Happy belated birthday 🎂

Condo

It was actually Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal that held up the files during Biden's term. And even once her appeal was finally rejected, Sept or Oct of 2024, the files would have had to be sorted for victims' names to be redacted.

Even if Biden had ordered the DOJ to release the files then, the MAGA crowd would have complained it was a hoax to try to sway the election.

That’s something I get really tired of also. Bush did so and so, Obama did so and so. So Trump…..yadda, yadda.

That is so irrelevant.

Cool link! Thank you!

I'm a big Coen Brother's fan, too, and it's hard to claim a favorite. Probably "O Brother! Where Art Thou?", but I think that both "Burn After Reading" and "Ballad of Buster Scruggs" get better each time I watch them.

I think all of the Coen films get better with each watching.

Most of them are great in their own way. I really like The Man Who Wasn't There . That film definitely gets better with each watching.

I think I had OBWAT on DVD. I've watched it a bunch. Same for Big Lebowski.

Miss Moon - I've seen that in the past, haven't watched in a while.

I really like the Thieves World series, too! I was rereading a chunk of it last year (beginning through Faces of Chaos, IIRC). Yeah, if there's one fantasy setting I DON'T want to get dumped into, it's Sanctuary and it's scabby environs with its pesky, tempestuous gods!

Yeah, it feels almost a disservice to not list every one of their movies. I mean, Raising Arizona? Hudsucker Proxy? No Country for Old Men? True Grit??? I haven't seen Honey Don't yet, but it's definitely on the agenda.

(Although, confession: I didn't care for Hail Caesar! Not bagging on it, just didn't hit for me.)

I agree but I also think it was very groundbreaking for the genre and I wish more people would have heard of it and read it

Recently listened to audiobook The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown. Really enjoyed the fascinating combination of factual scientific research and sci-fi based mystery adventure.

Let’s talk EVENT etiquette people. When you sign up for an event, and it turns out you cannot attend after all, please please please edit your signup and drop from the event. It’s not a biggie to cancel, I probably cancel close to 50% of the events I sign up for. Keyword here is cancel. Don’t just be a No-Show. And editing your sign-up 2 weeks after the event ended does not count either. Be courteous and edit your sign up and drop before the event!
While I’d like to believe it’s not a malicious or callous decision, it is inconsiderate. And if you were a host perhaps you would understand that.
Hosts incur $ costs. One of the biggest cost is printing out clue packets. It’s just uncool having your host waste $$$$ on unclaimed packets! Hosts put their hearts & souls planning & carving and covering so many costs putting together clue packets, swag bags, food, catering, raffles, drinks, pavilions, venues, t-shirts, etc…and they never complain! So while you may think “oh it’s no big deal if I don’t show up” you are dead wrong.

Let’s talk about events at restaurants, no shows there are just as rude & inconsiderate. We hosted an event at a restaurant in 2023.
35 people signed up but only 17 people showed.
The restaurant assigned our group 2 servers when 1 would have been sufficient. The restaurant seated us in their private dining room but had they known our true head count they would not have. Lastly the 2 servers were shortchanged so we tipped them extra $$$$ out of our own pocket to make up for the shortage of tips and waste of their Saturday afternoon.

Again, things come up, that’s life!!! But when that happens go in and edit your signup and drop from the event, it takes mere seconds!!! And those few seconds make all the difference to your host who has spent months planning an event for your entertainment and enjoyment only to be hurt by the thoughtless actions of way too many clueless people who just don’t care.

uneksia wrote:

I wrote:

To which dingus dufus wrote:

After that (replying to the same message dingus dufus replied to) heartsquare wrote:

Now, when I wrote that I clearly stated that if it is a complete statement that would mean that the files were releasable by the Biden administration. heartsquare clearly wrote that this was not the case.

Please get together on a single answer.

What???

I was trying to contribute more information to the discussion. What I read about why the files weren't released during Biden's term was from Julie K Brown, a Miami Herald journalist who has done a ton of legwork for the Epstein investigation. I couldn't actually get past the Miami Herald paywall to see if this was mentioned in the link that dingus dufus had posted (possibly due to my ad blocker), but I assumed it wasn't since you were still asking.

I did assume that you were asking in good faith.

I'm not going to "get together for a single answer" with anyone else, sorry to disappoint you. It's pretty clear from all of these posts that we all get info from different sources, anyway.

I did ask in good faith.

uneksia wrote:

Here is the relevant thread again:

uneksia wrote:

In response to that I wrote:

To which dingus dufus wrote:

‡ Edit to use uneksia's name in response to dingus dufus' statement.

Good grief!! Do you EVER get tired of picking and rehashing every word that everyone says? Do you have anything else to do besides scrolling, cutting & pasting, and arguing just for the sake of some point never made?
Go outside, take a walk, appreciate the fall leaves, rest your mind for a while, say hello to a passing stranger, pet a dog, get an ice cream. Take a peace break.

You know, that is what I think about many of the people here, in this group. I think you summed up the people in this forum very well.

FYI: Your presumption is incorrect. I spent much of both this past Wednesday and Friday outside, doing things like you suggested. Almost every Saturday is board game day.

I hear you about etiquette. I worked in the wedding industry for 14 years and I heard stories similar to this one. Back in my day, there were response cards to be mailed back by a certain date - yes, attending and no- sorry can't.

My first daughter's wedding, we paid dearly. Second daughter's wedding was quite different. I made a seat assignment board. Only the names of those who responded were on the board.

Instructions to the event hall.............if people show up who are not on the board they will have to wait to see if there is room to set up more tables and they will have to pay for their meal. It did happen to a couple of people.

Sound awful? No. If you can't be bothered to return a card with postage already on it, then deal with it.

If you can't be bothered to make a telephone call, in case of an emergency, then deal with it.

The prices doubled for everything from when the first daughter married and the second daughter married.

Basic story but different chapter.

This is especially nice for those of us who don't sign up for events unless we are pretty certain we can attend, so end up being waitlisted...When traveling, it is nice to be able to make plans more than a day or so in advance

Signed,
A reformed FOMO addict

As a frequent host - I watch the waitlist section. If it gets close, I will likely message folks on their local plans. Hosts can always up a number allowed and slide folks from waitlist to attending :) I've done this numerous times.

We couldn’t agree more and that was actually the impetus for this post. We have an upcoming event with a max of 30 and had a waitlist of 17.
What a tragedy it would have been for those waitlisted to miss out if 20%-50% flaked out and were no shows?
I won’t mention a couple of events we attended recently where it was astonishing the number of no-shows. It’s an alarming trend that I believe attendees are just unaware of and the hosts are to kind to call em out.
Plus life happens! We get sick, the car won’t start, a rescheduled Dr appt, an unexpected $ bill, the list goes on. And those amongst others are all valid reasons to cancel.
It’s this indiscriminate no-show trend without a thought in the world that this is deeply hurtful to the host.

It never fails to amuse me how you present yourself as some kind of arbitrator of the group. Like we're ambassadors instead of participants in a discussion. Weigh in if you have something different.

I once attending an event where the host made very considerable financial and time investment PER GUEST - with customized items and just ensuring that there was enough of everything for everyone. It was the most amazing, immersive event I ever attended! She had several people ask to attend last minute, she ran around frantically purchasing and making additional items - then they didnt show up and she had extras of everything!! It broke my heart.

I had no idea she was doing this - it was a great surprise.

YES - EVENT ETIQUETTE IS A MUST. You may not know what is going on behind the curtain - it may be nothing, it may be lots. It's just basic consideration and respect for others.

On a slightly separate note - many people don't know about or use the "WATCH EVENT" button. That may be the way to go if arent really sure if you'll attend but you want to keep up with communications.

This doesn't just happen at large events, either. I work at a local library, and we frequently have no-shows for our programs. One program had 22 people registered, and NO ONE SHOWED UP! A few people had cancelled, but most didn't bother. Thank goodness we were able to convince a family who was in the building looking for books to attend the program, or the poor presenter wouldn't have had an audience.

⬆️THIS⬆️
Have seen the Same here!!! Customized to each attendee along with transportation to a beautiful catered event & venue. The hosts never said a word, but there were a few of us who definitely noticed and we were heartbroken for the hosts.

I don't host "fancy" events, but I've mostly given up printing clue books for people, mostly because of no-shows. My worst was 55 sign-ups as of the day before, about 3 cancelations last minute... and a total of 9-10 people actually attended!

Now people can print their own clues and only print them myself if the event absolutely requires it. I generally expect 1/3 to not attend, either dropping or not, and consider anything better than that a great turnout.

I'll bring it up at our next weekly meeting. My turn for coffee?

And there it is. You hit the nail on the head.

I'm currently reading:
An Age of Winters by Gemma Liviero

I recently finished:
The Night Watcher by Tariq Ashkanani

What does this mean? Sorry, not enough context. Next time please cut and paste as is the standard for this milieu.

Congrats Artemis and Eidolon for Box of the Week! Well deserved!

😳 Wow that’s terrible! That’s like a 80% no-show. Can’t help but think I’d be so scarred, I’d never host another event. I’m so sorry that happened to you. But also happy you didn’t let it get you down and you continue to host events.