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You are here: Home / Open Threads / How About an Open Thread?

How About an Open Thread?

by John Cole|  May 21, 20132:49 pm| 87 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Just found this on that facebook doohickey:

allyouneedislove

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Previous Post: « Same As It Ever Was
Next Post: I’m tired, but we are all OK. »

Reader Interactions

87Comments

  1. 1.

    Redshirt

    May 21, 2013 at 2:50 pm

    I don’t get it. Ringo was Yoda? Ringo’s a Jedi? Yoda is Ringo?

  2. 2.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    May 21, 2013 at 2:52 pm

    That’s awesome. Kos will prolly steal it now.

  3. 3.

    piratedan

    May 21, 2013 at 2:52 pm

    btw, thanks to all about the uninstall of Stylish on the Firefox browser, all is now back to normal and I can eschew the travails of working in IE again.

  4. 4.

    pharniel

    May 21, 2013 at 2:52 pm

    @Redshirt: Yoda translating “All you need is love” transforms to “Love, is all you need” though it really should be “Love, all you need is”

  5. 5.

    Calming Influence

    May 21, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    Any word on Soonergrunt?

  6. 6.

    Maude

    May 21, 2013 at 2:56 pm

    When those pictures were taken All You Need is Love hadn’t been made into a song yet.
    That’s Meet The Beatles. The first songs that made them famous.
    Aside from that, it’s stupid.

  7. 7.

    Mbl

    May 21, 2013 at 2:57 pm

    Should be “All you need, love is.”

  8. 8.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    May 21, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    @Maude:

    That’s Meet The Beatles.

    That album came out when I was in H.S. Its title was immediately transformed into “Beat Your Meatles.”

  9. 9.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 21, 2013 at 3:00 pm

    Amused we are.

    Soonergrunt, can we haz update?

    BTW, that wink from George is delightful.

  10. 10.

    Comrade Dread

    May 21, 2013 at 3:00 pm

    @Redshirt: But Paul is still dead.

  11. 11.

    Calming Influence

    May 21, 2013 at 3:01 pm

    @Maude: OK Maud, you’re getting a bit agitated. How’s about we get your lap blanket and wheel you out in the sun for little nap, hmmmmm?

  12. 12.

    PeakVT

    May 21, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    Could someone fix the RSS feed, please? Thanks.

  13. 13.

    Maude

    May 21, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    @Calming Influence:
    Please spell my name correctly.

  14. 14.

    joes527

    May 21, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    @Redshirt: And what’s the deal with the walrus?

  15. 15.

    Calming Influence

    May 21, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    @PeakVT: Fix it yourself.

  16. 16.

    Maude

    May 21, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:
    We used to play I want to be your man at 78 rpm.

  17. 17.

    Luthe

    May 21, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    While we’re doing site improvements, can we get a link to Charles Pierce in the sidebar?

  18. 18.

    Calming Influence

    May 21, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    @Maude: Too late.

    ETA: The e is stupid.

  19. 19.

    Xenos

    May 21, 2013 at 3:09 pm

    No-one has heard from Sooner? He just closed on a new house!

  20. 20.

    MomSense

    May 21, 2013 at 3:10 pm

    @Redshirt:

    Ringo, Yoda is.

  21. 21.

    piratedan

    May 21, 2013 at 3:12 pm

    @MomSense: The beat is strong with that one…..

  22. 22.

    Redshirt

    May 21, 2013 at 3:12 pm

    Remember that female Yoda in the new trilogy? Yeah? Do you know Internet Rule 34? Yeah?

    Go no further.

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 21, 2013 at 3:15 pm

    @Redshirt:

    No further go.

  24. 24.

    Roger Moore

    May 21, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    @joes527:

    And what’s the deal with the walrus?

    The walrus is Paul.

  25. 25.

    Cris (without an H)

    May 21, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    @Maude: That’s Meet The Beatles.

    Mmm, I think those photos are from A Hard Day’s Night. I think.

  26. 26.

    Redshirt

    May 21, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: No go, further.

  27. 27.

    Poopyman

    May 21, 2013 at 3:18 pm

    Same as it ever was.

    Guatemalan Court Overturns Genocide Conviction of Ex-Dictator

  28. 28.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 21, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    @Roger Moore: Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him

  29. 29.

    Poopyman

    May 21, 2013 at 3:19 pm

    @Redshirt: Further you not go.

  30. 30.

    Cris (without an H)

    May 21, 2013 at 3:20 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Cranberry sauce.

  31. 31.

    Roger Moore

    May 21, 2013 at 3:21 pm

    @Poopyman:

    Same as it ever was.

    No, that’s the previous thread.

  32. 32.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 21, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    @Poopyman:

    Sucks.

    That asshole should be publically vivisected, pour encourager les autres.

  33. 33.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 21, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    @Cris (without an H): LOL, that was Obama’s first cover-up.

  34. 34.

    mistermix

    May 21, 2013 at 3:24 pm

    Test Comment save

  35. 35.

    Wallis Lane

    May 21, 2013 at 3:26 pm

    Hold your hand, I want to.

    USSR, I’m back in.

    In the road, why don’t we do it.

    Blisters on my fingers, I got.

  36. 36.

    Redshirt

    May 21, 2013 at 3:27 pm

    @Wallis Lane: Warm gun, happiness is.

  37. 37.

    Calming Influence

    May 21, 2013 at 3:27 pm

    @mistermix: Remain calm, this is only a test.

  38. 38.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    May 21, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    @Poopyman: And look where his hand was.

    (On an envelope, under a table.)

  39. 39.

    Redshirt

    May 21, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    You know, Yoda is like 800 years old and the head of the Jedi Council. You’d think he’d have the time and resources to learn to speak proper English like everyone else in the Galaxy.

    That he cannot says a lot about Yoda, and the Jedi.

  40. 40.

    Neddie Jingo

    May 21, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    @Cris (without an H):

    Mmm, I think those photos are from A Hard Day’s Night. I think.

    Correct. “Meet the Beatles” is all four in one shot, high contrast, left sides of faces lost in shadow. This thing.

    My favorite Paul Is Dead website is this one: James Paul McCartney (1942-1966). Dude uses Science! to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt what the rational world has been laughing up its sleeve about since I was in the sixth grade.

    Honestly, as a fan of True Crackpottery, I could explore that site for hours without getting bored. Science! I tell you!

  41. 41.

    Calming Influence

    May 21, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    @Redshirt: I’d be careful, ‘because Yoda OUT will take you!

  42. 42.

    ? Martin

    May 21, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    @Redshirt:

    You know, Yoda is like 800 years old and the head of the Jedi Council. You’d think he’d have the time and resources to learn to speak proper English like everyone else in the Galaxy.

    I’m still impressed that he can speak a language from both the future and another galaxy.

  43. 43.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    May 21, 2013 at 3:33 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: Ah, yes, sweet adolescence. When a young man’s fancies turn to are completely hijacked by “Mr. Happy Will See You — Now!“

  44. 44.

    the Conster

    May 21, 2013 at 3:33 pm

    My little granddoggy went to this prom.

  45. 45.

    max

    May 21, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    I’m guessing, judging by the rain, that all short-term droughts will end at least east of OKC, this being the way that shit usually ends – with flash flooding. Woo.

    Meantime, the tornado watch zone covers half of Texas and big chunks of Arkansas & LA. Fun times ahead. (The lightening strikes map is just awesome.) The wind seems to have died back a little, so that helps. Maybe.

    max
    [‘Tom Coburn: a proud Southern Baptist fuckhead.’]

  46. 46.

    Shakezula

    May 21, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    I’m not saying it is good for raging bigots to shoot themselves in cathedrals. I’m just saying that the world is short one less raging bigot who shot himself in a cathedral.

  47. 47.

    quannlace

    May 21, 2013 at 3:36 pm

    Sigh, makes me wistful. Looking at those beautiful young lads.

  48. 48.

    Amir Khalid

    May 21, 2013 at 3:37 pm

    Best, Pete is.

    I saw Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby today, in 2D. It’s faithful to the book, to the point of putting F. Scott’s prose on the screen as titles, but offers no real insight into what Fitzgerald was getting at. I sense that when Baz sat down to think through the movie, the first thing on his mind was JAY! GATSBY’S! PARTIES! IN 3D!

    I found that having Gatsby’s and Tom Buchanan’s sports coupes move like the toon cars out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a cartoonish touch. And Amitabh Bachchan is about as plausible playing a “Meyer Wolfshiem” as Benedict Cumberbatch is playing a “Khan Noonien Singh”.

  49. 49.

    djork

    May 21, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    Totally stealing that picture.

  50. 50.

    Shakezula

    May 21, 2013 at 3:38 pm

    @Redshirt: Maybe he’s the only one who speaks properly and everyone else this newfangled backwards their sentences pronouncing does.

  51. 51.

    Poopyman

    May 21, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    @Shakezula: OMG! James Carville!

  52. 52.

    gbear

    May 21, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    There should be an extra ‘love’ in George’s photo.

    Also, at the time that photo was taken, The Beatles should be singing “All You Need Is Uppers”. They hadn’t discovered pot yet.

  53. 53.

    scav

    May 21, 2013 at 3:42 pm

    Do, Do me Love!

  54. 54.

    the Conster

    May 21, 2013 at 3:42 pm

    @Shakezula:

    Also, nothing says “sharia law” like same sex marriage. WTF? The guy had some serious problems, but same sex marriage wasn’t one of them.

  55. 55.

    Cris (without an H)

    May 21, 2013 at 3:43 pm

    @Neddie Jingo: As a fan of true crackpottery (and known Beatles fan), I assume you’re also familiar with The Lennon Prophecy.

  56. 56.

    raven

    May 21, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    Going In Circles – Friends Of Distinction

    What am I to do?

    My mind is in a whirlpool. . .

  57. 57.

    Cris (without an H)

    May 21, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    @scav: Actually, that song might already be in Yoda grammar.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    May 21, 2013 at 3:45 pm

    @Shakezula:

    Earlier today Venner posted a screed against same-sex marriage on his website.

    “His long essay was a tirade against gay marriage but also a warning that the ‘population of France and Europe’ was going to be ‘replaced’ and brought under ‘Islamist control’ and ‘sharia law,’” the Independent reports.

    I must have missed the art in my religious education where they said Sharia law was pro gay-marriage.

  59. 59.

    Comrade Dread

    May 21, 2013 at 3:47 pm

    @Amir Khalid: It’s right next to the quote from Jesus about how greed is good.

  60. 60.

    Yatsuno

    May 21, 2013 at 3:47 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Have you considered a second life as a movie reviewer? You definitely have the wit and pith for it.

  61. 61.

    beltane

    May 21, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I think he meant that France would be punished for legalizing gay marriage by eventually being annexed by the Caliphate. You’d think he’d be pleased by this prospect but I guess not.

  62. 62.

    ranchandsyrup

    May 21, 2013 at 3:51 pm

    Was walking back to hotel today and some kids tired to drive by water balloon me. Two balloons missed me. They swung around the block and tried again. Missed with three this time. Guess their dads didn’t play catch enough with them. You gotta hit the target. It’s wicked hot and humid in Hartford and I would have appreciated the cooling off.

  63. 63.

    Mike E

    May 21, 2013 at 3:53 pm

    Yet another Beatles revisionist/hater squeezing Ringo out of the band’s hierarchy…no Rings, no Fabs!

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    May 21, 2013 at 3:53 pm

    @beltane:
    The Caliphate is totally the worst thing ever, because they call YHWH by the wrong name and have a different set of rules for oppressing women and nonbelievers.

  65. 65.

    Poopyman

    May 21, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    @ranchandsyrup: Damned kids these days have no interest in science. If they did, they’d have compensated for the moving frame of reference.

    And if these kids had done that in Florida or Texas or Arizona? ….

  66. 66.

    Calming Influence

    May 21, 2013 at 3:54 pm

    @beltane: Oklahoma is being punished for French gay marriage.

  67. 67.

    Poopyman

    May 21, 2013 at 3:55 pm

    @Roger Moore: Didn’t we have the Spanish Inquisition to squash that sort of thing?

  68. 68.

    p.a.

    May 21, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    @Redshirt: Anakin was right about them, from a certain point of view.

  69. 69.

    ? Martin

    May 21, 2013 at 3:56 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Sharia law supports gay marriage. Sharia law has always supported gay marriage.

    /1984

  70. 70.

    Cris (without an H)

    May 21, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    @Mike E: One of my favorite defenses of Ringo comes from Cara at the Curvature:

    if you were to take the drum track from virtually any Beatles song and isolate it, you’d know based on the drums alone exactly what song it is.

    (Cara also penned the classic mind-changing five-part Yoko Ono: A Feminist Analysis).

  71. 71.

    beltane

    May 21, 2013 at 4:01 pm

    @Roger Moore: And some of them even have the audacity to oppress women and nonbelievers while wearing unfashionable clothing. This could be very unsettling in the eyes of a French wingnut, who seems to have had a grudging admiration for the oppressive aspects of Islam while simultaneously being appalled by the religion’s lack of aesthetic appeal. American fundies have no fashion sense and so are not troubled by these things.

  72. 72.

    ranchandsyrup

    May 21, 2013 at 4:02 pm

    @Poopyman: Oh I would have stood my ground. With a water cannon. Proportionate force.

  73. 73.

    Amir Khalid

    May 21, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    @Yatsuno:
    I wanted to be one back at The Star, but they told me they already had too many people doing that. Sigh …

  74. 74.

    Shakezula

    May 21, 2013 at 4:05 pm

    Look it’s simple. Equal marriage will result in a complete breakdown of social order as evidenced by what will happen in Massachusetts, any day now, just you wait. While we’re running back and forth waving our arms over our heads because of Equal Marriage Doom, eleven million radical Mooslins, disguised as wedding planners, will enter the country and take over.

    QED.

  75. 75.

    raven

    May 21, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    Soonergrunt next thread. All is well.

  76. 76.

    the Conster

    May 21, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    @beltane:

    Wingnuts and christian fundamentalists hate sharia law because they’re the competition to be the oppressor. Why they think everyone else isn’t as confused about that as they are is one of the enduring mysteries.

  77. 77.

    jibeaux

    May 21, 2013 at 4:07 pm

    @Neddie Jingo: Didn’t Paul have like three biological children after 1966 any of whom could be DNA tested oh never mind.

  78. 78.

    Amir Khalid

    May 21, 2013 at 4:08 pm

    Soonergrunt just posted. He and his family are all safe, thank God.

  79. 79.

    Bobby Thomson

    May 21, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    @p.a.: What you did there I saw.

  80. 80.

    Calming Influence

    May 21, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    @raven: Excellent. thanks.

  81. 81.

    Mike E

    May 21, 2013 at 4:16 pm

    @Cris (without an H): Troof. He’s a drummer’s drummer, universally loved in his biz and ridiculed by know-nothings.

    What’s also a hoot, too, is how everybody’s fave Fab says something about them, like: John, because he’s a badass; George (my man), the truth-teller, and ascetic. Paul gets ragged for his heavy-handedness, treacly pop sensibilities, and, while getting high or something, allowing Michael Jackson to snatch the Beatles’ songbook from right under his bong. Aargh! Truth be told, Paul was The Genius of the group and did most of the mind blowing shit we associate them with to this day.

  82. 82.

    The Moar You Know

    May 21, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    if you were to take the drum track from virtually any Beatles song and isolate it, you’d know based on the drums alone exactly what song it is.

    @Cris (without an H): A tribute to John and Paul, who did most of the drum parts.

    Ringo did some good ones. If you’re a drummer (and I am) there are “tells” that let you know it’s a Ringo track as opposed to John or Paul. His accents are wrong. He’s a self-taught lefty playing a right-handed kit and there’s some things he just doesn’t do correctly. It works but it’s kind of weird to listen to.

  83. 83.

    Randy P

    May 21, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    Don’t want to clutter up Sooner’s thread with this but there was a much smaller disaster in the last week closer to home which I don’t think got much national press notice. Namely, the derailment and collision of a couple of Metro North trains north of New York City. Just want to point out that the MTA folks have been doing amazing work getting that crucial section of track back online.

    There have been no Metro North trains running through there since the accident, and virtually no Amtrak.

    My vacation starts next week with a train ride up to Boston, so I’ve been trying to figure out what to do and started investigating alternate arrangements. I talked to Amtrak about it last night and they said they thought they’d be up and running normally by late this week. I was flabbergasted but the lady on the phone confirmed it.

    MTA has been posting updates about what they’ve been doing to get the tracks up and running again. It truly has been a heroic effort. I’m just amazed.
    http://web.mta.info/mnr/NewHaven/new-haven-line-recovery.html

    Just think what kind of a train system we might have if the Republicans hadn’t been starving it since Reagan.

  84. 84.

    Roger Moore

    May 21, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    @Randy P:

    Just think what kind of a train system we might have if the Republicans hadn’t been starving it since Reagan.

    Just think of what a country we might have if the Confederates hadn’t been trying to destroy it since Lincoln.

  85. 85.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 21, 2013 at 7:58 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Everyone’s a critic.

  86. 86.

    Shortstop

    May 21, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Luhrmann (and Maguire, but the buck stops with Luhrmann) fundamentally misunderstand Nick. I mean they miss him by a mile.

  87. 87.

    Death Panel Truck

    May 22, 2013 at 1:00 am

    @The Moar You Know: Right. Lennon thought Ringo was such a shitty drummer that he asked him to play on Plastic Ono Band. He hated Ringo’s drumming so bad that he told the drummer on the Double Fantasy sessions to “play it like Ringo.”

    And fuck Paul McCartney. I wish he really had died in ’66.

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