Hey everyone. I hope everyone has been having as relaxing a weekend as we have. Just puttering around the house doing things, watching some tv shows (1883 and 1923), etc. It was a beautiful day so Joelle and I went to the pool- every community should have an outdoor or indoor pool. It’s just so nice to get a little sun and exercise and relax. Public spaces used well are good, even for introverts.
I had forgotten how nice it is to have someone around to make me do shit. Makes it harder for me to get lost in my head.
So did evertone’s sportsball team win/
eclare
Mine did, in a surprising comeback against Vandy! Go Vols! And bonus: the Ohio State lost.
raven
@eclare: And Clemson lost and still backed into the ACC championship game. Go Dawgs!
Old Dan and Little Ann
I am coaching a 5th/6th grade girls bball team for the 1st time. They didn’t win a single game last year. We win our 1st game this morning. It made my day.
eclare
@raven:
Looks like our teams may be on a collision course in the playoffs!
eclare
@Old Dan and Little Ann:
Congratulations!
Jbird
UCLA won, and USC lost, so I’m happy.
lowtechcyclist
To the Gamecocks, in Death Valley!!!
Steven Holmes
Win the brawl or the game?
Suzanne
So, in order to spruce things up a bit in our living room during cozy season, last weekend Mr. Suzanne and I took an armchair that I had in my home office and moved it to the living room. We have a coffee table that we bought for $10 on FB Marketplace, but it’s one of those brass-and-glass things, and the glass slides around on top. Not great. Worried about SuzMom falling on it, or the kids breaking shit. So we decided to buy a nice big ottoman instead. That arrived today, and now the living room is super-soft.
eclare
@Suzanne:
Nice! I have a glass and metal coffee table that I got from my aunt that I am considering returning because my current dog frequently gets zoomies.
cain
It’s been a swell weekend so far. Very relaxing.
Today, I’ve been working on doing some light remodeling and building my new game machine. I also got a new laptop. The new lunar lake laptop from Intel have been incredible, I spent 4-5 binge watching movies and I only used about 20% battery life on my laptop. The new desktop (the first one in 8 years) I screwed up.
It’s amazing what 8 years of difference make. I did same thing I did 8 years ago, sitting on the floor and doing all the work. But this time, I had a hard time seeing and I needed a lot more light, and my muscles were really sore, OMG. It was terrible. I had to take pain killers. I seriously will need to do some yoga. That will be the priority. I bought a lot of stuff to do something other than following politics. I have realized that I can’t pay too much attention and focus on other things.
The other thing is that I’ve been listening to rap after a long time. I normally don’t listen because I can’t really start repeating the words rappers say given the lyrics. But this time, the classic rap from the late 80s to the mid 90s, they really spoke to me. It feels appropriate given the time and I think I’m going to listen to it more. I know a lot of you really enjoy rap and hip hop, and I know folks like Baud and raven probably feel me.
Trivia Man
I like chaos in the college playoffs. My team has been out for months, now i am sll about underdogs. Georgia was exposed as not good, I’d laugh if they lose the SEC CG and miss the playoffs completely.
UncleEbeneezer
@cain: I like SOME rap/hip-hop. Old school gangsta rap, early-Kanye and current artists like Jay-Z, Kendrick and Meghan Thee Stallion/Cardi B., but that’s about it. Pretty limited selection given how much there is in the genre. Need to start listening to more of the classics (Biggie, Tupac, Naz, Andre3000 etc.) and some of the new rages like Glowrilla
Trivia Man
@cain: I found an old Public Enemy CD, some powerful stuff. Apocalypse 91 – The Enemy Strikes Back.
I also seem to recall It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back was also good.
BeautifulPlumage
I lost power for 4 days last week so cleared out the fridge & freezer. The next grocery trip I really wanted milk but only gallons were available. So I got some soup veggies and spent the day making 4 batches of creamed soups (mushroom, carrot, butternut squash) to restock my freezer for lunches.
I listened to several episodes of Fall of Civilizations and find them fascinating.
lowtechcyclist
Since this is an open thread, no Rapture for Hal Lindsey, the author of the 1970 bestseller, The Late Great Planet Earth. He died a regular human death at the age of 95 earlier this week, 54 years after predicting the imminent end of the world.
And yes, all sorts of people continue to believe in all that End Times and Rapture bullshit.
Trivia Man
@UncleEbeneezer: The Message by Grandmaster Flash had a big impact on me. See how you like that one.
UncleEbeneezer
Suzanne
@eclare: Yeah, the glass sliding around made me nervous. I tried getting those little clear grippy feet to hold it in place, but it didn’t work. Oh well, it was a $10 item!
I take comfort and coziness seriously!
cain
@UncleEbeneezer:
oh yeah.. NWA’s “fuck the police” is still relevant amazingly enough. Blows my mind that Ice Cube is who he is these days.
cain
@Trivia Man:
Rap is all about telling stories.
I’ve listened to the stuff my kid listens to and I find that it isn’t as powerful as the stuff I was listening to. It’s ok, but the stuff back then was really raw and I feel like they drew a lot from a lot of sources.
eclare
@cain:
Run-DMC lyrics are ok to sing outloud. Also De La Soul from what I know of them.
ArchTeryx
@Steven Holmes: I’m a graduate of The Ohio State University, I used to work for U of Michigan, and every time those two have a football game, I root for injuries.
Every OSU-Mich game is basically “I went to a brawl and a football game broke out.” My PhD alma mater got their asses kicked by Mich this year! Yay! Except Michigan had to win. Booo. I hope they get stomped in the playoffs.
eclare
@Trivia Man:
That’s a classic.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … NotebookCheck.net – US solar industry on track for record 32 GW installations in 2024:
Here’s the 6 page PDF that is the source of the story.
Yet another illustration that competent people can do important things relatively quickly – even in a huge bureaucracy like the US federal government – if enough of them work on the common goal.
The most recent big nuclear projects in the USA – Vogtle #3 and #4 – took 10-11 years and each are about 1.1 GW. So roughly the equivalent of 29 nuclear reactors were added to the US PV system this year.
Not bad.
(Yeah, yeah, Sun doesn’t shine at night, etc. Nobody says the two are completely equivalent.)
More, please.
Best wishes,
Scott.
No BellaPea
@eclare: Yes! So proud of the Vols today. Nico and Sampson were amazing.
JustRuss
Spent the day with my football-loving SIL watching games. All the teams we rooted for lost. We’re renting a house on a lake, went for a late afternoon paddle then sat in the hot tub and sipped a beer watching the ducks swim across the lake to their roosts as the sun went down. Doesn’t get better than that.
cain
@eclare:
Yeah, I think that’s one of the reasons why I didn’t get into it too strongly. It’s hard to enjoy a song and not sing along .. but with all the N* words it’s hard to do that.
eclare
@No BellaPea:
And we have three weeks for everybody to get healthy!
StringOnAStick
I’m trying to focus on other things rather than stew with worry. I helped my garden husband tear down a two panel section of privacy fence that was a weird fence inside a fence from the prior owners. Then he and I sprayed dormant oil plus copper on the fruit trees in both our yards.
I’ve been making microphone/drum kit stand bags for our drummer, and I had an epiphany in a dream about how to increase the height of his tomtom box; it involves rivets and flexible cutting board mats, then a liner system. I like these projects that combine sewing with engineering; excellent mental challenges.
I’m hoping that in another month my Achilles will be healed enough to let me go alpine touring and get some powder turns in; my husband has already racked up 15 ski days with our early snowfall.
We’ve talked about going to Europe next fall but I think I’ll be too ashamed of what our country will have been responsible for by then to even consider doing so.
mrmoshpotato
The Wolverines slapped the Bucks in their nuts!
Hopefully the Huskies can chomp some Ducks.
coin operated
mrs coin’s daughters are in town (they both spend 40+ weeks managing Vegas acts that go on the road) so she spent the afternoon playing scrabble with them. I’m oncall this week, chained to my laptop, so today was a lazy day with college ball. Watched Ohio go down. Enjoyed the Sun Devil victory over Arizona. Watching the Ducks handle the Huskies this evening. Paid zero attention to politics.
mrs coin and I agree that today was a good day….
eclare
@JustRuss:
That sounds really nice.
mrmoshpotato
@ArchTeryx:
Where’d you do your PhD?
mrmoshpotato
@JustRuss:
My bones are green with envy!
Urza
@BeautifulPlumage: I take it you are around Seattle. My whole block had trees on the houses.
Urza
@lowtechcyclist: I remember reading that after my mom got done. Thankfully by 2012 I was done with believing in imminent apocalypses. Shame no one learns from history and how often its predicted. Really could go for a rapture of those that think they’ll be taken though. World would be a far better place.
satby
Comedian Janey Godley’s funeral was today in Glasgow. She got Rev Kevin Holdsworth to say, in church, that “Trump is still a cunt-ry mile away from being anyone who should ever have come near to power!” She was always so proud of her one woman protest against him.
Gretchen
@StringOnAStick: Do you have any hints for healing Achilles tendon. Mine is flaring up again.
eclare
@Gretchen:
Elevation plus ice. When I was a hard-core step class person, I did fifteen minutes on, fifteen minutes off, then fifteen minutes on. It worked.
Dan B
@Urza: My brother’s house had 7 large trees down in the backyard, one fell a foot from the back porch – 140 feet tall. There were two trees in front that blocked the driveway. They’re on the south flanks of Tiger Mountain. Uphill from them a couple neighborhoods looked like a huge lawnmower went through.
Lyrebird
@cain: You might want to check out some KRS-One, Supasonic, and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy… not sure I have the spelling right… Excellnt lyrics to repeat.
ETA: I second @Trivia Man:’s Grandmaster Flash recommendation too!
Urza
@Dan B: Trees around here are only 60foot or so, but I got the largest in the neighborhood. Next door got 3. Next to them had the longest fall for the most damage so its been …. interesting. Mine dented but did not break through the roof. Do have some drywall work inside from it other than that though
Insurance adjuster is flying out from Tennessee to look Friday because the locals are overwhelmed.
Dan B
@Urza: The road to my brother’s house was closed to repair power poles and lines about half a mile from the turnoff. The detour was 20 miles. Ugh!
Gloria DryGarden
@Gretchen: if it were me asking this, I’d be told to google it.
( I’m not picking on you, your Achilles sounds very uncomfortable. I’m picking on the person who asks questions but tells me to google things. I feel like they’re going to condescendingly tell me to google it if I ask anything)
I’m making a note of string on a stick’s tips, in case I need them. I have a different injury, but I wonder if her method would help w plantar fasciitis too. Good luck, I hope you can heal.
The return of Mo Salad
Two for two so far on Sportsball with the Lions and, unexpectedly and amazingly, Michigan.
Tomorrow, Liverpool needs to beat Man City to complete the trifecta. Off to Magee’s again and Up the Reds!
Trivia Man
@Gloria DryGarden: My pet peeve is someone who says “Google It” and thinks that is a complete sentence. Like… give me some hints. A key word? A year? Someone famous in the genre/ era/ art space? As an example, if someone asks about terms of sale for imports, Google It is only a tiny bit helpful. “Search on Incoterms 2024” is miles better. Or “Can you recommend mexican music?” A helpful answer is “Start with a search on on mariachi and tejano, go from there”.
eclare
@The return of Mo Salad:
YNWA
Raflw
BF and I flew home from Houston this evening. Everything was pretty chill (if we’d been on United, less so just because of the volume of people they handle as a major hub outta there. Delta is tiny and at the little A terminal. Phew).
Speaking of chill, it was 10°f when we got to our car, but it started, so all was ok.
Thanksgiving(s) with fam(s) was/we’re good, but home is veeeery nice. Having two big gatherings five days & 1000 air miles apart (plus a five hour drive to the airport for pt.2) was a lot.
devore
another great day tomorrow. Luckily the weather this year isn’t like last year when you showed up in Tempe. The local fans were all worried when you said you were coming
Aziz, light!
Ain’t no stopping my numero uno Oregon Ducks, woo hoo! Ten sacks against the U Dub Dawgs.
Trivia Man
@Aziz, light!: lets get some west coast champs!
VFX Lurker
I spent Wednesday building a new computer graphics workstation inside a dainty Lian Li DAN A3-mATX case. I said lots of swear words, but I like the result. I’m running MemTest86+ on it now to check the stability of the overclocked RAM.
I also baked a cherry pie with an all-butter crust to bring to my friends’ Thanksgiving feast. The pie turned out well, and we had a great dinner.
Aussie Sheila
@UncleEbeneezer:
The merging of parts of the on line left and maga comes as no surprise. Quite apart from the obvious grift of it all, there’s a strain in this that is all too familiar. It’s the tiresome notion that being ‘against the man’ or mainstream = being countercultural or anti system. It’s such tiresome nonsense.
It also seems that will never end for a certain type of moron of which there appears to be an inexhaustible supply.
Gloria DryGarden
@Trivia Man: sometimes I’d rather ask a person. Sometimes, I agree, it helps to have search terms to start from, and it can be tricky to discover the terms that will be effective.