Timewaster's Guide Archive

You're welcome.  I've always liked that quote.  I don't entirely agree with it, of course - some of my favorite stories and movies don't meet the standard.  Lord of the Rings, for instance - I don't remember any of the women interacting with each other.  Even in Mistborn, do Vin and Tindwyl ever talk to each other or to other women?  I suppose some of the ball scenes would count, if I could remember any of those noblewomen's names, or the content of their conversations.

(Sorry to take your thread off on a tangent, Reaves.)

I think what I loved about L'Engle, especially when I was younger, was that I related to her main characters.  Usually they are extraordinarily smart and talented girls, but somewhat less adept at connecting to their peers and fitting into the culture around them.  They are often stubborn, independent, and impatient with others' weaknesses.  I like the ways they grow, the things they learn, and the progress they make toward maturity - getting their social and emotional skills to catch up to their intellectual ones.

The last books are missing something lately...oh i know a mano e mano show down with Rand and a Forsaken... who does he off next?

Doesn't matter, they'll just get resurrected. 

Lard has roughly the same number of calories per gram as vegetable oil.  The difference is in the saturated fat and cholesterol.

I also have to mention ... Georgette Heyer who writes Historical Romance novels devoid of text-based porn.

I've loved Heyer's The Grand Sophy since I happened upon an old used copy once, but I haven't met anyone else who had heard of her.  I wholeheartedly second your recommendation!

That, combined with your liking of Madeleine L'Engle (another of my favorites), makes me want to try Jasper Fforde.

I use about that many tools, but that thing would be so unwieldy that it just wouldn't be worth it.

But do you use like 12 nearly-identical knives?  I mean, I can imagine using the pliers and screwdrivers and nailclippers and such (though, as you say, that tool would be too unwieldy to be practical), but an awful lot of those tools look to me like they would serve the same function.

*Remembers to buy Jade an iPod for his(her?) next birthday.

Ooh, I didn't know it was that easy.  Let me say, for the record, that I too would be annoyed if you got me an iPod for my birthday - or, for that matter, a laptop, or a serger, or a lot of dark chocolate...

Just so everyone is clear, SSI (Supplemental Security Income) is not the same thing as Social Security retirement benefits, survivor benefits, or disability benefits.  It's funded by general tax revenues rather than Social Security taxes.  The confusion comes partly from the similarity of acronyms, and partly because SSI is administered by the Social Security Administration.

I agree that we have far too many, and too extensive, entitlement programs; I see this as the largest single reason for the growing national debt.  However, as others have pointed out, it's very difficult to curtail a benefit once people come to believe that they have earned it, paid for it, and that it's been promised to them.  They come to depend on it, they make other financial decisions in the expectation of it, and it is not fair to deprive them of it - especially without adequate warning.

Aside from fairness, the other reason we can't get rid of entitlement programs is that our country has a bit of the compassion shared by most developed nations.  Few of us believe that our government ought to let people within its borders starve as a natural consequence of their own irresponsibility, laziness, or misfortune.  This same compassion is also the reason we don't turn people away from emergency rooms due to their lack of money, or public schools due to their legal residency status.  There is a certain minimum standard of living that we, as a society, wish to guarantee to everyone who lives here, regardless of whether their choices deserve it.  In my opinion, this minimum standard shows no signs of disappearing, but rather, will keep increasing with each new congress and administration until the country declares bankruptcy.