Lola at the Coffee House

UPDATE:
No....I checked. There are H's and R's in the puzzle. If there are both in a word, one of them is blocked.

Ha ha , get it? Blocked.

Joe(down the trash chute with you)Nation

I miss my old regular purchases of the NYT for many reasons, and one of those is Will Shortz and the crossword puzzles. I've failed to adapt to online puzzles because I want to see the whole big puzzle at once, and past that, the online puzzles I did check out were too simple. That was a while ago; maybe they've improved. And maybe (well, not just maybe) I'm getting stupider. Took a while today to remember the word 'ganglion'. Brain starting to unravel...

true

Set, Bernie and I used to sell beautiful umbrellas at our store in Portland. I would post a pic, but I've forgotten how. But we sold them for sun or rain. Parasols, yes.

Now Frank and fm's lambs (and fm probably too....... in his sleep) have that contented look on their faces. Ahhhh, contentment.

I just barely got past the opening flourishes.

Glad you did this late in the day.

Joe...I love those kinds of puzzles.

I've got dozens of books of old Times puzzles (luckily they are the easier Sunday ones)...with themes that screw you over. Had one the other day that suggested skipping a month. I was lost, lost lost...until I finally got a result that should have been "octopus"...but which ended up being "novopus."

Once that came into focus...the rest of the puzzle went by like a flash.

I don't like doing crossword puzzles. I don't really know why, but I doubt it's because I might become addicted. Really, anything a person enjoys creates a dependency that could be regarded with anxiety, given real or perceived uncertainty about the person's ability to acquire said desired thing, commodity, item, status symbol, puzzle, item of clothing, food, drink or room decoration. Representation matters, do doubt about it, Spendi. I agree with you completely on this point.

Interesting, though. In 1924, when cross words were new, the game was greeted with fear as so many methods of entertainment are as they are introduced. Consider the fear associated with television; less now than when it was first new. These days it's computers or Kindles or whatever...........oh dear, what's to become of books and the publishing industry, etc.

Really, I think there is a contingent of people who view anything pleasurable as threatening for the reasons you so clearly outline in your speech. Anything bringing pleasure is frightening if you are not sure you can keep it. Thank goodness for our defenses, and may they ever serve us so that we forget for a time that what we love will not always be with us. Oh how I lucky are those little lambs of fm's. I prefer to enjoy whatever I have and to work, as long as I can to keep what I enjoy. I try to remember to not let fear, guilt or envy interfere with this endeavor. But this will require some adaptability.

Ah adaptability.........

have you any dairy free hot cocoa, miss lola?

I hafta go shovel my approach to the road.

I don't do no stinking crosswords. I play Angry Birds Star Wars. -
Came home to Equusearch patrolling the neighborhood by pick up and circling us with helicopters. Had to go online to know what the hell was happening. They have been headquartered at the local school since 8 AM, looking for a 55 year old man. The helicopter vibrates the room each time it goes over. I hope they have some success.

I have to reassess my approach to Jane Austen.

What a pleasant place this is, and such delightful company too.

True, georgeob. Fair is an elastic concept. Still, in most cases, it's easy to know it when we see it. For instance, a person living on an income of $957.00 a month is taxed much more heavily by a traffic ticket of, say $247.10 than is someone who makes $15,000.00 a month.........defining fair in the negative.........what it is not.

I think we should work harder for fair. We could come a lot closer than we do. If only people could sit down and reason together unencumbered by issues of power and authority. But oh well, that will never happen. We have to just use our intelligence or whatever we have to get around between the cracks and enjoy our lives the best we can.

Here, sit down with me for a minute. Something to drink or eat? Let's talk about something fun. The subject of taxes makes my head hurt.

Here you go Rocky, dear. Wassau is rushing over with it now. Snow shoveling takes all the energy you can get. Come back when you're done.

I once had an idea for a science fiction story where the world in which it was set was "fair" with regard to things like traffic tickets, movie tickets, television sets, cars, and the like.

In the fictional world...everything was priced at a "standard rate" which had to be applied to each individuals ability to earn. (Not what they earned, but they were able to earn...which was fairer.)

Maybe some day we will come into that world.

One can only hope.

ahhhhhhhh Wassau

that chipotle hot chocolate was just the thing

can I have another?

whose pumpkin cranberry crisps are those? I wonder if they'll notice if I nick one ... ohhhhhhhh and there's fig and olive crisps too

whoever stocked up did a great job

It's Sybil, back in the kitchen that does the ordering. She's sharp. Between Sybil and Wassau...........the cafe has the finest food in all of the West Village. Of course, Wassau's ability to know the recipes of his customer's relatives helps a lot as well.

And btw, the newspapers in the Cafe are free to Wassau's customers. So don't worry, Frank. You can have one every day. Do what you want with it. Spill coffee on it, work the crossword........read about world and local events, opinion........whatever.

Here, Beth I'll have one of the pumpkin cranberry crisps and some more coffee.

Frank, have a crisp and let's talk about fairness. It's a fantasy story you're thinking about. But a nice one, I think. Maybe, unless there would be a complication. But I think it is possible to make our world more fair if we tried. Hopefully, if we've taught our children well enough, life will get better. It has so far. Although, I've had conversations with people who think things are getting worse. This in spite of modern medicine and science, education and technology and a decrease, over all of prejudice, etc. I know, I'll get an argument on this. But I find that the people who want to argue the opposite are usually Fundamentalist Christians.

The concept of fairness is a tough one, Lola, because there are people who want to view “fairness” in a way that places stress on the “it is fairest if you get only what you earn…and it is unfair if you are required to share what you have earned with others who have not earned.”

I am not of that school, but if given that position in a debate contest, I could forcefully argue that point. With that in mind, I try not to be arbitrarily dismissive of the position.

Fact is, though, if we were willing to make reasonable changes in the way we conduct ourselves (vis a vis each other) we could EASILY craft a society in which everyone has enough (in fact, in which everyone has plenty)…and still allow for those who “earn” to have much, much more than the others.

The “fail” point does not have to be abject poverty…and in a society as rich as ours, it does not even have to be in the poverty range.

Okay…gimme a coffee. The conversation if getting too…sumphin…for the café. I gotta take a break. In fact, I gotta take a potty break.

Good crisp!

That post of mine was something of a riddle which you seem to have sensed the meaning if not actually grasped it.



Or dare to pay the price of continuing to get it when the pusher becomes aware of the vulnerability. Which amounts to the same thing I know but it brings the idea closer to the surface.

What has been done to keep a coffee supply available in times of stress.

How frightening it is depends on a number of factors. With a biological pleasure common to all mankind the prospect of the loss is indeed frightening but with a pleasurable affectation a mere mild irritation ought to be all that is to be endured. In the event that a pleasurable affectation causes fear it has evidently become a biological necessity. Which is a form of madness to which I am not immune. My evening soak in the bath, which calls for me in the tones of a squawking parrot, feels like a biological necessity after many years. I'm not for any self-indulgent boat-rocking which might cause hot baths to be unavailable. Even if it's only a slender chance of doing. And Darwinism has more than a slender chance imo.

BTW, Lola, you didn't comment about my post concerning the debt the immoral woman owes to the Church for creating so many moral women.

Im up. Now what the hell are all these people doing in my room?

My wife got me one of those geezer keyboards where the word "QWERTY" is as big a a stop sign. Boy, even with my crippled hand, I can now type with fewer mistrikes.Ill have a lapsang please

I agree that in most situations people have little trouble knowing or recognizing fairness, or even justice, as seen from their perspective. The problem is those. In another situation or with a different perspective, with equal facility, usually see things differently. Self interest is a powerful motivator.