The latest @onlxn exclusive: a Sebastian Gorka rant, written out on a McDonald's napkin https://t.co/op6LUd2GZP
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) May 5, 2017
The President-Asterisk’s Yuuuge Win was as hard on satirists as the rest of us sane people, but Owen Ellickson has found inspiration at his new gig. Believe me, it’s worth clicking over to read the rest!
(I’ve been collecting stories & snippets about Gorka’s tribulations all week, but is it really worth the bother of bricolaging them into a post here?)
Happy Kentucky Derby Day, from the NYTimes:
… Today, even as the sports section real estate set aside for horse racing shrinks each year, the Derby still captures the attention of casual sports fans. To the rare few of us who consider the sport of kings to be the king of sports, it’s a hallowed date even if we have only an inkling of which horse is the best bet to win.
I, for one, have no idea. That is both a statement of fact and a comment on my typically desultory talent at handicapping the Derby, which even for the savviest horse-pickers is a feat astronomically more complicated than the already difficult skill of picking a winner in, say, a middle-of-the-week feature at your local racetrack. The Derby is the only race in America with 20 entries (most races have only seven or eight competitors), and the X-factor of such a large number of colts competing at the unusual distance of a mile and a quarter for the first (and often only) time in their young lives can tax the confidence of even the most cocksure handicapper.
This year is especially tricky. Unlike in most previous years, none of the starters established himself this spring as the horse to beat. There are an inordinately high number of genuine contenders in the field, mostly because none of the horses towers over his cohort in natural ability. Add in the prospect of heavy rain all week in Louisville, where the race is held, and so the likelihood of a muddy racing surface, and today’s Derby is a tricky race for the bettor and racing fan to get a bead on, much less to beat…
And finally, good news / bad news for Game of Thrones fans, from the Washington Post:
There’s big news for “Game of Thrones” fans. HBO has hired four writers to develop spinoffs of the show, which wraps next year. That doesn’t necessarily mean all will make it to the screen. But there will almost undoubtedly be more sinister scheming in Westeros and Essos in our future.
Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have long said they won’t stick around for any sequels or prequels. But Entertainment Weekly reported Thursday that the pair will indeed be involved to a lesser extent than they have on whatever series comes out of this, as executive producers. And they’re not the only ones returning. George R.R. Martin, who wrote the series “Game of Thrones” is based on, will be fairly hands on. He’s helping develop two of the four spin-off ideas, collaborating with Jane Goldman (“Kick-Ass,” “Kingsman”) and Carly Wray (“Mad Men,” “The Bastard Executioner”).
This is good news — in a way. Of course we want the man who invented such a vivid world to help create any extensions of that universe. But there’s a downside, too: Is Martin ever going to get around to finishing his “Game of Thrones” books, which fans have been eagerly awaiting for years? It’s not looking good…
You can hardly blame the poor man — it’s gotta be more fun to be lionized by fans at glamorous venues than to sequester himself to further torture his unwieldy crew of hapless characters. It seems to me that Game of Thrones has reached the sort of stature “classical in their way” genre creations like Sherlock Holmes or Star Trek achieve; with or without their creator, the GoT universe will go on, handled well or badly by a myriad of volunteers…
***********
Apart from entertainment, what’s on the agenda for the weekend?
Aleta
Nice story, in the Guardian
(There’s more.)
lowtechcyclist
Horse racing is a weird spectator sport. In most other sports, you start rooting for specific teams fairly early in life, then keep those same loyalties over the decades. With horse racing, each crop of three year old colts appears almost out of nowhere each spring (do they still even race as 2 year olds anymore?) and (to most of us anyway) disappear after the Belmont Stakes in June. Hello, goodbye.
Obviously I don’t know what’s important to the movers and shakers of horse racing. But if they wanted horse racing to continue being a sport with mass appeal, maybe they should consider opening up the Triple Crown races to horses of all ages. If you could root for the same horse in the Derby at age 4 that you rooted for as a 3 year old, you’d have some continuity of rooting interest.
Aleta
The dog ‘s been sick (I’m a little worried) but he woke me from a beautiful dream. I was in a small auditorium near here, and Hilary was presenting her health care plan. At the end we all stood up applauding wildly, it was excellent. I was yelling brava, brava and others joined in. For awhile after the dog woke me I was still happy thinking it had happened.
Besides looking unwell and having diarrhea for 2 days, last night the dog got very hot paws and hot nose. The vets near here aren’t open on Saturdays. I don’t know whether to wait another day or find somewhere to take him in a few hours. Advice welcome.
lowtechcyclist
Aleta – that’s one hell of a cool story (In comment #1). Who’d’a thunk?
ETA: And I’m a cat person, so no advice about your dog, but thoughts going out to you both.
NobodySpecial
How PHD can you be if you’re unable to know the difference between your and you’re?
What an insecure jerk. He’ll probably stroke out someday because his fries didn’t have enough salt.
NotMax
Which horse to choose?
This year, obviously, whichever one has the most Russian sounding name.
JPL
@Aleta: When in doubt, call the vet. At least that’s what I think. Poor pup has something.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Dang, FYWP just silently trashed my comment.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@NobodySpecial: Shorter version of my disappeared comment: I was going to give him a pass on “your” for being Hungarian, but apparently he was English at least through University.
I’m more amused/suspicious at the need to trumpet the “Ph.D.” to a McDonald’s server.
Quinerly
@Aleta:
Love this!?❤? (your first comment and link)
p.a.
One of my bosses got in the shit and was told he was being pulled into HQ (more oversight.)
“Why me?”
“We think you’re the man for the job.”
“Oh. What’s the assignment?”
“We don’t know yet.”
(Conversation verified by 2 other mgrs who were there and loved to dump on this guy.)
Quinerly
@Aleta:
You probably need to go to the vet asap. There are emergency pet clinics. Start with your vet. His/her answering machine probably has an emergency number to call. (do we even say answering machine anymore? I sound like a befuddled fool this AM). Let us know. You know how we worry.?
Elizabelle
@NobodySpecial: It’s a parody. From the link:
But the your vs. you’re is more brilliant trolling from Owen Ellickson.
Elizabelle
Sending best wishes to greennotGreen. Hope today is going to be one of the good days.
And to yarrow, et al. May we all have a good Saturday.
rikyrah
Morning Everyone???
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Question to the commentariat: Has anyone ever looked into or actually used higher end Macs? MacPro, Mac Mini, iMac? Specs only do so much for me. What is each one best suited for?
I’m thinking of doing some independent software development, some of it probably fairly computational heavy but not graphics heavy (think math or data mining, not Hollywood CGI. Though CGI software would be awfully fun). So that looks like I may want the powerful CPU, the Pro.
But the Mini is cheap and seems plenty powerful. And I can’t figure out what the iMac is, the Apple website just shows a display. Is the display the whole computer?
Gvg
Just in case it’s not clear, the Gorka McDonalds story is fake. It said fake news right at the top of the site that posted it. This was posted in an earlier thread as a link, which I clicked, but even in that thread, people seemed to have not noticed.
Baud
@rikyrah: Morning.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Gvg: Yep, I missed it, and I’m usually pretty good at picking up on parody. Guess this one was so truthy I really wanted to believe it. Both the “your” thing and the hyper-sensitivity.
bystander
Any morning that looks as if we may be seeing Jeff Gucker before you know it, is a great morning.
OzarkHillbilly
@NobodySpecial: @Ceci n est pas mon nym: His Phd is mail order. (actually not quite that but worse, I think. My memory is phickle)
JeanneT
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Not an expert here, but a recreational Mac user. The iMac is integrated with the display – the guts are all behind the screen. You don’t have much easy upgradability with an iMac, except for memory. My son does all his web design work and coding on a Macbook, but he’s not developing software. This article might be useful in sorting out the options.
Nicole
Oh boo; I just posted a long-winded explanation of the Kentucky Derby, but I think perhaps something went wrong. Here’s a good basic description a friend of mine does every year for people who don’t follow horse racing:
https://www.coachella.com/forum/showthread.php?90916-Kentucky-Derby-Beginner-Guide-2017-and-beyond&p=3134237&viewfull=1#post3134237
Raven
@Aleta: Raven was really smart, Lil Bit knows how to get what she wants but. . .
OzarkHillbilly
The precious snowflakes have gotten their panties in a bunch. How is calling Trump’s mouth a good place for Putin’s prized rooster offensive?
Of course it lacks “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value”. It’s a fucking joke!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@lowtechcyclist:
I love a nice day at the track, and more particularly Churchill Downs, and the place has special memories for me. My late uncle was a nationally prominent sports journalist and turf writer, and took on a role as the pre-eminent Derby historian (he has a number of books to his credit). He was acquiring racing artifacts, conducting interviews and taking notes when nobody else was, and the Derby museum wouldn’t be here without his inspiration and assistance (Bob Baffert is a family friend, and spoke at his funeral).
When I was about 4 or 5, dad was working on getting his thoroughbred racing license at a scruffy-as-shit track in an even scruffier part of town, so my earliest memories include a lot of time spent on the backside of a track. He never did anything with it, but got some GREAT stories (he always swore that Miles Park jockeys stood in betting lines between races to bet on their own race and that you ALWAYS tried to find out how it was fixed by getting behind them).
Went to a blue collar Catholic high school for boys about a mile and a half away from Churchill Downs – we could get there in about 8 minutes after school let out, just in time for the third or fourth race. When I ended up at U of L, the campus is only about 6 blocks away, so it was a nice diversion, and of course, as a self-employed lawyer, it is pretty easy to ditch and go to a really nice afternoon. One funny thing – my grandfather was a compulsive gambler, but I never got the big. Anymore, I’ll head out to the track maybe three times a meet, and keep any betting under $150 for an entire day (usually manage to win enough to eat and drink on CD all day and leave with more money than I started with). I have a decent betting system, thanks to tips and lessons from my high school principal, Fr. Farrell Kane, O.Carm. (God rest his soul).
I worry a lot about the sport these days. Interest is waning, live “handles” are unstable, and sports management consultants seem to be making things worse. I’ll share a series of Facebook posts I made for the benefit of sports journalists that I know.
Then this:
Then this:
Hopefully, sharper thinking will rejuvenate the sport for a younger, hipper generation more interested in a leisurely paced day.
Nicole
@lowtechcyclist: I tried to reply to your comment earlier, but FYWP ate it.
The term “Derby” refers to races that only permit 3-year-old colts (and fillies, if the owner wants, but they usually compete only against their own sex in races called “Oaks”). Horse racing is a young horse’s sport; most horses retire from racing by 5 or 6 at the latest, but at 3-years-old in the spring, a Thoroughbred just isn’t developed enough yet to run against 4- or 5-year-old horses and have it be a fair competition. By late summer they’ve caught up enough, and by November, when the Breeders Cup Classic is run, a good 3-year-old can compete with the older horses.
Most people aren’t aware of any of the horses because they don’t follow the sport. I do; so I’m familiar with all 20 of the horses. On the other hand, I couldn’t name a single starting quarterback in the NFL, because I don’t watch football. Most of the competitors today raced at age 2, and in fact, a horse that didn’t race at age 2 can be at a disadvantage in the Derby- I think the last time a horse that didn’t race at 2 won the Kentucky Derby was in 1881 (Apollo. Oh, the useless things I know).
This year was weird- every time a horse seemed to rise to the top of the class, he would throw a clunker in for his next race, so I have no idea who I’m wagering on yet. I’m looking at Irish War Cry, Gunnevera, Thunder Snow and maybe J Boys Echo, although I hate the name.
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: Dammit, needs more coffee: Stephen Colbert to be investigated by FCC after ‘offensive’ Trump joke
Also, I need to say, of course it’s offensive, it’s Trump. Everything and anything involving him is offensive.
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Those are good thoughts. I agree with a lot of it. I also appreciate that the racetrack is one place you’ll find a real cross-section of America- from very wealthy to very working class. But I think the commercial breeding market did the sport a lot of damage, and the fact that it’s so decentralized also hurts it.
It’s tough when the sport has always been as much about wagering as about watching horses and riders do something very exciting (and very dangerous), because now your average person has a lot more options to spend gaming dollars, and honestly, because deciphering a racing form is a lot of work. Great fun, if you like math, but it’s much easer to throw a quarter into a slot machine.
Somehow Europe and Japan and Australia manage to keep it a top sport, though. When the great mare Black Caviar was running, a few years back, Australian TV would cut away from regular programming to show her races.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
My personal rule of thumb is that I will never be successful in betting on “big” racing days. Competition is too good and outcomes too narrowly defined for my own system to work. Give me a random Thursday afternoon set of races among claimers or allowances, and I’m all good.
Raven
@Nicole: I have a friend who breeds and sells jumping horses. Pretty exclusive world.
Raven
@Nicole: Many years ago I read “Sports in America” by James Michener. There is a chapter about people who live within easy distance of a number of track in the NCY/Jersey area. The one guy I remember most was the dude who had a nail protruding from his shoe and he would walk around flipping discarded tickets looking for winners mistakenly thrown away!
Alain the site fixer
I’ll try to take a look at comments when I’m a bit more awake. I bet the anti spam plugin is messing up again. Any Frontpagers logged in, please check the spam and trash folders to release what’s mentioned above.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
The uncle I mentioned earlier was instrumental in getting thoroughbred racing going as a concern in Japan. He wouldn’t have been shy, though, about ripping asses over the Ferdinand thing.
Right now, I know for a fact that Chinese billions are starting to find their way toward yearling sales. Could be the shot in the arm the sport needs (my personal feeling is that while Dubai is nice, that it is an outlier and a dead end), god knows that tech money won’t make its way into sales and operations in any meaningful way.
Another random thought – the whole “getting back to basics, farm to table” hipster movement could be a natural demographic to chase. The appeal of a slow afternoon doing something old-timey should be a natural draw, and while I know that the self-serve betting kiosks always show up, don’t come to work drunk and don’t take some money here and there, the personalities of the parimutuel clerks add to the fun of the day.
EBT
And now I can save and load in the interactive fiction I am working on.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
It is, for more than a few, but apparently not for enough. Hence the attempts to ruin baseball.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Raven:
There’s a fun movie with Richard Dreyfuss and David Johansen (Buster Poindexrer) that really captures the atmosphere of racetracks the way I remember. Basically, a loser winds up having an incredible day based on a single hot tip.
Let It Ride
It has some age on it, but is a lot of fun.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m thinking that a whole series of walls needs to be located for use after the Revolution. Sports management and facilities consultants need their own, and should be surprised when they’re dragged to them early.
Maybe we can sell corporate boxes, tents and special viewing areas for people to watch, along with an interminable number of TV time outs…
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That’s really cool about your uncle. I remember being so disappointed when Sunday Silence was sold to Japan, but it was really satisfying to see him completely reshape Japanese bloodstock. And Ferdinand’s end was awful, but if any good came from it, it’s that owners of horses sold to Japan now seem to regularly arrange to take the horse back once his breeding career is over.
And I’m with you about the big days being much harder to win money. I still always wager on the Derby, though. I’m a small bettor, and it is the one race where a $2 exacta can return over $100. Not the past few years, though (for that I blame the points system, which I hate), but this has been such a weird Derby season that I think any of a half dozen horses have a legit chance today.
Anne Laurie
@Elizabelle:
IIRC, Gorka’s actually made that mistake in his personal tweets. His skin, it is thin — as we jackals know, anger leads to grammatical errors…
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Let It Ride was based on the book by Jay Cronley, who just died this past spring. I loved, loved, loved his weekly horse racing column on ESPN’s site and was really bummed when they stopped running it.
geg6
Went to the Derby three times when I was a young party animal. It was a total blast but I never saw a horse during any of those races. The infield was just one huge kegger. At 22/23, it was awesome.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
On a less flippant note, there’s a lot to live about an afternoon at the track – plenty of space, you get a true cross section mingling and talking, you get a racing form to fiddle with (which is a lot of fun), a nice chunk of down time between each race to make your next pick or get concessions, and a potential to win money with each race, so everybody is engaged and positive.
Anne Laurie
@OzarkHillbilly: The FCC has to investigate every complaint from viewers (remember poor Janet Jackson? Or those Talibangelical nutballs who were convinced Disney was hiding swears in the animated films?). Difference these days, us sane people aren’t into public displays of pearl-clutching, so the Reichwing’s deliberate rules-lawyering seems like a new form of incursion on the First Amendment.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced version of “Good Vibes” for years. Amazon’s cheapest offering is over $300 (which I won’t do); there’s one that is from some unknown site that is $123, which I don’t trust.
Nicole
@geg6: Ha! They say if you want to watch the Kentucky Derby, you don’t want to actually be AT the Kentucky Derby. :)
I go to Belmont for the Belmont Stakes every year, though this year I’m missing it (the first time since 2005!). Unlike the Derby and the Preakness, Belmont does not allow anyone on its beautiful infield. They’ve just started allowing people to bring in outside drinks again- after the Philly fans showed up for Smarty Jones, and acted like, well, fans from Philly, Belmont forbade bringing outside beverages.
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yeah, I can’t understand why they wouldn’t put it back into print, even if just for Kindle. He was a really good writer; I’d like to read Good Vibes, too.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@geg6:
My infield experiences from ages 15 to 24 were an incredible blur, and the start of some surprising hookups.
debbie
@p.a.:
Where I work, it’s called “Special Projects.”
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Oooooooooooo…. I especially like that idea. Once they are filled with a bunch of high end corporate fucks, we can blow them up too!
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
It wasn’t half as indecent as Trump’s plans for this country.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
We pulled out all the stops and went to the Derby a couple of years ago. Expensive (outfits, hats, the Oaks-Derby package) but fun, at least up until the huge fight we got into that night after an entire day’s drinking, LOL.
Elizabelle
Get well, Loretta. The Guardian reports (AP item):
debbie
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
One of my brothers (in his 20s) liked to travel to the Derby, and if he still lived in Cincinnati, he’d still be going. If they lessened the privileged Southern hospitality and instead focused on the beauty of the animals (my favorite part is the pre-parade march [not sure if that’s what it’s called], they’d get better attendance.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Should sentences be pronounced for every crime by each consultant? You know, something like “you’re responsible for propounding the proposal for the facility upgrade that eliminated 8000 seats for the creation of corporate boxes at X field, so your sentence is DEATH!”
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I never managed to get over to Cahokia when I still lived in STL. (IIRC the track was closed for lack of interest, or maybe it was just threatened, can’t be sure) but I think I’d be a natural at the track. Except for the betting, I work too hard for my money to just give it away.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Nothing will come of it except higher ratings for Colbert.
Victor Matheson
Drank the best mint julep I ever had at Churchill Downs.
Drank the only mint julep I ever had at Churchill Downs.
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Oh, that sounds amazing! Some day, man. I’ll get there some day.
I was at the Belmont for American Pharoah, and the memory of that has taken some of the sting out of not being able to go this year- even if there’s another TC on the line, it’s not going to be the first one in 37 years. Charles Pierce wrote a gorgeous piece on Grantland the day after the race.
But I’ll still miss it. I love Belmont.
OzarkHillbilly
@Anne Laurie:
I know Anne. The special snowflakes I was referring to were the followers of Dear Leader. I just tried to comment on the investigation and was totally stymied by their website. Sigh. Just wanted to put in my 13 cents worth (2 cents doesn’t go as far as it used to).
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@debbie:
The “southern hospitality” bullshit drives me insane. This is the one time each year that this city pretends to be in the southern – the local media tries doing country music in the bumps, which they don’t do any other time of the year. This city’s culture is anything but southern, and not Kentuckian, either. It is incredibly blue and far more ethnically diverse than any city south of a line stretching from Chicago to Cleveland.
JPL
@Baud: Yes, and it’s already happening.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stephen-colbert-the-late-show-ratings_us_590ca5ece4b0d5d9049c0454
amk
@OzarkHillbilly: I expect colbear to be still more ‘offensive’. This is a guy who told fuck you to dumbya right in his face.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
A friend of mine always called the Daily Racing Form his retirement investment advisor.
And horses are actually more predictable than the stock market, with less “fixing”.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Comment where on the investigation?
Nicole
@debbie: The problem isn’t the big days, when plenty of people show up; it’s the regular racing days, when the track is a ghost town. I don’t know if there’s a solution. Racing depends on wagering, and the big spenders can do it from the comfort of their living room (as the OTBs closed in NYC some years back, I’ll be wagering from my computer, too).
As much as I love horse racing, I think there’s too much product- it would be better to have a few months with no racing, rather than the year-round thing that happens now. Saratoga manages to turn its five-week racing festival into a visitor draw, even on a Tuesday. It may just be timing- that’s when the first major races for 2 year olds happen, and it’s always exciting to think you’re seeing the next big horse at the start of his or her career.
But I’m 100% with you on making it more about the actual horses and the race. I’m so tired of NBC spinning the Oaks and the Derby as a fashion show. I DON’T CARE ABOUT THE HATS.
MomSense
Did anyone see Rep Sean Patrick Maloney from New York on Maddow last night? The asshole John Faso who represents the neighboring district promised a woman to her face he wouldn’t take away healthcare from her (she has a pre existing condition). Well he voted yes, won’t explain himself, and shut off his phones. People started calling Maloney so Maloney tweeted Faso to turn on his phones. Well now Maloney is adopting hisndostrict. He’s going to hold townhalls in that district and be honest with Faso’s constituents and expose Faso’s lies. He wants all the Dem Reps to adopt Republican districts this way.
I love this guy. Bravo Rep. Maloney. This is how you help us fight back.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
We went to CD for the Pharoah win. I sprung for club tickets – card was decent that day, and they simulcasted the Belmont. It was pretty special to be at a historic track for that – there were actually some tears in that room.
Baud
@MomSense: Nice.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
If you read Dick Francis, you’d be amazed at the variety of “fiddles” possible in horse racing.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
It’s the goddamned red carpet shows that do it- they think there’s an audience. I tend to mark the media turn to the dark side as the year that Anna Nicole’s lover Larry Birkhead brought Little Baby Paycheck home to Louisville so he could attend the Derby (Birkhhead’s sister lives here and used to teach school with Dad).
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: How appropriate too, to see AP win from the site of the big race (and the only one of the three where I think he got a gut check).
I bought a cheap seat at Belmont (only one; I was really broke that year, but I bought a ticket for a reserved seat back in March “just in case” and I’m glad I did. My visibility was just fine, and when he crossed the finish line total strangers were hugging and screaming. I’m never forget the noise of the crowd. How often is there a sporting event where all 90,000 attendees are rooting for the same outcome?
MomSense
@Baud:
I’d like you to adopt all trump’s districts!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I tried Francis once about 20 years ago, didn’t care for the prose at the time. Maybe I’ll give him another try.
Baud
@MomSense: I’d be happy to adopt them. And then send them all to their rooms without dinner until they realize what they did.
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I think you’re right. And as someone who doesn’t like award shows in general, it doesn’t exactly appeal to me. The only articles of attire I care to know about at the track are blinkers, shadow rolls and bar shoes.
I guess it also annoys me because I feel like the media is trying to sell racing as an “elite” sport, when in fact, one of the things I like about racing is what you said, that it’s a place where the very working class and the very wealthy mingle, and your opinion is just as good as anyone else’s.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: We’ll have to consider that for sure.
We also need a special torture session for automotive engineers: put them in the engine compartment then install the engine around them with a hot manifold one inch away from their bare forearms. Then put the toolbox juuuuuuuust within reach but bolted to the floor, strategically place an oil drip over their heads, then make at least 3 critical parts require a special tool for removal, a tool they do not have and have to order and it takes 3 weeks for delivery.
Wanna here what I want to do to the software engineers who feel the need to reinvent the wheel with every Blueray movie release and highlight the choices on the menu in white and have “to pick option” highlighted in off-white?
Shalimar
Martin also created Wild Cards, a universe in which a plague comes to earth during WWII that horribly kills the vast majority of people who get it, gives many of the rest an infinite variety of physical deformities, and gives a tiny handful super powers. I think it is entirely possible that he enjoys torturing his creations.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Or some small minuscule fine, app what he makes in 5 mins.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Not even that much. If the FCC tries it, CBS will take them to court and easily win.
germy
Report from a small protest:
http://notesironbound.blogspot.com/2017/05/report-from-small-protest.html
Kropadope
That can’t be real. A idiot? Seriously? PHD (PHD Having Doctor)? Just wow.
If that’s really real, two things: Aww (s)he hurt your feelings? And go back to clown college for some CEs.
randy khan
@OzarkHillbilly:
The odds of an FCC fine for Colbert’s joke are essentially zero. The indecency rules only cover over-the-air programming that airs before 10:00 p.m., while Colbert airs after 10:00 everywhere; and the offending term was bleeped when it aired, to boot.
From what I’ve read, the FCC chairman has been playing this more or less straight, saying that the FCC considers all complaints under its rules. He’s not really in a position to do anything more. I’m not a fan of the guy – he’s self-promoting and smug and just issued a press release touting how he had released more orders in his first 100 days than his two Democratic predecessors, as if that tells you anything about the substance of the FCC’s work – but his response was pretty much what any FCC chairman would have said.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
So like Napa, we’re getting a nice influx of bourbon tourists. When they come, they always stop at the CD museum and go to the races if the meet is open. It is a natural draw. CD would do well to partner its marketing with the hospitality industry on bourbon tourism.
It is pretty funny – about once a month, we stay downtown so we can walk to restaurants and bars, and not have to worry about getting home. We inevitably meet a number of people who are simply here to experience the whiskey and food, and seem surprised at their experience.
debbie
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
There are tons of Kentucky Derby parties up here, but they always require “Derby” dressing — flamboyant hats, cravats, etc. I went to one when I first moved back here and no one paid attention to the friggin’ race. It was pure aspiration in all its ugliness.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: At the FCC. Here is the page I thought would work in the ECFS (electronic comment filing system).
The first required field is Proceedings. I tried just typing in his name but when I went to the next box his name disappeared. So I tried to do a search via his name and came up with a “No filings” result.
Luddite that I am, I know when I am beaten.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: This is technically an enforcement action. I doubt they will seek public comment on it.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m in a boat on the Danube with wonky internet, but this post is less travel and more Trump’s America. We flew from Minneapolis and as we walked down the long jetway, three men in some sort of uniform were there stopping people. They stopped a vaguely Middle Eastern man ahead of me, asked him who he was traveling with and what money he was taking out of the country. Around the next bend in the jetway was a man with a German shepherd. He told us all to stand along the right wall and the dog came along and sniffed us.
I found the whole thing very intimidating. They weren’t trying to keep someone out of the country since we were leaving. They were just stopping people seemingly at random. It was militaristic and menacing.
OzarkHillbilly
@Nicole: “I only gamble with my life, never my money.” -Richard “Rick” O’Connell
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady: Glad you made it out safe. Air travel is going to take a hit between airport security under Trump and all the bad press the airlines are taking. Have fun on the Danube.
MomSense
@Baud:
Mom approved. Time out just wouldn’t do it.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
I like the way you think – do you write a newsletter I could subscribe to?
Once upon a time, I owned a pretty little LeBaron convertible. It was candy apple red with a butterscotch leather interior (most of my cars are candy apple red with beige/butterscotch interiors – it is a thing with me).
When it was maybe 3 years old and out of warranty, the thermostat blew. Of course, the engine compartment is so crammed, you can’t slip a piece of paper in, so I took it in for service, figuring I’d be out $150 on such a routine part. Service manager was blunt – a $900 repair, because they could only access it by removing the entire dashboard, and that they always had some trouble getting everything back in for a perfect fit. He quietly said “it just isn’t a good design”.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: Damn. I think I’m in love.
JMG
My wife Alice fell in love with Saratoga when I took her their last summer as part of a two-day excursion, Tanglewood being the other day. We sat under the trees and had general admission tickets so we also sat close to the rail in the sun for a few races. This year, we’re going to go for a full Fri-Sat of races and I will get clubhouse seats so we can live like the swells. Better have a few more winners if I’m gonna do that, however.
PS: Been to one Derby, in 1992. Everyone should go to one Derby, it’s amazing. One is enough, though.
LurkerNoLonger
@MomSense: Good! I’m in Faso’s district. It couldn’t happen to a nicer asshole.
Tenar Arha
@Anne Laurie: Talking about rules lawyering: Was there a front page post about the conviction of the woman who laughed during the Sessions hearing? ETA Oops. I was wondering if any of the commentariat had commented on it already in one place.
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: That’s a good idea- a combination bourbon tasting and trip to the track. Someone should get on that! That would likely be the only thing that could get my husband back to a racetrack on a big day. He came with me for Smarty Jones’ Belmont, and after being jammed in with 120,000 other people, said “Never again!”
OzarkHillbilly
@Nicole:
Every time the Patriots come to town?
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
Gotta watch the video, OH. Starbursts shooting out of the tv and everything.
@JMG:
I spent a lovely summer there, not at the track but next door at the performing arts complex. It’s a wonderful place.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Fuck George R. R. Martin.
SiubhanDuinne
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
You must not have read many Dick Francis mysteries :-)
EDIT: And late to the party, as usual (even though it’s early).
Betty Cracker
@geg6 & @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: A childhood friend went to Vandy while I was at UF, and one year I drove up to visit her in Nashville, and we went to the Derby (1988-ish?). Didn’t see a horse all day, of course, since we were in the infield — it was like a concert without a band. But we had a rip-roaring good time, except for the porta-potty lines.
rikyrah
@Aleta:
Really like this story ??
Nicole
@JMG: Oh wow, you were there for Lil E Tee, who was the first Pennsylvania bred to win. A grandson of his was on the Derby trail earlier this year, but wasn’t good enough to make the field.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
That is a brilliant idea.
Betty Cracker
@Iowa Old Lady: A boat on the Danube sounds lovely! Your description of the airport gauntlet makes me sad. I vacationed in Budapest once in the mid-1990s (the OJ verdict came down while we were in Vienna), and I remember seeing cops with automatic rifles in the airports there and getting questioned by officials and thinking how awful for the Europeans to have to live like that. Things have changed.
Nicole
@OzarkHillbilly: In football you’ve always got people who show up for the other team, though, right?
tobie
@OzarkHillbilly: The head of the FCC, Ajit Pai, is a rabid partisan and was probably very eager to pursue this complaint. Hard not to suspect some kind of witch hunt going on here.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Whether they seek it or not, I wanna make it!
Nicole
@Betty Cracker: 1988? When the filly, Winning Colors, won? AAAAAHHHH! That was Gary Stevens’ first Kentucky Derby victory.
1989 was good, too- that was the Sunday Silence – Easy Goer rivalry. There’s a great photograph of the two of them, side by side in the Preakness, where you can see that Sunday Silence’s jockey tipped the horse’s head so he could look Easy Goer in the eye. Horses are so competitive, and the really gutsy ones, like Sunday Silence, will sometimes find another gear if they get eyeballed by a rival.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
What you didn’t know is that there is another infield section with actual installed old-timey toilets. Much better than the portolets.
Another Scott
I know that Cheryl had a thread about the “Google Docs” phishing stuff. I saw one of those.
This morning I got a sudden page that said that my Chrome browser was out of date and inviting me to update it. Being the suspicious type, I hovered my mouse over the button and saw that it went nowhere near Google.
Don’t click on stuff like that!
I have my browsers locked down with an ad blocker (uBlock Origin), but weird stuff occasionally makes its way through. Don’t ever let your guard down – they’re getting mor[e] clever…
Be careful out there!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Here’s their contact us page: https://www.fcc.gov/about/contact
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
Is this the photo you remember? Looks the other way around
Elizabelle
@MomSense:
That is brilliant. Democrats should do this. Getting moar information out only helps us.
Maybe some folks will say, “hey, why can’t my congresscritter be like that?”
ArchTeryx
Just trying not to say anything that could get the Secret Service knocking at my door, and enjoying my last day at Portfino Bay resort with my beloved.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Found the video.
Maloney’s adopt a district
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Damn. The way they design these things was inexplicable to me until somebody explained that they design them to be built (with the emphasis on the assembly line) not repaired. I still hate them bastards with the heat of a thousand dying suns.
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I know- I think that’s maybe not the one I’m thinking of. I’ll see if I can find it. What a great shot, though! I was all team Sunday Silence in 1989, but holy cow, Easy Goer was a beautiful, beautiful horse. Their Breeders Cup Classic was incredible.
amk
@MomSense: Very smart move by dems. Hope they will ‘adopt’ this strategy in all the swing state seats.
laura
Good morning all. I’m wishing greennotGreen a day of grace and ease -hit that diluadid as necessary and find that sweet spot for comfort!
This was one awful week and the gut punch of fuckery followed by the most evil kegger in American history ain’t never going to be forgotten. I hope that all here, our friends and loved ones take stock, check in, and find the way forward.
Last night we hosted the annual Captain Clinka mint squeezing party. The Captain hosts the Derby Party every year and we make the simple syrup and extract of mint. A mini chopper made quick work of muddling the mint. Then it gets a bath in a bowl of Kentucky straight bourbon. After three squeezes through cheesecloth, the extract filled the house with a minty,boozey,vanilla scent. Nice on a late spring evening.
We ate Chile Verde burritos and had the “pain reducing” beers, did a test-drink of juleps and called it a night.
No time to go to the track and wager this year, but I’ll finish the 60 or so deviled eggs that I dare not come to the party without, dig out my derby silks and hat and head out to the race party.
It’s a year to bet on the Longshot, likely a mudder as its been raining alot.
As soon as the race is over, we’re coming home and packing for NYC. While it was in the 80’s this week, it looks like rain and 40’s to 50’s early in the week.
Hang in there everybody, it’s a long and winding road!
OzarkHillbilly
@Nicole: Not if the game is in Green Bay. :-) but yes you are correct. I was snarking.
Steeplejack
@MomSense:
I saw Maloney last night and was really impressed. He came across as very genuine, not just hammering Faso in a partisan, “scoring political points” way. Although, let’s get that straight, he hammered the shit out of Faso. But he also showed genuine concern for the constituents of both districts, as well as an action plan. Well played.
JMG
@Nicole: Saw their Belmont at the sports book at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas. Closest thing to a grandstand seat experience you could have. Maybe more than a 1000 people in the place, just packed.
Nicole
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s hard for me to tell if it’s snark when the name of the Patriots is invoked. I have family who live in Massachusetts and they have no sense of humor where the Patriots are concerned. Same with the Red Sox.
MomSense
@Steeplejack:
So good. Love that he told Faso in person he was going to light him up on Maddow’s show. He was so good natured about the whole thing. That was the real shiv – his easy going delivery. Hey man I don’t want to do it, but your constituents just really want someone to level with them. It wasn’t quite passive brogressive but close enough to be effective.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Thanx. I always have difficulties negotiating the web. When one adds the govt bureaucratic layers, I get totally lost.
zhena gogolia
@MomSense:
That’s “my” district via Swing Left (which I hope is a legit organization!). I’ll be contributing from here in CT to whoever Faso’s Dem opponent is.
MomSense
@laura:
Thanks, Laura. Have a great time today (not including the peeling all those eggs part – that sucks).
zhena gogolia
@MomSense:
So cool!
MomSense
@zhena gogolia:
Can you get s couple neighbors together and create an event to ask Maloney healthcare questions? Invite the local papers. Your local library might hook you up with a room.
OzarkHillbilly
@Nicole: All the more reason to needle them. But I am evil that way. :-)
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yeah, I may be misremembering, as it were. Though I just watched the video (god bless You Tube) and holy cow, Pat Valenzuela was doing some aggressive race riding. The tilt in Easy Goer’s neck in the photo that you linked to was, I think, where Pat Day tried to move Easy Goer to bump Sunday Silence (figuring hey, Valenzuela was doing it), but when he pulled on the right rein, Easy Goer’s head moved but his body stayed in place because he was tuckered by then.
I also found this article about the rivalry and I love this final quote from Sunday Silence’s owner:
https://www.americasbestracing.net/the-sport/2016-racings-unforgettable-rivalries-sunday-silence-and-easy-goer
That’s the other think I like about horse racing- the competitors are so quick to compliment each other, and mean it sincerely.
Shalimar
@ArchTeryx: It occurred to me 5-6 years ago that telling tens of thousands of people that your vote is going to eventually lead to their death is inevitably going to lead to some deciding to take their congressperson with them. I have had comments deleted from Rawstory over the years for pointing this out, as talking about killing elected officials understandably violates their comment policy.
Republicans do not seem to have realized this is something they should worry about, and I don’t see any reason why people should alert them to the danger by planning in public. My main worry is once going after elected officials becomes a part of politics, nuts on the right are going to do it far more often than dying people without healthcare who have nothing to lose.
efgoldman
@Anne Laurie:
Exactly. And the RWNJ Bat signal being what it is, I expect they got buried even by people who never saw the broadcast.
I expect at most a pro forma fine and a “don’t do that again… bad!”
No Republiklown government is going after and 80 billion dollar company, even one that slags Hair Furor regularly on their nightly news.
hovercraft
@OzarkHillbilly:
I disagree.
Mocking Hair Furor is of great artistic, anthropological, political and scientific value.
* Satire performed well is an art form.
* Observing peoples reaction to the joke is very telling and lets society know who has been afflicted with the brain rot currently afflicting 60 million of our fellow citizens.
*It is of great utility for the people who are fans of the Shitgibbon to be shown that a huge number, in fact the majority of Americans think that their idol is an incompetent joke who is is way over his head.
*In order to advance the treatment of people with mental disorders, it is necessary to expose them with a variety of stimuli, this offers doctors the opportunity to devise new treatments for their afflictions. This joke was an opportunity to see how it would respond to being called Putins c.o.c.k.sucker. The experiment can be deemed a success, it showed that when offended he will use the government as a weapon against his enemies.
Nicole
@OzarkHillbilly: Hey, I don’t mind. :) I do confess, while I don’t watch football, I do read every one of Drew Magary’s “Why Your Football Team Sucks” on Deadspin in the summer.
efgoldman
@OzarkHillbilly:
The FCC website or CBS. If the former, I’ll get it from my kid later today. No, she doesn’t work there, but she’s in contact with them several times/week..
Elizabelle
@Nicole: Have enjoyed all the horse racing chat by you and Comte/botsplainer, et al. Go horsies! And I hope every horse makes it safely to the finish line.
@laura: sounds like a good weekend. We might have to arrange a Mint Julep Balloon Juice meetup some day.
OzarkHillbilly
@Shalimar: When I go, if I go because of this Armageddon of a bill, I won’t go after the lap dogs, I’m going after their masters.
ArchTeryx
@Shalimar: The weird thing is that I always vote as if my life depended on it, and both my previous Congressmen – Chris Van Hollen and now Paul Tonko – are hard core Democratic progressives. The only things I wanna do with them are vote for them and thank them profusely.
Van Hollen once forced my appeal for unemployment thru to the top of the Maryland Dept. Of Labor. They granted it. That allowed me to afford COBRA and keep myself alive. He is and always has been on the side of the angels.
henqiguai
@Ceci n est pas mon nym (#16): Way late to the party but, I’d suggest you pose the question on one of the stackoverload sites. Not a developer (I do QA), but I do know Macs are used happily by a lot of developers, if they are coding with a linux platform (which is basically what the modern Mac OS is; with a really good UI – said as a not-Apple-fanboi).
Nicole
@Elizabelle: I’m with you; whether I win or not, I want first that they all come home safe. As Jerry Bailey has said, horse racing is the one sport where an ambulance follows the competitors around the field.
MomSense
@ArchTeryx:
I know some of his high school class mates and he is the real deal. He was a good guy then and now.
efgoldman
@ArchTeryx: I posted a very long comment directed at you in the late nite/overnite thread (I think – or maybe the thread before) and then scrolled down a bit to see you’d said goodnite. It may or may not interest you.
OzarkHillbilly
@efgoldman: CBS. That is an even better idea. Wonder if I can negotiate their corporate bureaucracy influenced web page..
laura
@MomSense: got that stanky task done yesterday and they are currently in repose in a zip lock in the fridge.
Here, have a song!
https://youtu.be/HEFqiYu70L0
mai naem mobile
@Steeplejack: I saw Maloney too. I think safe Dems should do this across the country . Hold the townhall for the GOPr’s district who are too chicken to hold them. For sure it’s a gimmick but it will get covered by local press and put the GOPR on defense. Have real people at the townhalls with their real concerns.
MomSense
@laura:
Happy ? ? Derby Day!
debbie
@Iowa Old Lady:
As if that would keep anyone safer!
randy khan
@Baud:
Speaking as someone who works with (or sometimes, against) the FCC, I doubt there will be an announced opportunity for public comment because, as you say, it’s an enforcement action. (There may not even be an enforcement docket yet – it usually takes a little while after a complaint is filed to open the docket.)
As an alternative, you can file something via the informal complaints page. This is where people file complaints, but whatever’s filed there goes to the enforcement staff, so any comments on the Colbert thing will get to them.
Complaints (or comments)
Edited to add: Baud’s link to the general comment page probably would be a better place to go on this one.
randy khan
@tobie:
Under the actual rules, it will be very hard to go after CBS for this. It aired after 10:00 p.m. (the cutoff under the indecency rules) and it was bleeped. Also, the Court of Appeals would laugh at the FCC for trying.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
I think that a lot got learned on the Eight Belles episode. After that, people were less enthused about putting fillies in the Derby. Dad said that you need a really large fillie to race with competitive guys – something about the bone density going down to the hoof, and certain gaits (which she’ll tend to match) causing a lot more force in pounding. It was pretty science-y, which was a little surprising coming from my dad. Said the old time horsemen wouldn’t have made that same mistake of entering her in the Derby.
danielx
What to do today….It’s FINALLY QUIT RAINING, which is good since as of yesterday noon it had rained for 45 out of 48 hours. However, it’s a beautiful clear windy day so it’s all good.
My own personal Kentucky Derby story, which I may have posted before….
A lot of years ago I was there visiting a friend for Derby weekend – went to see Little Feat the night before and Lowell George was still alive and playing with them, which says how long ago it was. (Little Feat was awesome, naturally.) Next day we head to the Derby with hangovers in tow and cooler packed, and I have to have it inspected by this Kentucky state trooper who was about the size of the Statue of Liberty. Then we go through the tunnel to the infield, just like at indianapolis motor speedway. Being the designated beast of burden, I come staggering up into the light from the tunnel and the first thing I set my eyes upon is this classic…..Southern Belle.
White crinoline dress, BIG hat, gorgeous strawberry blonde vision of loveliness…and I think (surreptitiously, in all due respect to my female friend), yep, things like this are why I came to the Derby. I look down for a sec to take a better grip on the cooler, which at this point felt like it weighed as much as an iron maiden, look back up and my Southern Belle vision is swilling from the neck of a bottle of Gilbey’s Gin…at ten o’clock in the morning. Rather took the bloom off the rose, you might say…
MomSense
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I still have the Ruffian picture book I saved up and bought when I was a kid. Still mad about what went down.
James Powell
Over a hundred posts in and no one has mentioned or linked Hunter S. Thompson’s classic “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.”
So I did.
Mike in NC
Local rag is filled with more angry letters to the editor than ever. Angry about BillO getting fired, angry about Muslims not being jailed, angry about criticism of their Dear Leader, etc. Look up the names and towns of these Trumpsters on White Pages and they’re all over age 70. Fucking die already, OK?
Spanky
Found that this had been posted on Thursday:
Just a year before the war. The Woodworker was a British publication.
OzarkHillbilly
@danielx:
It’s at that point when I would have said, “I might have a chance after all.”
Nicole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Except that Eight Belles was a monster. She was HUGE- bigger than several of the colts that ran. Though I remember the same stable had another terrific filly- much smaller in stature, that the handicappers I follow were of the opinion was the one who should have been entered in the Derby. Blind Luck? I think that was her name. Tough little girl with a lot of stamina.
And Eight Belles ran really well- she was only beaten by Big Brown and no one was beating him that day. I, think, as much as we want to find reasons for why bad things happen, sometimes bad things just happen- she took a bad step once she was past the finish line. And as someone who adores horses, I’m well aware they can fatally injure themselves in their own paddocks (see: Zenyatta’s filly) or even in their own stalls (RIP, Charismatic).
Fillies run against the colts all the time in Europe; it’s America that seems to have a fixation about fillies running against colts, and I think it has to do with it being a breeding game- a good filly’s value isn’t going to change if she wins a big open race like the Kentucky Derby, but a colt’s value will skyrocket. I remember Rachel Alexandra’s original owner saying he wouldn’t run her against the boys because the boy races were about finding the next big sires. Sigh. Fortunately, Jess Jackson made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and we got her Preakness and her Haskell and her Woodward.
There have been some fillies in the Derby since Eight Belles, but with this new point system determining who is eligible to get in, I don’t think we’re going see another one for a long time, which sucks. I don’t think most trainers put a filly in unless they think she has a legitimate shot.
All that said, I did find an article once that looked at filly vs colt in racing and if I remember right, the conclusion from the paper was that at shorter distances they were about even, and then at distances from about 7 furlongs to a mile and a quarter the colt had an advantage, but, interestingly, when the races got longer, the filly often had an advantage. It was such a good read and I could kick myself for not having bookmarked it at the time.
Spanky
@Mike in NC: Fox viewers, all. I wonder whether the changes the Murdoch spawn implement will materially affect the attitudes of these aging, cognitively impaired people over the next 20 years.
NAAAAH!
Elizabelle
@James Powell: OMG, that is fabulous. Never saw it before, but wow…
And he’s not even out of the Louisville airport yet.
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: Nah. Now if it were bourbon instead of shitty gin ….
Corner Stone
@danielx:
“…And folks, I’m here to tell ya I married that filly!!”
Nicole
@MomSense: And so pointless. There’s nothing to be learned by a match race; whichever horse is lucky enough to break first has an advantage.
(And yes, I am saying that War Admiral was actually a better horse than Seabiscuit.)
A racing fan I know once said that Ruffian was the only horse that gave him chills when she stepped out onto the track.
ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy
Notes from a Move:
Greetings from Trumplandistan, Northern MN! The following short journal encapsulates the week that will go in the P.G.C.LA.’s forthcoming memoir-“Living life through epic Hell Weeks” Vol 1.
The brief notes:
1. Bribed movers with 30% tip and the last of my really good hazelnut oatmeal porter beer. who show up point out the freakish May 1st Ice Snowstorm at a new home and threaten to cancel. It worked but later in week totally regret giving them the beer.
2. Telecommute business line canceled by Centurylink customer service for some inexplicable reason. An extra day of PTO used to sort it out, 40(yes, that’s right 40!) phone calls the 40th where I have a nervous breakdown and cry myself to point of vomiting(not a normal thing) create facebook acct yells at them through FB. Get their attention. talk to two District Managers, successful install on business line and residential line. Glad at the outcome but still feeling the stress of Centurylink’s abysmal phone customer service.
2a. Politely argue with Centurylink tech over the merits of Obamacare. Since it’s my job to handle Obamacare accounts, point this out to him, that the business install my company pays for indirectly helps pay his salary thanks to the Black Muslim Socialist President. He goes to truck and sulks for few minutes. Thinks that I must learn when to fight battles, aka don’t tick off people who handle food meme.
3. Walk out to the garbage can in the new building, walk back in and notice shitbox car from 1989 with http://www.infowars.com on the bumper sigh to self and rethinks this whole liberal rural pioneer.
4. Small Space Living! Not fun without shelves. many, many many many shelves.
5. Thursday, almost there! but wait there’s more-New Meeting at work. Phoned in. A team of 22 people now reduced to 12. Five fired, Five moved to not the new position we were promised in 2016, but the most horrible division UHC has Appeals! Told not moving to Community and State, but staying on the exchange program through 2018 and then fired! told should feel grateful not on the shitcanned list but cannot muster the gratitude. Feel manipulated by UHC’s sociopathic leadership because when asked when if the C & S move was happening was told it was still on every.single.time and not to worry. Wish I had sweet severance package instead
.
6. Hate egg smell of shower well water.
I hope everyone else has a good weekend. The cat is adjusting, Likes the birds and people watching.
Elizabelle
@Spanky: We could not have Trump if Rupert Murdoch et al had not salted the fields. They poisoned a segment of the American populace, and I hope it takes them down too. They purveyed this ugliness for money.
ETA: Same can be said for Brexit. Murdoch’s tabloids had a hand in that.
danielx
@OzarkHillbilly:
My female friend’s comment was something along the lines of “check out that overdressed drunken slut”. My response was “which one?”
A Ghost to Most
@danielx:
“If you’ll be my Dixie chicken I’ll be your Tennessee lamb..”
I bow down, that you actually saw them with Lowell.
Omnes Omnibus
@randy khan: In addition, the whole rant was clearly political in nature and, as a result, not obscene.
danielx
@A Ghost to Most:
Twice, and they opened with Fat Man In The Bathtub both times.
Hal
White House Supremacy
Spanky
@Elizabelle: Oh, I totally agree. Every cent of Murdoch’s money from every continent is tainted. But I am curious (in a car wreck sort of way) to see what the next gen of Murdochs do with the empire now that the old bastard is easing/being eased out.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@MomSense:
Just refreshed my memory – she really tore herself apart – such a competitive soul.
Quinerly
@danielx:
5 times. Once with Lowell. And if I recall correctly they opened at least once with “Fat Man in the Bathtub.” Saw them in NOLA a few years back and they had a female singer doing most of the lead. Can’t recall her name right now. Can’t remember if it was a one off or if she was with them for awhile. Jazz Fest back in those days could be brutal on the brain cells…plus my 15 year run on that fest tend to make shows all “run together.”?
A Ghost to Most
@danielx:
Nice. ‘Waiting for Columbus’ is still in my regular listening rotation.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: Oh sweet jeebus on a cracker,
1970, they just couldn’t resist the jibe.
Exurban Mom
@Anne Laurie: Correct. My guess is we will see the FCC decline to penalize Colbert for two reasons: 1. The late night hour in which the comment was made is generally regarded as a “safe harbor”. 2. It’s satire on a comedy show. But they have to investigate if the public complains.
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: But I only had a chance if the woman had shitty taste.
MomSense
@ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy:
Damn that all sucks.
May be able to help with egg smell well water. Somewhere you probably have a pump that brings it into the house (won’t work when power is out btw so if you clean your bathtubs and fill them before big storms). You can get a gizmo from water treatment companies that you install where the pump connects to your water line. I wish I knew the terms but I only know how to do it because my plumber showed me how. You pour bleach into the receptacle and then run your water until the smell is gone. It should last six months or so. Saves you having to get a whole house filtration system that is super expensive. I tested my water and it was perfectly fine.
Tenar Arha
Okay, Mick Twister just killed me, I’m ded.
It’s #worldnakedgardeningday
So cast inhibition away
And prune the azalea
With bare genitalia,
Hose out and bush on display.
MomSense
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
With the help of some fuckery by the opposing jockey. He should’ve been put down for that.
Not really but I still feel about it the way my little girl self felt that day.
Corner Stone
Oooooo…AMJoy is dragging Ivanka’s new book…this should be good.
Another Scott
@ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy: That’s quite a week!
:-(
It will get better, eventually. Here’s hoping it’s soon!
Thanks for the entertaining story. Well presented! It sucks that it was such a painful, messed-up experience.
Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
JPL
@Corner Stone: The FCC isn’t pleased.
OzarkHillbilly
@danielx: Sounds like Mardi Gras in New Orleans… Or the Soulard neighborhood in STL for that matter.
Corner Stone
@JPL: I would be good with a whole hour on this topic by this panel.
ruemara
@MomSense: That’s utterly fucking brilliant.
OzarkHillbilly
@Omnes Omnibus: All except for the Trump parts. Anything involving him is obscene by that fact alone. In fact, I think I’ll file an obscenity complaint against the Electoral College.
lollipopguild
@Elizabelle: I think within a year PM May may wish she had another job.
Mnemosyne
Speaking of writers sequestering themselves to torture their characters, I’m waiting for Amtrak to take me on the 4+ hour trip from LA to San Luis Obispo. I’m hoping to have a pretty good outline by the time we arrive, get lunch in SLO, and then get some actual writing done on the 4+ hours back. We’ll see!
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne: Happy trails! Great idea for a trip.
I think I’d have my nose pressed to the glass for the scenery, though.
OzarkHillbilly
@Tenar Arha: Around here, every day is nekkidgadeningday.
ruemara
@Shalimar: he wrote that mess? He also enjoyed torturing fans.
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
For the first 90 minutes or so, there’s not a lot of scenery since you’re going through some pretty industrial parts of LA County.
Once you get past Ventura, though, it’s nothing but gorgeous. I’m hoping to be able to take a well-earned break by then!
randy khan
@Omnes Omnibus:
FWIW, the standard isn’t “obscene,” it’s “indecent,” which is much lower. Also, the political nature of the rant wouldn’t affect whether it violated the rules. There are some other reasons besides the ones I mentioned that you could argue that it didn’t violate the rules, including that it was isolated (although I wouldn’t bet on that working), but under the rules the bleeped word clearly is indecent.
There is, by the way, a funny case involving NPR airing a surveillance tape from a Mafioso’s trial. It was littered with F-bombs, but the FCC decided it wasn’t indecent. I think the theory was that it was straight news reporting of what actually was put into evidence at the trial, but people in the field refer to the case as the NPR exception.
randy khan
@Hal:
Every once in a while I forget that Jeff Sessions is Attorney General, then something like this happens.
I bet those HBCU presidents who visited the Oval Office feel really special now.
Corner Stone
My view on Josh Barro continues to rapidly decline.
J R in WV
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Some time back my Dad had a Chrysler convertible, we went up to Ravenswood to visit my grandma, (who was Dad MIL, they were great pals). Coming back down the interstate we got a flat tire. Had the tools out, the spare tire out, couldn’t get the wheel cover (too fancy to be a hubcap!!) off for love nor money.
Dad got hot, was digging at the edges with the tire iron. Wasn’t listening to me at all. So I walked around to get the owner’s manual, looked up changing tires. There was a special key to unlock those wheel covers!!! Evidently they were fancy enough (on a Chrysler???) to be items of theft!!!
So I wonder around to the front of the car, where Dad is still vandalizing his fancy wheel cover, and hand him that odd key. “What the hell is that?!” he asks!
:The special tool to get that wheel cover off,” I say. He was speechless for a second, then spewed the most profane stream of cursing I ever heard from him. Funny story now.
debbie
@randy khan:
Is it really any worse than talking about grabbing pu$$y? Why wasn’t Trump threatened with being fined?
Gary K
The most brilliant stroke is his explanation that Ph.D. is short for “Ph.D.-having Doctor.” Like “GOD over Djinn,” it’s infinitely expandable.
Shalimar
@ruemara: It was a shared universe anthology, very popular at the time (Janet Morris’s Heroes In Hell, C.J. Cherryh’s Merovingen Nights and Robert Asprin’s Thieves World were others). As such, the writing was very uneven and the characters ranged from brilliant to bizarre. George R.R. Martin created the original idea and world structure, though.
GregB
Noticed that something was a bit off about the latest stories about people on the Trump transition team warning Flynn about his ties to Russia articles that came out in multiple places last night and today.
If they knew he was sketchy and were warning people about it, why were the going to the mat to defend him until the bitter end? Trump said he was wronged and Pence came to his defense.
The cover-up is going pear shaped in a bigly way.
GrandJury
The tiny handed fascist really can pick em. Find the absolute worst person for the job and that is who the fart sack will gravitate to.
bemused
@ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy:
Whew, what a week you’ve had. Hope it improves with time.
I hear you about internet access particularly in rural areas. We live in NE MN, rural, and I would not be surprised if there were not several different internet providers used by our nearest neighbors. Our landline and cell phone were rolled into one plan but late last summer, AT&T “upgraded” to 4G on nearest towers. We basically couldn’t use either LL or cell phone for several months, sporadic. Trying to talk to numerous AT&T techs was a nightmare when the phone reception is crap in the first place. Also none of them were any real help. Finally figured out that the tower(s) were pinging back and forth searching between LL and cell. We removed LL from AT&T to Cent Link and problem solved. We have a local internet provider with dish 50 ft up a Norway pine tree. Oh the joys of living in so-so or poor internet access areas.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: I never understood why he was so beloved among Juicers. What did he do now.
nightranger
The tiny handed fascist really can pick em. Find the absolute worst person for a job and that is who the tangerine fart sack will gravitate towards.
My guess is the one thing they all have in common is a willingness to brown nose and stroke his paper thin ego.
Hal
@randy khan: Someone on Twitter asked if Trump is aware anyone can go to a HBCU, and it really would not surprise me if Trump thinks these universities are restricted to black folks. Kind of like how his apartments were only available to white people.
Baud
@randy khan: It was too late in the evening for indecency.
OzarkHillbilly
@J R in WV: Heh.
Reminds me of a time when I got stuck on a nasty little 2 wheel track going up a hill. At one spot it narrowed down with brush on both sides and the truck bounced down into the ruts and I got high centered. Spent about an hour digging and comealonging before I got it freed up and moved downslope for another attempt. Just before I hit the gas to make another run at it my youngest pops up with, “Pop? Why don’t you just drive thru that brush on the right?” I looked at it and he was right. Why didn’t I?
“You little SOB, why didn’t you say that before I got stuck the first time?”
He just grinned.
Quinerly
@A Ghost to Most:
I could be really dating myself, but I think that album holds up so well. It’s a top 5 favorite album of all time for me. A few years back, I was in Tucumcari for a couple nights. Drove all over town and those “back roads” with the windows down playing the CD….”Willin” got heavy rotation. No one in town batted an eye…February, windows down, full blast, Traveling Dog Leo singing along.?
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly:
@186 ?
OzarkHillbilly
@bemused:
Yep. Always an adventure. Back in ’10 they installed the piping for fiber optics cable in front of our house and my wife got really excited. The local electric co-op had a web page about the project and everything (part of Obama’s stimulus) about a year later the page disappeared and nobody at the co-op had any idea what I was talking about. The pipe remains, empty and useless. We’re still on satellite.
The joys of living in a red state, stuck in 1952.
ruemara
@Shalimar: GRRM was involved. No wonder I hated it.
Nicole
@MomSense: You know, I thought there had been a lot of bumping in the race, too, but according to Jane Schwartz, who, literally, wrote the book on the subject, probably not:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-08-30/sports/9103040963_1_ruffian-foolish-pleasure-jane-schwartz
It sounds like it may just have been one of those things. It’s hard, as people who adore horses, to accept that it’s quite likely it was no one’s “fault,” but it may just have been bad luck. I think that’s why, at the track, they say, always better lucky than good.
Jacinto Vasquez was the regular rider for both Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure. He chose Ruffian for the race because he thought she was the better horse. Which is not a mark on Foolish Pleasure, who was a tough little warrior. I think his stud career was adversely affected by the race, kind of like how Big Brown ended up standing at stud in New York for not much $$ because people hated his owners and trainer so much that they didn’t want to breed to him.
A Ghost to Most
@Quinerly: yep. The only other live album that gets as much play from me is DBTs ‘Live from Austin City Limits’. Both are desert island albums.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: probably another day, another severe attack of CDS.
Quinerly
@A Ghost to Most:
I just set up this new music system here at the beach place and am really enjoying the Pandora Stations. (Yes, I’m late to the game..still vinyl and CDs when home in Soulard.) Digging the Al Kooper station….and reminiscing with The Travel Wilburys station. The latter fit my AM mood. There was 9 AM dancing.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Damn, totally forgot about Joy and didn’t get my fix. Tomorrow!
bemused
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s the story here too. People have fiber optic cable by their homes but there it sits doing nothing yet.
The internet provider sent out techs to install a new dish last fall. I did get a chuckle out of watching the internet guy shimmy up the tree until he was out of sight up in the branches. No fear. So far very secure even with high winds and heavy, snow, no loss of service over the winter. It was a big mess when tornados and straight line winds took down a ton of trees in NE MN last summer. Internet providers were pretty busy getting people hooked back up again. The company uses a farmer’s silo not too far away to relay signals.
Omnes Omnibus
@randy khan: Thanks for the correction.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
@bemused:
Didn’t I learn this week that when Dems like Hillary Clinton talk about rural infrastructure and how it needs to be improved, it’s elitist and insulting to people who live in rural areas?
Why, yes I did.
Dcrefugee
@ProudGradofCatLadyAcademy: That sulphur smell may be the water heater’s anode rod needing replacement…
Uncle Cosmo
@Mnemosyne: Looking forward to hear about the trip. For years I’ve been contemplating flying into San Diego, seeing the Left Coast & back out of Seattle, & I love long-distance trains. SLO is a particular interest: My dad’s last Stateside posting as a diesel mechanic in the Army was there, before being shipped out to Pearl (& eventually Leyte, Okinawa & the Korean occupation), & he fell so hard for Cali that (so the story goes) he spent years after his return (before I came along) trying to talk Mom into moving out there. Call it part of a “sentimental journey” I’d like to make before I’m too old & immobile.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Fool!
ETA, actually it wasn’t one her better total shows. She had a Heritage guy on the first segment and he destroyed the conversation about the House passing the AHCA. Just lied all over the place about everything, again and again.
Some good middle segments including the good one on Ivanka. But a weak ass finish on racism in sports and specifically Boston with William C. Holden who is awful, awful, awful on TV interview. I thought he had dementia a few times.
Uncle Cosmo
@Dcrefugee: Or it may be endemic to the ground water, if there are coal seams in the area. Mom, who grew up in north-central WV, loved the taste of “sulfur water” that you could get from springs whenever we drove back to Appalachia; my brother & I (Bawlmer born & bred) did not. I guess to her it tasted like home.
Lyrebird
@Gvg: Thanks for clarifying… I still can’t believe that the recent Huckabee tweet is real, though (re: Cinco de Mayo).
MomSense
@Corner Stone:
I wanted to throw the hot coffee I was drinking at his face.
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t know about beloved but he was a center right columnist that was genuinely disgusted by Trump and said so clearly.
His problem is that he can’t let go of his raging CDS and he keeps trying to drag Obama into that same filter. He was one of those who said Obama should not get paid. His views on HRC are beyond bullshit.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Corner Stone:
Oh, well. Thanks for the report.
Got distracted by some Premier League teams fighting to avoid relegation. Darwinian.
Bess
@ArchTeryx:
Send them your story, photo, and permission to use if they might find it useful. “Here’s one of the people from our district who has been able to keep on living thanks to the ACA. Let’s not take his coverage away from him.”
It should help if we could get a lot of personal stories out in people’s faces. Especially stories about people who were doing the right thing and then a problem came out of nowhere that knocked them off their employer’s health coverage (had to stop working, lost their insurance).
Those ‘it could be you’ stories along with Kimmel’s baby story are the sort of thing that can personalize the issue. People need to understand that universal health coverage means that their risk of ending up uninsured goes away.
sukabi
@OzarkHillbilly: by that definition, the entire FOX “news” organization violates FCC rules, their stable of short skirts, tight sweaters and or blouses, cleavage and legs is mandated to keep their old white males hyper stimulated to take in all the bullshit they spew.
Ruckus
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
May have been answered.
The iMac is, like any computer, more than enough for some, not even close for others. It is an all in one but even the lowest spec models have everything most people need. The latest models really are pretty good computers. Being all in one they really can not be changed or added to, at least in any way easily, unless what you need plugs in. The keyboard and mouse or trackpad are separate and wireless and if you need an optical drive a good one is available. They will run any Apple software and can run Windows if you are so inclined or in need. I find that spec for spec the pricing is not all that much different when comparing Windows and Apple computers. Yes you can purchase a Windows box for less (or more!) but the performance will be less (or more) as well.
evodevo
@OzarkHillbilly: That was always the problem with moving a political news comedy program from comedy central/HBO/TBS or whatever to mainstream … I bet John Oliver and Sam Bee don’t have that issue …
Bitter Scribe
@lowtechcyclist: Horse racing isn’t a spectator sport at all. It’s a gambling vehicle. If betting on the horses weren’t allowed, practically no one would notice or care about the races.
germy
@sukabi:
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.
randy khan
@debbie:
He didn’t do it on air, for one thing, but he also was the subject of the interview, and only a broadcaster airing the interview would be subject to the rules.
The indecency rules are very strange for a variety of reasons. (I’ve personally thought for many years that they should just be dropped entirely.) Among many other strange things, they apply to over-the-air TV but not to cable channels.
randy khan
@Baud:
I agree, but it’s nowhere near obscenity, either, so if the FCC follows its own rules, the complaints will be rejected. And if it doesn’t, the Court of Appeals in D.C. will take care of it.
rikyrah
@Hal:
This is all Attorney General White Citizens Council???
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
What did he do now??
J R in WV
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Some time back my Dad had a Chrysler convertible, we went up to Ravenswood to visit my grandma, (who was Dad MIL, they were great pals). Coming back down the interstate we got a flat tire. Had the tools out, the spare tire out, couldn’t get the wheel cover (too fancy to be a hubcap!!) off for love nor money.
Dad got hot, was digging at the edges with the tire iron. Wasn’t listening to me at all. So I walked around to get the owner’s manual, looked up changing tires. There was a special key to unlock those wheel covers!!! Evidently they were fancy enough (on a Chrysler???) to be items of theft!!!
So I wonder around to the front of the car, where Dad is still vandalizing his fancy spoked wheel cover, and hand him that odd key. “What the hell is that?!” he asks!
“The special tool to get that fancy wheel cover off,” I say. He was speechless for a second, then spewed the most profane stream of cursing I ever heard from him. Funny story now. He was too debonaire to curse, except at traffic and cars.
Aleta
Re: this dog
Thanks ltc, jpl and q for helping me focus on calling the vet and finding an ER. Wasn’t thinking straight after going out every few hours all night in the cold hard rain. There’s one ER in the area but was told it would be a long long wait today. He perked up some and cooled down, so we’re waiting at home for now.
I think it may be parasites, because I looked at his poop and then at pictures on the internet, and it does resemble the photo from the Rose Garden on Thursday of the cluster of white worm specks who shut down the government 100+ days ago.
So some white rice water today, then to the ER later or the vet on Monday. Thanks again.
☂️
?