If there’s anything going on in the universe that is not associated with that momentous occasion of today, post about it here.
Open Thread
This post is in: Open Threads, OBAMA IS WORSE THAN BUSH HE SOLD US OUT!!
This post is in: Open Threads, OBAMA IS WORSE THAN BUSH HE SOLD US OUT!!
If there’s anything going on in the universe that is not associated with that momentous occasion of today, post about it here.
Comments are closed.
Elisabeth
I got pre-approved to buy a house. Two fabulous early birthday presents for me!
Chyron HR
Did you hear that Obama just came out in favor of Jay marriage?
Soonergrunt
@Elisabeth: Great news! What interest rate, if I may ask?
If I may not, feel free to tell me to fuck off.
@Chyron HR: I think there was something about it on twitter.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elisabeth:
Yay! Congratulations to you!!
Brachiator
Because you’re never too young to learn to rock it.
Adorable 3-year-old girl rocks out to Carrie Underwood from her car seat
Rommie
Rush Babes for America. Beavis and Butt-head watch and say nothing…
JPL
@Soonergrunt: I have a small mortgage and was gonna refinance to a fifteen year at 3 percent..not sure the 30 year rate..
I didn’t because I would need to finance more than I now have. I owe less than forty and would have had to raise that to fifty. That and the closing costs made it a questionable financial decision. My interest rate now is 5 percent.
also,too.. if you are looking to refinance..my mortgage is with usaa.. wells fargo refinanced my son for no closing costs btw cuz his mortgage was over two years old..
tulip
Supposedly there will be an additional 30-40 minutes of Avengers “deleted scenes” on the blu-ray. Hopefully Marvel/Disney or whoever puts it together will incorporate the footage within the movie, a la LOTR, and not as deleted scenes in special features.
Woot.
Oh the sky is blue, Republicans suck and it’s just been announced that there will be an Avengers 2. Since the movie has grossed more the the GNP of most of the world in less than a week, I was really on pins and needles weather this was going to happen. :)
And I know this probably means nothing, but near the end of the Avengers when the news is explaining what has happened in the aftermath of the New York destruction, there is no Fox News shown. MSNBC and CNN Live. Hey, I take joy in that actually.
:)
And why yes I have gotten my nerd/geek on.
Clime Acts
Sorry, but must go back to the gay marriage thing!
Check out my visual tribute/response to today’s impressive display of balls/ovaries by Prez O:
BARACK AND THE GAYS
PeakVT
@Chyron HR: I thought it was May marriage. I don’t understand why he waited until the 9th.
mk3872
Lemme guess … Obama took to long to support gay marriage so he’s just a typical opportunistic politician selling out liberals, am I right? Lemme check FDL & HuffPo just to be sure …
Elisabeth
@Soonergrunt:
Heh ~ no problem. I’m looking at 4.25%, I believe, via VA. That was as of 10 days ago and it looks like rates have dropped a bit.
Elisabeth
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks! I want this house BAD!
ruemara
@Elisabeth: Congratulations!
Clime Acts
@mk3872:
Obama took to long to support gay marriage…
He DID take too long. Three and a half years too long; especially considering this has been his position the entire time.
However, at least he finally did it, which is a good thing. And so I give him credit with a visual tribute HERE.
burnspbesq
Against my better judgment, but out of morbid curiosity, I’m going to go see what Aravosis has to say about Obama’s statement.
dmsilev
I spent all day making a single electrical resistance measurement.
0.773 +/- 0.006 nano-Ohms/gauss.
Now the computer gets to spend the next 5 days seeing how that number changes as a function of temperature.
Brachiator
@tulip:
I’m sure the studios will look to squeeze every last dime they can out of what is already a huge hit. So we’ll have special editions and extra special editions and mega special editions.
I’ve heard some people on podcasts talk about the deleted scenes. Some explained more, but probably would have slowed the movie down.
The funny bit was hearing how steamed one of the reviewers was who had attended an early screening in Europe which did not have the scene that appears after the credits in the US version. He felt sooooo cheated.
So a word to the wise. If you are a huge Avengers fan, stay for ALL the credits. All. Don’t leave your seat until one of the ushers comes by to clean up around you.
Spaghetti Lee
@dmsilev:
Is this a hobby?
gbear
My news is that something incredibly noisy and wrong happened to my scooter this week. It’s at the shop and I probably won’t have it back for over a week. I am experiencing extreme scooter withdrawl symptoms, soon to be replaced by sticker shock.
And I am also a smiling Obot.
And I wouldn’t click on a Clime Acts link if my life depended on it.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@dmsilev: nano Ohms, you sure that isn’t a short?
PurpleGirl
@Elisabeth: Congratulations. May you live in it a long time and be very happy there.
Maude
@Elisabeth:
Great news. Congrats.
dmsilev
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Very sure. The base value is actually a few milliOhms, and I’m interested in how the resistance changes as a function of magnetic field (this is a Hall Effect measurement, for those who remember their freshman physics course). The sample being measured is a small chunk of metal, so it’s pretty close to a short circuit, but it’s definitely a real resistance.
And yes, I actually get paid to do things like this.
RossinDetroit
@dmsilev:
Nano-Ohms/Gauss? Hall Effect?
ETA: late response. Hall Effect is interesting and useful. Isn’t that a semiconductor effect rather than in pure metals?
Soonergrunt
@JPL: We just refinanced our VA mortgage with Wells Fargo, the original servicer. Went from 6.125% to 4.00% and being disabled vet, had VA funding fee waived, and also VA slipstream refis (refinance only to lower interest rate on outstanding principle) get most of the other costs waived. Total costs to refinance were less than $300.
Raven
@Soonergrunt: I tried to register on that VA site. Fail. It seemed to retrieve some of my info OK but that’s about as far as I got.
dmsilev
@RossinDetroit: You can measure Hall Effect in anything; sane people don’t usually try it in metals because the signals are so small (it scales inversely with carrier density, and metals tend to have lots and lots of carriers).
I’ve never claimed to be sane.
JPL
@Soonergrunt: I wasn’t thrilled with usaa because of the closing costs and didn’t want to add to my mortgage, although I could just pay it down again. I just increased my payments to pay it off sooner.
chopper
making neapolitan-style pizza dough and some nice-ass wheat bread.
i must say, once you go fresh yeast you never go back. shit is teh bomb.
Raven
@JPL: We took a 15 with USSA and we’re getting close!
RossinDetroit
My wife just emailed me pix of a robot hand she designed to move yellow-hot metal blanks around in a forge. Like this was no big deal. Robot hand! And this isn’t even the build that she’s been bitching up a storm over all week.
jeffreyw
Fucking transformer prime keyboard/dock has no delete key or else I’m blind.
Narcissus
I finally got a full-time job. It’s hard work for hard hours for shit pay, but at least I’ll have medical insurance.
Raven
@jeffreyw: Stupid iPad keyboard I have has a key right above the delete that shuts the damn thing down.
WereBear
@Narcissus: I am actually happy for you… though it sounds like a crappy job. But any port in a storm that offers medical coverage. Woot.
Lit3Bolt
Reason 1001# Andrew Sullivan has the self-awareness of a sea cucumber:
His reaction to the firing of NSR:
His reaction to Obama’s backing of same sex marriage:
I sent this email, but I doubt it will get posted. See if you can spot the differences!
The Most Persuasive Case for Eliminating Gay Studies? Just Read the Dissertations.
“You’ll have to forgive the lateness but I just got around to reading The Chronicle’s recent piece on the young guns of gay studies. If ever there were a case for eliminating the discipline, the sidebar explaining some of the dissertations being offered by the best and the brightest of gay studies graduate students has made it. What a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap. The best that can be said of these topics is that they’re so irrelevant no one will ever look at them.”
“Seriously, folks, there are legitimate debates about the problems that plague the gay community from high rates of drug use to low marriage rates to high teenage suicide rates. But it’s clear that they’re not happening in gay-studies departments. If these young scholars are the future of the discipline, I think they can just as well leave their calendars at 1969 Stonewall Riots and let some legitimate scholars find solutions to the problems of homosexuals in America. Solutions that don’t begin and end with blaming the actions of straight people.”
See the difference, Andrew? Is it still within the bounds of provocative intellectual opinion? If so, I expect more glowing reviews and approval of right-wing homophobic screeds on your site in the future. After all, it’s merely “edgy” and “provocative,” right? Clearly no one is being hurt.
Try to have some self-awareness in the future before you help denigrate one minority and then, 5 posts later, celebrate the progress of your own.
jeffreyw
Ah, shift + backspace will do it
Nutella
Feelings running high in Wisconsin recall. I hope they arrest the guy for voter suppression.
burnspbesq
Two Fullerton, CA cops will stand trial for murder in the death of a homeless person last year.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/thomas-353409-officers-ramos.html
I’ve never been sold on OC District Attorney Tony Rackaukas. This, however, is good.
Narcissus
@WereBear: Thanks.
burnspbesq
@Narcissus:
Excellent news! Congrats! How does it feel to be a statistic that will help Obama get re-elected?
burnspbesq
@Nutella:
I don’t think any amount of counseling can save that marriage.
Tonal Crow
Ack! Pffft! This blog is right back to the ridiculously counterproductive “Obot”/”Firebagger” wars. I’m going Galt until it settles down.
Mnemosyne
@Tonal Crow:
Since it’s a particularly stupid iteration of the war, I can’t really blame you. You’d think that Obots and firebaggers could happily agree that this is good news, but apparently every silver lining must be examined for a potential cloud.
MaryRC
This happened. Jonah Goldberg claims that he is a two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee when he’s not.
From a spokesperson:
So Jonah wasn’t actually nominated but he was ‘nominated’ which totally counts, so there.
This reminds me of that guy who was involved in the Terri Schiavo case, Dr. William Hammesfahr, who claimed he was a Nobel Prize nominee. Unfortunately it doesn’t count when you nominate yourself.
Soonergrunt
@Raven: Can you make it to a VA facility to get assistance? I can’t really help you over this medium, but they can help you at the tech support line or in person at your nearest VA facility. Additionally, going to the VA will allow you to check the boxes for the ‘in person proofing’ that will enable all of the features of the eBenefits portal as well as the MyHealtheVet portal through which you can securely communicate with your providers and reorder prescriptions, schedule appointments, and so forth.
I know that I had it pretty easy with working in the facility, so I didn’t have any of the problems that many people are having.
These pages, eBenefits and
MyHealtheVet are both great resources, but they’re both a royal pain in the ass to get signed up and working. I’m an IT guy, working for VA, and I needed assistance in both cases.
Elisabeth
@Soonergrunt:
That eBenefits site was a big help. I was able to print my disability letter in, like, two seconds.
Raven
@Soonergrunt: Thanks, yea we have a mini-center right here. When they opened a few years back I took all the paperwork down and got called back a week later. When I got there they had lost my paperwork and I got to do a really fun meltdown in the lobby. There were all these dudes in there that really needed the help and, since I didn’t, I made the snap decision to raise fucking hell.Some rent a cop followed me into the parking lot and I asked him what he wanted. It was fun. I should just di-di back there, it’s been ling enough that they wouldn’t know who I was.
Thanks
‘
Raven
Whatever I did the other day must have worked, I got in with a login and password!
Amanda in the South Bay
We had one of those mobile vet mobiles at the school today. I walked by it a couple of times, but I never really got the courage to talk to anyone. I still find it hard to identify as a veteran, since, well, being trans isn’t exactly common to a lot of vets, and that’s not something I want to navigate with talking to veterans.
Raven
@Amanda in the South Bay: Fuck em if they can’t take a joke. I enjoy talking with you.
Kristine
@Elisabeth: Congratulations! Now you’ll be able to make holes in the walls with impunity. Or a hammer, depending on circumstances.
gnomedad
@dmsilev:
I miss the days when the unit of conductance was a “mho”. That amused me.
Larkspur
Ooh, open thread. I am happy and sad. My month long house- and pug-sitting gig is coming to an end. Sad sad sad. But…it has been challenging to sleep with two pugs in a twin bed. But I can’t say I’ll be happy to not do it any more. It will be nice to stretch out, but oh I love these little pugs. A happy thing would be if I could sleep with them in a queen-sized Tempurpedic bed.
Also, Rachel Maddow is now talking about how I felt just after we elected Obama: so so happy, and so so sad, because that was also Prop 8 Day. So yeah, I feel better today.
Congrats, Narcissus, and may true job satisfaction come to you soon, because job satisfaction and health benefits? So civilized, and very cool.
Mnemosyne
@Amanda in the South Bay:
If it helps build up your courage for next time, I’m guessing that the vet services people in the Bay Area would be pretty prepared to assist LGBT vets coming in for services. It’s not like you’re in South Carolina or something.
(Edited for moar better clarity)
Mnemosyne
@Amanda in the South Bay:
Also, too, the VA did issue a specific directive that transgender and intersexed veterans are entitled to the same services as every other veteran, so you can feel free to report anyone who’s an asshole to you.
Soonergrunt
@Raven: SWEET!
@Amanda in the South Bay: I can see how that could be uncomfortable for you, but to me, and most VA personnel, a Vet is a Vet is a Vet, full stop. And like Mnemosyne noted at 56, VA in the bay area has probably seen this before or at least thought about it and what they need to do to comply with laws, rules, directives, and the imperative of the agency to service our sister Veteran.