Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Petty moves from a petty man.

The willow is too close to the house.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Bark louder, little dog.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Republicans do not trust women.

You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / Saturday Morning Entertainments Open Thread

Saturday Morning Entertainments Open Thread

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Per Rolling Stone:

… The playlist also features throwback songs by the Rolling Stones, the Pretenders, the Beths, the Bangles, Janet Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Leonard Cohen. Plus, how could you leave “California Love” by 2Pac off a summer playlist?

Last month, Obama sat down with Hasan Minhaj and was asked whether he actually curated his year playlists. “People seem to think, ‘Well, he must’ve had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out this latest cut,’” he said. “No, man! It’s on my iPad right now!”

Nature updates…

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  1. 1.

    japa21

    Good morning.

    This afternoon we get the two youngest grandsons for a couple hours while their parents go see Barbie.  Not sure who will have more fun.  Probably us, and that is not  negative comment about the movie.

  2. 2.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Cruz’s claims about there being a secret message in a map in Barbie sound like the ravings of that guy on the corner trying to get you to take a pamphlet. There is a map. It shows Barbie’s route from Barbieland to LA, in the Real World. If there is a message, it’s deeply hidden because I knew about Cruz’s claim ahead of time and I never thought of it when I saw the movie.

  3. 3.

    Ken

    the animal may have been a wild boar, not a lioness.

    Oh yes that’s so much better. Parents can now let their children play in the parks again.

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Speaking of Shark Week: Experts say ‘cocaine sharks’ may be feasting on drugs dumped off Florida

    Cocaine Sharks is expected to be among the biggest draws of Shark Week, the Discovery network’s popular annual showcase of the species from great whites, hammerheads and tiger sharks down to the smallest varieties.

    In their research, conducted during six days at sea in the Florida Keys, the ecologically sensitive island chain off the state’s southern tip, Fanara and British marine biologist Tom Hird observed sharks exhibiting peculiar behaviors. A hammerhead, a species that would usually swim away from humans, came directly towards the divers, moving erratically. They also observed a sandbar shark swimming in circles as it focused on an imaginary object.

    They also conducted experiments, including dropping dummy bales in the water, which many of the sharks took bites out of, and loading balls of bait with highly concentrated fish powder to simulate cocaine. The effect, the researchers said, was akin to catnip on felines. “It’s the next best thing [and] set their brains aflame. It was crazy,” Hird says on the show.

    Fanara said they chose the Florida Keys as the best location for their research because a convergence of ocean currents made the region “prevalent” for floating bales of cocaine.

    Florida serves as a staging point for large quantities of drugs making their way into the US from South America, and plastic-wrapped bundles of cocaine are often lost at sea or tossed overboard by traffickers being pursued by law enforcement.
    ………………………..
    How much cocaine the sharks were actually ingesting, she said, was impossible to determine based on experiments that were only precursory.

    “At the end of every research publication you read ‘more research must be done’, and that’s definitely the conclusion from this,” she said, noting previous in-depth studies of polluted inland waterways suggesting fish had become addicted to methamphetamine.

    In the coming months, Fanara plans to partner with other Florida marine scientists to take blood samples from some of the sharks to evaluate cocaine levels.

  5. 5.

    sab

    The stray  cat came up from the basement last night and walked across my head while I was sleeping. He is very cute. A shony litle black panther, but he carries his tail in a circle like a husky dog. He is quite friendly. The pitbull likes him and he tolerates her.

    Dobby feels utterly betrayed.

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack

    The Lesbian Death Bed Twitter account is pretty funny. (Nitter version in link.

    ETA: Currently at the top is a lot of explicit sex stuff. Not as funny. Have to scroll down a bit.

  7. 7.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Ken: I was thinking along the same lines.  Bears have a higher potential on the “find out” half, but wild boars have a very very low threshold for the entire FAFO thing.

  8. 8.

    Anonymous At Work

    In all fairness to the Mad Max protests, Immortan Joe was a badly-fitted suit and a comb-over away from being TFG.  Really too spot on to discount.

  9. 9.

    Yarrow

    The Open is on TV. I’m kind of half watching it as I do other things. It looks cool and maybe a bit rainy with a few sun breaks. Very pleasant. They keep doing short pieces about Liverpool. First there was a bit on the River Mersey ferries, then the Queensway tunnel, then The Beatles (of course).

  13. 13.

    M31

    wild boars are fucking scary !

    I had a friend visiting rural Sicily a while back and their hosts said “well, whatever you do, don’t go outside at night” and yup he went outside at night and wild boars chased him until he took refuge on top of a shed and had to stay there until morning hahahahahaha

    when the Sicilians tell you something is dangerous, believe them

  19. 19.

    Suzanne

    @OzarkHillbilly: There was an absolute shitshow on Twitter this week that had a surprise twist. Some woman started talking about degrowth as a response to climate change and said that Americans shouldn’t be able to get bananas, as they come from tropical regions and the supply chain is too long. Then she admitted that she used cocaine. Of course, she immediately got called out about the supply chain of coke. LOL.

  20. 20.

    CaseyL

    I’m seeing Barbie today, and doing my best to remain unspoiled, so I haven’t read any reviews and even avoid comments/columns about its sociological significance.

    I may or may not also see Oppenheimer – probably not right afterwards, since I’m going with a friend on a tight time budget – but possibly this weekend.

    (It tickles me greatly that these two movies became a double-feature meme.)

  22. 22.

    Ken

    @NotMax: Aquaman versus cocaine sharks would be a great story line for one of those one-page anti-drug PSA comics they used to stick in the back of the books.

  23. 23.

    NotMax

    @Ken

    Late last century pre-Google) there was a site which occasionally tracked strange or outré terms input on search engines.

    One I remember was: -star wars -porn.

    Accompanying editorial comment was “That excludes like 95% of the entire internet!”

  24. 24.

    narya

    There was a TV series on Oppenheimer years ago (I looked it up–Sam Waterston play Oppenheimer), and I remember watching it, though I didn’t remember the Waterston part. It was the early 80s, so you really had to watch it when it was on. That said, I feel like I learned enough through that to reduce my inclination to go sit in a movie theater for 3 hours.

  26. 26.

    narya

    On this morning’s walk, I listened to Al Franken’s podcast interviewing Mark Elias and Ari Berman. It is NOT a cheery podcast, but if anyone wants to get up to speed on a lot of the voter suppression happening, it’s a good review. I don’t know that anyone here would learn a ton, but if there are folks in your lives who would listen and who need/want some education, it’s quite tidy.

  27. 27.

    Geminid

    @Suzanne: There have been a lot of strange “degrowth” takes on the internet recently, and some like that “bananas” twitter thread have been pretty funny.

    I think some of this is because as the clean energy transition revs up, people see that we’re trying to save the planet without destroying capitalism. That’s very alarming to some folks, so we get these Henry Thoreau/Karl Marx mashups.

  28. 28.

    Anyway

    I always look for Obama’s summer and end-of-year reading lists. He reads a lot of fiction (like me).

  29. 29.

    Mai Naem mobileI

    It got cloudy yesterday evening and I was hoping we would finally see some rain. I even went too look at the weather forecast. Weather radar didn’t predict rain. Well, we got a few sprinkles of rain. The kind of very light sprinkles that drop for five minutes and dry and make your car look dirty.  Really annoying.

  32. 32.

    JoyceH

    @Anyway: Obama always seems to read “important” books, the kind that book clubs talk about the meaning of. I hope “off the record” he reads an occasional mystery, or a space opera style sci-fi.

  33. 33.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I love Janelle Monae.  Especially her Dirty Computer album, which is imo, one of the best concept albums (and best albums, overall) of the past 20 years, but this new album is leaving me totally flat.  A bunch of three minute reggae tunes with no key changes…yawn…  Disappointed because I’ve been looking forward to a new album for years.  Oh well, hope it does well for her as I still love her.  Just not my musical cup of tea.

  34. 34.

    UncleEbeneezer

    One week of mid-90 degree tennis camps down, two to go.  Took the day off today and we’re gonna go visit a friend in Malibu who we haven’t seen in years.  It will be nice to be on the coast and take a dip, after a really hot week.

  35. 35.

    StringOnAStick

    @Geminid: If the degrowth person had enough information, they’d know that the banana as we know it is reaching its ecological dead end and will be gone in our lifetimes, so mission accomplished I guess?  They are all exact clones of each other and a soil borne virus kills the plants and renders the fields useless for growing bananas.  Usually the replacement crop is pineapple.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    I’ve often heard/thought that the band name is “Pretenders” not “The Pretenders”.

    The website is thepretenders.com but the albums list the name as “Pretenders”. GoDaddy.com says pretenders.com is parked.

    My prefrontal cortex does not like this ambiguity.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    StringOnAStick

    @JoyceH: Our book club often uses Obama’s reading list to choose books.  We’re all D to liberal except the one libertoonian; it makes him crazy when he ends up liking a book from that list.  He’s already stated that he “refuses” to read anymore nonfiction , which is what I mainly read; oh well.  He’s married-ish to one of the founding members so we’re stuck with him plus a strict “no politics” rule.

  39. 39.

    Butch

    Several years ago we did a couple of scuba dives at a place called Fakarava, Tahiti.  We were surrounded by hundreds of sharks.  It was really cool.

  42. 42.

    Old Man Shadow

    I support our marine mammal overlords. May they rule better than our human ones and smash all of their enemies with rocks on their tummies.

  44. 44.

    Alison Rose

    @Another Scott: Pretty sure it is just Pretenders, because their debut was self-titled and it’s just called Pretenders. However…annoyingly, Wikipedia is unclear on this because sometimes when it uses the phrase “the Pretenders” midsentence, it doesn’t capitalize “the”…but sometimes it does! Quick, someone get Chrissie Hynde on the phone.

  45. 45.

    laura

    @Another Scott: the Pretenders have been the Summer support act for the band the Roadie Brothers work for. Holy Toledo do they Love Chrissie Hynde, and does she ever love them back. Both say her vocals are pitch perfect, her guitar playing is smoking and the no bullshit work ethic of her band is a tribute to what a no bullshit woman she is.

  46. 46.

    Kelly

    Obviously the wildlife folks trying to trap the otter need to rig a surfboard with a trap

  49. 49.

    Citizen Alan

    @Cameron: I’m now trying to imagine how you would cast a remake of the Munsters entirely out of republican political figures. It would be a grim and very unfunny deconstruction of the series. But you could do it.

  51. 51.

    CaseyL

    @Amir Khalid:

    Various kitties over the years have been night-time perils for me.

    Jazz – black house-panther of beloved memory – as a kitten draped himself over my face while I was asleep.  Try sputtering up out of a sound sleep, caught between Wanting to Breathe and Not Wanting to Alarm the Kitty.

    Ariel (co-kitty with Jazz, also gone now) would, very occasionally, go to sleep with her head pillowed on my face, which was the cutest thing ever and also completely immobilized me. (The first Rule of Cats: “Cats sleeping on you shall continue to sleep on you, and you shall not so much as twitch to disturb them.”)

    Oscar – current sole and senior kitty, 15 years of age – on occasion crouches next to the pillow, kneading; starting on the edge and slowly working his way toward my face, with me watching to make sure he doesn’t (accidentally, I’m sure) puncture my cheeks, nose, or eyes.

  54. 54.

    Mo MacArbie

    I think the first two Pretenders albums are sans-the, but the third one has a “the”. So they seem to have grown one, like the Smashing Pumpkins.

  61. 61.

    Mo MacArbie

    Heh, I was just going to mention the Dead, who have a self-titled album with a “the” and another one without. As the legend goes, they had a title in mind for the “The” one: something about a kitten…

  62. 62.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Alison Rose: Reggae is like Blues to me.  I can appreciate the appeal I just don’t really share it beyond maybe two songs and then I’m bored.  I can get into a really repetitive tune as long as the vocal or melody line changes to give it a semblance of different parts.  But when songs are just the same chords, same, beat, and same melody for the entire song…zzzzzzzzz….

    It’s one of the reasons modern club/dance music really doesn’t interest me all that much.  Even Beyonce’s Renaissance mostly bored me.  Sure the beats are fire and she has an incredible voice but so many of the songs just never go anywhere beyond the initial vibe/melody.  The only musical style I can somewhat tolerate that much repetition is Afro-Beat.  Even then though, I’m still usually like “Ok but can we get a B-section at some point?”, lol.

  64. 64.

    lowtechcyclist

    I think that Fox News screenshot of Ted Cruz declaring war on Barbie needs to be turned into a billboard, and blanket all the major highways in Texas with it.

  67. 67.

    JoyceH

    @lowtechcyclist: it seems like Barbie is going to be Big, which is a pretty clear indication of where the Republicans are versus the general public. I see more people saying they’re GOING to see it since Repubs started calling it Woke.

  68. 68.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    In an actual war between Barbie and Ted Cruz she would kick his pudgy ass in a New York minute. I’m not really one to fat shame, or shame in general but I make exceptions for certain people and Cruz is on the list.

    It’s funny, near the tail end of the W era I didn’t think there’d ever be anyone in politics I hated more than Dick Cheney but now they’re legion. He’s so far down the list he’s more or less forgotten.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    The 2009 Rhino compilation is titled “Best of Pretenders.” Make of that what you will.

    Also, too, Chrissie is a goddess, even if she’d yell at me for saying it. Was surprised watching the “Pistol” miniseries that she was so intertwined with the Sex Pistols, well before starting her own group. Had no idea.

  71. 71.

    Ben Cisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    Coming off a long week prepping for a branch opening that is both imminent and dependent on (checks notes) AT&T peeps getting their, er, stuff together.

    Anything the Jackalteriat can do to curry favor from the tech gods would be greatly appreciated.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    PBO’s list is fun, just like PBO. “Funky Kingston” FTW! Shocked that only about a third are unknown to me.

  74. 74.

    Alison Rose

    Don’t know if this has already been shared here, but Olbermann made me laugh with this response to Sinema trying to pull off a “get you a [x] who can do both” Barbieheimer meme.

    You have failed, as a senator and as a person. Get the fuck out of here https://t.co/eWE0Raqkqg
    — Keith Olbermann↙️ (@KeithOlbermann) July 20, 2023

  75. 75.

    trollhattan

    Going on a summer car trip? Try for all ten! (NB, at least one will require a rental.)

    Here’s a list of the top 10 most feared highways in America, according to the survey:
    New Mexico: U.S. Route 285
    California: Death Valley Road
    Texas: U.S. Route 90
    Hawaii: Saddle Road
    Nevada: U.S. Route 50
    Kentucky: Mountain Parkway
    South Dakota: U.S. Route 14A
    Alaska: Dalton Highway
    New York: State Route 17
    Mississippi: U.S. Route 4
    The most feared sentence in a young child’s life: “Let’s go for a family drive.”

  76. 76.

    kalakal

    @laura: I saw them on their second tour in 1980 at Leeds uni*. It was  disappointing. They had a really short set, basically the first album which was good, they hadn’t really got their groove together as they hadn’t been together that long, but it was still fun. Then they were reduced to Beatles covers. Saw them a couple of years later and they were great.

    *Leeds uni refrectory had pretty bad acoustics which didn’t help but The Who made it work ok.

  77. 77.

    opiejeanne

    @Geminid: 60 different banana varieties including Cavendish are grown in the US, but not in large enough quantities to compete with the imported ones.

    From wikipedia:

    Hawaii is by far the largest banana producer in the United States, followed by Florida. Banana plantation in Hawaii has followed a descending trend, from 13,181 mmt in 2000 to 8,090 mmt in 2010. Hawaii produces mainly the conventional Cavendish assortment and the Hawaiian apple banana, which are sold in the local markets due to high employment and land expenses. The chief US banana exporter is Florida, which produces mostly Thai and cooking bananas (Bluggoe type). In addition, US banana producers are looking for opportunities in the organic and specialty segments of the banana market in Florida, Texas, California, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia.[2] Banana cultivation in Florida has been about 500 acres, valued at roughly 2 million US $.[1]

    Other states that remain popular locations for independent banana farming, which usually only export on a highly domestic level, are Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, and California. These states produce a variety depending on the region, including Cavendish, Bluggoe, Ice Cream, Goldfinger, Lady Finger, Red Dacca, Latundan, Pisano Awak, and Balbisinia subtypes.

    More at the link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_production_in_the_United_States

  81. 81.

    Amir Khalid

    @kalakal:

    Leeds uni refrectory had pretty bad acoustics which didn’t help but The Who made it work ok.

    With enough volume, you can solve just about any acoustic problem.

  82. 82.

    Anotherlurker

    @OzarkHillbilly: I am sorry but Shark Week is a load of crap. They play on sensationalism and fear mongering.  They pump out the pseudoscience and ignore the boring, real  science that actually advances knowledge.

     

    Cocaine sharks. What a load of pseudoscientific crap.

    As a side note: I am a lifelong fisherman and SCUBA diver. I am a voracious reader of marine biology books and articles.

    When I lived in Fla. for a disastrous 3 years, the only positive thing in my life was volunteering 2 days/week at Mote Marine Lab and Aquarium.  I got to talk to actual scientists and learn from them.

  84. 84.

    kalakal

    @Amir Khalid:

    True. I remember Motorhead making that place work as did Ginger Baker. It’s basically a giant dining room, a very long, wide corridor with a very high ceiling and very reflective walls

  85. 85.

    frosty

    @trollhattan: Not State Road 12 in Utah? Feh, they missed a really bad one. Checking routes out on RVRoads.net, one motorhome driver said it was white knuckles all the way and he was sorry he did it.

  86. 86.

    OverTwistWillie

    @Suzanne:

    The truth is out there…. ask any coked up paranoid. I rate “JFK” right up there with “Birth of a Nation” and “Triumph of the Will” for great craft in the service of civic toxicity.

  87. 87.

    VOR

    @StringOnAStick: the banana as we know it is reaching its ecological dead end and will be gone in our lifetimes.

    Today’s bananas were the inferior version, that there was a different strain which was preferred but succumbed to a virus or fungus. Supposedly this is why artificial banana flavorings don’t taste that much like banana, they were created to mimic the flavor of the older strain.

  89. 89.

    frosty

    @trollhattan: ​I saw the article. The only criterion from what I can see is how remote the road is and how few services there are. The fear is just fear of a breakdown. I’m more scared of falling off a cliff.
    For us, the worst road in Death Valley wasn’t the highway (which is just hot). It was coming down the Panamint Range with steep descents and switchbacks, towing a trailer with no trailer brake controller. Who knew that wasn’t part of a tow package?​

  90. 90.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Another Scott: From Wikipedia:

    Hynde named the band “The Pretenders” after the Platters song “The Great Pretender”,[which was the favourite song of one of her former boyfriends.

    Seems like there used to be a thing where “The” was added to US bands in UK whether it was meant to be there or not – like “The Jefferson Airplane”. Not sure if this happened with UK bands resulting in “The Led Zeppelin” or “The Pink Floyd”. The Pretenders formed in the UK, though, so they probably always had the “The” at the beginning.

    ETA – should have kept reading the thread before posting!

  91. 91.

    Geminid

    The Infrastructure bill was passed 20 months ago, and some projects using the $60 billion appropriated for Amtrak improvements are awaiting approval. One was highlighted by a Shreveport, Louisiana KTBS-TV story titled:

    I-20 Passenger Rail Corridor Applies for funding.

    This project would provide service between Meridian, Mississippi and Marshall, Texas and would further a larger project to bring passenger rail service from New York City to LA by way of Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth. At event in Marshall, Christina Anderson of the I-20 Corridor Council said the project is close to being greenlit, and noted that:

       “The only thing missing is the 345 miles between Meridien and Marshall. That’s 345 miles. Connect the dots across Northern Louisiana where there is no service now? It’s a no-brainer! It’s an existing right of way, existing track, and is a route that will provide a great return on investment.”

    Ms. Anderson noted that the larger route would connect more that 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

    The proposed service would initially provide two trips a day from Atlanta to Dallas-FW, with connections beyond to New York and LA. The article did not say how fast the trains would go, but Amtrak has a lot of routes with a top speed of 110mph and a few at 150mph. Not exactly high speed rail, but maybe high-ish speed rail

  92. 92.

    frosty

    @NotMax: ​
     It was good. Turned out no one else signed up for that day and time so it was a private tour and we could stop anywhere we wanted. First stop was the Garden of Eden Arboretum, which the driver liked, because most people don’t stop. Saw lots of waterfalls, had coconut ice-cream, banana bread, hand-made chocolate.

    The only disappointment was that the road past Hana was closed, so we did the out-and-back instead of the loop around Halakalea NP. But all in all a very nice way to spend the day.

  93. 93.

    Layer8Problem

    @Ben Cisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️:  Dousing a [Cisco, of course] Catalyst 3750-X switch in overproof rum and lighting it while intoning Ned Beatty’s line from the movie Network (“You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU… WILL… ATONE!“) has always produced good results for me. At least with Verizon.

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … Dean Baker at CEPR.net:

    In some really big news that is likely to get almost no media attention, Senator Bernie Sanders, the chair of the Senate HELP Committee, negotiated a deal with Bill Cassidy, the ranking Republican, on a package of amendments to the reauthorization of the nation’s pandemic preparedness law. While there are a number of items in the deal, a really big one is funding for a study to be done by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to consider alternatives to patent monopoly financing of the development of prescription drugs.

    This is potentially huge, since our current system is a disaster. No one ever said it was a great idea to finance research by charging tens of thousands of dollars for life-saving drugs, when these drugs would sell for a few hundred dollars in a free market without patent protection. We just ended up here. The study outlined in this bill should mean that we will get a serious evaluation of the current route for financing research relative to alternatives.

    As I have argued endlessly, the current patent monopoly system is just an incredibly bad way to finance the development of new drugs, vaccines, and other health-related products. There are many different reasons for this view.

    […]

    Thinking about different ways of doing things is always important – it’s vital when there are so many pathologies in the US drug system.

    Much more at the link.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  95. 95.

    lashonharangue

    Many years ago I was taking a scuba diving class off of San Carlos beach in Monterey. The instructor had a float with a flag on top so the class could know where to gather on the surface (it’s a very popular area for dive certification). An otter came along and pulled the cover off of the inner tube inside. It swam off with the tube and we couldn’t go after it because of the regulations about harassing marine mammals. It carries a big fine.  My guess is if a surfer plays tug of war with this otter over their surf board, they might not enforce it.  They really do need to capture this animal as otters learn from each other.

  97. 97.

    cain

    @sab: in my house right now there is nothing but activity – the two kittens have been chasing after each other, righting with each other and just basically doing kitten things. :) The other older cats  have settled down with them and I frequently see the kittens snuggling up to one of them. Kittens are probably smarter than my older cats and treats each of the older cats differently.

    Of course, they pissed me off because I came home one day and they dropped my hand made bowl I got from a potter event. So beautiful – I was heartbroken when I saw it in pieces on the floor. :(

  98. 98.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:

    Not sure if this happened with UK bands resulting in “The Led Zeppelin” or “The Pink Floyd”. The Pretenders formed in the UK, though, so they probably always had the “The” at the beginning.

    I remember Annie and Dave preferred Eurythmics, without the definite article. I think it was the Be Yourself Tonight tour when I saw them. Howard Jones opened. That’s right: THE Howard Jones.

  99. 99.

    Layer8Problem

    @trollhattan:   ” . . . New York: State Route 17 . . . ”

    What’s so scary about Route 17?  I’d think any Westchester County parkway could match that.

  101. 101.

    Subsole

    @Layer8Problem:

    Solid choice.

    I uave always found a Prayer Circuit of MOSFETs anointed in blessed isopropyl works as well. Just mark well that you are using rosin-core solder in the construction of your Circuit.

  103. 103.

    trollhattan

    @frosty: ​
    Heh. Returned this week from a few days of Plumas County camping and thought I was in a recreation of “Duel” because a big-ass pickup towing some kind of construction machinery kept tailgating me through the winding mountain highway. While technically anybody driving three+ axles in California is limited to 55 mph, it’s a rule enforced zero percent when rounded to the nearest decimal.

    And while it was, I suppose, an “impressive” piece of driving it’s probably the case that while I took physics, that guy couldn’t even spell “physics.”

    Our path took us past a meadow with “Farmer for Trump” signage and a very prominent field of Trump and US flags. No State of Jefferson, which seemed odd.

  104. 104.

    Layer8Problem

    @Subsole:  And your protective wards are in order, above all; safety first and all that.  I once lost an entire team from Marketing in the blowback.  Luckily no one above director-level noticed.

  107. 107.

    opiejeanne

    @trollhattan: CA rte128 between Winters and Healdsburg (area) after dark was very challenging, but we were in a car. My daughter said it was absolutely terrifying in her camper van and even though she’s the usual driver she said she huddled in the back with the dog and made her husband drive. She couldn’t watch.

    No houses or cell phone service, and very little GPS, for many miles

  111. 111.

    billcinsd

    @trollhattan: US Route 14A is only really deadly during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, when a bunch of drunk people try to drive a curvy road (much less curvy now than it used to be) between Deadwood and Sturgis with many other drunk bikers

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    @opiejeanne: ​
    I know 128 intimately, having cycled it from Winters into the Napa Valley many times. Not sure I’m a match today for Cardiac Hill, though.

    Can readily imagine turning it into an extended adventure in terror, especially at night. (Sadly, huge stretches are now through an endless burn scar.)

  114. 114.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Geminid: I think some of this is because as the clean energy transition revs up, people see that we’re trying to save the planet without destroying capitalism.

    Well, we can certainly try…

    Of course, the end of capitalism doesn’t need to mean the end of international trade.

  115. 115.

    Alison Rose

    @opiejeanne: All of 128 sucks. I’ve never driven that section, but when my parents lived in Fort Bragg for a couple years a long time ago, I would take 128 from 101 in Cloverdale out to the the coast, and I hated it. Some parts were okay, when you’re going through the little hamlets along the way (Philo and Boonville and such), but other parts were twisty and dark with all the other cars wanting you to go 65 on a road where you shouldn’t be going over maybe 45 max, and much slower in certain spots.

    The problem was the other option was to take Highway 20 from Willits, and that road was even worse!

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    @billcinsd: ​
    Oof, didn’t they add “superspreader event” to Sturgis back in 2020?

    But, Harleys corner so well!

    I’d want to be in another state while that’s happening.

  117. 117.

    narya

    Got off my butt and made Friend drag me to the farmers’ market so I could acquire blueberries, later to be turned into some kind of crisp. Also stopped for ice cream (pistachio, and honeycomb) to go with it. Dinner is venison tenderloin, mushrooms cooked in wine and butter, and gnocchi with crab. And then whatever I come up with for dessert.

  122. 122.

    dm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m assuming Cruz was upset that the map shows China’s self-declared border in the South China Sea (why draw a border in the sea?). Vietnam is upset at that, too.

  123. 123.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @frosty:

    The only criterion from what I can see is how remote the road is and how few services there are.

    I have been on US 285 in New Mexico and this is exactly right. Miles and miles of middling to poor pavement through nothing at all. I did find it frightening!

  124. 124.

    realbtl

    Hwy 50 in Nevadaa is beautiful but empty.  You come over a range of hills and there is 20 or so miles of dead straight 2 lane to the next hills.  Repeat.   Check your gas guage.

  125. 125.

    Jay

    @dm:

    and the extra stupid that makes it burn, is it’s not China’s 9 Dash Line, it’s an 8 dash pink line across a fractured map showing Barbie’s route from her imaginary world to the real world.

  126. 126.

    trollhattan

    @Sure Lurkalot: “Last gas for 127 miles” signs do draw one’s attention.

    My brother has lived out of the US West for so long he no longer comprehends the vast distances. He has, for example, never used the cruise control feature. Being in the sticks probably means just two bars on the phone.

  128. 128.

    kalakal

    @laura: I saw The Wonderstuff at Glastonbury in ( I think 1989*), they played the acoustic stage IIRC and were really good. Seen Billy Bragg loads, he’s a really great guy and is happy to play anywhere, loves small clubs.

    Never seen the Sundays. England in the 80s  was great for seeing lots of ( then) small bands, there was tons of venues. Not so good for major acts as there weren’t that many big venues so they tended to lose money. Leeds, where I was, was really good for small venues such as the Faversham. It was Goth City, The Sisters of Mercy, Gang of Four, Three Johns etc

    Just down the road was Sheffield – Pulp, Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, ABC etc

    And to the west Manchester Joy Division/New Order, The Smiths etc

    You didn’t get to see really big name acts that much except at Festivals or you travelled to London or Birmingham

    * Elvis Costello was the big draw that year

  132. 132.

    Jay

    Never driven a road that scares me. Helps having driven all over BC, Alberta and Washington State.

    Have driven roads that have scared my passengers, mostly because they are canyon roads following rivers and I spend way too much time looking at the river to try to spot fishing spots, and not enough time with my eyes on the road.

  133. 133.

    Chris T.

    @realbtl:

    Hwy 50 in Nevada is beautiful but empty.  You come over a range of hills and there is 20 or so miles of dead straight 2 lane to the next hills.

    This is also good for testing out the maximum speed of your car. I had one electronically limited to 125 mph, and sure enough, holding the pedal down, it would get up to 125 then suddenly drop back down to 121 or so and creep up to 125 and drop back down, etc.

    That thing drove as smoothly at 125 as it did at 45. It was a nice car. Got hit from behind on the freeway though, which destroyed it. (I was fine, as were most people involved in the rather large pileup, this was one of those multi-car wrecks where someone has come to a full stop on the freeway and someone else—not me, in this case, I was a few cars back from the stopped one when I stopped—doesn’t….)

  137. 137.

    Fleeting Expletive

    I’ve been hosting a guest kitty now for a couple of months, and he and my Zelda don’t get along. Little boy kitty is a year old and was neutered about 4 months ago. Along with being in a strange house with a very, very crabby 7 year old female cat and a strange adult, me, he’s not adjusting all that well.  He will back up to a door or windowsill and spray! You can hear him and he will look at you while he does it.

    Catnip, smelly canned food, his own litterbox–nothing has dissuaded him. Called a vet, got Prozac capsules to sprinkle on their food, so far just hoping he will mellow out  and Zelda will be more tolerant of him. Meanwhile the house has picked up a bit of unwelcome fragrance.

    Any ideas? The boy kitty, Tezz, will still be staying with me for a while yet.

  141. 141.

    StringOnAStick

    @cain: That’s the worst thing about bananas: The history of exploitation of Central America due to that trade, the political actions taken to preserve it.  Sending US marines to enforce the desires of our robber barons; the origin of the term “banana republic” is shameful.

  145. 145.

    Tehanu

    @narya: ​
      We have the Sam Waterston Oppenheimer series on DVD and I’ve been meaning to re-watch it for a while. I remember it was terrific.

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: ​
     

    I didn’t think there’d ever be anyone in politics I hated more than Dick Cheney but now they’re legion.

    Too true, and what I really hate is how much they make me hate them.

    As for Ted Cruz, WTF? Doesn’t he have daughters? Personally I hated dolls when I was a little girl but that doesn’t mean I want to stop other little girls from liking them.

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