USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Foxfyre]

And for today's history lesson:

On this day in history, September 2, 1969 America's first automatic teller machine (ATM) was opened for business at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, NY. and the banking system has never been the same since. Slow to catch on at first, by the 1980's the machines had replaced the need for bank tellers to receive deposits, cash checks, or transfer money between accounts. They have expanded into hospitals and gas stations and convenience stores and cruise ships and malls and shopping centers and are as indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail. Even the banks have ATM machines outside so you don't have to go inside to do a banking transaction.

Coupled with on line banking, direct deposit, automatic bill pay, and debit machines everywhere, many of us rarely go into a bank anymore and may go weeks or months without ever writing a check. It is inevitable that we are moving toward being an entirely cashless society. (No, I don't mean broke though there is that too. )

The younger generation can't remember a time when we didn't have these machines. But I bet some of us are old enough to remember the real fear and trepidation we felt when we first stuck our ATM card into one of the machines to make a cash withdrawal, and even more so the first time we put our pay check into the envelope and stuck it into the machine as a deposit. It did take some emotional adjustment to learn to trust them.

 

[Ringel05]

Wow Kaz. $80k???? I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine having that kind of money to spend on anything that is enjoyed for a day and then it's over with and done.

I could pay it if I had to, but I don't see how it's worth that much money for one weekend. It was fun, but I bet saveliberty's $4K one was just as much fun.

Neither Hombre or I or our parents had any money when we got married. I did have a church wedding with flowers, music, vocalist, and a reception afterward at my great aunt's house--no wedding dress as there was not money for that but I didn't care at all--and I think the whole thing cost maybe $50 by the time we gave an honorarium to the preacher.

Initially the wife and I had a civil service at the courthouse, years later we had a Civil War wedding at a living history with a real preacher who had a Civ War reenactors ministry. Someone gave us $75 as a "wedding gift", we gave it to the Preacher. Other than that, and what we had already invested in our Civil War period clothing, it cost almost nothing.

 

[Sherry]

And for today's history lesson:

On this day in history, September 2, 1969 America's first automatic teller machine (ATM) was opened for business at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, NY. and the banking system has never been the same since. Slow to catch on at first, by the 1980's the machines had replaced the need for bank tellers to receive deposits, cash checks, or transfer money between accounts. They have expanded into hospitals and gas stations and convenience stores and cruise ships and malls and shopping centers and are as indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail. Even the banks have ATM machines outside so you don't have to go inside to do a banking transaction.

Coupled with on line banking, direct deposit, automatic bill pay, and debit machines everywhere, many of us rarely go into a bank anymore and may go weeks or months without ever writing a check. It is inevitable that we are moving toward being an entirely cashless society. (No, I don't mean broke though there is that too. )

The younger generation can't remember a time when we didn't have these machines. But I bet some of us are old enough to remember the real fear and trepidation we felt when we first stuck our ATM card into one of the machines to make a cash withdrawal, and even more so the first time we put our pay check into the envelope and stuck it into the machine as a deposit. It did take some emotional adjustment to learn to trust them.

When my son was about 6, he's soon to be 16, he said that when he grew up he was going to live in a house on the beach with his dog. I asked him where he was going to get the money for a beach house, and he looked at me like "duh", and said, "From the ATM." It's the modern day version of kids thinking that money grows on trees.

 

[Foxfyre]

Wow Kaz. $80k???? I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine having that kind of money to spend on anything that is enjoyed for a day and then it's over with and done.

I could pay it if I had to, but I don't see how it's worth that much money for one weekend. It was fun, but I bet saveliberty's $4K one was just as much fun.

Neither Hombre or I or our parents had any money when we got married. I did have a church wedding with flowers, music, vocalist, and a reception afterward at my great aunt's house--no wedding dress as there was not money for that but I didn't care at all--and I think the whole thing cost maybe $50 by the time we gave an honorarium to the preacher.

Initially the wife and I had a civil service at the courthouse, years later we had a Civil War wedding at a living history with a real preacher who had a Civ War reenactors ministry. Someone gave us $75 as a "wedding gift", we gave it to the Preacher. Other than that, and what we had already invested in our Civil War period clothing, it cost almost nothing.

My sister was raised Methodist and my brother-in-law was raised Catholic and neither set of parents approved of the 'mixed religion'. They met in college and prior to graduation, they eloped and got married by a Justice of the Peace. Later, unbeknownst to his parents, they got married again in the Methodist Church we grew up in in southeast New Mexico, but it was a simple little ceremony. My mom made my sister's wedding dress and they used flowers from the neighbor's garden. (With permission.) Homemade food for the reception.

And then later, unbeknownst to our parents, my sister wore that same wedding dress at a small Roman Catholic ceremony in Raton NM where his parent's lived. They were stuck with three wedding anniversary dates but everybody was happy. All three weddings together cost less than $100.

 

[saveliberty]

Not going to hold my breath on on the disagree issue. It will stay in place until they realize disagree runs off a few noobs.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Good afternoon all, it has turned out to be a very warm day. But the nights are cool!

 

[R.D.]

Wow Kaz. $80k???? I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine having that kind of money to spend on anything that is enjoyed for a day and then it's over with and done.

I could pay it if I had to, but I don't see how it's worth that much money for one weekend. It was fun, but I bet saveliberty's $4K one was just as much fun.

Neither Hombre or I or our parents had any money when we got married. I did have a church wedding with flowers, music, vocalist, and a reception afterward at my great aunt's house--no wedding dress as there was not money for that but I didn't care at all--and I think the whole thing cost maybe $50 by the time we gave an honorarium to the preacher.

Initially the wife and I had a civil service at the courthouse, years later we had a Civil War wedding at a living history with a real preacher who had a Civ War reenactors ministry. Someone gave us $75 as a "wedding gift", we gave it to the Preacher. Other than that, and what we had already invested in our Civil War period clothing, it cost almost nothing.

That sounds fun

My son set a wedding date for Oct 10 this year. We're Catholic and she is Jewish so it will be a non domination small wedding for about 5K. They don't want a honeymoon as a gift so we will pick up half the tab along with her parents who are not able to pay for a large ceremony We will still send them on a small honeymoon....newly weds deserve a nice trip

 

[saveliberty]

Stamps on the invitations was more than $100. Neat stories associated with the less expensive weddings don't you think?

 

[Ringel05]

Not going to hold my breath on on the disagree issue. It will stay in place until they realize disagree runs off a few noobs.

CK got back to me. Says treating the disagree like negs in the Lounge (CS) is a good idea, keep this a nasty free zone.

 

[Foxfyre]

Not going to hold my breath on on the disagree issue. It will stay in place until they realize disagree runs off a few noobs.

CK got back to me. Says treating the disagree like negs in the Lounge (CS) is a good idea, keep this a nasty free zone.

I wish somebody had enough persuasive ability to convince admin that the red X should just be eliminated everywhere. I do think it is contributing to the board being way more uncivil, most especially since it is unlimited, but I have been wrong in the past and I could be wrong now. But thanks for doing that. At least it might help keep the CS the place it was intended to be.

 

[Mertex]

Enjoy your trees. lol.

Whattaya mean, "make like a tree and leave"? Hmph.

No, I mean:

"Enjoy your trees"



Hope I translated that well enough for you.

Stat, you know that Pogo talks in Pogo-talk......you have to ponder it.....

 

[Darkwind]

Good morning everyone! It was nice. For those of you who didn't see my Thursday post, I was in Boston over the weekend for my wife's nephew's wedding.

It was at the MIT Chapel. They met at MIT where they both went to school. Now they are both at Rutgers working on their graduate work. He's getting a PhD in math, she's in law school. People came from all over the country and internationally to attend. It wasn't that large a ceremony, just people from all over. Neither of them have family actually in Boston. There were quite a few of some of their MIT friends, especially at the reception. Anyway, after the ceremony, they took us by limo to the reception, the State Room in central Boston.

Boston Wedding Receptions Meetings Fundraising Event Venue

The bar was well stocked. I had Tangueray martinis and Cabernet. They also hired professional wedding planners for events at the reception. The view if you click on the link as you can see is spectacular. Now I know what you get for an $80K wedding. It was great, but that's a lot of money to me. Wow. Her parents paid for it and they can afford it, so I see why they did it. But wow, you spend it and after a weekend it's gone, snap, $80K.

Anyway, I didn't live in Boston, but I worked there a couple years. So it was great to be back for a few days, walked all over downtown. Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

Yeah, I can't see blowing an entire years salary on just a wedding. But it looked pretty awesome.

BTW.....waving as I pass through..........

 

[Mertex]

Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen 2 pages of posts in the coffee shop, and the day is still young...too bad it involved some unnecessary drama. Foxy, you were spot on about how this new rating system would play out...I really didn't expect to be so bad. The CS has always been a retreat from the nonsense on the rest of the board, and it had better stay that way or I won't have any reason to hang out here with you guys. TIA for knocking the shit off.

I think all USMB has to do is disable the dislike function and everything will be cool. Those that dislike a post should be able to say so, that's so much better than just hitting the dislike button like a child. If I don't like a particular post I'm not going to "agree" or "like" but hitting the "dislike" seems childish. I've done it to those who have done it to me, but then I decided it's not worth the trouble....let them act like idiots, why lower myself to their level.

You're right, the CS is above the nonsense from the rest of the board, until someone decides they just can't help themselves and they have to post some antagonist political comment. That's what happened in the Tavern, and why it finally went down the drain. I like the Coffee Shop much better, and since we can drink hard liquor in here, I like it even more............

 

[Sherry]

Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen 2 pages of posts in the coffee shop, and the day is still young...too bad it involved some unnecessary drama. Foxy, you were spot on about how this new rating system would play out...I really didn't expect to be so bad. The CS has always been a retreat from the nonsense on the rest of the board, and it had better stay that way or I won't have any reason to hang out here with you guys. TIA for knocking the shit off.

I think all USMB has to do is disable the dislike function and everything will be cool. Those that dislike a post should be able to say so, that's so much better than just hitting the dislike button like a child. If I don't like a particular post I'm not going to "agree" or "like" but hitting the "dislike" seems childish. I've done it to those who have done it to me, but then I decided it's not worth the trouble....let them act like idiots, why lower myself to their level.

You're right, the CS is above the nonsense from the rest of the board, until someone decides they just can't help themselves and they have to post some antagonist political comment. That's what happened in the Tavern, and why it finally went down the drain. I like the Coffee Shop much better, and since we can drink hard liquor in here, I like it even more............

Oh Mertex, you're my kind of girl.

 

[kaz]

Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen 2 pages of posts in the coffee shop, and the day is still young...too bad it involved some unnecessary drama. Foxy, you were spot on about how this new rating system would play out...I really didn't expect to be so bad. The CS has always been a retreat from the nonsense on the rest of the board, and it had better stay that way or I won't have any reason to hang out here with you guys. TIA for knocking the shit off.

And for today's history lesson:

On this day in history, September 2, 1969 America's first automatic teller machine (ATM) was opened for business at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, NY. and the banking system has never been the same since. Slow to catch on at first, by the 1980's the machines had replaced the need for bank tellers to receive deposits, cash checks, or transfer money between accounts. They have expanded into hospitals and gas stations and convenience stores and cruise ships and malls and shopping centers and are as indispensable to most people as cell phones and e-mail. Even the banks have ATM machines outside so you don't have to go inside to do a banking transaction.

Coupled with on line banking, direct deposit, automatic bill pay, and debit machines everywhere, many of us rarely go into a bank anymore and may go weeks or months without ever writing a check. It is inevitable that we are moving toward being an entirely cashless society. (No, I don't mean broke though there is that too. )

The younger generation can't remember a time when we didn't have these machines. But I bet some of us are old enough to remember the real fear and trepidation we felt when we first stuck our ATM card into one of the machines to make a cash withdrawal, and even more so the first time we put our pay check into the envelope and stuck it into the machine as a deposit. It did take some emotional adjustment to learn to trust them.

Wow, given my wedding story, this is an appropriate invention for today! Let's see, $500 a trip, $80K, that's 160 trips!

 

[kaz]

Not going to hold my breath on on the disagree issue. It will stay in place until they realize disagree runs off a few noobs.

CK got back to me. Says treating the disagree like negs in the Lounge (CS) is a good idea, keep this a nasty free zone.

I wish somebody had enough persuasive ability to convince admin that the red X should just be eliminated everywhere. I do think it is contributing to the board being way more uncivil, most especially since it is unlimited, but I have been wrong in the past and I could be wrong now. But thanks for doing that. At least it might help keep the CS the place it was intended to be.

I agree, people are clearly using it as negative rep in their mind. At first, I only x'd people back who x'd me. But there are so many now using it clearly as negative rep, they go down the page and disagree with every post I wrote on the page. That clearly isn't what it's supposed to mean. So now, I just ignore it. Then again, I almost never gave negative rep either.

I agree with Linus on that...

Linus (Peanuts): I don't like to face problems head on. I think the best way to solve problems is to avoid them. This is a distinct philosophy of mine. No problem can be so complicated that it can't be run away from!

 

[kaz]

Not going to hold my breath on on the disagree issue. It will stay in place until they realize disagree runs off a few noobs.

CK got back to me. Says treating the disagree like negs in the Lounge (CS) is a good idea, keep this a nasty free zone.

That seems like a complete double standard since in the other forums the PTB's are insisting disagreeing isn't negative rep. So why are they agreeing that it is now when they are insisting it isn't? Clearly if that's the case, than as someone pointed out, might have been you, they should apply the old rules, like about not doing it twice in 48 hours.

I really don't care though, just pontificating. I'm ignoring disagrees now. You know my philosophy on that. Actually, I consider disagree positive since they are saying they cared about my post...

 

[Statistikhengst]

Not going to hold my breath on on the disagree issue. It will stay in place until they realize disagree runs off a few noobs.

CK got back to me. Says treating the disagree like negs in the Lounge (CS) is a good idea, keep this a nasty free zone.

I wish somebody had enough persuasive ability to convince admin that the red X should just be eliminated everywhere. I do think it is contributing to the board being way more uncivil, most especially since it is unlimited, but I have been wrong in the past and I could be wrong now. But thanks for doing that. At least it might help keep the CS the place it was intended to be.

Those redexes had nothing to do with R.D.'s behaviour today.

I just want to be very, very clear about this, Foxfyre. I posted here this morning (east coast time) about how raw things have gotten in USMB. I am not the first person to do this here.

Spoonman has noted it, 007 noted it, SaveLiberty has noted it, you have noted it, just to mention four members. I stated very specifically some things that are happening outside of the lounge, where certain members are making death threats - and/or simply wishing for the death of posters on this board. To me, this is totally, and I mean, totally unacceptable. As a matter of fact, one member put out a thread about 5 or 6 hours ago advocating euthanizing all Democrats.

Is there anyone here who thinks that making death threats in USMB is a good idea or even half-way in the zone of basic human decency?

As a result of my posting, R.D. decided to attack me quite directly, something I have never done to a member in the CS, ever. I decided to let R.D. know that I thought that is pure bullshit. Because it was pure bullshit.

Spoonman can write that things are getting rough and R.D. doesn't attack him.

007 can write that things are getting rough and R.D. doesn't attack him.

SaveLiberty can write that things are getting rough and R.D. doesn't attack him.

You write that things are getting rough and R.D. doesn't attack you.

But as I essentially issued the same sentiments, R.D. attacked me and she also blatantly lied and said that my postings are pornographic. This is patently untrue.

Interesting to note is that the four of you are Righties and I am a Leftie.

I just find it totally informative and yet sad that Righties can let off steam here, but if a Leftie like me does it, all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose. So much for the idea that all members are treated here equally. They are not. And R.D. did not apologize to me. Instead, she apologized for her part in it all, whatever in the hell that is supposed to mean. R.D., you should be ashamed of yourself right down to your shoes for what you did and for the cowardly, half-assed apology.

What I have learned today is that Lefties really aren't as welcome here in the CS as they think. We are tolerated, but really welcome we are not. What a shame.

 

[saveliberty]

I suggested a daily limit on disagrees a couple of days ago, no reply and no change. Things progress in stages around here. First, no disagrees in the CS, then a limit because it discourages noobs from posting on USMB. We just have to roll with it until then.

 

[kaz]

What I have learned today is that Lefties really aren't as welcome here in the CS as they think. We are tolerated, but really welcome we are not. What a shame.

I for one appreciate the explanation because I had no idea what was going on and wondered what the heck happened reading all the comments. With what you said, I went back and read the main posts knowing now what I am looking for, I believe your description of what happened is accurate based on what I saw, though in fairness to anyone else, I didn't read every post.

However, I don't see the evidence for your statement "leftist aren't as welcome here in the CS as they think." It seems like you are contradicting it yourself as you only mentioned one poster and no one else joining in on their side. Seems none of the rest of us non-lefties either supported or participated in that. We also didn't join in the other way as we are in the coffee shop and that wouldn't have been appropriate either. It's a matter for the mods when people break the rules, our joining in either side is still joining in. Did I miss something?

There are several other lefties in the CS, I don't see in general you or any of them getting a bad shake. If I'm wrong in that, tell me, I'd like to know.