Good Morning, Oppo

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 04/02/2019 at 09:00 • Filed to: None

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This is so me. Now, go eat an apple.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 09:13

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Related: Enjoy this insane bit of comedy from Pete Holmes (SFW):

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 09:25

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I could use a new ticker and possibly a liver.

ateamfan42 > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 09:41

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Now, go eat an apple.

Fun fact: The modern concept of apples being wholesome, healthy food is a byproduct of Prohibition. Historically, apples were primarily harvested for fermenting into hard cider. When the temperance movement gained strength, apples were seen as the devil’s fruit because they were used for making “evil” alcohol.

Apples were “remarketed” as a healthy food, and new varieties were bred that were tastier for eating and cooking. (Many of the older apple varieties didn’t taste particularly good raw.)

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 09:55

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Ugh me too. Need to fix th at ASAP .

ttyymmnn > ateamfan42 04/02/2019 at 09:59

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I did not know that. I do like a good apple, though. And I grew up with the Johnny Appleseed story.

ateamfan42 > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 10:21

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And I grew up with the Johnny Appleseed story.

Johnny Appleseed was planting trees to also be (primarily) used for hard cider. Back in the homesteading era, one of the best ways to establish a claim to land was by “improving” it through the planting of fruit trees and other crops. Appleseed’s services were popular by those needing a source of fruit trees on the land they intended to claim.

Ken Burns did a fabulous documentary on Prohibition that originally appeared on PBS that covered much of this history.

ttyymmnn > ateamfan42 04/02/2019 at 10:26

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I still haven’t watched the Ken Burns/Lynn Novick Vietnam documentary. I recorded it, just haven’t watched it. I’ll look for this one. Sounds fascinating. Thanks. 

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 10:28

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My wife and I just got through the Vietnam one.  It was very good, and very disturbing.  It vindicated my dad dodging the draft in my wife’s eyes.

ttyymmnn > shop-teacher 04/02/2019 at 10:32

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My dad didn’t dodge per se, but he did take advantage of college deferments. 

i86hotdogs > ateamfan42 04/02/2019 at 10:38

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Regardless the era, the world revolves around booze.

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 10:53

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My dad flat our dodged it. After he got his notice, he went to the bar to get drunk (as one would do). There h e met a lawyer there who told him he could get him out of it. The lawyer sent him to a psychiatrist , who gave my dad a letter saying he had such and such condition.

My dad had to look that condition up in a dictionary to find out what that meant. The condition said that he could not confront stressful situations, but when he did he would lash out violently towards anybody in his immediate area.

Now, this was 1970, so the military had plenty of experience dealing with these letters by then. When my dad presented his letter, he was pulled into a side room and, “Three huge black officers yelled at me that they knew the letter was bullshit and I was going to Vietnam and I was going to die for eight hours, while I stared at the floor and chewed my fingernails until they bled. I never looked up at them. I knew if I looked up at them, I was going to die.” After eight hours they gave up, and sent him home.

My wife has always told me I should stop telling that story, that I should keep it a secret. My response was always that while I am not proud of it, I am not ashamed of it either. That war was total bullshit, and why should my dad or anybody else have been sent there to die? After watching that documentary, she now agrees with me.

I have tremendous respect for everybody who did serve there.  A s well tremendous respect for my father-in-law, who did the really smart thing and joined the Navy and was safe and sound on a destroyer off shore.  But I am damn sure not ashamed of my dad.

ttyymmnn > shop-teacher 04/02/2019 at 11:01

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My wife has always told me I should stop telling that story, that I should keep it a secret. My response was always that while I am not proud of it, I am not ashamed of it either. That war was total bullshit, and why should my dad or anybody else have been sent there to die? After watching that documentary, she now agrees with me.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game. That was a bullshit war that we had no business fighting in. I would have joined the Coast Guard. Although nowadays, USCG cutters are patrolling the Arabian Gulf.

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 12:12

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Agreed.

I just found out a couple days ago that the Coast Guard goes overseas sometimes.  Somebody running for our town’s board of trustees is a Gulf War veteran, and he served in the Coast Guard.

ttyymmnn > shop-teacher 04/02/2019 at 12:44

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I guess since they’re enforcing maritime law and USCG guys have more law enforcement training than sailors do. It also frees up fighting ships to do that fighting thing that they do.

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 12:46

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I guess that makes sense.  I never really thought about it before.

Future Heap Owner > ttyymmnn 04/02/2019 at 13:37

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ttyymmnn > Future Heap Owner 04/02/2019 at 14:27

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I did not see that last verse coming....