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Clare Dibble - Gmail/Google Talk

“pet peeve: people who continue talking on cell ohines in shared public bathrooms”

October 28 at 12:56 pm - Link

Emily Miller, Rahsheen ™, Alex Scoble and Ginger Makela liked this

Guilty! - April Buchheit

4 more comments

I share that pet peeve. I'd expand it to talking on the phone while in any bathroom shared or not. David Sedaris has a very funny story about his sister talking on the phone in the bathroom. - Chris Brinkerhoff

I don't disagree, Chris, but I meant I hate being in a public bathroom when someone talking on their phone comes in. Then I think, do I go ahead and flush and give away that they are in a bathroom? or do I wait for them to leave? - Clare Dibble

Clare, if you dislike it so much, then wouldn't you go out of your way to flush and give away the fact that they are in the bathroom? - Paul Buchheit

I flush, and fart loudly, if at all possible. - Bec Rowe

"Hey, Bob. How's it goin! Yeah, I was just takin a piss and I figured I should call you about those TPS reports. Yeah....Yeah...Yeah...Hey, hold on, I gotta shake....." - Rahsheen ™

I usually go about my business and leave, but there are ambiguous situations. In grad school, there was a girl who would hang out and talk in there for hours, so I was never sure if I should go to a different building or floor to go to the bathroom when I walked in and she was on the phone. In this case, I think the woman in question was pumping for breastfeeding, which we do not have a separate room for. - Clare Dibble

bob

For Some Ohioans, Even Meat Is Out Of Reach : NPR

July 19 at 1:45 pm - npr.org - Link

Jeanette Martinez, Chris Hofmann, Alex Power and 3 other people liked this

"Nunez, 40, has never worked and has no high school degree. She says a car accident 17 years ago left her depressed and disabled, incapable of getting a job. Instead, she and her daughter, Angelica Hernandez, survive on a $637 Social Security check and $102 in food stamps....The rising cost of food means their money gets them about a third fewer bags of groceries — $100 used to buy about 12 bags of groceries, but now it's more like seven or eight. So they cut back on expensive items like meat, and they don't buy extras like ice cream anymore. Instead, they eat a lot of starches like potatoes and noodles." - bob via Bookmarklet

67 more comments

Looking at the picture and reading the comment above makes me start thinking like a Republican... - Tad Goes to 11

Tad, there appears to be little correlation between struggling to make ends meet and struggling to eat. I don't see that as a political thing necessarily. - Robert Seidman

Poor in America equals wealth in much of the world. - John McCrea

I can't think of anything nice or constructive so say, so I'll keep my thoughts to myself. - Tad Goes to 11

$637 a month for people who don't work? - Yuvi (has IRL friends!)

Well, what sucks is the healthy food (good fruits and vegetables, low-fat meat, dairy products, complex carbs like brown rice and wheat bread) are so much more expensive than the horrible high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden, transfatty, simple carbohydrate crap that's obtainable in bulk at your typical grocery store. It's unfair that people can't afford healthy food and have to rely on that junk just to survive economically. - Lin-ZAY

so it's unfair that these people consumed 400,000 calories when they only needed to consume 200,000? THAT is unfair? Really? - Robert Seidman

this just proves a point that we have known for some time. The poor are fat. their fat is without substance and nutrition. the article is less interesting then the photo. how much would a bike cost for them to ride? Low end about $540 - Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ

Call me a bitch, but honestly? I don't buy it. If the mentally handicapped can work for an honest and respectable living, then they can get a job somewhere that doesn't require whatever their "handicap" is. I'm all about needing help right after an accident, but then knowing that people like me and you are the ones who have been paying for their groceries for the past 17 years kind of pisses me off. - ::Kristen::

Beans and rice are cheap, much cheaper than the HFCS, transfat, etc, though it's harder to eat 4000 cal/day of beans and rice :) - Paul Buchheit

a new bike for them to ride $540 - Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ

So personal responsibility be damned then, Paul? "Since it's easier for you to find fatty foods, I expect you to be fat and that's not your fault? - Robert Seidman

17 years ago? get over it lady - sean percival

@Robert - Food might be the only high point in these people's lives. And regardless of how they got fat, it's unlikely they can afford to get thin. It costs money: Good food, a gym membership, medical consultation, maybe even drugs. Even if they worked out at home it would require some equipment and clothes. And what is their motivation? To be less of a burden on tax-payers? Not likely. They live depressing lives and it is probably a negative feedback cycle. They're probably glad to "stick it to us" - Lin-ZAY

But seriously folks, what the hell is wrong? $637 isn't cheap change, is it? You all paid for 'em every month so that they could fill photo frames? - Yuvi (has IRL friends!)

Noah: My thoughts exactly. Buy a fucking treadmill and stop feeding (har har) off of the rest of us. - ::Kristen::

victim menatlity != free will. It seems as though some of you would argue free will is for some, but not all. That disappoints me. - Robert Seidman

Robert, I don't think I said that. Lindsay is correct however that junk food may be the only high point in their lives -- it's difficult to give up the one thing that makes you happy. - Paul Buchheit

I don't really know enough about the circumstances. As tempting as it is to believe, I doubt it's as simple as a couple of enormously over-weight women who lay around the house all day and mooch off the government. If it IS that simple, then the local government should push brooms into each of their hands and make them sweep town hall, police station, etc. I'm hoping there's more to the story. Also, I'm not thinking they spend all $637 on food (though maybe...) also has to go towards shelter, etc. - Tad Goes to 11

Paul, is there some expectation that "free will" is supposed to be some easy thing? C'mon! - Robert Seidman

$739/month is not much to live on - though I have lived on considerably less. Usually when I was dirt poor though I was barely more than emaciated... - Tad Goes to 11

All I'M saying is that I'm not a fan of helping people who refuse to help themselves. And I highly doubt that's been the case after 17 years. - ::Kristen::

Lindsay: Working out at home doesn't require much, if anything, in the way of equipment. Pushups, toe touches, squats, walking, and jogging all spring to mind. Other exercises can be done with minimal equipment - like chinups. I'll agree that it's unfortunate that so much cheap food is bad for your health. - David Worrell

I like fat women... but that is just me. kind of a fetish actually... but never mind that. it is unhealthy for them to be like this. their actions are not like a spontaneous situation. it is not free will to leave them like this. they are ill and sick... and they need help. I was fat a few times in my life. my girl's niece is fat like this and she has such a beautiful face that it makes me cry. she is also a smart girl... she is now losing weight I hear. I can't wait to see if she can. - Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ

Personal development for most people needs at least some level of positive feedback. Over time that becomes confidence, and with confidence we need less and less feedback to be disciplined and can take on longer term problems. What experiences do these people have to give them confidence that they can ever get out of their current position? Other people (who clearly have had confidence building experiences in their lives) judging them as lazy - whatever that means - isn't going to give them what they need. - Robin Barooah

Living in an economically depressed place far from jobs is depressing, but I think some get in a position where they are too attached and poor to move somewhere else and it spirals down from there. Being without a network is hard, particularly for people who are on the edge anyway. The fat is a side issue to a growing class of people who can't or won't take care of themselves. - Clare Dibble

Alternative model of poverty to the simple - reward/punishment approach: http://www.boston.com/bostongl... - Robin Barooah

@Noah and Kristen - so you expect them to give up almost 90% of their monthly income for two months (since there are two of them) to buy a bike? Have you ever been poor? Do you have any clue how stressful it is to live from paycheck to paycheck? I agree that they should be working but even at minumum wage that's only ~$850/month. If they start working there will be new expenses like clothes, gas, maybe another car... in the end they might have even less discretionary money than the get now. - Lin-ZAY

After reading the article, my first thought and concern is of the cyclical day-to-day struggle of a life that awaits UNeducated, working/underclass families. Obesity is now another problem to contend with because financially it is MUCH easier to eat poorly. - Anna Haro

Lindsay, in this world, and I say this as a former fat man, what's harder, being poor for a couple of months or being obese for a lifetime? - Robert Seidman

$7,644 a year to support 2 people including housing isn't exactly living the "high life". While the above story doesn't exactly make me feel great about our social programs and a little angry what I think is more amazing is that this woman has somehow become "ok" with existing like this and doesn't appear to want anything more. - Adam Turetzky

although i do have a secondary education and a college degree, i also have an incurable disease which, at the moment, prevents me from working. i have been EXTREMELY fortunate in the ways that i have been able to sustain my life (i am not on any kind of assistance)....but, had it not been for those fortunate circumstances, i might find myself in the same circumstance as this family, based on my *handicap*....but perhaps a lot thinner. - carlotta fancypants

Part of all this is also that I've been horribly poor myself. Barely scraping enough money together to eat and pay for rent each month. And I mean just BARELY. I didn't have anyone constantly cheerleading me and building up my confidence. I got SICK of being poor and resolved to pull myself out of it. I never took a penny of government help and pulled myself all the way up to upper-middle class. Easy to say and again I don't really know the full story here... - Tad Goes to 11

"People tell Nunez her daughter could get more money in public assistance if she had a child. "A lot of people have told me, 'Why don't your daughter have a kid?'" They both reject that as a plan." +10 for that statement by them! - Adam Turetzky

i just have to wonder if people would be more sympathetic if the photo above showed two women that weren't morbidly obese, but extremely thin.....and living on the same kind of money with the same complaints. - carlotta fancypants

Again, Robert, you apparently have never been either fat or poor. I have been both. It's not an easy life and it's certainly not easy to change either situation. You need lots of motivation and have to make lots of sacrifices. It's worthwhile to do so, but it takes a hell of a lot of motivation both internally and externally. These people have no such help and I can empathize with them even if I'm disgusted at the situation. - Lin-ZAY

For your information, Lindsay, I DO happen to know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck. Both of my parents have jobs and they still have to borrow at least $300-$400 from me so they can pay their mortgage / insurance / taxes, etc, all thanks to my dad's recent surgery to get rid of his lung cancer (and having health insurance that cost over $1000 a month because his job didn't offer benefits.) So yes, I know what it's like to be poor and to struggle, but at least we're doing it on our own. - ::Kristen::

Edit - I guess you might have been fat, but then you should know how much effort it takes to change that. It's not like you can just flip a switch and decide to be thin. God, I wish it was that easy. It took me almost a year and a half of unwavering effort to lose 90 lbs. I know what it takes and I don't envy anyone else having to do the same thing or more. - Lin-ZAY

this is the problem... poor people will put their money into things that are extravagant like these people's eating habits. I'm not laughing at these people... but the irony hurts so bad that I am laughing at the irony. doubtful that they are reading this. laugh away... this is the face of the world - Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ

Lindsay, I have been both obese and poor. I do not like your stance on this, from the perspective of a victim at all. And that is said as someone who has been both poor and fat. You want to make people victims. Mankind's desire to turn people into victims in my view is part of the problem of mankind. But it's just one former fat/poor man's opinion. - Robert Seidman

also as Americans... it should be noted that most institutional cafeterias that are the main cause of obesity (not McDonalds) are European brands. Sodexho and Aramark are not US companies! 711 is not an American company anymore either - Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ

@Kristen - would you appreciate someone telling you that on top of your already tight budget you need to come up with an extra $540 for some exercise equipment? You should understand then how tough that would be. Again, not saying these people shouldn't get jobs and "do it on their own" but it's not so freaking simple. - Lin-ZAY

Meat *should* be out of reach for more people. We are destroying our land and our watershed farming animals for consumption. It's preposterous. - Chris Baskind

Eating the cheapest available food can't be good for your waistline. Corn syrup and hydrogenated oils in everything. - landonf@bikemonkey.org

So more people should be poor Chris? - Tad Goes to 11

@Robert - again I'm not saying these people SHOULDN'T be trying to change their lives. I'm saying that I understand that it's not so simple and easy as people are making it out to be. I think everyone should accept personal responsibility for their own situation and it's up to them to change it. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the effort involved. - Lin-ZAY

wait a second, living paycheck to paycheck IS being poor? Ugh! - Adam Turetzky

Again, I can't feel sorry for someone who refuses to help themselves. And after 17 years, that's obviously the case. - ::Kristen::

Lindsay, but it IS so simple and easy. You trying to make it less simple and easy than it actually IS doesn't help change anything in my estimation. There's real life pressure on these people for being obese. They should react to it. No matter how understanding you are, anything short of them reacting to it...changes nothing. - Robert Seidman

Robert, we will have to agree to disagree on the situation. In my experience, it is not simple and easy to pull yourself up from poverty while simultaneously losing weight. It's not cheap, and it takes a lot of effort and support which requires coordination of other people and that's never easy either. There's not much you can say to convince me so I'm done arguing about that. I agree they DO need to do something about it. So where should they get the help and motivation? - Lin-ZAY

For everyone one of these victims there's a victim (of something!) who decided they'd take control of their lives. I have very little time for these two. Also, we'd all be a lot healthier if we consumed <= 1500 calories a day and got out of our cars and walked a bit. - Peter Simard

Lindsay says, "because it's difficult, we understand why more don't do it." I do understand this, Lindsay, but I do not accept it. - Robert Seidman

Would their situation have been more acceptable if they looked like they were starving and needed to eat? - Trish R

@Peter - I whole-heartedly agree. I've done it myself. The key is finding the motivation. If you don't provide it people have no reason to change. People don't expend effort because other people tell them to unless the other person can enforce their desires through coercion. They absolutely won't change anything unless there's motivation. And they won't be motivated by someone telling them they're fat, lazy and a drain on the tax-paying public. - Lin-ZAY

The first step of fixing a problem is understanding it. The first step in understanding other people's problems is empathy. If you don't have empathy then it's unlikely you will be able to come up with a solution that actually fixes the problem. Whether or not you accept the problem doesn't do anything to fix it . - Lin-ZAY

When I was 19, I made a little over $800/month, living on my own in an apartment. Though I am not naturally skinny, I was as thin as a rail during those times and barely making ends meet (lots of robbing peter to pay paul was going on). I couldn't afford a car so I walked the mile to work every day, occasionally when it was very cold (sub -30), I took a taxi to work. All that being said, I could not have supported 2 people on my $800 a month....(cont) - Erica Baker

@Lindsay - It shouldn't have to cost money to lose weight. There's a replacement for a gym membership, it's called physical labor. While I agree that unhealthy food is subsidized and can cause this type of issue, there's no such thing as "too poor to be thin". - Alex Power

I was lucky enough to live within walking distance of a large mall so getting a job wasn't a big problem. Had I lived 40 miles out, I would have been screwed. They only reason I am not one of these 2 women is by sheer luck and student loans. I am _really_ disturbed by the reactions to the problems of these 2 women. They are in a situation I don't envy and can't even fathom anymore. With gas prices where they are, no jobs nearby, and the cost of food being what it is, they are stuck. - Erica Baker

@Erica - I think that a lot of the issue I have with them from the article is the sense that everything was OK, but now their life is ruined because gas and meat are too expensive. Not because she's been disabled, unemployed, and living far away from any employment for 17 years. SEVENTEEN YEARS. By this point, you have to think that at some level, she's happy with her situation, and if so, I have no sympathy for her. - Alex Power

I don't think I would say she's happy with her situation. Comfortable with it and can't see a way out? Maybe. We're all smart, lets be constructive. How would you solve the predicament they're in? - Erica Baker

I don't see why they either need to walk or own a car. Surely one of them could get a bike at Walmart or on Craigslist for under $100 and use that to find work. Plus, it will be a great form of exercise. - Gabe

So you want what looks to be a morbidly obese person to just get on a bike and ride 40 miles to work every day? Really? - Erica Baker

im not sure this has been the most productive discussion but ill add a few thoughts - clearly their situation is less than ideal, for various reasons. why are they in this situation? is it their 'fault'? what does fault even mean? whose fault is ignorance? perhaps some of us, put into their situation would be able to get out of it, improve our lives/health, and so on, thus proving that it isnt an impossible situation. but its unlikely that those same people would ever end up in this situation for that - bob

very reason - we'd turn it around a lot sooner. but, for whatever reasons, these people didnt, and they are in this situation. clearly the system is to blame for part of it, giving people money so they can live in an area without any jobs isnt the brightest idea ive ever heard. and clearly, these people arent exceptionally strong and motivated individuals. why is that? the article doesnt say much about their lives, and it doesnt really matter - they are where they are, and they are who they are. - bob

can those things be improved? im guessing yes - probably they wont ever be CEOs of some big company, but i think with some training and guidance, they might better their position in life. failing that, they will probably stay where they are - clearly its a relatively steady state since it has persisted for a long time. and whatever your opinion is of them, the fact remains, their position isnt that great - to go from where they are to where most of us are would be a very big climb and quite possibly an - bob

impossible problem. fact of the matter is, its impossible to judge things from their perspective, to be inside their heads, because you carry with you all your own knowledge and self - things which would likely be very useful but which they dont have access to. to say that youd do it better if you were them kind of misses the point, again only proving that their external situation isnt impossible while ignoring the very real problem of their internal situation. it makes about as much sense as - bob

considering the case of a person with terminal cancer and saying, well, if it was me, id be able to fight it and live because im awesome. perhaps you are awesome, and your body is healthy, and thats great - but their body isnt healthy, its got a serious problem, and that problem isnt so easy to fix. bottom line is, if their situation is to be changed, a few different things are going to need to be changed and they are probably going to need someone to help them. not much else to be said. - bob

in a small way maybe we are all to blame http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07... - Chris Brinkerhoff

roll and dough! - Ⓝ〄ⒶⒽ ⒹⒶⓋⒾⒹ ⓈⒾⓂ〄Ⓝ

Kate

Is the Entree Heading for Extinction? - New York Times

December 5, 2007 at 6:51 am - nytimes.com - Link

history of eating is very interesting! it's fun to share a combination of apps, salads and entrees at a restaurant. artisanal is great for cheese plates and sides. - Chris Brinkerhoff