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After dobbs, women are no longer free.

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Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

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Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Saturday Morning Open Thread

Saturday Morning Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  March 15, 20148:41 am| 75 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads

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It’s a beautiful day here on the West Coast of Florida. Nearly 60 right now with a high of 80. Here’s a flower near my hubby’s container garden:

flower_march

I don’t know what kind of flower it is, and the mister isn’t home at the moment, so I can’t ask him. He mostly focuses on growing vegetables and bamboo of many varieties, but he has some flowers and ornamentals about. Here’s Patsy Marie:

patsy marie march 2014

And here is Daisy Mayhem, who does not like to have her photograph taken, so you have to sneak up on her:

daisy mayhem march 2014

In the foreground you can see a few tubs of seedlings the mister was cultivating. Whenever we have a cold snap (won’t happen again until next winter), these live on my dining room table. Le sigh.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself today. The mister is off helping his ailing father with his own vegetable garden. Maybe I’ll take some kids on a hike or to the beach or something. Or maybe I’ll just lie around like a lazy slug. We shall see. What are you doing?

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75Comments

  1. 1.

    cmorenc

    March 15, 2014 at 8:48 am

    I love bamboo, but it can be so ill-behaved. I have a hedge of it down at our house at the coast that started as a “volunteer” colony from a neighbor’s yard, and thus was never created with any containment system. Which means that I am its containment system every spring, cloppers in hand ruthlessly chopping down the fast-growing sprouts where their spread is unwanted. It would be a truly major project to try to dig it out at this point, roots and all – my neighbor from whence it came finally did so three or four years ago, and it took a month’s worth of work (they’re retired, and had at it several hours a day, and had some hired help as well).

  2. 2.

    JoshB

    March 15, 2014 at 8:48 am

    I believe that’s a Cana Lilly. We used to have lots in my garden in St. Pete until we changed things out.

  3. 3.

    Gvg

    March 15, 2014 at 8:49 am

    Yellow canna flower.

  4. 4.

    Schlemizel

    March 15, 2014 at 8:50 am

    Got a couple of fix ups around the house for this morning. Later today we will be at Ridder Arena to watch the Gopher women’s hockey team open the NCAA tournament against Boston University. This has not been as good a year for our girls, they lost the best goalie in the world and the best defensman in the NCAA to graduation as well as our #2 defense and the best forward in hockey to the Olympic team. Unlike last year, they lost a game this year (also have a tie). But at 36-1-1 we still have hopes they can 3-peat.

    A win today puts them in the Frozen Four at Hamdon, Conn.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    March 15, 2014 at 8:52 am

    @cmorenc: Yeah, the mister only grows the “non-running” kind, but even then, there’s work to contain it. We have several varieties. Buddha belly is my personal favorite.

    @Gvg: That is it — I think the mister calls it a canna lily. Thank you!

  6. 6.

    Schlemizel

    March 15, 2014 at 8:55 am

    @cmorenc:

    I had a good friend who bought a house that had some raspberry bushes at the back. He decided he didn’t want them there so he rototilled the things up. I would guess that bamboo would behave similarly to raspberries – he had millions of the bushes popping up all over! Some plants are more weed than flower.

    He had everyone he knew or could beg into it coming over & digging out bushes to take home. I took some and also gave some to my folks. They were everbaring and the best tasting berries I ever had, be we have no idea what variety they were.

  7. 7.

    indycat32

    March 15, 2014 at 8:58 am

    It’s national quilting day so I have to decide whether to work on my current quilt in progress, or go to the local quilt shop and buy more fabric for future quilts, while at the same time spreading the cold I caught at the Bloomington quilt show last week.

  8. 8.

    WereBear

    March 15, 2014 at 8:59 am

    Only thing as bad as bamboo is well-established honeysuckle. They are both Nuke From Orbit scenarios.

    I have a burgundy/cream striped miniature rescue rose perking along at my office. My natural light desk lamp is not enough light and my lightbox burned its leaves, so it won’t bloom until spring comes and I plant it out.

    Back to the African violets who will find my office window just right.

  9. 9.

    Elmo

    March 15, 2014 at 8:59 am

    When I was a kid we had an album of Irish music that we played every St Patricks Day, and it was the only time I ever saw my parents dance. I’ve been trying to find that album for 20 years.

    About a month ago I found a vendor who not only had the album, but had the equipment to burn it to CD. It cost me $60, and it was delivered yesterday.

    So I’ve been listening to music and crying all morning. More crying is in my future. I can’t wait to burn copies for my brothers.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    March 15, 2014 at 9:02 am

    My herb garden was destroyed by the winter temperatures so I am going to clean out the patch and start anew. It’s already fifty here and the temps should rise to the high sixties, lower seventies.
    I hate bamboo. When I moved into this house, I removed a large section because it could not be contained and since the neighbors still have some, I’m vigilant about taking care of any shoots.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 15, 2014 at 9:03 am

    Estimated 50,000 people at anti-war march in Moscow. Let that sink in.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 15, 2014 at 9:05 am

    Betty, that yard is beautifully tropical. Makes me miss Mexico even more.

    Building some cabinet carcasses today. Gonna stick some bulbs in the ground that should have gone in back in Nov. Who knows, maybe they will grow anyway. Was gonna till up a corner of the garden and plant some lettuce and spinach until I saw the weather for tomorrow.

    1-3 inches of freezing rain, sleet and snow. Ugh. But 69 today!

    ps: Crocuses are up. I love them. They give me hope.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    March 15, 2014 at 9:09 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    1-3 inches of freezing rain, sleet and snow. Ugh. But 69 today!

    Perfect activity for a cold and dreary day.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 15, 2014 at 9:14 am

    @Baud: Heh. I am a member of Club 69, a small but vociferous group of cavers who sing a capella to any song whether we know it or not, and if the word “69” comes out we all yell “SOCIAL!” and everybody takes a drink.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    March 15, 2014 at 9:19 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    everybody takes a drink.

    While caving? That seems…inadvisable.

  16. 16.

    evap

    March 15, 2014 at 9:25 am

    Pilates class, then lie around like a slug the rest of the day.

    Supposed to get to 60 here today and then snow tomorrow night (DC area). Will this winter ever end???

  17. 17.

    Betty Cracker

    March 15, 2014 at 9:28 am

    @Elmo: Awwww. What a nice way to remember your parents, though.

    My FIL has a Christmas album with a choir singing carols in Polish, and it reminds him of his childhood in an immigrant neighborhood up North, and he cries every year when he plays it.

    Now I cry too, just by association! There’s one song that just rips my heart out (Gesu Bambino, which must mean Baby Jesus!), and I have to leave off dinner preparations in search of a hankie.

  18. 18.

    imonlylurking

    March 15, 2014 at 9:35 am

    @evap: I’m reading too fast-I thought you said ‘PIRATES’ class, and I was like, “WHERE?”

  19. 19.

    imonlylurking

    March 15, 2014 at 9:39 am

    I’m on version 3 of reorganizing my sewing area. Version 1 had to go because it involved bolting things to a wall in the basement that turns out to be framed with 2X2s instead of 2X4s. Version 2 involved a row of cabinets along one of the walls while leaving another wall completely empty. Version 3 will involve putting some kind of structure along the previously meant to be bare wall so Brownie has something he can use to propel himself into the basement window. Apparently he gets a running head of speed and jumps into the window from my sewing machine cabinet, knocking everything into chaos in the process.

    And all this time I was blaming the mess in my sewing space on Bob.

  20. 20.

    Botsplainer

    March 15, 2014 at 9:40 am

    I put this on the last thread. I’m crowing a little, also talking a little changed mindset (less internet posting, less news mongering, more living in positives). That’s why I’ve been picking fewer aimless arguments.

    As a disgusting fatbody, I am on a personal crusade to ditch weight. I’ve dropped over 30 since the new year turned.

    It hasn’t been easy. First there was the HCG cycle and an extremely low calorie diet. Now, I’m exercising about an hour, sometimes two each day, consisting of a mix of cross-trainers, weights and swimming. I’ve cut out snacks, bread, heavy lunches and home dessert. I’m big on portion control, rely a lot on Lean Cuisine, Atkins meals and Healthy Choice for lunch, and keep a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables around for quick bites. My calorie intake is now, on average, 1500-1800 per day and I’m dropping a pound or two per week. Blood glucose is back to normal, sleep is better and the snoring stopped.

    I also quit drinking at home during weekdays, and basically will confine it to socially, when out with family and friends. Frankly, I had two bourbons last night, but obsessed over the calories.

    I also started some hormone replacement therapy in order to elevate abysmal testosterone production, which will accelerate the weight loss.

    I’m never going to return to basic training weight, but another 40 is in easy reach, possibly by fall. I’ll be pretty happy. Frankly, I’m pretty happy now, and feel good.

    Now, off to the bank, the dry cleaner, a fencing studio to explore rejoining the sport after a long hiatus, the dive shop to make a deposit an a fall dive trip, the gun range for a few rounds and the office, to work to pay for next months dive trip.

    Yes, I did buy a neat new red car without asking my wife, and have laid in a deposit on a large-ish new bit of ink for my right shoulder blade. I may also have acquired base patterns for such unadorned portions of my upper torso as still exist.

  21. 21.

    Mustang Bobby

    March 15, 2014 at 9:40 am

    The blooms are off the vanda, so I’m sweeping up the remainders from the patio and generally cleaning up in anticipation of some overnight visitors due tonight after a reading of his play at SoBe Arts. Wow, I had no idea dust bunnies had a mating cycle. They’re worse than tribbles.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 15, 2014 at 9:43 am

    @evap:

    Pilates class,

    Is that where you practice letting unruly crowds crucify random pacifist Jews?

    Oh, I see it is a physical fitness system. More boring but I am sure it is better for the soul.

  23. 23.

    WereBear

    March 15, 2014 at 9:44 am

    @Botsplainer: Congrats.

    I’ve reached the point where I’m willing to revamp any section of my lifestyle if it pays off in better mood and health. My age-peers are filling up the medicine cabinet and they still have one ache or pain after another.

    If any of that stuff is preventable, I’m going to do my best to prevent it.

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    March 15, 2014 at 9:49 am

    @Botsplainer: More ink than pink, eh? Congrats on your new-found fitness!

  25. 25.

    scav

    March 15, 2014 at 9:50 am

    I’m begininng to think there is a solid niche market for flexibility exercises in period costume with anger-management-expression.

  26. 26.

    Botsplainer

    March 15, 2014 at 9:52 am

    @WereBear:

    I’ve reached the point where I’m willing to revamp any section of my lifestyle if it pays off in better mood and health. My age-peers are filling up the medicine cabinet and they still have one ache or pain after another.</blockquote

    I'll be 52 in a few weeks, and have been decently active but not feeling great. I looked around at guy I've known for 25 years who are 10 years older than me, and carried around too much weight. They went from hearty, heavy 50 to canes and scooters.

    I didn't want to be them – I like doing too many things.

  27. 27.

    Violet

    March 15, 2014 at 9:53 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Pilates is really great if you have a good instructor. I used to have one until she retired. She was the best. Even fit people would come out of that class with sore abs and other core muscles.

    I’m spending the day recovering after spreading compost on the lawn yesterday from late afternoon until after dark. Just decided to finish it. Working on improving the soil quality as part of my overall shift to an organic landscape.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    March 15, 2014 at 9:57 am

    @Botsplainer:

    rely a lot on Lean Cuisine, Atkins meals and Healthy Choice for lunch,

    That’s probably not bad in the short term, but you might want to think about transitioning away from regularly using packaged foods in the longer term. They’re not all that good for you if you eat them every day.

    Congrats on the weight loss and most importantly on feeling better. That’s what really counts, not some number on a scale.

  29. 29.

    Debbie(aussie)

    March 15, 2014 at 10:02 am

    @Botsplainer:

    Congratulations. I have struggled over the past 12weeks, to lose 9kg. An other 10kg or so and I can have my surgery. Then need to lose 20kgs during and after recovery. Exercise is very hard when in pain, (spelling can also suffer when in pain). I also need to sleep.

  30. 30.

    Violet

    March 15, 2014 at 10:03 am

    Since this is an open thread, latest Malaysian Air Flight 370 news is that they now think it was a deliberate act. I made some comment several days ago that I didn’t think it possible, but wouldn’t it be crazy if it turned out the jet had been taken by some “James Bond” style criminal mastermind and was hidden on some secret island or something. Still don’t think that’s where it is, but it’s seeming a lot less far-fetched than it was several days ago. I feel so terrible for the families. What a horrible situation to be in.

  31. 31.

    Debbie(aussie)

    March 15, 2014 at 10:15 am

    Have a lovely Saturday bj’s. It’s goodnight from me.

  32. 32.

    JPL

    March 15, 2014 at 10:15 am

    @Violet: from the Guardian
    The plane could have landed in Kyrgyzstan or China, according to Malaysian officials.

    also..There appears to be conflicting information about what happened, or at least that’s what CNN said. Like you, I really feel for the families.
    .

  33. 33.

    StringOnAStick

    March 15, 2014 at 10:18 am

    We’re wrapping up the ‘helping FIL and BIL move project, and what a hellacious project it has been. Moving on a day with a foot of snow, icy highways, accidents, and the private road they moved to was too snowy so the moving van turned around and decided to try it the next day. We’re 95% unpacked, FIL has reduced the litany of complaints to a lower level (which helps a lot – moving is stressful for everyone). Now we just need one more trip to Lowes and bed, bath, etc to complete what is needed to set things up. Can’t wait to go home tomorrow and toss/donate most of what we own – ain’t living like this again, ever.

  34. 34.

    Violet

    March 15, 2014 at 10:18 am

    @JPL: I heard that on the morning news, but then I heard another expert say they didn’t think that was possible. Conflicting reports. From the maps I’ve seen drawn, it does look like they could make it that far. The whole thing is awful. I feel so sorry for the families.

  35. 35.

    aimai

    March 15, 2014 at 10:23 am

    @Elmo: How lovely! Congratulations on finding it.

  36. 36.

    WereBear

    March 15, 2014 at 10:24 am

    @StringOnAStick: Can’t wait to go home tomorrow and toss/donate most of what we own – ain’t living like this again, ever.

    We made that commitment a couple of years ago. Got rid of a storage unit and will pare down what’s in the one remaining. Gave away more books that I dreamed I ever would. All the vinyl went. CDs all loaded into the computer and the cabinets given away and the CDs in storage; all kinds of strategies like that.

    We have a small apartment and Mr WereBear wants to paint and compose music… fortunately my writing needs are much smaller. And the four cats, we need room for them.

    It’s great, though. Sometimes, you have to live in the NOW. My mother had storage units scattered all over for that day she’d have a big house to put it all in. Then she realized she didn’t want the hassle of a big house.

    Things change.

  37. 37.

    AliceBlue

    March 15, 2014 at 10:24 am

    @WereBear:
    Nuke from orbit?

    Kudzu. Nuff said.

  38. 38.

    JPL

    March 15, 2014 at 10:24 am

    @Violet: It’s difficult to imagine what it’s like for the families because at first they think it’s a crash and now they don’t know. It’s unlikely that they find survivors, though. It’s just awful

  39. 39.

    maya

    March 15, 2014 at 10:27 am

    Mid-70s here in NorCal today and after 53″ of rain since the 6th of Feb, the drought, at least in my goitered neck of the woods, is over. Still a big problem for the rest of Ca and the western states area.
    Will be transplanting about a half dozen firs around the new and old water tanks at the top of the hill. Idea is that they will eventually provide shade for the tanks and keep them cooler. Will use silver tarps around them in the meantime.
    A neighbor down the hill keeps planting 3 or 4 scrawny stalks of bamboo next to the road every year for the past several years. She waters them by hand only to have them all die anyway. I guess she’s trying to keep the dust down that the road produces but it appears to be a work of total futility. Bamboo lovers are a bit daft.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 15, 2014 at 10:31 am

    NASA: “The End of the World is Near“:

    A new study sponsored by Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.

    And with that, I have to get busy.

  41. 41.

    Violet

    March 15, 2014 at 10:32 am

    @JPL: Yeah, it must be awful for the families. The story has changed so much. I can’t imagine how awful it must be, but I can imagine it must be awful.

  42. 42.

    Zippity

    March 15, 2014 at 10:39 am

    The majority of the snow has finally melted, and it’s supposed to be 50 today. Time to finally pick up the yard. We had so much snow this year-set the record, by a lot. It’s the first winter I can remember where we never DIDN’T have snow on the ground. Never was able to pick up much dog poop, this is going to be a big chore! Thank goodness I only have one dog.

  43. 43.

    Mike in NC

    March 15, 2014 at 10:53 am

    Just finished the latest gem from WaPo’s resident idiot Kathleen Parker, who scolds Obama for taping a mock interview with a comedian instead of invading several countries like her Big Daddy John McCain would be doing right now. Because “parts of the free world are under siege”.

  44. 44.

    Cervantes

    March 15, 2014 at 10:56 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Probably bused in from Kiev.

  45. 45.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    March 15, 2014 at 10:56 am

    @Elmo:

    Crying’s good. The best CAS pilot I ever saw (Flew back seat seat with him a few times) would taxi his aircraft into the revetment, shut her down, take off his helmet, and then let the tears flow. Never asked him why. Neither did anyone else. I think that we already knew.

  46. 46.

    Amir Khalid

    March 15, 2014 at 10:58 am

    @Violet:
    Yes, the thinking now is that the plane’s transponder and ACARS were intentionally switched off. But by whom? The pilots? That has never seemed very plausible.

    From Najib’s briefing to the media today:

    … the aviation authorities of Malaysia and their international counterparts have determined that the plane’s last communication with the satellite was in one of two possible corridors: a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, or a southern corridor stretching approximately from Indonesia to the southern Indian ocean.

    So that’s where they think the plane might be.

    It’s certainly possible, and getting likelier, that the 777 was hijacked. But given the many practical problems with using a stolen large airliner, I wonder who would do it or why. They’ll have to find the plane just to start on working out an answer.

  47. 47.

    Cervantes

    March 15, 2014 at 11:01 am

    @Elmo: What album was it?

  48. 48.

    Cervantes

    March 15, 2014 at 11:02 am

    @Amir Khalid: Given that Najib troubled himself to do the briefing, I think I’d re-scan that passenger manifest …

  49. 49.

    J.

    March 15, 2014 at 11:08 am

    “What are you doing?”

    Wishing I lived on the West coast (or any coast) of Florida. Northeast winters SUCK.

  50. 50.

    Amir Khalid

    March 15, 2014 at 11:11 am

    @Cervantes:
    For any Mongolian models?

  51. 51.

    Stella B.

    March 15, 2014 at 11:12 am

    @Botsplainer: Congrats! I’m doing Weight Watchers myself for the first time. My weight was wobbling on the edge of that BMI of 25 and I have bad arthritis in my feet and ankles (and hands and wrists, genetic, thanks Mom!) and I couldn’t lose without some help. It’s really doing the trick motivation-wise even though the meetings are kind of dopey. I recommend it, if you stall. You can eat whatever (grain free, vegetarian, paleo, vegan, etc.) on their diet and they have lots of easy recipes for the non-cooks.

    You’ll probably find that your testosterone returns to normal with cutting out the booze, losing weight, and weight lifting, but make sure you always have it tested first thing in the morning. It will always be “low” if tested late in the day.

  52. 52.

    gian

    March 15, 2014 at 11:13 am

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Pre Iraq invasion our leadership called those “focus groups” and ignored them

  53. 53.

    shelly

    March 15, 2014 at 11:16 am

    I took some and also gave some to my folks. They were everbaring and the best tasting berries I

    How do you keep the birds from raiding your bushes? I’ve given up trying to keep the squirrels and birds from stripping my apple and cherry trees bare.

  54. 54.

    Ben Franklin

    March 15, 2014 at 11:18 am

    @Violet:

    Isn’t it interesting that with all the spook tech examining our personal habits, they can’t find a 777?

    I have noticed that the Ukraine has been pushed deep inside the fish-wrap.

    Misdirection? Taking global eyes off the Ukraine.

  55. 55.

    elmo

    March 15, 2014 at 11:19 am

    @Cervantes:

    Paddy Noonan’s A Grand Irish Party, recorded live at the John Barleycorn. Not to be confused with Paddy Noonan’s Irish Party! Accept no substitutes!

    I haven’t listened to it in more than 25 years, and I found that I knew every note, every idiosyncratic breath. I have been singing these songs in the shower since I was ten. Lots of them are “classic” Irish drinking songs, like “Dear Old Donegal,” “Irish Soldier Laddie,” and “Jolly Ploughboy,” and I’ve found that other versions leave me completely cold. I HAD to have these again.

    St. Patrick’s Day was a big deal in my house growing up – Irish soda bread, Irish stew (never corned beef – that’s American), and Irish rebel music. We were never the types to send money to the IRA – God no! – but we were very, very Irish Catholic and nationalist. My father had strong opinions about Mick Collins and Eamon de Valera, oh my yes.

  56. 56.

    Cervantes

    March 15, 2014 at 11:23 am

    @Amir Khalid: Or translators.

    Anyhow, the trauma must be awful and it transcends national borders. I know there must be a fair amount of blame being shifted back and forth, not just for what happened to the flight but also for the inadequacies in the search. From a distance, though, I do see people from all over the world working to help — and I hope that becomes more visible, too, when all is said and done.

  57. 57.

    Cervantes

    March 15, 2014 at 11:30 am

    @elmo: Track 3 on Side 1: I usually dislike medleys but that one gets me every time. (You could have saved the sixty bucks — I hope you blame Obama.)

    I am so glad the troubles are (mostly) over — but the reckoning, I’m not sure what to feel about that.

    (Thanks, by the way, for sharing your memories and delight.)

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    March 15, 2014 at 11:38 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Don’t know whether you saw this last night, so I’ll repost here in case you missed it.

    https://balloon-juice.com/2014/03/14/late-night-open-thread-201/#comment-4917320

    Stipulating it was a takeover of some sort, either by a crewmember or not, that person(s) had intimate knowledge of the plane beyond what’s even normally taught.

    This morning I heard the time aloft after contact was lost upped to five and a half hours. Aimed in one direction that means the plane could be basically anywhere.

  59. 59.

    elmo

    March 15, 2014 at 11:41 am

    @Cervantes:

    Are you SERIOUS? OMG I didn’t think ANYONE else knew about this album, it was like a family secret!

    It’s okay, the $60 was well spent – the CD is flawless, and doesn’t have any of the pops or hiss that I remember from the LP, as beat up as our family’s copy was.

    OMG I can’t believe you know this one. Slainte!

  60. 60.

    Cervantes

    March 15, 2014 at 11:50 am

    @elmo: Slàinte agad-sa!

  61. 61.

    Violet

    March 15, 2014 at 11:53 am

    @Amir Khalid: The whole situation is kind of crazy. I’m wondering if it was taken by someone who wants to use the plane, they managed to land it and hide it and who knows what they’ve done with the passengers.

  62. 62.

    Betsy

    March 15, 2014 at 12:04 pm

    @Elmo: there’s a Christmas music album like that for me.. It’s called “Let Us Have Music for Christmas” and has the most himmellich schoen boychoir singing truly antique carols in German and recorded in some spectacular Gothic church.

    I can’t even stand it, it’s so beautiful. It sounds like angels and you just want to light a figgy pudding immediately and cry for joy.

  63. 63.

    Betsy

    March 15, 2014 at 12:05 pm

    @Betsy: BOYCHOIR not BOYCOTT. Ahh, spellfix.

  64. 64.

    gian

    March 15, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    @Violet:
    Not much hope for passengers. I wonder if the climb to 45,000 feet was to vent the cabin and deprive the passengers of oxygen. Don’t know if the drop down masks can be disabled

  65. 65.

    Violet

    March 15, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    @gian: Heard on the news this morning that the altitude reports may not be accurate because of some issue in how the radar picks that up or something.

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    March 15, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    @trollhattan:
    Yes, I did see that, thanks. There’s so much speculation going on about MH370 because what little is known doesn’t really add up. This latest emphasis on a hijack scenario seems to fit the radar tracking and radio contact evidence, but it doesn’t make sense to me in terms of any practical scheme. If it was a hijack, why weren’t demands made from the outset? If it was a theft, what or whom do the thieves need to carry that requires such a large plane? And where would they get the resources to operate a 777? You can’t exactly take it to a petrol station and tell the guy, “Fill her up.”

  67. 67.

    ruemara

    March 15, 2014 at 12:25 pm

    @Elmo: that is the best story.

    Not much happening here. Currently in the queue for Comic-Con badges and waiting for reg to open up. A slightly buttery half rye dough is raising on the counter, the corned beef and cabbage filling is waiting-I just need the cheese. Then it’s the donut making! Then all gets frozen for Monday. Plus a good long workout.

  68. 68.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    March 15, 2014 at 12:25 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    My best guess at this point is that it may have been a hijacking gone terribly awry and that in the course of the hijacking the aircraft was depressurized and flew on autopilot to oblivion.

    Landing a loaded 777 at sea level on a dry runway requires a minimum runway length of roughly 2000 meters. The minimum goes up for a landing at higher ASLs (Above Sea Level) and wet runways.

    Again, God bless all aboard.

  69. 69.

    Amir Khalid

    March 15, 2014 at 12:38 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:
    That seems plausible. MAS’ first crash back in 1977 was also a hijacking gone awry. The 737 wound up crashing into the ground a few miles short of its destination, killing 100 people.

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    March 15, 2014 at 1:04 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:
    This.
    You can’t successfully land one on unimproved ground, landing gear not up to it. So you need a 10,000 foot runway. Can’t hide that. Not going to find a highway wide enough, long enough, sturdy enough either.
    We can supposedly read license plates from space but can’t find a 300,000 lb plane or it’s debris? Seems awfully strange.

  71. 71.

    Cervantes

    March 15, 2014 at 1:18 pm

    @Ruckus: Maximum take-off weight for a 777-200ER is about 300,000 kg (660,000 lbs.) — which only amplifies your point.

    On the other hand, when we read license plates from space, we already know where to look.

  72. 72.

    Amir Khalid

    March 15, 2014 at 1:33 pm

    This BBC story has a map of the two corridors where the authorities think the plane could have gone after contact was lost. See the two orange arcs on the map? The northern one cutitng through Asia is where they think MH370 went. But it crosses a lot of countries’ airspace, and such a big plane crossing that airspace unnoticed doesn’t seem very likely. But that’s where they’re looking, and they’re asking the government along that route to help.

  73. 73.

    mclaren

    March 15, 2014 at 4:16 pm

    Superwealthy one-percenter health insurance scammer & CEO Richard Mayhew may have been injured and unable to call for help.

    This could be serious. Mayhew isn’t vomiting out his usual 2 or 3 phony sophistries per day explaining why doctors and hospitals need even more money from the vanishing American middle class.

    If Mayhew’s not scamming Balloon Juice with yet another front-page Big Lie about the supposed intricacies and complexities of America’s very simple but incredibly corrupt medical-industrial complex, it means Mayhew may have a serious head injury. Or possibly he’s gotten into a car wreck and he’s pinned and unable to reach his smartphone.

    Usually Richard Mayhew hammers away at Balloon Juice with at least 2 lie-filled posts per day justifying America’s unjustifiable overpriced health care system. Where are there?

    What’s going on?

    Somebody try to get in touch with Mayhew, he may be badly injured if he’s not posting at least two lies per day on the front page of this blog.

  74. 74.

    Amir Khalid

    March 15, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    ON second thought, my interpretation here may be wrong.

  75. 75.

    Cervantes

    March 15, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    @Amir Khalid: There’s a similar (perhaps slightly better) map here:

    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The search for Flight 370 turned into a criminal investigation on Saturday, after Malaysia declared that the plane had been deliberately diverted and then flown for as long as seven hours toward an unknown point far from its scheduled route of Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

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