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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

It’s a doggy dog world.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Books are my comfort food!

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Let there be snark.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Second rate reporter says what?

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Republicans in disarray!

No Justins, No Peace

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / An Actual Present (Open Thread)

An Actual Present (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  December 30, 20138:13 pm| 192 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Aside from the mister, no one at my holiday gathering detected a political / sexual joke in this product name. I’m absolutely certain the giver intended only to facilitate a mess-free cuppa.

Did you get any unintentionally amusing or otherwise remarkable presents? Any big plans for tomorrow? We’re staying home, smoking a ham, watching football and supervising sneaky teenagers.

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Reader Interactions

192Comments

  1. 1.

    TaMara (BHF)

    December 30, 2013 at 8:16 pm

    Well, I got a bonus Christmas kitteh (ok, it’s my old kitteh, helping me take down the decorations in her own way)

  2. 2.

    max

    December 30, 2013 at 8:18 pm

    We’re staying home, smoking a ham

    Wow. Your, uh, ham bong must be HUGE!

    max
    [‘Florida really IS the weirdest state!’]

  3. 3.

    TaMara (BHF)

    December 30, 2013 at 8:21 pm

    And the Buttered Potato Pie* has actual pictures now.

    *sounds better than Pommes Anna, the traditional name

  4. 4.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 8:26 pm

    We normally use the HicFiLA bowl as an excuse to not go out but, damn, what a crappy matchup. The Illini play the hated Hoosiers at 2 and the Hokies have UCLA so that’s something. Our friends have this really nice New Years Day Party and it starts right when the Dawgs kick off in J-Ville so I have another dilemma. 1st world shit.

  5. 5.

    Violet

    December 30, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    @raven: Won’t your friends have the game on? You could go at halftime and watch the end of it maybe?

  6. 6.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 8:32 pm

    @Violet: They always say they will and then get caught up. Our crowd is academic/artsy and most don’t care. My evil plan is to dvr it and hope some douche doesn’t give anything away. I also have gotten to where I don’t like watching games I care about with other people. Actually that’s why I like shooting the shit on BJ during games, you can just put it down.

  7. 7.

    Comrade Mary

    December 30, 2013 at 8:32 pm

    I thought that was a ‘Shop, but no, it’s real and it’s — not all that spectacular.

    WHO THE FUCKING FUCK WRAPS THE TEABAG STRING AROUND THE SPOON? WHAT FUCKING REAL PROBLEM DOES THIS DEVICE SOLVE?

    1) If you make your tea in a pot, loose or bagged, this is pointless.
    2) If you make your tea in an open cup, boiling water + tea bag will make a nice cuppa as long as you’re using decent tea.

    There is no need for a little hat over your tea cup, and you can squeeze the tea bag against the edge of the cup with a spoon, then put it in a little bowl if you want a tidy way to carry the bag to the garbage.

    Signed,
    Offended Canuck (who makes several cups of proper tea a day without the aid of any silicone device whatsoever)

    Also, too, this.

  8. 8.

    Violet

    December 30, 2013 at 8:33 pm

    @raven: That would probably work pretty well. Unless someone really does have the game on or if someone wants to be a jerk.

  9. 9.

    IowaOldLady

    December 30, 2013 at 8:34 pm

    Someone gave Mr IOL a book the size of a dictionary that’s just a compendium of “extraordinary facts.” He’s reading them to me when he finds them especially interesting. It’s like living with Cliff Claven.

  10. 10.

    TaMara (BHF)

    December 30, 2013 at 8:35 pm

    @Comrade Mary: Ok, you made me laugh enough that I can get back to work and not be all grumpy about it.

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    December 30, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    We didn’t exchange gifts this year — we bought tickets to “Book of Mormon” instead of buying yet another book or DVD.

  12. 12.

    Violet

    December 30, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    @Comrade Mary:

    if you want a tidy way to carry the bag to the garbage.

    Or compost bin, which is where all the tea bags and leaves go at my house.

  13. 13.

    Cacti

    December 30, 2013 at 8:39 pm

    Plans for tomorrow:

    1. Get drunk

    2. Whatever

  14. 14.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 8:40 pm

    @Comrade Mary:
    Hey! I used to wrap the string around the spoon to squeeze the excess tea out. Then the bag is in the spoon to carry to the trash. Or when money is tight to make the next cup of tea. I see this as should the roll have the paper coming off the top or the bottom? Now I know I’m right with off the top but I don’t berate those that don’t understand.
    But you are right that the tools to work a tea bag after making a cup are right in front of you. Other than a friend who used to just grab the bag and squeeze with his fingers. That’s just gross.

  15. 15.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    @IowaOldLady:
    We shouldn’t call you Mrs. Cliff should we?

    I didn’t think so.

  16. 16.

    burnspbesq

    December 30, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    @raven:

    damn, what a crappy matchup.

    Oh, fuck off.

    Eat mor Aggie!

  17. 17.

    jl

    December 30, 2013 at 8:43 pm

    My curiosity was piqued. Shame on the BC for not showing us how this amazing device works.
    I searched…

    Tea bag buddy in action:
    http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/problem-solving-products-00100000069237/page2.html

    Edit: In a pinch it might also be useful for gouging out hunks of piping hot cajun fried catfish and buttered potato pie and getting them down your maw before greedy others do, too.

  18. 18.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 8:44 pm

    @burnspbesq: Duke gave free tix to any student wanting to go.

  19. 19.

    IowaOldLady

    December 30, 2013 at 8:45 pm

    @Ruckus: Good guess.

  20. 20.

    Violet

    December 30, 2013 at 8:46 pm

    Noisemax headline over on the right:

    Christie’s Star Dims Amid Alleged Bullying

    Hmmm….

  21. 21.

    Pogonip

    December 30, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): She’s pretty! Is she a Maine coon?

  22. 22.

    Suffern ACE

    December 30, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    @IowaOldLady: if you bought him a subscription to Mental Floss, he could bring you the trivia all year long.

  23. 23.

    Comrade Mary

    December 30, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    @Ruckus: OK, but why wrap the bag in the string? If you have a spoon and a little bowl (which can hold several tea bags at a time if, like me, you can’t be arsed to put each bag directly in the green bin or if you want to make a second, weaker cup of tea), the spoon will squeeze and the little bowl is right next to the cup so there’s no dripping when the squeezed tea bag is deposited in it.

    Also: paper hangs over the top. This is not an opinion, but an observed fact :-)

  24. 24.

    Pogonip

    December 30, 2013 at 8:51 pm

    I use a tea ball.

    I am going to shop the after-Christmas sales for a ham bong. Smokin’!

    Other than that, I will be staying in taking my antibiotics and getting over the crud.

  25. 25.

    Violet

    December 30, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    @Comrade Mary: Maybe it depends how full you fill the tea cup or mug. If it’s full, you don’t really have an edge which works for you to squeeze out the last of the tea from the teabag. So the string works in that situation. I do that if I’ve got a teabag with a string, but I usually use stringless teabags so the TeaBag Buddy wouldn’t work for that at all.

  26. 26.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    You know what I hate? When one of these young people we know sends me a goddamn group text and I get all these fucking reply from granola hipsters I don’t even know!

  27. 27.

    Roger Moore

    December 30, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    @IowaOldLady:

    Mr IOL

    Shouldn’t that be IOM, or are you a May/December couple?

  28. 28.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 8:55 pm

    @raven:

    Why don’t you send a reply group text that says “Get off my lawn!”?

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 30, 2013 at 8:57 pm

    @Betty Cracker/top:

    We’re staying home, smoking a ham

    That’s legal in Florida now, is it?

  30. 30.

    Violet

    December 30, 2013 at 8:58 pm

    @raven: Try group texting between iPhone technology and Android technology. It’s a confusing mess. Apparently their texting technology works differently but communicating one on one works okay. With groups, the iPhone people can see that it’s a group text but the Android people can’t. I think there’s better texting apps out there for Android, but this is the basic texting that comes with the phone. A big mess.

  31. 31.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 8:58 pm

    @Baud: And it’s for a goddamn bondfire tomorrow night! Fucking hippies. (I can’t tell you how lucky we feel to have people 20 years younger than us that invite us to shit even though we don’t stay very late.

    eta And let me hang with their kids, they call me Uncle Grampaw!

  32. 32.

    HinTN

    December 30, 2013 at 9:00 pm

    @max: Weirder than California? No way, but I’m sure they would like to contest for the honor.

  33. 33.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:01 pm

    @Violet: Give Go SMS Pro a try. I hated the text messaging app that can with my Samsung and been happy with his.

  34. 34.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:02 pm

    Apple support says

    When you recieve a group message, text #exit to the group, and you will be removed.
    You can only leave a group if you are not the group creator. If you started a group, you must delete the group to get out of it. simple text: #exit

  35. 35.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:02 pm

    @raven:

    Aww, you big softie.

  36. 36.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 30, 2013 at 9:03 pm

    @Comrade Mary:

    Also, too, this.

    Epic.

  37. 37.

    IowaOldLady

    December 30, 2013 at 9:03 pm

    @Suffern ACE: Bite your tongue.

    @Roger Moore: “Mr IOL” is the equivalent of my graduate school sending me requests for money as “Mrs [huband’s first and last name]”. Screw that.

  38. 38.

    HinTN

    December 30, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    @Cacti: Grump, grump, grump; I could not agree more.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    December 30, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    I’d like to think that Charlotte has become a lap cat lately because she wuvs me, but I suspect she regards me more as a heating pad that can pet her.

  40. 40.

    jl

    December 30, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    @raven:

    ” one of these young people ”

    Don’t you mean

    ” one o’ theezh dang kidz tiddee”?

  41. 41.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    @Baud: One of my buddies calls me flat black because of my truck. By the time he was three I’d pop the hood and pick him up and he’d identify the carb, master cylinder, battery, radiator and such. I loved it but he outgrew it when he sat on my lap and I lit the engine up. It’s really loud and it scared him!

  42. 42.

    TaMara (BHF)

    December 30, 2013 at 9:06 pm

    @Pogonip: No, she’s just a pretty little calico, tiny, tiny, yet she is clearly the alpha and rules with a stern hiss and occasional sharp claw.

  43. 43.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    @Cacti: Plan for tomorrow is watch the first season of Fringe on DVD (which I have not seen) then head to a party and eat way to much and have a couple adult beverages. Or maybe more than a couple, since it is at my brothers house and I got a bed waiting for me :).

  44. 44.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    @jl: Well, they are in their 40’s!

  45. 45.

    Violet

    December 30, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    @Tommy: Yeah, I did some reading up on it and remember finding that app but never got around to changing anything. It’s just STUPID that they didn’t at least put a competent group text capability on the phone. That’s a pretty normal thing people do. How the hell do they not include that in the product?

    Do you find GoSMSPro works when doing group texts with iPhone users?

  46. 46.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:08 pm

    @raven:

    Gotta learn sometimes, life is full of load noises.

  47. 47.

    TaMara (BHF)

    December 30, 2013 at 9:08 pm

    LOL. Balloon-Juice, where one can not only argue about politics, but also how best to steep a cup of tea. Love it.

  48. 48.

    jeffreyw

    December 30, 2013 at 9:08 pm

    Thread needz moar Homie!

  49. 49.

    burnspbesq

    December 30, 2013 at 9:09 pm

    @raven:

    Duke gave free tix to any student wanting to go

    That’s been Duke policy for as long as I can remember. Except for NCAA tournament games, students get into everything free. Kevin White got a couple of the Iron Dukes to fund the bowl tickets for the students.

  50. 50.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:09 pm

    @Baud: He’s a sensitive little dude. His baby brother is frickin fearless.

  51. 51.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    @burnspbesq: I was surprised to see it at a bowl game.

  52. 52.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    @Violet: I’ve not tried it for a group text to multiple iPhone users. I hated I had to pay for it, even if it was only a few bucks. It would seem having to buy a SMS program on a new phone would be like having to buy an app to make a call. It should just work with whatever comes with a new phone.

    I will also note that even with the paid version, they try to upsell you a lot of their other products, which pisses me off, since well I paid for the darn thing. But it works well. And most of all the interface is easy on the eyes (most important for me).

  53. 53.

    TaMara (BHF)

    December 30, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    @jeffreyw: He has gotten so big.

  54. 54.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    @TaMara (BHF):

    steep a cup of tea

    Is that what you kids are calling it these days?

  55. 55.

    jl

    December 30, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    @Comrade Mary:

    Sorry, I missed the wonderful video demonstrating the amazing feat of which the teabag buddy is capable.

    Maybe Canucks have the spare time during their long frigid winters to learn the fine and difficult art of wrapping a teabag string around a spoon, but we USians are very buzy making money and power relaxing, thank you very much.

    Why didn’t one of my thoughtless callous family think of getting me one?

  56. 56.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    Present for you all. Name these musicians.

  57. 57.

    Jane2

    December 30, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): What a great gift! I hope you report after you’ve seen it.

  58. 58.

    TaMara (BHF)

    December 30, 2013 at 9:12 pm

    @Baud: Well if Betty can smoke ham…

  59. 59.

    jl

    December 30, 2013 at 9:12 pm

    @raven: Well, when you said something about granola eating hipsters… that made 40s sound like on the young side.

  60. 60.

    Jane2

    December 30, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    @jeffreyw: He grew up to be quite the handsome boy!

  61. 61.

    Aji

    December 30, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    Probably much the same as today, which includes mucking out stables and pens. Also laundry. Also crocking roast chicken and wild rice* soup. If there’s any time left over, trying to edit his newest photos to get them uploaded to the site.

    If the last . . . how many weeks now? . . . are any indication, there will be no time left over, and the pix will have to wait until I can park my ass in front of the TV for the Rose Bowl on Wednesday. Since my alma mater is finally back in it this time, I fully intend to waste the afternoon watching it.

    * That’s actual wild rice, not those silly mixed pilaf things that get mislabeled “wild rice.”

  62. 62.

    WereBear

    December 30, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    @Comrade Mary: There is no need for a little hat over your tea cup,

    Nay, must disagree with you there. I can taste the difference.

    If you can smell it, those are taste molecules that got away!

  63. 63.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    @jl: Hippies maybe but not hipsters.

  64. 64.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:14 pm

    @Aji: U a Bruin?

  65. 65.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:14 pm

    dupe

  66. 66.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:14 pm

    @TaMara (BHF):

    Yeah, and “watch football”. Wink, wink.

  67. 67.

    Aji

    December 30, 2013 at 9:15 pm

    @raven: Spartan.

  68. 68.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:16 pm

    @Aji: Dang, I remember watching Kirk Gibson catch a bomb against my Illini!

  69. 69.

    jl

    December 30, 2013 at 9:16 pm

    Jim Carrey describes rigors of winter in Canada

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ic3xNfEP_o

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 9:17 pm

    @Comrade Mary:
    Paper on top is correct!

    Give me a break, I learned to drink tea at sea on a destroyer. North Atlantic above the arctic circle in winter. What pray tell is the little bowl that you speak of? We had cups and shit cans. That is all.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    December 30, 2013 at 9:17 pm

    @raven:

    My best friend’s daughters call me “Miss Mnemo,” ’cause I’m their honorary aunt. They like me because they figured out I’m a good source for all things Disney. ?

    @Jane2:

    We’ve been listening to the soundtrack for a while now, but we missed the first go-around of the touring company. It cost an arm and a leg for tickets, but that’s why it was our joint Christmas present.

  72. 72.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:18 pm

    @jl: LOL. I am a coffee guy myself, and when I have tea I just use an infuser. But I got a big tea drinker in the family, with tea bags, got her this Tie Tea Cup a few years ago and she flat out loved it.

    However I shouldn’t mock. I brew my coffee in a hand blown coffee maker. Use a digital scale to get the amount of coffee just right. And use a digital thermometer to check the water temp.

    So I guess …. well I have a coffee problem.

  73. 73.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:19 pm

    @Ruckus: Swabs having a cup on an APD in the Pacific, WWII. My old man is seated.

  74. 74.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Yes!

  75. 75.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    @raven:

    That’s a damn cool photo. You should see if you can get it touched up. They do amazing things with Photoshop these days.

  76. 76.

    WereBear

    December 30, 2013 at 9:21 pm

    We had a Yankee swap this year and I got something that no one even thought of stealing, they claimed was so “me.”

    Imagine one of those “frog butler” things, holding a tray. Only by way of Burton, Nightmare Before Christmas style.

    I have it on my desk at work, and the weird little guy holds my business cards.

  77. 77.

    jeffreyw

    December 30, 2013 at 9:21 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): @Jane2: He’s a pretty hefty chunk o’ cat. Eleven pounder sez Mrs J. If Ginger Boy keeps pounding down the cream he’ll be fair sized himself.

  78. 78.

    JoyfulA

    December 30, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    I didn’t get a pony, but my niece did.

    Life is unfair.

  79. 79.

    Aji

    December 30, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    @raven: LOL – yeah, that’d be the one.

    Not entirely unrelated, the Lions finally gave Schwartz the boot today, so we’ll see if whomever replaces him can manage to maintain a 4th-quarter lead in like any game ever. [Sigh] being from MI usually means a depressing time of it in sportsfandom.

  80. 80.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    @Baud: Duh, I have a better copy.

  81. 81.

    jl

    December 30, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    @Tommy: The tie tea cup is just too refined for me. That is like something I would read about in the style section of the NYT.

    Actually, I am quite happy with a saucer. And do have an old tea infuser from parents’ place for rare times serious tea infusing is required.

    Once I was concerned that the tea bag was too soggy, and decided that swinging it by the twine and bagging it against the saucer and pouring the results into the cup would be a good idea. There were unexpected results all around the kitchen sink.

  82. 82.

    Aji

    December 30, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    @JoyfulA: We got one that we didn’t ask for. You wanna adopt?

  83. 83.

    Narcissus

    December 30, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    I could go for a teabag buddy.

  84. 84.

    Betty Cracker

    December 30, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    @raven: Wonderful photo!

  85. 85.

    Gravenstone

    December 30, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    @raven: Appears to be an obscenely young R.E.M. for four. No clue about the other vocalist, keyboards of the kilt wearing guitarist.

  86. 86.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    @Aji: I’m a lifelong Illini, Bear and Cub Fan. I used to go salmon fishing in Muskegon.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    @raven:

    To be honest, I prefer the original version. But I’m telling you, these guys these days can make a photo like that look brand new — even colorize it if you’d like.

  88. 88.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    @Gravenstone: Zevon

  89. 89.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    @Baud: This is my old man on liberty.

  90. 90.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    @raven:

    Your dad was Popeye, wasn’t he?

  91. 91.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    @Baud: I had my yearbook picture of my girlfriend when I was in Korea and they blew it up and colorized it. I never saw her again.

  92. 92.

    Aji

    December 30, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    @raven: Well, if you’re a lifelong Cubs fan, then you know from depressing. :-)

    Anything left to fish for in Muskegon anymore? Apparently the Michigan grayling (state fish) can still be found in WI and MN, but is now extinct in Michigan itself. So much from my childhood gone now.

  93. 93.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    @jl: That site I linked to is all about design. More of web sites and print brochures and stuff (graphic design), but design of all kinds.

    See for me a saucer is to refined :). As a huge coffee drinker I have more coffee cups then you can shack a stick at, but not a single saucer for them. The only saucers I have are for the cups my parents got as a wedding present with their place setting in 1967, which they gave to me. I’ve never used the saucers and not even used the china in like three years.

  94. 94.

    Gravenstone

    December 30, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    @raven: Bugger. I thought he looked familiar, but wasn’t getting enough to actually tag a name.

  95. 95.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    @raven:
    Those guys were drinking that dark brown/black syrup stuff that came in big urns and was aged for at least a week before any one was allowed to drink it. Don’t know what it was but even Starbucks smells better. Lots better.

  96. 96.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 30, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    @jeffreyw: Is he being a good kitteh?

  97. 97.

    srv

    December 30, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    A renowned Wall Street tycoon gave away his entire $800 million fortune before falling to his death in a suicide jump this week.

    Hedge fund multi-millionaire Robert W. Wilson, 87, leapt from the 16th floor of his luxury San Remo apartment building (pictured above), a prestigious address in New York’s Upper West Side which has been the residence of Steven Spielberg, Demi Moore, Glenn Close, Dustin Hoffman, Bono, Steve Martin, Bruce Willis and Steve Jobs in the past.

    According to the New York Police Department, he left a note at the scene. He had suffered from a stroke just a few months before.

  98. 98.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    @Baud: He was one tough squid I can tell you that. Four years on a tin can with 30+ landings will do that. See any similarities?

  99. 99.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:30 pm

    @Gravenstone: The Hindu Love Gods. Stipe wasn’t on the record.

  100. 100.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:31 pm

    @Ruckus: Those converted WWI four stackers had all the modern facilities too!

  101. 101.

    dr. luba

    December 30, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    Most of the tea I drink comes in bags without strings. I usually make it in a tea pot (as I do with loose tea), but when I want a single cuppa, a spoon is usually all I need to squish the bag and transport it to the composter.

    When I’m feeling all fancy, or when I remember to use them, I have a fine set of teabag tongs.

  102. 102.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    @raven:

    Is that you?

    Here’s one example of the type of stuff they can do to pictures these days

    http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57583072-1/reddit-restores-87-year-old-grandpas-damaged-navy-photo/

  103. 103.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:33 pm

    @Baud: Yea, bout 74. Nice.

  104. 104.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:33 pm

    @Baud: It is stunning. At the last ad agency I worked out we got a huge project for a Maritime veterans association (I don’t recall the name, wasn’t my client). We hired a person to do nothing but clean up and colorize the photos and I’d stick my head in his office like once a day and it was staggering what is possible. Cost an arm and a leg, cause they wanted it done my hand, almost pixel by pixel, and not just with any of Photoshops scripts or autocorrect. But it is amazing.

  105. 105.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    @raven:
    Your dad is only slightly more bow legged than me. A little lot less geeky looking in his whites as well. I always looked like I was trying out for the jr high play.

  106. 106.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    @Baud: One more, my mom’s aunt Venus.

  107. 107.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    dupe

  108. 108.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:35 pm

    @Ruckus: Sea legs! Can you tell his rate?

  109. 109.

    drkrick

    December 30, 2013 at 9:36 pm

    @IowaOldLady:

    It’s like living with Cliff Claven.

    Imagine how different that character would have been if there’d been smartphones at the time.

  110. 110.

    JPL

    December 30, 2013 at 9:37 pm

    @srv: According to the NY Times, the note listed appointments that would have to be canceled.

  111. 111.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:38 pm

    @Tommy:

    Apparently, Reddit has a subreddit where you can ask amateurs to brush up your photos for free.

    http://www.reddit.com/r/picrequests/

    I’m sure quality varies, however.

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    @raven:
    Destroyer I was on was build in 58 but the insides were not much different that the 4 stackers or really any WWII ships. I went through Old Ironsides in Boston once and while head room was less, the living conditions were not that much different. Later ships are better. Was stationed on a very late 60’s helicopter landing ship for my last 2 months and that was way, way better.

  113. 113.

    Aaron Baker

    December 30, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    I hate how the Tea Party has taken a useful obscene expression and ruined it for everybody.

  114. 114.

    jl

    December 30, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    @Tommy: You got me there. Saucers are not he-man. Look at raven’s WWII pic of his old man and the crew above. Not one saucer among them, no sir.

    And thanks to raven for the interesting pic.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 9:43 pm

    @raven:
    Looks like signalman.
    Some rates had changed or been added between his time and mine. But signalman was still the same. Not as many on a ship what with better communications but still was a necessary rate in the 60-70s.

  116. 116.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @Baud: Interesting. Did not know that.

    I have the full version of Photoshop, but really only use about 1% of the functionality (if that). But still do a lot of stuff that amazes clients. Color correction. Contrast. Croping. Optimize them for the Internet (I do web sites).

    There is this thing called the Laso tool. One way they can Photoshop the face of somebody on the body of somebody else. The program is smart enough to know that when you use it, and select one area, like where the gap from the headshot doesn’t match up with the body, you can just let Photoshop merge the color, brightness, and texture itself.

    It is a staggering program.

  117. 117.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:45 pm

    @jl: I didn’t mean it that way. It wasn’t that long ago folks, even at war, were more cultured then I am or much more cultured then folks years younger then me. I have pics of my grandfather in WWII, a HUMP pilot, using a saucer.

  118. 118.

    jeffreyw

    December 30, 2013 at 9:46 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: He was keeping an eye on things.

  119. 119.

    PsiFighter37

    December 30, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    About to get my New Year’s Eve cooking started with a long, slow-cooked roast of Kalua pork (basically pork butt doused with Hawaiian sea salt and liquid smoke).

    I’m also wasted and alone, which makes me feel like I’m at my equilibrium spot in the universe.

    PF37 +6

  120. 120.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    @Tommy:

    I purchased a lesser version of Photoshop for simple photo editing. Never really learned how to use it well, however. It really is its own art form.

  121. 121.

    Yatsuno

    December 30, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    @jeffreyw: PRETTY BIRDS!!!

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    @jl:
    The only place I saw saucers in the navy was in the wardroom. But then they had actual plates to go with them. Besides, holding on to your tv dinner tray, your silverware, your cup of coffee, bug juice or tea and trying to eat with the ship rolling 15-20 degrees and pitching even more left no hands for a saucer.

  123. 123.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:50 pm

    @Baud: Adobe Photoshop Express right. A wonderful program and all anybody, even a pretty amazing shutterbug needs to edit photos.

    I will just say if you have never looked, YouTube is your friend. I’ve learned 95% of what I know with Photoshop with a combo of I just “click on shit and see what happens” (how I learn most new programs BTW) and YouTube.

    There is a wonderful tutorial, and this goes for any program, on how to do this or that. Saves my life like weekly on something I can’t figure out ….. which happens more often then I care to admit.

  124. 124.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    @Ruckus: The four stackers were built from 1917-1919. Most went into mothballs and were brought to service and given to the Brits and Russkies under Lend Lease. 32 were converted to High Speed Attack Transports but there were also new APD’s built during WWII. This is the Crosby’s sister ship, the Ward. She sank the mini-sub off Pearl that morning and as know as having fired the first shot of WWII. The Ward was hit by a kamakazi 4 years to the day at the Battle of Ormoc Bay. Her skipper at Pearl was the captain of the cruiser that scuttled her.

  125. 125.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    @Ruckus: Yea, he operated the radio on the lcvp’s on landings and was on the bridge when they were underway.

  126. 126.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    @Tommy:

    Photoshop Express or Photoshop Elements. Can’t recall the exact name.

    Good advice on the You Tube videos. I never thought about trying that. I generally don’t do much YouTubing.

  127. 127.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    @Baud: I have elements to go with Lightroom.

  128. 128.

    jeffreyw

    December 30, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    @Yatsuno: They are some of my favorites, Cedar Waxwings. They were mobbing the persimmons still hanging on. Hard to get any details with a shot against the grey sky sans flash.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    @raven:
    You know, my dad was a machinery repairman on a destroyer tender in the pacific during the war. Your old man and mine may have met or at least been in the same place at least once.

  130. 130.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    @raven:

    I don’t have Lightroom I think I should have gotten than instead of Elements for what I need.

  131. 131.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    @Tommy: When WWII started and we broke the Japanese code there was an Admiral that refused to use the information because it was uncouth to read other people’s mail!

  132. 132.

    JoyfulA

    December 30, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    @Aji: Hmm. I’m picturing the situation and seeing I’d have to build a barn because ponies don’t live in houses AFAIK and don’t fit into doghouses and probably shouldn’t be left outside to get snow-covered or broiled. And then I’d have to get up earlier every day to muck the stalls, curry the pony, and take it for exercise (none of which I know how to do). Weekly, I’d have to go to Petco or find wherever the local ag store is for a couple of 50-pound bags of PonyChow. I’d have to pay the vet $50 extra for a house call because the pony doesn’t fit in the minivan.

    I think I’ll have to turn down your kind offer and just snicker at my sister as she copes with all of the above.

  133. 133.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    @Ruckus: Ulithy was a hot spot for that. I have the deck logs and war diary for his ship, interesting read if you care.

  134. 134.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    @Baud: Neither am I. About all I use YouTube for. Not much else of interest to me. But hardcore geeks seem to want spend the time and do a video screen cap of an app with audio overview. It is stunning actually, cause a lot of sites will charge you hundreds of dollars for the same type of educational videos.

    Oh just as an aside I’ve expanded this to other self-help videos. I wanted to know how to use my new Chemex coffee pot. YouTube video. Best way to cut my basil and keep the plant growing. YouTube video.

    I use it for stuff like this 24/7.

  135. 135.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    @Ruckus: Check out the Crosby’s scoreboard.

  136. 136.

    Aji

    December 30, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    @JoyfulA: LMAO. Okay, just askin’. We had one show up on Christmas Eve (another starving one, natch), and . . . well . . . we couldn’t very well leave him to die, y’know? And no one has shown the slightest interest in saying, “Hey, that’s my horse,” so apparently, we have another pony, at least for now.

  137. 137.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    @Tommy: We get access to Lynda through work and it has great information on all kinds of software.

  138. 138.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    @raven:
    My duty station on underway refueling was forward, just under the bridge. Out in the open. I had to string the sound powered phones for the captains to speak to each other. Or some admiral to speak to our captain. Some very interesting conversations, gives truth to the rumor that shit flows downhill. And gains speed and force as it gets close to the bottom of said hill.

  139. 139.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    @Tommy:

    And I thought the Balloon Juice commentariat was as helpful as it got on the Tubes!

    Good to know.

  140. 140.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    @Baud: I have the entire like $2,700 Adobe Creative Suite. Lightroom is one of the programs. It flat out rocks, but spent little time with it. It seems to me the best part is if you connect any device to your computer it organizes and stores all images. Then you can edit.

    I got Flickr for that. And of course Photoshop. I love some of Adobe’s products, but I push people away from them cause they are so expensive and really meant for professionals. Like I said I’ve been using Photoshop for 5+ years and I bet I use like a few percent of what he does.

    Waste of money to be honest.

  141. 141.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    @Ruckus: Did you still use flags and signal lamps?

  142. 142.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 10:03 pm

    @raven: When I was the VP of marketing for a small software company and we were building out a design group, where not everybody was up to speed on the latest software, I bought Lynda for them. Wonderful. Wonderful. But not inexpensive for a novice that wants to learn something for a hobby.

  143. 143.

    Baud

    December 30, 2013 at 10:04 pm

    @Tommy:

    Like I said I’ve been using Photoshop for 5+ years and I bet I use like a few percent of what he does.

    Sounds like my college education.

  144. 144.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:04 pm

    @raven:
    Possibly. Dad didn’t want to discuss the war or much of anything in the past, was always looking forward. A trait I am only now learning to ignore.
    How might you allow me to see them?

  145. 145.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:06 pm

    @Ruckus: markann at gmail dot com I have it all on disc. Went to the archives in Maryland and scanned them.

  146. 146.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    @Tommy: I hear you, I feel fortunate to have access for free.

  147. 147.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:10 pm

    @raven:
    They did when you and I were in the service 40+ years ago, I’d imagine they still do to some extent. When everything else fails, if the ship is still upright signal flags still get the message across. And signal lamps have a limited range and scope so are harder to intercept. But they are much slower to use and acknowledge and given the weapons in place even when I was in speed of response can make or break the situation.

  148. 148.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:11 pm

    @Ruckus: Yea, they probably don’t use the hand cranked field phones anymore either!

  149. 149.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:11 pm

    @raven:
    Do you want to send by email or disc?
    I’ll email you for whichever.

  150. 150.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 10:12 pm

    @Ruckus: It is amazing isn’t it. I am 44. My father has a freaking PhD in history. We didn’t know much if any of what my grandparents did in WWII. They NEVER talked about it. It was only after they passed away and we started to go through their records where we pieced things together.

    My mother’s father got to Europe late and didn’t see much combat. Really none.

    My other grandfather, wow. He was a medical doctor. Was sent to Texas to be a flight surgeon on HUMP planes. On the weekend he was taught to fly, or well at least maybe land a plane cause he was told large number of people never came back.

    Not so much the “japs” as he would call them to his died day in 1989 (he was not a big fan, as he said they shot him), but cause flying over the Himalayan Mountains in prop planes wasn’t as easy as you might think.

  151. 151.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    @Ruckus: I’ll mail it to you, I have sent it out a number of times. I have the army footage of the assault on Corregidor that fits too. There isn’t a great deal of Navy but enough to give the idea of what it was like to go in guns blazing.

  152. 152.

    JoyfulA

    December 30, 2013 at 10:16 pm

    @Aji: A starving pony showing up on Christmas Eve does sound like the start of a holiday TV movie, doesn’t it? We have horse farms, cows, even buffalo nearby, but it isn’t a place where a pony might wander in.

    My favorite cats have been those who showed up at the door, and I’m trying to track one now. I see pawprints in the snow, but I lose the trail. I’m thinking of putting out a bowl of crunchies.

  153. 153.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:17 pm

    @raven:
    Was reading on a blog by an officer who served on tin cans in the 80’s about ships using CB walkie talkies for a while. But when two ships in the same area, one getting ready to set anchor and one steaming down river got their signals crossed and the ship moving right along at 10-12 knots dropped anchor, that changed back to sound powered phones only. There are places and reasons for some old technologies, solutions that are simple, work and are hey, relatively cheap.

  154. 154.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:18 pm

    @Tommy: Funny, my dad was a football coach in California in the early 60’s. He had a deep admiration for the Japanese after having faced them . He always said that he’d watch the Japanese kids on the practice field and when they got gassed he knew he’d pushed enough. My uncle, who spent the entire war and Navy Pier, hated them. Go figure.

  155. 155.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:20 pm

    @Ruckus: When I visited the North Carolina they have an exhibit in the Fire Control Center explaining that they tested computerized fire direction control and the old analog and found that changing from analog was not cost effective because it was so accurate.

  156. 156.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 30, 2013 at 10:21 pm

    @raven:

    Apparently the broken code gave the Allies all the information they needed to shoot down Admiral Yamamoto’s plane in 1943. There was some debate on whether they should act on the information, because doing so might well tip off the Japanese that their code was broken, and they’d find other means to transmit sensitive information.

  157. 157.

    WereBear

    December 30, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    @JoyfulA: And a bowl of water. That can be even harder to get.

  158. 158.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: You know the Brits didn’t tell us they broke the Nazi code for a year!

  159. 159.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 10:24 pm

    @raven: My grandfather never seemed to get over Japan. That phrase “the Japs” was maybe one of the first what I’d call racist slur I’d heard in my life (I am blessed that was how I was raised — I didn’t hear anything like this until I was a teen). My grandfather later in life was a rich man and told me if I graduated from college with honors he’d buy me a new car.

    I told him what I wanted, a Japanese car, and he freaked out.

    Now he was to the right of say Rush. So funny that many times in this life he’d travel to China. That I might have tens of thousands of dollars of artwork from China in my house. He loved the place. Couldn’t stand Japan.

    I don’t profess to understand for a second how this all could happen ….

  160. 160.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:26 pm

    @Tommy:
    I used to work with a gentleman who was a radioman in the hump planes (C47?). We traveled together for a year in his truck both of us driving and talking and he never once wanted to talk about it. But then I really didn’t at the time either. When I go to the VA most guys don’t want to discuss their time in. Some will ask what branch and do a little small talk but never about more than what the food/coffee was like. Most of us Raven’s/my age, Vietnam era vets will discuss things a little more but not as much as you might think. I believe it is because of the situation. You probably think someone needed to be where you were but you wish it was someone else. It sure was like that when I was in hospital. Getting someone to openly discuss what had happened to them or what they had done to others? That was like trying to do and appendectomy through the nose.

    ETA Shorter. You really don’t want to talk much about things you really, really want to forget.

  161. 161.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:29 pm

    @Tommy: Oh my old man was a DuPage County Republican. He never batted an eye about dropping the bombs, common sentiment for those who were at Okinowa. When he bought a Dodge Colt and found out it was a Mitsubishi he had a fucking fit. Understand it by realizing that they fucking butchered people like there was no tomorrow.

  162. 162.

    Pogonip

    December 30, 2013 at 10:30 pm

    I have decided to start bird watching this year. It’ll also be fun for my autistic son who likes organizing and charting and categorizing.

    The biggest category seems to be those which Patrick McManus classifies as Drab Little Birds. We get a lot of DLBs in these parts.

    Does anyone besides me spider-watch? Spiders are a lot more interesting than you’d think at first glance.

  163. 163.

    kdaug

    December 30, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    @Comrade Mary: Hey, now. Some people need to have their fingers protected from hot tea bags.

    I ain’t here to judge.

  164. 164.

    Anne Laurie

    December 30, 2013 at 10:31 pm

    @Tommy:

    So funny that many times in this life he’d travel to China. That I might have tens of thousands of dollars of artwork from China in my house. He loved the place. Couldn’t stand Japan.

    Lots of Chinese nationals would agree with him on that, of course. And not just those who lived through WWII…

  165. 165.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:32 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Koreans aren’t all that crazy about them either.

  166. 166.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    @Tommy:
    You only have to remember one thing. Japan and China were on opposite sides. And they had been for centuries before WWII. China was an ally and of course Japan was not. Many people in that time felt the same way.

  167. 167.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    @Ruckus: I think those were different times in WWII. Clearly the time of you and Raven.

    I give up personal information about myself at a place like here, but not sure my grandfather ever even said he loved me.Heck I am not even sure he ever said he liked me :).

    Different time. Different place. Different social standards.

  168. 168.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:34 pm

    @Ruckus: The Japanese killed 20,000 Chinese in reprisal for the Doolittle Raid.

  169. 169.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:36 pm

    @Tommy: My old man opened up a lot more when I came home. He also experienced “late onset PTSD” and was a mess in his last few year. “Too many ghosts” he’d say.

  170. 170.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    @raven:
    And my dad had no problem buying a couple of Hondas. But I had broken that ground before him. He also never used any racial epitaphs like Tommy’s grandfather. Maybe being in the background was key.

  171. 171.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:42 pm

    @Ruckus: Yea, I think the Colt thing was because he didn’t know until he saw it under the hood. They were as different as we all are. I remember my old man talking about what bullshit it was when a WWII movie showed guys weeping about FDR dying. His position was that people being dive bombed by the Japanese were not all that worried about an old man dying in his sleep. I mentioned that to my father in law who was a SeaBee late in the war and he did not appreciate it.

  172. 172.

    AliceBlue

    December 30, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    @Ruckus:
    My dad was a HUMP radio operator. He rarely spoke about it to me or my mother; I think he talked a little more to my brother. I don’t know if he felt any personal animosity for the Japanese in later years. He never talked about that either.

  173. 173.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 10:44 pm

    @Ruckus and @raven: Let me tell you a story that you might get a kick out of, see what we’re talking about.

    My father was pretty hard on me. Pushed and pushed. It seemed nothing was every good enough. I recall getting second in state in golf and being happy. My father asked me if I liked being a loser.

    I was not close with my father for years. My grandfather passed away. My dad’s PhD Dissertation in Civil War military history (all like 866 pages) came to me, my grandfathers copy.

    His major professor was T. Harry Williams. Google that if you don’t know him, he would be like studying physics and your major professor being Einstin if you wanted a PhD in History.

    I open it and there is this ode to me (I was like one) and my mom, who worked two jobs to pay for this college.

    Biut then I read on and my grandfather ripped apart the book in Dissertation in red pen. Just mean to be honest. It was at this time I realized my father, although hard, was a lot nicer then this father. Any maybe being raised this way, well it is what we do.

  174. 174.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:46 pm

    @Tommy: Cool. I dedicated mine to my folks and my buddy that got killed by Charlie.

    looks like T. Harry Williams oral history project has some Vietnam interviews.

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:47 pm

    @raven:
    That may just have been an excuse. They probably would have done that anyway.

    Tommy is right, the world is a different place now than it was 40 years ago and 80 years ago and …… And it will be different 40 years from now and 80 and …… Those of us who forget that or can’t allow change are called conservatives. The Japanese of today are 2-3-4 generations removed from those of WWII, just like we are and everyone else is. You can’t stop change, you can fight it, but you will eventually lose that battle. I’d rather enjoy it, it’s easier and I learn a lot more and have more friends and acquaintances.

  176. 176.

    JoyfulA

    December 30, 2013 at 10:49 pm

    @WereBear: I hadn’t thought of water. I’ve never had a cat who showed much interest in water, except the last one, when she developed a hyperthyroid condition. But a stray or feral cat wouldn’t be getting much canned food “with gravy,” etc.

    I think I’ll do the water first. I worry what crunchies might attract that isn’t a cat.

  177. 177.

    Looking for a Canadian (fka wini)

    December 30, 2013 at 10:50 pm

    @PsiFighter37: +3. Not wasted, but alone and sporting a foot fracture. (made Rick Bayless pork shoulder for Xmas Eve. it was lovely.)

  178. 178.

    Tommy

    December 30, 2013 at 10:52 pm

    @Ruckus: I drive A VW Passat (made a mdshipped from Germany, kind of old). My brother and his wife Hondas. My parents were looking for a new car, and they are retired and drive around the US going to flea markets. I am like a VW station wagon might work. Load a lot of stuff in. Comfortable. Good gas mileage.

    They laughed at me, only American made.

  179. 179.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:54 pm

    @Ruckus: I got no truck with any of em. I met these girls this summer that have a band and they lived in Hanoi for a couple of years. None of it meant shit to them and I’m glad. In fact here is there video that was filmed there.

  180. 180.

    raven

    December 30, 2013 at 10:55 pm

    AMF ya’ll.

  181. 181.

    Aji

    December 30, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    @JoyfulA: Yes, water. Even here, with lots of snow, water’s scarce. The new horse is going through several gallons a day, he’s so dehydrated.

    And you’re right about the Disney-movie plot. :-) Except, of course, he wouldn’t look so raggedy.

  182. 182.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 10:59 pm

    @Tommy:
    I haven’t told this story to too many people.
    My paternal grandfather was a racist. Not the join the KKK level but he hated blacks with a passion. So 2 steps below KKK. My father would occasionally use some racist terms, never the n word, which granddad had no problem with. But he hired black or latino men to work for him and paid and treated them equally as best as I could tell. And I did the payroll for years, so yes I saw the money end. When my sister moved in with her black girlfriend, and I don’t mean they shared an apartment, he welcomed her with open arms. So maybe 3 or 4 steps better than granddad. I’ve learned much from this. One, that things and people can change, if they want to. Two that young people can learn from bad examples as well as good ones. Three, generations are stepping stones in life. Maybe some day enough of us will have learned and life won’t have to suck as it does for so many.

  183. 183.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 11:06 pm

    @raven:
    I grew up with a girl a couple doors down who was born in Japan and has the same birthday as me. Her parents weren’t bitter and mine didn’t care that we were friends. We went to school together though 12th grade. The world can be a strange place, look at the Hatfields and McCoys. A family argument that lasted years and had several deaths and at the end almost no one even remembered why. People hate President Obama and I’ll bet other than the open racists don’t even know why.

  184. 184.

    JoyfulA

    December 30, 2013 at 11:06 pm

    @Aji: Horses and cats don’t eat snow like I would?

  185. 185.

    Ruckus

    December 30, 2013 at 11:12 pm

    @raven:
    That is a cool video.
    I like the music.
    And the enthusiasm.

  186. 186.

    Aji

    December 30, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    @JoyfulA: It’s not enough. Also not all that good for them – at least with horses and dogs. The extreme cold is an issue digestively, and while it adds hydration, the dryness of it doesn’t do much to slake thirst. I dunno about cats (haven’t had one since childhood, since I developed an allergy to the dander), but I’d bet it’s similar.

  187. 187.

    burnspbesq

    December 30, 2013 at 11:34 pm

    @raven:

    Hindu Love Gods!

  188. 188.

    Pogonip

    December 30, 2013 at 11:35 pm

    @raven: It ruins my Korean aunt’s day when people ask her if she’s Japanese.

  189. 189.

    JoyfulA

    December 31, 2013 at 12:28 am

    @Aji: What about wild animals? How do the rabbits and coyotes and squirrels get by? Now I’m worrying about attracting 300 squirrels to my water bowl; we have a huge old oak (that my husband says is going to fall over and kill us in our sleep any day now) and a couple of dozen evergreens and many fat squirrels.

  190. 190.

    Liquid

    December 31, 2013 at 2:50 am

    @Pogonip: “So are ya Chinese or Japanese?” — “We’re Laotian.” — “. . . So are ya Chinese or Japanese?”

    Then there’s something else in their about propane and propane accessories.

  191. 191.

    Betty Cracker

    December 31, 2013 at 6:15 am

    @Pogonip: We are half-assed bird watchers (no formal logs, but we have birding guides and enjoy identifying feathered visitors). It’s a lot of fun! I hope you and your son love it.

  192. 192.

    Aji

    December 31, 2013 at 8:45 am

    @JoyfulA: Wel, if your squirrels are fat, they sound healthy, so they’re probably finding it elsewhere – and 1) being wild, are used to doing so, and 2) being small, don’t need as much.

    No squirrels in our immediate area, probably because we have too many larger predators. But those animals – coyotes, for example – range pretty far and wide in their search for water (and food), and at night, when the dogs are indoors, they get pretty close to the house, so they’re probably cadging out of the dogs’ and horses’ bowls when all else fails. We’re also in an extended (as in now about two decades long) drought, so they’ve been struggling to adapt accordingly.

    Frankly, I’d be more worried about the squirrels deciding the cat food was a useful addition to their diets than about the water.

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