Dog belly dancing, part 2.
— Liberal Librarian, Emotional Support Cuban š šæš (@liberallibrarian.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 7:21 PM
A children's hospital is renamed for Dolly Parton and hopes to transform pediatric care in Tennessee apnews.com/article/doll…
… āEver since Iāve been in a position to do my part, to help others, I have tried to do just that. Especially when children and families need it most,ā Parton said in a video announcement. āIāve always believed that every child deserves a fair chance to grow up healthy, hopeful and surrounded with love.ā
The impact of Partonās philanthropy is already felt across Tennessee and beyond. Her Imagination Library initiative reports to send 3 million free books every month to children whose parents request them. She donated $1 million to Vanderbilt Universityās Medical Center for research that helped produce Modernaās COVID-19 vaccine. And her charitable foundation provides numerous college scholarships and offers disaster relief.
Dolly Parton Childrenās Hospital did not share how much Parton donated as part of the naming announcement. But Matt Schaefer, its president and CEO, said her support would ensure āevery child who walks through our doors receives the treatment they deserve.ā…
For what is apparently the 10,001st post on Skepchick (and my own 3,000th), it's a HAPPY STORY of how scientists have shown that Dolly Parton is substantially improving literacy rates around the world through her Imagination Library š§Ŗ skepchick.org/2026/02/stud…
— Rebecca Watson (@skepchick.org) February 26, 2026 at 11:03 AM
This is what people mean when they say "this is not who we are". It's Midwestern police departments finding out even they have a limit. It's everyday suburbanites funding transport & relocation for trans women in danger. It's fighting to crush Republican supermajorities in red states this November.
— Chatham Harrison dba TRUMP DELENDUS EST (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) February 27, 2026 at 8:17 PM
I think Trump should've named this Iran attack Operation Monkey's Paw to honor his dead hand.
Also, Monkey's Paw is the metaphor for unintended, tragic consequences — which, we all know there will be because hey we're talking about Trump— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha1.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 4:32 PM
One, very pathetic that they're still desperately trying to recreate the Obama situation room photo.
Two, Trump looks like he died last week and was badly preserved.— ArgellaStone (@argellastone.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Key members of Congress are demanding a swift vote on a war powers resolution that would restrain President Donald Trumpās military attack on Iran unless the administration wins their approval for what they warn is a potentially illegal campaign.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) February 28, 2026 at 7:54 PM
— Liberal Librarian, Emotional Support Cuban š šæš (@liberallibrarian.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 11:36 AM
filming a hasty video in the dark at a golf resort while wearing a ball cap and releasing it on social media at 2AM then disappearing from view is one of those things that would make this seem like farce if there weren't a very real and mounting death toll attached to it, it's very surreal
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) February 28, 2026 at 1:50 PM
like, i don't think it's conspiracy, it's just how this administration does everything, utterly half-assed and ill-prepared, totally contemptuous of public opinion, subject to the whims of the elderly president and any number of scheming viziers, all of whom have different interests and goals
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) February 28, 2026 at 1:54 PM
Stares in āThe War Prayerā by Mark Twain.
youtu.be/NPgXTxJAomI?…— Malaclypse the Middle (@malaclypse.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 1:14 PM
It would be ironic if the first winner of the FIFA Peace Prize personally derailed the World Cup.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Max Boot is like āidk, the justification for this war looks pretty flimsy.ā This is the most unsold war in the history of wars. That is like Cat Fancy calling a cat less than mid.
— Starfireās Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast (@irhottakes.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Never forget who youāre fighting for.
— SorryHat (@sorryhat.bsky.social) February 28, 2026 at 7:04 AM
Baud
Those dogs are amazing
ETA: as is Dolly Parton.
Baud
I appreciate the positivity and the fight, but a Republican supermajority is more indicative of who “we” are than individual acts of defiance, depending on your definition of “we.”
Kansas, like NC, had had Dem governors recently, however, so hopefully they can bring that energy to legislative elections soon.
Mr. Mack
Apologies if this has been covered in a previous thread.Ā Much was made of Iran’s’ water crisis last summer.Ā It was reportedly so dire that the Iranians had decided to relocate the Capitol.Ā I’m wondering how this upheaval will affect those plans?Ā I feel for the Iranian people as they have endured so much.
NotMax
Weekend long watch.
Who knew? Dying to get in.
;)
Suzanne
I am hoping-against-hope that the people of Iran have a brighter future ahead. Theyāve been living under such a terrible regime.
Social media has a lot of footage of Iranian attacks on Dubai, the Burj Khalifa and the airport. I’m not seeing much about it in real media yet.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: I don’t know about NC, but KS has been gerrymandered to hell and gone. Might explain the D governor and the R legislature, but I’m not sure as I don’t have the background. I do know that my limited number of KS acquaintances, friends, and family are staggeringly wonderful, and quite liberal, people. So, again, gerrymandering? Don’t know. Somebody should write a book…
J.
I really hope that clip of the dogs wagging their tails isn’t AI. And Dog bless Dolly Parton.
Jeffg166
@Mr. Mack:
I a few decades the entire Mideast may be uninhabitable due to climate Ā change.
piratedan
AL, thank you for offering us an example of how someone with money can actually do good and make a difference in people’s lives.Ā Makes sense that its Ms. Parton who literally arose from the hills of East Tennessee poor as shit and based on her talent and use of her “talents” managed her way thru the misogynistic music industry and became a superstar.Ā She knows what it means to be poor.Ā She’s built one helluva legacy.
As for legacies… I guess the only people winning in our latest acts of illegalities are the folks that make and sell ordnance.Ā If we ever live through this sad affair, we should turn this crew over to The Hague to let them pass judgement because at this point I sure as hell would have trouble in believing that our current SCOTUS would allow justice to be served.
Baud
@J.:
Yeah, after I posted my comment, that thought occurred to me. I don’t know that I’ve seen AI video where things moved that fast, however.
Baud
Mississippi is on board with alternative meats.
I recommend Soylent Green.
Chief Oshkosh
dKos has a post up linking to the Borowitz Report’s brief commentary and full quotation of Hillary Clinton’s opener. I haven’t seen it anywhere else–it’s very much worth the read:
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/hillary-destroys-the-republicans?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
Suzanne
I’m sure it will shock exactly no one that Nancy Mace has used Khomeini’s death as pretext to taunt Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib on Xhitter. Omar responded in part:
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: That same article notes that Ms. Mississippi Muppet touts how it’s all good because the One Big FYIGM bill further deregulated the oil, gas, and coal industries and so energy will be so much more cheaper! More pennies to spend on liver! Woot!
Well, with Operation Epstein Fury commencing yesterday, energy costs are most likely to go up, up, up! I wonder what other shit Ms. Mississippi Muppet is going to throw against the wall.
Jeffg166
@Mr. Mack:
In a few decades the entire Mideast may be uninhabitable due to climate Ā change.
Geminid
@Mr. Mack: Iranian President Pezeshkian said the water crisis was so bad they might have move the capital. Then a long drought broke and they got enough rsin to alleviate the crisis.
Speaking of the Iranian President, Ankara-based Clash Report posted this last night:
On the other hand:
Taznim is Iran’s semi-official news agency.
Pezeshkian is an accidental president. When President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash a couple years ago, Pezeshkian win the election to replace him. He won against two hardliners in a low turnout election.
Viva BrisVegas
In 2029, anything named after Trump should immediately be named after Dolly Parton.
By the way, can someone nominate her for a Nobel Peace Prize?
Somebody should give US Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith the title Possum Queen, in honor of her service to roadkill.
NotMax
Did Dolt 45 give up peace fir Lent?
//
Baud
@Viva BrisVegas:
I bet FIFA tries to give her a peace prize to remove the taint.
prostratedragon
very pathetic that they’re still desperately trying to recreate the Obama situation room photo.
Lawdy yes! Jumped out at me when I saw it last night. They have issues like issues have never been had before.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: &Ā @Chief Oshkosh: This must be an official admin talking point because the janky catcher’s mitt with eyes now d/b/a RFK Jr. said the same thing the other day. I encourage the whole bunch to keep it up. Americans famously love being lectured on food choices by rich weirdos.Ā
Matt McIrvin
“The cruise missiles blowing up their schools will be welcomed as liberators!”
Geminid
@Suzanne: You might not see much about these stories in US media. Middle East sites like Al ArabiyaĀ (Saudi),Ā Al JazeeraĀ (Qatari), andĀ The NationalĀ (Emirati) cover them. TRT International, a Turkish site, also provides good coverage, as does London-basedĀ Middle East Eye
Ed. I follow hour-to-hour reporting on Ankara-basedĀ Clash Report among others, but that’s a Twitter and Telegram site. BlueSky seems to have gotten little traction in the region.
Just look at that parking lot
Skip the liver, just have the fava beans.
Baud
T’is a mystery.
different-church-lady
It would probably help make for a better situation room photo if they were in, like, a room.
eclare
@Suzanne:
Has that been a common complaint about Mace, that she drinks too much?Ā I have no doubt she is a horrible person, but I haven’t seen that.
eclare
@Viva BrisVegas:
Sarah Huckabee Sanders has the title of Possum Queen.
different-church-lady
@Baud: I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs ā that’s 11 years old ā needs to have 30 hamburgers. I think she can have none.
Suzanne
@Geminid: There’s video ā possibly fake, who knows anymore? ā of a drone being intercepted shortly before hitting the Burj Khalifa. I’ve seen reports that one small drone did hit it and some of the facade caught fire. Multiple airports are closed, one got hit, and international travelers are kind of stuck. Not a good situation. I want to see more in our media before I believe anything, though.
@eclare: Yeah, Iāve definitely read gossip that Nancy Mace is a drunk.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyoneššš
prostratedragon
trnc
And a decreasing number of USDA scientists to test them for safety. Good luck, Mississippi (and the rest of us).
Geminid
@Suzanne: I think you have to look to Middle East news sites if you want good, solid reporting on the Middle East. Their reporters are every bit as good as American or European, and their interest is much more consistent over time. That’s because their readers are concerned and knowledgeable about their region in a way most US readers are not.
One caveat: when I identified the host countries of Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera and The National,Ā i could have pointed out that none of these sites will be publishing items critical of the host countries’ governments. But as long as that’s kept in mind, their reporting is worth reading.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
NotMax
@Baud
“‘Where’s the tripe?’ ads flop. Film at 11.”
:)
Barbara
@Baud:Ā āDid she list any? Because I’m guessing tofu, seitan and other soy based proteins aren’t top of mind for her constituents.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
She’s completely out of touch, with a net worth in excess of $4 million (2018), but a lot of Mississippians will still vote for her because she quotes Bible verses on her social media accounts every Sunday.
Suzanne
@Geminid: Agree. I do read Al Jazeera from time to time, though not as often as I should. I concur that it is better about that part of the world.
p.a.
Reuters reports Iran hit a tanker in Strait if Hormuz off Oman. Ā 4 injured, crew of 15 Indians, 5 Iranians; no report by Reuters on the severity of injuries or the condition of the ship.
Betty
@Betty Cracker: This was Cindy’s Marie-Antoinette moment. “Let them eat beans.” Coincidentally, that was a primary protein source for slaves throughout the Americas.
prostratedragon
Tagworthy:
Baud
@Nukular Biskits:
I’m reminded that MS would be a blue state of 20% of white people would vote for the Democratic candidate.
Barbara
@Betty: It’s a primary protein source for much of the world, one that is routinely sneered at by lots of people in the U.S.
Nukular Biskits
@Chief Oshkosh:
Interestingly, Hyde-Smith can’t seem to make up her mind what that piece of … uh … legislation is actually called. In some posts, she calls it OBBB. In others, she calls it “Working Families Tax Cut”.
RevRick
@Chief Oshkosh: The oil and gas expert who goes by the moniker, Mr. Global, says that residents of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana are the most energy-cost burdened people in the US. As a percentage of income, Massachusetts is cheaper!
Matt McIrvin
We could, in fact, all stand to eat less beef for a variety of reasons, but I don’t think it’s the message these guys wanted to be pushing.
AM in NC
@Chief Oshkosh: Ā NC is currently the most gerrymandered state in our Union. Ā Our only hope is to win back the state Supreme Court in 2028, so they will (once again) rule partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional at the state level, and we can have representative districts once again. Ā Ā Those representative districts result in evenly-divided legislative districts at both the state and national levels, as one would expect from our purple state.
Republicans are autocrats. Period.
Geminid
@Suzanne:Ā Iranian drones have hit airports in Kuwait and the UAE. Anther set fire to a high rise building in Manama, the capital of Bahrain. And two drones struck a port facility in Oman.
The Iranians have hit the UAE particularly hard, with more munitions sent against them the first day than against Israel. That’s probably because the Iranians have more short-range missiles and drones that can hit the Emirates than the intermediate range missiles needed to hit Israel.
I have to question the Iranian strategy here. The idea is to inflict so much pain on Gulf Arab states that they’ll pressure the US to stop its bombing campaign. It could have the opposite effect, though. They might tell the US, “You need to finish these motherfuvkers off and how can we help?”
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Agreed. The overuse of animals for food in general is one reason I’m not against population decline through voluntary child planning.
Barbara
@Chief Oshkosh: Right, and make sure that book never uses the word “race” anywhere.ā
p.a.
@Betty Cracker: When will ketchup be a veggie again?
Ahhh the halcyon days of reichwing freakouts over Michelle O suggesting we should eat more veggies.
Also too: no tripe hate from me, you haterz. Ā Southern Italian soffrito Napolitano Ā too. Ā (Not Italian mirepoix, but an innards stew of lamb or pig, (liver thankfully optionalš¤¢).
Jackie
Is this a surprise to any of us?
Of course FFOTUS knows better than his top general.š¤¦š¼āāļø
M31
the entire trump administration is a bunch of sick fucks
p.a.
Like ANOTHER greatĀ LeaderĀ of note…
Nukular Biskits
@RevRick:
Yeah, but we’re really owning the libs down here and that’s priceless!
/sarcasm
Suzanne
@Geminid:
Agree strongly.
Alsoā¦.. Dubai?! Pissing off the world’s richest people?! Strikes me as strategically terrible.
JML
The GOP is really testing the tolerance of their base and how important hating the other is to them. At some point, will the ability to pay for the gas in their cars and buy a fucking hamburger outweigh their desire to vote for people who tell them it’s good to hate black and brown people?
The “war” against Iran is more right-wing bullshit stupidity. Hopefully Congress wakes from it’s somnolence and keeps it from escalating, or the rejection by the American people does. Sadly, if Khamenei is actually dead, it’s probably enough to fill the murder needs of the Elderly Golfer and let him keep pretending he’s winning All The Things. Biggest impact will probably be Netanyahu continuing to destroy Israel and ruin international support for them as he also desperately clings to power and enabling more antisemitic hate.
the exhortation for Iranians to “take back their country” can as easily be applied to Israel and the US.
p.a.
@RevRick:
@Nukular Biskits:
I wonder, besides having industry fellating gubmints, the south’s issue is cooling via electricity is by its nature cheaper than heating w natural gas, even oil, and adjuncts like wood as well. Ā They too require electric, but just for spark, blower, and maybe pump.
Matt McIrvin
@p.a.: I often enjoy tripe in pho, which traditionally uses a lot of animal parts that can otherwise go to waste.
Nukular Biskits
@Geminid:
From all I’ve read, the Iranian leadership is comprised of more pragmatics than religious zealots, so I have to wonder the same.
Having said that, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if there does exist some Shia fervents who see no downside from sending lotsa “heretic” Sunni, et al, to their graves.
M31
@Matt McIrvin: I love ‘tendon’ in pho — it’s clearly the toughest of tough stuff but boiled so long it becomes tender and quite tasty
p.a.
@JML: Partial group of MAGAt may be “anti-intervention, anti-foreign war”, but they’re also piggish bigots who will revel in dark skin deaths and US dickswinging when it comes down to it. Ā Until shit gets complicated.
Raoul Paste
@Geminid: Shades of āthis thing will get out of control, and weāll be lucky to live through itā
schrodingers_cat
@Geminid: BBC is pretty good too. They have reporters on ground everywhere.
Jackie
@p.a.:
Listing it as an alternative to V8 juice is coming to Brainwormās new and healthier food pyramid soonā¦
p.a.
@Matt McIrvin: The tripe in the pho I’ve had is usually, but not always, different than what I’ve had in Italian cookery. Ā It’s thin and featherlike in pho, not the honeycomb style always used Ā in red sauce. Ā Different stomach perhaps.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
And at the opposite end of Dolly, A Day In The Life of an Enshittificator:
youtube.com/watch?v=T4Upf_B9RLQ&t=1s
Done by the Norwegian Consumer Council and in 4 minutes, covers Enshittification like nobody’s business.
Okay, not nearly as good as this Danish PSA on wearing helmets:
youtube.com/watch?v=T4Upf_B9RLQ&t=1s
“Sven, you can go looting and pillaging all you want, but you have to wear a helmet.”
Betty Cracker
@JML: It really is breathtaking, the national wreckage two crooked old farts are causing to stay out of jail and cling to power. I’m not sure either country will ever recover.
UncleEbeneezer
@Geminid: Al Jazeera loves to pretend Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis etc., simply don’t exist. Ā Their articles are absolutely infected with Soviet, antizionist talking points (including antisemitic tropes) and a childishly simplistic worldview that centers America and Israel as the sole villains of the world. Ā The fact that Mehdi Hasan is one of their most famous former-employees makes it very hard for me to take anything they print seriously.
Geminid
@Geminid: Speaking of Gulf Arab states,Ā Clash ReportĀ cited an interssting Washington PostĀ report:
This is consistent with reports on remarks by the Saudi defense minister to a Washington audience two weeks ago. It was a private gathering of reporters, academics etc., but he knew his message would get out. It was that if the US did not attack Iran after its massive military buildup, the Iranian regime would be emboldened.
Professor Bigfoot
Dolly Parton, Melinda Gates, Mackenzie Scottā¦Ā women putting their wealth to work doing great, righteous things.
If the Republic is to be saved, it will be the women who save her.
YY_Sima Qian
Iran can & has closed the civilian airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi & other regional aviation hubs. Aviation is 18% of the UAE’s GDP, & 11% of Qatar’s. Once you factor in tourism, it’s much higher, still more if including finance. Iran can also choose to target the Stargate data centers that the UAE is building w/ US interests. This is long before Iran escalates to oil & gas infrastructure, even though Iran has already targeted a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz to make its threat to close the channel credible.
I think the calculation by Tehran is simple: the regime is a cornered & badly wounded animal, correctly believing that it is fighting for its survival. Imposing meaningful costs on the US & Israel is difficult, especially after the 12 Days War degraded & depleted much of its longer range capabilities. So it is imposing cost on the GCC states, hoping to inflict enough pain so that they would in turn pressure Trump to end the latest war. Doubly so if MBS had in fact lobbied for Trump to bomb Iran in the weeks prior, hoping to let Israel & the US take the risks while the KSA reaps the benefits & at the same time appearing neutral.
Sure, it could push the GCCs fully into the US-Israeli alliance for the duration of the war, but the GCCs do not bring much additional military might to the table, & their oil & gas infrastructure is quite vulnerable. The GCC monarchies are actually rather fragile, their positions reliant upon smoothing running of global trade.& finance, & stable international environment. Bahrain in particular has a Shia majority ruled/oppressed by the Sunni monarchy. What remains of the Islamist regime simply does not have much to lose.
It is likely that the GCCs & US forces in those states will run out of interceptors before Iran runs out of SRBMs & drones. Clearly, one of the lessons Iran drew from the 12 Days Wars to decentralize its command & control, so many for the units launching missiles & drones may be doing so semi-autonomously, & according to previously developed plans. The US & Israel may also run short of precision guided munitions, in a matter of weeks, unless the Trump DOD wants to leave nothing in INDOPACOM to deter the PRC.
This comment gave me a chuckle:
“They” being the GCC states here.
One thing to watch is the Saudi-Pakistan defense pact. Since Iran is clearly attacking the KSA without direct provocation from the KSA, would Pakistan get involved? I think not, Pakistan is busy fighting a war again the Taliban regime it had once supported.
In fact, the KSA had offered the services of its air force to the Pakistani campaign against Afghanistan, just a day or two before the Israeli-US attack. Pakistan seems to have things well in hand, however. It seems the Taliban is not so formidable when trying to fight conventionally.
Nukular Biskits
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
LOL!
schrodingers_cat
Have the people who were agitating against Genocide Joe and Holocaust Harris weighed in?
different-church-lady
@YY_Sima Qian: Wait until this thing gets seriously asymmetrical and then we’ll have some “fun” times!
Jackie
Until FFOTUS runs out of ammunition. See #53 above.
oldgold
I find it exceeding unusual, even for the Mango Maniac, to go to Mar-a-Largo on the eve of attacking Iran. Both in terms of function and appearances it makes zero sense.
Geminid
@schrodingers_cat: Yes, BBC is good, as is France24 which isĀ Agence France-Presse’sĀ internet platform.
Middle East EyeĀ is a BBC spinoff. Turkish reporter Ragip Soylu isĀ Middle East Eye‘s Istanbul bureau chief. I really like Soylu’s reporting. He knows the US from serving as a Washington correspondent for a Turkish newspaper and from observing it since. I sometimes think the Turks know Europeans and Americans better than they know themselves.
Jackie
@oldgold:
Thatās FFOTUSās SOP.
Eolirin
@Jackie: Let’s just hope Trump doesn’t get it in his head that using nukes is the way to go.
YY_Sima Qian
@Jackie: Well, best not to take any Iranian announcements at face value.
But, the regime really does have little to lose now. Even if a version of the regime survives this war, because the Israel has run out of interceptors &/or the US has run short of munitions, that regime has to try to reestablish some kind of deterrence, lest Israel & the US try to “mow the lawn” every 6 – 12 months.
Chief Oshkosh
@RevRick: I wonder if that includes state/local taxes on energy. I’m guessing that property taxes are kept low by having higher sales taxes. Also, it’s a great southern tradition to have politicians at every level bought by utility companies (and paid for by taxpayers).
geg6
@Suzanne:
Oh man, a good friend of mine is a flight attendant who does a lot of international flights, often to Dubai, called me yesterday after I texted her to make sure she wasnāt in the middle of this. Ā She had just left Dubai as of Wednesday, a day earlier than the planned flight. Ā Sheās been there so much that sheās made friends with some local shopkeepers and service people. Ā Sheās very worried for them. Ā Iām just relieved she got out in plenty of time.
Geminid
@oldgold: Trump watching these events from Mar-a-Loco only makes sense if he and the other officials there are monitoring events, and actual operations are being directed by CENTCOM, at MacDill Joint Base in Tampa.
Spanky
@Jackie: He’s got nukes, and has been itching to use them.
Gloria DryGarden
@JML: my first thought on learning this Iran attack news, seconds after feeling aghast, was that a cohort of remaining government authorities go in and march that man, the old golfer, right out Ā of there, straight to a holding facility that has locks and no internet privileges. I see it unfolding in my minds eye.
if many people canāt get one phone call or due process before transport to a detention warehouse, couldnāt he be denied his one phone call for an hour or so?
p.a.
@p.a.: ugh, meant cooling via electric MORE expensive than… etcš
frosty
@YY_Sima Qian: GCC? Spell it out at the first time, please.
Sure Lurkalot
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: That was hysterical!
I just finished the book Enshittification, a longer, more detailed PSA about our tech overlords and their intentional enshittifying. Makes me want to charge up my old Nano, buy a flip phone and paper maps. Apparently, I got by with these things without dying.
Another Scott
@Chief Oshkosh: Dunno.
I’ve given up on trying to predict what the various markets will do.
Presumably the traders and big buyers (airlines, etc.) have been pricing in a possible new/resumed war with Iran since at least January or so.
There were reports yesterday that tankers going to India and China were still going through the Straits of Hormuz.Ā If so, that would seem to put less supply pressure on the market.
AFAIK, there has been a glut in oil production capacity and in supply since the US started being a net exporter, and since so much of China’s transport is electrictified now.Ā Supply should be able to find customers.
And the US economy is slowing…
Bottom line: of course there will glitches up and down, but it’s hard for me to confidently envision huge changes in oil prices as a result of Bibi’s and 47’s attacks.Ā (Apparently oil prices rose 15% (to around $80/barrel) and US gas prices rose 3% during the 12 Day War.)
Not an expert, not financial advice, etc., etc.
We’ll see.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
India has been home to several waves of Zoroastrians from Persia/Iran first when Islam came to Iran they are called Parsis. And those who came in the early 20th centuryĀ were called Iranis.
Mumbai used to be dotted with cafes run by Iranis. Several have closed down now but many are still operational, they make usual have great baked goodies.
Mumbai is home to perhaps the largest Parsi community in India. They are a wealthy and influential minority. South Bombay, where my family is from is home to 2 fire temples. Many Parsis still have first names like Cyrus, Hormuz and such.
Persian was the court language/link language before English. The Shia Islam in India, especially western and southern India is heavily influenced Iran. So India and Iran has had links for millennia. For the most part the relations have been friendly.
One exception I can think of is Nadir Shah raiding Delhi in 1739.
narya
For those of you who do like beans, Rancho Gordo is awesome. I am a member of the Bean Club, which has a multi-thousand-person waiting list. (Motto: The first rule of Bean Club is never shut up about Bean Club.) They also have some grains and salsas and other condiments, and the bean club box (quarterly shipments of 6 pounds of legumes plus some other thing) also has a newsletter with a recipe for each item in the box and a code for free shipping on any additional order that quarter. But you can just buy individual bags, if that’s too many beans for you to consume in a quarter.
Gloria DryGarden
@Betty Cracker: not sure either.
to continue to exist, or not to continue to exist, that is the question. (For when Hamlet goes wordy, or falls into a thesaurus with a verb conjugation chart.)
Iāve been writing crappy sweet despair poems, a deep dark quiet poems on blue sky for an hour this morning. Lots of prompts to ignite my thoughts.
frosty
@p.a.: That makes a lot more sense. I was scratching my head wondering how A/C could use less electricity than heat, since it doesn’t show up that way on my utility bills.
YY_Sima Qian
@frosty: Gulf Coast Council: the KSA, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman.
SiubhanDuinne
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
The enshitification one is great! Saved and sharing, thanks.
Iād love to watch the Danish PSA on helmets, but the link provided is to the same enshitification message. Could you please repost with the correct link? TIA.
frosty
@YY_Sima Qian: Thanks! I guessed GC, couldn’t figure out the other C.
Geminid
@geg6: Did your friend bring back any of that Dubai Chocolate? I saw some bars at 7-11 in Harrisonburg last month. I think they were $25 each.
I read a good interview with the founder of Dubai Chocolate. She’s British-Arab, but she moved her business to Dubai, and said it was because Dubai is good place for a woman to do business. Her advice to young woman entrepreneurs was to not fear failure, to not let others define your limitations.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@SiubhanDuinne:
youtube.com/watch?v=0m-c4GixUpg
Gloria DryGarden
@schrodingers_cat: interesting to consider the Zoroastrian Parsi connection from India to Iran. I donāt know what influences might occur, donāt know the percentages. Also interesting to consider the Shia populations in India, and their current connections.
Perhaps there will be a ripple effect.
Nukular Biskits
@Chief Oshkosh:
Without doing some research, I couldn’t say where MS ranks in that scheme, but this state does have a regressive tax system:
Another Scott
@Suzanne: I saw various bloots claiming that Iran was attacking apartments and hotels there that were “known” locations used by Americans.Ā No idea if it’s true or not.
Fog of war, everyone posting crap on the Internet has an agenda, nobody knows you’re a dog, etc., etc.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
Graeme Wood wrote an interesting piece in The Atlantic that speculates Khamenei is dead because someone in the regime sold him out. Here’s a gift link. Wood’s description of Khamenei’s leadership style made me think of an autocrat closer to home.
YY_Sima Qian
@Another Scott: The PRC has spent the entire pandemic & post-pandemic period stockpiling every commodities conceivable. Its strategic oil reserve is now enough for 3.5 months of import. Then there is the Russian supply. If anyone needs a reminder why the PRC will not complete abandon Russia, this is why.
(Also, Trumpian militarism has confirmed in the minds of the CPC regime & Chinese populous at large the absolute necessity of the 3 decades long military modernization program, including the recent build up of nukes, all at < 2% of GDP in defense spending.)
YY_Sima Qian
@Betty Cracker: Khamenei was killed at his regular office & residence, not a deeply buried bunker. I don’t think he was trying to hide. Whether he had a death wish, wanted to martyr himself, or was just foolish about the prospect of Israeli-US strikes, I don’t know.
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: There’s a big holiday coming up for Parsis, Persians and Kurds. That’s Nowruz, celebrated on the Vernal Equinox. It’s an old Persian tradition, and the clerics running the Islamic Republic knew better than to try to suppress it, even though it’s non-Islamic.
Ed. I’ve read there’s been a resurgence in interest in Zoroastrinism among Iranians. Some argue that Islam is a foreign religion from the Arabian Peninsula, imposed by the sword, and that Zoroastinism is a superior form of monotheism native to Persia.
Gloria DryGarden
@Professor Bigfoot: amen. Blessings be upon these women
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: Is that the one w/ gold foil as wrapping? Or bits of gold flecks mixed in the chocolate?
Eolirin
@YY_Sima Qian: Between weakening one of their major weapon suppliers, and with sanctions making it hard for them to sell to anyone but the Chinese, about the only upside to any of this madness is that this is likely to make Russia even weaker and more beholden to China. At the downside of accelerating China’s growth as a global power.
This is all very bad for the US, but probably all very good for the PRC
Though Russian oil supplies aren’t going to help them that much if the Ukrainians keep lighting them on fire and eventually they’ll complete their electrification switch over and won’t need the oil anymore, so Russia will eventually lose the backstop of Chinese support unless they become a complete vassal state.
Betty Cracker
@YY_Sima Qian: I don’t know either. Wood thinks it was a blunder Khamenei made due to hubris.
Gloria DryGarden
@Sure Lurkalot: I still adore paper maps. There are times and places when itās the only thing that will do.
i am shocked by the people who rely on gps in their cars, and have no general idea of where things are or the driving directions to get from a to b. When I delivered flowers, it was required to own a city map book.
it WAS a funny video
Nukular Biskits
@YY_Sima Qian:
Just came across a series of posts on Bluesky about this very question.
There is a compelling argument, based on his previous sermons, that he wanted to go out a martyr.
Betty Cracker
WSJ reports three U.S. troops were killed and five more seriously injured. No other details.
@Nukular Biskits: If so, I wonder if the other people who were at the meeting that was bombed had similar aspirations.
YY_Sima Qian
@schrodingers_cat: Modi was in Israel just a couple of days before the war.
Modi & Hindutva has decided to fully align w/ Bibi & the Israeli reactionaries. That includes abandoning the long standing partnership w/ Iran, partly also due to US pressure.
frosty
@Betty Cracker:Ā ā
Thanks for the gift link. I was a long-time subscriber to the Atlantic until the 2000s when some of their articles seemed suspect. Every time I’m ready to resubscribe I see another one and change my mind back again.
schrodingers_cat
@YY_Sima Qian: Yes I know. RSS has always had an affinity for Israel. This is nothing new. India gets a lot of its oil from Iran so it won’t antagonize Iran.
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
Stating the obvious here, but it would truly suck if they didn’t but knew being in close proximity to Khamenei would likely cost them bigly.
As if they had a choice.
Geminid
@YY_Sima Qian: Dubai chocolate has pistachios, and I read its popularity was driving up the price of pistachios. There’s a component of thin, fried dough noodles that’s the basis of popular desserts in the Middle East.
I plan to take a trip to Harrisonburg in a week or so, and when I do I hope to pick a Dubai Chocolate bar at the 7-11. They keep them at the counter so the cashiers can keep an eye on them.
Gin & Tonic
@geg6: Yeah, my daughter has been through Dubai, often with a one- or two-day hiatus there, several times in the last year. Really glad that’s not on any immediate agenda.
Her last trip, last week, was to Maranello, Italy, for a meeting at that city’s largest employer (IYKYK.)
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: the real question is whether gold administered via chocolate works as well for arthritis as injectionsā¦
@YY_Sima Qian: populace?
Another Scott
@YY_Sima Qian: 2 AM DC time is 10:30 AM in Tehran.
Since standard SOP up to now (e.g. the 12 Day War) has been to start hostilities in the dark of night, it wouldn’t be crazy to think that he would have been reasonably safe being at his office during the day.Ā Maybe that was part of the calculation (on both sides).
My $0.02, FWIW.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
ArchTeryx
As usual, late and stupid, but…
I have a dear friend in East Tennessee who met Dolly Parton and spent a fair amount of time around Pigeon Forge. East Tennessee is one of the reddest parts of the entire country, but there is one liberal sacred cow theyĀ will not slaughter in their endless quest to p0wn the libs: Dolly Parton.
She’s pumped anĀ enormous amount of money back into her community and put Pigeon Forge on the map as a tourist destination, along with Dollywood. Together those bring in bags of money for one of the poorest parts of the state and keep the whole local economy propped up.
As a result, any time some carpetbagger Republican starts talking trash about Dolly Parton in her home area, they’re likely to get run out of town on a rail. She can’t do much about the whole state’s extreme fascist lean, but around Pigeon Forge, she is the Queen and she bloody well earned it. When she speaks, people listen. As a result, last I checked, Pigeon Forge is a tiny dot of blue in a sea of red in Eastern Tennessee.
ETA: It’s really too bad she doesn’t have that kind of influence on the entire state, and that’s something she’s lamented on many occasions, too, as Tennessee turns darker and darker red.
prostratedragon
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: I’m not sure Dubai Chocolate bars have gold in them. That might be another confection.
SiubhanDuinne
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Thanks! That was terrific.
Betty Cracker
@frosty: Yep. The Atlantic employs some truly terrible and dishonest people, but there’s occasional good stuff. Same with the Times and WSJ.Ā
YY_Sima Qian
@Eolirin: Iran accounts for < 20% of PRC’s oil imports, Russia ~ 10%, Venezuela was < 5%. The PRC also imports a lot of oil from the KSA & Iraq (plus Kuwait & Oman at similar level to Venezuela). A prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz will be very problematic, but that is where the strategic oil reserves & Russian supply come in.
The oil that the PRC imports from Russia come from the Urals & eastern Siberia. I don’t think the Ukrainian strikes have reached that far.
CaseyL
@Gloria DryGarden: I love real maps, real maps.Ā One way to bring me to a halt is show me a wall map: I’ll instantly trance out studying it.
I long for the day when the Thomas Brothers Guides come back.
A few months ago I bought a really huge Rand McNally Road Atlas and National Park guide – too big to fit in the car, so it’s currently camped out in my bookcase.Ā I’d’ve done better to get a bunch of regional guides.Ā Oh, well!
(In the spirit of semi-paranoid protection against information that changes on the whims of our tech overlords, I also bought a complete 2025 World Book Encyclopedia.)
Jackie
@Betty Cracker:
MSNOW is also reporting this. Their names wonāt be released for a 24 hr period in order to first notify families. (Betting Hegseth will blab beforehand.)
YY_Sima Qian
@prostratedragon: I’ve seen claims that the Israeli-US strikes also targeted Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate (& former PM) who has been under house arrest since the aftermath of the Green Movement.
If true, maybe Bibi & Trump are hope to clear a path for Reza Pahlavi, however delusional that may be.
Ben Cisco
@schrodingers_cat:
Narrator: Only sparingly on the socials. Odd.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: isnāt Kurdish in the same language family as Persian/ Farsi? Ancient Persian as well as Hittite ( a relative of Hebrew and Arabic) has been a key to translating and parsing out some Sumerian language in a trilingual cuneiform ādocumentā.
im a big fan of the vernal equinox, though I celebrate it more in European Celtic old religion style. Bunnies, eggs, planting seeds of what you want to grow. Could be fun to include some Nowruz traditions and foods and awareness, to honor the Persian people.
Meanwhile, on the equinox, the Pollyanna from hell is giving a concert down in Summerville GA, near Rome, that very afternoon. He thinks like a poet and a UU activist humanist, Iāve been reading his lyrics. (For details, if anyone is in those part that day, or wants a road trip, contact one of us.) Heās been hanging out at the local AME church there.
Geminid
@Another Scott: I read that the raid was made at that time because of intelligence that Khameini was meeting with key military leaders. Also, that they was in bunker deep below his house, and that the Israelis dropped a series of earth penetrating bombs, much like they did to kill the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah in Beirut, October of 2024.
We’ll probably get reliable details after this war is over and people’s attention has moved elsewhere.
Peale
@YY_Sima Qian: he was 86 years old. So thereās a good chance that he just didnāt move around all that much or that swiftly to begin with.
narya
@CaseyL: see if you can find āThe Power of Mapsā by Denis Woodā¦
JaySinWA
Preferably the premium “eat the rich” version.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: Saturday morning in Iran, thatās a big day for the mosque, and worship, isnāt it? Kind of like Sunday in places like USA. Wonder how today will go.
Geminid
@Gloria DryGarden: Yes, Kurdish is part the Western Iranian language group. Kurds claim to be descendents of the Medes.
One Nowruz ceremony is jumping over a fire. That’s supposed to symbolize leaving the previous year’s troubles behind.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Chief Oshkosh: My guess itās primarily because energy prices are set in national and global markets and those three States have the lowest per capita incomes in the US. So the cost of gas, electricity etc. is probably roughly the same there as elsewhere in the US but if the average income in Mississippi is 20% lower than in Massachusetts then the bite it takes out of that lower income is greater. Basically the MA resident and the MS resident are paying say $3k per year in energy bills but in MA the average resident makes $80k and in MS $64k the cost burden as a % of income is higher in MS.
M31
@YY_Sima Qian:Ā ā
if only Ahmed Chalabi were still alive
Ella in New Mexico
He’d rather be in MaL where every night is a giant gala (with adoring clappers-of-hands!) that he lets himself believe is in honor of him
And JD, Sthsteven and good old Lil Marco love it cuz they get to feel like “Big Boiz who Run Things” while he’s swayin to YMCA
Gloria DryGarden
@CaseyL: I must come to your house and look at maps with you. I have stayed up all night, looking at maps. Adore. Love. Fascinated. Can maps be an auxiliary love language?
and per Adamās Ukraine post last night, about war is gods way of teaching geography to Americans ( USA), I Did learn a great deal more about the Afghanistan region on the aftermath of 9-11. While W was saying give me a target, I was reading an almanac, for where is Afghanistan, how big is it, what other countries are nearby in the various cardinal directions.
Was it you, discussing mochi, awhile back? I found some, by Eden, on a shelf w Asian foods in a less visited local natural grocers. Cost an arm and a leg, but shelf stable.
JaySinWA
@Betty Cracker: Given the black curtain SCIF at Mara Lago, our fearless leader may be similarly exposed. I don’t think martyrdom is his motivation thought.
Fair Economist
@Geminid:
I agree this is pretty feckless on Iran’s part. I don’t think the US administration will care about Dubai. Their pet media refusing to report the attacks on Dubai backs that up.
Fair Economist
@oldgold:
He’s probably getting to the stage of dementia that any change to his routine causes agitation and confusion.
Gloria DryGarden
@ArchTeryx: re calling your post stupid: cancel. Nope.
interesting, actually. A slice of good news, good people doing hopeful uplifting things that build community and care for people. Such an antidote for despair, thus always welcome. Plus, I read from the bottom, especially when Iāve come lurking after days away from here. People will be glad to see your post, I believe.
Anyway
@Gloria DryGarden: Friday is the big day of prayer for Islam.
Some years back I was in a cookbook club (where we pick a book and everyone cooks recipes from it). One of the books we cooked from was aĀ “modern” Persian cookbook — modern bcos the author was Iranian-American but it used many traditional ingredients and flavors. We had a blast – it was a big hit. I also have had Iranian coworkers and friends and gone to restaurants with them – I love the cuisine. One of my favorites from the ME.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: no but they have gluten.
Perhaps wheat from those parts isnāt a problem the way American wheat is. All the celiac people go to Italy and eat whatever they want. Well, lots of people report this.
must be someone else talking about gold in chocolate.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: I think I might go for the foods thing. Or only make a tiny fire. Not up for jumping.
Anyway
@Gin & Tonic: My favorite part of Dubai (even more than Burj Khalifa) was going to the Spice souk — still have spice blends I picked up from that trip. Had some great Syrian food on that trip.
Gloria DryGarden
@Anyway: yummy. We have a Tajikistan tea house with Persian food up in Boulder. I donāt get there often. Maybe for a late birthday treat I should trek up there. I guess Iāll look up recipes online; your cookbook sounds amazing.
I thought Islam did Friday night into Saturday until sundown, like Jewish traditions. But i really donāt know.
Castor Canadensis
@Jeffg166: And see a huge reduction in effective fertility, as plant’s can’t up and move to somewhere cooler.
YY_Sima Qian
@Fair Economist: There are a lot of Gulf States money sloshing around the DC “Blob”, & Trump will care when the gas prices spike.
Suzanne
@Geminid: Dubai chocolate is freakin scrumptious. The Lebanese grocery store in my neighborhood sells “Dubai style” chocolate for much less, around $6 for a big bar.
I love the food from that whole region of the world. Mr. Suzanne and I went to Egypt about a year and a half ago, and I had koshari for the first time. A M A Z I N G. I want to encourage some of the fine people of Egypt to come open koshari shops and start the next food craze.
Mr. Bemused Senior
My thanks too for that link. It certainly rings true and the parallel here is strong. [ETA and more than a little unnerving.]
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: If that is actually true, how long before Trump brags about it and outs the person who sold out their leader?
45 minutes? Ā A couple of days?
Gloria DryGarden
@Gloria DryGarden: one time I gave a local friend a quickie general map of Denver, insisting she needed to know the general idea just in case. Just basics, the main roads that go N-S, and the E-W ones, the arteries. The sections with alphabetical street names. How to exit downtown, which is tricky.
it saves time, if one is lost, to have such an overview. I got lost once here, the first years we lived here, and drive for miles before I recognized a street name. (when I was downtown, and didnāt know how to get out). Itās nice to prevent it. But Denver is a big grid of perpendicular streets, and only a few curvy horrible tricky parts. Boston is another story, so easy to become lost there. Even with a map, it seemed difficult
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Suzanne: IDK the worldās richest people are more than halfway to fully integrated into this administration I can see why Iran might want to take it out on them regardless of whether thereās strategic value in doing it.
West of the Rockies
@Baud:
She’s very blithely saying, “No more burgers or hot dogs for you, Mississippi.” Bet that goes over well there.Ā She exudes concern and empathy.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Imagine losing your child because T decided to do something on a lark, because he could, because he’s in charge.
WTFGhost
What’s that the one twit says? “Iranians, you’ve lived too long under your own rule since you kicked out the US backed Shah! It’s time for you to do America’s bidding again! Waste your lives against internal forces armed with automatic weapons, including crew-mounted machine guns! It worked against Iraq, didn’t it?”
Mr. Bemused Senior
@West of the Rockies: nobody needs 37 Big Macs.
Gloria DryGarden
@Baud: please god no. Fuck me. Dolly deserves only real recognition. Not from entities that offer false prizes.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geminid: Ah, you are talking about a variety of chocolate out of Dubai. I was thinking of a particularly kitschy brand of chocolate out of Dubai that I’ve seen on Taobao, supposedly sprinkled w/ real gold. Trump would love it.
WaterGirl
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Boy, that first one deserves a post all its own!
Can we get a new link to the second one?
YY_Sima Qian
Okay…
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
Does Piggy even know that there is such a thing as Lent, let alone know what it is and what it means?
CaseyL
@Gloria DryGarden: I’m not the mochi person.Ā I’m a Type II diabetic, and not about to discover a new kind of sweet I can’t have š
Other than a lovely, laminated, enormous world map on one wall of my spare bedroom, I don’t actually have maps up on walls here.Ā I have a few books of maps tough – including one of Discworld!Ā You and I would wind up on my couch with piles of books-open-to-map-pages on all sides.
lowtechcyclist
@eclare:
There are more than enough possums to have multiple Possum Queens.
Baud
@YY_Sima Qian:
Does that mean the revolution is off?
Gloria DryGarden
@WaterGirl: on children, and losses, from todayā s instant poetry:
A thousand quivering children,
Dream of boats, of forests,
Of safety.
Call their names.
The birds carry their songs
To the stars.
Anyway
@Suzanne: Had to look up Koshari. Reminds me of Mujadara from other parts of the ME
YY_Sima Qian
@Eolirin: Along similar lines:
If there is prolonged disruption in oil from the Persian Gulf, India might be incentivized to purchase Russian oil again, which would marginally improve Putin’s bargain power.
YY_Sima Qian
@Baud: Who the f*ck knows…
trollhattan
Doggie butts!
frosty
@WaterGirl: Yeah, I posted the Enshittification one to FB with a comment that I expected it to be taken down LOL.
The Danish helmet one was great, too. there’s a better link somewhere above your comment.
p.a.
The famous quote”How do you ask a man to be the
lastfirst man to die inVietnamIran? Ā How do you ask a man to be thelastfirstĀ man to die for a mistake?” was spoken byJohn Kerry.Ā
Eolirin
@Gloria DryGarden: This is mostly not true, despite what the TikTokers are saying. Actual celiac is rare, and most people are conflating gluten sensitivity with actual intolerance, and there’s a ton of things that are different about taking a vacation, especially to places with smaller food portions, fewer additives, and more walking.
While European wheat is different, it’s not different enough to stop a reaction in people with Celiac disease.
WTFGhost
@WaterGirl: Imagine anyone dying, because some crazy tyrant wants to flex his power, and no one in Congress is willing to say “no.”
The problem is, we’re living in a truly sick moral world. George W pretended to care about Islam, but his administration showed that they considered brown people the new security n-words, and then, after arresting them, holding them, sometimes scaring the hell out of them, they asked for friggin’ cooperation! We killed untold thousands of Iraqis, and no one cares, because “duh, better that they die, than our troops, who are sworn to protect them, sometimes with their very lives!”
Cowardice. But troops aren’t supposed to be cowards. They’re supposed to go out in the field, knowing their lives can be sacrificed, in an instant, completely unintentionally, and, that’s the job they signed up for – they’re just not going to let it happen today, without having done everything possible to make it some other day.
So we collectively believe the opposite of the truth, that our fighters can kill civilians with abandon, out of fear, or, just because some quarter-wit moron wants to kill some fishermen.
The very idea that you get to drop bombs on a place, because maybe, in ten years time, they’ll be able to threaten you is stupid. It’s not even cowardly. It’s sadistic bullying, Trump wanted the Iranians to get on their knees and beg, or, he wanted to murder a bunch of people.
Our whole media ecosystem is sick, because it presents both of the above ideas as if the were, in some way, evenĀ subjectively reasonable, much less showing their objective falsity.
But if you ask them, no, they don’t want wholesale murder. No, they just want retail murder, cops killing suspects with glee abandon (especially if the ‘suspects’ are Black), ICE killing protestors over hurt fee-fees, they want liberals who use guns in self defense to be murdered while being arrested, and, in fact, they want none of those things, they’re just sad, unintended consequences of whatver blablabla (or BlaBlaBlack) they’re babbling to justify it.
CaseyL
@p.a.:
…who then voted to give Bush II authority to invade Iraq.Ā That famous quote of his got cited right back at him by, oh, lots of people.
Gloria DryGarden
@Eolirin: ah. Thank you. I appreciate the clarification. I had wondered. So perhaps itās the gluten sensitive folks who do better in Italy, but for the folks with true celiac itās no change.
Gloria DryGarden
@CaseyL: yes, books of maps. Hours on the couch. Perhaps a notebook for quickie notes. Or not. Maps of history are cool, too.
it may have been lyrebird, about the mochi.
WTFGhost
@Betty Cracker:Ā But he doesn’t need authorization from Congress because US troops are not in danger.
It’s not enough to fact check their lies; you need to confront them. Oh, wait, I forgot. The news is just entertainment now, with no duty to inform anyone of anything. Our News Media is now one of those sun blockers, you put on front of your windshield, right? Only it’s electronic, and as soon as you need to see, it starts playing ads, including fine print telling you not to let the ads play while driving. When you crash, it’s your fault for not having shifted the car into neutral, turned the ignition key two clicks backward, and activated the pinhole in the driver’s side passenger door simultaneously (the ignition key tries to kick back!), to turn off the ads.
YY_Sima Qian
Okay…
Prince’s comment through the link.
Prince said it on a podcast w/ Steven Bannon.
Gloria DryGarden
@WTFGhost: Imagine anyone dying,
over all of this.
Thus a slew of micro poems, in the wee hours.
Eolirin
@YY_Sima Qian: Fewer Shaheds seems like a bigger problem for Russia right now than being able to extract slightly higher prices for their oil from China would gain them, I don’t think they can get enough extra there to fix their crashing economy and massive budget shortfalls, but idk. Depends on how much oil disruption there is and how long it goes on for I guess. If there’s a serious disruption to the entire region that’s a very different thing.
In the medium to long term, I would expect Chinese oil demand to continue to decline to the point that oil is no longer a significant concern.
Gloria DryGarden
@lowtechcyclist: I have a long list of what mango piggy Mussolini can give up. For lent, and beyond.
Gloria DryGarden
@YY_Sima Qian: an event involving trump, and talk, does not yet fill me with any optimism
Another Scott
TWZ.com Day 2 roundup (in-progress):
(scroll way down)
xcancel.com/lrozen has the originals.
I’m shocked, shocked, that US real estate developers and hangers-on to wannabe mob bosses don’t understand the nuances of life-and-death negotiations with representatives of an ancient civilization. Shocking.
Grr….
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gloria DryGarden
@WTFGhost: this is an apt metaphor
caseyL, I meant to mention, for map and geography lovers a game on line called worldle. The website that comes up is odd, Germanic, teuteuf is part of it. A blast, and just 10-15 minutes, though yo7 may be faster.
Jackie
@YY_Sima Qian: For those of us not subscribed to Musk, can you elaborate, please?
Baud
@Another Scott:
I was wondering why TMZ was covering this war.
YY_Sima Qian
@Eolirin: I don’t think Russia is still importing Shaheds from Iran. Russia is producing the series of products itself under license.
BTW, the US has debuted its own copy of the Shaheds in this latest war.
LAC
@Professor Bigfoot: Amen.Ā Hopefully, they will be listened to this time.Ā With ears open and mouths closed, for a change.
YY_Sima Qian
Double post
geg6
@Geminid:
Yes, she always brings me some chocolate. Ā Itās delicious. Ā She also brings me saffron, which is incredibly inexpensive there.
She goes to Italy a lot, too. Ā Brings me small batch olive oils and wine from there.
Sheās a great friend.
CaseyL
@Gloria DryGarden:Ā ā
I think I played Worldle a few times; I’ll have to find it and play some more.
Honus
@Geminid: no need to bring back Dubai chocolate. Ā Home Goods, TJ Maxx and the Grand Market on Main St in Charlottesville have plenty. Ā The big 7 oz. bars are $10-12 and they have bags of individually wrapped pieces. Ā I extensively research chocolate availability on a regular basis.
YY_Sima Qian
@Jackie:
geg6
@Geminid:
Yes, not gold. Ā Pistachios!
YY_Sima Qian
One of the key factors affecting the course of the war (gift link to WSJ article below):
WTFGhost
@West of the Rockies: Technically, I’d say she’s saying “quit your yapping! Trump can’t help with beef prices, so shut up about them!”
Just to rub people’s faces in how she won’t even be honest about why she’s lying to them.
@Geminid: “we have an animal cornered with no possible chance for escape. I, a neutral observer, who will not be harmed one way or the other in the slightest, question the strategy of the desperate animal, many of whose children are being slaughtered.”
I might too, if I felt worthy to judge what to do when a nuclear armed adversary is bombing hell to the surface, and sharing it with all my people.
I would guess that Iran is hoping property damage, and the slaughter of innocents, gets more attention than just the slaughter of innocents, and, that the attention won’t be “kill them all.”
If the attention will be “kill them all,” well, they didn’t really care about the slaughter of innocents in the first place.
And lets face it: property damage has always gotten more attention than a death toll.
@Betty Cracker: I’m sure it’s got some bible beaters fapping away for the Rapture. Perhaps “Tribulation” will be the great whining and wailing and abuses of power thrashing about from all the sore losers who followed Trump and found Trump wasn’t the Second Coming after all. Once Trump transformed into his True Nature, the son of Satan himself, with large horns, an upside down crucifix burning in unholy darkness emblazoned on his chest, and sheer, raw, evil radiating from him so your own evil seems small and petty beside it, once that transformation was completed, his cabinet temporarily removed him from office, until a Naval doctor, who would take orders, would certify him fit for duty. President Vance, tears streaming down his eyes, launches a nuclear strike at Russia because Putin promised that Vance was heaven bound! PUTIN LIED! Who would ever lie about something so important? And you know, rivers of blood, raining down of the stars like ripe figs, fire, and horror and war, and famine and pestilence (man, mRNA wasĀ so close to eliminating pestilence!) and death (who is wearing a Trump mask, so as to be scarier).
C’mon, you have to admit, it’s a fair possibility!
Honus
@YY_Sima Qian: not gold flecks, pistachio cream with bits of crispy toasted phyllo dough. Ā Which is not unlike gold, now that I think of it.
Gloria DryGarden
@CaseyL: a new country everyday. The islands and Africa are hard for me, esp the islands. Iāve begun to connect with a local jackal who is from Zambia, so I know 2% more because of her. Neighboring countries and main languages in Africa can be complex. I used to have the Africa map memorized. But it helps when I know someone from a place. Iāve met people from only 13 countries in Africa.
Gloria DryGarden
@YY_Sima Qian: world is waiting to hear about our dwindling stockpiles.
Wonāt that be interesting?
CaseyL
Great news, everyone! Per the Associated Press:
If you wondered who would be the Chalabi of Iran, look no further!Ā The US will install a new Shah!
This will go well.
trollhattan
@YY_Sima Qian:Ā ā
Yeah, Russia builds their own and has upsized the design into rather huge variants with long ranges and big warheads.
As goofy as they look, they can still blow stuff up. Including expensive stuff.
defencesecurityasia.com/en/iran-shahed-drone-destroys-us-radar-bahrain-israel-preemptive-strike-gulf…
Miss Bianca
@Geminid: One of my friends at U-M back in the day (still keep up with him on FB) is a Zoroastrian from Pakistan. I was taking an ancient religions class when I met him and had thought that Zoroastrianism had gone the way of, say, the Gnostics or the cult of Mithras. Wrong!
Castor Canadensis
@Betty Cracker: I still like John Fallows a lot, but the magazine went downhill enough, some years ago, that Joyce has forbidden it to enter the house.
ExPatExDem
Deaths from the bombing of that girls’ school in Iran now up to 153.
CENTCOM has also confirmed the first U.S. casualties in Operation Epstein Distraction.Ā 3 killed, 5 wounded.
Professor Bigfoot
@CaseyL: Jesus H. Christ.
Iā¦ bloody hell.
And as noted elsewhere,Ā who ultimately benefits?
A certain KGB trained intelligence officer and right villainĀ always seems to benefit from American actions these days, doesnāt he?
different-church-lady
@CaseyL: I mean, about as well as last time, right?
I wonder how much gas Ted Koppel has left in the tank…
trollhattan
What good is your spree killing if there’s a war keeping it off the front page. Anyway, weekend in America, Texas flavor.
jonas
@Mr. Mack: A lot of the political crises and conflict in the Middle East, from Israel and the West Bank to the Syrian civil war to Iran are increasingly driven by water, or rather lack thereof. The Tigris and Euphrates barely even reach the Persian Gulf anymore. Climate change, combined with rapid population growth, is rapidly transforming the region’s hydrology. The Saudis and wealthy Gulf states can afford massive desalinization plants, but the rest of the region is going to be facing water crisis after water crisis in coming years.
mappy!
@YY_Sima Qian: Using up munitions to re-stockpile, with new improved versions, and directing that spending to R centric defense industries would never be a reason for starting hostilities would it? Especially if Europeans have ramped down their plans to buy US arms?
Speaking of which, I wonder how many NATO nations are contributing to this, or is it just Bibi, the Royals & Taco?.
Matt McIrvin
@Castor Canadensis: My wife still reads The Atlantic and it seems like its only function is to make her mad by printing stupid stuff, mostly of the chin-stroking-centrist variety.
wenchacha
@Baud:Ā Pizza rat comes pre-spiced.
wenchacha
@CaseyL: Oh, this portends great things.
š
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Isn’t that the business plan of most media these days?
jonas
Persian and Hittite were both Indo-European languages, so not related to Arabic or Hebrew. You may be thinking of Akkadian, which because it used cuneiform and borrowed a lot from Sumerian was a kind of bridge between ancient Sumerian and Semitic languages.
scav
@trollhattan: ānexus to terrorismā oooooo,Ā big scary words mr policeman has used. Ā Tactical PR must be one of their rote mini-courses now.
Matt McIrvin
@CaseyL: Young folk have a hard time believing we managed to drive anywhere without GPS-driven navigational aids. “How would you manage a road trip? What did you do?”
There was a whole paper map infrastructure: you had your Rand McNally Road Atlas, your regional street atlas from companies like Arrow and ADC, maybe some materials from AAA and suchlike.
And at gas stations and rest stops and hotels, you could pick up a folding map of the area you were in that was sufficient for local tourist navigation, often free of charge. So you could rely on getting one of those once you got to the area you were going to. But beyond that, you had to develop a skill for interpreting road signs and correlating them to the map, which is nontrivial.
As a kid, I remember how cool it was to be deputized on a long road trip to ride shotgun and handle the map navigation. I got pretty good at it.
Much of this stuff still exists, but people don’t necessarily bother using it.
jonas
@Miss Bianca: A lot of the elites of the Persian diaspora in the US and around the world still identify as Zoroastrian. It was kind of the court religion of imperial Persia and enjoyed a revival under the Pahlavis, though they were Muslim. I know a guy who’s one of the priests of the Zoroastrian community in SoCal.
M31
@Matt McIrvin:Ā ā
a classic from bluesky (I think) — dad tells his 6 year old about navigation in the old days — “so you had to use a map, like a PIRATE?”
Miss Bianca
@Matt McIrvin: When I went to Chicago earlier this year I wandered into a store at Union Station and asked, forlornly, if they had such a thing as a folding map of the city. The look the young person at the counter gave me as she said, “No” was one of stupefaction, mixed with a mildly scornful pity.
Managed to find my way around anyway, after almost 30 years away, *and* to do it without GPS, but I miss those laminated city maps you used to be able to get.
Gloria DryGarden
@jonas: Iāve been listening to Irving finkel on YouTube. I get all mixed up w Hittite and Akkadian, thanks. Ā He seems to be fluent in Sumerian, and reads cuneiform, and he mention three languages, on the document they used to figure it out. Some Semitic thing, an old Persian, from which they could figure out the Sumerian which he says is a language isolate.
new stuff keeps turning up about early ancient civ. Gobekli tepe (so), and earlier places, not so much about the Indyās valley, or Persia, or India, out of which Indus Valley civ may have come. Gol. Itās like we canāt look east of Iraq/ Sumeria, for ancient civ.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
I’m so old, I remember when I had a dedicated GPS unit in my car.
JaySinWA
@Baud: Ah yes, I subscribed to the Atlantic after the Signal episode. This reminded me to unsubscribe. Done.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: These days it seems like they print a lot of disappointed conservatives lamenting that the right has suddenly become the very face-eating leopard they thought they were opposed to, and blaming Democrats for sucking too hard to attract them. And if there are comment sections (which there sometimes are), they end up just fighting with all the people pointing and laughing at them.
jonas
@Matt McIrvin: In LA back in the day, you had the Thomas Guide, this big spiral-bound volume with maps of each section of the city. You looked up the street and block number you wanted in the index and that took you to a page number and coordinates on a grid and there was your address.
My kids are learning to drive and after walking and being driven around this community for years, still have to whip out their phones to figure out how to get past the end of our driveway. They have absolutely zero spatial navigation skills. Baffling and, frankly, a little scary. If they ever got lost somewhere and didn’t have their phones, they’d have no bloody clue where they were.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
They sound like Democrats.
trollhattan
@Matt McIrvin:Ā ā
I miss maps, which used to be free spiffs at service stations. IDK if AAA still prints them and I don’t even know where the nearest AAA even is.
So. Very. Old.
My car’s GPS basemap was installed in 2012 and I amuse myself driving through a new subdivision while it warns me I’m going to hit a peach tree or cow any minute.
trollhattan
@Matt McIrvin:Ā ā
I miss maps, which used to be free spiffs at service stations. IDK if AAA still prints them and I don’t even know where the nearest AAA even is.
So. Very. Old.
My car’s GPS basemap was installed in 2012 and I amuse myself driving through a new subdivision while it warns me I’m going to hit a peach tree or cow any minute.
And another thingāmy kid can’t point to NSEW. Except kinda knows the sun rises to the east.
Marleedog
@trollhattan:
Indeed they do.
Matt McIrvin
@Miss Bianca: Public transit systems are one area where it seems like people still make heavy use of the wall maps in the stations (usually abstracted Harry Beck-style diagrams, often available through your phone but it’s just the same diagram). Google Maps’ Transit layer isn’t great.
Matt McIrvin
@trollhattan: We are AAA members and actually make use of the local office sometimes: they offer various perks like cheaper-than-average foreign currency exchange and some travel-agent kinds of services. All things that are gradually sunsetting into obsolescence, but every so often you need them.
Soprano2
@prostratedragon: They will never quit being butthurt that Obama got bin Laden.
gene108
@trnc:
This is why a smart person has their steaks cooked extra well done to kill off the bacteria resulting from a lack of inspectors.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Steve in the ATL
@trollhattan: I hit Peachtree almost daily!
WTFGhost
I had a hard time with that, too, though I knew North was 12, East was 3, etc.. Once I started driving places, I started to settle in, “I’m going north, because Seattle is north and west of Renton,” or “the highway says south, but it’s leading me to the northern route,” and so forth.
Once you use information, that’s when the real magic happens.
Matt McIrvin
@trollhattan: I confess I get a little confused sometimes by the roughly 90-degree bend in my street, since it ought to be “east-west” by parallelism with Main Street but is actually mostly north-south, but then I am deconfused again when I remember which way the Merrimack River is and where the sun or Polaris appear in the sky when I look up.
WTFGhost
@Gloria DryGarden: I hear you. Those of us who hear the screams of the dying must give voice to them, so those who don’t hear may learn to listen.
@Steve in the ATL: (mode = groucho_marx_eyebrows)I hope Peachtree consents and is happy about the encounter! (/mode)
StringOnAStick
@Miss Bianca: When we went to Paris last December, we bought a laminated plastic map of the city because getting an overview of where you are and where you could possibly go is one thing where phone navigation is sorely lacking.Ā It was super helpful to have both, especially since the subway lines were also on the laminated map.
I have a couple of degrees in geology (from before the early 1990’s killed that career) and did huge amounts of field work that required map reading skills.Ā I developed an ability to know which way I’m headed 99% of the time; its second nature for me.Ā I can really tell people who never did, especially people who have never used anything but a phone for navigation; its amazing to go hiking or biking with people who just can’t figure out where they are without a device.
Lily
Miranda Russell – 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
youtube.com/watch?v=s7yVnfX98A8
WTFGhost
@gene108: The society of steak lovers wants to inform you that a really good sear, on all surfaces of the steak (so a filet mingon is browned top, bottom, and all along the sides), will kill the dangerous germs on the steak. Hamburger, on the other hand, needs to be cooked to 165 (so breadcrumbs help maintain moisture), because any microbes are mixed in deep.
That said, if anyone likes their steak well done, and will even do it to a dry aged, fork tender, the kind you want as rare as possible, because OMG the flavor!!!, then that’s their business, I just might leave the room if I’m in a sensitive state :-).
Matt McIrvin
@jonas: In metro Boston it was the Arrow street atlas. Spiral-bound and thick, with, usually, a page or spread for every town or city in the area, more for the big ones. It was a great thing to have in your car in a pinch.
The DC-area ones were made by the Alexandria Drafting Company (ADC). I remember spending hours poking around the Fairfax County one–I loved maps as a kid.
Langenscheidt, a company originally specializing in language-translation dictionaries, eventually bought both ADC and Arrow. Then they got sold off to Kappa Publishing, a company specializing in puzzle books… which apparently shut them down in 2022. So, I guess you can’t get those maps any more.
Matt McIrvin
@WTFGhost: Around here you have to get used to things like I-95 North and Route 3 South being the same road for a couple of miles.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: They absolutely agree with progressives on this point; their reasons for hating Democrats are just completely the opposite.
Kayla Rudbek
@Baud: Iām so old that I kept my dedicated GPS unit for my car. Ā How do you tell a Silicon Valley redneck? Theyāre the ones with five computers up on blocks on the front porch.
lowtechcyclist
@CaseyL:
They still publish encyclopedias?Ā I assumed Wikipedia had killed the market. So far, Wikipedia seems to have been immune from enshittification AFAICT.
My parents bought us a set of the World Book Encyclopedia, ca. 1960.Ā This bookworm has fond memories of it.
Trivia Man
@jonas: The Thomas Guide was my bible as a cab driver. Id lived in LA less than a year snd had zero idea of where anything was.
Nearly every ride started with āI know how I would drive there in my own, give me just a minute to make sure thatās the fastest way – i dont want to overcharge you.ā
Averaged 30% tips so i guess it worked.
Citizen Alan
@Baud: Less than that, I think. In 2012, I honestly thought Obama might win Mississippi because he only needed 15% of the white vote and he was going up against a Mormon who was associated with the “White Horse prophecy.” In 2011, I heard a Baptist minister interruptĀ the Mother’s Day sermonĀ to say “and by the way, Mormonism is a Satanic cult.” Obama ended up getting only around 11% because a sizeable number of white Mississippians were ready to vote for a manĀ who they thought might be the AntichristĀ over a black man.
Matt McIrvin
@Citizen Alan: I recently heard someone say a fundamentalist relative of theirs justified voting for Trump BECAUSE they thought he was the Antichrist, and that the rise of the Antichrist was necessary to fulfill (supposed) Bible prophecies so Jesus could return.
Ruckus
Trump looks like he died last week and was badly preserved.
Of course he’s looked either like that or that it was too late to even bother consider preserving him for a long time now. Those are the only 2 versions I’ve ever seen of him.
frosty
@Miss Bianca: You needed one of these. I discovered them 10 years ago in Paris and London.
Chicago Popout Map
Geminid
@Honus: Ah, maybe I’ll get my friend Debbie to pick me up some Dubai Chocolate. She’s coming next weekend to work on her bees;
Debbie keeps a hive out here. She treated it for Varroa Mites yesterday, by fumigating the hive with oxalic acid. She wants to treat it two more times.
I asked Debbie how her bees were doing. She said they were busy hauling in tree pollen. They were in a good mood and didn’t mind her.
She said that once she harvests the honey late June or or early July, their mood will change. She’ll go from that harmless Debbie lady to that honey thiefĀ from Charlottesvile. They’ll stay mad for a couple months
Citizen Alan
@Matt McIrvin:Ā Wow. So they’re taking the Marking of the Beast … in Jesus’ name?!?
Matt McIrvin
@WTFGhost: Even in pre-GPS times I knew people who had no concept of which way was north, but were perfectly capable of navigating with paper maps, because you don’t technically need the “direction sense” to do that. They knew how to look up street names or landmarks in the map index, go to the indicated grid square on the page, and deduce a course to where they needed to go. Figuring out the cardinal directions from your location is just an optional orientation aid.
The main difficulty with these old methods is that you couldn’t actually do most of the work while driving–if you were moving and you got lost, you had to pull over somewhere to do your detective work. But that just meant you had to remember directions and maintain more situational awareness in your head.
Geminid
@WTFGhost: Yes, I’ll question the strategy of Iranian leaders, and if you think that means I don’t care about human life like you do, I’ll point out there are humans living and working where Iran’s drones are striking, and I’m talking about noncombatants.
And don’t put words in my mouth.
trollhattan
@Lily:Ā ā
That’s great. One RT song I’ve NEVER heard anybody attempt to cover.
Speaking of unexpected covers, the other day one of our treasured public community stations played a woman singing “Me and Mrs Jones.” Really puts that song on its head.
dnfree
@WTFGhost: You can buy t-shirts for Chicago that donāt name the city. Ā They just have arrows pointing N, S, W, and āLakeā. Ā Remember the song by some British group that referenced the āeast side of Chicagoā? Ā There actually are areas of the city east of the dividing line, but itās never called the east side.
Miss Bianca
@frosty: Oh, man, you mean you just gave a reason to *go back to Amazon*?//
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: Does this means you haven’t heard Del McCoury’s version?
(I confess I think I like it even better than RT’s version – and I love RT!)
Gloria DryGarden
@jonas: can you send me a link about Akkadian as a bridge between Sumerian, and Semitic languages? If Iāve understood what you said, Iād like to read more about it.
Gloria DryGarden
exactly.
alice walker has a poem about van goghs sunflowers, wanting them to be seen so in seeing, weād want to save the world and nature he paints. I think itās called āif there was any Justice.ā
if you donāt mind, Iād like to quote you on Facebook and bluesky.
Gloria DryGarden
@StringOnAStick: itās late on this thread. Iāve met a geologist who had an innate sense of NSEW. Inside his house, that was at an angle to the cardinal directions.
I was trying to verbally cue him, through his Parkinsonās, how to move in which direction he needed to go, in his house. I used right, left forward, and he asked me to please use north south etc. Ā I hadnāt oriented myself in his house, in a curvy street neighborhood, so I had no clue.
I do get clear about where north etc are if Iām calling in the directions for a circle. But I wasnāt doing that at his house.
i admire that you can do that. If Iām outside, try to know these things.
Lily
@trollhattan: she’s amazing and i just got comped a ticket to hear her sing bonnie raitt
Lily
@trollhattan: her? youtube.com/watch?v=lRxQCy2UoE8