Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

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

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

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

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

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

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

How stupid are these people?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / So I Guess It’s Up To Me Now

So I Guess It’s Up To Me Now

by | 64 Comments

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I scared Adam off that post about how if you buy seafood you are subsidizing North Korea through the six degrees of Kevin Bacon. I’ve been in a bad mood today from the news.

I had another idea for a post, but now that I’ve criticized Adam, the post I was thinking of is also sorta two-sided. So I won’t do that one. Maybe tomorrow.

So here’s something light: Explore the ultimate Wisconsin corn maze.

Or how about a Twitter fight among English cathedrals? This one’s a thread.

 

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

64Comments

  3. 3.

    Mike in NC

    News also reported that 38,000 pounds of ground turkey from Publix and ALDI was recalled due to metal filings contamination. Yum.

  4. 4.

    mainmata

    Of course, trilobites and ammonites were amongst the original seafood probably for some Cambrian Era predators if such existed. But even those simple creatures likely had more common sense than Donald Fucking Moron Trump.

  5. 5.

    Amaranthine RBG

    thing and thing plus food double equals anti-good politician.

    eta: I should add, I agree whole-heartedly.

  10. 10.

    Steeplejack

    What’s the consensus thinking on electric skillets? I had one 40-odd years ago in my first crappy apartment with crappy appliances and did most of my rudimentary cooking on it, but I’ve always thought it was kind of low-rent or 1960s Midwestern mom.

    Then the other day on some cooking show the host said that he really liked his for “shallow frying” chicken and for the exact temperature control. That got me thinking that probably, as with everything else, electric-skillet technology has really improved over the years, and I looked around on Amazon a bit. Don’t really know that I need one or how exactly I would work it into my routine, so I was wondering what other people’s experience is.

    Oh, and the cooking show guy said it doubled really well as a buffet warmer. (Can’t remember the last time I needed a buffet warmer, but whatevs.)

  11. 11.

    SWMBO

    I am on the desk computer. Using Internet Explorer. And every fucking time I open Balloon Juice, I get a The identity of the web site or the integrity of the connection cannot be verified. Further one it says The name on the security certificate is invalid or does not match the name of the site.
    It doesn’t do it on my phone, just the desktop.
    WTF?

  17. 17.

    burnspbesq

    @Mart:

    Yup, and the developers claim that the office space is fully leased. The kid has been up to the observation deck.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steeplejack:

    FWIW, Alton Brown loves them. Apparently they’re also great for poaching since you can keep them at an exact temperature.

    My mood was improving until I went on Facebook and saw that a friend of a friend was approvingly posting some bullshit from Julian fucking Assange, and then the idiot’s friends were responding with pictures of Democrats because Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker are personally responsible for the war in Afghanistan, don’t’cha know.

    Fuck these fucking fuckers.

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    Though I suppose the seafood post would have made me feel justified in my dislike of it. I like fish and other aquatic life. In fact, I like them so much that I’m reluctant to eat them. My cats eat a lot of fish, tho.

  21. 21.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Steeplejack: When I was a youngling, electric skillets were invaluable for exactly that sort of frying. Nowadays I’m allergic to chicken and don’t really fry meat that way any more and don’t have one. The in-laws use them though, I think it’s a Vietnamese thing.

    @SWMBO: I think something’s ill-configured on the server somewhere. Happens to me sometimes too, on Chrome.

  23. 23.

    Beautifulplummage

    “I like big buttresses and I cannot lie”

    Cathedral thread is well worth the time IMO

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Achrachno: No I pulled it. The tweet it was based on was whacky, the actual story kind of a bait and switch grimdark tale of indentured servitude.

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    @mainmata:

    Of course, trilobites and ammonites were amongst the original seafood probably for some Cambrian Era predators if such existed.

    They certainly existed. Shells like ammonites and trilobites had were there as protection against predators.

  31. 31.

    The Dangerman

    I’ve always thought Vegas Casinos had some serious, heavily armed, security teams in place, 24x7x365. After all, there are a lot of people, is a lot of money, a lot of alcohol, and a lot of testosterone in the mix there.

    Apparently, the only Hotel security that showed up on the 32nd floor was unarmed.

    Strange to me.

  33. 33.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Steeplejack:

    What’s the consensus thinking on electric skillets?

    My mother always had one in the 60s – lots of one-dish meals, along the lines of Hamburger Helper but more homemade, for our large, poor-ish family. She also used it to make doughnuts and that’s almost all I use mine for now. Having temperature control is critical for that. I’ve also made fried chicken once or twice, and it works great for that but frustratingly refuses to finish the job by walking around afterward wiping grease off every surface in my house.

    If I had a critical shortage of kitchen storage space it would not be among the things I retain, but it comes in pretty handy at Hanukkah.

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack

    @Mnemosyne:

    I can see how I could use one for certain things, but I’m not sure I could justify it, in the sense of yet another appliance taking up precious space. And it seems like it would pressure you to consciously “cook all the things with the electric skillet” to justify having it.

    I think I may just be having a mild attack of consumer lust.

  35. 35.

    Steeplejack

    @Beautifulplummage:

    Funny. I tried to think of something with “x got back” or “baby got x,” but I’ve got nothing. Need to bone up on medieval architecture. Sad.

  38. 38.

    Gian

    my 8 year old daugher is in a children’s theater group. K-8
    she went to a memorial today for a 20 year old graduate of that group.
    the young lady volunteered for the theater group, my daughter remembers her for making her feel brave to go on stage, and pretty eyelashes, and always being nice.
    it was her first trip to vegas, she was shot in the arm, and her boyfriend caught her, then shot in the chest.
    she just started working as a nurse.

    yet Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and Hannity draw breath.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    Like a waffle iron, it’s handy to have but not a necessity.

    Handier, actually, because it doubles as an electric griddle and also can be used to keep stuff warm without firing up an entire oven.

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    My mom, who was an excellent cook (she’s still alive but doesn’t cook much any more at age 87), had one, and I seem to associate it with cranking out a full breakfast for three kids before school. Also, good temp control for grilled sandwiches and pancakes (and latkes, as NotMax mentioned, although that didn’t really come up in my Tennessee country mother’s repertoire).

  41. 41.

    Mart

    @burnspbesq: Meant that as a joke. Took the London “El” past the shard and the base looks good. From a distance, what a mess. Never should have lifted the ban on nothing taller than the old buildings.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Yeah, I was thinking of it in the same space as a waffle iron (which I don’t have). But it would be more versatile, which is what I was thinking when I mentioned the possible pressure to use it a lot. Like you said, handy but not necessary. I guess I was looking for some handiness that I hadn’t thought of to push me over the edge.

  44. 44.

    frosty

    @Steeplejack: Electric skillets are handy during kitchen renovations, which is the last time we used ours. A Coleman stove also substitutes and as a bonus you can use it while camping.

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    Mine (ancient one, with fabric-covered power cord) happily resides for the bulk of the year in a chest of drawers in another room entirely. Same with the waffle iron (equally as venerable).

    Use it maybe twice or thrice in any given year but sure is nice to have it around when needed.

    Does your no longer does much cooking mom still have hers? Grab it.

  49. 49.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @frosty:

    Electric skillets are handy during kitchen renovations, which is the last time we used ours.

    THANK YOU. We are just about to start a kitchen renovation and I had a list of bare necessities to set up a temporary kitchen, but forgot all about the electric skillet.

    @NotMax: Yup, the one I have is actually my mother’s (not the original of my childhood but a fairly new model), borrowed indefinitely. I keep it on a shelf in the garage most of the time. Every once in a while I think I could/should use it more often than just doughnut/latke season, but I feel too old to change my cooking habits.

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @NotMax:

    I don’t know if she’s still got it.

    My brother did appropriate her equally old hand mixer, which has a fabric-covered cord and which generates a not unpleasant ozone smell when it’s chugging away.

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    Heh. Recall well that aroma wafting from the innards of the incredibly heavy Sunbeam stand mixer.

    Was as much a part of my childhood as the smell of burning leaves in autumn.

  53. 53.

    Millard Filmore

    “Corker: Tillerson, Mattis and Kelly ‘separate our country from chaos'”. They know. They ALL know. The Republican leadership KNOWS the danger Dolt-45 is exposing us to. And they do nothing, gambling a few more weeks that the country won’t fall apart in the hope that … what? Pence will sign any bill the GOP traitors pass.

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/04/politics/bob-corker-mattis-tillerson-kelly/index.html

    There is a common assumption that there was a one way flow of kompromat into Putin’s collection. Has Putin shared some of that back to Trump, blackmail material on the GOP congress? Corker said it out loud, there has been no pushback from anywhere. They all know.

    I don’t know why so many here are down on Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. The looter villains in her book are a rather good model for the conduct of the GOP. Even down to keeping their criminal enterprise running for another month, another week, one more day.

  54. 54.

    Cckids

    @Steeplejack: In addition to the aforementioned fried chicken, etc, an electric skillet is excellent for making bacon, or searing meat for stew, carnitas or borgineon (sp?) Best part is you can take it OUTSIDE, whether to a patio or garage so as to leep the frying smell from taking over the house.

  55. 55.

    Origuy

    I heard that the Moonies control the distribution channels for sushi quality fish in the US. This was a big thing about ten years ago, but I’m not sure how true it was then or still is.

  56. 56.

    SWMBO

    @Gian: That is so awful for all of those kids. Have they set up counseling? It has happened so frequently that it is almost “thoughts and prayers” automatic in most cases now. Anything to keep from having to actually do something to stop the carnage.

  57. 57.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack: We use ours primarily for pancakes but I’ve made doughnuts and other savory dishes in it. Mine is about 47 years old and I think it was a wedding present; we’ve used it for meals when we’ve remodeled a kitchen or two.

  58. 58.

    opiejeanne

    @Gian: That’s so sad. I’m sorry your child has been touched by this horror.

    I just found out my cousin’s daughter was in Vegas for the concert, but was at that venue the night before. The night of the shooting she was at a different event, I think on Fremont.

  59. 59.

    opiejeanne

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: The other item that really helped with kitchen remodeling was a microwave. The last kitchen we did the fridge was in the entry hall all of our cooking gear was in boxes in the living room, and we cooked and ate on a card table upstairs in the area functioning as the tv/family room. We ate a lot of raw veggies from our garden as well.

  62. 62.

    zhena gogolia

    Where were you when I needed the word “ammonite” for an acrostic late last night?

  64. 64.

    J R in WV

    @NotMax:

    ” that aroma wafting from the innards of the incredibly heavy Sunbeam stand mixer….” means the motor is burning up. Mine ( inherited from M-I-L’s kitchen when she went into an Assisted Living apartment ) was like that for a couple of years, and then failed with a spectacular shower of sparks and a tripped circuit breaker.

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