Started to read the NY Times and said to hell with it before I finished scanning the headlines.
Not in a caring mood today. Going to go weed and mulch.
Open Thread
by John Cole| 77 Comments
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keestadoll
Goodie! Me first! Um, Greece…bad…REALLY BAD.
Poopyman
@Cole:
I’m so envious. I’d rather be home in the garden than here in the office, even if the dewpoint’s 71.
kerFuFFler
Il faut cultiver notre jardin.
overeducated
For a second I thought I read “I’ve got to smoke weed and mulch,” which I can only assume makes mulching much more fun.
Hawes
We need a new roof, and we may need to liquidate some of our retirement equities to do it (since we haven’t had a raise in three years). I’m thinking instead, after reading the Times, that we should buy weapons, gold and a goat or two.
Once Mitch McConnell is done with the economy we’ll realize that Glenn Beck was right, just for the wrong reasons. Obama and gay marriage aren’t going to destroy western civilization. The GOP is.
Because they owe it to America.
PurpleGirl
Yes, sometimes the news is too overwhelming and frustrating to care. Much better for one’s sanity to weed and mulch the yard. (And play with the critters… pictures, plz.)
I made my work proposal on creating epub files and I’m waiting today to hear from the people if I get the go-ahead for the project. I want to thank all the BJers who gave me information about e-publishing.
Maude
My favorite headline is Afghan bank president is fleeing. There’s a warrent out on him.
There’s one unhappy bankster.
Edit: spell fail as usual
geg6
Yeah, I feel ya, Cole. The fucking news blows. I watched about 3 minutes of the CBS Early Show and all the fluffing of Michelle Bachmann as a “serious” candidate by some idiotic female reporter about had me upchucking my delicious fresh coffee.
Gotta work (would much rather be weeding and mulching, FWIW), but I’m going to do something more cheerful than reading the news: sending out scholarship letters. Of course, since the PA Legislature can’t seem to decide how much to cut PSU’s budget (let’s see…18% or 50%?), I have no idea if these small pots of money will actually help any of these students.
Judas Escargot
A warrant? For a banker!?
We’ve obviously failed to ‘civilize’ that country.
BO_Bill
Dimethyl Sulfide is one of the compounds that gives urine its pungent smell after eating asparagus. There was a debate about whether or not all people produced this compound, as some people cannot smell it. So the Israelis did some tests and it turns out that yes, all people produce Dimethyl Sulfide after eating asparagus, but not all can smell it. Those who can smell it benefit from a mutation in the olfactory genes.
I suspect there is a similar mutation in the brain that allows some men to ascertain that certain people are not to be trusted. Julio does not seem to be a carrier of this mutation.
Rosalita
Nothing like a dandelion jihad to ease the stress. Enjoy the yard, I wish I could be outside.
cmorenc
@John Cole:
Sometimes a little weed is the perfect tonic for those sorts of moods. Just be judicious about picking a discreet spot and noticing what the wind’s doing.
kwAwk
I think this past few days has marked the first time Cole has actually ever succeeded in going Galt on us.
Bachman entering the Presidential race seems like it should be every left wing blogger’s dream come true, but perhaps it just is too easy…
stuckinred
If I had any idea how I was going to get bombed with emails from every candidate in Wisconsin for donating to Act Blue. . . never again.
keestadoll
Nevermind the Greece thing. Bachmann-bashing is more brain dead fun. Screw it. Weeding is awesome, but an odd rain is falling in my neck of the woods and it’s compelling me to turn my attentions back to household chores. Is there any zen to be had by bleaching grout?
stuckinred
keestadoll
no but bleaching a goat, that has potential. namaste
Bulworth
Both the NYT and the Wash Post had pics and stories about Crazy Michelle Bachman above the fold. Ugh. Wasn’t this like her third “annoucement”? But yes, of course, our Very Serious media villagers consider the theocratic Bachmann a “serious” candidate.
Han's Solo
After my long morning walk with the dogs I turned on Morning Joe, saw Tim Palenty, and changed the channel to reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Ah, the Scooby Gang.
Then I thought to myself, “Han, maybe you should see what Tpaw has to offer. There is no guarantee that he will spend his time offering nonsensical insults to Obama and pushing for policies that would neither pass nor work if passed.”
And that thought made me laugh. It’s always good to laugh in the morning.
PurpleGirl
stuckinred @ #14:
I use my very old Juno email account for most political stuff. Then every few months I just delete batches of the email. People I want to hear from, I send my real email information.
UncertaintyVicePrincipal
In that case you missed this, which I dutifully reprint for your collective pleasure:
Fran’s particular way with words inspired many imitators but no one can match the original.
handsmile
I’ve not seen this topic introduced on recent Open Threads (I confess I don’t read them all), so apologies for my negligence, if necessary:
The Women’s World Cup kicked off in Germany last Sunday; the tournament lasts until July 17.
The US women’s team will play its opening group stage match today against North Korea. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN at 11:45amEST. Although FIFA-ranked as world number 1, the US was not regarded to be the pre-tournament favorite. The host nation Germany, champions in 2007 and 2003, is expected to hoist a third consecutive World Cup trophy.
In its striker Marta, Brazil boasts the world’s most scintillating and feared player, the distaff version of Lionel Messi. Other footballers to marvel at include German playmaker Birgit Prinz, Sweden’s midfielder Caroline Seger, and veteran US striker Abby Wambach.
I follow women’s football only cursorily, focusing attention really only every four years with this tournament. The estimable Randinho, resident football/soccer expert here at the Juice, has developed an avid following of readers/posters who display equal measures of knowledge and rabid fandom. (Hello there, cmorenc.) I hope we might be reading and splenetically debating posts on the Women’s World Cup in the coming weeks.
Suffern ACE
@Hawes – have you considered just letting your lawn go this summer and using it as thatch this fall? You’ll have to put off getting the goats until after harvest, though.
Steeplejack
Photo software question: Can someone recommend a free program with which to resize photographs? I don’t need Photoshop or Lightbox (yet), I just need something to quickly and easily take them down from the camera’s full resolution to smaller sizes suitable for e-mailing.
I know that Picasa and GIMP will do what I need, but they are overkill at this point. From some quick research on the Google, IrfanView looks good, but I’ve never heard of it before.
bemused
Han’s Solo,
You also missed the Scott Walker love fest. That was a real side splitter.
stuckinred
PurpleGirl
My problem is that I use paypal and I need to use one of my real accounts.
Mike in NC
Because it’s working out so darn well in other places:
http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/06/28/v-print/2246692/haley-inks-changes-to-citizenship.html
UncertaintyVicePrincipal
cmorenc
I just assumed that “to go weed” was the counterculture version of going Galt.
i.e. “I shall now withhold my ability to reason, care about much of anything, or refrain from giggling from society and see how you all like it, so there”.
Steeplejack: I used InfranView years ago, for years and years. Seemed fine. I’m sure there are others just as good.
stuckinred
Steeplejack
I assume you are using windows? What version?
Han's Solo
bemused – I missed Joey Scar and Walker Wisconsin Asshole together on the same set? Whoa is me. Tell me this, at the end of the interview did Joey spit or swallow?
Bah, it doesn’t matter. It was the incan mummy girl rerun of Buffy. Ya know, from the first season, where Xander falls for the hot mummy chick who eats people to retain her youthful hotness.
stuckinred
Photoscape
review
http://download.cnet.com/PhotoScape/3000-2192_4-10703122.html
Gary
@Steeplejack Irfanview is great. The basics are easy and it does most of the stuff non-professionals need to do.
Specifically resizing is done on the Image—>Resize/Resample popup. put in your new parameters and click OK and you’re done.
piratedan
@stuck….
maybe just mark them as spam and not worry about it anymore?
The task for today, wading thru the paperwork to get LTC providers setup for interview to satisfy both the old folks and the insurance requirements. Thankfully there’s some folks here at a local hospice who are willing to help out with both the paperwork and personnel pool.
Linda Featheringill
Han #18
LOL. Please don’t let them integrate your two personalities. You’re much more fun this way. :-)
CA Doc
Per Greg Sargent, Bachmann comes right out of the gate today and tells Good Morning America she believes in abolishing the minimum wage, because that would wipe out unemployment. A true populist, that one!
Bulworth
Sounds like more of that less government I keep hearing about…
Steeplejack
@UncertaintyVicePrincipal, @stuckinred:
Thanks to both of you. I am using Windows XP. I’ve done a little more research and think I might download both IrfanView and the Microsoft PowerToys Image Resizer gizmo.
ETA: And thanks for the information on Photoscape.
Bulworth
It’s almost as if they don’t care what they say. And why should they? It’s not like we have a media that dares question them or an opposition party.
MattF
Interesting item in the Times about how the Madoff judge decided on a 150-year sentence. If it was my job, my only regret would have been that the federal sentencing guidelines don’t include the option of ‘a gazillionmillion years’.
PurpleGirl
CA Doc: The other day she said we have to wean people off of Social Security and Medicare. She’s evil, cruel and mean. Not stupid; evil, cruel and mean.
Stuckinred: Ah, that’s a problem then.
pat
@Steeplejack,
I use Canon cameras and the software that comes with them. ZoomBrowser EX. Works great, easy to use. Resizes automatically when emailing pics, also seems to resize if I do any trimming (I trim just about everything) or enhancing, then save.
Pat
Chris
For fuck’s sake. A threat to the nation’s economy, or well-being, or a threat to the rule of law since they’re in the country illegally, yeah, that I can see. A threat to “liberty and freedom?” They’re at the point where they just string catchphrases together into incoherent babble. The base, which is listening for tone not content, laps it up, of course.
They do. They just do. Shut up, that’s why. It’s not like there were any drugs, prostitution, violent crime or gang activities before they came, and it’s not like there are any of them that have nothing to do with all that. And certainly, the fact that you’re rehashing the same old lines that were thrown at black ghettoes fifty years ago and Italian, Polish and Jewish ghettoes eighty years ago isn’t you playing on a racial stereotype. No sir! In fact, I’m the real racist for even thinking that.
Pretty much encapsulates the illegal immigrant dilemma. On one side, the racists, who just KNOW that they’re here to destroy our freedom and liberty, and that they’re all bringing crime and violence and bad values, maybe even lice and disease. On the other side, the economic royalists who’ll be God damned if they’ll pay their employees a living wage, and find it easier to import a workforce with no rights. (Shades of Saudi Arabia, or maybe just South Carolina 200 years ago).
Guess which party both of those go clamoring to for justice.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Steeplejack @ 23. Irfanview works well for resizing, cropping, renaming etc. I’ve been happy with it.
CA Doc
We can only hope Bachmann draws Mitt and the others into a cage match of crazy. I think (hope) that would turn off sane voters.
Han's Solo
I’m starting to think that Bachman (and much of the GOP field) want America to become a third world country. And if you look at it from the perspective of a batshit insane religious extremist it makes sense.
If there is no minimum wage poor “people” (in quotations because, come on, are “poor people” really people?) will have to turn to the Church for stupid little things like food and shelter. It will be the old, “You want a sandwich? Okay, I’ll give you a sandwich as soon as you accept Jesus as your personal savior. You don’t want to do that? Okay, then DIAF.”
I don’t think they’ll be happy until Rwanda is sending missionaries to America to spread the word of God.
Cliff in NH
Here is a doggie to make you feel better.
http://mollymaesden.blogspot.com/2011/06/another-sunrise-ride.html
Amir_Khalid
Don’t mind this bit. I’m just testing if FYWP will accept umlauted letters and the scharfes-es.
Ja in Bavaria, wo die Bäume aus Holz sind!
(Yes in Bavaria, where the trees are made of wood!)
Er hat es gut unter Öl.
(He keeps it well-oiled.)
Gewalt ist keine Lösung.
(Violence is no solution.)
Ausgezeichnet! Wir werden zusammen viel Spaß haben!
(Outstanding! We’ll have a lot of fun together!)
@handsmile #21:
The Guardian’s football section had a story on the lack of fans’ interest in the WWC, and the comments from (I guess mostly male) readers were that (a) women players tend to lack skill and strength compared to men,(b) women goalkeepers are particularly weak at positioning themselves, and (c) it’s a man’s sport, goddamnit. (Sigh.) Sometimes it’s embarrassing to be a guy.
4tehlulz_lite
@Steeplejack: IrfanView or XnView work.
Steeplejack
@Gary:
Thanks for the info. As I said, I think I will download IrfanView and a couple of other things.
The back-story is that a few weeks ago I got an unexpectedly great deal on a Lumix DMC-ZS6 (refurbished but looks brand new), and it has rekindled my photography lust from back in the day. I started with a Yashica-Mat in high school, upgraded to 35mm SLRs, did my own darkroom work for a while, etc. Haven’t done anything in the last 10 years except take pictures with my cell phone.
I like that the Lumix looks like a camera–like a science fiction version of something Kertész or Brassaï might have carried in Paris in the 1930s–and it feels good in my hands in a way that most small point-and-shoots don’t. The “intelligent auto” mode is surprisingly good, but it has a lot of manual control if you want to get into that.
Right now I am trying to make the whole experience as streamlined, easy and fun as possible. The camera fits in my front pocket, and I have been reminding myself to take it with me when I go out. Just want to get into the habit of taking pictures again. I can get into all the techno-geek-obsessive stuff later (if I want to).
Steeplejack
@pat:
Thanks. Some (Panasonic) software did come with the camera, but it has a suspicious whiff of bloatware about it. (Sort of like those 50MB “installation programs” you get with HP printers when all you want is a simple printer driver.) I just copy the pictures to my hard drive with the USB cable and Windows Explorer.
Chris
@ Han’s Solo –
Oh, absolutely. Feature, not bug. And anyone who doesn’t think churches wouldn’t do that, and probably apply political pressure as well… “accept Jesus as your personal savior and don’t forget to vote Republican, or else…” is out of their mind.
The only thing is, if you gutted the New Deal state, it wouldn’t just be churches that picked up the pieces, but local government too. Government welfare, services, public projects and whatever wouldn’t end. They’d just go back to being part of a spoils system, doled out by winning politicians to the neighborhoods that voted for them. Back to the nineteenth century, machine politics and all.
4jkb4ia
Can’t say the front page looks inspiring here either. I will read about the Supreme Court decision and there is something in “The Champions” series about a railroad. The last one about Hatch was well done.
My first job is to read section B so that I have the Wimbledon recap before play is done for the day, and I get Andrew Ross Sorkin on Obama’s support on Wall Street. The boldface names are not committing themselves, and some of them don’t want to be seen supporting Obama. But Obama made $2.3 million at his fundraising dinner last week where he expected to get $1.5 million and “people involved in the campaign” say that they are on track to get 400 people to each raise $350,000 by the end of the year. Romney is the only name that the Wall Street types seem to trust among the Republican field now. Priceless line: “But this election cycle, Wall Street’s Washington hands say it will be unlikely for any of the top bank CEOs to back one candidate over another publicly–at least this early–because the role of government has become so integral to these big firms.” Well, yes.
Lisicki is looking like the most inspired wild card choice ever, second maybe only to Goran.
I’m going to second asking for posts on the Women’s World Cup, which means it won’t happen. Gender fairness and all. Of course Randinho may not know the players.
(John, when you write absolutely, jaw-droppingly wrong posts like the one yesterday, you are just John Cole. There is no room for the crazy at all. Not to say, “More like this, please,” because I have to repent and there is the matter of this blog’s good name. )
Steeplejack
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
Thanks for the recommendation. Sometimes I am leery of downloading things I haven’t heard of, especially when they have slightly weird names. “IrfanView” sounded kind of hinky to me, but now I get that it is the author’s name.
arguingwithsignposts
@Steeplejack – I know others have weighed in, but you might check your own image viewing software on XP. For instance, on the mac, the Preview application does resizing quite well, and not a lot of fuss with other stuff. I use it quite a bit when I’m just changing pixels. YMMV on Win, obviously.
Han's Solo
Chris – Yep, agreed.
They want a caste system. Heck, they probably want “Indentured Servitude” instituted for those people stupid enough not to be born into money. People will have a choice: A) Starve B) Borrow enough money to feed yourself. If you choose A, your problems are over. If you choose B, then you have to work off your debt. Since there will no longer be a minimum wage, you will be working off your debt at twelve cents an hour. Given that it will cost several dollars a day for the owners of these indentured servants to feed and house these indentured servants, the servants will only grow further in debt while paying off the debt.
But it’s not slavery! They don’t want that! They just want people to work for nothing for ever. That’s totally different.
TooManyJens
@stuckinred:
Fucking seriously. And of course you have to individually unsubscribe from each email list that you never actually subscribed to in the first place.
Thanks for the reminder, though; I’d been meaning to email ActBlue about that.
bemused
Han’s Solo @29,
Worse. It wasn’t just Joe fawning. Mika was in her sweetest host mode and Barnacle said Walker was impressive.
When Walker touted his disastrous stint as Wisc Co exec, of course no one brought up his firing of union county courthouse security guards replacing them with scandal ridden private security firm employees or any of his other schemes that were fiasco and cost the country tons of money.
arguingwithsignposts
@stuckinred:
I wonder if these people realize how obnoxious all those e-mails are. I had the same experience in the 2008 election after giving to OFA (IIRC). There must be some pay off, right? Or these people wouldn’t keep bombing people with spam e-mails.
Steeplejack
@arguingwithsignposts:
Windows Picture and Fax Viewer is the default program (at least for me) when I double-click a JPG file. It is pretty old and basic. It does have a (slightly tortuous) option to smallify a picture (I think that’s the opposite of embiggen) as part of sending it to an e-mail recipient, but when I tested that it seemed to open up Outlook Express, which I have never used, and when I saved the message as a draft in hopes of extracting the smallified picture I wasn’t able to find the message, even when I (reluctantly) found and opened Outlook Express. Bah.
So I will try IrfanView or the PowerToy gizmo and proceed from there.
Han's Solo
bemused – It sounds like not only did he swallow, he gargled with Walker’s man sauce, snowballed it over to Mica, who swished it gingerly through her perfectly white chompers before passing it to Barnacle who then spit it into Walker’s blinking brown eye for Joey Scar to lap up.
You know, typing that made me realize how much I miss Bill Hicks. Did you ever hear Hicks discuss Rush Limbaugh? I’m attaching a clip of it. Hicks may have died a long time ago, but he had the right of things even back then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIT-SYVPV8s
arguingwithsignposts
@Steeplejack:
Also, if you want something online, there are numerous options – even photoshop.com, or flickr. just upload the photos and it will automatically give you different sizes and allow you to share them. Good luck with the new camera. It sounds like a good one.
ETA: @Han’s Solo – you know, you really didn’t have to go there. ewww.
Steeplejack
@arguingwithsignposts:
I should/will check out Flickr. I do have a Flickr account, but I have used it so infrequently that there’s an annoying (re)learning curve every time I go there.
I think the PowerToy thing might work best. The other PowerToys I have used in the past were pretty good (and Microsoft-vetted), and I think it will give me the right-click/resize/rename quickie functionality I am looking for. If not that, then IrfanView.
Svensker
@ Steeplejack
Irfanview is excellent. Easy to download and use. Never had any problems with it and have been using it for years.
handsmile
@ Amir_Khalid (#46):
Perhaps the more perennial question is when is it not “embarrassing to be a guy”?
The comments section of the Guardian article you referenced was a laff riot, a bracing reminder that not all knuckle-draggers read the tabloids.
On the issue of footballing skill, perhaps these connoisseurs are not familiar with what passes for “football” under the aegis of Major League Soccer. Oh boy!
The relative lack of “enforcers” or bruising defensive midfielders in the starting XI of most women’s squads results in often more dynamic, offense-oriented matches. Also, less time devoted to Oscar-seeking performances over feigned or occasionally real injuries.
Once the tournament advances to the knock-out rounds, one can expect truly entertaining, competitive matches presented by world-class athletes. (The opening match between Germany and Nigeria was a harbinger of the prospective quality.) Hope your schedule permits you to enjoy some of the Cup.
Steeplejack
Thanks to all for the photo software advice. I just tested the Microsoft PowerToy Image Resizer gizmo, and it works perfectly. Based on the recommendations here, I will also download IrfanView and get into that, but for right now the PowerToy gives me right-click/resize/rename functionality that is ridiculously easy.
jeffreyw
FYWP
WereBear
Steeplejack @ 23: is a happy person, but Drpic.com is an online solution I’m happy with.
AND DON’T MARK UNWANTED EMAIL AS SPAM, pleeeeeze!
SPAM is for boner pill notifications; just for-theloveofallthatsholy- unsubscribe, you philistine!
Steeplejack
@WereBear:
Okay, I got the Drpic thing, but the spam part–WTF?!
arguingwithsignposts
@Steeplejack – I think it’s related to the actblue stuff.
Southern Beale
2,000 companies are registered from a single home in Cheyenne, WY. It’s the free hand of the market, gloriously helping corporations create shell companies to evade state law. Huzzah!
WereBear
Steeplejack, it wasn’t aimed at you, sorry. piratedan said just to mark all the unwanted political email as spam.
(One of those things that didn’t make sense once published, but now the site won’t let me edit…)
The SPAM button is for SPAM; crap nobody in their right mind should want. Using it as a lazy UNSUBSCRIBE button dings Democratic Candidates, ACT BLUE and the services they use to send email to people who want it.
Once again, sorry, it’s a pet peeve.
Bulworth
Sully:
Burkean bells, Thatcherite conservative exuberance, and Oattechsian sobriety.
Nellcote
@#23 Another recommendation for IrfanView. btw it will also do batch conversions.
Davebo
Steeplejack
I use photo resizer which is one of the oddest applications I’ve run across over the years.
You literally rename the .exe file to the dimensions you want to resize to.
http://www.rw-designer.com/picture-resize
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
Fortunately, as I have foretold, President Obama has these delusional Republicans right where he wants them. These chumps are in for a hellacious presidential surprise with a cherry on top. Our most beloved of all politicians ain’t no caveman, GOP!
.
.
Berial
“A corporation is a legal person created by state statute that can be used as a fall guy, a servant, a good friend or a decoy,” the company’s website boasts. “A person you control… yet cannot be held accountable for its actions. Imagine the possibilities!”
A Reuters special report.
Catsy
This might possibly be one of the stupidest articles I’ve seen on CNN in a long time. The stupid starts with the headline:
Michele Bachmann, evangelical feminist?
And only gets worse from there.
Steeplejack
@Nellcote, @Davebo:
Thanks for your input as well. I had to do some chores and go to work–just got home about 20 minutes ago!–but I always come back to check these threads after the fact.