A lightning storm parked itself slightly east of us last night, and we were treated to an impressive light show for well over an hour. Here’s 30 seconds of it:
Because of the distance, it was the best of both worlds to watch the storm from the porch. It was far enough away that it didn’t feel menacing but close enough so we could be awed by its power.
If you listen to the audio, you’ll hear the tree frogs singing. Toward the end, you may hear a motor because yes, an idiot was out in a boat, heading upriver towards the storm. I hope they got home safely.
Open thread!
NC Black Alliance Phase II Fundraising – Angel Match + Bonus $5k Angel If we reach $10,000 by Midnight
BR
Nice. Naive question — was it so far that you can’t hear the thunder? Or is it just the recording?
RaflW
Today was a top 10 lake weather day in SE Wisconsin. A really lovely friend has been with us for most of the last 48 hours, which was a blessing Sunday so that I had to put my phone down and just be social.
And today was pontooning, and tacos, and a swim. Winter & snowboarding are my favorites, but my BFs love of summer and days like today are a bit persuasive.
Chet Murthy
@BR: I leaned up-close to the speaker, and could hear rumblings that seemed thunderous.
Dangerman
I was driving through the Midwest a long time ago; first and only time (there is a reason it’s called flyover country). I think it was South Dakota. This reminds me of that time.
I was going to stop as things on the radio sounded dark and ugly but I pressed on for about an hour to the West.
Later, I watched to the East towards what looked like a fucking warzone (apologies, given I have never been in battle, but that’s the only thing I can compare it, too).
Also, I can verify palm trees struck by lightning can explode; tree across the street went Kaboom, took out several windows.
Betty Cracker
@BR: It was about 10 miles away on Lake Panasoffkee. We could occasionally hear low rumbling (mostly drowned out by the frogs) from the strikes.
I’m foolish enough to sit on the porch and watch thunderstorms that are right overhead and don’t go inside unless wind-driven rain invades the space and forces me to. Those can be loud!
Chet Murthy
@Betty Cracker: I remember growing up in Texas we’d do that. Summer thunderstorms can be humdingers, with all that heat to drive ’em. I’ve seen massive thunderheads with thunderheads in front of ’em, like a flotilla surrounding an aircraft carrier, the whole thing scuttling eastward, seen the lightning, the sheets of rain, all from afar. Majestic sight. Of course, when you’re under it, you’re listening to the radio or TV for the tornado warning, so you can hurry into the bathroom and lie down in the bathtub. Lines of thunderheads pass thru in the evening, you stay awake listening to the rain, the hail, the thunder, hoping your number isn’t up.
ArchTeryx
@Betty Cracker: Just be careful. The old rule among storm chasers is, “If you’re close enough to see lightning, you’re close enough to be struck by it.” A thunderstorm can be a beautiful thing and they do a great job of cleaning out the air, removing some of the heat and humidity, and freshening things up, but they can turn feral in a hurry. Especially in a place like Florida – tornado capital of the U.S. (I kid you not – they get the most every year! It’s just that most of them are brief, weak, or waterspouts).
guachi
A year old but a fun commercial for D&D in Japanese.
youtube.com/watch?v=ECwICOliQAE
SpaceUnit
Damn but the moon here west of Denver is the craziest color I’ve ever seen. Like a copper penny.
HumboldtBlue
I recall talking with a friend back in the 90s that the drier parts of California don’t have the noise… the noise of the insects. Even on the lost coast, there’s nothing remotely close to the sound of summer insects you get elsewhere.
Also, no fireflies.
Chet Murthy
@HumboldtBlue: I remember growing up in North Central Texas, you’d drive in the country in the evening and after a few hours your windshield was just -coated- with insects. I hear that’s no longer the case.
Martin
@HumboldtBlue: No fireflies west of the rockies. But yeah, no bugs here on the coast. Now and then a mosquito, but this time of year you usually find me on the patio from the moment I wake up until midnight or so, enjoying the breeze, not a bug in sight. Well, maybe a spider. And as the evening draws on the possums come and stare at me wondering why the fuck I’m in their way.
Martin
@Betty Cracker: When I lived back east I loved sitting on the patio as thunderstorms roll through. They’re few and far between here in Cali.
J. Arthur Crank
@Betty Cracker: I think Florida has by far the largest number of lightning strikes hitting the ground of any state. Be careful out there!
J. Arthur Crank
@Chet Murthy: Southern Ohio was like that. Was driving to Cincinnati one summer evening and we had to stop at a gas station several times to use the squeegee.
allium
@J. Arthur Crank: Back in 1990, lightning struck the parking lot of the motel in Orlando we were staying at. Knocked out the cable for the rest of our vacation.
Omnes Omnibus
I am the kind of idiot who will watch a storm when everyone else has gone to the basement. They are cool to watch, and the refusal to hide is probably one of the remnants of my youthful feelings of invulnerability. No need to lecture me on my stupidity. I’ve always worn a helmet on a motorcycle and a mouth guard while playing rugby so it’s not like I’m not safety conscious.*
*I also promised my mom I would.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I love a good thunder and lightning show.
Martin
@allium: When I was in college in PA, I drove home in a thunderstorm, got out of my car sprinted to a cover to get out of the rain turned around and watched lightning hit the aerial on the car about 50′ away. Nearly knocked me off my feet. Gave me the tingles for like half an hour.
Was pretty thankful I sprinted.
Martin
@Omnes Omnibus: Nah, I’m there with you. Thunderstorms are awe-inspiring. So long as there’s no tornado, I’m out there too. I’ve never considered thunderstorms particularly dangerous so long as you’re under suitable cover (not a tree).
Chet Murthy
@Martin: We were taught in driver’s ed that if you got caught in a t-storm, if you can’t find anything else head for a highway overpass and hide under that.
SFBayAreaGal
When my mom was in Illinois, she said the thunder storms was so dark that the city lights would be turned on at 2:00 in the afternoon.
I love when thunder and lightning appears here.
Martin
@Chet Murthy: Yeah, good call. Also good for tornados and large hail who sometimes drop into the party.
SeattleDem
We often had afternoon thunderstorms in South Dakota where bolt after bolt of sheet lightning and fork lightning would light up the sky for a few minutes to almost an hour. One lightning strike residue I recall was the remains of someone’s new brick fireplace where the bricks and brick shards were strewn around the yard and out to the street. I had never seen a brick fireplace before, and never saw that one intact.
FastEdD
I love it when you can smell a storm coming. There’s something in the air. I remember when, next to our house in the Midwest, a tornado took a tree and just exploded it as we huddled in the basement. We were all alright but it was quite the adventure for a little kid. Stay safe everyone.
Lily
Gorgeous. Thanks. The sounds of little frogs are one of my favorites. In early spring, still cold, we have peepers and their sound is silvery.
I thought of you a few days ago when I learned that a baby Sandhill crane is called a colt. The Sandhill colt resting in clover.🪶
More pics of colts and other birds by Mary Gemignani @marygemignani.bsky.social
Lily
Here’s another colt, exercising their wings.
Bupalos
@Betty Cracker: To follow up on that and your wonderful video… I used to do that, it was really my favorite thing when I was young. Sometime between college and grad school I was doing that at the back door of an old Cleveland Heights house I was renting with friends, marveling at the power of the whipping trees, leaning with my hand on the old copper weatherstrip that ran inside the door. Then the entire place lit up, and I found myself laying on the floor of the basement with the smell of singed hair in my nose. Lightening had hit a tree yards from the house and somehow knocked me back down the stairs behind me. The hair on the arm leaning inside the doorway was curled with little burn balls on the ends. No other terrible effects other than tight sore muscles.
I’ll still watch storms sometimes but they used to make me feel kind of invincible somehow and now not so much.
thanks for the vid and the memory
Hoping that storm gave you some invincibility
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Hoping your important electronics are plugged into surge protectors (or shut down and unplugged altogether) in such cases.
Not me, but know folks whose costly equipment got fried.
NotMax
Never in Florida but up north thundersnow is the best. The snowstorm partially mutes the thunder in a unique way,
NotMax
Lightning music, outré style.
;)
Steve in the ATL
@NotMax: how about this one?
NotMax
@Chet Murthy
Tough on Maui. We got our first and only overpass not many years ago (despite objections from the island’s populace) when the state built a new access road to get to and from the airport.
And don’t dare to call the thing on the median of that road, installed at a cost of a million dollars, a fountain. It’s a “water feature.”
NotMax
@Steve in the ATL
Also too, Chi Coltrane.
And a boomy entry from Imagine Dragons.
;)
frosty
Nonstop lightning BC! What a show!
I had two California friends visit me in Baltimore the summer after I moved East. When a thunderstorm rolled in they couldn’t wait to get out to the back porch and watch it. A rare treat for them. I doubt I saw more than one a year when I lived in SoCal.
Frankensteinbeck
I’ve been thinking. Electorally, Kamala Harris is an accidental creation of the press.
Joe Biden’s opponent in this election hasn’t been Trump. The Republican attacks have been a useless, flailing shit show. Trump shoots himself in the face every five minutes.
Biden’s opponent has been the press. They created his negatives through constant repetition. Even the liberal press. If you ask “Should Biden drop out because he’s too old?” twelve times an hour it doesn’t matter if you conclude “No.”. Gaza as an electoral issue was media fabrication. There is only anecdata. The only numbers said it didn’t hurt him in the Michigan primary and polled college students considered it, what, #14 on their list of priorities? The press beat on Biden and beat on Biden and liberals were prepped to panic at a bad event. Then the beatings turned into a full-on war until Biden had to quit because his numbers plummeted.
I mean it about liberal press. I have a family member who watches MSNBC constantly and Rachel Maddow, who I absolutely believe thinks she’s a Democratic ally, fucking slavered over any suggestion Biden might be forced to drop out. Did she want it? No, but she radiated excitement. This is the press’s story of a lifetime.
Well, they got their wish. Enter Kamala. Congrats, press. You have created a ‘Biden without the negatives’ hole in the electoral consciousness, and Harris stepped into it. By ignoring her you actually did her a favor. You haven’t weighed her down with Narratives. She got to inherit all the Biden good without the bad, and there’s a lot of Biden good.
Of course Trump is panicking. Years of press prep work are down the tubes. They don’t have time for the relentless repetition it took to drag down Biden. Trump has to do his own fighting, and when he’s in the spotlight it’s awful for him. The new Narrative is “Wow, Democrats love Harris. Crazy, huh?”
Plus, Harris gets to step into a version of what propelled Biden in 2020. She gets “Make the abuse stop.” Except the abusers are the press this time.
Harris is great. She’ll campaign well. She’ll be a great president. But the media accidentally set her up to catapult into stardom.
Mai Naem mobile
I went to college with a woman who was in her early 30s. Her first husband died in a car crash and the second husband died after being hit by lightning. He just got caught in a freak thunderstorm. Also have a friend of a coworker who got caught in a flash flood where a live electric pole hit his car and instead of waiting for emergency services to come out to cut power to the pole he got out of the car and got electrocuted and died.
Frankensteinbeck
Let me be clear: Harris deserves this enthusiasm. She’s going to pick up this ball and run with it, proving that. But she hasn’t done enough in the public eye to explain it. That’s also the press’s fault. God forbid they let anyone know a black woman has been an incredibly active and effective Vice President. Only the strongly politically involved know she’s been kicking ass.
The press launched her into instant stardom by dragging down Joe. Shit, the press set up the youth to love her, and they sure didn’t know how great she is . She’s only young compared to Joe and Trump, but the press beat the “Biden is old” drum so hard Harris looks like the standard bearer of the under-thirties.
David_C
@Betty Cracker: Since this is a declared open thread, love to see you, Betty, and thinking about your magnificent butter lambs. I’m shuffling off to Buffalo this weekend for high school* stuff (go Riverside) and already planning my meals – when to go to Duffs, Ted’s, can I fit in some pizza and beef on weck? Maybe a trip to get some Redlinski kielbasa to take home? Last year I took in the art museum – this year the science museum, where my sordid life as an scientist started**? (I hope you know this stuff, but the hubby can translate.)
Love,
David
*Expecting that I won’t have to worry about getting beat up this time. The ‘70s were a rough time in the city.
**Or the neighborhood library, where I read every children’s science book available.
piratedan
@Frankensteinbeck: you kind of think that more than a few of these people (MSM, press, GOP) are bad at contingency planning or get hung up in their mindset that everyone else is just like them. Lacking empathy and ethics… no one could imagine that Biden wasn’t a power hungry tyrant willing to step aside for the good of not only his party, but the nation.
Martin
@Frankensteinbeck: So, there’s this phenomenon that shows up periodically that might *really* show up here. So back in 2006 in LA there was a massive immigration reform rally. Half a million people. Hundreds of thousands in other cities. And the immediate reaction was ‘what the fuck, how did rallies totaling a million or more people just show up spontaneously like this’. And the answer was that they didn’t – they were organized over weeks, mainly on Spanish language radio and Spanish language Facebook – two places that were completely invisible to the English speaking world.
One trap that we commonly fall into is that the public eye means white media. The black community doesn’t engage much with white media. White media doesn’t give a fuck what they think except to stereotype them as inner city criminals and in return the black community pretty much doesn’t give them the time of day – they have their own communication channels – Black twitter, barbershops, and so on. What that means is that a HELL of a lot of stuff can be going on, organizing, enthusiasm, and so on that is mostly invisible in the public eye, because in the US that only means ‘what white people see’. So my expression in the other thread about whether this is one of those moments when this maybe turns into a phenomenon is really an expression of ‘is there going to be this groundswell of activity, outside of the gaze of white media, that suddenly explodes into view, almost mysteriously’. It certainly seems like the conditions are there.
And I think this is also key to capturing the youth vote who have their own entire media ecosystem completely walled off from the rest of us, gatekept by memes and in-community language that the Harris campaign appears pretty good at navigating (if their ‘brat’ acknowledgement is any indication). When politicians try and do that, without knowing how to navigate the space, they come off cringy – Hillary quite famously so. If Harris can penetrate that space successfully, her age won’t be the issue because she’ll have successfully connected with them on in the ways that matter. And Harris is pretty decent there anyway. Young people really value authenticity, and Harris may come off as the fun auntie, but it’s authentic. It’s not an act.
It’s why I’m a bit concerned about the usual assumption that the VP needs to be basically a young Joe Biden, when I don’t see many who are able to navigate these kinds of sort of extra dimensional media spaces that are really important for Democrats. It’s why I’ve come back to Pete a few times because the LGBTQ community have their own extradimensional media space – it’s more fractured because there’s more disconnected groups there – but it’s another powerful group to reach and I’m guessing he instinctively reaches it (actually I suspect Chasten more instinctively does than Pete).
If the media is out to get you, get a different media, and just blindside the traditional press. That’s kind of what happened with Obama once the black community got on board after Iowa.
MattF
@Omnes Omnibus: Me too. When I was a kid I used to stand on the balcony of the apartment I grew up in, bang on the railing during a storm, then feel the thunder reply.
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
Good accompaniment!
I think it’s the only rock/pop song I’ve ever known with the word ‘foyer’ in the lyrics.
Shalimar
This came up a few days ago on LGM when Loomis casually insulted her by saying Biden hadn’t given her anything to do as VP. It is very obvious no media he consumes has been paying attention to her, because people I follow highlight everything she does.
Betty Cracker
@David_C: Oh, how fun! We need to get back up there — it’s been too long. Sadly, Jafafa Hots is no more, so no more “shit canoes.” Have a wonderful time!
WereBear
I used to do that, too. Now my porch is enclosed :)
And see the dark clouds in the distance and catching their first cool breeze…
eclare
I love your sights and sounds from the swamp!
p.a.
When I was a telco worker we had to wait 30 mins after last sighting or sound before climbing or working on the conductors. Don’t know of any employees struck, but heard of a couple of customers killed while talking on the (olden-days-hard-wired) phone.
2 coworkers died in my 30 year career from contact w the power lines, however. Manholes were more dangerous- CO. Those big yellow tubes you see going into manholes are to “blow the hole” to clear out potential CO. First, test for natural gas with the same meter the gas utilities use, then if clear, set up the blower. Need to know the capacity of the blower motor and the size of the manhole (marked at the top of the entry tube) to know how long to run the blower before entry. RI didn’t have any manhole deaths, but every 2 or 3 years we’d hear of an incident. Guys trying to save time, cutting corners. Underground work always 2 men. If the first guy in drops, the 2nd guy CAN NOT go in to help.
sab
@Chet Murthy: That is the worst possible place to be if a tornado comes.
lowtechcyclist
@Frankensteinbeck:
TBF, it’s not like the VP normally gets a lot of press coverage. I don’t remember Biden or Pence getting much ink during their tenures. I’ve said this before, but we know what she’s been doing thanks to Anne Laurie, who has kept us informed in these morning threads about what our MVP has been doing. We know just how ready she is for this moment. The rest of America is about to find out.
You mention that she’s young only in comparison to Biden and Trump, and that’s true – she turns 60 in October. But she looks more like late 40s, so people perceive her as being young, at least on the scale of politicians. Bill Clinton was 46 in 1992, and Barack Obama was 47 in 2008, and she doesn’t really come across as noticeably older now than they were then. What she does fortunately have is experience commensurate with her age, which will make her a very formidable candidate.
WereBear
@Frankensteinbeck: Evil always sows the seeds of its own destruction.
It just takes so damn long.
WereBear
@Frankensteinbeck: I utterly agree with your assessment.
They found our Vice President so beneath their notice they didn’t notice how damn good she is. Either the press or the people who run them.
divF
@Shalimar: .
Over the years I have been coming to the conclusion that I do not have the skills or knowledge to judge what is the best way forward on any political question; instead, I choose to trust people whose values I share, and whose skills I respect. When all this started bubbling up a few weeks ago, my impulse was to trust Joe Biden and his brain trust in the Democratic Party to choose the best possible course of action, without concern for egos, because the stakes are too high here, and because they love their country.
Loomis is a Dunning-Kruger idiot par excellence. Because he is a competent labor historian, he presumes that he is an expert on US politics, which he is not. Nor has he bothered to educate himself. Thus he is incapable of believing that the pros know more than he does, and allow for the possibility that they know what they are doing, and are doing things for the right reasons. If the last 48 hours have shown us anything, it is that Biden (and Harris and Pelosi and AOC and … *) are both skilled (boy, are they skilled!) and they are patriots in the truest, best possible sense of the term.
*Much has been said about Joe’s respect for and ability to work with PoC. Less so about his respect for and ability to work with women.
evodevo
@Chet Murthy:
Yeah, same here in KY. No grasshoppers leaping everywhere underfoot in July/Aug either. I don’t know how the birds are able to raise a nest full given that most of them rely on bugs to feed the youngins.
WereBear
The enforced reflexive worship of childish white men might be an era which draws to a close, and is incredibly overdue.
I watched a Canadian commenter say that having read up on him “as though for a book report” he was impressed that Biden had kept in step, when you consider the radically changed environment he was born into.
And yes, a lot of it was ageism. He couldn’t get messages across because he didn’t look the same as he did in 2020. Which was the last time many voters had actually paid attention, I’m guessing.
Helena J Montana
Last week I was awakened at about 1:30 AM by a Gulf of Mexico light show. There was a storm about 12 miles out in the Gulf that put on a really impressive display. No thunder heard, just nonstop flashes of lightning for about half an hour.
Princess
@Martin: I agree that we shouldn’t be over cautious about the VP choice for exactly that reason. Buttigeig would be great. I’m also a Pritzker fan, in part because of how my 29 year old son loves him. He’s become a whole thing in that age group, which I suspect few who aren’t in it realize. I’ve been told one is too gay and the other is too Jewish. Only 30% of Americans don’t support gay marriage and 24% are deeply antisemitic. Seriously, these are not our voters. We should not cater to them.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Great points about the media as the opposition and their inadvertently setting Harris up for stardom. But organic voter sentiment played a huge role too, IMO.
Joe Biden’s age has been an issue since the 2020 primary, and it’s not surprising it gained salience over his term. He presents as older and more frail than he did four years ago. That’s real for voters, imo.
It was irresponsible of the Beltway press to pound that issue to the point that it blotted out the sun, particularly in the face of copious evidence that Trump is a rambling, incoherent, malicious mess.
But Team Donk has been hamstrung by the MSM’s incompetent political coverage for at least a couple of generations now. It has to be baked in to any campaign strategy.
I watched some MSNBC coverage last night, and the voter response to Harris is staggering. Not just the fundraising — can’t remember the figure, but calls from volunteers went through the roof, from a few hundred a day to tens of thousands.
Did the media do that, or were voters hungering for some hope that the abuse will stop, abuse not only in the form of the press onslaught but from the rematch that they’ve been saying they don’t want since campaign season began?
I think the latter is a factor in the enthusiasm for Harris too. I believe she can ride it to victory.
Princess
Shout out to Anne Laurie for her regular and repeated posts about Harris over the years, which have kept me informed about her, and how her role has been growing.
TBone
Fireflies (we call ’em lightning bugs) are our State Insect here in PA. In the mountain forests, and especially along the streams, the trees were filled with such multitudes that they resembled sparkling city lights at night. It was a wonder to behold. Alas, we have experienced a decline in numbers in the past 5-10 years. But those that remain still light up the trees in my backyard.
Yesterday, I saw my first Spotted Lantern Fly, it landed on my arm here in the leafy suburb where I now dwell. UGH! It was too quick and got away before I could destroy it as instructed.
I’ll report it later today though.
agriculture.pa.gov/Plants_Land_Water/PlantIndustry/Entomology/spotted_lanternfly/SpottedLanternflyAl…
WereBear
@Princess: The first guy who popped into my head.
When Republicans did it, it was a stunt that helped them lose.
Now let’s do this for real. And we’ve already discarded the traditional nice campaigner/attack from the veep binary.
We want her to beat Trump down, lower than whale shit.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Betty Cracker: 28,000 volunteers on day one
kalakal
@Betty Cracker: Be careful with that being out on the porch. We’re not that far from you and the house got hit by lightning in one of those storms last week. Fried a few electrical things inside and out. Fortunately no one hurt and no fires
Gvg
@J. Arthur Crank: yes we do. Possibly more lightning strikes than anywhere in the world, though a certain part of India in monsoon season may beat us. Some storms have thousands of small strikes recorded and hour.
An old friend of my parents had her car struck while driving and fried the electronics. The tow drivers and mechanics didn’t believe her guess as to why the car stopped working in mid drive but they found the tiny melted hole in the roof and the electric system was completely fried. That was just a micro strike. Car tires grounded so she was safe and it wasn’t dramatic or loud. Just a dead car suddenly.
Betty Cracker
@Princess: Seconded!
WereBear
And anyone wavering about lightning safety can look up the Mythbusters episode that means I don’t take a shower until I check the big map.
Mousebumples
Anecdata – I’ve been posting pro-Harris memes to the book of faces. Waaaay more ❤️/👍 than I’d expect…
Most respondents are female (also including a trans friend who is nonbinary), though I do have a few male friends/contacts giving it a like.
Women are excited. I’m still mourning what was done to Biden, but I admit I did not think the Dem party could come together behind Harris like this.
Democrats are in array.
Republicans are in disarray.
Mousebumples
@Princess: agreed!
TBone
😔 The last surviving member of the Four Tops, dead at 88:
susiemadrak.com/2024/07/22/rip-duke-fakir/
WereBear
Mr WereBear said a few days ago, “Don’t get so upset in the moment, all the women are still angry,” when all of this started.
What he means is that we still have all these emotions, and now we have a channel for them. And I will admit, in public, he was right about that.
MagdaInBlack
Betty, I’m right there with you on the porch.Growing up in the cornfields of northern Illinois. I’ve always been one to sit out there and watch. When my husband was alive, we would sit out with our feet up on the rail, have a beer and watch the storms roll in ❤️
Eta: now its my east facing balcony, where I can see storms out over Lake Michigan.
WereBear
WInd and Fire, #37 of the I Ching
Betty Cracker
@kalakal: Yikes, glad the damage wasn’t worse! We had a close shave this spring. Bill and I were watching the storm from the porch, and a strike hit a nearby tree — fried it. We could hear the crackling and saw fire shoot out of the branches. Poor tree!
Salty Sam
I have a friend who moved from Austin to Pt. Townsend in the PNW. I visited him a year or so after he’d moved, and when I asked if he missed Texas, he replied, “Only two things I miss- Shiner Bock and summer T-storms. It rains a lot here, but no big dramatic storms. When I explained what those big T-storms are like, a local said, “Oh, yeah, we call those “Hollywood Storms”, because they only happen in movies.”
As IF!
TBone
I wasn’t aware of the extent to which the bloodthirsty Project 2025 wants to harm animals as well as humans. I read a post about wild horses being targeted, so looked it up.
shelleyfrosts.substack.com/p/how-project-2025-will-put-animals
Bears 🐻 and countless other species would also suffer.
lowtechcyclist
@TBone:
Guess they’re now one of those underground bands you hear about.
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: They just hate everything, don’t they?
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: I haven’t yet had enough coffee to grok your meaning…it was a rough night.
OH! Duh, now I get it.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: they must be stopped.
Kamala the Joyful Warrior Princess of Color is the woman who can do it!
Poetic justice is my favorite kind.
WereBear
@MagdaInBlack: They hate themselves most of all, and that is why they must live in a dream world.
lowtechcyclist
@Mousebumples:
Hey, what am I, chopped liver? ;-)
@lowtechcyclist:
TBone
@WereBear:
…they must live in a
dreamnightmare world.Fixed it.
kalakal
@Betty Cracker: Luckily the house is grounded, huge surge protector in the junction box so only a few things inside fried – night lights, a powered USB hub but not the USB sticks etc. On the outside it fried all of Spectrums boxes and the pool robot. The last is a pain, they’re expensive
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
I never knew you could be so sweet.
Mousebumples
@lowtechcyclist: haha, sorry. I agree with you too. Yay for AL!
MagdaInBlack
@lowtechcyclist: Yer steppin’ into NotMax territory with that one 😉
youtube.com/watch?v=FcfHoXgDfyo
TBone
When at my cabin on Penns Creek one weekend during a vicious t-storm, a lightning bolt came down and struck the ground only a few feet away from my then boyfriend. Since that effin guy ended up cheating on me (as well beating my ass in a drunken stupor one night), I replay that scene over in my mind sometimes. He jumped straight up into the air and, when he ran into the cabin, his face was ashen and he couldn’t stop shaking. Same thing when we came upon a really big black bear in the woods one day – that guy was a coward through and through. If a bear doesn’t have cubs nearby, the worst thing you can do is show fear and attempt to run away.
Me and cowards don’t mix well.
I can’t blame him for being shook, but after he done me wrong, it’s a fond memory.
David_C
@Betty Cracker: We were a Pat’s family, but they’re gone, so Ted’s it is. It just seemed easier to head to Sheridan Drive from the West Side. We didn’t do too many of the Cheektowaga activities, except watching airplanes take off and land.
I might have mentioned this before, but speaking of Cheektowarsaw, my wife is part of Binghamton Polonia community. She worked at B&N here in MD and was always asked where she is from, since she talks normally. One time she replied, “New York State,” and the customer hazarded a guest, “Cheektowaga?”
MattF
Ms. Petri expresses Trumpist regrets (gift link).
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@TBone: Have you heard what Project 2025 has in store for Mom and baseball and apple pie? Shocking.
Quinerly
@Princess: Had a long talk on the phone yesterday with a St. Louis buddy I have known almost 40 years. (One of my Irish bar buddies). He’s Vietnam era and was in the Peace Corps. Politically astute. Consumes a lot of news sources. He’s 81 and is thrilled Biden has stepped aside. (Did not want him to run for a second term b/c of age….been very vocal about it for over 2 years). Loves Kamala. (Voted for HRC, but didn’t care for her). Close to an hr of our conversation was his selling me on Gov Shapiro of PA. I’m not quite there yet. I failed at selling him on Mark Kelly, though. All in all, he said everyone he knows all over is very excited about Kamala, except his married step daughter, step SIL. Unfortunately, they are rabid Trumpers and ultra Catholic. He did a little recon with his step grandchildren (adores them). Granddaughter said her parents are very upset that Trump isn’t now running against Biden. Her parents think it “isn’t fair.” That gave me a chuckle.
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: yeah, fascists are widely known for having a sense of humor 🙄
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@TBone: I don’t see any fascists here. Do you?
zhena gogolia
I think I’ll give up my Democratic Party registration after the election. There’s no point in voting in primaries.
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: nope. I see their dirty fingerprints all over Project 2025, which was the point of my comment you responded to. Try to keep up.
ETA not trying to start shit early in the morning. If you were making a joke about lightning, I apologize.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@zhena gogolia: As a registered independent (or unenrolled here in MA) many states will let you choose which primary you are interested in.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@TBone: And I was trying to call them unAmerican. Keep up.😉
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: awww. Thanks. I’m slow on the uptake today because of not enough sleep.
I will do better!
The roofers showed up to make lots of noise at my neighbor’s house way too early, and I was up way too late basking in the glow of Kamala last night.
lowtechcyclist
Damn, I can’t keep up with who’s missing whose point. ;-)
Quinerly
@Betty Cracker: Lawrence O’Donnell ran a clip of an interview he did with Biden back during the Obama years. I feel like this is a safe thread to say I was a little startled at how much he really has aged…face, voice, speech flow. LOD is no spring chicken but the aging comparison isn’t in the same ballpark. My issue since the debate with Biden wasn’t his age. It was his inability to articulate his message and “prosecute” Trump. Interestingly, I just mentioned my 81 yo friend….he has been harping for 3 years on the the age issue, as has one of my gal pals here in NM….she’s 86, sharp as tack and was still going to Iceland once a year to ride horses up until she was 80. She’s thrilled about Kamala.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@TBone: Haha, no worries. And if you didn’t get enough sleep you can have some of mine.
zhena gogolia
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: Not mine. But I won’t be voting in any primaries any more. What’s the point?
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: it was me, my snark detector has a snooze button, apparently.
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: hugs
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
Funny, innit, how language changes.
Nowadays Four Tops sounds like it might be the house band at a gay bar.
:)
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@zhena gogolia: Harris has the nomination locked up by now. Far more delegates than needed to secure the nomination.
All of us who voted for Biden did so knowing she would be the backup. My trust for Democrats took a hit too, but if we still have Harris it isn’t to the point where we can say definitively primary votes don’t count.
Besides you’ll need your primary votes in two years to push campaign finance reform and turf out the spineless.
TBone
@NotMax: you are so bad but in a good way. I had to think to get that one, so I know more coffee is on the menu. I was gonna try to let that first cuppa sink in, but it’s not working today.
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: 👍
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
I promise you a cover band exists doing exactly this.
It’s like aliens. I can’t say for sure they’re out there but math says they must be.
Trivia Man
@HumboldtBlue: No fireflies in No Cal but we had frogs
Quinerly
@Mousebumples: my Book of Faces circle is small (purposefully…I am not friends with a person on FB unless I know that person in person. One exception: BJer Frosty who sought me out and found me since my nym isn’t very imaginative.) Anyway, everyone in my FB circle is really excited. Lots of fun Kamala videos, stories, memes being passed around. Such a change in tone. People had stopped posting anything positive about the Dems, (actually just no postings about Dems/Biden) and only posting negative about Trump et al. Most of my FB circle gave up after the debate and resigned themselves to another Trump term. No one said it publicly until Sun afternoon. Kamala has energized a lot of people.
Mousebumples
@Quinerly: largely the same here. Though I was in college when Facebook came out, so I have lots of college friends I barely remember as contacts, lol.
I think many women are excited to vote for another woman.
NotMax
@Trivia Man
Evening’s entertainment of summertime kiddy days was running around the back yard trying to catch fireflies and putting them in a jar (one with holes punched in the lid).
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
She sure is radiant. While I’m at it, she’s teerriiffiicccc. Surely, she’s Some Vice President.*
She deserves the promotion she’s being put forward for.
*I know I missed one, but imagine ascribing humility to any President or candidate for same. Jimmy Carter, maybe?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lowtechcyclist: Groan
TBone
@NotMax: such great memories!
Quinerly
@TBone: thanks for this. Gotta get moving this AM. Today is Albuquerque Costco day. Ugh…I hate grocery shopping. Having a gathering here Thurs, about 30 peeps. Will read this later.
I was involved in a wildhorse rescue on the NC coast where I grew up. Now, I follow a lot of the wild horses FB groups…especially one out of AZ. Haven’t done any research on the wildlife aspect of Project 2025, except about what they want to do with our public lands and NPs.
Much appreciated.
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: love the Charlotte’s Web reference and love me Some Kamala!
lowtechcyclist
@Trivia Man:
Only briefly passed through northern California (where the girls are warm) but I know about the frogs from reading Cannery Row.
Quinerly
@Mousebumples: it’s obviously not 2016.
BTW, I have always enjoyed reading your comments.
TBone
@MattF: thanks for sharing that! It goes well with more coffee 😍
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@TBone: As soon as your description of MVP led me to “radiant,” the rest just spilled out.
ARoomWithAMoose
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: “All of us who voted for Biden did so knowing she would be the backup. My trust for Democrats took a hit too, but if we still have Harris it isn’t to the point where we can say definitively primary votes don’t count.”
This,
“Keep Biden” is still on my mind (and my life is now full of pie instead of sea lions), but the party elders had to realize they’d break the voting coalition for another generation if they didn’t go with the already established, seated, and accepted backup. The pledged endorsements have flowed in from the delegates/super delegates.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@ARoomWithAMoose: I was actually shocked how fast it happened.
NotMax
@TBone
Not fireflies (more firefly adjacent) but such a cute six minute short it deserves a re-link: Soar.
TBone
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: I was very seriously Team Joe but thankful that, not being in a cult, I trusted The Way he did his thang and now I’m so dang chuffed I can barely stand it.
We are gonna kick some fascist ass this year. I can feel it in my TBones.
She’s so inspiring (see what I did there 😁) and doesn’t pull her punches or suffer fools playing games.
lowtechcyclist
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
Me too! I fully expected it to take at least another week, if not several, before we finally had a nominee. And I was sure everyone (both the Rethugs and the media) had all their attacks on Kamala lined up and ready to go. So I was really scared of what would happen next if Biden stepped aside.
And here we are, just a day and a half later, Kamala’s already locked up the nomination, our side is excited and energized, and the Rethugs are flailing.
There are times when being totally wrong can be a joyful thing. This is one of those times.
eclare
@Mousebumples:
My postcards to swing states have shipped!
Trivia Man
@NotMax: I have them now and is always magical. I didn’t realize until i moved how uncommon it was to have a frog chorus nightly. And also how much id miss it.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia:
I’m pretty sure you voted for Biden/Harris, with the clear understanding that Kamala Harris was the designated successor in case Joe Biden became unable to fulfill his duties. It’s not like now the nominee will be Gavin Newsom or something.
TBone
@NotMax: I love that very much! Thank you lovie 💜
You just brought me a flood of happy childhood memories of one of my favorite projects: making paper airplanes that would do stunts. I spent happy hours decorating and cutting wing flaps just so, to get the best loop de loops or distance runs.
Then I was able to pass that skill down to my nephew and relived many happy hours doing so. My brother, my former paper airplane rival, was delighted to see his son take up the mantle.
Thank you for the magic!
TBone
@Quinerly: yours in service,
TBone
TBone
@lowtechcyclist: ooh I adore that movie. I adore Steinbeck too!
BellyCat
@Princess: Also grateful to AL for all the Kamala stuff over the past few years. That recent attack ad, the first of many to come: MOAR OF THIS!!!
zhena gogolia
@TBone: I’m not in a “cult.” The duly elected President and nominee was forced out by the media and spineless Democrats. It happened less than two days ago, and I’m not in a cult if I don’t start singing Kumbaya just yet.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: We’ll see.
TBone
@Trivia Man: we call them peepers.
Peep! Peep! A lovely, stirring chorus.
Anyway
@zhena gogolia:
No need to wait until after the elections, right? You can still vote for Harris/TBD in November
I don’t vote in primaries and not registered D – but always vote D in November
raven
@lowtechcyclist: The frogs of Cannery Row
TBone
@zhena gogolia: my comment was in no way directed at or to you. You’re entitled to however you feel. We all are.
Last night, some guy I’ve not seen here before said something derogatory about kumbaya and tripping over his dick. I don’t suffer fools like him gladly either, but I was the one who got reprimanded for making a joke about his trollish behavior.
It is never my intention to engage you in that manner. I have studiously avoided doing that to anyone here except trolls and bots.
zhena gogolia
@Anyway: Yeah — it’s just that I’ve been a Democrat for a long time, so it’s going to take me a while. I’ll vote for Harris (may God grant it be Harris) as a Democrat and then give it up.
TBone
@raven: 💚
zhena gogolia
@TBone: I still don’t know what that comment was about — I asked the commenter but he didn’t reply.
TBone
@raven: “ole Max got an angle.” 😍😆
TBone
@zhena gogolia: WG called me dickish and it’s a wound that’s still smarting. 😔 Because I called him out and I guess she musta missed the comment I remarked on. Because I didn’t engage him with a direct reply, I just made a joke to the general audience.
zhena gogolia
@TBone: We’re all pretty touchy right now.
TBone
@zhena gogolia: hugs
Quinerly
@TBone: This entire episode has made me realize I am Dem Party to the CORE. More the party and what it has done, does, and what it stands for than I will ever be for one particular candidate. Politics is a bloodsport. I am not sure I can ever feel sorry for any particular candidate. (Maybe Carter but his defeat was my first election in undergrad). The people that make a career of politics and the bloodsport know it going in. Things can turn on a dime. If they don’t they are too naive to be in the business and don’t get very far. My PARTY is not a cult of personality. One person won’t make it or break it. It is a thoughtful coalition of MANY great people. My Party saw a problem, recognized the problem, took action, did a reset and now we win with Kamala. The Repugs can’t even voice a concern over a convicted felon.
I don’t care for how publicity it was done. Would have liked to have seen the issues handled more behind the scenes. But the final chapter(s) haven’t been written. We will find out down the road, I suspect. And some may sing a different tune. Or just whine.
Spanish Moss
What an amazing show, BC! Thanks for sharing. A long video like that to play in the background would be so relaxing…
I am originally from the South (FL and AL) but have lived in MA for 30+ years and we just don’t get thunderstorms like that up here. One of my sons spent a summer in AL helping to rebuild after a tornado, and he went on and on about the storms. He loved them. I hadn’t thought about the difference until he brought it up. I have been spending a lot more time in FL the past few years and I so enjoy the magnificent storms.
Ohio Mom
@zhena gogolia: We don’t know the future, it could make a difference, voting in future Democratic primaries.
The abrupt change shook me. Like divF @53, I recognize my (relative) ignorance and look to the Democratic leadership. Biden said he was saying in, Sherrod Brown said Step Down. Pelosi was eerily quiet.
How could people whose acumen I so admire come to such wildly different conclusions? Who to believe? And what about my freely given, well-considered vote? I don’t like being ignored and overridden (ask Ohio Dad!).
TL/dr: I get your disgust. To some degree, I share it but am working on getting past it.
Geminid
CBS radio news reported that Colombia just banned bullfighting.
Quinerly
@Geminid: wonderful.
Ohio Mom
@Quinerly: I call them “aging spurts.”
When (typically developing, that is, most) infants and babies have developmental jumps, it’s very predictable. Around two months, first real social smile. Around eight months, pull themselves up into a standing position. Etc.
But oldsters — no telling when an aging spurt will happen, or how severe it will be. Everyone is on their own timeline, dictated by genes, health habits and plain old luck.
Quinerly
Repugs are saying our votes were stolen by the Kamala reset.
I would hope people don’t choose to flail hopelessly into that trap. I voted Biden/Harris. She was there in case he couldn’t serve. Pretty obvious.
Yes, not a typo….”flail.” Note the visual.
TBone
@Geminid: 👍😊
TBone
@Quinerly: they always say whatever Pooty wants them to. 🙄😡
Princess
@lowtechcyclist: We speak as one!
Bupalos
I understand the feeling that it’s undemocratic that the party and ultimately Joe Biden switched gears after the primary. If I thought this was the action of a few power players or “the media” I’d consider it a bad sign for democracy too. And if I wasn’t seeing the cognitive decline everyone is talking about (and we all see these things differently) I’d likely feel gaslit. As someone said on a different thread “what’s obvious is obvious to you.”
Without going in to my version of obvious, let me note something I didn’t find obvious but see indistinctly now: Democracy isn’t just voting. It’s an entire civic ecosystem. And what the party and Joe Biden just mustered the strength to do was in fact a very good sign for our party and our country. That sounds odd or maybe crazy if we narrow democracy to voting, and further to voting in a particular election within the party selection process.
This would take too long to flesh out. Let me just point to a couple broad questions;
Would something truly undemocratic unleash the kind of broad positive energy and democratic engagement we’re seeing?
If Joe Biden felt this was undemocratic (not unkind, undemocratic) would he respond to it by ultimately releasing his grasp on power and working for the good of the party?
MazeDancer
Wow! Quite the show. Guess no sleeping through that. Thanks for sharing.
Quinerly
@Ohio Mom:
I was born in 1961. My parents dated 12 years before marrying in 1959. Only children. I am also an only. “Southern born and breaded.” Obviously, I come from a very unusual background. And, that’s just what I am willing to put out here. I have always been around older, old people. My parents were almost 40 when they had me. My friends have always been older, boyfriends were 10-20 older even back in my 20’s. Bosses, law partners all ancient. No expert but I have been up close and personal with the aging all around me. At 63, I am still pretty much the youngest chick in my circle. I believe my eyes and ears.
I am thrilled about having a woman younger than I am running for president. This is the juice the election needed.
Have enjoyed your comments over the years.
NotMax
@Spanish Moss
Would you settle for audio?
If you happen to have Prime video, go to the Search function there and type in the word ambient.
Many choices of gentle thunderstorms, some as long as nine hours.
Quinerly
@TBone: I woke up laughing the last 2 mornings. This AM the Repug outrage is over Kamala’s “love” of Venn Diagrams.
Who had that on their Election 2024 Bingo Card?
Spanish Moss
@NotMax: I do have it, thanks so much!
Kay
@Ohio Mom:
We really do know what happened though. There’s been lots of reporting on it. The WSJ today has that Pelosi has had concerns for a while and that’s just one outlet – there are several versions of the same story
Unless we don’t believe any news reporting at all there’s no longer any real doubt that this was driven primarily by Pelosi and due to real concerns she had which developed over a substantial period of time. Nothing “abrupt” about it.
bluefoot
@Chet Murthy:
Used to be the same in Western and Central NY State. Driving from Ithaca to Buffalo/Niagara, or taking Rte 17 to NYC my windshield would get completely covered in insects.
Quinerly
@Kay: you, my politically engaged friends I trust, and I are reading the same news sources.
bluefoot
@Martin:
A friend of mine and I were just talking about this. She’s Black and on the board of her church. My family is mixed-race, mixed religion with more than one person LGBTQ. There is all kinds of activity and discussion that goes on that isn’t part of “normal” (i.e. white) discourse. My hope is that it works in Kamala Harris’ favor.
lowtechcyclist
@TBone:
I’ve seen the movie and it was good, but I read the book for English class when I was sixteen and fell in love with it. I’ve re-read it I don’t know how many times since.
The movie is partly from Cannery Row, and partly from its sequel, Sweet Thursday. The latter is good too – I’ve re-read it more than once – but Cannery Row (the book, that is) is just freakin’ magical.
Harrison Wesley
I hear the tree frogs sing
I do not think they sing for me
munira
@Frankensteinbeck: Interesting analysis – and i think spot on.
jackmac
I’m very late to this, but one of my favorite summer things is take a drive in the country right around this time of year (I live on the edge of Chicago’s suburbs and agriculture takes over within a few miles).
The best are windy, hot summer days with brilliant blue skies and billowing white clouds. Driving down country back roads as corn stalks (now past 6-feet) sway offers a quintessential taste of the Midwest.
A bonus is watching gathering storm clouds preparing to sweep through.