Day: July 12, 2017

anaisnein:

argumate:

fnord888:

argumate:

fnord888:

argumate:

Imagine that you’re twenty years old. You were born in 1996. You were five years old on 9/11. For as long as you can remember, the United States has been at war.

Imagine that you’re thirty years old. You were born in 1986. You were four years old when Iraq invaded Kuwait. For as long as you can remember, the United States has been at war.

Imagine that you’re forty years old. You were born in 1976. You were seven years old when the Beirut barracks were bombed. For as long as you can remember the United States has been at war.

Imagine that you’re fifty years old. You were born in 1966. You were nine years old when Saigon fell. For as long as you can remember, the United States has been at war.

Imagine that you’re two hundred and twenty years old. You were born in 1796. You were five years old when the Barbary Pirates demanded tribute. For as long as you can remember, the United States has been at war.

I don’t think this is right. Now, maybe part of this is I was born in 1987 instead of 1986, so I don’t actually remember the (first) Gulf War itself. But it seems like the Gulf War was finished, and America went back to not being at war for the rest of the 90s.

Gulf War in ‘91

Battle of Mogadishu in ‘93

Yugoslavia in ‘99

it was a fairly low-key decade admittedly, what with the collapse of the USSR.

Ahh, I see the misunderstanding.

War has always been a thing that happened. But what wasn’t true before (for the us; significant caveat) is that war is a thing that’s always happening.

Before, war kept happening, but (again, for people in the us) it was a thing that happened and then finished. It wasn’t something that was always happening as an ongoing process. That’s the distinction the post is drawing.

If we say the cold war ran from ‘46 to ‘91, and the war on terror ran from ‘01 to the present day, then there was an unusual ten year gap in what was otherwise permanent war.

This jibes with my impressions as someone who came to consciousness of these things during the last years of the Cold War. I miss the 90s, for a lot of reasons.

jenniferrpovey:

nimthecat:

jenniferrpovey:

lanthir:

jenniferrpovey:

yesterdaysprint:

The Oskaloosa Independent, Kansas, August 25, 1877

And grocery store cashiers have to stand to this day. Are there any retail workers in the US who have the privilege of sitting down? I worked in a store with no chairs in it. Or stools. Or anything else to sit on.

Aldi is the only chain store I can think of in the US that permits sitting or leaning on the clock, and iirc they are not US based.  Some non-chain establishments allow cashiers to sit, but in my observation it’s uncommon.

I believe they are a UK chain.

Aldi is German.

Thank you. I know there are some in the UK as well.

Source: yesterdaysprint

Cats Are Actually Nice, Scientists Find

withasmoothroundstone:

bogleech:

All my life I’ve heard non-cat people insisting cats don’t love you and just want food but actual scientific testing confirms what anyone with cats already knows, that given the choice they would actually rather see their people first than just eat.

Now if anyone who is so fond of acting superior about “knowing” that cats only show affection to manipulate people into getting them something/doing what they want, would read this…

Also:  I’m bothered that the assumption is always that animals are basically fuzzy robots unless proven otherwise by scientists.  I don’t think it should take a scientist to understand when someone loves you.  It reminds me of how when autistic people say we have empathy, someone always comes along and demands scientific proof.  Anyone else can say they have empathy and be believed – even many people who are lying about having empathy, will be believed over autistic people telling the truth about ourselves.  Unless we produce scientific evidence.  I’m sick of having to produce scientific evidence for my reality, in ordinary discussions with everyday people, who don’t require scientific evidence of each other when making such claims about themselves.

Cats Are Actually Nice, Scientists Find