The more right wing leaning people on my FB friends list seem to ignore anything they don't like that I post, as I try to ignore anything that I don't like that they post.

I made the mistake of posting something political to my FB profile and a cool friend from another board outed himself as a Fox-lover. Really disappointed me.

Talked someone out of her mosque nonsense today. It was refreshing.

She did not know:

That it is a few blocks away
That it was a Y
That there have been mosques in the nabe for years
That the community board approved the zoning
That there is a mosque in the pentagon

These conversations are probably easier on the phone than on facebook.

Driving aound on Saturday we heard a great short story -- usurping culture ( I do not remember the exact title )

all about changing the meaning of the Confederate flag

I love that story. "The Appropriation of Cultures"

Thanks Daisy - I found it and put the correction upstream .

so good

While driving from DC to PA, we stopped for dinner somewhere in western Maryland. The only place we found to eat was a Sheetz, which is a gas station/convenience store with an automated ordering system -- there are touch-screen computers set up, and you pick from a ton of different kinds of sandwiches, salad, pizza, or burrito, and then there are a bunch of different options for exactly what you want on it, and you submit the order and it goes to someone behind the counter, who makes it. Kind of novel, anyway, since none of us had ever seen one before, but it turns out they're all over this area. I kind of liked being able to pick stuff that way, instead of having to stand on my toes to see over the counter to point at stuff, like I usually do at delis and Chipotles and places like that. Anyway, there was a store across the street that seemed to sell everything in the world printed or embroidered with the Confederate flag. A pickup truck drove by and honked its horn, which played "Dixie."

Where's the Ground Zero Terror Mosque? 39 Experts Explain!

Re: the NYT article, H and I sat down and discussed it, and decided this is what we wanted to do. Both kids were on their own by then, so it was only us day to day to consider. It was not a simple transition, and the most difficult thing was H being used to whipping out the plastic on a whim. I finally had to back off that one and tend to my own knitting. My mantra was, and still is in essential: "bowl, spoon, cup, walls, roof, floor, shoes, warm in winter, cool in summer." It's a constant goal, and I far from achieve it, may in fact never do. But I've learned to barter goods and services, to make decisions about choices rather than having ALL the things, and being mindful of the payment things require. A houseful of Meissen china is no doubt beautiful, but I hate dusting and can't afford to pay someone to do it for me. Plus, ownership equals psychic weight and responsibility. My choices more frequently tend to freedom rather than weight and responsibility. We're still working on it. The process is continually being refined.

I talked to my friend (the daughter-in-law of the defriender-in-question.) She said that her mother-in-law is a bully, and that she thinks that she can get away with saying anything to anyone, and that she's glad that I said what I said to her.

She also said that she has misgivings about letting her daughter spend too much unsupervised time with that grandmother as she grows up.

And our classmate from H.S. whose husband was killed in the Twin Towers is mainly concerned about watching Weeds tonight, so I'm gonna call it a day.

Thanks for being excellent, Buffistas.

ETA: Scola, snerk.

amyth, I'm sorry about the dust-up, but it's good to know we got your back, as well as RL folks. Sounds like you have less to worry about than you might have expected, and I'm glad for that.

Congratulations to Gris and spouse!