Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

We still have time to mess this up!

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Second rate reporter says what?

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

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

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

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Readership Capture

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Readership Capture

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  1. 1.

    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.

  4. 4.

    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.

    Psaki: That’s not how it works. That is the law …
    pic.twitter.com/Squ9wp235Z

    — Acyn (@Acyn) April 14, 2021

  6. 6.

    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.

  10. 10.

    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.

  11. 11.

    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. “

  12. 12.

    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.

  14. 14.

    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).

  15. 15.

    mrmoshpotato

    No #nerdprom this year: the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is canceled again due to the virus. WHCA says it’ll be back in 2022.

    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!”

  18. 18.

    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.

  20. 20.

    cain

    @mrmoshpotato:

    “In the middle of a joke here, but you know the rules.  Fuck you, Chuck Todd!”

    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?

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    @mrmoshpotato:

    No #nerdprom this year: the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is canceled again due to the virus. WHCA says it’ll be back in 2022.

    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.

  26. 26.

    mrmoshpotato

    @cain:

    It would be fun if all we did was roast Chuck Todd the entire evening. 

    True, but it’s not like he was the only one slurping Dump’s Soviet shitpile mobster conman ass.

  27. 27.

    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.

  28. 28.

    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).

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    I’m also toying with moving over to Apple

    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.

  31. 31.

    burnspbesq

    @Cermet:

    Madoff was indirectly responsible for forcing the Wilpon family to relinquish ownership of the Mets. That counts as a mitzvah.

  32. 32.

    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.

  33. 33.

    Bex

    @debbie: EWTN is a far right-wing organization run by “traditional” Catholics who would not be sorry to see Pope Francis gone.

  35. 35.

    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

  36. 36.

    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.

  37. 37.

    cmorenc

    @NotMax:

    [@link in NM’s post]:
    Why in the world would Team Trump need a ‘policy institute’?

    The “America First Policy Institute” may soon have tens of millions of dollars, but I haven’t the foggiest idea what its staffers will do all day.

    Here’s what they will do all day: keep a fog machine running and spewing clouds of obfuscation and vaporized bullshit.

  38. 38.

    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.

  39. 39.

    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.

  40. 40.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    or a rather distant shot of a priest facing an altar and chanting in Latin.

    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.

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    I have an S8, which still has a headphone jack. I forget that Samsung deprecated that.

    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.

  43. 43.

    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?

  44. 44.

    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.

  46. 46.

    burnspbesq

    @PST:

    How can the board prefer to take less money in exchange for wrecking the paper?

    Hold their beers.

  47. 47.

    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?

  48. 48.

    dmsilev

    No #nerdprom this year

    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.

  51. 51.

    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.

  52. 52.

    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.

  53. 53.

    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.

  54. 54.

    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.

  56. 56.

    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.

  57. 57.

    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.

  58. 58.

    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.

  61. 61.

    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.

  63. 63.

    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.

  65. 65.

    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

  66. 66.

    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:

    Moderna hopes to have Covid booster shot for its vaccine ready by the fall, CEO says https://t.co/ef5xNpBhvh— CNBC (@CNBC) April 14, 2021

  68. 68.

    lowtechcyclist

    In lieu of a headstone, the family will be erecting a pyramid.

    Nitpick: a Ponzi scheme is not a pyramid scheme.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    @Mary G

    Got a fairly comprehensive overview on the state of the subject waiting in the wings for the next COVID thread.

  71. 71.

    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.

  72. 72.

    CaseyL

    @Steeplejack (phone): ​
     

    Owen Jensen from EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network).

    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.

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @Mary G:

    I have always been a cheapskate and it seems like Apples cost more for the name.

    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.

  76. 76.

    Brachiator

    @lowtechcyclist:

    In lieu of a headstone, the family will be erecting a pyramid.

    Nitpick: a Ponzi scheme is not a pyramid scheme.

    True, but it is a good joke nonetheless.

    What shape is a ponzi?

     

  77. 77.

    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.

  81. 81.

    dmsilev

    Never change, Orange County:

    Following the supervisors’ comments, residents took turns castigating the board and the proposed program for hours. Many claimed there was no pandemic and vaccines lack efficacy. A Bible verse was read aloud and the power of God was referenced more than once. Terms such as “communism” and “fascism” were used.

    “Let me be nothing if not clear, you can call this any damn thing you want … we all know it when we see it, it is a digital vaccine passport,” said resident Leigh Dundas. “It is the beginning and the end of Nazi Germany. It is show me your papers please before you pass. It is an electronic dog collar. And since when did Orange County become the People’s Republic of China?”

  83. 83.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    Another sure sign that Joe Biden has brought calm to the nation. We’re sitting around talking about our phones.

  84. 84.

    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)

  88. 88.

    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.

  89. 89.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @dnfree: ​
      can you give some examples of new software you wanted to use but couldn’t?

  92. 92.

    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.

  93. 93.

    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.

  94. 94.

    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.

  95. 95.

    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.

  97. 97.

    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!

  99. 99.

    J R in WV

    @lowtechcyclist:

    In lieu of a headstone, the family will be erecting a pyramid.

    Nitpick: a Ponzi scheme is not a pyramid scheme.

    Yes, totally accurate, but…

    Still really funny, pyramid is !!!!

  100. 100.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: I have an earlier version of Galaxy apart from the Samsung bloatware I am happy with it. My ? has a ? jack

  102. 102.

    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.

  105. 105.

    VOR

    @PST:  How can the board prefer to take less money in exchange for wrecking the paper?

    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.

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