Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

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

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

After roe, women are no longer free.

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Let there be snark.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

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Open Thread

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Spring is here. My daffodils are out, it was 75 degrees all day long and I left the back door open all day and had the windows open to air out the house. THANK FSM. I’m one of those weird people who loves winter and loves the snow, but also gets depressed with the lack of sunshine. The last couple of days, though, it has been so nice waking up at 7 am because the critters are restless and the sun is coming through the window. The birds are back and making a ruckus, and I just feel better. After dinner tonight and after walking the girls, I went for a drive through the country, and it was so nice driving along, looking at a red sky. The honey wagons were out today, and every now and then I would drive by a farm and get that smell of manure in the fields, and I got to say, I love the smell. I know I come across as a bitter SOB a lot, but I am a grower and nurturer at heart. This is the best time of year.

I was chatting with Chris Mooney, who wrote the Republican War on Science and has a new book coming out called the Republican Brain, and mentioned I had to get out of the big city and love living in my town of 300. He laughed, because he is from New Orleans and now lives in DC, because of what I thought of as the big city was a town of 30k (closer to 60 when school is in session) and doesn’t really sync with his concept of “big city.” If I had the money and could get high speed internet, I would be living in a town of one somewhere in the middle of nowhere with nothing but me, the girls, Tunch, and nothing else. My dream house is in the middle of a clearing in the middle of the woods, built into the side of a hill. The whole house would be underground with windows in a 360 degree perimeter. Water would be from a well, solar panels would be present, and I would cool and heat the house with a buried heating and cooling system. There’d be enough clearing for sunlight for the house and a nice garden and room for the girls to run, and everything else would be woods. I think 100 acres would be enough to keep me from having to deal with other humans. I’d like enough room for some chickens and maybe some recreational animals, like a goat and a pig and maybe a cow or two (because here is simply no chance in hell I’d ever be able to kill them and eat them. That isn’t in my DNA.).

I guess I need to play the lottery. But for now, I’m just happy that the sun is out, the animals are roaming the yard at will and happy, and the air is crisp and refreshing. I’m planning my raised beds for my garden and my rain barrels, I’m stoked for spring, and I can put away my sun lamp because winter is over. Plus, I get to spend the next couple of weeks thinking about what to plant this year and dreaming of fresh tomatoes. Also, ramps are right around the corner.

It’s a good time to be alive, but then again, it always is compared to the alternative.

Reader Interactions

188Comments

  1. 1.

    Rafer Janders

    I’m one of those weird people who loves winter and loves the snow, but also gets depressed with the lack of sunshine.

    I am you! You are me!

  2. 2.

    RossInDetroit

    Thanks for the warm thoughts. It’s been a long winter despite the conspicuous lack of snow. My outdoor cactus is starting to perk up and the chipmunks are raiding the bird feeders. Sure signs that bright days are ahead.

  3. 3.

    THE

    It’s a good time to be alive, but then again, it always is compared to the alternative.

    To be out in nature.
    Living in the. present. moment.
    is one of the best ways to remind yourself that you are alive.

  4. 4.

    SuperHrefna

    I can empathise: I did 13 years in London and now I am just loving living in my little village of 900-odd people. We don’t have so much as a 7-11 to call our own, but we do have woods and beaches and lots of space. Tis blissful.

  5. 5.

    SIA

    I’d like enough room for some chickens and maybe some recreational animals, like a goat and a pig and maybe a cow or two

    Recreational?

  6. 6.

    John Cole

    @SIA: Yeah, recreational. Some chickens for some eggs, and a goat to eat everything and keep the grass down, a pig because they are smart and fun to watch, and a cow because I am madly in love with cows. I think everything about cows is cool, particularly the way they lick their noses. And those big, beautiful eyes.

  8. 8.

    patrick II

    I know there are few NBA fans here, but on ESPN the Roseless Bulls are beating Miami by eleven going into the fourth. I am holding my breath.

  9. 9.

    Constance

    Damn. Everything you wrote was perfect for when I was forty. It didn’t happen but I so wanted it. At 72 I don’t want to live in glorious isolation–this is the time we gather closer to take care of one another. It made me smile just to read it. And I’m cruising through seed catalogs already. Hope really does spring eternal.

    I, too, get depressed when the sun doesn’t shine. Unfortunately, the sun has shined (shone? shit) all winter and the snowpack is at 30 percent so the ranchers will suffer this summer with only one cutting of hay. I didn’t get depressed and that’s good for me, bad for mother nature.

  10. 10.

    jharp

    Best not to be in the middle of a woods. Lots and lots of insects and they will eventually eat your house.

    Look for a place on the edge of a not too distant woods with a few shade trees.

  11. 11.

    WyldPirate

    SIA:
    Oh snap! You beat me to it, SIA.

    I was picturing Cole naked in hip waders trying to shove the goat’s back legs into the waders so it couldn’t run away…

  13. 13.

    freelancer

    I was chatting with Chris Mooney, who wrote the Republican War on Science and has a new book coming out called the Republican Brain, and mentioned I had to get out of the big city and love living in my town of 300.

    You should go on his podcast Point of Inquiry. I think you’d be an awesome guest and you don’t need to worry about meeting at a studio, he records them all via phone interviews or Skype, I think.

  14. 14.

    shortstop

    Here in Chicago, in the first half of MARCH, we’ve had our windows open — sometimes a crack and sometimes, like today, all the way — all week. I cannot tell you what it does for a girl to have the sweet scent of warm spring air flowing all around her.

  17. 17.

    Anne Laurie

    You know, John, I would love to discuss tomatoes with you. Are you planning on starting from seed this year?

    You got a favorite source for seed / plants?

  20. 20.

    Cacti

    Just got back from local soul food establishment Lo-Lo’s Chicken and Waffles.

    I had some cheese grits in honor of Willard.

  22. 22.

    kdaug

    but I am a grower and nurturer at heart.

    Keep saying that.

    I’m thinking Oppenheimer’s got me nailed.

  24. 24.

    Punchy

    Methinks a pig and Bovine-American could be expensive to feed and maintain. And unless youre talking those pot belly (small) pigs, the odor could be unsettling too.

  25. 25.

    Nicole

    My uncle bought two Pygmy goats to keep the grass trimmed. Fifteen years later, he had two elderly goats on whom he’d spent a fortune in hay, as they didn’t like grass.

    They did, however, like Frosted Mini Wheats, as long as they weren’t too stale.

  27. 27.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Cacti: I’m almost afraid to ask, but I’m a Yankee, like Willard. What is/are cheese grits? And am I a northern elitist for saying that I can’t tell the difference between regular grits and wallpaper paste?

  28. 28.

    dogwood

    Where I grew up in the panhandle of Idaho, there was no such thing as spring. I took a job almost 40 years ago in this valley where the Clearwater River meets the Snake, and I can still remember the day in late February when I walked out to head to work, and the crocuses were in bloom. I was flabbergasted and awed. Soon the dogwoods will bloom and the entire valley will be awash in pink and white. Spring here is simply amazing. Of course the downside is that the summers are brutally and relentlessly hot. But I’ve got months before I have to face that.

  31. 31.

    Cassidy

    @Gin & Tonic: Grits with cheese in them. Most people eat their grits with lots of sugar, molasses, something sweet. Some of us prefer it with cheese and crumbled up bacon.

  33. 33.

    Kristine

    @shortstop: It’s scary. My lawn is greening. Crocuses have bloomed and daffs are popping up at speed. The eternal chive in the raised bed is sprouting. I have to keep reminding myself that we could still get hit with a blizzard any time in the next 4 weeks.

  35. 35.

    FoxinSocks

    Wait, you want to live in the woods in a house half-buried underground? Dude, you’re a hobbit!

  36. 36.

    John Cole

    @Gin & Tonic: Y’all up north call it polenta. And no, I am not kidding. There really is no substantive difference. It’s polenta with cheese.

    And the only way to eat grits is with a shitload of hot sauce.

  37. 37.

    Little Boots

    it’s like John’s been here this whole time, and I’ve been. not.

    but, um, no doug?

  41. 41.

    chrome agnomen

    i live in a town of about 3, nearest neighbor 10 miles away. suits me. in wyoming, you don’t usually want your neighbors very close, if you’re a liberal and want to stay on good terms in case of need. green shoots of grass showing here, too.

  42. 42.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    You can keep the snow! :)

    I decided to start a spring project early and dissected my pc last night. Our kitten, Stewie, had to assist in the dissection though that mostly consisted of attacking my hands and arms as I worked. I got a cute pic of him inside one side of the case (double wide case) and attacking me through one of the openings between the two sides.

    Today I got some of the Dremel work out of the way on the face and rear, then I drilled out 72 rivets to break the frame down for powdercoating. I have some Dremel cutting to do on the divider and motherboard plate (access to rear of CPU) and the SATA cable slots and then that work is done. I have built the fan controller harnesses but still need to mod the Frio heatsink fan leads (add length).

    I’m aiming for improved cooling, cleaner wiring, easier servicing and good looks. The case is an old Codegen S201-CA that I bought new about ten years ago. The thing is built like a tank and has tons of room. All it needs are some mods to bring it up to date and make it look new at the same time. I am always repairing and building systems for others and it’s rare that I get a chance to work on mine.

    Yes, I’m a pc addict. :)

  44. 44.

    Cacti

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I’m almost afraid to ask, but I’m a Yankee, like Willard. What is/are cheese grits? And am I a northern elitist for saying that I can’t tell the difference between regular grits and wallpaper paste?

    Grits are basically just coarsely ground corn (sometimes hominy), boiled in water, and usually served with generous amounts of butter.

    Some eat them savory (salt and pepper), others like them sweet (bit o’ brown sugar).

    Cheese grits are just your standard grits w/ butter, a bit of heavy cream, and baked w/ a generous amount of cubed or grated cheddar.

  46. 46.

    Constance

    @SuperHrefna:
    That catalog is new to me. thank you. I’m going to order the Cosmonaut Volkov tomatoes just for the story and the art. Will spend some time tomorrow checking out the rest of the selections. I have the growitalian.com catalog which is also fabulous. Think I would still read seed catalogs even if I didn’t have a garden. Like communing with FSM. :-)

  47. 47.

    Little Boots

    it’s wrong, I know it’s wrong, and it will probably cause all kinds of problems, but I’m in Wisconsin, and right now I’m so okay with the early spring/summer.

    I am.

  48. 48.

    freelancer

    I ported my iTunes library to a new(er) laptop earlier today and Holy BALLS it was relatively painless! I’ve never had an iTunes update or move from 1 system to another take anything less than 3 or 4 frustrating hours. I suppose the iCloud is doing something right.

  50. 50.

    Cassidy

    @Gin & Tonic: Yeah, that’s how I feel. I don’t eat or like a lot of sweet stuff, so when I see people smothering their grits in sugar or molasses it actually turns my stomach. I don’t say nothing, personal choice and all, but I just can’t fathom that kind of sugar shock in the morning.

    @John Cole: YOu need to get yourself some datil pepper sauce.

  51. 51.

    Cacti

    @Gin & Tonic:

    And am I a northern elitist for saying that I can’t tell the difference between regular grits and wallpaper paste?

    Not really.

    Lots of people find them bland. Even when I lived in the south, they were a once-in-a-while food for me.

  54. 54.

    karen

    Ugh, it’s 40 degrees and raining in Seattle. The winters are getting more interesting – more snow – but the springs are killing me. So cold and wet, there’s no desire to go outside at all. I would kill for 75 degrees and the smell of manure right now.

  55. 55.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    Sheeps, can’t beat em for recreation.

    this post probly is why I stayed here for so long, that and the critter posts, and the prevailing neurosis tuned into mine, a fair amount, and a collection of odd balls with senses of humor on my frequency. That and my own passion for solitude. Not a loner by any means, but a lot of people wear me out. A handful of folks to chat with now and then, in person, lots of critters, and an internet connection is about all I need these days. Or want.

    And the place I landed really is enchanted, the physical and spiritual beauty, and like no other I’ve seen in any of the many places lived in this country. A place that is truly multi cultured and not white majority is beyond explanation how it has changed my thinking and opened the mind. And is something I wouldn’t trade for anything.

  56. 56.

    WyldPirate

    @John Cole:

    And the only way to eat grits is with a shitload of hot sauce.

    You can tell that your introduction to grits the sorry-assed watery grits the military served in mess halls and in the field, Cole. The only way to make them palatable was a dousing in hot sauce.

    Best grits condiment hands-down is red-eye gravy made from salt-cured country ham.

  57. 57.

    Linnaeus

    Here in the Great Northwest, it’s a typical March day, i.e. low 40s and rainy all day.

    Which is at least steady and predictable. Yesterday we had: 1) rain 2) sleet 3) sun 4) snow 5) sun again then back to 6) rain. Oh, and some wind. All in one day.

  61. 61.

    Anne Laurie

    @Kristine: My Cole-style dream environment involves ‘a place where I could set up a seed tray that the godsdamned cats wouldn’t knock over for the godsdamned dogs to track starter mix everywhere’.

    To be perfectly honest, my dream environment involves a duplex setup where we (me, the Spousal Unit, the dogs, the cats) live in one half, and the plants / collections / parlor-party-and-guest room has an entirely separate ecosystem.

  63. 63.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I sometimes think I wouldn’t mind living in a small town as long as I had good internet access. Lots of problems, of course, (hard to find a job, cultural isolation, high proportion of crazies), but when I get romantic I think a small town in Wisconsin or Nebraska or something after college would be just the ticket.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    See, I really think this is the major difference between PC people and Mac people. I would rather stick a fork in my eye than spend hours fiddling with the insides of a computer, but you guys seem to really enjoy it.

  65. 65.

    Gretchen

    I grew up in Detroit, lived in Chicago and now Kansas City. I know people who drive 50 miles each way to work so they can live out in the country, and I just don’t get it. It creeps me out to be out of sight and sound of other people – feels like it’s just me and the ax murderer out in the country.

  66. 66.

    Mark S.

    The whole house would be underground with windows in a 360 degree perimeter.

    Wouldn’t you be looking at dirt?

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen any potential free agent fuck over his team to the extent Dwight Howard has, and I remember LeBron. Dwight claims to change his mind every day, but he wants to go to the Nets and for the Nets to not have to give anything up for him. Why he couldn’t keep his mouth shut until the end of the season is beyond me.

  69. 69.

    Waynski

    Your thoughts bordered a little on Unabomber for this city boy, John, but they were well written and beautiful at times. I get it. Moved out of NYC last year into a small town in NJ, which is not nearly as bucolic as your dream space, but I had a tomato plant for the first time since I left home for college. It was my only plant last year, but I cared for it as though it were an infant. My Aunt had a dairy farm up in Vermont with about 140 acres. For me it was great to visit, but like I said, I’m a city boy. One of the coolest things I ever saw was a cow giving birth to a calf and hanging out with cows is cool, despite some earlier innuendo on the thread. I hope you find that place you’re looking for.

  72. 72.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @John Cole:

    Y’all up north call it polenta. And no, I am not kidding. There really is no substantive difference. It’s polenta with cheese.

    There’s a wee bit of a difference in that southern grits (at least, the ones to which I have been uncomfortably introduced) are often hominy, and the best are coarser-ground. Go north and west, though, and cornmeal mush is pretty much identical to polenta.

    Pretty much every national and regional cuisine has its porridge, whether it’s oats or semolina or congee or corn mush.

  73. 73.

    smintheus

    Unwrapped the fig trees today here in northern PA. Once again they survived the winter well to a height of about 9 feet. I developed a fool-proof system for wintering over my figs which is the envy of every would-be fig grower in the region…in effect practically everybody who’s emigrated from Greece and Syria.

  76. 76.

    Little Boots

    I tried grits once and hated them totally.

    I can never be president.

    (Yeah, that’s the reason.)

  78. 78.

    dww44

    @Cassidy: Most people I know don’t eat sweet stuff in, on, or with their grits. Maybe with pure cane syrup on a cold winter morning. But that hails from my long ago childhood. Mostly they/we like our grits in the morning with eggs, scrambled or not, and toast or biscuits and bacon or sausage. We also love grits as part of a fried quail/dove supper where the birds are pan fried and smothered in gravy. In the winter, grits, particularly the version with cheese, are a preferred accompaniment to fried fish, be they catfish or bream or some other locally caught fresh water fish. And, finally, one of the tastiest dishes around is a grits and shrimp casserole of sorts.

  79. 79.

    handy

    Well (the tiny sliver of presence of) the Pac-12 is off to a rocking start in the Tourney. Roll on you bears…to the showers.

  80. 80.

    Suffern ACE

    @Little Boots: Well, that and the fact that you’d keep calling up the voters at 2:00am wanting to play with them. Voters hate that most of all.

  82. 82.

    Bubblegum Tate

    That Chris Mooney book sounds fascinating. I will be purchasing it in the near future.

    Also: Good job, Chicago Bulls!

  87. 87.

    David Koch

    My dream house is in the middle of a clearing in the middle of the woods, built into the side of a hill.

    Ted Kaczynski is subleting.

  88. 88.

    Martin

    I’m not quite sure where I need to land. I’ve lived in NYC. I’ve lived in Denver. I now live in the OC. I’ve lived in a town of 1000 people. I’ve spent months in an unincorporated area where the nearest neighbor was 10 miles away.

    They’re all nice in different ways. I miss NYC quite frequently, but I also liked the small town and the boonies. I think if I had my druthers, it’d be a big monkey of land out in the woods, within 3 hours or so from NYC. I’m pretty self-reliant, and if I could pull it off (and I think if I looked I probably could) then I’d grab 20-30 acres and build my wife her dream house. I probably shouldn’t look though.

  93. 93.

    Yutsano

    @Linnaeus: Watching it snow from 20 stories up yesterday was quite a trip, especially in downtown. I don’t even want to know what the passes are like right now.

  94. 94.

    Little Boots

    @THE:

    he’s awesome.

    actually so is chris mooney.

    they hate each other, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

    I was just stirring the pot.

  96. 96.

    Joseph Nobles

    I think my brother and sister-in-law just announced a divorce on Facebook. I’m hoping not, because I love them both and I’ve heard no hint of any such thing and her friends are saying, “I hope this is a hack and I’m here if it’s not”. And neither are saying anything else, so maybe it is a hack and an oh-not-funny-at-all prank. But in the meantime my stomach is in knots.

  97. 97.

    dead existentialist

    @Martin: Just remember the potential suitors for that daughter of yours that such a move would entail. You move to the wrong place and your shovel-ready projects increase exponentially.

    Of course, 20-30 acres has the capacity to hold a lot of dead suitors copses.

  99. 99.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    It’s not exactly frog marching a top bankster, but pretty cool, nonetheless. Justice comes in more than one package.

    (CBS News) When we first met Lynn Szymoniak on 60 Minutes last year, she was an angry homeowner facing foreclosure. Now, Szymoniak is walking away with an $18 million settlement after blowing the whistle on a “robo-signing” fraud that she says was perpetrated by some of the nation’s largest mortgage companies.

    Szymoniak described her win as “a little surreal,” speaking by phone to 60 Minutes yesterday.

    Good for her!!

  101. 101.

    WyldPirate

    @Little Boots:

    Pharyngula is the shiznit, Little Boots. PZ Myers can get on some righteous rants at the Talibamgelicals and other assorted religious zealots.

  102. 102.

    freelancer

    he’s awesome.
    actually so is chris mooney.
    they hate each other, but that’s how it goes sometimes.
    I was just stirring the pot.

    I’m not sure about love lost between PZ and Mooney, but I do remember Myers not liking when Mooney was advocating conciliation as a means of activism because of Mooney’s work with Matt Nisbet. They were called “the framers” because they advocated that atheists could gain the acceptance and respect of religious people if only they framed it right. This included bending over backwards to accommodate the most hateful of religious people instead of being blunt and stating with resolve that no, “Being what I am means not thinking the things you think and you’re just going to have to deal with the fact that we live in a world where people like you can’t set people like me on fire anymore.”

    From my understanding of this years old, online kerfuffle is that Mooney is no longer an accommodationist as he is an active and well-respected skeptic and secular activist. As such, there might not be any there there between Myers and Mooney.

  104. 104.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yes we do. The case cost $225 new and it runs anything I put in it. No need to buy a pretty garden someone else built every two years or so when you can make and care for your own.

    Recycling at its best. I’ll also bet that I’ve spent less on computers in the last ten years than you have.

    :p

  105. 105.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @dead existentialist:

    Well, that’s one reality. In my reality, at least, none of my rural relatives have been axe murderered. (Although some of them may be axe murderers, on the sly.)

  106. 106.

    Martin

    @dead existentialist:

    Just remember the potential suitors for that daughter of yours that such a move would entail. You move to the wrong place and your shovel-ready projects increase exponentially.

    True. See, these are the reasons I shouldn’t look. I really shouldn’t start thinking about this stuff.

  107. 107.

    Little Boots

    @WyldPirate:

    I know. I’m not even sure I’m an atheist, but I love that he is an unabashed, fuck you, take no prisoners atheist.

    I do.

  110. 110.

    Yutsano

    @Linnaeus: My mom’s cousin’s daughters (no I’m not figuring out the relationship to me!) will be thrilled at the late ski season though. This might run all the way into April.

    I’m trying to not turn my heat on. My resolve is fading fast on this point.

  112. 112.

    Martin

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    ’ll also bet that I’ve spent less on computers in the last ten years than you have.

    Probably, but even a Mac laptop costs only $1/day over a useful lifespan. Given how much time we generally spend with our computers each day, there seem to be better places to save money. Take your car. If your car lasts 100,000 miles, and you average 30MPH, your car only gives you about 3500 hours of use. At $20,000, you’re paying about $6/hr, plus another $5/hr at least for gas, insurance, maintenance. If I spend 4 hours a day at my computer, that’s $0.25/hr vs $11/hr for the car. It’s a no brainer where I should look for savings.

    I should note that everyone hates that I do this sort of thing.

  115. 115.

    BethanyAnne

    @Little Boots: I grew up south of Houston, and used the dot com bubble to live in Berkeley for a decade. When the Little Depression hit, I had to move back to Texas. I’ve been saving for a year, and should have enough to move back to SF in September, if nothing goes terribly wrong. *crosses fingers*

  117. 117.

    Kristine

    @patrick II: I remember how bad they were just a few years ago. Now they’re scary good again. And to be able to beat the heat w/o DRose is a good sign.

    I like seeing Scottie Pippen on the sidelines, too. He looks like he’e having a blast.

  119. 119.

    Mnemosyne

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    I’ll also bet that I’ve spent less on computers in the last ten years than you have.

    You probably have, but a guy who works on his own car has probably spent way less money on oil changes and car repairs than you have.

    I only get annoyed when the guy with the rebuilt classic car starts mocking me for buying a Toyota and saying that only people who rebuild their cars from the ground up should be allowed to drive. Some of us just want to buy a Toyota off the lot and drive away without having to think about what’s under the hood too much.

    ETA: Heh, I see Martin and I were thinking along the same lines.

    ETA #2: Also, I knit, so I understand the appeal of getting exactly what you want by making it yourself. And I guarantee you that I’ve spent way more on yarn and yarn accessories than you have on computer gear.

  120. 120.

    xyzxyzxyz

    From us here in Seattle: What is this “spring” of which you speak? It can’t be based on the weather. Up here it rains until July 5th….like clockwork. Until then, I would appreciate no photos of flowers, no pictures of dogs romping in the sun, and no cat bellies exposed to solar radiation. We prefer to be miserable until the summer…..which explains our fascination with Mariners and ultimate transition to the Seahawks in July. Please, let us lie in our misery until then.

  121. 121.

    BethanyAnne

    @Little Boots: I actually prefer Berkeley – weather’s better, and the rent is about 40% cheaper. But I’ve got tons of friends in the city, and I miss em.

  123. 123.

    WyldPirate

    @Little Boots:

    I like that about PZ as well, Little Boots. I used to be a raging atheist much like him. I’ve kind of mellowed about it a bit as I’ve gotten older. The constant rage part isn’t really worth the rise in blood pressure it causes. I’m willing to live and let live as long as the religious folk keep their fairy tales to themselves.

  125. 125.

    Little Boots

    @WyldPirate:

    and mellow is great. but you know, as I wrestle with all this, I like that forthright, here’s how it is, deal with it, stuff that PZ dishes out. I really do.

  129. 129.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Martin:

    Those are great numbers if you don’t have any free time on your hands. If you do then savings like that are only ‘savings’, not real savings. If I wasn’t free to do this and have the tools and raw materials already on hand then your cost analysis would be spot on.

    It pays (and saves) to work with your hands. People like you (pay someone to make your life ‘nice’) pay me nicely for my custom work. I’ll live with that.

    BTW, at your costing of a dollar a day for computing on a Mac (lifetime) I’m kicking your asses on a pc. I believe that the daily cost is much higher for the Mac user that has to be on the cutting edge, just as it would be in the pc world.

    I build a good system for the time and upgrade rarely (three times in the last ten years). My pc is mostly for work and light gaming, I need the cooling for the nine hard drives in the case (11 TB storage).

  130. 130.

    WyldPirate

    @Martin:

    I should note that everyone hates that I do this sort of thing.

    Well, now that you mention it, that does seem a bit like combing the crotch hair of a fruit fly for crab lice.

  133. 133.

    WyldPirate

    @Little Boots:

    I can deal on the forthright angle, Little Boots.

    I admit that I get sick to death of all the daily “Praise Jeebus” horseshit from all of FB friends from my younger days. It’s tiresome seeing all the sappy shit and calls for prayer and “prayers sent” replies. I usually leave them alone until one of them gets on their high-horse and starts spouting bullshit along the lines of “god needs to be brought back into ________” or they start some horseshit about Obama being a Muslim. When that happens, I crank up my velvet-encased gonad vice and gently embarrass their asses.

  134. 134.

    ruemara

    I grew up in NYC. San Francisco seemed small yet weirdly spread out. LA, doubly or even triply so. Now I’m in a small town of 50k and sometimes pine for a tiny little place of maybe 5. Me, my cats, a couple of dogs…maybe some decent local fay… I love the city, but I don’t really want to live there permanent like. I’m satisfied with the townieness of my life right now.

    Why is it warm in whatever the heck cold place you are, yet I’m in Cali and rather chilled? wth?

    On the up side, I can wear a lot of sweaters. On the down side, I’d really rather not.

    Plus, I came home to find trustee papers have been filed. Not awesome, but it’s nice to finally have a date.

    @IrishGirl: Bag End was in town, at least up on the hill.

  135. 135.

    Little Boots

    @WyldPirate:

    and I agree. I’m not sure I’m there yet, but I will take forthright disagreement over soft, maybe, sorta, can you maybe kinda come around stuff every time.

    that’s what I like about Pharyngula.

  138. 138.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Mnemosyne:

    I think the Toyota and self-built classic car analogy is the wrong one. I look at it more like the poseur that pays someone to build his car and then drives around showing it off. AKA, ‘his tool box is his credit card’.

    I’m the real deal. ;)

  139. 139.

    Mnemosyne

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    But I never claimed that I built my MacBook. It’s a machine that I bought and use, and one of the reasons I bought it is that it’s a reliable brand name that’s never given me trouble. So, yes, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a lot like my 12-year-old Toyota.

    That’s where you guys make your mistake. When we show you our Corolla, you assume we’re trying to claim we built it from scratch, whereas we don’t even care enough to make that claim.

  141. 141.

    Martin

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Those are great numbers if you don’t have any free time on your hands. If you do then savings like that are only ‘savings’, not real savings. If I wasn’t free to do this and have the tools and raw materials already on hand then your cost analysis would be spot on.
    __
    It pays (and saves) to work with your hands. People like you (pay someone to make your life ‘nice’) pay me nicely for my custom work. I’ll live with that.

    See, but now you’re sorta changing the rules. You’re declaring the PC a hobby, and no hobby can be justified financially against anyone else’s hobby. Otherwise I have to put my power tools and construction savings against your PC, and I’m going to win that fight. But the cost benefits of your hobbies really belies the point – it’s a hobby. It’s something you’re willing to trade your time for, or even to spend money on, and hobbies are personal. So if that’s your hobby, rock on. But if it’s not, then the argument falls apart because even then there are probably better hands-on savings if we’re just burning hours – from cooking to growing your own food, to doing your own home repairs, etc. I’ve added an easy $50K to the value of my home (above inflation) over the last decade for a tools outlay of about $8K, and probably $10K or so in repairs/maintenance that we would have had to pay someone else. But even without all of that, it’s my hobby and I still would have spent the money on tools if only to make stuff for my kids.

    BTW, at your costing of a dollar a day for computing on a Mac (lifetime) I’m kicking your asses on a pc. I believe that the daily cost is much higher for the Mac user that has to be on the cutting edge, just as it would be in the pc world.

    Actually, probably not. Resale value of Macs has no parallel in the PC world. If you flip your machines at every refresh, you still come in pretty close to $1/day. A $1299 (new) MacBook Air will net you about $900-$1000 today used.

  142. 142.

    Mnemosyne

    @freelancer:

    Though you have to admit, it’s going to be pretty damn funny to see wingnut Orson Scott Card’s reaction now that it’s his book that’s on the wrong side of the censorship line.

  143. 143.

    Little Boots

    would you people come up to the new thread already.

    John is very angry.

    and silent.

  144. 144.

    Mnemosyne

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Also, too, don’t get me wrong — I’m more than happy to admire your classic car and all the work you put into it, but you’re probably not going to be able to inspire me to ditch my ol’ reliable Toyota and do the same thing.

    ETA: I think this whole argument can be resolved if you post links to the kitteh pictures. Just sayin’.

  145. 145.

    freelancer

    @Mnemosyne:

    Oh, growing up I loved the first series of Ender Wiggin books. The newer ones following Bean kinda suck, but I can’t bring myself to re-read any of them because Card is such a raving bigot and right wing loon.

  146. 146.

    Chuck Butcher

    It snowed its ass off last night and thawed off today so it wasn’t real nice looking at the national weather map. It’ll make the upper 40s and dreary the rest of the week. It is March, this is NE OR, and I have cabin fever. The wife is talking move where there is no winter, I look at the alternatives and wince and cringe.

    There is no way I’ll do hurricanes or tornados and SoCal ain’t ever on my list. Well hell… kinda narrows things. I don’t like this talk.

  147. 147.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chuck Butcher:

    It’s actually a few degrees warmer in San Francisco than it is here in So Cal right now. You might like central California, which is the whole stretch between Santa Barbara and San Francisco. San Luis Obispo is a very nice city.

  148. 148.

    patrick II

    @Kristine:
    Yeah, it is nice to see Pippen there. D Wade inadvertantly did Pippen a favor during free agency last year. Wade said that Chicago had a problem with loyalty to its players. He didn’t say it, but it was clear the way Pippen was pushed out of the door after their last championship was not well received by elite players. Not long after Wade’s comments the Bulls found a job for Pippen in the organization to try and change their reputation. They did themselves and Pippen a favor. He has been my favorite Bull, so elegant in his play that he was often underrated.

  149. 149.

    asiangrrlMN

    It’s fucking seventy degrees in MN. In mid-March. I fucking hate it. I want more snow, more cold, and we get plenty of sunshine, thankyewverymuch. I NEED MY WINTER!

  151. 151.

    Martin

    @Mnemosyne: Heh. The girl is going up camping near Big Bear this weekend. We’re packing her for snow. AsiangrrlMN may want to try migrating much further south, but up a few thousand feet instead.

  152. 152.

    Chuck Butcher

    Well, I didn’t paint this thing – outside my ability set, but every bolt and screw was removed/replaced by me and the drivetrain/suspension put together by me. Reasonable? No. But no car company ever built this, either – so there are a handful in the world and the driving experience limited to a handful.

    As an investment, for cash outlay – good, at time as wage plus cash – not ever on a bet. No, it doesn’t get good gas mileage.

  153. 153.

    Mnemosyne

    @Martin:

    I’m starting to wonder if we’re going to have another bizarrely chilly summer like we did in 2009 (or was it 2010, I forget). I don’t mind doing without the 100+ degree days in the Valley, but it kinda freaks me out, too.

    But, either way, time for sleep. ‘Night, all!

  157. 157.

    Anne Laurie

    @WyldPirate:

    I’m willing to live and let live as long as the religious folk keep their fairy tales to themselves.

    As a religious person of the non-monotheist persuasion, let me attest that devout atheists of the ‘where’s yer skyfairy daddy naow, hawhawhaw’ school can be quite as annoying as their Talibangelical/Opus Dei/Objectivist kinfolk. In your favor, there are far fewer proslytising atheists.

  158. 158.

    patrick II

    @FlipYrWhig:

    It was a mistake, but three bad seconds out of a sixteen year career wasn’t bad.

    That happened during the playoffs after Jordan’ first retirement year,, the same year Pippen lead his team in everything (Oscar Robertson the only other player to do so) — scoring, assists, and blocks, and the entire league in steals, averaging 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game, while shooting 49.1% from the field. He was also the best defender I have ever seen, a 6’7″ guy who guarded everyone from point guard to short stints on Shaq.

    So, yeah, in spite of the three seconds Pip was a great player.

  159. 159.

    WyldPirate

    @Anne Laurie:
    I know what you mean, Anne Laurie. I see the merit in the argument that radical atheists are just as obnoxious as the worst 24/7/365 burn-in-hell Bible thumpers.

    As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten comfortable with the fact that: a.) I have no reason to justify to believers who hold atheists in contempt that I see no evidence of “supreme being(s)” guiding anything in nature or the live’s of people, and b.) I’ve realized that epistemologies based on supernatural entities or world views are a waste of time trying to falsify. Believers will always find a gap to stick their God into.

  160. 160.

    Comrade Mary

    @Mnemosyne: Forget that. It was just under 70 degrees in Toronto today, and it’s staying that warm through the weekend.

    I got out on my bike today (about a 12 mile round trip) to get my sprained foot assessed by my doctor. Luckily, he agreed that it’s healing well, so I didn’t have to ask for either forgiveness or permission.

    Did you commit to a bike yet?

  161. 161.

    AA+ Bonds

    does anyone know a good MS Word to LaTeX converter that has no limited trial and does not involve reinstalling the hideous useless monstrosity of OpenOffice

  162. 162.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Martin:

    Ummm, quite the ‘message’ there. Poke a Mac user and it’s like a broken magic eight ball; the same thing comes up again and again. ;)

    My tools and equipment used are used in my work. While they can be used for hobbies (which I do use them for), their primary use is for work my work. My work is on computers and while I enjoy working on them, it isn’t much of a hobby. I do enjoy the results and the ability to build a system to my specs and so on, but the result is something that I use more for work than play.

    My Mustang is my hobby and we drive it for pleasure. My guitar playing and luthier work are hobbies, I play, repair and tune stringed instruments (for self and friends) for enjoyment. My computer is another tool to me and that’s it, it’s not a hobby though I do enjoy gaming on it when I can.

    Argue all you want about cost, reselling and so on, because that’s what matters to you. I know what my real costs are and I know that you are wrong on my numbers.

    Good try though. You Mac owners are great fun to poke, even if the results are predictable as the sun rising. ;)

  165. 165.

    RedKitten

    Cole, you’ve got to come up to Nova Scotia sometime and visit. Bring the girls and Tunch. We live on 4 acres, with woods on three sides and facing a river. It’s lovely. We even have a front porch, so you can sit down, watch the river, and have a cigar. 20 minutes down the road from us is a winery, and 5 minutes up the road from us is a rail-to-trail.

    Come on, man — you need a vacation.

  168. 168.

    Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water

    I can imagine John in the Hundred Acre Wood with his friends Eeyore, Piglet ,and Tigger, I mean Lily, Rosie and Tunch

  171. 171.

    wapsie

    Sheesh, what is it with white people — liberals and conservatives alike — and pastoralism? What’s wrong with living, you know, *with* people?

    Man, the concept of civil society is just dead, isn’t it?

    I live in a middling-sized suburb in a backward Southern state. It’s okay, so long as I talk about nothing important with my neighbors. But if I ever get rich, I’m buying an apartment in Manhattan. Say what you will about the hassles of urban living — big cities, when they work, are energy, dynamism, intelligence, culture. Rural life is for seriously making a living off the land, if you can hack it (lived in Iowa for a decade, seen up close how hard serious rural life is), or else for vacations. Enough with pastoral fantasies. Let’s celebrate and restore civilization.

  174. 174.

    J.R.

    @John Cole: I like cows too, mostly. They are wonderful to milk, a very intimate experience. You lean against the side of the cow, and wash her udder with warm soapy water, and rinse everything off. She likes it.

    Then you put the sterilized stainless milk bucket under, and start pumping each teat, and there’s a squirting sound and a splatter against the metal bottom of the bucket. If you feel her tense up, you whip the bucket outta there, ’cause she’s about to kick and 9 times out of 10 she puts her foot down IN THE Bucket! in which case you pour out the milk and go get another sterile bucket.

    We milked a holstein for years, kept a calf on her and still got 2-3 gallons a day.

    The one bad thing is that except for milking time, the cow only had one recreational hobby, walking around the fence looking for a place she could get out! My neighbor Earl would call either early in the morning or just before dark and tell me, “JR, your cow is up here under the apple tree.”

    And I’d have to (get dressed/put on boots/etc) walk next door with a rope and a bucket with a little hard corn in it for a lure, and get the cow. I miss Earl and Woody, Appalachian Batchelor Farmers, they taught me a lot about working, pacing yourself so you can do it all day long.

    Anyway, John, cow is good, but work!! Best of luck getting to where you can have one. They’re wonderful, dumb, stubborn animals. It’s hard on your back milking one, or towing one back to your place.

  175. 175.

    Betsy

    @Gin & Tonic: The secret is plenty of salt and butter, and after they sit they get pasty and the only thing to do is fry slabs of the paste in bacon grease.

    Fixed that for you.

  176. 176.

    J.R.

    @Yutsano: Your Mom’s first cousins are your first cousins once removed (removed by that one generation). Their daughters are your second cousins. I think…

    I have quite a few, but mostly drifted away by now. If folks stay in the same general place it was easier to stay connected, but by the time email happened most of them had drifted away far enough it would be hard to reconnect. Which is a shame, most of them were interesting smart people.

  177. 177.

    THE

    @samara morgan:

    except THE.

    Oh. You remembered. :)

    Karzai demands US/NATO forces pull back to bases, and the Taliban break off talks.

    You really need to read that article carefully Samara. Karzai is asking for what Panetta was already talking about for months. That US lets ANA take over security in 2013. Prior to the final pullout in 2014. This is only news if you haven’t been paying attention.

    Crikey you really need to read my website. ;)

  178. 178.

    Mnemosyne

    @Comrade Mary:

    Did you commit to a bike yet?

    Not yet, but I think I’m leaning back towards the Trek Cocoa despite the fact that it only has three speeds. I took a long test ride near the bike shop, which has very similar terrain to where I live, and it wasn’t bad. The 7-speed Schwinn is adorable, but there’s a reason it’s $200 cheaper — the quality of the bike and its components is definitely much lower.

    @wapsie:

    Even white people get sick of having to deal with the weirdness of white people sometimes. :-)

  179. 179.

    samara morgan

    @THE:

    Karzai also said he now wants Afghan forces take the lead for countrywide security in 2013, a year ahead of schedule. He spoke as Afghan lawmakers were expressing outrage that the U.S. flew the soldier suspected in civilian killings to Kuwait Wednesday night when they were demanding he be tried in the country.

    Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai confirmed that Karzai was asking for NATO to immediately pull back from villages and rural areas to main bases.

  180. 180.

    samara morgan

    @THE: do you remember the old days, and the GNXP war on Pharyngula?
    Razib blograised me to think PZ was a liberal satan.
    Im more and more convinced of the grey matter hypothesis.
    Razib is also musically tone deaf…..being unable to appreciate music must correlate with lack of empathy somehow.
    ;)

  183. 183.

    samara morgan

    @THE: havent heard much about night-raiding in the news have you?
    Night-raids are just that. American troops doing house searches in the middle of night.
    Karzai and the Taliban both want them stopped.

  184. 184.

    THE

    do you remember the old days, and the GNXP war on Pharyngula?

    No Samara. I don’t recall that. It may be before I arrived there though. It wouldn’t surprise me.

    If I recall, Razib accepts the inevitability of religion whereas I find PZ’s hardline secularism much more to my taste. And I can imagine secular or semisecularized replacements for religion. e.g. Secular quasi religions like humanism, socialism. Also religiosity as cultural nostalgia like in Japan. You don’t actually have to believe in it but its an old tradition.

    That’s why I can’t stand Jesus but have no problems with Santa or the Easter Bunny. It makes to truth claims no faith demands. Just folk tradition.

  185. 185.

    THE

    OH Im in moderation hell because of the socia1sm word again. I will repost because this thread is old and maybe no-one is monitoring.

  186. 186.

    THE

    do you remember the old days, and the GNXP war on Pharyngula?

    No Samara. I don’t recall that. It may be before I arrived there though. It wouldn’t surprise me.

    If I recall, Razib accepts the inevitability of religion whereas I find PZ’s hardline secularism much more to my taste. And I can imagine secular or semisecularized replacements for religion. e.g. Secular quasi religions like humanism, socia1ism. Also religiosity as cultural nostalgia like in Japan. You don’t actually have to believe in it but its an old tradition.

    That’s why I can’t stand Jesus but have no problems with Santa or the Easter Bunny.
    It makes no truth claims no faith demands. Just folk tradition.

  188. 188.

    THE

    Re the Easter Bunny.

    You don’t get Bunnyite fundamentalists demanding equal time in science classes for the Rabbit & Egg theory alongside the Chicken and Egg theory.

    See the difference? ;D

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