Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Bark louder, little dog.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

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

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

In my day, never was longer.

Come on, man.

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World Series / CFB II Open Thread

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I know it’s top of the 6th, but better late than never. I was watching football, then I was handing out candy.

We had lots of trick-or-treaters this year but still have tons of candy leftover. A surprising number of children were hauled on carts behind lawn tractors and golf carts this year. Lazy little bastards.

Open thread!

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130Comments

  3. 3.

    Cervantes

    A surprising number of children were hauled on carts behind lawn tractors and golf carts this year.

    And they were fed candy.

    What could go wrong?

  7. 7.

    Mary G

    I am hiding in my bedroom because I got so stressed out by the mob scene that is my neighborhood. Guess I’ll go back out there now that I have calmed down a bit.

  8. 8.

    cckids

    I try to imagine my parents’ faces if, at any age, we requested that they drive us around for trick-or-treating. The imagination fails.

  10. 10.

    redshirt

    So I had a recall for my truck which involves them replacing the frame – a big deal. The whole process will take 3-4 months since they have to build the frame. I’m cool, but then dealership asks me if I want a rental for the interim. For 3-4 months? For free? Yes. Can I have a truck? Sure! So I get a brand new Tacoma for 3-4 months, no charge. It’s insane, and makes me think I’m walking into a trap.

    The thing is loaded too. So of course, I’m driving home and fiddling around with XM radio, and there goes the blue lights. 185$ speeding ticket for a 60 in a 45. I almost always use cruise control to avoid this specific situation, but not in that 30 second window. Hilarious – really.

    Then I used the backup camera exclusively to back into my driveway and almost – just so almost barely – ran into a rock wall. No damage though, praise the maker. I ran over a couple of rocks that must have been jarred loose by the dudes who rebuilt my dirt road – for free – today.

    I’m trying to do the karmic calculations and I don’t even know where to start.

  12. 12.

    raven

    I guess the interesting thing about Athens is how many people don’t give a shit abut how bad the football team is. I stayed home but two blocks away is a strip of homes that has become a huge Halloween destination. After that everyone goes to the Wild Rumps Parade downtown. I just suffer.

  13. 13.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    Nothing to add for Halloween here. But tomorrow is the kickoff to holiday pre-season baking, and I just took my first trip to the Guittard website.

  15. 15.

    raven

    @redshirt: My wife hit a Fedex van yesterday. I was walking back from our eatery and I actually saw it. She did a rolling stop at a sign and he was way on the left because our street is so narrow. Our insurance is good so it’ll be $500 deduct plus the ticket. On top of the little girl having surgery it’s a drag.

  17. 17.

    benw

    @Pie Happens (opiejeanne): Kids went EARLY in our neighborhood this year. Some toddlers as early as 1:30pm! We took the kids T or Ting around 7 pm because of the Tech game and we were closing down the neighborhood! Just us and a few stray teens.

  19. 19.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @ThresherK (GPad): OH dear. I need to pick up a rectangular tart pan, for a chocolate pecan tart I’m thinking about making for Thanksgiving. Maybe it will end up being a blackberry tart instead, since we’re trying to work with things we grew, like the cherries and apples and pears, and tomatillos. The blackberries grew themselves in our hedge, among the lilacs, and we spent hours picking them and freezing them. Not too onerous but ladders and old people don’t mix that well.

  23. 23.

    22over7

    @benw: Weird. My neighborhood is running late, which I attributed to it being a Saturday so the kids don’t have to get up for school. On my second lobster pot of candy.

  24. 24.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @benw: At that hour here it was raining sideways, hard. We kept going out to see if the greenhouse had lost any panels, but it survived. Maybe we’ve finally solved the issue. It’s really hilarious hunting for those polycarbonate panels in the pouring rain when the wind finally stops. The thing was cheap but works really well for our purposes. We figured out how to use big clips to hold the doors shut, and the panels don’t leave the frames.

  26. 26.

    Capri

    Different sport, but still happy over the smashing win by American Pharoeh in the Breeders Cup Classic. The first horse to win the “Grand Slam” because when the last Triple Crown winner before AP was before the Breeder’s Cup had been invented.

    Also very happy to see Runhappy win earlier.

  27. 27.

    redshirt

    @raven:

    My wife hit a Fedex van yesterday. I was walking back from our eatery and I actually saw it. She did a rolling stop at a sign and he was way on the left because our street is so narrow. Our insurance is good so it’ll be $500 deduct plus the ticket. On top of the little girl having surgery it’s a drag.

    I imagine you going “NOOOOOOO!” in slow motion while watching it happening.

  28. 28.

    patrick II

    We live in a kid rich environment. We had over 100 kids trick or treating. We had one Donald Trump (suit, tie, big wig). I told him he was the scariest thing I had seen all night.

  31. 31.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @efgoldman: Kill was the best coach the Gophers have had in five decades. It’s a shame to see him forced out of the game, but I can’t say that it’s a surprise.

  32. 32.

    khead

    A surprising number of children were hauled on carts behind lawn tractors and golf carts this year. Lazy little bastards.

    Yeah, what’s that about? Our development isn’t that big and the kids weren’t that young, but we saw parents dragging kids in wagons. Maybe 5-10 out of the ~85.

  33. 33.

    benw

    @22over7: my wife and I were joking that it was the parents who rushed the kids out early so that they could get to the Halloween parties, because on a Sunday the *parents* get to sleep in!

  38. 38.

    J R in WV

    @redshirt:

    I had a Ford truck, and was at the dealership, which also sells and works on Toyotas. There was a Tacoma about half disassembled, and I asked on of the service guys what was going on.

    “We’re doing a recall on Tacoma frames, some of them aren’t painted right,” he tells me.

    So I ask how long does the book allow for that job, moving the drive train, cab and bed from the old frame to the new frame. “About 40 hours.”

    “And how long,” I ask, “does it take a mechanic who has done several of them?”

    “About 33 to 35 hours,” he tells me. I’ve been a customer there for almost 30 years, so they know me even at a huge dealership. I have a couple of friends with Tacomas who had the frame replaced. That’s why I was curious.

    So something is goofy about your deal. Not that I would complain about a new rental for free, mind you, but something odd there. The frame comes freight from Toyota, in a bundle of maybe a half a dozen of them wrapped in packing and strapped together.

    Weird.

  40. 40.

    JPL

    Even though I didn’t have many ghosts and goblins, it was still fun. I’m normally a bah humbug person when it comes to Halloween, but not this year.

  42. 42.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    Going for the TD was the right call by the Gophers; it didn’t work, but the chances were better than the 50/50 of overtime.

    The problem was the 15 seconds they wasted before 1st and goal. Fuck being tricky and changing the formation; just run the ball. If it doesn’t go in, call timeout and you have time to run a pass play. Three shots at the end zone.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    @schrodinger’s cat: I didn’t dress up aside from wearing a hairband with devil horns. It was super hot (80s even after dark), so I felt sorry for the trick-or-treaters who had on elaborate costumes and was glad I didn’t have that problem.

    You never know what the weather will be like on Halloween here. I’ve frozen on some Halloweens, but this one was about as hot as I can ever remember. Pretty sure it got up to 90 today.

    We ended up streaming a Halloween channel on Pandora for audio. It was okay but not ideal. I’ll be better prepared next year!

  46. 46.

    redshirt

    @J R in WV: They told me they are way back ordered and it will take 3-4 months to get it from the factory.

    Who am I to question – I can make phone calls on my steering wheel now (for the next 3-4 months)!

    But I agree. Something seems fishy here. Maybe it was all a plot to get me my first speeding ticket ever.

  47. 47.

    sparrow

    @khead: Yeah, I hate to be old-person-complaining at my tender age, but WTF. Kids can walk a couple miles, it’s good for them. And most trick-or-treating is probably less than a mile.

  48. 48.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    Holy shit what a game. Miami-Duke, the final play of the game (so far) is a series of laterals that the replay official has been reviewing for several minutes.

    ETA: And it’s now official. What an ending.

  53. 53.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    @raven: If they didn’t, they’re morons. Given that I knew that it would start as soon as the chains were set, they should have.

  57. 57.

    joel hanes

    When no longer infants, we were expected to roam wild on Hallowe’en, with the other kids that were no longer infants. Windows of the crabby old guy sometimes got soaped, though not by me. We talked about egging, but I never saw it done.

    Up before sunrise with my Dad, morning after Hallowe’en 1961 or so, headed north on a county blacktop. In the previous night, the wild youth of the tiny town of Joice, Iowa had commandeered the tire dealer’s stock and some steel fenceposts and had woven a rubber fence five feet high directly across the main drag, between two signposts.

    We drove around.

  59. 59.

    joel hanes

    Kids in Santa Clara are showing up in weird bursts, but all parent-supervised from the sidewalk.

    No big kids out on their own at all — neither self-confident ten year olds nor insolent bored teenagers.

    But the night is yet young.

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    Just walked to the store here in Pasadena and there were a lot of trick or treaters out at 8. Also lots of adults dressed up.

  63. 63.

    Mary G

    I went back out and handed out more candy – they are still coming thick and fast, even little kids. Probably 400 or so thus far. I have eaten enough chocolate that everything seems good to me now. We are going to leave the bowl of candy out on the honor system and eat dinner. That will help.

  64. 64.

    22over7

    Gave up at 9. Took in the pumpkin, turned off the lights, locked the door, and ate four snickers bites. The kids did not disappoint this year. Emptied two lobster pots of candy and still have a bag of paydays that somehow didn’t make it into the pot. Oops. ;)

  66. 66.

    Suzanne

    @patrick II: We had a Donald-Trump-dressed-as-a-Mexican. I LAFFED.

    Spawn the Younger got a full candy bucket after an hour and a half. We are now sitting at Oregano’s, waiting for pizza. I still feel crappy.

    Both Spawns are performing in a piano recital on Friday evening, so I have to buy them dresses tomorrow. Shopping. Eh.

  68. 68.

    donnah

    My hubby and I skipped the neighborhood trick-or-treat and went out to dinner. It dawned on us that the restaurants were practically empty because most folks were home handing out candy. Cool!

    We had a nice dinner, no waiting, then went to Target for some things, and no one there, either. And another quick stop at the grocery, no lines, and we were out in a jiffy.

    Definitely a replay of this next year.

  69. 69.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @sparrow: In my neighborhood that mile is about 6 houses on each side of the street. Big properties even if the houses aren’t. The monstrously huge house* across the street has no lights on anywhere. Stingy Republicans. It’s so dark out right now that I wonder if some of our streetlights are out; we don’t have many but it’s really dark out there.

    *17,000 sf, and no, I did not put that comma in the wrong place. Their guest house is bigger than our house.

  70. 70.

    redshirt

    @donnah:

    Definitely a replay of this next year.

    Wisdom. Counter programming is smart.

    Along these lines, the best time to travel to Europe for an American is Thanksgiving. Airplanes and hotels are empty.

  71. 71.

    Geoduck

    Miserable weather here in SW WA state, and I don’t have many turn up anyway; the neighborhood isn’t very inviting for it, I think (In a dark, no decorations, go-away sense, not gunfire or anything.) Still, two brave/greedy souls made the rounds.

  72. 72.

    ruemara

    The rum wings are a hit, the squash, spinach & feta pastries are gone. I am immobilized due to fatness & a flight of pumpkin beers. They’re watching baseball and I’m trying to understand what is going on.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    Finally bit the digital bullet and signed up to try out Netflix.

    Realizing that taste is entirely subjective, suggestions for free channels?

  75. 75.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    The Mets put the tying run on base, and then hit into a double play. It was a nice play by Mousedegwnbnwldkjv, given how deep he was playing.

  76. 76.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @donnah: Western Washington has a real problem with drunk drivers on Hallowe’en, and after hearing the statistics we decided to stay in. We ate supper, waited for kids to come, watched the ball game, still no kids.
    Gave up a few minutes ago and shut off the porch lights and downstairs lights. Had to walk away from the candy when I realized I’d had too much (stupid stupid stupid). Snickers, I love them.

  77. 77.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: The Younger is four, and just started lessons in September. We are still working on memorizing the fingers. It’ll be her first recital.

    The Elder is eleven, and has been doing lessons for four years. I doubt she’ll ever be serious about it as an adult, but it’s getting really enjoyable listening to her play. She alternates between wanting to quit (which I won’t allow) and loving to perform. I am not a Tiger Mother about practicing, which is what it takes to get to the highest levels, but it’s still great for her.

  79. 79.

    max

    @J R in WV: “We’re doing a recall on Tacoma frames, some of them aren’t painted right,” he tells me.

    Holy shit. They must have really fucked up the rust prevention for them to go that far. (Bum rust prevention paintjob, the stuff flakes off, the water splashes incessantly and along year 4-6 the frame collapses suddenly and ¡Ay, caramba!

    max
    [‘A thousand lawsuits bloom.’]

  80. 80.

    Yatsuno

    Current score of the Stanford-Washington State game:

    Trees – 3
    Cougs – 6

    Only the second quarter, but wow.

  81. 81.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @redshirt: The Euro is $1.10 today. There are round trips available from Iceland Air from Seattle to Paris for under $900 in April, about $1200 in mid to late November.

  82. 82.

    MomSense

    Just got home from a Halloween party with parents and kids. The kids got my costume and it was really fun having them all freeze when I looked at them. One of the older kids said “she’s got motherfucking snakes in her motherfucking hair”. I didn’t rat him out because it really was a good Samuel L. Jackson impression.

    Hope everyone had a fun night.

  87. 87.

    redshirt

    @efgoldman: Nerds, you mean? Music nerds, and I don’t doubt your evidence, as I’m sure nerds off all flavors – music, art, computers, languages, etc – will do better than the non-nerd population.

    But still. Nerds.

    Don’t you want your spawn to captain the swim team?

  90. 90.

    Steeplejack

    * Minor DST Alert *

    I think this got fixed in the last site upgrade, but there might be a possibility that FYWP starts putting (some) messages out of order after the time change at 2:00 a.m. EDT. Not earth-shattering, but a bit disconcerting if you’re not on the lookout.

    Example: Valued Commenter 1 comments at 1:58 a.m. EDT. Valued Commenter 2 replies 10 minutes later, at 1:08 EST, but FYWP sorts it ahead of the previous comment, because FYWP. So VC2 can appear to be ranting about something that hasn’t appeared yet. Good times.

  92. 92.

    burnspbesq

    @efgoldman:

    This is the first Saturday of the season that none of the evening/night football games attracts me at all.

    The last five minutes of Duke – Miami was ridiculous–especially for Duke haters.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    Criminy, it’s Halloween on Saturday, still 70 degrees and we’ve had four trick-or-treaters total.

    Should I take down the two-weeks dead goat on the front yard Festivus pole?

  95. 95.

    redshirt

    I have a cousin who briefly attended the New England Conservatory I think it’s called – it’s right next to Northeastern on the Fens. What she described was grueling. 12-14 hours of day of practice. Relentless competition.

    She left.

  98. 98.

    PurpleGirl

    @khead: From my bus riding I’m seeing amny parents who push their toddlers around in strollers. It’s that the parents are too lazy or who don’t what to put up with problems of the kids walking. Not that the kids can’t walk, but they don’t want to hear how tired the kids become, etc. from an afternoon of walking. And some of these strollers are big, hulking things that I think should be charged for on the bus because they take up SO much space. And they are hard to fold up as the MTA wants them to be. The parents are just lazy in taking care of their children.

  99. 99.

    Gin & Tonic

    @efgoldman: Another yay for school music. Three band kids, one went on to be a music teacher, one got into a really good school in part because of her skill with an uncommon instrument (I’m pretty sure, anyway.)

  101. 101.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: Spawn the Elder also plays the trumpet in the school band. She played flute last year, hated it, and switched to trumpet. I hate the trumpet. It sounds like a fart. She’s reasonably good at it, and yet it still sounds like a fart. But I’ll support her in any musical endeavor she chooses to pursue.

    @redshirt: Spawn the Elder also plays volleyball on an intramural team. Her team came in second in their tournament last weekend. They didn’t have a captain, but she was pretty much the MVP of her team.

  102. 102.

    redshirt

    @efgoldman: Yeah, I’m not sure which one, they’re pretty close together. She continued playing music at her next college, getting a BA in I don’t know what. She’s been playing with a group in N. Mass for a couple of years now. Weddings and the like.

  104. 104.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: I also got pissed when she opened the little door gizmo to clean the spit out of it and got it all over my bed.

    I am not a trumpet fan, but she is enjoying it, and so I am supportive. She’s reasonably good at it. I liked the flute better, but whatever.

  105. 105.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: In our district, which is one of the best in the state, the kids’ families have to buy or rent their instruments, which presents an obvious financial barrier to entry for some. The schools don’t provide them. Are instruments provided for kids in your area? Crazy.

  107. 107.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Suzanne: There’s a couple of reasonably-priced instrument rental outfits around here. I think I was paying $16/mo for my son’s trumpet. And if the kid goes on to something uncommon and expensive, a lot of school districts will own those, so you can use them for no charge.

    But if your kid gets more serious, a decent trumpet costs less than a decent flute, so look at the bright side.

  108. 108.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suzanne: My parents had to rent my violin in the 70s in a well-off Chicago suburb. They rented until I was old enough for a full-sized violin and then they bought one.

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: My niece just started playing the viola. I think 7th grade is late for this, but then Scott Walker is an asshole. Okay, my point was that I asked to see it and she bought me the case. I opened it and the smell of wood and rosin – well, it was like a madeleine.

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    Lawdy, lawdy, bad memories of being assigned to practice the theme from Charade on the clarinet for what seemed 10,000 times.

    Double ditto for “From a Wigwam” from the John Thompson book.

  112. 112.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: In our district, they don’t start band or orchestra until sixth grade, which I agree is no bueno. However, they have an extracurricular xylophone troupe called Marimba Masters in the elementary schools, and she did that. That was fun.

  115. 115.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: It was funny; all of the things were tucked where they go in the case – including the shoulder pad. It is like stowing things in a sailboat.

    ETA: pace redshirt’s nerd thing, my niece is an absolutely brutal soccer defender and a very good basketball forward. And popular and a very good student. Actually both the niece and nephew are too well behaved. I’ve been encouraging bad behavior for a while now.

  116. 116.

    Yatsuno

    @efgoldman:

    His dream is to buy the best German bassoon. $30k+, and a two-year wait.

    The oboe I want is $18K last time I looked. The one I could settle for is around $12K. And I’m not even going to get into English horn prices.

    EDIT: 22-13 Wazzu. I’m trying to breathe…

  119. 119.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: You seem very band oriented. OTOH, in 1975, when my parents bought my violin, they were not making a lot of money and they bought me an instrument that would be sufficient to play in a major city symphony. Unless I developed into a professional soloist quality player, my violin would have been enough. It’s a German made Strad copy. Lovely instrument. Oddly, my mom’s violin was a Guareni copy. But then, she has always been less flamboyant than me.

  121. 121.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Your parents probably went big because they were musicians themselves. They knew the value of having a good instrument to play on vs. the frustration of trying to play on a crap one. Other parents don’t know, so they go with what seems okay on the price/quality scale.

  124. 124.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: Yeah, to a certain extent, I think they wanted to make sure that I was not limited by the instrument, but by my ability. The impressive thing to me is that they paid as much as they did, given what I now know about their income during that period.

  127. 127.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: Interesting. The schools I went to had far stronger orchestras than bands. I will put it down to the quality of the particular instructors (particularly Bernice Friedman in Newtown, CT.)

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