Spelling Bee champion Zaila Avant-garde can do it all ?
(via @DallasWings)pic.twitter.com/Dk5i2Scp0m
— Stadium (@Stadium) August 15, 2021
"Giannis," the debut book by @MirinFader, goes deep into the background of the Greek Freak and releases with serendipitous timing. https://t.co/yM3OgvCKor
— Mark Selig (@MarkRSelig) August 10, 2021
WANT! (but don’t need) —
This printer quickly labels anything pic.twitter.com/mmBqH3bcfR
— Tech Insider (@TechInsider) August 11, 2021
Shelters are giving animals strange names to help them get noticed — and find a home https://t.co/WoZJEyrZc0
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 14, 2021
A purrfect match! A Munich animal shelter is posting profiles of abandoned pets on Tinder in the hope that lonely humans looking for love might also enjoy the company of a cat or a dog ?? https://t.co/OVZSYBmA7k pic.twitter.com/vmEU0YLJ5H
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 12, 2021
prostratedragon
Hmmmm. I was thinking “Spotty Ferguson.”
Anoniminous
I don’t know who this guy is but I want to have his baby.
sab
I dunno. I had a rescue lab for about 12 years. I think he was about 16 when he died. The whole time we had him we always felt that he was asking ” why can’t you call me by my real name?
PsiFighter37
So…anyone interested in a Denver meetup on Wednesday? Going to resort to hitting open threads now. :) Email me at VRML99 at yahoo dot com if so! Have only had one person reach out directly so far.
ETA: leaning towards 6PM at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. If you’re a local coming, feel free to supply the green balloons!
dmsilev
This …isn’t a respite comment. It’s a sad story, about someone much-loved:
Inside the heartbreaking conservatorship battle of a ‘Star Trek’ legend
Short version: her son believes that Nichols is being exploited by her manager (who, among other things, lived in a guest house on her property), and has filed a petition for conservatorship. The manager disagrees, and has filed suit to block it.
Sigh. Getting old sucks.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@sab: Aww. Now I’m sad for the doggie.
Mary G
Reupping from the Afghan thread. I remember we used to say on the blog that “next year better not suck so much” at the end of the year. No we know better:
Multi-lingual signs:
West of the Rockies
I know not everything is or can be good news, but I do appreciate your posts, AL. They are frequently a beacon of hope amid dreary news days.
Morzer
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/15/an-afghan-woman-in-kabul-now-i-have-to-burn-everything-i-achieved
A terrible, miserable story from Afghanistan – but one which makes clear just how shallow and unlikely to endure the supposed transformation of Afghanistan was. When you look at the reality of how many Afghan men obviously hate any attempt to give women any sort of rights, it’s obvious that another five years, ten years, twenty years would have achieved nothing.
Mary G
Warning: this is a thing out of a horror movie:
debbie
I want that printer
jackmac
After we had two elderly cats pass on in the last 10 months and we missed having felines wander around the house. So we went to a nearby shelter and adopted Mr. Snigglefoot (or some horrendous name like that). The name barely lasted halfway through the drive home. But the time we arrived our new guy — a burly, friendly and curious two-year-old adolescent — was renamed “Rocco.”
HumboldtBlue
@Anoniminous:
That’s brilliant.
Mary G
Amazing garbage art; I recommend watching the video:
Suzanne
I have been listening to a wonderful podcast that I think y’all (yinz?} would appreciate: History of Ideas. David Runciman is excellent at this medium. I got into Talking Politics during Brexit and I’m so glad to keep listening to him.
Barbara
@jackmac: Rocco is a great name for a cat!
Mary G
@Mary G: Forgot link to video, about 52 minutes
ETA: OOPS
I’d better get off the computer.
Anoniminous
@HumboldtBlue:
His channel is a major hoot squarely based on old fashioned common sense.
Raven
I was waking Artie and a friend rode by and stop. He said he was inspired by us adopting her he adopted too!
Beisbol Houligan
@Anoniminous: That is brilliant!
debbie
@Raven:
This is nice news!
Ruckus
@dmsilev:
Yes. Yes it does.
But.
Not getting old sucks more.
Amir Khalid
@HumboldtBlue:
Adam Something is, among other things, an entertaining YouTube channel for those who like to be reminded just how hollow Elon Musk’s big tech ideas really are.
Anne Laurie
Zevon came to live with us just after his fifth birthday (he’d been turned over to the breed rescue with his veterinary records). His first family called him ‘Pepi’, which might’ve been suitable when he was a wee pup, but came nowhere near the charisma of his adult self.
We’ve renamed about half of the rescues, dogs & cats, that have lived with us. Even the dimmest of them — and some of them have *not* been very bright — took no more than a few days to adapt to their new monikers. Sometimes they’ve actually seemed happier to be renamed… possibly because the memories associated with the old ones weren’t so great…
debbie
@Anoniminous:
I wish I could have commuted on a subway with pretty purple seats.
Brachiator
@dmsilev:
A very sad story.
I kinda wish that some big Trek fan attorney could swoop in and help.
Brachiator
@Morzer:
This is not just a problem in Afghanistan.
dmsilev
@Ruckus: Well, yeah. There is that.
Suzanne
@Morzer: The scene at the airport in Kabul is devastating. I would support any sort of refugee airlifts to get women out of there.
Morzer
@Brachiator:
Sadly, very true.
Morzer
@Suzanne: I am a moderate, so I think we should just pursue a policy of trap-neuter-don’t return with the Taliban.
Emma from Miami
Open thread, so… I need a reality check.
We arrived in the US through Miami but a month after moved to Chicago and settled in a Greek-German neighborhood. The closest grocery store was a Hi-Lo. So my mom does all the laundry (the apartment building had a laundry room in the basement) and like a thrifty housewife bought the least expensive laundry powder available. Gets home, opens the box and inside was a very nice hand towel. So every month, new box, new hand towel. We ended up with about a dozen before the brand disappear from the shelves. So mom moves one (minuscule) price up and this time there is a glass! Again, collection. We still have them.
I mentioned this to a born-and-bred American more or less my age and she said it was IMPOSSIBLE (yes, she spoke in all caps) that companies would have done that, as it was giving away something for nothing. I do know the giveaway stuff disappeared by the mid 1970s, but honestly, I do remember it!
So am I crazy?
Miss Bianca
@PsiFighter37: Wish I could, but the timing is just all wrong for me. Maybe at some later date!
Capri
I adopted my current dog when I saw her listed by a local shelter on Facebook. She was a courtesy post still living with a famiy that was about to move. They hoped to place her before she was reliquished. She was advertised as a whippet, and from the head shot it appeared to be possible. Like pretty much every pet whippet I’ve been around, her name was Devo. I wasn’t actively looking for a dog, but I love sight hounds, particularly whippets and basenjis, so I contacted the owner. When she got to the house it was clear that only a person who had never seen a whippet in their life would think she was a whippet – she’s most likely an Australian Shepard/terrier cross. She’s a sweet dog and we kept her, but wanted to lose the name. We ended up renaming her Reno. It has the same vowel sounds as Devo, and supposedly that’s what dogs hear. She responded to it right away.
Leslie
I was just reminded of this video, which is (at least for me) a guaranteed mood lifter.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: This would be the sanest and most moral path I can see. First, all the people who worked with us. Then all the women who wish to flee. But: I don’t think I could support them fleeing with their male children. I’m sorry, but just because women want a little more freedom than the Taliban would allow, doesn’t mean that they won’t bring up their boys to be just as backward. We’ve had 20 years in Afghanistan, so a significant proportion of the males — the ones that we read about as being pretty goddamn misogynist — were brought up by Afghan women during the American occupation.
MagdaInBlack
@Emma from Miami: You’re not crazy. It was probably ” DUZ.” That had glassware in it.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@debbie: Check out this handheld craft printer!
Michael’s.com
Miss Bianca
@Emma from Miami: You’re not crazy. Giveaway items were big back in the 70s. Gas stations used to give away all kinds of things from oil companies – glassware being one of those things, as I recall.
Kattails
@Emma from Miami: yes they used to do things like that no you are not crazy (at least in that regard, can’t speak for the rest of your life…)
Emma from Miami
@MagdaInBlack: That was it! I just googled it and there was the glass! Thank you!
zhena gogolia
@Emma from Miami:
No, you’re not. Stuff like that used to happen.
Percysowner
@Miss Bianca: Oh, yeah. One gas station attendant gave me 12 glasses at one time. It was either the end of a promotion or a case they found in the back. In any case he wanted them out and I ended up with a matching set of glasses. It was quite a score for a poor college kid. The guy also filled my tank, checked my oil and cleaned my windows. Those were different days. We were killing the environment, but I, at least, didn’t know.
zhena gogolia
@Emma from Miami:
They’re damn nice, too!
Emma from Miami
@Miss Bianca: I remember those too, but we didn’t have a car until 1976. It amuses me how it was standard for us to walk to school alone.
@Kattails: Well, only when the wind blows north-northwest.
Mousebumples
I am in the middle of reading the Giannis book! Just picked it up from the library today. Only have 2 weeks before it’s due, so I need to make sure I get through it in my limited free time… So far so good. The first few chapters are about the difficulties of being undocumented in Greece around the time of the 2008 financial crisis.
Mary G
No hostages. Good. That was one of my big worries after going through 1979.
ETA. Pging Kay, Kay to the white courtesy phone, please:
mrmoshpotato
@Anoniminous: Wow. The ending makes it even better.
Suzanne
@Emma from Miami: Not crazy. My mom gave me some steak knives like 7-8 years ago (ish) that she had gotten as some sort of freebie. I also remember getting some free glassware with Flintstones characters on them. Maybe from Pizza Hut?
MagdaInBlack
@Emma from Miami: They’re collectibles now, of course ?
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: If they bring up their male children in the US, they’ll just be normal-acceptable-misogynist like Andrew Cuomo.
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne:
I had a gorgeous Petunia Pig tumbler that a housemate broke. I have no recollection of where it came from. Wish I still had it.
debbie
@Emma from Miami:
Wish I could remember the brand of detergent, but you remember correctly.
debbie
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
?
Ohio Mom
@Emma from Miami: I just googled “Duz laundry detergent glasses” and MagdainBlack remembers correctly.
Apparently you can buy the glasses on eBay and etsy. They are something of collector’s items.
What I remember from the 1970s was my mother continually opening new bank accounts for gifts. When I moved off campus, she opened one account to get me a small set of dishes (one salad plate remains) and another for a set of enameled sauce pans.
ETA: I spent too much time on google admiring the glasses, lots of other people commented in the mean time I see.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: That assumes that they will bring up their male children as Americans. This is not at all guaranteed, which I can attest to as a child of immigrants. This assumption that women are blameless in the misogynist upbringing of their sons is just wrong.
prostratedragon
@Emma from Miami: No you’re not, we used the one with the washcloth back in the 60s I guess it was. Very decent cloth, and the detergent didn’t cost more than the competition, or there’s no way my mother would have bought it regularly. I also remember glasses or coffee cups or something, but we never had that one.
Some night soon I’m going to wake up shouting the name of that product.
MagdaInBlack
I believe my mothers pink depression ware plates were free when she went to movies. I could google but its late and I’m lazy.
Steeplejack (phone)
@jackmac:
Congratulations on your new housemate!
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: Um, I was snarking. The point is that we Americans bring up our own boys to be raging misogynists, so it’s hard for me to throw stones in that regard.
debbie
@Suzanne:
I still have a couple of steak knives I got from a gas station back in the 1970s. Not good for much, but they’re still in the drawer.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: *grin* It’s all good. I’d just say that …. you haven’t seen raging misogynists yet. Can you imagine actual honor killings in America (by Americans — cultural Americans), as anything other than crazy flukes ? And yet, it happens in India (and among Hindus, not just among Muslims as the trope would have you believe).
I remember Erik Loomis had post about Deadwood and …. the treatment of women in frontier times (== late 19th, early 20th century — so, not exactly that long ago): https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2015/04/deadwoods-historical-accuracy
I understand that we think of some American men as real misogynist pigs. But there’s a long, long way to fall.
planetjanet
@Anoniminous: I love the first comment on that video. “This is probably the first time ever when sarcasm started to drip from my monitor…”
MagdaInBlack
@Chetan Murthy: On that uplifting note, I think I’ll just log out for the night.
Kay
@Morzer:
We should have armed and trained the women.
Kay
@Mary G:
“Maggie Haberman
@maggieNYT·56m
Cotton spokesman says that their office has heard from multiple US citizens in Kabul trapped behind Taliban checkpoints, who can’t safely reach the US perimeter and have no clear option for what to do.”
I personally would need to see some independent verification that this actually occurred, given the source, but maybe they’re contractors of some kind.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon: Internet to the rescue! Breeze was the one we bought, but there were other brands such as Duz, and even Cheer got on the freebie bandwagon. Here’s a personal reminiscence. I note the father’s occupation with interest; urban congregations do not necessarily pay any better than rural ones. According to Wikipedia, Breeze is still around, selling mostly in Asia, though it looks like it can also be bought through Tarjet.
E.
@Chetan Murthy:
So you’re saying you support a Sophie’s Choice kind of a thing.
bbleh
@debbie: Yes, so do I! I could label … things! OMG …
Morzer
@Kay: I agree 100%. Teach them to use weapons and take no shit from any creepy Taliban SOB.
JAFD
@Emma from Miami: Don’t know about stuf in laundry deterg, but I’ve owned steak knives and plastic tumblers given away by gas stations
Got letter the other day, Board of Elections wanting to know if I can work on November 2nd. So, checked ‘yes’, is ready to drop in mail.
Also saying that they’ll be using new ‘electronic poll books’, all District Board Workers will need to attend training session – but we’ll get paid for that. They usually have sessions at a half-dozen or so places around Essex County, am trying to hit all of them sooner or later…
stinger
@Leslie: Thanks for reminding me of this great video!
MisterForkbeard
@PsiFighter37: I would but… <shrugs helplessly> I’m in California :)
Brachiator
@Chetan Murthy:
A little more?
Eunicecycle
@Suzanne: when I was a kid some jelly came in jars that had the Flintstones on them. After the jelly was gone they were glasses. I think it was Welch’s? But you’re quite a bit younger than me so it’s probably not the same promotion.
ETA: I just Googled it, and it was Welch’s, in 1962!
Kay
Well. We’re clear on who is NOT responsible. NOT those people. They’re really all going to do this? Insist none of them bear responsibility for anything?
I think I preferred “mistakes were made”. Bad as that was it was better than panicked denials.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: So I guess Tom Cotton’s people decided to do the right thing and… tell the media rather than get help for these people from the State Department?
Kay
@Morzer:
Not as individuals. They’ll lose. As an army. The army.
frosty
@Suzanne: Yinz? Uh oh, you’ve gone all ‘burgh on us. Next you’ll be putting french fries on your salad.
Chetan Murthy
@Brachiator:
I meant in Afghanistan under Ghani — that is to say, pre-the Taliban takeover.
brendancalling
@Chetan Murthy: That is a horrible and ruthless thing to say, and I say that as someone who regularly wishes death on the Covid idiots.
I just saw my son today for the first time in 18 months. It’s been sheer torture. I have to get therapy and likely take meds for awhile to recover from this.
You don’t tear children from their parents.
Hellbastar
Here is some good news from a shelter down in Texas where I used to volunteer. Dog found a home after 10 years at the shelter: https://www.kcbd.com/2021/08/03/tiktok-helps-haven-animal-shelter-with-dog-adoption/
Suzanne
@frosty: The French fries on everything is one of the grossest things. I ate at Primanti’s once, didn’t realize that there would be fries on my sandwich, and have never gone back.
Besides, the culinary milieu I most associate with this place is PIZZA. There are pizza-wings-hoagies places E V E R Y W H E R E. I live behind one. I don’t like pizza very much.
I miss restaurants that end in -berto’s.
frosty
@Eunicecycle:
Welch’s did that for a long time, with lots of characters. I remember some with Davy Crockett on them.
Suzanne
@brendancalling: I’m so happy you got to see him. When I heard the border was finally reopening, I thought of your first.
Suzanne
@Eunicecycle: No, these were definitely tumblers. I was right: Pizza Hut. 1986.
Chetan Murthy
this is supposed to be a respite thread. I’ll stop. Sorry all.
frosty
@Suzanne:
‘bertos is funny. As for your other foods, I’ve never liked wings, I’ve had enough pizza to last me the rest of my life, but hoagies (subbies where I am) and cheesesteaks (if you’re in Philly), I could eat every day.
As for my former stomping grounds in Baltimore, it’s crab cakes all the way!
I miss In’n’Out. Five Guys doesn’t come close.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Found this hilarious tidbit from an old Atlantic article about Martin:
Sorta scummy of GRRM to enable this kind of fan behavior, isn’t it?
Suzanne
@frosty: I like In n Out, too. But I’m not really a burgers person. I like spaghetti-and-meatballs, that kind of thing.
-berto’s, though. Breakfast burritos any time of day. And Super Nachos. I miss you, Super Nachos!!!
Morzer
@Kay: I think this is a both and, not an either or situation. I think you have to arm individuals and communities in a country like Afghanistan – and one of the big mistakes was trying to create a western-style army and have it do all the work,
debbie
@brendancalling:
So glad you were able to see your son!
debbie
@Chetan Murthy:
Dude, it’s what women suffered during the Taliban that matters.
CaseyL
Yesterday was a bit of a respite day: went over to my neighbor’s place to watch the Seahawks-Raiders game. Watching sportsball with the neighbors has been a thing for the past five years or so.
We were a bubble, so we kept on doing this through the first year of the pandemic, when it was just about the only social contact we had.
Always fun to spend time with the nabes, and because it was a pre-season game, we felt very little stress over the outcome (the ‘Hawks lost). It was fun to see the new players get out there: we were surprised by all the names we didn’t recognize at all. I noticed hyphenated last names are showing up more and more.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Suzanne:
I think Taco Bell still has breakfast, only during certain hours though if you want some breakfast burritos. Then again it’s Taco Bell lol
I remember really liking In and Out Burger when I was on vacation in SoCal a few years back
Ohio Mom
@brendancalling:
The only comparison to your situation I can think of is dads drafted into fighting wars and missing years of their children’s growing up.
My general policy is to encourage anyone who thinks therapy would be helpful. Hope you find the right therapist, the one on your wavelength, easily.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): still on your Martin kick eh
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
WTF? Is this some sort of sick joke?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: I used to eat at Taco Hell pretty often, then I quit drinking.
mrmoshpotato
@frosty:
? Damn. What kind of burger sorcery is In’n’Out?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: It’s what a hamburger is all about*.
*That’s part of the jingle they play on their ads.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Is that also when you realized you live in southern California? ?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
What can I say, it’s fun to make fun of the guy. He’s kind of a creepy weirdo (mood: horny re: GoT actress audition videos with him needing to take a cold shower afterwards) and often comes across as an unprofessional asshole when interacting with fans on his NAB. The slightest amount of criticism would be censored and Martin surrounds himself with sycophants like Elio and Linda of Westeros.org
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Damn, because Five Guys is very good, but In’n’Out is better? ?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: The town, where I grew up, didn’t have a lot of Mexican food, back then. It was a pretty white bread place in those days.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: We have Five Guys in the local mall closest to me, they smell gross, I’ll walk to the other end to get In’nOut(or drive to get Tommy’s).
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Oh, no Taco What the Hell recently. I see.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: In’n’Out must be awesome.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Five Guys is actually good, you should try it.
@mrmoshpotato:
Kind of lol. It’s a guilty pleasure. It’s damn expensive lately tho
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): No, I’ve walked by, they smell gross.
Major Major Major Major
@mrmoshpotato: in n out is overrated, just like every other regional burger chain
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: Fresh ingredients, you can watch them slice up the potatoes for the fries.
A Streeter
@Emma from Miami: I’m pretty sure a plastic plate I’ve had since I left home for an apartment of my own (as opposed to a dorm room) came to us in a detergent box.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Fair enough. In and Out is super good from what I remember
NotMax
@Suzanne
Old enough to remember when, in case one forgot what type of food was available, menus were die-cut in the shape of Italy?
Can’t find an example right off the bat, but this will give a taste of some other die-cut menu examples.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Five Guys opened up near Mom’s. Went to give it a try when was there several years ago. Once.
Disgusting doesn’t come close. Felt pity for the trash can in the parking lot which was the end recipient of the bulk of what I had ordered.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Same with Five Guys.
Stuart Frasier
The best California burger chain is The Counter. For an actual fast place, there’s The Habit (they’ve been acquired by the Borg, but the food hasn’t suffered yet). In-N-Out is okay, but the fries are weird. Tommy’s is just nasty.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Putting just-in-time cut taters into the oil an inferior method for making fries. Soaking the slices in water first to remove surface starch, then patting them completely dry produces a more toothsome, less mealy fry.
If patient enough to do double frying, even better.
The Lodger
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Until I reached the end of your post, I didn’t know if “Martin” was Steve, Dean, or whoever.
sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s okay. Everything else in his life was much better. He got a family he loved that loved him. He got a dog pack led by a German Shepherd he adored. He got to leave Las Vegas ( HOT!) for Ohio ( snow and rain and metroparks.)
sab
@sab: Maybe he just didn’t like the name we gave him, which was boring and stupid and one syllable.
ETA I believe dogs prefer two syllable names.
Barbara
@Emma from Miami:
I still have the remnants of a set of yellow plastic bowls, plates and tumblers that came inside dog food I purchased circa 1984. No, you’re not crazy.
sab
@Emma from Miami: You are not crazy. Half my glassware is from stuff I inherited from my mother and grandmother that came in food packaging. Also too we had a set of BC ( comic strip) glassware from our local gas station that I passed on down to a nephew. Dozens of glasses of various sizes, each with a BC character on the side. Plus a big pitcher. My favorites were the little juice glases with the anteater zotting an ant.
ETA We never got dish towels. We would have liked them.
NotMax
@sab
Heck Welch’s jelly used to come in glasses intended for re-use once the contents were gone.
sab
@NotMax: I currently (or used to before the last grocery run) buy a german mustard that came in a cute litle mug. We have twenty of the things, so my husband said no more. I can’t bear to throw them away so we switched brands.
sab
@NotMax: We are still drinking out of one of them.
NotMax
@sab
Familiar with the brand. Use some of them to as a windowsill herb garden?
NotMax
Fingers gone wild with that extraneous “to” within #128.
;)
sab
@NotMax: Big maybe. We have cats, who destroy most plants. That might let me get a few more mustards in, just trying
Maybe I will save and take them to humane society thrift store.
sab
@NotMax: At least you can type keeping m and n straight. That is well beyond my capabilities.
NotMax
@sab
With a minimum of DIY, maybe mount them someplace the cats will be less able to get to? Along the line of using Mason jars as shown here.
sab
@NotMax: German mustard jar toothbrush holder. I like the idea.
NotMax
@NotMax
Heh.. Had I sniffed around just a wee bit more, would have seen this page on the same site demonstrating an herb garden.
sab
Thank God archie and mehitabel aren’t around any more. They would have had opinions.
sab
@NotMax: Actually I do need an herb garden inside, and cats prevent me. Thanks much.