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rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Much Needed Respite Thread: More Ducks In Scarves

Much Needed Respite Thread: More Ducks In Scarves

by TaMara|  February 28, 20205:27 pm| 128 Comments

This post is in: Nature & Respite, Something Good Open Thread

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I don’t know about you, but I need a break from all the chaos. I wish all of you could have sweet ducks wandering around your backyard, cheering you on stressful days.

a duck in a knitted scarf

My plan to adorn one duck at a time worked really well today, so I got a nice shot of Maddie. As is her way, she averts her face from the camera as much as possible.

If you missed how all this started, click here for more Ducks in Scarves

Again, thanks to MomSense for creating these and sending them to me so I could dress up my flock.

Respite open thread

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Reader Interactions

128Comments

  1. 1.

    trollhattan

    February 28, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    The well-dressed duck is a successful duck. Or something.

    Love her!

  2. 2.

    Yutsano

    February 28, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    QUACK!!!
    That is all.

  3. 3.

    TomatoQueen

    February 28, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    Maddie looks elegant in her federal blue scarf.

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 28, 2020 at 5:32 pm

    That is one elegant duck!

  5. 5.

    CaseyL

    February 28, 2020 at 5:33 pm

    Maddie is wanted by The Authorities in three countries; hence her camera shyness.

    But the scarf is a great disguise: makes her look like a sweet college student duck (liberal arts!) instead of the lawless renegade she is.

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    February 28, 2020 at 5:33 pm

    Everything is just ducky!

  7. 7.

    debbie

    February 28, 2020 at 5:33 pm

    Sweet! Wasn’t Maddie the duck first seen removing her scarf immediately?

  8. 8.

    TaMara (HFG)

    February 28, 2020 at 5:38 pm

    @debbie: That was Mabel. I do have a photo of her looking all pretty in her scarf which I will save for another day when we need the break.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    February 28, 2020 at 5:40 pm

    @TaMara (HFG): So tomorrow then?   Can’t wait.

  10. 10.

    debbie

    February 28, 2020 at 5:43 pm

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Ah, I apologize for any inadvertent slighting, and I look forward to more photos of the ladies in their lovelies!

  11. 11.

    eclare

    February 28, 2020 at 5:45 pm

    Thanks to you and MomSense for this.  We can all use more ducks in scarves!

  12. 12.

    LuciaMia

    February 28, 2020 at 5:47 pm

    Ducks in Scarves.   The name of a new indie band?

    Or a new road sign.  Caution: “Ducks in Scarves”

  13. 13.

    chris

    February 28, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    Lordluvaduck!

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    February 28, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    Yes, I need a break! Unemployed Ohio Dad is caught up with his job applications earlier this afternoon and is currently at very loose ends.

    I told myself I would not panic until the end of March. Don’t ask me how panicking is going to help or change anything.

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    February 28, 2020 at 6:04 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I won’t ask you because I panic constantly even though I know it helps nothing.

    Maddie is lovely.

  16. 16.

    laura

    February 28, 2020 at 6:12 pm

    I’d like to see the ducks in some fresh Lily Pulitzer prints this spring. Nothing fancy, just simple A-line shifts.

    How’s that spotty pup and her dandy pal doing these days?

  17. 17.

    Ohio Mom

    February 28, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    Zhena @15: I’m glad you’ve decided to stick around. I’d miss you if you left.

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    February 28, 2020 at 6:16 pm

    Took a drive up to Red Rock to see(and do a time lapse) of the Milky Way as it faded into sunrise and rather than fighting traffic on the drive back to LA at that time, drove further north to Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills for some nice views of Mt. Whitney.

  19. 19.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    February 28, 2020 at 6:17 pm

    Lovely subtle color coordination, Maddie dear.

  20. 20.

    zhena gogolia

    February 28, 2020 at 6:19 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    Thanks, I’m addicted. I’m just trying to stay out of Sanders discussions to the best of my ability

    ETA: speaking of panic that does nothing

  21. 21.

    Ten Bears

    February 28, 2020 at 6:25 pm

    Ducks are prey, their eyes on the sides of their heads, vis-a-vis raptors whose like humans’ eyes are forward, so as to expand their peripheral vision, where raptors and humans are focused. She isn’t isn’t averting her gaze, that’s her best angle to get a good look at you.

    Funny thing, I’m one of those you might on occasion see sporting a green and yellow tie-dyed ducks tee-shirt or tank who ahhhh… actually went to the University of Oregon.

  22. 22.

    TaMara (HFG)

    February 28, 2020 at 6:28 pm

    I will try and do more respite threads. Life is calming down a bit (she says, knowing this is guaranteed to invite trouble).

  23. 23.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 28, 2020 at 6:34 pm

    Cute duckie! Do they like wearing the scarves, TaMara?

  24. 24.

    Brachiator

    February 28, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    @LuciaMia:

    Ducks in Scarves.   The name of a new indie band?

    Or a new road sign.  Caution: “Ducks in Scarves”

    Some New York ducks in this attire live in Scarvesdale.

    Quacks me up.

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    February 28, 2020 at 6:37 pm

    We have committed to taking in two cats in a few weeks. I’m getting excited but nervous too, as one of them has an array of issues. But they’re very cute. We’ve only seen them in pictures so far.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    February 28, 2020 at 6:38 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Good for you.

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    February 28, 2020 at 6:38 pm

    Ten [email protected]: That’s interesting. Except for the fact the fence is in the way, I see that Maddie is poised for a quick getaway. An advantage of using that posture to take a good look.

  28. 28.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 28, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    Amazing ?? I was following their knitting on Instagram and it’s so fun to see the end result!

    I spent most of my day half-panicking so I think I might just do some digital painting or something tonight. Finish a book. Watch Eureka. What a week.

  29. 29.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 6:45 pm

    I think I found Betty’s new hobby.

    Wildlife camera filming throughout the year like this fella in Pennsylvania.

  30. 30.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    At least Ohio Dad has you, all I’ve got is my cat Salad and that lazy fucker refuses to join me and go look for a job while I slowly edge into total despair as letter after letter goes unanswered.

  31. 31.

    zhena gogolia

    February 28, 2020 at 6:50 pm

    @Baud:

    Bailey (big, orange and white male with issues) and Xena (little cute gray-striped female). I’m going to mentally call her Zina after a Russian friend. Although I was a fan of Xena the Warrior Princess.

  32. 32.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 28, 2020 at 6:52 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: my cat Salad

    god damn that is a beautiful cat name.

  33. 33.

    MazeDancer

    February 28, 2020 at 6:54 pm

    @Ten Bears:

    Oooh, good point about ducks being birds. Thus, the way they look at you directly is turn their head.

    Adorable duck, by the way. Actually head-turningly adorable.

  34. 34.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 7:02 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    He was a neighbor’s cat (named by a then 4-year-old boy) when his original human mom got ill and had a battle with cancer (and won! she’s kicking ass to this day) and he kind of got lost in the shuffle.

    Slowly but surely he started jumping into my kitchen window (that was how my cat, Midnight, went in and out) and grabbing a snack and after about six months while his original family was still in flux and mom was in recovery he stayed with me.

    They even moved a couple of blocks away and he came straight back and I found him curled up on my kitchen chair.

  35. 35.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 28, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: lovely story!

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    February 28, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    Good thing Tamara doesn’t have a drake. She’d have to find him a top hat.

  37. 37.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 7:14 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: 

    It is, but his lazy ass refuses to get a job.

  38. 38.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    Elizabeth Warren gets the coveted Jello Biafra endorsement.

  39. 39.

    debbie

    February 28, 2020 at 7:15 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I was unemployed for 18 months, so I can relate to your sense of panic. It does no good, but there it is. Keep the faith and know that Ohio Dad will end up where he should be: at a much better job.

  40. 40.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 7:16 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Amir, are you preparing for a career in music as a fallback if things don’t work out?

    If so, I found a guy you may like.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    February 28, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Did you already apply for unemployment? You can do it all online now.

  42. 42.

    Catherine D.

    February 28, 2020 at 7:33 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    At least Ohio Dad has you, all I’ve got is my cat Salad and that lazy fucker refuses to join me and go look for a job while I slowly edge into total despair as letter after letter goes unanswered

    It’s infuriating, isn’t it? Hey, at least tell me to eff off.

  43. 43.

    Baud

    February 28, 2020 at 7:34 pm

    @Suzanne: 
    I don’t who that is, but he sounds like an awful person.

  44. 44.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 7:37 pm

    @Mnemosyne: 

    I did, but I waited until the new year because I had a job lined up that eventually fell through.

  45. 45.

    Ohio Mom

    February 28, 2020 at 7:38 pm

    Humboldt Blue: I sympathize. What is your field? Ohio Dad is a computer engineer (HMI and motion control ). I am thinking there is a lot of age discrimination that works against him.

    Debbie: Eighteen months?!!! I’m in awe. That was a lot of soldiering through.

  46. 46.

    John Revolta

    February 28, 2020 at 7:41 pm

    My baby’s got the most deplorable taste
    But her greatest mistake is hanging over her fireplace
    She’s got ducks! Ducks on the wall!
    Ducks! Ducks! Hanging on the wall!
    My lady’s got a sort of strange fascination,
    An obsessive fixation for cheap decorations
    She’s got ducks! Ducks on the wall!
    Ducks! Ducks! Hanging on the wall!
    Wo-wo-wo I love her so but if she doesn’t move the ducks,
    I think my mind is gonna go!
    Ducks! Ducks! Ducks on the wall!
    Ducks! Ducks! Hanging on the wall!

    _Kinks

  47. 47.

    Ken

    February 28, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    @LuciaMia: Ducks in Scarves. The name of a new indie band?

    Netflix series.  But you’ve got to say it like “Pigs…. in… SPAAAAACE!!” from the Muppet Show.

  48. 48.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2020 at 7:44 pm

    @Baud: Lead singer of the Dead Kennedys, songwriter of “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” (among others), and former candidate for Mayor of San Francisco. He also ran for president in 2000, coming in second to Nader for the Green Party nomination.

  49. 49.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I was a sportswriter and then news reporter for 21 years and my industry has simply been melted away by hedge funds.

    I have focused on trying to get a position in the expanding cannabis industry but every job listing draws a hundred applicants and they’re all younger than me and most with greater experience.

    It’s one arena where a science degree from HSU really comes in handy. The school has excellent biology and enviro programs that dovetail nicely into a new agribusiness.

  50. 50.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    @Catherine D.:

    The most infuriating part of the whole thing is knowing that the only thing worse than looking for a job is finding one.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    February 28, 2020 at 7:50 pm

    @Suzanne: Thanks.  I don’t feel so bad not knowing who he was.

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2020 at 7:51 pm

    @Baud: He is a deeply sarcastic person.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    February 28, 2020 at 7:53 pm

    @Suzanne: So that post you linked to was supposed to be snark?

  54. 54.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    @Baud: It’s not snark, but he’s not a serious person, either.

  55. 55.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 28, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    Following the theme of dressed up fowl, here’s pics of chickens in tutus. They look quite nice.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    February 28, 2020 at 7:56 pm

    @Suzanne: I’ll give him props for recognizing that Warren was better.

     

    ETA: although I don’t know why you wouldn’t endorse the candidate you thought was better.

  57. 57.

    JPL

    February 28, 2020 at 7:57 pm

    @Baud:  You want snark, I have to watch a local council members facebook until nine and respond according.   Why you ask?  cuz I’m fair and balanced.    lol lol lol lol

  58. 58.

    JPL

    February 28, 2020 at 8:00 pm

    @JPL: also I can’t say the person is a f.king asshole

  59. 59.

    Baud

    February 28, 2020 at 8:00 pm

    @JPL: Civic duty.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    February 28, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    @JPL:

    Of course you can. This is still America dammit!

  61. 61.

    TaMara (HFG)

    February 28, 2020 at 8:03 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Great, now I’m going to get tutus in the mail and have to figure out how to get them on the ducks. ?

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 28, 2020 at 8:03 pm

    Just watched Jeopardy! for the first time in a long while. Alex Trebec looks pretty good, but he sounds just godawful terrible. I hope the hoarseness is just a temporary thing, and not a sign of deteriorating condition or reaction to chemo or something.

  63. 63.

    Ohio Mom

    February 28, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    Humboldt Blue: Say no more. Ohio BIL and his wife are in the newspaper biz (well wife is now retired). They have been holding on by their fingertips for at least fifteen years now, through three cities and changes in beats.

    We are well-schooled on the ways in which late-stage / vulture capitalism (with a dash of Craig’s List and job boards) have decimated the industry. It is a sleeper of an issue for our democracy.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    February 28, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    @Suzanne:

    It’s a holiday in Cambodia
    Be sure and bring the wife

  65. 65.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 28, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    @TaMara (HFG):

    What a great idea!

  66. 66.

    Brachiator

    February 28, 2020 at 8:11 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I was a sportswriter and then news reporter for 21 years and my industry has simply been melted away by hedge funds.

    I have been trying to follow these changes in the industry.  I thought competition from the Internet was a larger factor.

    I have focused on trying to get a position in the expanding cannabis industry but every job listing draws a hundred applicants and they’re all younger than me and most with greater experience.

    More experience smoking weed?

    More seriously, yeah I guess this area is very competitive.  And competition from the non-legal market and other pressures is making it tough for businesses to succeed.

    But good luck with your job search.  I know how tough it can be.

  67. 67.

    JPL

    February 28, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    @Baud: The reason I’m good at this job is I can do that indirectly.   sad but true.

  68. 68.

    chris

    February 28, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    @John Revolta: Ducks on the wall!

    First heard in 197? and  I fell on the floor laughing. My super straitlaced grandmother had ducks on the wall. And plates with birds and a couple of velvet paintings. I loved her but her taste was beyond awful.

  69. 69.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 28, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    @TaMara (HFG): LOL and then spacesuits after that.

    Ducks!

    In.

    SPAAACE!

  70. 70.

    Marcopolo

    February 28, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    @trollhattan: But but Scrooge McDuck, the epitome of duck success doesn’t wear pants!

  71. 71.

    MomSense

    February 28, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    Oh my!!! Maddie is so pretty.  I had the most unexpectedly great second half of the day.  My sister texted me and said she was in town and would I meet her for a drink.  We ran into a friend who I haven’t seen in forever.  We used to take care of each other’s kids – they are 28 now!  And then ducks in scarves!  Perfect!

  72. 72.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2020 at 8:19 pm

    @chris:

    And plates with birds and a couple of velvet paintings. I loved her but her taste was beyond awful.

    Do you have any of it left? I’ll buy it. That sounds GREAT.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    February 28, 2020 at 8:20 pm

    @chris:

    IDK if it’s the only pop song to feature a duck call, but I’ll wager it’s the only chart-dwelling pop song to accomplish the feat. And yep, hilarious. And you can dance to it.

  74. 74.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 28, 2020 at 8:20 pm

    @MomSense: Sounds like a splendid afternoon.

  75. 75.

    MomSense

    February 28, 2020 at 8:22 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    So much fun.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    February 28, 2020 at 8:22 pm

    @Suzanne:

    When I was in college our favorite Mexican restaurant prominently featured a LARGE velvet Iwo Jima flag raising, festooned with Christmas lights. Instant, eternal winner–you just can’t compete with that.

  77. 77.

    Mary G

    February 28, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    Every time I hear about ducks now I chuckle about Elizabeth Warren telling Stephen Colbert that Scrooge McDuck doesn’t wear pants. Reminds me of Cole.

  78. 78.

    chris

    February 28, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    @Suzanne: Haha! No, sorry, it went to one of my sisters who now has (probably antique and valuable?) ducks on the wall and the other stuff. We always wondered about her.

    Wondering about you now..

    PS: I’ll keep you in mind when I’m in the secondhand places around here.

  79. 79.

    trollhattan

    February 28, 2020 at 8:26 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Most homes when I was a kid seemed packed to the gills with tchotchkes. I just assumed it was a requirement, along with wallpaper, antimacassars, walls-full of framed family pictures and bad reproductions of the masters on canvas, and the like.

    If you had to sit your little butt there and be silent for a couple of hours, they did provide diversion.

  80. 80.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 28, 2020 at 8:30 pm

    Someone made puppets out of Modi and Orange T and set it to music.

  81. 81.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 8:31 pm

    @Brachiator:

    I thought competition from the Internet was a larger factor.

    It most certainly played a role, but those news organizations which focused on creating an online presence alongside their traditional print medium found a way to make it work.

    What impacted the smaller newspapers and very traditional newspapers across the west — papers that go 150 years — was being bought and run by hedge funds who only wanted to squeeze as much revenue as possible from the existing model along with some token nods to the emerging digital world.

    Name a western state and you’ll find a wasteland of regional and dead local newspapers because of a simple lack of investment.

    They refused to invest in the people — just cut-cut-cut — and most importantly the priceless institutional knowledge that came with the staffs of mid-sized and smaller newspapers that served millions of people in hundreds of communities.

    And that’s just Northern and central California.

  82. 82.

    Amir Khalid

    February 28, 2020 at 8:40 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I am medically retired and living on a SocSo pension. (That’s kind of like your workman’s compensation.) The guitar thing is just a hobby.

  83. 83.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 8:42 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    That’s brilliant.

  84. 84.

    Amir Khalid

    February 28, 2020 at 8:49 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I didn’t know Robbo was lefthanded. Nice to see Curtis Jones in the meeting.

  85. 85.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 8:51 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Knowledge!

  86. 86.

    Felanius Kootea

    February 28, 2020 at 8:54 pm

    Remember the guy who raised the minimum wage at his Seattle company to $70,000 and had some of his senior staff quit in protest?  BBC has a follow up look at his company; it’s still going strong 5 years later.

  87. 87.

    Luciamia

    February 28, 2020 at 8:56 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: in a similar situation. Who is the patron saint of job seekers?

  88. 88.

    hilts

    February 28, 2020 at 8:56 pm

     

    MSNBC needs to fix its Chris Matthews problem

     

    Kudos to Laura Bassett for speaking out against this sexist creep:

     

    In 2017, I wrote a personal essay about a much older, married cable-news host who inappropriately flirted with me in the makeup room a few times before we went live on his show, making me noticeably uncomfortable on air. I was afraid to name him at the time for fear of retaliation from the network; I’m not anymore. It was Chris Matthews. In 2016, right before I had to go on his show and talk about sexual-assault allegations against Donald Trump, Matthews looked over at me in the makeup chair next to him and said, “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?”

     

    When I laughed nervously and said nothing, he followed up to the makeup artist. “Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her.”

     

    Another time, he stood between me and the mirror and complimented the red dress I was wearing for the segment. “You going out tonight?” he asked.

     

    I said I didn’t know, and he said—again to the makeup artist—“Make sure you wipe this off her face after the show. We don’t make her up so some guy at a bar can look at her like this.”

     

    h/t https://www.gq.com/story/chris-matthews-experience

  89. 89.

    Brachiator

    February 28, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    RE: I thought competition from the Internet was a larger factor.

    It most certainly played a role, but those news organizations which focused on creating an online presence alongside their traditional print medium found a way to make it work.

    You may be right.  But I try to follow changes in the industry, and I see fewer and fewer people either subscribing or buying street sales copies.  At an office I worked in, no one under age 30 read a physical newspaper.

    And except for a few big reputation papers, online subscriptions are fairly anemic.

    But yeah, I can see that hedge funds exacerbated problems.

    ETA: I worked for the LA Times years ago, and even though they were bought out by a local billionaire, they are still struggling. I honestly don’t see them being around in the next 5 to 10 years.

  90. 90.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 9:02 pm

    @Luciamia:

    Sweet mother of being down and out.

    It’s Saint Cajetan.

    He is known as the patron saint of Argentina, the unemployed, gamblers, document controllers, gamers, and good fortune.

  91. 91.

    Luciamia

    February 28, 2020 at 9:06 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:  Pope Francis is from Argentina. Maybe Cajenta has some more pull these days.

  92. 92.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 28, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    @Mary G:

    Every time I hear about ducks now I chuckle about Elizabeth Warren telling Stephen Colbert that Scrooge McDuck doesn’t wear pants. 

    LMAO!  Now I have to watch that segment.

  93. 93.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    @Brachiator:

    You’re spot on, print is dead and save a few notable locals such as the North Coast Journal, nearly invisible.

    But it was the lack of focus on creating a digital model while there was still strong revenue from traditional streams. That didn’t happen and in fact, a former member of the traditional newspaper industry was out in front of the digital platform and now runs the most-read local news source in the region.

    The local paper was murdered by corporate action and it didn’t need to happen in that fashion. The personnel were in place, the resources and contacts and relationships were in place.

    What was needed was investment in the changing medium not crass commercial exploitation.

  94. 94.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 28, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Or a shiny demon appeared in the middle of the road and said! “Plaaaaaaay the best song in the world, or I’ll eat your soul (Soul)..

  95. 95.

    Gravenstone

    February 28, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Walking stick and spats optional?

  96. 96.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 28, 2020 at 9:16 pm

    @Felanius Kootea: What is the company?  70k/hour?  Ok! ?

  97. 97.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 28, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    But it was the lack of focus on creating a digital model while there was still strong revenue from traditional streams.

    Unfortunately, it seems the FTFNYT has successfully made that transition. The WaPo too, though they’re way better

  98. 98.

    Ohio Mom

    February 28, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    Schrodingers [email protected] 80: Well-done puppets and witty lyrics. I watched a couple more of the videos, one of them has a bare-chested Putin puppet. All very on target. I’ll be watching the rest of them.

    Humboldt [email protected]: Yup, you tell the same tale as my BIL and SIL, except their papers are/were east of the Mississippi.

  99. 99.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 28, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    @Brachiator:

    I’ve heard that newspaper circulation in the US actually began to fall in the 1970s. Is that true?

    Perhaps the wider availability of television played a role there, just as the internet would some decades later. Then again, radio had been around decades and was free just like broadcast television was then and newspapers had been doing just fine

  100. 100.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 28, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Wow.  Glad they touched on the atrocities and didn’t make it a cutsy, haha-isn’t-this-funny thing.

  101. 101.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 28, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    Novel rewrite is at 6000 words. It's obviously far too early to worry about how long the whole thing will be, so of course I'm simultaneously worrying it will be too short and too long.

    — Tynan! (@TynanPants) February 29, 2020

  102. 102.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    @chris: I have a lamp of a monkey wearing a fez, holding two “candles”. It’s appropriate in my well-appointed home.

  103. 103.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 28, 2020 at 9:32 pm

    @Ohio Mom: Did you watch this one?  Putin is shirtless, but Kim Jong-un loses it!  LOL

  104. 104.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 28, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Need a beta-reader?

  105. 105.

    bemused senior

    February 28, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: my cancer returned and the new meds they have me on have hoarseness as a side effect… maybe Alec Trebec is taking it too.

  106. 106.

    Ohio Mom

    February 28, 2020 at 9:36 pm

    Me mosh potato @103: That’s the one!

  107. 107.

    Suzanne

    February 28, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    @trollhattan: I am in the middle of preparing for our cross-country move and selling our house, so lots of purging and packing. My mother, aka SuzMom, lives with me, and she is a total clutterbug and it causes me a lot of stress. So many tchotchkes. I told her that she can’t bring them all. And the ones that do make the trip need to be stored behind glass, as my dust allergy is still making my life difficult and I will not be maintaining them.

     I am a potter and I have given away four big boxes of work so far.

  108. 108.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 28, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): can I get back to you in ninety-four thousand words? Give or take.

  109. 109.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 28, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    @Ohio Mom: It was good.  BTW, is the Reply button busted for you?

  110. 110.

    Brachiator

    February 28, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I’ve heard that newspaper circulation in the US actually began to fall in the 1970s. Is that true?

    Television (even radio) offered competition, but many newspapers still did well.  The LA Times in the mid 70s had over 600,000 home delivery subscribers and at one time more advertising than any other daily newspaper. With news rack sales, over a million circulation.

    Big Ass Oversimplification. TV news used to be 15 minutes. For everything. Local and national.

    The rise of half hour national news and long form late afternoon and evening news helped kill a lot of afternoon newspapers.

    So did changes in commuting and work hours.  People got off work, went home and watched TV. They didn’t read the newspaper.

    But most recently Craig’s List and similar services killed newspaper want ads, which was a huge revenue stream for papers.

    And the 24 hour Internet, home computers, and portable devices are burying traditional print media, magazines and newspapers.

    And yeah. TV and radio were free, or at most part of a cable TV subscription.

    People expect news to be free now.

  111. 111.

    Benw

    February 28, 2020 at 9:54 pm

    @Suzanne: this is a big deal. California Uber Allles!

  112. 112.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 28, 2020 at 9:59 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Sure

  113. 113.

    chris

    February 28, 2020 at 10:03 pm

    @Suzanne: The monkey sounds delightful. If I see some ducks for your wall I’ll let you know.

  114. 114.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    I don’t recall who it was who went on the Raiders of the Lost Ark love-thread not too long ago, but here’s a wonderfully done gif.

  115. 115.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 28, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    @Brachiator:

    So IOW, the death of print newspapers has been a long, slow process and the internet is just the the final nail in the coffin? Sounds about right.

    What was the state of the newspaper industry say, in the 90s? Did anybody in the industry that you were aware of foresee what’s happening today?

  116. 116.

    Martin

    February 28, 2020 at 10:05 pm

    @Brachiator: More notably, the newspapers looked back at their centuries long history and confidently determined that people would keep buying papers, keep buying classified ads, etc.

    Then they had the oh shit moment, when they realized they might be wrong, and then simultaneously cut costs and then failed to competently develop payment systems. If they were smart, they would have done a broad subscription system – give me a $5/mo sub to 100 local papers, so I  can read my local paper as well as the local paper in whatever city I travel to. One well implemented payment system, everyone benefits.

    But no, they failed to learn the lesson of ‘United we stand, divided we fall’.

  117. 117.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    February 28, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Fucking LMAO

    Edit: The effect with the guy’s glasses just falling off suddenly is pretty bad. It makes it look obviously fake. Spielberg should’ve redid that take. Flawless otherwise

  118. 118.

    chris

    February 28, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    @Suzanne:

    a monkey wearing a fez, holding two “candles”

    That sounds delightful. If I see some ducks, or monkeys, for your wall I’ll let you know.

    ETA: First reply vanished into the ether so I made this one. Now I have two.

  119. 119.

    Kattails

    February 28, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    @Suzanne: Wow. “Potter” and “cross-country move” is just a brutal combination. You have my sympathy. My mother moved up from FL to live with me a few years ago (she hated New England and moved back south after a year). She arrived with the most ungodly quantity of absolute crap, which cost her thousands to bring up. Would have done much much much better to save the money and have fun shopping the local consignment and thrift shops. Then she paid to store it for a year, a 10 x 10 space packed to the rafters. Which she then spent weeks going through to get rid of so she could move again.

    REMAIN FIRM.

  120. 120.

    John Cole

    February 28, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    She’s no Pearl, but Maddie is quite fetching.

  121. 121.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 28, 2020 at 10:17 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Not a patron saint, but perhaps a fellow sufferer.

  122. 122.

    Mary G

    February 28, 2020 at 10:17 pm

    Tom Steyer’s onstage dancing to Back That Azz Up pic.twitter.com/REXSh5qUXW— Ryan Brooks (@ryanbrooks) February 29, 2020

  123. 123.

    Brachiator

    February 28, 2020 at 10:30 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    What was the state of the newspaper industry say, in the 90s? Did anybody in the industry that you were aware of foresee what’s happening today?

    No one really saw how fast and definitive the plunge would be. Kinda like how Blackberry did not see that the iPhone release in 2007 would kill other types of mobile devices deader than dead.

    There used to be a site called Newspaper Death Watch that chronicled the decline.  A current site has a great chart. In the 1990s there were over 450,000 people employed in the newspaper industry.  Currently, it is fewer than 180,000, the lowest since 1947.

    BTW: computer technology killed jobs even as it allowed newspapers to increase profits.  The spreadsheet and word processing eliminated thousands of clerical jobs. The automation of printing the newspaper is a whole other topic.

  124. 124.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 10:39 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The suffering is always self-inflicted.

  125. 125.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 28, 2020 at 10:44 pm

    @Brachiator:

    BTW: computer technology killed jobs even as it allowed newspapers to increase profits.

    Yup.

    And then people stopped paying for news.

  126. 126.

    Brachiator

    February 28, 2020 at 10:50 pm

    @Martin:

    More notably, the newspapers looked back at their centuries long history and confidently determined that people would keep buying papers, keep buying classified ads, etc.

    Well, not quite.  Again, let me use the LA Times as an example, because in the 70s they were the industry leader in advertising.

    And here display advertising was the big moneymaker.  Department stores, electronic stores, etc. And things were so fat that a new company in town could not buy a display ad in the main news section of the paper. And there was gravy in inserts that would be delivered with the paper. Supermarkets, etc

    In the 80s with a recession and other changes, classified ads become a bigger and more reliable source of profits.  Display ads were also competing more with television and magazine ads.

     If they were smart, they would have done a broad subscription system – give me a $5/mo sub to 100 local papers, so I can read my local paper as well as the local paper in whatever city I travel to. One well implemented payment system, everyone benefits.

    Something like this might have been very innovative and helpful. But newspapers used to get 80% of their revenue from advertising. You can’t make up for that with subscriptions, and especially not with shared subscriptions.

    And the Internet (along with TV and radio) has intensified the belief that reporting and entertainment news should be free. Increasingly, people just flat out refuse to pay for news at any price.

  127. 127.

    Ohio Mom

    February 29, 2020 at 12:27 am

    Mrmoshpotato: you guessed right, the Reply button does not work on the platform of my ancient cell.

    So I pretend by typing in the Nym and sometimes number of the comment I am replying to.

    One day I will get a new phone (not soon, see above, the Ohio Family breadwinner is not winning any bread st the moment), and I expect this problem to solve itself.

  128. 128.

    rikyrah

    February 29, 2020 at 8:09 am

    Maddie looks terrific ??

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