Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

When we show up, we win.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

No one could have predicted…

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Fight them, without becoming them!

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Everybody saw this coming.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by | 369 Comments

This post is in: 

Because something went kablooey with the website today, half our front pagers can not post pictures. I’ll pick up the slack:

lily

She always knows when the clean sheets go on the bed- and this time she didn’t even wait for the clean duvet cover.

Speaking of the website, tomorrow I get my first preview.

Reader Interactions

369Comments

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    Lily!

    Oh, she is sweet.

    What is Thurston’s status? Is the new home with the young terrier still a possibility?

    Either that home or yours, Thurston is a lucky pup.

  6. 6.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @Shana: Our cat “helps” us make the bed with fresh sheets, gets under the top sheet and rolls around and swats at us while we work on it.
    She finds it disturbing when we strip the bed to wash the sheets, usually because she was still using them.

  17. 17.

    J R in WV

    The duvet is a feather-filled comforter you sleep under when it’s getting cold, and you want an open window. LL Bean sells them, but so do most department stores.

    We have 2 of them, one just barely covers a queen size bed, and the other is big even for a king, which we will pull out come winter.

    Old fashioned, but I think most folks in WV know the word. We still use them a lot. Esp when the power goes out, before generators were a thing.

    @NotMax:

    I’m not a blue hair!! I’m bald. Since 1972!

  19. 19.

    JPL

    Trump is defending his answer to the whacko who wants to eliminate the Muslims by saying Christians need support in this country. Their religious liberty is at stake.” Trumps campaign manager said only Trump speaks for Trump. Criticized press coverage of Q.
    link

    It might be time for the news media to ignore him. Ratings are not that important.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @JPL:

    It gets confusing, because they sometimes get labeled as “duvet covers,” which would imply that the thing being covered is the duvet. So I’m not sure if “duvet” is the French word for “comforter,” or duvet is its own word and “duvet cover” is like “ATM machine.”

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    Have y’all noticed the “Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump” from his functionaries, when they’re interviewed.

    Very deferential, and I don’t hear it from other candidates’ staff members or the news critters.

    Caught a tiny bit of Jake Tapper this afternoon (I know, it was enough), and some male Trump employee was saying Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, so Tapper started calling him that too.

    And then Tapper asked some question about “Jeb.” It was glaring.

    Then, saw a little of some woman at top of hour about the anti-Muslim brewhaha, and she’s saying “Mr. Trump” too.

    Over and out.

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Trump to his build-a-wall, just-read-his-hat, Obummer-is-a-Mooselim audience, “Jeffery Sonnenfeld, Dean of Yale Business School, you know who he is, right?”

  40. 40.

    benw

    @redshirt: I’ve been watching the AFC West since forever and did not know that the stupid Chiefs fans did the “Tomahawk Chop”. WTF stupid Chiefs fans?

  41. 41.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: I think if you want access, you have to call him “Mr Trump”, I’ve noticed Robert Costa doing it, but he also seems to a rather formal young man (said the old fart approvingly). And while I despise her, and I think it’s part of her campaign, people referring to “Carly” drive me a bit nuts.

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @NotMax:

    This is probably the only reasonable explanation, ie that English sucks.

    Actually, since I don’t remember seeing comforter (or duvet!) covers until the 1980s, I’m assuming it’s one of those words that was imported from its original language even though the thing it referred to already had an English word for it.

    I may be reading too much Bill Bryson right now.

  47. 47.

    glory b

    Lily’s a cutie, but isn’t it time to clip her nails? I walk my dog so much we never need to clip.

    Trump’s says the real issue is that Obama is waging a war on Christians.

  50. 50.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I remember Michelle Bachmann in 2012, when she briefly spiked in the polls and the voices in her head told she might have a chance, paid her call on “Mr Trump”, I think a couple of the other wannabes (Cain? Santorum?) did the same. The only brief glimmer of respect I had for scummy Willard was when he insisted his meeting be on neutral ground with a minimum of press coverage. The someone told him he needed the Birther and Birther-leaning types, so he brought Trump in whole hog.

    And speaking of which, I’m pretty sure I just heard Stuart Stevens, who was probably in the room when that decision was made, if he wasn’t the one pushing it, bemoaning Trump’s failure to push back against the racist goon in his audience. If Lawrence O’Donnell pushed back at all, it was after I switched back to the football

  51. 51.

    benw

    @redshirt:

    They need to change their NA symbology.

    What do you mean? Also, that was a rough loss for LOU fans. And I forgot how much I loathe Clemson’s coach. I’ve only seen him on the TV, but he acts like such a weasley twerp.

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):

    So why do you cover a comforter with a duvet cover and not with a comforter cover?

    Strictly speaking, a duvet is not exactly the same thing as a comforter. A comforter sits on top of a sheet and blanket, while a duvet (apparently from the French word for down, another sign that it’s intended to refer to the quilt rather than the cover) is intended to replace the whole sheet/blanket/comforter stack. Because the duvet is right next to the sleeper, it needs a washable cover so it doesn’t get gross or need washing itself. A comforter doesn’t need the same kind of protection, and some comforters are elaborately decorated and intended to be used without any kind of cover.

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    Just wandered over to Talking Points, and the idea of Chuck Todd getting a weekday show is as unpopular there as it is here.

    Chuck’s getting no love, and a lot of derision.

    Which he deserves.

  56. 56.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Roger Moore:

    I spent one winter sleeping in a semi-finished attic quite comfortably between a flannel bottom sheet and a duvet with a flannel cover (which got washed regularly).

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    True story, from just last month.

    So have a friend who runs a computer and related electronics repair business. One of his customers came in to show off and lend him a “digital life monitor” and insisted he keep it for a few days and use it to “adjust his aura” and all like that.

    Squat off-white box with a lot of multi-colored LED lights in an array on the front. Power cord and a USB cable out the back.

    Friend, of course, proceeded to hook it up and watch the lights flash (not that he bought into the crapola in any manner, shape or form).

    Then unplugged it and opened it up. The USB cable was a dead end, connected to NOTHING inside the box, nor was there any corresponding connection inside which it might conceivably hook up to.

  62. 62.

    Aleta

    When I was a kid, my neighbors kept a davenport in their living room. It smelled different than anything in my house.

  66. 66.

    Cervantes

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):

    Actually, since I don’t remember seeing comforter (or duvet!) covers until the 1980s, I’m assuming it’s one of those words that was imported from its original language even though the thing it referred to already had an English word for it.

    “Duvet” was imported from the French 250 years ago and became English before we had the word “comforter.”

  68. 68.

    Botsplainer

    Took the missus to a debacle of a football game tonight. We had a great time, but left at halftime as tomorrow is busy for each of us. It is about a mile and a half walk to where we parked; others were leaving too, and it was a beautiful, clear night. As we get within about a hundred yards of our car, we hear squeals and a sickening loud thump behind, followed quickly by a roaring engine and shouts of “stop”. There was no question what was going down. I started moving for the road in front of the car as wife stood to side to call 911 – the car was accelerating and actually zigged toward me before roaring by at sixty through an unmanned gate into the ring around the fairgrounds complex. I had to leap back, never got a good look at the plate. The driver almost ran somebody down at the gate. We’re hoping the camera picked it up at the gate. She was doing 60, and had run over a pedestrian.

    I’ll never forget that sound.

    As we drove home, she said with cold fury “that bitch tried to run you over”…,

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    @Cervantes

    Not to her. All I related transpired after she’d left, when he had some time towards store closing. Just by chance I had wandered in that day to shoot the breeze and share his AC before continuing on running errands.

    Basically it was a fancied-up color organ, with the minimal circuitry necessary to make a show of it..

  80. 80.

    Botsplainer

    @Morzer:

    There’s a charm offensive underway.

    And there is nothing like nearly getting creamed on the road to inspire positive feeling.

  88. 88.

    Geeno

    I just gots ta get my scent on that scentless (clean) thing.
    It’s a very dog thing.
    This is her home – it must smell like her.

  91. 91.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @Aleta: We had a davenport when I was a kid, in the 1950s. It smelled like dust no matter that Mom vacuumed it ever week.

  101. 101.

    Morzer

    I can only imagine that Andy Reid would rather lose than go to overtime, because that was a spectacularly stupid series of choices he and his team made in the last 30 seconds.

  106. 106.

    Morzer

    @efgoldman:

    There was a certain tender beauty in the referees rushing over to gently raise Manning from the turf every time the Chiefs had the outrageous brutality to lay a questioning finger on him.

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suzanne: A sofa traditionally had two arms and a back and was designed for sitting. A couch had at most one arm and was design for a woman in a corset to be able to recline comfortably. A davenport is another term for a sofa – a company called Davenport was a popular manufacturer. I do not know why I know this.

  112. 112.

    Amir Khalid

    @efgoldman:
    Per Wikipedia, Davenport sofas were originally made by Massachusetts furniture maker A.H. Davenport & Co. The name has since become a generic term for sofa in the US.

  113. 113.

    Cervantes

    @Suzanne:

    What’s the difference between a davenport and a couch or sofa?

    Not much. Davenports were originally called “Davenport sofas.”

    But now all this talk of recumbency is making me sleepy.

    Have a great evening.

  114. 114.

    PurpleGirl

    @schrodinger’s cat: Was going to leave a comment at your blog but I can’t remember my WordPress password….

    I first saw the picture of the guy and his kitteh at the FB page of a kitten rescuer I know. It’s a beautiful picture and story — even though his own future was up in the air, he wouldn’t leave his pal behind. That is one loved kitteh and I’m glad for the kitteh to have his love.

  119. 119.

    FlyingToaster

    @efgoldman: No formatting buttons here. Of course, I can fuck with HTML do my own formatting in a pinch.

    I’ve finished everything but the dalek piñata: whovian plates, bowtied napkins, sheets of Dr. Whooves stickers, TARDIS favor bags.

    FT+3, well, if I pour a 3rd glass of Carr’s Ciderhouse :)

  124. 124.

    Geeno

    Saying “Davenport” for sofa was like saying “Mercedes” for car. A Davenport sofa was just that good back in the day.

  125. 125.

    Suzanne

    I am having a hate-my-job day. Not my firm, just the job in general. I may quit and work at Starbucks. Or doing data entry. Data entry sounds ideal.

  127. 127.

    Morzer

    @Suzanne:

    You could become a davenport model and lie around languorously eating chocolates and telling the world that all a girl wants is a big, strong davenport to relax with.

  128. 128.

    Geeno

    @Suzanne: Just make sure you won’t miss the money even if you don’t miss the job.
    Otherwise, Liquor stores are a good source of boxes for your office clearing.
    It’s fun making the boxes empty, too.

  130. 130.

    Suzanne

    @Morzer: I’ll settle for lying around languorously.

    Sick of being fuckin’ exhausted all the time. Fuck. Thirty more years of this, if I’m lucky.

  137. 137.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Suzanne: I suspect if you are like most professionals just out of school, you will really miss the money until those loans are paid off.

    Some weeks I wonder why I do what I do given all of the stress and all of the things I want to do but can’t because of everything going on. Other times, I love the hell out of my job.

  147. 147.

    Steeplejack

    @Botsplainer:
    Okay, I feel compelled to weigh in, but I’ll try to keep this short to the point. As always, take what’s useful and leave the rest.

    Way back in the day I had a long (over a decade), messy relationship with a woman who was beautiful, talented and crazy—not spittle-flecked, bat-shit crazy, but crazy enough in a subtle, insidious way to get me to do things not too dissimilar from going to the store to get a home pregnancy kit because someone’s vasectomy might have spontaneously reversed itself.

    So I speak from experience when I say that you need to get out. I thought it was bad several months ago when you scotched the plans for the hipster pad downtown and went back to the status quo ante, and now I think the situation has gotten much worse. And no amount of exciting drama, whether provided by you, by her or by the universe—“That bitch tried to run you over!”—can mask the fact that this relationship has flatlined.

    You are working on the relationship (in your mind). She is “working” on the relationship, in the sense that she (consciously or unconsciously) is trying to pull you back into orbit so that you’ll balance the checkbook, cook dinner, make her drinks and generally keep the household running while she jets off to Australia to get her cervix pounded by the small nameless guy. Her diagnosis—NPD, BPD, whatever—doesn’t matter. She’s nuts. And, more important, you’re not going to “save” her (or fix the relationship).

    You said you will have some time apart in October and then some tough decisions will be made. My advice is to use the time apart in October to reactivate the hipster pad (or suitable substitute) and get your exit plan nailed down in detail, so that when you get back together you can present it as a done deal and have the intestinal fortitude and support network in place to withstand the pleading, drama and seduction that will inevitably follow. Trust me, the decision about the death of the relationship has been made. You just haven’t gotten the word.

  149. 149.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Several years ago, when FYWP was going through a similar rough patch here, I dusted off my HTML and made a manual template to do linkies, music and otherwise. It may be time for it again, unless this is just a “we do the weird stuff in the middle of the night” software thing. (And I’ve been there.)

  158. 158.

    Steeplejack

    Makeshift hyperlink for the updatening:

    <a href=”http://www.what.com”>Descriptive text goes here</a>

  163. 163.

    Mike J

    @PurpleGirl:

    My sister the furniture maven would have said “chaise lounge”.

    Every time I watch a Tottenham game on TV they talk about Shane Long and the first three times they do it registers to me as “chaise lounge”.

  167. 167.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Your advice was excellent. I saw that and all the other stuff but couldn’t overcome the hassle of typing more than a sentence or two on the phone or tablet. But this bullshit tonight vaulted me off the cushy chair and over to the real computer.

    I have been in that situation where some crisis or “excitement” makes you think the relationship is alive or can somehow be retrieved (shared adversity, facing danger, etc.). Yeah, no, that only happens in Lifetime movies and bullshit like Hart to Hart and McMillan and Wife. And who the fuck would want a relationship built on that anyway?!

  171. 171.

    PurpleGirl

    @Aleta: I always thought Suite Judy Blue Eyes was “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes”… Ah, earth mother Judy Collins, always a good choice.

  176. 176.

    NotMax

    Nice, much needed nap accomplished.

    Per above, when a kid, the term davenport was reserved for sofas that pulled out (or on some models, cranked out*) into beds, as opposed to convertible sofas which had a separate bed frame and mattress underneath which one unfolded.

    *An example of that type is featured in Preston Sturges’ film Christmas in July.

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Nash

  180. 180.

    PurpleGirl

    @Amir Khalid: This reminded me to check the web site for The Museum of the Moving Image and their exhibition schedule. A show on how cats took over the Internet is still there and will be there until January 31st, 2016. Gives me time to get myself over there since I’m only a bus ride away.

    But from the write-up it doesn’t seem to mention kitten cams. Yes, I’m a kitten cam watcher.

    movingimage.us/exhibitions/

    movingimage.us/exhibitions/2015/08/07/detail/how-cats-took-over-the-internet/

  183. 183.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Redshift: We also had a bunny who was a professional sitter. He lived outside, but would periodically come into the house and sit in the same place by the front window for hours at a time.

  190. 190.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @RK: I don’t think so. From the POV of the person involved with a “crazy” person, the “crazy” person’s motivations don’t really matter – only the results.

  192. 192.

    Aleta

    don’t let your deal go down
    til your last gold dollar is gone
    where were you last friday night
    while i was lying in jail
    walking the streets with another man
    and you wont even make my bail

  196. 196.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @RK: Okay, does it matter if someone’s partner turns out to be an asshole or if the person has NPD? If the relationship is toxic, shouldn’t the person get out?

  197. 197.

    Steeplejack

    @RK:

    Those subtle considerations are best left for after you have vacated the blast area and secured a safe position.

  199. 199.

    seaboogie

    @Botsplainer: I understand that you have long history together. And also read your comments about how she generally treats you and how you feel in that situation. Your new therapist is right: if she is a narcissist, you can’t fix that, and she isn’t going to want to. Not even her fault, most likely – it’s a personality disorder, and the nature of it makes her unable to perceive you and your efforts. Save yourself. Find a way out, and stick with the therapist.

  209. 209.

    seaboogie

    @Steeplejack: Yay you, Steep. I hadn’t read through all the comments, and made a much briefer rejoinder t0 the same effect. If you’ve been down any part of that road, you know that it is entirely hopeless, and you have to save yourself.

    My therapist has observed that narcissism is so rewarded and venerated in our US culture (she’s from England)….(paging THE DONALD)…that we cannot see how off kilter and insidious this personality type/disorder is.

  212. 212.

    Steeplejack

    @Thoughtful Today:

    Is simple:

    Text above blockquote
    <blockquote>
    Blockquoted text. Note: don’t put blank lines before or after blockquote. It screws up the spacing.
    </blockquote>
    Text below blockquote

  215. 215.

    Aleta

    (good night)

    youtube.com/watch?v=xpnZXh-XamM

    Last Thing I Remember by Chauncey Bowers

    The heat waves were crashing
    When I finally heard the news.
    The long and the short of it all became clear,
    There was nothing I could do.

    The last thing I remember is me waiting for you.
    The last thing I remember… just waiting for you.

    Whirl around, whirl around,
    You’ll get dizzy by and by.
    I mean you’re over there, or you’re over here,
    But you’re never anywhere you have to try.

    The last thing I remember is you not saying goodbye.
    The last thing I remember… not even goodbye.

    People say I’ve been feeling this way too long.
    I don’t know, but that could be.
    Any given day, I could walk away,
    My heart has other plans in store for me.
    For me.

    One thing leads to another,
    The road meets the rubber
    Push comes to shove.
    The night came and the freezing rain fell on me
    There was no help from above.

    The last thing I remember is being in love.
    The last thing I remember.

  221. 221.

    Thoughtful Today

    Thanks, Steeplejack & NotMax.

    3 tries to figure out /blockquote

    heh, ‘learning curve’

    Mock away, Omnes Omnibus

    it’s mockworthy :)

  225. 225.

    seaboogie

    @Steeplejack: WRT that (and a heads up to you, Botsplainer), one of the great messages that I finally incorporated from my therapist was that “If you blame yourself, then you can still have hope”, because you take on all responsibility for a thing that is ultimately incurable. Realizing that the other party is responsible kind of puts you in free-fall, because you cannot control that. And then you have to learn how to care for yourself, instead of the unquenchable other.

  228. 228.

    Steeplejack

    @seaboogie:

    True. You gotta know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. But the illusion of control is hard to let go.

    ETA: The crucial “tell,” to me, is that the party of the second part is pulling stuff on Botsplainer that he sees—and sees through—on a daily basis in his law practice, yet he has been (hopefully no more) oblivious to it happening to him.

    As my brother likes to say, if you’re looking around the (gambling game) card table and you can’t figure out who’s the patsy, it’s probably you!

  229. 229.

    TriassicSands

    Ben Carson may be too smart for Republican voters and too stupid for smart voters.

    His response about vaccines was pathetic — yes, Ben, we have ample evidence that vaccines don’t cause autism, but where is your evidence that we’re giving too many vaccinations too quickly? A weak pander to the ignorant, which given Carson’s religious beliefs, is probably one of his prime potential constituencies.

    Since the Republican Party has divorced itself from science and Carson supposedly is in some form a man of science (creation science), where are the questions about evolution? He can endear himself to the hopelessly ignorant with a well-thought-out answer about evolution being the second biggest hoax ever put over on the Amurkin people…after climate change, of course. I’d love to hear Ben’s answer to how old the Earth is. It appears that he’s a young Earth creationist, which means that he not only doesn’t understand evolution, he’s woefully ignorant about geology. He also comes up short in paleontology/archaeology and with his answer about vaccines last night, it appears he has some work to do in medicine as well.

    Carson is a prime example of a really smart incredibly stupid person. Trump seems more like a really stupid stupid person (no wonder he’s so popular with Republicans). Walker’s simply a dolt; a simpleton; and a prick(nice combination). Cruz, another intelligent idiot with a nasty streak as wide as Texas. Huckabee? Just an idiot; no sign at all of intelligence that I can see. Jeb doesn’t seem to know how to do much of anything but piggyback on the family name and connections.

    I’ve always felt the real threats are Kasich, Rubio, and Fiorina (as VP). If HRC doesn’t get the nomination, then the rationale for Fiorina is weakened, but still there. Rubio’s youthful good looks will stand in stark contrast to Clinton (or Biden or Bernie). My guess is that he, like Kasich, will be able to pull off the “moderate Republican” act, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Needless to say, the media won’t provide that evidence and the American voters are nothing if not suckers for GOP play acting.

  231. 231.

    Thoughtful Today

    ‘Cord cutter’ here.

    I just get the snippets of Maddow that MSNBC posts to download.

    They’re quick to post the show, I occasionally watch it for breakfast.

    But sad for me that they stopped posting the whole show because apparently MSNBC hates Linux, I’ve never been able to get their stream to … you know … stream.

    btw

    Bernie’s on the Colbert show tomorrow night, hopefully he’ll be on his game.

  232. 232.

    seaboogie

    @Steeplejack: @Steeplejack: Yeah – I’ve been getting a “scales falling from his eyes” message, along with a lot of very understandable anger and outrage…”patsy”, “chump” (I’ve been there on that one). The steps and path from realization, resolve, transition, venting, healing can be a long path – for me it’s been four years
    , or forty years if I am honest with the root of it.

    So here is a song for all of us:

    youtube.com/watch?v=QPMeDoOZ-L8

  235. 235.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @Suzanne: They’re all couches, really, but Davenport was a manufacturer of them and the name was sometimes applied to all couches. My parents called ours a Davenport even though it was a basic generic frame they bought through a JC class in upholstery. They upholstered a sofa as well as a chair, I’m guessing in 1949. My sister still has the chair, but it has since been reupholstered in naugahyde. The original fabric was a chenille.
    I’ve heard them called Chesterfields too, for the same reason. I think my grandmother called hers that.

  243. 243.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: Wonder if you’ve got the labrum issues that I do?

    In addition news, we are back in the kitchen save the shelves and doors in the cabinets.The bathroom tile is done (whoa on that bill!) and the painting of the rest of the addition should start soon.

  246. 246.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: HOORAY!!! Almost there…

    No, they thought I might have a torn labrum but it’s just generic arthritis in the left one, I suspect the same in the right one, plus I have long had issues with bursitis in both. The biggest problem I have is I am allergic to aspirin which means I can’t take anti-inflammatorys because of cross reactions.

  247. 247.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: Aw shit, I’m starting to wonder too. I laid off swimming for 6 weeks after I was diagnosed in my right. I’m back to every other day but the left is stinging as well. I guess that’s what we get for being active!

  249. 249.

    Keith G

    Picking up the slack with just one (very cute) picture? Well…don’t strain yourself, Cole.

    Where is Steve?

  259. 259.

    OzarkHillbilly

    It’s time for the Ig Nobels!!! (embed link gone for me too)

    theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/18/ig-nobel-prizes-2015

    “Entomologist Justin Schmidt and Cornell researcher Michael Smith jointly won for their painstaking experiments charting how painful insect stings are, and where the stings hurt worst. Smith pressed bees up against different parts of his body until the insects stung him, five stings a day, a total of 25 different locations, for 38 days. He rated the pain one to 10, and published.”
    “The most painful parts: the nostril, the upper lip, the shaft of the penis.”
    …
    “the entomologist’s descriptions of 78 sorts of stings, written with the flair of a sommelier in a wine cellar with something to prove.”

    “The bald-faced hornet, for instance, is in Schmidt’s estimation: “rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.” Yellowjackets, on the other hand, sting “hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.” Both rate a two.”

    “The four-plus-rated bullet ant, in contrast, punishes a victim with “pure, intense, brilliant pain, like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch rusty nail grinding into your heel”.

  260. 260.

    OzarkHillbilly

    If at first I don’t succeed, try try again.

    It’s time for the Ig Nobels!!! (embed link gone for me too)

    theguardian.com/sci…..rizes-2015

    “Entomologist Justin Schmidt and Cornell researcher Michael Smith jointly won for their painstaking experiments charting how painful insect stings are, and where the stings hurt worst. Smith pressed bees up against different parts of his body until the insects stung him, five stings a day, a total of 25 different locations, for 38 days. He rated the pain one to 10, and published.”
    “The most painful parts: the nostril, the upper lip, the shaft of the p3ni$.”
    …
    “the entomologist’s descriptions of 78 sorts of stings, written with the flair of a sommelier in a wine cellar with something to prove.”

    “The bald-faced hornet, for instance, is in Schmidt’s estimation: “rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.” Yellowjackets, on the other hand, sting “hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.” Both rate a two.”

    “The four-plus-rated bullet ant, in contrast, punishes a victim with “pure, intense, brilliant pain, like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch rusty nail grinding into your heel”.

  262. 262.

    Morzer

    @Botsplainer:

    Well, the question you need to ask is whether you enjoy the torment and humiliation she inflicts on a regular basis. If you do, just lie back and take it and reflect that some people pay for this stuff at an extreme hourly rate. If you don’t, work out how you leave her behind to move on to a newer, better, happier life – and then follow your plan all the way without wasting more time or sentimentalizing yourself into further installments of enhanced life interrogation.

  264. 264.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Yeah, that happens all too often.

    Let me repost that link,

    theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/18/ig-nobel-prizes-2015

    w/ another highlight:

    “A group of physicists from the US and Taiwan won for finding “the law of urination”: the principle that nearly all mammals empty their bladders in about 21 seconds (plus or minus 13 seconds), whether they’re the size of an elephant or a shrew.”

    “Researcher David Hu said explaining that gravity was the great equalizer: “the taller the pipe, the faster the pee”.”

  266. 266.

    raven

    @Mustang Bobby: That’s funny, we were just reviewing $ and noted that we had not paid for, nor received, the trespa countertop. I assume you mean the counter on the hoosier cabinet?

  269. 269.

    raven

    @tybee: More than once I have hooked that on the pot rack only to find I had only hooked the rubber handle. I broke two nice green glass juice thingy.

  271. 271.

    evap

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): My Irish husband (who was raised in a house with no central heating, hence the need for such things) says “duvet” for the entire thing — comforter (my word) plus cover.

  275. 275.

    Morzer

    @RK:

    Cole has been letting his Metrosexual Credit Rating slide of late. Still, once Thurston gets through that difficult first decade, I am sure Cole will unlock that House Beautiful badge.

  277. 277.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Not directly related, but a great item for the kitchen.

    Silicon pot holders. Also work as a trivet and a jar opener. And can be run through the dishwasher. Gave Mom a pair when visited and, once she grokked they weren’t rubber or plastic, can’t stop raving about them. Says the only thing that works to ease opening bottles and jars with her arthritis and that she (finally) no longer uses a kitchen towel to remove hot items from the microwave.

  278. 278.

    Mustang Bobby

    Oh, Dog, David Brooks is so panic-stricken by Trump and the rest of “the sophomore class at a Berkeley alternative high school” that he’s touting Rubio/Fiorina as the GOP ticket. Pitiful.

    (Okay, so what happened to the little HTML macro buttons such as Link and Blockquote on the comment field? They’re gone.)

  279. 279.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mustang Bobby: Well, pain is very relative. His pain scale is not the same as yours. That’s why Docs always ask you to rate your pain on a scale of 1-10, so they can judge how much distress YOU are in, not how much they think you should be in.

    I have been blessed, or cursed depending on how you look at it, with a high pain threshold. Last year in LA I made the mistake of laying down on a fire ant nest to take some pics of a snake. It wasn’t long before I was a hoppin’ and a steppin’ but it was more of an irritation than actually painful.

  282. 282.

    David Koch

    Man, NYT really hates Hillary.

    Their lead front page article is a giant endorsement of the disgraced, failed HP executive.

    Carly Fiorina Offers Republicans a Pathway to Reach Women
    By JEREMY W. PETERS

    Mrs. Fiorina’s solid debate performance on Wednesday could help lessen a problem that her party has struggled with: how to better entice female voters.

  284. 284.

    Mustang Bobby

    Via TPM: “NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd is getting his own daily afternoon program, among other staff changes at the network, according to a memo on Thursday from MSNBC President Phil Griffin.

    Todd is scheduled to host “MTP Daily” beginning Sept. 28 at 5 p.m., according to the memo.”

    Yet another reason to watch re-runs of “Family Feud.”

  290. 290.

    Baud

    @Baud: Oh, wow. The content on the mobile site is different than on the regular web site. My comment will be perplexing to website users.

  294. 294.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly: Last thing I heard was that she didn’t have Internet access, but it can’t have been down for this long. Maybe she can’t log into BJ because of the tech issues, but she should at least be able to comment. I hope she’s ok.

  299. 299.

    MomSense

    Not sure how I did this but I have sharp pain and numbness running from my neck to my shoulder blade. Kept me awake last night.

  309. 309.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Morzer: @Baud:

    WHAT??!?!?!?!??? The horror! A fate worse than cancer! Seriously, I thought maybe something had happened and only made it into the comments. Glad to hear this.

  310. 310.

    Baud

    @RK: I don’t know who’s getting my primary vote, but I don’t hate any of the top people running.

    Chomsky on the other hand…

  314. 314.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning all. 314 comments, huh?

    RE the Trump gaffe at an appearance in NH: I think that thing was a setup. Have seen the footage a few times (MSNBC almost orgasming to put it up, numerous times last night on 3 programs and I was only checking in from time to time; also on the Today show):

    the questioner has a very clear and disparaging voice; does not drop his syllables at all; it’s like he’s used to speaking (and speaking over people). On 2nd or 3rd hearing, I thought “radio jock” or talk show wannabe.

    Trump did not handle himself well; he could have just said “Obama says he is not a Muslim”. I think he got away from the questioner pretty quickly, actually, and didn’t really inflame as much as he could have. (The campaign’s response about Christians losing liberty was way worse, IMHO.)

    Anyway, I am wondering if another campaign or group set Trump up with that question. I am thinking it might be a more conservative group, since Trump is not a true believer. Could be someone else.

    Last couple of times I heard that questioner, I really thought it was an act.

    What say you all?

  316. 316.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MomSense: How about burning sensations? That’s how I found out about the bone spurs in my neck. 5 out of 7 cervical vertebrae. And no, nobody is operating on my neck.

  318. 318.

    Morzer

    @MomSense:

    It’s possible your sinus problems and shoulder/neck issues are connected. I’ve found that one sign of approaching sinusitis is that my neck locks up and I can’t turn my head in one direction. Likewise, lots of aches and pains in the shoulder region.

  319. 319.

    Elizabelle

    Also, news coverage on Trump and the debate is out of control.

    The Republicans are one political party. You could be forgiven for watching as a visitor to the US and not thinking we have another.

  324. 324.

    David Koch

    Get a load of this: on Twitter “The Today Show” & The Wall Street Journal are mad at Trump for not rebutting yesterday’s mooslim question, yet 4 years ago those very same organs where repeatedly giving Trump a platform to push his birther smears.

    They rode the back of the tiger and now they’re shocked he’s eating them.

  327. 327.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:

    Anne Laurie leaves a vacuum. Who fills it?

    Moar pet pictures. Miri and the kitten runabouts.

    Betty Cracker may not want to be up and dealing with us at so early an hour, but it might be Mrs. Cracker’s civic duty.

  332. 332.

    Baud

    So I finally got Android Pay, and now I have to input a credit card to get access to my stored loyalty cards. You suck, Google.

  334. 334.

    Morzer

    @Elizabelle:

    I would bet it doesn’t hurt Trump in the least with his admirers. He’s been peddling birther nonsense for years now, got his ass kicked by Obama in front of the entire press corpse – and here we are with Comrade Fakefur leading the GOP primary.

  335. 335.

    debbie

    @Elizabelle:

    I’ve had just about enough of Clown Trump. The sound bites I’m hearing are nothing more than “We’re going to take a look at that” and “We’re going to take a look at a lot of things.” He’s making vapid wraiths like Paul Ryan look substantial.

    Baud 2016! has got to get busy and call out this Clown.

  337. 337.

    Baud

    @debbie: Noooo. I want him to get the nomination. I can beat Trump without leaving this blog. The other candidates would require some effort.

  338. 338.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    You could have slept funny and irritated a nerve. I’m prone to this same kind of thing when the season changes from summer to fall.

  340. 340.

    JPL

    @Elizabelle: That didn’t dawn on me. The story should be that a person attending a Trump rally talks about ethnic cleansing.
    This is from Dave Weigel’s twitter Also, it’s still very common to talk to people at conservative rallies and hear an insistence that Obama is a Muslim.

  341. 341.

    Elizabelle

    Out on the deck with coffee, in a sweater and this morning had to put on leggings too. Still a little chilly out here.

    Fall is on its final approach; late summer has been bowing out.

    Internet headlines say we may not see as much foliage along the Blue Ridge this year, cuz it’s been dry.

    Bring on autumn.

  342. 342.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Oh, he’ll be getting the nomination regardless. But the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to destroy the perception of his legitimacy. Just ask John Kerry.

  343. 343.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL: Yeah. Saw Charlie Pierce on somebody’s show last night (Hayes?) and CP was saying he was floored that birtherism might form a core of Trump’s support. Like he’d forgotten about it.

    I think most of it is anger with the establishment (GOP and Democrats too), but, yes, there are birthers, Muslim haters and all sorts of crazies in those rightwing fever swamps.

  345. 345.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense: Sorry to hear that. Ibuprofen is your friend, if you can take that.

    Someone mentioned sleeping wrong. I’ve done that. Hope yours is a transient pain.

    ETA: Agent Korra will likely distract you in some fashion today.

  346. 346.

    RK

    Come to think of it, that question may be part of a conspiracy as it did come from the back and to the left.

  349. 349.

    Baud

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve heard that it screws over people who have rooted their phones. I’m luckily not that tech savvy. I’ll input a card and see how it works. People seem to like it.

  358. 358.

    Elizabelle

    @RK: Interesting the way they worded that question.

    Also, I wonder if all this “Christian, christian, christian!” stuff is set up as well to frame Bernie Sanders’ candidacy. The youngs may not be as worried about creeping socialism (as we have in the US military, for the most part) as their redbaiting elders. So, religion as a second line of defense.

    The founders were so damn correct about separation of Church and State.

  361. 361.

    MomSense

    Thanks, all for the suggestions and concern. I took the gutters off my house on Saturday and Sunday but if that were the cause I should have had pain on Monday. Or maybe not. I don’t know. The spine is mysterious. I’m hoping it is a case of sleeping on it funny. I’ll get it checked out today if it doesn’t improve.

  363. 363.

    PurpleGirl

    @raven: The kitchen is looking good. One question — are you going to reverse the side the refrigerator doors on? Wouldn’t having the opening direction to the right make it easier to place things on the counter when a door is open? Is there enough room between the refrigerator and the wall to reverse the doors?

    ETA: That wooden cabinet is gorgeous — is that a family heirloom or an antique picked up along the paths of life.

  365. 365.

    PurpleGirl

    @David Koch: No way does this woman vote for Carly Fiorino. Her militaristic bent, her healthcare policies for women, her incompetence in work (she really is an example of reaching the level of your incompetence), all make this woman cringe.

Comments are closed.