Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

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

Consistently wrong since 2002

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

“woke” is the new caravan.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Timing Is Important

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Timing Is Important

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Ask Jort, or Willow:

Or, for that matter, this guy:

… For years, probably decades, elected officials have been talking about the urgent need to improve our infrastructure. In part, this is simply a function of life cycles: America was a young country that invested heavily in infrastructure, and now we’re an older country, meaning much of the infrastructure is, too. But the failure to pass legislation aimed at improving or overhauling those aging bridges and roads was also just a political failure, a sort of eh-we’ll-get-to-it attitude.

Bridge collapses happen. This one is personal to me because it’s a bridge I know, that I’ve crossed enough times for it to be memorable, that my sister and mother have crossed countless times as well. But it is also a warning about how this understood risk can suddenly become a crisis.

The federal government’s data suggest that bridges in a condition equivalent to or worse than the collapsed one in Pittsburgh are fairly common. A review of the most recent report indicates that more than 7,500 bridges in the 50 states and D.C. are both in poor condition and rated lower or the same on the four main measures of condition, including the bridge deck condition and its supporting structure. Only Iowa has more such bridges than Pennsylvania…

President Biden was already slated to be in Pittsburgh on Friday, to give a speech focused on infrastructure. This bridge collapse offers a useful, if unwelcome, demonstration of the need for the recently passed infrastructure law to be implemented.

What I and probably many people in Pittsburgh will be hoping to hear is when the bridge will be replaced. Not to mention when those 7,500 other bridges in worse condition will be repaired, so that the next bridge that collapses isn’t the one you drive over every day to get where you need to go.

Reader Interactions

206Comments

  2. 2.

    Searcher

    Apparently that articulated bus in the picture has a curb weight of 25 tons; the bridge, a 26 ton weight limit.  The bus route has it going over every 30 minutes.

  4. 4.

    ThresherK

    Scratching my head over the “Let’s not all haggle about who ignored who for years and years when it comes to  infrastructure?” tone of that piece.

  5. 5.

    Kay

    This pushes back a little on the “Hispanic voters leaning more Republican” theme:

    The 2020 presidential exit polls indicated that Hispanic voters went for Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a 2-to-1 ratio, 65% to 32%. That’s very similar to 2016, when exit polls showed Hispanic voters picked Hillary Clinton over Trump by 65% to 29% (although some observers attached great meaning to the modest three-percentage-point gain in the GOP vote). But from a long-range perspective, there hasn’t been much substantial change. The 2000 exit poll results, for example, indicated that Hispanic voters went for Al Gore over George W. Bush by 62% to 35%, slightly less Democratic than in the 2020 election.

    Hispanic party identification for the full year 2021 was 56% Democrats/Democratic leaners and 26% Republicans/Republican leaners. This represents a 30-point Democratic margin. The trend line since 2011 shows some fluctuation in this gap over time, but no indication of a major or sustained shift. The 30-point Democratic advantage in party identification among Hispanic adults in 2021 is, in fact, greater than the 26-point Democratic margin in 2011.

    It shifts back and forth a little but overall it’s been really stable for 20 years. Trump actually lost ground that George W Bush gained.

  7. 7.

    New Deal democrat

    Just wanted to share this drink mix for sitting by the fireside during a Nor’Easter.

    Hot buttered egg nog rum:

    Pinches of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice
    1 tsp. Brown sugar (or Swerve or Truvia substitute)
    1.5 tsp softened butter (or, better yet, Brummell and Brown)

    Mix together. Add

    1/4 cup rum
    1/2 cup ginger beer
    1/4 cup egg nog
    1/2 tsp maple syrup
    Dash of vanilla

    Mix, then microwave to the temperature of warm or hot tea (do not boil).

    Sit back and enjoy by the fire.

  10. 10.

    Searcher

    @lowtechcyclist: Yep.

    I was initially skeptical when a commenter on another site claimed the busses for this city all weighed 24 or 25 tons, depending on the model, because Google told me busses weigh like 15 tons, but once you know it’s an articulated bus those numbers become very plausible.

    If true, that bus should not have been going over that bridge, and it’s hard to imagine it was not both the proximate cause of the collapse (the last time it drove over) and the ultimate cause (driving over every 30 minutes for years, weakening it).

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I have just learned a piece of news that will resonate with many of our beloved Jackals, one of whom (naming no names) has already posted, briefly, in this young thread.

    I refer, of course, to the fact that this day, the 29th of January, is apparently Curmudgeons’ Day. I’ll be notifying the Blogmaster later in a series of ALL-CAPS EMAILS. In the meantime, for those of you who celebrate, be sure and don’t enjoy your day.

    https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/curmudgeons-day/

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Couldn’t disagree more.  One of the clear takeaways from the 2020 election is that all Americans prefer Republicans now.

  20. 20.

    Suzanne

    @Searcher: The trouble is, of course, that that is likely the best route for the buses to go. Forbes is one of the biggest thoroughfares 8n the East End.

    Every structure has a lifespan.

  21. 21.

    JMG

    @Kay: If you live near or on the coast, big nor’easters like this one are a genuine threat to property and safety because of flooding and almost guaranteed power loss in subfreezing temperatures. If you have power and a garage for the car (I do), it’s pretty if somewhat scary to look at. The problems start when the snow stops, because it just sits there, and when you’re finally able to go out, our none too wide streets are about half their usual width.

  26. 26.

    Tony Jay

    Most of the 10 people evaluated for injuries were first responders checked for exhaustion or because of the cold and snowy weather. a spokesperson for Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said. Three people were taken to hospitals and none had critical injuries.

    “These crisis-actors are a clear and present danger to our country and the freedom for which it stands. Why aren’t Uncle Joe’s appointees asking the obvious questions? How did they know when to be there? Who chartered that bus for them? Why have none of their explosives been found in the rubble? Come on, let’s get serious. How obvious does their conspiracy have to be before the people of this country wake up to the danger we’re in? That’s why I’m here today, to ask you to help me to fight them all the way to Washington DC and back. We are The People , this is our land, and in November they will learn exactly what that means. I’ve been Greg Stillson and I want to be your man in Congress. God bless you all and God bless the Constitution of the United States of America!”

    Wingnuttery. It’s a licence to print money.

  27. 27.

    Barbara

    @Searcher: I’ve been over that bridge many times. It doesn’t even feel like a bridge, just a continuation of the road. Agree that there should have been more attention to weight limits. This is a MAJOR thoroughfare in the city.

  28. 28.

    p.a.

    The thing about these high wind snowstorms is the ‘do some shoveling halfway through to make it easier later on’ plan is a crapshoot as the snow blows and wind direction shifts.  I’ll give it a go about 1pm est if it’s not whiteout conditions.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Tony Jay: God bless you all and God bless the Constitution of the United States of America!

    You mean that thing that makes no mention of God?

  35. 35.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They call the “trend” when it shifts 3 points and then don’t follow it. If that’s the measure I can call the trend in 2000 (moving R) and then show it moving the other way. One of the weird things about Donald Trump is how he has managed to make George W Bush underappreciated, politically :)

    George W Bush both did better with Hispanics and was re-elected. Why is this even a question?

  38. 38.

    Tdjr

    @Barbara: I used to live a few blocks away and travelled that bridge often. I remember sitting at the light with 4 lanes of traffic in 2 directions. If the collapse had happened during rush hour there would have been fatalities.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Tony Jay: I really don’t think God cares. What’s the point of being god if she is going to let penny ante bullshit like that bother her?

  41. 41.

    Suzanne

    So a note on Ed Gainey, the mayor of Pittsburgh. He’s the first black mayor of the city, which is super-cool, and he is considered to be pretty left. He beat Bill Peduto, the previous mayor, in the primary. Peduto is also a Dem, but there was much distrust of Peduto, especially after some of the George Floyd protests.

    The poor man has been mayor for a month, and he started his term having Covid. In just the last month, there’s been lots of snow and transportation problems, a school shooting/death of a special needs teenager, Omicron and impacted government services, and now this bridge collapse.

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    If Democrats had been in control of government for the last 40 years, what a great country we would be.

  45. 45.

    geg6

    @Barbara:

    And it was not even the worst rated bridge in the city.

    And you’re correct about it seeming to not even be a bridge and how many people use that route.  I’ve driven over it hundreds of times, especially when I was a student at Pitt and spent a lot of time tooling around Oakland, Squirrel Hill and the environs.  Forbes Avenue is just super busy and it’s so lucky there were school delays and a snowstorm to keep traffic light and it was not quite the peak of rush hour.  Another 15 minutes to half an hour, there would have been a lot more vehicles there and a higher probability of severe injuries and fatalities.
    Pittsburgh has more bridges than any city in the world, including Venice.  Considering the state of many of them, we’re lucky it doesn’t or hasn’t happened more often.

  50. 50.

    Spanky

    @Baud:

    Pittsburgh has more bridges than any city in the world, including Venice

    I did not know this.

    To be fair, Pittsburgh doesn’t have gondolas with singing gondoliers.

    Many consider this a point in favor of Pittsburgh.

  53. 53.

    Suzanne

    @Spanky: Pittsburgh also has the steepest street in the country that you are able to drive on with a regular car (Canton Avenue). The infrastructure is a very salient thing here.

    In all seriousness, I feel like a thesis could be written about the public’s view of and relationship to government around the issue of snow removal. Coming from a place that was not snowy, but also much more Gadsden-y in approach, I find it fascinating how my neighbors react to the snow, and what they expect from the City. I joke that the moment it starts snowing, they’re on Facebook yapping about how they haven’t been plowed out yet. But they talk about calling the councilman, and who do some streets get plowed multiple times why some get none, etc etc etc. All our political problems in microcosm.

  54. 54.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ixnay:

    Happy birthday! It was also the birthday of a dear friend of mine; and a now comparatively unknown British composer, Frederick Delius, much lionised in his time, was born on this day in 1862.

  55. 55.

    Suzanne

    @lowtechcyclist: This month has been pretty hard. Rolling school closures and weather delays have impacted the school district’s ability to do grab-and-go meals. Not to mention, you know, education.

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    “Much lionised” is an overstatement, I guess. He wasn’t one of the greats, for sure, but his music is very pretty listening, and sometimes that’s exactly what is wanted. But in his lifetime, it’s probably more accurate to say that Delius was intermittently popular.

  60. 60.

    Spanky

    @Suzanne:

    I was going to say that Canton would be hard-pressed to beat Potomac where it comes down to Banksville, but then I looked at where Canton was, and it all makes sense.

    My other favorite, which I’m sure you’ve never had occasion to drive, is Coal Valley Rd. where it climbs westward from Rt. 51 in Jefferson. Not altogether steep, but for steep and windy it can’t be beat. When I’d drive home from here in MD I’d always detour up that hill just to let myself know I was in Pgh

    ETA: BTW, they’re not still brick, are they?

  61. 61.

    Yarrow

    One of my favorite bridge stories is how the fake bridges on Euro banknotes became real. You can see the pictures if you click through.

    Dutch designer and illustrator Robin Stam has permanently changed the landscape of one corner of the Netherlands. Taking inspiration from the bridges depicted on euro banknotes, Stam had decided to turn them into reality. Funnily enough, the images of bridges on the euro banknotes were completely imaginary and didn’t actually exist anywhere in Europe. They were Austrian artist Robert Kalina’s way of echoing the major ages and architectural styles of Europe.

    Designer Stam thought it was a pity the bridges were fictional, so he rolled up his sleeves and brought them to life. Now, Stam’s colorful and iconic bridges, built near a housing estate, continue to brighten up the city of Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam, for nearly a decade.

  64. 64.

    Tinare

    @Tdjr: That was my first thought too, evening rush would have been so awful. I grew up not far from there, that was my regular commute for decades.  I often sat in traffic on that bridge for numerous lights. I now live south of downtown and was impacted by the Liberty Bridge fire a few years ago. Pittsburgh is lucky this bridge, on this day at the time of day it collapsed was the one that happened. I hope all of the needed bridge repairs and upgrades happen before the worst case scenario does.

  67. 67.

    SFAW

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Back in my day, we didn’t need a “Day” to “honor” us, we just did what we did, without any expectation of “honors.” The kids/curmudgeons these days don’t know the value of … anything.

    And, as Shakespeare or someone else so eloquently put it: BLECH.

  68. 68.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You mean that thing that makes no mention of God?

    It’s implied, you heretic, because all the Founding Fathers were Evangelicals who graduated from Liberty U.

  69. 69.

    Barbara

    @Suzanne: If you live in Pittsburgh you must keep your brakes in good condition! Had a high school friend who rolled right through a red light on a steep downhill onto Ardmore Blvd. when her brakes couldn’t meet the challenge.

  70. 70.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    One of the clear takeaways from the 2020 election is that all Americans prefer Republicans now.

    Chris? Chris Cillizza? Is that you?

    It had never occurred to me that our esteemed Baud might be a sock puppet.

  72. 72.

    Ken

    @SFAW: It had never occurred to me that our esteemed Baud might be a sock puppet.

    Suddenly the whole “Baud! 20xx!” campaign makes sense. To think I’ve wasted my last three Presidential votes on a fake write-in campaign instead of voting for the Democrat.

  73. 73.

    MomSense

    The wind is howling here. I’m eyeing the stupid, giant pine tree that has rust on it that my neighbor refuses to take down. I love trees but not diseased trees.

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    and a now comparatively unknown British composer, Frederick Delius, much lionised in his time, was born on this day in 1862.

    As I expect you know, there was a film, “Song of Summer,” about his life. It’s the only film I remember my beloved (Austrian-born) grandmother wanting to see, because it was about Delius. She might not have approved of Ken Russell’s treatment, however. [I have no idea if he did a good job on the film, of if it was the usual Ken Russell thing.

    ETA: My grandmother was actually pretty with-it and certainly liberal. And I have no particular animus against Russell; just didn’t impress me. Although maybe that’s my problem, and not the fault of Russell.

  77. 77.

    artem1s

    lots of trolls all over twitter claiming Democrats sabotaged it for Biden’s visit. I knew as soon as I heard about this they would be all over social media claiming false flag or some other shit. One was bemoaning the money available for a war with Russia but no money for bridges.  Absence of calling out GOP no votes on BBB was glaring.

  78. 78.

    SFAW

    @artem1s:

    lots of trolls all over twitter claiming Democrats sabotaged it for Biden’s visit.

    Thank FSM I have my nitroglycerine tablets near at hand

  79. 79.

    sdhays

    @Ken: I always give my vote for Baud to the Santa at the mall, although in 2020 I sent it to the North Pole because of COVID. I figure if I’m really good, my one vote will cancel out the rest of you retroactively.

    “Work smarter, not harder.”

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SFAW:

    I know of the existence of that film, but have never seen it. Would be worth tracking down for the novelty value, if nothing else.

  81. 81.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I hope everyone in the nor’easter/bomb cyclone’s path soldier through with heat, good food and grog. I grew up there and those big storms left piles that seemingly lasted the winter.

    Colorado’s big storms are most often followed by bright sunny days. Though we did have a mayor whose failed re-election bid was blamed on a poor response to a major storm.

  84. 84.

    Zelma

    Winter driving in Pittsburgh is a real challenge.  My first realization of this fact was right after I moved there.  We didn’t know the area and found ourselves on S. Negley Ave in the middle of an ice storm.  We literally slid down the hill and prayed that the light at the bottom at Fifth Ave would be green when we got there.  It was.  We slid right through the intersection.

    I loved Pittsburgh in many ways but the weather and the hills got to me.  So after 40 years I moved back to S. Jersey and its blessed flatness.  Of course, flatness doesn’t make much difference when you’re getting 2 feet of snow – which is what’s happening here right now.  This much snow is very unusual at the shore.

  85. 85.

    persistentillusion

    @Suzanne: Try Chicago for the politics of snow.  Jane Byrne, many years ago, became the first woman Mayor by running mostly on the terrible job the current Mayor had done with snow removal after a major storm.

  86. 86.

    Spanky

    @Sure Lurkalot: Down here on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay the snow has stopped and the sun has come out. Still in the 20s, though, and the wind is picking up.

  88. 88.

    Miss Bianca

    @Sure Lurkalot: Wait, that happened in Colorado? I certainly remember it happening in Chicago – poor Jane Byrne was a one-term mayor as a result of a huge blizzard – ’79, I think the year was, well before I moved there.

    @persistentillusion: Wait, what? I thought Jane Byrne was the one who got turfed out – I will have to look this up!

    ETA: You are correct, sir!

  89. 89.

    Another Scott

    @persistentillusion: A friend visited colleges in Chicago just after that storm.  He said drifts/plow cuts through the drifts were higher than the top of his VW microbus.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    BBC had the good (mis?)fortune to call an American meteorologist to describe the weather pattern currently hitting the US NE and boy howdy, did he ever expound on the weather nerdery at work–the news guy could not get a word in edgewise but I learned a lot about splitting jetstreams and such.

    Good luck you guys. We’re struggling in solidarity with our sunny and mid-60s, whilst lamenting it not having rained in January. One month left to catch up.

  91. 91.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I can’t find the link now, but Wil Wheaton has taken action in response to the banning of Maus–other books too, but Maus in particular.

    He contacted all the independent comic bookstores in his county and offered to buy two copies that they could give away to anyone who asked for them.

    If you’re so inclined and have the means, your favorite independent bookstore might be willing to do the same.

  92. 92.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Miss Bianca:

    It was the massive 1982 Christmas Eve blizzard that paralyzed Denver and softened up three-term Mayor Bill McNichols, while a sloppy snowfall that hit the metro area on May 17, 1983 — the day voters were heading to the polls — helped finish off the old-school politician.

  93. 93.

    Spanky

    @Zelma: I had the good fortune to learn to drive in Pittsburgh. In the winter. In a ’69 Ford LTD. Hood like an aircraft carrier. Rear wheel drive.

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    @Miss Bianca: Bilandic was mayor at the time.  Byrne won because he was mayor at the time (one can always do better, but storms like that, well…)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    Gin & Tonic

    Wind is blowing, snowing heavily, visibility less than a hundred yards. Big pot of soup on the stove, fire going in the fireplace, it’s a good day to not go outdoors.

  98. 98.

    RepubAnon

    @Tony Jay: Reminds me of a Blackadder Season 1 joke, when the leader of a group of bad guys plotting to overthrow the current regime says “God save the King” followed by the other bad guys shouting “‘Cuz nobody else will!”

  100. 100.

    VOR

    In August 2007 an 8 lane highway bridge collapsed in Minneapolis during rush hour, killing 13 and injuring 145. The bridge spanned the Mississippi River and carried I-35W, a US Interstate highway. It was close to the center of Minneapolis and carried 140k vehicles daily. In short, it was a highly visible, heavily used, and centrally located bridge.

    Over the 40 years since the bridge opened for traffic in 1967 there had been modifications to the bridge. These modifications added considerable weight. Wikipedia says:

     Contributing to that design or construction error was the fact that 2 inches (51 mm) of concrete had been added to the road surface over the years, increasing the static load by 20%. Another factor was the extraordinary weight of construction equipment and material resting on the bridge just above its weakest point at the time of the collapse. That load was estimated at 578,000 pounds (262 tonnes), consisting of sand, water and vehicles.

    NTSB concluded the original design for the bridge was the cause of the failure. Gusset plates where supporting members met were too small, too thin for even the original design weight.

    In the aftermath, it turned out the state Department of Transportation knew the bridge had problems. In 1990 the federal government gave the bridge a rating of “Structurally Deficient”, a rating shared by 10s of thousands of other bridges. One of the contracted inspections found cracking in support columns. In 2005 the federal government lowered the rating. There was a proposal to retrofit the bridge in 2006, but it was canceled in favor of more inspections. DOT planners wanted to replace the bridge in 2020.

    At the time, the head of the state DOT was also serving as the Lt. Governor. She had been critical of DOT spending as a legislator and the Governor was committed to holding the line on budget and taxes. There was a newspaper report, not mentioned in the Wikipedia article, that she had directed the DOT to do inspections instead of repairs because it was cheaper. The NTSB report’s conclusion of an original design flaw was eagerly embraced as absolving the DOT (and DOT head) of responsibility.

  102. 102.

    Mike in NC

    Got an email from my brother saying that the Boston suburbs might be getting up to 30″ of snow today. We got a bit of snow ourselves overnight. Might have been nearly 1/8th of an inch. I struggled to get down the driveway to fetch the newspaper, which featured a column by none other than Larry Fucking Elder. I need to complain to them about that crap.

    Now waiting for the snow plows to show up…

  103. 103.

    Kay

    Tim Fullerton
    @TimFullerton
    ·17m
    Sen. Wicker voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett – who never tried a case to a verdict or ever argued in front of a court of appeals.
    I wonder what’s different this time…

    Ashton Pittman
    @ashtonpittman
    · 14h
    NEW: The first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court will be a “beneficiary” of affirmative action and she will “probably not get a single Republican vote,” U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, said today.

    Conservatives have a real problem explaining how they supported Barrett as experienced and qualified and how they are announcing Biden’s potential pick(s) are not qualified. It just doesn’t make any sense without racism. There’s no other factor.
    I hoped they’d make fools of themselves with this, and they are. Could not just leave it alone. That dog whistle was just sitting there and they couldn’t resist picking it up.

  104. 104.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’m going to wait for confirmation, but Ukraine’s Channel 5 has a report just up that Russian forces of their Western region have completed their training exercises and are returning to their bases. No link because a) I’m on my phone and b) it’s in Ukrainian.

  108. 108.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay: but does it have to do with population concentrations? Does Florida tip to Biden if not for that 3% Trump gain, for example?

    ETA: Also the problem of dealing with “Hispanic” like a monolith. I remember hearing analysis right after the election saying Hispanic communitites in Florida, for example, will hold different attitudes towards Dems than those in New York.

  112. 112.

    Kathleen

    @Baud:

    Couldn’t disagree more.  One of the clear takeaways from the 2020 election is that all Americans prefer Republicans now.

    I would replace “Americans” with “pundits”. I don’t know how to do the strikeout thingy.

  113. 113.

    Suzanne

    @Zelma: Winter driving here is definitely a thing! We replaced Mr. Suzanne’s Honda Civic this year with a Subaru. We live right on a hillside on a brick street, and our neighborhood is very steep. I might do the same with mine in the next year or two.

    The first big snow this year was on 1/6, and it was a treacherous and slippery drive home.

    Though the worst I have ever slid was in Tucson, AZ, when a flash flood came up, the arroyos filled with fast-moving water, and my brakes were as useless as if they had been nonexistent.

  115. 115.

    germy

    Working at any office is like “Ok we’re transitioning to Salarya, but payroll is still in Bullfrog—did you see my Noosecock post? Submit your timecard on Fireplayce then jizz me on Smackdog . Do NOT upload to Crackerz without Yammer approval

    — cancela lansbury (@gossipbabies) January 28, 2022

    And then we go on vacation to quaint little European towns where they’ve been making cheese or glass or bricks the same way for eight hundred years.

  116. 116.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    Conservatives have a real problem explaining how they supported Barrett as experienced and qualified and how they are announcing Biden’s potential pick(s) are not qualified.

    A “real problem” with whom? Their supporters agree with them, and I doubt independents will care enough to vote against them as a way to register their disapproval of RWMFs’ racism/hypocrisy. [I hope I’m wrong about that second part.]

    The Rethugs have been shameless for the last 40-plus years, why would they start caring now?

  120. 120.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    So as a snow snob, I judge this snowfall “respectable”. First decent one of the season. We got maybe 6″. Not much snow falling this morning, but pretty good wind.

    “Respectable” is partly judged by whether there’s enough good quality stuff to make a snow sculpture. I made a pile about 5′ high while shoveling this morning, I’m now trying to decide what to turn it into. Keeping in mind that I don’t have any actual artistic talent.

    The kids are grown and gone, the beagle said “the hell with this” and went back inside, so it’s just me out there playing in the snow. I was singing “I won’t grow up” from Peter Pan this morning while piling the stuff up.

  122. 122.

    Another Scott

    @Gin & Tonic: Searching Twitter is horrible.  I’m not seeing much in English (though not surprising) in doing a search for ukraine+belarus+exercises. Supposedly the Belarus exercises are to end on February 20.

    Lots and lots of scare-mongering there. Gotta get those Engagement clicks!!1

    :-/

    Fingers crossed.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  123. 123.

    germy

    @zhena gogolia:

    A few years back I’d sit in rush hour traffic every morning on my way to a job like that (“Listen up, people – we’re switching over to the xPicalzys operating system – let us know if you have trouble accessing your old files!” etc) and then my wife and I visited a place with no cars to see people blowing glass in a 900 year old building. Glass blowers using a technique handed down from their great great great great great grandparents.  It was a vacation.

  124. 124.

    Kathleen

    @Suzanne: Do they still have the incline cable cars in Pittsburgh? I thought there were 2 remaining. Just curious. I would love to visit Pittsburgh. It sounds like a cool city.

  127. 127.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Yinz are really bringing back some memories today!

    @rikyrah: On my way to work. Had one day off since January 3rd. Ready for this project to be over.

    I feel for ya. In mid-January 1984 I was in the office 17 straight days working on a USAF proposal. Day 18 was a Sunday and an ice storm, and nothing was moving anywhere in the area, otherwise the streak would’ve been longer. (NB We lost by being too honest. Tell you about it sometime.)

    @Suzanne: @Spanky: Pittsburgh also has the steepest street in the country that you are able to drive on with a regular car (Canton Avenue).

    Most summers when I was a kid we’d drive to WV for Dad’s 2 weeks off to visit Mom’s family. On the way we’d stop off in Morgantown to see Dad’s older sister & husband. They lived on Jones Ave, in a house that was 3 storeys in front and 5 storeys in back. Curbside parking was only allowed on the downhill side, so Dad would have to do a 180 above their place to park in front, and the first chance to turn around was a road (I think it was Overhill) that fell away downhill like a frackin’ ski jump. When Dad worked the 3-point turn it scared the hell out of the rest of the family because it looked like the right front wheel was dangling in space. (I thought Mom must’ve lost 10 years off her life in the shotgun seat, but she made it past 102, so…)

    In all seriousness, I feel like a thesis could be written about the public’s view of and relationship to government around the issue of snow removal.

    I’ve lived on a short steep street in Baltimore for over 30 years and the plowing has improved dramatically in the last dozen. Before that, when one of those every-7-year nor’easters would dump 2-3 feet on us, we’d all get fed up after 3 days or so & emerge with our shovels to shovel out all 3 blocks ourselves (including the parked cars). I didn’t normally see my neighbors much (working late hours) and it was a good way to catch up with them while getting some exercise, so it wasn’t as bad as it sounded.

    It’s Curmudgeons’ Day, so – carry on! :^D

  131. 131.

    Kay

    @different-church-lady:

    They used a national poll of voter Party preference by the WSJ and some results in south Texas, so, no, it wasn’t a sophisticated analysis of each Latino group in states. That would be really difficult to do.

    What they should say is “pundits in each Party don’t know that much about Latino voters so the safest thing to do is look at results over a longer period, if ‘trend’ is what you’re after”.

  137. 137.

    frosty

    @geg6: Does Pittsburgh have more tunnels than any other city? I can think of three that I’ve been through, offhand. Fort Pitt, Liberty, and Squirrel Hill.

    ETA People think of it as the city with three rivers, but it’s also got a lot of hills – it’s got San Francisco beat IMHO.

  139. 139.

    germy

    Go back in time and discourage Jeff Zucker from any career in “media”

    Lol the same executive at nbc greenlit fear factor and the apprentice, setting an unbelievable sequence of events in motion

    — warrior cop (@wyatt_privilege) January 29, 2022

  142. 142.

    Starfish

    Excuse me, I need to yell about Jake Tapper’s nonsense this morning.

    Another school board removing another heralded book from its curriculum: “To Kill a Mockingbird” will be removed from the Mukilteo WA School District’s ninth-grade English/Language Arts required reading list.https://t.co/xBeKP9nGfW via @KING5Seattle
    — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 28, 2022

    Jake is over here trying to create false equivalence between book banning and removing things from curriculum. Book banning removes things from the library because of political opposition. Removing things and adding new things to curriculum happens all the time, and I am so completely unimpressed with Jake’s nonsense.

    All these folks who read this book when they were ninth graders are rending their garments over this without understanding the false equivalence being created.

  143. 143.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Yarrow: My DH loved it too!

    I first thought why didn’t I go see this when I was near Rotterdam but that was a decade earlier. AL is right, timing is important!

  144. 144.

    NotMax

    Loads about 1600 Petsylvania Avenue.

    There have been a few ponies and many horses, including the very first pets to occupy the White House with President John Adams and first lady Abigail. They had horses named Cleopatra and Caesar, along with dogs Juno and Satan.
    [snip]
    Lincoln and first lady Mary Todd also kept cats, Hager said.

    “There’s a story that he would feed one of his cats from the plates in the White House dining room, then his wife objected and he said something like, ‘Well, if these plates were good enough for James Buchanan, they’re good enough for the cat,’” he said. Source

  147. 147.

    Another Scott

    @Yarrow: Speaking of designs on money, I’ve always been fascinated by Stani’s “How to make money with Free Software” (from 2008).

    Introduction

    The Dutch Ministry of Finance organized an architecture competition for which a selected group of architectural offices (unstudio, nox, …) and artists were invited, including myself. The goal of the competition was not to design a building, but the new 5 euro commemorative coin with the theme ‘Netherlands and Architecture’. The winner will be rewarded with a nice price, but most of all with the honor: his design will be realized and will be a legal coin within the Netherlands.

    I approached the subject ‘Netherlands and Architecture’ from two points of view. On one hand I paid tribute to the rich Dutch architecture history and on the other hand to the contemporary quality of Dutch architecture. These form also the two sides of my coin. Traditionally the front of the coin needs to portray the queen, while the back side displays the value of the coin.

    […]

    Lots of fantastic creativity out there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  148. 148.

    Kay

    Judd Legum
    @JuddLegum
    ·3h
    NEW: Mississippi’s
    @SenatorWicker
    says Biden’s Supreme Court nominee will not be “a nice, stately liberal” like Breyer but “in the style of Sonia Sotomayor”
    Biden says he will nominate a black woman

    “In the style of”!
    Oh, they are going to just make history with this one. I don’t know if you-all watched them w/Sotomayor but they were embarrassing with just this BLATANT, patronizing double standard. This will be 10X worse.

  153. 153.

    Tdjr

    @frosty: I visited San Francisco and wondered what all the fuss was about. And I love taking flat-landers down some of the hills in Mt Washington.

  162. 162.

    germy

    “The first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court in history will be a ‘beneficiary’ of affirmative action, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker told a radio show this afternoon.” https://t.co/25bHyIAkyr

    — Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 29, 2022

    Hi, @SenatorWicker

    For almost 200 years, only white men were appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    What were they the "beneficiaries" of?

    There's a word for it. Can you think of it? https://t.co/bMPHZK3b39

    — Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) January 29, 2022

  167. 167.

    Another Scott

    One for TaMara – Nature:

    From chihuahuas to great Danes, dogs differ more in size than any other mammal species on the planet. A mutation behind such variation has been traced to an unexpected source: ancient wolves1.

    The mutation lies near a gene called IGF1, which researchers flagged 15 years ago as having a major role in the size variation of domestic dogs. It was the first of around two dozen such genes identified. But efforts to pinpoint the gene variant responsible had come up empty.

    “IGF1 has been a thorn in our side,” says Elaine Ostrander, a geneticist at the US National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, who led the 2007 study that first identified IGF1’s role in dog size2, as well as the 27 January study in Current Biology that now fulfils the quest.

    Ancient dogs, domesticated from wolves in the past 30,000 years, differed in size to some extent. But the current extreme size differences — the largest breeds are up to 40 times bigger than the smallest — emerged in the past 200 years, as humans established modern breeds.

    Ostrander and colleagues including geneticist Jocelyn Plassais at INSERM-University of Rennes, France, analysed the genomes of more than 1,400 canids, including ancient dogs, wolves, coyotes and 230 modern dog breeds.

    Growth control

    When they compared variation in the region around the IGF1 gene with body size in dogs and wild canids, one variant stood out. It lies in a stretch of DNA that encodes a molecule called a long non-coding RNA, which is involved in controlling levels of the IGF1 protein, a potent growth hormone.

    The researchers identified two versions, or alleles, of the variant. Across all breeds, dogs with two copies of one allele tended to weigh less than 15 kilograms, whereas two copies of the other version were more common in dogs weighing more than 25 kilograms. Dogs with one copy of each allele tended to be intermediate in size, says Ostrander. Canines with two copies of the large-bodied allele also had higher levels of the IGF1 protein in their blood, compared with those with two copies of the ‘small’ allele.

    […]

    There’s still so much more to know about so many things.

    Here’s the paper (19 page .pdf)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  171. 171.

    James E Powell

    @SFAW:

    A “real problem” with whom? Their supporters agree with them, and I doubt independents will care enough to vote against them as a way to register their disapproval of RWMFs’ racism/hypocrisy. [I hope I’m wrong about that second part.]

    The Rethugs have been shameless for the last 40-plus years, why would they start caring now?

    Especially since the press/media will never hold them accountable like they would if it were any Democrat.

  175. 175.

    Baud

    Wicker is from Mississippi and depends on getting near unanimous white support to win.  He’s a good spokesman for opposing Biden’s pick on racial grounds.

  176. 176.

    CaseyL

    @germy: Whoa.  That is a weird masterpiece.  Or a masterpiece of weird.

    It doesn’t make the same mistake as other way-crazy ads, though: you definitely remember the product!

  179. 179.

    James E Powell

    @different-church-lady:

    Also the problem of dealing with “Hispanic” like a monolith. I remember hearing analysis right after the election saying Hispanic communities in Florida, for example, will hold different attitudes towards Dems than those in New York.

    Exactly. There are Hispanic communities in Florida that hold different attitudes than other Hispanic communities in Florida. There are Hispanic communities that do not want to be referred to as Hispanic. Or Latino.

    I teach in Los Angeles. The “what name?” issue comes up at least once a year. Hispanic & Latino are almost unanimously understood by my students as “names that white people use to refer to us.” The students almost always refer themselves as Mexican, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, etc. Even if their family has been in the US for three generations. Cf. Americans whose families arrived before the Civil War who refer to themselves as Irish.

    If a family moved here from Scotland, we wouldn’t be calling them British, would we?

  181. 181.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Spanky: ​
     

    Down here on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay the snow has stopped and the sun has come out. Still in the 20s, though, and the wind is picking up.

    Looks absolutely spectacular, looking at it through the window from inside.

    And inside is where I’ll stay. There’s nothing we need from the store that can’t wait a day or two.

  182. 182.

    Steeplejack

    Sunny and clear in my corner of NoVA this morning, but only 25° and not going much higher today. Looks like we got about an inch of snow. Covered the grass and the cars but didn’t stick much to the pavement. Threadkill Lane looks dry, with occasional small icy patches. Whatevs, I’m not going anywhere.

    I hope the Northeastern jackals are hanging tough. The live views on the Weather Channel look dire.

  183. 183.

    Damned at Random

    Native Pittsburgher here. You can’t go any distance in Allegheny County without crossing a bridge. M sister told me they are putting nets under some overpasses to keep falling debris from impacting cars passing underneath. So yeah, infrastructure work is way overdue.

    I blame Reagan.  The whole “we don’t need tax revenue, we have a credit card and Band-aids are load-bearing” attitude originated there. As a society, we have some growing up to do.

  184. 184.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    I wanted to share the beginning of a longer piece. What do you think? Any good?

    Is It Me, an essay by some weirdo you met on the internet:

    Is it just me? If it’s just me, I guess I have no choice to live in this world of hate and villainy, but you know, go along to get along, just like Nazis, right? It made sure if you had a good head on your shoulders, it had a better than average chance of staying there. (Cue brandoner outrage:”HE’S SLANDERING NAZIS! They didn’t DECAPITATE their victims!”)

    No, no, let’s have fun, okay, everyone: living with ultimately unfair criticism, everyone on three, 1, 2, 3 COWBELL
    “Nah, it’s pretty harsh.”
    “I can try to pull it back, a little.”
    “But not too much – people are dying.” Damn. I always blow the punchiine these days. Would that skit have worked with “I gotta have more people dying”? I think not. No, people who feel the President has no obligation to protect America as best as could be done, because he doesn’t *want* to, no more TV appearances, aren’t a good thing, like COWBELL. (I believe awesome cowbell must be in all caps. I’m okay if you don’t; just like with NASCAR, it doesn’t mean I don’t love you and want you to have a good time at the races. Just, cut with the *brandoning*.

    Oh: To brandon (lower case necessary; Brandon I hope you appreciate me disassociating your proper noun. That’s fancy talk for “first name” – proper nouns are capitalized.

    DAMN. Lost my place, to brandon, a verb:
    1) to use the phrase
    2) to be a deliberate asshole generally, from mocking the President just because he’s a Democrat to brandoning the President while he’s giving your child a memory that might have been precious.
    3) a fun way to troll the trollers, and watch them cry no fair!

    I don’t get brandoning or brandoners. Unless… see, I try not to say “fuck Trump” unless he’s doing something serious, like separating moms and dads from their kids – FQMLY VALUES FOR THE WIN!, and again, is it just me? I hope not! – save profanity for emphatic emphasis. I don’t want to chant FUCK TRUMP for no reason. Who would? That’s playground bully stuff!

    Is it, in fact, just me? No. But keep reading.

    (end of the beginning)

    I’m trying for funny; I’m reversing the moral questions, “why did the Republicans want her to live when she clearly said she didn’t want that, before she was injured?”; and hopefully, I can chop out enough funny bits to save for latter so it doesn’t drag too much.

    This is better than I could have written a week ago, and it’s better than I could have written for the past few years. Y’all have been a (not always *happy*) political community for me, so I wanted to share my first real essay in my series of blog posts, which I’m thinking of calling “I’m taking those motherfuckers down with the one supersecret weapon they don’t understand, so they can’t counter it: Love.”

    Think it’s long enough that people will remember?

    ETA: No – I’m taking these mother brandoners down. I know, it’s a filthy word, but it ain’t the F word.

  186. 186.

    opiejeanne

    @germy: We did that too.

    I was a little jaded because I’ve visited “hot boxes” in the Seattle, Tacoma, and Vancouver, BC area, and the glass-blowing classes at the JC shared a patio with the kilns for the pottery classes, and I used to watch them when my own projects were waiting to be fired, or in some other form of limbo.

    But, the guy who did the demonstration on Murano did things I hadn’t seen before with that wad of molten glass, and did them so easily, so perfectly, that I was very impressed.

  188. 188.

    Tony Jay

    Is this how it’s done?

    If it is, it made me laugh. They look so nervous to be seen out with their…. uh… favourite toys.

  192. 192.

    Kay

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s a matter of “style”

    What? I mean, my God, come up with something. They must have seen this trap. Biden said “AA woman” and they don’t know which one so they’re objecting to all of them?

    What is doing that called? What’s the word for that? They want to get rid of affirmative action and replace it with just plain old racism?

  193. 193.

    Kay

    @WaterGirl:

    “I object to race based categories. However, I also object to all of the possible picks by Biden if they are AA women, based on my objection to race based categories”

    WTF? They had to wait till he had one! That was key! Now it’s too late. They’ve already excluded any AA woman.

  196. 196.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay:  I guess if you can get enough people to parrot what you say, what you say doesn’t even need to make sense.  It doesn’t need even the slimmest shred of cover to hide the racism.  They simply do not care.

    Surely at some point they will have gone to far and some of their followers will recoil in horror?

  200. 200.

    cmorenc

    @Baud: while sotomeir is a indeed a high-quality SCOTUS appointee, “best justice on current SCOTUS” is such a low bar that well, the compliment “best justice” does her negligible justice.

  201. 201.

    J R in WV

    @Another Scott:

    He said drifts/plow cuts through the drifts were higher than the top of his VW microbus. [in Chicago]

    Some years back (1991?) Wife and I were on a driving vacation in Utah, Wyoming, etc. We noticed that on the guardrails, every few feet there was a brightly colored plastic pole, like 25 feet tall. She asked what are those for? and I answered I think those are to help the guys driving the snow equipment to find the road after a heavy snow.

    This was crossing the Uinta mountains, which uniquely run west to east along the northern border of Utah with Wyoming. Pretty high elevation, I would think drifts 20 feet deep would be common up there.

  206. 206.

    Tinare

    @Suzanne: OMG.  I had no idea.  We are for real neighbors, I live in Brookline too.  I walk my dog on the Boulevard & n’at. (I was shocked – SHOCKED – that my street was plowed early on MLK day, as we never see a snowplow in the winter.)  :)

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