Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We still have time to mess this up!

The willow is too close to the house.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The words do not have to be perfect.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Nature / Thursday Evening Open Thread: A Metaphor for 2020

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  4. 4.

    Tim C.

    I remember in the pre internet era telling  people in Arizona about this and they repeatedly called me a liar.   Also,  that’s how Oregon do!

  5. 5.

    TriassicSands

    Unbelievable! Any halfway intelligent 12-year-old could have told those guys the whale needed at least a medium-size nuke! You know, 100 kilotons or so.

  6. 6.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Trump is like a beached whale, except that the whale would have conceded the election by now.

    Melania should give him a pacifier and a diaper change and maybe that will help move things along.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    Valued commenter Aimai brought that clip to my attention several years ago. I laughed so hard I cried, and I made everyone I know watch it. Not everyone found it as amusing as I did.

  9. 9.

    TriassicSands

    I’ve been on beaches with dead whales from Washington State to southern Baja California, and I promise you, Trump stinks a lot worse.

  11. 11.

    Manxome Bromide

    @Baud: There were. I learned about it about fifteen years after it happened because humor columnist Dave Barry wrote it up for a syndicated column, and that column was widely distributed.

    This description of it was good enough that when I finally saw the video with my own eyes, probably in 2015 or so, I knew exactly what would happen and when, and it was everything I had been promised.

    Dave Barry’s tireless cadres of “alert readers” served many of the roles that I now rely on social media for.

  13. 13.

    JAFD

    Good evening !

    Eye seems to be doing well, KOW.  still adjusting to computer-screen brightness, taking screen time easy.  Daylight, with new lens,  seems to have the ‘six inches of snow fell overnight’ blue-white glow.

    Thanks to everyone for the good wishes !  Stay healthy, happy and hydrated.

  15. 15.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Manxome Bromide: That would explain why I was aware of this incident, since I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear about it 50 years ago.

    I was an avid reader of Dave Barry for many years when his column appeared in the Washington Post and I lived in the DC area.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    • Five American troops, as well as two foreign military personnel, were killed when a helicopter assigned to an international peacekeeping force crashed off the coast of Egypt.
    • President-elect Joe Biden issued a statement on Twitter extending “deep condolences to the loved ones of the peacekeepers.”
    • President Donald Trump, on the other hand, appears to have not yet said anything about the crash, of Thursday afternoon, and has instead been focused on criticizing Fox News and complaining about the election he lost.

    Good to remind people they made the right choice.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    Timely!  LOL.

    Ah, that car.  Amazed that hasn’t shown up in the Farmers Insurance commercials.

  23. 23.

    Calouste

    IIRC there was also a beached whale that exploded due to the gasses that build up in its body during decomposition. Not sure if there’s video of that, and I’m not going to look.

  24. 24.

    satby

    @JAFD: Good to hear that it went well JAFD! Enjoy your new, brighter and I hope clearer sight. Cataract surgery is usually one where everyone is happy with the result.

  25. 25.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @TriassicSands: That reminds me. Medical peeps were saying that the dexamethasone he was high on right after his Covid treatment was a very temporary treatment and that they should be weaning him off of it shortly.

    So should he about now be having some sort of withdrawal and feeling even more miserable? That would be nice to contemplate.

  29. 29.

    debbie

    I remember this. What a  horrorshow when the pieces began to rain down. Years later, a whale carcass spontaneously combusted, but I can’t remember where this was.

  31. 31.

    debbie

    @JAFD:

    Congratulations! I remember after cataract surgery on both eyes at the same time, my mother spent her first day back home marveling at all the colors in her apartment. It was almost like she’d dropped LSD.

  33. 33.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @JAFD: My wife had this surgery some years ago. We’ve both been extremely myopic all our lives so I consider it kind of a superpower that since the surgery she can go a whole day without needing glasses for anything.

    Are you done with both eyes? I remember an awkward point in between surgeries, when she had only one eye done, since glasses places aren’t equipped to change one lens at a time, despite the frequency of this surgery.

  37. 37.

    cain

    Jeezus, I’ve been looking at that video since I came to Oregon 23 years ago. I don’t think our state will ever live that down. haha :D

  40. 40.

    CaseyL

    The video is quite wonderful, but it’s Barry’s article that makes me laugh uncontrollably every time I read it.

    @JAFD: Congrats, and may your visual skies be clear and sharp from now on!

  44. 44.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Chyron HR: Both sides are equally as bad!  Upchuck Toddler said so!

    Oh, and Hillary was “overprepared” like she was taking the possibility of being President seriously.

  47. 47.

    rikyrah

    We knew President Obama pick Joe Biden to appeal to working class whites and it’s a Black open secret we’ve used White people as a front man to get buy homes, get loans, & do business with White interests , but the part we didn’t know was Obama doing it AFTER he was elected, damn— ??????? ???? (@exavierpope) November 12, 2020

  50. 50.

    Tony Jay

    Who the fuck blows up an 8 ton whale?

    People who can’t be arsed cutting one up and moving it, that’s who.

  51. 51.

    Kristine

    Just read Barry’s column.

    “As God is my witness, I thought whales ? would blow up in small pieces suitable for seagulls.”

  54. 54.

    Ken

    My favorite Dave Barry column is the one about the group of retirees who won the lottery, chiefly for:

    At this point you readers are like an audience watching the scene in a horror movie wherein the woman trapped alone in the house at night is about to go down into the basement. “NO! NO!” you’re shouting to Al Oliver. “Don’t get involved with the IRS! Better to just throw the ticket away!”

  56. 56.

    Fair Economist

    @Tim C.:

    I remember in the pre internet era telling people in Arizona about this and they repeatedly called me a liar. Also, that’s how Oregon do!

    That was my reaction when I first heard about it. Then a friend showed me the video and I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe. My favorite part is right after the explosion when the cheers of excitement turn to cries of horror.

  58. 58.

    Ken

    @Baud: Most of our knowledge is the result of trial and error.

    I remain impressed that people figured out how to eat cassava, fugu, eels, cashews, and potatoes (before they were bred to reduce the toxins).  Also anything in the fungal kingdom.

  61. 61.

    steppy

    Changing the subject because talk of exploding whales is vile, and our proprietor would probably approve of my post. My lovely wife was at the local Lancaster County, PA, independent supermarket and picked up two heads of cabbage at 11 lb. each. We just made a shit ton of sauerkraut. Nearly filled the crock. She also got a load of turkey necks and backs and is making stock in the Instant Pot. What with all the canning and drying and freezing, we are set for the cold dark winter.

  65. 65.

    Kent

    Oh geez.  I was a kid living in Eugene when this happened.  We actually saw the dead whale that weekend.  So much more to the story.  I’m on my phone and will expand when I get back in front of my computer.   I showed this video along with two others of different exploding whales every year in my marine science classes

  68. 68.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @Kent:

    I’m on my phone and will expand when I get back in front of my computer

    That happens to me sometimes, usually after eating too much sauerkraut.

  72. 72.

    Wapiti

    @JAFD: I had a lens replaced last year – the eye that still has the original equipment sees everything with a yellowish tint, comparatively. Took a little while for the brain to adjust.

  78. 78.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Kristine: @hotshoe:

    I wish the 25th amendment could be invoked right now because Trump is at peak batshit crazyness.

    Also too, I hope that the Four Seasons Total Landscaping building is added to the National Register of Historic Places

  79. 79.

    Mike in NC

    @Baud: After we get President Biden, I give it six months before reporters go out looking for people who regret voting for him.

  81. 81.

    Kent

    So to expand on the story.  First off the highway guy in the video was like 4th in command at the local highway office and not who you’d want making decisions.  Except that all the bosses were elk hunting and this was the the pre cell phone days.  So.  He winged it

  82. 82.

    JMG

    I read on Twitter that the site of the whale explosion is now a park with a cutesy name relating to whales.

  85. 85.

    CaseyL

    @Kent: Imagine if there had been cell phones back then, though.  Imagine being one of the bosses, deep in the woods, focusing on bagging an elk.  Maybe you’ve had a few beers.  Maybe more than a few.

    And then you get a call from your No. 4, telling you there’s a dead whale on a beach, the county called him to get rid of it, and what should he do?

    A bunch of drunk highway guys full of men-in-the-woods bravado and bonhomie. Brainstorming dead whale disposal.

    I think the only difference would have been how much dynamite they recommended!

  86. 86.

    Calouste

    @Kent: Also, highway department explosive folks don’t strike me as being the top of their profession, compared to say the people who do controlled demolitions of buildings.

  88. 88.

    JAFD

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Hello again!

    Right eye was done Tuesday, left’ll be next month.

    The nurses in the preop room should take their ‘patient-de-tensing’ routine to open mic night at the comedy club.  When such things resume…

    Hope y’all will have a happy Thanksgiving !

  92. 92.

    CaseyL

    @Baud:

    Seagulls are an important part of oceanic waste removal.

    They are also an important component of oceanic waste creation.

    A seagull shat on my head once.  I was a kid, on the beach – fortunately, swimsuited and heading for the water.

    After realizing what had happened, I headed for the water a lot faster and dove in head-first.

    And I can tell you, seagull shit smells really, really bad.

  95. 95.

    Rokka

    @JMG: The new name is “Moby Dick Blowed Up Real Good Park”
    Spoiler Alert: It’s not 4K and they didn’t clean up the video.

  98. 98.

    PJ

    @Mike in NC: Six months?  Before he’s inaugurated, they’ll be interviewing people who will be angry Biden hasn’t done anything yet.

    ETA: New York magazine already has a piece up about how Biden was a poor choice for Democrats, given his “narrow” win over Trump.

  100. 100.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @PJ:

    ETA: New York magazine already has a piece up about how Biden was a poor choice for Democrats, given his “narrow” win over Trump.

    Gee, I wonder why NY mag didn’t say Trump was a poor choice for Republicans given his narrow win over Clinton?

  102. 102.

    Calouste

    @Rokka: They missed a chance there to name it the “Moby Dick Blown Up Real Proper Park” aka the “Moby Dick B.U.R.P. Park”

  103. 103.

    BruceFromOhio

    I would very much appreciate the highway department packing explosives around the GOP and blowing it up into even more unrecognizable chunks that can be easily discarded.

    Seagulls optional.

  105. 105.

    Oklahomo

    This was one of the first videos I ever downloaded from the internet, from Usenet, as a series of Base64 segments that had to be assembled.

  106. 106.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Mike in NC:

    Between Fantasy Island bookstore, the cremation center, and the iconic Four Seasons Total Landscaping, I can’t think of a better location for Trump’s Presidential Library.

  109. 109.

    Kay

    Jim Acosta
    @Acosta
    ·37m
    CISA’s Krebs is telling people he doesn’t care if he is fired, I’m told, as he debunks Trump world claims. Senior admin official defended DHS statement on secure 2020 election adding “CISA sees its first principle as protecting democratic processes, not protecting an individual.”

    One thing Trump has done is make it really clear who will defend the country and who won’t.
    This guy will probably get fired for telling the truth- he’ll get fired by one of the low quality Trump hires.

  113. 113.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Roger Moore:

    I second this. Where’s the good shit he was allegedly being given to keep him calm before so he could speak in a monotone and read off a teleprompter?

  114. 114.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Kay: I reported in an earlier thread that Krebs had already resigned or been fired, based on what I read on Twitter, which is always true, right?

  115. 115.

    Kent

    More back story on the Oregon exploding whale

    Reportedly there was an explosives salesman from Milwaukie visiting the Highway department in Florence at that time.  Highway departments in coastal Oregon go through enormous amounts of explosives because they are always blasting away slides and rock on the narrow mountain roads.  He had stopped in Eugene and had reportedly bought a new Caddy (No Oregon Sales Tax) at a dealership that was offering “A Whale of a Sale”

    He was there advising the local highway dudes and recommended 4 sticks of dynamite.  They mistakenly packed it with 4 cases of dynamite….Yikes.

    His new caddy was one of the cars in the parking lot 1/2 mile away that was pelted and smashed by tons of flying whale blubber.

  117. 117.

    smedley the uncertain

    @Calouste: These are the Guy/Gals who remove inconveniently located land masses to allow for their wonderful highways. Takes more than a pick and shovel.

  118. 118.

    Kent

    Also exploding whales are a world-wide phenomenon.  But mostly they explode naturally

    Here is one in the Faroe Islands.  https://youtu.be/7X0hq0ug9q4

    Here is one in Taiwan:  https://youtu.be/aicIbUvE5tw  and https://youtu.be/0sC0nTHN960

    About 5-6 years ago a blue whale washed up somewhere in the Canadian Maritimes and they put up a whale cam web site titled:  “Has it Exploded Yet?”  My HS aquatic science classes avidly checked it daily.  It never exploded.  Scientists just ended up cutting it up.

  123. 123.

    Kent

    @Omnes Omnibus: I stand properly chastised!   In my defense I have family living in Milwaukie Oregon and I live 30 min away so that is the spelling that leaks out by habit.

  130. 130.

    JCJ

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Not large by any means, but when the alewives die off it is quite stinky.  Each one is maybe three inches, but when there are thousands of them it is rather unpleasant

  131. 131.

    JustRuss

    @cain: I came to Oregon 25 years ago, wasn’t on the job long before one of my student employees showed it to me.  Truly a classic.

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