We have new stairs!
As I mentioned earlier, my husband had the week off and was planning to repair our outdoor stairs, which are the only way to get into our stilt house. I thought he meant he was going to replace a few treads, but he decided he’d redesign the stairs and replace them altogether, which was alarming. He redesigned them (to add a landing — there were no landings in the old configuration) and assembled the power tools.
Yesterday, there were a couple of hours when the old stairs ended with a six-foot drop and no new stairs were in place, but I wasn’t alarmed because I had lots of food and wine up here. But now there are stairs with a landing. Yay!
I’m a klutz and always have been, so it’s better if I can’t fall down more than four to six stairs at a time. The dogs found the new configuration perplexing and had to be led downstairs by a human the first time, but now they’re okay with it.
Our neighbor helped a lot, so now I’ve got to figure out a suitable token of appreciation — restaurant gift card maybe. If not for him, we might have had to use a ladder to get to the ground and lower the dogs in baskets for a few days.
Open thread!
PS: I was surprised the South Carolina jury convicted Murdaugh so quickly! I thought he might get away with it. And he’ll be sentenced today! South Carolina doesn’t fuck around!
PPS: We’ve been 95% vegetarian since January 1st, and last night I made a red lentil dahl that was to die for!
On The Road – lashonharangue – Namibia – Part 4
Betsy
The dogs, lol.
Nicole
Congrats on the new stairs! Though video of the dogs being lowered down in baskets would have been awesome.
I’m happy about Murdaugh, too. I just watched the 3 part series on… Netflix? Netflix. I think. Equal parts fascinating and infuriating.
LiminalOwl
Congratulations on the stairs! (And you’re not the only klutz here. I fell down the last four or five at our place, last week) (at least I didn’t hit my head this time).
Might you share the recipe for yummy lentil dahl? I’m not vege but trying to move in that direction.
Baud
Missed opportunity to install a fire department pole.
I haven’t really been following the trial, so I just recently learned the judge was black. That was nice to see, especially given the state.
OzarkHillbilly
Hmmmmmmm….
In other anti vaccine news: Estimated 20,000 people possibly exposed to measles at Kentucky religious event
BretH
Ooooh, we had red lentil dal last night also. So easy to make. The “secret” ingredient is whole cumin seeds, tossed in the coconut oil to simmer a minute before adding the ginger, onion and garlic
ETA – a perfect example of something an instant pot does so well. Sautée a bit, add things like tomato, toss in the lentils and water and pressure cook for 5 min while you do other important things like drink Chardonnay.
OzarkHillbilly
The free market at work:
Say it ain’t so!
Kay
Me too. I’m torn though. I don’t think the state had beyond a reasonable doubt – I think they convicted on the fact that he’s a thieving scumbag which is fine in this case because I also think he murdered his wife and son but not ideal in the bigger picture.
Jeffro
That’s great news about your steps, Betty (although you might have enjoyed being “trapped” up there with some wine for a few more days, LOL)
I have decided that since (according to the GQP) “woke” means “anything I don’t like”, I am going to take that and run with it from now through the 2024 elections. So, now it’s
“woke tax cuts for the rich”
“woke attacks on reproductive rights”
“woke book banning”
and so on. Heck, I might even use it around the house:
“woke dirty clothes all over the floor of Fro Jr’s room”
“walking the woke dog early this morning”*
“woke Ticketmaster fees tacked onto my Springsteen tickets”
*I’m not sure if this is the correct usage, or if it should be “woke-walking the dog early this morning”. I think the latter takes the label off of the dog, and puts it onto the early a.m. walk, where it woke-belongs.
Wokety woke WOKE! As ye sow, Republicans… =)
Betty Cracker
@LiminalOwl: I followed the recipe here, except I used olive oil instead of coconut oil, cardamon instead of coriander and brown sugar instead of coconut sugar. Also, the recipe recommends drizzling non-dairy yogurt on it to serve, but I used plain Greek yogurt because that’s what we had. (We’re not vegan, but the recipe is until you add a dairy product!)
danielx
Inquiring minds etc: Betty, are you all ready to get licensed as a Florida blogger? Must be state approved, you know
Baud
@Jeffro: Heh. I kind of like it. Reminds me about how the Dark Brandon meme cut the legs out of the Let’s Go Brandon chant.
NotMax
Repeated from overnight, with appropriate self-flagellation in situ.
Well, doesn’t yours truly feel a right twit. Yesterday morning mentioned a particularly toothsome upcoming TCM roster. Got the times and the titles correct but the day wrong. Schedule is for Saturday the 4th, not Friday the 3rd.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Agree 100%.
Baud
@Kay: Peremptory challenge for Kay!
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Betty Cracker
@danielx: I think I’m exempt because I write about Florida’s fascist governor and supine GOP statehouse for free.
Betsy
My fridge, freezer, and pantry are bursting, so I had a friend come to eat up some food.
Made polenta (well, day-old stone-ground white grits) with a sauce of braised fire-roasted tomatoes and kale sautéed in olive oil and a touch of cured pork side meat;
oven-roasted winter vegetables (parsnips, tiny creamer potatoes, celery, and onion);
and a salad of romaine coated with a vinaigrette and daubs of castello blue cheese, with a few local pecans tossed in.
Wheat ale from Virginia. Dessert was GS cookies.
NotMax
Stairs? Escalators in the newly opened LIRR platform at Grand Central Terminal (17 stories underground) enough to make Tenzing Norgay blanch.
;)
The Moar You Know
When a jury comes back after only three hours you can start measuring the perp’s coffin. That’s universal, not just limited to SC.
He did the dumbest thing possible which was to be high on his own supply and figured he could testify and beat the prosecution at their own game. He was a former prosecutor, after all! He should absolutely have known better. That never works and it sealed his fate.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I know why they put forth the motive (they don’t have to prove motive) – to get the fact that he robbed his clients and partners in as evidence – but the motive doesn’t make any sense. I know they got the jury instruction “this does NOT go to character!” but of course it does. The state knew the motive didn’t make any sense which is why they also sort of coyly floated their SECOND theory – the Family Annihilator. I thought “oh, NOT FAIR, switching mid trial!”
The prosecutors have to be pleased though. The tactic paid off. And he’s a goddammed menace who is off the streets, so that’s good.
JML
My rice cooker broke last night. Anyone got a recommendation for a replacement?
p.a.
Just be aware veg protein is generally less bio-available than animal protein; easily solvable with eggs & cheese if you want to avoid animal-butchery issues.
BruceFromOhio
The sole downside to a good Kali dal is eating too much in the first serving.
Congrats on the stairs!
The Moar You Know
@Baud: friend of mine had one in high school. In spite of the fact that during its existence, dozens of drunk teenagers went down it (first day we of course had the bright teenage idea to go down it headfirst) nobody ever got hurt. It’s a pretty safe device.
NotMax
@JML
Instant Pot. Rice and so much, much more.
Betsy
@JML: I cook rice in a good heavy pot with a nice tight-fitting lid on the stove. Takes about 20 minutes.
Kay
Danes will hate this just as bad behavior:
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I don’t know if Murdaugh killed his wife and kid himself or hired a goon to do it, but I definitely think they’re dead because of him. Was that proved beyond a reasonable doubt? I don’t think so. If he hadn’t lied about being at the kennel and been busted by that video, he probably would have skated.
Betty Cracker
@p.a.: We still eat eggs and cheese, so no worries!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s scary. Greed is an ugly thing.
evap
I’m such a klutz that I have been known to fall up the stairs.
delphinium
Hooray for new stairs and that the doggies adapted to the new configuration so quickly!
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
It mut have been infuriating for the defense because the motive was “he wanted to DISTRACT, mumble, mumble” trails off. What?
My husband thought the (high dollar) defense whining about how long the trial was taking was bad. He does criminal defense and he heard it as “meter’s running- we gotta get out of here” OMG let’s not show THE PUBLIC the business side! :)
sab
@Betsy: That works but you do need to keep an eye on it and get the timing correct. Rice cooker you can just plug it in quite a while before you need the rice and then forget about it until the meal.
sab
Dorothy A. Winsor
I got giant postcards for our April 4 election of, among other offices, the school board. Three people are running as a group. I read the info they sent and everything they posted online, and the little weasels never say what they concretely want to do. I suspect they’re book banners. Here’s their three part “platform”:
Restore excellence in education, Respect the rights and voices of parents, Be responsible stewards of finances and resources.
Does that sound Republican or what? I saved the cards so I know who to vote against. But those cards are the only thing most people will know about these candidates.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes, definitely right-wingers talking in code.
jonas
I’ve only been very vaguely and tangentially following this Alex Murdaugh case and it seems really odd. From what little I’ve read, the prosecutors didn’t have a weapon or a clear motive and he apparently had an alibi for the period in which they think the killings happened. Seems like that was a *really* risky case to bring to trial, particularly when the defendant was as well-heeled as Murdaugh is. Guess it paid off, though. The guy must have come off like a real cold, remorseless asshole in court or something.
NotMax
@sab
Can achieve much the same result in a pinch in the microwave. 17 minutes, on the dot. Make doubly sure the plastic wrap over the bowl is stretched tight, sealing all around.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Yeah, that didn’t make any sense to me either. Smart of the prosecutors to use that tactic to demonstrate what a lying, thieving scumbag Murdaugh is though. They must be over the moon!
eclare
@NotMax: That video gives me the heebie-jeebies just watching it! I once had to sit on an escalator because I was shaking from fright.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The bit about not getting any training really gets me. Compared to the amount of training I got and continued to get as long as I worked…
It just boggles the mind.
JML
@sab: it’s why I had become such a fan of the rice cooker (which I got for free, major bonus!). ease of use and no need to monitor time while I cooked something else was great.
sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The schools issue is going to infect our mayoral race. The mayor decided he didn’t want to run again after the Jayland Walker murder. The latest poll shows the two top issues are police reform and school quality. Our school board just drove out the newish superintendant after treating her horribly for a couple of years.
The main problem with this is that the city government and the mayor have nothing to do with the schools. The schools are run by the school board and funded by a separate property tax.
So now we have a toxic school board and out of control police, and the mayoral race looks like it is going to be nuts and extremely divisive.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: Try the Arsenalna stop on the Kyiv metro. It’s over 100 meters down. You can find video on YouTube (I’m on a phone now, so links are difficult.)
OzarkHillbilly
They blew his alibi out of the water with a video showing him in the kennel w/ the victims moments before they were killed.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@sab: The school board stuff is scary to me. I saw a meme that said “In all of history, the people banning the books were never the good guys.”
satby
Waiting for the latest winter storm to start. The predicted window has shifted to later this morning and predicted amounts have gone up to between 6-10 inches of snow on top of ice from the initial rain. Goody.
Kay
@jonas:
They tried a lot and they got a lot. Swinging for the fences. For example- they had a selection of Murdaugh guns, none of which were proven to be the murder weapon but were just, I don’t know, A LOTTA guns that could have been…. something or other.
They said “family guns” which is not a real thing. It doesn’t count :)
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Mom’s family fled from what was then Poland (now Ukraine). No compelling urge to return.
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
One thing I’m confused about (and really am calling bullshit on) is why they characterize Covid deaths as ‘deaths in the line of duty.’ Given the social and political orientation of most cops, they likely got Covid from friends, family, and each other, or from random strangers when they were hanging out in bars after work, rather than from people they had to deal with in the line of duty.
They’re getting Covid because they are overwhelmingly anti-vax, anti-mask, and believe that doing anything to protect ourselves (let alone others) from Covid is some liberal plot.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: The video on his son’s phone. Plus, Murdaugh obsessively always had his own cell phone on him, except for the time period of the murders, where it stayed in his house. But I think his own hubris and words convicted him.
Tinare
@OzarkHillbilly: I totally think that’s what did him in. The timeline was too tight to believe he left and some one else arrived and killed them. The thing that convinced me he was guilty when the defense asked him if the dogs were acting like someone else was nearby and he said no one else was there. For motive, I just think the guy is a sociopath.
OzarkHillbilly
@lowtechcyclist: No argument from me on any of that.
schrodingers_cat
@BretH: Next time add mustard seeds, green chili slit and curry leaves for another tadka or phodni. BTW if you use an oil with a high smoking point, your phodni will be more flavorful. Don’t forget to add a souring agent (lemon or lime at the end is the quickest)
Ken
@eclare: I think the Carol Burnett Show had a skit once, parodying the then-popular disaster movies, where people were trapped on an escalator when the power went out. One guy separated from the group to climb to the top alone — he didn’t make it….
Scout211
@JML: We have had our Aroma rice cooker for years. We use it all the time and it works perfectly 100% of the time. Highly recommend.
Here is a Food and Wine review that lists it as #1 for 2023.
Ken
Additional death benefits?
“Money” is a handy explanation for most things.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
First they came for the paid bloggers, but I said nothing….
Kay
I have to say, I was proud of the judge and I haven’t been proud of the US justice system for a long, long time. He was meticulous, courteous and fair to both sides. With our current US Supreme Court I am so, so sick of the sneering arrogance I see. This is how judges are supposed to behave and he doesn’t do it because it’s a rule, he does it because it’s how the work should be done. He SELF POLICES, like a professional. Imagine that.
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m sure they’ll all be fine. After all, like they kept on saying back in 2020, they “walk in faith, not in fear,” right? So the Lord’s gonna protect them from their own stupidity.
Some days I wish I wasn’t too scrupulous to grift off these people, because I certainly know this tribe well enough to do that successfully. They’re the most gullible people on earth once they believe you’re One Of Them.
Ken
Shades of Monty Python’s “Are We the Baddies?” skit. But why do we have skulls on our uniforms…
Ohio Mom
@NotMax: I have a vague plan to visit NYC in May. You remind me I need to start getting in some sort of shape. This suburban ranch house/car-centric life of mine has turned my stair climbing muscles to mush.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Kay:
SC seems to have a more streamlined trial procedure, probably to maximize the black male and poor white boy populations in prison cells.
Anyway, the timeline, phone data, locations and lies did it for me – the thieving scumbag parts were just the cherry atop the sundae.
I realized early that they did a fuckton of motion practice ahead , because I wasn’t hearing expected Rule 404 objections to the thieving shitbag evidence – that had to be handled by motions in limine. Of course, the moment that the clown decided that he had to take the stand, he waived his very expensive objections, IMO.
I think it all comes down to him not being a very good rules-based lawyer – just a connected one with tentacles throughout the justice system.
How, for instance, was he able to handle the Satterfield claim against himself? I’d have thought that internal controls at the insurance company would eliminate collusion among local claims adjusters and insurance agents, but I guess I’m wrong. That indicates a complete disregard of every rule of practice and clinical sociopathy to me.
mvr
Stairbuilding is not an easy task. There are books on it going back hundreds of years.
We ha our basement on our 100 yo house replaced last Spring. In order to do that we had to take out the middle landing and bottom run of the stairs to the basement. I tried to get the worker taking them out to be careful with the parts (old yellow pine like you can’t get anymore) but alas at least one step was destroyed and the stretchers did not survive. For a while we had to aim for the top of a short stepladder and then descend to get into the basement (which I often had to do because I was moving the wiring and pipes and doing occasional support carpentry as the basement people worked on the block, etc.
Than I had to rebuild the lower flight in about a day so that the concrete folks who were putting a floor in where there had been dirt needed it to do their work. I had to make new stretchers, repair the broken step parts. Lucky for me it was a utility stairs and it all worked out pretty well. It now looks like it has been there since the house was built.
So congrats to your husband – stairbuilding ain’t easy.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I’m not sure how I missed the whole Murdaugh thing – maybe my news sources from across the ocean are such that I don’t generally get exposed to whatever has the US news media salivating and hyperventilating. All I know is that I keep associating the name with Danny Glover, Lethal Weapon, “I’m too old for this $&@#”.
Meanwhile, the train wreck in northern Greece is, well, both literal and metaphorical at this point. 57 confirmed dead, scapegoat hunt well under way, strikes and protests, and already a cabinet-level resignation (Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis). Add to the mix that there’s a full parliamentary election looming (deadline of July 2023, but speculation was that it would be called for April).
Some of the issues may date back to the Greek financial crisis of the previous decade, when the watchword was Grexit, not Brexit, and Greece was pressured by Germany and the EU to slash its domestic budgets to pay off its creditors, which may have pushed back some rail infrastructure improvements and the like. Then there’s the matter of the Larissa station master and the switch operator – I’m not sure if they’re the same person, but he may have been alone on the job when the fatal mistake happened.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Ken:
For the record, and so that nobody wastes time looking through the Monty Python archives for that skit, it’s actually from That Mitchell and Webb Look (source here).
James E Powell
@Betty Cracker:
Reminds me of this.
mvr
@Baud:
Second line about parents is one of the right wing talking points. Many of the bad bills have names that include such language. And anything with “restore” in it is generally retrograde and therefore bad. It appeals to those who fear people not like themselves.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: Based on my reading of an extensive Vanity Fair story a while ago, I am convinced he did it himself.
gvg
@Kay: Well as I understand it the thieving is a major reason they think he moved on to murdering because it was a way to delay being caught for the thefts. In other words, it’s related and evidence. I have not followed the case though.
Spanky
@Ohio Mom: On your way to NYC, you might want to practice here.
(I love Dean Bog videos.)
VOR
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Respect the rights of parents is code. Could be anything from book banners, to anti-mask/vaxers, anti-LGBTQ, QAnon, anti-CRT, not teaching certain subjects, wide variety of things. But it really means not listening to what teachers and professional educators have to say.
JMG
I did not follow the Murdaugh trial closely or really at all since I assumed he was guilty on the principle of “well if he didn’t do it, who the hell did?” This principle is not ever ever supposed to be considered by juries, but many of ’em do.
eclare
@Betty Cracker: Thanks! I bookmarked for future use.
Soprano2
Well, I think I have pink eye. Woke up this morning over 30 minutes late because our power went out last night, probably due to the storm we’re having right now. Then, I discovered that for no discernable reason my right eye is very red. It doesn’t hurt, and it doesn’t feel like anything is in it, so my only conclusion is that it’s pink eye. When I went to the urgent care close to work that I usually use, I discovered it’s not an urgent care anymore, it’s a workman’s comp injury rehab now. The hospital whose network I’m in doesn’t have any urgent care locations in the north part of Springfield anymore! So, I went online and made an appointment for the closest one for this afternoon, because I refuse to waste time sitting in their waiting room for two hours because they mostly take appointments now. What a start to the day…..
Kay
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
I agree and you probably picked up that that was the subtext of the testimony from the CFO and his law partners- the whole “he was LOUD and LATE a lot but very PERSUASIVE…” I know those lawyers. I recognized it immediately. But he brought in clients and whether we like it or not or think that’s merit-based that IS the value of those lawyers- they bring in clients because of their family name and local celebrity and then everyone makes money.
Watching the firm partners and managers was a little cringey for me because their testimony was so carefully prepared to limit their own risk. None of them knew ANY of this was going on, etc. I also thought the CFO, who is a CPA, was full of shit with her abandoning her own duty. She has a duty to look into things. She can’t take the word of the lawyers. Her whole whiny “they took an OATH” well, okay, but they were also paying you to watch the books and you’re a CPA.
jonas
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Restore excellence in education (= get rid of anything that doesn’t celebrate the deeds of great, Christian white men)
Respect the rights and voices of parents (= no gender-neutral bathrooms or other woke shit)
Be responsible stewards of finances and resources. (= fuck teachers)
So yes, this is a slate of horrible people.
Soprano2
@Kay: I think if not for the evidence from his son’s phone that he was where the murders happened a few minutes before they happened, he would have gotten away with it. No way he couldn’t have heard gunshots if he were that close when it happened! Plus, since he’s a known liar and took the stand I guess they decided they couldn’t believe anything he said, and he’s a prosecutor so he knows how to get rid of evidence
ETA – I never thought the motive made sense either. It seems more like either he did it in a drugged-up rage, or they were going to turn on him and expose his other crimes and he found out about it.
Geminid
Congratulations on the new stairs! I hope Mr. Cracker and your neighbor enjoyed building them. That can be very satisfying work.
Kay
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Another thing I recognized is how he can’t modulate his voice- that’s always there with serious opiate addicts. I think the drug does something to their hearing so they can’t pitch the loudness of their speech consistently or properly. Up and down, up and down, and weird emphasis where it shouldn’t be.
Ken
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Oops. Forgive me, when I grew up our only exposure to British comedy was Python, Benny Hill, and Fawlty Towers — all on PBS.
Nowadays of course we have BBC America, which broadcasts… Star Trek: TNG and Bones reruns?
Elizabelle
South Carolina has not executed anyone since 2011. That was refreshing to hear.
Murdaugh does not face the death penalty. Glad he was convicted. Skating would have had people chalking it up to “rich white guy.”
The son who was murdered already had a death to his credit (young woman killed in a boating accident).
I wonder if they will ever bring charges over the housekeeper’s death. Maybe not, since Murdaugh is already put away. (Assuming he does not win anything on appeal.)
zhena gogolia
@Soprano2: The motive was all quite clearly explained in Vanity Fair, but I can’t remember what it was.
There go two miscreants
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That would make a great bumper sticker! I will have to look for one. (Or maybe get a custom tee shirt made.)
Soprano2
@Elizabelle: Sounds like they’re going to reopen the investigation of the hit and run death he might be involved in.
eclare
@Ohio Mom: Thanks to the ADA there are always escalators. I had to use one at the MARTA stop in ATL after my panic attack on the escalator there. It smelled like a urinal, but that beat having a panic attack and falling.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Kay:
One thing I recognized immediately – the notion that he’d come sailing in, ready to grind everyone’s gears with work and his brilliant ideas at closing time. I used to work with a lawyer just like this – he chomped on opiates like they were M&Ms. He’d come roaring into the office in his black Lincoln at 4:30 or 5:00 pm. I’d have put in a full day already, and he’s “brainstorming” until 8:30 or 9:00 pm, needing an audience for his brilliance.
I barely escaped.
J.
I have serious Handy Husband envy. Though I’m disappointed you didn’t post a pic of the doggos going down (or up) the new stairs.
OzarkHillbilly
Don’t fall in! ‘Never seen anything like it’: fisherman’s video captures shark feeding frenzy
A full suit of armor? Had never heard that one before.
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: When you enter the ocean, you enter the food chain.
OzarkHillbilly
@J.: My wife says being married to a carpenter has it’s upside. Of course it comes with the downside of my being half crippled at the age of 64.
The Moar You Know
@Kay: High doses of opiates make you deaf. This is what happened to Still Dead Limbaugh.
According to the testimony, he was taking a LOT of that shit. A very expensive habit in addition to a very dangerous one.
schrodingers_cat
@OzarkHillbilly: You should start a YouTube channel giving carpentry advice.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Hire a professional.
PaulB
Another day, another erasure. Amazon is testing a brand new interface for Prime Video on their website. One of the changes is that they have removed LGBTQ as a separate and searchable category, along with Black voices and Hispanic & Latino voices.
Right now, it’s undergoing user testing, with a certain percentage of users seeing the new interface and others seeing the old.
The old category list:
– Action and adventure
– Anime
– Culture Rated (Black voices)
– Comedy
– Documentary
– Drama
– Fantasy
– Foreign
– Hispanic & Latino voices
– Horror
– LGBTQ
– Military and war
– Musicals
– Mystery and thriller
– Romance
– Science fiction
– Coming of age
The new list:
– Action & Adventure
– Anime
– Comedy
– Documentary
– Drama
– Fantasy
– Horror
– International
– Kids
– Music videos and concerts
– Romance
They have added instead what they call “Featured collections,” which do restore some of these, including “Culture Rated (Black voices)” and “Hispanic & Latino voices.” Sadly, LGBTQ voices are not included. And those “Featured collections” do not show up in the search categories in the left column.
OHJo
@Soprano2: sorry to hear about the pink eye…certainly, an unpleasant experience! Just had a bout of that last month.. it’s so contagious. Keep the disinfectant wipes handy, and consider changing your pillowcase often to avoid re-infection. Feel better soon!
schrodingers_cat
Out of curiousity I clicked on the recipe link for dal (what is dahl? there is no h sound before the l). It is not dal any Indian would recognize ( I have eaten and cooked husked lentils all my life from various parts of India and Pakistan). Its the Yogafication of the humble Indian dal, I am sorry dahl.
I also saw another weird version by ATK. After coconut oil, turmeric and ghee I guess its now dal’s turn to be Karenized
Chief Oshkosh
@Ken: Winner winner chicken dinner!
Yep, they’re taking a bullet for the team, sucking up all those Covid germs to protect the rest of us.
I guess the “in the line of duty” death benefits are a small price to pay for killing off more Covidiots that are deadly to others because they spread disease to the least fortunate in society AND because they basically have devoted their lives to stomping on the least fortunate in society.
Bunter
@eclare: Unfortunately, not all the NYC subway stops are ADA compliant. The MTA is working on it but there are still a bunch that are stairs only. And those that have escalators don’t always have working escalators.
@Ohio Mom: If you’re worried, I believe the MTA has updated their website to tell you which stations have escalators or elevators. The functioning part is another story.
OzarkHillbilly
@schrodingers_cat: I can’t. Trade secrets and all that. ;-)
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Good advice. I am going to do that to replace the door that connects the garage to the deck. Looking for advice for smaller easier projects.
Bostondreams
In case folks missed this down below, Florida may require bloggers to register with the state if they make any money from the blog and write about the state’s executive branch.
Betty Cracker
@J.: I’m sorry I never got video of Pete going down the old stairs. He’s a chonkster, so it always looked like he might go ass-over-teakettle when he was in a rush and gained a certain amount of momentum. The landing design (and termination in a deck rather than a concrete slab) are probably safer for both of us!
Chief Oshkosh
@lowtechcyclist: Excellent. More good news this Friday morning. Hope these idiots continue to hasten their deaths. If only we could keep them contained in their mega churches so that they didn’t infect innocents like the children who are prevented from getting vaccinations by their fucked-in-the-head parents or those who cannot get vaccinations due to health reasons.
SiubhanDuinne
Life without parole for Murdaugh.
(Edited to correct spelling of his name.)
Betty Cracker
@Bostondreams: Got a post in the hopper about that for later.
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Who?
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
Alex Murdaugh, whose murder trial ended with a conviction yesterday. He was sentenced this morning. Any number of people upthread, including Betty Cracker and Kay, were discussing the trial.
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: I haven’t followed it. Although even I haven’t escaped hearing the name. Thanks for answering my question.
Kay
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Lol. We have a “family name” lawyer here who fits the type, except it’s alcohol rather than drugs. I like him- we get along quite well although he’s kijd of a hot head and once THREW a file in a hearing and stormed off – and the fact is these people with connections bring that to the table and all the partners benefit financially. I felt like the partners laid on the “we’re FAMILY and we TRUST’ blah blah a little thick. Nutcase was bringing in personal injury cases involving trucks with a million dollars in insurance and that’s why he remained employed. He made them money.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: Great comment on MJ about the time it took (or didn’t take) to reach a verdict: the jury was deciding between guilty and guilty as hell.
schrodingers_cat
Speaking of Indian recipes “improved” by Milk Street the best one had to be Butter Chicken made without butter. Masterclass.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
I didn’t follow any of the trial either, but headlines show up on my phone, so I end up being vaguely aware of major developments. From all I gather about this guy, life w/o parole sounds exactly right.
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
Ha!
Old School
Clip from the show at the link.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Do you know if the surviving Murdaugh son is a lawyer too? If so, he’ll have to be the first in a century to earn his way. The family name cachet is gone now, though who knows, maybe the notoriety can be monetized.
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks for the update. I only have bandwidth to follow certain beats.
Geminid
I found a good article in Politico Magazine written by Adam Federman, featuring Alaska Representative Mary Peltola:
It’s a long article, with a lot of information on Alaska’s large ocean and coastal fisheries, and the history of federal fisheries regulation since passage of the Magnusen-Stevens Act in 1976. Also, Stellar sea lions and crabs.
This Act has been amended twice since 1976. Rep. Peltola supports new legislation that would amend it a third time and “could alter the balance of power between the trawl industry and smaller commercial operators and subsistence and subsistence fisherman of Alaska.”
A version of this bill that was reported out of the House Natural Resources Committee last September would, among other reforms, create two seats for Alaska Natives on the North Pacific Fisheries Council that regulates fishing in waters around Alaska.
With a Republican majority on the Natural Resources Committee now, and potential opposition from Alaska’s two Republican Senators plus a powdrful trauler lobby, Representative Peltola has an uphill fight pushing the legislation through this Congress. She considers it essential to the future generations of Alaska’s Native people and their fellow Alaskans, though.
Ms. Peltola is very knowledgeable and experienced in Alaska fishing regulation (and fishing too). She also seems like a persuasive and persistent woman, with good legislative skills learned as a state legislator and in her career since. Rep. Peltola and her Congressional allies might not get this legislation through this Congress, but I won’t be surprised if the next Congress passes a largely similar version.
Elizabelle
@eclare: Was there any “waiting for a meal” involved? I have heard of juries eating lunch first …
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Hobbit Armor? It is all in the details.
Paul in KY
@Kay: It is beyond the ‘reasonable doubt’ threshold for me. He lied when lying would help him out. Someone who was innocent (and presumably would want the real killer located) would have confessed hard truths (IMO) in hopes that they can be cleared ASAP and the hunt for the real killer begin.
oatler
@Ken:
In the 70s PBS carried Python (nudity uncensored) The Two Ronnies, Fawlty Towers, Dave Allen, No, Honestly, and Wodehouse Playhouse. Now PBS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Greed and we get Ford F-150 commercials.
dnfree
@JML: I hate to say this, but I haven’t cooked rice in years ever since I found the Bird’s Eye frozen rice. I only ever use brown rice (diabetes) and there are only two of us, so when I need rice I pop the frozen bag in the microwave for four minutes and voila. I’m obviously not a purist, but other non-purists might find this helpful.
Shantanu Saha
I got home yesterday from a long day of teaching and my wife told me, “I want some dal”. So I got out a cup of masoor dal (that’s red lentils to you) soaked them in water while chopping some parsley and onion, quartering four small tomatoes, and chopping the leftover steak we had from yesterday (retaining the fat that had congealed in the container). Then I dumped it all into the pot with a couple more cups of water, a pinch of salt and a dried bay leaf. Brought to a boil then lowered the heat to low and let it simmer for 20 min. That gave us enough for three bowls of dal. It didn’t last long.
Kristine
@Betty Cracker: I definitely need to make that. I love red lentils.
cmorenc
@Kay: The Murtaugh case also illustrates why it’s usually a bad idea for a defendant to take the stand when doing so opens other potentially incriminating doors, which it usually doors, which it usually does for people who have committed other reprehensible acts beside the one(s) they are charged with.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Heh.
OzarkHillbilly
@Paul in KY: My lawyers have always said, “STFU.”
schrodingers_cat
@Shantanu Saha: I like your take on dhansak.
My favorite dal is moong, masoor and toor are second and third.
My Pakistani housemate used to make dal palak to go with her chicken curry. That was another winner.
Varan-bhat-toop is the ultimate comfort food (toor dal cooked just with hing and turmeric, rice and ghee)
CaseyL
Mornin’, y’all, and Happy Friday!
Steeplejack
@JML:
If you have an Instant Pot, or are thinking of getting one, this site has a comprehensive guide to cooking (all types of) rice in the Instant Pot.
dnfree
@Dorothy A. Winsor: We attended the LWV presentation of Elgin (IL) school board candidates last night. The two we picked out as possible right-wingers were very circumspect about their views, but then one of them mentioned getting rid of Emotional-Social Development and focusing on academic subjects, and we knew. But not everyone follows the buzzwords. They didn’t talk about banning books.
Betty Cracker
NYC Mayor Eric Adams continues to be an embarrassment. Gift link to Jen Rubin column in WaPo, plus an excerpt:
He correctly assessed his own “God-like approach.” Jeebus. Here’s hoping Adams follows the de Blasio political trajectory to nowhere.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@dnfree: Lots of normies are going to be fooled by the nice platitudes. My teacher DIL is horrified.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
DeBlasio won two terms, I believe. Hopefully Adams only has one.
When voters are persuaded by crime panic, they make poor choices.
Bostondreams
@Betty Cracker: have you already registered with our state before posting? :/
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Well, looks like we’re making our first overseas trip, first trip in any kind of airplane in fact, since 2019.
I just cashed in a voucher we had from Icelandair, and we’ll be traveling at the end of the summer.
As I was making seat selections, it occurred to me for the first time: I’m going to have a stranger next to me in a small space for 6-7 hours at a stretch. I think we should get re-boostered shortly before the trip, but the prospect still makes me a little queasy. I guess I’ll be wearing a mask except when eating, which I was planning to do anyway.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: True. You’d think a city of that size and ideological bent could produce top-flight Democratic pols. Wiley and Garcia both seemed infinitely preferable to me, though I confess I don’t know much about NYC politics. ETA: At least they soundly rejected Yang.
trollhattan
I read “stilt house” and wondered what a house for stilts would look like?
In any case I agree that life without stairs would be…challenging. Good that it went quickly.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: We’re flying at the end of this month, and we plan to get reboostered next week. It’s 6 months since we had the bivalent booster.
Paul in KY
@The Moar You Know: I think he was cooked even if he had never got on stand. He had to try and explain away that video at the kennels. Thank God, he was not successful.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: Best legal advice there is. But if you have to say ANYTHING:
“I want a lawyer” covers it all.
@Paul in KY: As a long time criminal defense attorney with years in th etrial courts, there is a very real thing that happens when a client testifies. It is true that “the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt remains at all times with the prosecution,” but when a defendant testifies, it is almost impossible for jurors not to boil the whole case down to “did the defendant lie?” If, like in Murtaugh’s case, he says, “well, I have been lying about being there that night until a video was discovered but I am now telling you true that “I Did Not Do Eeeet;” the jury is free to disbelieve him and decide what he really said was, “I did it.” Legally not exactly proper but exactly how it works every time.
Gravenstone
@OzarkHillbilly: Guessing some smartass thought it made him “sharkproof”…
CaseyL
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’m flying in June, and getting another booster next week.
I thought about not masking on the plane, since it’s too long a flight not to eat or drink. I didn’t think there was any point. But then I remembered that the issue isn’t just exposure, but viral load, so I likely will mask up.
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: I saw police video from after he had ‘discovered’ the bodies and he’s crying and asking about son ‘is he dead’. Now the boy had his head blown off and his brains were at his feet, so anyone who would see the body would immediately know ‘Hell yes he’s dead!’.
It appeared he had a script he was doing and his script had not accounted for the condition of his son’s remains.
Kristine
@Soprano2: Probably too late, but when I had pink eye I also had a gummy discharge. I have scratched my cornea a time or two, though, and wound up with zombie eye (usually only around the wound, though, so half and half at worst.
Paul in KY
@OzarkHillbilly: Like 40 secs to a minute before!
Paul in KY
@Kay: casings recovered from shells used to murder the wife were matched to other casings at the family gun range.
Baud
@Paul in KY:
Good advice!
J R in WV
@Soprano2:
My Wife gets that sometimes, bright red demonic looking eye. It isn’t an infection, it’s a tiny burst blood vessel, if it’s what she gets. No treatment necessary IF it is what she gets… just wait it out.
But you should see a Dr to be sure that’s what it is. Pink eye, there’s an accumulation of cruft on your eyelid, and barely pink as opposed to bright red demonic.
Geminid
There will be an awards ceremony shortly at the White House. From Politico Playbook:
Bex
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Have they blamed Pete Buttigieg yet?
SteveinPHX
This trial will sure generate a LOT of “True” Crime books for the publishing industry! Fill a lotta library shelves.
Paul in KY
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Thank you for that!
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: According to my black mutuals Maya Wiley would have won if she hadn’t embraced the red roses during the primaries.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t know, much less understand, NYC politics all that well, but as a general matter, I think heavily Dem areas often face the risks of factionalization, which perhaps allows less stellar candidates to rise to the top by piecing together the right factions.
I’ve heard that the other top contenders may have blown their shot by going too far in the other direction and embracing “Defund the Police,” but I can’t confirm the veracity of that.
@schrodingers_cat:
Maybe I heard it from you
ETA: What is a “black mutual”?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@J R in WV: I get that too. For a bit, it feels like there’s something in the eye. Then the blood vessel bursts and I look demonic for a while. I have to wait for the blood to dissipate. Eye drops help
Paul in KY
@OzarkHillbilly: Tiger sharks are known for eating absolutely anything. Think one was found with a 50 gal oil drum in stomach.
Brachiator
@Immanentize:
I didn’t follow this case, don’t know if elements were televised, or just audio. But I heard some talk radio hosts discuss the guy’s testimony and they were simply evaluating whether they thought his demeanor and delivery felt “right,” and discarded what he actually said. They concluded that he came across as someone who was lying. As you note, they decided that they didn’t believe him, just based on how he came across to them.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: A mutual on Twitter is one you follow and who follows you.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: Kathy Garcia came very close to beating Adams once all the ranked choice ballots were allocated. Turnout for the primary was said to be low.
Under the old system, there would have been a runoff because Adams did not clear 40% in the first round. But ranked choice voting will probably make it easier to unseat Adams next time.
A (Quinnipiac?) poll of NYC voters that came out last month showed Adams finally under water in his approve/disapprove rating. He was still slightly above water among Democrats.
Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog
@SiubhanDuinne: Had he been a Dickens character, it would likely have been spelled ‘Murdraugh’ … count blessings, etc.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
👍
Paul in KY
@OzarkHillbilly: Generally good policy. If he had not killed family and was at kennels not too long before it happened, he should have said he was. Since he didn’t, that meant he had something to hide.
Baud
@Geminid:
Better than I would have guessed.
schrodingers_cat
Defund the police was not popular even in my dark blue, very white, Bernie supporting town. A town with lots of student population I might add
Apart from a few activists it is unpopular across the board.
cmoren
@OzarkHillbilly: Without the video from son Paul’s phone with Murtaugh’s clearly identiiable voice on it (even though the video didn’t show him), he probably would have skated.
Paul in KY
@Immanentize: I’m talking about when he was initially asked during the investigation if he had been at kennels. That’s when a presumably innocent person who wants the real killers of his family members to be caught would have fessed up.
He didn’t & was found out and then (IMO) he had to try a ‘Hail Mary’ and go on the stand to try and explain away why he had initially lied about that.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: I’m still on the fence about ranked choice voting. What do you think?
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I’m glad that ranked choice voting is being tested by a few states and municipalities first. That’s a good way to understand any unintended consequences.
I kind of like Alaska’s new method, combining an open, “jungle primary” with a ranked choice runoff between the top four finishers. California and Washington have open primaries and a runoff for the top two finishers may prove to be a good system too.
Personally, I like runoffs more than ranked choice voting for primaries, but I think ranked choice will win out over runoffs because it is quicker. I think that over time Alaska’s system could become the norm.
Brachiator
@Geminid:
Speed is pretty much the only good thing about ranked choice. I also prefer runoffs.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: I am not fond of ranked choice either. Team runoffs here.
Betty Cracker
@Geminid: Agree about test cases. Alaska’s system did seem to weed out some of the extremists, so that’s a good thing. Thanks!
Geminid
@Brachiator: People seem very impatient now, and that’s one of the reasons ranked choice voting is attractive. I sometimes think that 200 years from now someone will write a book about early 21st century America and title it, “The Age of Impatience.”
cmoren
@gvg: Son Paul probably had some kind of angry confrontation with dad Alex out at the kennels where Paul threw a bigger kitchen sink at dad than just about backsliding on his opiate consumption – and maybe included incriminating knowledge Paul had found out about dad’s lying scumbag thievery. Alex blew off in a rage, and loaded guns were handily nearby. Then realized his wife’s presence at the house would foil any potential alibi, and Alex is now in full-blown calculating ruthless socipathic mode….After the murders, Alex probably used the trip to see his mom to take a detour to some obscure watery swamp to dispose of the actual guns he used, where the chances they would ever be found were near-zero.
Yutsano
@Geminid: Ugh! Count me as not a fan of our jungle primary system in Washington. It seems to me to reward those who can fund best over actual candidate quality. Just my opinion and I’m open to persuasion.
Am also home sick and slightly cranky.
cmoren
@Immanentize: It’s like a judge trying to cure improper testimony about white bears by telling a jury to “not think of a white bear”.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Bex: No, but Buttigieg’s counterpart in the Greek cabinet resigned in disgrace within a day after the wreck.
Paul in KY
@cmoren: I think it was more premeditated than that. Your conjecture could certainly have been how it went down, though.
Dopey-o
Faith-based healthcare ministries took in millions, left members bankrupt. Twice.
billcinsd
@Betty Cracker: I believe the surviving son was kicked out of Law School and the Dad tried to blackmail or buy his kid back into school. However, I have not followed this very closely and could be mistaken
Ramalama
@JML: Mine broke after 17 years of flawless cooking, Zojirushi. Tried to repair it via numerous YouTube videos walking us through, but no go. Talents better spent elsewhere.
Here’s what we got now: Midea 5L rice cooker.
Cute as a bug. Cooks everything perfectly. But let me follow up in a decade.
LiminalOwl
@Betty Cracker: Thank you very much! I look forward to making that, and some of the others on that site.