Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

Not all heroes wear capes.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

This blog will pay for itself.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

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

The lights are all blinking red.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Cursed!

Open Thread: Cursed!

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cursed friday the thirteenth arlo n janis

(Arlo & Janis via GoComics.com)
.

Friday the Thirteenth falls on a Friday this month, and Churchy LaFemme would tell you that’s the riskiest possible combination. Also, Valentine’s Day is Saturday, which means that every sit-down restaurant in North America including Bickford’s and IHoP will be jam-packed, and if your romantic-object-of-choice person is into “romance”, you’d better have a suitably thoughtful (or at least expensive) gift ready for them. (You may thank me later.)

And if you wonder why I’m so grumpy, there’s another foot or more of snow (plus blizzard conditions!) predicted for our area this Saturday-into-Sunday.

As a little nugget of consolation, the NYTimes interviewed David Axelrod about his new book and the only reason anyone might bother reading it:

… During his campaign for the U.S. Senate, Obama thought that your famous “Yes we can” line was corny. How did you convince him?
Michelle just happened to come by for the first ad shoot, and that was the ad that closed with the line “Yes we can.” He read through the script once, and after the first take he said, “Gee, is that too corny?” I explained why I thought it was a great tagline, and he turned to Michelle and said, “What do you think?” She just slowly shook her head from side to side and said, “Not corny.” Thank God she was there that day.

You wrote that, after the Recovery Act passed, Obama told you he was fine serving just one term. Did he ever consider not running for re-election?
No. He was saying that if he had turned the economy around and accomplished most of the things on his agenda, he would have been O.K. walking away. But it was very, very clear very quickly that he was not going to accomplish all of that and that, in fact, if he wanted to see the things that he had done come to fruition, then he had to win a second term…

***********
Apart from that, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up another week?

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  1. 1.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    And if you wonder why I’m so grumpy, there’s another foot or more of snow (plus blizzard conditions!) predicted for our area this Saturday-into-Sunday.

    It’ll be 88 here tomorrow. Just though you’d like to know.

  4. 4.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Mustang Bobby: I turn the pilot light on the furnace on during the winter, so in addition to the heat, I’ve got a heater on. It’s a bit of a pain to turn off and relight the pilot, so it stays on. It should cool to the mid-70’s Sunday.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    She just slowly shook her head from side to side and said, “Not corny.” Thank God she was there that day.

    Makes you wonder what the second choice was.

  8. 8.

    Schlemazel

    They brought in Microsoft to consult on some issues a couple of months ago & yesterday about 10 Central these geniuses decided to make changes to the production domain controllers. The brought our internal network down. It was promised to be back up by 9 last night, then 10, then 2 then 3 . . . yeah, no, still not back. A multi-billion dollar organization to a grinding halt. I’m going to work now but its a bigger waste of time than normal.

    Happy 13th everybody!

  9. 9.

    Mustang Bobby

    @BillinGlendaleCA: The AC system in my house has a heating element like that on an electric stove in the air handler. On the rare occasions that it’s needed, it comes on and the fan circulates the warm air. I haven’t used it in three years; it’s easier to put on a sweater.

  10. 10.

    eric nny

    Mustang Bobby and BillinGlendale,
    Bite me.
    It’s -20 again.
    Keep it up and I’ll be on your doorstep with my pets and bags.

  11. 11.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Schlemazel: Back when I worked for the Great Satan, the IT folk at headquarters deleted the HQ OU. They had to restore the OU from backup, fun days. Fortunately I was in LA, HQ was in London.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    In most countries, Feb. 14 is a highly commercialized day of romance. In Thailand, it’s also a time for strict warnings — and this year a new Twitter hashtag aimed at preventing premarital sex.

    The Culture Ministry’s Moral Promotion Center launched a widely publicized campaign earlier this week called “Just a Meal for Valentine’s Day” that urges teens to go home after their dinner dates. It’s also asking youths to show support for the campaign by tweeting (hashtag)DinnerOnly in Thai. A Twitter search Friday found that the request had drawn varied reactions of mockery with many postings of the Thai equivalent to LOL!

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    It’ll be 88 here tomorrow. Just though you’d like to know.

    Big deal. Here in balmy MA, it’s at least that.

    Well, 88 Rankine. Kelvin, I’m not sure.

    Which did you mean?

    Or you could follow eric nny’s wishes.

  17. 17.

    raven

    What’s the deal with these damn Trader Joe’s Oatmeal? Steel cut, quick cook steel cut and organic and they all have different cooking times and water-to-oats mix!

  18. 18.

    SFAW

    @raven:

    Supplemental heat strips on a heat pump.

    Doesn’t your arm get tired from using that pump so much? And what kind of trough do you have under the spout?

  25. 25.

    Baud

    Mother Jones

    In a blow to the controversial practice of gay conversion therapy, a New Jersey judge has ruled that therapists who claim that homosexuality is a curable mental disorder are committing consumer fraud.

    The ruling, issued on Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Peter F. Bariso Jr., is part of an ongoing lawsuit filed on behalf of four men who say they were subjected to humiliating treatments by therapists affiliated with Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), a gay conversion therapy referral service based in Jersey City. Bariso said it violates the state’s Consumer Fraud Act to advertise conversion therapy services by describing homosexuality as a mental illness, disease, or disorder.

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    @raven:
    They seem to have factored in the post-SNL work a lot.

    On the other hand, I haven’t watched SNL on a regular basis since who-knows-when.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    @SFAW:

    They seem to have factored in the post-SNL work a lot.

    Then Mike Meyer has no business in the top 10. And Phil Hartman should be #4.

  34. 34.

    MomSense

    My roof is leaking. I hate this winter. Now a blizzard with “life threatening conditions” is coming.

    ETA I actually thought it felt warmer today and checked the weather service. It is 5 today and that’s not celsius.

  39. 39.

    satby

    @MomSense: It’s 3 here right now but the sun is out so it feels better. More snow for us too and really cold this weekend.

    Which means after today I will stay home and post new spring soap to my shop. I’m so ready for spring! It’s been a tough winter.

  40. 40.

    SFAW

    @Paul in KY:

    I would put Eddie Murphy number 2

    Rolling Stone apparently agrees with you.

    @debbie:

    Then Mike Meyer has no business in the top 10.

    Well, his earlier stuff kept him majorly on the map. Then he apparently decided to model his career after Kevin Costner’s.

  41. 41.

    Paul in KY

    @SFAW: Just saw the list after I did that. Phil Hartmann should be higher, Jane Curtin as well. Adam Sandler lower…much lower.

  42. 42.

    SFAW

    @MomSense:

    Are you close to the coast? I think they’re predicting that inland – like Worcester County – will have a fair amount of snow, but not “life threatening.” But, then again, that’s only from yesterday’s weather. Good luck, I hope this storm doesn’t add to your stress. (Do you know if it’s a roof leak, or just an ice dam? [Which is annoying in its own right, of course.])

  44. 44.

    MomSense

    @SFAW:

    It’s definitely an ice dam that is messing up the roof and causing water to trickle in. Everyone has ice damns (my preferred spelling for these monsters!) I made the mistake of looking up at the buildings downtown yesterday and now I plan to avoid sidewalks. Someone is going to get killed by falling ice, snow, and icicles. We really aren’t prepared for this here since we usually don’t get quite these winter conditions.

    This is more like Norway weather.

  45. 45.

    MomSense

    @satby:

    Yes, I think we are both ready for spring in the end to winter sense and also in the new beginnings and new life sense.

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    @MomSense:

    I heard someone talking about methods for dealing with them under current conditions. I cannot vouch for whether they work, I’m not an expert, attach any other disclaimers, etc., but: someone talked about putting rock salt or ice melt into panty hose, tie it off (to create something like one of those draft-stoppers you put by a door, I guess), and throw it onto the parts of the roof where they will do the most good.

    I have a 15-plus-foot-long icicle at a relatively inaccessible part of the roof, not sure what I’m going to do about it, already severely cracked my roof rake trying to knock down some others.

    Good luck, let’s hope Harvey Leonard is wrong – in a beneficial way.

  47. 47.

    MomSense

    @SFAW:

    Rock salt is really corrosive so apparently you are not supposed to put that on your roof because it will leave iron stains. It is better to use calcium chloride although the roofers caution it can also cause damage. The roof is not exactly doing well with a giant block of ice on it either.

    Someone here suggested roof melt the other night so we put some up. I’ll let you know how it works.

  48. 48.

    Paul in KY

    @MomSense: Can someone get up to the roof level (on a ladder) and then try to break off the ice & get it off the roof?

    Would need to be very careful, of course.

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    @Paul in KY:

    Can someone get up to the roof level (on a ladder) and then try to break off the ice & get it off the roof?

    The guys at the Home Depot, when I asked – expecting to get gales of laughter in response – if they had any roof rakes left, said they didn’t, but they had ladders, ice melt, and fall protection gear (what we sometimes call “PPE” – personal protective equipment). Strangely enough, I decided ice dams were preferable to broken bones. I used to be relatively fearless going up on ladders, but I ain’t stupid.

    ETA: Yes, I realize that just planting the ladder’s feet, and climbing it, is relatively non-problematic. It’s the other stuff that concerns me. Although, I guess falling into 3 feet of snow is perhaps better than falling onto hard ground.

  50. 50.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    -10 degrees is predicted for this weekend in our part of the Midwest. But an Eastern Bluebird showed up at our feeder this morning!

  53. 53.

    Pogonip

    @JPL: I saw a picture of Mr. Carr. Had he suffered some sort of accident before he died? He looked like a skeleton and half his neck seemed to be missing.

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    @Paul in KY:

    You must be a CEO. Had I realized that earlier, I would not have had the temerity to type anything other than “By your command.”

    Sincerest nopologies.

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Pogonip: the man led a very hard life

    In his 2008 memoir, The Night of the Gun, he detailed his past experiences with cocaine addiction and included interviews with people from his past, tackling his memoir as if he were reporting on himself. The memoir was excerpted in The New York Times Magazine.[3]

    I read that NYT Mag piece, and I remember being really impressed

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    @Paul in KY:

    You could have also said ‘So is it written. So shall it be done!’

    1) Not every CEO can write an intelligible sentence
    2) As Hedley Lamarr would say: “too Jewish” (Well, I guess, technically, it was Egyptian, but you know what I meant)

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    We’re planning to enjoy our So Cal weather by going to breakfast tomorrow, and then Huntington Library. I got a great octopus Valentine’s card for G, so I’m all set. We don’t really do the gift thing anymore because we both have too much crap — we go on trips instead.

  61. 61.

    SFAW

    @Paul in KY:

    I stole that one from Ramses II

    Hence the “Egyptian” line.

    ETA: One hopes that you understood the “Too Jewish” reference. Something about a Number 6, I think.

  65. 65.

    Paul in KY

    @SFAW: Hee, hee! Had forgotten that part. True story, had an uncle who could have been stunt double for Slim Pickens. Looked the same, sounded the same.

  66. 66.

    Robert Waldmann

    Also February. Why is February only 28 (or 29) days long ? Because the Romans hated it and considered it unfortunate.

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