Friday! Via Paul Constant, who reports some other cinematic processed cheese product as well.
DougJ bait! Some NPR-sponsored hipster idiot offers the worst possible excuse for the Park Slope Brooklyn Baby Expo, aka “The Sippy Cup 1%“:
… It’s easy to feel like a sucker once you realize that nearly every dollar you’ve paid over the commodity price is probably wasted. But the process also has enormous benefits for all consumers. Occasionally companies seeking differentiation come up with safety features that are eventually adopted by government regulation and mandated for all competitors. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for instance, has been testing Safety 1st’s Air Protect+ system, along with other car seats that claim to offer special protection from side-impact crashes. If a particular company’s safety technology proves effective, eventually every car-seat maker will be required to include it, and side-impact protection will go from a premium feature to part of the basic commodity…
Cheesecake! A New Yorker columnist attempts to find deeper sociopolitical meaning in Edward Snowden’s girlfriend’s elaborate “world-traveling, pole-dancing superhero” selfies:
… LsJourney is an example—if a wackily theatrical one—of the type of fascinated self-exposure that many people engage in every day. In one of the hundreds of self-portraits that Mills posted on her blog, she stands just to the right of the center of the frame, wearing black lace underwear and a black bra, holding herself tight in a gesture of despondency, a bright yellow Forever 21 bag covering her face in a way that unfortunately recalls the infamous photos of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. In another underwear-clad photo (zebra-patterned this time), she sits on a chair, legs akimbo, staring into the camera with a dire expression. On one foot, she wears a hiking boot, on the other a high-heeled shoe (“wild + refined #selfportrait,” she calls it). In yet another, she’s holding herself in the air, one hand on a metal pole, above the heads of a bride and groom. Her pink tutu hovers over them….
(Yes, there are pics at the link. Just be sure to wash your hands afterwards, perv.)
And John Cole, among others, now has one more reason to hate John Boehner.
What other showy disasters-in-the-making are on tap for the end of a showily disastrous week?
ulee
Zombie apocalypse begins at sundown.
eemom
What other tone deaf AL showy mockeries of PT commenters might be in store for this particular thread? Stay tuned…
raven
Catchin the second half!
ulee
Looked at the pics. Jeezus, now I understand why Snowden is seeking asylum.
raven
@ulee: He’s exhausted!
Xenos
So what is this supposed to be, 300 II, Salamis Boogaloo?
And since we are talking about the rise of (presumably) the Athenian empire, when do we get to the Melian dialogue?
Debbie(aussie)
I just finished four weeks part-time temp work. First paid work since June 1998. Feels good. Going back for 10 hrs next Thursday & Friday.
ulee
@raven: or existentially horrified.
raven
@Debbie(aussie): Here’s a fun piece on an Aussie view of livin in the usa!
raven
@Xenos: I live in the Athenian empire!
geg6
Gawd, it seems like the academic year just ended and already we have the first summer orientation for fall’s incoming freshmen next week. After the bad recruitment season last year (thanks Sandusky, Paterno, Spanier and gang of assholes even though your crimes took place 200 miles away!), we have had a banner year on my campus, up 34%! Next week is gonna be nuts, so I’m drinking heavily this weekend.
Debbie(aussie)
@raven: thanks Raven, seemed like a reasonably probable assessment :) my d-I-l says its often the little things.
raven
@geg6: 78 days till kickoff.
JPL
This weekend I’m going to be cleaning up my yard. Straight line winds managed to take down two large trees in my back yard, which will have to be removed by a tree company but the rest of the branches I can take care of. The top of a sweet gum is on gardenias, I planted last year. There are several trees down in my neighborhood but the good news is only one house was damaged and one car squished.
Todd
@raven: @ulee:
Two words initially come to mind: high maintenance.
Also, too, she is irresistably cute and has the Michelle Bachmann crazy gaze going on, which means that she’d be a combo of catnip and kryptonite for guys with my particular weakness for that sort of thing.
She’s cute and undoubtedly
dmsilev
@geg6: Christ, we haven’t even had our graduation yet (granted, it’s tomorrow). Seems too early to be contemplating the incoming class. Good luck with your drinking.
Jamey
I think a lot of people calling for Snowdon’s head don’t care F-A about security, but are just jealous that he has a hardbody GF. That’s kinda the state of things in ca. 2013 America.
Omnes Omnibus
As far as the photos go, meh.
Punchy
@Debbie(aussie): Wow. So 100% of Aussies are the 47%?
Wingtard math are funs
Todd
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, come on. The pics didn’t tickle your brain in the tingly spot?
Todd
Hrm. Google appears to be down.
shortstop
The degree of narcissism associated with that many photos is startling, but she’ll be glad she has those shots when she’s an old dame. If only I’d recorded my celebrated 20-something pole-dancing career with such assiduity…ah, but you can’t go backwards.
Schlemizel
Now I feel left out. Certain news stories always make me turn off. I thought I could see the coming tsunami of bullshit coming out from all sides and angles over the NSA story so I refuse to read the ‘what passes for news at the dawn of a twentieth millennium” stories. I did hear something about pole dancing girl friend but no details. Now I know that . . . more brain storage wasted . . . sigh, by any chance has NASA spotted another meteor? Soon hopefully?
Todd
Interesting – I pulled up bing to look up a question about Americans in the Syrian army, and got nothing. I know for a fact that it happens with kids who are dual nationals – they’ve got conscription, and I helped one with some notarial and translation services a few years ago who was a camp counselor along with my daughter at an Orthodox Christian youth camp.
Anyway, Syria is messier than shit – Christians and Muslims and Israel and the Lebanon problem and a broad expat community spread into America and Americans there and Israel and Kurds and Turkey and Iraq and Iran…
rea
Herodotus wept.
Omnes Omnibus
@Todd: I’ve seen better/worse/more artistic/less artistic.more erotic/less erotic.
raven
@JPL: Damn, sorry. we just got a bit of it.
Politically Lost
I’m doing my second day of Physical Therspy today after the total knee replacement surgery on the 30th. I had a bit of a set back two days after I got out of the hospital. The first day out of the hospital I was walking unassisted and getting great range of motion. But, I got a small bleed after a couple days and it filled the joint and caused swelling. The pain from that swelling was definitely in the top three most painful thing I’ve ever endured. My dr. jammed a needle the size of a ten penny nail in there and sucked out about 55 mil of bubbly blood out of there on Sunday. It was a horrifying experience, but at the same time the most beautiful, cuz it relieved the pressure.
Now, I’m getting even better motion and some strength back. The weird part is, I kinda have to relearn to walk because I’ve been limping for years. Now, I can straiten my leg, whereas before I couldn’t.
I’m not looking forward going back to work because I’ve enjoyed the forced break but, Balloon-Juice has kept me entertained this whole time. I think I’ve read just about every comment in the last two weeks.
raven
@Politically Lost: How’s the other leg?
BruceFromOhio
@eemom: Gaia, such harshness at 5am. Regrettably that’s a skill, not a talent.
Sippy cup 1% is hilarious: commodities masquerading as lilfestyle choices for the spit-up crowd serve only to reap profit from parents who simply don’t know any better. Other than the simple car seat I bought myself, everything our diaper set had was second-hand or a splendid gift from friends and family. And then we gleefully gave it all away when finished with it, joining the great tide of hand-me-downs awash in the world.
As for girlfriends photo essay, its fun to see technological advances first designed in the 90’s used so effectively to advance global narcissism in the New Century. When she’s 62 and no longer exercising the vertical bar because of arthritis in her hands, she’ll be envious of who she once was.
If ever there was proof needed of long-term effects of alcohol on human behavior, one need look no further than John Boehner. Or the BJ commentariat.
Early Happy Fathers Day to dads, kids and moms everywhere!
ETA @Politically Lost: Good fortune to you in your PT and recovery, I hope all goes as planned.
dr. bloor
Park Slope moms parking their double-wide strollers in the aisles of Congress would bring the government to its knees in no time.
dr. bloor
@Todd:
…Borderline to beat the band.
Cassidy
She’s cute. Nice pictures.
raven
@BruceFromOhio: Yea cuz it is all fucking over at 62.
Politically Lost
@raven: I’ve been limping so long, it’s caused some problems overall with the other knee and back but, nothing bad and nothing that can’t be overcome with PT.
That was the sixth surgery on the same knee over 20 year period. I’m only 42 and have lost over 90lbs to prepare for this. I’m ready to turn my life around from that other trajectory. I’m cautiously excited about this even though I know how much work I have ahead.
raven
@Politically Lost: Well hang tough. I broke my leg in 18 places at 12, fractured my spine at 27 and am fortunate to still be able to swim a mile a day at 63. Be good to yourself!
Politically Lost
@raven:
Acknowledged! I wasn’t going to make it to 62 with direction I was headed.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
Reposting. This video would be good FP open thread material, just sayin’: Australian Chief of Army Lt. Gen. David Morrison lays the verbal smackdown on sexual harassment of female service members. (via LGM comments)
raven
@Politically Lost: Great plan!
geg6
My John had the double knee replacement a bit over a year ago (Feb. 2012) and had the same problem. He’d been limping for so long, it actually caused him pain to walk normally again. But that only last a short while. If it helps to motivate you, he can walk and even run again as if nothing had ever been wrong and it only took about six months to reach that point. He’s 65 and says he feels like he’s forty again.
His best advice to anyone who undergoes this is to be very persistent and dedicated to the PT. He was an animal about it and he got great results. Hell, he tripped over the hose about a month ago and went down hard on his knees. Other than the normal pain and scrapes from such a clumsy move, there were no problems. He was overjoyed.
Here’s hoping you have the same results!
raven
@geg6: Did they do them both at once?
geg6
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):
Saw that yesterday, on TPM I think. He’s awesome! Too bad our military brass are such misogynist cowards.
different-church-lady
a) Don’t you mean beefcake?
b) As I click away the little pop-up ads for some kind of pills so I can actually see that trailer, it occurs to me that even commercials now come with commercials.
c) Roof repair with no money to spend! Yay me!
different-church-lady
Unfortunate way of putting it, but for some parents probably not at all inaccurate.
geg6
@raven:
Yup. Both the same day. It really was amazing. They had him up walking and in PT within two hours of coming out of recovery. And the new knees they have these days really are durable and well-made, from what the surgeon told us. Lately, we’ve been seeing commercials for them on tv and the surgeon says that they really should last 30 years. John always laughs at that and says his knees will still be around when he’s been worm food for a decade.
raven
@geg6: I’ve always wondered what the titanium rods on my spine since 74 look like!
Politically Lost
@geg6:
“Hell, he tripped over the hose about a month ago and went down hard on his knees.”
Gaw! Can’t tell you how puckery that made me feel.
It’s the stories like that that are motivating me. At my first PT they asked me about goals. I have two: be able to hike like I used to a go for a jog. That’s been inconceivable the last few years.
shortstop
@BruceFromOhio: Well, I’m a long way from 62, but as my comment above notes (kidding about having pole-danced, obviously; I trip on flat sidewalks, so a pole would have put me in a full body cast at any age), it can be nice to document the moment for later reference. Late in life, Bette Davis said she’d always thought she was unattractive, and only as an old woman did she look at photos/footage of herself as a young woman and decide she’d been pretty damn hot. That’s not at all an uncommon experience, especially for women.
I don’t think most people look back with “envy” at what we looked like/could do at a younger age — after all, we lived it — but there does tend to be a certain sentimentality. And there’s a regret for physical limitations, large or small, that prevent us from doing some of the things we once did. That wisp of regret is as much a part of the aging process as, say, arthritis or sagging tissue or gray hair.
liberal
AFIACT, all the hoopla about the USSC invalidating gene patents is just wrong.
It seems that they still allow patents on cDNA, which I thought the whole point was anyway, since genes themselves cannot be patented. Here’s more detail from a NYRB article by Daniel Kelves:
OK, so they did patent the raw DNA. But allowing cDNA to be patented makes this ruling much less than it would seem, I would think, though I’m not a molecular biologist.
Baud
This could be mine if only Obama would cut my taxes!
MomSense
That Kevin McCarthy’s photo of the Reps with Upton was creepy. Those men have the look of love and not in a good way.
Is there a lecher caucus in the house?
Also, too Boehner is tone deaf.
different-church-lady
@raven: Had the “pleasure” (if you could call it that) of watching surgeons placing a pair of expandable rods in a youngster’s back recently. It sounded like an auto repair shop and it looked like… well, my job was to record the sound, so I didn’t spend a lot of time looking. All I can remember is thinking, “Who figured out you could do that to a human being and it would be okay?” and “OK, guess I should really stare at the meters right now…”
NickT
A poem by the English poet Robert Graves that seems appropriate:
The Persian Version
Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon
The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.
As for the Greek theatrical tradition
Which represents that summer’s expedition
Not as a mere reconnaisance in force
By three brigades of foot and one of horse
(Their left flank covered by some obsolete
Light craft detached from the main Persian fleet)
But as a grandiose, ill-starred attempt
To conquer Greece – they treat it with contempt;
And only incidentally refute
Major Greek claims, by stressing what repute
The Persian monarch and the Persian nation
Won by this salutary demonstration:
Despite a strong defence and adverse weather
All arms combined magnificently together.
geg6
@raven:
Wow, that’s a long time, even for titanium. John’s surgeon says that, although there is a bit of titanium in the new knee joints, the newest ones (which is what he got) are mainly made of some kind of ceramic (I picture it as the same sort they used on the space shuttles, but probably not) and that it lasts even longer.
@Politically Lost:
Just keep your eyes on the prize. John was a jogger for many years (he used to be the cross country coach at the local high school back when he was teaching) and he just started again. He’s not doing long jogs, but he made it a mile last week with no knee pain at all. Losing that weight will help you immensely and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you recover.
liberal
Here’s a blog post at TNR, “The Supreme Court Reveals its Ignorance of Genetics”, which seems to agree with what I’m saying.
NickT
Having made the mistake of clicking on the link to the Gallery Of A Self-Absorbed Young Woman, I am beginning to see why Edward Snowden might have fled to Hong Kong. Clearly, the PRISM nonsense was just an excuse for his quest for sanity and meaningful conversation.
Politically Lost
@different-church-lady:
My hospital experience was top notch save for one thing:
As they wheeled me into the OR I was given a plain view of the power tool bench…. I involuntarily shudder every time I picture that. I was given hi-res pics of before and after. The necrosis/arthritis is so obvious. And, the shiny new appliances are pretty fucking cool.
Joel
I could only watch about 2 seconds of that trailer. Lemme guess, Alexander?
NickT
@Joel:
Conan Does Greek With Kourtney And Kim.
different-church-lady
San Antonio Spurs to racists: Fuck You very much!.
Baud
Interesting timing (via WaPo)
Baud
@different-church-lady:
Excellent. While I still hate that the whole incident happened, I’m almost glad it did.
NickT
@Baud:
She’s going after the John Cole Bubba vote.
Joel
@liberal: Not really, because cDNA, in the practical sense, is almost always artificial. It’s made by making DNA in reverse from an RNA transcript. The reason why the cDNA is relevant to cancer screening is that it eliminates the introns (which are not coded) from the sequencing. This makes the process a lot easier. I am a biochemist, but I am not a lawyer.
Here’s what my thinking is: if someone designed different primers for amplifying the relevant cDNA, that would be analogous to reverse engineering. And you could credibly argue that it is basically the same, because I make gene amplifying primers all the time, because it’s faster and cheaper than buying genes from Addgene or another repository. To be honest, I don’t see how Myriad or anyone like them could sue a “clone” operator.
Baud
@NickT:
I have no problem with that, as long as she sticks with an economic message to get those votes.
Cassidy
@different-church-lady: And that’s why I love the Spurs. When I was stationed in San Antonio they were always doing things in the city. San Antonio residents love that team.
raven
@different-church-lady: My bride had spinal surgery recently and the surgeon told me that what they did to me in 74 would be considered “barbaric” now. Harrington rods were a relatively new procedure then and the alternative I was offered was a year in bed with holes drilled in my head for a halo and traction. I got up and walked out of Grady Hospital in 7 weeks (in a full plaster body cast that would also be considered barbaric now). I’m very thankful that I was cared for by Emory orthopods. If I hadn’t gotten injured I might have never gone back to school, it changed my life.
Mark B
@different-church-lady: Yeah, I thought that was a heart-warming moment. As a Spurs fan, the game sucked, but the kid was great.
Amir Khalid
I don’t see anything objectionable in the Lsjourney photo collection — or particularly remarkable, either. She should put a little more creativity into them, and try to work with better photographers.
Speaking of cinematic processed cheese product, today I saw Man of Steel. It could have been better, I reckon, but it could also have been a lot worse. Not to cavil about the casting of Supes himself, but Henry Cavill doesn’t look the part quite as magnificently as the late great Chris Reeve did. (To be fair, no one else did either, before or after Reeve.)
And the costume! It’s supposed to be bright blue, with a big bright red S on a bright yellow shield. And bright red underpants on the outside. What Cavill has on looks like very dirty long underwear. The red underpants are missing. And some idiot drew decorative lines on his tummy.
I remember when Diane Lane was a young hottie, and seeing her play Ma Kent makes me feel old. But no real casting boo-boos, and fortunately for us all Jor-El is not a singing role for Russell Crowe.
The movie basically recaps the first two Reeve movies with some twists here and there, plus loads more onscreen fisticuffs and destruction in 21st century superhero movie style. If you like this sort of movie, you’ll like Man of Steel.
Cassidy
@Amir Khalid: The Superman costume sans red underwear changed in the comics a few years ago.
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
I detest Christopher Nolan ever since his second Batman movie, in which he ruined the franchise IMHO. I loved his first Batman film, but I hated the last two so much that I’ll never watch another thing directed by him ever again. He sucks. And, from what I can tell, he’s a libertarian asshole to top it all, which shows in this film (as it did the last Batman) from the reviews I’ve seen.
Amir Khalid
@Cassidy:
Ye gods, what has happened to respect for tradition?! In my day, young man, Superman’s underpants went on the outside where they belonged! Harrumph!
Cassidy
@geg6: Nolanverse Batman is a graphic novel in three parts. It makes more sense that way.
@Amir Khalid: Lawn gotten off. I like the new look actually. It’s better than jeans and T-shirt Superman; look it up.
NickT
@Cassidy:
@Amir Khalid:
How about a bipartisan compromise by which Superman wears his underpants outside but leaves his shirt untucked and then we invade Georgia because.. John McCain!
Bubblegum Tate
@Cassidy:
Back in college, I was friends with a girl who was from San Antonio. She could not possibly have cared less about sports of any kind…just straight-up didn’t give a shit and would’ve been fine if they all disappeared forever. There was one exception, though: Those few months when David Robinson was mulling whether to re-sign with the Spurs or sign a contract elsewhere, she was kinda freaked out. “That city cannot let him go,” she said. “All the stuff he does for San Antonio? We’d be fucked without him.”
t4toby
There are almost no selfies in that set. Someone else was behind the camera. It looks like an acrobatic girl who is proud of her body. I’m thinking you’re pushing serious misogyny to suggest that these are anything but art.
This is 2013. If a girl wants to take artistic pictures of her clothed body, what’s the big deal?
Joel
@geg6: see, i hated the first Nolan batman movie, thought it was generic crap with a bad origin story and dumb villain. The second one was great for me. Third was forgettable except for the Bane rap outtake.
Anyways, the Schumaker batman movies were the fucking worst.
geg6
@Joel:
I should never watch more than one film in a superhero series (if I watch any, since I’m not really a fan of comics or superheroes or action films). I never like the second one, regardless of the franchise. Another example was Ironman. Loved the first film (mainly because I’m a huge RDJ fan), but hated the second. I felt the same about the original Superman films, even though Christopher Reeve was always a hottie and the ultimate Superman, no matter how bad the script or the acting of the villain.
In fact, I should probably steer clear of all superhero films, regardless of which number in the franchise it is. I just cannot get into them at all. Too juvenile and male-skewing for my taste.
Fort Geek
@Politically Lost: Best wishes on your recovery. Wincing along with you–I get some occasional knee pain that’s the worst thing I’ve ever felt.
Fort Geek
@Politically Lost: You’ll be hunting Sarah Connor in no time =)
different-church-lady
@raven: Yeah, it’s amazing what they can do now. The rods they put in the kid’s back are expandable — every six months they’ll go in through a couple of little holes and expand the rods another few bits as he grows, until he reaches full height.
And to think two hundred years from now they might be thinking, “They had to cut little holes in him to do that? How primitive.”
raven
@different-church-lady: Is it scoliosis?
different-church-lady
@raven: I think so, can’t remember. Hella curve in the poor kid’s spine. He was probably at least 2 inches taller after the surgery.
I had a friend of small stature who had a leg amputated. He told he was joking with his prosthetics doctor and asked if the doc could make him taller. The doctor deadpanned, “Yes, we can do that, but then you’d have to buy an entirely new wardrobe of pants.”
raven
@different-church-lady: Yea, scoliosis is curvature of the spine. Harrington rods were developed for that but used along with a bone graft on the fractured vertebrae I suffered.
MC Simon Milligan
@NickT: Great poem. Wrong battle though. This movie is about Salamis and Plataea. What is it about these films that force the writer’s to put simply asinine statements in the mouths of their characters? Spartans dumping on “boy-lovers’? SPARTANS!?!? Artemesia – a Cretan/Halicarnasian Ionian Greek – scorning Greeks? WTF?
As for Nolan movies, I haven’t seen the new Supes yet but the problem I had with the Bats movies were that they were made about a decade too late. They’re Dark-age (or Dork-age if you prefer) deconstruction tales not modern reconstruction stories like the more recent Marvel films have been.