Michelle and I are thrilled to be one step closer to bringing the Obama Presidential Center to the South Side of Chicago. We hope it will help lift up the South Side and breathe new life into Jackson Park and the surrounding communities. pic.twitter.com/IItJNFyoAp
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 14, 2021
good news is everywhere if you look for it https://t.co/fRf9JxYcL9
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) April 14, 2021
In lieu of a headstone, the family will be erecting a pyramid. #Madoff pic.twitter.com/RaRLu6w6YK
— Chuck Greenia (@charlesofcamden) April 14, 2021
laura
If the Obama Presidential Center has a cafe, I hope that they would locally source Southside businesses like Brown Sugar Bakery. I’m guessing there’s no shortage of really good food that should get a wider audience and prominence.
Yutsano
Alexandra Petri. National fucking treasure. Prove me wrong.
EDIT: 二番!
rikyrah
The Recount (@therecount) Tweeted:
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and other senators read MLK’s 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail, continuing a 3-year tradition. https://t.co/5VQgqGKv7u https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1382417177639317511?s=20
Steeplejack (phone)
Jen Psaki hangs another pelt on the wall. This time it’s Owen Jensen from EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). I really wish the coverage would start identifying these assholes as they ask their questions.
NotMax
Virtually no one else stepping up to hire them?
Solution: conjure up a Potemkin institute as a repository for cushy resumé padding.
PST
Not everyone is thrilled. Protect Our Parks, Inc. and various other organizations that want to preserve open park space sued today to stop work. Personally, I want the Obama Center to go up and hope that the Park District and Obama Foundation win, but I think the lawsuits are in good faith and based on an ethos that can be defended.
debbie
@laura:
I cannot imagine that anyone associated with that project would not have already thought of that.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack (phone):
Eternal Word Television Network sounds like the name of an evangelical Christian(ist) outfit. Is that what it is?
debbie
@Steeplejack (phone):
Like fish in a barrel: “I know you want to be accurate.”
Cermet
Madoff stole from people too rich and greedy to bother to see the very obvious fact of the impossibility of his returns. Was he a criminal? Yes, But he did the one thing in this country that is unforgivable – he stole from the rich. When corporations (esp. banks – see college loan sharking) and wealthy people steal from the poor, it is just business and no one ever goes to jail.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
First sentence from Wikipedia: “The Eternal Word Television Network, more commonly known by its initialism EWTN, is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. “
NotMax
@PST
Would prefer, if anyone in the loop asked, it be located outside a major city as invigoration for a medium size town. Beats the heck out of a Rust Belt municipality seeking a boost from something like another Walmart.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Amir Khalid:
It’s a Catholic “news service,” emphasis on the “I’m doing that thing with my fingers” quotation marks.
Ken
@debbie: The few times I’ve flipped through EWTN on my way to something else, they either had a stern-looking older nun lecturing the camera, or a rather distant shot of a priest facing an altar and chanting in Latin.
Admittedly that might not accurately reflect their programming. If I applied the same standard to Columbo, I’d have to assume they only made two episodes (Donald Pleasance as the winery owner, and Jack Cassidy as the stage magician, if you’re wondering).
mrmoshpotato
In 2022, Biden should be the comedian roasting the press corpse for how they sucked Dump’s orange ass for 5 years. And every fourth sentence should be “Fuck you, Chuck Todd!”
“In the middle of a joke here, but you know the rules. Fuck you, Chuck Todd!”
debbie
@Ken:
I think I saw that episode. ?
rikyrah
She is the real deal ????
The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) Tweeted:
Trust us: Stop what you’re doing and watch this incredible exchange between Senator @CoryBooker and DOJ Civil Rights Division nominee Kristen Clarke.
She’s the real deal. #ConfirmClarke
https://t.co/rS1wWzNg9o https://twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/1382379828402327552?s=20
Baud
Does anyone have a view on the Galaxy S21 Ultra?
I’m also toying with moving over to Apple, but I’m not crazy about ios on my old ipad mini.
Baud
I used to watch a theology program on EWTN years ago. I thought it was interesting.
cain
@mrmoshpotato:
It would be fun if all we did was roast Chuck Todd the entire evening. I mean I don’t know about the rest of you but roast chuck is good, yes?
trollhattan
Know the saying about not asking a question you don’t know the answer to? Ladies and germs, Senator John Cornyn of the great State of Texas steps in a cow pie of his own manufacture.
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1382354105805516802
Needless to say I am an instant Krysten Clarke fan.
rikyrah
MSNBC (@MSNBC) Tweeted:
Opinion | @DeanObeidallah: Beyond his despicable attempt to normalize white supremacy, Tucker Carlson is trying to convince white Americans that any gain a person of color achieves is a loss of white power. – @MSNBCDaily https://t.co/uV4muSGEvY https://t.co/98DOQEkbdX https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1382469232273801218?s=20
Brachiator
@mrmoshpotato:
For my money, this thing should be done away with. If there is some charitable or fundraising purpose to the thing, do something else.
The press and politicians should not be pals.
debbie
@rikyrah:
I was Googling around while listening to your link. Why are these assholes always such assholes?
burnspbesq
Mistah EWTN, he dead.
mrmoshpotato
@cain:
True, but it’s not like he was the only one slurping Dump’s Soviet shitpile mobster conman ass.
Amir Khalid
@mrmoshpotato:
I’d love to see that, but I’m not sure if Joe has Barack’s standup comedy chops. Barack was so good, he was a tough act to follow foe the official comedian of the night.
trollhattan
@Baud:
I have an S20 Regula (not actually its name, just the smaller model). It’s behaved, the camera(s) works well, 5G is hecka fast but 5G coverage is spotty in our metroplex. Thought I might miss the 1/8 inch jack but it’s not an issue, came with USB-C earbuds.
I think the S21 probably still takes a microSD card, which iphones never have (boo, hiss).
Kayla Rudbek
@Amir Khalid: very right-wing Catholic TV network.
Brachiator
@Baud:
They are having some kind of event on April 20. Don’t know if new phones will be announced. But you might want to check it out.
No opinion on the Galaxy.
burnspbesq
@Cermet:
Madoff was indirectly responsible for forcing the Wilpon family to relinquish ownership of the Mets. That counts as a mitzvah.
Baud
@trollhattan:
I have an S8, which still has a headphone jack. I forget that Samsung deprecated that. That’ll be something I need to think about.
Bex
@debbie: EWTN is a far right-wing organization run by “traditional” Catholics who would not be sorry to see Pope Francis gone.
Baud
@Brachiator: Thanks!
trollhattan
@Baud:
I went from the S8 to the S20 and it’s a noticeably better phone, all around. My S8 went through a couple batteries (swelled like a pregnant guppy) and I gave up on having them replaced.
At least there’s no new platform to learn. I’m in an iphone household and have never warmed to the critters. #DadFail
Baud
@trollhattan:
My S8 has fine, but I can get a good deal on an upgrade so I’m thinking about it. Like you, everyone else in my real life network has an iphone, which is the main reason I’m giving it some thought.
ETA: Samsung is expected to stop updating the S8 software this year.
cmorenc
@NotMax:
Here’s what they will do all day: keep a fog machine running and spewing clouds of obfuscation and vaporized bullshit.
Ken
@Bex: That’s twice today I’ve been reminded there are (sort of) two Popes. The other time was when someone said TFG was trying (but failing) to get people to act like he was the President.
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
I believe it’s the Spanish Inquisition branch of the Catholic Church. It used to be a bunch of old nuns and priests with shows all day and the network has now decided that they want a piece of the lunatic Opus Dei, TFG-worshipping, Amy Coney Barrett demographic.
Roger Moore
@Ken:
So they’re not just Catholics; they’re the kind of Catholics who think Vatican II was a mistake. It’s funny how “cafeteria Catholic” is only applied to people who don’t follow the Church’s most conservative teachings, not the ones who don’t follow its most liberal teachings.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
Most phones that have done away with the headphone jack can still work with wired headphones using a USB-C adapter. The phones I’ve bought that skipped the jack even included one in the package.
misterpuff
@cmorenc: And TFG will skim off the cream (90%?).
PST
On another Chicago topic… The Tribune is a crap paper. I think we can all agree on that. The Tribune Corporation is now entertaining two buyout offers. One is by Aldan Global Capital, a company that Margaret Sullivan has called “one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism,” for $17.25 per share. The other is by a couple of fairly liberal billionaire businessmen, one of them a former Democratic office holder and the other a Swiss environmentalist, for $18.50 per share. As skeptical as I am about any baby Bezos buying a paper, the Washington Post is a damn sight better than the many papers hedge funds and right wing ideologues have ruined. How can the board prefer to take less money in exchange for wrecking the paper?
burnspbesq
@Roger Moore:
Wired general-purpose earbuds are on their last legs. Bluetooth is taking over. Soon the only wired IEMs will be ultra-audiophile stuff or musicians’ stage monitors.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
@burnspbesq:
Good to know. I currently use both wired and bluetooth regularly. I like the flexibility.
burnspbesq
@PST:
Hold their beers.
Mary G
@Baud: I got the much cheaper Samsung 4G A51 with 128g memory (going from an old J7 with 8g memory, I open a bunch of apps at once just to see I can) and I am thrilled to bits with it. I also added a 256g micro sd card and now I can download a bunch of books, audiobooks, maybe even a video, who knows?
dmsilev
I’m not a fan of the event, and I’m even less of a fan of the “cutesy” nickname the press has given it. As a group, the Washington Press Corps has a deep and pervasive disdain for actual knowledge and expertise, preferring instead to obsess over image and “winning the day” and all that nonsense. The actual nerds in DC, the policy wonks, are people generally held in contempt by the press.
sab
@geg6: Committed-obedience-but-hate-the Jesuit-Pope demographic? Modern religion is so complicated.
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack (phone): How Psaki doesn’t start most answers with “You’re a lying idiot, and here’s why.” I’ll never know.
Baud
@Mary G:
I like my samsung. It’s a solid phone. And I’m used to it. Things I want to do seem more complicated on my ipad. Especially when it comes to file transfers.
frosty
@Baud: I had to join the Apple cult in 2016 when the SE was the only one that fit my specs for small and that worked. I’m happy enough with it except that I hate that there’s no delete key, just backspace. It’s stupid and it’s been on every Apple device since forever.
ETA: getting rid of the headphone jack sucks and was stupid too. I hope this SE lasts another 20 years so it’s my last phone.
dmsilev
@Brachiator: Apple has been pretty consistent about releasing new phones in the early fall, so probably another several months on that front. Next week’s announcements will probably be iPads and some odds and ends. Maybe a few more new Macs using their home-grown chips.
NotMax
@Baud
Couple of reviews: #1 – #2.
Note that both make mention of it not having a microSD slot. I *think* the major thing that differentiates the Ultra from the other S21 models is just fancier camera hardware.
mrmoshpotato
@Brachiator: Agreed. And that’s why I think Biden should roast them. Or maybe Joe should be Hillary’s opening act.
Roger Moore
@burnspbesq:
I’m sure that Bluetooth is going to be the dominant technology moving forward. I actually support the manufacturers eliminating headphone jacks, sim ports, SD card slots, and the like. Every one of those things is a place that needs to be sealed. Eliminating them makes it easier and cheaper to get an IP68 rating, which IMO is more valuable to the average user than those ports. I actually expect some manufacturer to take the plunge of eliminating the USB port and going exclusively to wireless charging.
That said, plenty of people still have wired headphones they like. Providing an adapter so those people don’t have to replace a functioning set of headphones unnecessarily seems like a good idea.
KrackenJack
@Steeplejack (phone):
I thought journalists attendees identifying themselves before a question was standard for press conferences in the olden times. Can we start a petition to reinstate that? Make the village idiots own it along with a heap of twitter scorn.
Kathleen
@Amir Khalid: Did you see the video with Joe and Julia Louise Dreyfuss in character as Veep Selena Meyer on one of the WHCA events? It was hysterical. JB has the comic chops and I’d love to see him slice and dice the Beltway Propatainer modules.
debbie
@Bex:
Got it, thanks. Benedict’s Boys.
debbie
@trollhattan:
No Apple? ?
Dan B
@Baud: I have a Galaxy S20 FE. It’s great, even the lower pixel camera is amazing. The 5G is crap in my neighborhood but supposedly amazing in other locations. My old 4G phone was twice as fast. It’s also fun to run our 55″ TV with it, when the signal is good.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
But can Bluetooth sue the Bijou?
:)
Steeplejack (phone)
@KrackenJack:
I assume they don’t because it’s the same gang of idiots every day and Psaki knows them all. Or maybe they do and it’s just cut from the little video snippets we see. I just wish their name would appear on a chyron for easier naming and shaming.
TS (the original)
@Steeplejack (phone):
Brilliant as usual. Why are these children not learning?
marcopolo
For anyone living within driving distance of Saint Louis who would like to get their Covid shots, KWMU, our local public radio station, did an interview with one of the folks running our mass vaccination center in downtown St Louis today. Here are the numbers:
They are set up to do 3000 shots/day
They are currently doing 1200. 75% of this traffic is walk up with no prior reservation. They opened up to walk ups because utilization was so damned low.
If you know anyone who you think would take advantage of not having to go through all of the on line scheduling stuff to just show up and get jabbed, please tell them to go to the Dome in St. Louis.
A couple links:
Vaccine surplus: The Dome has more shots than people
FEMA reaches 10K vaccinations at The Dome mass event
Mary G
I have always been a cheapskate and it seems like Apples cost more for the name. The only Apple product I ever bought was an iPod, which turned out to be a brick right out of the box. I made an appointment at the Apple Store, which turned into a 90 minute nightmare which ended when somebody’s mom asked to see the manager and in a loud voice informed him that the only “genius” on duty had been trying to get the cute girl with the abused laptop to give him her number and the girl had been trying to get him to give her a new laptop for forever and why is the poor lady in the wheelchair having to sit so long? It was also the day the Mac Air whatever was released and the place was so crowded I couldn’t have left if I tried. He gave me a new iPod and I loved it with the heat of a thousand suns, but iTunes was another nightmare.
Fellow Team Dolly Parton members, more good news:
SiubhanDuinne
@Kathleen:
I was just thinking about that bit!
https://youtu.be/da5tjfpKyac
lowtechcyclist
Nitpick: a Ponzi scheme is not a pyramid scheme.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
Very nice. Thank you.
NotMax
@Mary G
Got a fairly comprehensive overview on the state of the subject waiting in the wings for the next COVID thread.
dmsilev
@Mary G: There’s one saving grace to Apple’s high phone prices, which is that they tend to support the phones (software updates, etc.) for five years or more, which is more than what most competing phones get. Buying a new phone once every five years rather than once every three or so lowers the cost per month substantially.
CaseyL
@Steeplejack (phone):
So that’s who that sanctimonious idiot is. He’s always asking a question about “conscience,” and his voice always intones the word so it drops like a stone in a fetid pond.
Roger Moore
@Mary G:
You’re paying more, but it’s not clear if it’s just the name. Apple’s phones do seem to last a long time, and they keep supporting them with updates. I’m not an Apple person myself, but I can understand why other people like them.
NotMax
@CaseyL
So we’ve moved
upsideways from the likes of Jeff Gannon.://
Baud
@dmsilev:
@Roger Moore:
The update policy is the other thing that making me think about switching.
ETA: OTOH, I’m afraid I will hate ios and be stuck with it for long time.
Brachiator
@lowtechcyclist:
In lieu of a headstone, the family will be erecting a pyramid.
True, but it is a good joke nonetheless.
What shape is a ponzi?
dmsilev
@Baud: The update policy does also mean the resale value isn’t too bad. That can help offset the risk, so to speak, if you decided you just didn’t like the thing.
raven
@frosty: I just bought a iPhone 11. I didn’t think about the face recognition not working with a mask!
Baud
@dmsilev:
True.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’d get one if I wasn’t a Note guy and had the cash. Good camera on it.
dmsilev
Never change, Orange County:
raven
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The 11 takes nice picture of Bohdi and a cookie.
James E Powell
@Baud:
Another sure sign that Joe Biden has brought calm to the nation. We’re sitting around talking about our phones.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@Baud: This is a good channel on tech reviews and here he has a nuanced evaluation on the pluses and minus of various functions of each phone (video)
Kathleen
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, thank you! I’m going to watch it again!
Steeplejack
@Brachiator:
I think it’s similar to a Mad poiuyt.
Kathleen
@SiubhanDuinne: The defacing of Chuck Todd’s picture is the best!
dnfree
@Baud: I had a very expensive Samsung Android tablet that after two years could not be updated and hence couldn’t use newer software. To me, it was bricked. Samsung said it was Verizon’s fault and Verizon said the reverse. That was the end of Android for me. My Windows and Apple devices get updated for years.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@dnfree:
can you give some examples of new software you wanted to use but couldn’t?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Samsung’s extending their update policy with the flagship phones. I think it’s one extra OS update and then extending the patch updates as well.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: No fruit in this house.
Steeplejack
@dnfree:
Anecdata: I got five years out of my previous Android phone (Motorola) with Verizon. I didn’t get system updates the last year or so, but I didn’t have any problems running any apps (nothing exotic, admittedly). And there were options available to “root” it, if I decided I needed to.
Now two years in with a Samsung Galaxy S10e, which I love, still with Verizon.
One possible advantage with Apple is that there are fewer models, hence fewer chances for weird hardware/software mismatches and problems. But Samsung has achieved something (sort of) similar to Apple status on the Android side.
ETA: Oops, just noticed that you said “tablet,” not “phone.” I do have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 tablet that I bought in November 2016. Still going strong. Need to check to see when was the last time the system was updated.
burnspbesq
Speaking of bricked, I sure wish Synology enclosed detailed instructions for setting up and connecting a Mac to one of their DiskStations in the box.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@raven: Depends on the mask. Before the numbers got really bad in Greece, I habitually wore masks made of stretchy 2-ply cotton fabric that conformed to my face well enough that the facial recognition could detect the contours of my face better than half the time. Then things got worse and I had to go to either double-masking or KN95-types, so no more of that.
dnfree
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: this was years ago, I think 7 or 8, and it was some version of word processing, spreadsheet, etc. Whatever snack level of Android I had (jellybean, who knows?), I couldn’t get the next level and no one could tell me why, and the suite wouldn’t work on what I had. I didn’t pay hundreds of dollars for a Samsung Note to see it go obsolete that fast.
raven
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Ah, I didn’t know that.
geg6
@Mary G:
I love my iPhone and you’ll have to pry it from my cold dead hands.
And thanks for the heads up in the Moderna booster. That makes me very happy and I’ll be lining up for it. Thanks Dolly!
BruceFromOhio
Let the court-packing discussion begin in earnest.
J R in WV
@lowtechcyclist:
Yes, totally accurate, but…
Still really funny, pyramid is !!!!
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I have an earlier version of Galaxy apart from the Samsung bloatware I am happy with it. My ? has a ? jack
?BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodingers_cat: I’ve always found that most of the stuff Samsung puts on the phones is useful, what the phone carriers put on the phones is crap.
Another Scott
@Baud: I’ve got an S20+ 5G that I like a lot. (I previously used LG phones.) I got it on Swappa about 6 months after it came out, for a good price for a “Mint” one that was as described. It’s a special model with 512 GB of storage and a SDHC slot, so I won’t run out of storage any time soon. ;-)
The 21 family is similar in many features, but has a faster chipset. I think the Ultra is the only one that still has the SDHC slot though. (Apple doesn’t use such things, of course.) Look at the details to see if you want to pay the premium for all the Ultra features.
Samsung is very, very good about updates with these flagship phones.
HTH a little. Good luck with your choice!
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Agreed. Got my Motorola from Motorola, got my S10e at Best Buy.
Another Scott
@BruceFromOhio:
Yup.
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
VOR
I’m not a finance guy, but a lot depends on how the deal is structured. For example, the lower offer could be 100% cash while the other offer could have some non-cash elements. Or different terms and conditions, like payment immediately vs. deferred. Guarantees vs. non-guaranteed. All sorts of possibilities.