Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Everybody saw this coming.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

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Reader Interactions

139Comments

  2. 2.

    Commie-rade Rommie

    Yes, I do understand. I understand indeed. And I don’t even play that game. The chat channels there are legendary – almost as bad as some of the mocked Blogs, I’m told ;0

  3. 3.

    Brian J

    I have to say, I enjoy seeing the ads that tout Judith Miller as a member of Pajamas Media. It’s just another reason that I think the claims by conservatives that the media, exemplified by none other than The New York Times, is very biased towards the liberals.

  7. 7.

    Comrade Reverend Stuck

    That’s one cool canine. Got the look that says, I don’t stop to smell the roses, I just hike my leg and piss ’em down

  8. 8.

    Ed Marshall

    I lost two years to that game, I was in a 70+ raiding guild that had just about made it to black temple. People who didn’t play wow at that level have no way of understanding it. When you hit a certain point you can’t achieve anything in the game without fourteen other people and what you are trying to achieve could take a minimum of four hours to complete. If anyone screws up everyone dies and you can lose as much as twenty minutes getting back to where you left off at. Someone would ask me if I could do something in the middle of this and you wanted to scream "No, I can’t fucking do that! I’ll wipe the raid! Shut up!"

    It turns into a second job with ulcer causing levels of performance anxiety. I *still* almost went out today and bought the expansion and renewed my subscription.

  9. 9.

    ninerdave

    Wife and I were at Game Stop at midnight waiting to pick up our copies.

    I was late to work today because I was up until 4am playing. I’m going to leave in about 20 minutes to head home and get back at it.

  11. 11.

    Onihanzo

    @Ed Marshall: I hear ya. It’s one hellish little time sink.

    Damn near went back after hearing they’ve finally given hunters love. Pet talents and the ability to tame anything. Assholes. Where was this shit 3 years ago when I was dumping hours into your stupid world?

    As Dubya so eloquently puts it: "Fool me once… shame on.. shame on you..Fool me.. You can’t get fooled again"

  12. 12.

    MikeL

    7) We were just starting Black Temple when I quit. I’ll never hardcore raid again, as you said it’s just like a second job, but you pay for the privilege.

  15. 15.

    TheFountainHead

    I lost two years to that game, I was in a 70+ raiding guild that had just about made it to black temple. People who didn’t play wow at that level have no way of understanding it. When you hit a certain point you can’t achieve anything in the game without fourteen other people and what you are trying to achieve could take a minimum of four hours to complete. If anyone screws up everyone dies and you can lose as much as twenty minutes getting back to where you left off at. Someone would ask me if I could do something in the middle of this and you wanted to scream "No, I can’t fucking do that! I’ll wipe the raid! Shut up!"
    It turns into a second job with ulcer causing levels of performance anxiety. I still almost went out today and bought the expansion and renewed my subscription.

    I hear that. Was in a raid guild that had Illidan down nearly two months before they released the Sunwell. Raiding 4 nights a week, 4 hours a pop. I quit shortly after we cleared Sunwell. As much as I loved that game, I’ll never go back. It’s just a treadmill. I’m gonna go cold turkey until Starcraft II comes out.

  16. 16.

    robertdsc

    I’ll stick with my PS3 and Metal Gear Solid 4, thanks. The online portion is a nice time occupier.

  19. 19.

    Teri

    We will be getting 4 games tomorrow, one each for my husband and myself and our 2 teenage sons. The family that raids together stays together. Death Knights are cool

    Teri

  21. 21.

    Tzal

    WotLK came out today? The fact that I just learned that is the surest sign that the addiction has completely broken. When I last logged off, I was in a guild that was clearing BT in one night and was of the mindset that if you weren’t raiding Sunwell, then you were garbage.

    That game is a shadow of what it once was. And from what I’ve read, it’s become much worse. Is it true you can tranfer from a PvE to PvP server now? That said, there won’t be anything that can compete until Blizz comes out with another MMO.

  22. 22.

    Ed Marshall

    WotLK came out today? The fact that I just learned that is the surest sign that the addiction has completely broken.

    That’s exactly what I thought :)

    I guess it’s not completely broken because I was just toying with the idea of leveling my priest up to 80 and swearing off raiding for pvp….

  24. 24.

    D-Chance.

    Too busy to be bothered. Downloaded and currently watching the 11-episode anime series "Moyashimon".

  27. 27.

    LiberalTarian

    Looks the dog I lost in the divorce.

    Sigh. She is long gone now though I’m sure … she was 8 then, and its been 10 years.

    I would love to get another chow-shepard mix. And a cat.

    People don’t get that chows and shepards aren’t big lovers like golden retrievers. They love their human and family, but are particular. Smart dogs though. I really miss her. :o(

  29. 29.

    lee

    Anyone have any links to how the military vote turned out?

    I keep checking and it seems that either no one is talking about it or it has not been released yet.

  30. 30.

    RobertB

    Guildies got me all worked up, had to run out to Wally World at midnight and play until 2 AM. And yes, us hunters got a good bit of love in 3.0.

  31. 31.

    Objective Scrutator

    I always envy dogs. Dogs give so much, yet ask so little. I have no idea how they do it.

    I love cats, too, but dogs are just special.

    On another note, Super Mario Galaxy is dangerous for children to play.

  32. 32.

    TheFountainHead

    Hmm, there seems to be a pretty high percentage of BJ readers who are current or former WoW addicts. That actually explains A LOT.

  33. 33.

    RobertB

    What game? Just curious because it might make a good xmas gift

    Giving someone WoW for xmas is an awful lot like giving someone a weeks worth of crack. But us fellow junkies could use the company, so go right ahead.

  34. 34.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I would love to get another chow-shepard mix. And a cat. People don’t get that chows and shepards aren’t big lovers like golden retrievers. They love their human and family, but are particular. Smart dogs though. I really miss her. :o(

    My chow shepherd mix knows about thirty commands, can count to three and can say two words ("bike ride"). Just a phenomenal dog member of the family.

  35. 35.

    robertdsc

    I have to say, I enjoy seeing the ads that tout Judith Miller as a member of Pajamas Media. It’s just another reason that I think the claims by conservatives that the media, exemplified by none other than The New York Times, is very biased towards the liberals.

    Her book, Germs , on biological warfare is a killer read. Horrifying and fascinating at the same time.

  36. 36.

    TheFountainHead

    You all suck. Real MMO nerds play Eve.

    I toyed with the idea of trying that, but it seemed WAY too large.

  37. 37.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Hmm, there seems to be a pretty high percentage of BJ readers who are current or former WoW addicts. That actually explains A LOT.

    I don’t play games.

    Or email pics to John.

    I don’t even know why I’m reading this thread.

  39. 39.

    LiberalTarian

    Wow. According to HuffPo (which is crap, I know), HRC is being considered for Secretary of State.

    Y’all know I liked her (well, maybe you know). I think we could do worse by far. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

    Somehow, though, I think it’s just more fantasizing by a bored press corps.

  40. 40.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    btw, have you looked up akita mixes

    I sure have. Also had a drinking buddy once that had an akita. Not a very friendly dog.

  41. 41.

    Polish the Guillotines

    I don’t even know why I’m reading this thread.

    Cuz ur just some fuckhead?

    (sorry. feeling under the weather so I gotta go for the low-hanging fruit.)

  42. 42.

    Justin

    @TheFountainHead:

    I toyed with the idea of trying that, but it seemed WAY too large.

    Yeah, it’s huge. I actually just cancelled my subscription after 10 months (which was my second almost-a-year in the game). If you’re into MMOs, it’s worth playing for a few months so you can appreciate the depth that you’ll never attain. Unlike WoW and others, which just have harder raid instances at the endgame, Eve offers galaxy-spanning corporate politics, where CEOs of corps with 1,000s of pilots build titans and lose them in battles over territory. Like WoW, playing at that level is a full-time job. Unlike WoW, it’s a brutal PvP environment where a few bad choices can reduce you to zero almost instantly, since status is about possessions that can (and frequently are) destroyed in battle.

  43. 43.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Cuz ur just some fuckhead? sorry. feeling under the weather so I gotta go for the low-hanging fruit.)

    I may be a fuckhead and I may be low-hanging but I ain’t a fruit. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a fruit.

  44. 44.

    Jennifer

    I have no idea what anyone on this thread is talking about, and I’m thinking that’s probably a good thing.

  48. 48.

    Rick Taylor

    I’m an Everquest 2 nerd myself. I just started a few months ago. I don’t think I would have become addicted if it weren’t for the ratonga.

  53. 53.

    Brian J

    Wow. According to HuffPo (which is crap, I know), HRC is being considered for Secretary of State.

    Y’all know I liked her (well, maybe you know). I think we could do worse by far. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

    Somehow, though, I think it’s just more fantasizing by a bored press corps.

    I think the more interesting rumor being floated is someone named Michele Flournoy being an outside possibility for Sec. of Defense. I know only what I Googled about her last night, but from the looks of it, she’s got some pretty serious credentials. Then again, if I remember correctly, she’s helping with the transition, so perhaps that means she’s not in the running.

    As far as Clinton goes, my friend and I were talking about this the other night: could she realistically run for president again, assuming she has the same sort of vitality that she displayed this year. That’s by no means guaranteed, but whatever this 61-year-old is doing now to have so much energy, she might keep doing. She’d be 69, but unless she displays the same sort of bizarre habits that McCain displayed, would it count against her? This assumes, of course, that Biden doesn’t run.

  54. 54.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    So you’ve all seen The Guild, right?

    So it’s, uh Friday night and … still jobless, yay. I haven’t left the house in a week. My therapist, uh, broke up with me. Oh yeah, there’s a Gnome Warlock in my living room, sleeping on my couch.

  58. 58.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    mine’s only 4 months old. i chalked his biting my face, obssesive pissing and destroying my house to regular puppydom.

    You need to do make sure you do two things regularly:

    Spar with him and let him get really worked up and aggressive and then just take him down (tackle him) and lay on him. It’ll freak him out pretty badly at first but he’ll come to understand yer the alpha and he ain’t. (After you get off of him, don’t let him get up ’til you say it’s okay. If he tries to get up before you tell him he can, just tackle him again and do it all over.)

    Socialize him as often as you can with other people and animals while he’s still a pup. His natural tendencies to guard will kick in when he’s a teenager and you want him to be very sociable before then.

  60. 60.

    kommrade jakevich

    In the sidebar now, PJTV’s National Security Review. A partial transcript:

    "I’m scaaaared of terrists!"
    "I’m scaaaared of Barachmed Hussein bin Obama!"
    "Waaah! I crapped my pants again!"

  61. 61.

    Comrade Darkness

    @LiberalTarian: Y’all know I liked her (well, maybe you know). I think we could do worse by far. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

    As long as she can jump to the SCOTUS when an opening appears. I want all the remaining wingnut heads taken care of that failed to rupture with the Obama win.

  64. 64.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @carrie: Haha. Puppies are absolute hell. But if you train ’em right, when they come out the other side, they’re the best thing ever.

  65. 65.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Not to get all preachy and shit but you oughta take him through obedience school. The first round is a hundred dollars or less and the stuff you learn makes it worthwhile (puppy obedience school isn’t for the dog, it’s for you.)

    They teach you a lot of basic commands you’d never think of on your own. Like "leave it". I can put a juicy steak on the coffee table and tell the dog to "leave it" and he’ll never touch it. Tons of other stuff too, like how to make him afraid of the fence so he doesn’t jump it or stand on it and bark at people (beat the fence with a shoe while screaming at it.)

    They teach you how to walk him properly so he doesn’t pull (try to lead). Etc., etc.

  66. 66.

    Andre

    @Justin:

    You all suck. Real MMO nerds play Eve.

    Yes, yes we do. I get my PvP fix there regularly.

    I played WoW for 3.5 years before finally folding. I now mainly play LOTRO, which has everything I like about WoW and nothing I don’t. It’s extremely casual friendly, it’s absolutely beautiful (you can make your plate armor look like a dress, for crying out loud!) it’s got lots of nice little "quality of life" touches, it’s set in a world I’ve known since childhood, and my girlfriend who I introduced to it (and who is the exact opposite of a gamer nerd) loves it even more than I do.

    Plus there were far fewer wingnuts compaining in the chat channels on the night of the election, proving that hobbits have a liberal bias.

    Not to mention the Mines of Moria expansion comes out next week!

  67. 67.

    telesilla

    Lucky you, John. We’ve got a new issue coming out for City of Heroes/Villains, but not for a couple of weeks. You’ve gotta love a game where one of the new power sets is called pain domination.

  68. 68.

    Comrade Darkness

    @Comrade Darkness: I was hoping that she would be the Attorney General and then SCOTUS

    That’s a terrible path, tho. Huge conflict of interest problems.

  70. 70.

    AnneLaurie

    mine’s only 4 months old. i chalked his biting my face, obssesive pissing and destroying my house to regular puppydom.

    Akitas & akita-crosses, if they are going to be happy members of your human family, really really need to be introduced to the concept of "obedience training", aka ‘translating from the human’, as early as possible. If you haven’t already found a puppy kindergarten group for your little guy, I’d suggest looking for one (your vet or the local shelters can probably get you started). And if you prefer to learn via the written word, my personal favorites would be Daniel Pinkwater’s SUPERPUPPY or Carol Benjamin’s MOTHER KNOWS BEST. (Pinkwater also has some wonderful stories about his own beloved akita-cross in UNCLE BORIS IN THE YUKON.) The classic Akita is a smart, self-directed, *big* personal-protection dog; most dogs like knowing their place in the world & having a job to do, but it’s especially important for a tough little guy who’ll weigh 100lbs & be big enough to leap a 4-foot fence before his second birthday.

    When my ubergeek friends ask me why I love "dog training", I point out that it’s as close as most of us will ever get to communicating with an alien species. And working as a team with my own beloved house-aliens also reminds me how great a percentage of such interspecies communications is going to be along the lines of "Yes, I know what you’re after, but what’s *my* motivation here?"

  71. 71.

    Conservatively Liberal

    I get my online game nerding on by running an unauthorized game server of a deceased online game, along with a few other gaming nerds who do likewise. Unfortunately we need to lay low so it will go unnamed for now since the company is still in business. We are operating just below the radar, and have to hack everything we do but it runs real well and it is pretty fun to play with. The best part is that it is free to those who join in as we shoulder the hardware and connection costs.

    I am now hacking the game code to add a telnet connect to explore the code execution via well placed debugging prompts. We have ripped the game code up pretty well but there are these ideas we want to try…

    To grow we gotta know. ;)

  73. 73.

    Laura W

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Boy, the difference between "Down" and "Off" was crucial for me. I brought home a tiny Blue Heeler rescue in 1999 and we went to puppy school right off the bat, after I googled her breed and said: What the FUCK have I done?

    Most crucial to me was that she knew I was alpha, and just under me, the 6 cats I shared my life with. She learned immediately not to be food aggressive with them…they eat from her bowl until I pull them away or they walk away. She waits. She is not to help them move away, nor can she touch their food. They still take over her bed, poor thing. She learned very quickly what "Gentle!" means. I can trust her with kittens and fosters implicitly, even bunnies when we are out walking (off leash, for 2-3 miles every day for the past 10 years.)

    I was very lucky to have an exceptional trainer for puppy school and beyond who was patient with my dog and with me. I also had the luxury of working out of my home for the first few years of Leah’s life, so she got daily reinforcements. She is not perfect, and I still wish I had trained her to not bark like a maniac at anyone coming to the house, but when I see dogs who live with humans who don’t put any time into training, setting boundaries, and being "calm and assertive" with their pets, I am so grateful that I invested the time and energy I did. Cats are perfect. Dogs are WORK!

  75. 75.

    JGabriel

    Jennifer:

    I toyed with the idea of trying that, but it seemed WAY too large.

    Apparently they are discussing some sort of computer console game called Warcraft of Worlds – like Pong but more involving?

    Anyway, I’ve never played it either. I’m not sure whether that means we’re lucky or stunted.

    .

  78. 78.

    Indylib

    @LiberalTarian:

    HRC is being considered for Secretary of State

    This just seems weird.

    HRC didn’t have a nice thing to say about Obama’s foreign policy ideas in the primary and I have a hard time imagining her suddenly being in charge of setting up diplomatic outreach to Iran or Syria.
    And she could do Obama serious harm leaking out of the State Department if she wanted to. The "Team of Rivals" idea is great and all, but this just seems a bit dissonant.

  79. 79.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Laura W: Yes, I think making them understand they are the lowest member of the pack is the most important fundamental.

    Dogs are work but they give back. Cats don’t ever give back. Ever. Hell, we had a little black mouse in the house and the cat wouldn’t even mouse it. This is the cat that captures or kills an animal approximately biweekly.

    The dog caught the mouse and took it outside.

    The dog isn’t perfect. He sheds like crazy. Gotta vacuum every other day. (We vacuum him too, he likes it.)

    He licks and I hate that. So I slap him and he licks me because that’s how dogs show they are subservient and he needs to show me he’s subservient when I slap him so then we get caught in a shame spiral of slapping and licking.

    I accidentally trained him to hunt rabbits and hooboy, that was THE big mistake. He’s nearly killed me several times on our bike rides because when he sees a rabbit, he just fucking loses it.

    He also has a deathgrudge against the mailman because the mailman keeps coming up to the house and messing with something at the front door. The dog keeps warning him away and the mailman won’t take a hint. So when the dog had a chance one day outside, he went for the mailman.

  80. 80.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    HRC didn’t have a nice thing to say about Obama’s foreign policy ideas in the primary and I have a hard time imagining her suddenly being in charge of setting up diplomatic outreach to Iran or Syria.

    I think Obama wants to force her to meet with our enemies without preconditions. Rub her face in it a little.

  81. 81.

    handy

    @Indylib:

    I’m kind of conflicted myself. On the one hand, Hills isn’t exactly a bold, fresh move in the context of the change Obama ran on. She’s DLC, Washington establishment to the core. So there’s that.

    On the other hand, she really isn’t that different from Obama in terms of policy. Both are somewhat hawkish (at least for my tastes), and both run pretty much the same along policy lines. And, she’s a real force. The Clinton name means a lot still, both in the US and around the world, I think. And she’s done herself well by that name overall.

  83. 83.

    Indylib

    @handy:

    she really isn’t that different from Obama in terms of policy

    On some policies that’s true. But their biggest poicy differences
    were on foreign policy. And what does an Obama admin do with Bubba and his "Global Aids Initiative" if his wife is the Sec of State?

    I don’t dislike the idea of Obama putting her in a cabinet position, but unless he creates a Health Care Tsar I can’t think of one that would fit her strengths, his needs and that she would be willing to take.

  84. 84.

    Ed Marshall

    No way that HRC is SecState. There is a needle to thread there right now among the real players. Bringing her in is cutting the throats of a bunch of important people who had skin in the game. There is no room to appoint her anywhere she would want to be.

  85. 85.

    Comrade Jake

    I seriously doubt Obama chooses HRC for SecState. C’mon people. That’s pretty far out there. If he does, it will only be to prevent her from taking some other position that she’d royally fuck up.

    I fully expect, however, that when he doesn’t offer her Sec State, BTD over at TalkLeft will throw a massive hissy-fit.

  89. 89.

    Brian J

    I seriously doubt Obama chooses HRC for SecState. C’mon people. That’s pretty far out there.

    I fully expect, however, that when he doesn’t BTD will throw a massive hissy-fit.

    I’m not really sure what to think of any of the names that we hear floated around. On one hand, some of them are certainly in the running, because there’s really a relatively limited number of people who could realistically fill the most important positions. On the other hand, there’s usually so much bullshit about these positions. I think it was Valerie Jarrett who said something like nobody but those on the inside really know what’s going on, so don’t believe what you hear until you see it announced by the transition team.

  90. 90.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I’m not really sure what to think of any of the names that we hear floated around. On one hand, some of them are certainly in the running, because there’s really a relatively limited number of people who could realistically fill the most important positions. On the other hand, there’s usually so much bullshit about these positions. I think it was Valerie Jarrett who said something like nobody but those on the inside really know what’s going on, so don’t believe what you hear until you see it announced by the transition team.

    Yeah, but when they were picking the VP candidate, they said the same thing and every day for a month there was a new story about how it was gonna be Biden.

    And then it was Biden.

  93. 93.

    MikeL

    Got home, got the game installed, and patched. Now I’m #620 in the queue. This expansion is rather popular I’d say. Now I’m waiting. In the queue.

    So how YOU doin’?

  94. 94.

    reid

    I’ve been playing Half Life 2, any geek points for that? Currently pissed off about the section where you have to blast the striders with explosive balls. Not enjoying it.

  95. 95.

    Comrade Reverend Stuck

    I seriously doubt Obama chooses HRC for SecState. C’mon people. That’s pretty far out there.

    It’s going to be John Kerry. He was supporter numero uno and gave Obama the Keynote Speaker slot for the 04 convention. Obama owes him and they are good friends. Not to mention Kerry is supremely qualified for the job.

  97. 97.

    TheFountainHead

    I’ve been playing Half Life 2, any geek points for that? Currently pissed off about the section where you have to blast the striders with explosive balls. Not enjoying it.

    Hahaha, that’s crazy hard the first time, but the second time around it gets real fun!

  98. 98.

    handy

    I fully expect, however, that when he doesn’t BTD will throw a massive hissy-fit.

    From your mouth to the FSM’s noodly appendage.

  102. 102.

    Gus

    Puppies are absolute hell. But if you train ‘em right, when they come out the other side, they’re the best thing ever.

    That’s why they’re so damn cute as puppies. If they weren’t no one would ever have a dog. And even when they retain some of those bad puppy habits, they’re still worth it.

  103. 103.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Anybody else watching Jets Pats? Going into overtime. I hate the Jets…and they’re my team.

    I’d kill myself if I was a Jets fan. They’ve really pissed me off tonight. I’ve gotta get up early.

  104. 104.

    Comrade The Other Steve

    Holy Christ. Have you guys seen the Peter Schiff video Sully just posted? I’m seriously tempted to buy gold. It’s insane how far out in front of just about everything this guy was.

    Schiff ain’t a genius. I was predicting the same shit before he did. And I’m nearly as stupid as a Palin supporter.

    The problem is… How do you take advantage of it? That’s where a genius comes to play. :-)

  105. 105.

    Comrade Reverend Stuck

    Couldn’t help but notice Malkin’s mug on the sidebar. She looks awful pasty to me. I Wonder if she’s eating her vegetables.

  106. 106.

    r€nato

    Bad voter, no cracker

    COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

  107. 107.

    Ed Marshall

    I’m seriously tempted to buy gold.

    You should have bought it two years ago. Seriously. He reminds me of me. I’ve decided from here on out I’m waiting until I figure out there is a bullshit bubble going on, and I buy it then. I wait two years and unload it because that’s peak.

    There is a sort of irrationality to markets where sane people figure it out and look stupid for about two years because their neighbor got rich selling tulip bulbs, or pet.com, or flipping houses where you seethe for not cashing in. Two years is the mark for skeptics.

  109. 109.

    Tattoosydney

    @carrie:

    We have an Australian red cattledog who is three years old (and who we adopted at the age of two from a shelter) . He’s absolutely wonderful and adorable with us, but is a little bit "special needs" when it comes to interacting with anyone who isn’t in his "pack".

    Every trainer who has come near him has either given up in disgust, or gotten bitten and THEN given up in disgust…

    However, we have finally started to make some breakthroughs, and all because of reading books by Patricia McConnell

    Rather than being about laying down prescriptive steps on how to deal with every dog, she is much more about building the relationship with YOUR dog, and understanding what YOUR dog wants and needs… It sounds wanky, but it actually works, and you start to interact with the dog as an individual, rather than something that should just do what it is told.

    "The other end of the Leash" should be required reading for everyone who owns a dog.

  110. 110.

    ninerdave

    @JL:

    Taking a break… in case you hadn’t figured it out. World of Warcraft. It’s a great gift for anyone you never want to see again. haha. If you are thinking of getting it, know that it requires a $15 a month fee, and if you get someone the new expansion pack, they’ll need to have the original game. Just tell your local GameStop kiddie that it will be a new install. Otherwise they’ll have to download about 3 days worth of content.

  111. 111.

    Conservatively Liberal

    Couldn’t help but notice Malkin’s mug on the sidebar. She looks awful pasty to me. I Wonder if she’s eating her vegetables.

    She quit eating vegetables because she does not support cannibalism.

    OT: One of my favorite universal-type of code editors is NotePad++. In the past I have used it for Java and C++ and it works great. I especially like the tabbed format as I can switch between tabs fast and if I make a change manually it will pick up on it and ask me if I want to keep the changes or to revert. I recently started using it for Python coding but have discovered a bug with it not properly setting indents. In IDLE, I can use the Tab key to set indents but in NotePad++ I get compilation errors if I use anything but the spacebar to set my indents.

    Grrrr. Time to post a bug report. Geek out. ;)

  113. 113.

    Brian J

    Yeah, but when they were picking the VP candidate, they said the same thing and every day for a month there was a new story about how it was gonna be Biden.

    And then it was Biden.

    I forget exactly how much information the Obama campaign gave the media, but regardless, once again, there were only so many names that would realistically be on that list. Some might have been talked up as a courtesy to the candidates, while others might have been a way for a writer to fill column space, but the speculation always came back to the same few names: Bayh, Kaine, Sebelius, Richardson, Clinton, and of course Biden. Any other names, like Chet Edwards, were outside candidates, as far as any of us who are on the outside can tell.

  114. 114.

    Brian J

    Anybody watching Bill O v. Stewart? Pretty funny stuff.

    He comes across as so much more likable on these shows than he does on his own, it’s really just amazing.

    That said, he was all over the place. He says he’s an anarchist, in the sense that he wants to "give power to the people," yet he doesn’t want to change anything, which is what he said when Stewart prompted him to try to take away Social Security from people and see what happens. I never considered him a doctrine conservative by any stretch, and maybe it’s because I don’t watch him very much, but he definitely seems more incoherent than I remember.

  115. 115.

    r€nato

    Bill O is just a grumpy old man with a big megaphone. And a falafel.

    There’s no need for coherence, he’s not a serious thinker.

  116. 116.

    Anon

    Ugh, don’t talk about WoW in mixed company.

    Been clean for more than a year now. I ain’t going back.

    /yes, it’s true.

  118. 118.

    Onihanzo

    This is our mission. This is our fight. This is our time to secure our American Dream.

    Oh and I need you to give me $14 so I can definitely secure mine. Like now.

  119. 119.

    ninerdave

    He comes across as so much more likable on these shows than he does on his own, it’s really just amazing.

    Bill’O is a schtick and I"m quite sure different from the person. As is Hannity, Limbaugh and even Olbermann and Maddow. Their first job is to entertain and get ratings. Whatever happens after that is ancillary.

  120. 120.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    I wasn’t going to get the expansion till I hit 70. Then someone introduced me to the Unholy Deathknight – AOE tanking, a pet, and DoTs? So basically, I get what I wanted from the Paladin, the hunter and the warlock?

    Damn. *Grumble* Time to buy the expansion.

  121. 121.

    kommrade jakevich

    @r€nato: Pfft. If everyone who did something that required absolution skipped Communion, you’d be able to build houses out of the stock pile of Communion wafers.

    Funny how I’ve never heard a priest say that you shouldn’t take communion if you vote for a pro-war/death penalty candidate.

    Hypocrisy, in the Church? Shocking!

  122. 122.

    Cyrus

    Haven’t got the expansion yet, but I plan to tonight or tomorrow. New computer comes first – my current one is four years old, overdue for an upgrade, and this is as good a time as any.

  123. 123.

    WereBear

    I love this quote:

    "Cats are perfect. Dogs are WORK!"

    It’s a tricky thing for a human to be the Boss Dog, because we love them and want them to be happy. Once we realize a dog is happiest with a strong, calm, leader, things do fall into place.

    Since the ’70’s, the emphasis on what was called at the time "psychological dog training" has been a great boon, and there are many good advice givers out there.

    One caveat: that whole "alpha" thing where you get physical with the dog: don’t do it. There are people who get away with it, or think they do, but it’s playing with fire. It’s teaching the dog the wrong idea. As pup parents, we have the authority to hopefully keep the dog in check, but with a stranger, or even someone the dog knows but does not accept as Leader, it can get ugly. We have normalized aggression in the dog’s head. It’s bad enough when it’s an ankle-biting Chihuahua (and how do you think they get that way?) but it’s dangerous with a big dog whose instincts are saying "Protect" and they have evolutionary drives that tell them just how to do it.

    BTW, the cat does give back. It’s just not automatic, like a dog. If the cat has not given you the gift of their friendship, it might be that you haven’t earned it yet.

  124. 124.

    Rick Taylor

    Via Americablog, AIG is planning to use 500 million dollars of that money we used to bail them out to pay to top executives, even as we double our commitment to them to over 150 billion dollars. Management argues they need to do this to keep top talent, but this is why conservatism is dead. Beyond the fringe, who’s going to take seriously the accusations that Democrats want to redistribute the wealth, give it to people who don’t deserve it, who’d going to take seriously claims that insuring children just gives money who don’t take personal responsibility, when we’re shoveling hundreds of billions of dollars to big companies as fast as we can, with bipartisan support?

  126. 126.

    kommrade jakevich

    Management argues they need to do this to keep top talent, but this is why conservatism is dead.

    Yep. We call them the assholes that got us into this mess, AIG calls them "top talent." And instead of taking the money and drinking a big frosty mug of StFu, they’re pushing their luck, again and whining, again.

    That tells you everyfuckingthing you need to know right there.

    I say again, in a slightly less civilized society they’d be soaking in vats of hot tar while we fought over who got to carry them around on the splintery rails.

  127. 127.

    RememberNovember

    Cute dog! Frostwyrms think Scarlet Crusaders go good with ketchup.Im on Stormrage and Kargath and a fw others here and there.

  128. 128.

    Dennis - SGMM

    Christine Todd Whitman has an editorial titled "Free the GOP" in today’s WaPo.

    Following the conventional wisdom of the past two presidential elections, McCain tried mightily to assuage the Republican Party’s social-fundamentalist wing. His selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose social views are entirely aligned with that wing, as his running mate was clearly meant to demonstrate his commitment to that bloc. Yet while his choice did comfort those voters, it made many others uncomfortable.

    Palin has many attractive qualities as a candidate. Being prepared to become president at a moment’s notice was not obviously among them this year. Her selection cost the ticket support among those moderate voters who saw it as a cynical sop to social fundamentalists, reinforcing the impression that they control the party, with the party’s consent.

    Harsh words. I wonder if the GOP will listen.

  129. 129.

    Comrade Darkness

    Since we have no new thread I have to again comment on Malkin. What’s with the curled-end white-girl hair? Yikes. It does not help her looks for the brain to scream paper dolls!

    Our cats give back. They’re at the door when you come home, they come when you whistle (each has their own tune), they are affectionate as heck with wanting to cuddle (especially with the weather). I guess I don’t know what defines "giving back". They still behave neurotically at times, but that’s funny as often as it’s inconvenient. We picked them out at the pound as adults with an eye toward personality. It’s harder to assess a kitten’s future personality than a puppy’s I believe. So we don’t take the chance.

  130. 130.

    Conservatively Liberal

    I agree, cats do give back but only if you have earned it. Cats are very independent minded but if you let the cat know it can count on you for certain things (food, treats, play, affection, care) then they will give back to keep getting. But if you diss a cat, all bets are off…lol!

    Spent the night getting my telnet console working to stream debug data from the Python coding in a game so I can now ‘see’ the inner workings of what I am hacking to death. Success!

    Now the real fun begins… muhahahahaha!

    /rubbing hands together ;)

  131. 131.

    Shygetz

    Did anyone else see this at Sullivan’s? Peter Schiff is some kind of witch or something. It amusing watching him in retrospect be so right, and all the other business people be SO VERY wrong.

  132. 132.

    Shinobi

    Wow, Peter Schiff was on the ball. I don’t think he’s a witch though, the evidence was there if you were really looking.

  135. 135.

    ericvsthem

    I’m the rare MMO/WoW raider in that I’m married and have a lot of other interests outside of gaming that demand a fair amount of my time – politics, including some volunteer work for campaigns, reading, rock climbing, nightly walks with my Airedale, "quality time" with my lovely wife, etc.

    You can raid in WoW and still have a life, but you have be very committed to your schedule.

    The toughest part is being tied to 4 hour blocks for raids. But 12 hours/week (we usually raid 3 nights/week, 4 hours/night, but sometimes push a 4th night), if your raid group is very disciplined and experienced, should be enough to allow you to see all of the raiding content (we full cleared all BC raiding content and expect to do the same in WLK).

    I don’t think raiding in WLK is going to be anywhere near as difficult, and as a result time consuming, as 40-man Naxx or Sunwell. Unless you’re part of the .1% of WoW players who are in a race to be the first to beat content, this shouldn’t matter to you.

  138. 138.

    Jody

    Brought my t5/early t6 prot warrior to Northrend last night. Totally skipped over Utgarde and went into the Nexus. Chain pulled everything in there, and only wiped once when our healer got a phone call on the last boss. That is the extent of my xpac experience to date, and I must say I’m pleased.

    …Lich King’s a tad easier than Burning Crusade was, and to me that’s a good thing. I don’t play this game for a challenge anymore; I do it to chill with my friends in Vent. We just happen to like killing ogres while we chill :)

  139. 139.

    LarryM

    So how far into it are you? I got mine late thursday, and, with real life responsibilities (some of which I am neglecting), I’ve "only" played 10 hours, hitting 71 and 5 bars towards 72.

    And what do you think of it? I love it so far, much better than the early part of TBC.

    The early instances are indeed easy mode for well geared players.

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