Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

I really should read my own blog.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

This blog will pay for itself.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

The revolution will be supervised.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

No one could have predicted…

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Mid-Day Open Thread

Mid-Day Open Thread

by | 263 Comments

This post is in: 

I’m sitting here in my home office and Steve is sitting behind me on the recliner, and I have never felt so judged in my entire life. I feel wholly unworthy.

That magnificent bastard.

*** Update ***

Steve is apparently just asserting his dominance over everyone today because I left the room and when I returned he had kicked Lily out of her bed.

“Fuck that dog and her cancer!” – Steve

Reader Interactions

263Comments

  4. 4.

    kindness

    I see the regent overlooking his subjects.

    He is King. Bow to his majesty (and throw down another bowl of canned food).

  6. 6.

    eclare

    Reposted from below:

    Computer/technical question from someone who is adept at neither. My laptop battery stopped charging, and I did some research and determined that I need to download some Bios drivers. However, when I attempt to do that, I get a message that my battery must be at 10%. Well, it’s at zero, so I keep it plugged in. Is there any way to fix this, or should I just invest in some very long extension cords?

    Laptop is Dell, bought in October 2015. And before I realized it was a driver issue, I ordered a new battery and installed it, so the battery is brand new.

  7. 7.

    Henry B Zeff

    Life is good when you have a comfy chair and a cat to help warm it. My chair is a table chair, at the kitchen table, but we have smaller cats to share it with.
    Love to all your critters.
    w3ski

  8. 8.

    LAO

    I get it — my dog is super judgmental. There’s a lot of side-eye in my life since I adopted her. The joys of pet ownership (by which I mean we are owned by our pets).

  9. 9.

    M4

    “I know! I’ll distract myself from the news by working on my story!”

    *opens document*
    *remembers current scene is about spiders*

    “goddamnit”

    — Tynan! (@TynanPants) June 8, 2018

  11. 11.

    JPL

    @eclare: Keep it plugged in, but remove the battery. I had a Dell a decade ago, and that is what I did then, so not sure if it will still work.

  14. 14.

    bemused

    My spouse had an attached tiny tick, probably deer tick, clinic visit and doxy prescrip. Same for me last year. We live rural and are outside a lot so I’ve been trying find a tick repellent spray but something that doesn’t have ingredients that seem potentially harmful. Researching turns up conflicting and/or confusing ratings.

  15. 15.

    Jack the Cold Warrior

    Steve, as always, is regal.

    Chang subject, any comments about the trans Canada gas pipeline explosion near Moundsville?

  16. 16.

    trollhattan

    @eclare:
    Agreed with trying with the battery out.

    Discovered that laptop batteries are much cheaper now when we replaced the kid’s for about twenty bucks. They used to be over a hundred. My current laptop battery isn’t removable, like a phone’s, and I wonder what hell awaits when it craps out.

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    1. Steve scares me still.
    2. I know you don’t think you’re sitting on that chair.
    3. It’s Steve’s house. He lets you stay because you feed him :)

  20. 20.

    PaulWartenberg

    I don’t wanna comment on politics at the moment, so I’ll just take this time to mention my library does not own a copy of Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea.

    …

    HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN???

  21. 21.

    eclare

    @JPL: I’ve tried that, no luck. Nicole posted a link on the previous thread for how to “force” it, and I’ll try that this weekend.

  22. 22.

    rikyrah

    Cole,

    Will you, or one of the other FrontPagers contact Kay (former FrontPager from Ohio) and tell her that she is missed :(

  23. 23.

    vhh

    @trollhattan: An expensive visit to a repairer who will use a heat gun to disassemble the laptop. This is why we have switched to the Dell XPS13 laptop for my wife—battery and hard disk are user replaceable. Lots of Macs at work—but we have a maintenance contract with Apple.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    @eclare: Sorry that didn’t work. Did you restart after you removed the battery? My cell phone is only able to access the web if I’m home. I refuse to become dependent on that also.

  26. 26.

    Amir Khalid

    Steve’s not actually judging you. That look is just him thinking, “The decor in this room needs work.”

    A guitar bleg: An online vendor here has a few Squier California series Stratocasters for sale at an amazingly low price — a third the price of an Affinity series Strat. The Squier California series (not to be confused with the also obsolete Fender California series) is not listed on the Fender website, and was apparently an Asia-only line never sold in the US. Does any guitar-playing jackal know something about them?

  28. 28.

    VeniceRiley

    Oooh, a Purple seat cushion! What is the verdict on those? Worth it? Overhyped? Amazing? Meh?

  31. 31.

    eclare

    @JPL: I think so…like I said, Nicole provided a link about “forcing” an update using C: prompts, and I’ll give that a try.

  32. 32.

    eclare

    @Nicole: Will do! May not be tonight, I need to backup some stuff before I do this. Kind of scary language in the instructions about how if this fails, your whole machine may become unusable.

  36. 36.

    Sloane Ranger

    Don’t want to put a downer on this thread but my brother and I were having a short break in Berlin to celebrate my 60th birthday. When he didn’t come down to breakfast this morning I got the hotel staff to open his room door. He was lying on the floor. To cut a long story short, when the paramedics arrived they said there was nothing they could do. He had passed away during the night or early morning.

    They sent for a Doctor to certify cause if death but he said he couldn’t give one so the matter has been turned over to the criminal police.

    They have taken custody of Rick’s body and there may have to be a post mortem. Won’t know now until Monday at the earliest.

    In the meantime we were meant to fly back to Blighty today. I have cancelled the flight and Easyjet have refunded me the money. The police have finished with me now and say I can go home but the earliest flight I can get is Sunday and it cost an arm and a leg. Props to Ibis Hotels however, they’ve said they won’t charge me for the extra nights. Sorted out Undertakers to deal with the German authorities but now sitting here with nothing to distract me and feeling very low.

  45. 45.

    Shell

    Hey, you’re hard at work and Steve is lounging and then kicks Lily out her bed and YOU feel unworthy? It must be a cat’s particular kind of mind control.

    Lily is too good-hearted for anything.

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Miss Bianca:

    Omnes and Goku were harassing her for “being negative,” and she basically said, “I don’t need this.”

    I hope she comes back. I found her comments realistic and invaluable.

  56. 56.

    burnspbesq

    @Amir Khalid:

    Squier:Fender::Epiphone:Gibson. Engineered to a price point. Corners cut in materials. Might be perfectly playable, but I wouldn’t buy one without playing it first.

  58. 58.

    scav

    @Steeplejack (phone): Omnes complaining about proper tone? Oh, that’s rich.
    And yes, exactly. Kay provides a remarkably realistic, observation-driven and distinct perspective on her part of the sphere. And she’s far less randomly moody than any number of us.

  59. 59.

    Jeffro

    Btw Charles Krauthammer penned his farewell note in the Post today – apparently he has just a couple weeks left to live due to terminal cancer.

    I’ll miss Anthony Bourdain.

  60. 60.

    MomSense

    @Sloane Ranger:

    I’m so sorry to hear about your brother. You’ve been through a big shock. Do you have support where you are? Don’t worry about being a downer, please check in with us. Sending a big hug to you.

  61. 61.

    Ohio Mom

    @Sloane Ranger: Oh dear, I am so, so sorry. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself either. What an awful shock.

    I hope you find it in you to keep up with eating and resting. Maybe go for a walk someplace peaceful and beautiful?

    I am Jewish but I have found going into a church and lighting a candle comforting when overwhelmed with loss. Something about seeing all the other lit candles lit, each one representing someone else’s grief. Makes me feel less alone.

  64. 64.

    scav

    @Sloane Ranger: My sincere sympathy and condolences to you and your entire family.

    And ditto props to Ibis Hotels for helping at least make some practical issues as little a burden as possible.

  65. 65.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I always feel judged by the cat. She makes it pretty clear that my wife is the preferred human and I am at best an underperforming underling. My main duty is to feed her: “Feed me, human.” “You were just fed half an hour ago.” “This is not acceptable, human. I will now follow you around the house, meowing loudly at you and attempting to cause a fatal fall down the stairs.”

  67. 67.

    chris

    @bemused: Tick repellent although they are not allowed to call it that yet.

    https://www.atlantick.ca/

    I’m going to pick some up tomorrow because I’ll try anything. Heard a scientist on the radio say that where I live is a paradise for ticks. He’s right.

  68. 68.

    Miss Bianca

    @Steeplejack (phone): I’m very sorry to hear that. Even on the few occasions I found myself in disagreement with her, I thought Kay’s voice inimitable and invaluable. I still hear myself repeating her line about Trump voters, that they are “bad judges of character!” So deceptively simple as a statement, but so true and so on point! That’s Kay for you!

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    @JPL:
    It’s a super-skinny Dell XPS somethingorother. I assume to get the low profile they have to shove components into unusual locations. Fingers crossed for a long uneventful life.

  70. 70.

    eric

    @burnspbesq: it also depends on what you want the guitar for. If you want the guitar to generally hit a certain sort of tone then it matters less. If you are something of a tone-o-phile (ala Michael Landau), then just keep saving for the one or two guitars that hit your tonal sweet spot. I have been playing 30 years and my brother longer and I have two guitars and he has one. (the second one i own was his until he bought a new guitar 5 years ago.)

    I am much more inclined to buy pedals to go after tone that a new guitar.

  74. 74.

    JustRuss

    @Sloane Ranger: So sorry about your brother. My father died while on holiday with my mother and brother. It was horrible of course, but I’m grateful now his last day was spent enjoying himself with people he loved.

  76. 76.

    LAO

    @rikyrah: People keep telling me, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. So, no comment on Krauthammer.

  77. 77.

    trollhattan

    @bemused:
    One possibility is bug-repellent clothing. I have some by ExOfficio and Columbia with permethrin in the fabric supposedly effective through fifty or so washes. Am not often in tick areas but know it works great for mosquitoes (West Nile!) and blackflies.

    IIUC in brushy tick areas we’re supposed to seal off the pant cuffs, which sounds challenging. High-top boots and elastic cuffs could work.

  79. 79.

    Sloane Ranger

    @MomSense: The hotel people are being really nice but it was just the 2 of us.

    Keeping in contact with my cousin who is being as supportive as he can at long distance. Now thinking of going out to eat.

  82. 82.

    Ohio Mom

    @Jeffro: LOL. I see what you did there.

    Krauthammer has long had his own special place on my list of Shandas fur di goyim. He had plenty of reasons to know better.

  83. 83.

    Barbara

    @Sloane Ranger: Please accept my condolences. My mother died very suddenly a few months ago, and my sister discovered her body when she went to her house for a weekly visit. How much more awful that you are alone, away from home on a trip that was meant to be a celebration. I hope you can get home soon.

  85. 85.

    raven

    @Amir Khalid: “Not specifically. Squier stuff is all over the map. Some is trash, some is pretty cool. Would need more info. Will look up if I have time. Good luck.”

    How much he asks?

  87. 87.

    waysel

    @Amir Khalid: Don’t know about the California series, but, if you hadn’t noticed, there’s an awful lot of Chinese counterfeit name brand guitars on the inter webs these days. I wouldn’t purchase unless I could play it in person first. Not usually an on line option.

  88. 88.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Ohio Mom: Yeah, I was thinking about visiting a church to reflect on Rick’s life, maybe say a few prayers although neither of us is religious.

    In the meantime, taking your advice and looking to go out and eat something.

    Thanks to you and all the other jackals here at BJ for your sympathy and support. I’m glad I belong to this community.

  91. 91.

    Elizabelle

    @Sloane Ranger: How sudden and sad. My condolences, terrible news and terrible time for you.

    Ibis Hotels is wonderful for what they’re doing. Will make a point of staying with them in the future and telling them why.

    Please check in with us as much as you need.

  93. 93.

    satby

    @bemused: because I make skin care stuff I get asked that question all the time. My personal opinion?
    Get stuff with a minimum of 25% Deet. In Haiti we had a spray that was almost 100% Deet; aside from removing nail polish that stuff worked. The people going all holistic with essential oils for mosquito repellant got dengue fever.
    Tick diseases are nothing to fool around with.

  96. 96.

    Keith P.

    I just fixed my AC, and I can’t get my cat to come inside now. I know she knows it’s back on since cold air pours outside when I open the door, but she just sits on the doormat and stars at me (or scratches her ear or licks her hind legs)

  97. 97.

    Peale

    @Jeffro: Used his perch at the Washington Post to glorify war and used his credentials as as a psychologist to lend authority to the “troubling” symptoms he found in public statements of Democratic politicians. He will not be missed and I only hope that quite a few of his partners from the 1990s who are still hanging on to their lifetime posts at the Post will follow him shortly.

  102. 102.

    MomSense

    @Sloane Ranger:

    I’m glad the staff are being kind and that your cousin is supportive. It’s not the same as being there with you, though. I wonder if there is a social worker attached to the local police department or perhaps a nearby hospital. If you feel like you need someone to talk to,I bet one of the front desk people may know how to connect you.
    If you think you can wait, maybe call or contact a counselor at home you can see when you get back. You can always call now. It does help to be able to express your feelings.

    And please check in here. I’m keeping you very close in my thoughts.

  103. 103.

    Elizabelle

    @Peale: Agreed. Krauthammer — and David Koch — make our lives better by leaving us.

    Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, no.

    I will shed no tears for either Krauthammer or Koch. Only sorrow that they employed their talents to the detriment of so many others.

  104. 104.

    VeniceRiley

    @Sloane Ranger: Oh, I’m so sorry. While out for food, I hope you do find a church or open space. A park to walk in, maybe? I don’t know what I would do if that happened travelling with my sister. I honestly don’t.

  105. 105.

    satby

    @Sloane Ranger: How terrible! Adding my heartfelt condolences as well. Even if you aren’t religious, almost any church will have a priest or minister who will be willing to talk with you or say a prayer for your brother with you; which can be comforting as a ritual even for us agnostics. Lighting a candle too, as Ohio Mom said, a reminder that we all have a time to grieve. Take care and reach out when you need us, we’re here.

  106. 106.

    bemused

    @trollhattan:

    The clothing can be pretty expensive and the money is hard to part with when you are doing some grunt work outside, digging dirt, painting. I know my spouse who gets filthy head to toe with outside work, cutting firewood, etc. would laugh if I suggested it.

    @satby:

    I’ll look for that even though leery about deet. Probably can’t use on the grandkids. We change and shower as soon as possible after being out working. All that is moot though when you sometimes have a dog jump in bed with out at night.

  107. 107.

    chris

    @satby: DEET! Yes. Sadly, I agree with you. I spray my jeans and boots with Deet and it works well. But I can’t use it on my dog so I’m going to try the essential oil.

    For ticks nothing beats the strip’n’check method because they will get past any defence. Ticks will wander around on you for up to a day before they bite so you have time. I do a complete check very night and this time of year there’s usually one or more on me. We joke that they’ve learned to jump from the trees but it’s not that funny.

    ETA that said I’ve just bought some Icaridin based repellent. Will see how it goes.

  108. 108.

    raven

    @Amir Khalid: More

    “LIke Dave said, some Squier guitars are quite decent, others not nearly so much. I agree with the guy who said you gotta play a guitar before buying it unless the buyer has a friend who can do setups and modifications if necessary.

    and

    The Squier “Classic Vibe” models are real good guitars. The other models can be anywhere from good, to iffy, to downright shite. But, never heard of the Squier Cal.electric series. There is a new Fender California acoustic line.”

  111. 111.

    TenguPhule

    Trump calling for Russia to be allowed back into the G7 while at the same time flinging insults at everyone else actually attending.

    We are so fucked.

  112. 112.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I won’t buy it, who knows if it will even cause a ripple, but if it gets under the trumps’ skin, I’m all for it (Mike Allen at Axios)

    After torching the White House with “Fire and Fury,” Michael Wolff is coming back for more:
    Wolff tells me he has signed with the same publisher, Henry Holt, for a seque    l — although he says it’s unclear what that means: His best sources (including Steve Bannon) have left the White House. And he’s lost the element of surprise that came with his soothing technique of acting as curious therapist to tortured, befuddled aides: “I’m just listening!” or “Tell me what it’s like!”

  115. 115.

    piratedan

    I find myself checking here daily to simply keep up with all of the chaos:

    https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/

    I also adore how DJT is now lobbying for Putin to be allowed back into the G7….

    I can imagine a US completely cut off from its former allies because anything shared is in a pipeline to Moscow immediamente….

  116. 116.

    brendancalling

    I’ll just use this open thread to declare that the past week has been utterly fucking miserable inn almost every aspect. Work is dispiriting and thankless, I am regretting more than ever my decision to stay in the US as opposed to moving to Guatemala, my son has screwed up at school badly enough that it’s a better than 50/50 proposition that he’s not coming to the US for his summer visit with me, both of my upright basses need to go to the shop, and Anthony Bourdain has died.

    But at 7:30 tonight, I get on a plane for Rhode Island for my friend’s wedding and it will be good to be back home in the Ocean State. I might even go swimming, regardless of the water temperature. I plan to almost completely unplug

  117. 117.

    trollhattan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Have to wonder whether with publishing F&F he’s had a lot of new sources seek him out. Considering the firehose quantity of awful things this WH emits there’s plenty of filth for everybody and frankly, the stories all need to be captured and told. He thinks he can simply outlast our attention spans.

  120. 120.

    Miss Bianca

    @brendancalling: you have upright basses? Two of them?

    Sorry, it’s so like me to zero in on the least relevant parts of the story. Sorry you are having such a shitty week.

  121. 121.

    Madeleine

    To Sloane Ranger: Please accept my deepest sympathy. A brother is a life-long relationship. I’m so sorry about the void his sudden passing must create.

  122. 122.

    glaukopis

    @Sloane Ranger: I’m so sorry. I agree with others who’ve suggested walks, especially in nature or parks, but I’ve also found sitting in a park and people watching is comforting, though that may sound odd.

  123. 123.

    satby

    @bemused:

    According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency, you can start using insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, or IR3535 when your child is 2 months old.

    Source. Seriously, the stuff is safe, far safer than risking the disease.

  124. 124.

    opiejeanne

    @Sloane Ranger: Don’t worry about being a downer, this is a terrible and shocking event. Take care of yourself.

    I was in Paris when my sister called to say that Dad was dying; I couldn’t afford a last minute flight so I stayed, but I was beside myself half of the time. He did hang on until I made it home a week later* but while I was there I lit a candle in the Notre Dame Cathedral and it did help me.

    *He was about to have surgery that he had only a 5% chance of survival, and he was too stubborn to leave until everyone was there.

  125. 125.

    Amir Khalid

    @burnspbesq:

    Squier:Fender::Epiphone:Gibson. Engineered to a price point. Corners cut in materials.

    Wood is wood. Alder, ash, pine, mahogany, and maple are easy to come by and not too expensive to use in even the cheapest Squiers and Epiphones, whose build quality is generally much better than a decade ago. The Squier Affinity Telecaster and Epiphone Les Paul Studio I have are widely considered excellent value for money as is.

    People do buy cheap guitars specifically for modifying to taste. Pickups are a matter of taste, and even fairly cheap Chinese-made aftermarket ones sound perfectly fine. Tuners and the wiring harness are upgradable for not very much. Choose the right parts, and you can get exactly the guitar you want for a lot less than the price of a top-of-the-line Fender/Gibson Custom Shop instrument.

  127. 127.

    chris

    @satby: Yeah, Bert and the cats are on Bravecto which kills the ticks. But I’ve been looking for something to keep the ticks, black flies, mosquitoes and deer flies off him.

    For those who may not know a fake dragon fly pinned to your shirt or hat keeps the deer and horse flies away. Bert has one on his collar and it helps but the deer flies gather on his nose where they can’t see the fly. By gather I mean half a dozen at a time, poor guy.

  128. 128.

    satby

    @TenguPhule: Omnes got the blame, but I suspect the admission that zhena g and I read less of her comments than before upset her too. Which was unfortunate, but I didn’t think warranted her reaction.

  129. 129.

    opiejeanne

    @TenguPhule: No, it was Goku who went after her again and again, and then argued with everyone else who scolded him. Omnes has complained about groups of Debbie Downers when it gets too intense but I didn’t see him single her out the way Goku did.

  130. 130.

    PaulWartenberg

    @TenguPhule:

    Putin’s revenge. I can only hope that the remaining sane members of the G7 know better than to deal with the Russians anymore.

    Just a hint, Europe and Japan: the reason why the United States is being destroyed by trump is because PUTIN STOLE THE ELECTION FOR HIM. Wanna blame anybody for the current state of affairs? Vlad tops the list.

  133. 133.

    Gin & Tonic

    @satby:

    Tick diseases are nothing to fool around with.

    Having had a couple of the funny-named ones, I’ll second that. But I just kind of go about my life and deal with them. I’ll usually get a bite a year – if you remove them promptly and get the doxy, it’s usually not a problem.

  134. 134.

    opiejeanne

    @satby: I missed her reaction but I think the comments by Goku may have been the tipping point.

    I have to walk away from some threads with too much of some people’s posts about how we are all so fucked. After the first ten thousand times WASF was used it wasn’t funny any more.

  135. 135.

    Elizabelle

    @TenguPhule: No. I think it helps.

    He’s acting like a Russian agent, and making it clear to everyone how inadequate he is to the task. Further, he is not embarrassing those who never voted for him. He is not my president. He may not be yours.

    He is not doing this stuff with our approval.

    The government is not one illegitimate president alone. Perhaps this will help put more steel in the spine of those who resist him, and if they are skilled bureaucrats, so much the better.

    Fuck Trump.

  136. 136.

    Mandalay

    Our President Dumbass:

    President Donald Trump said Friday he was considering granting a posthumous pardon for Muhammad Ali — prompting a lawyer for his estate and family to say thanks, but no thanks: The boxing great had his criminal conviction overturned by the Supreme Court nearly 50 years ago.

    In his next attempt at courting the black vote Trump will pardon OJ Simpson for murdering his wife.

  137. 137.

    opiejeanne

    @satby: I missed his apology and he’s usually not like that, but he himself is sometimes guilty of what he accused Kay of, sometimes much worse.

  138. 138.

    tybee

    @trollhattan: you can buy permethrin that you can spray on your own clothes.
    seems to work but i tend to apply DEET as well – insect borne diseases aren’t fun.

  139. 139.

    Elizabelle

    @opiejeanne: I have noticed a real dropoff in commenters here.

    The “safe space” proponents might think how it feels to those who are barely getting through this era, and the very real disrupted personal relationships, to hear “we are so fucked. It will never be better.”

    If Kay has found better things to do with her time, more power to her. I hope that she will come back. She is missed.

  142. 142.

    Amir Khalid

    @raven:
    As long as it’s properly dried and doesn’t move over the life of the instrument, yes: wood is indeed wood. It matters less to the sound of an electric guitar than the electrical parts do

  144. 144.

    schrodingers_cat

    @satby: Agreed everyone piling on Omnes when he is not here to defend himself, is a bit much. I did see the thread with his apology in the morning but I didn’t know that he apologized twice.
    @opiejeanne: Its relentless, but if you say anything about it are the tone police.

  145. 145.

    Leto

    @Sloane Ranger: Considering we just had the Bourdain thread I’d also like to pass along the suicide hotline number for Germany and the UK:

    Germany: 08001810771

    United Kingdom: 116 123

    They’re there to talk and help. I know you might not be in that place, but I also just want to pass along a resource. Again, nothing but positive vibes being sent your way.

  147. 147.

    satby

    @opiejeanne: I’m referring to Omnes, who Kay specifically called out, not Goku. Omnes apologized, probably Goku did too.
    We’re all on the same side here, we can’t let the tension of the times get to us.

  148. 148.

    raven

    @Amir Khalid: “You see it all the time when shopping for an acoustic guitar: Sitka spruce top, mahogany back and sides, rosewood bridge, this wood, that wood, another wood. All very impressive, but what does it mean? Most of us aren’t wood experts, so what exactly do different woods have to do with the sound of an acoustic guitar?”

    A great deal, actually. The woods used to build guitars—acoustic guitars in particular—are called tonewoods, and they have enormous effects on the sound and price of an instrument. Various woods have distinct sound qualities, especially when used for the top of an acoustic guitar, which is the most important wooden tonal element of the instrument.

  150. 150.

    opiejeanne

    @tybee: When I was being treated for Hepatitis C, that was the year when all of the dead birds appeared in people’s back yards due to West Nile. We kept finding dead crows and the Health Dept by then just told us to double bag them and put them in the trash.
    The LA Times reported on a man who lived not far from us who had died of West Nile, kind of a surprise since he was in his 40s, but the family casually mentioned that he had liver problems. I read that short article twice and thought to myself, “That man had Hep C and his family doesn’t understand it.” There was a tremendous stigma attached to the disease, people wouldn’t talk about it, people didn’t understand it, relatives banned them from their houses, made one guy eat his Thanksgiving dinner on paper plates at the table in the back yard, next to the trash cans, and I got lectured about my sexual partners. *massive eyeroll* The show “House” has a lot to answer for on that score.

  151. 151.

    Leto

    @Major Major Major Major: If BJ were to ever set up a minecraft server my wife would be in heaven. She loves tinkering around, building fancy places, and just having fun collaborating with other people on stuff. Being able to do that with some of the jackals here would be a hoot (she’s an eternal lurker).

    Edit: @satby: They both apologized. Goku specifically said, in both that thread and another one the next day, that he had been up late, was irritable., and shouldn’t have posted. It was basically a Snickers moment. Hopefully everyone just takes some time off and comes back later, recharged, and ready to go.

  153. 153.

    opiejeanne

    @schrodingers_cat: Omnes is a good egg. I’ve not seen him post as much in recent weeks and missed him, but assumed it’s just because I usually don’t check in until around 1pm PDT.

  156. 156.

    Mandalay

    @Jeffro:

    Charles Krauthammer penned his farewell note in the Post today

    That prompted me to read several articles that he wrote about Obama during his presidency.

    I don’t expect Krauthammer to write approvingly – obviously his politics and worldview genuinely differ from Obama – but what came through loud and clear every time was Krauthammer’s mean, petty, vindictive, spiteful nature. He’s a small, nasty man.

    And he’s gratuitously nasty like Trump is gratuitously nasty. And like Trump he hardly ever smiles.

  160. 160.

    Elizabelle

    Here’s the sportsball thread with all the drama.

    FWIW, I don’t think a lot of what goku said was so awful**; he just aimed his comments (IMHO) at the wrong commenter, Kay. She kind of took the brunt for other, less perceptive commenters who are here, spreading doom and gloom because, I guess, it makes them feel powerful and smarter than the rest of us.

    I don’t want to see Omnes hounded out, either.

    But I wish some of the assholes here would consider: if I knew someone reading this blogpost was suffering or in despair, would I be encouraging them to jump off that ledge; I’ll help you knot that rope. Because it’s NEVER going to get better, we are so fucked, and I am so smart to have figured that out and inform the rest of you.

    Balloon Juice has become a rather fetid pool in some threads. I think a better choice of topics would be helpful. Every day does not have to include innumerable “assholes on parade” tweets, just because it’s what the rest of the left-leaning blogosphere is serving up. They turn into real downers, when commenters stick to the topic.

    We need to keep our strength up for what is going to be a marathon. There is a line between acknowledging bad policies and behavior, and wallowing in them.

    ETA: ** I have never read the whole thread. Might have missed something major, but first comments seemed kind of innocuous. I don’t want to see goku hounded out either.

  161. 161.

    Aleta

    An Iowa high school student was killed three weeks after he was deported from the U.S. back to Mexico, the country he left when he was 3 years old.
    The Des Moines Register reported Thursday that Manuel Antonio Cano Pacheco was scheduled to graduate from high school last month but died just after being deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
    His mother told the newspaper that Pacheco was once a recipient of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. …
    His DACA renewal, however, had not come through on time, according to his mother.

    Pacheco, 19, was deported back to Zacatecas, Mexico, on April 24 at the border in Laredo, Texas, under an ICE escort. 
    Pacheco’s throat was slit, the Des Moines Register reported.
    A friend described the murder as being at the “wrong place at the wrong time,” in a northwestern state of Mexico that is plagued by deadly violence and drug cartels.
    He was going to school and working with a company that installs floors. He had recently received a scholarship to attend college in Chicago.
    Pacheco leaves behind a year-old son.

  162. 162.

    Elizabelle

    @opiejeanne: Omnes said he would take a break for a few days, in light of the overnight blog blowup. I hope he will be back, with music links no less.

  165. 165.

    opiejeanne

    @raven: There’s a shot for Hep C?

    I spent a year getting two injections every week, and one (ProCrit) was to combat the effects of the Interferon shot. Plus five big honkin’ pills of Ribavirin twice a day.

    I am considered cured after that year, test negative, which is swell. The only place I think I could have caught it was when I hemorrhaged following my hysterectomy and they gave me at least four pints before going back into surgery. They were in such a tizzy the nurse didn’t warm up the first pint, and it burned like fire.
    The type I had is most common in the Middle East and western Africa and rare in the US, so the docs jokingly suggested one of the donors had shared a needle in Marrakesh. I don’t curse his name, in 1985 I was interested in staying alive for my three kids, 15, 7, and 3. He was one of a group that saved my life. The year I spent paying for it was An Adventure.

  167. 167.

    Brachiator

    @Mandalay:

    I don’t expect Krauthammer to write approvingly – obviously his politics and worldview genuinely differ from Obama – but what came through loud and clear every time was Krauthammer’s mean, petty, vindictive, spiteful nature. He’s a small, nasty man.

    Didn’t he have some kind of disability?

    I am not defending him. Oh, no. But I just read his note, and it was a clear acceptance of what may come. And it did not have any of the phony appeal to religion that many conservatives wallow in.

    But, yeah, spiteful is apt. It is unfortunate that he could not find the clarity of sympathy for other people.

  168. 168.

    Leto

    @Major Major Major Major: Contact Adam, or I guess any of the front pagers, for my email address and we’ll yak about it! See if we can’t make something happen. Upfront warning: I don’t play Minecraft. I’m lost to the eternal grip of heroin World of Warcraft. But the wife does and I’m always on the lookout for opportunities for her to get her Minecraft geek on.

  169. 169.

    waysel

    @Amir Khalid: I had an early Squire Strat, and have a Squire VI bass, and an MIM Fender Jazz bass. The Strat had a basswood body that killed tone- ate highs for breakfast- and the pickups were incapable of anything but ‘meh’ tone, no matter what you played it through. The two basses have Agathis bodies and consequently each, unpleasantly, weigh a ton. Something to consider.

  170. 170.

    Elizabelle

    @Brachiator: Didn’t he become paralyzed from jumping into a pool wrong while in college? I don’t recall if he had use of his hands …

  171. 171.

    Gin & Tonic

    Friday news dump? The twitters are saying Mueller’s team has handed (up? down?) another indictment. Details forthcoming.

  172. 172.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Major Major Major Major: Currywurst? OMFG! My wife’s family is German and I get subjected to stuff like that all the time. Eggs and mustard sauce (cant remember the German name)

  174. 174.

    Mike in NC

    @Elizabelle: Trump is a Russian FSB asset and probably has been for years. Pooty wants back in the G-8. Pooty wants to weaken NATO and the EU. Pooty wants our economy crippled and our people at each other’s throats. So far he’s getting all his boxes checked.

  176. 176.

    PST

    I think Dr. Krauthammer’s farewell note is splendid. I hope I can exit with half that much grace. I’m no more a fan of his than anyone else here, but this is outside politics and ideology. I’m sure that I’m far from alone in looking at this from the perspective of someone who has survived cancer, would not be surprised to face it again, has lost friends and loved ones to cancer, and is trying to ease the burden on other friends and loved ones suffering with it now. It’s a tough way to go — as are many others. If anyone who has struggled and now sees the handwriting on the wall can draw any comfort or inspiration from this, then Krauthammer has done something valuable.

  177. 177.

    Ohio Mom

    Josh Marshall had a post sometime last year where he talked about cultivating “an ethic of optimism” that really inspired me.

    Not that we don’t recognize that there are real awful things happening, that at least in the short term, maybe WASF, but that we take the longer view and remain hopeful.

    It’s important to look at what we are facing, try to understand it, “unpack it,” and all the rest. We do that because we want to plan a path out.

    It is a balancing act, being realistic and optimistic but it is worth striving for, because that is the right thing to do.

    At least that is what I have come to believe. Even if it might not be true!

  178. 178.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @opiejeanne:
    I have jumped on her repeatedly. I try to do it in a comforting ‘Let me explain why it’s not that bad’ way, but I would not be surprised if it makes her feel attacked. I can’t stand watching these despair conversations spiral out of control. I like Kay, and value her commentary over the years. I suspect it is a good thing for her to step away for awhile not for our sake, but to break the habit of spiraling anxiety associated with her posts. I know I have to step away from BJ sometimes because it encourages me to argue, and arguing stresses me terribly.

  179. 179.

    Elizabelle

    @Mike in NC: I think Pootie will not end up in the G-whatever group, because Trump disdain will help harden other countries’ decision-making.

    Brexit and Trump. That malfeasor is doing plenty of damage from afar. Isolate him more.

  180. 180.

    Miss Bianca

    @raven: Yes, for acoustic guitars, tone woods are tone woods. Electric guitars are basically planks, unless they are hollow-bodied.

    That being said, a lot of what *is* said about tone woods tends to be mythologizing silliness. No, you don’t need European maple or spruce, you don’t need rosewood, per se – what you need are woods that have certain molecular structures, so they will resonate properly. Spruce for tops just works, but there are a lot of different spruce types out there. Other woods besides maple will do for backs and sides – poplar and willow, for example, will do just as well as maple, and they are a lot cheaper, if you’re building your own. Particularly for upright basses, where just getting pieces of wood large enough and straight enough to piece together for a top, back and sides will set you back hundreds of dollars.

  181. 181.

    TenguPhule

    @opiejeanne:

    Omnes has complained about groups of Debbie Downers when it gets too intense but I didn’t see him single her out the way Goku did.

    He did. Goku started it, he piled on and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  182. 182.

    Elizabelle

    @Ohio Mom: Ethic of optimism. Excellent thought. Hunting for that column now, unless someone else finds it first.

  183. 183.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Mike in NC:
    I’d say he’s doing a surprisingly bad job of it, having lucked out and gotten the best possible weapon, his own installed US puppet president. Europe just hates him ever more. I doubt they’ll let Russia back into the G7 no matter how much Trump whines. Despite Trump’s whining, NATO doesn’t seem weakened enough to actually help Putin accomplish anything. The EU if anything is stiffening its resistance to him steadily. Hard to say how hard he’s hit our economy, since it hasn’t kicked in yet, but there he’s likely landed a serious blow. At each other’s throats… well, we certainly are, but we already were. Nobody needed Putin for that. I hold out hope he’ll turn out to have screwed himself there. There have been strong, unprecedented signs of the Democratic Party gaining voter enthusiasm and activists because of how vile Trump and the GOP have been. We can only wait and see how real that is.

  184. 184.

    TenguPhule

    @Elizabelle:

    The government is not one illegitimate president alone.

    The problem is that the rest of the world is increasingly seeing Trump and thinking that’s what all of America is right now. The wheels of justice have been slow and they’re running out of patience with us, is the sense I am increasingly getting from the overseas commentary.

  188. 188.

    Ohio Mom

    @Elizabelle: Yes, Krauthammer became paralyzed as a young man after a diving accident. He also trained (I don’t know if he ever practiced) as a psychiatrist. Those are two reasons why, in my book, he should have been capable of a more compassionate world view.

  191. 191.

    oldster

    @PST:
    “I think Dr. Krauthammer’s farewell note is splendid. I hope I can exit with half that much grace. I’m no more a fan of his than anyone else here, but this is outside politics and ideology. ”

    Yeah…no. Not meaning to single you out, PST, but:

    How we live and how we die is not outside of politics. It is deeply affected by politics.
    The fact that this jerk can die with “grace”, while thousands in Puerto Rico died in the mud, while Sessions sends American kids to their deaths in Mexico, while Trump threatens to make hundreds of thousands with pre-existing conditions die before their time–that’s all politics.

    Krauthammer was a major booster of the Republican death machine throughout his life. He never met a war on brown people that he did not cheer-lead.

    If he wants a moment of grace at his death, then let him have a moment of repentance before his death. Let him make a true statement about the deaths he has enabled. Let him donate his substantial estate to Planned Parenthood. Let him condemn the viciousness of the Republicans as loudly as he railed against Democratic attempts to put things right.

    Then he can have some grace. But it will never be outside of politics. Politics is a matter of life and death.

  196. 196.

    Amir Khalid

    @Brachiator:
    Krauthammer is paralysed from the waist down because of a spinal injury he suffered as a medical student. He uses a wheelchair..

  198. 198.

    raven

    @schrodingers_cat: The two offshore were awesome, the second was the best for me since Maui. Surf fishing was good the first few days but this nasty algae appeared and knocked it out. I fished the bay the last two days and now we’re putzing around “cleaning up” even though the cleaner fee is $150! All in all it was great and, of course, I can’t help but look at my pups and wonder if this is one or both of their last trips. We’ve spent the entire time assuring that Lil Bit doesn’t get hot and the Bohdi is showing his age even though he’s awesome for 14. TMI huh?

  200. 200.

    opiejeanne

    @Frankensteinbeck: I think your comments to her were good ones, and I wouldn’t call that jumping on her.
    After the election I felt such despair, such absolute end of the world despair, like someone close to me had died and I had a lot of trouble dealing with it. So I started trying to take control of what I could. like reorganizing my pantry, pulling weeds in the garden, planting and tending that garden, etc. It helped. And I returned briefly to blogging, posting recipes that I’d cadged from various sources: old family ones, some from cookbooks, some from online, and posting photos as I went along. I also started each one with a rant about Cheetolini, and started a collection of names we have made up for the Orange One.
    What really helped was coming here in the evenings. I found myself getting my news of the day here and from some trusted Twitter accounts, and sometimes Rachel and Lawrence (although last night Lawrence had that execrable babblemouth George Will on, talking about how Trump is a socialist!), WaPo, and The Guardian.

  202. 202.

    JPL

    I appreciate the variety of opinions and feelings on this blog. Remember when Mary fell, and the sleuths were able to locate where she lived and called 9 1 1 for her. In fact, I think John mentioned that when he called, they mentioned several people had. Helene was going to accompany someone for a weekend, and we chimed in with some advice. That showed how protective of each other we are. This is who we are. I’m hoping to see Kay and Omnes soon.

    @Elizabelle: When are you planning your next vacay? It’s always fun to hear about your adventures.

  204. 204.

    satby

    @Frankensteinbeck: I agree.
    With everything but the arguing part. I’m ok with arguing if it can accomplish something. Though, it seldom does.

    @TenguPhule: and repeated apologies were made. So we can let that go now. As @raven: said, she’s a big girl, she can take care of herself as she feels the need to.

  205. 205.

    Mandalay

    @oldster:

    Let him condemn the viciousness of the Republicans…

    Well, to be fair Krauthammer eviscerated Trump after the Charlottesville murder:

    Trump held an impromptu press conference at Trump Tower where he doubled down on his initial statement and blamed “many sides” for the unrest, which started when white nationalists clashed with counter protestors.

    Krauthammer called Ingraham’s explanation a “cop-out.”

    “To critique what he did today on the grounds that it distracts from the agenda or was a tactical mistake, I believe is a cop-out,” Krauthammer said. “What Trump did [Monday] was a moral disgrace.”

    “What he did is he reverted back to where he was on Saturday, and made it very clear that what he read on Monday two days later was a hostage tape,” he added. “Clearly reading off a prompter, saying these denunciations by name of the KKK, etc. That wasn’t Trump speaking, that was the aides speaking.”

    Of course it’s an isolated example, but I didn’t see anyone else in the media on the right speaking out like that.

  206. 206.

    Shana

    @Sloane Ranger: So sorry to read this. It’s nice though that the folks who can help – airline and hotel – are doing what they can. Small comfort, I know, but even little things can help make a difference.

  207. 207.

    Gin & Tonic

    @JPL: It’s apparently Kilimnik. Plenty recognizable.

    ETA: “Manafort, 69, and the 48-year-old Moscow resident Kilimnik were both hit with new charges accusing them of obstructing justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice by using intimidation or force against a witness, and also with tampering with a witness, victim or informant.”

  211. 211.

    HRA

    @Elizabelle:

    That was one of the threads I stopped reading early that day. I have done the stop reading of certain threads recently. In all the years that I have been here, this is a first for me. There were no FPs then. John was it with Doug assuming other IDs to start trouble that did not happen then..
    Kay is a person with knowledge lacking in many others. I never miss reading her comments and I know I am not the only one doing it. I hope she comes back whenever she feels read to do so. She is too valuable to be in the lurker cloud with us.
    What to say about Goku? Maybe just saying he is a young guy will suffice.

  213. 213.

    WaterGirl

    I haven’t been on BJ much the past few weeks – PT for my ankle has been kicking my ass and I end up feeling so tired that I haven’t had the energy for much besides watching old reruns of NCIS, where I can “watch” with my eyes closed half the time.

    Really sorry to read about Kay, whose voice I so appreciate – she is so smart and practical and grounded – her perspective is like no one else’s, in a really good way.

    BJ is mostly a wonderful place with mostly wonderful people and I hate the thought of people leaving BJ. It’s really hard living through Trump World, but let’s not turn on each other.

  216. 216.

    Elizabelle

    @Frankensteinbeck: I love Kay’s posts. Sometimes it would be depressing (briefly) when she fell into the “nothing can be done” mode, but she’s in Ohio, Jake. Ohio is wired for Republicans.

    WRT Balloon Juice vibe. When it gets too ridiculous, I think I will just pop in the GEICO raccoons ad. Reminds me of here sometimes.

  217. 217.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle:

    Didn’t he become paralyzed from jumping into a pool wrong while in college? I don’t recall if he had use of his hands …

    Yep. From the Wiki and other posters here.

    Krauthammer was injured in a diving board accident during his first year of medical school. He sustained injuries that left him paralyzed below the neck and required him to be hospitalized for 14 months

    I just knew him from his tv appearances and columns. I knew nothing about his personal life.

    It may be a cliche to say that I’m surprised that his personal situation did not make him more empathetic to others. I recall watching him make some particularly odious observations during his pundit appearances.

  218. 218.

    TenguPhule

    China hacked a U.S. Navy contractor and secured a trove of highly sensitive submarine warfare data

    Breaking at Wapo.

    Friday New Dumpster.

    Where’s A.S. when you really need him?

  219. 219.

    NotMax

    @Leto

    World of Warcraft

    Thank you, thank you for the reminder. Still have a few folks that I need to run through Darkmoon Faire this month before it goes away to get them the professions bump.

  220. 220.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Frankensteinbeck: I don’t read every post, much less every thread, but this notion that Kay is some kind of black hole is bewildering to me. From what I see the posts complaining about how negative everyone is tend to outnumber the actual negative posts by about 17:1

  223. 223.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl: Take care of yourself, and we will hold down the fort. I’m googling how to perform hexes to take care of the orange one.

  224. 224.

    bemused

    @Leto:

    A relative built amazing dollhouses for her granddaughters, hand crafting furniture and house details. I’ve never seen dollhouses like them.Then she made a minecraft house for one grandson. First she had research minecraft to understand it, I still don’t, but her grandson said it was perfect.

  227. 227.

    Amir Khalid

    @Miss Bianca:
    Electric guitars don’t actually have to be made of wood at all. Fender’s Custom Shop once built a cardboard Strat on a commission from a cardboard-box industry group. It must have been incredibly light. Ibanez once built a solid brass guitar for a trade show. At 35kg (76lb), it’s a bit on the heavy side.

  229. 229.

    Leto

    @NotMax: Alliance or Horde? I’m alliance currently but made a horde toon recently because that’s what we were originally. I’m always down for adding quality people to the BNet and having more people around to do things with. (Edit: quality as in, non-toxic shitheels. I don’t care if you’re a mythic raider, LFR hero, or whatever. Just having non-toxic people in your community is the golden rule with me.)

    @bemused: WoW gives an insight into how I play games: objective/goal driven. Push a button, get a cookie, /smile. The totally sandbox concept of Minecraft just doesn’t appeal to me. The last time the wife and I played, she essentially treated me like a robot because that’s how I was playing: Oh, you want X of this material? I’d go get it, then return to the previous spot I was standing at. She still laughs about that.

    That being said, I totally understand the appeal to it: creativity, freedom, artistic license. I geek out over the 1:1 scale Star Trek/Star Wars ships people do, as well as things like Hogwarts. It’s awesome. Just not for me :)

  230. 230.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL: No trips on the calendar right now, sadly. Thanks for asking. Think about Barcelona every single day. Interesting what is happening in Spain right now, with the change of government …

  231. 231.

    Manyakitty

    @Aleta: This is the story that broke me last night. Cried myself to sleep, woke up to Bourdain. I’m at work, but DAMN.

  233. 233.

    bemused

    @Leto:

    I seriously have no clue what minecraft is whatsoever. Neither did our dollhouse creator relative but she passed with her grandson who is about 12.

  234. 234.

    brendancalling

    @Miss Bianca: I do. One got damaged when it fell out of my truck. I played the other in very hot weather yesterday and a glue job on the headstock seems to have weakened.

  238. 238.

    Leto

    @bemused: Minecraft

    Minecraft is a sandbox video game created by Swedish game designer Markus Persson, better known as Notch, and later fully developed and published by Mojang, a company that he founded. The creative and building aspects of Minecraft allow players to build with a variety of different cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world. Other activities in the game include exploration, resource gathering, crafting, and combat.

    Sandbox in this setting means an open world where you’re free to do anything. One of the main draws of the game is that you’re able to build just about anything you can imagine. Think of it as a blank canvas for creative ideas. Once you learn how to manipulate the tools, you can just let your imagination run wild.

    Here’s an example: Hogwarts

    Here’s another: Top 10 Minecraft Creations

    It’s also a game where killing something isn’t the main objective. You don’t have to have lightning fast reflexs, nor do you have witness scenes of violence. It’s why you can let your 5 y/o play it without worry. It’s also why the age range is basically from 3- infinity. It’s about creation, not death.

  239. 239.

    Leto

    @Major Major Major Major: I do! But then I need to mine the material necessary for the house, then build the house, then mine for the appliances, and build them. And afterwards find a power source, connect it, mine for the cookie material… when the shortcut to that is just buy the cookie dough log, open, stuff into face! And get back to collecting my virtual gold, Ap tokens, and grinding out the last few remaining legendaries on my druid :P

  240. 240.

    Steeplejack

    @Elizabelle:

    [. . .] commenters who are here, spreading doom and gloom because, I guess, it makes them feel powerful and smarter than the rest of us.

    That’s a pretty bullshit interpretation (IMHO). I think the WASF commenters are mainly venting their frustration and rage about the Trump regime and their inability to escape that pain. Yeah, they occasionally need a slap and a “Thanks, I needed that” moment, but rarely do I get a whiff of malevolence.

    Balloon Juice has become a rather fetid pool in some threads.

    We live in fetid times, alas. But we do have a complement of non-fetid threads each day.

  246. 246.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Sloane Ranger: Aw, man…that is just, just, just… I can’t even. In the middle of what was going to be & by all rights should have been a celebration. And to have to deal with it in a strange country…

    Words fail, man. Words always fail.

    (On a self-centered note, it does bring home to me how my only sib [brother 4 yrs younger] must feel when he calls me & I don’t call him back for days on end – wondering how long to wait before driving the 45 minutes to the house where I live by myself & busting in the door. [I need to get him new keys too.] All you live-alones out there – don’t do that to the people who care about you.)

  251. 251.

    Amir Khalid

    @Steeplejack:
    I’ve seen the occasional clear acrylic guitars, and even seen video of them played by guys like Dave Grohl and Keith Richards, but i hear they’re heavy because it’s way denser than any wood.

  252. 252.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mandalay:
    Krauthammer’s greatest joy in life is scolding other people. Being right-wing, he scolds people to the left of him more often and more harshly than he scolds anyone else.

  253. 253.

    Steeplejack

    @Amir Khalid:

    Yes, very heavy. I actually fondled one once. Just weighing in on the “electric guitars don’t care what they’re made of” theme.

    ETA: Also, pedal steel guitars and Dobros, which really don’t care if any wood is involved.

  254. 254.

    Miss Bianca

    @Amir Khalid: Indeed!

    @Steeplejack: Danos! I loved those old Dan Electros and Silvertones – and the Jerry Jones replicas of same. Light, cheap, and surprisingly good tone. I was (am) a huge Joey Spampinato fan (from NRBQ), and so when I started playing bass I went out of my way to try to find a short-scale bass like those Dan Electros that I strung with flat-wound strings, like my hero.

  255. 255.

    J R in WV

    @Sloane Ranger:

    So sorry for your loss… And then to be faced with all the red tape BS after losing your brother!

    Best of luck — sounds like the authorities, hotel, airline are all being considerate, which is the best you can hope for at this point.

    Hang in there, and keep in touch.

  256. 256.

    jl

    Thnx for nice petpix. Re the glowering Doom of Steve: I thought Cole always felt wholly unworthy anyway, So, I don’t see an issue there for Cole to worry about.

  257. 257.

    J R in WV

    @chris:

    Regarding ticks, I recently learned from a biologist friend that possums (aka O’Possums technically) eat ticks a lot, and are one of the very few critters that directly attack ticks.

    That makes me regret the possum I killed for stalking my chickens late at night. But only a little. We didn’t have so many back then.

    @Jeffro:

    Regarding Charles Krauthammer’s farewell, I too will miss Anthony Bourdain. Must stop there lest I be offensive. Thanks for your calm example!

  258. 258.

    NotMax

    Late to reply.

    @Major Major Major Major

    Have vaguely heard of Minecraft. Never played it, know zip about it.

    @Leto

    Mostly alliance, but have a couple of hordies from the days when there were still faction-only recipes and such one could sell to the other faction on the neutral auction house (ancient history, now). All my folks are on either Alexstrasza or Terrokar realms.

    Extremely underwhlemed with what I’ve heard or read about the upcoming expansion. Dithering whether to bother with it or not.

  260. 260.

    opiejeanne

    @Steeplejack: I read the sports ball thread and somehow missed Omnes’ comments to Kay. What I saw was Goku, and it startled me because he usually isn’t like that. And then I saw the chastisement of Goku by a lot of people. I left the thread, looking for something else to do. I think I commented on something unrelated and maybe I didn’t go all the way back, which would explain how I missed OO’s comment.

  261. 261.

    SWMBO

    @raven: We are friends on facebook. Last July his house burned. He hasn’t posted much since then and I assume he’s still trying to get his house rebuilt.

  262. 262.

    opiejeanne

    @SWMBO: That’s terrible. I was wondering about him a few days before someone else here asked about him.

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