Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Let there be snark.

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

White supremacy is terrorism.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

We still have time to mess this up!

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

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

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Respite Open Thread: Happy Birthday, Lily Tomlin

Respite Open Thread: Happy Birthday, Lily Tomlin

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A patron saint for this, our moment in time…

“No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up.”

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    (mini-rant)

    First day in a week when there wasn’t a MUST DO to take of.

    So naturally when I woke up this morning, expecting a day of vegging out, discovered the seal of the fill valve in the toilet was leaking. Pulling out the old ballcock assembly and replacing it with a newer float valve type isn’t going to be a difficult task, but boy it’s a tight squeeze to get under and in there

  10. 10.

    Yarrow

    She is just the best. Happy Birthday!

    @NotMax: My a/c went out last night. And then after it sat for a couple of hours it worked again. Boy was it hot while it wasn’t working. Too hot to sleep. I’m tired.

  16. 16.

    Brachiator

    I think I still remember the first Lily Tomlin tv special. She was giving a tribute to her home town, Detroit and these uptight auto executives, all in suits and ties, came out as though they were going to do some chamber of commerce presentation to her. Then they broke out into a soulful song and dance tribute to the city. Funny and slyly well executed. The special later won a boatload of Emmys for writing.

    Her first appearance on the Laugh In tv show

    https://youtu.be/WiOmSWEroUQ

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    @Yarrow

    No a/c here*. Air has been brutally hot and torpid this past week. Normally am able to turn off the fan(s) once it is late night and be okay, however last night kept all three of them going non-stop to be able to go unconscious.

    *1) Not sure the wiring and circuit box in this cottage could handle the additional load.
    2) Much prefer not to receive an electric bill which has “continued in next envelope” printed on it.

  22. 22.

    Yarrow

    @ThresherK: Needed to do the a/c annual tune up this summer and didn’t do it because I got busy. It may need some coolant.

    @Raven: I think it has more to do with a terrible lightning storm we had this week. Power outages all over. My power went out, came back on, then went out again. I was running around unplugging everything because of the power surges. Turned off the a/c but not before a few of them. It’s been working okay since then but I’ve been keeping an eye on it.

    Then last night the power dimmed/went out two times in a row. Thinking maybe a squirrel got in a transformer or a lizard got in the a/c unit or something. Last night when I turned down the a/c I heard a weird buzzing but there were other noises–like the very annoying guy who takes out his deafening motorcycle every night at 10:30 pm or later and it also has some sound system playing at full blast–so I wasn’t quite sure if what I heard was the a/c buzzing or humming or some other sound.

    At 2:30 in the morning the unit felt hot. Let it rest for a few hours and at 4:30 it worked. Gonna call the a/c guys this week but thankfully don’t have to do it on Sunday or Monday of a holiday weekend now.

  23. 23.

    geg6

    Grace and Frankie is currently my favorite show ever. She and Jane Fonda are national treasures from that show alone.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    @Raven

    Being that worked at a summer camp for many years, and part of the job included doing maintenance (in exchange for living there year-round in the off-season), have danced this dance dozens of times previously.

    ;)

    Learned enough there to more than get by when it comes to plumbing, electrical and carpentry. And way too much about sewage lines and septic tanks.

  26. 26.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Yutsano:

    Oh yeah I forgot about that! Little Richard kind of fell off the face of the Earth back in the day, didn’t he? I think I read he retired from the music business and became a preacher or something.

    Rock has been known as a predominantly white genre since at least the late 60s, but rock n roll has its roots in African-American bluegrass and blues. I took a music class in college a few years ago and listened to an old blues/bluegrass song from the 40s. Sounded almost like a “modern” (50s-early 60s) rock song. You can definitely hear the influences

  27. 27.

    Raven

    @NotMax: Army snark for any shitty job. Sort of like “If you have a personal problem go see the chaplain and get your card punched”!

  28. 28.

    Betty Cracker

    Okay, I like the cut of her jib:

  29. 29.

    zhena gogolia

    Wow, I just did a little YouTube, and from a tip by Barack Obama I watched her and Richard Pryor in the “Juke and Opal” sketch. Brilliant.

    Richard Pryor was such a genius. They’re great together.

  30. 30.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Was privileged to see her on Broadway years ago in the one-woman show “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe”. We’re still quoting jokes from that show 30+ years later.

  32. 32.

    Ohio Mom

    @ThresherK: i recognize Shatner and Tomlin (who always seems ageless) but not the others. They look familiar but I can’t place them. Who are they?

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I saw her do The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life In The Universe live, I think in ’88. An amazing show, her energy on stage, shifting from character to character, incredible. I regret not making an effort to see it again. I heard the movie wasn’t put together very well, and I didn’t want to see it. I think enough time has passed I should seek it out

    Marc Marron said a couple weeks ago Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner are one of his “white whale” interviews, people who just don’t want to do it, along with Albert Brooks and… somebody else who’s name escapes me.

  35. 35.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax:

    And way too much about sewage lines and septic tanks.

    It’s possible to know too much about sewage lines and septic tanks?

  37. 37.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    All of her movies are great of course, I’d watch her in anything. But one of my favorite pairings is with Steve Martin in All of Me

  38. 38.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:

    Much prefer not to receive an electric bill which has “continued in next envelope” printed on it.

    QFT.
    Also needs a thanks for the laugh. Been a tough few days, always appreciate a laugh. Doesn’t necessarily make things better, in fact it sometimes hurts, but a good laugh is always worthwhile, hurts to or not.

  40. 40.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Betty Cracker:

    The @NRA has bought the president and hand-picked a Congress that turns a blind eye to the gun violence epidemic happening in our nation. They gotta go. Vote.

    I like it overall, but a small nitpick: I don’t like that she says “Congress”. Yes, there are some Dems who appease the NRA, but they aren’t as numerous as they used to be. It’s 100% the Rs in Congress that block good gun legislation

  42. 42.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:
    There may always be considered issues with anyone who has been a prosecutor but she’s my first choice. Smart, very capable, at least as far left as I am, has experience running a large bureaucracy. And I like that along with all that goodness she manages to be a black woman, I don’t know how she does it.
    Just in case – SFA – Snark Fucking Alert!

  43. 43.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @NotMax:
    I can see it. Gives a whole new meaning to the “sex” part of “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll” ; )

  45. 45.

    schrodingers_cat

    Local politics dispatch:
    I am going to be on the town Democratic committee. So my name is going to be on the ballot on Super Tuesday. Our town is tiny, less than 3000 registered voters. Next week we are doing a canvass to register unregistered voters. I was working on the list and about 1/3 of the eligible voters are unregistered. Is that a high percentage? We are in the vicinity of many liberal arts colleges and a land grant university so some of these unregistered voters are students who could be registered elsewhere.

  46. 46.

    ThresherK

    @Ohio Mom: Fred Willard, Rita Moreno, and Cloris Leachman.

    @geg6: Tomlin, Fonda, Dolly Parton and Dabney Coleman were boffo in “9 to 5”, a movie which I thought should have launched a bigger movie career for Parton.

  48. 48.

    J R in WV

    @Ruckus:

    We always get three power bills. One for the actual house, one for the power drop for the well head, about 600-700 feet from the house, and the last for the shop building. That one is pretty cheap this time of year, less so in the winter time, I keep it just above 40 in the winters.

    The well head bill is usually $7 or $8 to pump the water up the hill. The neighbors share the well with us, no problems so far. Plus a team to work on failures!

  49. 49.

    Jay

    i know there’s bad in the world. and it would be silly. to pretend it isn’t there. but for now here’s my leash. and a few licks on your hand. to convince you that one day. we will be alright— Thoughts of Dog (@dog_feelings) August 4, 2019

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:
    I used to get 2 bills. One for the house, one for the shop. The house bill was normal for the area. The shop bill depended on if I ran the machines that cut using electricity (known as EDM) operated all night long. Which I always wanted them to do. Most expensive machines but highest return. Could run unattended – while I was sleeping! Had shop electric bills that would almost rival the rent. My current boss tells me the shop bill can be over $900/month in the summer. AC in the shop, but without that no one wants to stand at a machine in 95 deg +.

  55. 55.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    When the main building (originally built as a hotel in the 19th century) burned down one winter, the hastily constructed replacement includes putting in a partially buried large cylindrical fiberglass aerator tank for the liquids pumped uphill from the new septic tank, thence to be distributed to seepage pits dug out in the woods (later to a tile field the state mandated, which they insisted be placed spitting distance from the lakefront, where the water table was highest, but that’s another story). The tank was clearly labeled as #2, the second one built by whatever the company was. No idea how many they eventually built and installed, but learned later on that tank #1, installed at their own factory, had been torn out and scrapped because it never worked properly – suffering the same constant problems as our #2. Dunno how many times I had to get inside and fiddle with stuff in there so it didn’t release a cloud of stench into the atmosphere, right next to the camp’s entrance. Eventually got to the point where we were turning on the noisy aerator pump only overnight.

  57. 57.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @ThresherK: Dabney Coleman had two series that were doomed but IMHO and IIRC pretty good, Buffalo Bill and Slap Maxwell, in both he played a kind of proto Larry David character, only not so worried about whether or not people liked him. As I recall Slap Maxwell was the better one.

  59. 59.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:
    Some don’t know how possible it is to be too familiar with human waste disposal. Especially when it isn’t working 100% correctly. Experience usually fixes that.

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: Excellent! Thanks for standing up and putting your name out there.

    Pew Trusts (pdf):

    Official statistics vary, but a conservative estimate, calculated using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent Voting and Registration Supplement, indicates that 21.4 percent were not registered to vote in 2014.1

    When I become Benevolent Despot, automatic voter registration will be one of my first official acts.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  66. 66.

    Jay

    This is the sort of weekend that terrifies people living paycheck-to-paycheck:? Rent is due Sunday 9/1? Friday’s deposited paycheck may not clear for days because of the holiday weekendOverdraft fees & payday lenders shouldn't be the solution. I’ve got a bill for that.— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 31, 2019

  67. 67.

    Capri

    Lily Tomlin was very important to my sister, who was trying to find her way as a gay teenager in the 70’s. Tomlin was as out as any celebrity at the time – and knowing there was a least one other lesbian who managed a successful adulthood meant everything to her. She holds a special place in my heart for that reason

  68. 68.

    ThresherK

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: As a weird youth I was very much onto the Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist comedies popular in Britain, some of which found their way over here.

    These two Dabney Coleman shows were ahead of their time ratings-wise.

    (Yet American TV also tried three times to remake Fawlty Towers, and each was awful.)

  71. 71.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I was working on the list and about 1/3 of the eligible voters are unregistered.

    In our MA town, if you don’t return the paper census ballot sent out every January, your voter registration is cancelled. Since we’re old white people (who’ve lived at the same address for a quarter-century), this means we have to sign an ‘attest’ stating we’re still living at that address before we can vote, which takes all of a minute’s detour. Don’t know if it’s a statewide practice or just our town, but it may be that a percentage of your ‘permanent’ (non-student) residents have gotten into lazy habits like ours…

  72. 72.

    Mary G

    @geg6: My Guatemalan housemate has discovered Grace and Frankie and runs in to tell me the plot of every episode. I’m off TV for some reason, but once I take it up again, that show is #1 on the list.

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: That movie is the first thing I thought of.

  73. 73.

    Mary G

    Nice little story about serendipity from Paul Williams:

    Over time, I've tried to explain to people that as an adult, the concept of "failure" is basically meaningless, especially when you're trying to build a creative life, and this is a great example: pic.twitter.com/K3JpdwLLCS— Aditya Bidikar (@adityab) September 1, 2019

  74. 74.

    Redshift

    The statewide (Virginia) coordinated campaign picked my precinct for the first canvassing of the fall on Northern Virginia today. It went pretty well, meaning there was someone who answered the door at about one out of ten houses.

    I also saw my first Yang 2020 yard sign and bumper sticker.

  75. 75.

    206inKY

    The occasional reminder that everyone else who reads/lurks/loves this blog as obsessively as I do is old! :)

  77. 77.

    Jay

    1/ Why did the police riot and attack unmasked protesters and medics at the Straight Pride Parade?Pax Centurion, the magazine of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association, tells them that the only way to deal with protesters is "the surety of violence meeting violence." https://t.co/rqrsVGhx1A— AntiFash Gordon (@AntiFashGordon) September 1, 2019

    Not quite the 7,500 ( half) of the CBD/ICE nazi accounts,

  81. 81.

    Ohio Mom

    @joel hanes: Yes, Goku is a young, in college, working on a nursing degree. I don’t know anything about Tengu, though youth would explain his unbridled flights of fancy (was that diplomatic enough?).

    I think there are also a few among us that are in their first half of middle-age but how this place became a magnet for oldsters is an interesting question. I have no theories.

  82. 82.

    Yarrow

    @Raven: Sorry, very late getting back to the thread. Yes, I suspect the capacitor. Fan was working. I can probably replace it–lots of videos and instructions online. Problem is, I don’t think Home Depot or Lowe’s carry the part so it would have to be a HVAC store. Those were mostly closed on Sunday/Labor Day Monday. Glad it’s working again. It’s really hot out.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    Toilet fill assembly replacement finished. Now in wait mode for an hour or so to make sure water level isn’t dropping when tank is full and shut-off valve is off, and that the container placed underneath the exterior fitting stays dry.

    One extended moment of humorous in retrospect puzzlement. When first filled the tank, new fill valve shut off as it is supposed to, but then heard water entering the bowl. Changed flapper, let the tank refill, same thing. Hadn’t realized that while moving around underneath and on the side I had nudged the control for the bidet attachment just barely enough to allow a trickle through. Once that duh! light bulb went off over my head and I turned the bidet control to off, all was silent.

  84. 84.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anne Laurie: The rule in MA is that if you miss the annual snail-mail town census, you end up on the “inactive voters list”. You’re still registered, but to vote with a regular ballot, you have to (1) fill out that affirmation of residence, and (2) provide some kind of ID proving your address (not necessarily a photo ID). If you miss two of the even-year state elections while you’re on the inactive list, then they cancel your registration.

    I gather that, as registration-purge procedures go, this is actually kind of strict and suppressive, and I’ve always thought it’s a poor way to run things (especially since it depends on reliably answering a piece of paper mail, which is increasingly buried in spam). I’ve gotten on the inactive list for failing to turn that thing in before.

  85. 85.

    Jay

    1/ Why did the police riot and attack unmasked protesters and medics at the Straight Pride Parade?Pax Centurion, the magazine of the Boston Police Patrolman's Association, tells them that the only way to deal with protesters is "the surety of violence meeting violence." https://t.co/rqrsVGhx1A— AntiFash Gordon (@AntiFashGordon) September 1, 2019

    BTW, no bail for the Nazis of “Patriot Prayer”. Despite crippling Portlaners fo their whole lives.

    $250,000 dollars bail for a Portlander taking a hammer away from a Nazi who was trying to cripple a Portlander.

  87. 87.

    Chip Daniels

    Tomlin is also terrific in Grace and Frankie with Jane Fonda- If you haven’t seen it, you are missing out.

  91. 91.

    debbie

    Probably because it was a girls’ school, we went through a phase of snorting out answers like Ernestine in classes. The teachers were not amused.

    Happy Day, Lily!

  92. 92.

    Ladyraxterinok

    Valerie Harper was born just s few days before her, on Aug 22, 1939.

    Things are getting creepy. I was born 4 months after her.

  94. 94.

    Yutsano

    @Jay: I have another problem. I went to go pay my rent online. Had a weird rigamarole where they said my info didn’t match the unit.Tried a password change. That sailed through. Then it said my rent was paid. I blinked. I hadn’t paid it yet! Now I’m paranoid about putting the money in in case somehow it got made automatically. The real kicker is if I wait I wait until Tuesday EXCEPT the law just changed. I HAVE to pay my rent right on the first or else they can charge me late fees. And of course I can’t call anyone because of the holiday weekend. So yeah…that’s probably about to go cockneyed.

  97. 97.

    Steeplejack

    I went out about 7:00 PDT to pick up a keyboard/​mouse combo at Best Buy that will allegedly work with my Chromebook. The built-in keyboard is okay, but for an extended gig—like three weeks at my RWNJ brother’s house—I want something better. I’m going to put the Chromebook in “tripod” mode (not my actual Chromebook) and use the screen with the external keyboard and mouse. I’ve already used an external mouse successfully, so I’m hoping this will work too.

    Since I was out under the cooling cover of sundown and dark (checks weather—still 99° nearly two hours after sunset) I ran by Vons (Safeway’s West Coast twin) and picked up some victuals and supplies. Will shop later in the week as I discover other inexplicable gaps in my brother’s larder.

    Mom’s doing okay; nothing to report. Woody the greyhound is doing okay, although still acting a little weird occasionally. I think my brother’s schedule being disrupted the last month upset Woody. Liberalized treat policy seems to be helping.

    ETA: Wrong picture—that’s not tripod mode. Hopefully you get my drift. Folded like a place card.

  98. 98.

    PJ

    @Ohio Mom: Judging from the self-identification in comments and in photos of meet-ups, it seems like the commentership (not necessarily the readership) skews old and white. There’s a certain amount of intolerance here for ideas and experiences that don’t conform to those of over-50 (and it seems like mostly over-60) white people who spend a lot of time on Facebook and the internet generally. Obviously, there are people of color and people under 50 who regularly comment here, but they seem to be in the minority (but then I am not on here half as much as the regulars, so take this all with a grain of salt). When Angry Black Lady was posting here she was not shown a lot of love; some of this seemed to be partly her attitude towards critical comments, but some of it seemed to be due to an intolerance towards a different point of view. New commenters tend to be attacked. The “our club” attitude of many commenters could be off-putting. But then there are probably hundreds, if not thousands (after all, this is almost a top 10,000 blog) of readers, who never comment at all, so who knows what the overall readership is like.

  100. 100.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Steeplejack:

    Folded like a place card.

    That’s a first-gen ASUS Chromebook Flip? Nice machine, innit? The keyboard’s a tad cramped. Ah, well. Eventually the screen started fritzing, so I got a second-gen model. And that’s been a dream ever since. I hear the third-gen is great, but feel no urge to upgrade. None whatsoever.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    FYI, though gone but not forgotten from NYC, there exists a Carnegie Deli inside The Mirage. Read somewhere they offer a substantial discount to locals, if your bro left anything around you might be able to use as I.D. Probably not 100% as delectable as the original, but ya never know…

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:
    I think a lot of us olds have been on here for quite a while. Was just thinking how long ago I’ve been here and I think it’s 07 or 08. Could be wrong. But if you look at the responses to a lot of things written here we all seem to be politically within arms length of each other. I came here from a couple other places, used to frequent LGM, C&L, sullivan, TPM, even have my own political blog that pretty much hasn’t gone anywhere and I haven’t even posted on in a while. I think what draws and keeps us coming back is the format, the people the sort of back fence, small town feel of the place. And yet we have people 50 or more years apart in age, front pagers with a wide range of views, and a blog lord who likes open communication, has a wide tolerance latitude for assholes, and seems to thrive on us just hanging out. Threads often veer off into the wilderness and just fad out. We talk about getting old, about being young, it’s back fence neighbors from many parts of the world.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    No recollection of how I found this place (maybe from Bartcop?). Lurked for some indeterminate number of years. Put the blame on Raven announcing his then upcoming trip to Maui for drawing me out of my usual thick shell.

    Had my own daily blog for about a decade and also guest blogged for another until it went poof, but has been a long while since those activities.

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Yeah, Asus Chromebook Flip C100PA. The keyboard is very type-able and fine for “I’m going to work on my screenplay at Starbucks,” but it slows me down for extended typing sessions. The heel of my palm occasionally brushes the scratchpad and erases text (and moves the cursor “focus”), and I have trouble remembering some of the more esoteric key combinations. Last year I just put up with it, but i swore I would find some sort of external keyboard next time (and just leave it here when I leave).

    I got the Logitech MK540 combo for $44, if anyone’s interested. Remains to be seen if it works, although I believe it will.

    I love the Chromebook itself. A great little box, and it beats lugging my small but still much larger Lenovo notebook.

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    @BruceFromOhio:
    Yeah, a lot of us go back a long way and while we may have gotten here from different directions, it looks like we like the neighbors. I do, even though every once in a while some seem to veer off into the wilderness.
    I know you’ve been here quite a long time as well and have given me some great insights. It’s why I stay, it’s adults discussing adult stuff and every once in a while having an argument. Real life IOW. I’ve met a few people outside at meet ups and yes PJ is right we do probably skew old and white. But we aren’t an exclusive club anyone can drop in any time and as long as they remain reasonable civil seem to be welcome. People from all walks of life, all colors, origins, orientations. Just not political assholes. I think they aren’t welcome, but then I live in a state that barely tolerates them. The last county I lived in was 80% democratic.

  114. 114.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Steeplejack:

    I love the Chromebook itself. A great little box

    And the C100PA, at $250 (when I bought it a few years ago) is so cheap that if I lose it (somehow) I don’t feel terrible. Not like losing a $2k laptop.

  115. 115.

    Steeplejack

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Not like losing a $2k laptop.

    Exactly.

    Come to think of it, mine may be second-generation. I bought it about two years ago and paid about what you did. It’s very speedy and does everything I need it to do, so I haven’t felt the urge to upgrade. But I definitely would consider a new model when needed. The 10" screen is a good size.

  116. 116.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Jay: IIRC before Nazis totally took over in Germany, courts let off Nazis with little or no punishment. Socialists and other Nazi opponents got stiff penalties.

    I believe historians examine the court records to track the growth of Nazi power/strength in the various towns and districts.

  117. 117.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Steeplejack: The 2nd-gen model has a 12.5in screen with really high-pixel-density. Basically, with these old-man-eyes, I’ll never use it full-resolution mode. And the keyboard is a -little- bigger, so much more comfortable than the c100pa. But it’s twice the price ($500). At that price, I’d feel a little badly about losing it.

  118. 118.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Thanks for the tip sheet. This combo has the “unifying” thing, so it uses only one USB dongle. The keyboard shortcuts will come in handy.

  120. 120.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Ruckus: I started 8reading here regularly after the 08 election because my favorite site started attacking Obama constantly. I was so pleased with his election and couldn’t believe how angry and dissatisfied they were with him.

    The site had already bugged me during the primary. The racism and misogyny that was rampant among supposedly liberal democrats really freaked me out.

  123. 123.

    Steeplejack

    I came here during the run-up to the ’08 election from a link at Andrew Sullivan’s place, which I used to check daily for “The View from Your Window,” or whatever that was. Took me a while to get the nerve to comment.

    I know that Balloon Juice skews old and white, but it is a fantastic news aggregator (not just the front-pagers—commenters, too, and not just hard news but cultural and social stuff as well), and the jackaltariat collectively has an amazing breadth of expertise in a lot of areas—some of them very unexpected. And the tone is a lot less dickish than, say, LGM, although I do decry the occasional clubbishness and “Hello, nym that I have never seen.”

    ETA: Damn it. Got to figure out how to do emojis on this Chromebook.

  124. 124.

    joel hanes

    @Ruckus:

    it looks like we like the neighbors

    pack of snarling jackals
    nowhere else like it
    all hail the blogfather
    who saw the light

  125. 125.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, things seem to be in a bit of a lull, so I’m going to try to deploy the new keyboard and mouse.

  126. 126.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Steeplejack:

    Okay, things seem to be in a bit of a lull, so I’m going to try to deploy the new keyboard and mouse.

    Standing by, ready to call the fire department.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    Damn, that was easy! Scary easy. Didn’t even have to turn off the Chromebook.

    1. Turned off old mouse and removed dongle. (Stored it in battery compartment of mouse.)

    2. Inserted new “unifying” dongle.

    3. Turned on new mouse and keyboard. Voilà!

    I’m exhausted; I think I need a drink.

    Don’t get me wrong. The new keyboard is not the world’s greatest. It certainly pales in comparison to the clicky Das Keyboard back at world headquarters in Threadkill Lane, and the action is a little mushy, but it is a full-size keyboard—with ten-key pad—and the function keys seem to work, at least the ones I’ve tried so far (PgDn, Home, End, etc.)

    The mouse works fine and has a “clicky” wheel, which I like. It is slightly bigger than the old mouse (Logitech M325) and has better “hand feel.” It’s an M310.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    One sometimes has to accept a few concessions as a trade-off for backlighting.

    As for home keyboard, lurve my backlit mechanical Havit (model with no number pad because I never use it anyway). Pleasing backlighting is a softer shade of pale blue than the picture shows, an aluminum – not plastic – top panel under the keys, so the whole thing has nice solid (but not heavy) feel, and the sleek keys do not sit as high as usually found on mechanical keyboards, which I like a lot.

    This is not to in any way denigrate Das Keyboard, which is also a heckuva unit.

  134. 134.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    I wish my D.K. had backlighting. I wish this keyboard had backlighting. There is a Logitech combo that does (maybe more than one), but the price gets above what I wanted to spend for a throwdown keyboard.

    The Havit looks nice. Always collecting intel for new equipment.

  137. 137.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Steeplejack: From Wikipedia: The unusual flavour and odour of the fruit have prompted many people to express diverse and passionate views ranging from deep appreciation to intense disgust.

    I appreciate being deeply appreciated.

  138. 138.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    One thing about the installation: I couldn’t put the Chromebook in “place-card” mode, because apparently then it thinks it’s in tablet mode and ignores the keyboard (internal or external). So I had to put it in “flying V” mode—keyboard side face down on the table, screen side tilted at a tasteful angle for visibility. Works great.

  140. 140.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    Finally, there was a budget combo down around $22—the Logitech MK270—but it wasn’t available to fondle in the store (though it was in stock) and the on-line descriptions made me think it would not meet my moderately finicky standards. Your mileage may vary, anonymous reader.

  142. 142.

    Steeplejack

    Huh. Just got a “severe thunderstorm warning” for a storm coming up from Boulder City to the south. (I’m in Henderson, on the south side of Las Vegas.) The wind has already picked up and is rattling around the house.

    Temp now a balmy 93° at 12:33 a.m. PDT.

  143. 143.

    hells littlest angel

    One of the very few cast members of an incredibly awful TV show (R&MLI) to go on to much better things. The only other name that comes to mind is Goldie Hawn.

  145. 145.

    Chris Johnson

    @Jay:

    This is the sort of weekend that terrifies people living paycheck-to-paycheck:? Rent is due Sunday 9/1? Friday’s deposited paycheck may not clear for days because of the holiday weekendOverdraft fees & payday lenders shouldn’t be the solution. I’ve got a bill for that.— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 31, 2019

    Fuck me, she knows this. I bet she does have a bill for that. I am gobsmacked that she knows about it. Yes, please, let’s have a bill and some sort of remedy or aid or just help, about it.

  146. 146.

    TomatoQueen

    @Chris Johnson: But of course she knows about it. This girl grew up in a poor household and knows banking from first dirty trick played on the poor to the last. One of the chief attractions of the Consumer Financial Protection B as she campaigned for it was reform of the bank fees imposed on customers at the retail level, and still charged in some cases. She knows this up, down, and sideways.

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