Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

People are weird.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Let there be snark.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

“woke” is the new caravan.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

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

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Innocent people do not delay justice.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Friday Evening Open Thread

Friday Evening Open Thread

by | 214 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Good lord, that was a long week. So, I’m doing something unexpected tomorrow…taking a class to get my motorcycle license. I haven’t ridden a proper motorcycle in 30 years, but my husband got one, and I’m jealous of him, zooming around in complete freedom. Riding on the back just isn’t the same as driving it yourself!

I know it’s dangerous. But we figure we’ve launched our kiddo into the world, so if we do get mangled by one of the many local retirees whose children should have taken their licenses a decade ago, we won’t be cutting short our young lives or leaving orphans behind, you know? (If my mother were still alive, she’d KILL me!)

Anyhoo. What are YOU up to this weekend?

Reader Interactions

214Comments

  2. 2.

    Gin & Tonic

    Speaking of two wheels, my surgeon and physical therapist (to say nothing of my darling wife) will almost certainly disapprove, but I think it’s time to see if I can handle my bicycle again.

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    Just yesterday I saw a dude riding a restored BMW with sidecar, painted olive drab. Transmission made an impressive metallic thwack with each shift. Looked fun!

  9. 9.

    A Ghost to Not

    I sold my motorcycle when all of the people I rode with turned into those people .

    Now I like the rocky roads .

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    Gonna be a long weekend. I signed up to judge a bunch of student (undergrad) presentations, so I get to spend all of Saturday interrogating kids about the lab research work they did this past summer. The projects themselves are usually pretty interesting, but the quality of presentation …varies wildly.

  12. 12.

    Davebo

    During my 3rd mid life crisis (first was a Jeep, second a BMW convertible) I wanted to buy a Harley but the wife killed the deal so I settled on a pair of old classic Vespa scooters (58 and 63). Fun for a few months. Took a bath when I sold them.

  14. 14.

    Millard Filmore

    Good lord, that was a long week.

    With so much going on, there has been no need for Friday News Dumps. Or have they been happening all along and been buried?

  15. 15.

    jl

    I forbid it, young lady. Motorcycles are dangerous and you’ll put your eye out. Go to your room for an hour of quiet self-reflection and write an essay on why this is a bad idea and you’ve changed your mind. and you are very sorry you announced such a foolish plan without discussing it with an anonymous commenter. I’ll expect it tomorrow morning.

  17. 17.

    coin operated

    LOL…my g/f is doing the same thing this weekend. She’d never ridden before meeting me and, now that she has the bug, wants to learn to ride one herself.

    Edited for poor grammar

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    Very cautiously will say this is good news, in case anybody of influence is paying attention.

    ‘Psychopath’ Hedge Fund Managers Make Less Money

    Being manipulative and mean isn’t the secret to success, a new study by two psychology professors says.

    In the world of high finance, it’s been an article of faith among some that the only way to succeed—or even survive—is to be ruthless. But a new study in the latest issue of the Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin suggests those money makers at the top of the food chain, hedge fund managers, could benefit from being a little less mean. It turns out that people who exhibit what health professionals consider psychopathic traits actually perform worse than their peers over time.

    Psychologists define a “psychopath” as someone who, among other things, lacks a conscience—an individual who often acts in a manipulative fashion for personal gain. While such traits aren’t the best way to win friends and influence people outside of work, they are seen by the more mercenary as advantageous when it comes to climbing the career ladder or making money.

    This may not be the case. Psychology professors Leanne ten Brinke, of the University of Denver, and Dacher Keltner, of the University of California at Berkeley, teamed up with a hedge fund expert, Aimee Kish of San Francisco-based investment firm TeamCo Advisers, to study the personalities and performance of 101 hedge fund managers. The participants—all men, and all in the top positions at their firms—had median assets under management of $4.6 billion and impressive track records, averaging a 7.27 percent return per year in their flagship funds from 2005 to 2015.

    …To make sure ten Brinke’s assessments were as objective as possible, she was told nothing beforehand about the managers’ track records, and the clips were watched by other psychological analysts whose ratings were highly correlated with hers. With each person categorized as more or less prone to behavior that could be labeled psychopathic, the researchers turned to how good each hedge fund manager did their job.

    They found a pattern: Being nice pays.

    The most “psychopathic” managers had the worst investment records. Those who ranked in the top 16 percent on the psychopathy scale lagged the average by 0.88 percent per year. Narcissistic managers, meanwhile, turned in mediocre returns, but their clients had to endure more volatility to get them, according to the study. That might be because narcissism, associated with overconfidence, causes fund managers to stick longer with ideas that just aren’t working, ten Brinke said.

    Get the board of directors nervous they might be leaving money on the table and perhaps they’ll change their hiring approach. Or order Chinese takeout.

  21. 21.

    CaseyL

    Are you gonna ride that thing on mostly-empty country roads, or on heavily trafficked streets? The fears I have for motorcyclists are mostly dangers from other drivers – stay away from them, and you should be safe.

    This weekend I’m canvassing my precinct in preparation for Seattle’s mayoral special election. I wanted to get it done earlier in the week, but if I canvas during the day noone’s home, and if I canvas at night it’s so dark I can’t read the precinct list I’m working from. (Not to mention it’s also been rainy and windy.) So: weekend, probably early or mid afternoon.

  24. 24.

    Shana

    I’m getting ready to head downstairs for the opening cocktail party for The Wodehouse Society convention. Lively browsing and sluicing ahead. Tomorrow is entertaining talks followed by a banquet and ending with a brunch Sunday morning. 150 Wodehouse fans for the weekend!

  26. 26.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    Good lord, that was a long week. So, I’m doing something unexpected tomorrow…taking a class to get my motorcycle license.

    Have fun. Two of my former commuting buddies are motorcycle enthusiasts. Fairly experienced riders, now that both are retired, they regularly ride around various places in California. One of them, who used to work for Honda, still has about 10 or 11 motorcycles in his garage.

    They ride comfortably and safely and I don’t think they have had any major accidents.

  28. 28.

    Millard Filmore

    @CaseyL:

    The fears I have for motorcyclists are mostly dangers from other drivers – stay away from them, and you should be safe.

    Yes, remember that they are all really out to kill you. Even if their eyeballs are looking right at you there is no guarantee that their brains really see you. An incident from my bicycle club days is that a policeman was exiting a parking lot preparing to enter traffic, looked right at a bicycler, and still almost ran him over.

    Don’t trust ANYONE driving a car.

  29. 29.

    raven

    @Brachiator: My first sled was a Honda 150 Dream. Got it in the summer of 66 when my old man said “you’ll only kill yourself and one other person on it.”

  30. 30.

    debit

    @Gin & Tonic: I blew out my knee last winter and haven’t been on my bike all summer. All summer meaning after I rode my bike when I felt “good enough” and re-injured the knee. Um. Three times. So! Maybe take it easy?

  31. 31.

    patrick II

    my doctor calls motorcycles ” donorcycles”. They are fun though, I had one when I lived in Taipei. That was interesting . just be sure to wear a helmet.

  34. 34.

    debit

    @Millard Filmore: I wish I could explain to the drivers who stop and try to wave me through when the car clearly has the right of way that a) I appreciate the sentiment but they have the right of way b) while they may be stopped, the traffic coming from the other direction isn’t and c) that car behind them has had just about enough of their bullshit and is about to whip the wheel to the right, floor it, and cut around them just in time to run me down. Instead, I shake my head, make a “please proceed” gesture and wait while they get angry I’ve thrown their generosity back in their face.

    In short, what you said, but I would add: if everyone did what they were expected to do, there would be a lot fewer accidents. And hurt feelings.

  35. 35.

    Fair Economist

    I only rode a motorcycle once, at the (repeated) suggestion of a friend who was a big motorcycle fan. (“Try it, you’ll like it!”) I was the passenger, sitting behind. I hung on to my friend so tightly he almost couldn’t breathe. But he never suggested I ride with him again, so I guess it’s a win.

  36. 36.

    Mart

    @CaseyL: In college had my left turn signal on to turn into my driveway – across a busy four lane street. I heard a dirt bike cycling through gears getting louder, heard and felt a thump, and watched a young man’s body fly over my windshield and slam into the street. The kid was alright ‘cept for some blood scrapes and bruises, the bike was trashed, and pretty sure his mom was gonna whoop some ass when they got home.

  37. 37.

    efgoldman

    Four year old granddaughter to her mother (our daughter) this week: Verbatim.
    “You do NOT know what cool things are.”
    She is very aware she’ll be hearing some variant of that for the next 12 or so years.

  38. 38.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:
    I still ride regularly. And feel that it is safer than it was 50 yrs ago when I started. I had people try to run me off the road back then. Still watch for it of course but it happens dramatically less often. And I’m back riding in the same area as I was then. I’ve met a number of very nice people and a number of complete fucking assholes riding and have life long friends from it. But it requires a level of attention and control that starts to escape you as you get older. At some point one just isn’t capable of riding any longer, just like those old fogies whose kids haven’t or couldn’t take away their driving privileges. I hope that I recognize that in myself.
    Also, take a MSF riding course. If you haven’t ridden in years or ever their training is quite good.
    Used to know a guy who owned a Honda dealership who had flown P-51s in WWII. He said that motorcycle racing was closer to flying a P51 in combat than anything else. His son and I went to HS together and still talk when we run across each other.

  39. 39.

    HeleninEire

    Motorcycles scare the shit out of me. I don’t know why; I’ve never been on one. But truly I can’t imagine anyone or anything that could convince me to try it.

  40. 40.

    A Ghost to Most

    Everybody thinks Pence is a d-bag

    Pence’s brother, Gregory Pence, is running for his old seat in Indiana, after he said recently that the VP was “full of shit” when he was younger. “Mike burned a lot of bridges,” the elder Pence told The New Yorker. “He upset a lot of his backers. It was partly because of immaturity, but he really was kind of full of shit.” Greg was referring to Mike’s use of $13,000 of campaign funds for personal expenses, which was not illegal but damaged his image early in his career.

  41. 41.

    efgoldman

    @trollhattan:

    a new Vespa, optioned up can now cost $10k+.

    I’m old enough to remember the “standard” version – don’t know if it was a Vespa or Lambretta – was a few hundred bucks in the Sears catalog.

  42. 42.

    Brachiator

    @raven:

    My first sled was a Honda 150 Dream. Got it in the summer of 66 when my old man said “you’ll only kill yourself and one other person on it.”

    An older gentlemen near my job regularly rides a well-tooled Indian motorcycle. Wears a cool red helmet.

    Nice hobby if you can do it well.

  43. 43.

    bystander

    I vote no on motorcycles, motorized scooters, and Segways.

    I watched as much of Sessions being interrogated as I could,bear. Is it just me or did Jeff sound like Trump had shared his coke stash with him? Sessions was snuffling his sinuses just like Trump does. It makes them even more disgusting.

  44. 44.

    Ruckus

    @Millard Filmore:
    Thank you.
    I forgot to give Betty the most important piece of valuable information. When you turn on the key, you become invisible. Totally invisible. OK except for cops.
    Unfortunately you have to have a certain amount of trust that people see you but if you realize that a large percentage of the time they don’t you will be a lot better off. Left turns, pulling in and out of side streets/driveways are the worst. Most of the time people back out of driveways and not only aren’t looking all that well, they can’t see out all that well either.

  45. 45.

    BC in Illinois

    Best of luck with the motor cycle. Not my cup of tea. I want to live.

    I can conjure up childhood memories (from the Eisenhower years) of an out-of-control bike ride down the long hill on Farnell Drive, ending in a heap at the curb of Valleywood Drive. Wouldn’t want to think of it with a motor.

    And, since this is an open thread, let me repeat something from the tail end of the thread below. For you St. Louis people. (You know who you are.)

    Khizr Kahn will be at the St Louis County Library on November 29 to speak about his new book, An American Family. Tickets and autographed books available at the link. He will be interviewed by Aisha Sultan of the Post Dispatch.

    See you there.

    https://www.slcl.org/content/ticketed-author-event-khizr-khan-american-family

  46. 46.

    Jerry

    After riding for close to 30 years (’82 Yamaha Maxim 550, ’72 BMW R75/5, ’87 BMW K75c), I finally took the MSF riding class last year. I never knew how shitty of a rider I was until I took the class! Ha Ha. Oops. The funny thing is, I now without motorcycle, but I hope to remedy that this weekend when I go check out a ’81 Honda CB750k. I really miss being on two wheels. I was looking to get on a Harley (Fatboy or Heritage Softail) until I went to the Raleigh Bikefest last month. I don’t know, man, but I got a real bad feeling that if I got one of those bikes those dudes would just assume that I too am a racist asshole, so yeah, back to a vintage midsize bike for me.

    Good luck to you, Betty!

  47. 47.

    eemom

    Used to ride on the back of eedad’s mc when he had one. We even went on a road trip once all the way to Tennessee.

    He sold his last one 10+ years ago. We are older than the oldest of dirts.

  50. 50.

    zhena gogolia

    @efgoldman:

    Today a student came to my office. Guess what he needed? He needed me to read him my comments on his paper because he cannot read cursive writing.

    Nothing, nothing has made me feel so old.

  51. 51.

    Davebo

    @trollhattan: I have no idea. But I gave 4k a piece for two very old ones! Though it did include shipping. There are companies that search around the world, mostly Asia it seems and buy up old ones then do fairly complete restorations.

    It’s like they saw me coming!

  52. 52.

    hoodie

    <blockquoteBut we figure we’ve launched our kiddo into the world, so if we do get mangled by one of the many local retirees whose children should have taken their licenses a decade ago, we won’t be cutting short our young lives or leaving orphans behind, you know? (If my mother were still alive, she’d KILL me!)
    I sympathize with the sentiment, reminds me of Leonard Cohen saying he’d start smoking again when he turned 80 (maybe he should have started back earlier). Get a convertible instead. You can have the wind in your hair and still be protected by sheet metal, with the added benefit of having a place to stow your weekend bag and top to keep out the rain. Some of the codgers I see traveling on bikes have so much paraphernalia (saddle bags, fairings, etc.) they might as well be in a car. Your grandchildren (or grand nieces, or grand nephews, or whatever) need to know you. I wish my Dad hadn’t clung to his 3-pack a day expression of freedom, my kids never got to know him, and he was a helluva character.

  53. 53.

    dmsilev

    @efgoldman:

    Four year old granddaughter to her mother (our daughter) this week: Verbatim.
    “You do NOT know what cool things are.”
    She is very aware she’ll be hearing some variant of that for the next 12 or so years.

    I’m going to guess that (a) your daughter did something similar to you at that age and (b) if you haven’t already done so, you’re soon going to point out (a) to her.

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    OT The undocumented teen abortion case:

    BREAKING: A D.C. appeals court has cleared the way for an undocumented, pregnant teenager who is in U.S. custody to have an abortion, but gave the federal government until Oct. 31 to find her a sponsor so that the government does not have to facilitate the procedure.

    Lawyers for the girl said in court Friday morning that it would be difficult to find a government-approved sponsor, to take custody of the teen, who is being held in a special detention facility for undocumented minors caught crossing the border into the United States illegally.

    The teen, who is identified in court papers as “Jane Doe,” is 15 weeks pregnant and has been seeking an abortion since late September. A court judge on Wednesday ordered the government to allow the procedure by Saturday, but the government appealed, resulting in Friday’s decision to extend the time frame by 10 days.

    Texas law bans abortion after 20 weeks, and requires patients seeking abortions to undergo counseling by a doctor at least 24 hours before the procedure.

    This is a developing story. It will be updated shortly.

    Federal judges weighing the case of a Central American teenager seeking to end her pregnancy seemed inclined on Friday to resolve the issue without wading into the explosive mix of immigration and abortion law — but at the same time acknowledged that such action may be impossible.

    The judges recognized that finding a sponsor in the United States to take custody of the teen, who is being held in Texas after crossing the border illegally, may not be feasible in time for her to terminate her pregnancy. She is 15 weeks pregnant, and Texas bans most abortions after 20 weeks.

    “Fairly quickly matters. We’re at a point where days matter,” Judge Patricia A. Millett said during the emergency hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

    The 17-year-old’s case reached the federal appeals court in Washington after a District Court judge on Wednesday ordered government officials to allow the teen to have an abortion “without delay.”

    The Trump administration appealed, saying it is not obligated to facilitate an abortion in part because the U.S. government has an interest in “promoting child birth and fetal life.” Lawyers for the government say they are not denying the teenager the right to abortion guaranteed by the 1973 Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade, because the girl could voluntarily leave the United States and try to seek an abortion elsewhere or find a sponsor to live with in this country.

    At oral argument on Friday, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh pressed the government’s attorney several times about why it appears to have a different policy for the teenager, who is identified in court papers as “Jane Doe,” than it has for pregnant women locked up in federal prison and for adult women in immigration detention.

    For those women in federal custody, he noted, the government does facilitate abortions.

    Undocumented immigrant minors are overseen by the Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. Under the Trump administration, that office has actively discouraged teens in its custody from having abortions, according to court filings.

    The government’s lawyer, Catherine H. Dorsey, told the court Friday that incarcerated women do not have the same options as the pregnant teen: returning home to seek an abortion or finding a legal sponsor.

    But she also acknowledged publicly for the first time that abortion is illegal in the teenager’s homeland. The court has kept the name of that country under seal to protect the teen’s privacy.

    Dorsey struggled at times to answer the judges’ questions, repeatedly saying, “I don’t know” and declining to state whether the government believes the teen has a constitutional right to an abortion.

    “Even if she has that right, we don’t have to facilitate it,” Dorsey said, adding that government officials are “looking out for the best interest of the minor child” in federal custody.

    I hate these people. The entire, vile administration.

  55. 55.

    les

    Ah, man, I so miss a bike. Be careful, you’ll have fun. 60’s Triumph Bonneville, 70’s Norton Commando. I dearly want a Triumph American, now. Not f’n likely.

  56. 56.

    efgoldman

    I can understand zillions of reasons why someone wants to ride on two wheels.
    But where does it say, in the motorcycle manual, that if you own a Harley your have to remove the muffler and push the noise level as high as possible?
    Yes, I’m old. I’ve paved my fuckimg lawn, thank you.

  57. 57.

    Gretchen

    @rikyrah: Because they’re slashing so much from Medicare and Medicaid and tax exemptions normal people use that, with dynamic scoring and the rainbows and unicorns of faster growth from the tax-cut fairy, it will all come out even.

  59. 59.

    Davebo

    @efgoldman: That’s it exactly! One two tone red and white and one metallic pink with white walls.

    Really did seem like a good idea at the time….

  60. 60.

    jl

    OK dokey, Local news organization found the tape showing that Kelly made a false smear against Rep. Wilson. WH will stands behind smear. I guess that is not surprising. Not surprising that the miserable Kelly will not apologize, let alone correct the record.

    Just as it is not surprising Kelly could not find time for a short sentence expressing regret if Trump’s condolences to the family were misconstrued. Certainly not surprising that Trump could not emit that short sentence himself.

    Video Shows Wilson Didn’t Brag About Funding FBI Building, As Kelly Claimed
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/video-frederica-wilson-2015-fbi-speech

  61. 61.

    Gretchen

    @Brachiator: Not to mention how a 17 year old traveling alone from Central America came to be pregnant in the first place. It’s probably not a love story. And what’s supposed to happen to her when she has the baby? What happens to the baby? On the road back to El Salvador? That’s caring for life?

  63. 63.

    Greg

    Enjoy. Remember ride ATGATT, Carry 250K/500K uninsured under insured coverage, make sure you have decent health and life insurance. Have a ball. I started riding again 10 years ago after a 30 year pause and find it very relaxing.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    Still have a garage queen/orphan Suzuki 1150 but it’s a massive amount of work away from getting back on the street, due to utter neglect that I shall blame on fatherhood and homeownership. Would definitely take a rider course before doing so, as the 20s reflexes and eyesight aren’t at my disposal. They ARE fun, daggnabit, and this is by gawd Californee, where snow isn’t an excuse.

    Any helmets not made in China?

  65. 65.

    ruemara

    Not much besides laundry on the radar. Was assaulted by office birthday folks with cookies and the interns decorated my cubicle with stickers on post-its while I was forced to socialize. Probably going to just hang with the kittens. The roomie wants dinner on Monday, so this weekend is much needed hiding.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @efgoldman:

    But where does it say, in the motorcycle manual, that if you own a Harley your have to remove the muffler and push the noise level as high as possible?

    I don’t think they ride to enjoy the ride. I think they ride to annoy everyone else. They have no power, no gravitas and think they should, so like conservatives they have to get their jollies by fucking over everyone else. Around here we also have people with cars with loud exhausts. Especially jacked up 4x4s that never leave the pavement. Same assholes.

  67. 67.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Brachiator: So they have the girl in custody to deport her to a country which they will not name because it is dangerous but want to force her to have a child that she doesn’t want to have. Who is going to raise this unwanted baby? Are they going to kick the girl and her baby out when they finally deport her? The last time I checked, abortion is legal in this country even if forced birthers don’t like it.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    @efgoldman:
    Harley-riding assholes who do this claim (clears throat) that it’s “safer because distracted drives hear you in time and thus, don’t run you down.” Absurd on the face of it I have more than once been so startled I jerked the steering wheel when one appeared alongside, sorta disproving the “safer” theory and luckily not taking out one or more morans.

    They can split lanes here, so we have that too. I never did so as a rider since you’re one swerve away from I-80 crayonhood.

  72. 72.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:
    My accountant rides a Harley. ‘Nuff said. One of the best tshirts ever: “I took my Harley to Trailer Week.”

  79. 79.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gretchen:

    Then I said something to the student who came in after him, and she said, “Yeah, I was in the last class at my school where they taught cursive. So when my grandma writes us a letter in cursive I have to read it to my younger brother and sister.”

  81. 81.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:
    Thanks. Used to prefer Bells but they off-shored. I have no qualms about spending adequate money protecting my noggin. They’re much nicer now, what with the vents and such.

  82. 82.

    Gretchen

    @jl: “Just as it is not surprising Kelly could not find time for a short sentence expressing regret if Trump’s condolences to the family were misconstrued. Certainly not surprising that Trump could not emit that short sentence himself.”

    Yes, that’s what gets me! You find out that you made a young widow cry, unintentionally, any decent person would say “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that how it sounded. I’m so sorry for your loss.” Instead of saying that it wasn’t hurtful, or it wasn’t said at all, or insult your dear family friend with easily checkable lies. They’re psychopaths, all of them

  83. 83.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:
    I went to Daytona for work for years. Half a million people visited town, 100,000 went to the races. The 400,000 went to get drunk, make noise, avoid the snow, and annoy everyone else. All of which they managed to do rather well.

  84. 84.

    Jerry

    @Ruckus:

    I don’t think they ride to enjoy the ride. I think they ride to annoy everyone else.

    It seems to me that most Harley guys ride their bikes to park it somewhere conspicuous. Everybody else rides their bike to, well, ride it. At least, that’s the way it seems to be around here. I always thought it was funny when I got surrounded by a sea of black Street Glides. Here I was, a little bright red ’80s flying brick, sticking out like a sore middle finger in the middle of all that rich urban biker conformity.

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Have North Korea’s nuclear tests become so big that they’ve altered the geological structure of the land? Some analysts now see signs that Mount Mantap, the 7,200-foot-high peak under which North Korea detonates its nuclear bombs, is suffering from “tired mountain syndrome.”

    The mountain visibly shifted during the last nuclear test, an enormous detonation that was recorded as a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in North Korea’s northeast. Since then, the area, which is not known for natural seismic activity, has had three more quakes.
    [snip]
    Chinese scientists have already warned that further nuclear tests could cause the mountain to collapse and release the radiation from the blast.
    [snip]
    “The underground detonation of nuclear explosions considerably alters the properties of the rock mass,” Vitaly V. Adushkin and William Leith wrote in a report on the Soviet tests for the United States Geological Survey in 2001. This leads to fracturing and rocks breaking, and changes along tectonic faults.

    Earthquakes also occurred at the U.S.’s nuclear test site in Nevada after detonations there.

    “The experience we had from the Nevada test site and decades of monitoring the Soviet Union’s major test sites in Kazakhstan showed that after a very large nuclear explosion, several other significant things can happen,” said Richards. This included cavities collapsing hours or even months later, he said.
    [snip]
    But the degradation of the mountain does not necessarily mean that it would be abandoned as a test site – just as the United States did not abandon the Nevada test site after earthquakes there, they said. Instead, the U.S. kept using the site until a nuclear test moratorium took effect in 1992. Source

  89. 89.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Gretchen: Don’t you get it. The young widow is not a real person to them. She has no feelings or emotions that superior beings (in their own minds) like them need to respect like the “emotional” general of yesterday.

    ETA: Minorities or immigrants dying in their wars are like Jem Hadar soldiers to them.

  92. 92.

    No Drought No More

    Blessing In Disguise #9: My first and last bike was a 750 Laverda, an Italian racing bike that weighed a ton and felt more like riding a rocket than a motorcycle. Suffice to say, I owned it for maybe 6 weeks before I finally admitted it scared the living hell out of me (I was very young at the time). I remember it being a foggy and happy night as I waved “ciao” to the guy I sold it to..

  93. 93.

    Repatriated

    @Davebo:

    There are companies that search around the world, mostly Asia it seems and buy up old ones then do fairly complete restorations.

    Restored Vespas from Asia are notorious for being shoddily cobbled together, often to the point of being downright dangerously structurally unsound. Pretty paint covers a multitude of sinfully bad welds and Bondo — to say nothing of how the engines are pieced together.

    Google the term “Vietbodge” for examples.

    There are good ones over there, but they aren’t the ones that get exported.

  94. 94.

    ThresherK

    @Jerry: I put many years and miles on bikes 200cc & down, and a number of years ago I got a CB750F of the same vintage, and took the MSF course also.

    I cannot recommend the class enough.

    PS Speaking of “the kind of people who are thought to ride H-D”, the US-based cruiser motorcycle company which named itself Confederate Motorcycle Co. in the 1990s has renamed itself in the last ~2 months. There may be more white supremacists out there than a decade ago, but it is becoming bad for business.

  95. 95.

    Millard Filmore

    @debit:

    I wish I could explain to the drivers who stop and try to wave me through

    Be careful about YOU returning the “wave them through” … if they accept your prompt and something bad happens, like a pedestrian takes the delay in traffic flow and steps into the mix with disastrous results …. Well out where I live, its all YOUR fault. So shake your head to decline their kindness, but do not wave back.

  96. 96.

    NotMax

    21st century dark ages: The future has been indefinitely postponed.

    Police in the south-east African state of Malawi say they have arrested 140 members of lynch mobs who attacked people suspected of being vampires.

    At least eight people are believed to have been killed, including two men on Thursday in the second city, Blantyre.
    [snip]
    Traditional leaders in southern Malawi believe the vampire rumours started across the border in Mozambique where rumours of blood sucking have led to violence this week.

    In Mozambique, protesters have targeted police because they believe they are protecting the supposed vampires, leading a northern town’s administrator to flee the city.

    The villagers in these areas believe human blood sucking is a ritual practised by some to become rich. They also believe they are failing to catch the blood suckers because they use magical powers. Source

  98. 98.

    A Ghost to Most

    @No Drought No More: When I was in USAF, four friends bought identical top end Kawasakis (Z something). Within 6 months, 3 were toast, including a ride off an overpass that the 2 drunk riders survived.

    I stuck with a Yamaha 400.

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    @Gretchen:

    Not to mention how a 17 year old traveling alone from Central America came to be pregnant in the first place. It’s probably not a love story. And what’s supposed to happen to her when she has the baby? What happens to the baby? On the road back to El Salvador? That’s caring for life?

    These vile creatures don’t sweat the details. It is sufficient to make this girl’s life miserable by forcing her to bear a child against her will.

    Reminds me…

    From PG Clouogh, The Latest Decalogue

    Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive
    Officiously to keep alive:
    Adultery it is not fit
    Or safe, for women, to commit:
    Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,
    When ’tis so lucrative to cheat:

  101. 101.

    debbie

    I don’t think I could lean into those turns like I used to. Keep your eyes open and strap that helmet on tight! ?

  102. 102.

    Leto

    @Ruckus: Schuberth helmets are basically gold standard but they’re more expensive than Arai/Shoei, even at base price. My Shoei works just fine.

  103. 103.

    BC in Illinois

    @schrodingers_cat:
    This brings back a memory of decades ago, that still chills me when I think of it.

    Some guy in Illinois was denied a law license because he was a raving racist. He lost his appeal in court. But while he was soaking up his 15 minutes of fame, one of his followers went on a shooting spree, targeting Blacks, a synagogue, a Korean family (I think) — just shooting people on the street. Indiana and Illinois. A number of people shot, a few killed.

    The racist leader was interviewed on NPR. Took no responsibility. Yes, he aimed his hatred at those people, but he didn’t specifically say that his follower should kill them.

    So the interviewer asked, “But what would you say to the families of those who were shot?”

    “I wouldn’t have anything to say to them.”

    The interviewer was taken aback. He worked at trying to get his question across. “But what would you say?”

    “I wouldn’t have anything to say to them. They’re not my people.”

    This has been, ever since, my description of what racism does to the racist. He doesn’t even see the other people. “They’re not my people.”

    It is terrible to think about living in a life that small. Life, really alive life, means that we see each other. (And hear. And listen to. And believe. And pass a beer to.)

    Which brings me back to how terrible it seems to me, what General Kelly did to Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, and to the family of Sgt. Johnson. He lied about them. Knew it was a lie. Figured he wouldn’t get caught. Figured if he did get caught it wouldn’t matter. Acting through it all as if he had nothing to say to them, no reason to listen to them.

    They aren’t his people.

  105. 105.

    Millard Filmore

    @Gretchen:

    What happens to the baby? On the road back to El Salvador? That’s caring for life?

    Obviously the infant will be an Anchor Baby and the Trump administration will make every effort to ensure its life is miserable. These “right-to-lifers”, fight birth control, fight abortion, fight like demons to bring babies into this world but won’t do a damn thing to take care of the kids that are already here. They have such delightfully perverse morals.

  109. 109.

    Leto

    @A Ghost to Most: We had an airman at Keesler that, apparently, tried to impress someone by popping a wheelie in the Comm Sq parking lot. Lost control, slammed into the side of the building, and died. Had another airman over in USAFE, about 4 years ago, go to lane split on a major motorway between a lorrie and a car. Lorrie moved over, sucked him under and that was that. We get briefings all the time, but we still have at least 10-15 each year.

  110. 110.

    Gravenstone

    @zhena gogolia:

    He needed me to read him my comments on his paper because he cannot read cursive writing.

    I learned cursive in third grade. I had abandoned it by sixth because no one could read my atrocious writing. Of course now, even my “printing” is becoming illegible.

  118. 118.

    Gretchen

    Kelly and Sanders are still arguing that the phone call was fine and attacking Congresswoman Wilson. That’s not the point! The phone call was not fine! Whatever was said, it upset Mrs. Johnson, and until they address that, they’re completely in the wrong.

  119. 119.

    lgerard

    @Gretchen:

    And that trump started the whole sordid cycle by implying that he was the greatest President ever at offering condolences

  120. 120.

    chopper

    @Repatriated:

    two tone paint in its own isn’t diagnostic tho.

    but man, I’ve taken apart some of those engines and hoo boy, it’s a mess. not as bad as my mate’s Asian ‘resto’ LI150 that literally folded in half one day while he was riding it…

  123. 123.

    VeniceRiley

    My TV died *GASP* and I am shopping for a replacement. Which is much safer than whet you’re doing, Betty.

  124. 124.

    Mnemosyne

    @A Ghost to Most:

    I am distantly related to Pence by marriage — my aunt married his first cousin, who became my uncle.

    My uncle has now passed, but I remember him vividly, and although he was a lifelong Republican, I’m pretty sure he would be spending a lot of time referring to his Cousin Mike as “that asshole.”

    Among other things, converting from Catholicism to Protestantism, especially an evangelical denomination, would NOT have gone over well with my uncle.

  125. 125.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: in the trauma center we just called them donors. I like riding, but the closest I came to death was on the back of a bike when my then bf was chasing a car that sideswiped us, I stopped watching the speedometer when it hit 90. Helmets wouldn’t have helped if we went down.

    Speed, hot-dogging, and other drivers all in one event; and all the biggest dangers to riders.

  126. 126.

    bemused

    We were discussing when to shop for new living room furniture, sofa, two chairs and one recliner. The recliner will likely be the most contentious purchase. I hate the man’s recliner. No doubt this is a common argument among spouses on recliners. It’s not the biggest, poofiest, ugliest one I’ve seen in homes a lot but it is too big, imo, for the space and I think it is an clunky eyesore. At least, looking at it makes me cranky.
    Checking out online high leg recliners and hopefully will convince him to go for that compromise. Sure would be a lot easier vacuuming the room. We get a lot of pet hair (2 dogs, 2 cats) and the damn chair is no fun to tip over and suck out pet hair tumbleweeds.

  127. 127.

    efgoldman

    @zhena gogolia:

    He needed me to read him my comments on his paper because he cannot read cursive writing.

    In Cyrillic?
    Where i grew up (Brookline, MA) they stopped teaching cursive shortly after WW2 (for parochial school kids, it was mandatory, of course.)
    My daughter, who graduated in a different Boston suburb in 1999, never had a second of cursive in school.
    I sort of half-assed it (story of my life); I had cursive instruction in various schools through 7th grade, until we moved to Brookline; after that, I used a mixture of illegible and unreadable. The stroke in 2011 didn’t help.

  128. 128.

    A Ghost to Most

    My late Fil, a B-24 pilot in WWII, was fond of saying “There are bold pilots, and there are old pilots, but there are few old, bold pilots”.

    Works for motorcycles. Have fun.

  129. 129.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gravenstone:

    Over the years, I have managed to merge printing with cursive — I almost never do one or the other, just the blended as my default handwriting. I think it’s pretty readable but admit I haven’t checked it for readability with a Young.

    Graphology seems to be an endangered profession. NAFTA has a lot to answer for.

  131. 131.

    efgoldman

    @Ruckus:

    I think they ride to annoy everyone else.

    Exactly on cue, as i was typing that comment, the guy across the street pulled his Harley noisily out of the garage and went tooling, roaring away.
    Not offcially, but RI claims to be the most catholic state in the country, and also the most Harleys per capita.

  133. 133.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gretchen:

    Whatever was said, it upset Mrs. Johnson, and until they address that, they’re completely in the wrong.

    Exactly. If you accidentally hurt someone, you say, I’m sorry, I did not intend to do that, not It’s not my fault! Why was your friend eavesdropping, anyway, huh?

  134. 134.

    Calouste

    @A Ghost to Most: If you read the early history of aviation, few of the names mentioned even lived to WW1. I guess you had to be bold to be a pilot in those days, but still.

  136. 136.

    smintheus

    @efgoldman: I knew a lot of jerks growing up in RI. Far as I can make out, from way afar away, nearly all of them ride Harleys now.

    On the small country road where I live, bikers love to drive by. Most of them make a point of blasting as much noise as possible whenever they see me outdoors…because people live out in the country to be subjected to random loud oafs.

  142. 142.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @bemused:

    To this day, I relax in (and often fall asleep in) an elderly recliner that my father bought at least 30 years ago, and explicitly left to me. Not long before he died, he told me that every time I sat in the chair I should remember him and think of him giving me a hug.

    Well, “Hugs-the-Chair” is cracked, rumpsprung, and discoloured. The handle mechanism that makes it recline is creaky and stiff. I should really get rid of it — it is an eyesore, and really not very comfortable, and smells slightly peculiar — but I have such a sentimental attachment to Hugs that I can’t bear to part with it. Not yet.

  144. 144.

    Brachiator

    Movies, movies, movies

    About three of the movies opening this weekend were not screened for critics, always a bad sign. And one other movie, The Snowman, has received such blisteringly bad reviews that even the director has offered a bit of an apology.

    But an action film called Only the Brave, about hotshot fire fighters, has received some strong reviews. Lots of strong performances, especially from Jennifer Connelly, who holds her own with all the manly men.

    A documentary about Jane Goodall is also highly recommended, and is said to feature a lot of previously unseen footage of a young Goodall.

  148. 148.

    Steeplejack

    All right! Joy Reid in for Chris Hayes tonight. No bullshit will be accepted!

    She’s starting with a demolition of Kelly’s bullshit story about Rep. Wilson. I hope she tears him a new one and then Dremels around the edges for a while.

  152. 152.

    sharl

    Something for a Friday Open Thread from the category: Lighthearted, Stupid, & Funny

    We wanted to make sure everyone saw the statement about the @TPUSAatKent event — let’s keep educating in the fight against safe spaces! pic.twitter.com/pmh77gn455— Turning Point USA (@TPUSA) October 20, 2017

    Y'all literally tweeted the photos how did it just come to your attention?? pic.twitter.com/sKgNuQZ4hI— spoopy gay ?? (@mermaidyelyah) October 20, 2017

    Background: The Kent State University chapter of Turning Point USA – a conservative group with apparently deep pockets that involves itself in campus student government elections and activities – did a protest against the concept of “safe spaces”, setting up a mock fenced-in play pen area. But the most attention-getting aspect of the display was the young man who was wearing diapers. TRIGGERED MUCH, LIBS??!!!?

    Various leftie and liberal types are enjoying this story immensely. Some of them are claiming they are truly triggered by this, and begging the righties to stop doing this; dunno, I’m getting a oh-no-please-don’t-throw-me-in-that-brier-patch vibe here.

    One podcast I listened to last night wondered how the Koch Brothers – or the Mercers, or whoever the hell is funding TPUSA – might respond to how their money is being spent (positively, I should hope). Also, while noting that lefties shouldn’t kink-shame, they speculated that people with certain fetishes might see real opportunity here to mask their personal proclivities with an ostensibly noble political purpose.

    Personally I hope these creative young wingers stick to their guns and make this a trend. Who knows, maybe we’ll see Louis Gomert or Steve King in diapers on the floor of the House one day!

    (edited)

  156. 156.

    Corner Stone

    “You’re fuckin A right I want to debate Gen Kelly. Tell him to get his lying ass out here and answer my god damned questions.”
    /reason elebenty I could never be a WH reporter

  157. 157.

    lurker dean

    nice, betty, enjoy the class! you’ve inspired me to ride my motorcycle soon, it doesn’t get nearly enough use with work and life getting in the way.

  158. 158.

    El Caganer

    @NotMax: Sucking human blood to become rich? Isn’t that taught at most business schools here? Y’know, I’ve thought of the Wall Streeters as pirates, but maybe vampires would be more accurate.

  159. 159.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    I’m only five minutes behind. The video of Rep Wilson’s (complete) speech just got done. Holy shnikeys, Kelly is not just a liar, he’s a flaming, goddamn liar.

  161. 161.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    Amen. I have tried to keep women off my punchable-faces list, but, damn it, Huckabee Sanders has earned a permanent spot close to the top.

  163. 163.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    Happy birthday! I am seriously tempted to try and get up to where you are when I’m in the Bay Area next month so I can snorgle those kittens. Check your gmail for deets.

  165. 165.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:
    Forgot to add. Get a full face helmet. Always a full face. Jaw reconstruction surgery is not near as much fun as some have been lead to believe. Don’t know first hand but I’ve been told.

  168. 168.

    Just One More Canuck

    Watching a documentary on the final tour of the Tragically Hip – their lead singer and songwriter, Gord Downie, died on Tuesday from the same disease that John McCain has. It’s talking about the medical issues he had to deal with while preparing for a last tour across Canada, the thoughts of his bandmates (they played together for over 30 years.

  169. 169.

    Leto

    @A Ghost to Most: Spent a year there for tech school, then came back and spent 5 being an instructor. While Biloxi isn’t the best, the job was the best assignment of my career, and it wasn’t Minot. :)

    @Raven: Unfortunately not. I’ve heard really nice things though.

  170. 170.

    Ruckus

    @Leto:
    They are considered gold standard by people who measure quality by cost. I go with safety equipment from people with decades of experience and who have saved lives that I know. Arai has them all beat on that, Shoei is second there but not by much. I’ve owned both.

  171. 171.

    Steeplejack

    Jeez, I hadn’t seen the clip where Trump says a roomful of people was sitting in on his end of the call but he and Kelly were grievously offended that somebody was listening in on the other end of the call. W. T. F.

  173. 173.

    Corner Stone

    I like Richard Painter and all, but am just tired of seeing him on my teebee. Is there no one else available to speak with authority on ethics?

  174. 174.

    Ruckus

    @satby:
    I once watched a man crash at 185 mph, and I know that was his speed as I was using a certified radar gun. He was sore but he walked away with no broken bones or blood loss. It isn’t your speed that is the issue. It’s your safety equipment and what you hit. The sudden stop. Now in the real world there are lots of things to hit so……..

  175. 175.

    Steeplejack

    @Leto:

    Shut up! My father was stationed at both Minot and Keesler (consecutively!). Mercifully, I was away at college most of the time.

  176. 176.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    If you insist on riding, be sure to first think about what it will be like for your body if you dump it/crash/get hit by an idiot in a cage. It’s something you need to take in to consideration, young or old. Especially of you are getting up there in years. My wife wanted to do the same and a friend of ours let us use his property and a Kawasaki 440 for her to test out. While she did well (IMO), she dumped it twice at low speed (tight, slow turn/balancing). While she was wearing her riding gear (boots, pants, jacket & helmet), she decided that she didn’t like the landing. That and the fact that I’ve never dumped mine seemed to settle it for her.

    I think she liked my point that if there is a head on with a cage, I’m her ‘air bag’. ;)

    Either way, I hope you end up doing what you want. PS: If you want to ride, take a riding course!!

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @Calouste:
    You also had to learn to fly by just doing it. Now there are simulators and planes with side by side seating that makes it a lot easier. It ain’t as easy as good pilots make it seem.

  179. 179.

    Repatriated

    @Ruckus: Schuberth is a little better in terms of fit/finish and mechanical details, but aren’t really enough better to warrant the price difference. If you have the money to burn, sure.

    HJC is probably the best price/value balance.

    Bottom line, anything with a DOT/Snell/CE rating does an adequate job of protection (more coverage being better of course). The price differences reflect issues like weight, fit, ventilation, and maintainability.

  183. 183.

    Elizabelle

    @Steeplejack: It’s what made Trump’s end of the call “sacred.”

    What a shit show.

    I just spent too much time on FB with a rightwinger I like very much. She put up a post attacking Rep. Wilson, comparing her to Al Sharpton for taking outrage lessons. I responded with how Kelly’s presser had alarmed me, and that the Trump condolence call had gone badly, if the widow ended up sobbing “he didn’t even know his name.”

    Wrong! The whole issue was Wilson’s politicizing the whole thing. That is the only issue.

    I told this friend (in real life, and on FB), that I felt sick for having been drawn into this conversation, and will not take the bait again.

    All she does is put up controversies as posed by Fox or Breitbart. I have noticed that her other non-rightwing friends are smart enough not to take the bait.

    It’s so sad. She’s marvelous IRL. I am sad.

    Trump is poison.

  188. 188.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    Whenever Painter is on I get a slight “Eww!” trigger of “Is that also his lovemaking voice?” and I feel sorry for whoever happens to be his partner (if any).

    Also, he looks like he may not be able to bend at the neck or waist.

  190. 190.

    Ruckus

    @Repatriated:
    I know a lot of people sponsored by HJC, I’ve just never been impressed although the quality has gone up. And no not just anything with a DOT rating is adequate. Snell is the minimum, so nothing with only a DOT, CE is a pretty decent standard as well but Snell is the top. Most everything that has a Snell will have a CE, it may not be the other way around. For those who don’t know, DOT is the Dept of Transportation, Snell is the Snell Foundation and CE is the EU standard. Those are the three biggies in helmet standards, Snell is a lot higher standard than the DOT. If all that was available was DOT, I’d stop riding, no matter how much I like it.

  194. 194.

    Mike in Pasadena

    @Millard Filmore: Pedestrians are also in great danger. Drivers making right turns at intersections in California often look to the left for oncoming cars but do not look for peds or bikes in the crosswalk. They also seem to assume that right turn on red being legal means they don’t have to stop first. WRONG!

  197. 197.

    Leto

    @Ruckus: Huh, I take the same factor into account. Of course most of the riders that I knew with multi-decades of experience said that, but they were also German. Take that for what you will.

    @Steeplejack: Haha! Keesler honestly isn’t bad, but the surrounding area… just not for me (nor a lot of people).

    @A Ghost to Most: “Why not Minot?” Because it’s f’ing snowing for 8 months out of the year, the winds are hurricane force, and their past time is professional alcoholism. That’s why not.

  198. 198.

    Booger

    Betty: Do not take any motorcycle advice from any Juicers. You’ll be fine with the course & ATGATT.

  199. 199.

    Mike in Pasadena

    @NotMax: Not Max: I apologize for my rants last night about the movie. I did not intend to insult you. I was exercised about the movie only. I hope you can forgive me for my intemperate language last night. Sorry. No offense intended, but on reflection I can see how a reasonable person might have interpreted my remarks as insulting.

  200. 200.

    Steeplejack

    @Jackie:

    Gotta call ’em like I see ’em. But I’m sorry you also will be triggered now every time you see Painter on TV.

  201. 201.

    J R in WV

    @Brachiator:

    My cousin (daughter of my first cousin) was a Hot-Shot fire fighter for the feds. C is model gorgeous and can run full speed up a ridge carrying a 36-ince Stiel chainsaw and a back pack full of equipment.

    She left Hot-Shot after doing just that ahead of the fire, and learning that the heels of her boots had melted on the way up the mountain. Now she’s a VFD firefighter in her home town, which is still a dangerous hobby, but nothing like Hot -Shot. Hot-Shot teams risk their lives every day they’re on the fire line.

    I was trained as a fire fighter in the USN, which has come handy a couple of times, although I never had to fight a fire on board ship. Amazing how big a fire you can put down with a real fire extinguisher!!

  202. 202.

    BellyCat

    +1 Betty!

    Been riding for 25 years. One of the best sports known to humankind.

    The classes are great. The best advice I was ever given from olds:

    1. Ride as if you’re invisible to cars.

    2. Wear bright gear and helmet

    3. Always dress as if you may go down. Boots, gloves, jacket (perforated in 80+ temps), and full face helmet. Favor visibility and protection over fashion.

    4. Never ride the same speed as traffic on the highway. Go faster or slower. Better yet, avoid highways!

    Keep the shiny side up!

    The Florida heat can be tough

  204. 204.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @Mike in NC:

    Yep. I’ve done it plenty in the dirt and twice on the road. Once at low speed, tight turn (bike stalled, clutch popped, slo-mo drop) and the other at about 40 MPH into another bike (forced off road by inexperienced rider during an emergency stop during a poker run). Both of these incidents were over 30 years ago so I’ve taken my lessons well. :)

    It will happen, it’s just a matter of where and when.

  206. 206.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    I must have used a bad word… comment release please!

    And FYWP

    And thanks (was pulled away from PC by cat)… :)

  210. 210.

    J R in WV

    Started this weekend with trout breaded in panko crumbs for wife, oysters for me. Tomorrow planting plants, should be a really pretty day, although the drought is getting worrisome. 3 rhododendrons, some half price hostas and some pansies to be pretty into winter.

    When it gets powder dry, the red-neck pinheads set fires in the woods, so they can earn minimum wage putting them out. That isn’t as bad here as it would be in CA or AZ, so far. But the dryer it gets, the worse it will be. And that reminds me…

    Years ago we were in bed reading on a fall evening when the phone rang. Neighbor said, the whole ridge is on fire above us, can you help? and I said you call Bobby and I’ll call Tommy. 6 of us met at the head of the hollow, gathered up gardening tools, split up into pairs and started climbing the ridge.

    When Tommy and I reached to the ridge top, there was a narrow band of burning leaves out of sight left and right. Tommy looked at me and said we’ve come to fight a bear with a switch!! and I said we better start switchin’.

    We reached one end of the fire and worked back towards the others. It was knee high mostly, and we raked the burning debris back into the already burned area, where it died out. By the time the three pairs all met, there was a big stump and the log that fell off it burning, and we shoveled dirt at it til it went out.

    Then SURPRISE it was pitch dark, as it was cloudy when we started at dusk 3 hours ago!! We were all black with soot, too, so invisible… we sat on a log that hadn’t caught fire, and debated how to get off the ridge in pitch dark without getting hurt. Then we saw a twinkle of light off in the woods – like a flashlight coming up the hill.

    it was Tom P and his wife, with flashlights, and a 12-pack of cold beer – which was really better than the lights! Fire out, cold beer and friends in the deep woods, probably about 1980? around then. Good folks. How I got there from weekend plans we’ll never know.

    Anyways, tomorrow we’re going to plant stuff, and later tonight we might go out and look for shooting stars, which are in season this weekend. Sit in chairs behind the shop.

    ETA: That ridge top fire was started by a 16yo idjit dragging a fuzee flare behind his Honda 90 dirt bike. 2 or 3 miles of narrow woods fire! Lucky we didn’t catch him in the woods!!

  212. 212.

    StringOnAStick

    @BellyCat: Yes, wear bright colored gear! I almost hit a jogger in the 6am dark last Wednesday; he came out from behind a turning bus, running towards me. He was wearing black shorts and a navy shirt, no reflective clothing anywhere and it was completely pitch dark since it was well before sunrise. WTF? Jogging in a busy high traffic area in the complete dark wearing such dark clothes with no light, no reflective clothing, not even reflective shoes. Idiot.

  214. 214.

    Mike in Pasadena

    @NotMax:Thanks for the reply. I am feeling truly contrite, unlike our dear leader who has never felt contrition. I think Vinho Verde from Portugal may have clouded my judgment. Sorry. Thanks again.

Comments are closed.