I’m up in Alabama visiting my old granny, who is out of the hospital and doing better. Heading back home tomorrow, and I’ll swing by and visit my other old grandma on the way home, maybe take her out to lunch or something.
What are y’all doing to wrap up the holiday weekend? Is anything interesting or appalling happening in the world? I haven’t seen any news whatsoever since Friday. Please feel free to discuss whatever.
Dog On Porch
It would be cooler if the sign was abbreviated to read: ‘Bama State Line.
PaulW
Just remember to hurry back to Florida in time to get your vote in for Crist. STOP RICK “MEDICARE FRAUD” SCOTT!
Tommy
@Dog On Porch: That is pretty darn funny.
Suffern ACE
Steam cleaning the kitty litter box. I lead the best life.
lamh36
So Rick Perry’s VERIFIED twitter account tweeted a meme pick about the Dem DA lady he tried to get to resign.
It was pretty juvenile and re-tweeted alot.
Welp, Perry deleted the tweet and tweeted this:
If you want to see the original tweet, here it is.
https://twitter.com/Green_Footballs/status/506259920250216448
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Well, at least I’m not cleaning a litter box. Porch repair – replacing the lattice on the sides, pulling off some of the aluminum some Tin Man sold one of the previous owners, heat-gunning the flaking paint, repainting the original wood. In truth, I should write a check and get a new porch built, but there’s that whole “writing a check” issue.
Yatsuno
Eating ribs. Tomorrow is laundry & packing. Tuesday I’m in Fresno for another three weeks.
srv
@Yatsuno: enjoy the almonds
NotMax
@Yatsuno
Yeah, any Tuesday in Fresno is the equivalent of three weeks.
Bob
“I haven’t seen any news whatsoever since Friday.”
No one has.
Bill E Pilgrim
Brummie gits.
Oh wait that one, right. Sorry.
Jay C
@lamh36:
So what’s the supposed story here? Governor Goodhair left his cellphone on the table when he went to take a leak, and one of his asshole aides just happened to pick it up and unauthorizedly tweeted stupid insulting BS??
And this is the guy Texans preferred over Kinky Friedman??
Ella in NM
Speaking of Governors, my 23-yr old had a “Brush with Greatness” with our own illustrious governor Susana Martinez today at the Lowes where he works part-time. She was buying stuff with a couple of her assistants following her around when my son’ a coworker got all excited and gushed “Im
TaMara (BHF)
After two days of a constant stream of emails from OFA, DNC and President Obama, Joe Biden, et al, I’ve had it and unsubscribed from all of them. Do they really think they are doing themselves a favor with 5 emails a day? If I did or didn’t donate after the first email, do they really think 4 more (x 3 different organizations) are going to persuade me?
Also, too, get off my fucking lawn. /rant
Botsplainer
After initial whining, I’ve fallen in love with the Netflix serialization of From Dusk Till Dawn, filling in all the backstories while coursing through the tale. There are some changes, and everything is a lot more directed and less random, but the thing is solid and modernized.
Robert Rodriguez is heavily involved.
Botsplainer
Oh, nice – a Big Kahuna Burger shout out.
Ella in NM
helping the Governor!!!!!!” My kid looked right at her and blurted out “the Governor? BFD!!” He said she gave him “the I smell poop” face. So proud of that one. :-)
Ella in NM
Sorry about the split comment. Stupid Droid interface sucks.
Howard Beale IV
I plan on digitizing my entire Environments LP collection, do some clean-up using Audition, and burning multiple backup copies in addition to FLACing ’em.
FlyingToaster
@TaMara (BHF): I ended up chewing out both OFA volunteers and the Watertown for Warren and Watertown for Markey local coordinators in 2012 and 2013.
Look, I’m a reliable D voter, haven’t missed an even year election since 1980, haven’t missed a primary since ’92. Calling ME every day and flyering my door 3x in one day is a waste of money, time, and is just plain STUPID. Also, I know Watertown is small, but putting your coordinator in Newton is really not appropriate. For either Watertown or Newton.
Call someone who doesn’t always show up to vote; call them once a week, flyer them twice a week, and move on to the next not-so-often voter already. Quit spending money on trying to get the votes you’ve already got.
This year has been significantly less crazy; I’ve hung up on the robocalls, I’ve picked my candidates now (last week I was still reading position papers and voting histories), and I can take my week of getting WarriorGirl started in first grade before the primary on the 9th.
Jewish Steel
We had a whole lotta Morzer for a hot minute there. Where he go?
Southern Beale
We just got back from traveling all week. I took my customary photo of cryptic graffiti.
No clue what it means but I suspect Sisyphus is involved.
El Caganer
@Jay C: And Kinky did really have the best slogan for one of his campaigns, “How hard can it be?” Given the type of goobers that haunt the halls of power in Austin, the answer would seem to be “Not very.”
El Caganer
@TaMara (BHF): Yeah, I don’t get it. I’m not a Democrat and I don’t send them money, so I have no idea why they’re pumping out gazillions of emails a day to me. At least in this modern age, they’re not wasting the cost of postage, so I guess there’s that.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@TaMara (BHF): want Bixby news; kthxbai
SiubhanDuinne
@TaMara (BHF):
I just counted through my inbox. Since yesterday morning alone I have had 27 money-begging emails from POTUS, FLOTUS, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter campaigns, Bold Progressives, OFA, DNC, DCCC, etc. etc. and so forth — and I expect another two or three before midnight. I suppose this approach must give them an effective ROI, but they are turning me right off.
Belafon
@lamh36: From someone on Twitter: When @GovernorPerry blocked me on Twitter, his staff insisted he runs that account himself.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
Only place I ever paid a deposit to take my shopping cart out of the store to the parking lot: Fresno.
Jewish Steel
@efgoldman: They don’t have the internet there?
Southern Beale
@trollhattan:
You’re kidding me.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@TaMara (BHF): I take it you haven’t also donated to the “Red to Blue” collection of 28 House candidates, have you?
;-)
Yeah, the e-mails are a little annoying. They’re a little fun too, I think. “What horror story is it now??”
I understand why they do it – it costs them almost nothing to send another e-mail and apparently someone at one time responded. I don’t mind it – I simply delete them without reading them unless I’ve already decided I’m ready to donate.
What burns me up is their insistence on having a phone number. I’ve told everyone who will listen that we do not like getting phone calls at home. We do not give to phone solicitors – if you want something, put the pitch in an e-mail or USPS. But, they call anyway. So, rather than asking, yet again, to be taken off their calling list, I’ve taken to hitting the “Talk” button, waiting 2 seconds then hanging up.
I’m sure it’s frustrating for the campaigns not to be able to talk to donors like me, but badgering people who have tried to make their wishes clear doesn’t help their cause. I give what I can when I can. Them talking to me isn’t going to change that.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who wonders what new “innovation” they’ll come up with for the 2016 cycle…)
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Jewish Steel: Wasn’t Morzer moving to Korea? Which is kinda like Fresno except farther away.
trollhattan
@Southern Beale:
I wish. At least I never had to live there.
Violet
@lamh36: Went to check out Rick Perry’s Twitter feed because of your post in the previous thread. Saw the new updated “Someone else is responsible” tweet. But underneath that is this one:
Heck of a job. Too bad the guy’s name isn’t Brownie.
El Caganer
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Plus, for some reason they all speak Korean there.
Yatsuno
@trollhattan: If I wanted that could be a very real possibility. I’ve qualified for several open positions down there but after visiting the place twice now going with Hell and No. I’d rather try Ogden first.
@El Caganer: I will say this: Fresno is the only place so far where I’ve found a drive-thru sushi stand. Seattle I am disappoint.
Lolis
@Yatsuno:
I was born near there. I miss the Thai and Mexican food. Plaza Ventana has the best tostadas.
Jay C
@El Caganer:
I still have some T-shirts from Kinky’s 2006 campaign – and every time I wear them, I wonder if The Kinkster regrets finding out the answer to his question…..
Jewish Steel
@efgoldman: Ah, I think you mean that for TaMara or SiubhanDuinne?
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I agree. North or South?
Yatsuno
@Lolis: I’ll have a rental car plus per diem. I might actually do some more exploring over last time.
NotMax
So have now seen three cars with a large sticker saying “America Bless God.”
No idea what they are trying to convey.
@trollhattan
And then you had to take it all the way back to recover the deposit?
Chester A. Riley put it best: “What a revoltin’ development this is!”
Southern Beale
So if I suck a giant-big-as-a-mouse spider up with the vacuum cleaner, can it escape? Asking for a friend.
PsiFighter37
9 days until I move apartments, 13 days until I get married. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to stepping on a plane the Monday after the wedding and leaving everything behind for 3 weeks.
srv
Obama destroys The Mall
It gets worser. He not sure that’s because of lead, sex ed or pornography.
Lamestream Media: No Editors In Our Base!
Chickamin Slam
A friend of mine went to school in Birmingham. He was a semester or something away from completing a degree. The Alabama Slammers played a season of hockey in nearby Pelham. I picked up a jersey of theirs. We still see hockey games … just not in Alabama.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Chickamin Slam: 33 days until the Gophers take the ice against Penn State.
TaMara (BHF)
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Bixby went to a neighborhood get together yesterday and was a perfect gentleman. He let kids push and pull on him, teaching him to “sit”. He played tug and chase and never got too rough. Was respectful to both dogs and cats.
And my favorite thing he does pretty consistently, when he sees someone new, he goes about halfway to them and then sits, waiting until they ask him over or approach him. I had nothing to do with that, except for praising him profusely the first time he did it.
I was pleased, proud and surprised, because he was a total hellion the whole morning with me and I was afraid it would continue at the event. Chased my cats, used my arm as a chew stick (when he knows better), raced around the house and flipped his full bowl of water over, got into about everything he wasn’t suppose to…
Love him to pieces. And his ears grew noticeably this week. Everyone commented on it. He just woke up one morning with full grown Dane ears that he is now going to have to work to grow into. A. Dor. Able.
SiubhanDuinne
@Southern Beale:
Here is a double dactyl about it.
Grivelly gravelly,
Jesus and Sisyphus
Bartered a boulder
Which Son-of-God owned.
Stone on the third day
Was rolled from the tomb door:
Sisyphus labored
While Jesus was stoned.
max
@SiubhanDuinne: Since yesterday morning alone I have had 27 money-begging emails from POTUS, FLOTUS, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter campaigns, Bold Progressives, OFA, DNC, DCCC, etc. etc. and so forth — and I expect another two or three before midnight.
{pauses} ONLY 27? You lucky dog.
The sick part is I gave them some money, but the DCCC acknowledged I gave them money, sent me a link for a sticker, and then went back to insisting I hadn’t given them any money.
max
[‘Jerks.’]
CaseyL
I’m “auditioning” for a job by doing a mock report. It’s a gorgeous report, with formatting and tables and embedded photos. I’m real proud of it, but I had conflicting info on what they wanted – a real report or a summary? – so I did both. I think that comes under the heading of “trying too hard.”
If the potential boss looks at either/both and says “Nice looking, but not what I wanted; sorry,” I may cry.
The Very Revered Crimson Fire of Compassion
@SiubhanDuinne: Awesome! I’ve been in love with double dactyls since reading “The Face In The Frost” as a teen.
TaMara (BHF)
@CaseyL: Sending good thoughts your way. Good luck!
SiubhanDuinne
@The Very Revered Crimson Fire of Compassion:
I love them too. Also, clerihews.
trollhattan
@NotMax:
Yup, it wasn’t an especially elegant system, but s’pose it kept moar carts in their possession. Come to think of it, “Hey, my time is worth something here, Guess I just bought myself a shopping cart!”
Marilynd..so
I’m getting a bunch of begging emails as well. It’s the end of the month, and everyone is trying to reach their fund raising goals Hopefully it will fade tomorrow. Meanwhile the Koch Bros are dumping a shit-ton of money into a cable ad campaign against Merkley. Monica Wehby is a wanna-Michele Bachman….far-away eyes and all. She’s a man-stalker and pediatric brain surgeon. She’s got no chance of winning, as Merkley is very popular. Guess I just have to smile and bear it, knowing the evil Bros are wasting money again!
Steeplejack (phone)
The Blue Dahlia just starting on TCM.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@efgoldman: That’s actually a fairly standard ‘M’ around here, though the cause may be the University using it for more than a century and a half and other places in the area adopting it from them.
StringOnAStick
@Southern Beale: Our old vacuum cleaner has become the de facto bug repository, spiders and Box Elder bugs mostly (one friend calls them “pumpkin bugs” since they seem to coincide with Halloween). I’ve never seen anything get back out again, but it probably depends on the model and if you keep it on long enough to entangle said bug in all the other crap in the bag or die from the heat generated by the vacuum. I wonder if a ride in that “cyclone chamber” on a Dyson would be entertaining?
By the way, I love that bit of graffiti; perfect.
The Very Revered Crimson Fire of Compassion
@SiubhanDuinne: Like this?
Our host, John Cole
Repents his unfortunate role
In conservatism, with this excuse
At least he provides us Balloon-juice
StringOnAStick
My husband bought me a smart phone a few months ago, thinking that I could keep better track of my email that way. Thanks to all the political spam, I never even try to use my smart phone to read email.
When I open my email program, I just run down the list, checking everything that isn’t from a friend for the delete button, so the excessive spamming has made me LESS likely to read what they are sending me. I’ve also gotten to the point where I am suspicious that every petition request I receive is just an email harvesting scam that will never be delivered, and I no longer sign ones with multiple sponsors because next you’ll be getting begging emails from each one of them. Oh sure, I’ll go on a jag and send unsubscribes to a bunch, but the remaining ones seem to be selling my email address. So, so NOT a way to win friends amongst your potential supporters….
Jewish Steel
@The Very Revered Crimson Fire of Compassion: Bravo!
Viva BrisVegas
Beautiful spring day here, currently 73F. Expecting 81 tomorrow.
For those that got into the conflict early, today is the 75th anniversary of the start of WW2.
PurpleGirl
@Howard Beale IV: I know the thread is probably dead…. but would you consider burning a copy for someone. I love the Environments LPs and would pay for CDs of them.
BillinGlendaleCA
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Yes, I assume Morzer’s in the process of moving. I’ve been to both Fresno and Seoul, they are quite different. First of all, as noted above in comments, they have audacity of speaking their own language. They have palaces in Seoul; if Fresno has any palaces, I missed em. Seoul has hills, Fresno is quite flat. Seoul has wonderful Korean food and drink; Fresno, not so much. Finally, Seoul has hot Korean women; Fresno, again, not so much. Other than that, they’re exactly alike.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Viva BrisVegas: Ah, good old Gleiwitz.
Porlock Junior
@efgoldman:
Which provides a rare opportunity to say something nice about Ronald Reagan.
After he was shot, while he was intubated in the hospital emergency room, he wrote a note quoting this. I’ve always thought that was pretty classy. Although rather a sad tribute to the vocation that he had so tragically abandoned in his mid-life crisis.
Porlock Junior
@TaMara (BHF):
No shit.
Actually, I have pretty much every non-troglodyte politician in the country on my spam filter (those others mostly don’t try to raise money from me). With one or two exceptions; e.g., Elizabeth Warren, of course.
Joel Hanes
Time spent visiting one’s grandparents is time well spent.
mai naem mobile
We had dems come to our house in 10 and 12 . Both times I told them please dont waste your time coming to this house. Not only would my niece who was working on the Obama campaign ripped us a new one if we hadnt voted, but we always always vote in the “bigger” elections. What I admit not voting in is in primaries where I dont have a dog in the race(AZ is not known for scintillating Dem primaries) and the school bond kind of
Stuff. I do the mayoral, city council, state and national elections. The Dem volunteers still kept on coming.Pissed me off because it was a waste of resources.
Chris T.
@srv: Apparently whoever wrote that has not been to the malls in San Jose. I stopped by the “Great Mall of the Bay Area” not too long ago and it was incredibly crowded, with a wide variety of people (lots of kids, families with kids, etc).
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Chris T.: srv is a weird trollish person. Sometimes interesting, and sometimes just being an ass. One has to figure out which.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Chris T.: The wife and I had difficulty navigating though both the Glendale Galleria and American at Brand(two local malls) on our walk tonight. Lots of families and young people.
Bonnie
You are lucky to have two grandmothers.
Steeplejack
Desert rat Steep checking in. Got up to 104° here today in Henderson (southeastern suburb of Las Vegas), but I wasn’t out in it until about 6:00 p.m. (But it’s still 93° at 11:20 p.m.) Ate at a pretty good low-down Mexican place called El Torito—the basics done all right, good margaritas. But the search will continue.
The sighthounds have welcomed me as their new hu-mon overlord. The old whippet sort of remembers me from previous visits. The recently retired from racing greyhound has warmed up to me now that he thinks the serial-killer threat has abated and, purely coincidentally, he sees that I am the one dispensing the food. The greyhound sleeps on a dog bed beside the human bed in the master bedroom. The whippet sleeps on the human bed with me and wakes me up like clockwork in the middle of the night to be let under the comforter. Can’t start out under the comforter—that’s crazy talk—but absolutely must go under the comforter at some precise point in the middle of the night. At least she doesn’t want to press up against me and raise my body temp 20 degrees.
Just realized today that my brother’s 20-year-old house must be built fairly well, and built for the climate, because I don’t hear the air conditioning come on very often, and when it does it is whisper quiet. All the windows have adjustable wooden shutters, and most of the rooms have high ceilings with fans. Easy to adjust things to let in ample light without a lot of heat. There is a “swamp cooler” system that gets used a lot, but I received only the remedial facilities-management course when I came out here, so I was told not to screw with it and just leave the air conditioner on. I wonder what his electricity bill is.
After being here a week I am starting to get into something like a regular schedule, which is helping with my still wildly variable sleep patterns. And everything still feels slightly weird because of the time difference with Eastern time—football games starting at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., etc. Not to mention the circadian rhythms of Balloon Juice threads.
I thought of Balloon Juice the other day, and Little Boots in particular, when my mother and I went to the buffet at one of the casinos and what should be playing on the Muzak but “Dancing in the Moonlight.” Heh.
Betty Cracker
@Steeplejack: Laughing about the migratory whippet.
Tommy
@Steeplejack: I can’t beat 104. Just 97 with 89 percent humidity. But I can’t bitch. We’ve had a very mild summer. Days where it could be in the high 90s. Or 100. It was actually in the 70s.
Origuy
Resting up and recovering after two days of the Pleasanton Highland Games. I said before I’d be dancing on the Scottish Country Dance stage. We did quite well, I must say. Here’s the video.
ETA I’m the one with the braid.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: Since you’re here:
A brief intro to scanners.
There are two main types of scanners: reflective and transparency. The reflective is most common, found on printers, faxes, etc. It has a white back on the cover and uses light at the base of the scanner to provide light to the item being scanned for the scanner mechanism also in the base of the scanner. This type of scanner can be used to scan documents and photos. It CAN NOT scan film, slides or transparencies. The transparency doesn’t reflect light off the object being scanned, it shines a light THROUGH the item being scanned. Film scanners have a light in the bottom like the reflective scanner, but the scanning mechanism tracks over the item being scanned. Film scanners are generally more(sometimes much more expensive) and may be limited what may be scanned(say only 35mm sized film/slides). A scanner like my Epson(similar scanners are made by Canon, HP, and Nikon I believe) are reflective scanners; but the white area of the cover is removable to reveal a light in the scanner lid. The light shines down from the scanner lid through the item being scanned and is then scanned by the scanner mechanism in the base. These scanners will scan photos, film and slides.
Things to look at in a scanner:
Resolution: More is better. If you’re just scanning photos, 1200dpi to 2400dpi(dots per inch) is sufficient. If you’re scanning film or slides, higher resolution is necessary since the starting size is much smaller.
Dmax: The darkest area that can be scanned and still reveal detail, the higher the better.
Size of the media: Some film scanners will only scan a certain size or smaller of film. So if slides are 35mm and some are 120; a 35mm scanner won’t do the 120 sized slides(it will scan smaller sizes such as 110).
Tommy
@Origuy: Wonderful video. Wish I was there with you.
BTW: Check your Yahoo account. Your email arrived.
aliasofwestgate
@Botsplainer: Yeah, RR called the series the novel to the movie’s short story. He’s relishing being able to really tell this story in a much better way than the movie. Which i was amused by in 1996 but it wasn’t my favorite. This format really helped it by a long shot. Better, stronger story, and the new cast pretty much blew it outta the water once things really kicked in.
I’ll tell you this much. This is just the set up! They should be filming s2 come fall, and it will air in spring of 2015. :D 13 episodes to work with, instead of 10.
Origuy
@Tommy: Glad you liked it. Sorry, I don’t see anything in my Yahoo inbox except the usual spam.
Tommy
@Origuy: Well try my primary email. tommy @ webranding dot org.
cckids
@Steeplejack:
Welcome to my world! This is actually kind of cooled down for August/Sept, BTW.
If you’re still looking for good Mexican here in Henderson, try this place. We like it.
Also, we just tried Bachi Burger last night. YUM. Cannot say that loudly enough. YUM.
Link: http://www.bachiburger.com/
dianne
When you are done with that, give “The Killing” a try. It’s one of the best series I’ve ever seen. We are plowing through “Damages” now but about ready to try something else. I’ll give it a look.
Wally Ballou
Getting into a seasonably melancholy mood with Willie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkB_d0oFAaM
BillinGlendaleCA
@cckids: Hmmm, burgers with an asian influence. The wife and my favorite here in LA is Habit Burger, also YUM.
http://www.habitburger.com/
BobS
Was the picture taken before or after the Russian armored column drove by, was or wasn’t destroyed, but remained unphotographed due to the invisibility paint?
R-Jud
@Bill E Pilgrim: OI! Watch it, mate.
Seriously, though, my daughter’s started to sound well Brummie: “Can we have roice with dinner?” I’m thinking we need to move before she’s seven and it’s baked in.
raven
It’s cruel to have so many games on Saturday and nothing during the day Sunday and Monday!
SiubhanDuinne
@The Very Revered Crimson Fire of Compassion:
Wonderful!!
Steeplejack
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Thanks for the info. I will add it to my notes from the previous thread. Although I think my mother may have a trove of slides around somewhere, at this point I think I am going to get a cheap (but good) reflective scanner and concentrate on the photographs. She has put together two thick albums, and I know there are a lot of other photos in boxes. Will do what I can and scope things out for future trips.
Steeplejack
@cckids:
Thanks for the recommendations. Lindo Michoacán is on the short list I put together from Google and Yelp. Others are Jalisco Cantina, Coyote’s Café, Don Tortaco and El Herradero.
And I will definitely check out Bachi Burger, too.
Paul in KY
@lamh36: I guess his wife’s been drinking again…
Paul in KY
@SiubhanDuinne: When I send anyone money, I just put ‘work only’ on the email line.
Paul in KY
@Southern Beale: For your sake, I hope not.
Paul in KY
@R-Jud: Crikey!