I wish to share a piece I wrote some time ago to describe my relationship with my second wife, Pat:...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 19, 2019:

Resonates with me too and reminds me of my marriage to my late wife. I hope I get to experience something like that again, but if not I am grateful for what we had before she got dementia. It's more than lots of divorced couples ever get to experience.How long ago did she die?

This always made sense to me: “Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 19, 2019:

Sounds like the best def I've ever heard of it. Kurt was the man. I still miss him..

Off to Stainsby Folk Festival for the weekend.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 19, 2019:

Sounds fun. I like folk music too. Where the hell is Stainsby?

1. How many are on this site looking for a companion?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 19, 2019:

I came here looking for women to date and quickly learned that is useless for my age group and area. As someone else said, the pickings of compatible women in my area on here is even thinner than on Match, where I've been for two years and will stay with besides here. There are a good number of compatible women on here, but they all live hundreds or more miles away. Yes, I am financially able to date LD or relocate but I won't do it for reasons I have spelled out ad nauseum on here. Emotional drain and risk. Needing my local friends too much. Already moved too much in this decade. Too emotionally tired from losing both parents and my late wife's dementia followed by her death. I will stay here to live or die, even tho with age, like you say FJ, the dating pool shrinks to a puddle in my area esp. with age and my being so far out of the mainstream culture and lifestyle here. And the bitch of it is, that few women on Agnostic would move to Iowa anyway to be with me, between the weather and the backward culture of even the Des Moines area, where I live, compared to where they already live, and I don't blame them. Every woman from here that I have got to know that would be compatible to date has told me they would never move to Iowa. As to your last paragraph, I too feel too old to start over or move and family life is everything to the vast majority of women on Match here in Iowa, so very few will want a non-family-oriented Agnostic hipster like me without children. Also the vast majority of women on Match my age all have kids and almost all of them, as well as almost all of the women who don't have kids, want only family men with kids. Very different dating pool than what I'm told they're like on the coasts or on here.

Wanted to gather advice on the following dilemma: I have a problem with men and their facial hair...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

I've never really liked the way I look with facial hair, so I've almost never kept it on me. I have been clean shaven in my photos and most of the time I go out socially but it doesn't seem to help on dating sites for me. You appear to be a small minority of women in the dating scene, just like me. Welcome to the freaking club.....I think that a common reason that men who are in their 30s or older do the facial hair is to compensate, distract, or balance out their look after they begin balding or become bald. To me, that looks stupid, but it seems to be popular and common, so, what do I know?

New Jersey judge who showed leniency to rape suspect from "good family" resigns

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Big surprise. American justice has always had different standards for people based on their race, class and level of money. Can't understand why anybody acts shocked anymore, but it is still wrong....

If you dont' like America, Why don't you just leave?....

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Good rebuttal. Also, we have the right to stay and fight for improving things. Just because someone supports the status quo does not make them right or entitle them to the final word or say on things. The Native Americans can testify to how that sometimes works out with people that want to change things sometimes getting their way.

There's all kinds of ways to love...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

My attitude is this "Early on learn about their past to see if they are compatible and a risk worth taking in investing myself in a relationship with them. After gathering enough data to decide that I'm all in, then learn about their past to understand how they need to be loved". Ronnie Raygun, who I despised but at least had this right, said, " Trust, but verify"..

Some not so bright atheists (even when they call themselves "brights" - a sad example of collective...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Just another example of one group of bigoted, mentally ill people projecting onto and bashing another group of similar people. Kind of like The Taliban and America's Repub party.

Meet Max Lynx, the educational animal ambassador who takes a moment to get some good scratchin’ ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

So cute and fluffy....

Date Bar Burnout

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Make whatever you want. They should just be grateful to have any treats that taste better than cardboard, but then again, my standards are low when it comes to free food.....

Keep people in your life😊

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

That's my motto and how I've been living since a was a young adult, including dumping family when they become more toxic than positive.

Meeting/A Negative Experience

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 18, 2019:

Didn't vote as I am not qualified, have never met anybody from here in person. I traded PMs with a couple people, one man, one woman, about meeting them for a drink or coffee and both ghosted me once I suggested concrete plans for doing that. Asked the woman to coffee, the guy said he wanted a beer together, even tho I don't drink. Got a feeling a dodged one with each of them, but I know that will sound like sour grapes. You might add an option for those like me who've never met anyone, just to get a tally of them.

A Little baby lizard found his way into my house.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

You are anything but and always will be. Not only lizards, you will always have many men after you and you know it.....

If blonds have more fun and redheads are fire in the bed.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

I'd settle for romance and sex with any women who have attractive bodies and faces, regardless of hair. Hair is so trivial on women for me, even tho hair on men is so important to many if not most women in the dating game.

Intelligence existed prior to matter! And, you're not going to die! [physics-astronomy.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

I think that by the time I die, all of me will need a good, permanent rest. So I have no interest in my consciousness surviving......

A "Godly" message that I truly believe...I think most of us do

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

Now that is some snark that I can totally get and get behind!

Extremely awkward...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

Good one. I need to contact the local custom print shirt shop and see if they can make one of those for me. It couldn't hurt or be worse than my current ad and sales efforts....

Finally hit 9.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

The way it's going, I will have the level 8 shirt long before I ever meet anyone from here to date in person from my local area.

Ex wife has been with two different people in two weeks, a month after the divorce was finalized.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

With all due respect, why do you care? I am guessing she dumped you, but even if she didn't, you don't need to further concern yourself with her unless you share minor children with her. And even then, her love life is still really not your business unless it affects said kids.

"We are going too!" [facebook.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

How dare they think of leaving the kitties behind?....

The world is fucked up beyond salvation.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

I've done that too, but I will only spend my time doing it with people that are legitimately pissed off by an asshole, not someone who appears to be entitled and privileged while acting like an asshole because they sense someone inferior has failed to honor their privilege. In other words, indulge one of the good guys, not one of the rankist or classist bad guys.

A SECOND Mississippi gubernatorial candidate , Bill Waller, has announced that he also follows the ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

Unfortunately, in the South mental health therapy still has a lot of stigma and is considered taboo. Those who probably need it are more often scorned as people who would be just fine if they would simply start "living right" and turn to God and religion to help them. Religion is considered not just a substitute for therapy, it's considered superior to therapy for helping people.

Even the best laid plans go to hell.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

Mine went ok, but it was mostly luck of inheriting a pretty good amount of money from, first, my mother, then my late wife, and now my father. I have always lived simply and frugally, so once I saw I would soon likely not need to work anymore, I retired about a year ago. Unless I have a stroke and then need expensive care for a bunch of years before I die, which is always possible, I have enough to live comfortably at my level for as long as I am likely to be around. I hated most of the jobs I had during my working years, so why keep working for the man when I would rather be free and doing things I actually like whenever I want? I am sorry things turned out bad for you. Nobody deserves to be a slave to the man until they die, but many do end up with that.

Hi @Admin, When someone tags me in a comment I get a notification.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 17, 2019:

I don't know about that, but the site seems to be glitching again for me with an old problem I've had, namely having my sent messages disappear soon after I send them and probably not being received by the member I'm sending them to.

Yikes!!!!

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

Cat looks pretty big...

Ever found love and got into a relationship with someone they met on agnostic?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

No luck for me and you'll find that's the case for most of us, unless we are willing to date someone hundreds of miles away and then face the challenge of one of the parties having to move to the other's area. I am not up for that kind of risk, heartache and disappointment. In my case, I am stuck with my local dating puddle because I don't have the strength to try an LD relationship, then possibly lose my local friends if I move for someone, because I know damn well that someone on Agnostic, most of whom live in far more desirable areas than me, are never going to be willing to move to Iowa for me.

The image is black letters on white: “I don’t need to flirt, I will seduce you with my ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

I could probably use a T-shirt like that. There's a local shop for snarky shirts like that called Raygun. I might call them and see if they could get the rights to that slogan and make me one.

A man can't survive on beer alone....

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

I'm surviving without either one, but a girlfriend would be nice.....

What stage do YOU think we’re at?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

I've seen a similar list on Commondreams.org about the stages of fascism, which I already agree we have in the US. I also agree with the stage in this one list.

It's a story about someone with no reason to succeed.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

What the hell are you talking about? Couldn't you just be straightforward about your subject instead of trying to dress it up with all this mysterious BS talk? Trying to wrap mediocre in mystery is not that impressive. "(Life) is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"-Shakespeare's MacBeth. Seems an appropriate comment on this post....

I'm definitely at this point in my life:

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

Poor fat kitty whining, " How did I get this way, hooman?"

Final court date tomorrow.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

When you talk about that kind of history, you make me think of a wonderful, tho dark and depressing UK film I saw a few years ago, I, Daniel Blake. I doubt most Americans have ever heard of it, but man was it honest and powerful. The UE system is just as fucked up here as in your country and that's part of what struck me about it. The rich using their bought government to punish and torture the common workers. I liked it so much I bought the DVD and try to lend it to my liberal middle class friends who've never been on UE so they might learn something about what most disposable workers go thru.

We don't fight. But this descibes the daughter perfectly:

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

Kitty likes to brood.....

Drop a date you'll never forget.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 16, 2019:

Dec. 27, 2010. I had my first episode of atril fibrillation, a permanent minor heart condition, that occured a few weeks after my mother's massive stroke. The Afib espisode changed my life for good as it is progressive over time and took away a lot of confidence about my health, some of which I have gained back. I remember spending the end of the year in the hospital for 4 days and missing an annual NY eve party that I usually had with friends. Six months later my late wife began developing dementia. It's been a really shitty decade for me......

Good news! [metro.co.uk]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

I'd have no idea. I haven't even kissed a woman since my late wife while she was dying and didn't even speak anymore or know I was her spouse. Good for everybody else, I guess.....

My joke fell flat. How do you recover?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

On the one hand, Dr. Bill and CallMeDave have a point, there should be no double standard between the genders on sarcasm being used in the dating scene. On the other hand, the good doctor has more than enough money to buy a sense of humor, which he seems to be lacking, at least by my standards. But what do I know, since I seem to be undateable, at least in my local area... Your mileage may vary......

The Hardcore on Dating As several members here have posted about their grievances w/ online ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

I can't afford to eat out all the time at sit down, pricey restuarants, and even if I did, I really don't see how one would meet people to date at them. The only reason I ever go to bars is for karaoke and live music, which is once or twice a week. Not that many opportunities per month then to meet someone for dating thru bars then for me. I do think tho, that one advantage of meeting women at bars or live music concerts vs. online dating is that you are only competing during the encounter, against the woman's baseline standards for partners, not against every other man on the dating site in your area and age group, which, in my case is probably several hundred other guys at any one time. In fact, at the bar, you aren't even competing against every other guy in the room, because, at least in Des Moines Iowa, the women are pretty much traditional enough that the guy has to make the first move and most guys these days are understandably reluctant, due to MeToo and other cultural movements, to make the first move. So a guy willing to make the first move tactfully is not competing at all with the other guys in the room like he would in the old days of singles bars in the 1970s, which were before my time, but I heard all about them....Looking at the chart, it's clear that when I was young, the vast majority met thru friends, bars, work and family, all of which seem to match the way I remember it.

Man sues over TGI Fridays menu that didn't list drink prices.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Thrives on that and Dunkin Donuts, right??

The Hardcore on Dating As several members here have posted about their grievances w/ online ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Looks like bars, (which used to be the main way to meet besides friends and now, along with the internet, is replacing friends), restuarants, and dating sites are now the only viable ways to meet anyone. I know that my friends are no help, as they are all married and out of the game too much to know anybody single and help. I'm also post college age and retired, so that eliminates two other sources. Yup, I'm doomed. It's interesting that the graph does not include churches, which are, I'm sure, still a big meeting place for believers. But for us non-believers, the only appropriate churches would be Unitarian ones. Thanks for validating my grievances and pessimism, Deiter. I know you're always glad to help, lol.....

My terms are simple....

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

This reminds me of a photo on the annual Bad Cats calender where two cats were dressed up, one as the devil. The caption was "Once you sell your soul to the devil, there's no getting it back!"

Tell us about your first time ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

I really can't remember a particular moment, event or experience. I just know that I lost my belief somewhere in my mid to late 20s.

Deal-breakers and Red Flags are often discussed here - this is the opposite. Not a bad start?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Those are all positive things, but you have no way of becoming aware of them until you have at least met the person several times in person for dates or meetings. Trading messages with them or even talking on the phone are still so indirect and impersonal that they really won't provide you any clues about these issues. Most people won't commit enough time and effort to seeing you with online dating until they have already decided from those initial screening phases like trading messages, phone calls, and a few in person dates or meetings that you are a keeper and someone they could see having sex with. In a nutshell, most people will be too guarded and not give you enough data to evaluate these issues until you have already dated them a few months and are in an exclusive relationship. So, to find out these things, it won't happen in the first place unless both they and you have become invested enough to date steadily for a while and make it exclusive. Either a mutually serious investment or no opportunity to find out this stuff about someone. By that time, most people are too emotionally invested to notice the red flags if they come up that late.

Cute meme, and I love this guy

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

How did he get the cat to let him dress it and appear so comfortable in the pic?

Is religion the same as government?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Government's purpose is to provide order, services to the people, regulate business and behavior, and make decisions for the collective society. The purpose of religion has been to historically provide and ethical and moral base for the society while also helping people with explaining and making sense of what science had previously been unable or unavailable to explain.

Why would, or wouldn't, you date a believer?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

I could and would date a believer if they were not strongly religious, were otherwise compatible with me, and were open-minded enough to accept me as a non-believer. Unfortunately, in my experience, very few believers in my area are open-minded and accepting of non-believers, which is not surprising. Because few of them have ever actually known a non-believer as a friend or something closer than that and also because as members of the dominant, mainstream culture, they can easily find and choose among many other fellow believers to date, thus, they have little to no motivation to be more flexible or open-minded about dating non-believers. As I often say about the dating game, most people are only as open-minded as the dating market forces them to be. Otherwise, as long as they don't feel it would doom them to being alone forever, most people are very close-minded about who they will date and will mostly choose others who are an opposite gender version of themselves as far as background, interests, culture, and lifestyle.

Has anyone found someone special on this site?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Not really. I've met several women on here that became, at least for a while, Agnostic pen pals to trade PMs with or talk on the phone in a few cases, but no one local or anyone that I met in person. I have not met anyone local for dating and I won't date anyone LD, so the short answer is NO, nobody for dating. Since no new women my age have joined in the last two years locally, I doubt it will ever happen for me with this site.

[youtu.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 15, 2019:

Like any piece of theater or film, it all starts and rests on the script. I found the material fairly boring, even tho I did a lot of community theater-acting-when I was young and more bold and confident. Some of it is funny, in the same vein as Jon Lovitz's Master Thespian character from SNL. You, on the left, and the other actress are both very good at your characters, and on a similar talent level with the local semipro actors I see regularly here in Des Moines. So I feel Bobby is being a bit harsh, but I don't think the writing is strong enough to perform it again. You both have the talent that you should be onstage again doing other stuff. I saw this more as kind of an audition piece rather than something to present to an audience for a performance. I am a fairly critical person when it comes to performing arts, so make of my critique what you will.... I have seen Death Of a few times, so I am familiar with the plot and the Linda character from it. Tho that is a minor part of the sketch, I think that aspect would make parts of the sketch less funny or confusing to someone who is unfamiliar with Salesman. You look a bit like Angela Lansbury here and remind me a bit of her in the character. Have you ever played Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie? That's a classic role for older actresses and I could really see you in it....

My sister died yesterday after being sick for 2-3 years.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

My condolences. I could not read any Christian text either at a funeral mass. I did speak for a few minutes at my mother's visitation service, but I was allowed to compose that myself so it was authentic and comfortable for me. Like Pam and UUNJ said below, maybe you could suggest to your niece letting you read something secular that you would both be comfortable with. There are many great readings available to find on the web. However, I know from experience that Catholic funeral masses tend to be very restrictive about what music and readings they will allow there. I don't even know if they allow a non-priest to deliver a eulogy.

{{{originally posted on}}} 6-6-06 (Seriously folks, if you love your faith, Don’t Read This!!!)...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

In the words of the bard, Bob Dylan, in "Positively 4th St.." " You have no faith to lose, and you know it".

If dtrumph hates immigrants so much why does he keep marrying them?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

I can only speculate that on his end it's for the sex and that as immigrants from patriarchical, very traditional cultures, they will put up with his misogynist BS more than American women would. Also, they are with him for the money. Sort of a very high end prostitute or mail order bride.

Anyone else feel that it isn’t necessary to get married?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

As a retired, financially secure, widowed man without kids, marriage serves no real purpose for me and I will not get married again unless I meet a woman that really demands it as part of continuing to share my life with her. I will not be pressured into marrying someone early on after I meet them and if someone requires that for me to be with her due to her religion, that tells me she is not a match for me. Commitment is proven by making someone an exclusive relationship and then continuing to prove over time you are committed to them. I got a prenup before my one marriage and would require on before another as well.

Never leave your smartphone unattended:

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

I suspect that secretly most cats have learned how to use the TV remote.....

I wish to share my feelings of joy! I was never looking for this love that filled my life, not ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

Happy for you. Wish I still had hope of meeting someone like that for me, but the last two years have pretty much beaten it out of me.....

You know, Oklahoma and Kansas are pretty easy to pick on.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

Your travalogue reminds me of the Charlie Daniels song, Uneasy Rider, about how one needs to avoid the whole South to get from east to west. Charlie sang about going from the Northeast to LA and that next time he was going to go thru Omaha, just to avoid the South. I no longer need to deal with OK or KS anymore now that my younger sis moved away long ago from Bartlesville, OK. Glad I had a place to stay there and didn't need to stop for a night on the way there from Iowa. The conditions in each state are a testament to what low taxes and limited government will get you. They all vote Repub and get what they deserve....And while we're at it, some parts of Missouri, which is also in the Bible Belt, are not that much better than those two states. I know from visiting people in KC. I do live in part of flyover land, indeed.......

Sound on. Hungry and large kitty [facebook.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

Christ, that thing is as long as a medium-sized dog. Wouldn't you need some kind of exotic pet license to have a cat like that in your home? It's also very loud.

There are times you wish you had a train horn mounted on your car.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

Can't fix stupid. But sometimes nature does take care of it by thinning the herd......

I'm not that brave:

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

I think most cats already know that it's their house and you're just allowed to live there. This cat is just being more obvious about it. Looks very comfortable and secure. Seems to be saying " I'll just lie here while you see about my breakfast"..

Perfect response to those annoying guys ladies

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

Good one....

Sing along with kitty [facebook.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

Cute and spoiled.

You’re Welcome..... [boredpanda.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 14, 2019:

Owl Kitty has great flair, along with cuteness...

What kind of man do women really want? Nailed it! [youtube.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 13, 2019:

Sounds about right. Translation: It's all bullshit and many women actually have no idea what they really want in a partner, unless maybe they have been to therapy, taken their own notes, and learned something about themselves. Same with most guys (not me tho, I've got the notes and knowledge to prove my time in therapy), it goes both ways......

Whats it like for members who live in Bible Belts?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 13, 2019:

I'm not sure, does Iowa qualify as Bible Belt? I know the South does, but not sure about the Midwest. Somebody help me on that and I'll weigh in if I qualify.

As recently as 30 years ago, America was over 90% Christian.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 13, 2019:

Same as Christianity losing its numbers in America, you see the same dynamic with white males losing their privilege, they act cornered and get frightened and angry, lashing out at women, gay people, and racial minorities for allegedly taking away their power, status, and jobs. So they vote for Trump or other conservative demagogues, commit mass shootings, and other hate crimes as their way of striking back against their perceived enemies.

Very nice!

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 13, 2019:

That is truly great decorative artwork, belongs in a museum....

It seems like everyone complains there are no honest politicians, but if a politician tells it like ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 13, 2019:

That's because most voters are idiots and immature children who are too ignorant and stupid to handle the truth and respect someone willing to tell it. Otherwise, we would have already had Nader twice as prez and already had Bernie too....

My ex keeps telling me I'm shallow because I will only date women who are small.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 13, 2019:

Things like hair color and height are really pretty trivial or minor in the eyes of most singles who are looking to date. It's ridiculous that dating sites even used to list eye color of the member as well as what eye color they were looking for in a partner. What really matters, to me somewhat, as well as to most people, whether they admit it or not, is body type. For men, it's the woman' breast size, how slender or overweight she is, how fit and toned her body is or isn't. For women, what matters to them, at least most or many of them, is how much hair the man has on his head, how slim, average, or overweight he is, and, like with men towards women, how muscled, fit, toned, or athletic he is. Anybody who says body type is not important is either very exceptional or lying. Why the hell do you think that every expert on online dating says that both men and women want to see at least one full body shot in the profile's pics, (as well as one close up headshot so the viewer can see how wrinkled their face is too)? Plus, all dating sites ask the member to categorize their own body type as well as what what types they are seeking in a partner. The vast majority of women rate their body type as average in their profiles, whether that is accurate or not, but nobody is going to take anybody's word on something that crucial, so that's why most people have several pics in their profile, including a full body shot. Body type is usually very important in sexual attraction, at least early on in a relationship. As time goes on, other things do become more important, but I'm talking about who you want to date in the first place after you see them, in person or in an online profile. I prefer women who are slender to moderately overweight, any height, hair color or length, with average to above average size breasts. Always been that way......Make of it what you will...

Basic Income?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 12, 2019:

You need to allow for multiple votes per person. I would vote for both of the first two options. We need a basic income, as prez candidate Andrew Yang has proposed, and it needs to be paid for with taxes on the super wealthy and with a tax on Wall Street firms speculating on trades. Between automation and AI, most jobs will be eliminated over time, so better education for all is not the answer as most jobs will be actually lower-skilled and lower-paying in the future as more are eliminated. Having free college available would be a social good in itself as we would have a more informed and more critically-thinking public, but it will not help us in finding employment for everyone, that's why we need a UBI. The rich, however, have no interest in paying for it, as it would benefit only unneeded workers that don' help them make profits. They don't even want to pay their fair share as it is to fund Social Security and Medicare, as they don't need it themselves at all.

Theatre Folk and Friends is a new group- and we love musicals. Please! Come and visit!

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 11, 2019:

Tried looking for your group on Agnostic and can't find it. How would one join it then?

6 Easy Exercises That Anyone Can Do (LOL).

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 11, 2019:

I rarely hear voices in my head, but they don't concern me because I've been told you don't need to worry as long as you don't do what the voices tell you to do...........

6 Easy Exercises That Anyone Can Do (LOL).

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 11, 2019:

Sounds like the Sloth Olympics.....

I've posted this quote before.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 11, 2019:

My brother turned me on to HST back when I was in college and I went to see the Gonzo give a lecture at my university. He was doing his whole gonzo journalist schitick back then, with lots of booze onstage. He was acting like his caricature from Doonesbury then, but it was entertaining. Many years later my brother gave me a baseball cap from Thompson's favorite bar in Colorado a few years before Hunter checked out of this life. I still wear it some and it was the best gift I ever got from him.

anyone like Hardcore? Punk? Metal?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 11, 2019:

I liked the older punk bands. Not familiar with any of them past the 90s. Not into hardcore or metal, but even they, like anything, are better than country, which to me is music for hicks, rednecks, and idiots.

gasps for air I can't stop watching this 😂🤣😂🤣 Caution; swear words [youtu.be]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 11, 2019:

That is one strange-looking, angry cat. It reminds me of a white-furred version of the late Grumpy Cat.

STANDING BEHIND YOUR EMPLOYEE My day job as some of you may know is printer repair tech.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 10, 2019:

I can't remember a single job where an employer stood behind me in any beefs with a customer. Employees have been disposable since before I became an adult. The only non-management employees who get backed by an employer are those who are either related to management or the owner or else close friends of the same.

What do you think are some of the root causes of apathy in our society?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 9, 2019:

Combination of people feeling hopeless that anything important can be changed thru the political system or even mass movements, coupled with ever-increasing callousness that occurs from the struggle to survive and a toxic culture in our social and mass media.

For those of you that don’t live in Michigan this is a real road sign in Troy Michigan.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 9, 2019:

In that same vein, my late wife's niece visited my wife and I soon after my wife got dementia and we gave her a short tour of the Des Moines area, including passing an all too-common convenience store chain called, I kid you not, Kum and Go. Only in the Midwest could you get away with a brand name like that. She had to take a pic next to their store sign so she could share the joke with her friends back in Atlanta, where no one would be able to mention the store name with a straight face.

Best Idea I had seen in years...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 9, 2019:

Wouldn't make any difference in most cases. The parents of the bad kids are usually in complete denial about their kid's behavior. I worked for several years as a school bus driver and even when we had video evidence of the kid's behavior, the parents would usually refuse to believe their kid was misbehaving and instead bully the general manager of the bus company and blame the driver for lying about their kid or somehow provoking their kid into acting badly. The main reason I quit driving the bus is that I got sick of how the bus company, pressured by the school district, kept increasing the survellience on the drivers while at the same time we drivers got less support each school year from the school district officials, including the principals, in dealing with student discipline on the buses. I got sick of how many times I would write up a kid for conduct violations and never get any action on the kids, even if I had video evidence of it. But if we ever acted inappropriately towards a student on the bus, there was always hell to pay for it and very quickly too. I got sick of the double standard. The kids all knew they were above punishment, but we sure weren't, so we had no authority with the bad kids. That's why a lot of the drivers I worked with quit recently and more will quit in late August. The real problem is the school district won't stand up to the bad parents and bad kids. Instead they side against the drivers and that's why we quit. It all began when they outsourced the busing a decade ago, making the bus drivers third party employees of the district instead of part of the system. Made it much easier for them to throw us under the bus, pun intended. It pissed me off that the school district would not let parents see the video evidence, citing privacy rights of other kids on the bus, but would let the principals see it. Many times the principals refused to watch the video evidence after we wrote kids up because they didn't want to have to act on the evidence. Chickenshit cowards.....Outsourcing busing service and the first line of the bus discipline process to a contractor company may distance the school district some from handling the problem of bus discipline, but it doesn't solve or remove the problem. But it helps the school district take less heat from the parents, which, besides lowering costs for the school district, is why they outsource.

I'm anxious.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 9, 2019:

I thought mine was bad. Now that my parents are both dead, I can now avoid seeing my siblings for a while and that's what I plan to do until one of them or their spouses die. I do have a cousin near Chicago that I would like to go see sometime that is a cool person, as is her hubby. I also have my godparents in California who are old and sick, probably the next ones to die. They are richer than God and think that Reagan was the best prez ever. Not sure if I will bother going to their funerals or not. I admire your guts for going to the party even tho you are struggling.

Short legged kitty jumping [facebook.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 8, 2019:

I used to see a dwarf Persian cat that was so cute when it would run across the room with its short legs. This cat does look majestic.

That might give you a bit of a start:

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 7, 2019:

Fluffy kitty fur just like a towel.

Men find it hard to connect with plus-size women in the same way that women don't seem attracted to ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 7, 2019:

I have always been tall. But for the last couple decades I have been bald or balding, so my attractiveness has probably been a wash once I hit my late 40s.. I also used to be more athletically built too, until my early 50s. I know these appearance things make a great difference, as when I was younger and had more going for me in appearance, I could get dates with not that much effort. Of course, that was before online dating. In online dating, I get very little interest, probably because of all the competition from men with better builds and more hair on their heads.

Likely story...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 6, 2019:

How dare you accuse me?

For those who hate comparing Trump to Hitler, look at this: [thehill.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 5, 2019:

One fascist apparently admiring another one, imagine that......

Does anyone actually meet anyone from here?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 5, 2019:

From checking your profile and the nearby members listed who are interested in dating, you appear to have somewhat better than normal options for local dating than most members of this site. Myself, I have made some online friends here, never met anyone in person, and never connected with anyone where there was mutual interest in dating. For almost all of us, the only real dating options with this site were if you were willing to date LD, and I am not.

What do you think?

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 5, 2019:

This is a form of jury nullification, which is a good part of our legal system when it is exercised properly. It allows the common people a way to overrule unjust laws indirectly in the interests of justice.

Disclaimer: the following is based on several years of personal experience with online dating and ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 4, 2019:

Ok, ready to give a more thorough reply, altho the others here have said some of what I would have. BTW, wise move to have added a full body shot to your photos as one of the women suggested. Body type first. Yes, most men do want a woman with some curves, as long as they are not more than moderately overweight. Same way women want men with muscles and a six pack, goes both ways and is fairly true even at my age. As far as the rest of your list of turnoffs like being intelligent, articulate, sexually open, etc., I don't concur at all with that, based on my experience and the men I know. Not wishing to live together or be financially controlled (do you mean rather financially dependent?), also don't think that applies to most men either on the financial issue. Not wanting to live together probably would be a turn off to most men, but is more common than you think for our age. Last woman I met from online said she felt like you on that and I am not eager to live with anyone soon either even if we clicked and dated for a couple years.Same with women enjoying "manly" stuff like your list of outdoor activities, at least in my area. Those activities are commonly listed by the women's profiles I see on Match and they say they are seeking only men who enjoy lots of those same outdoor activities. I have to believe that most of them are getting lots of interest from men in my area, all other things being equal about these women. As far as wanting women who are strong, independent and not jealous of a man spending time with his male friends while the woman spends time with her gal pals, that describes my one, happy marriage to a T, as well as the male friends I have that are all married. The baldness issue, I covered below, except to say that I don't try to hide mine. I am tall, but even with that I get very little interest from online dating, probably because of my baldness, build, and how I dress, I don't look that impressive in my pics. I totally agree with you about how superficial online dating is and how much the profile pics determine a huge amount of how much interest you get from other people, at least to start with, on dating sites like Match. It goes both ways tho, in my experience, and women can be just as shallow about it as men when it comes to screening completely on looks without giving any real thought to whether the rest of someone's profile info is interesting and compatible with them. What is my evidence for that? The fact that in almost two years of online dating, only about half of the women I message even bother to look at my profile after I've asked them to. Why don't they? Because after seeing my main profile pic that accompanies my message, they decide, based on that pic, that I don't meet their standards for looks, so they don't ...

Disclaimer: the following is based on several years of personal experience with online dating and ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 4, 2019:

You have said so much I will need to read this again a time or two before giving a longer comment, but one thing I will say now is that not all men are able to re-partner in 6 months. I've been trying online dating for 21 months and am still back at square one. Haven't met anyone I saw more than 3 times. Maybe your sample of guys that re-partner that quick as you say are all way better looking than me and/or way more mainstream for their local area in culture and lifestyle, which I most certainly am not for my area.

Christian School Teacher, Who Lectured Girls on Modesty, Accused of Sexually Assaulting Students...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 4, 2019:

She even looks like a fucked up meth addict.

Mazie is snoozing in my chair. I don't think I can use my computer for a while.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 4, 2019:

The cats all know they come first.

Well.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 4, 2019:

Fucking idiots. I am a former professional driver and very skilled at avoiding accidents, but even I feel often scared about whether I can avoid hitting all the idiots I encounter of the road these days as a civilian driver.

I have a question that maybe you all can help with.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 4, 2019:

Stay the hell out of Iowa. Hard to find decent-paying jobs. Too Bible Belt, and Medicaid is not very generous here plus the Medicaid system is now shit thanks to our Repub governor who privatized it.

I Didn’t Die Today, AKA trip to The Badlands of South Dakota.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 4, 2019:

Scary shit. I've survived a couple of severe Iowa snowstorms where I fully expected to die when I was foolishly out on the roads and hoping I did not crash, slide off the road, or get stuck so that I did not freeze to death out there waiting for help. I didn't pray about it, but I can see why believers do in those situations. Never stared down a tornado like you did. That must have seemed very surreal...

I vaguely remember, years ago, having days like this:

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 3, 2019:

You can tell this cat is really faking the smile, when inside it probably wants to bite someone. I know the feeling.... glad I am retired....

To fellow scientists: How do you deal with people in social settings that speak with authority ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 3, 2019:

I'm the last one to ask. I still like being right more than being liked. Fortunately, I sometimes find people that are so full of it that I don't want to bother correcting them. I just passively move on and avoid them.

You know, I did not blame ALL men for what went wrong in my marriage.

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 3, 2019:

I sure as hell don't want to be hated. I can feel bad about myself just fine on my own without someone bashing me. You seem to be choosing the wrong kind of men if that is your experience. Sorry you have been so disappointed.

Why cat racing is so boring

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 2, 2019:

Cats would rather stay in the box....it's more fun.

These were some old bands that were popular in the 1980s [youtu.be] [youtu.be]

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 2, 2019:

To be honest, I never really liked either band much.

How do you respond when somebody you have never met in person and only exchanged a sentence or two ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 2, 2019:

Deb- I know from what you have told me about yourself that you have reason to doubt your judgement about men, but in this case the rash declaration from the man that he is honest does sound inappropriate.

Some here, will understand:

TomMcGiverin comments on Jul 2, 2019:

The cat is Hunter Thompson from Fear And Loathing.....