Open Forum

The Sunday morning edition of our biweekly invitation to go off topic.

Have at it.

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Teve says:

    In light of the Mueller report showing that Russia tried even harder than we knew to get Trump elected, the story from August 2018 of Senate Republicans blocking 250 million dollars for better election security is going around the internet right now.

    Dems need to reintroduce election security measures soon.

    7
  2. Teve says:

    Cole Haan has some nifty new sneakers.

    2
  3. Teve says:

    According to the failing fake news media I shouldn’t trust the olive oil in the grocery store. I wonder if I should start ordering online.

  4. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Teve: They sell the same olive oyl.

    1
  5. SenyorDave says:

    This seems like it should be kind of a big deal:

    Republican running Senate Russia investigation passed FBI info to White House: Mueller
    Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) shared information with the White House about the FBI’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report released Thursday.

    So the person in charge was passing info to the people being investigated. Would that fall under obstruction?

    7
  6. Teve says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: obviously you can get fraudulent merchandise online too, but I used to have a boss who was a foodie who ordered it from some olive farm in California. Surely there’s some way to guarantee you’re getting the real stuff.

  7. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Teve: On the less snarky side, what I read a couple years ago was that it was all olive oyl but not necessarily the grade it was advertised as or mixed with lesser grades, and not necessarily from the place it was supposed to be from. I just buy the better brands (for both virgin and regular) and my Mediterranean born and raised wife is happy with it. I figure if it’s good enough for she who grew up eating and cooking with it, it certainly is for I who has the palate of a crocodile.

    3
  8. Teve says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: that’s more or less what I’ve seen, but also some claims that a lot of it was blended with other neutral oils. Anyway I would be willing to pay more for the real deal.

  9. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Teve: Not that I could tell the difference, but as with most things, I am sure it is worth it. It’s a rule I follow.

  10. Michael Reynolds says:

    Food is an interesting example of Dunning-Kruger in a non-political context. People think they have much better palettes than they do. One of Gordon Ramsay’s moves on Hell’s Kitchen is subjecting the cooks to a blind taste test. The results are almost invariably terrible. Most people do not have palettes that justify their more expensive purchases.

    I have an average palette, I’d say, with the slight advantage of some food education and experience.
    I could spend $500 on a bottle of wine, but why? I don’t have the palette to differentiate meaningfully. Most people don’t, most people cannot differentiate reliably between a Cab Sav and a Sirah, I can’t. I have a $100 palette but not a $500 dollar palette. People spend enormous amounts of money on supposed taste differences they cannot actually perceive.

    5
  11. de stijl says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    That’s why I’m glad I prefer beer over wine.

    The price-point difference in beer is relatively shallow. PBR is $8.99 for a twelver, and a decent (sometimes massive) uptick in quality can be had at $12.99 or $15.99 – pick your fave or try a new one.

    My biggest beef with beer-makers right now is *everyone* wants to make and sell you a super hoppy IPA. That’s cool, but there are other styles, ya know.

    Beer nerds are quickly becoming as annoying as wine geeks.

    2
  12. Teve says:

    @de stijl: that’s still going on? I was living in chapel Hill like 14 years ago when a friend brought over a six pack of this stuff called Big Hoppy Monster. Dear God it was awful. It reminded me of the equally annoying food trend of the stupidly hot hot sauces. I want a nice flavor of pepper, I don’t want tactical pepper spray jammed up my nose.

    Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is about as bitter as I want. I think their Torpedo is even too much.

    1
  13. Teve says:

    check out balloon juice. Interesting details about how the Russians set up Twitter accounts that were borderline Klan-level racist, and repeated a bunch of racist bullshit about immigrants, and the Trumpers from Kelly Anne on down eagerly retweeted them and they got 100000 + followers.

  14. Joe says:

    @Teve:

    Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is about as bitter as I want. I think their Torpedo is even too much.

    Hmmm, says I, sipping on my go-to Torpedo.

    2
  15. de stijl says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    I have an average palette, I’d say

    I’m probably below average. It’s certainly untested – the last ten times I drank wine was when that was all that was offered.

    If prompted, I’m not going to offend, so I offer “tart and metallic” when IRL I think it tastes like aluminum. With reds, you can never go too wrong with employing wood-based metaphors.

    Somehow, “this tastes like fermented grape juice” is not an appropriate wine critique, which is just stupid.

    2
  16. Michael Reynolds says:

    @de stijl: @Joe:
    I am incapable of brand loyalty so when it’s beer time I have several go-tos:

    Sierre Nevada Pale Ale
    Chimay Blue
    Rochefort 10
    Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
    And my great white whale obsession: Lava Imperial Russian Stout, available only in Iceland, sadly.

  17. Michael Reynolds says:

    @de stijl:
    It’s all in the bullshit. Hold a red against the light and say, “Gorgeous color.” Take a sniff and either, “Lovely nose,” or, “subtle nose.” Taste and if it’s a Sauvignon Blanc it’s either “very citric,” or “not as overpoweringly citric as some.” A Chardonnay you can call anything from lush and buttery to austere and mineral. A Cab Sav you can toss off something like, “I find Cabs challenging, I enjoy the rigor, the lack of compromise.”

    People have no idea WTF they’re talking about, it’s all bullshit.

    6
  18. de stijl says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    I’ve been to Iceland a few times on vacation and for three months on a work gig for a bank that is now thankfully dead.

    I love/hate Reykjavik. Crappy architecture and it is very dark in the winter, but the folk are flipping awesome. The dopest was going out into the hinterlands – so empty and the hugest sky so it just zaps your head.

    2
  19. de stijl says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    This may seem intrusive. Why do you like Chimay Blue? Am I missing something? I just taste that it’s too much alcohol for the base profile to handle.

    Sorry, I’m over-analyzing. If you like it, you like it.

    Speaking of Iceland (which we weren’t):

    Sigur Ros / Hoppipolla
    Live in the big empty of interior Iceland
    https://youtu.be/KbPWi1gshzI

    1
  20. Kit says:

    I’ve read on several occasions that the average wine drinker cannot distinguish between red and white. This baffles me, but I’ve never dared put my pallet to a blind taste test.

  21. de stijl says:

    @Joe:

    Hmmm, says I, sipping on my go-to Torpedo.

    Good on you, friend. Sip on! Enjoy the day.

    1
  22. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Teve: Ordering on line won’t help. Looking for the registration number on the bottle of oil does. (Printing a fake registration number on the bottle carries international penalties that seem pretty fearsome from what I’ve heard.)

    And yes, virgin olive oil is apparently registered now just like a lot of other things.

    1
  23. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Teve: That seems to be the beauty of the registration system; you don’t have to pay extra. At the store at which I shop, one of the name brands of oil that doesn’t certify is the most expensive of the brands. (That brand also lists on it’s label that it is a blend of oils from multiple sources and lists the nations it buys oil in. It’s also very tasty and the brand my Italian grandmother used. I use grapeseed oil because I don’t like the low smoke point on olive oil.)

  24. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Joe: Hmmm… I thought a torpedo was a cigar. (But I’m not a beer drinker either.)

  25. Gustopher says:

    @de stijl: Just say “It tastes like a wet dog smells….” And then down the entire glass, and explain that you like the smell of wet dogs.

    No one will ever ask your opinion again, and polite hosts will offer you a beer.

    1
  26. Joe says:

    People have no idea WTF they’re talking about, it’s all bullshit.

    Michael Reynolds

    Ahh, Bach

    – Radar O’Reily

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:
    Sometimes a Torpedo is just a Torpedo.

    1
  27. EddieInCA says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    I have an average palette, I’d say, with the slight advantage of some food education and experience.
    I could spend $500 on a bottle of wine, but why? I don’t have the palette to differentiate meaningfully. Most people don’t, most people cannot differentiate reliably between a Cab Sav and a Sirah, I can’t. I have a $100 palette but not a $500 dollar palette. People spend enormous amounts of money on supposed taste differences they cannot actually perceive

    This. I have alot of people in my world who speak glowingly of $200 wines. As a joke several years ago, I steamed off the labels of several $300 wines, and put them on a $12 bottle of Apothic. Not one of the effing wine snobs noticed. Instead, they spoke of the flavor, richness, nuance of the $12 bottle of wine they thought was $200. All except for one, who honestly said it tasted like a $20 bottle of wine and that I got ripped off.

    I honestly can’t tell the difference between the $15 bottle of wine and the $200 bottle of wine. I won’t even go into the $500 bottle of wine.

    HOWEVER, I sure as hell can tell the difference between cheap bourbon or whiskey, and good whiskey. Same for beer. I’m a freaking beer snob.

    3
  28. de stijl says:

    One thing I experienced in Iceland was profound hugging.

    If you’re in a social situation, it plays out by a variation of Minnesota Nice rules – no one says anything offensive, no one over-reacts. It’s very pleasant. You begin the “I’m leaving” process and at the end right before you leave you get a serious chest to chest “I’m bonding with you” soulful full-on hug, and you hug back.

    It’s very cool. We should adopt this practice. A good hug is a pretty great thing.

  29. EddieInCA says:

    @de stijl:

    The price-point difference in beer is relatively shallow. PBR is $8.99 for a twelver, and a decent (sometimes massive) uptick in quality can be had at $12.99 or $15.99 – pick your fave or try a new one.

    Um… With all due respect, PBR isn’t beer. I know it’s supposed to be beer, but it’s really not. Same with Michelob (any kind), Budweiser (any kind), Coors (same). If you’re going drink domestic beer, it has to be a craft, or Henry’s or Rolling Rock – at minimum. Fact is with the exception of some craft beers, American beers suck. The Germans, Belgians, French, English, Irish, Chinese, Thai, and Mexicans all make MUCH BETTER beers than the Americans.

    You attempt to drink PBR in front of me, I’ll take it out of your hands, and buy you a proper beer.

    3
  30. EddieInCA says:

    @Michael Reynolds: @de stijl:

    Michael Reynolds says:
    Sunday, April 21, 2019 at 13:58
    @de stijl:
    It’s all in the bullshit. Hold a red against the light and say, “Gorgeous color.” Take a sniff and either, “Lovely nose,” or, “subtle nose.” Taste and if it’s a Sauvignon Blanc it’s either “very citric,” or “not as overpoweringly citric as some.” A Chardonnay you can call anything from lush and buttery to austere and mineral. A Cab Sav you can toss off something like, “I find Cabs challenging, I enjoy the rigor, the lack of compromise.”

    People have no idea WTF they’re talking about, it’s all bullshit.

    When surrounded by snobs drinking wine, I like to take a small sip, swirl it around in my mouth and say… “Lovely. Poignant, yet… not overbearing.” I get some nice smiles, and everyone is happy. I have no idea what it means, though. As Michael says, it’s all BS.

    1
  31. Teve says:

    I used to be a computer geek, build my own PCs, run math simulations, use gcc to compile shit etc, but I quit doing any of that stuff like 15 years ago. So I ask this question not as a total novice, but someone who actually wonders technically how this is happening:

    How does my phone know how to correctly spell Buttigieg when I speak it?

    Is there some database on my phone that got updated with his name? Are audio files of my voice going to a Google server that now knows that word? What is happening here?

    1
  32. Franklin says:

    As far as beer, yeah I’m kind of over the hoppy IPAs. A local place makes some sours which are my new favorite. IF, you can find them.

    I think/hope I could tell the difference between a red and white wine although I don’t drink that much. Mostly I’m happy with something that’s not too sweet or too dry. I can’t tell if a fruit fly crapped on the pear used to flavor the wine, as one comic used to joke.

  33. de stijl says:

    For some reason I thought that Torpedo was a Goose Island offering and missed that it was Sierra Nevada. The packaging seems very Goose Island, but it does Sierra Nevada right at the top of the label. Well done, me. Perception -1

    1
  34. de stijl says:

    @Teve:

    How does my phone know how to correctly spell Buttigieg when I speak it?

    Because someone inserted it into a database. No, that database isn’t on your phone, but some cached results might reside locally. Don’t worry. It’s fine. It’s never instantiated.

    Are audio files of my voice going to a Google server that now knows that word?

    Yes.

    What is happening here?

    Have an orange slice and some water. You’re likely very dehydrated now, but you need to stay calm. We need to balance your electrolytes. Is there a friend we can call? It’s just a bad trip, but you’re safe here, and nothing bad will happen. Have another orange slice.

    5
  35. DrDaveT says:

    @de stijl:

    My biggest beef with beer-makers right now is *everyone* wants to make and sell you a super hoppy IPA. That’s cool, but there are other styles, ya know.

    If you hear of terrorist attacks against hop fields, they should come looking for me.

    Beer is a grocery store thing around here, and half the year I can’t find any of the beers I like, because they’re considered “winter beers”. Devil’s Backbone “Kilt Flasher” wee heavy; Troeg’s Troegenator double bock; Heavy Seas “Peg Leg” imperial stout; Great Lakes “Edmund Fitzgerald” porter…

    Thank God the US at least makes real beer now. 30 years ago, it was ridiculously hard to find the imports (Samuel Smith “Tadcaster” porter, Mackeson Triple Stout, Skullsplitter, Traquair House Ale, Old Peculier, Fraoch…) that made beer a pleasure.

    3
  36. Kathy says:

    @Kit:

    I’ve read on several occasions that the average wine drinker cannot distinguish between red and white. This baffles me, but I’ve never dared put my pallet to a blind taste test.

    It’s rather well established that people eat with their eyes first. Children given carrot stick in Happy Meal boxes like them better than ones served in another way. As for wine, I’ve read of a few studies where people are given a white wine to taste, then asked to describe it. Then they’re given the exact same wine with some food coloring to make it look red, and again asked to describe it. The descriptions are widely different.

    Remember the giant New Coke fiasco in the 80s? In blind taste tests, die hard classic Coke loyalists often could’t tell not just regular Coke from New, but also not from Pepsi. Me, I can tell regular Coke from Diet Coke, but not Diet Coke from Diet Pepsi.

    Oh, and I try to keep my inner pedant quiet, but:

    Palette: a thin board or slab on which an artist lays and mixes colors, the range of colors used by a particular artist or in a particular picture, the range or variety of tonal or instrumental color in a musical piece.

    Palate: the roof of the mouth, separating the cavities of the nose and the mouth in vertebrates, a person’s appreciation of taste and flavor, especially when sophisticated and discriminating.

    Pallet: a portable platform on which goods can be moved, stacked, and stored, especially with the aid of a forklift.

    7
  37. de stijl says:

    @Teve:

    I was living in chapel Hill like 14 years ago…

    Superchunk or Archers Of Loaf?

    (psst – the correct answer is both)

    Superchunk / Seed Toss
    https://youtu.be/_JhzGUVVeqU

    Archers Of Loaf / Web In Front
    https://youtu.be/4ZkEob55qso

  38. DrDaveT says:

    @Teve:

    How does my phone know how to correctly spell Buttigieg when I speak it?

    Because most of the processing that makes modern smartphone magic possible happens at the end with the server farms, not the end with your handset.

    1
  39. de stijl says:

    @Teve:

    What is happening here?

    Sorry for freaking you out but ~1 to 2 trillion neutrinos are passing through your body right now.

    I used to have a buddy who would just drop weird science facts when we were stupid high just to freak me out. I found out later he’d prepared them beforehand which made me like him more. That’s a pretty good friend.

    3
  40. Teve says:

    @DrDaveT: @de stijl: now that I look at it I can tell from the cellular traffic that it’s being done on a server but the total time delay is less than a third of a second from the time it leaves my mouth til it appears on the screen. That’s mind-boggling.

    1
  41. Teve says:

    I stopped watching the Sunday shows 20 years ago but according to Twitter the talk on all of them today was impeachment.

    I still don’t think it’s very likely but it is more likely today than it was a week ago.

  42. Kathy says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I’ve found that I can’t tell any difference in the oil I use in my own cooking, except for sesame oil. Probably because I don’t use much oil, and sesame oil has a rather strong scent.

    I cook entirely the way I like, and I also like to experiment. Since I only have to pelase myself, I rate myself as excellent 😉

    Last year I came up with potato sauce. That’s a sauce made with potatoes. I could call it “potato and onion sauce with balsamic reduction,” but why bother. It’s just onions, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, pepper, potatoes and cottage cheese.

    1
  43. de stijl says:

    I’ve been having a back and forth with a work buddy about the best band from Ohio. We’re down to DEVO vs. Guided By Voices.

    I re-watched a lot of old DEVO clips this last week (she’s originally from Akron so she’s a bit of a homer) and damn they were really tight. I know the spastic aesthetic is not for everyone, but as musicians, they’re really good. Those guys practiced a lot before they got on stage. Way back in the day I bought their first two records and my then gf gave me third as a gift. The brothers Casale and Mothersbaugh were very gifted.

    Their version of [I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction transforms the song. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are DEVO! is stupid good.

    https://youtu.be/jadvt7CbH1o

    She makes a really good point.

  44. Franklin says:

    @de stijl:

    I’ve been having a back and forth with a work buddy about the best band from Ohio.

    I presume I’d get shot for saying Twenty One Pilots.

    Heh, DEVO were definitely better musicians than given credit for, I could just never get into it personally. Never listened to Guided By Voices.

    1
  45. de stijl says:

    @Kathy:

    Last year I came up with potato sauce. That’s a sauce made with potatoes.

    So, if I’m following you correctly, it’s potato sauce. And it’s made with potatoes. Did I get that right?

    (Sorry, but those two sentences were too funny and merited a good-natured poke.)

    1
  46. de stijl says:

    @Franklin:

    Never listened to Guided By Voices.

    This is Motor Away
    https://youtu.be/9J-V6AGuA2k

    GBV have a thousand great songs. Literally. Robert Pollard can’t step off a curb and not write a new song. It’s cool, though, they’re all about one or two minutes long. Dude is prolific.

  47. de stijl says:

    @Franklin:

    Essential Guided By Voices set list:

    Glad Girls
    Game Of Pricks
    My Valuable Hunting Knife
    The Official Ironman Rally Song

    Plus, Motor Away, obviously

    And many dozens more. I was not kidding when I said dude was prolific.

    Give Glad Girls a spin.
    https://youtu.be/XZsi9uEOJLg

    This song makes me happy – and the light just passes thru me now

  48. Kathy says:

    @de stijl:

    I guess it’s funny. But half the time when I say potato sauce, people think I mean sauce for potatoes.

    2
  49. de stijl says:

    @de stijl:

    I used to have a buddy who would just drop weird science facts when we were stupid high just to freak me out.

    I have no idea if this is true, but Bobcat swore that adult male sea lions (maybe it walruses – it was a long time ago) sport a 30 inch penis and there is a bone inside it.

    Subsequently, I learned that yes the baculum aka penis bone aka os priapi (awesome!) does in fact exist and is present in many mammals including our primate cousins. Fascinating.

    However, I will never Google “sea lion walrus + 30 inch penis”. Such a search string would go in my permanent record. Not gonna happen. It could totally be true – Bobcat did not lie about the os priapi (nice!), why would he then lie about the wang in question?

    I will never know the truth.

    Sea Lionesses or Walrusettes, I’m really sorry if this is really a true thing. 30 inches seems very excessive.

  50. de stijl says:

    I once witnessed the manual insemination of a cow. It was profoundly disturbing.

    The tech wore an arm condom.

    I will never be able to unhear that.

    1
  51. grumpy realist says:

    @Michael Reynolds: Russian Imperial Stout, anyone?

    Thank the gods for the advent of tasty craft beers in the U.S. IPA has never really appealed to me but then my introduction to beers was the European version of Heineken. I can deal with Japanese beers (had to, obviously, 10 years of employment at Japanese organisations) but the U.S. equivalent of the generic beer (Budweiser, etc.) always tastes to me like someone dipped a slice of baloney in it.

    2
  52. MarkedMan says:

    Just a reminder to anyone who would like to support OTB: You can become a Patron for as little as $1 per month or as much as you would like.

  53. MarkedMan says:

    @EddieInCA:

    HOWEVER, I sure as hell can tell the difference between cheap bourbon or whiskey, and good whiskey. Same for beer. I’m a freaking beer snob.

    I’m with you. I’ve only had a half dozen times in 25 years of drinking wine that I was taken aback at how good something was. Price was not a contributor. In fact, one of the times was a bottle of Malbec we picked up for like $7.99 when Malbec as a standalone grape was a brand new thing. We went back and bought a case, one of the few cases I ever bought. When that case ran out we tried to buy more but that year’s vintage was long gone and Concha y Toro had bought the vineyard and subsumed it into its production, so never again.

    Beer on the other hand, I can differentiate easily. In fact, there was one early craft brewery, Ommegang, and I loved all their stuff, but then moved out of state and didn’t have any for four or five years. I happened to be on a business trip in Boulder and was able to buy several individual bottles of 3 of their brews. I think it was Hennepin, Three Philosophers and ???. I liked all three, but felt one of them tasted a little different than when I last had it. (Hennepin? I can’t remember which.) I got curious as to why that one tasted subtly different and discovered the company had been purchased by Duvel and that one variety was now brewed in Europe and shipped back to the US. Same yeast, same recipe but something was different. The water?

    Anyway, here are some of my go to beers:
    – White Rascal by Avery
    – Namaste by Dogfish Head
    – Blue Moon
    – 60 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head
    – 90 Minute IPA by Dogfish Head (very different. Heavily hopped but also somehow sweet and malty)
    – Suddenly available in my area: Anything by Unibroue especially Fin du Monde
    – Yingling Black and Tan

    But there are a lot of good beers. We live in the beer Golden Age.

    2
  54. Just nutha says:

    @EddieInCA: It’d be wasted on me. I drink beer (all 6 cans a year) refrigerated to 33 degrees and only in July or August.

    1
  55. Michael Reynolds says:

    @de stijl:
    I like Chimay Blue for the rich, sweet chewiness of it. I am small ‘d’ democratic in my tastes, I want the whole range from hoppy to sweet. I suppose my underlying urge is to find extremes of flavor, flavor that punches me in the face. This may be genetic – my eldest is like me, when we order Indian food we want it to raise blisters.

  56. Kathy says:

    I’m near the end of Gulliver’s Travels. I thought Swift exaggerated more than befits even a satirist of his stature, and then my subconscious said “substitute “yahoo” with “Trump supporter,” and it should all make sense.”

    1
  57. Teve says:

    we’ve got so many excellent candidates for president, and the presidency is such a big job, maybe we should just pick like five of them to be co-presidents, and they could each take different areas.

    Elizabeth Warren has a plan.

  58. Michael Reynolds says:

    @EddieInCA: @MarkedMan:
    With you both on whiskey. I drink widely across brands but my current go-to’s are Talisker 10 for Scotch (Laphroaig or Ardbeg if I want to irritate my wife with noxious iodine odors) and Four Roses single barrel US. But I’m certainly fond of the Macallan, the two Glens, Bunnahabhain on the Scottish side, and I respect Blanton’s, Knob Creek and Woodfords.

  59. Just nutha says:

    @Kathy: Thank you! I’m always a little surprised when I’m exposed to how many people don’t know what a pallet is. I expect that it’s because I worked with them for 15 years. Skids too. And although “skid” was used as slang for pallet, my understanding is that they’re different.

    1
  60. DrDaveT says:

    I will repeat this in the next Open Forum, but James’s post on candidate typography reminded me that there are lots of readers in this community who are into science fiction, and into graphic design and typography.

    If you aren’t already aware of this website*, you must see it:
    Typeset in the Future
    I recommend scrolling all the way to the bottom and reading them in the order they were posted, bottom to top.

    *I say ‘website’ rather than ‘blog’ because an article every year or two doesn’t count as blogging.

    2
  61. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @de stijl: Yeah, but it could of been a sauce for potatoes–on the order of fry sauce to put on fries or tartar sauce to put on tartar–so I was glad for the clarification.

    1
  62. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Kathy: Charles Dickens is said to have claimed that the difficulty with satire is that one normally has to understate the degree of the folly to make it believable. A high school lit class I taught discussed that idea once while reading Nicholas Nickleby.

    1
  63. de stijl says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    I think that Chimay (or any high ABV beer) just doesn’t work for my palate (h/t to Kathy). It’s too boozy for me. It’s like “we made a Trappist ale and then decided to add a half shot of Everclear so you’ll remember us tomorrow morning when you wake up with your pants on backwards.”

    2
  64. Kathy says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I often joke taking an expression too literally. If I’m asked whether I like airplane food (something which grows ever more unlikely with each passing day), I might answer “I don’t know. What do airplanes eat?”

    Sauces tend not to have clear rules. Steak sauce is put on steak, not made with steak (hey, there’s an idea!). There’s also the fact that I tend to cook potatoes covered in sauce. In my mind, “potato sauce” might be a sauce for potatoes.”

  65. DrDaveT says:

    @Kathy:

    If I’m asked whether I like airplane food (something which grows ever more unlikely with each passing day), I might answer “I don’t know. What do airplanes eat?”

    ObAddamsFamily: “Are they made with real Girl Scout?”

    Steak sauce is a condiment for steak. Fish sauce is made from fish, but Worcestershire sauce (which is a kind of fish sauce) was first marketed in Worcestershire and used that name as a trademark, which it lost in a later legal decision. Béchamel sauce was named as a way to flatter Louis de Béchamel, marquis de Nointel (1630–1703). Tabasco sauce is a brand name, and does not apply to just any hot sauce made from tabasco peppers. So yeah — no rules.

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  66. Teve says:

    So apparently it was Landon ‘Tucker’ Davis, a trump appointee to the interior department, who said that science was “a Democrat thing.”

    He’s not wrong.

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  67. DrDaveT says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    I am small ‘d’ democratic in my tastes, I want the whole range from hoppy to sweet.

    I should probably have made more clear that I like an occasional IPA or hefe or sour just fine — but I don’t want the range of available options to be from the flavor profile triangle that has “Alimony Ale” at one corner, lambic at the second corner, and used dishwater at the third.

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  68. Teve says:

    @DrDaveT: Alimony Ale has an IBU of 80, so yeah, no thanks.

  69. de stijl says:

    @Kathy:

    Steak sauce made from steak is a fantastic idea! I would totally buy that.

    But I also put Pickapeppa on eggs and a half-and half mix of Tiger Sauce and Bufalo on rice, so I may not be a representative sample.

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  70. Kathy says:

    @de stijl:

    I put mustard in mashed potatoes.

    I’m thinking cooking a strip steak rare, them putting it into a blender with lime, Worcestershire, paprika, a little tomato puree, garlic, and pepper (ground pepper or whole peppercorns?).

    I’ve no idea how the steak will blend. I don’t recall ever putting meat into a blender, so if I were to attempt it, I’d likely use ground beef instead; you don’t even really need to blend it.

    But, then, I regard steak as insufficiently flavorful.

    Maybe someday. Right now I want to try potato soup using shredded potatoes, not to mention finding something to do with a whole kilo of lentil flour we have leftover from some samples at the office; I’m thinking cream of lentil and something soup.

  71. MarkedMan says:

    An article over at The Atlantic is reporting that Biden is waffling on when and where to announce his candidacy. As I’ve said before, I like Biden as a senior advisor or an at-large ambassador. But his inability to commit on his own is my major concern about him. This is just the latest example.

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  72. Teve says:
  73. Kathy says:

    @Teve:

    More so than on those days ending in “y”?

    BTW, my condolences to the poor people of the UK who now will get a state visit from El Cheeto.

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