Women don’t wait for change, we make it. We’ve broken barriers, made history, and fought for justice every step of the way. Today, we honor the women who came before us and keep pushing for those who will come after. The fight isn’t over. Let’s get to work.
— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@repjasmine.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Heading to Selma to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday with thousands of Americans.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 9:28 AM
New post at CAMPAIGN TRAILS on the "sheriff's posse" and the "Bloody Sunday" beatings in Selma, sixty years ago today.
campaign-trails.ghost.io/work-in-prog…— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) March 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Meanwhile, the Oval Office Squatter Occupant:
It’s too bad we have no defenses whatsoever against this. It’s a real mystery why society has no strategies for dealing with—or even words to describe—chronic liars, career con-artists, frauds, grifters, humbugs, mountebanks, flim-flammers, and gombeen men. One of the deepest puzzles of social life.
— Kieran Healy (@kjhealy.co) March 8, 2025 at 7:53 AM
"My administration isn't falling apart. Please don't put it in the paper that my administration is falling apart."
— Kerr Avon ?? (@kerravon.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 6:20 PM
I remember a lot of dark warnings about how it only took Hitler like 56 days to become a dictator and just saying, on day 47 I don’t think he was rage tweeting about how Goering and Himmler are great buddies honestly, don’t believe those leaks about fist fights in the cabinet meetings
— Andrew S. (@shoutingboy.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM
i never needed a five point plan for eggs under any other president. i just went to the store and hey there are eggs, i will buy them, gonna turn them into an omelette or perhaps just some scrambled eggs.
five point plan for eggs sounds very dire, honestly— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 10:16 AM
brantl
We have way of dealing with these people. We’ve always had it the way is to call them liars, And keep calling them liars and then brave people keep doing it. It’s the only plan there is for it. It’s the only way it’s done. It’s the only way it’s ever been done. It takes brave people, and it takes people in a position that have leverage to stand up and use it. It’s always taken people of courage to do the right thing there’s no substitute for them. Period.
Moondoggus
I thought you only needed a 3 point plan to fix everything?
NotMax
Weekend diversionary interlude.
50 Facts You Probably Didn’t Want to Know.
;)
Spanky
A competent journalist might have asked what those fucking five points were, but nooooooo. Five points! Too many!
Baud
If only there were a political party that didn’t act like this. Oh well…
Anonymous at Work
American Heart Association charity walk this a.m. WHO SCHEDULES IT ON DAYLIGHT SAVINGS???
That was cruel twist.
Baud
@Spanky:
tl;dr corporate socialism and deregulation
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud: I dunno. I liked how my man Robert DeNiro dealt with flimflam guys.
Dorothy A. Winsor
At yesterday’s author fair, I shared a table with a writer who had just turned 18. I think we were the table with the oldest and youngest writers there. She had to self publish because she wasn’t old enough to sign a contract.
Her last name was Wozniak. I asked if she was related to Steve Wozniak and she didn’t know who that was. I am old.
linnen
If x/Twitter had been available in the 1930’s, Hitler would have been raging on it. It is not like we don’t have his writings of the time.
RandomMonster
Why need any plan at all when Dump says, “I alone can fix it”?
Wilson Heath
A five step plan to reduce egg prices that starts with deregulation has major underpants gnome energy.
NotMax
Did someone say Five Points?
;)
Suzanne
A “five-point-plan” makes me think of “the five-point palm exploding heart technique”, which…. sounds even better.
“Liars”. Call them liars. Henry Rollins even wrote a song.
Doug R
Problem is, when bird flu is detected that the whole barn has to be slaughtered.
In Canada the large chicken barns are 20,000 birds. I hear a large American barn can be over 1,000,000 birds.
dmsilev
Yesterday, Big Brother increased the egg ration by five points.
The proles praised his generosity.
artem1s
5 point plan for creating optimal conditions for a super bird flu pandemic that will flood both wild and domestic bird population. Step 5 being setting the stage for a perfect delivery system to MAGAt who will take up swallowing raw Trump branded eggs a la Rocky so they develop ‘herd immunity’.
Good to know. What shall we call this pandemic? MAGAt flu?
Baud
You guys are so critical. Not one of the 5 points involves the use of ivermectin. But there’s no pleasing you people.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Did she call you a boomer?
Trivia Man
“It involves deregulation” is the new motto of the USA.
Baud
5 points. Like a pentagram.
NotMax
@dmsilev
“We’ve always been at war with East Eggistan.”
//
TBone
Moar vocabulary at full service blog!
Baud
@TBone:
Nice.
TBone
@Doug R: it’s gunna be bloody mess where I live.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: She was a sweetheart. Her whole family came to see her. Her grandmother bought 2 copies of her book and wanted them signed.
Baud
@Trivia Man:
Is it new?
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Aww. Now I wish I had written a book.
BritinChicago
@Dorothy A. Winsor: You are a normal age. The person you were talking to is young. It is a fault that time will cure.
TBone
@Baud: it has special significance for me, which I am not at liberty to discuss in public! Hahaha if I told, I’d have to kill…
WereBear
@Dorothy A. Winsor: To be fair, you’ve had more time to fill your head with knowledge, from whatever source. It provides a richer source to draw conclusions from.
TBone
@Baud: nice also
Trivia Man
Crowd source request: i am writing 10 trivia questions for a work event this week, looking for a few more punch questions. Audience is truck drivers mostly with some supply chain support sprinkled in. Not really competitive, every correct answer just gets an extra entry into the door prize raffle.
A few examples i am definitely using to give an idea of the difficulty im looking for.
The white lines between lanes on the freeway… how many feet long is each dash?
Which US Interstate highway is the longest?
Which state has the most different Interstates?
True or false – Hawaii has a freeway in the Interstate system.
TBone
@NotMax: you never cease to amaze and delight.
NotMax
@The Thin Black Duke
Ridin’ the rails with The Flim-Flam Man .
;)
WereBear
But now… they are taking on Big Egg. There’s a corporate ox getting gored by the horse they bet on, and the ripple effects in baking and confectionary, causing people to steal kid’s lunches to get their snack cake fix.
Could lead to rural unrest. Takes a long walk with torches and pitchforks, but they are plumb mad when they arrive.
TBone
@Trivia Man: my cousin in Michigan could chime in, they have weird traffic stuff all over the place she says. I have not yet had enough coffee, but expect a flash of inspiration to arrive too late.
WereBear
@Trivia Man: Where did the first Interstate begin?
TBone
@WereBear: bwahaha! Reminds me of this, during BLM
Except now they have!
Princess
Question: I know everyone here is aware and concerned/distressed about what Trump and the GOP are doing to America and the world. I also know my normie fb world is too. How about you? Are your normie circle friends as aware and upset as we are? I’m in NYC and it feels like nothing is going on, everything is normal, everyone is oblivious. When I walk around in Montreal, everyone is talking about Trump and the tariff war. Every time I’m in a line or beside people in a restaurant, that’s what they’re talking about. But I have yet to hear anything that’s happening being mentioned in nyc, including from the people I was meeting with.
If the general attitude from Americans, even blue state nyc types, is oh well, yawn, it could explain how many Democratic politicians are reacting.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Trivia Man:
That’s been the motto since Jan 20, 1981.
And it’s unfortunately baked into much of the discourse as a point of departure on both sides of the aisle.
https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/a-real-post-neoliberal-agenda/
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/22/2218817/-America-is-at-a-Crossroads
Dorothy A. Winsor
@BritinChicago: @WereBear: Old age has some advantages. It better!
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all!
Shalimar
I am not an expert, but I’m pretty sure not killing all of the hens that might spread the contagious disease to humans so we can have more eggs is a very bad plan.
Trivia Man
@Baud: the last line of that egg plan, i suspect we will hear that a lot now
pajaro
@Trivia Man:
Route 66 included how many states?
Suzanne
@Trivia Man: You could ask about which is the next planned interstate highway (I-11).
Dorothy A. Winsor
@pajaro: Or, a 1960’s TV show used the name of a highway as its title. What was the highway
ETA: Or if you want to be more literary: What highway is featured as the title of a 2021 novel by Amor Towles?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Trivia Man:
Longest bridge: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
Longest Suspension Bridge: Verrazano-Narrows
Highest continuous paved road: Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park
Highest paved road (there’s a difference apparently): Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway (if they say Mount Evans, give it to them)
Highest tunnel in the US: Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnels (just skied next to them last Friday)
Route 66 is it’s own little thing, okay, long thing, confusing as hell. We had a couple of neat little spots of the original still easily visible and driveable back in Misery in the late 90s but most of the cool stuff associated with it that wasn’t in an obvious touron spot were torn down over the years. One of the better pieces:
https://blog.route66tours.com.au/american-road-trips/making-sense-of-the-route-66-map/
Trivia Man
@TBone: side note – every state should adopt the Michigan Left. Jug Handles are OK and have their place, but busy suburbs with 3+ lanes each way should absolutely use the Michigan Left.
Trivia Man
@WereBear: my guess… Germany. (Or ancient Rome!)
If its the US interstate i will guess NY
pajaro
@Princess:
I live in the DC area, and our community is enduring a disaster, with thousands of people newly out of work, and many local institutions affected in one way or another. Everyone knows someone who has been affected, or knows someone whose friends or family have been affected in one way or the other. The go-to phrase of everyone I know is “all things considered,” which is what we say at the end of greetings from friends, after we have told them that we are are families are OK or fine, if that’s the case.
Suzanne
FYI, I have shared the piece from First Things about “The Three Worlds of Christianity” by Aaron Renn here before. Renn is the one who coined the term “Negative World” to describe how the right-wing Evangelicals and Catholics think we’re all persecuting them and lowering their status, and this is a major freakout in the social conservative right. Anyway, there’s an interview with Renn in today’s FTFNYT….worth reading, in a “know your enemy” kind of way. The people around JD Vance are big believers in this and I think it’s good to be aware.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@WereBear:
That’s a good one as many states bicker (seriously) over that. When I was back at my DOT mode in Misery, there was always back and forth with KS over that claim.
Google:
where was the first interstate highway built
And you’ll get an idea.
https://www.interstatesignways.com/post/the-first-interstate-highway-s-all-three-of-them
NotMax
Must be time to link it again: Grey decodes the interstate system. ;)
@Trivia Man
False.
Hawaii has three. The H-1, H-2 and H-3, all on Oahu.
Trivia Man
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I go out of my way to declare how much i love regulations. Everytime my family says “end red tape” or something i opine on how much i like EPA OSHA FDA and the like.
I admit we should continuously monitor them to update with new information but “none” should never even be considered.
I see your daily kos link, that is where i read a fantastic series called How Regulations Came to Be. The thesis is “regulations ate written in blood” and it presented detailed descriptions of tragedies then drew the line between the tragedy and new regulations. Fires at coconut grove nightclub, triangle shirtwaist factory and others. Radium girls and many more. Highly recommend looking for that series.
Nukular Biskits
@Trivia Man:
I absolutely hate jug handles, or at least how they’re haphazardly implemented in NJ.
One intersection is a “traditional” left hand turn, the next is a jug handle (turning right to turn left).
Trivia Man
@pajaro: good one – i guess 9
Trivia Man
@NotMax: that makes it true! They have one more spur with a unique number (I-H 201) so a total of 4.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Trivia Man:
Thanks for the recommendations. Now to see if the craptastic DK search function will bring them up.
It’s infuriating to see some self professed progressives (to include here) yammer about deregulation and how government processes/agencies are nothing but impediments/annoyances to their lives.
Can things be reviewed/improved? Absolutely. I saw that play out first thing at my old agency back in the 90s/early aughts as we worked to better the NEPA process. Funny how in that case, state DOTs never bitched about it after the overhaul. The only people who bitched were (R) and their neoliberal (D) enablers who didn’t want the regs in the first place.
NotMax
@Nukular Biskits
Highway driving in New Jersey takes its toll.
Nukular Biskits
@NotMax:
BAD PUN! NO BISKIT!
Trivia Man
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: A terrific example of the difficulty writing a good trivia question. It needs to have one clearly correct answer. If i use this i would say:
In 1956 Eisenhower signed the Federal highway Act to create a standardized interstate freeway system. Which current interstate number was first?
(i could also specify ‘found in the midwest’ or even call out kansas by name for an easier question. There is one clear winner by that criteria)
YY_Sima Qian
Despite being unapologetically primacist, hegemonist, imperialist & militarist, MAGA somehow still managed to undermine the interest of the US MIC (gift link to FT article below, I’ve excerpted the most damning section):
One hopes that, for programs that have a lot of international participation (such as the F-35), European contributions are so substantial that it is MAD should the Trump gang to try to cut them off.
NotMax
@Trivia Man
Also too, a bit of an oddity, the Gatlinburg SkyBridge.
Not for the faint of heart.
WereBear
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yes, I was ready, but thank you!
RevRick
@WereBear: That would be a stretch of the PA Turnpike between Carlisle and Irwin.
Trivia Man
@Nukular Biskits: Agree. When i lived in NJ i learned how to use my local handles and they did the job. Any strange city it could be stressful to try and guess. Before the intersection ? After? Right side? Left side?
Phylllis
@NotMax: Nope. Also noping out of the Liberty Bridge at Falls Park in Greenville SC. Although it is a lovely place to visit.
Trivia Man
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I used to say “perfect is the enemy of good enough” but now i lean to “perfect is the enemy of done”.
We can wait for a PERFECT regulation or start someplace and tweak it over time.
lowtechcyclist
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
One advantage is, my working days are behind me! There’s no way I’d want to be 18 or 25 or whatever again, because of all the decades of work I’d once again have in front of me. I’ve already done that, thankyewverymuch, and it’s sweet to know I’ll never have to do it again.
Trivia Man
@NotMax: Unpopular opinion: i like jersey drivers. Caveat is i spent little time on freeways and turnpikes, but i enjoyed the polite aggressive drivers. Here is a space to get in… but if you aren’t paying attention it closes quick.
NotMax
@RevRick
Way, way before the interstates, the Long Island Motor Parkway was the granddaddy of ’em all.
Privately built by a Vanderbilt.
RevRick
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The Lincoln Highway, which follows Route US 30, except for the stretch through New Jersey to Times Square.
I read the book.
RevRick
@NotMax: The first truly interstate system was the Hutchinson River-Merrit-WilburCross Parkways.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Another Scott
@Trivia Man: Which US state has the first concrete road? Ohio. Court Avenue In Bellefontaine (“Bell Fountain”, next to the court house).
Best wishes,
Scott.
Trivia Man
@Suzanne: I like it!
Easy Q: give the number and ask for the state.
Hard Q: Give the state and ask for the number.
Harder Q: Give the expected opening date and ask for the number.
chemiclord
As much as people like Healy love to snark, the fact is that societies really don’t have a good way to deal with people like Trump in positions of power, and can’t really be expected to either.
The simple fact of having power requires at least some level of belief of good faith to the people granted that power. Any society that has absolutely no such expectation frankly isn’t a society, it’s an anarchy with borders defined by everyone else around it.
It simply isn’t possible to have a state where the expectation is that your leaders will always act in bad faith, and plan accordingly ahead of time.
Nukular Biskits
@Trivia Man:
NJ is the only state I think I’ve ever encountered jug handles and, even after +35 years of occasional business travel there, I still wind up confused.
TBone
@Trivia Man: good eye!
For general audience and on the theme of non-trivial knowledge, I offer this Who Knows? entry again. It’s a great short read and guaranteed smile!
https://www.robertleefulghum.com/blog/
YY_Sima Qian
@Princess: I work for a US MNC, while based in the PRC. In all of the internal meetings & discussions I am privy to, the ongoing tragicomedy of a national suicide does not come up, even though it could & likely will have significant impact on operations: supply chain disruptions, trade barriers, & stock valuation in the short term, possibility of a recession in the US & status of previously promised federal subsidies for greenfield investments in the medium term, & retention of human capital, social stability/rule of law, & status of the Dollar Hegemony in the long term.
I am fairly sure these risks are being studied at the highest levels, but it is not openly discussed, probably due to the political sensitivity & the fact that at least a portion of the employees are likely to be MAGA supporters.
So, listening in on work con calls w/ US colleagues, while reading US MSM, social media & BJ, make for disconcerting experiences.
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
Without Googling it, I’m gonna guess: connecting Las Vegas with Carson City and Reno?
It’s gotta be somewhere east of I-5 and west of I-15, and there aren’t a lot of big cities out there besides Vegas. So that’s my guess.
[Googled]
I was partly right, because it will run between Vegas and Reno, but that won’t be its entire route: apparently the main impetus is to rectify the absence of an interstate from Phoenix to Las Vegas.
Now they just need to extend it from Reno on up to Tacoma, WA. Why? So it’ll go “from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma” and give you your morning earworm.
Trivia Man
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Thanks – ponchartrain and the tunnel are on my short list now.
I drove CA to UT many times as a kid, through the sierras in particular my dad would point out places you could still see the Lincoln Highway. I-80 followed it pretty closely and the old road was often visible nearby.
TBone
Today’s Sunday long read will puss you off before it sets you free. GAH
https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/03/pennsylvania-pardons-commutations-clemency-revoked/
Byzantine.
p.a
Drivers.
Spending the weekend in Northampton MA (western MA) and drivers stop for people in crosswalks! As a RI native and E, SE MASS frequenter, that’s just not a thing!
On the other hand, drivers won’t give other drivers a break here either, so I feel at home with that.
TBone
@Trivia Man: teh Lincoln Highway originates in my former neck of teh woods.
NotMax
@RevRick
Pure trivia.
There’s also the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Layer8Problem
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: “Highest tunnel in the US: Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnels (just skied next to them last Friday)”
Loveland! I just skied next to those tunnels last Tuesday. Too Eastern a skier to know what to do in powder.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@RevRick: My book club read The Lincoln Highway. I really liked it.
Matt McIrvin
@Princess:
Yes. It’s an ongoing psychological strain on my friends, family and coworkers (except for the MAGA people who think everything is good and cool). It gets hard to talk about anything else and when people do, it’s a relief. The “everything is normal” behavior you see out in the street in American cities may be a coping mechanism
Edited to add: Keep in mind, also, that we’re used to American right-wingers flipping out and sometimes getting violent when their ideas are challenged. So the public quiet may in part be in anticipation of that.
TBone
@TBone:
— Joseph Campbell, The Gombeen Man
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: some of my normier friends are completely impervious and still chuffed. Info bubble persists plus “nyah nyah nyah I can’t hear you!”
TONYG
“we rolled out a 5 point plan a week ago. It includes deregulation.” Deregulation, of course. Everybody knows that the best way to deal with a deadly epidemic is deregulation — let everybody do whatever the hell they want. Jesus H. Christ. This mantra started long, long ago, but it’s really become the standard dogma ever since Saint Ronald Reagan became president 44 years ago. “Every problem in the world can be fixed through a combination of tax cuts for the rich and deregulation.”
TBone
@NotMax: we used to have all night keg parties in the middle of the Blue Route during its long kerfuffle before opening. There was grass growing on it in places.
Ohio Mom
@Princess: My friend in skilled nursing care, the last stop before memory care, keeps repeating, “I don’t get it, he’s a convicted criminal and they elected him anyway.”
That’s inbetween, “I need to buy yarn for my project,” as we are walking out of Joann’s with a bag full of skeins.
That leaves the question, If someone in the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s can get it, why can’t normies?
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
The whole idea that conservative Christians see themselves as persecuted is so fucking crazy. I mean, let me know when the FCC takes away their broadcast licenses, just for starters.
All I can say is, what a bunch of fucking whiners.
Trivia Man
@Another Scott: Ill have to research that – local lore in detroit is the first paved mile was on Woodward in front of the ford plant.
Eric S.
@Trivia Man: What is the highest elevation reached in the US Interstate system?
What is the highest bridge in the US Interstate system?
Another Scott
@Trivia Man: Court Avenue is just a couple of blocks or so.
Everyone can be first!
🤪
Best wishes,
Scott.
Ohio Mom
@NotMax: I don’t say so enough but I almost always follow your links and enjoy them. But not today, I already know too many things I don’t want to know.
NotMax
@Layer8Problem
Female engineer Janet Bonnema!
TBone
@Ohio Mom: In 2016 my mom shouted out, in the middle of her raging dementia, “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!!!” when she saw his name on a chyron at the care facility with the word “President” attached. It took me twenty minutes to calm her down. Of course, I was born in Brooklyn and she knew who he was from the get-go. Talk about confusing for someone trying like hell to retain her tenuous grasp on reality in that facility! I changed the TV channel in the common area an effort to get ahead, but they didn’t take heed.
lowtechcyclist
@RevRick:
I used to drive them regularly, when I was in Hartford and my family was in the DC area. Much more pleasant than dealing with the parallel stretch of I-95.
NotMax
@TBone
Well remember the sturm uind drang regarding the Blue Route.
Matt McIrvin
@Ohio Mom: The projective conspiracy theories about how the Democrats were “weaponizing government” were all intended to convince Trump’s supporters to dismiss the criminal prosecutions and convictions. They were all made-up bullshit, part of the conspiracy to get him! And then, of course, when Republicans do this to Democrats it’s just turnabout as fair play.
Really this is Karl Rove’s old playbook taken to its logical extreme. You attack the other side preemptively on your own guy’s weak points. Thus, the Biden Crime Family, weaponization of the Justice Department, etc. It’s why, in 2016, Trump’s fans went super hard on Jeffrey Epstein and Hillary Clinton’s ties to him, even though Trump’s own connections to Epstein were far stronger. It seems like the last thing you’d want to do, but it works. It’s chaff thrown up to make it harder to criticize your side’s politicians.
TBone
@NotMax: I thought you would!
KSinMA
@p.a: Welcome!
NotMax
@Ohio Mom
Perfectly understandable.
;)
TBone
@TBone:
NotMax
@Ohio Mom
How about an alternative?
The story of “what’s dis here” sauce.
;)
Layer8Problem
@NotMax: Jeez, talk about BS treatment. “Women are unlucky underground, it’s a Known Fact!” Right up there with my grandmother’s “Don’t open umbrellas in the house, because bad.”
TBone
@Layer8Problem: I’m gonna go throw my tinfoil hat on the bed and leave it there.
TBone
@NotMax: sprinkle that shit errywhere!
Booger
@Trivia Man: Least-heavily travelled section of the U.S. Highway system: U.S. 211 between Warrenton, VA and New Market, VA. Was a major route connecting the DMV to western and southern Virginia (et al) but when I-66 was completed between the D.C. Beltway (I-495) and I-81, it dried up like a little creek in August.
different-church-lady
Ah. So it’s a one point plan.
TBone
@different-church-lady: 🎯 always an astute observer!
NotMax
@TBone
Too much to hope the job description for the worker with the spade is anchovy wrangler?
:)
TBone
@NotMax: touche!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ1ns2rxmJg
Layer8Problem
@Princess: NYC isn’t anywhere near oblivious. Around here, it’s a combination of the anti-Trump crowd asking each other “How are you doing?” and “What are you doing?”, the indifferent who haven’t seen anything happen to them (“I don’t buy the eggs in my household personally, is there a problem?” or “I don’t pay attention to politics but my grandma’s worried about Social Security for some reason.”), and the pro-Trump imbeciles keeping their mouths shut since their triumphalist yap tends to get strong reactions that they don’t understand since everybody should be either ecstatic or properly cowed into submission. In my neighborhood bar the conversation when I go is largely anti-Trump.
lowtechcyclist
@Booger:
Coulda sworn the DMV had had offices in western and southern Virginia long before I-66 was built. After all, you couldn’t go online to renew your registration back then. ;-)
I remember taking 211 over the Blue Ridge to get to the Shenandoah Valley. Lots and lots of switchbacks. Hell, even Va. 55, which preceded I-66 along the same route, was an easier way to Harrisonburg etc. from the DC burbs.
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist:
Obligatory pointer to the Back of the Dragon:
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Gretchen
@Dorothy A. Winsor: how did the author fair go?
Matt McIrvin
@TBone: I was going to say Mark Twain said something about how his father mysteriously became wiser with time, but as with many such quotes, the attribution is weakly sourced and probably wrong:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/10/10/twain-father
(His father actually died when he was 11, but he would sometimes make up stories about his youth that contradicted this fact, so that’s not necessarily an indication that he didn’t say it.)
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: and you’ve given me an entrance for tribute 🎶 to Dad! Both and All:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WOHPuY88Ry4
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: I have a set of vintage (turn of the century), illustrated books containing his complete works on my living room Shelf of Honor. We share a birthday!
Best thrift store find EVAH (well those, and some Limoges)
Matt McIrvin
@Layer8Problem: “Don’t open an umbrella in the house” always struck me as of a piece with “walking under a ladder is bad luck”: a simple practical safety precaution that got elevated to superstition. Sure, if you open an umbrella indoors you might knock something over, especially if it’s a really big umbrella and you have a small space.
Layer8Problem
@Matt McIrvin: Telling the little kids the reason is bad mojo and vibes and karma, which, yeah, works kinda, rather than actually give a good reason. My grandma probably believed the bad luck, I suppose.
This puts me in mind of how an umbrella was used indoors to good effect in the movie Rififi.
frosty
@Trivia Man:
Who missed that left turn in Albuquerque?
YY_Sima Qian
A very good run down of MAGA shifting the geopolitical tectonic plates, in this case Sino-EU relations:
For Chinese nationalists on social media, “Xi: do nothing, win” has become a favorite meme.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Layer8Problem:
We are normally Tuesday skiers since it’s not crowded and minimal traffic but our collective schedules have made that difficult.
Loveland is great for old far skiers like us. I’ve never been a powder maven, I’m a mogul skier thru-and-thru.
Plus, on a given Tuesday, we can get from our house to the parking lot in Loveland in 70 minutes.
catclub
@Moondoggus: and point 3 is … profit!
catclub
@Layer8Problem:
Also on ships.
catclub
@NotMax:
Of course, you drive on a parkway, but park on a driveway.
Nelle
@Nukular Biskits: When I knew I would be driving in Melbourne, Australia, I tried to understand the hook turn. It made little sense in words. A video would have helped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh92LirlCf8
YY_Sima Qian
Something probably not on the radar screen of most USians (gift link to FT article below):
I think the right takes, definitely sounds familiar if you have followed Adam’s coverage of Wagner’s activities in the Sahel:
Erik Prince might be available for such a job, although he might still have ties to the PRC government. The reason the DRC is turning to the US is because its main trade & investment partner, the PRC, has so far refused to condemn Rwanda’s seizing of the eastern provinces, under the guise of its M23 proxy. The PRC does not want to get sucked into such quagmires where its vital interests are not at stake.
This could get ver interesting & very messy very quickly.
Sure Lurkalot
A good book about the Interstate highway system is Interstate: Highway Politics and Policy Since 1939 by Mark Rose. It was written a while back but has been updated. It really is a fascinating history.
CItizen Dave
@Sure Lurkalot: Haven’t read that one–but did read this one–a good read (there was a highway engineer in Iowa who was instrumental in developing the modern roads):
The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways, by Earl Swift (2012)
Nelle
@YY_Sima Qian: My sister lives in Kinshasa. I’m quite aware of how unaware most in the States are of what is happening there.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Gretchen: I was fun but exhausting. I find it hard to be “on” for hours in a row like that.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: That was an interesting piece, thanks. I don’t view Christianity negatively, I view them trying to force how they want things to be on everyone else negatively. I wonder if it’s ever occurred to him that women, minorities and gay people see it in the opposite way; to them, this is “positive world” where they can be who and how they want to be, and his ideal world is “negative world” to them. In this world he can still live however he wants because he’s free to do so, but he can’t dominate everyone. In his “positive world” those people were oppressed because their way of living and being was seen as wrong and even criminal. I noticed that having “a few” minorities leads to “good” racial relations. I assume he believes even majority “minority” cities should be run by white people like him in order to be “good”.
YY_Sima Qian
@Nelle: I hope that she stays safe, & that the fighting out east does not destabilize the whole country.
Paul Kagame’s career is another one of those “hero” to “villain” tales, depending one’s perspective. Or perhaps another reminder just how ill-advised it is to ascribe to leaders of nations such monikers.
TBone
@YY_Sima Qian: gotta return the favor for Vanky’s Chinese Patents (including for voting machines btw).
TBone
@YY_Sima Qian: you put the full into full service blog, thank you!
Aziz, light!
@YY_Sima Qian: Thank you for sharing this synopsis and your many keen insights. They are much appreciated.
YY_Sima Qian
@TBone: Sorry, I don’t understand this reference.
MagdaInBlack
@Suzanne: Thank you. I read and listen to quite a bit about the world view of that group around Vance, for the reason you mention: to be aware.
Matt McIrvin
@Suzanne: I’ve heard this nonsense before and the thing that fascinates me is that the imagined transition to “Negative World” is so late, because way back in Positive World times I remember the people who made a big deal about being “Christians” saying exactly the same thing, only the time when they imagined their persecution started was back in the Sixties.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: Christians complaining about being viewed negatively by society is borderline idolatrous, IMHO. These are people who yearn for status and that is not part of the deal, but was ever thus.
But these people have a ton of control right now. Which terrifies me.
TBone
@YY_Sima Qian:
https://apnews.com/article/0a3283036d2f4e699da4aa3c6dd01727
And furthermore
https://news.sky.com/story/ivanka-trump-granted-trademark-for-voting-machines-in-china-11546396
TBone
@Suzanne: thank you!
TBone
@Trivia Man: it was also amazing how hot coffee at McDonalds changed torts law – here in PA my attorney bosses used to have an info pamphlet station set up at our front desk and included instructions on how to vote and conduct yourself in your own best interests…they tried!!!
https://abovethelaw.com/2024/08/the-impact-of-the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-on-its-30th-anniversary/
TBone
@Nukular Biskits: you crack me up!
TBone
@NotMax: we took a spur of the moment 3 day road trip once a long time ago in yute, powered by marching powder and junk food. I was ON that bridge during one of those 3 days, ready to puke hahahaha
Narrowly avoided getting pulled over by indiscriminately placed southern police on I95 on the way home because PA license plate! Coulda been ugly!
I was glad we skipped Dollywood that trip.
Those cops were just pointing at cars to say PULL OVER NOW.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: Made me look…
Racism and the Legacy of Slavery Report v4 (72 page .pdf) by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:
As you say, these beliefs, and their consequences in policy, have been with us a very long time. Far too long. And the monsters pushing this garbage (temporarily) have the upper hand again…
Grr…
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gvg
@Princess: NYC with the stock exchange and Wall Street thinks nothing is going on? Surprising.
My town in Florida is a college town. People are obsessed with talking about the threat to the department of education. There are other surprises we have encountered also like the pause on funding Fulbright scholars leaving people stranded. I haven’t heard everything but the attacks on science funding will impact us and the space stuff with Elon attempting to bully NASA will impact the state. NASA is popular here and we pay more attention to it than most areas.
People haven’t figured out most of the rest of it. Like threats to invade peaceful countries and breaking with allies was a lot further than most people even isolationists are prepared for. Any move to actually do it, spend money, drafts, use troops would get a strong pushback I think. Until then people are sort of used to Trump saying a lot of crap that doesn’t happen. But I would hope re enlistments drop. Musk probably wants to cut the military too, which might be good right now….
Gloria DryGarden
DON’T have time to read everything on this thread. But since eggs are in the themes, I’ll say I just bought eggs for the first time in @ year.
Natural grocers. $6.49.
off to do yard work/ clearing
Chief Oshkosh
@WereBear:
Hawaii, of course.
Soprano2
@Trivia Man: Late to the thread, but here’s one – where was the first diverging diamond built? In Springfield, MO. It’s a good design but was dangerous at first because it goes against the way we normally drive.
Trivia Man
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Found it – user is dsteffen and the tag is History for kossacks
Gloria DryGarden
@Soprano2: (500 jackals run to google to find out what that is)
Soprano2
@Gloria DryGarden: I can’t really explain it, you have to experience it. The design eliminates left turns. It’s used on or under bridges where they intersect with a major four lane or larger highway.
Kayla Rudbek
@YY_Sima Qian:
@TBone: Trump companies hold a lot of Chinese trademarks (not patents) where the Chinese government granted the trademark registrations as a favor to Trump.
Kayla Rudbek
@Suzanne: it’s heresy because Jesus himself said to expect persecution
Ruckus
@NotMax:
It is a great hike!
Beautiful views!
Ruckus
@lowtechcyclist:
Persecuted.
A large part of Christian history is about people having been persecuted for their beliefs. Read the bible.
YY_Sima Qian
@TBone:
@Kayla Rudbek:
Ah, got it! Thanks.
Kayla Rudbek
@YY_Sima Qian: trademarks are generally easier to get than patents are. Trademark examinations check for existence of similar marks and either actual use in commerce or intended use in commerce, patent examination checks for prior art and usability (US standards are new, useful, non-obvious) and trademark law has a lot more gray areas than patent law does in my opinion. Trademarks are also a lot cheaper to file than patents are with respect to USPTO fees and attorney time.
There’s also a lot of problems with law firms and individual lawyers acting as “trademark mills” that is, rubber stamping applications written up by people who are not US lawyers.
So for US law, on the patent side, a lawyer has to be admitted to the patent bar, which requires a separate examination, check by Office of Enrollment and Discipline of transcripts and background (checking that the applicant has the technical background and is of good moral character, e.g. not a felon). There are fewer than 60,000 people in the world who are actively on the US patent bar roster (patent examiners and various other federal employees are not listed on the active roster, so we’ll still say under 70K people worldwide)
There is no separate trademark bar in the US, so any US attorney in good standing with a bar admission can file a trademark application. Sometimes you have the trademark mills as I explained above (which may be difficult to detect if they don’t file outrageous numbers of applications per year), sometimes you have third parties doing what I consider professional identity theft and misusing an innocent attorney’s name and bar number to file trademarks, when innocent attorney had no knowledge or authorization of the trademark filings.
So I think it’s easier for scammers and money laundering operators to go ahead and file a trademark application, which gives them an IP right to wave around and try to impress customers with.
I haven’t even mentioned cyber squatting or deep fakes yet (which aren’t quite trademark infringement but would also be intellectual property issues, although I think not federal intellectual property).
evodevo
@Soprano2:
Yeah…they put one in in Lexington (KY) at the intersection of Harrodsburg rd and the beltline…people were going all over the place. It still confuses me after dark lol
YY_Sima Qian
@Kayla Rudbek: Thank you for the detailed explanation!