Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

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

When we show up, we win.

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

“But what about the lurkers?”

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "Stories from the Road" / Under The Weather

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  1. 1.

    lowtechcyclist

    Maybe your laptop has had a stroke.

    ETA: Hope you feel better in the morning.

  3. 3.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Tom Levenson: ​
     

    Somehow ‘feeling a bug’ just seems like the wrong term. Better to feel a bug than eat a bug, I guess. Personally, I’d just smash it if I couldn’t easily evict it.

  4. 4.

    Pittsburgh Mike

    I read something about how Microsoft changed their default fonts very recently.

  8. 8.

    dexwood

    Get well, Cole. Wife and I just coming off 4 weeks of The Cold from Hell, sweeping the nation like a Taylor Swift story. Fatigue, coughing, sneezing, general yuckiness. Tested negative for covid and flu twice. We went to urgent care (thank you insurance) where we were informed,separately, that they’ve seen a lot of this and 4 to 6 weeks is the run time. You know the routine – fluids, rest.

  9. 9.

    Wombat Probability Cloud

    I left a Google Maps window open for the last couple of hours, set to Livingston, MT, and now it reads:
    152 ሚለር ድራይቭ
    A weird coincidence? Mars Attacks?

  11. 11.

    Lyrebird

    @Pittsburgh Mike: Gmail keeps telling me that they will be switching to a “fresh modern look” or some such horse hooey.  I would like a default serif font, fresh, frozen, or dried.

  12. 12.

    Harrison Wesley

    Hope you tested for Covid and got that out of the way.  What a strange world – physical sickness through air-borne diseases and medieval medical responses, moral degeneracy with a lust for fascism, intellectual collapse as the United States erases knowledge that might make children ‘feel uncomfortable.’  Guess I should be happy that I won’t be around that much longer.

  14. 14.

    Scout211

    @Harrison Wesley: physical sickness through air-borne diseases and medieval medical responses, moral degeneracy with a lust for fascism

    Ah, the 1950s.  I remember it well.

  17. 17.

    Poe Larity

    Wait til he wakes up in the morning and his etch-a-sketch as all sorts of ramblings on it.

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    Feel better, JC, and all.

    Meanwhile, in Ms. Cracker’s neck of the woods… FloridaDems.org:

    Today, the Florida Democratic Party suspended three local party chairs in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Franklin counties, and issued the following statement:

    “The actions taken today are part of an overall strategy to get our local parties back on track,” said FDP Chair Nikki Fried following the suspension of Robert Dempster, Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair, Mindy Koch, Palm Beach Democratic Party Chair and Carol Barfield, Franklin Democratic Party Chair.

    “Over the past year, the Florida Democratic Party has made repeated attempts to mitigate complaints received prior to my election as Chair and support the leaders of Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Franklin Democratic Executive Committees (DECs). One of my first actions as Chair was the launch of an assessment team to evaluate issues, review plans and provide guidance to parties identified as noncompliant.

    “Due to ongoing and unresolved issues, and failure to comply with the rules that govern all local parties, the Florida Democratic Party has made the decision to suspend the Chairs of the Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Franklin DECs and rebuild in 2024 — because the cost of inaction is too high.

    “Candidates and elected officials rely on their local democratic parties to register voters, mobilize volunteers and engage donors to support their efforts — and they are impacted the most when they are not working effectively.

    “The success of Florida Democrats depends on the success of our local parties on the ground, and the majority of our DECs are working tirelessly to organize year-round across the state. There is too much at stake to ignore the challenges before us and we need all of our local parties engaged in our mission to take back Florida.

    “Florida Democrats are serious about creating the infrastructure and party apparatus we need to take back our state, restore our rights and freedoms and re-elect Democrats all the way up the ticket. The country is counting on us.”

    Q&A

    […]

    … gradually, and then suddenly??

    Florida has 30 EC votes.

    Rick Scott is on the ballot. Maybe Debbie Mucarsel-Powell can kick him out with a stronger party behind her.

    Forward!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    Wombat Probability Cloud

    @Scout211: Maybe this is one of the languages no one understands that you-know-who was blabbering about? But, really, this showed up and I have no idea what to make of it. There is a thunderstorm going on here, so maybe some errant electrons.

  22. 22.

    E.G. for Example

    As Mike said, Microsoft changed its apps’ default font from Calibri to a new one called Aptos, which has been rolling out since December, and Gmail is also being remodeled. There’s both a cold and a nasty stomach bug going around, plus of course Covid. Take care and take it easy.

  27. 27.

    Anotherlurker

    @dexwood: I went thru nasty respiratory  things, 3 times since November.

    November. COVID negative . Lasted a month. Heavy anti biotic.  slow recovery .

    COVID in January.  Slow recovery.

    February same symptoms.  Doc ordered chest X-Ray and nasal swab.  Good news is everything is clear in the X-Ray and all negative for the swab.  I’m improving but it is taking a long time.  Still not ready to go back to the gym.

    Aging sucks.

  29. 29.

    Ohio Mom

    @dexwood: I had an absolute awful virus last fall — had a 103 fever for over two days.

    Tested negative for Covid (twice at home, once at doctor’s), RSV and the flu (had been recently vaxxed for all three).

    From this experience I learned that not every virus has a name and the anonymous ones can be as scary as the ones we know by name. At least with Covid, I got to take Paxlovid.

  30. 30.

    Matt McIrvin

    @SiubhanDuinne: Strangely, Google Translate on my phone translated it correctly but identified the source language as Yiddish. I don’t think anyone ever wrote Yiddish like that. Of course phonetic place names could be in just about any language but come on.

  32. 32.

    Ohio Mom

    @Matt McIrvin: Yiddish uses the Hebrew alphabet and those letters are not any Hebrew letters I’ve ever seen.

    A few of them look vaguely like Hebrew letters — for one, I see what looks sort of like an upside and mirror-image Ayin. But that is pushing it.

  33. 33.

    dexwood

    @Ohio Mom: ​
     
    I hear you. Fully vaxxed cuz we’re old. Nasty crud. Cough, cough, cough. Escaped covid so far, no colds or flu for a long time. Miserable. We took turns nursing each other. In sickness and in health. Bouncing back, we are. Feeling damn near human again.

  34. 34.

    AlaskaReader

    As I read this:  WHAT THE INFORMATION OPERATION ABOUT JOE BIDEN’S AGE LOOKS LIKE

    I couldn’t help but reflect back on it as the Serenity Now post progressed here,

    (…Serenity Now post is down below from earlier today)

    I often hear dismay from some speaking of being bedeviled by disinformation campaigns and various subversion tactics which gain prominence through rote repetition.

    I hear very little about how those same people expressing dismay are unwittingly, (or not),  …serving to keep those disinformation and subversions at the forefront of discussions, the media and in posts on social networks.

    If a false meme is all you’ll talk about at the expense of discussing other realities, what purpose are you serving, or whose use are you being put to.

    Subversives play both sides to gin up discord, that has been historically plainly demonstrated.  Those same tactics are playing out every day.

    It can’t happen here Everybody’s safe and it can’t happen here
    No freaks for us
    It can’t happen here
    Everybody’s clean and it can’t happen here
    No, no, it won’t happen here
    (No, no, it won’t happen here)

    –Frank Zappa

  35. 35.

    SmallAxe

    Hope you feel better soon Cole. Have you been around turned up dirt lately? Hope not, causes Valley Fever out here with symptoms similar to the flu but it’s an airborne fungus. Look it up

  37. 37.

    TS

    @Pittsburgh Mike:

    I read something about how Microsoft changed their default fonts very recently.

    I just downloaded my bank transactions into excel & got a weird new font (Aptos narrow) – thought it was the bank playing trick

    Edit: And I see from later comments it is, of course, microsoft – I’m unimpressed. Guess the programmers want to do something to earn their pay.

  39. 39.

    Ohio Mom

    @TS: I think of programmers and designers making up ways to earn their pay and keep their jobs every time I swipe or tap my credit card at a cash register. No two are alike and there is no reason for all that variety, except to confuse customers and force the clerks to repeat the same instructions all day. One of my pet peeves.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    Got an incipiently luscious stew Instant Potting away in the kitchen. The slight aroma permeating the room is already stimulating the salivary glands.

  41. 41.

    CaseyL

    Hope you feel better soon! Spring is coming, and you want to get over the cold-or-whatever-it-is in time to enjoy all the pollen soon to drench the air.

    I had an excellent A1c test result, and celebrated with a couple of hot dogs – on low carb bread, not buns. I joked about celebrating by ordering a pizza, but didn’t do it.

  43. 43.

    Jackie

    E. Jean Carroll’s attorney Robbie Kaplan isn’t about to let TIFG postpone paying his bond lol:

    E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer Monday slapped back after former President Donald Trump demanded a stay on the $83.3 million a federal court order him to pay the woman he was found liable for defaming, court records show.

    Roberta Kaplan filed a letter to Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Kaplan challenging Trump’s motion on a state of execution in no uncertain terms.

    “He (incorrectly) claims that we mischaracterized Second Circuit law,” Roberta Kaplan writes.

    The case in question involved a Long Island strip search case in Nassau County in which the defendant was allowed to stay the ruling because they proved they could come up with the cash, the attorney writes.

    “The requesting party must offer some ‘alternative means,'” writes Kaplan, “the whole point of which is to make sure the appellee will be made whole in the event she succeeds on appeal.”

    Kaplan then chastises Trump — also found liable for more than $450 million in fraud — for providing no proof that he’ll have the damages he was ordered to pay Carroll.

    “In Nassau, those alternative means consisted of a dedicated and readily collectible governmental appropriation,” Kaplan writes. “Here, in stark contrast, Trump offers no alternative means other than his own unsubstantiated say so that he will have $83.3 million available when Carroll prevails on appeal.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-e-jean-carroll-2667428377/

    E. Jean Carroll has a bulldog of an attorney!

  46. 46.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: Robbie Kaplan represented Edith Winsor in Winsor v. U.S. The Supreme Court’s decision in Winsor was an important predecessor to the Obergefel decision vindicating the right to same-sex marriage.

    Kaplan also led the legal team that successfully sued organizers of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.

  50. 50.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ohio Mom:

    programmers and designers making up ways to earn their pay and keep their jobs

    Cynical observations from my time working in fast food lead me to think you’re blaming a few levels too low.  Corporate executives seem obsessed with exactly what you’re describing- constantly demanding that something that isn’t broken be fixed.

  51. 51.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    Under The Weather

    I’ve always found this a curious phrase. The preponderance of phenomena we call weather happens above us all, making us all constantly consistent with this description.

  52. 52.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Ohio Mom: I think of programmers and designers making up ways to earn their pay and keep their jobs every time I swipe or tap my credit card at a cash register. No two are alike and there is no reason for all that variety, except to confuse customers and force the clerks to repeat the same instructions all day.

    Consider. Each of these point of sale terminals has particular core functionality, but then has to work together with the companies’ own software, which is often proprietary.

    So Walgreens and the frozen fruit bowl restaurant down the street both have the same model of payment terminal. Their methods for processing clients on the employee side is completely different.  The very method of tabulating clients’ bills is different because of the different natures of the businesses. Further, both have unique prompts to offer things to clients and heavily self-branded user interface screens. Also noteworthy, Walgreens that have older POS terminals still evidently have the same software on either model.

    The point is, all the machines are different because they must necessarily be so.  Aside from the swathes of smaller establishments who don’t have the resources to program their own and likely rely on software vendors, think your local bodega, the sofware you’re seeing was likely either programmed in-house by the large corporation that is using it or, at a minimum, it’s custom from a vendor.

  53. 53.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Just to add; the cynical part of me, when I’m ringing someone at a register, when someone complains that all the machines are different I think they all have a common solution that will help any unfamiliar user.

    Read the damn screen.

  55. 55.

    Chris T.

    @cain: Sure, but “over the weather” means something entirely different!

    (Meanwhile, I’m opposite the weather.)

    ETA: consider “speed up” vs “speed down”…

  57. 57.

    eclare

    I just finished season three of Only Murders in the Building.  Very, very good, it was so well done.  Paul Rudd as a guest star was absolutely amazing, and Meryl Streep was too, of course.  I was glad to see the show picked itself back up after a convoluted mystery in season two that I am still not sure I follow entirely.

    Starting tomorrow:  season two of The Bear.

  70. 70.

    2liberal

    my mortgage provider is messing up my escrow calculation , i think it’s for insurance on my condo unit.  I was supposed to provide proof of insurance for the condo association, and also for my condo unit,  which has been sent out.  They took my personal condo insurance and folded into escrow , sent out a check for the payment, even tho it was already paid.  My insurer cashed their check, and when i called to check on it,  sent a check back to my mortgage company.  They’re (mortgage company) over charging me $500-ish per month. I can swing this amount but obviously I don’t want to.  I’ll be calling them tomorrow morning.  I’ve had ongoing issues with them since the middle of December 2023.

  72. 72.

    Tony Jay

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation:

    When in doubt, always assume it’s a naval metaphor and/or a line from Shakespeare. Probably one carried over from the Age of Sail, when sailors talked in code and hung around in bars with lonely poets.

  75. 75.

    NotMax

    @Tony Jay

    Called this wisdom to mind.

    “A good general rule is to state that the bouquet is better than the taste, and vice versa.”
    – Stephen Potter
    .

  76. 76.

    JaySinWA

    @2liberal: Sheesh, $500 a month is just postage and handling. It will probably cost them more than that in legal fees when you make your complaint to the state Attorney General. It’s people like you that drive up the cost of petty larceny. /s

  78. 78.

    Paul in KY

    @Tom Levenson: I’ve had the snots for the past 8 days. Weather here in the KY very variable.

    Narrator: The standard weather in KY is variable to very variable.

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