Tried desperately to find some good news, and came up short, so here is a crappy open thread for you.
Open Thread
by John Cole| 60 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
by John Cole| 60 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Tried desperately to find some good news, and came up short, so here is a crappy open thread for you.
Comments are closed.
NobodySpecial
8 hours to hockey! That’s good news.
ruemara
Sweet potato/russet hash browns came out good and I’m down 30lbs. Thong bikini foevah! That’s decent news. Plus there’s the new pics of handfish on National Geo’s website.
scav
here, have a little volcano.
LarsThorwald
The good news is it’s always darkest before the dawn.
It’s also always darkest just after you’ve passed out from lack of oxygen as your commercial jet, it’s fuselage in tatters, plummets you to an icy death over the coast of Newfoundland.
So there’s that, too.
ruemara
@LarsThorwald:
How is this not on an inspirational poster? I wept.
Mike E
I’m gonna be brave and go grill chicken breasts for my ex, and our daughter. I’m taking her bicycle over there, I hope she’s interested in riding the thing — it’s been gathering pollen/rust under my stairs since last summer.
SiubhanDuinne
I had on MSNBC for a little bit this morning (wanted to watch the Veep lay a wreath at Arlington) and in the program leading up to it the anchor (Norah O’Donnell, I think nut am not sure) was talking about a variety of news things and she announced with something like horror in her voice that it would be August! *August!* before BP could have relief wells ready in the Gulf. Then she said, and I may be paraphrasing the words but am not shitting you on the gist: “August! But that’s only a couple of months before the midterm elections!”
It’s always only ever about the horserace with these clowns, isn’t it?
Oh, and I love that the wingnuttosphere is trashing Obama for not going to Arlington this year — even though (1) he is laying a wreath at a veterans’ cemetery near Chicago; (2) both GWB and St Ronaldus skipped Arlingon occasionally; and (3) if he *had* gone, you just know they’d be screaming that he was defiling the place because, you know, sociaIism and muslin and uppity and shut up.
/rant
Enjoy the holiday. And seriously, lift one for those who didn’t make it home.
Bill E Pilgrim
Well, if there’s no good news, and a Democrat is President, then that means….
Great news for John McCain!
See I found some.
PeakVT
Good news: Construction of a new Lake Champlain bridge will start in a few days, putting some people to work. The design isn’t exactly the level of Santiago Calatrava, but it is still decent.
demo woman
My dog developed a few new behavior problems. My house has been torn up because of a burst pipe and I suppose that she thought it would be fun to add to the chaos. She decided that throwing her dog food all over the floor would be fun and then she jumped on the beds and threw the pillows on the floor.
Good News/Bad News sometimes depends on your perspective.
MikeJ
@SiubhanDuinne:
How long before we hear that he’s intentionally keeping it leaking until right before the election so he can look like a hero?
If there are any true believers in 11d chess, it’s the GOP. Everything is an intricate plot to destroy them.
PeakVT
@demo woman: Is your dog doing the kibble dance?
mr. whipple
I’m happy I didn’t wake up with butt rabies.
Uloborus
@SiubhanDuinne:
I don’t think they could really spin him going to Arlington as a negative. Conceivably some might try, because it’s not The Gulf, but those would be outliers. No, they’d do what they do to all news that makes Democrats (and especially Obama) look good. Ignore it utterly, even pretend it didn’t happen.
…actually, I would put a small but real chance on them complaining he didn’t go to Arlington if he did go to Arlington. Like that doctored speech on Fox.
WereBear
@PeakVT: Gosh, I miss the old bridge. It was gorgeous.
But at least we are getting a bridge; with Gov. Paterson, one never knows.
WereBear
@demo woman: She’s probably reacting to the chaos?
Brian J
@LarsThorwald:
That pretty much sums up the way I feel on any given day. It helps me get over the annoyances I consistently encounter–family members who refuse to help solve their own problems, for instance–but not entirely.
SIA
@ Suibhan Duinne
“Enjoy the holiday. And seriously, lift one for those who didn’t make it home.”
Yes indeed. Thank you. My Lt Col army dad made it home from all the wars including Viet Nam, and died 30 years later from complications arising from what we believe was Agent Orange-induced leukemia. Still miss him every day. .
demo woman
@PeakVT: lol..Same bowl but Moxie picked up the bowl and flung it. Not bad for an 18lb. mutt.
Brian J
@SiubhanDuinne:
Both Reagan and GWB were allowed to skip going to Arlington because they were protecting us from the Communists and the emerging Islamofacist threat. I thought this was obvious, but apparently not.
Gozer
I am studiously avoiding the news today to go shopping with my better half. Maybe later I’ll mow the yard or play Left 4 Dead…while partaking of some delicious brew of course!
trollhattan
Robots (always, the robots) going after the top of the BOP with circular saws, removing bits prior to cutting off the riser.
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html
Not sure why I’m hooked on watching the Gulf video feed, but there it is.
jfxgillis
John:
I 99% agreed with you on the silliness of the “Do something Your Majesty Barack, King of all You Survey, or at least look sad, Holy Patriarch Obama” stuff.
The 1% I disagreed with was the one thing Obama could do that he wasn’t. Now he is doing it:
Gulf commander to begin solo briefings
SIA
@ demo woman
Wow you’re working on the inside too! And your puppeh is helping!
You’re in AtL right? Do you have the contact info for the painters you used? I need help!Maybe John can give you my email? Unless you don’t recommend them!
trollhattan
@Brian J:
Have the wingers complained yet about Obama’s avoiding going to Bitburg?
Incertus (Brian)
@MikeJ: To be fair, how often did we hear speculation in 2002 and 2004 that Bush had Bin Laden already and was going to announce his capture a week before the election? I’ll admit that if it had happened, I wouldn’t have been surprised in the least.
QuaintIrene
I was getting caught up in ‘The Band of Brothers’ marathon today. Finally had to get up and do something, if only to check my email.
Yeah, gotta scrounge for good news where ya can find it.
It’s a bright sunny day-so good weather for dogs to be warming their bellies out on the patio.
The basil and zinnia seeds are finally coming up.
Garlic shrimp for dinner tonight.
Bill E Pilgrim
@trollhattan: Thanks for that link.
The apocalypse will be televised.
Corner Stone
@Mike E: Enjoy your day.
joel hanes
If you’re looking for good news,
you’d be well advised to read Phila’s Bouphonia on Fridays.
Mike E
@Corner Stone: You too!
Keith G
@SIA:
My dad and all four of his brothers served in WWII and all came home safely. Two boys from my small Ohio town, best friends with my older brother, went to Vietnam and came home in bags.
Before he passed many years ago, one of my uncles introduced me to single malt and saluting those who have passed. This evening when I pour a bit of Highland Park, I’ll add your dad to those I toast.
Brachiator
Even if there is not a surfeit of good news, I hope that everyone is able to observe the holiday in whatever way is most meaningful for you.
I’m going to visit some friends and later catch up on the latest Doctor Who series.
Another great day in Southern California.
scav
@Brachiator: lucky whovian!
SIA
@ Keith G
Thank you, and back at ya.
robertdsc
Can we haz Tunchinator?
AhabTRuler
@LarsThorwald: The even better news is that the force of the buffeting from the airstream will kill you long before the lack of oxygen does.
PurpleGirl
I have an older, tower-style computer. About a year ago, it stopped loading Windows. I was frustrated by it. I stopped trying to get it started. (But I had data files on it that I really needed.) This morning I decided to try again… and did some research on the netbook I’ve been using. Voila. I found an explanation of what to try. I followed the directions and now the tower is on and I can pull off copies of the data files before I trying closing down and restarting. This isn’t just good news — it’s great news for me.
Next techie thing is to get wifi up and running so I can plug the tower into the cable modem and use the netbook on a wireless internet connection. I can reclaim my title of pseudo-techno geek.
YellowJournalism
One of the spins about Obama going to the Chicago cemetary is that it’s named after Lincoln, so it must be Obama satisfying his Abe Lincoln fetish rather than him actually going there to memorialize the veterans that are buried there.
Listening to some conservative on the radio the other day, I heard something about Obama wanting to federalize journalism, according to some FTC paper. Sounded like some serious wingnut paranoia to me. Anyone know anything about this?
Maude
@PurpleGirl:
Congrats. It’s always pat on the back time when you solve something with windows. I’m glad you got it to boot.
PeakVT
@trollhattan: Haven’t we all been glued to the TV during one disaster or another? Something about human nature makes it hard to turn away.
someguy
Hey, I finally figured out why conservatives love Israel. It’s because of all the nations in the world, only the Israelis treat peace protesters the way conservatives want to.
Corner Stone
Honky mofo. Umpire just tossed Roy Oswalt in top of the third.
Dude’s strike zone was all over the damn place.
ellaesther
Cross-posting myself from the Gaza flotilla thread, for anyone who’s interested:
Here’s my short history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and here are my preliminary thoughts on the flotilla—which boil down to: It matters not at all if the activists were armed, what matters is the blockade that they were symbolically trying to break, and the fact of the occupation—and the ten or more people who were killed trying to protest both. All discussion of knives vs. commandos is a distraction from those facts.
(And for those who haven’t read my screeds in the past: I’m an American-Israeli Jew who has lived, studied, reported on, and written about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for something in the vicinity of 25 years. If you go to my blog you’ll find the story there).
Corner Stone
@someguy: bulldozers?
Chemist
Get some!
goodnewsnetwork.org
I can’t tell if this is supposed to be satire…
Geoduck
There was a report that some scientists have made serious progress towards a cure/vaccine/whatever for Ebola. Very good news if it pans out.
Steeplejack
@PurpleGirl:
Congratulations! What did you do to get your tower going again?
matoko_chan
i just can’t believe i was ever friends with Allahpundit.
this is just horrid, biased coverage.
How can Allahp defend this?
He says…
But…the IDF were armed with loaded guns….against knives and poles….and AllahP doesn’t mention the 10-20 people killed or the fact that the defenders raised a white flag after the first 2 deaths….and the Israelis still kept shooting.
Over 60 people were wounded.
He doesn’t mention the fact that the 300 flotilla captives are are being held without access to their embassies or to the press so the Israelis can get their story out and destroy evidence.
Is that who Allahpundit is now?
jackie
@Yellowjournalism
I work on that project at the FTC and it has absolutely nothing to do with nationalizing or federalizing the news business. Just looking into the workings of online and traditional news. See the web site.
http://www.ftc.gov/opp/workshops/news/index.shtml
Cain
@Gozer:
L4D! Right on! My co-workers and I play it at night.. good stuff. It’s funny how we work as a team at work is reflected in L4D. Meaning all the weaknesses shows up too. hah.
cain
LiberalTarian
Did you see this one already? We love dogs, they love us back.
Without ruining the ending, the pooch was reunited with his owners shortly after.
PurpleGirl
@Steeplejack: I found an explanation and directions on how to reinstall Windows XP without damaging the data files. It probably helped that I’d partitioned the HD in such a way that the C-drive was used only for software and not data. Data files were on the second partition.
When it stopped loading Windows the error message stated that Windows wasn’t started successful and it gave me a boot menu. But when I chose one of the choices it still didn’t load. In earlier research I didn’t find the site I found this morning. And the directions were easy to understand.
Now I need to install all the other software I had on the machine, but I didn’t lose the data files.
Of course, I didn’t note the web site I had open this morning. Argh!
Mnemosyne
I made the Caesar potato salad for tonight’s indoor barbeque and I’m getting ready to hop on my bike and ride downtown to check out the holiday sales. I haven’t officially joined the 2 Mile Challenge, but it’s been in my mind that almost everywhere I go is within a 5-mile radius of our apartment, so I’m trying to drive less and ride more. Especially since my bike is pretty and purple and I love it.
(Not my picture, but the same model as my bike.)
LikeableInMyOwnWay
Dang.
I thought it said “a creepy open thread for you” and I was all jacked up for it … but ….
Never mind.
LikeableInMyOwnWay
@SiubhanDuinne:
Might already have been mentioned, but that August timeline for a relief well was being mentioned by BP almost from day one. That has always been their permanent solution, everything else they have tried has been aimed at spill reduction on a temporary basis until the relief well(s) are completed and pressure is reduced at the busted wellhead. Then and only then can they do a permanent seal on that blown wellhead. That was exactly what happened in the Pemex blowout in 1979, except that it took ten months to finish the job, and it could take that again here. There is no guarantee of anything in August, either. Hasn’t been, from day one.
They said that a month ago, and have been saying it all along. But the goddam media and politicians have never acted like they understood the very stories they were reporting, and instead treated the intermediate measures as if they were reality tv shows with all the drama they could muster.
It isn’t BP I blame for this mass misunderstanding, it’s the people with an interest in gaining something from the story: The cable news channels and the politicians.
joel hanes
> Of course, I didn’t note the web site I had open this morning. Argh!
Your browser can probably display the links you clicked this morning as a “history sidebar”. Try a CTRL-h in the browser window. Or look for history under View.
PurpleGirl
@joel hanes: Thanks for the information. I’ve opened and closed browser tabs so often today I didn’t think I could find the site. With your ctrl-h move, I found it. It is a site called Simple Help.
YellowJournalism
@jackie: Thanks! Typical wingnuttery, as usual.
Ravi J
Good News.
Start a new job Tomorrow. Pretty cool technical work, if I can hang on.