This is the carousel near the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston. It’s suppose to be unique…I find it a bit creepy.
I’m planning on a writing group thread on Sunday – I’ve had a request to discuss NaNoWriMo and I’d also like to continue the topic of self-publishing. Same bat-time, same bat-channel (here, 12:30 edt, 11:30 cdt, 10:30 mdt and 9:30 pdt).
On to the Denver meet-up. I need some help here – I thought I could take the time to put this together, but I really am swamped with work and I’m heading out of the country soon, so I don’t think I can pull it together. I was looking at meeting on Thur 10/19 or Sun 10/22 at Rosita’s, but I think for that to happen, someone else will have to take the reins. Email me (whats4dinnersolutions at live dot com) and let me know if you can, otherwise I’m afraid time is not on my side right now and I’ll do a poor job of juggling all the pieces to make it happen.
Omnes Omnibus
I don’t see any clowns.
TaMara (HFG)
How about a creepy seal?
Omnes Omnibus
@TaMara (HFG): Meh.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m pretty sure there’s a clown fish on there if you look hard enough. Will that work?
Smiling Mortician
I like the sea turtle but the lobster tail seems partly cooked, which is indeed creepy.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Is it necessary that I find it creepy? You folks seem to be working so hard on it, so I’ll just say yes.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t care either way. I was trying to work the clown angle.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Chaotic neutral, then?
MomSense
baby please
Steeplejack (tablet)
Jesus. And in a writing post!
TaMara (HFG)
@Steeplejack (tablet): Bite me. Does that work for you?
Adam L Silverman
Apparently Zinke decided he didn’t need just his own command flag, but he also needed a commander’s challenge coin:
coinsblog.ws/2017/10/interior-secretary-zinke-has-his-own-challenge-coin.html
Zinke also commissioned personalized challenge coins to give to staff and visitors.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Sure, sure.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@TaMara (HFG):
Sure. Go and sin some more.
MomSense
@Adam L Silverman:
He’s a freak – and not in a good way.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: What a douchebag.
@Adam L Silverman: Now you are just humoring me.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Adam L Silverman:
So . . . get booted from the SEALs but miss the military cruft? Start running your civilian bureaucracy like you’re Prince Rupert of Zenda. Winning!
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I’d have thought clowns would be more chaotic evil, but what do I know. As for Zinke, he is what he’s always been – someone with his fingers in the cookie jar.
TaMara (HFG)
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s mimes. Clowns are lawful evil.
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack (tablet): I’ve got a challenge coin issued by a Foreign Service Executive to me when I was in Iraq. A lot of non military agencies have adopted them since 9-11 because of just how Joint, Interagency, and Intergovernmental we’ve been operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. So a lot of former senior military folks migrated over to civilian agencies and took the traditions with them and a lot of civilian agencies started doing it because they were working in close quarters with uniformed personnel and DOD and Service civilians. By having them to give out it allowed them to reward good work in a way that made cultural sense for the bulk of the people they gave them to down range. But I’ve never seen one for a government department be personalized with the secretary’s name on it. While I don’t have one, I’ve seen one handed out by a previous Secretary of Defense. And that didn’t have his name on it. Just the DOD stuff.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Now it makes sense.
Omnes Omnibus
@TaMara (HFG): Obligatory.
lgerard
I assure you that it’s not creepy when it is packed with little kids.
There is a skunk on there somewhere, I wouldn’t want to be the kid who gets stuck with it though
Gvg
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t understand what a challenge coin is or why it would make cultural sense to the people we work with. Are you referring to Iraqis or our military?
To this civilian it just seems dumb. The guy has no sense. Probably why he got in trouble with the expense accounts.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Challenge coins never meant anything to me. Gimme something I can pin on me uniform or get the fuck out. The certificate of appreciation from the CO of 2ACR? Meh. If I did well, a quiet congrats or an AAM. Nothing in between.
Adam L Silverman
@Gvg: US military. Though other militaries use them as well.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I will make a note in your dossier. No Balloon Juice challenge coins. Only Balloon Juice Commenter Action Badge.//
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Adam L Silverman:
I see a lot of that stuff as a subtle but troubling sign of the militarization of our government and (somewhat) our society in general.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman:
There better be stars or OLCs. Just saying. I mean consider the time I put in… OTOH, you don’t want to encourage me. Hmmm…
MomSense
@Omnes Omnibus:
We need green balloon badges.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
How ’bout some nice farts and darts*?
* Clouds and lightning bolts.
Omnes Omnibus
@MomSense: Interesting thought.
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack (tablet): I think this, overall, is the least worrisome. Zinke’s putting his name on the coin is just weird.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (tablet): One is confused. Not getting your banter, mate.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: We have a nice Distinguished QWERTY Cross.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Decoration for the Balloon Juice Commenter Action Badge. Example seen here.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: All joking aside, my original comment reflected my attitude as a serving officer. If what I did wasn’t worth an AAM, a simple thank you or, if appropriate, a comment to my Battalion CO, which shows up in my file is fine.
Currants
@lgerard: Agreed–my granddaughters LOVE that thing, and always aim for the turtle and the owl.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I understood where you were going with the original comment and why.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Sorry about over-explaining.
sacrablue
@Adam L Silverman: I used to design challenge coins for a client that tons of military and federal govt. customers. The MWR money was flowing generously during the Iraq war era.
Arclite
We need a Hawaii BJ meet up.
JustRuss
If riding on a giant sea turtle is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Miss Bianca
TaMara, very late to the thread but if you need help organizing i can help, if the organizing can be done from afar and if that means i can plump for the 22nd as our date!