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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by John Cole|  May 29, 201411:42 pm| 121 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Stream of Consciousness

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I have nothing to say.

Cherish this moment.

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Previous Post: « This Is Good For John McCain
Next Post: Open Thread: The NFL’s Various Medical Issues, Continued »

Reader Interactions

121Comments

  1. 1.

    lamh36

    May 29, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    Won’t last long. I’d bet :-)

  2. 2.

    dedc79

    May 29, 2014 at 11:45 pm

    Let’s go, Rangers! Hell of a game

  3. 3.

    RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual

    May 29, 2014 at 11:47 pm

    We want the Cup! We want the Cup! Go Rangers!

  4. 4.

    CaseyL

    May 29, 2014 at 11:47 pm

    And you say it so well!

    Me, I got nuthin.

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    May 29, 2014 at 11:48 pm

    Ok, getting this in early since I’m off to bed soon.

    Quick question…my cousin is supposed to be going on a cruise to the Eastern Bahamas in July (the week of the 21st).

    I know for a fact he doesn’t have a passport (and hasnt’ applied for one yet). He said his aunt told him that he didn’t need a passport. I told him I’m pretty sure he did need one. Don’t ya need a passport to even go to Puerto Rico now?

    He said he was gonna check with his aunt, but I wanted to ask youse guys since ya’ll seem to know things…lol.

    Also too, I remember when I got my first passport, it seemed to take the minimum of 6 weeks (his trip is like 8 weeks away!!!) but then again, I’ve been getting FBI background checks since I became a MT and unlike my cousin, I have absolutely NO criminal record (let’s just say my cuz, has had a wee bit of a run in with the law, he was literally in court a little over a month ago for getting into it with some dude who keyed his car at the club), I can imagine his background check taking a wee bit longer.

    So do you need a passport for a cruise to Eastern Bahamas? Or will my cousin have to stay on the ship the whole time…lol.

    I talked to a friend who does a lot of cruise travel and she says he needs a least the passport card for cruise travel, but he should get the book if he ever does international travel.

    I told him what she said, but he said he called Carribean cruises and he only needs his birth certificate and ID,
    I said ok and checked Carribean cruise website and it seems that Carribean has an exception:

    United States citizens on cruises that begin and end at the same port in the United States can use a original government-issued picture ID (i.e. driver’s license) AND an original government-issued birth certificate or original Naturalization Certificate.

    So I figured oh well, guess he’s right. Still, I don’t know bout anyone else, but I’d never go to another country without my passport cruise company exemption or not. Maybe I’ve watched to many travelling horror movies or something, but I’m paranoid about being stranded in some country without it.

  6. 6.

    Suffern ACE

    May 29, 2014 at 11:50 pm

    Saw Inside Llewyn Davis tonight. But I’d rather talk about flaws in the latest Godzilla movie.

  7. 7.

    Violet

    May 29, 2014 at 11:50 pm

    Hey, John–someone in Hollywood has to be reading Balloon-Juice. I was flipping through channels a few nights ago and caught a few minutes of some new NBC show called “Night Shift”. It’s set in a hospital ER. A patient came in and one doctor was telling another one what the guy’s medical complaint was: “He says he was mopping his bathtub while naked and his cat shredded his test1cles.” I was laughing so hard I almost fell off the sofa.

  8. 8.

    lamh36

    May 29, 2014 at 11:51 pm

    Alright another travelling vacattion question.

    Ok, so I’m trying to plan a trip to DC for the end of July.

    My hope is that I can get a WH Tour. I received an email from my Congressman’s office that I need to send in more info. Which is what I expected.

    So I have a list 6 people who I want to add to the list, but I’m not too sure if all will be able to go. I know at least 1/2 of my party (me my youngest sister and my nephew) will most definitely make it, but my other sister and cousin aren’t quite sure. I wanted to add them to the list just in case.

    So the email says for a Capitol tour, I need to provide the number in the party, but I’m just wondering if it would be bad if I said 6 people, but then ultimately only 3 of us went?

    What should I do?

  9. 9.

    MomSense

    May 29, 2014 at 11:53 pm

    Just looked at the list of the veggies that start next week at the CSA where I buy shares. Asian greens, broccoli, cabbage, chard, kale, leeks, lettuces/greens, onions, scallions, spinach, and strawberries. There are usually other things that wind up in the boxes that aren’t on the list.

    Part of the fun is coming up with new recipes.

  10. 10.

    Suffern ACE

    May 29, 2014 at 11:55 pm

    @lamh36: Put in for six. You will be lucky to get in at all if you wait. I know if 3 in your party don’t show up that means three other deserving people didn’t get in. But them’s the breaks.

    It is a tour, not a dinner reservation, so I am assuming that the rule about not seating you until everyone in your party gets there doesn’t work.

  11. 11.

    Jane2

    May 29, 2014 at 11:55 pm

    @Suffern ACE: what did you think of it?

  12. 12.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 29, 2014 at 11:56 pm

    @Suffern ACE: I have heard that the kitteh is the best thing about that movie.

  13. 13.

    Mnemosyne

    May 29, 2014 at 11:57 pm

    @lamh36:

    I say, list them all and if some can’t go, it’s not that big a deal. It would be more of a problem to try and add them later than to take them off.

    And we all know you’re hoping this will happen. Take pictures if it does.

  14. 14.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 29, 2014 at 11:57 pm

    @lamh36: PR should be fine; it is a US territory.

    For the Bahamas:

    United States citizens entering the Bahamas as genuine tourists for a period of less then eight months and who are in possession of proof of nationality, such as a birth certificate, or voter’s registration card are not required to have a passport.

    OTOH I personally would never leave the country without my passport in hand.

  15. 15.

    max

    May 30, 2014 at 12:00 am

    I have nothing to say.

    Oh, SHIT! Cole found his mustard! Bastard will be insufferable now!

    @dedc79: Let’s go, Rangers! Hell of a game

    They played really well, and the Habs did not. Except for Towkarski, who kept the Habs in the game. Maybe the Pens should trade for him.

    max
    [‘Cheshire Dijon, please.’]

  16. 16.

    Joel

    May 30, 2014 at 12:01 am

    Watching part two of the Frontline NSA documentary. I highly recommend it.

  17. 17.

    Suffern ACE

    May 30, 2014 at 12:05 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: Yeah. It isn’t like a normal cat. It symbolizes the lead character’s need for attachment to living things but also his inability to follow through on those committments and how that damages everyone. It’s a fairly deep cat.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 12:09 am

    @O.O.

    U.S. territory?

    Bahmaas is British through and through.

  19. 19.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 30, 2014 at 12:09 am

    @Suffern ACE: No cat is a normal cat, we are all exceptional.

    Speaking of which, we needs a Tunch photo.

  20. 20.

    Comrade Dread

    May 30, 2014 at 12:10 am

    Cherish this moment.

    …as if they were… your last…

  21. 21.

    Mnemosyne

    May 30, 2014 at 12:10 am

    @NotMax:

    PR = Puerto Rico.

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 12:11 am

    @NotMax

    On 2nd reading, realized you meant Puerto Rico. Thought the PR was for public relations the first time through.

    (PR used to be a derogatory term for Puerto Ricans. Not sure if it still is.)

  23. 23.

    gian

    May 30, 2014 at 12:12 am

    can you sleep, or is your bed on fire?
    should we touch you or are you a real live wire?

  24. 24.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 12:12 am

    @NotMax: PR = Puerto Rico, since it was mentioned and is a US territory. Hence the separation before specifically mentioning the Bahamas.

    @NotMax: PR is also the two letter postal abbreviation for Puerto Rico. I wasn’t referring to the people who live there.

  25. 25.

    BGinCHI

    May 30, 2014 at 12:14 am

    Stay out of Malibu, Cole.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 12:16 am

    @Mnemosyne

    Yeah,, got that. Just am not used to seeing it abbreviated that way in public, as it used to be a term one should not use.

  27. 27.

    the Conster

    May 30, 2014 at 12:16 am

    @Violet:

    Also, on Silicon Valley (my favorite show), the main character in a programming deadline crisis mentions skull fucking. Not a kitten, but still…

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 12:18 am

    @gian: Qu’est que c’est?

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 12:19 am

    @O.O.

    Not in any way accusing you of anything. Just was taught not to use that abbreviation (long before the two-letter postal abbreviations).

    (Guess PR, for postal purposes, is preferable to PU.)

  30. 30.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 12:20 am

    @NotMax: No problems.

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 12:20 am

    I have nothing to say.

    See a physician,. Stat.

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    May 30, 2014 at 12:23 am

    @max:

    They played really well, and the Habs did not. Except for Towkarski,

    Tokarski was the MVP for the series. Most game, he played as well or better than Henrik, and was the only thing that kept the Habs from getting humiliated

    Although, I have to admit, I don’t recall seeing a save like Henrik’s when he knocked the puck away after he lost his stick. I think it was in the 2nd.

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    May 30, 2014 at 12:26 am

    @NotMax:

    See a physician,. Stat.

    Whereas, if certain others here were to make such an admission (“I have nothing to say.”), we’d be saying “Praise Jeebus!”

    Although they’d probably take three paragraphs to make that admission.

  34. 34.

    mai naem mobile

    May 30, 2014 at 12:26 am

    Don’t know if you do or don’t need a passport for the Bahamas but if you use the expedited way to get the passport they are damn fast. You pay a premium of 50 or 100 bucks to do it . Make sure he register mails the stuff

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 12:28 am

    @SFAW

    Who, or what, are the Habs?

    Sounds like a skin disease.

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 12:31 am

    @NotMax: The Habs are the Montreal Canadiens.

  37. 37.

    Violet

    May 30, 2014 at 12:32 am

    @the Conster: I’ve heard skull fucking a couple of places on TV. Couldn’t believe a character mentioned naked mopping and being mauled by a cat in the same sentence though. It was like they were channeling Cole.

  38. 38.

    Ruckus

    May 30, 2014 at 12:37 am

    @SFAW:
    I see you are talking about me. Again.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne

    May 30, 2014 at 12:38 am

    @NotMax:

    I can honestly say that I’ve never heard it used that way.The term must have been played out by the time I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s where most of the Spanish-speaking people in our Illinois town were from Puerto Rico.

    (True story: when I moved to California, I could. not. understand. the Spanish-accented people around me, which was weird, because I was used to “Spanish accents.” Took me a while to figure out that the Puerto Rican Spanish accent is very different from the Mexican Spanish accent.)

  40. 40.

    PJ

    May 30, 2014 at 12:42 am

    Are there any iPad owners out there? I was thinking about getting one as a lightweight laptop substitute, mainly for writing (and possibly to aid in recording music, but mainly for writing). However, I just found out that printing from one is a complete pain, because for each document, either each application and printer has to be supported by AirPlay (and most printers are not), and 3d party print applications (mainly developed by printer vendors, e.g., HP) seem to require you to go through their application first before printing anything. So it’s seeming to me that the iPad is just designed as a web surfing device. Thoughts?

  41. 41.

    Suffern ACE

    May 30, 2014 at 12:45 am

    Another reason why Wisconsin should host the 2022 Olympics: No one will be thirsty.

  42. 42.

    Amir Khalid

    May 30, 2014 at 12:45 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    FYWP just eated two of my attempts to reply to your comment #28.
    Take 3:
    Being mindful of the recent post about Charles Lane trying to deflect justified criticism of a stupid op-ed piece in the WaPo by nitpicking the critic’s spelling, I’d like to point out that it’s actually “Qu’est-ce que c’est?”

    They say French is a beautiful language, but would a beautiful language make you say things like “What is it that it is?” ?

  43. 43.

    ? Martin

    May 30, 2014 at 12:45 am

    SpaceX revealed their manned Dragon 2 craft. Very impressive. The video is linked off of their home page.

    It will seat 7, which is pretty big for a capsule. The interior is very modern and relatively uncluttered. Looks very well considered. It’s designed to do precise powered landings. 4 pairs of rockets, any two can fail and it can still land. Parachute backup. The heat shield doesn’t need to be replaced after launch (eventually it will, but it will last numerous re-entries). The idea is that they can land at the launch site, refuel, stick it on a new rocket, and take off with minimal (in time and money) work needed.

    The first stage of the Falcon rocket is also designed to do powered landings after it does its thing, again for re-use. That one is trickier and I haven’t figured out the plan. The first stage burns for roughly 3 minutes, so it’s well into a gravity turn before it separates. So it’ll be nowhere near it’s launch site – it’ll be on an arc to take it hundreds of miles away, and it has minimal control surfaces and thrusters, so how do they guide it to a powered landing in a secure location? Doing that with the capsule is actually quite a bit easier because you do most of your steering outside of the atmosphere.

    But they’re really doing great work and apparently able to do this very cost-effectively.

  44. 44.

    Suffern ACE

    May 30, 2014 at 12:48 am

    @PJ: I have no problem printing to my HP printer from my iPad. I have an HP photosmart. I remember it being a little bit confusig to set up, but I now just sit on my sofa and wirelessly send anything I want printed across the room.

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 12:50 am

    @Amir Khalid: My bad on the spelling. I should know better. I shall now go slam my hand in a drawer.

  46. 46.

    PurpleGirl

    May 30, 2014 at 12:51 am

    @Mnemosyne: I dated a guy born in Cuba during college. One night my mother talked to his mother; result: his mother wondered where and how a NYC-born woman learned such clean Castillian Spanish and not that Puerto Rican monkey talk. (My mother’s first husband was from Ecuador.)

  47. 47.

    handy

    May 30, 2014 at 12:51 am

    Ahhh I see FYWP decided to make my (mostly) worthless contribution to this otherwise fine thread into a late night snack.

  48. 48.

    Violet

    May 30, 2014 at 12:52 am

    I just tried to post this (editing name to actually get it to post):

    @O O: Testing reply.

    And it vanished. Exactly like when we were having the problems with Yutsy. No warning or moderation or anything. Just vanishes.

  49. 49.

    handy

    May 30, 2014 at 12:56 am

    BTW haven’t been around here in a while, does Little Boots still post? How about Corner Stone or Thymezone/ppgaz?

  50. 50.

    SFAW

    May 30, 2014 at 1:02 am

    @NotMax:

    Who, or what, are the Habs?

    Short for “les Habitants,” one of the many nicknames for the Canadiens.

    Hated by Broons fans (e.g., the SFAW-ette), probably Leafs fans as well.

  51. 51.

    Morzer

    May 30, 2014 at 1:03 am

    @handy:

    Corner Stone is still around. Haven’t seen the others recently.

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    May 30, 2014 at 1:04 am

    @Ruckus:

    I see you are talking about me. Again.

    “Again” implies that I have in the past. I don’t recall that being the case. But then again, I’m approaching senility so who knows?

    Wait, was I saying something?

  53. 53.

    David Koch

    May 30, 2014 at 1:06 am

    Big POTUS Win: AP Confirms Russian Troops Withdrawing from Ukraine Border

    Thanks Obama

  54. 54.

    PurpleGirl

    May 30, 2014 at 1:09 am

    @handy: Little Boots still comes around at night.

  55. 55.

    spudvol

    May 30, 2014 at 1:09 am

    No Americans in the finals of the National Spelling Bee

    And yes, you know exactly how every one of these idiots vote.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    May 30, 2014 at 1:10 am

    @David Koch:

    Thanks Obama President McCain!

    Fixed, to comport more closely with Dick Cheney’s Weltanschauung.

  57. 57.

    srv

    May 30, 2014 at 1:10 am

    @PJ: youtube.com/watch?v=rIwscGQuEZc

    Don’t know about printers.

  58. 58.

    handy

    May 30, 2014 at 1:12 am

    @Morzer:

    Good to hear I always liked him.

    In other news I see there was disturbance in the former-GWB-jocking-center-right blogosphere today, i.e. Cole vs. Charles Johnson. Fun to see among other things CJ’s people hitting back on Cole keeping Larison in his blogroll.

    I mean, it’s no 08 primary wars but still makes for some fun work-break reading.

  59. 59.

    srv

    May 30, 2014 at 1:17 am

    @David Koch: Manly Putin has achieved his goal.

    It’s almost like Bob thinks Putin would want Ukraine.

  60. 60.

    The Dangerman

    May 30, 2014 at 1:17 am

    Damn, Donald Sterling declared mentally incapacitated; if only Balmer could have fixed Vista as fast as he cut Sterling’s “mentally incapacitated” balls off to get the deal done. Who says money can’t buy happiness?

  61. 61.

    lamh36

    May 30, 2014 at 1:17 am

    Reading Rainbow was one of my fav tv shows when I was young. I can still sing the theme song from start to finish.

    So hearing about Levar Burton’s effort to get RR back on the air via kickstarter meeting it’s goal in like a day, and seeing Levar’s reaction dies the heart good!

    LeVar Burton Weeps in Gratitude Over Donations for Reading Rainbow

  62. 62.

    lamh36

    May 30, 2014 at 1:19 am

    @lamh36: ugh…DOES the heart good, NOT DIES…ugh

  63. 63.

    scav

    May 30, 2014 at 1:20 am

    @PJ: I’d hesitate before depending on it for major typing efforts unless the add-on keyboards are really good. Try it before deciding. It’s annoying and slow with all the keyboard switching etc. to get different characters. Test for your style and needs is my suggestion.

  64. 64.

    handy

    May 30, 2014 at 1:20 am

    @The Dangerman:

    What the hell is up with Microsoft billionaires buying up sports teams? What next, Gates grabbing the Seattle So–what, too soon?

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    May 30, 2014 at 1:22 am

    If my ‘nym is causing problems for some FYWP reason, let’s try this. People who have been having problems; please reply to this comment.

  66. 66.

    lamh36

    May 30, 2014 at 1:25 am

    alright sing it with me guys…

    “Butterfly in the skyyyyyy….”

    Reading Rainbow Theme Song”

  67. 67.

    RobertDSC-Power Mac G5 Dual

    May 30, 2014 at 1:25 am

    So it’ll be nowhere near it’s launch site – it’ll be on an arc to take it hundreds of miles away, and it has minimal control surfaces and thrusters, so how do they guide it to a powered landing in a secure location?

    I imagine they’ll take a page out of the Shuttle book and find secure facilities down range of the launch site. There were landing strips in Europe and Africa, among other places, where the Shuttle could land if it had to abort before reaching orbit.

  68. 68.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 1:26 am

    @Mnemosyne

    Possibly misremembering or confusing with another film, but fairly sure was used in West Side Story, and not as a term of endearment.

  69. 69.

    patrick II

    May 30, 2014 at 1:31 am

    I went to see the new X-Men movie today. And, while I am able to suspend disbelief for the most part, some things can make that impossible. When Magneto threatened to kill President Nixon and his entire cabinet, Nixon placed himself in front of the others and offered to let Magneto take his life if he would only spare the others. When it turned out that it wasn’t actually Nixon, but a shape-shifting blue assassin that had taken his place, only then did it become believable.

  70. 70.

    ? Martin

    May 30, 2014 at 1:34 am

    @RobertDSC-Power Mac G5 Dual: Yeah, that’s what I imagine as well, but I’m still having trouble with the precision of the landing. Part of the point of launching off the east coast is that you splash down in the ocean, and you don’t need to be precise at all. I’ll be thrilled if they have a way to control it that well, I’m just having trouble working out what that mechanism is.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    May 30, 2014 at 1:35 am

    @NotMax:

    I haven’t seen it in a while, but you’re probably right.

    I hate to mention it, but the movie version of West Side Story came out 8 years before I was born, so sadly I must stand by my “obsolete slur” claims.

  72. 72.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 1:35 am

    @RobertDSC-Power Mac G5 Dual

    Still and emergency landing set-up at Honolulu airport, put in place for the shuttle.

    Essentially the craft was supposed to glide in and and then a really, really big net would pop up before the far end of the runway,

    And everyone would cross his or her fingers.

  73. 73.

    PJ

    May 30, 2014 at 1:35 am

    @Suffern ACE: @srv: @scav: Thanks for all of the responses. I can get a decent keyboard/case for around $50 – one of the things that appeals to me is that I can set up the iPad at eye level (probably on a stack of books) and keep the keyboard below wrist level, so that I am not always bending my neck down (and also hopefully slowing down the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome.)

  74. 74.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 1:36 am

    Okay, so I took a run a changing my ‘nym to try to fix the apparent FYWP problem, but I just sit in moderation. It’s fine with me; I can comment, if no one can respond, I guess no one can disagree. I am sure nothing need be done with the website.

    ETA: Now the comment with the modified ‘nym has been disappeared. Lovely.

  75. 75.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 1:37 am

    @Mnemosyne

    Yup, one reason I was questioning whether it was still in use.

    Wonder if maybe the Post Office abbreviation played a part in erasing the onus?

  76. 76.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 30, 2014 at 1:39 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, I always used a passport when travelling in Europe, even though a US military ID would often do. The fact was, I didn’t want to draw attention to my military status.

  77. 77.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 30, 2014 at 1:40 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: WP lurves you, obviously!

    It’s a good thing no one has ever tried to be “P3n!s K. Ca$ino” or anything like that…

  78. 78.

    handy

    May 30, 2014 at 1:41 am

    Yeah Omnes it’s definitely you inasmuch as anything can be said to be you. Two comments made in reply to you have become two lovely morsels for FYWP’s insatiable belly.

  79. 79.

    handy

    May 30, 2014 at 1:42 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    It’s a good thing no one has ever tried to be “P3n!s K. Ca$ino” or anything like that…

    You got something you want to confess?

  80. 80.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 1:43 am

    @O. O.

    If it is copacetic, shall continue using the abbreviation as done here.

  81. 81.

    James E. Powell

    May 30, 2014 at 1:44 am

    @NotMax:

    Habs = Habitants, name for French settlers that goes back to the 17th century.

    Note – The H on the jersey is not for Habitants. It’s for Hockey in “Club de Hockey Canadien”

  82. 82.

    James E. Powell

    May 30, 2014 at 1:46 am

    @David Koch:

    Big POTUS Win: AP Confirms Russian Troops Withdrawing from Ukraine Border

    Thanks Obama

    Excellent news . . . for John McCain! And the editorial board of the Washington Post!

  83. 83.

    Joseph Nobles

    May 30, 2014 at 1:47 am

    @lamh36: Amazing, isn’t it? The goal was $1 million. They are currently at $2.5 million. They haven’t even added stretch goals.

  84. 84.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 1:47 am

    Thanks to all who answered about the Habs.

    Sports of any type not my bag, and some of the nicknames provide scant clue.

  85. 85.

    ? Martin

    May 30, 2014 at 1:50 am

    @NotMax: Actually, I just read that they’re planning to fly the first stage back to the launch site. They keep about 5% of the fuel, and then use 3 of the 9 engines to burn retrograde. I’m at a bit of a loss to see how it works.

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 1:54 am

    @? Martin

    Again, possibly misremembering, but isn’t that one capable of vertical landing? If so, the retro rockets make more sense.

  87. 87.

    max

    May 30, 2014 at 1:57 am

    [o.o] Okay, so I took a run a changing my ‘nym to try to fix the apparent FYWP problem, but I just sit in moderation. It’s fine with me; I can comment, if no one can respond, I guess no one can disagree. I am sure nothing need be done with the website.

    Oh, shit, is that what the problem was?

    max
    [‘Will this work?’]

  88. 88.

    ? Martin

    May 30, 2014 at 1:58 am

    @NotMax: Yes, it is designed to land that way. The capsule I can work out. It’s the first stage that confounds me. This part in a test hover/landing.

    The problem is that when it separates from the 2nd stage, it’s going 5,000 MPH mostly horizontally. And it’ll have enough fuel to turn around and fly back home?

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    May 30, 2014 at 2:02 am

    @SFAW:
    If you are like me that senility seems to be approaching at the speed of light.

    It may not have been you that commented but then again how would I know? I mean I have my lucid moments, lately they seem to be interspersed among some of a dubious nature.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 2:04 am

    @? Martin

    Dunno. Certainly employing ‘chutes to initiate drag as done with the shuttle’s solid boosters is possible, though.

    If it is being treated as an independent craft and has to negotiate a 180 degree turn, that’s quite a sophisticated maneuver.

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    May 30, 2014 at 2:06 am

    @handy:
    Make that 3.

  92. 92.

    ? Martin

    May 30, 2014 at 2:12 am

    @NotMax: No plans for parachutes. And it is being treated as you describe. They think they can attempt a soft landing at the Cape by the end of the year. It depends on the particular launch as some don’t leave enough fuel behind to try it.

    And yes, that’s a very sophisticated maneuver.

  93. 93.

    Steeplejack

    May 30, 2014 at 2:13 am

    @O.O.:

    Checking to see if I’ve got the O.O. virus.

    ETA: For future debugging purposes, FYWP appears to object to Omnes Omnibus’s actual name in a reply to him (perhaps only for some people). I submitted this same post with his actual name, and it disappeared. I changed it as it now appears, and it went through. Go figure.

    ETFA: But apparently FYWP doesn’t object to his name in a message that is not a reply to him.

    ETFFA: But wait a minute—this is a reply to him! Apparently FYWP is objecting to the appearance of “Omnes Omnibus” in the “reply” hyperlink. Jee-sus.

  94. 94.

    Lawrence

    May 30, 2014 at 2:13 am

    Hello, John
    I had one of my cats put down a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had to do it before. One was seventeen years old and she had a thyroid condition and wouldn’t take her medicine. That was a few years ago. It had been some time since I had tried to give her a pill. Ornery creature put a bite on me. And it was fast. Like a snake. This elderly, sick cat that I had raised bit me. Thus I found myself in an urgent care on Labor Day weekend getting stabbed with a scalpel and a scrip for penicillin. Sleep well, Sam, you crabby old lady. And then there was Bella. He was young, a grey and white longhair stray (strays are everywhere in Phoenix). He didn’t meow. He said “Nhee” and “Khee” He got ahold of something that poisoned him. Poor boy was gone in the space of a few days. And then Peep, a couple of weeks ago. She was about eleven, a tuxedo cat with a puzzle piece face. She is survived by her twin brother, a hefty Sylvester clone named Boo Boo. When Peep first lived with us, she nestled up in the engine bay of a car and was cut up badly by the belts when it started. She climbed a six foot block fence to come home with a chest wound that would have killed me. We had her front claws taken off and kept her inside after that. Peep was my wife’s favorite. She started limping a couple of months ago. We had x-rays done, which found nothing. We gave her some painkillers, which helped some. we brought her back in because she could hardly move and wasn’t eating and barely drinking. Their were some tests, which showed nothing. More tests recommended. They gave me pills to make her swallow. When I’m drying off after a shower I look at the scratches on my leg and feel awful that for the last three days of her life I had to fight an animal that did not move all day to shove useless medicine down her throat. The vet’s office called to see how she was doing. I explained not well, and why didn’t you use the antibiotic shot instead of these damn pills? OK come back in and we will reassess. Different vet. Peep is dehydrated. Obviously (she was before but the other guy said the bloodwork indicated otherwise). Body temp is low. Prognosis: Peep is shutting down. The limping is probably due to degenerative nerve disease. They might, might, be able to save her with a massive intervention, but even then, what? My wife stays for the procedure. I take my daughter home. I’ve said goodbye, and I’ve seen it before. “Another forty thousand come every day – we can be like they are.” What sucks is that the first doc sold me a bunch of bullshit tests, and didn’t do the one thing that might have saved her. But probably not. So I’m just out the money. And I miss my friend.

  95. 95.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 2:18 am

    Positively disconcerting how much resemblance there is to the 72-year-old Orson Welles (noticed in a movie just ended) by a guy in our weekly gathering group.

    Only difference is that the guy here, who is in his late 30s, is a bit more rotund.

  96. 96.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 30, 2014 at 2:20 am

    @Lawrence: I am so sorry for your loss. {{{{}}}}

  97. 97.

    Steeplejack

    May 30, 2014 at 2:21 am

    @Omnes:

    Can I get away with just part of your name?

    ETA: Yes, I can.

    Okay, problem diagnosed and workaround found. Now I just need someone with the keys to FYWP to perform the minor scutwork of implementing the solution.

    /Sheldon Cooper

  98. 98.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 30, 2014 at 2:23 am

    BTW I have a new dispatch from India about Bombay’s colonial past.

  99. 99.

    Steeplejack

    May 30, 2014 at 2:25 am

    @Penis K. Casino:

    Say what?!

    Sorry, couldn’t resist.

  100. 100.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 2:26 am

    @Steeplejack

    First noted nearly 4 days ago. Spreading since then to block replies to O. O. from more and more folks.

    It’s Yutsano, the Sequel.

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 2:27 am

    @Steeplejack: Weird shit, man. Weird shit.

  102. 102.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 2:30 am

    @NotMax: The really bizarre thing is that I tried to make a name change like Yutsie did, and the fucker got moderated and then eated.

    ETA: I doubt, however, that anyone authority to do anything, gives a flying fuck.

  103. 103.

    Steeplejack

    May 30, 2014 at 2:34 am

    @Omnes:

    Well, a name change will always be quarantined until a front-pager releases it. How do you know it (also) got eaten?

  104. 104.

    NotMax

    May 30, 2014 at 2:36 am

    @O. O.

    Mere mortals are not privy to the mysteries of FYWP’s terrible swift sword.

  105. 105.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 30, 2014 at 2:37 am

    Tunch is eating all the replies to Omnes, because he dared to be disrespectful of Tunch kitteh a couple of weeks ago.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 2:39 am

    @Steeplejack: It was labeled and yellow bannered for a while, and then it was gone – poof. The gone thing is the sign that it got eated.

  107. 107.

    John (MCCARTHY) Cole

    May 30, 2014 at 2:42 am

    @Violet: They prolly were. There was a period when a lot of Daily Show commentary resembled shit from me and DougJ and TimF the day before it appeared on CC. I was personally horrified.

  108. 108.

    John (MCCARTHY) Cole

    May 30, 2014 at 2:43 am

    @Lawrence: I’m so sorry, Lawrence. Send in a pic so we can do a proper send-off.

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 2:48 am

    @John (MCCARTHY) Cole: Are you aware of the disappearing comments issue? Apparently, people want to respond to things I say and FYWP does not let them do so.

  110. 110.

    Steeplejack

    May 30, 2014 at 2:53 am

    @Omnes:

    Oh, that’s right: it still shows up to you when it’s in moderation.

  111. 111.

    max

    May 30, 2014 at 2:55 am

    [o.o] Apparently, people want to respond to things I say and FYWP does not let them do so.

    Yes! That’s what it was. I tried four or five times the other day and the damn thing keep disappearing. Couldn’t figure it out. BUT! Because I copied the comment to notepad while trying to figure out the issue, I still have the response. We’ll see if this works.

    [o.o]I’ll be frank, the fact that an A-10 had a person, right there, flying mattered.

    Sure, ‘s forward flying artillery. Most of the drones I have heard of manage around a 180 MPH at a run and loiter OK, but they can’t loiter the way an A-10 does, which is going to involve a lot of dancing around. I’d imagine they’re thinking of a drone as some kind of missile platform, which isn’t going to get much bang for the more expensive (ammo-wise) buck.

    A slow moving missile platform should work great against guerrillas, which is basically what they’re using it for. Not so good against tanks. Four missile unloads and you’re done.

    During the times I worked on calling in air strikes, A-10s were so much easier to work with than F-16s. They just lingered around until they could shoot the living fuck out of the target you gave them. Like Cole said, Warthog pilots are good folk.

    That’s the other problem with a drone – the guy isn’t sitting there looking at it.

    I keep thinking, ‘How would you design a useful tank-killing drone?’ and the answer keeps coming back, ‘Take an A-10 and install remote controls…’
    ‘And what happens with it gets shot up and the fly by wire fails?’
    ‘Drones are cheap.’
    ‘Not A-10’s turned into drones. Those cost more or less exactly what an A-10 costs.’
    ‘Well, they’ll make an A-10-like drone.’
    ‘That costs less?’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘HOW?’

    max
    [‘All this to build the non-functional F-35. Sheesh.’]

  112. 112.

    Lawrence

    May 30, 2014 at 3:01 am

    @John (MCCARTHY) Cole:facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1006717903547&set=pb.1692920015.-2207520000.1401432692.&type=3…

    That’s her in the foreground, and Bella in the background.

  113. 113.

    Violet

    May 30, 2014 at 3:02 am

    @John (MCCARTHY) Cole: The cat shredded the guy’s test1cles. I hope Tunch never did that to you.

  114. 114.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 30, 2014 at 3:06 am

    @max: I was a gunner. The only air support I trust came from A-10s (Okay, really, the only air support I truly trust comes from guns on the ground). That ugly fucking slow ass plane. The loiter capacity and the willingness of Warthog pilots to actually loiter – F-16 pilots wanted to get back to “proper” missions as soon as possible.

  115. 115.

    Steeplejack

    May 30, 2014 at 4:10 am

    Did somebody crash the blog?

  116. 116.

    Steeplejack

    May 30, 2014 at 4:16 am

    Okay, I’m turning out the light.

  117. 117.

    Betty Cracker

    May 30, 2014 at 6:24 am

    @handy: Seriously? A guy who ran a racist hate site for years is slagging on a reformed garden-variety wingnut? I missed that, but the LGFers must have some gigantic fucking stones.

  118. 118.

    gnomedad

    May 30, 2014 at 8:03 am

    @John (MCCARTHY) Cole:
    “Horrified”? Who among us dares hope for such immortality?

  119. 119.

    J R in WV

    May 30, 2014 at 11:44 am

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    Testing a pnew pseudonym:

    Jacob Reindeer

  120. 120.

    Steeplejack

    May 30, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    Checking for problems . . .

    ETA: And none. Too bad you have to change your name, though. That’s a sucky solution.

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    May 30, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    FYWP does not let them do so.

    Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe, WordPress’s feelings get hurt when you type “FYWP,” and in a fit of pique, it eats the replies?

    Hell, if corporations can be people, why not software?

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