The NYC meetup is on Sunday, just 2 days away, so I am reposting this from March 27.
At this point, JAFD and Carlo Graziani are planing to be there.
If you are planning to attend, or think you might attend, can you please let JAFD and Carlo know in the comments?
Open Thread.
(New comments begin at #25.)
This is an Open Thread and an announcement of the NYC Meetup one week from today. (Two mints in one!)
What: NYC Meetup
Organizer: JAFD
Where: big table by the window on the balcony of Tir Na Nog has been reserved (across from Penn Station)
Date: Sunday April 3
Time: 2:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon
Why: talk, drink, eat (all the usual meetup activities)
What else: Hockey game across street at 7, we may want to fade before dinner crowd fills place.
Restaurant Info: 254 West 31st Street – 212-630-0249 – tirnanognyc.com
MASK AND TEMPERATURE CHECK REQUIRED
*****
Please RSVP in the comments and/or send email to WaterGirl who will coordinate with JAFD.
Totally open thread.
Optimal plan design
Ohio Mom
Ohio Family will be in Paramus, NJ in May for a bar mitzvah. I am trying to figure out if we will be able to fit a NYC meet-up in — the bar mitzvah we are going to will rival a royal wedding. Many, many events, and our calendar will be quite crowded.
So maybe not. And who knows, maybe it will be in the middle of another Covid wave.
At any rate, I’ll be interested in hearing about how this meet-up goes.
HinTN
I wish! We will be there 18-20 May. Maybe a reprise? (Not Thursday the 19th.)
JAFD
Hope to see many of you jackals there.
Was thinking of getting some of those “Hello ! My name is…” stickers, letting people writein either the real ID or their nom de blog. Anybody think that’s a good idea.
Apologies for not checking hockey sched earlier. Moved official start time ahead – or back to Standard Time
161.5 hours to go.
WaterGirl
@JAFD: I have this linked in the sidebar under Balloon Juice Events, so hopefully people will see it throughout the week and can click and RSVP in the comments.
JAFD
A May meetup ? Possible. Been suggested, find a place with outdoor seating. Thoughts ? Places ?
Anyway, Ohio Mom, will ask Ms WaterGirl to zap you my contact info, case you’d want to ‘do lunch…’ before or after festivities. Am told there are nice eatingplaces near courthouses in Hackensack, or maybe somewhere else tween Nuuk and Paramus. …
BTW, my felicitations to bride and groom.
JAFD
@WaterGirl: Many thanks for your help with this !
Thought of getting couple of green balloons, mayhaps picture of balloons, or just circle of green paper …
WaterGirl
@JAFD: Happy to help.
Carlo Graziani
Booked a flight,inbound from Chicago in the crazy AM, outbound in the evening. What the hell. Might as well meet my new tribe.
WaterGirl
@Carlo Graziani: Are you saying you booked a flight to NYC for the meetup, and back home again that night?
Carlo Graziani
@WaterGirl: Well, yes. That’s right.
WaterGirl
@Carlo Graziani: An adventure! Have you ever been to NYC before?
prostratedragon
I’ll be there May 28-9; Saturday afternoon is booked.
Carlo Graziani
@WaterGirl: Oh, sure College in the ’80s. Very different place then, less Disney-fied — Times Square still had hookers and peep shows. I’ve been back a couple of times since.
Carlo Graziani
@Carlo Graziani: To be clear: I do not believe that those are features of Times Square that the City should endeavor to bring back. Just remarking on the change of character.
HinTN
@Carlo Graziani: Not a fan of the big screens either. Prefer sitting on a bench in the middle of Broadway up by Zabars.
Ohio Mom
@JAFD: We will have our car, and we are not afraid of the subway so we would be able to get across the Hudson and around Manhattan one way or another.
It is a bar mitzvah, not a wedding. The bar mitzvah boy is the youngest of his generation so this will be a bittersweet event. No more bar or bat mitzvahs until someone new is born and then add thirteen years. A lot of us won’t be around for that.
The older ones of that generation are getting married, yes, but so far they have all opted for extremely small courthouse weddings.
RedDirtGirl
I’m sorry to have to miss this one, but for a happy reason. I had started a monthly music jam before the pandemic that was just hitting it’s stride when things shut down in March 2020. Pleased to report that Edith’s Agnostic Gospel Jam is starting up again!
NotMax
If you’ve not been there any of the prior two times meet-ups were held, be sure to pay homage to the stuffed animal at the end of the bar on the ground floor.
Technically may not be a jackal, but close enough to pass as one.
;)
dexwood
Edith’s Agnostic Gospel Jam
Where can I buy a t-shirt?
PsiFighter37
Will check my schedule but will see if I can duck out and visit for a little bit.
JAFD
Dear Ohio Mom,
Apologies.
‘Twas long weekend, didn’t sleep well Saturday night, and crashed at 9 last night. Did not pay due attention to your post. Somehow the phase ‘royal wedding’ was all I saw, and fixated on. I grovel at your feet in shame.
So, Mazel tov to the-soon-to-be-adult.
WaterGirl
Remember, we will be checking back on this post – the link is in the sidebar – for additional RSVPs.
Ohio Mom
@JAFD: no prob. Hope you catch up on your sleep.
Diceros bicornis
@JAFD: A May meetup? Cmon yes. Will be in NYC 18-21 May. From Europe. If you have it I will come!
yeah just a lurker but it’s been years. Would be delighted to meet some jackals in person. Middle of the night zooms haven’t worked out…I tried but not even Adam Schiff could get me to focus in the wee hours…
WaterGirl
New comments begin at #25.
Kent
World cup draw just happened. US is in a group with England and Iran. Interesting. Grouo E with both Spain and Germany looks to be the group of death. Group F also looks brutal.
WaterGirl
Mustang Bobby has a new play called “The Sugar Ridge Rag”.
You can see it live or you can see it from the comfort of your own computer.
Ticket and performance information is in the sidebar under Balloon Juice Events.
WaterGirl
@Kent: I thought someone just said on a previous thread that the US is in the group with Germany. ??
Better NOT to be in the group with Germany, yes?
piratedan
@Kent: apparently this is bad news for Biden’s election chances….
Kent
@WaterGirl: No one wants to be in a group with either Germany or Brazil regardless of how those teams might have actually looked in qualifying when they sometimes slack off and don’t have all their stars available. When the actual cup starts they are always tough
Belgium, England, France, Argentina, Spain, and Italy are also usually top teams.
patroclus
Marijuana decriminalization just passed the House. Also, they passed the insulin funding portion of the BBB bill for diabetics. (Prospects in the Senate are questionable).
Dreams
So this or some version of it went out to all Florida professors, staff, and students yesterday:
Dear Employee:
Early next week, you will receive a communication via email inviting you to fill out a survey for an important study being conducted by the Florida Board of Governors. The purpose of this survey is to assess the extent to which you feel free to express your beliefs and viewpoints on campus.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
• Only complete the survey once. It will take approximately 5‐10 minutes to complete.
• Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary. You are free to not answer any question or withdraw from the survey at any time.
• This is an anonymous survey that is being conducted by the Florida Board of Governors and Florida State College System. Responses will only be reported at the group level, not at the individual level.
• Don’t share the survey with anyone else.
• Look out for a notification by the end of the day on Monday, April 4, 2022. If you miss the first notification, a reminder will be sent out prior to the survey close date of April 8, 2022.
Baud
@patroclus:
Almost party line on the marijuana bill. We’ll see this November if the pot advocates have the political oomph they claim they have .
Carlo Graziani
If there’s wifi at the venue, perhaps there’s some way to set up a bit of zoom, or whatever people’s favorite app for that kind of thing is, and hoist beers for 20 minutes or so. Or some such plan.
Of course, being back at work in person, I must say that I kind of enjoy having climbed out of my zoom window, so I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from showing up full-sized.
zhena gogolia
Wow, sounds like fun. I haven’t been anywhere since last May 28. But alas, am still not going anywhere.
WaterGirl
@Dreams: Is there any information regarding why they are doing that?
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: Sounds like they’re trying to root out the jackbooted liberal thugs.
Send ’em all to Ekaterinburg, is what I say. Then they’ll learn what it means to get 15 years for saying the word “war.”
Miss Bianca
@patroclus: Whoa! Those are some BFBDs (Big Fuckin’ Biden Deals) right there!
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia: Really replying to both of you here.
Because they’re fascist trash for $1000, Alex?
NYCMT
I may be able to drop in from Forest Hills for the nonce.
catclub
@Dreams: also, there is no coding of invitations to make you identifiable, just in case you thought that could happen. or is this april fools day?
eta: what if you fill out the survey more than once and your supervisor tells you not to fill it out more than once?
zhena gogolia
Important, timely statement from TFG:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqjtgVFxp4Y
NotMax
Y’all have a blast. And wear your Sunday duds..
BTW, I hear tell the new Penn Station extension in the old Post Office building (hop and a skip from the meet-up) is worth a gander/.
;)
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I was wondering whether it was that – trying to get the liberals to out themselves – or if they were trying to figure out if they had gone too far and needed to pull back.
Either way, I am very suspicious of the motive.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Can’t disagree with that!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@zhena gogolia: Yes, powerful April Fools indeed.
Speaking of pranks, apparently the Russians blew up their own oil refinery most strongly. While many are calling false flag, I am calling utter incompetence because missing Ukraine, hitting Russia instead seems to be the fit everything else the Russians have done so far.
Dreams
@WaterGirl: Yeah. Governor signed an Executive Order last year that required the Board of Governors to find out how oppressed conservatives are on campus. They originally planned on connecting names to surveys but now its anonymous. And it’s a ‘damned if you do/don’t’ situation because if you protest by not doing it, that makes supposed conservative complaints more impactful. I mean, we all know we can’t even get students to read our syllabi; they sure ain’t reading Mao’s Little Red Book because we tell them to. But it’s all that ‘liberal indoctrination’ crap.
NotMax
@NotMax
Actually, curious about roaming the new space to check out whether the LIRR has maintained their practice of installing escalators which function only every other St, Swithin’s Day.
:) //
sdhays
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
LOL, if Ukraine is able to hit targets inside Russia, I could see how that could refocus Russia’s attention on peace talks. As a false flag, this would be a pretty stupid attempt.
So, maybe!
WaterGirl
@Dreams: Florida: in competition to be the next third-world country.
NotMax
Programming note.
First season of the enigmatic French series The Returned is included free with Prime for the month of April.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@sdhays: The Russian air force targets by GPS coordinates. I bet the officer who was setting the targets had his map upside down for Kharkiv and got it mixed up with the Russian city of Belgorod and said “Oh, look an intact oil refinery!”
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Has anyone watched The Outlaws (with Christopher Walken) on Prime? It was just recommended to me by the NYT.
p.a.
@NotMax: I don’t know about the LIRR facilities, but the Moynihan Amtrak station itself is nice. Was there not long after it opened but before the business spaces were occupied. It’s a teaser on what US train travel could be.
The Up and Up
@JAFD:
At the Balloon Juice meet-up I attended the organizer had a Green Balloon they picked up at the Dollar store …
I think a lurker on here wanted a Portland get together when Yats and Sally (?) did their Seattle impromptu
Mallard Filmore
Adam’s Ukraine update tonight will be interesting:
title: “Victory in Kyiv. This appears to be real”
link: https://democraticunderground.com/100216552583
title and link: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/4/1/2089496/-Ukraine-update-This-is-what-the-Russian-army-left-behind
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Just saw it listed there for the first time today, haven’t had the urge to sample it yet. Another recommendation.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Looks too “unpleasant” for the hubby. Maybe I can watch it while doing PT exercises.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
If in the mood for some Walken, Scotland, PA is still on Prime, AFAIK.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mallard Filmore: Yes, while it’s not all good news for Ukraine, the defeats the Russians have suffered in the last week are pretty incredible stuff.
Carlo Graziani
@Mallard Filmore: I bet the Ukrainian Army is in pursuit.
Geminid
@p.a.: The Infrastructure bill passed last November includes $60 billion for Amtrak’s capital investments. That’s not nearly enough, but it exceeds the total capital investment in Amtrak since it was formed. The head of the passenger rail agency described this funding as “transformational.”
Amtrak’s service map hasn’t changed even as the nation has grown by over 100 million people, but now it will be expanded.
JAFD
Salutations, fellow jackals !
@The Up and Up: The Tir Na Nog is not that big – go up to balcony, look around …
Mayhaps I shall take green construction paper, cut out circle … Or maybe get to dollar store, see what’s there
Hope to see you there. But if place empty, we’ll just say we’re lunching with leprechauns, and if you can’t see them ….
Have great weekend, everyone “
Ivan X
@Carlo Graziani: I love this, it’s like something I would do (and have done). Truly wish I could be there but alas I have my own outbound from NYC flight Sat morning!
Tazj
@patroclus: Since I know it won’t get any Republican votes I wonder what the prospects are for the insulin bill passing through reconciliation. I haven’t heard Manchin or Sinema talk about it yet.
Big R
-prices train tickets to come down from Albany-
I like you guys, but not to the tune of $150 in travel costs.
gene108
@Carlo Graziani:
The strip clubs just got moved a block away and don’t have big gaudy neon signs, like I’ve seen in older movies. They blend in better with the family friendly Times Square.
HinTN
@Diceros bicornis: We should clear LaGuardia around 1300 on Wednesday, 18 May. Thursday is fully booked but Friday, 20 May, is completely open. We tend toward cruising art museums and walks in the Park. Fly out Saturday.