Fast-forming Hurricane #Irma could be Category 3 storm by Thursday night https://t.co/OZf5Iwdji6 pic.twitter.com/Jj0dHadV9G
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) August 31, 2017
Right now the forecasts range from the storm staying out to sea or just brushing the Atlantic coast, to being a bowling ball straight up Florida’s lane, or landfall in the western Gulf of Mexico. The cone of uncertainty is two time zones wide. However we have a bit of time. If you live within that cone of uncertainty, use that time to inventory emergency supplies and potential responses to a big, nasty hurricane coming your direction. Hopefully, the preparation is not needed but if it is needed, it is best to do as much reasonable prep work ahead of time.
Open thread.
trollhattan
Irma la Douche. Like we need this.
My entire life takes place within the cone of uncertainty.
JGabriel
Right now, Irma looks like it’s barreling towards the Lesser Antilles, before it hits anywhere else in the Caribbean, the Gulf, or North America. I hope they don’t get pulverized.
Knight of Nothing
Libertarians think price gouging during hurricanes is the only moral choice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9QEkw6_O6w
Is there anything they can’t make worse?
efgoldman
@trollhattan:
Which is different from the cone of silence.
mai naem mobile
Is it mean of me to wish that the eye hits Mar A Lago(of course not cause any human loss)?
Also too, the next name in Hurricane names after Irma is Jose. Not wishing bad but Jose could be Dolt45’s Katrina. I think Vincente Fox will have some fun with that.
Major Major Major Major
Since it’s an open thread…
As Requested, Terry Pratchett’s Unfinished Work Has Been Crushed by a Steamroller
chopper
the models have been shifting her a bit south over the last day or so which isn’t good news. can still turn north and has plenty of time to do so. still.
also, for this type of storm in this location, this sort of intensification is not common. usually CV type storms start really intensifying when they get closer to the lesser antilles.
JPL
@mai naem mobile: Not me. The club is losing several scheduled events, and Trump would just scam the insurance company.
Major Major Major Major
@Knight of Nothing: libertarians are idiots.
Betty Cracker
@mai naem mobile: That one preliminary track at the Miami Herald site has it coming ashore right around Palm Beach! If that track holds true, it would cross the state and whack my humble homestead next, but I’m not so afraid of one approaching across land. It’s the ones that come in from the Gulf I worry about. Still, I might have to turn the chickens loose in the guest bathroom. Promise to live blog it should that come to pass!
Another Scott
It’s hard to believe that Irma will be the last this season. :-(
In other news, Trump’s “administration”, such as it is, continues to leak like a colander. TheHill:
It’s all about The Benjamins…
And it’s not even Friday.
Cheers,
Scott.
NR
Kamala Harris comes out for Medicare for all.
Good for her. Very glad to see more and more Democrats coming out with this kind of public support.
Jeffro
@Knight of Nothing: Isn’t it funny how the only thing they value is the ability to pay? We should use no other criteria to run our society. Oddly enough, one rarely hears poor or middle-class folks espousing this nonsense.
Betty
Last update is saying Category 4,aimed right at the middle of the Lesser Antilles – where I live. Will definitely need to prepare and watch the NHC for updates.
Major Major Major Major
@NR: how’d you get out of my pie filter?
Jeffro
@Another Scott: Wait, what? No way! Ryan and McConnell have never acted as if they’re also on the hook or have been corrupted by the Soviets like Trumpov has. Except in essentially everything they’ve done for the past 18 months.
rikyrah
Irma too?
Oh come on!!
mai naem mobile
@Betty Cracker: jeez,Betty you take all the fun out of this! Okay, fine I hope Irma and Jose end up being nothing burgers except to ruin Dolt45’s golf outings for several weeks.
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major: Probably the right thing to do, considering bad examples set by e.g. Christopher Tolkien.
Betty Cracker
@Betty: Stay safe!
randy khan
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m not exactly glad to see it – I’m still sorry he’s gone – but it’s pleasing when heirs follow through on those kinds of requests.
Amaranthine RBG
@NR:
Yes, a bit of good news. Next hopefully she can set up a project to explain to people why this is not “Single Payer” since I have seen about a bajillion stories this morning reporting that it was.
Mj_Oregon
Weather Underground’s Category 6 blog is the place to follow anything related to tropical weather. Dr. Masters presents reasonable forecasting and commenters are generally knowledgeable about hurricanes/tropical storms/depressions. They police themselves much better than they used to. It’s worth a look.
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6
Wayne
Check out tropicaltidbits.com and click on current storms at the top for all the model tracks.
Major Major Major Major
@mai naem mobile: speak for yourself, I’m rooting for hearing the chicken story.
mai naem mobile
I switched to Fox for a few minutes. Nothing about the new Mueller/Manafort story. Covering Harvey and idiot Kevin Brady talking about tax cuts. Home Depot’s Ken Langone says forget the tax cuts for right now, take care of Harvey first then the left over for tax cuts. I can’t stand Langone but he has a much better handle on basic politics and optics than the GOP pols.
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: @randy khan: his latest stuff wasn’t his best, anyway. He’d lost a lot of his playfulness, or at least his writing had, once he was unable to do it himself.
Gin & Tonic
The Twitters tell me that Milwaukee County Sheriff Clarke has resigned.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan:
Mine takes place in the Cone of Silence.
ETA: …and efg gets there first.
JPL
@Betty: Hopefully it heads north away from land. Be safe.
trollhattan
It appears Florida won’t in the future be worrying about an Andrewish hurricane hitting their new nuclear plant.
Solar energy in Florida, will wonders never cease?
Jeffro
Just saw where Scott Pruitt says it’s “opportunistic” and “misplaced” to tie Hurricane Harvey to climate change. Kind of reminds me of how the GOP deals with every mass shooting incident: then, it’s “opportunistic” and “misplaced” to talk about sensible gun control.
I’m thinking of using some of my SorosBucks to buy air time explaining to folks how this works…which is a shame because vast majorities of Americans already agree that climate change is a problem (same with mass shootings). Plus I like using my SorosBucks on other things, like t-bones and paying false flag actors to cause trouble at RWNJ demonstrations.
Anyway…just a reminder not to be “opportunistic”, people!
dmsilev
@Gin & Tonic: So he can spend more time with his collection of chest pins?
Jeffro
@Gin & Tonic: Anyone saying why? Embezzling or ‘hiking the Appalachian Trail’?
Knight of Nothing
@Jeffro: exactly! What makes me sick/laugh is, they advocate the opposite of morality. Bacteria in a petri dish don’t act in a moral way, they simply react to the conditions of the medium. But that’s basically what libertarians advocate – “market forces must dictate all behavior!”
Major Major Major Major
@Knight of Nothing: I didn’t watch the video because why, but do libertarians really give a shit about morals? If they care about anything it’s ethics, and even then.
scav
@?BillinGlendaleCA: But what about that desperately under-used but oft-deserved cone of shame option?
We could really come up with some sort of Dante-esque 7 cones of hell going here . . .
Knight of Nothing
@Major Major Major Major: the guy argues that it is morally (his word) justified to charge more during a disaster. To your earlier point, they aren’t just idiots, they’re evil idiots.
?BillinGlendaleCA
My weather station says it’s 121 outside the cave.
efgoldman
@Knight of Nothing:
Glibertarians ought to be forced to act what they claim they believe.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@scav: Does the cone of shame work any better than the Cone of Silence?
Redshift
Thought-provoking thread from a historian:
(And before anyone gets in a huff, he notes that “reflexively” and “probably” are in that statement for a reason.)
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Holy crap. Stay in cave.
We’re due to hit 110 tomorrow and Saturday and visibility is down to half a mile, from smoke. I’ll be happy to wave summer ’17 goodbye.
Betty Cracker
Waldman has some good advice for Democrats on single payer here.
Amaranthine RBG
Following on the news of Trump’s announcement that he will give $1M to Harvey relief, maybe this is the new White House communications strategy.
An announcement every week, or every day, that Trump is going to donate $1M to this or that cause.
In theory, he could make it through his first term without exhausting his billions.* (Of course, his billions is probably a lie, too.)
Even if he doesn’t have the money, what better way to knock the news that he actually only gave $37 to Harvey relief than his new pledge to donate $1M to unwed coal miners?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: …and Cal ISO has declared a flex alert for tomorrow.
Betty Cracker
@Wayne: Added to my weather bookmarks — thanks! Hopefully Irma heads off into the Atlantic and turns into a fish spinner…
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Redshift:
Thanks, I think I’ll use that from now on. Now what to do when they say “yes”…
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: I haven’t seen any explanations for it yet. Big juicy scandal about to break?
StringOnAStick
@Betty Cracker: OK, “fish spinner” made me giggle.
Knight of Nothing
@Amaranthine RBG: Christ, what an asshole. Sandra Bullock is giving $1 million. He’s POTUS, for crying out loud. He should be saying, “I pledge to ask congress for $100 billion…” and not bandying about these relatively tiny sums.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: That’s a really good piece.
scav
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Depends on the conee I would assume — and intended purpose of coning. For example, I’d say His Orangosity would be more personally wounded by a lack of audience while clearly and demonstrably shameless, so a Cone of Silence would be more immediately painful. If however the coning was targeting his adoring crowds and enablers, I’d go with the Cone of Shame as that allows him more twitter-rope to publicly hang himself on.
ETA: Cone of Shame might actually work a bit like a megaphone for his self-immolation blather so whee! Might even encourage him to go larger.
OldDave
@Betty Cracker:
I’d be concerned. Wilma hit Broward and Palm Beach after making landfall south of Naples and crossing the state – and managed to do significant damage in those counties. She also turned off my power for over a week.
Amaranthine RBG
@Knight of Nothing:
Yeah, assuming he is worth $4B, than this is 0.00025 of his worth.
But, hey, its the banner headline on my local paper (SF Gate) now – no doubt it will be much slobbered over on Fox all day and tonight.
Major Major Major Major
@Redshift: @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: that thread doesn’t address the fact that many antifa groups are proactively violent, having decided that fascist speech is itself a form of violence.
dmsilev
@Amaranthine RBG: I assume it’s $1 million in-kind? You know, 10%-off coupons for a round of golf at a Trump course (note in the fine print that list price will be jacked up by 20% at the same time), etc.?
Millard Filmore
@mai naem mobile:
Odd, I interpreted Langone’s comment to mean “Use the tax money to feed my store.” Coming from any conservative outside the building supply industry would give it more credence.
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Ooh, just looked, and their forecast peak demand is above the 2006 record.
What we have that we didn’t in 2006 is our renewables portfolio, currently supplying 26% of demand. (Solar: 9095 MW, Wind: 281 MW)
DCrefugee
@trollhattan:
There’s no reason every residential roof in the state isn’t covered with solar panels. Except Republicans.
Roger Moore
@Gin & Tonic:
Fuck. There’s no way he’d do that unless Trump were offering him a position.
Major Major Major Major
@DCrefugee: and homeowners who like their roofs the way they are just fine.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Probably 50,000 $20 MAGA hats.
DCrefugee
@Major Major Major Major: LOL! That too, but they can come cover mine any time they want…
schrodingers_cat
@trollhattan: $20 for that ugly hat?
eclare
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Agreed on the article. Can’t imagine 121, I guess I could turn on my oven. Stay cool!
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major:
Personally I think that bit of nuance is lost on alt-reichists. I don’t agree with the proactice violence ones. It’s always better to let your enemies throw the first punches to make them look bad.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: I thought they were $40.
Amaranthine RBG
@schrodingers_cat:
The USA hat he was modelling while trying to look relevant sitting at the table with empty notepad in front of him was supposedly selling for $40 on his site.
Unbelievable.
Betty Cracker
@OldDave: You’re right — it could be rough even after it crossed the state. Charley just brushed by us and still managed to damage roofs, etc. But I’d probably ride a hurricane approaching from the east out at home; storm surge is what makes me hit the road, and that would be a threat from hurricanes coming from the west (Gulf side).
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I think the antifa people should change uniforms since everybody is conflating them with black bloc shitheads.
efgoldman
@schrodingers_cat:
Overcharge for something ugly, tacky, and useless; story of his adult life.
Hal
Fake cowboy/medal enthusiast Sheriff David Clarke has resigned. What opening in the Trump administration will he fill? The position he’s least qualified for no doubt.
Millard Filmore
@Knight of Nothing:
It would be interesting to do a forensic audit of a building supply company’s operations. How flexible is the supply chain? When he runs out of stock, how many days will he go without ANY sales? Does the increase price do more than simply tide them over until new inventory arrives?
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major:
Agreed. I had to explain the diff to my father
?BillinGlendaleCA
@eclare: I ventured out to move some soda from the Prius* to my storage shed, FUCK IT’S HOT!
*I didn’t want splodey soda cans in the Prius in the heat.
Bex
@scav: Don’t forget the Chris Christie favorite–the traffic cone.
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major:@Amaranthine RBG: I wouldn’t wear it even if you gave me $40 to wear it.
Major Major Major Major
@Hal:
Not to be confused with cowboy metal enthusiasts, who are probably pretty interesting.
@schrodingers_cat: what if it was just you in private?
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: No I hate the hat and I hate hat hair. I only wear a hat if it is below freezing. I have a pink one knitted by BJer.
Major Major Major Major
I saw this shortly after I got to New York, I wonder if they put it up for me
https://instagram.com/p/BYeK1xZgzbj/
eclare
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I checked, my oven turns on and starts at 100 degrees. Your outside is hotter.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Knight of Nothing: I doubt if anyone here would be foolish enough to take a bet against these very same Libertarians demanding government relief and price controls if they were victims of some disaster.
Seanly
I was going to make a crack about being safe & sound in Boise, ID (average 12″ of rainfall PER YEAR), but that would probably lead to the Yellowstone Caldera blowing up just to serve me right. While I think I’m outside of the immediate kill zone, I’d still not have a very good day…
Let’s hope that Irma fizzles out before hitting anything.
If Irma does hit Florida or coast, I expect Trump will whine that no president has ever had to deal with so many bigly events. “But hey, what a great crowd, buy my hat and my daughter’s shoes!”
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@schrodingers_cat:
I saw the picture with that hat. It was weirdly block-like. Gaudy and maudlin with that “USA” text on the front, especially considering the wearer. He wore it intentionally for product placement. How disgusting, probably pretending to listen to that emergency meeting while people drowned in Houston.
Betty
@Betty Cracker: Thanks. A lot depends on how far south she decides to come. Hurricanes can do funny things. Will try our best to be ready. Hoping for the best for you as well.
Knight of Nothing
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: yup. It’s always special pleading with these assholes.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Amaranthine RBG: I think what the Whitehouse is really saying is the GOP so incompentent now it’s unlikely they will be able to get a relief bill threw Congress of Harvy now and Trump is trying to hide that with this donation.
Iowa Old Lady
@Seanly: I heard some radio report this week saying Boise is the new hipster place. Who knew?
Insane Clown POTUS
@Hal:
Clarke can be charge of making sure everyone is wearing enough pieces of flair.
dmsilev
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Of course not. See also Ted Cruz claiming that voting against aid for Sandy victims and for aid for Harvey victims is totally consistent and sensible Because Reasons.
grammypat
@Major Major Major Major: I wonder how many racists’ heads would explode if antifa showed up in khakis and white polos. Epic troll nonetheless.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
“Fish spinner.” Perfect, Betty.
dr. bloor
@Betty Cracker: Pay per view them chickens, Betty, and I’m in.
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: it’s like a fidget spinner, but not at all.
TriassicSands
@Betty:
Good luck. Don’t be brave, be smart (it sounds like that will be the case).
I hope it misses you entirely.
Ian G.
@Roger Moore:
Or facing indictment. Hopefully on state charges so Shitgibbon can’t pardon him.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
With little kitteh ears.*
*(The pink knitted hat, not the knitting BJer.)
germy
TriassicSands
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Trump spends his life in the Cone of Ignorance. And the Cone of Stupidity. And the Cone of Dishonesty. And the Cone of…
Too many cones. I guess we’d have to say that Trump lives his life in the
Cone of Trump…with all that implies.
JMG
It’s a sad fact of hurricanes that the ones which hit the New England coast I’m currently sitting on are those that make a head fake towards Florida, then turn right after it is assumed disaster was avoided. Fun fact: Was once on Bermuda for a hurricane. Don’t do that if you can avoid it. Betty of the Antilles has my complete sympathy and worry. No place to go on an island.
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
LOL.
Did you make it out of DFW and to your destination? And BTW, did I mention how much I LOVE your raven drawing?
J R in WV
@Betty Cracker:
The late Senator Robert Byrd’s wife’s name was Irma. She made him a brown paper bag lunch every day, to take to the senate offices. I don’t know the standard sandwiches list, but probably pretty blue-collar. He was never high-class, more middle class country.
He did not retire a wealthy man, he died in office, voting til the very end for progress. In the course of some 35 years as a reporter in WV, Mrs J got to know Mr Byrd, and had a high regard for both Senator Byrd and his junior partner, Senator J D Rockefeller IV.
Many wealthy politicians have obviously used their office(s) to make millions of dollars, like Serial Pedophile and House Republican Dennis Hastert. Or former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, he of the many wives, screwing a house employee while attempting to impeach President Bill Clinton for having sexual contact with another woman. How much money does he, Newt, have, after working for the government all his life? Speeches? To the COMINTERN?
Mike J
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
NWS says 107° in Glendale. Make sure your thermometer isn’t in direct sunlight. I had to move mine. Even 107° is too damned hot.
Mary G
Because, of course, Mnuchin Won’t Commit to Harriet Tubman on $20 Bill (NBC News).
Trump even has a bad role model in Jackson.
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: thanks!
I’m in New York now, yes. Sure has a lot of buildings. Maybe San Francisco can borrow some.
ETA: also it’s supposed to be a crow.
eclare
@Insane Clown POTUS: “Pieces of flair”, perfect.
MomSense
O/T some potentially good news. I’m meeting with a book agent tomorrow.
chris
Another shitgibbon appointee bites the dust. Buh-bye!
Is anyone keeping a list? Gonna be pretty long at this rate.
Amaranthine RBG
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
OH YEAH? WELL HE GAVE A MILLION DOLLARS? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? HUH? HUH? THOUGHT SO.
(No doubt this talking point has already been emailed to his surrogates.)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mike J: The weather station is supposed to be in direct sunlight. It has shading that is supposed to give an accurate temperature.
Major Major Major Major
@MomSense: nice, break a leg(?)!
Mike J
@chris: Bradford is getting good at resigning for saying stupid shit.
Baud
@MomSense: Congrats! I didn’t know you were writing.
chris
@Mike J: What will he fail up to next?!
NMgal
@Mike J: It’s the same temperature atm (108F sez NWS) in Glendale, California, and Glendale, Arizona (in the greater Phoenix area). That’s fucked up.
germy
efgoldman
@Amaranthine RBG:
i’ll believe it when I see the endorsed, deposited, cleared check. Even then i want it audited.
He’s no more actually donating that much money, then I’m flapping my arms and flying to Mcmurdo Station.
Amaranthine RBG
Speaking of good news for people who love bad news. Here’s a story about a professor with a full course load who lives in a car: http://www.sfgate.com/local/article/High-cost-of-living-forces-San-Jose-State-12164855.php
(I usually try to avoid reading SF Gate since it is the sort of rubbish that some people imagine the NYT to be, but I was check on it to see if “Trump Pledges One Million” was still be banner headline. It is.)
Baud
@germy: I’m interested in seeing what the bill looks like now that Bernie has cosponsors.
@efgoldman: Agree.
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
I never pictured you that bright red complexion…
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
Saw that earlier, on FB I think, and it sent me into a RAGE.
Mnemosyne
@dmsilev:
I’m still annoyed that CS Lewis’s heirs changed the order of the Narnia books. It makes no fucking sense to read The Magician’s Nephew first.
germy
@Baud:
. . . like watching sausage being made.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne:
Like taking guided tours of Fort Knox and then watching the eclipse from the rooftop.
Busy busy busy
SiubhanDuinne
@NMgal:
The Phoenix branch of my family (the ones who don’t think Joe Arpaio is as awful as all that) live in Glendale. Now I wonder whether the extreme, unrelenting heat informs their political views.
Baud
@germy: Less appetizing, I fear.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
Thanks!
@Baud:
More like finally writing. I’ve been making up stories for my kids, their friends, and when I volunteer in classrooms and at the library. The first story I put on paper is one I made up 24-25 years ago. I don’t know why I’ve been so afraid to put it on paper. Anyway I finally did and shared it with some friends who own an Indie bookstore. They put me in touch with an illustrator and an agent.
debbie
@mai naem mobile:
Frankly, I’d be happy if Irma tracked in however many directions needed to hunt down Trump.
Mike in NC
@chris: Never heard of this idiot. It’s as if the Trump transition team produced a database of the absolute worst people in America and started making job offers.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Can you even picture his delicate wife, she of the branded merchandise, deigning to sully her fingertips by touching a (gasp!) Harriet Tubman $20 bill?
The Lodger
@DCrefugee: But do people want their roofs covered with Republicans?
Baud
@MomSense: Too cool. I’m proud of you.
@Mike in NC: I haven’t gotten a job offer.
Major Major Major Major
@germy: you sure it won’t look more like asshole grandstanding, what with the main sponsor?
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: : )
MomSense
@Baud:
??
eclare
@MomSense: Wow, good luck tomorrow!
debbie
@MomSense:
Great news! Nothing better than children’s books!
ETA: Why am I suddenly undefined?
Laura
@trollhattan: crikey, the smoke and the heat are oppressive. SMUD is going to get a hefty check for running the a/c this month.
I’ve been keeping food and beverage’s in the car to hand out to the homeless and their pets and feel heartsick at their inability to find respite from this heat.
Sab
@Major Major Major Major: I also love your Crow drawing. Don’t crows and ravens look pretty much the same except for the size difference?
The Lodger
@J R in WV: I knew Erma Gerd, but Irma Byrd was new to me :)
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
I’m going through a phase. One of my former students is directing plays and musicals at a small theater and I’ve decided to finally go audition for a role. She’s only been bugging for about 10 years.
My attitude is now fuck it- the world could end tomorrow (especially since we have a madman in charge) and so many of my IRL and online friends are going through the worst trials life can deliver. This is a good time to do things that are joyful. No more fear!
Arm The Homeless
@Betty Cracker:
If the wife and stink-mutt have to skiddadle from SW-FL, would you mind if we crash in your back yard? I make a mean Redneck Frittata, and we’re all (mostly) housebroken!
schrodingers_cat
@Sab: Ravens are jet black, crows are dull grey black. I think ravens are bigger too.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Mnemosyne: Isn’t that the prequel book? Makes perfect sense to me
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: I am so proud of you {{{ }}}
Sab
@schrodingers_cat: I knew about the size difference. I did not know about the color difference.
dmsilev
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: It’s the first book by internal chronology, but it really benefits from being read after (at least) Lion Witch & Wardrobe.
MomSense
@eclare: @debbie: @schrodingers_cat:
????
Frankensteinbeck
@dmsilev:
Alas, I tried to read the last couple of Pratchett’s books. I don’t know if non-writers can tell, but the progress of his Alzheimers was clear to me, and it made them too uncomfortable to enjoy. A small part was that he was losing track of which character was which, in terms of personality. Mostly, he could not do his own editing, and that exacerbated the problem by making everyone talk the same, with a tendency to lengthy monologues that he cut down in his previous books because… well, that’s good editing. When he ceased to be able to do that himself, his daughter could not effectively help him do it, even if she could type down the story as he told it.
@Mnemosyne:
I reread the Narnia books very recently. I must have read them a dozen times in my life, and I’ve always known they were heavily Christian, but it hit me this time in a way it never has before. They’re books about Christianity, not Christian books. The Silver Chair is the only book where basically every problem isn’t solved by Aslan. Horse and His Boy is just an expanded ‘footsteps on the beach’ allegory. Morality is Paulite, with good people loving Jesus and bad people hating Jesus, and all redemptions only happen through Jesus. I was stunned at how omnipresent the Christian propaganda is, particularly in how it dominates the plots. Like I said, Aslan solves everything. He delivers people when they’re needed, they overcome their tendency to sin (greed, say) by seeing him appear, he scares away monsters, he walks everyone through their redemption, he has the critical hand in solving nearly every conflict in the series. I hope now that I’m expecting it I’ll be okay the next time I reread, but it made it hard to get through this time.
EDIT – Oh, and OH MY GOD, is Lewis Islamophobic. I was going to give him a pass for a lesser bigotry of parroting traditional Middle Eastern stereotypes, until I read Last Battle. Unnecessary to the story, he brings up arguments made for respect between different faiths and paints them as tricks used by evil people to lure Christians to their destruction.
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: I’ve been thinking about getting myself a horse again (and acting in at least one play a year!), plus writing, plus starting a meadery, because….well, exactly. As Matt Groening put it in his “Life in Hell” comic, you can do almost anything after you’ve asked yourself one simple question: “How long am I going to be dead?”
JMG
You have to be some kind of serious racist to think having a famous black woman’s face on money makes money less valuable somehow.
France put Catherine Deneuve on its money. After Harriet Tubman, we should put Elvis on the $50, or James Brown, that’d be even better.
Mnemosyne
@Mike J:
Weather Underground was saying it was 111 in my little corner of GDL about an hour ago.
Karen
@Frankensteinbeck: Lewis’s books have always been heavily pro christian, I read his adult series and his bias is very much in view
MomSense
@dmsilev:
Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe is the best one anyway.
@Frankensteinbeck:
I haven’t read them recently but I remember reading them to my kids and being floored by how Christian they are and wondering why I missed it as a kid. Even though I grew up in a non conformist family, I think I must have been accustomed to accepting authority by school, my town, etc.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
Yay! ?
Miss Bianca
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yes, I was always disturbed, even as a tad who didn’t think too deeply about racism and religious prejudice, by the fact that the young Calormene who ends up in Aslan’s presence gets told that because he was a good worshipper of Tash, that meant that he was ACTUALLY worshipping Aslan. I mean…OK, maybe the charitable construction is that “it doesn’t matter which God you worship as long as you worship in the right spirit”, but…seriously?
Well, let’s face it…I was disturbed by pretty much *everything* in “The Last Battle”. I think that was the one of the series where, having read it once as a kid, I couldn’t re-read it till I was an adult.
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
Do all the things, Miss Bianca! Burn your candle at both ends.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
You are next!
Sab
@Mnemosyne: I absolutely loved the Narnia books when I was an Episcopalian child in Florida in the 1960s. I read them again about five years ago in Ohio, and I would be hesitant to let a child, or at least a girl child read them. I can’t put my finger on what changed, but they made my hair stand on end.
Yutsano
@MomSense: FRABJOUS!!!
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: And up the middle! Ha! You too, MomSense! We’ll all wear our pink p*ssy hats to your first book-signing!
MomSense
@Yutsano:
I love that word! ???
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
Ha!!
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Oh my gosh, MomSense, that is exciting!
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Nothing may happen but I still feel great about it.
Frankensteinbeck
@Miss Bianca:
See, I found the Christian allegory easiest to swallow in Last Battle, because it does not pretend to be anything else. It’s just straight-up Revelations. Not really a great story, but fun for the weirdness. The value of the other books as stories was deeply damaged in this rereading because I saw just how omnipresent deus ex machina is as the method of conflict resolution. It’s beyond a joke.
Mnemosyne
@Frankensteinbeck:
I haven’t re-read them in a few years. I’m still not sure if it’s Islamophobia on Lewis’s part or just good old fashioned racism.
The Horse and His Boy is my favorite of the series because Aravis is his best heroine, but to say the book has issues is putting it mildly.
@MomSense:
I still have another 50,000 words to go. ? Why did writing a full-length novel seem like a good idea, again?
I’m going to a week-long writers retreat in a couple of weeks and I’m hoping to get a bunch of words cranked out, if my carpal tunnels are willing.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Do it. If your carpal tunnel is bad, do some voice recordings and email them to me. I’ll type them out.
Frankensteinbeck
@Sab:
I think that is the point. Lewis wrote the books quite well to let a nonstop river of conservative Christian morality and religious mythology be read by a child as a standard fantasy story. It’s the awareness of the lie that is creepy as Hell once you spot it.
The Pale Scot
@mai naem mobile:
‘Cause Harvey is gonna be the last hurricane Eveay!
randy khan
It’s sort of amazing how fast things change in the world of tropical cyclones – just a few days ago there was a depression coming up the East Coast that looked like it could be trouble; it essentially dissipated before doing any harm and in the meantime Irma’s gone from not existing to a Cat 3 hurricane. Maybe it’s worth paying for better weather forecasting.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
Make sure they have decent foundations.
Mnemosyne
@Sab:
I found his adult books creepy (specifically the Perelandra series), but the Narnia books didn’t bother me. But, then, I didn’t re-read the whole series all the way through, just a few of them.
@Frankensteinbeck:
Lewis himself said that a lot of his views on Christianity changed after he married late in life and was widowed. I’d be curious how the Narnia books might have been different if he hadn’t written them as a sheltered Oxford (I think) don with very little experience of life and love.
Sab
@Mnemosyne: Thanks for the response.
Roger Moore
@Sab:
They’re generally similar except for the size. Ravens’ beaks are larger relative to their bodies, and the feathers around their throats fluff out more when they’re vocalizing. If they’re flying, you can tell the difference because crows have a fan-shaped tail, with all the feathers approximately the same length, while ravens have a kite-shaped tail with the feathers in the center longer than the ones on the sides. Ravens have a deeper, croaking call while crows have a higher, cawing call, but they’re both gifted vocally and make all kinds of sounds beyond the basic calls they’re most famous for.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
We started seeing the early rain edge from Harvey yesterday here in Nashville; we have now progressed to the serious stuff, with tornado warnings. I’m glad it’s only that.
Frankensteinbeck
@Roger Moore:
Ravens have a more hooked beak, and crows are shiny while ravens are matte. Still, size is the only difference you need in the wild. Ravens are friggin’ huge birds. If you aren’t sure which it is, it’s a crow.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
@Frankensteinbeck:
To confuse matters even more, apparently ravens live in pairs but often hang around with flocks of crows, presumably for better protection from predators. Apparently a lot of birdwatchers just list “flock of black birds” because it’s hard to tell which is which.
burnspbesq
@Betty Cracker:
Single-payer isn’t a plan, it’s a shibboleth.
Booger
@Miss Bianca: …a meadery, you say?
Dalai Rasta
I’m trying to figure out how my family could get away from Irma if it came this way. Three disabled people, five (seven, if I could get my hands on the ferals) cats, my mother’s wheelchair, all in a Toyota Highlander. Very little spending money. Also, my grandmother doesn’t want to leave the house she’s lived in for over seventy years, or the street she’s lived on for over ninety years, and my parents don’t want to leave the area without her. We nearly flooded during Isaac; Harvey has already saturated the ground here, we live on the edge of a swamp, and Irma looks like a really dangerous one already. Leaving seems impossible; staying seems suicidal if Irma turns this way.
I hate that the constant drumbeat of near-catastrophes we’ve been living through have spent so much of my mental energies; at the moment, I feel like all I can think about is our problems, and I resent the fact that my empathy is stretched so thin. Meanwhile, my parents (and my grandmother) seem resigned to sitting another one out.
J R in WV
@Roger Moore:
Crows can talk, actually. In English. Like parrots. Or so I have been told.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Knight of Nothing:
I found myself wanting to beat the glibertarian professor in the video to a coma (or worse) using only my fists.
I can hear him whimpering now, in between sickening sloppy thuds….