Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

The words do not have to be perfect.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

When we show up, we win.

Consistently wrong since 2002

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

T R E 4 5 O N

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Friday Evening Open Thread: Nobody Show Cole This Clip, Okay?

Reader Interactions

145Comments

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    I had a $2,700 car repair bill this week.

    A hundred bucks, or Cole gets a link to the video.  (I wasn’t sure how to find the creepy blackmail note font.)

  9. 9.

    Catherine D.

    Open thread – watch Summer of Soul when you can. It’s on Hulu now and in theaters soon? Questlove’s documentary about 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival made from original footage and current interviews. So wonderful. I’m going to watch it again.

  15. 15.

    BC in Illinois

    Okay, let’s look into this. From UAE Exotic Falconry and Finance.
    @Falconry Finance

    We provide large capital commercial entities, Sovereign funds, and falcon owners with falcons and falcon related derivative financial products.

    You don’t understand
    $50,000 buys 10 falcons
    In 16 months you have 50 falcons
    Breed those 50
    16 months you have 250 falcons
    Breed them
    16 mo you have 1,250 falcons
    Breed them
    16 mo you have 6,250 falcons
    Sell them for $1 each.
    You are financially ruined, family starves.

    When considering your new falcon, remember: Shipping is always free. Anywhere in the world. Even if you move and change your name. We will find you. We will.

    falCoin: the world’s first bird based crypto. How do the birds do it? It’s a little something geniuses in the crypto industry call “proof of work” It’s sophisticated mathematical equations, I don’t understand The falcons won’t tell me how it works, but they always get it right.

    Welcome to the exciting and innovative universe of trained arabian hunting falcons and falcon derivatives! Yeah, you can buy a house. But does it really generate value? Does a house catch hares? Do they breed? NO. A house is just another in a string of ponzi schemes. Not falcons.

    People keep saying I should diversify.

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    @Catherine D.: My problem is then I just don’t drop it. I don’t know why. I now have HBO Max, which I got to watch In the Heights, and then they offered me Clueless, which we really enjoyed, so I can’t bring myself to drop it. Not to mention Disney+, which I got for Hamilton and still haven’t dropped because I keep thinking I’ll watch Hamilton again.

  23. 23.

    MomSense

    @Catherine D.:

    OOOH thanks for the reminder.  I’m going out for dinner tonight and then I’m going to settle in and watch.  I love Questlove.
    The woman who bought him his first turntable and records is the best friend of a friend.
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newscentermaine.com/amp/article/entertainment/music/whereisellie-the-roots-questlove-seeks-woman-who-gifted-him-a-turntable-and-records-in-portland-when-he-was-5/97-a8891e7e-328b-47c2-853b-315640f0b897

  24. 24.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m 2K into the vet on the dog’s heartworm treatment, am having two refrigerators and a dishwasher repaired Monday, and just had a new aerator pump installed on the spray septic. Figure I’m 4K in dumbass expense this month….

  25. 25.

    Catherine D.

    @zhena gogolia: Ha! I watched Hamilton until it was gone and then dropped Disney+, but I did catch the Muppets and other stuff until I cancelled. I got HBO Max for a few shows, so that’s ok for now.

  27. 27.

    Falling Diphthong

    After peering very closely at red helmet guy, I conclude he is not my brother-in-law.

    Eerie though.

  30. 30.

    satby

    I’ve had the most annoying last couple of days. The storms over last weekend caused power outages more than once. Apparently one of the power restores caused a surge, because my air fryer AND my toaster both bit the dust, which I noticed Wednesday.

    Yesterday and today I’ve been struggling to get my phone to text again… well, it can create texts, but no one gets them. Went through all the inane troubleshooting steps, no results. Turns out there was an update, and a bunch of people left negative reviews about the same problem on the Play store starting around when I noticed it too. Now I’m told to contact my carrier, which is Google Fi. Or to wipe and reset my phone, which will also wipe my e-SIM. I hate all this shit.

  32. 32.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    On the good side, I did score a 4 lb tomahawk ribeye two days ago; conversely, wife says “no, you can’t have it all on your plate only.”

    I have Makers 46 and Herradura Reposado for civilized straight drinks (along with a LOT of gin for martinis and a choice between Oliva Serie V Robusto and Rocky Patel Black Barrel Aged Toro sticks to smoke….

  33. 33.

    Geminid

    I’ve been trying to figure out a way to set up a rent-a-possum operation. People in central  Virginia are terrified of ticks and tick-borne diseases, and possums are prodigious tick eaters. Some folks are already making good money renting out goats to eat up brambles, multiflora roses, even poison ivy. I just can’t figure out how to get around the legal prohibition against keeping and using wild animals.

    But now, I think I could maybe make better money just selling possum futures, or Non-Fungible Possum Tokens..

  39. 39.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Geminid:

    I remember when we fed our old indoor/outdoor cat on the porch. Possums and raccoons would get into his food, and he’d just twitch his tail while laying in the porch chair. He wanted NOTHING to do with the trash pandas – he was a giant fat fuck, but you knew they’d tangled in the past.

  40. 40.

    Cacti

    There’s actually a falconry school not too far away from me, up in Canuckistan…if they ever open the border again.  :-(

    But it seems like an expensive hobby.

  41. 41.

    Spanky

    OH & I were yelling at clouds in the morning thread about how electronifying everything is drastically shortening (shorting?) MTBF and making products prohibitively expensive to repair, thus replacing shit becomes the standard. Not really happy to see multiple examples cropping up here, but not surprised.

  42. 42.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Spanky:

    Toro is a cigar size, but I did experience eating ox penis in Beijing a few years back, so…..

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    Couple of items which caught the eye.

    Next up to have their portraits affixed to the Elba-a-lago dart board?

    A group of Republican lawmakers asked President Joe Biden to end the “self-inflicted harm” his GOP predecessor, Donald Trump, caused in starting a multi-front trade war with China and European allies.

    Seven Republican senators sent a letter to the White House asking Biden to repeal tariffs and other trade barriers that Trump implemented during his time in office affecting a wide range of industries, including agriculture, carmakers and manufacturers. Source

    Does the term “bad penny” ring a bell?

    Former two-term Republican Gov. Paul LePage filed with the state to kick off his long-awaited 2022 run against Gov. Janet Mills, officially beginning the race between the two political rivals.
    [snip]
    LePage’s move to officially kick off his run came a day after he launched a campaign website that teases a Monday announcement. He may not have to disclose his initial donors until January because he filed just after a state campaign finance deadline. Source

  47. 47.

    CaseyL

    Frederick Weller!

    So now I can finally put a name to the character actor I see every once in a while and keep wondering who he is, because he looks so maddeningly familiar.  “The one who kinda looks like young Christian Slater.”

    Cole’s thing, though, is providing housing to local non-predatory birbs starting families.  Falcons would ruin his nesterhood.

  49. 49.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Well crap. I had a mole removed for biopsy on Monday and it came back positive, so now I have to have a “procedure.” I may be hallucinating but I think it’s called “scrape and burn.” They need a PR person to rename their procedures.

  50. 50.

    FlyingToaster

    @zhena gogolia: Fred Weller is the US Marshal from In Plain Sight, which was a USA TV series I really enjoyed back in the day.

    Peter is his first cousin.

  53. 53.

    AM in NC

    True fact, I had a Chaucer seminar in college with Frederick Weller.  And danced with him at a frat party. He was a VERY pretty young man.

  55. 55.

    Ken

    @Geminid: I just can’t figure out how to get around the legal prohibition against keeping and using wild animals.

    “No, really, they’re tame.”

    (Opossum rears up and starts growling and hissing, showing its remarkably large collection of teeth)

    “Tame-ish.”

  56. 56.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Spanky:

    Do outdoor cats ever eat at just one home? Ours weighed like 20 pounds, but we were the ones with the vet bills…

  57. 57.

    germy

    Peter Jackson’s “Get Back,” which was expected to be released in theaters this September, is now going to be a six-hour documentary on Disney Plus, premiering during Thanksgiving weekend. Variety reports that “each episode is approximately two hours in length, rolling out over three days, November 25, 26 and 27, 2021, exclusively on Disney Plus.”

  59. 59.

    Mary G

    I need to get my house retrofitted for earthquakes to eliminate one of the excuses my homeowners insurance is using to try to cancel my policy and sent requests for estimates from three companies on Angi’s List. Two came the next day and gave me verbal estimates of $16,000 and $14,000 reduced to $12,000 on the spot, tried to charm/bore/intimidate me into signing up that day and were sent off to send me detailed estimates via email. The third was booked up until yesterday, came, inspected and spent way more time than he needed to explaining how it works, showing me a zillion photos of the foundation, which thanks Baby Jeebus is sound and right where the builders left it under the house, and multiple photos of the 14 posts in the middle, 10 of which are fine 6×6 redwood, sorry environment, one which has moved almost off its pad, one that is cracked, and two that were cut on the days the drunk builders’ guys were working and are shimmed to make up for being so far off square. He even brought samples of each of the three fasteners they will use to show me how strong they are. Estimate including the two shimmed ones that I could try to get away with not replacing if the city inspector is lazy: $6,684.82. Yay. Feel relieved I waited. Still a lot of money, but I feel confident they will do well. I hate round number estimates. I want parts and labor to the penny.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @germy: Peter Jackson’s “Get Back”

    Ah, the long-unawaited conclusion to his The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.

  62. 62.

    Mary G

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Ugh. Everyone here has had those, except for me, because I had body image problems and would wear a cable knit cardigan and long pants until the second before I got into the water at the beach.

  63. 63.

    germy

    Here’s a fun thread of cats who served during world war 2

    Good news: I have gathered a bunch of photos of naval ship cats in tiny hammocks. Here are sailors of the HMS Hermione in 1941 surrounding their sleeping cat, Convoy. pic.twitter.com/X1iAaezxk5— Molly Hodgdon (@Manglewood) July 2, 2021

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax:

    I’m all in for reversing anything Peter Navarro had a hand in, and presumably that includes most of our China “initiatives.”

  66. 66.

    trollhattan

    @germy:

    That’s the most Peter Jackson thing since…you know. He’s the Ken Burns of Stanley Kubricks.

    ETA saw a trailer for the Beatles project and am intrigued not because Peter Jackson, but because he got hold of hours of vault film never released.

  71. 71.

    germy

    @trollhattan:

    The original “Let It Be” movie always looked like crap because it was originally shot in 16mm for a TV special (that never happened) and then blown up for a grainy theatrical release.

  72. 72.

    Lyrebird

    Doesn’t look like debbie or Ozark are around, but for anyone else interested in Sha’Carri Richardson’s situation, here is a MoveOn petition to reinstate her, and also, she has a Cameo site fwiw.

    Not hopeful, since the Olympics folks seem to be trying to make the women’s tennis powers look less awful or something. I mean the ones making Naomi Osaka and Taylor Townsend suffer over petty BS.

  73. 73.

    Spanky

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m an older people, and I never had a “scrape and burn”, though like the Count I never escape the dermatologist unscathed. My guy just goes nuts with the liquid nitrogen.

    Come to think of it, LN might be the “burn” part there.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    Speaking of Disney –

    1) Not my thing, but the trailer has some cute moments. Although this link says July 24, understand that has now been rescheduled to July 30 for simultaneous streaming and theatrical release.

    2) On a less magical note, Walt’s HUAC tetimony.

  75. 75.

    dnfree

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Mohs surgery?  That’s the usual for a malignant mole. They take a layer, check to see if they’ve got all the cancer, then take another layer if necessary. Repeat until a layer is  clear. Ask me how I know. It’s used for basal, squamous, and melanoma. Between my husband and me, we’ve had them all.

  76. 76.

    Spanky

    @Lyrebird: Part of me wonders if Ms. Richardson didn’t (rightfully) conclude that the Olympics are going to be a covid clusterfuck and calculated a way to avoid the thing. This would require her to conclude that not getting covid trumps her shot at the Olympics, something unheard of (by me).

  77. 77.

    Jay

    @Spanky:

    have you tried turning it off, and then on again?

    99% of the time, when customers had an issue with an appliance ranging from a furnace to a stove locked on self clean, killing power for 30 seconds, allowed the small computer controls to reboot, and reset function.

    if I had been less ethical, I would have charged $375 to show up, and for the first hour, then poked at stuff for another half hour for additional charges, like most of the repairmen here.

    instead I did it by phone, no charge.

  79. 79.

    James E Powell

    Anecdote from my high school classes. One thing I do is have the students explore careers and part of that is taking the various online career interest tests. They ask a ton of questions like “Would you rather cook dinner or mow the lawn?” “Do math problems or read a book?” and so on. The produce lists of suggested careers. One time a student’s No. 1 career was falconer. I didn’t even know that was still a job. I wanted to go back through his answers to figure out how he got that result. After I explained what a falconer does, he insisted he had no interest.

  81. 81.

    Frank Wilhoit

    Somebody won the Internets…but somebody also doesn’t know the difference between raptors, owls, and an eclectus parrot. (Except they all bite — maybe that’s the point.)

  82. 82.

    Nukular Biskits

    @WaterGirl:
    Feel your pain.
    A few weeks ago, dropped nearly $3K on much needed repairs on my truck (tires, brakes, front suspension/steering).
    Today, I dropped another $1K on my oldest son’s truck (I told him I’d half it with him) given I had been driving his truck while mine was in the shop.
    Nevertheless, still cheaper than a new truck.

  83. 83.

    Jay

    @Mary G:

    funny the difference a good, ethical Contractor makes. When I did it, half the “quote” time was spent educating the Customer.

  87. 87.

    Jeffro

    Falconry is being offered as one of many July 4th celebration activities at the local country club…for the low low price of $400 for a half hour.  Um, thanks but no thanks.

    I see “Make America Florida” is off to a great start with another condo building being evacuated due to ‘unsafe structure’ etc etc.  You run with that, though, DeSantis!  That and the video of Christie hugging Obama you praising Biden should be all we need for 2024.  Next!

  89. 89.

    NotMax

    @James E Powell

    Absolutely true tale. #1 for li’l ol’ moi on that test came up hermit. During the required follow-up meeting with one of the school’s guidance counselors, he told me that in all the years he’d been there while they’d been administering the test he’d never once seen that result.

    (#2, by some cosmically convoluted path, was bricklayer.)

  90. 90.

    Steeplejack

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Hi, skin cancer poster boy Steep here! Years of experience, going all the way up to big-time Mohs surgery, but hitting (almost?) all of the lesser stops, including “scrape and burn.”

    Note: I’m not a dermatologist, just a concerned patient. (Remember: “minor surgery” or “minor procedures” happen only to other people.)

    “Scrape and burn” is technically called “electrodesiccation and curettage,” which might have sounded more frightening, if less icky. It’s typically used for small, well defined, “superficial” lesions. (If your mole tested positive it’s officially a “lesion.”) And it’s exactly as advertised: the lesion is scraped off with a knife and an electric needle is used to burn the area to create a clear “margin.” The area is anesthetized, of course, and the procedure is very quick. Much less hassle than a dentist’s visit. Depending on the size, you get a small bandage or even just a Band-Aid. No stitches, so no follow-up visit. It does leave a small scar, but in my experience that’s more like a circle of slightly lighter skin.

    I presume your doctor will tell you what “positive” meant (i.e., type of cancer).

  92. 92.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: sorry to hear about all of this!  =(

    If we took a map of the U.S., eliminated the earthquake-prone areas, Tornado Alley, the hurricane-prone areas, the wildfire-prone-areas, the WAY-below-freezing for 6-9 months of the year areas…what’s that give us?

    I am showing my geo-prejudices here but I think it gives us central VA and the (very boring) interior of the Delmarva peninsula.  Anywhere else?

  97. 97.

    Another Scott

    @NotMax:  “long-awaited” is not a term sensible people would use, I don’t think…

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    CaseyL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  Good luck with the procedure; hope they get it all with a minimum of fuss and pain!

    I had a skin tag removed from an eyelid with LN.  But it was just a tag, not anything malignant, so the freeze was all I needed.  It was over very quickly.

  107. 107.

    Amir Khalid

    Is there anything to this, or is CNN just trying to gin up an “in disarray” story about the Biden administration?

  108. 108.

    Lyrebird

    @debbie: ​

    Glad I caught you! What I posted earlier did not capture my level of wanting to pound my head on the wall for her…
    @Spanky: ​
     

    Part of me wonders if Ms. Richardson didn’t (rightfully) conclude that the Olympics are going to be a covid clusterfuck and calculated a way to avoid the thing.

    That’s an interesting thought! I still think it was lousy of the reporter to bring up the death of Ms. R’s biological mother without checking whether that was cool right before such a big event. The whole mess makes Ms. R’s quotes after her race make more sense, where she was saying something like, no matter what, I am an Olympian. Racing so well with so much on her mind, wow.

  116. 116.

    Martin

    @Amir Khalid: There’s enough gin to kill any of us in that.

    Is there tension in the office? Sure. I dare anyone to set up an office full of ambitious people and not have that.

    One of my first stints as a unit manager had a bunch of drama after a round of hires. My supervisor told me if there wasn’t drama, then my hiring standard was probably too low. Takes a little while to get even the best team all rowing the same way.

  117. 117.

    Spanky

    @Nicole: Here’s a Bangles concert that was a bit of an eye-opener for me. Shows them playing a lot of their non-hits, which I find more interesting than their hits. They cover their hits too, of course. I think it also shows that Suzanna Hoffs is the third-best singer in the group.

  118. 118.

    MomSense

    @Amir Khalid:

    CNN is riffing off of Politico which ran stories on the same day about Harris office in disarray (!) and why the Trump org indictments were good news for trump.

    fuckem

  122. 122.

    NoraLenderbee

    @NotMax: ​
     

    Seven Republican senators sent a letter to the White House asking Biden to repeal tariffs and other trade barriers that asswipe implemented during his time in office

    They should have to go on national TV and explain that they supported everything that asswipe did, and they are utter hypocrites, and that they really do depend on Dems to fix all the problems they cause. And then STFU for a long time.

  123. 123.

    sab

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I have freckles and I grew up in Florida before sunscreen. I’ve had a few scrap and burns. They sting a little for a few days, and it leaves a little paler spot.  That’s about it. My routine cooking burns hurt more. Good luck.

  124. 124.

    Nukular Biskits

    @WaterGirl:
    Maybe I’m a cheapo but I refuse to pay +$45K for a comparably-equipped F-150 (and I’m not talking about a Lariat or King Ranch)  when I paid only $20K a few years ago.
    Having said that, however, I do realize that a new one would be more efficient so I do struggle with that daily as this one only gets 15mpg.

  125. 125.

    Pappenheimer

    @Tickraw: In Douglas Adam’s book, Last Chance to See, he visited a bird sanctuary on a small Pacific isle where the staff was trying to prevent the local hawk species from going extinct. To gather hawk semen, the chief researcher would put on  a specific hat, which the one captive  male hawk would then…have sex with.

  126. 126.

    frosty

    @Nicole: The Bangles were great! Got overshadowed by other bands like the Go-gos, but jangly guitars and three part harmonies? Unbeatable.​
     

    ETA Reading the article, I see Eternal Flame wasn’t one of those. I’ll go back and finish it now.

  127. 127.

    burnspbesq

    We had to say goodbye to Spouse’s 19-year-old cat early in the week, which was sad.

    But we are now the property of two two-month-old kittehs, who are sources of endless entertainment and delight. Thank you, Austin Humane Society.

  129. 129.

    Brachiator

    @NoraLenderbee:

    Seven Republican senators sent a letter to the White House asking Biden to repeal tariffs and other trade barriers that asswipe implemented during his time in office

    They should have to go on national TV and explain that they supported everything that asswipe did, and they are utter hypocrites, and that they really do depend on Dems to fix all the problems they cause. And then STFU for a long time.

    Yes! Yes! Maybe Biden should ask McConnell to write a letter.

    The Republicans knew these tariffs were nonsense from the start. Biden needs to rub their noses in it.

  130. 130.

    frosty

    @Jeffro: ​  Add most of the mid-Atlantic: PA, central Maryland along with Virginia. From what I’ve read global heating isn’t supposed to hit it too bad either, other than more rain.​

  133. 133.

    Anne Laurie

    @Amir Khalid: Is there anything to this, or is CNN just trying to gin up an “in disarray” story about the Biden administration?

    The CNN Media Mudlarks successfully avoided using the word ‘uppity’ for a Black, female Vice President and her Black, female Chief of Staff.  That’s the newsiest part of this non-troversy, IMO.

    (The CNN Mudlarks are very proud of this achievement & fully intend to submit for a Murrow Award next year.)

  141. 141.

    patrick Il

    I owned a near beachfront condominium in Virginia Beach and a rented a home nearby. I mentioned to someone walking in my condo’s neighborhood that I would be putting it up for sale in a couple of weeks. They made a full price offer plus closing costs on the spot. I did not even get a chance to put it on the market. I am renovating my house and someone noticed and knocked on the door and asked I was going to put it up for sale. They plan to take me to lunch tomorrow and make their offer. I have not put a house on the market yet and I’ve almost already sold two. I Wish I had a couple more.

  144. 144.

    J R in WV

    @Mary G: ​
     

    That’s wonderful, Mother-in-law needed new siding, set up three appointments for a Thursday to get estimates. Guy showed up on Tuesday, offered to do the job for something like $15,000, 2 grand off that price if she signed that day.

    Thankfully, she called us before signing… I was keeping close track of prices at the time, knew she only needed like a dozen or so squares of siding at a few hundred dollars each, so that job had nearly a whole decimal place of high price built in. In the end a local business did the work for under $4K !

    So I saved her nearly $10K in high-way robbery… did anyone say thank you? Nope.

    Congratulations on your new expert and his quality estimate!!

  145. 145.

    J R in WV

    @Jeffro:

    I am showing my geo-prejudices here but I think it gives us central VA and the (very boring) interior of the Delmarva peninsula. Anywhere else?

    Most of West Virginia may do OK, as long as we get enough rain to keep the forest alive and replenish our aquifers.

    It was 53 here last night, open window dropped the interior temp to 67 overnight, our A/C appears to be keeping things comfortable on hot afternoons. Well water is cold!

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