Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let there be snark.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

A consequence of cucumbers

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

T R E 4 5 O N

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Republicans don’t trust women.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open thread

Reader Interactions

184Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.

    Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.

    — Marx

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    Virginia: jury’s deliberating in the corruption trial of our former governor, Transvaginal Bob, and his psycho wife.

    Seven men on that jury; I am concerned we will see an acquittal.

    Virginia’s ethics laws are ridiculous. I don’t think politicians — in a state house or in the US Congress — should be able to make their own ethics laws. I think a citizen’s commission should do so.

    Wish we could get rid of the Senate’s horrible traditions, where one Senator can hold off the will of a great majority. They’re public servants. Make them more accountable to the public.

    Anyhoo: Balloon Juice guesses on how the jury will decide in the McDonnell trial?

  6. 6.

    Karen in GA

    @Elizabelle:

    Balloon Juice guesses on how the jury will decide in the McDonnell trial?

    No. Because that means thinking about reasons why he’d be convicted vs. reasons he’d be acquitted, and then I’d get depressed.

  7. 7.

    srv

    Where are John’s nude mopping pics?

    The Bieber (is that like The Ukraine?) arrested again!

    And I blame Obama:

    (Reuters) – A 51-year-old man decapitated himself in New York’s Bronx borough by chaining his neck to a pole, getting into his car and stomping on the gas, police said on Tuesday.

    A Texas mother is upset after her 5-year-old son, a Navajo Nation citizen, was sent home on his first day of kindergarten because of his long hair.

    The Seminole Independent School District said it was following procedure when Malachi Wilson was sent home on his first day at F.J. Young Elementary, a local CBS affiliate reported. His mother, April, said it’s against their religion to cut his hair.

    “Our hair is sacred to us, it makes us part of who we are,” she told the station.

  11. 11.

    jacy

    Sitting at the oncologist’s office, waiting to go in , so i am typing on my tiny little phone screen and realizing i am apparently too old to do so without grumbling under my breath about the kids on my lawn. Also too, husband was just complaining that i said something cryptically mean about the brainless whore he slept with on the social media. Which i guess i did, but very cryptically.

  12. 12.

    Hungry Joe

    That quote (“If you don’t have anything nice to say…”) is also — and usually — attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Teddy’s daughter. Dorothy Parker came up with any number of great lines, but this wasn’t one of them. It’s plenty snarky, but it doesn’t quite sound like her.

    Longworth Roosevelt, BTW, may not have originated, but only popularized the line.

  15. 15.

    Amir Khalid

    At my local cineplex there is playing The Expendables 3, starring and produced by Sly Stallone, and a cheap knockoff titled Mercenaries and starring Sly’s ex-wife Brigitte Nielsen; Vivica Fox from Independence Day; Kristanna Loken from Terminator 3; Cynthia Rothrock, an American actress who did some Hong Kong action movies back in the 1990s; and Zoe Bell, who was Lucy Lawless’ stunt double on Xena: Warrior Princess. The poster for the latter exudes pure direct-to-DVD schlockitude. How this movie got to a big screen anywhere just baffles me.

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @jacy: If I was on the jury that was trying you for slapping your husband upside the head, I’d vote “not guilty” and give you a free pass for any future slaps upside the head.

  17. 17.

    Steeplejack

    Sitting here at the brother’s house, mildly uncomfortable because the cleaning crew is here and I’m trying to stay out of their way and simultaneously not feel vaguely embarrassed that someone else is doing the cleaning. First World problem, for sure. And of course earlier this morning I went through the whole “Got to tidy up before the cleaners get here!” thing. WTF.

    Discovered yesterday that the recently retired greyhound still has food-insecurity issues. I found a torn-up plastic bag in the front room, which led to the further discovery that he had swiped two-thirds of a loaf of bread off the kitchen counter and snarfed it down. And of course when confronted he gave me the “Moi?” look. At least I didn’t find thrown-up bread anywhere.

    Now it’s almost noon, and the whippet, who apparently is connected to the atomic clock in Boulder, CO, is giving me the hypnotic “It’s lunchtime!” gaze.

  18. 18.

    Nancy Williams

    Actually it was Alice Roosevelt Longworth who said “if you haven’t anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.” People/women have made needlepoint pillows with the quote for years.

  20. 20.

    Karen in GA

    @srv:

    A 51-year-old man decapitated himself in New York’s Bronx borough by chaining his neck to a pole, getting into his car and stomping on the gas, police said on Tuesday.

    Tragic, yet weirdly impressive.

  22. 22.

    beth

    Just saw a Wounded Warriors commercial with James Gandolfini. Isn’t it a bit creepy to have dead people doing commercials or am I too sensitive?

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    If you don’t have anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.

    Ahhh finally, a place where I fit in.

  26. 26.

    Woodrowfan

    I live in Va, I expect he’ll walk and his wife will be convicted. I’d send them both to the pokey…

  33. 33.

    Amir Khalid

    @Elizabelle:
    Would it make sense to convict only her? From what was reported, it’s pretty clear that he too benefited from what was given to her.

  34. 34.

    jl

    @Nancy Williams: That’s what I thought, Alice Longworth Roosevelt.

    But Parker had some good ones that deserve regular exposure on this blog

    “You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.”
    ” Salary is no object: I want only enough to keep body and soul apart.”

  36. 36.

    Karen in GA

    @BGinCHI: Wouldn’t saying “fuck you” to his family be more effective if he killed them before/instead of himself? Or killed himself, say, at a loved one’s workplace? Or somewhere that makes them find him and have to live with the knowledge that he died right there.

    I wonder if it might say drugged or undergoing a full psychotic break. Who beheads himself? (Why, it’s just not done!)

  37. 37.

    gvg

    @Steeplejack: Watch out for the plastic bag. If any of it is missing the dog may have eaten it on it’s way to the bread which can cause intestinal blockage (potential needing surgery if unlucky) or diareah yuck. We just had that happen and had a week of messes to clean up. Elderly rescue getting senile and reverting to past.

  41. 41.

    Steeplejack

    @gvg:

    Forensic reconstruction showed no substantial pieces of bag missing. I am aware of all rescue dog traditions.

  44. 44.

    Karen in GA

    @BGinCHI: Yeah, sorry about that. And that wasn’t even the first draft of my comment. I found myself going in all sorts of hideous directions, then deleted most of it. Quite the imagination I have.

  47. 47.

    Tenar Darell

    @beth: The J’Adore Dior commercial with Marilyn, Audrey Hepburn and Charlize Theron freaks me out, every time. But the worst was the one with Fred Astaire dancing, I think with a vacuum cleaner. I despised that. Made me want to go out and buy anyone else’s product as revenge.

  48. 48.

    El Caganer

    @Tommy: Perhaps IL is aspiring to do for states what Philly used to do for cities. Per Lincoln Steffens in 1903: “All our municipal governments are more or less bad. Philadelphia is simply the most corrupt and the most contented.”

  51. 51.

    El Caganer

    @Amir Khalid: Which bad guy? I don’t recall there being a whole lot of good guys over there on either side. A lot of victims, though, like pretty much the entire population of Ukraine.

  52. 52.

    Redshift

    @Woodrowfan: I thought his entire defense was BS, and I got the jury agrees, but considering how lax our laws are, I’m not sure if he can be convicted. I’m holding out hope for the fraud charge, which hasn’t gotten much publicity. Basically, they say they thought the monetary “gifts” from Williams were loans, but they didn’t list these sizeable loans on their mortgage application. So either they’re lying about the loans (which as a coverup strengthens the corruption charges) or they lied on their mortgage application, which is fraud.

  54. 54.

    PurpleGirl

    @srv: Re: the man decapitating himself

    I have one question: did he have any children?

    If he did, sorry no Darwin Award for you because you already passed on your stupid genes. The point of trying to win a Darwin is to take your genes out of the gene pool.

  55. 55.

    Cervantes

    @Nancy Williams:

    Actually it was Alice Roosevelt Longworth who said “if you haven’t anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.” People/women have made needlepoint pillows with the quote for years.

    Not only was ARL famous for the aphorism, someone gave her a throw pillow embroidered with it, which she kept for years on the couch in her parlor upstairs.

    I’m pretty sure that photographs of the pillow can be found on line.

  58. 58.

    cckids

    @BGinCHI:

    Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.

    Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.

    – Marx

    Pretty sure this is from Mark Twain, originally.

    At least, that is what my refrigerator magnet says.

  61. 61.

    JPL

    While some get their jollies hacking celeb sites, others hack big box stores. Home Depot is investigating a breach.
    just f..k… wouldn’t you know the one store that I shop…
    This is why we can’t have nice things. Of course, repubs don’t help.

  62. 62.

    Bex

    Good news. TBogg reports that the puppy-kicking CEO Desmond Hague has been fired. Sad news. Michael Sam was not asked to join the Rams’ practice squad.

  63. 63.

    Mandalay

    Nobody could have predicted….

    Former House majority leader Eric Cantor has a new job – he’s going to work on Wall Street. Late Monday news leaked that ex-Representative Cantor (R) of Virginia has accepted a position at Moelis & Co., a boutique investment bank formed in 2007 that has some 500 employees around the world.

    Cantor’s base salary is $400,000 a year, per details gleaned from Securities and Exchange Commission documents by Business Insider. He gets a $1.4 million in signing bonuses of cash and stock this year, plus $1.6 million in incentive pay for next year.

    The price of being a failure.

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Bex:

    Michael Sam was not asked to join the Rams’ practice squad.

    I suspect that, by the end of the season, he will be on an active roster somewhere.

  66. 66.

    Steeplejack

    @cckids:

    I suspect your magnet is wrong. For one thing, it sounds a little too “meta,” or modern, for Twain.

    WikiQuote:

    This may be original with Groucho, but the Quote Investigator mentions the earliest report found in a 1958 issue of Boy’s Life magazine where it is attributed to Jim Brewer.

  68. 68.

    Kerry Reid

    @Cervantes: I also am fond of TR’s comment about how he could either control Alice or run the country, but he couldn’t do both.

    And then there was the story (maybe apocryphal, but I prefer to believe it) about the time Senator Joe McCarthy addressed her as “Alice.” She frostily replied. “Senator McCarthy, my maid may call me Alice. The garbage collector may call me Alice. You may call me ‘Mrs. Longworth.'”

  69. 69.

    Hal

    If the McDonnell jury finds them not guilty, it’s simply because they don’t think what they did was criminal. If Rachel Maddow’s coverage is accurate, it’s obvious the McDonnell’s did what they are accused of doing. Bob McDonnell’s entire defense is that it was all his wife, and he was figuratively, and in case of the expensive car, literally; just along for the ride.

  73. 73.

    PurpleGirl

    @gogol’s wife: It’s double my bad because I saw his name when I got the YouTube link. I liked him too. My favorite of his movies are Anastasia and The Buccaneer, although Westworld deserves honorable mention. The Ten Commandments and The King and I are too standard.

  80. 80.

    Gravenstone

    @Mandalay: We’ve got a metric fuck ton more missiles than they have of hostages. Tragic for those killed so barbarously, but ISIS isn’t winning on that equation.

  81. 81.

    WaterGirl

    @jacy: I hope your mom is waiting with you, that would be so hard!

    I find myself thinking about a phrase my old boss used in a story.

    The Story: At my boss’s wedding, the best man stopped at the wedding table on his way up to to give his speech, and said “I’m more nervous than a goose shitting peach pits”. Poor guy did not realize there was a mic at the main wedding table, so everyone got to hear him say that. oops.

    I am not usually one to call people names, but it comes from the heart when I say that even if you called her out as the two-bit whore who helped break up your family, you get a free pass from me. If only he had been as busy defending your marriage as he is defending the “honor” of his new “lady”.

  82. 82.

    skerry

    Dallas Cops “swarm” school searching for “suspect” in miscarriage in bathroom. Guns, helicopters and all.

    Guess it is illegal in Texas to have a miscarriage.

    Poor girl.

  84. 84.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: And, if we are interested in current events, although I’m sure our commenter gogol’s wife can elaborate, the original version of the Gogol story from 1835 was considered “too Ukrainian” and was revised under some pressure to carry more of a Russian nationalist slant.

  85. 85.

    nellcote

    Former senators Trent Lott and John Breaux have new gigs. As Russian bank lobbyists.

    Two former U.S. senators — Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott and Democrat John Breaux — are now working as lobbyists for the Russian-owned Gazprombank, according to a Friday filing. That bank, controlled by the Russian state-owned Gazprom energy company, was a target of U.S. sanctions in July.

    The filing, first spotted by the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit investigative journalism organization, lists the two former senators as lobbyists on behalf of the institution for “banking laws and regulations including applicable sanctions.” They’re representing the Russian bank through the lobbying firm, Squire Patton Boggs. (The pair started working for Patton Boggs when it bought their shop — Breaux-Lott Leadership Group — four years ago. Lott left the Senate in 2007, while Breaux left in 2005.)

  86. 86.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):

    I dunno….Sam’s workout numbers weren’t good. His success in the preseason came against 2nd and 3rd string talent. I suspect that his elevated stats came last year because his teammates in the front seven were taking the double-teams (sort of like Urlacher’s tackle numbers when he had Ted Washington or Tank Johnson at tackle as opposed to when there was lesser talent in front of him).

    I suspect that Sam ends up in Canada.

  88. 88.

    Betty Cracker

    My goddamned, motherfucking, shit-sucking, bastard piece of shit A/C unit iced up and isn’t cooling my house at the moment. Why does that matter on a late afternoon in September? Because it’s fucking 94 degrees with 70% humidity, that’s why. And because I recently paid thousands of dollars to have a new A/C unit and air handler installed.

    It’s under warranty. My A/C guy said, why don’t you open the door to the air handler and let the ice melt? And I said, yeah, good idea, and here’s another one: why don’t you get your ass out here and fix the motherfucker so that this shit doesn’t happen again, ever? Fuck!

  91. 91.

    gogol's wife

    @Betty Cracker:

    Mine used to do that. We’d have a cycle of leaving it off for several hours and then we could have it on for several hours, etc. Finally got it fixed. It’s very annoying.

  92. 92.

    PurpleGirl

    @Betty Cracker: I feel for you. I have my living room A/C on because it’s hot and humid in NYC today and will be tonight. Will sleep in the living room I guess because the bedroom A/C hasn’t been working.

  93. 93.

    lamh36

    @efgoldman: also not a Cowboys fan, Saints til I die!!!

    only club this Saints fan dislike more than Cowboys is Falcons.

    but I would like to route for Sam. still ain’t rooting for dem ‘boys though

  95. 95.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @lamh36:

    but I would like to route for Sam. still ain’t rooting for dem ‘boys though

    Same view from a Packer fan’s perspective.

  96. 96.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    I dunno….Sam’s workout numbers weren’t good. His success in the preseason came against 2nd and 3rd string talent. I suspect that his elevated stats came last year because his teammates in the front seven were taking the double-teams (sort of like Urlacher’s tackle numbers when he had Ted Washington or Tank Johnson at tackle as opposed to when there was lesser talent in front of him).

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): He’s not NFL material. Close but not quite there. I agree perhaps Canada is his most likely destination. In the meantime, can we avoid making this kid the Tim Tebow of the left?

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    RE tonight’s meetup in Old Town Alexandria:

    Murphys: same deal as Thursday: table on second floor at top of stairs; sixtop with a “reserved” sign and possibly a white balloon. (Murphy’s outdid themselves last week, at boatboy’s suggestion.)

    I’ll be there about sevenish.

    Talked to the driving Miss Duinne and she was making slowish progress through the Richmond area. Siubhan will join us when she can.

    Murphy’s has half price burgers tonight and “a few other specials”, plus quite good brews on tap and bottled.

    See you there!

  100. 100.

    joel hanes

    @jl:

    “You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.”

    ” Salary is no object: I want only enough to keep body and soul apart.”

    “Brevity is the soul of lingerie.”

    “What fresh horror is this?”

    “You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”

    “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.”

    “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”

    “There’s a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.”

    “One more drink and I’ll be under the host.”

  101. 101.

    WaterGirl

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):

    Dave Zirin disagrees with you about Michael Sam’s performance.

    For those unaware of the latest news, Michael Sam was among the last cuts of the St. Louis Rams. Despite a stellar preseason where he was among the team leaders in sacks, tackles and snaps. Sam found himself on the outside when the final roster was announced. This in and of itself was not surprising. In a league where pass-rushers are a premium, St. Louis has perhaps the deepest crew of quarterback sackers and run stoppers in the NFL. This made their original drafting of Sam somewhat curious, and it was always unclear how he would in fact make the team. Given Sam’s terrific preseason, though, football scribes took to Twitter and assured the public that Sam would be signed by another team, or at the very least, assigned to the Rams ten-person practice squad. Implicit in these tweets, whether the writers intended this or not, is the NFL’s most treasured public relations point: this is a league that cares about winning above all else, and Michael Sam, who more than proved himself this preseason, would find himself a home.

    Now we know that, as of today, Sam was not signed to the Rams practice squad and furthermore has drawn no interest from the dozen or so teams desperate for edge rushers that also run defensive schemes suited to his skills. The 2014 co-SEC defensive player of the year, who just rocked the preseason, is officially on the outside looking in.

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s under warranty. My A/C guy said, why don’t you open the door to the air handler and let the ice melt? And I said, yeah, good idea, and here’s another one: why don’t you get your ass out here and fix the motherfucker so that this shit doesn’t happen again, ever? Fuck!

    It’s official. I love you, Betty Cracker.

  104. 104.

    Hal

    SEAL Hero’s Parents: Obama Should Quit Over ISIS

    “Please vacate the people’s house and allow a man or woman of courage and substance to seize the reins of this out-of-control thug-fest and regain the balance we, America, have provided throughout our great history.”

    Delusional, self important, and a clear lack of understanding on how a Presidential resignation works. What makes their opinion better than any other family that has lost a child in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other war? But according to these two Obama playing golf and fist pumping his buddies is ground for resignation.

    I realize this is right wing BS, but do some people not realize what folks like McCain want is perpetual, unending war? One way or another, this is their end goal. These right wing sights keep pushing the idea that their is “something” else Obama should be doing or acting on without directly saying that something is another war. If you still honestly think, as these two do, that their was a winning solution in Iraq, you should be forever banned from ever speaking on the subject again.

  106. 106.

    Elizabelle

    @efgoldman:

    She was near I-64 interchange in Richmond, and it was slow. Suggested she might divert to 301/2 through Bowling Green to Fredericksburg — yes, it’s longer in time but no traffic and how else do you cruise through Frog Level, VA?

    Will keep you apprised.

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    I would like to take one of my co-workers by the shoulders and shake her violently while shouting, “HOW GODDAMNED HARD CAN IT BE TO CLICK THE ‘FREE SHIPPING’ BUTTON ON AMAZON!?!”

    Seriously, this is the third time she’s done this, and it’s really pissing me off because I’m the one who gets in trouble.

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    I’m not saying that they’re not telling the truth about Sam and his performance, but I think he’s being blackballed, plain and simple.

  111. 111.

    rikyrah

    @Hal:

    SEAL Hero’s Parents: Obama Should Quit Over ISIS

    Shrub lied us into not one, but TWO WARS…

    that Obama had to try and clean up…

    yet OBAMA should resign?

    G-T-F-O-H

  112. 112.

    Baud

    Anyone know what this means (from Apple):

    After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet. None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud(r) or Find my iPhone.

    Is there a technical definition of “breach” that I’m not comprehending?

  113. 113.

    ThresherK

    “It’s nice to see you. That way I know you’re not talking about me behind my back.”

    (I want to say Marx, but I can’t find it.)

  114. 114.

    lamh36

    @WaterGirl:ok I freely admit to not being a football aficionado, but which is it?

    Half the people I hear tell it that he’s not that great, others tell me he’s not some phenom but he’s good enough to be given more of a chance than just being let go ’cause of “distraction” that’s not entirely of his own making.

    either the kid is crap or he as good as any random non “big name. NFL name rookie in pre-season.

    what I wonder, is Sam good enough as other rookies before him who were given a chance to prove it in 1st season or not?

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    @Elizabelle:

    Anyhoo: Balloon Juice guesses on how the jury will decide in the McDonnell trial?

    Oddly enough, I think they went overboard with the ‘ I can’t be corrupt and in collusion with my wife because we don’t have a marriage’.

    I think both of them will be found guilty or it will hang. I think overdoing it erased the acquittal.

  119. 119.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I think what they are saying is that people have selected weak passwords and/or easy to guess security questions and that this was not caused by security issues at Apple. I am an apple girl, but if it’s true that they were guessing passwords, I don’t see how that is apple’s fault.

    I guess they could require tougher passwords.

  120. 120.

    Hal

    @Baud:

    On Monday, a Python script emerged on GitHub (which we’re not linking to as there is evidence a fix by Apple is not fully rolled out) that appears to have allowed malicious users to ‘brute force’ a target account’s password on Apple’s iCloud, thanks to a vulnerability in the Find My iPhone service. Brute-force attacks consist of using a malicious script to repeatedly guess passwords in an attempt to discover the correct one.

    http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/09/01/this-could-be-the-apple-icloud-flaw-that-led-to-celebrity-photos-being-leaked/

    According to this site, Apple is now investigating this possible flaw. It sounds to me like they are basically trying to say it’s password strength as opposed to someone actually accessing iCloud directly and gaining access to people’s accounts.

  121. 121.

    Cervantes

    @Baud:

    Is there a technical definition of “breach” that I’m not comprehending?

    What they’re saying is that their customers should follow the advice provided here.

  122. 122.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: I’m not really a football person, either. But I do trust Dave Zirin, so I believe his take on the situation.

    Everybody seemed to agree that Michael Sam didn’t give a standout performance at the day where all the incoming people show their stuff. (obviously can’t recall the name) Even Dave Zirin thought he didn’t perform all that well for that. But once he got to start practicing with a team, etc, he should be judged on how well he did with that, and from what Dave Zirin says, it sounds like he was pretty darn good.

  123. 123.

    Baud

    Thanks for the answers. Here’s another question. Why can’t servers be set to accept a passwords for a particular log-in name only once every 3-5 seconds? Wouldn’t that stop these automated brute force attacks?

  125. 125.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Baud: It wasn’t a general “hackers seized control of the servers and have your grandma’s photos” sort of thing.

    Allowing a brute force attack is still a security failure on Apple’s part. Most sites I’ve dealt with will shut down account access completely after too many guesses to try to block them.

  126. 126.

    Baud

    @Cervantes:

    How? Don’t these attacks have to try millions of passwords to find the correct one? Or is there something about programming that makes it easy to circumvent time-based resets like that?

  127. 127.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @WaterGirl: From what I saw, he did play well, but as Temporarily Max McGee noted, he was getting most of his playing reps against other player who were on the bubble.. Like I said way up above, I expect that he will be on a team’s active roster by the end of the season. If some team loses a couple of defensive lineman, they’ll think of Sam and he should get a shot. There are a lot of players who are on that bubble. The weirder thing for me was that the Rams drafted him, since they were already very strong at Sam’s position – which is one of the reasons that, despite good play, he didn’t make the roster.

  129. 129.

    Elizabelle

    On my way to BJ meetup. Should be there about 7:40 p.

    Siubhan will join about 8:00ish.

    Have a good evening, all.

  130. 130.

    Gravenstone

    @Hal: That’s unfortunately hand in hand with the shit coming down now that ISIL(S) has apparently beheaded another western journalist. Which is exactly what they said they’d do if we bombed them again. Which we did.

    So wingtards are ranting that we’re not doing anything (dunno, but bombing should count as “something”, if not the optimum thing), yet also ranting that Obama endangered the latest victim by bombing. *sigh* I’d like a sane country, please.

  131. 131.

    danielx

    @Baud:

    A whole forty hours of investigation! Well in that case, no problem!

    Shorter: It ain’t our fault, we didn’t do it, we’re not responsible, and don’t you even think about initiating legal action lest our state-of-the-art legal hellhounds pursue you to death and beyond.

    Shorter shorter: We’re Apple and you’re not. Fuck you.

    Amazing how much they’re starting to sound like every other American corporation when they’ve somehow ended up with shit on their shoes.

  134. 134.

    Bob In Portland

    @Amir Khalid: Are you a stockholder in Chevron?

    Also, getting ready for the report about MH17? Are the Ukrainians who shot down the airliner the good guys?

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    @Redshift:

    @Woodrowfan: I thought his entire defense was BS, and I got the jury agrees, but considering how lax our laws are, I’m not sure if he can be convicted

    but, their defense wasn’t about the laws…

    their defense was…we have a rotten marriage, so we couldn’t have conspired together.

  137. 137.

    Elie

    @Hal:
    And who would that “Man of substance” be?

    Mit Romney?

    Seriously.

    These folks are delusional.

    Oh – I forgot. As long as it is a white man, that is all the substance necessary. Check.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:

    Most sites I’ve dealt with will shut down account access completely after too many guesses to try to block them.

    My company’s internal email will lock me out if I type my password in wrong too many times, and I have to make a phone call to talk to a human being to get it unlocked. Not sure why Apple can’t do something similar, other than they don’t want to have to employ that many phone reps. It’s not a sure thing that the person on the other end of the phone isn’t lying to you (I’ve heard some major horror stories), but it’s better than letting a bot try password combinations millions of times before the right one is found.

  141. 141.

    rikyrah

    @WaterGirl:

    Thanks for this…I just think the young man is being blackballed. And, I have no skin in the game for him, I just, well, they let a lot of folks with ‘ questionable’ morals play in the NFL- with less talent. Nobody doubts this guy’s character…..and, I don’t even think they doubt his skill…they just don’t like that he was open about who shares his bed.

  144. 144.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m pretty mellow when it comes to customer service because I know they have a crappy job.

    But, I hate summer, and one of the only bills I don’t ever gripe about paying is the electric bill. If I could, I’d go back and time and offer to marry the person who invented air conditioning.

    So, yeah, if you wanna snap my last Black nerve and get the attitude of all attitudes from a customer.

    try it being hot, and I have no air conditioner.

    I’ll cuss a muthaphucka out in a nanosecond if you give stupid responses like you received.

    GO BETTY!!

  145. 145.

    Mnemosyne

    @Hal:

    It sounds to me like they are basically trying to say it’s password strength as opposed to someone actually accessing iCloud directly and gaining access to people’s accounts.

    What’s weird about that is that Apple enforces password strength — it must conform to their standards or the system will tell you, Sorry, try again. So are they saying that their own standards are not strong enough?

  146. 146.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Yeah, I saw your comment above and was somewhat heartened. I wonder if the Rams stepped up because some team needed to take him, and they were willing to be that team.

    I am so tired of them worrying about the potential “drama” – I guess the names in the news and the slaps on the hand for abusing your wife doesn’t count as drama. I cannot believe these folks at the top in the NFL cannot see that the tide has turned. It’s turned on gay issues and it’s no longer okay to have a team named with a racial slur. Both those ships have sailed, and they refuse to see it.

    I think the tide is about to turn with traumatic brain injuries. “La-la-la I can’t hear you” has certainly worked for them for awhile. I hope that time ends now.

  148. 148.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @WaterGirl:

    If he signs to a practice squad, can he still go to some other team if he gets an offer at some point?

    Yes. It is a risk teams take by having a player of the practice squad rather than the regular roster.

  149. 149.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Glad to hear that.

    I’m may be imposing my thought process on a situation where I know absolutely nothing (football). But it sure feels to me like these teams are inching their way down to where we should be, first with the Rams willing to do their part and now the Cowboys willing to do theirs. Maybe each step removes a bit of the fear of “gay cooties” so that some team who needs the talents that Michael Sam possesses will be able to snap him up without it being such a big deal.

  153. 153.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Baud:

    Is there a technical definition of “breach” that I’m not comprehending?

    You’ve gotten several good answers, but I think it’s simpler than those:

    “Working as designed.”

    They’re saying it’s not broken. Or, in other words, It was “user error”.

    It’s probably not a good idea for them to talk about it that way, but they’ve got good lawyers so maybe that’s the best advice they got. (I would think they should have said something like “… We are continually working to improve the security of our users private information and will continue to examine our systems and software to make things even better… or similar.) I expect the story isn’t going to go away soon, but whether it hurts them or not – who knows.

    (No matter what the fault was or wasn’t, I suspect there are lawyers chomping at the bit to start a class-action suit against them.)

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  155. 155.

    WaterGirl

    Steeplejack, if you are here… I have been late to most of the threads, but I have really been enjoying your descriptions of life in your current residence. Some of it has been laugh out loud funny.

  156. 156.

    Mnemosyne

    @WaterGirl:

    IIRC, Kurt Warner is a famous example of a player who bounced around for a while — he played arena football before getting signed by an NFL team.

    (I am also very ignorant about football and only know about Warner because he’s the subject of a very glurgey story that Snopes has to debunk every so often.)

  161. 161.

    Tenar Darell

    @Mnemosyne: Watching The General right now. I swear, that bit with the trap in the woods made me LOL. It was so old it must have started back with Keaton, Lloyd or the Keystone Cops.

  165. 165.

    Cervantes

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yes, getting fired from my job for insubordination would greatly improve working conditions at Amazon. Good one.

    Here’s what I said above: There are reasons not to use Amazon at all.

    Period.

    If you understand and accept those reasons, what you do with them is up to you, and depends on your circumstances. No one person can solve all the world’s problems, not even you!

  167. 167.

    joel hanes

    @Cervantes:

    What fresh hell is this?

    You are correct, sir.

    Thanks. Always glad to reduce my own burden of misinformation by a trifling bit.

  171. 171.

    Tenar Darell

    @Mnemosyne: No. Girl gets her foot caught in trap, then he gets her out and gets caught too. Hilarity ensues.

    I can’t believe that was real, even after seeing it. Too primed by effects. Going to have to re-watch that scene.

  173. 173.

    WaterGirl

    I broke my toe last wednesday so I did some catching up on tivo while I was doing a lot of foot elevation.

    I have had both seasons of Life on Mars (british version) on my tivo box for years. I had seen the US version and liked it, but the british version is so much better! I have watched 10 episodes, 6 left and it’s so good that I don’t want to get to the end because it will be over.

    What a pleasure to watch a show like that.

  174. 174.

    Mnemosyne

    @efgoldman:

    It’s funnier if you Google it. Don’t worry, it won’t get you in trouble with Mrs. EF, though you may get a bit of side-eye.

  175. 175.

    NotMax

    @Tenar Darell

    Welcome to the Astounding World of Buster Keaton.

    Even in lesser films, even when forced into being one half of perhaps the most woebegone team-up in movies (Keaton, who barely spoke, with Jimmy Durante, who never shut up) one can sense the genius at work.

    Footage unfortunately lost after being cut from It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World had Keaton silently doing his thing with the phone in a phone booth. Reports vary as to how long he ad libbed physical comedy for that scene, but have read estimates over the years which range from 8 to 18 minutes.

  176. 176.

    Mnemosyne

    @Tenar Darell:

    The bridge scene was real. Up until about the 1950s, you could still see the scene of the wreck in Cottage Grove, Oregon (though they hauled a lot of the metal away as scrap during WWII).

    You should watch Sherlock Jr. next if you really want to see some mind-blowing in-camera effects, amazing stunts, and a few old-fashioned magic tricks. Steamboat Bill Jr. (which NotMax recommended) has the famous scene where they drop the side of a house on Keaton.

    There’s a reason the man broke every bone in his body at one time or another, including his neck. In all of his films, there’s only one stunt that he’s known not to have done himself (a pole vault into a second-story window in College).

  179. 179.

    seaboogie

    @jacy: Hmmm…from a healing perspective, is hubby maybe the tumor that needs removal? Maybe not the best time for you to consider such things, or maybe so? Either he’s a clueless doof, or there is a nugget of anger that needs excising in some way.

  182. 182.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @WaterGirl:

    A few points:

    First, I harbor no ill will whatsoever against Sam, and I hope that if he’s got the goods, he’ll get to play. Which leads me to the second point..

    I’ve been following the sport since I was seven, and I’ve seen plenty of players who had more consistently great college careers who just went bust when they hit the NFL, but who, while playing college football, won more- and more prestigious- awards than Sam.

    Lastly, I should have known Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones would bring him to Dallas. Jones has, in many ways, earned a bad reputation amongst NFL fans, but he’s also gone out on a limb to bring guys in who have suffered from mental illness, or have just had a hard time being good teammates….I’m not saying that Sam fits into either of those categories, but he is, like it or not, sort of a misfit toy in the NFL, and Jones collects misfit toys.

  183. 183.

    Anna

    Think this was Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice, who said that, NOT Dorothy Parker.

    Parker actually had to work for a living.

    Alice-not so much.

  184. 184.

    Kerry Reid

    @joel hanes: Of course, the OTHER DP (Dawn Powell) was even greater than Dorothy. To the point that Diana Trilling once said that Powell was “the best answer to the familiar question, ‘who really says the witty things for which Dorothy Parker gets credit?'”

    Not that Parker didn’t have some great stuff, but her body of work looks pretty thin compared to the novels of Powell (“Turn, Magic Wheel” is practically perfect in every way.)

    “True wit should break a wise man’s heart. It should strike at the exact point of weakness and it should scar. It should rest on a pillar of truth and not on a gelatin base, and the truth is not so shameful that it cannot be recorded.”

Comments are closed.