I just think it's rather odd that a nation that prides itself on its virility should feel compelled to strap on forty pounds of protective gear just in order to play rugby.

Giles ,'Beneath You'


Natter 71: Someone is wrong on the Internet  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


§ ita § - Feb 08, 2013 10:29:11 am PST #10431 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

About half our houses in England had fireplaces, and in England no source of heat is ornamental--it's way warmer than Detroit or Montreal, but the only place I've sat down on a toilet seat and melted the rime with my morning piss.

I didn't sit on the seat long, but a) heating the bathroom isn't optional and b) extra not optional when the toilet is in a separate room from the sink and tub.

We also had a fair incidence of burst water pipes. And never in Canada or the midwest.


Tom Scola - Feb 08, 2013 10:39:31 am PST #10432 of 30001
hwæt

The Pneumatic Tube system of New York.

On at least one occasion the tubes carried not just mail, but a live cat. “The postal workers seemed as fascinated by the nearly magical tube system as everyone else and, at least once, even routed a luckless cat through the city’s tubes.‘He was a little dizzy, but he made it." - Joseph H. Cohen, historian for the New York City Post Office.


Sue - Feb 08, 2013 10:43:19 am PST #10433 of 30001
hip deep in pie

We had a downtown dept store in my hometown that used pneumatic tubes for their cash system. None of the salespeople had cash registers but pnuematic tubes that they would send the money to the main office and they would send the change back through the tubes. It was open until the 1990s, believe it or not.


sarameg - Feb 08, 2013 10:47:19 am PST #10434 of 30001

I think it was the Service Merchandise in the mall built in the 1980s that has pneumatic tubes as well. I can't remember if it was for cash or the order slips.


le nubian - Feb 08, 2013 10:57:07 am PST #10435 of 30001
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."

I was cleaning out my wallet and can I say what a pain in the ass it is when stores put your name (or worse your whole CC #) on the receipt?


tommyrot - Feb 08, 2013 11:07:46 am PST #10436 of 30001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

NYT liveblogging the snowpocalypse:

Updates on the Winter Storm - NYTimes.com


Tom Scola - Feb 08, 2013 11:09:28 am PST #10437 of 30001
hwæt

snowpocalypse

Gothamist is calling this one "Snowtorious B.I.G."


tommyrot - Feb 08, 2013 11:09:50 am PST #10438 of 30001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

Gothamist is calling this one "Snowtorious B.I.G."

Hee!


Theodosia - Feb 08, 2013 11:10:09 am PST #10439 of 30001
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"

Up until Shreve, Crump & Lowe (old-time fabulous Boston jewelry store) moved out of its original building in the early 2000's they still had a pneumatic message system that the salepeople would use to send orders to the stock room, and a runner would come up with the merchandise.


Liese S. - Feb 08, 2013 11:11:45 am PST #10440 of 30001
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."

We actually have left a space in the master bathroom for a potential future composting toilet. Turns out those suckers are expensive!