In Texas, Liberty Tree Tavern owner Kevin Smith decided that while he would change seating arrangements, he would not allow mask-wearing individuals into his bar. Under the impression that safety measures were being overdone and not necessary, Smith decided to post a sign outside of his bar’s door stating, “Sorry, no mask allowed.”
“If we’re only allowed to be at 25 percent capacity, I want them to be the 25 percent of people that aren’t p-----, that aren’t sheep,” Smith said. “Being scared all the time isn’t good for your health. It suppresses your immune system.” Smith argued that not only was wearing a mask unnecessary but that it prevents bartenders from properly doing their job, including seeing an individual’s face to verify their identity.
According to The Washington Post, in California, a flooring store not only prohibits customers from wearing a mask but encourages physical contact including hugs.More at The Daily Kos.
On Nov. 9, 1938, Helen Hulick, 28, wore slacks to court to testify against two men. Judge Arthur S. Guerin rescheduled the case, asking Hulick to return wearing a dress.
Hulick was quoted in the Nov. 10, 1938, Los Angeles Times. “You tell the judge I will stand on my rights. If he orders me to change into a dress I won’t do it. I like slacks. They’re comfortable.”..
In a scathing denunciation of slacks — which he prosaically termed pants — as courtroom attire for women, Municipal Judge Arthur S. Guerin yesterday again forbade Helen Hulick, 28, kindergarten teacher, to testify as a witness while dressed in green and orange leisure attire.
Miss Hulick, who Thursday was ordered to return to court in a dress, was called to testify by Dep. Dist. Atty. Russell Broker against two [men] accused of burglarizing her home.
“The court hereby orders and directs you to return tomorrow in accepted dress. If you insist on wearing slacks again you will be prevented from testifying because that would hinder the administration of justice. But be prepared to be punished according to law for contempt of court.”..
The next day, Hulick showed up in slacks. Judge Guerin held her in contempt. Given a five-day sentence, Hulick was sent to jail.
Some prefatory comments for readers not living in the U.S.:This unraveling presidency began with the Crybaby-in-Chief banging his spoon on his highchair tray to protest a photograph — a photograph — showing that his inauguration crowd the day before had been smaller than the one four years previous. Since then, this weak person’s idea of a strong person, this chest-pounding advertisement of his own gnawing insecurities, this low-rent Lear raging on his Twitter-heath has proven that the phrase malignant buffoon is not an oxymoron
Presidents, exploiting modern communications technologies and abetted today by journalists preening as the “resistance” — like members of the French Resistance 1940-1944, minus the bravery — can set the tone of American society, which is regrettably soft wax on which presidents leave their marks. The president’s provocations — his coarsening of public discourse that lowers the threshold for acting out by people as mentally crippled as he — do not excuse the violent few. They must be punished. He must be removed...
The nation’s downward spiral into acrimony and sporadic anarchy has had many causes much larger than the small man who is the great exacerbator of them. Most of the causes predate his presidency, and most will survive its January terminus. The measures necessary for restoration of national equilibrium are many and will be protracted far beyond his removal. One such measure must be the removal of those in Congress who, unlike the sycophantic mediocrities who cosset him in the White House, will not disappear “magically,” as Eric Trump said the coronavirus would. Voters must dispatch his congressional enablers, especially the senators who still gambol around his ankles with a canine hunger for petting...
Those who think our unhinged president’s recent mania about a murder two decades ago that never happened represents his moral nadir have missed the lesson of his life: There is no such thing as rock bottom. So, assume that the worst is yet to come...
The generic name, Uroplatus, is a Latinization of two Greek words: "ourá" (οὐρά) meaning "tail" and "platys" (πλατύς) meaning "flat". Its specific name phantasticus is the Latin word for "imaginary" based upon the gecko's unique appearance..The photo enlarges nicely with a click.
“Millennials don’t like to get naked—if you go to the gym now, everyone under 30 will put their underwear on under the towel, which is a massive cultural shift,” Jonah Disend, the founder of the branding consultancy Redscout, told Bloomberg last year. He said that designs for master-bedroom suites were evolving for much the same reason: “They want their own changing rooms and bathrooms, even in a couple.” The article concluded that however “digitally nonchalant” Millennials might seem—an allusion, maybe, to sexting—“they’re prudish in person.” Fitness facilities across the country are said to be renovating locker rooms in response to the demands of younger clients. “Old-timers, guys that are 60-plus, have no problem with a gang shower,” one gym designer told The New York Times, adding that Millennials require privacy.
Some observers have suggested that a new discomfort with nudity might stem from the fact that, by the mid-1990s, most high schools had stopped requiring students to shower after gym class. Which makes sense—the less time you spend naked, the less comfortable you are being naked. But people may also be newly worried about what they look like naked. A large and growing body of research reports that for both men and women, social-media use is correlated with body dissatisfaction. And a major Dutch study found that among men, frequency of pornography viewing was associated with concern about penis size. I heard much the same from quite a few men (“too hairy, not fit enough, not big enough in terms of penis size,” went one morose litany). According to research by Debby Herbenick, how people feel about their genitals predicts sexual functioning—and somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of people, perhaps influenced by porn or plastic-surgery marketing, feel negatively. The business of labiaplasty has become so lucrative, she told me in an email, “that you will actually see billboards (yes, billboards!) in some cities advertising it.”I don't know what it's like in schools and gyms nowadays, but I can confirm that in the 1960s we got naked together at the end of every school day while showering after sports, and in the summer while changing into/out of swimwear at public beaches.
... they uncovered a pristine mosaic that’s been hidden underneath feet of soil since the 3rd century. Situated in a private vineyard in the town of Negrar di Valpolicella, the tile flooring is believed to be part of an ancient Domus, the style of home owned by wealthy residents. Since October of 2019, excavators have been working to outline the building’s perimeters and dig for notable artifacts.Via Colossal, where there are additional photos and a video.
"It's a very unusual situation," said Robert Michaud, the co-ordinator for the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Network.
Michaud said that, as far as local marine biologists are aware, this is the first time a humpback whale made its way into Montreal waters. "This is a first for a humpback whale. We already had a beluga in the Old Port in 2012, a minke whale reluctantly a few years ago and more frequently seals also ventured to Montreal," Michaud said...
The whale appears to have travelled from Tadoussac, where it lives in salt water. Michaud said it can survive in fresh water, but the food and water around Montreal won't be as healthy.Photo via. More information at the CBC.
Circa 1906. "The Olbiston, Genesee Street, Utica, N.Y." Offering a mix of "bachelor and family apartments," the fireproof Olbiston, completed around 1900, still stands.*I've probably garbled the definitions in this post and will defer to well-informed readers when they (hopefully) provide the correct terminology. From what I read here, a "bay window" rises from the foundation for one or two stories, while the oriel does not reach the ground. The building above would probably be displaying "turrets."
Minnesota’s Twin Cities metro area has one of the country’s highest standards of living by many measures: high incomes, long life expectancy, a large number of corporate headquarters and a rich cultural scene.
But these headline statistics hide a problem: The Twin Cities also have some of the largest racial inequities in the U.S....
Samuel L. Myers Jr., an economist at the University of Minnesota, has named this combination “the Minnesota paradox.” Because the area is predominantly white, the racial gaps can get lost in the overall numbers...
“We so want to believe we are not racist,” Doug Hartmann, chairman of the University of Minnesota sociology department, has told The Star Tribune, “we don’t even see the way that race still matters.”The image below via Sloth Unleashed:
"When I got a good job in a low cost of living area where his job prospects were abysmal, he said he wanted to try his hand at being productive around the house, and see if he could come up with ways to save and make money from home.
He's knocking it out of the park! He grows fruits and vegetables in a huge garden, has some fruit and nut trees going, learned how to can, makes all our food from scratch, does a great job with the housework, keeps bees as a hobby so he can get out of the house and go to the local beekeeping association meetings, has made us lots of interesting friends who keep bees, homebrews all our beer, and last week he learned how to make soap. I'm proud of him. He sells produce and honey at the Farmers market on weekends during the growing season.
People act like he must sit around and play video games all day. The things they say are horrible. I had to stop talking to one friend because she told me to divorce him. It's crazy. If it was him working and me busting my butt at home, no one would say anything to me."Comment thread at the link.
