Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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

The revolution will be supervised.

Infrastructure week. at last.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

This fight is for everything.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

We still have time to mess this up!

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

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

In my day, never was longer.

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Reader Interactions

143Comments

  1. 1.

    XTPD

    Can we make this thread a Magary-style discussion on “Why Your State Sucks”? I’ve already written my contributions for MA and AZ in Tamar’s post.

  2. 2.

    Yarrow

    It doesn’t matter how big the bed is, I still get the same amount of space.

    Did you expect anything different?

  4. 4.

    greengoblin

    I’ll play:

    My state sucks because one side is filled with RWNJs that constantly complain about the other side despite the fact that they exist due to all the tax payer money the other side sends over.

    Otherwise it is a great state that just beat Trumpy in court.

  7. 7.

    SWMBO

    If debit is around, how is Walter doing? Haven’t seen anything over the last few days and was wondering about the old boy.

  11. 11.

    danielx

    It doesn’t matter how big the bed is, I still get the same amount of space.

    You would be surprised by this why, exactly?

  15. 15.

    Baud

    It doesn’t matter how big the bed is, I still get the same amount of space.

    First law of dogs.

    The corrolary to this rule is that it also doesn’t matter how big the dogs are.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    New house, new bed a window of opportunity to exert your alpha-ness. That window by now nailed shut.

  18. 18.

    ? Martin

    My state sucks because it stops raining and it’s a disaster, and then as soon as it starts raining, everything floods and it’s a disaster.

    My state sucks because we have 39 million people and the same number of senators as Wyoming with fewer than a million.

    My state sucks because even though most of the tech industry is here the state doesn’t have a public kick-ass tax prep/filing system, nor have we developed a secure online voting system or any other public-facing services. As Elon Musk noted: “Of course. I mean, Tesla’s a Silicon Valley company. If we’re not the leader, shame on us.” That should hold for the state as well. Shame on us.

    My state sucks because in spite of being as blue as we are, we haven’t made any more substantive gains on policing as any other state.

    I could go on.

  20. 20.

    XTPD

    @MomSense: The northwesternmost part of my state is a national embarrassment and should either be ceded to Alabama or nuked into oblivion. The shaft has a high proportion of decent-enough human beings, but enough golf club-wielding savages turned out for Meth-Popping Fuckshit that the rednecks to the Weat turned us red this cycle. The glans is considered our biggest draw, but is hoping against hope that the melting ice caps submerge it more or less permanently. (Not to mention that it’s a glorified graveyard; serves as the base of operations for tabloids who land somewhere between the NY Post and the average British rag; and that our pols are on average as ethical as the CEOs of said tabloids.)

  23. 23.

    Phylllis

    My state sucks because it remains too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum, even 150-some odd years later.

  24. 24.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    My state sucks because Labor membership votes for politicians who want to destroy Labor’s power. IOW, like everywhere industrialized.
    Better than Ohio, though.

  25. 25.

    Another Scott

    @XTPD: “Virginia sucks” because the Constitution of the Commonwealth allows the House of Delegates to give the Speaker of the House the power to gut legislation and over-ride vetoes simply by saying “it’s not germane” without there being an actual vote.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    BTW, if a Costco member, hie there there soon-ish as LED bulbs of many types are on major sale. Scored a 10-pack of 100 watt equivalents for under six smackers.

  29. 29.

    XTPD

    @Major Major Major Major: Saudi Arabia and Texas are both expansive petrostates run by parodically-reactionary religious wingnuts, hosting an upper-class tastelessness that would make Panem’s blush (cf. Dallas) while still being replete with third-world problems such as fucking dog mauling, and all of this ignores the fact that it’s currently on track to spontaneously burst into flames by 2050.

    Oklahoma is like that, but with far nastier wingnuts and far fewer of the comforts that make its ideological compatriot somewhat livable.

    So my answer to your question is, um…that’s what they can go suck?

  30. 30.

    beth

    @Phylllis: It also sucks because our governor thinks belonging to an all white country club in 2017 is just fine. And what really makes it suck is that the voters in this state do too.

  31. 31.

    Hal

    My state, and my region specifically has Carl Paladino, who for some mysterious reason is still on the buffalo school board despite repeatedly proving himself a racist shit bag. Oh wait, plenty of people around here are just like him. Mystery solved.

    Too many I’m not racists but; people live here, complain about people on welfare all the while insisting they are the hardest working people in the world.

  33. 33.

    Martha

    @? Martin: Missed the last thread but thanks for your ongoing updates on the Oroville Dam. I grew up in Sacramento and all my family is still there. Supposedly they all live above the flood zone, but I’m not convinced. I flew in for a very quick visit last weekend and could not believe the water in the Sacramento and American rivers and Yolo causeway. I haven’t seen it that high in 30 years…

  34. 34.

    Mike J

    @greengoblin:

    My state sucks because one side is filled with RWNJs that constantly complain about the other side despite the fact that they exist due to all the tax payer money the other side sends over.

    You live in one of the 50 states that is like this.

  36. 36.

    Major Major Major Major

    @XTPD: the comment seemed apropos of nothing since i thought you’d already done two “why my state sucks” posts and wouldn’t have a third!

    @? Martin: why is everybody hung up on online voting? It’s a (largely unimplementable IMO) solution in search of a problem. It adds nothing that universal mail-in doesn’t already have, has the added problem of requiring an internet connection (among other problems), and removes the paper trail aspect.

    @Mike J: my state is certainly not “full of” people like that.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    First World Problem of the Day:

    Usually today is the day we take the cats to the groomer to get their nails trimmed, but the cleaning people came later than usual and now the groomer can’t see us until 3:30 pm. We’re not sure if we feel like getting everyone packed up again or if G will try and take them during the week.

  40. 40.

    hovercraft

    @XTPD:
    My state New Jersey stinks, quite literally. We have the highest population density in the country. We have a shitty corrupt governor, and our governors have the most or second most executive powers in the nation, so that even with a democratic state and legislature, he is still able to make conservative wet dreams come true. We are home to the Jersey Shore cast and their ilk, we are also home to the crazy tan lady. There’s more but I think that’s a good representation of what ails us.

  41. 41.

    XTPD

    @hovercraft: To be fair, I think less than half the cast were natives. Also, in addition to being California for ugly people, I believe my state also dows triple duty as the New Jersey/Long Island of the South.

  42. 42.

    Pogonip

    Cole, in a year or two you will be SO SICK of those walls…

    I understand you are mourning the lost mustard, but painting a whole room the same color was not a good way to achieve closure.

    And for future reference, train your next dog, or dogs, to stay off the beds. They do like to sprawl out. Train your next cat to stay off the bed too–and if you can do that, you will quickly become so rich you can buy the entire congress, as millions of people, including me, will happily pay big bucks to learn the method.

  47. 47.

    Phylllis

    @beth: What do you expect from a guy who thought he could take it upon himself to just rewrite James Browns’ will?

  48. 48.

    hovercraft

    @XTPD:
    But they fit in so well with a certain type of person who is native born . Fortunately for us though most of our population is concentrated on the eastern edge of the state, and our votes tend to override the inbred tendencies of the western and southern parts of the state. We are wannabe New Yorkers with an inferiority complex.

  50. 50.

    Martha

    @EBT: wow, that’s another scene that I haven’t seen in decades. The snowmelt to come is what scares me for all of you…

  53. 53.

    randy khan

    @hovercraft:

    Speaking as a native -literally born on the banks of the Navesink River – the Shore makes up for a lot of the rest (and his love of the Shore is Christie’s one redeeming quality).

    My current state, well, Another Scott picked up on one point, but in addition to the red parts of the state stealing money from the blue parts – as is true everywhere – the big solution to the north’s transportation issues is to allow it tax itself some more to pay for things that the state government covers in other parts of the state.

  54. 54.

    Yarrow:

    @Yarrow: That whole article is just delicious. Like:

    In interviews, nearly two dozen people who’ve spent time with Trump in the three weeks since his inauguration said that his mood has careened between surprise and anger as he’s faced the predictable realities of governing,

    And:

    Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject — to “seem in control at all times,” one senior government official said

  56. 56.

    Yarrow

    Messed up typing my name and now in moderation. Re-posting.
    @Yarrow: That whole article is just delicious. Like:

    In interviews, nearly two dozen people who’ve spent time with Trump in the three weeks since his inauguration said that his mood has careened between surprise and anger as he’s faced the predictable realities of governing,

    And:

    Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject — to “seem in control at all times,” one senior government official said

    Also:

    some NSC staff believe Trump does not possess the capacity for detail and nuance required to handle the sensitive issues discussed on the calls, and that he has politicized their agency by appointing chief strategist Bannon to the council.

    Last week, Trump told an associate he had become weary of in-fighting among — and leaks from — his White House staff “because it reflects on me,” and that he intended to sit down staffers to tell them “to cut this shit out.”

    Oh, yeah. I’m sure if he tells them “to cut this shit out” that’ll solve everything. Bwahahahaha!

  57. 57.

    David Spikes

    @MomSense: My state sucks because despite being pretty much true blue we come just about last by every social and economic metric-well at least we are sensible poor, ignorant folk and things may change.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yarrow:

    That’s my former House rep. We moved one city over into a weird strip that is represented by a different Democrat, Brad Sherman.

    When Feinstein finally retires — or is carried out feet-first — I think Schiff should make a run at her seat.

  63. 63.

    Aleta

    @Yarrow:

    if he tells them “to cut this shit out” that’ll solve everything

    Sure it will, he’s totally in control; and if it continues that proves it’s media lies.

  64. 64.

    Ian

    @Hal:
    My relatives hail from upstate New York. I think half the problem is that incest rates in Upper NY rival and even increase over rates in the deep south. Oswego, NY has the highest incest rate in the country. Too many days snowed in.

  65. 65.

    A Ghost to Most

    My state sucks because it touches Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, and Nebraska. I leave out Oklahoma, because it keeps craptacular Texas from touching our state.

    Unfortunately, it doesn’t keep Texans out.

  66. 66.

    cosima

    My home state (Alaska) sucks because A) voted 2/3 for the shitgibbon, B) it is one of those horrible red states that gets twice as much in fed $$ as it gives in taxes, C) will vote to legalise dope, but not fund schools/parks/roads/etc.

    I don’t talk to my parents terribly often (that’s just how we roll), maybe about once a month. The last phone conversation that I had with my mother was a week or so after the women’s march in DC, which she went to with her sister (who also lives in AK). I think she *finally* began to see what normal people were like, being in the company of them, anyway. She said something along the lines of ‘so many people in AK are awful!’ and I said something along the lines of ‘you mean like I’ve been telling you for 15 years?’ GWB was the beginning of the end for AK, ushered in the full-on psychosis and took it main-stream (a la electing Palin governor).

    My parents have long since been retired with plenty of money and could easily have moved elsewhere — and I think they’d have had a much better quality of life if they had, being around like-minded people. There is no way to measure the dramatic improvement in quality of life that comes with living in a place where people support the implied social contract, that share that fundamental value with you — after living in a red place it’s like your soul gives an enormous exhalation of relief.

    It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve been in Alaska, and I have never *ever* missed it.

  67. 67.

    Timurid

    Louisiana: Kind of like Brazil, but they speak English (sort of).
    Great food, great music, but shit weather, lots of crime and politics that would make Genghis Khan blush.

  68. 68.

    Ruviana

    @Mnemosyne: Given your background maybe you know this. Was the fictional Adam Schiff named for the real Adam Schiff, perhaps when the latter was a little boy? I’ve wondered for years.

  69. 69.

    Yarrow

    @Aleta: He’s so in control he’s thinking of shaking up his staff. The Kushner-Christie part left me howling.

    In Washington circles, talk has turned to whether a staff shake-up is in the works.

    One person close to Trump said: “I think he’d like to do it now, but he knows it’s too soon.”

    Those closest to the president are unnerved by that prospect, which they say would be a tacit acknowledgment that their team is struggling.

    Kushner, who is among Trump’s most trusted advisers, has been incensed by reports that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has ripped the White House over its implementation of Trump’s executive order restricting travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, could want a job in the White House as part of a “second wave” of staffers that will replace initial hires. While Christie hasn’t said he wants a job, the rumor has been fanned by his allies. Kushner has long had tensions with Christie and played a key role in blocking him from getting a senior job in the administration.

    I can only imagine how this might go if the decide to get rid of some staff (or they have to go because, you know, Russian espionage) and Trump decides to hire Christie. Kushner would lose his mind because Christie’s responsible for his dad going to prison. So then Trumps son-in-law, the husband of his favorite child, is furious at him. Does Ivanka side with her husband? Does Kushner quit? Does he stick around but it creates a huge amount of tension between him and Christie? I’m not sure that’ll work out well for any of them. I better go check my popcorn supplies.

  70. 70.

    Corner Stone

    I have spent the last several years trying to convince all the ultra religious assholes I know that they should join their natural brethren in CO.

  77. 77.

    Corner Stone

    @cosima: NMB, but why in the hell would retired people with means choose to live year round in AK?
    Amazingly beautiful state but not that fully equipped on the whole “societal benefits” area.

  78. 78.

    Villago Delenda Est

    John, it’s indeed calming that you have realized your true position in the household hierarchy: dead last.

  79. 79.

    dp

    I feel ya. I’ve learned that when my wife goes out of town, I have to start in the middle of the king-sized bed, or I’m going to be pushed over the side anyway.

  81. 81.

    Zinsky

    I am from Minnesota and love the state dearly, despite its icy reputation. What sucks about it is that we may be about the only blue state left where marijuana isn’t legal yet!

  84. 84.

    Miss Bianca

    @Corner Stone: don’t you dare send any more religious nutjobs to my fair state! Right-wing religious assholes who will praise Jeebus in one breath and then in the next condemn all the folks He told us to care about is what makes CO suck.

  85. 85.

    Yarrow

    From HuffPo:

    For Americans who based their impression of Trump on the competent and decisive tycoon he portrayed on his “Apprentice” TV reality shows, the portrait from these and many other tidbits emerging from his administration may seem a shock: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way.

    Perhaps after seeing Trump in action people will recognize that CEOs aren’t something special. And that business and government are and should be run differently. Maybe they’ll even stop revering CEOs. If any or all of that happened it would be a good result from this disastrous administration.

  86. 86.

    ? Martin

    @Major Major Major Major: The biggest source of voting fraud by far is actually mail-in ballots, so I disagree that by mail voting is all that. That said, I am happy CA is switching to all mail ballots next year. It is definitely better than in-person.

    My issue with mail voting is mostly that it uses geography as a proxy for identity, which is why it’s open for fraud, but which also causes it to reinforce the many geographic voter suppression systems in the country. So far, vote by mail has only be implemented in states with minimal to no voter suppression. It’s yet to be tested in a place like North Carolina and we don’t really know how the GOP might fuck with it. It’s also not great being yet another analogue system that will have go through some sort of DAC in order to get a count. To that point, the in-person electronic voting that we have here in OC, which has a visible paper trail is in some ways superior to mail-in voting. There’s much less chance that my vote will be mis-scanned without my knowing it, and my vote is directly recorded. As soon as it is submitted, I know the vote counted. It minimizes the likelihood of these kinds of incidents taking place.

    At some point we need to sort out the issue of identity in a real way. Identity can only be determined by proxy, typically by relying on other proxies tying back to the registration of your birth at the hospital. That’s really what the GOP is exploiting – challenging which proxies are valid or not – both for showing ID but also who is registered and allowed to vote, and what district you are in (your address is just another proxy). We have increasing problems with other identity proxies under attack – credit card hacks, etc. We’ve reached a point where your Facebook or Twitter password is probably one of the most reliable and broadly accepted identity proxies you have.

    At some point we have to make that leap to a system whereby you can have constant identity validation by proxy. Apple’s TouchID is at least a hint toward that direction. Behind your fingerprint is a series of proxies – your credit card, etc. Those are validated upstream against a different set of proxies (drivers license, SS#) which are susceptible to fraud. Present a stolen set of credentials and your bank will give you a valid identity backed by a set of falsified proxies. But Apple Pays system allows for a set of mutually self-reinforcing identity proxies. Rather than trust the bank to have the right drivers license, the same check against your credit card can have a second factor check against your drivers license with the state DMV, or your SS# with the SSA. The more identities the system has, the harder it becomes to falsify because rather than a system in series where you can hijack any link of the system, you get a system in parallel where every proxy has to pass. You have to hijack all of them. And because the device doesn’t store the actual identity key, but rather a digital token which is granted which even you don’t know and can’t accidentally reveal, and needs to be validated (basically Kerberos for general identity) it become incredibly reliable and virtually unhackable. It also doesn’t require a centralized identity provider like a national ID. You can get there through distributed identity provider that can be rated based on their trustworthiness. You trust drivers license more than credit card, etc. and you can therefore scale the level of identity validation that you need for the task.

    That’s not to say there aren’t massive challenges getting there. How do you get a uniform interface for every resident? How do you build out the enormous digital back-end, the security layers, the token providers/resolvers, etc. The good news is that the credit card tokenization infrastructure, which has yet to be breached, is generalizable to all sorts of other types of identity, not just credit cards. They have proven systems and proven infrastructure for scale. It’s hard as hell, but not unsolvable.

    But if you can address the identity issue, then you get rid of the geographic constraints. College students aren’t carrying two addresses. The ballot they get would be clear. People traveling or working temporarily out of state. People who lack an address – are homeless. Military. They could all get an accurate ballot for their national down to local elections, with full identity validation, and with instant recording of results – including an encrypted digital paper trail if needed.

    Eventually we’ll get there. I think California should be the state to pave the way. We are very clever.

  88. 88.

    ? Martin

    @Corner Stone:

    I have spent the last several years trying to convince all the ultra religious assholes I know that they should join their natural brethren in CO Saudi Arabia.

    Fixed that for you.

  89. 89.

    Corner Stone

    @Miss Bianca: With one hand I am trying to shove God Fearin’ ™ asshole Texans north and with the other I am face palming asshole Californians and trying to shove them back west.

  93. 93.

    cosima

    @debbie: Yes, which is the biggest bunch of bullshit ever. That should probably be A). Because wtf with the hypocrisy on that one? Glob, don’t get me started on that issue. Could write a dissertation about that one……. Or a War & Peace length novel.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    @Yarrow: No more popcorn until we at least take back Congress. But dysfunction is good because it hopefully slows down the Juggernaut of Doom that is our current government.

  95. 95.

    Ruviana

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s why I wondered if there was a backstory, like maybe Dick Wolf knew the family and was using little Adam’s name. This is my own theory which is mine and probably is wrong.

  97. 97.

    cosima

    @Corner Stone: Nah nah nah! While we were watching voting results come in there was a moment where CO started turning purple, and I said to my husband ‘where will we move back to?!’ CO is glorious — and blue — and we want it RWNJ free, please, in case we have to move back to the US.

  99. 99.

    Yarrow

    @Baud: Well, the popcorn would only be if the WH staff did get shaken up and Christie got a job there. Then I think I could indulge in a bit of popcorn. After working to get Dems elected. Gotta take breaks from time to time.

  101. 101.

    ? Martin

    @Martha: My pleasure. There was talk of an academic presentation next week on the dam, if it happens I’ll go and give an update.

    As for the current situation, the thing to watch is the inflow/outflow differential. When the dam overtopped the lake was receiving about 35,000 CFS of water more than the spillway could remove. It’s down to 22,000 CFS. At this rate, the lake should stop filling some time this evening. Now, that doesn’t mean the emergency flow is going down. Even though it’s overtopped and the flow in is declining, the lake level is continuing to rise because it’s a big lake and it takes time for the water to reach equilibrium and the emergency spill can only go so fast. The lake is currently about a foot above the emergency spill and should hit peak around midnight or maybe a bit later. That should be the point of maximum flow over the emergency spill, and it’ll decline from there as the lake level falls. My guess is the emergency flow will stop tomorrow. That’s me ballparking it – I haven’t taken the time to do the math.

    So the peak point for river flooding will be after midnight and into tomorrow as this additional surge of water works downriver. The other watersheds into the river should also be declining, so hopefully everything will be reasonably okay.

    But if my math was correct yesterday, they can only lower the lake by .20-.25 ft/hr running the main spillway at the current rate. At 6′ per day, they would get it down to maybe 15′-20′ below flood before the next storm comes through. It took 2 days for the lake to rise 20′ after this last storm. It’s going to be tight. Meanwhile, the dam is only doing more damage to itself. Hopefully they can run it at this rate indefinitely.

  105. 105.

    debit

    @SWMBO: He’s doing well! I sent an update to John earlier today that basically says: no changes on the cancer front, slightly worsened mobility, so new pain meds, lots of treats. :)

  107. 107.

    Yarrow

    @debit: Glad dear, sweet Walter is okay. Any new photos or video? He’s such a good boy! Is the weather still cold where you are? I keep hoping he’ll be able to enjoy spring and maybe even summer.

  109. 109.

    Gindy51

    My state sucks less because Pence is gone and Eric Holcomb is already undoing the damage he did.

  112. 112.

    Betty Cracker

    Florida sucks because:

    1) Trump’s Disgraceland estate is here, and so is he.

    2) There are giant, flying, indestructible roaches.

    3) Ambulatory dildo Rick Scott is governor.

    4) It’s a sun-blasted hellscape from June-August, at a minimum, and with suffocating humidity.

    5) Lots of poisonous snakes and alarming spiders.

    6) It is being consumed by oceans.

    7) Millions of armed cranks roam the many Walmarts.

    8) There are scads of terrible drivers.

    9) Gated communities spring up in cow pastures overnight like hideous, high-impact mushrooms.

    10) The flotsam from other states tends to fetch up here, because this is where the roads end.

    I could go on, but that’ll do.

  115. 115.

    efgoldman

    @Ruviana:

    I wondered if there was a backstory, like maybe Dick Wolf knew the family and was using little Adam’s name.

    There’s a major supporting character is a well-known movie that had the same name as my dad; they weren’t within sixty degrees of separation. Coincidences happen.

  119. 119.

    Betty Cracker

    @XTPD: Saw that, and well done. Of course, there are many great things about FL too, not least of which is the bird-watching!

  120. 120.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Mnemosyne: OT saw your request for high spf sensitive skin sunscreen. I exclusively use alcohol based sun creams because a dermatologist suggested it when i was 18 and getting horrifying rashes. This sunscreen had been life changing for me – as a super pale freckled person there’s no way i could be an archaeologist without it – and definitely no way i could live comfortably in Australia. I highly recommend bullfrog brand. That do a 50 spf which is outstanding.

  121. 121.

    cosima

    @hedgehog mobile: Good to hear (not sure how you’ll get rid of the CO Springs contingent, but if you could, it would be greatly appreciated)!

    Unlike AK (my home state) I’d be quite happy to visit CO. I really loved living there. Because both Mr & I are oil industry, it was as close to utopia as we could get whilst still having jobs. Most oil jobs are in red state hell. Once you cross the pond it’s not like that at all, we’ve found, the RWNJs that have made it over are pretty near shunned by locals, and have to keep to their own circle of expat RWNJs. I so love living here…………

  122. 122.

    debit

    @Yarrow: It’s going to be really warm next week (40’s and possibly low 50’s) so we’ll be spending a lot of time outside. He can’t do walks, but when it’s warm enough we’ll try to get to the river as much as possible so he can paddle around.

    You can start here for a few new pics, And I took a video of him begging at the table. I don’t ever feed my dogs at the table, but gave in and let him have the fries, because he’s Walter. My daughter is laughing because Walter makes me break all my own rules.

  124. 124.

    cosima

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: We’re super-Satan-ized (drilling engineering), and the company that we worked for when we met was based in LA, but by the time we were mobile it was mainly lawyers, paper pushers & geo there (and refinery stuff), no chance of a drilling job there. And actually, we were (and are) glad of that, as we’re the rare sort of folk who are petro, but also liberal green/blue types. We did have a short talk, though, about how now that it’s open season for oil industry (shitgibbon’s brave new Tillerson/Putin-led world) that there may be all sorts of options available to us. The thing is, though, that we’re pretty happy over here on the socialist side of the pond, and I hope that there will never be anything other than retirement opportunities for us in CA (we both love Northern CA, but are far from A) being able to afford to live there, and B) retirement age).

  127. 127.

    Scamp Dog

    @Miss Bianca: Hear, hear! Of course, it’s Colorado Springs that’s the big (localized) problem–the big distributed problem is the rural parts of the state. Of course, that’s typical of many states, so not a surprise.

  129. 129.

    joel hanes

    @? Martin:

    a secure online voting system

    Be careful what you wish for.

    As a computer engineer with 35 years experience, it’s my firm opinion that computers are a completely inappropriate technology for voting. Fortunately, California’s former Secretary of State, after evaluating all the available technologies, agreed with me: pen and paper are optimum. Auditable, difficult to forge in quantity, difficult to alter in quantity, understood by all involved.

    New technologies are not always better. Often they are, in fact, worse.

    For example: Disqus has just last year begun to offer a crippled and extremely limited version of the “killfile” capability that the trn Usenet newsreader had in 1994. trn was _better_ than Disqus in almost every way.

  132. 132.

    debit

    @Pogonip: Well, we can’t know from week to week what will happen. If the cancer is slow moving, if his bone density doesn’t weaken too much he hopes for a good six months. I’m just planning to take it day by day and keep him happy as best I can.

  133. 133.

    XTPD

    @Pogonip: Basically because it’s a budget version of California, only swap in hurricanes for earthquakes (also, the space program). Even with the demographic shifts there’s a long ways to go before it’s reliably blue, but now really only the panhandle is a totally retrograde wasteland.

  134. 134.

    Pogonip

    @XTPD: I wouldn’t want to live in California either. Haven’t heard of giant flying roaches there, but there are scorpions with a mean sting. And lots of crazy people.

    If you live in a scorpion area, obtain a black-light flashlight and shine it on any scorpions you notice in your yard at night. They flouresce.

  136. 136.

    SWMBO

    @Pogonip: Great. Didn’t know that. We do have scorpions in Florida. They were at the Girl Scout camp in Clewiston. In the showers. The girls didn’t want to shower with them in there and I wouldn’t make them. The other leaders thought I was soft on them. No one was stung. Except the leader I was with was stung and swelled up a softball sized lump. She wouldn’t give me the key to call for help. I figured if she died, I’d take the key off her dead body and call for paramedics and parents to come get the kids.

  138. 138.

    J R in WV

    @? Martin:

    We’ve reached a point where your Facebook or Twitter password is probably one of the most reliable and broadly accepted identity proxies you have.

    Martin, you usually seem like a calm, thoughtful and educated person. But now I’m confused!

    What the Fu** are these Face-books and Twitties that you speak of?

    Seriously, I won’t touch either of them, they exist to violate every user’s security by making their personal data their cash product. To mention them in a discussion of voting securely is to be crazed!

  139. 139.

    SWMBO

    @XTPD: We’ve got them all. Light tan, brown, green and black. Pick a place. The beach? Tan. Jungle? Green or brown. Deep woods? Black. Although I saw a black one scurrying across the parking lot at Walmart once. It was near the garden center and I’m assuming it was trying to find someplace safer to hide.

    The darker they are, the more dangerous they are. The GS camp had tan ones.

  140. 140.

    J R in WV

    @Betty Cracker:

    When we lived in Key West (way back in 1970-73) we noticed the dead-end US route A1A sign at southernmost point. It affected the population as many people hit the east coast, slid south to the end at Key West.

    Some really strange agents.

    But it was much nicer then than it is now. We visited for a week September a year ago. Almost all the great joints were gone, replaced by huge Touron meccas like Margaritaville. When we were there, Jimmy Buffet and Jerry Jeff Walker were playing in the bars for drinks and tips.

    And the pretty girl doing a tasteful dance of veils with alcohol flames got more tips. We lived across the street from Lou’s Place, named for Louise, the dog who hung out under the bar.

  142. 142.

    Pogonip

    @SWMBO: My brother was stung by a scorpion in Texas 50 years ago. He likened the pain to a bee sting.

    Texas was also the place where Dad brought a horned toad home from the range–the firing range, not the one where the deer and the antelope play.

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