Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

You would normally have to try pretty hard to self-incriminate this badly.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

“Alexa, change the president.”

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

So very ready.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Lazy Sunday Open Thread

Lazy Sunday Open Thread

by | 235 Comments

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So, what’s everyone up to on this lazy Sunday afternoon?

I am cleaning up the kitchen after company yesterday, wandering out to water the various gardens on and off, figuring out what meals to make that will use up some of my spicy peppers from the garden before I have to freeze the rest.

And trying to figure out what to put up for Medium Cool this evening.

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

235Comments

  1. 1.

    Juice Box

    I went to the pharmacy for a flu shot yeterday. The pharmacist made a mistake and drew up a Covid booster from the supply that had just arrived that morning. I said, “I’ll take that one too!” Now I’m regretting it. There is not one single part of me that doesn’t hurt. I’ve had real influenza, though, and that hurt even more and for a lot longer.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    @Juice Box: Glad you were able to get the Covid vaccine, but sorry to hear about side effects.  It seems like this new version kicks butt.  They are out of the vaccine here, hoping for more next week.

  3. 3.

    Alison Rose

    Celebrating Newcastle thrashing Sheffield United 8-nil. All goals scored by different players, which is a Premier League record. Nice to get such a good win after a few disappointing weeks.

    Hmm, for Medium Cool, we’ve been doing bookish ones, what about something like…favorite childhood reads? Or fave/worst assigned books in school.

  4. 4.

    Eunicecycle

    @Juice Box: I had them both yesterday, too, and felt a little bad/tired last night but fine today. Then I worry maybe my immune system isn’t any good anymore. I’m 68 and I know immunity wanes the older you get.

  5. 5.

    Geminid

    How about a Medium Cool thread on historical novels, good and bad?

    For example: Mary Renault’s Alexander Trilogy, Good. Colleen McCollough’s 5(?) volume Julius Caesar series, Bad.

  6. 6.

    FelonyGovt

    Eating sushi outdoors by myself, thinking of walking over to the local park to do some sketching/ watercolor, need to pack for my trip to San Diego tomorrow for a hearing Tuesday and Wednesday.

  7. 7.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    Last night our black lab was out back barking his head off.  My daughter went to the porch to let him in only to come back moments laters screaming about a “terrifying animal.”  I quickly went out to see what the fuss was about and there was the hound barking 3 feet away from an oppossum on our patio. I’ve never seen one in the wild before. Yikes!  I know that are fairly harmless but boy are they creeepy looking.  I let the dog in and the oppossum ambled away.   I wonder if had been hissing away for a few minutes or if it had just been staring at my pooch.  Glad there was no bloodshed.

  8. 8.

    Joey Maloney

    It’s lazy Sunday evening here and the country is settling into the quiet of Yom ha-Kippur. The tradition is no one drives on the day. Public transit shuts down and only emergency vehicles are on the roads. I go out with the kids and we bike, skateboard, scoot, or roller skate up and down the expressways.

    But tonight it was margaritas with friends on the patio.

  9. 9.

    cope

    Watching (and occasionally assisting) one of my brothers replace ceiling fans in our new (to us) house. One down, four to go.

    Before diving into that, he and my other brother enjoyed watching Liverpool win a game in which they did not give up the first goal for a change.

    Besides hot sauce, spicy peppers I have grown were used to make giardiniera (jalapeños or Serranos), sambal olek (Fresnos) and pickled peppers (jalapeños or Serranos).

    Medium Cool idea: magazines we subscribe to and why or some magazine-centric topic.

  10. 10.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Favorite Mastodon post of the day:

    James Bazán @[email protected]

    mastodon.social/@[email protected]/111121155697172372

    When it’s all horse races all the time, you kind of have to expect a pile of manure.

     

    Dumbest response to John Fetterman’s choice of wardrobe:

    Rep. Clay Higgins @RepClayHiggins

    Are we supposed to believe that this guy can’t dress himself yet he can perform as a Senator?

    Let me say that I don’t buy it. This lurch is a communist and he’s demonstrating his allegiance to Marxist principles by wearing “workers clothes”.

     

    Rep. Paul Gosar sinks to a new low:

    After the riot was in full swing, the Chief’s request for National Guard was finally approved. But even after approval was given, General Milley, the homosexual-promoting-BLM-activist Chairman of the military joint chiefs, delayed. Of course, we now know that the deviant Milley was coordinating with Nancy Pelosi to hurt President Trump, and treasonously working behind Trump’s back. In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung. He had one boss: President Trump, and instead he was secretly meeting with Pelosi and coordinating with her to hurt Trump. That is, when he wasn’t also secretly coordinating and sharing intelligence with the Chinese military.

    h/t mediaite.com/news/republican-congressman-calls-for-general-mark-milley-to-be-executed-in-shockingly-…

  11. 11.

    West of the Rockies

    Do we have, did we have a commenter here (a college prof, I believe) who went by the nym Medium Cool once?  Am I totally misremembering that?

    I thought that’s where the recurring post title came from.

  13. 13.

    scav

    Alas! Had to finally cut down the sweet peas and feed them to the cows.  On the upside, I could mass cut all the remaining blooms and indulge in multiple rooms worth of bouquets.  (Wind did for the plants.) Otherwise just rainy enough to justify laziness.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    Will again suggest a Medium Cool about ads. Whether of the memorable or appreciatively funny or burned into the brain when a child or annoying or horrible or WTF audience are they attempting to reach school. Ads are a segment of popular culture too.

  17. 17.

    Anonymous At Work

    Learning the energy limits of 6 year olds.  Turns out there is none.  We’d have unlimited energy, but getting them to cooperate with rules is impossible.

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    Bouncing around the internet yesterday I came upon snippets from House, a series I’d never seem. The excerpts kept my attention in the way a gory car accident scene might.

    Today I realized I’ve seen this set up before, back in the early 1980s, watching Magnum PI reruns when I couldn’t fall asleep.

    Main character: tall male, stubbly face, intense eyes, figures out all the mysteries on his own, weirdly emotionally self-sufficient (never confiding in anyone else).

    Black male sidekick, very good natured.

    Cute, young white male sidekick, looks like he could be in a boy band.

    Then there is the always grumpy boss figure who can’t get the main character to heel; okay, in Magnum, it was that short, round, moustached fellow, in House it’s a hot woman. But otherwise, they are interchangeable.

    Like many of my best observations, extremely trivial with no real use.

  31. 31.

    RevRick

    After worship at St. John’s UCC Allentown, I led a small group in creating a Green Team there. We talked about the national church Creation Justice Church initiative, and how we wanted to create a culture of environmental awareness throughout our church and ultimately connecting to others like-minded organizations to multiply our impact.
    Our strategy will be to do the theological and educational groundwork by having the pastor preach a sermon series on care of creation in January and utilizing our newsletter, announcements and adult forum in the next couple months in preparation. We will move on to doing internal audits of all aspects of our church life, from our utility providers to our investments, inviting members to do likewise. Our next step would be to make connections with the wider community, and then on to partnerships with others.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @cope: Magazines for Medium Cool would never have occurred to me!  That could work!  (Do people still get paper magazines in the mail?)

    Do you have a recipe for giardiniera?  I don’t “can”, though, do you have to for that?  Or could it be fresh if I used it up fairly quickly?

  34. 34.

    MattF

    WaPo Book World featured a review of Emily Wilson’s translation of the Iliad (gift link). She’s already done the Odyssey, so now we’ve got the whole thing. She’s a very mindful translator, so, yeah, I’m gonna read the whole thing, some day. Maybe a Medium Cool on translated works would be good— BJ has native speakers of a wide range of languages and it would be interesting to hear their opinions about translations and translators.

  36. 36.

    kalakal

    @Nora: The babies are super cute, espescially when their mothers do the “hang ’em from a branch by the tail” trick.

    They do a great job of bug control, they’re really keen on chomping ticks.

    Possums are ok in my book

  38. 38.

    Joey Maloney

    This side of the Green Line, yes, all up and down the country. Not in the Occupation. And probably not in the Bedouin villages and the Arab towns in Israel proper.

    Our airspace is closed for the 26 hours of the holiday, too. I just learned that today.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    @West of the Rockies:

    Do we have, did we have a commenter here (a college prof, I believe) who went by the nym Medium Cool once?  Am I totally misremembering that?

    I thought that’s where the recurring post title came from.

    Nope, no commenter named Medium Cool.

    You are thinking of BGinChi.

    I had the idea for a weekly culture post, I asked BGinChi if he would be interested in doing it, he said yes, and he did the MC posts, beginning in Feb of 2020.  Here was my introductory post.

    Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

    We asked for ideas for names of the series, and I believe it was NotMax who either suggested Medium Cool, or suggested something close to that.

    BG did Medium Cool until Dec 2022, when he stepped away because of new responsibilities at work.  Here’s the post where I announced that.

    Medium Cool – The Road Ahead

  47. 47.

    RevRick

    @NotMax: James Twitchell, a Florida professor, wrote “Lead Us Into Temptation “, in which he “counters the assumption of the used and abused consumer with a witty and unflinching look at commercial culture, (observing) ‘we are powerfully attracted to the world of goods(after all we don’t call them ‘bads’.”

  50. 50.

    Ivan X

    Eating, in anticipation of fasting for YK tonight/tomorrow.

    Figuring out what songs I’m gonna play at a noise/experimental/postpunk music festival in Oakland next month.

    Pleasant enough day, so far.

  51. 51.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @WaterGirl:

    Magazines for Medium Cool would never have occurred to me!

    How about a tribute/honor roll for magazines, radio/tv shows, websites, etc. that no longer exist?

  55. 55.

    gene108

    @West of the Rockies:

    Do we have, did we have a commenter here (a college prof, I believe) who went by the nym Medium Cool once?

    BGinCHI was the professor who started Medium Cool.

    This blog has several college professors as regulars.

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    @cope: I definitely would have used olive oil!  It’s the only oil I use. What should I use for that?

    edit: I see that they list canola oil.  Can’t use that, I literally get sick when I eat it.  What else would work?

  57. 57.

    Alison Rose

    @WaterGirl: I do! I get Birds and Blooms even though I have no outdoor space, because I love birbs and it helps me live vicariously. I also used to get Modern Cat Magazine thanks to a gift sub from a friend (who may have been gently teasing me).

  61. 61.

    twbrandt

    The Michigan GOP continues to beclown themselves. They held their annual leadership conference on Mackinac Island this past week.

    … Karamo stepped to the podium again to tell the conference that Darwin’s theory of evolution is a fraud and a hoax and that man was created in his present form by God, but that leftists cling to evolutionary theory because when children are taught that one part of the Bible is false, they are more inclined to also question its other teachings.

    ….

    Karamo, who took office in February, has faced criticism over alleged interference in the business of county parties and handling of party finances. She said Saturday rumors of her pending resignation are false and her internal detractors can “pound sand.”

    It’s schadenfreudliscious.

  65. 65.

    Jackie

    @Eunicecycle: I’m hopefully getting both tomorrow. Flu shot for sure and Covid if it’s available. I hope my side effects mirror yours! And not Juice Box’s!🤞🏻

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @RevRick

    None of Your Business: Or My Life with J. Walter Thompson by the powerful advertising honcho, humorist, columnist and accomplished jack of all media trades professionally known as Carroll Carroll comes to mind.

  72. 72.

    Righteous Hazard

    @Juice Box: I made that covid/flu mistake last year. I suffered. My daughter, an rna research biochemist, lol’d hard at me when I told her. But then she asked me which booster I’d gotten. When I told her Moderna she laid some knowledge on me: the moderna has a larger rna dose, and is therefore a very unpleasant thing to mix with other vaccines.

  73. 73.

    CaseyL

    Skyped with brother from Norway, and then with Mom from Florida, and that filled my morning.

    Autumn weather is in full swing today – not, alas, the crisp-temperature-and-sunny variety, but the overcast-and-soggy variety. I keep thinking I should go out and take a walk somewhere, but the weather just isn’t welcoming.

    I may have to spend the day repeatedly shooing a squirrel out of my house. She has come onto my back deck for many months: we kind of know each other by now. She comes in through the deck doors, looking for my cache of pistachios and hazelnuts (now kept securely in a cabinet over the stove, thank you, after she found them where they used to be kept in a bowl next to the stovetop). Like a cat who believes if they make you open the door often enough, different weather will appear, this squirrel seems to think if she comes in often enough I will somehow relent and put the nuts where she can find them.

    (Yes, I could just close the door to the deck, but then my cat will complain that he can’t go out whenever he wants.)

    (And no, he has no interest in the squirrel whatsoever.)

  74. 74.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Wyatt Salamanca: ​
     

    And his fellow Rethugs still have their panties in a wad over the much milder Dem attacks on Rmoney in 2012? Good grief.

    (Yes, I know, they’re only like this now because of what we did back then. Good to know they lack any self-control or decency or even agency of their own.)

  78. 78.

    Juju

    I had a cheerful experience this afternoon. I have a golden retriever rescue who is a retired breeder girl. Lulu has been with me since July 21,2022. I can tell by her behavior that her previous life must have been a nightmare. She was so shy and docile, and it seemed like just about everything scared her. She wouldn’t go out of the family room except to do her business outside, for about four months. I’ve been working with her to show her life can be nice. The only happy dog things she did at first was roll around in the backyard and chase her tail. She’s making progress every day to turning into a happy girl. Today she had the zoomies in the backyard. She ran around in circles for a few minutes while I cheered her on. She has never done that before, but I hope she does it again.  It was a delight to see. An added bonus was that my mother also got to see the zoomies as well, and actually remembered it for a few minutes. My mother has dementia and she doesn’t remember most things for more than a minute. The storm that blew through the southeast stressed Lulu on Friday and yesterday. I was worried it would set her back a few steps, but it didn’t. This made me as happy as when she decided she could eat in the kitchen with the Ruby Jean.

  81. 81.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax: I’m now in the 7th and last season of Mad Men (have been watching it while doing P/T twice a day), and I have to say I look at ads very differently now. I can almost hear Don and Peggy making their pitch.

  82. 82.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Seeing as we are at the technical beginning of Fall, maybe a thread on Fall stuff?  Movies, tv shows, books, music, YT videos etc.  Though frankly, I may not join in much since my Booster & Flu shots have me feeling pretty crappy tonight.  Maybe a good topic for next Sunday.

  85. 85.

    Jackie

    Anyone surprised? Or shocked?

    The  wife of Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) — who calls himself a “strong advocate for life and traditional values” — filed for a divorce citing her husband’s multiple alleged affairs and a current mistress who is a lobbyist, the Greenwood Index-Journal reports.

  87. 87.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @zhena gogolia: Enjoy!  Definitely not the best season of the show, but I still really enjoyed it.  Especially the great footage in LA.  You will either love or hate the series finale.

  90. 90.

    zhena gogolia

    @UncleEbeneezer: Intellectually, I can see that it has gone downhill since the first season (although season 4 was pretty good, “The Suitcase”!). But I am so involved with the characters and hooked on the way they can sell a scene that I don’t care much that the overall plot and character arcs make not a lot of sense any more.

  91. 91.

    raven

    @Juju: We’ve had Artemis for almost two-and-a-half years. She was horribly tortured and really has no business being alive. She’s come so far since we’ve had her and she’s a joy when we’re home with her. She also has serious PTSD a it’s weird what gets to her. She isn’t phased by fireworks or lightening but don’t drop your keys behind her. She hates transitions from wood floors to carpet unless you ask her if she wants to go put in the yard and then she bounds through the kitchen.  We go to the dog park every day and he’s great with 95% of the dogs but I’ve got to watch her with bouncy young dogs and dogs she doesn’t know. She’ll play chase with certain doggies but only for a while and then she goes and sleeps in the sun while ten dogs race around.

  93. 93.

    Juju

    @raven: I’m glad she found you. I’ve read a number of your updates about Artemis. I’m glad things are going mostly well with her.

  98. 98.

    SpaceUnit

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    I live in Colorado but there’s nothing I enjoy more than pointing and laughing at the Broncos.  They are a garbage organization.

    I kind of feel bad for their fans who don’t seem to understand how bad they really are.  It’s nothing but chaos and desperation.

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    Since it’s Open, the mentions of soccer and commenters makes me ask: have we heard from Amir Khalid recently? I saw some jackals wondering (a few days ago) if he was OK, but I haven’t been here enough to find out whether there was any news. I’m hoping he’s OK.

  103. 103.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl:

    CloveGarden.com has a good page on the properties of various oils and fats and their smoke points. The smoke point depends on how much they are processed.

    I use EVOO for pasta, “extra light” olive oil when making popcorn (it has a much higher smoke point).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  109. 109.

    RSA

    @Omnes Omnibus:    Okay, who is the Ferrari in House?

    :-)

    For transportation, House rides a Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, so I’d count that.  It actually has a higher top speed and better acceleration than Magnum’s 308 GTS Quattrovalvole Ferrari.

    Of course, cars have gotten a lot more powerful since the 1980s. A 2023 Honda minivan can hit 60 mph quicker than that Ferrari.

  110. 110.

    WaterGirl

    @SFAW: I wrote to Amir on 8/23 with no response.  I just sent him another message now.

    I escalated from “checking in” to “we are all worried about you”.

    This happened once before, with no responses to my messages but then he returned after a hospital stay.  Hoping we see Amir again soon!

  111. 111.

    trollhattan

    @Juice Box: ​
    Oof, a yay-boo moment.

    The last go, Moderna bivalent booster kicked my butt quite thoroughly–had had just Pfizer before but that could just be coincidence.

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    @Jackie: ​
    That right there is planting his flag as a strong Republican presidential contendah. Fewer than three wives, you’re not trying.

  118. 118.

    Mousebumples

    @Omnes Omnibus: No idea. I am just loving Love right now.

    I know, right? Before the FG, I was saying I’d call it a win if we avoided a shutout. Ended up actually winning!

    Love to Romeo for the winning TD. I’m wondering if that’ll be in any headlines…

  120. 120.

    trollhattan

    @RSA: Of course, cars have gotten a lot more powerful since the 1980s. A 2023 Honda minivan can hit 60 mph quicker than that Ferrari.

    AND, look bitchin’ while doing it. Spotted this bumper sticker in Oregon, on a Sienna:

    “Hey, cool minivan”
    —Nobody
    :-)

  123. 123.

    japa21

    @Mousebumples: One of the most exciting games I’ve seen.  And really, going for the 2 point conversion is what won the game. We’ll ignore that the defense almost blew it.

  124. 124.

    karen marie

    @WaterGirl:   The very idea is hilarious.  When my Cav/Cocker was a baby (probably five months at the time) she alerted me to something scary in the yard.  It was a possum.  I thought it was dead.  Turned out, not so much.

    They really are ugly.

    The only way I could see them killing a dog – even a small one – would be the dog dying of fright.

  125. 125.

    Sure Lurkalot

    On my way to a super spreader event…good friend’s daughter’s wedding in Boulder. It’s a glorious day for nuptials on Flagstaff mountain, but then the indoor reception of 100+/- friends and family…

    My niece got married 3 weeks ago and that was 4 days of events with flying, lots of family and hugging and we somehow survived that  I feel like I’m tempting fate this 2nd one.

    I got the Moderna booster on Tuesday  and had a 3 day sore arm but not much else. I declined the double shot with flu because it seems a bit early for the flu vaccine but who knows.

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    @karen marie: When I was in college, I had my cocker on a chain in front of the house sometimes when I was out for the evening, and my neighbor warned me about possums and told me they could my dog on the chain.  I believed her and stopped doing it.

  128. 128.

    WaterGirl

    @Sure Lurkalot: They say wait until Oct for the flu so it doesn’t run out before the end of flu season.

    I don’t care what they say, I think it’s a bad idea to shock your body with 2 vaccines at once, and I don’t do it.  To each their own.

    Good luck, fingers crossed for you!

  129. 129.

    wjca

    So many people, so many interesting ways to spend a Sunday!

    Me, I just spent 3 hours commenting on and editing my boss’ latest draft of an NSF grant application.  Weekend, like evening or holiday, seems to be a foreign concept.  Good thing the work in interesting.

  130. 130.

    Anyway

    Put together an eggplant and feta galette and reading the first of the Sean Duffy series (author Adrian McKinty; recommended by Dorothy Winsor) while it bakes.

    Rainy, windy weekend here — ran on the treadmill which I HATE. Keeping an eye on the sump pump which has gotten really loud ….trying not to check work email.

  131. 131.

    prostratedragon

    @WaterGirl: How do their children and relatives not want to crawl under a rock every single day?
    I believe Gosar’s bounce back and forth between that and issuing disclaimers and calls for him to resign.
    No, they can’t hear themselves

  132. 132.

    RevRick

    @WaterGirl: I got into a twitter argument with a climate change denier and he sneered that churches are all talk, no action, and I thought, “point taken” so I made a proposal to our Consistory (governing board), and voila, we created a Green Team to get the ball rolling.

  134. 134.

    RSA

    @wjca: I remember those days. My sympathies. I’m on the other side of that relationship these days (at a government funding agency) and possibly making more of a difference than before. I hope.

  135. 135.

    NotMax

    @catclub

    People who like House may also become invested in Monroe, currently on FreeVee via Prime.

    Closed captioning suggested for us bumpkins as British regional accents come thick and fast.

  136. 136.

    Percysowner

    @WaterGirl: ​
     Yeah, I got mine Friday and I was just exhausted all of yesterday. I told my kids, who have a 5 year old and a 1 year old that they should get theirs on different days, so if they get taken down like I did, at least one of them will be able to wrangle kids.

  139. 139.

    WaterGirl

    @RevRick: Lemonade out of lemons!

    And a nice “fuck you” to the person who said churches are all talk. (perhaps that’s too uncharitable for you, so the fuck you can come from me.)

    hopefully he will keep it up and some other churches will be inspired, too. :-)

  142. 142.

    Dan B

    @RevRick: I helped organize The Interfaith Creation Festival on Seattle years ago.  The interfaith made it too complicated.  It looked like it would be a great success when one of the leaders of the most prestigious Episcopal divinity schools got behind tackling climate change.  But he left the school a few weeks later.  I hope you have great success.

  144. 144.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    So, what’s everyone up to on this lazy Sunday afternoon?

    Being lazy of course.

    Recovering from our vacation, totally jet-lagged. Not even clear on the day let alone the time. I went out and grabbed a couple of random groceries last night as the house was (by design) totally bare of food when we left. And just randomly cooked a couple of those random things. That’s it on productivity for today.

  145. 145.

    piratedan

    some random thoughts for Medium Cool topics

    The best happy surprise state/national park you’ve been to and why

    art in real life/or cinema that caused you to know more or touched you

    cartoons/comic strips – which are underrated or overrated

    animal/critter species you end up following on social media

    your favorite processed food/guilty pleasure

  151. 151.

    Tony Jay

    @Ohio Mom:

      Black male sidekick, very good natured.

    In House? You mean Foreman? Omar Epps’ Foreman? The driven, dismissive, selfish, arrogant, arsehole who never once flew a helicopter? That Foreman?

    I mean, compared to House himself he’s a saint, and he does get better through the seasons, but by all the Gods great, small and Gaelic, what monsters have you known that you’d consider Foreman ‘good natured’?

  152. 152.

    Spanish Moss

    It is overcast and raining here for the billionth day in our part of MA. My husband was so desperate for something to do outside of the house that he actually accompanied me to my favorite farmstand for a “date”. He lasted for about 15 minutes before losing interest and wandering off, leaving me to peruse vegetables on my own. Oh well, it was a nice drive together.

    There are some great ideas here for Medium Cool. I gotta say, I love the book ones.

  155. 155.

    Geminid

    @karen marie:  I actually could tolerate the series enough to get through it. It was a decent way to be exposed to the period. But I thought McCollough was so partial to Caesar that she did not treat anybody who opposed him objectively. It reminded me of the Killer Angels, where Sharaa had a few heroes and made everyone else look like idiots.

    And I got sick of the long chatty letters McCullough used to advance the narrative:

    …It was quite a scene at the Senate yesterday, Pistachio my good friend. First off, Spurious Furious accused Rufous Dufus of skimming off the fund for Sacred Goose feed. So Dufus asked Furious if he’d heard that from one of the Vestal Virgins he was screwing!

    Pretty soon all 15 Furiouses and 20 Dufuses were screaming at each other. The tumult didn’t end until Old Man Goofus Dufus had a stroke and was carried away. So it looks like we’re having another State Funeral this week.

    But Caesar likes your plans for the Croutons and says they will make a fine addition to his “Salad” (if you catch my drift wink wink).

    And now I gotta tell you about….

    Drove me crazy!

  156. 156.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Slept in, late breakfast with a pomegranate sour beer at the pub, now headed to the library to writ a cover letter to the IRS to submit with my sister’s 1040 return. WA state created a way of by-passing full probate for small accounts but not even some state agencies knew about it when I submitted paperwork.

  157. 157.

    Dan B

    @RevRick: Earth Ministry / Washington Interfaith Power and Light is a Seattle non profit that’s been training congregations in environmental organizing for many years.  They can help your congregation.  You probably have to call them since I didn’t find an email address.

  159. 159.

    wjca

    KC just finished sweeping the Astros.  They still have a mathematical chance, but it looks like Houston’s dreams of the post season are done.  (Now if the Rangers will just implode….)

  160. 160.

    Ohio Mom

    @Tony Jay: As I said, all I’ve seen of House is half a dozen snippets, which seem to be one viewer’s collection, so not an extensive view of the show or the characters.  These excerpts didn’t show much of Foreman but I am happy to hear someone is dishing it back at House.

    I saw enough though to convince me that I didn’t need to see any more. I think it was the combination of House giving a pelvic exam to an elderly woman in one excerpt and then treating a young boy the next. That isn’t how hospital medicine works, it’s pretty specialized, and I didn’t have that much willing suspension of disbelief.

  162. 162.

    Suzanne

    I wish it was a lazy Sunday. It’s been a jam-packed weekend. All good stuff, but I have a huge stack of laundry to fold and a dishwasher to unload/reload. It rained most of the day, so instead of going for a long run, I did an hour-long Peloton ride. Currently have coq au vin in the crockpot and a butternut squash roasting in the oven.

  166. 166.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Juice Box: I’m getting both my flu shot and Covid booster later today, so you’ll have company in your misery.

    Wasn’t able to go to the Folsom Street Fair (if you Google it’s very NSFW), because fire smoke has had non-consensual breath play with my lungs. But I suppose the flu/Covid shots are in keeping with the spirit of things.

  167. 167.

    Alison Rose

    @Ohio Mom: There’s no way to say this without sounding all “well, actually” so forgive me, and you’re right that the show required a LOT of suspension of disbelief on multiple fronts. But because House and his team focused on attempting to diagnose people other doctors had failed to diagnose correctly or even at all, due to rare conditions or unusual presentations, it did make sense that they would end up treating vastly different patients with all sorts of different procedures and tests. Granted, this isn’t how it would likely go IRL, but IRL an exceedingly rude drug-addled bastard likely wouldn’t hold his job as long as House did, either.

  168. 168.

    RSA

    @Tony Jay:

    Black male sidekick, very good natured.

    I’m thinking the pattern “Black male associate who may be kind of an asshole” has produced more memorable roles: Mr. T on The A Team; Rooster the pimp on Baretta; Hawk on Spenser for Hire; …

  169. 169.

    Nelle

    Has there been a Medium Cool on nonfiction?  My husband reads aloud to me, so far through the decades, all nonfiction (I crochet or embroider).  He read aloud to the children until they left for college; it is a way for a fairly monosyllabic engineer/scientist to share worlds with his family (he read fiction to them – he may be the only person who read The Count of Monte Cristo (above 1000 pages) aloud, twice.  My daughter and son are over six years apart and were not at the same point for that).

    This year, so far with me, The Mother Tree, Red Notice, Disarmed (about the Mennonite who was murdered in the DRC while working for the UN), Freezing Orders, and now, The Song of the Cell, by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

    So, nonfiction and also good books to listen to on long car trips.  We are listening to Martin Walker’s Bruno, Chief of Police series when we are in the car.

  170. 170.

    Dan B

    Annnd, Paul Gosar is calling for execution of Mike Milley for treason, supporting sodomy, selling secrets to China, etc.  He sent the message to his constituents.  The original is very disturbing to read – the ravings of a madman.  He needs treatment.

  171. 171.

    Geminid

    @Geminid:

     

    @karen marie: Actually, I don’t really think McCullough’s series was bad, just not as good as Renault’s. I thought Renault’s Alexander novels were poetic and spare works of art. Almost all her novels are. McCullough’s were more pedestrian, fact-filled works of fictionalized history. That’s ok, but I’ve seen a lot better in that genre.

  172. 172.

    Tony Jay

    @Ohio Mom:

    (Slaps head) I blanked on the ‘only saw excerpts’ part of your comment. That makes considerably more sense to my tired brain now.

    House was always delving into the nether regions of various people, or more strictly, getting his students/gophers/team to  do it for him. His speciality was ‘clinical forensics’, meaning he’s the guy who you take the weird and baffling cases no one else can solve to, and boy does he love being that guy.

    Great show. We’ve watched it through twice. Hard to believe you’re watching the same actor who gave us Blackadder’s daft Prince George and Stuart Little’s saccharine sweet Dad.

  174. 174.

    Jackie

    The FOUR TIMES IFG is calling for Menendez to be kicked out of the Senate. Along with the rest of the Democratic senators because “they were all complicit in Menendez’s criminal behavior.” That’s the summary from RawStory.

  175. 175.

    Nelle

    @Dan B: Hey, are you expecting a bomb cyclone up there today?  Tomorrow?  We are flying into Seattle tomorrow for a memory tour.  Among other things, there will be a small reunion with my former students – teenagers when I last saw them in the early 80’s, some of them grandmothers now.  And a quick run up to Vancouver, BC to see cousins, one of whom turns 90 this week.  I’m the baby cousin of the whole gang.  We never knew each other well- all poor with refugee parents and scattered over the continent.  We’ve met a few times and this will be the last hurrah for that.

  180. 180.

    frosty

    Spent a few hours planning our last Road Trip of the year – southwest Virginia to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail, visit New River Gorge National Park, and see some old HS friends in Harrisonburg. I lucked out and got campsites in VA and WV state parks even though I procrastinated for the last two months.

    Also watched a nailbiter between the Ravens and (boo, hiss) Colts, which the Ravens lost. But there was a rare moment – Justin Tucker missing the field goal with 2 seconds left in the game.

    So that’s my Sunday! I’ll go check the other comments now.

    ETA: And watching the rain. I think Ophelia has moved on from us finally.

  185. 185.

    Dan B

    @Nelle: Some rain is likely for the week.  Mid 60’s.  We need the precipitation.  We’re in Severe drought.  We’ve had very little wind and none of note in the forecast.

  190. 190.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax: ​

    Nah. Fried up the package of turkey burger and microwaved the broccoli. I wouldn’t have gone with an actual vegetable but my wife is napping and will be sharing this meal with me when she wakes up. Unlike me, she has standards.

  192. 192.

    Geminid

    @Dan B: Manchin has no chance of beating the popular Governor Justice, so I can see why he doesn’t want to seek reelection. I don’t worry about Manchin running 3rd Party though (I think he won’t). I don’t think he has much of a national following at all among potential Democratic voters.

    News producers are gonna love Senator Justice. He’s like the down-homiest of down-home politicians, Jim Justice’s drawl makes Joe Manchin sound like Alec Guinness!

  195. 195.

    Geminid

    @frosty: Glad you got your campsite reservations. For future reference, there is a very good National Forest campground at Hidden Valley, about 7 miles north of Warm Springs, Virginia.

    That’s a nice place just to visit. It’s on the Jackson River, with nice hiking trails.

  197. 197.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @NotMax: Not a huge House fan, but I’ve watched a few. Finding out Hugh Laurie was originally a British sketch comedian made me curious so at some point I watched a number of old Fry and Laurie sketches.

    A couple of weeks ago my wife discovered the Jeeves and Wooster stories from a book she picked up at a used bookstore. I was certain there had been a TV adaptation, so searched that out and it turned out to be… Fry and Laurie!

    Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as Wooster, but I’ll bet they could have easily switched.

  199. 199.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: What I’ve heard is that opossums are not naturally very aggressive and need to be provoked VERY hard before they will attack. They’ll do a teeth-baring threat display long before that (and there’s also the famous “playing possum” threat reaction where they go into a kind of involuntary trance and appear dead). They’re also more resistant to rabies than most mammals.

  201. 201.

    Dan B

    @Matt McIrvin:  Yes.  I’ve had the playing Possum followed by the baring very sharp teeth and the very friendly reaction when one got into a squirrel trap and was very pleased to be sprung.

  202. 202.

    glc

    @WaterGirl: That seems to me like an odd thing to say. Preferences in sauces vary a great deal, but the French generally know what they’re about.

    My wife doesn’t often make mayonnaise, but it has its uses.

  205. 205.

    Geminid

    @Dan B: There are a couple unfilled 3rd party billets. I think Manchin is thought to be a possibility for the No Labels outfit. They are new and starting from scratch.

    The Libertarians consistently put their candidate on most if not all state ballots, so that is a valuable nomination, at least as 3rd parties go. They don’t have an obvious choice this time, although I see internet ads for some guy who says he will really end the Fed. They’ve gone Tankie over the Ukraine war, so Kennedy could fit in there. But so would Tulsi Gabbard. I think the “von Mises Caucus” that took the party over a year or so ago probably is not as interested in economic principles as much as they are interested in power, so they might want a minor star like Gabbard or RFK Jr to help bring on people.

    But with all the centrifugal force present in the Republican party these days, they probably have more to fear from a Libertarian candidate than Democrats do. I think this wasn’t the case in 2016.

  206. 206.

    Dan B

    @glc: Mayo from scratch is ambrosia.  There was a French counter in the Pike Place Market that made homemade fries served with homemade tartar sauce.  And they put the Mayo on the burger buns.  It was amazing.  They also made a Salade Nicoise that was amazing.  No mayo in that.

  209. 209.

    WaterGirl

    @glc: Not being judgmental!  Even from when I was a kid, I only like white stuff if there’s enough sugar in it. :-)

    sour cream?  nope!  Not unless it’s in cheesecake.

    Milk?  Not unless it’s chocolate.

    cream cheese?  nope!  not unless it’s in cheesecake.

    yogurt?  nope,  not unless it’s the kind with the sweetened fruit in it.

    mayonaise?  never

    miracle whip?  never

  210. 210.

    Dan B

    @Nelle:  So far we’ve had the kind of gentle rain the Irish describe as soft, pronounced as sahft.  Plants are relieved.  It’s been hard on the garden even with watering.  And – the reservoirs are running very low with predictions of continued drought.  Thanks El Nino, NOT!

  212. 212.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl:  Homemade Mayo is pale gold.  And it’s not as vinegary.  Plus, if it’s made with EVOO it can be many types of fragrant.  Imagine a crepe cooked in EVOO, fragrant and eggy.

  213. 213.

    mrmoshpotato

    🎶The Bears oh so suck in KC!🎶

    Apologies to the Beastie Boys

    Roasting a turkey breast for dinner.

  214. 214.

    WaterGirl

    @zhena gogolia: Rice is good!

    I should have been more specific.  It’s white milk-products.

    What’s the white stuff they put in potato salad?  Ugh.

    German potato salad with vinegar or whatever it is is fine.

    But I LOVE ice cream!

  217. 217.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl: I assume “mill products” means milk.  No milk in mayo.  Although I’m lactose intolerant and servers in restaurants tell me regularly that, “It has mayonnaise.”  Dairy case confusion.

  221. 221.

    frosty

    @Geminid: ​Thanks for the suggestion, but we’re looking for an electric hookup for our trailer because we need it for heat (and it’s in the low 40s this time of year). I also prefer reservations to first-come/first-served. It’s less stressful knowing you’ve got a place to stay.​
     

    ETA We’ve stayed in some nice National Forest campgrounds in the past – really peaceful. No hookups is fine for one or two nights, or maybe three or four if it’s sunny enough for our solar panels.

  227. 227.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    I believe that it really depends on the individual and whatever shot you are getting. Moderna has been the nicer choice for me but Pfizer wasn’t bad at all, and I’ve had shots that kicked my ass. I spent 9 days in the hospital from the shots I got in boot camp. Passed out in morning chow line the day after and was carried to the dispensary where my temp was 105 and remained at that for 8 more days. Then it broke and went right to normal so they checked me out and I went to a new company. Good times.

  228. 228.

    Matt McIrvin

    @glc: My wife has the bone-deep mayonnaise horror. Just knowing something has mayonnaise in it can make it inedible, even if it’s not really detectable.

    I think mayonnaise is overused in American sandwiches, but I’ll eat it and sometimes enjoy it. But she can’t.

  229. 229.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: We all got the flu and COVID shots this afternoon and so far, all I’ve got is a couple of sore shoulders, treatable with ibuprofen. It was the Pfizer COVID vaccine (which most of the CVS outlets around here seem to be stocking), so the smaller dose.

    Given the time profile of effectiveness of these vaccines it might make sense for some people to wait a few weeks, but honestly, I wanted to get my extra immunity for public transit in as soon as I could.

  231. 231.

    glc

    @WaterGirl: De gustibus non disputandum* (sincerely) [et de coloribus if anybody cares]

    Miracle whip strikes me as indefensible. (Offhand, and with little direct knowledge)

    Certain varieties of cream cheese and related spreads, with bagels, one of the glories of life.

    There is also the issue of deviled eggs.

  233. 233.

    PaulWartenberg

    @Tony Jay:

    Flash fiction is EXTREMELY SHORT fiction (1000 word limit, usually, some are 100 word!) that challenges you to get a story told with less room than you get with a standard short story (usually in 3000-6000 word range).

    I had to weed out an extra character and edit the plot points tighter than my earlier draft(s) to get it to 994 words.

  234. 234.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulWartenberg: Interesting choice!

    But I don’t know what flash fiction is

    edit just a moment later:  And now I do!  wow, a 100-word story.  That would take a lot of time!  (If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.)

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