Please use this thread to discuss Very Important Topics only! Or you could talk about what you had for lunch, the latest plot twist in Breaking Bad, the gigantic dump your dog or cat just took. Or whatever.
Open Thread
This post is in: Open Threads
prufrock
What if my dog took a gigantic dump on my cat?
Yeah, I’ve got nothing.
Botsplainer
My puppy dumps twice to three times a day. Because I feed him dry food, if he accidentally soils the house, cleanup isn’t horrible.
pharniel
D&D Next – Fantasy Heartbreaker or Vanity Project?
Kender – What are they good for? And why dear god are they in the next playtest package?
Wraith 20 is a thing by Rich Dansky
Werewolf: The Forsaken Ideogram Chronicles are a go – so is Mage: The Awakening The Fallen World chronicle is also a Go – These are the 2nd ed versions in all but name – Blood & Smoke: The Strix Chronicles for Vampire: The Requiem is the first in the line due out.
Full schedule (including Digital Web 3.0) here
Bruuuuce
No pooches, but cats. We just got new litter boxes; looking forward to installing them, because the old ones, despite good cleanings, stink.
I had a thunk the other day. Since the IOC and the USOC are both being total wusses about moving or boycotting the Sochi Olympics, it looks like it’s up to the athletes to make statements in ways that won’t get them arrested and send to Siberia.
I would love to see them get to their platforms, starting lines, etc., and simply refuse to participate. Stand straight up on the ice, whether racing or skating figures; not exit the starting gate when skiing, until the officials are forced to call time, and so forth. If enough athletes (especially if any of them are Big Names) do this, even the no-balls corporate-controlled media coverage will be forced to acknowledge it (and SOMEONE will interview athletes who do this, and the interviews will go online, etc.) Who knows? If enough, or important enough, athletes refuse to compete, some of the ones who do might complain that their medals are cheapened, which will only be simple truth.
Jake
I got a ginormous maine coon that barely fits the litter box. Never figured out how to bury his shit. He leaves monster turds. I also have a runty black cat. They worked out a system where the big guy takes a dump, leaves, and the little guy follows to perform clean-up duty.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Can we spoil BB? Not being able to binge watch is making me antsy, and the cut off last night was great.
Chyron HR
Why must EVERY thread here be about Glenn Greenwald?
Botsplainer
@prufrock:
Pictures or it didn’t happen.
schrodinger's cat
Oops wrong thread! Deleted.
Chris
Is anyone else’s Facebook (or whatever social media you use) suddenly lighting up with “Dem Muzlinz be burning CHRISTIAN churches? OMG OMG OMG!” comments and articles from various wingnuts and wingnuttish acquaintances? Mine is.
(ETA: referencing the latest wave of violence in Egypt).
piratedan
football season is nearly upon us in the US and already in place over on The Continent, I am happy for that for I fear that the concussion issue will end up closing down the sport unless someone can make a dramatic impact in either helmut safety for brains or teaching proper technique to no longer allow the head to be used as a weapon while tackling.
Gex
Finally early enough to an open thread to ask: has anyone received updates on JenJen and Stan? My apologies if you answered in that old, dead thread and I missed it.
raven
FDR catches an 80lb tarpon!
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hear you on the non-binge watching. I got into the series via binge-watching the first three seasons, and dragging the last two seasons out sucks.
Regarding spoilers: I think once something has been broadcast, people who haven’t seen it have no standing to screech “SPOILER” if it’s discussed. There might be someone reading this thread who will watch “The Crying Game” for the first time tonight. Well, guess what? She’s a MAN, bay-bee!
That said, it’s probably polite to proceed “spoilers” with a “SPOILER ALERT” so people can stop reading.
raven
@piratedan: A kid died in Atlanta Friday making a tackle.
gbear
I just finished a lunch of Swedish meatballs & gravy on mashed potatoes with a side of pretty fresh green beans from the work cafeterial. My cat threw up in the living room yesterday. What else do you want to know?
piratedan
@raven: I can’t see any Mom endorsing their sons playing the game…. with this going on.
raven
@piratedan: I dunno, it’s pretty damn popular in Georgia. It’s always been dangerous, that’s what makes it compelling.
gbear
@Jake: One of my cats hops into the kitty box, creates a big mound of kitty litter, takes a dump on the top of the pile, and then spends two minutes scratching at the rim of the kitty box. My other kitty uses the whole box of litter to cover his poops. Somehow this all works out except that a lot of litter winds up outside of the box, and it is only a small part of the reason my two cats can’t stand each other. They’re kind of The Odd Couple, only with hisses and slaps.
Original Lee
Overheard on the bus in to work this morning:
Passenger 1: So, how’s it working out with the new hire?
Passenger 2: Long version or short version?
Passenger 1: Short, my stop’s coming up.
Passenger 2: She doesn’t have enough logic circuits to help her clients with SNAP.
Passenger 1: That’s a problem.
the Conster
Recorded BB for when I get home from work tonight – can’t wait, so please please please use SPOILER ALERT if you just have to talk about it. I’ve avoided all discussion of it so far. It’s just such an amazing show and I just can’t begin to imagine how it ends.
Seanly
@pharniel:
pfft, my brother & I are running olde skool – 1st edition AD&D via Skype. Finishing up the Giant/Drow/Queen of the Demonweb series right now.
Niether of my dogs takes huge dumps, but the newer addition farts at the drop of a hat. We’ll smell something and call her name out and she gives us a guilty version of her snaggletooth look. In addition, my wife & I know that no stranger likes to hear discussion of our pets’ BMs.
EDIT: Hooray! Edit is back for my work laptop IE9.
Chickamin Slam
The cat has been hacking lately. Probably hairballs although I groom her and comb and comb she still gets them. I’d let her out to eat grass but then she has this tendency to only upchuck whenever I am not looking and on something that’s hard to clean up.
I need to get groceries. Out of milk and ice cream. Did you know that a place in NJ sells cantaloupe ice cream?
prufrock
@Botsplainer: Sorry, didn’t happen. Although that would be awesome, wouldn’t it?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@pharniel:
Oh, gods. Already?
Seeing as I abandoned D&D when v4 came out, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
@Chris:
Social Fixer is your friend.
max
“Well, Neighbors Just Got A Pit Bull”
max
[‘{snicker}’]
burnspbesq
Ahmed Ajam has moved for summary judgment in his habeas case in the District Court in DC. The motion asks the court to declare Section 1128 of the NDAA, the provision that imposes all sorts of funky conditions on the Administration’s ability to release detainees, an unconstitutional intrusion on the Commander-in-Chief power. The arguments in the brief look an awful lot like the arguments in Obama’s signing statements, which puts DOJ in an awkward position in framing its response.
This is good, clever lawyering. Color me impressed.
http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/08/escalating-a-detainees-plea/#more-168610
different-church-lady
Have you heard the latest Greenwald bombshell?
What? She said “Whatever” !
burnspbesq
@Chickamin Slam:
Hell, yes. That would be van Dyk’s on Ackerman Ave. in Ridgewood. I grew up on the stuff. It is, in my view, incontrovertible evidence that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
rikyrah
After Bloomberg
by Ken Auletta
…………….
Early on, the Mayor contemplated endorsing Quinn, calling her “a person of enormous integrity.” He has invited her to join him at press conferences and, at times, to fill in for him at public functions. Some of the Mayor’s friends are convinced that he made a back-room deal with Quinn in 2009, saying that he would endorse her in exchange for her support in amending the City Charter so that he could run a third time. (Both Bloomberg and Quinn have denied any quid pro quo.)
But the relationship between Bloomberg and Quinn is clearly uneasy. Late last year, Bloomberg encouraged several public figures, including Hillary Clinton and the real-estate developer and publisher Mortimer Zuckerman, to run for mayor; they declined. In early June, the Mayor, according to two Bloomberg advisers, was sympathetic to an effort by some of his supporters to draw Ray Kelly into the race. Bloomberg secretly financed a poll by his own longtime pollster, Douglas Schoen, to help convince Kelly that he could win, but Kelly declined.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/26/130826fa_fact_auletta?currentPage=5
rikyrah
The Ed Show’ moves to weekdays at 5 p.m. ET starting August 26
Steve Frank
11:25 AM on 08/19/2013
The Ed Show hosted by Ed Schultz is moving back to MSNBC’s weekday lineup starting Monday, August 26.
The Ed Show will air Monday – Friday at 5 p.m. ET. Hardball with Chris Matthews will continue at 7 p.m. ET. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC.
“Chris Matthews and the Hardball team have been pulling double duty for years. This move will concentrate the ‘Hardball’ audience to one key time period and enhance the flow of our evening programming,” said Griffin. “Ed Schultz is a force of nature and an important voice to the MSNBC audience. I can’t wait to have him back on weeknights.”
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/19/the-ed-show-moves-to-weekdays-at-5p-et-starting-august-26/
NickT
Still enjoying the Total War series of games. For which, clearly, Obama is to blame. Puzzled that a good local bakery never has tiramisu on Mondays. For which, clearly, Obama is to blame.
rikyrah
Confident Biden Team Sows Seeds For 2016
Backers Consider Steps for White House—Even If Hillary Clinton Enters Race
By PETER NICHOLAS
, CAROL E. LEE
and COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON
Political allies of Vice President Joe Biden have concluded that he can win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination—even if Hillary Clinton enters the contest—and are considering steps he could take to prepare for a potential candidacy.
While Mr. Biden has made no decision about his future, people familiar with his thinking say, he hasn’t ruled out a bid for the White House. If he runs, that could set up a titanic battle between two of the party’s most prominent figures.
One step under discussion by Biden backers is to form a political action committee he would use to funnel money to other Democratic candidates, which could build goodwill for a possible White House bid, people familiar with the talks said. Meanwhile, Mr. Biden is preparing to attend a Democratic event in Iowa, which traditionally holds the first nominating contest, and to raise money this week for the Democratic governor of New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323423804579020781151204004.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet
rikyrah
@elonjames
“If I had a son who was stopped, I might feel differently about it, but nevertheless,” – Mayor Bloomberg on #StopAndFrisk
twitter is hilarious
……………………
Leroy Bloomberg @bloombergs_son
Wait theres a #Blacktwitter? Does my Dad #StopAndFrisk y’all too? RT @PragObots: Why Black Twitter? WHY? => Leroy Bloomberg @bloombergs_son
rikyrah
Susan Rice ‘grateful’ for Obama’s support during Benghazi uproar
By Julian Pecquet 08/19/13 01:24 PM ET
National Security Adviser Susan Rice thanked President Obama for
standing up to Republicans critical of her explanation for the Benghazi
terror attack and hinted at a future Senate run in an interview in
September’s edition of Vogue.
Rice told the fashion magazine that she “wouldn’t rule it out” when asked about her childhood dream of becoming a senator. The former ambassador to the United Nations also declared herself “very grateful” that the president publicly defended her when she came under attack on Benghazi.
“My first reaction was that it’s a damn shame that the president of the United States has to spend time at a press conference right after he’s been reelected talking about this. And me!” Rice said in the interview, which was conducted in June, before she took over as the president’s national security adviser.
“On one level I was embarrassed and chagrined. But on another level, I was very moved and grateful that he said what he said and said it with obvious feeling.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/congressional-delegations/317661-susan-rice-thanks-obama-for-post-benghazi-support-hints-at-senate-run#ixzz2cRIC9X82
fuckwit
I have a grievance to air.
Why is it news sites have started burying the DATE of stories, and blog posts?
Example, this: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/us/politics/21seelye-text.html When the fuck was that said? 2008? 2011? 2010? 2012? Now?
That’s the New York Fucking Times. There’s a tradition of dating stories that goes back what, hundreds of years? And, on the internet where everything is in a database, there is no excuse for not putting a DATE and even a time on a posting. This data is eminently available. Show it, please.
moonbat
@Chris: Actually, Muslim Brotherhood guys ARE burning Christian churches in Egypt. Just because wingnuts glory in it doesn’t make it not so. It is, however, also true that non-Muslim Brotherhood Muslims are creating prayer circles around some endangered Christian churches in Egypt to protect them. Who knew reality was so complex?
ruemara
I have 3 bucks until next week Friday, the apples I picked up so I could have fruit for the next 2 weeks -the first was rotten, the second was insipid and mushy and I need to refill my water jug, so there’s 1 buck out of the safety fund. Thanks, Obama.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Karl Stefanovic interviews Grumpy Cat
PsiFighter37
Another day in paradise here. Going canoeing/snorkeling later this morning, followed by sunset/stargazing on top of Mauna Kea.
fuckwit
@rikyrah: I want a Biden presidency even less than I want a Clinton presidency. I’m getting tired of the damn elite.
Come on people, don’t we have a fucking bench in this game?
And, no, it’s not ageism, it’s new-ideas-ism and challenge-the-1%-ism. I’d give blood to have Elizabeth Warren as my President, and she’s in the same age group as Clinton and Biden.
burnspbesq
@Chris:
I have the opposite problem. My facebook thingy is full of stuff about how some new tree-trade agreement is NAFTA on steriods and will condemn all our children to a life of serfdom. Interspersed with explanations of why Monsanto is the eebilest corporation evah.
Chris
@rikyrah:
Susan Rice was the scapegoat in a terrorist attack that Mitt Romney and his posse desperately wanted to turn into something else because they had an election to win. It was a fucking travesty and I, too, am really glad that Obama managed to keep her on the team. If not as SecState, this was the next best thing (and possibly even more of a slap in the face to wingnuts, since they care more about things with the word “national security” in them than about these wimpy nancy-boys at Foggy Bottom).
NickT
@fuckwit:
Contemplate the possibility of President Cuomo. I think you’ll find reasons to conclude that Joe Biden ain’t that bad after all.
Chris
@moonbat:
Oh, I know they are. I don’t even object to them pointing it out, on general principle. It’s just fucking tiresome to 1) see repeatedly that they only care about one kind of human rights violation in the region, and 2) then essentialize that to “ALL MUSLIMS ARE EVIL! THERE CAN NEVER BE PEACE” etc.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@fuckwit: Maybe the dates are only available to paid subscribers?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Huh. I call that good news. His TV persona isn’t always to my taste and he’s often kinda shaky on the issues, but he’s one of the few media people who, to borrow a phrase from Pierce, has labor leaders numbers in his rolodex.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@PsiFighter37: Have you been to Volcano Winery yet? And The Rim restaurant?
Freemark
Has anyone else watched Endeavour? I thought it was excellent, just sorry there are only 5 shows a season.
rikyrah
Oakland classes offer black males hope
Stationed at the doorway to his classroom at Oakland High School, Tiago Robinson greeted each student with a handshake.
Every student was black and each one was male.
A few wore pictures of friends on their shirts or on laminated cards strung on lanyards they wore around their necks – memorial images of siblings, classmates or cousins who’d been killed.
As they grabbed their binders from a closet, some joked around or dissected the previous night’s Warriors game. Others walked slowly and silently to their seats, their shoulders hunched, their eyes tired.
Robinson, an African American man with spotless tennis shoes, a shaved head and heavily tattooed arms, shut the door.
“Brothers, let’s bring it in,” he began.
The class quieted down and Robinson started to teach. His goal this day – as it was every day – was to help these teens learn how to navigate the world in and out of school. To try and create strong, successful black males by demonstrating the man he’d become.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/local/bayarea/item/Even-Odds-Day-2-23198.php
NickT
@Freemark:
I think it extremely well done. There was some praise for it on BJ a couple of weeks ago, as I recall.
FlipYrWhig
@burnspbesq: mine is all full of people just learning about the Greenwald bullshit du jour, or, really, bullshit d’hier, I suppose.
burnspbesq
Chris Christie is one of my favorite cartoon characters, right up there with Daffy Duck and Woody Woodpecker, but I think this is a legitimate beef.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/dont-talk-to-christie-about-ideas/
burnspbesq
@FlipYrWhig:
Actually I think it’s the bullshit de toujours.
rikyrah
Leroy Bloomberg @bloombergs_son
If I got #StopAndFrisk’ed My dad @MikeBloomberg would be mad. Just like a lot of NYers when he re-wrote the rules & gave himself a 3rd term.
10:43 AM – 19 Aug 2013
………………………………..
Leroy Bloomberg @bloombergs_son
I got stopped by a cop once. It was the scariest 40 secs of my life until the cop realized my dad was @MikeBloomberg. Then I got ice cream.
10:50 AM – 19 Aug 2013
NickT
@FlipYrWhig:
Ce bullshit quotidien de Monsieur Greenwald. I suppose that “connerie” might be better than “bullshit” in this context.
Jane2
I just got my new Australian wool duvet and pillows (200 bucks including delivery and CDN taxes!) and the cats aren’t happy. They want my (meaning their) old duvet. Hope for treats and never change a thing is their motto.
Jane2
@Chris: My FB feed has a pic of Rick Santorum. I need better friends.
PurpleGirl
@Freemark: Yes, I watched it. I wish they had made a few more for this series. I’m hoping they make more for next year.
Ben Cisco
It appears the only way for NC state legislators to fight the NeoConfederates within their ranks is from outside:
PsiFighter37
@rikyrah: Not going to happen. He’s been a good VP, but he’s too old at this point, and he’s been caricatured to death by now.
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: No, going to that part of the island on Thursday. May stop by if I have time, but honestly will have to see.
Gin & Tonic
@Chickamin Slam: I make a cantaloupe granita, that’s easy and really delicious. Chop up a half a cantaloupe, mix in 1/4 – 1/2 cup of sugar or so (you’ll have to work this out according to taste) and a bit of lemon juice, throw in a blender or food processor to puree it. Pour that into a pie pan and put it in the freezer. Periodically (every 15-30 minutes) open the freezer and stir the slurry around with a fork. Once it’s more or less solid, enjoy. No, it’s not ice cream, but my guests have always really enjoyed it.
moonbat
@Chris: I agree. THAT is the frustrating thing. I have friends in Egypt who beg me to keep reminding people that not all Muslims are MB and not all Muslims hate Christians. Particularly not in Egypt which has a long history of tolerance. The majority of people in that country DO NOT want to become an Islamist state whether and how they will avoid that is the struggle now.
nellcote
@moonbat:
I wonder if Lindsay Graham knows he’s supporting the church burners.
Xecky Gilchrist
Now that Pandagon.net’s registration has lapsed and it’s been colonized by weird bigots, would you please update the blogroll entry for it to http://www.rawstory.com/rs/category/pandagon/ , where it’s been since May of 2008?
Thanks.
Steeplejack
Just sat down to enjoy one of the perks of being self-employed/semi-unemployed: watching the Manchester City-Newcastle match live on TV. Fourteen minutes in and Newcastle is already down a goal. Ugh.
Shakezula
If you like being outdoors, you must go to Maine. That is all.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@PsiFighter37: No time to check their site now, but when we were there the Winery had this lovely macadamia nut honey mead.
And the view from our table at the Rim (or whatever it was called then) was just amazing.
Steeplejack
@fuckwit:
Stories and blog posts at the Times site are time- or date-stamped. The link you posted goes to one of the ancillary “reference” niblets typically attached to hyperlinks in “real” stories. It certainly would be nice if it were time-stamped, but it doesn’t represent some systemwide failure at the Times.
To your larger point, I share your frustration when a time stamp is not included or is difficult to find on a story or blog post.
aimai
@rikyrah: I seem to lack the ability to read twitter. I feel so old. I can’t organize it as a sentence or a series of comments.
flukebucket
@fuckwit:
I found a youtube video of it that goes back to February of 2008 so it is a least that old.
Steeplejack
@Freemark:
Yes, it’s a great show. Was previously discussed in several open threads (usually on Sunday night).
Steeplejack
@flukebucket:
Obama’s original quote came in an interview with the Reno Gazette in January 2008.
Anoniminous
@Chris:
A.) It’s FaceBook – also known as the world’s largest aggregation of idiots, fools, nincompoops, and innumerates.
B.) Subtracting cat, baby, and all the other uninteresting messages and photographs of stuff nobody wanted to know and nobody cares to know 90% of FaceBook is “OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY {insert arbitrary group} is being {attacked, picked on, ignored, jailed, terrorized} by THOSE VICIOUS {insert second arbitrary group}.
C.) See A
Betty Cracker
@aimai: It’s not just you. I find that if you follow an issue in real time, it makes sense. And Twitter is great for one-liners. But just pulling quotes out of longer conversations doesn’t work for me either, if it’s not something I was following at the time (which happens, like, never). I grow old! I grow old! I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think a lot of the younger people are avoiding the spotlight because why waste the money and energy to go up against Clinton? But there’s Martin O’Malley, Kirstin Gillibrand, John Hickenlooper. I don’t like her but I’d be shocked if Claire McCaskill doesn’t think about it, ditto Andrew Cuomo and probably a whole bunch of Bluish dogs we wouldn’t like. He’s probably too labor-y for the Establishment but I’d love to see Sherrod Brown make a run for it. Long term there’s Cory Booker (I don’t like him, but I think I’m in a minority), the Castro brothers…. who knows? In 2005 Barack Obama was a longshot in a Dem primary for an Illinois Senate seat. I think the myth of the thin Democratic bench is a combination of Hillary casting a big shadow and Republicans (pace Reince Priebus) getting more attention from the media.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Any thoughts on Sebelius? If the ACA gets past the starting gate SNAFUS and turns into a popular program, a lot of the credit will belong to her. (Big ifs, I know.)
Freemark
@PurpleGirl: That is the only problem with these Masterpiece shows, they only make 4-6 a year.
PsiFighter37
@Betty Cracker: Nah, although I thought she had a chance at being Obama’s VP pick in 2008.
The Other Bob
@Bruuuuce:
If enough openly demonstrate in favor of gay rights, Russia will be overwhelmed and unable to arrest them all. I also think the President will be forced to blast Russia and provide serious consequences if any athlete is arrested.
NickT
@Betty Cracker:
Sebelius is famously dull as a speaker. I doubt she’s going to do anything other than retire once Obama leaves office.
Chris
@moonbat:
Oh, absolutely. They had cases of Muslims and Christians praying together, Muslims escorting Christians for their protection, etc in Egypt, especially a few months back when the original attacks against churches started to materialize. Naturally, that didn’t get reported. It doesn’t fit the narrative.
The same way the people who tried to rape a journalist in Tahrir Square were reported as representing These People and why they’d never be civilized, but the people in the crowd who came to her aid were not.
The same way the people who led the attack at Benghazi were trumpeted as proof that Libya was falling to al-Qaeda, but the crowds demonstrating for Stevens and particularly the crowd that marched straight to an islamist militia compound and tossed it out on its ass didn’t make the papers.
These People are all savages. They all hate Us. The only solution (to our very great regret) is to keep bombing and killing. Etc, etc, etc.
Chris
@Anoniminous:
As long as IMDb exists, I think I might have to quibble with that.
burnspbesq
@NickT:
KU should make her dean of the law school, just as a “fuck you” to Brownback.
Lawrence
Anybody else disappointed with League of Ordinary Gentlemen lately? The site is rebranded as Ordinary Times, and reliably has some anti abortion crap posted.
NickT
@Lawrence:
So nothing changed other than the name? The LOOGies have always been a sad little bunch of libertarian wannabes and general purpose bedwetters.