I almost never eat at Chick-fil-A because it’s owned by a family of homophobic cock-waffles. But today I found myself marooned at a fast food-desert expressway exit with few options and a hankering to try the chain’s much advertised hot pepper, honey and pimento cheese chicken sandwich.
It wasn’t half bad, but as usual after consuming fast food of any type, I feel vaguely gross. Usually I go out of my way to avoid chains, but I’m trying to reduce my exposure to people while my immune system recovers, and non-chains tend not to have drive-thru or curbside service.
I snapped the photo of the jaunty crow pictured above at the local McDonald’s a while back. Teens tend to hang out in the parking lot, probably making it rich pickings for crows.
At first I thought it was sad that local teens had no better place to hang out, but of course there are lots of other places they could go, including the many nearby parks with scenic water views. They like hanging out at McDonald’s and cruising its parking lot to see and be seen. Maybe I would too if I wasn’t an old fart.
My parents went to high school in this same town in the 1960s. (This was long before it was large enough to warrant a fast food franchise.)
Years ago, I opened an old cookbook that belonged to my grandmother, and a handwritten note in my mom’s distinctive script fell out that read, “Mama, I’m meeting [dad’s name] at the Creamette.”
I showed it to my mom, who looked like the space-time continuum was disrupted as she read it. She explained that the Creamette was a burgers and shakes place where teens used to hang out in her high school days. I bet it was better than McDonald’s.
Open thread!
Proceedings in Judge Chutkan’s Courtroom Today
Baud
That’s a neat photo.
Jay C
So do the crows hang out by that parking lot because of the “pickings” that the teens leave, or are the teens themselves the pickings….?
gluon1
I appreciate the reminder offered by “They like hanging out at McDonald’s” and the tale of the Creamette that I have no understanding of what the kids want. (I didn’t when I was a kid, either; my peers confused me.) I might learn by asking them but they might not want to tell me. So I strive to listen and observe and respect their decisions, and those of others.
Trollhattan
Crows are winged bastards but make good subjects. Exposure settings are tricky, though.
In critter news, mountain lions are showing up on people’s Ring cameras in the burbs to the east. Whee!
Gin & Tonic
Dimitri Simes, who made his bones in Reagan-era Washington as a hard anti-Soviet “russia expert” and over time migrated to being a Putin shill working for TFG, has been indicted by the DOJ. He is presumably in russia now, and I guess is unlikely to return to the ~130-acre Rapahannock County estate he bought for ~$1.6M a couple of years ago. Life comes at you fast.
Snarki, child of Loki
@Gin & Tonic: “He is presumably in russia now”
…and may be taking “flying lessons” from a high balcony, now that his utility to Putin is over.
Bobbo1
My personal protest against Chick-fil-A was using their parking lot to eat at the restaurant next door. Totally pwned.
JPL
@Trollhattan: A murder of crows surrouded a hawk that had captured a small snake, right outside my kitchen window. The hawk dropped snake and left.
Booger
@Gin & Tonic: Yes, and in related news, the Rappahannock County Farm Tour is on September 28th & 29th! Patria is not one of the venues on the tour, but come on out anyway! It’s a blast!
Trollhattan
@Snarki, child of Loki: Doesn’t he get a Hero of the Soviet Empire ribbon first, for getting Trump elected?
“Here is medal. Now is to be watching medal fly.”
Hoodie
@JPL: Crows are always ganging up on the hawks in our neighborhood. One interesting thing I saw on a recent trip to Canada was bald eagles stealing fish from Ospreys. Tough world out there.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bobbo1: I think that chain is completely unaware of my boycott. I have never bought anything there, so I am pretty sure they don’t know I exist.
billcoop4
“I almost never eat at Chick-fil-A because it’s owned by a family of homophobic cock-waffles.”
True, although I don’t go for a higher reason. It’s mediocre at best.
Said the gay man.
BC
raven
There is one across the street from a local middle school and it is JAMMED after school!
JPL
Nature
NotMax
Saw three crows perched on the rails of an SUV’s rooftop luggage rack at the Costco parking lot in NY yesterday.
HumboldtBlue
I have never been tempted to eat at chick fil a because there is no chick fil a within 200 miles or so, easy peasy.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: A goth SUV?
raven
Trollhattan
Okay lady, if you say so.
Gas stoves.
ssdd
@HumboldtBlue: well, good news, then: soon you will be able to consume Chick Fil A content from the comfort of your own home! https://deadline.com/2024/08/chick-fil-a-hatches-streaming-service-1236044196/
Ishiyama
@Hoodie: Eagles do that all the time. I once saw that happen when I was on a canoe trip on the Wisconsin River near Tower Hill.
Trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus:
How about a jet black Cybertruck with spikes added? Could be goth.
Behind a Subaru this a.m. that had “Keep Portland Weird” and “Goth chicks ride free” stickers, among others not readable. CA plates, perhaps migrating south.
raven
@Trollhattan: AMF douche
HumboldtBlue
Just read on Twitter: Benny and the Nyets. I like it.
Dorothy A. Winsor
When I was in high school, people hung out at the Big Boy (burger chain) parking lot. I was once there with my friend Rose when two guys she knew got in the back seat. They were both drunk and one of them showed us a gun. Rose screamed at them to get out of the car, which they did. A very Detroit memory, I guess
Scout211
@Trollhattan: Hey, you left out a part that was in my local online rag, mymotherlode.com
Yes, I do live in a red county. They love this stuff.
laura
@Trollhattan: I sure hope that the CA Dems, Pacs and individuals who supported her campaign demand that bish return every single dollar of money she defrauded them of. Then recall her.
JML
@Trollhattan:
A ridiculous person. I’m pretty sure Cali dems are like “who?” or “good riddance”.
You cannot list FDR as a personal hero and support TFG without having serious issues with cognitive dissonance.
raven
@Ishiyama: It’s called “mobbing” behavior. We had an owl trapped in a tree in the yard and the bluejays relentlessly attacked it all day unit they wore all the feathers off the back of the owls head.
Super Dave
Although I share your opinion of the owners, I am ashamed to admit that occasionally sacrifice my principles because I have a weakness for their vanilla shakes.
When I was a youngster in high school (early to mid-60’s), we moved from a small town (pop. 2,500) in the Texas Panhandle to a “big town” (pop. 20,000) in eastern Nebraska. There were no chain fast food joints there, but a small place called “Gold Key” where you could by a (very small) burger, fries and a Coke for less than 75 cents. I would scrounge the couch for change so I could meet my buddies there. Sometimes we’d have to split the meal among us.
Later, when I was in college in a bigger town (200,000), one of our favorite burger joints was a place (in)appropriately named “Chubbyville”… I am not making that up. They had a hot apple pie and ice cream in a cardboard boat that was to die for.
Betty, thanks for the trip down memory lane.
UncleEbeneezer
@Gin & Tonic: Speaking of media Vatniks, I saw a dumb pearl-clutching headline about Kamala’s enthusiasm for football, from The Nation and my immediate thought was: well, of course The Nation is finding reasons to criticize Harris. I’m sure they are rooting for Trump so he can end all aid to Ukraine.
Which led me down the rabbit-hole about Katrina vanden Heuvel and the Duncan Campbell expose “The Nation’s Russia Problem” that Columbia Journalism Review commissioned but then refused to publish.
Anyways, Russia sure has done a good job of infiltrating and influencing US media on both the Right and the Left.
JML
@laura: I think it’s notable that she’s a “former” leader. Wanna take bets that she became bitter AF after losing power and that’s when she started letting her bigoted freak flag fly?
CliosFanboy
@Trollhattan:
apparently she’s been huffing them.
raven
@Super Dave: In and Out has bible shit written on the bottom of their cups.
JaySinWA
Greg Sargent has a rant about how both sides isn’t happening, especially in headlines failing to deal with Trump’s apparent decline.
https://newrepublic.com/article/185622/finally-top-journo-erupts-media-ignoring-trumps-mental-state
rusty
It was the early 80’s, as teenagers we hung out at the local Dairy Queen (I was a short order cook there one summer), the drive-in movie theater (they were rare by then, but this one was in the town’s river flood plain so the land wasn’t good for anything else), or in the state forest. Alcohol may have been consumed by underage minors at the last two locations. The drive-in, while requiring a ticket (unless you were jammed in the trunk), was preferred since the cops wouldn’t hassle you there.
CliosFanboy
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Big Boy was great!!! When I moved from Athens, Ohio to Northern VA in 1987 (Ohio U!) the Big Boy and the Hardee’s next to it closed within a week. Since they were my regular lunch stops I caught all sorts of heck from my former classmates.
Citizen Alan
@gluon1: When I was in high school, every Saturday night (and every Friday night after football season was over) every kid in my school who had a car would congregate at the McDonalds. It had a big parking lot, and it was the only fast food place in town, and there was nothing else for a young person to do on a weekend night without driving thirty miles to Tupelo (population 30k back then, which we unironically considered “a big city”).
Trollhattan
@laura: No worries, she termed out in 2010 and misses the attention, I guess.
But, she ain’t off the hook, not by a longshot. She’s on the anti-union and school privatization bandwagons.
West of the Rockies
I usually regret fast food, too, especially KFC, Burger King, and McDonald’s (although their breakfasts don’t wreck me).
In and Out is always too crowded though I like them. Taco Bell and Subway are both in decline, I find. Our local Wendy’s is okay.
And I’m sure this renders all of these opinions invalid, but I like Jack in the Box tacos a couple times a year. They were the only FF burger place my parents took us. Oh, and occasionally Carl’s Junior.
I used to like the seemingly defunct Long John Silvers. Anyone remember H. Salt Fish? They may have been a SoCal thing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@CliosFanboy: Geez. You were apparently a big loss to the burger joints.
Joy in FL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: about your comment #26: During my senior year in high school (1974-75), I ate at Big Boy probably every day. This was in Florida. I loved their burgers with that delicious sauce. I would walk about a quarter mile there, eat, and then go back to school to study. (I loved to study.) I ate there so regularly that they knew me, and when I walked in the door, they would start my order because it was always the same and they were nice people. I sat at the counter, ate, and read whatever book I had going that day. I was great, and one of my very pleasant memories.
Mark
Are you the same Citizen Alan from CR?
BellaPea
Betty, how funny to see you say the same thing I say about Chick-Fil-A. The company’s owners are hard core Southern Baptists (no offense to anyone who is SB on this site) and are major homophobes. My nephew worked for corporate CFA for a while and got sick of the low salary and left for another job. I also don’t shop at Hobby Lobby or Home Depot for the same reason-owned by rabid right-wing TFG supporters.
dmsilev
@Trollhattan:
Wingnuts are convinced that if liberals have their way, the Appliance Police will be busting down doors and dragging people away for owning gas-fired stoves. In Planet Reality, California among other places is trying to get new construction housing built with electric-only appliances, but that doesn’t sound nearly as dramatic.
Omnes Omnibus
@Trollhattan: No sensible goth would have an Incel Camino.
Speaking of goths, I miss Alison Rose. Has anyone heard how she is doing?
CliosFanboy
BTW, is Thurston, Cole’s dog, OK? I havet seen a dog post in ages
Steve in the ATL
@raven:
fuck blue jays. Still mad at them for cheating in the 1991 World Series.
billcoop4
I do miss having a Culver’s within easy reach. And Raising Canes’s.
BC
zhena gogolia
@CliosFanboy: I think Thurston stayed with Joelle in Arizona.
Raven
@Joy in FL: There was a Nixon’s Big Boy in Whittier when I was a kind.
SatanicPanic
In other Tim Pool news he has been trying for the last few years to indoctrinate kids via skateboard related YouTube content. It’s not going well. He recruited a bunch of lame YouTube famous skaters, including transphobe Taylor Silverman and pirate clown Richie Jackson. (Piers Morgan called Taylor “a world class skateboarder”, which is not even close to true.) And then he decided to go to a town in WV and buy the land under a quasi-legal skatepark that local skateboarders had built. Why did he do this? Because he wanted to host a big event at this park with no facilities and the locals said no.
Anyway, this caught the eye of probably the best known YouTube skate content creator that isn’t considered a kook. They are now feuding, which is amazing, because he’s going to lose this one. Hopefully it means he’ll have less luck recruiting kids to his fascist viewpoints.
JCJ
Chow Down At Chick Fil A – a song to the tune of Wilson-Phillips Hold On For One More Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRIs2pGe_c
“Chow down at Chick Fil A
Even if you’re gay”
Citizen Alan
@Mark: Depends. What is CR?
satby
@zhena gogolia: he did.
CaseyL
Betty Cracker, there is something very Stephen King-ish about that photo. In fact, I think there was an edition of The Stand with cover art very similar to that photo – IIRC, “Russell Flagg” (aka the demon, who also took the form of a crow) perched on top of a sign for the Army Base the plague escaped from.
I love crows, but they are ominous birds when they gather in large groups – or strike dramatic poses on things… like signposts!
hueyplong
@Steve in the ATL: Amazing cheat job, seeing as how the Jays weren’t in the 1991 World Series. Are you thinking about Kent Hrbek of the Twins?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Joy in FL: Good memories.
Jackie
@billcoop4:
That, plus they aren’t an option in my northwest neck of the woods.
My daughter says their food is mediocre and blah, and pricey, so there’s that, too.
Steve in the ATL
@hueyplong: d’oh! You are correct–I was thinking of the 1992 WS. As you note, the Twins also cheated in the 1991 WS–not just Hrbek physically removing Ron Gant from the first base bag and tagging him out, but also the blowers that mysteriously turned on when the Braves were batting and off when the Twins were.
Suzanne
I have a client who refers to Chik-Fil-A as “hate chicken”. OTOH, Spawn the Elder enjoys it as an act of resistance. (I have my doubts about this strategy, but he says there’s something about seeing visibly non-binary folx chowing down on Chik-Fil-A that is subversive in some way.)
I don’t know about the SQ (subversiveness quotient). I just know fried food gives me gas.
MazeDancer
What a sweet story about your parents!
Gin & Tonic
@UncleEbeneezer:
Well, Katrina’s late husband was a Soviet apologist back as far as Brezhnev, so they have a history.
Funny story, a Ukrainian-American friend of mine took a class from Cohen back in the 70’s when the latter was a junior faculty member at Princeton. It didn’t go well.
Betty Cracker
@Joy in FL: Do you remember Biff Burger? They used to be all over Florida in the 1970s. There was one hold-out store left in St. Pete, but it closed several years ago.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: I saw him on a plane to Moscow. He was stretching his legs, visiting steerage from first class.
eclare
Postcards to Swing States (NC):
50 done and stamped, 150 to do
LFG!
UncleEbeneezer
It’s a shame that Chik-Fil-A’s owners are right-wing assholes (though that is pretty much the case for almost every fast food franchise), because their food is delicious and their service is great too.
WaterGirl
@CliosFanboy: Thurston stayed in AZ with Joelle, so Cole hasn’t seen Thurston since he returned to WV.
Thurston is happiest with Joelle. She understands Thurston in a way that Cole does not. Joelle and Thurston are simpatico.
hueyplong
@Steve in the ATL: Don’t forget when my Giants cut a check to Brooks Conrad in 2010. He should have made it a bit less obvious, but we’ll take it.
CliosFanboy
@CaseyL:
oh, I missed that!!! Nice catch.
Jackie
Great! Now Bobby Jr’s messing with N Carolina’s ballot distribution schedule.😡
This’ll endear him to NC voters…
CliosFanboy
@WaterGirl:
ok. Whew. Because I teared up when Rosie passed (and Walter) and cried for Lily. I just hoped Thurston was ok.
FastEdD
Sad story about violence against innocent fiberglass statues from last week:
Bob’s Big Boy Broiler in Downey, CA, formerly Johnie’s/Harvey’s Broiler, is in the news again. Our friendly Big Boy statue who guards the restaurant will have to be repaired after his head was torn off in a single-car crash that happened around 2am this morning when a driver traveling at high speeds on Firestone Bl. slammed into a fire hydrant near the drive-in restaurant. The driver was pinned inside the car, but was pulled out of the wreckage and transported to the hospital. No one else was reported as injured.
Jackie
@CliosFanboy: Thurston loves Joelle more than Cole, so he resides in Arizona now.
jonas
The New York Thruway (the name for the I-87/I-90 across the state) recently renovated all its rest stops and reissued the restaurant concessions, one of which went to Chick fil A . Only no-one apparently bothered to consider that one notable policy of Chick fil A is to be closed on Sunday. You know, the day when everyone travels and could use a meal off the freeway. So then after a bunch of motorists complain, the legislature tries to revise the terms of the contract to make them be open and it goes viral on Fox and elsewhere as the Evil, Godless State of NY trying to make this poor, pious Christian business stay open on the Lord’s Day.
Anyway, it turned out to be too late to redo the concession contracts, so now we’re stuck with a bunch of Thruway rest stops where one of the major hot food options is closed on Sundays.
Steve in the ATL
@hueyplong:
ha–seriously! And Sanchez was light out on the mound. Conrad made us sentimental for Mark Lemke!
Tony Jay
@CaseyL:
Randall Flagg. I’d like to think of Russell Flagg as his inoffensive British cousin who doesn’t so much exploit the terror and chaos of post-apocalyptic scenarios to drag humanity down into barbarism as cause mildly annoyed people to privately tut-tut about the quality of post-watershed TV drama.
Quiltingfool
No food talk, sorry! Got some quilts to show off, lol!
I call this quilt, “Dreaming of a Free Ukraine.” I’d love it if I could get the title translated into Ukrainian. I’d try it myself, but every language has nuances that aren’t addressed via internet translation.
https://pin.it/3HR03yhcx
This is a customer quilt. They saw Adam’s quilt on Etsy and wanted one like it. It isn’t just like Adam’s, though. His is one of a kind and will stay that way. Same colors, lots of stars – I call this one “Star Medley”
https://pin.it/2KQCsyqYw
I had been quilting for a couple of elderly ladies (I’m old, too, but they are my father’s age. They are OG quilters, let me tell you! Anyway, I fell in love with one of the quilts and tried to find a pattern. No luck, so I took measurements and drafted a pattern. I checked my quilt encyclopedia, and there was a block called “Garden Maze” that looked similar to my quilt. FYI – the same quilt block can have several names!
https://pin.it/2eRYJ0V2W
These are all on my Pinterest account. If you like looking a quilts, here’s the link that shows most of the quilts I’ve made going back about 15 or more years.
https://pin.it/6yHKA2p43
eclare
@UncleEbeneezer:
I don’t eat fast food often, but when I do I go to Chik Fil A. Their food is decent, but their service is above and beyond the McDonald’s and Wendy’s near me. There is absolutely no comparison for speed and accuracy and availability. The Wendy’s near me is always out of the salad that I want. No wonder the drive thru is always slammed.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
Are the stories popping up on my feed about Charles abdicating just click bait?
eclare
@Quiltingfool:
All of those are gorgeous but I especially love “Garden Maze”!
It kind of reminds me of an Escher print, which rings lock into which rings?
Old School
@Quiltingfool: Wonderful!
Steve in the ATL
@Baud:
wow you have a shitty algorithm!
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
I know, right? I’ve never expressed any interest in the royals.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I just googled and didn’t see anything.
oldgold
@Super Dave: “Although I share your opinion of the owners, I am ashamed to admit that occasionally sacrifice my principles because I have a weakness for their vanilla shakes.”
You should try their sundaes. They send their help to Sundae School to learn how to make them.
rikyrah
@raven:
Yet, she can have weapons in her home😒😒
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Whew.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Big fan?
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Couldn’t care less. Juts don’t want to drama of another coronation until after the election.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I have a feeling he’ll hold on as long as he can.
rikyrah
@eclare:
Yeah👍🏾
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
What else is he going to do? He has no marketable skills.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
Thurston 🤗🤗🤗🤗
Living his best life
eclare
@zhena gogolia:
Same. Elizabeth sure did make Charles wait!
Gin & Tonic
@Quiltingfool:
Мрію про вільну Україну
Quiltingfool
@eclare: I do love Garden Maze. It reminds me of the quilts made in the 1930s-1940s. Women didn’t buy fabric to make quilts, they used scraps from making clothing or from printed feed sacks. They also traded fabric with their friends if they needed a certain color.
I’m trying to make more scrappy quilts because my fabric stash is getting out of control!
Betty
@raven: Thanks for sharing this. This is why I felt it was inappropriate to immediately state the boy would be charged as an adult without any evaluation of possible exculpatory factors, such as a miserable home life. Do the evaluation, then decide.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Adultery?
RedDirtGirl
@Quiltingfool: Those are amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Betty
@Steve in the ATL: I am with you! So disappointng. Oh, yes. 1992.
WaterGirl
@Quiltingfool:
The Star Medley quilt, wowser! That’s amazing.
Timill
@Baud: Nothing on the Beeb website, so probably fake.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Thurston surely thinks he hit the lottery!
Salty Sam
My dad would sometimes take us with him on business trips- he was in “th’ awl bidness”, so these trips were always to petroleum soaked places. One memorable trip was to Levelland, out in the Permian oil basin of west Texas. This was in the early/mid 60’s- if you want a cinematic representation of what it was like, watch McMurtrey/Bogdanovic’s “The Last Picture Show”
I got to hang out with the teenage kids of my dad’s business associate. The thing you did out there, then, when you were a teenager, was cruise the main drag in front of the Dairy Queen (see also “American Graffiti”), and eventually pull into the drive-in for a shake and mingle with the other kids. So off we went.
As we approached the scene, my hosts suddenly registered alarm, and said “WAIT! How old are you?! What grade are you in at school?” When I told them I had just started sixth grade, they freaked- “When we get there, you have to stay down in the footwell! ONLY HIGH SCHOOLERS are allowed to hang out here, and if you are found out, YOU COULD GET BEAT UP!!!”
I was never so excited and terrified in my life!
Princess
@Trollhattan: I’m betting Romero either has early-onset dementia or a new husband.
Geoduck
@eclare: My town is getting a new Chick-fil-a in a location that’s already getting slammed with traffic. It’s gonna be a nightmare.
And speaking of the Shaitgibbon’s mental decline, here’s his answer to a question at his event in NY:
“Well, I would do that and we’re sitting down, you know, I was, somebody, we had Marco Rubio and my daughter, Ivanka… But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about that because the child care is, child care couldn’t, you know, there’s something you have to have it in this country, you have to have it… I want to stay with child care… So we’ll take care of it. Thank you.”
Jeffro
Betty, I hear you about feeling somewhat gross after a baseline fast food meal. I think I may have hit my lifetime limit back in my 20s or early 30s and have been pushing against that ever since. =P
(These days, I find myself skipping the fries or tots or whatever entirely. A sandwich – not a fried one, hopefully – is usually plenty!)
Jeffro
@Trollhattan: translation: “I stay home and watch too much Fox News now, and whatcha gonna do, right? I mean, they sound that ‘Breaking News’ gong every 20 minutes, my flight/fight response is overwhelmed, they give me something new to stress out about all day every day…so yeah, I’m Republican now” – Romero
Betty Cracker
@Geoduck: I saw a clip of Trump’s economy speech a while ago, and he sounded lobotomized.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
Huge shrugs. I may be a national treasure (you wouldn’t know the relevant judging panel, they’re from Canada) but by choice I’m out of the loop where The Family Firm’s nepo-plotting is concerned.
On the other hand, Big Ears does have cancer. It could well be that he’s been given some horizon-foreshortening prognosis and he’s seriously asked himself is it really worth going through all that in the full glare of Kingship when he could just as easily cross the ‘be King’ thing off his bucket list and let Prince Pegger have the job while he and Queen Fag-Tray slope off to live their remaining lives as the idle rich do.
Jeffro
side note to fellow progressive semi-pro boycotters: it’s great to not spend money at places where we know the owners are horrible people…
…it’s even better to let them know (preferably on a regular basis) that you’re not spending your money there, and why…
…and it’s even better than that to encourage others (preferably on a regular basis) to not spend their money there, and why.
jonas
@Geoduck: You think it’s rambling, but his English professors all tell him it’s beautiful, brilliant “weaving.”
Leto
@JaySinWA: in addition to that, as well as the other media bullshit listed above, I saw this today:
NAACP calls for University of South Carolina to cancel ‘roast’ of Harris
And who is hosting this “roast”? Great question!
Ah, those fuck sticks. Ofc the NAACP and a large collection of students oppose this (statements in the article), but how did the university’s board of trustees respond?
Ah, the good old paradox of tolerance rears its head again. Ofc the easier explanation is that they agree with the white supremacists, their message, and are more than happy to host them at the University of Sedition, aka Traitor U.
SatanicPanic
Karen Tumulty highlights a stupid reader question today in WaPo:
Why is it so hard for Harris to shake Biden’s shadow? I answered your questions.
Karen seems to think this is a serious question, but I’m like- how many people actually think this? Seems like voters are able to distinguish between the two people.
BellyCat
@Betty: Sorry, but this whole “charged as an adult” thing is bullshit. It’s seemingly solely based upon the horrific nature of the crime (for which this qualifies) but without regard to emotional maturity relevant to a particular age. What he did is deeply wrong, but fuck this “he’s an adult” shit….
Leto
@Betty Cracker: and when he’s not sounding like he’s missing 5/6th of his brain, he just throwing insults left and right. He’s the person on the street you avoid because you know they’re suffering some type of mental disassociation, and you don’t want to deal with that.
The things that money and fame will shield you from… *sigh
Scout211
A new technology that was installed at Apalachee high school a week ago probably saved lives. NBC
lowtechcyclist
@Leto:
My wife and I have three degrees between us from the University of South Carolina. It’s where we met, and it’s where we got married. We have a great deal of fondness for the place.
But we will be letting them know why they shouldn’t bother soliciting us for funds anymore.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I heard a sound bite from that speech on the radio news. Trump sounded mournful, like he was delivering a really crappy eulogy. It almost made me miss Snarly Trump.
The Audacity of Krope
So I recently moved to a spot near Harvard. This morning I noticed a huge influx of young adults while I was on my way to work and, better, increased bus service.
I also noticed graffiti stenciled over all the sidewalks. The “no evil” monkeys where the see no evil one conspicuously had his eyes seen shut. Indeed, the accompanying text said “Harvard sewed their eyes shut.”
Some light Googling led me to this article. Apparently Harvard University is performing grotesque experiments on macaques; separating young from their mothers and sewing their eyes shut to deny them normal maturation, particularly facial recognition.
Words fail me…
Quiltingfool
@Gin & Tonic: Thank you! I was hoping you were around, and I appreciate your help.
BellyCat
@Scout211: Good, but… LOOK HOW GOOD SCHOOL SHOOTINGS ARE FOR NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT!!!1!
SatanicPanic
@Scout211: I guess I’m glad it helped. Wish it wasn’t necessary.
Quiltingfool
@WaterGirl: It’s huge. I have to photograph it on the floor, too big to hang up.
One gets a muscle workout when binding the edges! I showed it at my quilt guild today, and one of the ladies remarked on its weight! It is for a king size bed, so…
Leto
@lowtechcyclist: as a native son of the Great State of Sedition, I’m sorry you two couldn’t get into the better state school. Go Tigers! :P
As I’ve mentioned before, my parents were both born, raised, and continue to live in SC. My dad has the long view of the state, and is just resigned to it being the way it is. It’s been that way since its original colonial charter, and I’m honestly at a loss for what large/small scale systemic changes need to be done. We had a brief 8 years after Reconstruction, but then that went the way of everything else regarding Reconstruction.
I do know that I see a lot of Pennsylvania kids going to USC, Clemson, and some other southern schools. It is a good quality education, but man…
mrmoshpotato
@Scout211:
@BellyCat: Glad to see someone’s making a buck of off the non-existent gun problem we have in this country! 🤦♂️
mrmoshpotato
@Quiltingfool: Wow. That’s quite the quilt.
Leto
@Quiltingfool: wow, those are amazing! I also took a look at your Pinterest page, and good lord… so many pretty works of art! Really cool :)
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: he was so all over the place that Catherine Rampell said (paraphrasing) “that was like, random words out of the dictionary…I can’t even find a complete sentence there.”
Leto
@The Audacity of Krope: I briefly read through part of this and… yeah, words fail.
How was there nobody in the review process who might have thought there was no value in this project? That could cite all the studies done before that have approximated what this experiment wanted to do? So many failures occurring here.
Miki
When I was a kid it was the A & Dub that was most attractive – cheap Coneys and fries, and car hops. My oldest sister took me with her so she could flirt with the boys
Mickey Dee had its special appeal because no one patrolled the parking lot until most of the kids connected with their buddies and drove off to a more secluded lot.
Yes. I’m old.
CaseyL
@Tony Jay:
D’oh! Can’t believe I got that wrong. I read the book, of course, but also watched the ’94 mini series which was so. absolutely.perfect. I’ve watched at least parts of it many, many times.
(And it tickled me no end that Jamie Sheridan, who played Flagg in the mini-series, went on to play Captain Deakins on L&O: Criminal Intent. From Hell-demon to Incorruptible Police Captain!)
eclare
@BellyCat:
Agree. Plus the GBI (IIRC) announced that he would be charged as an adult within an hour or two of the crime.
The Audacity of Krope
If you try really hard and your salary as a journalist depends on it and you’re willing to lie, you can find a way to invent a complete sentence.
Jackie
@Geminid: TCFG was actually sticking to the teleprompter. He read it like a book written by someone else – which it was. Sing-songy monotone.
The Audacity of Krope
It’s better than other fast food options, sort of, but not worth the higher price by my estimation.
We got our first in my area just a couple years ago. My boyfriend at the time wouldn’t let me eat there, said they wanted to put us in the gulag.
Geminid
@Leto: Have you heard the joke that starts, “What do the last three letters in Clemson stand for?” My Atlanta friend heard it from a South Carolina grad he practiced law with. It’s mean.
The Audacity of Krope
@Leto: Utterly deplorable behavior. The article questions the value of what they even hoped to learn. Admittedly, there are no quotes from the researchers as to the perceived benefit of these studies.
One point from the article I thought really hit the nail on the head; since animals can’t give consent, it is really important that we take extra care with their treatment and consider whether what we hope to learn has useful applications. Paraphrasing a bit.
Joy in FL
@Betty Cracker: I do remember Biff Burger. I don’t recall one being near me, and I don’t remember eating there, although I probably did, just not enough to remember. But I remember them.
Ksmiami
@Leto: I hope it sinks into the sea. No funds for them.
Leto
@Geminid: I have not!
TS
@Trollhattan:
Trump and Co probably think this is their answer to the Washington Post having Liz Cheney on the front page saying she will vote for VP Harris.
Leto
So speaking of SC, part of my reading for American history class tomorrow is this 1666 advertisement for recruiting settlers to Carolina. This was when it was still one contiguous body, but take a look at what was being advertised. Just interesting.
frosty
@Omnes Omnibus: I miss Alison Rose too. Another short person.
lowtechcyclist
@Leto:
In addition to the state’s secessionist heritage, there’s the reality that the urban/rural balance in the state is likely to stay heavily tipped towards rural/small town for many years to come. Columbia, Charleston, and the Greenville/Spartanburg area just aren’t going to become major metropolises, and absent that, there’s nothing else that’s going to turn South Carolina purple, let alone blue.
That’s what turned Virginia blue (well, bluish purple anyway), and it’s what’s getting GA and NC close to the tipping point: urbanization. Having more people living in cities and inner ‘burbs than in small towns and rural areas. But with Charlotte on one side and Atlanta on the other, they’re going to pull in the people who want to live in or near a big city, and it’s hard to see any of SC’s metro areas competing with them.
I had no idea that USC and Clemson were drawing a lot of kids from up north, though I should have gotten a clue when one of my step-nephews went to Clemson, and another went to Coastal Carolina. I just went to USC for my doctorate, so my decision was a matter of which research universities were strong in the areas I was considering for my PhD research, and which ones of those would offer me a teaching assistantship.
David 🐝KHive🐝 Koch
🏀
Geminid
@Leto: This is a trick joke, best made verbally. The answer to, “What do the last three letters in Clemson stand for?” is spoken as:
“Chivalry. Honour. Knowledge.”
But then the listener realizes that those poor Tigers spell that:
“Shivelry, Oner, Nowledge.”
Mark
@Citizen Alan: Calculated Risk. He was one of the better contributors until infighting destroyed the blog.
Bill Arnold
@Gin & Tonic:
That appears to be his 21-years-younger wife.
As said upthread, may they instantly develop a fear of unassisted-flying lessons.
Ruckus
@raven:
Just read that about In and Out and will no longer eat there.
It WAS my favorite burger joint and there is one not far from my place. I’d never noticed this but just the concept of it bothers me.
My dad was in the Shriners and once sat on a bus next to one of their mucky mucks that was high up in the In and Out structure. He had the same first and last name and middle initial as dad and his son was the second – as I am. Now this was about 40-45 yrs ago, so he’s likely gone now. The funny part was them introducing themselves to each other. I won’t put it on line but it was funny.
TS
The media’s normalisation of trump is driving me to drink. This is how Wapo reports the word salad he came up with in his “speech” at the economic club.
Added a sentance about VP Harris at the end – that’s their both sides reporting today.
They didn’t do this with Sarah Palin. They reported her verbatim. What has trump got over them???
Super Dave
@raven: That is true, but I am not forced to read them. They also pay their employees good wages and treat them well, so I take that into account. Not everyone likes their food, but it is prepared with fresh ingredients daily. They will not open a store that is beyond reach with their fresh ingredient supply chain. Although I’m an avowed atheist, I have family members who are devout in their beliefs (a variety, including mainstream Christianity, evangelical Christianity, and Roman Catholicism), and largely practice what they believe. I may not agree with them, but I respect the belief they hold in their various faiths, and expect them to do the same for mine. I don’t make a big deal out of it when we visit, since I think our Constitution allows for all beliefs, including not believing.
tybee
@Raven:
a kind of what?
Anyway
I have no principles but am a snob and almost never eat at fast food chains.
Much prefer mom’n’pop establishments …
zhena gogolia
Long afternoon.
zhena gogolia
@Anyway: We luckily have an array of restaurants at all price points in my community so I think I have not gone to any fast-food place in decades, at least not while traveling. I mean not while NOT traveling.
ETA: even then, I tend to wait until I get to my destination
Leto
@lowtechcyclist: Charleston, and the surrounding area, have doubled, if not almost tripled, in size due to all the heavy industry coming in. Boeing, Volvo are two major players, and they expanded Charleston harbor (deepening the harbor to 52ft) just a few years ago which is generating a ton of activity. There’s more being done just outside of say BMW. What I don’t know is what that overall increase in population will mean via voters. I don’t want to generalize and say they’re all going to be right-wing assholes, but SC is pretty damn regressive and the generational structural voting/power barriers are hard to break.
I don’t know. I guess I just wish that my home state, where my people are, were a better place. But it is what it is.
The Thin Black Duke
I wish it was November already.
Leto
@Geminid: loooool; i like it :)
zhena gogolia
@The Thin Black Duke: Not me, I’m dreading it!
Ruckus
@Jackie:
My daughter says their food is mediocre and blah, and pricey, so there’s that, too.
I agree with your daughter. I’ve eaten there a very few times just for something different and haven’t eaten there in a lot of years, it just wasn’t worth it.
Tazj
@West of the Rockies: I do remember H. Salt Fish and Chips. I liked it too, as a child.
Of course, I had a fascination with all fast food places , though we rarely went out to any.
I remember really wanting to go to the Red Barn as a kid, even though I was repeatedly told by my older siblings that it was mediocre at best.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Qué será será.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: That you, Doris?
I don’t even have a cat to hug all night this time.
Manyakitty
@zhena gogolia: heyyy Bluette 💙😁
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Still time to get a cat.
kalakal
@Baud: A friend’s mother was a huge Doris Day fan. She named her daughters Kay and Sara
SatanicPanic
@Ruckus: The owner is a Trumper. She’s the daughter or granddaughter of the founder I forget which.
I know it’s violating an unwritten SoCal rule to knock In-N-Out but I just can’t deal with the lines. The burgers are good but it’s just too much effort.
Hoppie
@West of the Rockies: They were a Kentucky thing, first one was on Southland Dr. in Lexington next to the railroad overpass. Jerrico, an outgrowth of Jerry’s, a sort of Denny’s clone, took them over and expanded the franchising.
Ruckus
@Leto:
I take the electric local train all the time when I have to travel across LA county. A lot less expensive than driving and far less stressful. However, there often are a few who really do not seem like they fit in anywhere. They travel on days like today where it is currently 108 degrees here. That’s warm, in case you’ve never been in 108 degree weather and the train is of course air conditioned. So I imagine that those of the unhoused nature are all riding the train.
Steve in the ATL
Paging Dorothy Windsor! Amazon tells me that Glass Girl is not available for Kindle. Is that accurate?!
VeniceRiley
Must say, my local.MacDonalds in Sudbury, England is a hot mess. Oh. MY. GOD.
Beef too salty. Sad pickles. A nano amount of mustard. Limpest most soggy undercooked fries and few at that. It’s just, like the franchise is trying to squeeze every last cent out of every £ …. I thought I might write to corporate and get a gig as an undercover reporting over here, but I still can’t drive on the wrong side of the road.
On the plus side, an actual Italian pizza truck, with actual Italians in it, just appeared in the farmers market every Thursday, and it’s the best I’ve had here hands down. Sent neighbors. They agree.
Ruckus
@Leto:
Served on board a USN ship out of Charleston, of course this was a few decades ago…..
I actually thought that parts of the city weren’t bad at all, a few of the restaurants were really pretty good, although I did get shot at walking back from downtown once. I believe I set a world record for the 300 yard dash.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Steve in the ATL: They’re lying to you. It’s on sale for $1.99
Here’s the link
ETA: If that doesn’t work, tell me.
Gin & Tonic
@Leto:
Near the beginning of my career my employer had a contract with the S.C. Dept. of Insurance. As a result I had the dubious pleasure of going to Columbia 4-5 times a year.
Shithole. That is all.
cain
@Trollhattan: Don’t tell the blogfather that, he’s been trying to attract a corvid sidekick for months now. :D
Scout211
Sad story: It’s 102, power is out and my brand new Generac is not quite done being installed. It is sitting there all bright and shiny but not yet running.😭
My portable generator doesn’t power the A/C but we have water, fans and the fridge and microwave. We’ll be okay.
mrmoshpotato
@Scout211: Blast those fans.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Scout211: Holy cow. How long is that situation going to last?
Scout211
@Dorothy A. Winsor: We are on an automatic shutoff subsection of 317 customers. If anything hits a line, we all lose power. It usually lasts 3-4 hours. They have to inspect the lines before they restore power. It’s for fire safety.
It happens way too often, though. That’s why we are paying the big bucks for the whole house back up generator.
Citizen Alan
@Mark: wwasn’t me. Never heard of it.
Ksmiami
@SatanicPanic: in and out fries are horrible
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Scout211: Where are you?
Expletive Deleted
@Scout211: Glad the tech actually helped. Can’t help but think of this short story though.
https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/the-sound-of-children-screaming/
zhena gogolia
@Manyakitty: 😂
Jay
@Scout211:
When we lived in Maple Ridge, we lost power at least once every two months, 3 to 4 hours, for about 4 years, usually 10pm to 12pm.
Finally, BC Hydro finally got the needed approvals to move the power pole that kept getting hit, at the corner of 116th Street and Dewdney Trunk Road, from the verge, to the other side of the side walk.
We always knew the cause when the power went out, somebody had either clipped the pole hard enough to break a wire connection, shear a connection to the transformer, or completely take out the pole.
Hydro worked out a deal with a local business in the area where they could park a repair truck and a pole truck overnight, and made sure that the teams on those trucks lived in the area.
Even when the pole was completely toast, it was fixed in 3 to 4 hours.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: oh, no!!!!
Kelly
@Scout211: Similar fire safety shut offs until inspected for PacifiCorp customers about 10 miles further up into the mountains near here. Over the last couple years PacifiCorp has lost lawsuits totaling a few billion dollars in the aftermath of the 2020 Labor Day fire in Oregon. Some of the folks up there are very unhappy the power is off so often while their neighbors are relieved the hazard is reduced. Prior to the 2020 fires it was standard practice to immediately restart power and only inspect after several breaker trips.
Expletive Deleted
@SatanicPanic: Yeah, I always liked them and the verse thing never bothered me, the placement was discreet and just the reference not the actual text, which seemed fine to me.
But under her ownership their rep was already sliding, and then covid came along and they were anti-mask and anti-mandate so yeah.
Jackie
This ain’t Michigan, so I wonder the odds of daddy being convicted in AR loving Georgia country…
Scout211
@Dorothy A. Winsor: We live in NorCal, in a very rural area, sort of between the valley and the foothills. We are definitely in a fire risk area.
Power is back up! Yay! Only 2 1/2 hours this time. 🙄
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Scout211: Thank goodness
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie: True. It’s still nice to see these terrible parents getting charged for assisting their murderous children.
cain
Thanks to dyslexia, I keep calling it “Chick a fill’ – drives my wife crazy. I still call it that because they deserve it.
Timill
@Dorothy A. Winsor: If you’re on a phone or tablet (Android or iOS) you can’t buy in the Kindle app, because Reasons (too many people want a cut, IIRC). That’s nothing to do with Glass Girl, but is all books.
mrmoshpotato
@Scout211: Any ETA on when your whole house generator will be up and running?
wjca
Item: Palin was/is head and shoulders smarter than Trump.
Item: Palin could speak far more coherently than Trump.
If they quoted Trump verbatim, the contrast would embarrass misogynists everywhere. /s
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Timill: I did not know that. That sucks.
Scout211
The propane guy just hooked up the propane lines and installed the regulator today. It now just has to pass inspection and a test run. Hopefully next week. Fingers crossed.
Scout211
I buy kindle books all the time on my iPhone and iPad. Not through the Kindle app, but on the Amazon website in the browser I am using. So it can be done, it’s just a few extra steps.
thruppence
If you are sensitive to monosodium glutamate, Chick-fil-A sandwiches seem to have a lot of it
JaySinWA
As dog is my witness I thought it was called chickah-fill-ah.
Steve in the ATL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: got it—thank you!
Steve in the ATL
@Timill:@Dorothy A. Winsor:@Scout211: I was on iPhone. Kindle app said I can’t buy books through it. Amazon app said book not available for kindle. Amazon website through browser (link courtesy of the author!) worked. Nice work there, big tech!
Geminid
@Jackie: It will be an interesting trial if there’s no plea deal. The prosecutor would not have brought those charges if he did not intend to win a conviction. It sounds like the father’s actions were egregious, way beyond simple negligence. The two people I know well who own firearms would convict him in a heartbeat.