It's the weirdest thing

[conuly]

But when I'm in a train, and I pass by another train, I'm always deeply interested in what's going on in the other car. Ever since I was a child, I've had this feeling I can't shake that however bored and normal the people in the other train look, there's really all sorts of drama going on that there isn't in my train. And I want to know what it is!

***************

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Comments

[jhetley]

One of the Agatha Christie mysteries featured a murder on a train witnessed from another passing train.

[conuly]

Yeah, but if I saw a murder on the NYC subway, probably the still-living passengers in the other train would see it too. And if the guy's gonna kill everybody, that'll sort of blow his cover.

[hamsterwoman]

The robot lawyers article is very neat!

As someone with a near-daily train commute, I also always try to look into the passing car. Have yet to see anything the least bit interesting, though...

[conuly]

I did once see a guy masturbating, but that was less interesting and more sad.

[hamsterwoman]

Yeah, I'd agree that's not an improvement on "nothing interesting". Ew XD

[archersangel]

there is no cinnabon at the mall in my poduk town. and every version of cinnabon i've had, burger king had something & think there was some thing in the store that you could heat at home, sucked.

[sgatazmy]

I often think the same! Grass is always more interesting on the other side?

[conuly]

I am so relieved to know I am not alone.

[elainegrey]

I grew up with car commutes, not trains, and felt similarly about driving by lit windows at night.

[conuly]

I wonder what the appeal is for all of us.

[amaebi]

I have looked in lit windows, passing cars, passing trains (subway and other). My sister and I used to put on little shows (or so we thought) in the back window of the family VW bus, when we were little, for the drivers behind us. Sometimes they reciprocated by waving a stuffed animal or something.

Here's the thing.

Inside every home, car, train, mysterious things are happening, not usually visibly, inside the humans there.

[wpadmirer]

I live in the town with Some Are Quite Blind!

The Necro-Search article was fascinating.

[conuly]

Did you know what they were before you were told?

[wpadmirer]

I knew of the sculptures, but honestly never even knew they had a name.

[supergee]

"Department of Justice confirms that if indicted Trump will be tried as an adult"

[conuly]

Are we sure that's fair?

[supergee]

They're cruel that way.

[pipilj]

Like looking at passing trains when I am in a train too. :D. I used to wave widely at trains as a kid when they passed and was always thrilled if someone waved back

[conuly]

Waving, my goodness yes!

[thewayne]

Actual trains ridden on: 1. (Berlin -> Prague. Fortunately we bought seats!)
Tourist trains ridden on: 1. (to Grand Canyon)
Subways ridden on: many. (mainly Berlin and DC, but also Atlanta and San Fran)

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"The melding together of Halloween and Day of the Dead is becoming more apparent."

Yes, because Dia de los Muertos is totally a 'cultural appropriation' (if you want to frame it like that) of the Celtic festival of Samhain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain):

Like Bealtaine, Samhain was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld could more easily be crossed. This meant the Aos Sí, the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into our world. Most scholars see the Aos Sí as remnants of the pagan gods and nature spirits. At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink were left outside for them. The souls of the dead were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. Mumming and guising were part of the festival, and involved people going door-to-door in costume (or in disguise), often reciting verses in exchange for food. The costumes may have been a way of imitating, and disguising oneself from, the Aos Sí. Divination rituals and games were also a big part of the festival and often involved nuts and apples. In the late 19th century, Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer suggested that it was the "Celtic New Year", and this view has been repeated by some other scholars.

In the 9th century AD, Western Christianity shifted the date of All Saints' Day to 1 November, while 2 November later became All Souls' Day. Over time, Samhain and All Saints'/All Souls' merged to create the modern Halloween.

If we Pagan folk can smile on Halloween as it's done in 21st-century mundane America - as most of us do - I don't see that the supposedly-Christian Mexicans have ANY room to frown at people 'appropriating' the skull-themed decor of their decidedly non-Christian cultural tradition.

If they're Christians, as they claim, they've got no business appropriating Pagan traditions in the first place, and certainly no right to tell anyone else they're not allowed to share them because they're the wrong skin-color or language-group. Last I checked, the Celts were still classed as Caucasian, and Spanish is not their primary language.

[conuly]

Not so. The holiday predates the Spanish invasion, though over years it gradually had its date moved back until it coincided with All Souls Day.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

The pre-Columbian roots of Dia de los Muertos pre-date the Spanish invasion, but the holiday as it is celebrated now, in the 21st century, has no more to do with those roots than modern Samhain has to do with pre-Christian Celtic Samhain.

Obviously, modern secular Halloween has very little to do with either Samhain or Dia de los Muertos. I don't see anyone bitching about 'cultural appropriation' when Christians dress up as the witches their ancestors tortured and burned. I also do not see the descendants of the people the Spanish tortured and burned renouncing the religion of the conquistadores now that they're free to do so without getting burned themselves. The Church has regarded Dia de los Muertos as sacreligious from the start, so there's no defense of it as a legitimate part of Christian tradition, and if they are not Pagan, why are they continuing to observe a 'sacreligious' Pagan custom?

In any case, those who don't like having Dia de los Muertos associated with Halloween are totally at liberty to go back to celebrating it in the summertime, instead of appropriating OUR holy night.