The Whine thread.

[TPoptarts]

^ Um... yeah. The problem is that sorta thing would like totally get me arrested here.

[Alelou]

Believe it or not there's a whole movement of people in Manhattan who have quit their jobs to scrounge food from dumpsters and so forth. They do pretty well. They even offer tours to show people all the good spots.

So if you're truly in dire straits, stake out a bagel shop or something and look for those big bags they put out at closing time...

I hope you didn't choose a backpack over food.

[Mitchell]

Go outside (wear your backpack). Lurk around the edges of things. Scrounge up some string and set a few snares along the bottom of the local hedges. You should at least be able to nail a squirrel or two. Start a campfire out back and roast that sucker. Think of it as valuable historical studies.

Yuck! I hope for her sake she snares a Rabbit instead.

Believe it or not there's a whole movement of people in Manhattan who have quit their jobs to scrounge food from dumpsters and so forth. They do pretty well. They even offer tours to show people all the good spots.

So if you're truly in dire straits, stake out a bagel shop or something and look for those big bags they put out at closing time...

I hope you didn't choose a backpack over food.

I think I should be totaly dissgusted by the idea of scroungin through Garbage cans for food,,, But then Again Ive swollowed some pretty disgusting things in my life, that only a dung beatle would consider food.

[Alelou]

I don't get easily disgusted. You grow your own food, you pick the slugs off yourself, you bite down on the occasional larva in there, c'est la vie. It's still food. Do people think this stuff doesn't grow in dirt in the first place? If I were hungry I'd have no shame at all in dumpster diving. The real shame is all that food going to waste. At least compost the stuff.

Not that I'd feel particularly proud if all my neighbors were watching me scrounge.

[blacknblue]

I don't get easily disgusted. You grow your own food, you pick the slugs off yourself, you bite down on the occasional larva in there, c'est la vie. It's still food. Do people think this stuff doesn't grow in dirt in the first place? If I were hungry I'd have no shame at all in dumpster diving. The real shame is all that food going to waste. At least compost the stuff.

Not that I'd feel particularly proud if all my neighbors were watching me scrounge.

If your neighbors were watching you scrounge, instead of offering to help you out, then they would be the ones who deserved to feel shame.

[hth2k]

We have lots of people going through the trash all the time at the condo complex. Most want the bottles and cans for recycling. Others, well who knows. I saw one guy come out of the trash can corral next door with several pieces of lumber that someone left there. Haven't seen anyone digging for food as far as I know.

Most of the homeless/bums hang out either on a street corner with a cardboard sign and collect cash or go to a burger stand and ask for food. I have bought an extra meal for someone many times. Rather do than than give them cash for booze.

Most cities snd towns have places to go if someone is hungry.

HtH

[Alelou]

Better someone should take that lumber out of the dumpster then it ends up in some landfill. That's why I like freecycle.org. If I have something someone else might find useful I can put it up there instead of throwing it out. Well, I might still have to throw it out if nobody wants it (X-Files mags, anyone?), but I have successfully gotten rid of old sofas and exercise equipment and tables and chairs and Star Trek crap and such to people who were very happy to have them. And I have managed to get my hands on video game parts for my kid and pallets someone needed to get rid of.

Finally remembered the name of that dumpster-diving movement -- "freegans." They even have their own website: http://freegan.info/

I'm a fan of simple living, but these people give me the willies.

For a far more rational and individualistic approach to simple living: http://www.simpleliving.net/main/

By the way, Your Money or Your Life is a truly excellent resource for anyone who has issues with debt and overspending.

[blacknblue]

LOL

I learned about simple living by necessity. I got too sick to work, had social security refuse me for three years until I could get it in front of a judge, lost everything I own and destroyed my credit rating completely. Now I live the simple life because I have no choice. And I love it. I would not go back to the yuppie, 70 hour work weeks, multi-credit card, new car, ulcer, maximum stress lifestyle for any inducement whatsoever.

[CX]

I've done some dumpster diving myself for stuff. I got a nice office chair and some old computers to play with out of it.

[blacknblue]

A nice office chair? Have you priced those things lately?

[Entilzha]

Got finally home today around midday and I'm bone tired but not sleepy. My yesterdays work day ended today 1AM (a 16 hour work day). We had to finish indoor stage lighting system and dismantle a scaffolding because this weekend there are going to be some event in the place we were installing them. Because we were so late we had to stay in a hotel one night more because my partner was in no shape to drive. Luckily there were no problems so everything started to work right after turning the power on.

[blacknblue]

I am so tired....


http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/ ... 45,00.html

Student researching al-Qaida tactics held for six days


· Lecturers fear threat to academic freedom
· Manual downloaded from US government website

Polly Curtis and Martin Hodgson
Saturday May 24, 2008
The Guardian

A masters student researching terrorist tactics who was arrested and detained for six days after his university informed police about al-Qaida-related material he downloaded has spoken of the "psychological torture" he endured in custody.

Despite his Nottingham University supervisors insisting the materials were directly relevant to his research, Rizwaan Sabir, 22, was held for nearly a week under the Terrorism Act, accused of downloading the materials for illegal use. The student had obtained a copy of the al-Qaida training manual from a US government website for his research into terrorist tactics....

------article truncated. more on site------------

Excerpted from "The Old Issue"
by Rudyard Kipling

...Howso' great their clamour, whatsoe'er their claim,
Suffer not the old King under any name!

Here is naught unproven —- here is naught to learn.
It is written what shall fall if the King return.

He shall mark our goings, question whence we came,
Set his guards about us, as in Freedom's name.

He shall take a tribute, toll of all our ware;
He shall change our gold for arms —- arms we may not bear.

He shall break his judges if they cross his word;
He shall rule above the Law calling on the Lord.

He shall peep and mutter; and the night shall bring
Watchers 'neath our window, lest we mock the King -—

Hate and all division; hosts of hurrying spies;
Money poured in secret, carrion breeding flies.

Strangers of his counsel, hirelings of his pay,
These shall deal our Justice: sell -— deny -— delay....

[TPoptarts]

^ Dude that's like totally messed up

Whine: I have this 40 year old cagemate and she likes to talk and talk and talk all the time, and like all she talks about is the "cute guys" she sees here and how they're all like half her age etc, gah and the cagemates wanna have a party with the "cute guys" in the room!!! Help me

[TPoptarts]

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH AND LIKE AFTER SHE ASKED ALL THE CAGEMATES IF THEY HAD BOYFRIENDS AND MY REACTION WAS "EWWWW" SHE SAID SHE'S GONNA FIND ME A BOYFRIEND AND WON'T LET IT GO UNTIL SHE DOES!!! LIKE DUDE WHAT PART OF "EWWWWW" DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!!!! WHAT THE FRELL!!!!

Help me

[JadziaKathryn]

Wow, bnb, that is absurd.

Sabir's solicitor, Tayab Ali, said: "This could have been dealt with sensibly if the university had discussed the issue with Rizwaan and his tutors..."

No kidding. It doesn't take a law degree to figure that out! Thirty seconds would've taken care of it: "What's this guy doing his thesis on? Why is this document on your computer? Oh, okay. Have a nice afternoon." That university (and government) was crazy, saying it's illegal material. Now, the US government has been accused, sometimes rightly, of doing many strange things. One thing they're pretty good at, though, is remembering not to post classified and/or illegal 1,500 page documents on their websites.

That poem is good, too. I'll have to read the whole thing.

I'm reminded of a DS9 episode where paranoia about Changelings infiltrating Earth was going to set in, and there was some quote to the effect of, "If they want to come here and ruin our paradise, they're going to have to do it themselves. We're not going to do it for them by letting fear take over." While I'm not saying Earth is currently a paradise, I think there's a sensible note in the idea of not ruining what we have in an effort to protect it.