Yeah, I’m watching it too, altho the opening scene with James Franco made me throw up a little bit in my mouth.
3.
General Winfield Stuck
I am going to watch Children of Men on DVD with a LED screen for the first time.
All the while rejoicing that Sarah Serendipity has graced the human species with her poignant thoughts contained in her new book. Aren’t we lucky cusses?
4.
Just Some Fuckhead
Not that there’s anything wrong with things that make me throw up in my mouth a little bit.
5.
Yutsano
About to go make a few oil execs richer (i.e. gassing up my car) then off to dinner with my folks. Watching the UW Huskies lose and getting an e-mail from an old friend have rounded out my day nicely. Housework bites. Oh and fuck the fucking Yankees.
Snarling at the greed exhibited by MLB’s owners and Commissioner which causes games to be played on the East Coast in late October, when rain can be expected.
7.
dfd
Getting over the flu. Thankfully, it has been brief and mild.
Have a great trip Cole. How about one more plug for Bitsy as this is supposed to be the last day. Come on people lets put her over the top.
PS Any hot chicks in Milk?
10.
Midnight Marauder
Ready for USC to open a can of whoop-ass on those pesky Oregon State Beavers.
+6
FUMBLE! BOO-YAH!
11.
Genine
I am writing and watching Dresden files on DVD.
12.
Englischlehrer
Thursday i saw a small band from the states called The Castanets, psychedelic folk, last night to a friend”s housewarming party where we tied one on and tonight to a Thai restaurant and then to see the russian symphony orchestra for free, shoulda been a c-note a ticket but an old student of mine, her husband works there and hooked us up. nice…
Well, I was looking forward to that free, live U2 concert from the Rose Bowl on YouTube tonight, until finding out just a few minutes ago that it’s not until tomorrow. ALCS is rained out. Got excited when Cole mentioned Milk on HBO, but its 23 minutes in, so can’t start watching it now.
So I guess I’ll be hanging around here for a little while longer! I apologize in advance, everyone.
17.
dmsilev
Finishing eating the left-overs of a very tasty chocolate cake. Nice thing about a recipe that calls for a bunch of individual rounds to be cut from a rectangular pan is that there are a lot of leftover bits.
Almonds and high-quality chocolate, yum.
-dms
18.
Robertdsc-iphone
Getting ready to go home after a day if work. Learned that my mother was hospitalized for an infection of unknown type. Lovely.
Am facing a double shift tomorrow but the second shift is of indeterminate length.
I dread having to fight the people at Macys.com for double-charging me for a gift card I ordered for a lady friend who’s in a sad state. Fuckers.
I just hope the Angels don’t have any bloody socks tonight. I’m tired of their asses & want the Yanks to win.
By the way, HBO people, if you haven’t seen the documentary “Outrage” yet, you really need to. It’s on demand, and I think it’s coming on shortly on the west coast feed. It blew my mind.
The movie is pretty good, so far, but I am shocked there is not an I am Sam/ Milk mash-up out there. James Franco is pretty surprisingly good so far, too.
Just finished giving some leftover roast beef to the fox who comes around our place. Sam’s in bed and snoozing happily, and the husband just gave me a shoulder rub, so I am very, very content. Time for a glass of wine, methinks.
25.
Just Some Fuckhead
Here’s a new Balloon Juice error (for me, anyway):
400 Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand:
(none)*/* (port 80)
Please forward this error screen to poppy.hmdnsgroup.com’s WebMaster.
26.
shoutingattherain
Oh, doing a couple bong hits watching the Penguin game.
Homemade spaghetti and noodles for dinner. Homemade sourdough too.
Got the woodstove fired up. Just stay in an do more bong hits. Then drink the water.
A full night.
27.
annie
Was having a nice glass of wine, on the patio, listening to my husband talk about his 5 week trip to Central Asia, when he suddenly jumped up and said he had to run to Best Buy before they closed, to get Windows 7.
I asked if he was reading Balloon Juice. He looked at me confused, asked what was Balloon Juice, and then grabbed his keys and was out the door…..
Wow, I am impressed. My husband returned today after a long trip, and somehow John reached into his psyche, and he is out the door buying new software….
28.
bago
Of course, while waiting for club hours, I’m going to be playing Brütal Legend. ROCK!
My family is from SF and we moved from there right before this happened. Growing up, we had all these VHS tapes with three movies each on them. Watched almost all of them but always avoided The Times of Harvey Milk because I never heard of it and it sounded weird.
One day when I was home sick from school, I decided to watch it. Didn’t have any clue who he was, or that the movie was even a doc until it started. Completely blew me away.
People with terminal illnesses should be given pills or pay for their own life extension.
Fuck you.
Fuck you twice.
That is all.
33.
jeffreyw
Sent Mrs J off to her afternoon shift today with a nice plate lunch, and just now enjoyed a decent hotdog.
34.
arguingwithsignposts
Still missing my gf, who was supposed to be here with me this weekend. But the seminar I was conducting went well. They’ll turn in their stuff tomorrow. I’m tired, which is not a good thing, but met someone else yesterday who read BJ (that may be revealing too much). H/She was raving about the blog.
35.
Steeplejack
Just got in from a grand day out with my brother. He is a total architecture/house/renovation hound, and earlier this week I saw that there was a “Parade of Homes” event here this weekend. So, since I have a rare three-day weekend and didn’t work today, I suggested that we go out and look at some of the places this afternoon.
We had lunch at a pretty good barbecue place, then went to look at some high-end dream homes in McLean, Vienna and Great Falls, Virginia (north of D.C.). All in the $1-3 million range–hey, if you’re going to dream, dream big–and none that I would ever consider living in, even if I had the money. It is axiomatic that money does not automatically mean taste–or, apparently, even basic design sense. There were elements in all the houses that were nice, but there wasn’t one a house that had it all. The thing that struck me most was all the wasted and/or awkward space. One house was 14,000 square feet. It felt like a sinister girls’ school in a Victorian novel.
I enjoyed just getting out and seeing something different, and my brother enjoyed it too, not least because (I think) it made him feel better about the semi-high-end house he bought in Arlington a couple of years ago. A lot of the neighborhoods were beautiful (duh), and it was fun to discuss architecture, renovation, and just talk trash as we were driving around. Good day for fraternal bonding.
We went back to his place and he cooked chicken and dumplings while we drank wine and watched TV. The cooking took longer than he thought it would, and he and his partner were going to a party tonight, so I got some chicken and dumplings to go, as well as some other goodies, and came on home. Now switching between the Texas-Missouri football game (Mizzou is my alma mater) and the Angels-Yankees game. Fuck the ‘Horns. Fuck the Yankees.
Okay, gonna have some chicken and dumplings with a beer.
36.
Fergus Wooster
Apologies for queering the thread with that last entry. Arrived late, and felt it needed to be said.
Cheers, everyone.
Fergus +3.
37.
DavInOz
It’s Sunday morning here and I’m listening to the CD I bought on Amazon by American Zeros.
The Song About Nothing should be played as a backing track every time a Republican politician speaks.
Wondering why three turkeys have wandered into my back yard.
Because us monkeys have screwed up so badly, the dinosaurs are going to take it back. Looking at a wild turkey always makes me wonder how anyone can refuse to understand the dinosaur/bird evolutionary link!
Also, Fuck the Fucking Yankees. On general principles.
Hope all is well with your mom and that tomorrow is a better day.
42.
Max
In my hotel room in DC watching Milk. Long day and lots of rain but this town is cool.
And the hotel bed is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever slept in.
Caught the last 10 minutes of Outragesnd now want to see the whole thing.
43.
Svensker
Off to watch Dragonwyck — with Vincent Price. Heh. Cheese was never so fun.
Manana, amigos.
44.
Genine
@Redkitten
Sounds like a lovely evening. Few things beat a good shoulder rub. Yum!
45.
Fergus Wooster
John-
I always thought I Am Sam and Mystic River would have made a good mash-up.
Sort of like Flowers for Algernon only the simpleton becomes a mobster instead of scientist. Plus that “Noooooooo!!” crane-shot from Mystic River – gold.
Sadly I’m too lazy and tech-illiterate to make it happen.
Game postponed until tomorrow (MLB). Sigh.
@jeffreyw: You, Sir, are a prince among men. That plate lunch you made for the missus looks scrumptious, and your hot dog looks very tasty, too.
@arguingwithsignposts: Is she ok? Does she have the flu? Who did you meet who’s raving about BJ?
@Robertdsc-iphone: Sorry about your mom. I’m sending strong vibes her way. Keep us updated.
TUUUUUUNCH!
47.
Fergus Wooster
Seriously, judge or attorney questions Sam’s fitness to be a parent.
Response: Sam [/Jimmy Markham], opening knife, “Say that one more time, and I will open you the fuck up.”
48.
Martin
Cutting crown moulding through my cold and waiting for the wife to return with In-N-Out. Been offered a job replacing a neighbors fence and am considering recovering my furlough days that way. Trying to work out what my take-away would be, and how much is worth reinvesting in tools.
Going to write code after dinner. My free time went away with the economy.
And fuck the yankees for taking away my excuse to relax tonight.
49.
Zifnab25
Longhorns 21
Mizzou Big Goose Egg.
Go Horns!
50.
Tx Expat
I’m still relishing my rousing win of “who can find the craziest LA crime or string of crimes from 1966 to 1991” game that I played with my IPNO partner yesterday at the county clerk’s office. While it started out with “mental condition” it became neck and neck with “burying a body in an area not zoned for burial” and “aggravated crime against nature.” We tied it up with his “shooting hogs at night out of season” and my “shooting *frogs* at night out of season.” I finally clinched it with a string of crimes that included but is not confined to: “burglary, aggravated burglary, aggravated arson, rape, aggravated rape, attempted 2nd degree murder, and incest” committed over a 7 year period. My buddy had to buy lunch on that one.
Now I’m adding songs to the “country/country rock” playlist that I’m going to listen to tomorrow while I finish writing a paper on juvenile conditions of confinement. Just added, “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” by Dwight Yoakum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZNmFR19m_I
Okay, apparently I won’t be switching to the Angels-Yankees game. It’s ridiculous that it is October 24 and the World Series has not even started yet. And, if it goes seven games, the last game will be on November 6, I think. Supremely ridiculous.
Missouri is dead to me. They have been dead to me since they went belly up in the big showdown with Texas last season. But I thought that, true to historical form, they would show up tonight and trounce Texas when it doesn’t really mean anything (for Mizzou). But they’re down 21-0 in the second quarter and are playing like the team from that sinister girls’ school I mentioned in my previous comment. Ugh. I wonder if it’s too late to get into The Two Mr. Kissels on Lifetime. John Stamos and Robin Tunney. Yum!
We… went to look at some high-end dream homes in McLean, Vienna and Great Falls, Virginia (north of D.C.). All in the $1-3 million range—hey, if you’re going to dream, dream big—and none that I would ever consider living in, even if I had the money. It is axiomatic that money does not automatically mean taste—or, apparently, even basic design sense. There were elements in all the houses that were nice, but there wasn’t one a house that had it all. The thing that struck me most was all the wasted and/or awkward space.
Word. Why have the “design professionals” become so enamoured with enclosing too much space in all the wrong shapes? Is it just trickle-down conspicuous consumption, or have architects become so infatuated with the modelling technology they’ve forgotten actual buildings are supposed to have inhabitants?
Be curious to hear people’s opinions about Sarah Susanka’s “Not So Big Home” books…
Word! Here in a rural suburb west of Boston we get 20 and 30 of them at a time, and it’s The Land Before Time. My feral cats sit in watchful awe.
56.
Keith G
@Robertdsc-iphone: I have learned that B-J mojo can be some really good shit. I’ll add to it and light a kick-ass smudge wand I got from a really cool shaman in New Mexico.
A bit later, I will be starting to view the season one box set of HBO’s Rome.
@jeffreyw: Now you’re really in trouble. You’ve got me hooked on your food pr0n, and now you’ll never get rid of me on your Flickr album!
58.
Just Some Fuckhead
@jeffreyw: I shall then. Patterson’s chili isn’t greasy or runny like other hot dog chilis (Texas Pete and Bunker Hill come to mind.) In fact, it’s almost got a sticky complexion which allows it to adhere to the hotdog exceptionally well when eating it. I heartily recommend it.
59.
Martin
Be curious to hear people’s opinions about Sarah Susanka’s “Not So Big Home” books…
My retirement dream is to go find a nice big plot of land somewhere (several dozen acres) build a nice home with as much utility packed into as small a space as is reasonable, a barn/workshop, and live as much off the land as is practical.
Sorry to drop in on a thread about chili and architecture, but I have to crow a little bit since I’m in moderation purgatory for whatever reason.
Tonight, I’m still relishing my rousing win of “who can find the craziest LA crime or string of crimes from 1966 to 1991” game that I played with my IPNO partner yesterday at the county clerk’s office. While it started out with “mental condition” it became neck and neck with “burying a body in an area not zoned for burial” and “aggravated crime against nature.” We tied it up with his “shooting hogs at night out of season” and my “shooting frogs at night out of season.” I finally clinched it with a string of crimes that included but is not confined to: “burglary, aggravated burglary, aggravated arson, rape, aggravated rape, attempted 2nd degree murder, and incest” committed over a 7 year period. My buddy had to buy lunch on that one.
Now I’m adding songs to the “country/country rock” playlist that I’m going to listen to tomorrow while I finish writing a paper on juvenile conditions of confinement. Just added, “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” by Dwight Yoakum. I swear to GSM, I am devolving down here. Before you know it, I’ll be saying, “well, you know, Charlie Daniels *did* have a couple good songs.”
Be curious to hear people’s opinions about Sarah Susanka’s “Not So Big Home” books…
A fun book, and not bad in the rot-your-brain dept as far as the genre (Architectural Pr0n) goes. But I prefer the original source – Chris Alexander’s et. al.’s A Pattern Language in all it’s Liberalfascist glory (Windows on two sides! Positive outdoor space!). Funny that the latter book ended up being more influential in CompSci circles than in architecture. Ditto for Stewart Brand’s How Buildings Learn.
67.
Just Some Fuckhead
Milk was okay, definitely not the four stars Cox gave it, maybe two and a half if for no other reason than it’s such a well-known story there isn’t any kind of suspense or excitement at all.
Sean Penn was amazing as Harvey Milk. No surprise there.
68.
Michael Gass
There are some here at balloon-juice who thought, after that last thread where they didn’t like what I had to say, they would ask, “who’s that Michael Gass guy, anyway”. So, I decided to help you all out.
Care to weigh in here on what I sent you? Just so we can put this finally to rest?
79.
Just Some Fuckhead
Just ban him, John. It’s too late for a lot of drama.
80.
Michael Gass
yes… because actually answering people who attack you is “drama”… not the attacks… but the responding to them.
81.
Bubblegum Tate
I’m listening to the records I bought today (Patrice Rushen, Dexter Wansel, Gladys Knight, Chuck Jackson, a couple disco 12s, and an album called “Indo-Jazz Fusions”) and enjoying the herbals I also procured today. A good evening so far.
82.
dfd
This just occurred to me. If tap water can contain trace amounts of controlled substances. Couldn’t this ruling by the Minnesota supreme court criminalize the possession of a glass of water?
Winfield,
You can ask John or Dougj… they have them. Frankly, you rate far below the thugs I put in jail… so… no certs for you.
Just in case you thought that was some kind of original insult:
So, I’m not really worried about internet keyboard “bad asses” who think a few words are the worst of my worries. They aren’t. They rank far below the thugs I imprisoned that threatened my life, and, would actually try to make good on their threat.
I also enjoyed this concluding line from Mr. Gass’ “introduction”:
I have nothing to hide from internet warriors because they have no clue what being a warrior means.
This just occurred to me. If tap water can contain trace amounts of controlled substances.
interesting hypothesis. Prozac metabolites are in most tap water. And our paper money all has minute traces of cocaine. A big ole slippery slope to thirsty in the poor house.
85.
Michael Gass
OH… it WAS an insult… considering that I have all the documentation to prove my statements, and, provided them to the site owners. Unlike the people who think to attack, and simply do so without anything OTHER than verbal attacks.
You see… I’ve been a cop, and to war, and shown that to John and dougj with the proper paperwork… so, yes, I can insult those who think to insult me.
Just finished making Chicken Molé and refried beans… Damn that was tasty.
Now, Imma gonna finish my Win7 Ultimate installation on the netbook and watch some college football. Saturdays are lovely. It was sunny and 75° in the Bay Area today, so I got in a really nice hike too…
88.
Rey
Saw the last 30 min of Outrage, dying to see the whole thing. I came away thinking- Damn, they pretty much “outed” Charlie Crist….
89.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’ve been a cop, and to war,
Wow, the exotic peoples you meet on the intertoobz.
@Michael Gass: I just don’t feel comfortable publishing people’s personal shit like that, even if they ask.
91.
Reason60
Just happened to be browsing through blogs, and came across an article in WSJ giving a softball loving profile of the Chamber of Commerce, and defending its chairman, tim Donohue. About halfway down, My jaw dropped:
“One irony of the Obama administration’s demonization campaign is that Mr. Donohue is hardly a right-wing ideologue. There was a day, in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Chamber fought for limited government. But starting in the 1990s, the group became more interested in using Washington to forward a narrower corporate self-interest.”[bolded for emphasis]
Right there, in unashamed print, with not a trace of self awareness, they laud the Chamber not for boldly fighting for freedom of the marketplace or the liberty of small business…but “narrow self-interest”.
I think you really need to go back to the Bourbons or the Sun King of France to find people so oblivious to their own avarice.
Is it time for pitchforks yet?
The government’s economic stimulus spending has already had its biggest impact and probably won’t contribute to significant growth next year, a top White House adviser said Thursday.
Christina Romer, the chair of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said the initial jolt of the $787 billion stimulus expanded the economy in the second and third quarters of this year. But she said the remaining spending will simply keep the economy from slipping.
“By mid-2010,” she said, “fiscal stimulus will likely be contributing little to further growth.”
The obvious answer to this is more and more spending. In fact, spending $1 trillion on a new “healthcare” bureaucracy is all but ensuring us that we will have the bestest economy ever, you betcha! 10% unemployment here we come…
George Bush! Also.
93.
Michael Gass
John,
You don’t have to publish the certs I sent. You can merely say, “yes, I’ve seen them, he is what he says”… period.
And to Just Some Fuckhead,
Yes, I met a lot of interesting people… YOU may meet them on the tubes, I met them r/l…
94.
Elizabelle
Late to the party today; offline a bit.
Did you all discuss George Will’s latest column? A paean to Michelle Bachmann, “petite pistol”?
Fun fact: the woman is married to a clinical psychologist. Yesh.
Why have the “design professionals” become so enamoured with enclosing too much space in all the wrong shapes? Is it just trickle-down conspicuous consumption, or have architects become so infatuated with the modelling technology they’ve forgotten actual buildings are supposed to have inhabitants?
Most of the big stupid houses around weren’t designed by architects. They’re designed by contractors who just compile a list of what people want to see in a house and throw them all in willy-nillie. And if it doesn’t want to fit, just pound until it does. And they cut corners on everything that doesn’t show to the point that the houses aren’t built to last any longer than a movie set.
But to answer your question: Architects are infatuated with modelling technology.
I come here hoping for a little light chatter and almost all I can see is pie! Most disappointing. Not that I wouldn’t like a slice of blueberry, if someone could get that to me.
BUT! I thought I would mention (like @gsp: ) that we’re down to the wire with Bitsy, and I highly recommend that you vote!
@dfd: The helicopters are certainly guffawing right about now.
103.
Comrade Darkness
@ellaesther: I was just checking how the front runners from last week’s top 30 was faring. Only AC Pup is even in the same league, at 4500. Unless there is a dark horse in there somewhere. Lookin’ good for Bitsy, which makes me smile.
Not even with Michael Gass’s combat-tested dick pie.
106.
2th&nayle
@jeffreyw: “Basic plate lunch”, he sez. “Decent hotdog”, he sez. I just got one word for you Jeff! “Merciless!”
107.
gbear
Be curious to hear people’s opinions about Sarah Susanka’s “Not So Big Home” books…
I worked for a while in Sarah’s office. She is an absolute sweetheart and her homes are wonderfully scaled and nicely detailed. The thing I didn’t like about her books is that the featured small houses are still extremely expensive.
108.
Michael Gass
up to you John…
You can say what I sent… or… simply ban me from your blog in favor of people attacking who never backed up a word they said… as I did.
Oh, and speaking of Harvey Milk, after my husband and I saw the movie, I happened on a picture book about him at our library — I brought it home, along with a book I happened to find the same day about Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr. My kids and I read them together (they were 5 and 9 at the time), and talked about why all three men were important Americans. It was kind of awesome.
@Michael Gass: Might I suggest Rifftrax? It will take your mind off of this ridiculous pursuit.
…
Also.
113.
Elizabelle
I don’t know how those at ABC can greet George Will with a straight face after seeing that column.
It’s capitulation to the craziness of the GOP’s basest.
He should lose his pundit slot. Seriously. Or move to Fox.
114.
MelodyMaker
one thing I’ve found funny about the internet lately:
you can still email people.
115.
Michael Gass
dfd,
You can suggest what you wish to…
It doesn’t change the fact that I stated what I am, what I’ve done, that I have proven those claims to John and dougj, and yet, I am still attacked for those claims.
In fact, I am simply attacked… and EXPECTED to back down and be a good boy…
That isn’t happening…
Nor, it seems, will John acknowledge WHAT I sent to him.
116.
Midnight Marauder
Hot damn, USC is blowing this thing wide open finally.
I’m trying to think if I’ve ever known of even one decent bow-tie wearing man…. Oh, wait, Sen. Paul Simon. Other than that, the bow tie appears to be a badge of high douchey-ness.
[. . .] enclosing too much space in all the wrong shapes?
Yeah, that was it exactly. In these houses, when I went up to the second (or third!) floor, it was like a warren of rooms that were simultaneously too big but felt cramped. A weird sensation.
I liked Susanka’s first book, The Not So Big House, but then the publisher apparently tried to turn her into a cottage industry, and some of the later books are not as good. Her basic ideas are sound—excellent, in fact—but once they’ve been stated there’s not really anywhere to go after that, except to further illustrate the basic points. But her key point is essential: that all parts of a house should work together and be useful, even necessary, on a daily basis. How many of us know people who have—or have ourselves—a “formal” dining room that gets used maybe a dozen times a year and sits idle the rest of the time? And how did we go in the last 30–40 years from the average home being, what, 1,500 square feet (or less), to a situation now where people feel cramped in 3,000 square feet?
I think some of it could be simply conspicuous consumption, as you said. Or “we can’t give you anything better, so we’ll give you something bigger.” My brother, who is up on this stuff much more than I am, was going through these houses and pointing all the low-end fixtures and shortcuts that had been used. Time was when a million bucks—or whatever the amount was that represented that ratio over the average home price—would get you “Oh, yes, Mr. Steeplejack, the Italian craftsmen will be installing the hand-quarried marble tiles today, and, yes, the custom wood paneling in the library will have your special SJ insignia worked into all the mullions.” Now, for the super-premium price, unless you are really all over it yourself, you get mostly the same construction quality and fixtures as everyone else, just twice as much (or more). At least that was our impression from the tour of “custom built” homes today.
In talking about all this stuff with my brother, I thought of a book that I want to go back and reread: Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (1977). The content is hazy to me now, but I remember it having a tremendous impact on the way I thought about a lot of things—not just architecture, housing and “the environment” but carpentry, woodworking, even (much later) software design. One thing we saw over and over again today was a front porch that no one would ever sit on, because it was only about six feet deep. I remember Alexander being dogmatic on the point that a porch needs to be at least eight feet deep for it to feel “right” for people to actually sit on it and use it. And he’s right. I’ve noticed that repeatedly through the years.
I went to Amazon.com to look up A Pattern Language and will quote from reader James DeRossitt’s excellent review:
A Pattern Language is an encyclopedic study of what makes buildings, streets, and communities work—indeed, what makes environments human.
__
[. . .] If you wonder about the best design for a home, the authors will describe everything from how roofs and walls should be built down to how light should fall within the home, where your windows should be placed and even the most pleasant variety of chairs in the home. An underlying theme of all the patterns is that architecture, at its best, can be used to foster meaningful human interaction, and the authors urge us to be aware of how the houses we build can help us balance needs for intimacy and privacy.
__
[. . .] Most patterns are accompanied by a photograph (many of them beautiful and fascinating in their own right), and all are illustrated by small, casual hand drawings. Taken together, A Pattern Language is an extraordinarily rich text, visually and conceptually.
__
[. . .] A Pattern Language has changed the way I look at buildings and neighborhoods—I feel like this book has made me attuned to what works, and what doesn’t work, in the human environment. I’m constantly realizing things about buildings and streets that this book helped me see—things that make people feel at home, or feel “alive,” in their surroundings, or, conversely, things that make people uncomfortable.
As long as I’m on a rant, the other book that I remember affecting me just as strongly back in the day is James Hennessey and Victor Papanek’s Nomadic Furniture (1973). It was a tremendously useful, think-outside-the-box guide to making inexpensive—and aesthetic—household objects using old and new technology. Sort of like Make magazine now. It was also a book that changed the way I looked at a lot of seemingly unrelated things (also including, much later, software design).
. . . Ah! I see that in the time I have been writing this–and ignoring Missouri getting pounded into the dirt by Texas–ThatLeftTurnInABQ has weighed in with a comment on A Pattern Language. Great minds, etc., etc.
(I hope all this formatting works. I no haz edit. FYWP.)
Heh. I made my brother laugh today because I reminded him that one of his throw-away comments years ago was that he wanted his ideal place in the country to be secluded enough that he could mow the grass in the nude.
@gbear: Yup yup. She is, indeed, all mine. And yes, overall, I am highly satisfied with her.
127.
Michael Gass
yes… it’s buzzkill when a person can actually back up their words with documents… while being attacked by people who are never asked to back up the attacks.
How horrid that is!
And the more people who come to the attack… with nothing more than words… while I provided documents… how BORING that is! How irrelevant I am to the echo chamber!
I’m STILL waiting for John to merely state WHAT I sent him.
128.
Comrade Darkness
@Michael Gass: If you wish for there to be a blog that is all about you, you need only hop on over to wordpress.com and in mere minutes you will have one. The wonders of modern technology.
Betty! was a scold when Al Franken was being nominated.
But, she’s OK, I think. @gbear:
reminded me of Joe (gggr) Lieberman, but hey. The alternative at the time (2000) was a ffffreeek.
133.
Michael Gass
Fern,
I was a cop. I dealt with the dregs of society. Of COURSE I can be an asshole. And the people here are DEMANDING I be an asshole with their attacks.
John has yet to say even that I have provided the documentation I said I did.
What if he did? He would take away the attacks on who I am. And, like you, you could simply attack ME as a person, as you did.
In strictest terms, blueberry is my favorite — but only as made by my now long-dead grandmother (who we called Queenie), so while that is my favorite, it’s no longer available to me, this side of the Great Divide…. After that, I’d say it’s a toss-up between apple, cherry, and rhubarb. A lot depends on crust quality, though!
Mmmm… pie. All I have in the house is animal crackers. Animal crackers, and no crust-making skill. Damn.
@ellaesther: Rhubarb! There is a local pie shop that makes the best rhubarb pie EVER. It is so yummy. Not to tart, but not sweet. Yum.
141.
dfd
@Michael Gass: Let’s say that it is a granted, you are who you say you are. Thank you for your service. Does that make every opinion you hold correct? Obviously, no. What is the point of all of this?
142.
MelodyMaker
the Obama team is smart, smart smart to go at Fox Noise the way they are doing it. Its turning into a conversation. tada!
Dude, nobody in the thread last week attacked you or your (completely irrelevant) “certs.” They did, however, pretty much universally disagree with your attack on anyone who didn’t dissolve into respectful, serious tears over the Balloon Boy hoax.
better than a frontal lobotomy. and bongwater is not quantifiable, so there.
147.
Michael Gass
yes, steeplejack, they did… and I can, if you wish, go back to that thread and pull out each post that did… because they are there.
What the people here did, in that thread, was mock a situation while I brought out that everyone else involved in that situation wasn’t.
Now… if you wish me to pull each QUOTE… I can… unless dougj or John deletes that entire thread.
148.
Steeplejack
My helicopters are crying. Why, oh, why did I feed the troll?! They told me not to do it, but I did it anyway. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
149.
Gravenstone
@Michael Gass: Dude, have you always been this fucking insecure? Okay, so you’re some big bad supercop. Hats off to ya. Now quit whining and either meld with the crowd or go the fuck away.
150.
MelodyMaker
I defy any of you fkrs to go back and mock whatever I said at some point. I’m sure it would be worth it.
I defy any of you fkrs to go back and mock whatever I said at some point.
WHERE…ARE…YOUR…CERTS?
ALL THE WORLD WONDERS STOP
152.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@Steeplejack: Anyone who comes anywhere near designing any public or private building should read A Pattern Language. I’m a designer, and no book I ever read was as relevant. It changed the way I see the world forever.
153.
Morbo
Looks like another year where schadenfreude will be my only solace in college football, although I guess I can cheer for the Hawkeyes to win it all.
Oh good, someone’s here who can tell me what a horrible person I am because I’m happy Miami lost.
154.
MelodyMaker
just to be clear:
bongwater can be quantified– in ml’s or milliliters or even milliLITRES, if you’re Canadian. I was wrong. Quality and content is what I was after. Jeezis frack, where can I buy some bongwater?!
@MelodyMaker: I like the way you roll. You’re cracking me the fuck up (which this thread seriously needs, which is seriously wrong given that it’s a fucking open thread).
+0, but seriously about to change that.
156.
MelodyMaker
@AhabTRuler:
I don’ts haves to answeres thats. sTheese is the Uniteds Smateses of Americas! That Judge he just don’t like me because he hates the Constitution! Of the United States! I’m serious!
157.
psycholinguist
Sitting in a hospital room with my pregnant wife and 4 year old daughter, we brought my daughter in last Sunday night because she threw up Saturday night and wanted to sleep all day and not eat or drink on Sunday. We’ve been here all week, she had surgery on Thursday to remove her left kidney along with a wilms tumor, and next week will be the start of radiation and chemotherapy. Keep her in your prayers or meditations or whatever well you draw from.
158.
Michael Gass
Gravenstone,
Insecure? LMAO… I have the documents to PROVE IT. It’s not about “insecurity”… it’s about proving IDIOTS here, who attack blindly, WRONG. And… I have done that… even as John REMAINS silent!
You think I’m insecure after being in Iraq twice during wartime… or being a cop… you are deluding yourself.
It’s about proof… and I have it… and have shown it… to allegations made about me.
That John STILL can’t acknowledge what I sent him is telling.
Yeah you were mildly amusing during your First Contact schtick, but now you’re just boring. I just don’t give a shit what you did or who you were at some other time in your life. You got nothing interesting or funny to add NOW.
Dazzle us. Or be gone.
160.
Gravenstone
@psycholinguist: Best wishes to you and your family. There is nothing in this world I hate worse than the sense of powerlessness you feel watching someone you love in a hospital bed.
161.
Gravenstone
@Michael Gass: You’re right, you’re not insecure. You’re a fucking pathetic CHILD. Seriously dude, learn a new tune already. All you’ll get here from here on out is mocking. Well deserved at that.
Welcome to Pieland.
162.
Michael Gass
I didn’t send John and dougj the documents people here are crying for so they can be silent… absent… but, so they can say, “yes, I’ve seen them”.
They are not doing it.
That doesn’t mean the certs don’t exist… just that they are, after having been sent them, are silent.
163.
Elizabelle
psycholinguist: You are in my prayers. Please keep us posted.
You have documents to prove that you are not, in fact, insecure? Really? That seems quite amazing to me, that there is apparently an organization dedicated to providing official documentation testifying to one’s state of security–or lack thereof–in their being.
Pray tell, where can a like-minded fellow obtain such documentation? I myself have been feeling quite secure in my person these days, and indeed, I would like to have the certification to prove such a thing. For example, say that I find myself in something like an internet pissing match where I continuously demonstrate my inability to follow the focus of the dialogue. It would certainly be handy then, amirite?
@psycholinguist: I am so sorry to hear this. I send you positive energy and a white light in this difficult time. You will be in my thoughts. Please keep us updated.
@Tattoosydney: You gonna try to convince him he’s teh ghey, too?
@Tattoosydney: That way lie madness young Padawan. It is very difficult to reason with certitude.
173.
New Yorker
So I’ve decided that anyone who says life on earth was created by a loving god obviously has never suffered through mononucleosis. Yesterday, I made my first ever (at the age of 29) trip to the emergency room to deal with a throat so swollen and inflamed that I could barely speak or swallow.
6 hours later (yeah, the emergency room at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn doesn’t move all that fast unless you’re dying), they had shot me full of a powerful anti-inflammatory drug, cleaned out my throat, and wrote me a prescription for Tylenol with codeine. I’ve been popping Advils like candy all day today.
And the best part is that I’ve been dealing with this crap for almost 3 weeks now (although most of the symptoms haven’t been as bad as my throat yesterday). Geez, it’s enough to wish for the flu or food poisoning. Those are extremely unpleasant, but at least they’re done with you after a week or less.
174.
Michael Gass
I have YET to see John or dougj acknowledge the documents I sent to them.
And, frankly, until they do… the attacks on me will persist.
175.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@psycholinguist: I will also offer up a prayer for your family and you.
176.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@Steeplejack: It’s a lovely book too, just the right size to hold in your hands, wonderful thin, strong pages, and quaint photographs from all parts of the world at the beginning of the sections. I think “right size book” or something like that is actually one of the patterns. You will want to own a copy.
177.
Yutsano
@Michael Gass: Since you’re a former cop, you should know what a stipulation is. If we just stipulate that everything regarding your credentials is true, can you at least acknowledge that you freaked out about the whole Balloon Boy mishegas?
Yeah. When I wrote earlier I already sort of knew that the library won’t have it–I’ll be very surprised if they do!–and that I’ll want my own copy. Used to have one a long time ago but lost it somewhere along the way.
180.
Michael Gass
yutsano,
A cop should know what a stipulation is??? since when? Give some backing to it… because it doesn’t exist.
As a cop, you get officer discretion. Not “stipulation”.
You, like many, are simply ignorant of what you try to talk about because you haven’t been there, done it, like I have.
@psycholinguist: I just came by to check in on my way to bed, and oh my God, you poor folks. I just sat and stared at your user name and sent prayers and thoughts and best wishes and everything I could think of. Good luck to you all, and know that a complete stranger has you and your family in her heart tonight.
182.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: I realize you don’t do criminal law, but do you consider this statement reasonable coming from a supposed law enforcement officer?
Really? You have no idea what a stipulation is? How does one function as a cop when one is (so it would appear) utterly ignorant of basic court procedure and the rules of evidence?
185.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: IANAL (hell I haven’t even taken the LSAT…yet) but that response even had my brain boggling.
186.
bago
So the fifteen inch subs are kicking some ass. This is almost as strong as the deadmau5 afterparty for love parade.
@Yutsano: I sent you here to talk him out of it, not to participate! Sheesh!
@New Yorker: I hear ya. I am on the cusp of bronchitis which I get every year. One year, I had it for six months. Good times.
188.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I originally tried but dammit he got under my skin so I just HAD to nail him. Thanks to burnspbesq did quite well too.
189.
MelodyMaker
Audacity and ReZound. I pay attention until I pass out. Like Tommy Bolin. speaking of ellipses….
@Bubblegum Tate:
190.
Anne Laurie
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: @Steeplejack: Okay, two recommendations — I’ll have to find a copy of A Pattern Language, although at 1100+ pages it’s gonna be tough to library or expensive to buy. And, incidentally, I still have my original copy of Nomadic Furniture…
@psycholinguist: Way to put things in perspective. Your daughter will be in my animist prayers. Poor little munchkin — and poor parents, too.
I’ve been hovering for almost two years, I’m under the influence right know. I just watched MILK and it was awesome ( yes I know that is a whackjob word ) but as an individual whom considers herself an educated person, it was traumatic to realize how ignorant I am. In the seventies I endured aparthied in Lesotho a country landlocked by South Africa. In the eighties surviving Ethiopia and Mengistu, accidentally I am the only member of my five member family ( my 2 sisters and my parents who are citizens) . As a hybrid I know what it is like to get critics from both sides, be it attitude or british spelling.
I am on the cusp of bronchitis which I get every year.
Momo understands, having a little bit of a rasp in her chest. Fortunately, we got her to the vet before it developed too much, and she is doing much better.
As usual, you can click on my name for the latest photos.
find one hetrosexual partnership who can prove that a single gay or lesbian relationship has had an effect on your relationship and we will all stand behind you. !!!!!!
But since there is no such study the likes of Anita Bryant , and all her hate-filled cohorts, are wrong.
What the fuck is up with Gass? He’s got be fucking with us.
198.
Michael Gass
I realize you don’t do criminal law, but do you consider this statement reasonable coming from a supposed law enforcement officer?
@Michael Gass:
A “stipulation”? Do YOU know what the hell it is? and how “it” applies to law enforcement?
I have no clue what a “stipulation” is… nor… have these idiots said what one is…
So… come you fucking idiots… enlighten us on what a “stipulation” is when it comes to law enforcement.
199.
Little Macayla's Friend
@hovercraft:
Hi hovercraft,
Your name shows up in your comments as a hyperlink (http://na/), but my browser can’t find the address and google didn’t help.
Do you have a blog or other website?
I have YET to see John or dougj acknowledge the documents I sent to them. And, frankly, until they do… the attacks on me will persist.
Sigh.
Okay, let me explain this in small words, as nobody else has been able to get the point across to you.
You are being “attacked” because you are an annoying jackass.
Nobody here (except for you) gives a damn about your “certs”.
We honestly do not give a damn if you are a cop, a pastry chef, or the second coming of Christ himself.
All we care about is how you conduct yourself on here. And thus far, you have come across as a humourless, irritating, self-righteous twat with an unhealthy tendency towards obsession.
So, if you want the “attacks” to cease, then a) develop a bit of a sense of humour and b) shut the fuck up about your stupid certs, because the only one here who cares about them is you.
201.
Michael Gass
redkitten,
no.. I stated my opinion… I got attacked because it wasn’t the “conventional wisdom”. The continued attacks are because I simply didn’t tuck a tail between my legs and go away.
Obviously, some here DO care… because they can’t help themselves attacking me.
Whether I am humorless, or irritating, or self-righteous, is because I WAS… am STILL.. being attacked.
So, I won’t shut the fuck up, because my background was attacked… and I proved I had the certs… even though John refuses to acknowledge it.
Obviously I’m not the only one who cares, as I KEEP getting attacked… and no, I’m not backing down to a bunch of internet twits who couldn’t hold a candle to half of what I’ve done. They, and you, simply are internet twits, who haven’t done half of what I’ve done in my life. You want me to be “nice”… stop being idiots.
202.
Michael Gass
And.. John,
Why WON’T you acknowledge what I sent you?
203.
arguingwithsignposts
Damn, I check out early on a saturday night and a gass thread erupts. I’ll have to read back later tonight.
204.
jvill
Just got to my hotel in Paris on a school trip. Wahoo!
And the first thing you can think to do is check in at Balloon Juice?! Sad, so sad. Get out there and eat a croissant or get snubbed by a Frenchman or something.
@Michael Gass: DUDE! Go get some PTSD counseling! You’re ranting about shit just to be ranting. Get some help, seriously.
Oh, and still…..my dick’s bigger than your dick. Haw!
Jesus fucking christ, Gass. Take a picture of the god damned documents and put it on one of the 500 free image hosting sites. Or upload it to google docs. Regardless, I thought it was pretty damned clear I had seen the documents proving you are in fact Michael Gass when I said the following:
I just don’t feel comfortable publishing people’s personal shit like that, even if they ask.
Additionally, I’m sure I said something two weeks ago when this damned drama started.
At any rate. PLEASE. SEEK. HELP. I don’t know if you are still in law enforcement, but you should not be anywhere near a gun.
210.
licensed to kill time
Whoa – the Return of the Gass! I…..miss….ALL…..the ….fun!
I’m still waiting for Michael Gass to explain what the hell his documents have to do with a Gassdamned thing.
211.
Ed in NJ
Mr. Gass, in spewing his certs all over the internet, never elaborates on why he left the police.
Me, too. I learned that you can go into the offices of the Mayor and City Supervisor, shoot them dead, and get only five years in prison. And Reagan opposed the anti-gay Prop 6? Who knew?
213.
Michael Gass
John,
No, in the two prior threads, you did not make ONE statement about this issue, or, my documents. You did in THIS threat. The THIRD thread, where you go “I got something but won’t say what it is”.
In the meantime, you’ve allowed all the geeks here to attack and impune with no restraint. So, you know who you ALLOW to be impuned and attacked; a veteran not just from our military, but, a former veteran law enforcement officer.
You’ve been silent.
And, it’s not like I can fight my battles. I’ve done it with far worse than your echo chamber.
Why YOU failed to intervene to do nothing then tell me I needed help BECAUSE I wasn’t taking the impunity, attacks, and ridicule you have allowed to occur is MOST telling.
You simply like that type of stuff, obviously.
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bago
Waiting to check out the FUR club in DC.
Just Some Fuckhead
Yeah, I’m watching it too, altho the opening scene with James Franco made me throw up a little bit in my mouth.
General Winfield Stuck
I am going to watch Children of Men on DVD with a LED screen for the first time.
All the while rejoicing that Sarah Serendipity has graced the human species with her poignant thoughts contained in her new book. Aren’t we lucky cusses?
Just Some Fuckhead
Not that there’s anything wrong with things that make me throw up in my mouth a little bit.
Yutsano
About to go make a few oil execs richer (i.e. gassing up my car) then off to dinner with my folks. Watching the UW Huskies lose and getting an e-mail from an old friend have rounded out my day nicely. Housework bites. Oh and fuck the fucking Yankees.
Linkmeister
Snarling at the greed exhibited by MLB’s owners and Commissioner which causes games to be played on the East Coast in late October, when rain can be expected.
dfd
Getting over the flu. Thankfully, it has been brief and mild.
General Winfield Stuck
@bago:
Say hi to Stephanie for me. You rascal you.
gsp
Have a great trip Cole. How about one more plug for Bitsy as this is supposed to be the last day. Come on people lets put her over the top.
PS Any hot chicks in Milk?
Midnight Marauder
Ready for USC to open a can of whoop-ass on those pesky Oregon State Beavers.
+6
FUMBLE! BOO-YAH!
Genine
I am writing and watching Dresden files on DVD.
Englischlehrer
Thursday i saw a small band from the states called The Castanets, psychedelic folk, last night to a friend”s housewarming party where we tied one on and tonight to a Thai restaurant and then to see the russian symphony orchestra for free, shoulda been a c-note a ticket but an old student of mine, her husband works there and hooked us up. nice…
asiangrrlMN
Watching Texas and Missouri. Cats snoozing on my lap. Thinking about what I’m having for dinner.
Cole, where you going now?
Midnight Marauder
Matt Barkley is the truth.
That is all.
Porco Rosso
Wondering why three turkeys have wandered into my back yard.
JenJen
Well, I was looking forward to that free, live U2 concert from the Rose Bowl on YouTube tonight, until finding out just a few minutes ago that it’s not until tomorrow. ALCS is rained out. Got excited when Cole mentioned Milk on HBO, but its 23 minutes in, so can’t start watching it now.
So I guess I’ll be hanging around here for a little while longer! I apologize in advance, everyone.
dmsilev
Finishing eating the left-overs of a very tasty chocolate cake. Nice thing about a recipe that calls for a bunch of individual rounds to be cut from a rectangular pan is that there are a lot of leftover bits.
Almonds and high-quality chocolate, yum.
-dms
Robertdsc-iphone
Getting ready to go home after a day if work. Learned that my mother was hospitalized for an infection of unknown type. Lovely.
Am facing a double shift tomorrow but the second shift is of indeterminate length.
I dread having to fight the people at Macys.com for double-charging me for a gift card I ordered for a lady friend who’s in a sad state. Fuckers.
I just hope the Angels don’t have any bloody socks tonight. I’m tired of their asses & want the Yanks to win.
JenJen
By the way, HBO people, if you haven’t seen the documentary “Outrage” yet, you really need to. It’s on demand, and I think it’s coming on shortly on the west coast feed. It blew my mind.
Blankfrank
Well it has to be better than watching that silly Bruce Willis Robot/Matrix/Terminator/Crap I endured last night
jeffreyw
fumblin around on google and amazon, lookin for some cat5e cable kits, anyone have a rec?
John Cole
The movie is pretty good, so far, but I am shocked there is not an I am Sam/ Milk mash-up out there. James Franco is pretty surprisingly good so far, too.
bago
@General Winfield Stuck: That’s not until 11-7. I plan to be in New York by then.
RedKitten
Just finished giving some leftover roast beef to the fox who comes around our place. Sam’s in bed and snoozing happily, and the husband just gave me a shoulder rub, so I am very, very content. Time for a glass of wine, methinks.
Just Some Fuckhead
Here’s a new Balloon Juice error (for me, anyway):
400 Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand:
(none)*/* (port 80)
Please forward this error screen to poppy.hmdnsgroup.com’s WebMaster.
shoutingattherain
Oh, doing a couple bong hits watching the Penguin game.
Homemade spaghetti and noodles for dinner. Homemade sourdough too.
Got the woodstove fired up. Just stay in an do more bong hits. Then drink the water.
A full night.
annie
Was having a nice glass of wine, on the patio, listening to my husband talk about his 5 week trip to Central Asia, when he suddenly jumped up and said he had to run to Best Buy before they closed, to get Windows 7.
I asked if he was reading Balloon Juice. He looked at me confused, asked what was Balloon Juice, and then grabbed his keys and was out the door…..
Wow, I am impressed. My husband returned today after a long trip, and somehow John reached into his psyche, and he is out the door buying new software….
bago
Of course, while waiting for club hours, I’m going to be playing Brütal Legend. ROCK!
John Cole
@shoutingattherain: Please don’t drink the bong water.
Tom
Milk was very good. The doc is even better.
My family is from SF and we moved from there right before this happened. Growing up, we had all these VHS tapes with three movies each on them. Watched almost all of them but always avoided The Times of Harvey Milk because I never heard of it and it sounded weird.
One day when I was home sick from school, I decided to watch it. Didn’t have any clue who he was, or that the movie was even a doc until it started. Completely blew me away.
General Winfield Stuck
@bago:
Bummer. Have fun anyways.
Fergus Wooster
@BOB From the previous thread:
Fuck you.
Fuck you twice.
That is all.
jeffreyw
Sent Mrs J off to her afternoon shift today with a nice plate lunch, and just now enjoyed a decent hotdog.
arguingwithsignposts
Still missing my gf, who was supposed to be here with me this weekend. But the seminar I was conducting went well. They’ll turn in their stuff tomorrow. I’m tired, which is not a good thing, but met someone else yesterday who read BJ (that may be revealing too much). H/She was raving about the blog.
Steeplejack
Just got in from a grand day out with my brother. He is a total architecture/house/renovation hound, and earlier this week I saw that there was a “Parade of Homes” event here this weekend. So, since I have a rare three-day weekend and didn’t work today, I suggested that we go out and look at some of the places this afternoon.
We had lunch at a pretty good barbecue place, then went to look at some high-end dream homes in McLean, Vienna and Great Falls, Virginia (north of D.C.). All in the $1-3 million range–hey, if you’re going to dream, dream big–and none that I would ever consider living in, even if I had the money. It is axiomatic that money does not automatically mean taste–or, apparently, even basic design sense. There were elements in all the houses that were nice, but there wasn’t one a house that had it all. The thing that struck me most was all the wasted and/or awkward space. One house was 14,000 square feet. It felt like a sinister girls’ school in a Victorian novel.
I enjoyed just getting out and seeing something different, and my brother enjoyed it too, not least because (I think) it made him feel better about the semi-high-end house he bought in Arlington a couple of years ago. A lot of the neighborhoods were beautiful (duh), and it was fun to discuss architecture, renovation, and just talk trash as we were driving around. Good day for fraternal bonding.
We went back to his place and he cooked chicken and dumplings while we drank wine and watched TV. The cooking took longer than he thought it would, and he and his partner were going to a party tonight, so I got some chicken and dumplings to go, as well as some other goodies, and came on home. Now switching between the Texas-Missouri football game (Mizzou is my alma mater) and the Angels-Yankees game. Fuck the ‘Horns. Fuck the Yankees.
Okay, gonna have some chicken and dumplings with a beer.
Fergus Wooster
Apologies for queering the thread with that last entry. Arrived late, and felt it needed to be said.
Cheers, everyone.
Fergus +3.
DavInOz
It’s Sunday morning here and I’m listening to the CD I bought on Amazon by American Zeros.
The Song About Nothing should be played as a backing track every time a Republican politician speaks.
Mark S.
Getting ready to grill some coffee burgers.
Just Some Fuckhead
@jeffreyw: That looks nice, had a hotdog myself this evening. May I recommend Patterson’s chili if you like chili on yer dog?
Anne Laurie
@Porco Rosso:
Because us monkeys have screwed up so badly, the dinosaurs are going to take it back. Looking at a wild turkey always makes me wonder how anyone can refuse to understand the dinosaur/bird evolutionary link!
Also, Fuck the Fucking Yankees. On general principles.
Svensker
@Robertdsc-iphone:
Hope all is well with your mom and that tomorrow is a better day.
Max
In my hotel room in DC watching Milk. Long day and lots of rain but this town is cool.
And the hotel bed is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever slept in.
Caught the last 10 minutes of Outragesnd now want to see the whole thing.
Svensker
Off to watch Dragonwyck — with Vincent Price. Heh. Cheese was never so fun.
Manana, amigos.
Genine
@Redkitten
Sounds like a lovely evening. Few things beat a good shoulder rub. Yum!
Fergus Wooster
John-
I always thought I Am Sam and Mystic River would have made a good mash-up.
Sort of like Flowers for Algernon only the simpleton becomes a mobster instead of scientist. Plus that “Noooooooo!!” crane-shot from Mystic River – gold.
Sadly I’m too lazy and tech-illiterate to make it happen.
asiangrrlMN
Game postponed until tomorrow (MLB). Sigh.
@jeffreyw: You, Sir, are a prince among men. That plate lunch you made for the missus looks scrumptious, and your hot dog looks very tasty, too.
@arguingwithsignposts: Is she ok? Does she have the flu? Who did you meet who’s raving about BJ?
@Robertdsc-iphone: Sorry about your mom. I’m sending strong vibes her way. Keep us updated.
TUUUUUUNCH!
Fergus Wooster
Seriously, judge or attorney questions Sam’s fitness to be a parent.
Response: Sam [/Jimmy Markham], opening knife, “Say that one more time, and I will open you the fuck up.”
Martin
Cutting crown moulding through my cold and waiting for the wife to return with In-N-Out. Been offered a job replacing a neighbors fence and am considering recovering my furlough days that way. Trying to work out what my take-away would be, and how much is worth reinvesting in tools.
Going to write code after dinner. My free time went away with the economy.
And fuck the yankees for taking away my excuse to relax tonight.
Zifnab25
Longhorns 21
Mizzou Big Goose Egg.
Go Horns!
Tx Expat
I’m still relishing my rousing win of “who can find the craziest LA crime or string of crimes from 1966 to 1991” game that I played with my IPNO partner yesterday at the county clerk’s office. While it started out with “mental condition” it became neck and neck with “burying a body in an area not zoned for burial” and “aggravated crime against nature.” We tied it up with his “shooting hogs at night out of season” and my “shooting *frogs* at night out of season.” I finally clinched it with a string of crimes that included but is not confined to: “burglary, aggravated burglary, aggravated arson, rape, aggravated rape, attempted 2nd degree murder, and incest” committed over a 7 year period. My buddy had to buy lunch on that one.
Now I’m adding songs to the “country/country rock” playlist that I’m going to listen to tomorrow while I finish writing a paper on juvenile conditions of confinement. Just added, “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” by Dwight Yoakum:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZNmFR19m_I
BTW, speaking of crazy, check this out: Arizona Privatizing Death Row.
Steeplejack
Okay, apparently I won’t be switching to the Angels-Yankees game. It’s ridiculous that it is October 24 and the World Series has not even started yet. And, if it goes seven games, the last game will be on November 6, I think. Supremely ridiculous.
Missouri is dead to me. They have been dead to me since they went belly up in the big showdown with Texas last season. But I thought that, true to historical form, they would show up tonight and trounce Texas when it doesn’t really mean anything (for Mizzou). But they’re down 21-0 in the second quarter and are playing like the team from that sinister girls’ school I mentioned in my previous comment. Ugh. I wonder if it’s too late to get into The Two Mr. Kissels on Lifetime. John Stamos and Robin Tunney. Yum!
jeffreyw
@Just Some Fuckhead: yes, yes, you may
jeffreyw
@asiangrrlMN:
yes, yes, we are agreed
Anne Laurie
@Steeplejack:
Word. Why have the “design professionals” become so enamoured with enclosing too much space in all the wrong shapes? Is it just trickle-down conspicuous consumption, or have architects become so infatuated with the modelling technology they’ve forgotten actual buildings are supposed to have inhabitants?
Be curious to hear people’s opinions about Sarah Susanka’s “Not So Big Home” books…
Cat Lady
@Anne Laurie:
Word! Here in a rural suburb west of Boston we get 20 and 30 of them at a time, and it’s The Land Before Time. My feral cats sit in watchful awe.
Keith G
@Robertdsc-iphone: I have learned that B-J mojo can be some really good shit. I’ll add to it and light a kick-ass smudge wand I got from a really cool shaman in New Mexico.
A bit later, I will be starting to view the season one box set of HBO’s Rome.
asiangrrlMN
@dfd: As long as you don’t have teh piggy.
@jeffreyw: Now you’re really in trouble. You’ve got me hooked on your food pr0n, and now you’ll never get rid of me on your Flickr album!
Just Some Fuckhead
@jeffreyw: I shall then. Patterson’s chili isn’t greasy or runny like other hot dog chilis (Texas Pete and Bunker Hill come to mind.) In fact, it’s almost got a sticky complexion which allows it to adhere to the hotdog exceptionally well when eating it. I heartily recommend it.
Martin
My retirement dream is to go find a nice big plot of land somewhere (several dozen acres) build a nice home with as much utility packed into as small a space as is reasonable, a barn/workshop, and live as much off the land as is practical.
Cat Lady
Yankees suck.
I thought you might have meant Sarah Siskind.
Tx Expat
Sorry to drop in on a thread about chili and architecture, but I have to crow a little bit since I’m in moderation purgatory for whatever reason.
Tonight, I’m still relishing my rousing win of “who can find the craziest LA crime or string of crimes from 1966 to 1991” game that I played with my IPNO partner yesterday at the county clerk’s office. While it started out with “mental condition” it became neck and neck with “burying a body in an area not zoned for burial” and “aggravated crime against nature.” We tied it up with his “shooting hogs at night out of season” and my “shooting frogs at night out of season.” I finally clinched it with a string of crimes that included but is not confined to: “burglary, aggravated burglary, aggravated arson, rape, aggravated rape, attempted 2nd degree murder, and incest” committed over a 7 year period. My buddy had to buy lunch on that one.
Now I’m adding songs to the “country/country rock” playlist that I’m going to listen to tomorrow while I finish writing a paper on juvenile conditions of confinement. Just added, “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” by Dwight Yoakum. I swear to GSM, I am devolving down here. Before you know it, I’ll be saying, “well, you know, Charlie Daniels *did* have a couple good songs.”
And speaking of devolution and crazy, Arizona Considering Privatizing Death Row.
Genine
@Robert
I hope everything is fine with your mom. I’m sending positive energy her way.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@Svensker: I love that movie. Isn’t Gene Tierney in that also?
jeffreyw
@Just Some Fuckhead: I’ll keep an eye out for it, thank you sir.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Martin: Same here, except mine is a little cabin in the mountains, 10 or so acres, maybe abutting a national forest.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Anne Laurie:
A fun book, and not bad in the rot-your-brain dept as far as the genre (Architectural Pr0n) goes. But I prefer the original source – Chris Alexander’s et. al.’s A Pattern Language in all it’s Liberalfascist glory (Windows on two sides! Positive outdoor space!). Funny that the latter book ended up being more influential in CompSci circles than in architecture. Ditto for Stewart Brand’s How Buildings Learn.
Just Some Fuckhead
Milk was okay, definitely not the four stars Cox gave it, maybe two and a half if for no other reason than it’s such a well-known story there isn’t any kind of suspense or excitement at all.
Sean Penn was amazing as Harvey Milk. No surprise there.
Michael Gass
There are some here at balloon-juice who thought, after that last thread where they didn’t like what I had to say, they would ask, “who’s that Michael Gass guy, anyway”. So, I decided to help you all out.
You can read who I am at the below link:
http://www.docudharma.com/diary/16836/#250985
Martin
I could go with that. 10 acres is a bit small for me as I’d prefer more solitude, but the national forest border would make up for that.
General Winfield Stuck
@Michael Gass:
still no certs dude. Where’s the mofo certs? And how about that Heene family, aren’t they the clowns?
Michael Gass
Winfield,
You can ask John or Dougj… they have them. Frankly, you rate far below the thugs I put in jail… so… no certs for you.
MelodyMaker
mixing on a laptop.
MelodyMaker
where can I buy some bongwater? shit!
General Winfield Stuck
@Michael Gass:
Wanton flattery will get you nowhere in my Helicoper.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Martin: Sounds like a plan. We can go halfsies. You don’t snore do you? (It’s a small cabin.)
John Cole
@Just Some Fuckhead: I liked that it wasn’t preachy. Good performances all the way around, although every time I see Victor Garber I think Alias.
Just Some Fuckhead
@John Cole: How many stars would ya give it?
Michael Gass
Well good evening John,
Care to weigh in here on what I sent you? Just so we can put this finally to rest?
Just Some Fuckhead
Just ban him, John. It’s too late for a lot of drama.
Michael Gass
yes… because actually answering people who attack you is “drama”… not the attacks… but the responding to them.
Bubblegum Tate
I’m listening to the records I bought today (Patrice Rushen, Dexter Wansel, Gladys Knight, Chuck Jackson, a couple disco 12s, and an album called “Indo-Jazz Fusions”) and enjoying the herbals I also procured today. A good evening so far.
dfd
This just occurred to me. If tap water can contain trace amounts of controlled substances. Couldn’t this ruling by the Minnesota supreme court criminalize the possession of a glass of water?
Midnight Marauder
@Michael Gass:
Just in case you thought that was some kind of original insult:
I also enjoyed this concluding line from Mr. Gass’ “introduction”:
General Winfield Stuck
@dfd:
interesting hypothesis. Prozac metabolites are in most tap water. And our paper money all has minute traces of cocaine. A big ole slippery slope to thirsty in the poor house.
Michael Gass
OH… it WAS an insult… considering that I have all the documentation to prove my statements, and, provided them to the site owners. Unlike the people who think to attack, and simply do so without anything OTHER than verbal attacks.
You see… I’ve been a cop, and to war, and shown that to John and dougj with the proper paperwork… so, yes, I can insult those who think to insult me.
Bubblegum Tate
@MelodyMaker:
Serato?
James K Polk, Esq.
Just finished making Chicken Molé and refried beans… Damn that was tasty.
Now, Imma gonna finish my Win7 Ultimate installation on the netbook and watch some college football. Saturdays are lovely. It was sunny and 75° in the Bay Area today, so I got in a really nice hike too…
Rey
Saw the last 30 min of Outrage, dying to see the whole thing. I came away thinking- Damn, they pretty much “outed” Charlie Crist….
Just Some Fuckhead
Wow, the exotic peoples you meet on the intertoobz.
John Cole
@Michael Gass: I just don’t feel comfortable publishing people’s personal shit like that, even if they ask.
Reason60
Just happened to be browsing through blogs, and came across an article in WSJ giving a softball loving profile of the Chamber of Commerce, and defending its chairman, tim Donohue. About halfway down, My jaw dropped:
“One irony of the Obama administration’s demonization campaign is that Mr. Donohue is hardly a right-wing ideologue. There was a day, in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Chamber fought for limited government. But starting in the 1990s, the group became more interested in using Washington to forward a narrower corporate self-interest.”[bolded for emphasis]
Right there, in unashamed print, with not a trace of self awareness, they laud the Chamber not for boldly fighting for freedom of the marketplace or the liberty of small business…but “narrow self-interest”.
I think you really need to go back to the Bourbons or the Sun King of France to find people so oblivious to their own avarice.
Is it time for pitchforks yet?
Sanka
Three cheers for Keynesianism!
The obvious answer to this is more and more spending. In fact, spending $1 trillion on a new “healthcare” bureaucracy is all but ensuring us that we will have the bestest economy ever, you betcha! 10% unemployment here we come…
George Bush! Also.
Michael Gass
John,
You don’t have to publish the certs I sent. You can merely say, “yes, I’ve seen them, he is what he says”… period.
And to Just Some Fuckhead,
Yes, I met a lot of interesting people… YOU may meet them on the tubes, I met them r/l…
Elizabelle
Late to the party today; offline a bit.
Did you all discuss George Will’s latest column? A paean to Michelle Bachmann, “petite pistol”?
Fun fact: the woman is married to a clinical psychologist. Yesh.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102303193.html
The Bachmann Burr
“Some of her supposed excesses are, however, not merely defensible, they are admirable.”
Martin
Like an old chainsaw.
Keeps the wild things away, though, like the laughing helicopters and the roaming packs of feral ellipses.
gbear
@Anne Laurie:
Most of the big stupid houses around weren’t designed by architects. They’re designed by contractors who just compile a list of what people want to see in a house and throw them all in willy-nillie. And if it doesn’t want to fit, just pound until it does. And they cut corners on everything that doesn’t show to the point that the houses aren’t built to last any longer than a movie set.
But to answer your question: Architects are infatuated with modelling technology.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Michael Gass:
Ewwwww. You do go on, international man of mystery..
ellaesther
I come here hoping for a little light chatter and almost all I can see is pie! Most disappointing. Not that I wouldn’t like a slice of blueberry, if someone could get that to me.
BUT! I thought I would mention (like @gsp: ) that we’re down to the wire with Bitsy, and I highly recommend that you vote!
Go Bitsy, Go!
Comrade Darkness
@Sanka: There will not be a real recovery until household balance sheets are repaired. We repaired about 5% last quarter.
dfd
@Michael Gass: Ultimately, the credentials are irrelevant to whether the helicopters are laughing or not.
asiangrrlMN
@Elizabelle: Her hubby does gay-reversion therapy. He’s a nutcase as well. As for George Will, fuck him and his bow tie.
asiangrrlMN
@dfd: The helicopters are certainly guffawing right about now.
Comrade Darkness
@ellaesther: I was just checking how the front runners from last week’s top 30 was faring. Only AC Pup is even in the same league, at 4500. Unless there is a dark horse in there somewhere. Lookin’ good for Bitsy, which makes me smile.
ellaesther
@asiangrrlMN: No thank you — I will not fuck George Will or his bow tie. Ew!
AhabTRuler
Not even with Michael Gass’s combat-tested
dickpie.2th&nayle
@jeffreyw: “Basic plate lunch”, he sez. “Decent hotdog”, he sez. I just got one word for you Jeff! “Merciless!”
gbear
I worked for a while in Sarah’s office. She is an absolute sweetheart and her homes are wonderfully scaled and nicely detailed. The thing I didn’t like about her books is that the featured small houses are still extremely expensive.
Michael Gass
up to you John…
You can say what I sent… or… simply ban me from your blog in favor of people attacking who never backed up a word they said… as I did.
asiangrrlMN
@ellaesther:
@AhabTRuler:
OK, you both are right. Fuck off George Will, and take your ridiculous bow tie with you.
Elizabelle
Gay reversion therapy?
Jeebus. The spouses are competing for who can do the most damage, on the personal or political front. Micro or macro, take your pick.
Asian grrrl: My sympathies for your picking up on Bachmann trivia through osmosis. The more you know …
ellaesther
Oh, and speaking of Harvey Milk, after my husband and I saw the movie, I happened on a picture book about him at our library — I brought it home, along with a book I happened to find the same day about Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, Jr. My kids and I read them together (they were 5 and 9 at the time), and talked about why all three men were important Americans. It was kind of awesome.
The Harvey Milk Story
As Good As Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom
dfd
@Michael Gass: Might I suggest Rifftrax? It will take your mind off of this ridiculous pursuit.
…
Also.
Elizabelle
I don’t know how those at ABC can greet George Will with a straight face after seeing that column.
It’s capitulation to the craziness of the GOP’s basest.
He should lose his pundit slot. Seriously. Or move to Fox.
MelodyMaker
one thing I’ve found funny about the internet lately:
you can still email people.
Michael Gass
dfd,
You can suggest what you wish to…
It doesn’t change the fact that I stated what I am, what I’ve done, that I have proven those claims to John and dougj, and yet, I am still attacked for those claims.
In fact, I am simply attacked… and EXPECTED to back down and be a good boy…
That isn’t happening…
Nor, it seems, will John acknowledge WHAT I sent to him.
Midnight Marauder
Hot damn, USC is blowing this thing wide open finally.
asiangrrlMN
@Elizabelle: Well, Mr. Bachmann works at a local college that is very religious. Here is a bit from TPM about him.
Yeah, I keep my eye on them. I comfort myself with the thought of Keith Ellison and Al Franken.
@ellaesther: What is your favorite kind of pie? As much as I like chocolate, in the autumn, I like a nice, basic fruit pie. Yum.
ellaesther
@asiangrrlMN: I’m glad you’ve seen the light.
I’m trying to think if I’ve ever known of even one decent bow-tie wearing man…. Oh, wait, Sen. Paul Simon. Other than that, the bow tie appears to be a badge of high douchey-ness.
Steeplejack
@Anne Laurie:
Yeah, that was it exactly. In these houses, when I went up to the second (or third!) floor, it was like a warren of rooms that were simultaneously too big but felt cramped. A weird sensation.
I liked Susanka’s first book, The Not So Big House, but then the publisher apparently tried to turn her into a cottage industry, and some of the later books are not as good. Her basic ideas are sound—excellent, in fact—but once they’ve been stated there’s not really anywhere to go after that, except to further illustrate the basic points. But her key point is essential: that all parts of a house should work together and be useful, even necessary, on a daily basis. How many of us know people who have—or have ourselves—a “formal” dining room that gets used maybe a dozen times a year and sits idle the rest of the time? And how did we go in the last 30–40 years from the average home being, what, 1,500 square feet (or less), to a situation now where people feel cramped in 3,000 square feet?
I think some of it could be simply conspicuous consumption, as you said. Or “we can’t give you anything better, so we’ll give you something bigger.” My brother, who is up on this stuff much more than I am, was going through these houses and pointing all the low-end fixtures and shortcuts that had been used. Time was when a million bucks—or whatever the amount was that represented that ratio over the average home price—would get you “Oh, yes, Mr. Steeplejack, the Italian craftsmen will be installing the hand-quarried marble tiles today, and, yes, the custom wood paneling in the library will have your special SJ insignia worked into all the mullions.” Now, for the super-premium price, unless you are really all over it yourself, you get mostly the same construction quality and fixtures as everyone else, just twice as much (or more). At least that was our impression from the tour of “custom built” homes today.
In talking about all this stuff with my brother, I thought of a book that I want to go back and reread: Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (1977). The content is hazy to me now, but I remember it having a tremendous impact on the way I thought about a lot of things—not just architecture, housing and “the environment” but carpentry, woodworking, even (much later) software design. One thing we saw over and over again today was a front porch that no one would ever sit on, because it was only about six feet deep. I remember Alexander being dogmatic on the point that a porch needs to be at least eight feet deep for it to feel “right” for people to actually sit on it and use it. And he’s right. I’ve noticed that repeatedly through the years.
I went to Amazon.com to look up A Pattern Language and will quote from reader James DeRossitt’s excellent review:
As long as I’m on a rant, the other book that I remember affecting me just as strongly back in the day is James Hennessey and Victor Papanek’s Nomadic Furniture (1973). It was a tremendously useful, think-outside-the-box guide to making inexpensive—and aesthetic—household objects using old and new technology. Sort of like Make magazine now. It was also a book that changed the way I looked at a lot of seemingly unrelated things (also including, much later, software design).
. . . Ah! I see that in the time I have been writing this–and ignoring Missouri getting pounded into the dirt by Texas–ThatLeftTurnInABQ has weighed in with a comment on A Pattern Language. Great minds, etc., etc.
(I hope all this formatting works. I no haz edit. FYWP.)
asiangrrlMN
Damn it. Forgot the caps undoes the link look thing. Here is the nekkid link.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2006/10/mn06_does_goper_bachmanns_husb.php
burnspbesq
@Michael Gass:
You, sir, are irrelevant.
Soylent Green
Michael Gass, you buzzkill, we don’t care who you are. Your righteousness is tiresome and I have the certs to prove it.
Steeplejack
@Martin:
Heh. I made my brother laugh today because I reminded him that one of his throw-away comments years ago was that he wanted his ideal place in the country to be secluded enough that he could mow the grass in the nude.
gbear
@asiangrrlMN:
Betty McC’s pretty good too. Isn’t she your congressperson? I would take comfort in that too.
Steeplejack
@Reason60:
That is worth a jaw-drop.
asiangrrlMN
@gbear: Yup yup. She is, indeed, all mine. And yes, overall, I am highly satisfied with her.
Michael Gass
yes… it’s buzzkill when a person can actually back up their words with documents… while being attacked by people who are never asked to back up the attacks.
How horrid that is!
And the more people who come to the attack… with nothing more than words… while I provided documents… how BORING that is! How irrelevant I am to the echo chamber!
I’m STILL waiting for John to merely state WHAT I sent him.
Comrade Darkness
@Michael Gass: If you wish for there to be a blog that is all about you, you need only hop on over to wordpress.com and in mere minutes you will have one. The wonders of modern technology.
Fern
@Michael Gass:
And if John did, that would accomplish what exactly? Doesn’t make you any less wrong or any less of an asshole.
gbear
Wow. You got hip.
I’m sure he gives a fuck.
Christ you’re boring.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Fuck him with his bow tie.
MelodyMaker
Betty! was a scold when Al Franken was being nominated.
But, she’s OK, I think. @gbear:
reminded me of Joe (gggr) Lieberman, but hey. The alternative at the time (2000) was a ffffreeek.
Michael Gass
Fern,
I was a cop. I dealt with the dregs of society. Of COURSE I can be an asshole. And the people here are DEMANDING I be an asshole with their attacks.
John has yet to say even that I have provided the documentation I said I did.
What if he did? He would take away the attacks on who I am. And, like you, you could simply attack ME as a person, as you did.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Up his ass!
MelodyMaker
that makes no sense! I’m so proud
asiangrrlMN
@MelodyMaker: Yes, that is the part I did not like. All her screeching and pearl-clutching. But, as my rep, she’s doing a fine job.
ellaesther
@asiangrrlMN: Ooh, that is an excellent question!
In strictest terms, blueberry is my favorite — but only as made by my now long-dead grandmother (who we called Queenie), so while that is my favorite, it’s no longer available to me, this side of the Great Divide…. After that, I’d say it’s a toss-up between apple, cherry, and rhubarb. A lot depends on crust quality, though!
Mmmm… pie. All I have in the house is animal crackers. Animal crackers, and no crust-making skill. Damn.
asiangrrlMN
@MelodyMaker: Huh. Made sense to me.
MelodyMaker
@asiangrrlMN:
and a sticky wicket! rich boy liar. wtf
asiangrrlMN
@ellaesther: Rhubarb! There is a local pie shop that makes the best rhubarb pie EVER. It is so yummy. Not to tart, but not sweet. Yum.
dfd
@Michael Gass: Let’s say that it is a granted, you are who you say you are. Thank you for your service. Does that make every opinion you hold correct? Obviously, no. What is the point of all of this?
MelodyMaker
the Obama team is smart, smart smart to go at Fox Noise the way they are doing it. Its turning into a conversation. tada!
asiangrrlMN
@MelodyMaker: I have to ask, how many + are you right now?
Steeplejack
@Michael Gass:
Dude, nobody in the thread last week attacked you or your (completely irrelevant) “certs.” They did, however, pretty much universally disagree with your attack on anyone who didn’t dissolve into respectful, serious tears over the Balloon Boy hoax.
MelodyMaker
@asiangrrlMN:
+ unknown. That’s how I roll.
MelodyMaker
better than a frontal lobotomy. and bongwater is not quantifiable, so there.
Michael Gass
yes, steeplejack, they did… and I can, if you wish, go back to that thread and pull out each post that did… because they are there.
What the people here did, in that thread, was mock a situation while I brought out that everyone else involved in that situation wasn’t.
Now… if you wish me to pull each QUOTE… I can… unless dougj or John deletes that entire thread.
Steeplejack
My helicopters are crying. Why, oh, why did I feed the troll?! They told me not to do it, but I did it anyway. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Gravenstone
@Michael Gass: Dude, have you always been this fucking insecure? Okay, so you’re some big bad supercop. Hats off to ya. Now quit whining and either meld with the crowd or go the fuck away.
MelodyMaker
I defy any of you fkrs to go back and mock whatever I said at some point. I’m sure it would be worth it.
AhabTRuler
WHERE…ARE…YOUR…CERTS?
ALL THE WORLD WONDERS STOP
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@Steeplejack: Anyone who comes anywhere near designing any public or private building should read A Pattern Language. I’m a designer, and no book I ever read was as relevant. It changed the way I see the world forever.
Morbo
Looks like another year where schadenfreude will be my only solace in college football, although I guess I can cheer for the Hawkeyes to win it all.
Oh good, someone’s here who can tell me what a horrible person I am because I’m happy Miami lost.
MelodyMaker
just to be clear:
bongwater can be quantified– in ml’s or milliliters or even milliLITRES, if you’re Canadian. I was wrong. Quality and content is what I was after. Jeezis frack, where can I buy some bongwater?!
asiangrrlMN
@Morbo: I’m right there with you. High five!
@AhabTRuler: Beat me to it, damn it.
@MelodyMaker: I like the way you roll. You’re cracking me the fuck up (which this thread seriously needs, which is seriously wrong given that it’s a fucking open thread).
+0, but seriously about to change that.
MelodyMaker
@AhabTRuler:
I don’ts haves to answeres thats. sTheese is the Uniteds Smateses of Americas! That Judge he just don’t like me because he hates the Constitution! Of the United States! I’m serious!
psycholinguist
Sitting in a hospital room with my pregnant wife and 4 year old daughter, we brought my daughter in last Sunday night because she threw up Saturday night and wanted to sleep all day and not eat or drink on Sunday. We’ve been here all week, she had surgery on Thursday to remove her left kidney along with a wilms tumor, and next week will be the start of radiation and chemotherapy. Keep her in your prayers or meditations or whatever well you draw from.
Michael Gass
Gravenstone,
Insecure? LMAO… I have the documents to PROVE IT. It’s not about “insecurity”… it’s about proving IDIOTS here, who attack blindly, WRONG. And… I have done that… even as John REMAINS silent!
You think I’m insecure after being in Iraq twice during wartime… or being a cop… you are deluding yourself.
It’s about proof… and I have it… and have shown it… to allegations made about me.
That John STILL can’t acknowledge what I sent him is telling.
shoutingattherain
@Michael Gass:
Yeah you were mildly amusing during your First Contact schtick, but now you’re just boring. I just don’t give a shit what you did or who you were at some other time in your life. You got nothing interesting or funny to add NOW.
Dazzle us. Or be gone.
Gravenstone
@psycholinguist: Best wishes to you and your family. There is nothing in this world I hate worse than the sense of powerlessness you feel watching someone you love in a hospital bed.
Gravenstone
@Michael Gass: You’re right, you’re not insecure. You’re a fucking pathetic CHILD. Seriously dude, learn a new tune already. All you’ll get here from here on out is mocking. Well deserved at that.
Welcome to Pieland.
Michael Gass
I didn’t send John and dougj the documents people here are crying for so they can be silent… absent… but, so they can say, “yes, I’ve seen them”.
They are not doing it.
That doesn’t mean the certs don’t exist… just that they are, after having been sent them, are silent.
Elizabelle
psycholinguist: You are in my prayers. Please keep us posted.
Steeplejack
@psycholinguist:
Healing energy beamed your way.
Midnight Marauder
@Michael Gass:
You have documents to prove that you are not, in fact, insecure? Really? That seems quite amazing to me, that there is apparently an organization dedicated to providing official documentation testifying to one’s state of security–or lack thereof–in their being.
Pray tell, where can a like-minded fellow obtain such documentation? I myself have been feeling quite secure in my person these days, and indeed, I would like to have the certification to prove such a thing. For example, say that I find myself in something like an internet pissing match where I continuously demonstrate my inability to follow the focus of the dialogue. It would certainly be handy then, amirite?
Tattoosydney
@Fern:
This is what baffles me. Mr Gass is all annoyed, but I’m not actually sure what he is annoyed about, or what he is trying to achieve.
I don’t mean to sound rude, Mr Gass. I’m genuinely puzzled. What do you want from us?
Tattoosydney
@Michael Gass:
Have you ever considered that everyone on here might believe you anyway, even without seeing the certificates?
asiangrrlMN
@psycholinguist: I am so sorry to hear this. I send you positive energy and a white light in this difficult time. You will be in my thoughts. Please keep us updated.
@Tattoosydney: You gonna try to convince him he’s teh ghey, too?
General Winfield Stuck
@Michael Gass:
True that. But it does mean at the end of the day, we just don’t care.
Steeplejack
@SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta:
Yeah, I kinda psyched myself up to read it again. Will check the library tomorrow and then maybe order from Amazon or B&N.
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
See here, young woman.
Yutsano
@Tattoosydney: That way lie madness young Padawan. It is very difficult to reason with certitude.
New Yorker
So I’ve decided that anyone who says life on earth was created by a loving god obviously has never suffered through mononucleosis. Yesterday, I made my first ever (at the age of 29) trip to the emergency room to deal with a throat so swollen and inflamed that I could barely speak or swallow.
6 hours later (yeah, the emergency room at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn doesn’t move all that fast unless you’re dying), they had shot me full of a powerful anti-inflammatory drug, cleaned out my throat, and wrote me a prescription for Tylenol with codeine. I’ve been popping Advils like candy all day today.
And the best part is that I’ve been dealing with this crap for almost 3 weeks now (although most of the symptoms haven’t been as bad as my throat yesterday). Geez, it’s enough to wish for the flu or food poisoning. Those are extremely unpleasant, but at least they’re done with you after a week or less.
Michael Gass
I have YET to see John or dougj acknowledge the documents I sent to them.
And, frankly, until they do… the attacks on me will persist.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@psycholinguist: I will also offer up a prayer for your family and you.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@Steeplejack: It’s a lovely book too, just the right size to hold in your hands, wonderful thin, strong pages, and quaint photographs from all parts of the world at the beginning of the sections. I think “right size book” or something like that is actually one of the patterns. You will want to own a copy.
Yutsano
@Michael Gass: Since you’re a former cop, you should know what a stipulation is. If we just stipulate that everything regarding your credentials is true, can you at least acknowledge that you freaked out about the whole Balloon Boy mishegas?
burnspbesq
@psycholinguist:
Holy shit, that’s awful.
You and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.
Steeplejack
@SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta:
Yeah. When I wrote earlier I already sort of knew that the library won’t have it–I’ll be very surprised if they do!–and that I’ll want my own copy. Used to have one a long time ago but lost it somewhere along the way.
Michael Gass
yutsano,
A cop should know what a stipulation is??? since when? Give some backing to it… because it doesn’t exist.
As a cop, you get officer discretion. Not “stipulation”.
You, like many, are simply ignorant of what you try to talk about because you haven’t been there, done it, like I have.
ellaesther
@psycholinguist: I just came by to check in on my way to bed, and oh my God, you poor folks. I just sat and stared at your user name and sent prayers and thoughts and best wishes and everything I could think of. Good luck to you all, and know that a complete stranger has you and your family in her heart tonight.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: I realize you don’t do criminal law, but do you consider this statement reasonable coming from a supposed law enforcement officer?
@Michael Gass:
Mark S.
@psycholinguist:
God, I’m sorry. Best wishes to you and your family.
burnspbesq
@Michael Gass:
Really? You have no idea what a stipulation is? How does one function as a cop when one is (so it would appear) utterly ignorant of basic court procedure and the rules of evidence?
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: IANAL (hell I haven’t even taken the LSAT…yet) but that response even had my brain boggling.
bago
So the fifteen inch subs are kicking some ass. This is almost as strong as the deadmau5 afterparty for love parade.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: I sent you here to talk him out of it, not to participate! Sheesh!
@New Yorker: I hear ya. I am on the cusp of bronchitis which I get every year. One year, I had it for six months. Good times.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I originally tried but dammit he got under my skin so I just HAD to nail him. Thanks to burnspbesq did quite well too.
MelodyMaker
Audacity and ReZound. I pay attention until I pass out. Like Tommy Bolin. speaking of ellipses….
@Bubblegum Tate:
Anne Laurie
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: @Steeplejack: Okay, two recommendations — I’ll have to find a copy of A Pattern Language, although at 1100+ pages it’s gonna be tough to library or expensive to buy. And, incidentally, I still have my original copy of Nomadic Furniture…
@psycholinguist: Way to put things in perspective. Your daughter will be in my animist prayers. Poor little munchkin — and poor parents, too.
hovercraft
I’ve been hovering for almost two years, I’m under the influence right know. I just watched MILK and it was awesome ( yes I know that is a whackjob word ) but as an individual whom considers herself an educated person, it was traumatic to realize how ignorant I am. In the seventies I endured aparthied in Lesotho a country landlocked by South Africa. In the eighties surviving Ethiopia and Mengistu, accidentally I am the only member of my five member family ( my 2 sisters and my parents who are citizens) . As a hybrid I know what it is like to get critics from both sides, be it attitude or british spelling.
AhabTRuler
@asiangrrlMN:
Momo understands, having a little bit of a rasp in her chest. Fortunately, we got her to the vet before it developed too much, and she is doing much better.
As usual, you can click on my name for the latest photos.
hovercraft
sorry actually the rest of my family are not citizens, parents and both sisters are Zimbawean. I was born in WI during Dad’s underground
hovercraft
find one hetrosexual partnership who can prove that a single gay or lesbian relationship has had an effect on your relationship and we will all stand behind you. !!!!!!
But since there is no such study the likes of Anita Bryant , and all her hate-filled cohorts, are wrong.
MelodyMaker
arite. hmm. OK. I got a joke. check this out-
me: knock knock
me: knock knock who?
me: dammit!
Yutsano
@MelodyMaker: Is that drunk humor? Just checking.
gsp
What the fuck is up with Gass? He’s got be fucking with us.
Michael Gass
I realize you don’t do criminal law, but do you consider this statement reasonable coming from a supposed law enforcement officer?
@Michael Gass:
A “stipulation”? Do YOU know what the hell it is? and how “it” applies to law enforcement?
I have no clue what a “stipulation” is… nor… have these idiots said what one is…
So… come you fucking idiots… enlighten us on what a “stipulation” is when it comes to law enforcement.
Little Macayla's Friend
@hovercraft:
Hi hovercraft,
Your name shows up in your comments as a hyperlink (http://na/), but my browser can’t find the address and google didn’t help.
Do you have a blog or other website?
RedKitten
Sigh.
Okay, let me explain this in small words, as nobody else has been able to get the point across to you.
You are being “attacked” because you are an annoying jackass.
Nobody here (except for you) gives a damn about your “certs”.
We honestly do not give a damn if you are a cop, a pastry chef, or the second coming of Christ himself.
All we care about is how you conduct yourself on here. And thus far, you have come across as a humourless, irritating, self-righteous twat with an unhealthy tendency towards obsession.
So, if you want the “attacks” to cease, then a) develop a bit of a sense of humour and b) shut the fuck up about your stupid certs, because the only one here who cares about them is you.
Michael Gass
redkitten,
no.. I stated my opinion… I got attacked because it wasn’t the “conventional wisdom”. The continued attacks are because I simply didn’t tuck a tail between my legs and go away.
Obviously, some here DO care… because they can’t help themselves attacking me.
Whether I am humorless, or irritating, or self-righteous, is because I WAS… am STILL.. being attacked.
So, I won’t shut the fuck up, because my background was attacked… and I proved I had the certs… even though John refuses to acknowledge it.
Obviously I’m not the only one who cares, as I KEEP getting attacked… and no, I’m not backing down to a bunch of internet twits who couldn’t hold a candle to half of what I’ve done. They, and you, simply are internet twits, who haven’t done half of what I’ve done in my life. You want me to be “nice”… stop being idiots.
Michael Gass
And.. John,
Why WON’T you acknowledge what I sent you?
arguingwithsignposts
Damn, I check out early on a saturday night and a gass thread erupts. I’ll have to read back later tonight.
jvill
Just got to my hotel in Paris on a school trip. Wahoo!
Steeplejack
@jvill:
And the first thing you can think to do is check in at Balloon Juice?! Sad, so sad. Get out there and eat a croissant or get snubbed by a Frenchman or something.
Thadeus Horne
@Michael Gass: DUDE! Go get some PTSD counseling! You’re ranting about shit just to be ranting. Get some help, seriously.
Oh, and still…..my dick’s bigger than your dick. Haw!
bago
Damn. This thread got Gass’d while I was asleep.
asiangrrlMN
@hovercraft: Welcome. Your story is fascinating. Do you have a link? Your user name is clickable, but there is no link.
@AhabTRuler: I’m glad Momo is OK. It’s hard when the little ones are sick. As for Henri, he’s still so damn cute. Love that little guy.
@Yutsano: Yes, but you can’t shut someone like that up because he just feeds off the attention, any attention.
John Cole
Jesus fucking christ, Gass. Take a picture of the god damned documents and put it on one of the 500 free image hosting sites. Or upload it to google docs. Regardless, I thought it was pretty damned clear I had seen the documents proving you are in fact Michael Gass when I said the following:
Additionally, I’m sure I said something two weeks ago when this damned drama started.
At any rate. PLEASE. SEEK. HELP. I don’t know if you are still in law enforcement, but you should not be anywhere near a gun.
licensed to kill time
Whoa – the Return of the Gass! I…..miss….ALL…..the ….fun!
I’m still waiting for Michael Gass to explain what the hell his documents have to do with a Gassdamned thing.
Ed in NJ
Mr. Gass, in spewing his certs all over the internet, never elaborates on why he left the police.
My guess is it wasn’t by choice.
Bulworth
Me, too. I learned that you can go into the offices of the Mayor and City Supervisor, shoot them dead, and get only five years in prison. And Reagan opposed the anti-gay Prop 6? Who knew?
Michael Gass
John,
No, in the two prior threads, you did not make ONE statement about this issue, or, my documents. You did in THIS threat. The THIRD thread, where you go “I got something but won’t say what it is”.
In the meantime, you’ve allowed all the geeks here to attack and impune with no restraint. So, you know who you ALLOW to be impuned and attacked; a veteran not just from our military, but, a former veteran law enforcement officer.
You’ve been silent.
And, it’s not like I can fight my battles. I’ve done it with far worse than your echo chamber.
Why YOU failed to intervene to do nothing then tell me I needed help BECAUSE I wasn’t taking the impunity, attacks, and ridicule you have allowed to occur is MOST telling.
You simply like that type of stuff, obviously.