Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

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

Republicans do not pay their debts.

How stupid are these people?

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Same As It Ever Was Open Thread

Same As It Ever Was Open Thread

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Our local Dems Abroad chair asked the group chat if any of us would be staying up to watch the VP debate tonight. I’d rather eat scabs than voluntarily listen to JD Vance, frankly.

I run a lot (I’m very slow, but it makes me feel great, mentally). There’s a terrific, well-maintained canal network around here which has good, broad running or cycling paths. Along with the usual ducks and geese, I get to see lots of herons, swans, moorhens, and once, this summer, I even saw a kingfisher. I also enjoy the local canalboats:

and you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large water mobile

[image or embed]

— Rose Judson (@rosejudson.bsky.social) September 30, 2024 at 6:11 PM

I applied for a mortgage today (the first in my own name! adulting!), so I am fried. I owe y’all an update on US vs. Google Ads now that testimony has wrapped. Probably Thursday. It’s not going great for Google, based on what I’ve read so far. I love that for them.

Whatcha got? Any good boat names? Open thread.

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  6. 6.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Unless someone has an absolutely disastrous night, the debate will be a nothingburger.  Anyone can give the worst performance of their life at any moment, but the only noticeably likely performance disaster is Vance saying something so heinous even normies take notice.  He has a history of it, but he also knows he’ll be in front of a national, not friendly audience.

  8. 8.

    Rose Judson

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    The only noticeably likely performance disaster is Vance saying something so heinous even normies take notice.  He has a history of it, but he also knows he’ll be in front of a national, not friendly audience.

    I believe in him. I know he can be true to himself. 💕

  9. 9.

    citizen dave

    Well if it doesn’t work out for him, maybe Vance can get an eyeliner commercial…

    In peak Covid times, I watched a few of those “slow tv” (think there was a series on Prime; and/or YouTube) of those England canal boats/people.  Really interesting history and network.  A cool lifestyle. To keep with the Talking Heads theme, another boat name might be Naive Melody.

  12. 12.

    Tony Jay

    I once saw a barge called ‘Flat-Bottomed Girl’. Made me chuckle.

    Also, we visited Cadbury World when we were down in the Midlands last year. After being spoiled by the Willy Wonka wackiness of the Lindt factory in Switzerland, all I can say is it was very… British.

    Nice chocolate though.

  13. 13.

    SatanicPanic

    Lawyers just announced Diddy is going to be facing an additional… 120 lawsuits. He’s almost getting into Donald Trump numbers there.

  15. 15.

    JoyceH

    I’ll watch the debate, hoping to hear JD give more insightful comments on the immigrants from Haysha.

  16. 16.

    Rose Judson

    @Tony Jay: Yeah, The Child has been a couple times over the course of her school career, and that’s basically her reaction to it: boring tour, great chocolate.

    One of these years when we’re visiting my parents, I’ll get her down to Hersheypark, and then she’ll have the opposite experience: amazing tour, terrible chocolate.

  18. 18.

    A Ghost to Most

    The only thing better than getting your first mortgage is paying off your last one. Good luck.

  22. 22.

    Rose Judson

    @A Ghost to Most: Thank you! Financial stuff makes me break out in hives.

    I’m trying to buy the house I’ve been renting for the last four years. Landlord gave me nine months lead time (and full credit for all the rent I’ve paid him, so the price is FANTASTIC). I’m amazed I was able to cobble together the deposit so quickly.

  25. 25.

    artem1s

    Congrats on the mortgage! It was incredibly stressful the first time I did that. I’ve refinanced a couple of times and changed it over to an equity line. I pretty much go zen and just initial away now.FYI, making regular payments on a home mortgage is the best way to build credit. You’ll have banks and fly-by-night lenders trying to throw money at you now. A second loan offers can be a lifesaver if you have a critical need. Just don’t give in to using your equity for frivolous purchases like a $44B social media site fire sale.​

  26. 26.

    matt

    When I went and signed the papers for my mortgage they critiqued my signature and demanded that I sign my name more clearly.

  29. 29.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @frosty: Ugh…we used to love his videos but then in one of them he started ranting about the unfairness, stupidity and oppression of Covid restrictions.  And we just never could get back into him, which is a shame because his are the best videos of the several series’ we tried.

  30. 30.

    ssdd

    I’ve been fascinated by British canals ever since I stumbled over Great Canal Journeys on YouTube a few years ago. If I ever hit the lotto I would absolutely move to the UK, buy a narrowboat and just putter about the countryside.

  32. 32.

    Tony Jay

    @Rose Judson:

    I’ve been informed that American chocolate tastes of pee. Not just a little bit, but actually, in that it’s made with the same something that gives pee it’s, ah, it’s taste. As a result, I’ve never knowingly eaten any American chocolate. 

    On reflection, I can now see why I’m only infrequently invited to cocktail parties.

  33. 33.

    artem1s

    @matt: 
    an odd thing I remember about signing my first mortgage way back when nothing was digital- the bank made a huge fuss about signing everything in blue ink. Color copiers were barely a thing then, so maybe it was a security thing?

  34. 34.

    Tony Jay

    @Spanky:

    It was great. Really well designed, lots of wacky chocolate machines dispensing different chocolate shapes, and then, at the end, once you’d gorged yourselves on chocolate squirts and chocolate chunks, you emerged into a room with infinite quantities of Lindt chocolate free for the taking.

    Unfortunately we took ours in a bag across the border into an Italian August and everything melted instantly.

  40. 40.

    Captain C

    @Tony Jay: Did the person who told you this have a stash of American chocolate that they feared (rightly or wrongly) you would raid?

  45. 45.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Tony Jay: Herseys does have a distinct sour taste, due to its unusual recipe. IIRC the founder insisted on using liquid milk — not realizing that European chocolate makers used dried milk.

    For many years Herseys was the dominant chocolate maker in the US, to the point they actually provided the chocolate that a number of their competitors used.

  46. 46.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Unless someone has an absolutely disastrous night, the debate will be a nothingburger.

    I will put my dollar down on “Media works to make it a big deal, but race is back to where it was by the weekend.”

    There is a small chance that Vance could say something that would knock him down even further because he is such an asshole, but I’m not counting on it.

  51. 51.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Tony Jay:

    Never heard that before. I’m not that into chocolate, but my choco-holic friends say the beans are low quality and the texture is waxy.

  52. 52.

    UncleEbeneezer

    My wife (ahem) floated the idea of us someday retiring on a narrow-boat.  But I get claustrophobic and would still like to be able to play my drums as long as I can.  Also, we will probably will never have the $ to move to UK and buy a narrow-boat.

  53. 53.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Rose Judson: Hershey used to have an actual tour of their actual factory, but I think they stopped doing it and replaced it with the “Chocolate Tour” dark ride just before the first time I went there in the 1970s.

    No matter, I always loved that dark ride. They keep updating it–it has animatronic singing cows now. Also was always impressed by the fact that it’s free, since it’s just outside of Hersheypark at their “Chocolate World” attraction and it’s the one thing there that is not an upcharge thing.

    (weird fact: Hersheypark and Chocolate World are technically owned by separate companies, though they have common part ownership. Chocolate World is actually owned by the chocolate company.)

  55. 55.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Tony Jay: Hot take: yes, Hershey’s chocolate tastes weird, with a sort of acidic aftertaste, but I don’t mind it at all. Probably because I was brought up on that.

  56. 56.

    Geminid

    @La Nonna: I follow Turkish journalist Ragip Soylu on social media. His header pic is an evening view from a Bosphorus ferry, and I sometimes imagine Jason and his Argonauts rowing their ship on the way to the gold sands of Colchis. I guess that would have been 3500 years ago at least.

  57. 57.

    Anotherlurker.

    @Rose Judson: Hey Rose, a belated welcome to the front page. I really enjoy your posts.

    I am a native NYer living in the SF East Bay area. I grew up on LI Sound and in addition to being an avid fisherman I’m also a fan of everything nautical.  I also enjoy learning about amazing engineering projects.

    To make a long story short, I ran across an episode of “Crusing the Cut” on YouTube and I was hooked.  The English canal system is truly an engineering marvel!  Boats traveling thru the sky! (on Aquaducts)  Boats traveling thru tunnels! Boats rising thru locks and being lifted by elevators and wheels caisons!   Amazing!

    And to think that a great deal of the canal system was designed and built in the 18th and 19th centuries to accommodate the production gains of the Industrial Revolution.

    I envy you your proximity to this engineering marvel.

    BTW, keep up the good work on the front page.

  59. 59.

    Booger

    @Tony Jay: I believe you might mean vomit, as Hershey chocolate has a high amount of butyric acid in it ( there’s a reason– it’s not just there to make it smell like puke) and once you make the butyric acid-parmesan-ginko-dogshit-vomit connection, Hershey becomes a non starter.

  60. 60.

    TBone

    We had a nice big container of Hershey’s chocolate ice cream two days ago.  Had.

    No butyric acid.  Big chocolate flavor.

  62. 62.

    Maxim

    It’s difficult to imagine a landlord in the US doing what yours is. Good for them, and good luck to you!

  63. 63.

    TBone

    My favorite yacht was owned by my former BF ship captain from Louisiana/Mississippi’s sister, who married into wealth after working as a physical therapist on cruise ships.   I have an actual T-shirt with a rendering of the yacht and her name:  Destiny.  Sister’s name was Tangie.  Tan-zhee

  66. 66.

    Trollhattan

    Chiming in on the topic of chocolate, y’all probably know the industry is in peril due to the challenges to growing and harvesting cocoa and might be relieved the Swiss are ON IT.

    Food scientists in Switzerland have discovered a method of using the entire cocoa fruit to make chocolate, instead of exclusively using the beans. With the current process chocolate producers extract the beans and dispose of the rest of the fruit.

    The new chocolate was developed at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich by scientist Kim Mishra and his team. Together they have created a process that includes the cocoa fruit pulp, the juice, and the husk.

    Utilising the entire fruit can substantially minimise waste, potentially eliminate the need for sugar, and also reduce the increasing prices for cocoa beans.

    Mr Mishra has stated that the new chocolate heavily relies on the sweet juice of the fruit. The juice, which is 14 per cent sugar, is distilled down to form a highly concentrated syrup, combined with the pulp and then mixed with the dried husk, to form a very sweet cocoa gel. When the gel is added to the cocoa beans, it eliminates the need of sugar.

    Mr Mishra was partnered in his project by KOA, a Swiss start-up working in sustainable cocoa growing. Its co-founder, Anian Schreiber, believes using the entire cocoa fruit could solve many of the cocoa industry’s problems, from the price of cocoa beans to the poverty among cocoa farmers.

    “The farmers get significantly extra income through utilising cocoa pulp, but also the important industrial processing is happening in the country of origin,” Mr Schreiber told BBC.

    The link between chocolate production and the environment is also stressed by Mr Schreiber. A third of all farm produce, he said, “never ends up in our mouths”.

    “It’s like you throw away the apple and just use its seeds. That’s what we do right now with the cocoa fruit.”

    https://bakingbusiness.com.au/swiss-scientists-announce-chocolate-breakthrough/

  67. 67.

    Misswhatsis

    We used to play a couple of boat name parlor games. One was names that sound grand but mean something less grand (the Impecunious, the importunate, the belligerent etc). The other was the big boat name and the tender name: the Alexander Graham Bell and the tender is either Watson or the Ringy-Ding. The big boat is Manifest Destiny and the tender is White Man’s Burden (I know I know don’t smack me — this is a game for the clueless) the big boat is Over the Rainbow and the tender is Toto.

  69. 69.

    SatanicPanic

    @Belafon: Good Times was an excellent show for the first couple seasons before it became all about DYNO-MITE Jimmie Walker show. Amos apparently left because of that. Great dude, RIP.

  72. 72.

    TBone

    I am a huge fan of Toblerone bars.  I’ll buy Lindt also when the need arises, but something about the honey candy chocolate taste of Toblerone tickles my fancy.  Had my first one in Switzerland.

  74. 74.

    raven

    I trace my love for fishing to the insane tris we took from Champaign-Urbana to Hamilton Illinois on the Big River. The Addie Mae was a paddle wheeler powered by a tractor engine, basically a floating bar with a juke box on the deck. T

     

    No, the Addie May wasn’t fancy and she wasn’t fast, but she was a fun-loving lady who made her mark as one of the nation’s oldest sternwheel excursion boats.

    She was born on the Illinois River in 1923 and she died on the Monongahela River in 1996. In between, she spent most of her 73 years as an Upper Mississippi ferry, excursion boat and dinner boat. She also outlived most of her larger and better-known peers; only the Belle of Louisville and the President have been on the river longer.

    For 36 seasons, the Addie May made sight-seeing trips from her landing four miles north of Hamilton on Illinois 96. She was a Pool 19 institution and one of the few excursion boats on the Upper Mississippi. Loyal passengers love to reminisce about this venerable riverboat. They remember weddings, birthdays and anniversary parties held on her decks. They can tell you about beautiful moonlit nights on the river and sudden squalls that sent the boat scurrying for the dock. “The best Dixieland music I ever heard was played on the Addie May,” a white-haired river buff told me once. “I can’t remember the year, but the weather was perfect and we had a full moon to boot.”

    The Addie May was also a favorite of William J. “Steamboat Bill” Petersen, superintendent of the State Historical Society of Iowa and an eminent river historian. Several times during the 1950’s and ‘60s, Petersen chartered the boat and regaled society members with river tales gathered during his Mississippi research.

  76. 76.

    Tony Jay

    It could be vomit, but I’m 90% (and falling) certain that the episode of QI I’m thinking of that included the interesting fact about why most British people think American chocolate tastes lavatorial said pee. I’ll just check with Lady Jay.

    She also thinks it was pee.

    But I’ve got a memory like a collander. Catches much, retains little of lasting value.

  77. 77.

    frosty

    @Rose Judson: The Hershey Chocolate World tour is OK I guess. However, when I was a kid you could tour the actual factory and look at vats of chocolate.

    I think OSHA killed that one and other factory tours. I remember going through Ford Rouge and seeing molten steel poured. And the Kellogg’s factory in Battle Creek.

  78. 78.

    TBone

    Having grown up with the famous Linvilla Orchards farm in my backyard, I have a burning need to know why candied and caramel apples are so freaking scarce where I live in central PA. I mean, ya can’t find ’em!  What the…

    It’s not October without a caramel apple on a stick.  And I don’t like having to make my own!  Linvilla spoiled me.

  79. 79.

    TBone

    @raven: we have paddle wheel tours available here, you have inspired me to finally book a supper/show on one.

    https://ridehiawatha.com/

    OOH:  T Time!
    Come onboard the Hiawatha and enjoy an elegant Afternoon Tea Party with us! Fancy linens, china cups and saucers will add to the experience. A variety of Afternoon Tea Treats will be served and several different types of tea to try.

    Thanks, Raven!

  83. 83.

    TBone

    @NotMax: that’s cool and funny!  😍 We have railroad/train events here (restored, vintage, etc.) in my town also but nothing like that!  My last train ride was on a Christmas train out of West Chester, PA with my young nephew.  Hot cocoa is served.

    https://youtu.be/6_wnPFdBrWA

    The day we went, it had snowed and looked like proper Christmas.  The old restored destination train station is decorated in high style!

  84. 84.

    NotMax

    @TBone

    Touring a soda pop factory many, many years ago (Nehi?) was were I learned that orange soda starts out green until loads of coloring and other additives are mixed in.

    Used to be a good tour of the Musselman’s applesauce factory, not far from Hershey. Maybe still is.

  85. 85.

    Steve in the ATL

    @frosty:
     

    the Kellogg’s factory in Battle Creek

    Are they doing tours in Mexico, where the cereal production is now? (leaving BC a meth-infested husk of its former self)

  87. 87.

    JML

    Lot of deaths in sports and entertainment this week: Maggie Smith, John Ashton, Dikembe Mutombo, John Amos, Drake Hogestyn, Pete Rose. Kris Kristofferson…

    Mutombo bummed me out a lot. Great player, great humanitarian.

  88. 88.

    TBone

    @NotMax: our little country church here has an old school Amish-type Apple Butter Making Day each Fall, where we make it in a big cauldron over an open fire in an outdoor pavilion.  Of course since it’s not on a Sunday, festivities can occur on the sly!

  93. 93.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Sister Golden Bear: As an average American chocoholic, I totally agree Hersey’s chocolates are not worth the calories, whereas Lindt and Cadbury’s definitely are, although their chocolate (especially milk chocolate, which I am the most familiar with) do taste different from each other, but both excellent. Just my 2 cents.

  95. 95.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @Trollhattan: Very interesting! Went on a chocolate tour in Costa Rica last year and it was impressive how many steps between the ripe fruit and cocoa nibs. And how difficult it is to harvest ripe fruit. Forget the details, but a lot of ways it can go wrong before successful harvest. And yes, the cocoa farmers work very hard for not much money. Good for the Swiss!

  96. 96.

    JaySinWA

    Sunk Cost may be too on the nose for a boat name

    I nearly typed “too on the knows”, thought about keeping it as a typo pun.

  97. 97.

    kalakal

    @Rose Judson:

    Congrats on the mortgage.

    One of the best holidays I ever had was poodling about on the South Oxford canal for 2 weeks in 1986, just totally relaxing*. It was quite weird in a way, you booked it turned up, they gave you a 5 minute talk and then handed you the keys to a 30 ft boat – none of us had ever been on board one. One day we tied up at the bank, walked across a field to a village to get lunch and the place seemed totally deserted. As we walked toward the pub we passed a Dalek in a garden. Quite an odd sensation. The pub was good.

    *The exception to the relaxation was as we passed Upper Heyford. The tranquility of a perfect April morning in the English countryside was shattered when 5 F-111s took off, fully loaded with massive drop tanks. Reagan had just ordered the bombing of Libya

  99. 99.

    jimmiraybob

    I have been on something of a vacation from commenting anywhere for the last month or so. But since a certain somebody will be spewing lies and BS tonight free of fact checking, I thought I’d plant this here.

    George Washington fathered no biological children of record. When he married Martha he helped raise her children from a previous marriage. No word on if they were cat people.

    I guess what I’m getting at is that he and Martha and the kids were the first Kamala, Doug and kids of record. Which brings up the question of if he had a stake in the United States of America? Is it too late for a Republican investigation and impeachment?

  102. 102.

    Little_Big_Tug

    My favorite boat name was seen on the Kuskoquim river (Alaska) about 30 years ago, anchored up buying salmon.  It was made from several fiberglass septic tanks for floatation and sporting a plywood deck.
    It was, of course, Cirrhosis of the River.

    My second favorite name was from Popeye (Robin Williams) known as Vile Body. “Dis is no place for infinks!”

  103. 103.

    Slightly_peeved

    My parents got really into narrow boat trips in the early 2000s. Had some great holidays on the canals – including the one going past the Cadbury factory. Would heartily recommend – the boats are pretty easy to drive, the locks require a bit of physical effort but are otherwise a reason for a nice walk, and the inside of the boats is equivalent to a bigger fancier RV except you can still use the whole boat as you travel.

    I’d suggest “Rishi can’t stop this boat” as a name but it would probably be unnecessarily provocative. Or “The Justice’s Bribe.”

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