The Complexities of Birth Control Pills

 

As one who has spent much of his life trying to take complicated things and make them simple, I am often struck by the gift that some people seem to have for taking simple things and making them complicated. Take birth control pills, for example.

You would think this would not be a complicated matter. “Ok, Suzi, take one pill per day. Um…that’s about it.” But you would be amazed at how many different ways I’ve seen people goof this up. I have often heard the same line, “Hey doc, those pills you gave me didn’t work. I’m pregnant.” I’ve learned that after I hear that sentence, I’m likely to hear one doozy of a story afterward. For example:

Staci: “Hey doc, those pills you gave me didn’t work. I’m pregnant.”

Dr. Bastiat: “Um, ok, did you take one pill every day?

Staci: “Of course I did! Do you think I’m stupid? I took one every single day that I had sex.”

Dr. Bastiat: “Ah.”

Staci: “My boyfriend drives a truck, and is gone for a week or two at a time. But as soon as he got home, I’d start taking a pill every day. I never missed one.”

Dr. Bastiat: “Did you ever wonder why there were 28 pills in a four-week pack?”

Staci: “Huh?”

I thought to myself, “I could practice medicine for the rest of my life, and I’ll never hear anything more stupid than that.” Over the years, I’ve learned not to say things like that. As it turns out, stupidity is a competitive sport:

Kaci: “Hey doc, those pills you gave me didn’t work. I’m pregnant.”

Dr. Bastiat: “Um, ok, did you take one pill every day?”

Kaci: “Well, no, they made me sick. So I gave them to my boyfriend.”

Dr. Bastiat: “Ah.”

By this point, it was taking me longer and longer for me to instruct women on how to take birth control pills. Most of them looked at me like I was stupid as I said, “You – you personally – take exactly one pill. Every day. Regardless of your plans for that day. Or that evening. Every single day. One pill.” But my instructions got longer and longer as my patients displayed their creativity (if not their intelligence) by finding new and fascinating ways to screw this up:

Maci: “Hey doc, those pills you gave me didn’t work. I’m pregnant.”

Dr. Bastiat: “Um, ok, did you take one pill every day?”

Maci: “Of course I did! Do you think I’m stupid?”

Dr. Bastiat: “One pill.”

Maci: “Right.”

Dr. Bastiat: “Every day.”

Maci: “Of course.”

Dr. Bastiat: “With a glass of water.”

Maci: “Huh?”

Dr. Bastiat: “You swallow the pill with a glass of water.”

Maci: [looks horrified and offended] “I don’t do it like THAT!

So after I engaged in extensive and awkward questioning of Maci’s intelligence and my career choices, I finally realized that Maci had been inserting the pills where she had sex, and she was extremely offended that I was suggesting that she engaged in oral sex. She’s not that kind of girl.

You might think that practicing medicine is pretty boring. And on a good day, you’re mostly right. But my patients keep it interesting. Every once in a while, one of them will take my boring, simple day and turn it into something much more complicated than I thought it was. I’ve had patients who can’t read who I’ve trained to use insulin pumps, and after some work, they’ve become really good at it. And then, I have some who can’t figure out birth control pills.

I’ve learned to go with the flow. Rather than respond with, “You did what?!” now I just sit back in my chair, look up at the ceiling, and think to myself, “Hmm… I don’t think I’ve heard that one before…”

And as the years go by, my instructions for patients get longer and longer, and more and more involved. They call this practicing medicine.

After years of experience, now I can even sense when my day is about to become more complicated. For example, I start paying attention when I hear those dreaded words, “Hey doc, those pills you gave me didn’t work. I’m pregnant.”

Published in General
This post was promoted to the Main Feed by a Ricochet Editor at the recommendation of Ricochet members. Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 95 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    Percival (View Comment):

    Never, ever, challenge the stoopid.

    “Foolproof” user interfaces are a bad investment. There will always be a greater fool coming down the pike.

    Someone mention my name?

    • #61
  2. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    Dr. Bastiat:

    So after I engaged in extensive and awkward questioning of Maci’s intelligence and my career choices, I finally realized that Maci had been inserting the pills where she had sex, and she was extremely offended that I was suggesting that she engaged in oral sex. She’s not that kind of girl.

    I’ve learned to go with the flow.

    I know what you mean Doc; but, after that last example you might want to use a different expression.

     

    • #62
  3. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    tigerlily (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat:

    So after I engaged in extensive and awkward questioning of Maci’s intelligence and my career choices, I finally realized that Maci had been inserting the pills where she had sex, and she was extremely offended that I was suggesting that she engaged in oral sex. She’s not that kind of girl.

    I’ve learned to go with the flow.

    I know what you mean Doc; but, after that last example you might want to use a different expression.

    We all thought it, but you! You had to say it.

     

    • #63
  4. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Skyler (View Comment):
    Skyler

    Joseph Stanko (View Comment):

    This post illustrates why support for birth control and legalized abortion go hand-in-hand. No matter how reliable any particular method of birth control might be in theory, in practice over a million women end up “accidentally” pregnant in this country every year. The only reliable “solution” to this problem is abortion, and people will jump through whatever mental hoops are necessary to convince themselves that killing their own children is a morally acceptable option.

    This is a good case for why birth control should be illegal. Otherwise, we’ll have a population that is predominantly stupid. In fact, that might explain a lot of current events . . .

    At our Wit’s End, is a book about how we are lowering our gene pool because we aren’t killing off low I.Q. people. Not sure what it’s policy recommendations are. 

    • #64
  5. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    KirkianWanderer (View Comment):
    To avoid shop

    Da hell’s wrong with shop?

    • #65
  6. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    Percival (View Comment):

    philo (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    You ever wonder why safety warnings are so pedantic? This is why.

    Here’s a tip from my father – use three – way communication. First, you explain it or give the the information, then you ask them to repeat it back to you, preferably in their own words, before you tell if that was correct of not. This works for phone numbers and other long strings of information.

    Some general* kept the dumbest private in his army around headquarters. When he issued a written order to one of his subordinates, he read it out to the private and had the private repeat back what was to be done. If the private got it right, the order was sent.


    * Grant, maybe. Napoleon, maybe. Apocryphal, maybe.**


    ** So help me, if you google “General Apocryphal” …

    Never read such a thing about Grant. It is possible he ran them by Halleck for such a purpose.

    Halleck was overly cautious, but otherwise pretty sound. When Grant took his job, Halleck was put in charge of logistics for all the armies, and they improved substantially.

    Halleck tried to hamstring Grant early in his career- he thought Grant too audacious especially after Ft Donelson. The mistake he made was putting Sherman in charge of Grant’s logistics. The thought was that Sherman was a bed wetter (he said from the beginning the war would be long & bloody- almost all other officers scoffed at him) and being overly cautious he would slow Grant down. But when Sherman 1st saw Grant in action he was so impressed that he reportedly said roughly  “Sir, ask of me anything you need and I will get it to you”. So instead of slowing Grant, Sherman aided him. That was the start of a lifelong friendship & the beginning of the end for the Confederacy (great book-Grant & Sherman- the friendship that won the civil war by Charles Flood). Halleck was an able administrator but not a fighter. So when Grant vaulted over him to supreme command he kept him in DC to be an administrator while Grant went into the field with the army of the Potomac- he was ~ Grant’s executive secretary.

    • #66
  7. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Never underestimate how stupid people can be.  I have a saying at work:

    “Nothing can ever be idiot proof, they keep building better and better idiots.”

    or

    “Nothing can ever be idiot proof or we’d be out of customers.”

    I had a supplier that was really kvetching about the amount of packing material they were using to ship our parts to us.  I said “You are massively overpacking these, you don’t need to do all that.” 

    “But our ISO9000 manual says we have to use at least 1″ of packing between parts.”

    “No, UPS and Fedex state that they will not honor insurance claims if you didn’t have a 1″ perimeter between the contents and the outer carton.  Your ISO manual must have been written by someone rather overzealous…”

    Ahem!  I wrote the manual!”  (This explains a lot).

    “Well, you don’t need to pack these parts that way, they’re tough.  You KNOW this.”

    “We won’t change!  And it costs us a lot!”  (gonna cost you my business entirely…)

    “What if I supply the cartons and dividers, and mandate you use those.”

    “Then we could waive our ISO spec”

    I arrange a skid of boxes of my choosing, and a skid of divider grids.  My first shipment of parts using those boxes?  The boxes were damaged.  I called them.

    “The boxes don’t meet our ISO specs!”

    “No, you assembled them incorrectly.  I’ve sent you photos.”

    “It’s not obvious how they go together.”

    “They have numbered flaps!  1, 2, 3, 4, 5!  How hard is it?”

    Very hard as it turned out.  In desperation I spent a day putting together a 4 page work illustrated and heavily annotated work instruction on how to fold a mailer box.  Next shipment was still busted.  I went down personally to their facility and asked “Why didn’t you follow the instructions!”

    “We did!  Not our fault these boxes are so flimsy.”

    “Show me how you put them together.”  They did.  It was embarrassing.  They had the audacity to bitch about the amount of tape they took too, even though this was a design that did not require tape.  I showed them, following the steps in the instructions I had written.

    “That doesn’t look right, without tape it won’t hold up.”

    “YES IT DOES!  WE USE THOUSANDS OF THESE BOXES EVERY YEAR!”

    “Well our ISO9000 spec says….”

    The sheer asininity on display, and insistence on following “by the book” even the book is wrong is why they are no longer a supplier.

    • #67
  8. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Never underestimate how stupid people can be. I have a saying at work:

    “Nothing can ever be idiot proof, they keep building better and better idiots.”

    or

    “Nothing can ever be idiot proof or we’d be out of customers.”

    I had a supplier that was really kvetching about the amount of packing material they were using to ship our parts to us. I said “You are massively overpacking these, you don’t need to do all that.”

    “But our ISO9000 manual says we have to use at least 1″ of packing between parts.”

    “No, UPS and Fedex state that they will not honor insurance claims if you didn’t have a 1″ perimeter between the contents and the outer carton. Your ISO manual must have been written by someone rather overzealous…”

    Ahem! I wrote the manual!” (This explains a lot).

    “Well, you don’t need to pack these parts that way, they’re tough. You KNOW this.”

    “We won’t change! And it costs us a lot!” (gonna cost you my business entirely…)

    “What if I supply the cartons and dividers, and mandate you use those.”

    “Then we could waive our ISO spec”

    I arrange a skid of boxes of my choosing, and a skid of divider grids. My first shipment of parts using those boxes? The boxes were damaged. I called them.

    “The boxes don’t meet our ISO specs!”

    “No, you assembled them incorrectly. I’ve sent you photos.”

    “It’s not obvious how they go together.”

    “They have numbered flaps! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! How hard is it?”

    Very hard as it turned out. In desperation I spent a day putting together a 4 page work illustrated and heavily annotated work instruction on how to fold a mailer box. Next shipment was still busted. I went down personally to their facility and asked “Why didn’t you follow the instructions!”

    “We did! Not our fault these boxes are so flimsy.”

    “Show me how you put them together.” They did. It was embarrassing. They had the audacity to bitch about the amount of tape they took too, even though this was a design that did not require tape. I showed them, following the steps in the instructions I had written.

    “That doesn’t look right, without tape it won’t hold up.”

    “YES IT DOES! WE USE THOUSANDS OF THESE BOXES EVERY YEAR!”

    “Well our ISO9000 spec says….”

    The sheer asininity on display, and insistence on following “by the book” even the book is wrong is why they are no longer a supplier.

    That is classic!

    • #68
  9. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    MiMac (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    philo (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    You ever wonder why safety warnings are so pedantic? This is why.

    Here’s a tip from my father – use three – way communication. First, you explain it or give the the information, then you ask them to repeat it back to you, preferably in their own words, before you tell if that was correct of not. This works for phone numbers and other long strings of information.

    Some general* kept the dumbest private in his army around headquarters. When he issued a written order to one of his subordinates, he read it out to the private and had the private repeat back what was to be done. If the private got it right, the order was sent.


    * Grant, maybe. Napoleon, maybe. Apocryphal, maybe.**


    ** So help me, if you google “General Apocryphal” …

    Never read such a thing about Grant. It is possible he ran them by Halleck for such a purpose.

    Halleck was overly cautious, but otherwise pretty sound. When Grant took his job, Halleck was put in charge of logistics for all the armies, and they improved substantially.

    Halleck tried to hamstring Grant early in his career- he thought Grant too audacious especially after Ft Donelson. The mistake he made was putting Sherman in charge of Grant’s logistics. The thought was that Sherman was a bed wetter (he said from the beginning the was would be long & bloody- almost all other officers scoffed at him) and being overly cautious he would slow Grant down. But when Sherman 1st saw Grant in action he was so impressed that he reportedly said roughly “Sir, ask of me anything you need and I will get it to you”. So instead of slowing Grant, Sherman aided him. That was the start of a lifelong friendship & the beginning of the end for the Confederacy (great book-Grant & Sherman- the friendship that saved a nation). Halleck was an able administrator but not a fighter. So when Grant vaulted over him to supreme command he kept him in DC to be an administrator while Grant went into the field with the army of the Potomac- he was ~ Grant’s executive secretary.

    Halleck had authorized Grant to take Fort Henry, but Halleck’s cold feet started bothering him and he tried to keep the aggressive Grant from moving on Fort Donelson, preferring to have Don Carlos Buell do it instead. Unfortunately for Halleck, Buell was not particularly aggressive and Grant had already started moving.

    Then, on 16 February 1862, Grant responded to Gen. Bruckner’s request for a parley to establish terms as follows:

    Sir: Yours of this date proposing Armistice, and appointment of Commissioners, to settle terms of Capitulation is just received. No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.

    I propose to move immediately upon your works.

    I am Sir: very respectfully
    Your obt. sevt.
    U.S. Grant
    Brig. Gen.

    Buckner acceded. The Northern press, which was unaccountably pro-US, decided Grant’s initials should be understood as “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. After that and the second-day victory at Shiloh two months later, Halleck really couldn’t have replaced Grant anymore even if he had wanted to.

    • #69
  10. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    I figure Sherman’s evaluation of Grant in 1864 does a good job of describing Grant and their relative strengths.

    I am damned smarter man than Grant. I know more about military history, strategy, and grand tactics than he does. I know more about supply, administration, and everything else than he does. I’ll tell you where he beats me though and where he beats the world. He doesn’t give a damn about what the enemy does out of his sight, but it scares me like hell. … I am more nervous than he is. I am more likely to change my orders or to countermarch my command than he is. He uses such information as he has according to his best judgment; he issues his orders and does his level best to carry them out without much reference to what is going on about him and, so far, experience seems to have fully justified him.

    • #70
  11. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Dr B, for the first time ever, you disappoint me.

    I have never had a patient conceive on OCPs.

    simple directions: for the Doc,

    NEVER prescribe 20 mcg EE2 pills

    NEVER prescribe multiphasic pills

    ALWAYS see the patient in the office after 4-6 weeks to see how she is doing and to encourage compliance

    for the Patient,

    Start the pills today. For the next month, use a backup method.

    take the pill with a mouthful of water at the same time every day.

    IF YOU FORGET A PILL, take the forgotten pill AS SOON AS YOU REALIZE THIS

    IF YOU FORGET MORE THAN ONE PILL IN A PACK, use a backup method for one month.

    This method I learned while functioning as the attending Doc at the Teen Clinic at UPenn in 1987-8; see my February 2019 post about the noted black woman physician Helen Octavia Dickens for that history.

    33 years, zero failures.  Not rocket science.

    You’re welcome!

    • #71
  12. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    Percival (View Comment):

    MiMac (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    philo (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):

    You ever wonder why safety warnings are so pedantic? This is why.

    Here’s a tip from my father – use three – way communication. First, you explain it or give the the information, then you ask them to repeat it back to you, preferably in their own words, before you tell if that was correct of not. This works for phone numbers and other long strings of information.

    Some general* kept the dumbest private in his army around headquarters. When he issued a written order to one of his subordinates, he read it out to the private and had the private repeat back what was to be done. If the private got it right, the order was sent.


    * Grant, maybe. Napoleon, maybe. Apocryphal, maybe.**


    ** So help me, if you google “General Apocryphal” …

    Never read such a thing about Grant. It is possible he ran them by Halleck for such a purpose.

    Halleck was overly cautious, but otherwise pretty sound. When Grant took his job, Halleck was put in charge of logistics for all the armies, and they improved substantially.

    Halleck tried to hamstring Grant early in his career- he thought Grant too audacious especially after Ft Donelson. The mistake he made was putting Sherman in charge of Grant’s logistics. The thought was that Sherman was a bed wetter (he said from the beginning the was would be long & bloody- almost all other officers scoffed at him) and being overly cautious he would slow Grant down. But when Sherman 1st saw Grant in action he was so impressed that he reportedly said roughly “Sir, ask of me anything you need and I will get it to you”. So instead of slowing Grant, Sherman aided him. That was the start of a lifelong friendship & the beginning of the end for the Confederacy (great book-Grant & Sherman- the friendship that saved a nation). Halleck was an able administrator but not a fighter. So when Grant vaulted over him to supreme command he kept him in DC to be an administrator while Grant went into the field with the army of the Potomac- he was ~ Grant’s executive secretary.

    Halleck had authorized Grant to take Fort Henry, but Halleck’s cold feet started bothering him and he tried to keep the aggressive Grant from moving on Fort Donelson, preferring to have Don Carlos Buell do it instead. Unfortunately for Halleck, Buell was not particularly aggressive and Grant had already started moving.

    Then, on 16 February 1862, Grant responded to Gen. Bruckner’s request for a parley to establish terms as follows:

    Sir: Yours of this date proposing Armistice, and appointment of Commissioners, to settle terms of Capitulation is just received. No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.

    I propose to move immediately upon your works.

    I am Sir: very respectfully
    Your obt. sevt.
    U.S. Grant
    Brig. Gen.

    Buckner acceded. The Northern press, which was unaccountably pro-US, decided Grant’s initials should be understood as “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. After that and the second-day victory at Shiloh two months later, Halleck really couldn’t have replaced Grant anymore even if he had wanted to.

    After Shiloh, Halleck actually did sideline Grant( by placing Thomas in command)-b/c of the outcry over the casualties & claims that Grant was initially taken by surprise. But Lincoln demurred after a short while, remarking “I can’t spare that man-he fights”. Of course Lincoln was a great judge of men-when jealous DC paper-pushing generals tried to downplay Grant’s success by talking up his drinking, Lincoln ended such discussion by saying “if he could find out what brand of whiskey Grant drank, he would send a barrel of it to all the other commanders.” [Some claim it was fake news but I love it-and it sounds like Lincoln.]

    • #72
  13. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    A great story about Buckner-At Ft Donelson after Buckner surrendered (they knew each other well)- Buckner told Grant that Gen Gideon Pillow (the senior Confederate general there) snuck out before the surrender b/c he said he was too valuable to the southern cause to get taken prisoner. Grant, who thought Pillow thoroughly incompetent, said he would have released him immediately b/c he was much more valuable to the North leading Southern troops than as a POW.

    Buckner’s son was a WW2 general & was killed at Okinawa becoming the highest ranking US officer to be killed by enemy action in that war.

    • #73
  14. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    Linked this post at Chicago Boyz:  Goedel’s Theorem Extended.

    • #74
  15. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    MiMac (View Comment):
    After Shiloh, Halleck actually did sideline Grant-b/c of the outcry over the casualties & claims that Grant was initially taken by surprise. But Lincoln demurred after a short while, remaking “I need that man-he fights”. Of course Lincoln was a great judge of men-when jealous DC paper-pushing generals tried to downplay Grant’s success by talking up his drinking, Lincoln ended such discussion by saying “if he could find out what brand of whiskey Grant drank, he would send a barrel of it to all the other commanders.”

    Sort of. Halleck took direct command, made Grant his second-in-command (gofer) and gave Grant’s old command to Thomas. That lasted until Corinth was taken, which was slower than it could have been because Halleck dug in every day. Then Halleck split the command, and put Grant back in command of the Army of the Tennessee in Corinth in order to hold it, which Grant did admirably. Grant wasn’t demoted, exactly,and it was only temporary while the overall commander was present, but Grant still resented the hell out of it.

    • #75
  16. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    MiMac (View Comment):
    Of course Lincoln was a great judge of men-when jealous DC paper-pushing generals tried to downplay Grant’s success by talking up his drinking, Lincoln ended such discussion by saying “if he could find out what brand of whiskey Grant drank, he would send a barrel of it to all the other commanders.” [Some claim it was fake news but I love it-and it sounds like Lincoln.]

    I think that Lincoln said that he never said that line but he wished he did. 

     

     

     

    • #76
  17. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    MiMac (View Comment):
    Of course Lincoln was a great judge of men-when jealous DC paper-pushing generals tried to downplay Grant’s success by talking up his drinking, Lincoln ended such discussion by saying “if he could find out what brand of whiskey Grant drank, he would send a barrel of it to all the other commanders.” [Some claim it was fake news but I love it-and it sounds like Lincoln.]

    I think that Lincoln said that he never said that line but he wished he did.

    That’s the first time I’ve heard that Lincoln denied it. It’s funny, whoever said it.

    • #77
  18. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Percival (View Comment):
    That’s the first time I’ve heard that Lincoln denied it. It’s funny, whoever said it.

    Heck, I’ll have what he’s drinking.

    • #78
  19. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    So a post about birth control pills generates 15 comments about Civil War generals. 

    I love Ricochet. 

    • #79
  20. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Figuring out who said what quote is pretty hard. 

    https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/02/18/barrel-of-whiskey/

    • #80
  21. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Figuring out who said what quote is pretty hard.

    https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/02/18/barrel-of-whiskey/

    Churchill said “defeat is an orphan, victory has many fathers” same with great quotes and great ideas. That is why “cultural appropriation” is bunk- all good ideas are stolen many times and it is a token of respect  to the orginator.

    • #81
  22. GLDIII Temporarily Essential Reagan
    GLDIII Temporarily Essential
    @GLDIII

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    So a post about birth control pills generates 15 comments about Civil War generals.

    I love Ricochet.

    The Digression is strong with this group.

    Either that or we should all be prescribed Adderall.

    • #82
  23. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Percival (View Comment):

    MiMac (View Comment):
    After Shiloh, Halleck actually did sideline Grant-b/c of the outcry over the casualties & claims that Grant was initially taken by surprise. But Lincoln demurred after a short while, remaking “I need that man-he fights”. Of course Lincoln was a great judge of men-when jealous DC paper-pushing generals tried to downplay Grant’s success by talking up his drinking, Lincoln ended such discussion by saying “if he could find out what brand of whiskey Grant drank, he would send a barrel of it to all the other commanders.”

    Sort of. Halleck took direct command, made Grant his second-in-command (gofer) and gave Grant’s old command to Thomas. That lasted until Corinth was taken, which was slower than it could have been because Halleck dug in every day. Then Halleck split the command, and put Grant back in command of the Army of the Tennessee in Corinth in order to hold it, which Grant did admirably. Grant wasn’t demoted, exactly,and it was only temporary while the overall commander was present, but Grant still resented the hell out of it.

    And Thomas made them all look bad.

    • #83
  24. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    GLDIII Temporarily Essential (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    So a post about birth control pills generates 15 comments about Civil War generals.

    I love Ricochet.

    The Digression is strong with this group.

    Either that or we should all be prescribed Adderall.

    “All for Adderall and Adderall for all”

    ( Try saying that ten times fast🙂)

    • #84
  25. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    So a post about birth control pills generates 15 comments about Civil War generals.

    Is that how this all started?

    As an experiment we should see if we can steer it back to birth control pills in less than seven degrees of separation.

    • #85
  26. KirkianWanderer Inactive
    KirkianWanderer
    @KirkianWanderer

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    So a post about birth control pills generates 15 comments about Civil War generals.

    I love Ricochet.

    I wrote a post about Incels, and a good section of the last comments page is about the Rat Pack and possessed clown paintings (part of that may have been my fault, can’t remember). Ricochet is a magical, absent minded professor kinda place.

    • #86
  27. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    KirkianWanderer (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    So a post about birth control pills generates 15 comments about Civil War generals.

    I love Ricochet.

    I wrote a post about Incels, and got section of the last comments page is about the Rat Pack and possessed clown paintings (part of that my have been my fault, can’t remember). Ricochet is a magical, absent minded professor kinda place.

    I wish we could have both.  Conversations like the conversations at a party that lasts all night, that wander off in random directions. 

    And…intelligent discussions about the subject and arguments made in the post, that go broader in getting disparate views of the subject, and deeper into it than the OP got.  Like discussions in a college class with a good professor moderating and maintaining intellectual discipline.  When I am interested in the subject, I often find it very annoying and frustrating when people lose the thread.  But I myself often find it irresistible to join in on a tangential discussion.

     

    • #87
  28. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Mark Camp (View Comment):
    As an experiment we should see if we can steer it back to birth control pills in less than seven degrees of separation.

    1.  General Thomas was disfavored by the Union because he was from Virginia.  He loved the Union more than his home state.

    2.  People fighting for the Confederacy valued states rights; Thomas valued the argument against slavery.

    3.  Slavery was about ownership of people, and because slaves were black, it was very difficult to end slavery.  People were categorized by their appearance, so fear of slave uprisings caused many people to distrust freed slaves who looked like they would otherwise be slaves.

    4.  People who favored slavery were racists.

    5.  Democrats are traditionally the party of racism and slavery.

    6.  Democrats support planned parenthood and encourage it to limit black procreation.

    7.  Birth control pills are a way to limit procreation.

    That’s seven steps in one post.  Did it work for you?  

    • #88
  29. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Mark Camp (View Comment):
    As an experiment we should see if we can steer it back to birth control pills in less than seven degrees of separation.

    1. General Thomas was disfavored by the Union because he was from Virginia. He loved the Union more than his home state.

    2. People fighting for the Confederacy valued states rights; Thomas valued the argument against slavery.

    3. Slavery was about ownership of people, and because slaves were black, it was very difficult to end slavery. People were categorized by their appearance, so fear of slave uprisings caused many people to distrust freed slaves who looked like they would otherwise be slaves.

    4. People who favored slavery were racists.

    5. Democrats are traditionally the party of racism and slavery.

    6. Democrats support planned parenthood and encourage it to limit black procreation.

    7. Birth control pills are a way to limit procreation.

    That’s seven steps in one post. Did it work for you?

    It’s a good outline of subjects. Now we just need to turn it into a series of comments that lead someone to comment on the last comment, making the transition smoothly.

    • #89
  30. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Back on the topic of dumb customers; for most of my life I worked in my family’s carpet store. Although I wasn’t primarily a salesperson, I would help customers if the salespeople were all occupied and a customer needed help. About once a year (more often for the actual salespeople I’m sure) the following exchange would ensue.

    Customer: Do you have any rolls that are at least 17 feet wide?

    Me: No. There are a few that are 15 or 13.5 feet wide, but 99% of it is 12 feet wide.

    Customer: Shoot! I was hoping I could carpet this room without a seam. Are you sure you don’t have any 17 feet wide?

    Me: I’m sure. What size is your room?

    Customer: 17 x 11.

    Me: Then you wouldn’t have a seam. You can buy a 12 x 17, and your room is only 11 x 17.

    Customer: No, my room is 17 x 11. Your carpet is all pointing this way (gesturing north to south) and my room goes this way (gesturing east to west).

    Me: Don’t worry. Our installers will definitely find a way to make it work.

    I don’t know if they think that rolls of carpet are like compass needles or what.

    • #90
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.