What’s everyone doing this afternoon? I’m waiting for the Nuggets game after spending the morning weeding (and writing posts here, LOL).
What’s pissing you off the most these days? Me it’s the media – between trying to recreate 1968 with their campus protest coverage and the general idiocy when covering Trump…I avoided most of it all week.
Weekends are for catching up on Welcome to Wrexham and anything else hanging out in my DVR.
Open Thread
Climate Solutions: Beavers Doing Beaver Things
TaMara
I’m also going to grill sirloin and potatoes while the weather is nice. Just a tip, when you’re grilling, throw an entire onion on the grill (unpeeled) and let it roast until the grill cools down completely. Slip the peel off and you’ve got a great addition to everything from burgers to soup.
henqiguai
You seem to have big-footed yourself. Entertaining.
TaMara
@henqiguai: Yes, because climate posts are more for edification and people need a place for general bitching. Even on a Saturday.
zhena gogolia
The media are insufferable.
StringOnAStick
We’re headed over to the leader’s house to practice for a gig playing a luau/fundraising dinner for a foster kids support group. Half Hawaiian songs, half our general stuff; all for the fun of it.
trollhattan
Runner Girl in SoCal for a meet and hopes to drop her time sufficiently to qualify for the NCAA regionals. We’re not there but able to watch on one of a bazillion streamers that carry college sports.
I already bitched about the rain and so will not bitch about today’s rain. Those weeds are gonna be easier to pull.
Baud
I gave up on the media a long time ago. If it weren’t for BJ, I’d be a full fledged normie. We’re hostages in our own democracy.
Josie
Going with son’s family to the other grandmother’s house for Kentucky Derby and hot browns (some kind of sandwich). I’m not particularly excited about either thing, but I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by declining, and it’s a chance to see my granddaughters.
I trade off with the other grandmother every other week for hauling them back and forth to and from school and sitting with them until parents get home. I was off this week, so I’ve been missing seeing them. They are six and eight and very interesting people.
lollipopguild
@Baud: we are hostages in our own democracy with a media that is AWOL in search of “middle of the road nonsense”. We also have a country where 27%to 45% of its citizens have created an alternate universe/country for themselves where they are always right and the rest of us are always wrong.
Big R
Currently in the process of making a pot of gumbo to serve to a friend we’ll be sorry to leave when we move this summer. The spouse is having a rough day due to a confluence of several factors so I’m trying to be proactive about doing things around the house. Once I get the pot simmering it’s time to go and grade today’s quota of finals.
Jackie
I read this article a couple of days ago, but between TIFG and demonstrations, didn’t post because. This young man reminds me of Max Frost -D FL, and I hope more Gen Z’s step up!
MattF
Got my federal tax refund a week ago, and it was (exactly!) $1500 less than I expected. The explanation arrived today— I miscopied the amount of my quarterly estimated tax payments, turning an ‘8’ into a ‘3’ on three out of four checks, making my total estimated payment 3x$500 = $1500 too small. Which is pretty annoying— if the IRS can check my tax calculation to that level of detail automatically, why do I need to spend time and money filling the numbers into TurboTax by hand?
Almost Retired
There’s a three day music festival within walking distance of house, so presumably I could come home and nap between sets.
But it’s expensive and loud and the food is strange and I haven’t heard of half the bands and OK BOOMER! I could faintly hear Sting from my patio last night so that was cool. I’m like a modern day Max Yasgur, I guess, listening from the distance.
Baud
@lollipopguild:
Projection.
zhena gogolia
@Josie: Ooh, hot browns look good! Never heard of it.
mrmoshpotato
Having leftover Italian beef for lunch while listening to the Cubs game. (No cable, and the game is blacked out on MLB.tv)
Svengoolie is showing The Land That Time Forgot (1974) tonight, and it sounds ridiculous! 👍
eclare
I am watching reality TV, nothing good can come from that. But I am watching ESPN’s doc on OJ Simpson, and it is really well done. It gets into prior police cases which made LA a kindling ready to start on fire.
These cases make you want to shoot your tv. Google Eulia Love.
H.E.Wolf
@Baud:
Any chance you might enjoy the political news blog https://electoral-vote.com/ ? Apparently they pioneered the term “whackadoodlery” to describe certain current events; seems like their style might be a good fit for BJ readers.
Shalimar
I sometimes have MSNBC on as background noise just to hear what is going on. Morning Joe this week is so anti-protest I turn it off immediately when Scarborough starts ranting. He says he is pro-student but all these protestors are outside agitators and even the ones who aren’t need to be expelled. It’s jarring how much he hates these people.
Cacti
The absolutely crushing hypocrisy of the “hell no, we won’t go” draft card burning generation now wagging their fingers at student protesters and trying to silence them.
That’s really chapping my arse these days.
mrmoshpotato
@TaMara: Never thought about not peeling the onion. Grilled onion halves are delicious.
indycat32
The Post Office is pissing me off. I mailed my property tax payment on April 14. the check had to travel 12 miles. It never arrived. So I paid on-line (guess I should have done that in the first place) and stopped payment on the check for which the bank charged me $35. Why $35? Because they can. So I guess the bank is also pisssing me off.
zhena gogolia
@H.E.Wolf: Ugh, I went there and they seemed to be predicting a Trump victory. I think I’ll stay away.
Josie
@zhena gogolia: My consuegra (other mother-in-law) is a really good cook, so I’m sure they will be delicious.
It’s a southern thing.
SectionH
It’s Derby Day. And I just now realized it. Well, our son used to throw Derby Parties here in San Diego, and I’d usually drive up to Del Mar to place real bets, for him and a couple of his friends, and yeah, my own bets (place and show mostly – well I hadn’t been watching them run at Keeneland on their way to Churchill Downs as I used to). Covid put a stop to the parties, and he hasn’t restarted, so far.
Tony Jay
Scene – at a workmate’s engagement party
Come On Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners starts.
Lady Jay – “I hope there’s a comma in the title of this song.”
This, dear reader, is why I love her so.
zhena gogolia
@Tony Jay: 😂
Parfigliano
@MattF: Whats a tax refund?
Baud
@H.E.Wolf:
Not crazy about getting hit with polling info at the top of the page.
Parfigliano
Watching Twins–Rsox. Go Twins!!!
eclare
@Tony Jay:
Fuck fuck fuck. I wish that song would die. That is my name. I should be able to sue for distress
Marianne in the Boston song does not get near the harrassment.
bbleh
What’s pissing you off the most these days?
Living in Very Trump Country (alas) it is the prevalence and frequency of what I have taken to calling the Raw Stupid. And yes, this doubtless is my fault, failing to be patient, blah blah bad librul blah, but sometimes it’s just … DAMN!
Butch
Among many low points was when on Friday we tuned to Chris Jansing (MSNBC) while eating lunch, just in time to hear her describe Hope Hicks as “mysterious.” That’s a real quote.
tommyspoon
Working on a short story and taking care of my girlfriend, who is a bit under the weather.
Probably watch “Rogue One” later today.
Oh, gotta make myself a cocktail and watch the Kentucky Derby. They were all out of mint at the grocery store yesterday, so I’ll have to make something other than a Julep. Probably a whiskey smash of some kind with some ginger syrup and apricot jam.
Have a good one!
kindness
Raining in N Cal so no yardwork. I did not expect the rain. I’m not complaining. We always need more wet out here.
trollhattan
@Tony Jay:
Heh. :-)
I see Rishi and the the Fashi Tories had themselves another very bad not good day. Still, they’re as hard to get rid of as Bibi, evidently. Can you spray for them, or something?
Butch
@StringOnAStick: You reminded me of the time in the Cook Islands when I actually got to hear a ukulele band play Achy Breaky Heart.
trollhattan
@kindness: We’re at 0.52 inch at the house, began at six and has not let up for a second. Also temp keeps dropping, now it’s 48. The hell did this come from, yesterday was 83?
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie: I hope Gen Z comes to realize (sooner than later) that they should be exhausted the the GOP, and not politics.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
You’re assuming the statement by the author was based on something.
narya
Had a 5k beer run, and decided to walk home afterwards–basically a 5k walk, on top of the run and the 3k to get to the brewery (took the el part of the way). Trying to decide which beans to have for dinner. Last night I started rewatching Schitts Creek–it’s as funny as I remember it being, which is nice.
UncleEbeneezer
Here’s what’s pissing me off most:
Not just sidelined; vilified. Any attempt to talk about this stuff and recognize both sides, nuance etc., results in aggression, insult and dismissal. It’s really frustrating and seems to be only getting worse.
SectionH
@Josie: Hot Browns are named for the Brown Hotel in Louisville where they were invented. Starting from the plate and working up, the ingredients are Toasted bread, ham, sliced tomatoes, and a poached egg, all covered with a lot of melted cheese. They’re not a sandwich in any real sense of that concept, but they are really tasty.
Disclaimer: I’m not a native Kentuckian, but I lived there a long time.
artem1s
oh my, timely.
I think I’ve come to the end of being a member of my community garden. there is a member of the steering committee who is a passive aggressive, bully. he flaunts his ability to ignore the rules. he causes nuisances in the most creative ways that we’re all supposed to put up with. for instance, he somehow got his hands on a 2-3 thousand gallon water tank and just dumped the thing in the middle of garden. he claimed he was going to set up a rain water collection system from the roof of the garden shed. Never happened – honestly no one should use water off the roof of that shed for plants they are going to eat. but there it sits, like a tits on a bull, 10-12 years later in everyone’s way. That’s only one of 3 or 4 dozen nuisance or disruptive things I’ve seen this asshole do over the last 15 years. He’s a raging misogynist too. He targets single women with thousands of micro-aggressions and he knows he can get away with it because the steering committee is literally afraid he’s going to get physical if they tell him no.
Over the last couple of years. he’s been expanding his plot acquisitions again. It’s part of his MO. he takes over multiple plots as part of some funded project and then abandons them when he loses interest and grabs up a bunch more for some other project he’s talked the city/community development corporation into funding. the participants usually nope out during the first season because his such an asshole and pretty much uses them as free labor to do all the hard work. he’s been slowly encroaching the plots around these project plots and eventually those gardeners give up and leave or move to another part of the garden just to get away from him. I’ve already moved once get away from the weedy messes he creates and abandons. Now he’s encroaching again. there are rules but the steering committee is afraid of him and have no interest because he doesn’t bully them or encroach on their plots. I emailed the gal who assigns plots and asked her to move me – again. But honestly as I think about it I may just tell them I’ve had enough. They constantly whinge about not being able to get new members or younger members involved. I’ve been trying for 15 years and honestly can say, they don’t want people to get involved. they want more free labor to do the dirty work while they stand around and give orders. I have no energy for the chaos they let his person create.
frosty
Sounds like me. Except, I was never a normie. When I was living in SoCal in my 20s I subscribed to the Washington Monthly FFS!!
wjca
Waiting to see if the A’s game will be rain delayed or rained out. It’s May. It’s California. And it’s raining??? WTF?!?!? (3/4 of an inch and counting)
Scout211
The troll patrol was active in Utah in response to the new bathroom bill that went into effect.
Since the flood of reports by trolls (thank you all you trolls!) they announced there will be a validation process.
And really? “Sex-based Designations for Privacy, Anti-bullying and Women’s Opportunities,” is the freaking name of the bathroom bill?
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan:
It might be! It could be! It possibly is – cold front!
RedDirtGirl
@artem1s: That is so dispiriting. What a waste of a wonderful community resource. People like that are the worst. And you know they just get off on the chaos they create. It feeds them.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: True, but isn’t everything based on something even if it’s the author’s own ass?
bbleh
@UncleEbeneezer: I have avoided this topic religiously (heh) for exactly that reason. There is no room for discussion at this point. I hesitate to think what the lives must be like of the people whose jobs are to try to deal with these issues at a high political or military level. Like, what combination of therapy, pharmaceuticals, and/or more and less legal recreational drugs is necessary just to survive, and how many years does it take off your life?
brantl
@Shalimar: Morning Joe, professional wanker, and Mika Brezhinski isn’t much better. The pasting over of the facts of these protestors is absolute bullshit.
Gloria DryGarden
@Jackie: he’s from Uruguay. Now I’m intrigued. Some of the younger members in Congress have been kicking some great ass. More energy for perseverance, quick wits, new visions. Let’s have younger voices in the seats.
NotMax
Day 8 since placed a cigar reorder. Sent USPS Priority (as usual); still not here. In fact, package doesn’t seem to have moved anywhere for multiple days since its first stop. Le sigh.
Place I order from (on the east coast) open only M-F so cannot contact them until Monday. Luckily ordered a bit early so have enough in the house to not yet resort to rationing.
mrmoshpotato
@narya:
That’s a long way to go for a beer! 😁
bbleh
@mrmoshpotato: or an AWFUL lot of beers.
sab
We buried my dad today. He wasn’t at all relgious so I opted for a graveside ceremony instead of a church service with entourage to cemetary. We have a family plot started in 1928, so it has big lovely trees and rhododendrons (not blooming yet) and azaleas that were blooming but need more sun.
Projected weather had been thunderstorms (urk!) but instead we got mild weather with cloud overcast. The minister was lovely. My sister rounded up first cousins we hadn’t seen in decades. It turned into something of a family reunion. Dad would have been thrilled.
We had a lunch buffet afterwards. Everyone hit it off. Lovely and such a relief. I had expected furious siblings and cousins drenched in the rain.
And Dad’s longtime caregiver came to the funeral but not the lunch, with two of her sons. I know the one but had never met the other although she has talked about him to me and me to him for twenty years.
I had been nervous, but it was as good a day as it could have been while burying my father. I expect the grief will kick in shortly. Planning can be a useful distraction.
Ohio this time of year can be stinking hot, or almost snowy,or just nasty thunderstorms. Instead we had perfect funeral weather: cloudy but dry with mild temperature.
mrmoshpotato
@wjca: You got your rain delay. (Or did you want a rain out?)
I’m following the Cubs game hoping they don’t choke again today.
Josie
@NotMax: Hopefully, it’s not stuck at that place north of us (North Houston) where everything seems to come to a standstill. My son ordered a live plant that sat there for over a week. He started sending emails to everyone he could and filling out multiple forms before they finally brought it to us. Luckily it was a very hardy plant and survived, no thanks to the postal service.
Sister Golden Bear
Much as I’d prefer we get back to the normal warm dry May weather here in NorCal, I have been enjoying the sound of rain on the skylights.
mrmoshpotato
@Scout211:
SbDPAbWO!
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
Makes me appreciate the PATRIOT Act more.
Scout211
@artem1s: Ugh. That situation sounds awful. It’s sad that you have to leave your community garden but it does sound like things won’t be changing unless this person leaves. Leaving sounds like it may be what you have to do. At least for now. I’m sorry you are going through this.
Sister Golden Bear
@Scout211: I’ll note that the anti-trans bathroom bills applies to all public buildings in the state — including the airport. (As does Florida’s law.) So even if I were on a layover I potentially could be arrested. That’s a big part of these bills, creating enough fear and uncertainly to cause trans people to never go out in public again.
mrmoshpotato
@Josie: What is going on in Houston? We were there for the national championship game in January, but it sounds like it’s all flooded now.
Dan B
@Scout211: “anti bullying”, wow. Let’s harass trans people and women who don’t look feminine enough. I’m confused.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Ha! Well, just the naming of it.
Hoppie
@zhena gogolia: They aren’t “predicting” a Trump victory, but reporting on the most recent (and they admit questionable) polling. Their commentary is quite good.
Baud
@Dan B:
“I’m not a pervert. I’m taking these pictures for law enforcement purposes”
NotMax
@narya
Guessing from your comment you’d like Corner Gas (the live action series, not the animated one). 6 of 7 seasons on Freevee via Prime.
Oh, and also Drop the Dead Donkey. 5 (of 7) seasons on Tubi, 6 seasons on the Roku channel. A sample.
prostratedragon
What’s pissing you off the most these days?
Grrrrr … never mind.
I’m off to read another chapter or two of Why Buildings Fall Down. I’m up to metal fatigue.
Baud
@prostratedragon:
Gravity?
Josie
@mrmoshpotato: The flooding is mostly in the northeast outlying parts of Houston, due to the San Jacinto River and Lake Houston. We have had tons of rain in the last two or three days, but are out of the flooded zones, thank goodness. it is a real mess for those folks. They have had to leave home or stay in place for days since the roads are flooded. From what I read the rain is still not over.
The storms are kind of scary, with heavy rain, high swirling winds and some hail, not what we are used to. Climate change, indeed.
Dan B
@sab: We’re having very light rain at last. We only had a half inch of rain in April at our house. Normal for April is just over 3 inches. Summer is usually very dry so it’s been unnerving to start out dry
Great to hear the funeral was wonderful.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear:
The Trans Agenda
RaflW
WaPo opinion page is pushing out (eta: I’ve been offline a lot, it’s days old, but still annoying) T.P. Carney’s bullshit about how four children is the ideal family size.
These same conservative fucks don’t want even a tiny tax increase on billionaires so that families can access affordable child care.
Four children in the 2020s is hard as hell for most people unless they’re pulling in big six figures (yes, of course low and middle income families sometimes have four kids, but it’s expensive and I’m sure intensely stressful).
Sure glad the Post wants us consuming his white Christianist propaganda.
wjca
@mrmoshpotato: losing in extra innings is always extra painful. Here’s hoping they don’t manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!
Baud
@RaflW:
Population decline is the newest bugaboo of the right. It combines their desire to force women to be pregnant with their desire for more workers.
RaflW
@Baud: Yeah, after skimming it, there’s an inherent unspoken whiteness about the whole thing that makes me doubt T.P. wants black and brown American families having four kids, too.
The pushback in the comments from adults who grew up in large families and found it wanting is pretty epic as well.
sab
@Sister Golden Bear: My trans niece was reluctant to come back to Ohio for the funeral. She grew up here but now she is rightly afraid. She knows we love her but we are just us.
Fortunately the whole family welcomed her, even the cousins who had never met her or heard of her. She is a very sweet, kind funny person, but that can only get you so far.
Just hope she can leave as smoothly as she arrived.
wjca
Strictly for the right kind of people, of course. Declines in other populations bother them not at all.
brantl
@sab: So sorry. I didn’t have a good enough dad, that anybody would miss him. It sounds as though you were luckier than me.
Baud
@wjca:
Well, they like to cite the more severe population declines in East Asian countries. But I agree that beneath it all they care about more white children.
frosty
It sounds like you had a really good day, despite the sad occasion. When my mom passed away we had a memorial service at her continuing care facility, inviting all our cousins from both sides of the family. When it became clear that every one of them would be there (some of whom we hadn’t seen since the Sixties) we quickly planned a family reunion for the night before the memorial and it turned out great. Like you said, my mom would have loved it.
TBone
@sab: I’m glad this day was peaceful for you, and no rain.
Baud
All that said, even though I am childless, I would support policies that give parents more help. But there’s only one party that promotes those policies, and it’s not that party worried about population decline.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I avoid all major media because I’m not in one of their targeted demographics.
I actually want to know what is going on and the last place I find that is in Big News. I prefer to read the reactions to the shit that Big News pumps out as that’s more informative.
Martin
@MattF: Because Intuit bought your senator to block the IRS from letting you file directly. Why do you hate the economy, comrade?
frosty
@prostratedragon: When you’re finished with that one you should read High Steel: The Daring Men Who Built the World’s Greatest Skyline. It’s about how buildings go up!
zhena gogolia
@Hoppie: I’m triggered by the color red these days!
Martin
My city is having its first open streets event so I went out this morning to show my support. It was packed. Very encouraging. Ready for a nap on an overcast day.
Ruckus
@sab:
Sorry about your dad.
My dad had Alzheimers so his last 5 or so years he really was just alive. Couldn’t make a sound, towards the end he really couldn’t even recognize 2 of his 3 kids, other than to know that he should know them. I was sitting with him in his hospital bed with my arm around him when he passed. My sisters didn’t believe me when I told them. Like for you, it was as good a day as it could have been.
Baud
@Martin:
What’s an open streets event?
MomSense
My middle son and his wife just stopped by with their dog. We took a walk, let the dogs swim in the lake, and hung out with the people who bought several of the cabins from my cousin. They built a fire and we sat and talked.
I think it might be time for a nap.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
There’s a reason the devil always wears red.
Brachiator
I have been dipping in and out of the news while enjoying a lazy day. The big stories I have been following are the butt kicking the Tories are getting in the UK local elections, and the gnashing of teeth by fans over the firing of the Lakers head coach.
I am encouraged by the student protests. That the media don’t get it right is not new.
The Trump coverage is lame. But I am enjoying the discomfort that the Orange Beast is feeling.
sab
@Ruckus: Dad had vascular dementia, so he was clearly very limited but pretty much himself until this year.
That is why I am so grateful to hospice. They could read the signs of decline and switch him from care to very palliative in the last few months. We fought it tooth and nail but we were wrong.
No one should have to die frightened, confused and anxious. He wasn’t a toddler who needed to be trained to behave better. He was a frightened old man who needed to be less anxious and frightened.
RedDirtGirl
@sab: I’m so glad it went better than anticipated, both with the weather and the behavior. I hope that things continue to normalize for you.
RevRick
My daughter and son-in-law gave me tickets to the Philadelphia Orchestra concert tonight: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #3 and Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra and reservations at a boutique hotel near the Kimmel Center. The Guild House Hotel is the outgrowth of the Guild Club for women founded in 1882 by Eliza Sproat Turner, writer, teacher, ardent abolitionist, early suffragist, and feminist. She wanted to create a space for working women in a world where they were often refused service at stores and restaurants unless they were accompanied by a man. Each of the eight rooms are named for Philadelphia women involved in arts, education, medicine, politics and science around the turn of the 20th century.
CaseyL
Today I am making chicken stock in order to make mushroom soup tomorrow. The mushroom soup recipe is from a cooking class I took last week, sort of. The recipe is for a sauce, but it could very easily be made into a soup. (The class instructor and I had a little discussion about how nearly every sauce can be a soup, and nearly every soup a sauce.). There’s all kinds of Good Stuff in it: chicken stock, fish stock, cognac and port, and a bazillion mushrooms.
What pisses me off? Where to start? I think my biggest rage is for the latest quadrennial crop of Purity Progressives and other soi-disant leftists declaring they could not possibly vote for Biden. This time they’re using Gaza as their excuse. The incessant – and bone-ignorant – slams on Biden I see on BlueSky (less so on Mastodon) cause my BP to spike alarmingly.
One of the things that makes it so very enraging is they don’t actually care about Gaza; it’s just a stick to beat Biden with. How do I know this? Because if they succeed in putting Trump back in the WH, the issue will vanish from Left Wing discourse. Just the same way every issue in the past that they’ve used as an excuse to not vote for Democrats vanishes from their discourse after they have succeeded in electing the Republican.
I really, really hate them – and I really, really hate how they take the outrage and idealism of young people, honestly felt and honestly expressed, and distort it into their own political nihilism.
sab
@MomSense: Lucky dogs. Our pitbull can’t swim very well because big body, short legs, short neck and tiny feet. She tends to sink like a stone and needs rescuing.
My shepherd and goldens loved to swim. I moved the shepherd from Nevada to Ohio and she went berserk when she got near water.
sab
@RedDirtGirl: Now that I am out of the eldercare vortex I intend to go back to attending my normal protestant church. Jesus’s moral teachings, not an intolerant hatefest.
Baud
@sab:
That should be on one of those church signs out front.
Ksmiami
@CaseyL: 100 percent. And they never take responsibility for putting our nation further behind. Or for the damage they do to the most vulnerable.
Baud
@RevRick:
Have a good time.
Leto
@TaMara: Avalune and I are filling out our sunroom/deck area. We just got back from buying some new outdoor furniture for the sunroom (should be here in about six weeks), and I bought a new grill. It’s a Blackstone flattop griddle, and I’m in love. Made pancakes, bacon, and turkey sausage on it this morning for breakfast, and in a little while here, making quesadillas on it. I’m going to cook as much as I possibly can it just to keep any year out of the kitchen. Also I love being able to prepare the entire meal on 1 surface and in 1 go. Yeeeeee!
sab
@Baud: Waiting to see if Rev Rick has a problem with my attitude.
Twelve years since I have been to church. I miss it a lot.
sab
@Leto: Talk to your fire department about distance from house. Even if your grill doesn’t burn your house, if it is near enough it could have your insurance will assume it did.
Unjust but that is the law.
My husband loved our grill but I couldn’t figure it out. So back to the Weber. I can understand cooking over coals, or over a stove or in an oven.
Gas grill was beyond me. Guy thing. I couldn’t even figure out how to fire it up, much less control the heat.
Husband did well until he realized that he would be cooking every meal all summer. Then grilling demntia set in. Couldn’t train me or do it himself.
Warblewarble
Spending a pleasant weekend sticking pins in an effigy of slime Eric Adams for his calumnies of Nahla Al Arian.
zhena gogolia
@sab: RevRick is UCC, so no.
japa21
@sab: RevRick has a tolerance for attitudes that far exceeds mine.
So, don’t piss me off.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@TaMara: What kind of onion do you favor for that? A couple of months ago I decided to finally try this “caramelizing” thing and was amazed how easy it turned out to be. Now I do that periodically, preferably with white onions. Neither of us ever much liked “sweet” onions.
Geminid
I’ve been looking up news on the Cairo ceasefire talks. A couple of hours ago Agence France-Press reported that today’s negotiating session had adjourned and would resume tomorrow morning.
On May 1, security analyst Michael A. Horowitz posted about the latest iteration of the ceasefire plan CIA Director Burns, his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts and the Qatari Prime Minister have been working on since February:
Phases Two and Three are shorter with less detail:
This tracks the original Qatari plan that leaves some elements to be negotiated as the ceasefire progresses. The Israeli team is led by the Mossad and Shin Bet leaders and an IDF General, and has a mandate to pursue this basic agreement, but final approval of the agreement plus any amendments will rest with the Israeli government.
Dan B
@RevRick: Sounds great. I love the Bartok. The hotel sounds fantastic as well. Do send a report!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Baud: We all know the story of the Baptist (I think) preacher who reported congregants complaining about that liberal Sermon on the Mount stuff, right?
Baud
@Geminid:
I won’t believe it until it happens, but that is the most detail I’ve seen. 🤞
I can’t even imagine trying to deal with all the players.
Hoppie
@zhena gogolia: I’m so old I remember when the networks had the ‘Thugs in blue and Donkeys in red (’cause equals Commies, right?), but got switched after the Iron Curtain fell. I’ve never been able to document the history of that, but have suspicions.
Baud
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
If I were a religious person, I can’t imagine how’d I’d react to bad people appropriating my god.
Spanky
@sab: Glad to hear the sendoff went well. Yes, grieving happens on its own schedule, and if my own experience is any guide, doesn’t really end but simmers down to an emptiness in the background.
I suspect that the late stage in life can become dominated with that emptiness if we’re not vigilant about adding relationships throughout our days. Something I’m not naturally good at, but am cultivating.
Ruckus
@sab:
I seem to be one of those on here on the somewhat older side of life, I’ll be 75 very soon. I’m the oldest of my cousins and one of them, 5 yrs younger than me just passed away.
MomSense
@sab:
Condolences to you, Sab.
Michael Bersin
Almost every time I give up on Missouri voters they exceed my low expectations.
Yesterday the coalition getting signatures for a ballot initiative to place women’s health care, women’s reproductive health, and abortion rights in the state constitution exceeded the minimum number of required signatures (172,000) and submitted at least 380,000 signatures which they gathered in only twelve weeks to the Secretary of State in Jefferson City.
After a rally with speakers at the Capitol the coalition held a press gaggle:
Abortion Rights Rally in Jefferson City – May 3, 2024 – Press Gaggle
Throughout the process the coalition kept a very tight rein on their operations. Security, including their central location for operations and the storage location for the petitions during the signature gathering period were on a need-to-know basis. When the boxes were delivered to the State Information Center (for certification) two trucks drove up, one empty. I’m assuming the second one was a decoy. The delivery day and time and the rally at the Capitol were not publicized on social media, with an admonition from the coalition not to do so, and with an apparently vetted on-line sign-up for the rally.
When I covered one of the last drive-up signing events there was armed private security present.
The rally on Friday morning was on the north side of the Capitol, with a crowd of supporters waiting on the steps leading up from street. During the school year school groups show up for tours of the Capitol building, including the House and the Senate chambers (the General Assembly is usually not in session on Fridays). Shortly before the rally an irate Karen marched up the steps and declared that she had to bring school children through for a tour and how was she supposed to do it with all these people here. She was absolutely livid – I’ve never seen such malice in the eyes of someone for such a trivial and easily solvable issue. A volunteer from the rally asked people to clear a path – which they quickly and graciously did. The Karen then led the kids, in school uniforms, up the steps as the kids looked around at the signs. There was absolutely no hostility and there was minimal interaction from the crowd. The Karen looked supremely pissed as she passed through.
I was perplexed by the Karen’s overt hostility until I saw the school uniforms.
This is the world we all now live in.
CaseyL
One thing I am reveling in is the utter shellacking the Tories are getting in the UK local elections. (I say “UK,” but this round might be just England, specifically.)
So far (per The Guardian), the Tories have lost 396 local seats – mayors, city council seats, and some police posts, I think. Labour have gained 231, Liberal Democrats 97 and the Greens 63. Even the pro-Brexit constituencies have booted the Tories.
Everyone’s calling for Sunak to hold a general election right-fucking-now!, but of course he won’t. The Tories are hell bent on doing as much sabotage as they can out the door.
schrodingers_cat
@Frosty I was never a normie either
Spanky
Just a brief post to note the anniversary of the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970. I haven’t seen anything posted below, and certainly hope it wasn’t in one of the good news posts.
Seems like there’s a lot of familiar echoes these days, including the public sentiment towards protesters. Just no “dirty hippies” connotations this time.
Ruckus
@wjca:
I live in SoCal and it looks like rain outside – but. It’s looked like rain for many days and yet, not a drop. I was born in this county and have lived her for the vast majority of my life and have seen it not rain a drop in years and other years seen it pour for 40 days straight.
schrodingers_cat
@sab: {{ }} You have been a good daughter. Don’t forget to take care of yourself.
sab
@Spanky: Still raw around here (Kent State is our local rural campus, Akron U is our local urban campus.) Everyone here is very aware of 1970 and no one wants anything close to a repeat. University and students.
In 1970 the national guard was exhausted by protecting truck convoys from snipers in a Teamster strike (I kid you not.) And then they got sent to Kent State.
The Republican governor was spoiling for a confrontation.
The kids were kids, mostly serious but very naive.
The atmosphere is very different now. The kids are serious and intent, but the adults on campus are adults and not political hacks.
Leto
@sab: the military follows all the same rules as fire departments, and we had annual training on it, so I’m Gucci with that. Granted I haven’t owned a grill in about 12 years, but you just don’t forget those lessons.
As far as gas v charcoal, I prefer gas for its sheer simplicity: open gas valve, turn burner knob to high, press ignition button… I just don’t have the time/patience to wait around for charcoal. I know many people love it, but it’s just not my thing.
I’m glad you were able to lay your father to rest today. Also glad that you had better weather than expected. Continuing to send lots of positive energy way your.
Geminid
@Baud: I was going through old Wall Street Journals and came across a front page article titled:
It was dated March 16.
NotMax
@Hoppie
As far as color TV goes, “red states” and “blue states” became locked in only in the 2000 election. Before that TV networks used their own individual choices of colors, some even alternating color designations every four years.
Before color television, newspapers and magazine sometimes printed colored maps. While not standardized, blue was most often used for Republicans (the party of Lincoln/color of Union troop uniforms) and yellow or red (red was a more expensive ink) for Democrats.
Can recall when Angus King won the governor’s seat in Maine, CBS was flummoxed, initially assigning it a Democratic color until a couple of commercial breaks later suddenly changing it to a quickly made backstage green for Independent.
Baud
@Geminid:
This is why I shun predictions.
sab
@Leto: Of course you know the safety rules. I should have remembered.
But a reminder to other jackals. Unfired grills on your porch still endanger your insurance protection.
Act like every grill is lit, even when it isn’t. Our sad little Weber sits way out in the backyard.
ETA The neighbor kids next door have their grill on their porch. It makes me shudder.
Jeffro
What’s up? I survived a family get together with RWNJ Dad and Bro, that’s what’s up. =)
Yay me, I guess.
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
More like a cold affront, am I right? Hey-ooh!
[Says “Mediterranean Climate” right here on the contract.]
NotMax
@Baud
Predictably.
:)
RevRick
@sab: Pactors are shit magnets, so bring it!
trollhattan
The paper publishes county food safety inspection reports and the following would be reason aplenty to never visit this joint.
As it turns out I’d have been safe anyway, based on the name: Bambi Vegan Tacos.
sab
Long day here. I think I want to go to sleep already. Husband also. We were so sure it would be a disaster and it wasn’t. Whew but still I am exhausted.
Uncle Cosmo
Maya Englin and NBC News are FULL OF SHIT.**
In 1974 Patrick T. Welsh was elected to the MD House of Delegates from the 8th Legislative District (southeastern Baltimore County) and took his seat the following January at the age of 24.
I ought to know. I was his campaign manager and eventually his part-time legislative aide.
NB four years later Welsh was elected to the MD State Senate at the age of 28, which may have made him the youngest State Senator in MD history as well. (I haven’t been able to check that out.) I didn’t repeat as campaign manager or aide but between the two elections, I must have walked the 8th LD several times over going door to door for him.
(RIP Pat, dead from pancreatic cancer at 56.)
** And why am I not surprised? Broadcast urinalism is just as incompetent these days as its print and electronic cousins.
stinger
@sab: I’m glad for you and your family that this went so well, even the weather. Be easy on yourself as you work through the many different emotions over the next weeks and months.
sab
@RevRick: Okay that the Rev the funeral home brought in (we had an Episcopal Church but when Mom died I stopped attending or contributing beause I was watching dad on weekends) was about Jesus and love and not about a hatefest?
I did cringe when he brought up the Murrah Federal Bldg bombing, but he turned it into parents loving children, and unbeknownst to him, several people there had lost children or parents or siblings to medical problems, mostly cancer or birth defects.
I hought it was a lovely useful service for someone officiating who knew little about the deceased.
Spanky
@Uncle Cosmo:
Steny Hoyer, born in 1939:
(Per Wikipedia)
Memory Pallas
@eclare:
I feel your pain. My name is Karen. I was always sorry my parents didn’t go for the more elaborate Katrina, but then hurricane Katrina happened and I consoled myself, thinking that I had dodged a bullet. Little did I know what was in store for me…
ETA even above there are a couple of “the Karen” s. SIgh.
Brachiator
@sab:
I’m glad to hear that things were peaceful.
Take care.
RevRick
@Baud: Dining at Bud and Marilyn’s on 13th and Locust, people watching. The chef named the restaurant in honor of grandparents who operated a restaurant for 50 years in Wisconsin. I’m having the hanger steak and my wife, the pork chop.
sab
@Memory Pallas: Yikes. We have an actual Karen at work that I like. Not always, because she can be scrappy, but her scraps are about quality control and not about white women’s privilege.
Geminid
@Jeffro: What’s up? Well, the University of Virginia made the CBS radio news. Police broke up an attempted protest encampment on the Rotunda grounds.
zhena gogolia
@Memory Pallas: This is what bothers me about that trope.
Jeffro
@Geminid: oh I know…I was getting the text and email alerts all day long(!)
stinger
@Spanky:
That’s very insightful.
Geminid
@Jeffro: I hope nobody was hurt too badly.
Jeffro
@Geminid: doesn’t appear to be the case…there’s some noise on social media, but I’m still sorting through all of that.
Also still trying to process RWNJ Dad and Bro’s complete conviction that if trump wins, “all hell will break loose”
Because, you know, all the violence is on the left (eye roll)
smith
@zhena gogolia: It always seemed to me that it’s more than a little misogynistic. I know they’ve invented Chad as the male equivalent, but you see citations of Karen much more often than Chad, and I don’t believe women are more inclined to show that kind of bad behavior than men.
There also has been a significant loosening of the definition of “Karen” behavior. As I understand it, it originally referred to a white woman who weaponized her racial privilege, certainly a behavior worth calling out. Now, however, it seems to be applied to any woman who complains about anything. This seems like a real step backwards, sending the message that women mustn’t ever complain, even if they have a valid reason to do so.
JPL
@sab: A few bad Karens can spoil the pot/barrel or whatever the saying is.
Every name came be besmirched though. Today it’s Karen, tomorrow it’s SAB
zhena gogolia
@smith: Yeah.
Geminid
@Jeffro: Even if things get too crazy in Charlottesville, Greene County is still safe. At least for now.
cope
I THINK I programmed the timer for our irrigation water. I’ll know for sure in the morning. Also took our dog over to romp with my sister’s pup.
i am also fixing to cheer on the Nuggets. Since moving back to CO, i’ve taken on the Nuggets and Avalanche as “my” teams. The Rockies, not so much. With Liverpool’s season in the shitter, the Nugs and Avs are keeping my hopes up. Oops, tip off time.
sab
@JPL: What I love about SAB is if you google it it isn’t me, it’s some Swedish engineering firm
ETA None of my business but did you see Baud apologized for running roughshod over you in his comments? I didn’t see the comments so I don’t know if he ran roughshod over you, but I did see his apology. He seemed to feel he had crossed a line and he was sorry. He was worried that you hadn’t been around since for several days.
VFX Lurker
Hard to top the suggestions upthread, but I suppose I’m bummed at the state of the visual effects industry. Its art continues to astonish, but it comes at the cost of leaving its people dead and/or in financial hardship. It’s the end result of decades of artists working without a union safety net.
It’s getting better. VFX artists unionized at Disney, Marvel, DNEG, and Lightstorm in the past year. Biden’s labor-friendly NLRB no doubt helped. I just wish it hadn’t gotten this bad.
Hoppie
For anyone who cares, Mystic Dan by a “nostril flare”. Wowsers.
Jeffro
@Geminid: yeah, I think you’re good up there. =)
Mrs. Fro was surprised at all the bystanders and what not, filming away on their iPhones. I was like, “You’ve seen the ‘rubbernecker’ slowdowns from car crashes, right? Same people.”
Geminid
@Hoppie: Thanks. Sounds like it was a good race.
Memory Pallas
Having gotten the Karen thing off my chest, I will note what’s pissing me off now. The librul media (incl.MSNBC!) now has both sides-y flavored hush money trial coverage where commentators “speak for the defense.” The anchor will say stuff like “Hope Hicks really supported the prosecution’s case”, and the speaker-for-the-defense will say, “Nahh, they’ll never avoid a hung jury. Alvin Bragg should never have done this.” And the sorta-shocked anchor will say, “but what about the law?” And the speaker-for-the-defense will say (I’m paraphasing here) “alas for the future of Democracy.” Even in the New Yorker there is a article that makes TFG out to be a passive victim of celebrity extortion leaving out that Trump plotted with David Pecker to smear his rivals (though admittedly he didn’t extort them… that time.)
Geminid
@Jeffro: We’ll be Ok. We have dump trucks and RVs staged at the Sheetz and Food Lion, ready to block Rt.29 if Soros sends his minions our way. But we’re all praying for the poor people in Charlottesville.
Maybe you can do an On the Road post if you survive.
JPL
@sab: Ha Since I have no idea what you are talking about, I wasn’t offended
Baud can’t run roughshod over me. just sayin. haha
sab
My husband had back surgery a couple of years ago and then got MRSA. The surgical practice didn’t care at all. When we finally got him to the emergency room ten days later they were shocked and didn’t even want to touch the bandages (that I had been changing every day.)
Two years later his white cell count is way up and he is running a slight fever and his back hurts a lot. His primary care doc seems umconcerned. My neurologist nephew is concerned about any infection. Trust is like the soul. Once it goes it doesn’t come back.
sab
@JPL: “Every name brand can be besmirched, though. Yesterday it was Karen. Tomorrow it can be SAB.” You said it.
Glad Baud didn’t offend you. Nor did you me, since you said nothing bad.
Brachiator
@Hoppie:
I forgot that it was Derby day.
JPL
@sab: It’s normally a sign of infection, and as odd as it seems, I would get strep and my back ached. I did tend to run a high fever though. In the olden days, they would use that test to diagnose,
artem1s
@Jeffro:
They are absolutely correct – if what they mean by ‘hell’ is that a few million will knit pink hats at them. OH THE HUGE MANATEE
frosty
@Hoppie: I remember red and blue switching every election then it locked in on D Blue, R Red. Don’t know when and I don’t trust my memory.
rikyrah
@Josie:
Sounds sweet. I bet they look forward to seeing you
NotMax
@frosty
See #130 above.
;)
rikyrah
@Scout211:
They deserve every rotten call. Cause the entire thing is BULLSHYT😠😠
rikyrah
@sab:
So sorry for your loss🙏🏽😢
NotMax
@rikyrah
Cue The Flowerettes.
;)
rikyrah
@artem1s:
I am sorry to read this, but you gotta go. Nothing that you volunteer to do should be bringing you stress and anxiety.😒
All the nopes in Nopeville😠
sab
@rikyrah: Thank you.
rikyrah
@RaflW:
4 kids?
With what funds?
frosty
@NotMax: Yep, thanks for doing the research! Or trusting your memory.
sab
@JPL: Don’t even know what he said. Just that he was contrite.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Amen.
PAID parental leave.
I would like a year for new parents.
Childcare is ridiculous😠
Needs to be a tax break where parents get back 75% of what they spend on childcare when they do their taxes
sab
@MattF: I could get my tax refund if only I would file timely. Sigh.
rikyrah
@CaseyL:
Come sit by me.
JPL
@frosty: For some reason, It think it was NBC that chose the colors. I can just see Tim Russert in front of that map, but memories fail sometimes.
JPL
@sab: The last few months must have been difficult for you, so make sure you take care of yourself.
sab
@rikyrah: Me too. He was a wonderful father. Once we got big he was always kind and respectful and loving.
He loved my oldest sister more, but that was because they were both interested in stuff the rest of us didn’t even care about, and uninterested in stuff we did care about.
” Why is he following her down that rabbit hole?”
He lived art history. Music made no sense to him whatever.
sab
@JPL: Hospice is a miracle organization we should use.
Brachiator
@MattF:
The IRS Direct File pilot program supposedly has been very successful. If Biden and the Democrats win in November, it will likely be expanded.
But even in the best of circumstances, there might be complex returns that cannot be handled.
Jackie
@Memory Pallas: Bothsiderism doesn’t bother me too much re TIFG’s trial. I prefer the reminder that it only takes one juror…
Plus, I don’t want MSNBC turning into a Dems equivalent of faux or newsmax where their viewers literally wear red colored glasses and thus don’t believe the truth because it ain’t their truth.
prostratedragon
TCM tonight:
A Face in the Crowd
Ace in the Hole
Dark Passage
sab
@JPL: By the way, I am sab not SAB.
evodevo
@sab: There;s also the problem (as my son belatedly found out) that if you don’t keep the fat-catching pan underneath cleaned out regularly, the thing catches fire and melts vinyl siding (ask me how I know lol)
NotMax
@JPL
Check out the changing technology at NBC over 60 years.
;)
artem1s
@RedDirtGirl:
@Scout211: Honestly, it’s a relief to say it out loud. I was feeling pretty petty about the ‘camel’s straw’ that pushed me over the edge today. But when I started to mentally catalog everything preparing to write this comment, I realized how bad it’s really gotten. The water tank is a great example because it’s literally become invisible to the steering committee now as are the 6 other plots he’s supposed to be responsible for that are overgrown with weeds.I just got a mental respite when I asked to be relocated a few years ago (and when I quit the steering committee – that’s a whole other story). If they find me an acceptable plot, far enough away that I don’t have deal with him I may stay. But if they just ignore it and don’t respond to my email, fuck em.
Denali5
@sab,
My grandmother’s house burned down because of a grill fire. It was a beautiful home built in the 1850’s and listed on the Historical Homes. The new owners were careless, and we, who loved that home, were furious.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Trivia:
Far ahead of its time Ace in the Hole was originally released in 1951 as The Big Carnival at the studio’s behest.
TS
@artem1s:
TY for the general bitching – there’s a group I’m involved with and we have that there person, who interferes whenever everything is running smoothly. They thrive on being aggressive and divisive and have to be in control – or ruin things for everyone else.
`I was beginning to think it must be me, but reading your words, I realise what is happening.
Martin
@Baud: Sorry, napped.
The city closes off a street to car traffic and opens it up to cyclists and pedestrians for a day. This was a distributor in the city with a lot of retail, about 4 miles long, and it’s designed to promote other forms of transit, the city’s climate plan, and there’s activities, and whatnot. A little bit of a street party, a little bit of showing the public what could be done if we reduced vehicular infrastructure.
It’s hard for people to imagine moving through an important retail environment like this until they try it, and realize that you can have conversations with strangers around you while you travel, and it’s pretty relaxing.
Martin
@rikyrah: Have 5 kids and sell one of them.
People are so unimaginative when it comes to finances.
Timill
@Brachiator: Frex, it’s never going to handle my British income.
Hoppie
@Timill: Hi from an occasional visitor to Coveney, hope you guys are well. Warn us if you’re coming to SD.
Timill
@Hoppie: We’re doing OK, but busy. If we make it out your way again, you will not escape…
catclub
@Parfigliano: The return of your zero interest loan to the government.
TerryC
@Jeffro: This is my chance! “Slowdown? Bah, humbug. When I see an accident and traffic congestion I speed right up.” Hmm.