I Don't Get It...What's the Big Deal?

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Grandpa

Grandpa

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I drink coffee nearly every day, and I don't get Starbucks, either, even though I do go there from time to time to get.... coffee. No calories, no sweetener, no "room," no steaming, no syrup, no whip. Just coffee. And I will resent Starbucks forever for taking a ten-cent cup of coffee and making it socially acceptable to spend two bucks on the dang thing. But I will credit them for popularizing coffeeshops so that a decent cup of coffee, along with wifi (and others provided it for free when Starbucks was still charging for it), just about anywhere.

I don't get blogs, don't subscribe to them, but I have one. Apparently, I "get" hypocrisy.

I don't get cigarettes. I don't mean to start a rhubarb about it. Other than the voice of addiction saying it's okay, I just don't get the charm, the attraction, even why it looks good to others. My parents smoked from before I was born (and it killed them, slowly and painfully), and I never did, not a puff. Smells bad, bad for you, controls your life. Just don't get it.
 
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80sFan

80sFan

Just one more chapter...
Jul 14, 2015
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I don't get cigarettes. I don't mean to start a rhubarb about it. Other than the voice of addiction saying it's okay, I just don't get the charm, the attraction, even why it looks good to others. My parents smoked from before I was born (and it killed them, slowly and painfully), and I never did, not a puff. Smells bad, bad for you, controls your life. Just don't get it.
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Same here.
My grandfather said he started because there wasn't much else to do during the war and Uncle Sam was giving them away.
As for younger people (talking my age - early 40s and under - who know the health risks) I can't get a good reason out of them. They all say "my friends smoked". But if I asked their friends, they'd probably give that answer too.
 
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Pucker

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
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Doc Creed said:
People that just stand on escalators. It's not an elevator, lol.
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Couldn't help channeling Mitch Hedberg here:

"An escalator can never be out of order. It can only be temporary stairs. Please Pardon the Inconvenience: Elevator Temporarily Stairs."

Mitch was a treasure, was he not?

Jerry Seinfeld made a similar observation about the moving walkway at the airport. "It's not a ride!"

But all of this does get me wondering about not so much What's the Big Deal?, but What's Your Hurry?

I find this particularly ironic at the airport, where everybody is scurrying and jostling for position to wait in the 90-minute line. How important are those five seconds you saved by walking on the escalator instead of just standing there? And better than that ... what do you suppose that idiot in front of you is thinking about while you fume over how much of your time he is wasting? Of course nowadays we know that guy isn't really thinking at all. I could almost admire someone who is simply staring off into space, gathering wool. But no one does that anymore. No. The guy holding you up is playing with his little pocket computer, isn't he? And he's not even aware that you're alive. Maybe that's what annoys us so much. We don't even live in a society anymore. Everybody is walking around in their own little bubble, desperate to remain relevant in cyberspace while an entire world spins around them, barely acknowledged and unremarked.

I say this a lot, but people are funny.

There's a wonderful story by Harlan Ellison -- Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktock Man -- in which the hero tries to effect reform in an uber-mechanized society through the simple expedient of wasting time. I don't want to go all stop-and-smell-the-roses on the bit (or maybe I do), but we're all gonna end up the same way, you know?

I don't think there's any prize for getting there first. :upside:
 
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Grandpa

Grandpa

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Pucker said:
I find this particularly ironic at the airport, where everybody is scurrying and jostling for position to wait in the 90-minute line. How important are those five seconds you saved by walking on the escalator instead of just standing there? And better than that ... what do you suppose that idiot in front of you is thinking about while you fume over how much of your time he is wasting? Of course nowadays we know that guy isn't really thinking at all. I could almost admire someone who is simply staring off into space, gathering wool. But no one does that anymore. No. The guy holding you up is playing with his little pocket computer, isn't he? And he's not even aware that you're alive. Maybe that's what annoys us so much. We don't even live in a society anymore. Everybody is walking around in their own little bubble, desperate to remain relevant in cyberspace while an entire world spins around them, barely acknowledged and unremarked.
Click to expand...

Oh, I can give you my take on it. I like to walk, and I walk probably a little fast. I often take stairs instead of an elevator to second, third, or fourth floors. I see the moving walkway and the escalator as a way to make my walk more efficient. If I'm standing still on them, I'm bored.

But while I might pass someone on those things (and thank you, airports, for that "stand right, walk left" sign), I'd never push by them. That would be rude. I wait patiently.
 
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swiftdog2.0

swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
7,095
35,344
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Alexandra M said:
Seinfeld. I know it was on TV a long time and everyone raved about it. But I just don't get it. I tried to watch
it a couple of times. To me, it's just not funny. Must be my warped sense of humour doesn't apply to this
show.
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Me too! HATED Seinfeld. If I wanted to be entertained by hipster doofus's (think Kramer) I'd go hang out in Cambridge or Somerville!
 
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Dana Jean

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
Moderator
Apr 11, 2006
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Pucker said:
Couldn't help channeling Mitch Hedberg here:

"An escalator can never be out of order. It can only be temporary stairs. Please Pardon the Inconvenience: Elevator Temporarily Stairs."

Mitch was a treasure, was he not?

Jerry Seinfeld made a similar observation about the moving walkway at the airport. "It's not a ride!"

But all of this does get me wondering about not so much What's the Big Deal?, but What's Your Hurry?

I find this particularly ironic at the airport, where everybody is scurrying and jostling for position to wait in the 90-minute line. How important are those five seconds you saved by walking on the escalator instead of just standing there? And better than that ... what do you suppose that idiot in front of you is thinking about while you fume over how much of your time he is wasting? Of course nowadays we know that guy isn't really thinking at all. I could almost admire someone who is simply staring off into space, gathering wool. But no one does that anymore. No. The guy holding you up is playing with his little pocket computer, isn't he? And he's not even aware that you're alive. Maybe that's what annoys us so much. We don't even live in a society anymore. Everybody is walking around in their own little bubble, desperate to remain relevant in cyberspace while an entire world spins around them, barely acknowledged and unremarked.

I say this a lot, but people are funny.

There's a wonderful story by Harlan Ellison -- Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktock Man -- in which the hero tries to effect reform in an uber-mechanized society through the simple expedient of wasting time. I don't want to go all stop-and-smell-the-roses on the bit (or maybe I do), but we're all gonna end up the same way, you know?

I don't think there's any prize for getting there first. :upside:
Click to expand...
I love the quick walk ways. If I only have so much time, I want to get to my gate immediately. Once there, then I chill.
 
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Grandpa

Grandpa

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swiftdog2.0 said:
Seriously though, Break On Through, and The End are amazing songs lyrically and compositionally. The use of The End in Apocalypse Now is brilliant!
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I wasn't a huge Doors fan - borrowed an album once and didn't care for it - but the intro and first minute of Break on Through is just great, and I can still thoroughly enjoy riding around in a car on a summer's night, windows open, hearing the instrumental sections of Light My Fire floating out in the warm night air.
 
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Kurben

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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Funny. I never get the one that hurry on escalators. I am never in a Hurry, content in the knowledge that i get there. I very seldom walk fast, i always slowly stroll my way Towards my destination. No need to be if you only take time. I feel uncomfortable when i have to hurry, than i have missed out in my planning.

And Starbucks. ...... I give them Credit for making some kind of coffee i would drink. A frappucino with caramel . Plain coffee or expresso or cappuccino just taste bad to me.
 
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GNTLGNT

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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...big laugh?...yep, that's a big deal....:biggrin2:

funny-owl-meme-afraid-house-murderers.jpg
 
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skimom2

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
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swiftdog2.0 said:
I am the SwiftDog, err Lizard King!! I can do anything!!

Seriously though, Break On Through, and The End are amazing songs lyrically and compositionally. The use of The End in Apocalypse Now is brilliant!
Click to expand...

I guess I'm like Danie: there are bands that I can understand intellectually, but I still don't like them. My husband is a big Doors fan, but aside from Roadhouse Blues I think they're bombastic. For sure an emotional reaction, because I can hear their musical chops. Rush is the same for me, and Yes. Prog rock is definitely NOT my thing. No judgment of anyone else's taste is intended :)
 
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skimom2

skimom2

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kingricefan said:
I would love to meet him! Have you ever met him? The closest I ever got to meeting him was when he did his 'Hit-N-Miss' tour and, if you were a member of his fan club (which I was!), you were able to buy the concert tickets ahead of time and then you got to enter the performance hall 4 hours before show time, get your seats, sit thru his sound check and then after that he took questions from the audience for about 15 minutes. Someone told him that he and his newer music was the reason that they decided to become a father. That got him choked up abit. Comically, all he could say after about 20 seconds of silence was 'Thank you.' It was the best show for me, ever!
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He's one I would LOVE to see in concert! I had a chance to go to a show on his 1999 tour--free ticket with a friend--but my parents wouldn't let me go. A few years later he wanted to play at the event center at our local college, because it was all purple (lol). I got all excited, saved my pennies...and then the college declined because they decided his music didn't meet 'community standards'. SIGH.
 
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GNTLGNT

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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skimom2 said:
I guess I'm like Danie: there are bands that I can understand intellectually, but I still don't like them. My husband is a big Doors fan, but aside from Roadhouse Blues I think they're bombastic. For sure an emotional reaction, because I can hear their musical chops. Rush is the same for me, and Yes. Prog rock is definitely NOT my thing. No judgment of anyone else's taste is intended :)
Click to expand...
...I gotta agree, have never been a Rushamaniac-my favorite Geddy Lee piece came from "Take Off" by Bob & Doug McKenzie....no aspersions cast at anyone who's a fan, but I just get a big ole heapin' helpin' of "meh", when they roll around on the radio dial....
 
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skimom2

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
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GNTLGNT said:
...I gotta agree, have never been a Rushamaniac-my favorite Geddy Lee piece came from "Take Off" by Bob & Doug McKenzie....no aspersions cast at anyone who's a fan, but I just get a big ole heapin' helpin' of "meh", when they roll around on the radio dial....
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I change the station, unless it's Working Man. That's one I can listen to without cringing.
 
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blunthead

blunthead

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GNTLGNT said:
...I gotta agree, have never been a Rushamaniac-my favorite Geddy Lee piece came from "Take Off" by Bob & Doug McKenzie....no aspersions cast at anyone who's a fan, but I just get a big ole heapin' helpin' of "meh", when they roll around on the radio dial....
Click to expand...
Rush came out after my time being into bands. I'm sure I've heard a tune or two not knowing it was them. I should Youtube them and see if they might be a new treasure for me, but I think they won't be. I'm exceptionally picky about my music.
 
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