StumpTownStu

That is a wonderful story and glimpse into midnight childhood lore.

@Midnight1

 I have donated toys in some fashion, since I was 19. When I still lived in California, we had a few different drop off but one was my very own tradition and that was the drop off at Lefty O'doul's, a hof-brau and pub started by the baseball player in the 50's.  I have always loved a hof-brau and discovered Lefty's when I started working in the city. The cool thing about Lefty's toy drive was that you could drop of toys even on Christmas eve. Lefty's was an institution. I donated for the last time in 2016 even though I had technically moved earlier in the year, i'm still always in the Bay on business. Sadly Lefty's closed a few months later in early 2017. Priced out by rising SF prices. Up here, almost all the toy drives are connected save for the one-off individual drives that might be connected tona church, community center, etc. You can donate at Fred Meyer, which is s major grocery store chain. Les Schwaab tires, fire departments, and a host of other spots. It's all part of one big drive.

As far as the 70s, I can't speak to that, but in the 80s and 90s there was a old woman named Mother Wright. And I swear, Mother Wright would give a toy to every child in Oakland. Oakland is a fairly decent sized city. Over 300K in those days. I grew up in the hood but my household, my upbringing, was fairly middle-class. I had some pretty insane Christmases growing up. My parents went above and beyond. And even I still appreciated that Mother Wright toy. For some of the kids I grew up with though, the only toy they may have received some years was that Mother Wright toy. Oakland has seen a lot of transplants in the last 20 years but real ones know, Mother Wright is Oakland lore. I know she must be resting in peace.

Or she has a 600 million dollar payout guaranteed in the prenup.

Money laundering.

We went to the same high school, though decades apart. I grew up watching him with the A's. It was special knowing he was home grown. He was truly a fan favorite like no other A before or after him. Not the bash brothers. Not Eck. Probably not Reggie Jackson. Not Giambi. Not the big 3. Rickey was the A's.

Stonehill 1h -5 -110, 1 unit

Exactly. All i've heard is, "He's going to target his enemies! He's going to target the press! Elon Musk is running the country! The sky is falling!!!"

Let's see. The man hasn't taken office. Let's see something before making panic threads.

@wallstreetcappers

 This thread isn't about how Elon Musk amassed his fortune though. It's about his perceived influence on policy. Again, my question is, "What exactly has he influenced, and how does he benefited from said influence?

This thread is just the latest left hyperbolic conjecture. What value does this thread add? Is it something to be debated? The OP is correct in that this country has been a corporate oligarchy for some time. This is true regardless of what party is in power. If the OP pointed to a specific item of legislation, specific policy, that benefits Elon Musk and/or his ilk, and then drew a durect line correlating Musk and said policy, then the thread would be saying something. If Musk pushed changes to the current spending bill to benefit himself and/or his cohorts, we would have something to talk about. That's not the case though. This thread is pointless.

Another hyperbolic thread started by someone on the left.

@joe pockets

 What specifically are you referring to by, "What Musk is doing by letting it all hang out in the open."? What apecific action has you worried?

Is that a small town in the south/midwest where everyone is related to Teddy Bridgewater?

Think about this. She accused him of penetrating her with his penis. For the court to say they don't believe he penetrated her with his penis but did with his fingers tells you all you need to know. Everyone involved with that case knows damn well he didn't rape her. It would've bever even made it to trial in criminal court. It was a political hit job. Democrats simply wanted to be able to call him a rapist in a campaign. It backfired. He's president again and I doubt she ever gets a dime from him but hey, at least she sold some copies of her trashy harlequin novel.

I dare anyone who calls Trump a rapist to familiarize themselves with that woman, and her story. This isn't a defense of Trump. I don't give a damn about the man from a personal standpoint but I always call a spade a spade. That is one sick and twisted woman.

How dare you!? Trees love my singing. Trees and my cocker spaniel. No one else. My wife appreciates it, in spite of in. I'm good at a lot of things but singing is definitely not one of them.

Of course I did. I buy trees from local farms. There are several, tons even, within a 5-10 minute drive radius. I cut that thing down myself and carried it few hundred yards through the muck. It's just the tree itself. Every plant responds differently to stress. I gave it a second cut even though I only live a few minutes from the farm. It probably didn't much care for that. Likewise, it might not like the warm house. Some trees respond to it and like the warmth. Others don't. It's like getting a husky but you live in Mobile, Alabama. Sure the dog will adapt if he doesn't know better but the first time he experiences snow he's gonna realize what he's been missing and not want to come inside. 

My aunt and uncle once planted their tree in their front yard up in Lake Tahoe. The thing hadn't even been in water. Just nailed to an old school wooden t stand. Botanist will tell you this is pointless. That they are done for after being cut from their root ball yet science be damned, that thing took root and grew. You can still see it on Google Earth. Every plant is it's own individual and they all respond to stress differently. This one just went into shock and didn't recover.

You can literally turn a female weed plant into a hermaphrodite by stressing it out.

And do you guys do a water tree stand? My tree this year just doesn't want to drink. It's given up on life. Pretty disappointing.

What's you guys' go-to species? Growing up, for the early part of my life, we always had Douglass Firs. Then at some point I guess we got bourgeois because we begin to have all Noble Firs, which are more expensive. I don't think I have ever purchased a Doug Fir myself. I have always bought Nobles. Two of my last three trees have been Nordmanns. Nordmanns are quite beautiful trees but the lack that Christmas tree smell I so covet. For the past five or six years I have searched area lots/farms for the blue spruce, which is and an absolutely beautiful tree but the are native to the Rockies. Amd when you live in the Northwest, it doesn't make since to bring in trees from out of state. I typically buy my trees from actual tree farms and most folks grow Dougs, Nobles, and Nordmanns.

I think the majority of Americans fall into neither of those groups.

I remember the charitable fundraising song "We Are the World" coming out. I was literally like three. In a weird way, I understood what it was about. That it was for a cause.

I remember both the Challenger and Chernobyl, both of which happened before my fourth birthday. I understood the Challenger Explosion. Not so much Chernobyl. I thought it was to do with War. A bombing. I remember both stories though.

You're a little late to that party. Buy XRP. 

Get precheck and you don't have to remove your shoes.

@Midnight1

 Walking through the mall and walked past the See's store and realized I hadn't sent mom peanut brittle for a while so I grabbed some.