Pickles by Brian Crane for July 23, 2009

Now you’ve done it. Earl. Opal is going to dump her soup on your noggin.

jorel, you can change.

Now we can talk about the News & Weather.

partly cloudly, chance of rain … the news is the same ol’ stuff.

There ya go, Earl. Turn on the TV. You’re a man after my own heart.

Jor-el wrote: ” I was always taught to not speak with a mouth full of food. So, how can you eat and talk at the same time? ”

Easy … the rules of etiquette specifically govern exactly how that is to occur.

Never take more on your fork than you can immediately swallow to respond. The act of swallowing should barely be noticeable because the amount of food in one’s mouth should be very very small.

Always put your fork down between bites.

After you cut your food, place you knife on the plate, switch the fork to the right hand to raise the food to your mouth.

Despite the quantity on your plate, always eat lightly.

Eat as though you ate another full meal less than an hour ago. Eat as though you aren’t the least bit hungry but the food is so tempting that you cannot resist taking a bite.

We do not live in the time of the hunter gatherer. Meals are social occasions. It isn’t necessary to stuff one’s face and run before the predators arrive.

The average American weighs 40 pounds more than their medically ideal weight. It simply isn’t necessary to jam one’s mouth full as though you have to fight off a pack of hyenas to get your share.

Follow these rules, and talking and eating can be accomplished very easily and with grace.

He’s watching Opra……..

Be careful what you wish for, when you get it you may not like it.

That would be my way, too. Silence, please. Wait for the commercial break. (I’ll have it on TCM - no commercials)

unfortunately, that’s the scene in too many homes:(

FishStix: We like to think of ourselves as outside of nature, but civilization is a veneer over the effects and processes of the natural world, and in nature, there are no laws, rewards, or punishments, only consequences.

Nobody says you have to comply with rules and laws….but like most things in life, there are consequences to your actions. You have the freedom to incur consequences. Those laws and other rules of thumb are merely identifying the consequences of certain behaviors for you to consider in exercising your freedom of choice….

When it comes to most food and several other ‘vices,’ there are no laws against slowly commiting suicide via tobacco use induced cancer or coronary disease induced via over eating and sloth, or for that matter most maladies caused by imprudent health and lifestyle choices.

So enjoy your freedom to choose your consequences…..

O&E especially has nothing to say.

That strip of Pickles reminded me of my parents and me eating the supper while we watched the local news on the TV at my parents long time ago.

I loved dinner with my family. We always sat at the table, and it was the time when we all shared what we did during the day. Five people can’t talk at the same time and understand one another, so, while one spoke the others chewed.

When we all still get together with grand-kids and great grand-kids, we still sit around tables and chat away…..

But what about Jeopardy?!?!

[slapping myself in the head]

oy vey

Some Buddhists practice Mindfulness Eating (as well as preparing food & washing dishes). Spent 10 days doing this at a wonderful retreat center - OG Vegi Meals & a Natural Hot Springs in the middle of the Mountains & Old Growth Forest!

“Yummmmm…”

Mealtimes are for eating, if people want to talk to me, don’t expect a response. If they get angry at me, I will take my meal elsewhere. If I followed misterwhite’s advice, I would become even thinner, and I am underweight just like Jorel. He does make a point though. Some people perhaps should take it easy in the dining room.

My brother used to read at the table breakfast lunch and dinner…Mom would get so upset with him…

I know this may come as a shock to some, but what misterwhite listed are decades old rules to the forgotten art known as Table Manners.

I know ‘cause I looked it up on-line on my cell phone at lunch today. Kidding!

Fishstix: thanks, you prove my point. You do indeed have a choice with respect to taxes and you are exercising it.

fishstix wrote: “And now misterwhite comes along and adds another long list of do’s and don’ts about how I am to eat!

I wonder… do we still call this a free country!?”

You are not required to follow these dos and don’ts You are free to eat with the children under 12 YO. You are free to eat with the hillbillies. You are free to eat with the gorillas. You are free to eat with the rats.

Should you choose to eat in polite company (and be invited back again) you might wish to seriously consider this list.

The list was provided in answer to the question by Jor El’s good question “how can we eat and talk at the same time”.

As to a free country ….. you simply don’t understand the nature of the social contract you implicidly agreed to be in.

Each of us has a set of liberties. We exchange a portion of these liberties for a set of rights. Be glad you have exchanged away some of your iberties. Because as Jules from “Pulp Fiction” says …. “you are the weak ……”

fish stix wrote: ” Freedom of choice would be my choice to not pay taxes and remain unmolested by government - the same as if I had paid taxes. ”

You don’t have to pay the taxes …. but you have USED the benefits … you use them every day. If you use the benefits, you have to pay.

I recognize that you are part of the Great Entitlement Caste who believes you are entitled to use anything you want and not have to pay for it.

You buy a dinner and you don’t pay for it, you go to jail. You take someone’s car and you don’t pay for it, you go to jail. You take money that doesn’t belong to you, you go to jail.

It is the same with services.

If you want to opt out of paying for these services, you must stop using the services. The only way you can stop using these services is to leave the US protectorate, give up your passport and citizenship, and never return.

I’ll let you. But you STILL have to pay for those services up until the time you complete those actions.