Something about taking apart a deck that I built 12 years ago gives me the blues. . .
5.
SiubhanDuinne
I had my afternoon all planned around the final Met Opera Live in HD of the season (Handel’s Giulio Cesare), but unfortunately the satellite feed was borked so the theatre refunded everyone’s ticket price and I decided to drown my sorrows in a double espresso. So I’m at Starbucks, and across from me is a long table full of about a dozen kids all helping each other with math homework. It’s pretty cool to watch them: on some topics, some kids are the coaches, and on others they are the coachees. Very good-natured and collaborative. Socialism in middle school!!
I can do one better: mine’s still stacked at Lowe’s.
11.
raven
@PeakVT: I built it and now I’m taking it apart carefully so as much as possible can be used on our new deck. I’m doubling up by doing the demolition myself and then saving on materials for the next job.
Hey, at least you built it. The guy across the street has had his deck stacked next to his garage for the past 7 years.
Oh yeah? Which one has to take apart his old deck now? Your neighbor’s got one up on Raven.
14.
Amir Khalid
Can’t the makers of Sharpie sue stores that carry “Sharpei” markers? Or the customers that get fobbed off with them? I mean, this imitation product is probably a real dog.
@jeffreyw: Nice, we’ve got 6×6 posts and 2×8 joists that I think we can use along with the decking material itself. I also took apart a lower deck that was made with salvaged 2×4’s and if nothing else we’ll use them for concrete forms.
23.
scav
@jeffreyw: seconded, and that looks like some fine bacony/crispy pork effort.
24.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
“You’re a hound dog and you ain’t no pen of mine…”
25.
raven
@Todd: Can you get to it with a metal sawzall blade? Screw extractor?
eta The lengths of deck material that I an taking up have 8 deck screws in them. I have yet to be able to extract all 8 without stripping one. I’m going very slowly, tapping the bit into the screw and still stripping. Way of the world.
@Big R: Me too. Makes me feel a lot better about the future.
28.
Wapiti
@Todd: I used a vise grips to just twist those out when rebuilding my deck. If you have a rotten board, even easier – remove the rotten board to make it easy to get the vise grips on the heads of the screws.
29.
raven
@Wapiti: Bolt cutters snap em pretty easily. Cut em off and hammer them flush.
Siiiiigh, was already feeling like utter crap and then I had to watch my soccer team get stomped like the Dickens. THIS WEEKEND ALREADY SUCKS. :(
31.
Nicole
@jeffreyw: Potato… sigh. I’m on Day 6 of a low-carb diet (vegetarian version) and while the food is pretty good, I am carb craving. That said, I give props to the author of the book I’m using. I bought a week’s worth of ingredients for her recipes and there was nothing in there my grandmother wouldn’t have recognized as food. Well, except for the tofu.
32.
Suffern ACE
Sitting at ewr, two hours before a flight. We could have a balloon juice meet up in terminal C.
33.
Amir Khalid
@Alison:
You aren’t referring to Newcastle, by any chance? I’m just a curious Liverpool fan; I hope you don’t mind my asking. :)
Can’t the makers of Sharpie sue stores that carry “Sharpei” markers?
Probably not; and if you could get a judgment, they’ll just file for Chaper 7 bankruptcy and re-open in a couple of months with approximately the same ownership and a similar name.
And good luck recovering from the Chinese counterfeiters.
Old machinist trick: use a left-hand drill bit that’s a slightly smaller diameter than the shank of the screw. Most times the screw will back right out as soon as the drill bites.
Forest is still alive for the playoffs with one match left. They need to beat Leicester next week and hope that either Bolton or Crystal Palace doesn’t win.
If I could pick one Premier League match to attend next season, it would definitely be the Welsh derby. The fan intensity for those two fixtures is going to be off the charts.
40.
RobertDSC-eMac 1.25
Dialing in a new/old Mac today. This time I picked up a PowerMac G5 2.0 Ghz dual processor machine with a fre 24-inch monitor. My contact gave me the monitor free of charge when I showed up because the screen has a small but noticeable line going through the left side of the screen.
This line bothers me not ONE BIT. I said I’d take it and he let me have it. I’ve spent most of yesterday afternoon and today installing software and getting the new Mac settled in my menagerie of old Macs. So much fun. :)
41.
Suffern ACE
@burnspbesq: I would be willing invade china to protect sharpie from financial harm, although the makers is diet Coak and Tied detergent are safe.
42.
burnspbesq
Huge day of college lacrosse on ESPNU. Loyola – Johns Hopkins on now, followed by Cornell – Princeton and Notre Dame – Syracuse.
The lengths of deck material that I an taking up have 8 deck screws in them. I have yet to be able to extract all 8 without stripping one.
For the new deck, use Robertson (square drive) screws. They’re much less likely to be damaged while driving, so you’ll have a better chance of getting them in and out without damage.
@jeffreyw: I have to say, there is just something about that pup that makes me smile every time.
BTW, I’ve been noticing the rocks in some of your pics – did you do all that yourself? Very nice mix of color & texture. I’ve been adding more to my own gardens, but I always require help with hauling them around. Trying to decide whether to tackle converting a swimming pool (built in 1958) to some kind of water garden, without a big demo. Ugh. Anyway, great photos as always.
48.
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
One of those two Welsh clubs, Cardiff City, is owned by Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan. I have less than fond memories of my only encounter with Tan. At a press conference, I asked one of his executives a fairly obvious question; instead of answering it, the executive unaccountably turned into a terrified, shivering wreck. Tan took the mic and spent five minutes excoriating me for having the temerity to doubt the wisdom of his (Tan’s, not the executive’s) corporate strategy.
Despite which, I have no ill-will against Cardiff, and I hope they do well in the English Premier League.
@Steeplejack: Yes. There were maybe a few curses uttered round these parts.
50.
MomSense
Just came in from the garden and cleaned up a couple of the perennial beds. I couldn’t find my gloves so I have a lot of crusted dirt on my hands and under my nails. Wow–did it ever feel great to play in the dirt! It was a loooooong winter.
@Luna Sea: Thanks! We have hauled a bunch of rock in the time we’ve been here, but last year we hired a landscaper to redo much of our front. They ripped out many year’s worth of Mrs J’s mulch, put down a weed barrier over the bare dirt, and covered that with river pebbles with a topping of a more decorative mix. Most of the larger rocks were there already but they did relocate and arrange them quite nicely.
53.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: I wouldn’t walk across the street to get to a ceremony with Linc. He’s, how shall I say, not the most dynamic public personality.
Maybe you can help me remember something. I am sort of a Newcastle fan, mainly because of an (I think) iconic midfielder who was their heart and soul until probably a few years ago. I cannot remember his name to save my life. Maybe Alan something?
I used to see a lot more Newcastle games on Fox Soccer Channel when I first got it than I do now. Ah, the shifting fortunes of football.
@Steeplejack: Alan Shearer! Newcastle AND the EPL’s top goal scorer :)
57.
MattR
@burnspbesq: No spoilers. I got a late start and am only at halftime of the first game. Hoping that victories today and next Friday at West Point will allow us to extend our tournament streak to 42 years.
58.
22over7
Just got back from vacation (five days on the Cali central coast, wine and chowder and beaches oh my) and am in the process of climbing Mt. Laundry. Might need a Sherpa.
59.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: This story made me laugh for no good reason whatsoever. :)
I’ve never stripped or sheared a Kreg screw either, though they don’t sell flathead screws as far as I’ve seen. But I use Kregs whenever I can. Sears had a big online sale on them a couple of years ago and I bought about 25,000 in various sizes (300 lbs of screws for about $150 – free shipping). Gone through probably 15% of them already.
61.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: I’m going to be there anyway. Shit, I have a picture of Zell Miller and me!
Just make sure you don’t get a Sharpa, the cheap Chinese knockoff, instead.
I’m helping a friend move today. Just hauling a carload of stuff, not doing the really tough stuff. Also working on installing some LED strip lights, which I’m convinced are the future of lighting.
Hotel in Pismo Beach (Shell Beach, actually) with side trips to Morro Bay, Paso Robles, and most of the wineries in between. Spouse got lots of golf, I got dolphin, whale, and otter sightings, we both ate too much and drank too much. In other words, an excellent vacation.
69.
raven
@22over7: Montana de Oro! Is the nuke plant still there?
My most recent favorite example of a Chinese product name is some medicine(maybe for blood pressure?) whose English name is “Viplant retardS”. When I saw the posters, I laughed my ass off and scrambled for my camera – while dozens of Taiwanese stared at me and wondered WTF?
Edit: And we won’t even go into the racially-sensitive question of Taiwanese toothpaste.
Aside from it being fashionable to hate on Apple, why such a different response? I can appreciate somewhat wanting to hold a US company like Apple to a higher standard, but Microsoft makes the XBox in the same factory as the iPhone. HP and Dell make laptops in the same factory as well. And the clothing from those garment factories went to all kinds of US retailers.
Curious why we have different standards for different industries and different standards even within the same industry.
@Roger Moore: I used a neighbor’s hammer drill to drive Home Depot’s philips-head deck screws, and have put in screws as long as 4″ without a pilot hole. Of course controlling the drill’s speed helps. Worked so well, I went out and bought 2 hammer drills. Built 2 16’X20′ sheds without ever pounding a nail (‘cept for the shingles). Survived 2 hurricanes.
78.
Todd
Quite possibly the finest comment I’ve ever seen on Free Republic.
Imagine if all those women in the internet porn industry, were married and raising children. The future of America would be bright.
Sometimes, the most profoundly stupid statements are lost on the reader because of the simplicity of the expression. The eye glances over the words and the brain resists pondering just how deep the stupid goes.
I’d say poster “pinochet” (nice nym) has stupid running through the marrow.
79.
dimmic rat
Does anyone have any suggestions for a site with a good breakdown on what has been happening in Iraq since we pulled out? I only see the occasional blurb on the news.
80.
Svensker
Anybody heard anything about General Stuck? People were asking last week but I missed if there was an answer.
81.
Ben Franklin
See. All that’s missing is motivation….oh, and Leadership.
The House of Representatives passed legislation Friday giving the Federal Aviation Administration unique flexibility under sequestration to use agency funds to avoid air traffic controller furloughs.
The final vote was 361-41 — because it was fast-tracked it required a two-thirds House majority to pass.
The legislation, now adopted by both chambers in a unusually swift and deliberate fashion over the course of 15 hours, is intended to remedy widespread staffing-related flight delays which have dogged travelers all week.
@Todd: Reminds me of a time I was in a store. A guy flipping through a magazine with Danica on it was complaining that she got too much attention and money.
As he was flipping through photos of her.
You know, if he wanted to watch her drive, that’s one thing. But if he is going to be peering at a photo shoot that she got paid to do, maybe he can put 2 and 2 together and figure out that *he* is the one making that happen.
83.
MikeJ
@? Martin: Because Apple’s corporate image is that they aren’t as evil as everybody else.
84.
Ben Franklin
26 April 2013: Bradley Manning will not be a grand marshal in this year’s San Francisco Pride celebration. His nomination was a mistake and should never have been allowed to happen. A staff person at SF Pride, acting under his own initiative, prematurely contacted Bradley Manning based on internal conversations within the SF Pride organization. That was an error and that person has been disciplined. He does not now, nor did he at that time, speak for SF Pride.
Bradley Manning is facing the military justice system of this country. We all await the decision of that system. However, until that time, even the hint of support for actions which placed in harms way the lives of our men and women in uniform — and countless others, military and civilian alike — will not be tolerated by the leadership of San Francisco Pride. It is, and would be, an insult to every one, gay and straight, who has ever served in the military of this country. There are many, gay and straight, military and non-military, who believe Bradley Manning to be innocent. There are many who feel differently. Under the US Constitution, they have a first amendment right to show up, participate and voice their opinions at Pride this year.
Specifically, what these events have revealed is a system whereby a less-than-handful of people may decide who represents the LGBT community’s highest aspirations as grand marshals for SF Pride. This is a systemic failure that now has become apparent and will be rectified. In point of fact, less than 15 people actually cast votes for Bradley Manning. These 15 people are part of what is called the SF Pride Electoral College, comprised of former SF Pride Grand Marshals. However, as an organization with a responsibility to serve the broader community, SF Pride repudiates this vote. The Board of Directors for SF Pride never voted to support this nomination. Bradley Manning will have his day in court, but will not serve as an official participant in the SF Pride Parade.
Jesus Christ on a stick, man, you’re not even trying for subtlety anymore. Your trolling used to have a little foreplay to it, but now you just want to jam it in and get it over with.
I don’t think this relationship is working out….
87.
Ben Franklin
First, while even a hint of support for Manning will not be tolerated, there is a long roster of large corporations serving as the event’s sponsors who are welcomed with open arms. The list is here. It includes AT&T and Verizon, the telecom giants that enabled the illegal warrantless eavesdropping on US citizens by the Bush administration and its NSA, only to get retroactively immunized from Congress and thus shielded from all criminal and civil liability (including a lawsuit brought in San Francisco against those corporations by their customers who were illegally spied on). Last month, AT&T was fined by OSHA for failing to protect one of its employees who was attacked, was found by the FCC last year to have overcharged customers by secretly switching them to plans they didn’t want, and is now being sued by the US government for “allegedly bill[ing] the government improperly for services designed for the deaf and hard-of-hearing who place calls by typing messages over the web.”
@Ben Franklin:
I can’t even guess at what you think is wrong with that statement.
94.
AA+ Bonds
It’s not right but I am really getting a kick out of the epic Dutschke/Curtis mind war; I know a handful of people like them and I blame the Internet . . . I hope we find out every last hairy detail.
Poor wittle mistaken Bradley. Not even the gay guys want to support him. With the date rapist sequestered in the Ecuadorian Embassy, that leaves only some overaged Birkenstock wearing, knit cap clad, hackey sack playing, raw food vegan progressive purists, none of who have enough money left over from their coffee shop or photocopy store jobs to do much.
If the board is rotten you can bust it apart at the rotitude giving you leverage to separate the board from the stripped screws, exposing the heads enough to get ViceGrips on ’em.
That’s really cute, how you’re suddenly Richard Nixon . . .
100.
AA+ Bonds
Every man to the battlements to know nothing about what our government does overseas! We don’t want to know, we don’t deserve to know, and by God, we’ll throw everyone who lets us know into a dark hole to rot!
Why ask questions about the CIA base that got attacked during the Benghazi incident? The Republicans are asking the wrong questions – thus no questions should be asked!
And all those people in other countries who used Manning’s efforts to help overthrow their dictators? Shit – they don’t know what national security is all about; look at all the trouble they’ve caused!
Sadly, the stripped screws aren’t in the rot. Given that I loaned out my sawzall years ago and will never see it again, I like the left bit and/or vice grip solutions posed.
It’s a tough but wrong-headed attempt to square the circle, I think; an attempt to appear “grateful” in the wake of changes to DADT. Which, IMO, is unnecessary – human rights are human rights – and you didn’t see an en masse movement to spy on/jail the Reds from within the civil rights movement after 1964.
And never mind how Manning’s identity and his struggles within the military because of it have been used against him via leaks to the press in order to portray him as “unstable”. Those crazy gays!, say the people that the Pride folks are now defending.
I think we really are seeing a status-obsessed elite pull the rug out from under LGBT people on this one. Manning wasn’t a gay issue until his prosecutors made it one.
Never EVER buy fasteners from Home Deport, Lowes, or other big box store. They sell too much pot metal crap to depend on ’em. I buy all my fasteners at a (ta-dah) contractor’s outlet. Yes it’s 10 to 20 percent more per box but they stand behind their product and I don’t run into striped head wastage, so it all evens out.
And everybody should buy the all steel bit drivers.
If you ever get out toward Wisconsin/Iowa/Minnesota way Let us know. I have been following you since ‘Brendan Calling’ and owe you a beer or two in thanks for all the smiles you have provided. Have heard your groups on Youtube & would love to see them live
The idea is to create a space to use the unrotten part to lever the wood away so all you have are the screws exposed by the board width.
Another way is to drill holes across the board, remove the long part and then chisel the wood away from the screw shank. Usually one bang with a hammer will split the wood so you can get at them.
Re: tool loss
Bummer. I’ve made it A Rule never to let my tools walk off the my property or, if I’m helping someone, the job site.
Re: Drivers
Get what you pay for. (And I learned that the hard way.) When costed out over the job(s) you’ll pay the same either way.
minor side dishes: discovered a relative that shot and ate porcupine (on a fishing trip to add to the fun — tastes like rabbit per 1947 newspaper report of same) and My Girl Friday is interesting evidence that the morals of the press endure.
115.
PeakVT
@trollhattan: At least the wood stays dry over at Lowes. This guy has his sitting right under eaves with no gutters. Sure, it’s PT, but it’s still going to rot.
Speaking of Lowes, both of the local stores were out of 6′ arborvitaes already. I need a match to replace one mostly died over the past year. Hopefully by next weekend they’ll have some in.
116.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I guess at this point calling for a boycott of facebook is like calling for a boycott of TV, or roads, but this makes me sad
Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group, which bills itself as a bipartisan entity dedicated to passing immigration reform, has spent considerable resources on ads advocating a host of anti-environmental causes — including driling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and constructing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Will do! I still post at Brendan Calling, but I have had to dial back the politics a LOT. I get too angry, and it wasn’t good for my personal well-being.
118.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
oh, and one small but telling example of why Democrats suck, from the frequently-defended-by-me Joe Biden
Joe Biden Credits Terrible Economy with 2008 Win
“The truth of the matter is — Barack knows it, I know — had the economy not collapsed around your ears, John, in the middle of literally — as things were moving — I think you probably would have won. But it would have been incredibly, incredibly, incredibly close. You inherited a really difficult time.
I wander through a twitter maze today to find Megan McCain praising Biden’s call for “bipartisanship” at something called the “McCain Summit”, or some such nonsense, in Sedona
119.
? Martin
@MikeJ: Everyone’s corporate image is that they aren’t as evil as everyone else. Perhaps Apple was more successful at actually following through with it?
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): True. But that’s as much a reflection of us as the company. We’re unwilling to pay Old Navy more than $6 for a pair of pants, we shouldn’t be surprised how little flows back to cover worker safety. Okay, we can demand more of Apple because Apple has the money to make changes (as they have) but WalMart and Old Navy get a pass because we’re cheap and leave them with no money? That’s a cop-out.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand there are economic forces working damn hard to ensure that factory workers die in places that we don’t care about. I’m just wondering why such a double standard.
120.
? Martin
@Todd: I’ve gotten them out via a number of ways. A small hole saw to cut around the screw, remove the board, and then vice grips is how I’d approach that one. If you don’t have a small hole saw, you can make one with a ⅜ x 3″ piece of piping, cut some teeth in the end with a file, shove a piece of metal or wood inside about half way to give it some rigidity and shove it in your drill. You might only get 1-2 uses out of it, but that’s usually fine in a pinch.
Speaking of tools, I had one thing years ago that I sold to a guy – it was the only tool that ever scared me to use. It was like a Dremel but larger, with a motor to match. Unlike the Dremel (which has the switch on the shaft), this thing had a switch on the back. Completely awkward and unsafe, but I could cut through anything, even tight work on a subfloor.
I was positive I was going to lose a finger or slice open a femoral artery, so I got rid of it.
122.
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Biden’s remark describes the 2008 campaign pretty much the way I remember it. It was pretty tight between Obama and McCain until September, when the extent of Sarah Palin’s inadequacy, and then McCain’s flailing response to the financial crisis, helped Obama pull away in the polls.
123.
Yutsano
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You boycott the advertisers on TV rather than TV itself, since their bottom lines are what’s supporting TV’s bottom line. Same deal with Facebook. You go on every ad post and scream about why you won’t shop there since they are indirectly supporting this initiative. Of course Zuck long cashed out so he’d be immune to any criticism really.
Biden’s remark describes the 2008 campaign pretty much the way I remember it. It was pretty tight between Obama and McCain until September, when the extent of Sarah Palin’s inadequacy, and then McCain’s flailing response to the financial crisis, helped Obama pull away in the polls.
No, you’re wrong Obama won by promising single payer healthcare, massive wealth redistribution, an executive order overturning DOMA, an executive order jailing conversion therapists, capital crime prosecutions for Bush and Cheney, immediate shutdown of the DoD, and the establishment of a network of FEMA prison camps for the reeducation of white conservative Christians.
He then sold out the progressives and didn’t do any of it, not even the forced gay marriages of white conservative men to San Francisco leather bears or the forced concubinage of sweet suburban white girls to Black Panthers!
125.
Hill Dweller
@Amir Khalid: The 2012 campaign was much closer, but the Obama campaign’s polling never had him trailing.
The same was true during the ’08 campaign, but the cushion was bigger.
As we saw last November, public polling usually sucks. A significant portion of today’s pollsters are in it for the cash, which usually means cooking the numbers to support their clients’ narrative.
After the earlier thread I looked on YouTube and found a few songs by him. None with video, alas. I think this is him helping out George Jones (again) on “White Lightning.”
One thing about those old C&W clips: it’s surprising how many of them are “live,” i.e., not lip-synced. Unlike those infernal rock ’n’ roll kids!
I’m certainly not an expert on “old” country music, but I know that one of the realities is that there was a lot of talent that didn’t get recorded or receive “name” recognition, which are the main ways we would know them today. There were a lot of talented musicians and singers (like Riddle) who basically worked “on staff” at the Grand Ole Opry and all the little local and regional “barn dance” radio and TV shows.
Okay, I’ll look at that one. I looked at a much later version of “She Still Thinks I Care,” and boy, the backup was certainly not being sung by Riddle.
@? Martin: The Apple workers were in China, where there is a substantial information infrastructure – the government doesn’t mind bad stories about Apple and the netizens of Weibo are receptive to stories about factories with bad working conditions. And the stories about Apple came at a time when it was riding very high in the American press, which made for a good journalistic opportunity.
I don’t think you have quite the same nexus of factors in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Plus, there have been “sweatshop” clothing scandals before. The computer angle was new.
get stomped like the Dickens. THIS WEEKEND ALREADY SUCKS. :(
Getting stomped on the dickens would suck too.
133.
BD of MN
SO this board is partially rotten and not going to be reused? I’d just grab my angle grinder (with a cutoff wheel), lop off the heads of the screws by cutting into the board next to the screw at a 45 or so degree angle, then pull the board up over them, leaving you lots of room for a vice grip… You’ll get _really_ tired of trying to drill them out by, oh, screw #2…
Thank you! I had to read Oliver Twist three times in high school and ever since I have been promising myself a prolonged, agonizing and unnatural vengeance on Chucky D just as soon as I got my hands around his scrawny little throat.
Vegetarian low carb? That sounds terribly challenging. I would suggest skipping breakfast. That should get you into ketosis, and get a good stomp on the carb cravings.
How the fuck do you low carb vegetarian? Olive oil?
Robert
I’ve bought that brand at the dollar store before. They’re as permanent as a Crayola crayon. Very disappointing.
Yutsano
That is hilarious.
PeakVT
Here’s how to put a sharpei to good use.
raven
Something about taking apart a deck that I built 12 years ago gives me the blues. . .
SiubhanDuinne
I had my afternoon all planned around the final Met Opera Live in HD of the season (Handel’s Giulio Cesare), but unfortunately the satellite feed was borked so the theatre refunded everyone’s ticket price and I decided to drown my sorrows in a double espresso. So I’m at Starbucks, and across from me is a long table full of about a dozen kids all helping each other with math homework. It’s pretty cool to watch them: on some topics, some kids are the coaches, and on others they are the coachees. Very good-natured and collaborative. Socialism in middle school!!
c u n d gulag
@efgoldman:
DAMN YOU, ef!!!
Curses!
Foiled again!!!!!
trollhattan
@efgoldman:
Beat me to it. Permanent Drool Markers.
raven
@efgoldman: Hey, I extended my stay by a day so I can got to a little ceremony with your governor!
PeakVT
@raven: Hey, at least you built it. The guy across the street has had his deck stacked next to his garage for the past 7 years.
trollhattan
@PeakVT:
I can do one better: mine’s still stacked at Lowe’s.
raven
@PeakVT: I built it and now I’m taking it apart carefully so as much as possible can be used on our new deck. I’m doubling up by doing the demolition myself and then saving on materials for the next job.
Big R
@SiubhanDuinne: I love that story.
Citizen_X
@PeakVT:
Oh yeah? Which one has to take apart his old deck now? Your neighbor’s got one up on Raven.
Amir Khalid
Can’t the makers of Sharpie sue stores that carry “Sharpei” markers? Or the customers that get fobbed off with them? I mean, this imitation product is probably a real dog.
(I know, the joke’s already been made. Sorry.)
jeffreyw
@raven: Put that salvaged lumber to use! Fun for the whole family!
jeffreyw
Best Ever Potato Soup
jl
@Amir Khalid:
“I mean, this imitation product is probably a real dog.”
Could be just fricken felt tip pens on steroids. Maybe the black one is just coal dust mixed with gunk.
Gotta be careful.
Todd
@raven:
I got you beat. My front walk is a long, narrow deck. There is a single rotten plank in it that requires replacement.
My most recent rebuild 6 years ago, I used deck screws, but my cheap drill stripped a bunch going in.
Guess which rotten plank has stripped screws, and appears to need to be cut out?
virag
yeah, there could be a marketing goldmine using wrinkly pups to sell crappy off-brand markers. the squee may very well overcome the crappy quality.
La Caterina
@jeffreyw: nice planters!
Thread needs moar Katie!
gogol's wife
@PeakVT:
Mega-squee.
raven
@jeffreyw: Nice, we’ve got 6×6 posts and 2×8 joists that I think we can use along with the decking material itself. I also took apart a lower deck that was made with salvaged 2×4’s and if nothing else we’ll use them for concrete forms.
scav
@jeffreyw: seconded, and that looks like some fine bacony/crispy pork effort.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
“You’re a hound dog and you ain’t no pen of mine…”
raven
@Todd: Can you get to it with a metal sawzall blade? Screw extractor?
eta The lengths of deck material that I an taking up have 8 deck screws in them. I have yet to be able to extract all 8 without stripping one. I’m going very slowly, tapping the bit into the screw and still stripping. Way of the world.
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: BAAAAAAAAACONNNNNNNN!!
SiubhanDuinne
@Big R: Me too. Makes me feel a lot better about the future.
Wapiti
@Todd: I used a vise grips to just twist those out when rebuilding my deck. If you have a rotten board, even easier – remove the rotten board to make it easy to get the vise grips on the heads of the screws.
raven
@Wapiti: Bolt cutters snap em pretty easily. Cut em off and hammer them flush.
Alison
Siiiiigh, was already feeling like utter crap and then I had to watch my soccer team get stomped like the Dickens. THIS WEEKEND ALREADY SUCKS. :(
Nicole
@jeffreyw: Potato… sigh. I’m on Day 6 of a low-carb diet (vegetarian version) and while the food is pretty good, I am carb craving. That said, I give props to the author of the book I’m using. I bought a week’s worth of ingredients for her recipes and there was nothing in there my grandmother wouldn’t have recognized as food. Well, except for the tofu.
Suffern ACE
Sitting at ewr, two hours before a flight. We could have a balloon juice meet up in terminal C.
Amir Khalid
@Alison:
You aren’t referring to Newcastle, by any chance? I’m just a curious Liverpool fan; I hope you don’t mind my asking. :)
Alison
@Amir Khalid: I AM AND I HATE YOU.
No I don’t. But oy vey. *cry*
burnspbesq
@Amir Khalid:
Probably not; and if you could get a judgment, they’ll just file for Chaper 7 bankruptcy and re-open in a couple of months with approximately the same ownership and a similar name.
And good luck recovering from the Chinese counterfeiters.
Bill D.
Don’t forget the other Sharpie knockoff:
http://www.knockingoff.com/shoupie/
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Todd:
Old machinist trick: use a left-hand drill bit that’s a slightly smaller diameter than the shank of the screw. Most times the screw will back right out as soon as the drill bites.
jeffreyw
@La Caterina: Here ya go! (Had to go find her, she was above the front pond looking for frogs.)
burnspbesq
@Alison:
Forest is still alive for the playoffs with one match left. They need to beat Leicester next week and hope that either Bolton or Crystal Palace doesn’t win.
If I could pick one Premier League match to attend next season, it would definitely be the Welsh derby. The fan intensity for those two fixtures is going to be off the charts.
RobertDSC-eMac 1.25
Dialing in a new/old Mac today. This time I picked up a PowerMac G5 2.0 Ghz dual processor machine with a fre 24-inch monitor. My contact gave me the monitor free of charge when I showed up because the screen has a small but noticeable line going through the left side of the screen.
This line bothers me not ONE BIT. I said I’d take it and he let me have it. I’ve spent most of yesterday afternoon and today installing software and getting the new Mac settled in my menagerie of old Macs. So much fun. :)
Suffern ACE
@burnspbesq: I would be willing invade china to protect sharpie from financial harm, although the makers is diet Coak and Tied detergent are safe.
burnspbesq
Huge day of college lacrosse on ESPNU. Loyola – Johns Hopkins on now, followed by Cornell – Princeton and Notre Dame – Syracuse.
Roger Moore
@raven:
For the new deck, use Robertson (square drive) screws. They’re much less likely to be damaged while driving, so you’ll have a better chance of getting them in and out without damage.
Steeplejack
@Alison:
I hope that wasn’t the Newcastle bloodbath I just watched the end of. Ngrr!
Ted & Hellen
President Obama displaying the proper reserved and reluctant demeanor appropriate to the dedication of his predecessor’s Fortress of Fail in Dallas this past week.
Ted & Hellen
Good times with the Bush Boy.
Luna Sea
@jeffreyw: I have to say, there is just something about that pup that makes me smile every time.
BTW, I’ve been noticing the rocks in some of your pics – did you do all that yourself? Very nice mix of color & texture. I’ve been adding more to my own gardens, but I always require help with hauling them around. Trying to decide whether to tackle converting a swimming pool (built in 1958) to some kind of water garden, without a big demo. Ugh. Anyway, great photos as always.
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
One of those two Welsh clubs, Cardiff City, is owned by Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan. I have less than fond memories of my only encounter with Tan. At a press conference, I asked one of his executives a fairly obvious question; instead of answering it, the executive unaccountably turned into a terrified, shivering wreck. Tan took the mic and spent five minutes excoriating me for having the temerity to doubt the wisdom of his (Tan’s, not the executive’s) corporate strategy.
Despite which, I have no ill-will against Cardiff, and I hope they do well in the English Premier League.
Alison
@Steeplejack: Yes. There were maybe a few curses uttered round these parts.
MomSense
Just came in from the garden and cleaned up a couple of the perennial beds. I couldn’t find my gloves so I have a lot of crusted dirt on my hands and under my nails. Wow–did it ever feel great to play in the dirt! It was a loooooong winter.
MomSense
@jeffreyw:
What a pretty puppy! She looks like she was having a lot of fun.
jeffreyw
@Luna Sea: Thanks! We have hauled a bunch of rock in the time we’ve been here, but last year we hired a landscaper to redo much of our front. They ripped out many year’s worth of Mrs J’s mulch, put down a weed barrier over the bare dirt, and covered that with river pebbles with a topping of a more decorative mix. Most of the larger rocks were there already but they did relocate and arrange them quite nicely.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: I wouldn’t walk across the street to get to a ceremony with Linc. He’s, how shall I say, not the most dynamic public personality.
Steeplejack
@Alison:
Maybe you can help me remember something. I am sort of a Newcastle fan, mainly because of an (I think) iconic midfielder who was their heart and soul until probably a few years ago. I cannot remember his name to save my life. Maybe Alan something?
I used to see a lot more Newcastle games on Fox Soccer Channel when I first got it than I do now. Ah, the shifting fortunes of football.
Redshift
@jeffreyw: Pictures like that make me wish I wasn’t so lazy…
Alison
@Steeplejack: Alan Shearer! Newcastle AND the EPL’s top goal scorer :)
MattR
@burnspbesq: No spoilers. I got a late start and am only at halftime of the first game. Hoping that victories today and next Friday at West Point will allow us to extend our tournament streak to 42 years.
22over7
Just got back from vacation (five days on the Cali central coast, wine and chowder and beaches oh my) and am in the process of climbing Mt. Laundry. Might need a Sherpa.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: This story made me laugh for no good reason whatsoever. :)
? Martin
@Roger Moore: This. And buy good robertson screws. I’ve bought some at Lowes that would shear clean in half. McFeely’s has good screws.
I’ve never stripped or sheared a Kreg screw either, though they don’t sell flathead screws as far as I’ve seen. But I use Kregs whenever I can. Sears had a big online sale on them a couple of years ago and I bought about 25,000 in various sizes (300 lbs of screws for about $150 – free shipping). Gone through probably 15% of them already.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: I’m going to be there anyway. Shit, I have a picture of Zell Miller and me!
Roger Moore
@22over7:
Just make sure you don’t get a Sharpa, the cheap Chinese knockoff, instead.
I’m helping a friend move today. Just hauling a carload of stuff, not doing the really tough stuff. Also working on installing some LED strip lights, which I’m convinced are the future of lighting.
raven
@? Martin: What about the new star head screws?
ninedragonspot
@SiubhanDuinne: There will be an encore rebroadcast of the Giulio Cesare – in June, I think?
Ben Franklin
@? Martin:
I’ve never stripped or sheared a Kreg screw either
Would they be a good choice for repairing a boat?
Steeplejack
@Alison:
Yes! Thank you so much. I loved that guy.
Alison
@22over7: Where on the Central coast were you?
22over7
@Alison:
Hotel in Pismo Beach (Shell Beach, actually) with side trips to Morro Bay, Paso Robles, and most of the wineries in between. Spouse got lots of golf, I got dolphin, whale, and otter sightings, we both ate too much and drank too much. In other words, an excellent vacation.
raven
@22over7: Montana de Oro! Is the nuke plant still there?
Alison
@22over7: Oh man, I miss that area. Used to hang out in SLO a lot years ago. Such a great part of the state :)
ninedragonspot
My most recent favorite example of a Chinese product name is some medicine(maybe for blood pressure?) whose English name is “Viplant retardS”. When I saw the posters, I laughed my ass off and scrambled for my camera – while dozens of Taiwanese stared at me and wondered WTF?
Edit: And we won’t even go into the racially-sensitive question of Taiwanese toothpaste.
22over7
@raven:
You mean in Morro Bay? Well, I don’t know about nuke, but there’s a big-ass power plant right on the dock, so probably.
raven
@ninedragonspot: When I was there they played the National Anthem before movies with the Generalissimo on the screen. You had to stand up.
MattR
@MattR: Disgusting performance. You don’t win games when you can’t score goals.
? Martin
So, on China…
Curious why Apple earned such a reputation off of 14 suicides (out of half a million workers) and nobody is talking about 1500 or so deaths in the last year out of the garment industry.
Aside from it being fashionable to hate on Apple, why such a different response? I can appreciate somewhat wanting to hold a US company like Apple to a higher standard, but Microsoft makes the XBox in the same factory as the iPhone. HP and Dell make laptops in the same factory as well. And the clothing from those garment factories went to all kinds of US retailers.
Curious why we have different standards for different industries and different standards even within the same industry.
Ben Franklin
@22over7:
Diablo Canyon.
Ronzoni Rigatoni
@Roger Moore: I used a neighbor’s hammer drill to drive Home Depot’s philips-head deck screws, and have put in screws as long as 4″ without a pilot hole. Of course controlling the drill’s speed helps. Worked so well, I went out and bought 2 hammer drills. Built 2 16’X20′ sheds without ever pounding a nail (‘cept for the shingles). Survived 2 hurricanes.
Todd
Quite possibly the finest comment I’ve ever seen on Free Republic.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3013138/posts?page=1#1
Sometimes, the most profoundly stupid statements are lost on the reader because of the simplicity of the expression. The eye glances over the words and the brain resists pondering just how deep the stupid goes.
I’d say poster “pinochet” (nice nym) has stupid running through the marrow.
dimmic rat
Does anyone have any suggestions for a site with a good breakdown on what has been happening in Iraq since we pulled out? I only see the occasional blurb on the news.
Svensker
Anybody heard anything about General Stuck? People were asking last week but I missed if there was an answer.
Ben Franklin
See. All that’s missing is motivation….oh, and Leadership.
The House of Representatives passed legislation Friday giving the Federal Aviation Administration unique flexibility under sequestration to use agency funds to avoid air traffic controller furloughs.
The final vote was 361-41 — because it was fast-tracked it required a two-thirds House majority to pass.
The legislation, now adopted by both chambers in a unusually swift and deliberate fashion over the course of 15 hours, is intended to remedy widespread staffing-related flight delays which have dogged travelers all week.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/04/dems-cave-on-faa-sequestration-cuts-flight-delays.php
Gex
@Todd: Reminds me of a time I was in a store. A guy flipping through a magazine with Danica on it was complaining that she got too much attention and money.
As he was flipping through photos of her.
You know, if he wanted to watch her drive, that’s one thing. But if he is going to be peering at a photo shoot that she got paid to do, maybe he can put 2 and 2 together and figure out that *he* is the one making that happen.
MikeJ
@? Martin: Because Apple’s corporate image is that they aren’t as evil as everybody else.
Ben Franklin
26 April 2013: Bradley Manning will not be a grand marshal in this year’s San Francisco Pride celebration. His nomination was a mistake and should never have been allowed to happen. A staff person at SF Pride, acting under his own initiative, prematurely contacted Bradley Manning based on internal conversations within the SF Pride organization. That was an error and that person has been disciplined. He does not now, nor did he at that time, speak for SF Pride.
Bradley Manning is facing the military justice system of this country. We all await the decision of that system. However, until that time, even the hint of support for actions which placed in harms way the lives of our men and women in uniform — and countless others, military and civilian alike — will not be tolerated by the leadership of San Francisco Pride. It is, and would be, an insult to every one, gay and straight, who has ever served in the military of this country. There are many, gay and straight, military and non-military, who believe Bradley Manning to be innocent. There are many who feel differently. Under the US Constitution, they have a first amendment right to show up, participate and voice their opinions at Pride this year.
Specifically, what these events have revealed is a system whereby a less-than-handful of people may decide who represents the LGBT community’s highest aspirations as grand marshals for SF Pride. This is a systemic failure that now has become apparent and will be rectified. In point of fact, less than 15 people actually cast votes for Bradley Manning. These 15 people are part of what is called the SF Pride Electoral College, comprised of former SF Pride Grand Marshals. However, as an organization with a responsibility to serve the broader community, SF Pride repudiates this vote. The Board of Directors for SF Pride never voted to support this nomination. Bradley Manning will have his day in court, but will not serve as an official participant in the SF Pride Parade.
http://lgbtweekly.com/2013/04/26/sf-pridebradley-manning-will-not-be-a-grand-marshal/
Jesus H. Christ on rubber crutches. Fuck ’em.
raven
@22over7: Diablo Canyon.
Todd
@Ben Franklin:
Jesus Christ on a stick, man, you’re not even trying for subtlety anymore. Your trolling used to have a little foreplay to it, but now you just want to jam it in and get it over with.
I don’t think this relationship is working out….
Ben Franklin
First, while even a hint of support for Manning will not be tolerated, there is a long roster of large corporations serving as the event’s sponsors who are welcomed with open arms. The list is here. It includes AT&T and Verizon, the telecom giants that enabled the illegal warrantless eavesdropping on US citizens by the Bush administration and its NSA, only to get retroactively immunized from Congress and thus shielded from all criminal and civil liability (including a lawsuit brought in San Francisco against those corporations by their customers who were illegally spied on). Last month, AT&T was fined by OSHA for failing to protect one of its employees who was attacked, was found by the FCC last year to have overcharged customers by secretly switching them to plans they didn’t want, and is now being sued by the US government for “allegedly bill[ing] the government improperly for services designed for the deaf and hard-of-hearing who place calls by typing messages over the web.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/27/bradley-manning-sf-gay-pride
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@? Martin:
Profit per unit?
Ben Franklin
Gay pride, indeed.
Baud
@Todd:
I think what that person is trying to say is More Gay Pr0n = Brighter America.
Ben Franklin
@Todd:
I don’t think this relationship is working out….
What relationship?
Ben Franklin
@Todd:
But foreplay to be found, here….https://balloon-juice.com/2013/04/27/open-thread-1612/#comment-4397071
Amir Khalid
@Ben Franklin:
I can’t even guess at what you think is wrong with that statement.
AA+ Bonds
It’s not right but I am really getting a kick out of the epic Dutschke/Curtis mind war; I know a handful of people like them and I blame the Internet . . . I hope we find out every last hairy detail.
Ben Franklin
@Amir Khalid:
I hope this helps….https://balloon-juice.com/2013/04/27/open-thread-1612/#comment-4397071
Todd
@Ben Franklin:
Poor wittle mistaken Bradley. Not even the gay guys want to support him. With the date rapist sequestered in the Ecuadorian Embassy, that leaves only some overaged Birkenstock wearing, knit cap clad, hackey sack playing, raw food vegan progressive purists, none of who have enough money left over from their coffee shop or photocopy store jobs to do much.
Anoniminous
@Todd:
Just in case nobody has mentioned it:
If the board is rotten you can bust it apart at the rotitude giving you leverage to separate the board from the stripped screws, exposing the heads enough to get ViceGrips on ’em.
PITA, but better than trying to drill and tap.
ETA: And I see @Wapiti was there before me.
AA+ Bonds
@Ben Franklin:
Except for, y’know, Bradley Manning . . .
AA+ Bonds
@Todd:
That’s really cute, how you’re suddenly Richard Nixon . . .
AA+ Bonds
Every man to the battlements to know nothing about what our government does overseas! We don’t want to know, we don’t deserve to know, and by God, we’ll throw everyone who lets us know into a dark hole to rot!
Why ask questions about the CIA base that got attacked during the Benghazi incident? The Republicans are asking the wrong questions – thus no questions should be asked!
And all those people in other countries who used Manning’s efforts to help overthrow their dictators? Shit – they don’t know what national security is all about; look at all the trouble they’ve caused!
Ben Franklin
@AA+ Bonds:
I always thought the LGBT community supported their own…and the comments seem to reflect disappointment, but y’know that funding baby………..
brendancalling
Shameless self-promotion: I’ll be playing bass for Woody Pines tonight at the Purple Fiddle in Thomas, West Virginia tonight. Show starts at 8:00.
Todd
@Anoniminous:
Sadly, the stripped screws aren’t in the rot. Given that I loaned out my sawzall years ago and will never see it again, I like the left bit and/or vice grip solutions posed.
AA+ Bonds
@Ben Franklin:
It’s a tough but wrong-headed attempt to square the circle, I think; an attempt to appear “grateful” in the wake of changes to DADT. Which, IMO, is unnecessary – human rights are human rights – and you didn’t see an en masse movement to spy on/jail the Reds from within the civil rights movement after 1964.
And never mind how Manning’s identity and his struggles within the military because of it have been used against him via leaks to the press in order to portray him as “unstable”. Those crazy gays!, say the people that the Pride folks are now defending.
I think we really are seeing a status-obsessed elite pull the rug out from under LGBT people on this one. Manning wasn’t a gay issue until his prosecutors made it one.
Anoniminous
@? Martin:
Never EVER buy fasteners from Home Deport, Lowes, or other big box store. They sell too much pot metal crap to depend on ’em. I buy all my fasteners at a (ta-dah) contractor’s outlet. Yes it’s 10 to 20 percent more per box but they stand behind their product and I don’t run into striped head wastage, so it all evens out.
And everybody should buy the all steel bit drivers.
Svensker
@brendancalling:
I listened to the BBC Celtic Connection clip. Excellent!
Todd
@Ben Franklin:
Meh. That’s not foreplay. It’s a minor diddle, unsatisfying in the extreme.
Schlemizel
@brendancalling:
If you ever get out toward Wisconsin/Iowa/Minnesota way Let us know. I have been following you since ‘Brendan Calling’ and owe you a beer or two in thanks for all the smiles you have provided. Have heard your groups on Youtube & would love to see them live
Todd
@Anoniminous:
I know, but I treat em like shit, plus, I’m cheap.
gogol's wife
@Steeplejack:
Thank you for identifying George Riddle for me. New obsession to add to Shirley Temple and Alfred Drake.
Amir Khalid
@Ben Franklin:
Nope, sorry.
Anoniminous
@Todd:
The idea is to create a space to use the unrotten part to lever the wood away so all you have are the screws exposed by the board width.
Another way is to drill holes across the board, remove the long part and then chisel the wood away from the screw shank. Usually one bang with a hammer will split the wood so you can get at them.
Re: tool loss
Bummer. I’ve made it A Rule never to let my tools walk off the my property or, if I’m helping someone, the job site.
Re: Drivers
Get what you pay for. (And I learned that the hard way.) When costed out over the job(s) you’ll pay the same either way.
burnspbesq
@MattR:
Unforced turnovers killed Hop. They’re toast.
scav
Bangladesh at least seems to be managing to arrest factory owners that jeopardize people.
minor side dishes: discovered a relative that shot and ate porcupine (on a fishing trip to add to the fun — tastes like rabbit per 1947 newspaper report of same) and My Girl Friday is interesting evidence that the morals of the press endure.
PeakVT
@trollhattan: At least the wood stays dry over at Lowes. This guy has his sitting right under eaves with no gutters. Sure, it’s PT, but it’s still going to rot.
Speaking of Lowes, both of the local stores were out of 6′ arborvitaes already. I need a match to replace one mostly died over the past year. Hopefully by next weekend they’ll have some in.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I guess at this point calling for a boycott of facebook is like calling for a boycott of TV, or roads, but this makes me sad
brendancalling
@Schlemizel:
Will do! I still post at Brendan Calling, but I have had to dial back the politics a LOT. I get too angry, and it wasn’t good for my personal well-being.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
oh, and one small but telling example of why Democrats suck, from the frequently-defended-by-me Joe Biden
I wander through a twitter maze today to find Megan McCain praising Biden’s call for “bipartisanship” at something called the “McCain Summit”, or some such nonsense, in Sedona
? Martin
@MikeJ: Everyone’s corporate image is that they aren’t as evil as everyone else. Perhaps Apple was more successful at actually following through with it?
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): True. But that’s as much a reflection of us as the company. We’re unwilling to pay Old Navy more than $6 for a pair of pants, we shouldn’t be surprised how little flows back to cover worker safety. Okay, we can demand more of Apple because Apple has the money to make changes (as they have) but WalMart and Old Navy get a pass because we’re cheap and leave them with no money? That’s a cop-out.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand there are economic forces working damn hard to ensure that factory workers die in places that we don’t care about. I’m just wondering why such a double standard.
? Martin
@Todd: I’ve gotten them out via a number of ways. A small hole saw to cut around the screw, remove the board, and then vice grips is how I’d approach that one. If you don’t have a small hole saw, you can make one with a ⅜ x 3″ piece of piping, cut some teeth in the end with a file, shove a piece of metal or wood inside about half way to give it some rigidity and shove it in your drill. You might only get 1-2 uses out of it, but that’s usually fine in a pinch.
Todd
@Anoniminous:
Speaking of tools, I had one thing years ago that I sold to a guy – it was the only tool that ever scared me to use. It was like a Dremel but larger, with a motor to match. Unlike the Dremel (which has the switch on the shaft), this thing had a switch on the back. Completely awkward and unsafe, but I could cut through anything, even tight work on a subfloor.
I was positive I was going to lose a finger or slice open a femoral artery, so I got rid of it.
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Biden’s remark describes the 2008 campaign pretty much the way I remember it. It was pretty tight between Obama and McCain until September, when the extent of Sarah Palin’s inadequacy, and then McCain’s flailing response to the financial crisis, helped Obama pull away in the polls.
Yutsano
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You boycott the advertisers on TV rather than TV itself, since their bottom lines are what’s supporting TV’s bottom line. Same deal with Facebook. You go on every ad post and scream about why you won’t shop there since they are indirectly supporting this initiative. Of course Zuck long cashed out so he’d be immune to any criticism really.
Todd
@Amir Khalid:
No, you’re wrong Obama won by promising single payer healthcare, massive wealth redistribution, an executive order overturning DOMA, an executive order jailing conversion therapists, capital crime prosecutions for Bush and Cheney, immediate shutdown of the DoD, and the establishment of a network of FEMA prison camps for the reeducation of white conservative Christians.
He then sold out the progressives and didn’t do any of it, not even the forced gay marriages of white conservative men to San Francisco leather bears or the forced concubinage of sweet suburban white girls to Black Panthers!
Hill Dweller
@Amir Khalid: The 2012 campaign was much closer, but the Obama campaign’s polling never had him trailing.
The same was true during the ’08 campaign, but the cushion was bigger.
As we saw last November, public polling usually sucks. A significant portion of today’s pollsters are in it for the cash, which usually means cooking the numbers to support their clients’ narrative.
Obama won the Presidency when he beat Hillary.
Steeplejack
@gogol’s wife:
After the earlier thread I looked on YouTube and found a few songs by him. None with video, alas. I think this is him helping out George Jones (again) on “White Lightning.”
One thing about those old C&W clips: it’s surprising how many of them are “live,” i.e., not lip-synced. Unlike those infernal rock ’n’ roll kids!
I’m certainly not an expert on “old” country music, but I know that one of the realities is that there was a lot of talent that didn’t get recorded or receive “name” recognition, which are the main ways we would know them today. There were a lot of talented musicians and singers (like Riddle) who basically worked “on staff” at the Grand Ole Opry and all the little local and regional “barn dance” radio and TV shows.
gogol's wife
@Steeplejack:
Okay, I’ll look at that one. I looked at a much later version of “She Still Thinks I Care,” and boy, the backup was certainly not being sung by Riddle.
gogol's wife
@Steeplejack:
Yes, that’s him, and there’s another “White Lightning” with him, in color, where Jones actually introduces him by name.
Mnemosyne
@Hill Dweller:
I think the Obama/Biden campaign absolutely was helped by the economic collapse, though. I think the results would have been a lot closer without it.
Steeplejack
@gogol’s wife:
Glad I could fuel your retro stalker mania.
ninedragonspot
@? Martin: The Apple workers were in China, where there is a substantial information infrastructure – the government doesn’t mind bad stories about Apple and the netizens of Weibo are receptive to stories about factories with bad working conditions. And the stories about Apple came at a time when it was riding very high in the American press, which made for a good journalistic opportunity.
I don’t think you have quite the same nexus of factors in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Plus, there have been “sweatshop” clothing scandals before. The computer angle was new.
Central Planning
@Alison:
Getting stomped on the dickens would suck too.
BD of MN
SO this board is partially rotten and not going to be reused? I’d just grab my angle grinder (with a cutoff wheel), lop off the heads of the screws by cutting into the board next to the screw at a 45 or so degree angle, then pull the board up over them, leaving you lots of room for a vice grip… You’ll get _really_ tired of trying to drill them out by, oh, screw #2…
Morzer
@Alison:
YOU STOMPED DICKENS?!
Thank you! I had to read Oliver Twist three times in high school and ever since I have been promising myself a prolonged, agonizing and unnatural vengeance on Chucky D just as soon as I got my hands around his scrawny little throat.
lojasmo
@Nicole:
Vegetarian low carb? That sounds terribly challenging. I would suggest skipping breakfast. That should get you into ketosis, and get a good stomp on the carb cravings.
How the fuck do you low carb vegetarian? Olive oil?
lojasmo
@Todd:
LEAVE BEN FRANKLIN ALONE!