Forum: Story Recommendations

President's Day

richardshagrin 🚫

Today in the USA is a public holiday "President's Day". Are there any stories about Presidents? I can think of one, a do-over where the hero gets elected Vice-president and becomes President when the incumbent gets killed at the world trade center on nine-eleven when planes crash into it. But that isn't really the focus of the story.

There may be humor here somewhere. I am not a President, but I am a resident. And I P Freely. (Who wrote "The Yellow River.) All I need is a P to be a President.

Replies: AmigaClone Geek of Ages lnettnay lnettnay

AmigaClone 🚫

@richardshagrin

I can think of five stories that have the MC become a President.

One of the parts of Second Chance has the MC become President.

Lady in Red 3 starts with the female MC taking the oath of office.

A Fresh Start which is likely the one you were thinking of.

Retreads A do-over that includes the MC becoming president of the USA. In the sequel, he becomes president of an interstellar federation.

FTL: Again and Again has a do-over (same body) and a second chance (come back as a younger person). In the later case, the MC was elected president later on.

Geek of Ages

@richardshagrin

Today in the USA is a public holiday "President's Day"

Pedantic note: no it is not. Per the AP, the holiday is Presidents Day, and per the CMoS, it's Presidents' Day.

Replies: LonelyDad

LonelyDad 🚫

@Geek of Ages

@richardshagrin

Today in the USA is a public holiday "President's Day"

Pedantic note: no it is not. Per the AP, the holiday is Presidents Day, and per the CMoS, it's Presidents' Day.

Actually, there is not President's Day holiday. The federal holiday is George Washington's birthday. Check with Snopes.

Replies: Ernest Bywater

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@LonelyDad

Actually, there is not President's Day holiday. The federal holiday is George Washington's birthday. Check with Snopes.

There's a few US public holidays that had their names changed due to bitching by some of the snowflakes about why the people were recognised. It's easier to change the holiday name than to cancel it.

lnettnay 🚫

@richardshagrin

How about https://storiesonline.net/s/72278/what-the-future-may-bring by https://storiesonline.net/a/Going_Forward_55

I think it's a pretty good story.

Lonny

Centaur 🚫
Updated:

can't believe no one added second chance by number7

https://storiesonline.net/s/76454/second-chance

i think he's on his 15th or 16th life and second time going to the white house as VP

Replies: lnettnay

lnettnay 🚫

@Centaur

The first reply has Second Chance as the first story listed. That was 3 hours before your reply. 🤔

Lonny

Replies: Centaur

Centaur 🚫

@lnettnay

yup I totally missed that

lnettnay 🚫

@richardshagrin

Another one I found is https://storiesonline.net/s/63830/could-it-happen by https://storiesonline.net/a/Westside24

Lonny

Ernest Bywater 🚫

From wikipedia

Washington's Birthday was first declared a federal holiday by an 1879 act of Congress. The Uniform Holidays Act, 1968, shifted the date of the commemoration of Washington's Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February (between February 15 and 21, meaning the observed holiday never falls on Washington's actual birthday). Because of this, combined with the fact that President Lincoln's birthday falls on February 12, many people now refer to this holiday as "Presidents' Day" and consider it a day honoring all American presidents. However, neither the Uniform Holidays Act nor any subsequent law changed the name of the holiday from Washington's Birthday to Presidents' Day.

Replies: robberhands

robberhands 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

What a fascinating article, even though it lacks any reference to snowflakes.

Replies: Ernest Bywater

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@robberhands

I made it two posts so people wouldn't conflate the two. One is the article describing the name, the other is about how people are trying to get holiday names changed because the snowflakes they are don't like them - i.e. the 'Kill the Columbus Day group,' as one example, and the 'Eliminate all religious references to a holiday group' as another example. They don't want the Christmas holiday called Christmas, but they don't want the day off to be cancelled, either. The same people who want to erase any reference to any historic event or person they don't like.

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

The same people who want to erase any reference to any historic event or person they don't like.

Liberals, progressives, socialists, Democrats, and Communists ... but I repeat myself...

Actually, a few thoughts about this slight diversion to the main thread point (which always happens anyway) come to mind.

Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. (Which is, from what I can find, the original quote.)

History is a set of lies agreed upon.
History is written by the winners.
A generation which ignores history has no past ... and no future.

Replies: robberhands Jim S Wheezer

robberhands 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Is it phrase swinging time? I like:

'A horse with blinders can only see in one direction.'

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@robberhands

'A horse with blinders can only see in one direction.'

"I see" said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.

Replies: robberhands LonelyDad

robberhands 🚫

@Dominions Son

"I see," said the blind man pissing in the wind, "it's all coming back to me now."

LonelyDad 🚫

@Dominions Son

"I see" said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.

That was one of my dad's favorite sayings. Brings back memories.

Not quite in the same vein, but one of my favorites is "Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart." From 'Memory' by Lois Bujold. One of the best of the series, in my opinion.

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@LonelyDad

That was one of my dad's favorite sayings.

I learned it from my paternal grandfather. Another version on the same theme my grandfather liked to use was: "I see" said the blind man when he wasn't even looking.

My father was fond of:

I come before you to stand behind you
and tell you something I know nothing about.
So pull up a chair and sit on the floor,
admission is free so pay at the door.

Replies: sejintenej Capt. Zapp

sejintenej 🚫

@Dominions Son

"I see" said the blind man when he wasn't even looking

"I see" said the blind man to his deaf friend

Capt. Zapp 🚫

@Dominions Son

Here's a neat little tale:

Author Unknown

Ladies and Gentlemen, skinny and stout,
I'll tell you a tale I know nothing about;
The Admission is free, so pay at the door,
Now pull up a chair and sit on the floor.

One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight;
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.

A blind man came to watch fair play,
A mute man came to shout "Horray!"
A deaf policeman heard the noise and
Came to stop those two dead boys.

He lived on the corner in the middle of the block,
In a two-story house on a vacant lot;
A man with no legs came walking by,
and kicked the lawman in his thigh.

He crashed through a wall without making a sound,
into a dry creek bed and suddenly drowned;
The long black hearse came to cart him away,
But he ran for his life and is still gone today.

I watched from the corner of the big round table,
The only eyewitness to facts of my fable;
But if you doubt my lies are true,
Just ask the blind man, he saw it too.

Jim S 🚫
Updated:

@StarFleet Carl

Liberals, progressives, socialists, Democrats, and Communists ... but I repeat myself...

Cute. But accurate.

A generation which ignores history has no past ... and no future.

I think I first saw this in a Heinlein novel. So true; so very true.

Replies: StarFleetCarl

StarFleetCarl 🚫

@Jim S

I think I first saw this in a Heinlein novel. So true; so very true.

I don't know for sure that he's the one who first said it, but that's where I got it from.

Wheezer 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Liberals, progressives, socialists, Democrats, and Communists ...

One of these things is not like the others, but then I don't expect certain people to be able to see beyond their own ideologies.

Replies: Geek of Ages

Geek of Ages

@Wheezer

One of these things is not like the others,

All of those things are quite different from each other. However, when people resort to what they consider to be derogatory insults lobbed at people who disagree (often projecting in the process, in my experience), then there's little point in trying to reason with them. I'd recommend letting the old white guys rant and rave; as this forum has evidenced, they are very good at it.

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Geek of Ages

I'd recommend letting the old white guys rant and rave; as this forum has evidenced, they are very good at it.

"Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort."

Replies: Geek of Ages Ernest Bywater PotomacBob

Geek of Ages

@StarFleet Carl

That is perhaps the most risible thing I've read all day.

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort."

I'd amend that to show the former want to be the ones doing the controlling, and the later are mostly those who don't want to be over controlled and just left alone to get on with their life.

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

I'd amend that

Since it's a quote and not something I created, I thought it best to leave it in the original format. Especially since the original author was sort of a surly curmudgeon who only wanted Time Enough For Love ... :)

Replies: Jim S

Jim S 🚫
Updated:

@StarFleet Carl

Since it's a quote and not something I created, I thought it best to leave it in the original format. Especially since the original author was sort of a surly curmudgeon who only wanted Time Enough For Love ... :)

I thought that quote looked familiar..... :). And the earlier one I commented on also. Same source, right?

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Jim S

Same source, right?

Yeah, he may have influenced my younger reading days just a bit ... :)

PotomacBob 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

There really are only two kinds of people in the world. The first kind are those who believe there are only two kinds of people in the world. The second kind are those who know better.

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@PotomacBob

There really are only two kinds of people in the world. The first kind are those who believe there are only two kinds of people in the world. The second kind are those who know better.

I thought the quote went:

There are only 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

richardshagrin 🚫

"Voting is the price we pay for the right to complain."

Bad Line Ghoul, in his SOL blog

Replies: LonelyDad

LonelyDad 🚫

@richardshagrin

"Voting is the price we pay for the right to complain."

I've always felt one can't complain about a problem if one isn't willing to help solve it. That's gotten me a few offices I really didn't want to have.

Replies: sejintenej

sejintenej 🚫

@LonelyDad

I've always felt one can't complain about a problem if one isn't willing to help solve it. That's gotten me a few offices I really didn't want to have.

Whilst I like it I don't complain unless I see a real way of solving the problem. (It's not much use being willing to help solve a problem if neither I nor anyone else has a clue)

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@sejintenej

I disagree.

I just raised a complaint with my telephone company about a failure in their billing system. I have no idea how to fix it but if I don't report it, it will never get fixed.

AJ

Reply to topic

Forum: Story Recommendations

President's Day

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...