House of Ill Repute

by

Today’s A&J is from the recent past of 2017. I suppose that makes it more of a “rerun” than a “classic.” It’s also the first installment in a little discussion of housing. So, what kind of house do Arlo and Janis live in? It evidently is a medium-size house in an established inner suburb. It’s a federal-colored clapboard affair with two stories. It has a sturdy but unprepossessing brick fireplace. Also, the bathrooms are more functional and less grand. The kitchen seems to have an island. It has been depicted with a small back deck, but the family primarily spends its outdoor time on a patio. The yard is spacious and mature with a privacy fence in many areas. That’s about all I know!

29 thoughts on “House of Ill Repute”

  1. I grew up with 5 siblings in a small 3 bedroom house and we considered ourselves lucky. The family down the road has 12 kids in a slightly larger house, stacked like lumber at Home Depot. But they all managed to grow up without killing one another and are a tight knit family 60 years on.

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  2. What does Arlo mean by tiny house has an awful connotation? I never heard of any. As for the real time strip, maybe the lack of space is the reason for predictability. Not enough hiding places so the same ones get used over and over.

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    • Not me. Just didn’t have anything to say. But I will say Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. I will be working my normal day on Christmas Eve and then have Christmas Day off. Planning ham and sweet potatoes (from a can) and haven’t decided on the rest. Overall it will b a rest day for me, since I don’t have family or friends to spend the day with.

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  10. Galliglo: Not everyone. In mid/late Dec., my giving = filling out rectangular sheets that have “For____” printed in the lower R corner. Some made out to grandkids & such, others [from a different acct] to tax-deductible causes, some secular, others not. Those last are the real seasonal gifts. No desire to shop at this season, except for needed groceries.
    Christmas dinner? Free Community Holiday Meal is at First Lutheran Ch., Wed. noon. Elder son, his wife & I will dine there, along w/ a mix of families, financially needy & not, singles, old, elderly, whatever. Ham, sides, desserts, some more sinful than others. There’s a place for freewill checks.
    Peace, Merry, Happy, Sholem Aleichem. emb
    P.S. Tue., Christmas Eve morning, 9am CST [3pm Greenwich Mean Time] live broadcast on public radio of annual “9 Lessons & Carols” by the Cambridge U. Kings College Chapel boys choir + older former members whose voices have changed (& who gave rise to “The King’s Singers). Lots of carols, + 9 KJV readings from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, by 9 different readers from the Cambridge area, some of whom grew up elsewhere in the UK [& elsewhere?], a lovely reminder that not all Brit accents are the same. About 2 hr. Whole program rebroadcast at 7pm CST. Again, Peace,

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  13. Trucker: Functionally [= evolutionarily], no. Not sexism, but a good case of division of labor, in the only non-solitary cat. [I suspect you may know this already.] It’s also not an example of chivalry or compassion. But it works, which is natural selection’s only criterion. Hyenas are lions’ major competitors as big game hunters, and also as scavengers. Often, a hyena pack brings down an antelope or zebra, only to be driven off by a pride of lions. Don’t know who killed that carcass, but one lioness cannot defend it against a hyena pack. She is a member of a pride of related females: mothers, daughters, nieces, aunts. When male cubs get big enough to fend for themselves, they leave, often as 2-3 brothers. If all goes well, they successfully drive off older males that dominate a different pride, but they’re lucky if they can stay in charge for as much as 3 yr. As is well known, the girls do most of the work of hunting, along with adolescent cubs. Then Dad & his brothers, if any, have first go at the carcass. If no males are around, the pride may lose the prey to a pack of hyenas. But a full grown lion can disperse many hyenas, maybe killing a few in the process. Hyenas are no match for Dad. His job is to breed females, defend the pride, and have first go at the food. If there are 2-3 males in charge, likely one dominates the other 2, & does most of the breeding, sometimes right there in front of your Land Rover [“in front of God & everybody,” as Elaine used to say]. Sexism, no: natural selection that increases the likelihood of Dad and the girls passing their genes on to to the next generation of cubs.
    What happens if there a relatively young cubs when new males displace the former dominant male or males? Best way to bring a nursing lioness into heat is to get rid of her nursing cubs. Such infanticide is common in various social mammals, including primates. See “The langurs of Abu” by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, one of the first primatologists to draw attn to this. Not a popular view at the time, but now demonstrated and accepted. Nature works, but it ain’t always pretty. Merry!

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  15. emb: Thanks! While I was playfully submitting the story as a “conversation starter” (my FB designation!) my intent was to see what I could learn from someone who’s studied and taught biology. And I did learn a few things, including the unlikely story of Scar cooperating with hyenas to get rid of his brother, Simba, as Disney Studios had it in The Lion King. The only thing they got right was that any other adult males would be brothers of the pride leader.
     
    And it’s interesting to note that the abysmal treatment of young humans by some would-be stepfathers or even just boyfriends of the mothers of those children has its roots in a biological urge, or can be considered as such.

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  16. I gather from overhearing Kenya drivers and guides in the ’80s that “simba” is just Swahili for “lion.” And a male lion cooperating with hyenas is about the least probable event you’ll see on safari. The most probable association is what you saw on the video: Dad here and the hyenas a safe distance off.
    Peace,

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