Big game coming up here shortly — (THE!) Ohio State vs Virginia Tech. OSU should win it handily, but I’ll be hoping for an upset, mostly because it would throw the rankings into turmoil. Will OSU start Jones or Barrett? Do the Hokies have a shot? We’ll know soon. I hope it’s not boring.
We attended a cookout earlier today. Had to drive 30 miles to get there with a crockpot of vegetarian baked beans in the back floorboard. It was raining, and I was driving. We were on a majorish road in town, and a stupid squirrel ran out into the street, and like squirrels so often do, it froze.
I hit the brakes and swerved (within my lane!) to miss the squirrel, and the mister yelled at me for “almost causing a wreck,” which I didn’t. I knew where every car was in my proximity, did not slam on my brakes but rather slowed down, did not leave my lane but rather swerved within the lines to miss the squirrel.
Gyad. I was so pissed I almost pulled over and made him drive. Or walk! I’ve been driving for 30-plus years without so much as a fender bender, whereas the mister has totaled several cars, including one of mine when we were dating! Crash test dummies should not lecture good drivers, IMO.
Anyhoo, not only did I not kill a dumb, innocent squirrel, I didn’t even spill the beans. Open thread!
redshirt
It’s rained like 10 days all summer here in Maine, and some of those days that was light.
It seems like it’s been raining on you for months Betty Cracker.
Benw
The kids got a pretty good telescope last Christmas. Right now we are looking at Saturn’s rings!
smintheus
So you didn’t bring the squirrel along to the BBQ?
PhoenixRising
23 years into my connection with the Mrs, I have learned only this: Don’t start an argument if the passenger gasps in shock at a close call; don’t speak if gasping has already happened; if the driver wishes to discuss the matter, s/he starts the conversation.
23 years. 4 moving violations (all on me). 1 accident in which I wasn’t in the car. YMMV.
Further: WTH are vegetarian baked beans? No pork? At all? ‘He don’t eat meat?…okay, I make lamb.’
gelfling545
@Benw: Can you indicate what kind? Looking for one for the grandkids & most have awful reviews so am considerably perplexed.
Diana
went to a great cookout with awesome sausages, a fabulous salad of — bulger wheat, what is that??? I thought it was quinoa — and an unattended bottle of prosecco, which shortly became quite faithfully attended by yours truly. New York is sometimes terrible, so often awesome….am I using that word too much?
The Dangerman
Hokies have a decent chance. Better than the squirrel, at least.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Diana: a fabulous salad of — bulger wheat, what is that??? I thought it was quinoa —
tabouleh? with fresh mint and parsley?
shell
Always feel bad when I see a squirrel pancake on the road, but when they, like you said, freeze right in front of your car, you want to yell “Are you ALL suicidal?”
Gimlet
A SurveyUSA poll released Friday shows in a hypothetical matchup with Hillary Clinton, Trump is ahead 45% to 40%.
But digging into the racial breakdown of the respondents is revealing. For example, the poll finds 25% of black respondents say they would vote for Trump over Clinton.
redshirt
@efgoldman:
All life is precious. Even the squirrels. Even an ant. We should strive to avoid killing other lifeforms unless absolutely necessary or beyond our control.
Of course you should never put your own life at risk in saving a dumb squirrel’s life. Just that you should consider it if it’s easy enough to accomplish AND this is your default response – to try and NOT kill other lifeforms. We all run over squirrels eventually despite our intent. A karmic burden we all carry.
smintheus
Light rush hour traffic this evening, easy peasy commute with cruise control the whole way. Until a red Corvette comes flying up, shoves itself into the single car length free in front of me, and immediately brakes hard to make an exit. Near catastrophe.
Was there ever a ‘Vette owner who wasn’t an ^ss#ole?
Betty Cracker
@efgoldman: That’s the exactly the view the mister took of it!
@PhoenixRising: My signature BBQ beans are loaded with bacon, but I was asked to bring a vegetarian version, so I did. They weren’t half bad, really.
Baud
@Gimlet:
Confirmation that all polls are bunk right now.
ETA: and that Trump is YUUGE with the blacks.
shell
Or if theyre delicious!
Belafon
@gelfling545: How much are you willing to spend?
Betty Cracker
@smintheus: My dad. Oh wait…
The Dangerman
Upon further review, 1 series in each way, and VT looks like squirrel.
ThresherK
My wife was grazing on the TV and we happened onto Antiques Roadshow. Someone brought in a bust of Diana of the Tower, a replication of an orginal cast by Augustus St Gaudens. This was the famous one once flown over the apartment of Stanford White, who kept assignations with Evelyn Nesbit, leading to the murder of White by Nesbit’s husband, Harry Thaw.
So we broke into a rendition of “Crime of the Century” from Ragtime, naturally.
I’ve been riding motorcycles on road since 16. When my wife notices something on the road, as a passenger, I as a driver have been watching it for ten seconds.
Oatler.
@efgoldman: Squirrels are long tailed-rats. I look forward to hitting them but never have. Not squirrels anyway.
gbear
This is a true story:
My ex-boyfriend was a wonderful cook and baker and very proud of it. Every year he would enter a pie in the food contest at the Minnesota State Fair. One year he called me up and asked if I could drive him to the fairgrounds with his to-die-for cherry pie. I arrived at his house a few minutes early to find that his first pie hadn’t turned out perfectly and at the last second he’d decided to bake another one, which was still in the oven with 5-10 minutes to go before it was perfect. The pie had to be at the fairground in 20 minutes in order to beat the deadline.
He finally decided to take it out of the oven when it was still a couple minutes short of perfection so that we could make the deadline. I thought of every shortcut I could think of in order to miss stoplights and traffic, and we made it to the fairgrounds in record time with about three minutes to spare. I was reading the signs telling me which building we had to go to while my friend Gary held the pie in his lap.
I saw one of the signs and thought I had to turn left right away, so I tapped on the brakes without giving Gary any warning when I saw a lurch out of the corner of my eye and heard the splat. I looked over and Gary’s to-die-for pie was lying face down on the floor of my truck.
I stopped dead and we both stared at each other. I started apologizing and I think I even cried, while Gary just exploded with laughter. The whole way over he’d been fretting about the pie being a few minutes underdone and thinking that it may not be prize-worthy. We drove home with the pie still on the floor, and when I got to his house we ate as much of the pie as we could off the truck floor (the parts that weren’t actually on the truck floor). It was to-die-for, and we have pictures. He never asked me to be the pie runner again.
Gin & Tonic
@redshirt: I don’t think it has rained here since July. The ground is dry as dust.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Come ON! She lives in Florida, FFS.
benw
@gelfling545: it’s an Orion Starblast 4.5 Equatorial Reflector. So far we’ve been happy with it. My wife and I are fairly technical people, and without too much trouble we had it assembled and working in 2-3 hours on Christmas night. My wife already wants a bigger one: she says bigger is always better!
smintheus
@Betty Cracker: Was that him today?
SiubhanDuinne
@shell:
I used to live in a neighborhood where all the electrical wires and transformers were above ground so there were frequent power outages (where I live now, the wires are all underground, and in the eleven years I’ve been in my apartment I’ve had only one outage). Anyhow, in the old place, every time the lights/AC/TV went off suddenly, my immediate reaction was always “suicidal squirrel.”
Baud
@smintheus:
Biden?
trollhattan
@redshirt:
Precisely 10 more rain days than my corner of dusty California.
I remember rain.
ThresherK
@gbear: Not covering it up is an omen; I stained a seatbelt with blueberry pie in my car once. But only a bit of it was lost; the rest survived.
Much later after that I successfully strapped a cheesecake to the old-school backrest/luggage rack of my motorcycle, but it was in a few layers of everything, plus a bungee-able box.
Diana
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: nope. Bulger, with fresh onion and avocado and olives. Amazing.
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
But swatting mosquitos doesn’t count against my karmic calculus, right? Because if it does, I’m fucked.
#notaverygoodbuddha
henqiguai
Betty @ top
My wife hates you…
oldgold
How could Cardale Jones have been relegated to the third string? Just like during last year’s title run, he looks like Superman out there.
redshirt
@Gin & Tonic:
Imagine to know drought as a farmer. It must be devastating.
raven
This is not a team you want to get behind.
Iowa Old Lady
When my son was little, I once ran over a squirrel because I thought it was dodging and it didn’t. It twitched on the road behind me. My son was traumatized, and to this day, I’m sorry when I think of it.
Betty Cracker
@The Dangerman: Yep, definitely the squirrel.
@gbear: OMG. At least he had a sense of humor about it.
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne:
ALL life is precious, but of course that includes mosquitoes, which presents dilemmas. Which are resolved by admitting ALL life is precious, regardless of our regard.
Gin & Tonic
@Diana: Whitey or Billy?
indycat32
there are several walnut trees on my street and lots of fat, happy squirrels.
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Ever read Thimble Summer?
gelfling545
@Belafon: $200-ish
raven
@redshirt: Bullshit. Kill fireants.
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne:
Nope. Should I?
Schlemazel
@raven:
I blow up like a big red balloon from fireants – kill them with fire
redshirt
@raven: Active intruders and aggressive predators must be dealt with, of course. But still with recognition that their lives are exactly as justified as yours to exist on this green world and we are all blessed and lucky beyond compare to be here.
Howard Beale IV
As I was driving home from one of my infrequent appearances in the office a white squirrel ran across my path. This is my third white squirrel I have seen since I have relocated to MN back in 2008. I have yet to see any black or red squirrels here, and during the broadcast of one of the Tigers games a black squirrel decided to interrupt the game.
Something weird is happening with squirrel population migration.
Betty Cracker
I ran over an armadillo once. I was driving a truck and towing a large boat across Alligator Alley. I didn’t want to hit the poor critter, but there was no way to miss it without endangering ourselves. I still feel bad about it, but it was truly unavoidable.
raven
@redshirt: whatever
A guy
Nice way to kill yourself or an innocent person dumbass. Run over the f in squirrel
benw
@redshirt: I agree with you completely, which is why I’m glad it’s been scientifically proven that those hairy indoor centipede things are evil and must be squashed on sight.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I’m the same way about animals.
oldgold
In college FB and BB it seems like the elite talent is
becoming more concentrated. What is causing this?
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Well, I agree in principle* that all life is precious, but that doesn’t mean I have to share my personal space with every single life form that comes wandering by. I’ll keep swatting, TUVM, and take my chances, metempsychosisally (metempsychotically?) speaking.
* Lord Peter Wimsey famously said (in Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers) “The first thing a principle does — if it really is a principle — is to kill somebody.”
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel:
Again, can’t edit from the droid
I have a very Flori-DUH story about the ER mistaking anaphylaxis for a heart attack because the moran didn’t know how to take anEKG and not understanding the symptoms of shock. But that’s for later when I have a real keyboard. Funny ending.
redshirt
@A guy:
When A guy agrees with your position you should reconsider your position.
All life is precious. As far as we know now, it only exists on this planet out of all the vastness of space.
raven
@oldgold: You mean different from when teams signed as many played as they wanted and stacked all the good players?
SFAW
@redshirt:
WTF?
Yeah, I get the Buddhist aspect of it all, but … WTF?
raven
@efgoldman: We got lots of kin there.
redshirt
@efgoldman: Other life forms. As we do whether we are vegan or not. Vegans are killing plants and don’t plants have a right to grow upon this green Earth? If I stick to my own principles, the answer of course is yes. And so I live in a giant field of weeds.
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
It’s a children’s book (a very good children’s book) by Elizabeth Enright. Takes place at the tail end of the Depression, on a farm, and a good chunk of the book deals with the lasting drought and the intense worry that causes the entire family and community. I read it first as a little girl, and the scene (SPOILER ALERT!!!) where the rain finally comes is among the most memorable in my personal reading experience.
Not sure how compelling it would be to an adult reading it for the first time.
raven
@SFAW: This is the dude that makes fun of people here.
Glidwrith
@Betty Cracker: I had a friend that was getting ready to sing in the choir on Easter Sunday. He was jazzed and joyous because of the celebration, humming to warm up on a beautiful day. A blue jay decided to suicide and embedded itself in the radiator as he was driving to church. He got out of the car and saw the bird in a literal cartoon sprawl across the front. He felt so bad that here was a joyous day and he killed one of God’s creations.
redshirt
@SFAW:
Yes? And? All life is precious? Which means unfortunately that covers mosquitoes and hookworms and what are those bugs that make all that racket at night in the Summer in the South?
Schlemazel
@oldgold:
Money. The winners get more revenue and spend it to build impressive facilities. Then there are more boosters and their money finds a way to the players. Plus winning programs can improve chances of a pro bonanza. Football in particular is probably going to end up with 50 top teams and then the rest
raven
A little life. . .not much but a little.
RSA
Kudos for telegraphing this line way in advance and then delivering at the end.
redshirt
@raven: Death, as you know, is intrinsically part of life, as it could not exist without the other.
SFAW
Who? What sport is that – croquet?
The ONLY game that mattered today was won by the Mets, 8-5 over the Nats. Even with Niese giving up a grand slam in the 4th inning. The Mets’ bullpen did their job for a change, too. Who’d’a thunk?
But OSU vs VT? The Hawkeyes vs the Hokies? As they say in Reveah: bunch a loozahs
srv
The NYT’s talks with the spinnergizers:
Hillary, Crack Mom.
Can you imagine another year of this?
gbear
@ThresherK:
I’ve got a 300cc scooter that I like to ride up to a restaurant/bakery in the north suburbs on the weekend. I always get a piece of cake to-go for desert and tie it down in the rear carrier. It’s always completely destroyed when I get home, but it still tastes good.
raven
@Schlemazel: If you think it’s worse now than it was you need to brush up.
SFAW
@raven:
On the other hand, it explains why he never comes up with a killer joke.
oldgold
I realize there have been rule changes that were intended to bring more parity. But, when I watch super teams like Kentucky or Duke in basketball and Ohio State or Alabama in football, I am astounded by the concentration of elite talent. @raven:
SFAW
@redshirt:
Them I can sort of understand. But what about Cheney?
Thoughtful Today
SQUIRREL!!!
raven
@oldgold: Kentucky Basketball is an outlier. The SEC is loaded with elite football players, it’s not just Bama.
Baud
For Amir
raven
That helps.
redshirt
@SFAW:
Perhaps it was only because of Cheney that Obama got elected. Would it be worth it if that were the case?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@redshirt: If Steve’s mom ever gives him the keys to the Bonneville, there will come a time of reckoning for the squirrels.
Dolly Llama
The Hokies are back in this thing.
raven
The SEC had 54 players taken in the seven rounds of the NFL Draft, marking the ninth straight year the conference has had the most players selected in the annual draft.
redshirt
I mean, serious question:
If you see an ant before you on the walk, do you step on it or try to avoid stepping on it?
raven
@Dolly Llama: Bud better spin some magic.
SFAW
@redshirt:
I’ll have to ask a few hundred-thousand dead Iraqi civilians, see what their thoughts are on that.
Betty Cracker
@redshirt: Cicadas!
Schlemazel
@efgoldman:
They are just starting. Several of these will weed out the weaker members yet. But it has started
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Poor Jimmy Carter. His afterlife is going to be pure unadulterated hell for having the affrontery to eradicate the Guinea Worm.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Gesundheit!
redshirt
@SFAW: Iraqis, squirrels, what’s the dif to a real American?
Baud
@redshirt:
Are you auditioning for srv’s job?
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
He’s Baptist, not Buddhist, dear, so I think he’s good.
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne:
He does bear that burden. But maybe it gets cancelled out by all the kids living?
Schlemazel
@raven:
It has been about money for a long time. TV and the NFL have made it worse.
redshirt
@Baud:
What’s the pay?
SFAW
@redshirt:
Real American or Real ‘Murican? There’s a difference.
Doug R
I find the horn most effective with road wandering wildlife. Some summers driving through Alberta and Saskatchewan the amount of suicidal gophers (I think they’re actually Richardson ground squirrels) makes it impossible to miss every single one.
SFAW
@redshirt:
OK, now the trolling is REALLY obvious.
redshirt
@SFAW: ‘Murrican, natch.
Baud
@redshirt:
That’s a good question.
skerry
I ran over a squirrel in 1976 with my 8 year old brother in the car. (not my fault – the squirrel was suicidal and I wasn’t.)
My brother still brings it up as one of the more traumatic memories from his childhood.
Roger Moore
@redshirt:
Strictly speaking, one does not need to kill plants in order to eat. Many kinds of fruit are designed specifically to be eaten so that the animal that eats them will spread the seeds, either by carrying them away or by swallowing them whole and pooping them out elsewhere. Squirrels certainly aren’t killing trees when they eat the nuts. I guess you could also argue against the strict vegan position by saying that we can get some kinds of animal products, like milk and eggs, without killing the animals that gave them.
Dolly Llama
@raven: That INT right there was fairly magical.
Betty Cracker
Woohoo! Hokies get a pick!
@redshirt: If I see an ant, I’ll avoid stepping on it. I escort spiders outside rather than killing them. But I ruthlessly slay cockroaches that come in my house. I hate those damn things.
redshirt
@Doug R: And like I said, sometimes you can’t help it and you squish the stupid furry mammal that ran out in the road. It happens.
But you shouldn’t want it to happen. Try for it to happen.
redshirt
@Baud:
If it’s for 15$ an hour I’ll do it.
trollhattan
@redshirt:
Which actually brings up the crux of the issue (for me): given some forms of life exist to kill other forms of life at some point, we get to take a side, nay, have to take a side.
As a random recent example, we recently camped at a Yosemite campground that had been closed due to plague. The Park Service had gone in and treated critter holes with pesticides to kill the fleas, the plague vector. In doing so they killed fleas, saved chipmunks and ground squirrels and perhaps even a human. I’m perfectly fine with the calculus. Also, too, is the AIDS virus a living creature? Because fuck it. Malaria bacteria? Fuck it. Polio virus, same, also, too, smallpox.
I’m having beef tonight so am totally on the wrong side of this from the get-go. But I do enjoy trading notes with Hindus on philosophy and fate and reincarnation, etc.
The Fat Kate Middleton
@Howard Beale IV: We live in rural southeast Iowa, on a property with lots of walnut trees … we currently have two albino squirrels and a leukistic hairy woodpecker in residence.
ETA: We’re starting to worry about the water supply here.
Gin & Tonic
@gbear: I’ll never forget crossing a street in Hanoi and seeing two guys on one of those scooter/mopeds that everybody drives there; the guy in back was holding what seemed like about a 3′ by 6′ piece of plate glass.
Aleta
@The Fat Kate Middleton: Lee County?
Baud
@redshirt:
From what I hear, you’d make more money on welfare.
SFAW
@redshirt:
Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
Did you go up to him and ask him to roll down his window?
trollhattan
@SFAW:
Heh.
raven
@Schlemazel: Makes it a pretty dumb conversation then now doesn’t it?
raven
@SFAW: My ex FIL was a Northern Baptist, damn neat a Unitarian.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Wouldn’t have known how to say that in Vietnamese.
donnah
A former co-worker of mine was driving her husband home one evening in his pickup truck. She swerved to avoid hitting a squirrel and ran into a ditch, turning the truck on its side. Her husband had his arm out the passenger side window and it was crushed, broken in fifty places.
I felt kind of sorry for him, but as it turned out, he used to beat her up and actually cheated on her before they finally divorced. Then I secretly wished his head had been sticking out the window.
Baud
@donnah:
That’s not a typo?
Roger Moore
@SFAW:
I don’t think the undead count.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Jane? ‘S that you?
The Fat Kate Middleton
@Aleta: Farther north … closer to Johnson County.
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
Win
raven
@Gin & Tonic: The Koreans used to get their pigs drunk a ride them to market on the back if a bike!
Betty Cracker
@The Fat Kate Middleton: We’ve got a white squirrel, but it’s not albino.
grandpa john
@smintheus: Well I don’t think I was but it has been over 40 years since I owned one and I can’t really remember back that far. 65 red stingray convertible .
SFAW
@donnah:
Or so she said.
Got no tolerance for wife beaters, not much more for cheaters. Put ’em together, it makes me think it’s Louisville Slugger time.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
Most definitions of life exclude viruses, because they lack metabolism, homeostasis, and the ability to reproduce on their own.
SiubhanDuinne
@skerry:
My brother was mowing the lawn once. He ran over a mouse. Sixty years later, he still goes kind of green at the memory.
The Fat Kate Middleton
@Betty Cracker: Both of ours have pink eyes, so I’m assuming albino. The leukistic hairy really threw me, though. I didn’t even know such a thing existed, and it’s visited our feeder for two years now.
SFAW
On the plus side, I guess we now have an answer to the question “Does a dog have a Buddha nature?”
raven
@grandpa john: Here’s me and my 66 a few years back. Not a Vette but a Bowtie nonetheless!
Ho Ho Ho!
redshirt
@Betty Cracker:
All correct in my strict definitions! Home invasions must be stopped.
Dolly Llama
Raven, your Hokies have a horseshoe up their ass right now.
Dolly Llama
Damn, Hokies!
Betty Cracker
Hokie-doke!
SFAW
@raven:
Nice picture, but why does the fire truck have a French poodle decal on it?
raven
@SFAW: Easy
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@redshirt:
I normally feel sorta like that (though I’m not vegetarian), but today I was moving a bunch of rocks and this huge horse fly started taking bites out of me. I shooed him away, but he kept landing on the wheelbarrow when not biting me. So I threw some dirt at him. He flew away to avoid it, but instantly came back. Then he was biting me again. I started flailing at him, and eventually hit him right in the face. (Thwack!) He flew away, but came back a couple of minutes later. Threw more dirt at him, he hid in the wheelbarrow, making buzzing noises – then he was quiet. I continued loading rocks, then he buzzed off again. But within minutes, he was back biting me again. I had to give up (but was close to my planned quitting time anyway).
Grr.
Persistent, and tough, little devil.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who also kills mosquitoes when they bite.)
raven
Yes!
raven
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: The bee and wasp angle in Mr Holmes is interesting.
SFAW
@raven:
OK
PurpleGirl
Some place close by, some one is playing a car (???) stereo with VERY heavy base. I can hear it up on the 17th floor. I wish they’d turn the fucking noise off. It’s been going on for several hours now. I can’t close my windows because the living room A/C isn’t working very well — it was leaking water inside the window frame the other day.
Redshift
@SiubhanDuinne:
Actually, since he eradicated it by distributing water-filtering cloth that prevented the larvae from getting into people’s systems, I don’t think any guinea worms were killed in the process. So I think he’s actually okay.
A Ghost To Most
Squirrels in my neighborhood carry plague, so a good squirrel is a dead squirrel. My neighbor lady really hates them with a passion.
redshirt
@Redshift:
Guineabortions, is it? Typical for a Dem.
CaseyL
@Betty Cracker:
I kind of like having spiders in the house, esp. in the summer when bugs are more likely to be inside. They put their webs in the damndest places, though. One little lady kept having to be rescued from the bathtub (I’d see her just before I turned on the water, and use a bit of kleenex to get her out).
Also, spiders make great cat toys :)
redshirt
@CaseyL: She’s talking about Florida spiders, which I assume are all 6 inches big and deadly.
SiubhanDuinne
@Redshift:
No, no. The Guinea Worm can only live in human beings, so basically they are being kept from their natural habitat. Yes, the entire species will die.
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne:
Carter commits more genocide. Where does it end?
Felonius Monk
@Betty Cracker:
This Texas Armadillo is for you, Betty.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@redshirt: My thesis adviser was Australian (Ukrainian, actually, but grew up in Australia). He would occasionally tell stories about cleaning out the yard before he let his kids go out to play. He’d take a fence picket to smash the tarantulas:
Cheers,
Scott.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@raven: Keep in mind that Schlemazel’s #1 rooting interest is a team that’s 146-10-7 over the last four years.
Matt McIrvin
@trollhattan: Also, just by living their lives, humans are such a destroyer of other living things that we should basically be considered anti-life. If all life is equally precious, humans really need to be wiped out.
redshirt
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Australia is the home of all animal weirdness. Second mention to Africa.
Why do you have your posting name in relation to your signature name – Scott? It seems conflicting.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@raven: Thanks for the pointer. J is a big Sherlock fan, though we rarely get out to the movies these days.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Has anyone’s love of all things living ever survived a fruit fly infestation in the kitchen?
redshirt
@Matt McIrvin:
We are the Apex predator. We are where the buck stops because we’ll shoot it. Humans are a natural phenomena on this green earth, cleansing it of other species either by choice or just existing.
We are the Monster.
We are the Bad Guy.
But who cares?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@raven: i was catching up on podcasts I skipped this weekend, including the Fresh Air with Ian McKellen from around the release date of Mr Holmes. I’m looking forward to watching it.
Speaking of things Holmes, I thought Arthur and George had an interesting start.
raven
@efgoldman: yup
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@redshirt: I’ve used a different ‘nym elsewhere online for many, many years. I wasn’t sure whether to use that here or not, when I started posting relatively recently, so I picked something else. I couldn’t think of anything clever, so I went with “I’mNot…”.
When/if I retire, I might be less of a coward about using a sensible name. But not till then. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Thoughtful Today
“Comedian leads presidential vote in corruption-weary Guatemala.”
[Insert comparison to American politician here.]
Honus
@redshirt: tell that to those fucking yellow jackets that flew up out of the ground and stung me like 15 times last week. I was just mowing the grass and not hurting them a bit.
raven
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Lara Linney is wonderful as the grumpy housekeeper. Shades of Lynn Redgrave in Gods and Monsters.
redshirt
@Honus: That was your fault, was it not?
Roger Moore
@redshirt:
History’s greatest monster strikes again!
raven
Ok, getting late. The dvd is hummin and I can catch the end in the morning. Decisions!
Honus
@redshirt: how so?
Honus
@redshirt: I mean I’ve been mowing that grass in the same place for the last 15 years. Then they decided to to move in. They live underground so cutting the grass didn’t hurt them or threaten their habitat. They’re just aggressive assholes, like open carry rednecks.
redshirt
@Honus: You destroyed their homes and schools and like yellow jacket day care centers.
Honus
@redshirt: there’s also about 50 acres of empty land adjacent where they could have made their best, instead of 30 feet from my front door.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Nope. Definitely Jimmy Carter.
Honus
@redshirt: and they attacked me and tried to kill me. And I, iris resetting anything of theirs. They live underground and feed in the woods which were completely u disturbed. they just didn’t want me around where I had been peacefully living for twenty years until thy decided to move in a month or so ago.
redshirt
Karma is a bitch, as they say.
east is east
@redshirt: all right. I’m softening. Anyone who thinks like that is a good one. Not that my opinion matters. Just saying.
redshirt
I have hornets resting upon my vest routinely.
You don’t?
redshirt
@east is east: Like what?
J R in WV
@raven:
Is that a C-10? Custom-Delux? (Which meant it had an AM radio)
I had one of those, paid $1000 for it, and it enabled us to remodel the old jenny-lind farm house on the farm we bought in 1978. Also to build fences, move livestock, and go to college for the 3rd time (me. Mrs J got her degree in ’71).
Not a bad truck, easy to work on, lots of room under the hood. Rusty rocker panels under the doors, though. I sold it for $250 just for the motor, which again was easy to work on.
rikyrah
THE Ohio State University-never fails to crack me up.
east is east
like being kind.
Dolly Llama
@efgoldman: Good night, then.
redshirt
@efgoldman:
No. Never stung and so I don’t fear them at all but somehow because of that I’m never stung?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@efgoldman: Nah, just notorious efg. Which I regret not thinking of my own damned self.
redshirt
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): A circle within a circle is a spiral.
east is east
@redshirt: always spilling bullshit. This new age garbage makes me puke.
east is east
I tried. I really did.
PurpleGirl
Closing down for the night, see you all tomorrow. (I went shopping at a local mall this afternoon and I’m tired — bone tired.
redshirt
@east is east: You FAILED!
east is east
I fail every day. you—a circle within a circle is a spiral—- Barf.
redshirt
@efgoldman: Go see it. Bring the wife. Go.
east is east
oh well. They like you well enough. You’re a good enough person but you are full of bullshit. good luck.
redshirt
@east is east:
Thanks man!
east is east
you’re welcome. Always remember, a circle within a circle is a spiral.
seaboogie
@redshirt: I live in the country, so ANTS! I feel kind of bad about putting the bait out, and keep almost all food items in the fridge so that I don’t attract them, but there are always at least a few around, often crawling along the top of my screen as I type – and I just let those ones be. Outside if they climb on me, I (literally) blow them off.
I had a fieldmouse infestation a couple of years ago, and got a live trap that I baited with shelled raw sunflower seeds, and that proved quite effective. Of course they’d get caught in the wee hours of the day, so I spent many a 2 am, flashlight in hand, trudging down the road and around the corner and up the hill a ways to release my captives in a hospitable environment for them. They sure were cute little buggers.
Once all of the ingress/egress spots were identified and closed up and the last generation of little furry visitors was moved out, I did a big clean up. It turns out that they had been storing vast amounts of cat kibble and kitty litter (this stuff is made from ground up corn cobs) all over the damn place. A tote bag that was hanging on a hanger in my closet was full of kibble, litter and mouse pee! The scope of their operation was impressive.
And I realize that the notion of having mice moving cat food and litter seems a bit of a puzzle, but my senior kitty is an “Assasin Emeritus” these several years. For all I know the mice and my cat were dining out of her bowl at the same time, and she was all “whatever, dude – plenty here for all of us!”. So redshirt – even my kitty practices ahimsa, although that wasn’t always the case.
Keith G
Back from the very nearby drinking establishment furnished with several large viewing devices.
Go Buckeyes!!
redshirt
@east is east:
HAHA you’re making fun of me!
redshirt
@seaboogie:
I suspect ahimsa happens whenever there is an abundance of food and water. And only then.
east is east
@redshirt: yuck. disgusting drain
redshirt
@east is east: Bless u child.
contract3d
Long ago (my wife was working at the 2000 census office) I had dropped her off ~8am and was headed home, north in the left lane of a busy 4 lane (University Blvd in Jax,FL).
At the last possible moment I saw this little turtle (tortoise,gopher,whatever) in front of my left front tire. I tapped the brakes, twitched the wheel and got around him with inches to spare, but not without leaving some black rubber on the road.
Southbound in the left lane, a JSO car (Jacksonville Sheriffs Office, the local constabulary) flipped on his lights and siren, making a tight U-turn behind me.
“Damn,” I thought, “That musta looked pretty weird!” I’m busy for a few, moving right, finding a place to pull off, freaking out about whether I got the latest insurance paperwork out to the glove compartment.
Nobody looks forward to these conversations, and I wasn’t.
Look in the rearview and there the cop car straddling the northbound lanes 30 yards back, flashers on, blocking the lanes.
And the cop on the street in front of his car, helping the little turtle off to the side of the road.
Five years later, I’m still smiling about it every time I see a JSO car.
WaterGirl
@contract3d: nice story!
Bill Arnold
@raven:
Eusocial insects are in interesting moral case in general. I’ll destroy a colony of wasps (feeling guilt) if it is right near an entrance of the house or directly on a path, but otherwise leave them alone unless they are aggressive. Fireant colonies would be in this class if they lived in the Northeast.
I draw a rough line at mammals and birds, vs things with less complex nervous systems, with significant effort made to avoid killing mammals and birds, but only some effort for things with less complex nervous systems, with an exception for (human) blood sucking/flesh eating/venom-injecting creatures with exoskeletons. (Vampire bats, hmmm.)
Similar to B Cracker, I have > 24 years of driving with no accidents, mostly through not tolerating tailgating; will pull over and let a tailgater pass to gain open space behind the car.