Season 12 Chit Chat Thread

[djsurrey]

1 hour ago, veejay said:

S6/EP7 The Habitation Configuration
S: Get the Mad Hatter on the horn, I'm having a Tea Party.

This one is quite a stretch.

1 hour ago, veejay said:

S2/E19 The Dead Hooker Juxtaposition
That was, I think, the only visible political reference.
(Maybe it was just a typo and the original means: hilarious.)

However, there were also some isolated verbal clues:

S5/E13 The Recombination Hypothesis
L: We are next to a Subaru with a Gore/Lieberman bumper sticker.
S: Well, I doubt they'd want to talk about that, so we're fine.

Wow you are on top of this! 👍

Gore --- What might have been different.  **sigh**.

Edited July 22, 2018 by djsurrey

[joyceraye]

Do you have a continuing official Opposition in the US, with a leader and a shadow cabinet paid to play Devil's Advocate, open debates and offer an alternative to the current Government ?

[djsurrey]

22 minutes ago, joyceraye said:

Do you have a continuing official Opposition in the US, with a leader and a shadow cabinet paid to play Devil's Advocate, open debates and offer an alternative to the current Government ?

Their system is very different to a parliamentary system. I believe it was intentional to not follow the British model. So no. 

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_States

Quote

One of the theoretical pillars of the U.S. Constitution is the idea of "checks and balances" among the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of American government: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. For example, while the legislative branch (Congress) has the power to create law, the executive branch under the president can veto any legislation—an act which, in turn, can be overridden by Congress.[4] The president nominates judges to the nation's highest judiciary authority, the Supreme Court, but those nominees must be approved by Congress. The Supreme Court, in turn, can invalidate unconstitutional laws passed by the Congress.

 

Edited July 22, 2018 by djsurrey
quote added

[veejay]

42 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

This one is quite a stretch.

Is "tea party" a common term in English? Like "coffee klatsch"? I don’t know. 😉

[djsurrey]

3 minutes ago, veejay said:

Is "tea party" a common term in English? Like "coffee klatsch"? I don’t know. 😉

In that case it was a clear reference to the Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland because of the Mad Hatter.

 

[veejay]

Ah, thanks. I hadn't got that and I thought it was also a name of a cocktail.  LOL
These childhood memories are long time gone.

Edited July 22, 2018 by veejay

[joyceraye]

5 minutes ago, veejay said:

Is "tea party" a common term in English? Like "coffee klatsch"? I don’t know. 😉

Tea is a meal eaten in late afternoon or early evening. You can make a party of it which we'd call a tea party but it's mostly for children these days. The one Amy, Bernie and Penny went to turned out to be mainly for children. Sometimes a child and her toys have the party. Adults are more likely to have a dinner party later in the evening. It depends what's fashionable. I've never heard of a coffee klatsch. Is that like a coffee morning ?

[djsurrey]

from https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-VII.html

Quote

... 

`They were learning to draw,' the Dormouse went on, yawning and rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; `and they drew all manner of things--everything that begins with an M--'

`Why with an M?' said Alice.

`Why not?' said the March Hare.

Alice was silent.

The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with a little shriek, and went on: `--that begins with an M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness-- you know you say things are "much of a muchness"--did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?'

`Really, now you ask me,' said Alice, very much confused, `I don't think--'

`Then you shouldn't talk,' said the Hatter.

This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot.

`At any rate I'll never go there again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. `It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!'

 

[joyceraye]

43 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

Quote

One of the theoretical pillars of the U.S. Constitution is the idea of "checks and balances" among the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of American government: the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. For example, while the legislative branch (Congress) has the power to create law, the executive branch under the president can veto any legislation—an act which, in turn, can be overridden by Congress.[4] The president nominates judges to the nation's highest judiciary authority, the Supreme Court, but those nominees must be approved by Congress. The Supreme Court, in turn, can invalidate unconstitutional laws passed by the Congress.

We have the three branches of government too - The Legislature, The Judiciary and the Executive. We don't have Separation of Powers,however, but Convergence of Powers and they are supposed to overlap. Since Tony Blair started playing with his little friend George we have had a 'Supreme Court'  consisting of  top judges who used to sit in the House of Lords as Law Lords but who now sit in an office across the road. They still have some say in law making. The Executive to us is the Civil Service whose job it is to carry out the wishes of Parliament and has no power to override. The Head of each department of the Executive is called a Minister or Secretary of State and is an MP appointed from the House of Commons or a Peer appointed from the House of Lords. The largest Party that's not in Government provides Opposition spokesmen called Shadow Ministers whose job it is to criticise the Government Minister's policy but can't do anything about it.

 

ETA  By 'we' I'm referring to the United Kingdom. There are additional parliaments or assemblies for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales but England doesn't have one.

9 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

from https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-VII.html

 

Yes, that's a tea party.

Edited July 22, 2018 by joyceraye

[veejay]

14 minutes ago, joyceraye said:

Tea is a meal eaten in late afternoon or early evening. You can make a party of it which we'd call a tea party but it's mostly for children these days. The one Amy, Bernie and Penny went to turned out to be mainly for children. Sometimes a child and her toys have the party. Adults are more likely to have a dinner party later in the evening. It depends what's fashionable. I've never heard of a coffee klatsch. Is that like a coffee morning ?

So that was a "tea party“, right? 😁

..and in terms of "coffee klatsch“ (Klatsch = klatch):

S: Okay, I don't know where you just came from, but it couldn't have been a team meeting because I wasn't there. Ergo, the team did not meet.
L: Okay, let me try it this way: I was at a coffee klatch with a couple of friends, and one thing led to another, and it turns out you're off the team.
S1/E13 The Bat Jar Conjecture

[joyceraye]

3 minutes ago, veejay said:

So that was a "tea party“, right? 😁

..and in terms of "coffee klatsch“ (Klatsch = klatch):

S: Okay, I don't know where you just came from, but it couldn't have been a team meeting because I wasn't there. Ergo, the team did not meet.
L: Okay, let me try it this way: I was at a coffee klatch with a couple of friends, and one thing led to another, and it turns out you're off the team.
S1/E13 The Bat Jar Conjecture

I'd forgotten about the tea party they'd planned for Amy's hen do. Thanks ! I was thinking about the one they went to in an hotel all dressed up with Amy wearing her tiara.

[djsurrey]

13 minutes ago, veejay said:

So that was a "tea party“, right? 😁

..and in terms of "coffee klatsch“ (Klatsch = klatch):

S: Okay, I don't know where you just came from, but it couldn't have been a team meeting because I wasn't there. Ergo, the team did not meet.
L: Okay, let me try it this way: I was at a coffee klatch with a couple of friends, and one thing led to another, and it turns out you're off the team.
S1/E13 The Bat Jar Conjecture

Oh. Okay. I'm just not old enough to have run into the term in regular use.
from https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/coffee-klatch/

Quote

Coffee klatches were popular in the 1950s, when it was common for women to stay home with the kids. Ladies would get together with neighbors, discussing the latest updates in everyone’s lives. There would usually be something to munch on, too, like cookies to dunk in your coffee. It was a great way to spend a morning.

The Modern Day Coffee Klatch

Coffee klatches still exist today, though the term has become almost extinct. 

In your original reference to Tea Party it sounded like you were thinking of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement 

Edited July 22, 2018 by djsurrey

[veejay]

Ha, look around here. It's always time for a fun klat(*s)ch and gossip (*Tratsch).
*German

[djsurrey]

For most of my life when I heard of tea party people were either talking about a kids make believe party:

or the Mad Tea Party from Alice in wonderland.

[veejay]

16 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

For most of my life when I heard of tea party people were either talking about a kids make believe party

It's a good thing you didn't have to listen to some  "Besserwisser" back then. 😁

[son-goku5]

1 hour ago, joyceraye said:

Do you have a continuing official Opposition in the US, with a leader and a shadow cabinet paid to play Devil's Advocate, open debates and offer an alternative to the current Government ?

It's tough in a 2-party system to have effective opposition if one party controls the White House and both branches of congress. And it becomes even harder if the party in control slowly but surely becomes a russian intelligence asset (there are several indicators that this is happening)

 

 

1 hour ago, joyceraye said:

I've never heard of a coffee klatsch. Is that like a coffee morning ?

Coffee klatsch, or Kaffeeklatsch, as it is known in Germany is in essence a gathering of (usually) women for coffee and cake in the afternoon where they share gossip (klatsch) with each other. And, as it is with several other names for things, Americans simply took the german word for it ^^ Otherwise, the act would be called coffee gossip.

[joyceraye]

22 minutes ago, son-goku5 said:

It's tough in a 2-party system to have effective opposition if one party controls the White House and both branches of congress. And it becomes even harder if the party in control slowly but surely becomes a russian intelligence asset (there are several indicators that this is happening)

Most of the time we too have a two-party system, with a third one cropping up occasionally and seeming for a while to be growing. We usually have the larger/largest party forming the government ( known as Her Majesty's Government ) and the second largest forming the opposition (known as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition ). It can and often does apply to both Houses. How effective an Opposition is depends on its size and how strong the Government party is. From over here it looks as though if  any US citizens don't like the President there's nobody to rally round.

22 minutes ago, son-goku5 said:

 

 

Coffee klatsch, or Kaffeeklatsch, as it is known in Germany is in essence a gathering of (usually) women for coffee and cake in the afternoon where they share gossip (klatsch) with each other. And, as it is with several other names for things, Americans simply took the german word for it ^^ Otherwise, the act would be called coffee gossip.

We have coffee mornings where they do the same thing.They're very often held for the purpose of fundraising. Sometimes there's a raffle and small stall selling goods. 

[djsurrey]

9 hours ago, veejay said:

It's a good thing you didn't have to listen to some  "Besserwisser" back then. 😁

Actually in grade nine I had a good friend who was exactly that. They gave us a bunch of aptitude tests that year and he got 99 percentile on every one. He had been home schooled in lower grades and his dad was a university professor. He was not impressed by his teachers.

[Die Zimtzicke]

27 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

Actually in grade nine I had a good friend who was exactly that. They gave us a bunch of aptitude tests that year and he got 99 percentile on every one. He had been home schooled in lower grades and his dad was a university professor. He was not impressed by his teachers.

I had a friend like that as well. She thought because she was so  smart, such high scores on tests and such high grades that she'd get out of college and get handed a high paying job and was quite shocked when she didn't. Of course she had a bachelor's degree in psychology which is almost worthless unless you also get a Masters. Tons of people told her that but she wouldn't listen. She thought she would be different because she had been told all her life she was special.

[djsurrey]

On 7/21/2018 at 6:57 PM, Nogravitasatall said:

I’m not an Australian monarchist however... the Queen and the Suxesses are sometimes endearing.

I don't think the monarchy is a decisive issue of our day. Will we forge forward to solve the big issues facing the whole world or we allow petty narcissists rule the day.

Edited July 23, 2018 by djsurrey
took out link to FT story.

[Nogravitasatall]

1 hour ago, djsurrey said:

I don't think the monarchy is a decisive issue of our day. Will we forge forward to solve the big issues facing the whole world or we allow petty narcissists rule the day.

from https://www.ft.com/content/a5762736-8c01-11e8-affd-da9960227309

FT has a paywall. 😀 Sorry

Yes, I’m, as an aside, noting a couple of examples of cute people in an obsolete aristocracy and the relatively benign monarch as a head of state - who even if she weren’t benign would still be largely legally powerless.  Thailand has had a change of monarch, and I don’t think it’s going as smoothly as they’d hoped. So the success of a monarchy relies on an element of luck. That’s awkward for that system. But a popular constitutional monarch gives demagogues a counterweight. Trump is getting on so well because Congress is so degraded and useless as a check, and politics made it so.

I can’t do anything about Trump except bitch. He has to be voted away by his citizens, as do his enablers. They are not a majority, it’s just that those that do comprise the majority are largely disengaged, distracted or obstructed. I'm hopeful that November will put some brakes on him, if he doesn’t cancel the elections,

And technically I think he is a malignant narcissist. Or so I’ve heard him described. I did buy the book by the shrinks with their obligation to warn. But he certainly is petty. Look what he did to the FBI guy and his pension. And he allegedly used his own charity to pay his own bills, maybe even his own son’s Boy Scout fee. Pathetic, if true.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Nogravitasatall

[son-goku5]

5 hours ago, Nogravitasatall said:

And technically I think he is a malignant narcissist. Or so I’ve heard him described. I did buy the book by the shrinks with their obligation to warn. But he certainly is petty. Look what he did to the FBI guy and his pension. And he allegedly used his own charity to pay his own bills, maybe even his own son’s Boy Scout fee. Pathetic, if true.

He's not just a malignant narcissist and petty. He's also an egomaniac, and even worse, he's delusional. I believe that everything he says he thinks is true in his head and he acts accordingly. Just look at some of his tweets. In one, he said "The good news is, you're favorite president did nothing wrong!"

My first thought was, "Of course, Obama did nothing wrong" before I realized that he really believes himself to be America's favorite president.

[veejay]

Clearly, neither America nor its allies can afford to continue the deception that Trump is competent in any way.

This fraud has already damaged the U.S. to the degree that it will take decades to repair the political infrastructure, global reputation and probably also many of citizen psyches.

Maybe we need something other than digital protest to make a significant difference. Otherwise we can all stare at our phones and other gadgets while this world dies away.

Maybe it's time to take to the streets.

[djsurrey]

29 minutes ago, veejay said:

Clearly, neither America nor its allies can afford to continue the deception that Trump is competent in any way.

This fraud has already damaged the U.S. to the degree that it will take decades to repair the political infrastructure, global reputation and probably also many of citizen psyches.

Maybe we need something other than digital protest to make a significant difference. Otherwise we can all stare at our phones and other gadgets while this world dies away.

Maybe it's time to take to the streets.

I think the most important thing to do is speak the truth. Particularly to people you are close to.  I'm not such a big fan of taking to the streets. It can have unintended and tragic consequences because shady people take advantage and start riots and looting.

[veejay]

43 minutes ago, djsurrey said:

I think the most important thing to do is speak the truth. Particularly to people you are close to.  I'm not such a big fan of taking to the streets. It can have unintended and tragic consequences because shady people take advantage and start riots and looting.

That’s also freedom of speech. In a democratic state governed by the rule of law, I take it for granted that it should be respected. This may be strange to the informal and amoral egoists of today, which is bad enough on its own, but must not lead to anxiety psychoses among the population of these countries.
Anything else would be like a dictatorship. As a German, I learned first-hand what this can mean.
(I do not only mean the "Third Reich", but also the situation in the so-called "German Democratic Republic". In Berlin I had a privileged observation point at that time.)

Edited July 23, 2018 by veejay