What's next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

[Emthrax]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

Whatever.

[RacerX]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

Anyway, regarding NOTP's pic (Why do you have that, NOTP? Oh, for the Warrior, right? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] )

Both of those dudes need to take "Throwing horns while looking evil" lessons [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]


We can start with this JCFer:

http://www.mikehickeyguitar.com/

[RacerX]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

And in the advanced course, you can learn, with a simple squeeze, to get a couple metal chicks to throw horns FOR you:



[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

Wanna know how I found that picture of Joel and Newc? I did a SEARCH! That's RIGHT! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I searched for your name saying "geek" and went from there because I remember you mentioning that word in context with that picture. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Ohh man, Em's misspelling leads to a hilarious definition. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[RacerX]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

Really? Wow, I am honored! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[lerxstcat]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Mom and pop stores often pay less and offer less benefits than Wal-Mart

[/ QUOTE ]...because they can't compete thanks to places like Wal-Mart. You can't give higher wages and cheaper products and still make profit if you're a mom and pop store, it's not their fault. I'm not an economist and can't offer the best solution off the top of my head, but there are plenty of ways to help balance the competition. However, when the majority of the population loves Wal-mart, its not going to happen. Wal-mart has the megamarket industry monopolized, and Home-Depot has the hardware industry monopolized... its great we can get stuff at low prices, it sucks that no one else can compete.

[/ QUOTE ]My point is the mom and pop stores are not the panacea you want to see. Before the Wal-Marts came in, these stores emploed people for the scantiest wages they could, and no benefits. The people hurt are the OWNERS of the mom-and-pop stores, basically the local aristocracy in some of these small towns and not necessarily the glue holding the community together. That's a very romanticized picture painted by reporters in big cities who don't know what it was like in the small towns before. MOst of the Wal-Mart bashers seem to be people from big cities who don't really know what the small-town dynamic is in rural areas where unemployment can be 20% to 30%. Wal-Mart has its faults I have no doubt, but so do the mom-and-pops it replaces. I worked for a major pluming chain for 4 years and a mom-and-pop outfit for 15 years. The major has grown and the benefits for its employees have also grown, wheras the mom-and-pop that promised me everything verbally is now gone, not due to competition, but because the owner's rep as a liar to employees grew in the community until we could hire no good workers, and the good ones we had, left as they realized that the promises were never forthcoming. For that 15 years was promised employment for life, until the day we closed. Not that I didn't see it coming, but the boss would never tell the truth. Granted this doesn't describe them all, but it describes far more thanthe Wallybashers would have us believe.I guess Southerners probably appreciate Wal-Mart more, because the stores most often come into areas where there was nothing, and create jobs that didn't exist before, period, rather than converting jobs from lots of businesses that were there before. Our economy has been depressed and oppressed since 1865 and is only now starting to catch up with levels enjoyed by other regions since the end of WWII. Here on the Gulf Coast, wha economy there was was shattered by Hurricane Camille in 1969. As of 1983 when I left for California, the economy was still in a shambles, 14 years after the fact. Not until they legalized gaming and brought the casinos in did a viable economy develop here again, in the 1990s.The US government helped foreign countries recover from disaster more than it did Mississippi after Camille - a storm that was worse than Andrew, and killed 168 peoplefrom Mississippi to West Virginia. Well, it didn't hit an "important" part of the country, so WTF.So the South is growing, and appreciative of its growth and jobs, at a time when other parts of the country are declining because costs of doing business there are climbing. The viewpoints of all concerned are understandable considering their circumstances, but we want now what you've had for the past 50 years, decent jobs and goods at decent prices. Just consider that some of the anti-ally stuff you hear is a myth, as I realize that some of the critiques have some validity. AS an aside to those who say the stores are disorganozed, I have no trouble finding anything they carry. Maybe because the toiletries aren't carried in the grocery section like in a regular grocery store? But they ARE carried near the pharmacy like they would be in a regularDRUG store. Maybe it's just that it's a different layout than what you were used to growing up. It's not confusing to me in the last though, and I never regularly shopped Wal-Mart until coming home from SoCal 2 years ago. The 2 closest to me in Santa Monica were in the Valley and the South Bay, both off the 405. Since the 405 is a nightmare at most hours, I shopped Target in Culver City instead, and got my groceries at Vons, or Lucky's which then merged with Albertson's. I save a friggin' fortune grocery-shopping at Wal-Mart though, which in my current sitch means I am actually able to survive. It's the same for many who shop there - their dollars are so stretched it's their minimal survival outlet. Those are the people who'd starve or go without clothes otherwise.

[Lev]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

When I lived in Blacksburg, Virginia, all we had was Wal-Mart... it was cheap and as college students we all benefited. When I go back to Istanbul though, I like how when I get up in the morning and go to the bakery, the guy makes the bread exactly how I like it while we discuss the soccer game from the night before. Then when I go to the market next door, the family who runs it asks about school and life in general... it's certainly not a romanticized picture all the time and if it works in a city of 16 million people, then it could work anywhere. Granted, there's too much money and competition here, which is why some people resort to shadyness to squeeze out extra cash (like your old boss seemed to do), so its hard to have that system implemented here... where as with Turkey, prices are generally constant and competition is much less. I understand the benefits of wal-mart completely, but I prefer a communal way of life.

[VitaminG]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

Ron, when you have eyebrows like that, you don't NEED to throw horns [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

btw, from the look of the clenched fists behind the girls, it looks like you had a struggle holding them there [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

NOTP, I've always found that Warrior pic hilarious.

Newc in the background: "oh yea? Well, my friend Joel says YOU'RE a pussy!"

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

[ QUOTE ]
Newc in the background: "oh yea? Well, my friend Joel says YOU'RE a pussy!"

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] *runs and hides from Newc* [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[hippietim]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

NOTP, no need to run and hide - just bring Joel along.

[RacerX]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

[ QUOTE ]
Newc in the background: "oh yea? Well, my friend Joel says YOU'RE a pussy!"

[/ QUOTE ]

[lerxstcat]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

[ QUOTE ]
When I lived in Blacksburg, Virginia, all we had was Wal-Mart... it was cheap and as college students we all benefited. When I go back to Istanbul though, I like how when I get up in the morning and go to the bakery, the guy makes the bread exactly how I like it while we discuss the soccer game from the night before. Then when I go to the market next door, the family who runs it asks about school and life in general... it's certainly not a romanticized picture all the time and if it works in a city of 16 million people, then it could work anywhere. Granted, there's too much money and competition here, which is why some people resort to shadyness to squeeze out extra cash (like your old boss seemed to do), so its hard to have that system implemented here... where as with Turkey, prices are generally constant and competition is much less. I understand the benefits of wal-mart completely, but I prefer a communal way of life.

[/ QUOTE ]Well, Istanbul and Los ngeles, though similar-sized metro areas, couldn't be more dissimilar in most ways. The cultures are completely different. Also, frankly, with your dad as a wealthy construction magnate there, the picture you saw of the quaint small-shop culture was probably also sanitized for your consumption. Is anyone going to complain to the son of a wealthy businessman that they don't make enough at the bakery he patronizes?They would likely suspect you'd tell their boss if they did, and then they'd be fired from the job that, thoughonerous and underpaid, is better than nothing. Growing up in both cultures, in a way you may not get the true view of either, try as you might and with the best motives to do so. It seems to me that in many older cultures the children of the aristocracy ad the rich merchant or trades classes are shielded from many of the realities of the poor working classes. Beyond that, the culture of Turkey is probably a lot less materialistic because those material things are just so far out of reach that most focus on maintaining subsistence rather than owning lots of stuff. We Westerners all seem to have GAS of some type or another.

[RacerX]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

BTW, Em:

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

Chatroom was pretty damn good tonight. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] *blink!!!*

Em's threads always get derailed... she could have one big random chat thread like Bill has with his topic. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Tekky]

Re: What\'s next? A 7-11 on Mt. Everest??

So I'm guessing that Melanie Cisneros' restraining order hasn't gone through yet huh? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]