Massive ground deployment against insurgents gets results #ExplainAFilmPlotBadly pic.twitter.com/otVeTWOhkI
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) December 13, 2015
@AlexUsherHESA Mark Hamill is today the same age as Sir Alec Guinness was in 1977.
— Rob Huck (@BumfOnline) December 13, 2015
So I'll be curled up in a fetal position for the rest of the day then. https://t.co/OIOkzPiyf9
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) December 13, 2015
There’s been a certain amount of attention paid to Buzzfeed Ben Smith’s “What The Hell Happened To Mickey Kaus?” — mostly, IMO, for the wrong reasons:
… I wrote a blog every day, more or less, from 2004 to 2011. Mickey Kaus was an old-timer when I started, and he was still going when I stopped. A pioneer of the platform, he is one of the handful who can lay claim to inventing the political blog — though he would never claim it, and indeed goes to great lengths to argue that he didn’t.
Kaus helped introduce elements of blogging style that still endure in online writing: the breathless, stream-of-consciousness style; the informal, self-referential voice; the disdain for the mainstream media…
Kaus mostly stopped blogging this year when he broke with the Daily Caller after criticizing Fox News — from the right. And while his old friends from top New York and Washington publications are now Top Thinkers and People Who Run Things, he is sitting in a coffee shop in Venice, talking about how he’s going to light up the congressional switchboard with calls about immigration. He now lives off his savings, and writes solely on Twitter, where he has emerged as an unlikely man of this political moment: a Democratic intellectual who thinks that Donald Trump is the “most credible” candidate for the presidency…
In other words, if not completely nucking futz, Kaus is an extremely quirky person whose idiosyncrasies gave him a foothold when the whole “political blogging” thing was being invented. Blogging has changed since those days, Kaus maybe not so much, and there isn’t a paying niche open at the moment for him. Sad commentary, if you’re the kind of online guy who seems to have grown up wanting to be Mickey Kaus…
… Kaus also helped found the debate platform Bloggingheads with his old friend Robert Wright. (A Kaussian digression: I once debated Glenn Greenwald on Bloggingheads, on the proposition that my employer, Politico, was a right-wing proxy. The figure at the center of Greenwald’s theory was Joe Albritton, who he said owned Politico. I countered that the man was dead, and that his son Robert — without the CIA ties — ran the company. That turned out to be wrong — Joe was then alive, and in fact my boss’s boss; Greenwald very kindly allowed me to delete that portion of the audio, and save my job, and I’m reminded that he shares with Kaus [though being different in every other way] the quality of being a huge asshole on the internet but astonishingly gracious in person.)…
What I hear, reading that paragraph: Blogging was such a different and special place when it was just me and a handful of my bros, yapping for money from rich dudes whose politics we carefully chose not to understand! But now that just anybody can do it, the rich dudes have moved on!
And for some reason, I’m finding myself clean out of pity for Mickey Kaus, and all his fellows/imitators.
@yeselson 10+ yrs ago, was at least $ in contrarianism. Sad to see a guy stuck with an ugly schtick developed for a vanished market.
— reflectionephemeral (@R_Ephemeral) December 13, 2015
8. To extent USA politics has space for Kaus, it's in the cluster of Reform-Cons like @reihan, @DouthatNYT & @davidfrum
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) December 13, 2015
Omnes Omnibus
No mention of goat fucking?
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Winter in Southern California: sitting in a beach chair in front of the fireplace with a cat in my lap. Don’t laugh — it’s going to get into the high 30s tonight.
(Though the beach chair is more because there’s not enough room or need to keep a regular chair in front of the fireplace year-round when we only get two or three cold months a year.)
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Also, if anyone has a really good roast beef and potatoes recipe suitable for unadventurous eaters on Christmas Day, lay it on me. I would love to cook the meat and potatoes at the same time, preferably in the same pan so the potatoes get carpet-bombed by the beef drippings.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Thanks for the links to the PBS RnR history. I am now into Ep. 2.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne (tablet): You want my stracotta recipe? Its Italian pot roast. Or I could give you my brisket recipe, which I made last Sunday. Or my standing rib roast recipe. Just let me know.
redshirt
At last. This will be a day long remembered. Use the Force.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Adam L Silverman:
I think I’m picturing a standing rib roast, like in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (the good animated one, not the Jim Carrey abomination).
ETA: We’ll be serving 7, but one of them is a 17-year-old boy, so big servings are a must.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
If you hear the “God was a young black girl who could sing” narration, or something like it, let me know. There were two series that came out around the same time and I always get them mixed up.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): If I remember right, it is from the second episode and it is a Phil Spector quote.
ThresherK (GPad)
@Adam L Silverman: Okay, I’m not making Xmas dinner for a crowd, but those.sound good!
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s the one I’m thinking of, then. The civil rights episode is really good, and explains concisely how Americans as a culture went from Motown to “(Say It Loud) I’m Black and I’m Proud.”
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, now there is.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet): It was a Gerry Goffin quote. Just happened.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: If one mentions Kaus, it does come up.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Too easy.
Let’s talk roast. When you go to the butcher’s you’re going to want one full bone for every two people. That’s sort of the default. So if you’re having ten adults, have the butcher cut you a roast with five bones. If you’re having ten of me – double it!!! Actually a full roast is seven bones, which serves about 14 or so adults. Have the butcher remove the ribs completely and then butcher twine them back to the roast. This will make carving easier while preserving all the extra flavor that comes from roasting with the ribs on. Also, and this is my preference, I prefer the roast from the fattier end for the extra flavoring that comes with the marbling, but if you prefer the leaner end or a mix in the middle – a bit of both – get what you prefer.
On the day that you’re going to roast, set your oven for 500 or as close as your’s may go and get it up to heat as you start to prep the roast. I like to do a very simple dry rub to not overpower the meat. In a bowl combine kosher salt or you’re preferred coarse ground salt and freshly cracked black pepper according to your taste – you want enough to cover the entire roast. Pat dry the roast, then rub it with a little but of olive oil. Then add the dry rub and cover completely – every nook and cranny. Place the roast ribs down (stand the roast on the ribs) in the roasting pan. And place in the oven. Roast at 500 for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees. Roast for 13-15 minutes per pound for rare or 15-17 minutes for medium rare. If you’ve got one use a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the roast. You want the internal temperature at the roast’s center at 115-120 for rare or 125-130 for medium rare. Make sure to check a 1/2 hour before you think it will be done as you’re going to want to give it 30 minutes to rest covered with foil. And it will continue to cook for that 30 minutes, so you don’t want to aim for medium rare and wind up with medium… Once its rested, cut the twine, remove the bones, carve, and enjoy. They were having a sale on these at the local Publix last week and I bought a small one, which I’m making tonight using the instructions above.
For potatoes. I generally don’t eat potatoes that aren’t sweet potatoes. However, if I’m doing potatoes for a roast I’ll do one of two things. 1) I get the heirloom potatoes – the reds, purples, and golds. Either the fingerlings or the little round ones. I quarter them, toss them in olive oil and dust them with salt and pepper to taste and then roast in the oven until the outsides are crisp and the insides are soft and fluffy. 2) I make latkes/potato pancakes. If you want a recipe for the latter, let me know and I’ll get it to you here.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Steeplejack
At this point I’m sick of all things Star Wars. Just get the damn movie released and get it over with.
Adam L Silverman
@ThresherK (GPad): my sister in law’s family is not Jewish. Not really a big deal. Several years ago they asked my brother to do the cooking for Christmas Day down at her parents. So he subverted the paradigm and made the brisket according to the family recipe… Take that to the Christian part of the whole Judeo-Christian dynamic!
redshirt
@Steeplejack: So you’re like zero fun?
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: It is possible that you are too nice and decent person to post here.
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt: Actually, the dude is far more fun than you could imagine being.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: This is too easy to help with. I do draw the line at picking most of you up at the airport…
ruemara
Kind of annoyed. I did some photo work for a friend about a month ago. I would have donated it because she was in a bind. but she insisted on paying me. I gave her a real lowball friend price, for a job that she had contracted out for over 3 times the price, except the fellow bailed. Fine, if she insists, but I would have donated my work to her event. Did the work, took nearly 12 hours. Did clean up retouching. Offered her 70 prints, 50 over what her more expensive photog was going to give. She asked if there was more she could see. I said that was quite a large amount and she might just do better to accept those. I added a couple more which needed retouching, so I’m down 23 hours of work outside of the 12 for photography and so far she’s been dodging me for payment since we finished shooting.
I had really thought I would be able to send a few Christmas things out this year, since I had a little side work. I’m going to just let it go, but man, that’s simply not how you treat a friend who cancels her plans and runs to your event for your sake. I was so looking forward to playing Santa for a bit.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m imagining!
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Are you in FL? I don’t go there, so I am not offended.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m sure you’ve seen Grace of My Heart more than once thanks to the Costello connection, but it apparently is a pretty good overview of that transition from Motown-style songwriters to singer/songwriters. Anders even correctly guessed why King and Goffin had divorced.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Right now I am. I’m waiting to find out if my next assignment is down here, so I just stay where I’m at, or if I wind up heading back north. This keeps getting delayed as no one will authorize any hiring or provide start dates until Congress passes a funding bill that isn’t a temporary/stop gap. One of the companies I’m currently consulting for was expecting to place me in OCT as they were awarded a contract in SEP and were just waiting on having the position list released to them. They were told that until Congress passes a real C/R for the remainder if the fiscal year or an actual normal appropriations bill, they wouldn’t release the list. So for right now I’m staying put…
Steeplejack (phone)
@redshirt:
I fear it will not have the gravitas and artistic heft of Mad Max: Fury Road.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks! I actually find the idea of making rib roast less intimidating than making a turkey — I have a lot of experience with pot roast and brisket, but I’ve never made a whole bird and I don’t want to start with my first hosted holiday.
And your brother should have told his in-laws that he used the Virgin Mary’s recipes. If they were Catholic, they would have gotten the joke.
Redshift
This really belongs in the previous thread, but I was busy.
A spokesman for the New England police union that endorsed Trump was on Lawrence O’Donnell (before I turned it off to save my blood pressure.) In case anyone was wondering, their reasons were that it’s open season on cops, people are marching through the streets chanting about killing cops, the president doesn’t have their backs, and Trump is the only one who says he’s going to declare the death penalty for cop killers (which the president can’t do unilaterally, of course.)
So in other words, the usual wingnut, racist, “what blue wall?”, WATB claptrap. It honestly would have been more surprising if that wasn’t the reason, but it’s still vaguely disappointing for an organization of that size.
Good to know what we’re up against, I suppose.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne (tablet): When you’re ready to give turkey a go, I can hook you up.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@ruemara:
I would whip up an invoice in Microsoft Office for the agreed-on amount and mail it to her. If she still ignores it, you know to never do work for her again without an up-front payment.
mtmofo
[Kevin Bacon in Animal house in here]
Remain calm, everything is fine.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/trump-supporter-yells-light-the-motherfucker-on-fire-as-prot#.tuNO117J
benw
Lock x-foils in attack position. We’re passing though their magnetic shield. Switch deflector screens to double-front.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@ruemara:
Also, I’m going to outsource further scolding to animation designer Stephen Silver: “Stop Working For Free!”
Steeplejack (phone)
@ruemara:
I agree with Mnemosyne about this. No messy face time, sends a pointed reminder and leaves a tangible artifact to prevent future amnesia.
Maeve
Just saw this on Little Green Footballs – horiffying beyond belief (embedded ideo in this blog post
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/45367_Tonight_at_Donald_Trumps_Rally_in_Nevada-_Light_the_Motherfcker_on_Fire!
Makes all the tut-tut about political blogging seem pretty irrelevant – the mob has already been activated
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Have linked this previously: Foolproof, as a key step is turning the oven off. Don’t be put off by the mention of herbes de Provence – use whatever herbs you’re happy with.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: don’t use herbes de Provence. I’ve had standing rib roast seasoned with it and it overwhelms the taste of the beef and it gives the beef a strange, almost metallic taste.
The Moar You Know
Too crazy to even know when to cash out.
That, in it’s own way, is the saddest thing.
Radio One
@Steeplejack: Agreed.
goblue72
@Adam L Silverman: Kenji Lopez-Alt at the Food Lab recommends flipping the traditional method using the Cook’s Illustrated “reverse sear” – low temp first, THEN blast at 500F at the end for browning.
Serious Eats Prime Rib
He’s done a good job in the past explaining the “myth of the sear”, as well as the myth that bones add flavor (but they DO help protect the meat from overcooking)
I’ve used the reverse sear for prime rib before. Works great. Thinking of marrying it this year with using my Pizza Steel to help moderate the oven temps.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/best-way-to-roast-turkey-baking-stone-steel-no-roasting-pan-crisp-skin-juicy-meat.html
goblue72
@Redshift: The New England Police Union isn’t a real union. They are a right wing cop club. The organization does not represent any police force in New England under a collective bargaining agreement or other labor contract. They were only formed in 2005. They are mostly composed of cops from a number of smaller towns & cities in New Hampshire.
From the Boston Globe:
sm*t cl*de
6 feet of soil (or perhaps less, for he is such a little person).
Citizen Alan
Mickey “Goat-Fucker” Kaus was the reason I gave up on Slate completely. Just going to Slate’s homepage and seeing some stupid byline from him off to the side usually made me so angry closed the browser window without reading anything else.
Another Holocene Human
@goblue72: Sounds like it’s working.
I used to be on a nerd forum where I was more or less driven away by this crude, racist retired Boston cop. He died suddenly about a year ago and I’ve rarely been less sorry that somebody kicked it. Guys like him make it easy to believe there’s a bunch of reactionary cops in Boston, even though, yeah, thinking back, I have had good experiences with Boston cops at protests and so on.
Another Holocene Human
@Citizen Alan: Having been on the internets in some form or fashion since 1995 (a baby! I know!), I never started reading Slate.
raven
I may as well post so a new thread pops up. Joe is railing about the Repukes and their 20 years of lies that keep them from winning. Interesting.
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne (tablet): (Almost) Winter morning in Northern Virginia.
Outside at 5:30 am, barefoot, just wrapped in a light blanket like a sarong (neighbors aren’t awake yet). It’s balmy. Hear tell some cherry blossoms are blooming in DC; have not personally confirmed that fact.
Baud
I’m clearly not aware of all internet traditions, because I know very little about Kaus.
@raven: It’s those little easter eggs that keep you interested.
Elizabelle
@raven: Who slipped truth serum into Joe’s Starbucks today?
Not watching. Thinking Morning Republican’s “truths and lies” are likely different than our own.
raven
@Baud: true dat
Schlemazel
@raven: The shift to Trump in on?
Baud
I hope the mobile site is back soon.
bemused
@raven:
What kind of Republican lies is Joe referring to?
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Any lies in particular bothering him?
NotMax
Front page is triggering Firefox security alerts.
http://www.balloon-juice.com uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is only valid for the following names: *.hmdnsgroup.com, hmdnsgroup.com
(Error code: ssl_error_bad_cert_domain)
Baud
@NotMax: Looks like you’ve been voted off the blog. We’ll miss you, but in the end, there can be only one.
NotMax
@NotMax
FYWP added the http:// to the URL, it is not a part of the information in the alert
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, I am curious there too.
How are you and the ankle today? (PS: I had a broken bone that healed, well, without surgery. As you mentioned, Time the great healer.)
Satby
@Baud: I think this is the new mobile site. At least it zooms so you can make the 4 point font bigger.
BTW, papercut healing up ok?
Schlemazel
@Another Holocene Human:
been connected since the very beginning (worked for a big defense firm & then NASA) well before there were Internet traditions let alone a web but heartily share your avoidance of Slate.
Anybody remember ‘gopher’? it was the batamax of the internet, predated http
Baud
@Satby: I’m getting the regular website on my phone. I can zoom in, which makes it usable, but it’s far from ideal.
NotMax
@Baud
I demand a recount.
:)
Schlemazel
@NotMax:
That probably means they got the CN name wrong on their SSL cert & you probably don’t have to worry given the way things have gone. The ‘*’ means they tried to make a wildcard cert good on any server but they go the wrong domain. Either that or a hack is in the middle & redirecting you to a site where malware can be loaded onto your machine without you noticing it.
Baud
@Satby: The paper cut is almost gone. My doctor was pretty amazed. He says it’s extraordinary how fit I am for the presidency.
Satby
@Baud: It looks like the regular site on my Kindle too, but I have the option to “request the desktop site” which means that this is the mobile version. As long as I can zoom it, it’s fine.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
That would be expecting a bit much from the intern killer wouldn’t it? My guess is he leaves it vague so he is covered and viewers can pick their own & ‘know’ that Joe is on the level.
How’s the leg?
NotMax
@Schlemazel
No doubt at all my machine is clean – it’s a borked cert. Just wanted to point it out.
Already added a notice about it to the maintenance thread.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: I’m fine. The ankle sucks. It’s getting whipsawed by the high pressure front that moved thru yesterday and the low pressure coming thru tomorrow. Suh is life. Also, my keyboards is dying. an’t type that letter between ‘b’ and ‘d’ and spellhek doesn’t always give me the orret option. The ‘enter’ is not working either.
Randy P
@Baud: If you scroll down to the bottom, do you get the choice to “Switch to Mobile Version”? I get switched to the desktop version randomly every once in a while (less often since the Great Redesign) but I always have that option at the bottom of the page.
The switch always happens while I’m reading comments. Just suddenly refreshes and changes formats, as if a ghost had reached over my shoulder and picked the desktop option.
Randy P
@Schlemazel:
Yes! I was trying to remember the name of that just the other day. Also “www” was a text thing, a way of connecting multiple computers file systems together into one big directory tree.
I also remember the first use of a live “video” stream that I knew of on a browser. It was the coffee pot in some university physics department (San Diego?). The refresh rate was too slow to actually see humans take coffee, but you could see the level change every once in a while.
It’s amazing how fast the technology grew up.
Baud
@Randy P: I don’t see that option on my phone.
NotMax
@Randy P</a.
Anyone else remember QUBE?
NotMax
Coding fix.
@Randy P
Anyone else remember QUBE?
MattF
@Schlemazel: Yeah, I remember that. Used to burrow ‘gopher holes’ through a dozen hosts. Mozilla still supports it, and I actually used it, back in the day, for fetching weather data.
Another Holocene Human
@Randy P: I remember the gee-whiz thing on our Apple Macintosh computers at school was a one-inch by one-inch square video file of the space shuttle launching, in highly compressed black and white.
Another Holocene Human
@OzarkHillbilly: Have you already tried cleaning the innards with alcohol and a q-tip?
debbie
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
A recent Cook’s Country episode had a one-pan prime rib and root vegetables recipe. You have to subscribe to get their recipe, but there are always knock-off recipes if you Google.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
I’ve seen forsythia blooming and crocuses peeping up in Ohio.
Another Holocene Human
@Schlemazel: In the early days of WWW when it was a wild toy, some wag created a new homepage for Slate that read Stale. MS tried so hard to make Slate happen. I personally didn’t understand why liver purple was supposed to be a good color for a hip, edgy online magazine.
I missed the whole development of the blog-o-sphere. I was doing other things and when I was doing them online, I used forums. WordPress sucked even then and I didn’t like blogs. I didn’t even like the word blog.
I was so demoralized from the Iraq War Protests that I sat out the Kerry/Bush contest except for voting. I had to walk up a hill to a small public building, past some chickens in a yard. It was very New England, except that I was a kollidge stupid and the little old ladies didn’t recognize me. Knowing all the voters on sight, now that’s VERY New England.
Another Holocene Human
I thought the whole “blog” fad would blow over, lol.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Kaus has been a raving hard-right Republican who is always identified as “even the liberal Mickey Kaus” for as long as I can remember.
Baud
@Another Holocene Human: It has. We’re just behind the times
OzarkHillbilly
@Another Holocene Human: No, I leave all tech issues to the competent person in our household. I almost mentioned it to her as she was going out the door, but no, she is already shouldering too big a load with me on my ass. It will wait.
Randy P
@Baud: Yeah I’m on the phone now and experiencing the same thing, and the option to switch views is gone.
qwerty42
@Omnes Omnibus:
It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
I watched Robert Wright and Kaus on Bloggingheads after that and as I recall, Wright had a toy goat on his side.
But Kaus was going around the bend back then. If he ended up at Daily Caller, that is (maybe?) a step above Alex Jones.
OzarkHillbilly
Tale of two Baltimores: why Freddie Gray protester may face tougher sentence than officer on trial No comment.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: I thought that was Michael Kinsley. Or was it Richard Cohen?
Thor Heyerdahl
I was thinking of interviewing Republican egg farmers who also happen to be anti-abortion…I would be interested in their answers – and their cognitive disconnect.
Alain the site fixer
@Baud: It will be. The new updated version of the mobile site plugin was a necessity to solve issues many were having with the old version (we went from 2.8.3 to version 4.0) such as stale content. I expect we’ll have this fixed this morning.
Alain the site fixer
@NotMax: Yeah, ISP didn’t load the intermediate cert I included. I have a ticket in.
Baud
@Alain the site fixer: Thanks, Alain.
WereBear
All I know about Mickey Kaus is that he is rumored to blow goats. Hopefully, consensually.
Up early enough to have bacon and eggs, now cooked, consumed, and shared with Tristan the cat.
Aldi’s gourmet thick-sliced bacon is cheaper than their odds-n-ends “cheap” bacon, per pound. I can’t see this as the same trick as making the large “economy” size more expensive. Because this is actually far better bacon.
Tyro
Kaus was an interesting phenomenon in the early days of blogging because he made his living running a blog that no one was interested in reading. He just found rich sponsors to throw money at him. In this day and age, where your ability to remain employed and your salary are completely dependent on click statistics, that is unfathomable.
Kaus never realized that the gravy train was going to come to an end because no one wanted to read him.
Elizabelle
@debbie: Crocuses up, and forsythia blooming in Ohio?
That’s hardcore.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Schlemazel:
Yes.
And Archie and Veronica.
WereBear
I remember CompuServe. And The Well.
OzarkHillbilly
I think I remember what I had for dinner last night. Maybe.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Maybe it’s because I’m old, but I actually remember Kinsley and Cohen saying things that sounded sort of liberal. Only with Kinsley there was always a lot of both-sides-do-it centrism there, and Cohen has always specifically been racist in this really dopey privileged-white-guy-theorist way.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Holocene Human: I was reading a bunch of primitive blogs pretty early on; I learned that the WTC towers had collapsed from Cameron Barrett’s blog Camworld. I remember that after I saw the report of the initial collision on Yahoo’s home page, most mainstream news sites were hammered into unusability for the rest of the day, and out-of-the-way blogs from people who lived in New York and DC were the best way to figure out what was going on without just traumatizing yourself by being glued to a TV (which was what most people in my office were doing).
Satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Sorry about all the bad luck you’re having lately. I’m hoping you heal up quickly, so stay still enough to let yourself get better.
Germy
I remember something called “Project X” that Apple was experimenting with, before they dropped it entirely. It was a different way to experience the web. Instead of a flat screen with tabs or different flat pages, you floated around, and the web was all around you 360º.
I never used “The Well” but I used to listen to a syndicated radio show of late-night ambient music, and at the end of every segment they’d say “join us on The Well” which sounded rather exotic to me.
OzarkHillbilly
@Satby: I’ve only had one bit of bad luck (admittedly a biggie bit) everything else on the downside is just life happening and balanced out by the many good things happening, like having my wife to help me thru this. I have gone thru similar situations when I had nobody to lean on and let me assure you, this is far preferable.
Gimlet
Thank goodness we’re getting movies on Benghazi and Chappaquiddick during the election cycle next year. Now if only we could get one on the failed rescue attempt of the Iranian hostages when Carter was President or the early Klan years with Robert Byrd.
Sherparick
Kaus was a collection of writes and editors at the New Republic in the 1980s and early (Fred Barnes, Morton Kondracke, Charles Krauthammer, Andrew Sullivan, and Michael Kinsley all come to mind, all males, all white, and all drifting under Marty Peretz’s gentle urging from anti-Vietnam War moderate New Leftism to some kind of reactionary conservatism that usually meant hating on some group of poors, unions, Arabs, or in Kaus’s case, brown people with Spanish surnames. All made the term “Even the Liberal New Republic….” famous.
Over at Crooks and Liars, there is a story on LePage and how he has managed to make Maine worst in the nation as far its SNAP program is concern. I am sure he points to it as point of pride that more Maine residents, particularly old people, the mentally ill, and children are hungry. http://crooksandliars.com/2015/12/another-state-may-take-over-maines-food
Asshole and the assholes who vote for him.
Germy
cartoon du jour
debbie
@Thor Heyerdahl:
Why not instead come to Ohio and talk to the legislator who has suggested establishing cemeteries for aborted fetuses and their cremains, but promises he doesn’t want to set up a registry of women who have had abortions performed at Planned Parenthood?
http://wcbe.org/post/lawmakers-propose-new-rules-handling-fetal-remains#stream/0
debbie
I wonder if these idiot legislators even see the irony in calling these abortion-restrictive laws as TRAP laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers)?
rikyrah
UH HUH
………….
CNN breaks own rules to elevate Rand Paul’s debate spot
Rachel Maddow explains how CNN disregarded its own rules for qualifying for the main stage at Tuesday’s Republican primary debate and allowed Rand Paul to move up from the kids’ table even though he doesn’t have the poll numbers to qualify.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/cnn-breaks-own-rules-to-give-paul-debate-spot-585969219717
Origuy
I had a Compuserve account. There was also something called The Source, which folded fairly quickly.
Besides gopher and archie and his friends, there was finger. That was a server sites could run that served a public file on someone’s home directory. USGS used to have one that listed the worldwide earthquakes of the previous day.
glory b
@Tyro: Wanted to?
I remember thinking that his writing was impossible to read. I gave up trying and didn’t venture back to slate for a loooong time.
The Other Chuck
@Origuy: I remember when John Carmack pretty much kept a game dev blog in his .plan file.
Matt McIrvin
@Germy: The silliest Internet application I ever saw was a Gopher client called TurboGopher VR. It represented every Gopher menu as a Stonehenge-like circle of megalithic boxes in a three-dimensional space, and you’d fly into one of them to make a selection. Add a virtual-reality helmet, a Nintendo PowerGlove, and one of those spinning gimbal-sphere harnesses, and it’d be just like a science-fiction movie from 1993.
pseudonymous in nc
Alleged goat-blower Kaus was a “Democrat” who hated unions, especially public-sector ones, and became a “Democrat” who also hated brown people, especially in California. He’s the mascot for a certain kind of white middle-aged crank who thinks that wage stagnation is the fault of unions and brown people.
Tom
@WereBear: Ooh, the Well! Long time since anyone’s mentioned them.
Remember “you own your own words”?
Anyway, I was using an Amiga 500 at the time and wrote a script to download the Well discussion messages so I could read them offline. (I was on dial-up so this was more efficient.)