Voting in elections, grocery store fires, plain Catholics... and a poll!

[Szdfan]

I'm told that in Chicago, hotdog joints don't even have ketchup on the tables. Apparently its taboo to put ketchup on a hotdog.

as it should be

Ketchup belongs on fries, but I've taken a liking to some sauce that has a little nip to it for fries.

Unfortunately, the rumors that parts of Western Europe eat mayonnaise with their french fries is true.

[Neto]

....
I currently have a 1995 Ranger that was factory ordered from Ford without any radio. The factory placed a flat piece of plastic covering where the radio went in the dash and another one covering the hole in the sheet metal where the antenna would have been.
....

They are called "Radio delete" covers, at least back in the era when a radio was considered an option. (Other common options: the clock, the visor on the passenger side, cabin heater.) The idea of having radios in vehicles was actually questioned, because many people considered them to be "distracting" for the driver. Now even the radios are much more distracting, because touch screens do not have buttons you can just reach over and count over to the one that has the station you want to choose. Heater controls are also no longer easily manipulated w/o taking your eyes off of the road, and there's a whole lot more going on on the highway now than there was back then. Vehicles that are only "Driver assisted" are not the answer (in my opinion). Not needing to pay as much attention just encourages paying even less attention, escalating the problem of "distracted drivers".

[Soloist]

I'm simply asking what is the point of a special radio that only receives NOAA weather radio broadcasts, which are nothing more than automated computerized text-to-speech versions of computer-generated weather information. I suppose if you are a farmer and reliant and weather forecasts and refuse to get the information any other way then there might be some utility. But it isn't even going to be the best source of information in any sort of real emergency. Actual local radio broadcasts by actual real people are going to be a far better source of information than some computerized repeating loop generated by some server in another state.

The point is to stay connected to emergency information and be prepared for an emergency, but without accepting a device whose main purpose seems to be to funnel Britney Spears or Taylor Swift songs, or worse, country music songs about drinking or rap music about shooting people and mistreating women, talk shows promoting conspiracy theories, and blasting ads for used car dealers.

It seems quite sensible and reasonable to choose to be free of those things, but still want to stay connected to official government sources of information about emergencies.

What you are talking about is the cold-war era National Public Warning System run by FEMA. It will interrupt all radio/TV broadcasts and send out cell phone alerts if there is some actual national emergency. You don't need a special radio for that. Assuming you trust FEMA to better know what is happening in your own locality compared to local broadcasters who will be talking to local authorities. For me the nearest FEMA office is the Region 10 office in Suburban Seattle. For you it is probably the Region 5 office in Chicago.

Wife: this is the modern era. There’s an app for that.


Seriously though, my phone alerts me when there’s an amber alert nearby, tornado warnings, and it alerted me during the fires in Oregon, and I would guess a lot of people don’t get that info from the radio anymore anyway.

[MaxPC]

Vehicles that are only "Driver assisted" are not the answer (in my opinion). Not needing to pay as much attention just encourages paying even less attention, escalating the problem of "distracted drivers".

Indeed and agreed. Nevertheless the radio traffic reports and weather reports are still quite helpful for us. The local stations carry alerts to hazardous road conditions too. When we full-timed, it was essential.

I do listen to the Beeb radio news and weather to keep up with some relatives’ concerns. The Beeb’s idea of entertainment, no.

[Somebody]

Hot dogs need cheese on them at our house.

[RZehr]

Hot dogs, western style. Open the bun, and spear both sides through, and toast both sides the bun evenly over an open wood fire. Then fill the bun with whatever and everything that people remembered to bring.

[steve-in-kville]

The point is to stay connected to emergency information and be prepared for an emergency, but without accepting a device whose main purpose seems to be to funnel Britney Spears or Taylor Swift songs, or worse, country music songs about drinking or rap music about shooting people and mistreating women, talk shows promoting conspiracy theories, and blasting ads for used car dealers.

I sleep with an old ham radio under my pillow. I have the railroad programmed into it. Gets interesting when they are servicing local industry.

[Soloist]

I sleep with an old ham radio under my pillow. I have the railroad programmed into it. Gets interesting when they are servicing local industry.

That explains a lot. Subliminal messages... stop tuning into number stations.

[steve-in-kville]

I sleep with an old ham radio under my pillow. I have the railroad programmed into it. Gets interesting when they are servicing local industry.

That explains a lot. Subliminal messages... stop tuning into number stations.

When I was a teen and started volunteering with the local fire company, I had a police/fire scanner on almost all the time. I stumbled across a numbers station one time, at least what I thought to be one.

[NedFlanders]

Okay, I wasn't gonna go this far, but here goes....

When I was a young 17 y/o convert to conservative Anabaptism, there were two things that confused me to no end:

1- Voting and politics in general. My wife's relatives could spend an entire Sunday afternoon trash talking our elected officials and how evil they were, but they refused to do anything about it. Keep in mind this was over the era of the Clinton & Lewinski thing. And these were Charity-type people.

2- Attitude towards the military (and sometimes police). Again, how bad the services were and how we need to teach nonresistance and not own certain weapons and such like. But they were so hurtful towards each other, back stabbers, starting hurtful rumors "for fun" and so on. Nonresistance doesn't start and stop on a battlefield.

Maybe this needs to be a thread of its own, or maybe I should just keep quiet, but there it is.

People can label such people that act that way as conservative but I would never view them as biblically conservative. And I can’t relate to them as Anabaptist - as my mind goes to origins - 1500 Anabaptist’s I don’t imagine were like the folk you speak of.
I have seen what you talk of in intermediate and less conservative settings but never in more conservative groups. As a seeker after one Sunday afternoon like that I was on to a more conservative group and never went back.