u/VictorianAfterDark

So about 10 years ago, I had perhaps the weirdest conversation on this topic ever,

My father and I were talking about Abraham Lincoln, which of course lead to a civil war discussion. I mentioned that it was a four year affair and my dad was genuinely surprised and bewildered at this revelation!

He said “Four years? It was that long? I thought it was a little skirmish!”

In other words, he thought it was a one day “one and done” battle. I’ve racked my brain to try and figure out where he got this idea from, and the best I can pin it, is that he somehow got it mixed with either

A. The Whiskey Rebellion, which if I remember correctly, was a one or two day event

B. The Texas revolution, which was about a year or two long if Im remembering right.

Anyone else ever encounter a misconception like this? Any other events he could’ve gotten it confused with?

Also, if it was a one day small skirmish, there’s no way it would be the seminal event it is. Unless it was not only a one day battle, but also the biggest and deadliest battle of all time!

So if/when I get a CDR, I know the short form asks to list any surgeries you’ve had since being on SSDI. I’ve had two since getting approved, one to fix a hernia on one side of my groin, and one to fix a hernia on the other side of my groin. Yes, it’s apparently possible for that to happen.

However, I’m on SSDI for mental issues, and thus, these procedures aren’t/weren’t relevant to my case. That leads to my question,

Should I mention them on the form? Or should I leave them out? I don’t want them to think that I can suddenly work because they were fixed when they have nothing to do with my working abilities.

Any advice is appreciated!

So when I was about 4/5, there was two toy trains I had, and I’m trying to figure out what they were. I’ve scoured the web and I can’t seem to find either one. I know if I saw either one, I’d recognize it.

I’ll list everything I remember about each one and if anyone here has any ideas, please let me know

The first one had the following details

1.	The size was somewhere between N scale and micro machines size.  
2.	It was a steam engine and tender plus a green hopper car and red caboose   
3.	The hopper car had a hole in the bottom and a little lever that opened it. It had these rocks that emptied out at a certain part of the track and then could be reloaded at another.  
4.	It was in the form of a playset that was one big piece as opposed to something you’d set up.  
5.	I got it sometime between 1997 and 1999  
6.	It was from Kaybee Toys   
7.	It was completely push along, no battery or motor of any sort.

The second one was like this
1. It was much bigger than the other one, maybe Lego train size give or take
2. It was actually battery powered and ran on plastic track
3. It had a circus theme to it
4. It was just an engine and two cars
5. The cars each had a button on top that opened a spring loaded door
6. The track was either blue or yellow
7. I got it later than the other one, possibly around 99/00
8. It was gotten from a discount store that doesn’t exist anymore, although I know exactly where it was and the same shopping area is still around.

Anyone have any ideas as to what these could be? Any info is appreciated!

Basically the title,

I wanna learn how to fish and eventually how to prepare fish to eat!

Is the Marina/Box Car Park good for that? Is there a good amount of fish there? If so, would they be safe to eat? How about Jetty Island?

If not there, then where’s a good spot around here? For context, I’d just be dock/shore fishing, no boat unfortunately.

Thanks!

So a last week, I made a payment on my balance, not enough to pay it entirely off, but a good chunk.

Today I login to my account, and suddenly it says the amount I owe is zero, although I still owe some interest and late fees. I made several attempts at calling the IRS today, but to no success. It’s Friday, so I’ll try again Monday or Tuesday.

Any idea what could be happening? I owed less than $1,000 at this point if that means anything. Should I maybe wait a few days to see if it changes again?

Any insight is appreciated!

And by that, I mean a full on big budget Hollywood movie.

Is there enough material from his life to make a 90 minute movie? Considering how everyone will know how it ends, would it still be a good ride?

Thoughts? Could a movie about Casey’s life and career work? Would it be a hard sell outside of rail fans? Or could it appeal to a wide audience?

So I remember reading somewhere, that when Shapes was being made, Phil wanted Tony to sing on Silver Rainbow, but Tony turned it down. The more I think about it, the more I wish Tony had done so, because I think his vocals would’ve worked well on it.

After listening to his vocals on The Shepherd and his The Fugitive, I have to say, Tony is a better vocalist than he gives himself credit for. He’s admittedly not to Peter, Phil, or Ray’s caliber, but he’s perfectly serviceable on his own merits. Part of me wished he’d done more singing with Genesis, even if just one song per album, or certain sections of songs like Shepherd.

Thoughts? What do you all think of Tony’s vocals?

So one recurring that happened growing up, was the way my step mom….perceived me for lack of a better term. She had two perceptions of me that were both supposedly true despite being opposites, and flipped between them depending on what was convenient, sometimes even within the same conversation/argument.

She would accuse me of being a sneaky and manipulative mastermind who had a complex and clandestine plot in the works to take her down. She’d accuse me of being sneaky even when I wasn’t, for example, one day I bought something at a store, mentioned it to her, and she accused me of “sneaking” it in. Every time dad was gone, she’d accuse me of trying to be the man of the house, even when it was something like me offering to help with a chore. She’d accuse me of trying to “buck the system” and get away with rule breaking at home and school. She’d even insinuate that I was on the road to being a serial killer. One day I was home alone for about 30 minutes and she accused me of taking all the snacks out of the pantry and eating them, even though they were clearly still all there.

In short, she was constantly watching me like a hawk because she thought that at any moment, I was gonna snap and do something really bad, or that I was gonna plan some clandestine “revenge” scheme. She’s also super short, to the point where by the time I was about 14, I was taller than her. So she’d accuse of planning to use my size to take her down or otherwise undermine her. He

Then she would do the following,

She would insist that I was a physically weak and mentally feeble/unstable invalid who couldn’t think clearly, follow simple instructions, perform basic tasks, or even walk a straight line. When I was a tween/early teen, she’d accuse me of having the mentality of a 4 year old. She’d accuse me of half assing everything, of “not understanding” things that were said to me, and other things to insist that I was mentally and physically incapable of anything but eating and breathing.

You can see how this mindset contradicts the previous one. If I’m so feeble and mentally unstable, how am I gonna carry out a complex and supposedly secret plan to do…..anything? If I’m so physically weak and can’t do anything besides sit, how can I possibly be a threat to her?

Anyone else ever deal with this? How did you handle this?

So it may just be where I live, but most people cis women I know and encounter are supportive of me and happy to have me around.

However, I also encounter cis women I don’t know who go out of their way to complement me. Several times over the last few years, I’ve been out and about, and a cis woman I don’t know has come up to me and complemented my outfit. The first time this happened, it definitely caught me off guard, but it was still a positive and affirming moment. I wear petticoats under my longer skirts, and I’ve had a few cis women notice and complement that specifically. At least one has told me that she wants to wear them as well.

Thoughts? Does anyone else find praise from cis women to be incredibly encouraging?

So one long running debate is whether or not Thomas and Tugs exist in the same world. Personally, I think they do, and any discrepancies can be hand waved me glossed over, or worked out in a “broad strokes” manner.

With that said, what other shows could be in the same universe as this one in a similar broad strokes manner?

In my head canon, the following shows exist in the same world as Thomas and Tugs,

1. Theodore Tugboat

2. Bob the Builder

3. Postman Pat

4. Fireman Sam (not really into this show, but it fits and has a lot of crossover fandom)

5. Brum (had I known about this show as a kid, I would’ve loved it more than I do after discovering it as an adult).

6. Jay Jay the Jet Plane (model and CGI versions)

Thoughts? Do these shows work? What other shows besides these ones could work?

So we know for a fact that Cranky Kong was the original DK from the original arcade game, and that he faced off against Mario/Jumpman. Personally, I like the idea of Jumpman being Mario’s father instead of Mario himself, but this topic applies either way.

That leads to my question, are there hard feelings between the Mario Bros and the Kongs?

If Mario is indeed Jumpman, would Cranky be antagonistic towards him and not like Dak teaming up with him? Or would he know that Mario is a good guy and be fine with it? If Mario is Jumpman’s son, would that make a difference? Would the current DK care?

How about Mario and the current DK? Would there be bad blood or not? Even if there is, I like to think that if push came to shove, they’d work together if need be since they’re both good guys and would recognize each other as such.

Also, this only takes the games into account, I don’t care about the illumination movies.

Thoughts?

So before we get to the main question, some context/comparison is needed

During WW2, when Allied (US, UK, USSR, etc) troops liberated Germany’s camps, they were often so shocked and horrified at what they saw, that they executed German/SS troops on sight. In some cases, they’d give the liberated prisoners weapons to do so themselves.

Did anything like this happen during the Civil War? Did Union troops ever came across a plantation, see how the slaves were treated, and then shoot overseers or even masters? Did they give weapons to slaves who were liberated? Did any freed slaves get back at their overseers and owners? I know when Dachau was liberated, a group of three prisoners beat an SS guard to death with their bare hands, so freed slaves doing the same to their oppressor isn’t too implausible.

Also, yes, I’m aware that most Union troops weren’t fighting to free slaves but rather to preserve the union. However, that doesn’t preclude them seeing the horrific conditions that slaves endured and wanting to deal out justice.

Most US troops weren’t fighting to liberate Jews, Romani, Poles, and others, and may have had questionable views on race back home, but they were still horrified at what the SS did.

Anyone have some insight to this? Anyone know of any examples of revenge by Union troops and freed slaves?

So there’s a TV show segment I remember seeing once as a kid, and I’m trying to find it/figure out what show it was part of. Here’s all the derails I remember,

1. It was live action with some low budget CGI/VFX

2. I’m almost certain it was a PBS show. Might’ve been Reading Rainbow, but I can’t find anything about this segment on anything related to that show.

3. I would’ve saw it sometime between 1999 and 2003, around when I was about 5-9.

4. It was basically a music video where two disembodied live action heads sang about having no body. The music was kind of like upbeat R&B and had one line about not needing a bed and just a pillow being fine.

Any idea what it is I saw?

Basically the title,

I mean, Marc is the only original member, and even when he wasn’t, he did/does almost everything studio wise.

To me at least, FTP feels more like a solo artist than an actual band. That’s not a bad thing, but it is something I often think about.

Thoughts? Anyone else feel this way?

Is it just me, or does it kind of look like the art work to *Where The Wild Things Are*? I know it’s not the same artist, but it gives me a similar vibe and fits quite well.

Thoughts? Anyone else notice/think this?