That's right, Tom, you went through this this morning. I'm a little worried about the boiler, but...running water! Flush! Flush!

I turn into such a whiney first world brat without running water. It's downright panic-making. Which is why I have probably 15 gallons of water stashed in jugs from the last time this happened.

I've been told most of my life that I don't look Jewish. Usually after someone makes an offensive remark about Jews and I inform them that I am one.

Once, after a one nighter, the boy i was with was making small talk about his neighborhood and said something about the "fucking niggers down the street."

I told him that I hoped he didn't have any issues with Jews since he just had his dick in one.

And that was the end of that.

I'm the past month I've had one co worker use the term "jew down" and another describe someone's eyes as "chinky."

Now I just wonder

Stop wondering. Arm yourself with the knowlege that people can be infinitely stupid and jackassed.

And perfect the slapdown.

And that was the end of that.

No doubt!

perfect the slapdown.

Mostly I have a quizzical look that at least stops the train of discussion. Which is the most immediately important thing.

Going home now! Meeting ended on time! Whee!

Going home now!

Poopyhead.

two gaskets in between the carb and the spacer, and no gasket in between the spacer and the intake manifold

That's bad enough to report to the mechanic's boss.

Using a torque wrench is always a better idea than guessing at it. Under-torquing risks things coming loose, and over-torquing risks pinching the gasket too thin to do the job.

I've known mechanics who had a good feel for their own self-calibration, but I've also known some whose idea of wrist-tight was less than 10ft-lbs., and one whose idea of finger-tight was more than 15.

I have a racism question for the hivemind. At the movie (Batman, of course) this weekend, there was a bit of talkback in the audience (comments every scene, basically). Afterwards, one the the people I was with exploded about black people talking during movies. His rant was "I know this is a cultural thing in certain sectors of Black America, but why can't we have talking and non-talking theaters? Why do the rest of us have to put up with this?" I didn't have an answer, except to mention that I would MUCH rather sit in a film with an all Black teenage audience than an all senior citizen audience. His statement made me uncomfortable, and I am not sure how I should have responded.

For me, it's usually dark and hard to see people who are talking. If "shush" doesn't shush them, I head to the manager. I got a whole group of people thrown out of The Two Towers for yelling, "RUDY" every time Sean Astin came onscreen. I didn't care what color the people were--just that they were loud and stupid. And I'd paid $10 to see a film I couldn't enjoy while they were yelling.

OMG, during The Two Towers? They had what, an entire year of FotR to get used to Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee NOT!rUDY and they STILL yelled, "Rudy"?

Idiots!

(Now, I'm feeling very lucky in the audiences I've had for all the LotR films.)