

      • egould310

        Lee Marvin. That’s a man.

    • Gender Traitor

      For our regular trash and recycle pickup, we’re billed by the township bimonthly. There’s only one company, probably connected to a township trustee’s BIL. We also got an oversized bin to use for yard waste directly from the same company. They recently sent us an e-mailed bill with a link for paying it online…for which privilege you paid an additional fee. So far they haven’t snail-mailed us a bill, so I think I’m going to print off the e-mail and mail it to them with a check. Cost of stamp < "convenience fee."

      • hayeksplosives

        Whenever they try to charge a convenience fee for paying online instead of by mail, I wonder whose convenience we are talking about.

    • DEG

      I can take my trash to the town transfer station or I can pay a private service to do it for me.

      I pay the private service.

      I was amused when I moved to New Hampshire. The town I now live in was considering municipal curbside pick-up of trash as the town dump was full. The town decided to build a transfer station instead. I remember an editorial about the switch which opened with, “You know you are in a big city when you have curbside trash pick-up.” I laughed.

      The place I grew up in Pennsylvania was, in those days, far from any type of urban place. It probably had more cows than people at that time. And yet, just about everyone paid a private service to pick up their trash.

  8. Rhywun

    I’m gonna have to differ on the shopping cart thing.

    There should be no “sense of guilt” for not doing it. That is one of somebody’s job duties. One is not guilt-tripped for doing part of someone else’s job – why this one?

    Moreover, there is a perfectly selfish – not “moral” – reason to do it: to make sure that guy spends more time checking you out or bagging your groceries or stocking shelves or whatever.

    The “please return your cart” sign is morally no different from the fast-food tip jar.

    • UnCivilServant

      You’re the guy who leaves the carts in otherwise usable parking spots, aren’t you?

      • mexican sharpshooter

        No parking lots where he lives.

      • Rhywun

        I wouldn’t block a parking space. That’s just being an asshole.

      • grrizzly

        Those people are the worst.

    • Viking1865

      “That is one of somebody’s job duties. One is not guilt-tripped for doing part of someone else’s job – why this one?”

      I’d argue their job is to move the carts from the corral back to the store. Not scurry around picking up carts from parking spots and medians and from the middle of traffic lanes.

      A restaurant must provide me with a clean restroom and the appropriate paper and soap. I need to wipe my own ass and manipulate the toilet and sink handles.

      • Raven Nation

        “I need to wipe my own ass and manipulate the toilet and sink handles.”

        You should find a restaurant that allows you to bring your orphans inside.

      • Rhywun

        You’d be wrong. Their job is to ensure a steady supply of carts at the front door. Whatever needs doing to make that happen.

        Mind you, I play nice. I return carts. I’m just saying there is no *moral* reason to do so – just selfish reasons, whether it’s feel-good or ensuring better service for yourself.

        Another example: people drop random shit all over the shelves. It’s an asshole thing to do, but it is literally someone’s job to go around and clean up the shelves. When I was a cashier we all did both of these chores. Hell, it was a nice break from dealing with customers – but someone’s gotta do them.

      • DEG

        You’d be wrong. Their job is to ensure a steady supply of carts at the front door. Whatever needs doing to make that happen.

        Yep.

      • Tundra

        I still reflexively face the shelves after I remove something.

        It’s aggravating since I haven’t worked retail in more than 30 years.

      • R C Dean

        Is there any moral action that isn’t also a feel good action – the warm glow of doing the right thing?

      • Gender Traitor

        Well, I just did the periodic complete change-out of the cat’s litter. I like to think of it as “moral” after a fashion. Warm glow? Not so much.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        Yes. Picking up other people’s spent brass and shot up garbage in the middle of the desert. It is a good deed that leaves me pissed off.

      • Jarflax

        Which gives you the warm glow of contempt for other people.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        ” I need to wipe my own ass and manipulate the toilet and sink handles.”
        I have Orphans for that,

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        You aren’t going to the right restaurants.

    • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

      IMO, putting the carts in the corral is more about keeping them from blowing into traffic than about making it convenient for the cart boy. 75% made it to/near the corral, and 90% of the stray carts were on the path I had to take from corral to corral, so I lost minimal productivity getting them. The occasional cart that was put (or drifted) in an odd place was hardly worth consideration from an effort point of view.

      on the other hand, windy days wrought havoc on the strays. they’d end up in traffic, blocking parking spots, slammed into car doors, etc.

    • Tejicano

      Thank you. That was very much worth watching.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      Thanks for that Derp, he was very presidential potentially

    • DEG

      Yes.

      Thank you.

    • R C Dean

      Did drugs fell out her ass?

  9. Spudalicious

    Good sounding beer for a change.

    People who don’t return their carts are lazy asshole.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      You wouldn’t know good beer if you got T-Boned by a Budweiser truck.

      • Spudalicious

        You cut me to the quick. I would drink PBR before Bud.

      • mexican sharpshooter

        Ew

  10. The Late P Brooks

    They had private collection in Colorado Springs, $75/quarter and would even come out by request if you forgot to bring it to the street. It was nice.

    When I lived there, one of the trash companies had “Satisfaction Guaranteed or Double Your Garbage Back” on all their trucks.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      Nice

    • Gustave Lytton

      There’s a septic tank pumping company that uses the slogan “Yesteday’s Meals on Wheels”

    • Sean

      * buys more tin foil *

    • Ted S.

      Give it to the government employees first.

      • Ozymandias

        Oh, they’re going to… except they’re giving it to the “government employees” they can throw in jail if those employees refuse to take it.
        It’s already happening.

    • Ozymandias

      Where is my shocked face?
      I wrote almost thirty chapters twenty years ago telling you they were trying to do this to you. It was called the JVP2020 – the Joint Vaccine Program. Anthrax was just the leading edge of it – the litmus test. Could they jam it down the throats (and into the arms) of the military – even when there was zero efficacy or safety data on pregnant women. They backed off of that, but maintained that they legally could still hold a soldier down and stick it in them if they wanted to.
      NO ONE SAID A FUCKING WORD. NO ONE GIVES A FUCK. I TRIED TO FUCKING TELL YOU.
      Now reap the whirlwind.
      They’re going to take over your body – they’re going to mandate that you have to be vaccinated with Bill Gates’ bullshit.
      Watch. Mark my fucking words.

    • LCDR_Fish

      Technically speaking, isn’t the annual flu vaccine already like that? That’s why they ask about GB syndrome and other precautionary issues?

      I mean….the gov’t already pre-bought several hundred million dosages – seems like a way to get ahead of some of the other anti-vax scare tactics as well – but what do I know (it’ll almost certainly be an ASAP mandatory issue for the military/reservists – just like the annual flu vaccine).

      • Ozymandias

        It never was when I was in. I haven’t gotten a flu vaccine in at least a decade, but my last half I was in the Reserves. Completely optional, but I was also a lawyer/JAG in an IMA unit that included senior criminal defense attorneys: we may just have been the last people in the military against whom anyone would want to enforce such a policy.

      • LCDR_Fish

        I’ve been in the reserves for the last 4 years and it’s been mandatory every year (although you’re supposed to get it at a local drug store – for free – and it gets logged/billed to tricare since not all the units have medical facilities) – and it was mandatory at my previous commands too.

      • Ozymandias

        Well, my apologies on behalf of your broke-dick JAG Corps. I left in 2018, but I really haven’t been around the Fleet since 2014. And it looks to me like A LOT has changed. /#ThereWasAlwaysanOldCorpsBeforeYours

  11. DEG

    Anybody that ever had to collect shopping carts in an icy parking lot can attest to this.

    Yes.

    If you can accomplish such a task, you are capable of self-govenance.

    That is a retarded test.

    Any test for self-governance gets into the “who decides?” problem.

    Whatever, fuck off slaver.

    Yes.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    The “please return your cart” sign is morally no different from the fast-food tip jar.

    “Trash cans in the lobby for your our convenience.”

  13. The Late P Brooks

    the man who should have been the first black president

    Are you crazy? He was tragically misguided. A victim of the empty promises of white tricknology and institutional racism. I know this, because I read it in the Atlantic. If only he had been a Democrat, the depths of his oppression and privation would have been revealed to him.

  14. Tundra

    Return the carts so they don’t roll into cars. Especially mine.

    Lazy fucks.

    Thanks for the review. That one actually sounds pretty nice!

    • Plinker762

      A few weeks ago someone let a Home Depot lumber cart roll into the side of my Challenger. 🙁

      • Tres Cool

        I hope you never get to experience it but they take a hit really well.
        I was the passenger.

      • Ozymandias

        Wow. You are fortunate, Tres. God bless crumple zones.
        I’ve survived two pretty serious car wrecks and the violence of it is… something else. Physics gives no effs at all – once you get too far beyond the speeds at which humans can run, your body is in serious trouble if shit goes wrong.

  15. Tres Cool

    Ive used the grocery-cart/parking lot analogy recently. The store I frequent most, Meijer, takes things a step further. The corral has 2 sides. One is for standard carts, the other is for the stubby mini carts, With a large sign and arrows instructing which side either cart goes on. People are wholly incapable of putting the appropriate cart in the proper side. Or they’re lazy, dont care, or just that stupid. My explanation for why we’re required to wear masks is based on that- you cant trust most people to use common sense and do the right thing.

  16. ruodberht

    Aldi story!

    I was coming back to my car with my girlfriend and noticed a completely rogue cart sliding down the lane of travel in the parking lot, a good 200 feet away from the store, WITH GROCERIES IN IT. I didn’t want it to hit anyone’s car, so I literally ran it down. Pushed it back toward the store, and expected to see someone searching for a lost cart. No one had that look, though. So I kept pushing toward the store, and a guy parked in the Fire Lane says “HEY THAT’S MINE!” His tone clearly indicated he thought I was stealing his shit. Now, I just ran to make sure his negligence didn’t damage a car, and theoretically saved him a tort claim. And this fucker who did not move an inch from his illegally-parked car had the gall to think I was stealing it. I gave it back, and he sarcastically said “thanks a lot” and (according to my girlfriend) was claiming I was about to steal his shit to another customer. I didn’t catch the words. I was pissed as all fuck.

    In another possible world, I watched that cart hit a car, gave his info to the car’s owner, and got his car towed out of the fire lane. That possible world is a nice one to think about. Sigh.

    • Spudalicious

      No good deed goes unpunished.

      • DEG

        Yep.

    • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

      I hope you at least took his beer.

    • JD is in the United Karendom

      Oh man – what a cunt. Inshallah he is struck down with the covid of a thousand wheezes and is raped by a freight train right in his garbage face. Jihad on this man. I feel your pain. People can make such stupid, cynical, asshole assumptions. I have a similar story where I watched some guy abandon his empty cart after loading his car, watching it roll toward a row of parked cars, turning to get into his car. I chased it down before it hit any of the cars and for a split second I was going to go park it in front of his car before he could roll out of the parking space. I thought better of it because regardless of what happened to me, he’d only just shove it away again into someone else’s car. Cunte.

    • C. Anacreon

      Whenever I hear about the store “Aldi’s” it reminds me of my little sister’s grades on her report card one very unfortunate semester.

  17. Gustave Lytton

    “Genius”. Saw a grubhub delivery guy (in a liberal city) wearing a Trump sweatshirt and face mask. Wonder what his tips are like. Maybe he really is a genius and gets more for chutzpah.

    • Roland of Gilead

      We saw 2 young guys at the beach last night wearing red Keep America Great hats. I also saw my first Biden sign in town today.

  18. Rebel Scum

    Hail Whitmer!

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed Friday a bill from the GOP-controlled Legislature that would have shifted elderly people with COVID-19 away from nursing homes and into entirely separate facilities.

    The bill was a direct challenge to the Whitmer administration’s current handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has focused on caring for those with the virus in isolated spaces of existing homes.

    In a letter explaining her veto, the Democratic governor said the bill, sponsored by Sen. Peter Lucido, R-Shelby Township, was based on “the false premise that isolation units created within existing facilities are somehow insufficient to protect seniors.”

    “False premise”…

    • Roland of Gilead

      I don’t think fuck is spelled with an H.

  19. Rebel Scum

    I always take the cart to the cart corral and I look down on people who do not. But since the Chinavirus I don’t even use carts right now because I am doing online orders exclusively because I refuse to participate in Covid-1984 mask minstrel theater.

  20. Ted S.

    To me, the social rules for returning carts are like the social rules for using the express self-checkout. It says “express”; for god’s sake don’t bring a full cart!

    When I was at the supermarket on Thursday I was second in line with all four kiosks in use. One opened up and the person in front of me took that one. The other three had a woman with a full cart; a group of five women where one of them kept going back to the candy stand to add another candy bar; and a woman who ignored the sign in front of the kiosks and signs on the pay pad/screens that due to the change shorts, the kiosks are currently card only, trying to pay with cash.

    I wound up using the same kiosk as the person who was in line in front of me.

    • Gender Traitor

      I confess – I like to go through the express self-checkout with just a few more items than the official limit (say, 15 when the limit is 12.) It makes me feel like a Bad Girl.

      • Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

        Ooh, talk dirty some more.

      • TARDIS

        I believe that is called being an expresshole. ?

      • C. Anacreon

        I’ve seen the checkout clerk at our local Safeway turn away people with obviously too much in their cart from the express lane.
        I don’t think the 15 over 12 is ever an issue, but a loaded cart, definitely, especially if you’re just trying to get some milk and bread and that person gets in front of you.

  21. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Been outside sweating my ass off (dropped 4 lbs since this morning) getting the trenches in the yard filled before the rain comes in.

    Popping my blood sugar back up with a Lindemans peach lambic beer. That hit the spot.

    • Gender Traitor

      At first, I read that as “iambic,” as in the poetic meter. I’m not sure what that reveals about me. Choosing not to think any harder about it.

      • Tres Cool

        I saw your comment from this morning about Canterbury Tales. Ex MrsTresCool teaches BritLit. I got sick of hearing it.

      • C. Anacreon

        By nature, men love newfangledness.

        -Chaucer

      • UnCivilServant

        It’s not ‘iambic’?

      • Gender Traitor

        Apparently, it’s “Lambic.” Not sure if it’s made from real lambs.

      • robc

        Whatever is floating in the breeze…could be real lambs. Spiders for sure, and Cantillon has an attic cat that probably contributes.

      • robc

        You might like it. The hops that are used are generally 3 or so years old and completely impotent.

        How are you with sour?

    • robc

      Lindemans and lambic dont belong in the same sentence. Cantillon, the King of lambics, IMO, isnt a member of the lambic association because they let Lindemans in.

      • robc

        Cantillon:Lambic association::every libertarian:LP

    • KSuellington

      Lindemans Gueze is an awesome beer.

    • mexican sharpshooter

      I like peaches, but I think the peach lambic is weird.

  22. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Who needs carts when you have orphans?

  23. UnCivilServant

    Am I the only person who hated the gravity gun in half life 2? I was pissed when it was the only weapon for a whole chunk of the game.

    • JD is in the United Karendom

      I’m several years removed from video gaming, but is Half Life one of those games that’s all cut scenes and occasionally you make a decision or do a thing between them?

      • UnCivilServant

        No. You’re thinking of Metal Gear.

      • JD is in the United Karendom

        Oh yeah that’s the one. Not my cup of tea. You ever play the Deadspace games? I liked to play them on my own in the dark for kicks.

      • UnCivilServant

        I have not played deadspace.

      • TARDIS

        I think EA gave the first away back when they started Origin. It was pretty good as a creepy space game. Like JD says, a good in the dark game. It would be awesome in VR.

    • TARDIS

      Yes, it went on too damned long.

      Replaying Bioshock (Remastered) myself. It holds up pretty well. I want to play as the bad guy, but I can’t make myself “harvest” the little girls.

      • UnCivilServant

        I got stuck because I took the prudent move of avoiding the fights before that whenever I could.

        Apparently they didn’t think you would be able to sneak past all of those…

      • TARDIS

        So how are you stuck?

      • UnCivilServant

        There was some point where it wouldn’t let me go on if I didn’t do something which required some of the resource you were supposed to get from those fights, but it was years ago and I forget the details.

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      UCS or anyone else, have you played Half Life: Alyx? I’ve been thing about getting a VR rig. It looks like the technology and games have come a long way over the past few years.

      • UnCivilServant

        I don’t own any VR stuff, and knowing my eye, I’d probably not be able to even use them.

        Plus, there’s too much in there like those stupid motion controls from a few years back.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        It looks like the control interface is getting better. The Skyrim VR appears to have ported pretty well. I’d very much be interested in a Borderlands VR.

      • TARDIS

        I have not. I gave my son my Occulus Rift as a birthday present, but I may look back into getting a new VR setup soon. The technology has come along way indeed. I played about half way through Pornrim. You can touch the boobies! LOL. That was fun, but it got tedious accessing the console because I had to take off the headset to see my keyboard.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Steam (Valve) came out with a rig that seems very promising (though expensive too). I think we’re looking at a leap here to the next-gen setups.

      • TARDIS

        Yes, and since Steam is the platform, the VR stuff is already there. Also, it has camera some you can switch to external view.

    • UnCivilServant

      I replayed FarCry 4 today. Such a short game. Two playthroughs, 1.4 hours on record.

      • Jarflax

        You know it gets longer if you get up from the table in the first scene right?

      • UnCivilServant

        But then I’d be stuck with helping one of the Golden Path villains.

      • Jarflax

        You have a point.

  24. SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

    OT: I ended up stripping the drive gear in my KitchenAid mixer last night trying to make a double batch of pizza dough. Thankfully we had a few extra dollars (that I had earmarked for a telescope) to buy a new one. I’m sure I can just replace the gear and have the old one back in fighting fit, too.

    • UnCivilServant

      Is their lifetime warranty up?

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m saddened to hear their quality has slipped so badly.

        Did they move to china or something stupid like that?

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        yeah, my understanding is that they outsourced most of the mixers. The issue with the drive gear is a known one with this specific model, and, frankly, it’s not the worst design. The gear is plastic and the rest of the drive train is metal, so the gear shears whenever the stresses get too high, which happens when you try to mix up 5 pizzas worth of dough at a time.

        stupid of me to try to mix up a double batch of dough, but at least I can probably fix it and have a spare. *shrugs*

  25. DEG

    Jeffery Tucker analyzes lockdown policies

    Based on the data, there seems to be no relationship between lockdowns and lives saved. That’s remarkable, given that we know for sure that lockdowns have destroyed economies the world over.

    Every epidemic model being flung around in March built in the assumption that lockdowns would control the virus. In the early days, it was about preserving hospital capacity. Later it became a general principle: slow the spread. The methods were the same in nearly every country. Ban large gatherings. Close schools. Shutter businesses. Enforce stay-home orders. Mandate human separation. Masks. Travel restrictions.

    Nothing like this has been tried in the whole history of humanity, certainly not on this scale. You might suppose, then, there was absolute certainty that there would be a causal relationship between lockdowns and the trajectory of the virus. Just as the FDA doesn’t approve a drug unless it is proven to be safe and effective, one might suppose the same would be true for a policy that shattered every routine and trampled human rights in the name of disease mitigation.

    Surely! It turns out that this is not the case. It was pure speculation that lockdowns would suppress this virus, and that speculation was based on a hubristic presumption of the awesome power and intelligence of government managers.

  26. robc

    Twice recently, I called Arsenal winning the FA Cup.

    Ugh.

    • Ted S.

      Meh, Chelsea deserve to be fucked over by the refs.

    • Rhywun

      Didn’t care but an angel gets its wings every time Chelsea loses so there’s that.

      • robc

        I dont care between Arsenal and Chelsea, but Arsenal winning screws over Wolves.

      • Rhywun

        Oh. That sucks. I like Wolverhampton.

  27. Semi-Spartan Dad

    We have private collection for ~$15/month. They won’t take anything not bagged so I end up having to make a dump run every couple months using a utility trailer to dispose of bulky non-perishables (things like an old microwave, broken furniture, etc.). We do have to supply our own trash can and I remember being surprised at the price tag of the big green cans common in cities.

    For shopping carts, I always return except if the parking lot is almost full, I have to park way out in No Man’s land, and they are no shopping cart return receptacles nearby. My stance on this is that if the store wants me to return the shopping cart from No Man’s land, they need to place receptacles throughout their parking lot and not just close to the entrance. Seems reasonable enough.

  28. l0b0t

    As someone who has, and sometimes still does, wrangle carts professionally, I must push back on the labor-side aspect of the cart test. I have yet to meet anyone who didn’t jump at the chance to get more time out of the building, smoking in the parking lot, while wrangling errant trolleys.

    • Gender Traitor

      Even in horrible weather?

    • UnCivilServant

      Don’t rob us compulsive cart-returners of our false righteousness

  29. KSuellington

    I return the cart to the corral if I am next to it or feel like it. Otherwise they go on the island closest to my vehicle, never ever blocking a parking space. It’s the least one could do to let the grocery store employees get some good exercise and quality time outdoors.

    • hayeksplosives

      Cheers!

      Pushing 100 here, but it really is a dry heat. And the pool helps:)

    • Hyperion

      Pretty sure it was north of 80 here when I got up this morning. Almost 100 now and 68% humidity, IOW hot.

  30. Tulip

    I’ll host another zoom happy hour tonight at 8pm eastern. Thanks to all who attended last night! Since posting a zoom link sends my comments to the spam filter, here’s the info. (I’ll post one link and hope it gets released.)

    Meeting ID: 894 3456 5627
    Passcode: 857141

    • l0b0t

      Thank you Tulip. Links works just fine. Sorry I fell asleep on last night’s gathering.

  31. LCDR_Fish

    Is there a general tracker site for “quarantine” restrictions? I’m hoping to take a vacation in the Adirondacks (NY) in late Sep – hoping things reopen before then (my aunt was up at the end of June/early July and said things were pretty good) – but it sounds like they’ve reimposed the 14 day quarantine issue for most states – which obviously doesn’t help with a 1 week vacation.

    • Suthenboy

      I am probably going to get in trouble before this nonsense is over.
      I haven’t paid attention to any of the lockdown/mask insanity so far and I have no intention to.

      • LCDR_Fish

        Yeah…we’ll see. Technically I have to keep track of distance stuff for the base I work at as well – esp for non-official travel.

      • Suthenboy

        I have the advantage of being retired. Wife and I are both retired. That eliminates a lot of potential conflicts.

        Yesterday we went to visit my son and brought pizzas. I walked into the pizza joint to pick up the pies (thin crust, no pineapple) no mask no ‘social distancing’ and the waiter was nervous at first but after a short time he relaxed and acted like a normal human being.

        After November this madness will end but Trump will win but the entertainment will increase exponentially.

      • Gustave Lytton

        It’s not going to end in November, no matter how the election goes. Politicians & their sycophants are taking advantage of the opportunity but this isn’t their creation.

      • Sean

        And BLM/Antifa ain’t going away. The politicians won’t be able to control to monster they’ve allowed to grow.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Yep. Just like with the DSA inside the Democrat party.

      • kinnath

        Righteous indignation cannot be satisfied. It can only be stomped out.

      • Sean

        The Dems are losing the message right now. I expect more suffering and pain to be inflicted upon residents of the shittiest states before the election.

      • Hyperion

        And especially after the election and them having to contend with 4 more years of bad orange man. If you think they’ve already lost their shit, think again.

    • Hyperion

      We were thinking about heading up to Maine, it’s one of the very few lower 48 states I have not been to. But I think we’re going to SC instead because we’re thinking about moving there, Greenville area, and want to check it out before making a move. Anyone living near there, I’d really welcome some advice.

      • Suthenboy

        Shreveport/Bossier City was booming like hell before the covid-retardation but it is not in SC. It is, however, in a very gun-friendly state.

        Just sayin’.

      • Hyperion

        We were checking out your area, saw quite a few places we liked and the prices are great. Wife was worried, like with FL, about how hot it is there. That and gators, lol. For some reason, she’s terrified of gators.

      • egould310

        Spent a long weekend in Greenville back in ‘15. My cousin got married there. The wife and I liked it. Good food, good bars. Beautiful homes at good prices.

        We drove out into the countryside to get some cheese grits, shrimp, and sweet tea. Turns out, the place only took cash. We didn’t have cash. The waitress told us to mail a check when we got back to California. They got a very generous tip. 🙂

  32. Hyperion

    “The grocery store cart return.”

    Heh. I used to work with someone who lived across the street from the back of a grocery store.

    I remember her ranting that the neighborhood was going downhill and that every morning she’d be pulling out of her garage, there would be 2-4 shopping carts on her front lawn.

    They’d implemented section 8 housing there. Fortunately for her, she was renting a townhouse and was able to escape after her lease was up.

    She was doing some research and concluded, sorry if this sounds racist like everything these days, but apparently in Honduras, where shopping carts go is on your neighbors front lawn.

    • KSuellington

      It’s a sign of tremendous respect to leave your shopping cart on someone’s lawn in Honduras.

  33. Hyperion

    97 here, but only 68% humidity. Balmy!

    • Rhywun

      Whew we lucked out. Topped out at 90 and a low 50% humidity. Not that I have bothered going outside today.

      • Hyperion

        It gets really humid here near the Chesapeake and sometimes, just freaking hot.

        I was out there most of the early day. Then it just got too hot so I came back in and turned on the AC. I guess it’s supposed to rain for a couple of days and then back to the low 90s – upper 80s. I’d like for it to fall back to the mid 80s or lower so my tomatoes and peppers will resume flowering and producing.

      • Rhywun

        I just went outside. ?

        Much better than recent days.

    • westernsloper

      102 with a stifling 10% humidity here. It is nice in the shade.

      • Hyperion

        Where we have our place in Brazil, the avg daytime temp and humidity year round is 95 with 75% humidity. I don’t think people who have has that experience know exactly how uncomfortable that can be if you’re not acclimated to it. It’s less than 8 degrees south of the equator. If you have a high of 95, it probably is not getting below 85 for the low and the humidity is not going down. If you’re near the sea, you typically get a nice breeze and that helps, but if you get in an enclosed area, it’s stifling. It’s really pretty there and it seems to be me like the air is supercharged with oxygen, I don’t know why. The bad thing is that your electric bill will be outrageous because you have to run the AC year round at night, or not be able to sleep.

  34. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Spike Cohen, LP’s VP candidate, on Dave Smith’s show from a couple of days ago:

    https://youtu.be/enqs3JV2qzU

    • Hyperion

      Aww mum, I’m not like other guys, I’m nervous and my socks are too loose.

    • Hyperion

      Amusing, these guys are talking like the LP is a real political party and they have a chance in hell of winning a presidential election or even getting 5% of the vote. Sorry, guys, that officially ended with GayJay the Weld and dancing naked fat guys. You guys are maybe getting taken seriously again one day, but not in this century. I threw away my LP card and changed my voter registration to independent. I seriously have never been so embarrassed.

  35. Aloysious

    Back before my truck bed had a cover, every once in a while someone would leave a dirty diaper or fast food trash in it. Never caught the bastards.

  36. BakedPenguin

    To Gender Traitor and Hayeksplosives – regarding a discussion you had last thread: Brun Kuw.

    • BakedPenguin

      Oh, and the farmer in the video looks like he’s Bubble’s (Trailer Park Boys) father.