Open Threads

Somebody in a thread about Phish suggested that we talk about the worst shows that we ever attended, so here goes.

For me there’s no contest – Damn Yankees at the Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh some time around 1993. Jackyl opened.

Somewhere around the halfway point the show stopped and someone rolled a wooden deer across the back of the stage. Although the memory is hazy I’m pretty sure that Ted Nugent took aim with a flaming arrow in a compound bow from 20 feet, missed the deer, hit the giant confederate flag backdrop and some techies had to put it out. Or something. I was badly in need of crunchy snack food if you know what I mean.

Entertain yourselves while the bloggers get some rest.

Open ThreadPost + Comments (102)

A team of European divers fell out of a boat among treacherous ocean currents and drifted helplessly, overnight, in an ordeal that would remind people of the frigtening film Open Water if American consumers hadn’t instead spent their money that year on dreck like Matrix Reloaded and Elf. After 12 hours adrift the group swam against currents to reach the last island before the vast Indian Ocean: Rinca, one of two places that still harbors wild Komodo dragons. Komodos are 10-foot, 350 pound ambush predators that hide until a man-sized animal gets close enough and then run balls-out straight at you. Their saliva is famously dangerous because of a weird bacterial brew that can kill a bitten deer from septic shock within a day.

The divers — three from Britain and one each from France and Sweden — came face-to-face with the giant, carnivorous lizard on Rinca’s palm-fringed beach, and fought it off by pelting it with rocks and pieces of wood, Pariman, a port official said Sunday.

[…] The next day, rescuers aboard one of 30 boats searching the waters spotted them waving frantically [I bet. -ed.] on the shore and took them to Flores island for medical treatment.

Next year, Marseilles.

Worst. Vacation. Ever.Post + Comments (55)

First, Ed McMahon. Now, Evander Holyfield!

The Devastating Effects of ForeclosurePost + Comments (13)

Phish, Golgi. Time for some of us to relive high school.

Chat away.

***Update***

Heh.

Open ThreadPost + Comments (44)

John has apparently been raptured, so for now it’s up to me to keep the blog going. However, I don’t have time for much more than a hit-and-run so I’ll toss out a bleg.

My 5-year-old nephew has a weird affinity for numbers. When he was 3 he got unnervingly good at memorizing where each Pittsburgh bus line goes. This Passover I helped him figure out that almost all of the Presidents on his American history placemat lasted either two four or eight years (my math not so good). He then pointed out on his own that when one President lasted an odd number of years, the the next guy filled in for a period that added up to four or eight. Then he demanded to know why Grover Cleveland showed up twice. He’s a bright kid.

It struck me that the best way to encourage my nephew would be some books or puzzles that take his interest in math and other practical puzzle solving to the next level. Google could probably get me partway there, but my past blegs (NYC restaurants, productivity programs for the Mac) have turned up some great and unexpected stuff so I’m opening the floor again.

Friday ThreadPost + Comments (65)

Apparently the UPS truck dropped off my copy of Nixonland from Amazon while I was working out earlier, and since I discovered it on my doorstep I have been unable to put it down. I am only 50 pages in and I can already proclaim this is the best book I have read in years. I ordered it the other day when one of you quoted from it at length in the comments, and I sure am glad that I did.

At any rate, consider this an open thread. I am going to go sit on the porch and read.

NixonlandPost + Comments (87)

This is certainly good news:

Gay rights advocates had reason to celebrate on both coasts Thursday, with New York set to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and California preparing to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples on June 17.

Hours after California issued a directive Wednesday authorizing that date, word came that New York Gov. David Paterson instructed state agencies — including those governing insurance and health care — to immediately change policies and regulations to recognize gay marriages.

I’m sure we’ll be subjected to outrage from the right. Why does this stuff always happen during election cycles? Oh, right, because we’re always in an election cycle.

Feel free to post silly right-wing overreactions to this in the comments.

Marriage Equality Recognized in NYPost + Comments (101)