Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

The next time the wall wtreet journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The revolution will be supervised.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Let there be snark.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

by | 93 Comments

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It’s feast or famine around here lately. Maybe we should coordinate our Seroquel doses or something. Anyway, here’s some spiny mammal prØn:

image

This is my daughter’s hedgehog, fresh from his bath. He’s a weird little critter with a brain that is probably 1/8th the size of a lentil, but even so, I feel vaguely guilty about exposing him to so many strangers without his permission.

I just thought it was high time to end the cat and dog tyranny of Balloon Juice pet photos. With something other than a chicken.

Please feel free to discuss whatever.

Reader Interactions

93Comments

  3. 3.

    Punchy

    I’m just glad you didn’t show us The Real Hedgehog, straight from a “bath” (or pool, or spa). See enough of those pics in my time to kill an army.

  4. 4.

    Cacti

    Since it’s an open thread…

    Baseball HOF voters need to get off their hypocritical high horses about the PED era. Nobody should be above suspicion. Not to mention, it’s a museum of the game, not a cathedral to saints of moral character.

    Barry Bonds is a top-5 position player of all-time, Roger Clemens is a top-5 pitcher of all-time. Mike Piazza is the greatest hitting catcher to ever play the game. None of them played for teams I’m particularly fond of, so, no homerism here. Enough with the petty snubs.

  7. 7.

    Karen in GA

    Gaaaahh! I love hedgehogs!

    Okay, I’m better now.

    I had a very nice lunch today with Siubhanduinne. ‘Twas an absolute pleasure to get to meet her in person.

  10. 10.

    Cacti

    @Comrade Jake:

    Well this should be Cole and DougJ-bait if I’ve ever seen it. SE Cupp has managed to pen an incredibly stupid piece comparing pot to guns, and warning liberals that they embrace legalization at their own peril. The only surprising thing about the piece is that it wasn’t written by the always wrong Megan McArdle.

    Smoking pot has always been a grave danger…to boxes of Twinkies and chicken nuggets.

  17. 17.

    Violet

    Can we also have a chicken update? Did they survive whatever low temps you got with the Polar Vortex?

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    @Karen in GA:

    Great to hear re the lunch.

    Karen: how does one pronounce Siubhanduinne’s screen name?

    Could you spell it out phonetically for me? I’ve always meant to ask …

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    duplicate post

    Betty Cracker: daughter still enchanted with the hedgehog?

    I petsat some guinea pigs recently. They grow on you …

  20. 20.

    greenergood

    Are you sure Quilliam Shakespeare is not Chris Christie-Christi
    on with a new hedgehoggy haircut?

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    @Violet: The chickies are fine, thanks for asking! They seemed pissed off about the cold, but it was never cold enough to be more than an inconvenience to them, and today it’s warming up. They have a nice snug hen house that would keep them toasty even if the temps dipped well below freezing, which is very rare around here and didn’t happen during Vortexocalypse.

  25. 25.

    Roger Moore

    @Cacti:
    The Baseball HOF does have a character clause, and cheating with PEDs is plausibly something that would cause voters to discount a player’s statistical qualifications. That said:

    A) Bonds and Clemens were no-doubt HOFers before there’s any evidence or even suspicion they touched PEDs. They’re not in the Mark McGwire/Rafael Palmeiro group where you can argue that they wouldn’t even be in the discussion without PEDs. You have to completely discount their contributions with PEDs and apply a penalty to their pre-PED performance to keep them out.

    B) Piazza seems to be in a different boat. He got more votes than either Bonds or Clemens, and he picked up votes compared to where he was last year. He may be losing some votes to suspicions about PEDs, but I think he’s suffering more from a poor defensive reputation and to a general clogging of the ballot with qualified players. I think he’ll keep picking up votes and make it into the Hall in a few years.

  27. 27.

    Violet

    @Betty Cracker: So glad they are okay. My friend has chickens and we had temps in the mid-20’s. They were in their house, which is covered with a tarp and has a light. They seem to have survived okay.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    @Roger Moore: Maybe they need a Hall of Infamy wing. Players who are known to have used steroids or other stuff, but were also really good, get voted into the Hall of Infamy wing.

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, too, found out today that Charlotte’s heart murmur is still there and still very distinct — the vet said it was a 2 (out of 6, with 6 being worst), so now we have to take her to the kitty cardiologist for an ultrasound to figure out exactly what’s going on and what (if anything) we need to do about it.

  31. 31.

    Booger

    It’s so rare that you get to honestly say “This is my daughter’s hedgehog, fresh from his bath.”

  34. 34.

    Svensker

    I’m not up on hedgehog anatomy. The little pink thing in the middle of his belly between his arms is…?

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Violet:
    That’s what the Museum part is for. They can talk about all aspects of the game, even guys who got caught breaking the rules. They’ve had exhibits on the Black Sox and Pete Rose, and I’m sure they’ll have exhibits on the steroid era one day.

  36. 36.

    Yatsuno

    @Betty Cracker: Do you have a heat lamp for them? If not, they’re readily available at any feed supply store. Apparently if you get one that emits red light it doesn’t screw up their sleep schedule. I didn’t ask the folks yet if they’ve tried it and I’m not in a condition to go look meself. That should cure any crankiness about the cold.

  38. 38.

    Roger Moore

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    Edgar certainly belongs in the HOF, but he’s got an uphill climb to get there. There were at least 15 guys on the ballot this year who have serious HOF cases (in order by %vote this year, I’d go for Maddux, Glavine, Thomas, Biggio, Piazza, Bagwell, Raines, Clemens, Bonds, Martinez, Trammell, and Mussina, and I can see cases for Morris, Smith, Schilling, Kent, McGriff, and McGwire), but ballots are limited to 10 players. The problem is that only 4 of the plausible candidates are dropping off the ballot this year- the three who were elected plus Morris who’s run out of eligibility- while at least four more plausible candidates (Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Smoltz, and Sheffield) are being added next year. The more good candidates there are on the list, the harder it is for anyone to get elected because the vote gets split so many ways.

  40. 40.

    StringOnAStick

    @Betty Cracker: Tallywhacker? OK, now I have to go have a closer look.

    Hmm, well yes. And here I thought it was his bellybutton, rather than a decidedly unBurt Reynolds-esque pose.

  42. 42.

    Gex

    I have a friend who got a hedgehog. Named her Snufflepin, which is just about the cutest name you can give a hedgehog in my estimation.

  44. 44.

    Yatsuno

    @Betty Cracker: The girls are fine then. You could turn it on to make life more comfortable for them, but 40º is warm enough for them to just be puffy and keep more heat in. They’re pretty tough little birds.

  45. 45.

    Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler)

    @Karen in GA:

    I am quite envious Kareninga*.

    She, whose nym I too can not pronounce, would be my first choice were I able to make that choice amongst B. Juice Comminteriat.

    I’m sure there are plenty of others I’d be very happy to meet IRL, but Subdnnnn (phonetic in my lazy brain) is the most certain 1st choice.

    *no offence intended (lazy), ..but I do like the Tolstoyesque appearance of your nym smooshed & GA in L. Case.

  47. 47.

    Cacti

    @Roger Moore:

    The Baseball HOF does have a character clause

    The minimum character bar for HOF induction starts with Tyrus Raymond Cobb.

    I would say Bonds clears that one pretty easily. Clemens fooling around with teenage girls might be another story, but let’s be honest, that’s not why anyone is voting to keep him out.

    “Nice guy” Kirby Puckett turned out to be a nasty wife beater, and nobody’s calling for his expulsion either.

  48. 48.

    StringOnAStick

    I see that Newsmax is telling us that Ailes and O’Reilly are considering starting a history channel. Obviously it will be called “The Killing History Channel”.

  51. 51.

    Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler)

    Betty dear,

    I just thought it was high time to end the cat and dog tyranny of Balloon Juice pet photos. With something other than a chicken.

    Or as the popular phrase goes;

    ‘Keep showing that hedgehog!’

  52. 52.

    Cacti

    Bonds and Clemens were no-doubt HOFers before there’s any evidence or even suspicion they touched PEDs.

    Both would have gotten pre-PED, suspicion, but I think Bonds’ case is the more egregious of the two. Clemens may have gotten dinged for durability having only 192 career wins, and might not have made it on his first ballot.

    If the Giants team bus had gone off a cliff after the 1999 season, Bonds would have been a mortal lock for first ballot induction. Only 400 HR/400 SB player in MLB history, 1455 Runs scored, 1299 RBI, 3 NL MVP awards (tied for most with Mike Schmidt and Stan Musial), and 8 gold gloves from 1990-1998.

    Disregarding his PED years all together, that would still make him a top 2 or 3 left fielder of all-time.

  53. 53.

    Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler)

    @Betty Cracker:

    Your non-verbal version may be ‘off’ but you make a greater effort than I do.
    Heck, even the example I gave Karininin was gussied up for publication. Truth is my brain’s effort is probably closer to ‘Subdn’ – but IIRC you do Public Relations stuff so I reckon* your inclined to make the effort to show more regard for the proper sound of names.

    *there is some Thought Wrangling right there. …and another reason why no one should regard me to be a Thought Drum Major, or Leader or whatever the Hell those folks are called ?

  55. 55.

    drunken hausfrau

    Thanks, Betty… I’ve always wanted a hedgehog! Now I can show this photo to my children and say, “mummy’s birthday is soon — get me this!”

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    @Cacti:

    The minimum character bar for HOF induction starts with Tyrus Raymond Cobb.

    For character, perhaps. But the actual section from the voting rules says:

    Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.

    Since PED use can effect on-field performance, it can certainly be a strike against integrity and sportsmanship in a way that Cobb’s off-field behavior doesn’t*. You can’t say that Cobb was an asshole so Bonds’s cheating can’t keep him out of the HOF. They’re sufficiently different things that they really fall into different categories.

    *FWIW, I don’t think Cobb’s racism was particularly worse than many other HOFers of his generation. He publicly gave qualified support to integration when it happened, saying he didn’t have a problem with blacks playing in the majors if they behaved like gentlemen, and privately said he thought the color line was a bad rule. If Cobb had a serious character problem, it was that he demanded deference from people he saw as his social inferiors and was willing to back up his demands with his fists. Some of his targets were Northern blacks who didn’t accept that they were his inferiors because of their race, but he was more than happy to beat up whites who he thought weren’t sufficiently deferential. If you want to target HOFers for racism, you’d be much better off picking on Cap Anson, who was instrumental in creating the color line in baseball, and Judge Landis, who did more than anyone else to preserve it.

  57. 57.

    mclaren

    He’s a weird little critter with a brain that is probably 1/8th the size of of a lentil…

    On a par, then, with many of the commenters on Balloon-Juice.

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    I will take the liberty of answering that, as KareninGA and I didn’t actually discuss it over our chicken Caesar salads.

    Not totally sure of the proper pronunciation, but in my head (which is the only one that really counts here) I pronounce it kind of like “shoo-VAHN d’WEEN.” It is essentially (with a little bit of wordplay) my maiden name in Scots Gaelic, and I’ve been using it pretty constantly since I was 10 years old (obviously not as an Internet nym for most of that time!)

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler):

    I am amazed, and honored! Thank you for those nice words.

    Not sure where you live, but I was telling Kareninga (I like!) about some of my planned travel this spring and summer, and my hopes that I can meet up with as many Juicers as are near my itinerary. More later, as I’ll also be asking for tourism advice.

    And see my #62 to Elizabelle for a brief comment on the nym.

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Karen in GA:

    (can’t make the reply function work on your new screen nym, so am replying to an earlier, irrelevant comment)

    I like being a Tolstoy character in the South. Because hey, why not?

    You could have the best of both worlds and be Anna Karenininina.

  67. 67.

    J R in WV

    Hedgehogs, are they as spiny as they look? They look like an animated cactus from the Arizona desert mountains…

    Ouch!

  69. 69.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @satby:

    Thanks! And given your studies, if you have thoughts on the proper phonetic pronunciation, I’d be very grateful (bearing in mind that Irish Gaelic and Scots Gaelic are not identical….)

  72. 72.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Scamp Dog: My all-time favorite hedgehog video. Because my husband and I used to breed and sell them (and because it is so damn funny), I like to post that on my FB page every year or two.

  77. 77.

    Draylon Hogg

    @J R in WV: They are. They curl up in a ball at the first sign of trouble. In the wild they’re absolutely crawling with fleas. Can cause problems if your dog decides to retrieve one. In Britain we build little tunnels under the roads for them as their lentil brain can’t process the fact that spines versus wheels is only going to end badly for them. They’re also good for the garden as they love to eat slugs so keen gardeners leave a saucer of milk and bread out to encourage them.

  80. 80.

    Dead Ernest (Thought Wrangler)

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I pronounce it kind of like “shoo-VAHN d’WEEN.”

    Ah! The Yiddish pronunciation.
    Well why didn’t ya just say so?

  81. 81.

    Betty Cracker

    @Draylon Hogg: Ours is an African Pygmy hedgehog, so he doesn’t hibernate unless it gets below 60 F, I’m told. In our house, it never gets that cold.

  87. 87.

    Draylon Hogg

    @SiubhanDuinne: I live about 120 miles away in South Yorkshire in the North. By your American terms of reference that’s a drive to the shops but here on our tiny island it would be classed as a long way.

  90. 90.

    Paul in KY

    @Cacti: Steroid users were cheating in a way noted assholes Cobb & Puckett did not. Their assholery was mostly non-game related.

  91. 91.

    Paul in KY

    @Cacti: I agree that pre-cheatin-with-steroids, Bonds has all the stats. Unfortunately, his steroid use renders all that void (IMO).

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