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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuesday Evening Open Thread

Tuesday Evening Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  July 1, 20146:01 pm| 150 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, #notintendedtobeafactualstatement

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In case you haven’t yet been told why the idiots among your FB relatives & acquaintances are sniggering about the First Lady, again.

Apart from waiting for the US/Belguim overtime to end, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

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Previous Post: « Plumbing for Hobby Lobby
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Reader Interactions

150Comments

  1. 1.

    Mandalay

    July 1, 2014 at 6:06 pm

    We just got our first black female four star admiral.

    Congratulations to us. It’s about time we got something right.

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    July 1, 2014 at 6:08 pm

    Aw, what a cute couple.

    I have absolutely no fucks at all to give for soccer, but my family is watching, and even I thought the American blew it in the final seconds of regulation. WTF?

  3. 3.

    PaulW

    July 1, 2014 at 6:12 pm

    That’s it. No more f-cking soccer.

    We can’t generate any f-cking offense might as well just f-cking not play the damn thing.

  4. 4.

    Mike in NC

    July 1, 2014 at 6:13 pm

    The only proper First Lady has white skin and blue hair.

  5. 5.

    Violet

    July 1, 2014 at 6:13 pm

    It’s looking pretty brutal for the US now.

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack

    July 1, 2014 at 6:16 pm

    Cavuto: “Is there crack in the White House?”

  7. 7.

    D58826

    July 1, 2014 at 6:20 pm

    @Steeplejack: They were porking out on pie rather than rescuing those brave Americans in BENGHAZI

  8. 8.

    bago

    July 1, 2014 at 6:21 pm

    Just rockin some Trap while doing some accounts.
    https://soundcloud.com/graham-gawthorpe

  9. 9.

    jeffreyw

    July 1, 2014 at 6:22 pm

    Say hello to my little friend.

  10. 10.

    TaMara (BHF)

    July 1, 2014 at 6:25 pm

    You know what makes me happy? That I’m on the side of history that is thrilled with our beautiful First Couple. And that I have enough of a sense of humor to find that completely charming and funny.

    Fuck the haters.

  11. 11.

    Hungry Joe

    July 1, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    I’ve watched more soccer in the last two weeks than I’ve watched in my entire life. And probably more than I’ll watch in the entire rest of my life. Well, at least I tried. Back to baseball and tennis.

    Just returned from two weeks in Peru. Magnificent country, wonderful people. We were careful, but still I managed to get food poisoning TWICE. The second time it was along with altitude sickness — a combo that, in retrospect, is exactly what I’d wish on my worst enemy.

  12. 12.

    The Dangerman

    July 1, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    @D58826:

    …in BENGHAZI

    Did you hear 4 Americans died there? FOUR!

  13. 13.

    MomSense

    July 1, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    @TaMara (BHF):

    You know what makes me happy? That I’m on the side of history that is thrilled with our beautiful First Couple.

    I think this all the time.

  14. 14.

    Pogonip

    July 1, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): I hate haters.

  15. 15.

    kindness

    July 1, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    Boo hoo. USA lost.

    Damn Belgians. What is the derogatory name for someone from Belgium anyhow? Damn if I know. All I know is I love their beer. No not the Stella Artois. That stuff is crap.

  16. 16.

    adepsis

    July 1, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    @Mandalay: Awesome!

    I want to point out that she is THE first female 4 star Admiral – period.

    She is also African American.

  17. 17.

    Patrick

    July 1, 2014 at 6:45 pm

    @The Dangerman:

    Did you hear 4 Americans died there? FOUR! Indeed.

    Those 4 are worth a hell of lot more than all those Americans that died in embassy attacks under Bush or the 4500 US soldiers that died in the Iraq war that was invaded under false pretenses.

    Yes, I’m sarcastic.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    July 1, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    @kindness:

    I always assumed that “Stella Artois” was Dutch for “Budweiser.”

  19. 19.

    Pogonip

    July 1, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    Because of various problems taking up my time and attention, the Pogonip Weather Project was spotty at best during May and June, so I’m scratching those months and picking it up again today.

  20. 20.

    Emma

    July 1, 2014 at 6:47 pm

    @Mandalay: Impressive lady.

  21. 21.

    PsiFighter37

    July 1, 2014 at 6:52 pm

    If only we hadn’t blown that point-blank shot at goal in the 92nd minute. Goddammit.

    Oh well, back to soccer being on the peripheral edge of what I pay attention to. It sucks because it is an entertaining sport – basically hockey on a much larger playing area – but MLS games are just way worse, in terms of quality, than the World Cup is (or even the teams in Europe, I’m sure). Hard for me to pay attention to overseas leagues.

    That said, given the team has a lot of new players, I’m excited to see how much more they can improve over the next 4 years. I do wish they had kept Donovan on the team, though – once Altidore went down, they really just didn’t have the people to push the attack like they needed to.

  22. 22.

    Pogonip

    July 1, 2014 at 6:53 pm

    Does anyone else wonder how everyday life would be affected if the U.N. member nations got together and decided to effect regime change in the U.S.?

  23. 23.

    Steeplejack

    July 1, 2014 at 6:56 pm

    @Pogonip:

    What is the Pogonip Weather Project? I must have missed the Kickstarter page.

  24. 24.

    JPL

    July 1, 2014 at 6:57 pm

    Someone explain to me how the haters are using this film to ditz the first lady. I don’t get it.

  25. 25.

    gogol's wife

    July 1, 2014 at 6:59 pm

    @TaMara (BHF):

    Me too. I don’t know what I’m going to do when they’re out of the White House. I haven’t been able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked, given all the horrible hateful bile that’s poured on them every day, but I love them.

  26. 26.

    Steeplejack

    July 1, 2014 at 7:01 pm

    @Pogonip:

    I, for one, would welcome our metric system overlords. To think we almost got that in the Carter administration!

  27. 27.

    Mike in NC

    July 1, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    @kindness: Some of the terms used to describe Belgians in “Monty Python” skits were Flems, Sprouts, and Waffles.

  28. 28.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 7:09 pm

    @kindness: I hope this helps.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    July 1, 2014 at 7:15 pm

    @Pogonip:

    Does anyone else wonder how everyday life would be affected if the U.N. member nations got together and decided to effect regime change in the U.S.?

    If U.N. member nations got together, it probably wouldn’t matter as much what regime we had in the U.S.

  30. 30.

    Pogonip

    July 1, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    @Steeplejack: The PWP consisted of me, using a sophisticated data-storing device called a “notebook,” noting down each day’s weather with the intent of comparing it to the Farmer’s Almanac to see how right it was. So I guess they’ll get a pass on May and June.

  31. 31.

    Mandalay

    July 1, 2014 at 7:19 pm

    This is cool:

    Kentucky could become the first southern state to allow same-sex marriage after a federal judge determined arguments supporting a ban on such relationships were bewildering and irrational.

    U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled in favor of two gay Louisville couples who challenged the state’s 2004 constitutional amendment and a similar 1998 law violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law.

    “In America, even sincere and long-hold religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted,” Heyburn wrote in his ruling.

    The judge sharply rejected the only justification for the ban offered by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear’s lawyers – who argued that traditional marriage contributed to a stable birth rate and the state’s long-term economic stability.

    “These arguments are not those of serious people,” Heyburn said.

  32. 32.

    Pogonip

    July 1, 2014 at 7:20 pm

    @Steeplejack: You will take our yardsticks when you pry them from our cold dead fingers in our six FEET deep graves!

  33. 33.

    Trollhattan

    July 1, 2014 at 7:20 pm

    @Baud:
    Pesky black helicopters everywhere? No thank you, good sir/madam!

  34. 34.

    Baud

    July 1, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    @Trollhattan:

    Agreed. I like my drones unmanned.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 1, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    @JPL:

    Someone explain to me how the haters are using this film to ditz the first lady.

    The First Lady is near.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    July 1, 2014 at 7:24 pm

    So Obama said this today:

    That’s because we know from our history that our economy doesn’t grow from the top-down, it grows from the middle-out

    Which, after the season finale of Silicon Valley, may not convey quite the message the White House is going for.

  37. 37.

    Cacti

    July 1, 2014 at 7:24 pm

    @Mandalay:

    “These arguments are not those of serious people,” Heyburn said

    It’s really the best they’ve got.

    Their real argument against marriage equality is “Gay people are icky and make the baby Jesus cry.”

  38. 38.

    Baud

    July 1, 2014 at 7:25 pm

    @Mandalay:

    “In America, even sincere and long-hold religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted,” Heyburn wrote in his ruling.

    Agreed. They trump the rights of the majority!

  39. 39.

    Steeplejack

    July 1, 2014 at 7:26 pm

    @Pogonip:

    How about we just make the yardsticks, oh, say, 3.37 inches longer? That wouldn’t be such a big deal, would it?

  40. 40.

    rikyrah

    July 1, 2014 at 7:34 pm

    From Charles Pierce:

    So there really isn’t any excuse any more.

    I occasionally get chaffed by folks for giving out civics lessons but, seriously, we get the government we deserve. The Founders, and those brave people who came later, a group that certainly includes the three Mississippi martyrs and thousands more whose names we don’t know, made sacrifices that leave us no alibis. If you live in a state that has restricted the franchise, and that has erected hoops through which you have to jump, then learn how to jump through the hoops and break down those barriers by flooding the polls. If you don’t live in a state where it has been made more difficult to vote, then get off your sorry ass.

    http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/No_Excuses

  41. 41.

    Pogonip

    July 1, 2014 at 7:35 pm

    @Steeplejack: Never! Give ’em an inch, they take a kilometer!

    When I was at Bedrock High School back in the day, there was a huge push on to teach the metric system because it was going to happen Any Day Now. I graduated in 1977. Still waiting.

  42. 42.

    Mandalay

    July 1, 2014 at 7:36 pm

    @Cacti:

    Their real argument against marriage equality is “Gay people are icky and make the baby Jesus cry.”

    Your argument is actually more plausible than that used by the lawyers of the haters. The judge was pretty brutal about their bullshit:

    …Defendant adds a disingenuous twist to the argument: traditional marriages contribute to a stable birth rate which, in turn, ensures the state’s long-term economic stability.

    These arguments are not those of serious people. Though it seems almost unnecessary to explain, here are the reasons why. Even assuming the state has a legitimate interest in promoting procreation, the Court fails to see, and Defendant never explains, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage has any effect whatsoever on procreation among heterosexual spouses. Excluding same-sex couples from marriage does not change the number of heterosexual couples who choose to get married, the number who choose to have children, or the number of children they have. See Bishop v. United States ex rel. Holder, 962 F. Supp. 2d 1252, 1291 (N.D. Okla. 2014) (“Marriage is incentivized for naturally procreative couples to precisely the same extent regardless of whether same-sex couples (or other non-procreative couples) are included.”). The Court finds no rational relation between the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and the Commonwealth’s asserted interest in promoting naturally procreative marriages.

  43. 43.

    Davis X. Machina

    July 1, 2014 at 7:48 pm

    @Mandalay:

    These arguments are not those of serious people.

    It is difficult to imagine how pissed a Federal appellate judge must be before he or she commits something like that to the record.

  44. 44.

    Roger Moore

    July 1, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    @Pogonip:

    Does anyone else wonder how everyday life would be affected if the U.N. member nations got together and decided to effect regime change in the U.S.?

    It would be a lot shorter, for one thing, what with the nuclear exchanges and all.

  45. 45.

    scav

    July 1, 2014 at 7:53 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: or

    “The state’s attempts to connect the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage to its interest in economic stability and in ‘ensuring humanity’s continued existence’ are at best illogical and even bewildering,”

    That does somehow come out in a Spock voice.

  46. 46.

    Randy P

    July 1, 2014 at 7:58 pm

    @Pogonip: In New York State about that time, some of the highway signs got changed to english and metric. There was a huge outcry and the state actually spent the money to change them back.

    I think the ones on the highways to Canada still have those furrin units though.

    @TaMara (BHF): I use “do you adore the First Lady” the way I use “do you absolutely adore my wife upon meeting her”, as a basic sanity test. If you fail either of my sanity tests, I’m not really interested in your opinions on anything else.

  47. 47.

    Violet

    July 1, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    It is difficult to imagine how pissed a Federal appellate judge must be before he or she commits something like that to the record.

    One wonders if the decisions by the Supremes this week have had an impact on lower court judges’ opinions. The Supremes are making the judging profession look bad.

  48. 48.

    Bex

    July 1, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): The haters must have stroked out celebrating the latest SC decisions and missed the President’s reference to “Charlie and his husband.” Best of luck to Charlie and Bill.

  49. 49.

    Randy P

    July 1, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    @scav: “There is insufficient data to justify that conclusion, Counselor”.

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack

    July 1, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    @Pogonip:

    Killed by Reagan (as usual):

    In 1968, Congress authorized the U.S. Metric Study, a three-year study of systems of measurement in the U.S., with emphasis on the feasibility of metrication. The United States Department of Commerce conducted the study. A 45-member advisory panel consulted and took testimony from hundreds of consumers, business organizations, labor groups, manufacturers and state and local officials. The final report of the study concluded that the U.S. would eventually join the rest of the world in the use of the metric system of measurement. The study found that metric units were already implemented in many areas and that their use was increasing. The majority of study participants believed that conversion to the metric system was in the best interests of the U.S., particularly in view of the importance of foreign trade and the increasing influence of technology in the U.S.

    Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 “to coordinate and plan the increasing use of the metric system in the United States.” Voluntary conversion was initiated, and the United States Metric Board (USMB) was established for planning, coordination and public education. The public education component led to public awareness of the metric system, but the public response included resistance, apathy, and sometimes ridicule. In 1981, the USMB reported to Congress that it lacked the clear Congressional mandate necessary to bring about national conversion. Because of this ineffectiveness and an effort of the Reagan administration—particularly from Lyn Nofziger’s efforts as a White House adviser to the Reagan administration to reduce federal spending—the USMB was disbanded in the autumn of 1982.

  51. 51.

    Mnemosyne

    July 1, 2014 at 8:10 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    IMO, this is one of the reasons why the state of California declined to defend Prop 8 — they looked at the “arguments” from the anti-marriage crowd and realized they would look like idiots trying to sell them to a judge.

  52. 52.

    JPL

    July 1, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    Gosh all this talk about courts and decisions. Although I’m pleased that some lower courts have decided to rule on the law, most and especially the Supremes rule according to their political leanings.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 8:20 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Not all of us; a large minority think the whole thing is an abomination.

    The navy isn’t an abomination; that’s the air force.

  54. 54.

    PaulW

    July 1, 2014 at 8:21 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    The only proper First Lady has white skin and blue hair.

    Unless it’s anime, in which case it’s blue skin and white hair. …what?

  55. 55.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 1, 2014 at 8:25 pm

    @Pogonip:

    When I was at Bedrock High School back in the day, there was a huge push on to teach the metric system because it was going to happen Any Day Now. I graduated in 1977. Still waiting.

    If you specialize in any sort of science, it happened long ago, which ought to be reason enough to teach it.

  56. 56.

    A Humble Lurker

    July 1, 2014 at 8:31 pm

    @Bex:

    “Charlie and his husband.” Best of luck to Charlie and Bill.

    I loved that little thing. Someday that’s what it’ll always be like: just something you mention off hand and with no fanfare. And FLOTUS looks good with a hair band.

  57. 57.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 8:33 pm

    For all of you ex-pat Detroiters of a certain age: Ollie Fretter has shuffled off the mortal coil, age 81.

  58. 58.

    jharp

    July 1, 2014 at 8:36 pm

    Very cool couple. I really enjoy watching them and Michelle is a real beauty.

    We are lucky to have them in the White House.

    Can you imagine having Romney running the county like he did Bain Capital.

    Yikes!

  59. 59.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 8:37 pm

    @efgoldman: Oh, they’ll get you, my pretty. And your little dog too.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 1, 2014 at 8:39 pm

    For years now I have been making chili and cornbread for “Project wkends” (caving ) here in the Ozarks. And for years people have accused me of putting crack in my cornbread, as it is the best ever.

    I can not tell a lie: You will never know.

  61. 61.

    David Koch

    July 1, 2014 at 8:39 pm

    @efgoldman: Gay marriage broke up Mark Sanford’s marriage

  62. 62.

    John Revolta

    July 1, 2014 at 8:41 pm

    America is a bombin’ nation.

    Also: it’s nice to know that on top of every other reason I’ve got to hate Reagan, it’s his fault that I have to own two sets of tools.

    Also too: Ditz?

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    July 1, 2014 at 8:45 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Recipe, please! Although I have to say my sainted mother’s cornbread recipe from the hollers of north Tennessee is pretty damn good.

  64. 64.

    mai naem

    July 1, 2014 at 8:47 pm

    I grew up using the metric system and then came here and had to get used to the incredibly stupid system here. Why the fuck would you not want to memorize the deci, milli and kilo and the multipliers. No, we have to know fucking ounces, inches, pounds, miles, yards WTF. Get those foam fingers out. USA!USA!USA!
    Even the way math is taught in this country is fucked up. Most other countries do not split geometry and algebra, its all combined. And, jeebus, forget elementary math. Everything’s made more difficult.

  65. 65.

    mai naem

    July 1, 2014 at 8:48 pm

    @jeffreyw: That is an awesome picture.

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 1, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    @jharp:

    Michelle is a real beauty.

    Michelle is smokin’ hot.

    ps: yes I am a sexist pig. At least I wouldn’t hit on her in front of her children.

  67. 67.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    @efgoldman: I saw my chance and I took it.

  68. 68.

    JPL

    July 1, 2014 at 8:52 pm

    @efgoldman: That’s what I think. It becomes such a non issue that even the republicans won’t touch it. Unfortunately, woman’s health issues never will.

  69. 69.

    catclub

    July 1, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    @mai naem: Are the dimensions of a soccer pitch metric?

  70. 70.

    JPL

    July 1, 2014 at 8:59 pm

    The Supreme Court rulings upset me so much that it is hard for me to forget about bush v gore. The ruling that changed everything. I really fear for our democracy. I was never a big fan of unions until I realized that non union shops were keeping up with benefits and pay in order to prevent the big bad unions from taking over. What’s going to happen when they are gone. It never dawned on me that the Supremes would tell me what type of family planning was acceptable. Palin campaigned on the fact that the current President would dictate your medical care.
    Gosh she was wrong. She is now dictating what is appropriate.

    Does any one feel as despdrate as Me?

  71. 71.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:00 pm

    @catclub: Originally they were described in Imperial measures, now its metric.

  72. 72.

    E.

    July 1, 2014 at 9:02 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: As someone who practices in federal court, I can tell you it is extremely unusual to get that kind of language in an opinion. I’ve gotten one snarky opinion by a judge who was quite angry with my opponent, but he was way more subtle than that. And he was quite literally screaming at my opposing counsel during oral argument. So I would say, yeah, this judge was pissed.

  73. 73.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 1, 2014 at 9:03 pm

    @mai naem: Metric system is used in all scientific work. We use m/s not furlongs/fortnight. Geometry + Algebra = Coordinate geometry. Euclidean geometry and Algebra are always taught separately, why would they be taught together?

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    July 1, 2014 at 9:03 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    If you specialize in any sort of science, it happened long ago, which ought to be reason enough to teach it.

    I find it very strange. When I’m at home, I tend to judge things using customary units: feet and inches, ounces and pounds, degrees Fahrenheit, etc. But when I’m at work, I automatically shift gears and judge things in metric units. It’s not a conscious thing where I really work in one system or the other all the time and convert units in my head; I really think in different units at different times.

  75. 75.

    JPL

    July 1, 2014 at 9:04 pm

    @E.: So that is good news.

  76. 76.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 1, 2014 at 9:04 pm

    I have to pause and take note: Tomorrows predicted high is 76. For July 2nd. Suck on that Texas.

    PS: and yes I know, I will pay for it next year. I paid for it last year too. But right now? I rub it in.

  77. 77.

    BruceFromOhio

    July 1, 2014 at 9:05 pm

    @Mandalay:

    “These arguments are not those of serious people”

    Finally, someone noticed.

  78. 78.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    @JPL: Outsourced to J. Michael Straczynski:

    The world we have carefully constructed for you is like one of those boardwalk games of chance where if you knock down the big pins with a baseball, you win a huge prize. But the pins are weighted and positioned so that you will never, ever knock them down. Yet you’ll keep paying anyway, and keep throwing, until you exhaust yourself and your wallet. And we like it that way.

    We don’t want you to have opportunities, we don’t want you to have an education, we don’t want you to have a voice in what happens to you, we don’t want you healthy, we don’t want you to do anything but be frightened, helpless, docile consumers who will eat and watch and buy what we tell you to eat and watch and buy while we keep all the good stuff to ourselves.

    Because you’re not in our club.

    Because we are the New Aristocracy.

    And you are the New Peasants.

    And we very, very, very much like it that way.

  79. 79.

    Violet

    July 1, 2014 at 9:08 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Metric system is used in all scientific work.

    Not on that Mars orbiter that got lost because they used English measurements.

  80. 80.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 1, 2014 at 9:10 pm

    @Violet: That was a mistake.

  81. 81.

    realbtl

    July 1, 2014 at 9:11 pm

    I’m on a motorcycle trip to BC. It’s not that much of a PITA to multiply all of the speed limits and distances by .6 plus a bit more but come on, why can’t the US get with the program?

  82. 82.

    JPL

    July 1, 2014 at 9:11 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: Well that makes me feel better. So we might be able to have marriage equality but not the other nice stuff.

    Last year or the year before, I think, The Economist wrote an article that said if you want to achieve the American dream, move.

  83. 83.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 1, 2014 at 9:12 pm

    @Violet: Not in mapping US caves either. Fortunately there are several programs that do the conversions quite easily.

  84. 84.

    Violet

    July 1, 2014 at 9:15 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: It certainly was. And it was done on an expensive engineering project by a scientists and engineers in an organization that should have known better.

  85. 85.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 9:15 pm

    @realbtl: Hey, my car averages 126 gills per furlong. I don’t see the problem here.

  86. 86.

    jeffreyw

    July 1, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    @mai naem: Thanks! He’s my favorite bug.

  87. 87.

    Suffern ACE

    July 1, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    I for one now favor funding any moderate Walloon separatist militia that John McCain can identify.

  88. 88.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 1, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    @JPL: Where did they advise you to move?

  89. 89.

    realbtl

    July 1, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    @efgoldman: Unfortunately my Suzuki Gladius has a digital speedo/odo. There is probably a way to change it but for a 3 day trip why bother.

  90. 90.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 1, 2014 at 9:17 pm

    @jeffreyw: What’s Homer up to these days?

  91. 91.

    trollhattan

    July 1, 2014 at 9:18 pm

    @efgoldman:
    “Ah’m goin’ a hunnert!” (i.e., 62)

    Washington State and IIRC Oregon sprouted metric+English highway signs in the ’70s, then they went away. During the first, no wait, second gas crisis stations didn’t have pumps that handled prices over a buck so for quite a while gas was sold in liters. That blew some hillbilly brains, I tells ya.

  92. 92.

    JPL

    July 1, 2014 at 9:19 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: At the time The Economist said France but that was a while ago. I’m sure that The Economist is now a liberal magazine.

  93. 93.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:20 pm

    @JPL: Yep. If I ever hit the lottery I’m claiming dual citizenship and leaving this godforsaken shitpile.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    July 1, 2014 at 9:21 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Yesterday was 105 and today, 91. I’m getting whiplash.

  95. 95.

    Baud

    July 1, 2014 at 9:21 pm

    If we start mucking around with our system of measurement, we’ll end up with one in which the Earth is 6000 years old. I’ll stick with what we’ve got, thank you very much.

  96. 96.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:22 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): That’s even more esoteric than how many stones in a slug. I tip my hat to you.

  97. 97.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:24 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Hold up-is that Imperial gills or US gills?

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 9:27 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: US and I mistated it. It is furlongs per gill, not gills per furlong.

    ETA: And that is highway furlongs.

  99. 99.

    Baud

    July 1, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    Bridgekeeper: Huh? I… I don’t know that.

    [he is thrown over]

    Bridgekeeper: Auuuuuuuugh.

  100. 100.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    @kindness: If you subscribe to Monty Python: it was either “The Sprouts” or “Fat greasy Belgian bastards.”

  101. 101.

    jeffreyw

    July 1, 2014 at 9:29 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Homer is trying to keep away from Toby. Serious bad blood, there.

  102. 102.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 1, 2014 at 9:30 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): What is a gill?

  103. 103.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:31 pm

    @Baud: I blame Wikipedia.

  104. 104.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:31 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: See #113.

  105. 105.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:32 pm

    @efgoldman: Totally correct, but totally useless.

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 9:32 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: A gill is 1/32 of a gallon. A furlong is an eighth of a mile.

  107. 107.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:35 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Omes quoted the US gill. The Imperial gill is 5 fl. oz.

  108. 108.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 9:44 pm

    @efgoldman: Since you have spawn, at least they can embarrass you in many unimaginable ways.

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 9:46 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: Is that anything like technically-true-but-collectively-nonsense? If so, I think efgoldman has a prima facie case against you for defamation.

  110. 110.

    Baud

    July 1, 2014 at 9:51 pm

    @efgoldman:

    You should bring some granite countertops as well.

    ETA: Damn your ETA.

  111. 111.

    Roger Moore

    July 1, 2014 at 9:51 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:
    But a stone is a measure of weight and a slug is a measure of mass. They don’t interconvert.

  112. 112.

    Origuy

    July 1, 2014 at 9:52 pm

    The UK has gone metric for the most part except for road distances. They are still in miles. It would cost a fortune to change all of those; imagine how much to change the ones in the US. Petrol is sold in litres, though. I don’t know, do car ads give the fuel consumption in litres per mile?

  113. 113.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 9:56 pm

    @efgoldman: Slug is also a rapper from Minneapolis.

  114. 114.

    Kropadope

    July 1, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    @efgoldman: Hey don’t hate on our counter-tops and pink salt!!!

  115. 115.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 10:00 pm

    @Roger Moore: For all practical purposes, weight = mass. It’s only if you’re being anal does it matter.

  116. 116.

    Howard Beale IV

    July 1, 2014 at 10:02 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): It isn’t over till its over, dude.

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 10:03 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: Since we are being pedantic about things for fum, I posit that the weight/mass difference does matter.

  118. 118.

    scav

    July 1, 2014 at 10:04 pm

    @Roger Moore: But this is the 21st century and even KY is loosening up all the archaic interconvert taboos. Slugs and stones are mainstream, if a little respectively bottom and top. I’m pretty sure slug beats paper, but the slime gums up the scissor’s mechanism into a tie.

  119. 119.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 10:05 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: Quoting Lenny Kravitz lyrics at me isn’t helping your case.

  120. 120.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 1, 2014 at 10:07 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: Physics fail.

  121. 121.

    Pogonip

    July 1, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    @Baud: No, no, no. The earth is six MILLION years old.

    In dog years.

  122. 122.

    Kropadope

    July 1, 2014 at 10:09 pm

    @efgoldman: Now you impugn my wit? That’s it, sabers shortly after dawn, provided you dispense with omnes.

  123. 123.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    July 1, 2014 at 10:11 pm

    @Mandalay:
    I spent a quarter of my long life in the United States Navy. Goddamn if the Navy ain’t tough. Goddamn if it ain’t fair.

  124. 124.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 10:11 pm

    @Kropadope: I wasn’t equating efg and McMegan. I was noting that HBIV may have been doing so.

    ETA: I know that such comparisons are fighting words much like “And so’s your momma.”

  125. 125.

    Kropadope

    July 1, 2014 at 10:13 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Well, eff them too. I’ll take you all on!!!!

  126. 126.

    gogol's wife

    July 1, 2014 at 10:13 pm

    We just watched the Combat! episode “The Duel.” Sgt. Saunders held off a German tank for 50 minutes while Bobby Rydell tried to change a tire but ended up under the truck. It was cool. And so to bed.

  127. 127.

    Kropadope

    July 1, 2014 at 10:15 pm

    @efgoldman: I did until the Supreme Court told me it was unconstitutional.

  128. 128.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 1, 2014 at 10:15 pm

    I got the DVDs for the first season of Homeland, has anyone watched it? Is it worth watching?

  129. 129.

    Citizen_X

    July 1, 2014 at 10:24 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Physics fail

    Oh yeah? Then why does every lab on Earth use a scale to measure mass?

    (Off Earth, OTOH: do they have some kind of inertial-mass-measuring thing on the ISS?)

  130. 130.

    schrodinger's cat

    July 1, 2014 at 10:31 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    Oh yeah? Then why does every lab on Earth use a scale to measure mass?

    (

    I don’t understand your question.
    Mass = amount of matter in an object
    Weight = mass* gravitational acceleration
    You have the same mass on earth as you do on the moon but on the moon you weigh about one sixth as much as you do on the earth.

  131. 131.

    Roger Moore

    July 1, 2014 at 10:33 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    It’s only if you’re being anal does it matter.

    Dude, I’m an analytical chemist; I’m anal for a living.

  132. 132.

    catclub

    July 1, 2014 at 10:35 pm

    @Citizen_X: Because the scale was made assuming the gravity (g) on earth.
    Put em on the moon and they will give wrong mass.

    also, an equal arm scale will measure mass. A spring scale measures weight, and converts.

  133. 133.

    Eric U.

    July 1, 2014 at 10:36 pm

    most of us that understand the distinction between mass and weight also understand why the two are indistinguishable (within a proportionality constant). That is, those of us that live a strictly terrestrial life.

  134. 134.

    Roger Moore

    July 1, 2014 at 10:44 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    Then why does every lab on Earth use a scale to measure mass?

    Many don’t; actual mechanical balances are still quite common. Even labs that use scales calibrate them on-site against known masses rather than depending on uniformity of the earth’s gravity. “Electronic balances”- basically scales that use strain gauges rather than spring force- usually have several built-in masses to use as part of an automatic calibration routine.

  135. 135.

    Roger Moore

    July 1, 2014 at 10:53 pm

    @Eric U.:

    That is, those of us that live a strictly terrestrial life.

    And don’t care about extremely precise measurement. Acceleration due to gravity varies by as much as 0.6% between major cities, so anyone who needs to measure stuff to better than one part in 200 (and who needs those results to be globally accurate) will need to worry about the difference between weight and mass.

  136. 136.

    chopper

    July 1, 2014 at 11:00 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    For all practical purposes, weight = mass. It’s only if you’re being anal does it matter.

    it’s true. butt plugs are one of the few things on earth whose weight and mass differ. it’s almost magical.

  137. 137.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 11:04 pm

    @chopper: Being, not doing.

  138. 138.

    chopper

    July 1, 2014 at 11:05 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I don’t think most people give a shit about that level of precision.

  139. 139.

    KS in MA

    July 1, 2014 at 11:05 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Thank you.

  140. 140.

    chopper

    July 1, 2014 at 11:10 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    To be is to do. To do is to be.

  141. 141.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 11:11 pm

    @chopper: Many very organized but prudish people would take issue with that.

  142. 142.

    Ruckus

    July 1, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    Used to get this argument when weighing race bikes. Told them, I don’t care what your bike weighs in your shop, on the moon, at 10,000 ft or Death Valley, your bike needs to weigh x, here, today, as shown on the official scale.

  143. 143.

    Roger Moore

    July 1, 2014 at 11:17 pm

    @chopper:

    I don’t think most people give a shit about that level of precision.

    Depends on what they’re measuring. I bet a lot of people care deeply about a 1 part in 200 change when the thing being measured is their body weight.

  144. 144.

    Scamp Dog

    July 1, 2014 at 11:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): in Denver, the east-west streets are numbered, and there are 8 streets (avenues if you want to be fussy) per mile. So the furlong lives on! It’s just that most of us don’t recognize its presence.

  145. 145.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    July 1, 2014 at 11:39 pm

    @Scamp Dog: I am old enough that I remember the 220 as a race distance.

    ETA: Not my best event. I could never get a good start out of the blocks. Eventually, I found I was an 800 or 880 guy.

  146. 146.

    gian

    July 2, 2014 at 12:00 am

    @Pogonip:

    the sun is in the east even though the day is done

    two suns in the sunset. maybe the human race is run

    – Roger Waters

  147. 147.

    WaterGirl

    July 2, 2014 at 12:43 am

    @JPL: I know it’s hours later and it’s likely that you won’t see my reply. The outcome of Bush v. Gore was a real eye-opener for me. I was shocked by the naked partisanship of the decision and it rocked my faith in the supreme court.

    Today’s ruling was a shock as well, even though I now know how partisan they are. This ruling feels very personal to me. Mistermix was right when he said: “The Supremes just put a hand-embossed “fuck you” into the mail to over half of the population.”

    It’s hard to be treated with such disregard, and I’m angry and I’m sad and I feel terribly discouraged.

    Perhaps a story will illustrate how I’m feeling. My best friend is a guy, and we have been close friends since 1975. HIs wife is jealous about how long we’ve known each other, and quite often she is not particularly nice to me. But I make the effort because he’s my friend and it’s the right thing to do, and he hates conflict. Last summer we had talked about all of us getting together before she left for France for a couple of months. I was trying to figure out which night might work, and she sighed this big sigh and said “I don’t even have time to do the things I want to do“. I know I’ve never been her favorite person, but that was shocking, even coming from her. She had no idea what she had just said or how awful a thing that was to say.

    That’s how I feel about this decision by the supreme court. They have no idea that they just told us exactly what they think of us, and they have no idea what an awful thing they have just done. I have not been oblivious to the war on women, but this feels personal.

    So no, I would have to say that you’re not the only one.

  148. 148.

    Maxwel

    July 2, 2014 at 1:37 am

    @The Dangerman:

    Did you hear thousands died in IRAQ!

  149. 149.

    bago

    July 2, 2014 at 2:01 am

    @Maxwel: In my brother’s hands, bleeding out in the desert? More than a few.

    Yeah. We did that.

  150. 150.

    Ruckus

    July 2, 2014 at 2:04 am

    @WaterGirl:
    This may make this harder to take but I think the USSC men do know, they just don’t give a damn. They have zero respect for half the world’s population. It stuns me that they have absolutely zero. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, they are the assholes you think they are. But it still does.
    If I did my job even one tenth as bad as they do theirs, I’d be fired and with good reason. That we practically can not fire them is bad. But we should tell each of our reps/senators that they need to be fired. Yes I know the term is impeached but fired gets the idea across better.

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