Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

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

This blog will pay for itself.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

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

Bark louder, little dog.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

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Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    Gregory

    You deserve a break today.

    I’ll see that slogan and raise you two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

  2. 2.

    SIA

    Does Kendrick Meek have any chance in the FL senate race? Wondering what effect Crist’s running as Ind will have on things. All I know is. Anyone except Rubio Teaparty.

  4. 4.

    Bhall35

    I have sort of a bleg. I’ve been debating this asshat who re-posted the odious Mark Steyn’s “Clinton A-Z” Spectator column from Jan. 2001 (I guess because it was so, um, timely?) to my Facebook page.

    Anyway, citing the numerous reasons why Steyn can’t be trusted with any fact-based argument has failed to convince, and I’m having trouble finding a one-stop shop to debunk this idiocy on the tubes (maybe nobody thinks it is worth the effort, but I will do it myself if it comes down to it, that’s how much I can’t stand the odious shit). I know Greenwald and Media Matters have tangled with him before, but I’d like a starting point for a good thorough cockslap of Steyn’s “humor.”

    Thoughts? Links?

    ETA: Here’s the Steyn column link if anyone wants to get out of the boat, but I understand if you feel life is too short.

    http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/3219/30/

  6. 6.

    Phyllis

    So when I said during opening week of the baseball season it was gonna be a fun year to be a Braves fan, what I meant by that was this f**king team is killing me. Aaargh!

  7. 7.

    Bnut

    So I made a key lime cake from a recipe Yutsano pointed me to. It was good, but I had to double the key lime juice. I also added double the baking powder by accident, so I have mucho burned crusties in my oven.

    recipe

    Served it with fresh salad, this, and this.

  9. 9.

    Mark S.

    The NCAA has added three more meaningless play-in games. I also liked this:

    It also endorsed a recommendation that would require football players to complete nine credit hours during the fall semester to be eligible for the following season.

    I often think we should drop the “student athlete” charade and just pay them. They make millions of dollars for coaches and bookies; it’s only fair.

  15. 15.

    Fencedude

    Any suggestions on the best way to convert a .mkv file to .avi?

    What is the need? ie, are you having trouble running the MKV, or do you want to run the file on an external device that doesn’t support MKV?

  16. 16.

    Yutsano

    @Bnut:

    It’s good to be a Yankees fan.

    I may now have to kill you on general principle alone.

    @Phyllis:

    No Bad Horse’ Filly dinner menu tonight?

    With any luck should come later. It’s what gets me through work reading that thread and indulging in food pron.

  17. 17.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    Your primo cut of wingnuttery for the day.

    Republicans, however, appear to have little interest in pursuing the bill. For instance, Lugar has repeatedly said he would only support smaller reforms and not a broad comprehensive bill. Likewise, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, introduced a stand-alone border security bill, while others denounced the summary as a political decision designed to help struggling Democrats, such as Reid, in their re-election campaigns.

    “It’s cynical to move a one-sided bill that they know can’t pass just so they can get people out to vote. That’s just pretty pathetic, really,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said.

    Hatch also accused Democrats of abandoning bipartisanship.

    “You can’t just do stuff like that on something this important. Did you notice how everything is just partisan? … What they do is they come up with a bill — like the health care bill — and say take it or leave it,” he said.

    It is like a pre recorded message from Hellnoville. Offer no help or participation, climb on the soap box and holler “political ploy” when the other side, that happens to be the majority, tries to do something for the country. A whiners lament. And after wingnuts in AZ throw up a law that is offensive to even Jeb Bush, among other wingnuts, including Lindsey Graham, who is pissed he couldn’t string dems along on a climate bill for those same “political ploy” reasons. Then tells us he is for Immigration Reform as much as Climate Control, but is still taking his bill and go home. Sometimes I wish we could dissolve parliament like other countries, and just start over.

  20. 20.

    Martin

    I think Handbrake can do it. Free. Awesome. And just go to MP4 and skip the AVI container crap.

  23. 23.

    John Cole

    @Fencedude: DVD player in the living room does not read .mkv files.

    One of these days I am going to hit the lottery and buy a new tv and a bluray so I don’t have to deal with this crap.

  24. 24.

    Bnut

    @Yutsano:

    What can I say? I’m a 3rd generation Yankees fan. My first game was in the womb. I feel blessed that I root for the most famous team in baseball history, and my alumnus is the greatest team in college football history. Now if only the Knicks could get their act together.

  25. 25.

    MikeJ

    I use ffmpeg for all my video fiddling, but it’s a command line driven geekfest. I think that somebody somewhere has written at least one gui for it, but learning it anew is somewhat daunting.

  27. 27.

    James Hare

    MKV to AVI is no fun. It usually takes awhile and is fairly complicated if you want to do a straight transcode, because you have to demux the streams, make sure all the streams are in a format that BOTH the AVI container AND whatever device you are converting the video for will support.

    MKV is actually a more modern container that supports some features that have had to be hacked into the AVI container or do not exist.

    This guide from videohelp.com has one method — there are several that depend on different software packages. There aren’t really that many ways to do it with one piece of software that a) don’t cost money and b) don’t re-encode the video (which takes longer and can lead to a loss in quality).

    But make sure that you are converting to a format that your device can handle. Handbrake (for Mac and PC now) can help with some conversions but I’ve found some MKVs don’t work with it.

  29. 29.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    John – I have successfully converted mkv to avi for use in my little DVD player using VirtualDub, avisynth, and the xvid codec but it’s clunky. Free, though.

    If the others don’t come up with a better solution, which they probably will, let me know.

  31. 31.

    James Hare

    @John Cole:
    Build and HTPC with a blu-ray drive. It’ll cost about the same and you’ll have far more functionality. The front-ends like XBMC or Boxee make it pretty pain-free to use. You can even get remotes (RF remotes that work better) to control it as easy as a normal component.

    Even a network connected blu-ray player will hold you back by limiting you with regards to file formats. MKV is poorly supported in particular.

  34. 34.

    Bhall35

    @jwb: Yeah, I guess my time could be better spent, but it was just one of those drive-bys that some people think are so clever. I shouldn’t take the bait.

  35. 35.

    mr. whipple

    Because I’m going to be gone next week, my wife decided today would be gutter day. As I discussed earlier, heights scare the crap out of me, so she does the low gutters and we have a guy come to do the high ones.

    But while she’s on the roof, she sees carpenter ants, and I’m the ant guy, so……

    I think my knees have pretty much stopped shaking now.

  37. 37.

    Fencedude

    MKV is poorly supported in particular.
    ReplyR

    Yeah, and its really annoying. I get why, but still!

    Meh, I just watch everything on the computer really, I just do gaming on the TV nowadays.

  40. 40.

    Bnut

    @Nicole:

    I have always wondered why there are not more female jockeys. It would be easier to find a small woman than a small man, and I know plenty of female riders. Guessing b/c it’s another sport with an ‘old boys club’.

  42. 42.

    Yutsano

    @Bnut: Well just have to trade barbs when you guys play the Mariners. Oh and Pay Fraud shall always be a cursed name in these parts. At least you have a good looking manager, I wish the M’s had made a play for him. FWIW I have a friend who almost literally grew up in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. He’s an Eagles fan of all things, his family (all Giants nuts) chooses to just overlook that fact. Three grandkids tends to make up for a lot of sins.

    @The Grand Panjandrum: Benjamin Franklin called. He wants his metaphor back.

  44. 44.

    James Hare

    For the uninitiated: MKV is poorly supported because it is almost entirely used for trading ripped HD video.

  46. 46.

    YellowJournalism

    You deserve a break today.

    Uh, hell yeah. All I have to say is: tantrum, smashed jar of baby food, grocery store.

  47. 47.

    Nicole

    @MikeJ: No kidding. Seriously, if there ends up being a chance at the Triple Crown, the Dems should take the opportunity to push through immigration reform, a single-payer system and mandatory torches and pitchforks to be handed out to the middle class upon the next financial meltdown caused by the banking industry.

  49. 49.

    South of I-10

    Someone tell me how the hell you fish for catfish. I have to go with the kindergarten class to a catfish farm tomorrow. You can’t really touch them, right? How do you get them off the hook? I am so not looking forward to this.

  50. 50.

    Chat Noir

    Blu-Ray DVD is fabulous. Just finished watching season #3 of “Mad Men” on Blu-Ray. The picture is so clear and crisp, it’s like watching a movie at the theater.

    BTW, looking forward to season #4 starting in late July. Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce!

  51. 51.

    Yutsano

    @South of I-10: Catfish are (fortunately) very easy to catch. Holding onto them once you have them on the bank is another matter, as their skins are very slick. But they don’t have barbs or stingers, so they’re safe to touch. Unhooking them is about as difficult as with any other fish, in fact it’s a bit easier since their mouths are wide. I’m not much for angling though so I’m right there with you.

  52. 52.

    Nicole

    @Bnut: Yup. That’s exactly it, along with an almost pathological chauvinism. A handicapping columnist once wrote a piece on women jockeys, and how he often make extra money on horses with women jockeys because a fair number of bettors just can’t bring themselves to wager on a woman.

    The justification is that women aren’t as strong as men, but my thought is, when your ride is 1000+ pounds, and you are barely 100 pounds, I don’t know how much advantage being male really gives a person.

  54. 54.

    riffle

    The most all-encompassing and flexible of the free video converters that I know of is Super.

    http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

    It’s a little bit odd in some ways (downloading it is a pain IIRC and it has an idiosyncratic interface), but it works, has no malware, and converts from and to a lot of formats. It basically is a GUI wrapper for a lot of freestanding freeware applications that generally require running in a command window.

    But this does it without requiring command window entry. Pretty simple to use, really.

  55. 55.

    Bnut

    @South of I-10:

    The best bait is slims jims or dog food. Use gloves to get them off the hook, spines are pointy and can make you swell up. You might have to beat the fish in the head a few times to kill it, and they will croak as you do.

    There’s always noodling, lol……

  56. 56.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    With the home buyer credit getting ready to expire tomorrow any bets on how bad the home real estate market tanks after this? Should be interesting and my prediction is that this wrung any pent up demand out of the market and it could be a long hot summer for anyone in the real estate business. (Unless, of course, we see some serious improvements in the job market for the rest of the year. Which means, from what I’ve read, creating 200,000+ new jobs every month.)

    Just thought I’d cheer everyone up.

  60. 60.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    @South of I-10: Any kind of stinky bait (chicken guts work great). If they swallow the hook you’ll need some needle nose pliers to get the hook out. Yes you can touch them. Be careful when trying to hold them those horns on top and on the side a painful if you get stuck. Caution is the word. But they are good eating! Nothing like a good fried catfish sandwich with some hot sauce on it.

  61. 61.

    The Main Gauche of Mild Reason

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    Did you notice how everything is just partisan? … What they do is they come up with a bill — like the health care bill — and say take it or leave it,” he said.

    See, this just tells me that a lot of the conservative wingnuttery is a result of their echo chamber. I’ve always thought of Orrin Hatch as someone with at least half a brain, and he’s stating something (“everything is partisan now!”) obviously contrary to fact. I think it’s much the same thing as Lieberman, and it’s caused by having exclusively Republicans that feed him info. That or he’s senile.

  62. 62.

    Annie

    Don’t forget to put on your calendars the next big rally — apparently May 29th is the “Birther” rally. We are asked to all come to DC and bring our original birth certificates….With the entire country showing up, we can prove once and for all that Obama was indeed born in Kenya. I can’t wait….

  63. 63.

    mr. whipple

    @freelancer:

    Buy chicken liver. Put it as bait on your hook

    You forgot the step of letting the livers sit out in the sun for a few days for ripenin’.

  64. 64.

    meh

    replay media catcher works quite well – as does CloneDVD and CloneDVD mobile were you ever inclined to rip dvd’s from netflix.

  65. 65.

    Yutsano

    @Annie: Hmm…that leaves me out, as I was also born in that ferrin place Hawai’i, and all I have is the Certificate of Live Birth. I guess this means I visited Arizona at the right time huh?

  66. 66.

    stuckinred

    @South of I-10: Number one, be careful of the spike. Take a set of long nose pliers with a good wire cutter on them. Hold the sucker tight on the body behind the spikes.You can grab them behind the head by sliding your hand up the body and having the barbs between your fingers. Clip off the sharp ends with the cutters. Once the spikes are neutralized use the pliers to grab the hook if it hasn’t swallered it, hold the body and turn it in the opposite direction from the hook. Cat like night crawlers but if its a farm they’ll prolly hit on anything. Stink bait (nasty cheese) works well tie into a little bag made out of a piece of a nylon stocking. “Some folks say to fish on Sunday’s a sin but if I hook that big sucker I’m gonna reel him on in”!

  68. 68.

    stuckinred

    And when you want to clean em nail him to a tree through the head, cut the skin around the head and pull the skin off with the pliers.

  69. 69.

    mr. whipple

    @Yutsano:

    But they don’t have barbs or stingers, so they’re safe to touch.

    Except for that huge spine in the dorsal fin, but it’s easy to work around.

  70. 70.

    Mike Kay

    @Annie: Bunch of buffoons. that on the saturday of the memorial day weekend, one of smallest news circulation days during the entire year.

  71. 71.

    Wannabe Speechwriter

    I swear, conservatives really do live in another world than us. I got into a discussion with two different conservatives on Facebook today. The first, an friend of a friend, objected to this article I posted:

    http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2010/04/freedoms-just-another-word-for-im-an-orthodox-conservative-with-orthodox-conservative-views.php

    he said it was a typical “lefty” screed. When I asked him how it was “freedom” to deny gay couples the ability to get a legal marriage or “small government” to pull over people they suspected of being an illegal immigrant, he said “we just have different definitions of those terms,” like spending 40% of all world-wide defense spending is “limited government” from, in the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a certain point of view.

    Then he went into a screed over this Sully article:

    http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/04/the-tea-party-agenda.html

    Saying it was typical of lefties (that’s right, if you’re reading this Sully, you’re a lefty in their eyes) to accuse racism when they don’t agree with you I posed this question: why is it that tea partiers (btw, he considered the word “teabagger” to be as bad as calling gay people a certain word that begins with “f”) complain about big government but are not only not calling for massive cuts in defense but aren’t calling for the abolition of the largest entitlement programs in the US: Social Security and Medicare? If they’re not angry about what clearly is “big government,” what are they angry about? No response so far.

    However, the first gentleman seems quite reasonable compare to the next guy. I had posted on my status this question for Republicans: how can you go from in one month saying the government is going to stop you at random and ask you for your papers (ie insurance information) and that is a gross violation of your civil liberties and then demand the police stop people at random and ask for their papers (ie proof of legal residency). A guy I knew from high school decided to respond and boy was it tiring: first he claimed Congress didn’t have the right to make you buy insurance and cited no legal precedent for this (not true and also the individual mandate was a conservative idea, something he failed to acknowledge when I pointed this out) and then just kept saying the AZ law was merely a tool for AZ police to use at their discretion. When ever I pointed out that AZ police could be sued for not enforcing the law to any nut’s standard and how AZ police didn’t want this law to pass and how it will involve not only violations of civil liberties but disregarded the advice of law enforcement and will lead to frivolous lawsuits and activist judges telling the police how to do their job (things conservatives are suppose to hate) all he could respond was THEY’RE HERE ILLEGALLY (his caps, not mine). I have a sad feeling this conversation will keep continuing.

    Sorry to rant like this and the only reason I’m actually really getting into my Facebook is because I’m looking for a job and the places that I have leads are not very good at posting the positions they have open and following up with me. I can’t wait to be employed and care less about my Facebook. However, I guess the reason why I’m ranting is because I truly am scared about the state of conservatism. I know, that’s a popular thing to say on the internet but when you actually get into discussions with these folks, it creeps you out. I remember getting into an argument about global warming with a conservative once and their argument was all science is relative. He said it even applied to gravity. Sadly, the conservatives in the Press and in Congress would not object too much to his ideas.

    I’m to the left of our President. However, I even realize conservative answers to problems can work out quite well. Plenty of countries have universal health care without the need for a government insurer or government run hospitals. I don’t morn the loss of Pam-Am because of the deregulation of the airline industry. I don’t think we will ever go back to 70% taxes on the wealthiest 1% (though I fail to see how taxing that said bracket 50% or so would destroy our economy). Also, the GOP idea of cap-and-trade worked on sulfur emissions, so I think it could work on carbon.

    However, the modern right really is dominated not by facts and figures but by feelings and emotions. “Liberals are mean.” “Liberals are making fun of me.” “They’re here illegally.” “A black or brown person might rob me.” “A gay guy might hit on me.” “That hippie chick in college wouldn’t sleep with me and she spread her legs for everyone else.” This is what constitutes conservative thought. The press loves it and lets them get away with it because it’s a lot easier to cover than review differing policy proposals. Any attempt to come up with serious proposals based of facts is considered heresy (look at what’s happening to Robert Bennett in Utah.) Sadly, any gains in the midterms, no matter how small, will just add fuel to this fire.

    Sorry for this rant. I realize I’m preaching to the converted and you probably have all dealt with it before (I have). But, no matter how many times you deal with it, it always wears you out…

  72. 72.

    South of I-10

    Thanks for all the tips! I have been fishing before (for bass or bream) just never for catfish. I guess I heard at some point that they tear up your hands? I’ll bring gloves. I guess I am going to have to make some catfish courtbouillon for y’all tomorrow night.

  73. 73.

    Keith G

    Since this is an open thread with tekkie overtones, here is a quick issue.

    I use an interval workout during my morning running. To that end, I use songs at specific bpm for a given period of time. Thus I need to trim down some music track to shorter times.

    Is there a free or very low price program that any y’all can recommend.?

    @freelancer:
    @South of I-10:

    Chicken liver works quite good to snag a catfish. Beware the whisker spines.

  74. 74.

    Fencedude

    @James Hare:

    For the uninitiated: MKV is poorly supported because it is almost entirely used for trading ripped HD video.

    And anime! Can’t forget the anime.

  77. 77.

    Mike Kay

    O.T.

    Too funny.

    Rielle Hunter appeared on Oprah today for the full hour and stated that her and Edwards are STILL an item and very much in love.

  79. 79.

    Nicole

    @Keith G: I can’t necessarily recommend a free one, as I use Garageband, but if you google “mp3 trim” or “trim music” or something along those lines you get oodles of free software options. It sounds like what you need is fairly simple, so I’m sure there’s something decent. “Best free mp3 trim” might give you some user review sites.

  82. 82.

    RedKitten

    @YellowJournalism: Oh, not fun!

    Today was just a bad day all ’round. SamKitten was unusually cranky this morning. Then at lunch, I tried on a pair of shoes, and even though the clerk warned me that they were very high and a bit difficult to wear, I figured I could handle them. I could not, and fell down on my face in the middle of the store. Then when I picked up SamKitten after work, he was curled up in the sitter’s lap, whimpering and feverish. He had a fever of 102, poor little munchkin. I know a lot of doctors say that teething doesn’t cause fevers, but he does have some swelling of the upper gums, and was very happy to suck on a Pedialyte pop earlier. He’s sleeping now, after a cool bath, a warm bottle, and some baby Tylenol. Hopefully he’ll feel better in the morning.

  83. 83.

    Yutsano

    @RedKitten: It’s possible the fever may have nothing to do with the teething, but the Pedialyte pop just cooled him down some so he felt better. I’d keep an eye on his temp through the night though, if it stays up or goes any higher I’d get him to the pediatrician stat.

    @Bnut: Yeah you just have to deal with the smell as the oven slowly incinerates all the gunk out of there. Free heat is definitely a positive however.

  84. 84.

    Montysano

    I assume that some prominent wingnut (I’m thinkin’ Beck) must be demagoguing the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009, since FB is suddenly lit up with teabagger panic about “Their shovin’ Porto Rico statehood down our throats!1” Jeebus, it just never ends.

    If you missed Jon Stewart’s interview with Ken Blackwell last night, check it out. Once again, the jester is the only one performing actual journalism. As it turns out, Blackwell’s “subverting the Constitution” actually = “Dems have a majority and are passing legislation.” Hoocoodanode?

  87. 87.

    The Moar You Know

    @South of I-10: VELVEETA. Swear to God, it’s the best catfish bait ever.

    As to the rest of it, well…it’s just a fish. Nothing to be scared of, they’re just a little slimy, is all. Good luck.

  88. 88.

    demo woman

    Well my time to rant.. I’ve been painting my house and it’s hard coat stucco. Stucco can look beautiful but there are so many crevices, it is not the job for an anal person. When I’m done I should have an Atlanta area meet-up. If any one comes they will be greeted with a glass or paper cup of wine, a sponge brush and a little bucket of paint.

    Red Kitten, Sorry about Sam. I hope that you are both better in the morning. It’s not unusual for children to pick up viruses when first in day care. He might just need to build up his immunity.

    Wannabe Speechwriter, Brewer’s answer when asked was the best. Ask your facebook friends what an illegal immigrant looks like.

  89. 89.

    Annie

    @Yutsano:

    Tsk, tsk. Don’t worry. You can still come…

    We will photoshop you a “real” birth certificate. We won’t make the mistake Obama made when he tried to fool the American public.

    On yours, we will include the name of the hospital where you were born, the name of the doctor, the name of every person in the doctor’s family, the name of everyone in the hospital that day, the name of everyone driving by the hospital that day, and pictures of you being born in front of an American flag…

    Unlike Obama’s clearly fake birth certificate, my birth certificate is at least 15 pages long….

  91. 91.

    Beauzeaux

    I like Xvid4PSP for converting videos. It’s free. Get version 5 because 6 is still a beta and rather buggy.

    Of course, you could just avoid the hassle by getting a media player/media streamer, such as Asus O!Play or Western Digital WDTV. They’re relatively inexpensive and you will be able to play just about any video file on your TV without having to convert between formats.

  93. 93.

    James Hare

    @Fencedude:
    Yes, fansubbed anime is in MKV because the container natively supports subtitles. That’s nice because you can put your subtitles in with nice anti-aliased fonts of your choosing. See, the neat thing about being able to work with video unencumbered by DRM is you can do all kinds of cool stuff to make watching it better.

    But there’s DRM on any video you can legally buy. For some reason each part of the content industry needs to learn the lesson the music industry learned about DRM. DRM means you don’t own your content, and that’s just had to accept. I look at blu-ray and I’m not even sure I want to take the plunge — there are ways to get 1080p video for a computer even now. I’m not trying to be stuck with (another) dead physical media.

    I mean, there’s already 4X HD video out there in quantity. Physical media is rapidly losing any utility. Eventually you’re going to have a terminal very similar to an HTPC in your living room ANYWAYS. Get it now and enjoy it! A wireless keyboard means you can blog from the couch!

  94. 94.

    South of I-10

    @RedKitten: 102 is pretty high to be teeth. It is probably some random virus. Is he old enough to take ibuprofen yet? I found that really kicks fever butt.

    @The Moar You Know: And if we are not catching, I could always whip up a nice dip.

  95. 95.

    Martin

    @James Hare: And you can have multiple subtitle tracks so you can select different languages. MUCH improved format.

    I’ve got pretty much nothing but 1080p streaming off of my Mac Mini to the TV. It’s awesome.

  96. 96.

    Yutsano

    @South of I-10: Catching, especially on a farm, won’t be an issue. In fact, you could throw the bait into the water and watch them eat it off the surface. Are you allowed to take what you catch or is it a release policy at the farm?

  97. 97.

    RedKitten

    @South of I-10: He’s old enough, but we don’t have any in the house, unfortunately — just the acetaminophen (took me four fucking tries and a Google search to spell that correctly.)

    And yeah, it probably is too high to be teeth, and is instead some random virus. He wasn’t lethargic, and his appetite was still good — he was just unhappy, poor little peanut.

  98. 98.

    Yutsano

    @RedKitten: There are studies that suggest that it’s better for babies to shake off colds and viruses on their own rather than intervene with antibiotics so that the immune system gets a chance to develop antibodies to these diseases. Then when they get older they shake it off faster. Sounds like he’s just got a bug, per thang.

  99. 99.

    South of I-10

    @Yutsano: I think they actually have a no release policy. You catch it, you own it. I’m gonna put a cooler in my car, just in case.

    @Red Kitten: as long as he is not lethargic, he should be good. Little South doesn’t seem to run really high fevers, and 102 would have her feeling terrible. I think the highest she ever got was 102.5, and that was with RSV and pneumonia when she was 2. That totally sucked. I don’t think I really slept for 48 hrs.

  100. 100.

    demo woman

    Red Kitten, If you have time in the morning, check in and let us know how he’s doing. There are several internet grandmas, aunts and whatever who have kept up with young Sam since the labor from hell.

  102. 102.

    JGabriel

    John Cole:

    Any suggestions on the best way to convert a .mkv file to .avi?

    Here are three possibilities:

    Commercial:

    VSO Convert X To DVD – I know from experience that this will convert mkv files to DVD format.

    Open Source:

    AutoGK – Basically installs and automates the VirtualDub, AviSynth, Codec routine that Xecky Gilchrist mentions @ 29.

    Handbrake – I haven’t personally used this one, but it get written about a lot and is appears to be well-regarded.

    .

  103. 103.

    SiubhanDuinne

    So here I am in Erie, PA for the night. I think, during my drive today, I have been very close to some of y’all’s (or is it y’alls’? What *is* the plural possessive punctuation anyhow?) neck of the woods, driving through VA, WV and now eastern PA. In fact, as I sped past Morgantown I heard a faint cry that seemed to be saying “Help, I am stuck on the roof with no ladder and I is askeered of heights” but I figured it was just a trick of the wind and drove on.

    Anyhow, I’m in a restaurant near the motel (okay, if you *must* know, it’s Applebee’s. *YES* I came for the salad bar, okay?) and there is a guy in the booth behind me chatting up some girl (first date, I think) and honestly, if the words “like” and “you know” were excised from the English tongue, this guy would be able to converse only in grunts.

    On vacation, heading for Canada (Georgian Bay) for a week or so. It’s been glorious weather for long-haul driving (yes, in my 1999 Saturn SL-1 with 175,000+ miles on it, TUVM). I love this kind of solitary road trip.

  104. 104.

    Annie

    Actually what you heard was “y’ins.” A Western PA favorite…

    Y’ins want to go the mall, y’ins got tickets to the stillers, y’ins want to go to the “Big O” for a hotdog?

  105. 105.

    demo woman

    @SiubhanDuinne: Have a wonderful time. Last I saw we are suppose to have rain for 5 or 6 days so whatever weather you encounter, it will be better.

  108. 108.

    wb

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    What is the plural possessive punctuation anyhow?

    Well, here in Kentucky, it’s “all y’all”. Not sure how they do it up in Pensiltucky….

  110. 110.

    Anne Laurie

    @Linda Featheringill:

    I need to find an ego repair shop.

    Sometimes it works for me to remember that, no matter how badly I have fvcked things up in front of the public & all my best enemies, at least I am not Jonah “Doughy Pantload” Goldberg, or Mark “The Human” Steyn, or one of the various wingtard Bens whose name can’t be mentioned without starting a discussion as to whether that’s “Box Turtle Ben” or “The Virgin Ben”. I mean, plenty of people have called me nasty names, but the only thing almost as bad as being Jonah Goldberg would be knowing that everyone you’re ever introduced to will automatically think “DoughBob Loadpants!”.

  112. 112.

    Anne Laurie

    @RedKitten: Hope Sam wakes up feeling better (and that he lets his mom get some sleep, too). There are lots of us sending positive thoughts his way.

    @SiubhanDuinne: Enjoy your vacation, and save some good stories for us!

  113. 113.

    JGabriel

    wb:

    Not sure how they do it up in Pensiltucky…

    In northeastern Pennsylktucky, where I spent much of my tortured growing up years, it is: “you all”. Uncontracted. As in, “You all wanna go up the mall, haina?”

    .

  114. 114.

    Malron

    @JGabriel: I agree about ConvertXtoDVD. Its a sweet program that lets you burn MKV files to DVD.

    If you don’t intend to burn the files to DVD, I’d also recommend you check out software developer Xilisoft’s web site. They have Xilisoft MKV Converter that should suit your purposes. Or, you could go with their Video Converter Ultimate that converts a laundry list of formats, including MKV to AVI.

  115. 115.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Thanks for all the Southern/Eastern PA plural suggestions (y’all, all y’all, yinz, you all). But I was actually just wondering whether the apostrophe in the possessive should go before or after the *s*.

  116. 116.

    Chuck Butcher

    @South of I-10:
    Velveeta and nightcrawlers are good bait, the cheeze is less messy and squirmy. I like a medium hook with a bent shank for easier removal and quicker hook set. You do need to set the hook pretty promptly or it will get swallowed in which case just cut the line.

    Slide your hand up the body with your index/middle finger staddling the dorsal and your thumb index straddling gill barb on one side and little/ring straddling the other gill barb. Needle nose pliers for hook removal with side cutters for barbs if you’re going that route.

    To skin a cat drive a 16P nail through a 2×6 about 4″ from the end and bend to 20-30 degrees from board forward. Cut the skin around the base of the head and push the nail through the soft spot behind the lower jaw and out the mouth. Pull the skin gradually with a pair of pliers then gut.

    I bake entire cats at 350 on a rack in a pan, the meat will virtually fall off the bones. Include veggies and spices to your taste, keeping in mind that the meat is very mild in taste. The rack is to let the oils cook out and away. A little basting with butter will help seal the surface and keep moisture in.

    Cats take quite awhile to die, you do want to cool them promptly, just keep in mind that they will be alive in your ice.

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