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No, but I cannot resist guessing that the multiple meanings of the word "like" inspires the witness to expound on his own frolic, or else, if clever, will betray a suspicious (i) reticence to answer the question or (ii) ask for clarification about the word "like."
TNP will not only explain, but also give details about the context (i.e., it must have been some kind of classic case, whence the "was").
Whoops. Mobile phone being slow this morning. In fine, I echo EH's request for details. It intrigues me.
Current TNP: No, I know some people from when I was much younger who practice law, but I'm not close friends with any of them.
TNP is bored with his or her usual hangouts outside of work/home, and plans to seek a new dive/whatever.
[On the "Did you like her?" The Attorney General, Rufus Isaacs, was prosecuting a man, Seddon, for the murder of his lodger, Miss Barrow. Seddon unwisely testified in his own defence.
Isaacs: "Miss Barrow lived with you from from July 10, 1910, to September 14, 1911?"
Seddon: "Yes".
Isaacs: "Did you like her?"
This threw Seddon off and he never recovered. Obviously, if he said he did not like her, he was done. If he said he did, he would show himself to be a liar, since Isaacs knew he had given her the cheapest possible burial. ]
To the question: I dunno, guess I don't have enough of a usual to get bored, and the places I often went to, I tended to go to with my kid, who's away at university. So, I guess, no.
TNP wouldn't mind finding a place where he could mention any drink at random, and just get it, with no explanation or story needed.
Sure, that sounds like a fun place.
Huh. Never heard that "Did you like her?" story before - thanks, RET!
TNP has been on the campus of a university or college in the past month, and will say where.
Well, since no one else is taking the campus plunge. No. I would say fortunately no, but I've found that being around undergraduates in a collegial setting is far preferable to the gelid, static company of younger people of the hipster variety. I think the kids are all right on the campuses I've been on in the past few years — they seem to be curious about ideas and full of hopes and plans.
TNP isWell, since no one else is taking the campus plunge. No. I would say fortunately no, but I've found that being around undergraduates in a collegial setting is far preferable to the gelid, static company of younger people of the hipster variety. I think the kids are all right on the campuses I've been on in the past few years — they seem to be curious about ideas and full of hopes and plans.
TNP is not sure that oral gum tissue can be partially restored from recession, but finds the possibility of good oral health too attractive to avoid making efforts to do what may be, in fact, an incertain oral future. Sort of like Pascal's wager, but with teeth and gums.
TNP thinks it would be hilarious to imitate Tokyo Rose to a coworker named "Joe," as in "You die, Joe!" "You no good Yankee Joe!" And yet resists the urge.
Never thought of that before, but yes, now that I have, I'm finding I can resist the urge without too much effort.
TNP wants a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner.
No. I usually subsist on a combination of carbs+fat, which is satisfying and provides a day's worth of fuel in a tasty, compact package, but last "night" and the day before, and probably today, I am really into eating about a pound and a half of flank steak. Not a balanced diet, but perhaps I just felt like eating muscle tissue.
TNP is considering buying a piece of exercise equipment soon, or has done so recently (examples might include clothing/shoes, or a pull-up bar for home use, or the like).
Nah, my exercise tends to be walking, in my plantar fascitis (sp?) shoes, which I tend to by a new pair of annually.
TNP is cold.
At this moment, no, as our home office is nice 'n' toasty, but I have certainly been cold in recent days. It's -35 F here with the wind chill.
TNP's feet tend to get cold first.
Yeah, I would say so, but then again, not really. It's hard to discriminate among ears, fingers, and feet. They all get cold. And I disapprove. At least feet's a pretty easy fix — socks do just fine. My feet are usually swaddled in shoes or socks during the rainy season, so they don't the chance to get cold.
Also, -35 degrees F? What the fuck is wrong with you people! I'm not going to look it up, but that sounds very abnormal for anywhere except in the Land of Lakes or AK, and, of course, most of Canada. Shame on you.
TNP thinks a Schwarzenegger-style "It is made from liquid metal" fits many more RL conversations than one might think. Including any situation from discussing jock itch to trying to make time with a random lady.
I've never tried it, but probably, yeah.
TNP likes scones.
Yeah. They rate a medium ground among pastries. The croissant and the bagel are the dual heights of savory pastries, but a scone is better than any dry muffin or any other sweetened pastry, except for the humble biscuits and various other savory shortbreads made with cornmeal or flour. NO. I change my mind. There are lots better pastries, but scones are OK. So, yeah, sure, I like scones. Why? Because I'm no commie.
TNP can explain why it is that some people seem to insist upon correcting you IRL, when you've already made a reasoned decision. It must be some kind of disorder. Like being annoying or something. Rules-lawyering by a peer of equal status, which person has no interest in the outcome at the end, nor any insight into the decision process of the original agent, is how you would call the behavior, I guess.
ETA Pride is the sin, but all motivations I can think of come from a lack of something. Humility, ability to understand and evaluate multiple methods of achieving a self-same goal. I can't find anything, absent some demented venal aim, that would lead anyone to positively act in such a way.
TNP can explain why it is that some people seem to insist upon correcting you IRL, when you've already made a reasoned decision. It must be some kind of disorder. Like being annoying or something. Rules-lawyering by a peer of equal status, which person has no interest in the outcome at the end, nor any insight into the decision process of the original agent, is how you would call the behavior, I guess.
ETA Pride is the sin, but all motivations I can think of come from a lack of something. Humility, ability to understand and evaluate multiple methods of achieving a self-same goal. I can't find anything, absent some demented venal aim, that would lead anyone to positively act in such a way.
Eh, that was kind of....not good.
But the real TNP: TNP has recently played an album in his or her car at full volume, for example, Dr. John's Gumbo, or any other music.
No, I play particular songs from my iPod in the car, but never a full album, and definitely not at full volume. Full volume in my car would be painful.
TNP likes audiobooks.
No. I've never been able to listen to a story since I was a child. Yeah, sure, I was and still am a prodigious reader, but the oral tradition is basically lost on me. Even in music, sure, I can "play by ear" or "fake it" as good as many, but I feel better with a pencil in my hand.
TNP thinks the 1970s were, in general, the golden era for instrumental musics with a popular flavor, and will give an example.
Yeah, I like a lot of Seventies music. Here's one of my faves, a bit of movie music from 1979: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj4z2Y1y2Ak
TNP likes that tune, too.
Sure. It's pleasing to the ear. Quite a bit different than Actual Proof or Jimmy McGriff doing Theme from Shaft or Billy Preston's Outta Space, but it's nice and light. I didn't hear any wrong notes.
TNP is looking forward to the Super Bowl, for one reason only: that it be over and done with.
Pretty much. If the Browns or the Steelers aren't playing, I basically don't give a damn.
TNP has a favorite retelling or version of the Mutiny on the Bounty.
Yeah, I think I saw a few of them a few years ago (for some unknown reason). I liked the Brando one OK — IIRC they spared no expense on the color photography, at least it looked like it. I think I read a biography of Brando when I was...I don't know, ten or eleven or something...and the anecdotes of his antics on whatever island stuck with me as amusing. Particularly this girl he was shacked up with, IIRC, he teased by saying her "fufi tasted aki" — meaning her genitals tasted bitter or sour. What a card.
TNP has just now seen the infamous "AOC" college dance moves video and, while not supportive of her wild political views, did not realize she was quite a babe. Probably still is. As long as she doesn't encourage Bernie's bloviations, I don't have anything against her or see her as a threat in the upcoming elections as...I don't know...a drum majorette or whatever.
No, I actually don't have any great idea what you're even talking about. "Infamous" is relative, I guess.
TNP had a pretty boring weekend.
Yes. Nothing going on at all, whatsoever.
Oh, "AOC" (Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez) is just a 29-year old elected to represent NY in the House in Wash. D.C., and while she was at Boston for college she and some friends did a little video of some dancing on a rooftop. I think somebody posted it on Twitter quite a while ago trying to suggest she was a "wild chick," because she was pretty good at dancing and looked pretty good wearing not-revealing but form-fitting clothes of the type nubile undergraduates can make look good, but probably nobody else (jeans and T-shirt, basically).
TNP is going to have some snow soon, and is not happy about those white flies in the air.
Freezing rain in the forecast, actually. I may have to drive especially carefully tonight.
TNP won a little money on the Super Bowl.
No. I was shocked, shocked I tell you that the Pats won. I suppose betting on the spread could have yielded something (probably not great odds — the Rams were pretty strong, I suppose, going in), but I would be shocked to learn of illegal sports betting in many states of the USA.
TNP knows or used to know someone who was a pretty pathological football bettor.
No, in fact I can't think of anybody even mentioning that they bet on football.
TNP knows more than one functioning alcoholic.
Sure. I won't name names, but I know one person who is able to function, albeit with some diminished capacity, despite a high intake. Wm Burroughs is a good example of someone who was able to stay a functional heroin addict for most of his life. Probably also Dr. John. Ray Charles could be an example of a famous functioning alcohol user for many years as well. Former US President Eisenhower was probably also what one could call an "alcoholic," in terms of being able and willing to drink heavily, and he seemed to do OK.
TNP is unreasonably upset by people who try to make fancy-sounding claims about high-status cultural knowledge and yet are completely wrong: IOW, people who try to use knowledge as a bludgeon of snobbery, and can't even get it right.
I find it more mildly annoying than unreasonably upsetting, so no.
TNP would like to feel warm sand between his or her toes right now.
Yeah, that would be OK.
TNP would even more like to feel a cold tropical drink between their lips right now.
Sure. In fact, the chilled white wine I'm having right now probably would count if I stuck a little umbrella in it and called it something fruity.
TNP had a ginger beer (non-alcoholic or alcohol-containing) and thought it was delicious.
Many years ago, but yes.
TNP hates Guinness Stout, as I do.
???? Does not compute!!! That's a negative. I can drink that stuff for hours. It is one of the rich Corinthian leathers of beers! Not that there aren't other good stouts, porters, or cream ales, but Guinness is reliable, especially on tap if some knuckle-knob isn't pouring it.
TNP has had enough ultra-hoppy IPAs to have become resistant to drinking it again.
Maybe...it's certainly not something I'm craving lately.
TNP thinks it's kind of amusing that the Old Fashioned has been old fashioned for well over a century, and is still going strong.
Yes. A radio station in Canton, Ohio has been "the all-new WHBC" for decades now.
TNP thinks newness, as such, is overrated in American culture.
Yes. At least if what you call newness is what I think of as techno-gadget-fetishism, then yes. Moore's Law can suck my dick.
TNP has, nevertheless, bought some inexpensive electrical equipment recently and is considering another such purchase in the next year. Even though such equipment could probably be built on Gilligan's Island on a larger and slower scale.
Yes, I bought a cheapo pair of headphones for my iPod, because I didn't have time to go someplace to get a better (and more expensive) pair. I'll buy the latter before too long, I'm sure.
TNP wouldn't visit Gilligan's Island back in the day under any circumstances.
Nah, I'd go. The people who visited always got off fine, it was just the castaways who were stuck.
TNP knows what Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch have in common.
I couldn't say. They both featured some pretty mediocre actors (Russell Johnson, Robert Reed, Tina Louise), as well as some pretty brazen stoners (Dawn Wells, Dobie Gillis, and that Barry Williams [?]...probably Jim Backus was no stranger to the devil's lettuce, but he could have just been naturally a comedic maniac).
TNP would likely not have survived puberty living in the Brady house, having fled to a life on the streets, male prostitution, and various drug habits at age thirteen or so.
Nah, I think I would've been OK, notwithstanding my deeply-rooted, soul-destroying envy of Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!
TNP thought Marcia was pretty cute.
Yeah, pretty cute indeed.
TNP preferred Barbara on One Day at a Time
[Checks Wiki article, because I don't remember the characters' names] True.
TNP knew that Valerie Bertinelli sometimes appears on cooking shows these days.
Yeah, I think I remember hearing that somewhere.
TNP has been obliged to stand outside in sub-optimal weather, while being taunted by some seputagenarian who apparently ate too much of the brown acid.
OR, equivalently, TNP has had to attempt to be diplomatic to some crazy old fuck while in inclement weather.
Fortunately not.
TNP has been outside for more than half an hour today.
No, thank God, since a storm's coming.
TNP has never done acid, brown or otherwise.
False. I love the stuff, but it's much harder to find than mushrooms where I live now. ETA, not that there's anything wrong with mushrooms, just I find that it's a little more lugubrious experience and more suited to a party-type social situation. Sort of like MDMA, in that respect. I prefer good clean acid, but it's always been harder to find than just some mushrooms, which are pretty easy to home-grow and everyone knows somebody who can have. One thing I have not tried is taking like a quarter of mushrooms at once — instead of the usual eighth.
TNP is convinced the human mind is the most fascinating structure of the natural world, in its robust, resilient system of redundancies and in its abilities to store complex formations of associations, and, occasionally, some novelties. You know, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion, and all that.
It is a remarkable organic machine, to be sure.
TNP thinks AI will ultimately be a threat to humanity.
No. Not at all. What's called "machine learning" or generally "AI" is based on relatively crude systems of dividing and categorizing data (well, "relative" compared to foundational studies in mathematics — complexity theory, as in some genetic algorithms, is a bit beyond the ken of "regular" linear algebra, multivariate calculus, and all of the stochastic groundwork shared between statistics/probability theory and formal language theory). There's no computational model of the human psyche, regardless of promising advances in fMRI and other tools. ETA, but, depending on how one reads the question, the field known as "AI," and its marketeers, might well be a threat to both humanity itself and, perhaps more importantly, contribute to the diminution of studies of human consciousness.
TNP regards, however, those who mistakenly tout machine learning as a paradigm-shifting advancement (instead of as an academic vector for future research, or as a useful adjunct to productivity in commerce) as possibly dangerous. On the order of Gilded Age robber barons, or something.
On balance, I would say not.
TNP has seen at least three of the 2018 movies nominated for a Best Picture Oscar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/91st_A...s_and_nominees
Nope, not one.
TNP thinks that every year, there are fewer and fewer reasons to watch the Oscars.
True, but then again, I've never found a reason to watch it. At best knowing some trivia about how many awards Ebeneezer Sneeze won seventy years ago is the only use I've had for the award.
TNP has never watched a single "Grammys" award show.
Correct. Just excerpts here or there (like Kanye West barging up on stage).
TNP has received an award of some kind in the past five years.
Sure. Not anything significant, but just some "atta boy" bullshit from the Company.
TNP would never dream of following traffic offenders at a safe, menacing distance through their circuitous paths, similar to the truck driver following Dennis Weaver in the movie Duel. Because that would be too much fun, and TNP doesn't like fun.
I love fun! And I did once follow a guy who was driving all over the road, pretty obviously DUI, while calling police and helping them zero in on him. Didn't stick around to see the bust.
TNP has called the police in the past six months.
Wow. I guess I should not be on the road when EH is on the case. No, I haven't called the cops on anybody recently. Although I don't rule it out as a prudent option if something extraordinary should happen. ETA...no, still not within sixth months past, but I have in the past made pretty good use of the police to shut down some outrageous noise violations. It was a different town, and IMHO the police were extremely accommodating and effective. And it was only a last resort, so as to not tie up their time with nonsense.
TNP has had some law enforcement knock on his or her door (either a literal domicile entrance or a metaphorical understanding of the phrase will do).
Better: TNP finds it hard to tell if the roughly 70-77% of horrible menaces on various highways are chemically impaired, or just plain morons. There sure are a lot of bad actors on the road, but I couldn't say if they're on some weed or alcohol, or just idiots who are distracted and forgot that driving is a very serious responsibility.
Really can't tell, no, and I'm assuming that a lot of offenders are irresponsible idiots who are also high.
TNP is glad they live in a city with decentish public transit.
Yes; however, I think much of the hype in my current town is smoke, mirrors, and a good bit of puffery disguised as "civic pride." Public transport doesn't exist in a truly meaningful sense unless, say, some 80 percent of the population is mostly dependent on it for their daily needs. Which is rare except in a few large cities, IME. And, yes, I made up that percentage, but it could be right.
TNP finds it a bit challenging to remember to stay hydrated when in the midst of cold weather.
Nah, never been a problem for me.
TNP is a Blues Brothers fan.
"Fan's" a bit strong, but I liked their music back in the day.
TNP has been to the National Blues Museum in St. Louis.
Nope. Have to admit I didn't even know there was one.
TNP has been to one of either the football, baseball or basketball HOF.
No. What some people consider Halls, I consider Hell.
TNP is extremely annoyed at having to use the telephone to clear up some confusions about things like insurance or utilities. In this day and age, indeed.
Yeah, it's usually an annoyance. I always take notes so that, if I have to reenter the bureaucratic maze, I can tell them who I spoke to earlier, what they told me, and when.
TNP has heard American humorist David Sedaris read his own work.
Yeah, I think a few times back on the radio reading some bits of anecdotes/tales. I could be confusing him with someone else, but I don't think so. Pretty amusing, IIRC, as a raconteur-type.
TNP would gladly accept an implanted chip (unfortunately, there is no such device which is secure AFAIK) to avoid having to deal with shuffling monetary funds around using antiquated (but secure! sort of...not really...never mind) banking instruments. OR, TNP would gladly consider yanking one of those chained-down pens out of its receptacle at some bank/cuNion just out of...a sense of fun.
Given how frequently security breaches occur, and how diligently hackers here and abroad strive to overcome every safeguard, I'd respond to an offered implanted chip with a lusty "Not a @#$%^! chance, mate!"
TNP considers himself or herself a closet Luddite.
No. I'm out and proud. I don't even like bicycles. But I know some of what my enemies know and feel capable of doing battle in the techno-fetish underworld of gadget-freaks.
TNP would rather be able to do a handstand without support of a wall, or some one-armed pushups.
Yeah, sure, why not?
TNP has seen The Silence of the Lambs in the past five years (as I just did).
No, not that recently. It makes my head explode to realize Ted Levine as Jame Gumb is the same actor as the detective guy from that TV show Monk, and lots of other tough-talking cop/detective roles, IIRC.
TNP is the owner of what might be the most boring book ever written.
No, I give those to the library if they haven't hooked me after 50 pages. I will have no boring books in my house.
TNP will tell us the title of the most boring book he or she has ever read.
No. But I will say it's the kind of little book you really wish had fewer words and more symbols. There are not enough words to describe the terseness of the brief expository passages, nor their appalling lack of character. I always knew mathematicians as a pretty fun-loving bunch, but apparently this quality is not shared among their peers in engineering. No, it's not a book of logarithm tables: those (yes, they still exist, although I no longer have one) have some charm in their simplicity.
TNP has never found it easy to memorize works of poetry, or similarly-structured works, despite knowing various tricks (mnemonics, "memory palaces" or whatever).
That's true. Learning Shakespearean dialogue in high school, in particular, was very difficult for me; likewise Chekhov in college.
TNP has seen a play by one of those two gentlemen in the past three months.
No. I've never seen a play by Chekhov, even a recording, and it's been a long time since I saw a play of Shakespeare. The latter's plays I sometimes dip into reading, but I don't have the patience for a lot of the pageantry around a live performance. I think the last recording of a play I saw was some awful rendition of Schiller's masterpiece, Don Carlos, but I turned it off quickly and continued to explore the play on paper.
TNP thinks Richard Feynman probably deserved more than a few swirlies or atomic wedgies back in his day.
But of course.
TNP thinks Dr. Feynman was properly honored with a fictional shuttlecraft, and knew about it already: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki...(shuttlecraft)
Yeah, that sounds about right. Totally dorky, but it's all in good fun and I bet he would have liked the idea.
TNP can remember the last time he or she did hard labor for a few hours, whether at a gym or doing some other, more useful tasks.
Cleaning out the garage qualified for that, I'd say. A long, hot and sweaty job.
TNP prefers a bath to a shower after doing hard labor.
No. I prefer a fresh change of clothes, or at least dry shorts and a dry shirt, and a shower if indicated. IME sweat itself doesn't really stink unless it's been a medium for bacterial growth for a little while. 99% of the time the "BO" stench is really coming from the bacterial sewers of clothes that need washing (or quarantining in a hamper/laundry bag/whatever). At least for me.
TNP did not know that most major banks will cash a mature savings bond, even if one doesn't have an account there. You know, with ID, thumbprint, and all that. And that, yes indeed, your average person doesn't even remember those ancient relics called US treasury/savings bonds. Buy where you work or bank! Support the war effort! Sort of.
Yes, I think I had heard that, back in the day.
TNP has heard a jackhammer in the past week.
Not that I can recall, no.
TNP has operated a forklift.
No. I don't actually have any warehouse skills except picking up and moving heavy things, so, no, nobody ever let me try to just "test one out." I'm pretty sure everyone who's seen the movie Aliens had a little envy at seeing Ripley move the robo-loader and earn the respect of the CO, though. It would be nice to have a skill like that in your repertoire.
TNP has been in close proximity to two "new [to them]" girls, at least one whom seems like she could be deigned to be respected.
Yes, I suppose that could be said of some of our law clerks.
Ripley impressed Sgt. Apone and Cpl. Hicks with her mad loader skillz, but not the CO, Lt. Gorman, who wasn't there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3hl-nq3-lU
TNP thinks Aliens is a totally awesome movie.
Yeah, it is an awesome movie. Maybe not totally, because some things still confuse me about how the Marines are structured in rank IN SPACE!!!. Good point about Gorman — he's easy to forget about, at least for me. I would have liked to have seen the ranking NCO Apone serve up Gorman's face on a platter, rather than the Lt. just becoming xeno-meat.
TNP finds it enormously distressing to perform sorting tasks without a higher-level algorithm in place.
Since I never have to do that, no.
TNP could do with some Blade Runner 2049 electronica playing in the background right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2LOX74WPWo&t=999s
No. Absolutely not.
TNP will choose which is better to say to a clueless yuppie yakking in the middle of a grocery store aisle: (a) "Let's go, fatty" or (b) <insert random body attribute, like "Move it, teeth!" or "You're in the way, forehead lady!" or "Haven't got all day, fish-sauce" and so forth>.
TNP must choose. There is no not choosing, for this is a poll of TNP.
If I must, I'll go with (b), "Haven't got all day, fish-sauce" (or whatever I see he's about to put in his cart).
TNP has said something like that to a stranger in the grocery store in the past week.
No, today I satisfied myself with standing mute and putting myself in the direct path of the offenders, and waiting while in a calm, imperturbable state. In a worse mood I would have gone with the default, "You're in my way <turn head> chub." Yes, that is how I roll. Like a complete prick whose mood is brightened by insulting others, while not succumbing to any kind of outwardly-observable expression.
TNP is pretty convinced they don't make clothes like they used to. Probably.
No, you can find either good and bad clothes, just as you always could. You have to pay more for the best, just as you always did.
TNP will see a movie this weekend.
Maybe, depending on wife and kid stuff.
TNP has watched Russian Doll on Netflix.
Nope, haven't heard of it.
TNP sometimes uses YouTube as a jukebox for favorite songs.
I suppose, although I don't listen to a lot of music. YouTube is extremely convenient to me for finding a track I either have in some form and don't feel like finding among my stuff, or for inspecting live performances.
TNP thinks the only sounds one should generally hear in a bar are the muted tones of a television, and the occasional crack of a pool cue hitting some balls around. And occasionally somebody can play a tune.
No, I like hearing music in a bar, as long as it's not deafening. And I prefer it to having the TV on and audible.
TNP will be going out to dinner tonight.
Well, I sort of had half a dinner out. A beer after work. But I decided to complete the meal at home: a few bottles of wine, a couple of frozen burritos, and a bunch of frozen spiral-cut "french" "fries." At least the music didn't drive me crazed with irritation at home, because there wasn't any.
TNP eats some food pretty often which should be spelled using scare quotes around its name.
Scare quotes? No. But I'm not averse to bad-for-me fast food now and then.
TNP has read a really good book in the past month.
Yeah, actually one that really stood out: Mohit's Python Penetration Testing Essentials. Remarkably clear prose, full of a bunch of new (to me) ideas.
TNP doesn't really make a distinction between "fun"/"popular" and "technical"/"non-fiction" books: they're all equally possibly fun or disappointing.
No, I suppose I don't.
TNP likes absinthe, but has a feeling it doesn't like them.
Had a glass of it once and it did nothing for me.
TNP would like to live a bohemian lifestyle in Paris.
Yeah, but preferably without dying of consumption.
TNP thinks "consumption" is kind of a cool word for a disease, as is "hydrophobia".
Yes, and "apoplexy" for strokes. I favor giving nasty diseases poetic names to make them seem just a little more glamorous or interesting.
TNP can and will think of a good name for a disease that doesn't now have one.
polyschemic tinnea versistriata, with autophagic abraded lesions. No idea what that means, but it just describes a rash I've got on one part of my thigh, probably from sitting too close to my space heater near my desk for years, always in the same position.
TNP can see from where he or she is sitting thousands of pages of paper that are not where they should be.
I suppose, if I ever got around to really organizing our home office.
That's pretty good quasi-medical jargon.
TNP has been following the Chicago mayoral campaign.
Nah, but I assume that somebody who would be in jail anyplace else is going to win?
TNP kinda likes Chicago, but recognizes what a strange place it is.
I'd say that's true. I always enjoy my visits there, though.
TNP has been in Chicago in the past month.
Far from it. Although I did overhear someone at a bar say "Chi" (as in abbreviation for "Chi-town" as in...you know...that place).
TNP is not going to celebrate Mardi Gras this week in any special way, but is going to observe Ash Wednesday and get ashed.
Probably neither, actually.
TNP knows who Pris and Roy are without Googling.
Of course! Pris is the one with the hair and the makeup and Roy is the one who is excluded from San Francisco's exhilirating "fisting" scene.
Same thing, but with Charlus and Albertine.
Nope.
TNP will tell me who they are.
One's a Baron with peculiar habits, the other is kind of a trollop and sexual interest of the unnamed narrator of indeterminate sexual preferences in Proust's Recherche.
TNP is now or has ever used an old-fashioned double-edged butterfly "safety razor" (not a straight razor, but somewhat similar although with some safety elements built in). The kind where you can buy a box of one hundred fresh blades for cheap and just insert them easily.
Yes, now and then, although I usually use my electric razor.
Thanks for the explanation about the Proust characters.
TNP wore gloves or mittens today.
Of course. Good old work gloves (not leather for heavy work, just regular rubberized cloth ones for light duty).
And you're welcome about the Proust: not the most detailed descriptions, but I like to spread the word about one of the comparatively few great novels: perhaps the best.
TNP is considering buying some pants with a reinforced crotch, or, alternatively, has ever used duck tape to repair clothes or cover up blemishes on outerwear (e.g., leather jackets)
No and no. When things get that worn and can't be patched, I thrown 'em out and replace 'em.
TNP has heard of this dude before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennie_Stennett
No, I never heard of him. I guess he neither created Ren and Stimpy, nor is responsible for the single best innovation in men's clotheswear: the gussetted crotch.
TNP would rather own a Lincoln Town Car or a mint-condition Cadillac from the 1970s as a daily driver.
Nah, I kind of like this century.
TNP likes classic restaurants better than classic cars.
False. Even though I despise cars and driving, I don't enjoy eating in restaurants. I want to be in control of the food, not some rando "server" and a bunch of tweaker cooks, no matter how good the food is. a vintage Charger or Challenger, or an older Cadillac or a late-model black Lincoln Towncar are pretty cool, IMHO.
TNP thinks it would be an excellent idea to pop a loud semi-truck-style air horn under the hood of his or her current car.
There are certainly times when I'd be tempted to sound it.
TNP has felt like cussing out another driver in the past week.
Sure, I guess, but I usually just stew in my annoyance or use the lever-style e-brake to make it appear I've slammed on my brakes to a tailgater yesterday (and probably other times this week as well).
TNP frequently mutters foul obscenities to inanimate objects in other contexts, however.
And,of course, one good TNP deserves an example. Mind you I had the signum crucis from palm ash today after morning mass. "You motherfucking cocksucking bag son of a bitch get your ass in that fuck ass cart or I will fuck you in the face you fucking bag motherfucker shit."
Jesus probably said something like that once, but it got cut from the New Testament.
Yes, I've been known to curse inanimate objects when frustrated (like my computer when it's working soooooo damnnnnnn slowwwwwwwwly).
TNP's feet are warm right now.
Yep. Not toasty warm but comfortable.
TNP thinks flaming hot Cheetos are about the best snack food, perhaps next to pork rinds. Or will supply alternative similar junk food.
Yep, I like them. Just about any snack food that's either spicy, BBQ or sour-cream-and-onion is OK by me.
TNP, by contrast, prefers plain potato chips.
Yeah, among chips/crisps I prefer the plain ones (with salt!). I wasn't going to answer, but I just now woke up after falling asleep sitting at my desk at home and somehow imagined I had a thing of Triscuits at hand and was going to eat them. There were no Triscuits to be found. But somehow my glasses were on upside down.
TNP has seen many times recently a woman with a striking color of eye, and will describe if true.
No, I can't say that I have.
TNP prefers green eyes to any other.
Not really. I prefer smoldering gray-ish dark eyes.
TNP kind of finds blue-colored eyes sort of horrid, and would not choose a woman with such.
Not really. I prefer smoldering gray-ish dark eyes.
TNP kind of finds blue-colored eyes sort of horrid, and would not choose a woman with such.
If it's because of fakey contact lenses, true. If it's genuine, I like them, but it's not a big issue one way or the other.
TNP has been in a library today.
Negative. I've spent too many years collecting my own private library, such that I have not many books I need access to at the moment that aren't at my immediate reach.
TNP is disgusted with the print holdings of the average public or university library. Pace Bill and Melinda Gates, this is not the way I see the average person to have access to important texts, although I am sure various librarians put up a brave front, illiterate as they may be.
TNP is considering only wearing white "dress" shirts, for when it's a tucked-in type affair, because he or she is tired of having to choose among various other styles of collared shirts in his or her wardrobe.
Well, not only white dress shirts, but I do have several of them and wear them quite a lot.
TNP owns more than ten neckties.
Oh, I don't know. Probably somewhere around in my closet there are that many, but I only wear two neckties: a kind of nice red one with some subtle stripey-things (a new addition) and a very nice black tie with a pattern of white/gray dots, so I don't look like a mortician. And a Jerry Garcia tie in black and gray that is very subdued, but I don't like to think about the Grateful Dead. I do like the navy blue tie with tiny dancing ladies and a guy playing a drum set: you can't see what the pattern is until you're way up close. And a very nice ascot. The others are just novelty ties and a plain black silk tie, but I don't really know where they are at they moment.
TNP is pretty much constantly misplacing little things here and there: flash drives, scraps of paper with stuff written on them, articles of clothing, anything like that, really.
Christ, yes, my whole life, and my kid is the same.
TNP has made earnest attempts to be organized, but just can't seem to pull it off.
Indeed. I'll clean off my desk and home office floor, organize and file sheet music and papers once in a while. Same thing with cleaning out the old automobile. Doesn't matter. Eventually entropy rises and it's as bad as ever.
TNP understands the principle behind "a little bit of cleaning/organizing/whatever each day," but would rather do everything in one fell swoop and get it over with.
Yeah, usually. But I tend to be pretty well-organized as a rule.
TNP is following the early stages of the 2020 U.S. Presidential campaign relatively closely.
No. I know nothink. I see the horror, the horror.
TNP has spent about ten hours doing paperwork for personal affairs recently (and is sure there will be more to come soon during the second or third rounds).
Depends on what you mean by recently, but since Christmas, a lot of crap, yeah.
TNP is getting the first traces of spring fever.
Yep! Just the other day I heard a robin singing in our backyard, and it made me happy.
TNP has heard a bird sing in the past week.
Sure. Lots of them. But it's making me crazy trying to remember this poem that has something about a "sedge" in it "where no bird sings." I think it's from Keats, but it's making me crazy.
TNP is thinking about upgrading a computer with a larger hard drive and/or switching operating systems (in my case from Ubuntu Xenial --> CentOS and Debian [different kinds of Linux, so really the same, sort of], in addition to Windows 10 if I can make it work on a gutted Chromebook).
No, doing OK as it is, although my wife would like to get another Mac.
TNP had cheesecake in the past week.
Nope. Not for a while.
TNP owns a springform pan and knows how to use it.
Nope. Nothing that fancy.
TNP took a long walk today.
I walked a lot, but mainly in circles. No. I'd like to go out and make a day of walking twenty or so miles in the local "Forest Park," but the time doesn't seem to be there.
TNP can choose from either of two (roughly?) "classic rock" tunes to listen on repeat on a desert island: either "Hey Nineteen" or "Money For Nothing." Those are the only choices, and "neither" doesn't count.
"Money for Nothing," if I must. I've heard "Hey Nineteen" just a bit too often over the course of my life to want to hear it on repeat.
TNP has a particular desert island in mind for his or her marooning.
Not really. Someplace with probably some sand and some rocks and lots of trees and few coconut crabs. And breadfruit would be good.
TNP goes berserk when he overhears nerds talking. The lack of humility, the nerd equivalent of name-dropping, the unmodulated tones of voice, the idiotic subject matter. You name it.
Yeah, they can be annoying sometimes, but no more so than members of just about any other subculture.
TNP can and will define himself or herself as a member of at least three subcultures.
No, not really something I'm prepared to answer. (Aging hipster) (poonhound) (pompous elitist/wanker) (obsessive learner) (harsh, dispeptic critic) (sociopath-in-training, dedicated to abolishing sentiment). I guess those are subcultures.
TNP has ever gone into a bar or restaurant, and not said one word or even made eye contact with the server, and yet got exactly what he she wanted.
Ha! No, not a chance. If I don't say something, I'm not going to get anything.
TNP has been in a bar with an Irish name in the past month.
Nah, not that I can remember.
TNP likes Irish whiskey, probably better than Scotch.
I actually have no preference. I like both, and don't have an especially sophisticated palate when it comes to liquor, anyway.
TNP has been to a concert in the past month.
No, I'm not a fourteen year-old girl. So, no, I don't go out in the evenings. Because of ... loud.
TNP derives no pleasure from "fortune cookies," except that they can be distributed among the younger children.
No, I'm not a fourteen year-old girl. So, no, I don't go out in the evenings. Because of ... loud.
TNP derives no pleasure from "fortune cookies," except that they can be distributed among the younger children.
No, I'll always munch on a fortune cookie if one is offered. One time I absent-mindedly ate it message and all!
TNP has done that, too.
No, probably because I tend to take a look at the fortune, then throw away the cookie.
TNP isn't much on pastries that come in cellophane.
As a rule, no, but I have been known to partake.
TNP has at least three kinds of cookies in his or her kitchen right now.
No, pretty much nothing of that type in the house.
TNP has at least three kinds of fruit in their kitchen right now.
I think so - raisins, bananas and apples, off the top of my head.
TNP could go for a nice banana right about now.
No. I could go for a nice cup of "Do what I tell you, you IRS telephone monkeys, you've had months to process my shit, you fucking orangutan."
TNP has hung up on people on the phone more times than he or she could accurately count.
Yeah. I have little patience for scammers and people who are being assholes to me.
TNP has a knot in their back.
At the moment, fortunately not. I'm feeling a little saddlesore, though.
TNP needs to get up and walk around a little.
Well, I was going to say no, in that rest is indicated, but now I say NO!!! because I just stubbed one of my fucking toes again.
TNP shouild probably start never not wearing shoes inside because of how frequently he or she runs his or her feet into dense objects.
No, I'm barefoot indoors quite a lot, even in cold-ish weather.
TNP has at least three pairs of black shoes, regardless of type or design.
Two pairs. Black leather slip-on shoes, and lace-up boots that need polishing. Both good for wearing with a suit or jacket and tie, but not much else.
TNP would gladly pay a shoe-shine "boy" (or it could be a girl — these are progressive times, after all) for his service, but is astonished that they seem to have gone missing. OR, TNP will just say that he or she really puts shining and bootblacking at home at the very bottom of list of chores to get around to.
Pretty much. A local hotel used to have a shoeshine on duty just off the lobby, but I haven't seen him in awhile.
TNP will take a long walk today.
Probably not super long, but I try to walk a bit every day.
TNP likes ham hocks.
Yeah, they're good to throw in the pot, or trotters, but in my current town you really only find them rarely except at a specialty shop. I don't think the population skews to buying "ethnic" foods unless it's at a restaurant or is otherwise sold at a trendy store — I don't believe, for example, that the local mega-pan-East-Asian grocery mega-store carries them. I doubt they have chicken feet, either, although it's possible.
TNP doesn't see the point in buying a tray of chicken feet, but is kind of hungry for a nice stew flavored with ham hocks or pigs' feet, along with other stuff.
At the moment I'm full (dinner was pizza and ginger snaps), but yeah, I could go for that sometime.
TNP has had pizza in the past week.
Yeah, it's my Friday night go-to.
TNP tends to order delivery food on weekends.
No, not really.
TNP is reading a good book these days, and will tell us what it is.
Verlaine, Poémes saturniens [Saturnian Poems, I suppose] (1866). Published and/or written when Paul Verlaine was twenty-two years old, there are still some very marvelous little gems throughout, such as the sonnet "Femme et chatte [Woman and Pussy-cat]" (I don't remember what the metrical scheme is called, but it's not in alexandrines. Feminine rhymes on lines one and three of each quatrain, with masculine rhymes on the two and four. I can't figure out if it's mildly pornographic or just a bit sly, but it's all about scratching. No, I shan't translate it. Remarkably, either Verlaine devised himself or an editor or friend suggested a very nice partitioning of the collection into smaller subcollections, each containing a few poems, which I think is appealing. Best of all, it's in a small pocket paperback, unlike Joseph Adler's R in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference.
TNP thinks poems have a great advantage over long-form prose fiction, namely in that there aren't so many damned words.
Well, they definitely have different purposes, and as is so often the case, form follows function. And a book you love cannot, by definition, have too many words.
TNP loves a particular book which is very long.
Sure, The Lord of the Rings. Haven't read it in a while, but it was a big part of my life for a long time.
TNP misses the racks of cheap paperbacks that used to be seemingly everywhere.
Yes! I remember a corner store that had one of those. I still love the pulpy smell of old paperbacks.
TNP has an odd favorite smell, too.
I like the smell of things fermenting — I guess that's a combination of CO2 and various ingredients — like bread, wine, beer. Yet I don't care for the smell of beer as a finished product. Which is bizarre, considering it's a food group unto itself to me, right at the base of the food pyramid.
TNP recognizes that the phalanges of the hand are pretty rickety little structures and should not be abused.
Absolutely. I have an old friend who's a hand surgeon and I usually wince when I think about his work.
TNP has had surgery in the past year.
No. I'm considering following the Jesus's instructions and cutting off my left index finger, but I can't find the right supplies to rebuild a better one.
TNP thinks it's pretty amusing, but not really annoying, when random people complain about minor flaws in a work which, for example, didn't exist back in his or her day, so we photocopied the very long text in a strange language and we liked it that way. Bunch of sissies.
Never gave it much thought, so I guess not.
TNP is a fan of Hans Zimmer's movie music.
Sure. He's the guy who fell off the building in Die Hard, right? No, I kid, but his is an effective score. Not as long a career as the beloved Jerry Goldsmith, but probably a better musician than the frequently-abused Albert Glasser.
TNP is not at all surprised that since the beginning of the modern/post-modern/whatever age composers have seemed to ride the crest of music production technology, and not at all to their disadvantage.
Yeah, I suppose that's true.
TNP has seen at least one episode of The Venture Brothers and was, like me, underwhelmed.
Yeah, underwhelmed in general when taken as a whole. I think I've seen them all (at least before they came back? not sure, but I haven't seen those). I found some amusing funny bits, but way way too much about that Monarch person, which I think is a real snooze. But there were some very good parts indeed — I just can't remember in enough detail to describe in any meaningful way.
TNP has seen all or some of the Buffy series or its spinoff series Angel and got pretty into it. Not necessarily pathologically, but got into it/them.
Yeah, I think I saw just about every episode of both, back when they were new. Good fun.
TNP is often struck by how long ago things happened that still seem pretty fresh to them.
Yes indeed. I imagine time passes pretty slowly for the incarcerated or the bedridden and such, but I think for the average adult occupied with regular things there's a great deal of time compression. It could be from the many structures built around tasks or schedules that elide or obscure the attention one might otherwise pay to time's passage when seen from a view at a smaller scale. IOW, "time flies when you're having [fun | life | lots of things]" but "a watched clock never boils."
TNP spends a good deal of time in his or her profession or hobbies fixing mistakes of various kinds.
Profession, yes - many people's mistakes end up in court one way or another. Hobbies, no, not at all.
TNP wants to see the new Apollo 11 documentary (it's very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb_qTKXmc34)
I dunno, somehow Apollo doesn't speak to me much anymore.
TNP is kinda impressed that this silly thread has lasted for 10 years, as of today.
I expect nothing less! With mellow pants, all surprising things are possible.
TNP has heard someone use the expression "I'm sweating like a whore in church" IRL sometime.
I love that line! But nope, it's brand-new to me.
And ten years for this thread... wow!
TNP can think of something else he or she first did, or started, in 2009.
Yes.
TNP doesn't like to think about the past that much.
Agreed, it's not particularly profitable.
TNP has done something interesting in the past year that they had never done before.
Yes, ran for public office (didn't win).
TNP personally knows a political candidate.
Nope. Maybe there's some hippie or several I vaguely know/have met who are doing some nonsense, but no.
TNP finds it enormously satisfying to follow defective drivers (tailgaters, really) to their house and sitting with the car in park outside. Watching. And TNP does not think that's psycho at all, just sort of amusing provided one has a few minutes to kill and enough gas in the tank.
Ha! Nope, never done that.
When TNP sees someone on the highway who's obviously forgotten that his or her turn signal is on, TNP has been known to pass that car, get in the lane ahead of it, and put on his or her turn signal, too, to get the other driver thinking.
You know, I think I did that today. It was a variant, but same idea. Some "person" was riding my ass on a highway trying to "beat" this place where traffic merges to single-file, because of construction. She was a fucking maniac, like what I imagine somebody who takes a bunch of cocaine and has a stroke while masturbating is like. I ended up in front of her and crammed my e-brake on while continuing to accelerate. Randomly. For a few miles. (I've figured out how to use the lever without engaging the brake).
The idea was to "learn her a lesson." I didn't know it was a "she" until I followed her home, though. I didn't do it to "teach," though: I'm just an asshole.
TNP is pretty damned good at learning the intricacies of what his or her automobile can do.
Not at all. If it runs, I'm happy. If it doesn't, off to the mechanic!
TNP has been to San Diego.
Yeah, saw a ballgame there last summer. Nice place.
TNP has been to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World
No, just Disneyland, when I was a wee lad.
TNP has described someone as a "wee lad" in the past month.
No. Had to think about it, because I'm sure I've said something similar back-mensurally, but, no.
TNP is really not so much liking sitting down at a bar and having the guy next to you say "How's it going?" before you even sit down. That's like trying to shake someone's hand in a bathroom.
Nah, I don't mind. Some people are just friendlier than others.
TNP has seen the Michael Douglas movie The American President in the past year.
Nah, never seen it. Never big on movies about politicians, none of which ever seem to get them right.
TNP has been watching Doom Patrol
Nope, never saw that, either.
TNP has a favorite poem, and will tell us what it is.
Probably. Can't decide. Lucretius, De rerum natura has a bit of everything in it, so I'll go with that for now. And he's not some raving neckbeard science freak incel nerd either — he can write good, too, like a person.
TNP knows someone IRL who kind of seems like they might be a serial killer.
Oh, yeah, several - I see them at court now and then. But none who are close friends, thank God.
TNP likes books about serial killers.
Not much, anymore. Cruelty and death are increasingly things I want to forget about.
TNP likes the poetry of Philip Larkin.
Affirmative. His selected poems volume (I'm not going to go find the paperback [ETA but I know exactly where it is!]) were a minor revelation to me, in that Larkin was able to breezily fuse common language with sensible form. He was the British Robert Lowell, sort of. Every word I wrote is bullshit, but, yes, I have read a fair number of his poems and I liked them. Even, at times, probably subconsciously, imitated him.
TNP is pretty comfortable using a handheld radio device, like a walkie-talkie or such.
Yeah, I do OK. I had walkie-talkies as a kid and they were fun. Now I've got a cellphone just like a grownup!
TNP has had more than three cellphones over the years.
You know, that's true. And it hasn't been that long a time — I remember a time when you basically had to have a landline in order to get DSL (or dial-up internet access, natch), and I was a full-grown adult those times. As a teenager, of course, I remember tying up the phone line at my parents' house accessing the VAX/VMS ca. 1990-1992 or so. Yeah, I don't know how many mobile phones I've had, but it's more than three: replacements all because of device failure or just because my carrier sent/enforced a "free" upgrade as part of their T'sOS (yes, I spelled that correctly, IMHO). And I'll defend the hyphen in "full-grown" as well, even though some might disagree.
TNP errs on the side of over-specifying some syntactic features, like hyphens or parentheses, even though they might be redundant or obfuscatory. Classic examples are in writing computer guff in various languages, or in mathematico-programming paradigms like Haskell (:)), lisp, Church's lambda calculus, and so on up into C and beyond. IOW, where order of operations and instantiation of bound variables (for example, "for all x" [upside-down 'A'] blah blah in FOPL) are really clearly specified and understood, but it still doesn't hurt.
That has rarely been necessary for me, or for whoever I'm speaking to, so I'd have to say no.
TNP knows what the largest statue in the world is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Unity
No, but I'll take a wild guess and say it might be the Statue of Unity.
TNP would rather have an important street named after them than a statue of his or her likeness built and displayed permanently.
I'd be happy with, and surprised by, either.
TNP personally knows or knew someone after whom a street is named.
I think there's a street (well, a pretty tiny road, maybe not even paved) in the middle of nowhere where some of my mother's family had some farming property called "O'Leary Road." I don't know if it's actually named after them, but I tend to believe it, given how small a town it is (not even really a town, exactly, just farm land).
TNP is pretty skeptical about some old "family stories" but still plays along when required.
Yeah, I've mostly given up trying to impose reason on people.
TNP knows they have vivid dreams every night, but can't remember them.