The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by abi:

Summer Storms:

By the way, I don't want you to think I'm anything less than impressed by how you're managing your shopping life. I can see that a lot of effort and intelligence has gone into it. You're justly proud of being able to do a lot on very little money.

But I'm impressed and pleased for you the way I'm impressed and pleased by friends who have found a spiritual tradition that works for them. It's great for you. But when it turns into an assertion that it works for you and thus should work for everyone (regardless of their circumstances), or that people who don't share your values and your ways of expressing those values are unfortunate, ignorant or wrong, well, you lose me. And you lose people like Renatus and caffeine, who feel like they're in your cross-hairs.

I felt that 84, in the context it was written, was the first assertion. As a stand-alone comment, it's not at all judgemental, but as a reply, it is. And 106 is definitely of the latter type.

Summer Storms @106:
Accusing me of painting WM shoppers as "Stupid? Shiftless? Lazy?" when in fact I offered no description of them whatsoever is a telling point, I think.

Well, I apologize; I should have just asked instead of suggesting answers. Though I do note that both ignorant and evil make your list. Are you sure that's really that much better?

I think you're still underestimating the time crunches people get into, particularly people with children. I've certainly found that dragging a couple of kids through multiple stores is much more effort than exactly the same elapsed time spent in a single store. And frequently, the alternative to that is to shop at unsocial hours, when many smaller stores are closed. If your particular time shortages didn't put you in those positions, that doesn't mean everyone had the same constraints.

But we can play dueling anecdotes forever. What you apparently will not do is grasp that people who make other choices than you do may do so for good reasons. You've allowed as how some people have no real alternatives*, but when you get into this area:

if you have the internet, you have at least a reasonable chance of being exposed to this information; it's a matter of choosing to actually read it and then act on that knowledge. If you can't read, or you truly don't have time to read, then again, you get a pass. Otherwise, though, why the hell would you shop there, if you know the ugly truth about WM?

...you're assuming that people have the same priorities for their time and information consumption as you do, and that they want to turn their grocery shopping into political action.

Be careful going down that road; it opens you up to a lot of criticism. Do you drink Fairtrade coffee and tea? Do you choose local products over high food mileage ones? Do you research the brands you buy to ensure that they're ethical?

(Speaking of research, Aldi has a pretty good reputation. So does the other German supermarket taking over the world, Lidl. I was certainly glad to see Lidl come into our old neighborhood when Kwik Save failed; prices went down, produce was fresher and the staff were friendlier. And they used to give away perishables like meat on the last day of validity; I know many of the poorer families in our area ate better because of that policy.)

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* By the way, I don't recall touching on "other options", graciously or not.

Paul @92:
I don't think the people posting against Walmart mean to be posting against the customers just because they give advice on how to shop elsewhere; I know I didn't.

And you didn't come across as doing so. The difference is that you were talking about Wal-Mart and their competitors. Others were talking about the people who shop at Wal-Mart. Or sometimes, about themselves, and how they aren't that sort of people.

Lee @78:

I doubt Wal-Mart astroturfs Making Light. These are just people with views, stating them on a blog. Happens all the time on the internet.

Summer Storms @84:
Caffeine, #74: *I just think it's important to keep in mind that if you can afford to have never stepped foot in a Wal-Mart, you may not be grasping why people who shop there, do.*

Erm, no.

Well, actually, yes. You've given a long explanation of why you, in your particular place on the time-money continuum, don't shop at Wall-Mart. I note that a lot of the choices you make are based on spending time rather than money.

But not everyone is at the same balance between time and money. Indeed, some people have neither, and a big shop that carries a lot of things at low prices can save them both in the short run. And sometimes the short run is all they can work with.

What I'm getting from your comment is exactly what caffeine touched on: sanctimony. "I'm not in that position, so everyone who is is..." I don't know. What are you thinking they are? Stupid? Shiftless? Lazy? Cardboard characters in your narrative, certainly.

As caffeine @80 said, it's easy to forget that the macro is made up of thousands of individual decisions that make sense to the people making them.

And this is a general point. People make decisions based on a vast range of factors; most of them are doing the best they can with the information and resources available to them. To presume otherwise reveals a limitation in your understanding of the situation, not theirs.

Teresa criticizes Wal-Mart's Black Friday behavior because they are manipulating that information (and, for their employees and the markets where they've broken the wage norms, those resources).

(Oh, and Aldi? Not local. They're German.)

Serge @373:

Well, to be fair, only one of the two other beginners in the class might want to reconsider his laundry schedule. There were also a couple of more advanced users who were a bit sharp-smelling. It highlighted to me that I need to incorporate gi-washing into my routine so it's always sure to get done.

I didn't end up sparring with the non-smelly beginner.

Jacque @366:
I think it's what ballroom dancing would be if it was reincarnated as a martial art.

I certainly found that my body posture met with the sensei's approval if I thought "dancer" rather than "martial artist" as I moved. And, apart from the other rank beginner I sparred with, my classmates felt like dance partners. Our maneuvers were a shared thing; that was part of the feeling of welcome.

The other thing it felt like, of course, was a foreign culture. (Of course, because it's rooted in a foreign culture.) But that's actually the easy part for me, since it made the Dutchness before and after class that much more normal.

And the only element that really did not feel foreign was the degree to which our actions were rooted in, and surrounded by, stillness and silence. I've been too long away from that.

Happy Thanksgiving, to all for whom that is possible. Happy November 26, for those whose circumstances or history make the festival too loaded to invoke by name.

And thank you, everyone on Making Light, for creating and maintaining this community. Thanks to my fellow mods for letting me come play; to the regulars for the daily bread of comments, support, puns and poetry; to the occasional posters for the variety and amusement of your contributions; and to the lurkers, for supporting me in the email.

I am also thankful that when the welders started the fire at the self-storage building cattercorner from my office a couple of hours ago, no one was hurt or killed. The evacuation seems to have gone fairly smoothly. I hope the fire doesn't spread to our building, or at least that our offsite backup strategy is effective.

Jacque @364:

obPoem.

Mez @351:

Enjoy the cruise! Keep us posted on the rest, please?

Wow.

I'm just back from a trial aikido lesson, and man was it great. It's in my son's karate dojo, which we already knew was a warm and welcoming place. They made allowances for my poor Dutch, and I got to work with some really neat guys. I don't know if it was more fun to be the one doing the moves, or feeling the way that my own force could turn me like a great wheel and wind me up on the mat.

More seriously, I can see that what aikido has to teach me as a person (at least as much as the physical) is what I need to learn right at this point in my life. And it suits my character.

And did I mention the bit about the fun?

Re the "filthy pictures" particle: it reminds me of the story around my office time one of my colleagues put horse droppings in another guy's computer case. As the computer would heat up, it would apparently produce quite a smell. Took them weeks to find the source.

I gather he was advised not to pull that kind of trick again. And he hasn't; he's much more devious than that now.

ajay @49:

"Greetings, gentlebeings..." Glass genres, stones.

Longer me: I think that repeating stereotypes about romance writing in this thread is fairly obnoxious. In particular, considering that the RWA continues to show the kind of professionalism and genuine author advocacy that we'd love to see from SFWA, we're not really in a position to sneer at the (frankly, fairly tame) phrasing of a press release.

I'd like to add my voice to those saying to treat Soren's comment with care. It's hard to do when you're feeling so vulnerable, I know. For what it's worth, the community has your back.

Right now, hold fiercely on to the fact that you love him.

Happy birthday, Velma, and may this be the last such a one for you. I know last year's really sucked too.

Hold fast. We're praying for you.

Serge @42:
Incorruptible?

Sea-green, baby. Though people are welcome to try.

JaNell @13:

I did a lot of research about ten years ago, when I was just coming to understand SAD, and the consensus then was that it was the quantity of light rather than its spectrum that was important.

My light box (it's an OutsideIn Sunbeam Max, which appears to be a defunct product from a defunct company now) uses very bright fluorescent bulbs, and works wonders for me. I also use a bright but ordinary desk lamp at work.

I understand that the latest research indicates that blue LEDs are the thing. I haven't tried them yet. But I'm unconvinced that full-spectrum is necessary, and it is expensive.

DDB @35:

I would herd the thread to keep it on-topic. Not that I've seen the thing—so I'm not part of any critical mass—but I am by character and inclination spoiler-proof.

Hey, would people be interested in a spoileriffic Dr Who thread? I'm seeing comments in various threads about it; is there critical mass for a discussion of its own?

Anyone for Sir Thomas More?

Assertio Undecim Doctorum (In Defense of the Eleven Doctors) and Responsio Ad Dominum (A Reply to the Master)

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