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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

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Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

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

One way or another, he’s a liar.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

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If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

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

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Night Open Thread

Sunday Night Open Thread

by John Cole|  December 10, 201710:00 pm| 141 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Uneventful weekend here, mainly filled with sports. Army/Navy, Backyard Brawl, and the Pens/Leafs yesterday, and tonight the Steelers/Ravens hatefest. I paid very little attention to politics.

Had a good dinner tonight- thai red curry with shrimp over zucchini and squash noodles.

It was delicious.

I am seriously ready for some snow.

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Previous Post: « Sunday Evening Open Thread
Next Post: Monday Morning Open Thread: Find Joy Where You Can »

Reader Interactions

141Comments

  1. 1.

    Aleta

    December 10, 2017 at 10:02 pm

    It’s here (snow) and it’s slippery up the hills.

  2. 2.

    aimai

    December 10, 2017 at 10:03 pm

    Struggling with the paper/powerpoint/presentation/role play/etc.. from hell. I really have a surprising amount of perfectionism and performance anxiety around this crap. I just want to be working and I’m so done with school at this point. Have a full day at work tomorrow and tuesday and need to have finished this paper etc… by midday on Wednesday and I no longer like to pull all nighters. But this too shall pass.

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 10, 2017 at 10:06 pm

    It certainly looks delicious!

    As for politics, just Donald being an ass as usual.

  4. 4.

    Schlemazel

    December 10, 2017 at 10:07 pm

    It has been colder than a well diggers ankle here the last couple of weeks. Babysitting my baby after her car accident, I made Samosa Chaat for dinner because I had some garbanzos to use up. It was good

    I have failed to ignore politics. Had an ugly argument with a couple of friends about the Franken deal. We are well and truly fucked.

  5. 5.

    hellslittlestangel

    December 10, 2017 at 10:08 pm

    Now I’m famished for Thai red curry. Sunday, 10:00 PM, not gonna happen. :(

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 10, 2017 at 10:10 pm

    As to why we don’t have real sugar in American coke: HFCS is cheaper, therefore more profitable, for the vile assholes in Atlanta (not Steve, of course…).

  7. 7.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 10, 2017 at 10:10 pm

    @Schlemazel: Do you make your own tamarind and date chutney? I cooked a ton of food to last me the coming week and beyond.

  8. 8.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 10, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    Thai red curry needs more red curry paste, looks a bit anemic.

  9. 9.

    ArchTeryx

    December 10, 2017 at 10:12 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Which is why I now drink exclusively San Pelligrino and seltzer water at work. It’s much less sugary than the normal soft drinks, and the sugar is real sugar, not HFCS. BJ’s often has entire cases on sale for $14 or so, and Amazon is only slightly more expensive. (I’ve a Prime membership, so free shipping).

  10. 10.

    Schlemazel

    December 10, 2017 at 10:14 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    No, it has never occurred to me to make those things myself. i probably should learn as it might be better

  11. 11.

    BretH

    December 10, 2017 at 10:14 pm

    Snowed all day Saturday here in Charlottesville. Nothing that caused any driving problems, just a gentle, lovely clean snowfall that graced the entire area.

  12. 12.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 10, 2017 at 10:16 pm

    @Schlemazel: Its pretty easy actually. I just made a batch. No cooking involved, you just need access to a good blender.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    December 10, 2017 at 10:17 pm

    Replaced the slow drippy faucet (itself a Rube Goldbergesque contrivance someone else installed years ago) in landlady’s utility sink in her garage as a holiday present for her.

    As with anything else when I go DIY at her place, wasn’t cut and dried. Ended up jerry-rigging a solution. Waiting for the caulk to cure before checking for any leaks.

    Would have preferred to rip out the PVC maze that the someone else had slapped in but didn’t feel up to going crazy about it.

  14. 14.

    Alain the site fixer

    December 10, 2017 at 10:21 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: please share the recipe! I’d love to make some.
    ETA: I’ve got tamarind paste and access to some variety of dates.

  15. 15.

    chris

    December 10, 2017 at 10:21 pm

    Headline of the day, right there in the link… I got nuthin.

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2017/12/oklahoma-pastor-busted-running-white-supremacist-prostitution-ring/

  16. 16.

    TenguPhule

    December 10, 2017 at 10:23 pm

    I would like 24 hours of Republicans not doing anything insane, stupid, treasonous or harmful to the country.

  17. 17.

    Zinsky

    December 10, 2017 at 10:24 pm

    Your dinner looked wonderful! I am following the continued slippage of this dumb animal, Donald Trump, into senility and dementia and the attendant danger of us all getting our asses blown off in a nuclear conflagration! Click here or here.

  18. 18.

    Lapassionara

    December 10, 2017 at 10:24 pm

    @chris: Why am I surprised.

  19. 19.

    TenguPhule

    December 10, 2017 at 10:24 pm

    @chris: Not surprised. It was always projection. Every single fucking thing.

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 10, 2017 at 10:24 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: one of Li’l Marco’s sugar daddies is in fact an honest to god sugar daddy.

  21. 21.

    Emma

    December 10, 2017 at 10:25 pm

    @chris: me neither, except… some of our fundamentalist brethren are going to get one hell of a surprise in their afterlife.

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    December 10, 2017 at 10:26 pm

    @TenguPhule

    Consecutively?

    Not in the cards.

  23. 23.

    TenguPhule

    December 10, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    @Emma:

    some of our fundamentalist brethren are going to get one hell of a surprise in their afterlife.

    All of em, Katie.

    If there was one fundamentalist that didn’t go straight to Hell in a handbasket, I’ll eat my hat.

  24. 24.

    NotMax

    December 10, 2017 at 10:27 pm

    @chris

    Talk about yer niche marketing…

    :)

  25. 25.

    TenguPhule

    December 10, 2017 at 10:28 pm

    @NotMax:

    Consecutively?

    Not in the cards.

    I gotta dream.

  26. 26.

    Mary G

    December 10, 2017 at 10:29 pm

    I am nowhere near any of the fires, but my breathing problems and coughing have returned after a too-short hiatus, so I’ve been inside all weekend, which was a bad idea.

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    December 10, 2017 at 10:29 pm

    @ArchTeryx:

    and Amazon is only slightly more expensive. (I’ve a Prime membership, so free shipping).

    Chiming in to say that I have been royally pissed by Amazon lately. They advert “guaranteed shipping” or “free 2-3 day shipping” and then you click through to find out it’s $60 to “guarantee” shipping by X date.
    I think Amazon has gotten too big and successful for its own good. They refuse to hire actual humans and the automation they have in place is not able to handle capacity required.

  28. 28.

    Jager

    December 10, 2017 at 10:30 pm

    We have fires to the east of us, the north and west, so far we’ve been living in a smoke and fire free oasis, Santa Ana wind is blowing like crazy, I thought I caught Mrs J feeling the edge of a carving knife and studying my throat.

    On a more pleasant note, spaghetti with meat sauce with fresh parm for dinner, some garlic toast and red wine to wash it down. At the wine store I waited behind a couple who were so damn drunk, I seriously thought about offering them a ride home. The guy behind the counter offered to call them a cab, the drunk guy said, “Fuuuuck noooo, I juuss fine.” As my old man used to say, the woman’s eyes “looked like two piss holes in a snowbank”

  29. 29.

    B.B.A.

    December 10, 2017 at 10:31 pm

    @TenguPhule: shit, I’d like 24 seconds of that, but it ain’t gonna happen.

  30. 30.

    NotMax

    December 10, 2017 at 10:31 pm

    @NotMax

    Barely peripherally related, Jackie Vernon and the chicken story.

  31. 31.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 10, 2017 at 10:32 pm

    so, twitter should be interesting tomorrow….

    CBS News‏Verified account @ CBSNews
    NEW: Women who have publicly accused President Trump of sexual harassment and assault will speak at a news conference, hosted by @ bravenewfilms, Monday at 10:30 a.m. ET. The women are calling for an investigation by Congress of sexual misconduct by the president.

    Zeke Miller‏Verified account @ ZekeJMiller
    Inbox: Megyn Kelly will have an exclusive live sit-down interview on Monday, Dec. 11 with three women who have publicly accused President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct.

    about damn time, too

  32. 32.

    Schlemazel

    December 10, 2017 at 10:33 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:
    I get tamarind by the bottle, how do you make it? I make other chutneys but would have to look up a recipe for date

  33. 33.

    rikyrah

    December 10, 2017 at 10:33 pm

    Looks delicious ?, Cole.

  34. 34.

    Corner Stone

    December 10, 2017 at 10:34 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Still never going to watch any air with Megyn Kelly on it, but will certainly catch the highlight snippets after.

  35. 35.

    rikyrah

    December 10, 2017 at 10:34 pm

    For all the animal lovers ??

    Found at TPV:

    https://youtu.be/sr6lr_VRsEo

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 10, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    @Corner Stone: she’s a horrible human being, but her involvement will only make the Beast ragier.

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    December 10, 2017 at 10:37 pm

    @chris: Man, that is hot.

  38. 38.

    Amaranthine RBG

    December 10, 2017 at 10:39 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I wonder what is going on with Amazon?

    After years of getting prime deliveries within 2 days without fail – in the past few months I’ve had several that came after 3 or even 4 days. At the same time, here in the SF Bay Area, a fair number of orders arrive next day and a few orders offer free same day if you are ordering in the morning.

    I wonder if they are planning on switching to a Prime Plus model to get it same day or next day and a “regular” prime for 3-4 day delivery.

    Who knows?

  39. 39.

    Corner Stone

    December 10, 2017 at 10:41 pm

    @Amaranthine RBG: I recently ordered some item for my son’s RC car on 2-3 day free Prime shipping. Fine, no problem. After the transaction they shifted it to two weeks shipping for free. “Sorry, your item is late on delivery.”
    Hmmmm….

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 10, 2017 at 10:42 pm

    so much “phrasing!”

    Lindsey Graham @ LindseyGrahamSC
    Trump International Golf Club is a spectacular golf course.
    Great day of fun playing with POTUS realDonaldTrump.

    @ BillKristol
    Man, Lindsey really wants to be Secretary of State.

    Thomas Edsall‏ @ Edsall
    Thomas Edsall Retweeted Bill Kristol
    Great sucking sound from the South

  41. 41.

    Schlemazel

    December 10, 2017 at 10:44 pm

    @Schlemazel:
    ah ha:
    Place the jaggery, dates and water in a deep boiling pan for about 2 hours.

    Yeah, I guess I’ll keep getting it from the market but thanks

  42. 42.

    Ruckus

    December 10, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    @rikyrah:
    That’s good. And I hate commercials.
    OK I looked again and I guess that it isn’t a commercial. It’s still good one way or the other.

  43. 43.

    Amaranthine RBG

    December 10, 2017 at 10:48 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Yeah, I’ve received a couple of those delay notices, too. Nothing as bad as two weeks, though.

    Did you ever have issues with prime in the past few years?

  44. 44.

    Yarrow

    December 10, 2017 at 10:49 pm

    I’ve spent the last several days going through the massive piles of paperwork and other stuff that has piled up over the last two years of chaos. Today I can finally I see the table. Progress! I can hardly see the floor (that’s where I’ve been sorting everything), but I’m starting to put the sorted piles in folders and then in file boxes or the filing cabinet. Lots of trash, recycling and shredding. Why in the world did I keep some of this stuff?? I still have some of the health insurance paperwork to sort, but I’ve done a huge amount of it.

    It really is amazing how fast stuff piles up when your life becomes chaos.

  45. 45.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 10, 2017 at 10:50 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Lindsey here needs to swing from the same gallows as Donald.

  46. 46.

    b

    December 10, 2017 at 10:52 pm

    Miss Callie, the kitten from Minneapolis, is home in Maryland! She is very cute.

    We have her in the spare bedroom – she is hiding for the moment under the dresser after her long day of traveling from newdealfarmgrrrlll’s house to Reilyn’s mom’s house to the airplane ride to DC and now to our house.

    Thanks to the BJ community for chipping in to get her home, newdealfarmgrrrlll for taking care of her until she was old enough to travel, and Reilyn for flying back and forth to Minneapolis to bring her.

    I will send some pictures when she is recovered and out and about. Given the reports from newdealfarmgrrrlll and Reilyn, I expect that will be soon.

  47. 47.

    Yarrow

    December 10, 2017 at 10:53 pm

    @b: Yay! That’s great news. Look forward to the pictures!

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    December 10, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    @Yarrow:
    I used to do that, save everything. One day it hit me, what the hell am I doing this for. I stopped. OTOH when I owned a business I had to save everything for 7 yrs. Man that can be a lot of storage boxes. And I had to save everything for 7 yrs after I shut it down. And cart all of it around. It was fun shredding all of it though.

  49. 49.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    December 10, 2017 at 10:56 pm

    You really need to have your Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh posters over for dinner sometime. You can’t just show us that kind of shit and then not ask us to eat with you, those of us within a day’s drive. How many guest rooms do you have, and how big are they?

  50. 50.

    Quinerly

    December 10, 2017 at 10:57 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: And this from downstairs. There certainly has been a change in Sen Graham as of late: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/graham-goes-full-trump-loyalist

  51. 51.

    lamh36

    December 10, 2017 at 10:57 pm

    @yashar
    Following Following @yashar
    More
    According to three sources, a famous chef will be the subject of a story about allegations of sexual misconduct…likely out tomorrow.
    9:15 PM – 10 Dec 2017

    https://twitter.com/yashar/status/940057446566977539

    ETA: Not for nothing, but my money is on Bobby Flay or Fiori…with wildcard being Bourdain (esp would be interesting, since Bourdain’s GF is a Weinstein accuser)

  52. 52.

    chris

    December 10, 2017 at 10:58 pm

    Thanks all for making me laugh out loud. It’s late (AST), gonna go pull the covers over my head and hope tomorrow is a better day.

  53. 53.

    Mike in NC

    December 10, 2017 at 11:01 pm

    Trump will someday admit that Lindsey Graham gave the best blowjobs.

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    December 10, 2017 at 11:07 pm

    @b:
    Yeah!!
    She’s home ???
    Can’t wait for the pictures.

  55. 55.

    b

    December 10, 2017 at 11:09 pm

    Ok. Recovery time is over. Callie is already running around the room chasing the toys that newdealfarmgrrrlll sent with her.

    Pictures will be sent in the next couple of days.

  56. 56.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 10, 2017 at 11:13 pm

    @Alain the site fixer: @Schlemazel:

    One inch piece of tamarind pulp, soaked in hot water (discard pulp after squeezing all the goodness from it)
    Four pitted dates, soaked in hot water
    Half bunch cilantro
    1 or 2 green chilies (depending on how hot you want it)
    1 tbsp sugar
    1 tsp salt
    a couple of sprigs of mint leaves if you have them
    1 inch piece of ginger chopped
    Add it all to the blender (tamarind extract, dates and the soaking liquid) Pulse till everything is smoothly blended
    The chutney should be tangy, slightly sweet with a bite from the ginger and the chili.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    December 10, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    lamh36

    Why not Paula Deen or Cat Cora?

    It could happen….

    Although likelier some allegation(s) pointing at one of the male chefs who pulled their establishments from Dolt 45 properties.

  58. 58.

    Corner Stone

    December 10, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    @lamh36: I hope it is Bourdain. I used to like some of his work but he has been such an inescapable prick since this all started happening that I have actively avoided all his shows. John Besh already got nailed. Sexism and abuse is rampant AF in the kitchen industry so there will be no surprise whoever it is.

  59. 59.

    Amaranthine RBG

    December 10, 2017 at 11:26 pm

    Interesting how the allegations against Kozinski are just fading away.

    Esp. given his statement to the effect of “If this is all you have on me after 35 years, I am not worried.”

  60. 60.

    debbie

    December 10, 2017 at 11:27 pm

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    It’s the time of year. I signed up for a two-week trial last year. I placed four orders, and only one came in two days. One order was split into two, one of which took a week to show up. Prime isn’t worth it to me, now that they’re back to giving free shipping for $25.00.

  61. 61.

    Steve in the ATL

    December 10, 2017 at 11:30 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    the vile assholes in Atlanta (not Steve, of course…)

    If the shoe fits…

  62. 62.

    Amir Khalid

    December 10, 2017 at 11:31 pm

    Well, this is a revolting evelopment: the headphone amp I purchased online is dead on arrival. unboxed it, plugged it in, connected it to my laptop, plugged in my headphones. No joy. Not even the power light came on. Crap./venting

  63. 63.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 10, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    @Corner Stone: I’ve been having problems with Amazon as well, I’ve had delivery problems with 4 orders in the past 3 months: 2 never arrived and the other 2 were late. It was stuff that I was really depending on arriving on time in some cases(like the case for my phone).

  64. 64.

    B.B.A.

    December 10, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    @Amaranthine RBG: Reagan appointee. IOKIYAR. Besides, you really want Trump to appoint a replacement? (Likewise with Clarence Thomas.)

  65. 65.

    Joy in FL

    December 10, 2017 at 11:40 pm

    @b: Looking forward to pictures of Miss Callie. So glad she is home safely.

  66. 66.

    burnspbesq

    December 10, 2017 at 11:54 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Send it back for a refund, then go here.

    http://www.schiit.com/home

  67. 67.

    Corner Stone

    December 10, 2017 at 11:55 pm

    Mike Tomlin has no idea what clock management is.

  68. 68.

    Corner Stone

    December 10, 2017 at 11:55 pm

    Maclin has no idea where he is right now.

    ETA, Maclin could not tell you his momma’s name right now but yet he’s out there running routes.

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    December 11, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @b:

    Yay! Don’t forget to go lay on your back in the room she’s in (belly exposed, very non-threatening) and talk soothingly to her. She’ll probably come out to inspect you fairly soon.

  70. 70.

    Mike J

    December 11, 2017 at 12:02 am

    @Corner Stone: Meh. Better than having a team that shoots themselves in the foot 47 times and then pats themselves on the back for almost not fucking up one last time before they lose.

  71. 71.

    fuckwit

    December 11, 2017 at 12:05 am

    @Mike in NC: Spectacular! Tremendous! The best blowjobs ever. Plenty of spit, no teeth, no hands. Good suction, good friction. Huge. #MAGA

  72. 72.

    Amir Khalid

    December 11, 2017 at 12:05 am

    @burnspbesq:
    Valves? High-end? Running on 110V American power? Ix-nay, friend. I need my electronics to be solid-state and cheap and running on 220V power. I do find the Schiit-ty slogans amusing, though.

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    December 11, 2017 at 12:05 am

    I ended up down the delightful rabbit hole of People of Color in European Art History, where I can always spend hours at a time. Why had I never heard of sculptor Edmonia Lewis before?

  74. 74.

    ZyklonBeaArthur

    December 11, 2017 at 12:08 am

    His politics are grotesque, but I can’t decide if I admire Lindsey Graham for his hubris. He’s a huge chicken hawk; datalounge has tons of threads about his shenanigans with rent boys. All this information is publicly available, Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey are going down, and Aunt Pittypat just skates above the fray.

    I can’t figure out if he’s brave or just deluded. Maybe he thinks his white male privilege operates like an invisibility cloak?

  75. 75.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 12:10 am

    @Amir Khalid: Wait, they still make shit with tubes?

    ETA: I was wondering what “Valves” were wrt electronics.

  76. 76.

    danielx

    December 11, 2017 at 12:13 am

    @ZyklonBeaArthur:

    Let’s say chutzpah instead of hubris, but if the good citizens of South Carolina (assuming there are any) have seen fit to elect and re-elect his hypocritical ass….

    culinary hint: if you want to eat at a reasonable hour on sunday evening and it’s something in a dutch oven, assume you need to get it on no later than 3 pm.

  77. 77.

    Mike J

    December 11, 2017 at 12:13 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Only high end stuff. If you overdrive a transistor it just clips. Overdriven tubes are warm and fuzzy.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    December 11, 2017 at 12:15 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    G knows someone who had to defect from Eastern Europe in the early 1970s because she wasn’t allowed to move away with her state-of-the-art knowledge of vacuum tubes.

    Yeah. The immigration officials who approved her application for asylum had a good chuckle over that.

  79. 79.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 12:15 am

    @Mike J: Uh huh. Overdriven tubes just blow.

  80. 80.

    B.B.A.

    December 11, 2017 at 12:17 am

    @Mike J: “It reproduces frequencies only dogs can hear.”

  81. 81.

    Amaranthine RBG

    December 11, 2017 at 12:21 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    They do indeed: http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/us/Products/pages/ProductDetails.aspx?CatId=amplifiers&ProductId=MC275B

  82. 82.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 12:25 am

    @Mnemosyne: Early 70’s, most stuff in our house were tube based(the TV* and my dad’s ham equipment). By 1977, that had all made the transition to solid state(except for the big transmitter for the ham rig). It was more reliable and cooler and tubes were getting harder to find.

    *Meaning more than just the picture tube.

  83. 83.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 11, 2017 at 12:26 am

    @B.B.A.: Have you decided that this week is the one during which you will simply become anathema? “Men are evil. Democracy is a mistake. Music snobs are assholes.” Anything else you want to add?

  84. 84.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 12:27 am

    @B.B.A.: I think that’s the hum the tube itself makes.

  85. 85.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 11, 2017 at 12:28 am

    @Amaranthine RBG: Stop trying to pretend that you care. Troll.

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    December 11, 2017 at 12:29 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    She was making vacuum tubes for something that had already gone completely over to transistors in the west — probably radios. Hence the hilarity of the immigration folks over her “classified” knowledge.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    TP already cornered the market on hating cats, so he can’t go that direction.

  87. 87.

    Amir Khalid

    December 11, 2017 at 12:29 am

    @Mike J:
    Valve amps are still very popular with guitar players for this very reason. Unfortunately, they are expensive to buy and maintain, heavy, bulky, finicky in operation, and less versatile. Solid-state gear, especially the Bluetooth-equipped digital stuff for which you can download effects and amp simulators and what-all, is getting better every day.

  88. 88.

    TriassicSands

    December 11, 2017 at 12:30 am

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    Maybe they’re all too busy trying to figure out where the new HQ is going to be located. Why does Amazon need a second headquarters? I suspect it’s just a Bezos ploy to inflate his wealth even more — now that he’s the richest person in the world, his ego won’t give up the title without a fight.

  89. 89.

    TenguPhule

    December 11, 2017 at 12:31 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    “Men are evil. Democracy is a mistake. Music snobs are assholes.” Anything else you want to add?

    Regular or Fat Free?

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    December 11, 2017 at 12:32 am

    @TriassicSands: Why are you dignifying a troll with a response?

  91. 91.

    Amir Khalid

    December 11, 2017 at 12:32 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    Yeah, that Amir guy and his BrEnglish …

  92. 92.

    DocSardonic

    December 11, 2017 at 12:35 am

    @Amir Khalid: yeah but I ain’t gonna part with my Marshall or my Mississippi Window Blaster (damn thing weighs 80lbs and is built like an Abrams).

  93. 93.

    marv

    December 11, 2017 at 12:37 am

    @Jager:
    Damn fine Raymond Chandler reference.

  94. 94.

    Mike J

    December 11, 2017 at 12:37 am

    @Amir Khalid: There’s nothing wrong with transistor amps. Effects are better these days and you can get a sound that approximates a tube amp without having to turn it up way louder than you want to (a good reason to use a small tube amp and mic it well – I’ve had my ears blown off by growing up in a club that was tiny and catered to guitar players that wanted the overdriven sound that you really only get when it’s too loud for a tiny club.)

    Making tubes work too hard is one of the sweetest sounds in the world, from a distance.

  95. 95.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 12:39 am

    @Amir Khalid: Heh, it’s quite charming.

  96. 96.

    Mel

    December 11, 2017 at 12:41 am

    @Mnemosyne: Have you seen Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller’s works? She was an incredibly gifted sculptor, but also a poet and painter and a voice for social justice. Her sculpture of Mary Turner is beautiful and truly heartbreaking.

  97. 97.

    Mnemosyne

    December 11, 2017 at 12:42 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Given that it’s Megyn Kelly, I bet at least one of the women will be revealed as a fraud after the broadcast, which will of course give the right wing room to claim that all of the charges against Trumpsky are fake.

  98. 98.

    DissidentFish

    December 11, 2017 at 12:44 am

    @ZyklonBeaArthur: Spacey is accused of force, pedophilia, and abusing his position to demand sex. Singer’s rumors are with minors, and using his position to procure minors and just-past-minors also. (And I don’t know jack about whether those rumors are true, though the always reliable Internet is full of them).

    Graham’s rumors are just that he’s gay and in the closet. It’s not the same thing, and it’s not cool to conflate them. And “not cool” is the absolute nicest way I can phrase it.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    December 11, 2017 at 12:44 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    Not to mention neighbourly.

    @Mike J

    Must be others here who remember the not quite ubiquitous yet not all that difficult to find bulky tube testing machines which used to occupy floor space in various commercial establishments.

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    December 11, 2017 at 12:45 am

    @Mike J:
    Ten miles or more? I’d say that’s a minimum.

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne

    December 11, 2017 at 12:49 am

    @Mel:

    I don’t think I have! It looks like Lewis was a generation older than Fuller (born in 1844, vs Fuller’s being born in 1877), so she was involved with abolitionism and Reconstruction before she went to Europe. That’s much earlier that we usually think of women artists being active and successful, much less women artists of color.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    December 11, 2017 at 12:51 am

    @NotMax:
    They used tubes and went the way of the dodo.
    In navy at B school we studied tube amplifiers for ships gear that I would be working on. And were told that only the oldest ships still had any. Ship I served on was 9-10 yrs old when I reported Jan 71 and had no equipment with tubes on board at all.

  103. 103.

    Mike J

    December 11, 2017 at 12:53 am

    @Ruckus:

    Disaster Area was a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones and was generally regarded as not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but also as being the loudest noise of any kind at all. Regular concert goers judged that the best sound balance was usually to be heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles away from the stage, whilst the musicians themselves played their instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated spaceship which stayed in orbit around the planet – or more frequently around a completely different planet.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    December 11, 2017 at 12:53 am

    @Mel:

    Also, I suspect the next big acquisitions run for smaller museums is going to be Harlem Renaissance and other African-American fine art. I’ve already seen that the Huntington here in the LA area has been acquiring some really nice Harlem Renaissance pieces.

    They also have some large sculptures by a woman artist I had not heard of before (I can’t open a new window on the iPad and look up her name without losing this whole comment ?).

  105. 105.

    SWMBO

    December 11, 2017 at 1:01 am

    My daughter just turned me on to this:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhj-CD4ATTM&feature=youtu.be

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DChlO5fNMGw&feature=youtu.be

  106. 106.

    danielx

    December 11, 2017 at 1:03 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You have to admit there’s some validity in the claim that music snobs are insufferable.

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    December 11, 2017 at 1:05 am

    @DissidentFish

    Best to scroll on by that one. IMHO.

    Someone who finds appropriating the name of the Nazi’s concentration camp death gas is playful or humorous is someone I shan’t have truck with.

    Plus Bea Arthur would be aghast, appalled and revolted at the use of her name in such a fashion.

    Personally don’t choose to use the pie filter but that nym alone would make it a candidate.

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne

    December 11, 2017 at 1:06 am

    @Mel:

    Aha! Harriet Goodhue Hosmer. She was born in 1830, about 14 years older than Lewis. And though I don’t have time to read all the citations and put the pieces together, I’ll bet Lewis ended up in Rome partly because Hosmer was already famous there and was mentoring new artists.

  109. 109.

    joel hanes

    December 11, 2017 at 1:08 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    We had one of the first color TVs, a big mahogany cabinet thing
    During the (short) warranty, a technician from the store came to the house once a month to ‘align’ it by tweaking the pots.
    A year or so after warranty, one of the tubes went out, and we opened the back, pulled out the likely suspects, and took them to the Rexall downtown where the replacement tubes were shelved in a big tube tester display cabinet. You looked up the manufacturer and tube type number in a book, turned the dials to the indicated settings, plugged in your suspect, and pushed the ‘test’ button and after a warm-up intervval, looked for the red or green light to tell you if it was good.
    The words “triode” and “pentode” seemed very high-tech.

  110. 110.

    Amir Khalid

    December 11, 2017 at 1:10 am

    @Mike J:
    I hear you. A career spent in front of double 100-watt Marshall stacks got The Who into the Guinness Book of World Records, but it also wrecked Pete Townshend’s hearing and scuttled his ambition to get into music producing.

  111. 111.

    Amir Khalid

    December 11, 2017 at 1:17 am

    @NotMax:
    Nike once brought out a running shoe named Zyklon (cyclone, auf Deutsch). People freaked out for that same reason. They had to withdraw the shoe.

  112. 112.

    NobodySpecial

    December 11, 2017 at 1:36 am

    @Amir Khalid: Whirlpool, IIRC, also had a problem marketing the Cyclone washer in Germany.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    December 11, 2017 at 1:40 am

    @Amir Khalid

    Trivia: One reason the name Exxon was eventually settled upon was because brand research had shown there was only one known language on the planet that employed a double X and there was no equivalent word in that tongue.

    They had learned a lesson from their regional Enco subsidiary gasoline brand, Enco translating in Japanese as ‘stalled car.’

  114. 114.

    fuckwit

    December 11, 2017 at 1:53 am

    @NotMax: There are many of those http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=369361

  115. 115.

    frosty

    December 11, 2017 at 2:02 am

    @fuckwit: Ewwww!!!! Brain bleach, STAT!

  116. 116.

    Mel

    December 11, 2017 at 2:04 am

    @Mnemosyne: That seems likely!

    A lot of my ancestors were Quakers who lived in New York, Pennsylvania, and also near Oberlin, Ohio. Some of them knew Lewis, and family stories indicate that they were impressed by and really admired her talent and her grace and tenacity. Apparently there was a horrible incident at Oberlin (she was only 15 when she started studying there) that involved Lewis taking a sleigh ride with two friends during some holiday festivities. The two other girls became ill, and it was determined that they had been poisoned by an overdose of a drug that was thought to be an aphrodisiac.
    There was absolutely no indication that Lewis had anything to do with the incident, and it seems likely based upon the timeframe of events that the other two girls were given the compound without their knowledge, well prior to the sleigh ride, by some idiotic and ill-intentioned male students.

    But there was a racist uproar in the community surrounding Oberlin, with Lewis being blamed for the poisonings for no other reason than the fact that she didn’t get sick after the sleigh ride but her two classmates did. She was threatened, harassed, and bullied. Imagine being a teenager, far from home, and having to endure that kind of abuse on top of the racial and gender barriers she was trying to break through. She must have been an incredibly courageous, determined woman.
    I have often wondered if that early experience was one of the reasons she strove to protect and guide and mentor young artists and performers when she was in Europe.

  117. 117.

    frosty

    December 11, 2017 at 2:05 am

    @Amir Khalid: Solid state? Argghh, perish the thought. But for a headphone amp, sure. But it shouldn’t have been failed out of the box.

  118. 118.

    frosty

    December 11, 2017 at 2:07 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Wait, they still make shit with tubes?

    Hell yes, still the best way to amplify a guitar (IMHO).

  119. 119.

    frosty

    December 11, 2017 at 2:14 am

    @Mike J:

    …guitar players that wanted the overdriven sound that you really only get when it’s too loud for a tiny club.)

    Weber Mini Mass. Works great to get power tube overdrive at lower dB, except you can’t footswitch it between rhythm and lead. Plus, I understand, it will double as a coffee warmer.

  120. 120.

    frosty

    December 11, 2017 at 2:16 am

    @Mnemosyne: I dunno. Megyn isn’t at Fox, maybe she’ll be scrambling to become a journalist and keep her new job. We shall see.

  121. 121.

    Mel

    December 11, 2017 at 2:18 am

    @Mnemosyne: If you like fabric arts, check out the gorgeous quilts made by Harriet Powers. She has been labelled as a “folk artist”, and I think her work sometimes flies under the radar or gets dismissed because of the term. Her quilts have such exquisite use of form and color – they’re stunning.

    She was born in Georgia (I think in the 1840s), and her quilts have hints of the influences of story quilting, colonial quilting, and traditional African art, but they are uniquely hers, and full of power and emotion.

  122. 122.

    Mike J

    December 11, 2017 at 2:20 am

    @frosty: I once saw Eric Johnson in a teeny tiny club and his amps had more firepower than the house PA. It was just LOUD. To this day if I see a picture of him my ears start ringing.

  123. 123.

    frosty

    December 11, 2017 at 2:25 am

    @NotMax:

    …there was only one known language on the planet that employed a double X and there was no equivalent word in that tongue.

    So in English they’re known as the Sign of the Double Cross. Nice try, marketeers!!

  124. 124.

    SWMBO

    December 11, 2017 at 2:29 am

    @Mike in NC: Given that Donald’s dentures haven’t been fitting properly, I’d bet $69 that they both do.

  125. 125.

    frosty

    December 11, 2017 at 2:31 am

    @Mike J: I saw Grand Funk Railroad at the LA Coliseum and my ears rang for 18 hours after it. I’m blaming that concert for the tinnitus I’ve got now. OK, or maybe driving all those sports cars with the top down and the radio blasting. :-)

  126. 126.

    magurakurin

    December 11, 2017 at 2:47 am

    @NotMax: the stations are called Esso in Japan at the moment.

  127. 127.

    J R in WV

    December 11, 2017 at 4:14 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Seriously, can’t you get one of those voltage reducers that allows we Americans to travel with our regular electrical stuff (i.e. 110V) in Malaysia and use whatever with that between your American gadget and your main power supply power strip whatever?

    If you let me know what your 200V plugs look like I probably have a device I could send… from being in Italy last spring.

  128. 128.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 4:24 am

    @J R in WV: I got the impression from Amir’s comment that there’s more than the voltage that’s his concern with burnsie’s solution. I think the concept of valves(what we call tubes) stood out.

  129. 129.

    mike in dc

    December 11, 2017 at 4:53 am

    I think there will be movement in the Mueller investigation over the rest of the month–possibly more indictments or the aforementioned superseding indictments, maybe the first interview of the president and VP, perhaps some telling subpoenas. And that January will come and go, and Bobby Three Sticks will still be around.

  130. 130.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 11, 2017 at 5:04 am

    @danielx: Also that men are evil. Or at the very least that 95% of the evil done in the world is done by men.

  131. 131.

    Amir Khalid

    December 11, 2017 at 5:21 am

    @J R in WV: Malaysian plugs look exactly like British and Australian ones.

    @frosty:
    I remember Grand Funk before and after they dropped the Railroad from their name. I know they’re Homer Simpson’s favourite band and I remember some so-so songs like We’re An American Band and Closer To Home, but I seem to recall they were the Nickleback of their time.

  132. 132.

    Zinsky

    December 11, 2017 at 5:25 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I would respect Lindsey Graham a lot more if he would come out of the closet and stop pretending to not be gay. It is very unbecoming and more than a little uncomfortable to watch an old gay man preen and pretend he is some kind of macho poseur when everyone knows he is a twink. Trump knows it and is laughing at Graham behind his back. Of course, Lindsey knows gay people aren’t really welcome in the GOP, so he maintains this ruse… Pathetic.

  133. 133.

    raven

    December 11, 2017 at 5:26 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Jesus, I made all my reservations for the 1st, I thought I’d gotten grandstand seats near where I got parade and game parking but then looked and saw they are 3 miles apart! I also figured now that I had everything set I’d be able to sleep better but nooooooo, 3:30 the monkey mind starts churning.

  134. 134.

    Zinsky

    December 11, 2017 at 5:31 am

    @Amir Khalid: Oh, come on! Grand Funk had some classic tunes, like Inside Looking Out, Footstompin’ Music and T.N.U.C. (spell it backwards – clever, no?). (But I kinda get the Nickleback reference…)

  135. 135.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 5:34 am

    @raven: Where are you going to be parking? Three miles from the parade? They got you parking in Eagle Rock?

  136. 136.

    raven

    December 11, 2017 at 5:40 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: One Colorado, it looked close to the Parsons Shuttle and it was a little cheaper for game and parade. I bought grandstand seat way the fuck near the end of the route by Oak St. I just got a couple more at 1580 E. Colorado Blvd and it looks like that is still a couple of miles. I’m probably going to end up putting all these on stub hub and buying some closer to the start. As I have said, I’m not sure this is a great idea but the girl was really happy when I told her we were going to the parade so fuck it. She also stressed that we wake up so early out there that getting in the car a 4am should put us there in and hour from Hawthorne.

  137. 137.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 5:48 am

    @raven: I have no idea how the traffic is for the parade, the one time I went we spent the night(I was in college). Just looked at the map, Oak is east of PCC, that’s a bit on the far side.

  138. 138.

    raven

    December 11, 2017 at 5:55 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: It has to be insane!

  139. 139.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 11, 2017 at 6:02 am

    @raven: Maybe this year, I’ll get a good shot of the flyover. I actually got a pretty good shot in 2016, 2017 I screwed it up.

  140. 140.

    Tarragon

    December 11, 2017 at 7:12 am

    @Corner Stone:

    I placed an order for Xmas and received an email saying I’m sorry we don’t actually have any of those were so we’re cancelling that part of you order.

    That famous amazon logistics is failing badly

  141. 141.

    DissidentFish

    December 11, 2017 at 5:33 pm

    @NotMax: Yah that num bugged me too. I’m probably better as a lurker/can’t resist a pun type member of this community in general. Merci

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