What’s shaking people?
Not much to report from Home Crap Home. We’re all just sitting on the couch or in doggie beds looking for something to watch that won’t piss me off.
This post is in: Open Threads
What’s shaking people?
Not much to report from Home Crap Home. We’re all just sitting on the couch or in doggie beds looking for something to watch that won’t piss me off.
This post is in: Open Threads
The loss of Anthony Bourdain is real, and it’s tough. This piece in Rolling Stone is a great sendoff to a great guy:
The world was shocked by the terrible news of Anthony Bourdain’s death today, because he seemed invincible. As his man Iggy Pop would say, he had a lust for life. Bourdain wasn’t just another celebrity chef â he was an adventurer, a punk rocker who used to scam his way into CBGB shows by cooking meals for the bands. On his revolutionary travel shows No Reservations and Parts Unknown, he brought that same streetwise flair to his quest to cross the globe in search of weird food and drink and shady companions. He was the Johnny Thunders of food, a hard-ass New York hedonist chatterbox who did not mind his table manners. As he proudly told Mens Journal’s Sean Woods in 2014, “I have a tattoo on my arm that says, in ancient Greek, ‘I am certain of nothing.’ I think that’s a good operating principle.”
***His 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential made him a star, yet he was even more of a hit on TV, crackling with energy and charisma. Even those of us who couldn’t handle a whisk could savor how Bourdain roamed the world, going to places the rest of us could barely pronounce, seeking out new culinary kicks with unsentimental gusto. Like the New York Dolls did for music in the sluggish Seventies, he revved up the tempo of food TV, adding street swagger and caustic humor. He was tough on his friends and merciless to his enemies (with plenty of both). He was easily the meanest Top Chef guest judge ever, yet also the funniest â even Padma could look a little shocked at how surly he was.
There’s reams of research about parasocial relationships, but for me, at least, the thing about Bourdain that really drew me to him was that he could be a total asshole and say things that cut deep, but he wasn’t a dick about it. He wasn’t trying to hurt you, he was just telling you the truth as he saw it right that fucking instant. Two weeks later, he might have a completely different take, but that didn’t make what he said both times any less honest. He wasn’t larger than life, like people always say, he just felt like a real dude in a world of fake bullshit. He felt, he experienced, and he sensed. It’s no surprise that his passions were food, music, drugs and booze, and people, although I bet there was a lot of introversion we never saw on screen.
And it’s sad. I don’t understand suicide or the urge to kill one’s self. Everyone is posting the national suicide hotline information, and that’s good, but I often wonder about guys like Bourdain, or Robin Williams, or others who had it all (from an outsider’s perspective), and surely knew how to get help, but it just didn’t work and in the end they got tired of running away from the demons.
I’ve run across a few heroin addicts who have told me that using smack is the greatest feeling on earth and after you’ve experienced the high, the rest of your life will be spent trying to get to that feeling again and falling short. I don’t know if that’s true, because I was fortunate enough that I just stuck to acid, shrooms, coke, and weed “back in the day.” Maybe as good as his life was, he just got tired, and it just became too much. I don’t know what to say.
I just wish he hadn’t, and maybe even though he was tired, and worn down, and dealing with shit I can’t understand or imagine, that he had maybe called a hotline and just put it off for another day. Because I’d like to have him around still.
And I feel the same way about you. So please, give us and life another chance if you ever get to that dark place. You know where to find me and the others here, and these guys will always be there for you, too.
1-800-273-8255
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Dolt 45, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Russiagate, Go Fuck Yourself, Not Normal
On South Lawn before departing for Canada, Trump calls for Russia to be reinstated in G-8 (which has been the G-7 since the annexation of Crimea)
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) June 8, 2018
President Trump says Russia should be allowed back into the G7 https://t.co/UtW5t5kYLb https://t.co/QitUSIN7Nx
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 8, 2018
This was a carefully-practiced line. He prepared for this. It was very important to him. It's obvious in how he says it; how he is visibly remembering the precise words he came up with. https://t.co/dX4sbgx2aW
— Adam Davidson (@adamdavidson) June 8, 2018
Here's the official transcript of Trump's call for Russia's inclusion. He was not asked about Russia at all — the question was something about people calling this summit a "G6 plus 1" because of the divide with him. pic.twitter.com/DUHLouVC5a
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 8, 2018
Putinâs spokesman on Trumpâs G8 comments, basically thanks but no thanks. âWeâre putting an accent on other formatsâ https://t.co/SbueGVHfIZ
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) June 8, 2018
I will not stoop to being a member of any club that would have me as a member, you loser!
Whatâs particularly stupid about these comments, btw, is that Russia is still a member of the G20, which is the more important forum at this point. https://t.co/V0cZgauKON
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) June 8, 2018
According to my reporting, the expulsion from the G8 upset Vladimir Putin more than economic sanctions. My question is: if you're a master deal-maker, why do you give someone who sees the world in stark, zero-sum terms the thing he wants most without getting anything in return?
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) June 8, 2018
Clearly, in Trump's mind, "we" is he and Putin.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) June 8, 2018
Say what you will about Trump, he sure is loyal to the country that elected him. https://t.co/7Lw4gvLi3y
— Rep. John Yarmuth (@RepJohnYarmuth) June 8, 2018
Russia was kicked out of G7 because Putin invaded Ukraine & annexed Crimea. Letting Russia back in without any change in Russian behavior would Make America Look Weak Again. https://t.co/lyrBn9KCFZ
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) June 8, 2018
Canada is flatly rejecting Donald Trump's suggestion to reinstate Russia in the G7, four years after it was expelled from the group of industrialized nations for annexing Ukraine's Crimea. You can watch Trump's comments below https://t.co/ytZVt2PCf3 pic.twitter.com/UlA01vGHFj
— CBC Politics (@CBCPolitics) June 8, 2018
The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be. Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force https://t.co/UA86fcjozs
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 7, 2018
Trump's call to readmit Russia to G-7 is appalling. But shocker is that Italy's populist govt has backed Trump rather than siding with Europe, which provides its currency and stabilises its debt burden. The most imminent geoeconomic crisis may still be in the eurozone.
— Sebastian Mallaby (@scmallaby) June 8, 2018
Bill Clinton didnât invite Russia to join G-7 because Russia was a major economy. He did it to give Yeltsin something while US was pushing NATO enlargement forward. What would be reason to go back to a G-8 other than Trump needing a friend? Bigger question now is US staying in.
— Jim Goldgeier (@JimGoldgeier) June 8, 2018
One reason Trump would want Russia back at the G7/8 table: He wouldn't have to be the biggest villain at the table anymore. https://t.co/F4AxcN2Z6i
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) June 8, 2018
So, let's see where we are.
Closest allies alienated ??
Insane trade-war underway ??
Rule of law in peril ??
North Korea rewarded with lavish fete ??
Russia offered legitimizing of military conquest ??But Gorsuch ??
But muh tax cut ??Take a bow, everyone https://t.co/kCRvdwtaxB
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) June 8, 2018
by David Anderson| 101 Comments
This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Bring On The Meteor, Fucked-up-edness, Jump! You Fuckers!, Let A Thousand Watergates Bloom, Nobody could have predicted
BREAKING Paul Manafort charged with additional counts of witness tampering and obstruction of justice, that is intimidation or force against a witness. Earlier: https://t.co/1ZFYv58Clq pic.twitter.com/SU6U50mZy7
— Spencer Hsu (@hsu_spencer) June 8, 2018
This is about as surprising as finding out that North Carolina is a bit humid in the summer.
Open Thread
Another set of amazingly expected indictmentsPost + Comments (101)
This post is in: Open Threads
I’m sitting here in my home office and Steve is sitting behind me on the recliner, and I have never felt so judged in my entire life. I feel wholly unworthy.
That magnificent bastard.
*** Update ***
Steve is apparently just asserting his dominance over everyone today because I left the room and when I returned he had kicked Lily out of her bed.
“Fuck that dog and her cancer!” – Steve
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 41 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 14 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter J R in WV.
Spring Flowers
Around the “yard” these are some recent pictures of the spring flowers.
Little Blue Flowers
Taken on 2018-04-19
Right outside the front door.
I don’t know what these are. Wife brought them home some years ago and put them in boxes on the little bridge by the front door. They’ve reoccurred every spring now, so must be pretty winter-hardy. Greenery stays green year-round.
F4.5 for 1/1600 sec. 88mm ISO400
Little White Flowers
Taken on 2018-04-19
Forested hillside near our home.
Wild flowers, we get lots of these every spring on the forest floor. Did know the name, can’t remember it. Bonus May Apple in the backgound.
f/4.5 for 1/100 sec at 196mm ISO 125
Little White Flowers
Taken on 2018-04-19
Different spot on same forested hillside.
A different shot of the same species of little white flowers. There’s some pink in there too, but mostly white.
f/3.f for 1/200 sec at 44 mm ISO 125
Ramps spreading in the afternoon sun
Taken on 2018-04-19
West side of front yard, near the house.
This is what ramps look like happily growing on a hillside in the afternoon sun. I planted these, as locally they are extinct from over harvesting. They’re very close to the house, so no one will harvest all of them one day.
I do harvest a few small batches each spring, they’re doing very well, and have real balls on their bottoms from growing for multiple years before they get dug up. Yumm! By mid-May the turn yellow and fade away til next year.
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f/3.9 for 1/200 sec at 164mm ISO 125
White Violets
Taken on 2018-04-19
Front yard
White Violets, which I know is kind of a self-contradiction. We have a ton of these, they seem to be doing quite well in shady damp places.
f/4.0 for 1/125sec at 400mm ISO 250
Thank you so much J R in WV, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email