I’m not much of a napper but have been advised to give it a try. I’m bad at it so far. If I sleep during the day, I end up spending most of the the overnight hours either on the sofa watching TV between two snoring dogs or on the porch, listening to the swamp symphony. Here’s what that sounds like.
This weekend, I watched the latest episode of “Hacks,” (HBO Max) featuring the wonderful Jean Smart as aging Boomer comedian Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as Ava Daniels, Deborah’s writer-collaborator and Gen Z foil.
This week’s episode centered on “cancel culture,” and damned if “Hacks” didn’t pull off a show on that thorny topic that managed to examine the issue thoughtfully while mostly avoiding self-righteousness or dismissiveness.
“Hacks” made the too-often overlooked point that celebrities with giant megaphones who get “canceled” might lose a gig in a worst-case scenario, but they’re never really silenced and go right on being rich, famous and influential.
“Hacks” portrayed at least some of the folks who took offense in the context of the show as sincere people who want a culture that does better by all its constituent parts rather than as a ravening mob gleefully out to ruin someone.
The lesson was that a hack is someone who refuses to learn and grow. Impressively nuanced, and Bill Maher, Jerry Seinfeld and the other cancel culture whiners should take note.
A new season of “The Great American Baking Show” has dropped on the free Roku channel. Haven’t watched it yet, but the British version got me through some tough times, particularly after the 2016 election.
I’ve also learned a few things about baking from watching that show. Baking has never been a strength for me. I’m a home cook who likes to improvise; I tend to struggle with discipline and precise instructions. (Probably a life metaphor in there somewhere).
Bill is watching “Outer Range” on Prime, which features Barbra Streisand’s stepson Josh Brolin as a rancher with a supernatural pasture. The concept is intriguing (big hole in a pasture that facilitates time travel when people, animals, etc., jump or fall in), but there doesn’t seem to a cohesive plot, just a series of loosely connected vignettes.
So when I try to watch that, I usually end up wandering off to listen to the frogs sing and the owls hoot and the insects trill. It makes more sense.
Open thread!
PS: Here’s a gift link to a WaPo story about flamingos’ triumphant return to Florida. Last year after Hurricane Idalia, we talked a bit here about flamingo sightings in the state. I couldn’t be happier about the prospect that flamingos are repopulating the area — God knows we need their vivid goofiness now more than ever!
Susan Tate – Emerging Artist, A Short Essay
SpaceUnit
Cancel culture is when some asshole finds out they’re not cute, clever, or funny anymore.
Kay
I don’t think Jerry Seinfeld watches tv. There are a lot of funny shows. Hacks is funny, for just one example. What did he think was going to happen? People would just watch re reruns of his stupid show forever?
O. Felix Culpa
Hmm, I like the swamp symphony, but it seems hard to fall asleep to. Does one eventually just tune it out?
Raoul Paste
And I have a friend who complains about the early-morning birds waking him up in the morning. The nighttime swamp cacophony takes it to a new level, but I suppose it’s just white noise after a while.
ETA. Beaten to the punch by OFC
eclare
I read a comment somewhere recently that asked, have you noticed that all the people complaining about being canceled ended up with multi-million dollar gigs on Netflix?
I’m happy to hear that Hacks is still great, I love that show. I’m waiting til the season ends so I can binge it.
I love your swamp symphony. Nature’s living and breathing white noise machine.
Kay
I talked to my daughter in law in Copenhagen this morning. She went to see Taylor Swift in concert in Stockholm and really had fun. Stockholm went all out, had a whole “welcome to Swiftholm” campaign all cued up for the fans, drink and hotel specials, meal coupons, the whole works. She said there were a lot of Americans there.
O. Felix Culpa
@Kay:
I missed the original Seinfeld phenomenon, because we were living overseas at the time. I tried watching once or twice when we were back in the States, but the humor passed me by. Plus none of the characters seemed likable or interesting. Not the first time I was not in sync with popular culture, though.
eclare
@O. Felix Culpa:
I really need to get a noise machine, I would set it to swamp symphony every night. I can’t sleep if it’s quiet.
WaterGirl
Loved the link to your flamingos in 2023. Water + flamingos, for me that combination is hard to beat!
Kay
@O. Felix Culpa:
I didn’t think it was funny either. I did think Veep was funny though – Julia Louis-Dreyfus is great. “Politics is about people“
eclare
@Kay:
Liverpool is doing the same for fans, public art, classes, etc. The UK expects Taylor to have a 1B impact on the economy between all of her shows. She is doing eight nights at Wembley.
I read that a lot of Americans are going to Europe because without Ticketmaster the prices are lower. People can get a vacation in Europe and see a show for what it would cost just to see a show here.
Betty Cracker
@O. Felix Culpa: Like background noise in a city. It barely registers unless you actively pay attention. It goes on all day too, but at a different pitch and volume.
O. Felix Culpa
@Kay:
I’ll have to give Veep…and Hacks…a try. For whatever reason, I kind of dropped TV watching once my kids left home. Except for a few cooking shows and, when I’m feeling masochistic, White Sox baseball.
frosty
We had two flamingos end up in a pond in Chambersburg PA last year, 65 miles to the west of me. I’m still kicking myself for not hopping in the car to see them. Every other birder around here did.
They would have been a first for me, even after we went to Flamingo Bay in the Everglades. No flamingos there!!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: I watched the Eras Tour movie and Swift puts on a heck of a show
SpaceUnit
@eclare:
I understand that the DOJ is taking on Ticketbastard for being a monopoly.
About damn time.
O. Felix Culpa
@Betty Cracker:
Makes sense. Our house backs onto a busy street, and I conk out despite (because of???) the traffic noise. I remember needing earplugs, though, when we were staying in a cabin in Virginia during peeper season. What a racket those guys made!
Kay
@eclare:
She said Swift came out after a costume change in a dress that was “like the Swedish flag” and the crowd went bananas.
Jay
@eclare:
A bunch of Canadians are making the trip as well. Yes we have Ticketmaster.
Kinda says a lot about monopolies when a return ticket to Europe, an affordable hotel, food and drinks, a Taylor Swift Concert ticket, merch, is cheaper than a Ticketmaster ticket relatively close by.
Betty Cracker
A MAGA dope snowbird from WA bought the property next door to us last year from the nice NY snowbirds who lived there before. I keep waiting for them to go home for the season so I can quit taking precautions to avoid them, but the husband just told Bill they’re going to stick around for hurricane season! Why??? They think it’s hot now, so I give them until July 15.
S Cerevisiae
I saw a flamingo fly over when I was in St. Petersburg last winter! I was sitting in the shade in the backyard doing an e-bird species count when suddenly there is this huge, pink, long-necked, long-legged bird flying by at fairly low altitude. it was unmistakable and I shouted “holy shit, it’s a fucking flamingo!”
I would see many different birds flying by but was not expecting that.
frosty
@Kay: @O. Felix Culpa: I thought Veep was great. Julia Louis-Dreyfus nailed the part of a politician with no values. The rest of the cast was really good too. And such inspired swearing!
O. Felix Culpa
@Betty Cracker:
My condolences. Hopefully the heat will drive the snowflakes away, sooner rather than later.
O. Felix Culpa
@frosty:
Ok, you got me hooked. :-)
frosty
@O. Felix Culpa:
My work here is done! Off to the next thing on my list.
opiejeanne
@Raoul Paste: When we lived in Riverside, CA various people would gripe about the mocking birds singing so late and into the wee hours, and it bugged me at first. But one night I realized it was imitating a robin, later it gave an excellent rendition of a neighbor’s garage door’s screech when it opened, and finally made an attempt at the acorn woodpeckers’ sound, and I laughed. I found it was easy to fall asleep to if I wasn’t busy hating the concert.
JaySinWA
We’re not sending you our best? Sorry.
They certainly are far from home, but depending on were they are from the heat may not drive them out, but the humidity might. Where are the gators when you need them?
eclare
@Betty Cracker:
Snowbirds from WA state? Does it snow much or get cold there, outside of places with altitude?
Or maybe he bought into the whole DeSantis=freedumb calculation?
cmorenc
I find your swamp sounds relaxing and meditative. Of course, originally being from southeastern NC along the swampy Lumber River, I’ve heard that symphony before.
Betty Cracker
I keep waiting for a flamingo to land in the swamp. It could happen — I’ve seen them farther north than we are, but we’re a ways from the coast. But I figure if the swamp is attractive to the spoonbills, which are also mostly coastal, flamingos might visit too.
opiejeanne
@Kay: There was a claim that you could fly to Europe, stay in a hotel, and get tickets for about what the tickets to her show cost here. It was a slap at the ticket sellers in the US, Ticketmaster?, hogging tickets and jacking up the prices.
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
@SpaceUnit: Or when everyone wakes up and realizes that they were never funny/witty/philosophical to begin with.
Exhibit A: Bill Maher
Exhibit B: George Carlin
opiejeanne
@eclare: I should have read further before posting my comment because I saw the same thing.
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
I don’t need your swamp symphony, because I have a cricket choir living in my ears. They never stop playing! Sometimes they get edgy and play loud ringing noises. (I think I have tinnitus- going to ENT soon to find out.)
Ben Cisco
SiriusXM is in the middle of a tribute to David Sanborn – concert in progress:
https://www.siriusxm.com/player/show/salute-to-sanborn/723d5b0e-aed3-7194-3c43-64981585dfdc
Schedule of events listed here: https://www.facebook.com/watercolorsjazz/posts/pfbid0vL5s3QeGkC67Au8Bmrmi5W2o9VGJ288o42XiioSG4jeJ1covoS5Ra5WD5EbGXwzTl
Gwangung
Some humor is timeless. Some humor is tied to its time and fashion. Some folks have the humility to recognize which of their material falls where.
(my jokes are definitely the latter. My humor sometimes is the former).
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: I think its lovely. I grew up with the cornfield symphony of millions of grasshoppers and katydids and tree frogs.*
What creature is it that makes that sort of twangy metallic banjo sound ?
*Eta: and whip-poor-wills and nighthawks and barn owls…
SpaceUnit
@rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun):
Gonna have to disagree on George Carlin.
But yeah, Bill Maher just wears my ass out.
Brachiator
@O. Felix Culpa:
I am a champion at taking naps. I’ve also always been a night person, so the naps maybe are a way of compensating.
Never lived near a swamp, but I love outdoor sounds, especially the sound of rain. It’s comforting and actually helps me get to sleep. I don’t like super quiet rooms, but can adjust and sleep through the absence of noise.
Betty Cracker
@eclare: The husband told Bill he loves Trump and DeSantis and wanted to experience the “freedom.” So dumb. I suspect the lack of state income tax has something to do with it too — they probably claim it as their primary residence. They say they have a place in the Puget Sound area.
Kay
@opiejeanne:
I don’t know what they paid for tickets. It’s a 5 hour train ride from Copenhagen to Stockholm so they did a whole weekend.
UncleEbeneezer
My favorite episode of Atlanta is “New Jazz.” In it Alfred (rapper, Paper Boi) takes a heavy dose of marijuana and has an incredibly trippy experience wandering around Amsterdam. At one point he finds himself at “The Cancel Club” sitting next to Liam Neeson. Everyone in the club has supposedly been “cancelled” for something they did. Neeson talks about the time he expressed wanting to kill a black man, any black man, after a friend of his was raped (an incident that caused a lot of bad PR for Neeson when it surfaced a few years ago). Alfred asks him what he learned from the whole experience. Neeson laughs and reminds Alfred that he’s white, and as such, he doesn’t have to learn a damn thing if he doesn’t want to.
There have been several other shows that also mock the whole Cancel Culture hysteria on the Right, as well as the SJW/Progressives who put so much time and energy into trying to get people cancelled, for even the tiniest mistakes.
Spanky
I thought of you, BC, when I saw the WaPo article. Glad you saw it as well. The other article worth mentioning is J. Rubin’s “What More Need Alito Do Before Durbin Gets Off The Stick?”
Title is self- explanatory, and further evidence that she’s a jackal, either in spirit or in fact.
Brachiator
@rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun):
I will fight you concerning George Carlin.
I will agree that later in his career, anger and cynicism sometimes threatened to overwhelm his comedy. But I always enjoy how he plays with the absurdities of language, a tradition going back to Lenny Bruce and other great comedians.
TaMara
When my dad was stationed on Cape Cod, about a mile from our house, deep in the national seashore forest, was a pond filled with peepers. I do miss hearing those.
When my now ex and I stayed in the treehouse tents on St. John, VI, we were kept awake all night by scary things chomping on leaves under the tents. It was dark when we arrived, so we didn’t see them until morning – they were no less terrifying in daylight when we finally realized they were giant-assed hermit crabs. A LOT of them. Until then, I thought they only came in the mini-variety.
They were the thing of B-movie nightmares.
opiejeanne
@eclare: We get snow fairly often, usually not a lot and this year it was sparse and didn’t stick around, but we’ve been snowed in 3 or 4 times in the past 14 years, meaning there’s at least a foot of snow on the driveway.
I curse the years without enough snow because the stuff acts as an insulating blanket for more tender plants. This year we lot the Edgeworthia I planted in 2015; it bloomed when there was a little snow on the ground, then the weather warmed up in so much for a week that we had the AC on for two days, then the temp plunged in to the lowish 20s.
Only one of the five apple trees has fruit on it, but that one’s a real trooper. William’s Pride, ripens earlier than other varieties, the skin is nearly purple, and the ripe fruit smells like perfume.
I’m trying a trick I read about on the Edgeworthia, pruning back to a node on the branches,, and if there’s any life left in the plant it may survive and sprout some leaves.
MazeDancer
@Betty Cracker: May your flamingo dreams come true.
Perhaps you know someone who lives near their reinstallation and could provide video coverage?
Betty Cracker
@Spanky: Rubin is the most righteous of the Never Trumpers, IMO. I think she’s a sincere convert who won’t backslide even if Republicans pretend to be sane again someday.
SectionH
@eclare: You don’t need a machine to get a white noise generator. Check out an app called (doh!) “White Noise” or maybe “White Noise Lite.” There are 50+ noises on the Lite version – some are unlikely sounds to go to sleep by IMO, but it’s a wide range. And if you click on the little crescent moon icon in bottom right corner*, the screen shows the time on a black background. That’s tweakable in various ways.
*At least on my iPhone. Not there on my laptop.
Spanky
@opiejeanne: It’s always entertaining to fire up Merlin’s song ID when a mockingbird is in full throat.
When we lived in the inner suburbs of DC we had a mocker who did a perfect phone ring.
realbtl
No swamp but often during August I’ll have 20-50 Canadian Geese spend the night on the lake about 50 yards down the hill. The sound track goes- silence- one (probably Republican) goose starts pissing and moaning about something- over about a minute or so the whole pack of them are complaining- over the next couple of minutes it dies down to- silence.
R-Jud
@rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun): I wound up with tinnitus after getting wild-type COVID in March 2020 (it was the 12 days of high fever that did it, not the virus per se). It’s so unbelievably irritating, but having a white noise machine or fan on, especially at night seems to help.
zhena gogolia
This was a brilliant episode of Hacks. I’ve tried to repeat some of the lines, but if Jean Smart isn’t saying them, they aren’t as funny.
The scene with her business manager and the fan at the Pride event was so beautifully acted.
JaySinWA
@Betty Cracker: Okay, Puget sound heat is lower than the east side, but more humid. I found hot days in the eastside more tolerable than here around the Sound, even though they were much hotter. Not a lot of snow to run away from, but we still call them snowbirds. Eastern WA winters can be brutal, but I don’t recall a lot of folks snowbirding there, perhaps because the local economy wasn’t strong enough.
ETA Washington state doesn’t have a income tax either.
@eclare: East side is cold and snowy in winter and hot in summer. Puget sound and western WA not so much, although there are occasional heavy snows throughout the coast. And I mean literally heavy as in dense.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I love Seinfeld and I still watch the reruns. I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t use a random line from any given episode. I haven’t paid much attention to why Jerry has been in the news recently and I don’t give a shit anyway.
That’s a shame.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
I’m curious about the “freedom” thing.
Also, Washington doesn’t have a state income tax.
zhena gogolia
@eclare: This season is magnificent.
cope
Naps.
The only time I have ever taken regular naps was while I was a full-time college student working a 40 hour week at a factory weekdays from 4 PM until 1 AM. By the time I rode my bike back to my dorm room, most everybody was asleep or feverishly working on something coming due. I was usually jacked up from work (assembly line work on outboard motors and riding lawnmowers) and wouldn’t get to sleep for a couple of hours. I soon learned to take a quick 20 minute nap during my meal break. I’d wolf down a corned beef sandwich, some chips and pickles and sit on the floor near my station, back against a wooden crate full of parts. I could zonk right out almost on command.
However, since then, my naps are spontaneous and rare. Part of that is that I am an old retired guy and my expenditures of energy are pretty low.
If you amenable to naps and they help you in your battle, I hope you find them as revitalizing as I did my short stints dreaming and drooling on a factory floor over 50 years ago.
zhena gogolia
@rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun): I take exception to that. Carlin was hilarious when he wore a suit and skinny tie. (unpopular opinion, but I stick by it)
opiejeanne
@MagdaInBlack: When I was a kid in LA County in the 1950s there were large fields behind all of the houses on our block, acres of grassland on old riverbottom and the remains of a failed peach orchard that was then cut down and walnuts planted, which also failed but a few trees of both were still dotted around the property. There were sounds at night that I still wonder what creature made them. My parents didn’t know what made the loud TICK!! every now and then in the summer, nor any of the birds that lived back there and sang. My dad and grandpa insisted that we didn’t have robins in California (we did) and that those birds we saw were towhees (they weren’t). We had meadowlarks that sang during the day, sometimes appearing for us from the grass, looking like they were wearing a yellow V-neck sweater.
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: She’s always been big on the rule of law, and seeing the raging misogyny go down just permanently sealed the deal, imo.
There’s an osprey chirping overhead, obscured by the tree I’m shaded by atm. Lots of the usual suspects singing right now, actually.
Ohio Mom
Betty, I have heard that if you drink something caffeinated before napping, it will wake you after half an hour, insuring you don’t over-nap. I save my caffeine for after I wake up though.
On Seinfeld, more and more he reminds me of Jackie Mason, a Jewish comic of an earlier era who went from garnering affection as a landsman (Yiddish for pisano) to a bitter, angry, right-winger who repulsed his former fans.
zhena gogolia
@Gwangung:
That is pretty much the point of this episode (season 3, ep 8) of Hacks.
O. Felix Culpa
@Betty Cracker: She occasionally goes fangirly over Romney (no accounting for taste), but is solid apart from that. I think her conversion is for real. She and Alexandra Petri are my main WaPo reads.
opiejeanne
@Betty Cracker: Washington state doesn’t have a state income tax, or did you mean that?
SectionH
Speaking of Ticketmaster, the weekly update from Rob Bonta, CA Attorney General, popped into my mailbox about 10 minutes ago.
Illegal, anticompetitive behavior dampens California’s economy, limits businesses big and small, and hurts consumers.
That’s why this week, I, alongside the U.S. Department of Justice and a bipartisan coalition of 30 state attorneys general, filed a lawsuit against Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, for blocking competition and operating a monopoly. Their actions have left fans, artists, and venues no choice but to go through them. In that vacuum of competition, they have been able to deliver a subpar product. Their anticompetitive behavior hurts the music industry and fans, and violates the law. We are demanding accountability and a fair market for fans, venues, and artists.
Gloria DryGarden
@SectionH: does the lite app have frogs?
@Betty Cracker: I love the frog, in the recording.
I notice with all those insects, I don’t hear a sound of humans slapping mosquitoes. Must be a screened in porch.
I need to search for YouTube’s of frog songs. Then I can be happy. I should have thought of this before. I wonder if pandora can make me a station, for nature sounds, froggies, prairie bird calls.
Betsy
Thanks for the swamp symphony. When I was a little girl, in the summers my cousins and I slept on cots lined up on my Granny’s second-floor sleeping porch, a few hundred yards away from a lake in north central Florida, and that is the sound we fell asleep to.
SpaceUnit
@SectionH:
Now if we can just get the FCC to dismantle the radio cartels.
opiejeanne
@Spanky: I love the Merlin ID app. We have pileated woodpeckers in the 10-acre woods across from us, and I’ve crank-called them with that app. It’s always amusing hearing them call back, and sometimes fly over us, looking for that other bird who keeps making that racket.
Brachiator
@frosty:
The creator of Veep previously was responsible for The Thick of It, another political comedy with an impressive amount of swearing.
JaySinWA
Liberal Demonrat Gov. Jay Inslee is just killing us with godawful tax and spend policies, don’t you know. /s
Ferrys and Public transport for “those people” with gas taxes and car license fees, property tax rates fueled by liberal voters. These are a few of their less favorite things.
Gloria DryGarden
@TaMara: makes me think of the sound of armadillos in the leaf litter, a persistent soft sound on a camping trip to Cumberland island, ga.
and the time camping alone, I hear an animal cry out, maybe within half a mile, camping up near frisco. Terrified. I think I banged some rocks together in my tent, heart pounding. Normally, the sounds of the woods are soothing to me.
@Betsy, and everyone. These sweet stories of swamp sounds, nature at night, are so soothing. Throw-back Sunday. (Forget Thursday) I needed this nourishment.
prostratedragon
Interesting thread about selected works of portraitist Igor Babailov, featuring his painting of Martha-Ann Alito. Lisa del Giocondo she ain’t.
O. Felix Culpa
Speaking of Alexandra Petri, here’s her latest on the Alitos and their flags: https://wapo.st/3R3xXjI. Should be a gift link.
CaseyL
Those swamp noises – ! Caribbean music so obviously got a lot of inspiration from the night sounds/creature sounds, because to me the sounds from your swamp sounded like a Caribbean band tuning up. Particularly whatever creature is making that twanging sound, not-quite-guitar/not-quite-steel-drum.
I think I could listen to that all night, all right. After a while, I’d probably start hallucinating lyrics.
Sure Lurkalot
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It took me about a week to watch the whole eras tour movie…I had never listened to her music beyond hearing her most popular songs…and I agree, impressive performer. While I liked the movie overall, I didn’t appreciate the jerky camera work, too many cut aways especially from the group/troupe dancing which I would have liked to see more of. I watched a bit of Lady Gaga’s concert movie on Max yesterday, it is enjoyable too.
BeautifulPlumage
I’m assuming the WA couple are less snowbirds and more cloudbirds. No temp extremes but plenty of gloom.
The night symphony is wild! I’m used to quieter places. So glad you & Bill found your place on the river and thanks for sharing parts.
Villago Delenda Est
Maher is a permahack. There’s no way out for him.
catclub
@Brachiator:
I suspect any law written (and/ or enforced) by a Democratic majority infringes his freedom. Same law imposed by DeSantis… doesn’t.
Gloria DryGarden
@CaseyL: well, listen all night and write down your lyrics. Please.
I’d love to read them. I see WG is looking for authors in our midst. So if it comes out cool….
MagdaInBlack
@opiejeanne: As a child, most of my summers were spent north of the border, camping somewhere in Canada. The day and night sounds are so different, and so much quieter*, that when we got back to the Illinois cornfields in August, I was always stunned by how LOUD! it was.
Eta: *the low hum of mosquito’s along the lake shore.
Villago Delenda Est
@SpaceUnit: Live America needs to be wiped from the universe.
Dan B
@Betty Cracker: No income tax in WA. Probably the possibility of seeing gay couples and the horrifying vision of local drag queens on the cover of The Stranger and/or people criticizing police excesses and likely brutality would be disturbing to your new neighbors. “Why aren’t THOSE PEOPLE under control!?!” “Why are developers stifled?” “We don’t care for all the FOREIGN food and publicity of their culture.” White people’s freedom needs to be restored!!!
It’s sickening because all these cultures and ways of expression are a contrast to the moribund and stifling white culture.
M31
Mockingbirds are the best! When I lived in NC there was one who decided that 4am right outside my bedroom window was the perfect time for a serenade
Here’s a wild piece by French composer Olivier Messiaen featuring a mockingbird:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr-Q3hJCmkI
it’s a long piano solo in the middle of a huge orchestral piece “from the Canyons to the Stars” that he wrote for the US bicentennial in 1976 — he went to Bryce Canyon and listened to American birds and came up with an epic 90-min piece
there’s a mountain in Utah named Mount Messaien now
Sister Golden Bear
I’d definitely need ear plugs to fall asleep during the swamp symphony.
Gloria DryGarden
Oh dear, one more comment. I don’t have tv, nor streaming services, but I binge on YouTube. There’s this new rom com movie on prime, Anne Hathaway and a young amazing talented character actor, Nicholas galatzine. He’s got 3+ recent movies out on paid streaming, tv, and some free older ones on Kanopy, and YouTube. I think he’ll be the next Robert Redford. Beautiful, charming and interesting, and in the clips I’ve seen, he’s so deep in his characters. Recommend.
I’ve got a date w some pals to watch his movie(s) on their prime.
opiejeanne
@JaySinWA: We just figured out that our property taxes went down this year. I live in Woodinville, in King County, and this is a big surprise as well as a small relief.
SpaceUnit
@Villago Delenda Est:
Are you talking about Live Nation, the parent corporation of Ticketbastard?
M31
just yesterday I saw a mockingbird harassing the shit out of a huge crow
little moquer was like “not today you fucker”
Villago Delenda Est
@catclub: It’s much like the idiotic fear of Sharia Law, which if you rebranded it as “Biblical Law” with the same tenets, the fundigelicals would have no problem with it. In fact, they’re dead set on repealing the entire Constitution to impose it.
Villago Delenda Est
@SpaceUnit: Yeah, that stupid fucking thing. Thanks for the correction. The executives should all be shot into the Sun.
SectionH
@Gloria DryGarden: Yeah, it does. “Frogs at night” Not sure what species – the picture is a very brightly colored, tropical looking frog. But there is croaking. :-)
opiejeanne
@CaseyL: I heard that, and there was a long streak that was very rhythmic, the way some insects like crickets sing but I’m not sure what it was.
I kind of miss crickets here.
catclub
Republican Tony Gonzales plans to fix the GOP. Good luck.
CNN:
I suspect he will be surprised by how many GOP voters want to just burn it all down.
Alternately, the answer to his question is “Yes”
JaySinWA
@Dan B: To revise and extend my remarks, yours, and others about the no income tax, we do have a new capital gains tax for non-real-estate gains over $250K
https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/other-taxes/capital-gains-tax/frequently-asked-questions-about-washingtons-capital-gains-tax
So residency might be an issue for some people depending on financial circumstances.
SpaceUnit
@Villago Delenda Est:
I couldn’t agree more. What an asshole outfit.
ETA: They rip off both the concert goers and the artists.
Steve from Mendocino
When I was at Cordon Bleu, they stated that pastry chefs shift easily to general cooking, but the general cooking chefs struggle with pastry. Pastry recipes don’t work if you improvise, and general cooking is frequently done with lots of improvisation. You’re in good company :)
RaflW
I love the Great British Baking Show, just finishing the 2021 pandemic/lockdown series today.
I also baked a loaf of bread, first one in over a year. I wanted to test if the yeast I bought in 2020 was still alive. It is! Virtually all the ingredients are ‘expired’, but didn’t smell off so I tossed it all in the stand mixer and now I’m having some lovely warm soft bread.
If I’m dead tomorrow, blame the nonfat dry milk powder (and don’t tell the BF – he’ll be livid that I cooked with that stuff. He’s got a much more delicate tummy. But he’s away, and can’t eat wheat flour so he’s safe!)
I joked in 2020-21 that I should have blogged as Rafl the Reckless Baker, because I laugh at all the precession methods. And things all turn out. Would Paul Hollywood approve? Hah, no. He’d say today’s loaf was underproved and underbaked. But I’m enjoying it none the less.
eta: @Steve from Mendocino Reckless Rafl has never attempted pastry or patisserie. Breads and rolls only, and the occasional fruit crisp, the latter is basic and (nearly) foolproof.
opiejeanne
@Steve from Mendocino: Which is why there’s so much whining when the general cooking chefs have to produce a dessert on some of the contests, and the pastry chef just grins.
CaseyL
Washington state doesn’t have an income tax, but the sales tax in Seattle/King County is something like 10%. That’s why, despite its reputation as a very liberal state, Washington is accounted to have one of the most regressive tax structures in the country (sales tax hits low income people very hard).
Real estate taxes are not actually very high. Back when I thought I’d be retiring early, I did quite a lot of house-hunting remotely on Zillow and Redfin. The real estate tax rate in most of the places I looked is as much as three times higher, enough to make me rethink moving to those states (though most offer a senior discount). RE taxes seem high to us here because our houses are appreciating in value so much so fast, and that of course raises how much tax we pay, even though the rate itself hasn’t changed.
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
@Betty Cracker:
“JFC it’s so hot today”
“Oh, you sweet winter child”
catclub
@SpaceUnit:
And have united both parties in disgust at their practices. There were hearings in Congress.
jackmac
Naps are great. I give in often. At my advancing age (about to wrap up my seventh decade) I love the 10-minute catnaps in my chair. They leaves me surprisingly refreshed and alert.
Dan B
@opiejeanne: It says something that you’re growing Edgeworthia. 1. It’s rare – a collector’s plant. 2. It’s big – requires room, 7 feet across between waist and shoulder height. 3. It’s flowers are subtle – palest yellow in a small cluster. Despite all that it catches the eye. It’s truly unique. Congrats. Hope it lives.
P.S. We had severe damage on small and big Hebes. Most had bern troopers for 15 years. We have leaves sprouting from a rainbow striped New Zealand Flax that was four feet across. I bought a replacement 5 Gallon for $115. It’s less than a foot across.
JaySinWA
@opiejeanne:
Probably because of the cap on property tax increases per county and the dramatic increase in property values our area relative to much of the county. Ours is up quite a bit.
You’re welcome.
opiejeanne
@RaflW: I can crank out pies, cakes, muffins, cookies, almond tarts, truly wicked brownies, and apple galettes that make people swoon, but I have trouble with bread where I live now. I used to get great results when I lived in SoCal as well as the SF bay area (east side) but here in Washington my bread is disappointing.
catclub
Check out Andrew Tobias and old food.
Villago Delenda Est
@jackmac: My Wakandan Terrors (two 11 month old black teen kittens) are very happy to help me take naps.
frosty
@rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun): I’m late to the disagreement on George Carlin. IMHO he’s on the Good Comics list just for this one bit:
A Place For Your Stuff
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
@Villago Delenda Est: Come sit by me.
evodevo
@MagdaInBlack:
probably a bullfrog
SpaceUnit
@catclub:
And it’s about twenty years overdue ( or more ).
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
@catclub: Republicans just don’t like the competition.
opiejeanne
@Dan B: And the flowers have a very nice aroma that can carry a little distance. I would go out in the snow to check on it Jan/Feb and it would be in bloom.
I bought it from Flower World that year, after seeing it for two or three times the price at Molbacks, which alas is still dead despite an attempt to revive it as a community project if we’d all just chip in so that the person in charge would get a salary. That didn’t fly. Condos will be going up, and I think the planned community garden that was to be a big part of the partnership between Molbacks and the developer is also DOA
I noticed that no nursery near me was carrying Edgeworthia after 2016.
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
@jackmac: I used to fight naps as a kid, now I treasure and look forward to them.
I read somewhere that when Winston Churchill took his daily nap, he would get into his pajamas as if it were nighttime. So I started doing that too, and it actually helped.
Super Dave
Betty, 2 recommendations for you, may or may not be to your taste, but they both left my wife and me in stitches. Clarkson’s Farm (Prime, I think), and Resident Alien.
Good thoughts for you and Mr. Cracker.
Dan B
@JaySinWA: I vividly remember a big snow one night during a big party at my partner’s big house by Lake Washington. Drag queens in platform heels were post holing through the foot of dense snow. We put a dozen of them in my tiny Toyota Tercel wagon, turned on the four wheel drive and bounced over massive ruts all the way up to Capitol Hill. Those Drag Queens are frequently athletes. Be nice.
rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)
I should’ve been more specific. Younger Carlin is funny as hell. Older Carlin, imo, comes across as a bitter man who just dropped out of life. I see too many younger people (like one of my nephews- he’s 36) idolize him and use it to justify their “both parties are the same” mentality. That’s the part I don’t like.
Jay
@opiejeanne:
Where in Washington, (roughly) and what altitude?
My Mom’s bread recipe had 4 variations,
-one for the Crowsnest Pass, (high Rockies)
-one for Edmonton, (North Alberta)
-one for Fredericton, (New Brunswick)
-one for Coquitlam BC.
she had to tweak and trial and error the recipe to get the same consistency based on water, altitude and humidity.
SectionH
@SpaceUnit: That’d work for me. Not holding my breath though.
eclare
@Betty Cracker:
I just googled, WA does not have a personal income tax (I am a tax geek by profession). Which makes him even worse, he is a true believer. I can understand why a rich dude or dudette would support a Rethuglican to save money, sort of, but because you believe in the other ideas? Shiver.
Villago Delenda Est
@SectionH: The FCC needs to get busy and undo everything that grade Z movie star’s malasstration did in the 80s with radio and TV.
JaySinWA
@Dan B: I’ve been up Capitol Hill in snow with a VW Rabbit. A reasonably good snow car. The hillside roads are treacherous.
TBone
If you think you can’t sleep through swamp noise, try sleeping on an exotic animals & birds ranch in the Louisiana heartland. Now that was some weird shit! as someone once opined 😆
eclare
@SectionH:
Thanks! I need to check it out on my Android. But it’s summer now, and I have window units, so they provide sound.
RaflW
@catclub: “if opened powdered milk develops an off odor, flavor or appearance, or if mold or insects appear, it should be discarded.” I’m not a genius, but those last two were no surprise!
Even when away, we keep the a/c on at a theoretical 80º, but the thermo is upstairs so the kitchen stays pretty cool and humidity well regulated via basement dehumidifier. And the baking cupboard is on an interior wall.
My whole wheat flour did smell off, so it’s in the to-be-composted queue. In general I’ve known that WW tends to go rancid faster as the bran or whatever contains fat.
opiejeanne, I’d say my breads are good but by no means great (the BF raves about my potato-spelt burger buns, if I may be so unhumble). The loaves are just yummy because they’re fresh from the oven and have that I did that! satisfaction.
opiejeanne
@Villago Delenda Est: I had a lovely boy cat who would convince me to not get up on the bad days after a nap when I was being treated for Hep C. Usually Mondays and Tuesdays, when I slept most of the days because I was so anemic. He’d climb under the covers and snuggle up to my belly, and seemed to enjoy being in a Dutch oven, if you know what I mean. His purring and warmth put me right back to sleep.
Wednesday I’d get the shot of ProCrit for the anemia and be feeling pretty good, and on Friday I’d get the shot of interferon which would lay me low by Saturday afternoon. The Ribavirin pills, I don’t know what they did to me because the reaction to Interferon was so swift when I first began treatment.
They don’t use either drug to treat it now, and it doesn’t take a year of treatment like mine did; I was type 4, the rarest type in tHe US at the time. The Kaiser system at the Anaheim hospital had treated thousands of patients with 1-3, but I was only the 8th one with 4, and the only one they cured.
SpaceUnit
@SectionH:
@Villago Delenda Est:
I haven’t bothered to listen to the radio in years. Used to be some pretty good stations around here, but now it’s all hot garbage.
eclare
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
I thought there were some very funny episodes up until about season seven. I really liked the shows where the gang had mundane issues, like where they lost their car in a parking garage.
And George’s parents were priceless.
opiejeanne
@Jay: On Hollywood Hill, in Woodinville. The elevation wouldn’t give anyone a nosebleed but sometimes when it’s raining at the bottom of the hill it’s snowing at our house. We’re about 560 feet above sea level. Woodinville is about 40 feet.
JaySinWA
@eclare:
@CaseyL:
See my note in the comment
@JaySinWA:
about the new capital gains taxes. While it may not affect these folks, there was a lot of FUD about who it would apply to.
Villago Delenda Est
@opiejeanne: Well, I for one am very happy those medicos found success with your type 4!
TBone
@Old Dan and Little Ann: he made a movie about Pop Tarts. I think it flopped.
Scout211
Want a good laugh at Trump’s expense?
Tolerating all that booing, heckling and rubber chickens was for naught! 🤣🤣
frosty
@Super Dave:
I really liked Clarkson’s Farm. He makes himself and his cluelessness the butt of the jokes and shows appreciation for the real farmers, veterinarians, and others near him who help him to get a clue. The last episode where he goes over the books and finds out how little he made for all the hard work was an honest look at farming economy.
You may have to set aside the fact that Jeremy Clarkson proved himself to be an asshole, unfortunately.
mrmoshpotato
Mmmmmm swamp symphony!
Betty Cracker
My bad about the state tax — I wrongly assumed WA had one. The MAGA dope husband seems nice enough from what I hear despite being a MAGA dope. He makes a fuss over our dogs, keeps cold beer on hand to lure Bill over to shoot the shit, relentlessly issues un-rsvp’d BBQ invitations, etc.
But I cannot with the MAGA bullshit, not in an optional relationship. So I give off strong reclusive psycho swamp woman vibes to repel attempts at friendliness. If they wanted a neighborhood social scene, they moved to the wrong damn place.
Geminid
I was scanning around for clean energy news and saw that a Seattle-area transit company announced plans to start operating a hydrogen fuel cell bus in September, on a trial basis.
Also, Canada’s infrastructure bank is lending a British Columbia ferry operator $75 million to help purchase four electric ferries and build charging infrastructure. Norway already has 21 electric ferries, including a car ferry that carries up to 600 passengers across Oslo Fjord.
And scientists at Chiba University in Japan have found that coating the electrodes of fuel cells with caffeine significantly enhances their performance.
eclare
@frosty:
Classic. He also had a great riff on how the rich divide the poor on cultural issues so they can win elections and take all the money.
Which I’m sure you know.
TBone
@O. Felix Culpa: oh my gawd, I just almost died of laughter!
Jay
@opiejeanne:
to compensate for altitude Mom increased, (lower) or decreased (higher) proof times or amount of yeast.
Water was salt and milk adjustments.
Humidity was more or less water.
It was all by hand, and 2 weeks worth of bread at one time (for a family of 5), so by the time we had moved to New Brunswick, she could tell if it was bang on or not, just by the feel of the dough.
O. Felix Culpa
@Betty Cracker:
Snortle.
Scout211
LOL. I live in a very red rural county in California. The neighbors are friendly and very neighborly but once the conversation goes beyond the friendly neighborly hellos, I give off shy, quiet and reclusive old lady vibes. My family would laugh their asses off thinking of me as shy or quiet. But it works.
Jay
@O. Felix Culpa:
Easier to manage than an emotional support alligator.
opiejeanne
@Villago Delenda Est: Thank you. Me too. 2005 was a brutal year for sure, but I took a pottery class at the local JC and learned to throw on a wheel, and just muscling the clay into center and watching the wheel spin helped me deal with the pain. I never want to be so aware of my liver again for as long as I live .
Jay
@Geminid:
https://www.vicnews.com/news/harbour-air-could-have-electric-planes-flying-over-bc-as-soon-as-2026-7349882
Their prototype Electric Beaver has been flying since 2022.
TBone
@Betty Cracker: that’s the relationship we now have with our neighbors here. Live and let live, but not on MY lawn tyvm! Learned by trial and error.
lgerard
I misread the first line as
I’m not much of a rapper but have been advised to give it a try.
Was intrigued by the idea of “Lil Cracker”
Betty Cracker
The new arrivals are stupid about the alligators too. There should be tutorials in the rest areas because lots of people are. Our properties are separated by a slough and dense vegetation, thank dog, so if they get eaten, I won’t see it. But I’d probably hear it!
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
For whatever reason, WA actually has the most regressive state tax system in the country.
TBone
@Jay: the what, now?
Prototype what?
zhena gogolia
@rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun): I agree.
Geminid
@catclub: Tony Gonzalez won around 46% of the first round vote. His runoff opponent is a YouTube personality named Brandon Herrera, who’s big into guns. Matt Gaetz and Freedom Caucus Chairman Nob No-Good have endorsed the challenger.
The district runs along the Rio Grande Valley, from the San Antonio suburbs almost to El Paso. It’s very different than the suburban Richmond, but the dynamic reminds me of the 2014 contest between Eric Cantor and Dave Brat. Then, Brat’s supporters were highly motivated and my guess now is that the Herrera Camp is too.
Baud
@Scout211:
Barbara
@Raoul Paste: I learned from a crossword clue that “dawn chorus” refers to the collective birdsong that serves as a natural alarm clock to many of us.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: OMG, that’s perfect.
NotMax
If you’ve never seen it, noting that Ship of Fools is on the Roku channel (with ads interspersed). Top recommendation, marvelous cast.
if you have seen it, bears a re-watch.
Jay
@TBone:
Harbour Air is a BC Coastal small airline that flies DeHavilland Beaver float planes, Twin Otter float planes and Dash 7’s up and down the BC Coast, into Alaska and Washington State.
They have also become The Service Provider for others that operate the Beaver and Otters, to the point that they are the only source in the world for new build Beavers in both radial and Turboprop versions, as production stopped in 1967, and no other Bush Plane comes even close in abilities and safety.
Starting in 2022, they started a program to create an Electric Beaver, not just to be green, but because the worst thing about flying in a Beaver or Otter, is the engine noise, you can tell it’s a Beaver coming in when it’s about 10 miles out, even when there are mountains and fiords in the way.
smith
@Baud
Just to be clear, the Defendant went through last night’s humiliation to score 6 votes in the first round of voting.
M31
ok that’s funny
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Libertarian bureaucracy is the best bureaucracy.
TBone
@Jay: cool, cool
(I’m still snickering like an adolescent about the name tho.)
NotMax
@M31
Old joke.
“I sent away for every fuel saving additive advertised in the back of magazines. Poured or dropped all of them into the nozzle. Drove five miles and my gas tank overflowed.”
::rimshot::
Baud
@TBone:
You should see their cockpit.
Harrison Wesley
@Geminid: Wow. That brought up some old, old memories. Back in the ’90s I got to ride on a fuel-cell bus on Georgetown U campus (pretty sure the fuel cells were from Ballard in Canada). Very much a haunted-house vibe: all the creaks and background sounds that you don’t hear on a regular bus were loud and clear (especially since there were only a couple of us on board), and occasionally there would be a loud, unearthly sighing as the system expelled water vapor.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Oskar Werner, George Segal, nuff said!
Spanky
@Baud: I thought the anarchist bureaucracy was the best bureaucracy.
Spanky
@Baud: They manage some hairy landings in the backcountry.
Scout211
No, no, no! You see, it was the RNC bureaucracy that tripped him up!
Truth Social.
Hmmm. Which minion wrote that?
Baud
@Spanky:
Their seats are always on the upright position.
trollhattan
Flights: jokes ratio not able to be calculated at this time.
Doc Sardonic
@Betty Cracker: Just assume the screaming is from them having marital relations outdoors, it is after May 1st. You are also correct that alligator safety information should be at the rest areas at the state line, probably should have a mandatory class with a game warden if someone purchases a house next to 2 or more tablespoons of standing water.
O. Felix Culpa
@Scout211: Wow. I would have guessed that’s parody, but your link goes to “Truth” Social. Which I’m unwilling to click on. Words fail, for the writer and for me.
lowtechcyclist
@rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun):
I’ll give you Maher, but I must disagree about Carlin. However he is now, his 1970s stuff was brilliant. I still get a kick out of Class Clown and Occupation: Foole.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Pretty sure he’s dead now.
O. Felix Culpa
@lowtechcyclist:
Dead. Very dead. Since 2008.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Trump is such a pathetic human being.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: QED
not too funny any more
O. Felix Culpa
@zhena gogolia: True. Hasn’t updated his material in decades.
Citizen Alan
@eclare: Yeah, I have a good friend who’s flying his wife to Germany to watch Taylor with some of her friends as a birthday present while he stays home and takes care of the baby. (He is a government contract who is exceptionally well-paid for a 100% telecommute job.
Maxim
@Brachiator: I have an app that plays rain sounds. It’s my sleep music. They have a “regular” rainstorm, coastal, countryside (crickets instead of birdsong), and a cafe one for those who want background voices.
Soprano2
@O. Felix Culpa: The whole idea was to laugh at these people who are more awful than you are.
O. Felix Culpa
@Soprano2: I see. I guess that flew right over my head. But what if one is more awful than they were?
//
Citizen Alan
@UncleEbeneezer: What exactly is Durbin supposed to do? Impeachment is a possibility and the Framers left no other mechanism to deal with a shit-stain on the Supreme Court. I suppose he could embarrass Alito by calling him before the Senate judiciary Committee, but the man’s not actually capable of shame and anyway Gym Jordan proved that Republicans can ignore subpoenas with impunity.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Baud: the auto pilot is sticky (photo)
Betty Cracker
@Citizen Alan: Seems like a good idea to make a lot of noise about the court’s deep and intolerable corruption to underscore the issue for voters. At every opportunity, even if you have to create them. Sen. Whitehouse does a fine job of that. So does Rep. Raskin.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: But did it answer that age old question?
smith
@Betty Cracker: If impeachment is out of reach, there’s not much members of Congress can do except call attention to the problem.
On the other hand, both Alito and Thomas have accepted lavish gifts that should have showed up as income on their tax returns. I suspect they did not. The IRS could do something about that.
zhena gogolia
I love the swamp sounds. I would easily fall asleep to that. What IS that twangy sound? Some kind of bird?
Miki
I can’t nap, either. I worked 3rd shift for 7 years and had to train myself to really sleep, not nap, during the day. For some reason I can’t seem to retrain my brain. The best I can do is doze, which is probably a nap by another name but seems to do the trick.
Love the swamp sounds.
Will always be satisfied with the photos of spoonbills if for no other reason than the name is cool – Roseate Spoonbill.
Prove me wrong.
SomeRandomGuy
Here’s a thing about napping: somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes, there’s a turnover point, where your body might go into deeper sleep. If that happens, one of two things will happen:
1) you might wake up at a “good” time, and feel somewhat refreshed, maybe “coffee craving” but not “OMG, I need more sleep.”
2) you might wake up *wiped*, as if you woke up with stomach cramps, used the bathroom, and came back with a quiet gut, and *bam*, fell asleep as the head hit the pillow.
So: start napping for brief periods of time at first. Be ready for falling into sleep like night-time.
Second: consider your schedule. Maybe you fix dinner, and you love fixing dinner, but if you nap, you can’t. Well, you need to make a choice: is it okay to skip making dinner a few days, while you figure out how your body needs to rest?
Only *you* can answer what you’re willing to sacrifice to the “too sleepys” – you might say you *will* make dinner, that’s too important to muck around with. But: there’s nothing wrong with a person letting themselves have some sleepless nights while they’re dealing with massive life changes, the way you are.
Your life has changed, friend. And the old rules don’t always apply. Remember that, first and foremost, and make the right rules for you.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Senate cant impeach, only the House can. Senate votes on removal after an impeachment. Senate can raise a stink, though.
Betty Cracker
@zhena gogolia: I think it’s a bug but don’t know for sure.
@SomeRandomGuy: Good advice — thanks!
@Miki:
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@lowtechcyclist:
Two brilliant comedy albums.
Maher has nothing brilliant to his credit.
Brachiator
@Maxim:
Cafe sounds would keep me awake. All those people drinking caffeine.
Baud
@Brachiator:
And whispering about me.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: I had never seen that before!
Miki
@Betty Cracker: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Partial confession – there was a boyfriend, oh so long ago, who introduced me to the Roseate Spoonbill, among other things.
Can you do a pelican? ❤️🤣❤️
sdhays
@O. Felix Culpa: What’s Seinfeld’s excuse?
sdhays
@Baud: You could solve that by putting on some pants.
Harrison Wesley
@sdhays: No Larry David?
eclare
@Betty Cracker:
Started Hacks season three, couldn’t resist. I watched the first episode, the relationship between Deborah and Ava is so real. The chemistry those two have is amazing.
Baud
@sdhays:
I didn’t say I didn’t like it. Just that it would keep me up.
Starfish
@eclare: I think there are going to be fewer multimillion dollar gigs on Netflix. All the services were competing on quality of content for a while, but then they realized they have to make money too so they are spending less on content and trying to run ads and hike their prices now.
Betty Cracker
@Miki:
Betty Cracker
@eclare: They seem fond of each other IRL in interviews I’ve seen.
eclare
@Starfish:
Let’s hope. I only subscribe to Netflix for a couple of months a year to get GBBS and Queer Eye, but I don’t need my rate raised for Dave Chapelle specials or Jerry Seinfeld vanity projects. And don’t get me started on $100M for Harry and Meghan. Not objectionable, but def a waste.
eclare
@Betty Cracker:
That’s good to know and so believable. That level of familiarity and intimacy would be hard to fake, I think.
Spanky
@O. Felix Culpa:
Neither has Maher, but he hasn’t obliged us by being dead now.
Miki
@Betty Cracker: Yep. There is nothing you cannot do.
Are you a poodle? 🤣👏🤣
❤️🐩❤️
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: It’s a sequence from Fantasia 2000. It kinda sucks it didn’t do better in the box office, because some of the sequences for the update are wonderful.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: WOW
zhena gogolia
@eclare: It’s amazing.
I feel as if I’ve watched Hannah Einbinder learn from Jean Smart how to be a great actress in real time.
zhena gogolia
I’ll recommend A Simple Favor on Netflix.
Soprano2
We had bad storms in my area Friday night, and now again tonight. None near me, thank goodness. Right now the local station is talking about a tornado on the ground recorded by a spotter near Highway 60 in south central Missouri. Bad stuff, this is the worst part of spring.
eclare
@zhena gogolia:
I just saw that trending and wondered about it, thanks! Added to the list.
eclare
@zhena gogolia:
Great observation. In ep 2, ” Martha Stewart is so lucky she went to jail, that shit is evergreen.”
Hahaha…
Soprano2
@O. Felix Culpa: Then you’re pretty awful. 😃
Jackie
@JaySinWA: You reminded me of Tim Eyman! He was such a kook and PITA! Wonder where he disappeared to🤔 No, wait, I don’t!
NotMax
@Maxim
Video tip:
If you have Prime video, go the the Search function there and type in the word ambient. Scores of soothing stuff to choose from to fall asleep by, including rain sounds, many lasting for hours and which also totally black out the screen while playing.
Jackie
@Scout211: He got SIX VOTES!😂 🤣 😂
wjca
That he never had any decent material to begin with? Making him someone who avoids becoming a has-been by the simple expedient of being a never-was.
Gretchen
@Betty Cracker: my daughter just bought a house in Staten Island. The neighbors that they back up to have the whole backyard decked out in MAGA.
SteveinPHX
@Betty Cracker: Stick to your guns!
Jackie
@Geminid: Their CD includes Uvalde. It will be interesting to see if MAGA shoot ‘em up gun lover Brandon Herrera fares.
Eyeroller
@Betty Cracker:
A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
But I’m damned if I see how the helican!
By Dixon Merritt (not Ogden Nash, to which it is often misattributed)
Miki
@Eyeroller: ❤️
Rob
@frosty: I drove up from the DC area to see those flamingos. Those were the first wild ones I’d ever seen. It was a big thrill! Even riding out a severe thunderstorm, pulling over onto the shoulder for 20 or 30 minutes, didn’t detract from seeing them.
Kayla Rudbek
@TaMara: now we didn’t see any hermit crabs when we went to USVI. There was an iguana that really liked the National Park campground, though.
Kayla Rudbek
@Betty Cracker: I am still looking for my flamingo yarn (bought from here: https://www.stunningstring.com/product/flamingo/) Are you allergic to wool, is my question before I go looking any further and go cast the shawl on.
Kayla Rudbek
@Steve from Mendocino: yes, to me regular cooking is more like jazz and baking is more like classical music. Or to put it another way, baking is where the analytical chemists really shine.
Kayla Rudbek
@Geminid: do you have a link to an article for the caffeinated electrodes?
xephyr
Nice recording. I get swamp sounds at night here too, but since I’m in mid-Michigan, the sounds are quite different. Mostly various species of frogs and toads, but they can get quite loud. Funny how it never bothers me, but certain man-made sounds (that aren’t even as loud) can drive me nuts.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Kayla Rudbek
Google finds…
Caffeine coating gives fuel cells a boost
Mai Naem mobile
@Betty Cracker: I am kind of surprised they came to Florida instead of AZ or Nevada.
I watched The Family Law(Law as in Chinese last name not legal law) on Hulu a few months ago. It’s an Aussie show about an immigrant Chinese family. It’s a pretty good show. Goes places you don’t expect it to.
Mai Naem mobile
@Betty Cracker: IIRC Rubin used to appear on some weekly news show on CNBC(Maria Bartiromo?) and annoy the heck out of me. I cannot believe I agree with a lot of what she says now.
Kayla Rudbek
@Mr. Bemused Senior: thank you very much!
Lily
What an amazing sound, put all together like that. A world away from the little frogs mating in rice fields that would all stop like one sound when I made a noise out the door.
Theresa,MF
Entirely too late to this discussion, but as a sports fan, you will absolutely love Welcome to Wrexham. It’s more about the town of Wrexham and its people who make the fandom and how the fandom makes the team.
I’m not a huge fan of Ryan Reynolds, though he seems like a nice enough guy (he’s certainly shown to be in Stanley Tucci’s short memoir, which I also recommend for light reading if you enjoy cooking), and have never seen a minute of Always Sunny, so had zero familiarity with Rob McElhenney, but they’ve done right by this club. McElhenney GETS the whole fandom thing in a way a lot of people don’t.
As a cradle Bulldog, who lives in Athens, literally around the corner from UGA’s baseball field (where we most recently were beaten by the Gators), the focus of the episodes on the town and on the fans and the players is just lovely. It’s about a professional football club, but also about where it fits in the community. It’d make excellent late-night bingeing.