Gromnir

undergraduate we were a scholarship student, at first athletic and then academic. grad school and european teaching/studying were not complete free for us, but we did have scholarships in europe and while in the US we were paid to teach... bit complicated, but no loans. laws school we had to pay for, but we worked full time while simultaneous going to school full time. we took max loans as well. took the loans 'cause they were low interest and large lump sums which we used not for school but for real estate investment. HA! Good Fun!

decades past, we worked a few summers in high school for a maintenance crew which were employed by a housing development. all kinda different jobs. we were used mostly for roofing 'cause we had that weird indian height indifference. 'course we also got stuck doing painting o' houses, which included the prep work. prep house to paint requires strip old paint and to achieve such we used electric rotary sanders. wear a mask and we still ended up with black snot at the end o' the day 'cause the masks never fit perfect when you were doing improbable kinda stretching and reaching and you inevitable knocked the mask askew while on a ladder and with one arm holding the sander and one on the ladder or building, mask adjustments were impractical. worse, you had to take off the masks eventual and all that sh!te were still in the air. more peculiar for us were the behavior o' coworkers at the start o' summer when we did weed eating o' fire breaks. a tractor would knock down tall weeds, kicking up great plumes o' dirt and dust. amusing 'cause we always had to be aware o' the tractor starting fires. had a small dedicated water truck with us to put out fires the tractor started. along with the tractor, two guys would knock down areas o' dry weeds with industrial strength weed eaters. were always rocky or inaccessible areas the tractor would not reach. protective gear were goggles or sunglasses, earplugs (maybe), snake chaps (they went from ankle to knee and were cloth but with a copper mesh between the layers o' fabric), and particle masks. most o' our coworkers did not use the masks 'cause it made breathing more difficult, were hot and eventual the rubber straps gave you a headache. the guy running the tractor (he were in his early 40s but looked like he were in late 60s,) liked to smoke (we kid you not) while he operated the tractor meant to create firebreaks. we used the mask religious and still coughed up evil too frequent for us to be happy 'bout it. just being in proximity to the tractor meant taking off the mask to get water or fix a busted weed eater resulted in the swallowing o' dust and worse. 'cant imagine how bad it were for our coworkers. people is all nuts. HA! Good Fun!

have a friend who ten years ago retired from the sacramento city fire department. while he were still working as a captain, we asked him what were with the facial hair thing for firemen. keep in mind this were some time past and before the current popularity o' male facial hair we now need enjoy. our friend pointed out how old timey firemen grew big mustaches in particular 'cause the facial hair were believed to make breathing easier by filtering out smoke when breathing through the nose. after breathing apparatus became a thing, the mustaches were no longer one o' the few options to assist breathing, but firemen is one o' those jobs where traditions die hard. ... am not making this up. our friend, who is a big fan o' the pittsburgh steelers but is originally from jamaica and then moved to new york in his early twenties (he is kinda proud o' having achieved US citizenship but is no less proud o' being from jamaica) keeps the mustache even after he lost his hair and quit working for the fire department. haven't asked him if he keeps for aesthetic reasons or 'cause the air quality in the sacramento valley is so bad every summer that he needs the soup strainer stache to breathe when he jogs every morning. regardless, if you wanna go old timey fireman, you can supplement the air filters with an obnoxious mustache. HA! Good Fun! ps we cannot grow facial hair and am suspecting we would need many air filters to make a difference in our home, so instead we just cough up ugly dark phlegm once or twice a day.

hurl works as a teacher. am assuming at least previous to initial employment he were tested for drugs. quite a few occupations require regular drug testing. commonplace. no more a liberty denial than covid-testing, eh? pee in a cup v. nasal swab? in the US we current do tb tests at local state and fed facilities which has a high likelihood o' tb transmission. you wanna work in such a facility? prerequisite o' employment is you get a miniscule injection and two-to-three days later you need return so a medical practitioner can inspect the injection site to see if you are tb positive. furthermore, if there is a tb outbreak at the facility, chances are you need get regular tb tests. such testing will be accepted at va hospitals, jails, prisons, and is our understanding such tb testing may be done at schools if there is an outbreak. before we began working for county level probation and previous to working at USAO, we had extensive psyche evaluations including a polygraph review. am thinking many law enforcement agencies make psyche evaluations standard, though am not certain how prevalent is polygraph testing. am recalling one o' the questions from a written psyche test asked us 'bout alice in wonderland. the rumour 'mongst applicants were that the question were meant to divine a likely embrace o' drug culture, or somesuch. anyways, when we were done with the verbal portion o' the psyche exam for our us attorney position, the psychiatrist asked us if we had any questions, so we asked 'bout the alice in wonderland question as part o' the written test. we mentioned how we answered honest (we did indeed enjoy alice) but we noted how there were a belief amongst those taking the test the question were linked to drug affinity. the psychiatrist seemed a bit surprised but he said he believed the question were not solo relevant but that collectively it represented a kinda aesthetic preference as 'posed to any kinda drug use susceptibility. regardless, psyche profiles and testing is commonplace in the US and pretty much nobody complains 'cause there is at least a few jobs where being a psychopath is gonna be viewed as a negative. nfl preseason is in full swing. the nflpa has worked extreme hard to avoid olympic standard drug testing, but drug testing is done. physical exams is also common and required as a prereq and for continued employment as an nfl player. suffer a concussion? if docs say your level o' concussion requires an mri, then you are getting an mri if you wanna stay employed in the nfl. sure hippa prevents your medical records from being shared w/o your approval, but as an nfl player if you don't wanna share med information with your team, you can go use your football skills elsewhere, perhaps becoming an all-time great ups driver or somesuch. the current group o' nfl players who is routine needing provide medical info to their teams but who is balking at nasal or oral swab testing to help limit the spread o' a deadly disease is hypocrites or profound stoopid. etc. HA! Good Fun!

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f'ing cancer

now don't sacrifice what little integrity you might possess. you got it right the first time insofar as what trump were doing: "banning an entire religious group." sure, what trump were promising were illegal and violated those principles o' the US as enumerated in the Bill o' Rights portion o' the Constitution o' the United States o' America, but it were political expedient to do so 'cause some bass ackwards bigots were not only okie dokie with "banning an entire religious group" from entering the USA, they cheered on the candidate who promised such. is noteworthy trump did walk back his promise, but not in the way you might expect. trump seemed to think what made his blanket muslim ban ok were fact he only saw it as a temporary if necessary evil. temporary made ok. once candidate trump, who did indeed promise banning an entire religious group, became President, he penned an executive order (well, stephen miller were s'posed the primary author o' the proposed executive order, but trump ok'd, so why nitpick, eh?) which woulda done just that. 'course the white house lawyers shot down this suggestion immediate, so a revision were made. @BruceVC got countries wrong. no shock. the actual initial muslim ban nations were as follows: iran, iraq, syria, yemen, sudan, somalia and libya. additionally, syrian refugees from any country would be denied entry, unless they were christian. *sigh* the courts quick shot down this executive order. were a transparent attempt to achieve the muslim ban w/o calling it a muslim ban. identify the countries where near 90% o' muslims requesting entry into the US are coming from and ban citizens from those nations were laughed out o' court. the eventual travel ban implemented via a trump executive order were a slight variation o' the third effort by the trump administration to implement a ban. but lets not forget what trump tried to implement: "banning an entire religious group." and kudos to you for correct identifying what trump were attempting to achieve. you got right the first time, so am not sure why you is abandoning integrity to get agreement with bruce. trump were indeed advocating "banning an entire religious group," and he attempted to do so once he became President. sure, he failed, but am thinking is wrong to deny giving trump the credit he is due on this. pretend trump didn't try and ban muslims is unfair to trump. he gave implementation o' official government religious intolerance the old college try, multiple times in fact, and the damned Courts and Constitution kept blocking his efforts to do so. criticize trump's execution and his failure to understand the Constitution, but don't deny the man his efforts at "banning an entire religious group." and don't retreat from your own position made just a few posts previous. HA! Good Fun!

clear were an accusation if not meant as an insult. s'posed, americans is only capable o' identifying the flop problem in soccer is the recognition o' a curious shared mistake by those north americans living south o' kanada but north o' mexico... but also including alaska and hawaii and various territories... but perhaps not territories 'cause soccer is mighty popular in puerto rico and a few pacific islands. regardless, am not thinking we need use a websters or oed link, but knock yourself out if you need a moment to review. didn't take as an insult, just ignorant. the accusation were also curious directed overbroad at americans, which is just stoopid. for example, Gromnir much prefers lacrosse and rugby ( @Sarex not much in the way o' halftime shows and commercials for either o' those sports, eh?) to baseball. assuming some kinda american pov is fundamental flawed as you will no doubt find a great deal o' argument 'mongst americans regarding which pro sports is most compelling. the tactical sophistication o' soccer is low compared to say american football. even the least observant fan o' soccer is gonna recognize the greater diversity o' skill sets 'mongst american football players compared to soccer players. to the uneducated, an offensive lineman might appear to be engaged in a kinda curious sumo wrestling exercise, grappling with an opponent, while a defensive back, a lean and quick individual, appears to be doing his utmost to not actual touch his opponent, right up until the football is making contact with a receiver's hands, a receiver who were doing everything he could to distance himself from the defensive back and eventual catch the football, a ball which may only be touched by certain individuals in under select conditions. obvious oversimplifications, but it don't take knowledge o' football to recognize diversity o' skills and responsibilities. combine with functional reset o' gameplay every minute or so and the opportunities to make significant tactical adjustments is literal mind boggling. every single play in american football requires near perfect execution by all players on a team. failure results in either a penalty or more likely the exploitation o' the seeming innocuous blunder by the opposing team. soccer by comparison... etc. again, is not relevant or necessary to get into the curious american v. euro bit regarding soccer which malc seemed to wanna inject into the thread. tangential and off-topic to an extreme degree. oversensitive euros and kanadians and their weird soccer sensitivity is cute and all but isn't actual relevant to the olympics thread. more than a few non americans has laughed at soccer flops on these boards, so somehow somehow getting your sports pride triggered were chukleworthy but misguided. regardless, your initial observation were inaccurate. HA! Good Fun!

bring up other sports is pointless and non responsive (not to mention inaccurate on most points). your accusation were that the only criticism americans throw at soccer is the flop aspect. you were wrong. try and own your error. HA! Good Fun!

only? hardly. is not even the worst failing o' football, which forces the viewer to spend hours at a time watching little occur only to have the entire contest determined by the curious penalty kick silliness. nice try though. HA! Good Fun! ps try not to repeat the same fail and assume the list o' football/soccer complaints is now complete

in general we liked two far more than one. however, we had a curious quibble: mass murderers repeated stating that hurting kids were the proverbial bridge too far. at least three times in a movie with almost constant bloody and indiscriminate mayhem, villains felt the need to announce that they weren't gonna engage or condone acts o' violence against children. felt forced. also, while we chuckled more than once at stallone's gr00t, the similarity to guardians were unnecessary and a bit distracting, and that were the biggest issue we had. king shark were a bloodier version o' gr00t and suicide 2 as a movie felt like it were constant challenging us to deny that suicide were something other than a bloodier guardians film with a bit more profanity. such an observation is unfortunate 'cause we liked so many suicide 2 characters and they deserved better than to be compared to guardians characters. HA! Good Fun! ps perhaps a bit different than shady, we didn't find our self measuring suicide 2 against suicide 1, with the exception o' idris elba's bloodsport. seemed kinda obvious the writers/director initial wanted to bring back deadshot, but found a more obscure dc version o' nominal the same character to replace him at some point.

no. trump, as a candidate clear advocated a muslim ban. ignore the video o' trump clear and irrefutable advocating for a muslim ban once again makes you appear obdurate on the level o' skarp_one. as President, trump attempted, multiple times, to implement the promised muslim ban but the Courts denied his efforts. trump gets no credit 'cause he were unsuccessful at implementing the muslim ban he promised. but again, we has had this same discussion in far more detail multiple times and you and Gromnir is doing no more than repeating. is a stoopid groundhog day exercise. indulge your need for digital self gratification w/o our help. HA! Good Fun!

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not sure how many times we need correct you on the muslim ban. the ban which were final enacted after going through the courts is not material. the point is trump were advocating a muslim ban, and people were cheering. this were BEFORE trump became President and the announcement revealed his willingness to embrace bigotry and extremism to further his political fortunes. truth to tell, this were the moment trump seperated himself from the other republican candidates, all of whom condemned trump's muslim ban promise. this were the moment trump won the republican nomination even if few recognized the significance at the time. 'course this announcement were not the first warning sign trump were unfit for office, but the fact americans did not rise up en masse to denounce trump is what is most telling in retrospect. trump warned us all what he was and what he would attempt to do once given power, and too many americans shrugged with indifference while others f'ing applauded. serious though, am not revisiting this bit o' bruce intransigence in the future. HA! Good Fun!

if the horse were a soccer player, we got no doubt it woulda' immediate sprawled on the turf in anguish following that brutal hammer blow o' a punch. wasn't exact what we expected when we read the story. dunno, maybe rule is coaches ain't allowed to make contact with the animal, so were less the "punch" than the contact? again, don't know the rules. however, and if some o' you think less o' us after this admission am understanding, but our personal experience with stubborn horses has more than once involved a thrown punch. is something we learned from our father. we were raised by grandparents, but we knew our father and he visited the ranch where we grew up a couple times per year. pops, for all his faults, were an accomplished equestrian. incident am sharing happened when we were sevenish and am recollecting pops were dealing with a less than docile, and unusually robust quarter horse. in addition to being willful, the equine in question were just plain mean and the brute were both a biter and kicker. dad put up with the beast's nonsense for less than a minute before he leaned forward in the saddle and punched the horse solidly in the neck. *chuckle* we were watching this happen from behind and we could clear see the legs o' the horse buckle when our father struck. is doubtful the punch hurt the horse, but the animal's shock were clear; it had never experienced that sorta treatment previous. dad had zero troubles with the horse henceforth. maybe not the kinda story you share with peta folks. anyways, 'pon reading the story 'bout the german coach, our imagination took us back to the punch our seven-years-old self witnessed. disappointed. HA! Good Fun!

keep in mind that Gromnir has been expressing disbelief so many could shrug off trump excesses since the moment 45 advocated a muslim ban. death by a thousand cuts? quick cuts. the normalization o' American extremism happened far quicker than we coulda' imagined outside a nightmare scenario requiring a world war or continent spanning calamity. sure, there were genuine trump supporters on these boards who with full awareness forgave trump his sexual indiscretions and overt corruption 'cause 45 were the last and best hope for unborn children facing abortion and 'cause the dems were missionaries o' the apocalypse. am suspecting a few o' those folks is still 'round but they got kinda quiet after the election and they all but disappeared post january 6. whatever. not much possibility for dealing with folks who respond to any criticism o' trump's violations o' rule o' law and human decency as an existential crisis. the folks we were genuine disappointed with were the, "it wouldn't be any better with hillary," crowd. ... whatever. point is every step o' the way, as trump normalized the previous unthinkable, we shouted for people to wake up from their stupor. all too often our comic repeated cassandra play were met with same relative indifference we now see regarding january 6. am now told that january 6 were indeed unfortunate, but were it really any worse than the summer protests? we should all just move on 'cause no good will come from investigations or prosecutions and is not like this could happen again in two or four years, yes? for the past four years have have been having same conversations regarding each new improbable excess. the fact we keep being rebuffed with indifference until we somehow reached the point where people were shrugging off the unmarked vans in portland kidnapping protesters and an actual gawd be damned insurrection at the Capitol meant to stop the peaceful transfer o' power from 45 to biden should be a wake up call... but muslim bans weren't so perhaps is Gromnir being obtuse for not accepting the inevitable, eh? HA! Good Fun!

haven't seen the episode, but ordinarily the issue is cost. no insurance or wrong insurance means you gotta pay. we all know 'bout how if you ain't insured you gotta pay for emergency room services, yes? many thousands o' dollars. call for an ambulance and 911 dispatch sends a private ambulance service to your home, service not covered by your provider. what then? maybe get charged thousands o' dollars for a trip o' a few miles. the thing is, if you are unconscious or unable to call 911 and somebody else calls for the ambulance you still get charged. HA! Good Fun!

then shoulda' left there, yes? cherry picking like some alt-right radio host does you no favors. most o' the georgia changes is indeed innocuous or even common sense, though identify as "ballot harvesting" is a bit loaded and is a mischaracterization o' what actual were the legal practice. genuine ballot harvesting were already illegal in georgia via a 2019 law. the 2019 law changed so only a close family member could deliver and/or mail. etc. the problem with the georgia law is the other stuff not mentioned by conservative radio hosts. am thinking gd should first self educate a bit. aside, given how republican state and local election functionaries were treated by their party for doing their legal duty in 2020, is it more or less likely that their inevitable replacements would do same in 2024? as for meekly acquiescing, you seem to have done so. Capitol riot? meh. an investigation o' said riot? meh. 40% (38.6% to be exact) believe the january 6 insurrection were no biggie or were a patriotic act. nevertheless, you are certain that if trump had succeeded, the folks on the other side o' the fence woulda' risen up en masse and rejected the authoritarian power grab. why? trump buried an ig report on his ukraine activities and pardoned folks who could be called as witnesses against him in a future criminal trial. trump pressured a foreign government to investigate a political rival. trump refused to comply with Congressional demands for records and witnesses as part o' an impeachment. trump ignored spending power o' Congress on multiple occasions. turns out trump also prevented the fbi from following up on leads regarding now Justice Kavanaugh while the nomination were being deliberated by the senate. the aforementioned jeffery clark were almost acting ag 'cause trump abused the already questionable temp appointment power. oh, and again, how many folks rose up in response to trump sending federal troops to states w/o the consent o' state legislatures or governors, troops who attacked people on public state thoroughfares and kidnapped protesters using masked agents and unmarked vans. etc. four freaking years taught us just how meek is american patriots. ps we have been told, innumerable times, they is all bad. so what does it matter if biden won the election or trump stole it? doesn't matter 'cause they are all corrupt, yes? ain't worth fighting for or against any politician 'cause ultimately it makes no difference. is no wonder we see such apathy to Constitutional and humanitarian violations. if is not "me or mine," if is not my chainsaw, then it don't matter 'cause there is nothing worth fighting for when all the alternatives is bad... but not bad enough apparently.

the guy at the doj promoting that conspiracy theory were almost the acting attorney general and we are discovering through released email correspondence that jefferey clark had every intention o' sending letters (which he had already drafted and circulated at doj) to election officials in the six states where votes were close(ish) claiming the DoJ had indeed uncovered evidence of widespread election fraud, seeming based on the conspiracy theory nonsense which you so readily and reasonably dismiss. clark had been part o' the intelligence briefings which revealed the complete lack o' any evidence o' widespread election fraud, but he disbelieved the conclusions o' intelligence and instead latched onto alternative facts. s'posed, scott perry were instrumental in the crafting o' the circulated letter. so, imagine you are one o' these fence sitting functionaries in michigan or nevada. you have absolute no intelligence background and your position on the county election board were s'posed to be nothing more than a ceremonial appointment. you weren't even elected. you got no engineering background and have no idea how voting machines work. nevertheless, to your surprise, for the past couple weeks you have been amongst the most talked 'bout people in your state. heck, President Trump called you personal and asked you to be a courageous patriot. unfortunate, you are getting death threats, and not just from the libs. suddenly a letter arrives from the acting attorney general which claims widespread voter fraud happened in your state. what a relief, no? is no longer a matter o' you needing you make an impossible decision. doj is asking for time to investigate fully before ratification takes place. why would you say "no" to the doj? improbable almost happened, and state legislatures in georgia and elsewhere is making sure that next time, if there is a next time, improbable becomes likely. HA! Good Fun!

serious. any o' them? ... ... am gonna pause to let the magnitude o' this amazing expression o' self deception sink in fully. genuine beyond belief. so, none o' those guys were there 'cause they thought they could overturn the election... y'know in spite o' court admissions already which contradict this position. the insurrectionists, many o' whom believed they had been invited to the Capitol (though a few thought they were at the White House, no joke) were there to stop the ratification o' the election and force Congress to make Trump the winner o' the 2020 election. insurrection, btw, don't require a belief by participants they is complete overthrowing the government, which is why we so many times posted the freaking definition and statutes in question. stopping, altering, delaying the election process counts as insurrection and those buds and yahoos attacking cops and doing violence to gain entry to the Capitol weren't just there to voice their support for the soon to be former President. the buds and yahoos were there to make a difference, to force a change in what were taking place at the Capitol that day. what were happening at the Capitol that day btw? serious, what on earth did some o' you see on january 6 or in subsequent weeks o' insurrection video?

this continued willful self delusion is hard to take. change events by altering the choices o' a handful o' folks in a handful o' positions. simple limit to january 6. if pence had sent votes back to states, the Courts might very well have chosen to stay uninvolved, 'cause 1) were arguable a political issue and 2) you do not have a Constitutional right to vote for President and Vice President. that detail keeps slipping the minds o' folks. tell us 'bout pence and the impossibility o' him doing the wrong thing is unconvincing seeing as how he were one o' the chief supporters o' trump's stolen election bs and he were the guy who actual suggested using the insurrection act to respond to protesters in oregon and washington dc. pence were hardly some kinda bastion o' Constitutional integrity. sure, on january 6 he did what he were s'posed to do, but if anybody before january 6 claims they were certain he would, am gonna call 'em naïve or a liar. oh, and lack o' legal authority had never stopped trump previous to his election interference, election interference am gonna remind you that a few months earlier gd thought were nothing more than media fear mongering. where were you during the trump Presidency for gawd's sake? if you got the DoJ refusing to prosecute or even investigate the President for even overt illegal action, and the senate refusing to hold a trial or even consider articles o' impeachment, the the President could get away with just 'bout anything, and he did, over and over. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-complete-listing-atrocities-1-1-056#2017 count on the joint chiefs? the joint chiefs also wouldn't have used the military to prevent regime change. you have no idea how wrong you are 'bout the election and january 6. a few people in a few key states making a few decisions different than they did. key counties in michigan came down to the seeming insignificant functionaries performing largely ministerial duties, and one o' them freaking abstained. if the other republican on a vote board had chosen different and forced the republican state legislature to decide, what then? look at georgia today. sure, the secretary o' state did not embrace trump's attempt at fraud, but the secretary o' state may now be overruled by the state legislature. seriously. what kinda kool aid is some o' you drinking?

we mentioned the issue in a previous post for the most part, lawyers is free to posit wacky legal theories w/o risking rule 11. read case law unconventional and do a bit o' dr. frankenstein surgery with precedent is okie dokie. a few o' the trump team lawsuits had advanced affirmative action claims which relied on prayer as 'posed to established rule o' law; hope the Courts would sudden decide the past few decades o' voter law cases opposite o' reality. such wishful thinking based lawyering is not cause for sanction. what the kraken lawsuits had judges and government lawyers shocked and angry 'bout were the factual reliance on innuendo and gossip w/o any suggestion there would be admissible evidence forthcoming. the thing is, and am admitted continued perplexed by this, something like 40% o' americans thinks January 6 and trump's efforts to overturn the election were either justified or not as worrisome as lib media makes it seem. wtf? the guy in the picture were a hairsbreadth away from being the acting attorney general when that failed, the President o' the United States of America encouraged thousands o' his followers to march on the Capitol. those insurgents who did indeed march to and invade the Capitol were intent on forcing mike pence to send electoral votes back to the states, and perhaps worse. unlike the summer protesters who vandalized empty fed court houses in oregon and washington, the insurgents broke windows and broke down doors to gain entry to the Capitol while Congress was in session and with the VP present. the insurgents attacked cops and a few even called for mike pence to be hanged. an example o' a not insurgent ... what more do you freaking need to wake the heck up? we got americans who will fight to the death for their chainsaw or to oppose a mask mandate, and marjorie taylor greene suggests the biden folks going door-to-door to inform the unvaccinated 'bout delta will be met in the south by a 2nd amendment response, but americans see an attempt by the President to overturn the election and thousand o' the President's loyal followers ransacking the Capitol looking for disloyal Congressmen and the reaction is either sympathy or indifference? wtf? some people is being willful obtuse 'bout how close we were to calamity following the previous Presidential election and refusal to come to grips with such a reality makes it all the more likely it is gonna happen for reals in 2024 or 2028 or... it is funny. chinese thermometers changing vote tallies in michigan is funny. the quips 'bout santa claus, the easter bunny and the bumbling kraken lawyers is funny. the problem is far too many don't realize or they ignore how dangerous close those b00bs came to achieving the unthinkable. not funny.

and if the broomstick were to wear out 'fore the work end, we woulda' guessed azdeus didn't know how to use a broom. you live in an old house, yes? perhaps you offended the house gnomes. what is the proper offering for swedish house gnomes? pickled herring and mead perhaps? cream is always a good bet based on fairytales. 'course cursed by witches is always a possibility. problem is those witchfinders is as likely to accuse azdeus o' witchcraft. you a good swimmer? maybe give the broomstick a quick swipe or two with some fine sandpaper to remove any other splinters and then move on with your life is a better course o' action, but please keep us informed if you go with the witchfinder route. HA! Good Fun!

not quite the same as the maid bit, but reminded us o' Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (1921–2011) "In 1977, Rosalyn Yalow became the second woman to win a Nobel prize in medicine for co-developing radio-immunoassay (RIA), a groundbreaking technique that uses radioactive isotopes to quickly and precisely measure concentrations of hormones, vitamins, viruses, enzymes, drugs, and hundreds more substances. The technique is so sensitive that it can detect a teaspoonful of sugar in a body of water 62 miles long." from her nobel bio: I was excited about achieving a career in physics. My family, being more practical, thought the most desirable position for me would be as an elementary school teacher. Furthermore, it seemed most unlikely that good graduate schools would accept and offer financial support for a woman in physics. However my physics professors encouraged me and I persisted. As I entered the last half of my senior year at Hunter in September 1940 I was offered what seemed like a good opportunity. Since I could type, another of my physics professors, Dr. Jerrold Zacharias, now at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, obtained a part time position for me as a secretary to Dr. Rudolf Schoenheimer, a leading biochemist at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S). This position was supposed to provide an entrée for me into graduate courses, via the backdoor, but I had to agree to take stenography. On my graduation from Hunter in January 1941, I went to business school. Fortunately I did not stay there too long. In mid-February I received an offer of a teaching assistantship in physics at the University of Illinois, the most prestigious of the schools to which I had applied. It was an achievement beyond belief. I tore up my stenography books, stayed on as secretary until June and during the summer took two tuition-free physics courses under government auspices at New York University. one o' the great scientific minds o' the 20th and at numerous turns her family and s'posed mentors kept pushing her away from physics. is hard to imagine how much human capital has been wasted over the centuries 'cause o' stoopid prejudices. HA! Good Fun!