The Random Thoughts Thread

[Chicat]

For what month? San Diego has ideal weather all year round and plenty of attractions.

Vegas has easy travel, but be less inclined to go there since I really don't gamble, and not much of interest to me.

He said no SoCal.

I don’t gamble either but I like Vegas. Lot of outdoor stuff to do (Red Rocks, Mr. Charleston), Lot of entertainment options (Cirque, magic shows, concerts). Plus good restaurants, pools everywhere, and even a few museums (art at Caesar’s, Mob Museum, etc).

[Merkin]

For what month? San Diego has ideal weather all year round and plenty of attractions.

Vegas has easy travel, but be less inclined to go there since I really don't gamble, and not much of interest to me.

He said no SoCal.

I don’t gamble either but I like Vegas. Lot of outdoor stuff to do (Red Rocks, Mr. Charleston), Lot of entertainment options (Cirque, magic shows, concerts). Plus good restaurants, pools everywhere, and even a few museums (art at Caesar’s, Mob Museum, etc).

Love the Mob Museum! Same with the Fremont Experience. Don't have the money to go to shows. But once you have been to Vegas enough, there really isn't all that much more I want to see. Still need to go on the damn dam tour next time out.

Probably just semantics, but most people out here when you say "SoCal" means the LA basin area, Ventura, LA and Orange counties. San Diego is its own entity.

[Longhorned]

I know my kid is an Arizonan because she keeps asking to go to San Diego.

[CalStateTempe]

Mexicali, and be really adamant about the early 20th century Chinese migrant background as being central to the experience of the conference. Lots of grainy black and white photos. Relate it in a vague way to current immigration policies in the borderlands, and at one point tear up a little and apologize before leaving the room to collect yourself. You’ll never get asked again.

This was actually part of the reason a few of us want to hold it in Cabo. My field of medicine as a strong public health perspective and we thought it would be cool to join up with our Mexican counterparts for a joint meeting to discuss health regarding migration, immigration, and labor.

What’s wrong with Vegas?

Nothing and it’s the safe bet if attrition and finances dictate. Personally speaking I don’t find it as “interesting” as a site but do acknowledge the level of “engagement” it provides attendees.

For what month? San Diego has ideal weather all year round and plenty of attractions.

Vegas has easy travel, but be less inclined to go there since I really don't gamble, and not much of interest to me.

Just had 2019 in San Diego so that out of the rotation. This year is Long Beach. So there has been a run of so cal. I’d love Palm Springs and this is probably my second choice at the moment, but a two year break might be too short before returning to SoCal.

Park City, Utah?

Read my mind PC, would love park city but the national org is going to hold the annual conference 4 mo prior in salt lake. Last round with such proximity, our regional didn’t fair as when there is more geographic al distance between the two.

[CalStateTempe]

We are also thinking cruise and Hawaii.

I’m growing more interested In Hawaii, distance wise is a bit of a haul but we have a ton of resources there that we can capitalize on.

[azgreg]

I spent 37 straight hours in bed from Thur night until this morning. Is that a lot?

[Longhorned]

I spent 37 straight hours in bed from Thur night until this morning. Is that a lot?

You need to keep going until you have bed sores. We need to discover whether bed sores exist. I think they’re a myth to keep people from spending 37 straight hours in bed.

[azgreg]

I've had this cough since the holidays and my Dr proscribed some cough syrup with codeine and my body didn't react to it very well.

[dovecanyoncat]

I spent 37 straight hours in bed from Thur night until this morning. Is that a lot?

It's really impressive. Bowling trophy worthy. I got sick not quite two weeks ago and last night I logged 11 hours. Pretty feeble by comparison. If I can't snag the coronavirus I'm gonna just admit I can't compete.

[Longhorned]

I've had this cough since the holidays and my Dr proscribed some cough syrup with codeine and my body didn't react to it very well.

This is another example of how insane physicians are. It's true that codeine turns off a cough. But it's also true that three shots of whiskey does the same thing.

The difference is that whiskey makes you happy, then sleepy, then kind of thirsty and sluggish if you refuse to drink water. Whereas codeine shuts down all of your body's functions, including digestion.

[CalStateTempe]

Filling up gas and got a gas station breakfast burrito...

In check out cashier says “I’m not too much of a microwave cooker but it should work out for you.”

Do I eat the burrito?

[scumdevils86]

Man I've eaten some bad stuff in my day but never a gas station breakfast burrito. Lowest I've stooped is QT sausage biscuit sandwiches.

[ASUHATER!]

QT breakfast burritos are perfectly acceptable to eat and are pretty good.

[CalStateTempe]

I opened the wrapping and it smelled and looked like warmed over dog shit so I passed. lol

Thanks Circle K

[ASUHATER!]

I opened the wrapping and it smelled and looked like warmed over dog shit so I passed. lol

Thanks Circle K

Need QTs in California if you don't already. Best gas station food around

[Merkin]

Good hot dogs at QT. Don't think I have ever seen one in Cali though.

Man I've eaten some bad stuff in my day but never a gas station breakfast burrito. Lowest I've stooped is QT sausage biscuit sandwiches.

I actually enjoy the Arco AM/PM breakfast foods when road tripping. Pretty sure the sausage patties are only 15% meat though, the rest soy product.

[Chicat]

Not sure if you guys have Speedway out there but I love their breakfast burritos. I just steer clear of any that have salsa on them. Too soggy.

[Merkin]

Not sure if you guys have Speedway out there but I love their breakfast burritos. I just steer clear of any that have salsa on them. Too soggy.

Speedway is new out west, taking over some old Shell stations in Tucson, and also out here in Cali. Really undercutting the competition. The Speedway near the campus I work at is 60 cents lower per gallon than the Chevron across the street. When it was Shell, the prices were similar.

[ASUHATER!]

Not sure if you guys have Speedway out there but I love their breakfast burritos. I just steer clear of any that have salsa on them. Too soggy.

Speedway is new out west, taking over some old Shell stations in Tucson, and also out here in Cali. Really undercutting the competition. The Speedway near the campus I work at is 60 cents lower per gallon than the Chevron across the street. When it was Shell, the prices were similar.

More than just shell stations. Valero and a bunch of other stuff. Last September in the course of a week or so like 1/3 of the gas stations in Tucson became speedway

[Longhorned]

Not sure if you guys have Speedway out there but I love their breakfast burritos. I just steer clear of any that have salsa on them. Too soggy.

Speedway is new out west, taking over some old Shell stations in Tucson, and also out here in Cali. Really undercutting the competition. The Speedway near the campus I work at is 60 cents lower per gallon than the Chevron across the street. When it was Shell, the prices were similar.

More than just shell stations. Valero and a bunch of other stuff. Last September in the course of a week or so like 1/3 of the gas stations in Tucson became speedway

I assumed the Speedway I always drive past on Speedway was the only Speedway in the world and named after the street it's on.

[Chicat]

There are like 4000 Speedways. It’s the third largest convenience chain in America behind 7/11 and Circle K.

[ASUHATER!]

There are like 4000 Speedways. It’s the third largest convenience chain in America behind 7/11 and Circle K.

Before they took over dozens of them in Tucson a few months ago I had literally never heard of or seen a speedway

[Merkin]

There are like 4000 Speedways. It’s the third largest convenience chain in America behind 7/11 and Circle K.

Before they took over dozens of them in Tucson a few months ago I had literally never heard of or seen a speedway

Same here. Note Speedway is not Tier One so I wouldn't go there anyway. Costco and Arco both sell Tier One gasoline.

Speedway convenience stores arrive in Tucson after major merger
David Wichner Aug 25, 2019

https://tucson.com/business/speedway-co ... 1799f.html" target="_blank

[SCCats]

I think I saw my first one ever driving through Sedona a week ago.

It’s odd to find out they’re huge.

[Chicat]

Here in Indiana there are literally 2-3 in every town if not more.

[CatsbyAZ]

Back when I was a teenager in the military, the Navy made us newbies take a counter intelligence class before we deployed. One of the points we were taught was how to spot a "fake American," namely by their accent. The North American English pronunciation of "Th" as in Th-eater NOT Te-ater is unique. As is more unique the hard R as in waterrr NOT wat-ah like you hear from the Australians and British. And outside of English there's probably not another language that enunciates Th or R the way we North American speakers do.

Which leads me to the random thought...

For anyone who's ever worked with kids, ever notice that it's not until 4 or 5 before they're able to pronounce the American Th and especially the hard R sound? Fire Truck sounds like Fy-ew Twuck. Ice Cream sounds like Ice Cweam. L can also be a difficult letter to master as well.

Which leads me to wonder whether the British and Australians pronounce the Th and especially R the way they do because the rest of the world's practice of speaking, other languages included, retains those pronunciations from childhood? We Americans are culturally the only area that retrain our speech for our unique pronunciations of Th and R?

If that Katy Perry song comes on late you and your crew really need that hard R to belt out Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me RRROARRR!

[Chicat]

That is definitely a random thought.

[ASUHATER!]

Always interesting. I watch a lot of linguistics stuff on YouTube and am always fascinated by accents and language facts.

[Chicat]

I took a cultural linguistics class over the summer at UA. It was 9 women (including the professor) and me.

There was a lot of conversation that went on like I wasn’t there, then eventually the prof would say, “Well, why don’t we get the male perspective?” and that was my cue to delicately chime in.

Biggest takeaway was that because way back in the day men hunted, they had to communicate silently so as not to scare away the game. Lots of looks, eye shifts, and other non-verbal cues. Meanwhile women gathered nuts, fruits, and veggies in groups and chattered the whole time making a ton of noise expressly to scare away bears, big cats, and other predators.

Fast forward 4000 years and when men and women talk, they do it in very different ways. When women speak to other women they keep interjecting “uh huh” and “oh yeah” and such while men who speak to other men will stay silent while listening. So when men and women talk, men think women are constantly interrupting while women think men aren’t listening.

[Longhorned]

I took a cultural linguistics class over the summer at UA. It was 9 women (including the professor) and me.

There was a lot of conversation that went on like I wasn’t there, then eventually the prof would say, “Well, why don’t we get the male perspective?” and that was my cue to delicately chime in.

Biggest takeaway was that because way back in the day men hunted, they had to communicate silently so as not to scare away the game. Lots of looks, eye shifts, and other non-verbal cues. Meanwhile women gathered nuts, fruits, and veggies in groups and chattered the whole time making a ton of noise expressly to scare away bears, big cats, and other predators.

Fast forward 4000 years and when men and women talk, they do it in very different ways. When women speak to other women they keep interjecting “uh huh” and “oh yeah” and such while men who speak to other men will stay silent while listening. So when men and women talk, men think women are constantly interrupting while women think men aren’t listening.

So then why is that when I say something like, "I'm going to see if I can use that grant to hire student researchers to collaborate on a project focused on the recent history of women's collegiate sports because...", my wife interrupts with something like, "Because you're hoping to get new archival documents out of Adia Barnes's file cabinets while donors pay for your sandwiches and maybe you get to rub elbows with Sean Miller at the same time."

No, that's not how I was going to finish that sentence. Can I continue now?

[Chicat]

I took a cultural linguistics class over the summer at UA. It was 9 women (including the professor) and me.

There was a lot of conversation that went on like I wasn’t there, then eventually the prof would say, “Well, why don’t we get the male perspective?” and that was my cue to delicately chime in.

Biggest takeaway was that because way back in the day men hunted, they had to communicate silently so as not to scare away the game. Lots of looks, eye shifts, and other non-verbal cues. Meanwhile women gathered nuts, fruits, and veggies in groups and chattered the whole time making a ton of noise expressly to scare away bears, big cats, and other predators.

Fast forward 4000 years and when men and women talk, they do it in very different ways. When women speak to other women they keep interjecting “uh huh” and “oh yeah” and such while men who speak to other men will stay silent while listening. So when men and women talk, men think women are constantly interrupting while women think men aren’t listening.

So then why is that when I say something like, "I'm going to see if I can use that grant to hire student researchers to collaborate on a project focused on the recent history of women's collegiate sports because...", my wife interrupts with something like, "Because you're hoping to get new archival documents out of Adia Barnes's file cabinets while donors pay for your sandwiches and maybe you get to rub elbows with Sean Miller at the same time."

That’s because she’s rude.

My mom LOVES to finish your sentence. Drives me up a wall. But sometimes I like to fuck with her.

“So that’s when I asked the waiter...”

“... for more water.”

“No, for him to take off his pants, because I really wanted to see...

“.... what he would do for a tip.”

“.... his dick.”

[dovecanyoncat]

Apropos this, I humbly submit Dylan Moran:

[Merkin]

I took a cultural linguistics class over the summer at UA. It was 9 women (including the professor) and me.

So would you say you were a cunning linguist?

[Chicat]

I took a cultural linguistics class over the summer at UA. It was 9 women (including the professor) and me.

So would you say you were a cunning linguist?

Unfortunately none of them took me up on my offer to practice quadrilabial consonants after class.

[CalStateTempe]

Where’s the work status update thread?

Can’t find it...

Eh fuck it...

How do you trudge on when you hit that realization that your direct boss’s managerial style is old school/top down draconian bullshit and creates more problems than it solves, especially and irretrievably losing your confidence?

[azgreg]

Where’s the work status update thread?

Can’t find it...

Eh fuck it...

How do you trudge on when you hit that realization that your direct boss’s managerial style is old school/top down draconian bullshit and creates more problems than it solves, especially and irretrievably losing your confidence?

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1807" target="_blank

[CalStateTempe]

Where’s the work status update thread?

Can’t find it...

Eh fuck it...

How do you trudge on when you hit that realization that your direct boss’s managerial style is old school/top down draconian bullshit and creates more problems than it solves, especially and irretrievably losing your confidence?

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1807" target="_blank

Thanks! I searched the thread title but it said the words were too common to give me a hit

[RichardCranium]

Back when I was a teenager in the military, the Navy made us newbies take a counter intelligence class before we deployed. One of the points we were taught was how to spot a "fake American," namely by their accent. The North American English pronunciation of "Th" as in Th-eater NOT Te-ater is unique. As is more unique the hard R as in waterrr NOT wat-ah like you hear from the Australians and British. And outside of English there's probably not another language that enunciates Th or R the way we North American speakers do.

Which leads me to the random thought...

For anyone who's ever worked with kids, ever notice that it's not until 4 or 5 before they're able to pronounce the American Th and especially the hard R sound? Fire Truck sounds like Fy-ew Twuck. Ice Cream sounds like Ice Cweam. L can also be a difficult letter to master as well.

Which leads me to wonder whether the British and Australians pronounce the Th and especially R the way they do because the rest of the world's practice of speaking, other languages included, retains those pronunciations from childhood? We Americans are culturally the only area that retrain our speech for our unique pronunciations of Th and R?

If that Katy Perry song comes on late you and your crew really need that hard R to belt out Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me RRROARRR!

That is, as Merkin said, definitely a random thought. And full of wrongness.

Was your counter intelligence officer trying to make you believe Jack Kennedy was a 'fake American'?

The only time Australians would say "T-ater" is when they are talking about "Tater Tots".

Both Australians AND Americans sometimes say "Thee-EIGHT-er" and sometimes say "THEE-ah-ter" - is that what you were trying to convey? But some Americans say "Thee-eighter" too. Furthermore, in England and Australia its spelled "Theatre" - that is the 'original' spelling as it derives from French.

Americans (that is, Daniel Webster) changed the spelling of a lot of words.

My Grandmother always called her hometown "Dee-TROY-It" even though most of the rest of the family called it "Dee-TROYT". Which of us are the 'fake Americans'?

[Longhorned]

This Superbowl halftime show. Who is that? Gloria Estefan? I have no idea who this person is.

[UAEebs86]

This Superbowl halftime show. Who is that? Gloria Estefan? I have no idea who this person is.

Shakira first then Jennifer Lopez

[azgreg]

There's no way Jennifer Lopez is 50 years old.

[Longhorned]

That was Jennifer Lopez? Well then how old is Gloria Estefan? If 'Hansen' played, would they look like my colleagues in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences?

[UAEebs86]

That was Jennifer Lopez? Well then how old is Gloria Estefan? If 'Hansen' played, would they look like my colleagues in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences?

The group Hanson, or Greg Hansen?

[Longhorned]

Woops, I got caught being a pretend Hanson fan.

[dovecanyoncat]

There's no way Jennifer Lopez is 50 years old.

Pfft. I'm so sick of JLo. Besides, Jimmy Garoppolo is prettier.

[Longhorned]

[97cats]

i would willingly get pink eye for Gracie Hunt

[ghostwhitehorse]

[Chicat]

Was thinking about WWII soldiers and their girls they had to leave behind...


Young couple. He goes off to war. She goes to work in the propeller factory.

They write to each other often. Making plans to get married or start a family just as soon as he beats Hitler or the Japs and comes home.

Meanwhile, she goes out to bars 4 nights a week and fucks every 4F Jody who was still around in their area. And he bangs whores every time he’s got some time off the front lines. One or both of them catch a venereal disease.

He comes home. They restart their lives. Buy a cute place in the suburbs and a new Chevy. They go on to have a bunch of kids and grandkids and great grandkids.

Everyone marvels at how their love lasted for decades and survived being an ocean apart. Everyone aspires to that kind of devotion.

Meanwhile, grandma was a total slut who got bent over the back counter of the soda fountain more times than she could count, and grandpa was halfway serious about bringing that cute little Belgian/Taiwanese chickie who did that crazy thing with her mouth back home with him.

Grandpa and Grandma used to love to fuck.

Ah yes.... the Greatest Generation

[scumdevils86]

Was thinking about WWII soldiers and their girls they had to leave behind...


Young couple. He goes off to war. She goes to work in the propeller factory.

They write to each other often. Making plans to get married or start a family just as soon as he beats Hitler or the Japs and comes home.

Meanwhile, she goes out to bars 4 nights a week and fucks every 4F Jody who was still around in their area. And he bangs whores every time he’s got some time off the front lines. One or both of them catch a venereal disease.

He comes home. They restart their lives. Buy a cute place in the suburbs and a new Chevy. They go on to have a bunch of kids and grandkids and great grandkids.

Everyone marvels at how their love lasted for decades and survived being an ocean apart. Everyone aspires to that kind of devotion.

Meanwhile, grandma was a total slut who got bent over the back counter of the soda fountain more times than she could count, and grandpa was halfway serious about bringing that cute little Belgian/Taiwanese chickie who did that crazy thing with her mouth back home with him.

Grandpa and Grandma used to love to fuck.

Ah yes.... the Greatest Generation

As someone who has read hundreds of ww2 vet memoirs and biographies this is great and rather true. It is nice when the memoir actually acknowledges this part of the experience.