Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Republicans don’t trust women.

Everybody saw this coming.

Consistently wrong since 2002

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

“woke” is the new caravan.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

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

Ah, the different things are different argument.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Branding Challenge (Open Thread)

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  4. 4.

    Crusty Dem

    @spudvol:

    My first thought, too. But look at that smooth, unwrinkled, never changing, ancient face. Brought to you by Botox(TM).

  5. 5.

    mai naem mobile

    There’s a dog on the super urgent list at the pound in Brooklyn named Isis. WTF? Why would you do that to a rescue dog?

  9. 9.

    John M. Burt

    I have always wondered why ardent monotheists would want to use that name.

    And then there’s the fact that allowing them that name is a vile insult to 95% of the Muslim world.

    We should call them by the Arabic acronym, Daesh. And in keeping with the common Arabic newscaster practice of pronouncing it to sound like a word the Levantine bandits would not like to be called, we should pronounce it “douche”.

  10. 10.

    Emily68

    Lucky for the Earl of Grantham, his faithful doggie, Isis, died before her name became an issue.

  12. 12.

    Botsplainer

    I’m reminded of the time I was just entering the statuary hall of the Louvre and a family of Roma ( one in a wheelchair) rushed in and knocked me down, body falling toward a lifesize marble bust of Louis XIV. It was at the head of a line and SEVERAL would have crashed. I had enough control of the fall to come down rib first on a framework for a knee high cable.

    Louis still nearly came down (wobble wobble), but reflex saved me from creating an international incident.

  14. 14.

    Chris

    @John M. Burt:

    We call it Al Qaeda, not The Base.

    We call it Hezbollah, not the Party of God.

    We call them Taliban, not Students.

    I don’t know why we abruptly changed for this group.

  15. 15.

    scav

    We’ve seriously regressed to the point where we’ve a stack space of oh, about one? “Can’t know you, I’ve already got a Dave.” Reminds me when my cousin’s kid was asking about favorite colors but wouldn’t let anyone have the same one (and was young enough not to believe in salmon, teal, saffron and that tribe). I was lucky and ended up with grey: there were none left at all for my mother.

  16. 16.

    JPL

    @raven: Next thing you know, someone will name their pet Isil and then the media will spend 24 hours discussing it.

  17. 17.

    Suzanne

    So that dumbass in Phoenix (redundant) had his anti-Islam rally yesterday, and nobody stopped him. And thank FSM no one got hurt, even though they all came armed to the teeth.

  19. 19.

    mai naem mobile

    @raven: I guess I’m rhe only.person on bj who has not watched Dowton Abbey. I, however, love Call the.Midwife.

  20. 20.

    Emerald

    I watch lots of international news on my Roku. Everybody else calls it Isil. Only Americans call it Isis (neither is accurate, but Isil is just a little bit more accurate than Isis: Islamic State in the Levant, according to what I’ve heard.)

    Your ‘Murkin media at work again.

  21. 21.

    JPL

    @Suzanne: Now he has to move because his freedom to be an asshole is taken away. Actually what he said is he fears for his safety.

  26. 26.

    srv

    Mother Isis would never approve:

    On a recent visit to the arraignment part in Brooklyn’s criminal court, PROP volunteers observed that police officers had arrested two Latino men on the charge of “man spreading” on the subway, presumably because they were taking up more than one seat and therefore inconveniencing other riders. Before issuing an [adjournment contemplating dismissal] for both men, the judge expressed her skepticism about the charge because of the time of the arrests: “12:11AM, I can’t believe there were many people on the subway”.

  28. 28.

    piratedan

    maybe the re-branding should be as cosmetic as GOP policy, both private and public, I propose… Aye-Sis. Just like GOP policy, it’s still crap and as always, only serves the purposes of a select few.

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @mai naem mobile

    I guess I’m the only.person on bj who has not watched Downton Abbey

    You’re not alone. Never watched it; don’t care to.

    Gave up on Upstairs, Downstairs decades ago, also too.

  30. 30.

    Keith P.

    I’ve got a puzzle series called The Isis Adventure….very nice puzzles milled out of solid metal, but the name is unfortunate.

  31. 31.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Emerald: And Sarah Palin screeched mockingly when President Obama used “ISIL” in a speech. Because if anybody knows the most about world affairs, it’s Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods.

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    “I married Isis on the first day of May, but I could not hold on to her very long …”

  34. 34.

    MomSense

    @Chris:

    One of the best shows ever. I may have to watch it again.

    Ok, I’m going to chip in for Belle the Boxer. Poor thing looks like she just had pups and then was unceremoniously abandoned. I cannot understand that kind of cruelty.

  36. 36.

    WereBear

    @MomSense: I am constantly baffled by the people who think “getting papers” for a dog is some guarantee of quality when they also look for a bargain and get some puppy mill disaster.

    It would be cheaper and better for them to look for the breed traits they want in a mix at the shelter but then I suppose they wouldn’t have bragging material.

    If people spent a tenth of the effort they expend to “look good” on actually Being Good, everyone would be so much happier.

  37. 37.

    dr. luba

    @Emerald: ISIS is Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. ISIL is, or so Wikipedia tells me, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Both are equally accurate, but the first is more understandable to those many people who aren’t sure what exactly the Levant is.

  38. 38.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Isis plays the very, very long game. When that word is used, people will still think of the goddess long after they’ve forgotten the nutcase ‘caliphate’.

  41. 41.

    PurpleGirl

    When I hear “Isis” I think of the Egyptian goddess. From Wikipedis :

    In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky, and she was born on the fourth intercalary day. She married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set.

    The Encyclopedia Britannica has a good entry on Isis or Aset/Eset.
    http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/295449/Isis

    For images see:

    https://www.google.com/search?q=isis+goddess&biw=1244&bih=618&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=qOlpVZDKL4mFsAWvnoDoCg&ved=0CDoQsAQ

    What can I say, I’ve been an Ancient Egypt geek since childhood.

  42. 42.

    gogol's wife

    O Isis und Osiris, schenket der Weisheit Geist dem neuen Paar!

    That’s what I think of when I hear Isis

  43. 43.

    MomSense

    @WereBear:

    I’m afraid I didn’t even look at the breed traits. I knew I wanted a puppy for family and emotional reasons (losing three senior pets in a few months and two kids leaving youngest sibling behind) so I saw a rescue with one female runt who was unspoken for. When I met her, the foster mom picked her up and handed her to me and the tiny little thing looked so intently at me and with such intelligence that I knew instantly she was for me. Totally a love at first sight feeling.

    And then a head on collision on the way home and all I could think about was how would I get back to the foster home to pick up the pup with my car totaled.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    I was able to get out of having to fly back to Florida to help my mom find a short term rental near my brother, but I do have to help her research places on the internet. I’m going to start with a website called FlipKey, but if anyone has any other leads on furnished month-to-month rentals in Naples FL, feel free to let me know.

  46. 46.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @scav:

    Many years ago, there was a cartoon (possibly The New Yorker) of a woman in the classical section of a record store. The clerk suggests she might like Schubert’s Ninth Symphony. “No,” she says, “I already have Beethoven’s.”

  47. 47.

    PurpleGirl

    @dr. luba: Maybe so but they should know what the Levant is and where it is. After all they are always screaming about how important the Middle East is and how sometime soon the End Times will be coming.

  49. 49.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Well, I am going to see if I can get a ride in before it rains again. I am guessing I will get wet.

  50. 50.

    p.a.

    Open thread 1st World whinge: I can’t believe NBC won’t carry 2 game 7 NHL semifinals on network tv. Is it ratings week?

  52. 52.

    MomSense

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’m fine! That was six months ago and I brought her home the next day. We just came back from the farmers’ market where she got a ton of skritches and even some treats. Oh and I think she likes fiddle music since her little tail seemed to be keeping excellent time with the music.

  54. 54.

    Tripod

    I always watched the CBS Saturday AM live action show. Are they rolling her out in the current DC TV-Movie empire?

  55. 55.

    Belafon

    If you’re wondering if O’Malley has a chance:

    "We made our city safer for our children" #OMalley2016 99.9% sure he's talking about white people. – Kwame Rose (@KwameRose) May 30, 2015

    They are escorting Black people out of fed hill #OMalley2016 – Kwame Rose (@KwameRose) May 30, 2015

  56. 56.

    Emerald

    @dr. luba:

    . . . the first is more understandable to those many people who aren’t sure what exactly the Levant is.

    That’s actually a pretty good point. So as per usual, ‘Murkins are less educated than the rest of the world, as our intrepid media know so well.

  57. 57.

    Suzanne

    @JPL: He SHOULD fear for his safety. He hangs out with crazy bastards with lots of firearms. They’re all white and ostensibly Christian, I’m sure.

    On a lighter note, I found out that the dude at work who was giving me problems by throwing a temper tantrum and refusing to work on the project has, in fact, done this at least five times previously. He doesn’t want to be involved in any project unless he can run it, but then he doesn’t want to do any of the work of managing the project. He wants to design it, and then give it to the production department. Hint: THERE IS NO PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT. So hasta la bye bye, a-hole. Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.

  59. 59.

    mai naem mobile

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): look at the sublet on craigslist. Don’t know how long she’s gonna be there but if there’s a Uni in Naples, you should be able to find a bargain. Also HomeAway, AirBnb and Trip Advisor has one of their own with some odd name.

  60. 60.

    mai naem mobile

    @Chris: that sounds really good. I used to like All Creatures Great and Small, To Serve Them All My Days and there was a series about two girls left penniless after.their dad does and their journey to fashion designer stardom around the time of flappers. I can’t remember the name but good series.

  61. 61.

    shell

    @MomSense: Hope you’re okay. Dear God!
    *********

    Just checked Belle’s YouCaring page and it’s almost hit the 1500 goal. Yay!

  63. 63.

    shell

    to fashion designer stardom around the time of flappers. I can’t remember the name but good series.

    It was the ‘House of Elliot’. I liked it too. I think it’s available on Netflix.

  65. 65.

    shell

    Looking forward mightily to the new ‘Poldark’ on June 21. Was a fan of the original but thought the character, Elizabeth was always a bit of a drip.

  66. 66.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Amir Khalid: So I cut off my hair and I rode straight away to some wild unknown country where I could not go wrong.

  69. 69.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @shell: I was shocked when I learned the actress who played Elizabeth in the original had died at such a young age.

  70. 70.

    rikyrah

    PUT THESE EVIL MUTHAPHUCKAS UNDER THE JAIL

    ……………………………..

    A Choice for Recovering Addicts: Relapse or Homelessness
    By KIM BARKER MAY 30, 2015

    After a lifetime of abusing drugs, Horace Bush decided at age 62 that getting clean had become a matter of life or death. So Mr. Bush, a homeless man who still tucked in his T-shirts and ironed his jeans, moved to a flophouse in Brooklyn that was supposed to help people like him, cramming into a bedroom the size of a parking space with three other men.

    Mr. Bush signed up for a drug-treatment program and emerged nine months later determined to stay sober. But the man who ran the house, Yury Baumblit, a longtime hustler and two-time felon, had other ideas.

    Mr. Baumblit got kickbacks on the Medicaid fees paid to the outpatient treatment programs that he forced all his tenants to attend, residents and former employees said. So he gave Mr. Bush a choice: If he wanted to stay, he would have to relapse and enroll in another program. Otherwise, his bed would be given away.

    “‘Do what you do’ — that’s what he told me,” Mr. Bush recalled.

    Mr. Bush, rail-thin with sad eyes, wanted to avoid the streets and homeless shelters at all costs. He turned to his self-medication of choice: beer, with a chaser of heroin and crack cocaine. Then he enrolled in a new program chosen by Mr. Baumblit.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/nyregion/three-quarter-housing-a-choice-for-recovering-addicts-or-homelessness.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=1

  71. 71.

    Ruckus

    @Belafon:
    Saw a report on his time as mayor and the police dept “broken windows” policy and said the same thing, he’s going nowhere.

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    @Emerald:
    Our intrepid media aren’t better informed than the rest of us, they are us. The Ugly American was published in 1958, and how much has changed?

  73. 73.

    Southern Beale

    What’s the difference between ISIS and ISIL? I thought the L stood for “Levant.” So let’s call it ISIL and leave the goddess Isis alone.

  75. 75.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Belafon: O’Maley is polling at 2% among Maryland Democrats.

    He’s not the liberal alternative to Clinton. He’s not even the technocratic alternative to Clinton. He’s the “Clinton just got hit by a bus” alternative to Sanders for centrist/”pragmatic” Dems.

  76. 76.

    rikyrah

    this went through an entire food chain of executives and nobody said..

    THIS IS A BAD PHUCKING IDEA.

    ……………………………………….

    The Hunger Games: New CBS reality show exploits poor families by making them grovel for $101,000
    30 MAY 2015 AT 09:59 ET

    As if to prove there are new depths to be plumbed in the world of reality television (because who knew?), CBS just debuted The Briefcase, a show which takes poverty porn, class anxiety, emotional manipulation and exploitation and packages them all neatly into a pretty despicable hour of primetime television. Kicking off each episode with the question, “What would you do with $101,000?” the show then deep-dives into a competition that asks two unwitting, financially strapped families to choose between two no-win options: being financially solvent yet appearing heartless and greedy, or drowning in debt yet having audiences recognize them as selfless and giving.

    It’s hard to imagine a network executive didn’t get the idea for this show from the “Button, Button” episode of the Twilight Zone. The Briefcase focuses on two “middle-class” families—a questionable but highly American take on the phrase, since both are debt saddled, with one primary breadwinner, and essentially living on the edge of financial ruin. Both are told they’ll be participating in a documentary about money. Instead, a producer from the show unexpectedly comes to their house with a suitcase full of cold, hard cash: $101,000 to be exact. That could be a life-changing – and in the case of families so near the financial cliff, nearly life-saving – sum of money. But this being reality TV, instead of just giving them the cash, there’s a major catch.

    Both families are informed that somewhere out there, there’s another family “who’s also in need,” and are given a choice: “You can keep all of the money, you can keep some of the money, or you can give it all away.” Neither family knows that the other family also has a suitcase full of cash and is debating how much, if any, they’ll share. And since both families were originally told they were merely going to be the subjects of a documentary, neither of them really signed up for this exercise in televised torture.

    What follows, predictably, is a gut-wrenching look at the two families being guilted this way and that over whether to choose charity or financial survival. In the first episode, the Bergins of North Carolina, a family of five—mom, Kim; dad, Drew; and three teenage daughters—are trying to make do on Kim’s salary of $15.50 an hour, since Drew’s ice cream truck business is failing. And in New Hampshire, the Bronsons—featuring dad Dave, an Iraq war vet who lost his leg in combat—are scraping by on the earnings of mom Cara, who works the night shift as a nurse and is pregnant with their second child.

    http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/the-hunger-games-new-cbs-reality-show-exploits-poor-families-by-making-them-grovel-for-101000/

  79. 79.

    SRW1

    @scav:

    Too bad Sarko can’t give himself a do-over. Probably his biggest obstacle on the way to an encore in the Elysee.

  80. 80.

    Chris

    @scav:

    With his shtick of “winning voters back from the FN” (or as they call it in America, the Southern Strategy), Sarkozy has long struck me as France’s Nixon.

    So the renaming is appropriate, though I doubt if it’s inspired by America.

  81. 81.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Beeb: My mistake. I got her mixed up with Angharad Rees.
    Ms. Rees was the reason I watched the original.

  84. 84.

    rikyrah

    BWA HA HA AH HA HA HA HA

    You better believe you open your mouth to apologize real quick if you slammed the door…..

    OR THAT DOOR WOULD BE OFF THE HINGES FOR AN UNDETERMINED AMOUNT OF TIME.

    every morning, Mama would stroll by as you come out of the bathroom, because you can’t dress in your room anymore BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO DOOR.

    ‘ I bet you wish you could take that slam back, don’t ya?”

    and don’t even THINK about asking when the door would return.

    https://twitter.com/TheRealMikeEpps/status/604689806736683008

  85. 85.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    FoxNews speaks

    Geraldo RiveraVerified account
    ‏@ GeraldoRivera
    Sex misconduct from yrs ago was gross but Speaker Hastert is now a victim who should be given pass in exchange for testimony vs blackmailer.

  86. 86.

    Valdivia

    @scav:

    We tend to recycle our politicians in Latin America but I have never understood the longevity of Berlusconi.
    Why would Sarko rebrand with that name? Won’t everyone simply think of the GOP?

  87. 87.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:
    Indeed, the consensus was apparently that taunting poor people by making them weigh their own need against their conscience would make excellent television.

  88. 88.

    SRW1

    @Chris:

    The weird thing is that for some time ‘Die Republikaner’ was the pendant of the FN in Germany.

    Also, too: A wanna-be Napoleon re-naming his ‘movement’ into ‘les Republicains’. Probably his Hungarian ancestry showing through.

  89. 89.

    scav

    @Chris: He always struck me as Bush-Lite, but that would probably have been long before his catering to the toes of LePen castoffs. The “pretending to speak for all French” is more more the thing, the appropriating of symbols belonging to the whole nation trick. Can’t think that even he thinks naming a party deliberately after our lot of politicos is going to win over anyone over there.

  90. 90.

    Amir Khalid

    @Valdivia:
    Well, French people would associate Les Républicains with the modern French republic, rather than the American one.

  95. 95.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Valdivia:

    Why would Sarko rebrand with that name? Won’t everyone simply think of the GOP?

    Or 1930s Spain and I really don’t think Sarko wants that.

  96. 96.

    scav

    @rikyrah: They’ve all gone nuts, the Beeb has one too: BBC defends reality show involving poor, dubbed ‘Hunger Games’

    The five-part BBC2 series will pit contestants against each other in a series of jobs and tasks with the “least effective workers” asked to leave until one is crowned champion.

    The winner will receive a cash prize of about £15,500, the minimum annual wage for workers outside London.

    I don’t think Britain’s Hardest Grafter quite makes the cross-puddle translation intact. . .

  98. 98.

    SRW1

    @rikyrah:

    What, you don’t think watching the worms squirm makes for great entertainment?!

    Btw: The BBC had a similarly great idea of making some poor suckers fight it out for scrabs.

    If the Beeb is now at this stage I am trending towards the idea that maybe the meteor is overdue.

    Eta: I see scav got to that BBC Story already.

  100. 100.

    Chris

    @scav:

    Yes, your article mentioned that a lot of people were pissed because “ALL French are republicans!” And I agree with you – that’s exactly the point. Appropriate a generic and universal symbol of the nation, then tar all those who won’t follow you as antipatriotic. Textbook right wing.

  101. 101.

    WereBear

    @Omnes Omnibus: They will be as cruel and callous as we allow them to be.

    Since I’m already boycotting network, I can’t threaten to do it more.

    But, sadly, I’m not surprised.

  102. 102.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    See that would have been my prefered association. But most definitely not one that would help Sarko with his rebranding.

    Costa Rica had a lot of exiled Republicanos from Spain, always much respected them, was fascinated by them.

  103. 103.

    Steeplejack

    Mildly disappointed that ISIS on Archer—the International Secret Intelligence Service—got scrubbed and “disappeared” with nary a mention. I thought the show is semi-edgy enough that they could have had at least one episode addressing the “branding” issue, if nothing else.

    P.S. Apparently FX had a lot of ISIS merchandise that they had to send to the landfill.

  105. 105.

    Germy Shoemangler

    Mystery chord solved

    Hard Day’s Night opening chord, deconstructed by Randy Bachman (with help from Giles Martin)

  107. 107.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Amir Khalid: If I thought for a nano-second that Jerry Rivers (as Kurt Vonnegut, his ex-father in law called him) would come to the same conclusion if the exact same charges were brought against a democrat, I wouldn’t despise him quite as much as I do.

    Which is quite a lot.

  108. 108.

    Steeplejack

    @p.a.:

    Blackhawks-Ducks game is on NBC at 8:00 p.m. EDT tonight.

    ETA: Unless your complaint is that both of them weren’t on network TV. The one last night was on NBC Sports Network.

  109. 109.

    heckblazer

    Time for the goddess to drop the Greek name and go back to her Ancient Egyptian roots with “Iset”.

  110. 110.

    Valdivia

    @burnspbesq:

    At 3:30 espn2 is showing the Copa del Rey between Barca and Atletico de Bilbao. I always enjoy watching Messi play (even with Suarez on the pitch. Not a fan of Suarez)

  111. 111.

    satby

    Wow! I got back from the funeral and see that Belle is well on her way to heartworm treatment! Hooray! Once that’s out of the way, a spay and tumor removal will really help that sweet girl feel better!
    Juicers rock.

  113. 113.

    SRW1

    @Valdivia:

    Not a fan of Suarez either, but if you look at how far Liverpool have fallen this season without him and how much better Barca performs with him compared to the beginning of this season when he was still ineligible, Suarez seems to be a guy who can lift the game of his team mates quite significantly. Too bad something appears to have gone wrong with/for him somewhere along the way

  115. 115.

    Amir Khalid

    FIFA president Sepp Blatter says the US is out to get him. Vladimir Putin says the US is out to get the 2018 World Cup moved elsewhere, as a hostile move against Russia. True or not? Salon movie critic/political pundit Andrew O’Hehir can’t make up his mind. I think that as a tactical objective, neither Blatter nor the location of the World Cup matters enough for the US — for the Obama administration, anyway — to be doing that..

  117. 117.

    sharl

    @rikyrah: Salon’s Elias Isquith also wrote about “The Briefcase”, per link (which I modified) in one of his tweets:

    Elias Isquith @eliasisquith

    America is really good at making poor people feel really bad: America’s never-ending war on poor people: Why “The Briefcase” is just the latest assault
    10:21 AM – 30 May 2015

    Someone who self-describes as a producer of “The Briefcase” – and the very active defense of the show in that twitter account’s timeline would seem to verify that – replied to the tweet:

    Dave Broome @broome88

    @eliasisquith Good morning. Let me know if you have the guts for me to define what POOR really is. Happy to be interviewed and challenged.

    11:10 AM – 30 May 2015

    Sooo… if you’re looking for new and exciting definitions of poor or poverty, Mr. Broome’s ur man, apparently!

  119. 119.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Steeplejack: Well, these creeps like Denny and Jerry do belong to the same fucked-up club, right? And they do look out for each other, too. As I said: creeps.

  120. 120.

    Valdivia

    @SRW1:

    I have to agree with you. It is actually kind of amazing to see El Tridente del Sur (Messi, Suarez, Neymar) on the pitch. They play at a completely different level together. But as good as Suarez is, there is something off with him. I am very curious to see him next week at the Champions League with Chiellini playing for Juventus. Will he bite him again?

    @Amir Khalid: we’ll see next week how good the treatment has been. They better have that muzzle ready though….

  122. 122.

    guachi

    @Southern Beale:

    What’s the difference between ISIS and ISIL? I thought the L stood for “Levant.” So let’s call it ISIL and leave the goddess Isis alone.

    I’m sure you’ve heard the acronym Daesh, which is used by Arabic speakers.The ‘D’ is for State. The ‘A’ is for Islamic (The Arabic acronym changes the pronunciation slightly from the original ‘I’ sound to an ‘A’ so the ‘A’ is actually fairly accurate). The ‘E’ is for Iraq and it’s a fair transliteration of the sound Iraq actually begins with in Arabic. Think of saying ahhhhhh and then constricting your throat. The ‘SH’ is for Sham and that’s where the translation of the name of the organization has problems. The translation of Sham is something like Greater Syria but it’s also a nickname for Syria itself. So do you use Syria or Levant as a translation? As for me, I’d probably go with Levant to give the wider sense.

    Or you can just use Daesh if you want to sound cool.

  123. 123.

    MazeDancer

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    If you’re doing it from afar, TripAdvisor.com and AirBnB have reviews. And usually lots of pictures. They seem more up to date than VRBO.com. But perhaps in Florida there is so much more vacation action all the rental sites are more visited.

    But I’ve had good luck with accuracy in Trip Advisor reviews.

  124. 124.

    Valdivia

    my god, Messi is such an artist with the ball.
    If anyone is interested, here is Daniel Alarcon at The New Yorker with an ode to his play.

    that gol was epic.
    Sorry live blogging a game no one is watching here.

  127. 127.

    ThresherK

    @Steeplejack: “Are we not using phrasing any longer?”

    @Valdivia: I’m watching it. Of all the soccer teams I root for, Barca is the most accomplished. And Burton Albion is the tastiest (or so I’m told by reputation).

    PS Even before the edit window runs out, it’s 2-0.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @Valdivia:

    Loved the guy with the Scottish accent saying the defense was “bamboozled—befuddled!”

    That stadium is huge! And it’s packed.

    I made sure to watch this because I missed the F.A. Cup final earlier. My brother called me at the last minute to go to lunch.

    I’m getting ready to go into fútbol withdrawal for the summer. Even though I’m not a rabid fan, I do like having the games on the in the background, and usually there’s at least one match a week that I really watch.

  129. 129.

    Southern Beale

    I’m pumped for the Blackhawks/Ducks game tonight. Kinda rooting for the ‘Hawks only because they beat us in round 1 and if we had to get pushed out of playoff contention I want it to be by the Western Conference champion.

  131. 131.

    Germy Shoemangler

    Paris Flood of 1910

    Paris and its environs has regularly experienced flooding previous to 1910. But that year, after months of rainfall, the city experienced one of the most severe episodes of flooding in its history.
    On Jan. 21, the Seine began to rise more rapidly than usual. Parisians evacuated at-risk locations. Then, on the outskirts, the river burst its banks. In the centre of the city, workmen hurriedly built embankments to stop the Seine flooding the city’s quays — the water only rose up through tunnels, drains and sewers.
    A week later, the Seine reached its peak at six metres above its normal level, flooding 12 of Paris’s 20 arrondissements (districts). Roughly 20,000 buildings were devastated and 200,000 people made homeless. Emergency services, police and charities, alongside the citizens of Paris, pulled together and organised ferry services and built wooden walkways to keep the city operating.

  132. 132.

    Valdivia

    @Steeplejack:

    wow, they just walked into the Atletico net like it was their home.

    That Scottish guy is my favorite, his turns of phrase are poetic.

    The Copa America is beginning in a couple of weeks so maybe you won’t have to have too much withdrawal. :)

    @ThresherK:

    I confess that I usually root for Real Madrid, but how can you not love watching Barca play when they play like this?

  133. 133.

    Steeplejack

    @Valdivia:

    The Copa America is beginning in a couple of weeks [. . .].

    True, but I like the week-to-week routine of league play

  134. 134.

    Roy G.

    Why ISIS? I’m guessing it’s because ‘Legion of Doom’ was already taken.

  135. 135.

    Steeplejack

    Shnikeys. Just saw the recap of the F.A. Cup final. Arsenal rout. Not so sorry I missed it now.

  137. 137.

    Valdivia

    @Steeplejack:

    yes, the one month cup country competition is not the same. I think Copa Libertadores is still going on in South America if you are willing to put up with things like Boca fans throwing pepper gas at the River players.

    @JCJ:
    :) I am still shaking my head at how amazing that was.

  139. 139.

    Botsplainer

    Nearly put the dog in a bad way unintentionally. Went for a hike, it’s about 90. We were making a solid pace of about 22 miles/minute in fairly rugged terrain with a significant uphill (he’s done this exact hike with us about 3 times since March). I stopped to share some handfuls of water with him along the way, and when we were about at the two mile mark on the uphill stopped for lunch. He rejected his food, was panting hard, was unenthusiastic about his water and frantic to eat grass and plants. We realized he was having a heat reaction, poured his water bottles (we carry two big bottles for him, together with our camelback bladders) over his head and neck, and took the wimp out spur to avoid the extra 3.5 miles.

    He’s fine now, but please be careful with active dogs in summer heat.

  144. 144.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Valdivia: Well, the drizzle does count as humidity.

    @JCJ: When I was out cycling earlier, there was a 20mph wind out of the north east. And the drizzle. All in all, a rather miserable ride.

  145. 145.

    Botsplainer

    @Valdivia:

    He’s looking a little pathetic and feeling sorry for himself since we’re completely wiping his ass out of guilt, but is enthusiastic about his food and the ice in his water bowl.

    Little shit really had us worried!

  147. 147.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Well I was focusing on the 54 temperature, but still, a drizzle is always preferable to the DC stickiness that clings like a second skin. ETA: but since you were out cycling that drizzle with the wind was probably worse, I give you that!

  148. 148.

    Linnaeus

    @Southern Beale:

    I’m pumped for the Blackhawks/Ducks game tonight. Kinda rooting for the ‘Hawks only because they beat us in round 1 and if we had to get pushed out of playoff contention I want it to be by the Western Conference champion.

    I can never cheer for the Blackhawks, and I don’t care much for the Ducks, so I’m just going to watch for the hockey.

  149. 149.

    Botsplainer

    @Steeplejack:

    We were feeling kind of badass. We’d done 11 miles last Sunday without him at a 25 minute/mile pace, no problem. We know his limit is at about 6 miles, but the pace today was just too fast.

    I want to do at least a half marathon next year. I’m kind of a fat ass heading toward the wrong side of middle age, but my BP is good, my musculature and endurance are good and I have none of the joint problems that afflict my friends.

  151. 151.

    Steeplejack

    @Valdivia:

    First subjective day of summer for me, i.e., first time I got in the car and it was boiling hot. Immediately ran the windows down and blasted the A.C.

  159. 159.

    Don

    Or, you could just go with the ancient Egyptian spelling (Isis is the Greek spelling), which is probably something like “Aset” or “Iset.” Might be difficult to get everyone on board except the ancient Egyptian linguists, though.

  160. 160.

    sharl

    @sharl: David Broome, producer of the new CBS show “The Briefcase” (see rikyrah‘s comment at #76), elaborates further on the people chosen for his show (bolding is mine):

    Dave Broome @broome88

    A family of 4 is defined as POOR with a HH income of about less than $24k. My families avg $66k and struggle

    So could it be that this new show doesn’t so much mock poor people, but rather mocks people who can’t budget worth shit? If so, not sure I’d like it much better. Genuine, real life poverty/econ researcher Matt Bruenig certainly doesn’t like the show’s concept:

    interesting, have you also considered though, in creating the show, that it’s actually shit?

  161. 161.

    SRW1

    @Valdivia:

    The Copa America is beginning in a couple of weeks so maybe you won’t have to have too much withdrawal.

    I hear the ladies also have a tournament starting soon. World Championship in Canada or something.

  163. 163.

    PurpleGirl

    @sharl: I’m having flashbacks to Queen for a Day, wherein contests told their sob stories and the audience got to vote on who told the sobbiest sob story and got to win the new car, appliances, furniture, etc. I’m not sure, but I think, the winners had to pay income taxes on the winnings’ values.

  164. 164.

    JPL

    @sharl: One family is earning $15.50 an hour which comes out to 32,000 plus.
    I call bullshit unless that person is working a ton of overtime. They would have to average 70 hours a week.

  166. 166.

    sharl

    @PurpleGirl: I don’t plan on watching this new show, but I’m curious about whether its producer is gonna run out of the twitter-lipstick he is generously applying to his pet pig.

    I’d forgotten about Queen for a Day, and I only have dim, distant memories of it. Variations of that show’s approach have been successful in the past, so who knows, maybe this thing will find an audience (the coveted Honey Boo-Boo/Duggars fan base, maybe?).

  167. 167.

    opiejeanne

    My youngest just texted us that she’s engaged. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry; she’s the child with commitment issues but she’s old enough at 32 to know her own mind, as if she didn’t come out of the womb knowing her own mind. She’s been engaged twice before and “ran off to join the circus” both times. She came home in December, had had enough circuses she says. She and he met while working together on a traveling show about a year before quitting and moving to Seattle.

    Sent us a photo of her ring, nice ruby and two diamond chips in an “antique” setting; the style reminds me of the 50s/60s.

  168. 168.

    fuckwit

    @rikyrah: Three hots and a cot, as they say. Another “choice” to avoid homelessness is prison. Knock off a liquor store in a way that guarantees you get caught and you have a place to sleep for the night at least.

    This country is monstrous.

  172. 172.

    Chris

    @scav:

    Thread probably dead, but a longer response;

    Sarkozy was both smarter and much more of a hands-on control freak, both things that remind me more of Nixon than the lazy frat boy we had in the Oval Office more recently. There were no Cheneys and Rumsfelds pulling Sarkozy’s strings, or that he was outsourcing entire government portfolios to. He was the Decider, a real one.

    But yeah, the messages he’s riding into office, it’s all (in American terms) late-sixties-right-wing-backlash stuff. Look at the response to the Paris riots and his calls to “clean out the scum.” Out with the old-fashioned, overt, unreconstructed Vichyists with the Holocaust denial and Jewish bankers conspiracy theories… In with the new, mainstreamed racism hiding behind a paper thin veneer of law and order, immigration restrictions, etc.

  173. 173.

    graham

    @Amir Khalid: You beat me to it….but it was the 5th day of May….what a great fucking song. That Rolling Thunder tour was something else too. SO glad there is an official release from that tour….

  175. 175.

    low-tech cyclist

    Also affected by the branding challenge:

    She said “Where’ve you been?” I said “No place special.”
    She said “You look different.” I said “Well, I guess.”
    She said “You’ve been gone.” I said, “That’s only natural.”
    She said “You gonna stay?” “If you want me to, yes.”

    -Dylan, “Isis” (from the Desire album)

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