Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

We will not go back.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

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

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Balloon Juice Zoom: Agatha Christie’s Life and Work

Balloon Juice Zoom: Agatha Christie’s Life and Work

by | 126 Comments

This post is in: ,

We have just finished up a series of 6 Medium Cool posts about Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, courtesy of Subaru Dianne.  I know that SD was prepping a course for  OLLI, and I asked if she might like to try her stuff out on us.  Lucky for us, she said yes!

Likewise, during our Balloon Juice Indictment Zoom a few weeks ago, kalakal mentioned that he presents historical and biographic talks once a month at the library, and he had one coming up about Agatha Christie.  So my ears perked up and I asked kalakal if he might be interested in presenting it to us, also, as there was a lot of interest about Agatha Christie in the Subaru Dianne guest post.

And he graciously agreed!

So who’s interested in a Balloon Juice zoom about Agatha Christie?  The first hour will be kalakal’s presentation, and then we’ll take another hour or so for questions and conversation.

BJ Zoom – Agatha Christie – Saturday 5/20 at 7 pm 8 pm Eastern time.

From kalakal:

I will talk about Agatha Christie’s life and work, her legacy, and the reasons for her enduring popularity.

Christie, who taught her self to read at age 4 and didn’t attend school until she was 13 is the best selling author of all time, was the subject of the then largest manhunt in British history, actors hated her plays yet she wrote the longest running play in history, and she still had time to be a surfer girl!

There’ll be plenty of time after the presentation for Q & A and general discussion; it should be a lot of fun.

Who thinks this sounds like fun?  If you have an interest in Agatha Christie, or you want to learn more about her, or if mysteries are just your thing, please join us!

To RSVP,  send email  watergirl at balloon-juice.com  and also let us know in the comments, so others can see who else is interested, too!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

126Comments

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Open thread, so – –

    Above my pay grade but certainly merits noting (WaPo link).

    Federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday that they have hacked and disabled a complex Russian cyberespionage operation that allegedly was used for about 20 years to steal sensitive government materials from the United States and its allies.

    Justice Department and FBI officials described the Russian operation as one of the country’s most powerful cyberespionage tools. They said the agency has been secretly investigating the network for nearly as long it was in operation but executed a court-authorized search warrant only this week to remotely hamper the Russian malware.

    Law enforcement personnel had to surreptitiously develop their own cyberinfrastructure to interact with and disrupt the malware, which the Russians were constantly updating and changing, the officials said.

    The U.S. government, which coordinated its investigative activities with foreign governments, also had to time the execution of the search warrant to access the compromised computers simultaneously to keep the Russians from reacting and thwarting the operation. Source

  3. 3.

    Jerzy Russian

    I wonder how she taught herself to read at age 4.

    Unrelated to Agatha Christie, I have a Solatube with a light fixture.  One morning the light was barely on, so I changed the bulb.  The light still was very dim.  Given this, I stuck the previous bulb into a different lamp, and it was normal.  I got the ladder out, and looked inside the tube, thinking “how the hell can I get the fixture out?”.  Fast forward to this morning when I noticed the tiny dimmer switch on the switch was almost at the bottom, meaning the light was dimmed.  I moved the dimmer switch to its nominal position, and the lamp is fine.   I am glad I noticed this before I drove ~40 miles to the Solatube place in search of a new fixture.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Our long national nightmare is finally over.

    Republicans Finally Admit They Have No Incriminating Evidence on Joe Biden

    A 65-page report, a press conference, and nothing to show for it

  6. 6.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    Benghazi and Hillary’s emails, it’s not. Nobody cared about this shit. Republicans don’t get normies

  11. 11.

    gene108

    Britain didn’t approve women’s suffrage until 1929. She became a bestselling author before she could vote.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:

    If the Republicans have not found the goods on the Biden family’s corruption, it can only mean that the Bidens have gone to extraordinary criminal lengths to hide the evidence. It is thus the Republicans’ duty to speculate even more wildly about the cover-up while never letting up on the original baseless speculation about the Bidens’ crimes.

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    Me for sure! I am so glad that kalakal is going to do this, and thank you for facilitating it.

  17. 17.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    I’m going to be sad when the Voyagers finally run out of power.

    I’m also amazed we can still receive their signals from so far away. The signals are very feint and take a long time to reach us.

  20. 20.

    ema

    @Baud:

    I just said* “Hello” to President Biden from BJ (34 s YT short; must listen to the 5th Ave. denizens’ comments)

    *as in I waved at his motorcade as it was zooming down 5th Ave a couple of hrs ago

    [It was Dark Brandon]

  21. 21.

    CaseyL

    I’m on the West Coast, and that’ll be 4:00 PM my time.

    I will RSVP by email, but (as I will also explain in the email): I will be at an event throughout the morning and early afternoon.  I will HOPE to be home and ready to join the Zoom, but there is a small chance I might not get home in time.

    TL;DR: Yes, I hope.

  23. 23.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    @gene108:

    Beyond the science, the most fascinating thing about the Voyager probes are the Golden Records.

    It’s estimated that around 1 billion years in the future is the latest date that the information stored on them will be able to be retrieved.

    It’s pretty unlikely anyone will ever come across them, but it’s an expression of humanity’s desire to reach out to other intelligent beings in the Universe, to say we were here. The Golden Records, along with the Pioneer plaques, were Carl Sagan’s touches

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    @CaseyL: I hadn’t thought about the West Coast time zone issue. It could start at 7:30 or 8:00 if that’s better for people.

    There’s nothing magical about 7pm.

  25. 25.

    brantl

    Sorry to be the wet blanket, but I thought Agatha Christie did her damndest to obscure all clues in her mysteries. I found her writing extremely dry, British-obscure, with characters so quirked, anyone of the characters could have done it, including the detective. There are any number of mystery writers that I think leave her choking on there dust.

  27. 27.

    H.E.Wolf

    I’ve got a prior commitment at exactly the same time, but I’ll be there in spirit.

    Sounds like a great dual presentation, with two top-notch presenters!

  29. 29.

    CaseyL

    @WaterGirl:  Starting later would increase the odds of my being back from the event in time.  If you can do that without inconveniencing everyone else (not least of whom, kalakal!) that would be great.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: Oh!  Dianne was apparently a typo on my part, because I always spell it “Diane” – but you raise a good point, seems like maybe it should be the more elegant spelling – Dianne.

    We shall as SD what she prefers. :-)

  31. 31.

    persistentillusion

    @Jerzy Russian: My son taught himself to read at 3.  He’s on the spectrum, had been non-verbal for about a year.  Driving to do some errands, a small voice from the back of the car says “B-a-k-e-r-y, Bakery!” Came really close to jumping the curb.

    We read to him and his big sister every night, so maybe that helped.

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    @H.E.Wolf: oops, sorry to have been unclear.

    The reference to Subaru Diane Medium Cool posts was just part of the introduction.  karakal gets the whole stage on this one.

    If we moved it to 8 pm instead of 7 pm (ET) would that work better for folks?

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    It goes, I hope, without saying that I’m interested and have marked my calendar accordingly!

    Thanks for organising this, WG, and thanks to Kalakal for sharing his expertise on Dame Agatha. I’m looking forward to the Zoom.

  43. 43.

    zhena gogolia

    @ema: Cool!

    I’m interested, but that’s our dinner time, so I’m afraid not.

    Ugh, plus I’ll be grading papers.

    ETA: Of course I won’t be grading papers during dinner, but all the rest of the time.

  46. 46.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Since it’s an open thread, via commenter RaflW from below:

    mike freeman @mikefreemanNFL
    This is humiliating for CNN. Absolutely humiliating.
    8:16pm

    Apparently the Trump Town Hall is not going well

  50. 50.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @persistentillusion:

    We read to him and his big sister every night, so maybe that helped.

    Self taught reading is often termed spontaneous reading. My 2 years’ older sister cannot remember me NOT reading.

    I attribute this to being the youngest of 4 and read to by my siblings; in addition, my 2 oldest sibs were in school so they were busy reading themselves.

    A book gets read to a child over and over so that it’s pretty much memorized and loved. The child then thumbs through the book alone and moves on to the sounds and letters, described as “breaking the reading code.” Not indicative of genius or really anything.

  51. 51.

    Quinerly

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I glanced at some live threads…

    He says we should default on the debt. The answer to a better economy is “drill, baby, drill” and more tax cuts. Still doesn’t know E Jean Carrol. Would pardon most of the insurrectionists and does not owe Pence an apology.

    The election was rigged. There’s tape of ballot boxes being stuffed.

    And Nancy Pelosi is “Crazy Nancy.”

    Nothing new, really.

  52. 52.

    Quinerly

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Are you watching? I went to “Tune In CNN” to listen on Alexa Echo. Two seconds of his voice and I went back to “Alexa, play Dylan.”

  54. 54.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Quinerly: I watch Hal Sparks watch it, on Hal’s youtube channel. I enjoy the rebuttals from Hal. But I’m done now, I can’t take anymore. Quite the fantasy he’s weaving about Jan 6 tho. He’s pretty pissy about the pushback, which is amusing. PAB.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    Holy cow.  I won’t give CNN ratings, but this thread by Aaron Rupar is all we need.

    She challenged him way more than I expected, and at the end he accused her of being “a nasty person”.

    I do not get the appeal of this lying sack of shit.  He will accept the results in 2024 “If I think it’s fair”.  So that’s a nope.

    He stands by the access holiday tape.  “It’s true that they let you if you’re famous.”

    Did you show any classified documents to others?  Mumble, mumble, “not really, not that I can recall”.  So that’s a yep.

    Link to the thread reader version.

  64. 64.

    Quinerly

    “Trump gets a round of applause after he says Pence should’ve done more on January 6 to help him overturn his election loss.” Aaron Ruper thread

  65. 65.

    kalakal

    Thank you to all who’ve expressed an interest. I have to say I’m looking forward to it.

    There will be no math

  68. 68.

    Quinerly

    “The CNN town hall audience laughs as Trump smears E Jean Carroll” Aaron Ruper thread

  71. 71.

    Quinerly

    “Kaitlan Collins lets Trump slide when he lies about Democrats supporting the murder of born babies. Trump then refuses to answer a question about if he would sign a federal abortion ban, but indicates he’s open to it.”

    Aaron Ruper thread

  73. 73.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Richard M. Nixon @dick_nixon 22m
    You can debate the ethics all you like but in terms of the politics this draws him into the open, and when he’s in the open he’s vulnerable. That’s proven.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    In the interest of balancing out their mistakes with the trump town hall, Biden’s will feature an audience made up exclusively of white evangelical men over fifty with no college degrees

  85. 85.

    Scout211

    Well said, AOC.

    CNN should be ashamed of themselves.They have lost total control of this “town hall” to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 11, 2023

  86. 86.

    Baud

    Fundraising email from Biden.

    So, that happened

    If you missed Trump’s CNN town hall, you’re better for it.

     

    But the choice is clear: It’s four more years of Trump or four more years of Biden.

     

  87. 87.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    If Chris Licht name checks himself on twitter, he’ll be crawling into bed with a handle of Jim Beam

  88. 88.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Scout211:

    This is literally the best possible format for him.  A completely friendly audience that will keep him focused on hate rather than whining by asking the questions his fans are hyped about.  CNN could not possibly have given him a bigger gift.

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211: I fixed it in the comment we just deleted, but you need to remove the “y” at the end of your nym in the comment box before posting another comment.  Then you’ll be good again going forward.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Donald and Melania Trump are “closer than ever,” sources tell Page Six, as he mounts his presidential campaign — and faces legal troubles.

    Melania is now fully on board with the campaign, after his daughter Ivanka Trump stepped back from the spotlight, and she wants to serve as first lady again. …

    Mar-a-Lago is apparently abuzz that “the couple seems . . . more bonded than ever. Friends say that Melania’s stepping up — while Ivanka and Jared [Kushner] have stepped aside — has made [Trump] more confident than ever.”

    any way addenda to pre-nups can be FOIA’d?

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Scout211:

    Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie 11m
    This was not Kaitlin Collins’ fault. The format was impossible and CNN’s bosses should have known that.

    Chris Licht is rapidly becoming the Elon Musk of CNN…

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    Interesting thought. For those who can’t get to twitter, there’s nothing in the tweet itself that isn’t showing up in this comment.

    Do you think he’s right?

  96. 96.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Elizabelle: As in Dianne Feinstein, no. As in Duinne, yes. There is a specific reason for the extra “n” in Duinne and thus in Dianne as well, which she explained to me one evening as we shared a bottle of red (that, IIRC, cost less than $5,000) but I’ll let her share that tidbit if and when she so desires.

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Shorter:

    My kids are distancing themselves from me!  No, this is a good thing!  It makes me happy that my daughter/wife is pulling away.  No, really!

    I give this a believability rating of 1 out of 100.  They get one because it’s possible that the pre-nup requires this behavior.

  107. 107.

    Steve in the ATL

    I flew back from Minneapolis today and, as happens now every time I’m in terminal G, I *literally* shuddered as I walked by the bar where I was watching the election returns in 2016.  Didn’t get confirmation of the disaster until a couple of hours later when I landed in Vegas. What an awful night. Followed by an awful four years.

    Shudders!

  108. 108.

    Jackie

    @Scout211: Biden’s tweet replies are crawling with MAGA replies. The AOC tweet below the one you posted is the same; MAGA.

    CNN should be *proud* – they’ve unleashed the beast.

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    @Steve in the ATL: For me it’s the fucking NYT needle.  The only way you could get me to look at that fucking needle for any election, even dog catcher, would be Clockwork Orange style.

    Just thinking about it brings back that awful night.

  112. 112.

    zhena gogolia

    @Jackie: I think that is probably true of Biden’s and AOC’s tweets all the time. The bots are very energetic. Heck, it’s true of Chris Murphy’s tweets.

  114. 114.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl: Absolutely! There is only one person I watch on CNN: Jim Acosta, and he’s only on on the wknd. I keep waiting for him to get axed with the liberal purge going on.

  115. 115.

    Elizabelle

    From his wiki entry:  re Chris Licht:

    On his first day as chairman and CEO of CNN, Licht sent a memo to all employees saying, “Sadly too many people have lost trust in the news media. I think we can be a beacon in regaining that trust by being an organization that exemplifies the best characteristics in journalism: fearlessly speaking truth to power, challenging the status quo, questioning ‘group-think’ and educating viewers and readers with straightforward facts and insightful commentary, while always being respectful of differing viewpoints. First and foremost, we should, and we will be advocates for truth.”

    That reads like a parody after tonight’s shit show.

  116. 116.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl: I’m sure John Malone thought tonight was great TV, but Licht knows that everyone whose opinion he cares about thinks he’s a bumbler who’s in way over his head.
    I might tune into Colbert tonight– I guess tomorrow– to see if he talks about this shit show, not that he’ll call out Licht personally, but I’m sure CNN will be fair game.

    Morning Joseph is a bridge too far. I’ll let twitter watch for me.

  122. 122.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl: cable/telecom gazillionaire who is not the CEO of the company that owns CNN, but a major shareholder and said to have been extremely influential in the rightward shift of the network

  124. 124.

    NotMax

    @Quinerly

    Even “Alexa, play Yoko Ono” would have been a marked improvement.
    :)

    @WaterGirl

    I hadn’t thought about the West Coast time zone issue.

    Nothing new. Being slighted by East coasters comes with the territory.
    ;)

Comments are closed.