http://www.thestranger.com Comments On: The Stranger en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:15:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by yucca flower]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:01:21 -0800 The Stranger
Church.
Posted by Bauhaus I]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:54:21 -0800 The Stranger so people like 28 could easily keep a couple or a few in their BACKPACK (or whatever it is that you carry as you BUS and not drive, kudos to you).
that's what i've started doing. I also am often coming from work/school/town and not home, and am on the bus or am walking. I have some of these new-fangled nylon bags that pack down into very small compact sacs and they hardly take up any room in my backpack. shoot sometimes i just carry them around in my jacket pockets.

Posted by onion]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:53:18 -0800 The Stranger Posted by McD]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:52:41 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Weekilter]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:35:48 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Concord SPDWY SUX]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:22:46 -0800 The Stranger
The 1950s probably marked the end of this period in American history. After that you start seeing more obese people, and in the 1990s, obese children - previously virtually unknown.

That said, it is possible for a somewhat overweight person to be generally healthier and fitter than a given thin person who doesn't exercise or eat right. But mostly more and more Americans are too fat physically and between the ears.
Posted by Liz1388]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:22:36 -0800 The Stranger Posted by JMS]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:19:28 -0800 The Stranger Posted by JMS]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:15:33 -0800 The Stranger
Honestly, it's amazing to me that people can't go to Goodwill, drop $3 (or more), and have 3 (or more) canvas bags for the rest of their life.
Posted by mitten]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:01:57 -0800 The Stranger The reusable bags you can purchase at the stores last for years. They also sell big plastic bins you can use as well.

While this doesn't deter -everyone- from using the plastic bags, it has caused people to switch to the reusable bags, and has also made people use less of them by packing more groceries into each plastic bag (at least at Superstore anyways, where you bag your own groceries).

Either way, it's only costing about 40-50 cents more if you keep using plastic anyways, so I don't see what people have to complain about. If you can't afford that, find something else to carry your groceries in, or re-use old ones.
Posted by Canadienne]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:01:36 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Dan Savager]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:58:31 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Christampa]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:54:48 -0800 The Stranger But because he was obese to begin with, the only reason for his continued weight gain had to be his wife overfeeding him. You can be obese and still fall prey to illnesses not predicated on your weight.
If he had lost 200 pounds in that time frame I hope someone would have recognized that there might be a wasting problem, such as AIDS.But no, all of the medical problems of the obese stem from their weight, and any weight loss is a good thing, no matter how abnormal it is.
Posted by BakerB]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:49:31 -0800 The Stranger
Plus, he's my grandparents age and I just don't care to hear about what he's into sexually. I don't need to know what most guys my own age that I'm not dating are into. Call me a prude, but hearing him talk about wanting a naked lady waiting for him in the tub kind of grossed me out.


Posted by About as Funny & Relevant as Dave Barry]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:48:55 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Liz1388]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:43:00 -0800 The Stranger
"Gender" and "sex" are not exact synonyms. They are often used interchangeably, because the distinction often doesn't make a difference. In this context it matters, and the distinction is worth preserving.
Posted by BABH]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:42:43 -0800 The Stranger
Absolutely no one important in life gives a shit about anything you just said. No one.

Quick, someone give me a bat. I'll do it.
Posted by Dan Savager]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:33:58 -0800 The Stranger
You've all missed the most important distinction between the Vancouver sign and the failed Seattle proposal: paper vs. plastic.

Vancouver singled out the flimsy, super-wasteful petrolium-based, useless-after-the-fact, too-thin-to-even-pick-up-dog-poop, plastic bags that are the preferred bag of the type of penny-pinching megacorporation that owns QFC and Safeway. These bags are also tiny, so a mid-volume grocery trip requires 5 or 6 of them (rather than 2 paper bags). The Safeways of the world won't even put handles on their paper bags as long as plastic is free.

Paper grocery bags aren't environmentally IDEAL, but they are far easier to source with recycled materials, reuse to collect recyclables at home, and to recycle themselves.

I'm more than happy to bring canvas bags when I leave my apartment on a grocery-specific trip. But since I don't own a car and rely on public transportation for many errands -- UNLIKE most Seattleites but LIKE many Vancouverites -- coming from home every time I hit the grocery store just isn't feasible. (When the referendum was pending, I got a little tired of proponents telling me I should just keep a bag in the back of my car.)

I still voted for Seattle's proposal, albeit begrudgingly. We should try it again, separating paper and plastic just like we separated roads and transit.


Posted by d.p.]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:20:15 -0800 The Stranger
So I've been hopsitalized 9 times for a messed-up knee. The hospital staff made me stand up, weight bearing, on my injuried (sometimes broken) leg every time. It is standard medical practice. This guy would have been treated the same - they wouldn't have released him at all if he hadn't been able to stand for 120 seconds. In my case there was never a time when I could not get out of bed to use the bathroom (no bedpans for me - uck!). ONE TIME I needed help, but most of the time I was able to get by with just a crutch. And I'm not in great athletic shape by a long stretch of the imagination.

My point in boring you with this story is that this poor dead fat man DID NOT have to be confined to his recliner. He should have been able to get out of the chair to use the toilet. He might have needed his wife's help, sure. He could have lifed his torso with his arms, then leaned on her to the bathroom - she wouldn't have had to carry him or even support most of his weight. But you don't get so weak that you can't get out of a chair - with or without a busted knee - unless you really try.

Yeah, the lack of health care was partially responsible for killing this man. But he certainly did nothing to help himself.
Posted by Schweighsr]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:19:52 -0800 The Stranger Posted by zoe]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:18:00 -0800 The Stranger
I flirt with some men. They are men I like, but not men I want to sleep with. I'm married, and I'm monogamous, and I'm happy that way. If I thought a guy was "safe" to flirt with, and he told me he had his wife's permission to date me, I'd run for the hills. Because I don't want to date him, and if that's a possibility in his mind then I need to stop flirting with him.

I have a friend who is not (to be blunt) very attractive to women. He once commented to me that he didn't understand why married women were so much friendlier than single women. It's the same thing. Women who were afraid he might be interested in an actual relationship with them tended to keep their distance. Women who believed he would respect their marriage (or would at least not be all offended if they said "no" because they were married) weren't afraid to be friendly with him

So I don't think that women are skeeved out by your being in an open relationship, and I don't think they want to "cheat" with you, I think you are just optimistically interpreting signals that are more about "let's be friends" than about "let's hook up".
Posted by Puzzlegal]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:10:38 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Ackham]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:06:52 -0800 The Stranger
I think it may have more to do with it being asked instead of an implicit yet -- the social pressures make it shameful to accept a plastic bag -- but anyway, it works.
Posted by Marc in Ottawa]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:04:26 -0800 The Stranger
And, like @1 implied, those people are just fucking stupid.
Posted by Libby]]> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:59:57 -0800 The Stranger