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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

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

Giving up is unforgivable.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

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

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

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

This chaos was totally avoidable.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: It’s Okay If It Goes Wrong

Open Thread: It’s Okay If It Goes Wrong

by TaMara|  February 2, 20212:38 pm| 55 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Listening to this and I loved that the commentary is, “It’s okay if it all goes wrong. We’d prefer it to land, but this is a test flight…”

At the time of posting, it’s scheduled to launch in 26 minutes – ish if they don’t scrub it.

A lesson we could all learn. If you’re trying something new, it’s okay if it all goes wrong. I had a friend tell me when I was complaining that I was spending more time on my ass than actually skiing, “If you’re not falling, you’re not learning.”

Open thread

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Previous Post: « Now That’s Entertainment
Next Post: Alexey Navalny and Vladimir the Underwear Poisoner »

Reader Interactions

55Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    February 2, 2021 at 2:43 pm

    This looks like it was literally filmed today:

    Nothing has changed – everything has changed. The world’s first cat clip ever from 1899. “Little girl and cat” by the well known French Lumiere brothers. Colorized and speed adjusted. pic.twitter.com/wk5BsTmiHL

    — ArtNouveauDeco (@NouveauDeco) February 1, 2021

  2. 2.

    TaMara (HFG)

    February 2, 2021 at 2:45 pm

    @germy: Embedding.

  3. 3.

    PaulB

    February 2, 2021 at 2:47 pm

    I still remember my first time skiing. I didn’t have proper ski clothes, so I was wearing a brand new pair of jeans, non pre-washed. Every time I fell, I left a blue dye mark in the snow.

    It’s bad enough when you fall a lot while learning; it’s worse when you’ve got visible evidence that everyone can see as to just how much you fell. And since I’m a real klutz, that was a *lot* of evidence.

  4. 4.

    Mallard Filmore

    February 2, 2021 at 2:50 pm

    Lots of spamming in the SN9 chat.

  5. 5.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 2, 2021 at 2:51 pm

    Good

    NEW: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has removed all members from the Pentagon's advisory boards in a sweeping effort to oust a series of last-minute appointees by former President Donald Trumphttps://t.co/yPCJossWnN@laraseligman @connorobrienNH, first reported by @nancyayoussef— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) February 2, 2021

  6. 6.

    Fraud Guy

    February 2, 2021 at 2:53 pm

    Well, except maybe the first atomic bomb test, when they thought it *might* incinerate the atmosphere.

  7. 7.

    Nicole

    February 2, 2021 at 2:55 pm

    Your skiing story made me remember the first time I fell/was thrown from a horse, during a lesson. I took the walk of shame to the office, sheepishly said, “That’s the first time that’s happened to me” and the woman behind the counter, without looking up from her paperwork, said, “Three falls make a rider; thirty-three make a horsewoman.”  And I went from embarrassment to, “Awesome! Only 32 left to go!” ?

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    February 2, 2021 at 2:58 pm

    Sounds like Pelosi is fed up with this QAnonsense:

    When Mitch McConnell — who lives by Pres. Reagan’s rule on never speaking ill of another Republican — warns of a “cancer” in the ranks, Qevin McCarthy, Q-CA, would do well to heed the advice of another US President, Pres. Kennedy, on the dangers of embracing extremism. pic.twitter.com/rrPVo1vtsX

    — Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) February 2, 2021

  9. 9.

    Barbara

    February 2, 2021 at 3:01 pm

    @Betty Cracker: ​
    In other words, you don’t beat a delusional worldview by joining it.

  10. 10.

    Betty Cracker

    February 2, 2021 at 3:01 pm

    @Nicole: Haha! Sounds like she knew what she was talking about!

    A guy I used to work with went on one of those trail rides and got thrown. We asked him if he got back on the horse, and he said, “No! It was a quarter of a mile away!” ;-)

  11. 11.

    Anoniminous

    February 2, 2021 at 3:04 pm

    @Mallard Filmore:

    Well, people do need to be reminded their car warranty is about to expire and they need to act fast to keep their coverage before the price increase.

  12. 12.

    Barbara

    February 2, 2021 at 3:06 pm

    @Nicole: That’s why I will never be either!  I was thrown from a horse, in France, and I didn’t get on a horse again for a long while.  Eventually I went back but I have never been thrown from one, nor am I going to do the kind of riding that risks it.  Falling while skiing is bad enough and I’ve done quite a bit of that, but I don’t mind it as much.

  13. 13.

    Brachiator

    February 2, 2021 at 3:10 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    NEW: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has removed all members from the Pentagon’s advisory boards in a sweeping effort to oust a series of last-minute appointees by former President Donald Trump

    These folk are not playing around.

  14. 14.

    kindness

    February 2, 2021 at 3:13 pm

    I ski. I don’t fall very much any more. Am I learning? Some. Have learned not to ski beyond my abilities and hence not to fall. I don’t have the legs I did in my 20’s so……

  15. 15.

    Jeffro

    February 2, 2021 at 3:16 pm

    @Betty Cracker: “Q-CA” – Love. It.

    I think I’m going with that, and with “the GQP”, until they prove otherwise

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    February 2, 2021 at 3:17 pm

    @kindness: same here…skiing is great, skiing and pushing it to the edge (so that I fall a lot), not so much.

    I missed it this year, but next year, look out!

  17. 17.

    TaMara (HFG)

    February 2, 2021 at 3:23 pm

    Two minutes…

  18. 18.

    kindness

    February 2, 2021 at 3:23 pm

    @Jeffro: Now that we are finally getting some snow I hope to go soon.  I was worried this year was going to be a zero.

  19. 19.

    Catherine D.

    February 2, 2021 at 3:24 pm

    @Nicole: I always remember it as two kinds of riders – those who have fallen off, and those who haven’t yet

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    February 2, 2021 at 3:25 pm

    OT. Some sad news. From the BBC

    Captain Sir Tom Moore has died with coronavirus. 

    The 100-year-old had raised almost £33m for NHS charities by walking laps of his garden…

    He tested positive for Covid-19 last week. His family said due to other medication he was receiving for pneumonia, he was unable to be vaccinated.

    I imagine that Captain Sir Tom fell a few times in his long and productive life.

     

  21. 21.

    FridayNext

    February 2, 2021 at 3:29 pm

    Give me a fruitful failure anytime, full of seeds, bursting with its own corrections. You can keep your sterile truths for yourself.

    said some dead white guy once

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    February 2, 2021 at 3:29 pm

    Btw glad to see that neither side was having any of this BS: Kaine pulls censure resolution idea.

    I love Tim but c’mon man, if inciting a violent insurrection doesn’t warrant impeachment and being barred from future office, nothing does.

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    February 2, 2021 at 3:31 pm

    @kindness:

    if you go, be careful and try to stay out of the lodges/food halls/bars…same risk as indoor dining/bars only worse.

  24. 24.

    Chief Oshkosh

    February 2, 2021 at 3:32 pm

    Yeah, I’ll take the next one…

  25. 25.

    john b

    February 2, 2021 at 3:33 pm

    that was a spectacular explosion! I tuned about 20 seconds before the boom

  26. 26.

    Old School

    February 2, 2021 at 3:33 pm

    It (the rocket landing) went wrong.  I guess that’s okay.

  27. 27.

    eclare

    February 2, 2021 at 3:33 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:  It’s as if they know what to do!  Great news.

  28. 28.

    droog

    February 2, 2021 at 3:38 pm

    The other rocket was spared. Everyone gets a bonus!

  29. 29.

    raven

    February 2, 2021 at 3:47 pm

    @Nicole: I remember the first time I got back in a van after breaking my back and spending a year if a full body cast. Had ta do it.

  30. 30.

    MisterForkbeard

    February 2, 2021 at 3:50 pm

    Regarding the thread title: When I was in early high school, my dad took my older brother and I aside to tell us that failing was okay, and even could be useful in the long run. The key was to learn from your failures so that you didn’t fail in the same way. Take pride and ownership in what you did wrong so that you can do better in the future, and you have nothing to be ashamed of.

    It made an impression on me. It made a bigger impression on my brother, who’d had a middling high school career and was starting to struggle in his post-high-school life. It gave him the freedom to try new things, go new places. And when he figured out what he wanted to do, he went back to school and became a nurse.

    This idea is one of the more important lessons you can teach a kid. Do your (reasonable) best, but if you fail then don’t freak out. Just look at why you failed and move on.

  31. 31.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    February 2, 2021 at 3:56 pm

    @Anoniminous:

    Well, people do need to be reminded their car warranty is about to expire and they need to act fast to keep their coverage before the price increase.

    Those calls are getting annoying, especially since they’re coming in on my Skype number while I’m seven time zones ahead of the East Coast. I once told a caller that the last car I owned was an Alfa Romeo 33 (I don’t think the 33 was ever sold in the United States), from like 1988, way out of warranty, and it was scrapped in 2015 anyway.

  32. 32.

    raven

    February 2, 2021 at 3:57 pm

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Mistakes Are Building Blocks to Success

  33. 33.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    February 2, 2021 at 3:58 pm

    At least it was a *different* problem this time, which is good.

    Looks like the second engine may have eaten itself on (re)startup.  Someone in another forum was speculating what kind of weirdness happens when you flip a rapidly spinning turbopump 90 degrees; if there’s any kind of defect in the shaft or blades, you can bet that’s where it will break.

    It took quite a few tries to get the Falcon 9 landings down; I fully expect the next couple of Starships to fail similarly.

  34. 34.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    February 2, 2021 at 3:59 pm

    Trying to recall: how many times did they biff the landing on the Falcon lower stages before successfully sticking one?

  35. 35.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 4:04 pm

     “If you’re not falling, you’re not learning.”

    I am infinitely educated.

  36. 36.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 2, 2021 at 4:05 pm

    @Fraud Guy: Reading the history, that was just a wee bit frightening. Enrico Fermi reportedly took bets on whether Trinity would “ignite the atmosphere, and if so, whether it would merely destroy New Mexico or destroy the world.”

  37. 37.

    BruceFromOhio

    February 2, 2021 at 4:06 pm

    @Baud: ​
     

    I am infinitely educated.

    The smarter you get, the more you realize how much you do not know.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    February 2, 2021 at 4:17 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

     

    clap clap clap clap

  39. 39.

    hueyplong

    February 2, 2021 at 4:23 pm

    “Qevin McCarthy.”

    Just now regaining my breath from laughing.

  40. 40.

    Barbara

    February 2, 2021 at 4:53 pm

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: ​
     My husband asked them about getting our 1991 Volvo back on warranty. Car has technically been totaled once. Ixnay.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    February 2, 2021 at 4:55 pm

    ?

    Speaking to The Today Show this Monday, country music legend Dolly Parton said she was offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom two times from President Trump, but she turned him down on both occasions.

    “I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID,” she told host Hoda Kotb.

  42. 42.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 2, 2021 at 5:11 pm

    I’m not crying, you’re crying.

  43. 43.

    Beeblebrox

    February 2, 2021 at 5:45 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: Yup… Moving from the unknown unknowns to the known unknowns. Plus a lot of unknown knowns.

  44. 44.

    LuciaMia

    February 2, 2021 at 5:50 pm

    Punxatawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter? How could he have possibly have seen his shadow?

  45. 45.

    Don K

    February 2, 2021 at 6:00 pm

    I made the mistake of learning to ski at 30 years old, and of course was tentative and nervous, and jealous of the kids zooming downhill because they’re fearless at that age. I’m convinced learning any activity involving overcoming fear should be done in childhood. It’s like watching videos of 5-6 year olds racing quarter-midget cars. They’re going like 30 mph, are really well padded and protected against mishaps, and every spin is a learning experience about car control.

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    February 2, 2021 at 6:12 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    That’s really something. What a great team those two make.

  47. 47.

    TaMara (HFG)

    February 2, 2021 at 6:18 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: Cool story!  I decided to post the launch just because the announcers were so adamant that failing was okay.

    Sometimes people need to hear that.

  48. 48.

    Miss Bianca

    February 2, 2021 at 6:22 pm

    @TaMara (HFG): My horse trainer told me the same thing – about my horse! How I had to give her room to fail during training sessions, rather than trying to prevent failure at all, because otherwise she wasn’t learning anything. First time I’ve ever heard any trainer say that – and it’s made a big difference in how I approach working with her.

  49. 49.

    Mike J

    February 2, 2021 at 6:48 pm

    “If you’re not falling, you’re not learning.”

    The very first thing we teach in sailing classes is how to get the boat upright and get back in it after you capsize.

  50. 50.

    Nicole

    February 2, 2021 at 6:50 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Awww… you have a good trainer.  I think horses know, too, and when they’re treated kindly they really want to figure out how to succeed for you.  I remember once trying to do ground rails with my (much-missed-and-much-beloved) Appy gelding.  He kept bumping them with his hooves and I finally said, eh, let’s go back to the barn.  We got 50 feet away and I could tell he wanted to go back to the ring (he NEVER wanted to go back to the ring).  We went back, he did the most perfect steps over the rails a rider could ask for, and then was ready to go home. He had just needed some time to process. :)

  51. 51.

    Nicole

    February 2, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    @Catherine D.:

    I always remember it as two kinds of riders – those who have fallen off, and those who haven’t yet

    Heh.  Makes me think of a T-shirt I saw that said, “Riding: The art of keeping the horse between you and the ground.”

  52. 52.

    HumboldtBlue

    February 2, 2021 at 6:57 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Yeah, that’s a hell of a duo right there.

    @Miss Bianca: @Nicole: @TaMara (HFG):

    You horse ladies would enjoy this look at how young recruits become members of the Household Cavalry, the folks you see on horseback in London in those magnificent uniforms.

    This show follows them through their training and the horse riding is something to see.

    The Queen’s Cavalry.

  53. 53.

    Calouste

    February 2, 2021 at 7:11 pm

    @Mike J:  First thing they teach you at judo training is how to fall. Or more accurately, how to land.

  54. 54.

    Miss Bianca

    February 2, 2021 at 7:15 pm

    @Nicole: Awww…sweet

    @HumboldtBlue:  Wow – I’ll check that out!

  55. 55.

    moonbat

    February 2, 2021 at 7:15 pm

    TaMara (up top) there is a beautiful essay written by David Duchovny on this very subject in The Atlantic today. I’d link to it but I haven’t learned how to do that yet. :(​​​​

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