Pens look like death tonight.
Steelers draft was pretty solid, although not enough O-linemen for me. Very happy with the trade to get Bryant McFadden back- one of the key mistakes we made last year was letting him go.
Still not ONE BIRD at the bird feeder. I’ve even thrown seed all over the place leading to the damned things, hoping I can get a little Hansel and Gretel vibe going.
Here is a very big cat who sadly is no longer with us:
Sarah in Brooklyn
Maybe the birds are still flying back from the south. I’ve never known a bird feeder to fail, so don’t give up hope.
arguingwithsignposts
So, maybe the Steelers could use a few $1,000 Walmart gift cards to buy them a new QB, eh?
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Putting up a bird feeder where none has been before, sometimes takes a while for the local feathered populace to get clued in to it. You should get Ruby Throated Hummingbirds in WV, so a feeder for them might bring some of those in.
Yutsano
I agree with the patience advice John. Birds are notorious grubbers, so as soon as they find a safe decent source of food you won’t be able to keep them away. I have at least a dozen chickadees in my backyard mooching off the chicken feed, plus a nesting pair of quail I haven’t managed to get a decent picture of yet. Course I have raspberry bushes too so that probably helps.
beltane
Birds often take a while to find the feeder. But once they find it, they’ll never forget it. Generations of birds will return to the same spot every year looking for the feeder; it’s amazing really.
Calming Influence
That little bit of tongue sticking out is one of the funniest and most inscrutable things that cats sometimes do.
I think the name of the image – “omgwtftongue” – probably comes close to what cats are thinking when they do it.
Restrung
Wow, that is a gorgeous cat.
Randy P
Meanwhile here in Philly, an update on the Lower Merion student spying scandal. Looks like up to 100 students might have been photographed.
Martin
Took about a week for the birds to find our feeder. It’s like a Hitchcock film out there now. Have some patience.
JenJen
Steelers draft was solid except for maybe this part.
Just Some Fuckhead
Get a cat like mine and ya don’t need a bird feeder to attract birds. He just goes and gets them and then lets them go in the house where ya can enjoy them flying into the window glass for hours.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@beltane: When I first moved to where I’ve been for ten years now, I kept several feeders for several years in the same spot. Then one year, I decided to give it a break for awhile and took them down. The most common bird that visited were Canyon Towhees and as I sat watching teevee one early fall afternoon with the sliding glass patio door open, three of the little scamps hopped right inside the apartment and started squawking to beat the band. I got the message and put the feeders back up and peace was restored and has held since.
SiubhanDuinne
@Randy P:
Sorry, that article is no longer available
So what was the scandal?
Wile E. Quixote
I had a dream last night where I could get sushi by checking it out from a Subversion repository. In the dream it made so much sense, I want sushi, svn co http://svn/japanese/trunk/sushi and there it is. I don’t know if that’s more or less weird than the dream I had where I was worried about missing a flight to Germany and one of my co-workers told me that if I missed my flight that I could FTP myself there, but to make sure to use binary mode so I didn’t fuck up my DNA.
Ranger 3
I have to pour ammonia all over my patio to keep pigeons from hanging out and shitting all over the place. When I first moved in here 6 months ago, there were literally mounds of the stuff out there.
You’re more than welcome to them, if you want.
jeffreyw
Grumble grumble, no hummers yet. And the goldfinches are absent.
kommrade reproductive vigor
It will take a while but a few birds will find it and that will attract more birds and so on…
The coolest part: Raptors checking out the birds at the bird feeder.
The uncoolest part: Unless you’ve hung it very carefully the fucking squirrels will empty it out in about five minutes.
Pranky
They will find it. Give it time.
Mike Kay
@Ranger 3: couldn’t ya just shoot them?
Randy P
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s weird. I just linked to it, it’s from Thursday.
You haven’t heard of this? I thought it was pretty well known in the blogosphere.
This is a fairly wealthy suburban school district in the Philly metro area. The students were provided with laptops. One student was called on the carpet and accused of inappropriate behavior. The evidence? A picture taken from his laptop, without his knowledge, showing him taking what techs at the school thought were drugs (he says they’re Mike and Ike candies).
This revealed that the school had the capability of remotely activating the webcams and taking pictures of the students, and they’d done so in a way that didn’t necessarily activate the little light on the webcam. At home. In their bedrooms. It was intended as an anti-theft device and was used to track down a few stolen laptops. Supposedly they only turned it on when they had reason to think a laptop had gone missing. But the story gets worse and worse.
The number of known pictures is up to something like 56000 now. The article I linked says the number of students photographed is up to about 100 now. They took screen shots as well as webcam shots. They have pictures of kids asleep.
SiubhanDuinne
My cat Hamish (RIP), who was lovable but . . . um . . . not overburdened with brains, used to do that tongue thing. I would just look at him sternly and say “Put your tongue back in your mouth right now. You look feeble-minded.” Then he would “Yaouw?” at me, and when he was done yaouwing his tongue would be safely back where it belonged, adding an immediate 10-15 points to his IQ. Until the next time. And the next.
Rochelle Lesser
Gorgeous kitty. My little feral rescue is sitting by me as I type. Seventeen or eighteen, I don’t know, but I am sure glad she’s still around. She only began being my friend a few years ago.
No matter what, though, it is the love of our family that sustains us. And, family, these days, is typically completed by the addition of its 4-footed members. My schtick (via my nonprofit that funds cancer research and treatment for working dogs) involves trying to lengthen the time we get to have with our furkids, realizing that all the diseases that plague us get our companion animals as well.
Since no one seems to pay me any mind unless I am giving stuff away, and part of my foundation’s mission is to support and promote holistically healthy and responsible dog care, I’m constantly creating prize-packed contests as an educational tool. Problem is: I have no money to advertise and suck at marketing skill, so even with $750+ in prizes, entries are scarce.
So, I came here to try and get some help in spreading the word about my latest: The Bone Appétit Recipe Contest. You can get the total scoop here: http://bit.ly/boneappetit
And, for the dog-loving photographers out there, I have the Paws 2 Connect Photo Contest. Again, lots of prizes and a pure cinch to enter.
Ripley
Yup, time. Bunch of Red-Winged Blackbirds enjoying the feeder outside my patio door; one of the prettiest calls I’ve ever heard.
Randy P
@Mike Kay:
All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.
Every Sunday you’ll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park…
(Tom Lehrer, Poisoning Pigeons in the Park)
Warren Terra
You should take a page from the duck hunters, dress up in a big bird suit, and hang out at the feeder, showing it’s safe and delicious. And put it on YouTube.
Disclaimer: I know nothing about hunting.
Omnes Omnibus
If you fill it, they will come.
arguingwithsignposts
@Randy P:
From what I read earlier, the students were told that the light would flick on and off at random intervals as a glitch in the software. Big brother lives!
Jim, Once
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
Great story. This is much what happened with us. We moved into the country, waited for birds, and the next thing we knew, they were flying into the house, scolding us. In this case, wrens – who have turned out to be incredible tiny pains in the ass.
mr. whipple
Dress up like a chicken and poke about the yard. It will either attract birds or MD’s.
Jim, Once
@jeffreyw:
The goldfinches are busy sitting on nests, both mama and papa. Just wait – they’ll take over your feeder soon, especially if you have thistle seed and/or sunflower hearts. I’ve been cruelly fighting off robins building a nest immediately above our front door today. There are plenty of other places for them to build on our two acres – but the neighbors think I’m crazy.
Citizen Alan
Wait, you used to own a pet lynx?
kommrade reproductive vigor
@Randy P:
That kinda sorta contradicts what they were saying in February.
I don’t know, I don’t have kids. But I’m pretty sure that if I did have kids and I learned someone gave my kid a device capable of taking his photo without his knowledge and didn’t tell me, I’d be unleashing rabid lawyers on everyone involved.
If I learned someone had been taking pictures of my kid while he was asleep, I’m pretty sure I’d feel it was my duty to beat 10 kinds of shit out of anyone who was possibly involved.
4th am. violation, plus photos of sleeping kids? That’s fucked up enough to make the RCC proud.
Bad Horse's Filly
I love the colors on that cat. Like the perfect cup of coffee with cream. So sorry he is gone, what a beauty.
Bad Horse's Filly
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
This was my exact thought when I watched that video.
SIA
@kommrade reproductive vigor: For some anti-squirrel advice no one asked for: Use safflower seed. They don’t really like it. I got sick of feeding the squirrels and no birds and someone told me about safflower. It costs more but I figure we save money but not feeding every blasted squirrel in the neighborhood.
We get cardinals, tufted titmouses (titmice?), chickadees, wrens, and finches (called “Purple Finches”, but they’re really gray and red, and come in such profusion Mr Screaming calls them Welfare Birds).
Martin
@Randy P: Welcome to Stasi University.
Brian J
So here’s an A1 article from Sunday’s Times about the possibility of the Republicans taking back Congress, specifically the House. Part of me wants to say that if the country is dumb enough to vote this crop of Republicans into office, they deserve what they get. Another part of me says that while progress will stop, it won’t be reversed, because the majorities won’t be anywhere close to override a veto. But a bigger part of me wants to scream “I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD YOU SPINELESS BASTARDS, IF YOU LOSE MORE THAN 20 SEATS I WILL HUNT YOU ALL DOWN AND PELT YOU WITH BALLOONS FILLED WITH PEE AND MAKE YOU WATCH RUSH LIMBAUGH STRIP!” Why? Because while some losses appear likely, it just doesn’t seem inevitable that we are going to get killed. Even if we kill ourselves trying to hold on to the seats we have and possibly knock off some incumbent Republicans but fail, why should we care? If we don’t try, we will absolutely fail.
debit
Dinner has been eated. Chloe got a couple of scaps, because my daughter is helpless against pleading puppy eyes. Since it was only fair, I then offered a bit of tenderloin to one of the cats. He sniffed it, then looked at me as if to say, “Is that it?” I took that to mean he didn’t want it, so I tossed it to Chloe, who snatched it out of midair and inhaled it. The cat changed his mind about it mid toss and ran over to the dog, sniffed her mouth and then gave her a look that said plain as day, “Hey! I want that back.!”
SIA
@SiubhanDuinne: Juliet does that tongue thing if she’s interupted in her toilette. Agree, doesn’t make her look real bright. :)
Hamish – what a great name for a kitteh. RIP, Hamish, Romeo, and Zipper, and all the other boys no longer with us.
SiubhanDuinne
@Randy P: Ah, yes, I remember hearing about that several weeks ago and being outraged, but didn’t hear anything more about it it (and got busy and distracted and all, so didn’t pursue it). I am now outraged all over again. (But the link still doesn’t work for me, so thanks for filling me in.)
Randy P
@debit: I’ve known a lot more dogs than cats so I could be wrong on this, but cats seem to lack that food desperation that most dogs have. Dogs want to make sure they swallow every bite as quickly as possible, as if terrified at the idea that some other creature might manage to get a single molecule of their food.
Cats, even if it’s something they want, just don’t seem as urgent about food.
SIA
@Rochelle Lesser: Cindy is very beautiful! Great website. And the Tom Jones song reminds me that I thought he was teh hawt in 6th grade. But then I lurved Bobby Sherman too! Ugh.
Mike Kay
@Brian J: that’s just a various of the standard times “dems in disarray” article they front page every 6 weeks.
CaseyL
@Omnes Omnibus:
FTW.
Philly has a really dysfunctional education system. Or a really dysfunctional social system, not sure which. Remember that nasty case last summer, when a field trip group of black kids got kicked out of a country club pool? That was in Philadelphia. And now this. My aunt taught Special Ed in Philly’s public schools for over 30 years and, oh, the horror stories she can tell about it.
Though I have to say I really enjoy going to Philly for vacation, a week or so at a time. I love the historic district/Center City, and adore the Art Museum; and the public transportation system is one of the best I’ve ever used.
The Disgruntled Chemist
@Randy P: My Claude is 13 and diabetic, but he’ll still leap onto the kitchen counter if I have the temerity to prepare a roast chicken in his presence.
dr. luba
Do you have an ordinary feeder, or a finch feeder? It’s worth getting both, as the finch feeder (which you fill with thistle seed) attracts the cute wee birdies: purple finches, goldfinches, chickadees. You can hang one just outside the window, off a bracket attached to the house, and they’ll still come in to feed.
It takes a while for word to get out about a new feeder. In may case, not so long with the ordinary feeder, but it took ages for the finches to come around. Once they’d found the thistle feeder, though, they didn’t forget.
I’ve never had much luck with hummingbird feeders, unless you count ants. Keeping it stocked is a pain, and there aren’t a lot of hummingbirds in my neighborhood. Friends have had great luck with them, but not in my area.
I have not only blue jays, sparrows and the like feeding at my big feeder, but doves, ducks and squirrels grazing below it. And it’s amusing to watch the squirrels trying to get around the squirrel baffle….
Mark S.
@Randy P:
Granted, this guy is just some lawyer rattling off possible defenses the school could use, but shit like this always makes me glad I’m no longer in high school:
The sad thing is there are probably 4 (I pray it isn’t 5; I’m look at you, Kennedy) Supreme Court justices who’d go along with this argument.
mr. whipple
@Brian J:
It’s pretty frustrating, the thought that Congress might go GOP. I think partially it’s because Dems are just shit when it comes to message. We’ve had one of the most productive Dem Congresses, ever. So much to be proud of.
OTOH, it’s claimed that the reason is that ‘the base’ just isn’t excited. Well, the self-described ‘base’ has continually told everyone every bill is weak, that dems are weak, that major reforms are inadaquate and SHIT sandwiches. Why vote?
We’ve known since *last* Spring that unemployment wouldn’t peak until this summer. And the WH has had the LW blogger press as guests at the WH asking them to play up the success of the stim, and by and large they’ve remained silent while GOP-ers are out cutting ribbons for money that’s funded projects they didn’t vote for. Meanwhile, when the weekly job numbers come out, the LW blogs announce them as signs of failure like Ted Kopple ran a running total of the days the Iranians held our hostages. Nice.
If the GOP takes over Congress expect nothing but school uniforms and endless investigations, maybe a return to the Independant Council. I don’t know what the fuck is in the heads of the ‘base’ that is never happy, or in a Congress and WH that can’t capitalize on their own achievements.
The whole thing makes me want to vomit.
Brian J
@Mike Kay:
Ehh. It’s not that the article itself bad. It’s not. It’s just frustrating, in a number of ways.
I sometimes feel people like us and those on the right live in different worlds. To say that Obama campaigned on nothing more than hope and change and then to cheer on a group of people who aren’t campaigning on anything substantial, if anything at all, is nuts, and yet that’s exactly what the Republicans are doing.
SiubhanDuinne
@SIA: Hamish was a wonderful cat. He and his litter-mate sister Heather were the joys of my life for 15+ years (he died literally a year to the day after she did).
Best cat name I ever had, though (and I may have mentioned this before) was my big yellow marmelade boy, Pounce de Lion.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Just gave Charlie a bath. When he sees the dread yellow garden hose come out, it’s Oh noes! and he crawls under the bed. I have an attachment to the kitchen sink and run it into the bathtub.
After a little coaxing and maybe a treat he gives in and is a trooper while it is happening. Then I dry him off with a portable heater I bought and brush his fur while he dries.
Afterward, he gets frisky and full of energy and runs around the apartment like a crazy dog. Now worn out and sleeping like a log on the end of the bed.
MikeJ
In the past ten minutes I’ve had a red shafted flicker, a Stellar’s Jay, a rufus towhee, and the damned band tailed pigeons at my feeder. Once word gets out, the birds will show up.
kay
@Brian J:
There’s not a whole lot there, though. You have Palin backing a credible Repub candidate against a long-term Democratic incumbent, and a quote from a Republican about “the searing intensity” of their voters. There’s not even a poll in there.
I agree completely that there’s cause for, ahem, concern, in the House but I don’t know that I learned anything at all from that article.
JenJen
Come the fuck on now, Pens!!
gbear
@SIA:
I’ve been joining you in singing the praises of safflower seed too. I’ll add Mourning Doves to the list of birds that love it. I get lots of House Finches too (they’re hard to differentiate from the Purple Finches). They’re kind of a welfare bird at my feeders, but they pay it back with a beautiful song.
stuckinred
@Jim, Once: Jim Once, I left you a reply on the last thread. I have deep Illini roots.
Tlazolteotl
Yoohoo! Howdy MikeJ!
I really need to put my hummingbird feeder back up.
They cleared out the blackberries that were infesting the utility easement behind my house, which is where the hummers used to hang out. But I still hear the male every so often.
lamh31
Anyone here remember the movie “Tap” with Gregory Hines? Well, I heard a song from it’s soundtrack today, and now I can’t get it outtta my head, so now I got “Tap” on the brain. So I figured why not share my obsession.
Is there an age where it is too late to learn to tap dance?
Anyway, my fav scenes:
1). Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis
2. Tap – City Streets
lamh31
3. Tap-Audition
4. Gregory Hines & Final Club SceneHere for just the pure joy of it:Gregory Hines & Savion Glover</a
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@mr. whipple:
Maybe the LW blogger base craves clear cut chaos to operate under, and nothing would create clear cut chaos like a GOP House of Reps slinging the partisan shit. Of course, nothing will get done, and if any bill were to pass it would have to include Articles of Impeachment for Obama. Ideologues need red meat to thrive, left or right. Even non existent perfect bills delivered from their tribe will not sate that craving for long. A common myth.
lamh31
I love Gregory Hines so much, not just his phenomenal dancing but the first movie I actually have memories of seeing in a theatre with my mom was “White Nights”.
Come to think of it, that’s probably where my love for Lionel Ritchie started…LOL! (I’m too young, to have liked him for the Commodores, that came later with age and awareness of their awesomeness!)
Anyway, no love affair with Gregory Hines would be complete without a little White Nights thrown in the mix…LOL
white Nights – Dance Scene Duo
Gregory Hines – Solo Tap Scene
Fern
@Randy P:
Probably because dogs are pack animals and cats are highly territorial and are solitary hunters.
JenJen
I can’t believe that this may as well be the blog of Mister Pittsburgh and yet there’s no open thread pertaining specifically to the current overtime situation.
This blog is just not user-friendly at all times. Sometimes I feel like you’re just not listening to me.
ajr22
Not a lot of NBA playoff talk around these parts. I’m watching the LA/OKC game right now, Kevin Durant is amazing. The crowd in OKC has been standing the entire game, it’s a pretty wild atmosphere.
SIA
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: When our boy dog, Woofie (terrorist mix) gets groomed, when he comes home he gets “frisky” and tries to “have relations” with Mickey. Maggie, when she was alive, would put up with it, but Mickey “Sarge” DOES NOT. Mickey’s in the middle and Woofie’s on the left.
https://balloon-juice.com/2008/12/18/a-breather/
I figure it’s his version of Saturday night bath and a hot date.
SIA
@gbear: I’m glad you mentioned doves – do you (or anyone) have experience with dove cotes? I love their cooing and would love to figure out how to attract them. They come to the feeder and also eat the safflower seed on the ground, but I’d like to house them somehow. Haven’t done any research on it yet – any one have a dove cote?
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@SIA: I remember that post. Sweetheart doggies you have!!
Jon H
Try putting some shiny foil things on the feeder, and/or in the vicinity, that will flutter in the wind and catch the sunlight.
It’s my understanding that that can attract birds, or at least get their attention.
Also, if you do get birds, watch out for window strikes.
gwangung
@ajr22: Fuck Oklahoma City.
A Sonics fan.
ajr22
@gwangung: Sorry that sucks. The league stole Durant from you, and it was bullshit. I’m a bulls fan myself, so i have fond memories of the bulls beating the sonics for MJ’s 4th ring. I always loved that Sonics team with Gary Payton and Shawn “I have 9 kids with 8 woman” Kemp. That was my go to team in NBA Jam.
4jkb4ia
Lambs draft Mardy Gilyard! Excellent!
JenJen
Hell yeahs, Pens!! Sweet series! Senators fans sound a wee tad pissy in the stands, no?
On edit, they’re not too bad, and I’d be disappointed too. Also, Pascal Dupuis is hot. Purrrrr.
gwangung
@ajr22: Well, more for David Stern. And particularly Clay Bennett. But still…
SIA
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think that’s gotta be the BEST NAME evah!
Brian J
@kay:
To be clear, despite the relative frequency of such articles, my problem wasn’t with the article itself. It wasn’t anything special, but it did a decent job of describing the situation as most people currently see it.
What bothers me is that we Democrats risk falling into the trap of thinking that big losses are going to happen no matter what we do. Maybe that will be the case, but that is not clear to me. People may be unhappy now, but the election is many months away. And to whatever extent the public isn’t happy with the Obama and the Democrats, it isn’t really happy with the Republicans, either. Plus, the Republicans aren’t campaigning on anything remotely plausible or coherent. (It’d be nice if the Democrats repeated that, oh, 1,000 times per day per district until the election is held.) It’s likely that we will lose seats, because it’s hard to make gains with the margins we have now and without the wind at our backs, but with the economy improving every so slowly and the Republicans still being, well, themselves, it doesn’t seem guaranteed that we will be taken to the cleaners. And I’m tired of everyone acting like it.
SIA
@gbear: I think it must be the house finches Mr S calls welfare birds. See, I learned something!
Breezeblock
Fucking Pengwhines.
kay
@Brian J:
I agree with everything you wrote. I don’t see the point of doomsdaying either, and I’ve written here several times (I think) that I’m more optimistic then the general meme. That’s my basic philosophy, though, on “winning” and “losing”. If I lose, okay, but I don’t see the point of losing really slowly over six months,and sort of reveling in it :)
I had a large group of local Democrats and an Ohio Democratic Party staffer at my house last week and the early ballot numbers look good in Ohio. For all we’ve heard about depressed Democrats and fired up Republicans, Democrats are well ahead of the GOP in early voting, state-wide, in the primary. We have partisan primaries here: you have to ask for a Dem or Repub ballot, and early voters are pulling a lot of Dem ballots. We’re ahead in Independents pulling a Dem ballot too. If they’re pulling a Dem ballot in the primary they’re 1. voting in the general and 2. voting for the Democrat in the general.
That’s not a poll, it’s an actual number, so I found that encouraging.
gbear
@SIA:
There is a stand of trees about a block away from my house so I don’t even bother to try to get birds to nest in my yard. I know that just putting out the safflower was enough to attract them. Some mornings I’d head out the door for work and there’d be three dozen mourning doves perched in the trees across the street waiting for me to fill the feeder. It was way too much of a good thing.
You can make a mourning dove nesting platform out of a 12″ diameter circle of metal mesh shaped into a shallow cone. I made one once but it didn’t have any takers.
Nuthatches are another bird that loves safflower. They’re a fun bird to have around too. Very entertaining.
SiubhanDuinne
@SIA:
:-) Thanks. I’ve always been pretty proud of it. Been a while though — Pounce’d be 40 now if he had lived. (My grandmother always used to drive my dad crazy when she reminisced about friends and family and said things like “Oh my goodness, Aunt Millie would be 97 now if she had lived,” whereupon my father would bark at her, “Abraham Lincoln would be 163 now *if he had lived*!” They were both so funny and predictable.)
Jennifer
Every damn time you put “Pens” into a post, I see “penis”.
On first read, that opening sentence looked like “Penis look like death tonight.”
Not good, not good at all.
gbear
Who is this Amber and why does she want to know my name? I want my $1000 back.
kay
@Brian J:
It’s 56 to 44 Dem to Rep primary ballots distributed thus far, in Ohio. That number is about 2 weeks old. The primary is in May.
Don’t get too excited though. There are about a million more Democrats than Republicans :)
Anyway, that percentage would seem to contradict the “horribly depressed Democrats” theme, right? Let’s hope so.
I don’t know that I can live through another Ken Starr.
SIA
@SiubhanDuinne: haha!
@gbear: Amber is Barbie’s dumber sister.
Brian J
@kay:
Hopefully, that’s a sign of good things to come.
There have been a few posts–by Andrew Sabl of the RBC, I believe–that have argued while the Republicans are more energized, there are fewer of them, so all things considered, we are about equal. I hope he, or whoever has been making this claim, is right.
Brian J
@kay:
Is that a percentage or absolute number?
On a side note, I remember reading that because Ohio has been a swing state for so long, the number of potential voters unregistered is very low. That changes each cycle, as people die and new voters come of age, but still, it’s not going to change that much unless the population increases. If that happens in other states, if it already hasn’t, the map is bound to expand.
SiubhanDuinne
Does anyone know, is this the night Betty White is doing SNL? (I suppose I could look it up . . . or just wait 20 minutes and turn on the TV . . . but y’all are such a knowledgeable bunch.)
SiubhanDuinne
Ah, never mind. Or thanks anyway. Mr. Google informs me that I have to wait two more weeks.
Brian J
@SiubhanDuinne:
She’ll be on in two weeks. (I watched “The Office” from nbc.com a little while ago and saw the ad.) The musical guest will be Jay-Z. A more natural pairing isn’t likely to be found.
Mike Kay
@SiubhanDuinne: no, it’s not tonight. it’s actress Gabourey Sidibe
kay
@Brian J:
I asked the old-timers at the meeting last week and they all think it’s wholly dependent on the economy, so there’s that.
More broadly, I lose about 90% of the time I go to hearing in my work, because it’s the nature of the work I do. If I adopted this preemptive loss attitude currently popular in the Democratic Party, I’d never get out of bed. I get pleasantly surprised a fair amount of the time, although the flip side is I’m horribly disappointed regularly. I prefer that approach.
I think we can be truthful and realistic about the, ahem, CHALLENGES without being maudlin and mopey. Anyway, I can’t operate without some optimism and/or resolve. I do know that about myself, speaking personally.
Mark S.
The Lakers are getting their asses kicked.
Darkrose
@Calming Influence:
That’s what we used to say when he’d do that. It was always an occasion for much hilarity, which says a lot about what dorks we are.
Darkrose
@Restrung:
Thanks. He really was a sweetie, even if he was dumb as a box of rocks.
SiubhanDuinne
Here’s something kind of cool (or strange, or futile): There’s a Jesus thread that John Cole posted *last Monday morning* that’s still being commented on tonight! Yes, just a short while ago! (Saw it listed in the “Recent Comments” and went to have a look.)
Which prompts these questions: At what point, if ever, is a thread considered properly dead? Is there any reason why (assuming I felt like doing this, which I don’t) I couldn’t go into the BJ archives, pick a thread at random, post a comment, and basically revive the whole conversation? Are there technical barriers in place to prevent this? Would doing so violate netiquette conventions? (Sadly, try as I might, I am not yet aware of all internet traditions.)
Rochelle Lesser
@SIA: @SIA: Cindy says thanks, even if I can’t yet figure out what she is saying.
My crush was on Burt Reynolds, who looks like sh*t these days.
scarshapedstar
Hey John, at least you guys got Dwyer. I find it incomprehensible how he was skipped over for so many rounds, and I was hoping against hope that the Saints would pick him up as a replacement for Mike Bell.
Then again, I am a Tech fan.
Jon H
Also, if the feeder is currently in the open it might be good to put the feeder near some trees or bushes. That gives the birds some cover to safely perch in while waiting for their turn at the feeder.
Once they get used to that, you could try moving it.
Jennifer
@SiubhanDuinne: I dunno about here, but the foreskin holocaust thread over at Sadly, No! went on pretty strong for a about a month, and still gets additions from time to time now, about 2 years later.
mai naem
@Jennifer: Foreskin holocaust? Oy vey. I found out a few years ago that they use foreskins in skin grafts which I think is pretty cool. Also too, I have a work acquaintance who had a breast reduction and donated the extra skin from the reduction to the burn center. Also pretty cool.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jennifer: A foreskin holocaust thread? Circumcision debate, I assume. Not really sorry I missed that; I’ve been in way too many IRL conversations on the topic to want to revisit it online. But a month? Pretty impressive!
SiubhanDuinne
By the way, over at the Confederate History Month thread, there’s more exciting FYWP stuff going on. It’s not quite as annoying as when there’s a strikeout through everything, but all the recent comments are listing decidedly to starboard thanks to Italics Gone Wild.
sneezy
@ajr22:
Durant is the Real Deal. It was (I think) obvious during his brief college career that he had everything it takes to play in the NBA. And from all reports, he is a genuinely good guy, so he’s fun to root for.
Yutsano
@sneezy: Get him working for a less than evil owner I might agree. Otherwise fuck OKC in the ear.
asiangrrlMN
Beautiful, gorgeous kitty. You will be missed.
@Rochelle Lesser: Cindy is a beautiful girl. You are lucky to have her, and vice-versa!
Mark S.
My girlfriend keeps playing these SNL Digital Shorts so now I have this song going thru my head:
Knives, knives, all types of knives!
Everybody pick out your favorite knife!
Short ones, long ones, ones with spikes!
Three more seconds to choose your knife!
sneezy
@Yutsano:
You must be a frustrated Sonics fan, and I can sympathize. I’ve been to Seattle and think it’s a great city, and Sonics fans got a raw deal. It’s not Durant’s fault, though, and on top of that, I’m a Celts fan, so I hate the Lakers. ;-)
Derek
I have to point out, as a Cardinals fan, McFadden was terrible last year.
vtr
I really, really love football. So from now on you are not allowed to call an offensive line the “o-line.” Or the defensive line the “d-line.” I mean to nip this all all such tiresome f-ball jargon off at the bud. This means you. And you.