Hi,
The week is done and so the call of the weekend begins. Somehow I clocked up three miles of walking today. I say this as a reason why I had a nap after tea, rather than as an achievement. 😁
Today’s post – usually given the last few – may be more upbeat, but will continue in the usual vein of claptrap and bunkum.
What an amazing title for a quirky old shop that sells rare curios and books…. Some, mais out, may be of eldritch enhancement, but never cursed. Ïä, ïä 🐙
Thursday
Due to an unfortunate clash of fortunate events, I was in Bloke Mode again this time around. The good news is that Child 2.0 had dinner very well at school, bless them, and the awards evening meant a slight delay in getting to Chams HQ.
Luckily, the school event wasn’t as long as listed and I ended up being the first person to arrive. Ho hum and apologies to Val, who’d kindly agreed to arrive early to open up.
The evening itself was busy and numbers were up. Andie was in town, and. they’d arranged a meal out with Sascha, Ann, and Izzy. I had hoped to have joined them, but the school event stomped on those plans. In the well enunciated words of Mr Hugh Grant: “Bugger” 😕
Still, much merriment, conversation, and tea & biscuits was had. Seeing my friends again really pepped me up 💜
Simplicity
Maybe it’s my odd view of the world, but I’ve always been someone who struggles with rules. Perhaps it’s my yet to be diagnosed ADHD, idea bombing often over simplistic views. That and curious & empathy around those would be affected.
That or I’m just a contrary arse.
(Obligatory “no, I’m not” joke goes here)
Case in point: this lovely wee sketch a friend shared with me:
The more you try to narrow things down, the less that can make sense. You end up with addendums, tweaks, clauses, and – if you’re unlucky – triggering the Rule of Unintended Consequences.
So, why am I sharing this? I feel that the above soup sketch – and that’s not easy to say with these teeth 😉 – is an excellent example of a very complex situation…. and one that’s mostly driven, IMO, by agreed convention and culture.
For those of you expecting the Number 10 bus, bing bing! It’s arrived and, yes, next stop Transgenderville 🙂 All aboard and careful on those stairs in those shoes!
As with the soup video, there are no hard and fast rules you can use, IMO. The more you try to narrow your focus, the more that pesky reality and inconvenient evidence starts to come to the fore.
This gem of a diagram on the complexities around sex determination and that’s before we get into said expression, innate sense of self, and society.
Yet, we mostly get by by accepting a person as they present or describe. You say you’re of mixed race, well, that would be rude to ask you to prove that or disagree. If you say you have accessibility needs, again, I don’t ask to see your medical notes. If you say you can’t eat a certain food for dietary reasons, medical restrictions, religious beliefs, veggie views (including us part timer flexitarians 👋), or simply because it’s not your bag. Well, yeah, again rudeness to start having a go at you over those things.
Perhaps elements of our society need to chill out a little and just let soup be soup. You say it’s broth and it’s soup, I’m cool with that. You say custard isn’t, that’s fine to.
There’s more important threats to us as a species – Climate Change, recession, cost of living, etc – than playing at dividing people according to one size fits all rules.
L x
I know this is a sideline to the main point of this post but I would say that Soup is generally stock based and mainly liquid. Many classifications get fuzzy at the boundaries and custom and practice often have a bearing, technically tomatoes are fruit but because they taste savory we tend to treat them as vegetables.
Some things are classified based on what is inside rather than simply the look of the end result and I guess for some people taking the time to find out what is inside rather than just looking at the outside is a bit too much effort.
Thank you for continuing to do what you do, it is important
Thanks Cathy. The soup thing is obviously comedic and like a lot of things in life, IMO, taking a certain view a little further can lead to much absurdity.
I’m fairly sure we won’t see protesters outside the greengrocer: Let Tommies Be Fruit! Vs Make Salads Just Veggies Again 😉
We, as humans, do take shortcuts by assuming things based on appearance. I guess it’s a survival trick. “No, don’t stereotype the tiger. Hashtag Not All Tigers. It might be fri – argh, get it off me! Hit it with sticks!!” 😉
But silliness aside, perhaps if we did as you say, to take the time to find out, things would be a bit better for all of us. Maybe a sprinkling of empathy to help us understand too.
“Two soups” is definitely comedic anyway.
You might see grammarian activists protesting outside greengrocers that “tomato’s” is an incorrect use of the possessive apostrophe.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting in a fruit salad.
Oh! How could I have forgotten Two Soups. That’s such a good sketch. Mrs J and I will still say “one tea…. and another tea” (or whatever drink or snack we’re having).
Do said grammar folk also pick up on “Barclays”? I think Bernardo’s is back to how it was, after a brief flirt as a Spanish form: Bernardos 😉 I think the local universities have Students’ Union on their signage.
Excellent quip on knowledge and wisdom. 😁
Chams always cheers you up. Maybe every day should be Chamday. 🙂
There are two types of people in this world. Those who divide the world into types of people, and those who don’t. …An old gag, that one. And an old gag stuffed down the throat of some of those loud compartmentalisers might be a good thing.
Sue x
There are three types of people: those who understand maths and those who don’t. Or, if you prefer, there are two types of people: those who can extrapolate from incomplete information. Or, in extreme cases, there are 10 types of people: those who understand binary and those that don’t.
Don’t worry, I’m not here all week.
See also: there are two types of people in the world. People who say there are two types of people, and those you like 😁
Thank you, I’m weak all here 😉
I heard a while back:
There are 10 types of people in this world.
-Those unfamiliar with binary
-Those who understand binary
-And the rare individual who was expecting a Base 3 joke
🙂
Proper LOL for the base three joke 😁
Feelings of community, being able to fully be yourself, to be – or not to be – fabulous, and good company – what’s not to like? 💜
I once thought I was being very clever on social media posting a thing about whether a bowl of milk and cereal and milk was soup. I forgot I had a friend who was a chef, and got a very long and pedantic answer in the negative!
I’m with you on cereal and milk is just a fishless non savory non veggie chowder 😁
In the words of the People’s Poet, Rick: “Fascist!” 😉