I could have used multiple arms this weekend when I was trying to put TWO sets of shelves together:
After much cursing and weeping and gnashing of teeth, we got the shelves assembled and our spare room / office / guest quarters organized. The most vexing set of assembly instructions came from an outfit in Ocala, Florida, so there’s not even the excuse of a language barrier.
A couple of times when we were knee-deep in unidentified shelf parts and facing fateful decisions that would necessitate disassembly at a later stage should we make the wrong choice at that moment, I threatened to load up the parts and drive to Ocala to demand coherent instructions. But then I had a glass of wine and calmed down.
Open thread!
Elizabelle
CNN is out of control publicizing this Republican debate. Anchor lady just called it as exciting a prospect as the Super Bowl.
Toilet bowl, more like it.
Germy Shoemangler
I have thrown a shit fit or two when faced with incomprehensible instructions for product assembly.
In other news
I saw a few brief clips of Bernie Sanders at Liberty College. There seemed to be a small contingent of Bernie fans in the audience, and they were appreciative.
Calouste
Bush3 is now shared 5th in the two latest New Hampshire polls, and shared 8th with Santorum at 3% in the latest Iowa poll.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: Yeah, but we’ll be watching! Unless there’s a good football game on or something.
Germy Shoemangler
@Elizabelle: Jeb? promises to be more energized.
Another Holocene Human
Betty Cracker marching on Ocala, like Boudica marching on Londinium.
They would have given you the runaround anyway. I wish you would have confronted them and filmed it, anyway.
Now I’m imagining a biopic of the “technical writer”. (Technically, he had to show he could spell his name without assistance.) Sure, he’s not a real technical writer, but this good ole boy can cuss you up, down, and sideways, and on the dusty backroads of Marion County, that’s what really matters.
Brachiator
The multiple armed goddess figured in a 3 Stooges short I saw over the weekend. We’re talking slapstick squared.
Another Holocene Human
@Germy Shoemangler: Are they going to hook him up to fresh batteries?
peach flavored shampoo
Longest toes evah.
Germy Shoemangler
I am here to denounce all “membrane” push buttons everywhere. I long for the old days, and real buttons and switches and dials.
I have a dishwasher from 2003. The membrane ON switch is not responsive. The others are fine. When I called for repair, I was told that model was discontinued. I don’t want a new dishwasher; this one is fine. The goddam membrane on switch is crap. With repeated use they become less and less responsive.
Betty Cracker
@Germy Shoemangler: There’s just no excuse for how bad these instructions were. It was obvious the company hadn’t tested the instructions on anyone. A couple of years ago, we gutted our kitchen and assembled and installed all the cabinets, counters, etc., using stuff we got from Ikea, so it’s not like we can’t figure out incomprehensible instructions!
Germy Shoemangler
@Another Holocene Human: His brother W appeared to be wearing a wire in one of his debates with Kerry. Maybe it was a battery pack.
Another Holocene Human
@Brachiator: Waiting for schrodinger’s cat to come up from the other thread and explicate. Aren’t the multiple arms just a depiction of hands displaying multiple gestures (mudras?) and each gesture has a specific meaning?
Germy Shoemangler
@Betty Cracker: Translations of translations, probably, and written by a robot.
Elizabelle
@Germy Shoemangler: Can he do “energized” and “cerebral” in the same debate? Multitasker.
RE: Bernie at Liberty: haven’t seen footage yet, but think it was a great idea to go there. Not every kid there is a headbanging fundamentalist, and more than a few have likely twigged the chasm between what the Bible says and the GOP in practice. He could pick off some supporters, and at least treated them with respect by appearing.
Another Holocene Human
@Germy Shoemangler: laughing out loud for read
he was defs wired, too
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: “Ronald Reagan” cannot be a drinking cue or we will be poisoned before the debate starts. Being at the RWR Library in Simi Valley (infamous for another reason).
Another Holocene Human
@Germy Shoemangler: Agreed. My mom bought a Maytag, guess what, repairman was busy. When those buttons went they had to replace the whole button board. It was like 2 years old.
They are easier to clean. And I’ve had several microwaves that saw heavy use and were touch buttons and never had a crack. The manufacturers have machines to simulate “wear and tear” so they know when they’re selling shit.
Scum.
Another Holocene Human
@peach flavored shampoo: Is she crushing a baby, as the Virgin Mary crushes the serpent?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Elizabelle: I wish they would do two rounds of debates, just to see the difference in ratings between Trump and not-Trump, just to pile on Jeb? and Li’l Marco and the rest (I guess Scottie is now down to “the rest”)
shell
@Elizabelle: \Do they have a little digital clock count-down in the corner? They do that some time.
hilts
Artist Is Selling A Menstrual Blood Portrait Of Trump To Raise Money For Immigrants
http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/trump-period-portrait#.rhoNyM1e4
Germy Shoemangler
The clips I saw of Bernie at Liberty … he did well. He went into extreme detail (numbers and everything!) rather than the vague generalities we usually hear from …ahem… GOP candidates. He said exactly how much the repubs cut from the budget. Poor families, young children.
Brachiator
@Another Holocene Human: In the Stooges short? Yes.
JPL
@Elizabelle: They treated him with respect. I have to admit that I was quite impressed. He didn’t hem and haw about his support of gay marriage and and a woman’s right to choose. He talked about common ground and pointed out how devastating the Republican budget was towards family.
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Huh. I suppose if it were a Superbowl between Oakland and Minnesota with halftime show by Madonna, they’d have a point but wouldn’t we all be rooting for a comet in either case?
Elizabelle
@Another Holocene Human: Yeah. All those arms, and the baby is lying there unattended and maybe crying in distress.
Story behind this artwork, I think …
Brachiator
@Elizabelle: how about “Liberty” or “Liberals” as a drinking cue?
shell
Speak of the devil. Im in the middle of disassembling some book shelves, or what I thought could be used for books. I bought them from Ikea but they’re really made for pantry items. A neighbor kid is starting his own car detailing business so hes gonna take them for his materials.
catclub
@peach flavored shampoo: I think in some versions, those locks of hair are cobras.
JPL
@Germy Shoemangler: If you have time, Elizabelle posted the link…
http://www.c-span.org/video/?328079-1/senator-bernie-sanders-ivt-remarks-liberty-university
It’s possible to slide over on the bottom, unless you are in need of prayer.
Eleven or twelve minutes in… More like fifteen minutes in..
redshirt
Has anyone read a book called Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny?
It’s an awesome sci-fi take on the Hindu and Buddhist pantheon/mythology. Loved it so much I immediately re-read it when finishing – it’s one of those books that’s even better the second time.
Germy Shoemangler
@JPL:
Yes, in response to a question about abortion he reminded them of how young, low-income families who do what the Liberty folks want and keep their babies have funding and services cut.
I heard some applause and cheering but have no idea what the majority of the audience was thinking.
Elizabelle
CNN’s Brooke Baldwin has GOT to work for the GOP. She’s breathless. She’s excited about the Air Force One at the Reagan Library. Says she will tour it.
Were I a White House staffer, I’d be thinking “and that is the closest she is going to get to Air Force One, for some time.”
CNN: It’s like the choice is just Republicans, and you don’t hear about Democrats except Hillary Clinton (email scandal; untrustworthy; numbers dropping) and Bernie Sanders (Sochulist) and Joe Biden (run, run, run, cuz Hillary is so unpopular and unelectable — not).
Michael Smerconish informs Michael Reagan says that Rick Perry had some “Reaganesque qualities.”
No doubt.
Brooke Baldwin did not ask what qualities, specifically.
schrodinger's cat
@Another Holocene Human: This is not a woman but Natraja the Lord of Dance, a manifestation of Shiva, the destroyer of the Universe. The one in the famous Oppenheimer quote.
ETA: The dance of destruction is called the Tandava. That’s not a baby but an evil demon he has killed. The demon represents ignorance.
JPL
@Germy Shoemangler: Maybe they were lectured before hand about showing respect to those who you disagree. It did sound like he was well received. It really surprised me.
Elizabelle
@Brachiator: Freedom!
From sobriety.
shell
@redshirt: Yes! I love his books.
Fred
In Robert Persig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” he explained how assembly instructions are written. The department responsible for producing the instructions sends a writer to the plant where they make the product. The foreman on the floor goes and gets the worker he can best afford to do without, the biggest goof off on the crew and tells him to explain how the product should be assembled. The writer takes notes and uses those notes to write the instruction manual.
rikyrah
uh huh
uh huh
………………….
Sign attacking Black Lives Matter activists left at site of police shooting
Relatives paying their first visit to the site of the killing of an unarmed black man by police in North Carolina were greeted by a sign attacking civil rights activists as racists and ordering them to “leave our neighborhood alone”, according to family representatives.
Jonathan Ferrell’s mother and brother travelled on Monday to Bradfield Farms, in the eastern suburbs of Charlotte, to lay a wreath on the spot where the 24-year-old former Florida A&M University football player was fatally shot by a police officer two years ago.
According to a family spokesman, before the Ferrells arrived at the site of the shooting a wooden placard was placed nearby. It displayed a message in white paint that said: “We reject your racist attitude … leave our neighborhood alone!”
The sign was addressed “to the racist groups” Black Lives Matter and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was restyled as the “National Association of Always Complaining People”.
A small vigil with the Ferrells had been scheduled by local activists for Monday evening.
The Ferrell family’s spokesman, Ryan Julison, said: “It’s incredibly disappointing that the message this neighbourhood would choose to send to this grieving family is something so negative.”
The location of the sign, at the entrance to the Bradfield Farms Swim and Racquet Club, was verified by the Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/14/jonathan-ferrell-north-carolina-sign?CMP=share_btn_tw
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Pierce reminds me that David Gregory has written a book about his firing and his faith-journey, or something like that. I ask, with Pierce, who the hell cares? but it reminded me of this blatherskyte I saw last week
Such a penetrating question. I wonder what Washington, Jefferson and Madison would have thought of it.
Me, I find every one of those stories– “I think God wants me to be President”, “God told me to strike Saddam”, even “Gog and Magog”, utterly believable.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
He didn’t recognize his own son at the boy’s high school graduation? He confused real life with the movies? Again, utterly believable
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: Heartbreaking.
Germy Shoemangler
We were watching Washington Week In Review last night, and Doyle McManus was talking about the Iran deal. He seemed to make a freudian slip. He said something to the effect of… “The deal has enough votes to pass, but there are still things folks on our side can do to prevent it.”
Wife and I looked at each other like “WTF??”
ThresherK (GPad)
@Elizabelle: There used to be a third-place game in the NFL,for a few years after expansion and before the Super Bowl. If you think that sounds anticlimactic, get in line: More than one head coach called it The Toilet Bowl.
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah. It’s fun to think about.
Reagan did not like to be seen in glasses, so that’s out.
Maybe the Perrys eat dinner off TV trays when they’re home. In a red room.
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
Speaking of incomprehensibility without the excuse of a language barrier, I had the unusually happy accident yesterday afternoon that the only available exercise machine of the type I needed at my gym happened to be directly in front of the one (out of five) TV monitors showing “Fox News Sunday” – any you may be asking both “how can that possibly be a ‘happy’ accident”, and “what’s unusual about incomprehensible things being said on Faux News Network” despite the lack of any language barrier?
Well, the sound is left “off” on all five monitors, but the particular monitor showing Faux News Sunday was set to display Fox’s closed captioning for the channel – which was often hilariously inept yesterday afternoon, producing an ironic malapropism every second or third sentence. For example, at the end of the panel discussion, moderator Chris Wallace said: “We’ll have to end it there, time for a sip” (instead of “time’s up”), as if someone had just uttered the trigger word in a drinking game. I only wish I could remember exactly how the closed captioning mangled a Bobby Jindal comment about Donald Trump into a comment that made it seem as if Jindal was instead describing himself as “an extremely destructive man doing extreme damage to the Republican brand”…but I had to suppress laughing out loud to keep from looking like a crazy man to the folks next to me absorbed in the football games on the other channels.
trollhattan
@Elizabelle: Both schlepped out of office before he could be impeached, so there’s that.
RK
Saw a poll where 60% of GOP voters want an outsider. That doesn’t bode well for Bush and others and explains, to some extent, Trump’s Teflon coating.
NonyNony
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Reagan also suffered from short-term memory loss such that he could start a sentence with three things on his mind and end it with only two?
I don’t buy it – Reagan was a trained B-list actor. If there was one thing he excelled at it was memorizing his script.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Germy Shoemangler: that surprises me. I always had a good opinion of McManus (I quit watching Washington Week regularlly during the ’04 campaign, Ifill was just awful).
I sometimes catch Andrea Mitchell on sat radio in the car (even with X00 channels, sometimes there’s nothing on), Andrea Mitchell was thoroughly obnoxious on the run up to the Iran deal. She interviewed Kerry and kept harping on the opposition “from both parties!”, and the last week or so has been triumphant something HRC said about Syria that proves that we should have invaded like she (Mrs Greenspan) wanted to.
Matt McIrvin
@Elizabelle: He apparently had a line about how the US was “founded on racist principles”. Which is (1) true, and (2) something you probably can’t say if you want to be President.
NonyNony
@RK: Explains both Trump and Carson. Also the Fiorina-curious.
Unsurprising tho – for 30+ years they’ve been pushing the “gubbmint is bad, business is good” line. So why should it be surprising at all that they’re rejecting politicians who have spent their entire lives in government “service” in favor of outsiders who haven’t held elected office for a single day their entire lives?
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I read a remembrance of Reagan from one of his Secret Service peeps on a news site earlier today. While vacationing at his California ranch, the addled old fart used a pistol to scare a heron away from his koi pond. It also scared the shit out of his detail, which promptly took Reagan’s guns away and said he could only use them after asking permission first. I wonder what the NRA thought about that anecdote.
Cacti
@Germy Shoemangler:
I don’t have a problem with Sanders or any other Dem candidate going to speak at Falwell University as a matter of principle.
For his supporters who stroked out over Obama and Rick Warren, but are throwing bouquets at Bernie for visiting Liberty…the line to kiss the President’s ass forms to the left.
Germy Shoemangler
@Matt McIrvin: Good thing he wasn’t speaking at Bob Jones university. He could have said the same thing about the founder.
boatboy_srq
At least it was a Floridian business. One outfit I worked with had their components built in China and the product assembled somewhere out that way just so they could get their “made in the U.S.A.” badge…
Matt McIrvin
@Germy Shoemangler: I’m sure you could say that of Falwell as well, though he seems to have repented of some of his former views eventually.
Germy Shoemangler
@NonyNony: Speaking of Reagan, nothing like using the man’s own words to make the current-day GOP candidates look foolish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrMED4_OdkA
Ajabu
You’ve got it easy. My wife just took a new job (2500 miles away) and I drove her out there – so she’d have a car – and flew back. Now I’m in the process of packing up 3000 s.f. house (by myself) and getting prepared to drive a big truck coast to coast. All while we pay double living expenses till I find a renter: mortgage & utilities here, rent & utilities there.
I would have gladly given you a couple of shelf units and much more instead of packing them all up.
I’m too old for this shit…
Mike in NC
@Elizabelle: Perry has good, thick Reaganesque hair.
Amir Khalid
@Mike in NC:
… and a good thick Reaganesque skull, too.
Elizabelle
@Mike in NC: I catch your drift. And a good, thick skull on which to display it.
boatboy_srq
@NonyNony: Memorize, or ad-lib? Prepared on-script performance and improvisation are two entirely different skills. Saint Ronnie always struck me as being better at the latter. And “trained B-list actor” also translates as “Cast straight from the valet parking crew – but the camera just loves him!”
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: Yup.
When Republicans proposed putting Reagan up on Mount Rushmore (and you know they did), a few comedians proposed they hold off until they could find a stone as thick as his skull from which to carve his visage.
Roger Moore
@Elizabelle:
Poor memory seems like the most obvious one.
Germy Shoemangler
One of Reagan’s first jobs was in radio, pretending to “call” baseball games that he couldn’t actually see. Is it any wonder the GOP worships him? Fraud.
catclub
@Ajabu:
Commercial Mover pricing always seems outrageous, until you try do it yourself with a one-way truck rental. It starts to seem more and more reasonable.
Germy Shoemangler
Twin intolerables: Joyce Mitchell sits down with Today Show’s Matt Lauer for prison interview
Didn’t watch it.
catclub
@RK: I bet the same poll in 1996 would get the same result – and then you get Bob Dole as a candidate – senate lifer married to political insider. They always say they want an outsider.
From Both Sides of the Pond
Crapcrapcrap. Colleague of mine from when I taught at Texas Tech was shot and killed in his office at Delta State University in Mississippi today.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/09/14/active-shooter-delta-state-university-campus/72254712/
Cacti
@From Both Sides of the Pond:
How awful.
I’m truly sorry.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: Is the Nataraja (not Kali) in your home? Or some museum? Its beautiful.
What surrounds him is a ring of fire.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Stuck in an airport again. DTW this time, my home field.
At least the delay is long enough that I can get a meal.
And catch up on the day’s political foolishness.
low-tech cyclist
@Germy Shoemangler:
Yeah, I’ve got a perfectly good battery-powered string trimmer/edger that I bought ~3 years ago. The battery is dead, and a new battery costs $99, which is what a similar trimmer/edger would cost nowadays. The manufacturer says the expected life of a battery for one of these things is 2 years, so I’m paying a lot of money for something I only use 2-3 times a year.
Elizabelle
@From Both Sides of the Pond: I’m so sorry.
Ajabu
@catclub:
You’re absolutely right but we have to factor in that I make my living as a musician. I can barely afford to pay ATTENTION.
A lot of things I’d be glad to pay for I end up doing myself just based on economic reality.
It Be’s That Way Sometimes…
schrodinger's cat
@From Both Sides of the Pond: That’s so sad and needless.
JPL
@From Both Sides of the Pond: I’m so sorry and what a shock that must of been for you to find out. The person that they are looking for is also a professor.
Amir Khalid
I see a fair bit of coverage of Hilary’s campaign in this mode, but the only polls cited to support the doomsaying about her are from Iowa and New Hampshire — which I’m told are the whitest and Berniest states in America. I’ve also been reading that Bernie’s not getting the traction he needs with people of colour among the Democratic party’s support. Why not? Is Bernista obnoxiousness putting other Democrats off, or does Bernie himself not have the right sales pitch/approach?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Germy Shoemangler: I assume you’ve checked places like this, but on the off chance you haven’t, there you go.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
Amir Khalid
@From Both Sides of the Pond:
That’s terrible news. I’m sorry.
danielx
Keystone Kops replay….my brother and I spent ten minutes just now trying to raise my spiffy multi-position ladder against the second story gutter so I could clean out the branches that I am too afeared to get from the roof. I got the 26 foot model (great for doing rooms with cathedral ceilings etc). Great except that the mofo is so heavy and unwieldy that it takes two people minimum to raise it – have to get it vertical and then lower it against the edge of whatever height you’re trying to reach. All to the accompaniment of serious curses and the daughter unit yucking it up from the second story window while watching us blundering around. “Glad YOU’RE enjoying this”, he says through gritted teeth.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: I have said it once and I will say it again. Bernie Sanders is the Howard Dean of this cycle.
trollhattan
@From Both Sides of the Pond:
Simply horrible, I’m so sorry.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@From Both Sides of the Pond: That’s horrible. :-( I’m very sorry for your loss.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Germy Shoemangler
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Thanks for the link.
The dishwasher is a sears kenmore. It came with the house we bought. Our old dishwasher in our old house was older, had a dial, and it worked fine.
I called our local appliance repair place and they checked online and said that model is discontinued. My next step is to call the 800 number at sears. I have been putting this off, because i know it will be a clusterfuck, with automated replies and endless run-arounds.
I may have to use The Betty Cracker Method™ and fortify myself with a glass of wine.
Mike J
@Amir Khalid:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_09/democrats_and_black_voters057572.php
low-tech cyclist
@shell:
Yeah, you see the pics of ‘bookshelves’ in ads, but in the pics, they are mostly display cases for knickknacks, with a book or two thrown in for the hell of it.
I started building my own bookshelves a number of years ago, and besides the fact that they’re made of real wood and can actually support the weight of the books, the neat thing is that I can design the things to fit the books I’ve got. I’ve got one bookcase whose bottom shelf is oversized for atlases and other ultra-large books; I’ve got bookcases that are strictly for standard-sized paperbacks, so they only stand out about five inches from the wall; and all of my bookcases are designed to hold a lot of books with minimal wasted space. Which is important because my wife and I have a metric shitload of books between us.
BethanyAnne
@From Both Sides of the Pond: Oh, no, I’m so sorry to hear that.
schrodinger's cat
Looked for tandava on Youtube, found this. Meenakshi Seshadri performs tandava. I learned Bharatnatyam for 3 years, not enough to progress to tandava, which is technically very demanding.
Cacti
@Amir Khalid:
The most recent trend in the horse race narrative of “Hillary in free fall” is to cite polls including Joe Biden. Suggesting a Biden run also seems to be a full-time obsession for them. Now, Joe’s well-liked in the party (including by me), and I’ve no doubt that if he ran, he’d carry a sizeable share of the primary vote (also possibly from me).
But until he is a declared candidate, I don’t really see the utility of polls that include his numbers, but don’t also include everyone else’s numbers if he wasn’t in the race. That strikes me more as push polling to drive a narrative.
And speaking of narratives, the latest ABC poll shows numbers of Hillary 42/Sanders 24/Biden 21 if Biden was in the race, but Hillary 56/Sanders 28 without Biden. Naturally, the headline was Clinton Drops to 42% in New Poll, ZOMG!
BethanyAnne
I finally put up the 2 shelves I’ve been staining and sealing for the past few weeks. It occurred to me that there should be a named law, like Murphey’s Law or Poe’s Law that states that any home improvement task requires 1 more hand than you currently have available.
Mack
I was enjoying the discussion on the previous thread (not about Kim D, but rather the whole worker/retiree problem) so I hope it’s okay to weigh in here. I’m approaching retirement age, I’m fully aware that my standard of living is about to go way way down. Still, I’ll have a roof and food and some left over for cable, though I doubt I’ll get to travel as much as I’d like to. Still I am also aware that I will still live better than, what, 95% of the people on this planet? Hard to feel bad about my limitations.
I expected to see a huge uptick in multi-generational households. I even briefly considered a new career building homes more suitable for that. I know there are many boomers taking care of elderly parents, (we are doing so now) but I think we will be forced to change the model of have kids, they turn 18, they go out and have their own house, then have kids, etc. I also expect to see future generations getting used to the idea that shared housing may be the norm. Perhaps it will be a good thing, those that like the model will stay in it, others will do so long enough to save for their own abode.
Isn’t this inevitable?
trollhattan
@Cacti:
Hillary also polls poorly against a basket of puppies as well as chocolate ice cream–cone or cup.
schrodinger's cat
Help! Is being moderated for editing my comment.
Yatsuno
@From Both Sides of the Pond: How horrible! I am sorry for the loss of your colleague and friend. Pacem a tei.
@Amir Khalid: Bernie is gaining traction with a lot of young white voters. But that’s about it. He will probably end up winning Iowa and New Hampshire but that will be about the end of anything he can get after that. People who are focusing on the early polling are being horrifically silly, but the media also has a HUGE anti-Clinton bias. Anything that shows a hint of weakness will be overplayed massively. After Super Tuesday Bernie will be a footnote.
This whole calculus changes if Biden jumps in though.
Peale
@trollhattan: I would vote enthusiastically for the basket of puppies, but but I fear they would not be willing to focus on the pack rebuilding that the Democrats need going forward.
trollhattan
@Yatsuno:
Was finally able to watch the Colbert Biden interview over the weekend. What a heart-tugging conversation that was. Very much doubt he jumps in but have to keep reminding myself we’re FOURTEEN MONTHS out. Much will happen between now and New Hampshire, much less the conventions.
Peale
@Yatsuno: Yep. Young white voters like my father (76) and his brother (75). And my anti-Obama aunt (71).
trollhattan
@Peale:
Good point. Plus Thurston will ruin it for everybody and thus, nobody gets a treat.
rikyrah
@Elizabelle:
they are charging through the roof for advertising.
follow the $$$$
Amir Khalid
@Cacti:
I watched the Late Show interview with Stephen Colbert, and it struck me (as it did others) that Joe isn’t sure he has the passion or the motivation for this race. He’s widely beloved, I think he’d make a better President than Bernie (than Hillary? I don’t know), and a lot of people want to see him run; but the chances of his running are slim and getting slimmer.
Betty Cracker
@schrodinger’s cat: I wish it was in my home, but I reckon he would look out of place surrounded by the Poker Playing Dogs and Velvet Elvi. The figure is in a museum in St. Pete. Took the picture over the summer when we were on a local-ish museum kick.
Jeffro
@Cacti:
Alternate headlines you’ll never see, based on the same polling info:
“% of undecided Dems only rises from 13% to 16% without Biden” (or, conversely: “Biden only pulls 3% of Dem undecideds into his column”)
“Hillary currently leads by 18-28% no matter who is in the race”
“Current VP polling below relatively unknown sitting senator”
Also, has anyone thought about what this constant Clinton-Sanders-(Biden?) drumbeat is doing to Jim Webb’s or Martin O’Malley’s morale? How insensitive.
lol
NotMax
Betcha the instructions in Spanish are perfectly claro. :)
(Bad pun alert)
Perhaps for din-din you might reward your efforts with some Kalifliower.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: I had posted a link to tandava on you tube and that comment is stuck in moderation. Can you release it? Kthnx.
NotMax
@NotMax
And stepped on my own punchline by failing to notice that errant i.
Story of my life. :)
Amir Khalid
@Jeffro:
Speaking of Webb and O’Malley (and let’s not forget Chafee), have any of the search parties reported back yet?
Tommy
@rikyrah: I woke up at 5AM. They had this dude on, somebody that knew Biden. They were like he is running. He is running, then said he had to run by the date that seemed close to their debate.
Dude was like nope CNN. Financial disclosures are later and he can wait a month or so longer. No idea what he will or won’t do, but facts, facts. Just saying.
catclub
@trollhattan:
Not with JCole if the puppies looked like Thurston.
Betty Cracker
@Mack: It sure would solve a lot of problems, including, in some cases, child care issues.
@schrodinger’s cat: Done.
JPL
@trollhattan: Don’t give CNN any ideas. The next poll will be to first graders.
Who would you rather visit your class, a basket of puppies of Hillary Clinton. Oh no, Clinton tanks in latest poll.
Betty Cracker
Speaking of shitty membrane buttons, I wonder if that’s what’s behind the catastrophic failure of my range on Friday. First, it started beeping with an error code that, when Googled, indicated that the oven sensors were fucked up, so we couldn’t use the oven but the cook top still worked. Then this weekend, the cook top tanked on us too. We checked into fixing it, but it wasn’t worth the expense as compared to replacement. I’ve never been happy with this oven anyway, but the replacement won’t be here until Thursday. Until then, we’re grilling, having salads or sandwiches or eating takeout. Works for me!
Cacti
@Yatsuno:
Agree with most of the above, except that I’m still skeptical about Sanders taking Iowa. Even the most recent polls where Bernie leads in Iowa show him in the low 40s, and only with Joe Biden also on the ballot.
Keith G
@Germy Shoemangler: Don’t be too hasty.
“Our side” as in the American side of this process.
Think horses, not zebras.
Here is the last line from one of his recent columns on the deal:
.
Thoughtful Today
!
Bernie made an incredible appearance at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.
He spoke clearly and powerfully about the morality of his positions.
Democratic Party members should especially watch through to the Question & Answer section at the end.
Bernie did not water down any of his policies.
JPL
@Germy Shoemangler: What side would that be Doyle?
Cacti
@Amir Khalid:
I think Joe would have been more apt to run if not for Beau’s tragic demise. Joe is still his jovial self, but you can tell that the loss of his son has just taken some of the wind out of his sails. The greatest fear of most parents is having to bury their child, and Joe’s had to do it twice now.
rikyrah
@Mack:
I took care of my mother for the last 7 years of her life. I don’t think I’m outside of the new norm.
gelfling545
@Germy Shoemangler: I always figured they were written by somebody’s lay-about cousin who needed a job but was only marginally acquainted with spoken English. I instructions )which I kept) to adjust water flow to the toilet by “circumvolving” the screw, among other interesting phrases at least made the job amusing if not easier. I’m glad I don’t have to write instructions for anything in any Asian languages. I’d do no better, nor half so well. The French directions were easier to follow, though.
Roger Moore
@Mack:
They are definitely gaining popularity here in Southern California. Many, if not most, of the nicer houses have separate “granny apartments” that are set apart from the rest of the house, either as a complete granny cottage or just as a mostly separated area that gives the person there some extra privacy. They’re supposed to be very popular with families from Asian cultures where multi-generation households have never gone out of fashion. I assume they’re as nice for an adult child who isn’t quite ready to get their own place.
I predict that something similar is going to become a major trend. Instead of just having bedrooms, fancier houses will start to have full suites, with bedroom, bathroom, walk-in closet, and a sitting room/office. That will give every family member some personal space that isn’t quite as private as a bedroom.
JPL
@Thoughtful Today: Bernie won’t criticize opponents, but he had the perfect opportunity to mention that some candidates want to give themselves an 800,000 tax break rather than use the money to support families.
I agree that he did a fantastic job and Hillary can learn from him.
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker:
Nataraja is a form of Shiva — he dances to destroy — he’s in destructive as opposed to creative mode. Maybe that’s why you had trouble putting those shelves together.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Probably too late, but have nothing but praise for the Amana purchased last fall.
Cervantes
@gelfling545:
“Circumvolve” is a perfectly good word.
PurpleGirl
@redshirt: Read Lord of Light many years ago. I liked Creatures of Light and Darkness more, possibly because I was more familiar with the Egyptian pantheon. Zelazny’s magnum opus is The Chronicles of Amber.
Keith G
@Cacti:
Ditto
But Joe is the political equivalent of a safety school – by his design. He has to show signs of interest now so that it would be easier to transition to his “Plan B” candidacy should Hillary Inc. shoot itself in the face. In a month, HRC gets to sit in front of that House committee on Benghazi. How that shakes out will likely determine Joe’s future.
redshirt
@Ajabu:
Good luck! Your next few weeks will suck, but you’ll get through it.
I’ve driven a moving truck cross country twice in the past couple of years, and here’s some advice that worked well for me:
Figure out how long you want to take to get there, then break that up by days, calculating based on how many miles you want/need to drive per day to meet your overall goal. Allow some nudge room.
Then, if you plan on staying at motels, find the motels that are near your end destination for each day, and do a bit of research. Nothing worse then pulling into some no name town in Nebraska and having no idea where to go. If your truck is big enough, call ahead to see if you can park it at the motel. Lots of motels won’t let you.
I had a google maps printed out for each day, with maps and possible motels for each day. And notes.
Finally, bring a cooler and keep it stocked with food you like. There will come a point when you can no longer eat convenience store hot dogs and the like.
Good luck, drive slow, and enjoy the views of America!
redshirt
@PurpleGirl:
I recently read the entire Amber series, and was not a fan. I did like how dated it was (all the guys smoke, eat big steaks, and love to drink). It was way too fantasy and inconsequential for me.
Is Creatures of Light and Darkness related to Lord of Light?
Amir Khalid
@gelfling545:
English is a worldwide language now, and in many countries you’ll come across words that you’d never encounter in England. I once heard a Chinese-Malaysian physician use a word she must have learned in medical school in India: “prepone”, to bring forward (the opposite of “postpone”).
NotMax
@redshirt
Also, always a wise precaution to commit to memory the height and approximate loaded weight of the truck.
Amir Khalid
@Thoughtful Today:
I get that you’re an all-out Bernista. But do you ever pause to note that Bernie doesn’t seem to be making enough headway among nonwhite Democratic voters, and to think about what he might need to change in himself and his campaign to win them over?
Exurban Mom
@Germy Shoemangler: Try putting the model number into YouTube. You might find someone who repaired it themselves and made a video to show you how.
Roger Moore
@Keith G:
Assuming they don’t postpone the hearing to a more politically expedient time.
Thoughtful Today
…
Bernie took gay marriage and abortion to Liberty University.
Justice and morality were at the center of his message.
Unwaveringly.
Calouste
@Amir Khalid: I was worked with someone from India who used the phrasing “is disappeared” instead of “has disappeared”, and said that was not uncommon in India. I explained that “is disappeared” in America mostly applies to someone who has been arrested by the secret police and never heard from again.
Viva BrisVegas
@redshirt:
Nope. Creatures is a rather gloomy take on the Egyptian pantheon. Not a patch on Lord of Light.
I wish they would make LoL into a movie. As I recall it was the basis for the fake movie used in the events that inspired Argo.
Right to Rise
Jeb Bush hits airwaves with first TV ad buy in NH and IA, check it out “I’ve Delivered”.
It’s a great spot–positive and uplifting, high energy, but with just a bit of steel attacks against DC insiders and Donald Trump.
Check it out! Let me know what you all think.
gelfling545
@Cervantes: Why yes it is but I’d wager that a fair number of US users might have difficulty knowing just what to do with that part. It was to be circumvolved to the utmost post.
JPL
@Right to Rise: He made money by dealing with those insiders. His daddy helped him out.
Glad you gave the synopsis, so I didn’t have to click to it.
redshirt
@Viva BrisVegas:
Yeah, you’re right, Argo kinda counts.
But you’re right. It would be a fantastic movie today. Lots of sci-fi and battles and intrigue.
Is “Creatures” like LoL in the central premise (using gods as characters)?
Mack
@Roger Moore: Yes. Multi-generational households are the norm with recent immigrants, and when I visited my old hometown, (now almost completely Asian) I was struck by often I saw grandparents, parents, and children all occupying the same postage stamp home. I know my people did it when they arrived from Mexico, my generation was the first to get up and out.
I guess I’m thinking that Millennials will be forced to consider living perhaps not with family, but with friends or even complete strangers.
Keith G
@Amir Khalid:
Is it possible that he has done quite a bit of good practical things for that group and further more has hit a better rhetorical sweet spot on many issues (when compared to HRC’s notable shaky liberal cred), but some of them are just refusing to listen?
I mean, I am Hillary-likely and yet I worry about her corporate love and how that will impede the vigorous actions we need to really help our growing underclass.
Can you answer your question (rephrased) ….What hoops should Bernie jump through to show the reluctant that he is the ally that he has been?
redshirt
OMG! I just learned the incredible Jack Kirby did a bunch of LoL drawings. Awesome!
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=69299
Right to Rise
@JPL:
Jeb is very much his own man. Did you know that during his tenure, Florida led the nation in job growth? Florida also started more charter schools than any other state.
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
The perfect undistinguished ad for the undistinguished candidate.
I get that you’re an all-out Jebista. But do you ever pause to note that Jeb seems to be falling farther and farther behind the Donald and Ben Carson, and to think about what he might need to change in himself and his campaign to start catching up?
Mike in NC
@JPL: JEB! made 23 appearances across NH, where his brand of wingnut will be a tough sell. Rmoney owns a house on a lake there and made 100.
The low energy problem strikes again. Add to that how the entire Bush clan is deeply unpopular across New England (Poppy came in third in Maine after Clinton and Perot).
JPL
@Right to Rise: Did you know that those jobs were wiped away? Bubbles create jobs and a pin prick can take it away.
NotMax
@Right to Rise
Pure pabulum and vague platitudes. Using labor statistics from 2007 (almost a decade ago! – pre-recession) and the phoney-baloney “I’ve balanced budgets” line. All Florida governors preside over balanced budgets because that’s required by the state’s constitution. It has nothing whatsoever to do with any ability or skill (or lack thereof, for that matter) in governing.
Amir Khalid
@Keith G:
Such as?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Brachiator:
Little-known fact: the eye-poke gesture is a variant of the mudra of benevolent correction.
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: Thanks!
John Revolta
Years ago I had an instruction manual for something that used the phrase “Should the abnormality occur, please to contact………………….”
We used that as a stock phrase for years. “Uh oh, I think the abnormality is occurring……………….”
Right to Rise
@JPL:
Those jobs went away because DC politicians spent too much money and
have passed too many burdensome regulations. Add to that uncertainty that saps confidence in the market and a massive tax hike with an awful healthcare law and you have the last seven years.
More and more people are working part-time thanks to ObamaCare alone.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
It’s an old and useful word. The British more or less stopped using it whereas English-speaking Indians hung on to it.
PurpleGirl
@redshirt:
Is Creatures of Light and Darkness related to Lord of Light?
Not really, the titles seem to go together but the stories don’t. Creatures of Light and Darkness is written in very different styles, more poetic than prose and the final chapter takes the form of a play.
I read Amber when it was first being published. My complaint at that time was having to wait for the next novel because of the way Zelazny was using cliffhanger endings.
JPL
@Right to Rise: You need to learn how to use google.
Right to Rise
@Mike in NC:
I don’t understand the “low energy” thing at all. He’s working 16 hour days in this campaign, campaigning with all his heart.
Cervantes
@Right to Rise:
Have you looked at the terms under which access to our natural resources is granted to corporations?
Renie
@Right to Rise: Its a loser just like Jeb.
Right to Rise
@Renie:
How so?
NotMax
@Right To Rise
There’s likely still some space at the bottom of the elephantine list of things you evidently don’t understand, so do be sure to Crayola that one in.
Keith G
@Amir Khalid: Feel free to access any list of votes in Congress 1991-now. And prior to that, as mayor he brought community-trust housing to Burlington. My bias is that housing is the forgotten right in this society and the poorer one is, the more likely one will be living in insecure and deplorable housing.
Anyway….G (Google) away.
PurpleGirl
@Right to Rise: How many daytime naps is he taking?
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
Watch a video of a speech by Jeb. Then watch one of a speech by the Donald. If you still don’t get the difference, you just don’t want to.
Roger Moore
@Keith G:
I would say the main thing he needs to do is to talk about racism as a major thing rather than a side issue. As long as he talks primarily about income inequality, and especially if he continues to talk as if solving income inequality makes dealing with racism unnecessary, he will have trouble attracting minorities.
SiubhanDuinne
@Right to Rise:
That right there is an anti-reason to support ¿¡Jeb!?
Thoughtful Today
well…
Bernie’s doing a fine job.
The more people that hear him, the more people that like him.
Right to Rise
@SiubhanDuinne:
Why should parents continue to have to send their children to failed public schools? Look at the high school Michael Brown went to, in the Normandy District of Missouri (worst district in the state). Why not have school choice, whether its neighboring school districts, charter schools, or vouchers for poor and minority children?
Children should take priority over teacher’s unions.
redshirt
@PurpleGirl: I bet I would have liked Amber more if I had to wait between books. I read everything all at once. Not terrible, just didn’t grab me.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
@Amir Khalid:
You are very efficient, Amir.
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
Aren’t you presuming that the interests of teachers’ unions are in opposition to those of schoolchildren? On what do you base such a presumption?
MomSense
@Germy Shoemangler:
I share your hatred of the membrane on/off switches. Not only so they become less or intermittently responsive, but the plastic membrane wears off and makes the appliance look like crap. Bring back DIALS!!
NotMax
@Right To Rise
Noted that the YouTube of that ad (posted on Sept. 8) now has a little over 57,700 views.
¡The campaign’s on fire! (Not.)
SiubhanDuinne
@Right to Rise:
They shouldn’t have to. But instead of privatizing everything as the universal panacea, how about putting resources into those “failed” public schools and school districts to improve them? Slapping the “charter” label on schools is no guarantee of quality.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s cut-and-paste done right, nothing more than that.
A Ghost To Most
@Right to Rise:
No thanks; I have no problem paying taxes for public education, but fuck you for wanting me to pay for madrassas of any creed.
Hands off public education, douche. Fuck Bush and his klepto education schemes.
MomSense
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yeah God never tells these politicians to feed the hungry, care for the sick, or anything that requires any sacrifice or compassion. This is how I know it is their egos talking.
redshirt
I’ll never have kids and I’d gladly pay more for better schools.
A well educated population benefits us all.
Keith G
@Roger Moore: I hope he finds a way to bridge that perceived gap. I think we will benefit from the most competitive race possible.
Assuming two possible realities: One in which HRC wins election and does her Hillary Clinton thing successfully; and the other where Bernie wins election and does his Bernie Sanders thing successfully…..I feel it would be quite likely that minority populations would fare better in Sanders World than in Clinton World.
NotMax
@A Ghost To Most
Never forget that brother Neil has both hands fully in that pie.
John Revolta
@Right to Rise: “burdensome regulations”
“saps confidence in the market”
“no such thing as a free lunch”, for God’s sake.
Dude, you’re not even trying. You’re supposed to rephrase stuff a little. C’mon.
Omnes Omnibus
@John Revolta:
But, mmommmmmmmmm…..
Steeplejack (phone)
@NotMax:
I looked up that video on YouTube. It has 200 up votes, 1K down votes. ¡Jeb! is losing the crucial YouTube time-waster demographic.
Mike in NC
@PurpleGirl: Juan Arbusto’s favorite Spanish word is “siesta”. Given Florida’s rough climate, he got into the habit of taking two on weekdays while in office. Also, too, three day weekends were quite common.
J R in WV
@From Both Sides of the Pond:
Heard this story on the NPR news coming home. Tragic.
So sorry you have this to think about now. We had a tragic death in the neighborhood just last week, it seems so, so common now.
Our condolences!!
JR and family
J R in WV
@schrodinger’s cat:
Pretty amazing! I would say that technically demanding is the least you could say. What amazing dancing/editing!
Only way that could have been improved would have included extra arms and snakes!
With all great respect for the cultural artifacts of the performance! I had classes in south Asia religions and the historical evolution that led to where they are today.
Of course the Brit’s Raj messed with things a good bit, some for the better, but much just because it wasn’t “British”…
trollhattan
@Right to Rise:
Think I see your problem right there….
Cacti
@Roger Moore:
Marxist economic philosophy supposes that overarching economic justice can make all other social ills and inequities eventually vanish. I think Bernie sincerely believes this to be true.
For myself, I’ve always thought that class reductionism was Marxism’s fatal flaw.
J R in WV
@Right to Rise:
“Led the Nation in Job Creation 2000 to 2007!”
Right! For the whole expansion of the real estate bubble, Florida and it’s governor did really swell. Then the bubble popped! and so did John Ellis Bush’s chances!
trollhattan
@J R in WV:
“An unparalleled record of overseeing the nation’s largest alligator population!”
“Led a 43% increase in sunblock sales during his tenure!”
“Permanently blinking left turn signals more than doubled by the time he left office!”
J R in WV
@Right to Rise:
Those jobs went away while John Ellis Bush’s brother, George Walker Bush was president, you dumbass!
Too dumb to pour golden shower from a boot with directions on the heel, just like your candidate.
Thoughtful Today
“what he might need to change in himself and his campaign to win them over?”
Duplicate himself?
Or have advocates that point out that it’s about policies, not personalities?
Thoughtful Today
lol
“Slapping the “charter” label on schools is no guarantee of quality.”
There’s an army of lobbyists paid millions to say otherwise.
;-)
Betty Cracker
@Roger Moore: I’m no Sanders partisan, but your critique ignores what Sanders has done to address this issue in his platform and what he’s said on the topic in virtually every speech. If he believes in his heart that addressing income inequality will do more to alleviate the effects of systemic racism than 10,000 pretty speeches and government programs, he’s not alone, nor does that make him a Marxist.
But when you say “if he continues to talk as if solving income inequality makes dealing with racism unnecessary,” it’s clear you haven’t been listening.
Thoughtful Today
!
Bernie’s critics often haven’t listened to the man.
That’s particularly true of some of his most persistent critics. Which is one of the reasons he made a point to directly address the right-wing religious University students.
He’s far, far more than the caricature the media and some trolls try desperately to make him out to be.
I’m hearing an increasingly well honed State of the Union speech from Bernie.
Laura
@Germy Shoemangler:
krap! I’ve got the Kenmore too – HE 2 Plus and I’ve got the kraked smooth start “button” and was a’fearing the potential failure on an otherwise swell appliance.
Please report put after the inevitable SearsRobuckening that looms as I have a proven track record for public meltdowns when products and their service people fail to perform as warranted.
Cervantes
@Thoughtful Today:
Not unique to him, alas.
Trivial* example: without actually listening to how Sarah Palin pronounced a Russian word in a recent speech — who can be bothered? — someone nevertheless made fun of her for a mistake — when, in fact, she hadn’t made that particular mistake (she made innumerable others, of course).
* Trivial because it involves only listening, literally, not thought.
Thoughtful Today
Seriously,
Bernie immediately expanded his racial justice points in his speech the same day Netroots Nation was interrupted. He heard the message Black Lives Activists were making and addressed some of their points in front of, I think it was 11,0000 in Phoenix, Arizona later the same day.
He’d already hired a Black Lives Matter advocate, Symone Sanders, before the Seattle, Washington interruption and she spoke about Black Lives Matter issues that same evening in front of a huge Seattle crowd.
And even today Bernie again forcefully condemned institutional racism and gave a lengthy response to questions on how to address racism in America./b>
Betty
@Germy Shoemangler: My great niece is a Feshman there. She and her friends posted a pro-life response on Facebook. Not sure you can penetrate the level of propaganda these young people have grown up with.
Keith G
@Thoughtful Today: I have not yet considered voting for Sanders and there is a strong chance that I will not vote for him at all, yet the attacks on him as being either weak or just plain unconcerned about the ongoing racial disparities in this society strike me as ill thought out on the part of most and just plain ol’ character assassination on the part of others.
schrodinger's cat
@J R in WV: Thanks! She was amazing in that routine. Another one of my favorites is Madhuri Dixit. She is trained Kathak dancer. Bharatnatyam is from the south with deep roots in the temple dancing and Hinduism. While Kathak is an amalgam of the Hindu and Muslim traditions of Northern India, the Hindi heartland.
Madhuri Dixit in Devdas performing a Mujra (court dance that the Mughal Emperors enjoyed) and in more folksy routine in Khal Nayak (Villain)
Another Holocene Human
@schrodinger’s cat: You know I feel silly. I didn’t even look carefully because the file was labeled “kali”.
schrodinger's cat
@Another Holocene Human: Kali is a manifestation of Shakti, Shiva’s wife. Shakti literally means power. So you are in the right vicinity!
redshirt
I keep a small emblem of Kali on my door, to remind me that all is decay.