Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fight them, without becoming them!

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

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

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

In after Baud. Damn.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Plan Your Calendar

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Plan Your Calendar

by | 176 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

But also:

Dad jokes unleashed: Is that a dressed-up Festivus Pole on the narrator’s right hand?…

And finally, for the Our Failed Media Experiment list:


… from the Upright Citizen Bridgade comedy troupe, apparently.

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  2. 2.

    David ??Booooooo?? Koch

    Have you notice how none of Dump’s supporters have staged any protest in opposition of Impeachment

  8. 8.

    Amir Khalid

    Today I collected my Squier Standard Telecaster in Vintage Blonde. Her name is Queen, after the jackal-recommended Taj Mahal blues song Queen Bee. (No definite article, just Queen.) They wished me a Happy New Guitar Day at the store, and it is.

  18. 18.

    Amir Khalid

    At this point, I make the usual vow: This is the last one, I swear. I can’t imagine wanting another one.

    I know what you all are waiting to say. Go right ahead.

  19. 19.

    Ladyraxterinok

    Incredible anti-Hillary tweets posted to tweet about Hulu documentary!! The hate isunbelivable!

  20. 20.

    WereBear

    @Amir Khalid: Early in our relationship Mr WereBear had to explain the Laws of Guitar. As in, just because he already has a guitar of that type, it doesn’t mean needs are all met…

     

    For instance, you might want to string the new one differently or need different tones or ..

     

    And I’m like, “Oh. Like cats.” :)

  21. 21.

    Raven

    @JPL: We built our addition so we could have a king and the doggies would fit. Now they have to sleep on the floor because they done got old.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    @WereBear:

    As a matter of fact, Queen will be in standard tuning and The Girl will be in Keef tuning. Mr Werebear will be happy to explain Keef tuning, I’m sure.

  23. 23.

    Amir Khalid

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I think they’re hoping to see the Democrats pwned when, in the face of a mountain of damning evidence, Mitch McConnell prevents the removal of the most corrupt POTUS ever.

  24. 24.

    Peale

    @Amir Khalid: I’m in Japan and failing at my vow not to buy watches just because I’m in one of theirs homelands. They aren’t cheaper here. And I can get most of them back home. Except for the two that I bought. I know those aren’t retailed in the US.. I don’t know how they fell into my cart, though. But that’s it. No watches in 2020. After January. Or February. Until at least May.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear: Kinda like cavers with headlamps, helmets, rappel devices, climbing rigs, handled ascenders, caribiners, ropes, cave packs, pelican containers, knee pads, boots, gloves……

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    In 2017, our colleagues at the Vera Institute of Justice issued a report on an underappreciated phenomenon: at the same time that economic change and policy reforms in America’s biggest cities have resulted in fewer people in jails and prisons, small cities and rural counties are incarcerating more and more people. This week, we’ve released new research on this changing geography of incarceration. Our study is the first recent estimate of the national jail population, and the results are troubling and urgent.

    Jails both produce and respond to the litany of horrors recited weekly in media coverage of declining small-town America – overdoses, violence, suicide, joblessness. Research consistently shows that jail impoverishes people and communities; even short jail stays can shred social stability, causing people to lose their homes and jobs. Research also shows that economic decline and increased jail incarceration each lead to higher rates of drug overdose deaths, playing an even bigger role in the overdose crisis than the prescription rate of opioids.

    The number of people in jail nationwide has increased over the past four years – rebounding after a brief dip – and it is rural counties that have been the primary driver of that increase, even as major cities continue to lock up fewer people. According to our data, jail incarceration in rural counties has risen a staggering 27% since 2013, while urban incarceration has declined 18%.
    ……………………………
    As one county sheriff in upstate New York told us: “If you build it, they will come. And that’s what happened. The judges knew there was room, so they threw them in jail.”

    I wonder if any of my neighbors might find this study an interesting read.

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. Sometimes I just crack me up.

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Citizen_X: Speaking as a carpenter, I have always taken pride in the fact that a lot of the stuff I had a hand in building will still be around long after I am gone.

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    Speaking of prisons and jails, this was a sweet story.

    WaPost:  They thought their dog was gone forever. Meanwhile, prison inmates were treating him like a king.

    Montgomery, Alabama.  Soup, a 3-year old English setter, took off after a deer while he was in training.  Was missing for days, and his owners despaired.  And then…

    … the Parkers got a call from a guard at the prison a mile away. He heard that the couple was looking for the dog, and he wanted to tell them that he knew where Soup was. The dog’s tag fell off, and employees at the prison didn’t know Soup had a microchip.

    Michael discovered Soup was living large at Kilby Correctional Facility, which receives most of the state’s inmates for evaluation. The inmates were giving up their dinners to feed Soup, who feasted on roast beef, chicken tenders, steak and peach cobbler, as first reported by the Montgomery Advertiser.

    Soup, whose name was the nickname of Leigh’s father, got to run around a big field outside, play basketball with the inmates and tussle with the K-9s who work at the facility.

    “He was living high on the hog,” Leigh said.

    Charles Brooks, a plant maintenance supervisor, said he found Soup at 6 a.m. Monday lying by a state vehicle and looking scared. After Brooks fed him a biscuit, the dog followed the maintenance staff everywhere. At night, Soup slept under a shed outside, and he rested on top of a makeshift bed of old towels during the day.

    Soup and the Parkers were happily reunited; Soup slept hard once back home.  And he will be returning to the prison for a visit.

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A Los Angeles police officer who allegedly fondled a dead woman’s breast was charged on Thursday with a felony, authorities said.

    David Rojas, 27, was charged with having sexual contact with human remains without authority, according to a statement from the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office. He could face up to three years in state prison if convicted.
    ………………………..
    It was not immediately clear whether Rojas had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that usually provides legal counsel for its members, said it will not defend Rojas.

    “We hope that district attorney Jackie Lacey charging Mr Rojas for his vile alleged crime will bring some solace to the deceased woman’s family during their time of grieving,” the union’s board said in a statement. “His alleged behavior is abhorrent and an affront to every law enforcement professional working for the LAPD.”

    Huh, so there is a level of depravity that a police union will not defend after all.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Sab: Heh, in Leo Kottke’s live album he introduces a song while tuning his guitar and then says, “It begins like all my songs with a lot of tuning.”

  38. 38.

    germy

    On #MayDay, I celebrate my Chetnik grandfather for saving my family from becoming one of the 100 million murdered under communism! #freedom pic.twitter.com/tN3qH5sLea
    — Tiana Lowe (@TianaTheFirst) May 2, 2017

    hey this is the woman who wrote the “bernie sanders is an antisemite” piece. the chetniks, of which she’s proud her grandpa was a member, we’re serbian nationalist partisans who collaborated with the nazis and regularly turned jews over to them during the holocaust. very cool. t.co/ej9RXCst7K— isi breen (its pronounced ‘izzy’) (@isaiah_kb) December 14, 2019

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    English Premier League leaders Liverpool are at home to bottom-of-the-table Watford in the early kickoff match. After 16 matches, Liverpool have 46 out of 48 possible points this season. Watford have 9.

  40. 40.

    germy

    The reputation management firm Status Labs helped Betsy DeVos suppress Google searches connecting her to her brother, Blackwater founder Erik Prince, when she became education secretary. Great @WSJ look at how the 1% scrubs it’s image online. t.co/Qchf3dkZjM— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) December 13, 2019

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle: I saw this yesterday:

    A man in the US has saved his neighbour’s dog after its leash got caught in an elevator, posting CCTV footage of the dramatic rescue on Twitter.

    The video showed Johnny Mathis exiting the elevator at his apartment complex in Houston, Texas, as his neighbour entered, but her dog, which was on a long leash, failed to follow before the doors closed.

    Mathis leapt into action, managing to unlatch the dog from the leash as the lift ascended.

  42. 42.

    Barbara

    @OzarkHillbilly: And we are sure this controls for sending urban residents to jails in rural locations?  Would guess this has a lot to do with misguided responses to opioid related crimes.

  44. 44.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Barbara:  The article discusses this. Urban area courts are reducing the #s going to jail and prison. A fair amount of this increase is due to CPB and ICE overflow as well as Federal prisons needing places to hold prisoners waiting for trial. I’m sure the breakdown is in the report, even if not the article.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly: 

    David Rojas, 27, was charged with having sexual contact with human remains without authority

    There is a way to have sexual contact with human remains WITH authority?

  47. 47.

    germy

    Here’s something I didn’t know:

    They used real skeletons in the original Poltergeist movie.

    “They came from Carolina Biological,” Kasson said, naming a medical and science supply company that sold human skeletons mainly for use in medical schools back in the 1980s. “Replica skeletons did not exist, as far as I remember, at that time,” Kasson said. “They’re now common and relatively cheap. And the rush to the bottom line for cost will dictate.”

    snopes.com/fact-check/were-real-skeletons-used-in-the-making-of-poltergeist/

    Here’s the scene:
    youtube.com/watch?v=pN30QHVm4-0

  48. 48.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:

    Mind you, I am not totally surprised to learn that someone at the LAPD is empowered to authorise the sexual molestation of dead bodies.

  50. 50.

    Josie

    @satby:

    It puts me in mind of a soap maker adding scents, molds, oils, etc. to an ever growing inventory of totally necessary stuff.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    @OzarkHillbilly:   Thank dog that had a happy ending.  Keep those doggos on a short leash for safety in elevators (and elsewhere; I often see doggos with the leash so extended they could dash right into the street. Wonder about those owners.)

    Good for Mr. Mathis.

  53. 53.

    Josie

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’ve lived with this for years.  My son is a professional guitar player/producer and is constantly looking at new guitars, amps, digital whatevers.  His acquisitions  are only kept in line by his lack of money.

  55. 55.

    Gin & Tonic

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    a lot of the stuff I had a hand in building will still be around long after I am gone.

    You might like these pictures (you don’t need to read the text) of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Rohatyn, Ukraine. Built in 1598, still standing.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    For the second match in a row, Mo Salah scores with his right, weaker foot. Liverpool 1-0 Watford.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    What counts as a mass shooting? The dangerous effects of varying definitions

    Shortly after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, the research analyst Marisa Booty was tasked with updating data about mass shootings for the Center for Gun Policy and Research and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. But while sorting through publicly available data, she found all of the sources defined mass shootings slightly differently.

    Now, Booty and her team of researchers are calling on the US government to establish a consistent definition of mass shootings. In a study published on 3 December, Booty and other researchers analyzed four commonly cited public databases and found that the reported number of mass shootings in 2017 ranged from 11 to 346.

    This led to concerns about lobbyists and lawmakers only using the mass shooting data that best matches their individual agenda. The researchers say this inconsistency can slow legislative progress and affect the level of media attention on incidents that don’t meet certain standards.

    The four sources include the not-for-profit organizations Everytown for Gun Safety and the Gun Violence Archive, as well as Mother Jones and the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR). Mother Jones, a news organization that tracks mass shooting incidents, excludes shootings that result from domestic violence, drug deals and gang activity. The others recognize these instances but diverge when it comes to including nonfatal gunshot injuries.

    “Since a lot of these definitions revolve around persons killed and fatalities, events with nonfatal injuries are easily overlooked in discussion and policy,” Booty says.

    It always struck me as utter idiocy to limit the definition to people killed, as tho those people who just lost a leg or a spleen didn’t count. Of course the NRA are going to lobby for strict definitions of what constitutes a mass shooting in order to keep the # As low as possible. Won’t matter to them in the least if researchers reach wrong conclusions due to inadequate data.

    Feature, not a bug.

  61. 61.

    Amir Khalid

    Watford keep missing their chances. Their dreadful finishing helps explain why they are propping up the league table. I think Sadio Mané alone has scored more goals this season than Watford.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gin & Tonic: Timber frames are cool. I wish I could have done some when I was younger. I rescued a timber framed barn a couple years ago, tho I used modern techniques and materials. The owners couldn’t afford to do it in the old ways. At least it will stand for another 150 years or so, dawg willing and the tornadoes keep missing.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    @Raven: Do you have room to build a ramp for them? We’ve considered one for our old Daisy. She can still make the jump when she really wants to, but it’s increasingly difficult for her.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Even if I wanted to go there, I would need to prioritise a tech purchase: my current laptop, purchased early in Obama’s second term, is now showing its age.

  70. 70.

    Sab

    @Betty Cracker: I got some carpeted steps from some pet catalog. The dogs can use them to get onto the bed, but they mostly don’t. The cats, on the other hand, love to lounge on the steps.

  71. 71.

    Amir Khalid

    @Gin & Tonic:

    An American diplomat — the late Richard Holbrooke, I think — once said that blaming the UN for the international community’s failures was like blaming Madison Square Garden when the Knicks lose.

  72. 72.

    Betty Cracker

    @debbie: To quote Mr. Emerson from “Room with a View,” “‘Built on faith’ just means the workers weren’t paid properly.” :)

  73. 73.

    Sab

    I took my cocker spaniel to the groomer yesterday for a bath but not a furcut. It’s winter. He was whiffy because he drags his ears through his food. Told them to only trim his feet and his head.

    So now his little stubby docked tail looks like a pom-pom. It’s ridiculous.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: I must have seen him in concert at least a dozen times, from church basements to college amphitheaters to high dollar rotating stage venues. He had his guitars stolen in STL but didn’t hold it against us and came back many times anyway. One thing I always appreciated about him was that he was never afraid of being upstaged by his opening acts (once he got big enough to warrant one). One of the last times I saw him he introduced me to Lyle Lovett when LL was still a one album nobody.

    LL put on one hell of a show and Leo had to work his ass off to match it.

     

    ETA 6 and 12 String Guitar is still an album without match (otherwise known as the Armadillo album).

  76. 76.

    Amir Khalid

    Mané has a goal disallowed, for being offside by a hair. VAR disallowed a Liverpool goal against Tottenham Hotspur earlier this season because Bobby Firmino’s armpit was offside. (Yes, really.) I can’t complain, though: rules is rules.

  77. 77.

    kindness

    So we already know (some of) Bernie’s supporters will try to torpedo any other nominee who wins, will the billionaires do the same thing?  I think if it’s Warren they will.  Just not as nastily as BernieBros do.  But the MSM will magnify that out of proportion of course, because their owners want mushy that doesn’t change things much.  MSM owners are mostly Republican Lite after all.

  78. 78.

    Amir Khalid

    Gini Wijnaldum injures his knee and Andy Robertson is on for him. A very attacking option, Robbo is.

  83. 83.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Kottke was one of the first albums I bought when I went away to college (Harvard Coop!), along with Suni McGrath. Lo, these many years later when I’ve forgotten most of what I’ve heard, I can still recognize a Kottke piece almost immediately.

  87. 87.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie:
    “With all the shit that has been released recently, it was a distinct pleasure to come across this album… Kottke isn’t a new addition to the Page-Beck school of grating, hypertensive guitarists, as if you were expecting that. He’s an acoustic guitarist from Minneapolis whose music can invoke your most subliminal reflections or transmit you to the highest reaches of joy… anything in addition to his guitar would be superfluous.”

    – Rolling Stone.

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    Mohamed Salah seals the win for Liverpool with his second goal. The video assistant referee, who occupies a bunker in London, apparently decided his armpit heel was onside.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    Ben Smith
    @BuzzFeedBen
    14m
    Ivanka being interviewed by *State Dept PR person*, a former Fox News contributor, at the #DohaForum. Never quite seen anything like it.

    The representatives from other countries are being interviewed by real journalists. The United States, on the other hand, is issuing carefully scripted state-mandated propaganda.

    Other, higher ranking figures, including the Malaysian PM and Turkish foreign minister, did tough interviews with journalists.

  94. 94.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: I always wanted to work on one like that. Sadly, the closest I came was an evangelical mega church where the focus was on how many people they could cram into one space.

  95. 95.

    Amir Khalid

    Liverpool now have 49 points out of a possible 51, but given that second-placed Leicester City play at home today to 19th place Norwich City, I expect Leicester will easily stay just eight points behind.

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: megachurch — did they have seats with cup holders?  Most of the new ones do.  Must stay hydrated when worshipping.  It’s right there in the uh, Book of Coke?

  97. 97.

    Kay

    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    After watching the disgraceful way that a wonderful man,
    @BrettKavanaugh
    , was treated by the Democrats, and now seeing first hand how these same Radical Left, Do Nothing Dems are treating the whole Impeachment Hoax, I understand why so many Dems are voting Republican!

    As the cases on whether he can continue to hide his financial records go to the Supreme Court.
    The corruption and self-dealing is just right out in the open now, every day.

    Gross, sleazy people.

  99. 99.

    Jay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It’s not “ICE overflow”. Many of the urban ICE facilities  sit  almost empty because McKinsey, ( theres that name again), recommended that ICE could cut costs, family visits and acess to lawyers, for the refugees, by moving them hundreds of miles away from their support systems and communities to rural jails, For Profit Prisons, and by setting up Concentration Camps in the desert.

  100. 100.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: I was there to hang drywall, gone when it was finished. The amphitheatre ceiling was a good 50-60 feet in height over the stage (the scaffolding for hanging the lid took over a week just to assemble). I forget how many tiers there were in the floor but the highest was within 12 feet of the ceiling. I estimated at the time that it would easily hold 5,000 people. I suspect I was being way too conservative.

  104. 104.

    Jay

    @Another Scott:

    CX 500’s were an interesting bike. A “practical” and rugged road bike at the time of Sport Bikes and rockets. There was one that made a trip around the world, sailing disassembled from continent to continent in the bilge of a small sailboat, onlybto be derusted and rebuilt in every port before hitting the road.

  106. 106.

    Jay

    @Immanentize:

    The Book of Coke is only for the pastor, the congregation is expected to use opiods.

     

    Cold and flu season so fish antibiotics are trending again.

  108. 108.

    JMG

    So the place where we buy our Christmas trees is also a working commercial farm (three greenhouses full of poinsettas yesterday) and fancy food grocery emporium. Overcome with the wastrel spirit of the season, I bought two duck breasts, which I have never cooked before. Google search of recipes resulted in two sets of them with directly contradictory advice in step one. So do you cook the breast starting in a hot skillet or a cold one? First hand advice much welcomed.

  109. 109.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: Believe it or not, tapers actually do use stilts, hangers always use step ups or scaffolding, depending on ceiling ht. In this case of course, they left the scaffolding up for the tapers.

  114. 114.

    Immanentize

    @JMG: hot skillet locks in more fat.  Cold skillet allows more fat to escape when cooking.  I have used both methods, but now I sear just the skin side in a hot skillet then turn it down low to medium, flip it over, and cook for 4 minutes a side ( or until you get the rareness you want). I should add — I have a gas cooktop.

  117. 117.

    Jay

    (Reuters) – Turkey has added exiled Palestinian politician Mohammed Dahlan to its “red list” of most-wanted terrorism suspects, offering a reward of up to 10 million lira ($1.75 million) for information leading to his capture, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

    mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1YH1CC?__twitter_impression=true

    Interesting. Not mentioned in the article is that after leaving Fatah and Palestine, Dahlan became a “fixer” and “bagman” for the UAE. Money and arms to all the ususal suspects like Eric Prince, Nader, Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Haftar, etc. From Mercs, to PMC’s through “investment” Corporations to high end Real Estate and political campaigns.

    Dahlan has mostly been seen jetting to Lybia to back Haftar and the LNA with UAE cash, “technical support” and purchased weapons, including drones and MRAPs, while Turkey provides the GNA with the same.

    Lately, the two, ( UAE and Turkey) have been directly targetting each other’s “technical support” with drone strikes, so the GNA has had a bunch of Turkish technicians and advisors killed, and the LNA, a bunch of Russians.*

    * Russia is “bothsiding” this one, with mercs and support tor both camps for now, but they seem to be souring on Haftar.

  118. 118.

    MomSense

    Kid sent me a screen shot of the silver plan he signed up for and paid.   He’d been trying to log in to healthcare.gov for a few days and couldn’t get in.  Peace of mind.

  121. 121.

    Tazj

    @Kamala.Harris.2020: No it isn’t, but as you know there’s no law to make him recuse so he won’t. Val Demmings, who’s been great at the hearings, has complained publicly about it but I’ve seen little else. Maybe we’ll hear more about it from the Democrats next week.
    It’s incredibly frustrating to see what they’re getting away with.

  125. 125.

    Kathleen

    @debbie: Judy Collins played one in her folk years. Judy Collins #3 is still one of my favorite albums. Bells of Rhymney is a masterpiece.

  130. 130.

    Starfish

    That Bloomberg thing was elaborate and weird. There was the guy who did it and claimed be an intern. Then there was the other guy who said he was also quitting the Bloomberg campaign for how the “intern” was “fired.” Was it all fake?

  131. 131.

    Jay

    @Starfish:

    other than the Bloomberg Campaign’s reaction and some people who were sucked in, yes, it was all fake, sort of.

    In the finest of Hedge Fund traditions, the Bloomburg Campaign uses a lot of unpaid “Interns”, ( yup, not called “volenteers”, interns).

  132. 132.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

     

    @Amir Khalid: So the guitarists can sneer at me for this comment, but why do you need more than one? Ok, two say, one acoustic and one electric.

    I’m a pianist. I get one instrument, and it is whatever it is at the site. Sometimes it’s awful, sometimes it’s great, but whatever it is I’m going to have to make it work with all styles. And if it’s a Steinway grand, it does.

    You may now point and laugh.

  134. 134.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t see that the Times actually, straight out, says to ITMF. They do their best to both-sides it, although they do seem to imply that perhaps some of the things that Trump has done might go over a line, in some people’s opinion.

    I’m sure Dean Baquet contributed his wisdom to this.//

  135. 135.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jay: I read a little of the bio of Chris Gardner, the guy who inspired the film “Pursuit of Happyness”. In the film a bunch of guys (all guys IIRC) work for free for a year making millions for some stock brokerage firm, and at the end of the year one of them gets a job.

    In real life, those “interns” paid thousands for the privilege. $10K as I recall.

  137. 137.

    zhena gogolia

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    To resist the pull of partisanship, Republicans and Democrats alike ought to ask themselves the same question: Would they put up with a Democratic president using the power of the White House this way? Then they should consider the facts, the architecture and aspirations of the Constitution and the call of history. In that light, there can be only one responsible judgment: to cast a vote to impeach, to send a message not only to this president but to future ones.

    I don’t see too many ways of interpreting that.

  138. 138.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Sab: What kind of harp?

    On the subject of owning more than one instrument: we know an Irish harp performer. She plays the Celtic harp, a biggish one but not like an orchestra harp. She keeps one in Ireland and one in the US, mainly because of the pain and cost and risk of flying them.

  140. 140.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @zhena gogolia: Ah, okay. I lost that in the morass of tergiversations. The recommendation is hidden at the end of the fifth paragraph.

    Yes, I saw the title, but the one word is not entirely unambiguous in the Times context. The piece starts out well, but then they let Dean Baquet take over the editing.

    But I guess we can be grateful that the Gray Lady has come out for “a vote to impeach,” even as they have not recommended removal of Trump or his toadies Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker.

  142. 142.

    zhena gogolia

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    WaPo, for example:

    We believe Mr. Trump should receive a full trial in the Senate, and it is our hope that more senior officials will decide or be required to testify during that proceeding, so that senators, and the country, can make a fair and considered judgment about whether Mr. Trump should be removed from office. We have reserved judgment on that question. What is important, for now, is that the House determine whether Mr. Trump’s actions constituted an abuse of power meriting his impeachment and trial.

  143. 143.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Peale:

    I feel ya! I love watches. One of the few ways a gentleman can accessorize. Some of those new Seikos are mouth-watering. But expensive!

    One of my favorites is my modest SRK005.

  144. 144.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @zhena gogolia: I’m not tracking that carefully. It seems pusillanimous to me for them to call for “a vote to impeach”, which is less than impeachment, which is less than removal.

    To be clear, calling for impeachment would be calling for a majority of the House to vote for impeachment. What would be even stronger would be challenging Republicans, as Republicans, to vote otherwise than the lockstep they have jammed themselves into.

    I think there are about five major and slightly below newspapers that have taken some sort of stand: NYT, WaPo, LA Times, Orlando Sentinel, and maybe one or two others I’m not recalling.

    Since the Times is so nitpicky, I’m turning that around on them. But they would have chosen their words carefully.

  146. 146.

    Jay

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    “Unpaid” internships, like Legacy Enrollments and Rowing Club Scholarships are another marker of The New Meritocracy.

     

    Only the supported children of the rich and well off can afford to spend a year working for free, and yet, doing so is used as a “gateway” into no shortage of “important to society” positions from Law to Journalism.

    In many ways, the failures of many of out Institutions, can be attributed to The New Meritocracy and the resultant “inbreeding”. Hapsburg Disease.

  148. 148.

    Jay

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    After going through a period in my early 30’s, where watches were a “thing”, a status mark, a “hobby” mark,  I switched to a Timex. Still have it, still wear it, still ticking, 30 years on, 10th watch band.

     

    watches will be gone soon, other than as a status symbol or an Ok Boomer marker.

  150. 150.

    J R in WV

    @Betty Cracker:

    I bought a new mattress a couple of weeks ago, after shopping around, that’s a surprisingly hard task to do right. Anyway, a few days later on they delivered it, and it was 8 inches thicker than the previous high-end really thick mattress. So high that even I couldn’t sit on the edge to put on shoes.

    Alice, the part-Lab sweetheart could  barely make it up with her most ferocious leap, and I could tell that if her hind end fell short, she was gonna fall and hurt herself. We had put a hassock at the foot of the bed to aid the cats in climbing up some time back with the lower mattress.

    So we took the “innerspring” box out, and laid plywood on the slats and put the mattress on the plywood, some 8 or 10 inches lower. Now we can sit on the edge for socks and shoes, and the dogs, all of them, can get up pretty easily.

    Raven, I see a ramp in your immediate future. Wife got a chest intended for the foot of the bed, long and low, which enables even older dogs and cats to make two easy jumps up to the bed height. But a ramp would be better.

    Happy Festivus, everyone!!!

  152. 152.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @zhena gogolia: “vote to impeach” is an exhortation to (unnamed, unidentified) members of Congress. “Impeach” is a demand on all of them.

    I agree it’s a small distinction, but, as I said above, presumably the Times Editoral Board has put some thought into the words they have used. And into how many they have used.

  153. 153.

    Soprano2

    I’m so sad we have to leave Maui tomorrow. I can see why people want to live here,  even though it’s terribly expensive! It’s nice to be in a place where taking care of the planet is assumed to be a good thing rather than controversial.  Going from daily temps in the low 80’s back to highs in the 40’s is going to be a bitch.

  155. 155.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Jay:

    They are already mostly jewelry, now that everybody has a cell phone with a clock in it. That’s why Seiko is abandoning the low end and going heavy into the market for watches in the mid four figures. I will never have one of those. I’m not that crazy.

  156. 156.

    CaseyL

    @OzarkHillbilly: My neighbor, a blues bassist, has So. Many. Guitars.  My neighbors own two houses, and the one over in Ocean Shores has an entire room full of guitars-in-cases; PLUS the ones in the living room waiting to be played.  Their house here in the city has guitars all along the living room walls.  Plus I think he has some in storage.   Must have a couple of hundred of them.

  158. 158.

    Miss Bianca

    OK, bakers – this recipe for Normandy rye-cider bread calls for a mixer with a dough hook. I do not have such a fancy-ass contraption on hand. Do I need one, or will hand-kneading do?

    (note: I am not the bread baker in this household – this will be my first attempt in many moons – D fancies a non-knead, slow-rise method that takes no hands on at all)

     

    ETA: the link doesn’t seem to want to link. : (

    Here it is nekkid:

    nationalpost.com/life/food/cook-this-normandy-apple-cider-rye-bread-fragrant-sweet-and-spicy

  159. 159.

    Original Lee

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Sorry I’m late to this thread! Trumpet players are notorious for owning more than one instrument. My daughter isn’t a professional, only minored in music, and has three (we gave one away a couple of years ago, otherwise, it would be four). One of her teachers owns 15, IIRC.

  161. 161.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    A Stratocaster is not like a Telecaster is not like a Les Paul is not like an acoustic, and so on. And a Tele in Keef tuning is not like a Tele in standard tuning. With amplfiers, a very big part of an electric guitarist’s sound, one could get into how a Marshall is not like a Fender is not like a Vox is not like a Mesa/Boogie, and so on, and that’s before you get into specific models from each maker. And then there’s the pedalboard: which effects pedals, and in what order? Gear can be very complicated.

  162. 162.

    sdhays

    @OzarkHillbilly: sexual contact with human remains without authority

    Because the real crime is that he didn’t ask for permission?

    I know it’s probably just the way the statute is written, but…

  163. 163.

    Ruckus

    @Another Scott:

    Have an old buddy, known him for decades, longer than his wife of 41 yrs, who has 5 motorcycles. And only rides occasionally any more, but has to have well over half a million miles under his belt, because I have over that and he’s ridden a bit longer than me. He’s finally talking of selling a couple of them. I wonder if he ever will.

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    Neighbor is old-timey musician, plays fiddle, banjo, guitar in that style, has won several blue-ribbons in contests. Self-taught instrument rebuilder, mostly fiddles and guitars, so always has antique broken instruments, also several he plays for gigs. Pro career as copy-editor nearing retirement, looks to do more old instrument rebuilds after he takes social security and retires.

    Lots of instruments, one spare bedroom is a shop. His wife quit fussing about them when she realized he was making money on every transaction — not a lot, but some…

  166. 166.

    Jay

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Apple Watches are just cool and trendy until the hackable brain chip implant with retinal interface comes out. That will only be trendy until Cyberdyne Systems perfects the meatspace/terminator interface.

  170. 170.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @WereBear:

    As in, just because he already has a guitar of that type, it doesn’t mean needs are all met…

    My friend Mike had 27 stringed instruments, last time anyone bothered to count.

    Not all guitars, of course.

  175. 175.

    miles to go

    I was a rocker for 29 years and used stilts and a panel lift. I
    worked with a partner most of the time, and one of us would
    put on stilts, call out the numbers. The other would cut and
    use the panel lift. While one of us nailed the lid the, other would
    cut the top sheet and push it up the wall to be tacked.

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